Greetings to my loyal readers, this is a one shot to let you know that my Hiatus has come to an end.
(Told in Misaki's point of view)
"Hello bachelors!" I sat in the chair I had been assigned and let out a sigh. My big brother, whom I would love and cherish to hell and back has taken supportive to a whole new level. I had realized my sexuality at the age of 14, after kissing a girl and realizing that I did not feel the way a straight man should. Being terrified of his possible reaction I kept this fact hidden from my brother, asking my female friends if they could pretend to date me in order to keep it secret. One night about a year ago I managed to find the courage, and sat him down. I told him everything as calmly as I could, in all honesty I ended hyperventilating a couple of times. Well it turned out that my worrying was for nothing because all he did was laugh and say "Well at least I can have kids still!" In all honesty it sounds really rude but I think that what my brother meant was that because he was straight and would probably marry someone and have kids, there would not be any bad blood over my sexuality. Or something along those lines, after that conversation we hugged and Niichan told me that he was happy that I told him the truth. Ever since then our relationship has never been any better, of course sometimes he would take things way too far. Buying me magazines with shirtless guys on them or setting up "dates" with guys in his office that happened to have an interest in me.
He decided that I needed to make more gay friends, or friends that supported the homosexual community. That is why I am sitting in this room, which is now holding a speed dating seminar for gay men. There is one for women, however that happened yesterday or is happening later today. I can not remember which one. I am sitting on the outside of the circle, or the area assigned to the Ukes or bottoms. I always thought that I would be a top, however after seeing some of the Semes (or tops) I realized that I could never pin any of these guys down. I watched the other men, surprisingly some of those really tall buff men sat in the Uke chairs as well. Of course, that was their preference. I still felt as though I couldn't move to the seme chairs, especially since almost everyone had been assigned seats based on what box they checked. "Now the rules for this game are very simple." The woman hosting this event began to talk after a five minute long pause, in order to ensure that everyone was seated. "The men outside of the circle are your Ukes, while the men inside of the circle are your Semes. We will have a timer set, every ten minutes this bell will ring and you the semes will move one seat counter clock wise."
I began to kick my feet, a nervous and childish habit of mine that I did when I became anxious. We were not allowed to face our first "date" until the first bell rang and I was becoming very nervous about what kind of guy he was. "Now... SPEED DATE!" The first bell rang and I immediately turned around to see who I was paired with first.
Kusama Nowaki
The name on his tag I noticed meant Typhoon, and of course that drew some curiosity from me. He was quite tall, and muscular. Not to mention he was really cute, I stared at him wide eyed which of course caused him to give a friendly sounding laugh. "My name is Nowaki, and according to your name tag you are Misaki. Is that correct?" I nodded, feeling embarrassed that I did not say the first greeting. "So tell me about yourself Misaki." I cleared my throat, telling him what seemed to be normal to say in these situations. "Well I am 18 years old, I am hoping to attend Mitsuhashi university. I really like to cook, I am also good at cleaning. In my free time I read manga and watch anime." Nowaki was still smiling, I had to admit I thought that he would think I was a boring person. "Won't you tell me about yourself Nowaki?" I looked at the clock, seeing we only had 4 minutes left. "Well Misaki, as a child I was abandoned at an orphanage. A day after a typhoon happened, so of course that is where my name comes from. My entire life I had grown up in that home, taking care of the smaller children and acting as an older brother for all of them. I unfortunately dropped out of school as a first year in high school, in order to get a job and support the orphanage. However I do wish to return and finish my studying, so that I may go to college and become a pediatrician." I couldn't help but to smile, this guy seemed really sweet but he wasn't really my type when it came to dating and I could see it in his eyes that I wasn't his type either. "Well our time is almost up, but you're really interesting to talk too." I quickly wrote my number, and e-mail on one of the index cards they had given us and handed it to him. "Please contact me again Nowaki-san!" He smiled and put the piece of paper into his wallet, closed it and did the same thing. Handing me his number and e-mail address. The bell then rang, and Nowaki moved to the next table.
Keiichi Sumi
My next partner was somewhat taller than me, with slanted mischievous looking eyes and an unwavering grin. "Hello my name is Sumi." He touched my hand, causing me to blush, not because I was attracted to him I just wasn't used to having strangers touching me. "So I heard from over there that you were a fan of anime and manga." Why did this guy listen to my conversation rather than the person he was paired with. "Would you mind telling me what your favorite series are?" He had found my weak point, I could talk for hours about what my favorite series. Especially my all time favorite. "Well I'm a big fan of Za*Kan!" I then began to blab, on and on about how amazing this one series was. Sumi would ask a question and I would immediately answer. I could feel the passion and intensity in my voice as I continued to speak. By the time I was done I could tell by the way Sumi was looking at me I had stars in my eyes. I slowly looked over to the clock and saw to my disappointment that we only had less than a minute left. "I'm so sorry Sumi! I didn't even let you speak!" I bowed deeply as I apologized. "Don't worry Misaki I liked listening to you, you sounded like you were really excited about the topic." He wrote something down and handed it to me. "Text me some time, I'd love to see you again." The bell rang and everyone moved one seat over.
Usami Akihiko
The next guy I was paired with seemed to be highly uncomfortable. He staggered towards the table, and looked at his feet. I looked at his hands, and quickly noticed teeth marks all over the knuckles. "My name is Misaki." I spoke calmly, for some reason he appeared to be terrified of being here. "...ami...ki..ko" He muttered something but I couldn't quite make it out. "Could you repeat that please? You just need to be a little louder." I noticed that he was wearing long sleeves, even though it was summer, actually he was wearing a vest and tie as well. His platinum blonde hair, when put into the correct amount of light appeared silver. "U..ami..kihiko." He muttered again, but I wanted to get his name correct. "One more time?" He looked up and stared at me with glassy violet eyes, the man chewed his pale lips which were trembling from uneasiness. "Usami..Akihiko." I reached into my book bag, seeing how much he was sweating made me concerned about possible dehydration from the man. I took out a water bottle, which was of course unopened and handed it to him. Surprisingly his slow introduction only took two minutes. "Here you look like you need it." He shook his head. "I don't like taking things from other people." I would not take no for an answer. "Take it please, you look like you really need it. I promise you it hasn't even been opened." Akihiko began to chew his lip again and steadily reached out and grabbed it, taking the cap off and drinking the entire thing in just a matter of moments.
"So tell me about yourself Usami-san." The man shook his head and stared at me. "I prefer Usagi, and I don't like to talk to people." I could understand that, sometimes people just aren't comfortable around strangers. "Well what do you like to talk too?"
"I can't tell... you'll laugh at me..."
"I promise I won't laugh."
"That's what everyone says, how do I know you're no different?"
"Because I always keep my promise, I won't laugh."
"... Teddy bears..."
I let out a giggle, not because it was funny but because of how cute it sounded. This tall, masculine, and over all handsome man talked to teddy bears. Who in the hell would not think that was adorable. "I'm sorry for laughing, but that is just the cutest thing I had ever heard." I noticed a small smile come from him, and he nodded. "So just pretend that I'm a teddy bear and talk to me." Usagi-san nodded and began to speak calmly, his deep voice sending poetic vibes into my ears. He told me how he was a recovering alcoholic, and how he had spent many years in different foster homes. Due to the fact that his parents were not giving him the proper care he required. I felt as though I was learning way too much, but I didn't care because I felt a connection with this man. He told me how he had recently gotten a novel published, and that it was extremely popular. He also told me how he was the youngest son of the Usami corporations CEO. Without us realizing it the bell rang, and we could not help but to look at each other with disappointment in our eyes. "I guess we have to move on." I looked to the ground, and suddenly heard Usami chuckle. "We're adults aren't we?" He gripped my hand and stared at me. "Why don't we just leave, and go get ourselves some coffee." I held his hand in return and nodded, before being lead out of the room.
So I know that Usagi-san is really OOC in this story, but because of how anti-social he was in the manga series I thought that it would be interesting to explore his own not so confident side. I think that like many people he may be extremely shy at first, however his confidence will build as he makes friends. Or becomes comfortable around people.
