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Eijirou nearly nicks his finger flipping to the next page of his notebook. He hisses instinctively, pausing his studying to brush over his finger with the pad of his thumb. There's no definitive cut, only a phantom pain that lingers a few seconds longer before falling numb. A fan hums in front of him, spinning languidly as blows about a lukewarm breeze. It's hot, stuffy. Normally, he'd strip to his shorts by now, but couldn't. Across the tea table sits Tomo, head propped upon a restless palm. Eijirou ponders if Tomo would mind the indecency but swallows the question as soon as he opens his mouth. Instead, he waits for the fan to face him and pops his collar a few times to circulate in some of that cooler air. Tomo’s finger drums idly against his temple, gaze fixed on the current homework question he's stuck at, and for a moment Eijirou watches through the choppy blades of his fan.
The fan clicks into its pivot and begins turning towards Tomo, who glances up just as Eijirou loosens his collar.
“You ever kissed someone before?” he asks completely out of the blue, and Eijirou blinks in vague disbelief until he realizes Tomo is expecting an answer.
“Uh, random much?” Eijirou comments, but supplements his question with: “But no, why?”
Tomo shrugs. “Just curious.” He scribbles down some response to his paper and pauses. “What about boys?”
“What about them?”
“You ever kissed a boy before? Or had a crush on one?”
“What? N-No!” Eijirou struggles to come up with a better response than: “Why would I? That's—”
“Gay?” Tomo finishes, or challenges rather, if his piercing gaze were anything to go by. Eijirou submits to the stare, mouth gaping, mind void of any possible life-saving comebacks.
Thoroughly exasperated, Eijirou sighs. “You're being really weird right now, Tomo. What's your point?”
Again, Tomo shrugs. “I want to know what kissing a boy feels like,” he says, and Eijirou accepted that answer until he added, “And I want that boy to be you.”
Eijirou’s cheeks burn to the point that his fan couldn't save him, and he lowers his head in hopes that his dark bangs would shield his blooming blush from view.
“Why me though?” He whispers, barely audible over the hum of the fan. Tomo shifts and his usually droopy eyes grow wide.
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
“No.”
“Well, we're friends, right? And I like you.”
Eijirou buries himself deeper. “I think friends don't normally kiss…”
Tomo gazes at him for a long while before he lets out a defeated sigh. “You're right,” he murmurs. “Sorry for buggin’ you about it.” And then his focus is back to his homework.
Now it's too quiet. Too cold. Or maybe Eijirou’s increased sweat output became heightened by the blow of the fan. It's an awkward air that made Eijirou shift uncomfortably on his cushion. “Hey, wait…”
Tomo seemingly ignores him for a moment, but it's after he scribbles down something else that he meets Eijirou’s gaze.
“I wanna know too.” Eijirou elaborates: “What it feels like.”
Tomo quirks a brow. “You sure?”
“Yeah. I've been… curious.”
“About kissing boys?”
“That too.”
“‘That too’?” Eijirou’s blush deepens and a chuckle rumbles through Tomo’s chest. Tomo pauses to ask (jokingly?), “Is that a confession?”
When Eijirou doesn't answer immediately, Tomo’s laughter subsides, and the abrupt silence makes Eijirou wish the floor would open up and swallow him whole.
“You have a crush on me, don't you Ei-chan?”
Silence.
The question sits heavy in the air and the fan has no qualms about blowing it around. A hand slaps the table between them as Eijirou points an accusatory finger towards Tomo. “You do too!” he yells, though it comes out more like a whine than anything.
“I didn't say anything like that.”
“You said—” Eijirou stammers, courage waning. “You—”
Tomo waves him off with another hearty chuckle. “I'm just messin’ with ya, Ei. I like you too.”
Eijirou’s cheeks puff angrily. Tomo snorts at him.
“I don't believe you.”
“Because?”
Eijirou deflates with a frown that dissipates as soon as it surfaces. “Well, you're you and I'm…” His voice shrinks as he tucks a hair behind his ear, fan turning in his favor to dry sudden, oncoming tears. “I'm me.”
“And what's so wrong with that?” Tomo asks, and like a dam, Eijirou breaks. His eyes burn as he bows his head and lets his tears fall freely. His lips wobble in their struggle to keep a song of sadness contained, and Eijirou quickly swipes at his eyes with a gasp once he notices he's wetting his notebook. He peeks at the words smudging together, and for whatever reason, that made him cry more; open and unabashed. It's not until fingers curl under his chin to bring his head up that his sobs settle into erratic sniffles, and Tomo brushes a thumb under one of his wetter eyes.
“Hey, no crying.” He coos soft and slow, driving each word into Eijirou’s blackened mind like a calming melody. “I like you just the way you are, Ei-chan. Otherwise I wouldn't want to do this.”
Eijirou receives no warning for when Tomo’s lips press against his, and in his shock, he reels back from it. But Tomo is quick to tighten his grip on his chin and pulls him forward again, peppering him with small, ginger pecks until Eijirou’s ragged breaths and gasps are a thing of the past. Eijirou can taste his tears on his lips, warmed by a heat not of his own.
Or rather, the warm wetness he feels is—in reality—a tongue swiping over the slit of his lips. Eijirou jumps back in double-shock, nearly tumbling over his cushion amidst his retreat. Tomo licks over his own lips and grins. “Too much?”
“N-No!” Eijirou shouts a little too loud to be believable. “It just took me by surprise, is all.”
“Ah, I'll take it slow this time, then.” His hand finds Eijirou’s chin again, and his eyes fix on Eijirou’s lips before meeting his gaze. “No surprises.”
Eijirou swallows as he shakily leans into their next kiss. It’s another short series of pecks where Eijirou isn't sure if he should breathe through his nose or his mouth whenever they pull away briefly. Eventually Tomo slides his hand up the side of Eijirou’s jaw to cup his face and tilt his head and holy shit this angle feels way better than the one they started with. Eijirou fists his pants as he attempts to take their kiss a step forward and slots their lips together. Tomo’s breath fans across his cupid’s bow as he hums. The hum vibrates through every bone in Eijirou’s body, causing a rebellious shiver to ripple up his spine.
He gasps open-mouthed, and Tomo once again tests the waters with a hesitant swipe of his tongue. Eijirou’s fingers find their way into Tomo’s smooth locks, and he breathes heavily into the micro space between them. He accepts the intrusion that is Tomo’s tongue when it knocks at his teeth, and his blush spreads like wildfire, unrestricted, uncontained—
“Wait, wait!” Eijirou slaps a hand over Tomo’s mouth, head hung as he pants between them. He feels Tomo’s smirk before he sees it when Tomo reaches to pull away the hand and teases:
“That's a new shade of red.”
“S-Shut up.”
“We can always stop—”
“No!” What's with him and yelling tonight? Eijirou winces at his own desperation.
“Always so determined, Ei.” Tomo sighs almost longingly, head once again resting on the heel of his palm. His eyes sparkle an emotion Eijirou can't quite decipher yet. “That's one of the things I love about you.”
L-Love?! Eijirou’s blush flushes down towards his chest. Tomo snorts. “God, can you get any redder?”
“Shut up!” Eijirou shifts uncomfortably on his cushion which, unfortunately, makes the... ‘situation’ in his pants worsen. “I… I-I need to use the bathroom.”
“Oh?” Both of Tomo’s brows shoot up, and his eyes instinctively fall to Eijirou's lap with a smirk. “I can relate.”
Quickly, Eijirou rises to his feet and awkwardly shuffles towards his door, then peers over his shoulder to find Tomo watching him intently. “I'll use the guest bathroom. You can use mine,” he offers.
Tomo nods—“Fair.”—and follows after him into the hall. They split to go their separate ways—Eijirou to the guest bathroom downstairs whilst Tomo heads for Ei’s. Eijirou’s his first step towards his descent when he hears Tomo call out for him. “By the way, Ei-chan?”
Eijirou grips the railing and leans back just enough to catch Tomo gazing at his corner of the hall. Tomo’s lips curve into the sweetest (or mischievous, the bastard) grin as he says, “You’re really cute when you blush.”
Eijirou’s eyes widen, and much to his chagrin, Tomo laughs at him! Eijirou brushes him off with a groan and charges down the stairs, Tomo’s chuckles mocking him along the way.