We were kissing. Fantastic kissing.
The odd thing is, kissing someone like India should have been terrifying. What if he thought me clumsy, or, even worse, sloppy? But he seemed to be having the time of his life, murmuring nonsensical things into my neck and humming as he pressed his lips to my collarbone.
We'd been doing this for ages, or so it seemed. In reality, we couldn't have been gone more than two or three minutes, but someone was likely to come looking for us soon.
"India, we have to go back," I murmured, trying in vain to gain his attention from my skin.
"Tariq!" I exclaimed, pushing him back. He glanced up at me, startled.
"Sorry, what were you saying? I was a bit preoccupied."
"Yeah, about that: my eyes are up here, dolt."
He laughed, throwing his head back, and I took in his dark cocoa skin, imperfect and spotted with acne as it was; his hair, blacker than ink, dotted with bits of dandruff, fell across his forehead. He ran his fingers through it- fingers that had previously been entangled in my own hair- pushing it up across his head in an attempt at a comb-over. I thought he was perfect, even though he fit the stereotypical image of a scrawny, nerdy Indian. So what if he had zits all over his face? So what if his clothes didn't fit? (Actually, they fit in all the right ways- he was wearing a sweater that had mercifully shrunk in the wash, and I could see every outline of his toned chest.) He was mine- even if the rest of the world didn't know it yet.
"Tariq! Seychelles! Where are you two?"
"Shit! That's Britan!" Britan, also known as England or "Authur", had been trying to get Tariq and me together for years. Little did he know that we'd been dating for the past month, right under his nose.
"Hellooooo, anyone there? Germany's been looking for you, Tariq, he said something about needing to go over the final layout for the trade agreement..."
"Curse him," Tariq muttered. "China and I have gone over it a thousand times with him already. It's not going to change while he's not looking!"
"Somehow I don't think that's the issue," I muttered, trying to find a way around Britan out in the hall. But he stood where he was, looking around as if we were going to pop out of the wall.
Tariq sighed. "We're in here, England."
Opening the door to the classroom, gave us a searching look. "What have you two been doing in here? And Seychelles, France's been looking everywhere for you, something about needing to explain the meaning of fish-"
"Dammit, I forgot about that!" I sighed. "We really can't get a break from life, can we?" I asked no one in particular.
"Apparently not," Tariq answered.
"By the way, what were you two doing in an empty classroom?"
It was times like that I really had to keep myself from giggling.
It was unexpected, that day at his place.
"Tariq, open up!" I slammed my fist against his bathroom door. "Honestly, you are so slow, why don't you just hurry up with your jacking off or whatever it is you're doing and just-"
"Ibm nod jackingh ovv!" I heard through the wood.
"Pardon?" I opened the door to find Tariq leaning over the sink with a bloodied tissue in his hand, pressing it against his nose. "Oh. That can't be good."
"You tink?" He glared at his reflection in the mirror. "Ugh..."
I closed the door behind me and went to sit on the toilet's lid. "You okay? What happened?"
"Dunno," He replied. I noticed that he had avoided answering my first question, but decided to let that one go.
"Here, let me see," I said, leaning over the sink to get a better look. He turned his head, too, and I suddenly found myself face-to-face with one person who seemed to be branded on the inside of my skull.
"Ah..."
"Well? Are you gonna look ad mbe or what?"
Sighing, I reached over and took the tissue out of his hand. He let me, simply becoming completely willing to do whatever I liked. I had to suppress my mind from going places it really shouldn't.
"See? It's not that bad. Look, your nose isn't even bleeding anymore."
"You think?" He asked, and rather than noticing his voice had changed from nasal to normal, I noticed the way his undershirt rode up and bared his toned stomach.
Oh, hell. He was in his underwear.
"Ah, I should probably leave you be... You're better now, right?..."
"Oh," he looked torn. Crap. "I was hoping you'd stay a bit longer..."
"Why?" I asked, leaning forward on impulse. Tariq swallowed, and I watched his Adam's Apple bob up and down as he tried in vain to keep his eyes off my chest.
"I, er, that is to say, um-"
"Yes?" I leaned forward some more, loving his reaction. His eyes were squeezed shut by now, and he was mumbling something intelligible.
"Tariq, are you okay?" I turned him so he was facing me and moved around the sink so I was in front of him.
"I'm fine," he said, a little too fast.
"Tariq. Look at me."
He did, and I was startled to find his eyes were not black, as I had expected, but rather a deep, glowing brown that lightened around his pupils. Speaking of which, his pupils were rather dilated.
"Hey, seriously, you're freaking me out here."
Tariq glanced up at me, obviously fighting internally over something that I assumed had to do with me. I figured I was too close or something, until he took a step toward me.
We were so close I could feel the heat radiating off him.
"Do you need a hug?" I prompted, using my only semi-pick-up line.
"No," he answered, but made no attempt to move. Actually, he seemed to get closer with every second, though indecision was clear in his eyes.
Wanting him to make the first move, I leaned closer and asked, "Do you want a kiss?"
He sucked in a breath, staring into my eyes in disbelief.
"Tariq?" I prompted, but he just stood there staring at me. "Seriously, I'm starting to get a little creeped out-"
He silenced me. With his lips.
Oh, god, his lips.
I felt like I could stand there all day, me in a tank top and skinny jeans, him in his undershirt and some shorts, kissing like there was no tomorrow. It wasn't until Nepal knocked on the door that I realized we'd been necking for the past ten minutes.
"The hell are you guys doing in there?" he yelled.
"Nothing, just helping Tariq with a bloody nose," I called back, glancing in alarm at the expression on Tariq's face. We were still wrapped around each other in a fairly intimate way, and Tariq was staring at me in complete disbelief again, like he couldn't believe I was lying to his twin brother.
"Yeah, well, Turkey's getting impatient. Clean up quickly and come down." Nepal's footsteps were heard going down the stairs, and Tariq and I sighed in relief.
"That was close," he said, and I silently agreed.
The silence stretched until it became awkward, and then some.
"We- we should probably be going..."
"Y-yeah," I replied, for a lack of a better thing to say.
Untangling himself from me, I couldn't help but wonder...
"Hey, Tariq?"
He turned back, almost hopefully. "Yeah?"
"What does this make us?"
He paused, considering for nearly far too long before replying, "I'm not sure. What do you want us to be?"
My heart thudded in my chest. "I'd like us to be- well- to be more than what we are now-"
"More than just friends, you mean?"
I nodded and swallowed thickly. "Um, yeah, I-I'd like that."
Slowly, he let a grin spread across his face. "I think that can be arranged."
I couldn't believe what I was doing.
"Ah, Seychelles, that feels soooo good..."
I licked the spot on his lower neck again, trying to forget his hand (which was conveniently placed on my breast, slowly massaging me into insanity.)
"Do you want to go farther?" I asked, internally shouting at myself to keep quiet. The hell was I saying?
"Now there's an idea..." Grinning mischievously, he flipped us over so his hips were hovering over me, and I sucked in a breath, trying not to hyperventilate.
Smashing his mouth to mine, he positioned himself between my legs so that I could feel...
Oh, god no. No way. He did NOT think...
"You know what I really want right now?"
Crap. He did too think...
"Wanna try something new, Seychelles?"
I swallowed, not trusting my traitorous tongue at the moment.
"Seychelles..."
I couldn't help it- I looked up at him, into his dilated eyes, so full of lust it would have scared me had I not known he would wait for me forever.
Tariq gently pressed his hips into mine, and I could feel his bulge against my thigh. It was nearly impossible not to strip him of his clothes that very second. "Is this okay?"
For a second I couldn't answer, then, "I- I don't know... I'm not sure..."
"We don't have to, if you don't want to."
Internally, I knew this was something big for him as well. He'd never gone that far before, and had waited until he was old, in the eyes of the other countries, to find the "right person". I, on the other hand, was not a virgin, and, while my first time wasn't quite what I wished it could have been, I certainly knew what was to come.
But on the other hand, well, I worried he was using me. Stupid, I know, but the thought remained nonetheless.
Carefully, I put my arms around him and pulled him closer. "I- I'm not sure..." Seeing the look on his face, full of want and hunger and something I couldn't quite place (but secretly hoped was love), I added, "But I want to try."
For one moment, our eyes met, and I could see he would hold me to that.
"Alright, then," he said, leaning closer and pressing not only his lips, but his entire body into me.
We continued to kiss while he snaked his hands up my shirt, tickling my sides lightly. I squirmed, trying not to giggle.
"T-Tariq," I gasped when his fingers brushed my nipple. "D-do that again!"
He complied, and I could feel him smirking against my skin when I writhed and moaned his name. " 'S not funny," I muttered, which only made him grin wider. Gathering my courage, I snaked my hands up his shirt, proceeding to copy his movements. We moaned again, and our tongues tangled; I couldn't help but think, God, he tastes so good- like a mix between chocolate and tea...
Slowly, very slowly, he reached down and lifted my shirt over my head. I was nervous; it seemed as though he knew exactly what to do, and there I was, acting like the awkward noobie...
"Hey, are you sure about this?"
Glancing up at him, there was worry written all across his face. In that moment, something hit me; I wasn't quite sure what it was, but suddenly by nervousness was gone, replaced by something hot and boiling and impossible to ignore. "Yeah," I replied, "I've never been better."
Carefully, but not too slowly, we began to undress each other, and with every inch of skin exposed the temperature in the room seemed to increase magnificently.
Skin flushed and completely naked, we stared at each other for a while before moving into our embraces- and him moving into me.
"Tariq!" I could have sworn I said a great many other things, but they passed right out of my ears as he began to thrust, his head buried in my neck and his arms gripping me like death itself.
After finding each other's rhythm, we moved as one unit, slowly engulfing one another in fire and sweat and passion that couldn't be sated, until...
Our peaks grew closer, closer, closer...
There.
There was no screaming, just hurried gasping of names and slumping bodies. He was still inside me when I murmured, completely overtaken by my latest experience, "I love you, India."
And as I was drifting off to sleep, I could have sworn he said nine simple words back:
"I love you, too, Seychelles. And I always will."
A/N: R&R! My first piece! 3