“I can’t believe Odd ate that whole pizza, that thing was huge” laughed Yumi as she walked into the room with Ulrich. “It’s already 11, we were out pretty late Ulrich” she said as she looked at the clock.

“That’s ok, we don’t have a curfew, and we’re not babies you know” he said, gazing into her eyes as he walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her and placed his lips on hers, he could smell her perfume, what little she wore on common days, and he loved her taste. He hated to admit it, but when they had these moments, he was almost intoxicated; it was like a drug to him, his little natural high. She broke the kiss, realizing what she did, “No, we said no more of this until we came to a decision, remember” she said, walking to her bed.

Realizing what he had done he looked at her apologetically, not knowing what to say. “Sorry” was all he could come up with.

“That’s alright, we just can’t have that happen again until we’ve finished” she said, reading the posters over her bed, not looking at him as she spoke. Ulrich knew she was thinking, not ignoring him, he knew her better then that.

Gathering all his courage he took a leap of faith, “I don’t suppose we can talk about this now, can we?”

She sat in her bed and motioned him to join her, “Sure, but you start” she said.

“Ok….umm…..well you know I love you and I know you love me. So we have to listen to each others side of this, you first” he said, a little nervously.

“I said you start” she corrected.

“I did start, now you continue” he said. He was always good at finding loopholes.

“Fine,” she said, “I think of…um, sex…..as an expression of love, not a thing for just pleasure, do you agree?” He nodded, signaling her to continue. “We love each other and we both agree that this is not just some crush and we both know it’s not infatuation. It’s genuine love.” Her eyes began to water, “we hug and we kiss, but we do both of those with others, kisses with our parents and hugs with our friends. I know they’re not the same, but they’re the same act nonetheless. This would be something that would be special to us both and something that we would only share with each other. I know I genuinely love you, but I’ve got to ask, do you love me?” She was weeping by this point.

He pulled her into the most comforting hug he could muster, “Of course I do, I would do anything for you. I’m sorry if I made that unclear to you, but I would throw my life away to make you happy.” He meant every word with his entire being.

“I know you do, I just wanted to hear you say it. I love you so much Ulrich” she sobbed, throwing her face into his chest for comfort. “Don’t you ever say that you would throw your life away for my happiness, that would never make me happy. Please don’t ever say you’ll leave me for any reason, promise me” she cried, pulling her face from his chest and looking him sternly in the eyes. “Promise me!”

“I promise Yumi” he said, tears trickling off his cheeks. “And I just want you to know, that if you ever need me, I will drop my life’s dream to help you” he said, his voice cracking from his throat going dry. At that they just sat there, holding each other and crying there hearts out. They were not sad, just glad that the other was there with them.

“I love you Ulrich” she said when she calmed down. She got under the covers and watched him get into his own bed across the small room. “Wait, can you sleep in my bed tonight, I need you to hold me now” she said, seemingly expecting a ‘no’ to escape from his lips.

“Sure” he said, a little hesitantly. He put on some pajamas, he was sure she wouldn’t appreciate him sleeping in his boxers with her, at least not now. He motioned her to get out of the bed so he could slide to the side closest to the wall. She laid down in front of him and just sank into his muscular, yet soft chest. He was so warm against her back and his arms were so comforting. He was muscular but gentle, firm, yet melted very easily, tough, yet not so tough that he couldn’t kiss her with fragile lips. He was everything and more to her, not just on the outside, but he was a good person to. He was caring, brave, protective, and he was above all caring. He never left a person face down in the dirt. He could never be so mean as to crush someone, just enough to let them know he wanted to be alone. She loved him for all those reasons, but she loved him for another reason. But she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She never could.

“You’re so precious to me Yumi, don’t ever change” he whispered as he kissed the back of her neck. “I didn’t know how numb I was until I found you; you’ve opened me up to so many new feelings, thank you.” She took all of this in and realized, at that moment, that she felt the same way. She felt so cold after her father passed away and Ulrich was such a comforting friend then, it grew to affection, then it grew to a whole new level. It grew to love, and they both knew it and they wanted to scream it to the world.

She turned over to face him and gazed into his soft eyes, “I feel the same way Ulrich.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and they were so close they could feel each other’s breath.

He took a full breath of her scent in; he loved the way she smelled. Her perfume had long faded now and this was her natural scent. He loved it, he loved her, he loved everything about her, and for the first time he could honestly say he loved life. “You know Yumi, we don’t have to make love if you’re not ready, and I don’t wanna pressure you” he said with concern.

“I want it Ulrich, so much. I want to give you my everything and I want to have yours, we just have to talk about it a little more to make sure we’re both ready.” With that they both fell asleep, in each other’s arm, each having dreams of the other. This was love, sex wasn’t love, making out wasn’t love, beauty wasn’t love. This was, being there for one another and putting there happiness over your own, knowing you couldn’t live without them and realizing that the only reason you were put on this earth was to be with them. They knew it was true love, and they cherished it with every fiber of there being.

“Yumi, Yumi wake up, we’ve gotta go” said Ulrich as he threw his new outfit on. It was something that Yumi had picked herself, a black button up shirt with red streaks on the collar, a pair of Tripp pants, no chains of course, and a new pair of black vans, not too big and not as small as Converse’s. She could hear Linkin Park playing in the speakers.

“Why, what’s going on” she asked groggily. “Oh, what time is it” she asked jumping from the bed.

“It’s 11, we’ve got to go. We slept in, I just woke up” he said, still preparing his outfit.

She didn’t even bother to ask him to leave the room, she began to change right there in front of him. He dropped his half untied shoe and couldn’t help but stare. As she unclipped her bra from the previous day he got so red in the face that it looked like he was about to explode. He watched as her elegant body was becoming more and more exposed. He tried to find the words to tell her he was still there, but he couldn’t get a word out. As she slipped her panties off she was completely exposed. He was infatuated and he couldn’t help himself, his brain shut down and his body took over, he took her into such a passionate kiss, his hands exploring as they pleased. Yumi didn’t seem to mind him, her hands exploring as well. He was massaging her breast and she let out a moan of pleasure. She slowly unbuttoned his shirt and threw it to the floor. His tongue was begging for entry, she opened her mouth and they were locking tongues as they couldn’t let each other go. She began to unzip his pants and they fell to his feet. Her hands began to explore once again and she found the top of his boxers.

She threw those to the floor as well and began stroking him slowly, almost teasingly. He moaned and began to rub her and he could feel her getting wet. His mouth began to move elsewhere and he found her nipples. His mouth was so warm to her, she could barely contain herself from screaming in ecstasy.

She moved him onto the bed and position herself between his legs. She took him into her mouth and she began to move up and down, up and down. She loved his taste and she couldn’t help herself from letting her tongue stroke the tip. She couldn’t get enough of him.

She moved him onto the bed and looked at him predatorily. She moved him on top of her and moved him close to her. “Please Ulrich, you know I want it” she moaned.

As he was about to slide into her she heard a faint sound coming from the outside of the room, it sounded like voices. “Yumi, Yumi wake up, it’s time to go you guys” said Ulrich. But he was right here, then she looked up to Ulrich and there was, not Ulrich, but her father.

“WHATTHEFUCK” she screamed as she shot out of bed, startling both herself and Ulrich. “What’s going on” she screamed, looking at Ulrich. He was in his pajamas, lokking at her with confusion.

“You had a nightmare, that’s all. It’s ok” he said, putting his hands on her shoulder to stop the shaking. She calmed down eventually and she looked at the clock, 11 o’clock. She moved it over as a coincidence and forgot all about it.

“I’m ok, I’m fine now” she reassured herself in her thoughts. “I’m fine, just a nightmare, just a nightmare.”

“Do you want to talk about it” he asked with concern, “you’re in a cold sweat.”

“No thanks, I’m fine, I just need a shower” she said as she grabbed a towel and hurried to the shower rooms. “Wait, I almost forgot” she said as she came back into the room and kissed him good morning.

“Have a good shower, I’ll see you at the usual spot, see you there” he said as he began to dress himself.

“I feel so dirty, I need to get clean” she thought out loud as she scrubbed herself everywhere, trying to get the memory out of her head. “Ulrich will be there for me, I’ll talk to him about this. I need to tell him, he needs to know” she thought. “I’m going to tell him” she assured herself.