We know literally nothing about Aoi's parents except that his dad routinely tosses out his clothes and kicks him out as well.

Rogue In Shining Armour

Whatever virus had chosen to attack had left just as quickly as it had come, and by Friday afternoon Aoi was feeling perfectly fine and making plans for his weekend photo-shoot. Normally he didn't schedule shoots so close together, but the school term was coming to a close in a month and he wanted to do a swimsuit spread. He had never done one before, mostly because buying cute frilly swimsuits was very difficult.

Aoi briefly stopped eating breakfast to thank the heavens that his body seemed to have developed in a fairly androgynous manner. At fifteen, most of his male classmates had begun to put on inches and hard muscle, but he was still small and soft. He liked his body just the way it was. So did Tsubasa for that matter...

"What's got your face all red?" His mother's amused voice jerked him out of his thoughts and Aoi clapped a hand over his bright pink cheek.

"Nothing!" He squeaked which only made her dark blue eyes narrow more determinedly.

"It doesn't look like nothing," she stated with a growing grin. "Why, it almost looks like you're in love! Honey, doesn't it look like he's in love?"

Aoi winced, refusing to look at his father sitting at the opposite end of the table. He knew he was a disappointment to the other man, something made even worse by the fact that he was an only child. Aoi's father was a large man, tall and brusque and so stereotypically masculine that it was almost scary. He treated the fact that he had a son who enjoyed dressing up in traditionally feminine clothes as some sort of curse, one he could cure by burning all traces of it away or getting rid of the source. Aoi had been kicked out of the house or come home to find his sowing kits and dressmaking materials tossed in the trash so often that he had lost count.

There was a grunt from behind the newspaper. "It's not a boy, is it?" His father asked with a tone that promised an unfavourable outcome if it was.

Aoi winced. "It's not a boy!" He replied as emphatically as he could. "And I'm not in love with anyone! There's just this girl-"

"Girl?" The newspaper came down for the first time since breakfast had started and his father pinned him with an inquiring stare. "It's a girl? What's she like?"

"...yes?" Aoi thought about Tsubasa's casual approach to gender and gender roles. "Her name is Yamaguchi Tsubasa and she's new in class. She's..." tall, brash, bisexual, attractive in a way that's been empirically proven to be my type "...nice."

His father arched an eyebrow speculatively. "Just 'nice'?" He repeated dubiously.

Luckily his mother came to his rescue and swatted his father's shoulder. "Honey don't interrogate him!" She scolded and then she glanced up at the clock on the kitchen wall and gasped. "Oh, you'll be late! Hurry and finish your breakfast!"

Aoi shovelled the cold remains of his porridge into his mouth and dashed out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. He grabbed his schoolbag on the way and stood outside the door, hopping on one foot as he struggled to put on his shoes as quickly as possible before either of his parents could catch up with him.

Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough. "Aoi?" His mother's voice called to him hesitantly. Aoi heaved a quiet sigh to himself. "You know, liking someone isn't a bad thing. It's perfectly healthy for a boy your age to be looking at girls-"

Oh god, if she started to have The Talk with him right now he was flinging himself in front of the nearest moving vehicle. "Yes mom, I get it, no need to walk me through it!" Aoi quickly interrupted her. "Besides Tsubasa-kun is just a friend! I'm going now! Bye mom!"

He ran out of the house, and didn't see his mother echoing the word kun with a quizzical look on her face.

oOo

"A-o-i-chan~"

Aoi resisted the immediate and near involuntary urge to shiver when he Tsubasa's breath against his ear. She had been eating a slice of cheesecake and she smelled like citrus and spun sugar. He fixed a scowl on his face and turned to face her. "What?"

As always she was undaunted and instead beamed at him like a pet that had received attention from a beloved owner. Huh, and there was a weird kink he didn't know he had, although Tsubasa didn't seem like the submissive type. No, she would be gentle and sweet and oh god where was he going with this. He shook his head rapidly to dislodge the thoughts.

"Aoi?"

"What?" He blinked at her. "What did you say?"

Smiling bemusedly, she gestured to his drink. "You haven't had any of your milkshake, Aoi-chan. You need to eat something."

"Don't call me chan!" He snapped. Then he shoved a spoonful of the slowly melting shake into his mouth. The combination of sugar and chocolate made milkshakes and sundaes a rare treat and he wasn't about to let it fall apart just because he was lost in thought.

"Aw," she pouted. "But I want to call you something sweet! To match this," she reached out and brushed a strand of his hair behind his ear. Her fingers bumped into something and Aoi realised that he was wearing the clip she had given him. It had come loose over the day.

His face went pink and he swatted her hand away with growl. "Don't touch me so casually!" He snapped. After he was done straightening the clip he looked up and found Tsubasa staring at him with one of those stupidly, openly fond smiles. "What?" He said for the fourth time.

"Nothing," she chirped. "I just like looking at you."

Aoi felt his face grow so hot that he was surprised he didn't immediately start steaming. To his increasing horror, several of the customers sitting close by began cooing and squealing. Unable to deal with the emotions roiling in his chest, Aoi got to his feet.

Tsubasa straightened up as well, concerned now. "Aoi? Hey, Aoi!"

He stormed out of the cafe as quickly as he could, the bell clanging after him. Tsubasa stood up and hurried after him, but before she left she turned to glare at the cafe patrons.

"I don't know if you've never seen a same sex couple before," she stated in a calm but loud voice, "but you do not get to treat us like we're some kind of in-house entertainment. Our relationships are not a kink so please afford us some basic respect and privacy."

That said, she ran out of the building and raced after Aoi. Luckily she managed to catch up to him before he got too far.

"Aoi!" She caught his arm and turned him around to face her. "Aoi, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he snatched his arm away and scowled at the ground. "Why the hell do you care anyway?"

Tsubasa cocked her head to the side. "Well, I like you for one thing," she said.

"How do you like me?" He looked up at her. His face was still a little bit pink and Tsubasa thought he was the prettiest thing at that moment.

She blinked rapidly and coughed. "Well..." she rubbed the back of her head, "I like you as a friend and as a boyfriend. I think you're so cute it's almost ridiculous. Even when you yell at me I still want to hug you! You're the perfect height you know? I just want to pick you up and pin you against walls-"

"Okay, okay, I get it shut up!" Aoi screeched, his arms waving up and down. "You have no filter!"

"I do," she smiled and shrugged. "I just prefer to be open with my feelings! And I really," she took a step forward, "really," another step and Aoi felt his back bump against the building behind him, "really like you, Aoi. Is that okay?"

Her voice was low, not quite husky but there was something warm and smoky swirling between the words. Aoi looked away and shrugged. "Yeah, whatever," he muttered. "Do what you want."

"Sweet," she leaned away with a grin on her face. "Can we hold hands to the bus?"

"No!"

Aoi Blushes should be the name of this chapter lmao.

The part where Tsubasa talks to the cafe customers, it's just something I wish I could do? I've seen gay couples in restaurants and sometimes you get those girls who start cooing loudly or asking them to kiss because they thing being gay is so cute. It's very disconcerting. Don't do that yo.