Make New Memories

Years of practice had helped to cultivate all the noise Keito heard when he went somewhere into a sort of soundtrack to his life. Instead of incessant chattering from passersby and the noise of the vehicles that littered the roadway all the young man heard was faint white noise. Many people have the ability to tune out anything except for the thoughts floating around within the brain. Keito-kun had that ability but he preferred to at least have a splash of the sound that surrounded him.

The boy had learned early on to not dwell on what he heard since there were times when ignorance had found a step to his ear. Quite often someone would make some sort of comment regarding his height or the 'scary' expression that adorned his face. When he was younger these comments were what caused his shy persona to take hold. At times he wondered what would have happened had people just ignored him and let him be. Would he be an outgoing type or would that shyness have become him anyway? Riri-chan was constantly telling him to ignore what other people said and to not think about things that would never happen. Didn't everyone wonder at times though; what if? Seri-san had made a comment once about how he wondered what his life would have been like had Shiraishi not stuck his tentacles into him. So if he was wondering then Keito thought it was okay if he did as well.

The grounds of the university loomed ahead of the student as he walked with a moderate pace. His morning was full and then he had a study group so he wasn't going to be able to walk to the bookstore to see Seri-san. Plus his parents had been trying to get him to return home on more than one occasion. He didn't quite have the nerve to tell him that the person who was allowing him to stay over was more than just a friend. The thought of telling his parents worried him to no end and was the only secret he'd kept from Serizawa thus far because he didn't want to burden the older man with frustrating things. If he dropped by his parents house after his final class then he could still rush to Seri-san before the elder went to sleep.

Sleep. That was one thing he would never have thought possible with someone else in such close proximity. In no way had he ever envisioned himself being able to sleep with someone else on the same futon. Now, less than a few months later he couldn't sleep without the smaller man. On days when he was forced to sleep at his parent's house he either spent the night tossing and turning, searching for that warmth and the smell of Seri-san's shampoo or he would fidget so much he'd get up and pace the room in hopes he would wear his body out enough to fall asleep. In the blink of an eye the tall, shy man had found his reason for living and when said reason wasn't within holding distance his body reacted in a negative way which caused the youth to be all the more clingy the next time he was near his partner.

"Hey, watch…"

The voice stopped as Keito returned to reality from his internal dialog. A senior from his school had apparently stopped moving and Keito-kun didn't, causing a mild collision and a few dropped books.

"Sorry senpai." Keito stuttered as he reached down for the books.

"I swear Tsuda-kun, your head is further in space than an asteroid. That person you're seeing keeping you up at night and causing you to be tired or something, or is all that sex just going to your brain?" The man asked with a sigh.

The forward words from his senpai caused Keito-kun to burn a brilliant shade of scarlet and duck his head in utter embarrassment as he handed the books to the other. He couldn't even begin to form coherent thoughts after such a brusque comment. This wasn't lost on the others who had slowed their pace just to eavesdrop on the conversation. Keito didn't really get a chance to try to bolt though when Tazaki-san entered from stage right and linked arms with the mortified man.

"Jesus Matsumoto, do you have any class at all? Leave Keito-chan alone. He doesn't want to talk about…" She stammered. "Sorry, I forgot his name, what's your boyfriend's name again Keito-chan?"

Keito didn't want to answer the question any more than he wanted the girl to be touching him, but he was too embarrassed to move away. "Serizawa-san." He replied softly enough that only she heard.

"That's right." She said as if hit by an epiphany. "Serizawa-san may have latched onto Keito-chan, but I am sure he is a gentleman."

Keito nodded slowly, not looking at either Tazaki-san or Matsumoto-senpai. While Seri-san had a certain child-like quality to his personality, he was always respectful, unless he was teasing the youth. The teasing always caused Keito to turn inward and then the two ended up having a passionate make-up session to put any embarrassment behind them.

"Do you actually approve of their homosexual relationship Tazaki?" The bull-headed Matsumoto asked, ignoring the fact that poor Keito-kun was right there and could hear every word.

"What does my opinion matter?" The girl retorted, keeping a firm hold on Keito which kept him rooted on the spot wishing for an out of some sort. "It's not like it involves me. If Keito-kun enjoys that type of activity then who am I to get in the way?"

The shy giant wished he could sink into the ground and disappear. Just because he was shy and didn't like confrontation didn't mean he needed to be disrespected. With all this talk of him and Seri-san it was a wonder that his parents hadn't found out through gossip-mongers.

"I'm surprised you are willing to say that since everyone around here can tell you've been sniffing around this giant moron."

Keito could feel tears start to swim in his eyes.

"Don't talk about things you have no clue about!"

The argument was causing her grip to get tighter on his arm and he could feel his pulse where her fingers were pressing into his skin. He could also hear his heartbeat over their talking and the need to start hyperventilating was fast approaching. Using the beat of his heart he blocked out the argument and focused on Seri-san's face adorned with a smile. Whenever Keito-kun felt so uncomfortable he felt the need to pass out he would envision his lover and hide away in his happy place until it was safe to return.

The poor guy didn't even hear the end of the argument or feel himself being pulled in the direction of the nearest building. He was so shattered at that point he couldn't even find the energy to cry let alone figure out who was pulling on his arm. The next thing he knew was the sterile room of the campus nurse's office and the feel of a cool rag on his forehead.

The change in scenery startled him and he sat up so fast it caused his head to spin. The nurse walked in a moment later with a glass of warm tea.

"Tsuda-kun, do you know where you are?" She asked softly.

He nodded his head in shame as the tears he had felt earlier began to fall from his eyes to his jeans only to be soaked into the material. The day had barely started and he was already a basket-case. Even the beautiful morning he and Seri-san had shared couldn't bring him all the way back to peace.

Tentatively he took the tea from the nurse's hand and brought it to his lips. The liquid was warm and calmed his insides in a slow manner. He finally took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his eyes. Crying was unbecoming of someone of his age, this much he knew, but then again.

After he downed the rest of the tea he took out his mobile. The clock on the wall said he'd missed his first class and he wanted to message Seri-san and pretend his morning hadn't been ruined. All his troubles seemed to fade away once he opened the phone though and the nurse was even surprised at the aura that surrounded the boy seemed to change from black and sad to yellow and cheerful in a matter of moments. On his phone was a picture message sent from Seri-san. For some reason his smaller partner had taken it upon himself to send a picture of himself holding a latte with the caption of, "when you get home tonight, let's go out and grab a latte and drink it under the stars."

How the man knew just when Keito-kun needed him most was lost on the youth, but one thing was certain, it was those little sporadic messages that caused his heart to burst.

"Tsuda-kun, will you be alright? Do you want me to call Tazaki-san back?" The nurse asked.

"No, thank you." He replied with a shy smile. "I just got exactly what I needed. I think I'll go to class now."

Keito stood up and bowed before turning and leaving the office. While he walked he sent off a message that said his first class was over and that he would love to go on a date with the recipient. His fingers shook as he typed in the message, a normal thing for him since his heart always beat fast when he messaged Serizawa. He just hoped his day went by fast enough for the date to arrive so he could forget about the morning and make new memories.

While bullying wasn't exactly new for the boy, it wasn't something he readily spoke about either. He didn't want to cause Seri-san any worry. So the gentle giant took it with a grain of salt and continued on his day like he hadn't a care in the world. To him, nothing could bring him down for long as long as at the end of the day he could fall asleep next to the person who meant the most to him.