Of bratty demons and mushroom heads

CHAPTER 2

Choutarou had left only a few hours ago, having shown up at Hiyoshi’s dorm room mere moments after his return from home. Since then, Hiyoshi hadn’t managed to do anything productive. He knew he needed to get up, unpack, try to get some of his homework done, and maybe figure out what he was going to do for dinner; however, he felt drained and didn’t want to move from his futon. The unavoidable conversation he’d had with his best friend kept running through his head like a VCR on fast forward.

After five years, he had finally come to terms with his feelings for his best friend and had promised he would get over his damn crush. Choutarou had been so sweet about it… and then gave him a parting kiss. What the hell?! That had not helped his personal situation at all. He knew that Choutarou was also suffering from the one-sided love with Shishido he’d had forever, so if anything, the kiss must have been out of empathy.

In the end though, the outcome had been a good one; he was at least satisfied with that. Now Hiyoshi was determined to get over him and go on with his life. The next big problem was going to be what to do about his new fiancé his family had just sprung on him. He turned onto his side and closed his eyes, trying to block out all the invading thoughts. Maybe taking a small nap would be nice.

Akaya was bored out of his mind. He knew he could go out and get a date in town or just around campus no problem, but he was feeling lazy tonight. In the end he decided to go see what Hiyoshi was up to. He was really curious to find out why the other boy had to go home against his will and see if he couldn’t make any more progress on the bet from his last visit. He raised his fist and knocked on the door loudly.

Hiyoshi had finally just dozed off when he heard someone at the door. Ignoring it, he let out an unintelligible grumble before turning onto his other side, facing the wall.

Akaya frowned at the door when it didn't open. He thought about it for a moment, wondering if he'd gotten the day Hiyoshi was coming back wrong, but remembered that he was never wrong. With a little grin he grabbed the door handle and turned; unlocked. Score.

Black curls poked in the room and he glanced over at the futon. Was the mushroom asleep? Akaya crept over, and with a devilish grin, lay down behind the other boy and wrapped his arms around his waist.

Half asleep, Hiyoshi’s sleep fogged brain was annoyed by the slight movements going on in back of him. When did it get so warm in his room? Letting out a small drowsy grumble, he twisted around again until his face came in contact with a hard warm surface. Immediately, his eyes sprang open to see a grinning Kirihara laying right next him. He froze. Was he dreaming? Maybe more like a nightmare. With an exasperated ‘Ugh’ his head collapsed forward, right into the crevice between Kirihara’s neck and shoulder.

"Go back to sleep," Akaya purred, but couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice. He was honestly surprised he wasn't in some crazy hold right now, but he wasn't going to complain. Instead, he reached a hand up to Hiyoshi’s hair and ran his fingers through the soft strands slowly.

Hiyoshi felt his face heat up. Okay, so maybe this wasn’t a dream. Why was Kirihara in his room? How had they gotten into this position? And why the fuck had he not punched him and bunted him out by now? “How the hell did you get in my room, brat?” He asked tersely, forcing himself not jump away. He didn’t want to act like a squeamish girl, even if it did make him more susceptible to evil molesting demons.

"You left the door unlocked," Akaya replied simply and continued his petting. "You should be more careful," he continued. He left out that he could still get in with a bobby pin and five minutes, even if the door was locked. Sanada never did figure out how the family stone always got stolen out of his locker that he was meticulous about locking.

Shit. He must have forgotten to lock it after Choutarou left. “Apparently.” Hiyoshi answered, cursing himself for being so careless. “Did you want something, or do you make it a habit to molest people while they’re trying to sleep?”

"I'm not molesting you," Akaya chided and started to slide his hands down toward Hiyoshi’s ass and his grin twisted into a devilish smirk, "I can if you want me to though."

“You are an idiot.” There was more resignation than distaste in Hiyoshi’s tone. Deciding to save what was left of his dignity; he untangled Kirihara’s hold on him and forcefully pushed him off the futon. Knowing he wasn’t going to get anymore rest, he decided to at least try to get some work done. Raising an eyebrow to Kirihara’s form on the floor, he quipped, “You gonna stay there and watch, or are you going to make yourself useful?”

Hiyoshi was lucky that the senpai’s always picked on him worse back in junior high or he might have gotten mad and Akaya mad was never a good thing. "What do you want me to do?" He sat up and buried a hand in his black mess of hair to scratch at his scalp and stared at the other boy.

Unzipping his bag and starting to unpack the meticulously folded and placed contents, Hiyoshi threw his gi at Kirihara. “Here, you know where that goes. When you’re done with that, the pants go in the drawer above it and the shirts get hung up in the closet.” Smirking, he turned around to put his toiletries away. For some reason he had yet to figure out, Kirihara’s presence didn’t bother him anymore like it used to. He was still a psychotic molesting brat, but at least he could be a helpful one.

'At least it's something to do,’ Kirihara reasoned and started to work on his assigned task. "So, mushroom head.” He glanced over to Hiyoshi then back to his task at hand. "Why'd you have to go home, anyway? Your parents miss you that bad or something?"

“Don’t call me that, brat,” Hiyoshi countered coolly while trying to decide whether or not to answer the question. Shrugging, he figured it didn’t matter if people knew. “My parents arranged an omiai, arranged marriage, for me; I had to go to meet my new fiancé and her family.” There was no point in hiding it.

"An omiai?" Akaya repeated and stared at Hiyoshi for a moment before tilting his head to the side curiously. "You're getting married, huh?" He figured he'd have to double his efforts now so that the poor girl didn't end up with a wound up, sexually frustrated husband. It wasn't fair to her. "Is she hot?"

Hiyoshi had to force himself not to snicker. That was the first thing Kirihara had thought to respond with? Honestly, he hadn’t really thought about it all that much. “I guess she is,” he answered with a shrug, “I don’t really know her since I just met her for the first time.”

"...I didn't ask if she was nice, I was asking if she was attractive," Akaya mumbled and started hanging up the shirts. "What'd ya think when you first saw her? 'Oh, she's cute?’ 'Damn, I bet she's great in bed?’ Although, I guess that wouldn't be your first thought, huh, Chastity-san." Akaya giggled to himself and started on the next shirt.

“Heh, just because I don’t feel the need to throw myself at anything with two legs and a sex organ doesn’t mean I’m not interested.” Hiyoshi bit out before he realized he’d just said that out loud. Hastily, he continued, “And who says I’m getting married? It’s more like arranged dating.” He used the words Choutarou had used to describe it. “All this is, is just another bothersome distraction my parents are throwing at me to try and turn me into the little heir they want.”

"Heh, heh. So you are interested." Akaya grinned mischievously as he started on the last shirt. "Arranged dating is for people who can't get dates any other way, it's---" He stopped and stared at the last shirt. "No wonder your parents are trying to find you someone... You wear this?" He held up the hideous excuse for a shirt. He was no fashion guru or anything, but damn. He shook his head and continued. "And if you don't want to be their perfect little heir, tell them. It's your life, not theirs."

“Shut up! Stupid brat. Who cares what you think?” Hiyoshi grabbed the offended object from him and hung it up. “I could get a date if I wanted; I just have better things to do with my time.” Crossing his arms over his chest, Hiyoshi glared. “Besides, it doesn’t really matter all that much whether or not they want to hook me up with a fiancé. There’s no one I’m interested in seeing anyway. Might as well make them happy.”

"Like what?" Akaya asked, smirking back at him. "University is all about exploring. Besides, you really, really don't want to be stuck with the first girl you’re with, especially not one your parents set you up with. She's probably one of those stuck up chicks that isn't going to sleep with you 'til you two are married. Then she'll try and run your life or something." He rolled his eyes at Hiyoshi and plopped down on the futon again. "Seriously dude, you should know this stuff, don't you read manga?"

Hiyoshi grudgingly had to admit that Kirihara may be right. Both Choutarou and Gakuto had also pointed out that he needed to do more ‘exploring’ while in college. Unfortunately, he had pretty much resigned himself to this future years ago when he had decided to take over the family dojo in place of his older brother. “No, I don’t.” He answered. “You know, you’re not doing a very good job of proving to me you aren’t a brat.” Why was he saying all this to him anyway? It’s not like they knew each other very well and there was no reason for Kirihara to even care about what was going on in his life.

"Maybe you should start." Akaya glared at him for the brat comment and stood yet again. Time had been kind to him and he'd grown a lot taller than he'd been in junior high, so he stood a few centimeters taller than Hiyoshi and he used the perspective to his advantage. "Five minutes max and I could prove to you how un-brat like I can be," he purred and let his features twist into the familiar suggestive smirk.

Hiyoshi was used to others using their height to try and intimidate him. The brat might be taller than him now, but that didn’t mean a damn thing to him. If anything, Kirihara’s determination to prove he wasn’t a brat and his attempts to seduce him were almost… amusing. With a chuckle, he easily swept the other boys feet out from under him, making him crash back down in a sprawl on the futon. Sitting down next to him, Hiyoshi allowed himself a small snicker at the other boy’s expense.

He was getting far too used to this. Akaya didn't even make a noise other than the dull thud as he hit the cushion. "Stop doing that," he mumbled and rolled to his side to face Hiyoshi. "I'll get you back when you least expect it."

Hiyoshi impulsively reached out to ruffle Kirihara’s curly black hair and sat down next to him on the futon. “Sure, you just keep telling yourself that.” The hair was a thick mess and impossible to actually run his hand through, so he just settled for scratching at the base where the hairline met his neck. He had to admit, Kirihara’s chaotic existence was a nice change of pace from his usual quiet and tiresome lifestyle.

Akaya was about to bat the hand on his hair away but stopped immediately when the hand trailed down to his neck and started playing with his hair. He dropped his head to give the other boy better access and fought to keep from purring.

The picture Kirihara made next to him, nearly on his lap now, was almost comical. Hiyoshi leaned back against the wall as he continued to gently scratch Kirihara’s untidy head of hair. His hair matched him perfectly, dark and chaotic with bouncy curls to signify his childlike behavior. His hand slowly made its way towards the back of his ears. It amazed him how easy it was to be close to this person who he’d loathed for years. Staring at nothing, he finally gave up on trying figure it out and let himself relax.

Akaya felt his eyelids getting heavy and frowned, if he slept now he'd have to do something later to wear himself out so he could sleep again. No one was going to want to play tennis in the middle of the night. Maybe he'd run laps or something. He was too comfortable to move right now though so he just closed his eyes and let himself fall all the way into the other boy’s lap.

Hiyoshi wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that; falling in and out of a doze while unconsciously petting Kirihara, who was now curled up on his lap like a content kitten. After a while though, his stomach started to protest. He’d forgotten to have lunch that day. Forcing himself awake, he looked down at the bundle of brat lying on top of him.

The guy had helped him pack and then unpack from his trip home, and despite having come into his room today uninvited, he hadn’t been a nuisance. In fact, Kirihara had been a welcome distraction from today’s emotional escapades. Hiyoshi figured he at least owed him dinner. Pulling at some wayward curls to get his attention, he casually asked, “Would you like to get something to eat? There’s an Italian place not far from here.”

To say Akaya was disappointed when Hiyoshi stopped petting him was an understatement. He glared up at him for tugging his hair, but the Hyotei alumni knew the key word to dispelling any irritation. "Hn? Food?" Okay, that was an acceptable reason to stop petting. "Your treat?" he asked with a little grin, but not getting off of the other boy’s lap, the defined firm muscles made good pillows.

“Sure, brat.” Hiyoshi responded, rolling his eyes. “Just don’t get used to it.” Then he added softly under his breath, “This is just a thank you for earlier.”

Akaya’s little grin spread ear to ear and he practically glowed. "Awesome, thanks!" He brought one of his hands up and pulled Hiyoshi down into a quick kiss before rolling off his lap and hurrying to the door. "Well, let's go then." He slid on his shoes and practically bounced next to the door while he waited for the other boy.

It all happened so fast that Hiyoshi didn’t know how to respond. A corner of his mouth threatened to turn up in a small smile, but he forced it back down before it had a chance to surface. Standing up and making sure his wallet was still in his pocket he, in much calmer fashion, walked over to where Kirihara was waiting for him by the door. This time, on their way out, he remembered to lock the door behind him.