It was late May, the days reaching out to June, but not yet able to touch the first month in the year associated with summer. That didn't stop the sun from doing its best though, and it was an amazing day today. The temperature was just right; not too hot, but certainly not cold either, and the light breeze teasing one's hair and face made the weather extremely pleasant. Yuuichirou couldn't help but doze off while listening to the sound of the world existing around him. The birds were chirping, footsteps were accompanied by soft laughter and peaceful talking, children were running around, screaming and laughing, embracing their lives. Yes, it was a good day. It would just make you forget your worries about upcoming tests, undone household chores and the business of your part time job. He wouldn't have minded staying like that for the rest of the day, but his peace was disturbed by someone poking his cheek, which made him force his eyes open and jump of surprise. He met the bright blue eyes of his best friend, Mikaela. Of course it was him, they came here together, they always did when the weather was good, how could he even almost forget something like that?

'Yuu-chan, you were sleeping,' Mika said, grinning like an idiot.

'Was not,' Yuuichirou said, facing the pond in front of them. There were a few geese creating a ruckus about probably nothing, flapping with their wings aimlessly and making noise at each other, as if in an argument. At the side of the pond there was a young girl throwing bread at them, so they were probably fighting over it.

'Also, stop calling me Yuu-chan, Mika, we're not kids anymore.' He couldn't help but think about him and Mikaela, both kids, Mika fighting him to defend his position of leader of their grade, and of course winning easily, all on the first day they met. Yuuichirou moved to this town as a small child, and when he switched primary schools, he met Mikaela and his other childhood friends. Mika was the only one whom he still saw every day though, and he couldn't really imagine his life without him beside him.

'But Yuu-chan will always be Yuu-chan to me,' Mika said cheerfully, smiling this typical way too bright Mika smile at him before standing up to throw a lost ball at the children waving questioningly at them a few feet away from the bench they were resting on. Yuuichirou watched the way the sunlight caught his hair and made it even more light, like the sun didn't want to leave him, and decided to stay with him this way. Absently, his mind wandered to the girls who were always staring at him, giggling, whispering to their friends and quickly looking away after turning bright red when Mika returned their stares and smiled at them. It's not like he didn't understand why they were acting like that, but he really couldn't help feeling extremely annoyed by them and he didn't even know why. Maybe, just maybe, it was because Mika gave people his smile way too easily, probably because that idiot didn't get how beautiful it was and how warm it made you feel inside. Because of course, everyone felt like that when Mika smiled at them, it's not just him and those girls, of course not.

Mikaela sat down beside him again and Yuuichirou flinched when he suddenly felt his friend's weight against his shoulder, and his hair tickling his neck. 'Aaaaah, this weather sure makes you sleepy, I understand why you dozed of just now, Yuu-chan.'

Yuuichirou sighed, just after checking if people were maybe staring at them. But then again, it was useless to give Mika a speech about personal space when he was acting like this. And it's not like he minded it that much anyway. In all those years spending with him he kind of got used to clingy Mikaela. He could read Yuuichirou perfectly too, since he laughed softly after hearing him sigh, obviously content with the fact that Yuuichirou wasn't even trying to argue anymore.

'Mika?'

'Hmm?' Mika mumbled in response. He was so close, Yuuichirou could smell that he had probably washed his hair this morning, and he tried not to think about how he really wanted to touch his hair too see if it was as soft as it looked.

'Why did you reject that girl this morning? She was pretty cute, wasn't she?' Yuuichirou had no idea why he asked, but for some reason, that girl from today kept bothering him, because she wás cute, and Mika didn't really have a reason to reject her confession, unless… He fell in love with some other girl. And somehow, that idea made him slightly uncomfortable. Because that would mean Mika hadn't trust him enough to tell him. That was the reason, of course. Nothing else. It wasn't like he generally felt uncomfortable imagining Mikaela with any girl, because well, he needed to be happy right? And he couldn't like, disapprove of Mika's happiness, could he? For some reason, it suddenly felt like Mika was miles away from him, even though they physically couldn't have been any closer.

'Hmmm, stupid Yuu-chan,' Mika said, shifting a little, which made Yuuichirou shiver just a bit. 'You know why. It's because I like you of course.'
And then, they both froze. Yuuichirou could feel him freezing, even though he was busy processing what his friend just said. Mikaela quickly moved away from him, as if he burned himself, looking everywhere but at him, while Yuuichirou caught himself staring and staring, not knowing what to do or say. Had Mika meant what he said, in the way Yuuichirou interpreted it? Or was he just joking?
He certainly didn't seem like he was joking though, because he was still avoiding his friend's gaze and he looked more than a little worried.
Why, why, why, why, for God's sake, was Yuuichirou's heart beating so damn fast? Why did he feel like his head was about to explode?

The silence surrounding them seemed like existing for at least a thousand years, but somehow he finally managed to say the only thing his mind was reaching out for. 'Mika?'
Quickly, his friend pushed himself from the bench and took a few steps away from it, before turning to face him. 'Ahhh, I think I should go home now, Yuu-chan, I just remembered it's my turn to cook today.'

He was smiling but it was not a Mika smile it was fake and all wrong wrong wrong. And for some reason Yuuichirou felt like if he let Mikaela walk away from him right there and now, he would never ever come back in his life as closely as before. And that was the one thing he would never ever ever ever want. So before he could register what he was doing, he was hugging him and holding him so tightly there was no way he'd escape. He didn't want Mika to go anywhere, the only place where he belonged was there, right there. Not with those girls, cute as they may be, or not even with anyone else but him.

'Yuu….-chan?'
'Shut up,' Yuuichirou mumbled, because this was him giving in, admitting, and that was what he hated doing the most.
'I don't want to shut up. What are you doing?'
'Just don't leave. Stay here.'
'I'm not going anywhere. What's wrong?'

Slowly, slowly, Yuuichirou let go of him, but not moving his hands away from his friend's shoulders. He almost forgot Mika was actually taller than him. He hated it. There were so many questions and emotions in his beautiful blue eyes that Yuuichirou could've probably stared at them forever.

'That's all,' Yuuichirou said, trying hard not to look away. He wanted to look him in the eyes while saying this, even though it made him so damn embarrassed. Probably his hands were shaking, because Mika put his right hand on top of his. 'Just don't leave me. I, I, I…' He couldn't speak them after all, the words that were circling around in his head, the very same words Mika told him accidently just a while ago.

And then Mika smiled, and it was a genuine Mika smile, and Yuuichirou could feel his cheeks heat up, again and again. 'You're so cute, Yuu-chan, but such an idiot sometimes.'
'You're the idiot, idiot,' Yuuichirou mumbled.
Somehow they moved closer and closer, and Yuuichirou couldn't look away from those blue, oh so very blue eyes, until his own eyes closed automatically. For once, he didn't think about the people who were staring at them, because the world around them stopped and the only thing that mattered were Mika's lips on his.