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The door opens and Ryo immediately regrets his life choices.
This girl – Miki – being the one who opens the door instead of Akira just made things worse. Her eyes widen for a moment as she recognizes him.
“Oh. How can I help you?”
Ryo raises the commercial bag in discomfort. “Akira invited me.”
“…ah.” Miki closed her eyes. Ryo recognizes that it’s a tactic meant to soothe herself. “Well, come on in, then.”
Ryo is uncomfortably aware of how moving his body feels. He did not expect to become self-conscious. Suddenly, the way he gets his shoes off matters a lot.
Miki is still at his side, eying him like she is unsure what to expect.
“You aren’t armed, are you?”
“No, of course not.” He is.
“Wonderful. Enjoy your stay, then. Don’t break anything.”
Ryo gives no answer. Having a bag in his hand feels weird. Miki is already back with the other people in the room, and Ryo follows, attempting to appear confident and not lost.
Two couches face each other, full of teenagers Ryo doesn’t know and feels superior to. Loud music of a genre Ryo doesn’t recognize fills the room. The people talk even louder so they can hear each other. Some of them even screech at a particularly funny joke.
Ryo has never been invited to a party before, not really. Nothing informal like this. Not by Akira.
“Your friend is here, Akira,” Miki announces loudly.
Someone turns to him from one of the couches – the friendly face Ryo has been looking for.
“Heeey!” He scrambles to a stand and hurries to Ryo.
Not much has changed since his transformation. Akira does seem to have developed a permanent eye-shadow, but otherwise, his human form stayed the same. Mostly; since late August, he did have to go up a size in clothing to accommodate his muscle growth. Fighting demons on a weekly basis turns out to be a great way to bulk up. It is actually one of Ryo’s long term projects to track the interplay of demonic and human activities on muscle definition, however he has-
“You made it!” Akira’s hug arrives at Ryo.
Ryo accepts it with one hand, the other still holding onto the bag. “You wanted me to come.”
Akira pulls back, his hands on Ryo’s shoulders. “I’m still happy you came.”
Are Akira’s eyes brighter than usual? It seems so.
Akira lets go and eyes the bag in Ryo’s hand. “What’d you bring?”
Ryo hands him the bag instead of an answer, relieved to finally be rid of it.
Akira crams inside. “Is that… wine?”
“Wine?” someone asks. “We have wine?”
Akira turns to the person. “Uh, yeah, we have wine.”
“That’s so cool!” someone else says and gets up to stand next to Akira, as if the sight of the bottle could make her life better.
With her up close, Ryo can make a better observation of the gathered group. It seems Miki had only told him not to break anything – these teenagers wear clothing much too out of fashion for anything as wild as that to happen. Their sudden interest in wine only confirms Ryo’s suspicions that the guest list does not include regular, average, alcohol-drinking teenagers.
Akira hands the wine to the girl.
“What kind is it?” she asks Ryo, trying hard to pretend she will understand the answer.
“Mulled.”
“Ah.” She frowns at the bottle. “Yeah, uh… sounds nice.”
Akira finds the other two bottles. “Holy shit, Ryo. This amount is absurd .”
Ryo finds nothing absurd about the amount of alcohol he has brought. What is absurd are Akira’s and his acquaintances’ reactions to it.
“I didn’t know we were getting pissed, bro ,” some guy says, pronouncing the word ‘bro’ as if it was his first time. “This is dope!”
“Should we really be drinking?” Miki’s concerned voice cuts through the excitement. “We’re definitely not old enough to do that. How did you even get those, Ryo?”
“Oh, c’mon, we should have some fun!” a girl says.
“Yeah, I mean, wouldn’t board games get even better when you’re drunk?” asks someone else.
“Let’s drink this baaby ,” the girl that holds the first bottle says, pronouncing the word ‘baby’ with a deep, long ‘a’ and a high-pitched ‘y’. It’s probably not a word in her daily vocabulary, the way she says it. She opens the bottle, raises it to her lips boldly and takes a big swig. A beginner’s mistake for drinking wine.
“Eeeewwwwww.”
“It’s meant to be drunk hot,” Ryo says. “It’s mulled wine.”
“Isn’t mulled wine supposed to be hot?” a guy, now standing next to the bottle-holding girl, asks.
“Yeah – that’s what I just said.”
The group treads to the kitchen and Miki follows, if only to prevent her guests from damaging their kitchenware in search for a pot.
Before Akira can join, Ryo pulls him back by the arm.
“When you said this… Christmas party was going to be together with your… Bible study group, I thought you were joking.”
Akira’s smile mixes with confused blinks. “Why would I be joking about that?” Instead of freeing himself from Ryo, he takes his hand and pulls him along. “C’mon, you seem to be the only one here who actually knows what to do with wine.”
“Mulled wine.”
“Exactly.”
Most of the group stands next to a pot filled with the first bottle’s contents. Ryo is surprised by the bubbles he already sees in the crimson substance. Akira’s foster family must have an expensive stove.
“How long am I supposed to keep doing this?”
“Maybe as long as a soup,” a guy chimes in. “You know, like at least two hours so the flavors get acquainted reeaal good.”
Ryo feels his former feelings of being out of place absurd all of a sudden. “Don’t do that,” he says, flabbergasted. “It just needs a little boil. Anything past that removes the alcoholic part.”
“Oh, no.” The girl’s eyes widen and she turns the stove off like her life depends on it. “I’ve left it on for like two minutes now!”
“I’m sure that’s still fine,” Akira says, and his hand finds his way to Ryo’s shoulder. Akira’s hand is warm. “Right, Ryo?”
“Certainly.”
“Oh, good.” The girl sighs in relief. “Then get your glasses, everybody.”
“It would probably be better to drink from mugs,” Miki, the voice of reason, says. “It’s hot wine, people, not regular.”
Akira’s hand is still on Ryo’s shoulder as they hand out the wine to a few people. The second bottle is opened and Akira rubs Ryo’s shoulder.
“It’s nice that you brought something along, Ryo-chan” he says.
Ryo’s shoulder feels warmer. “Okay.”
The second portion heats up just as fast as the first and now almost everyone has a mug in their hands. It’s almost a miracle that the people who already had something in their hands managed to wait for the others.
Akira stands next to Ryo, and although Akira does seem interested in partaking in the common activity with these strangers, Ryo feels like the evening might not be a disaster after all. He decides not to drink. These people are not worth such a thing. Watching Akira’s peers get drunk for the first time might be interesting, though.
“Chin-chin!”
Mugs clash too forcefully, everyone looks each other in the eye way too seriously, and then most people try to down the wine like it’s hard liquor. Some gag, others pull faces.
Akira is a face-puller, even though he has chosen to drink at a normal wine-pace.
“Not sweet enough?” Ryo asks.
Akira shrugs, face still in a frown. “Uh, no… just, not how I expected.”
“Do you like it at least?”
“I mean, yeah…” It is not convincing. “Even if they weren’t… I don’t think my parents would have ever made it in time to drink with me when I turned twenty anyway, so…” Akira rotates the mug in his hands. “Might as well have my first time with my friends.”
Ryo does not appreciate the usage of the word in the plural form.
Before he can say anything, the group migrates back to the couches and strike a conversation that seems to grab their interest.
“Did you guys see how annoyed Father Haru got when Keiji kept reading the wrong verses on purpose last Friday?”
Apparently that is an amusing memory for the gathered people here. Ryo hears bits and pieces of it and it doesn’t get better even when the wine does start to have an effect on the group.
Akira does not sit back on the couch and stands next to Ryo, laughing along at the ‘jokes’ and filling Ryo in on the details despite his best efforts to remain outside of this group’s experiences.
Someone gets up and hurries to a drawer. “What do we wanna do? UNO ? Monopoly ?” He rummages some more. “ Bang! ?”
Akira now sits on one of the couches and eyes Ryo while he does. Ryo leans against the other couch, not breaking eye contact. There is no reason to shy away from Akira’s look. Akira does shy away from his look, however, and only dares to look briefly. Whenever Akira’s eyes do meet Ryo’s, a strange smile appears on Akira’s face.
Someone else comes to the group and hands out mugs. “Last round of wine, people.”
Akira is closest to her and gets the first mug. Almost spills it on himself, laughs it off. Then searching for Ryo’s eyes, as if having Ryo look at him was important. Ryo is looking. So Akira hands the mug to the person next to him and raises his eyebrows in a swift move, clearly signaling his newfound passion of abstinence from alcohol to Ryo.
When the wine mugs get to Ryo, he hands them further and keeps the same eye contact with Akira. Whatever this new game is, Ryo is not about to lose.
“Hey, do we wanna play something less traditional than a board game?” the girl handing out the wine asks. “Like spin the bottle.”
It seems like these people feel like this is their only chance to get close to another person. Considering their common hobby, they might not even be so far off, Ryo considers. The wine he brought might just be the only thing that makes this otherwise awful gathering worth his time.
“Woah.” Hearing the desperation in Miki’s voice, for example, is quite thrilling for Ryo. “Do we really have to be so weird about this, guys? Seriously, I thought we would just have a nice, quiet evening together and-”
“I do have an empty bottle in my bedroom,” Akira says, eyes on Miki for a moment. “I’ll go get it for us.”
Akira gets up and goes past Ryo. Ryo wonders if Akira will get close enough to touch him, but no, he just goes on his way. Ryo follows him with his eyes as he goes upstairs.
The people who stay behind get their hands on the couches, pushing them back to make room to sit in a circle. Miki gets her phone and flees to the terrace with an unhappy expression. Ryo finds this the most interesting and goes to the kitchen for… a glass of water. It’s a bit hot inside, so he may as well open a window. That just so happens to face the terrace.
“Hey, Dad?” Miki’s voice trembles. She’s freezing in the cold outside. Ryo sips his water slowly, back turned to her as he listens to her complain about her event and begs her parents to come back home and end the party for her. She is unsuccessful, despite her efforts to list all the negative consequences of underage drinking.
Ryo downs the rest of his drink when he hears Miki come inside. He returns to the group slower than she does.
Akira is back with the bottle, clear plastic.
“Hey!” A girl frowns at the group. “We should sit in, like, rows. Like, boys one side, girls the other.”
Akira is sitting next to her, his hand putting the bottle in the middle. “Why?”
“So like we don’t have to be gay.”
Akira looks around himself. “W… isn’t spin the bottle supposed to be done in a circle? If we do that we’ll just end up with the same people over and over again.”
“Let’s sit like this-,” another girl says, gesturing with her arms, “-one girl and one boy, like that, then we’ll avoid the whole thing.”
The group shuffles according to this suggestion. Ryo considers if sitting the game out might be more worth it than participating. He is not interested in touching these people.
He notices how Akira keeps looking at him, as if waiting for him to join, and in the next moment Ryo finds himself on the ground with everyone else. Akira is on his right, at about a 110°-degree angle.
The bottle spins many times and Ryo keeps losing more and more interest in the game. He is at the far end of the circle, most people sit elsewhere, and so the bottle doesn’t really land on him. Some people even get into debates about some guy who seemingly keeps being the kissee every single time. In the first round after this guy switched places with someone, the bottle does land on Ryo.
A girl who doesn’t manage to hide her disinterest is the person he is supposed to kiss. She’s at the other far end of the circle. She’s tense and her lips are pressed together when she tries to get closer to Ryo through the room and Ryo feels like someone spilled coffee on him by the sight of her.
When other people of the gathered group kissed, so far there has been some reaction by the others, hoots and whistles, laughter or clapping. Not this time – they wait in uncomfortable silence for it to be over.
Ryo leans in as well, disgusted and kind of interested at the same time. Will the kiss make him feel something? The girl just pecks him on the lips quickly, barely even a touch, and retreats to her place.
Ryo sits back to his place with his lips pressed together and waits for the game to continue without him.
“It’s your turn,” someone moans.
It has to be said by three other people before Ryo realizes they mean him . It’s his goddamn turn to spin the bottle. So he does, lips pressed even tighter. The bottle spins and spins and then slows down and it seems like it is going to end up on the right side of the circle, at a 110°-degree angle, and that moment of realization makes Ryo’s stomach lurch and then the bottle lands on someone else.
This girl not only does not hide her complete lack of interest but also goes as far to make a face towards her friends and making them laugh once Ryo leans in, as per the rule of the game, and ends up kissing her cheek. He hates this.
His gaze catches Akira’s for a moment as he gets back to his seat and then Akira is obscured by his neighbor who now leans in for a kiss with a different candidate.
Ryo spaces out for the next few rounds. Thankfully, his position in the circle guarantees his lack of participation.
Akira is not so lucky. He sits in the denser part of the circle, yet the bottle has not landed on him so far. That changes now. The girls are more eager to kiss him than Ryo, that’s for sure. The first one giggles when the bottle lands on Akira and even Akira lets out some chuckle of mirth. They kiss and hug. Akira spins the bottle and it lands on Miki, who promptly says ‘no’, and spins it further for a different candidate – the girl who suggested the game in the first place, who, after getting kissed by Akira, actually gets red in the face. Others point this out as well and laugh when she hides her face behind her hands. Akira is blushing as well, Ryo can tell. It must be from embarrassment. It has to be. He knows these people, spending time together must be enjoyable. So, fucking, enjoyable .
The girl spins the bottle and it lands on Akira again and everyone yells in excitement. As if this is some kind of spectacle. That this red-faced girl gets to kiss Akira again. …and again ? What is this, some kind of orgy? It’s supposed to be one kiss per spin! One!
Ryo’s teeth hurt. Not that he’s been clenching his jaw.
Akira’s face is also red and he laughs and smiles at the girl. And everyone keeps paying attention to this for longer than is normal and delay Akira’s next spin. Why does it always have to be Akira, anyway? Maybe he should switch places, just like that other guy did.
Akira reaches to spin the bottle.
“God, if it’s Chisato again, I swear-!” someone, oddly invested in this fake relationship, exclaims.
Ryo glares at the girl in question. Chisato . What a way to make a spectacle out of nothing.
Everyone is at the edge of their seats, as if this is the love story of the century and Ryo decides he is going to leave if that goddamn bottle lands on that Girl, Chisato again when-
-the bottle lands on him .
The group decides a same-gender kiss is not allowed before Ryo can even begin to feel the sudden surge of warmth in his chest.
Akira spins again and he looks at Ryo with uncertainty while doing so.
The bottle lands on Ryo again .
Akira scoffs.
“Ugh, just spin again,” someone says and takes the bottle and spins for Akira.
Akira stops the bottle mid-spin. “Hey!”
“C’mon, man, spin it yourself, then.”
Ryo feels like someone is fucking with him when that goddamn bottle lands on him again.
Miki sighs and points to the girl next to Ryo. “Just kiss Ayako and move on, Akira.”
Akira frowns. “The bottle is not pointing at Ayako now, is it?”
What is Akira even doing?
Miki scowls. “What, you’re gonna kiss Ryo then?”
“Yeah,” Akira states, annoyed. “He’s my friend-! I don’t mind.”
“Let’s just do something else,” someone interrupts while waving his arms in an attempt to make peace. “How about we dust off that UNO deck?”
“No, not UNO ,” that Girl says, pulling her mouth. “We should play a similar game. What about postman?”
“What’s that?”
“Is it like a board game? Does Miki even have something like that?”
“No, no,” that Girl says. “It’s like a make-out game.”
Ryo’s hands form fists on their own. What a strange, involuntary action.
“How does that even work?”
“Are we sure that’s a good idea?” Miki asks, who somehow managed to stay the braincell of the group despite drinking.
“The guys hide somewhere in the house and then like, ask the girls to come make out with them, basically,” that Girl explains. The gaze she casts on Akira is noticed by several members of the group.
One guy frowns. “How do we even do that if we’re hiding?”
“By shouting, bro .”
“No, there’s a postman that like, brings the message back and forth.”
“The fuck kind of game is this?”
“Shut up!” That Girl throws a pillow at the asker. “I read it in some book, it’s romantic and mysterious!”
It sounds terrible, Ryo thinks.
“It sounds fun!”, Akira says.
It sounds even more terrible now, actually.
The guys in the group get to their feet.
“Wait!” one of them says. “Who’s gonna be the postman? Isn’t he gonna be left out of all of this?”
The group eyes itself desperately – no one seems too eager to miss out on such a wondrous opportunity like frenching their peers that they’ll be seeing every week after this evening.
Ryo is almost embarrassed by how long it takes him to realize that taking the role of this annoying postman might be his best way out of having to kiss some girl. “I’ll do it. I’ll be your postman. If you really wish to do this.”
“Shotgun!” one weirdo yells and runs away to find a hiding place upstairs. Several others follow. It is now that Ryo realizes he will have to go and find them. Damn them, honestly.
At least Akira is last to leave for a hiding place. Ryo shadows him to some room and watches him pace from one wardrobe to another. Ryo sits on a bed when it becomes obvious Akira won’t make up his mind anytime soon.
Akira examines the first wardrobe, a hand on one of the doors, his back to Ryo. “Have you ever heard of this game before?” he asks suddenly.
“No.”
Akira traces the wardrobe door with his fingers. “Why did you volunteer to be the postman?”
Ryo averts his gaze from Akira. “Why not?”
“I mean… didn’t you wanna, y’know… get to know someone better while you’re here?”
“I don’t know these people.”
“They’ve introduced themselves to you.”
“Forgotten their names already.”
“…”
Ryo gestures at the wardrobe in front of which Akira stands. “Is that your chosen hiding place?”
Akira sighs. “Yeah… I guess.”
He gets inside. When he cannot close the door, Ryo gets up and takes hold of it.
“Should I help?”
“Please.”
Ryo opens the door properly and examines Akira. The wardrobe is surprisingly empty and he seems comfortable. His face looks pale in contrast to his dark shirt. Why does he need to dress so dark these days, anyway? Ever since he became a devilman, Akira has found dark clothes irresistible. His bold, colorful outfits were soon changed to dark greys and blacks and-
“What?” Akira asks.
Ryo snaps out of it. “Aren’t you going to see everything in the dark?”
“Why would that be a problem?”
“I thought the interesting part was supposed to be not being able to see.”
Akira considers this. “Alright, fine. There’s a sleeping mask on one of the night stands.”
Ryo retrieves it. Once he’s back and the mask is in Akira’s hands, Ryo notices his hesitation to put it on.
“Hey, Ryo, I’m… sorry about earlier.” Akira says, looking at the mask.
Ryo is also looking at the mask. Akira’s fingers are on it. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you know… I just hope you’re not uncomfortable with this whole… making out kind of games.”
“I’m not.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Ryo pulls on the threads on his coat sleeves. “Get inside the wardrobe now, I have to be elsewhere.”
Akira puts the mask on and tries to find safe spots in the wardrobe to steady his now blind self.
Ryo closes the door and gets back to the living room where the girls were waiting.
That Girl rounds him without an ounce of shame to say: “You know, I think you should start alphabetically with the whole thing.”
Ryo examines her without emotion.
That Girl grins awkwardly. “Akira’s name starts with an A.”
Ryo clicks his tongue. “Thank you for bringing that to my attention.”
He goes upstairs and makes a glance in that Girl’s direction to see if she is disappointed but she has her back turned to him.
The first guy takes way too long to decide. Then Ryo threatens to bring some random girl to him, so he finally spits out someone’s name and Ryo has to make an effort to memorize it.
When he comes back to the living room, several eyes are on him, expectant.
Ryo almost forgets the name and doesn’t know who to look at when he says it. Someone gets up and follows him to this guy and Ryo couldn’t care less when he just points at his chosen hiding place and leaves her there, uncertain what to do now.
Despite noticing the way that Girl eyes him, Ryo makes the second round on the second floor as well. When he gets back to look for the third girl, he becomes aware of that Girl’s absence.
Ignoring the others’ looks, Ryo goes after her and finds her looking for Akira.
It takes all of his mental presence to not grab her by the arm and pull her back. “What exactly are you doing?”
That Girl jerks in surprise, turning to him and getting close to the wall. “I’m looking for the bathroom.”
Ryo presses his lips into a thin, not genuine smile. “Right. You went past it.” He points at the door. “It’s right there.”
“Oh.” That Girl nods. “Yeah. Thanks.”
She doesn’t move. Ryo gestures at the door again. “Don’t you have to go?”
That Girl does go and Ryo waits for her to come out and when she sees him still standing there she frowns.
“Are you some kind of pervert?”
“No.” Ryo crosses his arms. “I’m just waiting for you to get back to the others.”
“Whatever.” That Girl scoffs. “You are going to go ask Akira now, aren’t you?”
Ryo frowns.
“Because if you’re not,” that Girl says, “I might as well just go to him now.”
Ryo shakes his head. “ He needs to ask you to come. I thought you knew this, since you suggested the game in the first place.”
That Girl grimaces. “Go and ask him, then.”
Ryo doesn’t react, so that Girl asks:
“Why are so weird about this?”
“Fine, I’ll go ask him.”
That Girl nods triumphantly, satisfied with herself. “Finally.”
Ryo watches her go, sees how she’s almost vibrating from excitement, and calls after her: “The game is anonymous, as far as I can tell.”
That Girl turns, confused.
“That’s the whole point of this, isn’t it?” Ryo adds. “Not knowing who’s the caller. Not by you, or the other girls.”
That Girl rolls her eyes and leaves. “Yeah, whatever.”
Ryo hopes she will not tell everyone that Akira is the next candidate. It’s enough for that Girl to know.
Ryo turns and looks in the direction of Akira and can’t bring himself to go. There is no reason not to go, though. The more time he wastes the greater the risk that that Girl returns with her demands. Yet he can’t fathom that he is supposed to ask Akira now.
There’s a cough somewhere in the direction opposite to Akira and Ryo goes to look for the source without much thinking.
The coughing guy looks at him from behind sunglasses. Whether it has been on him the entire evening, Ryo can’t recall.
“Hey, uh… I kinda heard what Chisato and you said.”
“So?”
“So, uh… I dunno, it would be a bad idea for me to want Chisato now, right? I mean you’re supposed to go to Akira now, anyway.”
Ryo crosses his arms. “I’ll decide who to go next. You’re just as good as anyone else.”
The guy seems to be deep in thought. “If I ask for Chisato now, she’ll think I’m Akira and be disappointed, that won’t work… but then, who should I get?”
Ryo hums; now deeply, deeply invested in this interaction. “What about someone else?”
“Yeah, yea…! But who?” He bites his thumb.
Ryo stretches out the silence for a few seconds, but not too long, not that the guy gets any ideas. “What about that other girl?” He pretends to not remember the name. “The brunette.” All of them are brunette. “Ayako, isn’t it?”
“Yeah!” The guy snaps his fingers. “Get me her. She’s nice.”
She is, Ryo thinks to himself, and a grin makes its way to his face as he gets back to the living room. He tries to hide it, but isn’t sure how successful he is when he enters the room, locks eyes with Chisato and says:
“Postman. I’ve got a message for Ayako.”
The look on that Girl’s face is priceless. Ayako comes to Ryo. His body leads Ayako to the guy in sunglasses and Ryo’s mind barely registers that it does so. He only thinks of Chisato’s disappointed face.
He does the rest of the game with the rest of the people until only one wardrobe and one girl remains.
When Ryo comes back to her, that Girl is looking at her phone with a sour expression. She ignores him and Ryo ignores her too.
He realizes Akira is now standing alone in that wardrobe and must not really enjoy himself like that.
He turns to go to him-
“I’m not interested in kissing anyone,” that Girl calls after him. “So don’t even try.”
“Okay.” Ryo stops in his tracks. “I don’t care.”
“Where are you going, then?” that Girl asks.
Ryo doesn’t know. “None of your business,” he decides and goes.
He hopes that Girl will ignore him and not follow out of spite.
Once he can forget about her and focus on Akira again, Ryo’s feet feel lighter as he marches in his direction. He thinks to feel some schadenfreude when he realizes that Akira will not be making out with anyone, despite his wish to do so.
There it is. The wardrobe in which Akira stands. Ryo halts, examining it for a few seconds as he considers what to do. Akira might think Ryo has brought someone with him, so it will be best if Ryo tells him the truth. It would be humiliating for Akira to hear the news from outside the wardrobe and have Ryo wait for him outside as he shamefully gets out, so Ryo decides the best way to deliver the news is to get inside the wardrobe as well.
The wardrobe door opens with a squeak and Ryo wiggles in before he can think it through. The door does not close properly from the inside, however Ryo tries.
“Heyyy…” Two hands are on Ryo suddenly, one on each forearm. “Who are you?”
Ryo looks at Akira, puzzled as to why he’s suddenly up in his face.
Akira touches further along Ryo’s arm. “Are you feeling well?”
No, Ryo is not feeling well. Akira managed to grab him by the skin, not even the coat, Ryo has no idea how he even- why did Akira- why on the skin ? Why does it feel warm?
One arm leaves Ryo and pulls the sleeping mask off.
“Ryo? Gosh.” Akira lets go of him abruptly. “Why didn’t you tell me it was you?”
Ryo scowls.
Akira laughs. “Seriously – I was like, two seconds away from kissing you! Why didn’t you just tell me…”
Ryo takes a step back. “Well, why didn’t you just…” He clears his throat. “You’re out of girls.”
Akira frowns, laughing to let Ryo know his choice of words was poor. “Out of girls? You’re talking about them like they’re a bag of m&m’s.”
Ryo scoffs. “Oh really? Whatever happened to making out with some random girl while blindfolded.”
“Hey, the blindfold was your idea!” Akira tilts his head. “What’s it to you, anyway?”
Ryo holds back a sigh. “Listen, I only came here to tell you about the situation. There is no need to discuss this further.”
“Yeah, okay, whatever.” Akira’s fingers wrap around the sleeping mask around his neck. “Is really everyone else making out in closets?”
“Well, no- yeah. Yeah, they are.”
Akira looks at him, a question mark on his face. “Who isn’t?”
Ryo shrugs. “Dunno her na- dunno the name.”
“Hmm.” Akira fidgets with the mask in his hand. “…I don’t really wanna go back, to be honest, with everyone else off making out.”
Ryo pulls on his coat’s sleeves. “Does standing in this closet fit your idea of having a nice time better?”
“You’re still in here with me too, you know,” Akira interjects. “Clearly, you must also be enjoying yourself here.”
“I have no reason to leave unless you do too,” Ryo counters.
Akira lets out a giggle. “Sounds like you’re glued to me or something.”
“Am not.” Ryo looks around himself. They are, indeed, surrounded by clothes. “Why this place of all others? Why not your room?”
“I didn’t wanna go to my room. I already know what it looks like.”
Ryo doesn’t know what to say now.
Akira does. “Why did you come inside without telling me who you are?”
Ryo feels like entering a strategical game of conversation. “I did intend to tell you it’s me.”
“And when?” Akira asks, like there is a smile on his face.
Ryo shrugs. “Well you know now, don’t you?”
“Uh-huh.” Akira balances on his toes. “You know it’s just… if I didn’t know you any better I’d think you wanted me to…”
Ryo needs to know how that sentence ends. “Like I wanted what?”
“Nothing,” Akira mumbles. “You know, just, forget it. Forget it.”
Ryo doesn’t want to forget it. “Right.”
Is it hot in this wardrobe? It seems so. Ryo’s face is burning. Maybe Akira’s is, too.
“There’s…” Ryo doesn’t know what he’s saying. “…there’s a lot of clothes in here.”
“Yeah,” Akira agrees. “There are.”
Ryo nods. He thought this would make a longer conversation, but he must have thought wrong.
“And the door won’t close.”
“Yeah. It won’t.”
“It’s annoying.”
“It is.”
Isn’t this supposed to be a conversation ? Why does it keep stopping?
Ryo shifts his balance to one feet, to the other, back to both. Akira fidgets with the mask again.
“Why did you-” Akira’s voice cuts through the silence. “-why did you come inside to get me?”
Ryo opens his mouth to answer but nothing comes to mind.
“I mean, you- you could’ve just told me, from the outside, and- and- why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want to,” Ryo says quietly.
Akira laughs breathlessly. “But why not?”
“I just- I just didn’t.”
No response comes from Akira and it feels like defeat.
“Listen, I just-” Ryo’s hands feel out of place and his mouth has a mind of his own. “I didn’t want to be excluded.”
“Excluded?” Akira chuckles. “From what ? Making out?”
“From you.”
“From me?”
Ryo has made a bad strategical decision.
Akira smiles then tries to make it go away but it doesn’t. “How can you be excluded from me ?”
Ryo pulls on his sleeve. “I don’t know any of these people.”
“What, so you’re only here because of me?”
Hesitating to answer is probably worse than answering without thinking things through. “Of course I am.”
“You mean, you wouldn’t have come at all if it weren’t for me?”
“Why? Did you think I came because I was interested in other people?”
Akira looks at him weird and it makes Ryo feel warm and so he says to him:
“Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“That thing that you’re doing.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
Ryo doesn’t respond and Akira keeps looking at him like that so he asks:
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“What are you grinning about?”
“I’m not grinning.”
“Yes, you are.”
“So what?”
“So stop doing it.”
“Why?”
“There is nothing to grin about.”
“If you say so.”
“I’m serious, Akira.”
“What, are you threatening me right now?”
“I might be.”
“You’re not very convincing.”
“I will be if you keep doing that.”
Akira’s eyes glue on him and he steps closer. “Doing what?”
Ryo doesn’t take a step back. “Doing this .”
“I’m not doing anything,” says Akira and his fingers brush against Ryo’s coat.
A dress sleeve is on Akira’s shoulder and Ryo folds it away. “You are doing it right now.”
“Yeah?” Akira grabs the lapels of his coat and pulls on them.
The back of the coat tightens by the pull. Ryo’s body is on fire. His hand finds the hem of Akira’s shirt and tugs.
Akira sighs, trying to hide a grin. “You’re doing it too, you know.”
Ryo’s other hand also tugs. “Am I?”
“Mm-hm.” Akira gets his hands on Ryo’s collar. He keeps fiddling with it, as if there is no way to fix it. The hair on Ryo’s neck rises. He starts to play with the fabric of Akira’s shirt that’s between his fingers. The cloth is thin and soft and so very close to Akira’s skin.
Akira’s hands come to rest on his chest and his eyes lock with Ryo’s and he’s so close and Ryo places his hands on Akira’s waist and his skin is warm under the shirt and when Ryo starts to wrap his arms around him Akira doesn’t shy away but leans in and his breath is on Ryo’s lips and then his lips are too.
They stay like that for a moment and Ryo’s face warms up where Akira touches him. Akira pulls away a little, then touches Ryo’s lips with his own again and it tingles. Ryo mimics, pulling away and touching Akira’s lips. They continue like this, back and forth, the tingling sensation increasing with every touch. Ryo needs to breathe. And then dives right back in to feel that warmth again.
Akira tries to add tongue, managing only to awkwardly lick Ryo’s mouth and making Ryo jerk back in surprise. But he leans back in, and he continues with what he already figured out. Akira tries again. Swipes his tongue against Ryo’s lips, who does not know how to respond to it. After another few kisses, Ryo touches Akira’s lips with his tongue as well. It makes Akira reciprocate the touch, tongue on Ryo’s lips. They’re out of sync like that for the next few tries and Ryo has to actively concentrate on what he’s doing. When he feels Akira’s tongue again, he decides to remember to reciprocate on the next try. There’s Akira’s lips, then his tongue, but Ryo only manages to touch him a second late. Akira’s lips again, his tongue, and then Ryo’s tongue, finally . The warmth spreads from his face to everywhere else. He repeats. Lips, tongue, lips, tongue. Then again. And again. Akira’s arms get tighter around his neck and Ryo tightens his grip as well and at the same time he forgets about Akira’s mouth and so Akira’s kiss lands on his lips without a response because Ryo focused on moving his arms.
He didn’t know kissing required this much thinking .
Akira kisses him again. Gets closer. Ryo is practically holding him in his arms now. He likes that. He really likes that. He kisses Akira and he likes that too. They continue to kiss until Ryo feels like it’s almost too repetitive. Akira’s teeth bite into his bottom lip on accident. He keeps doing it and Ryo keeps thinking it must be an accident.
When kissing becomes familiar enough, Akira lifts a hand to trace a path on Ryo’s neck and jaw with his fingers that ignites an entirely new fire in Ryo. Akira grins into their kiss when Ryo touches his wrist and strokes his forearm. Giggles when Ryo touches his chin.
They get lost in kissing again, sloppier now that Akira beams against his lips. Akira takes his arm from Ryo’s chest and wraps it around his neck, leaning closer for a kiss. He kisses Ryo as if he is trying to bore a seal on him and it’s the first thing that actually makes Ryo smile. He cups Akira’s face and pulls him closer and-
There’s a sudden clang when someone opens a closet door.
They scatter from the sudden noise. The clothes hangers jiggle.
“Nah, I think everyone is back by now,” a male voice says as two people walk past Akira’s and Ryo’s room.
Akira looks at Ryo from afar and it feels strange to be two separate people again.
“Um…” Akira blinks at Ryo. “Should we, I dunno, go back as well, maybe?”
Ryo doesn’t know what to say, what to think . “I guess we can.”
“Yeah.” Akira opens the wardrobe door but his eyes don’t want to leave Ryo’s face.
Ryo follows him outside. Akira stands next to him and doesn’t seem too interested in going back to the living room. He keeps looking at Ryo with a grin on his face and Ryo doesn’t know what to do with it now that they’re in such an open space, apart from each other.
But Ryo can’t look away from Akira either. “ Do we go back?” he asks quietly.
Akira gets close to him and puts his hands on Ryo’s shoulders. It doesn’t feel as natural as it had been just seconds ago so Akira retrieves his hands and puts them in the pockets on the back side of his jeans. “Yeah, I guess we can go back.”
They look at the other instead of getting their move on, and when Ryo does make a move, Akira flies into his arms and presses a quick kiss on his lips.
Ryo doesn’t know what to do with it. When Akira opens his eyes and searches for a reaction on Ryo’s face, he doesn’t find any. He presses his lips together and breaks eye contact like he’s ashamed of himself.
Akira gets his move on and Ryo needs a second before he can follow, and another before he makes up his mind to grab Akira by the arm, pull him back and press an awkward, misplaced kiss somewhere on his face.
He looks at Akira’s expression. It is like an open book. There’s an uncertain twinkle in Akira’s eye when he looks back at Ryo. A hesitant smile in the corners of his mouth.
He takes Ryo’s hand and pulls lightly before letting go. “C’mon, let’s get back to the others. I hear we’re actually going to play UNO now.”
He gives Ryo something else to think about. Akira’s hearing has become more precise since his transformation. Could he have heard Ryo’s exchange with that Girl too?
They get back to the group and the others have indeed returned as well. They play UNO and Ryo participates but keeps looking at Akira in-between rounds.
Why did he pull Akira back for that kiss? Why did he do any of that with him? Ryo might not be a people person, but even he knows that kissing like that leads to conclusions that aren’t in his favor. He considers strategy to be his strong suit, but none of what just happened seem to have a reason that furthers any of his plans.
The evening goes on without Ryo paying much attention to what’s happening around him. It takes serious effort to prevent himself from thinking too much about Akira. He knows that the answers will be found if he keeps looking for them long enough and he is more than happy to delay the revelation as much as he can.
It’s late enough that Miki’s parents get back home and though Akira offers to let him sleep over in his room, Ryo can’t make himself accept it.
When Akira insists on accompanying him to his car, Ryo doesn’t reject him.
Ryo’s back is turned to the car and he doesn’t know what to say to Akira.
Akira has that hesitant smile again. “Hey… I’m happy you came. Really.”
“Yeah.” Ryo makes a long shrug. “Thank you for inviting me.”
Akira looks down and shuffles with his feet. “So… when do we meet again?”
“Um…” This entire day feels like Ryo has been leading a separate life – no demons, no scheming, no weapons, nothing. Just Akira. Having to think about him outside of today’s context feels… unreal. “We can meet in two days. I almost tracked down that one elusive target, I’ll manage it soon enough.”
Akira nods, kicking the air with his foot. “That one will be a tough fight, huh?”
“No, not necessarily,” Ryo says. “Just because the demon is good at hiding doesn’t mean it’s a good fighter.”
“Mm-hm.” Akira kicks with his other foot. “We’ll see.”
Ryo feels like kicking as well. He doesn’t, though. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”
Akira chuckles. “I do worry about you , Ryo.”
Ryo frowns. “You don’t need to. I’m usually not close enough to be in danger.”
Akira looks up to him, eyes searching for something on Ryo’s face, and Ryo thinks that Akira might be talking about something else.
“You’re right. Well, I’ll see you in two days, then.” Akira raises his arms and Ryo accepts the goodbye-hug.
If he didn’t know any better, he’d say he is disappointed by its shortness.