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"Are you seriously telling me that you've never played this game before?"
"No," Bam says, starting to grin with amusement. "I never have."
Sometimes, Khun seriously doubts FUG's competency. Sure, they pulled one over him on the Floor of Tests. Sure, they stole his best friend right out from under his nose, kept him locked up in the dark for seven long years, put him through the harshest training imaginable. Sure, they turned Bam into a Slayer Candidate, but -
"Everyone knows how to play this game. I played this all the time when I was a kid."
Bam does a strange double take. "Really?"
"Yeah, it's one of the best ways to improve shinsu control."
He shows Bam how to set it up - several obstacle courses, a quick maze made out of lighthouse shields. The goal is to get from one end to the other while blocking or deflecting your opponent's shots as quickly as possible. Bam picks it up quickly. He always does, with new things.
The summer heat filters through into their small room. There's not enough air conditioning on their rooms on this floor, and they had resorted to cool drinks and snacks instead. The rest of the team was sleeping through the too-hot afternoon, but Bam had gone to find Khun instead, too restless, unwilling to waste whatever time they had left together.
Khun pulls out a controller just as Bam comes back with a popsicle. He hands one half to Khun, and eyes the controller questioningly.
"It's an item used to help control shinsu," Khun explains. He rips off the wrapper with his teeth and finishes setting up the obstacle course. "You can use one too, or you can just use your hands, up to you. Here, we'll play a couple of games. I'll show you."
Bam sits down next to him on the floor. Despite the heat, he presses up against Khun's side, their knees touching. Khun spends several breaths hyper-aware of Bam's body next to his, and the places where they touch. Then he jerks his attention back to the task at hand.
"Ready?" he asks. Bam nods, and they start the game.
Khun beats him the first couple of times, despite Bam's better shinsu control. The mazes are tricky, requiring the use of angles and careful planning to get where they need to go. Too much power and the bang bounces wildly into a position you weren't expecting it to be in. Too little, and it won't reach the destination in time.
When Bam beats him on the fifth try, and Khun feels something drop in his stomach. He has always known that Bam had a talent for this, but this is the first time he has been faced with it.
"Let's try that again," he says, sure that it was a fluke. None of his cousins had been able to beat him more than twice in all his years growing up.
Bam nods, bites off the last of his popsicle, and easily wins the sixth round.
Khun drops his controller to stare at him. He's more unsettled than he expects to be.
It's not that he hadn't thought of Bam as smart, or good with strategy, before. It's just that this person in front of him is worlds different from the inexperienced boy on the Floor of Tests. These must be the skills that FUG trained into him, in their seven years apart, and it makes Khun sick, to realize how effective their training must have been.
"What's the matter?" Bam asks. His smile is light, and he sets up the maze this time. "This is really fun!"
"One more time," Khun says. He almost forgets about the popsicle in his hand until a piece of it melts onto his fingers. He licks it off absentmindedly, not noticing the way Bam stares at him afterward.
"Let's make a bet," Khun says. Nobody has ever beaten him three times in a row before. And he's curious about this new side of Bam that he has just discovered. "Winner gets to ask the loser to do something for them."
Bam looks at him for a moment, his gaze strangely dark.
"Okay," he says, and then starts the game without so much as a warning.
Khun scrambles for his controller, tries to calculate if he can finish the popsicle stick before he needs to use both hands. He ends up stuffing the last bite into his mouth, teeth closing around the soft wood to hold it in place.
He loses the seventh round, loses for the third time in a row.
Afterward, reeling a little from being taken down from his position as a 'genius' by another so-called 'genius', Khun leans back against the wall. He blows out a sigh.
There is a complicated mix of emotions well up in him. He doesn't want to think of FUG training Bam as a good thing. They stole years of his life from him, and threatened his friends. They must have worked him to exhaustion. But if the result is this, they might have created one of the most talented up and coming wave controllers this tower has seen in years.
"Khun -"
Khun is still lost in his thoughts, so he doesn't realize that Bam is leaning over him.
"Hm?" he answers distractedly. "What?"
"You have -" Bam gestures at Khun's face. Khun blinks at him, then realizes that there is a trail of something sticky and sweet on his chin. He reaches up to wipe it off, but Bam is quicker.
His fingers close around Khun's chin, holding him in place. His tongue drags against the trail of melted sugar, not once, but twice, his bottom lip following afterward in a soft, gentle cleanup.
Khun freezes over completely. Bam turns back to the lighthouse.
Khun chokes on a what, his throat closing up around the word in an effort to bite back a whimper. While he's still pulling himself together, Bam starts setting up another game, oblivious to the fact that he has just licked Khun's face.
Khun gapes at him. Bam just licked his face. He can still feel the trail of sensation it left behind, one that Khun doesn't think he'll ever forget.
If Khun was confused before, his mind is totally useless now. It keeps going around in circles, barely half-formed why's and perhaps some incoherent screeching thrown into the mix. He can't understand - he doesn't think Bam has ever - he doesn't know where Bam learned how to do something like that.
His brain grasps onto that last line of thought like a dying man clutching about for a lifeline. Someone must have taught that to him, but who? What the hell?
"Another game?" Bam asks cheerfully.
"Bam," Khun swallows. He isn't sure how to put this.
"Yes?"
"You … should only do that to someone you trust." His words falter. He doesn't know how to explain physical intimacy. Hell, nobody had freaking explained it to him. Bam watches him, apparently amused by the sight of Khun floundering for words.
"I trust you," Bam says easily.
It sends a shock of something warm through Khun, to hear that word said aloud so easily. He goes silent for a long time, thinking of all the people who had trusted him before, and how he had failed them.
"Khun?" A touch at his shoulder. Khun turns to find Bam staring at him, his expression so open and clear that it makes Khun's heart ache. "Is there a problem?"
Khun tries to smile.
Be careful, he wants to say. Trust isn't something you should give to me so easily.
But he can't bring himself to say it, not to Bam. There's something in Bam's eyes, when he looks at Khun, that makes him feel like he can do anything.
"Nothing," Khun clears his throat. "Come on. Next game."
Bam considers it for a moment.
"Okay," he says. "Next time, if I win, let me kiss you."
Khun doesn't know how he loses the next game. He swears that he almost had it -
When it's over, he lets the controller slip out of his numb hands. It falls to the floor with a quiet clatter. There's a sense of stunned belief that has stolen over him, hazy, filling him up with dizziness and heat. He stares straight ahead, sure that he's in some kind of dream.
"Khun," Bam says softly. He swallows. "Look at me, please?"
Khun forces himself to meet Bam's eyes.
"Why are you doing this?" he asks.
Bam leans in. Khun flinches back hard enough to hit the bed stand behind him. Bam stops.
"It'll be okay," he says. When his fingers settle on the side of Khun's face, they blow away any thoughts that might be coalescing in his head. Khun stares blankly up at him.
What the hell was Bam doing? Then he remembers - you should do that with someone you trust.
His mouth moves, but no sound comes out. Him? He hadn't meant anyone in particular. But Bam is looking at him with a strange mixture of hunger and patience. His fingers curl a little into the underside of Khun's jaw, sending a small bloom of heat throughout his entire body.
Then Bam's lips are on him, soft and warm, and surprisingly gentle. Khun reaches up without thinking, his fingers digging into Bam's shoulder. He's not sure if he's trying to keep Bam away from him, or just keep him there.
Bam pushes him harder against the bed stand. His knee presses against the outside of Khun's thigh. His head tilts, his mouth opens, and then suddenly Khun feels like he's falling. His head spins with the rush of dizziness that nearly overwhelms him.
All this ends, rather abruptly, when Khun loses his balance, tilts to one side hard enough to slam his head into the wall.
Bam jolts back with a guilty yelp. Khun groans and puts his hand to his temple, trying to block out the stars from his eyes.
Shit. This situation is so different from anything he's ever encountered before. For all his childhood lessons, all the training he's gone through, Khun is wholly unprepared for this. He hadn't ever even thought about it, up until a few moments ago. Specifically, the moment when Bam had decided that it was a good idea to put his mouth anywhere near Khun's lips.
Bam is breathing hard, his eyes dark. "Are you okay?" he asks, as if he's not to blame for any of this. "Are you hurt?"
Khun doesn't answer.
Bam reaches out, his fingers brushing against Khun's hair, but Khun catches his wrist before he can go any farther.
His heart is pounding unpleasantly hard in his chest, just from the proximity. He's not sure how well he would take it if Bam actually managed to tangle fingers into his hair.
"Is this a game to you?" Khun asks dangerously.
Bam blinks at him, innocent. By now, Khun knows that he's anything but.
"Do you not like it?" he asks.
"Answer me."
He feels a slight tremor go through Bam's body. They're close enough now that Khun can see the flush on Bam's face, and feel the intensity of his gaze when it sharpens.
"What are you afraid of?" Bam asks softly. "I've been following you around for days. I want to be around you all the time. I just wanted to, isn't that enough? Was kissing me really that unpleasant for you?"
This time, it's Khun's turn to blush. He turns his head to look away, but that's a mistake. Bam leans forward, his arms going to either side of Khun's head. Khun is forced to look back at him.
He's met with an unwavering gaze, and an unspoken demand. Answer me.
"It's … not unpleasant," Khun stammers out. "It's just - why?"
Bam makes a frustrated sound and comes closer. Khun tries to flinch back, but there's nowhere to go. But instead of kissing him, Bam just knocks his forehead into Khun's own.
"You're one of the smartest people I've ever met," Bam says, an edge in his voice. "Figure it out."
Khun doesn't even have enough mental bandwidth to appreciate the compliment. His mouth goes dry, his mind goes blank, and the next thing out of his mouth is: "But I'm a guy."
"And?"
Khun stares up at him, and fights not to get lost in Bam's eyes. "I didn't know," he says quietly.
"Okay," Bam dips in closer, and kisses him briefly on the lips. "Well, now you do."