Friends

Aiden barely made it into class before the first bell rang. He flopped down in his seat and heaved a sigh of relief before taking out his textbook, notebook and a pen. Yuki looked over at him with concern and hesitated for a while before speaking.

"I-Is everything okay? You, um, you're not usually late. Or, uh, almost late I should say."

"Yeah. I accidentally overslept, that's all." Aiden smiled and Yuki seemed relieved.

"That's good! Ah! Not that you overslept and were almost late, but that everything's fine. That's what I meant."

"Don't worry. I knew what you meant." For class that day they were mainly discussing the group project that they'd be doing and then got into their assigned groups to discuss the specifics. The only girl in their group enthusiastically reintroduced herself.

"Hello again! Just in case anyone forgot, I'm Ava Sanders. I'm a Saggitarius and I absolutely love mint chocolate chip ice cream! Let's get along!"

"The hell do we need to know that for?" Zeke asked.

"Obviously because it's important information! We'll work better as a team if we know more about each other. So who's next?" Ava looked around at them all expectantly. Seeing that no one else was going to speak up, Aiden sighed and introduced himself to the group.

"I'm Aiden Hale."

"...And?" Ava stared at him with a somewhat crazed smile. "Go on."

"Uh, I prefer tea over coffee. Good enough?"

"Sure!" Ava nodded. "Now, you next." She pointed to Yuki who flinched.

"Oh! Uh, I"m Yuki…Jensen and um, I-I'm kinda shy." Yuki hung his head. Zeke snorted.

"No shit! Who'd have guessed?"

"Don't tease your group members," Ava scolded him. "It's your turn now."

"Zeke Turner. That's it." For the remaining class time, Ava did most of the talking but the others didn't mind. Since the project was to research a specific path of psychology, they all agreed on focusing on criminal psychology. It was the only topic Zeke seemed even mildly interested in.

Soon, the bell rang and everyone moved to their next class. By the time lunch rolled around, Aiden decided to check in on Derek and see if he was feeling better so he sent a text before getting his food and sitting down with Yuki. They were in the middle of their meal when Yuki started acting strange.

In the beginning, Yuki was cheerfully chatting and eating but all of a sudden he froze while looking over Aiden's shoulder. Then, his shoulders started trembling and he made himself look smaller by pulling his arms in close and hanging his head low. His fists were clenched under the table.

"Yuki, what is it? What's wrong?" Aiden had just finished asking when the answer became apparent.

"Well, look what we have here guys!" A small group of male students swaggered up to the table. Aiden recognized them since he had literally run into one of them in the hallway on the first day of school. They didn't seem to be paying any attention to anything other than Yuki and hadn't even noticed that Aiden was sitting there too. Yuki flinched when the other spoke and everyone in the group snickered.

"Just as pathetic as always, isn't he? Hey Ash, it's been a while since we've seen him. I think he's avoiding you," one of them spoke to the guy in front.

"Must've been. How cruel, to avoid your friends like that! We missed you. Don't you think you ought to apologize?" Ash took a step forward and reached out a hand towards Yuki who let out an almost inaudible whimper.

"That's enough." Aiden stood up and grabbed Ash's wrist, stopping him in his tracks. Yuki glanced up with fear filled eyes.

"Ha! What's this? You got yourself a little body guard now?" Ash pulled his arm away from Aiden and scowled. "You should choose your friends more carefully. Associating with the likes of this thing," he motioned to Yuki, "will only bring you trouble."

"Hah! Honestly, people like you always say the same things. It's so cliche! I don't want to hear it." Aiden waved them away dismissively. "Now run along and bark somewhere else while I'm still being nice."

"Bark?! Why you…!"

"Is everything alright here?" A teacher interrupted whatever Ash was going to say as Aiden sat back down at the table.

"Nothing's wrong, Miss. Just saying hello to some friends." Ash smiled at the teacher like he wasn't uttering complete nonsense. The teacher clearly knew he was lying but she let it slide.

"Alright. Well, back to lunch now."

"Yes miss." When the teacher turned around, Ash and his group of followers all glared at Yuki and Aiden. "You got lucky this time but there won't always be somebody around to save you." After that, they left in a huff. Aiden went back to calmly eating his food but Yuki seemed far from relieved.

"Y-You shouldn't have done that!"

"Hm? Why not?"

"That's…well, now they'll…those guys, I mean, you'll be a…target now too." Yuki was almost in tears. "I…I caught their attention…back in my first year. Since then, they've always…and now you too, because of me. Why?"

"Why? Obviously because we're friends, duh! As for me being a target, well, let's just say I'm not overly concerned. I've dealt with people like them before and it's not something I can't handle." Aiden looked up after taking another bite of food and saw Yuki staring at him, shocked. "What?"

"We're… friends?"

"Well, geez, I thought so but if you don't want to…"

"No, no! I do! I mean I want to be…friends with…you." Yuki trailed off and his whole face turned beet red. Aiden laughed.

"Ha ha! Then it's fine." The two of them finished the rest of their lunch peacefully. On their way to the next class, Yuki voiced his concerns again.

"Will you really be okay though? Those guys can be really mean and they're relentless. What if…?"

"No 'what if's'! Everything will be fine. You'll see." Yuki didn't seem convinced but he didn't argue. The rest of the day passed without any problems. Yuki saw Aiden texting a lot and smiling at his phone. He was curious but didn't want to be too nosy so he didn't ask about it.

After leaving the school, Aiden didn't go straight back to the house. Instead, he had Milo drive him to a restaurant Derek liked and he ordered food to go. He decided to take dinner to Derek since he most likely wouldn't remember to eat while he was working. From what Mrs. Hudson said, the only reason he would eat lunch was because his secretary would remind him. However, if he was working overtime, the secretary would go home before him and he'd skip his meal. Aiden texted Mrs. Hudson to let her know.

Meanwhile, Yuki sat in a daze staring out of the window as his driver took him home. Friends, huh? How long had it been since he had someone he could call a friend? He smiled to himself while thinking about it. He was worried about what would happen now that his bully's might target Aiden but he was also happy that he had made a friend.

When the car pulled up to Yuki's house, the driver got out and opened the car door for him. Yuki thanked him and hurried inside. He was still smiling cheerfully as he walked through the door and took off his shoes. Unfortunately, that smile vanished when he heard someone speak.

"What happened to make you so happy?" A man with short, platinum blond hair was standing in the hallway with his arms crossed. He peered down at Yuki, waiting for a response.

"Oh! Uh, y-you're back early."

"I asked a question." Yuki flinched at the harsh tone.

"Huh? Oh, right! Um, it's nothing….I just…made a friend…that's all." Yuki stared down at his feet and fidgeted with his hands.

"You're still getting so excited over making friends at your age?"

"That's…" Yuki frowned and hunched his shoulders, his voice barely a whisper. "...I'm sorry."

"...Nevermind." The man sighed and walked away without another word, leaving Yuki standing dejectedly in the hall.

Once Yuki was sure the other wasn't around anymore, he rushed to his room and quietly shut the door. He sighed and sat down on his bed, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He was in such a good mood just a few minutes ago but now he felt awful. If only he could find the courage to talk to everyone the way he talked with Aiden, maybe he wouldn't be hated so much.

Shaking his head, Yuki got up and went to his desk. He opened his laptop and started working on his homework assignments. A few hours passed before the housekeeper knocked on the door to inform him that dinner was ready. Yuki didn't want to go down and eat since it would undoubtedly be uncomfortable but he had no choice. His step-brother was sure to get angry if he didn't show up so he unwillingly left his room and headed to the dining room.