Nozaki probably should have given Mikoshiba something to do. The other boy gets restless without something to occupy his hands, which means if Nozaki wants to get anything productive done himself he has to have a steady supply of things to interest Mikoshiba. But he's still adjusting to the pace of Sakura's help, and when Mikoshiba shows up he realizes he's going to run out even before he gives the other boy the worrying low number of tasks remaining. So he's half-expecting the interruption even before Mikoshiba heaves a sigh, and slouches forward over the table, and says, "Have you ever kissed a girl?"

"Yes," Nozaki answers immediately. "Have you?"

"You've kissed a girl?" Mikoshiba says, his voice going shrill enough that it's an answer to Nozaki's question in itself. "Who?"

"I don't remember her name." Nozaki sets his pencil down so he can look away from the paper and down into Mikoshiba's wide-eyed shock. "I was five."

"Oh." The other boy slumps back down over the table. "That doesn't count."

"Then no." Nozaki rolls his shoulders back, arches his spine to unbend from his accidental hunch over the page in front of him. "Why?"

"We're not going to be any good at it," Mikoshiba says against the table. "Experience is critical for these things, Nozaki."

"You practiced with games for talking to girls," Nozaki points out, but Mikoshiba's hand comes up off the table and waves him into silence.

"That's not going to work." He sounds morose, defeated in a way that makes Nozaki's brain itch for a solution even though he doesn't think this is that critical of a problem. "You can't learn kissing from a game, you need actual experience."

"So you need to kiss someone," Nozaki says. This is an easy problem to solve. Mikoshiba's impossible problems usually are. "To practice."

"I can't kiss a girl to practice."

This is an unforeseen difficulty. "Why not?"

"Because." Mikoshiba lifts himself from the table to gaze imploringly at Nozaki's face. "I'll be bad at it and then they'll all know."

Nozaki sighs. "So kiss someone who's not a girl."

It seems reasonable to him. From the way Mikoshiba's eyes go wide, the other boy does not agree with this assessment. "A guy?"

"Sure." Nozaki shrugs. "You need experience to get better. You can't kiss girls to get experience. It can't be that different, kissing a guy instead."

He can see the gears working behind Mikoshiba's eyes, protests half-formed and then discarded as the other convinces himself of Nozaki's correct assessment. "Just for the experience."

"Yeah." Nozaki nods, confident the issue is solved.

Mikoshiba's eyebrows are creased together. There's something else wrong that he's thought of, though Nozaki can't imagine what. "Nozaki."

"Hm?"

"You need experience too, don't you?"

He supposes that's true. "Eventually."

Mikoshiba's eyebrows pull in closer; then he nods, sharp and decisive. "Maybe we should practice together."

Nozaki hadn't been going down that path in his own mind, which means the suggestion takes a moment for him to process. In the few seconds it takes him to turn the idea over in his mind Mikoshiba's brain catches up to the words he has said; by the time Nozaki has satisfied himself of the parameters of the idea, nodded to himself in satisfaction, the other boy's cheeks are turning the color of his hair.

"Don't get embarrassed," Nozaki says automatically. "Yeah, okay."

Mikoshiba's eyebrows unfold, his color starts to fade. Then Nozaki gets to his feet, and starts to step around the table, and the blush rushes straight back, darker than it was to start. "What, right now?"

"Sure." Nozaki sits down alongside the other boy, closer than he usually would so their legs are just touching and he could put his arm around Mikoshiba if he wanted. "I don't have anything else for you to do right now anyway."

"Wh-but-" Mikoshiba is truly crimson now, his skin is darker even than his hair. "But-how do I-"

Nozaki knows how this is supposed to work, in theory if not in practice. "Just hold still. And shut your eyes."

Mikoshiba's blush doesn't fade, but after a moment he does shut his eyes, squeezes them so tight Nozaki can see the tension in his forehead and across his cheeks. That's fine. It's just practice anyway, and he isn't moving so Nozaki can take his time aiming, come in slow and carefully so he can touch his mouth against Mikoshiba's before pulling back.

There's a pause. Then Mikoshiba opens his eyes. The crease in his forehead is back. "Was that it?"

Nozaki shrugs. "Yeah. It's not all that exciting when you're not in love, I guess."

Mikoshiba is frowning, now. "I don't think you're doing it right."

Nozaki laughs. "You think you could do better already?"

Mikoshiba's lower lip drops into a pout, the confusion over his eyes smoothes into determination. "Sure. Hold still."

Nozaki does, though he doesn't shut his eyes. Mikoshiba does, which makes his approach kind of fumbling and awkward; he bumps his nose against Nozaki's hard to start, but then he turns his head sideways and can get close enough that their lips touch. At first it's the same distant pressure of the first attempt; warm and weirdly soft and a little bit wet, but nothing beyond that. But then Mikoshiba does something, pulls his mouth in or purses his lips, maybe, and suddenly his mouth is actually aligned with Nozaki's instead of just brushing it, their lips are fitting together so when Mikoshiba shifts Nozaki can feel it like they're connected.

He's not quite ready for Mikoshiba to pull back when he does, leans forward a little bit without meaning to to trail the contact. Mikoshiba is all the way back before he opens his eyes, and when he does he looks a little less concerned.

"I think I almost had it that time," he says, and lifts a hand to press his fingers to his lips, like he's working tension out of them. "Once more."

"There's usually more touching, too," Nozaki points out helpfully. "Like the boy will have his hand in the girl's hair or on her shoulder."

"I'm sure that's important," Mikoshiba agrees, and when Nozaki reaches out to fits his fingers against his hair he hums as if considering. "Yeah. That feels pretty nice. Should I do the same thing to you?"

Nozaki shakes his head. "No. Your hands go on my waist."

"Okay." Mikoshiba's fingers settle against Nozaki's waist. He can feel the heat from the other boy's hand straight through both his shirt and undershirt, like Mikoshiba's body is radiating more heat than it ought to. "You come in this time."

It's easier this time. It's like Nozaki's hand at Mikoshiba's head is guiding him forward, cueing some instinct in his blood he hasn't used before. And Mikoshiba is turning his head to match Nozaki's motions, fitting their mouths together almost immediately, this time. Nozaki tries pressing in harder and Mikoshiba pushes back, he can feel the give-and-take between them, and he's just starting to see the appeal of this when he slides his hand sideways without thinking to pull against Mikoshiba's scalp. The other boy makes a sound like a purr of satisfaction in the back of his throat, and Nozaki can feel the vibration travel through their lips and down his own spine. There's a flush of heat that ripples over his skin, tingles out into the point of contact with Mikoshiba's mouth, and he has to pull back so he can take a breath.

There's a moment of silence but for their breathing, which Nozaki can now pick out even though it was entirely inaudible before. Neither of them have let go of each other; Nozaki can feel Mikoshiba breathing against his mouth, fast and out-of-time to his own inhales.

"I think we're getting better," he says without moving away.

Mikoshiba nods. He's pink, now, instead of red, and the color is weirdly high in his cheeks, up over his cheekbones instead of dark across them. "Do you think we should practice with open mouths too?"

"It's an important consideration," Nozaki says. His skin is going hot in waves, he thinks maybe he is going visibly pink just from the temperature increase. "Do you want to?"

"Yeah, okay," Mikoshiba says, and then they're both coming in together like they're on some sort of a signal. Mikoshiba's mouth fits against Nozaki's effortless, this time, and there's only a moment's hesitation before his lips part in implicit offer. Nozaki opens his mouth in echo, but where Mikoshiba hesitated he acts, slides his tongue inside the other boy's mouth before he can overthink the motion.

It's disorienting, and wet, and much warmer than he expected. He can't tell what he's licking, if it's Mikoshiba's lips or the roof of his mouth or his teeth. But he can feel the other boy's sucking inhale, and then Mikoshiba's tongue hits his, and all the disorientation vanishes along with his conscious attention. He's not sure what he's doing, or what Mikoshiba is doing; everything is warm, his skin and Mikoshiba's mouth and the fingers at his waist, and his nerve endings are sparking hot and hotter and saying good, yes, more. Nozaki tips his head a little farther, pulls Mikoshiba in closer, and there's a vibration against his mouth that he only realizes was the other boy whimpering in satisfaction after a moment's reflection. Mikoshiba's other hand hits his shoulder, fumbles into a hold on the white fabric of his shirt, and Nozaki reaches out blind until his fingers find the rougher fabric of Mikoshiba's pants, until he can settle his hand in a steady hold at the other boy's hip.

He isn't sure how long it's been when they finally break apart. All Nozaki's skin is hot, like he has a sunburn, and his lips feel like they're swollen. When he opens his eyes Mikoshiba is red, too, though it's paler and more uniform than his usual crippling blush, and the other boy's eyes are not quite in focus when they land on Nozaki's mouth.

"Okay." Nozaki's voice comes out wrong, it pulls oddly high in the back of his throat. He lets Mikoshiba go so he can cough into his hand, and after a moment the other boy lets his hold go too. They're still close enough that Nozaki's knee is digging into Mikoshiba's thigh, but he doesn't entirely want to move away just yet. "I think that's how it's supposed to be."

"Yeah." Mikoshiba sounds just as weird as Nozaki did, and he's starting to blush scarlet. When he shies away and pulls his knees up to his chest Nozaki recognizes the motion, looks down at the front of the other boy's slacks before he can stop himself.

"I think that's supposed to happen," he offers, though he's pulling away himself, getting to his feet so he can retreat to the other side of the table and hide his own erection under the furniture.

"Okay," Mikoshiba says sharply, with the high panic of someone who would love the subject to be changed now, please. "Do you have anything for me to do backgrounds on?"

"Sure." Nozaki is still too hot; it's like Mikoshiba's blush is filling the room with too much heat, radiating off him until it's almost visible. He only has a few pages, but when he offers then Mikoshiba seizes them like they're a gift from heaven.

They drop into utter silence for a few minutes; Mikoshiba is working frantically, faster than Nozaki has ever seen him before, and Nozaki is spending more time watching him than working himself. But after a few minutes Mikoshiba's blush fades, and his motion slows, and before he's done with the new pages he clears his throat and speaks.

"We should probably practice some more tomorrow," he offers without looking up. "Until we're both confident in our abilities."

It's perfectly reasonable. Nozaki nods before speaking, even though Mikoshiba isn't looking at him. "Yeah, sure." Mikoshiba glances up, and smiles, and Nozaki smiles back.

He has always liked solving Mikoshiba's problems.