Summertime

Summertime. One of the hottest days so far in the Kanagawa Prefecture. The sun gleamed off the polished taps at the water fountain, the ground below them cracked and spattered with water. The trees rustled dryly in a nonexistent breeze, the grass at its roots spotted with yellow. The tennis courts lay hot and unused, tarmac surfaces shimmering under a mirage of heat.

Niou lay with one hand flung over his eyes on one of the benches in the clubroom. A line of sweat was slowly forming at the edge of his wristband. Adam's apple moving sluggishly as he swallowed with a dry throat. His bleached white hair had slowly worked itself free of the confines of his plait, and it lay sprawled around his head like a halo.

Beside him, the pages of a magazine crinkled and fluttered as Yagyuu turned them, the tips of his fingers sticking to the print, leaving them smudged with black, blue and red. The sun blazed yellow on his glasses, orange on their platinum frames and glancing off the drops of condensation on the can of coffee by his thigh. The air was still, everyone had either gone home or sought shelter inside the cooler, air-conditioned school building.

"Hey." Yagyuu glanced down, eyes invisible behind the lenses of his glasses.

"Ah. You're awake."

Niou slowly sat up, running his tongue over dry lips. Yagyuu handed him the can of coffee.

"You've not poisoned it, have you, Yagyuu?" His partner's name rolled off his tongue like syrup and he grinned, cracking open the can with a hiss.

Yagyuu frowned. "Don't be ridiculous, Niou-kun, you should know by now I'd be much more subtle." He pushed up his glasses with a finger. They'd slipped down his nose, leaving a red line and a smudge of sweat. Next to him, Niou raised the can to his lips and downed the coffee.

The coldness settled in his belly and he shivered. He scooted up the bench and laid his head on Yagyuu's thigh. Yagyuu glanced down at him, long-used to the whimsical ways of his doubles partner. Niou reached his hand up, long fingers running over Yagyuu's temple, smoothing wherever they encountered a sheen of sweat.

Yagyuu was watching him with such openness in his eyes that Niou suddenly found it difficult to breathe. He raised himself up on his elbows and pressed his lips to Yagyuu's. There was a moment's hesitation, then all of a sudden Yagyuu was kissing him back, tongue flickering over Niou's and he let his lips part.

Yagyuu tasted of that canned green tea he was always drinking, and vaguely, Niou thought, of peppermint. His hand slid around the back of Yagyuu's neck, fingers running through the ends of his cropped brown hair, damp with sweat. One of Yagyuu's hands ghosted under the hem of Niou's shirt, fingers rubbing over the protruding hip bone. Niou shivered, pressing himself closer, cotton shirt chafing at his collar. He pulled away gently, their lips only a hair's breadth from each other and cracked open his eyes. Yagyuu's eyes were glazed behind his glasses and Niou's laughed, reaching up and sliding them off, setting them next to the empty coffee can.

Distantly, the breeze picked up, making the tree branches whisper louder to each other, their shiny green leaves fluttering. The forgotten magazine's pages whipped backwards and forwards and a faded tennis ball bumped gently against the doorframe. There was a muted splash from the direction of the water fountain, and somewhere a door slammed shut.

From his position underneath Yagyuu, Niou watched the sun disappear gradually behind the trees lining the school drive, goosebumps prickling on his skin, partly from the sudden chill, but mainly from the hot, insistent kisses Yagyuu was pressing to his neck. There was a growing ache in his chest, and it made Niou catch his breath.

Yagyuu paused and lifted his head from Niou's neck.

"What's the matter?"

Niou smiled, genuinely this time, not one of his usual smirks (because the heat makes everyone act funny).

"Nothing…" And he kissed Yagyuu long and hard. IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou, and when he pulled away again, there was a flush high on Yagyuu's cheeks and his eyes were wide.

Shit. He'd said that out loud, hadn't he?

Then Yagyuu dipped his head, and, lips brushing against the corner of Niou's mouth, whispered it back. Niou's inhale got stuck in his throat and he buried his face into the crook of Yagyuu's neck. Yagyuu chuckled, low and warm and it vibrated through Niou's chest and down his arms. The ache in his chest exploded into a million white hot stars and he swallowed convulsively, Yagyuu's hands searing hot at the base of his spine.

Then someone clattered against the door and both of them looked round to see Akaya sprawled on the floor, arms and legs askew. All three of them stared at each other for a long minute; Akaya's face slowly turning red. Then Niou;s face cracked into a shit-eating grin and Akaya blanched. Niou ran his fingers down Yagyuu hip, grin widening as the other boy reflexively arched forwards.

Akaya's mouth dropped open and he scrambled up, nearly falling flat on his face. he ran screaming out of the clubhouse.

"Sanadaaaa!" Niou felt Yagyuu's lips quirk against his neck and he sat up with a rueful smile on his face.

Later, halfway through practice, Niou, watching Akaya completely destroy a second-year member felt a warm body at his back and strong, lean arms slide round his waist.

"Hey." Niou's voice was no louder than a whisper.

"Hello yourself, Niou-kun," Yagyuu murmured, breath hot at Niou's ear. Niou turned his head. Yagyuu's glasses were looped over his collar, and Niou wanted to drown in Yagyuu's smouldering gaze.

Their lips were on the verge of meeting when there was a screech from the courts, and Niou turned momentarily to see Akaya in a dead faint on the floor, finger pointing accusingly at him. He laughed, and the sound echoed around the courts.

"Would you look at that? Seems he saw more than he let on."

And he turned in Yagyuu's embrace, slid his arms around his partner's shoulders and let himself go.