All around us, people in bright colors are smiling and holding the hand of their significant others, waving at us when they look. I can't help the smile overcoming my face, the sight of so many people like me making me feel giddy with excitement.
Chuuya chuckled from the front, Gin's gentle hand resting on the back of my shoulder.
Colors brighten up the buildings around us, laughter filling the air.
"Atsushi, look over here." Gin said, pointed towards the floats and bright flags through the alleys.
I stare in awe, completely transfixed by every little thing.
"Wow." I breathe, unable to look at anything long enough.
We find a place to park behind an older looking building and wait for the others to park near us before getting out of the car. I immediately go to Ryu, his hand snaking around my waist in a practiced motion.
"Ready?" He asks, smiling down at me.
"Yeah." I nod, practically buzzing from excitement.
Together, we head up the sidewalk and find a place along the street of crowded, bustling people to watch the parade with as few distractions as possible.
I watch as everyone sets up around us, a few people setting out a photobooth of sorts, another person giving temporary tattoos while another sets up a stand for facepaint.
"Hey, would you lovely people like some flags?" A cheerful voice gets us to turn around to a woman with a box of flags for every sexuality.
We all nod and take one, giving her our thanks as the parade starts.
Throughout the whole thing, people are laughing and smiling as the people in the cars and on the floats blare music and give us souvenirs.
I laugh along with everyone, boldly pulling Ryu in for a kiss when someone holds up a camera. His look of shock is one I will never forget.
Near the end, Chuuya says that we should walk down the street and see what else there is to do before we go eat.
A while later, we had done a few couple challenges and bought a few things. As we walked back to the car, I felt myself becoming more and more distracted by the colors and people. I was pushed slightly by a group of friends that apologized with bright smiles before going back to whatever they were doing.
Someone yelled something behind me before another person broke between Ryu and I's connected hands, separating us in the crowd of people. I try to push myself back through the crowd, wondering how far he or I had stumbled away from the other.
As I pass through the crowd, determined to find Ryu again, I am shoved closer to the buildings and alleyways with people passing through them. I thought about stopping to call Ryu or Chuuya, but I don't get that far.
"I wonder if he's alone." I turn and find a tall man with dark hair, a cigarette in his hand. "Easy pickins."
Three guys flanked him, each of them glaring or smirking creepily.
"Uh, sorry, I wandered a little too far and got turned around." I take a step back, not sure why I said sorry in the first place. "I'll just be on my way."
"By turned, around, I think you mean lost." The first guy sneers, grabbing my arm to keep me from going any further. I struggle against his hold, tears pricking at the corner of my eyes with the force as well as the ever-growing panic pressing on my chest.
"Let me go." I say, meaning for it to sound firm but ended up sounding wimpy.
"Aww, is the little gay gonna cry?" He mocks a baby voice, making his friends laugh, two of them grabbing my arms to keep me from moving. I struggle and kick, trying to get them to let me go to no avail. THeir teasing pushes my tears to the brink. I look down, trying to hide my fear.
He lifts up my chin with an unforgiving hand, making me flinch as my eyes meet his.
"You people are disgusting." He spits out, the grips on my arms growing tighter the more his friends laughed. "If only you sick, gay, homosexuals would die and leave the world to the real men."
"Hey!" Someone yells from behind the man, making him stop teasing me and look back at the newcomer. "Leave him alone!" He yells, his friends standing next to him.
"Or what?" He grumbles, his earlier biting tone a lot calmer now that he and his buddies were evenly matched unless you count me..
"Oh come on, we all know you aren't as tough as you look. If so, then you wouldn't have picked on someone half your size and alone." The boy steps forward, his friends stepping forward with him. The guy in front of me scoffs before turning to his friends.
"Whatever." The four men leave, giving me my space back as well as no support to keep me on my shaky legs. I collapse with a shaky sigh and wipe my face with my hands before looking back up at the others.
"Thank you." I say, starting to push myself to my feet.
"It's no problem." He smiles and extends a hand. I accept it and he pulls me the rest of the way up. "I'm Shirase. This is Saya, Kenji, and Kyouka." He introduces himself and his friends who all nod with smiles.
"I'm Atsushi." I say, taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart. I was still slightly panicky but I could feel myself calming down, especially when I see their kind expressions.
"Do you need to call someone?" The girl with long black hair asks. "We can stay here until they come get you."
I nod, slowly pulling my phone out of my pocket, about to dial the first contact I see when someone yells my name, making me jump and turn to the sound of the voice. I sigh in relief when I see Ryu racing towards me, wrapping me up in his arms and pressing a kiss to my head, saying that it'll be okay.
"Are you hurt?" I shake my head, suddenly finding it hard to say anything now that he was here.
He kisses my head again before turning to the group of friends that are talking amongst themselves.
"Who are you four?" He asks.
"They found and helped me. There were other guys that got to me first but they're gone now." I say softly, loud enough for him to hear, but not too loud to allow the realization of what could have happened catch up to me.
He stays silent, calmly stroking my spine as he thinks about what I said. Eventually, he says thank you to the four that helped me and leads me away. We run into Chuuya on the way back and he hugged me, asking what happened. I briefly tell him that I was separated because of other people and about the people in the alleyway up until Ryu found me.
He nods before hugging me once me. "I'm just glad you're okay."
I nod as we head back to the cars, I cling to Ryu a little more, not wanting to leave him. Chuuya notices and claims that him, Gin, and Dazai will be with Ryu and I. Everyone else nods and we get in our respective vehicles. The whole ride home, I kept a hold on Ryu's hand or arm.
We get home and Chuuya says something about going to pay someone a visit and then coming back. Ryu nods and takes me inside, sitting me on the couch before going to get a glass of water.
He comes back and hands the cup to me, taking the seat next to me without saying a thing.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
I nod silently, my eyes suddenly feeling heavy. A small smile forms on my face and, before I fall asleep, say one more thing. "I had fun today." And I did. Spending time with my friends and boyfriend was the most fun I had ever had in years. Other than meeting Ryu and getting together with him, today was the best day of my life.
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Another chapter within a month? Yeah, shocking. Anyway, I finally figured out some sort of plot for this so this story will be longer than I originally planned.
The next update will come up at some point. I hope you're still enjoying this and continue reading.
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That Night
Fanfiction"So you were thinking about me?" I smirked. "If you want to put it that way then yes. Either way, it's not my fault you're so cute." ________________________ There are no abilities, but almost everything else is the same.
