The Right to Remain Silent
Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade and I don't make money with this.
After the last world tournament the former Bladebreakers all went their own ways. Max and Kenny went into developing new Beyblade technologies, Tyson was training up-and-coming Beyblade talents and Ray was traveling the world in search of inspiration for new Bey-Dishes.
Kai, however, had chosen a completely different path. He'd graduated high school with honors and gotten accepted to a prestigious university in California.
Kai had never been the talkative one, so naturally he didn't write often, let alone call. The first couple of months the guys could keep up with Kai's college life through the media. After a while the excitement around the famous Beyblader now being a college student calmed down, though.
Thus, this source of information was lost.
Many months passed without as much as a word from Kai. So one night his former teammates came up with a plan:
The guys had made it a habit to meet every other Saturday at Tyson's place. Even now that they weren't active Bladers they were still good friends and wanted to stay close to each other. With all their different schedules, this was the way to go.
Tonight was one of those nights. Drinks and snacks were stacked on the couch table and the boys were slouched on the couches around in front of the TV. Even Ray who was often absent due to his travels had managed to join.
Kenny and Max were telling the others about a new defense ring they were working on. Then it was Ray's turn to talk about his latest trip to Brasil.
"So we had been walking through the rain forest for hours," Ray said. "It was an ordeal. There's nothing fun about the rain forest – it's hot, it's humid, it's deadly. And then we saw this group of monkeys. I wanted to take a closer look and what did that damn monkey do? It peed on me! Had the audacity to laugh at me, too!"
Max and Kenny burst out laughing.
Ray went on, "Really, I had no words. What a rude little guy. Anyways, I was thinking a rain forest dish would definitely be a challenge. One could combine forest, humidity and some river or lake with a waterfall to make it trickier. What do you think, Tyson? Tyson? Earth to Tyson, are you listening?"
Tyson was staring at the TV. A documentary on California's landscape was on.
A well placed kick from Max snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Ouch, what the…?"
"Now he's listening," Max said very content.
Tyson shot him a look, rubbing the sore spot where Max had kicked him.
He turned back to the TV.
"Has anyone heard from Kai?" he asked, trying to sound cheerful but failing miserably.
Ray instantly new what this was about.
"Oh no, Ty. Don't tell me you're still-…"
"Of course I'm not!" Tyson interrupted forcefully.
"Yes, we can tell Tyson…" Kenny observed.
"Okay. Fine. Maybe I still am in love with him!" Tyson admitted. "It's kinda hard to get over it without ever getting it out of your system. But Mr.-high-and-mighty just had to leave the country and never visit or at least send any sign of life!" He was getting more and more angry with every word.
The other guys all looked equally concerned.
A couple moments everyone remained silent.
Then a broad smile appeared on Max's face.
"I know," he said cheerfully. "If Kai won't come home, we'll just take you to him to confess!"
"Huh?" the other three said in unison.
"We'll fly to California and visit the old sour-puss!" Max beamed.
And so it was decided.
They missed Kai. They wanted to support Tyson in finally confessing his love to Kai. Also, they really wanted to see California.
They were going to visit Kai!
Finally the day had come when Tyson, Ray and Max arrived in the US. Kenny hadn't been able to join. He just couldn't leave his work, for he felt 'so close to a major breakthrough'.
Their flight had been delayed due to the fog in the San Francisco area. This seemed to happen quite a lot. But finally the fog had cleared and now the guys were standing outside the San Francisco airport, blinking into the California sun.
While Tyson was running back and forth taking photos Max called a cab for them.
"Ty, get in the car! We have to hurry if we wanna catch Kai before his class," Ray said.
Tyson came running and got into the backseat with Ray. He was fidgeting around on his seat, holding on tightly to his camera.
Ray gave him a smile.
"Are you nervous to meet him again?"
"Like hell!" Tyson admitted. "But I'm also super excited."
They had light traffic so the ride only took about half an hour. Max paid the cabbie and they boys grabbed their luggage and walked onto campus.
"Okay. So far, so good," Mai said. "Only this minor problem: how on earth are we supposed to find Kai here? There are hundreds of students."
"Admittedly, it might not have been the best idea to catch him here before class," Rai shrugged. "But Tyson here wanted to see Kai a.s.a.p."
Tyson wasn't listening. He had been scanning the crowd, looking for the familiar black and grey shock of hair. And suddenly, there he was. Without paying attention to Ray and Max Tyson started to run.
"Kaaaiii!"
The person turned around. Tyson stopped dead in his tracks, causing Ray and Max to bump into him. Three pairs of jaws dropped simultaneously. Was this really Kai?!
Taking a closer look, Tyson came to a conclusion: The guy in front of them was Kai alright. However, he didn't look at all like the bad-ass Blader he used to be.
This Kai was wearing large thick-rimmed glasses and a school hoodie, had a leather bag hanging from his shoulder, a huge pile of books under one arm and a large coffee to go in his other hand.
He looked like a total geek!
"Kai? Oh my god, is that you?" Max asked.
"Man, what happened to you?" Ray added.
"You totally look like Kenny!" Tyson blurted out.
Ray and Max simultaneously knocked their elbows into Tysons's sides.
"Ouch, err, you look real smart is what I meant to say."
It took a couple moments for Kai to process what was happening. Here he was on his way to class, minding his own business, when suddenly his old team showed up in front of him. On campus. In California. This was so bizarre. Is he hadn't been drinking coffee all morning he would have thought he was dreaming.
"What are you guys doing here?" Kai finally managed to ask.
"Oh, nice to see you too, mate," Ray said and gave him a brief hug.
Max, too, lunged himself at Kai. "It's sooo cool to see you again, Kai!"
Tyson was about to follow Max' example, but reconsidered with a look onto Kai's face. Kai looked as if he was either going to die from embarrassment or murder someone. Good to know not everything had changed.
Tyson settled for a smile and a thumbs-up towards Kai.
Finally Max and Ray released Kai.
"So, um, you're staying in the area?" Kai asked and sat his glasses straight.
"Yeah, we're staying in a hotel close to your apartment. We'll go check in now and stop by your place later? We know you don't have classes tomorrow, so don't go making excuses," Ray replied.
Kai was about to ask how he knew this. Then it hit him. There was only one person he had been talking to lately. Mainly because that person would purposely call in the middle of the night or come up with other things to annoy the hell out of him if he didn't reply to his mails. But that was a different story.
"Tala!"
"Bingo."
"That bastard."
"Excuse me?"
"Nevermind. I gotta get to class. I guess I'll see you after."
And with this Kai hurried into the building.
Kai usually was a paying attention in class. Most of his classes were very interesting and he happily followed the lectures. He liked going to university.
Today however, it was hopeless. Kai was unable to focus even a bit on what his professor was saying. He tried, really, but every time he forced his attention on today's lecture, his mind wandered back to his former teammates; his friends, who had suddenly appeared on campus. And to one friend in particular.
Tyson.
Kai felt himself smile at the thought. Yes, he had missed Tyson. He might be an annoying, ever eating brat, but he was a brat who made Kai's heart beat faster.
When Kai first realized he'd fallen in love with Tyson of all people he'd been terrified. He didn't know how to deal with his feelings. What if Tyson didn't like him back? There was no way, right? And what if he did like him back? Kai had never been in a meaningful relationship. He was bound to mess things up. So Kai went the easy way and buried himself in his studies, graduated high school early and went to study abroad.
He really was a coward, wasn't he?
So now Tyson was here. Whichever hope Kai had had to have fallen out of love was destroyed within the blink of an eye. Just one look at Tyson brought everything back. And what a look it was. Tyson had grown taller and more muscular since he last saw him. He was damn hot!
Kai looked down on himself. And he really did look like Kenny.
Oh, just perfect. What the hell was he supposed to do now?
Meanwhile Tyson was waiting outside the lecture room. He asked the other's to go on ahead. Tyson wanted to accompany Kai back to his apartment and maybe set a few things straight on the way. Ray and Max had understood. They'd taken Tyson luggage with them and gone to check them into their hotel.
Now Tyson was walking back and forth in front of the lecture room.
Hell, he was so nervous! His heart was beating so hard, he was sure it would jump out of his chest any second. Tyson wiped his sweaty palms on his shorts.
Today was the day. He would finally confess to Kai. This was a good thing, right? No matter how it would go. If things would go really bad, he could just go back to Japan, pretend it had never happened and hope to never see Kai again. A little cliché, but it had been proven to be efficient. And who knew, maybe … No, he couldn't get his hopes up. For all he knew, Kai could be banging a different chick every night. Eww, no, he shouldn't be thinking about this. Eww, no, really not.
Tyson spent a couple more minutes walking back and forth, trying hard to erase the mental picture.
He finally was released by the end of class.
The door opened and students hurried from the room. Tyson quickly took a step back so he wouldn't get trampled down by this stampede.
Where was Kai? After what seemed like an eternity to Tyson, Kai emerged from the lecture room. But Kai wasn't alone. There were to guys chatting with him.
As they were getting closer, Tyson was able to catch part of their conversation. Apparently Kai had been called upon in class and only given half the answer.
Tyson heard one of the guys say, "Haha, I would be, like, making up some excuse, but no, not Kai. Kai says 'I'd like to exercise my right to remain silent.' Hilarious, man."
He was standing a little too close to Kai for Tyson's liking. And now he was touching him, too! Okay, it was a slap on the back, but still. Why didn't Kai do something about it? He even smiled at him! Kai never smiled. It was time for Tyson to interfere.
"Hey yo, Kai!" he called out and waved at Kai.
Kai looked up and his eyes widened in surprise. He quickly said goodbye to his classmates and walked over to Tyson.
"Um, hi," Kai greeted.
"Hi," Tyson replied.
For a moment they just stood there, awkwardly, and looked at each other.
"I, err, I thought I'd walk over to your apartment with you," Tyson then said.
Kai adjusted his glasses.
"That's … nice. Um, shall we?"
"Yeah."
In silence they walked across the yard and onto the street.
Kai pointed ahead.
"Let's take the way through the park."
Tyson just nodded. Park sounded good. Park sounded like few people. Also, wasn't a walk in the park kind of romantic? Tyson thought so.
"Say, Kai?"
"Hn?"
"Those guys earlier, who are they?"
Kai shrugged.
"Just classmates."
Tyson huffed.
"Yeah right, just classmates. That one guy came awfully close to be just a classmate, don't you think? And since when do you go around smiling at people?"
Kai gave Tyson a surprised look. What did he get so worked up about? This was California. People here were over-the-top friendly and at some point this was bound to rub off on him.
Could it be that Tyson was… no. He couldn't be jealous, could he?
Kai was about to tell Tyson this, but was stopped by a flood of words.
"Oh great, the silent treatment," Tyson said furiously. "You know, I really, really hate this. You never visit. You never sent as much as a word. All we know of your life here we learned from the goddamn newspaper. We're your friends Kai. We missed you. I missed you. You don't know what it did to me when you just left the country from one day to another. I never got the chance to-…"
Tyson stopped abruptly. He clenched his shaking fingers into fist. It was now or never.
He looked up, straight into Kai's eyes. Those beautiful crimson eyes.
Tyson swallowed down his fear and softly said, "I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into me. It's just that seeing someone so close to you made me really mad. I want to be the one close to you, Kai. I want to be the one you smile at. I've been trying to figure out how to say this for so long now. After you left, I never got the chance to say it. Kai, I love you. I love you so very much."
When Kai only stared at him, Tyson just kept on talking.
"So, that's basically why I'm here. I just needed to tell you. You don't have to reply right away. You can take your time. Just not, you know, months. It would be great to know whether I should consider going into hiding to mend a broken heart or maybe by a plane ticket to San Francisco, because-…"
At this point Kai finally realized what just had happened. He first was convinced that he was imagining things. Now he knew he wasn't. He carelessly dropped his bag and his books on the ground and moved closer to Tyson.
"You know, you too have the right to remain silent, Tyson," Kai said.
And then he leaned in and kissed Tyson.
It was the most amazing feeling. Tyson had kissed other people before, but nothing compared to kissing Kai. He threw his arms around Kai and pulled him closer. Tyson felt Kai's hand cup his face, his thumbs stroking his cheeks.
They kissed for what felt like a wonderful eternity until they had to break apart for some air.
The cheeks bright red Tyson smiled at Kai, who was breathing as hard as Tyson was.
"Is that a yes, you love me too, Kai?" he asked.
"Hn," Kai said with the hint of a smile.
"Say it."
"Yes, I love you, too, Tyson!"
It was like fireworks exploding in his stomach. Tyson's face lit up and this time he closed the gap between the, and put his lips against Kai's.
Only meters away, two guys were crouched behind the bushes.
"Dammit Maxie," Ray whispered. "Why did we dive for the bushes when we saw them walk our way?"
"I don't know. I was following an instinct." Max winced. "Anyways, we're way past the point now where we could have shown ourselves."
"Dear god, we could be here for hours. Don't they need to breathe? My leg's cramping. But I'm very happy for them."
"Yeah same here. I just wish they'd carry on somewhere else…"
They both sighed and tried to find a more comfortable position.
A/N: Thanks for reading this! My first TyKa-fanfiction - what do you think?
I was thinking about writing another chapter. Review if you'd like one!
Until next time,
NoEarlyBird