Happy New Year, children. It's me again with a oneshotty thing, once again, pretty different, but at least Kai's in it this time.

Yes, more dedications.

I want to give my love to my wife, Yazzy. I got her a birthday present and planned to be there on her 18th, but the trains went iffy, so I couldn't go for fear of getting stranded up North. As a result, she is still presentless. PS. I love you.

Also, my love goes to Emily. She did three beautiful pictures for me for her birthday, but hers is tomorrow and I have nothing for her because my artistic confidence recently took a beating and so, I am completely unable to draw at the moment. So instead, I'll try to get that smut done asap.

Finally, Megsie. You're precious, you know that right?

xxx

Hope 2007 is brilliant for you. Do your best.

Equitette

According to the common conception of the two elder teens of Team BBA, Kai Hiwatari and Rei Kon should have been in a passionate, hot, and heavy relationship. With their self- confidence, distinct masculinity and maturity, many of their friends were making dirty jokes on the very same day that they actually, finally got together.

"Don't forget your ear plugs tonight!" Grinning teens would joke, resulting in a groaning Takao stating that he would be tired in the morning.

It was over two weeks later when Takao realised that he had in fact, not ever heard a single, sexy sort of noise coming from either of Kai or Rei's rooms. Once that thought had popped into his mind, it also occurred to him that he had in fact, never seen Kai or Rei coming out of the same room first thing in the morning.

His thoughts had rolled on, until he had come to the revelation that he had, in fact, never even seen them kiss. All he had ever seen that made them remotely different from a couple of close friends was the occasional hand-holding, or dopey look when the other one was looking away.

Takao, being the brash young man that he was, had- despite Max's protests- eventually cracked and asked (or more precisely, shouted at) them if they had actually kissed yet. One of those proper kisses, not one of those sissy pecks, he had explained further when Kai had looked rather mortified.

Being the good friend that he prized himself to be, Takao had, with the help of Max, Hiromi and Kyoujyu (who had jumped in rather suddenly to help) shoved Kai and Rei gently, but insistently into Kai's room. Once the two surprised and utterly confused young lovers had been successfully secured, they had shut the door and made their own human barricade before it. Finally, Takao had issued his ultimatum- kiss, or else they could never, ever leave the room.

It had been a gamble because, if they were all honest, everyone knew that Kai and Rei could have gotten out if they really wanted to, and everyone knew that the younger group crowded outside the door would probably get bored after about half an hour any way.

However, despite having to listen to uncomfortable coughing and nervous laughter for a good ten minutes, they had eventually been rewarded with a couple of minutes of silence. When the door had opened not long after, they had been met with a flustered, but pleased looking Kai and Rei. Max, Hiromi, and Takao had let out a cheer, Kyoujyu had nodded in approval, and Kai and Rei managed small smiles through their extreme embarrassment.

Who on Earth would have thought that Kai Hiwatari, and Rei Kon –two of the best bladers in the entire world, with an army of fans and determination in bags— were shy?

For Rei, it was stressful. He'd gone through deep and meaningful soul-searching for him to admit that he wasn't straight like he had grown up believing. It had taken all of his legendary courage for him to finally address that the fluttery, breathless feeling that he felt when he was close to Kai really wasn't respect. Or that he wasn't 'just confused' when he had those erotic little dreams, because at the end of the day, there really was no one else he could claim to know who had silver and blue hair.

Once he had admitted it quietly to himself, Rei had pondered over the idea of being in a relationship with the elder. He'd never been particularly bothered by the idea of being in a relationship and was convinced that they were probably more trouble than they were worth. That was of course, before though, when he had been picturing a nagging woman. Kai was a guy, and Rei's best friend, and much as Rei was embarrassed to admit it, he loved being around Kai because Kai made him feel illogically safe and happy and didn't nag at him about the toilet seat, or randomly punching pillows.

After much angst, Rei decided that being with Kai, rather than just wanting a quick hand job from him was much more appealing. Yet still, after all of that, there had followed the period of believing that Kai would never, ever accept the idea of being in a relationship with Rei.

Kai on the other hand had been perfectly fine with the fact that he was attracted to a boy. He'd had his suspicions for a long time, seeing as he had never actually found girls pleasing to the eye (well, in any way really) and that he had an unashamed love of the colour purple.

He hadn't been fine with the fact that he was attracted -to the point of distraction- to his team mate. He'd thought it just far too close for comfort. He could hardly avoid Rei when he lived right along side him, and the way that his heart felt like there was some sort of small bird trapped in his chest every time he was within a metre radius of the other had, at the time, left him extremely unimpressed.

Kai had naturally, tried the age-old avoidance strategy to begin with. However, with Rei being hawk-like in awareness, he had noticed and looked suitably hurt within the first day of Kai deciding to take up that particular plan.

With that failure, Kai had gone back to trying to act normal and had largely succeeded, though he was occasionally seized by the impulsive desire to bury his face in Rei's hair (which was something that he found really creepy.)

He had refrained, of course, from making any sort of untoward gestures with blank-faced determination, convinced as he had been, that Rei was straight and would never, ever accept the idea of being in a relationship with Kai.

Six weeks after both teens had resigned that they may as well give up on their dreams and die alone after a long and lonely life, Kai and Rei shared their very first proper kiss at the insistence of their friends. And though Kai had gruffly informed the group that he would hurt them if they meddled like that again, everyone could see the visible relief within the two boys.

It had surprised everyone, not least Kai and Rei, that the pair were extremely shy around one another.

Their first kiss had been an awkward meshing of lips, tongues and teeth. First neither one wanted to initiate contact, looking at each other with nervous, pleading eyes. The next thing they knew, they had both steeled their resolve and simultaneously launched themselves at each other, determined to kiss their respective partner senseless.

Rei wasn't quite sure where his sudden, crippling shyness came from. He supposed it was something to do with his low self-esteem. Sure he had confidence in his blading, but it was the only thing that he really did pride himself on. Half the time he couldn't see what Kai saw in him and so, was worried that he could do something to screw up whatever it was that they had. The other half, he was doing everything that he could to try and drop hints in Kai's direction.

Kai however was faring no better. Having never had a relationship either, and also as someone who largely failed at communicating with the rest of the human race, Kai picked up, but did not act upon the hints that he received.

As team captain, and the elder of the two, Kai figured that it was probably his position to take control of the relationship and make all of the moves. The only problem was that it was far easier said than done, because, no matter how many times he commanded his body to move over and take Rei into his strong, but gentle arms and hold him close to his warm, firm body, overwhelming the trembling boy, his body never… really… seemed to respond.

So he tended to simply over-romanticise things in his head, while staring blankly ahead, rather than actually doing anything.

Hitoshi had waded in at some point, seeing both boys' silent flailing. Being a grown up and worldly wise, Hitoshi had offered much more helpful solutions than Takao's 'just have sex'. He had suggested, quite simply, that in order to feel more like a couple, Kai and Rei needed to do more 'coupley' things.

He had, of course, meant something along the lines of going on a date. Kai however, had immediately thought on a much grander scale.

"Would you like to sleep with me tonight?" Kai asked, nine and a half days after his and Rei's kissing adventure.

Rei choked on his tea. "You— excuse me?" He responded incredulously.

"I mean, not like that. Just… would you like to be in my bed tonight?" Kai coloured.

Rei reflected his blush with spectacular delivery. "Uhhh…"

"Damn it!" Kai cursed, shaking his head wildly. "This isn't coming out right." He paused to clear his throat. "Would you like to sleep in my bed, next to me tonight? No sexual situations… unless you want to that is—" Kai looked halfway hopeful and halfway terrified at that, "I mean it only in a friendly way. Well maybe not a friendly way because we're more than that, but I thought it would be nice to fall asleep next to you just to see what it was like. And now I'm going to drop my illusionary shovel…" He muttered and looked away.

Rei wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed, amused, frightened, or excited, so he settled for 'all of the above' and tried to ignore the fluttery feeling in his stomach.

"Sure." He responded with a forced smile. Kai nodded and all but ran off, leaving Rei with a rather ill look on his face.

Now what was he supposed to do? Agreeing had been mostly reflex, and actual thought was only just setting in. He was going to spend the night in Kai's bed.

Had Kai gotten over his shyness? Rei wondered. Would he try to take things further?

Rei's blush deepened when his heart gave a little leap at that. Was he really ready for such a step? They'd only just started kissing!

He tried picturing it, but all mental images unhelpfully headed in the direction that many thoughts of a teenage boy tended to go. Shifting to rid himself of the vague arousal that he felt, Rei decided that he would probably let Kai do whatever he wanted to him.

Okay, he would.

Oh God. He was going to have sex with Kai.

'Deep breaths, deep breaths,' he told himself. 'You're jumping to conclusions. Kai said that he just wanted to sleep in the same bed for the night. That doesn't equate to a night of frantic…hot…' Rei shook his head and decided to distract himself with what he was going to wear.

He considered wearing his usual attire of a baggy, old tee shirt and his pyjama bottoms with goldfish on them, (they were intended to be a joke; one that he hadn't found particularly funny. Much to his chagrin though, he had discovered them to be deliriously comfortable.) but he really didn't think 'sexy' was really a word that could be used to describe that get-up.

Wait. Since when did he even want to look sexy? Rei blinked and shook his head rapidly to clear it.

He'd really put his foot in it. And when a member of Team BBA made a faux pas, there was really only one person that everyone went to.

With that inspired thought, Rei jumped out of his seat and began his hunt.

"Heh." Was the first sound out of Kai's mouth, when Rei walked into his room.

Rei rounded on him. "What?" he demanded sharply, frazzled nerves making his voice much harsher than either of them were expecting.

Kai blinked in surprise, confused by how he had managed to offend Rei all ready. "I thought that your pyjama bottoms looked… sweet. Sorry." He replied in a quiet voice, as if he thought that raising it would cause Rei to attack him.

Rei coughed a little to cover his embarrassment, which was further heightened by the fact that Kai was still holding the door and looking about ready to make a run for it. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to, uhh. Thanks. Sorry." Rei winced at how much he sounded like a four year old trying to make a comprehensible sentence.

Kai nodded, seeming to have got the message that Rei wasn't angry with him and closed the door. "So, do you want to do anything?" He asked as he fidgeted with the chain hanging off his wallet.

Rei gulped. "Do… anything?"

A blush found it's way across Kai's cheeks. "I mean, like… watching a DVD, or something." Kai clarified. "It's not that late yet."

"Oh, right." Rei mumbled. 'Tell him you want to have a make-out session. In fact, walk over there, grab him and push him against the door. Then kiss him senseless.' "Well, I'm really kind of tired." Rei said instead.

Kai nodded. "Okay, I'll just," He walked forwards and snatched up some neatly folded clothes that were lying upon his bed. "I'll just go and get changed." He continued as he made for the door. "Make yourself at home." He muttered just before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Rei took the opportunity to wring his hands and let out a nervous breath. Cautiously, he approached the bed, eyeing it as if it held his doom. Moving slowly, Rei sat down on the side closest to him and silently awaited Kai's return from the bathroom. Knowing Kai, it would take a few minutes for him to wipe off his face paint, so Rei took the time to gingerly settle back against the headboard. To calm himself a little, he recalled his earlier conversation with Hitoshi.

He had found him cleaning off the little family shrine near the dojo. The elder had happily abandoned his task once Rei had begun to hesitantly tell his little story, but had seemed both surprised and disbelieving when he had heard of Kai's offer. However, his words of advice had been simple: Whatever happens, happens.

Rei had pondered this carefully, as Hitoshi had gone into further details of bed protocol and the mating habits of malekind. Though he had been grateful though, Rei couldn't help but question where exactly Hitoshi had gotten all of his information.

Apparently, he had had a really good time at university.

"Something funny?" Kai's voice startled Rei out of his revere

Rei straightened, gaze darting to the door where Kai was looking at him with an enquiring, but slightly worried expression. "Ahh, no. Just remembering something that Hitoshi said to me earlier."

Kai nodded and stepped in fully, closing the door with a soft click. "Yes, Hitoshi can be rather… helpful." He agreed.

Rei briefly worried at that, wondering whether Kai had had 'the sex talk' with Hitoshi too. Forcing the thought aside, he spoke up. "Which side do you want?"

"Hmmm?" Kai hummed, eyebrows darting up.

"The bed; which side do you usually sleep on? I don't want to disrupt your sleeping arrangement." Rei explained while blushing.

"Oh, right. Umm, whatever." Kai replied helpfully, before –as if Rei were some sort of poisonous snake- he all but crept around to the other side of the bed to Rei and sat down on the very edge. They shared a silent moment, staring at the blankets before Kai cleared his throat, startling Rei. "Do you want to get in then?" Kai prompted.

"Oh, right." Rei could have hit himself for the amount of surprised wonder in his voice. Instead he busied himself with shuffling around until he was nestled safely under the covers. When Kai did the same, it took all of Rei's self-control to not pull the covers up to his cheeks to hide his rather persistent pink blush. Still, he felt a little more compensated when he saw the colour in Kai's own cheeks.

And then, like the most horribly cliché thing in the world, silence fell.

Rei really wanted to swallow, but was afraid that the noise would end up booming around the room. The pair of them barely breathed, and glanced at one another, offering twitchy smiles before hurriedly tearing their eyes away to study the lack of pattern on Kai's duvet, only to repeat the process again seconds later.

'Kiss me!' Rei silently urged his partner. 'Be a man, Kai! Please!'

Kai didn't seem to get the message. Rei allowed himself a little, nervous swallow and rethought his situation through. He had a strong feeling that he and Kai should have been kissing by that point and yet they were not. Kai didn't seem to want to, and so, Rei decided that it would be best not to push any advances himself. After all, he really didn't want to screw anything up and also his body… didn't seem to want to listen to his commands. (Kiss him. Kiss him. Lean forwards and kiss him. Grab him and kiss him. Kiss him now! Now! Please now?)

Giving up, Rei flopped down onto his back, fighting back a sigh. Kai visibly jumped at the sudden movement and stared down at Rei as if he had done something infinitely more strange than simply lying down.

With a sudden hit of inspiration, Rei stretched out in what he hoped was a sexy manner, arching his back slightly off the bed to form a smooth curve that highlighted his slim physique. 'Take the bait', he willed silently. Kai only stared for a moment, before he turned his head away to angle his eyes to the covers in a gentlemanly fashion.

Confused, Rei let out a tiny groan as he flopped back down, hoping that it would seal the deal. His hesitant lover however, simply sniffed and pretended that he was debating cutting his nails in such a way that Rei couldn't tell if he was genuinely uninterested, or if he was just being chivalrous.

Rei bit back a sigh and rolled over onto his side, facing away from Kai. "Good night then, Kai."

"Good night." Kai muttered back, finally shifting around until he too was lying on his side, facing away from the boy in his bed. Within moments, the silence hung thick and heavy in the air. Kai and Rei remained motionless, each unknowingly focusing upon one another's breathing.

The minutes stretched out painfully slowly in much the same fashion. Rei desperately willed his itchy elbow away, and Kai swallowed back a cough, each unwilling to disturb the other. It was, of course, Kai who lost the battle first (which was a rare occurrence), letting out a tiny, dry cough. As if it were a chain reaction, as Kai was mentally berating himself for making such noise, Rei shifted in a fast, jerky motion to scratch at his arm before brushing a piece of hair that had been annoying his nose out of the way.

… And then it went quiet again.

Rei looked upwards imploringly. He was in bed with Kai Hiwatari- the love of his young life, and the object of his every fantasy. He was in bed with him because Kai had asked him to spend the night with him, not as his friend, but as his lover (at least, in the loosest sense of the word.) He was in bed with him, close enough to feel Kai's body heat, and they were doing absolutely nothing. He had almost been expecting (and possibly- hoping for) sex, or at least some small exploration of their relationship, or simply just a hot and heavy kissing session.

He hadn't even gotten a good night peck on the cheek.

Just in time, Rei managed to bite back his forlorn sigh, making a tiny snorting noise instead. Kai however, seemed not to notice and remained completely still. Figuring that he was probably asleep, Rei tried to close his eyes and calm down, trying to drop into a meditative state to relax his body into sleep.

'Why did he invite me into his bed if he's not going to do anything?' His mind protested back, obviously ignoring his plans to sleep. 'I should have kissed him earlier. Now he's asleep and I can't do anything.' Rei stopped then, to listen to Kai's quiet breathing. He wasn't really taking the deep breaths that were associated with sleep, but his lack of motion convinced Rei further. 'Maybe it's like… a deal. Quid pro quo. He invites you to bed, and you in return have to take the next step, and then he'll take the next step, and so on until you're having mad, hot se—' Rei cut himself off before the mental pictures got too graphic and he ended up in an even more embarrassing situation. 'Wait!' The sudden thought that hit him was unpleasant to say the least. 'What if you have one of those stupid, hot dreams during the night?' Rei blanched. It wasn't a very frequent occurrence, but he had woken up in an extremely uncomfortable state with Kai's name on his lips more than once. How mortifying would that be? Waking up to find that he had managed to create a tent out of the quilt— or even worse! A suspicious wet patch on the sheets.

What a way to ruin a romance that would be.

Rei dared to nuzzle his face into his pillow, willing the gritty feeling in his eyes to vanish. He was tired since his excitement had morphed into stress. He didn't know what he had expected to come of sharing a bed with Kai, but he had honestly thought that it would have been fractionally more intimate than this. He couldn't even see the clock from his frozen position, so he didn't have any idea of how long he had been lying there, unable to sleep.

'What if Kai's not even interested in you that way.' Tiredness led to silly thoughts. 'What if he just didn't want to stick his hand down your pants, ever thought of that? You're an idiot.' Rei had to blink at that, wondering why his little pit of teenage angst was so unnecessarily nasty. 'What if he just wants to stay friends? Maybe he's just testing you! He could—'

Further thought was broken off when his foot connected with something warm. Rei hadn't even been aware that he had been shifting until he found his foot pressed up against Kai's calf muscle. He gasped belatedly when the realisation that his toes were resting against bare skin struck him, and cursed Kai's trousers for riding up his legs vehemently in his mind.

"Sorry." They muttered simultaneously, jerking away from one another.

Why is Kai sorry? Rei wondered briefly, before it occurred to him that he wasn't curved enough to have pushed his foot onto Kai all by himself. He almost laughed when he realised that Kai too, had been shifting around at that moment.

As if sensing his thoughts, Kai let out the tiniest hint of a chuckle. "I thought that you were asleep." He whispered.

"I thought that you were asleep." Rei replied.

"I've been awake since we laid down. I didn't want to disturb you." Kai said in a low voice, causing Rei's eyes widened.

He had to wonder… was Kai thinking similar things to him?

There was a moment's pause before, as if by gathering all of his courage, Kai rolled over to face the centre of the bed. Rei swallowed harshly; far too intelligent to not realise the significance in the gesture. Sure, Kai may have simply been trying to get more comfortable, but Rei knew him well enough to know that Kai would happily ignore a protesting body so long as it kept his dignity intact. Kai was trying to prove something, even if it was simply jumping the tiniest, non-existent hurdle.

Rei rolled over too, and was unsurprised when he found Kai staring back at him.

"You're as nervous as me, huh?" Rei spoke, voice soft.

"Might be." Kai answered back, though the tiny smile at the corner of his lips offered agreement enough.

Rei chuckled quietly, feeling suddenly bashful under that warm, red gaze, and buried his face briefly into the sheets. "Ooh," he sighed out, though his voice still held a note of laughter, "this is really strange, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Kai agreed. Rei didn't need to look at him to tell that his smile had widened.

Rei moved his face a little so that he could peer up at the elder with one eye. Kai was certainly smiling, and Rei felt suddenly giddy with relief. "We've shared beds before, so I really don't know why I've just spent… however long afraid to even move."

Kai's expression flickered with relief long enough for Rei to detect the unspoken 'you too, huh?' "Yeah, well before we were— well, we weren't really expecting anything." Kai explained instead, and a little more of Rei's anxiety lifted. So Kai had been waiting for him to make some sort of move. That certainly explained a lot…

With a soft laugh, Rei re-emerged from his self-made little den, and moved to face Kai fully. Reaching out, he gently poked Kai's nose. "You're the one who invited me to come to your bed." Rei accused in a mirthful voice.

Kai scrunched his nose up. "Rei, you should know by now that just because I act confident, doesn't mean that I actually have a plan." He said, fighting back a smirk, though his red eyes glinted in relieved amusement.

"Idiot." Rei smirked in return; shifting forwards suddenly, purely on impulse to playfully head butt Kai on the chin.

Kai seemed surprised for half a second at the seemingly random gesture, but quickly latched onto the fact that it was one of affection and smiled. Both noted that they were a great deal more comfortable than they had been earlier, and visibly relaxed with small sighs.

The quiet resumed, though it was a lot less strained than before. Neither teen seemed ready to sleep though, as they instead peered at one another through the gloom. There was still one thing that was annoying Rei though…

Taking a deep breath, Rei shattered the silence once more. "I—" He cleared his throat and tried again, "I wouldn't mind a good night kiss." 'Take that for a hint, Kai', Rei thought.

Kai looked a bit startled for a moment, before he gave Rei a smile that Rei had labelled his 'favourite smile'- a crooked quirk of the lips that looked absolutely endearing on the usually brooding blader. Leaning forwards, Kai closed his eyes a little and brushed a few strands of Rei's hair out of his face, before closing the gap to press his lips against the freed skin of Rei's brow.

'That wasn't really what I meant,' Rei thought, though he couldn't help but feel warm inside, 'but I guess this is okay.' He concluded with a tiny smile.

Kai pulled back, though he did not move far, and Rei found himself instinctively looking up at his captain. Their eyes caught, and impulse touched the both of them, lowering their eyelashes until their eyes were hooded and drawing them both inwards.

And then, with softness that they could have easily convinced themselves that they were not touching, they kissed. It lasted all of a couple of seconds, but even after it broke, they remained close, tiny, excited blushes warming their cheeks just as much as the warm breath blowing across their faces.

After a few more minutes of peace, Rei pulled back suddenly. Kai briefly looked worried, but one flash of Rei's dopey grin as the other boy rolled back over, erased his doubt and left him smiling too. Mirroring Rei's motion, Kai settled back down, facing away from Rei once again, though this time, he shuffled back until only a short distance separated their backs.

"Hitoshi was right." Kai said, once he was comfortable.

"Hmm?" Rei responded.

"Whatever happens, happens."

Rei let out a little snort laugh. "He said the same thing to me."

Smirking, Kai closed his eyes. "Y'think he knew it was this awkward?"

"He's probably been in this situation himself." Rei confirmed, finally realising the meaning of Hitoshi's words.

He hadn't been trying to say that things could happen so Rei should be prepared for it. He had simply been saying that if things happen, then they happen and if they don't, they don't. So all they really had to do was to just relax and let things develop at their own speed, rather than worrying about it. After all, relationships were all about being comfortable with your partner, and part of the reason he cared about Kai so much was because he felt more comfortable and more himself around him than he did with anyone else in the world.

Feeling pleased with his discovery, Rei let out a little sigh of satisfaction, and scrunched his eyes shut.

"G'night, Kai." He muttered.

"Good night, Rei." Kai smiled.

It was quite late the next morning, when Kai and Rei emerged out of their room. When they entered the kitchen together, they were confronted with a smirking Takao and Hiromi. Rei shrugged it off as he moved over to the cupboards to make himself a bowl of porridge, figuring that they probably had some silly joke or something between them at that moment.

Kai however, moved to sit at the family sized table, red eyes fixed unnervingly upon the two giggling children as he did so. "What?" he snapped.

Takao and Hiromi glanced at one another before, unsurprisingly; Takao opened his mouth to speak first. "Have fun last night? I couldn't tell because I had my ear plugs in." He asked with a lecherous smirk upon his lips.

Kai looked quite offended for a moment when, against even Rei's expectations, he returned the grin. "I sure, did, Takao." He practically purred out, before he began to retell everything Hitoshi had told him about the joys of sex in glorious detail.

Despite his blush, Rei couldn't help but laugh as Takao clasped his hands over his ears and wailed as he fled the room with Kai hot on his heels.

Take care. May Kaiba Fist be with you.