Special Property (BxB)

Chapter 22. Can't, or Won't?

Those we choose to call friends can have a great impact on us, for good or ill. I'm reminded of what my old master told me when I was a youth.

"Friends are like food," he said.

I didn't understand so I asked, "What do you mean?" 

He smiled and replied, "With food, you are what you eat. If you eat good food, you will be healthy. Right?" 

I nodded.

"It's the same with friends," he continued. "You will become like them. Good friends will make you healthy, whereas bad friends will make you sick." 

Still wanting to know more, I asked of him, "How can I tell the difference?" 

He patted me on the back and said, "Good friends will love you, whereas bad friends will love only themselves."

—Words of Wisdom from Old Master Zhang Bai, Tang Dynasty

After entering the bathroom, Takahashi stopped and pulled his hand free of Kato's grip. Kato was glad there was no one else currently in the bathroom. He spun around and glared at Takahashi.

Takahashi glared back. "What?"

"I'm fucking sorry I got you into that mess. But it wasn't my fault."

"Another lie? You sure don't sound fucking sorry," replied Takahashi.

"Fuck off," Kato bit back.

"Hey!" Takahashi shouted. A glint of pure anger shown across his eyes. "Don't talk to your seme like that," he warned.

"Oh yeah, why not?"

"Because he did not talk to you that way."

Kato was still quite upset and irritated. He really just didn't understand why he couldn't get through a day without all hell breaking lose. Taking a ragged breath, he said, "I am sorry though. You could have gotten hurt."

Takahashi spoke slowly in a deep growl, emphasizing each word, "I—will—protect—my—uke."

Kato became hot again, "Well, who the fuck asked you to anyway?"

Takahashi reached over and slapped Kato on the face, completely stunning him. Kato took a step back in horror. He realized he had been stupidly poking a wolf with a sharp stick. Then he became mad again and, full of acid, commented, "I thought you would never hurt your precious, goddamned uke."

Takahashi glared for a moment and replied, "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have punched you, not slapped you. That slap was for insulting your seme."

Kato was getting quite tired of this whole seme/uke bullshit. And it pissed him off more that Takahashi kept referring to themselves as that instead of using their names. "It still hurt, asshole."

Takahashi stopped for a minute. He simply stared at Kato for a minute. Kato felt the silence was burdensome. "What?" he asked.

Takahashi, with some sadness, quietly replied, "I'm just trying to be a good seme. But it seems I can't do anything right by you. Maybe this was a bad idea."

Kato cooled off like he was hit by a bucket of cold water. "No! Don't say that. It's a good idea. But I don't want to see you get hurt because of some dumb-ass seme/uke shit."

Takahashi turned hot again, "What the fuck do you know about it? You only got here the day before yesterday!"

Kato got mad again, "And?"

Takahashi replied, "Handa-san would have eaten you alive by now if I hadn't rescued your ass."

Kato complained, "Yeah. And now he's taking it out on Murata-kun! Fucking, thanks a lot."