Nine & Rodtang from Make It Right the Series

Chapter, 3 Batman Kisses

Holding the little Batman character in his hand,  Nine was still smiling like an idiot.  He had everything he wanted now.  Well,  almost everything.  Rodtang seemed to be paying all his attention to him now.  Following him everywhere in school.  Sitting beside him at lunch.  With a long sigh, he placed the little paper man on the shelf in his bedroom.  It took a prominent spot overlooking his bed.

He stared at it long after he had shut the lights off.  It seemed to be staring back at him.  

He was trying to make a plan.  There had to be a way he could ask Rodtang out on a date and make their relationship official.  The problem was Rodtang was always the one to make the moves.  It was Rodtang who asked him to go on the swan boats and he was the one who bought the drinks.  

Nine asked himself:  "Where does his courage come from?"

Recalling that day,  Rodtang had almost goaded him into going.  He remembered putting up a fight but finally giving into the boy with the long eyelashes.  God, he was so embarrassed when Rodtang was standing on the log bench waving at him from a distance.  Embarrassed yes,  but also it made him feel all squishy and warm inside.  Rodtang's eyes were on him and no one else but him.  It was like they were alone, yet they were in a  crowded park with people everywhere.  No one else mattered.

"Nothing makes that kid shy."  

The best part of the memory was how Rodtang totally devoted himself to entertaining Nine while floating on the small lake.  He talked and joked and seemed genuinely happy to spend his time with Nine.  He even sang a song and danced.  He was standing on the swan boat when he raised his foot and placed it on the wing of the white plastic bird.  Rodtang was wiggling his hips a little as he did. 

Nine had to admit,  he enjoyed every minute of it.  He tried not to think of himself as pervy,  but he had to admit,  it was alluring.  Yes,  he may have pretended not to be paying attention but he never missed a single move.  

Rodtang was his normal touchy feely self that day.  He had hugged Nine and put his hand on Nines leg while they floated around.  He asked Nine a lot of questions too.  He wanted to know everything about his younger life.  Who his friends were.  What his parents did and he really pressured Nine about past relationships.  He asked if he had girlfriends or if there was ever a girl that he liked.  

"Damn!  I shouldn't have been so vague and cryptic."  He chastised himself.  "Why couldn't I just be offhanded and say,  mmm I don't really like girls."  Nine slapped his own face at this thought.  "Nah,  I could never say that." 

There he was alone in his bedroom and blushing with his own thoughts.

After the boat ride was an equally fond memory.  Rodtang had bought his favourite drink and there were moments when they were closer than they had ever been.  He let it happen.  He let Rodtang bring his face very close to his own.  He could smell his breath.  It was sweet and smelled of vanilla.  Nine didn't move.  He was aking to a stone statue and was  braced for anything.  In the end, he put his arm around Nines neck and held him close.  His head resting on Nines shoulder.  

It wasn't the kiss he thought might happen.  It wasn't Rodtang's confession of love, but, In his whole life,  this was the closest he'd ever been to someone he really liked.  It wasn't much,  but for Nine this memory would live in him for a long time.

Tee and Fuse could do it, and,  from what he could see, or sense   Book and Frame were getting along in a way that suggested maybe they were a couple too.  Seeing all this,  Nine had to find a way.

At school the next day his "sense" was proven right.  The rumour was Book and Frame were a couple.  Frame was heard yelling it sometime late in the afternoon yesterday.  There were people on the balcony one floor above.  They were standing right there and heard the whole thing.  Like any high school, the news was everywhere spreading like a fire in a barn full of hay.