It was you all along

04

After they got back home from lunch, Gulf headed back to his room to rest while Mew busied himself with meetings in the study room next door. As Gulf walked past the study room to get to his room, he caught sight of the man furrowing his brows as he sorted out stacks of papers that looked never-ending to Gulf. Gulf could hear the man sighing, and the poor man looked worn out. Mew bit his lips as he scanned his eyes over the documents scattered on his desk, seemingly deep in thought.

Gulf must have not noticed that he was staring at Mew a little too intently for the latter to sense that someone was watching him by the doorway. Mew looked up from his documents, and their eyes met. It was a strange feeling, because the more Gulf stared into the man's dark orbs, the more he could feel butterflies in his stomach. Maybe it was just the nerves, Gulf had convinced himself poorly, but the blush on his cheeks said otherwise.

"Am I that good looking for you to keep staring at me like that?" Mew said smugly, a triumphant smile on his face that snapped Gulf back to reality. God, not again. Gulf clucked his tongue in annoyance as he watched the man break into a grin that looked mocking (or at least to Gulf it did) before he scoffed, "I-I wasn't looking at you. I was..." Gulf looked around the study room frantically, hoping to find something he could use as an excuse to conceal the fact that he was indeed staring at the man but being the obstinate one he is, he wasn't going to admit it.

Finally, thank the heavens, Gulf's eyes halted at a picture frame on Mew's wooden desk, which was the only thing that caught his attention in this room full of books that gave the latter a headache just by looking at them. It was a pretty old photograph Gulf could tell, as the picture was slightly blurred but it'd do the trick just fine.

"Ah! I was looking at the picture on your desk." Gulf said hurriedly after a pause, whilst forcing a nonchalant smile as he pointed to the picture frame.

Obviously, Mew didn't buy it but it was kinda cute seeing Gulf all flustered sometimes. "Oh?" Mew raised his brows, as he brought the picture frame up to his face. It was a photograph of his elementary school, specifically the garden in his school. If Gulf's secret hideout was the burger restaurant, Mew's was the school's garden which was pretty secluded and hidden away from most of the student's body who were too busy to have even noticed the garden existed.

"Ohuu I think I've seen that garden somewhere..." Gulf said as he squint his eyes. On closer look, that place looked really familiar but Gulf just couldn't recall it on the top of his head. It was like he suffered from a temporary memory loss or something but to begin with, Gulf's memory wasn't really good. He can't even remember what he had eaten last week needless to say anything years back.

Mew didn't say anything for a long time as he watched the boy's forehead creased in concentration silently. He had brought Gulf there once so it's no wonder that the boy wouldn't be able to remember it since he had only seen it briefly, but still, Mew felt disappointed as he'd wondered how many memories Gulf actually remembered, because Mew remembered all of theirs.

"Maybe it was a long time ago, so you'd have forgotten." Mew said and Gulf nodded in agreement somberly after much deliberation because no matter how hard Gulf tried to recall, nothing came up. But what puzzled Gulf was that Mew sounded somewhat sad, like Gulf had disappointed him or something, though Gulf was quick to brush it off - perhaps he was thinking way too much.

"Anyways! I should be heading back to my room. It's getting late." Gulf said when the two were once again submerged in awkward silence, but before he could excuse himself, Mew halted him.

"Wait." Mew blurted as he got up from his seat and walked towards Gulf whose head was half turned towards him. "Just saying..." Gulf could see Mew leaning towards himself slightly and the boy couldn't help but start to panic as he shrinked, eyes darting nervously anywhere but at Mew's. There was just this intimidating aura about Mew that made Gulf cower, not out of fear, but as weird as it sounds, more like Gulf was being uncontrollably submissive to the man's dominance and he hated it.

"My room's open." Mew's voice dropped to a low whisper while his face was inches away from poor Gulf's frightened one, with a mischievous glint in his eyes and a small smirk before he pulled away swiftly, leaving Gulf flabbergasted as he saw the boy's cheeks turned red.

Gulf was root frozen to the ground when Mew was this close to him. He could feel the brunette's breath against his face and it made him shudder, but despite this, he just can't seem to push Mew away and he despised himself even more at his helplessness. So he took his frustration out on Mew, "No thank you!" Gulf hollered, before he stomped away, ignoring the flush on his cheeks or the racing of his heart as it thumped erratically against his chest. It was the second time in the day that Gulf felt like this and he was starting to get annoyed. For one, Mew wasn't helping because the man was teasing him at any chance he could get. For two, he was helpless under Mew and he wasn't sure if he was angry at the man at this point, or at his incompetence. He was just so, so confused but amidst the confusion, Gulf was still very very 'certain' that whatever happened was just because his hormones were acting up and nothing else.

As Mew watched Gulf stomp off, eyes filled with affectionate, he shook his head endearingly. A hint of tease in his voice as he whispered softly,

"You're still as feisty as before."

//Flashback starts//

"Is this your secret hideout?" Gulf asked as his eyes widened in fascination. The tanned boy had never been to this part of the school before - it was a beautiful garden despite it's simple appearance and Gulf felt at peace, away from the noise.

"Mhm." Tharn nodded, while he led Gulf to his favorite spot in the garden - the porch swing that was painted white and that was situated perfectly in a small patch of red roses.

"Wow! So cool." Gulf exclaimed as he hopped excitedly on the swing while his legs dangle over the rosebed. Tharn stood behind the swing and pushed it gently, making sure not to go too fast in case the boy fell, while Gulf was on the swing, smiling brightly, his arms lifted in glee. Tharn could see the sheer joy on the tanned boy's face and it made him smile too.

"Do you come here often?" Gulf asked while his eyes explored the garden, still on the swing.

"Sometimes." Tharn replied. He had stumbled upon this garden by chance when he was running away from the bullies at school who were trying to teach him a lesson because he refused to lend them his pen, and it was a blessing in disguise because the garden had become his favorite place. Tharn would come here when he was having a bad day, a book in hand as he sat on the swing and indulged in his world of fantasies. He loved this place - It was an escape from the bullies, from school and from the troubles of life.

Gulf remarked, with a pout on his face, "Why is your secret hideout much better than mine?"

"You can come here whenever you like." Tharn squeaked out without thinking when he saw Gulf's disheartened face (he hated seeing the latter upset). But as soon as he said that, he was starting to regret it big time when Gulf didn't say anything back. Tharn was starting to think he had messed things up - Gulf was never, never supposed to know that Tharn was in love with his best friend. It was a secret that 10 year old Tharn was determined to keep because he didn't want to know what Gulf would say if he had confessed. The rejection, the disgust, was too much for Tharn to take. After all, who would want somebody so unattractive like him?

Thankfully for Tharn, Gulf's eyes lit up as the boy turned to look at him with a beam on his face. "Really? You'd let me come?" Gulf asked ecstatically, breaking Tharn out of his thoughts.

Tharn nodded affirmatively, as he discretely heaved a sigh of relief knowing that his secret was still safe.

Someday, Tharn had promised to his 10 year old self that when he'd grow up to be someone big and powerful, he'd have the courage to pursue his best friend. 

//Flashback ends//