Dinner, movie and a walk in the park (or along the beach) is like the perfect date for a girl. But for guys it's a bit boring, if you asked me.


I arrived in front of Uruha's door at 7. I rang the bell. Ruki was the one who answered. He was wearing a full red velvet suit with a black feather boa around his neck. It gets better, he wore blue contact lenses, he had feathers stuck to his bottom eye lashes and his lips was painted with sparkling red lip gloss. I heard from Uruha that the independent (low budgeted) movie Ruki was meant to play the main role in went under so I guess he decided to sell himself, from the looks of things.

"Man, what are you wearing?" I had to ask, while trying not to laugh out loud.

Ruki whipped the boa around his neck and over his shoulder. "I've got a one night gig as a host at a bar my friend runs in Osaka. What do you think?" He did a spin which caused his boa to hit me in the face.

I spitted out the feather that got stuck between my lips. "Is this a gay bar?"

"No, but if you say that I think the girls would love this. Au revoir, me petit." He blew me a kiss and I dodged it.

Ruki strutted his way out of sight and I was left to invite myself into the apartment. Once I got pass the entrance hall I was lurred further in by the tantilazing smell of sizzling meat. Uruha wanted to try his culinary skills on me. He said he had been taking cooking lessons from a friend he was working part-time for at a French restaruant.

It still amazed me how Uruha could have so many part-time jobs and still find time to do his own thing. Some people would say that part-timers are down there in the economic food chain because they can't keep a steady job and their paychecks are always unstable. But I think these people are just too arrogant to see the struggles part-timers have to go through to work to survive every single day. On the contrary, Uruha had said that he's happy living this way, and he's learned a lot from working so many different jobs, and he had made many friends along the way. In someway I kinda envy Uruha's method of living.


"Uruha," I called out as I reached the counter outside the kitchen window.

He turned his head to me and smiled. He was then right in the middle of taking out two big white plates front the top cabinates. He wore a light blue checkered apron I distinctly recalled had a monkey with a banana design. "Hey, have a seat the food's almost ready."

"Sure you don't need my help?" I had asked him the same thing on the phone earlier, but he said no.

"Nah. Just sit and be anxious to eat."

I kind of already was since it was another guy cooking for me. The last time a guy cooked for me my stomach churned all night, along with multiple visits to the bathroom. This guy was my good friend Aoi. He wanted to cook a dinner for his girlfriend as a surprise, so he asked me to be his guinea pig before he set up everything.

Uruha came out with two plates of steak, followed by two salads. And right after putting them down Uruha snagged a strawberry tomato and popped one in his mouth. Then he got another and held it up to my mouth between his two fingers. It looked like he was going to feed it to me. "Try?" he said as he chewed, "I got them from this brand new organic produce market hat just opened."

I got a bit nervous and just took one from any bowl and put in my mouth. I bit down and all the juices started dribbling down my chin. It was really sweet. Uruha laughed, almost choking as he swallowed, then went back to the kitchen. He came back with napkins for me and everything suddenly turned black.

After a while of scrambbling, and me bumping into things, Uruha brought out candles. Four were to light the corners of the room, and two were set on top of the table we were to dine on, which evidently were red. He took another to the kitchen and came back out with two glasses and a bottle of red wine. If it wasn't for the whole neighborhood blacking out (which we found out later), I would have thought this was all planned.

Uruha filled our glasses, and he smirked as he poured mines. He was looking at me and I guess I was making some strange face because the next thing he said sounded slightly strange too.

"Steak, candlelight and red wine between friends isn't that weird, right?"

I was thinking of that mock romantic dinner I had with Aoi at that expesive restaruant that one time when he got stood up by his boss. "Well, it isn't my first time with a friend."

Uruha's face went blank for a second then he started chuckling. "Then shall we make a toast?" He held up his glass. "To Us - friends, having Our first candlelit dinner."

From the way he said 'Us' and 'Our' I knew it was suppose to mean something, but I wasn't too sure then. This night was suppose to have been something special, but I was the one who couldn't see through the signs.

Instead, I complained about the steak. I took one bite, and said, "This is too well-done, and dry." Well, he also asked for my opinion throughout the meal after all.

"Oh, really? Mines still's pretty rare." He cut off a piece from his plate and held it up to my mouth like before with his fork. "Here, try."

I was thinking at that point, "a hot guy cooked me a steak dinner and is going to feed me. And there's candlelight surrounding us. A girl in my position would be going ga-ga right now." Meanwhile, I was contemplating wheather I should take it, or how I was going to do it. Finally, I reached for the steak and fork in Uruha's hand, and for a second there my fingers just rested on top of his fingers that was wrapper around the fork handle. If it was anyone, but Uruha, I would have pulled that fork in with that person's hand for a bite. As this wasn't the case, I took the fork with the piece of meat and picked it off in my own plate and gave him back his fork.

Uruha shook his head and grinned like he knew exactly what I was going to do, and he added, "What ever pleases you," to his attentive reaction.


I wasn't sure when exactly, but I started to like seeing Uruha's smile. The kind that makes you want to smile too but is afraid to because you know it'll never be as dazzling as his. There's also a mix of that sweet innocent childlike quality to it. It's the kind of smile I wish I had, that I wanted. I didn't want to lose his smile - Uruha's.

After taking the third bite of my very dry steak the lights came back on. Uruha looked at me and I looked back at him and we both must have thought it was just going to end here. So I took the chance, stood up and went to the light switch. With a slip of my finger it was all dark again. I went back to our table, with the two red candles that were still burning, giving us light. "I thought it would have been a waste to blow the candles out right now," I said.

And because of that I saw his smile again. I couldn't get enough.