All You Need Is Love (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 26🌻

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They removed the plastic wrap that served as a cover for the food, releasing the delicious smell of Kansai soup stock. The tempura had been put on a separate plate instead of inside the soup. When Gulf dipped a piece of tempura in the soup, its batter made a crisp snapping sound. It was freshly fried. The smell of the food made Gulf suddenly felt hungrier, and he sucked up his noodles enthusiastically.

"Do you like it?"

"It's great. It's even better than I expected. This is amazing." The more noodles Gulf slurped to, the more he wanted to eat. The tempura went well with them.

"This is my favorite place. But I'd get tired of it if I ate there everyday, so I never go more than once every other day." Mew finished his first dish and was reaching for the second.

"You mean you don't have a girlfriend who can come cook for you?"

Mew denied it emphatically. "I already told you, I haven't gotten out much since I came here."

"Well, even if you don't have one here. i bet you had one in Tokyo," Gulf went on, not looking at Mew's face. The answer to that question didn't come as quickly.

"After everything you said, you still believe those rumors too?"

"What?"

"About why I was kicked out of my last school. The rumor that I got a girl pregnant."

"No, I don't believe that."

"Why not? A guy like me is pretty popular in Tokyo.'

'Probably.'

"I didn't even have to say anything. I'd just go to the clubs in Harajuku and around Hiroo, and the girls would come running."

This was the first time Gulf heard Mew talk about his past.

"But I've been going places like that ever since I was a kid. I lost my virginity when I was in fifth grade."

"What?" The chopsticks in Gulf's fingers dropped from his hand. "You're kidding."

"No, it's true. My dad's place was always swarming with these young guys and their girlfriends, or the shop girls, or whoever. I didn't really get it at that time, but some lady with really heavy make up came into the room I was sleeping in and she touched me."

Mew mimicked the movements of the woman's hand with his own so Gulf would understand. A shudder shot up Gulf's spine at the strangely obscene motions.

"Of course, it's not like I had no idea what was going on. But I didn't have any experience, so it surprised me. And I couldn't get away, so I just had to let it happen. I don't know if it felt good or not. I remember not wanting to move at all, and that lazy feeling just sweeping through my whole body."

Gulf couldn't have known what it was really like, but a scene floated through his mind, and he felt his body growing warm. This wasn't good dinner conversation.

"We did it---or I guess, she did it to me---a bunch more times, and after I started to like it, things went fast. When I was in sixth grade, I started getting off with the girls who came to our house by myself."

Heat flooded Gulf's entire body. Mew would have looked even younger than he did now, and he was picking up older women and have sex with them. His body maturing faster than his soul.

"I did it with some of the girlfriends of the guys who were working for my dad. There were a couple times I was pretty scared about what would happen if someone found out."

Mew sounded more thrilled than scared as he told his story.

"I did it a lot all the way until middle school, but I never laid a hand on the kids from school. And I used a rubber every time I did it, I'm not stupid enough to risk getting a girl pregnant."

"So..."

"The reason I got kicked out of my last school is because I punched this really annoying teacher."

Gulf's face tensed at the revelation of this truth.

"AA picked that school without asking my opinion. All I did was take the test. And it was full of rich, self-righteous kids. I tried to deal with it at first, but there were teachers who'd attack me for no reason. And then senior year, I took too much heat."

"What does that mean?"

"They would pick on guys who weren't going to top schools, and there was this one guy they went out of their way to hassle. He was in my class. A nice guy. I guess he wasn't very strong, but I really liked him. He couldn't do anything right. People insult him all the time and sometimes they even kick him...never mind. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Mew brought the story to an abrupt end, but it was easy to imagine what happened next.

"Yeah," Gulf couldn't say anything. The meal continued in silence for a while after that, but Gulf couldn't enjoy the food. His heart was more full than his stomach. Mew noticed. He raised his eyebrows and gave Gulf a dubious look.

"Something wrong with your food? You're not eating anything."

"Yeah. I think I'm full."

"You don't like it?"

"I love it. I think I'm just not feeling well today."

"If you don't finish it, I'm going to eat what's left."

Mew leaned across the table and pulled Gulf's hand toward him. While Gulf wondered what he was doing, Mew sucked the udon noodles he was holding on his chopsticks.

"Hey!"

"Hey, Gulf."

"What?"

Chewing heartily, Mew looked up at Gulf. "Are you a virgin?"

TBC