2

Keita leaned against one of the shower walls, letting the hot water cascade over him, and began to cry. He wasn't sure what had just happened between him and Keizou. He didn't want to understand. He turned the water temperature up higher, almost to the point where it was burning his skin. He wanted every bit of the experience to burn up and be washed away, for the shower's built up steam to cloud his brain and erase his memories.

He had been violated and stripped of dignity. The bond of friendship that was built upon an adventure of grand proportions had been broken. And worst of all, there was a part of himself that enjoyed it. He loved the way Keizou had been rough in dominating and pinning him down yet gentle when sliding his hand down and examining his body; he could still feel the echoes of Keizou's warm, slightly rough touch. Under the bright summer sun Keizou's tanned body glowed, his firm ass growing even more taught and bubbling when it got closer. His warm breathe still whispered across his dick.

He slid down onto his knees and his soft crying began to grow into loud sobs. He couldn't have gotten aroused like that. Not by a boy. But he did. It didn't feel right. It didn't feel wrong. What would happen if someone found out? What would his parents and friends think? Would Fumi ever even give him a chance? Would he even want the chance now? He felt himself as a perverse abomination, and believed with all his heart that everyone else would feel the same. Maybe he could find the confidence to hide it. Doubt filled his head that he couldn't. He covered his mouth with his hand as his sobs grew louder.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Keita?" It was his mom. His heart skipped a beat and his breathing stopped. Had she heard him? If so she would be sure to ask what was wrong. He didn't feel stable enough to tell a convincing lie. "Kanchi is on the phone. He said you were supposed to sleep over at his house tonight and was wondering why you hadn't shown up yet. Why are you in the shower if you have plans made? Should I tell him to cancel?"

Keita let out a shaky sigh and then inhaled deeply. Due to the day's events he had completely forgotten about the sleep over. He opened his mouth to tell his mom to cancel, but then he remembered that the sleep over was to be just him and Kanchi as Kuma was grounded because he had gotten a bad grade on exam that he had promised his parents he'd do well on. He had known Kanchi for as long as he could remember, and if there was anyone he could trust a secret this big to it would be Kanchi. He took a few deep breaths. "I just fell in some mud on the way home so I wanted to get cleaned up before I went over to his house. Tell him I'll be there soon."

"Alright. Hurry up so you don't keep him waiting any longer."

Keita turned off the shower, stepped out, and began to towel himself off. Once dry he dressed himself and then turned to the mirror to brush his hair. He rubbed enough steam off the mirror to be able to see his head and took a moment to just stare at the puffy, red, bloodshot eyed face before him. "You're disgusting," he muttered. He quickly fixed his hair up and left the bathroom.

As he entered into his room he noticed that Jibanyan and Whisper weren't there. For once they must have had somewhere else to be. He was surprised that Whisper could have plans of any sort, but his mind was too busy to care; it was just relieving to not have to deal with them at the moment. He quickly gathered everything he would need for the sleep over, stuffed it into his backpack, and headed downstairs.

As he was putting on his shoes he heard his mom call out from behind him. He didn't dare turn around; there was no way he'd be set free if his mom saw the remnants of his break down in his face. "How long will you be over there?"

"Just until tomorrow afternoon. I'll be sure to be home before dinner."

"Okay. Be on your best behavior. Don't give the Imadas any trouble, you hear me?"

"Okaaaaay. I'll behave."

"Alright then. Have a good time!" Keita began to reach for the doorknob. "I love you Keita."

He paused. Any other day he would've given his mom some quip about being too mushy, but today he didn't. A weary smile appeared on his face. "I love you too mom." With that he exited the house, got onto his bike, and pedaled as fast as he could to Kanchi's house.

Although he wasn't too far away Kanchi still lived in a complete separate neighborhood from Keita that was known as the rich side of town. His parents had well-paying jobs – doing what, Keita couldn't remember – so his family was able to live an extremely comfortable life. That never showed in his personality though. He was as humble and kind as could be, albeit a little bit of know-it-all and a complete techno geek. Smart as a whip too, with grades just about everyone in their class envied. He did his best to help Keita with studying every now and then, but Keita's average grade-schooler attention span didn't allow much to stick.

He was finally at Kanchi's doorstep. He took a few deep breaths and put on the best smile he could, hoping that face was no longer puffy and red. He rang the doorbell and Kanchi quickly answered. "You're finally here! Took you long enough. Hurry up and get inside!" Kanchi had a huge grin stretching across his face.

"What's the rush?"

"Just hurry up inside and I'll show you." He grabbed Keita by the wrist and began to pull him inside and up to his room almost making Keita trip and fall as he rushed to kick his shoes off at the door. As he led Keita up the steps he turned his head around for a moment. "You're gonna love this." They quickly made it to his room and he motioned for Keita to sit on top of his bed. Without letting Keita see he grabbed an item off of his desk and hid it behind his back. "Guess what we'll being doing tonight."

"Watching TV? Eating junk food?" Keita's answers were somewhat slow and flat, but Kanchi was too excited to notice.

Kanchi shook his head and wagged his finger. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sure, we'll probably do those things. But what else?"

"Play video games then?"

Kanchi's face lit up. "Bingo bingo bingo! But not just any video game." He brought out what was behind his back. "We'll be playing Level-Go's newest game: 'Lightening Eleven: Raimei Version! I have an uncle who is one of the head developers of the game and he was able to get me a copy a few weeks early. Amazing, right? I've been so excited to show you!"

"Yeah, that's… pretty cool." Keita said in an almost monotone voice.

Kanchi frowned. "I thought you would be more excited about it. We've been talking about it for weeks now. You were really excited to get to play with a cast of new characters."

"Don't get me wrong, I still am. It's just…well, a lot has happened today and it's kinda been stuck in my head."

"I'm here for you man. Talk to me, maybe I can help."

"Well, what happened was." Keita paused and shook his head. "Actually, never mind, let's play that game."

Kanchi could sense how troubled Keita was. He sat down next to Keita and put his hand on Keita's shoulder. "What's wrong Keita? You know you can trust me."

Keita turned to face him. "I-I don't know if I should."

"If not me, then who? Keeping your emotions bottled up isn't good." He gave Keita a solemn smile. "Remember, at my last birthday party? You helped me realize how unhealthy it is, and how good it felt to get your true feelings off your chest. You were there for me then, so I want to be here for you now."

Keita gave him a weak smile that quickly faded away. "Okay. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. This is just between the two of us."

Kanchi made a zipper motion across his mouth with his fingers. "I promise not to tell a soul. You have my word."

Keita took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Well… Well a friend told me something strange happened to him."

"Who? Was it someone from our class?"

"N-no. It's nobody you'd know. Anyways he told me that someone… someone did some sexual stuff to him."

"Oh?" Kanchi gave a mischievous grin. "Doesn't sound bad to me so far."

"It was against his will." Kanchi's face quickly became serious again. "And…and it was done by another boy."

"Man, that is pretty bad. Is your friend okay?"

"Y-yeah. He's fine now. But it gets worse."

"How could it get worse than that?!"

"Well, m-my friend told me he… he kind of liked it. And now I don't know if I can be friends with him anymore."

"How come?"

"B-boys aren't supposed to like other boys. It's wrong!"

Kanchi cocked his head. "How so?"

Keita mentally reeled back from his friend's response. He wasn't sure how Kanchi would react, but he didn't imagine it'd be like this. "Well, boys liking other boys is wrong, right?"

"Who told you that?"

"N-no one. Boys are just supposed to like girls, right? My friend should be liking girls like Fumi, not other boys."

"Ah, I see." Kanchi stared intensely into Keita's eyes. "Well that's wrong."

Keita hung his mouth open in shock. "I-it is?

"Mhm. You love your dad right? And-"

Keita cut him off. "Well yeah, of course I do, he's one of my parents. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just let me finish. And you love me, right?"

Keita blushed deeply and turned his head away from Kanchi. "Of course not!" He paused and turned his head back to Kanchi. "Well, maybe. I guess I do. I love having you as a friend."

Kanchi smiled. "Do you see what I mean? Love has a lot of different shapes. Especially romantic love. Who cares what some people here and there say? It's your personal feelings that count. And I don't see any problem with two boys liking each other. Maybe you shouldn't either. That's up to you, of course. I can't force you to believe in something if you don't want to."

"I…I don't know. It just doesn't feel right."

Without a moment's notice Kanchi leaned in, kissed Keita on the lips briefly, and pulled back, blushing. "Does it still not feel right?" Keita just stared at him in shock. A period of silence began to drag between the two of them. Kanchi frowned and dropped his head into his hands. "I-I'm sorry Keita. I shouldn't have done that. I… ugh, I'm so stupid! Keita I'm so-"

"Kanchi?" Kanchi looked up. "No, it doesn't." Tears began to well in Keita's eyes. He quickly leaned in and embraced Kanchi. "I feel much better now."

Kanchi returned the hug. "Glad to hear that." Keita began to cry as he buried his face into the nape of Kanchi's neck. He felt warm. He felt safe. He held Kanchi tighter. For a long moment the two boys just held each other, Keita releasing his once pent up frustration and confusion, and Kanchi softly rubbing his back while he did so. After a while Kanchi spoke up again. "Hey Keita, I'm fine with hugging and all, but your snot is starting to seep through my shirt and it feels really gross."

Keita pulled away and gave an embarrassed laugh. "I'm sorry."

Kanchi laughed in return. "Don't worry about it." He reached over and grabbed a few tissues from his nightstand and handed them to Keita. "Here."

Keita blew his nose and few times and tossed the tissues into a nearby trash bin. "So… How did you know I was talking about myself and not a friend?"

"As your best friend I had my suspicions. Plus you mentioned that 'your friend' should like a girl like Fumi. That was the giveaway. You're kind of a bad liar."

Keita chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I am." Emotionally exhausted, he fell back and laid on the bed, and Kanchi followed suite. "Hey Kanchi."

"Yeah?"

"Does this mean you like boys?"

"You mean am I gay? Maybe. I'm not sure yet." He gave a warm smile. "But I do know for sure that I like you." Keita blushed and smiled back. "What about you?"

"I guess I'm - what was the word?"

"Gay"

"Well I guess I'm gay. I think. That kiss was pretty nice. Do you think you could-"

"Do it again? You don't have to ask me twice." Kanchi rolled over and cradled the back of Keita's head in his hand. He closed his eyes as he moved in closer and kissed Keita deeply, lingering as the two savored the moment.

Kanchi pulled away. Keita could practically feel the hearts form in his pupils. "Yeah, I definitely think I'm gay." The two smiled at each other. Keita let out a yawn, the mental exhaustion finally catching up to him and becoming physical.

Kanchi stretched and yawned in response. "I guess it is getting a bit late. Wanna call it a night?"

"But we haven't even done anything fun yet. We haven't even opened that new game!"

Kanchi waved his hand dismissingly. "Eh, that can wait for tomorrow."

"But I'll be going home tomorrow before we even get a chance to get into it."

Kanchi began to bashfully poke his two index fingers together. "Well you can stay the whole weekend if you want."

Keita lit up. "Really?! Let me just call my mom and ask if it's okay." Kanchi handed him his phone from the nightstand and Keita quickly punched in his home's number. His mother picked up after only a few rings.

"Hello, Amano residence."

"Hey mom, it's me. Is it okay if I stay over at Kanchi's place for the rest of the weekend?"

"Well… I suppose it's okay, so long as his parents don't mind."

Keita held his hand over the receiver. "She wants to know if your parents are okay with this."

"Don't tell her this, but my parents are actually both away on a business trip. They gave me some money for food and left me here by myself for the weekend."

Keita took his hand off of the receiver and let out a huge grin. "His parents said it was A-OK."

"Then I have no problems with you staying the weekend. Have fun honey. Just be sure to be back by Sunday evening. Your father should be back from his business trip by then."

"I will," Keita exclaimed excitedly, and he hung up the phone. "Well, since we have the extra time now I guess it's okay to go to bed." The two boys quickly changed into their pajamas and Kanchi set up a spare futon on the floor for Keita to use. He cut out the light, and both boys laid down.

"Good night Keita."

"Good night."

Keita shut his eyes and laid still. After ten or so minutes he found that he couldn't sleep and began to lightly shuffle around in his futon to try and find a comfortable spot. Kanchi heard the ruckus and rolled over to edge of his bed and peeked his head over it. "Are you uncomfortable?"

Not wanting to offend his host Keita shook his head. "No no, I'm fine. Just doing a lot of reflecting on today, y'know?"

"Well if you ever are uncomfortable you can always share the bed with me. Only if you want to, of course. There's plenty of room for two."

"No, really, I'm fine."

"If you insist." Kanchi rolled back over. Keita stared at the ceiling and spent a few minutes mulling it over in his head. He finally gave in, hopped into the bed, and nestled himself against Kanchi, hugging his back. Kanchi didn't reject him and snuggled up closer to him, placing his hand on top of Keita's. The two boys' breaths became rhythmic and their heartbeats became one. Quickly, and softly, they drifted off to sleep.