KAEDE | HAYASHI

IF I HAD to admit, Neo seemed more agitated by the close call than I was.

His thumb rubbed over the locket that hung from his neck as he moved towards the door. If I wasn't running though different possibilities of escaping in my head, I probably would have made an "I told you so" comment. But my good humour deserted me when I realised he wasn't heading to the door to check if the girls had gone so we could escape.

He was heading over to talk to them.

"Lesedi?"

So he actually knew the girl's name?

I looked at him more closely when the doors opened. I knew it was embarrassment that prompted him to rub at his neck when his crush entered. The current grin that was plastered on his face was a rare one. I'd only seen it before on the bleachers— the one that gave his looks a boyish flare.

"I knew it was you D."

So he couldn't chat to his crush earlier when we were in a normal location, but he could now?

Lesedi didn't mirror his infatuated expression and settled with a small smile as she crossed her arms. "I don't know if I should be concerned that you recognise me so easily Neo."

I wasn't even surprised that they knew each other; Neo knew everyone.

But for once I was curious about how he knew Lesedi's friend. She'd entered just after and by her soft footing and quiet demeanour it was easy to see how she faded in the shadows of her friend. Yet it didn't mean I could stare at her without my heart drawing my attention to its thudding.

I shifted my gaze onto safer territory.

"How could I forget someone like you? It's impossible."

I thought Neo would take her looking away from his mug while he tried to — terribly — flirt as a sign to shut up. He didn't. His eyes hadn't left her since she'd arrived and I doubted they'd leave any time soon; especially with the intensity to the emotion to his gaze.

I was surprised he'd managed to keep the details of crush life to himself, but knew he'd tell me when he was ready.

My greys couldn't help but trail back to the unnamed beauty in an attempt to rack my head for her name— only to find her doe eyes already on me. Our closer proximity allowed me to notice more things than I had last time. They were larger than I'd realised, and were framed with short, black lashes. The colour in her irises were such a dark brown they bordered on black and I was suddenly struck with the memory of the fawn in the Disney movie Bambi.

My heart thumped under the pretty girl's gaze and I went to avert mine when she did the last thing I'd expect: for her to smile and wave at me. I wasn't blind to what I looked like; not approachable in the slightest. So I expected her to ignore me, maybe chat to Neo instead— not kindness.

This was unfamiliar ground to me — the last time I'd made more friends was last year in the Sixth Form basketball team and that was different. Bambi-eyes didn't have to be befriend me for the sake of the team. She seemingly did it because she wanted to and my brain struggled to comprehend that.

I was overthinking the situation for so long, I forgot to give her a reply. Her smile died on her lips and she went to lower her hand.

I swallowed hard while my hands fisted. My brain ran through the arm movement but my body acted in response to Bambi-eye's disappointment. I found myself quickly lifting my hand to wave back. Heat spread over my face and I knew my cheeks would show it; I wasn't sure if I'd done it right but I wanted to give her one back.

The smile that stretched across her face was larger than her first and I was completely unprepared for it. It wasn't anything like Neo's megawatt grins, it was warm and sincere and I was right about my earlier musing.

It was like being draped in sunlight.

But my heart didn't know how to take it and raced like I was warming up for a match. I felt slightly lightheaded and all I was doing was leaning against a fridge. Still, I was content to stare — and probably would have for longer — if Neo hadn't opened his mouth.

"Why didn't you get back to me in the break?"

Get back to him? What had he been hiding from me?

The vulnerability in his voice was clear as day and my eyes widened. He rarely showed that side of himself to me and Cai without avoiding the conversation— but here he was baring it all to a girl he hadn't even told me about.

He had a lot of explaining to do.

It looked like that very unguardedness threw off Lesedi and the moment she froze was unmissable. "Sorry but we've got to be going."

My brows furrowed at her change in mood and I glanced towards Neo to figure out what had set her off. She'd seemed alright before.

But it appeared like he knew from how gently he suggested, "Going without getting anything to eat?"

There were hidden undertones to their conversation that I couldn't catch and I paused when he pushed the Midget Gems packet into her hands. "Take it, it's no biggie."

The dope never shared his food with others.

"Thanks." His crush accepted the snack but didn't give it a second glance.

I caught her tug Bambi-eyes' arm. "We'll be going."

Despite her obvious goal to leave, he didn't look bothered by it. "It was nice to see you— the two of you."

I was going to give him a look at how he could miss Bambi-eyes' presence, but if he was so down bad that he was willing share his food. . .

Lesedi nodded as a real smile smoothed the discomfort from her face."I'll see the both of you."

I could tell the expression sucker-punched Neo in the chest better than any boxer could. He looked at her like he was in pain and pleasure and his smile looked a little too dreamy for me to trust his mental state.

He was a goner.

I flicked my gaze to Bambi-eyes as they made their way out. She gave me another one of her little waves and I found a corner of my lips pitching upwards.

She was real nice.

The girls' exit left us both staring at the door when Neo turned to me first. "And that is my sign that this is my year."

I gave him a disbelieving glance as my smile slipped away. "She basically scarpered mate."

She didn't but someone had to save him from delulu land.

He frowned at me and gave me a warning look that nearly made me laugh. "You either play into my delusions or keep your mouth zipped you grumpy bastard."

I smiled to myself as I followed him out. That was Neo for you.

I stared at his back as we walked and tried to phrase the question in my head in an unsuspicious way. "Do you even know the names of the two girls?"

He spun around so I could see him count on his fingers while he walked backwards. "Lesedi Ngoy, my girlfriend, and then. . ."

He trailed off and I couldn't even nitpick at his "my girlfriend" comment because I actually didn't know.

I made a note to it pursue later and clarified, "So you don't know the other girl's name?"

He squinted his eyes as he rubbed his chin. "I know she's her cousin."

Well that was helpful.

"So you don't know."

He shifted his eyes onto me and I knew I'd been caught. "So you didn't ask."

We looked at each other a long beat before I bowed out of the staring contest; I had more to loose if Neo decided to pursue the convo.

He grinned and I realised I might as well have competed. "You like her don't you?"

My defence left me before I could think about how it would make me appear. "Today's my first time seeing her in person you tool."

It was like I hadn't said anything at all as he slapped my back. "You sly dog! Tryna get info from me instead of finding the balls to ask yourself."

I mentally logged out of the convo as I escaped his grasp to slip my phone out. It didn't matter if he was right, what mattered was thst he wasn't much help. I glanced at the blighter drowning on beside me and decided now was as best time as ever to message AJ and ask about that piercing.

It wasn't me avoiding facing whatever "truth" Neo had though he'd stumbled on.

me
Hey are you free right
now?

me
It's alright if you aren't

aj 🤞🏻
I finally am actually 😍

aj 🤞🏻
Remind me to never
agree to things without
knowing when I'm
meant to arrive

me
They had you here
from 11am right?

aj 🤞🏻
Security guard Bruce
wasn't even here yet 🥰

me
You're joking.

aj 🤞🏻
Wishing I was ☺️

aj 🤞🏻
I had to set out the
envelopes and stuff

aj 🤞🏻
Oh and practice a
speech I'd written an
day before 😍

me
I can't believe Gareth
told you last minute
about it

me
It makes me believe
Neo when he says
they're best mates

aj 🤞🏻
Literally. But it's
okay, it's only one
hurdle

me
And there's more
where that came from
😍

aj 🤞🏻
Kae-Kun literally
no one laughed

me
Just think of it as
payback

aj 🤞🏻
For what?

me
Breaking our promise
to get piercings together

aj 🤞🏻
Technically, these
weren't my first ever
piercings...

me
A promise is a
promise??

aj 🤞🏻
I know and I am
sorry. I did it for Neo
more than anything
else

me
What happened?

aj 🤞🏻
All I know is that
he needed a distraction
and I'm not heartless
you know

me
And here she acts like
she doesn't love our
Neo too 🥺

aj 🤞🏻
Use that emoji again
and I'll pull a Malacai

me
Lol

me
You heard about
their first lovers' tiff
of the year?

aj 🤞🏻
Who hasn't?

aj 🤞🏻
Anyways I've reached
my dorm and am
hoping to God that my
roommates are nice

me
Just trust Him, we all
prayed about it together
remember?

aj 🤞🏻
Yeah, you're right
(for once)

me
Bye AJ (I'm
gonna act like I didn't
hear that)

aj 🤞🏻
Goodbye 🤞🏻

I certainly wasn't aware of my surroundings as I stowed my phone away and mentally went over our conversation. I just settled with following Neo.

I definitely felt less bummed about the piercing thing. I knew if I promised with AJ, I'd eventually get one and wouldn't back out. Now it seemed less likely to happen. But with her reasoning, I couldn't muster up anything other than understanding.

Neo rarely talked things out or put his emotions under a spotlight. His favourite coping mechanism was a distraction. And deciding a piercing on Akira Jae Yamada was certainly a good one. I almost wished I was there so I could have seen it go down; with AJ's reliance on planning and Neo's ambition to go with the flow, it seemed like a recipe for disaster.

But despite all her talk, she loved Neo like we all did.

I couldn't tell if the thing he wanted a distraction from was his blossoming crush or his family life, but I knew he'd bring it up when he was ready.

I glanced up when Neo turned around with an outstretched hand.  "Hm?"

"The envelope?" He did the hungry hand gesture. "With our info for what room we're in? And has our fobs inside?"

I rolled my eyes and looked around him to find we were in the Upper Sixth male wing. "We're all in room thirty-four."

"How'd you know that?" He managed to question me whilst scanning for the room despite the groups of friends hanging about.

"I checked earlier." I opened his envelope and pulled out his key. "Catch."

I chucked it to him and he caught it with one hand whilst half of his attention was on counting. "Ta daddy dearest."

Not again.

I felt a burn crawl up my neck in embarrassment and hoped no one heard. "I told you to fucking stop with that Neo."

"Tomato tomato." Was his only response as he headed over to one of the grey doors along the wide hallway.

I took a deep breath to steel myself as I followed him into the dorm. When I'd checked the envelopes earlier, I thanked God that only the three of us were listed to room together. The three of us being me, Neo and Cai. Speaking of the Welsh basketball player, he was already inside and I wasn't surprised.

He hadn't changed much than from when I'd last seen him. He'd grown a bit over the Summer, enough to be the tallest out of the three of us. His skin remained pale but freckled from the sun in the six weeks and his face sharp, but soft at the same time. Certainly an amalgamation of his parents' features.

Aerona had convinced him to not trim his black hair too short so it was messy on the top and shorter on the sides. Two piercings lay on each of his ear and they reminded me of my promise to AJ.

Despite today being a non-uniform day, he dressed so formal that he might as well have been in uniform. He wore black slacks and a white button-up shirt that he'd rolled up to the elbows. It was a plain outfit but his strong build and the tattoos that traced down his forearms balanced it out. A pair of high top black converse covered his feet and I had a feeling Aerona asked him to wear them so they matched.

I threw a glance at my watch. The whole kitchens stint took longer than I'd thought if Cai had reached before us.

"Hey you two."

I was glad to see the dark-haired lad put aside his annoyance for Neo now we were in person. Sure Neo and him clashed more than anyone else in the group but they really were there for each other.

"Hey Cai." I dabbed him up before heading over to the bed in between his and Neo's and flopping onto it face-first.

Unpacking my stuff could wait.

Neo only stood in the middle of the room with his hands on his waist. "Look who's chatting to me right now K."

Cai remained unbothered at Neo's tone and carried on unpacking his suitcase by his bed. He'd snagged the bed closest to the window that overlooked the large quad that stood in the centre of the school and I couldn't even be jealous. I'd do the same if I got here first.

"Cai can you tell him to stop calling me the D-word."

I didn't care that I sounded like a grumpy toddler as I shifted on my side so I could watch him unpack. He had an order to it and it was calming to watch.

"Which D-word?"

"It's not the bad one."

His question of was overlapped by Neo's argument and I scowled at the loc-headed sap. "If it makes me uncomfortable, it is a bad one."

"Er, that's not how it works."

"Just because you'd like someone to call you it, doesn't mean everyone else does."

"Who's gonna tell him?" He mimed as if he was looking at the audience and I wanted to toss my pillow at his big head.

"Are you guys unpacking your stuff or what?" Cai had given up trying to follow along and resumed his role as mother hen.

I sent Neo a glare; now I looked just as bad as him.

Still, there was something about messing around with my mates made me feel lighter. Light enough to not ruminate on this morning.

"Yeah." I turned over so I could stuff my face in my pillow and ignore the spanner. "Give us a sec."

I needed a moment to unload from the day. From the arrival to Basil Osmond's unexpected approach, to even Bambi-eyes: I needed a minute of rest.

I could feel the Welsh-lad's stare on my back for ten seconds before he shuffled over to my bed and began unpacking my stuff for me. At the end of the day, it was just as well because he was the best when it came to organisation and he stressed when things were out of place. So it was a win-win for everyone.

"Are you gonna do my stuff too Howell?"

Cai carried on moving things around me like he hadn't even heard Neo and I snorted into my pillow. "Do yous know why there's an extra bed in here? Are we expecting another person?"

Another person? Only the three of us were listed down for this room so what did he mean?

I didn't even manage to think that much on it when a loud meow echoed about the room. Both Cai and I turned to Neo to find his bashful face.

He. Did. Not.

I forced myself to sit up so I could see his luggage he'd placed on his bed. It was a lie to say I was shocked to find a pet carrier among his stuff.

Of course he fucking did.

It only took another glance of his "belongings", to realise it was nearly all cat-care. I blinked and looked closer at everything he'd brought.

Why were there more cat belongings than his own? And who needed eleven bags of kitty litter?

The label on it wasn't even in English, it was in Gaeilge— the exact same brand at Nana's. There were bags of the stuff in her attic since he was over at her place as much as I was during the summer.

I doubted I would ever understand the way his brain worked.

"Neo, I'm only going to ask this once, so I need a straight answer: did you smuggle your sister's cat in here?"

He ignored my words and shot me a dirty look like I was in the wrong. He headed over to the pet carrier as Lorato meowed again. To make matters worse, she wasn't even his cat— she was his sisters. I knew she was off at university this year and wasn't allowed pets in her dorm, but that didn't mean Neo had to take responsibility.

Cai cursed from the other side of my bed. "I should have prayed for new friends, not roommates. Fucking hell."

He didn't mutter under his breath well enough because Neo's head snapped up from the unlatching he was doing. "No you fucking shouldn't have Howell."

I rubbed my hands down my face as I ran through the eejit's actions this morning. Was the detour to the Kitchens part of his plan to butter me up?

Cai didn't even want to tackle the news and I didn't blame him because it would only give him a headache. He turned back to the convo he'd been trying to have with us earlier, now we weren't distracted— well one of us wasn't distracted.

"So, a new dorm mate? Do you guys think we'll be get one?"

I immediately hated the idea. I was sure my face betrayed my thoughts because a smile spread across his freckled mug.

It wasn't my fault; I valued privacy and had trust issues after various incidents when I was younger. Our friend group of five held the only people I trusted enough to bare myself to emotionally. These two dopes just happened to be in that group.

The clack of Lorato's carrier being shut brought me out of my thoughts. Neo had the fluffy-haired, white cat in his arms and Cai gave him a wary look as Neo rounded his bed to get closer to us.

"I'm sure it's been a while since you've seen my girl, Howell."

"I saw her at three AM this morning when spammed the boy's groupchat with pictures of her."

I shook my head and stifled my laugh at the two's interaction.

Neo nodded sympathetically like the hours that had passed since were way too long. "I know how you must be feeling, I'm so glad I can reunite you both."

I couldn't help it then, not with Cai cringing away from Neo and the Ragamuffin, plus the corner of Neo's lips curving at his reaction. A laugh escaped my throat as I hid my face into my naked pillow. Something soft hit the back of my head and I lifted my head to find a pillow cover on my back. I reached over to grab it and pull it over my pillow before thanking Cai.

Such a mother hen.

I glanced over to him to find him near-done unpacking all ny things. He had my bedsheets in his hands and I thanked him with a grin. He only rolled his eyes and tossed the sheets in his arms on me— but I caught his smile.

I'd thank him properly by getting him coffee tomorrow morning.

I got off my bed to sort my bed out while Cai stubbornly ignored the cat Neo was pushing into his chest.

"Resuming Cai's earlier convo, I — for one — hope we don't get anyone new and that the bed's there for decoration."

Cai nodded and took the opportunity to avoid Neo altogether by sitting on his bed to the right of me. "And who'd be willing to be a new kid in Upper Sixth?"

I silently agreed.

Neo gave up on getting Cai to hold Lorato and sat on my bed so he could look him up and down. "If they get along with Lorato, they get along with me."

A snicker left me at the dark expression that flitted over Cai's face. I pondered Lorato's fate for a second. I leaned over to ruffle Cai's fluffy hair, fully expecting the slap I received.

"So, when are we leaving for dinner?" It was like he had a stomach that wasn't able to be sated.

"You can think of food after what you ate?"

Cai looked on in mild concern but I relayed the amount of food he'd consumed less than an hour ago.

He set his green eyes on Neo with a disbelieving set to his brows. "There's no way you're hungry right now."

"And if I am?" His scowl was less affective when there was a cat rubbing her fluffy face into his cheek.

"You've not even touched your bags."

It was silent in the dorm for a few moments before Neo carefully placed Lorato on his bed. "Well I'm going, are yous gonna join me or what?"

I shared a look with Cai before he rolled his eyes and gave in. Despite it all, I was kinda hungry.

"That's the spirit boys!"

Neo wasn't helping his case and Cai made that clear by how he chucked a cushion at the former's face. "Shut up for a second."

Neo dodged it but was obedient and waited by the door for us to reach him. His patience became less noteworthy when he slipped out the door when we hadn't even crossed half the room.

I rolled my eyes and gave Lorato a gentle stroke as she curled herself up on Neo's bed. "We'll be back soon Lori."

Despite his apparent aversion to the feline when Neo was around, Cai gave her a careful pet after me. I kept my smile to myself as we followed our friend out the room.

I glanced at him after I heard our dorm door lock shut after us. He already had his phone out and was typing away in record time. I was willing to bet an eyebrow-raising amount that the message was for Aerona.

"Are we going to be joining the her?"

I had no doubt that he was asking her if she'd had dinner yet.

"We missed her actually." The slight divot to his brows was the only sign of his discontent. "She's heading back with Jae and the other girl's they're rooming with."

"Oh, AJ's sharing with Aer? That's good 'cause I know she was so worried she'd have to share with mean people."

"Well, we all did that group prayer before coming and God handled it, didn't He?" He didn't lift his gaze from his phone to catch my smile.

Out of all of us, Cai was definitely the most steadfast in his faith; it really brought the whole mother hen image together. But seriously, he just had a way of settling everyone's worries.

The Welsh lad never hid his real self from Neo and I, and I was always grateful. It meant deep conversations were the norm in our friendship and we could be honest with each other and expect no judgement. That and our conversations could go from zero to one hundred and we wouldn't bat an eye.

Our relationship had a solid foundation and we understood each other inside out. Plus, Cai was the most levelheaded out of the three of us — when Aerona wasn't involved that is — and his advice was always the most mature.

I waited until he'd stowed away his phone to check-up on him. "So how are you doing? Between Lori, Neo and dorming we haven't had a chance to have a good chinwag."

He chuckled and glanced ahead at the boy who'd turned around at the sound of his name. I don't know how he caught it since he was at the opposite end of the corridor and my voice wasn't ever loud.

"Mum's happy with Clive so I'm happy. But I only saw dad once last month so. . .not particularly jumping for joy about that."

His parents were highschool sweethearts, a rising footballer and a fashion journalist from the same Welsh town. However, they'd divorced after having him and went their separate ways. His mum had remarried with his stepdad, Clive, and became an editor for British Vogue whilst starting her own fashion line in her maiden name. By now, Beddoe was close to rivalling brands like Dior and Chanel. Owen, his dad, went on to play for the Welsh football team. That and started another family of his own, giving Cai step-siblings.

Even though Clive was a great stepdad, I understood that Cai still held a pull to his biological father. But it was hard for him to connect to his dad when they only met twice a month. Or were meant to meet twice a month; sometimes Owen couldn't make it for whatever reason. Maybe he was out of the country for an international game or he was busy with his current girlfriend and his second son she was the mother of.

I just hoped his reason for not making it this time was legitimate because I knew how Cai's head worked. A large part of himself still based his worth on how much his dad wanted to see him. Because if your dad — someone responsible for bringing you into the world — didn't care enough, why would anyone else?

I watched my dark-haired friend's sharp profile for a moment as he trailed his eyes to the ground. "Cai?"

He didn't looked over at me through the thick fringe that had fallen over his green eyes. "Yeah?"

"You know I love you right?"

He paused and blinked before a small smile quirked up the corner of his lips. "I wasn't expecting a love confession from you today Kae."

But the softening to the hard edges of his greens told me that it meant a lot for him to hear. Still, I played along with his game.

"When were you expecting a love confession then?" A grin shaped my lips before I could stop it. "Before or after Aerona's?"

His dirty look made me laugh but we didn't get much further when Neo suddenly appeared between us. pushing us apart. "I know I'm not getting hints of you cheating on me K."

The ongoing joke between the three of us made me chuckle and I held up my hands. "I was just showing some love, you know you're number 1 in my heart."

He eyed me for a second before laying a kiss on Cai's cheek. "Since we've both showed him love, its balanced out—"

The Welsh lad didn't let him finish his horrible excuse before socking him in the stomach. The force of it had him bent over and clutching his stomach.

"Good one Howell." I could barely catch his wheeze and burst into laughter at the murderous intent on Cai's face.

"Try that again Moseki and watch where it'll land you."

They soon erupted into an argument and as I looked between the two dopes, I felt like I was at home.

EL SPEAKS !
↬ so sorry for the late update i had mocks this week and jeez louise i dont reccomend ☺️
thoughts on the chap? i love reading / writing boy friendships so much 🤭
what do you think of the boys? i went in more depth about them unlike last time so prepare for the lore 😻😻
i really hope you enjoyed the chapter, please like vote and comment lovelies 🫶🏽

( posted; 03/02/24 )