All You Need Is Love (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 25🌻

PAST
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During his eighteen years of life, Gulf had crushes on girls. But he'd been going to an all-boys school since middle school, so he hadn't had opportunities to talk to girls, and he never had a girlfriend. He still hadn't lost his virginity. But he had never taken that as a reason to fall inlove with a boy instead. No way.

The feelings he had for Mew weren't love. It was sympathy, he decided, from one man to another. Or awe. Or fascination.

But then why was Mew always on his mind? Gulf squeezed his hands into fists.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Gulf was momentarily lost about what to do. He ran to the front door and peered through the peephole, but he saw no one. He remembered that the condo was in a secured building. That meant there had to be an intercom somewhere to let Gulf talk to the outside, but he had no idea where to look for it.

He decided he had no other choice and reluctantly ran to the bathroom.

Running it over again and again in his mind, he stopped at the first door in the hall and opened it. He saw through a frosted glass door the faint figure of a person and heard the sound of water. He couldn't make out the details, but Gulf clapped his hand over his eyes immediately.

"Mew!" He knocked on the door, and the shower stopped.

"What's up?"

"I think the food's here. What should I do?"

"The intercom is on the wall between the kitchen and living room. You pick it up and then you can see the guy on the screen and talk to him, to check who it is. Then push the button next to the phone to let him in."

"Got it. On the wall between the kitchen and the living room."

Gulf hurried back to the living room and found the intercom Mew had described.

"Hello? Delivery here."

He saw the delivery man on the screen. Gulf unlocked the door and watched the man walk inside.

"Gulf? Gulf!"

He heard Mew calling him from the bathroom. "What? I got the door open and ev---"

He started down the hallway, then stopped in his tracks. Mew was hanging out of the bathroom door, his wet hair stuck to his forehead and streams of water running down his body.

"Would you mind paying the guy while you're at it? My wallet is in my bag."

"Uh, okay. I've got some money too."

He wanted to look away, but he couldn't. Mew's wet arms glistened enchantingly and Gulf realized that he was staring. At Mew's sinuous arms and legs, his taut stomach, and there---

"I'll cover it. You've been tutoring me and all. But you have to pay the guy. I'll be out as soon as I dry off." Mew said, disappearing back into the bathroom.

Gulf still felt as if his brain had short-circuited. He stood rigid for a long time, but when he heard the doorbell, he went back into the living room with stiff, robotic movements. He rummaged through Mew's bag looking for his wallet, then went to the front door.

"Hello! Here's your order, tempura with udon and fried pork, the variety plate, and fried eel with rice. That comes to four thousand five hundred."

Gulf opened the wallet and found several ten thousand bills inside. He gawked momentarily at how much was there, then somehow managed to hand one of them to the delivery man.

He took the food, provided with trays, into the living room. He set it down on the dinner table for the time being, set the wallet beside them, and waited for Mew to arrive.

"Sorry. I didn't think it'd get here so fast."

Mew wore a giant t-shirt and baggy pants. He draped a towel over his wet hair. With his bangs hanging down in his face, he looked very young.

"It was four thousand five hundred. I put the change in your wallet over there."

"Thanks."

Mew put the wallet back into his bag, without checking the contents. Every time he moved, the smell of the shampoo he'd used skimmed across Gulf's nostrils.

"Did you call your parents?"

"...I forgot."

"What were you thinking? If you don't call soon, your mom's going to be expecting you for dinner."

Paying no attention to Mew's ribbing, Gulf hurriedly dialed his home phone number. His mother picked up right away and they finished talking quickly. He'd forgotten to say that he might be spending the night, but in a such a rushed conversation, he didn't feel too guilty about it. For better or worse, Gulf's parents trusted him. He was sure it was because they had trusted his brother too, and Gulf was following in his footsteps.

TBC