Ten
"Thank you for taking me with you this past week." said Otori bowing as Shishido walked him to his apartment door.
"No problem! I'll pick you up tomorrow night too! You're really good company," Shishido said cheerfully.
Otori turned a little pink.
"Ah, thank you for feeling that way about me. Most people say I'm too quiet and shy," he murmured looking down at the ground.
Shishido grinned and grabbed Otori's hand.
"Hey, tomorrow how about you hang out with me? I don't work until dark it'd be a good time for us to get to know even more about eachother! Plus I want to introduce you to some people!" he suggested.
Otori looked shocked.
"You're going to get sick of hanging around me Shishido-san," he said.
"I told you that you were good company and I meant that," he said.
"Alright then, I'll meet you here at eleven…or would you prefer it later?" he asked.
"Sooner the better! Eleven sounds great! I'll see you then! Night!" called out Shishido quickly making his way down the apartment stairs down to his motorbike. Otori watched him from the porch below. Shishido looked up from the ground and waved. He got onto his bike and left and Otori made his way back into his apartment looking forward to tomorrow.
--
Jiroh grinned and poked Gakuto who seemed to be very sleepy this morning.
"Mukahi-kun," he breathed into his friend's ear snickering ever so slightly.
"Hn?"
"Wake up so I can play with you more," breathed out Jiroh trying to make his voice sound deeper.
"Yu…ushi?"
Jiroh's mind innerly cackled. This was precious, honestly.
"Who do you think it is…Mukahi-kun…wake up so we can play," he said.
Gakuto smiled slightly and wrapped his legs around Jiroh's waist holding him tightly…
"Kiss me Yuushi…," he murmured.
Jiroh grinned and moved his lips close to Gakuto's own and then his friend's eyes opened and went wide. Gakuto smacked Jiroh so hard that the sunset haired boy fell off the bed and into the floor.
"Sonva bitch! Don't you dare do that ever again Jiroh! Back off!" he screamed scrambling over to where the headboard was.
Jiroh laughed.
"You liked it though and how could I resist such a tempting demand?" he asked.
Gakuto darkly glared at his friend and smiled wryly.
"What if I did the same to you? What if I pretended I was Atobe and you were half in your sleep?" he snapped.
"Unlike you Gakuto I can keep my emotions intact unlike you who has to relieve it by playing around in the bathroom," replied Jiroh.
Gakuto's eyes went wide like a deer being caught by a car in the middle of the night.
"You…You know about that?" he breathed out.
"I'm a light sleeper. I could hear you get up from the bed and could hear you moaning. You're not very quiet when you do such things to yourself," Jiroh pointed out.
"It didn't get very far. I used cold water," snapped Gakuto crossing his arms over his chest.
"Because you want him to touch you? You refuse to come until then?" asked Jiroh raising an eyebrow.
"If I can help it…yes," murmured Gakuto his arms that were cross came to wrap around himself in a self hug.
Jiroh sighed.
"You really have fallen in love haven't you?" he asked.
Gakuto nodded looking guilty.
"I can't tell him though; I don't know anything about him or his tastes…"
Jiroh smiled softly.
"It's the reason I'm not that way about Atobe. I let him come to me because there's no way I can get to him. You should do the same Gakuto because in truth you're nobody compared to him and are nothing of importance until he comes to you," he explained.
Gakuto looked even more guilty and hurt and nodded.
"I'm not meaning to hurt you. I'm just telling the truth because I don't want you to get even more hurt than this Gakuto. You're my best friend and I'll always be there for you and will protect you if I have the power to. I hope you'd do the same for me," said Jiroh sitting up from off the floor.
"Course I would help you. We're all we got; we did this together and we're ending this together," said Gakuto.
Jiroh grinned and gave a peace sign.
"Glad you still think that way buddy!" he exclaimed.
--
Shishido pulled up into the parking lot of the apartment complex pulling off his helmet freeing his dark brown locks from the helmet. Otori came down looking as happy as ever. It was odd actually. Shishido had never seen the boy during the day time. He looked less exhausted and his skin was a lot paler and his silver hair shined a lot more in the sun. His clothes as always looked nice. Otori always seemed to make an effort to look nice. A light blue t-shirt hung loosely on him and jeans hung down at his waist…everything was actually quite loose fitting from what Shishido could see. Otori was tall and a little bit lanky. Maybe it was because he didn't eat much…
Shishido smiled and greeted him warmly.
"You never fail to put effort in the way you dress," he teased.
Otori blushed.
"D-Does it look okay? Do you want me to change, Shishido-san?" he asked.
"You look wonderful. Come on, I'll take you out for lunch and then we'll go meet my friends at their shop," he said handing the silver haired male his spare helmet.
"Thank you," said Otori getting onto the back of the bike, his arms snaking around Shishido's waist. Shishido himself couldn't help but have his heart leap as the boy's small hands touched him there. It wasn't exactly intimidate, it was so he wouldn't fall off the bike, but still Shishido had and urge to cover one of those small hands on his waist with his own.
They went down to the outside of town to the Cracker Barrel where they went to eat lunch.
"I've never been here before," said Otori.
"They serve southern food here, it's really good. In a way I wish they had one down in California," explained Shishido.
Since the author has been writing too much about her characters eating food, after they ate they headed back down the highway into Gatlinburg where it was a little more crowded than it was earlier.
The parked down to where they were deeper in town. Shishido chained his bike up to a light post and made his way into a shady little alley where a shop stood. Shishido made his way into the store gesturing Otori to follow.
"Oi, what are you doing here?" called out a small red-headed male with catlike eyes and a pout on his face.
"I wanted to introduce you to someone, stop being grumpy Gakuto," snapped Shishido.
Another man popped out with orange hair and bright eyes.
"Shishido!" he exclaimed glomping onto Shishido happily.
"J-Jiroh, nice to see you too," Shishido said stumbling a bit as the boy wrapped his legs around him forcing him to carry him. Otori looked a little shocked and blinked. What strange people…
"I'd like to introduce you to Jiroh and Gakuto," said Shishido.
"Nice to meet you..," said Gakuto jumping across the counter.
"They sell Japanese and Korean imported goods here; they're from Japan as well," explained Shishido as Jiroh got off his back.
"Ore-wa Otori, Choutarou-desu," Otori introduced himself quietly.
"Gakuto," said Gakuto shortly.
"And I'm Jiroh! Nice to meet you Otori!" Jiroh exclaimed happily.
"Which part are you from?" asked Gakuto.
"H-Hokkaido. And you?"
"Both of us lived in Tokyo but met in Chiba when I moved from there," replied Gakuto.
Jiroh nodded.
"Kanto," murmured Otori.
"I have no clue about the districts," said Shishido.
"There's five basically. Tohoku is part of Northern Honshu, Kanto is the six prefectures in Tokyo, Chubu is the nine prefectures in the middle of Honshu, Kinki is seven prefectures around Kyoto and Osaka, and Chugoku which is the west wide of the middle of Honshu. Kansai is basically as well Osaka and Kobe area," explained Otori.
"Psh, at least somebody knows what they're talking about. Shishido tries to explain them to us all the time and we end up correcting him," muttered Gakuto dully.
"I've only been there once and it was in Tokyo and most of the time I was in Shibuya and Shinagawa. How the hell am I supposed to know?" snapped Shishido.
"Figures. He spends all his time in Shibuya and doesn't even take notice to the other nice things around the city… Honestly he didn't even bother heading to Shinjuku-ku or Yotsuya or even Ueno," said Jiroh shrugging.
Shishido rolled his eyes in almost a girlish manner making Otori laugh.
"I've never been to Tokyo but people say there's good and bad parts to it," he said.
Gakuto nodded.
"You wouldn't be able to handle it if you're from Hokkaido. Stick to Yamagata and the calmer places," he said.
"Well this place isn't exactly calm either and Otori's coping," Shishido defended.
"Yeah but it's not New York or Las Vegas is it now?" asked Gakuto.
"I don't even wanna argue with you," said Shishido sighing. He looked around the shop and Otori obediently followed him like a puppy on a leash.
"You can look around too," said Shishido.
Otori turned pink in the face for being so stupid to follow him. He looked around at the books the shop had and was surprised at how updated they were. They even had Oshitari Yuushi's latest novel on their shelves.
Shishido grabbed up a magazine and paid for it and Otori made note to shop here when he had the money with him.
"Stop by again sometime you two!" called out Jiroh.
"We will. Oh and by the way Gakuto; that jacket is too big for you." Shishido replied with a smirk.
Gakuto flushed and yelled him out the door. What was up with him? Otori grinned.
"You have some interesting friends," he said.
"I know, they can be annoying sometimes but they have your back at the worst of times. Those two are almost like brothers to me," said Shishido as they got back on the bike.
"Especially Gakuto from what it seems. You guys bicker like brothers," said Otori.
Shishido pouted.
"Gakuto is horrible! He whines and complains too much and because he's shrinking everyday. His clothes are even proving it now!" he said as they rode off.
(A/N: OMG! I'm sooo sorry about obsessing over food. XD The whole point about my three or four trips to Gatlinburg when I went was if we didn't go see anything that we would eat! Eating was assured. I miss easting there too… TT I wanna go back and pig out at the Krystal Burger, Pals, Cracker Barrel….um…a lot of places I'd pig out at. They have an amazing little candy store. There's two actually and they have this Raspberry candy that is to DIE over. Main point is that you are always going to be promised to food in Gatlinburg. Best part. It's why I mention food so much. I hope my Japan terms were right too. I think they are. oo -will know exactly by this year since she's taking Japanese- See you guys next chapter!)
