WEEK ONE: Monday (Touji)

I didn't know what time Yuzuru's cram school got out. I hadn't even thought to ask him which one he attended, an oversight I intended to remedy tomorrow. But archery club practice had gone extraordinarily well—I'd shot three perfect rounds, definitely making up for yesterday's debacle—and I couldn't wait to tell him. Because I lived so close to school, I got home just after six. I did my best to occupy myself with homework, but kept checking the clock on my phone. Nine thirty, I told myself. I needed to wait until at least nine thirty. He might not even be out of class by then, but it was late enough that there was the chance, and early enough that he'd probably still be up.

I finished my math homework, then civics and English. I turned on my Xbox and played a little. I re-played the Magic of Love single that my homeroom was lipsynching for the festival next week. It was a syrupy, girly pop number, but the lyrics were really getting to me.

Your heart is like a butterflyLightly soaring through the airAs free as the breezeIt can't feel anything it touches

Our relationship was new by anybody's standards, and I was already so head over heels for Yuzuru it was scary. The things I liked most about him, his unpredictability and genuineness, were also what kept me most on edge. At any moment he could change his mind about me... about us... and it was nerve wracking.

Yuzuru leapt headfirst into things without worrying about the consequences. Like today, when he'd told his classmates that he was the one I was dating. On the one hand, my heart had just about burst with happiness. But I was also relieved they hadn't taken him seriously. Did he have any idea what could happen if people found out?

Since most of Houka Academy's students came from wealthy and powerful families, including quite a few foreigners, the regulations tended to be more lax compared to most other schools. No one had ever said a word to me about my hair, for example, even though it was several inches longer than the limit. And because there were still so few boys enrolled, the faculty turned a blind eye to most dating shenanigans so long as students remained adequately focused on their exam scores. But earlier this semester a girl from class two was expelled for getting pregnant. What would they do if it became common knowledge that two male students were involved with each other? My family connections would probably protect me, but Yuzuru was a scholarship student.

I wasn't sure if I should talk with him about this yet. We had only been dating for a week. Actually, we'd only been dating for a day, because last week had been one giant comedy of errors. We're talking, like, Shakespearean-sized misunderstandings. It wasn't until yesterday afternoon, when we'd both thought we were breaking up, that we had each learned the other wanted to stay together. What a mess... a beautiful, agonizing, incredibly lucky mess.

I flipped open my phone for the hundredth time. Four more minutes. Ugh. I set it down, drummed my fingers on my desk, then picked it up again. Four minutes wouldn't make that big of a difference, right? Besides, it could look weird if I called at nine thirty on the nose. I scrolled through my contacts and pressed the dial button.

"Hello?"

Whoa, it was a girl's voice. I glanced at my screen to make sure I'd called the right number. "Um... I was calling for Shino Yuzuru-san?"

"Yuzu-nii! Some guy is on your phone!"

I had to cringe as her shrill voice made the plastic earpiece vibrate.

"Hang on," she said to me, much more sedately. "He's in the bathroom. I'll bring you to him."

"Wait, I can call back—"

"Hello?"

Oh my god oh my god. I should have waited those few extra minutes. "Y—Yuzuru-san?"

"Hey, sorry about my sister."

"I... Are you...?" Obviously he was home from class, but... Please don't tell me I'm talking to you while you're on the toilet. That was a level of intimacy neither of us was ready for.

"I just got out of the shower. I guess Yuriko decided to answer my phone, the brat. But I'm glad you called."

Whew. Okay, that was much better. Wait, did he just say the shower? "Are you naked right now?" No sooner had the question left my lips than I felt my entire body go up in flames. Touji, you did NOT just ask him that. Around Yuzuru things came out of my mouth that I would never in a million years have said to anyone else.

"Yup."

"I... I, um..." I was trying really hard not to picture him standing in the middle of a steamy bathroom, water droplets tracing the lines of his warm golden skin, his hair wet and slicked back, dripping onto the hard, smooth planes of his shoulders and chest and—Stop it stop it stop it right now.

"I heard you redeemed yourself in practice today."

"You did?"

"Yeah, Tajiri-chan texted me. Three perfect rounds, that's good work. Sorry I missed it."

"I missed you," I replied softly, glad he couldn't see my face. It was probably the color of an overripe tomato.

"Yeah?"

"Mm."

He didn't say anything else for a couple seconds, which was kind of worrying. Had I sounded too desperate, just then?

"Seryou."

"Huh?"

"How many girls asked you out today?"

I wasn't sure where he was going with that question. "A few, but I turned them all down."

"They aren't going to give up, you know."

"It won't make a difference," I promised him. "You're the one I like."

He made a strange grunting sound. "You shouldn't say stuff like that so easily."

My heart twisted a little. Yeah, Yuzuru wasn't the kind of person to respond well to clinginess. "Oh. I... um..."

"Asking if I'm naked. Saying you miss me, and that you like me."

Ugh. He was right, I was way out of line. "I just—"

"Are you trying to annoy me?"

"No! No, Yuzuru-san, I wouldn't—"

"You don't get to say stuff like that when you're so far away."

Okay, he'd lost me there. "What?"

"Now all I can think about is how much I want to see you. Right now. Tonight. And I can't leave, because Mom's not home and I can't leave Yuriko alone when it's so late. It's not fair."

Not fair indeed.

Now that he'd planted the fantasy in my head, it was the only thing I could think about. Opening my front door to his smiling face. Taking his big, warm hand, pulling him inside, leading him up to my room... My heart was beating so loud I was half certain he had to be able to hear it over the phone. "Yuzuru-san..."

"We're going on a date tomorrow after school," he said firmly, as if the matter was non-negotiable. "And I am going to kiss you then, because I didn't get to today."

I sat down hard on the edge of my bed, feeling electricity rush through my veins. "Okay." Keep talking like that and you can do anything you want to me, my overheated brain swooned. I really hoped I hadn't said it out loud.

"Sleep well, Seryou." The line clicked, and he'd hung up.

I clapped a hand over my wildly pounding heart. This guy was going to be the death of me. He kept me so off balance, with his crazy mood swings and brilliant laugh and how he just said whatever he was thinking, no matter how insensitive or reckless. My lips were tingling with the memory of his mouth on mine, and I touched them with my fingertips in wonder. I had to wait until tomorrow to feel that again. It seemed like a tortuously long time.

"Toujiiii!"

My bedroom door banged open and Shino stood in the doorway. I dropped my hand from my lips quickly, but not fast enough to escape her attention. Her eyes darkened with a look I knew all too well. Oh no. She must have gotten into a fight with my brother Natsuki again.

"What a coincidence," she purred, sauntering toward me. "I was just thinking about you too."

"I wasn't—"

"Shh." She shoved me backward onto the bed and climbed over me with her knees straddling my hips. Her skirt was so short it couldn't even ride up when she settled herself over me. Her long hair fell around us, tickling my face. "I've missed you."

"Stop it," I said, trying to squirm out from under her, but she caught my wrists in her hands and used her weight to trap them on either side of my head.

"Why so shy all of a sudden? You love it when I do this." She leaned over me on the bed. I turned away so her mouth encountered the side of my jaw instead of my lips. She didn't seem to mind and whispered into my ear, "Lucky for you, Natsuki's being a jerk tonight. Which means I'm all yours, my little masochist."

"I mean it, Shino, get off me."

"Playing hard to get this time? Ooh, I like it."

She ground her hips over mine, the way she usually did when she wanted to turn me on. I shoved her off so hard that she hit the carpet smack on her ass.  She stared up at me in genuine shock, and I was a little stunned myself. That was the first time I'd ever been able to reject her.

"Get out," I said. She'd left my bedroom door open, probably in the hopes that Natsuki would come upstairs and get an eyeful. I pointed toward the doorway. "Now."

For a second she actually looked hurt. Her eyes widened in disbelief that rapidly flamed into anger. "What the hell, Touji?"

"If you have a problem with my brother go deal with it. Talk to him or not, that's your choice, but leave me out of it. I told you, I'm not doing this anymore."

"Because of that guy, right? That beautiful senpai of yours." She got to her feet, flashing me a generous view of her panties in the process.

I flushed and looked away without answering.

"I know it's him, Touji. You were ready to rip my head off for even touching him." She folded her arms under her bust, making her breasts bulge beneath her pink sweater, and batted her eyes mockingly. "The person you care about more than me... the person you love the most..." She threw my own words back at me in contempt. "It's a guy? Seriously? I mean, I'll agree he's a total hottie, but," she raked her teeth over her bottom lip and swept her gaze down my body, "no boy is gonna do for you what I do."

She'd always made me feel kind of dirty when she looked me over like that, but there used to be a prickle of excitement too. Now I just felt disgusted. "Shut up, Shino."

She gave a snort of laughter. "Do your parents know yet? Does Natsuki know?"

I stood with a glare and grabbed her shoulders, turning her around and shoving her toward the door.  "Out."

She kept giggling as I pushed her into the hall. "At least tell me he likes you back!"

I slammed the door closed and wished for the hundredth time that there was a lock. Most of the trouble I got into with Shino was because she could barge into my room any time she wanted. Sometimes I'd woken up to find her already in bed with me, under the covers, her hands tugging my sweatpants down before I was alert enough to comprehend what was happening. I wasn't going to put up with it anymore.

I had Yuzuru now.

I held onto the doorknob as Shino tried to turn it from the other side. "Aw, Touji, don't be like that! You know it doesn't matter to me who you're dating. I love you."

"Shino."

That was Natsuki's voice coming down the hall. He hadn't caught us doing anything this time, but I still felt guilty. And I was kind of hoping he would take her away so I could go to bed in peace.

"Go away, Natsuki. Touji and I are talking."

"Doesn't look like he wants to talk anymore. Get over here."

"Fuck off."

"Shino... please?" I could picture the way he was probably holding his hand out to her right now, apology and misery all over his handsome face. Natsuki was so good-looking and charismatic that when he put his mind to it, he was really hard to say no to. It was just a shame he was so aware of it. In business and school it might serve him well, but when it came to girls it made him cocky and well, kind of an asshole. There was a reason he and Shino fought so much.

"I hate you," she said, but I could already hear her resolve crumbling. She'd give in eventually, she always did. She only acted like a heartless bitch because she was more in love with Natsuki than she wanted to be.

"Just come downstairs with me, okay? I want to spend time with you."

There was a shuffling sound, which I was pretty sure meant he was escorting her toward the stairs. I released my death grip on the doorknob and breathed a sigh of relief, running a hand through my hair.

I think I would have been more proud of myself if I didn't know, deep down, that the only reason I was able to reject her was because of Yuzuru. The uncontrollable arousal I used to feel for Shino was gone. I was glad it meant I wouldn't be that guy anymore—the pathetic, lovelorn idiot who slept with his brother's girlfriend whenever she demanded it. But what I felt for Yuzuru was much more than physical attraction, so it was a thousand times more intense... and more terrifying.

I dragged the chair from my desk and propped it under the door handle. It wasn't much of a security system, but at least it would make noise and offer resistance if Shino tried to sneak in tonight. I really didn't understand why my brother let her sleep over so often. She had her own apartment about fifteen minutes' walk from our house. You would think, when they were fighting, she wouldn't want to be here. If our parents ever found out there would be hell to pay. The only reason she got away with it was because her parents lived in Tokyo, and our parents were constantly traveling for work.

Once I had secured the door as much as I could, I retreated back to my bed and climbed under the covers, curling my knees into my chest and replaying Yuzuru's bold promise in my head. We're going on a date tomorrow after school. And I am going to kiss you then, because I didn't get to today.

Goosebumps flashed along my skin. Tomorrow could not get here fast enough.