[abramovic]
BEST FRIENDS
by myst_fujiwara
'Let's go out Saturday, Gakuto.'
'We always do, don't we?'
'No, I mean, somewhere different. We are going to have finals exams in a few weeks, after all. I thought it would be nice to relax, even if the exams are important. Will your parents allow it?'
'Yuushi... are you asking me on a date?' Gakuto asked suspiciously. 'Because you're starting to sound like something out of a bad fanfic.'
'Saa, you can think of it that way if you want to, Gakuto. So - will you?'
'...Alright, then.'
*
Oshitari showed up to collect him dressed in black slacks (sharply creased) and a navy shirt (crisp, ironed linen). Gakuto's sister giggled as she shoved her younger brother out the door, dressed in his best pair of jeans - no rips anywhere, artistically faded, the denim clinging to every inch of skin - and a black shirt with a dragon emblazoned across it in white. Oshitari smiled at Gakuto's sister and promised to bring her brother back before midnight. She giggled harder and told them to have fun, and closed the door on their faces.
Gakuto wondered if he should go change, but Yuushi already had one arm around his waist, Yuushi's palm pressed to the small of his back, and was leading him away from the house.
*
Oshitari had called a cab, and as he gave directions to the driver, Gakuto couldn't help but wonder about why the hell Yuushi wanted to do this. True, it was their last year of high school, true, finals were coming up in a few weeks, and true, some time off to relax sounded nothing short of positively wonderful. But coming from Yuushi, it sounded a hell of a lot like an excuse for something else, because it wasn't as if they weren't going to see each other after high school, and it certainly wasn't as if the tensai Oshitari Yuushi would stress about something as trivial as university-determining finals. (Though Gakuto had been mugging like hell these last few weeks, trying desperately to ensure that he got a decent grade.)
'Relax, Gakuto,' and he jumped a little, yelping as Oshitari slid closer to him. 'You don't have to be so nervous, you know.'
'I am not nervous.' Gakuto deadpanned.
He wasn't. After all, there was no reason to be nervous. This was Yuushi; he'd been best friends with Yuushi ever since they'd played tennis together in junior high, as Hyoutei's leading doubles team. The fact that they'd both dropped tennis after entering high school hadn't managed to put a dent in that solid partnership. Yuushi joined debate, and Gakuto went to every competition of his, to cheer for Yuushi and listen to him go over the points he wanted to make beforehand and rubbish the other team; Gakuto joined gym and besides attending his competitions, occasionally Yuushi dropped by just to watch him practice, and it always made Gakuto feel good to know that someone believed in him.
'Right, Gakuto. You aren't.'
Oshitari sounded suspiciously like he didn't believe Gakuto, but Gakuto would let it slide for now. 'Where are we going, anyway?'
'There's a little Chinese restaurant in Ginza. I figured you might like it.'
Another thing to appreciate about Yuushi, another thing to be glad for, that someone knew him well enough to know what he liked to eat, what he liked to do, someone who knew who he was. 'Okay.'
The cab driver gave them a weird look in the rearview mirror when Yuushi slid an arm around Gakuto's shoulders, but Gakuto ignored him and settled back into the easy physicality of familiarity.
*
Gakuto watched with familiar amusement as the waitress hovered over Oshitari, who was smilingly ordering various dishes from the menu in his hands. How many times had he seen this scene? Oshitari had always had a way with women, they loved the way he looked and the way he spoke, the way he held himself and tilted his head at you just so, just the perfect angle, so that even when he was doing something as mundane as ordering dim sum for starters, he made you feel like the center of his universe.
Gakuto knew what it was like. After all, he was, more than anyone (even taking into account Yuushi's various girlfriends and hangers-on), the focus of that regard.
She gave Gakuto an affronted look when he asked for Coke, but was soothed into obeying when Oshitari requested a pot of chrysanthemum tea. Gakuto hardly waited till the waitress was out of hearing before batting his eyelashes at Yuushi exaggeratedly and murmuring in a high-pitched, breathy voice, 'Ah, and will there be anything else, sir? Would you like me to kiss your feet as well, sir? Why don't you just do me right now, sir -'
'You're so vulgar, Gakuto,' Oshitari chided, but there was a genuine wicked humor in his eyes.
'And you, Oshitari Yuushi, are so cruel. How many hearts have you broken already?' Gakuto shot back, grinning. 'And what happened to those two girls you were dating at the same time?'
'They found out.'
'I told you that it wasn't going to work out.'
'Actually,' Oshitari said thoughtfully, 'They told me they didn't mind it anyway. But in the end I broke up with the both of them.'
'Yuushi, your women are a bunch of sluts,' Gakuto said with derision.
'Don't hate me for being attractive.'
'Attractive my arse. Atobe's fanclub is bigger than yours.'
'But Atobe maintains his fanbase through distant charisma. Especially since he and Jirou went public. I, on the other hand, prefer a more... personal touch.'
Gakuto snorted. 'In other words, you slept your way through one half and promised to sleep with the other half.'
'Ah, Gakuto, you wound me. I only slept with maybe a quarter.'
'Bad enough!'
'You don't believe me, do you, Gakuto?'
'Nope, I don't.'
And he didn't. He knew Yuushi, knew that even if women just threw themselves at Yuushi's feet, he didn't sleep with them. He was polite. He was a gentleman. Women adored it.
And Yuushi had never found someone he cared about enough to be serious about.
*
Gakuto suppressed the urge to snarl in frustration as he struggled with a prawn. It wasn't that he didn't like eating them, he loved them, in fact, but hell, they were so much trouble to behead and shell, and worse, the restaurant was too classy for him to do it with teeth and fingers, so he was stuck with using a fork and spoon, and he'd been trying to de-shell this particular one for what seemed like forever.
'Gakuto.' And as he looked up, Oshitari deftly deposited a freshly shelled prawn on his plate before taking the unshelled one from him. 'Eat. It'll get cold.'
Gakuto dipped the prawn in the chili and watched as Oshitari shelled it with a deft, simple grace and deposited the shell on the side of his plate before placing the second prawn on Gakuto's plate.
Gakuto ate the second prawn too, but refused the third. Yuushi should eat it, after all, he shelled it, it was only fair. Oshitari said he didn't like prawns. Gakuto called him a liar, and Oshitari laughed, and they ended up splitting the prawns evenly between them. Yuushi smiled at him and told him, 'My mother is no good at prawn-shelling too. She always said she married otou-san because he was brilliant at it and always helped her.' Gakuto laughed, but Yuushi just kept smiling at him, and finally, Gakuto fell silent and offered a tentative but sincere smile as well.
*
Gakuto was full to bursting, but when Oshitari offered to share an almond jelly with him, there was no way he could refuse. It was a great dessert, anyway, the jelly was just the right texture and not too sweet, and Gakuto ate his way through half, his spoon brushing Oshitari's as they made their way through the dish, and Oshitari let Gakuto have the cherries that sat at the side of the plate, and called for the bill.
When Gakuto offered to pay his half of dinner, though, Oshitari merely smiled and paid and pocketed the bill without letting Gakuto see how much it cost.
'Yuushi! How much was it, come on, tell me!'
'Gakuto, do you think I'd let my date pay for dinner?'
'You can't be serious, Yuushi! That was a joke, you know?'
'Ah, but I was perfectly serious,' Oshitari smirked at him. 'Don't you think you're much more worthy of dinner and a night out than the girls I usually go out with, Gakuto?'
'That's not the point!'
'It is the point. If I can pay for their dinner, when they're not even particularly close to me, why can't I pay for your dinner, especially when you so graciously agreed to go on a date with me?'
Damn Oshitari, he was enjoying the weird glances their conversation was attracting.
'Why can't I pay for dinner, Gakuto? I want to,' and Oshitari was serious, that was Yuushi's serious face, Gakuto could tell, and arguing with him (damn debater) when he was in this sort of mood was akin to banging one's head against a steel wall (or failing that, against Kabaji).
'Oh, alright,' Gakuto gave in, sighing and linking his arm through Oshitari's. 'You're hopeless, Yuushi.'
'No, just rich.'
'Hopeless too.'
'Whatever you say, Gakuto.'
'Damn right.'
'So, shall we do this next Saturday as well? Or would you prefer to see a movie?'
'...you really need to stop reading yaoi fanfic, Yuushi.'
'Ah, but then where would I get my inspiration from?'
'You don't need it. You're horrible already.'
'So does that mean that you'll go out with me next Saturday too?'
'...alright.'
'It's a date, then, Gakuto.'
'It is not a date, Yuushi!'
'Whatever you say, Gakuto, whatever you say.'
by myst_fujiwara
'Let's go out Saturday, Gakuto.'
'We always do, don't we?'
'No, I mean, somewhere different. We are going to have finals exams in a few weeks, after all. I thought it would be nice to relax, even if the exams are important. Will your parents allow it?'
'Yuushi... are you asking me on a date?' Gakuto asked suspiciously. 'Because you're starting to sound like something out of a bad fanfic.'
'Saa, you can think of it that way if you want to, Gakuto. So - will you?'
'...Alright, then.'
*
Oshitari showed up to collect him dressed in black slacks (sharply creased) and a navy shirt (crisp, ironed linen). Gakuto's sister giggled as she shoved her younger brother out the door, dressed in his best pair of jeans - no rips anywhere, artistically faded, the denim clinging to every inch of skin - and a black shirt with a dragon emblazoned across it in white. Oshitari smiled at Gakuto's sister and promised to bring her brother back before midnight. She giggled harder and told them to have fun, and closed the door on their faces.
Gakuto wondered if he should go change, but Yuushi already had one arm around his waist, Yuushi's palm pressed to the small of his back, and was leading him away from the house.
*
Oshitari had called a cab, and as he gave directions to the driver, Gakuto couldn't help but wonder about why the hell Yuushi wanted to do this. True, it was their last year of high school, true, finals were coming up in a few weeks, and true, some time off to relax sounded nothing short of positively wonderful. But coming from Yuushi, it sounded a hell of a lot like an excuse for something else, because it wasn't as if they weren't going to see each other after high school, and it certainly wasn't as if the tensai Oshitari Yuushi would stress about something as trivial as university-determining finals. (Though Gakuto had been mugging like hell these last few weeks, trying desperately to ensure that he got a decent grade.)
'Relax, Gakuto,' and he jumped a little, yelping as Oshitari slid closer to him. 'You don't have to be so nervous, you know.'
'I am not nervous.' Gakuto deadpanned.
He wasn't. After all, there was no reason to be nervous. This was Yuushi; he'd been best friends with Yuushi ever since they'd played tennis together in junior high, as Hyoutei's leading doubles team. The fact that they'd both dropped tennis after entering high school hadn't managed to put a dent in that solid partnership. Yuushi joined debate, and Gakuto went to every competition of his, to cheer for Yuushi and listen to him go over the points he wanted to make beforehand and rubbish the other team; Gakuto joined gym and besides attending his competitions, occasionally Yuushi dropped by just to watch him practice, and it always made Gakuto feel good to know that someone believed in him.
'Right, Gakuto. You aren't.'
Oshitari sounded suspiciously like he didn't believe Gakuto, but Gakuto would let it slide for now. 'Where are we going, anyway?'
'There's a little Chinese restaurant in Ginza. I figured you might like it.'
Another thing to appreciate about Yuushi, another thing to be glad for, that someone knew him well enough to know what he liked to eat, what he liked to do, someone who knew who he was. 'Okay.'
The cab driver gave them a weird look in the rearview mirror when Yuushi slid an arm around Gakuto's shoulders, but Gakuto ignored him and settled back into the easy physicality of familiarity.
*
Gakuto watched with familiar amusement as the waitress hovered over Oshitari, who was smilingly ordering various dishes from the menu in his hands. How many times had he seen this scene? Oshitari had always had a way with women, they loved the way he looked and the way he spoke, the way he held himself and tilted his head at you just so, just the perfect angle, so that even when he was doing something as mundane as ordering dim sum for starters, he made you feel like the center of his universe.
Gakuto knew what it was like. After all, he was, more than anyone (even taking into account Yuushi's various girlfriends and hangers-on), the focus of that regard.
She gave Gakuto an affronted look when he asked for Coke, but was soothed into obeying when Oshitari requested a pot of chrysanthemum tea. Gakuto hardly waited till the waitress was out of hearing before batting his eyelashes at Yuushi exaggeratedly and murmuring in a high-pitched, breathy voice, 'Ah, and will there be anything else, sir? Would you like me to kiss your feet as well, sir? Why don't you just do me right now, sir -'
'You're so vulgar, Gakuto,' Oshitari chided, but there was a genuine wicked humor in his eyes.
'And you, Oshitari Yuushi, are so cruel. How many hearts have you broken already?' Gakuto shot back, grinning. 'And what happened to those two girls you were dating at the same time?'
'They found out.'
'I told you that it wasn't going to work out.'
'Actually,' Oshitari said thoughtfully, 'They told me they didn't mind it anyway. But in the end I broke up with the both of them.'
'Yuushi, your women are a bunch of sluts,' Gakuto said with derision.
'Don't hate me for being attractive.'
'Attractive my arse. Atobe's fanclub is bigger than yours.'
'But Atobe maintains his fanbase through distant charisma. Especially since he and Jirou went public. I, on the other hand, prefer a more... personal touch.'
Gakuto snorted. 'In other words, you slept your way through one half and promised to sleep with the other half.'
'Ah, Gakuto, you wound me. I only slept with maybe a quarter.'
'Bad enough!'
'You don't believe me, do you, Gakuto?'
'Nope, I don't.'
And he didn't. He knew Yuushi, knew that even if women just threw themselves at Yuushi's feet, he didn't sleep with them. He was polite. He was a gentleman. Women adored it.
And Yuushi had never found someone he cared about enough to be serious about.
*
Gakuto suppressed the urge to snarl in frustration as he struggled with a prawn. It wasn't that he didn't like eating them, he loved them, in fact, but hell, they were so much trouble to behead and shell, and worse, the restaurant was too classy for him to do it with teeth and fingers, so he was stuck with using a fork and spoon, and he'd been trying to de-shell this particular one for what seemed like forever.
'Gakuto.' And as he looked up, Oshitari deftly deposited a freshly shelled prawn on his plate before taking the unshelled one from him. 'Eat. It'll get cold.'
Gakuto dipped the prawn in the chili and watched as Oshitari shelled it with a deft, simple grace and deposited the shell on the side of his plate before placing the second prawn on Gakuto's plate.
Gakuto ate the second prawn too, but refused the third. Yuushi should eat it, after all, he shelled it, it was only fair. Oshitari said he didn't like prawns. Gakuto called him a liar, and Oshitari laughed, and they ended up splitting the prawns evenly between them. Yuushi smiled at him and told him, 'My mother is no good at prawn-shelling too. She always said she married otou-san because he was brilliant at it and always helped her.' Gakuto laughed, but Yuushi just kept smiling at him, and finally, Gakuto fell silent and offered a tentative but sincere smile as well.
*
Gakuto was full to bursting, but when Oshitari offered to share an almond jelly with him, there was no way he could refuse. It was a great dessert, anyway, the jelly was just the right texture and not too sweet, and Gakuto ate his way through half, his spoon brushing Oshitari's as they made their way through the dish, and Oshitari let Gakuto have the cherries that sat at the side of the plate, and called for the bill.
When Gakuto offered to pay his half of dinner, though, Oshitari merely smiled and paid and pocketed the bill without letting Gakuto see how much it cost.
'Yuushi! How much was it, come on, tell me!'
'Gakuto, do you think I'd let my date pay for dinner?'
'You can't be serious, Yuushi! That was a joke, you know?'
'Ah, but I was perfectly serious,' Oshitari smirked at him. 'Don't you think you're much more worthy of dinner and a night out than the girls I usually go out with, Gakuto?'
'That's not the point!'
'It is the point. If I can pay for their dinner, when they're not even particularly close to me, why can't I pay for your dinner, especially when you so graciously agreed to go on a date with me?'
Damn Oshitari, he was enjoying the weird glances their conversation was attracting.
'Why can't I pay for dinner, Gakuto? I want to,' and Oshitari was serious, that was Yuushi's serious face, Gakuto could tell, and arguing with him (damn debater) when he was in this sort of mood was akin to banging one's head against a steel wall (or failing that, against Kabaji).
'Oh, alright,' Gakuto gave in, sighing and linking his arm through Oshitari's. 'You're hopeless, Yuushi.'
'No, just rich.'
'Hopeless too.'
'Whatever you say, Gakuto.'
'Damn right.'
'So, shall we do this next Saturday as well? Or would you prefer to see a movie?'
'...you really need to stop reading yaoi fanfic, Yuushi.'
'Ah, but then where would I get my inspiration from?'
'You don't need it. You're horrible already.'
'So does that mean that you'll go out with me next Saturday too?'
'...alright.'
'It's a date, then, Gakuto.'
'It is not a date, Yuushi!'
'Whatever you say, Gakuto, whatever you say.'