Boys For Hire!!

Beautiful Smiles

"Ugh... This is the worst." I sit at my desk, swamped between to very, very tall piles of finished and un-finished projects and assignments. My blurry eyes turn to look at the Idolised Maki Nishikino figurine on the corner of my timber desk. "Oh Maki... And I was really looking forward to catching up with you today..." I look over at my mini TV set, a lonely, sad looking Love Live movie DVD just waiting for me to watch it. I sigh and a turn back to my work load.

"You've been sighing a hella lot today. Too stupid to work?"

I jump at the sound of a voice in the room. I whip around to see a certain raven haired boy lying on my couch reading.

"Oh, it's just you."

"Whadya’ mean it's 'just me'? f**k off, princess."

"Me, f**k off? For your information, Katsu," I stomp over to the leather lounge which he's lying on, and strip the blanket covering him off. "This is MY room, you Bumblr emo."

"Tumblr emo?" He sits up, crossing his legs, leaning back into the leather causing a creaking sound. "Boys For Hire's are banned from using social media's."

I roll my eyes. "You know what I mean. Those guys that reminisce over photos of their abs and piercings while texting stuff like 'My parents don't understand' and 'Rawr XDXD'. I bet you even listen to Panic! At the Disco." I pick up his phone and open up the music tab. "Never would've guessed." I see 'Girls/Girls/Boys' by PATD in the history. I toss his phone back on the couch and fold my arms. "Don't you think your Boys For Hire role is too cliché?"

"Shows what you know, chicks dig it."

"You did not just say that."

"Say what?"

"'Chicks dig it', you sound like a jock."

"All the girls that hire us love it though."

I roll my eyes. "Well I don't."

"Well," There's a sudden tug on my hips and I find myself stumbling over my feet. I part my legs and place two knees on the couch to avoid falling on top of Katsu, but the boy tugs me harder so I'm awkwardly positioned on top of him. "I'm not even sure you are a girl, or a human." He leans into my ear. "I'd love to find out though."

"Knock it off Katsu." I push him lightly, covering my red face with one hand. "Save it for a girl that'll like it."

"Oh? A girl that'll like it, huh?"

I'm knocked on my back and a gust of wind is sucked out of me as I lie down into the soft cushions of my leather couch. Katsu brings his body down so his head rests in the crook of my neck.

"Then this should be fine, right Chiseki?"

"Rule 1!! R-Rule 1!" Katsu's head comes up, so I put my arms in the form of an x to protect myself. "B-Boys For Hire boys can't fall in love with their clients!!"

I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping it'll work. There's a slight shuffle before I feel the weight on top of me lift.

"I'm not in love with you, you idiot."

I look over at Katsu who's looking out the window from the couch.

"I'm just playing with you, Chiseki. C'mon." He turns to me and grins, avoiding eye contact with me. "We're friends right?"

I nod surreptitiously. "Yeah, friends..."

***

I trod down the stairs, ready for school. "Later mum! Later guys!" There's a chorus of multiple goodbye's, but I hear footsteps coming towards me, creaking on the wooden floorboards.

"Yo, Princess."

"So your on walking duty today, Katsu?"

"Yup."

I open the oak door and cringe as small droplets of water patter onto my school uniform. I stick my hand out into the open and feel the weather.

"It's not that heavy... Pass me an umbrella?"

"Hey now, I'm not that bad a gentleman." Katsu steps out into the light rain and unfolds an umbrella he picks out from the draining bucket, getting a tad wet in the process. "Leggo, Princess."

I pull my arms through the sleeves of my jacket and zip up the zipper, stretching and giving a yawn. I step out of the door frame, shutting the door with a slam. I step under the cover of Katsu's umbrella and we start moving out of the yard and onto the pavement. I tuck my hands into my pockets, trying to think up a conversation after yesterday's... Thing.

"So... Katsu..."

"That's my name."

I grunt at his forwardness. "How were things... When you weren't a Boy For Hire? I know the others... Didn't have very good beginnings. What about you?"

He sighs. "Just the classic. My parents died in a car crash and I turned into an emo shut in moving from home to home until I met a girl." I feel a vibration near my shoulder and realise Katsu's hand is shaking.

"That's not 'Just a Classic', Katsu. Your parents died. You can't categorize those things as something in the norm."

"But don't you do it yourself? What was is, an emo Bumblr boy you called me? You called me that because your categorizing me as-"

"C'mon." I roll my eyes at him, trying to drag him along to cross the street, but we miss the green man and he turns red, so we stop. "I was just... We were just joking around Katsu."

"Oh? What happened to your righteous speeches about Boys For Hire having their own lives and personalities?"

"Stop! Katsu that's enough. It's just easier to categorize people based on their actions. We learn from others, and when we do we grow into their lives and become like them, that's how we have cultures and religions with a big follower base." I feel Katsu's impatience growing and I feel a tad guilty. "I'm sorry, you know how I feel about you guys's positions, please understand I'm not trying to-"

I'm stopped by a sudden jolt. I crash into Katsu, who has his arm around me while we're standing closer under the umbrella. "You were getting wet." I notice that my right shoulder is drenched from it sticking out in the rain from under the umbrella.

"Thank you..." I feel my face flush. "You can take you arm off now."

"It's warmer this way."

The green man flashes and we across the street along with a dozen other people, dressed in their wet attire. My attention returns back to Katsu.

"S-So... You said you met a girl."

"Yeah." He says in a hushed whisper, accompanied by a nod from under his black scarf. "I like her a lot."

"Tell me about her."

Katsu's eyes look down to me, then back in front. "She's annoying."

"Oh, that's a great way to start off."

Katsu lets out a chuckle from under the cloth of his cotton scarf, puffs of white air seeping out like clouds in every breath. "She's hard headed, stupid to hell, ignorant, sloth-like, lazy-"

He makes eye contact with me again before returning his sight to the view in front of us. He stops and I notice we're at the entrance of school which is darkened due to the stormy clouds.

"But she's strong. A little too strong if you ask me, but she's fragile at the same time, which makes me want to take care of her. She takes interest in the smallest and most irrelevant things, and has the most powerful morals you could think of. Even though you could think not, she's incredibly kind and just..." He blinks. "Has this way of bringing people together."

"She seems nice."

"Yeah, and she has the most beautiful smile."

I laugh as he starts to day dream. "Gosh, look at you! Got your head in the clouds and everything, never knew you could be so sweet, ahahah!"

After my laughing fit, I look up into Katsu's eyes which seem to soften under my gaze. Katsu leans down, softly taking my hands and wrapping my small fingers around the wooden handle of the umbrella.

"Huh...?"

I feel his breath on my ear, before something soft gently grazes my cheek.

"You really do have the most beautiful smile, Chiseki."