Ironies of life

Chapter 11: The shelter.

Naoki felt he was going to explode.

He always knew Dante would do anything to bug him, but that joke was over the limit of his tolerance. If Naoki thought he had experienced pure rage before it was nothing compared to the feeling that was burning within him at that moment. To make things even worse, Dante’s expression didn’t change at all. He looked bored of the situation, the exact opposite of Naoki’s own bursting emotions.

Naoki stood up wrathful, making the table slide back behind him.

“That’s enough. You are the most awful, wicked person in the history of humanity.”

He walked away from the kitchen and surprisingly found that Dante wasn’t following him so instead of going to his room and locking himself there he opened the door and ran away.

…

Loin’s face deserved to be framed when he saw Naoki at the other side of the door.

“What the heck…?”

Naoki stepped forward and hugged him suddenly, making one of Loin’s crutches fall with a clatter to the floor.

“I’m so sorry. I feel horrible for everything, Loin.”

“Hey man, you’re acting weird.”

If Naoki was expecting something from Loin was definitely not a “you’re acting weird.” A jab of disappointment nailed in his chest but he decided to ignore it. Loin was just surprised, his best friend (and almost only friend) would never reject him in a moment like this.

“You are never going to believe what my parents did to me, you are not going to believe me. This is the most horrible torture I’ve ever heard about.”

“Naoki... I need some time to cool down and you are going to get in trouble so…” Loin shuffled out of Naoki’s arms. “Go home now. I don’t want things to be hard and awkward.”

Naoki felt like his whole world was breaking apart. It couldn’t be possible, Loin was always there for him. He must still be upset about earlier is all. Right? The stitch in his chest became a gigant pressure that hinder him from breathing.

“Loin, this is real, I need to tell you this or I’ll explode and die.”

“I said go home, Naoki.”

Loin turned his back to Naoki putting so much effort in looking confident and biting about the topic.

“Loin, Loin please I’m so sorry. If you want I won't approach you until you are ready to accept my apology but please, please don’t send me home.”

Loin turned again to face Naoki just to show him his tears. Being rude was not Loin’s specialty and he ended up crying. ‘I’ve to do this or Naoki will keep talking, and he is going to discover the whole thing And Dante is going to crush me.’

“Naoki I’m tired of dealing with your problems. I don’t want to hear about your mother being mad at me for letting you stay here so go straight home or I’ll call her myself.”

‘I’m dead.’ was all Naoki could think as he fell to his knees. ‘Even Loin can’t stand me. I really screw up everything to push him to his limit. What kind of person am I? Making Loin this angry deserves a good reason.’

He glanced up at Loin and noticed his worried expression, and made a decision. ‘I’m going to speak now or never.’

“Dante kissed me.”

“What?” Loin didn’t even took a second to process that, he asked right away.

“My parents hired him as a babysitter to make sure I don’t leave the house. I was yelling at him in the kitchen and he suddenly kissed me.” Naoki explained himself as fast as possible. If there was even a little opportunity of Loin listening to him, he needed to use it.

Loin covered his face with his hands for a second and sighed.

“Come inside. You definitely need help.”

Sitting in Loin’s room surrounded by known things made Naoki feel better, it made him feel protected and safe.

“I never thought he was going to go so far to annoy me. He went way too far this time. Don’t you think?”

“Definitely.” Loin answered shortly.

“I mean, betraying me at the party sounds like him, making my mom hire him is wicked but entering my room, kissing me… That’s not a good joke. I swear I’m going to punch him if I see that wretch again.”

“You should.” Another short response from the french dude. Naoki sighed and stared at Loin in concern and frustration.

“Okay, there is something wrong with you. Why are you reacting like that? Are you still mad at me? Your answers are shorter than my conversations with cute girls.”

“I’m not mad at you.”

“Then what is it? You are acting like Dante right now. Stop being so mysterious and quit that poker face.”

Loin rolled his eyes and laid on the bed before responding “Any other demand?”

“Yes, I know you were kidding but I’m being serious. Can I stay here overnight? I don’t want to sleep at my house with that monster. Who knows what kind of tricks he has prepared to drive me insane.”

“Did you actually asked him if the whole kiss thing was a joke?”

“It wasn’t a joke, it was meticulously planned torture.”

“Do you think?” Loin kept looking at the ceiling, trying to help his friend someway but unable to look him in the eyes as he did so.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN? That’s obviously it. Everything he has ever done in his life is to ruin mine, but he got bored of the common stuff and decided to pass to the next level and…”

“Have you… considered…” Loin interrupted him but apparently he didn’t know exactly where to go with his words. “Have you considered… that maybe Dante did all those things to get your attention?”

Naoki couldn’t believe his friend. Was Loin really considering that or just trying to help, leading the conversation through all the possible points?

“If that was the case, He sucks at showing feelings to people, I don’t think that destroying lives and insulting me until he breaks me down is a common flirting strategy, too bad because now I hate him and nothing is going to change that and finally, if you want my attention just bring food.” Naoki counted on his fingers with every point before placing his hands down in his lap once more and huffing. “No, Loin, there is not even a slight possibility of that being true. I thought you had already noticed, but Dante is fully interested in girls, especially the ones I like.”

Just after saying that something clicked inside Naoki’s head. He could hear Loin talking again but he wasn’t listening anymore, lost in his thoughts.

‘Dante’s only been dating the girls I liked… Can Loin be right? Does this even make sense or am I just thinking about myself too much? The world doesn’t turn around me but… could that be a reason…?’

He tried to think back, to remember every single conversation he ever had with the blond guy and find a clue. But every time he could think of something that matched with the theory, he could also think of three things that didn’t fit in Loin’s guess at all.

‘I don’t hate you, Naoki’ He said that day in the class. But he also said things like: ‘You are pathetic’ ‘You’re going to invite Gala and you’re going to go with her to prom.’ and called him desperately single just in the past few weeks. He didn’t need to think hard to find contradictions on Loin’s theory.

“Naoki? Naoki?” His best friend couldn’t bring him from his space out “Earth calling Naoki, Naoki answer…” He tried with the classic first “Naoki Hiro bring your brain to the room please” Then with the receptionist voice… and finally just ended up grabbing his shoulder. “Are you feeling okay?”

Naoki finally came back. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening.”

“Oh, really? I didn’t notice.” Loin wasn’t usually sarcastic, so his sudden attitude ended with them snickering in laughter. It was a welcome feeling that Naoki appreciated since his other option was falling into a depressing hole of “I-Don’t-Understand-Anything”.

“I was just saying that you took the matter better than I would expect from you. I thought you were going to yell around about my “Stupid no sense” theory.”

“Do you want me to do it? I’m totally in the mood.” Loin pointedly ignored Naoki’s comment.

“What I mean is that… I thought you will completely deny the possibility of a man liking you in a romantic way.”

“I will deny the possibility of human being liking me in a romantic way, that’s how much faith I’ve in myself. And what do you mean by that? Do I look homophobic or just hopeless?”

“Both”

“Okay, that was easy to answer” Naoki smiled. “No, I’m not homophobic, though I dunno about not being hopeless, but this has nothing to do with it. I know Dante doesn’t like me in ANY way. He doesn’t like me at all, just as I don’t like him.”

“Okay, okay you win. Now don’t be so loud it’s starting to get late. Let’s go grab some snacks and think of more possibilities.” Loin conceded. “And by that I mean stand up and take the snacks for me because I’m a poor little one-legged friend.”

Naoki nodded despite rolling his eyes and left the room smiling. There was something about Loin that always made him feel better. He took some chocolate bars and lemonade but by the time he returned to the room Loin was holding a ringing phone with a concern face. He moved forward and read the little screen that said: ‘Naoki’s house’.

“Don’t take it.” Naoki dropped all the snacks on the bed in an effort to get the phone and deny the call.

“He has called three times already.” Loin protested.

“I don’t care just don’t… Loin don’t… okay, just don’t mention I’m here when he ask.”

Loin answered the phone pretending to be confused and very cautiously said:

“Naoki? What’s wrong? Why are you calling so late?”

“Don’t even try it, Loin. I know he is with you so tell him the police are going to start looking for him if he doesn’t come home within 24 hours. That’s all.” The call ended and Loin stared at the screen for a second with worry and grim acceptance. Naoki’s gut twisted with anguish while his blood boiled with incredulous anger and he clenched his fists.