Chapter Seven

Chihiro stepped out beneath the small awning outside the restaurant, clutching his bag against his chest. The temperature had dropped dramatically and the rain was falling heavier than before. He considered walking back to the academy as riding back on the motorcycle would not only hurt, but he would have the burden of awkwardly clinging to his boyfriend while being mad at him. But the rain was heavy and surely he would get sick. He glanced back through the window of the restaurant, seeing Mondo speaking as calmly as possible with the waitress, most likely trying to explain their quick departure. He was visibly upset, his shoulders slumped over heavily as he yanked his part of dinner from his wallet, handing it to the waitress. And then he stood. Chihiro looked away, anxiously clutching his bag. He could run now and maybe make it far enough that Mondo wouldn't see him. He knew an apology was in order from both of them, but for once, Chihiro knew he wasn't going to be able to muster one up. He was too upset. Too angry at Mondo for lying... and so broken up about ruining their first date.

The door swung open and Mondo immediately stormed over, placing a very firm hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, forcing him to face him. "What is wrong with you?" he yelped through the forceful rain just outside the awning. "We were having a good time, then you had to just blow up like that."

"Junko had done my makeup for tonight," he offered quietly, his small body trembling under Mondo's fingertips. He looked up, craning his neck in attempts to keep a stiff glance up at his boyfriend, but every time they met eyes, he found himself trying to pay attention to something else. He hated seeing Mondo's eyes so dark. "And she told me everything."

"She doesn't matter!" Mondo then shot back, shaking Chihiro slightly. The smaller boy pulled away, his fingers pressing deeper into the cushy fabric of his clutch.

"She does matter! She won't leave me alone! And you're too scared to say anything to get her to stop!" the boy yelled as loud as his little voice would carry. Even through the rain and the cars drifting by, his mousy voice was heard loud and clear. Mondo stared at him for a long while with his lips slightly parted, searching his brain for a comeback. But like in the restaurant, he couldn't seem to force anything out as he knew he had been caught and there was no use fighting it. "She harasses me all the time... I tell her to stop, but she won't listen. Because she's jealous of me... or something... for being with you."

The man brought a hand over his mouth and anxiously rubbed at his chin before turning away, crossing his arms over his strong chest. Chihiro stood awkwardly in place, letting his arms fall just a little bit, bringing his defense down. He knew Mondo was angry, but it had been a long while since he had hurt anyone out of anger. Chihiro didn't want to the be the one to spark the violence. "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to bring her up. I know how much she pisses you off," he admitted, scratching restlessly at the back of his head, messing up his ponytail a bit.

"It makes me angrier that I found out now when you could have told me before," the boy shot back with a spat of animosity on his tongue. "And that you so actively denied being with her in the first place! Because you hide everything! You're too afraid to tell anyone anything that's important to you!" Chihiro reached out and firmly tapped his finger into Mondo's chest, his big, hazel eyes deepening in bitterness. They narrowed, tears brimming along the bottom lids as he felt his feeble body begin to shake. The rage from being lied to, the guilt of targeting his boyfriend, and the anguish of knowing he just wasn't worth the truth was enough to drive him to the edge. "You can't spend your whole life hiding!"

And with that, he pushed past Mondo and dashed into the heavy rain towards the tall building of the academy looming in the distance. The droplets beat onto his face and he held clutch over his forehead, although it didn't do much to aid his vision. The tears had spilled over and the pavement beneath his feet was just a blurry, wet mess. But he heard nothing around him. He didn't hear Mondo call out. Didn't hear the cars rushing past him. Even the sound of the rain was beginning to drown away. His heart was the only thing he heard. His heart telling him that even though he had the courage to call out Mondo on his faults, he was still running away like it would solve his own.

Eventually his breath hitched in his throat as his legs burned from the sprint through the rain. He slowed, his feet pattering against the damp sidewalk as he tried to catch his breath. His shoulders slumped forward and he leaned his head down, the rain hastily dripping from his hair. He was sure all of Junko's hard work was now leaking down his face. Not that it mattered. He didn't really care to impress Mondo anymore now that he had ruined their date. Taking a long, shaking breath, he huddled his arms against his chest, straying towards the right to remain under the awnings of the buildings. A few miles down the way was the academy, and judging how Mondo hadn't come zooming past just yet, it looked as though he was continuing his journey alone.

As his feet slowed against the sidewalk, he began to realize how selfish the both of them were. And maybe how wrong he had been for shoving the issue of Junko. Mondo had a point. She didn't matter. All her teasing, all her taunting, all her butting in where she didn't belong. She was doing it on purpose to get a reaction, and a reaction is what Chihiro gave her. Even if she wasn't here to witness it, she would probably hear of their argument through the grapevine. Thinking of her satisfaction made Chihiro hiss beneath his breath. If only he had some guts to chase her away. He had bickered back towards her, but never anything enough to phase her. She had thick skin and a nasty mouth, so any criticism thrown her way was often destroyed by a demeaning remark. She usually dug deep, too, and laughed it off like the idea of crushing someones feelings wasn't even a second thought in her mind. Chihiro couldn't defend himself against that. But Mondo could at least try.

There was a flash of light as a car whipped by, tossing a stream of water onto the sidewalk. At this point, he was soaked to the bone, and he cuddled his arms against himself, afraid that maybe his dress had gone see through. He glanced over his shoulder to catch anymore oncoming cars, but his eyes widened when he saw his boyfriend finally chasing him down the street. "No, no, no..." Chihiro murmured to himself, hastily scattering along the pavement as he stared ahead him like he had never seen Mondo at all. At this point, there was really no outrunning the man, and the only other path to escape was into traffic. And that seemed like a splendid idea if it meant avoiding this conversation.

"Hey!" Mondo yelled over the rain, reaching out to snatch up the smaller boy by the wrist. He forced Chihiro to face his direction, but the boy yanked his wrist from his grasp. "What is wrong with you?! You're gonna catch a fuckin' cold!"

The smaller boy stared down at the wet sidewalk, writhing his toes in the damp fabric of his shoes. He was freezing, shivering violently now that he realized how chilly the rain had made him. He would probably get sick, but that was the least of his worries. If he were sick, that would be an excuse to hide away in his room. "You done? Got this out of your system yet?" Mondo rambled on, throwing his arms in the air. He glanced behind him briefly, knowing his bike was about a mile down the road now. Riding in this rain was going to be miserable, but he didn't want to just leave it there. "Now you're soaked and we got to walk all the way back and wait for this rain to-"

"I'm just so tired of hiding!" Chihiro yelped through the thick rain, not even the sound of the cars whistling by enough to shroud him. "Of hiding... of being hidden... of things being hidden from me. I'm so tired of it."

Mondo let his hands rest along his hips as he lowered his head towards the sidewalk, staring at the way the water pattered around their feet. In the shimmer of the rain, he could almost see Chihiro's defeated reflection. "I know you are..."

"Then why can't we just be honest with everyone? That's all I'm asking," the shorter boy murmured, letting his little clutch fall to the ground. It splashed into a nearby puddle and although it could potentially destroy the contents inside, Chihiro had something else he would rather hold onto. He reached out with both cold, trembling hands and pressed them against Mondo's stomach, his forehead resting in the middle of his boy's chest.

Mondo let out a coarse laugh from the pit of his chest and Chihiro could hear the sarcastic anguish buried within it. "That's all?" His hands swung leisurely at his sides and the smaller of the two brought his shoulders into his partner, his little fingers twisting around the damp fabric of Mondo's button up shirt. He wanted his boyfriend to hold him, but even though he was pressed right up against him, Mondo couldn't feel more distant. "That's all... really?"

"How would you feel if I hid you?" Chihiro stated with his forehead stubbornly buried against his lover's chest, eyes narrowed and brows bent. "If I never talked about you to everyone else. If I... didn't tell everyone how our nights went, if I didn't hold your hand down the hallway..."

"But I don't do all those things, Chi. I kiss you, and hold your hand, and cuddle you all the time when-"

"When no one's looking..." His grip grew tighter. "You make sure to look around to check if anyone's there. If it weren't for the fact that Naegi walked in on us in the rec room... would anyone even know?" With a quick, sharp breath, Chihiro finally leaned his head back, his faded hazel eyes blinking away a small shroud of tears. Mondo was still looking down, however looking past his lover towards the sidewalk as if he were afraid to make eye contact. Despite his bitter laugh just seconds ago, there wasn't even so much of a defiant smirk across his lips. He looked distraught, his pale eyes wavering, a film of tears glazing over there.

Stepping backwards, Mondo grabbed Chihiro firmly by the shoulders, shooting his glance across the street briefly. Was he checking for people again? "You think I don't want to do those things in front of people?" he spat, his voice harsh and even cracking a bit. For the first time in a while, Chihiro could tell that his boyfriend was dangerously close to tears. There had only been one other time he had actually seen him cry, and that was during their heartfelt confessions in the laundry room. He heard him cry once long ago from behind closed doors after his brother had died, but even during such a harsh time, Mondo didn't let tears fall in front of his classmates. Probably because he feared being harassed, even though everyone understood his sadness at the time. "You honestly think I don't want to... show everyone how much... I love being with you."

Hold on. Love? Chihiro's heart skipped a beat. Mondo's emotions were causing him to mix up his words was all, because certainly he didn't mean it like that. If he really... loved him... he would show it easier, right?

"You can! You can show them and you can hold my hand while they're there and you can-"

"Every time I so much as look at you, I'm afraid they know!" Mondo yelled, shaking his small companion slightly. He wasn't trying to be mean, he wasn't trying to talk his boyfriend down. Pure anxiety wracked his features. His arms were stiff and he gritted his teeth so hard, they felt as though they may snap. "I can't do anything without thinking someone knows. Someone knows you're a boy, and then they know that I'm..." He paused as if the word itself was banished from their language. He cautiously looked around before choking out. "They would make fun of me..."

Chihiro knew exactly how he felt. After all, he had the same sinking feeling for years. Chihiro was always very cautious of the way he sat, afraid that if he didn't cross his legs correctly, he would come off as unfeminine and someone would spy his secret. His vocabulary was well thought out, meticulous and quaint to avoid saying anything a normal girl wouldn't. Every agonizing, waking second was spent carefully controlling every aspect of his life into being a girl to further feed to the lie. Until he was with Mondo. He would say things so unlike "himself", kid around with the other boys because it made him feel like that was where he belonged. He brought the group together because he wanted to share his happiness, and even if that meant mass attention fleeing in his direction, he didn't care. Showing off Mondo and the patter he felt in his heart when around him was enough to make him want to throw out his sheltered and secretive past. Because being with Mondo made him feel confident enough to finally be himself.

But that took him years. It very well couldn't take Mondo just four months.

"They won't make fun of you if you're confident about it," Chihiro breathed with his little fingers still wrapped into Mondo's button up shirt. "If you don't believe in yourself, that just gives others a pathway to step all over you." Like Junko. He didn't have enough confidence to properly stand up to her yet, and with no one else defending him, he couldn't win. Even when she played nice, Chihiro was intimidated.

Mondo's grip around Chihiro's shoulders loosened and he rubbed at the cold, lightly freckled skin on his arms. Traveling along his neck, Mondo's fingers rested along the smaller boy's flushed cheeks, a small whimper of a frown dabbing at his lips. He looked like he could cry at any moment. "I want to do those things in front of other people," Mondo stated, pressing his forehead again Chihiro's. He swallowed down a breath, intensely shutting his eyes to stop himself from crying. Chihiro wanted to whisper to him that it was alright to let go if it made him feel better, but getting him to admit this much was good enough. "I want to kiss you right in front of the guys, cuddle when we're playing games with them, and hold hands with you in the hallways, but I just keep thinking... they know. And they're laughing at me when I'm not around..."

"Mondo, you..."

The man interrupted him with a brief kiss, letting out another hot breath when their lips parted. He couldn't sputter out the words fluttering in his head, but wanted to get them out so badly, so distracting his small lover with kisses was his only escape. Chihiro welcomed them warmly, although he could feel the hesitation behind Mondo's lips. "Every time I'm with you I think... this is it... you couldn't have found a better person and I wanna show you off to everyone..."

Chihiro smiled faintly, bringing a hand over one of Mondo's perched against his cheek. He felt his knees growing weak, shivering together at such sweet comments. Gentle words didn't escape Mondo's lips often, and although he stumbled and searched his brain endlessly for them, when he said them, Chihiro felt like he could take flight at any moment. "You're someone I want to take home to my mom and finally go home for a Christmas break and be like... look at this person," Mondo admitted with half a smile and the shorter boy felt his knees nearly give way as he clutched Mondo's hips for support, pressing his lips just beneath the biker's chin with a furious blush. "Look at how amazing he is and how happy he makes me..."

"Mondo," Chihiro whimpered, pulling his shivering body much closer so that they were basically melting into one another, Mondo leaning over him so that the smaller boy's back was arched slightly. Almost as if he were using his body to shield Chihiro from the rest of the downpour.

"And that I found this person I just fell in love with, and I couldn't be happier, and I wish I could treat him better, but..." The biker continued to ramble but Chihiro felt his body stiffen at a certain word. That single word he had muttered earlier and Chihiro assumed it was just a fluke. But twice now couldn't have been coincidence.

Bringing his hand up to lightly cover Mondo's lips, the smaller boy murmured with a sideways and dumbfounded smirk, "What did you say?" The biker was so caught off guard that he nearly bit Chihiro's fingers trying to spit out the rest of his words. It took him a second to trace back everything he said and Chihiro removed his hand. "Did you say you... fell..."

"In love with ya'... yeah." Mondo kissed the tip of Chihiro's nose, and then another kiss on his cheek, followed by one along his jawline as the words just stopped coming suddenly. He kept making sounds like he had more to say, but was so wrapped up in trying not to cry, nothing came out but a sea of kisses along Chihiro's faintly freckled skin. The small boy giggled with a little choke of his own, his entire body feeling weightless with delight. Someone loved him. He loved him. Mondo... loved him.

"Okay..." Chihiro breathed through the onslaught of gentle pecks and the occasional tongue against his lips. Okay? What a horrible response. But he couldn't get anything else out, he was so overcome with happiness. He nearly felt like jumping into Mondo's arm, he felt so airy.

"Okay," Mondo repeated with one final kiss across the kid's lips, staring with bright eyes towards his small companion. "Not... what... I shouldn't have... said that?"

"No, no... yes!" Chihiro chirpped, accidentally letting himself lean back much too far, causing their weight to shift awkwardly. Mondo jerked his hands from the boy's face, immediately slinking them towards the bottom of Chihiro's dress to catch him just along the thighs before they both came crashing to the slippery sidewalk. The tiny boy instinctively wrapped his knees around Mondo's waist, his arms strewn around his neck to keep himself still against his man's body. Now standing upright, Mondo cradled his arms beneath his boyfriend's bottom. "You're doing this in public, you know?" Chihiro muttered with a sheepish blush, rubbing his nose playfully against Mondo's.

Swallowing, Mondo considered letting the boy slide back to the ground, but he really enjoyed the feeling of Chihiro needing his support. For a second, he considered looking around to see if anyone was watching, but mentally smacked himself from the habit. It shouldn't care who saw him. If they didn't like what they saw, they could turn away. "I fell in love with you, too,' Chihiro admitted with a shaky smile, happy tears leaking from his eyes. "A long time ago, but I felt stupid saying it..."

"You shoulda said something sooner and maybe I wouldn't sound like such an idiot all the time," Mondo grinned back, finally letting Chihiro slide to the ground. His little body shivered and Mondo stepped behind him, wrapping his strong arms around the boy's bare shoulders. "I really need you... to be patient with me."

"I told you that if I had to wait forever to say anything, I would,' Chihiro stated as they awkwardly began walking back towards the restaurant to retrieve Mondo's motorcycle, waddling like a set of penguins in the cold. The rain was still coming down and chances were, they were going to have to sit it out a while before it was safe to ride home. But now with the flutter retaining in his heart, he was alright with staying out all night if it meant sitting beside Mondo. "I'm just... excited to finally feel like myself. But I know you still need time."

"I'm not hiding you because I'm not proud of you, if that's what you've been thinking," the biker stated with his arms firmly wrapped around his loved one, keeping him warm from the misty night rain. "And I'm sorry for not sayin' anything to Junko... or about her. She really... doesn't matter."

"You're right. She doesn't... but it would be nice if you would let me in on stuff," Chihiro hummed, stopping his weight briefly underneath a larger awning. The shop had closed hours ago, as many did during the week, so all the lights were out. Nothing but a street light down the way, and a few dimmed jewelry cases inside the shop. He turned around, pressing his hands firmly against Mondo's shirt, letting off a fond smile at the way his fingertips glided over his man's stomach beneath. "Like more about your brother... or your family, or maybe why things with Junko didn't work so I won't repeat her mistakes."

Mondo smirked briefly with another sarcastic laugh, absently averting his gaze across the street. Not because he was checking for anyone, but as if he felt weird talking about Junko. Chihiro smiled himself, laying a kiss in the center of his boyfriend's chest. "You won't have to worry about that," Mondo stated, leaning down to take his partner in a quick kiss. "She doesn't matter, remember..."

"Right." The smaller boy smiled precariously. "It's nice knowing she is completely jealous of me, though..."

Mondo narrowed his eyes with a thick blush spreading over his tan cheeks and he looked out into the rain. Before they had started dating, he never knew Chihiro to be capable of sarcastic and otherwise demeaning comments, but it seemed that maybe a little bit of the biker had been rubbing off on him. He felt proud... but he always felt proud of Chihiro. "Yeah, well, she never got an 'I love you' from me... so try not to rub it in her face too much."

Author's Note: I'm not sure why this chapter took me so long because it's not even that long of a chapter. I guess it's because I have a hard time describing these two being romantic because I don't think they would be a generically romantic sort of couple. It would come with a lot of crying, a lot of yelling, and a lot of awkwardness. Not sure how I feel about this chapter, but glad I finally got it out to everyone.