Jun hadn't realized it was already afternoon when Kazu's gaming machine let out a weak beep and turned off right after. He rolled to his side, stopping when the bag of chips let out a crunch and glanced over his shoulder to see if Kazu was still asleep. To his relief, his friend was sound asleep on his futon, the remote on his lap, and empty bags of junkfood surrounding him as if someone had laid them there. He couldn't remember who died first in the game they were playing or who passed out first from the sugar rush running in their bodies. However Jun shrugged it off and instead crept beside his sleeping friend.

Carefully and quietly, Jun laid his body flat on the futon, the wounds and bruises on his body relaxing at the same time. After making sure his friend was still sound asleep, he made himself comfortable on the futon and finally looked at Kazu's sideview profile.

He hadn't change a bit since they first met. The shape of his nose was still so petit and his jawline was still sharp as he remembered it. It was as if they were back in preschool, the time when they hated each other's gut and came close to killing each other when one of them played a dirty trick on the other. Jun remembered throwing mud on his face and running off, howling with laughter that he had to hold his stomach while tears came running down his face. He thought that the latter would come running after him with mud covering his angry face and his hands full of many unidentifued bugs. Instead of feeling those bugs squirming in his uniform, he heard screaming and then crying right after. Worried that it was someone from his class, he hurried back outisde to where he had left the mud-covered boy, and instead found him squealing in pain as he clutched his chest.

Jun remembered being lost at what to do. He hated him to guts, but the look of pain was real as he bent down and asked him if he was ok. The boy only grunted in reply and Jun had no other choice but to bring him in the teacher's lounge. As soon as he bursted in with the body over his back, all the teachers stood up in horror and grabbed the groaning body away from his back. Jun felt like he was in a soap drama, where the man was patiently pacing outside of the door where the victim was being held behind those white hospital doors. When he heard muffled footsteps behind the door, he found the boy limping towards him and a teacher behind him for support.

"Thank you," the injured boy grumbled, his voice sounding tense like someone trying to rip up a linen shirt.

Jun didn't answer and only smirked before leaving the boy alone with the teacher. However, their unknown hate for each other didn't last long after that day for rescuing him countless of times from all those mean kids and finally, but shyly, declared friendship for each other.

Jun grinned. He remembered their weird meeting like it just happened yesterday and all of a sudden they grew up the following day. As the memories of that day lingered in his mind, he weakly lifted up his arm until his finger was touching his friend's cheek. Kazu didn't move at the slight touch so he dug his finger into his cheek until finally he stirred and his eyes were wide open. He knew he had pissed off his friend who clearly told him he hated being poked on the face while he was sleeping. Trying his best to crawl away with his tired body, Kazu stopped him by grabbing his wrist and dug his long nails into the unbadaged area of his skin.

"Ow!" Jun yelped, pulling his arm away and pain following after.

“J, I told you I hated it when you do that...” Kazu grumbled, sitting up on his futon and staring at him angrily with wide open eyes.

“Sorry, I can’t help it,” He pouted and grabbed a yellow pillow before Kazu had the chance to kick him in the shins.

“Just cause you’re injured that doesn’t stop me from hurting you, J.”

“I know,” he hummed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent inside Kazu’s room, playing games, reading mangas, or just talking about anything that interested them. When he heard the both of their stomach grumble, Kazu’s mom came in at the right time and handed them each of her satisfying afternoon snacks filled with her sweet delicacies. She left after she had given them each their plates of lemon meringue pie and glass of melon juice.

The both of them were silent during snack time unable to speak because of how wonderful the pie tasted in their mouth. Just as Jun was about to shove another bite in, Kazu was too busy munching away to realize he had cream in the corner of his mouth. Dropping his fork gently on the small plate, he reached towards his friend’s mouth and wiped the cream off, not noticing his friend flinching right after. Jun didn’t look at him and the cream off of his thumb before going back to his pie.

“You’re not finishing it?” Jun asked him after he finished his share of the snack.

Kazu didn’t answer as his eyes were on his face. He didn’t want for one anyways, and just grabbed his friend’s plate. He thought that he was going to yell at him for it, but the latter was just dead silent, the fork in his hand still holding a piece of pie. Seeing that he wasn’t reacting at all, he grabbed his used fork and ate away until all were left were crumbs for Kazu.

“Here,” Jun handed him the plate, the crumbs almost falling to the wooden floor, “I left some for you.”

“Uh...” Kazu muttered, the fork in his hand about ready to fall on the ground, “...you can have it...”

“But I already ate it,” Jun shrugged, “I left some for you.”

He saw Kazu look down at the plate in front of him, and didn’t bother to move when he heard him drop his fork on the plate. When Kazu looked up, he swore he saw fire in his eyes the moment something was thrown in front of his face.

“J! You ate everything and only left me crumbs!”

“Well it was yummy,” Jun whined, “It didn’t look like you wanted it anyways. You were just staring at me like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I...But I... I was...” Kazu stammered, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

Jun just laughed at him and quietly apologized for eating it without getting a straight answer. He saw that Kazu was picking something up from the floor, something very obviously sharp when they heard a small knock against the closed door.

“Jun-chan? Your father is here to pick you up.”

“Already?” Kazu whined after dropping the sharp object back on the floor. “J, you know you’re going to have to pay for this.”

“Relax,” he patted his friend shoulder before getting up on his feet, “I think you’re mom made enough to fill your skinny body.” Jun grinned evilly before attempting to run away from Kazu who was looking for the sharp object. Teasing Kazu like this was fun, but he didn’t do it up to the point where he would hurt his feelings, and picked out the things that he knew would instigate his friend. When he finally made it downstairs before Kazu who was now screaming for his name, he stuck his tongue out before heading outside to where his father was waiting for him.

He looked panicked stricken after eyeing all the injuries on his face. However Jun showed off the best face he can manage and his father looked a bit relief though he can still see the worry in his eyes. After his dad has strapped his belt for him in the back seat and he got on right after, he couldn’t help but look back and saw Kazu waving his arm in the air with the sharp weapon, and probably screaming that he’s going to pay for what he’s done. When Kazu’s small body was going out of view, he stuck his tongue out again before turning around to his original sitting position.

“Jun, what happened? Did you get into a fight with Ninomiya-kun? Is that why you have those bruises?” He heard his father ask him with worry and anger in his voice.

“No!” Jun immediately denied, “I was uh...just...I got bullied.” Jun lied to his dad, although this wasn’t the first time.

“Then do you want to move to a new school? I had a school planned out for you.”

Jun shook his head. He noticed that his father didn’t say ‘your mother and I’ like he did all the time when he was talking to him about making decisions. But he just shrugged it off and told him he was fine going to school since Kazu was there with him.

“Well if that’s what you want, I won’t force you into it...” He told him and mumbled something right after that he couldn’t quite catch because of the traffic outside. “What do you say we’ll go out and eat together, just you and me.”

Jun thought about it. He’s already eaten the snack Kazu’s mom had made for him, but his stomach betrayed him by making a loud growling sound. He heard his dad let out a soft chuckle and finally told him that he felt like having pasta. After saying so, his dad took a left turn, stopping now and then because of the traffic light, and finally they were parked just outside of an Italian restaurant.

They usually never go to fancy places like this or even just to get some pasta. They usually went to a diner just a few blocks away from Kazu’s home, or a small western restaurant a few miles away from his home. He felt like an outsider as soon as they entered and a few people looked their way. They must have seen all the injuries in his face, and the way he was walking made it look like he had a hard time.

“Table for two,” his dad told the person who was ushering them to their seat.

Jun gasped. The place was indeed quite different from all those restaurants that he went to with his dad. There were mirrors on the ceiling and even a chandelier that looked like it could come falling down on them any second. The place was covered in many different kinds of brown and even the rug was fancy, with many different patterns, that he and Kazu would be spilling food all over it so clumsily. He was too distracted with everything around him that he didn’t hear his dad order for them, and the food was already in front of him.

“Jun...” His dad sighed after he finally paid attention to his food.

“Hmm?”

“Your mother and I... we...” he paused before grabbing the fancy utensils that Jun still had to learn how to use, “...I think it’s better if we both tell you at home.”

“No, it’s ok,” he mumbled.

“Your mother and I,” he continued but this time he wasn’t pausing like before, “We’re getting a divorce...”

Jun didn’t even have a single bite when he had heard what came out of his father’s mouth. He felt as if the chandelier above him came crashing down on his small body. He finally looked at his father’s face and was telling himself that this was just a joke. Jun opened his mouth, not to say anything, but to laugh at this ridiculousness. His father didn’t seem to laugh along and soon everything around him was quiet, even the scraping of utensils and the chatting of the adults around him didn’t make him burst with anger. He stood up from his chair, pushing it so hard that it hit another person. He grabbed the plate of uneaten pasta and threw it across the side, causing the adults to gasp and scream out angry words right after. Jun didn’t let his dad have the chance to talk as he stomped angrily out of the restaurant, his eyes getting blurry with every step he took.

He thought that his parents were the most happy couple in the universe just like Kazu’s parents were all lovey-dovey with each other. He never once thought about them ever separating until he had heard the words coming straight out of his dad’s mouth. When he heard rapid footsteps nearing him, he kicked off on his heels and ran to wherever his weak legs can take him. Somewhere far away so he can never see his dad’s face again.

TBC