It wasn’t difficult to spot them. Even if I hadn’t known Beau from photos, it wouldn’t have been easy to miss him when he was by far the fattest person in the room (apart from me of course).
And once I located Beau, I found my eyes drawn immediately to his partner, whose name I remembered to be Ran. Ran was stunning. As we drew closer, he only grew more entrancing. He had a kind of ethereal beauty, a face so captivating it made you shiver. Eyes as black as the night sky glancing coyly up under a curtain of dark lashes and the subtle hint of a smile greeted us as we pulled up two chairs beside them.
Aki slid hesitantly into his, probably caught off guard by Ran’s intense gaze. I tried reassuring him by squeezing his hand but his thin fingers dangled limply in my palm. He was more nervous than I thought.
I lower myself into my own chair and pull it in until I feel the familiar sensation of my belly pressing against the edge, then look up with a smile. Ran returns it, but Beau’s expression is more hesitant. I wouldn’t be surprised if Aki is wearing a similar look.
‘Josh, right?’ Ran asks, then turns to Aki. ‘And…?’
‘Aki.’ I answer, after Aki’s hesitation lasts for several seconds.
‘Nice to meet you guys.’ We endure several seconds of silence as Ran’s cool gaze washes over every inch of my body. Even though I’m bundled up in a heavy jacket over a thick sweater, I feel naked when he looks at me. There was something unnerving about Ran, and I could understand Aki’s uneasiness.
Seemingly satisfied with his inspection, Ran leans back in his seat, slim fingers curling around the cup of coffee in front of him.
‘And I’m Ran. This is Beau.’ He formally introduces them, then gestures to the tray of burgers and French fries in front of them. ‘We’ve already ordered food, so if you guys want to go ahead…’
Aki shot up so suddenly the legs of his chair clattered against the floor. ‘I’ll get it…’ He mumbles, verifying if I wanted my usual and scurrying towards the counter.
‘Is he always this jumpy?’ Ran askes bluntly.
‘He gets nervous easily. He’s fine once he’s comfortable around you.’ Of course, Aki becoming comfortable around you took everything from a few weeks to several months.
‘Is he okay with this…?’ This. The whole reason we were here.
‘I think so. He… He knows I want to do it and I hope he’d let me know if he felt really strongly against it.’
‘You’d let me know if you didn’t want to do this, right?’ Ran asks Beau, gently nudging his soft side.
‘I want to do this.’ Beau replies immediately, still not looking me in the eyes. I don’t think he’d properly looked at me since we sat down.
‘Good boy. So, Josh… You’ve got some really great pictures. Pretty interesting sets for a newbie.’ Ran takes a sip of his coffee.
‘Oh, Aki helped me come up with some ideas. And I’m willing to try pretty much anything.’
‘Aki?’ I watch Ran’s slim eyebrows disappear into his forehead. ‘It’s true what they say. Always the quiet ones… He’s little, isn’t he?’
Ran certainly wasn’t someone to be around the bush.
‘He… is but…?’
‘I mean, not just compared to you. He’s so skinny. Aren’t you afraid of…?’
I hesitate. Ran was pretty slim himself. Good deal taller than Aki. Probably taller than me too. But he was definitely closer to ‘skinny’ than ‘averaged-sized’.
