Kissing Lessons

Midorino Mizu

Author’s Note: Plot bunny...will not...let go! Damn things. Er, also just noticed that this is remarkably similar to Mura’s RenjixSanada fic. Wasn’t meant to be, really, but somehow ended up that way. *sigh*

Hasukawa really had no idea how these subjects managed to come up, but they did, on a regular basis.

It was what he earned by doing his homework in Shinobu and Mitsuru’s room, he supposed.

“You’ve never kissed Miya?” Mitsuru asked incredulously. “Ever?”

Hasukawa scowled at his senpai. “No,” he said finally. “Never.”

His tone of voice would have discouraged most of the other students at Ryokurin Hall from pursuing the subject. Hasukawa Kazuya may have been naïve and easily embarrassed, but he was also hot-tempered, and he could get downright scary when he got angry.

However, Ikeda Mitsuru wasn’t like most other students, and he certainly wasn’t easily intimidated. Especially not by a boy a year his junior, who happened to be his favorite person to torment.

“Why?” he asked. “You’re sixteen, Suka-chan. You’re supposed to kiss your girlfriend.”

Hasukawa merely glared at him briefly, before muttering something quietly, and resolutely going back to his Japanese essay.

Maybe if he ignored Mitsuru-senpai, he’d leave him alone.

Not likely.

“What was that, Suka-chan?” inquired the senior. Hasukawa could hear the amusement lacing the other boy’s voice, and felt an increasing feeling of cold dread. “Did you say you’d never kissed anyone before?”

Hasukawa heaved a sigh and looked up with a dark scowl. “Yes,” he said. “That’s exactly what I said.”

Okay, so maybe admitting that was a little embarrassing, but did Mitsuru really have to grin at him like that? It wasn’t that bad, was it?

Mitsuru managed to keep his voice fairly level, despite the laughter that was bubbling up inside. “I could give you a few lessons, if you like,” he said. “Purely out of the goodness of my heart, of course.”

Hasukawa didn’t say a word, and he kept his eyes glued to the page before him, but a single red eyebrow twitched.

“Besides,” Mitsuru added as he tossed back wavy blond hair. “I consider it my duty as a senpai to make sure you are educated in all possible ways, while you’re here at Ryokuto.”

Hasukawa’s face flamed bright red. It almost, Mitsuru reflected, matched his hair. “Senpai!” he sputtered. “No!”

“Ah, but Suka-chan, trust me…”

“Mitsuru,” Shinobu said mildly. He was sitting at his desk, leisurely reading a book, and had been silent for the entire conversation.

It was amusing watching his roommate tease Hasukawa – he knew exactly where all of the junior’s buttons were and exactly how to push them.

But sometimes he had to be reminded not to take things too far.

“Leave him alone, he has homework to do.” He paused. “I’m sure he’ll figure it out himself, when he’s ready.”

Mitsuru made a face at his roommate. “You never let me have any fun,” he complained.

Shinobu lifted a single eyebrow. “Is that so?” There was a long pause as the two roommates stared each other down.

Shinobu won the impromptu staring contest. He usually did.

“Fine, fine,” said Mitsuru, waving his hand. “I’ll leave him alone.”

Hasukawa breathed a sigh of relief and went back to work on his essay. They all worked in blessed silence for a few minutes.

Then Mitsuru abruptly spoke up again. “I’m going to see Aoki,” he said.

Hasukawa looked up, startled, as Mitsuru breezed out of his own room, before switching his gaze over to Shinobu.

“Senpai,” he said, “is there something wrong with Mitsuru-senpai?”

This wasn’t the first time Ikeda Mitsuru had done something as strange as abandoning his own room lately. In fact, in recent weeks, the former dorm president had become increasingly absent-minded and pensive.

It was beginning to worry Hasukawa a bit.

“Hmm?” asked Shinobu absently as he flipped a page in his book. “No, he’s just restless. Worried about what comes after graduation.”

Hasukawa furrowed his brows. “Why?” he asked. “You’ve both been accepted to Tokyo University, right?”

Shinobu nodded, unsurprised that the information was common knowledge. Things like that traveled quickly at Greenwood, after all.

“Mitsuru doesn’t like change,” he said. “At least, not change he doesn’t instigate himself. He’ll get used to it in time, we just have to be patient.”

And if Mitsuru didn’t manage to get used to it…well, Shinobu had ways of knocking sense into his best friend, if necessary.

Still, he thought, Mitsuru was being uncharacteristically stubborn about accepting this change. It might be time to remind him that not everything familiar was disappearing. Mitsuru tended to forget things like that when he was frightened.

Shinobu made a note to talk to his roommate about it later that night.

“You look worried yourself,” he added, speaking again. “It’s not about Igarashi, is it? Mitsuru was just teasing, you know.”

Hasukawa sighed and rested his chin on his arms. “I know,” he acknowledged. “But I’m still worried.”

His cheeks pinkened a little. “I…just don’t know anything about it,” he admitted.

Shinobu’s eyebrows rose. “Didn’t you ever talk about that sort of thing with your friends back in junior high?” he asked.

Hasukawa shook his head. “I always had to go home right after school,” he said. “To help my brother.”

“Ah, of course.” Shinobu fell silent. He should have guessed, he supposed; Hasukawa had felt the pressure of responsibility on his shoulders from a young age, and it had probably stunted his social growth somewhat.

He glanced over at the junior, who had picked up his pen again, and was diligently scratching out notes for his essay. “I could show you, if you’d like.”

“Senpai!” squawked the redhead. “What?”

A small smile curved Shinobu’s mouth. “Calm down, Hasukawa,” he said. “I just think that you’ll worry about it until you know that there’s really nothing to worry about.”

“Oh.” Hasukawa was silent for a moment, and then ran his hand through his hair. He couldn't believe he was actually considering this, but maybe, since it was Shinobu-senpai, it wouldn't be so bad. “Um, well, if you really wouldn’t mind?”

Shinobu didn’t let his expression change, but he was genuinely surprised; he hadn’t expected Hasukawa to agree to it. The junior must have been really worried.

It was probably best to get rid of this phobia now, Shinobu thought, or it would prove disastrous later on.

He made it a priority to prevent romantic disasters whenever possible. There was little else in the world that was more headache inducing, in his opinion.

“Get up on the bed, then,” Shinobu said calmly. He marked his place in his book, before coming slowly to his feet. “And relax,” he added. He could see already that Hasukawa was as stiff as a board. “It’ll be fine.”

He slid onto his bed next to Hasukawa and smiled. The junior looked like a frightened rabbit.

“Relax, Hasukawa,” he said again. “Honestly, if you’re this stiff when you try to kiss Igarashi, she’ll ask you what’s wrong.”

“Uh, yes, senpai, I’ll try.” Hasukawa forced himself to relax his muscles.

“Much better,” complimented Shinobu. He leaned close to the junior and smiled. “Now, you’ll want to start slowly, or you’ll scare her,” he said.

He slid his hand gently along Hasukawa’s cheek, threading his fingers in the junior’s bright hair. “Then you lean in close, close your eyes,” he murmured. “And tilt your head, so you don’t bump her nose.”

Shinobu brushed his lips, very lightly, very gently, across Hasukawa’s, before leaning back. “And you kiss her.”

Hasukawa was blushing again, he noted. He could see why Mitsuru thought he was so cute.

“T-that’s all there is to it?” asked the junior.

“Basically,” affirmed Shinobu as he got up and walked back towards his desk. “Of course, once you get used to that, you can start to use tongue. That’s lesson two.”

He glanced over at the furiously red Hasukawa and tossed him a box of tissues. “Here,” he said. “You can use these.”

Shinobu picked up his book again and nonchalantly began reading, oblivious to the redhead glaring daggers at him.

Sometimes, Hasukawa thought as he pressed a tissue to his nose, trying to stem his very sudden and severe nosebleed, he forgot that Tezuka Shinobu was far, far more evil then Mitsuru-senpai.

It was something he’d have to remember to keep in mind.