And Fate Takes Its Toll
If Massu thought he felt excluded and ignored by Yamapi and Yuya the previous day, it was nothing compared to their second day in Yamapi's house. Shige fell into the loop with ease when they staggered down for breakfast, awoken by the sounds of shouts and the smell of smoke.
“How could you let an egg burn, moron?” Yamapi shouted at Yuya, while fidgeting with the fire extinguisher.
“I just went to get the morning paper. How could I have known that the egg wouldn’t wait for me and burn itself down?” Yuya shouted back, explaining himself..
Shige-still dressed in his bed clothes-snorted.
"This is why I don't let you cook. I should have known not to trust you with breakfast. You don’t leave the kitchen while frying something, especially not eggs I can’t wait to tell Ryo about this. . . . 'Yeah, Yuya tried to help make breakfast, but even fried eggs is too much for him.' He's going to love that."
"He’s a dick. I don't really care what he thinks."
Massu and Shige sputtered at the smoke that filled the air. Yamapi yanked open the door to the patio to allow the kitchen some airing out.
"I take it we aren't having breakfast this morning," said Shige.
Yamapi's head jerked around, apparently not having noticed their arrival, and the amusing, pleasant person Massu just witnessed vanished. The arrogant, cocky smirk was back in place. "When did you get down here?"
"Somewhere around burning eggs and getting the newspaper," Shige explained.
Yuya's eyes widened for a split second. Yamapi rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, Yuya isn't the most talented guy in the kitchen so breakfast here is out, but we can go to McDonald's or something."
Yuya frowned and glared at Yamapi. "Or, we could go over to Aida’s. You were talking about getting together with her today, anyway."
Yamapi met Yuya's eyes. They said nothing, but Massu knew these kinds of looks. These were the kinds that held entire conversations without words. The kind of looks between bestfriends, the kind where words aren’t necessary, the way it is for him and Shige. . . but it can also be the kind of look that lovers share, the way he and Yuya shared in the past. . . . and Yuya and Yamapi are lovers, right? The jealousy that ebbed the previous day returned with a vengeance.
"We get to meet Aida?" said Shige.
Yamapi nodded. "Yeah, why? You seem excited."
"Well everyone talked about her at school so much that . . ." Shige blushed. "I don't know. It's kind of like meeting a celebrity."
Yamapi smiled; Yuya laughed.
"Oh, she’s going to love that. I want to be the one to tell her."
"Whatever you like, Yuya," said Yamapi. He passed Yuya to grab the phone off the counter, and as he did, he squeezed Yuya's side. "I'll just give her a call since we're all in agreement, then."
"I didn't agree," said Massu. Shige elbowed him in the ribs. Yamapi exchanged glances with Yuya. "Not that I'm opposed or anything. I just . . . I didn't agree, and you said that we all did."
"Massu . . ." said Shige.
"No, it's okay," said Yamapi. "I didn't mean to exclude you. Did you have another idea?"
"No. I just . . . I don't care. Whatever."
Yamapi smirked. He eyed Massu. Massu didn't hesitate to return the hint of a glare.
"I want you to know that you stole my line." Yamapi grilled in.
Yuya snorted. Massu's glared darkened as it turned to Yuya.
"I'm sorry," said Yuya. "It just . . . yeah. Yamapi's notorious around here for answering questions with 'Whatever.'"
'I see," said Massu.
"Am I calling Aida?" said Yamapi.
"Yeah," said Yuya. "May as well call Ryo and the siblings too, we'll meet over there."
"Is that okay with you, Massu?" Yamapi asked
Massu's eyes darkened as he turned his attention to Yamapi. Shige offered Yamapi a weak smile. Yuya gave a small cough.
"Yeah," said Massu. "Sure."
_____________________
Kris and Aida. . . two girls of whom Massu have heard a lot about from Yuya in their happy days. Beside Yamapi, they were the closest friends Yuya had-close enough that he considered them family. If he and Yuya were still together, his heart would be racing at the anxiety upon meeting them both, but he and Yuya weren't together anymore. It was probably a good thing. His coexistence with Yamapi was turning out to be nothing short of a disaster, and Yuya told him repeatedly that he was sure they'd get along.
Aida was nothing like he expected. From the way Yuya described her, she sounded very sweet if not a bit plain and meek, but she was actually very pretty. She was soft-spoken, but she didn't hesitate to scold both Yamapi and Yuya before they made it into the kitchen. Massu made a note not to get on her bad side, because the look she gave Yuya for avoiding her the past month was only slightly short of terrifying.
"And you haven't been much better," she said, and poked Yamapi in the chest.
"I've called," said Yamapi. His arrogance dropped as he threw his hands into the air. "I'm not avoiding you; I've been dealing with him."
Shige frowned as his eyes narrowed; Massu stared at his feet.
"Well we all know how Yuya is," said another voice as another man walked into the room.
Keiichiro Koyama. The man they had bumped into the previous day during coffee, along with his boyfriend Ryo, Shige’s roommate, and Kris brother, one of the two girls he had heard so much about. Another one of Yuya’s close friends and apparently, one of Shige’s from college. He'd heard a lot about Kei as well, as everyone seemed to fondly call him, also both from Yuya and Shige. The feeling of an outsider became even more apparent when Kei squealed upon seeing Shige and wrapped him into a hug. He released him, gave a soft punch to his arm, and stepped back.
"How have you been? We didn’t have much time to talk yesterday."
Shige regained his balance and smiled. "Great. You?"
"Same as always, nothing much has changed."
"So, I take it you and Ryo are still together?” Shige asked.
"Yeah." Kei replied with a giggle.
"It takes a special kind of person to deal with Ryo," said Shige. "I'm impressed."
"There's nothing impressive about it," said Yuya. "Kei is either very insane or very stupid."
"Oh, you can just shut your mouth. Now what is this I hear about you and Yamapi?" Yuya and Yamapi exchanged glances as Aida’s voice came booming from behind. "What? I was on the phone with Kris last night and she told me no one's seen or heard from you because you've been hiding in Yamapi's bed. At least that's what I heard and I would assume it’s true because neither one of you has returned any of my phone calls."
"I haven't been home in two weeks."
Aida wriggled her eyebrows. "Really? And what does your mother think about this?"
Yuya shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't asked."
"It's not my fault," said Yamapi, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "I can't get rid of him. I keep trying to get him to get out of bed or out of the house, but he refuses to move. I'm glad Shige came to visit, otherwise, Yuya wouldn’t have gotten out of bed and bothered with clean clothes."
"Oi, shut up," said Yuya.
"What? You were starting to smell really bad." Yamapi snorted
"Fuck off, Pi."
“Be happy to, squirt, except, we have company” Yamapi spread his hands around.
"Well, I had a feeling you couldn't be having sex the whole time," said Kei. "You're both entirely too lazy for that. But what's with this rumour? Any truth to it?"
Yamapi smirked. "What do you think?"
"I always had a feeling you'd end up together," said Aida. "There was always something between you."
"Yeah," said Kei. "We were just waiting for you to realize it. I was getting sick of all the 'it's just sex, we’re best friends with benefits, that’s all' excuses. So since you're together now and all, I guess that means you and your boyfriend broke up? You actually broke up with him?" Kei asked.
"Oh yeah," said Aida. "What happened with that? We never got to talk about it when you got back because. Like I said, neither one of you could be bothered to answer even one tiny phone call."
Massu's head perked up. Shige widened his eyes. They looked up at Aida and Kei, and then down to Yuya.
"Your boyfriend?" said Shige.
"Yeah," said Kei. "Some guy he was seeing at school, right? The one you were sooooo in love with?" Kei poked Yuya in the chest.
Shige raised his eyebrows, the hint of a smile on his lips. Yuya pressed his mouth into a thin line. He nodded. "Yeah. Well, We broke up."
"More like Yuya got his sorry ass dumped," said Yamapi.
"How?" said Aida. "Everything was going great last I heard."
"Yeah," said Kei. "He broke up with you? From the way you went on about your relationship, I thought he was crazy about you?"
"And then it drove him crazy," said Yamapi. "Big difference."
Yuya swallowed. He gave Kei an irritated sort of look. "Yeah, well, I thought so, too. Apparently, I was wrong."
"He was crazy over his best friend instead," said Yamapi.
"So he broke up with you?" said Kei, grilling in.
"Yeah." Yuya shrugged.
"What a moron." Kei commented.
Yamapi snickered. "That's what I said. Not that it comes as much of a surprise or matters much. He was a spoiled, self-obsessed little pretty boy, anyway."
"He's a fucking idiot to let you go." Aida said.
Yuya shrugged. "I guess I just wasn't what he was looking for."
"Oh, puh-lease. You? Now, really, are you okay? When you were here at Christmas, you sounded like you'd found your soul mate."
"Well, you know, it sucked at first, but I've moved on." Yuya said, at the back of his head, he was wondering what Massu was feeling hearing the discussion.
"So what happened then? The best friend thing got you thinking?"
"You could say that," said Yamapi. "He moped around for a few days, called the best friend an evil boyfriend-stealer about a gazillion times. And then . . ."
"And then . . ." said Yuya.
"And then . . .?" said Kei. He leaned forward, broad smile lighting up his face.
"Well, you know, he never could resist me," said Yamapi.
Yeah right, Pi. I could resist you just fine, otherwise, I wouldn’t have fallen for Massu, but he doesn’t know that, does he? Yuya’s said in his mind. Nope, Massu doesn’t, and he can’t know it now, you have to get along with Pi’s schemes for now. Who knows, things may just turn out your way in the end’. Another part of his mind replied. Yeah right. Or, I could very well end up crying for the loss of the man of my dreams. Very well Pi, let’s see how you deal with this.
"I'm really happy for you both," said Aida. "I'm just glad you've finally come to this conclusion. I knew it was only a matter of time."
Yamapi smirked; Yuya's lips formed a weak smile. Yamapi's arm wrapped around Yuya's back and pinched his upper arm.
"Yeah," said Yuya. "I'm really happy."
"It's about time," said Kei.
__________________________________
Heh, I’m behind again. . . . sorry, got caught up in reworking another fic that i'm writing. I've started writing it about a year ago, some of you may be familiar with it (Prisoner of Love), but I kinda lost the stick I had saved it in
. . anyhow, I hope you like this part. . . . this is what Pi was talking about, their friends will help out in the schemes he has concocted. . . little does he know that Shige is on to him You’ll find out why in a later chap.
There’s another chap coming, by the way. . . .it's not a very long one, but I feel i've neglected you these past few days so I’ll be giving you another one. posting the next chap in a few minutes.
Happy reading . . . .hugs~