All You Need Is Love (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 19🌻

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A scent of tobacco came to his nose.

"Is your arm okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I barely hit it."

He rolled his head around casually and frowned for only an instant. Gulf was trembling with shock, but as soon as Mew noticed, he quickly waved his fears away. "I think my mouth started bleeding again. That's all. Sorry."

Complaining about the taste, Mew stood up briskly and went to spit the blood out in the sink. Gulf picked himself up as the sound of rushing water filled the room.

"Sorry."

"Whatever. It was bound to happen," Mew said again since Gulf looked like a kicked puppy.

"But it's my fault you're bleeding, and now---"

"It's fine. This is nothing compared to your bad luck having to babysit me just because you're the class. representative." Mew set the chair back on its feet and sat down again.

"Mew---"

"You've heard all about how my dad is the head of a gang, right?" Mew asked with a rueful smile as he slipped a cigarette out of his jacket pocket as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Just as he was placing it in his mouth, Gulf tore it away from him.

"What are you doing? You want one too?"

"I've never smoked and I'm not going to," Gulf snapped, grabbing the pack that was still in Mew's hand and throwing it into the trash. "I told you already, if you get caught smoking in school, you'll get expelled."

"Not the first time."

"So you smoke because you want to. Well, that's not good enough until you're an adult." Gulf suddenly stuck his tongue out at Mew. "And are you trying to impress me by telling me your dad's the leader of a gang? Does that make you part of the gang too, since you're his son?"

"I---"

"I don't care if you are. This is a school, and in school, you follow the school rules. That's how it is in a gang, right? Plus, you're new here. Until you get used to how we do things, you'd better just shut up and do what I tell you."

Gulf let loose everything he had been wanting to say. Finally he ran out of breath and, though his shoulders heaved, he didn't turn his eyes away from Mew. Mew looked Gulf in the face for a long moment, but finally spluttered as if he couldn't hold it back anymore and burst into laughter.

Gulf's jaw dropped. He had no idea why Mew was laughing at him.

"You're so weird," Mew said, holding his stomach and laughing.

"I am not. All I did was tell the truth," he answered, trying to sound indignant, but inside Gulf was relieved.

He had been trying to ignore it, but the words 'mobster's son' flashed through his mind anyway. Who knew what might happen to him if he said the wrong thing? This was exactly why he didn't want to be responsible for things like this. Even though he sounded like he was in control, the truth was that doubts like that plagued him.

But as he watched the boy laugh, all of his stereotypes and prejudices disappeared.

Mew might have had some rough habits and he spoke a little crudely, but Gulf realized that he was just a high school student like himself.

"All I said was that this sucked."

"Yeah, that. I think it's pretty awful too." He didn't sound obviously self-pitying when he said it, but that made it all the more painful to hear.

"Just so you know, I wasn't talking about having to look after you," Gulf corrected him.

"Then what were you talking about?" Mew turned to look Gulf straight in the face. His eyes focused on Gulf, seeming to pierce his soul.

"The fact that people overheard me yelling."

"You mean because I heard you? Who cares? It's the truth, after all."

"But that's not what I meant." He vehemently denied Mew's interpretation.

"Gulf, what---?"

"I don't know what your story is. But whatever it is, now that you're wearing our school uniform, you belong here. There's less than a year before graduation so we don't have enough much time. But during a little time we do have, I'd like to be your friend." He wasn't saying what he really meant, but Gulf tried to express himself as best he could.

When Suzushima had talked to him about Mew, he had assumed it would be a pain. He had enough of his own problems to deal with right now with the exams approaching. He didn't understand why he was being forced to take care of someone else, either. It was supposed to be until he got used to the school, but given the context, Gulf figured it might wind up being impossible for Mew to adapt if things went badly.

But after their chance encounter last week, there was something about Mew he found interesting. It wasn't just the audacity of so casually lighting up a cigarette in the classroom. The strength of Mew's eyes when he looked at Gulf exerted some powerful pull over his heart.

He didn't care if Mew was the son of a yakuza family or anything else. He wanted to know more about Mew the individual.

TBC