A Lesson on Complementing: Chapter 3

Author's Note: You may wonder why this chapter took me four months to write... I also wonder that.
But I think things turned out pretty well! Let me know what you think!


As the end of the 'bet' rolled by, the boys, sans Hiroki, were sitting on a set of outdoor bleachers that were typically used to watch baseball games, although, at the moment, there were only a couple of middle schoolers messing around to watch. Hiroki was of course at Kempo practice, and at the moment Yutaka had about 20 minutes to go before he'd win his money.

Yutaka was sitting on a middle bleacher with Shinji's head lying on his lap. Absolutely no part of their agreement called for that, but no one said anything about it. They also didn't say anything as Yutaka played with the gelled spikes of his hair. The bet was coming to a close, Yutaka was going to get his money, and Shinji had finally gotten the level of appreciation that he believed he deserved (had that been the goal?). Everyone was a winner.

"I can't believe you're actually going to make it," Nobu said from the bleacher above him where he sat between Shuya and Keita.

"Of course, giving Shinji this much praise is easy. If anything, he deserves more," Yutaka said confidently. He was so confident he even held a manga in the hand that wasn't playing with Shinji's hair and was half-reading it. For once, Yutaka was the person in the group who was sure of his victory.

"I'm not sure that even Shinji could handle more," Shuya joked.

At the same time, Shinji and Yutaka spoke,
"Of course I could."
"Of course he could!"

They shared a look at each other and grinned. "Shinji can handle anything," Yutaka praised him, as he ran a hand through one of the ungelled sides of his hair. Shinji closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. This whole situation was pretty great.

"Ha, maybe he can even handle one more person complimenting him, huh?" Keita asked, leaning down closer to Shinji, as he reached a hand out like he was going to run his hand through Shinji's hair too.

Shinji's eyes opened as he sensed the movement and immediately smacked Keita's hand away. "That, I can't handle," he said with a dark glare.

Keita laughed. "Of course, man! You don't want me to work too hard! You're such a good bro!"

The rest of their group looked curiously between them, unsure what to make of Shinji's tone. But Shinji just scoffed at the words and closed his eyes again, ready to go back to having his hair played with.

But that didn't happen, since a second later a ball came whizzing its way into their area. It was only Shuya's amazing baseball skills that kept Yutaka from being hit in the head as the ball came straight for him. Shuya managed to stand and catch the ball with his bare hands, taking the force with it, and leaving Yutaka unharmed.

"Shuya, are you okay?" Nobu yelled, jumping up to check on him.

"Holy shit, nice catch, man," Yutaka said without thinking about it, as his body filled with adrenaline as it realized that it had almost been injured.

Shinji only waited a moment before he sat up, a grin on his face. Perhaps he should have cared more about Shuya's hands, but he just really didn't. "Who made a nice catch?" Shinji asked as Nobu examined Shuya's hands carefully, while Keita tried to poke at them from over Nobu's shoulder.

Yutaka blinked, before finally taking his attention away from Shuya and putting it back on Shinji (where it belonged, if you asked the Third Man). He only looked at him for a moment before his eyes went wide in recognition. "Wait, no, I meant—"

Shinji cut Yutaka off. "Oh, buddy, it's too late for what you meant. You said what you said, and it wasn't about me," Shinji said before he looked up at Shuya and winked at him. "Thanks for the assist."

Shuya looked up guiltily from his hands, which he was squeezing into fists to show were fine. He'd already thrown the baseball down into the grass behind the bleachers. The kids who'd hit the ball had already run, obviously afraid that the older kids would be mad. "I didn't mean it as an assist! I just didn't want the ball to hit you!" he swore to Yutaka.

"Sure ya didn't," Shinji teased him as though it was even possible that Shuya had planned what had just happened.

Just then, Hiroki appeared within their field of vision. Yutaka groaned. "Come on! Hiroki's right there!" Yutaka whined, ignoring Shuya's involvement.

"Too bad he came a little too late. A minute earlier and you would have been home free," Shinji bragged as he stood up and stretched. "Hiroki, man, you won't guess how this one played out!" Shinji called out to him as he joined the group.

"I don't know if I want to," Hiroki said, already looking uncomfortable as he looked around the group, sensing the tension.

"You don't," Yutaka said as he fell back against the bleachers, letting his manga fall onto the seat. He sighed. "I lost on a technicality."

"Telling Shuya what a great catch he made wasn't a technicality. It was a capital 'L' loss," Shinji corrected him, still sounding proud.

"He did save him from getting hit in the head with a baseball," Nobu reminded him, although Shinji only shrugged.

Keita was quick to somehow pop up next to Shinji. "Doesn't matter! A loss is a loss, right, man?" Keita asked Shinji with a grin on his face. Shinji only made a slightly disgusted face in response, but Keita didn't notice before turning to Yutaka, smile still intact. "Sucks that you won't be going to the movie with us, though, man! I'll totally keep your seat next to Shinji warm though, hehe."

Yutaka sighed, resigned to his fate. As much as he'd actually started to have fun with their arrangement, he'd known from the beginning that it was a punishment. And since he technically hadn't done what Shinji had asked him to do (by, like, 30 seconds!), he expected further repercussions. He was about to tell Keita he appreciated that when Shinji spoke up.

"Who said Yutaka's not going?" Shinji asked, looking at Keita like he was an idiot (mostly because he thought he was one).

Yutaka looked at him with a raised brow. "Uh, I lost? And have no money."

Shinji shrugged like that didn't really mean anything. "Right, you lost so I'm not going to give you the money, but I am feeling in the mood to give you a loan now."

"Really?" Yutaka and Keita said in unison, one sounding much happier than the other.

"Yeah. You did make it pretty far, so I figure that's fair. Although, you do have to pay me back later," Shinji told him seriously.

Yutaka smiled lightly. "Yeah, that sounds fair."

Shinji reached his hand down to offer Yutaka help up. "I'll even throw in a jumbo popcorn to share, free of charge. You deserve something for your efforts."

Yutaka's smile turned into a grin as he accepted Shinji's help up. "That sounds like a win to me!"

And it did. Not because of the popcorn or money, but because he knew it was Shinji's way of not only saying that he forgave him, but also saying that maybe he was sorry that he had overacted. Yutaka would call that a win any day.


After the movie, the boys took the train home from Takamatsu together. They talked noisily together, the way teenage boys did, about the movie and school and everything else (including Yutaka's almost success).

After the train, the boys walked together for a while before splitting ways to go to their various houses. That eventually left Shinji and Yutaka walking down the sidewalk alone.

Shinji and Yutaka didn't actually live in the same direction. Shinji should have continued walking with Hiroki for a while longer if he was going home. But, as usual, Shinji had turned to walk Yutaka home instead. It was a natural occurrence that no one questioned anymore. Even when they had questioned it, Shinji had always just shrugged and said he wasn't ready to turn in yet.

But now they were alone after a pretty successful bet, at least depending on who you asked.

"I still can't believe how bad those effects were," Yutaka was saying as they walked together.

"Makes you really wish you had won that money, huh?" Shinji teased.

Yutaka laughed. "It does pain me that I have to pay you back for seeing that. If anything, we should have been paid to watch it."

Shinji laughed along, and then they drifted into silence for a second. It was a good thing since Shinji had something he wanted to say.

"You know, I think I owe you an apology," Shinji said casually as they walked down the street together.

Yutaka looked at him skeptically. "You do?" he asked. He kind of did, but Yutaka had thought the jumbo popcorn was the closest thing he'd ever get to that.

But there was no need for skepticism. Shinji was being serious this time.

"I do," Shinji admitted, still sounding nonchalant. "I was a little irritated when you said I couldn't go 20 minutes without a compliment."

Yutaka looked up at Shinji as they walked. He was a little surprised to hear him admit that, but he smiled gently and nodded. "I kind of thought you might have been," Yutaka said, his voice betraying the 'Yeah, obviously' that he held back from saying.

Shinji shoved him a little in place of acknowledging what he said with words. "Anyway, you were wrong about that," Shinji made sure to point out. "But I have realized how much I like compliments, so maybe you had a point."

This time Yutaka couldn't hold back what he was thinking. "Yeah, I know. Why do you think I compliment you so often?"

Shinji's eyebrows knit together. "You don't mean it when you compliment me?" Shinji's stomach sank.

Yutaka scoffed. "Of course, I mean it! I wouldn't say it if I didn't."

"Then what do you mean?" Shinji asked. The idea that Yutaka didn't actually think he was super amazing bothered him more than he could have ever put into words.

"I just mean, like, take Shuya for example. He does a lot of stuff I could compliment. But I'd never say it out loud to him. I'd look like a total ass-kisser. With you, though, I don't worry about holding back because I know that you like the compliments," Yutaka explained.

"So, you're thinking as many compliments about Shuya in your head as you are about me?" Shinji asked, still not satisfied. The idea that Yutaka liked Shuya as much as him… He really didn't like that. At all.

Yutaka laughed. "Please, I would have run out of compliments for him by the end of first period," Yutaka said before smiling at him gently. "You're the only one I have that many compliments for."

"Good," Shinji said without thinking about it. "I'm the only one you should be complimenting for hours."

"I promise that you are," Yutaka said with his hands in his pockets and a sudden blush on his cheeks.

"Do you like compliments?" Shinji asked, noticing his red face.

"Uh, I think everyone likes them. At least sometimes," Yutaka said, looking almost confused by the question.

"Cool, I have a few for you," Shinji said as he grabbed Yutaka's arm gently and stopped him from walking. They were walking next to an abandoned building, and only the moon and a glowing streetlamp about a meter ahead provided any light

"Oh, you do? Um—" Yutaka didn't get to finish his thought.

"You're the funniest person I know and the most fun. I don't think anyone keeps up with me in conversation as well as you do," Shinji said as he got closer to Yutaka.

Yutaka looked surprised but smiled. "You really think that?"

Shinji nodded. "I do." He moved closer. "I also think you're the kindest, most patient person I know. You went along with me today to make me happy."

"I hurt your feelings," Yutaka said quietly as he looked down at the sidewalk. Shinji cringed. He wouldn't have put it that way. Although, maybe there was a little truth there. "Besides, I'd do anything to make you happy."

Yutaka was still looking at the sidewalk as Shinji smiled. He felt warm. He knew what he wanted to do.

"I have a lot more compliments that I could give you, but there's one that I think is the most important at this moment," Shinji said coolly as he placed an arm beside Yutaka's head and leaned closer, finally entering Yutaka's space and forcing him to choose between moving away or leaning against the wall of the old building. He chose to share the space with Shinji and backed against the wall.

"What's that?" Yutaka asked, suddenly short of breath as he realized that Shinji had him boxed in against the building.

"That you're super hot, especially when you're complimenting me all day," Shinji said smoothly.

Yutaka's heart was beating fast, and his cheeks were red. No one had ever called him hot before. And more importantly, Shinji had never been close to him like this before. Yutaka could feel his body heat, and yet he still wanted him closer.

Suddenly his lack of feelings regarding Izumi made a lot of sense, seeing as his feelings were so obviously for Shinji.

But then again, this certainly seemed like a crazy thing that was happening. "You know this would be a really weird thing to joke about, right?" Yutaka asked, his voice sounding low and out of breath.

"I do, which is why it's a good thing that I'm not joking," Shinji said as the hand he wasn't using to box him in came up to stroke Yutaka's cheek.

Yutaka's heart was slamming inside his chest. "Oh, good. Cool." He had no idea what else to say or do, despite the fact that his body was screaming at him to get closer.

Shinji chuckled lowly. "So, you want me to do anything about it?" His thumb ghosted against Yutaka's lower lip just as something of Yutaka's ghosted against the zipper of his pants.

"Yes, please," Yutaka said barely above a whisper.

But Shinji heard him, and then he kissed him.

And then he kissed him again. And again. And again.


Yutaka came to school early the next day. There were a few reasons for that, the first being that he hadn't been able to sleep the night before. It had been hard to sleep when all he could think about was kissing his best friend.

He and Shinji had kissed the night before. And when Yutaka said kissed, he didn't mean some light pecks that you'd give to your grandma's cheek. No, it'd been hot and heavy, tongues in each other's mouths, spit all over the place kind of kissing. It had felt groundbreaking. Like, if someone told Yutaka that the earth had shook the night before, he would have believed it and he would have attributed it to Shinji kissing him.

Damn, it was no wonder girls fawned over Shinji despite his reputation.

And that was the other reason that Yutaka was early for school.

Shinji was Yutaka's best friend. That meant it probably went without saying that Yutaka thought the world of him. He was smart, and funny, and made Yutaka feel completely at ease with being himself.

But… Well, it also meant Yutaka knew the other side of that. He knew about the parts of Shinji that weren't so great. Parts like an overinflated ego, his need to be in control of any situation he was in, and, most relevant at the moment, the fact that he struggled with committing to a relationship.

Actually, saying that Shinji struggled probably wasn't right. To say he struggled would imply that he tried and failed, when, in reality, he'd just never attempted it.

So, Yutaka had spent the night before preparing himself for the likely reality that what had happened hadn't actually meant anything to Shinji. It had probably been a one-time thing that Shinji had wanted to try. The most Yutaka could even dare hope for was that Shinji would want to casually make out from time to time. Which, okay, yeah, that could be fun, but it would probably also crush Yutaka emotionally in a not very long run.

He'd realized a little too suddenly that he was in too deep.

But he was doing his best to deal with it. He'd come to school early so that he wouldn't walk into the schoolyard to see Shinji flirting with a bunch of girls first thing. He had a feeling if he walked in and saw that after the night before he'd have an emotional breakdown or something. At least this way when he saw the first girl approach Shinji, he could just make an excuse to leave the group, say he had monster diarrhea or something.

Having his plan set, Yutaka felt a little better as he walked into the schoolyard. He debated taking his things into the school and putting them in his locker to kill time but decided against it. After all, going to his locker would be a less embarrassing reason to leave his group than the whole poop thing.

So, he simply stood in the typical corner of the schoolyard waiting for his friends. He watched as two girls walked past him and went to the school wall, where they were obviously waiting for Shinji to arrive. Yutaka sighed. He guessed the early bird caught the worm. It was probably good to be on time to woo the Third Man. Even if the Third Man wouldn't end up committing to you.

"Hey, you're here pretty early, huh?" Shinji's voice rang out from behind him.

Yutaka quickly turned around and was face-to-face with Shinji for the first time since Shinji had left him at his front door the night before with a wink and a, 'See ya tomorrow.' He looked as cool as always and not at all like he was thinking about how they'd kissed the night before. Which was totally fine and not at all a letdown! "Oh, uh, yeah. Guess so," Yutaka said, trying not to fidget and give away the fact that he was thinking about how they'd kissed the night before.

Shinji smirked. He was, of course, thinking about kissing Yutaka the night before. He was just too cool for it to be obvious. "Fast enough that when I came to walk with you this morning you were already gone." He then gave Yutaka's shoulder a light nudge.

Yutaka's eyes widened. "You came to walk with me?" he asked in surprise. Shinji didn't do that. Sometimes he'd walk home with him and stuff, but he usually just walked to school with his younger sister. Taking the time to meet Yutaka would just mean getting up earlier than he already did to take his morning jog.

Shinji nodded coolly, but his eyes looked amused. He thought that Yutaka was being extra cute this morning, but that might have just been the fact that he'd finally realized why he thought Yutaka was cute in the first place. "I figured you could use the head start."

"Head start?" Yutaka asked, raising one of his eyebrows in question.

"Yep," Shinji said as he grabbed Yutaka's shoulders and turned him to face the wall where a couple of girls were gathered waiting on him. "See those girls?"

"Uh, yeah. They're waiting for you," Yutaka said, unsure where Shinji was going with this. Those girls flirted with Shinji every day, so of course, he knew who they were.

"Mmhmm. They sure are. And there are a few more who'll come to join the group," Shinji pointed out, hands still on Yutaka's shoulders. He was bent down low so that he could speak into Yutaka's ear.

"Yeah…" Yutaka agreed, his stomach a mess of knots. On the one hand, Shinji was very close to him, and that was awesome. On the other hand, he was talking about his fangirls, which wasn't so awesome.

"Well, as you know, those girls dish out a lot of compliments. And as we discussed yesterday, I actually really like those," Shinji explained. His mouth was closer to Yutaka's ear than was strictly necessary, but he figured neither of them would mind that.

"You do," Yutaka agreed, his voice coming out a little breathy. He cleared his throat and strengthened his voice. "What's that have to do with giving me a head start?" Yutaka was a little terrified that Shinji wanted him to try to flirt with the girls or something.

Shinji finally spun Yutaka around to face him instead of the girls. He kept his face close to Yutaka's, and Yutaka could see now that Shinji's sharklike grin was in place. "Well, if you want to be a good boyfriend to me, you'll have to make up for the compliments that all those girls would have given me. Figured the morning walk would help give you time."

Shinji watched in glee as Yutaka's face went red. He wasn't sure why Yutaka was reacting like that, because to him this had been the obvious outcome since the pieces had all fallen together the night before, but there was still something fun about being able to make Yutaka nervous.

"Your boyfriend?" Yutaka asked in disbelief. He hadn't expected that, like, AT ALL. But…

Shinji smirked. "Yeah, think you can handle that?"

Yutaka let out a short laugh, one that held his disbelief and his happiness. "Hell, yeah."

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Hell yeah…" he trailed off as though he was waiting for Yutaka to add something (which he was).

Yutaka laughed a little as he realized what it was, but then he grinned up at him. "Hell, yeah, you sexy piece of ass."

It might not have been the most romantic compliment in the word, but then, Shinji wasn't really much of a romantic anyway.

He grinned, preening in the glow of Yutaka's attention. A glow that shined brighter to him than anything any girl could possibly give him. "That's my boy."

So, in the end, they'd both learned some important things. Shinji learned that while a compliment every 20 minutes might not keep him alive, it did make him feel pretty damn good and he was lucky to have them. And Yutaka learned that a few good compliments went a long way with his best friend turned boyfriend.

And they both learned that no one quite complemented them like they complemented each other.