Four hours.
That's how long it took Yagyuu to track Niou down the fifth time he ran away from home. Four hours, from the time Niou sent him the notification. And two of those hours were spent carefully not skipping his last few classes of the day; Niou might have run off, but Yagyuu had no urge to anger his teachers too soon. Besides, he knew precisely where Niou would be, and how long he'd wait for Yagyuu to catch up.
"New record," said Niou, cheerfully, waving his bottle at Yagyuu. "I've barely had time to get in trouble."
"Mm," Yagyuu said, and sat down on the pebbles next to Niou. "You mentioned Kamakura a week ago, and you always head for the sea. It wasn't hard to reconcile."
"Damn, are you saying I'm predictable?"
"Only to me, I think." Yagyuu took the bottle from Niou, and peered at it. Beer, not very strong, but still very illegal for a teenager to have. "What prompted it this time?"
"Mom called. Dad wants to move us all to rural fricking Hokkaido for his work. In a month."
"Ah."
Niou leaned against Yagyuu's side. "I'm not going. Can I move into your room secretly? I bet we could go a few weeks without your parents noticing there's two of you."
Yagyuu tipped the bottle, letting the beer tip out in slow, steady glugs until it was empty. "It'd be the first place your parents would look."
"Mm."
"We can stay here tonight." Yagyuu picked up one of the beer-soaked stones, and sent it skimming towards the sea. "I've enough money for a hotel, and I can tell my parents I'm staying with a friend."
"You'll go back tomorrow."
"Yes." Another stone span towards the water. "What do you want to do?"
Niou sighed heavily, then sat up. "Stay in Rikkai. Keep running. Shit. I dunno."
Yagyuu shifted his weight and crawled on his knees until he was behind Niou. He pulled Niou's hair free of its tie, and ran his fingers through the rat-tail to loosen it. "Last time, you were all moving to Osaka."
"Mm." Niou dipped his head forward. "And last time he went on his own, because my mother hates Osaka. But apparently she likes the sound of the country."
"I see."
"They're serious."
Yagyuu pulled his fingers through the hair again, from the nape of Niou's neck right down to the tips. Niou's hair had some kind of styling product in it, he realised; it was leaving a waxy residue on Yagyuu's fingers. "Are they selling your house?"
"Probably." Niou turned his head slightly. "Hn, you think they'd let me stay behind on my own? Be serious."
"If your sister didn't want to leave, perhaps."
"Mm. I suppose I can ask her."
Yagyuu started braiding Niou's rat-tail; without a comb, it wasn't going to be very neat, but it would keep his fingers busy. "Either that or you find a guardian to live with."
"And we're back to me moving into your room."
"We could certainly ask my parents, but - and while I wouldn't object to your company necessarily - I don't know that they'd be willing to effectively adopt you for a year and a half."
Niou snorted, and pulled his coat closed at the front, as if suddenly realising how cold it was.
"The school might be able to find you a guardian, however." Yagyuu tied off the end of the braid. "Now. Hotel?"
"Buy me dinner first?"
Yagyuu ruffled up Niou's hair at the back, above the braid. "If you insist."
Niou dragged them up and down half of the main shopping area, until he found a ramen place he deemed suitable. Yagyuu wasn't quite sure why this particular place was better than the five others they'd passed, but he was feeling indulgent enough not to raise any particular objection, especially as Niou - for once - didn't try to steal the pork from his bowl.
They rented a cheap room afterwards; it was technically a single room, but there was nobody in the automated entranceway to raise an objection, and they'd squeezed onto one futon enough times before. It was cold in the room; Niou wondered aloud if it was actually colder in there than outside. They lay on the narrow bed with their coats buttoned up and the blanket over both of them, Niou pressed up against Yagyuu's back, his breathing raspy and damp on Yagyuu's neck.
"Yagyuu," said Niou quietly, after about half an hour, his arm now slung almost carelessly over Yagyuu's waist. "I really don't want to go."
"I know."
"I like Rikkai. I know I bitch, but it's home. Why can't my fucking parents be reasonable?"
"I'm sure we'll find a way."
Niou tugged on Yagyuu's front, until Yagyuu rolled over. Niou was startlingly close, like this, and quite clear in the light from the street that the thin curtain didn't really block. Niou's hand was on Yagyuu's side, his fingers gripping at Yagyuu's coat. "We'd better."
Yagyuu closed his eyes, waiting. Sure enough, Niou shifted forward and pressed their mouths together; his tongue sliding eagerly into Yagyuu's mouth as soon as Yagyuu parted his lips. Niou wasn't a great kisser, truth be told. Yagyuu always felt as if Niou was trying to map his mouth, his tongue probing everywhere and never settling into a rhythm. Nevertheless, he let Niou kiss him for a while, until Niou's hand slipped downwards towards Yagyuu's pants zipper. He grabbed at Niou's hand warningly.
"It's too cold," he said, glad for the excuse.
"Nn, suit yourself," said Niou, and pushed up against him, his erection hard against Yagyuu's leg. "Mind if I..?"
Yagyuu shook his head, and turned over to grab some tissues from his bag, handing them to Niou before shifting backwards so Niou was pressed along him again. Niou settled himself against Yagyuu's back, fixing his mouth damply on the back on Yagyuu's neck, and started jerking himself off in long slow strokes, his hand bumping against Yagyuu's ass on every movement. Yagyuu closed his eyes.
It should turn him on, he thought. It would make life much more straightforward if it did.
He turned his head slightly, and Niou immediately slid his tongue up and into Yagyuu's ear. It felt slimy, and not particularly nice, but Yagyuu lifted his hand up and slid it encouragingly into Niou's hair anyway, tugging him closer.
Niou drew his head back after a moment, so Yagyuu's hand dropped from his hair. Then he kissed Yagyuu's fingers instead, before sucking them into his mouth and sliding that tongue wetly and obscenely along them.
That, startlingly, went straight to Yagyuu's cock, jolting him unexpectedly.
He gasped, and pulled his fingers away in surprise. Niou went back to eagerly licking at his neck and ear. Yagyuu turned slightly, and let Niou's mouth brush against his for a moment - just a moment - before Niou shuddered against him, hopefully coming entirely into the tissues and not actually onto Yagyuu's coat.
Niou pushed up against him again after cleaning up, relaxed and radiating contentment.
"Sure you don't want me to suck you off or something?" he asked, in a half-murmur. "I could, you know."
"I'm fine. Go to sleep," said Yagyuu, softly.
Niou kissed him again, very gently, and then curled his arm over Yagyuu and closed his eyes.
Yagyuu sighed softly into Niou's hair. Niou made life so complicated. Yagyuu had no idea what Niou thought their relationship really was; Niou would initiate kissing and fumbling of this sort perhaps once a month at most, and never tried to even kiss him the rest of the time. Was that enough to make them boyfriends in Niou's mind? Yagyuu didn't think he'd mind that, even. He liked Niou. He'd tried thinking about Niou at home, fantasies overlaid with memory. That worked; thinking of Niou arching against him and gasping his name was more than enough to get Yagyuu hard. Somehow, the reality never meshed up, never stirred him the same way.
Yagyuu wondered if Niou knew that, if that was why he only pushed for more so infrequently.
Whatever it was, it wouldn't happen any more if Niou was at the other end of Japan.
The next morning was dark and cold and damp. Niou huddled down in his coat and bitched about, well, everything as they rode the irritatingly slow train back north. Yagyuu thought longingly about coffee, and stared out at the houses nestled into the hillsides, and wished for a simple life.
Well, simpler, at least. But some complications were always welcome.