Seeing James begin to get his stuff and turn to go sent a bad, fluttering feeling through Mao's stomach. Was that it? But at the last moment the other boy turned, 'Come on, idiot.' There was a tightness in his chest, but a happy one, and the smile that came over his face was just so damn thankful. For second, it looked like he might even tear up, but he blinked the feeling away, scurrying to pick up his own things and get in stride with James.
There was kind of an awkward silence, but Mao couldn't allow that, it was a bad thing to let fester when patching things up. He glanced down at his hands and wrinkled his nose. "Ew...I got snot-blood on me!" He wiped the back of his knuckles on the nearest locker, not caring about whatever poor schmuck it belonged to.
"So. Hey, thanks for backing me up." There was a beat of a pause before he added, in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. "...I missed you."