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For Eugeo, it seemed as if being shown any form of tender affection in public embarrassed him. Simply mentioning kissing in public got him all hot and bothered. His flustered expression was always adorable, so it was difficult to stop myself from teasing him so.
It always happened in a similar fashion. I’d catch him off guard by playfully wrapping myself around him to give him a kiss on the cheek or lips. It didn’t matter what direction I was coming from, not did it matter what the situation was. He either never seemed to see it coming or he secretly like the attention, otherwise he would start predicting my behavior and making moves to prevent it. Today would certainly be no different.
As usual, I was zoning out in sacred arts class. I’ll admit that my motivation for sacred arts wasn’t half as high as it was for sword forms. Eugeo kept telling me that this was just as important as sword forms, but even back in ALO I would rather swing a sword than have to memorize spells—even if these “spells” were just lines of simple computer commands. It didn’t matter how many times I explained it to him; he would always remind me that in order to get to the top of the graduating class, I’d need to be proficient in both.
I glanced over at Eugeo. He was diligently note-taking and had his textbook open to the proper page. I squinted at it and hurriedly flipped mine to match. No one seemed to notice, although a girl behind me cleared her throat. It should have just been a coincidence. I was too focused on plotting how to steal a kiss from Eugeo after class to care, though. Whatever the instructor was rambling on about was the furthest thing from my mind.
Smiling, I kept my eyes on Eugeo. He was too focused to notice. His bangs kept falling in his face too much. He would brush them aside occasionally as he wrote down notes. He accidentally ended up smudging a bit of ink between his eyebrows when his fingers brushed over his face. I chuckled a bit. He finally snapped out of his studious mode and looked over at me, raising an eyebrow.
“Pay attention!” he said in a hushed voice.
Instead of listening to him, I promptly licked my thumb and reached over to remove the smudge of ink from his forehead. He did not do well to keep his composure. He let out a distressed yelp, which drew the attention of the whole class. The instructor cleared her throat and narrowed her eyes at the both of us.
“Kirito, Eugeo, need I remind you that it is a privilege for you both to be able to sit in this class as common folk,” she said.
There were a couple of snickers behind us.
“Try to comport yourselves better in the future,” she snapped.
I nodded my head. Eugeo glumly bowed his head as well. Naturally, he shot me an irritated glare. I gave him a sheepish grin and turned back to my textbook, pretending to be reading something. I’d make sure to get him after class. I had to think up a good strategy to get him to blush. Although, he was already pretty red at the moment. I saw him reach up and press his fingers to the spot I’d touched.
Class droned on for another thirty minutes. Some of it I internalized when I tuned in for a moment, but some of it just went in one ear and out of the other. Later I was going to get an earful anyways when Eugeo found out I hadn’t taken very many notes. The instructor dismissed us. I snatched up my book and parchment, shoving them into what resembled a crude messenger bag. I hurried outside to wait for Eugeo’s imminent explosion.
Sure enough, he marched out of the classroom and made a beeline for me. He gave me a rather signature look between exasperation and irritation. I smiled at him, putting on my best innocent expression. He grumbled something under his breath.
“What were you even trying to do, licking your finger and sticking it on my forehead?” he asked.
I poked him between the eyebrows.
“You’ve got an ink smudge right here!” I said.
His expression immediately fell.
“Is…is that all you were doing?” he stammered.
I nodded.
“Yup,” I said. “Just trying to clean off your pretty face.”
With that one sentence, he was already flushing with embarrassment. I smiled, reached over to him, and tucked some of his hair behind his ear. His eyes nervously flitted back and forth, looking around to see if people were watching us. I let out a laugh and cupped his cheek.
“It’s alright, Eugeo,” I told him. “No one’s staring.”
His eyes finally met mine. He swallowed.
“How can you be so sure?” he asked. “I feel like the center of attention at the moment. Do people know that we’re…?”
I stroked his cheek with my thumb.
“At this point, isn’t it obvious?” I asked.
He couldn’t deny that. The way I was holding his cheek now spoke worlds about our relationship. A friend wouldn’t just do that—it was too forward. I could feel the heat in his cheeks as the realization hit him. His eyes started to wander again. I tapped his cheek and raised my eyebrows at him.
“Hey, relax,” I said. “No one’s staring.”
I felt him loosen up just a bit.
“It’s okay?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Yeah,” I said. “No one cares what we’re up to. They’re all focused on whatever else they’re doing. We could probably kiss right here and not a single person would know it.”
The redness of his cheeks intensified.
“K-kiss? Right here?” he stammered. “A-are you sure?”
Grinning, I realized I’d found my window to get him even more flustered, so long as he agreed to it. I leaned my face a little closer to his. His eyes widened.
“Only if you want one,” I said, flashing him a grin.
Eugeo shyly stared down at our feet. The inner conflict was displayed perfectly in his eyes. He clearly wanted a kiss, but he certainly didn’t want one here. That was fine with me. If he didn’t want to kiss in public, I’d take the adorable flustered Eugeo I got from just mentioning it. I wasn’t going to force him to do something he didn’t want to do.
“J-just for the experiment,” he said, going against my expectations.
I hummed.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He swallowed.
“To see if anyone will notice,” he said, his voice soft and low. “You said they weren’t focused on us. If…if we test that…”
“Ohh…”
I saw where he was going with this. He wanted some form of proof that people weren’t going to turn around and stare at us. If we kissed and someone stared or noticed, he’d have his excuse not to kiss in public. If they didn’t he might feel more comfortable with a quick kiss running in or out of a class.
“So…so go ahead and do it before I change my mind!” he said.
He shut his eyes tightly, clearly fighting his embarrassment.
“Alright,” I said. “Here goes.”
I slipped my hand around to the back of his head and pulled it over to mine so I could kiss him. He awkwardly pulled his lips apart to accept the kiss. I slipped my lips into his and held it for a moment. He relaxed even more. I stole a second kiss from him when our lips parted. He eagerly accepted it. Eugeo must have wanted a kiss more than he’d admitted.
What was meant to be just a small experiment had turned into a rather passionate kiss. Eugeo reached up and clung to my shirt, pulling me closer to him. I wrapped my hand around the small of his back, accepting his more intimate embrace. I felt him release my shirt and slip his hands up around my neck. As he pressed his body into mine, we adjusted our kiss.
The heat in his cheeks was terribly obvious. He wanted the kiss, but he was still somewhat conscious of the people around us. I moved to pull away, thinking he might be more comfortable. When our lips parted, he glanced around again, and then smiled back at me.
“No…don’t stop…” he whispered.
I smirked.
“You actually like kissing in public, don’t you?” I teased.
He averted his eyes and bit his lip a little. He was fighting back a smile. Maybe his tension had broken. I leaned forward again.
“You can have more if you like,” I said.
Eugeo half-closed his eyes and leaned into me again, opening his mouth to accept more kisses. Delighted, I pulled him to me once more, taking another taste of his lips. They were soft and welcoming. I ran my fingers through his hair. He pushed into me more. Our tongues brushed against each other. My hand slipped down his back a little ways and grasped his rear. His leg rubbed against the inside of mine.
If we hadn’t been in public, who knows what might have happened. The both of us were so caught up in each other, drunk on the moment of embrace, that everything melted away around us. I was only ever so slightly aware of the fact that I was in the hallway with people walking around us. I numbly registered the fact that my back suddenly hit the wall.
This was just a test, right? To see how embarrassed Eugeo might get making out in the hallway. It certainly didn’t feel like it, though. The way he pressed his body against mine, clearly longing for my touch, suggested that maybe I was the one who’d been fooled. He wasn’t as bashful as he seemed—he was just respectful, waiting for me to reciprocate his sentiments consensually. The thought made my heart feel light.
Eugeo laughed. It tickled my lips.
“You taste a bit like honey pie,” he remarked.
I opened my mouth to respond, but Eugeo snuck another kiss, effectively shutting me up. This time, I gently bit down on his lip. He grunted, likely having not expected me to do that here. I released his lip and stuck to just sticking my tongue in his mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone move closer to us. I contemplated pulling away, but Eugeo’s hand came to rest on my neck. He ruffled the hair at the base of my skull. I hummed. The sensation was pleasant. From behind Eugeo, someone cleared their throat.
“Eugeo-senpai.”
Both of our eyes snapped open. We jumped apart and turned to see Tiese and Ronye staring at us. Tiese looked slightly irritated, while Ronye looked embarrassed for having interrupted our brief moment of passion. I glanced over at Eugeo. His face was redder than a tomato. I didn’t want to know what I looked like.
“Y-yes, Tiese?” Eugeo stammered.
She looked back and forth between us for a moment before turning to him.
“I…We would just like access to your dormitory so that we can fulfill our duties as pages,” she said, her voice wavering slightly. “If we could perhaps have your permission to enter, we would be most grateful to you.”
For someone who had just interrupted people making out, she sounded very confident in her ability to ignore the situation. The wavering in her voice told me that this was extremely awkward for her. Eugeo just nodded and waved at her. I swallowed and looked at my own page, whose face was even redder than Eugeo’s.
“Y-yeah,” I said. “It’s fine if you go in. We don’t mind.”
The girls bowed to thank us, then looked at each other, nodded, and scurried off, likely ready to be away from the awkwardness as quickly as possible. Eugeo and I shared a look and then started nervously laughing at one another.
“M-maybe we should keep that to when we’re alone,” he said.
I patted him on the shoulder and smirked.
“If you insist,” I said.