Of bratty demons and mushroom heads

CHAPTER 3

It was only Wednesday, and it already felt like one of the longest weeks of Hiyoshi’s life. He had gone out on his first “date” with his fiancé, Keiko-san, on Monday. They only met up for lunch, so it hadn’t been for very long, but it had solidified a few realities in his brain. One, that YES, he actually had a fiancé now, and two, that meant he had to start acting the part of “good boyfriend/fiancé” …Whatever that meant. Thankfully, as far as girls went, she wasn’t that bad. She wasn’t bad to look at and seemed very proper and polite. It was bothersome, but as least he wasn’t dreading seeing her again.

Tuesday, he had met up with Choutarou for lunch at a ramen place his friend’s sister had told him about. Needless to say, he should have kept his mouth shut up hanging out with Kirihara. Choutarou had more ammunition than usual to tease him. Now he was embarrassed just thinking about it. Gakuto had teased him, too, but that was nothing new.

Classes had been torture. Hiyoshi hated being behind on his school work and he didn’t know the people in his classes well enough to ask to borrow their notes. He decided that he would NEVER miss a class ever again; grumbling at the fact that it was entirely his fathers fault in the first place he had missed classes at all.

Now, just getting out of business mathematics, he had a whole hour free before he had to be at his next class. Deciding to take a break from the indoors and enjoy the sun at his favorite spot, he made a right turn at the next hallway to exit the building.

Akaya walked lazily outside, his fingers laced behind his head as he hummed a hip-hop tune that had been stuck in his head all day. He'd just finished the bane of his existence, nutrition, and was now on his way to the cafeteria to get something greasy and deep fried, preferably covered in some kind of sauce.

He paused mid-step though when he saw Hiyoshi emerge from the building next to his. He was about to call out to him when he stopped. Where was he going anyway? He looked like he was walking somewhere with purpose and it intrigued him. So, he hid behind the corner of the building and watched the other man. He'd been bored anyway; maybe following Hiyoshi would prove interesting.

Going past a few more buildings and some trees, Hiyoshi took his time strolling through the area before walking over a grassy hill. On the other side of the hill was one of the small lakes hidden away on campus. Seeing that no one else was around at the moment, he dropped down onto the dry grass. He stared up at the sky for a few minutes, burying his fingers in the ground below him. It was nice and peaceful, and he enjoyed the sun’s rays shining down on him in the quiet surroundings.

Akaya felt like a ninja, creeping around buildings and trees until Hiyoshi finally stopped on the grass. He waited a couple minutes waiting to see if he would do anything interesting, like have a secret rendezvous with some cute girl or something. But after watching the other man stare at the sky for minutes on end, he frowned. Hiyoshi was so boring!

Waiting until the other man was thoroughly distracted, he snuck up behind him. "Boo," he said quietly, close to his ear. Teach him to zone out.

He was right next to him; the other reason for Hiyoshi’s long week. Unfortunately for Kirihara though, Hiyoshi had first heard his foot steps when he had been a few yards away. He mentally chastised himself as a martial artist for not sensing him sooner. “Ack. You scared me.” He said in a dead-pan voice without even bothering to open his eyes.

Akaya frowned at his clever plot having been foiled. "You have to be one of the most boring people on the planet," he muttered and sat so he was straddling the other boy. "Seriously, who just sits there and stares at the sky?"

“So I’m boring,” Hiyoshi countered, raising an eyebrow at Kirihara’s choice of position on top of him. He was getting too used to the brat being this close to him. “Your problem for following me out here.” He was comfortable where he was, having planted himself on the earth and rooted his fingers into the soil. He liked the feeling of being connected. He looked up at Kirihara’s disgruntled face and smirked. “Maybe you shouldn’t knock it before you try it.”

"I thought you were going to have some secret meeting with a girl or something, I wanted to get blackmail info on you." Akaya slumped against Hiyoshi with a sigh and nuzzled his neck. "I should have known you weren't that exciting." He had no desire to sit and stare at the sky when there were other things he could be doing, like eating or molesting mushroom-heads.

Hiyoshi snickered underneath him. “Do you ever think with anything other than your dick, brat?” Apparently he was in a good mood now. How did that happen? It felt like Kirihara was trying to burrow his way into his body. He was acting like the childish brat he knew him to be, and for some reason, that made everything seem better. Feeling more energetic then he had all day, Hiyoshi grabbed Kirihara’s arms and rolled them over so that he was now the one on top and Kirihara was left facing the sky. “Don’t you think it’s nice out today?” He asked him with an amused smirk on his face.

"It makes life interesting." Akaya laughed as they rolled over and wrapped his arms around Hiyoshi’s neck. At Hiyoshi’s second question he answered without hesitation. "Yeah, it's great." It was only after he'd said the words that he thought about it. He still had yet to look at the sky or the trees or even the grass he was laying on. His eyes were fixed on Hiyoshi, so what was so great about the day? Maybe he was allergic to nature or mushrooms or something. Lately all he’d been thinking about was when he could go bother Hiyoshi. His mushroom-ness must be messing with his head.

“You haven’t even looked, brat.” Hiyoshi challenged as he noticed Kirihara seemed to be focusing only on him. Feeling self-conscious, he moved off him and slumped over onto his back again. “I like coming out here when it’s nice out…” he admitted under his breath, not sure why he was even telling him.

Now that he actually looked, it wasn't too bad. It seemed to be a fairly excluded area and the sky really was beautiful if you cared about that sort of thing, "I can see why...." he mumbled. Maybe he'd start coming here, too. Hiyoshi would be there to bug, what other reason did he need?

Some clouds covered them for a moment, blocking out the sun, and a sudden chill ran up Hiyoshi’s body as he felt the cold hit him. He’d always preferred hot over cold weather. He now regretted having worn short sleeves today. However, the cold was not a good enough reason to make him move away from his favorite spot on campus. He glared at the clouds and crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for the sun to re-appear.

"You're cold?" Akaya looked at him like he was crazy (or a sissy), then rolled his eyes and scooted closer to the other man. "Here, I'm really warm," he muttered and moved so his side was touching Hiyoshi’s. Yes, he had ulterior motives, but who didn't?

Hiyoshi peaked at Kirihara untrustingly out of the corner of his eye. Whatever, at least he was warm. “I’m not that cold,” he defended, but didn’t move away. Then he had to try and hide another shiver as the cold wind raced over them again.

"Dumb mushroom," Akaya murmured and rolled so he was lying on top of Hiyoshi. "There, see, not cold anymore." He placed a kiss on the other’s lips and grinned, quite proud of himself and his warmth.

Why did Kirihara have to keep doing that? Maybe he didn’t mean it the way Hiyoshi thought he did. Perhaps he was just from one of those open minded families that liked to copy the Americans, or was just acting like a kid who liked to be overly affectionate and kiss everyone. Either way, he was much warmer now, and didn’t feel threatened or the immediate need to push him off. His presence wasn’t bothersome. Without thought, Hiyoshi reached up to scratch behind Kirihara’s ears and down his neck as one would a pet, as he’d done previously.

Akaya grinned and nuzzled Hiyoshi’s neck, giving the mushroom more access to scratch him. He loved the feeling of fingers in his hair. Hiyoshi was a lot like one of his senpai, he treated him really similar and he liked it, but unlike his senpai-tachi he really wanted to get to know the Hyotei alumni on a more physical level as well. The thought of sleeping with his senpai... he shuddered. It was like incest or something since he liked them better than his own family.

They stayed there for a few minutes, Hiyoshi enjoying the warmth and peaceful scenery, before lifting the hand that wasn’t presently engulfed in Kirihara’s curls to look at his wristwatch. It was almost time for his next class. “Do you have any more classes today?”

"Uh... I just had nutrition, so... uh..." Akaya pondered the question for a moment. "I think I have sports medicine, yeah." He grinned. His major classes were awesome, minus the whole nutrition thing, which could die a slow horrible death. Kinesiology was a harder major than he’d thought it would be.

Hiyoshi stopped his petting and sat up. “We should go then. Next class hour starts in ten minutes.” He stood and brushed the grass and demon brat off. Picking up his bag, he started to make his way towards the main campus.

"Eh? Seriously?" Akaya pulled his phone out of his pocket as he jumped to his feet. "Oh, a text message from Himiko!" His happiness was short lived though as he realized that there was indeed only 10 minutes left until class. "Shit! I was going to eat during my break! Man, this sucks." He shoved his phone in his pocket again and pouted. "Nutrition always makes me hungry..." As if on cue, his stomach gave a loud rumble and his frown deepened.

Hiyoshi stopped to snicker softly at Kirihara’s words and his stomach. “It’s only a one hour class period next, right? I normally wait till afterword to have lunch.” Usually he had lunch with Choutarou, but they hadn’t actually scheduled to meet up that day. Deciding that Kirihara could choose his own fate, he continued to walk away from him and toward the building he needed to get to.

Akaya tilted his head to the side for a moment as he wondered why the hell Hiyoshi would think he cared about when he had lunch, but then it hit him. "Hey! After class, let's get lunch together!" He ran after Hiyoshi and threw an arm over his shoulder when he got close.

Hiyoshi mused that maybe he was just trying to be friends with the brat like Choutarou had said. Well, actually, Choutarou had insinuated more than that, but that was just because he was being a bastard. Trying to casually shrug off the arm Kirihara had placed around him, Hiyoshi inquired, “Aren’t you going to meet up with Himiko? Or whoever else you plan on trying to sexually harass tonight?”

Akaya let his arm fall from the other’s shoulder and then laced his fingers behind his head. "Oh! Forgot about Himiko-chan!" He pulled out his phone again and started typing away, completely un-phased by the sexual harassment comment. "And... Done! Alright, now I'm free until nine tonight." He grinned and shoved his phone back in his pocket. "Problem solved. Now we can go get food after class together."

Hiyoshi wasn’t sure if he should feel flattered Kirihara had chosen him over one of his random um… acquaintances, or if he should be annoyed by the fact he assumed he wanted to spend the day with him. Well… why not? It’s not like he had anything better to do. “Fine.” He agreed in a neutral voice.

"Awesome!" Akaya grinned from ear to ear and hopped in front of Hiyoshi, making him stop walking. "Then I'll see you after class." With near expert skill, he leaned in and stole a kiss in front of a lot of very confused/offended/embarrassed students, then trotted off toward his class, waving over his shoulder at Hiyoshi.

Hiyoshi’s eyes bugged out. His face was now the shade of a very ripe tomato. He couldn’t even manage to move his mouth, let alone make a sound. Faster than he had ever been in his whole life, he dropped his head and nearly bolted for the safe confines of his classroom. DAMN IT! How could he have let that happen? He should have known better then to let his guard drop around Kirihara of all people. He was SO going to stand him up now. Okay… maybe he wouldn’t, but he certainly WOULD get a piece of his mind, if not a punch in the nose.

Interlude: Hiyoshi

Journal:

I went out with Kirihara again today after classes got out. NO it was NOT a date, as my "friends" would have interpreted it. I was bored. I had finished all of my homework, even done a few assignments that aren’t due for another week. I was tempted to call Choutarou or even Gakuto to entertain me, but I know they both have other people they would rather spend a Friday night with. It’s not often that I actually feel like having company around, but when it does happen… it’s very frustrating. I know I should’ve just called Keiko-san, but I’ve already seen her three times this week… I think that’s enough to keep her happy. I have plans with her on Sunday anyway.

Then HE showed up at my room, AGAIN. Just came in without knocking and licked my neck. The back of my fucking neck! Heh, I tried to turn around and grab him, but the damn brat’s learning to evade me. He accused me of being boring again… who gives a shit if I enjoy staring at my fucking walls? I guess I really was that desperate for company though because when he asked if I wanted to hang out with him, I actually accepted.

He wanted to go to the bars which I vetoed. I hate bars. They’re crowded with idiots and smell terrible, and they always make me feel claustrophobic. Hell, I would be required to socialize with people I couldn’t care less about. We finally agreed to go to an arcade. That was amusing. He spends way too much money on those ridiculous games, but the way he gets really into them and starts yelling is kind of… cute. It pissed me off that I couldn’t win a single damn game against him. Next time I will definitely Gekokujou.

For lack of anything better to do, we went to a movie after that. It wasn’t hard to find something we both agreed on since I don’t care as long as there’s a decent plot and he’s fairly easy to please. He just likes watching shit be blown up, much like a certain annoying chipmunk senpai of mine. It would have been fine if he could’ve just kept his damn hands to himself. I think he’s made it a personal goal of his to embarrass me as much as possible in public. I spent the whole first half of the movie holding him in (hopefully) discreet holds and covering his mouth to block out the whining so I could enjoy the damn movie. I will NOT go into what he was doing to my hand, but I finally gave up and just walked out when there was probably only about thirty minutes left. Of course, the damn brat had to chase after me with a shit eating grin on his face and then somehow convinced me to treat him to ice cream.

How I managed to stay out with him for so long without killing myself or him, I have no idea. He basically followed me back to my dorm after that and was talking my ear off about tennis and his “senpai-tachi” until I finally forced him out. Now it’s late and I have no idea why I took the time to write all this shit out. I’m going to bed.