Wish We Were Older
Title: Wish We Were Older [Chapter 16 Part 1]
Author: carcrashheart_8
Pairings: RyoDa, Ryo/OC, PiDa, KameDa [friendship], Akame, PiTakki, RyoKame, JinNo, TomaKame
Rating: R [sex, language, and vulgar references]
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 16
Ueda was shocked to see his parents standing in front of him, after almost two years without seeing them.
“Why are you here?”
“Oh, Tatsuya,” his mother cooed, walking over and giving him a big hug, “We thought it would be a good idea to come visit you on your father’s vacation.”
“That’s right, son,” Ueda’s father smiled, walking over and putting his hand on his son’s shoulder.
“But why now?”
“Tatsuya!”
“I’m just asking! You didn’t write to me or call me for months and you just show up all of a sudden. I think I have a right to know why you showed up.”
“Tatsuya! Do not use such a tone in front of the headmistress,” Ueda’s mother scolded, “You should know by now how to respect your elders.”
“Oh please, mom. Don’t act like this is something you’re not used to. You and Dad are always doing things like this. Like when you first decided to move to America! No one told me! You just dumped me off here and left without even really discussing it with me!”
“Tatsuya!”
Ueda’s mother slapped Ueda, prompting the headmistress to gasp. Ueda’s father didn’t seem fazed by his wife’s sudden act.
“We came all this way to see you and this is how you act?”
“Well, if you two bothered to let me know you were coming-or better yet, that you were still alive, I wouldn’t act like this! Seriously, you would think a mother and father would be a little more concerned about their child’s well-being!”
“We are very concerned! Why do you think we came all this way?”
“Uh-to have a nice vacation and MAYBE visit the son you abandoned in another country!”
“Tatsuya, you will not speak that way to your mother,” Ueda’s father interrupted.
“Why are you here?! Why?! Just tell me-why are you here?!” Ueda asked, sounding on the verge between complaining and outright whining.
Ueda’s parents calmed down and looked at each other. They had exacerbated expressions on their face and Ueda was beyond curious to know why they looked the way they did.
“We came to let you know that we’ve decided to bring you back to America with us,” Ueda’s mother stated firmly and without the least bit of emotion.
“WHAT?!”
Ryo gasped, as he stood outside the office.
“Tatsuya-” he whispered.
“Are you kidding?!”
“Tatsuya, we think it’d be best if you were to stay with us than to stay in Japan. Don’t you think it would be better?”
“NO!”
“TATSUYA!”
“I mean-are you kidding me?” Ueda sounded on the verge of tears, “I can’t believe you just decided this. Is that why you’re here? So you can take me out of school and make me move to the other side of the world, even though I have a better life here in Japan, with my friends, my teachers, and-”
Ueda stopped and thought before explaining how he had fallen in love with his own roommate.
“Tatsuya, your mother and I feel that it’s better if you went to one of the private schools in America. Although my job is rewarding enough, we simply think it would be better financially for you to live in America with us.”
“What do you mean? Is it some sort of burden to have me live in my home country and not somewhere where I don’t know the language. I don’t know anyone in America-I don’t want to live there. My home is Japan and that’s where I want to stay!”
“That’s enough,” Ueda’s father interjected, “this is not up for discussion. You’re coming back to America with us and that’s final!”
“I’M NOT LEAVING ST. SEBASTIAN’S!”
“TATSUYA!”
Ueda stormed over to the door and with a menacing look, said, “Of all the times for you to show up-why now?”
With that, he ran off back to his dorm room, not noticing Ryo close behind him. He ran to the room he shared with Koki and slammed the door, not giving Ryo the chance to say anything. Ryo sighed and decided that he needed to leave Ueda alone at the moment. Defeated, the younger boy went back to his own dorm room, sulking about the fact that such an important moment between him and Ueda had been ruined.
Ueda lay on his bed, crying into his pillow. He felt so frustrated by his parents at that moment. Normally, he would’ve felt happy to see them since it had been so long, but with the pent-up emotion he had, he couldn’t help but lash out. Things only seemed worse because he had finally told Ryo how he really felt and it was his own parents that ruined the moment for him.
Then there was a knock on the door.
“GO AWAY!” he shouted, not caring who it was.
But when the door opened, he had no choice but to look at the other person who appeared before him.
“Yamapi?”
Yamapi slowly walked into the room, looking nervous. He held his arms by his side and sighed deeply.
“I know it’s none of my business-especially since you and I aren’t going out anymore and we are just friends but-what were you and Ryo doing when I walked in on you two?”
Ryo had had enough. He was on the verge of bursting out but at the same time, he felt he needed to keep himself from exploding. It was difficult; he couldn’t let things just happen this way. He got up from his bed and walked out his dorm room and straight back to his grandmother’s office.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He was never this rebellious before we left,” Ueda’s mother fretted over the fact that her son had gotten so emotional.
“There, there, Riko. It’s not our fault that our son has developed such a deplorable attitude.”
Ryo stood outside the office, becoming angrier and angrier at the sound of every word coming from his roommate’s parents.
“It’s simple, really.”
Ryo’s eyes widened as he heard his grandmother speak.
“Teenagers, they rebel, it’s perfectly normal. No matter what environment they are raised in, they have a natural tendency to rebel. Ueda-kun is just experiencing puberty-there’s no need to get hysterical over it.”
Ueda’s mother had a shocked look on her face.
“With all due respect, Headmistress, my son is not just any teenager. He was raised to be respectful and to never question what his father or I tell him.”
“Yes, but Ueda-kun has every right to object to his parents wanting to make him leave his home.”
“His home? Are you referring to Japan?”
“Yes but I’m referring more specifically to St. Sebastian’s. It’s his home now and has been for two years. Ueda-kun, from what I have observed, is a boy with a lot of spirit and he has always surprised me with just how much spirit he has. He has a sense of justice and he seems to be willing to do anything for his friends. He also managed to make friends with my grandson, and let me tell you, that is a feat in itself.”
Ryo rolled his eyes.
“Grandma,” he muttered.
“He’s developed quite a niche here and I think he’s become aware of the role he plays in a school such as this. Ueda-kun is simply unable to give that up, especially now that he has adapted so well. I can understand perfectly well why he would want to stay here.”
“How do we know you’re not just saying these things to keep our son here? Don’t you have other students to worry about? Or is it imperative that you make every student stay at your school, for, you know, tuition reasons?”
The headmistress smiled.
“If I was worried about the school finances, I would not be taking time out of my schedule to let you come into my office just to fight with your child. I would be going over the budget with the Board of Trustees, not allowing two parents to make fools of themselves.”
“Headmistress!”
“I don’t mean any disrespect, but if you were any kind of parent, you would know why your child wants to stay here so badly. And I assure you, it has nothing to do with teenage rebellion, nor does it have a thing to do with the tuition. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go over the budget with the Board of Trustees.”
Ryo smiled widely, and pumped his fist, showing that he was proud of his grandmother. Ueda’s parents could be heard voicing their complaints with how that headmistress had treated them. They were about to leave the office, at which point Ryo made himself scarce and hid nearby so he wouldn’t get caught eavesdropping.
Once Ueda’s parents left, Ryo was still outside his grandmother’s office.
“Ryo, I would appreciate it if you would not eavesdrop on my conversations with the students’ parents.”
Ryo turned around and saw his grandmother looking right back at him, her arms crossed and a smile on her face.
“Sorry-”
“I believe you have some business to attend to, don’t you? Ueda-kun couldn’t possibly be feeling happy about what just happened.”
Ryo thought for a second and once he realized what his grandmother’s words meant, he nodded and ran off. The headmistress smiled and went about her day.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ueda made a vain attempt at denying anything happening between him and Ryo.
“Oh come on, Tatsuya-it’s me. You think I can’t see how things are progressing between the two of you? It’s not that hard to figure out-I mean we all know you guys like each other. There’s no sense denying it.”
“Yes, but-”
“But what?”
Ueda didn’t say anything. There was no “but” to speak of; he and Ryo were practically together at that moment even if the words weren’t all said.
“If it’s so obvious, then why are you even asking?”
Yamapi sighed again, this time in a more frustrated manner.
“Look, it really isn’t any of my business and I don’t even know why I’m asking but-I’m just curious to know-for sure-if you and Ryo have anything going on between you two-officially?”
Ueda looked at Yamapi, whose eyes were straight on looking back at him. Ueda’s eyes shifted and he looked away.
“Yamapi-”
Yamapi’s eyes widened ever so slightly. Ueda looked back at them and felt his skin prickle as he felt the other boy’s gaze.
“Do you still have feelings for me?”
Ryo felt like a character from a romantic comedy. He was running after the boy he loved in an effort to help him go back to being his normal happy self. Ryo felt his heart pumping as his legs moved fast enough to get to the dorm room quickly.
He was about to knock on the door but saw that it was slightly open. Normally, he would have just burst in but he saw Ueda and Yamapi on the bed and was curious to hear their conversation.
“I-I’m not-I mean, I don’t,” Yamapi stuttered.
“Then why does it matter to you?”
“I don’t know! I’m just curious! I mean-gawd, let’s just drop it. I should have never asked,” Yamapi quickly got up off the bed and was about to leave.
“Wait,” Ueda got up and grabbed Yamapi’s arm. He turned the other boy around and grabbed hold of him, clutching him tightly in a warm embrace.
Ryo gawked at the scene unfolding in front of him. He was sure that there was something going on between Yamapi and Ueda, or rather that what they had ended was still alive in both of them. Defeated, he walked down the hall and didn’t bother to listen to what happened next.
“What are you doing?”
“Yamapi-I’m scared.”
Yamapi slowly pulled himself back to see that Ueda had started crying.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Ueda wiped his nose. He had completely broken down in front of Yamapi in only a matter of minutes.
“Hey-what’s going on?” Yamapi asked, putting his hand under the other boy’s chin.
“My parents-they came back from America.”
“Really? Well, that’s good-isn’t it?”
Ueda shook his head.
“No-the thing is, they want me to go back-with them. They want me to leave St. Sebastian’s-leave Japan-leave Ryo.”
Yamapi seemed to cringe at the last phrase but he snapped out of it before Ueda caught on.
“Is that why you’re crying? Oh, come on, Tatsuya, that’s nothing to cry about. Your parents just want what’s best for you.”
Ueda groaned and continued to wipe his nose.
“It’s not that. My parents always do stuff like this. They always just announce things unexpectedly and expect me to just agree to it. How the hell am I supposed to just agree to this?! How am I supposed to just leave Ryo, especially now when things are finally going right?”
“I knew it.”
Ueda glared at Yamapi who quickly apologized.
“I can’t just-I can’t just allow myself to run away like this. That’s what it would be-running away! I finally get to tell Ryo I love him and there just has to be an interruption!”
“Sorry-about that,” Yamapi blushed.
“Oh that’s not what I meant. It just seems like every time I feel like Ryo and I are on our way to finally being together, something comes up. There’s always some obstacle as if fate was telling us-”
Ueda paused, reflecting on the thoughts swirling around in his brain at the moment.
“Telling you what?”
Ueda exhaled deeply.
“I think-I think Ryo and I aren’t meant to be together.”
Yamapi nodded his head but then shook it and looked at Ueda strangely.
“WHAT?!”
“What?”
“After all the shit you’ve put yourself through in order to be with Ryo, you’re just going to give up?! You’re just going to tell yourself that it’s not worth it because you guys ‘don’t belong together’? What about the notion that if you really want something, you have to fight for it? Or how about ‘the best things in life are the ones you have to fight for’? Tatsuya-you can’t just give up because fate supposedly is throwing things in your way to true happiness with Ryo! You-you can’t just give up. Not when you love someone that much.”
“But what if-”
“THERE IS NO ‘WHAT IF’! You love him and he sure as hell loves you-what more do you want?!”
Yamapi was slightly gasping for breath, having gotten himself a bit too angry at his friend.
Ueda looked at him and without saying anything, nodded thusly.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Yamapi asked hoping for confirmation.
Ueda just nodded again, tightened his lips and walked out of the room. Yamapi sighed with relief, but shook his head before leaving the room.
Ueda stomped over to Ryo’s room in hopes of telling the other boy that no matter what, the two of them would not be separated any longer and that despite what his parents were making him go through, he and Ryo would finally be together.
“Ryo, I-”
“I don’t want to see your face!”
Ueda blinked.
“What?” he stared at Ryo who was on the bed. He had clearly been crying and was failing at covering up for his sudden release of emotion.
“I FUCKING TOLD YOU THAT I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE! GET OUT OF HERE!”
Ryo got up and slammed the door in Ueda’s face. Ueda looked stunned but managed to wake himself up to the situation. He started banging on the door and screaming Ryo’s name.
“RYO! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! LET ME IN!”
“FUCK OFF, BASTARD! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!”
“RYO!”
“What’s going on?” Yamapi suddenly ran over.
“It’s Ryo. He’s gone ballistic-he won’t open the door and keeps saying that he doesn’t want to see me.”
“Oh-RYO! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR, YOU LITTLE FUCK! TATSUYA’S TRYING TO TALK TO YOU!”
“IS THAT YAMAPI?! TELL HIM HE’S A RAT BASTARD AND I HOPE HE DIES!”
“What the hell did I do?” Yamapi said in his normal voice to Ueda.
Ueda just shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve no idea. Ryo’s lost his mind.”
“HEY UEDA!” Ryo shouted, “I HOPE YOU AND YAMAPI HAVE A GREAT LIFE TOGETHER! MAYBE YOU CAN GET MARRIED AND ADOPT BUTT-UGLY CHILDREN TOGETHER! BOTH OF YOU CAN KISS MY ASS!”
“Wow, he’s much more vulgar than usual,” Ueda shook his head.
“What is he talking about ‘hope you guys have a happy life together’?”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
Toma and Kame came running up to their friends, subtly hand-in-hand.
“Why are you guys standing outside of Ryo’s door?” Toma asked.
“That’s what I would like to know,” Ueda bit back, sounding like he was just now getting pissed off at Ryo.
“Um-what?”
“He locked us out because apparently he thinks Tatsuya and I are together-again,” Yamapi scoffed.
“WHAT?!”
“We’re not-Ryo must have misunderstood something. Figures-he’s always such AN IDIOT!” Ueda shouted.
“I HEARD THAT!” Ryo shouted right back.
“I think I know how to handle this,” Toma smirked, releasing himself from Kame’s grip.
“How?”
Toma just smiled and started to knock on the door.
“Hey, Ryo buddy? It’s Toma-want to open the door for me?”
At first there was no response and it seemed that Toma had failed miserably. But then the door unlocked and slowly opening, only allowing Ryo’s head to poke through.
“Just you-no one else,” he said without so much as looking at Ueda or Yamapi, for that matter.
“Yes, just me. Can I come in?” Toma asked sweetly.
Ryo looked around and quickly grabbed Toma, pulled him in, and slammed the door behind him.
“JACKASS!” Ueda growled.
After a few minutes of muffled whispers, Toma came back out. He was no longer smiling and instead seemed somewhat sympathetic, most likely towards Ryo.
“What’d he say?”
Toma sighed and scratched his head.
“He says he hates Tatsuya for leading him on only to end up getting back together with Yamapi. He can’t believe that after everything that’s happened between the two of you, you’d end up together-only to leave Ryo alone.”
“What does he want-a threesome?” Kame joked.
“SHH!” Ueda glared.
Toma continued, “Yeah-he’s just really pissed off right now. He doesn’t even want to look at you guys right now. He’s really hurt.”
“Oh for the love of-why the hell does he think Yamapi and I are together?!”
“He said he saw you and him in a loving embrace in your dorm room. He had come over to comfort you after the stuff with your parents happened. It really hurt him to see that you were willing to talk to Yamapi but not to him.”
Ueda sighed; he didn’t sound annoyed nor did he sound sympathetic. It just seemed like he felt as if he should have just expected things to go wrong. The speech he gave Yamapi about him and Ryo having too many things against him sounded pretty plausible about now.
“Well, it can’t be helped. He won’t listen to me even if he tell him a hundred times that there’s nothing between me and Yamapi anymore. I should’ve expected things to go wrong again-it fucking figures!”
“Wow-things must be bad for Tat-chan to casually cuss like that,” Kame commented.
“Do not give me that B.S.! After what I just told you about not giving up and-”
“Really, Yamapi, I’m not in the mood. It was sweet of you to be so concerned but I’ve about had it with that-that-RYO! He doesn’t listen and just makes up things in his head. Even if I spell things out for him, he doesn’t believe me and I’m just sick of it. I’m-I’m just tired. I’m going to go talk to my parents.”
To be continued
Author: carcrashheart_8
Pairings: RyoDa, Ryo/OC, PiDa, KameDa [friendship], Akame, PiTakki, RyoKame, JinNo, TomaKame
Rating: R [sex, language, and vulgar references]
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 16
Ueda was shocked to see his parents standing in front of him, after almost two years without seeing them.
“Why are you here?”
“Oh, Tatsuya,” his mother cooed, walking over and giving him a big hug, “We thought it would be a good idea to come visit you on your father’s vacation.”
“That’s right, son,” Ueda’s father smiled, walking over and putting his hand on his son’s shoulder.
“But why now?”
“Tatsuya!”
“I’m just asking! You didn’t write to me or call me for months and you just show up all of a sudden. I think I have a right to know why you showed up.”
“Tatsuya! Do not use such a tone in front of the headmistress,” Ueda’s mother scolded, “You should know by now how to respect your elders.”
“Oh please, mom. Don’t act like this is something you’re not used to. You and Dad are always doing things like this. Like when you first decided to move to America! No one told me! You just dumped me off here and left without even really discussing it with me!”
“Tatsuya!”
Ueda’s mother slapped Ueda, prompting the headmistress to gasp. Ueda’s father didn’t seem fazed by his wife’s sudden act.
“We came all this way to see you and this is how you act?”
“Well, if you two bothered to let me know you were coming-or better yet, that you were still alive, I wouldn’t act like this! Seriously, you would think a mother and father would be a little more concerned about their child’s well-being!”
“We are very concerned! Why do you think we came all this way?”
“Uh-to have a nice vacation and MAYBE visit the son you abandoned in another country!”
“Tatsuya, you will not speak that way to your mother,” Ueda’s father interrupted.
“Why are you here?! Why?! Just tell me-why are you here?!” Ueda asked, sounding on the verge between complaining and outright whining.
Ueda’s parents calmed down and looked at each other. They had exacerbated expressions on their face and Ueda was beyond curious to know why they looked the way they did.
“We came to let you know that we’ve decided to bring you back to America with us,” Ueda’s mother stated firmly and without the least bit of emotion.
“WHAT?!”
Ryo gasped, as he stood outside the office.
“Tatsuya-” he whispered.
“Are you kidding?!”
“Tatsuya, we think it’d be best if you were to stay with us than to stay in Japan. Don’t you think it would be better?”
“NO!”
“TATSUYA!”
“I mean-are you kidding me?” Ueda sounded on the verge of tears, “I can’t believe you just decided this. Is that why you’re here? So you can take me out of school and make me move to the other side of the world, even though I have a better life here in Japan, with my friends, my teachers, and-”
Ueda stopped and thought before explaining how he had fallen in love with his own roommate.
“Tatsuya, your mother and I feel that it’s better if you went to one of the private schools in America. Although my job is rewarding enough, we simply think it would be better financially for you to live in America with us.”
“What do you mean? Is it some sort of burden to have me live in my home country and not somewhere where I don’t know the language. I don’t know anyone in America-I don’t want to live there. My home is Japan and that’s where I want to stay!”
“That’s enough,” Ueda’s father interjected, “this is not up for discussion. You’re coming back to America with us and that’s final!”
“I’M NOT LEAVING ST. SEBASTIAN’S!”
“TATSUYA!”
Ueda stormed over to the door and with a menacing look, said, “Of all the times for you to show up-why now?”
With that, he ran off back to his dorm room, not noticing Ryo close behind him. He ran to the room he shared with Koki and slammed the door, not giving Ryo the chance to say anything. Ryo sighed and decided that he needed to leave Ueda alone at the moment. Defeated, the younger boy went back to his own dorm room, sulking about the fact that such an important moment between him and Ueda had been ruined.
Ueda lay on his bed, crying into his pillow. He felt so frustrated by his parents at that moment. Normally, he would’ve felt happy to see them since it had been so long, but with the pent-up emotion he had, he couldn’t help but lash out. Things only seemed worse because he had finally told Ryo how he really felt and it was his own parents that ruined the moment for him.
Then there was a knock on the door.
“GO AWAY!” he shouted, not caring who it was.
But when the door opened, he had no choice but to look at the other person who appeared before him.
“Yamapi?”
Yamapi slowly walked into the room, looking nervous. He held his arms by his side and sighed deeply.
“I know it’s none of my business-especially since you and I aren’t going out anymore and we are just friends but-what were you and Ryo doing when I walked in on you two?”
Ryo had had enough. He was on the verge of bursting out but at the same time, he felt he needed to keep himself from exploding. It was difficult; he couldn’t let things just happen this way. He got up from his bed and walked out his dorm room and straight back to his grandmother’s office.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He was never this rebellious before we left,” Ueda’s mother fretted over the fact that her son had gotten so emotional.
“There, there, Riko. It’s not our fault that our son has developed such a deplorable attitude.”
Ryo stood outside the office, becoming angrier and angrier at the sound of every word coming from his roommate’s parents.
“It’s simple, really.”
Ryo’s eyes widened as he heard his grandmother speak.
“Teenagers, they rebel, it’s perfectly normal. No matter what environment they are raised in, they have a natural tendency to rebel. Ueda-kun is just experiencing puberty-there’s no need to get hysterical over it.”
Ueda’s mother had a shocked look on her face.
“With all due respect, Headmistress, my son is not just any teenager. He was raised to be respectful and to never question what his father or I tell him.”
“Yes, but Ueda-kun has every right to object to his parents wanting to make him leave his home.”
“His home? Are you referring to Japan?”
“Yes but I’m referring more specifically to St. Sebastian’s. It’s his home now and has been for two years. Ueda-kun, from what I have observed, is a boy with a lot of spirit and he has always surprised me with just how much spirit he has. He has a sense of justice and he seems to be willing to do anything for his friends. He also managed to make friends with my grandson, and let me tell you, that is a feat in itself.”
Ryo rolled his eyes.
“Grandma,” he muttered.
“He’s developed quite a niche here and I think he’s become aware of the role he plays in a school such as this. Ueda-kun is simply unable to give that up, especially now that he has adapted so well. I can understand perfectly well why he would want to stay here.”
“How do we know you’re not just saying these things to keep our son here? Don’t you have other students to worry about? Or is it imperative that you make every student stay at your school, for, you know, tuition reasons?”
The headmistress smiled.
“If I was worried about the school finances, I would not be taking time out of my schedule to let you come into my office just to fight with your child. I would be going over the budget with the Board of Trustees, not allowing two parents to make fools of themselves.”
“Headmistress!”
“I don’t mean any disrespect, but if you were any kind of parent, you would know why your child wants to stay here so badly. And I assure you, it has nothing to do with teenage rebellion, nor does it have a thing to do with the tuition. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go over the budget with the Board of Trustees.”
Ryo smiled widely, and pumped his fist, showing that he was proud of his grandmother. Ueda’s parents could be heard voicing their complaints with how that headmistress had treated them. They were about to leave the office, at which point Ryo made himself scarce and hid nearby so he wouldn’t get caught eavesdropping.
Once Ueda’s parents left, Ryo was still outside his grandmother’s office.
“Ryo, I would appreciate it if you would not eavesdrop on my conversations with the students’ parents.”
Ryo turned around and saw his grandmother looking right back at him, her arms crossed and a smile on her face.
“Sorry-”
“I believe you have some business to attend to, don’t you? Ueda-kun couldn’t possibly be feeling happy about what just happened.”
Ryo thought for a second and once he realized what his grandmother’s words meant, he nodded and ran off. The headmistress smiled and went about her day.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ueda made a vain attempt at denying anything happening between him and Ryo.
“Oh come on, Tatsuya-it’s me. You think I can’t see how things are progressing between the two of you? It’s not that hard to figure out-I mean we all know you guys like each other. There’s no sense denying it.”
“Yes, but-”
“But what?”
Ueda didn’t say anything. There was no “but” to speak of; he and Ryo were practically together at that moment even if the words weren’t all said.
“If it’s so obvious, then why are you even asking?”
Yamapi sighed again, this time in a more frustrated manner.
“Look, it really isn’t any of my business and I don’t even know why I’m asking but-I’m just curious to know-for sure-if you and Ryo have anything going on between you two-officially?”
Ueda looked at Yamapi, whose eyes were straight on looking back at him. Ueda’s eyes shifted and he looked away.
“Yamapi-”
Yamapi’s eyes widened ever so slightly. Ueda looked back at them and felt his skin prickle as he felt the other boy’s gaze.
“Do you still have feelings for me?”
Ryo felt like a character from a romantic comedy. He was running after the boy he loved in an effort to help him go back to being his normal happy self. Ryo felt his heart pumping as his legs moved fast enough to get to the dorm room quickly.
He was about to knock on the door but saw that it was slightly open. Normally, he would have just burst in but he saw Ueda and Yamapi on the bed and was curious to hear their conversation.
“I-I’m not-I mean, I don’t,” Yamapi stuttered.
“Then why does it matter to you?”
“I don’t know! I’m just curious! I mean-gawd, let’s just drop it. I should have never asked,” Yamapi quickly got up off the bed and was about to leave.
“Wait,” Ueda got up and grabbed Yamapi’s arm. He turned the other boy around and grabbed hold of him, clutching him tightly in a warm embrace.
Ryo gawked at the scene unfolding in front of him. He was sure that there was something going on between Yamapi and Ueda, or rather that what they had ended was still alive in both of them. Defeated, he walked down the hall and didn’t bother to listen to what happened next.
“What are you doing?”
“Yamapi-I’m scared.”
Yamapi slowly pulled himself back to see that Ueda had started crying.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Ueda wiped his nose. He had completely broken down in front of Yamapi in only a matter of minutes.
“Hey-what’s going on?” Yamapi asked, putting his hand under the other boy’s chin.
“My parents-they came back from America.”
“Really? Well, that’s good-isn’t it?”
Ueda shook his head.
“No-the thing is, they want me to go back-with them. They want me to leave St. Sebastian’s-leave Japan-leave Ryo.”
Yamapi seemed to cringe at the last phrase but he snapped out of it before Ueda caught on.
“Is that why you’re crying? Oh, come on, Tatsuya, that’s nothing to cry about. Your parents just want what’s best for you.”
Ueda groaned and continued to wipe his nose.
“It’s not that. My parents always do stuff like this. They always just announce things unexpectedly and expect me to just agree to it. How the hell am I supposed to just agree to this?! How am I supposed to just leave Ryo, especially now when things are finally going right?”
“I knew it.”
Ueda glared at Yamapi who quickly apologized.
“I can’t just-I can’t just allow myself to run away like this. That’s what it would be-running away! I finally get to tell Ryo I love him and there just has to be an interruption!”
“Sorry-about that,” Yamapi blushed.
“Oh that’s not what I meant. It just seems like every time I feel like Ryo and I are on our way to finally being together, something comes up. There’s always some obstacle as if fate was telling us-”
Ueda paused, reflecting on the thoughts swirling around in his brain at the moment.
“Telling you what?”
Ueda exhaled deeply.
“I think-I think Ryo and I aren’t meant to be together.”
Yamapi nodded his head but then shook it and looked at Ueda strangely.
“WHAT?!”
“What?”
“After all the shit you’ve put yourself through in order to be with Ryo, you’re just going to give up?! You’re just going to tell yourself that it’s not worth it because you guys ‘don’t belong together’? What about the notion that if you really want something, you have to fight for it? Or how about ‘the best things in life are the ones you have to fight for’? Tatsuya-you can’t just give up because fate supposedly is throwing things in your way to true happiness with Ryo! You-you can’t just give up. Not when you love someone that much.”
“But what if-”
“THERE IS NO ‘WHAT IF’! You love him and he sure as hell loves you-what more do you want?!”
Yamapi was slightly gasping for breath, having gotten himself a bit too angry at his friend.
Ueda looked at him and without saying anything, nodded thusly.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” Yamapi asked hoping for confirmation.
Ueda just nodded again, tightened his lips and walked out of the room. Yamapi sighed with relief, but shook his head before leaving the room.
Ueda stomped over to Ryo’s room in hopes of telling the other boy that no matter what, the two of them would not be separated any longer and that despite what his parents were making him go through, he and Ryo would finally be together.
“Ryo, I-”
“I don’t want to see your face!”
Ueda blinked.
“What?” he stared at Ryo who was on the bed. He had clearly been crying and was failing at covering up for his sudden release of emotion.
“I FUCKING TOLD YOU THAT I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE! GET OUT OF HERE!”
Ryo got up and slammed the door in Ueda’s face. Ueda looked stunned but managed to wake himself up to the situation. He started banging on the door and screaming Ryo’s name.
“RYO! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! LET ME IN!”
“FUCK OFF, BASTARD! I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!”
“RYO!”
“What’s going on?” Yamapi suddenly ran over.
“It’s Ryo. He’s gone ballistic-he won’t open the door and keeps saying that he doesn’t want to see me.”
“Oh-RYO! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR, YOU LITTLE FUCK! TATSUYA’S TRYING TO TALK TO YOU!”
“IS THAT YAMAPI?! TELL HIM HE’S A RAT BASTARD AND I HOPE HE DIES!”
“What the hell did I do?” Yamapi said in his normal voice to Ueda.
Ueda just shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve no idea. Ryo’s lost his mind.”
“HEY UEDA!” Ryo shouted, “I HOPE YOU AND YAMAPI HAVE A GREAT LIFE TOGETHER! MAYBE YOU CAN GET MARRIED AND ADOPT BUTT-UGLY CHILDREN TOGETHER! BOTH OF YOU CAN KISS MY ASS!”
“Wow, he’s much more vulgar than usual,” Ueda shook his head.
“What is he talking about ‘hope you guys have a happy life together’?”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
Toma and Kame came running up to their friends, subtly hand-in-hand.
“Why are you guys standing outside of Ryo’s door?” Toma asked.
“That’s what I would like to know,” Ueda bit back, sounding like he was just now getting pissed off at Ryo.
“Um-what?”
“He locked us out because apparently he thinks Tatsuya and I are together-again,” Yamapi scoffed.
“WHAT?!”
“We’re not-Ryo must have misunderstood something. Figures-he’s always such AN IDIOT!” Ueda shouted.
“I HEARD THAT!” Ryo shouted right back.
“I think I know how to handle this,” Toma smirked, releasing himself from Kame’s grip.
“How?”
Toma just smiled and started to knock on the door.
“Hey, Ryo buddy? It’s Toma-want to open the door for me?”
At first there was no response and it seemed that Toma had failed miserably. But then the door unlocked and slowly opening, only allowing Ryo’s head to poke through.
“Just you-no one else,” he said without so much as looking at Ueda or Yamapi, for that matter.
“Yes, just me. Can I come in?” Toma asked sweetly.
Ryo looked around and quickly grabbed Toma, pulled him in, and slammed the door behind him.
“JACKASS!” Ueda growled.
After a few minutes of muffled whispers, Toma came back out. He was no longer smiling and instead seemed somewhat sympathetic, most likely towards Ryo.
“What’d he say?”
Toma sighed and scratched his head.
“He says he hates Tatsuya for leading him on only to end up getting back together with Yamapi. He can’t believe that after everything that’s happened between the two of you, you’d end up together-only to leave Ryo alone.”
“What does he want-a threesome?” Kame joked.
“SHH!” Ueda glared.
Toma continued, “Yeah-he’s just really pissed off right now. He doesn’t even want to look at you guys right now. He’s really hurt.”
“Oh for the love of-why the hell does he think Yamapi and I are together?!”
“He said he saw you and him in a loving embrace in your dorm room. He had come over to comfort you after the stuff with your parents happened. It really hurt him to see that you were willing to talk to Yamapi but not to him.”
Ueda sighed; he didn’t sound annoyed nor did he sound sympathetic. It just seemed like he felt as if he should have just expected things to go wrong. The speech he gave Yamapi about him and Ryo having too many things against him sounded pretty plausible about now.
“Well, it can’t be helped. He won’t listen to me even if he tell him a hundred times that there’s nothing between me and Yamapi anymore. I should’ve expected things to go wrong again-it fucking figures!”
“Wow-things must be bad for Tat-chan to casually cuss like that,” Kame commented.
“Do not give me that B.S.! After what I just told you about not giving up and-”
“Really, Yamapi, I’m not in the mood. It was sweet of you to be so concerned but I’ve about had it with that-that-RYO! He doesn’t listen and just makes up things in his head. Even if I spell things out for him, he doesn’t believe me and I’m just sick of it. I’m-I’m just tired. I’m going to go talk to my parents.”
To be continued