Chapter 9 (Yukine)

Hanging with Taj during lunch was really fun. He’s a really chill guy. I couldn’t wait until school was over because I was planning a surprise for him. I had tonnes of fun with him on Saturday and so I decided to set up a tiny fort inside the dorm so we can play some video games and just hang out. I don’t really know if I like him so I’m just going slow and trying to hang out with him as much as I can. All my friends know I’m gay so I’m not really worried about people knowing. I came out when I was around 15 but I’ve known ever since I was 12. It went well with most of my family and friends, the only person that didn’t really accept me was my dad. Things went downhill pretty fast with him and some stuff happened. My mum later divorced him after finding out a few things and we haven’t really talked with him since. I don’t really think about it that much and it upsets me that he can’t accept me, but if he wants to lose his son over a small thing then I guess that's his decision isn’t it?

During classes I wasn’t really paying attention to what the teachers were saying because I was planning what to do with the fort I was planning with Yukine. I was gonna lay a rug down on the floor and surround it with a bunch of pillows and blankets. It was Autumn and was getting cold so I thought it would be nice surrounding it with a bunch of blankets. I’d then make some ramen and lay out a bunch of snacks. I know it’s a school night but I couldn’t really wait until the weekend.

It was the end of 6th period and the bell was gonna ring any second now. As soon the bell rang I raced out of the door and ran down the staircase. Taj’s class was on the other side of the school so I knew he was gonna be a bit late. I quickly ran down the corridors and out of the building over to the dormitory. I ran up the stairs and swung open the door and slammed it closed. The first thing I did was get changed out of my school uniform and into my tracksuit pants. I then laid down a rug and surrounded it with a bunch of spare blankets that were in the top of the wardrobe, I also tied a large blanket to the edges of the beds making a roof. I stole a few pillows off both Taj and I’s beds and laid them down. I reached into my snack stash and spread a bunch of snacks onto where I set up the blankets. I also plugged in the small tv into an outlet next to my bed and put it on the floor beside my bed. I also pulled out my PS4 and plugged it into the TV. Everything was set and so I decided to just pick out a few games I knew Taj liked.

I looked around over what I had just set up. Taj was running late probably because his language teacher was holding his class in. Now that I think of it, it kind of looks like I set up a mini date. Well that’s embarrassing how did I not realise this sooner? Oh well, it’s too late now plus as long as we weren’t dating it was not a date, it’s just a nice way to hang out with a friend!

I heard the door open and looked behind me. Taj entered the room and closed the door. Once he realised what I set up he looked really surprised but excited.

“Do you like it?”

“Oh my god this looks awesome!”

“R-really?”

“Yes! I’ve always wanted to do one of these things ever since I was a little kid but my parents never let me cause they thought it would make too much of a mess!”

“Well I’m glad you like it! Now hurry up and get changed so we can play some video games!”

“Definitely!”

He grabbed his pjs off his bed and ran into the bathroom to get changed.

“By the way make sure to take your makeup off! I’m sure you’d be more comfortable without it!”

“O-ok,”

I sat down on the rug and got ready for our controllers. A few minutes later Taj walked out of the bathroom and since the light was on I could see his freckles more clearer. He looked really cute without his makeup on. His ocean blue eyes really stood out because of the dark colours his hair had. They were really beautiful now that I think of it, they stood out so much.

“Is there something on my face?”

“H-huh?” I must’ve been staring at him for too long.

“W-what no sorry I was just spacing out,”

“Ok,”

He came over and sat next to me. I passed him his controller and let him choose the game.

“What do you think of Mario Kart?”

“Sure!”

He put the disc into the console and the game started up. We chose multiplayer and we started playing. He was so good at it and he kept on beating me, the score was probably 9-2. An hour passed and I looked up at my alarm clock, it was 5:50pm.

“Hey I think I’m gonna cook the ramen now,”

“Ok, I’ll just play some solo races,”

I crawled over to where I placed the jug and turned it on, I had already put the water in it. While I waited for it to boil I watched Taj play the races, I don’t think he lost a single race. Once the jug was done boiling I poured it into the ramen cups and put the seasoning in, I also added some extra stuff for more flavour. I pulled out a thin wooden board and slipped it in front of where me and Taj were sitting.

“Hey , how about we watch some movies for the rest of the night?”

“Ok, you can pick the movie!”

While I waited for the ramen to cool down and set I helped pack up the controllers. Once Taj picked out the movie and sat down I placed the ramen cups onto the board as well as some chopsticks.

“Bon appetit!”

“S’il vous plait!”

“Huh?”

“I speak some french you dummy!”

“Oh really I didn’t think you did!”

“Yeah my aunty went to France for a year,”

“That’s so cool!”

“Thanks?”

I sat down next to him and we played the movie. The movie was called Boy Erased. It was really good. It was about a boy coming out as gay and his father sending him to a conversion therapy camp. It was kinda sad especially since I knew even though it was 2020 people still thought that doing that stuff was ok.

Once we finished the ramen I tossed the cups and chopsticks into the bin and slipped the board underneath my bed. When I sat back down Taj threw a blanket into my face.

“It’s starting to get a bit cold so here’s a blanket,”

“Thanks,”

During the movie we sat in silence but also talked a little about what we thought about the scenes. Even though it was silent it was comforting. During the middle of the movie Taj rested his head on top of my shoulder, it was so cute. Around the end of the movie Taj fell asleep, I didn’t wanna wake him up so I just used one of the controllers to turn the console off and the TV remote to turn it off. I placed the controllers on top of Taj’s bed which was behind us. I placed two of the pillows down and placed Taj on one. I then lied down next to him to go to sleep. When I layed down Taj wrapped his arms around me and so I did the same. He was warm and comforting. It reminded me of when I was little and when me and my sister would do things like this. It was so fun and he felt so safe. After a while my eyes went heavy and I was beginning to get tired. It was only 8:20pm but I was already so tired, I think he helped me sleep.