Chapter Text
‘Why am I doing this…?’
A short, black haired man stepped out of the car, closing the door with a sigh. From inside the large house, loud music and voices rang throughout the street. Witches, ghosts, zombies, and vampires flood the front lawn holding those red Solo cups you see in movies. Before he could change his mind about the situation, his taxi drove off, leaving him no choice but to go inside anyway.
Kiku was somewhat underdressed compared to the people he could see. He attempted to create a last minute vampire costume, but the cape was really just a cut-up black sweater, and the ‘blood’ on his face was just some red food coloring he’s had sitting in his pantry for a year or so. Shy and slightly embarrassed, he gathered what little courage he had inside of him and walked up the sidewalk to the front door. Kiku doesn’t do well in big social settings. He prefers quiet isolation. So you’re probably wondering why he’s here, at a big Halloween house party.
“Kiku, my man!” The door suddenly swung open, almost hitting a girl standing nearby. There was Alfred, the party’s host and the guy who invited Kiku to this hell-on-earth experience.
Alfred is your typical white American. He loves eating hamburgers, watching baseball, getting free soda refills at restaurants, and taking holidays to the max. So when he heard that Kiku had never experienced a “real” Halloween, of course he had to invite him to his annual party.
Kiku moved to New York only five years ago. He had studied abroad in America a few years prior. Born and raised in Osaka, Japan, Kiku’s ideas of holidays were very different from Alfred’s. The two met in one of Kiku’s English classes. Alfred was an English tutor at the University, and was thrilled to teach a native Japanese person the English language. Maybe a little too thrilled. He came off very strong to the timid Kiku, who was honestly kind of terrified of Alfred.
Alfred was enamored with Kiku’s innocence of the American world and wanted to be the one to teach him everything there was to know. But Kiku usually denied the invitations. Because the two were very different; Alfred is loud, obnoxious, and extroverted. Kiku is sheepish, solitary, and introverted. Really, it’s a miracle that the two became friends. Eventually, Kiku began to feel guilty for denying every invitation, so he gave in and said ‘yes’ when Alfred asked him to come.
“Ah, hello Alfred..” Kiku replied, startled.
“Welcome to the party, dude!” Alfred grabbed Kiku by the wrist, eagerly dragging him inside. The house was immensely congested. As Alfred yanked Kiku through the crowd, he bumped shoulders and tripped over feet, practically being tossed around. ‘I should’ve stayed home..’ Kiku thought.
Eventually, after what felt like a carnival ride, they ended up in a slightly less crowded area of the house.
“Is this your house?” Kiku asked, catching his breath.
“Yeah! Ya like it?” Alfred smiled proudly, resting his hands on his hips.
Kiku just nodded. The entire house smelled like candy corn and booze. The rooms were dimly lit with orange lights and fake plastic candles. Tacky decorations covered the walls, decorations that wouldn’t even scare a toddler. Cheap fake spider webs blanketed tables and chairs, accompanied by fuzzy spiders and pumpkins. You can tell the pumpkins are real because they were starting to rot.
Before Kiku could finish taking in the atmosphere, Alfred was shoving a drink into his hand.
“Drink up, bro!” Alfred raised his cup.
“Oh, thank you..” Kiku bowed politely, raising his cup to mimic his friend. He put the plastic rim to his lips, taking a small sip of the drink. The alcohol burned on his tongue and down his throat after swallowing. Kiku didn’t mind drinking, he was actually quite fond of it. But maybe it was his surroundings that were making him nervous.
“So, what are you supposed to be?” Alfred asked.
“Ah, you can’t tell?” Kiku smiled nervously. “I’m a, uh, vampire.”
“No, you nailed it!” Alfred gave him a thumbs up. “I just wanted to make sure I got it right.” He laughed.
“And you?” Kiku asked Alfred.
“You can’t tell what I am?” He laughed. “I’m a cowboy, dude!” He posed dramatically, forming his fingers into guns. Kiku looked him up and down. It should have been obvious from the large brown hat, leather boots, and vest.
“Oh, yeah, I see it now.”
The two stood, quietly sipping from their cups, awkwardness surrounding them. “I’m so glad you showed up, dude! I was starting to think you bailed on me.” Alfred spoke up after chugging the rest of his drink. “No, of course not.” Kiku replied, taking another small sip of his drink. “Well, you never showed up to Thanksgiving. Or Christmas.” He paused. “Or even my birthday party.” Alfred continued, with a little bit of sadness in his voice. Kiku was touched for a moment. So Alfred really did mean every invitation. He didn’t just do it because he felt bad. He actually really wanted him to show up. Kiku had been suspicious of all of the invitations. He assumed that Alfred viewed him as a personal toy of fascination. That he was the lonely, quiet, Japanese student that he could mess around with. That’s how people usually treat foreigners. They love your culture; parading around with your food, your clothes, your traditions, all while mocking your language and your people. Especially in America. That’s what Kiku had assumed Alfred was like, but perhaps he had been wrong about him this whole time.
“Oh.. I didn’t know you really wanted me to.” Kiku said. “I guess I just assumed you were inviting me out of pity.”
“Hey, I taught you that word.” Alfred laughed, patting him on the back. “No, I meant it. We’re friends, aren’t we?” Kiku never really thought of it. Were they friends? He had no idea. “Yes. We are.” He smiled sadly. He hadn’t realized that he had been neglecting someone who genuinely thought of him as a friend. If he felt guilty before, he felt insanely guilty now.
A few people passed by them, stopping to talk to Alfred. Alfred seems like a popular guy. I mean, if he got this many people to show up to his house. Kiku started to zone out, just aimlessly looking around the room. Lost in disassociation, he suddenly felt an arm wrap around him tightly.
“Oh yeah, this is Kiku! He’s a Japanese student at the University!”
He suddenly snapped back to the moment, turning towards the people who were talking. A tall blonde man with wavy hair and an even taller man with pale hair smiled at him.
“Hi Kiku!” The shorter one greeted him. “Alfred talks about you a lot.”
“Aw, shut up man!” Alfred’s cheeks turned pink.
“It’s true!” The taller commented.
Kiku tilted his head, attempting to look up at Alfred. This felt like a sick joke, like when the popular kids in school pretended to be your best friend just to make a fool out of you.
Alfred's face burned, and his heart was pounding. Hard. Kiku could feel it against his shoulder.
“O-okay guys! Get out of here!” He let his arm fall off of Kiku and pushed his two friends away, laughter fainting away from them.
Kiku sighed. ‘I should have stayed home.’ He thought again. Maybe he was wrong about being wrong about Alfred. Maybe he did think of Kiku as a joke. As a loser that he could mess around with. Maybe he should have never moved to the U.S. altogether. His entire family tried to get him to stay. They warned him about the challenges, and changes, and how people would treat him. Kiku started to tear up remembering his family back home. He wanted to go home.
Alfred walked back over to Kiku after successfully shoving his friends out of the room. “Sorry about them,” He laughed nervously, “They can be so-” He looked up at Kiku’s face. “W-woah, Kiku! Are you okay?” He rushed over to him nervously. Kiku could hardly hear him over the music and voices. Tears streamed down his cheeks before he could realize he was crying. He looked up at Alfred, who looked straight into his big eyes with concern. “Kiku, what happened??” He asked anxiously. “Did someone say something to you?” He looked around the room frantically. “Can you point them out to me-”
“No.” Kiku sniffled, wiping his face. He was so embarrassed. He couldn't believe he was crying. “It was nobody.”
Alfred could feel himself breaking down just by looking at Kiku like this. He grabbed him by the hand, still wet with tears, and began to lead him out of the room. Kiku held his head down as they made their way through the halls. He could feel the eyes burning into him like lasers, and hear the whispers surrounding them.
They walked up a staircase, leading them to the top floor of the house. Alfred, still holding Kiku’s hand tightly, opened a door and dragged him inside, shutting it firmly behind them. In the room, it was quiet aside from the lingering noise coming from downstairs. Kiku, who had stopped crying by now, looked around the room with blurry eyes. Hollywood movie posters cover the walls; stacks of colorful comic books sit in the corner collecting dust; video game controllers and plastic dvd cases litter the floor.
“Is this.. Your room?” Kiku asked.
Alfred sat down on the end of bed pushed up against the wall.
“Yeah.. You, uh, like it?” He asks.
“Mhm.” Kiku nodded.
They were silent for a while. Kiku was admiring the decorations around the room. Alfred was just giving him some space to calm down.
After a few minutes, Alfred spoke up. “So… What happened?”
Kiku walked over to him, standing in front of the bed.
“I don’t know how to say it.” He frowned.
“Then I’ll help you.”
Kiku hesitated. “I just.. Do you like me?” He held his head down.
Alfred blushed and looked away. “Y-yeah. Totally.”
Kiku looked up. “You’re lying.”
Alfred looked at him with confusion. “And why do you think that?”
“I’m a joke to you, aren’t I?” His voice cracked.
“What? No- Kiku, where did you get that from?”
Kiku clenched his fists. “I’m not dumb just because I’m not from here. I understand you, you know.” His voice cracked. Kiku could feel the tears coming back again. He wiped his cheek, smudging the red on his chin.
“Kiku..” Alfred reached for his hand. “I don’t think of you like that.” He pulled his hand back. “I know you think that just because we’re a little different, or that you’re from another country, you think that you and I can’t get along. But that’s not true!” Kiku avoided his gaze. “Why would I decide to tutor you if I didn’t wan’t to be your friend?? Why would I teach you anything at all? Why would I invite you here if I didn’t want you here!” Alfred’s voice gradually got louder, growing in frustration. “Don’t you know I waited all night for you to get here?!” He shouted, startling Kiku. Alfred took a breath, looking straight up at Kiku. There was silence; both of them didn’t know what to say. Alfred swallowed hard, fearing that he said the wrong thing, or spoke too loudly. “I-I’m sorry-” Alfred started. “No, I’m sorry.” Kiku cut him off. “I didn’t know you cared that much. I thought that..” He looked outside the window, glancing at the people outside. “That you were a buly.” He said, in lack of better terms. “That you wanted to play with me, like a toy, or something like that.” He sighed, turning back to Alfred, who’s eyes were also watery now. “So I avoided you and your invitations.. When we were downstairs just now, I didn’t really understand why you and your friends were laughing. It felt like..” He made a motion with his hands, trying to gather his words. “Like you guys were making fun of me.”
Alfred grabbed Kiku’s hand. “No, it really wasn’t like that!” Alfred turned towards the door as footsteps passed by. “Then why did you blush, and push them away? Are you embarrassed by me?” Kiku looked down at him. Alfred, blushing again, shook his head frantically. “N-no! It’s nothing like that!”
“Then what is it like?” Kiku asked. Alfred bit his lip. “I.. don’t know..” Kiku sighed, then smiled. “It’s okay. I don’t know a lot of things either.” He chuckled, wrapping his fingers around Alfred’s hand. Alfred looked up. His cheeks were flushed, and he looked extremely nervous. Kiku could almost see the wheels in his brain turning as Alfred scanned Kiku all over. It was starting to make Kiku nervous. Alfred clearly wasn’t being completely honest. “Alfred-” Alfred stood up and wrapped his arms around Kiku, pulling him into a tight hug. Kiku’s eyes widened as he too began to blush. After being frozen for a moment, he reciprocated the hug, wrapping his arms around Alfred. They stood like that for what felt like minutes, without a single word being spoken. Kiku softly nuzzled his head into Alfred’s leather-covered shoulder. Kiku was a little too short for Alfred to do the same, so he just stood there.
Kiku pulled back a bit, looking up at Alfred with a deep gaze in his eyes. Alfred looked like he was going crazy; he could barely look at Kiku. Kiku smiled, and stood up on his tippy toes. He placed a soft kiss on Alfred’s lips. It was hardly a kiss, more like a small peck. But nonetheless, this made the both of them feel like they were going to explode any minute. Suddenly Alfred pulled Kiku into a kiss too, but this one was much more real. Their lips sloppily smashed together. They were both probably a little too drunk to be thinking clearly right now.. Kiku shut his eyes, his heart racing so fast that he could probably pass out and die in Alfred’s arms right there. Kiku had actually never kissed anyone before, so he was unsure of what to do exactly, but he didn’t care much; For once in his life, he felt like he didn’t have to be perfect. He knew now that Alfred didn’t care if he was perfect or anything like that. Right now, in this moment, nothing else matters.
After sloppily making out like animals for a minute or two, the two pulled away from each other. They gasped for air, their lips swollen with love and dripping with drool. Alfred admired the sight of Kiku, who usually looked so neat and tidy. Kiku licked his lips, shyly looking away from Alfred. The room was quiet besides the soft panting coming from the two boys. Alfred swallowed and spoke up. “So.. Do you believe me now?” He chuckled awkwardly. Kiku covered his face with his hands, nodding. “Y-yes..” Alfred smiled and wiped his mouth. He took off his cowboy hat, which fell off of his head while they were kissing, and was now hanging around his neck. He placed it on top of Kiku’s head and laughed. “Good! You ready to back down?” Kiku uncovered his face, his face flushed red. He looked up at Alfred and tugged on the hem of Alfred’s shirt. “Maybe..? We could stay up here a bit longer?” Alfred’s eyes widened. He smirked, then locked the bedroom door.