A/N: Dear Readers,

There's a little shocker in this chapter, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did when I typed it up. And a special thanks to Alla Bethony for some plot advice! She stopped an 'Alan steals Kai's photos and goes to the press' subplot. I found a better, less cliché way to introduce Kai's gayness to the world, but that's not for another few chapters... anyway

Keep on staying awesome,

love inyo

This is actually England...

(Part 1)

Ray was sitting in a reclined garden chair on the Balcony of our Hotel suite in Windsor. He was reading one of Wyatt's airline magazines, with a cup of Chinese tea in hand. I knocked on the glass door to get his attention, he turned around and smiled at us. He waved, and in his friendly, welcoming, Ray-manner he said:

'Hello there! Come on out guys, the weather is absolutely gorgeous.'

We stepped out onto the balcony, and pretended to enjoy the view. Really I had goosebumps all over.

'I was wondering when I was going to meet our guest, I saw your bags lying around.' Ray said to Wyatt. He stood up and reached out his hand. 'I'm Ray.'

Wyatt responded just like a fan, shaking his hand ecstatically. 'Oh I know! You're a legend!'

Ray was a very modest guy. As always, he played down the compliment.

'Nah, just doing the one thing I know how to do well. And who may you be?'

'My name is Wyatt.' He left it at that, seemed he was unsure how to introduce himself.

He knew they were my friends so it was my choice when to do so. Or that's what I imagined going on in his head. Anyway, I decided to come clean to Ray. To rip off my metaphorical band-aid fast, so it wouldn't be as painful. I took a deep breath and wrapped my arm around Wyatt's shoulders.

'He's my husband.'

Ray stared at me in shock, then confusion. For a few seconds he didn't say anything at all.

'You're joking, right?' he finally asked, after what felt like an agonising moment of judgement.

I cocked an eyebrow. 'Since when am I the joking type?'

Ray sighed. 'How old are you? Both of you...' was his next question.

'He just turned 18, I'm 16, I got my father's consent, ...if that's what you're wondering about.'

He was shaking his head in disbelief.

'Kai, dude, you're younger than me!'

I could feel myself blushing in embarrassment. Maybe telling Ray hadn't been such a good idea after all. What was I thinking? That he would be happy or excited about it? Well, that was stupid! Of course he'd be weirded out! The small pride I had felt introducing Wyatt as my husband turned into shame and I tried to pull my arm off his shoulder unnoticed. But Ray saw it happen.

'Oh no, no, Kai, of course I'm happy you found someone. It's hard to get started in the dating game, but with every partner it gets easier, there's so many fish in the sea and you're only 16, you're waaaay too young to settle down.'

'That's exactly why I got married. I'm not like you. I actually don't enjoy flirting. I'm not interested in dating around.'

Wyatt decided to help defend our immature union.

'It's not like we're going to buy a house together and adopt some poodles. We just thought since we get along and are sweet on each other, we might as well.' he said.

'How long have you kids even been together?' was Ray's next question.

'A little over a month, I think, we've known each other for a few though.' Once those words left my mouth they did sound pretty stupid to me too.

Ray obviously picked up on it but decided not to comment. 'One last question, did you ever even think about it before I told you about my arranged marriage with Mariah?'

'Well, no, but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea...'

'No, Kai, it means exactly that, and it's all my fault for putting those thoughts into your mind. I didn't even know you were this serious with anyone...'

How did I go from not even wanting to look at pictures of us kissing to marrying Wyatt? Well that's a long story, let me start from the beginning:

-x-x-x-

We arrived at Heathrow Airport Monday morning. It had been a long and tiring flight. I could never sleep on planes. Someone always has to bring their fucking baby. Wyatt had offered me some first class tickets, since his father owned the airline and all, but I didn't want to have to explain it to my team mates, it would be awkward, so I stayed in Economy with them. I regretted my decision once Takao started getting sick during the landing. The weather had been poor and he managed to fill three, not one, not two, but THREE vomit bags.

I had to support him as we were walking off the plane. He was still shaky on his feet.

'Pull yourself together.' I told him as we were queueing for the passport controls. 'We're almost through.'

'Urgh, I'm trying.' Takao growled.

I felt bad for the poor guy, he was feeling so ill, he looked like he was on meth, but he was cleared. I sighed in relief. I didn't have the energy to wait for him to be strip searched. I just wanted to get to our hotel and go to sleep. It was my turn now. I walked up to the counter and handed the officer my open passport. The binding made a cracking sound as he straightened it out. He studied it for about a minute. Held it under the UV light. Looked at the picture, and back at me. I was used to that type of treatment with the passport being Russian (truly immigration officers are the most racist people on the planet, hell, they are even paid to be racist, they probably get a bonus).

I attempted to help my case by putting on an innocent smile. It probably wasn't too effective. I don't look very innocent to begin with.

'I dyed my hair, by the way.' I informed him.

He didn't say anything, and I felt pretty silly. The picture was in black and white. By now he was busy typing up my VISA information. I didn't say anything and let him do his thing.

Until I suddenly heard a voice from behind.

'If you may please follow us, Mr Hiwatari.'

What the fuck? When did he summon guards? There were three of them, all in suits wearing sunglasses indoors, surrounding me. I looked around and saw Takao and the rest of the team stare at me in shock. All the other people in line were giving me a dirty look as the guards led me away.

They brought me to an interview room and made me wait there for about half an hour. While I was waiting, my thoughts were running crazy and I was shitting my metaphorical pants. I didn't know what else to do so I started biting my nails. I hadn't done so in years. Yay, for stress, bringing out the shitty habits I was working so hard to rid myself off.

Finally a different uniform clad official came in. He asked me all the redundant information, like my name, my date of birth, and then got more specific, asked me my parents names and family history, the focus was on my father's side. I could tell where this was going. Finally, once they started questioning me about my grandfather my fears were confirmed.

Turned out his name was on a no-fly list, he was banned from entering most countries. And because we shared a last name and a relation, they assumed I was just as bad.

'I have an athlete VISA. I'm here for the World Championship!' I told them.

They ended up asking me for all the contact information for the BBA and were on the phone with them for a while, presumably. They wouldn't tell me anything, they would just walk off and leave me sitting in that room for hours at a time, while I was eating my nails.

I wondered if these type of interrogation rooms had those double sided mirrors. I must have looked like some kind of crackhead.

After about ten hours of pointless interrogation and waiting a BBA representative stepped inside.

'Kai Hiwatari, come with me.'

Fucking finally! That must have been the first time I was happy to hear an order.

I ended up falling asleep on the drive back to the hotel. I was that exhausted. The BBA guy had to wake me up.

'Is it going to be like that everywhere I go.' I asked him.

'It depends.' he said. 'Some places might be more relaxed, America would be worse. But as long as you stay a fan-favourite the BBA will get you through.'

'Ah I see, that's comforting.' I was being somewhat sarcastic when I said so. It meant I had to keep my name in the papers to get a chance to even compete. Oh well, I had come here to win, so I decided to see it as further motivation to blade harder.

My team mates were thrilled to see me.

'Kaiiii, we already thought we would have to do this without you.' Max squealed.

Ray reached out his hand. 'Glad to have you back on the team.' I shook it and nodded.

'Why were they holding you up anyway?' Takao asked me.

'Because of what my grandfather did.' I explained to them.

'But that was all him, not you.' Max protested.

My thoughts exactly! But I gave him the mature version:

'Most countries are extremely judgemental towards Russian passports. If there is the smallest issue with either the document itself or the person they don't want to take the risk. I was lucky the BBA stepped in.' I explained to them.

I didn't believe in the reasoning either.

There was a wave of agreement and everyone was rather confident, only Ray noticed how nervous all of this had made me. While the others went down to the breakfast buffet, he stayed with me and watched me unpack.

'This scares you, doesn't it?'

I nodded. 'We are all so replaceable. I can't say I haven't been guilty of jumping ship myself, but people in this sport are way too inclined to do so. I know it makes me sound like a jealous loser, but I can't stand the thought of watching you win this with Michael Parker or someone equally as irritating in my spot. I'm a blader. That's all I am, Ray. I'm not particularly bright or charismatic. And as you probably heard, my family fortune is crumbling. This is my career and future. Once I'm out, I'm out.'

Ray took a deep breath and managed to slay half my worries within a minute:

'You're only a teenager, your lifespan as an athlete shouldn't end until you're 25 at least, maybe 30. Even if you end up out this year, you'll definitely qualify in the Preliminaries next year. Also, we would never offer the spot to Michael. If worse comes to worse, I'll ask Lee and make it very clear he'll only be a temporary replacement, until we get to a country that accepts your papers. But I have a feeling this goes beyond the VISA, you're scared of the future, Kai.'

I flinched. Ray was a very wise man. He had seen right through me.

I had been wondering what to do with my life ever since I started at school. I was hoping there would be at least one class that would come easy to me, but there wasn't. School just wasn't my strong point, apart from languages, I was pretty good at French.

'As I've just seen, relying entirely on beyblading is pretty risky though. But only class I'm good at is French. Even if I were to take full advantage of my talent and moved to Paris I would still need a reliable skill to find a job.'

'You could always be a translator, you know. You're fluent in Japanese, Russian and English, the three most important Business languages, excluding Chinese, you're worth pure gold! '

That was a very good point. I had never thought about that before. It wouldn't need any more studying or anything, and I wouldn't have to worry about being bad at my job, my languages were something I knew.

Ray had relieved me of a HUGE burden, I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight.

'Thank you, thank you so much!'

He clearly was surprised to find himself in this position, just like Takao when I hugged him.

'I don't remember you being this "huggy".'

'I hugged Takao a few weeks back.' I informed him.

'He told me. And that just confirms my point, I think boarding school is good for your social skills.'

'Heh.' I said and boxed him. I knew he was right though. Although it wasn't the school that had changed me. All credit belonged to Wyatt.

'Is there anything you need advice on? Anything that gives you restless nights.' I asked Ray, hoping to return the favour.

'Nothing that can be fixed by talking about it... By tradition I should be marrying Mariah once she turns 18. I should be living in the village, raising our children. Of course I can say no, but I will be exiled for life. As much as I enjoy the freedom to travel the world right now, I'm not ready to give up my home forever.'

Wow, now I felt pretty silly with my childish problems. Ray had already been thrown into the real world.

'Do you have any feelings for her?'

'No. I believe she still has a crush on me though. So one of us has, at least.' He started playing with his hair. 'But right now, I'm in love!' he announced.

'With whom?'

'With freedom.' he said, and laughed.

I smiled too.

I don't know what kind of advice the old Kai would have given. But this Kai right now knew what it felt like to be feeling that strongly for someone or something that wasn't a woman. I knew Ray was the flirty type, I couldn't picture him married. Maybe freedom really was his true love, whether it was the freedom to be with any girl he wanted or the freedom to move countries without any responsibilities.

'Well, if freedom was a woman any sane person would tell you to go after her, no matter what you'd lose. Or you'll never be happy.' I finally advised him. I must have sounded like a bit of a hippie. Ray noticed.

'Someone here has become quite the romantic.' he teased me.

I turned red like a ladybug. 'If anyone values freedom it's the Russians.' I claimed. But he was too sharp to fall for that excuse.

'Nope, I rather believe that someone has melted icy cold Kai's heart of stone.'

'Can't melt rock.' I grunted.

Ray laughed. 'That was so NOT the point I'm making.' His laughter turned into an evil smirk. 'So what is she like? She must be something special. I'd love to meet her someday.'

'Oh yeah, definitely something special...'

I didn't know how to 'come out' to my team yet. I was really glad Takao already knew. One down, four to go. I decided to knock that number down to three.

'You will meet. He will fly in on Wednesday.' I said.

But Ray didn't pick up on the gender pronoun.

'Awesome, what's her name?'

Next try:

'It's Wyatt.'

'That's pretty. Is she French? Is that why you've been getting into the language?'

Funny enough, Wyatt did live in a French speaking country.

This was getting painful, nonetheless.

What was I thinking? Of course Ray wouldn't know his gender based on the name, he was Chinese after all, and the name wasn't that common. I did have to giggle when I pictured my man as a French maiden with the name "Vayette".

'She's from Liechtenstein.' I told Ray. I had been somewhat discouraged by the last two attempts so I decided to postpone coming out to him. 'Don't tell the others about her though.'

'I won't. I know you're a very private person.'

It wasn't just that, Ray was the only one who hadn't actually met Wyatt. Everyone else knew very well who he was and that he had a penis dangling between his legs. If anything scared me more than telling my team I was gay, it would be them figuring it out on their own.

-x-x-x-

I would have loved to start training right away but I knew the most sensible thing would be to catch some sleep. It was a lucky that I had flown East to West, that way the jet-lag wouldn't be as bad (Since I had gained hours rather than losing them). I woke up at around dinner time after a long needed nap. I decided to go down to the hotel gymnasium to get at least a little training done before dinner and ran into the Bladebreakers as they were just about to head out to the restaurant. I wanted to duel with Takao, because I knew he was the best, hence it would be the most efficient work out in a short time frame but he was even more eager to go eat than the others.

'But they have blood pudding! BLOOD PUDDING, Kai. I've been waiting all year to eat it again.'

Takao had taken a liking to almost every host country's delicacies. When we were in Moscow he would eat Borscht for breakfast.

'Ray and Max can order it for you. Now the question is: how do you prefer to spend your waiting time? Sitting quietly, or sparing with me?'

Now that enticed the reaction I had wanted. Takao smirked and inserted his ripline.

'Okay Russkiy, if you want it so badly, you know you stand a better chance entering this country than beating me, right?'

Now I was smirking too. 'Oh really? Let's see about that when I crush you. 3..2..1 LET IT RIP!'

We shot off our blades at the same time and watch them spin in the beydish, circling each other for about a round and a half before we both launched attacks, Takao's being only milliseconds later than mine. Neither of us were defence bladers like Max, being the first to attack would always be an advantage. This time, I had caught Takao just at the right moment and angle to send his Dragoon flying straight out of the dish.

Takao wasn't too happy.

'Rematch.' he decided.

This time I wasn't as lucky but that was good. I needed this training. Takao and I were evenly matched so our blades went on sparing for a while. Long enough for Takao to start small talk.

'So, are you looking forwards to Wyatt coming to watch you blade?'

I rolled my eyes. That's why I had been so hesitant to tell people. Small talk was bad enough when it didn't involve talking about relationships.

'Yes, Takao, obviously I am, or I wouldn't have invited him.'

Then I realised something bad. Something I hadn't even thought about since I woke up.

'Oh shit.' I muttered.

'What?' Takao asked.

Now he would get more interesting small talk than he had bargained for. And he would be sucked into my problems. Oh well, he asked for it!

'I told Ray about him.'

Takao stared at me in confusion, which I took advantage off and launched another attack. But beyblading was the one thing that Takao would always have an awareness for. He blocked it smoothly.

'Did he have a bad reaction when he found out you're seeing a guy?' he asked.

'Um, no, I tried to tell him, he just kinda ...didn't get it.'

'Oh...'

'He thinks I'm dating a French lady named Wyette.'

Takao burst into loud laughter. In fact, he had to sit down to catch some air, to keep on laughing that loudly.

'So what are you going to do now? Wait until Wyatt gets here and have Ray put together the pieces once he gets introduced to him?'

'I'd rather tell him than shock him with it. Besides, who knows what he might say if he doesn't approve. I don't want Max and Kenny finding out.'

Now Takao looked hurt. 'Wait, does that mean that if I didn't see that text message, you weren't going to tell us at all?'

I had to think about that for a bit. Maybe I wouldn't have. I finally shook my head.

'I would have told you eventually.' I decided. I was sure of it. 'But not this early. I don't think the order would have changed, you're my best friend, hence I'm the more open with you than the other team members. Ray is very mature, so he would have been told soon after, like now. I have been avoiding telling Max and Kenny because I have a feeling they are too innocent. I don't want to give them more reasons to be uncomfortable around me.'

'I'm your best friend?' Takao asked surprised.

Of course he would be paying attention to that part of my speech.

'Well yeah, who did you think it was?'

'Wyatt, or maybe one of the other Demolition Boys.' he suggested.

'Wyatt is my boyfriend so I'm not counting that, and I never truly befriended the Russians, they weren't that welcoming to begin with and have been bitter with me ever since I left their team.'

Takao's smile was so wide, it almost reached from one ear to the other.

'I'm your best friend! That's so fucking awesome.'

And in that moment he lost his focus and I was able to boot his blade out of the dish.

I was smirking contently. 'You may be my best friend, but I'm the best blader in this room.'

'Oh and just so you know. Kenny is not that innocent. I've seen his search history. I want to bleach my eyes.'

'I guess we all have our secrets.' I said, thinking of what Ray had told me.

-x-x-x-

A/N: Yep, Kai married Wyatt. I hope you don't think it's too far out. I'll try to make it as realistic as possible while still including some funny Kai-awkwardness. You may find this hard to believe, considering how rarely I update but I actually really love writing this fic, it's light-hearted and it always puts me in a good mood. I started it while I was taking my last A-levels (they are something like High School exams) and now I'm about to graduate University. I feel like I grew alongside Kai while I wrote this fic. I was very bitter and hated my boarding school and my goal was to show the world how much boarding schools suck, and now... well, who the hell cares, lol. Boarding schools provide fun, homoerotic environments for fiction! My goal has changed to making people laugh with this fic. And that's all, no bitter intentions. Just enjoy yourselves!

Boarding school fact number XXX(I lost count): Boarding schools sucks while you're there, but after a few years, you'll get over it and miss the shit out of it!