OCtober #13 - The Best Friends
Tbh I have a lot of characters that I could associate with this prompt, main one being Sadao, who's ultimately the friendliest of my all OCs or some couples that progressed from best friends to next stage like Yoshi&Arashi. However both of them already got some screentime, so I decided to talk about Tajime (about who I didn't talk yet apparentely) and who's best friend is Kyoji, created by @ironic-artist.
It's also kind of best friends to lovers relationship but overally complicated as well. You see, Kyoshi and Tajime met in middle school and quickly turned out to understand each other, share some traits like silly sense of humour, some preferences like music and movies and activities which resulted in them being inseparable. Kind of "double trouble" boys you could met at school, always messing around and often separated to opposite ends of classroom c: No surprise then when they came to the same highschool afterwards, spending most of it as unseparable as before, being a walking definition of bros.
What went wrong then? One thing was Tajime's mother lack of approval through all these years, that mostly didn't matter till end of highschool cus even tho she was quite toxic in ways she talked to Tajime, she wasn't that bad at first. Her comparing and guilt trips mostly hit Tajime's self-esteem but it usually was compensated by Kyoshi's positive impact on him. She also tried to somehow separate them by suggestions to teachers so they will set them apart during classes and divide them to different groups when it comes to assigments. They couldn't keep that up whole time tho and boys got through it. It didn't damage their friendship and trust to one another as some other issues for sure did.
What eventually went wrong were Tajime's feelings, which he started to get more and more aware of during their last year. He first thought of Kyoshi like of someone more during their vacation before this last year and it basically startled him. He didn't quite grasp idea of homosexuality before that and was confused as he perceived himself straight. He tried to not think about it thinking it's just some stupid thought and it will go away but it didn't. His thoughts started to become more and more negative as time went by. Situation between them started to scare him which resulted in some more distance, he tried to deny himself, his lower self-esteem started to kick in much more. Eventually the worst thing happend- he decided to talk about it with only other person he thought he can trust, which was his mom.
Saying she didn't approve is understatement. She actually blamed Kyoshi for this and the only way Tajime could convince her to not say or do anything was to promise he'll forget of those "shameful" feelings he had, which only hurt him more. She eventually started to see opportunity in this situation to finally separate her son from boy she blamed for turning him from nice and quiet child into loud troublemaker. Her influence and guilt tripping this time worked wonders as Tajime felt like he can't talk to Kyoshi about it because he for sure would react the same way his mother did. He felt more alone than anytime before.
By the end of highschool Tajime's mom convinced him to try applying to university in different part of country and in general convincing Tajime. that getting away from his best friend is the only available option for him and way for him to get rid of this "unhealthy" relationship. Tajime, by this point being quite depressed, agreed. He wanted to forget about it all very badly so he could maybe have his best friend back, but it backfired. His state got worse to the point he had to drop out from university, which was a spark to start a real hell between him and his mother, that in the end led himt o leave her and wander for some time around his college friends. He eventually took some courses of hairdressing and it helped him stand on his own feet again as he discovered he actually liked working with hair. He worked for some time and finally was able to save up and start a buissness in his old town with three other hairdressers he met on courses. It led him back to meet Kyoshi again after fee years of not seeing each other or keeping contact. Tajime got hit by another wave of feelings upon meeting his first and only crush, which was hard for him at first... Till he found out Kyoshi turned out to be interested in men. He spotted his chance but was very much afraid of Kyoshi's reaction, especially that his friend went through a lot after he left and Tajime wasn't here for him in time of need, changed a bit and now they had to learn how to communicate with each other again.
I have to end it here cus this post is already long :'D But maybe my sweet @ironic-artist will be kind enough to add some details from Kyo's side of things~? :3
And little bonus~ Small sketch of Tajime made some years ago by @ironic-artist ❤
