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"..did you get injections, or something?"
Joshua took a genuine second to consider ignoring whatever was just asked, out of pure spite for its stupidity, but then decided the curiosity that would take over if he didn't pursue this would have been far too painful. "..pardon me?"
The boy lounged against the opposite armrest of the white couch comfortably as ever, his phone in one hand (texting Shiki, Joshua knew). He eyed the other with curious blue over the top of said device and his own bare knees, and brushed a fingertip over his own thin lips in a gesture.
"..your lips." Neku asked, his eyes fixating on the part of his partner's face in question.
The Composer turned back to his own phone and only got as far as halfway past the lockscreen before he again realized he couldn't possibly go without harassing the other for the dumb question. Not to mention, insulting. "..why would you ask something like that, ever."
"I don't know," A faint grin, so mellowed on those more chiseled features.
He had calmed a lot during his maturing process, it was still so new and unfamiliar. Joshua even found himself missing that spunkiness, and how prone to instability Neku used to be- just like himself. As weird as the calm was.. it was welcome, too. This was.. nice.
"They're just really full. There's no way that they naturally developed like that."
The blonde pursed his 'unnaturally full' lips and turned to give a well-deserved glare. All in good fun, though. "So rude. I invite you into my house, and you insult my ability to grow my own gorgeous features."
Neku just smiled, in return, moving to kick at Josh's side just as playfully. "You're just really different looking."
Joshua went back to focusing on his orange phone, even if he didn't turn it on, a dead giveaway that he was stuck in his mind.
The more human of the both of them gave the other a poking kick to the side. Just another way to get his attention, even if there was no question as to if he had lost it in the first place.
"They look.. nice." Softie. "You're just really.. really pretty."
Joshua looked to him sideways, pushing his bothersome feet off of him with a roll of his shoulder. "You say 'really' a lot. Try to expand your repertoire of verbal intensifiers so you don't sound so silly."
"I mean it." Neku wouldn't let him go from this, shimmers in his eyes like the sun's rays on the ocean surface. So human. "You've grown.." He stopped before saying the word again, on the verge of it. "..Very nicely."
He was poked again, holding the same amount of hatred for it as he would of he was being wandered on by a baby kitten. Fondly, he knocked the other's annoying limbs back off of his side once more, brows furrowed lightly.
Neku was clearly in a mood, full of jolly smiles. Ridiculous.
"I'm complimenting you," The boy smiled, making Joshua's heart feel the same thing it always did around him, things that his soul hadn't felt in centuries. "So you should just give up and accept it."
"But you'll continue to compliment me either way, so why should I not give you a lesson while you do so?" A toothy but genuine smirk, as the Composer leaned back enough to eye his guest.
It was always games between them, always. Who would laugh first, who would break eye contact first, who would reach completion first- who would pull the trigger first.
Joshua brought the soft pads of his fingers over the tops of Neku's thigh, a touch just gentle enough to make the mortal boy's breath hitch, but not enough to lead to anything deeper- he wouldn't. He couldn't. Not yet, anyway.
"You're quite attractive, too.. Though I'm not so rude as to ask if you had your nose done to make it look that way, or your jaw realigned." The Composer popped his lips together in a way that only he could make playfully apprehensive. "I have class."
"Yeah.. Class." Neku snorted, lowering his legs and actually sitting properly on the pristine white couch, this time around. He didn't swat that pale hand away from him, didn't spare a glance for it; acknowledging it with a subtle movement in his posture and nothing else. He knew what they were doing, the same thing they always did. The familiar spark of competition that he indulged in only with the man beside him, of course he would recognize its friendly face once more. "That's what were calling it, now."
"Indeed. Class." Joshua leaned the slightest amount closer, enough for a few of his blonde strands to dislodge themselves from behind his ear, falling in a delicate cascade down the ivory of his face. The tongue poking through those notably plump lips was poisonous and Neku found his mind remembering how he adored the taste of the Angel's venom, the burn of it as it slithered down his throat and took him over from the inside-out. "And you sure could use some."
Not that the aura between them had changed extensively, but by the time the red-haired settled back down, there was a notable difference. That was Joshua's move, the depth in the violet ring of his irises, the alluring beckon of his weighty call, a curiously apparent memory making itself apparent in Neku's mind of their previous intimate moments- pouring into his head suspiciously sudden, as if Joshua had perhaps placed it there with whatever mind-fuckery he seemed so proud of pretending he wasn't using. Cheater.
The boy (-well, a man, now) settled with a certain contentment, physically far too open for his own good, and ran a hand through his messied hair mindlessly, knowing that he was being watched.
Joshua hadn't been the most sly about sizing his partner up- especially since things have settled down after the removal of the Shinjuku Conductor who waltzed his way in, but this had to be his most shameless display yet.
Neku may not have the ability to plant his own memories into his partner's head directly, but he had his own tricks.
With a faint stretch into the plush behind him to place himself in a better view, the human made a show of turning his head back to the side, back to his phone, back to whatever he was doing beforehand. He could feel the tingle of Joshua invading his mind, the twitch to his ash blonde-brow as he studied the human inside and out for whatever he was planning.
Neku held back a smile at the slight annoyance Joshua must be feeling, at having his attempt at manipulation foiled. He wanted to win, wanted Neku to give in and throw himself at the blonde- but it was exciting and even amusing when he didn't get what he wanted, when he had to work for it. The Composer's budding irritation could be felt in the air, sufficiently bothered.
The blonde took a look over the broad expanse of the other's chest now that it was no longer covered by his slender legs. Even though the skin itself was covered, he knew well the slight tan and galaxy of freckles that hid under that atrocious tank, courtesy of J of M (or, "Jupes", as the little Tosai boy had been calling it. It seemed to make Neku ticked when he heard the phrase, so therefore, Joshua would do everything in his power to say it as often as possible).
His lovely legs were also decorated in a pair of shorts of the same brand, purples, yellows, whites decorating the sides and taking away from the beauty that was his natural body.
Such a shame that he was committed to such a horseshit aesthetic, as the blank canvas underneath the terrible clothing was so lovely.
Joshua was not only caught in the act but watched throughout it. Knowing that he was being monitored like a hawk, and now holding new information about a certain part of his physical self that the red-haired particularily enjoyed, he used this to his advantage.
With lowered lashes, his mischevious violet flickered back up to the other's curious ocean blue, and he made as much of a display as possible of flicking his tongue out and over his thickened lips.
Instant success, as the eyes on the RG-dweller almost immediately widened, and blood rushed to his cheeks quick enough that the Composer could almost hear it.
His moistened lips stretched into a dangerous smirk, body turning to face his partner for full effect.
"..you're not too bad to look at, yourself, Neku dear."
They shared eye contact, something that may have once been dangerous, but was now exciting and dare he even say, starting to become familiar.
Once again, Joshua got his way, when Neku was the first one to sit up, lean over, and catch his "unnaturally developed" lips into a kiss.