Tokyo Boys

TOKYO BOYS
Chapter 35


It was well after midnight when Shouji finally made his way back to the apartment. The lights and the TV were on, and Daisuke was sleeping on the sofa, hugging a cushion. Shouji walked over to him and smiled. In his sleep, the boy almost looked innocent.

He leaned down, brushing his lips against the boy’s face. “Hey… you’ll get a stiff neck if you sleep in that position…” he whispered and gave the boy a gentle shake.

Daisuke opened his eyes slowly. His hand automatically reached up to stifle a yawn. He sat up and suddenly jolted completely awake. “How did it go, sensei?”

“Ahh, well…” Shouji sighed. How was he going to evade the subject? He had no time to come up with a good excuse for Yuuto’s sudden “illness”.

“He needs a few more days to rest, but I think…” Shouji rubbed the back of his neck. He knew Yuuto just made the first step towards recovery but he still had a long road ahead of him. Getting over such trauma wasn’t going to be easy.

“So, what? He’s really sick?” Daisuke asked. “What does he have?”

“Uh, it’s a form of…” Shouji started to mumble. “Well… it’s late now and you have school in the morning.”

“Why are you avoiding the subject?” Daisuke grumbled. “Is it so serious?”

“It’s… um, inguinal hernia,” Shouji blurted.

“Huh? What the hell is that?” Daisuke scrunched his face.

“Just do a search on the internet tomorrow…” Shouji nudged the boy towards the bedroom. “Now it’s well past your bed time.”

~*~

The sun painted the room with golden strips. Yuuto opened a lazy eye when one such golden strip fell on his face. His body wasn’t aching anymore. It seemed the painkiller the doctor gave him did wonders. Yuuto also rubbed some calming lotion on his bruised organs and it started to feel better as well.

The teen rested a hand on his forehead and stared at the ceiling. The small cracks in the paint reminded him the ceiling in that place and all of a sudden a suffocating, terrorizing feeling gripped his gut with iron clutches. Suffering only minor injuries, his body was going to heal, but would his mind ever find solace?

Was there any remedy to cure a scarred soul? Cracked ceiling and an old wallpaper peeling off, a pile of dirty clothes thrown on the floor. It was enough to bring back the images and the sensations he was trying to repress. Suddenly, moving away didn’t seem like such a horrifying thought anymore.

~*~

Daisuke had a difficult time concentrating at class. He kept looking at Yuuto’s empty desk, wondering what mysterious illness held Yuu-chan from attending school when the final exams were just around the corner.

Moriyama-sensei continued to evade the subject all morning. Daisuke wasn’t too clever, but even he could tell the teacher was hiding something from him, thinking he could be let off with some medical condition he didn’t even remember how to say, let alone search for it online. He clicked his pen nervously, wishing the day would end already.

At the end of the day, Daisuke quickly packed his textbooks. Not wishing to be held back by anyone, he left without another word to anyone, not even Moriyama-sensei.

After ringing the doorbell a few times, he just opened the door with his key and entered the house. He didn’t care if whatever Yuuto had was contagious, he wasn’t getting away from him!

Just as he entered the house, Yuuto stepped out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist and holding another towel he was drying his hair with.

Daisuke felt odd watching him like that. Even though Yuuto wasn’t an athlete, his small body was still nicely developed. He was shivering and his nipples were perked because of the cold and Daisuke suddenly felt an insane desire to touch them. Was Yuu-chan always that attractive? The answer was starting to awaken in his pants.

“Daisuke…” Yuuto stopped drying his hair and let the towel fall to his shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

Daisuke noticed the boy’s face sported a big blue and purple bruise. It seemed to be a few days old, but it made him wonder what Yuu-chan had run himself into. The boy had a natural gift to run into doors, doorknobs, tables and chairs and even glass windows and walls. He noticed Yuuto was still watching him, waiting for a response.

“Ah, I came to see how you’re doing…” Daisuke mumbled, wondering when the two of them switched roles. He sounded so hesitant.

“I need to get dressed…” Yuuto looked away, holding on to his loincloth. “It’s cold…”

Daisuke nodded. “I’ll wait.”

Yuuto nodded shyly and disappeared up the stairs. Daisuke took the time to reach his hand between his legs. His growing erection bothered him and it was such a bad timing. What was wrong with him? He hasn’t slept with sensei for two or three days and his raging hormones already seemed out of control.

“Listen… Daisuke…” Yuuto returned, resting his shoulder against the wall in the middle of the narrow stairs.

Daisuke took a step in and peeked at him. Yuuto was wearing casual clothes, sweatpants and a shirt with a cute print. He looked the same as he always did, and yet he seemed different.

“I’m sorry, the last time we talked, I yelled at you and said some mean things…”

“Don’t worry about it… I should be the one to apologize.” Daisuke looked away before returning his eyes to the boy. “Are you feeling better?” he asked carefully. “You have no idea how worried you’ve made me… How did you get that bruise?” He walked towards Yuuto, but the boy backed away, making Daisuke stop in his tracks.

“Yuu-chan?” he asked, confused. It almost felt like Yuuto was scared of him.

“Just stay there…” Yuuto asked and rested against the wall. “Don’t come any closer…”

“Why? I don’t understand…”

Yuuto smiled inwardly at his friend’s confused voice. For the moment it looked like Moriyama-sensei had kept his promise.

“I should hate you…” he said quietly. “You always do what you want… you always get what you want… you’re not scared of anything… even when your family disowned you… it wasn’t the end of the world for you… I wish I could be like you…” He rested his swollen cheekbone against the cool wall. “It’s not fair… I should really, really hate you…”

“Yuu-chan…” Daisuke clutched his hands into fists. He’s never felt so awkward in front of Yuuto before. He’s never felt so helpless like this before Yuuto, or anyone.

“I must be really crazy…” Yuuto chuckled. “Ne, Daisuke… do you love Moriyama-sensei?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Just answer the question… do you?” Yuuto closed his eyes, still resting his face against the wall.

“You’re acting weird Yuu-chan…” Daisuke furrowed his brow. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Some of this, some of that…” the younger boy replied apathetically.

Daisuke felt he had enough of the psychological teasing and rushed up the stairs, grabbing Yuuto and tearing him from the wall. The boy flinched and tried to release himself from Daisuke’s hold.

“Yuu-chan, open your eyes… look at me!” Daisuke raised his voice in anger. “Why are you acting this way?”

Yuuto ignored him and Daisuke dug his fingers deeper into the boy’s skin, shaking him. “Yuu-chan!”

“Stop calling me that!” Yuuto snapped and tried to push Daisuke away without much success. “I’m not your little brother and I’m not in preschool either! I’m not a child!”

“You’re acting like one!” Daisuke yelled back at him.

They both glared at each other, eyes shining with anger.

“You’re hurting me…” Yuuto said quietly, looking down at Daisuke’s hands. The taller boy released his grip.

Daisuke thought he was losing his mind with rage. Yuuto was usually agreeable and easy to handle. Daisuke wasn’t a violent person and his patience was almost boundless. It was something that became a necessity when being surrounded by so many people, all seeking his company. But Yuuto was seriously trying the limits of his patience.

“Why should I care…” Daisuke spat in anger. “I’m going home.”

He strode down and was about to leave when suddenly Yuuto called out.

“I love you…”

Daisuke stopped and turned around. “Huh?”

Yuuto stood on the top of the stairs, his arms wrapped around his body, where Daisuke’s hands had been. He shivered.

“I should hate you… but I love you… stupid Daisuke…”

Daisuke was still confused, especially at the wording choice Yuuto made, which left no place to doubt what he meant. He didn’t know how to react to the sudden, dramatic love confession from his best friend.

~*~

“So you just left?” Shouji raised his eyes from his papers. He was sitting behind the desk in his workroom, trying to get his work done while listening to Daisuke’s retelling of the situation. “Without saying anything?”

“I freaked out!!” Daisuke, who was crouching next to the teacher’s chair, straightened up and shoved his hands in his pockets. “If it was anyone else, I’d downright reject them but this is Yuu-chan we’re talking about!”

“I’m surprised he’s already decided to tell you… I thought he was going to keep it for a while longer, if not forever…” Shouji tapped his pen on his lips.

“You knew about this?” Daisuke eyed him.

“It was pretty obvious…” Shouji shrugged. “But when I asked him last night he was caught in surprise… maybe I opened his eyes, I don’t know…”

Daisuke ran a hand through his hair. He felt so unusually fidgety. “Sensei… what am I supposed to do?”

“You don’t love him?”

“Not in that way…” Daisuke hurried to say. He didn’t want to tell his teacher that he’s been feeling attracted to Yuuto recently. It was probably only his raging teenage hormones. He wasn’t going to deny he enjoyed having sex. But he could never allow himself to touch Yuu-chan in that way.

“Are you sure?” Shouji moved his glasses up his nose bridge with a light nudge. “Frankly, the bond you have seems unnatural, you two are so different… and you’ve also been kind of obsessed with him lately…”

“That’s just because he’s been acting weird… damn, this all thing is weird. I wish he hadn’t said anything…” Daisuke kicked the desk in frustration.

“I think he probably needed to get it off his chest…” Shouji shrugged, without revealing he encouraged Yuuto to confront Daisuke with his feelings. He sighed, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get at least some of my work done…”

Daisuke nodded and left the room. He threw a glance to make sure the teacher wasn’t following him and sneaked outside to the cold air of the night to smoke.

At that moment he wished he was with Tachibana. Maybe Tachi could’ve given him some practical advice. The truth was he was scared of losing his best friend.

If he hurt Yuuto by rejecting him and made the boy keep a distance, or if he agreed to date Yuuto and then hurt him and distanced him… honestly, both options seemed pretty bad.

Shouji was surprised to see Daisuke in bed so early on a Friday night. “I thought we could watch a movie into the night…” He smiled and moved himself on top of the teen. “But if you’re so tired, we’ll just go to sleep…” He fluttered his lips over the boy’s face.

It was even more surprising that the boy didn’t respond to his light kisses.

“Well, good night.”

“Sorry, sensei… I’m really not in the mood…” Daisuke turned on his side.

Shouji stopped himself from teasing the boy. It was almost amusing to watch the teen drama unfolding, and on the same time, it paved a path for him to get out of the illicit relationship.

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