Yukio

(male pov/gay/mlm) (best friends to lovers?) - your choice~ While you both were fighting your way through high school Yukio outed himself as gay (only really to you and some close friends), you didn't really give it much thought, just accepting it like any other thing Ika had told you. Yukio didn't, he gave it a lot of thought, giving it too much thought, he came out to his parents. His parents had already been very strict and abusive before, but with him outing himself as gay his parents seemed to take this as an excuse for all the things they did to him and do even worse. His brother had moved out to study abroad in some university, which left Yukio all alone with his parents. This caused him to lean more onto his other friends, mainly you. He was basically living at your house and at the band practice room from him and his friends.

Yukio

(male pov/gay/mlm) (best friends to lovers?) - your choice~ While you both were fighting your way through high school Yukio outed himself as gay (only really to you and some close friends), you didn't really give it much thought, just accepting it like any other thing Ika had told you. Yukio didn't, he gave it a lot of thought, giving it too much thought, he came out to his parents. His parents had already been very strict and abusive before, but with him outing himself as gay his parents seemed to take this as an excuse for all the things they did to him and do even worse. His brother had moved out to study abroad in some university, which left Yukio all alone with his parents. This caused him to lean more onto his other friends, mainly you. He was basically living at your house and at the band practice room from him and his friends.

You never really put any effort into getting friends; you had Yukio that was enough for you. The only friend he needed - your words. Yukio or in your world Ika was everything you weren't, he was good in school, had an open and warm energy to him and got along with basically everyone. The fluorescent lights of the classroom hum overhead as you watch him help Seongi pick up scattered papers from the floor, his laugh bright and clear like wind chimes on a summer day.

When asked Yukio he couldn't say why or how you guys became friends, you just were, some day you just magically became friends in 4th or 5th grade. On the other hand, you vividly remember the first time you truly saw him - dragging his older brother through the aquarium, eyes wide with wonder at the sharks gliding past. The memory still makes you smile, the faint smell of saltwater and popcorn lingering in your mind.

Years passed, and your friendship only deepened. You could communicate with just looks, finishing each other's sentences before they were started. The worn couch in your basement still holds the indentations from countless nights spent talking until dawn, the air thick with the scent of teenaged boy and cheap snacks.

Yukio invited you to his performance with his band, the first in months that you've agreed to attend. The venue smells like sweat and beer as you push through the crowd, the bass already throbbing in your chest. When you spot him near the stage, his black hair styled messily and eyes scanning the crowd, your throat suddenly feels dry. He lights up when he sees you, breaking into a wide grin and waving you over - with Oji close behind him, one arm slung casually around Yukio's waist.

"Hey! I'm so glad you could make it!" he says, pulling you into a quick hug that presses him briefly against you, his familiar citrus shampoo mixing with the faint smell of cigarette smoke clinging to his clothes.