Day 04: "Smooth like…"

To my surprise, one warm spring day I found Yusuke waiting for me outside the gates of my high school. He wore plainclothes, evidence that he'd skipped classes, and his lazy smile and nonchalant lean against my school's perimeter wall suggested he had not a single care in all of the three worlds.

The impression evaporated when he actually started talking, though.

As my classmates eddied around us, making their way home at the end of the day, Yusuke pushed of the wall with a fluid flex of muscle. "Hey, Tex?" he called through the crowd. "Ya busy?"

"Nah." I trotted over and looked him up and down, waving a distant goodbye to Kurama and Kaito when I saw them through a gap in the schoolyard throng. "What's up?"

He took a deep breath. "I was wondering if…"

"… wondering if…?" I said when he trailed off.

His eyes rose to mine before lowering again "… if maybe I could aaaa…"

He dropped off in the middle of a word, mouth snapping shut like a hunting trap. My head tilted to the side, trying to puzzle out what he'd been about to say.

"Ask?" I guessed. When he looked guilty as hell, I ventured, "Maybe if you could ask…?"

Another deep breath. "Ask you for some aaaad…"

He dropped off again, cheeks reddening. Once again my head listed to the side.

"Ask for some ad…vice?" I said.

Yusuke groaned. "Yes, dammit!"

"You want to ask me for some advice. I see." I flicked his flushed nose with a fingertip. "Is it about how to look like something besides a tomato, or…?"

"Shut. The hell. Up." Yusuke pivoted on his heel and stalked off down the street. "Shut up and just follow me."

I half expected him to drag me on another case for Spirit World or something, but instead he just led us to the nearest convenience store, where he purchased a strawberry Popsicle and flopped down on the curb to eat it. He shared half with me, of course, breaking the ice pop in half and handing it over without a word.

We ate in silence for a bit after that. It wasn't a bad silence, though. The silence felt… nostalgic, almost. We'd shared an ice pop on the curb a hundred times as kids. Yusuke didn't initiate moments like these as much now that he was a teenager, however, so I wasn't complaining. I'd take what I could get for as long as I could get it.

Still, though. I had to wonder what the heck the occasion was.

"Not that I'm not happy you're paying, for once," I said—and I paused to hastily lick my wrist, droplets of melting popsicle beating a dangerous path toward the edge of my uniform sleeve. "Ahem. But about that advice…"

Halfway to his mouth, Yusuke's own popsicle froze. "Dammit," he muttered, head hanging between his bent knees. "I'd almost forgotten."

"Shit, Yusuke." He looked like hell, face haggard and jaw clenched. "You didn't get anybody pregnant, did you?"

That sure did make his head jerk up. "Say what!?" he bellowed, lurching away from me on the curb. He wore a mask of utter horror and embarrassment, cheeks redder than I'd ever seen them. "No no no no no! No, I didn't get anybody—hey, stop laughing!"

His protests fell on deaf ears; I was much too busy laughing my goddamn head off to listen, after all. He turned even redder than his popsicle as he watched me cackle, but before he could storm off, I managed to contain myself.

"Sorry, sorry," I said, wiping at my streaming eyes. "Couldn't resist." In more serious tones I asked, "But seriously, you looked like you were about to be sick. Is everything all right?"

He huffed a bit, taking a moody bite out of his ice pop. "Everything's fine," he said while chewing—and after he swallowed, he heaved another sigh. "Look, you know I don't like to talk about mushy crap or whatever, but you said you were married in your old life—"

"Not married. We were together and serious, but not marri—"

"—and sometimes you like girls, and also you are a girl," he said, carrying on as though I hadn't spoken, "so I guessed you'd have perspective on something, and I just thought…"

Once again, he trailed off before he could finish his sentence. This time he rubbed one embarrassed hand over the back of his neck, gnawing the last remnants of his popsicle off their wooden stick as he stared doggedly at the pavement. Yusuke didn't often talk about his emotions (or any "mushy stuff," as he called it). Whatever (or whoever) this was about, it must be important to get him to come to me for a discussion. But what did all of this have to do with my sexuality and gender, anyway?

"You just thought what?" I said when he remained quiet long after he finished eating. My own ignored popsicle dripped red onto the street, droplets of strawberry-flavored juice staining the hem of my sleeve. "What did you want to ask me?"

Yusuke gave an aggravated growl. "I thought you might know what to do when you… you know…" He growled again and ran a hand through his hair, cheeks even redder than before. "When you like somebody?"

I said nothing—mostly because I had no idea what to say. Yusuke watched me from the corner of his eye, holding his popsicle stick between his teeth like a farmer with a bit of wheat. Yusuke had never come to me about romance before. Hell, he'd never expressed any interest in the subject to begin with. He just hemmed and hawed if I ever suggested he might have a crush, telling me I was crazy and to knock it the hell off.

But now… now he was here, seeking advice from me.

Play it cool, Keiko. Don't you dare fuck this up.

"Oh. I see," was all I allowed myself to say, face set in an expression of gentle, open acceptance even the Buddha would've been proud of. "Can I ask who—?"

"I didn't say that I liked anyone," Yusuke butt in as he shot me a ferocious glare—as if daring me to contradict him. "This is just in general, you got that? I just want to know for future reference, that's all."

"Uh-huh." I nodded sharply. "OK. Got it."

"Good." His wrath subsided somewhat; he went back to staring at the ground between his feet. "So… do you think you can help?" he asked, voice much softer than before.

"I can try." Screwing up my face, I looked at the blue sky overhead, watching clouds dance across infinite firmament in silence. "Let's see… where to start? I guess my most basic piece of advice is to—"

"To play it cool, right?" said Yusuke with a surprisingly eager affectation. "Real smooth? So you look cool?"

"Not what I was gonna say, no," I said. "I was gonna say you should just be yourself."

Yusuke scoffed. "Well that's a hot hunk of garbage."

"Is it?" I shot back, unhappy with his instant dismissal. "Because back when I was my old self, I never liked smooth guys. In fact, they always seemed too smooth—smooth like a snake, or something."

Yusuke considered this in silence. Shrugging, I poked my now-bare popsicle stick at the sidewalk, tracing a pale pink track across the concrete in a series of crude stars. Yusuke watched without a word, lips a thin line below his scrunched-up nose.

"Me personally, I liked people who were genuine—people who showed you who they truly were and didn't try wearing any masks, y'know? And following that logic, myself, got me a lot of dates, too." Stabbing the popsicle stick into a crack in the sidewalk, I muttered, "There's nothing worse than thinking you're with someone you like, only to find out the parts of them you liked were a lie they concocted to get you to let down your guard."

"Jesus, Tex." Yusuke stared at me in horror. "What the hell kind of people did you used to date?"

"Some good, some bad." I grimaced. "Let's just say I kissed a few frogs."

"Um," said Yusuke. "Ew?"

"I didn't mean that literally," I said, exasperated by his look of disgust. "It's an expression based on a fairy tale."

"Fairy tale, schmairy tale," Yusuke replied. "What is it with you and reptile metaphors today, anyway?"

I stuck out my tongue, but rather than retaliate, Yusuke just looked away. His bright brown eyes tracked the cars as they zoomed past, mapping the faces of the people across the road on the opposite sidewalk. The late afternoon light glinted off his pomade-covered hair, every strand highlighted by the glow of the springtime sun. Even though I'd given him the best advice I could (the best advice without knowing the situation, anyway), he looked wholly unsatisfied. Fearing I'd failed him, I leaned over and bumped his shoulder with my own, getting him to look at me.

"Is there something else you want to ask?" I said, hoping I appeared as helpful as I wanted to be to him. "I'm an open book."

But Yusuke shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "But I'll let you know if that changes."

When we parted ways that day, I stood and watched him walk away and vanish into the crowd, there one moment and gone the next like a phantom at the break of dawn. I only hoped that he'd do as he said and come to me again if he needed someone to talk to about more "mushy stuff." Stars knew he'd need someone to talk to when the time came for him to confess to someone he liked (someone I strongly suspected had blue hair, but that was beside the point). When that time came, I just hoped that person would be me… unless I had indeed royally fucked up today, after all.

"Maybe I shouldn't have made that pregnancy joke," I muttered—but only time would tell if I had indeed scared him off for good.

NOTES

What's that, you say? Turns out your childhood friend was once as old as your mom and was in a serious relationship in her past life? Time to ask her for dating advice!

TBH I think NQK will be the one to give Yusuke "the birds and the bees" talk someday. Would certainly be funny. Maybe I'll write it out. We'll see!

Sorry this was late; got behind by a day due to the release of the latest LC chapter, but I'll catch up soon enough. Hope you liked this. Thanks to these fine folks for supporting the previous chapter: QueenHobo, Ladyofchaos, Kaiya Azure, C S Stars, xenocanaan, cestlavie, cezarina, allyonthewall, noble phantasm, KhaleesiRenee, vodka-and-tea, buzzk97 and guests.