StarLit / Yaoi

StarLit / Chapter 6

I handed him a cup of tea, at Ayase's request, and watched him as he finally calmed down. He still hadn't told me a thing about his uncle, actually he hadn't said a single thing since I started walking to my apartment.

"Soooo," Ayase hing over the couch, staring at him. "Is this going to be a regular thing? You bringing your fake boyfriend around the house?"

I nodded. "Yeah"

Yasuma giggled, the first sound he made in a long while that wasn't sobbing. "You told her?"

"He tells me everything" Ayase smiled, swinging her leg over the couch. "Well, if he wants three meals a day and a roof over his head"

Yasuma stared at her with a confused expression. "So... Where are his parents?"

Her smile faded. "Ah, that. Well, they're in New York, but they'll be back for the festival. Are you going to the festival? It'll be nice. Fireworks this year, I've heard" she was always quick to change the subject whenever my parents were mentioned. I never understood that.

Yasuma nodded. "I was going with Shiro"

"Shiro?" She looked at me. "Oh. So even though your pretending to go out you still address each other by your last names?"

"We've only known each other for about a week" I mentioned. "Is it really that strange that we'd address each other by our last names?" Even though I was the first person to mention this.

"Anyway, have fun at the festival" Ayase sung, jumping into the kitchen humming a tune.

I groaned. "She's a lot more cheery than usual" which wasn't too unusual, but still annoying under the circumstances.

"She's different at home than she is at school" Yasuma laughed. It was comforting to see him smiling rather than crying. Still, my curiosity about his uncle had me on edge. I needed to know what he was doing to Yasuma. "Shiro?"

I looked up at him. "Hm?"

"Are we going to the festival?"

"Yeah" why did it seem like he thought of me as a liar? He kept wanting to confirm that I was really going to do what I said, like I wasn't trusted. "Are you okay?"

He blinked a few times, then put his head down. "I'm fine"

"Okay... I promise we'll go to the festival, Yasuma"

He averted his eyes from mine. Whatever was bothering it seemed to be getting g to him. I really wished he'd just tell me instead of being so secretive about it.

Later we started watching movies. Well, until my sister came home and fell, basically, on top of me on the couch. I pushed her off, but she didn't resist. She fell to the floor and groaned. "Is this your fake boyfriend?" She asked, playfully gesturing to the smaller boy on the otherside of the couch. I nodded.

"We're going to the festival. Are you going?" I asked. She nodded lazily. "Are you going to say to mom and dad?"

"Hmm" she groaned. "Maybe. If I have time. Too tired. Gonna sleep"

"Like sister like brother" Yasuma groaned. "Both of you are super lazy, aren't you?"

"Yeah" we answered in unison.

He stared at us. "All you do is sleep?"

"Yeah"

"So... When do you do school stuff"

"I do what I need to do" Kioko muttered.

I finished with "nothing more"

After that Kioko fell asleep on the phone and the both of us were left silent, watching random anime that was on. Every once in a while I would look over at Yasuma to see if he was sleeping, but he was still wide awake. In fact, it looked like he was forcing himself to stay awake. I felt bad, I know what it's like to be tire, I'm tired all the time, so I couldn't just ignore it.

I stood up and pulled a blanket out of the closet. "Are you tired?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm good"

"Well, it's getting late"

He looked at the time and sighed. He didn't want to go home, from the looks of it. "Okay. I guess I should go home right?"

"Yeah, your uncle might be getting worried"

The moment I mentioned his uncle allhis muscles seemed to tense up. I could tell he was doing his best not to cry. "I don't think he'll be worried" he muttered. "Um... Could we watch a movie?"

"Aren't you tired?"

He shook his head trying to hide how tired he was. "I want to watch a movie"

I sighed and sat down. "You know, you could just tell me you don't want to go home. I understand if you don't"

That seemed to get his attention. "What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with my home" every word seemed to choke him like venom, he knew it was a lie but he was just in denial.

"Here" I handed the blanket to him. I didn't have enough energy to fight with him anyway, so I just sat back down on the couch. "You can sleep if you want. If not, well the festival is tomorrow so try to get enough sleep"

A few minutes passed by and I closed my eyes to pretend to sleep, just in the hopes that he'd relax and fall asleep on his own. I went through the possibilities of what his uncle could be doing. Some of my thoughts were that he was abusive to him, emotionally or physically, or another thought was far more horrifying. Sexual abuse. But I was really, really hoping that wasn't the case.

A few minutes later I woke up to feel something rather heavy on top of me. When I opened my eyes I found a very exhausted Yasuma on my chest. His breathing was finally normal and even for the first time in a while. He didn't look particularly happy, but he looked relaxed, which was really all anyone could as for.

I continued watching him as be rose and fell on my chest comfortably. The thought of his uncle was still fresh in my mind when I saw something odd about his neck arms. You couldn't really see it before because he wore long sleeved shirts, but his forearms are all red. He had cuts and some bruises, especially in his wrists like someone had tied him up. I stared at his injuries sadly, and traced each indent with my fingers. He flinched in pain sometimes so I pulled back. He adjusted and I placed my hand around his narrow shoulders.

I continued to look at him and wonder. Then, he moved slightly, mumbling something incoherent. He made a few sounds and squished up his face as if he were in pain. Then, be spoke some very coherent words through the sobbing in his sleep. "Don't hurt me. Stop. Stop. Stop!" Tears fell from his cheeks as he woke up in shock.

Quickly I covered his mouth so Ayase and Kioko wouldn't wake up. He stared at me, his eyes full of desperation. "I'm sorry" he said once I removed my hand.

"Don't worry about it" I said, pulling him closer to my chest. It was the only thing I could do to offer him comfort. Without knowing a thing about his uncle, all I could do was guess. He began shaking again, but calmed down quickly as I ran my fingers through his hair. "Just go to sleep. Your safe here. No one will hurt you"

He nodded and finally fell into relaxed sleep. Right then and there I made a promise to myself to figure out what was wrong. I needed to help him, that was my agreement with him, so I'd help him gain the confidence to fight his own battles. But for the time being, I relaxed with him in my arms. Together, we fell into a graceful sleep.