"So, what about it, Niou?"
"Why are you even asking, Marui? My answer will still be no," Niou shot back. He returned to packing his school bag.
"Are you even sure Yagyuu remembers that promise?" Marui shouted after him as he walked out of the classroom. He ignored the redhead and walked ahead.
No, he wasn't sure. For all he knows, Yagyuu might just forget their promise, but that doesn't mean he has the right to break it. He headed towards Yagyuu's class and asked for him. Some girl told him Yagyuu already left. He said thank you and left too.
Maybe Yagyuu had important issues to attend to with his Student Council work, Niou tried to convince himself. But no matter what reasons or excuses he gave himself, he knew that Yagyuu had simply forgotten about him. Yet, he still checked the empty student council room and the deserted tennis club room. Of course there would be no one there, it wasn't a practice day. How stupid of him.
Niou tightened his scarf around his neck and walk home alone. It was late November, so the air was chilling to the bones. Niou had wanted to go home with Yagyuu in hope of brightening up his lonely and cold walk home. But of course, Yagyuu wasn't around for him. He never was.
It was only a week to his birthday, he wondered if Yagyuu remembers.
The next day, Marui came up to him again. "Niou, have you thought over my offer?"
"Stop disturbing me, Marui. Go and make fun of Jackal or something," Niou said.
"As much as I want to, he's not in this class. And anyway, it's a rare sight to see you so depressed. Is it Yagyuu again?" Niou glared at him.
"What makes you think so?"
"You haven't seen him this morning, have you?"
"I have! It's just that… he didn't respond when I greeted him. All he did was go 'hmm…' and walked away…"
"Which is a good time for you to be considering my offer."
"No it isn't, my answer will always be no!"
"Are you sure? What if I told you Yagyuu was sleeping around with someone else?" Niou's eyes widened and glared at Marui's direction, but he was already sitting in his own desk and the teacher had walked in. This is absurd, he's the trickster, he's the one who tricks others and makes them uneasy. Not the other way round. Yet, even after he realized that, he still can't help but wonder if there's any truth behind Marui's words. Is it possible that Yagyuu broke their promise?
Niou shook his head to get the thoughts out of his head. He had to believe in Yagyuu and have faith in him… as hard as Yagyuu is making that to be.
"Yagyuu, wanna go out today?" Niou asked when he cornered Yagyuu at last that Wednesday morning.
"I am busy with student council today, sorry," Yagyuu said. Niou frowned and pouted.
"But you never make time for me. Just this once, please? You can do your work tomorrow, I'll help," Niou said.
"We have practice tomorrow, remember? So I have to finish it today."
"Let me join you then? I'll be quiet. I'll sit in the corner and watch. Please?" Niou asked, putting on his best pathetic face.
Yagyuu let out a sigh and gave in. "But don't disturb me, or I'll kick you out."
"Mmm!" Niou mumbled and nodded his head vigorously. He did a little victory dance in the middle of the hallway. Heads turned their way, but Niou happily skipped after Yagyuu all the way to the student council room. He sat on one corner and watched Yagyuu commenced the meeting and then sort paperwork afterwards after the other members were dismissed.
He was starting to get bored. He glanced out the window, finds nothing of interest, then played with his hair and then his cellphone afterwards. He started tapping his fingers and foot to an invisible rhythm. When he got fed up, he walked over to Yagyuu. They were the only ones in the room for some time now.
"Yagyuu, are you done? Let's go home. I want to stop for ice cream on the way though."
"Be quiet, I have to finish this."
"Yagyuuuuu….." Niou whined and started pulling Yagyuu's sleeves. Yagyuu brushed him off and then continued whatever he was doing. Niou didn't give it a rest, he poked Yagyuu, tried to tickle him and received no response, pulled his collar, and finally pulled the pen off his hand.
"Niou! Give that back or get out!"
"Yagyuu, you have to rest, let's go home. I am bored."
Yagyuu took out another pen from his bag and resumed his scribbling. "Go home yourself if you can't wait."
"But I want to go home with you," Niou said, "We haven't spent much time together lately. As doubles' partners, that's fatal. As friends, you're making me feel lonely. As lovers-"
"Who's your lover!? Just go home. You're disturbing my concentration."
Niou pouted, but didn't move. The door slid open and both of their heads turned.
"Yagyuu-senpai!" Akaya said and walked in, then stopped before seeing Niou. "Niou-senpai, I didn't know you were here."
Before Niou could retort, Yagyuu said, "He's just here to bug me, don't mind him. What is it that you want?"
"Can we go for ice cream today? I want to try the new strawberry-mango flavor!"
"Ah, that's right. I promised," Yagyuu glanced at his watch, "Is it that time already? But I haven't finished these."
"Yagyuu-senpai, you need to rest. I'll help you out sometimes."
"Yagyuu said he needs these done by today! And he won't go for ice cream with you," Niou retorted wondering since when did Yagyuu and Akaya go for ice cream together. Ice cream was their thing as the Platinum Pair. Akaya has no say in this.
"That's okay Niou. I'll just put these back into its folders and go with Akaya. I am sorry, but you can go home alone today?"
"But…" Niou scowled.
Yagyuu put away the folders in his cabinet and walked out of the room with Akaya, leaving Niou behind. Niou stood there thinking about what Marui said. What if I told you Yagyuu was sleeping around with someone else?
Was that someone Akaya?
By Thursday, Niou cornered Yagyuu again before going to practice. They were at the roof and the wind was sort of chilly.
"Yagyuu, I have a question to ask."
"What? Make it quick. I don't want to be late."
"Do you remember our promise?"
"What promise? That I am walking home with you today?"
"Not that one, the other one. The important one."
"Which one? Make yourself clear."
The one where we promised to keep our virginity for each other? Niou couldn't say that. He'll look like a girl. And anyway, it was something Yagyuu should know without him mentioning it.
He shook his head, "Nothing… It's okay. And today, you don't have to walk me home. I just remembered I had something to do."
Yagyuu shrugged and walked off. Niou waited until he couldn't hear Yagyuu's footsteps anymore before walking towards the tennis courts after him.
He made a mental note to talk to Marui after practice.
After practice at the clubroom, Niou signed to Marui to wait for him. Both of them purposefully lagged behind and let the other go first.
"So, what is that you wanted? You seemed out of it during practice," Marui said.
"Marui… about that offer… I am taking it."
"Wait, wha-? I thought you said no. What about Yagyuu?" Marui said, shocked.
"I changed my mind. Do you not want to do it anymore?"
"Of course I do. But why? Did something happen between you and Yagyuu?" Marui quickly said.
"Stop asking so many questions if you want to."
"Right… So… Let's go," Marui said happily. He picked up his bag and wrapped his arms around Niou's and they walked off together.
"Where do you wanna do it?" Niou asked. "My house is off limits. My brother and sister are home. She'll just give us tons of advice on sex and we'll end up listening to her till tomorrow morning."
Marui chuckled. "My place is also off limits. I don't want to taint my brothers."
"I guess we'll have to go to a hotel," Niou sighed. Marui agreed. They went to a cheap looking love hotel and signed in.
"Niou, are you sure? If you regret it, I am not going to take responsibility," Marui said as he lay underneath Niou, tracing his chest muscles.
Niou rolled his eyes and bit Marui on the neck leaving a very visible love bite. "Don't make me change my mind."
"Mm… okay. We can change positions after this," Marui mumbled into Niou's neck.
Niou woke up, feeling tired before realizing where he's at. He turned to his side and watched a naked Marui sleeping quietly next to him. He let out a breath and crawled out of bed, his legs almost giving in under him. He used the wall to support himself and walked into the bathroom. Before stepping into the shower, he stopped in front of the mirror. There are hickeys and love bites everywhere on his body and scratch marks on his back. They were into it more than once last night, and his body hurts so badly.
He got under the shower and wash away all of the dried blood and body juices from his body. It was a Friday, and he and Marui already agreed to skip school today. He just hoped Yagyuu won't question their absence from practice today. He shook his head. He can't think of Yagyuu, not now… Not after he thought of him all night when he was underneath Marui.
Saturday morning, he came in to school and buttoned up his shirt all the way to the collar to hide all the love bites Marui had given him. There was one on his jaw, but he couldn't hide that with anything. Only a small number had disappeared and the scratch marks on his back, although visible, do not sting anymore.
When he stepped into class, Marui saw him and burst out laughing.
"You look like a nerd, all buttoned up like that," Marui said, holding his stomach in laughter. Niou scowled.
"And whose fault was that?" he asked and noticed Marui was openly displaying his hickeys. Two on his neck and one on his collarbone. Niou unbuttoned his shirt, further displaying the visible hickey on his neck and across his collarbone. He was conscious of them.
"Where were you yesterday?" Sanada asked Niou and Marui the moment the two of them showed up in the clubroom. Niou pulled his hand out of Marui's grasp when he saw Yagyuu and the rest of the team looking at them getting yelled at.
"We were absent from school," Marui explained. "Erm… a cold?"
"Yeah, right," Akaya scoffed under his breath to anyone who would listen. It happened to be Yukimura. Yukimura studied both of them and of course, he didn't miss the marks on their necks and lower. It was obvious to the world.
"Both of you run 60 laps around the school after practice," Yukimura said. He thought they deserved harsher punishments, but from what he observed, Niou was out of it since the start of the week and he doesn't want to add to his mental burden. The two of them nodded. Everyone finished changing until it was only Yagyuu, Marui and Niou in the clubroom.
Marui was standing on the other side of the locker, but Yagyuu and Niou's lockers were next to each other. Marui winked at Niou before leaving the room. Niou tried to stay back as long as possible and wait for Yagyuu to leave before changing. He doesn't want people, least of all Yagyuu, to see how Marui had marked him.
"Where were you yesterday?" Yagyuu asked out of the blue and put on his jersey. He leaned on his side against the door of his locker and faced Niou. Niou played with the first button of his shirt.
"Nowhere…"
"You were with Marui weren't you?"
"Maybe."
"Did you give him your virginity? After promising that it's mine?"
He remembered! Niou almost danced in joy, but that just made what he did worse. After all, he only agreed to Marui after he thought Yagyuu was the one breaking their promise. He unbuttoned and then buttoned back the first button on his shirt before unbuttoning it again. He decided to just take off his shirt all the way. There's no more point in hiding it from Yagyuu.
He could feel Yagyuu's eyes roam his body, eyeing every love bite he had and that made him shiver. He tried to put on his jersey, but Yagyuu pushed his back against the locker, holding his wrists by his side.
"Answer me!? Did you guys do it?"
Niou didn't want to face Yagyuu. He averted his gaze. "What about you?" He mumbled.
"What?" Yagyuu asked. He clearly could not hear Niou.
"You slept with that stupid seaweed head and was the first to break the promise!" he said louder, almost yelling.
Yagyuu's hold on his wrist slackens, but still strong enough so Niou can't break free.
"Who told you that?"
"Just something I heard," Niou went back to mumbling, almost regretted his outburst. It makes him look weak, and he doesn't want to look weak in front of Yagyuu.
"Well, I am still chaste," he confessed. Niou's eyes widened and he finally finds the courage to face Yagyuu. Yagyuu wasn't showing any emotion. God knows if he is feeling angry, disappointed, and sad or everything all at once. Niou felt really bad inside. He should've trusted Yagyuu.
Tears sprang to his eyes and he started crying. He doesn't care anymore about looking weak; he was the one at fault here. Yagyuu's grip slackened further and Niou wrapped his arms around Yagyuu, sobbing into his shoulder.
"I am sorry. I am sorry. I was wrong," he said. Yagyuu held him back and pats his head soothingly.
"Shh… That's okay… I was wrong for neglecting you. I never realized that I did until yesterday when you disappeared with Marui."
"Yagyuu… I am so sorry I broke our promise."
"Truth be told, I was planning that for your birthday tomorrow," Yagyuu said.
"What?" Niou asked and lifted his face to look at Yagyuu again.
"Well, you're turning 15 at last, and I thought 15 is old enough for us to… do it. You know, make love."
"Yagyuu…"
"I didn't say that to make you feel worse," Yagyuu said when he saw Niou starting to bawl again.
"But I…"
"I said that's okay. I'll be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. After all, I want everything about you to be mine, but it's something I can live with."
"I am sorry," he said for the final time and leaned on his chest again. "I love you."
"I love you too," Yagyuu whispered back in his ears. And he believed it.
Niou ran down the stairs and walked out of his house to meet Yagyuu.
"Happy birthday," Yagyuu said and kissed him on the lips.
"Mmm… Thank you," Niou replied. He held onto Yagyuu's hand tightly, intertwining their fingers and letting Yagyuu pull him along.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see," Yagyuu said. Yagyuu brought him to a botanical garden, and then they visited the seaside despite it being winter before bringing him to dinner in a nice restaurant where they serve good food. Yagyuu brought him back to his house afterwards.
"Where are your parents and sister?" Niou asked when he noticed the house empty after taking off his jacket and scarf.
"Winter holidays," Yagyuu replied briefly and before lifting Niou off his feet and carrying him to his room. He placed Niou on his bed and crawled above him.
"Yagyuu…"
"I know, Masaharu. Don't worry, I know what to do," he said and kissed him. Niou nodded and relaxed. "I love you, Masaharu."
"I love you too, Hiroshi," Niou said and closed his eyes, feeling every bit of his tingle to his boyfriend's touches. "I love you."
