Once the cooking was done, and the whole unit filled with the slightly smokey yet delicious scent of food, Rukawa carried the plate out into the living area. The room was a little cramped; student units were infamous for their lack of space. There were a couple of two-seat sofas - enough seats for the four housemates - and a low coffee table onto which small items such as snacks and drinks could be placed.

Sendoh was seated leaning forwards on one sofa, squirting hot sauce into a side dish, ready for dipping. He had already set out cartons of sweet tea drinks on the table, along with skewers with which to pick up the gyoza.

Rukawa slid a placemat into the centre of the coffee table and placed the hot plate down upon it. He considered sitting on the other sofa, away from Sendoh. But then he reasoned he would be too far away from the food. So he sat directly beside Sendoh, and turned his eyes to the television that was currently stopped on a news station.

Rukawa picked up the remote and began to flick distractedly through the terrestrial channels, waiting for Sendoh to be ready. But he soon became distracted by the sight of Sendoh fully submerging a gyoza in chili sauce until the red liquid bulged offensively out the sides. His eyes followed the dumpling that now looked like it was covered in red paint, until Sendoh popped it into his mouth.

He winced internally. How can anyone eat that?

Sendoh let out a contented hum. "Delicious," he declared with his mouth full. Rukawa continued to stare in fascination.

"Are you gonna change the channel?" Sendoh asked, his eyes lifting to the TV which had inexplicably stopped on a wildlife show.

"Uh-" Rukawa's eyes flickered back to the screen, only to feel his soul expire as he noticed what was showing. A large lion-like creature, in a forested wilderness, was climbing on top of another in an unmistakable way.

"Like most big cats, the mountain lion," the deep and comfortable rumble of the narrator was explaining, "mates repeatedly over the course of a week. Males and females engage in multiple rounds of extended, and sometimes rather vigorous-"

Rukawa stabbed the channel change so fast his finger hurt.

Sendoh reached across and plucked the remote from his hand. "Gotta switch to hudmee for Netflix," he explained.

"Hud…mee?" Rukawa enquired confusedly, his mind still not recovered from the wildlife scene.

"Yeah, hudmee!" Sendoh flicked the channel and showed him.

"Oh, you mean… HDMI…?" Rukawa muttered. Swallowed. And didn't trust himself to speak. Who the heck calls it hud-mi?!

On the screen, Sendoh started up the streaming service and quickly navigated through the menu to the show he had mentioned. Ju-On Origins it was called.

"Ok," Sendoh whispered excitedly. "I'm gonna switch off the lights!"

Rukawa watched him hurry to the switches on the wall by the door and flick them all, plunging the room into relative darkness. The only light now came from the glowing screen, and the open door to the kitchen which threw a rectangle of light onto the floor. The food and drinks on the table became grey and shadowy.

Rukawa could not remember the last time he had shared a TV night with someone. He had no siblings. His parents, like him, were not keen television watchers. The last thing he could remember watching together with them had been the Olympics. Yet, with the darkness, the food and drinks, and Sendoh's enthusiasm, the whole thing began to feel just a little… fun. Like, he might actually enjoy himself. He settled himself more comfortably into his seat on the sofa. He brought up his knees and tucked his feet under his thighs, slippers left on the floor under the table. Making himself a little more at home.

On the screen, the show was starting up as Sendoh retook his seat. An unkept middle-aged man was listening intently to indiscernible growling noises coming from a tape. Tense music accompanied as the scene switched to a flickering TV, showing granulated footage of a beautiful girl explaining ghostly experiences in a nervous fashion.

The scene quickly changed. Now a seemingly average scene at a common Japanese high school was playing out - a new student being introduced to the class. Yet the darkness of the shot and the tense overtones made it clear that this was not intended to be a comedy.

A man appeared, walking down a busy corridor.

The story remained unexplained. Rukawa furrowed his brow. "Who's that guy?" he found himself asking as the scenes progressed, struggling to keep up with the plot.

"That's the guy we saw at the beginning, remember?"

"The one with the tape?"

"Yeah."

"So who is that girl?"

"She's the one who gave him the tape."

"And who's that?"

"She's her assistant."

"And that guy?"

"I don't know yet. We didn't see him before."

"Why are they going to that house?"

"To see the cats."

Rukawa sucked in a breath. "Akira-"

"Yeah?"

"What are they doing?"

"I don't know."

"Why are they being bad to that girl?"

"They're bullies."

"Yeah but… why? She didn't do anything to them."

"Well, they're jealous of her. I guess."

"Akira?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think there are any cats- aaah!" The last sound was an exclamation of shock as the events on the screen suddenly made them both jump. Rukawa's eyes turned round as the screen went dark and the credits for the first episode began to play.

A warm chuckle sounded in Sendoh's throat. "Do you want to watch the next episode?" he enquired.

Rukawa turned his face towards him, his expression a mixture of confusion and curiosity. He gave a couple of nods.

"Are you scared?" Sendoh asked in amusement.

"No."

Sendoh smiled. "Okay then," and pressed the button for the next episode.

The story continued in the same way. Rukawa asking questions as he forgot which character was which and who was living where and why. And although many of the events unfurling on the screen where shocking, and more than a little disturbing, nothing was jump-out-of-your-seat frightening.

Every now and again, Sendoh would reach out with one long arm to snag gyoza from the table with a skewer. Sometimes, he would dip them in the hot sauce. Sometimes, they would come back plain, and Sendoh would pass them casually over to Rukawa to eat.

They were both engrossed in the show. But it wasn't until episode three that they both reacted in the same way at the same time. A rotten corpse hand smashed its way unexpectedly into the scene along with an abrupt scream of the violins, and they both cried out, Rukawa jumping out of his skin, while Sendoh practically lept out of his seat. Rukawa let out two startled breaths, still curled up on the sofa but hanging onto his own knees for dear life and he stared wide-eyed at the screen. The women were letting out terrified screams, the scene becoming wild and intense as a man's ghosty face burst into the camera shot, opened mouthed and yelling panicked, garbled noises. And then a woman fell, struck her head, and the scene cut to black.

Sendoh was sitting bolt upright, bathed in the light of the television, arms and hands tensed as if about to fight something off. He turned to look at Rukawa, and they both saw the surprise and disturbance in each other's features. And all at once, Sendoh began to laugh. Since the scary scene was over, Rukawa too cracked an embarrassed smile of relief.

"Shit," Sendoh exclaimed between chuckles. "That was scary."

Rukawa squeezed his knees. "Yeah."

"I thought I was gonna have a heart attack."

Rukawa nodded, feeling his own heart pounding with adrenaline.

"Maybe we should watch this with the lights on," Sendoh suggested, amused. But he did not make any move to do so. Instead he sat back, hiked up his own legs onto the sofa to mirror Rukawa's position, and abruptly dropped sideways, his head falling large and heavy right into Rukawa's lap.

Rukawa's eyes widened, his hands jumping up and out of the way.

What-?

"This is very comfortable," Sendoh commented, his face still turned towards the TV and now using Rukawa's lap as his personal pillow. As if such a thing were totally normal. "I won't be scared like this."

This… this… this guy! Rukawa thought in disbelief. What is he doing?

Sendoh's head was an unfamiliar weight upon his thighs. Dangerously close to parts of Rukawa's body that no one's head ought to be close to. Rukawa opened his mouth to breath out his shock. If you squinted closely enough, you might see part of his soul rise out of his mouth and evaporate up to the ceiling.

And yet, to his own surprise, he didn't stand up, throw Sendoh off his lap, and flip over the coffee table. He sucked in his breath and held it. A thousand thoughts flashed through his mind.

What was this? Was this… a thing? What did it mean?

With this person in his lap, he didn't know where to put his hands. Was he supposed to… touch him? Was this an invitation?

Was this a… friend… thing?

Did friends do things like this?

Rukawa had no idea.

He hesitated, his hands hovering inches above Sendoh's head as if about to play an invisible piano.

Then tentatively, he lowered them and lay them on Sendoh's hair uncertainly. It felt warm and clean and silky beneath his fingertips.

No response came from Sendoh, who was once again engrossed in the TV.

At first, Rukawa tried to just ignore their positions and pay attention to the show. Still, he couldn't resist tensing his fingers experimentally, feeling the softness of Sendoh's hair. Once or twice, Sendoh physically jumped in surprise at whatever was going on on-screen, making Rukawa jump in turn, nervous that Sendoh would tell him to stop.

Eventually, Rukawa realised he no longer understood what was going on on the TV screen or who the characters were. He had stopped asking questions. He was spending more time looking down at the head in his lap than watching the show.

He sat and secretly observed Sendoh confusedly. Sawakita had been straightforward and honest with him. But Sendoh was a thousand times harder to understand. Rukawa really didn't know what to make of this.

Just a friend. Sendoh had said that. But Rukawa had said that, too. Sawakita had thought it was funny.

What was he supposed to do to… sort this out?

Was he supposed to just… kiss Sendoh? Could he just say, "Do you want to kiss me?"

He wanted to kiss Sendoh. He was sure of that. Something about his cheerful smile, and his open friendliness. But it was not only that. Rukawa regularly found himself thinking about how Sendoh had looked in his "lawyer's suit" that day at school, with his tie, and his dorky glasses. Rukawa was someone who had always been around athletes. He hadn't until now realised how attractive a pair of glasses and a geeky book bag could appear on someone like Sendoh Akira. Someone who was tall, and handsome, and intelligent. He just seemed so… different. Everything about him was from a different world. New, and exciting, and appealing. It made Rukawa's stomach go strange.

Something had awakened in him. Something different. Yesterday he had been clueless. But now he knew the feeling - that heat right in his centre. Desire. Large and swirling. Something that was hungry. Something that was ready for more.

Yes, it was very tempting. He could do it. He could seize Sendoh's astonished face between his palms - he could already imagine his look of surprise - and drag those lips against his own. Take for himself a little of that honey Sawakita had fed to him. But this thing with Sendoh was… different. Sawakita was just here for a few days, so there was no risk. But to do such a thing when Sendoh didn't want it too… Rukawa might lose something. He could lose this incredibly rare friend he had found.

He felt his confidence falter at the thought.

Why did things have to be so complicated? This was why he didn't like dealing with people. Stuff didn't make sense. It was annoying.

He knew what he wanted. Why shouldn't he just reach out and take it? Wasn't that… what he usually did? He had always lived his life doing whatever he wanted, answering to no one, caring for nothing except his own ambitions.

When you care about someone like that… it costs you. That was what Sawakita had told him.

He grimaced unseen to himself. For the first time he understood that this wasn't about what he wanted. For the first time he realised that what Sendoh wanted was more important to him. And the cost was… this. Giving up. The pain of… doing nothing even though he so badly wanted to.

Thus, despite the temptation, he did not move.

He did nothing but remain there, his fingers light in Sendoh's hair. Slowly, he forced himself to calm. To set the temptation aside. Until Sendoh's warmth and closeness - even the strange intimacy of their positions - was no longer causing his heart to race.

Another episode passed. And then Rukawa was glad when Sendoh fiddled with the controller and clicked for the next episode to play. It meant that he could stay like this a little bit longer.

Eventually Rukawa felt his eyes growing heavy, fluttering closed. He no longer reacted to the frightening scenes of ghosts and blood and monsters. He was being pulled down by insistent contentedness. Sendoh's closeness was comforting. How strange. As someone who had always taken pleasure in being alone, company had always been unwillingly tolerated. But right now he... really felt like he didn't want to be anywhere else. Not in the whole world.

When the next episode ended, Sendoh did not make any move to click to the next. The soft even sounds of Sendoh's breath were measured where he lay asleep in Rukawa's lap. But Rukawa himself was not awake to notice. He leaned back against the sofa, his own eyes closed, drifting in and out of dreams about mountain lions mating in haunted houses.

The television flickered, flashing up suggestions and adverts, but no one was awake to switch it off.

-tbc

ANs: sorry for the delay, I ended up rewriting this whole thing. Thanks to to Kaede4ever, Caro, Me, AddictedtoSD, and FujimaUwU for your kind encouragement!

Ju-On Origins is a Japanese show on Netflix. I don't usually watch ghost stuff but I watched all of this one just so I could write about it accurately in this fic lol. "Research". The ghost/corpse hand in episode three FREAKED ME OUT. Sendoh and Rukawa's reactions ARE ME. I watched it alone, at night. OMG. I literally fell out of my chair.

Me - yes I am a big fan of GL and yuri! :D but in this particular fic no, I won't be exploring it in any detail haha. My inspiration for this story was friendships between people who are "different" from each other. So Rukawa-Sendoh is a friendship between people from different disciplines (athletics / academics); Darius x Mitsui is an interracial & intercultural relationship; Ayako and Haruko represent friendships between people with a significant age difference.) I wish I had more space to write more about these but actually I'm trying to keep the story light so all of that stuff will just be background only ;) One day maybe I'll write a spin-off / appendix if people are interested in those other pairs. Thanks for pointing it out :D you are eagle-eyed haha.