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Michael met Yoichi almost a year ago on the campus of the Faculty of Creative Arts and Design of the University of Munich. They had only taken two courses together throughout that academic year, but they never managed to have a decent conversation or get to know each other more personally during that time.
Kaiser was two years older than Isagi. He discovered this when he picked up from the floor the student credential Yoichi had accidentally dropped in the hallways as he hurried out of class to go to another one.
Normally, Kaiser would return it to him personally when he saw him again, which would be a good opportunity to ask for his number or a date. However, he decided to leave it at the university's Lost and Found Office, where the staff would inform the student to go to the facility to retrieve what he had lost.
On another occasion, Isagi left one of his books on his desk and left. Kaiser again left those belongings in the Lost and Found Office. And this happened a couple more times over the months.
Everything was strange. If Kaiser liked that cute foreigner so much —who often neglected his personal items—, why didn't he just tell him?
The answer was simple. He didn't want to admit that he had fallen in love with someone who would soon be going to another continent and probably never see him again. Not to mention that the person who was the owner of his feelings was another man, and perhaps he would reject and hate him for being homosexual. They didn't even manage to establish a friendship, much less a formal companionship relationship.
They barely knew each other's names, and although they almost always exchanged glances, Kaiser simply tried to avoid making eye contact with the man who took his breath away.
Isagi Yoichi was a good student and quiet. He hardly spoke much and didn't have many friends either. Normally, exchange students had their own meeting area with other foreigners within the faculty, so Kaiser thought it was fine to have a one-sided love, believing that when Yoichi returned to Japan, that insignificant pain in his heart would go away along with his crush, that everything would surely return to normal, and that in thirty years, he would laugh, remembering the year he fell madly in love with a japanese man at his university.
Then that day came. The faculty officials organized a party to bid farewell to all their exchange students who had arrived at the university from different countries around the world. Among them was 20-year-old Isagi Yoichi, with not-so-perfect but very good grades. In fact, he was one of the most outstanding exchange students of his generation.
The party was very noisy. Everyone drank, danced, and even did drugs a little. Normal stuff. Amidst the loud music, neon lights, hubbub, and sweaty bodies stuck on the dance floor, Kaiser and Isagi exchanged glances again, and suddenly everything started to feel different.
The music in the background made everyone present scream with euphoria; «The Heart Get No Sleep» by Tokio Hotel, a famous and recognized band from that country, was playing.
Michael put out the cigarette he was smoking in the ashtray on the bistro table and headed towards Yoichi, who was on the other side of the dance floor with a glass of Schönauer Apfle in his hand.
Isagi thought Kaiser was too tall and bulky now that he had him just a few centimeters away from his body. Neither of them could take their eyes off each other; everything felt like they were inside a slow-motion movie.
And the lyrics of that song seemed to speak for them since they couldn't say anything or hear each other.
«Come love me like you love me…
Just one more time…»
Isagi left that glass on his table and took Kaiser's hands in his own and intertwined their fingers while everything else around them ceased to exist. For a moment, Michael thought he was hallucinating, or maybe he had drunk too much and all of this was a dream from which he didn't want to wake up.
Shortly after, Kaiser dragged Isagi to the dance floor, and they started dancing and hugging, just feeling each other's body heat. Michael recorded in his mind the scent of Yoichi's perfume, and Yoichi burned Michael's heartbeat into his memory.
«And I could set the world on fire.
Just to see you come undone.
I'm fallin' but it feels like flying.»
Suddenly, they both decided to leave the party and stumbled their way back to the dorms, with only the moonlight illuminating their path in the middle of the night. Amid laughter, Kaiser dropped his keys when he tried to put one inside the lock, and Isagi called him a fool in German.
Both of them laughed again.
They hadn't drunk too much, but they still felt a little dizzy. When Michael managed to open the door, he rushed towards Isagi to devour his mouth.
And somehow, they made it to his room, both pouncing on the bed and kissing each other again.
«Touch me like a ritual.
Come take it all. Just take it all.
Love me, come love me.
The heart gets no sleep.»
At first, Isagi was willing to have sex with Kaiser. In fact, he was very excited about the idea. However, final exams had been a couple of days ago, and he hadn't slept well for weeks, so exhaustion had taken over, and he fell asleep in Michael's bed.
Kaiser, who was also exhausted from final practices, kissed Isagi on the forehead, rested his head on a pillow, took off his shoes, covered him with the sheets, and snuggled up next to him before closing his eyes. He wished that nothing that had happened that night had turned out to be a dream.
The next morning, Kaiser woke up with Yoichi's arms wrapped around his torso and his head buried in the hollow of his neck. Kaiser definitely didn't imagine anything that had happened the night before.
He moved away a bit and decided to appreciate Isagi's sleeping face, wondering whether or not to wake him up with a good morning kiss. Kaiser's cheeks turned red at the thought, but after psyching himself up a bit, he leaned in towards Isagi's lips and stopped just a few centimeters away due to the embarrassment he was feeling.
"Well, if you don't do it, I will." Isagi opened his eyes and pulled on Kaiser's shirt collar to kiss his lips. Michael was so surprised that his face turned even redder. When the kiss ended, Isagi gave him a mischievous smile.
"What just happened...?"
"I kissed you."
"Why?"
"Because I really like you."
Kaiser didn't know what to say, so he hid his face in his hands. After a few minutes, Isagi spoke again.
"You're a very dense and idiotic man."
"What?"
"You never noticed, did you?" Isagi sat on the edge of the bed as he watched the man in front of him.
"What are you talking about?" Kaiser did the same.
"All this time, I deliberately left my belongings in your view, hoping you would talk to me and ask for my phone number or a date." Kaiser didn't know how to respond at that moment.
Then, all the times Isagi dropped something or left his things in the classroom were for Michael to take the initiative to talk to him. "And why didn't you talk to me first?"
"How silly." Isagi sighed. "Actually, I did try, but every time I wanted to approach you, you ran away."
"Touché."
"I always knew you liked me. I've liked you too for months."
Kaiser laughed. Perhaps if he hadn't been so pessimistic and negative, he would have already confessed his feelings to Isagi long ago, but they say it's better to do something late than never.
"I'm in love with you, Isagi Yoichi."
"I'm in love with you too, Michael Kaiser."
They approached each other and kissed again. Kaiser took Isagi's chin with his hand and directed the kiss while the other wrapped his back with both arms.
Slowly, they lay back down on the bed. Yoichi opened his legs so Michael could settle between them and get into a better position.
Probably everyone was asleep and very drunk from the party, Kaiser hoped Yoichi's moans wouldn't wake up the other students.
Later on, they would think about what the future held for them.