Bambam sat in the corner of the classroom, by the windows and as far as he possibly could get from the teachers. He didn’t do it so he could get away with not paying attention in class or spend his time looking out the window instead of at the board. It was just a habit he picked up after reading one too many mangas when he was little. Though a part of him did hope he looked mysterious and handsome sitting by the window and rain dripped across it in the stormy early spring weather. 

 

(He knew he didn’t really because his cute face prevented him but looking like a precious little kid that needed to protected.)

 

There was a seat next to him that no one ever sat at. At the beginning of the year, everyone had paired off and found friends to sit by. Bambam had moved to Japan half way through the year. While his classmates didn’t do out of their way to be mean to him, they also didn’t go out of their way to include him. They were nice enough, Bambam just didn’t speak enough Japanese when he first moved to keep peoples interest in him for longer than the first week he was there.

 

With one month left until the end of the school year, Bambam didn’t hold out any hope that anything would change before summer came and it was time for him to go back to Thailand with nothing to show for his time in a foreign country but some faded memories and a basic grasp of a language he’d probably never use again.

 

When there was a break between periods, Bambam took to drawing in his notebooks. There wasn’t much else for him to do. His brain was spinning from the the high level Japanese he had to process and he needed something that he could do to help destress so he could he could handle the long school day. 

 

So after every few pages of notes he took, the would be one filled with quick doodles scrawled across it. They were of flowers, of things from back home that he missed, of his classmates laughing together as all teenagers did. 

 

Bambam wasn’t a very good artist in his mind, but he did draw a lot of character from the mangas he read back when he still lived in Thailand. He could capture the likeness of a character but he never could do something as ambitious as try to be a mangaka. For Bambam, it was just a hobby.

 

But every once in a while, one of his classmates would pass by his desk while he drew and stop to compliment his drawing.

 

It was probably small and meaningless to them, but the little bit of intersection he got out of that was so important to him.

 

Four months in a foreign country without any friends, Bambam had discovered, was one of the most lonely things in the while world.

 

***

 

“My name is Jackson Wang! I’m from Hong Kong and I was on the Hong Kong national fencing team last year! Please take care of me!” A cheerful looking boy bowed to the class and grinned at them like they had been best friends for years. Just by looking at him, Bambam could tell that he was the kind of boy who could make friends in no time at all. Jackson’s Japanese was no better than Bambam’s when he first arrived in Japan but he seemed to have no shame at all and didn’t care if he mispronounced things at all. The second after he introduced himself, he was already chattering way with a student in the front row with a pencil case coved in a character he liked.

 

Bambam couldn’t help but give him an envious glance before looking back out the rain coated window. 

 

The teacher scolded Jackson for disrupting the class and told him to go find a seat. This point, Bambam wasn’t paying attention at all. He tugged gently at the corner of his sleeve and cleared his throat. He pulled out his pencil and started doodling again. He was halfway through a bouquet of flowers when a shadow came near him and there was a scraping of a chair being moved next to him.

 

Bambam turned around to find Jackson sitting in the previously empty desk next to his own with a smile on his face.

 

“Can I sit here?” He asked. Bambam nodded, slightly stunned. Someone as social as him would normally sit up front with everyone else so they could talk and make friends, right?

 

But Jackson was sitting so naturally in the seat next to him, talking about how he was almost late to class because he got caught in the rain. He pulled out his pencil box and notebook before turning to Bambam. 

 

“By the way, sorry, I forgot to ask, but what’s your name?” Jackson said.

 

“Call me Bambam.” Suddenly, he felt very shy. Jackson had this way of making you feel like you were the only person he cared about in the whole world when he spoke to you. It was a kind of intimacy Bambam hadn’t had since he moved to Japan alone.

 

“Nice to meet you, Bambam!”

 

***

 

“All I’m saying is!” Jackson practically shouted in his defense. “If a store is going to sell things high schoolers shouldn’t be looking at! Then they should hang a sign or something!”

 

Bambam was doubled over, laughing at Jackson’s bright red face and frantic gestures. “There was a sign!” He said in between gasps for air. “You walked right passed it!”

 

“Then it should be bigger!!” Bambam laughed even harder and Jackson just got most frustrated. “It was an honest mistake!” More laughter. “Anyone could make it!” Bambam was wheezing at this point, he could hardly breath. “Why am I even friends with you of all you ever do it laugh at me! How dare you!”

 

After the last few laughs had bubbled out of Bambam’s chest, he whipped the tears out of his eyes. 

 

“Sorry Jackson, I just-” He started giggling again and Jackson crossed his arms to show how offended he was. “Your face was so funny!”

 

“Well have you tried looking in the mirror lately? That’ll give you a really laugh.”

 

It was a month since Jackson had transferred to their high school and sat down next to Bambam. 

 

In that month, the two had become best friends. Since neither of them knew a lot of Japanese, they found comfort in each other. After school, Jackson and Bambam would study new vocabulary and help each other with pronunciation. Would it have been better if they studied with a native speaker? Probably, but at least this way no one would laugh if they said something wrong. After a few study sessions, Jackson had complained loudly that they never did anything together outside of school related stuff and dragged Bambam to the nearest arcade with him. A few visits to the arcades gave way to going to the movies together. Which in turn meant they started to go out for dinner together after the movie and, well, after that Jackson was much too tired to walk all the way home in the dark so he’d end up crashing at Bambam apartment. 

 

The two exchange students were glued at the hip.

 

“Want to go get crepes? My treat.” Jackson was pouting so much, Bambam knew he’d have to do something for Jackson if he didn’t want him to sulk for the rest of the day.

 

“Okay.” Jackson agreed but then aggressively poked Bambam’s chest. “I still hate you though.”

 

“Aw… Jackson don’t be like that. I’m your best friend.” Bambam slung an arm around Jackson shoulders and pulled him close. The older boy was a er for skin ship and he knew it. 

 

“No you’re not. My best friend is that tree.” Jackson pointed at the nearest tree and walked over to it. “How’s it going, man? I love you, bro!” He then proceeded to lean in a give the small tree trunk a very big hug.

 

The two had wondered into a park. The first few cherry blossom buds were blooming and it wouldn’t be long before the entire area was blanketed in pink petals. A few couples walked around, enjoying the beauty, but they were very far down the path and too wrapped up in their lovers eyes to care after the high school boy who was hugging a tree.

 

“If that tree was your crush, you’d have the makings of a shojo manga.” Bambam told him.

 

“Well, it’s a good thing you can’t fall in love with a tree.” Jackson abandoned his “best friend” and walked back to Bambam.

 

“Well if you try really hard…” He grinned mischievously.

 

“Do you want me to marry a tree? Do you want to be the best man at a wedding where a tree is carted down the aisle?” Jackson pointed at him accusingly.

 

“What? I have no idea what to even say to that. What are you even saying, Jackson?” 

 

“You’re the one who brought up shojo and trees! Don’t turn this around on me! I’m not the guilty one!” 

 

“Let’s just go get those crepes.” Bambam shook his head but smile at Jackson as they walked to a crepe stand under the shelter of a large cherry tree.

 

“What flavor can I get for you boys, today?” A sweet elderly lady smiled at them and gestured to the menu.

 

Bambam looked at the menu and picked out the sweetest sounding item. “I’d like a chocolate custard cream crepe, please!”

 

She nodded at him before turning to Jackson. “And for you, dear?”

 

“A dark chocolate strawberry crepe, please.”  He pointed at the menu.

 

“Let me go make those for you two.” She smiled and winked at them. 

 

The elder lady ladled out some batter onto a circular stove with practiced hands and spread it evenly across the entire surface with a special tool she had. The batter cooked for just a few seconds before she took a spatula and flipped it over to cook for just enough time to get crispy on the other side. When it was done, she moved the crepe over to a board and pulled out a piping bag filled with whipped cream. She carefully squeezed the bag and decorated the top half of the crepe before the tucking the piping bag away safely again. The custard was in another piping bag and she put a stripe of it parallel to the whipped cream.Then she drizzled the milk chocolate across the whole thing in decorative stripes and zigzags. After being rolled up neatly so none of the fillings oozed out, the old lady handed it to Bambam and got started on Jackson’s crepe.

 

The batter for his was cooked just the same. But when the elderly lady laid out the cooked crepe, she reached for a small container of fruit first. She cut up two strawberries carefully and laid them out across the whipped cream like it was a work of art. Then dark chocolate was drizzled across it richly and Jackson could feel himself salivating at the sweet, tempting smell. 

 

Jackson watched the whole process with child like interest.

 

“Ma’am, you’re really good at this!” Jackson complimented her and she beamed at him as she rolled up his crepe. “How long have you been doing this?”

 

“Oh, 7 years, give or take. It never gets old.” The elder lady handed him his crepe. “Everyday I get to see friends and couple, just like yourselves passing through and growing. There’s always someone interesting coming by.” 

 

“That’s so cool!” Bambam chimed in. “You must have the best job in the whole world!”

 

“Oh you’re sweet. It’s not so much the job as it is your attitude.” She spoke with the wisdom of someone who had done many jobs and moved around just as often. “As long as you focus on what your work gives you instead of what it takes away from you, you’ll find enjoy joy in what you do.”

 

“That’s good advice.” Jackson glanced at Bambam before looking back at her. “Thank you so much for the food and the talk, ma’am! We’ll come visit you again soon!”

 

“Oh alright then! Have a good day, you two!”

 

Jackson and Bambam bowed at her before heading on their way with on last wave to the kind elder lady.

 

Bambam paused for a second as he looked at his crepe. It had finally hit him that somehow, he was going to have to eat this. He opened his mouth as if to just bit into it but then he closed it and pulled away. He cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow. Deciding to just go for it after not thinking of a better strategy to eat it, he leaned back down and bite into it.

 

The chocolate smeared across his lips and a piece of the crepe fell to the ground. Jackson let out a high pitched, hyena-like laugh at his expense.

 

“Shut up! … How do you even eat these?” Bambam mumbled. He kept looking at his crepe, turning it this way at that, as if it was the most difficult puzzle in the world and his life depended on solving it.

 

“You just eat it. It’s not rocket science.” Jackson took a bite of his crepe and annoyingly didn’t get any of it on him.

 

Bambam glared at him as he took another bite. Again, chocolate got all over his lips and even streak across his cheeks instead of inside his mouth.

 

Jackson laughed at him again and Bambam grumbled to himself.

 

“You’re so cute, Bambam!” Jackson reached over and brushed his thumb across Bambam’s cheek to get the chocolate off. He brought his thumb back to his mouth and it off like it was the most natural things in the world.

 

Jackson started to walk off, taking another bit of his crepe, but Bambam was frozen in place with cheeks more red than the strawberries in Jackson’s crepe.

 

He couldn’t quick process what had just happened.

 

Jackson had. Gotten chocolate off of his face. And his thumb clean. And walked away like that was the most ing y thing that had ever happened to Bambam.

 

“W-Wait! J-Jackson!” Bambam called out and ran after him. 

 

Jackson paused and turned around to find Bambam almost exactly where he had left him. Jackson walked toward him, meeting him halfway.

 

“You gotta move faster than that if you want to keep up, Bambam.” Jackson slung an arm around his shoulder and pulled him along.

 

“I-It’s just…” Bambam trailed off, not quite sure was he was trying to say but knowing that he was tired of trying to hide how he felt for Jackson.

 

Before Jackson had transferred into his class, Bambam didn’t have any friends. But once Jackson, and all his talkative tendencies, took him in he made more friends. He got roped into more class discussion, and he wasn’t as afraid of making mistakes with his Japanese. If he said something wrong, Jackson or one of his classmates would kindly help him. But if Jackson hadn’t been by his side the whole time, he would have been afraid to even try to put himself out there. Jackson had been with him every step of the way.

 

And slowly.

 

Bit by bit.

 

Bambam began to rely on him.

 

And even more than that, he grew to like him.

 

And with Jackson standing in front of him, waiting for Bambam to finish what he was saying with a cutely expectant expression, Bambam decided it was time for him to make a move.

 

“You missed a spot.” He pointed to his chocolate covered lips and nervously shifted his feet.

 

Jackson froze. He looked stunned at Bambam, who was waiting for him to make a move with adorable pink cheeks and very welcoming lips.

 

“…” 

 

Jackson slowly reached over and cupped Bambam’s cheek in his right hand. He leaned into the hand and closed his eyes. 

 

Then Jackson whispered hoarsely. “Let me help you get that.”

 

And Jackson leaned down, oh so slowly, and kissed Bambam.

 

 

Bambam’s heart felt like it was swelling too big for his chest, so much that it might burst, and he could almost swear that if he opened their eyes they would see shoo bubbles and flowers all around them.

 

Because everything was sweet and perfect and warm and Bambam hadn’t felt this at home since he first came to Japan.