Of bratty demons and mushroom heads

CHAPTER 20

The plans were set. He could do this. He was resolved to do this. It couldn’t be that hard to go the whole day being nice to his brat… err… boyfriend. He wouldn’t call him names, and he would only do and say things that would make Akaya happy. Seriously, as a few people pointed out, idiot was pretty easy to please so this shouldn’t be that hard. For their anniversary, Hiyoshi was determined to be the perfect boyfriend.

Akaya was currently asleep, completely on top of him, making it difficult to fulfill his first deed of the day. He moved his slightly deadened arms out from underneath him, and slowly rubbed his back while gently pushing him off. Akaya was actually a light sleeper who always woke up if there was too much movement in the room. He’d found when needing to get up in the morning before him, it was better to quietly tell Akaya rather than wake him up accidently.

Okay, time to be nice. Hiyoshi whispered gently in his ear, “I need to get up, br--baby.” His eyes crossed slightly at that. His first words of the day, and he already almost screwed up. Maybe this would be harder than he thought…

Akaya felt his pillow moving under him and furrowed his brow with a little groan. Just as he was about to ask what the hell Hiyoshi was moving around for, his boyfriend whispered to him. He groaned and rolled off of Hiyoshi before his eyes cracked open. "Did you just call me baby?" he murmured curiously.

Blushing slightly, Hiyoshi decided to ignore the question. “I’ll be right back, go back to sleep.” He leaned down to brush his lips against Akaya’s before getting out of bed to quickly dress and make his way to the kitchen.

After a long mental debate with himself, he’d finally gotten up the nerve to call Akaya’s mother yesterday to find out his favorite breakfast foods. He’d met her and the rest of Akaya’s family for two days over the break, and the impression he’d received had not been an altogether bad one. They were very different from his family. Though… he could have sworn at times it seemed as if they were taking turns hitting on him. Akaya’s mother, sister, …and his father. He cringed at the memory. Thankfully, the phone conversation had ended up being mostly painless if not slightly disturbing.

“You want to make him breakfast? Aren't you sweet! You know he can't cook to save his life, well let's see… He likes chocopan and riceballs, not together. Though he does really like anything sweet, French toast, pancakes with lots of strawberries or sugar on top, oh but he doesn't like anything that still has eyeballs, it freaks him out and he runs away screaming. Hmm… what else? Make sure he drinks something with his meal because he always eats too fast and chokes on something. Orange juice and water are good, sports drinks too, but not pocari sweat, he hates that. Oh, he hates milk too. I'm rambling again, aren't I? Heehee, silly me, well anyway Waka-chan, good luck. I'm sure he'll be very excited. Call me back anytime love, bye!”

Yes, disturbing. Thankfully, unlike his boyfriend, Hiyoshi was not a complete mess in the kitchen and could at least make decent French toast. He’d gone to the local grocery next to campus to get the necessary ingredients and stored them in the communal kitchen. He ended up being somewhat proud of the outcome. The French toast had been disgustingly drenched in strawberries, syrup, and powdered sugar. He’d had to make a few attempts, but the end result wasn’t burnt or soggy. He came back about 45 minutes later with the tray of death sugar and orange juice.

Putting the tray aside for the moment, he walked over to the bed to wake up the brat who was currently sprawled out on the bed in all directions. It was already ten-thirty in the morning, so it should be okay to wake him up. Leaning over him, he smoothed back his tousled mess of curls while calling, “Hey, br—baby, time to wake up.” He winced. He really needed to think of some other excuse for when he almost called him brat.

Akaya’s nose twitched as something that smelled like heaven entered the room. When he felt the other boy kneel down beside him, he cracked one eye open and looked at him curiously. "You smell good," he mumbled and hugged onto his boyfriend to take a deep whiff. Wait, that wasn't what he smelled. He sat up grudgingly and looked around. "What's that--" He looked at Hiyoshi with a raised eyebrow, "Did you call me baby again?"

“Sit up.” Ignoring the question, Hiyoshi went to retrieve the tray of food and placed it on Akaya’s lap. “Breakfast. Eat.” He didn’t know if he could handle whatever look Akaya would give him, so instead he collapsed next to him on the bed face down.

The still half asleep boy sat up and as soon as the tray was in front of him. His eyes lit up like someone had just told him it was Christmas and he stared at the side of Hiyoshi’s head. "Wakashi, you made this for me?! It looks great!!" He leaned over to kiss his boyfriend on the top of the back of his head then mumbled an 'Itadakimasu!!' before attacking the sugary concoction, "It's so good!!!!" he gushed between bites.

Hiyoshi smiled despite himself from his position facing down. Akaya’s reaction and satisfied eating noises told him that he was doing fine so far, which was good encouragement. He turned over so he could peek up at Akaya’s face while he ate. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard after all.

“When you’re done, give me the tray and then get dressed. Make sure you wear clothes that you don’t care if they get messed up.” He had a long day planned out and they needed to head out soon to stay on schedule.

"Eh?" Akaya blinked and shoved another bite into his mouth. "Where we goin?" he asked curiously and took another bite, only to choke on it. He quickly washed it down with the orange juice and let out a little sigh of relief. How did that always happen?

“Chew, then swallow,” Hiyoshi reminded with a snicker. Damn it! He could hold back his snide remarks if it killed him! He patted his back once. “I’m glad you like it.” Standing up, he made his way to his section of the closet. Akaya’s stuff had slowly but surely been invading his space over the last month, as some of his own clothes were now housed at Akaya’s. “You’ll find out where we’re going when we get there. Do you need to stop by your dorm before we go?”

Something seemed different about Hiyoshi, but Akaya couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Oh uh... No," he muttered and watched his boyfriend suspiciously as he finished his food and got out of bed. He walked over to his little part of the closet and found a pair of shorts and t-shirt that he didn't care much about. It had a large amount of badly written English on it.

“Good.” Hiyoshi finished dressing quickly and checked the time on his watch. They had about a half hour to get there before the place opened. While taking care of the dishes, he started to mentally check off everything they would need for the day. He’d packed mostly everything in a large bag the previous night, but he felt like he’d forgotten something already. Hmm… he went over it in his head again. No, maybe he’d already forgotten something this morning? MORNING! Damn it.

Walking back over to Akaya, who was currently in the middle of getting dressed, he grabbed him abruptly by the arm and pulled him into his planned tender morning kiss. “Good morning,” he said afterword, satisfied. Better late than never. He let go of him and went back to pack the last of what they would need. Slugging the large bag over his shoulder, he turned back, “Ready to go?”

Well now Akaya was positive something was wrong with his boyfriend. He walked up to his mushroom and put a hand on his forehead, making sure he didn't have a fever. Nope, normal. What the hell was wrong then? "Uh… Yeah, I guess," he mumbled and followed his far too chipper boyfriend out of the dorm.

Breakfast: Check

One thing Hiyoshi liked about their relationship. Akaya trusted him enough to just follow him wherever he led and not ask questions, or at least not expect an answer, or maybe he just forgot the question. He’d been trying to think of a new place Akaya and he could enjoy together. The thought had come to him when he’d overheard some members of his fraternity talking about it, but not knowing much about paintball, he looked it up online. At first the idea of putting a gun in Akaya’s hands (real or not) seemed like the dumbest idea in the world, but after looking into it, it looked reasonably safe and fun.

After a twenty minute taxi drive, they arrived at a large building, fairly far away from any others. Paintball wasn’t the most popular sport in Japan, and he didn’t know if Akaya had even heard of it. He asked the taxi to come back in three hours before they got out and made their way to the entrance.

Akaya’s face was plastered to the window the whole drive, much to the chagrin of the cab driver, and his eyes got huge when they arrived in front of the building. "What? Three hours? Then..." If he remembered correctly, this was the paintball place he'd come to back in high school. He looked at Hiyoshi curiously, trying to figure out why his boyfriend was bringing him here when he was almost 100% sure that Hiyoshi was not the paintball type.

It was difficult to gauge whether Akaya was happy or not with this choice of activity. Before entering the building, Hiyoshi tentatively asked, “Is this okay? …We can do something else if you’d like.” Shit, he should have checked further to make sure Akaya liked this kind of thing. Maybe he should have asked Sanada.

When they walked into the building and Akaya saw it was indeed the paintball place, he looked at Hiyoshi with sparkles in his eyes and jumped onto him in a fierce hug. "This is awesome!!!"

Hiyoshi let out a sigh of relief. Good, he hadn’t messed up. His cheeks turned slightly pink at the public show of affection, but as he’d promised himself, he didn’t try to pull away. “Uh… we have an appointment, so we should sign in, br—beautiful.” Ouch. That hadn’t come out good either, but at least it was better than ‘baby’.

Just as Akaya was pulling away, he paused and looked at Hiyoshi with a look that said 'seriously?' "Beautiful?" he repeated sounding rather disbelieving then dragged his boyfriend toward the counter. To Akaya’s surprise, the man was indeed expecting them and outfitted them with the latest gear and threw them out into the area by themselves.

Three hours later…

"That was sooooo cool!!" Akaya said happily and laced his fingers behind his head. He had won of course, but only because he'd done it before. Half way through their three hours, other people joined in and they teamed up to take them down. By the time they walked out, Akaya was covered in bruises and welts, but he was too happy to care.

Hiyoshi grunted his agreement to Akaya’s comment. He was going to be hurting in the morning. Apparently having tiny balls of paint shot at you HURT. He’d had no idea how physical it would be either. The way the terrain had been designed in the building for duck and cover had been a real challenge at times. It had been fun, hunting each other down, trying to calculate where the other would be. Akaya was a natural predator, and Hiyoshi had been trained in stealth for years. In the end, they had matched up pretty evenly, he thought. When more people had arrived, it had been fun to team up as well. Though he couldn’t say it out loud today without breaking his promise to himself, shooting Akaya had been amazingly satisfying at times.

Looking at the clock on the wall, they had about forty-five minutes to get to their next stop if they wanted to stay on schedule. “I brought us both a change of clothes. Let’s get changed so we can go.”

"Eh?" Wow, Hiyoshi had really come prepared. "There's more?" Akaya asked curiously, surprised that they were doing so much in one day when normally their excitement was watching a movie or playing a game back in their room.

Hiyoshi was getting good at ignoring Akaya’s questions. Walking away into the dressing room, he knew that Akaya would follow him. Once there, he searched through the large bag he’d been carrying around to find their extra sets of clothes. He’d specifically packed clothes for Akaya that he’d seem him wear before in public and for tennis practice. “Here.” He handed Akaya his clothes and began dressing himself. “We can get a quick lunch on our way there.” He really didn’t want to say this next sentence… “How about McDonalds?”

Akaya was fairly certain his jaw hit the floor and his eyes bugged out of his head, "EH?! Seriously?!" he said in disbelief as he changed, never once taking his eyes off of Hiyoshi. "Dude, are you sick or something? 'Cause you hate McDonalds..." Maybe aliens had replaced his Wakashi with a new Wakashi or maybe... this was the original Hiyoshi and the other had just been a stand in until the aliens were finished researching on him... Either way, he was really freaked out and not sure whether to be happy or run away screaming.

Hiyoshi rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what the brat was thinking, he knew his boyfriend too well. “No, br-bab-beaut--, fuck… Whatever. It’s the real me and I’m perfectly fine. I just know you like McDonalds so I thought I would offer.” Akaya was still standing there looking shocked. No one else was in the small room, so once he was finished dressing, he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and leaned in close. “Should I not want to do things that make you happy?”

Akaya blinked as arms came around him, then smiled a bit and held Hiyoshi close. He still wasn't completely convinced it was the real Hiyoshi, but he wasn’t going to complain, not when his boyfriend was showering him with so much attention and treating him so nice. "No, I don't mind," he said quietly and kissed him.

Even if acting completely moronic and holding back his usual comments was hard (and he would probably need to purify himself of all the sap by the time the day was over), it was still worth it to see Akaya look at him like that. Hiyoshi ran his hand through the brat’s hair, holding him close for a minute more before breaking away. “Let’s finish cleaning up so we can go then.”

Akaya pulled away and finished dressing. Heading over to the door, he announced like an impatient child, "Alright! I'm ready when you are!"

Paintball: Check

McDonald’s had been what he expected; greasy and noisy. Hiyoshi was nothing if not thorough though, having checked what toys the kids meals had beforehand. Akaya would be disappointed if they went all the way there and the toys sucked. However, the current toys had to be, of all things, the new Dragon Ball Kai figures. He had thought the Mario toys had been embarrassing… It was all he could do not to crawl under the table or run out the doors, let alone keep his mouth shut at the ridiculous noises and show Akaya was putting on in public with his brand new Vegeta toy.

It had to be the best day ever, not only was he out with his boyfriend and getting to have a lot of fun (despite Hiyoshi acting kinda weird), but he got the limited edition Vegeta toy. He looked over at Hiyoshi’s Gohan figure and snickered. "Haha, you got stuck with Gohan," he laughed and made wooshing sounds as Vegeta flew around his drink then landed on the table, his arms crossed over his chest. "Hahaha! Stupid Kakarot’s son!" he said in a mock Vegeta voice while the kids at the next table over looked on jealously.

Hiyoshi could care less about which toy he got, or even if he got one, but Akaya liked it when he did. “Technically, Gohan was a better fighter than Vegeta.” He replied calmly, planted to his chair, trying to pretend he wasn’t planning an escape. “…Are you almost finished with your food?” He could see plain as day that Akaya had barely touched his burgers, but he couldn’t help it. All the loud fussy children were getting to him and he was tired of being out in crowds. He wanted to grab Akaya by the back of the head and drag him home, but the day was not even half over.

Akaya blinked; distracted from his argument over why Vegeta was obviously superior by his boyfriend’s question. He looked down at his burgers, having forgotten he even had them and immediately felt his stomach complain. He set Vegeta down, leaving him to survey over the restaurant in all of his regal Saiyan glory, as he attacked the food. He had it gone in less then 5 minutes and finished off with a loud content burp that earned disapproving looks from all of the mothers in the room and cheers from the kids.

Hiyoshi wanted to bury himself. Why was this idiot his boyfriend again? Why the hell did he put up with these juvenile acts? Now he just felt like slamming his head hard against the table a few times. He’d had no idea that keeping his mouth shut from releasing all his usual sardonic remarks would make him feel so close to suicide.

Eyebrow twitching, with a plastic almost scary smile on his face, Hiyoshi reached across the table to where Akaya had just finished his meal and looked like he was bout to pick up his toy again. He placed a hand over his to stop him. “We still have a few more stops, br-beautiful…” If he didn’t kill himself first, these nickname endearments were going to do it for him. “Let’s go, please?”

Akaya paused and looked at his boyfriend curiously. "Really?" he blinked then smiled from ear to ear. "Ok then, let's go!" he said excitedly and stood, grabbing Vegeta and shoving him in his pocket.

Hiyoshi silently thanked the heavens for easily distracted boyfriends.

McDonalds: Check

It was official; being overly nice all day may do permanent damage to his psyche. He should have thought before hand to not pick so many public places to visit in one day. The next stop on the schedule was Akaya’s favorite arcade in town. It was three stories high and had every type of game known to man (or at least known to Hiyoshi). Akaya could last in there for hours, but they could only stay for about two. Honestly, Hiyoshi was starting to wonder if he would even last for one. All the flashing lights and crowds of teenagers just getting out of school made the place roar with noise and his head twirl in circles. Thankfully, Akaya didn’t make him play too much, seeming content to have him just tag along as a silent supporter, showing off his ‘game prowess’ as you might say. The thought made him snicker silently, a small grin appearing on his face as Akaya won another level of some game he didn’t recognize. At least here he didn’t have to be embarrassed when Akaya acted like a five year old since he just fit in with the crowd.

Akaya hadn't been to the arcade in a long time, in part due to his large amount of games at home, but also because it was expensive. So when Hiyoshi brought him to the arcade, he could have cried. He dragged his boyfriend around to all of his favorite games and showed off by competing against the 'biggest and best' guy at the Dead or Alive 4 game stations and kicking his ass until the guy ran out of 100 yen coins.

After a while, noticing Hiyoshi looked kind of bored, he dragged him over to the DDR pads with an evil little smirk and put a couple coins in before pushing his boyfriend up onto one pad. Climbing up on the other, he selected the song and started it. "Just step on the arrows," he instructed and started moving.

Hiyoshi held back a grin when he was suddenly forced on to a DDR machine. Little did his boyfriend know how many hours he’d been forced to spend with Gakuto in his room with this particular game. He’d said it would be good for their doubles game. He had grumped about it then, thinking Gakuto was just bored and got a laugh out of making him dance, but now he was grateful. He was going to kick Akaya’s ass at a game, FINALLY. Akaya had set it on an easy level. Painlessly and flawlessly he followed the arrows, getting a perfect score. There were few things Hiyoshi claimed mastery of in this world, but full control over his own body and movements with grace and style was one of them.

Akaya stared in amazement, far too captivated by the sight before him to even put up a decent fight at the game. When had Hiyoshi learned to play DDR? How could he be that good?! As soon as the song was over, his jaw hit the floor. A perfect?! "How the hell did you do that?!"

Arrogant Hyotei smirk in place, Hiyoshi explained simply as he got off the machine. “Gakuto was my doubles partner.” Heh, it was fun to surprise his boyfriend every once in a while.

"Eh--damn it..." Akaya knew he had no chance at DDR against a student of Gakuto’s. He'd danced with that boy too much and seen him bent over in far too many positions to know that he was the master of all things flexible and dance like. It was something he knew he couldn't beat so he would just have them play something he could win. "Fine, alright, let's play something else."

Hiyoshi wanted to laugh at Akaya’s competitiveness (especially since that was a trait they shared), and any other day he would have insisted on beating his ass again at a higher level, but today was his day and he would let it slide. “Fine. What do you want to play next?”

"Whack-a-mole!" Akaya said with a little evil grin. "Come on, lets go!" He grabbed his boyfriend’s wrist and dragged him over to the machine with an evil smirk. "Let's see ya win this!"

Hiyoshi looked at Akaya like he was crazy when he was handed a rather large hammer with a big ridiculous red end. Akaya wanted to play this? It seemed like such an adolescent game. All he had to do was hit whatever popped out of the holes, right? “Okay...” Whack-a-mole was going to be a cinch.

Inserting the proper amount of coins for them, the martial artist readied himself. Then they appeared. The most annoying sounding, stupid looking things he’d ever seen or heard in his life. They were a terrible color of yellow-ish brown with huge teeth and enormous googly eyes, the high pitched giggly teasing voices reminiscent of all the girls that used to throw themselves at the tennis team back in middle school. He felt a huge wave of loathing crash over him, the fuckers were going down. With a sneer of hatred on his face, he slammed the huge stupid hammer down on the plastic heads.

Akaya took up his own padded hammer and attacked the goofy looking vermin as they popped up. He smirked as he hit them all perfectly with deadly accuracy. He glanced over at Hiyoshi out of the corner of his eye and smirked, "What's the matter Wakashi? You look frustrated."

The stupid moles were pissing him off, and Akaya wasn’t helping. However, every time he managed to get one it was very satisfying. Too bad he kept missing a majority of them, their movements completely unpredictable, and the ridiculous noises they were making when he missed managed only to heighten his resentment of them. He finally just stopped thinking and whacked at them randomly, actually managing to hit more of them in the process till the game finally ended. He was breathing hard and his eyes were fuming.

"I win!!" Akaya cried happily and looked at their scores before glomping onto Hiyoshi. "Hey, Wakashi, thank you for taking me here!!" he said happily. "Are we going anywhere else?" he asked curiously.

Hiyoshi felt the sudden urge to flip Akaya over onto the ground and leave him there. No, he was not going to demand a rematch and gain back his pride. No, he was not going to throw him across the room. He was going to breathe slowly and… fuck that. He grabbed Akaya’s wrist and dragged him to and up the escalator to the third floor, not caring what anyone around them might think. On the third floor was a small toddler activity area, but it was late afternoon on a week day and completely deserted, perfect. Completely ignoring the questions and comments coming from behind him, he picked Akaya up and threw him into the pokemon ball pit. He made a very satisfying crashing sound and squeak as he hit the pile of multi-colored balls.

Akaya blinked as he was dragged along. "Where are we going Wakashi...?" he asked just before he was thrown into the pokemon ball pit with a little yelp. He popped up out of the balls with a big glare. "Oi! What the hell was that for?!" He growled and grabbed Wakashi’s hand to pull him into the balls with him, an evil little grin plastered on his face.

Akaya looked amusing like that, glaring at him while surrounded by the sea of colorful balls. He really wasn’t that surprised when he got dragged down in after him. With a smirk, he immediately sent a wave of balls at him.

Dodged the balls by ducking under the pool of them, Akaya then popped up in front of Hiyoshi and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s shoulders. "Wakashi, I choose you!" he teased and pressed their lips together hungrily.

Huh? Hiyoshi lost his footing and fell backwards into the pit of balls, taking Akaya and his lips with him. His boyfriend was such a brat. He was surprised at first, but then pushed his lips back firmly against Akaya’s. The frustration of holding back all day having built up, he impatiently flipped them over so he was now on top and fervently kissed Akaya hard while pushing him down till they had to have been almost completely buried. Hiyoshi didn’t care, having something else much more appealing to focus on.

Akaya groaned as they sunk into the balls, and once he was on his back, he purred into the kiss and buried a hand in Hiyoshi’s hair, kissing him back with all of his emotions. "Wakashi," he said breathily between kisses, "I love you," he smiled and kissed him again as his hands wandered down his boyfriend’s back to his rear end.

There was warm, almost painful thump in Hiyoshi’s chest at Akaya’s words. Completely swept up in the moment, his mouth started to form a response, “I lo…” when loud high pitched yelps that definitely hadn’t come from Akaya were heard nearby. Breaking off the kiss, he looked up to find two mothers and their young children looking down at them. Shit. This was all Akaya’s fault.

Akaya looked up at the mothers and smiled with a little sweat drop. "Eh heh heh," he laughed and waved a little before pushing Hiyoshi off of him and standing up. "Bye bye!" he said with another little wave and a full amused laugh as he grabbed his boyfriend’s hand and pulled him out of the room quickly. He ran down the hall laughing like a mad man and didn't stop until they were outside. Finally letting go, he bent over and tried to catch his breath between laughs, "D-Did you see their faces? Ahahahaha! It was great!"

‘Great’ Would not have been the word Hiyoshi used to describe it, nor would it even start to depict the amount of embarrassment he was sure would last for years to come over what just happened. He was never going to that arcade ever again. The whole day would be pointless though if he let it get to him now, so he shoved the memory of what just happened to the back of his head and moved on to the next part of his plan. What was it? Oh, yeah. He started walking forward (away from the arcade as quickly as possible) “How does ice cream sound?”

Akaya smiled and trotted along beside Hiyoshi, "Ice cream sounds great!"

Arcade: Check

They walked to the ice cream vendor they always went to near campus. Hiyoshi was socially exhausted but Akaya looked happy. Classes had gotten out not too long ago and it was warm out and a bit packed. They had to wait in line for ten minutes to even place their order. Hiyoshi decided on a simple cone of green tea ice cream then turned to Akaya for his order.

"Uh... Let's see... Hmm..." Akaya looked at the menu for a while with his head tilted to the side, "Uh... Maybe... Oh! Okay, can I get a scoop of chocolate chip, a scoop of cookies and cream, a scoop of cookie dough, and... hmmm... All of that in a waffle cone with sprinkles!" he said happily and pulled out his wallet to pay.

Hiyoshi wanted to bury himself again. After this, Akaya was going to be on a painful sugar high. It would be painful for him, anyway. He took Akaya’s wallet away and paid the cashier with his own, looking at the triple layered confection that was handed to Akaya with dread. “It’s my treat today, br—beautiful.” His eyes went wide as he realized he’d just said that in public. Not wanting to look and see if anyone had heard, he walked away with his ice cream and Akaya’s wallet still in hand, forgetting to take the change.

Akaya blushed a bit as a couple people turned to stare at him and Hiyoshi’s retreating form. "Beautiful," he repeated quietly and put on a little frown as he tried his best to look badass and follow him. "So you wanna sit somewhere and eat or are we going back to the room or something?" he asked as he licked at his tower of ice cream.

“Sit down…” Hiyoshi mumbled. Finding a small bench, he slumped down on to it and licked absently at his ice cream. Damn it, Akaya better appreciate all of the effort this took. “I was thinking of going to the tennis courts after this…”

"Eh? The tennis courts?" Akaya asked curiously and demolished his ice cream cone in record time. "You wanna play a game with me?" He titled his head to the side and sucked the remaining ice cream off of his fingers one by one.

‘That’s just inhuman.’ Hiyoshi thought to himself, still working on his one scoop. “Not really,” Hiyoshi replied honestly with a sneer. “I haven’t played seriously in over four years. I doubt I would be much of a challenge.” And that would piss him off even more than the video games had. “I would say we could play a light game, but I doubt the phrase is even in your vocabulary.”

"Heh heh, Yeah... I'm not good at playing like that," Akaya laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Well maybe we can just hit around or something? I promise not to go blood shot or nothing," he leaned against his boyfriend’s side and rested his head on his shoulder.

“What? You think I’m scared of you like that?” The ex-tennis player asked teasingly. “Don’t think I can handle it?” Honestly, he didn’t even know if he could. In an everyday life situation? Probably. In tennis? Best not to test it.

“No," Akaya said just as honestly. "Well, you might be able to handle my bloodshot for a little bit, but you can't push me far enough to make me go to demon mode," he said simply and hooked their ankles together. "But I don't mind. I don't wanna play you like that..."

Hiyoshi took Akaya’s hand subtly in his and squeezed it between them. “Heh, don’t worry. If you beat me too badly on the courts I’ll just get my revenge by pounding you into a mat.” He didn’t realize until after he’d said it how wrong that sounded.

"Oh?" Akaya said slyly and leaned in to lick the rim of Hiyoshi’s ear. "Is that so?" he whispered, "Then I'll just have to demolish you on the court without mercy."

It was the first time in his life Hiyoshi actually seriously contemplated losing on purpose; it only lasted for a split second. “Hmm… I said you could probably beat me, not demolish me.” He smirked, as he turned to face him, their bodies moving closer and noses touching as he did so.

Akaya grinned devilishly and barely resisted the urge to kiss him; he didn't want to embarrass him too much. "Yeah well, you don't have a choice in the matter," he laughed.

Hiyoshi untangled Akaya from him, who by now was almost completely wrapped around him, and stood up. It was then that he became conscious of just how many people had probably seen them like that. He sighed and shook his head, amazed at what he was allowing the brat to get away with today. Oh well, the whole city probably had seen them by now anyway. “Oh, really? I guess we should find out.”

Ice Cream: Check

Yes, Hiyoshi was definitely out of practice. Fortunately, it wasn’t a complete embarrassment. He didn’t manage to win any games, but he did make Akaya run around quite a bit and got a good honest few points out of him. He could tell a few times that his boyfriend was truly trying not to get too serious when he lost a point, but over all he’d had fun and hoped Akaya did too. He even started to seriously contemplate coming out more if Akaya wanted to.

It had been a rather quick defeat, 6-0, though Akaya had been quite impressed that the other man had stolen a couple points from him. He'd managed to keep from going into bloodshot mode and was very proud of himself. He'd managed to play a nice relaxing game with him and it left him feeling fulfilled. "So, you gonna pound me into the mat now?" he said silkily across the net as he reached out to shake his boyfriend’s hand after the match.

“I don’t think that counts as ‘demolishing’ me.” Using their clasped hands, Hiyoshi pulled him closer. “However, there is always the choice of dinner and then you pounding me into a futon…” He flushed slightly. Gakuto had said to try and be kinky, Akaya liked kinky, but the most he could pull off was saying things out loud he usually wouldn’t. "Think you can deal with that?"

Akaya’s eyes went wide and he blinked a couple times before his brain processed what exactly Hiyoshi had just said. "Oh? I'm sure I can..." he said with a little smirk before crushing their lips together.

Today had definitely been a day of firsts for the romantically naïve martial artist. If a couple years… no, months ago, someone had told him he would be kissing his boyfriend on a tennis court after propositioning him… he would have punched the idiot. As it was though, he let the kiss hold for a moment more before pulling away. Akaya’s eyes were slightly glazed over when they opened, and since evening was fast approaching, the sunset was making Akaya’s eyes look shiny. “You ready to go, br—bright eyes?”

"Bright eyes?" Akaya laughed and gestured toward the locker room. "Well whatever, yeah, let's go." He started toward their bag with a racket over his shoulder. "Ah... That match felt good," he said with a little sigh.

That had to be Hiyoshi’s favorite replacement nickname so far, it was also the most fitting, though nothing could beat ‘brat’. Feeling rejuvenated, he followed Akaya towards the locker room with a teasing grin. Once they entered and were completely alone again, he asked with a smirk, “You don’t like my new nickname for you, bright eyes?” The match had felt good, and he was feeling much better now after the day of self-inflicted torture.

"Nah, it's not so bad," Akaya smirked at him, "it's better than brat." Of course, he didn't really mean it. Hell, he was beginning to miss it, but there was no way he was going to tell the other man that.

Bright eyes it was then, for the rest of the day anyway, which there wasn’t much left of. They cleaned up fast, Hiyoshi hurrying Akaya a long, which was easier to do once more people came in. It meant Akaya couldn’t try to distract them anymore. Then they were out and on their way to dinner.

Tennis: check

Trying to be as subtle as possible (which wasn’t subtle at all), Hiyoshi commented, “We haven’t gone to the small Yakinuki place in a while.” He was trying to make it Akaya’s idea. It wouldn’t be good if it was too obvious that he’d planned out the whole day for Akaya’s benefit.

"Eh?" Akaya thought about it for a moment then grinned. "You're right, you wanna go?" he asked curiously, "Yakiniku sounds good."

“Sure.” Ha! His scheme had worked. Hiyoshi was quiet proud of himself as they started walking in the direction of the yakiniku restaurant. They lapsed into a comfortable silence that Hiyoshi appreciated after the long loud day.

When they arrived and walked into the restaurant, Akaya’s stomach gave a loud rumble. He wasn't sure what exactly was up with his boyfriend, not that he was complaining about the attention, but it wasn't normal at all. "Wakashi," he asked curiously as they sat down and ordered, "Hey um... So what's up with you today?" he mumbled and stared down at the table. "I mean... I don't mind or nothin, but you're acting weird. And, I mean, you planned everything today, right? Are you sure you weren't abducted by aliens or something?"

Damn. He’d been found out after all. “Why do you always assume I’ve been abducted by aliens whenever I’m attempting to be nice to you?” Hiyoshi grumbled, glad they were out of range for the owner, Fujiwara-san, or anyone else to hear them. “Maybe I’m just trying to be a good boyfriend.” He explained lamely, taking a sip of his water to hide his expression.

Akaya looked up at him and smiled, it definitely had to be a dream, so he might as well enjoy it while he could. "Well thanks then, I'm having fun," he laughed and grinned up at the waitress as she brought out the plates of meat. "Oh man, so hungry..."

Hiyoshi heaved a small sigh of relief when Akaya dropped the subject. Once again, he had to be grateful for Akaya’s ability to just accept what was happening without asking too many questions. He supposed he could have just told Akaya that it was their two month anniversary.

He’d been told earlier the previous week by An that special dates like that were supposed to be important. Now he had to make up for their forgotten first one, White Day, and any other day he might have missed, but it was a little embarrassing to admit. As long as Akaya was enjoying himself, he didn’t need to know the reasons behind it.

He ate his yakiniku patiently while watching Akaya dig in. Usually he would have teased him by trying to steal his portion of the meat or something, but today wasn’t the day for that. It was boring.

Akaya looked over at Hiyoshi’s side of the grill and grinned mischievously before reaching over to steal a piece of his meat. "Heh, heh, victory!" he said happily and popped the piece into his mouth, "Mm... Damn that's good..." he groaned and went back to his plate, casting the occasional glance at the usually stoic boy across from him.

Hiyoshi chuckled lightly; at least one of them was having fun. He wondered curiously how Akaya would take it if he… he glanced around quickly to see if anyone was watching. Picking up a piece of his own meat with his chopsticks, he held it up to Akaya mouth, looking right into his eyes with a half smirk and raised eyebrow. He snickered internally; maybe he really had been abducted by aliens and didn’t know it.

Akaya blinked as the meat appeared in front of his mouth. What was Wakashi doing? Was he... trying to feed him? Weird, but he was never one to turn down free food (unless it was gross, but that was a whole different story). He smiled and opened his mouth with a little "Ahh..."

It was so tempting to bring the chopsticks back and eat it himself, but he was supposed to be nice today. Plus, Akaya looked cute in a ridiculous kind of way with his jaw hanging open like that. Oh well, the day was almost over anyway. He gently placed the meat in his boyfriend’s mouth, his smirk growing into an amused grin at Akaya’s reaction.

Akaya chewed the piece of meat happily, looking like everything was right with the world. He didn't know whether he should be disturbed that Hiyoshi was kind of acting like his girlfriend more than his boyfriend. Why ruin it by asking? He stayed quiet about it and finished his meal, making small talk about paintball and the arcade and how much Hiyoshi sucked at whack-a-mole.

By the time they were done eating, Hiyoshi was definitely ready to leave. There was only so much small talk and teasing he could take when he wasn’t allowed come backs. As soon as Akaya ate the last piece of meat, Hiyoshi was out of his chair and on his way to pay at the register. He was always appreciative to Fujisawa-san for never commenting on how the two of them always came in together, though she must have her curiosities. He politely thanked her and walked out, waiting just outside for Akaya to join him.

As Akaya got up to follow Hiyoshi, like he always did, he walked past Fujisawa and gave a little wink which brought a smile to her face. He laughed and walked out to meet his boyfriend. "We going back home?" he asked and looked at Hiyoshi curiously, wondering if he was going to get his promised time to pound his boyfriend into the futon.

Hiyoshi knew exactly what his boyfriend was thinking about. Since they were on a small street corner in the middle of a darkened housing area, he pulled his boyfriend into the shadows at the side of a building and wrapped his arms around him from behind. “That’s up to you,” he said into his ear, “We could always go to the park or the lake first,” he dragged his lips along skin, leaving a small trail of kisses down his neck. “Then go home.”

Akaya shivered and smirked mischievously. "Can we do it by the lake?" he asked with a little laugh. "It's secluded and we can lay down a coat and everything," he suggested and turned in his boyfriend’s arms before leaning back against the wall, tugging Hiyoshi with him. "Whaddaya say?"

Was Akaya joking? He didn’t look like he was joking… Need to clarify. “Are you serious?” Hiyoshi asked incredulously. He’d promised himself he would do whatever Akaya wanted today, including maybe something ‘kinky’ within reason, but… out in the open like that?

"Of course," Akaya said simply and looked at Hiyoshi with a completely honest expression. He was not above doing things in public. Hell, as much as he knew his boyfriend would hate it, he wasn't above going down on him right there in the little alleyway.

Hiyoshi sighed as his head fell forward into the crevice between his boyfriend’s neck and shoulder. Usually, the answer would have been an immediate and solemn NO, but… would it really be that bad? There probably wasn’t anyone else out this late by the lake, and it would make Akaya happy… Damn it, why was he even considering this? “I can’t believe I’m considering this…”

Akaya smiled and kissed him slowly and sensually before pulling away to whisper against his lips, "You won't regret it."

Tightening his hold on him, Hiyoshi looked Akaya seriously in the eye. “If anyone else is there, we go home. If anyone is in hearing range, we go home. If anyone CATCHES us… we go to our separate rooms. Understood?” Oh shit, he really just agreed to this.

Akaya thought about the conditions for a moment then nodded. "Okay." It was risky, and there was a high chance they'd be sleeping in their separate rooms, but it was worth the risk. He pressed his lips against Hiyoshi’s again then took his hand, "Let's go then!"

What had he been thinking, falling in love with a stupid brat like this? Hiyoshi pondered that as he let himself be enthusiastically dragged towards the lake. Once again, he would be doing something he could have sworn he’d never do. He held Akaya’s hand back, and a small smile graced his features.

Kinky sex: check

The next morning, Akaya awoke with a big grin and stretched out before wrapping around Hiyoshi and kissing him. "Good morning!" he said happily, expecting a warm welcome like he'd received the morning before.

Hiyoshi grunted at the movement and mumbled grumpily, “Still sleeping, brat. Go away.” He then promptly turned away from him and fell back asleep.

Akaya blinked and stared at his boyfriends back. "Eh?" What happened to his loving boyfriend from the day before? The one that had screamed so beautifully on the shores of the lake? "I-it was a dream?!" he cried with a painful pitiful moan and buried his face in his pillow. The world was too cruel.