Handa had been friends with Max for as long as he could remember.
It all started back in kindergarten, on the first day of school. Handa and his mother had just waked into the school building and into his classroom, and Handa remembered clinging onto his mother's leg, not wanting her to leave.
"Now now, Shinichi, you should go over there and play with the other boys." his mother had said. She gave her son a gentle push in the direction of a group of boys, but Handa shook his head and ran right back to her.
"I don't want you to leave!" Handa cried. He looked up at his mother, who sighed. She crouched down to his level and put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll come back later today," she reassured him. Handa sniffed in return.
"You promise?" he asked. His mother smiled and ruffled his hair a bit.
"Of course I will," she said. Her expression changed, and she smiled and pointed behind Handa. He turned around to see a boy walking up to him. He had a pink and blue cat hat that seemed a bit too big for his head, and he was holding a little soccer ball. "Look Shinichi, maybe that boy wants to play."
The boy smiled at Handa and readjusted his hat, which was falling over his eyes. "Hi," he said, and he flashed another grin, and Handa noticed that his front teeth were missing.
"Hi," Handa said. "What's your name?"
"You can call me Max! What about you?"
"I-I'm Shinichi," Handa said. Max held out the soccer ball to Handa, who just stared at it.
"Do you like soccer?" Max asked. "Because I love it! My dad and me play soccer all the time."
Handa smiled. "Yeah, I love soccer too!"
"Cool! Let's go play, then!" Max grabbed Handa's arm and dragged him over to an empty play area. The two started to kick the ball back and forth, and Handa was having such a great time that he didn't even care when his mother left. He and Max played up until snack time, when they sat next to each other.
"Are we friends now?" Handa asked. Max, who was munching on a cookie, nodded.
"I think so," he took another bite of his cookie. "Well, if you want to be."
Handa smiled and nodded. "Of course I do!" he said. And after that conversation, they did become friends. All through elementary school, the two of them became as close as brothers. They played soccer at recess, they spent time at each others houses, and they did all the things that best friends did. Handa felt great about their friendship, but by the time they entered junior high, something strange happened.
It was probably a week before school started back up again, and Max was over at Handa's house like usual. The two spent a lot of time together over the summer, either at one house or another. After a full day of messing around outside and having fun, it was time to get to bed, and the two were up in Handa's room.
"Okay, you can go grab the extra bedsheets and set up on the floor." Handa said. He flopped down on his bed and sighed. "Man, I'm so tired..."
Max walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Do I have to?"
Handa lifted his head and gave Max a weird look. "Have to what?"
"Sleep on the floor," Max said. "I mean, it's really uncomfortable and I don't like it."
"But you always sleep on the floor when you're over here." Handa said. "I could switch with you if you wanted, though." he started to get up, but Max put a hand on his back.
"Uh... no, that's okay." he said. Handa raised an eyebrow and buried his face in his pillow.
"Well, then what are you going to do, then?" he mumbled. At this point, he was so tired he didn't really care who went where. But he was surprised when Max pushed him over to the side a bit and crawled up next to him.
"I want to sleep with you tonight, Shinichi-kun." he said.
Handa almost shot right out of bed. He turned to face his friend, and in return he shrugged. "I mean, if that's not a problem with you."
He just stared at Max blankly for a minute, then he felt his face grow hot. "Uh... that's fine. I guess."
Max smiled stretched. "Good. Now, I'm beat. Night!" he said, and he turned on his side to face Handa and closed his eyes.
Handa turned to lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling. Now what was this all about? Max wanting to sleep with him? It was really weird for him to act like that... I guess that's fine. He thought. But... why? Handa glanced over at Max. His breathing had slowed down and he had a peaceful look on his face. There was no doubt he was fast asleep. Since it was summer, he wasn't wearing his cat hat to bed, revealing his messy orange hair. Suddenly, Handa had the urge to touch it, but he stopped himself.
Don't make things any weirder, Handa. He told himself. Lots of people do this. So it's no big deal. Just go to bed.
Handa rolled back onto his stomach and closed his eyes, and within a minute or two he was asleep. But almost as soon as he had fallen asleep, something woke him up again. Sighing, he opened an eye to see what had disturbed his sleep, and to his surprise Max had wrapped his arms around him.
Handa tried to push away, but Max just held on to him tighter. "Hey, what are you doing?" he hissed, but Max didn't seem to hear him. Handa continued to try to wriggle out of Max's hold, but his efforts went in vain. "Seriously, Max, wake up."
But he didn't.
Handa frowned. Max's body was inches away from his own, and he could feel his breath on his neck. The closeness of it all made Handa feel really uncomfortable, but he realized it wasn't in a bad way.
This is way too weird. Waaay too weird. Handa thought. He felt his face burning up again, and he almost let out a noise when Max buried his face into his shoulder. Friends don't do this kind of thing, but... Handa didn't really knew what to do. He couldn't get away, so he did what he thought felt right. He put his arms around Max and closed his eyes. He was probably blushing terribly right now, and being this close to someone was starting to make him feel extremely hot and uncomfortable. Max moved again, and this time he said something.
"Shinichi?" he said. Handa was surprised at the sound of his voice and looked down at him. He looked back up and smiled. "This is nice."
Handa found himself smiling back at him. "It... it is."
Max closed his eyes again and snuggled up against Handa. "I could get used to this."
"Um, me too," Handa sounded unsure about his response, and in all honesty he was. He was his best friend, and there they were, cuddling. And while it wasn't bad, well, it just...
Max pulled away a bit and frowned. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"N-nothing's wrong," Handa said. But Max didn't buy it. He let go of Handa and propped himself up.
"You know, if you think this is... weird or something, just tell me. Because-"
"No, uh..." Handa started. "I mean, yeah, it is kind of weird, but it's not... a bad kind of weird." he continued. "I like it and all, but... you're my best friend, so I don't know what to think about all of... this."
Max lied back down. "You know what I think? I think you're more than a friend to me."
"Really?" Handa said. Max nodded.
"I don't know about you, but that's what I think." he said. He closed his eyes again, and this time he didn't do anything else. Handa let his words sink in. More than a friend? But what do I think? He looked down at Max again and pulled him into a hug. He smiled.
"Max... I think so too."
-.-.-
AN
Well here's chapter 8! This is the first time I've ever written yaoi, so this is probably one big huge failure. I can see a billion things wrong with it... like it's too short and I think it's kinda OOC and it doesn't make sense... but hey, that's what practice is for, right? But I don't think I'm going to be writing more anytime soon because... yeah. Anyway, this was requested by KiyoMeow1305, and I really hope she likes it despite the fail. :P
On a completely different note, I11 is almost over D: I don't think I can bring myself to watch the final episodes D:
And I also was informed that Haruna is the same height as me. Which is sad because I'm two years older than her OTL.
Anyway, enough of this stupid note! XD Up next is Ichinose x Aki!
Icee Suicune
