Chapter 1 - The calm before the storm

Part 5/6

Yuki’s talk with Kai barely lasted two more stops.  

Stupid Kai and his stupid last period, Yuki thought to himself as he was forced to return to the viral videos on his phone. 

 One thing Yuki had learned over the last few months was that there was no replacing a true friendship and real conversation. It was different, actually having someone listen and care about what you said. And for Yuki, to feel the same about them too. It made him realise he had been missing out on a whole part of life he thought could only exist with his family. 

Yuki thought back to his mother’s words when he asked her about her own parents: “Families are made. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t be family with dad. And you wouldn’t be family to Yumi.” 

He’d always thought family friends were exceptions. That growing up together could make you as close as family. And while it was true with Yumi, his oldest friend, that didn’t seem to be the case for everyone.

He arrived at the station where his brother’s school was later than expected. Running down the sloping sidewalk, Yuki nearly tripped more than once. When he saw the school gate, his brother was already there waiting.

“Yuki!” Daiki yelled with excitement, waving his hands above his head. “Yuki, Yuki! We got to do so much today! I really like this school! And I made friends too!”

His brother continued to jump like a jack rabbit, his timid voice louder than Yuki had ever heard it before. 

Yuki ruffled his brother’s hair when he finally reached the boy. “I knew you would love it.” He chuckled softly.

After a quick introduction to his teacher, who had insisted on talking to Yuki about Daiki’s enthusiastic participation on their very first day, they walked back to the train station. Daiki continued to bounce all over the place as they went. As the evening rush filled the train, Yuki held Daiki in his arms. He stood most of the trip, his brother slowly causing his back to ache. Thankfully, when they walked into the house, the twins were already there. Yuki passed off his little brother to them, quickly changed and left for his evening shift. 

Since his father’s new position meant there was no need for Yuki to work every possible hour he had available during the day, he had cut back to a single part-time job: The Rainbow Café. It was where he had met Niko and, eventually, Kai. He knew the people there well. For the four years he had worked there, only a few employees had come and gone. Niko was one of them.

Remembering the times Niko was working there made his days go by a little faster. The memories were warm and comforting. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to let go of that. 

His shift was short today, as were all his shifts going forward. He only worked four hour shifts max, one or two days a week. It was taking some time to adjust to a more open schedule. Even when busy with his duties, Yuki was constantly bored. 

Which has nothing to do with Niko no longer working here, Yuki thought grudgingly whenever memories of the boy would resurface. 

By the time his shift was over, Yuki found himself exhausted by the redundancy of his tasks. His phone rang as he was getting ready to leave for the night. Checking the caller ID, he saw it was his father. 

That’s unusual, Yuki thought as he answered, “Hey, Dad, what's up?”

 “Yuki?” the man’s voice sounded lively. “You won’t believe what the company gave me!”

Nodding as he left the shop, Yuki couldn’t help but smile. His father was rarely energetic. Or, at least, it had been a long time since Yuki’d last heard him like that. It had only been a few months since he’d landed this new job, and the changes Yuki was witnessing were like night and day.

“Oh, it must be something great if you’re this hyped up,” Yuki chuckled as he walked down the street. 

“You know the major soccer match tomorrow night?” his father exclaimed. “I got tickets for the game!”

That shocked Yuki. He wasn’t a soccer fan, but being friends with Niko and Kai, who played it, he knew it was a sold out game. There was no way they had been cheap. “That’s great! Bet you can’t wait to see it!”

“Well,” his father mumbled, somewhat shyly. ”I was going to give them all to you.”

“All?!” Yuki exclaimed in disbelief. “What do you mean them all?! No,  Dad! You worked hard to get this job. You're obviously doing well there. You deserve to see that game.”

“Yuki, you’ve been doing a lot for this family for a really long time.” His father paused, and Yuki knew it was to emphasize he really meant it. “I can finally take care of us, all of us, on my own. So, please, let me be your father for once and go have some fun.”

Yuki didn’t like the idea of his dad thinking he hadn’t been enough of a father for him. Though, if he were to admit it, part of him agreed. The care and worry that a parent should have over their child seemed to have ended with his dad when he was ten. When his mother died. And whether that was Yuki’s fault for forcing his help on his dad, or his dad’s fault for allowing it, didn’t matter. Part of Yuki would always hold a grudge because of it, no matter how much he loved the man. 

“Okay. Thanks,  Dad,” Yuki said softly. 

“Just don’t tell your sisters until after the game, or they will demand they go with you.”

Yuki chuckled, thinking of what his sisters would do to the two of them if they knew they were holding back on tickets to a game, no matter the sport it was for. “Oh, I won’t! How many are there?”

“Four,” his dad said.

“Four?! That’s a lot!” Yuki said with surprise. “How did you manage that?”

“We are a family of five!” 

“But it’s still missing one.” 

“Do you want them or not?” His dad’s voice lowered an octave. 

“Yes, please!” Yuki said in awe of his good fortune. 

—

When he called Niko later that night, Yuki found himself nervously pacing in his tiny bedroom. They had never talked over the phone before. In fact, he had never seen Kai on the phone with Niko either. His heart fluttered at the thought of having done something with Niko that Kai never had. 

That’s ridiculous! They are dating, for heaven's sake! And does it matter?! Kai and Niko belong together!!! I’d never wanna get in the middle of them, Yuki grumbled in his head while waiting for Niko to pick up.

Separating whatever feelings he still held for Niko from whatever he had hoped they might end up becoming was way more difficult than he ever thought it would be. When Niko declined Yuki’s confession four months ago, and then the very next day his brand new boyfriend, Kai, showed up at the café, Yuki knew there was no chance for them to be anything other than friends.  And that should have been that. 

But it wasn’t.

“Why the fuck are you calling?” was the first thing Niko asked when he finally picked up the phone.

“Oof, I need to get your boyfriend to wash out that mouth of yours,” Yuki smiled as he laid back on his bed, knowing he must have interrupted something.

“Yeah, yeah… what do you want?” Niko's voice seemed annoyed. 

Definitely interrupted something. Yuki smiled, knowing full well there was an annoyed Kai sitting next to Niko at that very moment. “Just to hear the sound of your voice.”

“You better only be talking like that ‘cause you know I am here, you asshole!” Kai's muffled voice seemed to echo from a distance. 

“Don’t worry, you know I am, Kai!” Yuki laughed at the groans that followed. “Want to go to the soccer game tomorrow night?”

“Why would I want to go to a soccer game tomorrow?” Niko asked skeptically.

Ah, he’s worried I am trying to cut into his normal Friday date night. “Not a game,” Yuki corrected him. “The game.”

“Wait.” Yuki could hear the change in Niko’s tone of voice. “You don’t mean the expedition game do you?”  

“My dad got some tickets through his company,” Yuki explained, overjoyed at Niko’s reaction. “He decided to give them to me so I could take some friends. So, friend, want to go?”

Niko screamed like was about to explode with happiness. His voice became muffled as he pulled away from the phone. Yuki could hear him excitedly rambling off the details to Kai. Niko cleared his throat before returning to the phone.

“How many?” he asked in his best attempt at a monotone voice.

“There’s four,” Yuki said, surprising himself. 

His original plan was to tease Niko by saying there were only two tickets, and that the second one was going to either him or Kai. But hearing Niko so excited made him want to bask in the joy as well. He could hear the boy telling Kai next to him about the tickets. 

“So, who are you inviting?” Niko asked with caution.

“Well, you, of course.” Yuki laughed as Niko fake-laughed on the other end of the phone. “And Kai. I thought you two could pick a fourth person to even out our numbers.”

“You sure?” Niko asked skeptically. “You're usually not so generous.”

“You guys are the only soccer fans I know,” Yuki gave as an excuse. “Anyway, just don’t invite Taiko. I can’t imagine him sitting still for a full game without trying to join in. And I’m not in the mood to deal with his goofy behaviour.”

“Okay,” Niko trailed off as if he was thinking.  “I know Itsuki’s busy...” He made a strange yipping noise. “So I guess we’ll bring Ren,” he declared deviously. There was a loud choking noise on the other side.

“Ren?” Yuki’s ears perked up upon hearing the name again. “Kai mentioned him early today, too. Who is he again?”

“What, Kai hasn’t told you?”

“Told me what?”

There was an even louder commotion on the other side of the phone. 

“Shit, uh… I have to go. Text me the info,”' Niko said, hanging up without waiting for a response. 

Yuki stared at his phone screen as it flashed that the call ended. What the hell was that? Is Kai hiding something from me?

He rolled over on his twin mattress. Shoving his face into a pillow, he screamed. It didn’t help. The confusion in his head wasn’t something he could figure out by yelling. His feelings were muddied and hard to read.

Whether Yuki really did like Niko or not, he would be better off never knowing. Even if he wanted to try to date him, Niko had already turned him down. Plus, he was seeing Kai. And Kai had become Yuki’s best friend. There was absolutely no way Yuki would ever jeopardize that.

A gnawing feeling that his life was about to be turned upside down hit him. He hated it. The last time he had a feeling like this was just before his mom had passed. 

Sighing deeply, he rolled over onto his side and glanced about his nearly empty room. 

A mattress on top of a box spring that was directly on the cold laminate floor, an old shabby desk with a rickety old chair, and a dresser crammed into the closet was all his room could hold. There were days he forgot he even had a window; it was so small and looked out to the concert wall of the building next door. As cramped as it was, the size of the room at least made getting things while laying down easy. There also wasn’t much space needing to be cleaned. Of course, it helped that he had very little to put in there as well. 

Yuki stretched his arm out and opened his desk drawer, pulling out a plastic picture frame. In it was a family photo. He was there with his mom, his dad, two sisters and brother. They were smiling brightly as one warm happy family. A shiver ran through Yuki’s spine. 

I wish you were here, he thought, rolling back on to his back again. He held the picture to his chest. You were always good at listening. Even when you were sick. You’d tell me to stop thinking. That other people’s opinions didn’t matter. To just smile and move on. 

“I can’t just smile through this,” Yuki barely whispered. “I can't seem to move on.”