Play With Me?

School had apparently just let out if the number of teenagers wandering the hallowed halls of the shopping Mecca were any indication. Paths cleared, people stared and vast numbers of girls giggled then started following the eight gorgeous young men roving around the mall.



Aya and Schu were bringing up the rear of the party and Aya kept glancing over his shoulder nervously. He wasn’t quite sure how to deal with the fangirls at this particular point in time. Normally he would have bellowed at them to go away, not that it had ever worked in the past but it was always worth a shot.



“Why do they keep following us?” Aya asked.



“Ah, the hazards of being a redhead,” Schuldig said, flipping a piece of his now nearly calf length curtain of copper hair back over one shoulder. Oddly enough, every time they skipped up in age their hair grew as though it hadn’t been cut in the intervening years. Hence why Schuldig’s, which had been fairly long to begin with, was now the length it was.



“At least at the store I could make them leave. I feel like a gazelle being stalked by an entire pride of lionesses.”



Schuldig frowned at he waves of genuine worry coming from Aya. He’d never felt even mild unease come from the leader of Weiss before. Of course, at the moment he wasn’t the leader of Weiss, he was a teenager with all the baggage that went along with it. He thought for a moment then picked the topic most likely to distract Aya from the fangirls. Yohji.



“Yohji’s pretty hot, isn’t he,” Schu said conversationally, waiting to gauge Aya’s reaction to the statement.



“Yeah,” Aya mumbled into his shirt. “I guess.”



“So, what’s the problem?”



Aya blinked and stared at him. “What do you mean?”



“Scheisse, what will you guys do without me? You like him, he likes you, what’s the problem?”



“I . . .” Aya began then sighed heavily.



“What? Don’t make me yank it out of your head because it’s bad enough trying to shield from the giggle brigade back there,” Schu said, jerking his head back toward the girls who were still following them.



“I don’t think he’s interested,” he said honestly, watching the swing of the now dark blond braid in front of him.



“What makes you think that?”



“Watching him chase everything female and over the age of eighteen the past few years.”



“He’s interested. I can feel it. Go plant a big kiss on him and see what happens,” Schu urged, grinning.



“I don’t like kissing that much. Why haven’t you tried that with Brad then?”



Schu made a face and said, “I can’t get past his shields to figure out if he likes me, the bastard.” He paused for a moment then turned to look at Aya oddly. “Whaddya mean you don’t like kissing?”



Aya squirmed uncomfortably under Schu’s look. “I just . . . I mean, it isn’t like I’ve done it a lot,” he said, turning roughly the color of his hair.



Schuldig got the flash impression of someone trying to kiss Aya who obviously had not a clue you weren’t supposed to draw blood and cause bruising with a first kiss. No wonder he didn’t like kissing if that was the whole of his experience with it.



“Gott in Himmel! Come on!” Schu said, grabbing Aya’s hand and dragging him sideways away from the group and into a store with tons of lurid pink as a color scheme. He dragged the other boy past several startled women and sales clerks into one of the dressing rooms.



“What are you doing, Schu?” Aya protested after being shoved into the dressing room.



“Educating you,” he said, locking the door behind him. “Kissing 101.”



Aya stared wide eyed at him for a full minute. “Why?”



Schu rolled his eyes. “Because I’ve been told I’m good at it, I enjoy it and you obviously need the practice since you’re interested in Yohji and he likes kissing. A lot from what I can tell.”



Aya looked doubtful. “You really think it’ll help?”



Schu shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt. If you don’t want to just say so.”



“I . . . don’t know. After all, you were my enemy until a few days ago and I still don’t even know your real name.”



“Ja, well, you were mine too and you have to admit we’ve been through a lot together in the last few days. I’ll tell you my name if you promise not to laugh cause I swear my mom was on drugs or something.”



“Promise.”



Schuldig sighed, thinking this was a bad idea. The only reason Brad even knew his name was because he had his files. It would be nice though, for someone to know his real name, he thought. He bit his bottom lip then said, “It’s Lieb.”



Aya blinked for a moment as the meaning registered. Schuldig tensed, waiting for the laughter, gods knew others had found it amusing and that was the main reason why no one knew what his name really was. After all, who’d ever heard of an assassin whose name meant love?



Aya just nodded and said, “Nice to meet you, Lieb. I’m Ran. So, how do we do this?”



“Just follow my lead,” Schuldig said, stepping close to the other boy. “For Divine’s sake relax willya. I won’t bite you or anything.” He paused for a moment, picking up another memory from Aya’s head. “Some moron really did bite you, didn’t they.”



Aya just nodded.



“No wonder you don’t like kissing. Let’s see if I can fix that idea,” he said, taking Aya’s face in both hands before leaning forward and very gently brushing his lips across the other boy’s. “See? Was that so bad for a start?”



Aya, who’d had his eyes and mouth firmly shut, opened his eyes and stared at Schu curiously. “It didn’t hurt,” he said, sounding bewildered.



“It isn’t supposed to. Unless you’re into that sort of thing but that’s a whole different subject.”



Aya shifted and reached up to put one hand against Schu’s cheek. “Can I?” he asked, sounding very uncertain.



“Sure,” Schu said. He closed his eyes and waited. It was a few seconds before he felt the hesitant touch of Aya’s lips against his. He almost smiled at the soft, barely there kiss. It was almost as though Aya was making absolutely certain not to hurt him. It was sweet.



Aya pulled back, looking at Schuldig and feeling rather confused. There had to be more to it than that, he surmised. He just had no idea how to ask if there was something else about kissing that made people crazy about it.



“Ja, there’s more to it,” Schu said, accurately reading his expression if not his thoughts.



“Stay out of my head,” Aya grumbled.



“Didn’t have to be in it. Want me to show you or do you want to stop?”



Aya chewed nervously on his bottom lip for a moment before nodding. Schu grinned before leaning forward and kissing him again, this time a little more firmly. Slanting his mouth first one way then the other against the other boy’s until he finally felt Aya’s lips soften under his and the tension lessen somewhat. He pressed both lips gently against first Aya’s top then bottom lip before tracing the seam of his mouth very lightly with his tongue. He pulled back, checking for any signs of doubtfulness, any signals to stop from Aya.



“Okay?” Schu asked.



Hazy purple eyes opened slowly before Aya took the initiative and sealed their lips together again. Schu mentally shrugged and let Aya kiss him as he willed.