This is for Amara77 and artistic-fangirl-shenanigans on tumblr. My muses without knowing.

This is an -edited- version. The original version is up on Archive of our own with all the fun parts left in, under a mature rating. Because they don't hide the mature stuff in a search. So this has been edited to give it a lower rating.

The closeness they had was always quiet between them. Shu's temperament never seemed to bother him. At least not that Shu could tell, unless Shu had done something to warrant Touma's anger. True, Shu hung out with Shin more, and Touma seemed to match up with Seiji very well. They all had unwavering loyalty to Ryo.

For awhile, it felt like Seiji had romantic feelings for Ryo, perhaps Touma? Shu wasn't sure why that last idea bothered him. But that was when he was 15 and just starting out on the long hard road towards figuring out his own levels of attraction toward people.

So he had decided to just ASK Seiji and Touma, "No." Seiji closed his eyes, "No. No."

Touma was laughing over it, "Sorry Seiji, you're not really my type in that way."

"And you lack the parts I'm interested in." Seiji grinned at Touma, before looking over at Shu, "Shu, we're best friends, but we're not dating or intimate with each other."

"Oh." Shu couldn't believe he had even asked them, just outright asked them. He was supposed to be enjoying this break not asking his friends awkward questions. Winter break spent at Nasuti's place. "Sorry, I thought. I just wanted to say if you where, I would be supportive of it?"

Seiji glanced over at Touma, "That's thoughtful." He wasn't sure what to make of this.

"I guess we appreciate the thought, but we're not together like that." Touma patted Shu on the back.

Seiji got up from his spot on the sofa slipping away, most likely to offer Nasuti help. Or help Ryo hunt down the missing glove or scarf or hat that seemed to magically vanish.

Shu was beside Touma, silent and feeling stupid for his questions. He felt like he was being watched very carefully. He looked over and saw Touma watching him.

Touma didn't say anything, he seemed to be watching Shu, analyzing him, trying to figure him out. Touma reached for the mug of coffee he had, and took a sip. An idea. He lightly licked his own lips, while watching Shu out of the corner of his eye, -there it is-. He caught it, the way Shu seemed to stare at his lips,his eyes trailing down over his body. until he looked up and made eye contact with Touma.

Shu's face turned red and he looked away.

Touma smiled. So that's what it possibly was, Shu wasn't as heterosexual as he made himself out to be. But he could wait, he would wait for Shu to figure it out.

Touma was alone with Seiji, inside where it was warm. Instead of outside where Shu and Ryo where having a snowball fight. Ruining Shin's snow man in the process. "Seiji?"

The blonde looked over at his friend, who was watching the others from the window. He set down the tea he was drinking, "Touma?"

"Would you hold it against me, if I asked you to be my first kiss?" The archer chuckled, "I believe it would be beneficial if that happened with someone I trust."

Seiji chuckled at him, "No, but it's odd. I'm not into guys."

"I asked if you'd kiss me not date or do anything else." He clarified. "I figure you might be the only one with any experience in this."

"Not that much experience, I take relationships very seriously. But I have kissed a girl before." He stood up and walked over to him, "Just relax." Seiji pulled Touma closer and kissed him, rather gently at first, doing his best to instruct him through motions. He pulled back to catch his breathe.

Touma took the lead then, he learned fast. He kissed Seiji again, who returned the kiss, holding it. They broke apart and Seiji touched his lips with his fingers, "If you where a girl."

"I still wouldn't date you." Touma took a few steps back and sat down on the sofa that was nearby.

"Yes you would, girls think I'm very attractive."

"I don't believe I could date a guy who was prettier then me."

"Touche." Seiji sat back down and finished his tea, until a snowball smacked up against the window, startling them both causing Seiji to spill the tea all over himself. "We need -better- friends."

Touma put his hand over his heart and laughed. "I don't believe that's possible."

"COME OUTSIDE!" Shu screamed at them from outside.

"I'm locking them all outside." Touma stood up to go cause a little trouble.

However, Ryo had seen the kiss. He tucked that little bit of information away.

"Ryo, you need to give me some kind of idea for a birthday gift. You'll get another book." Touma paused, "You're still getting another book." He had already bought the book.

"This party you guys are throwing is enough! Touma, you don't need to get me anything special." Ryo was on the other end of the phone.

"I'm sure you guys are getting tired of books from me, so anything I can give you or do for you. just ask ok?"

"Anything?" Ryo had an idea, something he was personally curious about. He did trust Touma to be able to do this and not think badly of him.

Touma was in his apartment in Osaka, "Anything."

Ryo seemed distant after the party, but he had made a promise to stay the night at Shin's with the others. Touma ended up staying with Shin or Shu when he came into town. They where also the first two to fall asleep. Ryo was reading one of Shin's comic books.

"Ryo." Touma hadn't switched into more comfortable attire yet, though Ryo had. He stood up and grabbed a small overnight bag he had. he slipped into the bathroom, which for the small apartment Shin lived in wasn't that bad.

Ryo looked up at the youngest but tallest of the Troopers, someone who had agreed to something. After a long conversation about it before hand. "Are you sure about this?" Ryo followed him and closed the bathroom door behind them. He watched Touma undress and wrap a towel around his own waist.

"You wanted the back massage, but I'm not doing it out there where the guys are." He held up the little bottle of oil. "I learned my lesson of giving back massages around other people, Seiji makes the most..." He was blushing, "He's vocal, and Shin walked in on us. Took a lot of explaining. Shin thought we where.."

Ryo chuckled, "Well you two are rather close." He finished undressing and was going to slip a towel on when Touma snatched it away.

"Not that close. He has a crush on Nasuti." He waited till Ryo sat down on the little stool before he slipped behind him and poured just a bit of the massage oil onto his hands before starting on Ryo's back and shoulders.

Ryo's eyes closed, his muscles relaxed under his friend's touch. "Do you have a crush on anyone?" He hissed when Touma located a sore spot.

"Something like that. It's not returned. I'm waiting." He shifted away from the sore spot to work on Ryo's arms and hands, one and then the other. Moving so he was in front of him.

Ryo opened his eyes watching a look of deep thought on his friend's face. "Who is she?"

"He." Touma corrected. "And I'm not saying who, sorry."

"So you're?"

"You ask that? Considering what we've agreed to?" Touma spread more oil on his hands as he worked Ryo's thighs and calves, getting little moans out of Ryo. "I'm -comfortable with my sexuality-. It's more of a case by case basis." He was quiet then as he kept working on his friend until he ran his hands up his chest, "Better?"

Ryo didn't reply, at first he touched Touma's face with his fingers tips, "Almost." He pulled him close so he could kiss him.

Touma leaned in and returned the kiss, feeling Ryo remove the towel around his waist, "Ryo, are you completely sure about this?"

"I'm not the one you're waiting for, am I?" Ryo had his hands on Touma's hips, they had agreed to this, but they both needed to know they where ok with doing this.

Touma handed Ryo the bottle and touched his face, no answer from him about that. "Just take it easy at first. I haven't done this before."

Shu woke up in the middle of the night, He thought he heard something, and noticed that Ryo and Touma weren't asleep on the futons Shin had laid out. Refusing to share his bed with any of them. That was odd, their stuff was still here, but they weren't. He heard the sound again and followed it to the bathroom.

Once there he slid it open just a bit to peek inside, the first thing he noticed was that no on had closed the secondary door into the bathing area. The second thing he noticed was Touma covering his own mouth with one of his hands, he couldn't figure out why at first. Then he saw everything, he realized everything. Touma seated in Ryo's lap, one hand over his own mouth to try to quiet himself down, the other on Ryo's shoulder as Ryo's hands where on his hips.

He didn't keep watching, he quickly retreated back to the safety of the futon, hiding under the blanket and closing his eyes. He could hear the ticking sound of an old clock Shin owned, the sounds of the city at night. He could hear Touma when Ryo moved his hand away from his mouth. His friend still managed to keep his own voice down. But Shu could still hear Touma say Ryo's name every so often. Shu found himself unable to sleep or ignore the sounds, more correctly the sounds Touma tried so hard to hide. He gave into the temptation and worked on ending his own frustration with his hand.

An hour passed before the two finished what they had been doing, got cleaned up, changed, and went to sleep separately. Shu finally found sleep.

Ryo and Shin where up first, Touma covering his head with a pillow to block out the reality of morning. Shu was up and trying to figure out why seeing that confused him. He had felt jealous, and a little mad. But of who and why he couldn't figure out. He hid these thoughts though, by trying to wake Touma up and getting kicked in the stomach for his efforts. "You are cruel Touma."

Touma rolled up in the blanket and closed his eyes. "Sleep."

"Shin's making breakfast."

"Don't eat it all. You'll get fat."

Shu picked up Touma, blanket and all, carrying him into the bathroom and dropped him into the tub full of water. Touma screamed, Shu laughed, Shin could feel a migraine coming on, but Ryo, Ryo was planning on how to get to New York.

Shin served Ryo breakfast first, doing his best to ignore the other two. "I hope Seiji is ok, maybe his flight just got delayed or he had to stay longer."

Ryo faked a smile, "Yea that's probably it."

To New York to save Seiji and back home again. Seiji stayed over at Touma's apartment when they got back. "So you gave Ryo a massage and.." He shook his head, "you gave him your virginity as a birthday gift?"

"You make it sound terrible." Touma was working on dinner, he could cook. Not on the skill level of Shin, but he managed well enough on his own.

"You asked me to be your first kiss, you gave Ryo your body first, and you're holding your heart out for..." Seiji was helping him cook, "Does he even know you like him?"

"Of course not." Touma's tone changed to serious. "I don't think I could handle the emotional stress of him rejecting me. It's something I've thought on a lot. I can wait."

Seiji reached over and messed up Touma's hair, "So how was it? With Ryo?" He knew when to change the subject.

Touma laughed at the question, "Hurt at first, but I expected that. Then rather enjoyable." He grinned as Seiji shook his head at him and went back to helping him cook.

Before the Black Armor appeared, the night before Shin and Shu went surfing. "Hey Shin?" Shu was sitting on Shin's bed flipping through a random magazine, while Shin was trying to decide which sun block would be best for the following day's activities.

"Shu?" Shin looked over at his friend.

"Do you remember Ryo's birthday party last year?"

"What part of Ryo's birthday party?" He threw both bottles into the bag to be safe.

Shu rubbed his temples, "The part where Touma and Ryo had sex in your bathroom while you and I slept."

His eyes went wide at that, "What?" Shin turned around standing up and sat on the bed beside him. "Well I was asleep so no. But," he looked over at his friend, "That would really be between them." He put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Do they know you saw them?"

"No. I can't get it out of my head. It bothers me for some reason. Just, I asked Touma and Seiji a few years ago if they where dating, and they told me they weren't. I see Touma with Ryo and I just don't know! I felt confused and upset...maybe even a little bit jealous."

"Jealous of Ryo for being with Touma, or Touma for being with Ryo?" Shin thought on it, "You are aware that the constant in both events is Touma?"

Shu went silent. "What does that mean?" He whispered.

Shin grinned at him, "So you have a crush on Touma."

"Hey, I never said!"

"You didn't have too! It's all over your face!" Shin laughed, "So was Ryo doing Touma or was Touma doing Ryo?"

Shu's face had turned quite red as he looked down at his feet, "Touma was..on Ryo's lap."

Shin leaned in close, "So you want our Touma on your lap?" He had a grin on his face. "I didn't even know you liked boys, but I could see why you'd pick Touma, he is visually appealing."

Shu pushed his friend off the bed. "I like girls." He folded his arms, "Just, it feels different when I look at him."

Shin had run off, Touma and Shu where sporting healing bruises. They had a plan after working with Nasuti, and finally after a long and confusing day of losing two friends through a portal and a fight with another. Touma had finally gotten a bit of alone time. So he cleaned up and had decided that a long soak would ease his mind.

He opened one eye when he heard someone else enter the bathroom, spotting Shu. They'd all seen each other before, even gone to onsen together. He closed his eyes again, until he heard him finish washing and join him. "Why do I have this feeling you've been wanting to talk to me about something?"

Shu watched him, "Are you ok? I mean Ryo did get taken by that guy...and you and him.."

Touma opened his eyes, "Ryo and I?" He suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach. This was the worst possible time for this conversation.

"You and Him are together right? I mean I saw you both in Shin's bathroom the night of Ryo's birthday party." Shu looked right at him, he needed answers.

Touma cursed himself, he didn't know they had been caught. "No. We're not." Touma looked up at the ceiling, he found it hard to look at him, "And what we where doing, I never wanted you to see."

"Never wanted me to see?" Shu sounded confused, not upset but frustrated at this, "Why won't you look at me?"

"Because if I do, then we'll end up talking about something, that right now it's not a good time to talk about." His eyes stayed on the ceiling, "I can wait."

Shu shifted in the tub moving so his hands where on either side of Touma's head and he was looking down at him. "Talk about what? What are you waiting for?"

"You." Touma whispered as he made eye contact with him, he couldn't hide that. It was right there exposed, the emotion was in his voice.

Shu pulled back and got out of the tub, he saw the look of hurt on Touma's face. "Come on, a bathtub isn't the right place for this." He grabbed a towel and dried off, grabbing his clothes and sneaking back to the bedroom.

He was confused at the calmness in Shu's voice, "What?" Touma did the same shortly after Shu left.

The bedroom was dark, but Touma could make out Shu sitting on one of the beds. "Shu?" He approached him after he shut the door, his towel was pulled off and he found himself on his back on that bed. "What?"

"Hey keep your voice down. " Shu pinned him down, "You don't want Nasuti or Jun to hear us." With that said, Shu kissed him.

Touma stared at him, "Hear us?" He figured it out with that kiss. Oh."

Shu kissed him again and let go of his wrists. "I want you." He buried his face into Touma's neck. "I was jealous seeing you like that with Ryo. I didn't realize it at first."

Touma chuckled, "When we defeat that guy, and save the others. We'll figure this out. But right now?" He sat up and kissed him, "I need you."

Touma arms where wrapped around Shu's shoulders as the toughest member of the Troopers kept a firm grip on him, keeping him close. Shu couldn't stop looking at him, Touma's eyes closed, he was relaxed, and in a state of bliss. "Touma?" He brought his lips to his friend's ear before kissing his neck and listening to the other's voice catch in his throat as he tried to keep a moan back. He kissed him again, drawn to him.

"Shu?" Touma opened his eyes and moaned into Shu's lips trying his best to keep his own voice down. Touma understood his own attraction towards his friend, Shu put his heart into everything he did. He gave his everything in all he did. There was something to be admired about someone who could do that.

Shu held on to him, "I like hearing you."They held onto each other as if their lives depended on the psychical contact and even after they finished they didn't let go of each other. Until Touma got up and made sure the bedroom door was locked. He quickly returned to bed and Shu's arms.

Finding rest and comfort with each other. They didn't know what was coming, but they knew at least at that moment, somehow they would survive it.

But they didn't know, their time together would run as fast and as short as sand in an hourglass.