All You Need Is Love (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 38🌻

PAST
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Not having to worry about when to come home or when to get up was enough to make the two young men slack off for everything. After seeking out each other's bodies in the hallway, they had sex yet again in the bed, then took a bath together.

Sitting across from each other in the full-to-the-brim bathtub, Mew hugged Gulf's legs agaisnt him and massaged his claves. Maybe it was because his hair was slicked back from his face, but he looked more adult than usual.

"It's a little late to be asking now, but---"

Relaxing his body in the warm water, Gulf looked up at the ceiling. "Is it okay that you didn't go see your family?"

"You're right, it's a little late. Why are you asking about that now?" Mew arched an eyebrow slightly at Gulf's question. "If I go, I wouldn't be here taking a bath with you right now."

Gulf shrugged at Mew's grumpy response. "Are you going home after you graduate?" he asked quickly, trying to change the subject, but Mew's expression clouded even further.

By the time he realized he'd made a mistake, it was already too late, and a leg stretched out to touch Gulf's crotch.

"Wait---"

He hurried to bring his knees together, but it was too late. Mew can even move his toes skillfully, and he stimulated Gulf's penis intently.

"You want to get rid of me that badly?"

"That's not what I---nngh."

"Then don't ask stupid questions," he said, tossing Gulf's desire aside only half-roused.

"Mew."

Gulf was just worried. He was afraid that, despite how happy they were right now, sooner or later reality would hunt them down, and he would get swallowed up by it. It was because Gulf was so happy being with Mew that it scared him to think about what could happen later. And even though it scared him, he still had to think about it.

They may believed that their lives belonged to only to them, but Mew lived in a world that wouldn't let things go that easily. Gulf knew that people from Mew's family called while he'd been staying here.

Each time, Mew moved to a place where Gulf couldn't hear in order to argue with then. Gulf didn't know what they were talking about, but he knew he was probably happier not finding out.

That was why Mew got upset when this subject came up.

"Mew---"

"Let's go get something to eat. I'm starving."

Mew managed a smile. Drawn in by his smile, Gulf smiled back and realized he was hungry too. They'd rushed straight into sex as soon as he arrived and had never eaten lunch.

"Me too, now that you mention it."

"Then let's hurry up and get dressed. I found a really good ramen place across from the station a couple days ago. It's really small, so it fills up quickly and they close once they use up the noodles they made for the day."

"Don't say that---I'm going to start panicking."

Gulf hurried to climb out of the bathtub and followed Mew out of the bathroom. Dripping water, they wiped each other's bodies dry and got dressed. Mew used a blow drier to dry his hair faster.

"Can't you just let the rest dry naturally?"

Mew's hair was still mostly wet, but it didn't seem to bother him. He brushed his hair back from his face with his fingers, put on jeans and a button down shirt, and slipped in tinted sunglasses and sandals. He wound up looking like a complete thug.

"I don't know if I can be seen in public with you."

"You jealous of my look?"

Gulf patted his wet hair, but in the mirror he neverblooked like anything more than a toddler playing dress up. He had such a baby-face that Mew next to him for contrast, Gulf couldn't escape the fact that he looked like a child.

Mew must have thought the same thing, since he burst out laughing. Gulf peered at him in the mirror. "It's not very nice to laugh at someone's hard work."

"S-Sorry, but...it's just funny," Mew apologized, laughing.

Laughing together over something so trivial made Mew happy---he was loving it. But as Gulf pulled his shoes on, he felt sick-precisely because Mew was having so much fun.

"Gulf, I'm sorry. Really."

"Whatever. Laugh all you want." Gulf stood to leave. The moment he put his hand on the door, before Gulf could even open it, the doorknob turned.

"Hey---"

"Who are you?"

Gulf stumbled forward. The voice he heard overhead was so deep it dragged on the ground, lifeless and uninflected. Slowly raising his eyes, he saw a man in glasses wearing a double-breasted suit---the one he'd seen at the school in May.

His hair was stiffly set today too, not a strand out of place. Gulf was right in front of him, but the man's eyes passed over him to look at Mew.

"AA---"

Gulf gasped. It was the name of Mew's guardian. But Mew's reaction made him feel undeniably disturbed.

"What are you doing here?" Mew asked in a thoroughly displeased and arrogant tone.

"There is something I would like to speak with you about."

"What is it?"

"Are you certain that you wish  to discuss it here?" AA asked calmly, his glance gliding momentarily to Gulf.

"Fine." Noticing his glance, Mew replied grudgingly.

"Mew..."

"Sorry, Gulf. I've got to talk to him for a minute. Do you mind waiting for me at the McDonalds by the station? You can get a coffee or something."

So they couldn't discuss whatever this was about in front of Gulf. And Gulf couldn't refuse to go. He got a bad feeling and hesitated for a moment, then forced a smile onto his face.

"I heard they have new stuff on their menu. I could give them a try while I'm there."

"Don't go craxy. We're going to eat dinner afterwards."

"Then don't keep me waiting too long."

Gulf's half-jokin bwords produced a relieved expression on Mew's face. "I'll come as soon as I can."

"Okay. See you there, then."

He said goodbye to Mew and bowed his head to AA, then went out to the front door. When Gulf heard the door close behind him, he was gripped by an impulse to run back to it, but he fought it back and pushed the button of the elevator.

'Come quick,' he prayed in his heart. 'If you don't come, I'm just going to worry about what you two are talking about in there.'

When he'd seen AA, Mew's expression had been unimaginably, even frighteningly tense and grim. What reason could he possibly have to look like that when AA was supposed to be his guardian?

Gulf's thronging doubts made his heart beat faster, and uneasiness that he couldn't define pressed around him. He was assaulted by the feeling that his happiness was crumbling away beneath his feet, but why?

TBC