I. What if... ...Ran knew how to bake apple pie? [Version 1.1] When Ran had first set foot inside Yuuji's apartment, he couldn't believe how it looked. It was the nicest apartment he'd been in since the day he had found himself on his own: A two bedroom with sunny, south facing windows, an all-white kitchen (which Yuuji had hardly ever used before Ran arrived), central heat and air, and a view of Mt. Fuji. It was equipped with a TV, a CD player, and two laptops, and the floor was covered with a thick, frost blue carpet. Privately, Ran had thought it charming, the sort of place he might have had if his life had gone differently. He considered it a waste that Yuuji didn't really appreciate it. But then, Yuuji's apathy was Ran's boon, for it meant that he was left to enjoy it in peace, and often. That morning, for example, he had informed Ran out of the blue that he was going away on "private business," and wouldn't be back until the next day. Ran had feigned indifference, secretly celebrating his roommate's impending absence--and he had made the best of it since. He'd seen to what few errands needed tending soon after Yuuji had departed, had stopped by the hospital with a bundle of white chrysanthemums he'd purchased from a street vendor for his sister. Now, Ran was settled upon the floor around the kotatsu table in the living room, a pot of cherry sencha warming on the table's metal top, a hardcover novel in his lap. He intended to while the hours between then and midnight, his usual bedtime, in that spot, reading and perhaps doing a little writing; his favorite pastimes, and he had had to neglect them both of late due to his work with the Crashers. But not today. It was bliss, Ran thought as he reached for his steaming teacup. Sheer bliss. *** It was about that time, and more or less ten streets away, that Uhyou Naru's stove exploded for the first time. Not thirty seconds later, a second spurt of smoke and small flames rocked the disgruntled appliance, thereby establishing a pattern of bad behavior which would last for the rest of its unfortunate, under appreciated and uninsured existence. "Damnable ninth level of hell consisting of malcontent culinary appliances!!!" All of the mice, already out of their holes to see just what the commotion might be, rocked back onto their hind legs and clapped twice, creating a sound Naru quite mistook for the prelude to a third blast. But no, it was only his resident rodents expressing their unshakable faith in Shintoism, and one of them being so good as to douse one curl of the boy's hair by falling onto it rather than watch the smoldering locks ignite his synthetic feather boa. He didn't notice the creature's passing, nor indeed that any of his uninvited guests had found religion of any kind, just how they did being another story all together. Presently, they all reminded one another that mice are not supposed to believe in kami, and took off back to their mousely duties, leaving the young Crasher doused with ash, and confronted with a smoldering heap of metal which formally had been the second most wonderful device in all the kitchen! The first most wonderful being his refrigerator that kept his beer cold. In the interests of having nothing better to do, Naru had an Asahi as he watched the last, oily plumes of smoke go sailing up out the intake ducts for the air conditioner. Curiously, no one else in the building came to worry him by worrying themselves about the racket. Curiouser still, he found his beer unwilling to fill him up. Most curiouser of all, he was actually hungry. "Now this is a sticky wicket we've gone and gotten ourselves into," Naru complained to his stomach. "GWAAAAAAAR!" Replied Naru's stomach. "Well then, I suppose we shall have to go out to eat." But as things went regarding the extraction of his wallet from his pocket... "IOU 4700 yen, Love, Naru," said the only thing remaining in its pockets, namely a condom wrapper someone had written on with magic marker. Naru promptly decided, "Oh, I'd better pay him back then... wait a moment! This means that I'm quite broke! Indubitably and inexorably broke until next mission!" Just to make a point to the audience he didn't have, the boy drew his hand over his brow, and lay smack in the middle of his couch for awhile trying to make himself look like a dead poet in a Victorian painting. Whether or not he did well, he had no idea, but he figured it was worth a shot. And then it hit him, much like the pile of fancy 1950's hats that fell from his shelf just then and clouted him upside the head. "I shall just have to go ask Yuuji for something to eat! Why, my Knight in Shining Amour (trademark) will surely understand this predicament of mine! Oh, and I bet he's got lasagna!" At the mere self-mention of the cheesy, gooey, saucy delight, Naru sprang from the couch, burst into his bedroom, and changed into his favorite begging costume: namely electric blue leggings with lighting bolts in silver sequins up the side, a teal pair of cargo shorts, a ladies' pajama top printed all over with butterflies of magenta and cerulean, a hair clip that was shaped like a faerie, and the two most enormous hoops he had in his earring box, neither of which matched the other. A pair of powder blue metallic high heels later, and he went traipsing out the door, a pink plastic picnic basket full of beer under one arm. The mice all waved goodbye to him with their little handkerchiefs before dashing off to mind the wreck of the stove he had forgotten all about. Walking ten streets was nothing to him, even in high heels, and especially not on such a yummy, bouncy day! The birds were singing, the yakatori vendors were singing, why, even the rich women with odd sexual preference shouting at him from cars were singing. It made him sad in a way that he had to arrive at Yuuji's so soon! Naru rang the bell, scrunched his face up into the most charming smile he could manage, and caroled as soon as he heard the door open: "Konnichiwa! Yuuji-san! I was just wondering if your kingdom might have room for a refugee of hunger such as myself, for it is that the sacred dragon hast died this morning from unidentifiable causes and... oh my! You're not Yuuji!" *** "That's very astute of you, Naru," sneered the highly peeved boy who loomed like a sentry in the doorway. Ran hadn't even set his book (titled: First Snow on Fuji) aside before he answered the bell; it rested against the jamb, with one of his fingers pinched between the pages he'd been reading. "And this isn't a nightclub either," he added, meaning the crazy way he was dressed. The boy struck a catwalk pose, and a peal of laughter underscored by the soft rattle of cans fell upon the air. Ran, however, was wholly unimpressed. "Yuuji isn't here, and I'm not in the mood to be bothered by anyone today--especially not by a giggling, ridiculous boy. Go pester Reiichi." With that, Ran swung the door shut in Naru's face, and strode off to resume his perch by the table. *** Naru's chuckles promptly put an end to themselves, and rather were replaced with a kind of horror as he looked back upon the barrier that had so capriciously descended between himself and his lunch. Well... at least he had thought it did so "capriciously", but such was the shock to his rumbling tummy. As if in a daze, he stood before the door for some moments, blinking at it as if it had demanded a password for him of it's own accord, or the handle had accused him of needing a bath, which, a quick sniff later, he was certainly able to confirm was not true. A glance to each side, and he padded up to the great, big, green obstacle between his lunch and himself, and rather than rap upon it, or chance diddling its bell, he skittered his fingers over the surface of it, calling out meekly, "Ah, Ran. It is that Reiichi has dancing lessons every Tuesday, not to mention abides a proper half hour drive from where I'm presently placed. Why, I couldn't walk there in a day, I'm quite certain. And the fact is, I'm not about to provide any undue divertissement for you this afternoon, but my stove hath just departed to the great, gas-powered beyond without first giving me two weeks notice..." *** Ran had skidded to a halt just an inch shy of the living room carpet upon hearing Naru speak, and he had stood there very quietly throughout the whole of his plaintive explanation. At the end of it, he still stood there, feeling like a downright ass for refusing him, and hating the boy for it. All he'd wanted was some peace, and well... /I doubt I'll get it today./ He cast a rueful glance at the book straddling his index finger before drawing his marking digit free of those crisp, snappy pages. Ran tucked it under his arm as he spun over his fading footsteps, and the door whirled open so fast that Naru wobbled as if he might tumble. He didn't. Which was probably a good thing, considering. "Get inside," Ran ordered, shutting the door after Naru had scampered into the foyer, and locking it out of habit. "If Yuuji wants to let himself be taken advantage of for the price of a smile, that's his problem." Unfortunately, Naru had offered him just as sweet a smile as he had intended for Yuuji, and again, Ran was not impressed. "Don't even try to charm me. Just go in the kitchen and eat." *** "HAI!" Naru replied, dutifully saluting, though with the wrong hand, and either way, he nearly upset one of his earrings. His host simply grumbled, pointed to the kitchen, and spun on his heels. No sooner had he done so, than the boy's pseudo- honorable facade found itself recycled in the name of every childish and grotesque face he knew how to make on short notice. Having exhausted his repertoire, and left his beer with his shoes, he bounded off in search of his lunch. Ran, it seemed, in no way deigned to partake himself of what bounty the refrigerator might have hidden away in all it's secret, plastic chambers, nor assist him in any way. In fact, he plopped himself down in one of the chairs by the table and went at once back to reading. Naru found himself spared only the occasional, overseeing glance as he readied himself to part the metal doors of Yuuji's refrigerator. AND OH! The cornucopia there! The mana which decided to be angelic and keep over night! THE LEFTOVERS! All glistening- glistening so enticingly beneath their rinds of pink plastic wrap! Korean takeout! Grocery store sushi! A lonely croissant (accompanied by a note that read- "only Yuuji may eat me"! LETTUCE! HOTDOGS! UNIDENTIFIABLE SOUP! And there, nestled in about some cartons of dubious origin, the crown jewel of the collection: five-eighths of an apple pie, just barely overshadowing a canister of whipped cream. Naru squealed in his limitless glee, yanked the pan out of the refrigerator and thrust it before Ran's eyes. "Oh, Ran-SAMA! Can it be you would fret not if I were to indulge myself with this...? For it is truly one of the most delectable-looking such confections I have ever had the pleasure to behold." *** Ran's eyes abruptly darted from the proffered pie, up Naru's arm to fix upon his beaming face a look full of suspicion; why all gushing praise for something so very ordinary? "Spare me the compliments. It's a pie, Naru, *just* a pie. It's quite possibly too sweet, and there's a touch too much spice," he stated, recalling Yuuji's exact words regarding it. "You probably won't like it at all." Ran went back to his book, but found it hard to concentrate on it. Naru hadn't moved from his spot at Ran's side, though his smile had faded into an injured pout. It was like being stared down by a puppy upon whose paw he'd just tread-- just as uncomfortable. With a heavy sigh, Ran slipped his gargoyle bookmark between the pages, and shut the book. He lay it on the table, and got up from his chair. "Sit down," he ordered. "I'll get you a plate and a fork. We'll have some coffee, too," Ran added, nodding at Yuuji's coffee maker, in which Ran had started a fresh pot just after his late breakfast. Naru cheered, and scampered into the chair next to Ran's. Ran took down a plate and two cups from the cabinet, a fork and two spoons from the drawer, and set them all on the table; a jug of milk and the sugar bowl followed. "Yuuji never told me he was in the habit of letting his teammates mooch off him," Ran said, as he filled one of the cups. *** "Reaaaaaaly?" drawled Naru in a perfectly conversational tone as one of his fingers lit upon his lips in puzzlement, "It ra'er seems to me he would have been inclined to impart that knowledge to you straight off, considering the liberal laws in his domain which find themselves in regards to the citizenry of mooch-dom." Ran pushed the cup, which was just presentably full, over to the place of his uninvited guest, and nodded with a dolor indicating he hadn't heard or given one whit about a single word just uttered in his presence. As for the boy, he never could resist any attempt to charm someone bent on ignoring him, even if doing so might well risk his present meal. "Why, our White Knight and I? We've got quite the history of mutually exclusive borrowing, the erstwhile mooching as you prefer to call it. We've been engaging in such things since the first few days of that week and a half they tried putting us all up in one building together. You see, my flat hadn't a working radiator to speak of, and the toilet in his made the most disturbing clanging one can ever hope to..." A nearby paring knife hit the bottom of the pie pan with a loud clang. "Well, if you think I'm that horrid, you ought to have seen Reiichi. He's 'reformed'" His spoon clanked loudly on the inside of his coffee cup here- he had started stirring the brew despite not having added anything to it thusfar. "or so he says." With a placid little sigh, he resumed the best of silence he could find in himself and tried not to drool too much as he watched his teammate work the bit of metal through the gooey, flaky crust- and it was gooey and flaky, little snibbles of it pulling around the knife like ripples about the prow of a boat, a most delightful blob of gummy apple poking out from the rest as it was tugged away. The inside wept syrup and crystals of cinnamon. Then it went in the microwave. "Oooooooh." *** As he punched the buttons on the keypad, Ran shot him a look over his shoulder. "That's hardly the reaction Yuuji gave when I made this the other night. He'd rather eat junk like store-bought croissants and frozen dinners, instead of something made fresh. You probably would rather do the same, too, else you wouldn't be in the habit of rummaging through his food." Behind him, Naru leapt off his chair and headed over to the refrigerator for the can of whipped cream, tipping him a wink when he realized Ran was watching him. The bell went off just as the door closed. Naru was just seating himself again when Ran set the steaming slice of pie in front of him again. He took the remains of his dessert from the table, and placed it in the refrigerator, sneaking a hastily pinched morsel from one corner and popping it into his mouth. /To hell with Yuuji. This isn't bad, if I do say so myself./ Naru apparently thought the same thing, for with the first bite, he closed his eyes and hummed in dreamy pleasure. Ran watched him for a moment, caught off guard by his unexpected reaction. Saluting with his fork, Naru offered him another sweet, apple-y smile, and Ran was once more reminded just how pretty the boy was. In fact, he was slow to return to his chair for gazing at him, much to his prickling chagrin. Keeping his eyes to the table top, Ran raised his cup for a sip of coffee. "You like my pie, I take it?" *** "I most certainly DO! To Gehenna and the lecherous arms of Lucifer with Yuuji and his ctholian, arctic pseudo-delights!" And Naru, as inspired to go on as he might have been just then, fell silent, and began to indulge his tongue in pleasantries other than those of words. Why, he hadn't had an apple pie like this since he'd left home! Since years before then! Since time immemorial AND incomprehensible to him when he was but a whelp unable to form more than monosyllabic expressions of discomfort! Oh... that rather reminded him: he'd actually never had apple pie. There had been pie, usually pecan, and apples in his mouth already, but never before the blessed, thenotropic union of the two. It made him seriously doubt the passage one of his mothers had always been wont to quote to him, about not taking things at face value- the one stating "apple" as it appeared in the old testament, has most likely been "plum" to start out with, and thusly mistranslated repeatedly. Why, what rubbish! You couldn't make such fantastic pies with plums. It was so good, he nearly forgot he'd bothered to get the whipped cream out. But! The bright red cap in the corner of his eyes did well enough reminding him. He plucked up the can and squirted a great, big glob beside the left edge of the crust, and it was this he swept his next bite though before gobbling it up. "It's really a capital confection either way," he assured his host, who must have found a window into another dimension in the middle of his floor, else he would not have been staring at it so. That, or he was in grave doubt of his culinary talents. "But I do like it with the whipped cream just a bit better. Please don't take any offense. I've a disgraceful sweet tooth." He also had a great, big, glob of said whipped cream on his cheek. *** "I don't really have a sweet tooth," Ran confided, "I just like to bake." He raised his eyes then from the floor to find Naru's cheek dotted with a massive glob of cream, and the boy was apparently oblivious to it. It made Ran smile a little, and his mood lightened at the sight of someone eagerly eating something he'd made. He set his cup down on the table, and reached out to swipe the dollop of cream off Naru's cheek. "You've made a mess," he said, holding the fluffy, milky cloud up on two fingers to show him. Naru glanced at it, then took up a napkin from the small stack in the middle of the table, and swabbed at his sticky cheek. But Ran popped his fingers in his mouth to lick them clean, much to Naru's surprise. "I didn't want to waste it." *** "Epicurean AND frugal. How charming!" Naru declared between bites... more or less between bites- his mouth couldn't properly have been called empty, but at least he had the sense to hide it behind his napkin as he spoke, and then dive for his coffee when he decided to go on. "Frightfully sorry about that. I just don't happen to be any good with manners since I joined Kritiker. And it's no wonder! I haven't a soul or body to eat with most of the time." But a c'est-la-vie shrug later, it seemed he could have cared less; was more concerned with worshipping the pie than any idol of a social nature. Though along whatever lines that had begun to form in his head during his dalliance with other matters, he did say something. "My mother was always after me to indulge whatever talents I might manifest in such fields, or at least ascertain if I had any such gifts. It's always just such a bother to try and have the kitchen to oneself in a house with six other people in it! Time never did find me... and your coffee is transcendent as well, might I add." *** Dismissing his compliment with a small quirk of his brows, Ran sprinkled a touch more sugar into his cup. "Transcendent? Hardly. But it's damn better than Yuuji's if I do say so myself." With a gleeful chortle, Naru clicked his cup against Ran's stationary one, and took another sip. Ran gave him an odd look, then lifted his cup from the table; behind the rim, a tentative little smile stole over his face, only to disappear just as quickly. One thing they did have in common: they both knew what it was like to spend mealtimes alone--to spend just about every waking moment alone, with an uncertain road stretched out in front of him. Everyone he'd met since he'd joined Kritiker had been led there by some life-altering tragedy; what was Naru's? Ran couldn't help but wonder. The boy, he found, was studying him most puzzledly. Ran shook off his reverie, and rose from the table for the refrigerator out of a need for a diversion to hide behind. One ultimately appeared to him in the shape of Yuuji's croissant. Ran blithely took it and his warning sign out of the icebox, and set them both down on the table. Grabbing a fork from the drawer, Ran returned to the table, and tucked into the forbidden pastry without a care. "If you come over here to eat all the time, then how can it be that you eat alone? What, does he ignore you?" he asked, thinking Yuuji was not only a boor but blind if he did. Incredulously, Naru stared at him, not uttering a single sound. Ran pushed the plate over to him, uneaten end first. "Oh, did you want some?" *** Naru parried, question for question. "It wouldn't happen to be CHOCOLATE, would it?" The other boy behaved for a moment as if some famed and wise seer had presented him with some biting profundity which required the most adept and gentle consideration to answer. Then, he nodded. "Just a smidge then. I do so love chocolate croissants, and the ones they try to hand off to me at Key Coffees are always so cursedly sweet! Bah, I say! BAH to them!" Ran, who did not deign to care it seemed, just what the chocolate croissants were like at Key Coffees, lopped off the end of the pastry closest to his guest, and held it out with one hand, while pressing a nibble between his lips with the other. Naru couldn't help thinking the swordsman ate like a child... or maybe a raccoon, in a good way. At any rate, like he certainly didn't believe anything would stay in his mouth as if he tore off little bits and squashed them in with his finger-tips. It made him look impossibly ingenuous. A shrug and Naru, who had a bite of pie in the fork he held with one hand, and the other on the spoon he was compulsively stirring his coffee with, leaned over plucked up the bit of croissant with his teeth, his cheek brushing Ran's hand in the process, somehow or other. The whirlpool in his mug finally suiting him, he finally took a proper hold of the chocolate-filled fluff, and following that, a nibble. "Mmm! Now, that's also quite fine, if I do say so myself, but forced to choose between the two in the mood of the pedestrian days I usually live, I should rather have the pie I do believe. Thank you muchly either way." The rest of his helping of the other boy's lunch promptly vanished, and he went back to the pie with much abandon after having said his piece. "Yuuji most certainly does NOT partake of ANY meals with me. He always has to play waiter, and feign he is doing the dishes- I'm sure you've seen him do the washing the same plate over and over thing before! I've always assumed it is because he finds my table manners reprehensible, but he's a good enough conversationalist whilst standing and of COURSE he's Yuuji, so he would never say such a thing to my face." *** "How odd," replied Ran as he pinched off another chocolatey crumb from his pastry, "he has no problem saying such things to MY face." Ran gestured at the fork Naru held. "'Forks, Ran,' he'll say, whenever he catches me nibbling like this." He popped the tidbit into his mouth, eventually following it with another sip of coffee. "Of course, it's more than just my eating habits that bothers him." "Not that I give a damn," he added, after another swallow from his cup. Ran set the cup down, then took up the plate of half-eaten croissant and set it back inside the refrigerator, along with Yuuji's sign. He arranged it just as he'd found it, admired it, then returned to the table. "Of course," he added, "I certainly don't go out of my way to get on his good side." At that, Naru laughed, the sound bright and carefree like a bell. Ran marveled over the fact that he could be so merry, given their circumstances. As the boy picked away at his slice of pie, Ran watched him, feeling much like he'd only just seen Naru for the first time. He was still studying him when Naru at last nudged his plate away, and took one last drink from his cup. The moment he noticed he had Ran's rapt attention, he grinned at him, his cheeks pinking just the tiniest bit. Utterly charming, he seemed to Ran--not reprehensible at all. Ran rose from his chair, and gathered their dirty cups and dishes from the table, and carried them over to the sink. He flipped on the tap, squirted some soap under the bubbling stream from the spigot, and silently cursed the gnawing sensation he felt in his stomach. The boy was lonely, so it seemed to him. He could relate to that, most definitely; damned if Yuuji couldn't either. And yet, he couldn't be bothered to show the boy much kindness. And him so very lovely. Ran spun the knobs, shutting off the flow of water, then turned back to his guest. Naru had risen from his chair as well, and was standing there rather uncertainly, the can of whipped cream in his hands. Ran figured he was waiting for him to throw him out, and so, being a contrary sort of person, he did something Naru surely hadn't expected: He slowly walked up to him, took his face in his hands, and bent to lick at one corner of his mouth. "Excuse me," Ran said softly, "but you had some whipped cream there." *** "Did I now?" Naru whispered against Ran's ear palm as it passed so close to the blush rising on his lips- they were fiery alight where the kiss had nearly fallen- as if wet with very strong liquor. Force of habit: he curled them in and ran his tongue over the edges, half expecting to find some there. Ran though hadn't any taste, not even a trace of having passed so close to him. He was also staring at his guest presently, with a look that plainly ordained he would not be the first to speak in the silence that had crept into the room and made herself quite at home. He might have seen it as an awkward turn of events with someone else- ok, it was still awkward... /How in the blue blazes of Antiterra am I expected to respond to that? They say when in Rome, do as the Romans do... but the Roman's didn't have aerosol ice cream toppings!/ He hadn't a clue, manners or no manners, either from his present world, or the others he had know. So, with a shrug, he have the canister a good shake, and squirted a little onto Ran's cheek. "My heavens! It would appear to me as if you're rather in the same predicament as me! Do be a luv and hold still a moment..." He had to clamber up on to his tiptoes, but his taste found Ran's cheek, for he quite missed the cloud of whipped cream. He tasted only faintly of salt- the rest of him was all... "Lavender eau de toilette?" *** "Well, it's not whipped cream." He felt Naru smile against his cheek, and then he nibbled lightly over his skin until he found the dot of cream he'd left behind. Ran held very still as he licked it away, scarcely breathing. Their mouths met again, just a brush of a kiss, and then Naru stepped back to look at him with eyes all misty and strange. Neither spoke, wrapped once more in silence's invisible veil. At last, with a few gentle laps of his fingertips over the back of the hand which held the can, Ran moved. His fingers fell from Naru's warm flesh to the chill, glistening cylinder in his grip. The boy didn't fight to keep control of it, nor did he move when Ran placed a dot on Naru's cheek, and then on the side of his neck. Placing the can on the table, he bent to lap his stained cheek clean, then carefully tipped his head back to nibble the tiny, foamy cloud from his neck. There he lingered, just long enough to lick upwards to the edge of his jaw. "You're awfully messy," he breathed in Naru's ear. *** "Aaa! 'Tis true." Ran might have smiled at that, but since he could only see him from the very corner of his gaze, Naru couldn't be sure, but he did feel the cream vanish from his neck then with the warmth of one more open-mouthed kiss, and then the aerial sense that his companion was starting to leave the confines of his form. With a chuckle, he reached up, and caught him about his shoulders. "But then again," he added. "Yuuji didn't tell me you were messy ~too~. Why, I hadn't the faintest." As much as the boy might have liked to go on, extolling the joys of surprises until the sun westward sank, he managed to silence himself and in place of any utterance he might have made, let his fingers press gently into the shoulders of the swordsman, running curlicues in the muscle there. "Does he even know what you are, Yuuji? Or do you keep that from him just like the fates of his relatively blameless croissants?" *** "He doesn't know. I never saw the point in telling him about that. There's very little that he knows about me anyway. As for the croissants...let's just say it's a sort of a revenge." A trace of a smile punctuated that remark, and Naru chuckled softly. He'd ceased his fingers' circling of Ran's shoulders, and now held him there; Ran enfolded the waifish boy in his arms, extending to his upper back the same curious stroking as he'd received. It had been a long time since he'd held anyone, and he was almost content to leave it there. If he hadn't had so many other unfulfilled longings... Naru chose that moment to arch himself up in tiptoe, and kiss Ran once more. The boy fell against him, and Ran tightened his hold around him, holding him close whilst he ravaged his mouth with his own. They broke at last, flushed and panting softly. Ran hesitated only a moment longer before he pressed the can of whipped cream into Naru's hand, and swept the boy off the floor. Without a word more, he carried him into the living room, and lay him down upon Yuuji's cushion-strewn sofa. Ran slipped out of his shirt, dropping it to the floor as he settled himself. There, kneeling between Naru's sprawled legs, Ran hesitated again. "If you're not sure you want this, now is the time to say so." *** Naru said absolutely nothing of the sort. In fact, he didn't say anything at all, just lay sprawled where he had been placed, looking for all the world as if he had fallen out of the ceiling, and just HAPPENED to become quite friendly with Yuuji's cream and ecru sofa. The other boy gave him no prompting, but patient as a cat waited for his answer. He could smell the lavender toilette water on him now- just a little of it, like the passing of someone's weary wings, even as much as Ran might have been smiling. And after awhile, he smiled too. "Mother of all Lambs! You didn't seriously deem that I would lead you on so only to remember my washing at the very last moment and go scurrying off into the arcane realms of some twenty-four hour laundromat, did you?" At that of course, Ran took his turn remaining silent, since laudromats were hardly an arcane subject as far as he concerned himself. Naru shook his head and fell back for a moment onto one of the slightly mismatched cushions propped against one arm of the sofa. "My dear," and he dared say dear now, "I ought to be me posing these things to you! I'm hardly virgin earth as they say- not that I think you a neophyte, naturally but anyway..." Once more, he broke into giggles, this time with his fingers creeping down the trail of buttons on his shirt. "As if I would ever pass up a casual scromp in the middle of the afternoon! Let alone with someone I KNEW who happened to be so ENTICING." A little groan escaped him as he rocked back up to somewhat of a sitting position, though one of his legs had slipped from the edge of the couch, so leaving one of his feet dangling against the carpet. The pose left him clearly defined, for it pulled his garb tight in all the right places. Not that it mattered for long, for he undid his zipper and pulled down his leggings, exposing the slim curves of his pinking erection, for he was already very hard, and very wet about his tip; so warm underneath and ready for someone's hands that the whipped cream made him gasp as he decorated his cock with it. *** Ran folded the fabric back from his sex, and lowered himself down between Naru's legs upon his forearms. He could sense the boy's eyes upon him, and felt it necessary to give him as much of a show as he could. Regarding the cream-covered erection rising before him, Ran licked his lips, then licked Naru--so lightly that he could only feel the tip of that wet muscle moving over his length. He only took a bit of cream at a time, savoring the sweet taste blended with that of the boy's flesh; tracing along the long ridge running down the underside, the faint creases at the head, while the boy gasped and twitched beneath him. At last, there was nothing left of the cream, just wide, glistening swathes where his tongue had danced. Naru was flushing madly there, was flushing pretty much everywhere, as a quick look upwards revealed. His eyes were bright with desire, stoked Ran's own even higher. With a last lick of his tip, he sat back, and drew the garments off his hips, tossing it to the floor. Ran took the can from Naru's limp hands, and squirted a foamy line down his stomach. That, he lapped up in one go, and, holding the melting sweetness in his mouth, he moved down again, and swallowed Naru in one go, until his tip touched the back of his neck. The boy tasted so good, sounded so good when he cried out in pleasure. Ran almost didn't stop; if he hadn't wanted to draw it out a little... He released him with a quick slid of his lips down his shaft. Ran dotted his nipples with cream and bit them clean, then he rocked back onto his knees, and gathered Naru's sex within one calloused hand, gently sliding it up and down. "Your turn to touch me, Naru." *** Naru was about to oblige the swordsman's request either way. Hearing the words of it nearly startled him forth from his daydreams of the next caress between them. He had to shake his head to clear it, and rub his damp hands through his hair in some little ritual of remembering, but then... the can of whipped cream went flying, landing with a clang and a few spilled puffs of its contents that went flying off towards the window. And he didn't just touch Ran, he flung his whole body into him, nearly sending them both sprawling from the couch. The hands around his cock he pulled away and smothered with his lips, taking one deep, deep into his waiting throat. His legs melted with the other boys, he lips once they were empty, his stiffness plunging down close to his own. "I'd say," he panted once he tore himself away from his companion's oh-so willing mouth. "That I'd been waiting for you to say that, but that's too much isn't it? Neither of us have been waiting for anything, and if we do, this will all be smashed to bits. His breath all gone with those words, he drew another and dived down after the blush Ran's erection- for such wanton embarrassment was not only his own it seemed. He smiled around his head as he cradled it with his lips, letting his fingers fold around the trembling skin to steadying it while he suckled at the satin smooth tip beneath him. It was only once in those moments he dared play so Naru said a thing-"You are going to give me a good rodgering with this, aren't you? Please say yes, please say it. I'll do this too you all afternoon if you want but..." *** The cool wetness of Naru's mouth felt so good on Ran's heated cock, that he trembled and sighed with every pass of his lips. It was all almost too good to pass up, only... "Some other afternoon, I'll find you and remind you. I'll comb your hair back from your face with my fingers, and hold you so I can watch you play. But today...Right now..." Ran raised himself upon his elbows, and Naru ceased his ministrations, and lifted his eyes to Ran's. The elder boy caught the younger under the arms and dragged him up until they were face to face. He kissed him deeply then, and they fell together, groping and panting and Naru giggling softly until such time as their frenzied attacks upon each other abruptly came to a halt. By then, Ran had maneuvered Naru so that he was turned away from him, and sprawled almost face down on the sofa, legs spread suggestively around Ran's. All he could see was Naru's golden hair shining on his shoulders, the sweep of his long back; that pretty pale ass just begging for attention. Ran covered the firm globes with his hands, squeezing gently, making Naru wriggle beneath him. His cock throbbed in response. Ran took it in hand and rubbed the glistening tip slowly along his crack. "It's there," Ran whispered. "All you have to do is take it." *** Naru squirmed a little though, somewhat nonplussed by the arrangement of their forms apropos to one another. He found almost at once he simply couldn't see over his shoulder and be comfortable at the same time, and when he tried to flip himself over, all his fidgeting got him was a slap to his left him. "Hey, that does smart, you know!" The faint chuckle behind him was no less that self-assured when it came to such things. The tiny shivers Ran's laughter incurred though... the edge of him brushed closer and closer to the slick marks encircling the bud of his entrance. Almost surged! Almost had him! Then drew away until there was nothing but head. Naru moaned, exasperated now, his muscles inside flitting so badly with excitement they hurt him. "Wicked, wicked creature!" But playful spite aside, he did manage to clamber up on his palms then, though his arms didn't want to hold him, and buckled all the more as he tried to edge them wider across the cushion so he'd have less change of falling. No such luck with that, but he was shaking all over now, from his toes, to his lips, to the crest of his inner walls. He did not edge back onto the other boy's shaft though, but after one moment of absolute stillness which passed over him by chance along, he pushed himself back onto Ran's penis, taking the head into him first, just slow and even before thrusting back on him until he was buried to the root. His own stiffness surged with delight- that first touch had not only found his sweet spot, but skated over it, heading in and out. *** Ran wrapped a supporting arm around Naru's skinny waist, though he did not hurry the onslaught of his cock upon the boy's willing body. It was all too sweet to rush now that he was inside him, the way his muscles grabbed at him, how his hair swished over his shoulders with every tremble, every breath. He wanted to cover the smooth ivory expanse that was Naru's back with bites and kisses, so he would remember afresh this afternoon in the days to come. He settled for one quick nip upon his left shoulder, before sliding back to rest upon his knees. There, he rode the boy, hitching his hips upwards steadily to meet Naru's ass. He jerked against Ran with every wriggle, the older boy's hand now working the younger's penis from root to crown. "I don't know why I didn't suggest this before." *** "Nor I, but you may certainly rest assured I shall return and suggest it AFTER." Naru with this shot his companion a fiercely wicked grin over his swiftly bruising shoulder, one which he concluded with a sailing, saucy kiss, blown on the breath of his moan. The elder boy met it with a none too gentle squeeze of his tip, in the midst of which they both shuddered and cried out. Bliss then, creeping upon between them and the murmurs of their flesh so bound together, thrust by thrust. Ran was a daring lover, daring to take all he could without wounding. And that alone made it far too succulent a tryst to rush. Even if he wanted to beg, even if he wanted to open himself until his legs slipped off the cushions and he fell to the floor and the carpet snapped at him. Although... "You know," he finally offered with a little squeeze of his deepest muscles, "I might- Ohhhhh -not be averse to a few rug burns if you're so inclined to make them worth my while." *** Panting softly, Ran shifted his eyes to the carpet, which was bare save for the cushions he had been lounging upon by the coffee table prior to Naru's arrival. He deliberated for only a handful of seconds upon the possibilities that lovely, plush expanse held before pulling out of Naru, and half-dragging him, half-leading him off the sofa. Without warning, he tumbled him onto the cushions, knocking away all those that barred his naked back and ass from touching the rug. "We'll both get rug burn," Ran breathed, leaning in to kiss Naru as he hooked his hands in the crooks of his knees, and drew his legs up around his waist. "That's part of the fun, anyway." Naru chuckled, a breathy little hitch of his voice, and Ran slid his cock back into the cozy embrace of the boy's body, pumping his hips slowly against Naru's ass to nuzzle that super-sensitive spot with the tip of his oozing sex. "Mmm...this better?" *** "Ah! Muchly!" The other boy replied amid his slight but ever quickening moans. "I can... I can feel your... good heaven's! Don't put my legs there, loop them up over your shoulders. This isn't Perfect Blue!" He felt himself laugh then, fragile and pale through the little shivers Ran's thrust bequeathed to him. He took his ankles, almost hard enough to leave the prints of his fingers behind, and slung them over his arms, leaving the undersides of Naru's thighs pressed tight against his stomach, and sort cradled between them as he bore down, sweeping low enough between his pushes to almost find his lips. But... he thought he could sense... thought he heard him laugh, just a little, though he shook with it as he pulled out only to surge so fast it felt as if it scraped him more than the tiny fingers of the carpet. He knew he'd giggled himself, even though it wasn't that funny, even though they weren't anything close to that almost onscreen tryst, even though... "No... no, don't slow down. Not now! Please... I'm so... I'm just so..." Ran paused for just an instant then, but before the tension creeping through Naru's muscles had a chance to break he had covered his lips with his own, his weight curled all around his open, willing body. He slipped against the carpet with their movements- once, twice, so many times it all broke apart. He forgot everything when he came, only that he was not alone, and someone else had screamed against his mouth. *** Their cries rang away into silence, and still they lay there entangled in each other's arms, seemingly stunned from the intensity of their respective orgasms. It was the clock chiming the hour that brought them back to themselves, and they began to unwind their sinuous limbs. Ran slid away from him, rising onto his knees. "Well..." he murmured, blinking at Naru, and then down at himself and the glistening trails that covered his body. He could find nothing more to say other than that, for speech had failed him. He rose, and picked up his shirt and jeans from where they'd fallen, shook them out, and draped them over his arm instead of slipping back into them. "Yuuji won't be back for another three hours; he said so, and I don't have to tell you how punctual he is," said Ran, shifting his attention from the clock to Naru. "So...what do you say, Naru? Shall we make good use of his shower, now that we've christened his living room?" *** He certainly didn't have to ask twice. Naru, with an insubstantial yawn, bounced up to his feet, and stood there, dripping somewhat with his own juices, though smiling impish all the way. "Capital idea, Ran. Absolutely capital. I find there's really little I could do at the moment besides agree, since I would have been otherwise obliged ask such a favor anyway. What do you say? I'll race you!" But having taken off the very moment the words faded, there was really little he could have done besides won. Yuuji's bathroom was of the Japanese sort- all tile, with a little shower head on one wall, a little plastic stool tucked in a corner beside a basket full of soap, and a very, very empty, gaping bathtub. The boy had his hair wet before Ran managed to join him, or the water grown warm. Oblivious to the bursting chill, and anything which might have come before, he rinsed his face. He winked and he whistled alone in whatever the tune might have been. A cool spurt all the cum dripped from him, and then his companion, for had had turned the water on him by then, and it was still quite cold. "Aaa, I you need something to chill those loins of yours after that little dab." And with that he claimed the stool for himself and began to scrub with Yuuji's good milk soap. *** "Oh, thanks, Naru," said Ran dryly. "How considerate." The boy chuckled from behind his soapy hands, and Ran splashed him for his cheek. Naru shrieked, and whirled about to glare at him. "It's what you get," said Ran, dunking his head under the icy spray. He ran his hands quickly over his chest and stomach, barely touching his fading erection en route to his thighs, and then the taps were off, and he was raking his sodden hair back from his face. "Is this something else you're in the habit of doing? Borrowing Yuuji's bathroom along with whatever he has in the refrigerator?" *** The boy here canted him a long look the likes of which could only mean he did NOT in the LEAST find him serious. From some soft time, he sat, and he stared, and he waited for the laughter and the grin so like his own. It never came, and after awhile, he slapped Ran on the ass with his still sudsy hand. "Merciful heavens! Haven't you figured it out by now? No matter what I might have insinuated before about Our Host Yuuji-san... I DO have an agreement with that man." His lips whispered over his companion's cheeks them as he stood beside him on his tiptoes, speaking like a prophetess no one will believe. "What's his is mine. Keeps me out of his hair more than in it, as insidiously weird as that may sound. But food, even if he refuses to partake of it with me, his plumbing, his lovers..." Yuuji's soap, for he must have known well enough just whose it was, rose into his hands once more, and the film of slick water still riding it he culled with his finger tips, letting them slide down the other boy's spine all the way down to the very tail end. "So, I'm still in the mood to play with his things. This time, I'm on top." And he sank his slender digits as deeply as he could into Ran. *****