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It was Saturday, and Umemiya and Endo were lying on the carpet in his room. They had actually done their homework. Umemiya turned out to be pretty bad at science, Endo's specialty. And Umemiya was able to help him with his literature homework. They had to complete a review of the novel they were currently reading, which Endo couldn't think of.
Their parents were only in the house for a while, then left, leaving them alone.
Endo's theory about Umemiya being able to keep quiet for a short time was starting to gain more traction. Once they were alone, the black-haired boy tried to initiate a kiss, which Hajime briefly accepted, then pulled away and laughed at the other's small grimace of annoyance.
"Calm down. I just want to talk too." Endo pursed his lips in a pout, about to complain about the other's insistence. "You said you don't want to talk about trophies, I suppose you don't want to talk about your grades either. So what can I find out about you?"
Yamato thought the question was fair, so he searched his mind for some normal information to share.
“Well… when I was a kid, I liked hyenas. I wrote a project on that subject for school. I think it was all because of that movie, The Lion King.”
“Oh, I saw it. I'm sure the CD is stored somewhere at the orphanage. It was a favorite of some of the younger kids. Although it was a bit tiring comforting them after the Mufasa scene.” They laughed at that.
Endo crossed his arms in front of him and rested his head there. Umemiya preferred to stare up at the ceiling, his head resting on a notebook and his arms on his stomach.
“So… are you passionate about anything?”
“Fighting?” he said. When in fact his first thought was, ‘Takiishi.’
“I meant something more… everyday?” Well, Takiishi was a frequent sight in his everyday life. “Like…Tsubakino likes fashion and makeup, he's always recommending hair products and similar things. Momose likes to draw; he doesn't like graffitiing the school, but he wants to make a really cool mural someday.”
“How about you?” He asked the question to stall for time, but Umemiya turned sideways, resting a hand on his face. He looked at Endo with shining eyes.
“I, Hajime Umemiya, have been gardening for almost a year now, and it’s finally paying off.” He spoke with a puffed-out chest, completely proud. “Tomato season is approaching. Although my plan is to get more space, for now one of the village elders is lending me a portion of his personal crops.”
‘Plants and biology aren’t that different up to a point.’
“I… I guess, I like biology, especially the human body.” He raised his head, slightly lower than Umemiya’s.
“Really? Then you must be enjoying the current topic we're covering.”
“I guess…actually, we're studying body systems. We did that in elementary school too, so it doesn't impress me that much.” The urge to kiss Umemiya arose, so he did. “You know, something I like about human beings? Our growth and how it begins from something as small as a cell. Simply put, at some point in its life, it must reproduce, undergo mitosis. But for that to happen, the molecules inside it must first begin reproducing, that is, copying themselves. And one of those molecules is DNA; one of its enzymes must begin the process. It's such a simple and normal step-by-step process, but at the same time, it's complex because of all the factors that come into play. And, and, my favorite part is that, over time, every time DNA copies itself, the telomeres—the ends of chromosomes—shorten little by little. That accumulation of wear and tear is one of the reasons we age.”
He finished his explanation with a cough due to how dry his mouth had become.
“Wow, that all sounds so difficult. How can you understand and explain it so easily? You're so brilliant.” Umemiya's smile spread to him. Why? Perhaps he was happy to receive compliments; it had been a while since a compliment felt this good.
Tired of the floor, Endo sat down, and Umemiya followed suit. Suddenly, climbing onto the bed seemed like too much work, so they used it as a backrest.
"We've talked a lot, can we kiss now?" he asked politely.
"Sure."
"Finally," he replied mockingly.
Like teenagers, they moved quickly and violently. Endo felt the strength of Umemiya's hands squeezing his waist as their tongues clashed. Finding a rhythm was difficult at first, but when they finally established it, they could follow the path on each other's bodies.
One of Yamato's hands ran over the other's shirt, back, and chest, unashamed of shame.
Umemiya wasn't far behind; with an awkward movement, he pulled Endo onto his lap. He didn't complain at all; he was beginning to notice his tendency to be on top of the other, a guilty pleasure since Takiishi would never let him do something like that.
' Takiishi .'
"What 's wrong?" Without really realizing it, Endo had pulled away.
“Huh?” What was happening? Why had he stopped?
Hajime brought his hands up to Yamato’s face. “You suddenly shut down, are you okay?” He seemed genuinely concerned.
“Yamato! We’re home.” His parents’ voices shook them both out of any remaining excitement.
Endo ran to the door to answer it and then closed it; they both needed to tidy up so as not to give themselves away. Starting with his clothes and then the floor, Umemiya began gathering his notebooks, leaving Endo’s on the desk. When he finished, he looked at him waiting.
“Do you want to see something? It’s kind of weird, but I swear I’m not responsible.”
They both needed to escape the awkward moment from before, so Umemiya gladly agreed.
“Come on,” he left the room and walked in the opposite direction of the living room, away from his parents.
They went upstairs. Endo led him to a somewhat secluded room, only flanked by another door, which was the desk his parents used to work from home. The room in question consisted of a small but comfortable room, and on one wall were items hanging or displayed in windows and frames.
Umemiya looked around the room in confusion, his gaze clearly indicating a "what's all this?"
"I assume my parents want me to start using this room as my own desk. Every item hanging there corresponds to a sport I played. I have at least a trophy from half of them." Endo couldn't quite understand why he felt the desire to take Umemiya there. "You wanted to know more about me, didn't you?"
"Wow, fighting, biology, science, art, and sports. Is there anything you're not good at?"
"People, I've always been bad at judging people's character."
Umemiya smiled. "Thanks for telling me."
Endo had a complicated relationship with that room. He liked it but hated it, just like the trophies in his room.
But he felt complete freedom being there with Umemiya. He approached him and took one of his hands, carefully bringing his lips together for a tender kiss.
"You're the first person I've brought into this room, and also the only one I've ever kissed here."
The glow from when Hajime had talked to him about gardening was back. But that fascination was completely directed at Endo now.
"I-I promise I'll show you something just as important to me... j-just let me find it."
At that moment, Yamato felt a fluttering warmth in his body, perhaps tenderness.
"I'll walk Umemiya-kun to a street, and then I'll have dinner with Takiishi," Endo said to his parents.
“Please take care, Yamato. Have Umemiya-kun let you know when he gets home,” his mother said from the kitchen.
They walked out slowly, side by side, with no real desire to separate, but neither lacking the courage to hold hands. If they thought about it, it had only been three days since their first kiss. How had trust built so quickly?
As soon as they reached the street where Umemiya would go to Makochi and Endo to the area where Takiishi lived, they found themselves standing and waiting for the other to make the first move, but they didn't want to. Until finally, Umemiya made a move that seemed familiar to Endo: he grabbed his wrist, weakly, and they walked to a small alley that was too dark to be very clean.
“See you at school, okay?” Endo braced himself for the kiss to come, but didn't consider that it was actually aimed at his cheek.
‘So cheesy.’ he thought at that moment, though it still made his blush deeply.
For the rest of the night, he cursed Umemiya, as his cheesiness kept Endo's cheeks a deep pink that lingered all night.