THROUGH THE NIGHT (MEWGULF)

14: Cautious

GULF'S POV

"Can I ask for your advice?". Saint and I were at our college's cafeteria.

Saint looked up with wide eyes. He looked around and then pointed at himself. "Me? You're asking me for advice?".

"Who else? I do think of you as my best friend", I told him.

"Who are you and what did you do to Gulf?", he pointed his spoon at me, laughing. "Okay, never mind. What's up?".

I told him about Mew and I's sleeping arrangement. I explained about his past and how I fit into the situation. It's been a couple of days already and I'm pretty sure Saint and Zee already noticed I haven't been staying in my room lately.

"Actually...Off told us the night we played that silly game, that somehow you made him sleep better, but he didn't mention it was because you look like Mew's dead boyfriend. That's a lot to take in, Gulf. Are you sure you're okay with all of this?", Saint asked.

"I told him I'd keep doing it, already. It's not that bad of a situation, really".

"What advice do you need then?". Saint asked.

I sighed. "...Do you think I'm doing the right thing? I mean, sleeping with him?"

"First of all, Gulf, what made you say yes? Don't tell me it's because you feel sorry for him or any of that bullshit. You never do things that you don't want to do. So what's the real reason?".

I remembered Mew's words that night. "Gulf, instead of holding your own hand, why don't you try to hold mine?".

I hesitated before saying anything, "You know that day Bright and I had a confrontation? Well that night, Mew went into my room, he hugged me and said a lot of things; and it felt really soothing? I don't know. It's just that he feels nice to be with right now and I kind of want to keep being around him, you get me? He makes me feel comfortable. And when I talk to him, he seems like a really good listener. Mew is...a really good guy".

I can't believe I'm saying this stuff to someone out loud but it's the truth. He makes me feel like I can rely on him.

Saint smiled and leaned back on his seat. He let out a sigh, "I see where you're coming from. You want to be close to Mew 'cause you can open up to him. That's great, but be cautious, Gulf. You might start to like him in more ways than one".

"What do you mean?"

"What I'm saying is, Mew's kindness...don't mistake that for something else especially if he doesn't intend for it to be something else. Get it? Just...know your boundaries. I don't want to see you get hurt".

––––––––

I was in our living room alone, typing my work on my laptop when something cold hit my cheek. I looked back and Mew was leaning from behind the couch with a cup of iced milk tea.

"Here, take it", he handed the drink to me. "It's pretty hot today". I took it from his hand and he walked around the couch to sit next to me.

"How are you?", he asked.

"A little stressed," I said, still looking at my computer screen.

"Huh..."

I turned to Mew and I couldn't read what he was thinking. "What?"

"I think it's the first time I asked how you were and you didn't answer with 'I'm fine'".

I suddenly became shy. I turned to my screen again and continued typing away. He leaned forward to look at what I was doing.

"Do you want to talk about it?". He nudged my elbow. I look at him and I could tell he's encouraging me to speak up.

"I'm just a little stressed with this research project. I've been doing most of the work, it's frustrating. Saint's not in this class so I got paired up with this girl and she hasn't been helping me at all. Oh, speaking of Saint, earlier he found a bug in his rice and he was so––"

I stopped talking because Mew was staring at me so intently with a big smile on his face. I realized I was probably blabbering about nonsense he didn't care about.

"Sorry, I'm talking too much", I apologized.

He laughed, "No! It's great you're telling me all of this. I'm surprised but, don't feel sorry"

"Hey! Hey! Stop studying, the soccer match is on!", we both turned around and Zee was running to the television.

There was a big game today and the team we like was competing for the finals. I closed my laptop and set it aside. Zee positioned himself on Mew's other side so Mew had to sit closer to me.

"I'll help you with your research," Mew whispered. His breath tickled my ear.

Saint came through the front door after a while and saw us watching the game. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I really don't get why you guys like the sport so much", he was about to walk past us when Zee pulled him to sit. Our couch wasn't big enough so we literally were all squeezed together. Mew's arm was positioned behind my head. I looked at him and his eyes were fixated on the television.

There were ten seconds left and our team was about to win. Zee was screaming like mad. Saint couldn't care less earlier but now he's feeling the tension too. And then we scored the winning goal. We all went crazy. I was scared our neighbors would complain. I looked to my side and Mew was shouting at the top of his lungs. He pulled me and hugged me really tight.

"Gulf! We won!", he swung me from side to side. I was frozen in his arms. I don't know how long he did that but Mew quickly went back to reality when Saint cleared his throat at us.

"You guys seem close", Saint teased us. Mew realized what he did and instantly let me go.

The night ended with them drinking beer and with a lot of laughs. I was getting tired so I went to Mew's room to head to bed. After a while, he followed and laid down beside me.

"That was an intense game", he sighed.

He was going to reach for my hand but I don't know what came over me. I moved closer to him and draped my arm around his torso. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. His body felt warm.

"You alright, Gulf?", he rested his hand on my arm.

"You feel nice to hug". Wait, what am I saying?  I was about to pull my arm away but Mew just held me in place.

"It's okay. Let's stay like this for now". 

Author's note:
Round of applause for Off and Saint being supportive yet reasonable friends :-) 
Also, I don't know anything about soccer.