Hey guys!
An OC (non-canon original character) will be introduced in this chapter. Let me know if you like it or not.😊 I'd love to know what do you think about the story so far.

Hugsies for the lovesies who left comments and votes!😘

Photo-manip courtesy- YuZhou.Studio19520

Song mentioned in the chap- 'I'm a mess' by Ed Sheeran

Enjoy the read!

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"Oh oh, easy baby, maybe I'm a light
Before tonight I wanna fall in love..."

- 'I'm a Mess' by Ed Sheeran

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Chapter-5

Timmy didn’t know what to do. He wanted to bang his head in frustration, wanted to hug kittens in joy. He was elated, was depressed. His heart was clear, head confused. In short, he was a mess.

“Dunk the Oreo? Seriously? What the fuck was I thinking???! But he said liked it. Well, of course, he’d say that; he was too kind to laugh at my face. But he did laugh at my face. But that didn’t sound sarcastic...how do I know it wasn’t? Well, he said so himself. But now he thinks me as a stupid fool! But he ruffled my hair....he touched me.....on his own....shut uuuup! That’s because he thinks me as a kid! A stupid fucking boy! I shouldn’t have done that. But he sat with me, spent time with me....we got to talk....he smiled....urggggh! Goddamnit!”

Timmy winced as he tugged at his own hair. Stopping his monologue he noticed that all along he was nattering aloud, loitering aimlessly on the street. No wonder that woman gave him a wide berth while passing by. But what should he do? He felt so restless, helpless yet immensely happy.

He was in love. So, so in love that it felt like a freefall all the time. He looked up in the sky, mirroring JingYu, trying to see what JingYu saw up there.

Does he think of me while looking up the way I think of him? Does he know that I can’t breathe at times? Does he know? Does he? “Do you know that I love you?” Well. Of course he doesn’t and wouldn’t ever probably, thanks to my fucking obsession with dunking Oreos!!!

When Timmy found himself pressing the doorbell of Pip’s house it didn’t surprise him. After all, what was a better way to vent out than music and the company of a childhood friend?
It was Pip himself who opened the door. “Dude,” said the boy as a greeting.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t text before coming. Up for some rehearsal?”

Pip, with his skinny frame, bedraggled feature, sleepy face and that perpetually bored expression answered, “Dude.”

Well, that was Pip and Timmy was fluent in deciphering those many ‘dudes’ of Pip. He got in and went for the outhouse in the backyard where their makeshift rehearsal room was.
“Your new song?”

“Nah, just need to let out some steam. And that college fest is still a go, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, guess so,” Pip replied through a yawn, scratched his bum and plopped down in front of his drumming set.

“Are Zhen and Liang coming too?”
The rest of the members of their group.

Timmy shook his head, “I didn’t inform anyone. Just came here right out.”

“Dude?”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

“Dude.”

“Stop dude-ing me so much!” Timmy snapped.

And as predicted, Pip didn’t even blink before giving a ‘really?’ look that was followed by another, “Dude.”
Timmy huffed out loud and started playing the tune of the song he was itching to sing. A chuckle came from Pip, “Ed Sheeran, huh?”

The song began.

“Ooh I’m a mess right now
Inside out
Searching for a sweet surrender
But this is not the end”

Scenes, scattered memories started flashing back and forth in front of Timmy. He closed his eyes.

“I can’t work it out
How?
Going through the motions
Going through us”

The way he looked at Timmy. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. The way he bit his lip when in doubt.

“And though I’ve known it for the longest time
And all my hope
All my words are all over written on the signs
But you’re my road walking me home
Home, home, home, home”

The way he ran his fingers through those dark strands. The way the liquid chocolate glistened on his lips. The way he looked over his shoulder. The way his touch felt on Timmy’s skin.

“See the flames inside my eyes
It burns so bright I wanna feel your love
Oh Oh, easy baby, maybe I’m a light
Before tonight, I wanna fall in love...”

The way Timmy was falling harder and harder for JingYu.

He didn’t talk after the song ended, neither did he do their signature fist bump with Pip. He just kept tinkering with the guitar absently, resetting the scale for the next song.

“Dude?”

No answer.

“Is it that pub thing?”

Timmy’s fingers halted on the strings abruptly, he looked at his friend slowly, “You...know?!”

“Dude.”

“But how?”

“Zhen’s uncle saw you.”

“Shit shit shiiit!” Wasn’t there a limit of his problems?

“What?”

“My parents don’t know. My dad will raise a hell if words get to him!”

“Why take the risk, then? It’s not like you need the money or the exposure.”
Timmy shrugged with a sullen face, “I kinda need to.”

“Chill dude, Zhen’s uncle doesn’t even know your name. He just said you looked like that ‘baby faced friend of Zhen’s.” A very uncharacteristic giggle rolled out of Pip.

Timmy tried to bonk him on the head, “Fuck off.” Pip dodged the blow expertly.

The mood was uplifted considerably.
“But seriously, dude, what’s the deal?” Asked Pip juggling his drumsticks.

Sitting on a stool, chin propped up on the guitar that made his words slurr a bit Timmy replied, “Nothin’ jus’ wan’d to ge’ an idea.”

A ‘mmhm’ came, then, “Is it the same reason that made you ‘a mess’?”

Timmy sat up ramrod straight.

“What do you mean? And no, I won’t take any more dudes for an answer.”

“Dude-“

“Urgh!”

“I’ve known you since you wore nappies and ate nose boogers-“

A bottle of water flew past Pip’s head.

“-it was quite obvious to a genius like me.”

“Hah, says the one who cheats on every exam.”

“You can never be called a genius if you don’t fail in these meaningless exams. It’s a tradition.”

“Yeah yeah...”

They fell into a silence after that. Pip was his closest friend but Timmy wasn’t sure if he wanted to broach this topic with him. If he should at all. He hadn’t come out to anyone, didn’t have any reason to before...and...there were so many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’...and...

“Timmy?”

Pip’s voice cut through his brooding. He was looking straight at him with such a serious expression that it sobered Timmy up instantly.

“What is it?”

“I know,” said Pip after observing him for a long moment, “and it’s perfectly fine with me.”

It took a few seconds to sink that in and when it did Timmy’s heart gave a lurch, eyes went saucer sized.

“What do you...what do you mean?”

“Dude.”

“Yo-you....really?”

“Yep.”

“And...and you don’t think it’s...abnormal or something?”

“Nope.”

This moron and his moronic replies! Timmy was at his wit’s end.

“Don’t you feel...uh...” he grasped for a suitable word and found it, “feel repulsed by it, by...me?”

If anything, Pip’s expression became more bored, “Dude, I have to see your face first thing in the morning most of the days, I’m immune to any sort torture.”

“PIP..!” Would it be a crime if Timmy strangled this sodding bastard with bare hands? “I just came out to you! Do you know how dig of a deal it is to me?! Doesn’t it matter to you? What the fuck dude?”

“Involuntarily.”

“Huh?”

“You came out to me involuntarily,” Pip explained. “Or rather, I outed you. Yes, I know it’s a big deal for you as you were acting all James Bond-ish about it all these years. And no, it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t give a fuck about who loves, likes, fucks whom as long as there’s no one getting harmed. You’re the same Tim to me even if you hump the pole. I mean, why the fuck that even matters? You would still have been this pathetic dickhead if you chased the birds. I’ll always stand by you as long as you share those pickled gingers that your Nana makes.”

Pip almost toppled off his seat when Timmy hugged him. Nothing was better than a friend who took you just the way you were. The hug went on for a long moment with Timmy grinning like a loon and Pip tapping and poking Timmy’s head with one of his stick. The bastard.

Once they separated, Pip stood up with a solemn face and placed his right hand over his heart. Timmy’s eyebrows went up.

“And I vow to sacrifice myself for your happiness and be with you if it turns out that you are pinning for this ultimate creation of God.” He gestured himself.

“Fuck off!” Timmy’s voice rang out in the midst of the roaring laughter.

“Dude.”

XOXOXOX

It was after nine when JingYu finally got out of the dojo. He was a junior instructor there as well as a senior student. The hours spent doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was the time when he actually lived. This was the true taste of freedom for him. The only job that never tired him, never made him feel burdened. Whenever he donned on that uniform he felt himself.

After bidding a good night to his fellow seniors and instructors he headed for home. The routine practice made him feel much better and composed; all he needed now was a full night’s sleep which he didn’t get last night.

He was humming a tune when a guy with a guitar case on his back went past him. A thud sounded within his chest. A frown followed immediately. It wasn’t Timmy, that much was obvious and the possibility of it being Timmy wasn't the cause of that frown either. In fact, he wanted it to be Timmy and that was precisely the problem. For that tiny fraction of a second, when he thought Timmy was there, something like hope bloomed within him. And that thought was enough to ring all the alarm bells inside his head. Why on earth did he expect to see Timmy? Wanted to see him? And why hoping??! The hell?! After that practice session he was really hopeful that the weird emotions that had possessed him for the last couple of days were out of his system. All the tightness was gone; his stress level was pretty low at the moment. He wasn’t even thinking of the boy! Well, not consciously anyway.

He had stopped midway, he realized. A long deep sigh came out of him and he began to walk again. Was it because this was probably the first time in many years, or probably ever, someone, other than his mother, was so considerate of him? Took this much time and trouble to just talk to him? Or was it because the lack of actual care in his life that made him susceptible to Timmy’s attention? But wasn’t he always averse to the idea of attracting unwanted attention?

Unwanted...unwanted? Maybe this was the keyword of his problem. While Timmy’s attention should have been unwanted to him, in actuality it wasn’t. It was different, embarrassing, made him uneasy at times....but had he ever classified it as unwanted? The truth was he never even thought about it that much. And why should he? He met the guy not even a week ago! And here he was, making castles in the air. About a guy. Who was much younger than him. Like a creepy pervert. Bloody hell!

JingYu kicked a pebble and it rolled to the other side of the empty road he was walking on.

“Maybe I should get a girlfriend.”

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A/N: A new story will be up tomorrow (hopefully). If you like my writing, please, check it out. 😊💗