𝙲𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚜 || 𝙹𝚒𝚑𝚊𝚗

Help me (pt.8)

   Joshua sighed. He found himself laying in his bed staring at the unusually interesting ceiling. There was nothing to do today. No school, no dates and no beating up kids from other gangs for fun, an activity he was getting oddly used to doing.

   But one thing was for sure, the text messages wouldn't disappear anytime soon. You see, ever since he started dating Yuki, ever since he started dating the "king" of the school, everyone wanted to be his friend. And even though Joshua loved the attention, he couldn't help but see it as something superficial, something that didn't have any value to it or anything special.

   Joshua groaned. (They're so fake Barbie is jealous) He thought as he left some of the messages on read. However, a sudden notification caught his attention.

Vernun
Yo
Are you home?

   Joshua frowned. Why in the world would he ask a question he already knew the answer to?

Chuchu
Yeah
Why???

Vernun
Great bc I'm outside
lol

   Joshua stared at the message and immediately stood up, almost tripping in air because of his reckless running. He opened the door and was greeted with a wide smile.

   "Yo" He raised his hand quickly changing his expression to one of surprise. "You dyed your hair?!"

   Joshua just stared in shock at the burnett in front of him completely ignoring his question.

   "Vernon....? Is that you?"

   "No it's Jeff" He watched Joshua tense and chuckled at his reaction. "I'm kidding!" He smiled. "It's me dummy"

   "No way.." Joshua smiled. "I can't believe it!"

   "Right?! Neither can I!" He hugged Joshua. "It's been so long Shua!"

   Joshua smiled and hummed in agreement. After a couple of seconds he gently pulled away and led Vernon to the living room.

   "I still can't believe it" Joshua said as he handed a coke to him. "Tell me, how many hours does it take to come here from Korea again?"

   "I fell asleep throughout the whole thing so I don't remember" Vernon said with a slight laugh. "But I'm sure it was long"

   "Did your parents come with you?" Joshua asked and took a seat in the couch in front of the younger.

   "Sadly, my parents stayed behind. My dad said that as much as he loved you he wouldn't take a something hour long trip and my mom has to take care of my sister but she told me to tell you she says hi"

   Joshua chuckled. "Tell her I said hi back" He said. "So you came here all alone?"

   "Yup!" Vernon frowned. "But tell me, how have you been doing? Apart from the fact that you didn't tell me you dyed your hair and changed your whole aspect" Joshua groaned and mumbled a soft "sorry" but Vernon quickly turned serious. "Are those jerks still bothering you?"

   Joshua looked at him mischievously. "No? Maybe?...I don't know?"

   "Please explain cause I don't understand shit"

   Joshua sighed. "So, long story short, I'm not single anymore"

   Vernon raised an eyebrow. "WHAT?!"

   "Yup, just like you heard"

   "The question is, what does that have to do with this tho?"

   "Well" Joshua hesitated. "I started dating this guy who is really popular and kind of a jerk to others"

   Vernon coughed. "Don't tell me.." He said with worry. "You're dating a mafia leader?!"

   Joshua just stared at him with dead fish eyes. "No, totally not" He sighed. "Actually, it's kind of close"

   "Get to the point"

   "He's the leader of a feared gang. His name is Yuki"

   "Interesting" Vernon said with a hand on his chin. "Wait, don't tell me you decided to change your whole aspect because of him"

   At the mention of this, Joshua suddenly turned quiet and looked down. "I..didn't decide it"

   He arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

   Joshua hesitated. "Out of the blue, he took me to the mall one day and started to buy me clothes that weren't really my style. Then, we went to a hair salon were he told a lady about dyeing my hair and then gave me this choker" He pointed to his neck. "And I've looked like this ever since"

   Vernon stared at him in disbelief. "So, in the spawn of a day, you changed all of your looks just because he told you too?!"

   "In a way" He looked at Vernon. "But don't worry! It's for the best!"

   "Are you sure? Cause it seems like he forced you to do this. Did you even agree to it?"

   Joshua looked down once again. "No.."

   "Why?!"

   "Because he has a point!" Joshua said loudly. "He said I used to have a boring and plain look, one that didn't make me stand out! It was only right that I had to change...for the better!"

   "Shua, no. You're getting this all wrong!" He said slightly annoyed. "There's no way you can go ahead and do things that you're not comfortable with! I can tell you don't really like those tight clothes and that..thing around your neck!" Vernon pointed out. "It's so obvious!"

   Joshua pouted. "Seriously, who is this guy! Who does he think he is to even tell you that-"

   However, before Vernon could continue the sound of the doorbell interrupted his sentence with a loud ring. Joshua turned to the door and stood up, making sure to glace back at Vernon with apologetic eyes. Once he got to the door he opened it and froze in his path. Speaking of the devil...

   "Yuki?!"

   "Darling!" He launched himself to Joshua and hugged him tightly.

   "W-what are you doing here?!"

   "Eeehh..? Can't I take a visit to my cute boyfriend?"

   Joshua blushed. "You can!" He defended himself. "It's just that, I don't think it's a good moment right now.." He said with a sigh. However, his words seemed to hold no use for Yuki was already walking past him making Joshua panic in his spot.

   "You surely do have a nice house darling" He said as he looked around. "I bet you're load—Oh!" Yuki stopped.

   Joshua turned to look at what the latter was looking at and mentally face palmed.

   "Joshua, who is this?"

   The boy that sat on the couch stood up. "Hi, I'm Vernon, and you are?"
  
   The ravenett smiled widely. "I'm Yuki, Joshua's boyfriend" He opened his eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Vernon"

   Joshua silently cursed. His best friend that was just scolding him for dating Yuki now found himself speaking to none other than Yuki. Joshua sighed.

   (Oh god, please have mercy)