Wish We Were Older
Title: Wish We Were Older [Chapter 6]
Author: carcrashheart_8
Pairings: RyoDa, Ryo/OC, PiDa, KameDa [friendship], Akame
Rating: PG-13 [strong language and sexual 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 6
Ueda slouched in his theater seat, annoyed that he was sitting next to Kame, who was in between him and Yamapi. He occasionally looked over at Kame and gave him the dirtiest of looks although the other boy was too engrossed in the film to notice. Yamapi wasn’t paying attention either and for some reason, Ueda felt a little lonely, sitting so far away.
“Eh, Tat-chan? Are you enjoying the film?” Kame whispered.
Ueda plastered a fake smile on his face and nodded, only to mutter curse words under his breath when the other boy looked away. Yamapi caught his eye and the other boy smiled at Ueda. He sighed a bit and Ueda felt even worse than he did at the beginning of the date. He was just bringing more and more disappointment to the boy who had honest feelings for him.
The movie ended and Kame stretched, yawning with content for having watched such a great film.
“That was so good! Don’t you think it was good, Tat-chan?” he smiled widely.
Ueda got up from his seat and began walking towards the exit, “I had a hard time following the storyline.” He was trying to imply that Kame had been the reason he was so distracted.
Unfortunately, Kame did not pick up on this and instead, directed his question to Yamapi.
“What about you, Yamashita-kun? Didn’t you like the movie?” Kame asked with a little touch of Yamapi’s shoulder. Yamapi shrugged his shoulders in response.
“It was okay. I wasn’t really planning on watching the movie anyways,” he said, turning his head and looking at the posters of other movies that were playing in the theater.
Ueda gulped, sure that Yamapi was insinuating that he would’ve been trying to molest Ueda during the movie. Maybe it was a good thing Kame had been sitting in between them, he thought to himself.
“Well, I should get going. I was supposed to be going to the grocery store to get food for dinner,” Kame laughed.
Ueda looked at him, confused, “What?”
“I got side-tracked when I saw you! How could I not want to hang out with you as soon as possible? Huh, Tat-chan?”
Ueda shook his head unsure of Kame was thinking.
“Well, I should go now! It was nice meeting you, Yamashita-kun. Take good care of my Tat-chan from now on,” Kame grinned earnestly, taking Yamapi’s hands and looking at him endearingly. Yamapi was a little surprised and just nodded his head, confused but intent on fulfilling such a request.
Ueda was embarrassed out of his mind and wanted to slap Kame’s hands away from Yamapi’s. But before he got a chance, Kame let go and turned his attention toward him.
Before saying anything, Kame simply grabbed Ueda and pulled him in for a good friendly hug. When their faces were next to each other, Kame took the chance to whisper into Ueda’s ears.
“You’re lucky you could get such a guy. Don’t mess this up,” Kame said in a soft but serious voice. When he let Ueda go, he smiled widely and nodded his head.
“Goodbye, Tat-chan! I’ll keep in touch so we can still talk! Bye-bye!” Kame waved before skipping off down the block.
Ueda put his hands to his face and shook his head. Yamapi just laughed which worried Ueda.
“What’re you laughing?”
“Oh nothing-I just realized that I might have a little competition for your attention.”
“EH?!”
Yamapi continued to giggle, not responding with anything that clarified what he had just said. Instead he just said, “Come on, we should get back to school. It’s about the end of the day and I wanted to change before dinner. You coming?”
Ueda nodded his head and followed after Yamapi. What could Yamapi have meant by saying something about competition? Was he referring to Kame and if he was, why? Kame was just Ueda’s friend and absolutely nothing more. No matter how Kame felt about Ueda, the latter saw his friend as just a friend and nothing else. Besides, Ueda already had his sights on Ryo, even though he still felt some weird stomach pangs when standing nearer to Yamapi. The two stood at the corner waiting for a change in the light and Ueda was startled to feel Yamapi’s hand intertwined with his. The other boy had suddenly grabbed it when Ueda wasn’t looking and now Ueda could feel the hand in his. It was warm and soft and it gave Ueda a weird feeling inside of him just by its touch.
The two walked hand in hand up until they reached the block of their school, at which point, Yamapi quickly took his hand away and put it in his pocket. Ueda felt oddly disappointed when he no longer was holding Yamapi’s hand. The pair walked through the school gates, thankfully undetected by any staff members walking the campus. They snuck back into their dormitory and made it up to their floor, separating to go to their respective rooms. Ueda opened the door and was shocked to find, not Ryo, but Toma sitting on his bed, reading a magazine.
“Uhm-Ikuta-kun? What are you doing here? And where’s Ryo-kun?”
Toma looked up, unmoved by the sudden entrance of the rightful owner of the bed he was lying on.
“He’s still in homeroom, doing classroom duties by himself. Apparently, he told the teacher that you were sick and that he would take care of your share of the work.”
Toma took the magazine and tossed it aside. He stood up and walked over to Ueda, with his arms crossed and a serious look on his face.
“I didn’t realize he was just lying to cover up for you and Yamapi, who suddenly decided to go on a date!” Toma yelled.
Ueda jumped back, falling back on the closed door behind him, clutching at it, hoping he could reach for the knob in time before Toma killed him.
“What the hell were you thinking?! Skipping school to go on a stupid date with someone you don’t even like!”
“I-I-I-what does it have to do with you anyways?!” Ueda surprisingly decided to defend himself against someone he usually had a hard time raising his voice to.
“It concerns me because you two are both my friends and you could get in a lot of trouble for skipping! And Ryo knew! The guy is none too happy with the spontaneous unification of you and Yamapi. It’s amazing he didn’t take what he knew to use against you. He could have told his grandmother, for Gawd’s sake!”
Ueda sulked, feeling guilty that Ryo had covered up for him even when it seemed like he wouldn’t. Ueda even thought that he might have done exactly what Toma had said he would do. The fact that Ryo didn’t turn him in made Ueda want to like him even more. But he wasn’t worrying about that; instead, he was wondering what motivation Ryo could possibly have for helping him. Maybe Ueda’s roommate wasn’t as bad as he once thought.
Ueda smiled to himself, which irritated Toma even more.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT?!”
Ueda jumped, but then smiled nervously, “Ah, I’m not smiling about anything in particular. Thank you, Ikuta-kun.”
Toma looked shocked, “Eh? Why are you thanking me? I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s because you didn’t turn Yamapi and me in even though you could have just as well.”
Toma’s cheeks turned pink embarrassed that he was being thanked for having done nothing.
“Well, it’s not that big a deal.”
“It is! Thank you!” Ueda jumped up and hugged the other man tightly, causing Toma to feel very uncomfortable. The taller boy suddenly pushed Ueda away and smiled.
“It’s-it’s nothing. No need to hug me for that. I-I gotta go,” Toma waved his hand and suddenly ran off.
Ueda felt relieved, knowing that he wasn’t going to face any consequences for having skipped school. He felt even better knowing that Ryo had covered for him, even though Ueda never expected the other boy to do so. It was amazing, he thought to himself, but Ryo was sweeter than expected.
As expected, the feeling didn’t last long because Ryo came back, angry and ready to kill someone. He opened the door and slammed it behind him, looking down at Ueda who was sitting on his bed, reading the magazine Toma had been reading earlier.
“Ah, Ryo-kun-how was your day?” Ueda smiled, completely unaware of the trouble he had caused.
“YOU! I TOLD YOU TO GO TO CLASS! AND IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU, I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO BURN THREE POUNDS OF TRASH FOR THE PAST TWO HOURS!”
“Eh?”
Ryo stomped over, and grabbed Ueda by the shoulders and put him up to eye level. He looked at him, deep in the eyes, with a look of malice that sent shivers down Ueda’s spine. He knew the other boy was serious and thus, the smile wiped right off his face.
Ueda wasn’t sure what to expect. He had no idea what Ryo would do or say next, so he prepared himself for the worst. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ryo continued with a question Ueda never expected to hear from him.
“Do you-do you really like him?”
“What?”
“Do you really like Yamapi?!” he said, sounding annoyed that he had to repeat himself. Ueda stared at him, his eyes on the twitch that Ryo had. He could see a seriousness in the younger man’s eyes that made him curious.
Ueda was still in Ryo’s grasp, not having been let go yet. He didn’t look Ryo in the eye and just gave a simple but vague answer.
“I’m not sure.”
Ryo let him go, as if that was not the answer he wanted to hear. He didn’t say another word and just stormed out of the room, leaving for several hours before Ueda saw him again. Ueda fell back on his bed, breathing a bit hard, clutching at his chest. He didn’t know why he couldn’t just say no. It wasn’t pity for Yamapi, it felt like something more. There was something that kept him from denying any feelings for Yamapi, but Ueda wasn’t sure what it was.
He waited for Ryo to come back, but he never did.
The next day was Saturday but it was not a day to look forward to. Ueda was still so muddled with thoughts about what had happened the day before, with Ryo and with Yamapi. Kame didn’t help matters and Ueda wasn’t sure what to do about his entire situation. He decided to skip breakfast but changed his mind, figuring he might see Ryo there.
He made his way to the cafeteria, disappointed since the only ones there were Koki and Toma, neither of which were sure why Ueda looked so worried.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yeah, you look a little pale.”
Ueda didn’t respond and ran off. He was running around campus, hoping for some sign that Ryo was still there and that he had not run away. He was ecstatic to see that Ryo was at the school gates, talking to someone who was out of Ueda’s field of vision. Ueda ran over to him, hoping that the other boy was in a good mood since he was laughing and smiling a lot.
“Ryo-kun, what are you d-” Ueda stopped, mid-sentence, shocked to see who Ryo had been talking to.
“TAT-CHAN!”
It was Kame, with a big smile on his face and a large bag on his arm. Ueda couldn’t believe that Ryo had been talking to the one person who knew how to embarrass Ueda the most.
“Oh, you two know each other?” Ryo asked, pretending to act like he didn’t really care.
“Of course! Tat-chan and I used to be lovers, huh, Tat-chan?” Kame winked and smiled.
Ueda turned pale.
“NO! NEVER! WE WERE NEVER LOVERS! KAME!” Ueda attempted at damage control, waving his hands around and aiming for Kame who dodged his attacks.
“Hmm-seems like you get around, don’t you-Tat-chan?” Ryo snickered sarcastically.
The way he said Ueda’s nickname sent goosebumps rising on his skin, but not in a good way. He could sense the hostility coming from Ryo’s voice and it scared him, to say the least.
“Hey, Kamenashi-kun, do you want to go to our cafeteria and have breakfast? Or have you eaten already?”
Ueda shook his head, trying to get Kame to reject the offer but the other boy just looked at him before turning his attention towards Ryo. He nodded and smiled.
“I’d love to have breakfast with you and Tat-chan-Nishikido-kun,” Kame said warmly.
Ueda’s fist clenched.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Kame? Like-I don’t know-home?”
Kame pouted.
“Aw, Tat-chan-don’t tell me you don’t want me to hang out with you and your friends? It’ll be fun! Like yesterday-oh, Nishikido-kun, Tat-chan and I had such fun yesterday at the movies!”
Ryo looked at Ueda suspiciously, “I thought you were with Yamapi all afternoon.”
“I was! We were on a date-I mean, we were hanging out. But we bumped into Kame and yeah-he ended up joining us.”
Ryo looked sternly but then he randomly started bursting out into laughter.
“AHAHA! You mean-you mean, Kamenashi-kun joined you-on your date-with Yamapi? HAHAHA! That’s priceless!”
Ueda’s upper lip twitched.
“I don’t see what’s so damn funny. Kame-why do you have to tell him things like that? He doesn’t deserve to know! He’s just a-a stupid idiot!”
Ueda grabbed Kame’s arm and dragged him away, with the latter of the two looking back at Ryo, confused. Ryo just continued laughing before hustling over to catch up with the two.
Kame was slammed down into a cafeteria chair by Ueda, who was completely angry and ready to do some emotional eating.
“I can’t believe-that-URGH! He makes me so damn mad!” Ueda ranted to himself, pacing back and forth behind Kame’s chair.
Kame looked at Toma and Koki who happened to be sitting at the table where Ueda had put his friend.
“Uh-hi I’m Kamenashi Kazuya-I’m a childhood friend of Tat-chan.”
Koki stared at Kame like he was looking at some foreign being while Toma glared at the new boy.
“Uh, Tat-chan?”
Ueda stopped ranting for a second, realizing what Kame wanted.
“Oh, Tanaka-kun-Ikuta-kun, this is Kamenashi Kazuya. Kame, this is Tanaka Koki and Ikuta Toma. They’re friends of mine from St. Sebastian’s.”
Ueda then proceeded to continue his rant, knocking over chairs and kicking at the ground. He didn’t stop even when he noticed Ryo walking in, hands in his pockets and a huge grin on his face. Instead, Ueda just started ranting even louder, directing all his anger towards his roommate.
“Stupid idiot-talking to people he doesn’t know-poking his nose in other people’s business-arrogant bastard-,” Ueda grumbled to himself.
Ryo ignored him and sat at the table, grabbing a banana from Toma’s tray and beginning to peel it.
“So, Kamenashi-kun-have long have you known this psycho?” Ryo asked, referencing Ueda who was still out of his mind with anger.
“Who, Tat-chan? I’ve known him since we were kindergarteners, back in the day. He was always so cute-people thought he was a girl and always tried to get him to dress up in frilly little dresses. It was adorable when he would cry while they took pictures of him,” Kame threw his head back and laughed, unknowingly catching the attention of a distressed Ueda.
“KAME! WHY WOULD YOU TELL HIM THAT?!”
Ryo didn’t laugh, but it was obvious that he wanted to. He had a closed-mouth smile and his eyes started to water ever so slightly. As he continued to look at Ueda, he found it harder to keep quiet for long.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Ueda’s anger reached a boiling point; he took a cup of orange juice from Koki’s tray and threw it all over Ryo. The act shocked everyone in the room, including Ueda who was unsure why he had done such a thing. Ryo stopped laughing and started to look more pissed off than Ueda had ever seen him before. This was bad; it was worse than any other time he and Ryo had fought and if not for Ueda’s pride, things would be a lot better at this moment.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Ryo muttered, unable to raise his voice due to his overwhelming rage.
Ueda’s heart started beating quicker and he could feel himself shaking. He knew he was making a mistake by causing more trouble for Ryo.
“Why the hell would you do that? Are you an idiot?” Ryo got up from his seat and started slowly advancing towards Ueda, looking at him as if he had vengeance on his mind. Ueda was startled and kept moving back until he finally hit the wall of the cafeteria.
He closed his eyes, sure that Ryo would punch him right in the face.
“Ryo-what’s going on?”
Ueda opened his eyes, shocked to see Yamapi standing behind Ryo, looking very serious. He put his hand on Ryo’s shoulder and waited for his friend to answer his question.
“What?”
“Yamapi-” Toma attempted to stop Yamapi from confronting Ryo.
“I asked, what are you doing-to my boyfriend?” Pi repeated, now crossing his arms and looking at Ryo dead-on.
Ryo pulled away from Ueda, his angry face reduced to an annoyed sneer.
“Your ‘boyfriend’ just dumped a glass of orange juice on me! I’m merely trying to get him to pay for what he did!”
Ueda pressed himself against the wall as best as he could, hoping that Ryo wouldn’t attack him when he looked away.
“Well-maybe you deserved it.”
“What?”
“Yamapi!” Toma whispered, still trying to keep the peace.
“You’re always causing trouble for him. Always yelling at him and calling him names-why? What do you have against him?”
Ryo wouldn’t respond. He looked at Yamapi, so angrily, like he couldn’t believe that his own best friend was defending someone who annoyed Ryo so much.
“Answer me, Ryo! Don’t make me kick your ass-I’ve done it before and I can certainly do it again,” Yamapi smiled sadistically, recalling a time where he had beat up the other boy.
Ryo stood up tall, not quite reaching Yamapi’s height but still managing to look him directly in the eye.
“If that’s a threat, you’re gonna have to try harder than that. And to answer your question, your damn boyfriend is such a fucking idiot, I can’t help but badmouth him. If you were any kind of friend, it wouldn’t matter what I did to him; you should only care about what he’s doing to me.”
“Sometimes, Ryo-there are things more important than your pride.”
Ueda’s mouth dropped, as did Toma’s and everyone else’s. What had just happened? Was Yamapi really placing Ueda above Ryo in his list of priorities? Ueda’s guilt started to escalate and he felt like stepping in but he was too embarrassed and scared to say a word.
“Are you telling me that you’re putting this idiot above 10 years of friendship? Is this what you’re telling me, Yamapi?”
Yamapi’s stern look remained unshaken, but he turned his head slightly as if he couldn’t look Ryo in the eye anymore. Ryo got the hint and knew exactly where Yamapi stood as of that moment. He got ready to leave but stopped to say something to Ueda.
“You just keep making things worse for me. Do me a favor-stay the hell away from me.”
And with that, he walked right out of the room. Toma got up and ran after him while Yamapi rubbed his neck, as if he was exhausted from arguing with Ryo. Unbeknownst to his boyfriend, Ueda’s eyes started to well up and his lips started to quiver. He was on the brink of bawling his eyes out in front of anyone but he was interrupted.
“K-Kamenashi, what are you doing here?!” a voice called out.
Everyone looked up and saw Jin, with Junno not too far behind, staring, open-mouthed at Kame whose eyes bugged out at the sight of Jin.
“Jin-you-what are you doing here?” Kame replied with a shaky voice, showing nervousness that no one expected him to ever showcase.
“Kame-you know him?” Ueda asked without thinking.
END CHAPTER 6
A/N: MWHAHA Another cliff-hanger >D lol sorry, but I enjoy ending with cliffhangers ^^ it makes things more exciting and more worthy of continuing reading. Anyways, I'm finding it hard to keep up with writing since it's almost finals week >< I probably won't update until late next week, so don't expect an update any earlier than that. Sorry D: But thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting as well :) I really appreciate all the comments and I enjoy reading them. Thank you so much ♥
Author: carcrashheart_8
Pairings: RyoDa, Ryo/OC, PiDa, KameDa [friendship], Akame
Rating: PG-13 [strong language and sexual 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 6
Ueda slouched in his theater seat, annoyed that he was sitting next to Kame, who was in between him and Yamapi. He occasionally looked over at Kame and gave him the dirtiest of looks although the other boy was too engrossed in the film to notice. Yamapi wasn’t paying attention either and for some reason, Ueda felt a little lonely, sitting so far away.
“Eh, Tat-chan? Are you enjoying the film?” Kame whispered.
Ueda plastered a fake smile on his face and nodded, only to mutter curse words under his breath when the other boy looked away. Yamapi caught his eye and the other boy smiled at Ueda. He sighed a bit and Ueda felt even worse than he did at the beginning of the date. He was just bringing more and more disappointment to the boy who had honest feelings for him.
The movie ended and Kame stretched, yawning with content for having watched such a great film.
“That was so good! Don’t you think it was good, Tat-chan?” he smiled widely.
Ueda got up from his seat and began walking towards the exit, “I had a hard time following the storyline.” He was trying to imply that Kame had been the reason he was so distracted.
Unfortunately, Kame did not pick up on this and instead, directed his question to Yamapi.
“What about you, Yamashita-kun? Didn’t you like the movie?” Kame asked with a little touch of Yamapi’s shoulder. Yamapi shrugged his shoulders in response.
“It was okay. I wasn’t really planning on watching the movie anyways,” he said, turning his head and looking at the posters of other movies that were playing in the theater.
Ueda gulped, sure that Yamapi was insinuating that he would’ve been trying to molest Ueda during the movie. Maybe it was a good thing Kame had been sitting in between them, he thought to himself.
“Well, I should get going. I was supposed to be going to the grocery store to get food for dinner,” Kame laughed.
Ueda looked at him, confused, “What?”
“I got side-tracked when I saw you! How could I not want to hang out with you as soon as possible? Huh, Tat-chan?”
Ueda shook his head unsure of Kame was thinking.
“Well, I should go now! It was nice meeting you, Yamashita-kun. Take good care of my Tat-chan from now on,” Kame grinned earnestly, taking Yamapi’s hands and looking at him endearingly. Yamapi was a little surprised and just nodded his head, confused but intent on fulfilling such a request.
Ueda was embarrassed out of his mind and wanted to slap Kame’s hands away from Yamapi’s. But before he got a chance, Kame let go and turned his attention toward him.
Before saying anything, Kame simply grabbed Ueda and pulled him in for a good friendly hug. When their faces were next to each other, Kame took the chance to whisper into Ueda’s ears.
“You’re lucky you could get such a guy. Don’t mess this up,” Kame said in a soft but serious voice. When he let Ueda go, he smiled widely and nodded his head.
“Goodbye, Tat-chan! I’ll keep in touch so we can still talk! Bye-bye!” Kame waved before skipping off down the block.
Ueda put his hands to his face and shook his head. Yamapi just laughed which worried Ueda.
“What’re you laughing?”
“Oh nothing-I just realized that I might have a little competition for your attention.”
“EH?!”
Yamapi continued to giggle, not responding with anything that clarified what he had just said. Instead he just said, “Come on, we should get back to school. It’s about the end of the day and I wanted to change before dinner. You coming?”
Ueda nodded his head and followed after Yamapi. What could Yamapi have meant by saying something about competition? Was he referring to Kame and if he was, why? Kame was just Ueda’s friend and absolutely nothing more. No matter how Kame felt about Ueda, the latter saw his friend as just a friend and nothing else. Besides, Ueda already had his sights on Ryo, even though he still felt some weird stomach pangs when standing nearer to Yamapi. The two stood at the corner waiting for a change in the light and Ueda was startled to feel Yamapi’s hand intertwined with his. The other boy had suddenly grabbed it when Ueda wasn’t looking and now Ueda could feel the hand in his. It was warm and soft and it gave Ueda a weird feeling inside of him just by its touch.
The two walked hand in hand up until they reached the block of their school, at which point, Yamapi quickly took his hand away and put it in his pocket. Ueda felt oddly disappointed when he no longer was holding Yamapi’s hand. The pair walked through the school gates, thankfully undetected by any staff members walking the campus. They snuck back into their dormitory and made it up to their floor, separating to go to their respective rooms. Ueda opened the door and was shocked to find, not Ryo, but Toma sitting on his bed, reading a magazine.
“Uhm-Ikuta-kun? What are you doing here? And where’s Ryo-kun?”
Toma looked up, unmoved by the sudden entrance of the rightful owner of the bed he was lying on.
“He’s still in homeroom, doing classroom duties by himself. Apparently, he told the teacher that you were sick and that he would take care of your share of the work.”
Toma took the magazine and tossed it aside. He stood up and walked over to Ueda, with his arms crossed and a serious look on his face.
“I didn’t realize he was just lying to cover up for you and Yamapi, who suddenly decided to go on a date!” Toma yelled.
Ueda jumped back, falling back on the closed door behind him, clutching at it, hoping he could reach for the knob in time before Toma killed him.
“What the hell were you thinking?! Skipping school to go on a stupid date with someone you don’t even like!”
“I-I-I-what does it have to do with you anyways?!” Ueda surprisingly decided to defend himself against someone he usually had a hard time raising his voice to.
“It concerns me because you two are both my friends and you could get in a lot of trouble for skipping! And Ryo knew! The guy is none too happy with the spontaneous unification of you and Yamapi. It’s amazing he didn’t take what he knew to use against you. He could have told his grandmother, for Gawd’s sake!”
Ueda sulked, feeling guilty that Ryo had covered up for him even when it seemed like he wouldn’t. Ueda even thought that he might have done exactly what Toma had said he would do. The fact that Ryo didn’t turn him in made Ueda want to like him even more. But he wasn’t worrying about that; instead, he was wondering what motivation Ryo could possibly have for helping him. Maybe Ueda’s roommate wasn’t as bad as he once thought.
Ueda smiled to himself, which irritated Toma even more.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT?!”
Ueda jumped, but then smiled nervously, “Ah, I’m not smiling about anything in particular. Thank you, Ikuta-kun.”
Toma looked shocked, “Eh? Why are you thanking me? I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s because you didn’t turn Yamapi and me in even though you could have just as well.”
Toma’s cheeks turned pink embarrassed that he was being thanked for having done nothing.
“Well, it’s not that big a deal.”
“It is! Thank you!” Ueda jumped up and hugged the other man tightly, causing Toma to feel very uncomfortable. The taller boy suddenly pushed Ueda away and smiled.
“It’s-it’s nothing. No need to hug me for that. I-I gotta go,” Toma waved his hand and suddenly ran off.
Ueda felt relieved, knowing that he wasn’t going to face any consequences for having skipped school. He felt even better knowing that Ryo had covered for him, even though Ueda never expected the other boy to do so. It was amazing, he thought to himself, but Ryo was sweeter than expected.
As expected, the feeling didn’t last long because Ryo came back, angry and ready to kill someone. He opened the door and slammed it behind him, looking down at Ueda who was sitting on his bed, reading the magazine Toma had been reading earlier.
“Ah, Ryo-kun-how was your day?” Ueda smiled, completely unaware of the trouble he had caused.
“YOU! I TOLD YOU TO GO TO CLASS! AND IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU, I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO BURN THREE POUNDS OF TRASH FOR THE PAST TWO HOURS!”
“Eh?”
Ryo stomped over, and grabbed Ueda by the shoulders and put him up to eye level. He looked at him, deep in the eyes, with a look of malice that sent shivers down Ueda’s spine. He knew the other boy was serious and thus, the smile wiped right off his face.
Ueda wasn’t sure what to expect. He had no idea what Ryo would do or say next, so he prepared himself for the worst. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Ryo continued with a question Ueda never expected to hear from him.
“Do you-do you really like him?”
“What?”
“Do you really like Yamapi?!” he said, sounding annoyed that he had to repeat himself. Ueda stared at him, his eyes on the twitch that Ryo had. He could see a seriousness in the younger man’s eyes that made him curious.
Ueda was still in Ryo’s grasp, not having been let go yet. He didn’t look Ryo in the eye and just gave a simple but vague answer.
“I’m not sure.”
Ryo let him go, as if that was not the answer he wanted to hear. He didn’t say another word and just stormed out of the room, leaving for several hours before Ueda saw him again. Ueda fell back on his bed, breathing a bit hard, clutching at his chest. He didn’t know why he couldn’t just say no. It wasn’t pity for Yamapi, it felt like something more. There was something that kept him from denying any feelings for Yamapi, but Ueda wasn’t sure what it was.
He waited for Ryo to come back, but he never did.
The next day was Saturday but it was not a day to look forward to. Ueda was still so muddled with thoughts about what had happened the day before, with Ryo and with Yamapi. Kame didn’t help matters and Ueda wasn’t sure what to do about his entire situation. He decided to skip breakfast but changed his mind, figuring he might see Ryo there.
He made his way to the cafeteria, disappointed since the only ones there were Koki and Toma, neither of which were sure why Ueda looked so worried.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yeah, you look a little pale.”
Ueda didn’t respond and ran off. He was running around campus, hoping for some sign that Ryo was still there and that he had not run away. He was ecstatic to see that Ryo was at the school gates, talking to someone who was out of Ueda’s field of vision. Ueda ran over to him, hoping that the other boy was in a good mood since he was laughing and smiling a lot.
“Ryo-kun, what are you d-” Ueda stopped, mid-sentence, shocked to see who Ryo had been talking to.
“TAT-CHAN!”
It was Kame, with a big smile on his face and a large bag on his arm. Ueda couldn’t believe that Ryo had been talking to the one person who knew how to embarrass Ueda the most.
“Oh, you two know each other?” Ryo asked, pretending to act like he didn’t really care.
“Of course! Tat-chan and I used to be lovers, huh, Tat-chan?” Kame winked and smiled.
Ueda turned pale.
“NO! NEVER! WE WERE NEVER LOVERS! KAME!” Ueda attempted at damage control, waving his hands around and aiming for Kame who dodged his attacks.
“Hmm-seems like you get around, don’t you-Tat-chan?” Ryo snickered sarcastically.
The way he said Ueda’s nickname sent goosebumps rising on his skin, but not in a good way. He could sense the hostility coming from Ryo’s voice and it scared him, to say the least.
“Hey, Kamenashi-kun, do you want to go to our cafeteria and have breakfast? Or have you eaten already?”
Ueda shook his head, trying to get Kame to reject the offer but the other boy just looked at him before turning his attention towards Ryo. He nodded and smiled.
“I’d love to have breakfast with you and Tat-chan-Nishikido-kun,” Kame said warmly.
Ueda’s fist clenched.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Kame? Like-I don’t know-home?”
Kame pouted.
“Aw, Tat-chan-don’t tell me you don’t want me to hang out with you and your friends? It’ll be fun! Like yesterday-oh, Nishikido-kun, Tat-chan and I had such fun yesterday at the movies!”
Ryo looked at Ueda suspiciously, “I thought you were with Yamapi all afternoon.”
“I was! We were on a date-I mean, we were hanging out. But we bumped into Kame and yeah-he ended up joining us.”
Ryo looked sternly but then he randomly started bursting out into laughter.
“AHAHA! You mean-you mean, Kamenashi-kun joined you-on your date-with Yamapi? HAHAHA! That’s priceless!”
Ueda’s upper lip twitched.
“I don’t see what’s so damn funny. Kame-why do you have to tell him things like that? He doesn’t deserve to know! He’s just a-a stupid idiot!”
Ueda grabbed Kame’s arm and dragged him away, with the latter of the two looking back at Ryo, confused. Ryo just continued laughing before hustling over to catch up with the two.
Kame was slammed down into a cafeteria chair by Ueda, who was completely angry and ready to do some emotional eating.
“I can’t believe-that-URGH! He makes me so damn mad!” Ueda ranted to himself, pacing back and forth behind Kame’s chair.
Kame looked at Toma and Koki who happened to be sitting at the table where Ueda had put his friend.
“Uh-hi I’m Kamenashi Kazuya-I’m a childhood friend of Tat-chan.”
Koki stared at Kame like he was looking at some foreign being while Toma glared at the new boy.
“Uh, Tat-chan?”
Ueda stopped ranting for a second, realizing what Kame wanted.
“Oh, Tanaka-kun-Ikuta-kun, this is Kamenashi Kazuya. Kame, this is Tanaka Koki and Ikuta Toma. They’re friends of mine from St. Sebastian’s.”
Ueda then proceeded to continue his rant, knocking over chairs and kicking at the ground. He didn’t stop even when he noticed Ryo walking in, hands in his pockets and a huge grin on his face. Instead, Ueda just started ranting even louder, directing all his anger towards his roommate.
“Stupid idiot-talking to people he doesn’t know-poking his nose in other people’s business-arrogant bastard-,” Ueda grumbled to himself.
Ryo ignored him and sat at the table, grabbing a banana from Toma’s tray and beginning to peel it.
“So, Kamenashi-kun-have long have you known this psycho?” Ryo asked, referencing Ueda who was still out of his mind with anger.
“Who, Tat-chan? I’ve known him since we were kindergarteners, back in the day. He was always so cute-people thought he was a girl and always tried to get him to dress up in frilly little dresses. It was adorable when he would cry while they took pictures of him,” Kame threw his head back and laughed, unknowingly catching the attention of a distressed Ueda.
“KAME! WHY WOULD YOU TELL HIM THAT?!”
Ryo didn’t laugh, but it was obvious that he wanted to. He had a closed-mouth smile and his eyes started to water ever so slightly. As he continued to look at Ueda, he found it harder to keep quiet for long.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Ueda’s anger reached a boiling point; he took a cup of orange juice from Koki’s tray and threw it all over Ryo. The act shocked everyone in the room, including Ueda who was unsure why he had done such a thing. Ryo stopped laughing and started to look more pissed off than Ueda had ever seen him before. This was bad; it was worse than any other time he and Ryo had fought and if not for Ueda’s pride, things would be a lot better at this moment.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Ryo muttered, unable to raise his voice due to his overwhelming rage.
Ueda’s heart started beating quicker and he could feel himself shaking. He knew he was making a mistake by causing more trouble for Ryo.
“Why the hell would you do that? Are you an idiot?” Ryo got up from his seat and started slowly advancing towards Ueda, looking at him as if he had vengeance on his mind. Ueda was startled and kept moving back until he finally hit the wall of the cafeteria.
He closed his eyes, sure that Ryo would punch him right in the face.
“Ryo-what’s going on?”
Ueda opened his eyes, shocked to see Yamapi standing behind Ryo, looking very serious. He put his hand on Ryo’s shoulder and waited for his friend to answer his question.
“What?”
“Yamapi-” Toma attempted to stop Yamapi from confronting Ryo.
“I asked, what are you doing-to my boyfriend?” Pi repeated, now crossing his arms and looking at Ryo dead-on.
Ryo pulled away from Ueda, his angry face reduced to an annoyed sneer.
“Your ‘boyfriend’ just dumped a glass of orange juice on me! I’m merely trying to get him to pay for what he did!”
Ueda pressed himself against the wall as best as he could, hoping that Ryo wouldn’t attack him when he looked away.
“Well-maybe you deserved it.”
“What?”
“Yamapi!” Toma whispered, still trying to keep the peace.
“You’re always causing trouble for him. Always yelling at him and calling him names-why? What do you have against him?”
Ryo wouldn’t respond. He looked at Yamapi, so angrily, like he couldn’t believe that his own best friend was defending someone who annoyed Ryo so much.
“Answer me, Ryo! Don’t make me kick your ass-I’ve done it before and I can certainly do it again,” Yamapi smiled sadistically, recalling a time where he had beat up the other boy.
Ryo stood up tall, not quite reaching Yamapi’s height but still managing to look him directly in the eye.
“If that’s a threat, you’re gonna have to try harder than that. And to answer your question, your damn boyfriend is such a fucking idiot, I can’t help but badmouth him. If you were any kind of friend, it wouldn’t matter what I did to him; you should only care about what he’s doing to me.”
“Sometimes, Ryo-there are things more important than your pride.”
Ueda’s mouth dropped, as did Toma’s and everyone else’s. What had just happened? Was Yamapi really placing Ueda above Ryo in his list of priorities? Ueda’s guilt started to escalate and he felt like stepping in but he was too embarrassed and scared to say a word.
“Are you telling me that you’re putting this idiot above 10 years of friendship? Is this what you’re telling me, Yamapi?”
Yamapi’s stern look remained unshaken, but he turned his head slightly as if he couldn’t look Ryo in the eye anymore. Ryo got the hint and knew exactly where Yamapi stood as of that moment. He got ready to leave but stopped to say something to Ueda.
“You just keep making things worse for me. Do me a favor-stay the hell away from me.”
And with that, he walked right out of the room. Toma got up and ran after him while Yamapi rubbed his neck, as if he was exhausted from arguing with Ryo. Unbeknownst to his boyfriend, Ueda’s eyes started to well up and his lips started to quiver. He was on the brink of bawling his eyes out in front of anyone but he was interrupted.
“K-Kamenashi, what are you doing here?!” a voice called out.
Everyone looked up and saw Jin, with Junno not too far behind, staring, open-mouthed at Kame whose eyes bugged out at the sight of Jin.
“Jin-you-what are you doing here?” Kame replied with a shaky voice, showing nervousness that no one expected him to ever showcase.
“Kame-you know him?” Ueda asked without thinking.
END CHAPTER 6
A/N: MWHAHA Another cliff-hanger >D lol sorry, but I enjoy ending with cliffhangers ^^ it makes things more exciting and more worthy of continuing reading. Anyways, I'm finding it hard to keep up with writing since it's almost finals week >< I probably won't update until late next week, so don't expect an update any earlier than that. Sorry D: But thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting as well :) I really appreciate all the comments and I enjoy reading them. Thank you so much ♥