All You Need Is Love (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 28

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A few days after the exams had ended, Gulf saw his results and let out a deep sigh.

The paper he'd gotten back showed his scores for all of the tests. But they were all terrible.

Somehow he'd managed to pull off the average score but, remembering the grade requirements for the schools he wanted to get into, he knew it wasn't good enough. He feared the parent-teacher conference that would come from this. But before that, Gulf had to see Suzushima in his office. Gulf had a good idea of what he was going to say to him.

"Ah, Gulf. Have a seat."

Not even the slightest breeze came in through the open window. The two were sweating just sitting in their chairs. In the sweltering heat, the noise of the cicadas in the trees next to the school grated on Gulf's nerves.

"Were things difficult for you this semester?" Suzushima didn't waste any time.

"No..."

"You understand the position you're in, right?"

"I know."

"These grades are going to make it very difficult to get a recommendation for the schools you selected."

"I know." Gulf had nothing to say for himself except these brief answers and silence. He bowed his head and stood up. As he walked to the door, Suzushima called out to him.

"Just to let you know, Mew got good grades. I asked him how he did it. Do you know what he told me?"

Gulf stiffened at the mention of Mew's name. "I don't know."

"He said that there was someone who was willing to risk everything for him, and so Mew studied hard for that person."

Mew's words, delivered by Suzushima's voice, pierced Gulf's body. But he said nothing and only bowed his head.

The day after he'd fled from Mew's house was the first day of the exams. Their seating arrangement had been changed from the ordinary one to follow their student numbers, so Mew, who had just transferred in, was sitting away from Gulf. But when Mew got to school, the first thing he'd done was come stand in front of Gulf's desk. He'd set a bag down on his desk, then gone to his own seat.

Conscious of the eyes of everyone in the room, Gulf looked inside the bag and found the shoe he had thrown at Mew the night before.

For the next four days of the exams and the three days after that---a week all together---Gulf hadn't exchanged a single word with Mew.

No matter what he was doing, thoughts of Mew filled Gulf and the slightest provocation brought back the memory of that night.

Gulf wasn't a puritanical person and he didn't believe in self-denial. He was just a late bloomer, if anything, since he had never sought out information about sex. He had masturbated before, but it was usually unwilling, driven by necessity. He was never motivated to do it and he didn't read porn novels or slobber over photos of female celebrities.

So the things Mew had done and the pleasure he had brought Gulf with his strangers hands was too much for him. Sometimes when he thought about it, he would reach for his groin and masturbate, trying to recapture the feeling. But he would come back to his senses as soon as it was over and be oppressed by violent self-loathing.

Why was Gulf behaving like this? Why hadn't he punched Mew when he was doing those things to him? Why did he get excited? Gulf tortured himself with these questions, but never found an answer.

It was something he had wondered about ever since he first met Mew. Mew was a man unlike any Gulf had ever met before. He usually acted so adult that it was hard to imagine they were the same age, but something about him still seemed childlike. Mew's expression at dinner was burned into Gulf's memory.

He wanted to find out more about what Mew thought about his life. Wasn't he sad eating all by himself? Wasn't he sad living all alone?

Since Gulf was ignoring him, Mew would sit at his own desk and stare resolutely out the window. Of course, Gulf was in his line of sight, but he refused to look at Mew. There was a complicated vibe between the two of them.

Sometimes Takaoka, knowing no fear, would try to talk to them, but when he got only cold looks, he would slink away dejectedly. Gulf felt bad, but there was nothing he could do about it. They were growing apart.

Gulf's heart ached when he saw Mew's expressionless face. If they were cast into summer and it was still like this, what would happen to them? Gulf wondered, but wonder was all he did. He never lifted a finger to change anything.

TBC