Collegebound

The Incident

The care package that Yuya's parents sent him actually arrived later that same day, and Yuya was very excited. He couldn't wait to watch the home videos. He called up Yuto to come to the dorm to watch the videos with him, Yugo, and Yuri.

Yuto arrived about two minutes after Yuya hung up, his roommate right behind him. "Hey, is it cool if Shun joins us? He wanted to meet you."

"Of course!" Yuya said cheerfully. "The more the merrier!"

The group gathered in the living room with some popcorn and drinks, and Yuya put the videos on. The first video was one of Yuya's mother in a hospital bed, cradling a newborn Yuya in her arms. The tiny baby was wearing a cute little red beanie with a green cuff and green pom-pom topper, and appeared to be fast asleep wrapped in an orange baby blanket. Yuya's mother kissed the tiny Yuya on the forehead. "Mama loves you!"

"Aw!" Yugo cooed. "Tiny baby Yuya!" Yuya blushed and smiled.

The next video showed both baby Yuya and baby Yuto sitting in high chairs together, being spoonfed applesauce by their mothers. Yuri raised an eyebrow, "You guys really have known each other for a long time, haven't you?"

"Yep," Yuto said. "We were actually born on the same day, around the same time, and our mothers were both in the same hospital room, so we've known each other since birth."

"Yeah, our moms shared parenting tips and stuff they'd learned while they were recovering," Yuya said. "And they've been friends ever since, too!"

The next video showed tiny toddler Yuya and Yuto playing in a kiddie pool with a girl about their age. The girl had pink pigtails. Shun raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's Yuzu," Yuto said. "She used to be our friend, but... well... the incident happened..."

"What incident?" Yuri asked curiously.

Yuya sighed. "You know how little kids are way too young to start dating, but they still say they have boyfriends or girlfriends?" he said. Yugo, Yuri, and Shun all nodded. "Well, back on the first day of kindergarten when we were five, I gave Yuzu a cookie and asked her to be my girlfriend, and she said okay. We told our parents when they picked us up, and they all thought it was cute, but Yuzu's dad said we were too young to be dating. We never mentioned the subject again, and honestly I completely forgot about the whole thing by the time the incident happened."

"Oh, I don't think I like where this is going..." Shun mumbled.

"So anyways, when we were fourteen, I noticed that Yuzu was starting to act a little weird," Yuya continued. "She started carrying around a paper fan and would randomly hit me with it, or hit any girl that flirted with me. I didn't really know why she was doing that, and at that point I had figured out that I was gay, so the thought that she might be jealous didn't really occur to me."

"Uh-oh..." Yugo's eyes widened. Yuto shook his head, "It gets worse..."

"So, fast forward to the third day of high school, Yuto comes up to me at lunch and asks when Yuzu and I started dating," Yuya sighed. "I was so confused because we weren't dating, and I asked him where he got that idea from. Turns out Yuzu was telling everyone that we'd been dating for years, and I mean everyone. So I go to Yuzu and ask her why she was telling everyone something that wasn't true, and she gets upset and says it was true, that we'd been dating since kindergarten, and then I remember that time when we were five. And I tried to tell her that we were five and we were too young to date at the time."

Yuri grabbed a handful of popcorn, listening to the story with wide eyes.

"Later that evening Yuzu's dad comes to my house, mad and yelling at me for playing with his daughter's heart, and how I was a terrible boy and should be ashamed of myself for asking girls to be my girlfriend only to say we weren't really dating," Yuya continued. "He yelled at me for three hours before he finally let me speak. And I told him, we were five and that he said it himself at the time that we were too young to date."

Shun scooted a little closer, thoroughly invested in the story.

"And then he was quiet for a few minutes, and then turns to Yuzu and asks her if she was talking about that time when she said that I asked her to be my girlfriend," Yuya said. "And Yuzu says yes, we've been dating since we were five, and her dad is quiet for a few more minutes before he starts apologizing like crazy to me. And then he took Yuzu home, and the next day at school I tried to talk to her and tell her I still wanted to be her friend, but she wouldn't talk to me. And by the end of the second week of school, she had moved to a different school. I haven't heard from her since."

"Oh my god..." Yugo said. "That's like... wow."

"Yeah, and she asked me whose side I was on when I tried to talk to her about it after school the day after the incident," Yuto sighed. "I told her that it really wasn't fair of her to expect Yuya to seriously be her boyfriend at fifteen when the one and only time it was even mentioned was when we were all five. She hasn't spoken to me since either. From what I understand, she switched schools because she felt like the whole school was judging her for the situation."

"Wooooow," Yuri drawled. "What kind of person thinks that they're in a serious relationship with someone for ten years when it's only mentioned once when they're five? That's crazy!"

"I wish our friendship hadn't ended like that, so suddenly over a misunderstanding, but like I said Yuzu hasn't spoken to me or Yuto since," Yuya sighed.