A new chapter. Wohoo! Finally! I hope you like it. Enjoy reading :)

-x-

About 2 weeks after the cracker incident, Wyatt and I went down to the shops in our usual free period again. Followed by my class mates that I had so kindly nicknamed 'the Idiots'. They certainly knew how to intrude in our business. They invited themselves along and now were yelling like obnoxious tourists: singing their national football anthems, so loud that even Wyatt got embarrassed. So him and I ended up falling behind and eventually, 'accidentally' lost them.

'Where should we go now?' he asked me.

'We can go anywhere.'

'There's only really one road though.' he remarked.

'Yea, that sucks.' I didn't have any desire to follow the Idiots, so I decided on something rather out of character, and admittedly: desperate!

'Let's go on a hike in the forest!' I announced.

'Wyatt gave me a blank and confused look but shrugged his shoulders. 'Okay.''

'This will be fun.' I decided.

He laughed. 'If you say so.'

We walked off the road and wandered off into the dense forest surrounding the mountain. For once it was a nice day. Sunny, T-Shirt weather. We still had to wear our stupid uniform Blazer though. We wouldn't be allowed to go without it until the end of term. After a few minutes of walking we reached a trail. It led to another view point.

'Let's go check it out.'

Wyatt laughed. 'Sure, sounds romantic.'

I knew he was only teasing me but I realised there was some truth in what he said. A hike, with just the two of us. Was that crossing the line?

No, friends do that all the time. I used to go on a lot of hikes with the Bladebreakers. It was totally normal.

But just as I had decided that going on a hike with him wasn't gay, Wyatt brought up the awkward topic again.

'So... just out of curiosity, have you made any thought progress with the you-liking-me thing?'

I blushed. 'There's nothing! It was just an awkward phase, -part of growing up, -like everyone has. It's over now. Don't worry about it.'

I had lied, but I didn't understand it yet. And it was making me uncomfortable.

'Oh.' he said. Then he smiled. 'Actually, that quite relieves me.'

'It does?' I always assumed he was into me.

'Yea, you might have misunderstood some things. I never actually had a crush on you. I admired you. For your Beyblading skills. The others just called it a crush because they enjoy teasing me.'

'Oh.' I said. That was all.

For the rest of the hike we didn't talk much. Wyatt eventually pulled out his pack of cigarettes and smoked for the remainder of the time.

I was disappointed. I had been so sure that he liked me. Wyatt liking me back had been the least of my worries. And just because life wanted to be mean, it became my biggest, as the whole accepting my feelings thing became more clear.

-x-x-x-

Things got a little awkward around Wyatt sometimes. Not every time, but more and more frequently now. He no longer slept over in my room, he smoked more and claimed to be busy studying. We would still talk in class and after class, but once we had too much fun he seemed the remember his plan of avoiding me and would race off, with yet another obvious excuse. The sad part: I really was sweet on him. The more he seemed to try to prevent it from happening, the faster I fell for him. I had always wanted the toys I couldn't have. But my teenage emotions aside, he was my best friend here. I missed the way it used to be. What if this would ruin us forever? I had to get over my heartache, and do my best to become his best buddy again. I decided to start with something innocent and normal.

The Beyblade Championship National Preliminary Rounds had started. The Bladebreakers would automatically be qualified for the International Competition, but that didn't mean we could slack off like that. Hence, I had called up Max, Takao and Kenny and arranged for us to start training together that next Sunday. But just training wouldn't do. I had to get in shape, so I asked Wyatt if he wanted to go running with me.

'I'm not really a good runner.' he told me.

'That's fine, I'm out of shape too.'

'Yeah, but you are a champion.'

'I haven't trained in almost a year. And don't worry, if you're out of breath, I'll stop.' I assured him.

He shrugged. 'Fine. When exactly were you planning on going?'

'Every morning before breakfast.'

'What a lovely sadistic ritual.'

'You'll like it. It's tough the first few times but it will grow to you.'

He smiled. 'I'll try.'

And that's how we started meeting for a run every morning. It was fun. The kid was definitely a pusher. I was fitter than him, but he had quite the endurance. Sometimes I would have to stop because I could see how hard he was panting. He didn't like admitting defeat. It was admirable. I wish my team mates were that committed. Even though I had chosen running as a 'normal' friends activity that was meant to distract me from my affection towards Wyatt, I couldn't help but getting dirty thoughts when I would see him at the end of our routine. Sweat drenched, shirt sticking to his increasingly defined chest, taking big gulps of his water bottle, some of it spilling out of his mouth and dribbling down the side...

Oh God!

But I pulled myself together. I couldn't let it show. For the sake of our friendship!

- x -

The weekend rolled by and once again we were lying on my bed, bored and with nothing to do.

'We could go down to the Beyblade Tournament. You can check out your future competition.' Wyatt suggested.

We were both lying next to each other. Rather close too. He smelled musky from our running session. We had just gotten back and neither of us had bothered to take a shower yet. But Wyatt didn't smell gross. He smelt nice. Musky and masculine. As pathetic as it was, I couldn't get enough of that smell and tried to nonchalantly move closer to him.

'Only if I get to see you blade.'

He sat up in revolt. 'No way!'

'I have never seen you blade. Not properly.'

'That's because I'm no good at it.'

'You said that about running too and you did fine.' I reminded him.

He crossed his arms. 'Yeah, but you are the champion.'

'So? That's even better. Everyone is worse than me, so I won't judge.'

He laughed. 'It would be really embarrassing.'

'Please!'

I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth. I was begging him. Something was so very wrong with me. Why did I have to be so sweet on this guy? He was just an ordinary person. I always imagined that when I would start dating it would be someone more like myself. Tough, cynical, and kind of a dick. Well, I was getting ahead of myself. I wasn't dating Wyatt. I wish I was.

'Okay, dammit. I'll do it.' he smirked. 'But that means you will have to do me some favours too next time I ask.'

As pathetic as it was, I couldn't be happier.

- x -

A couple of hours later we arrived at the "Stadium", or rather: the gym of the local high school. I had made sure that people wouldn't recognise me by dressing up in a black sweater, sun glasses and a red baseball cap.

'You look like a sex offender.' Wyatt informed me.

'Thank you.'

He laughed. 'What if they won't let you in? It's a High School after all. Lot's of minors present.'

'Cut it out!' I ordered.

Wyatt did as told and didn't comment on it for the rest of the day. Yay. I didn't lose my touch! I was still intimidating!

He signed up and we decided to watch the matches until it was his turn. It is always a good idea to check out the competition. This tournament wasn't all too different to the rest of them. There were cocky bladers fighting other cocky bladers. This clash of the egos made for quite a show. A group of 8 people would be called to the beydish and then they would have an elimination match. In total there would be four groups of 8 in this tournament. Wyatt would be in group C. The battle of group A wasn't too spectacular. Nobody really stood out and it ran long as two rather amateur, insignificant bladers competed for one last spot for 15 minutes. Group B was a lot more fun to watch. One of our local bladers turned out to be quite talented. He was arrogant too, naturally, but it was nice to see him back up his condescending words with actions. This round lasted about 3 minutes, and he eliminated them all without even breaking a sweat. Interesting. It dawned on me that he would have a realistic chance to get to the Nationals. Maybe I should keep an eye on this guy.

Now it was Wyatt's turn.

'Good luck!'

He grinned and stuck his tongue out at me 'Won't need it.'

Oh great, the testosterone in the air had gotten to his head.

I watched him ascend to the stage. He was nervous, I could tell. I waved at him from my seat, until I suddenly realised how ridiculous that looked. You're acting like some lovestuck fanboy, Kai!

The referee raised his arm and announced the start of the game. Wyatt and his competitors shot their Blades. Wyatt was doing rather well in the beginning. He was able to eliminate three of his competitors in the first minute. One of which, to my surprise, was Carlos, from my old team: the Bladesharks.

'Nice going, Wyatt!' I muttered.

I didn't want to embarrass him by screaming it. Another Blader knocked out two more and Wyatt took care of his fourth one. Soon there were only two remaining. Wyatt and a muscular tool, almost twice his size. Wyatt attacked him full frontal but the tool's blade absorbed the shock without losing much momentum. So he was a defence Blader. Like Max. Wyatt was having the wrong approach. He should have waited until the other guy attacked him, as an attack would have been his weak point. Instead Wyatt tried to jump his blade from behind. As soon as the two blades made contact, the spinning force of the defence blade catapulted Wyatt's blade out of the rink.

He had lost, but in my opinion it was an awesome fight. Wyatt did a great job. I ran over to the podium stairs to congratulate him when he came down.

'You did really well.' I assured him. I hugged him and gave him a proud pat on his back.

He was smiling like it was Christmas. 'This was fun, I can't believe I haven't had a proper beybattle in so long.'

'Good job, we can't have another yankee representing our country.' I suddenly heard someone say. Wyatt and I turned around in an instant. The winner from group B was congratulating Wyatt's opponent. And being a jerk about it too.

'Excuse me, you racist fucker, the tournament rules were specifically altered to encourage International teams. It's supposed to be like the champions league in football!' Wyatt yelled. No surprise, he couldn't just let it pass.

'Last year's team was composed almost entirely of foreigners. I am sick of all these Gaijins.' group B's winner declared.

But Wyatt stood up for us. 'Ray was the only real foreigner. And he was personally invited. Max has a dual nationality and Kai grew up here.'

'Oh wow, look at you, you memorised their wikipedia pages. Why don't you tell someone who gives a shit?' the guy turned around and was about to walk away, but, of course, Wyatt couldn't keep his mouth shut.

'Why don't you get over the fact that these foreigners are better than you?'

And that did it...

Three minutes later Wyatt and the other guy were standing on opposite sides of the beydish, about to launch their beyblades at each other. Wyatt, like any blader, couldn't back down from a challenge. No matter how bleak it looked for him. This guy would obviously kick his ass. For me it was almost painful to watch. For Wyatt it was actually painful. It had been clear that he would lose from the beginning on (he was very much inferior to this guy), but just to rub it in, his opponent had copied a technique from non-other than sadist king: Bryan Kuznetsov himself. Each time his bitbeast would attack Wyatt's blade, the strike would hit Wyatt too. While Bryan had been sneaky about it, and his blasts had been invisible, this guy was bold enough to not even hide it. Wyatt was screaming out in pain as wind blades were cutting him.

'This is enough!' I yelled.

People turned around. I dramatically ripped off my cap and sunglasses, allowing people to recognise me, hoping it would stop Wyatt's opponent's set path of destruction. But he wasn't all that impressed. In fact, he just laughed.

'So are you trying to scare me? What are you doing here anyways, Kai?'

'Personal business.'

'Trying to catch a look at your future opponents?'

'No, I'm not threatened by you. I'm here to support a friend.' I shot Wyatt a glance. He smiled.

Some people started whispering. I guess they weren't used to me having friends and on top of it all stand by them after they lost. They were looking up at Wyatt and he started blushing. Suddenly, my old Bladeshark Carlos appeared from the crowd.

'Do you want me to finish him up for you, Kai?'

I let out a condescending laugh. Evil, badass Kai was back.

'Are you kidding me?! Like you would have a chance...' I rolled up the sleeves of my sweater and walked up to the podium. 'I prefer to fight my own fights.'

Wyatt grabbed onto my arm, trying to hold me back. In an awkward turn-out, he ended up holding my hand. Yet he spoke like he wasn't doing anything unusual:

'Don't do it Kai, you're a professional, you will get disqualified from the competition if you have a beybattle with him outside of the official tournament.'

He was right but I wasn't planning on fighting with my blade. I nodded at him and he let go of my hand. Then, surprising everyone around me, I threw myself at Wyatt's opponent and jammed my fist in his face. He realised pretty soon what was happening and started blocking my punches. But he wasn't fast enough, I still managed to hit him in the stomach. He responded by going off at me, throwing punches like crazy. I was stepping backwards, lost my balance and fell on my back, blocking my fall with only my right hand. I felt an instant pain shoot through my wrist, but I ignored it. Me and the other guy were now rolling on the floor, beating the shit out of each other. People were gathering around us, watching and cheering.

However, like any fight in public, it couldn't last long. Soon the Rental Security Guards came running up and pulled me off the guy. I tried my best to free myself but their grip was pretty sturdy. I had to accept that it was over and it was time to face the consequences now. The Security Guards propped me onto my feet and dragged us both to their office. Wyatt followed after us like a lost puppy.

-x-

'What's your name?' the guard asked me.

'Kai. Kai Hiwatari.'

He noted it down on his form and asked the other guy. Me and my opponent were sitting in two chairs in front of the security officer's desk, sorta like high school boys in trouble. We both kept quiet, realising it was best to respect the authority in this situation. The Guard started playing the surveillance tape on a small, boxy TV.

He fast-forwarded it to Wyatt's battle.

'Hey Joe, I'm pretty sure that attacking the player is illegal.' the guard told my opponent.

Joseph, a bushy haired brat, shrugged. 'Maybe.'

The guard lid a cigarette and offered us the glow sticks too. Joe took one, so I decided to do so too. Being casual with the guard could work out in our favour.

'Is that your girlfriend?' the guard asked me laughing.

I took a drag of my cigarette and corrected him: 'He's a friend.'

Now my fellow delinquent burst out laughing too. 'So that's why you beat me for him, Romeo...'

Preferably, I would have started beating him all over again, but I had to stay calm.

Another security guard came in and handed Joe two ice packs, one of which he passed along to me. I had given him quite a bloody lip and a bruised eye. But I hadn't come out much better. My wrist was hurting like hell. I wasn't sure if I would be able to blade with my team the next day. Now that would be embarrassing. I had called them out multiple times, to not do anything stupid that might get them injured, and me, who is supposed to be their role model, did it himself.

'Okay, so the usual procedure is that for the future, you two will be barred from any High School Events. Neither of you attend this school, do you?'

We both shook our heads.

'Cool. So you will be barred. Shouldn't affect you much further. You already won the preliminary round and you there,' he pointed at me 'you aren't even competing so I bet you don't even give a shit.'

I decided to go with it and nod.

He pointed his finger at Joe now. 'And for future reference, if you continue cutting up bitches, you can expect their boyfriends to get mad.'

They were laughing again. I just rolled my eyes. 'Can I leave now?'

'Hold on, we need your picture.'

He took out a polaroid camera, shot a picture of the two of us and hung it up on the wall of fame (which included surprisingly many).

'Now you can go.'

-x-

'How did it go?' Wyatt asked.

'I am banned from future High School Events, nothing that breaks my heart.'

He smiled widely and dimples formed in his cheeks. 'That was so badass, Kai. You beat the shit out of that guy!'

'No sweat.' That was a lie, my hand hurt like a bitch. But I shrugged it off and put my arm around Wyatt, pulling him close. He was looking up at me with those big brown eyes, and of course I couldn't help but feel funny. I had a crush on him. As weird as it was, yes, I had a crush on Wyatt. Not on someone particularly brave or cool or famous. Things had a weird way of playing out. I didn't expect myself to fall for anyone, and I was sure that if I did, it would be someone a little more spectacular.

Despite all my expectations, Wyatt had won the lottery. And he didn't even want me.

'We're going back to school.' I decided.

Even the guy I had gotten into a fight with and the Rental Security Guard had noticed that I had a thing for him. It was time for me to tone it down. I decided to be strict and distant to him from now on.

'Okay.' Wyatt said.

'Don't complain!'

'I'm not, although, don't you think we should go to the hospital first? You should really get that hand checked out.'

'I said no complaining!' I hissed.

Wyatt rolled his eyes. 'Kai, cut the drama.'

'You're just expecting me to sugar coat everything for you because you think I have a crush on you. I don't!'

I was such a liar, but I couldn't have him find out.

Wyatt stared at me in shock. 'You're the one who's conceited here.' he finally said. 'I'm not as obsessed with you as you think I am, nobody is!'

Then he walked off.

Ouch. We just had a fight. All because of me and my stupidity. That's why I don't talk, when I do, crap comes out of my mouth.

-x-

I did end up going to the hospital. One of the Boarding Staff caught a sight of my arm and immediately drove me to the ER in the embarrassing school shuttle van. It is white with tinted windows and looks like was used to kidnap unsuspecting children from public playgrounds. Maybe that's where the majority of the student body came from. In the end, I was glad that he had been so persistent. I was not one for hospitals, and I had a bad habit of not going, even if sense was telling me I should. The doctor did an X-Ray and it turned out I had a Distal Radial Fracture. A broken wrist. He put me in a cast and banned me from blading until it would be healed. Just my luck!

Wyatt saw it the next morning, at breakfast. He was getting food with his Swiss/German or Austrian roommate Detlef. I ran into them when I was about to leave the dining hall and they had just arrived.

'Woah man, your arm! Is that from the fight?' Det asked. He knew about the fight. So that meant Wyatt had told him about it all.

The cast made it look a lot more dramatic than it actually was. It stretched all the way to my elbow.

'Yeah, I fractured my wrist.'

'Oh no, how long will it take to heal?' That was Wyatt asking. He looked somewhat stressed and shocked.

'Doc said 6 weeks.'

'Did you tell him the World Championship starts in 5?'

'Yeah, he told me 5 initially, but added another week when he found out I would be blading.'

Now Wyatt looked even more miserable.

I ignored it and pushed myself past them.

'Excuse me I need to go train now.'

I walked towards the parking lot, where Hiro was once again supposed to pick me up. Out in the courtyard, I decided to lean against the sandstone façade of the building. From this point I had a good view of the entrance gates. I soon got bored waiting and for the 10th time, went over today's training schedule in my mind. But I wasn't bored for long. A timid figure soon emerged from inside the school building. It was Wyatt.

'Hey.' he said.

'Hey.'

He was mumbling. 'Can I talk to you?'

'If you keep it short. Takao could get here any minute.'

He was looking down at his feet, up at me, and back down at his feet. Then he muttered an apology.

'I'm sorry you broke your hand because of me.'

I let out a loud laugh. 'Don't be silly, that's not your fault. It was me who decided to get into a fight.'

'Yeah, all because I couldn't stay out of one that I knew I couldn't win...'

'No, you were sticking up for me. Thank you.' There are not many people who would have done that for me.

Wyatt stared at me with disbelief and hope in his big, brown eyes. 'You don't think I'm stupid?

'A little. But defended what you believe in. That's noble.'

He was blushing. 'You broke your hand for me and I called you conceited. I'm so sorry.'

'It's fine, I was being a dick.'

He shook his head. 'No, you were right. I lied because I was too embarrassed to admit it. I do like you, Kai! I have had a crush on you since before I even met you!'

He blushed and looked away.

'I still do. I was hiding it, and I think I did a pretty good job. But then, after you said that you might possibly like me back, I was getting my hopes up. And acted stupid again. I'm so sorry.'

I couldn't believe my ears. He liked me! Wyatt Smithwright liked me! So this wasn't one sided after all. In that moment I couldn't suppress my emotions anymore and wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug.

'Kai?' Wyatt whispered. He was confused.

Here goes.

'Like you too.' I mumbled under my breath.

'What?!'

Now it was my turn to blush. I was certain he had heard me, but just for assurance I shamefully repeated myself:

'I said, I... I kinda like you too...'

It was out. All this time I had tried to hide it and now it was out. Wyatt looked at me in disbelief.

'Are you serious?'

'Of course, I'm serious! I ate cum for you!'

He chuckled.

'Not my cum.'

'Don't tempt your luck, playboy.' I teased, pulling him even closer.

I still had my arms wrapped around him. His body was soft and warm. I brushed my fingers through his hair. It was smooth and glowing amber in the sunlight.

Wyatt is so pretty, I thought.

Was that emasculating? Fuck it. He was pretty! He had pretty eyes too...

I just wanted to run my hands over him and touch him all day long.

'I'm serious.' I repeated.

For a moment we didn't move. We just staid like that, in each other's arms. Then I heard the rattling of a car struggling to climb the muddy driveway. I jumped and let go off him immediately. Hiro's truck pulled in through the entrance gate moments later.

Shit.

There had been an uncomfortable tightness in my pants that I had ignored in favour of rubbing my chest against Wyatt, but the reality caught up with me at the worst possible moment.

I had a boner. Luckily, it would only be Hiro seeing it. Surely, he was mature enough to keep it to himself.

Then Takao stuck his head through the open window.

'Heya, prep school boys, how are ya doing?' he yelled.

Max, who was in the car with him, was frantically waving, probably worried we might miss it.

I waited for Hiro to park the car, buying seconds to soften up my stiffie, before I marching up to them to say hello.

Boldness was key! As long as I acted confident, they would have no reason to suspect anything was awry. Fortunately, I had a Red Hering to distract them with.

'We have a little problem.' I then announced.

'What problem?' Takao asked, clueless as always. Max on the other hand had noticed either my cast or my raging hard-on and let out a gasp.

'What?' Takao repeated. As usual he was the only one who didn't know what was going on. I held up my arm.

'Oh no.' He said now. 'When did that happen?'

'Yesterday.'

Takao was inquiring further. 'What happened? Did you break your arm, or is it sprained, or did you pull a ligament or something?'

'Broke my wrist, doctor said to give it 6 weeks, so I'm giving it 5. But don't start thinking you guys can slack off now. You will have to train even harder now.' I told them.

Max chocked up. Then nodded understandingly. 'Yeah, of course.'

And Takao, foolish as always, asked yet another stupid question. 'Can we sign your cast?' He was smiling like a madman. 'In fact, can I draw something? That would be even better.'

I let out a short, mocking laugh at his optimism.

'Over my dead body!'

Max was snickering, hand covering his mouth as though afraid he would give it away. My joke certainly wasn't that enthralling. Oh dear, now he was exchanging mischievous looks with Tyson!

'If you do, we won't tell anyone that the mere sight of The World Champion made you pop a boner.' Tyson bartered.

Those little fuckers.

'Champions.' Maxie corrected him. 'For the book keeping.'

I prayed he was logging our wins, not my boners.