Chapter 1
Considered by some to be the best season for viewing the night sky and all its lunar accompaniments, spring nevertheless does have drawbacks. The weather, for instance. Switching from ambient drizzle to a downright torrent of icy water at the least expected moment. Which is precisely what was happening now, as two teens stood under the awning of a restaurant and waited for the freezing rain to cease. The name of the place was Sunshine and they sold quite good normal food, burgers, fries, and the like. However, seeing how it was absolutely pouring and that it was now almost evening, the cheerful orange banner and name felt as out of place as it could possibly be. Not to mention the fact that his favorite skyscape was concealed by thick clouds. He had half a mind to quip on the unfitting sequence of things, but as his companion fixed him a searing glare, he let the idea go. Instead, opting to recall fonder events.
It had, of course, been Neku's idea to eat here, celebrating the passing of the first semester at college without complete and utter failure. The running total for Neku was out of five significantly involved topics, he passed three with a B, one with a C and one (which was hanging on by the short and curlys, yet still technically passing) with a remarkable D. Remarkable, in the sense that Neku had ignored almost every assignment except the final essay and still managed to pass. A completely fabricated seven page paper over the intricacies of societal upheaval and how they related to modern street art. When Joshua had obligingly proof-read the paper, it became obvious that Neku had little to no real information other than borderline fanatical obsession with one artist. Fortunately for him though, he happened to know the person. Though being overly dramatic on how he got into contact with CAT, Joshua arranged an 'interview' between the red-head devotee and the artist.
'Interview' is being polite, when frankly Neku gushed like love-sick puppy and practically worshipped the feet of the barista. It registered as valuable material for him to bring up later, so Joshua smiled and stood back watching the event take place. He hadn't even bothered to take notes, too wrapped up in the splendor and awe that was Sanae Hanekoma, though he preferred to be called Mr. H. (except by Josh, who called him Sanae).
When the beans were spilled, metaphorically speaking, that the coffee fanatic had actually known Joshua for years as friends, Neku was the picturesque shape of outrage. Furious that he had never introduced him, kept this a secret from him, and just general disbelief that he could be so apathetic about the work of the mighty CAT.
"But it's-it's CAT! How can you not like his stuff?"
"Different strokes for different folks, Neku." Joshua said in a purposefully suggestive manner, causing Neku's face to heat up. He had the very sudden urge to strange the prissy little shit right then and there. Joshua had no reluctance about making it as painfully obvious as possible that they were dating, using every opportunity available. Neku was unbelievably receptive and fun to irritate.
Observing them with growing amusement, Mr. H just laughed quietly to himself, shaking his head. He'd of course known from the musings and complaints of Josh what had been going on. If not whining about his classes, his parents, or the state of idiocy around him, he would ramble on and on about his latest discussion with his boyfriend or what their plans were. So far, only he and the two teens were in the know about this topic. Not that Joshua would actually care if everyone knew, but Neku was less enthusiastic on informing the masses. It wasn't any of their business, after all.
Meanwhile, back to the present, they stood side by side under the awning flapping in the breeze as Joshua recalled fondly the event that had indirectly led them here. His fond memories were distracted from the annoyed sigh by his side.
"I hope this bullshit's going to let up soon. I don't want to spend my entire day stuck here."
Joshua clicked his tongue, "and here I thought we were enjoying quality time together."
He shoved the teen's shoulder half-heartedly. "You know what I mean."
Allowing himself to sway slightly, there was a distinct giggle as reply. "Though I must admit, walking home in this isn't going to be the most fun."
"Aw, crap. Sorry, I forgot. It looked clear on the radar earlier… why don't you just get a cab or something? That's what I'm planning on doing, once it stops coming down in sheets."
"It's only a few blocks. Which will take longer by cab in this weather. You know how it is when it rains. An increase in humidity, an increase in stupidity. Drivers are terrible in rain. Some of these people brake for each individual drop, I swear."
"Yeah, you're probably right." He peaked out from under the protection of the ledge, seeing if the sky intended on lessening its wrath. "Though, if it starts hailing, you'll be SOL."
"Oh, I'll get by. Unless you're scared that I'll melt."
"If I find your ugly ass shoes on the sidewalk, I'll know."
Said shoes were brown leather dress shoes, with black laces and bronze inlets around the openings. Neku had always given him crap about how they looked like shoes for old geezers or funerals. He himself wore white sneakers accented with neon colors, of which he was very proud.
Joshua lifted a hand to his head, mocking a fainting damsel in distress. "You wound me, Neku. How shall I ever carry on?"
"As a puddle, at this rate. I think the brunt of it is starting to let up. Sure you don't want to take a cab? You could stay over at my place until this quits."
"I'll just be further away from original destination, and I'll have to get a cab then. I'll be fine, provided it dies down to a sprinkle. Go on and head home." He shooed dismissively, resulting in an irritated glance over the shoulder from Neku, who stepped out from the relief to flag a taxi. He narrowly avoided getting splashed with runoff that had built up in the street, which was mixed with various manners of funk.
As he turned to give Joshua a parting wave, an aspect of the way he held himself didn't seem right. It was gone within a second and he figured it had been his imagination, or a trick of this damn rain. Ignoring it for the moment, he said a quick 'see you later' and disappeared within the car before he got completely drenched. The slender figure returned the parting, standing beneath the overhanging ledge. With another small wave of street crud, the taxi took off. Joshua watched it disappear down the street before heaving a sigh and glaring at the precipitation. It's not hail, at least, he thought.
"This class is going to fucking end me, Josh, I swear to god."
Without looking up from his textbook he replied, "Don't swear, God probably doesn't want to hear it."
"I mean it, this is so goddamn stupid. Why didn't he put this on the review?"
Now distracted, Joshua narrowed his eyes at the exasperated Neku , "I don't want to hear it either. And I don't know. Why don't you ask him?"
"He's just going to tell me to read the chapter, again."
"Did you read the chapter?"
"Well no, but that's not the problem –it's this damn worksheet."
There was a near audible eye-roll from the figure perched in front of a desk, books and notes splayed everywhere. Due to the fact that Neku had enrolled late, most of the more choice classes were already full for the summer semester. Instead of having a break over the course of the summer (which he would now give his left kidney for) Joshua had persuaded him to take a few summer courses. It wasn't technically summer, but the spring semester had ended so by default the only other time was summer. His argument was that if they got the boring classes out of the way during this spare time, they could actually take things that they wanted to in the fall. A sound option, except for the fact that boring and summer should never, ever go together in the same sentence in Neku's mind. Not only did this mean he had to take the boring classes, he also didn't enroll quick enough to get the good boring classes.
Naturally, boring classes mean studying in the library. Though, this notion seemed otherworldly to most students and the cathedral of books was empty except for them.
"I'm not taking that class so… have you consulted google?"
"Yeah, nada. The prick writes his own tests, worksheets, notes, and powerpoints. I mean who the hell does that? He doesn't even try to make things interesting, the man sounds like the human equivalent of elevator music. "
"Maybe if you sleep on his textbook in class, you'll absorb it through osmosis… Ow!" A crumpled ball of paper landed squarely between his shoulders.
"Wimp, that didn't even hurt. It's paper. You were assaulted be a dead, thin, slice of tree."
"It was surprise, Neku. The sound works for surprise as well."
Neku groaned loudly, "Ughh. Why am I dating such a dork?" He asked no one in particular.
"The same could be said about you. Or am I wrongly remembering how you practically swooned when I introduced you to Sanae?"
"Shut up." He growled.
"How you pledged yourself to him like a disciple," Joshua made a grandiose sweeping gesture, motioning to all of the room, before folding his hands together and batting his eyelashes, "how the air was filled with the sound of trumpets! Hearts floated around your head! Rainbows shot out of every orifice-" He was cut off from the rest of his dramatic monologue by another thrown object, this one a smaller textbook that fortunately wasn't a hardback. Though he managed to avoid getting the full force of it, the biology manual still clipped his arm, catching him by surprise. He did not yelp this time, however.
"Violence isn't very becoming on you, dear. I'd bet it's over exposure to that roommate of yours."
He was of course speaking of Beat who shared the same dorm as Neku. Despite having the opportunity to live at home, Neku had been enthusiastically opposed to the idea and wanted to get the full 'experience' of being a college student. Whatever that means. His roommate was a hulking, massive specimen and his nickname was as fitting as they come. Despite his lack of prowess in mastering the finer points of speech, Neku considered himself lucky to have him as a roommate. Beat had a good heart, he was honest and sincere, if not a little too honest. Plus, he never had to worry about a crook breaking into the apartment because Beat would probably break off the offenders limbs and hit them with it. The guy had one soft spot which was his little sister, but other than that he could have posed as a tank.
"Don't put this on him, he's a chill dude. You're the one being an asshole."
Joshua scoffed. "I was merely pointing out my observations." Noticing that Neku still kept the same disgruntled silence, he smirked and giggled. "Plus you're just too much fun to tease. You get this tiny scowl that is just adorable."
"Fuck off."
"There it is." He said in a sing-song. Neku buried his face in his hands, trying to conceal the shade of red he turned.
"I hate you so much."
"I know, what would you do without me?" The ash-blond stood, stretched and went over to the chair next to the desk where his boyfriend seemed to be drowning in embarrassment.
"Live a long and prosperous life?" Neku offered.
Moving around to the back of the chair, he leaned over it letting his arms fall on the residents shoulders and crossing them in front of Neku's chest. He rested his chin on the top of his head, carefully avoiding the headphones, "Wrong answer. Try again."
"Be successful in every manner possible? Be enjoying my summer? Take your pick here, prissy-boy." Having lost his anger he added the nickname on, teasingly, and glanced up; only seeing the fringe of hair hanging down.
Joshua stuck out his tongue childishly.
"Rude."
"Look who's talking."
There was a wonderful change of pace from the usual hanging out at the library, Sunshine, or other outside area. For Joshua, getting to spend time with Neku without having to worry about him getting panicked about the completely harmless statements that just might sound like innuendos if you took them the wrong way, was a treasure to behold. He heard from Neku that his roommate, the obtuse wonder, was going to be out for a few days. Beat was taking a few days off to go visit his family, mainly because his sister was part of a band class and they were having a performance. The pride he had in Rhyme for refusing to play any instrument except for drums was palpable. And truthfully, despite her small frame, she excelled at percussion which threw the band teacher for a loop.
But much more importantly, three days! Three days of actually being able to be nauseatingly saccharine and gushy to make up for all the times he had to be on his best behavior. He grinned wickedly. Neku wasn't one for excessive fluff, making it the perfect weapon of annoyance at his disposal. Joshua had been by nature a little flamboyant and dramatic, but in what he would claim a charming way. His boyfriend found it endearingly irritating, so they got along swimmingly, most of the time.
Joshua knocked on the door to the dorm room, absently looking down the hallway to his right where the other rooms were. Neku's and Beat's was the last one on the end, the golden numbers of 712 hung loosely on the wood and jumped when he knocked. High class establishment, this place.
It creaked open with protest, revealing a familiar person dressed in his favorite attire. A sleeveless black shirt that was half-way between a vest and a tank top but had a distinct collar. There was a stripe running the front of the outfit that was purple, it matched his headphones quite perfectly.
He stood there for a solid minute, not saying anything. Until Neku raised one eyebrow in question and asked,
"Are you just going to stand there, or are you gonna get in here?"
"Just enjoying the view. Sightseeing is all the rage, you know." Joshua shrugged.
Though taking the compliment warmly, he replied, frowning.
"Get your happy ass in here before I lock the door, Josh."
"Yes sir." He gave the sultriest wink he could manage before stepping through the door and entering into the apartment. Neku heroically kept himself from tripping Joshua on his way in.
The apartment was exactly what one would except from two 18 year olds sharing a living space – a complete train wreck. There was a form of orderly chaos to Neku's designated area, at least a clear path to move from place to place without a heap of laundry or miscellanea around. Beat's section, however…
Joshua was not obsessive about cleaning, but he did like to have things organized and usable. Upon seeing the ruinous mess that was supposedly part of a room, he asked Neku in disbelief.
"Do you mean to tell me that a human being sleeps on or in this?!" His voice had raised almost an entire octave.
"Uh, well duh. Why, what's weird about it?"
"It practically has its own ecosystem!" he shuddered, making a wiping motion on both of his arms, "thank god I didn't step in it."
Neku now sincerely regretted not tripping him. No good deed goes unpunished. Musing on what might have occurred, he went to the small kitchen area, leaving Joshua to make horrified faces at various piles of crud. Soda was really the only thing in the refrigerator at the moment, because Neku couldn't cook to save his life and he didn't trust Beat around anything that produced fire.
"Do you want a drink? Coke or Ginger ale?"
"Ginger ale, please, Neku." The red-head returned to the main room with the drinks. In the living room was a TV, computer, an Xbox that had seen better days, and a large stacked pile of DVD's. There was a futon centered in direct sight of the TV. It was the only chair except for a barstool pushed under the counter in the kitchen. Neku plopped down onto the well-worn seat with a sigh, turning his head to glance at the general direction where Joshua still lingered.
"Stop freaking out about the junk and get in here, we need to pick out a movie."
"Yes, right, of course." The tall figure moved with remarkable haste out of the littered room, settling himself on the futon next to Neku.
Neku smiled at the perturbed grimace that Joshua had from the offensive room, but then quickly looked away as his ogling was noticed.
"Anything in mind? There's a massive heap of movies we could watch, we could mess around online, there's a few games that aren't complete crap." He took a sip of the carbonated beverage.
"Or we could do something else." The inflection of his voice made Neku nearly spray the soda. The words had come out as almost a purr.
"Fucking hell, Josh, you've been in my place for twenty minutes and you're already trying to bend me over a table."
He mocked being offended, "Who, me? Never! Don't be absurd!" Before mumbling under his breath loud enough so that Neku could catch it, "it hasn't been twenty minutes yet." Lastly adding as an afterthought in a smug tone, "Plus, tables are uncomfortable and probably have splinters. And we can't have that now can we?"
Neku deadpanned, speaking in a monotone. "You're so considerate."
Joshua nestled closer, leaning against his side. The warmth was wonderful. Neku, typically, ran hot while Joshua ran cold.
"The sacrifices I make for you. It's not easy being such an angel."
He snorted. "Angels have wings, you're just an ice cube with arms."
"Pick what movie we're going to watch already."
"Yeah, yeah." But neither of them made a motion towards the pile of cases.
The person leeching his body heat gave sigh that seemed usually heavy for the flippant teen. Neku voiced his concern, "What's up?"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry. It's nothing. Are you going to make me move, because if you are, you're not going to like the movie I pick out, heh-heh."
"Fine." he was sidetracked from what he was originally asking, but got up and chose a movie. It was a fairly decent sci-fi film with excessive lens flares and too much computer generated animation. Joshua was silent for the entire duration of the movie, until he had to head home.
Practically speaking, he knew that living at home with his parents was the best choice (seeing an example in the state of the dorm that Neku and Beat shared) but he really despised it. And the fact that his folks wanted to know everything that was occurring. It wasn't with more than a small amount of bitterness that he realized that they knew all his professors, their middle names and how they took their coffee, but didn't 'know' that he was seeing Neku. He had told them, yet they chose to ignore it, thinking it was a college thing and that he'd go back to being the grand archetype of a son. Selective memory at its finest, he supposed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Note:
This was originally supposed to be an exercise of writing pure fluff'n'stuff, as I'm not the greatest at it. So, chapter 1 is the work part, but I treated myself with an overabundance of stress and pain. Like I mentioned earlier, this is the light chapter so if you want to avoid the other parts, I won't blame you if that's not your cup of tea. Also, it's the first college/real life AU I've written about these two. *queue party streamers*
I'll get the second chapter up as quickly as I can get it acceptable!
As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read this. -Moose.