It took Yuuta about 15 minutes to get to the school and into the office where they'd be celebrating the birthday. It took about five minutes to apologize profusely about not being able to attend the actual party for very personal reasons that his coworkers felt no need to ask about, smiling and insisting he go on ahead. It took about 10 minutes to sprint back to the cake shop, and as he slowed down to a jog, he noticed Shun waiting outside the shop just as Yuuta told him to, sitting against the cake shop's walls and hugging his knees as though he were a child.
"I'm back", he called out, trying to not appear insanely out of breath in front of his old childhood friend. As though he were just waking up, Shun jumped up from his position, nearly falling back down as the vertigo hit him. As he took a few seconds to lean against the wall and sort himself up, he stood up straight, smiling brightly, almost in disbelief as he trotted over to Yuuta.
"You ran to make it in time", Shun commented, and Yuuta would've quickly disagreed had he not seen the warmth that radiated from Shun's smile, "I didn't think at first that you" he halted, looking down in what seemed to be embarrassment, " I wasn't really sure if you'd come back or not, honestly".
And just looking at this person who he used to be so close to, and seeing how truly nervous they felt, fidgeting and looking anywhere but directly at Yuuta's eyes, it reminded him yet again how truly painful it was to revisit the past, even if the past with someone held nothing but beautiful memories.
"Ah, about the drink" Shun averted his gaze yet again, a smile still playing on his face as he bit his lip, "I haven't gone for anything too strong in a while, so please be patient with me".
And try as he might, Yuuta couldn't prevent a blush from lightly painting itself across his face. Shun was always incredibly beautiful in an androgynous sense, to the point that many who didn't know him personally would occasionally assume he was a female. Now, with these years of experience and the fact that he almost seems aware of his effeminate appearance, using it to his advantage, it was incredibly hard to see the person before him as just a friend.
"I'll go slow so you can keep up", he replies with a false sense of ease. Shun seems to accept the almost flirty response with a flushed smile. Yuuta mentally thanked himself for concealing enough of his emotions to appear somewhat calm and cool, but this would surely deteriorate once they actually began drinking.
On the walk to the bar, Yuuta thought back to the coy, almost arousing glance Shun threw at him earlier. Did this once innocent child, terrified even at the prospect of kissing in high school, really go far enough to be aware of his own air of sexuality? Who even helped him discover this? A woman? Perhaps even a man? Yuuta knew already of the small, mostly long distant relationship Shun had with that woman from Kyoto, but was there anyone else who had the experience, the pleasure of teaching Shun about how truly alluring he could be?
And honestly, he would've contemplated these thoughts more, not only that, he would've openly voiced these opinions had his jealousy and fear of Shun confirming these facts not kept his mouth shut. As he and Shun entered the small, sort of quiet old bar, they were quick to order their drinks, and Yuuta was relieved to see Shun ordering wine, rather than some sort of lard liquor.
"Stop staring", Shun murmured playfully, covering his smile with a hand that was nearly engulfed by his oversized sleeve, leaving only the tips of his fingers to peek out over the cloth, "I told you I'm not very good with strong alcohol".
Yuuta smiled softly and replied, "It's alright, I was actually sort of glad. I took you as someone who would drink wine, so if you did any differently I'd be a little disappointed with myself". Yuuta then went on to order a Scotch on the rocks for himself, along with about four shots, because why the hell not? It was a Friday, it's not like they had much to do, and if he was going to be incredibly honest with himself, he was sort of in the mood to see an inebriated Shun.
"So", Shun began, allowing himself to peer at Yuuta's face through his long lashes that were incredibly dark against his light skin, "How has everything been? We haven't actually talked like this in a while have we?" His words were polite, formal as ever, and Yuuta wanted so badly to feel a biting passive aggression packaged along with Shun's tone but the only negative emotion he could truly detect was a hint of sadness, perhaps apprehension.
"I apologize, there really was not excuse to drop contact with you" He lied smoothly, swishing the golden liquid and letting the clink of the ice chunk sooth him, "But enough about this, how are you and, I apologize for forgetting her name-"
"Hinako and I broke up before I started college" Shun finished the statement before quickly finishing his first glass of wine. He poured himself another, a distant smile on his face, "She was a sweet girl, but that was all I saw. I realized quite soon after we established ourselves that I didn't really see her in the way she wanted me to".
Yuuta nodded, satisfied with the subtle answer.
"And you and Takahashi? I know that you two had a relationship of sorts back in high school!" Shun asked, his voice lighter, airier, more jovial than it had been before the wine glass touched his lips. If Yuuta remembered correctly, he was sure that this was Shun's fourth glass. The shots arrived, finally, and Yuuta did what he'd consider somewhat of a trademark smirk, pushing two of them Shun's way.
"Well, for one, I ended things with her quite a while ago, and two, you're going to have to help me with these". God, he was almost disgusted with himself, acting like some sort of womanizer towards someone he considered a best friend, but the way Shun reciprocated, leaning forward, bashfully looking away, all the while peeking up at Yuuta's face, allowing his long sweater (still spotted with flour) to slightly fall off the shoulder. He wasn't making it easy to be the innocent high school boy from before, Yuuta reasoned, nor was he planning on reverting to a self he yearned to forget.
Prior to the two shots, Shun was already sort of drunk, trying to suppress his laughter with sleeve-covered hands. About five to 10 minutes after the two shots, however, this kid was quite obviously on his way to being totally fucking plastered.
"But surely", Shun said in a loud, giggle-infested voice, "Surely the Great and Beautiful Yuuta-sama wouldn't have just stopped at Takahashi, right? Surely you found some women to at least sleep around with?" The child who was once unaware about kissing was now questioning Yuuta's sex life and this complete 180 made Yuuta nearly die of hysterics and scream in total relief. He no longer felt a need to act like the 17 year old, stoic big brother who left at some point of his life during college. To this quite obviously matured and near hypersexual stranger, he was going to act as he did with most people he found attractive. He was, mostly likely by the end of the night, going to fuck Shun. The past truly never felt so distant.