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“What is that?”
Yuri looks up at him from the jagged piece of broken glass. “What, this? It’s a mirror.”
Byleth frowns. “No. The thing you’re putting on your lips.”
“Ah. Byleth, you’ve never seen this before? It’s called lip gloss.” Yuri leans closer to his mirror, applies the… lip gloss… across his mouth a little longer, then draws back to look Byleth in the eye again. “Keeps your lips nice and moist. And pretty, of course.”
“Hmm…” Byleth’s frown deepens. If he thinks hard enough, he supposes he can remember seeing something similar to it in Anna’s shop, but then Anna sells just about everything, so perhaps he had seen poison instead. Well, close enough. “So that’s makeup too? Like your eye… shade?”
“Shadow.”
“Shadow,” Byleth amends.
“Good. And yes, it is.” Yuri sighs as he stretches his arms over his head and leans back against his chair. Byleth doesn’t go into the boys’ dormitory in Abyss very often, and when he does it’s usually crowded with the other Abyss dwellers, so… he tries not to think too hard about how lucky he is to catch Yuri here alone, for once. “Why? Do you want to try it?”
Byleth blinks. “I, ah. I don’t think it would look as good on me.”
“Nonsense, lip gloss was made to look good on everyone.” Yuri shifts closer, his hand reaching out to cup Byleth’s chin and tug him closer, and Byleth just barely suppresses a surprised squeak. He’d never hear the end of Yuri’s teasing otherwise. “Hmm… I wonder if my shade would look good on you.”
“Your shade?”
Yuri smiles, slow and languid, not unlike how a cat slinks in the darkness of the underground. “Do you want to try? If it helps,” he adds, leaning so close that Byleth can feel his breath on his cheek, “it tastes pretty good.”
“A-Ah…” Is Byleth supposed to do something here? All he can manage is to stare straight ahead into Yuri’s eyes, the violet dancing in amusement, and somehow Byleth’s throat feels dry as a desert. “Hold on. Uh. W-Wait a moment, please.”
Yuri pulls back almost instantly, but Byleth regrets it just as fast, because now he misses the warmth of Yuri’s hand on his face and the touch of his knees against Byleth’s. “You don’t want to?” Yuri asks, looking disappointed. “I suppose I’ll respect that. Still, if not lip gloss, you should try other makeup. I’m sure you’ll look even more adorable than usual in eyeliner.”
Adorable… “No, I do want to,” Byleth hurries to say, trying not to wince under Yuri’s raised brow. “Just… um…” Why do words have to be such a bother? They always seem much easier when he’s teaching in the classroom, because at least then the topic is familiar—but right here and now, when he knows too well that he’s treading in uncharted territory and one wrong step might set off a land mine—
Without thinking, Byleth grabs Yuri’s arm and tugs him close again—only he vastly underestimates how light Yuri is, because Yuri yelps and smacks against Byleth’s chest from the force, upending the chair he’d been sitting on. “Gah! What’s the matter with—”
“Do it to me?” Byleth meekly asks.
With Yuri’s chair sufficiently knocked over, Yuri huffs and adjusts to sit himself on Byleth’s lap, his legs on either side of Byleth. “Did you absolutely have to do this to—oh, wait a minute. Don’t tell me you planned this.”
Byleth blinks up at him. “Planned what? Lip gloss?” He hadn’t even known what it was until two minutes ago.
Yuri’s eyes narrow. “Hmph. You can act as innocent as you like. I won’t buy it. But since you asked so nicely a while ago…” He nudges Byleth’s mouth open, thumb pulling lightly down at his lower lip, and Byleth has no choice but to acquiesce. What is he supposed to do, anyway—say no, when Yuri is looking at him like this, as if he’s ready to devour his prey? “Good,” Yuri murmurs. “Just like that.”
Byleth’s not sure if he had been half-expecting Yuri to lean close and press their lips together, but instead of jerking away in surprise, all he does is kiss back, wrapping his arms around Yuri—he tastes of strawberry, Byleth vaguely notes, sweet and addicting in a way that Byleth doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to get enough of. “Yuri,” he murmurs against his mouth, the tip of his tongue brushing Yuri’s teeth.
“What,” Yuri sighs, drawing back to rest their foreheads together. His lip gloss is smeared, Byleth realizes with an elated start. “Just when I was getting into it. Want me to kiss somewhere else?”
“Is this really how you apply lip gloss?” Byleth blurts out.
Yuri stares at him for the better part of a minute before lifting himself off Byleth’s thighs and stepping over to his bed. “Sometimes I absolutely cannot believe how ridiculous you can be.”
“But—But you tasted good,” Byleth says, hurrying to follow him. Yuri laughs, high and melodic, and Byleth hastens to add, “And I do think your shade would look nice on me. So. Could you… do that again?”
Yuri props himself up on his bed. “We should try different colors in the future,” he muses, “but for now, I guess we can settle for sharing mine.” He looks far from disappointed now though, if the grin he’s wearing is any indication.
Byleth brightens. If he’s being honest, he doesn’t mind if he looks disastrous with makeup on—as long as he gets to have more time to memorize the exact manner Yuri’s lips curve and curl against his own.