Something for a friend

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

"You know, for someone who is ridiculously closeted, you tend to make it obvious that you like guys..."

Hirokazu heard this and his heart started racing. He was looking around to see if anyone heard his friend, and after seeing no one he slowly was trying to calm down. "Shut up! I don't know what you are talking about," Hirokazu said, glaring at Jenrya.

Jenrya smirked at his friend, and sat down at the table they were eating at, "Yeah, sure, you have no idea. Ignoring the fact you have been staring at the same guy for the past hour."

"WHAT?! No way it's been THAT long..." Hirokazu pulled out his phone to check the time, hoping his friend was joking. There was no way he was watching him for that long, and he sighed in relief as he saw his friend was wrong,"HA! They sat down to eat at 1:28, so its only been..." He stopped himself and glared at Jenrya, who was trying his hardest not to laugh, "I hate you."

This isn't a new thing between them. They've had this weird rag on each other friendship since they met in high school. Both of them were on the soccer team, and by Hirokazu's worst ex-boyfriend outing him, learned about one another. Slowly their friendship grew to the point where it is now: Hirokazu being a jerk sometimes to Jenrya, and Jenrya breaking his usual cool and relaxed demeanor to lace into Hirokazu.

"Yeah yeah. So, who is Mr. Special?" Jenrya asked, passing some of his food over to Hirokazu.

He grumbled and started picking at the food he was given. After a minute let out a huge sigh, "... since you won't stop bothering me otherwise... fine. It's the one over their with the hoodie, next to the guy in the glasses."

"Hmm?" Jenrya scouted the area looking for who he was talking about and noticed the familiar faces. "Oh you mean Takato? He's a nice guy from what I gathered." He said, taking a bite of his lunch.

"How do you know his name?!" Hirokazu asked, outraged.

"Well, it helps when you take part in school activities and clubs, as well as to not be ashamed of wanting to join a GSA," Jenrya said with a smirk.

"Cram a chocolate wafer in your mouth and shut up."

Both Hirokazu and Jenrya look up at you Daniel, and winks.

Jenrya just gives his friend a smile,"you know, if you really want a chance to win him over, the club is having a party at a members house this weekend."

Hope filled Hirokazu's face, then leaves as quickly as it showed up, "just because he joined doesn't mean he's gay. And what if he is another... him?"

"I promise you, not only is he nice, but his friend outed them both when we held our first meeting," Jenrya said, trying to talk his friend into going. They sat in silence as Hirokazu was trying to talk himself into it. After a 5 minutes of getting no response, Jenrya knew the extremely cheap but effective card to use to try and get Hirokazu to say yes, "Are you really that scared of someone finding out your orientation? There will be no one there that would judge you for it. Or are you that afraid of getting turned down? Either or, you are not being very manly right now."

If there was one thing Hirokazu hated more than Yamato Ishida, it was someone not considering him manly. It's why he hated his orientation and the image that came with it. Though, he hated to admit it, Jenrya was right. There would be no one that would judge him for who he liked there. And he wouldn't want to pass up the chance to see if this Takato guy would be into him.

Eventually, he sighed, and looked at the knowing look on Jenrya's face, "I hate you."

XxXxXxX

"OMG... Takato, don't look to your right, but Jenrya was just looking over at us!" Kenta said excitedly.

"You should go make a move then," Takato says, knowing the following response will be. For as long as he has known Kenta, he has acted this way when he finds someone attractive. Very rarely will Kenta make a move, but when he does, it usually doesn't go well. Usually the guy is either straight or a huge jerk, Jenrya was luckily neither. But as he heard from Kenta plenty times before...

"No, he will just turn me down, I know it."

Takato looked at Kenta and frowned. He hated when his friend got like this. They have known each other since the first grade, and Kenta's self esteem was always like this. It got worse in high school, after the failed relationship they tried to have together. Takato wished that the right guy would come along and make his friend see his self worth. "Give yourself more credit than that, you are an awesome guy."

"Tell that to Ryou," Kenta said bitterly. The other culprit to his low self-esteem.

"We know Jenrya is kind and goodhearted. We didn't know Ryou was..."

"The hugest asshole ever?" Kenta asks with a smirk.

"I was trying to find a nicer way of saying that. Yeah, I have to agree though," Takato says with a small smile.

If you ask someone that knew Takato very well to describe him in one word, hateful wouldn't even come to their mind. He was generally a pacifist, and tried to see the good in everyone. Until someone hurt someone he cared about, which Ryou unquestionably did. Him saying something bad about someone spoke volumes.

"Seriously though, what do you have to lose here in just talking to him? Some of your time? Who knows, he might surprise you and will ask you out."

"Maybe..."

Takato knew he was close to convincing him to go for it, he just needed that extra friendly push, "I mean, we don't know much about him personally. Maybe he was looking over here because he finds you attractive too, but is too shy to do anything. He is usually silent during the meetings right? He could just be nervous"

"That could be the case," Kenta replied. Sounded plausible at the very least. Not wanting to make a move right now, he thought of the perfect solution, "I promise I will try to talk at Ruki's party in a few days."

"Perfect!" Takato said joyfully.

"You should do the same with his friend over there as well"

Takato took a glance over to where Kenta pointed out before and saw both Jenrya and his friend picking up their stuff and walking towards the dorms. He shrugged, "Eh, he doesn't look like my type, he is hot though."

XxXxXxX

"About time you showed up, almost everyone is here."

"Sorry Ruki, I was waiting for my friend to finish getting ready," Jenrya replied to the redhead that was giving them an annoyed glare as they walked into the house. It wasn't so much the getting ready part that took forever, it was the trying to talk Hirokazu into going through with it. "Thanks for letting me invite him, by the way."

"ANYWAY..." Hirokazu said, walking into the ginormous living room. "Where do you have the alcohol?"

Ruki just gave him another glare like he was stupid, "Are you joking? There will be people who are not of age here. If you wanted some, you should have enjoyed it before coming here," she said, walking off to the other side of the room.

"Seriously? I was hoping there was some to give me the courage to talk to him. Now what will I do?" he wondered, slowly starting to freak out.

"You planned on getting drunk that fast? He is right over there, talking with his friend, by the way," Jenrya pointed towards Takato talking to Kenta.

Hirokazu looked back to the front door, "Man, this whole thing was a mistake. I should just go back to the dorm or something."

"You haven't even tried talking yet," Jenrya said exasperated.

"Look, I don't know what to say to hi..." Hirokazu started to say, but then an idea came to his head. A smirk slowly started to form on his face and Jenrya sighed, another ridiculous plan he thought up. "You could just go up to him and talk me up! Make me sound like the most awesome guy ever!"

"No offense, but... I'm not going to lie to him. I mean, I could try to tell him to come over and talk to you, but you should do this yourself."

"Please do this? I'll do whateve-..."

Jenrya looked at his friend, waiting for him to continue. A few seconds later he heard a voice come from behind him.

"Hey Jenrya."

"Oh... Hi Takato."

"And hello..." he looks over at Hirokazu. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"It's... ah... I'll be over... uh... out!" Hirokazu shouted nervously as turned back and speed walked to the door.

"Okay..." Takato said, watching him walk away, turning back to Jenrya confused.

Jenrya gave him a small smile, "He's just a little shy around... the topic of his orientation. It's the reason why he hasn't attended anything before now. I asked him to come here to essentially break out of his shell."

'That and to help him make a move on you,' Jenrya thought, but he wasn't going to say that out loud.

"I think him and Kenta would get along rather well then. Kenta... a little forceful and outgoing on certain things..." Takato said while shaking his head.

"What did he say at the first meeting? 'I'm Kenta Kitagawa, and this is my B.F.F. Takato Matsuda, and we are both...'"

"'Gayer than a Skittle necklace given out at a Pride Parade!'" They both say at the same time, Jenrya laughing and Takato chuckling too with a blush on his face.

"Yeah... He means well, but didn't care that you didn't have to reveal your orientation."

Jenrya chuckles one more time, "So, tell me about yourself. Besides your level of gayness, your friend told everyone about that."

"Well, I'm here for art, and I grew up in a bakery that was owned by my parents. So after I graduate, I don't have to worry about living in the streets burning my creations in a barrel that didn't sell for warmth," Takato said, giving a smirk.

Jenrya nodded and laughed once again, finding it really easy and fun to talk with Takato,"Sounds like more fun than my studies. Computer programming is my thing, I'm going to try and do what I can before they take over the earth. I hope to be the one to accidentally help start it."

"If you plan on doing that, could you really call it an 'accident' then?"

"Probably not, but thankfully no one would know about it."

"Didn't you just tell me your evil plan?" Takato asks. Joking around was Jenrya was starting to feel like second nature.

"Sure, but they'll just call you crazy if you claim anything..."

XxXxXxX

Kenta watched as the scene unfolded in front of him. In all reality, he was happy for his friend. Actually finding a boyfriend was incredibly hard for Takato, so seeing him naturally just charm Jenrya was an accomplishment.

While that is the case, it still stung that it played out that way. He knew he was being needlessly jealous of his friends obvious happiness, but that didn't stop the negative feelings he was having.

It was all his fault though, the more he thought on it. He was the one that lost all confidence to go up to Jenrya and start a conversation. He was the one that ignored his friend's urging and confidence boosts. And, the biggest reason it was his fault, he was the one to ask Takato to get Jenrya's attention.

Seemed like a good plan at the time. 'Just go up to him, talk to him, and when I'm ready, you could just excuse yourself after I join'. Now just thinking about it made him feel stupid. How was that going to work out well for himself, it would just make him seem like and interrupting jerk.

Thankfully his subconscious realized that before he did, and didn't try to ruin this moment for the two of them. The way they were smiling and their body language made things obvious.

Another giggle come from the two of them, and Kenta sighed. It was almost disgusting how adorable they were together. Instead of staying there and watching the two of them flirt, he went to the front door and put his shoes on. He was hoping some fresh air would help him out.

As Kenta made his way outside, he bumped into Hirokazu and they headbutted each other.

"Ouch..." Hirokazu hissed, rubbing the sore spot on his head. (Hirokazu)

Kenta started doing the same thing, feeling worse than he was before, if that was possible, "Sorry, I just needed some air to calm down."

"Eh, calm down?" Hirokazu asks. He stopped rubbing his head for long enough to finally see who ran into him, and got a feeling he has seen this guy before. Noticing a pair of glasses on the ground, Hirokazu bent down to pick them up, and held him out, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just me being stupid and jealous," Kenta smiled sadly, and took the glasses and putting them back on. "Thanks."

Hirokazu felt a weird need to comfort this guy, "Jealous of what?"

"Well... my friend is in there, winning over the guy I was interested in."

"What?! How are you just letting it happen?"

Kenta shook his head, "It was my fault. I asked him to help out, and the two of them just hit it off. He deserves to be happy too, after all, and I only really had myself to blame."

"Your friend..." Hirokazu started, looking at Kenta once again and finally putting everything together. "Your friend is Takato, right?"

Kenta nodded, "Yeah.. why?"

"Oh great!" Hirokazu shouted, kicking the ground angrily.

"What... what's happened?" Kenta asks, going wide-eyed at the sudden shift in the guy.

Feeling defeated, Hirokazu dropped to the ground and laid back on the grass and sighed, "It just... I kind of... thought he was cute, and wanted to ask him out or something. The problem was I was afraid of getting turned down. So I was going to ask my friend, Jenrya, if he could help me talk to him. It's why I'm even at this party to begin with. Jenrya said that he would probably show up and... when he came over to talk to us, I chickened out and came out here to psych myself up."

"You... your Jenrya's friend? And you wanted to ask out Takato?" Kenta asked, not believing the 'Rain On Your Wedding Day' situation at hand.

"Yeah... why?"

Kenta suddenly started giggling uncontrollably at their shared situation. After a minute, Hirokazu looked up, more confused. Kenta noticed and shook his head, "Sorry, it's just... I'm the same as you... but for Jenrya. I asked Takato to help break the ice between us. Turns out they just hit it off though."

Hirokazu just stared blankly for a while, then out of nowhere started laughing. "We both were after each others friend... wow," he said, moving to stand up. "Well, at least Jenrya got lucky."

"I'm sorry still... umm?"

"Name is Hirokazu. What's yours?"

"Kenta."

Hirokazu smiled. For some reason, talking to Kenta was really easy, "Well, Kenta... I don't know about you, but I'm hungry, I was promised some form of food, and expected booze, but got neither. Want to go somewhere to eat? I don't plan on staying here with the lovebirds."

Kenta nodded, and gave a smile back, "Sure, I have a place in mind."

XxXxXxX

"OH MAN! Jenrya would go NUTS if he saw that picture! He has a not-so-secret cross-dressing kink."

The two of them have been at a bar nearby their dorms for the past 4 hours now. Between eating various bar foods, enjoying various alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink trading funny and weird stories involving their respective friend, the time flew by for them. The more they talked, the more they felt like home with the other, like they were meant for one another.

Kenta gave a smirk hearing that, taking a sip of his water, "I might share then... the shade of red on Takato's face when you just mention that night is worth it. Not to mention I would get to tease Jenrya out of it too."

"Awesome!" Hirokazu laughed, taking another drink, "Man, you can be scary if you want, I fear for anyone you date."

"But... but I thought we were on a date."

Hirokazu stopped drinking and when wide-eyed, "... you did?"

You mean we weren't? I just thought that since... we were having such a good time... oh," Kenta felt a huge wave of sadness, feeling stupid for assuming this was a date. He started feeling tears well up in his eyes.

"Hey wait! Calm down, please, dont cry," Hirokazu felt the need to instantly comfort him. He got up out of his seat and moved next to Kenta and pulled him into a hug. Kenta moved to put his head on Hirokazu's shoulder and returned the hug.

After a few minutes, Hirokazu started talking again, "I did... I didn't mean to be so... dense. Even if everything went as I originally wanted today, I wasn't prepared to be on a date this night. It's not that I didn't want this to be a date."

Kenta nodded and pulled back, grabbing a napkin off the table and wipes his eyes, "I'm sorry for thinking this was more than just hanging out."

"Trust me, you aren't missing out on much with me. You can ask any of my ex's, and they will all say just how bad of a boyfriend I was, and I will agree with their complaints... for the most part. The most arrogant person on the planet doesn't get a say in the matter on being shitty boyfriend."

"I didn't know you dated Ryou Akiyama too." Kenta joked, giving a smile.

"No, his name is Yamato Ishida," Hirokazu said laughing. "If this Ryou guy is anything like Yamato, I'm sorry for every moment you were together with him."

"Thanks," Kenta giggled, happy that the mood lightened up. 'This is the first time I thought of Ryou without actually feeling sad. Thank you."

"No problem! And..." Hirokazu trailed off as a thought popped into his head.

He couldn't, could he? Was this too fast? They only met for the first time today, but its weird. Hirokazu never felt this way about anyone, this instant fast connection. It felt like they have been friends forever that started taking steps into making it more.

Kenta sat there, staring at Hirokazu for a minute. "And?" he asked confused.

Hirokazu smiled, pulling Kenta into a kiss. And to both of them, for whatever logical reason they came up with, it was the best kiss they ever had. They pulled away and Hirokazu gave Kenta another hug. "If this is how a date with you is like, I wouldn't mind more."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

They both moved in for another kiss.