Cullen was lucky enough to get another liberty on the weekend of September 25, a mere week after his last one. But instead of going out for an excursion, he spent the entire Saturday at Tharin's studio apartment.

Not to say that it turned into a debauched sex fest. Of course, they did indulge in carnal delights at least once, but the rest of the time the two men just idled. This Netflix and chill session definitely involved paying attention to what was playing on Netflix.

Tharin had a nice set-up going on. He put the laptop on the desk chair, moved it in front of the bed, and the two cuddled as they watched The Good Place. Tharin, the small spoon, and Cullen, the big spoon. They fit well together.

Everything was apparently fine. As Eleanor Shellstrop, confused and rather apprehensive, explored the afterlife and the amenities of her new heavenly neighborhood filled with everything she may "desire," Tharin exclaimed, "Let's do some real touristy crap we never get to do."

Only half paying attention to the young man, Cullen just hummed noncommittally as he caressed the other man's midriff.

But Tharin was insistent. He hit the space button on his laptop to pause the show and turned around. "I'm serious. We've visited a few places that locals might go in the weekends, but we haven't done anything that foreign tourists do when they visit Japan."

With crinkled eyes, Cullen pecked a light kiss and asked, "And what does that entail?"

Tharin looked away, contemplating. "Oh, I don't know. Like going up the Tokyo Tower. Or going out for a fancy tempura dinner. Or, or… Visiting Harajuku and peoplewatching while eating a crepe."

Cullen chuckled at the seeming randomness of the list. "A crepe? That isn't exactly Japanese."

"It is so. You'll see."

Tharin stood up and grabbed his phone from the desk. Cullen watched as the young man rapidly typed something and scrolled furiously.

With an excited voice, Tharin declared, "Yeah, let's take the Yamanote Line the next time you have liberty."

Cullen had heard of the Yamanote Line but was not sure what the significance of it was. He sat up and crossed his legs before cocking his head inquisitively.

Thairn grinned as he explained, "The Yamanote Line is a train loop that stops in all the major districts of Tokyo. It would be a good way for us to hit all the touristy places."

Cullen perked up. "Even that large crossing? The one intersection they always show in movies to let you know that it's Tokyo?"

"Are you talking about the Shibuya Crossing? Yeah, of course we can visit. But there really isn't much to do in Shibuya unless you're in the mood for shopping."

It was not easy to pretend nonchalance. "Nah. I just want to see the crossing."

Tharin made a curious face. "Why?"

"I don't know. I just do. Humor me, why don't you?"

But the young man was like a dog with a bone. "You're acting all suspicious. Why do you wanna go there so badly?" inquired Tharin with a raised eyebrow.

Cullen replied with only silence and an unsmiling stare until he just couldn't anymore. He soughed and reached in his pocket to fish his phone out. He then pulled up YouTube.

"Do you know the movie Lost in Translation?"

Tharin's eyebrow refused to budge. "Uh… Is that the one with Billy Crystal?"

"God, no! Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. It's about two people stuck in Japan? They have this weird sort of platonic bond?" Cullen gesticulated with his right hand to no avail. The corners of Tharin's lips trended down as he kept shaking his head.

The young man eventually sat down next to the other man on the bed and said curiously, "Alright… I like ScarJo as much as the next person, but I still don't get what the movie has to do with Shibuya."

At that, Cullen tapped on the movie's official trailer and hit play. With a faint voice, Cullen squeaked, "You'll see…"

For the first twenty seconds or so, Cullen watched Tharin watch the trailer. He wondered if the young man would like the movie if they saw it now. Whether it would date him too much. Fifty-six seconds in, he paused it. There it was: Scarlett Johansson walking through misty Shibuya in all its glory holding a transparent plastic umbrella.

Tharin chortled. "Wait, wait, hold on. Not only are you telling me that you, a tough sailor guy, like an artsy indie film like this, but you also want to visit the crossing because… you want to be like ScarJo?"

Cullen objected in a severe tone, "Hey! I said no such thing. I was really impressed by the movie, and… I want to visit the place where they filmed it. That's all."

But Tharin would have none of it. He tackled Cullen, and he dropped his phone on the pillow. With his hands pinning down Cullen's arms and his face mere inches away, Tharin crinkled the corners of his eyes and interrogated, "Admit it! You want to be a cool beauty like ScarJo!"

Despite the ferocity of this interrogation, it was not a hard task to find a weak spot to burrow into. Cullen laughed blithely as he asked, "Sorry, what in the world's a cool beauty?"

Tharin suddenly turned scarlet. He withdrew his hands and leaned back. In a nearly imperceptible voice, the young man whispered, "…It's Japanese English."

Cullen could tell that this was his one chance to flip the script. And he would seize the chance no matter what. Playfully, he added, "Sorry, d'you say something?"

The young man shouted, "'Cool beauty' is Japanese English! I got confused and used an English word created by the Japanese! You satisfied now?" He then crossed his arms and pouted.

At this rare display of immaturity, Cullen burst out laughing. It was not often the young man was not his completely confident self. His insecurity was reminiscent of their first date, and Cullen found it incredibly endearing. Cullen lunged at the other man and planted a deep kiss.

At first, Tharin resisted. But then he began to laugh as well. They tumbled and wrestled on the bed, unmindful of the comforter getting scrambled.

After a while, they untangled from each other and lay down with ragged breaths. Cullen finally asked, "So, what is a cool beauty?"

"…It's a term to describe someone who's imposingly intelligent and pretty. Like ScarJo. Or someone like Cate Blanchett, I suppose."

Cullen turned and caressed the young man's five o'clock shadow. With his lips curved upward, he said glibly, "Aww, you called me imposingly intelligent and pretty. Thank you."

Tharin scoffed before adding with a tone dripping with sarcasm, "No, I said you want to pretend to be intelligent and pretty."

"Same diff."

"It's totally different, and you know it."

After their breaths resumed the normal rhythm and Cullen turned to cuddle the sweaty body, Tharin patted the other man's shoulder and intoned, "Alright then, it's decided. On your next liberty, we shall ride on the Yamanote Line and visit Shibuya. Good?"

With his nose buried in the crook of the young man's neck, Cullen inhaled the citrusy scent and agreed, "Good!"

Tharin's eyes shimmered with excitement as he whispered, "Alright, let's make a list of places…" He lifted his phone and opened the notes app. He then began to type out the neighborhoods they would visit as well as the ideas for activities there. Shibuya Crossing, Harajuku-Takeshita, Shinjuku, Ueno Park…

Cullen watched Tharin intently. It suddenly occurred to Cullen that he wanted to introduce Tharin to Thom Rainier. It was motivated by his desire to be a better version of himself, a version that Tharin would be proud to call his boyfriend. With a subdued tone, he asked, "Would it be okay if I introduce you to my liberty buddy? As my boyfriend?"

Tharin took a sharp breath, stopped typing, and put the phone aside. Cullen saw the profound eyes focus on him. "You sure it won't affect your position in the Navy?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine. And my buddy isn't the type to gossip, I don't think." Cullen would have liked to sound surer, but this was the best he could do at the moment.

He let his mouth curl upward. It felt slightly forced. "I want you to meet him. Besides, we'll be taking the same train into Tokyo, right?"

With a worried look, Tharin nodded. "Right."

"Everything's going to be all right," Cullen murmured, and he was not sure whether he was telling Tharin or himself. He tightly embraced the young man and pecked the crown of his head. A whiff of Tharin's musk seemed to calm him somewhat.

It was indeed convenient that they had a great izakaya nearby to fall back on. Neither had any desire to interrupt the lazy Saturday with any complicated plans for dinner. So, they settled on Kumi without much debate.

When Tharin opened the sliding door, Cullen saw a figure clad in an elegant couture at the bar. A white silk blouse with a bow on the front and a knee-length black skirt. It was Josie, and she was having her usual sashimi plate for dinner.

Kumiko turned and waved. "Hallo!"

Josie slowly turned around in her seat, but her face broke out in a wide smile when she saw the two men. "Hey, you guys. Cullen, long time no see."

Tharin seemed relaxed, unlike the last time they ran into Josie at Kumi. "Hi, Josie. How's it going?"

"Oh, not much. Just a busy week. I had to go in today." She hopped off her chair and approached to dispense hugs and cheek kisses. Cullen was not used to continental greeting and ended up frozen in place as Josie air-kissed around him.

The two men promptly sat down and ordered their dinners. In addition to the requisite Sapporo, Cullen recently learned of shōgayaki – grilled pork with ginger and soy sauce – and so decided to try it. Tharin ordered fried chicken dipped in sweet vinegar and topped with tartar sauce with his usual chu-hi. Apparently, it was called southern barbarian chicken.

Once they were finished ordering their suppers and were served their drinks, Josie turned and began, "So… you guys have been going out for a while now."

Tharin clasped Cullen's right hand and crinkled his eyes. "Yeah. If you count that god-awful first date, it's been nearly four months." The young man turned to look at Cullen with crystalline eyes, and Cullen beamed. "We're boyfriends now," finished Tharin.

Josie hid her mouth with her right hand as she laughed heartily. "I'm glad you decided to give Tharin another chance, Cullen. This one needed to date. Too serious, you know?"

Cullen snorted. It seemed to him that Josie had everything backward. Cullen was the one who needed to date and Tharin was the one who gave him another chance after that debacle at Shimbashi Station. But he assumed Tharin had not told Josie any detail that could draw Cullen in a bad light. The young man was thoughtful.

Josie continued unironically, "So any big plans in the coming weeks? I need to live vicariously through you guys."

Tharin straightened his posture and began to explain, "As a matter of fact, we're gonna ride on the Yamanote Line and hit all the touristy spots. The Tokyo Tower and all that…"

The woman sniffed. "The Tokyo Tower? Why not go to Tokyo Skytree? It's way taller. I'm pretty sure it's twice as tall."

"I happen to prefer the Tokyo Tower. There's history, and it's aesthetically more pleasing to me."

Unfazed, Josie added, "It won't matter when you're up there. You'll wish you were higher up. Plus, you know the Tokyo Tower isn't even by the Yamanote Line. You'll have to take another subway line to get there."

"So's Tokyo Skytree. It's by the Sumida River."

"Well, I'm more right. Skytree's nicer."

"You're crazy! The tower's better."

Josie finally shrugged. Before taking a sip of her sake, she muttered crossly, "Well, I suppose it is romantic up there. It's not a bad choice for a date."

Tharin rolled his eyes as he drawled out, "Your approval means everything to me, Señora Montilyet." It was like watching two siblings fight. Cullen could not stop his lips from quirking in amusement as he poured his beer.

On Sunday morning, Cullen cleaned his bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathroom. His roommate was out, and it was his turn. As he tried to clean the floor with a vacuum that must have been as old as he was, he thought about how he was going to introduce Tharin to Thom Rainier. But then, he remembered his family.

He turned off the vacuum and leaned forward on it as he pondered. Branson was entirely disinterested in his affairs and Mia would be occupied with her own problems, but Rosalie would want to know about Tharin for sure. After all, they had been dating for four months, even if their dates were spaced out due to his infrequent liberties.

He thought about various ways the conversation could go as he finished cleaning and did the laundry. After showering and freshening up with a change of clothes, Cullen sat on his bed cross-legged and stared at the phone.

It would be just after 2100 on Saturday in New Hampshire. He unlocked the phone and pulled up the messages app. He quickly typed and sent a text to Rosalie.

Hey, Rosie.

The problem was about how to tell her. He wasn't one hundred percent sure about how Rosalie would react to his coming out as bisexual. Not that he thought his family was bigoted in any way, but they had never once discussed his sexual orientation in any shape or form. Like most Americans, any discussion of sexuality with his family automatically made him seize up in terror. And Cullen never brought anyone to meet his family.

A short message showed up from his sister.

Hey, what's up?

Well, now was the time. Cullen typed up the message quickly and sent it without thinking it over. He knew he would have dawdled if he gave himself the chance.

I just wanted to let you know, I'm in a relationship with someone.

In hindsight, it sounded a little bit detached, a little too passive. Perhaps he should have said he was dating someone.

As expected, the typing bubble appeared almost instantaneously. Rosalie typed, Omg, are you serious?! Who are you dating? as well as a surprised face emoji with half of its head blown off in an explosion.

Cullen considered for a minute. This was it. Did he have enough courage to cross the Rubicon and come out to his family?

In the meantime, Rosalie kept hounding with multiple messages sent every three seconds.

Who?

Who?

Dammit, you tell me right now, Cullen Stanton Rutherford!

I gotta know! WHO!?

Please?!

Cullen chortled. He supposed his love life was something of an enigma and thus warranted this kind of heated response, but it still seemed excessive. Rosalie was still a kid in some ways. But then, he remembered she was twenty-five-years-old and scowled. Whole two years older than Tharin. He had forgotten about their age gap.

He began to type, His name's Tharin. He's a 23 year old English teacher. Then he thought better of it and erased the age part before sending the reply.

Suddenly, the texts ceased. For a moment, Cullen was worried. Did Rosalie not approve of this? He had to calm down. He would have had to come out eventually, and there was no better time to do it than now.

And then his phone began to vibrate. It was his Telegram app's video call. Of course, it was Rosalie on the other end.

Cullen warily answered and held up the phone to his face. He hadn't had the chance to properly style his hair yet, and it was all kinds of a mess, he could see. He sighed, "Hiya, sis."

With an exaggerated frown, Rosalie shouted, "What the fuck, Cullen? Are you kidding me?!"

Cullen's heart began to beat even faster as he realized that Rosalie did not approve of his queerness. He began to stammer, "L-look, I know you don't like me being bisexual, but I–"

Before he could go further, Rosalie snapped, "I don't give a rat's ass about you being bi! Good on you! What I do mind is that you thought it was okay to just suddenly announce that you were dating and then come out through texts!"

Oh. Cullen had it wrong. "Sorry, what?"

His sister soughed loudly and began, "Look, I'm glad you finally came out to me. And I'm glad you have someone with you in Japan. But seriously, you didn't think it was necessary to at least give me an actual call about this?" Her anger seemed to lessen as she explained herself.

Cullen bit his bottom lip trying to stop his mouth from curving upward in relief. Rosalie did not hate him for being, well… different. "Ah, I'm really sorry. I thought it wasn't such a big deal."

"Ugh, of course it's a big deal! You've never told us about anyone you dated until now. Of course, it's a big freakin' deal." Rosalie finally plonked down on a sofa and crossed her left arm underneath her right. She asked sullenly, "How long have you been dating him?"

"Four months."

Rosalie groaned, "Four whole months and not a word from you! Honestly, Cullen, you're the worst big brother."

It was becoming nigh impossible to halt his grin from seeping out. "I'm so sorry. I really am."

A second set of apologies seemed to elevate her mood somewhat. Rosalie shook her head and soughed again before flashing her brilliant smile. "Congratulations. I'm really happy for you. What's his name again?"

"Tharin. Tharin Trevelyan."

"That doesn't sound Japanese."

"No, he's American. He's going to be here for at least a couple more years."

Rosalie's eyes widened. "Oh, so this isn't some temporary fling, huh?" Her lips upturned slyly.

Cullen considered for a while. He closed his eyes before he confessed, "I… really… truly like him, Rosie. I don't think I've ever fallen for someone quite like this before."

"Jesus, Cullen. Shall I book a chapel for you now or later?" Despite the sardonic words, Rosalie's face was shining. She was pleased for her brother, and Cullen was grateful.

Cullen said cheerily, "You're an idiot."

"Nope, not as much as you, big brother. You thought it was okay to just text news this big," Rosalie gestured wildly, emphasizing what an important hurdle Cullen had passed. And Cullen felt that much better for having done it.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll never live this down, huh?"

"Not as long as I breathe. And after you come out to Mia and Bran, I'm gonna tell them about how you came out to me, so you'll be getting loads of crap from them, too. Tell me more about this guy. Is he cute? Is he smart?"

Cullen let the corners of his eyes crinkle as he described Tharin.

And a stray thought passed through his mind, that he couldn't wait to tell his boyfriend about his family.

END NOTE

Rosalie made her first appearance, and it won't be her last! By the time I'm done, you'll love her.

Next up, Cullen comes out in more ways than one. Also, have some more cameo appearances by your favorite DA characters.

The next two chapters take place over one day and are interrelated. Thus, I decided to post them over one weekend instead of two. Chapter 10 will be posted on July 31 at 2 pm EDT, and chapter 11 on August 1 at 2 pm EDT.