Light catches on the pale waves splayed across Yuuya’s pillows.With Keicho’s back to him he’s able to stare and appreciate the way the light reflects and makes it look almost white where the sun hits the strands directly. It’s like gold wrapped around Yuuya’s fingers while he cards through the tangled locks. He’s careful, gentle not to tug at any knots too hard. Yuuya catches a big knot, not one that can be easily combed through without pulling at the scalp and eases his fingers out only to plunge them into a new spot to comb through. Keicho stirs under his touch, but it’s no more than a low grumble as he nestles further into the blankets.
His hair moves only a little, mostly the top closest to his head shifts around, the bits splayed over the blankets remains still in their spots.
Yuuya’s bed is soft and comfortable. It feels like quicksand the way it almost seems to cling to him, holing him in place. He doesn’t want to get up and go to his shitty littlee retail job. But he’s got to. Someone’s gotta pay for dates for four partners and bike parts and all that espresso he’s constantly sipping on. Still though...the halo of light surrounding Keicho makes it hard to tear his eyes away from the still form in front of him. The curve of Keicho’s shoulder peeks through the curtain of gold covering him. Lightly, Yuuya traces the shape, following the shape his silhouette makes against the light until his finger passes from skin and back onto the blanket.
Again, Keicho stirs and grumbles a bit. The sound makes Yuuya laugh as he leans in to kiss at the exposed skin. His lips land just in between two horizontal scars present on Keicho’s shoulder, feather-light; contact made! Keicho shifts again, this time rolling over onto his back for a second before slinging his arm out and rolling onto his stomach. His arm falls onto Yuuya, effectively trapping the biker. The action isn’t conscious, but that doesn’t stop Keicho from nuzzling into the space between Yuuya’s head and his pillow.
Yuuya squirms, trying to wiggle his way out from under Keicho’s arm. Time is getting dangerously close to where Yuuya is going to have to rip himself out of bed and do a speedrun through his routine to get to work on time.
“Hey..c’mon big guy, lemme up--”
Keicho’s arm moves to cut Yuuya off, plopping firmly over his mouth and curling to pull the biker closer to him. Crushing him against Keicho’s side. Once more he’s wiggling and pushing to try and get away. His phone goes off, an alarm to remind him to wake up. The sound makes Keicho lift his head finally, eyes hardly open but the slits of green scanning the area around them until two little soldiers emerge from the pillows with Yuuya’s screeching phone. Yuuya, meanwhile, reaches out, flinging his hand around wildly to try and find the offending device and silence the alarm before Keicho is fully awake.
It’s a little too late for that though.
The phone is secure in Keicho’s hand and he’s tempted to toss the device into the wall just to make it shut up. But he doesn’t, instead he simply turns the alarm off, handing it back to the two little soldiers that presented it to him in the first place.
The phone is removed, completely, and now Keicho is rolling onto his side again, keeping a firm grip on his little boyfriend. Yuuya squirms, yipping something about how he needs to go to work and ‘You gotta let me uuuuuuuup’ or something. The noises only make Keicho squeeze tighter as his own eyes close once again. He’s drifting off.
“Call out today...........” the words are mumbled, gravelly and low into Yuuya’s neck. “You don’t even have to work.”
Yuuya squirms again, but the grip is much too strong. Reluctantly he finally lets himself relax back into the comfort of his bed and the embrace keeping him locked there anyway. Though his range of motion is limited, he manages to start a little braid in some of Keicho’s hair that’s now splayed over his stomach from all the movement.
The next few dates for the polycule will just have to be on Keicho’s tab!
The concept of dating anyone at any point in life had always seemed...unreachable. It just seemed like yet another thing that Keicho would simply have to go without in his life. He had accepted this fact, he’d come to terms with it and he was okay with it to an extent.
Sure, he’d maybe had a few moments during his scrawny, pimply, puberty days that he’d be alone forever. It’s more than likely he had quite a number of sleepless nights under his belt where he had laid awake thinking about how the end goal of his work meant that at least Okuyasu would have some chance at love and happiness and all of that...overhyped jazz. Or whatever.
It comes as no surprise then, all of this in mind, that when one Yuuya Fungami sheepishly asked him on a date left him absolutely reeling. Though that had been more than two weeks ago, and he’d only finally given Yuuya an answer approximately three (3) days ago. The initial question made Keicho sweat and it was hard to breathe. Looking down at Yuuya’s face, filled with something that Keicho couldn’t recognize. He had almost been sure it was a joke, but the silence between them had dragged on for so long that he ended up just telling the guy he had to go home.
He had to go home and hide in his room for roughly two weeks. He had to go and weigh the pros and cons, consider his options. Try to figure out why Yuuya of all the people in Morioh would want to go out with him. He’d gotten used to Akira’s weird advances. But Yuuya was one of his first....friends? They had met before Keicho and Okuyasu had ever met Josuke. And they weren’t even...close? Then he figured...he should say yes, so that he can just...ask why? That’s a normal thing to do on a date, right?
So now, Keicho sits in front of a vanity mirror in his room. His hair is styled and he’s staring down at an assortment of earrings he’d laid out earlier to decide on for the evening. A worn down picture of his mother smiling up at him from the inside of his jewelry box grabs his attention and he heaves out a sigh.
“I dunno what to do.”
Keicho’s voice is clear in the open room, his record player is silent for just a moment before the beginnings of another song fade in. He knows she can’t respond. But there’s suddenly a pull to the third set of earrings laid neatly across the table of his vanity. A small smile quirks the corner of his lip and they’re soon fastened in his ears. She always did seem to know just the mood he needed to be in for social situations.
It’s not like they’re going to some fancy restaurant or anything, just a casual trip into town and maybe just stopping at a cafe for a drink or a bite to eat. Something nice and easy, low-key. Yuuya seemed excited on the phone about it. Seeing Keicho’s number pan across the screen of his phone had made his whole face light up even. Between him and the girls, he was certain he’d completely scared Keicho off.
It’s almost time to meet up, and Yuuya’s already waiting at the predetermined meeting spot. There’s a funky looking art piece in a park near the main road. It looks like a sculpture or something, but Yuuya’s pretty sure it’s something that Josuke warped at some point. He can’t remember when it was installed or the name of the artist, and there’s not even a plaque near by! But no one else seems to bat an eye at the addition, so he doesn’t think too hard about it. He’s at a park bench with a book in his lap, some fictional novel about clones being used to make this guy live forever. He’s about to find out if the kid makes it out of the estate alive.
The evening breeze is cool and blows the pages of the book a little, luckily Yuuya catches it before he loses his place. He’s dressed down too, a loose band t-shirt over some reasonably tight jeans with plenty of tears for the night of walking around. A few bits of tattoos peek from between the strings of his jeans, another slips in and out of his sleeve with small movements.
“Uh....”
The sound makes Yuuya look up from his book. He already knows it’s Keicho, he could smell his cologne from across the park. He’s got his eyes averted and his lips pursed. At first it almost looks like Keicho’s arms are crossed before Yuuya can see he’s nervously petting at his upper arms with his thumbs. A subtle but not invisible motion. A bookmark is placed before the book snaps shut and Yuuya hops up with a grin plastered over his face. It makes his chin tattoo stretch and wrinkle a little bit. He’s shoving is book into a backpack too as he’s patting Keicho’s shoulder. His own nervous energy hidden behind the pep in his step.
“Glad you could make it!” Yuuya chimes, pulling his hand away from Keicho.
“Yeah..uh...so what do you want...to do.” Keicho’s question comes out..almost sounding like a command.
But Yuuya doesn’t miss a beat. He suggests a nearby ice cream place. Keicho recognizes the name of it from Okuyasu talking about Monday Morning Ice Creams before school. Keicho himself has never actually been, but he nods and walks along next to Yuuya. Listening as the guy talks about a job he’s got, something one of his girlfriends said. This is just normally what they do anyway, only now it feels....a little weird. At least for Keicho.
He’s glancing at people as they pass by, glancing at Yuuya and watching the way his jaw moves as he speaks. He knows he’s going to have to say something soon, and it’s going to have to be relevant. Or at least show that he’s been listening somehow. And he is listening! He’s just also Thinking.
“--And anyway Kemi poured a drink on that guy before we all left last night. It was so funny--” Yuuya stops suddenly.
He makes a face that reminds Keicho of a fish that’s been pulled out of water, gasping. Yuuya’s making a stuttery sound and looks like someone just threw something at him. “UH WUH WUH AHWWAH?!” he mimicks the man Akemi threw a drink on, shaking his hands like he’s trying to get liquid off of them before dissolving into a fit of laughter instead .
Keicho can’t help but let out a breath of a laugh, the nervous petting at his own arms finally ceasing into a more relaxed version of crossed arms. He almost feels a little more chatty now! He’s getting Yuuya to give him the rundown on the book he’s been reading until they finally get to this ice cream place that Okuyasu has been raving about for so long.
“So what do you wanna grab, Keich? A cone? A bowl? Y’wanna sit and snack or snack on the go?”
That’s a lot of questions, and Keicho shrugs before opening the door for both of them. Yuuya orders a milkshake, coffee flavored ice cream covered in whipped cream with a caramel drizzle over all of it. He patiently waits for Keicho to inspect every single possible flavor combination on the menu. He’s decided on a double scoop of vanilla and banana flavors. Keicho seems surprised that Yuuya pays for both of their orders, but only because he had been worried about whether they would be paying their own way or what....dating as a concept seemed so much simpler in T.V. and movies. And Yuuya seemed to make the whole courting thing look so easy.
“Figured I could treat us since this waaaaaa~s my idea, y’know?” His smile is bright and there’s a flutter in Keicho’s chest.
Yuuya bounces out of the ice cream shop. Does the guy ever sit still? It seems like he’s always in motion somehow. Keicho isn’t far behind, napkin wrapped around the ice cream cone and catching the bits that have started to melt already. He’s still fairly stiff in their conversations, but they wander around window shopping for a bit. Keicho is glad they have ice cream, it keeps his mouth occupied and makes for a good excuse to keep quiet. Yuuya is quite the chatterbox anyway, so it works out.
Though as darkness settles over the smalll town, Yuuya falls quiet. There’s a few shopping bags by now, both boys having found some things that caught their eyes as they walked around. Keicho’s ice cream cone had been decimated a few hours ago, but that didn’t make him any more talkative. But that didn’t seem to bother Yuuya too much. On the other hand, Yuuya’s got an iced coffee in his hand now, five shots of espresso added in and it makes sense as to why the guy can’t seem to sit still.
“Hey uh...” Keicho begins amid the silence. Yuuya’s head snaps up. “Can I ask you something? Might be kinda weird...”
Yuuya blinks, he’s suppressing the urge to make a dirty joke. “If you’re gonna ask about sleeping with me save it for the third date, Romeo.” He....did not succeed at suppression.
Keicho stays quiet, blinking slowly before rolling his eyes. Despite how tame that one was, Yuuya does worry if it was too much? It is only the first date and Keicho is terribly repressed after all. In every aspect of the word it seems. Finally he answers.
“I was just gonna ask uh...” There’s a quiet slurping sound as Yuuya sips at his coffee, eyes still locked on Keicho’s increasingly tense face. “I was just gonna ask why uh...why me?”
“Why you what?” Yuuya’s eyebrows furrow at the question and Keicho rubs a hand down his tired face.
“Why me. Why ask me out on a date. Out of no where.”
Again, Yuuya blinks in surprise. There’s a soft ‘oh’ that escapes him. They’re almost back at the park and darkness has finally set in completely. The streets are empty as the meander about the park area. He doesn’t have think about an answer, but he does make a show of pretending to think of an answer.
“Well...” Keicho leans in when Yuuya finally speaks again. “I just think you’re really handsome and wanted to know if you swung my way.”
It’s just a summary. No where close to what Yuuya could say about why he wanted to have a date with Keicho. Definitely not because Yoshie, Reiko and Akemi got sick of his pining and whining about the guy. The answer seems to satisfy, because Keicho looks down at his feet with a hum rumbling low in his chest. Yuuya takes a sip of his coffee. They’ve stopped in front of the very bench they met at. Keicho seems distracted and Yuuya watches him like a hawk before trying to get his attention again.
“So?”
Keicho’s head snaps up and his mouth is in a little ‘o’ shape for a moment. So what? Yuuya waits. He waits. Lips pursed with a hand full of shopping bags resting on his hip.
“So uh....? What...?”
Yuuya rolls his eyes and laughs a little, that same hand that was resting on his hip darting out to punch at Keicho’s shoulder playfully. “So? Do you wanna do this again? Or what? Gimme some feedback here....”
“Ah...well uh...”
He wishes he could just ask his mom what to do. Or even Okuyasu at this point. He doesn’t know how to respond to this situation or how to act. He doesn’t know what to do. But he liked it? It...was a nice time. Yuuya didn’t push him to do anything...He always seems so relaxed. What should he do?
“Yeah.” The affirmation slips out without much of Keicho’s thoughts on the matter. “Yeah we can do this again...it was nice.”
There’s a grin that spreads across Yuuya’s face. It makes his chin tattoo stretch and wrinkle up just a little bit again. Keicho’s eyes are drawn to it. Slowly it moves closer until he’s just looking at Yuuya’s face. Much, much closer than it had been all evening.
“Cool. Is it okay if I kiss your cheek?” There’s a hand on Keicho’s elbow now.
All fingertips and light to the touch. He could easily pull away if he wanted to, but instead he let’s himself be touched, trying to force himself to relax under the touch. Yuuya is patient as he waits for an answer, but when it takes too long he lets his hand pull away, smile still in place and voice genuine.
“Alright, alright, a little much for right now, yeah? I get it dude.” He takes a step back. “I’ll letcha go...jus’ gimme a call when you wanna do this again, okay?”
He’s about to turn and head towards his bike. But now there’s a hand clamped around Yuuya’s wrist and he’s being urged to turn back around and face Keicho’s beet red face. Is he...sweating...? Is he...shaking? Oh no...he’s broken.
“Uh...Y...eyyeah....you can uh...kiss my cheek if you...................want to..............”
Keicho Nijimura is a touch starved individual. He’s never been kissed on the cheek by anyone other than his mother and...Okuyasu back when they were little kids. It’s not like he’s super affectionate with his family now either. The idea that anyone would want to willingly engage in any sort of affection with him is a jarring and almost unsettling turn of events. Unsettling if only because it feels like a cruel joke might be played on him.
But without missing a beat, Yuuya steps forward again and leans up and onto his tip toes to place a quick little kiss on the corner of Keicho’s jaw. It happens so quick but Keicho stands straight up with his fingertips lightly touching the spot. Yuuya looks like a satisfied cat with the way he’s smirking up at his date.
“Well, g’night, Keich. Gimme a call soon, kay?”
And just like that! Keicho is left standing alone in the park. Mouth hanging open just a bit and keeping a hold on the spot Yuuya kissed as if moving his hand would make the experience fall right off of his face. Quietly, almost unsure even, he speaks into the empty air around him.
