Haha, I didn't really consider any chapter-divisions when I wrote this, but there are clearly... three scenes in this story. So I thought each scene deserved their own chapter. Only, the first scene/chapter is immensely short in comparison to the other two ;D But you'll survive! The next one will be longer!

This is a boyxboy story, don't read if you don't like (or read, but don't tell me that). There are only a few stories here centering these two, so I was bound to come and fill in eventually... Hmm, you know, I've grown rather fond of these two :3

The sun was setting beyond the rocky grounds of a near-desert. It was fairly silent, the only constant noise being the chirping of male crickets. Every now and then a bird of some kind croaked, hungry and looking for something to eat. Anything probably would have done the job. But instead of finding a dinner on four legs, the bird must have been disappointed to be scared off by two, loud creatures too big to eat and quickly moving forward on wheels. And if that wasn't enough, there suddenly was a huge explosion perhaps only a mere kilometer away, managing to even get the crickets on the run.

One of the motorcycle-like-vehicles made a tight curve, flying sideways and coming to a halt. The driver kicked the leg down and climbed off the thing he had been steering just a second ago, just as the other parked his bike right before him. The second driver didn't make a move, deciding to remain seated exactly where he was. But in turn, the first one took off his helmet, laid it on the bike, and took a few steps in direction of the explosion. A chuckle left his lips as he ruffled his hay-blond hair absently. He turned to look over his shoulder and at the other driver, smiling widely. The crystal on his cheek sparkled lightly.

"Well wasn't that fun."

The driver number two shook his head and also agreed to strip out of his helmet, if only to be able to speak better. Immediately, he began settling his bandana on better, as it was nearly falling off due to the rough way he had lifted off his previous head-cover. He casted a quick glance at the other boy that was half fed up and half amused, but then he just gave up and moved his eyes over to view the puff of dark smoke that was still wafting gently through the otherwise clear layers of air. The blonde strutted closer to the redhead and his bike, positioning his elbows on the latter and lazily leaning back on them.

"Gah, it's really hot."

The redhead grunted and wiped his forehead with his free hand that wasn't holding his helmet. The comment earned him the eyes of the boy still standing, running him up and down. This boy had a smirk on like no other, and, upon realizing this, the other just had to raise one single eyebrow in great puzzlement. The blond didn't need any more encouragement to say what he had in mind.

"I bet, with that body…"

To top it off, Layle whistled, pointedly allowing his gaze to fall upon the lower regions of Keiss's upper body and licking his lips, undoubtedly on purpose. Keiss let out a laugh and he punched the other on the shoulder, forcing Layle to look up. The redhead tilted his head disapprovingly, but eventually he couldn't help grinning and going along with the game. He straightened his posture and stretched his hands over his head, making his back bend in just the kind of seductive angle.

"Yeah, yeah, you'd certainly like a piece of this, now wouldn't you?"

He came down from his posture and winked at Layle, who at least appeared to be completely turned on by the move. His smile grew and he made a loose spinning motion to relocate himself right next to Keiss, still sitting on the motorcycle. With one hand he grabbed the bike's left handle and the other one he laid down on the saddle, behind the redhead on top. Keiss had already turned to his side before, so now they were facing each other and, thanks to Layle, also positioned quite close to each other. Keiss stared at Layle rather blankly, but Layle was still smiling. When he spoke, his voice came out as a delicate whisper, because he didn't need to speak any louder so close to the one he was talking to.

"Hmm, you know, I really would."

With that said, Layle felt like it was now safe to lock their lips together and kiss the other slowly, softly, but with a hungry, nearly starving edge to it. This nearly freaked out Keiss, who had not expected any of that and thus quite quickly decided that it would be best to just push the other boy off. It turned out that on the other hand, that was something that Layle hadn't expected. So while he ended up looking very, very confused by what had happened, Keiss just appeared to be, plain and clear, offended. There was now about a meter of space between them.

"What was that?"

Keiss asked and although he sounded fairly irritated, he could have been angrier as someone who had been surprise molested slash kissed. However, it didn't necessarily mean that Layle actually had a shot: it just meant that Keiss was actually quite understanding when being forced to face his friend's quirks. Layle still hadn't completely processed the fact that he had just been rejected. He scratched the back of his head, eyeing Keiss suspiciously like he doubted it was truly him.

"I kissed you?"

Stupid questions usually aroused stupid answers. Ironically enough, while Layle was going around in his head wondering why Keiss seemed so clueless about everything today and had to ask such needless questions, Keiss was rolling his eyes and thinking that Layle had clearly decided to take the road of a simple-minded today, as he seemed incapable of giving answers that were truly needed.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now who the hell gave you the right to do that then?"

Keiss crossed his arms and began tapping his fingers against his arm, looking at Layle like he was a kid that had jus stolen a cookie from the forbidden jar. Layle seemed to relax completely as he realized what all the fuzz was truly about. He stopped carrying himself like he was expecting Keiss or some invisible monster to attack at any moment, and flexed out his fingers, which he didn't remember clenching.

"Uh, you did? I figured out it'd be okay since you like me."

He shrugged and smiled sheepishly. He took a tentative step closer to the redhead, but the redhead in question just raised his left arm, the palm of his hand and fingers pointing up, showing him a sign that clearly said "stop right there, mister". Layle did stop, but he didn't seem to mind being told to do so. Keiss was another case however. He had suddenly adopted an expression that was a mix of confrontment and incredulity. He didn't waste time in further questioning the other boy.

"And what gave you that idea?"

It was beginning to look clear that Keiss's voice had rose up a tiny notch, showing that it was getting increasingly difficult for him to keep his cool and be understanding. After all, it was his pride that was on the line now. Once again, Layle acted nonchalant. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the other, straight into the eyes, unbothered by everything at the moment.

"Well, you did", there was a pregnant pause after that, "What, don't you like me?"

That was enough for Keiss. He felt like he had heard enough.

"Of course, I don't! Why would I!"

Swiftly, he threw his head the other way, highlighting the fact that he was currently refusing to even look at the other. Once again, Layle switched back to the confused-mode: it finally started dawning upon him that Keiss was, for some reason, seriously offended. And that he wasn't going to jump down from his motorcycle and fall into his arms once he had gotten off his girly, "there-must-be-a-reason-for-everything" -phase. Yes, it was all very, very perturbing. He looked up at the sky. The smoke was still further away there, hanging onto the sky like some thick, black foam.

When you looked the other way, it was actually quite beautiful. The sun still hadn't set, although it felt like it had been on the edge of doing so so for at least an hour already. At some point, the crickets had also settled back down. The bird was still missing, but it wasn't like Layle had even noticed that there had been a bird there to begin with. To him, all seemed to be in perfect place. It possibly helped that, from the angle he was watching, the sun seemed to be setting just behind his redheaded beauty. There really was nothing he could have done to prevent a smile from forming. Now if Keiss would just look at him.

"Because you're immensely beautiful."

Without thinking about it at all, Keiss quite automatically rushed to look at Layle, though he realized his mistake only a second after he had done it. He didn't dare to turn back around and Layle was left to wonder if he was blushing from embarrassment, anger or if the sun just made him look that way. Most likely it was a mix of all three. Keiss looked positively upset, but there was no way he could have managed to rain upon Layle's parade, now that he had already granted him the honor of being able to see his face. Layle was in perfect mood as he continued with his reasoning.

"Because you're proud and confident. Because you're smart and witty. Because you're determined about everything you do. And even though you're not extraordinary polite to other people", Keiss narrowed his eyes at that one, but Layle just ignored it, "it seems like you still truly want the best for them. You're an awful lot more trustworthy than one could expect of a Selkie. And also… you don't get there very often, but you I actually kind of like saving from trouble."

Before the end of his speech, Layle's smile had already managed to grow into a grin. The speech did seem to have a positive effect though, as Keiss felt less like his pride had just been trampled all over and, in response, he looked less angry. He was even kind enough to ignore the straight accusation that he was Layle's damsel in distress, if only from time to time. Despite all this, he still wasn't completely satisfied.

"I see, I see. But that doesn't really answer the question. I can now see why you should fall head over heels in love with me, but I still don't know why I should like you."

Keiss was already looking at Layle expectantly, but he didn't have to wait for long. To Layle, the answer to that was rather obvious.

"Because if you don't like me, I'll be very sad."

Not to mention how confused he would become, since his life would become void of a major hobby he had. The hobby being just Keiss in himself, really, he was all Layle truly needed to be amused. But he decidedly left that part untold, who knew how the redhead would react to that. Speaking of, he seemed to be content right now with just staring at Layle with a deadpan expression. Layle put a hand on his hip, shifted his weight and tilted his head, in a manner that said "well?". There was a moment in which neither spoke or moved. Then Keiss cast his eyes downwards, eyeing the helmet in his hands, right before answering.

"Sorry, I'm not really into that."

And just like before taking his helmet off, Keiss shook his head in disbelief before putting the helmet back on. He kicked the motorcycle going and turned to look at the blond. Layle looked surprised for a while, but then he just simply shook it off and smiled at the other. He put his own helmet on and returned to his bike, easily jumping on its saddle and starting the engine. For one last time, he glanced back to see if the redhead was still with him, before turning the bike around and returning it to its earlier track. Unfortunately, he had failed to see Keiss expression through the helmet and so, while he moved forward, Keiss didn't.

No, Keiss chose to stay there, rooted to the spot, looking insulted and biting his lip to stop himself from groaning in annoyance. What was up with that guy? If Keiss was so wonderful, why didn't Layle show a single of bit of sadness toward being turned down by him? He should have looked at least one tiny bit downcast, but no. He was smiling, god damn it, happily even. He continued seething for some time there, before he realized that, if he stayed there any longer than five seconds, he would most definitely lose sight of the object of his thoughts. He growled, twisting the throttle somewhat unwillingly.

"Crystal bearer…"