“Torturing the fish again, Hikaru?”
“Not torturing them,” Hikaru grinned at his reflection in the water. “I’m giving them exercise. They’re too fat.”
“Carp are supposed to look like that.”
“Ah, that’s just what they want you to think,” Hikaru said, turning his head to transfer the full force of his grin over his shoulder and in the direction of his best friend. The grin faltered. “You,” he said frankly, a frown forming between thin black brows, “look a mess.”
Inchiki smiled softly, a faint blush staining his freckled cheeks and slowly spreading over his face to his ears, then creeping down his neck.
Hikaru chewed a thumbnail as he looked worriedly at his friend, while a voice in the back of his mind wondered if that shadow of a blush covered the entirety of the other boy’s slim body. He bit down, hard, on his thumb to make the thought go away.
“It was easier than the aftermath makes it look, truly,” Inchiki said, ducking his head and sliding his hands into his pockets to, Hikaru knew, prevent him from seeing any errant twitches or fidgets in Inchiki’s otherwise calm manner.
“Your uniform’s ruined, though.”
“Does it matter?” Inchiki lifted his head, smiling, and padded with cat silence over to stand by the pond next to Hikaru. “They will not expect me to repeat third year merely because I left halfway through the ceremony, will they?”
“Probably not,” Hikaru said, reaching up and gently grabbing the remains of Inchiki’s tie between his fingers, tugging the other boy down to his eye-level so fiercely that Inchiki was forced to lean over, bending his knees, his dirty face slightly higher than Hikaru’s.
Inchiki blushed automatically at the closeness. “Then it does not matter if the uniform is in ruins, does it?”
“Guess not,” Hikaru agreed absently. He licked his lips and pushed himself up with his other hand to diminish the remaining distance between them, before it vanished entirely as Hikaru pressed his mouth against Inchiki’s hungrily.
With his lips on Hikaru’s, Inchiki brought one hand to Hikaru’s head, pale fingers tangling roughly in thick, short black hair as he fell to his knees, breaking the kiss reluctantly. “You’ve been drinking,” he murmured, a hint of accusation in his voice, even as he lapsed into the less-formal speech patterns that he only used around Hikaru.
“A little bit,” Hikaru agreed, grinning gently and kissing Inchiki’s nose. “In celebration. It’s traditional, Chi.”
Inchiki snorted softly but appeared willing to let the subject go. He lay his forehead against Hikaru’s, breath dancing with maddening warmth and closeness over Hikaru’s lips as he spoke. “Did I miss anything important?”
“Miss anything?” Hikaru repeated in confusion, running his tongue across his lips and brushing Inchiki’s mouth very lightly as he did so.
“At graduation . . .” Inchiki murmured, stealing a quick kiss from his friend as he trailed off, eyes bright behind his dirty bangs.
“Nothing. Stuff like that, it’s boring. You’ll have enough boring ceremonies and stuff to deal with in a couple years.” Hikaru shook his head abruptly, but not hard enough to shake Inchiki’s hand away, the thoughts definitely detracting from the overall mood of the evening. He tilted his head slightly instead of continuing, brushing his lips softly over Inchiki’s cheek. “You’re burnt.”
Inchiki lifted his free hand from the ground and touched his cheek, his fingers brushing against Hikaru’s. “Just a little bit,” he murmured, turning to kiss Hikaru’s fingers, dark blue eyes locking with Hikaru’s black ones. His lips spread into a smile that would have been sly on anyone else as he released one of Hikaru’s fingertips. “Nothing, Valedictorian-san?”
“Your uniform’s singed too, and your hair. You’re muddy, too, that doesn’t make sense, you shouldn’t be wet and burnt at the same time . . .”
Inchiki laughed, leaning forward and kissing Hikaru briefly. It was a swift kiss, used not to arouse or entice, but to get Hikaru’s attention. “Valedictorian-san?” he asked, his voice almost teasing, the title coming out like a verbal purr.
“It’s not like you don’t already know it . . .”
“You won’t have to work this summer to earn your tuition, right?”
“Yeah . . .” Hikaru murmured, watching as Inchiki moved his hand upward, brushing Hikaru’s hair away from his face.
“Maybe we can both go to Marete, then, before you have to start university,” Inchiki whispered, starting to blush again as his fingers trailed down from Hikaru’s hair, lingering on Hikaru’s cheek and over Hikaru’s lips as the other boy kissed him them softly before they continued downward, brushing along Hikaru’s dark throat until he encountered the first button of Hikaru’s uniform shirt, running his thumb around it with hypnotic slowness.
Hikaru blushed furiously, watching Inchiki’s thumb to avoid staring at his face. “Would we have to stay with that blasted cousin of yours?”
Inchiki’s thumb ceased it’s rotation. “Jonathan?”
Stifling a groan of frustration, Hikaru nodded, gently untying the remains of Inchiki’s tie, letting the dark, singed strip of cloth fall over his fingers and tumble into the grass.
“I can’t imagine why,” Inchiki said with a soft smile, his thumb beginning to move again and his fingers followed as he began to slowly unbutton Hikaru’s shirt.
“Good,” Hikaru grinned in relief, lifting his head again and leaning forward to brush his lips against Inchiki’s. “That might be nice, then.”
Inchiki smiled against Hikaru’s lips. “I’m glad you didn’t say no,” he said, tugging Hikaru’s shirt off with soft, playful pulls.
“Why?” Hikaru asked, shivering slightly in the evening cool, hesitantly resting his fingers on the buttons of Inchiki’s shirt.
“Because,” Inchiki murmured, leaning down and softly kissing along Hikaru’s neck, nibbling with sharp teeth when he neared Hikaru’s shoulder, “I would hate,” bite, “to try and knock you out and get you onto a boat without anyone noticing.” He nibbled pensively at Hikaru’s dark skin, making Hikaru’s hands shake and fumble with Inchiki’s buttons. “I think it would be a very difficult task.”
Hikaru swallowed loudly as he searched for self-control, turning his head to rub his nose in Inchiki’s hair, trying to think. Eventually, he managed to say, without his voice wavering or cracking, “You’re rather taller than me, Chi.”
“Aya-san is rather taller than you, Hikaru, but that never seemed to stop you from thrashing him.” Hikaru could feel Inchiki smile into his shoulder, the sensation preventing him from snapping irritably about the sudden intrusion of Sakamoto’s existence into a potential romantic evening.
Instead, Hikaru snorted and kissed one of Inchiki’s ears. “You and him are hardly the same person.”
“Glad to hear that.” Inchiki lifted his head, kissing Hikaru again as he tugged the shorter boy’s shirt completely off, letting it fall to the grass. Slowly, they broke the kiss, and Inchiki leaned back, staring at Hikaru silently for a minute as the Aurian boy grinned, licking his lips. Slowly, Inchiki lifted one hand, touching it to a bandage around Hikaru’s left arm. “What’s this?”
Hikaru blinked slowly, reluctantly pulling his attention away from Inchiki and looking down at his own arm, squinting to bring it into focus. “My arm?” he suggested, seeing hopeful visions of the evening float away quickly before they had even begun to properly form.
Inchiki narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips in a rare display of annoyance. “The bandage. Did you get in a fight with Aya-san after I left?”
“Like that bas – that guy could lay a finger one me!”
“Hikaru . . .”
“It’s a tattoo, okay? They said I had to keep it covered for a couple days, in case of infection.”
“Is that why you have the sake?”
“Yeah . . .”
“You celebrate your graduation by going out and mutilating yourself?”
“You celebrate your graduation by leaving in the middle of the ceremony.”
“Someone had summoned a fire kami into being on the east side of the city, Hikaru!”
“I just wanted something cool looking like your father has, Chi . . .”
Inchiki’s irritation faded instantly, and he let whatever he was going to say out in a soft puff of a laughter. “You’re an idiot, Hikaru.”
Hikaru’s grin slowly returned. “You too, Chi,” he said, leaning in for another kiss.
Inchiki wrapped his arms around the dark boy’s neck, pulling him close, kissing Hikaru hungrily. When they parted for breath, he licked the tip of Hikaru’s nose, eyes dancing. “I’m proud of you, Hikaru.”
“Gods, Chi, you sound like Ojisan. I think I liked it better when you were calling me an idiot.” Hikaru pushed Inchiki’s shirt open, running one hand down the boy’s freckled chest before poking Inchiki’s stomach rather viciously with one finger in a completely unromantic fashion, causing the taller boy to squeak. “That,” he said, grinning, “is hardly a comparison I need right now.”
“No?” Inchiki laughed, rubbing ruefully at the spot Hikaru had stabbed.
“Definitely not,” Hikaru grumbled, kissing Inchiki again. As he did so, his hands trailed unconsciously down Inchiki’s chest to encounter the cool metal of his belt buckle.
“Uh,” Inchiki mumbled against Hikaru’s mouth, pulling back. He licked his lips, looking from Hikaru to the dark fingers on his belt buckle and back again. “Um,” he said, beginning to blush fiercely.
“Um,” Hikaru agreed, noting that Inchiki’s blush did appear to go everywhere.
“Are you wanting to, um . . .” Inchiki raised his eyebrows questioningly, worrying his lower lip with white teeth.
“Maybe. Um.”
“Um.”
“Is that okay?”
“Yeah . . .”
“Do you want to . . .?”
Inchiki’s blush deepened, but he nodded.
The two boys sat in the grass, blushing furiously at each other, and after several minutes of unmoving silence, met each other’s eyes. Abruptly, the two began laughing, soft and nervous at first, before erupting into full-bodied laughter, leaning against each other, holding each other for support as mirth wracked their bodies.
When the laughter of both had died down, Hikaru mumbled against Inchiki’s shoulder: “We’re a couple of idiots, Chi.”
Inchiki made an affirming noise into Hikaru’s hair.
“I do want to try,” Hikaru continued mumbling, not moving.
“Me too,” Inchiki said, and Hikaru didn’t have to open his eyes to know that the taller boy was blushing.
Hesitantly, Hikaru once more lowered his hands to Inchiki’s waist and carefully unbuckled the stiff belt, then began unbuttoning the dark uniform pants. Inchiki watched Hikaru’s fingers, breath tickling Hikaru’s ear, before he began to mirror the other boy’s actions, laughing nervously the entire time. His fingers brushed Hikaru’s bare stomach and looked rather ghostly against the dark skin and cloth, hypnotizing Hikaru for a minute before he shook himself and returned his attention to the task at hand. He loosened the ties of Inchiki’s underpants and pulled them down slowly, the act causing Inchiki to flush up again, his fingers freezing on Hikaru’s ties.
Hikaru brushed a kissed over Inchiki’s chest, eliciting a startled purr from the other as his lips crossed over one nipple. “Love you Chi,” he whispered, putting one hand on Inchiki’s shaft.
“Love you too, Hikaru,” Inchiki mumbled. His hands twitched for a minute before he whispered: “I, uh, I’ve never done this before . . .”
“Me neither, you idiot,” Hikaru said, beginning to grin. “But it’s just, you know, like, uh . . .”
Inchiki shook his head blankly.
Hikaru bit back any incredulous comments about how Inchiki could remain completely ignorant with his parents and just kissed him softly. “Just . . . try and do what I do, okay?” he suggested, the happy warmth of alcohol slowly fading and leaving him with nothing but an acute sense of embarrassment. Nevertheless, he was reluctant to turn back at this point and he couldn’t think of a better way to celebrating his release from third level.
Finishing the contents of the sake bottle, however, would have make Hikaru feel a lot better. Carefully, he began moving his hand up and down Inchiki’s shaft, eliciting a startled squeak from the taller boy.
Hikaru leaned forward, his hand still moving, and pressed his forehead against Inchiki’s shoulder, hissing through his teeth: “Chi . . .”
“Ah . . .” Inchiki nodded unsteadily, looking flushed, and hesitantly put one hand around Hikaru’s shaft, the other pressing coldly on the inside of his thigh. Slowly, as though he honestly didn’t have any idea how to proceed, he began moving his hand, unsteadily at first, but slowly developing something resembling rhythm.
It was weird and rather uncomfortable, nothing like those tense, frustrated moments late at night when Hikaru would wake up and need to pleasure himself, but the superficial awkwardness began to fade as Inchiki became less self-conscious, some of the obvious tension draining from his shoulders. He made odd little noises as he became hard; soft panting sounds and tiny moans, occasionally mumbling Hikaru’s name. Hikaru grunted softly the entire time through clenched teeth, feeling like his entire body was on fire in spite of Inchiki’s inexperience.
They came at the same time, Inchiki moaning Hikaru’s name, Hikaru biting down on Inchiki’s shoulder to stifle a yell, and then collapsed against each other, panting, sweaty, and sticky.
“Uh . . .” Inchiki panted intelligently, his head resting on Hikaru’s shoulder, their arms tangled together and around each other.
“Mm,” Hikaru agreed, his head on Inchiki’s chest, a relieved smile curving his lips. All he wanted to do was fall over on the grass and sleep. He kissed Inchiki’s chest softly. “That was . . . nice.”
“Yeah . . .” Inchiki agreed, his breath cool on Hikaru’s burning skin.
The two sat like that for several minutes, blinking contentedly in the warmth and closeness, Inchiki purring softly, when there was the sound of breaking grass rapidly approaching. Hikaru’s eyes shot open and Inchiki slowly straightened.
“Aniki!!!! Hikaru-san!!!!!”
Hikaru swore, sharing a look with his friend, who was abruptly pale. Kamui. There was only one thing to do. Hikaru lifted one arm, wrapped it around Inchiki’s neck, and threw himself at the pond, dragging Inchiki with him. The red-head tumbled inelegantly into the pool head first and temporarily vanished from sight under the water, the fish scattering in terror. Hikaru dunked his own head beneath the surface to wash the signs of exertion from his face, and when he surfaced, Inchiki was spluttering and blinking damply at the sky, and DyBane-Startredder Kamui was squatting on the edge of the pool, formal robes hiked up over his knees, a curious expression on his face.
“Aniki, what are you and Hikaru-san doing?” Kamui asked, leaning over the pool to put his face uncomfortable close to Hikaru’s.
“Swimming,” Inchiki answered breathlessly.
“In the koi pond?”
“Yes.”
“Without any clothing on?”
Inchiki blushed furiously. “Yes. Hikaru is like family, after all.”
Kamui stared at Inchiki for a minute, nodding in thankfully silent agreement, and then turned his attention back to Hikaru, a glimmer of slyness in his dark eyes that should not have existed in the eyes of a fifteen-year-old boy. “Hikaru-san, is this true?” he asked sweetly, leaning so close to Hikaru that their noses touched.
Hikaru nodded slowly. “Of course, Kamui-kun,” he answered, just as sweetly, before grabbing the tall boy by the front of his robes and tumbling him into the pond with a terrific splash.