Yuuki sighed as he closed the door. The stupid Manga club had one of their annual meetings and he had been forced to attend it. He hated it when he got home late. "I'm home, what's for dinner?" he said loudly, knowing that both his parents were gone and only Yuuta, his twin brother was home.
To Yuuki's disappointment there was no trace of either his brother or food, and he didn't know what unsettled him more. He threw his bag into the living room and made his way upstairs. "Yuuta?" he opened the door to their bedroom and peered inside. Yuuta was sitting on the floor, his back towards Yuuki, staring into his laptop. His shoulders were tense and Yuuki knew that his brother was concentrating hard on whatever he was staring at. Yuuki crossed the room to sit down next to Yuuta, who turned his head and smiled at Yuuki. "Sorry, I didn't hear you." Yuuki shook his head lightly as to say that it didn't matter. He slid a bit closer and let his head fall onto Yuuta's shoulder. Yuuta rested his head against his brother's in return and went back to look through what looked like an online gift-shop. "What are you looking for?" Yuuki asked. Yuuta sighed "It's Shun's birthday next week and I haven't found a good present yet." Yuuki chuckled. "And you think you will find one in a cheap shop like that?" His brother frowned. "I have no idea where to look or what to get for him."
Yuuki thought of quite a lot things he would suggest Yuuta to buy for Shun, but it was not yet the right time. Sometimes both Yuuta and Shun were too dense…
Yuuki wrapped his arms around his older brother.
"I'm sure he'd like something you made yourself."
Yuuta gave him a sceptical look and Yuuki let go. He made a heart with his hands. "You know pour your heart into it." Yuuta chuckled and shook his head, while Yuuki got up and walked towards the door. "I'm going to make dinner." He said before leaving.
"Way too dense…" Yuuki muttered to himself smiling.
"Shun-chan!" Chizuru yelled across the rooftop, as he ran towards Shun and Kaname, followed by the twins.
He threw himself at Shun and gave him a firm hug. Surprised Shun endured the sudden assault.
Eventually he was released and Chizuru beamed at him. "Happy birthday! Guess what? I have a present for you!" Shun couldn't help but to smile a bit embarrassed. "Thank you so much. But you really didn't have to buy me anything" Chizuru shook his head and smiled even wider. "But I didn't bring it up here, didn't want to get it dirty." He shot Kaname a challenging glance "and we all know how messy our dear Megane is." Annoyed Kaname smacked the blonde on the head and turned away. Shun chuckled and realized that the twins had finally made their way over here. He waved at them smiling, while Chizuru went on trying to get Kaname to snap.
"Happy birthday Shun" Yuuki said evenly but not unfriendly. Shun thanked him and they all sat down. Yuuta had already congratulated Shun and felt like he didn't have anything to say. He hadn't given him his present though, he felt somehow embarrassed and was having an internal fight over whether to give it to him or not. It wouldn't be too bad not to give it to him, Kaname hadn't gotten Shun anything, and Yuuki's present, a coupon for gaming lessons at their house, wasn't that great either. He was pretty sure that Chizuru's present was decent, and that annoying girl's was probably perfect. Something cute and cuddly, Yuuta thought. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't realized that all of the others had already started eating. They sat in a circle, Shun across from Yuuta, and shared their packed lunches. Still debating over giving or not giving, Yuuta sat there holding his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Shun noticed that Yuuta was spacing out and waved at him, trying to wake him from his daze. The others were having a loud and energetic conversation over one of their teachers, and didn't notice anything. Realizing that Shun was waving his hand in front of him, Yuuta came back to earth. He blushed slightly, embarrassed that he had been so absent-minded, but Shun simply smiled at him. Yuuta wondered how a simple smile could both calm him down and make him even more nervous about the whole present thingy. Maybe Shun expected something and would be disappointed or even angry if he didn't get anything, he thought. Shun always got great presents for his friends and never asked for anything in return.
"Oi! Yuuta! What do you think about that?" Chizuru said loudly, and shoved his face in front of Yuuta's.
The whole day after that Yuuta hadn't found a good moment to give his present to Shun. There were either to many people around, or that girl Masaki consumed all of Shun's attention. He would ask Shun to walk home together and give it to him then, he decided.
"Sorry, but Masaki-chan asked me to stay behind" Shun said with an apologizing smile. "tomorrow would be better." Yuuta simply nodded and left, feeling disappointed.
Shun wondered if he had just hurt Yuuta, it wasn't his intention, but Masaki had asked him first. Though to be honest, he didn't have a good feeling about all of this. He shrugged and made his way to the tiny garden behind the school building where Masaki was already waiting.
She looked extremely nervous and Shun tried to cheer her up and smiled. "You wanted to talk to me?" Masaki blushed and nodded. "I…I wanted to ask you something..:" he avoided eye contact and wrung her hands. "Do you have someone you like?"…
Yuuta was walking home with his brother when suddenly Yuuki stopped. "What's wr…"
"My book…" he cut Yuuta off "I forgot my book, but I have to finish the stuff for the Manga club." Yuuta sighed, knowing what was about to come. "Cou…" "Yes I'll get it for you…" He turned and left, cursing his lazy brother inwardly. He couldn't see Yuuki smiling. When Yuuki had seen his brother leaving the building, he had known that he hadn't given Shun his present. Yuuta had been a bit angry and most disappointed, and as his twin brother it had been easy to spot that. Good thing he had arranged everything for this case. He was about to continue his way home when he saw Masaki running past him. Yuuki pulled out his phone and started typing.
The moment Yuuta had reached the school grounds again, he saw Shun sitting on the stairs in front of the doors. He looked troubled.
"Are you okay? Why are you still here?" he asked sitting down next to him. Shun turned to face him. "It's nothing…" "Masaki went home already?" Shun nodded and got up letting out a shaky sigh. "What are you doing here?" Shun asked, reminding Yuuta of the reason he had originally returned. "Yuuki forgot one of his books, and I came back to get it." Surprised Shun turned around and pulled a book out of his bag. "This one?" Yuuta nodded, wondering why Shun had the book. "Yuuki gave it to me this afternoon." Yuuta sighed annoyed "Wanna go home together now?" Shun asked. Surprised Yuuta got up. "Yes, of course." Shun smiled a bit bitterly and got going.
After walking in uncomfortable silence for a while Yuuta grabbed Shun's sleeve lightly. "Shun you are troubled. Don't you want to talk about it?" Instead of answering Shun slowly walked towards a bench under a tree that stood near. He sat down and patted the seat next to him, gesturing Yuuta to sit down. He did as told and gave Shun an expecting look, encouraging him to talk.
Shun took a deep breath before he finally spoke. "Masaki asked me if I had someone I like… like really like…"
Chizuru walked down the street humming to himself when his phone started ringing. Curiously he opened the message, still walking, but he stopped when he read it. STOP was written in big letters, it was from Yuuki. He was still wondering about it, when suddenly someone rushed past him. He immediately recognized the brown locks. "Mary!" he yelled happily. The girl stopped and turned to see who called her. When she met Chizuru's eyes, though, she quickly turned away again and began running off. Even if all he had caught was a glimpse, he had seen that tears had been running down her face. Without losing another second he ran after her. After about one hundred metres he caught up and grabbed her hand. She cried out as he spun her around. "God, Mary, what happened?" he looked at her, trembling and sobbing. "Let go of me!" he hissed, but her voice was unsteady and husky. He wanted to ask her again, but he knew that she was a stubborn girl, and that she'd never tell her feelings out loud, especially not to him. so instead of talking, he did the next best thing he could. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. At first she tried to put up a fight. But as soon as he started to gently stroke her hair she calmed down a bit. "You don't have to tell me what's wrong, but a girl like you shouldn't cry alone" she started trembling even more and he knew that she would burst into tears again. "What kind of girl am I then, you jerk?" she said angrily clutching his shirt. He chuckled, "A very stubborn, loud and sometimes rude… "He paused for a moment, and he felt himself blushing. "…cute, fragile girl." He thanked god that she couldn't see him. Masaki froze in his arm but then she sobbed loudly and buried her face in his shoulder. He rested his head lightly against hers, smiling into her soft locks.
"She asked you out?" Yuuta asked hesitantly. Shun cocked his head. "Not that directly, but yes I think it was her intention to ask me out." He sighed sadly. "When I told her that I am not sure if I really have someone I like, she smiled at me and left. I wanted to go after her but she told me that she wanted to be left alone, and for the first time it seemed to be for the best to leave her." Yuuta wanted to comfort his friend so bad, but he was at a loss for words. He felt somehow confused, on one hand he was sad that Shun was troubled, but on the other he felt relieved that there was finally clarity in the whole matter.
He studied Shun's face. His usual smile had vanished and he looked down on his hands, eyebrows furrowed.
"You know, Yuuta, I am confused" he looked up straight into Yuuta's eyes. "How would you define love?" Yuuta blinked surprised. "What?" Shun smiled shyly "For instance, I think that you are in love with someone when you can't live without a person and you wish to spend every minute with that person. When you'd give up everything for the sake of that person…" Yuuta smiled at that. The way Shun saw love was somehow very naïve, but perfectly normal for Shun. He leaned back and stared at the sky that had taken a dark blue shade. "I think that love is different" Yuuta said thoughtful "I think that when you love someone it's like you let someone into your world, allowing that person to see your true self, not sharing everything but most aspects of live. I think you know that you love someone, the moment you think about that person and feel happy for no apparent reason."
Shun looked at him wide eyed, blushing just a little bit. For a moment they just sat there in awkward silence, when Yuuta noticed that Shun was shaking lightly. "Are you cold?" Shun nodded smiling embarrassed. Without hesitation, Yuuta slipped out of his coat and draped it around Shun's shoulders. Shun blushed even more, and Yuuta couldn't help but smile. "It's getting dark, want to head home?" he asked, but Shun shook his head. "If it's okay with you, I'd like to stay like this for a bit longer." The redhead leaned back and pulled the coat around him even tighter, closing his eyes. "I don't mind, it's your birthday after all."
Birthday… right, he hadn't given Shun the present yet.
"Shun?" Yuuta asked, and he felt his nervousness increase when Shun opened his eyes and smiled at him.
Yuuta started to pull out something that looked like a pipe for transport, and opened it. "I still haven't given you my present yet, but somehow the timing was always off." Shun's face was red and he held up his hands. "You didn't have to get me anything at all!" Yuuta smiled and carefully pulled out a thick piece of paper. "I didn't buy it." He held out the drawing in front of Shun.
Shun stared at it completely absorbed. "It's so beautiful…" he said after a while. He took it out of Yuuta's hands and studied it even more. It was a child playing in midst of a wild meadow at night. The child was wearing a Kimono and chased butterflies, while the moon shone down on, making the child's red hair glisten faintly. Shun gently traced the child's silhouette, when he realized. "That's me, right?" he asked smiling. Yuuta felt his blood rushing into his cheeks, heating up his whole face. He slowly nodded. Shun put the drawing back into the pipe and turned to face Yuuta.
Yuuta had expected Shun to simply thank him but he wasn't prepared for Shun's arms wrapping around his neck, pulling him into a hug. For a moment he didn't know how to react, but eventually he did the same and wrapped his arms around Shun. They remained like that, longer than necessary and suddenly Yuuta realized that Shun's heart was racing against his. "Thank you, it's perfect." Shun whispered when he pulled back, face flushed. They both sat back normally, side by side.
Shun looked up at the sky. "You know, the scenery is almost the same as the one in the picture."
Yuuta looked up as well.
"I think I know now" Shun said and looked at Yuuta.
Yuuta turned his head to look at Shun.
"Know what?"
Shun looked back up while Yuuta kept studying Shun's face, eyes especially.
"Whether I like a person or not, like really like I mean."
Slowly it dawned upon Yuuta, and he felt his insides curling up in a strange but nice way.
"And? Do you?" he asked, his voice dry and husky.
Closing his eyes, Shun smiled and nodded. Instead of saying anymore he put his left hand over Yuuta's left.
"I just can't tell if that person likes me as well."
Yuuta responded by intertwining their fingers.
Shun smiled at Yuuta and let his head rest against his shoulder.
"So are you going to let me into your world, Yuuta?"
Yuuta chuckled.
"The greater problem would be getting out again…"
When Yuuta got home, his brother was already fast asleep. Yuuta studied him from across the room. His dear brother sometimes was a bit lazy and would appear arrogant and selfish, but deep inside, Yuuki cared so much for all of his friends. He would even go as far as to trick his brother into going back to pick up a book, that he had originally given to the person that Yuuta loved.
Someday, he would return all of those favours, as soon as there was an opportunity.
Yuuki carried his tired self up the stairs the next day, knowing that the others were already waiting on the rooftop.
When he reached them, he immediately noticed the different atmosphere. Shun and Yuuta were sitting very close to each other, deep in conversation, and Masaki was sitting next to Chizuru, bickering and yelling, but still smiling at the beaming blonde. Only Kaname sat there quietly, eating his lunch. Yuuki greeted them and was warmly welcomed by the group as always. He sat down next to Kaname and stole on of his spring rolls earning a smack on the back of his head and a lot of shouting from Kaname.
After finishing, Shun, Yuuta and Masaki headed back. Their classes would start soon. Chizuru accompanied Masaki, promising to return immediately to the now alone Kaname and Yuuki.
As the others made their way down, Yuuki smiled looking at them.
"I'm the real cupid" he muttered to himself, using his hand as gun and shot each of them.
"What did you say?" Kaname asked from behind Yuuki's back.
Yuuki ignored him and his smile faded. All of them were now more or less happy…
What about him?
"What did you say?" Kaname yelled and shook Yuuki. His face turned blank when he saw Yuuki's unhappy face.
Concerned he calmed down. "Are you o…" His question was cut off as Yuuki got up instantly and said, louder this time "I AM THE REAL CUPID!" he raised his arms victorious, leaving Kaname staring confused.
"What is wrong with you?" he muttered.
