More than Best Friends?

Chapter 8 - Investigation

⚠️ - Strong language throughout the chapter.

"23 seconds!" the timekeeper shouted, "At this rate, I think you can make it to the Olympics!" The student keeping time triumphantly displayed the stopwatch to Yuki.

"Thanks," Yuki accepted the compliment, "but I just run for fun.  I'm not really looking to compete or anything."  Yuki shook his head.

Someone was watching Yuki from a distance.

"I don't get it, what's your deal with him?" a boy asked his redheaded friend.

"He's too...perfect.  There's gotta be something behind him.  Who the fuck doesn't come to practice for a week, suddenly comes back, and acts like they're the shit?  It doesn't make any fuckin' sense," he responded.  Clearly, something about Yuki was irritating him.
"I think you're just mad because he gets Kyle's attention when you want to be the one in his place-"

"That's not true!  I ain't gay, bitch!" He cut his friend off, his cheeks turning as red as his hair.

"I never said you were..."

"Shut the fuck up, and I'll kick you in the head."

"Don't you mean 'or'?"

"You wanna live or not?! There, I used it!"

~*~

Yuki was walking along the track when someone came up from behind him, shouting.

"Hey, you!"  The voice sounded annoyed and upset, even though Yuki hadn't even said anything back yet.  He turned around to find someone jogging towards him: he looked to be younger, but he couldn't quite tell because the boy had dark red hair and piercing grey eyes.  Yuki felt unsettled by the fact that the shade of his hair looked to be the color of dried and matted blood, but he decided to listen to whatever this guy had to say first.

"What's your shit with the captain?  I mean, like, are you guys dating or something?" he asked.  Yuki froze completely, dropping the plastic water bottle he was holding.  It made a clunking sound as it hit the concrete track.  The tips of his ears started to burn, and the hand that was holding the bottle before he dropped it was still open as if it were gripping something.  The redheaded kid waved his small hands in front of Yuki's face.

"Hey, I asked you a question!  You gonna answer or not?"  He had his fists on his hips now, tapping his right foot impatiently.

"Sorry...I just...that question kind of...caught me by surprise," Yuki muttered in response, shaking his head.

"So you are dating?!" the kid assumed very loudly, pointing an accusatory finger at him.  His shouting had gained the attention of the other students.

"Yuki's dating?" someone whispered.

Another said, "I didn't think he'd be the type to go out with someone..."

"I wonder who it is?" another student wondered aloud.   Yuki started to feel embarrassed because of all the eyes on them.

"No, it's not like that," Yuki opposed, and looked away from the other boy.  Although, he felt a bit hurt that he had to say that such a fantasy was false.

"Well, there's something about you that he likes, I think!" the redhead began, "I dunno what it is, but he's always got his eyes on you!  It's fucking annoying!  He should pay attention to the rest of us too!" After that, the kid ran off to a group of boys on the other side of the track.

Yuki didn't really have anything to say about it, but the kid's words rang in his head.  He watched as his red hair faded into the distance, but it continued to stick out to him from the rest of the crowd.  Annoying?  He could see how that might be true.   Something about him that Kyle likes?  That was hard for him to wrap his head around.  Sure, they were best friends, but it seemed like the boy was hinting at something more than that...

~*~

"Evan, you're too loud," one of the hothead's friends said, "Everyone was staring at you."

"Yeah," another agreed, "What if Cap' sees you talking to Yuki and thinks you're harassing him?   I don't think it'd be good for us if you got in trouble."

"Mhm," another boy chimed in, "You gotta understand that Kyle and Yuki are like..." he crossed his index and middle fingers as if breaking a promise, "...this close."

"What-ever!  I know he's up to something, and I'm gonna find out what the fuck it is!" Evan retorted to his group and stormed off in a huff.

(731 words, 3 November 2019)

The picture on the top is an edit I made to a photo of Minami "Nugget" Kenjirou from Yuri on Ice. I really liked the red hair that Nugget has, but he looked a little too cute to be a bully character, so I changed his appearance to make the picture more like what I imagine Evan to look like.

(Photo added 14 November 2019)

(736 words, edited 31 May 2020)