Sweet like candy to my soul
This ficlet is for KouginoWeek ^^
It’s just Kougino having (almost) angst-free fun at a summer festival :D
There might be some kissing
Title is lyrics from the song Crash Into Me by Dave Matthews Band
Three minutes. He had needed to use the bathroom for three minutes and he came back to Gino being harassed again.
Same bullies. Different day.
Walking fast, his yukata tangling in his feet, he tried not to think of what would happen were things to get out of control. This was a nice day. It was supposed to be a nice day, away from studying and obligations and sleepless nights and stress over their futures. It wasn’t supposed to be another battlefield, to be tainted by privileged people that knew nothing.
Assholes.
As he approached he could hear them clearly.
“...you be studying?”
“This is no place for hard workers with small chances.” The man with the lame hair laid his hand on Gino’s shoulder and Gino tried to shrug him off.
“What I do is none of your concern.” Gino’s voice was even but the worry of what would follow was clear in it. It had happened again.
“Oi!” Kougami raised his voice, not because those guys would be afraid of him, or because Gino couldn’t protect himself. No, Gino had managed to hold up his own impressively all these years without losing his mind. It was the fear of numbers. It was the same reason those guys were harassing others in packs. So yeah. They wanted Gino, well, they got him as a present, too. “How are you guys? Long time not seen.”
“Kougami…” Gino’s eyes shifted to him. He looked worried and hopeful at the same time and Kougami couldn’t agree more.
“Mind your own business, dude,” the ugly hair gel guy said.
“My business is here. Where’s yours? If you’re lost, allow me to call the security to show you your way out.” Kougami was a man who preferred to fight his fights with his fists, but, overall, he wasn’t above cunning measures to achieve his goals when it was needed.
The guy who had spoken clicked his tongue and grabbed his pal by the arm, pulling him away from Gino. Throwing a last spiteful glance at Kougami, they scrammed without another word.
“You okay?” Lame question. He knew that, but he had to ask.
“Yeah.” Gino pushed his glasses up his nose, looking away. “Sorry about that. They just keep coming.”
He shrugged. It wasn’t Gino’s fault anyway, but he didn’t say anything. “Wanna do something?”
“Hm?” Gino freed his wrist from his sleeve and checked the time. “We will be here for a while... So, yes, I suppose…”
Kougami wasn’t fooled. It was obvious that Gino's mind was still at the incident. Fuck it. “Come on. Let’s go over to the stalls.” He pointed to their direction with a sharp tilt of his head and turned around. Soon, Gino was next to him. “My mother used to bring me to these stuff,” Kougami said, mostly to cover the silence, and maybe because he wanted Gino’s mind on a safer path. There was nothing dangerous with past memories of festivals. “They have some weird candies she used to buy me.”
The look Gino gave him was one of interest, and yet, there was a certain sadness edging. “I haven’t been to a summer festival since I was too little. I don’t remember much...”
Great. Safer path his ass.
“Well, it’s time to change that.” He got closer to Gino, and passed his arm under Gino’s elbow, keeping it there, stirring him towards a stall with multiple colorful candies. “Anything you fancy?”
Gino looked at their entwined arms, frowning at being pulled. Kougami thought to take his armaway but somehow, he didn’t. He was relishing in the warmth of Gino’s body so close to his and he didn’t want to let go.
When Kougami’s mind returned to the candies and his eyes on Gino’s face, he had to suppress a smile. Gino seemed so deep in his thoughts as he tried to choose between the candies- the ever present slight frown between there, just like every time he was trying to solve a difficult mathematical problem- that Kougami was sure they were going to stay there. Forever.
Giving up and smiling, he took the initiative and asked for two choco bananas, stealing a glance of Gino’s reaction.
“Eh?! Don’t just decide on your own!”, Gino complained.
“If you knew what you wanted why didn’t you say so?”
“I was still thinking!”
“We don’t have all night here!”
The man behind the stall shoved the first in Kougami’s hand. The second in Gino’s, who started to check it out from every angle as if it was an object from outer space. “So, this is your favourite?”
“That? No. I’ll show you down the way which one is. But you have to try a couple at least.”
“A coup...just how many sweets do you intend to eat?” Gino asked him surprised.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Two or three. It depends on my mood.”
Kougami saw him open his mouth to protest and stop. In the end, he just said “Well, then… itadakimasu”. Kougami couldn’t take his eyes off of him as he tried the thing. Gino’s face was so open, unlike other times, during more personal discussions. He liked the way he frowned tasting, making sure he was giving an honest answer. “Hm. It’s not bad.”
“Cool then. Let’s see the rest,” Kougami said, taking a bite from his own choco banana, already forgotten in his hand.
“Wait! How can you eat while walking?” Gino whined as he followed him, trying to wipe his lower lip with the paper towel.
“You can’t?”
“I could if I tried but…”
Kougami shook his head. “No reason for that. There.” He pointed his finger on an empty bench on the other side of the path and they walked toward it. He sat and when Gino did the same he asked, “Better?”
“You are very easy going today…” Gino said, raising an eyebrow in suspicion, but thenhis expression softened. “Thank you.”
“It’s supposed to be a leisure day.” He took another bite from his banana. “Wait, do you mean, I’m not easy going the rest of the time?”
“You can be stubborn when you don’t like something,” Gino answered factually, but couldn’t hold back a smirk. A teasing smirk. Gino teased. Or was it a fond one? That would have been even more…
“Are you teasing?” Okay he didn’t mean to sound so surprised but it wasn’t every day that Gino would be in this kind of mood. Kougami liked it.
“I’m just stating a fact. For example, you almost doze off in the classes you don’t like. Even after being told off about it!”
“They could have certainly made these things far more interesting,” he huffed.
“If these things make part of a class, they must be necessary!” he scowled at him. “See, you’re stubborn!”
“Even necessary, they are still bo-” he stilled. “You called me stubborn?!”
Gino straightened up and looked at him provokingly. “I did! Twice!”
Kougami was at a loss of words. “You are stubborn!”, he threw back as if he were five years old and immediately burst out laughing.
“Me?! I’m not!” Gino retorted but as Kougami laughed, his pouting turned into a smile and then a small chuckle.
Kougami poked him playfully, hoping to keep this smile on his face.
“Oi!” Gino jerked away from him, half-folding in two. “That tickles!”
Kougami laughed again but didn’t poke him another time and Gino wentback to savoring his candy. His eyes were still observing the path before them as he still became acquainted with the event. “So, what do we do next?”
“There is a bunch of games we can play if you want, and more candies to eat.” If this was Gino’s first festival, then there were many things to do. His choco banana finished, he got up and threw the stick on a trash can. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
Gino mimicked him and followed. There wasn’t a stall that didn’t get a few seconds of his thorough attention, but a particular game made him stop in his tracks and watch for longer. “A shooting game?” He turned to Kougami, face curious, before going back to watching another player taking his last shot.
“Do you wanna try it?”
“I don’t know…”
Kougami looked at him and then turned to the woman behind the counter. “We’ll play,” he said simply, and she pointed at one of the guns in front of him “You first,” he told Gino.
Gino swallowed, peering at the rifles and the targets, then fixed his glasses and nodded. “Okay.” He took the rifle and aimed at an easy target, straight ahead of him. And he got it. Kougami patted him on the back.
“Good shot. Two to go.”
His second target was a little more challenging; he aimed for a row higher, but it was a miss. Gino winced in annoyance, but his gaze showed more obstinacy than disappointment. “I’ll get it this time”, he announced to Kougami before he turned to load another cork. He aimed one of the smaller cans in the highest rows. When he pulled the trigger, there was a clank and the can fell on the floor behind the counter.
“I did it!” Gino said excited, turning to Kougami. He was beaming.
Kougami clapped his hands and then patted Gino’s shoulder again, his hand staying there for another moment. “Good shot,” he said smiling, the light on Gino’s eyes refreshing.
A pink shade spread on Gino’s pale complexion, as he moved to pass him the rifle. He was interrupted by the owner of the stall inviting him to choose among the small prizes. With a dog key-chain among them, it was, thankfully, a no-brainer. Gino took it with yet another satisfied smile.
“Here.” he said, holding it out to Kougami.
Kougami reached up and brought his face closer as it was still in Gino’s hand. It was a blue-eyed dog, made completely out of plastic.”For me?”
Gino nodded. “As thanks for...before” Then looked at him troubled. “You don’t like it?”
“No,” he rushed in to say, “No, it’s cute.” He took it and tightened his fingers around it. “Thank you.”
Gino nodded again, somehow looking shier. “Are you going to play?”
“Nah,” he said quickly. “There will be fireworks soon. Let’s go for a walk.”
***
Gino liked fireworks, but he couldn’t say the same about people. Naturally, the price of a good view would be squeezing in the crowd and that filled him with uneasiness, even more with the possibility of another classmate encounter. Yet before he could brood over that, Kougami presented to him the solution.
His friend had always been of help, as much as he had been a worry, but that day, in particular, was single-handedly saved by him. Everything Kougami did, even contrary to Gino’s expectations, was stress care at its purest form. Kougami had already fed him another sweet along the way and though Gino was always cautious of his sugar intake, he couldn’t deny that they had brightened his mood. Their small euphoria had taken the earlier incident away from his mind, and the leisure stroll with Kougami had kept it that way. He had played a pointless yet fun game and Kougami had rooted for him. And he had seemed pleased with his silly gift.
All in all it was a good day. Coming here with Kougami was a good choice.
And just when Gino thought he had lost the right to complain about sandwiching in crowds, his laid-back friend had spotted a corner at the riverbank, where the sky view was clear and the people count currently zero. Fascinated by the anticipation of fireworks and their unexpected privacy, Gino joined him on the ground; like in most recreational facilities the grass and dirt were artificial and partially holo-ed, so their yukata wouldn’t suffer.
It would be nice, if the fireworks were real. If there was such a thing as a real firework in this era.
“Wait here,” Kougami said and he got up again and disappeared back to the crowd, leaving Gino wondering. He was back again in less than five minutes holding two apples on sticks.
Gino looked at them and sighed “More sweets? You’re going to give our teeth cavities.”
“I told you I was going to get you my favorite,” he said handing one of them to him.
“Oh” Gino took it and looked at it closely. “A real apple?”
Kougami nodded. “It’s real and has caramel around it.”
“I didn’t know apples to be eaten with caramel…” He kept staring at it, trying to determine how it would taste before trying it. He generally liked pies and tarts with fruits but that was a first.
“You’ll like it.” Kougami smiled and took a bite from his candy. “In some places,” he went on with his mouth full, “they call the pommes d’amour.”
“I see.” Gino dipped and took a small bite of it. Sweetness flooded his mouth, but balanced with the taste of apple it made for a delicious result. Just as he was about to nod approvingly, it hit him. “Wait...they’re called… As in French for…” He felt the heat on his cheeks and immediately felt stupid. It was a silly reaction. No, it was their name that was silly! It didn’t make any sense!
Kougami nodded without disrupting his eating. When he swallowed he said, “Weird name, huh?”
“Y...yeah” Gino bit off a bigger chunk from his candy with the weird name and chewed frantically.
“So, you like it?”
Gino turned to him. “Yes. It is good.” He noticed he was distracted by a drop of syrup on Kougami’s lips. And then he also noticed that he was smiling at him. Again. And Kougami was smiling back, looking straight into his eyes.
What was it about sweets that made everything feel so much better?
Right then, there was a loud whistle followed by a cracking sound and the night sky was brightened as if it were day.
“Look. They started” Kougami said and Gino realized that he had missed the first firework while gazing at his friend. He turned up and as the second blew up and lit the sky, his heart skipped a beat. It was beautiful. Raw and childlike happiness overwhelmed him as he watched them burst one after the other and he couldn’t school himself to hide it. Surprisingly, he didn’t need to either. Kougami and he were alone in their corner.
Gino sacrificed another firework to look back at his friend. Everything seemed to be right when Kougami was around. He was lucky to have Kougami and he felt that he should let him know but expressing himself was never his strong point and this was a moment too bright and peaceful to spoil with his awkwardness.
As he was still looking at him, Kougami turned his head and their eyes met. The light from the fireworks were colorful on his face, brightening his eyes and creating shadows around his nose and under his chin. His expression was soft and Gino couldn’t be sure when he started to move, but he did. Kougami’s lips touched his gently and the sound of the fireworks faded slowly around them. It was only the two of them. It was always the two of them.
Gino hadn't had the time to even close his eyes. Even as their lips parted, he was staring at him dumbstruck, his heart in a wild race. There were so many questions in his head -how, what was that, what did that mean- but they were convoluted by the lingering feeling of the kiss, the aftertaste of the pomme d'amour and a strange sense of longing.
Kougami’s eyes locked on his without a word, until he wrapped his arm slowly around Gino and pulled him closer. And with just that, the bewilderment abated, leaving only warmth inside him. He leaned in Kougami's arms and as he settled, another firework burst in the sky. Gino smiled excited as he watched it disperse into multiple rays and instinctively turned to share that simple joy with Kougami. Surprised, he found Kougami already looking at him; he too wore a smile, but it was gentle and different.
Gino somehow knew that Kougami had missed that firework. And he somehow knew that thoughts and doubts were redundant when everything felt so right. He brought his face closer to Kougami's and kissed him, this time with his eyes closed, shutting out everything but the feeling of Kougami's lips on his own, his arms around him, his scent.
Once again, it was Kougami who broke the connection just enough to look into his eyes again. He smiled. “You’re missing the fireworks.”
Gino huffed a smile in response. "I already saw many fireworks tonight."
Kougami let out a loud laugh. “Your jokes are getting better and better.”
“Jokes? I wasn’t joking! I counted at least eight of them!”
Laughing harder, Kougami leaned and let a kiss on Gino’s cheek, his arm still around him. “I don’t remember how many I saw. More than eight, for sure.”
“You can’t have seen more than me! You were spacing out again at times!” Gino tried to frown at him, but it was impossible, while he was in his embrace and shaken by his laugh. “Hey, Kougami…” he said, after Kougami had calmed down. “Thank you for today.”
“Nah. We both had a good time.”
Gino exhaled softly and wound his arm around Kougami’s back. Even though his answer was not unexpected, it was reassuring to hear that Kougami enjoyed himself around him. “Do you want to hang out together the rest of the weekend too?” His cheeks felt hot again, but he hoped it was too dark to show.
“We always hang out together.”
Gino sighed, looking away from him. “I meant...go out...somewhere. After studying!”
“Like a date?”
“Eh?!” He turned so fast, his neck made a cracking sound. If his face was hot before, now it was on fire. “C...call it what you want!”
Kougami laughed silently again and set another kiss on his cheek. “A date then.”
Gino huffed and let himself relax against Kougami. As if arguing would do him any good. Plus, kisses like this were an inevitable part of dates. He could not complain.
