Hito and Yume

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

I guess you could say there was no changing her mind. The Meita's were moving from Wayward Drive in Kauna to Pine Grove in Iithana (do not mistake this for Lithuania), around 450 miles from their home. It'll be a long move.

Wayward Drive is a nice place but dearest Berta, however much of a wonderful mother she is, has decided that her 12 year old son could be better educated and provided for in Iithana. Their education and graduation rates are amazing by comparison, with 96% of all students getting a job within their first year after leaving school or university as opposed to 74% in Kauna.

After hours of research and a lot of asking around, she came across the beautifully dressed Naitan House, situated in the centre of Pine Grove. A three bedroom house for herself and her only son, with a kitchen, dining room and lounge, office, generously sized garage and a very pretty front garden.

The house was immaculate and perfectly cared for by its temporary caretakers while it was unoccupied. Each room had a distinct Victorian feel, despite being a 4 year old property in this day and age, and the place was very well put together as opposed to some other properties in Iithana.

The decision to move was made alone, meaning her son had no role in deciding when to move or where they were going. He never knew they were moving until two weeks before, when she announced that it was time to pack everything into boxes.

"Mom why!" He yelled. His face dropped when she told him and he was verging tears, but being strong he holds them back as much as he can. Something he got used to from prior experiences, like after his father had left them some years ago.

"Because your future matters." She calmly replied, "and if you don't have a future I'm doing something about it."

"I don't want to go!" He yelled back, before storming off to his room.

Berta sighed. She'd been dreading the day that she'd have to tell him that they were moving. Socially he wasn't the best, and he had few friends, but if he got along with someone they ended up as friends quickly. She had been planning on moving for months, so that the move would happen in the mid-year break. This means he loses almost none of his education. She knew the move itself would affect him so she tried to put it somewhere where he wasn't out a whole lot too.

The two weeks prior to the move passed by "quietly", with everything getting put tidily into boxes. The first places packed away were the downstairs rooms, primarily the office and dining area. Bare essentials were left out. By the end, everything was packed away in boxes.

The moving truck came midday on August 28th, and by 3pm everything from in the house was in the truck. Once everything was loaded, mother and son set off to Iithana. The truck would arrive a few hours later than them, so they would easily have a good while to learn the area and some of the neighbours.

Once the truck had arrived, everything was unloaded and the bare essentials were set up. Beds, fridge/freezer, microwave and some food. Water was always free in Iithana, the city believed that charging for water was immoral.

The next week passed not so quickly for the son. His time was spent day-dreaming of friends who'd stay with him in this new place instead of setting up his new room. Aside to his bed, nothing had been done with his stuff. He said to himself he'd sort it when he wants to.

He would turn 12 before the school term starts in a week, on September 5th (incidently, a Tuesday). His birthday is the Sunday right before. He doesn't expect to get much, but to his surprise the days pass and on his birthday he gets a fair bit of things he's wanted but nothing he really wants, like a friend.

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The first day of school was to be an introduction day. All schools have to do it for their first-years. Grade 7 is big for everyone this age, and since most of them are transferring to a different part of a large school they'll need a bit of a lesson in learning the new grounds.

Shining green eyes and a playful but shy face were the highlights of the boy we're focusing this story on. Short straw coloured hair on his head and a well distanced set of eyes accompanied by a nose placed perfectly between them defined him as good looking to others, even if he never seen it in himself. Slightly athletic, but rarely excercising, he's just fitter than an average build but not by a lot.

First part of new school years is sorting. For this year there's 80 first years, which by comparison to prior years at this specific school, is a lot. Each of them were sorted by random selection into two groups of 27 and one group of 26.

The idle chatter of the class our boy enters is that to be expected. Everyone's already sat by what he assumed to be their friends, minus around four who were sitting by themselves. He navigates himself around the room to a random empty seat away from everyone, keeping sure not to look at any of them while he walks.

Posters with information relating to each of five different key subjects (English, Maths, Science, RE and 'Life') were stuck to the walls in various places, with the door to what was presumably a store cupboard at the south-west corner of the room. Four windows lined the East side of the room, with open roller blinds attached up top.

Five minutes pass before some sort of teacher enters the room. A tall, thin and very well dressed lady enters the room, holding an umbrella in her left hand. She stands at the door, facing in leaning on her umbrella as if it were a walking stick.

"Alright everyone. Against the back wall if you please." she booms, immediately overriding the idle chatter of the other kids. Everyone goes quiet and walks towards the back wall, some trying to get there quicker than others for reasons unknown.

"I, am Mrs. Partina." she states, with a less harsh tone since she has everyone's attention.

"Hello Mrs. Partina." Everyone echoes back.

She lets the echoes die down before continuing with her "opening speech", something which seems very well prepared. Suits her appearance too, well prepared and ready for anything.

"I will be your grade tutor. You all will have to be in this room at 8:45am and at 3:15pm everyday for 15 minutes. This room is where we will register you, and mark your attendance. You can talk to one another during this period, because there's no teaching done during. Does anyone not understand this?"

No one raises a hand or says a word. Everyone seems to understand this, however if any don't then they'll soon be made to understand.

"I will also be the point of contact if your parents or legal guardians need to report absenses."

The "briefing" of the upper school rules goes for most of the session, up until 9:50am. For all of the past 45 minutes they were stood at the back. They were handed maps of the school each before finally being seated by Mrs. Partina.

"Seating. I know your legs are tired, so lets just get to it." She walks around to a desk at the front, with the eyes of 27 students following her. "Each desk has a letter and a number on it. This is so you can identify your desk. No one else is to sit at your desk."

Everyone takes a moment to let this information enter their memory. They were still unclear on whether these seats were permanent or just for the grade, but since it's just a grade tutor it should only be for the grade.

"I will read out your name, and you will take a seat at the desk I am standing by." She finally begins to read out their names and assign them seats. When it finally comes to young Meita's turn he is the last of four.

"Hitoyu, Meita, to C4 please" and she points to the desk to her immediate left. Hito moves to the desk carrying his schoolbag with him. Once seated, he stares forward and tries to ignore everything else about seating.

With seating over with, it was just going 10am. From tradition first years get a break spanning the next 45 minutes on their first week following the 10am chimes. Mrs. Partina lets them out, and Hito walks around for a few minutes before heading outside.

The school itself is situated on three different planes of land. Each one is at a different altitude, and steps link each one to the other. The furthest one up is the upper school, for anyone between 12 and 16. The middle plane is middle school, for 6 to 11, and the lower one is considered as either a nursary or a primary school with ages in attendance between 2 and 5.

Hito knew all of this, having analysed the map after being given it, but knew he'd never see the inside of the two lower buildings. He listened during the "breifing" given by Mrs. Partina. He remembered how he used to enjoy the things from what would be a middle school. His old school back in Kauna was much different, single planed with only one age range under their teaching.

45 minutes of remembering later and it was time to head back. Hito walked in and sat down, a few minutes before everyone else as it seemed. By the time everyone had sat down Mrs. Partina had walked in, had a small drink of coffee and handed out a piece of A4 paper for each person in the room.

"Welcome back." She states. Everyone silenced once she started talking, and proceeded to pay attention (which for any classroom is unusual at this age imo). "I want you to draw something. It won't be just any something. It has to be related to maths, see this is our maths session right now. I don't want to see things that have no relevance to the subject. Start drawing."

Everyone grabs a pencil from their pencil case or school bag and got to drawing relatively quick. For Hito, this was easy. Maths was the subject he performed best at, so for him a crate with angles marked would suffice perfectly.

On Hito's left, in C3, it wasn't the same story. The boy sat there was struggling. He kept starting something, but then rubbed it out. Giving up on trying to get ideas of his own he looks to his right and sees Hito working away.

"Hito?" the boy whispers, evidently not wanting to catch Mrs. Partina's attention. After a few seconds of no response, he whispers Hito's name slightly louder.

"Oh, yeah?" Hito whispers back, turning to see the boy. "What is it?" He manages to whisper out again before being instantly drawn in by his face. Before taking in most of the details he looks back down at his own work.

"I'm stuck, I can't think of what to draw." The boy replies, whispering but with a distinct accent from the area (think of the accent like a Japanese accent with hints of British and Australian at the same time).

"What have you tried?" Hito asks, trying not to turn back to see the boy.

"Everything."

"Not everything. Look at this, does it give you ideas?" Hito whispers in return, before showing the as of yet unnamed boy his drawing of an angle-marked crate with intense attention to detail in the wood of the crate.

"Wow" the boy whispers back. "You're good at drawing."

"Thanks" Hito replies, before starting a suggestion. "What about a triangle, and then another one beside it twice as big. If you write underneath that the second one is 2x scale, and then mark a few angles on the triangle, it should work."

"OK, thanks."

"By the way, who are you?" Hito quietly asks.

"Yume."

"Yume who?"

"Yume Kuerina."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Hitoyu. Meita." Hito holds out his hand, and Yume meets it with his own.

"Get back to work" they hear a voice. They both snap back to work immediately after releasing each others hand.

Once they got back to work Hito started to think about Yume, and what he'd noticed from a brief second of looking. 'He looked alright. Ok, a bit cute too. OK! a lot cute. He's nice too... Maybe he can be my friend? I hope so.' Hito was thinking like this for almost all of the session, while still working, although slowed a bit. Many times he tried to visualise his face but found that the few details he remembered didn't do the job.

5 minutes before the session finishes Mrs. Partina stops everyone and collects their drawings. To her eyes only a few actually qualify as what she asked for. Those which didn't were given back and they'd be expected to be returned the following day.

"Alright class. Thank you, you'll be back here at 12:15pm, in 30 minutes. Those who got their drawings given back, I want them returned tomorrow with something better than what you've got on it already. Now, go have your lunch. Dismissed!" Everyone started to pack their things away before walking towards the door and engaging in idle discussion with their friends.

Once outside the classroom Hito tries to go outside, primarily so he can think, but before he gets there Yume pulls him into a conversation of some kind.

"Hey... Hito?" He gently says, trying to catch Hito's attention quietly.

"Yeah?" Hito says back, although not as quiet. Hito stops where he is and turns to face Yume, trying not to notice his appearance (and not doing well with that too). Being roughly the same height, but with a perfectly crafted flawless face and beautiful deep blue eyes accompanied by ear-length blonde hair and a blue-dyed strip across his fringe. In terms of body it's what most call 'average build' for a boy around this age. He was amazed that the girls hadn't tried to ask him out already, Yume looks amazing, if not good looking and beautiful, in Hito's mind.

"Thank you. My drawing didn't get handed back." Yu quietly says to Hito. Hito has been slightly nervous of talking to Yume again, given that his brain was in chaos after seeing merely Yume's face for barely a second (however a beautiful face so I guess it's justified). Having just been thanked by what is likely to be his new and his first crush he went slightly red, although a barely noticeable shade. Fortunately no-one really noticed besides each other. "Didn't mean to make that happen... Sorry dude."

"It's OK... And it was nice helping you too." Hito replies, quieter than he was. He thinks for a few seconds about the prospect of having his first friend here, and despite being rather nervous goes ahead with a simple question. "Do you have any friends here?"

"Not yet." Yume sighs, definitely more confident than Hito. "First time here."

"Me too." Hito replies, followed by thinking. "Uhh... could we maybe be friends?"

"Could we MAYBE be friends?" Yume says, curious as to why it's 'maybe' and not just a 'can we'.

"Yeah... I mean... I want to be your friend... a bit..." he stutters, trying to think of what to say.

"A bit? What does that mean?"

"I don't know..." Hito gives up with the thinking and goes with an obvious question, a bit more confident too. "Can we be friends?"

"I don't see why not. It'd help having someone to talk to and show me around too."

"OK." he simply says, before deciding to try go somewhere else to think about something else. "I'm going to eat. Be back here soon?"

"How soon? Next week sound right? Hehe, yeah I'll be here." Yume replies jokingly.

"OK. See ya." Hito finally closes the convo, and then proceeds to give a small wave before walking to the door leading outside like he originally planned. He didn't know how else to get away but he knew he'd probably overload on Yume's appearance if he stayed too long.

It wasn't more than 2 minutes before Hito started thinking of Yume. 'He's nice. Cute too. Looks amazing. Mmm... is his face all that looks good? What about his arse? How does it look under those black trousers he's wearing?'

He begins to think of this and tie it to how he thought of other boys before. 'Have I thought of other boys like this? I mean there's Alex, who looks decent but isn't a stunner imo. Yume though... Damn he just... Was he designed? An angel maybe? My angel maybe? Fuck I really do like him don't I?'

As break passes Hito endlessly thinks of what him liking Yume actually means, summing up everything in his mind to try find out if he actually does like Yume. The outside weather doesn't affect him, even if slightly colder for this time of year. Cloudy, slightly, but not much.

'I've never felt like this before. But he's just beautiful!' he thinks to himself. Looking down to his watch he realises he has a few minutes to get back. 'Ahh! Better get back to class!' he thinks, before starting to run down to the classroom.

Hito arrives just on time, noticing Yume already sat at his desk just over from his own. He feels the same nerves from before building but overcomes them and takes his seat, immediately followed by Mrs. Partina entering the room and handing them all an empty lined exercise book.

She begins teaching what appears to be an English session after telling them to write their name and "7Gr-B" on their exercise books, although Hito barely pays attention to everything in the session. Somehow, he manages to make it to the end with all the work completed, even with his apparent inability to concentrate properly.

By the time Hito gets home from school, after another two hours and then some, he can barely think of anything else. While he didn't talk to Yume after the conversation at the classroom door, he was amazed at the impact just looking at this boy had on him.

"How was your day Hi?" his mother calls out from the new lounge while Hito closes the door behind himself.

"uhh... It was OK I guess?" he loudly replies, ensuring his mother can hear it. "Got introduced to the building, had a few lessons, normal school stuff."

"Made any friends yet?" she inquires, now standing at the doorway between lounge and the hallway in which the front door sits in.

"No..." he sighs. While he appears to like Yume a lot he's not about to trust his mother to know that, and since he's barely met Yume he doesn't think he counts as a friend yet.

Thinking to himself, he decides that if he's going to try and get Yume as a friend to do sleepovers and all that stuff which 12 year old boys do he needs his things unpacked, and using the excuse of school he makes his way up the stairs, saying "I'm going to unpack a few of my things now though, I'll need them for school" along the way.

"Okey dokey. I'm down here if you need anything!" she yells up, making sure he doesn't forget.

Up the stairs and a door along the landing two doors Hito twists the handle, pushes the door open and walks into his room. Once in, he closes the door, drops his bag against the wall beside his door and pretty much dives into his rather plain bed. 'space to think' he says to himself internally, spreading himself over the bed.

For a while, he sits there (well, lies there). He thinks of the day he's just had, what it all could mean. During sex education at his old school he'd learnt about different sexualities and what they mean. Initially he thought he was straight. He had never had reason to doubt his sexuality before. He assumed that, like everyone else, he was heterosexual. While girls didn't seem to attract him he never thought he might be homosexual. He looked at boys, sure, but to him that was normal, he's done it since he was 7. Never nude, but he looked at them and sometimes imagined them nude at the pool or something.

His thoughts have never strayed far from Yume for most of the time. He kept thinking of how Yume looked, the infectious smile he held whenever you could get him to smile, and then down to the area around his butt. 'I bet it's nice without anything there. Maybe it looks like mine? Damn wouldn't that be strange?' and so forth.

While he always thought he was straight he had also knew he was different in a way. He never looked at girls and thought 'she's hot' or 'I'd fuck her'. He finds himself more often looking at other boys, how they have so few flaws, the way their body looks in the changing rooms in merely their boxers, and sometimes the top of that arse crack from that one kid who never has them pulled up quite all the way. He didn't think that he would have his first real crush on a boy, but accepted that it was a crush after some more thinking.

Through his thoughts he slowly drifted off into sleep, still wearing his school uniform and having unpacked no boxes in his room. It was comfy none the less, although having ate nothing he'd surely be hungry in the morning.