Wish We Were Older
Title: Wish We Were Older [Chapter 2]
Author: carcrashheart_8
Pairings: RyoDa [more pairings to come]
Rating: PG-13 for now [strong language]
Summary: When his parents go overseas to work, Ueda is forced to go to an all-boys boarding school for his high school years. There, he meets Ryo Nishikido, a stubborn, strong-willed boy who ends up becoming his roommate. Ueda quickly falls for the other boy despite Ryo's rude words and bad attitude. Trouble starts up, however, and soon this seemingly one-sided love ends up becoming a love triangle and eventually a love square. Despite it all, Ueda must overcome these obstacles in order to maintain his spot at the elite high school.
Disclaimer: Title taken from "Wish We Were Older" by Metro Station
Chapter 2
After a day of introductions to their new classes, Ryo and Ueda made their way back to their room. They didn’t plan on going back together but since they had just had homeroom, it seemed only natural to walk with one another.
“Ugghh-I can’t believe I got stuck with you for 90% of my day! Everywhere I looked-there you were!” Ryo complained, rubbing his neck and slinging his bag over his shoulder.
Ueda clenched his fist and gripped his bag’s handle with his other hand. He managed to respond to Ryo with a biting complaint of his own.
“It’s not like I planned on it. I was glad that we at least don’t have the same club activities. You’re in-what-soccer?”
“Yeah-and you?”
“Art club,” Ueda responded coldly.
Ryo whistled, “So, you an artist or something?”
“What is this?” Ueda stopped and looked at the other boy, “Are you trying to make small talk with me after insulting me?”
Ryo stopped as well and looked the other boy dead-on, “Hey, you asked me first-I’m just giving you a response. It’s fucking called common courtesy, jackass!” He stomped his feet like a wild animal before storming off without Ueda.
“Such a mouth-it’s hard to believe he’s only 15,” Ueda said to himself, shaking his head and following the other boy.
He arrived at his dorm room and saw that Ryo was sitting at his desk, hunched over and staring at a mirror. Ueda didn’t say anything and just threw his bag behind the door and hopped on his bed. He leant back with his arms behind his head and sighed deeply.
Ryo started grumbling, slamming the mirror down surprisingly without breaking it and getting up from his seat. He sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands.
Ueda sat up, leaning on his elbows and stared at Ryo. Despite the other boy’s harsh tongue and stubborn nature, he was still exceedingly good-looking in Ueda’s eyes. He had soft brown hair and a chiseled jaw that belonged only on a male model. His skin was a slight shade of olive and his eyes were dark and wide-set. Then there was that mouth; it spilled only the nastiest insults and yet it was so intriguing to Ueda. The lips were full and slightly plump, yet very masculine looking. His teeth were white and straight and they seemed to sparkle whenever Ryo smiled widely.
Ueda continued staring even after Ryo had caught him doing so.
“What is with you? You’re always staring at me! Are you a homo or something?”
The dreamy state Ueda had been in dissipated and he was quick to retort.
“And you’re a homophobe? Or do you just hate everyone?”
“I never said being a homo was a bad thing,” Ryo sounded a little hurt that he would be accused of hating gay people.
“Then what does it matter if I was one? And besides-I wasn’t staring at you, you-egomaniac!”
“Egomaniac?”
“It means you’re obsessed with yourself, you idiot!” Ueda grunted, frustrated at Ryo’s apparent lack of a vocabulary.
“I know what it means! I’m not an idiot-not like you!”
Ueda turned away from Ryo and stared at the wall, lying on his side. Ryo ground his fists into his mattress and looked at Ueda’s back.
He noticed something about the other boy; his waist was small and his shoulders weren’t as broad as one would expect for a male’s shoulders to be. From behind, one would think he was a girl, with his pale-white skin and his slender arms. His legs were long and they were virtually hairless as was most of his body. Ryo figured puberty hadn’t yet hit for the other boy, a pity since Ryo was already sprouting hair and experienced a growth spurt only he thought was worth bragging about.
He was now the one staring and only stopped when Ueda moved around and finally turned himself over to get up and out of his bed. Ryo looked away for a bit, while his cheeks went pink. He then looked back and watched what Ueda was doing. He went to grab some books from his bag and began writing things down after sitting himself down at his desk.
“Hey-what are you doing? We don’t have any homework,” Ryo said in a slightly friendly manner, hoping that he could soften the tension that occurred between him and his roommate.
“It’s none of your business what I’m doing. Go back to sulking over how much of a jerk you are and leave me alone.”
Ryo felt the sharpest twinge of anger inside of his stomach but instead of acting on it, he made a grunting noise and walked out of the room, presumably to use the bathroom or something of the like. Ueda sighed with relief when the other boy left and leant back in his chair. He put his hands behind his head and stared out the window.
From his room, he noticed, he could see most of the school grounds, including the school gymnasium, the theater, and the Olympic-sized swimming pool. On the other side of the dormitory building, it was said there was a large track and soccer field as well as a baseball field and several other sports facilities. Ueda guessed that the school was known not just for its academics but also its sports program. To him, it didn’t exactly matter since he wasn’t very interested in sports at the moment.
Sighing even deeper, Ueda hunched over his desk with his arms crossed and his eyes on the notebook in front of him. He wasn’t doing homework but was instead writing down various insults he could hurl at Ryo whenever the two would fight. They were all rather juvenile even for fighting pubescent boys, but Ueda thought they would hurt just as much as anything Ryo could ever throw at him. He looked at the notebook proudly before shoving it away when someone knocked on his open door.
He turned around to see Toma standing in the doorway looking a bit unsure of whether or not he should be there. Ueda frowned and just turned back to what he was doing.
“If you’re looking for Ryo-kun, he went out-”
“I actually-uh-I actually wanted to talk to you, Ueda-Ueda-kun,” Toma stuttered.
Ueda looked up, still with his back to Toma. He wasn’t sure what would happen but he decided to listen to what the other was going to say.
He turned and with a bit of caution in his voice, he asked, “Why-I mean, what do you want to talk about?”
“I just wanted to clear the air about some things-uh-can I sit down?”
Ueda nodded and pulled Ryo’s desk chair out, “Yeah-yeah sure, please.”
Toma smiled nervously and sat down, rubbing his hands over his knees as if he was trying to dry his now sweaty palms.
“I just wanted to let you know that I have nothing against you and if it seems like I do, it’s just because I’m following what Ryo and Yamapi are doing. I don’t have any beef with you and-yeah, I just wanted you to know that so-um-classmates?”
Ueda smiled slightly, “Well, I think we’d be classmates regardless of whether you liked me or not but-yeah, we can be friends, if that’s not asking too much?”
Toma smiled widely and looked more at ease, “I don’t mind being friends-I just wonder how Ryo would feel.”
“Ugh, that idiot-“ Ueda shook his head and leant against his closed fist, “I wish I could punch him in the face when he wasn’t paying attention.”
Toma laughed knowingly, “Yeah, Ryo’s got a pretty bad temper but he’s really a cool guy.”
“You’ve been friends since elementary school right? Tell me something-was he always such a spoiled brat or did that only start happening once he went through puberty?”
Toma looked at Ueda oddly but then started to laugh again, “If you think Ryo is spoiled, then you’ll clearly don’t know him that well.”
Ueda crossed his arms and leant back in his chair; he looked at Ryo’s bed and thought to himself. He had only known Ryo for a few days and had been his roommate for the same amount of time. He knew relatively nothing about the other boy and yet in his mind and his heart, it was like Ryo was the person he both liked and hated the most at the moment.
“So-why don’t you tell me all there is to know about Nishikido Ryo?”
Ryo walked down the hallway and nearly felt like punching the wall as he walked. He hadn’t been this annoyed with anyone in a long time. He had a reputation for being poorly tempered but never had he felt like he could kill someone with his bare hands in a matter of seconds.
“Damn that guy,” Ryo muttered to himself.
He walked into his room and was shocked to see Toma and Ueda sitting awful close to one another with Toma whispering into the other boy’s ear, causing him to giggle like a little girl.
“WHAT THE HELL?!”
“RYO!” Toma jumped up from his chair, putting his hands behind his back and looking fairly guilty.
Ueda just turned his head and looked at Ryo before cracking up, hard and loudly.
“HAHAHAHAHA!” Ueda nearly fell out of his chair, clutching his stomach and bending over, as tears streamed down his face.
“YOU! WHAT THE HELL YOU LAUGHING AT?!”
Toma looked at Ueda who was still laughing like crazy and then back at Ryo who was stamping his foot like a mad rhino and growling at his roommate.
He sighed a bit contentedly before saying, “Gotta go now-see you two later. And Ueda-kun-don’t tell Ryo what I told you,” he said with a slight wink.
Ueda nodded and winked back, stifling his laughter while doing so.
Ryo glared at Toma who took it as a sign to leave; he ran out the room and down the hallway laughing as Ryo went after him.
“I’ll get you, Toma! I don’t know what you said but I swear I’ll get you!” he yelled down the hallway. When he came back into the room, Ueda had sprawled out on his bed, his shirt slightly up revealing his smooth stomach. He was panting and trying to catch his breath after all the laughing he had done.
Ryo gulped and looked away, his chest tightening up. Ueda sat up and looked at him.
“Eh-what’s wrong, Nishikido-kun? Are you mad because Ikuta-kun told me something he shouldn’t have?” Ueda asked with a fake sense of concern and sparkly eyes that made Ryo’s stomach fill with butterflies.
Ryo gulped again but did his best to hide the noise. He looked away from Ueda and stomped over to his bed, turning over and facing away from Ueda, who was still making noises that sounded like giggles. Ueda decided it would be best to keep away from Ryo for the rest of the night and that he would keep the secret that Toma had told him, to himself.
The next morning, Ueda woke up for classes earlier than the previous day, only to find that Ryo had already left. He looked around and sure enough, Ryo’s uniform and school bag were gone. Ueda pouted a bit but decided it was better not to think about it too much.
He walked to class with Maru and Koki who were debating about what actress was the hottest when Ueda stopped to see Jin, with Junno in tow, walking towards them.
“Oh crap, it’s that guy,” Ueda gasped, scurrying to hide behind Koki and Maru.
“Eh, who?” Maru asked, looking around.
“AKANISHI!” Koki pointed in horror.
Jin walked over with a smile on his face that showed only the most evil of expressions. Junno was smiling warmly but not at anything in particular.
“Well-well, if it isn’t the headmistress’s grandson’s bitch,” Jin taunted.
“’Headmistress’s-‘” Koki and Maru looked at each other, confused.
“Akanishi-uh-good morning!” Ueda smiled, his eyes widened, unfortunately showing how terrified he really was.
“Last time I checked, first years were supposed to call those above them ‘senpai’, am I right, Junno?”
“Huh?” Junno looked at Jin, dumbfounded, “Oh right!”
“Senpai?” Ueda said as if he wasn’t sure why he was saying it.
“That’s right, ‘senpai’. You little first year idiots better show respect to your elders, you got that?” Jin snarled, looking at each boy.
Koki and Maru nodded their heads obediently while Ueda just looked oddly at the older boy. Jin took notice and glared at the younger boy.
“What? You got something to say?”
Ueda still made a face that showed he didn’t quite understand what was going on, but before he could actually say anything, someone else interrupted.
“You sure like making trouble for yourself, don’t you?”
Ueda turned around and saw Ryo standing a few feet away. He was, for some reason, covered in dirt and had his shirt untucked and open with his undershirt hanging out. Ueda wanted to ask what had happened but Jin spoke before he did.
“You again? What-are you his bodyguard or something?”
“I wasn’t talking to you-I was talking to him,” Ryo said, pointing at Ueda, who looked around before realizing he was the target of Ryo’s insult.
“What?! Me?! What did I do?!”
Ryo put his hands in his pockets and strolled over, laughing obnoxiously.
“Of course, I mean you! You’re becoming a real hassle-a real burden!”
“What are you talking about?! ‘A hassle’?”
“Yeah, a hassle! I always have to fix your mistakes and I’m getting really damn tired of it!”
Jin slowly backed away and stood next to Junno, who was standing next to Maru and Koki; all four boys were not allowing themselves to get mixed up in the roommates’ spat.
“Well, no one told you that you had to watch over me!”
“Yes, she did!”
Ueda gaped; who was the ‘she’ that Ryo was referring to?
“What?”
Ryo stepped back and closed his mouth abruptly. Clearly, he had said something that he wasn’t supposed to. He started making weird guttural noises before replying to Ueda’s question.
“Nothing! Just stop making trouble for everyone, you selfish bastard!”
With that, the short-tempered boy stormed off without even dealing with Jin and looking as angry as ever.
“Geez, you guys fight like that all the time?” Jin scoffed, watching as Ryo stomped off.
Ueda didn’t answer him and just started thinking. He couldn’t figure out what Ryo meant by ‘yes, she did’ and he was dying to find out the answer.
But Ryo wasn’t talking to him, at all. Not a word during homeroom, or in any other classes they had shared that day. And at lunch, Ueda got the deadliest stare from his roommate that he had ever seen anyone outside a monster movie receive. It almost sent shivers down his spine, but he was still persistent.
“Ryo-kun-” Ueda decided using a more casual and cuter approach in order to get the other boy to talk.
Ryo said nothing and continued scribbling down some math problems he had gotten as homework.
Ueda grew frustrated; he poked the other boy in the side and smiled.
“Ryo-kun?”
Ryo just scooted his chair over and slammed the book on the desk, and continued writing down random formulas.
Ueda pouted. He was used to getting his way most of the time, so it made him annoyed when Ryo wasn’t talking to him, not even to insult him.
“Ryo-kun-do you want to know what Ikuta told me the other day?”
Ryo lifted his head and stared at the wall; Ueda smiled to himself, feeling a little victorious. But it didn’t last long because Ryo just shook his head ‘no’ and went back to his homework. Ueda’s smile disappeared and he just started pouting again like a shameless child.
He crawled onto his bed and sat with crossed arms and stared at Ryo. For once, he wasn’t worried about getting caught staring. Ryo ignored him and Ueda just grew more frustrated. He then got up and sat right next to Ryo with his face close to the other’s. Ryo turned and noticed that Ueda’s face was only a few inches away from him. The younger boy’s cheeks grew hot as he counted the eyelashes on Ueda’s eyes.
“Are you going to talk me or not?” Ueda said with a determined look on his face.
Ryo shook his head and got up from his desk; he walked out without saying a word and Ueda just groaned. He leant back and stared at the ceiling. His attention was caught by the grooves in the tiles on the ceiling, but it didn’t last long because a knock was heard on the door.
“Hello??”
Ueda jumped up when he saw Ryo’s grandmother, the headmistress standing in the doorway. She was dressed as nice as she had been the previous times that Ueda had seen her. She also had a wide smile on her face that made Ueda wished he still had a living grandmother.
“Headmistress!”
“Oh, Ueda-kun,” she smiled even wider, “I was wondering if that mischievous grandson of mine was here but I guess he isn’t. Do you know where he went?”
Ueda shrugged his shoulders, “I’m not sure. He just left right now-I think he went to use the toilet-er-restroom.”
The headmistress sighed, “Well, if he comes back, will you let him know that I was looking for him? I wanted to talk to him about this morning.”
“This morning?”
“Oh yes, it seems he got into a little trouble and showed up to homeroom with a dirty face and a messy uniform. I for one would like to know what the cause of that was,” she scowled, but her face relaxed as she continued speaking, “Anyways, would you let him know, Ueda-kun?”
Ueda nodded furiously, “Yes, of course!”
The headmistress’s eyes squinted as she grinned, “Thank you very much. Oh-Ueda-kun-I’d like to know-how are you doing? Are you finding Saint Sebastian’s to be a good choice for your high school years?”
No matter how much the two had fought, Ueda was as happy as he possibly could be to have met Ryo and become the other boy’s roommate and classmate.
He smiled, “Yes, it’s better than I could have ever expected!”
“Well, that’s a delight to hear,” the headmistress giggled softly, “I’m very glad to hear that. I hope that spirit stays with you as you continue being a student here. Well, I have some business to attend to so please, send my message to Ryo, would you?”
“Yes, headmistress. Thank you for stopping by,” Ueda bowed at the older woman who bowed in response before taking her leave.
Ueda still didn’t understand how such a beautiful and elegant lady could possibly be related to Nishikido Ryo of all people. The two were like opposites on a spectrum of temperaments but Ueda supposed that was just the unfortunate result of Ryo’s life.
“What are you smiling at?”
Ueda twitched at the sound of a random male voice. He thought it must’ve been Ryo and was quick to retort.
“I was thinking about how much fun it would be if you would jump off-a-cliff-why are you here?”
Yamapi smiled an obnoxious smile at Ueda, his arms crossed and his body leaning against the wall of the room.
“Yamashita-kun?”
“What? Didn’t think you’d see me around anymore? Haha well, I’m sorry to say that I’m going to be showing up a lot more often,” he said with a slight grin, but the grin disappeared and tears started welling up in his eyes, “My girlfriend just broke up with me!”
Yamapi stumbled over to Ueda and collapsed in the other boy’s arms for some odd reason. Ueda looked shocked and nearly fell over from the weight of Yamapi’s body on his chest.
“Y-Yamashita-kun?”
“Why?! Why’d she have to meet a new guy at the school of hers?! After I told her I wouldn’t look at any of the girls from the school next door! She said she’d be with me forever! What the hell happened?!” Yamapi started bawling and Ueda was unsure of how to react.
Considering it was another human being in pain, Ueda did the right thing and consoled the sobbing boy in his room.
“There-There-I’m sure there’s a good reason for this-”
“What good reason can there be for a girlfriend cheating on her boyfriend?!”
“Um-I don’t know-she’s a slut?” Ueda chuckled nervously.
Yamapi let go of Ueda and stared at the other boy, looking quite serious, causing Ueda to believe that he had really said the wrong thing at the wrong time.
“You’re a good person, Ueda-kun! You know exactly what to say to someone who is hurting! Thank you!” Yamapi took Ueda’s hand and smiled at him whole-heartedly.
Of course, Ueda was unsure of whether or not the other was joking.
“Was that sarcasm or-”
“No, I mean it! That girl-she broke my heart! She deserves to be called only the worst names in the entire universe!”
Ueda laughed; he could tell that Yamapi was Ryo’s best friend just from what he was saying.
“Yes, yes-she’s a slut-a whore-a ho-whatever you want to call her,” Ueda patted Yamapi on the shoulder and looked at him like he would at any of his real friends. Yamapi put his hand on Ueda’s and the two looked at each other endearingly.
Of course, that was the moment that Ryo came into the room, once again only imaging the worst and ranting about it like a mad man.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!”
Neither were startled and just looked at the boy blankly. Yamapi took his hand off of Ueda’s and just stared at his friend before breaking down into tears again.
“She broke up with me, Ryo!” he cried, running over to Ryo and clinging to the other tightly. Ryo only had the oddest of looks on his face as he shared a glance with Ueda who seemed to be unable to control his laughter, once again.
A little while later, Ueda found himself with Ryo and Yamapi sitting in the middle of the room, on the floor, with Yamapi griping about how he had given the best 5 months to the girlfriend who dumped him. He wasn’t drunk but he started to slur his words and became increasingly detailed about his personal life.
“She was my first! I never thought I’d ever manage to do it but when I finally got her in my bed, I thought ‘Tomohisa-if you’re gonna go all the way, you’ve got to do it now or-or you’ll never get this chance! Not at least until you’re 20-something and there’s some desperate chick living next door to me and-‘”
“Okay, I’m thinking you’ve had a little too much time to think about this,” Ryo interrupted, “I’m not so confused anymore as to why she left you.”
Yamapi put his hand to his chest as if he had been insulted greatly, and, as luck would have it, he began crying again, clutching onto Ueda who was seated next to him.
“Oh, Ueda-kun-you see the way he treats me! I can’t ever catch a break with this guy! WORST FRIEND EVER!” he exclaimed while pointing a spiteful finger at Ryo who remained unshaken.
“Hey, Pi, remember when you split your pants in the middle of gym class in our 2nd year of junior high and I was the only one willing to let you use my sweatshirt to cover up the hole? And I threatened anyone who laughed at you that day-remember that?!”
Pi let go of Ueda and shook his head slowly, knowing that he had owed Ryo a lot and should not take the other for granted. Ryo had a self-satisfied smirk on his face, which started to piss Ueda off a lot.
“Is that how you treat your friends when they’re down? Yell at them and make them feel guilty about things that happened in the past?”
Ryo’s smirk disappeared and he began scowling as he normally did towards Ueda.
“You don’t know a damn thing about me and my friends so I suggest you keep your mouth shut before I do it for you-permanently!”
“Your empty threats and poor grammar are not scaring me one bit, Ryo-kun,” Ueda said with a slight tone of frustration in his voice.
“You sure have a lot of guts for someone who has a tendency of being on the verge of getting his ass kicked!”
“Wow, that was a mouthful,” Yamapi snickered.
Ryo growled at him and the broken-hearted boy quickly shut up, bringing his legs close to his chest and hugging them tightly.
Ueda didn’t respond and just looked at Ryo, coldly and with almost no emotion in his face. At first, Ryo was just glaring as normal but then he started to get a bit nervous as Ueda stared at him. It was like a secret weapon that Ueda had barely discovered at that moment and once he was willing to use on Ryo as long as it shut him up.
“Hey! I have a wonderful idea!” Yamapi said enthusiastically, causing the staring war to desist. Ueda looked at him concerned while Ryo just rolled his eyes.
“How about the three of us spend the night together?!”
Ueda and Ryo looked at each other and then back at Yamapi.
“Huh?” they said at almost the exact same time.
“Yeah, it’ll be great! We can stay up late and recount all our lost loves and then make future plans that DON’T involve women with no morals or feelings or souls or-”
“I don’t think so, Yamashita-kun,” Ueda said, putting his hand up with a ‘stop’ gesture, “It’s a school night and the dorm head will probably make a fuss about it.”
Ryo nodded his head in agreement, “Yeah, Pi, maybe some other time but not tonight.”
“Aw come on, you guys! It’ll be awesome-we can eat junk food and watch old cartoon shows or something-what do you say?” he said with an eager look in his eyes.
Ryo looked away so as to not get caught up in Yamapi’s act but, Ueda, unfortunately, was susceptible to it.
“Okay,” he said, sighing afterwards like he had just agreed to something that would kill him.
“WHAT?!” Ryo gasped.
“Great!” Yamapi smiled widely, “I’ll go get my stuff; this is gonna be so much fun!”
Yamapi ran off down the hallway towards his room and almost immediately, Ryo questioned Ueda’s decision.
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? DIDN’T WE JUST AGREE NOT TO LET HIM STAY?!”
Ueda winced at the loudness of Ryo’s voice but then replied, “Come on, he seems lonely and isn’t it the best thing to do? He is your friend after all.”
Ryo clenched his teeth, “Friend or not, he can’t stay over on a school night. I have homework!”
“Well, I don’t see you doing it,” Ueda snapped back.
“That’s because you idiots keep interrupting me!”
“Who’s an idiot?!”
“You know damn well who’s the idiot is here!” Ryo yelled.
“Yeah-I’m looking at him right now,” Ueda wittingly quipped.
“You little-”
Just then, Yamapi came running back with a sleeping bag, his pillow, and a stuffed bear with one eye missing.
“This is great, huh, guys?” he smiled, but then frowned when he noticed that Ryo and Ueda had evil looks in their eyes and were now directing the looks at him. “What’d I do?”
Later that night, after Yamapi vented more about his breakup, Ueda lay on his bed, with his hands behind his head and his eyes on the ceiling. He was sure that he was the only one still awake when he heard some whispering.
“Hey, Ueda-kun!”
“Huh?”
“Ueda-kun? You still awake?” Yamapi whispered, putting his hand next to his mouth to mute the sound.
“Yamashita-kun, is that you?”
“Yeah-you still awake?”
Ueda’s palm went straight to his forehead as a gesture showing his disbelief that Yamapi had asked such a stupid question.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
Yamapi hesitated but he finally spoke, “I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I just wanted to know-do you like Ryo?”
END CHAPTER 2
A/N: Thanks for all the support for the first chapter ^^ I'll be sure to reply to the comments as soon as I can. Been awful busy lately, and I'm technically on hiatus from LJ so yeah, I'll try and update but we'll see how things go. Until then, thank you for reading :)
Author: carcrashheart_8
Pairings: RyoDa [more pairings to come]
Rating: PG-13 for now [strong language]
Summary: When his parents go overseas to work, Ueda is forced to go to an all-boys boarding school for his high school years. There, he meets Ryo Nishikido, a stubborn, strong-willed boy who ends up becoming his roommate. Ueda quickly falls for the other boy despite Ryo's rude words and bad attitude. Trouble starts up, however, and soon this seemingly one-sided love ends up becoming a love triangle and eventually a love square. Despite it all, Ueda must overcome these obstacles in order to maintain his spot at the elite high school.
Disclaimer: Title taken from "Wish We Were Older" by Metro Station
Chapter 2
After a day of introductions to their new classes, Ryo and Ueda made their way back to their room. They didn’t plan on going back together but since they had just had homeroom, it seemed only natural to walk with one another.
“Ugghh-I can’t believe I got stuck with you for 90% of my day! Everywhere I looked-there you were!” Ryo complained, rubbing his neck and slinging his bag over his shoulder.
Ueda clenched his fist and gripped his bag’s handle with his other hand. He managed to respond to Ryo with a biting complaint of his own.
“It’s not like I planned on it. I was glad that we at least don’t have the same club activities. You’re in-what-soccer?”
“Yeah-and you?”
“Art club,” Ueda responded coldly.
Ryo whistled, “So, you an artist or something?”
“What is this?” Ueda stopped and looked at the other boy, “Are you trying to make small talk with me after insulting me?”
Ryo stopped as well and looked the other boy dead-on, “Hey, you asked me first-I’m just giving you a response. It’s fucking called common courtesy, jackass!” He stomped his feet like a wild animal before storming off without Ueda.
“Such a mouth-it’s hard to believe he’s only 15,” Ueda said to himself, shaking his head and following the other boy.
He arrived at his dorm room and saw that Ryo was sitting at his desk, hunched over and staring at a mirror. Ueda didn’t say anything and just threw his bag behind the door and hopped on his bed. He leant back with his arms behind his head and sighed deeply.
Ryo started grumbling, slamming the mirror down surprisingly without breaking it and getting up from his seat. He sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands.
Ueda sat up, leaning on his elbows and stared at Ryo. Despite the other boy’s harsh tongue and stubborn nature, he was still exceedingly good-looking in Ueda’s eyes. He had soft brown hair and a chiseled jaw that belonged only on a male model. His skin was a slight shade of olive and his eyes were dark and wide-set. Then there was that mouth; it spilled only the nastiest insults and yet it was so intriguing to Ueda. The lips were full and slightly plump, yet very masculine looking. His teeth were white and straight and they seemed to sparkle whenever Ryo smiled widely.
Ueda continued staring even after Ryo had caught him doing so.
“What is with you? You’re always staring at me! Are you a homo or something?”
The dreamy state Ueda had been in dissipated and he was quick to retort.
“And you’re a homophobe? Or do you just hate everyone?”
“I never said being a homo was a bad thing,” Ryo sounded a little hurt that he would be accused of hating gay people.
“Then what does it matter if I was one? And besides-I wasn’t staring at you, you-egomaniac!”
“Egomaniac?”
“It means you’re obsessed with yourself, you idiot!” Ueda grunted, frustrated at Ryo’s apparent lack of a vocabulary.
“I know what it means! I’m not an idiot-not like you!”
Ueda turned away from Ryo and stared at the wall, lying on his side. Ryo ground his fists into his mattress and looked at Ueda’s back.
He noticed something about the other boy; his waist was small and his shoulders weren’t as broad as one would expect for a male’s shoulders to be. From behind, one would think he was a girl, with his pale-white skin and his slender arms. His legs were long and they were virtually hairless as was most of his body. Ryo figured puberty hadn’t yet hit for the other boy, a pity since Ryo was already sprouting hair and experienced a growth spurt only he thought was worth bragging about.
He was now the one staring and only stopped when Ueda moved around and finally turned himself over to get up and out of his bed. Ryo looked away for a bit, while his cheeks went pink. He then looked back and watched what Ueda was doing. He went to grab some books from his bag and began writing things down after sitting himself down at his desk.
“Hey-what are you doing? We don’t have any homework,” Ryo said in a slightly friendly manner, hoping that he could soften the tension that occurred between him and his roommate.
“It’s none of your business what I’m doing. Go back to sulking over how much of a jerk you are and leave me alone.”
Ryo felt the sharpest twinge of anger inside of his stomach but instead of acting on it, he made a grunting noise and walked out of the room, presumably to use the bathroom or something of the like. Ueda sighed with relief when the other boy left and leant back in his chair. He put his hands behind his head and stared out the window.
From his room, he noticed, he could see most of the school grounds, including the school gymnasium, the theater, and the Olympic-sized swimming pool. On the other side of the dormitory building, it was said there was a large track and soccer field as well as a baseball field and several other sports facilities. Ueda guessed that the school was known not just for its academics but also its sports program. To him, it didn’t exactly matter since he wasn’t very interested in sports at the moment.
Sighing even deeper, Ueda hunched over his desk with his arms crossed and his eyes on the notebook in front of him. He wasn’t doing homework but was instead writing down various insults he could hurl at Ryo whenever the two would fight. They were all rather juvenile even for fighting pubescent boys, but Ueda thought they would hurt just as much as anything Ryo could ever throw at him. He looked at the notebook proudly before shoving it away when someone knocked on his open door.
He turned around to see Toma standing in the doorway looking a bit unsure of whether or not he should be there. Ueda frowned and just turned back to what he was doing.
“If you’re looking for Ryo-kun, he went out-”
“I actually-uh-I actually wanted to talk to you, Ueda-Ueda-kun,” Toma stuttered.
Ueda looked up, still with his back to Toma. He wasn’t sure what would happen but he decided to listen to what the other was going to say.
He turned and with a bit of caution in his voice, he asked, “Why-I mean, what do you want to talk about?”
“I just wanted to clear the air about some things-uh-can I sit down?”
Ueda nodded and pulled Ryo’s desk chair out, “Yeah-yeah sure, please.”
Toma smiled nervously and sat down, rubbing his hands over his knees as if he was trying to dry his now sweaty palms.
“I just wanted to let you know that I have nothing against you and if it seems like I do, it’s just because I’m following what Ryo and Yamapi are doing. I don’t have any beef with you and-yeah, I just wanted you to know that so-um-classmates?”
Ueda smiled slightly, “Well, I think we’d be classmates regardless of whether you liked me or not but-yeah, we can be friends, if that’s not asking too much?”
Toma smiled widely and looked more at ease, “I don’t mind being friends-I just wonder how Ryo would feel.”
“Ugh, that idiot-“ Ueda shook his head and leant against his closed fist, “I wish I could punch him in the face when he wasn’t paying attention.”
Toma laughed knowingly, “Yeah, Ryo’s got a pretty bad temper but he’s really a cool guy.”
“You’ve been friends since elementary school right? Tell me something-was he always such a spoiled brat or did that only start happening once he went through puberty?”
Toma looked at Ueda oddly but then started to laugh again, “If you think Ryo is spoiled, then you’ll clearly don’t know him that well.”
Ueda crossed his arms and leant back in his chair; he looked at Ryo’s bed and thought to himself. He had only known Ryo for a few days and had been his roommate for the same amount of time. He knew relatively nothing about the other boy and yet in his mind and his heart, it was like Ryo was the person he both liked and hated the most at the moment.
“So-why don’t you tell me all there is to know about Nishikido Ryo?”
Ryo walked down the hallway and nearly felt like punching the wall as he walked. He hadn’t been this annoyed with anyone in a long time. He had a reputation for being poorly tempered but never had he felt like he could kill someone with his bare hands in a matter of seconds.
“Damn that guy,” Ryo muttered to himself.
He walked into his room and was shocked to see Toma and Ueda sitting awful close to one another with Toma whispering into the other boy’s ear, causing him to giggle like a little girl.
“WHAT THE HELL?!”
“RYO!” Toma jumped up from his chair, putting his hands behind his back and looking fairly guilty.
Ueda just turned his head and looked at Ryo before cracking up, hard and loudly.
“HAHAHAHAHA!” Ueda nearly fell out of his chair, clutching his stomach and bending over, as tears streamed down his face.
“YOU! WHAT THE HELL YOU LAUGHING AT?!”
Toma looked at Ueda who was still laughing like crazy and then back at Ryo who was stamping his foot like a mad rhino and growling at his roommate.
He sighed a bit contentedly before saying, “Gotta go now-see you two later. And Ueda-kun-don’t tell Ryo what I told you,” he said with a slight wink.
Ueda nodded and winked back, stifling his laughter while doing so.
Ryo glared at Toma who took it as a sign to leave; he ran out the room and down the hallway laughing as Ryo went after him.
“I’ll get you, Toma! I don’t know what you said but I swear I’ll get you!” he yelled down the hallway. When he came back into the room, Ueda had sprawled out on his bed, his shirt slightly up revealing his smooth stomach. He was panting and trying to catch his breath after all the laughing he had done.
Ryo gulped and looked away, his chest tightening up. Ueda sat up and looked at him.
“Eh-what’s wrong, Nishikido-kun? Are you mad because Ikuta-kun told me something he shouldn’t have?” Ueda asked with a fake sense of concern and sparkly eyes that made Ryo’s stomach fill with butterflies.
Ryo gulped again but did his best to hide the noise. He looked away from Ueda and stomped over to his bed, turning over and facing away from Ueda, who was still making noises that sounded like giggles. Ueda decided it would be best to keep away from Ryo for the rest of the night and that he would keep the secret that Toma had told him, to himself.
The next morning, Ueda woke up for classes earlier than the previous day, only to find that Ryo had already left. He looked around and sure enough, Ryo’s uniform and school bag were gone. Ueda pouted a bit but decided it was better not to think about it too much.
He walked to class with Maru and Koki who were debating about what actress was the hottest when Ueda stopped to see Jin, with Junno in tow, walking towards them.
“Oh crap, it’s that guy,” Ueda gasped, scurrying to hide behind Koki and Maru.
“Eh, who?” Maru asked, looking around.
“AKANISHI!” Koki pointed in horror.
Jin walked over with a smile on his face that showed only the most evil of expressions. Junno was smiling warmly but not at anything in particular.
“Well-well, if it isn’t the headmistress’s grandson’s bitch,” Jin taunted.
“’Headmistress’s-‘” Koki and Maru looked at each other, confused.
“Akanishi-uh-good morning!” Ueda smiled, his eyes widened, unfortunately showing how terrified he really was.
“Last time I checked, first years were supposed to call those above them ‘senpai’, am I right, Junno?”
“Huh?” Junno looked at Jin, dumbfounded, “Oh right!”
“Senpai?” Ueda said as if he wasn’t sure why he was saying it.
“That’s right, ‘senpai’. You little first year idiots better show respect to your elders, you got that?” Jin snarled, looking at each boy.
Koki and Maru nodded their heads obediently while Ueda just looked oddly at the older boy. Jin took notice and glared at the younger boy.
“What? You got something to say?”
Ueda still made a face that showed he didn’t quite understand what was going on, but before he could actually say anything, someone else interrupted.
“You sure like making trouble for yourself, don’t you?”
Ueda turned around and saw Ryo standing a few feet away. He was, for some reason, covered in dirt and had his shirt untucked and open with his undershirt hanging out. Ueda wanted to ask what had happened but Jin spoke before he did.
“You again? What-are you his bodyguard or something?”
“I wasn’t talking to you-I was talking to him,” Ryo said, pointing at Ueda, who looked around before realizing he was the target of Ryo’s insult.
“What?! Me?! What did I do?!”
Ryo put his hands in his pockets and strolled over, laughing obnoxiously.
“Of course, I mean you! You’re becoming a real hassle-a real burden!”
“What are you talking about?! ‘A hassle’?”
“Yeah, a hassle! I always have to fix your mistakes and I’m getting really damn tired of it!”
Jin slowly backed away and stood next to Junno, who was standing next to Maru and Koki; all four boys were not allowing themselves to get mixed up in the roommates’ spat.
“Well, no one told you that you had to watch over me!”
“Yes, she did!”
Ueda gaped; who was the ‘she’ that Ryo was referring to?
“What?”
Ryo stepped back and closed his mouth abruptly. Clearly, he had said something that he wasn’t supposed to. He started making weird guttural noises before replying to Ueda’s question.
“Nothing! Just stop making trouble for everyone, you selfish bastard!”
With that, the short-tempered boy stormed off without even dealing with Jin and looking as angry as ever.
“Geez, you guys fight like that all the time?” Jin scoffed, watching as Ryo stomped off.
Ueda didn’t answer him and just started thinking. He couldn’t figure out what Ryo meant by ‘yes, she did’ and he was dying to find out the answer.
But Ryo wasn’t talking to him, at all. Not a word during homeroom, or in any other classes they had shared that day. And at lunch, Ueda got the deadliest stare from his roommate that he had ever seen anyone outside a monster movie receive. It almost sent shivers down his spine, but he was still persistent.
“Ryo-kun-” Ueda decided using a more casual and cuter approach in order to get the other boy to talk.
Ryo said nothing and continued scribbling down some math problems he had gotten as homework.
Ueda grew frustrated; he poked the other boy in the side and smiled.
“Ryo-kun?”
Ryo just scooted his chair over and slammed the book on the desk, and continued writing down random formulas.
Ueda pouted. He was used to getting his way most of the time, so it made him annoyed when Ryo wasn’t talking to him, not even to insult him.
“Ryo-kun-do you want to know what Ikuta told me the other day?”
Ryo lifted his head and stared at the wall; Ueda smiled to himself, feeling a little victorious. But it didn’t last long because Ryo just shook his head ‘no’ and went back to his homework. Ueda’s smile disappeared and he just started pouting again like a shameless child.
He crawled onto his bed and sat with crossed arms and stared at Ryo. For once, he wasn’t worried about getting caught staring. Ryo ignored him and Ueda just grew more frustrated. He then got up and sat right next to Ryo with his face close to the other’s. Ryo turned and noticed that Ueda’s face was only a few inches away from him. The younger boy’s cheeks grew hot as he counted the eyelashes on Ueda’s eyes.
“Are you going to talk me or not?” Ueda said with a determined look on his face.
Ryo shook his head and got up from his desk; he walked out without saying a word and Ueda just groaned. He leant back and stared at the ceiling. His attention was caught by the grooves in the tiles on the ceiling, but it didn’t last long because a knock was heard on the door.
“Hello??”
Ueda jumped up when he saw Ryo’s grandmother, the headmistress standing in the doorway. She was dressed as nice as she had been the previous times that Ueda had seen her. She also had a wide smile on her face that made Ueda wished he still had a living grandmother.
“Headmistress!”
“Oh, Ueda-kun,” she smiled even wider, “I was wondering if that mischievous grandson of mine was here but I guess he isn’t. Do you know where he went?”
Ueda shrugged his shoulders, “I’m not sure. He just left right now-I think he went to use the toilet-er-restroom.”
The headmistress sighed, “Well, if he comes back, will you let him know that I was looking for him? I wanted to talk to him about this morning.”
“This morning?”
“Oh yes, it seems he got into a little trouble and showed up to homeroom with a dirty face and a messy uniform. I for one would like to know what the cause of that was,” she scowled, but her face relaxed as she continued speaking, “Anyways, would you let him know, Ueda-kun?”
Ueda nodded furiously, “Yes, of course!”
The headmistress’s eyes squinted as she grinned, “Thank you very much. Oh-Ueda-kun-I’d like to know-how are you doing? Are you finding Saint Sebastian’s to be a good choice for your high school years?”
No matter how much the two had fought, Ueda was as happy as he possibly could be to have met Ryo and become the other boy’s roommate and classmate.
He smiled, “Yes, it’s better than I could have ever expected!”
“Well, that’s a delight to hear,” the headmistress giggled softly, “I’m very glad to hear that. I hope that spirit stays with you as you continue being a student here. Well, I have some business to attend to so please, send my message to Ryo, would you?”
“Yes, headmistress. Thank you for stopping by,” Ueda bowed at the older woman who bowed in response before taking her leave.
Ueda still didn’t understand how such a beautiful and elegant lady could possibly be related to Nishikido Ryo of all people. The two were like opposites on a spectrum of temperaments but Ueda supposed that was just the unfortunate result of Ryo’s life.
“What are you smiling at?”
Ueda twitched at the sound of a random male voice. He thought it must’ve been Ryo and was quick to retort.
“I was thinking about how much fun it would be if you would jump off-a-cliff-why are you here?”
Yamapi smiled an obnoxious smile at Ueda, his arms crossed and his body leaning against the wall of the room.
“Yamashita-kun?”
“What? Didn’t think you’d see me around anymore? Haha well, I’m sorry to say that I’m going to be showing up a lot more often,” he said with a slight grin, but the grin disappeared and tears started welling up in his eyes, “My girlfriend just broke up with me!”
Yamapi stumbled over to Ueda and collapsed in the other boy’s arms for some odd reason. Ueda looked shocked and nearly fell over from the weight of Yamapi’s body on his chest.
“Y-Yamashita-kun?”
“Why?! Why’d she have to meet a new guy at the school of hers?! After I told her I wouldn’t look at any of the girls from the school next door! She said she’d be with me forever! What the hell happened?!” Yamapi started bawling and Ueda was unsure of how to react.
Considering it was another human being in pain, Ueda did the right thing and consoled the sobbing boy in his room.
“There-There-I’m sure there’s a good reason for this-”
“What good reason can there be for a girlfriend cheating on her boyfriend?!”
“Um-I don’t know-she’s a slut?” Ueda chuckled nervously.
Yamapi let go of Ueda and stared at the other boy, looking quite serious, causing Ueda to believe that he had really said the wrong thing at the wrong time.
“You’re a good person, Ueda-kun! You know exactly what to say to someone who is hurting! Thank you!” Yamapi took Ueda’s hand and smiled at him whole-heartedly.
Of course, Ueda was unsure of whether or not the other was joking.
“Was that sarcasm or-”
“No, I mean it! That girl-she broke my heart! She deserves to be called only the worst names in the entire universe!”
Ueda laughed; he could tell that Yamapi was Ryo’s best friend just from what he was saying.
“Yes, yes-she’s a slut-a whore-a ho-whatever you want to call her,” Ueda patted Yamapi on the shoulder and looked at him like he would at any of his real friends. Yamapi put his hand on Ueda’s and the two looked at each other endearingly.
Of course, that was the moment that Ryo came into the room, once again only imaging the worst and ranting about it like a mad man.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!”
Neither were startled and just looked at the boy blankly. Yamapi took his hand off of Ueda’s and just stared at his friend before breaking down into tears again.
“She broke up with me, Ryo!” he cried, running over to Ryo and clinging to the other tightly. Ryo only had the oddest of looks on his face as he shared a glance with Ueda who seemed to be unable to control his laughter, once again.
A little while later, Ueda found himself with Ryo and Yamapi sitting in the middle of the room, on the floor, with Yamapi griping about how he had given the best 5 months to the girlfriend who dumped him. He wasn’t drunk but he started to slur his words and became increasingly detailed about his personal life.
“She was my first! I never thought I’d ever manage to do it but when I finally got her in my bed, I thought ‘Tomohisa-if you’re gonna go all the way, you’ve got to do it now or-or you’ll never get this chance! Not at least until you’re 20-something and there’s some desperate chick living next door to me and-‘”
“Okay, I’m thinking you’ve had a little too much time to think about this,” Ryo interrupted, “I’m not so confused anymore as to why she left you.”
Yamapi put his hand to his chest as if he had been insulted greatly, and, as luck would have it, he began crying again, clutching onto Ueda who was seated next to him.
“Oh, Ueda-kun-you see the way he treats me! I can’t ever catch a break with this guy! WORST FRIEND EVER!” he exclaimed while pointing a spiteful finger at Ryo who remained unshaken.
“Hey, Pi, remember when you split your pants in the middle of gym class in our 2nd year of junior high and I was the only one willing to let you use my sweatshirt to cover up the hole? And I threatened anyone who laughed at you that day-remember that?!”
Pi let go of Ueda and shook his head slowly, knowing that he had owed Ryo a lot and should not take the other for granted. Ryo had a self-satisfied smirk on his face, which started to piss Ueda off a lot.
“Is that how you treat your friends when they’re down? Yell at them and make them feel guilty about things that happened in the past?”
Ryo’s smirk disappeared and he began scowling as he normally did towards Ueda.
“You don’t know a damn thing about me and my friends so I suggest you keep your mouth shut before I do it for you-permanently!”
“Your empty threats and poor grammar are not scaring me one bit, Ryo-kun,” Ueda said with a slight tone of frustration in his voice.
“You sure have a lot of guts for someone who has a tendency of being on the verge of getting his ass kicked!”
“Wow, that was a mouthful,” Yamapi snickered.
Ryo growled at him and the broken-hearted boy quickly shut up, bringing his legs close to his chest and hugging them tightly.
Ueda didn’t respond and just looked at Ryo, coldly and with almost no emotion in his face. At first, Ryo was just glaring as normal but then he started to get a bit nervous as Ueda stared at him. It was like a secret weapon that Ueda had barely discovered at that moment and once he was willing to use on Ryo as long as it shut him up.
“Hey! I have a wonderful idea!” Yamapi said enthusiastically, causing the staring war to desist. Ueda looked at him concerned while Ryo just rolled his eyes.
“How about the three of us spend the night together?!”
Ueda and Ryo looked at each other and then back at Yamapi.
“Huh?” they said at almost the exact same time.
“Yeah, it’ll be great! We can stay up late and recount all our lost loves and then make future plans that DON’T involve women with no morals or feelings or souls or-”
“I don’t think so, Yamashita-kun,” Ueda said, putting his hand up with a ‘stop’ gesture, “It’s a school night and the dorm head will probably make a fuss about it.”
Ryo nodded his head in agreement, “Yeah, Pi, maybe some other time but not tonight.”
“Aw come on, you guys! It’ll be awesome-we can eat junk food and watch old cartoon shows or something-what do you say?” he said with an eager look in his eyes.
Ryo looked away so as to not get caught up in Yamapi’s act but, Ueda, unfortunately, was susceptible to it.
“Okay,” he said, sighing afterwards like he had just agreed to something that would kill him.
“WHAT?!” Ryo gasped.
“Great!” Yamapi smiled widely, “I’ll go get my stuff; this is gonna be so much fun!”
Yamapi ran off down the hallway towards his room and almost immediately, Ryo questioned Ueda’s decision.
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? DIDN’T WE JUST AGREE NOT TO LET HIM STAY?!”
Ueda winced at the loudness of Ryo’s voice but then replied, “Come on, he seems lonely and isn’t it the best thing to do? He is your friend after all.”
Ryo clenched his teeth, “Friend or not, he can’t stay over on a school night. I have homework!”
“Well, I don’t see you doing it,” Ueda snapped back.
“That’s because you idiots keep interrupting me!”
“Who’s an idiot?!”
“You know damn well who’s the idiot is here!” Ryo yelled.
“Yeah-I’m looking at him right now,” Ueda wittingly quipped.
“You little-”
Just then, Yamapi came running back with a sleeping bag, his pillow, and a stuffed bear with one eye missing.
“This is great, huh, guys?” he smiled, but then frowned when he noticed that Ryo and Ueda had evil looks in their eyes and were now directing the looks at him. “What’d I do?”
Later that night, after Yamapi vented more about his breakup, Ueda lay on his bed, with his hands behind his head and his eyes on the ceiling. He was sure that he was the only one still awake when he heard some whispering.
“Hey, Ueda-kun!”
“Huh?”
“Ueda-kun? You still awake?” Yamapi whispered, putting his hand next to his mouth to mute the sound.
“Yamashita-kun, is that you?”
“Yeah-you still awake?”
Ueda’s palm went straight to his forehead as a gesture showing his disbelief that Yamapi had asked such a stupid question.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
Yamapi hesitated but he finally spoke, “I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I just wanted to know-do you like Ryo?”
END CHAPTER 2
A/N: Thanks for all the support for the first chapter ^^ I'll be sure to reply to the comments as soon as I can. Been awful busy lately, and I'm technically on hiatus from LJ so yeah, I'll try and update but we'll see how things go. Until then, thank you for reading :)