Disclaimer: I still own nothing.
Chey: Okay, so I lied.
Hiroki: About what?
Chey: Shinoda. I'm involving him.
Nowaki: Chey-chan, we had a deal.
Chey: And I'm reneging on it. Sorry, but I have new ideas and it's been like years since I worked on this, so you'll just have to deal.
Romantica Egoist Act Seven Part Two
"Five years ago," Hiroki started, "I was in high school and taking Judo, Kendo and Karate in addition to everything else…"
"Bakahiko!" Hiroki yelled, storming down the hall. Akihiko turned to look at him. He smirked.
"Hiroki, there you are." Hiroki joined him, panting slightly. Akihiko handed him a notebook. "Can you check my homework?"
Hiroki growled softly. "I swear, all you keep me around for is to make sure you don't flunk out."
Akihiko shrugged. "I do keep you around so I don't flunk out."
Hiroki looked away, rolling his eyes. "When do you need this?"
"At lunch."
"Fine." He stuffed the notebook into his bag and stomped off again. He wished he and Akihiko were in the same class again but he was still on the fast track while his friend's grades had been falling off, of late.
It irritated him, to not be close to the one person outside of his family that he cared about. He loved Akihiko. He loved him. It was stupid. He was struggling too with the situation. He didn't necessarily think he was gay. He didn't like other guys—except for that one guy he'd met years ago, a boy who was trying to run away from home…he gave the older boy candy and told him to go home—he'd liked that guy. At least, he assumed that it was "like". He'd never felt affection for anyone outside Akihiko and his family. He also didn't like any girls. He just liked Akihiko.
What did that make him? Maybe he was gay. So what? Did it really matter?
Damn straight, it did, pardon the pun.
Fuck the pun! He was…he was…
Hiroki slammed his fist into the wall, punching through it.
"Ah, Kamijou-kun, what'd that wall do to you?"
Hiroki gritted his teeth and rounded on a boy he vaguely recognized from class. He bit back a retort that would curl even Akihiko's hair and stomped off.
He found solace in the library for enough time to fix Akihiko's homework, find something disturbing in that notebook to ruin said solace and get back to the classroom. "Here," he snapped, tossing the notebook down onto the blond's desk.
Akihiko nodded and peered down at what was written. "Did you read anything else in there?"
Hiroki, who'd taken his seat, several away, looked back. "You mean that other stuff?" Even as he spoke, color touched his cheeks. He'd only looked long enough to see that it was a story about love.
A smile teased Akihiko's lips. "Yes, the other stuff."
Hiroki swallowed. "What about it?"
"What do you think?"
Hiroki blushed hotly. "It was fine."
Akihiko snorted. "Very helpful. You coming over tonight?"
"Can't. Judo, tonight." Akihiko was a staunch member of the Go Home Early Club, the small group of teens who did not belong to any clubs or teams and often forgot that Hiroki somehow managed to belong to three.
"After dinner? We can meet in the clearing."
Hiroki smiled. Then quickly hid it. "I suppose. We can't stay out too late, though. We still have school."
"Yes, Hiroki," Akihiko said on a sigh.
…
Judo was fun. Hiroki was good at it. What helped was that he had more than enough fury to take out any opponent. Even the newer staff members were a bit terrified of him.
There was one boy, though, who had never stepped back from a match with him. Shinoda was a senior in high school and this was his last year before he could compete in national competitions for adults, which is what he wanted. He was better than anyone else in the club.
He was tall, with light hair and a teasing smile. Hiroki liked him well enough and the boy smiled at him in a way that wasn't afraid or derisive.
But Hiroki wouldn't call them friends, which was why he was startled when the other boy cornered him in the locker room after practice.
"What do you want, Shinoda-kun?" Hiroki asked, the taller boy, trying not to sound intimidated.
"You did well in practice, today." There was something in Shinoda's eyes that made his stomach flip.
He shoved it down. "I always do well," he scoffed.
Shinoda smirked and chuckled. "You have me there. I wanted to ask, though…"
"Ask what?"
"Ask you to come to dinner, tonight. Maybe a movie, if you want."
Hiroki went very warm. Even his ears turned pink. "Y-you mean like a d-date?"
Shinoda's eyes sparkled with more laughter. "Yes. You're cute."
War was declared between Hiroki's brain and heart. And dick.
Heart: No, Akihiko is the one.
Brain: It's never going to happen.
Heart: It might, someday.
Brain: What does it matter, there is no attraction here.
Dick: There's attraction alright.
Brain and Heart: Stay out of this.
Dick: Hiroki, go for it!
Right.
"Let's go," Hiroki told him. He fished out his phone and fired off a text. Going out with a friend. Back late. –H
To be Continued…
Chey: Good god, it's been *checks* sheesh almost two years.
Hiroki: Too long, woman, too long.
Nowaki: …
Chey: Nowa-chan, are you still mad at me?
Nowaki: Shinoda…I hate him.
Chey: …Anywaaaay, please review and thanks for reading.