Day 21

February 3, 2013

Night turns to Day

12:30PM - Jim's House

J stared down Toppa as he started to pet Karen. What happened last night made J confused and curious about Toppa's behavior and what he was doing. However, he didn't want to ask right away. After all, they both went to second base last night, and J wasn't feeling confident enough to tell anyone this, especially since he only knew these faces that took them in for about half a month. He was hoping to ask Toppa when nobody else was around.

They were finally alone at this time, and J decided to do something he wouldn't expect himself to do; He decided to snuggle Toppa.

"J? That's a little unlike you..."

"But you were okay with trying to go second base with me when you personally told me you didn't want to be like your dad."

Toppa's eyes widened. J was a bit sharp when it came to being observant, and Toppa should have known that.

"Well... If I don't leave you after I had a day being affectionate with you, I won't.", Toppa smiled as he caressed J.

J blushed and pulled his hand off of him, "You finally figured that out?"

Toppa looked down, "Yeah... I thought you knew I was kind of slow, though."

"Stop being so modest.", J smiled, as they decided to kiss.

"Hey, guys!"

J and Toppa gasped as they saw Judai walk in. Judai was oblivious though. He was like a child who just walked in to his parents cuddling.

Judai just sat next to them, about to turn on the TV with the remote. He started channel surfing as if pretending that he didn't walk into two teenage boys in love.

Flashback -

"Toppa! J! Run!", Toppa's mother yelped in worry.

"But Mom!", he sobbed.

"After them!", the police yelled.

"No... Don't worry about me. You and J have to escape.", J's mother whispered.

"But what about our friends?!", Toppa muttered. He thought about Striker, Suiren (My Sunshine), and Meganeko getting arrested, and how he took J by the hand to run downstairs.

"You have each other now...", Toppa's mother muttered.

Toppa looked at J who is still scared.

"They're downstairs!", an officer noticed, kicking the cellar door of J's.

"Hurry! Go through the other door!", J's mother yelled, pushing the two teenagers outside where they began to run.

12:35PM - Jim's house

Toppa then realized he should just be happy it wasn't the police back in Japan.

"So... How long have you guys been friends?", Judai asked.

Toppa and J looked at each other, not expecting the question.

"We were friends since elementary school. Why?", J asked.

"I'm glad you guys stayed together since then...", Judai muttered now looking depressed.

"What happened?", Toppa asked.

"My older brother was hurt after a Duel Monsters battle, and I lost my best friend because of it. Wouldn't it be sad if the same thing happened to you?", Judai asked.

Toppa looked down. He nodded. J was only gone for an instance from him after his father returned to their house. However, at least he learned he can visit J in the Isaki World when he went abroad to America for a while. Still, he was excited when he returned to Japan to go to the same high school as Toppa did in Domino City.

Flashback -

Toppa noticed girls crowding J when he was trying to get to his seat. When Toppa noticed J run up to him, Toppa's heart skipped a beat. He didn't know what was happening.

"Toppa! I didn't know you were going here, as well!", J said, sounding ecstatic.

"Well, I...", Toppa's been turning red. He didn't know why. Yes, he was excited to see J, as it's been a long time since they've even interacted with each other. But at the same time, he wasn't expecting J to get this excited to see him.

J then realized he was acting a bit excited, "Well... *ahem* Sorry about me just rushing towards you like that and not thinking that you may have forgotten me or anything. I just..."

"I remember you, J. How can't I? I was a fan of yours since the first time I saw you in a Battle Spirits tournament!", Toppa said, grabbing J by the hand he was trying to dismiss himself with.

J's newly acquired fangirls looked at him with a bit of questioning curiosity.

"I'm surprised you remembered me for this long, Toppa.", J blushed, "but we should get ready for class. The teachers are much more strict in a high school environment than back in middle school."

Toppa and J smiled as they sat next to each other in class. Toppa and J were almost inseparable, but at the same time, Toppa didn't know why; J was usually the loner among his group of friends. Have things changed since J was in America? It would make sense, as Americans were much more open with each other, not to mention loud and in a lot of ways, wacky with their hijinks. But J was being unusually close to Toppa sometimes.

It explained to him finally a year after being with him. They were sitting in an apartment that Toppa's mother was paying for, just studying.

"Toppa... Would you find me weird if I told you this?", J asked.

"You can tell me anything, J. Aren't we friends?", Toppa replied, even though deep inside, he felt odd that J stuck with him all this time and even if he's tried to make friends with the other students in Domino High, he seemed like he would follow Toppa around like a puppy when he really wasn't like that before he went to America.

"Toppa... Don't hide it. You somehow find me creepy when I started to feel this way about you."

Toppa then understood, the same feeling he felt when he first saw J. That feeling of his heart skipping a beat, and his face turning red.

"I'm sorry I've attached like this to you but I... I..."

J was trying to find the perfect words for it. Toppa noticed that the feeling that J had was love. Toppa noticed he loved him too. He didn't actually think about it, but he loved him ever since he saw him on the television when he became the first champion of a Battle Spirits tournament.

He knew at first that because they were just kids and also both boys, the thought of doing the same things that other couples did, all the hugging and kissing, that J would actually reject him. The thought of just being his friend was only good enough for Toppa.

However, they were teenagers now, and high school tended to be the time where they would discover themselves, and maybe learn a thing or two about them they wouldn't expect. There was also Toppa learning that homosexuality was actually welcomed in America compared to in Japan, where they have frowned upon it.

"I love you, Toppa. I know it might sound gross to you now, but I just wanted to tell you right here and now so that it can explain a few things about me that made you feel uncomfortable when we sit here right now.", J looked down, "I'm sorry I haven't told you this earlier."

Toppa thought his heart was going to explode right then and there. Just picturing J confess to him was only but dreams that he kept secret from his mother and his friends, and even J.

"I love you too, J.", Toppa smiled, as J was about to break down and cry.

J looked up as Toppa caressed his face.

"It's not hard to see that. When you were there, even when I was mad, I never tried to dismiss you or anything. I wanted you there for me, J. When in middle school, I was mad when you joined the Thousand Spirits group because you alienated from us pretty quickly and I wished you didn't do that, so I challenged you time and time again. So please, don't think I would ever reject being yours...", Toppa replied as he kissed him, for the first time, lip to lip.

12:40PM - Jim's house

Toppa thought if that were to happen and he would have to separate from J because he hurt Kyouka in a way, then it would make sense that they wouldn't be in as good of terms, and Toppa would have a lesser chance on hearing those words from J being told to him like back then.

"Yes it would. I'm sorry that happened to you, Judai.", Toppa muttered.

"Hey! There's nothing to be sorry about. Who would have thought it would happen to someone like my brother? Sometimes, I think just living a happy life is good enough, and that it's obvious that I'm happy for you guys.", Judai smiled as he looked at the two guys like a person accepting the fact that his two best friends are about to get married.

"Thanks, Judai...", J then smiled.

They thought about trying to get Striker, Suiren, Kyouka and Meganeko out of jail for a while now, but what Judai said made some semblance of sense. They should be happy that Asuka has done so much for them, even now when they now are living in Australia.

TO BE CONTINUED...