27 Spooning?

As soon as he said that, Haruki regretted what he had said. But the words had already left his mouth.

"Saito-san, I'm sorry. Please forgive me!" he jumped out of bed and bowed deeply. "I spoke without thinking, I..."

The mountaineer glared at him with a colorless face.

Haruki didn't know whether out of surprise or fury. But Saito wasn't a man who was easily startled, he guessed. The singer knew he was in trouble.

Saito also stood up and said,

"Hm, then your 'good boy's mask' fell off. That's how you think of me. That I am a misguided man. Who deviated from 'good customs'. A submissive, passive emasculate. An addict. A weakling," Saito spat out the words as if they were wasps.

And Haruki felt them. One by one sting his soul.

"No, Saito-san, that's not how I see you. I honestly never thought of you in that condition." He filled his lungs with air. "But listening to what you said now, I guess you think it yourself. As Jun said just now, what matters is what you think, not the others' opinions," Haruki spoke in a tired voice, pronouncing the words well.

Standing, he said goodbye,

"I didn't want to cause any more misunderstandings. Thank you for welcoming me here," bowing, and looking at his own feet, finished the apology. "A good guest has to know when to leave," With these words Haruki left Saito's quarters, returning to the room Kenta drew for him.

The singer lay down on the futon. He hated sleeping on the floor. The futon was hard and narrow, and its only benefit was that there was no danger of it falling. Haruki massaged his ass, remembering the fall in Saito's bed. Thinking about the mountaineer made him roll on the dusty futon.

'Is that how Saito sees himself?' the singer kept thinking about each one of those words. Saito spoke without hesitation. It sounded like an old and worn speech.

'Perhaps these are the insults that Saito heard from his father before he was thrown out of the house.'

Haruki rolled from side to side. Without his roll pillow. Looking for a good position to sleep, however unable to. The singer was ashamed to have been so clumsy responding that way, and thereby, offending his friend.

Hearing Saito speaking those horrible things about himself was depressing. Everything Saito had lived years ago still hurt him a lot. And when Saito faced such situations, he didn't know how to act.

After thinking so hard, Haruki understood that Saito thought Jun tried to force him into something. 'Poor Saito, it wasn't like that,' the boy sighed.

Because of events that the mountaineer could not avoid in the past, when he was still very young, his life changed completely. And instead of receiving family support, Saito was kicked out of the house with nothing. He had to stop studying and work for his livelihood, and for a roof. These thoughts only saddened the singer more.

'No wonder he hates Jun and Jun to him. They see and recognize each other. ' Haruki concluded that he had seen this behavior before with his career colleagues.

'Idiots, they could have been best friends,' Haruki thought, irritated at being tired and unable to sleep.

His mind was racing now about experiencing trauma, finding someone to lean on, and going home. Haruki was thinking about his family's reaction if he, by any chance, came back home, dating Jun…

Another sigh.

"Achoo achoo," he sneezed, unable to hold it.

Haruki was startled, and thought if just thinking about the situation made him sneeze. He sat looking around, scratched his nose, and realized the floor was dusty.

'How strange, Ita-san has been cleaning the whole mansion, except here?' Haruki reflected, lying down again.

His thoughts returned to Saito and Jun. Anyway, it was because of their rivalry that he was back in this dirty room, lying on the hard floor.

The door opened after an almost imperceptible knock, and Haruki turned on the futon.

Saito was standing at the entrance, looking at him,

"Let's go to our room. This will make you sick. I heard you sneeze," the mountaineer spoke softly.

Haruki sat down. He could use the opportunity of Saito's unexpected visit to defuse the tense atmosphere and explain his terrible response to the mountaineer.

"When I said that, I said that you didn't like being involved in your life when you went to tell your father. Understand, I didn't like you meddling in mine either," Haruki said in a whisper.

Saito crouched down beside the singer,

"I am sorry to have meddled in your life. Even if the intention was to protect you," Saito's voice was little more than a whisper too. He continued,

"Let's go to the bedroom. There is no point in being like this. You know how much I worry about you, don't you?" Saito had the expression of a stray dog.

He gave him a half-smile,

"Okay, let's go to sleep," Haruki was relieved they settled this matter, and he could sleep again in a clean and comfortable place.

To his surprise, even in the luxurious bed, he continued rolling back and forth without being able to rest. When he felt Saito's hand grab his arm,

"Come here," he said, looking at Haruki, and noticing the singer's confusion, he explained,

"You only calm down when you're spooning," he said, arranging himself on the mattress.

Haruki was embarrassed, it was true. He just didn't understand how Saito discovered his peculiarity so quickly. He explained himself,

"I used to move a lot during sleep when I was a child. And then I was sleepy all day and was always tired. Until my mom gave me the roll. It's a long pillow to sleep on, spooning," the singer was embarrassed but wanted to know how Saito discovered his habit. He asked,

"How did you know?"

"Because you rolled over to me," the mountaineer seemed to enjoy the memory. But it was different to share the bed and to 'spooning' with Saito.

Haruki wasn't that innocent, and even if he was this naïve, after the last events of the day he would be less of an idiot.

"Thank you, Saito. I'm too old to behave like a boy. I'm going to get used to sleeping without the roll. And in order not to bother you anymore, I go to the sofa in the closet," the singer got up and was stopped by Saito's hand on his wrist,

"Okay. Just be careful not to fall again. Good night," the mountaineer turned his back on Haruki.

Breathing slowly, slowly, the singer calmed down. He felt sleep fog up his mind. From a distant place, he heard Saito ask,

"Haruki, tell me the truth. I promise I won't fight with your friend. What really happened there?"

Haruki with a sleep-confused mind took a long time to answer,

"Hm me, I was taken aback. Jun grabbed me out of nowhere. Miyu-chan entered the room. And then I understood everything. Jun is so smart ... isn't he?! Yawhnnnn…" yawns cut his last words. Haruki was very sleepy and didn't understand the answer.

****************

He woke up in Saito's arms.

'Ooh not again! I should have gone to sleep in the closet,' the singer reproached himself.

His head was on the mountaineer's chest. Haruki heard Saito's heartbeat.

The singer, without moving, watched him sleep. Asleep Saito appeared to be younger. His body was slim but strong, like Haruki's. The climber's muscles were defined. Haruki stayed there, in the position they were in.

The mountaineer had put his arm around Haruki, and the singer was half body over him. If he moved, he would wake Saito.

The singer took the time to think. It was necessary to find a more effective way to quit the game.

His mind went back to the room Kenta drew. He still didn't know why the virtual butler had not cleaned that room, but he could do some tests to find out if his theory was right.

Knowing that Ita-san wouldn't go in there, Haruki could leave a message for Kenta. The singer imagined Kenta had not contacted him because he was not safe or could not access Okami.

'Maybe he was fired. Hm... these thoughts won't help me get out of here,' the singer changed the course of his thoughts so as not to be depressed.

Fully awake and replenished by a good night of sleep, Haruki wanted to get up. With the precision of a surgeon, Haruki began to remove his entwined leg from the mountaineer's tighs.

But as part of his torso was over Saito, when lifting his leg, Haruki shifted his weight to his torso without noticing, putting pressure on the sleeping mountaineer.

Haruki felt his body fly.

Saito spun them around on the mattress, placing Haruki under him.

Too surprised by the unexpected blow, Haruki stood there, not reacting. He released the air from his lungs and breathed again. He was still processing what had happened when he felt the roughness of Saito's beard scrape his face. The throat hurt when being compressed by Saito's forearm, preventing Haruki from breathing and forcing the singer to remain immobile and pinned to the mattress. His eyes met Saito's eyes from inches away, Haruki shivered at the fury with which he was assessed.