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Kojiro was running late again as usual this morning. The school bell rang and he dumbly looked up at the hallway clock to check on the time. The head of pink hair was the last thing he was expecting to see.
"And he lectures me for being tardy..." he muttered.
The words held more bitterness than bite. As per the recent usual, Kaoru didn't acknowledge him in the slightest as he made his way toward his own locker. Kojiro had to mentally brace himself for the sting of regret. He hated this, this stupid silent treatment they both somehow agreed upon. But he screwed up, big time, and he knew his friend had every right to be mad at him.
As Kaoru tried to walk past him, at first he thought he was intentionally avoiding eye contact as he dipped his chin down. Then some of his long hair, that had been strategically parted, blew back briefly revealing a tapestry of bruises. The sudden sharp intake of air made Kaoru freeze in his tracks. When he glanced over and saw Kojiro's stunned reaction, he nervously dipped his head again, attempting to cover his battered face. Before Kojiro could say a word, he started to retreat in the opposite direction.
Kojiro's feet instinctively started moving before he even realized what he was doing.
"Kaoru, hold on!
Kaoru didn't respond and instead picked up his pace.
Kojiro began to jog to catch up.
"Hey! Will you stop?!"
Kaoru kept looking ahead as his friend began following along behind him.
"I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now Kojiro."
Kojiro frowned at that and grabbed Kaoru by the wrist to halt both of them.
"Let me see your face."
As the smaller man thrashed and pulled to get away, his long sleeve shirt stretched down over his shoulder showing even more discolored patches.
"Let go of me!" Kaoru yelled, attempting to break free of his hold but still refusing to face his friend.
Kojiro ignored his demand and used his other hand to grab his opposite shoulder to forcibly spin him around. Kaoru immediately dipped his face again but now that Kojiro was so close, it was impossible to hide. As he reached forward to brush back his friends hair, the damage was evident.
"What the hell happened to you?!" he asked, bringing up his hand to touch a particularly dark purple patch on Kaoru's cheek.
Kaoru flinched and pulled away from him. "It's nothing." he muttered
Kojiro drew up his eyebrows, in concern and hurt as he noted another one close by that was topped with a long crusty scab.
"That isn't nothing, it looks like someone beat you senseless. Come on man, you can go back to ignoring me momentarily. Just- "
Kaoru only took one look at his face before he sighed and relented.
"I was out skating with Adam last night." he admitted.
Kojiro took a deep breath through his nose trying to calm himself at the mention of Adam. Because of course he was part of it.
"Okay fine, I get it, you skate, you get hurt sometimes." He kept scanning over Kaoru's blemished face. "Although, it's not like you to injure yourself this badly. You guys weren't drunk while you were skating were you?"
The question surprises Kaoru. "Drunk? What? No. The trick we were doing was pretty difficult... and I beefed it... Right on my face. It really could have been a lot worse."
Kojiro grimaced, "You should be more careful." and he couldn't help but add, "I... I don't like it when I can't keep an eye out on you."
Kaoru visibly bristled at that. "What are you? My mother? I'm not some child that needs watching over. Besides, you're more likely to do crazy shit than I am." He glared at Kojiro accusingly "You get way too competitive with Adam sometimes."
"No no. I know you're not, and you're right about me, it's just..." Kojiro squeezed his eyes together searching for the right words to not escalate this. "Adam takes recklessness to another level sometimes, you know? We've both had to turn down some of his more wild ideas in the past."
"To be fair, he isn't the one who came up with the trick, well... mostly." Kaoru shrugged. "I just wanted to impress him you know? And it's Adam so that's almost impossible to do."
"Yeah, you're right about that." he says in soft agreement.
As he felt the tension in the room dissipate he finally asks what's been bugging him, "Hey...", Kojiro says hesitantly, "Why didn't you invite me?"
"Because I overheard your conversation with Kagomi the day before and I knew you two had a date." Kaoru crosses his arms over his chest as he states, "You already made it clear on which type of event takes precedence."
Kojiro flinched at that. "I-..... I'm sorry." he said finally.
"It's not your fault, we made plans spur of the moment." Kaoru's voice was a mixture of annoyance and also a little amusement.
"No, not for that." He gently touched Kaoru's injured face again and Kaoru doesn't pull away this time.
"For not being there. I know I haven't been hanging out with you guys recently and-"
"You've been a douchebag." Kaoru said flatly, not breaking eye contact.
The pathetically remorseful expression written on Kojiro's face instantly deflated some of his pent up antipathy.
"By the time you come back, I'll be skating circles around you." He smirked. "Adam has been working on the gazelle flip with me while you've been off seducing women."
Kojiro brushed his thumb along the side of Kaoru's bruised jaw mostly to get him to stop talking about Adam but also earning himself a satisfyingly visible shiver from his friend.
"Just off learning a few tricks myself," he murmured
"Do you use that move against all your disposable broads?" Kaoru asked contemptuously and finally began turning his chin away, "or just the stupid ones."
Kojiro's hand tightened ever so slightly to keep him there. "Only on the ones that are particularly pissed off at me."
"Knock it off you horny gorilla." Kaoru growled back.
The warning in his voice was clear but Kojiro just couldn't help himself. All of the dating had probably started to go to his head if he was being honest with himself. While the recent reactions out of his classmates was fun, he'd missed teasing his friend way more, so he let his free hand delicately brush another visible bruise on Kaoru's arm.
That arm stiffened in response. "Kojiro if you don't cut it out-"
"Why don't you make me 4 eyes?" he asked smugly giving Kaoru a suggestive wink.
-
He barely has time to register Kaoru's moving hand when suddenly he feels his uniforms necktie tightening around his throat. A sudden hard yank pulls him off balance and Kojiro can't help but let out a strangled cry as he fights gravity and falls forward. The only thing that stops him from crashing face first into Kaoru is the wall behind him. His arms instinctively extend wide searching for purchase until both hands hits solidly on opposing sides of his friend's head.
Kaoru says nothing as their eyes lock together but the challenge in them is unmistakable. Two can play at this game. Kojiro stares in amazement at the golden orbs a few inches in front of him. How had he not ever noticed the flecks of orange amber that snaked out from the center of his irises. Nervously, his eyes flickered away from them and found their way down to Kaoru's pierced lip. "nope, Nope. Wrong way, that did not help," he thought frantically. A warm steady breath brought his attention back into those entrancing eyes, making him feel stripped bare for all to see. This feeling of vulnerability made him instinctually pull back but the noose around his neck was already taunt. He was going nowhere while his tie was still wrapped firmly in Kaoru's clamped fist. In that moment of realization, he's remembered he'd forgotten to breathe, but even that proved problematic because as soon as he did, he was flooded with the overwhelming scent of Kaoru and his cherry blossom body wash. "Fuck"
This was not how he'd expected this bit of banter to play out, but then again, he's the one who's been making all the flirty gestures. It didn't take much to get entertaining reactions from his female admirers, yet now he was discovering that being on the receiving end was an entirely different beast. Swallowing hard, he feels his adams apple graze against his tightened collar. It doesn't take long under that intense stare before his body betrays him and he's blushing. Hard. When he feels his pupils blow out Kojiro finally has to turn his head to look away, admitting defeat in whatever the hell this game of chicken had turned into.
"What happened to that bravado of yours?" Kaoru asked mockingly. "Can't take the heat?"
Kojiro snapped his eyes back to glower at his vexing friend but his eyes once again found their way to that damn piercing. "Your lip is trembling." he noted smugly, even though his own voice came out strained and cracked. After hearing it, he couldn't help the nervous laughter that bubbled up from his own lips.
Kaoru's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as Kojiro continued to point out his nervous habit.
Kojiro inched his face a little closer to prove his point. "You only do that when you're really anxious so who's full of shit now?"
In response, Kaoru grins viciously and began leaning in toward him, painfully slow. "He's bluffing." Then he felt a steady pressure around his neck dragging his head forward. "Definently bluffing." As he feels Kaoru's nose graze his own it causes him to take a sudden intake of air. "He's-" Just as their lips were about to touch, he couldn't help but close his eyes. "NOT BLUFFING!"
And then there was nothing. For a moment he thought time might have really stopped, but that's when he felt the brush of soft skin as a hand came up to rest on his cheek. He hesitantly peaked open one eye and found Kaoru smirking at him, then his hand began patting his beet red face.
"Better luck next time Casanova."
Without another word, he released Kojiro's necktie, ducked under his outstretched arms, and walked away.
Kojiro was too stunned to respond. His hand came up to his hammering chest and he was surprised to find his heart racing, dully noting that that little stunt probably cost him the top spot in his record book for beats per minute.
"The hell?"
So I ran into this over a month after I wrote this and now I can't stop laughing about it.
Also writing this made me think of this scene and now I want a matcha blossom knock off