It was Ruki’s birthday, and Reita was on his way to the party. Everybody was going to be there: Aoi, the sexy black-haired guitarist who loved to show off his stomach; Uruha, the model-like blonde that was almost guaranteed to have alcohol somewhere on him; Kai, the smiley brunette that didn’t have a bad thing to say about anybody; himself, who he thought of as an ugly bastard who was going way out of his league; and, of course, Ruki, the birthday boy.

Ruki was amazing. It was a little cliché, but he could make him laugh when he wanted to cry. He was an all-around amazing person. Not only was his personality the best, but his looks were just as stunning. He had gorgeous short hair that he changed the color of so many times that he lost count. His eyes were a beautiful hazel, and his skin was so smooth that it looked like he was made of porcelain. Reita felt so strongly about Ruki that nobody else could even get his attention for a second while the other was in the room. He had to notice Reita staring at him, but he never said anything or even acknowledged him. Ruki was way out of Reita’s league.

Walking down the street with no present in hand made Reita feel a little bit nervous about what Ruki would say when Reita finally told him what he was giving him for his birthday. He unconsciously bit his lower lip thinking about the other’s reaction. What if he chickened out? What if he couldn’t get the words out and he would just be babbling on like an idiot? Even worse, what if he rejected him? Reita didn’t think he could handle another rejection. He was just wondering whether he should have just gotten him a regular birthday present and kept all his feelings inside. He took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts out of his head before he had time to talk himself out of it. It had taken him almost a week after finding out about the party to convince himself to finally tell him…with a little bit of help from a friend.

He finally got to the apartment and walked up the stairs until he found Ruki’s apartment number. With one more deep breath, he knocked. Aoi answered the door with a glass of sake in one hand and a cigarette in his mouth. “Reita! Good to see you! Come on in!” Reita walked in around Aoi and took a seat on the couch. Meanwhile, Aoi shouted to the bedroom, “Ruki! You can come out now! Reita’s here!” What did he mean by ‘You can come out now’? Thought Reita. But he just pushed the thought out of his head along with the others and headed for the table with all the drinks. He poured himself a glass of sake.

Ruki came out of the bedroom with his eyes lighting up and a wide smile spread across his face. He said, “Ok. Present tiiiiime~” He wandered over to the table with the presents on it and counted them. Reita took a huge drink of his sake as he waited for the questions. Suddenly, Ruki whirled around and said, “Reita…where’s your present?” All Reita could do was blush.

Reita stuttered, “Oh...umm…I forgot it at home…sorry.”

Ruki looked a little bit upset, but that didn’t stay for long. Quickly, a small smile formed where the frown was just a second before and he said, “Oh well. You can give it to me later tonight or tomorrow. It’s no problem.” He turned around and started unwrapping presents. Aoi got him a shirt that said ‘Party Boy’ on it. Uruha got him (big shocker) a big bucket of margarita mix. Kai got him a new wristwatch because he had been hinting for weeks that he wanted it. When he was done unwrapping them, he looked at the clock. “It’s already midnight…what took you so long to get here Reita?”

Reita paused and looked at Ruki. He couldn’t help but notice how, when he was standing in front of the window, the moonlight shined on him to make him look like an angel. He snapped himself out of his thoughts and answered Ruki’s question, “Oh…it took me a while to get here because…I was a little bit…preoccupied…at work.” Ruki just nodded and Reita let out a sigh of relief.

Ruki turned to look at Reita and said with a smile, “Well. How about we go and get your present for me?” Reita turned a light shade of pink and just nodded his head. Ruki flipped around to look at all the other band mates and said, “Don’t destroy anything. We’ll be back later. Ok?” Everyone said ‘ok’ in response all together and Ruki shoved Reita out the door before he could think twice. They traveled down to the bottom of the staircase and then Ruki started talking. “Why have you been acting so weird lately? It’s like you’ve been purposely avoiding talking to me.”

Reita stared at the ground passing slowly beneath him and wished that he could walk just a bit faster, but that would involve leaving Ruki behind and that would have been even more painful. He stuttered and was almost positive that he was turning as red as a tomato. He finally was able to produce some words and spit them out before his mind had time to retaliate. “I just…I…don’t know how to explain it to you without it sounding all…weird. And if I actually tell you, then you’re just going to act all weird around me.”

Ruki looked genuinely confused. He furrowed his eyebrows and just said, “I can get weirder?”

Reita chuckled and said, “Yes, you can.”

Ruki said, “Just tell me. Please? I promise I won’t get all weird on you. It’s just bothering me that my supposed best friend is keeping something huge from me.” His eyes were truly sad and Reita couldn’t bear to look at them.

Reita said, “Fine. I…umm…I’m not sure how to start this.”

Ruki smiled and said, “You can start by not stuttering.”

Reita smiles slightly and took a deep breath. “Well. I’ve liked someone for a really long time, but I’m not exactly sure how to tell them.” He figured this was a good way to start, if any.

Ruki’s eyes got wide and she stopped in his tracks. Reita looked at him just as Ruki shouted, “It’s not Aoi is it? Because I heard that he is fucking Uruha and I swear, if you want to get into the middle of that, then you’re an idiot.”

Reita just started laughing and said back in between giggles, “No…it’s not…Aoi.” He finally got his laughter under control and they started walking again. They weren’t even a quarter of the way to his place. This was going to be a long walk. “I was just wondering…what would you like if somebody was trying to tell you that they liked you?” This, he thought, was perfect. He could figure out what to do, without even telling Ruki that he was who Reita was crazy about.

Ruki was thinking for a little while and then he finally answered. “I would like it if the person would just…spit it out. Then after that, and after I get over the initial shock, they wouldn’t say another word and would just pull me into a deep and romantic kiss. Hell, even if I didn’t like the person, I still got a free kiss out of it!” Ruki giggled at his own joke and kept on walking.

Now Reita knew exactly how to do it. He just didn’t know if he could. “Thanks Ruki. I’ll try that out.”

Ruki answered, “Glad to be of help. So~ can I know who it is?”

Reita said, “I guess so…”

Ruki waited for a moment, but, realizing that Reita wasn’t going to say anything, he decided to prod. “Well…WHO?!”

Reita just said quietly, “…you…”

Ruki stopped dead in his tracks and just stared. He tried to say something, but nothing would come out. He was sure he looked like an idiot just standing there with his mouth gaping open, but he honestly couldn’t help it. Reita looked up at him through his hair with a pitiful little look. He finally moved toward him, hugged him around the waste, and pulled him into a kiss. It was a short kiss, but it was just as Reita had imagined. Like Ruki said, if he did get rejected, then at least he got this kiss. He pulled away from Ruki only to see him standing there with his eyes still shut. He slowly let them flutter open and just stared at Reita.

All Ruki said was, “Why did you stop?” Reita didn’t completely understand, but apparently his body understood because he moved toward Ruki faster than before and kissed him roughly. Ruki whimpered into the kiss and stood on his tiptoes to deepen the kiss. Reita pulled away and said, “Don’t you think that we should be getting to my house?”

Ruki sighed heavily and answered, “Yeah…I guess so.”

Reita said, “I just have one question. I was so sure that you were going to reject me. Why didn’t you? You could do so much better.”

Ruki just ignored the question. “Can we continue this when we get to your house?”

Reita answered him, “Yes. It wouldn’t be a birthday present if we didn’t…but you still didn’t answer my question.”

Ruki giggled and said, “Some questions are never answered. I’ll race you to your place. Last one there gets to be the girl.”



Reita said, “But…I would give up eating for a week to figure out the answer to that question. Ruki! Great…he’s going to make me run.” Reita started to run after Ruki since he took off while Reita was talking. This might actually be a fun night, Reita and Ruki thought at the same time.