Disclaimer: Beyblade and all its likeness does not belong to me. No profits are being made off this story.
Author's Notes: Mwuahahahhahaah!!! I am evil. Dedicated to Ranma.
The Ring
It was just another day in their training at Tyson's dojo home. Currently, Ray, Max, and Hilary were out in the courtyard going over some basic stats. As usual, Kai was nowhere to be found having risen with the sun.
And Tyson was fast asleep.
"Guys, where is Tyson?! We are in his home after all!" Hilary complained from her sitting position under the large tree.
Ray shrugged. "Last time I saw him, he was fast asleep!"
"Well, you'd think he'd be up by now what with his Grandpa and all." Max chuckled, referring to how Grandpa woke Tyson with a well-placed kendo stick. "Too bad he's out on the town today."
Ray looked curious. "Why's that?"
"No idea." Max smiled amusedly. "He said he had some hot chicks to meet up with."
Hilary rolled her eyes. "Men."
Suddenly, the three heard a loud yell and the high-pitched voice of Kenny. "TYSON GET UP THIS INSTANT!"
The trio in the yard sweatdropped.
"Guess the Chief's a pretty good substitute for Gramps."
A sleepy-eyed Tyson was flung into the courtyard wearing only his pajamas and an angry Kenny followed suit.
"Argh! Tyson! We're supposed to be training, not sleeping! Everyone has been here for hours!!"
The drowsy teen rubbed his eyes and sat up from the dusty ground. "Chief!! You didn't have to drag me out here!!"
"Yes I did!"
"Ahg," Tyson sighed getting up to stretch his muscles. "Heeeello Chief! Max, Ray, and Kai are staying here. Of course they'll be around when I wake up, duh. Hey guys." He greeted the three other teens by the tree.
Kenny turned red and flipped open his laptop in a huff. "Whatever. Waking up this late just won't cut it."
"Oh yeah?" Tyson glanced around. "So where's Kai? I don't see him around."
"Who knows?" The Chief shrugged and tapped on the keys of his laptop. He then took a seat on the steps of the dojo. "Okay! First up, Tyson vs. Ray…"
It continued on to be a long day of hard training.
Kai sighed as he made his way towards the dojo. Cutting through the back entrance fence through the large stone wall that surrounded the back courtyard he stealthily reached the large wooden doors. The team captain looked around to make sure the rest of his teammates weren't there to see him before sliding back one of the doors.
"So, where were you all day?" An annoying voice came from the corner of the dojo, making Kai nearly jolt in surprise. He stiffened, glaring.
"No where that concerns you, Tyson." He closed the door behind himself and then shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Oh reeeeally," Tyson rolled onto his side from his position where he had been fiddling with his launcher. Putting down a spare ripcord Tyson scratched at his neck. "You missed some seriously intense training, thanks to the Chief!"
Kai shut his eyes and snorted slipping off his shoes.
The baseball-capped boy's eyebrow twitched. "I know how much you love training." He forced a grin. "Too bad you couldn't join us…"
"Yeah that's really too bad." Kai replied disinterestedly, taking a seat at the far wall of the dojo. He crossed his legs and arms.
Tyson's twitch exploded. "KAI! The least you could do is hang out with us once in a while!!"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Geeze!" Tyson tossed an old weight disk against the wall. "So sue me for wondering how you are." He grumbled. "The Chief went home, and Max took Ray to show him his dad's shop, if you care." At Kai's silence Tyson gave up and rolled onto his back.
The large room lapsed into a relatively calm silence for a while. Tyson went back to fixing up his beyblading parts, while Kai continued to rest against the dojo's soft wood wall. From time to time Tyson would look up a worried expression on his face. Wherever Kai had been going these days, it was to do even more serious training than what he and the gang had been doing here.
Shrugging, the world champ tossed his launcher to the side and picked up one of his comics from a large pile next to the sacred sword of dragoon. Tyson snickered to himself, his gramps would have a cow if he came in here and saw the mess.
Leaning his round cheek against the palm of his hand, the pony-tailed boy blew out his breath, reading his comic.
A few minutes later Kai's face adopted a slightly pained expression. He idly placed his hand over his left pectoral. "Stupid thing…It's bothering me again..." He muttered.
Tyson looked up from his comic book to where Kai was sitting, leaning his back against the soft wooden wall with an uncomfortable expression on his face.
"What is?"
The other teen looked a bit uneasy as he peered around the room making sure that no one else was around. "Can you keep a secret, Tyson?"
The boy with the cap's eyes widened and he sat up straighter. Kai was going to trust him with a secret? This was too unreal.
Excited at the prospect of hearing one of Kai's secrets and previous argument forgotten, Tyson crawled over to where Kai sat, a large grin on his face. "Yeah!"
The other frowned a bit. "You can't tell anyone. I'll get into major trouble if my Grandfather finds out about this."
Tyson's mouth made the shape of an 'O' as it dropped open. Maybe Kai's gramps was the reason that Kai kept sneaking off to train…! Tyson whispered urgently. "Sure, but… You don't need help with anything do you? If your grandpa is trying to make you work for him again I'll-!!"
"Relax, Tyson." Kai said annoyed, but his expression softened. "I'm not gonna quit the BladeBreakers again."
"Oh… Good."
Kai rolled his eyes and then lifted his hand from where it had lay on his chest, showing nothing that seemed totally out of place. That was until Kai's hands went down the hem of his tight purple tank top, pulling it up so that it exposed more and more of his toned stomach.
The midnight-haired boy looked away slightly, a blush rising to his cheeks. This wasn't what he expected.
Just when the cloth bunched to the point right above his ribs Kai paused. "You know my earring, right?"
Tyson was confused but nodded anyway, looking up to the small blue stud in the team captain's left ear. His eyes strayed back to the pale skin in front of him.
"Well, that's not the only thing I got pierced…" And with that, Kai pulled the shirt up the rest of the way, so that it was gathered tautly across the top of his well-defined chest muscles.
Tyson's eyes bugged out of his head. "WOAH MY GOD!"
Max and Ray looked at the large array of barbeque sauces with wide eyes.
After a while at Mr. Tate's shop, Hilary had run in dragging Kenny by the arm. Apparently, her idea was to hold another picnic, this time to help get Kai participating in team activities since he wasn't even there when she had held the last one. Together, all four of them had trekked off to the local grocery store to pick up the food they needed.
"Which one are we supposed to be getting again?" Ray asked, scratching behind his head.
Max look boggled. "I have no idea. Hilary just said to buy what was on this list!" He said, holding it up. "Not that I don't love a good barbeque, and the other one was a blast, but geeze…" He sweatdropped. "I hate cooking."
"Ditto. I like being cooked for more." Ray said mischievously, picking up a bottle closest to him. "This one looks okay, let's just throw it in the basket."
"Right."
"Hey guys!!!" The two looked over their shoulders to see Kenny running up to them.
He stopped in front of them, looking a little bit frazzled. "Guys! You have to come help me!! Hilary has gone insane and wants to buy squid!!"
Max turned green and then quickly ran with Kenny to stop the girl from trying to poison them all.
"Hey wait!!" Ray called as he raced after them, his arm outstretched. "I like squid!!"
Kai was blushing a bit in aggravation and more so in embarrassment. He never really thought he'd ever bare so much of himself to someone else before. But then again, this was Tyson. He always trusted in the other boy, even if it was to make a complete fool of himself or to win a beybattle. He was trustworthy.
It was one of the things he liked most about Tyson.
Right now, however, Tyson was staring unabashedly at the team captain.
On Kai's left nipple, hung a small shiny gold ring. It glinted a bit when he sat up straighter. "This is what's been bothering me lately."
"Dude…" Tyson breathed, blinking unbelievably. "You have a nipple ring?! That's crazy. When'd you get that done?"
Kai looked aggrieved. "About few weeks ago."
"Why'd you get that thing? Didn't it hurt?!"
I thought maybe you'd like it… Kai thought, staring intently into Tyson's eyes. He wasn't looking back at Kai however, more interested in the piece of jewelry that hung on his chest.
Kai shrugged, making the ring jingle. "It was interesting."
"I bet it did hurt." Tyson grinned placing a hand to his own chest. "My grandpa would never let me get one of those!"
"That's why I have to hide mine. My grandfather wouldn't either." Kai said evenly. "Neither would my private school." He added as an afterthought.
The blush on the world champion's cheeks had lessened somewhat but hadn't faded. He'd never really seen Kai so… so exposed before. And in the back of his mind, he admitted guiltily that he thought nipple rings were very sexy… Shaking the thought from his mind, Tyson sat back, crossing his legs, looking thoughtful.
"So it still hurts?"
Kai shot the shorter boy an annoyed look. "Yeah. I don't know why it's been acting up…"
"It's not infected is it?" Tyson asked, looking slightly concerned. "Er, not that I care or anything…"
The team leader sighed. "No, I don't think so. I bought some lotion in case." He leant forward, making Tyson jump, but he didn't notice as he pulled his tank top off the rest of the way, dropping it to the floor. He then began to peal off his taut long gloves. "It could be my tight clothing though."
"Well, you can always borrow one of my shirts, if you want. We can tell the others it's in the wash, so they don't y'know… find out about the ring."
"Okay…" Kai replied grudgingly. "Actually," He looked a bit anxious. Okay, this is it. Just ask him… This is the best approach to let him know how you feel…
"I was wondering… if you'd help me with the lotion thing. I need someone to help me put it on once a day."
Blood rushed to Tyson's face and he averted his eyes. "You sure you need help…?" Kai Hiwatari was asking for help? That was unreal!!
No, of course Kai didn't need help. It was just lotion after all.
"Yes, Tyson." Kai replied agitatedly. "That's why I asked you. Your fingers are smaller than mine." He raised a hand. It was true, Kai's finger wouldn't be able to fit through the small gold hoop.
"Ah, okay fine." Tyson nodded hesitantly while looking at his own hands. He shucked off his fingerless gloves, gulping. "You want me to do it now?"
Kai's eyes lowered and a small smirk crept over his lips. "Yes. It's in my bag." He pushed himself off the soft wood floor and reached into his bag near the futon that was set out for him.
He grabbed the bottle handing it to Tyson. "Just put a little."
"Uh," Tyson fumbled, flipping the top of the squeeze bottle open. "So you just want me to…" He stuttered, "Rub it on?"
"Yeah… Hurry up. We don't have all day."
"Okay Okay, geeze!" Tyson clumsily squirted out some of the thick special antibacterial lotion, smoothing it between his fingers for a moment. It was white and slightly cold.
Kai took the bottle from Tyson to read the label. In actuality, he wasn't reading the label; he didn't give a damn about it! It was just some regular lotion he'd picked up at the store when inspiration struck him.
He'd get Tyson to do it for him. This way, they'd have to find some alone time each day… and…
Kai had let Tyson know about the ring because he seriously had wanted someone to know. It wasn't very thrilling to keep something like that a secret for so long. Sometimes, he had used to stare at it, and wonder what it would be like to have Tyson's teeth close over it and…
Kai blushed slightly, craning his head away so Tyson didn't notice.
"Here we go, Kai!" Tyson smiled having rubbed away the coldness from the cream. His grandpa used to do that for him when he was younger because he hated rubbing cold sticky stuff onto himself.
Slowly his line of sight zeroed in on Kai's pierced nipple. He gulped, and brought the cream to it. Blood rushed to his cheeks when he touched the firm raised skin. He gently worked his way around the ring, using two fingers.
"Aa…" Kai gasped quietly, his arms that had been supporting him behind his back buckling.
Tyson looked up. "Is it still too cold? I tried to fix that…"
Trying to get a grip of himself – oh but that felt good – Kai shook his head, eyes nearly rolling into the back of his head as he felt Tyson's finger brush over the tip of the sensitive nub.
"N-no… No, it's okay." He swallowed and regained his annoyed tone. "Keep going."
Tyson rolled his eyes and finished off by circling Kai's nipple once more, and then he grinned and flicked the ring.
Kai's composure was nearly undone. He had asked for this torture? And worst (or most wonderful) of all, Tyson did it willingly…? He covered up his emotions with a snort of disgust.
"Real mature."
"Thanks." Tyson stuck his tongue out and leant back. "I'll go get you one of my t-shirts real quick and wash this off." He held up his fingers.
Feeling a bit light-headed, Kai only nodded.
"Hey dudes!!! What's shakin'?!!"
Max and Ray nearly dropped the bags they were carrying at the loud rickety voice that had shouted practically right in their ears.
"Wha-??" The blonde scratched the side of his head. "Oh! Gramps!"
"Yo!" The old timer slapped both Max and Ray on the back. "What're you two doin' out here? Where's da T-man?"
Ray sweatdropped. "We're waiting for Hilary and Kenny, they're still inside." He pointed to the grocery store they had just come out from. It seemed like Gramps was all finished with his business in town and was making his way home.
"I'll just hang around, n' then us gang'll be heading to da ol'homestead!"
"Right" Max and Ray smiled nervously, always flustered with Tyson's gramp's loud personality.
"Oh! Gramps, do you mind helping us out with our picnic again?" The blonde asked, shifting the weight of the bags on his arms.
"You dawgs are havin' another one of those things?" He rubbed his chin in thought. "Sure I'll help! But let's not have it near those real mean white rapids this time, ya dig?"
The two members of the Bladebreakers laughed. "No problem."
"There you guys are!!" Hilary's shrill voice cut through their thoughts as she and Kenny came rushing up carrying more bags. "We almost couldn't find you!"
"Sorry 'bout that little dudette, but if we're all set, let's giddy-up!" Gramps cheered somehow producing his bokken and waving it around.
"Aaaah," Kenny tugged at his hair. "I just know something's gonna happen at this picnic…!"
"Quiet you!" The brunette girl beside him warned. "Let's go! I bet Tyson won't be able to wait for tomorrow for the food to be cooked!"
Gramps chuckled. "Let's hope."
The Chinese blader among them picked up his pace. "C'mon guys, it's pretty late. I wanna go back to the dojo and sleep after doing all this training and shopping today."
"You said it!" Max agreed.
When the others returned to the home, Tyson and Kai were already fast asleep in their respective futons. Hilary and Kenny had detoured to go to their own homes and gramps had carried their load back. He was pretty strong under all those wrinkles! Max and Ray loaded up the fridge and yawning, changed into their sleep clothes.
They slipped into their futons, Max next to Ray who was next to Tyson. Kai's futon was pushed up against the far fall, not close to anyone's.
And night fell.
It was just another day at Tyson's dojo home. Currently, Ray, Max, and Tyson were sleeping noisily in their futons across the room. As usual, Kai had risen with the sun.
He was wide-awake.
The team captain's hand curled into the baggy yellow t-shirt that Tyson had leant him the night before. The night before. It seemed like a dream, but he knew it had happened, no matter how weird and awkward it seemed right now. A smile curved over Kai's lips as his hands smoothed down the soft cotton fabric, down his chest where his palm caught the feeling of the ring concealed underneath.
Smiling again, he slowly let his eyes slip closed once more…
"EVERYBODY WAKE UP!!!" A loud chipper voice screamed through the dojo. Kai groaned along with Tyson and Ray.
Max was jumping around on his futon waving his pillow. "It's BBQ time! C'mon guys, Hilary and Kenny'll be over any minute! We gotta get the food prepared!"
Tyson groaned even louder and rolled around in his sheet, huddling into a ball. "Quiet Max…"
"Nope!" Max leapt over Ray, who had his face stuffed into the pillow, and landed on Tyson's futon. "Don't you wanna gorge instead of train? It's a picnic dude!"
"Eh?" Rubbing his eyes, the world champ began to sit up. "What? Picnic?!" He smiled hazily, trying to shake himself awake. "Awesome!!"
"Yeah!" Max replied, absent-mindedly nudging Ray so he was rolled out of his futon and onto the wooden floor.
"Okay, I'm up…" Ray complained from his place on the floor. He crawled out of the room, trying to escape Max's loud voice.
Seeing that the Chinese blader was escaping the blonde grinned. "Seeya guys for breakfast!" He bounded out of the dojo leaving Tyson in his rumpled sheets and Kai still lying silent in his bed.
Yawning loudly, Tyson stretched and lazily got out of his futon. He padded across the room.
He poked Kai gently. "Hey, Kai, you up?"
"Yeah…" Kai's low voice was unexpected, and Tyson jumped in shock for some strange reason. The team captain sat up, the back of his light bluish gray hair was sticking up weirdly.
Tyson grinned and reached up to pat it down, earning a sullen look from the older blader. He stuck out his tongue and looped his arms around Kai's neck. At first the red-eyed boy thought Tyson was going to strangle him, but then he realized that the other boy was just… giving him a light hug. He swallowed uncomfortably.
"Promise to join in today, Mr. Sourpants?"
Kai made a face. "If you promise to leave me alone, yeah."
Tyson laughed. "That totally defeats the purpose, man!" He smiled deviously, then grabbed the baggy collar of his extra extra large sized t-shirt he had leant Kai and pulled it outwards so he had a clear view of Kai's chest. He stuck his head over Kai's shoulder and peered down.
"How's the ring?" He asked cheekily.
Kai blushed, sitting rigid against Tyson's chest. He quickly yanked the t-shirt out of the world champ's hands and pushed him away. Tyson landed on the frumpy sheets of Kai's futon laughing annoyingly.
Unable to help the unaccountably good feeling that rose in his chest, Kai rolled his eyes, trying to hide his smile by smirking.
"You'll find out later, idiot."
Tyson just gave him a thumb up and ran out of the room.
The BBQ was soon to be underway!
The barbeque was fired up and the tantalizing sounds of cooking meat wafted throughout the courtyard. Hilary's loud voice boomed instructions as she and her "BBQBreakers" prepared food.
"Tyson!" Hilary reprimanded, pointing to a bowl in the world champ's hands. "Just where do you think you're going with that?"
"Uh, to give to Gramps so he can cook them?" He replied in confusion.
The brunette girl sighed in irritation. "The vegetables are supposed to go last! I can see cooking is definitely not your strong point."
Tyson frowned and made an ugly face. "It's not yours either!" He stuck out his tongue.
Hilary's eyes flashed and she snatched the bowl of veggies from him. "Is that so?!"
"Leave it." A new voice broke through what would have been another one of Tyson and Hilary's… less than civil conversations. Kai looked at them both dully before clamping a hand down on Tyson's shoulder.
"I need the Iron Chef for a while." The blader of Dranzer said meaningfully, looking into the pony-tailed boy's blue eyes.
And of course, everyone froze in there actions at that one comment. Well, everyone but Gramps since he was too concerned about flipping the hamburgers every second.
Max looked up with a shocked expression on his face, the hotdog buns forgotten on the table.
Ray's cabbage was spared carnage for that moment as he too stared at his teammates.
Kenny actually put on his glasses to make sure his ears weren't defective.
Hilary's grip on the bowl slackened. "Uh… sure Kai."
There was a unanimous blink from the group that could actually be heard.
The team captain rolled his eyes at everyone's exaggerated expressions. "I don't want this idiot to poison me, that's all."
Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief. Tyson scowled indignantly. "Hey! I wasn't even going to cook!"
"WHAT?!" Hilary exploded, offended that the boy would actually be so arrogant not to help.
Kai groaned and just dragged Tyson roughly by the arm. They disappeared into the dojo leaving the rest of the teens to get on with the BBQ.
"Hey guys?" Max asked as an afterthought while opening a package of hamburger bread.
Ray paused in his hacking of the cabbage. "Maxie?"
"What the heck was Kai wearing??"
Everyone blinked again.
Kai pushed Tyson into the dojo and slid the door shut behind him with his foot. Before the shorter could get a word in Kai lifted the yellow T-shirt off and dropped it on the floor.
Tyson's jaw almost followed suit but the dual-haired teen he was staring at quickly slapped his mouth shut and shoved a bottle of lotion at him. So startled, the plastic container fell to the floor of the dojo and white cream splattered out of the tab on top.
Looking down at the lotion numbly, the world champ felt an inexplicable nervousness. He had just done it yesterday for Kai, had just hugged Kai this morning, because he finally felt he had some control over his rocky friendship with Kai.
But for some reason it didn't feel like he was just doing the other boy an honest favor when Kai picked the bottle back up, grabbed his hand and upended the lotion onto his fingers.
Tyson gulped then frowned trying to get a hold of himself. "No need to be so rough, you grouch!" He said heatedly. But even as he said the words Kai's hold on his wrist tightened as he backed Tyson further away from the door and more into the shadows of the dojo.
"Hurry up Tyson." He said quietly. This made the other boy blink, then his features melted in concern.
"Are you feeling okay Kai?" Tyson asked hesitantly. The lotion was starting to drip from his fingers onto the soft wood floor.
'I'm being too rough… But I shouldn't have let him catch me off guard this morning…' The team captain closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again to stare into those big blues ones in front of him. His hand fell away from Tyson's wrist. "I…" He trailed off slightly embarrassed.
Tyson glowered at him for a second. "All you have to do is ask you know!" He let a small smile crack through when he put his lotion coated fingers to Kai's sensitive nipple ring. "What are friends for?"
Kai tensed, and the baseball capped teen figured it was because he left the lotion cold this time. 'Payback for being so pushy!' He thought with satisfaction.
The rough stroking against his sensitive pierced nipple made Kai freeze, adrenaline rushing through his veins and something else rushing to pool below his belt. He clenched his teeth, fighting back the urge to voice his feelings at the sensations Tyson was causing him to have.
The excess lotion rolled down his sculpted chest in a cool slow rivulet but Kai didn't care. "Tyson…" He managed to sound out, his voice sounding oddly strangled to the baseball capped teen.
"All done." Tyson replied with a small smile.
"No," The team captain caught Tyson's wrist again, but it was a soft gentle hold, his fingers curling around the shorter boy's wrist. Kai felt his heart begun to beat rapidly in his chest, Tyson's hand was warm and it made him feel so... excited, to be holding it.
Kai's gaze became intense as his eyes met Tyson's. He pressed the warm hand back to his bare chest, gently letting the teen's lotion coated fingers unfurl against it. He shuddered, "Harder, please."
A ripe blush spread across Tyson's round cheeks at the request. "W-What?"
The taller teen shook his head, his long spiky locks waving around his face at the movement. He shut his eyes and in an instant took Tyson by the shoulders, bringing their bodies so close Tyson's hand was trapped between them, the palm pressing down against that small gold ring.
Kai did not answer Tyson, merely hugged him tightly and pressed his painted cheek to the top of the shorter teen's head.
Stunned but pleased at the unexpected affection, Tyson could not help the smile that pulled on his mouth. 'Man, Kai's like a faucet! First he's cold now he's hot…' Beneath his sweaty palm he could feel the cool metal of the ring and the hardened nipple it was attached to. 'Very hot…'
As that thought entered Tyson's mind, Kai relaxed his arms and their eyes met once more.
"Kai…?" The world champ ventured again.
To answer Tyson's question, and all the questions he himself had in his mind, Kai leant forward feeling his emotions guide him through yet another battle. His lips pressed against Tyson's slightly open mouth and it felt like he was winning, his heart beat pounding with excitement that he'd only ever known after a victory in the beystadium…
"WHAT THE---!!" A distinctly loud and shell shocked voice rang through the dojo.
Tyson flinched violently at the shout, his eyes darting towards the doorway. His body moved at the speed of light to get out of Kai's embrace when his blue gaze landed on his grandpa, who was staring at him and Kai like he'd just had a heart attack. The only problem was that Kai wasn't letting the kiss end. The taller teen pressed his lips more fervently against Tyson's own, which were quivering from the double shocks he'd had.
For a splitting instant he clung to Tyson not wanting to let Tyson's grandfather take away this victory.
That was until a kendo stick was forcibly wedged between him and Tyson and their embrace was pried apart with expert moves.
Tyson and Kai landed on their behinds as Gramp's kendo stick separated them like a hot knife in butter.
"Gramps!" Tyson yelled out, his tongue finally working now that Kai wasn't wrapped around him. His heart was pounding like he'd just run a race as he jerkily looked over to Kai who was holding a hand over his nipple ring, shielding it from view.
The commotion had brought the rest of the picnicking Bladebreakers to the entrance of the dojo. The teens stood with varying expressions on their faces as they each pieced together what must have happened.
"Alright my homefries," Gramps hefted his kendo stick and pointed to the picnic table set up outside. "Looks like we're gonna kick it old school for a while! Everyone fall out n' saddle up!"
The team watched in nervous apprehension as Gramps paced back and forth in front of the picnic table.
The food had long since been cooked and prepared, all laid out in steaming plates that smelled so good and made everyone's mouths water. However, no one really wanted to say they were hungry and ready to chow down with Tyson's grandpa waving his kendo stick and red in the face.
"OK!" Gramps slammed the stick down on his placemat at the picnic table making all the plates shudder. His expression was determined and there was a glint in his eye as he surveyed his grandson. His blue gaze suddenly shifted to Kai, who had put his own purple tank top back on after having been caught kissing Tyson shirtless in the dojo.
"Now, I think I know what's been goin' down here," Gramps cringed at his choice of words for a second, earning him bewildered looks. "But it's high time to set this shindig straight!" Again he made a face at the wording he'd used.
"Tyson," Gramps' voice sounded weird to his ears without the humorous lilt in it. "Why don't ya explain to me what you n' the homeboy Kai there, were doing in the dojo?"
"Uh… well," Tyson fumbled, blushing at the fresh memory. "Well, Kai told me he needed me, and that's why we went into th-"
"HOLD IT!" The kendo stick slammed down. "No need to go into details little dude!!" He shouted, then coughed to clear his throat. "I guess it's up to me then… Alright. It's time you group o'beyblade breakers get a very important talk!"
Apparently, everyone knew what that meant.
It was pretty clear to Ray, Max, Kenny, and Hilary what had happened in the dojo. Something having to do with Kai, Tyson, and white substances… well, there weren't that many scenarios outside of… sexually related ones… that were brought to mind.
Of course, no one had even considered these types of thoughts before now and that's what had them all so confused. If only Grandpa hadn't herded them all up for the talk then maybe they would've been able to pry answers out of the teens.
Max, who was sitting next to Tyson, gave the world champ a poke in the ribs with an expression that clearly said 'What the heck is going on?!'
Tyson groaned.
Kai was sitting next to Kenny, the farthest away from Tyson. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. The spandex of his shirt was catching on the clasp of his nipple ring and irritating it. To worsen his mood, he'd realized with doom that he had kissed Tyson, in front of his grandfather no less, and all the white lotion on them hadn't really helped the look of the situation.
Gramps thought they were having sex.
Kai fought back the burning of his face by clenching his teeth harder, knowing it was futile. 'If I'd known my plan would turn out so badly I would have never even gotten this stupid ring. What good is it to me if it only caused this trouble for Tyson?' And the thing that got to him most was that his emotions' defenses were completely down making him feel bare. One kiss from Tyson's lips but without a word exchanged about it made uncertainty and thoughts of rejection rain down on him like a permanent black cloud was over his head.
"The birds and the bees!" Gramps declared, then frowned as he looked at Kai out of the corner of his eye. "Er… well maybe the bees and the bees too…"
Tyson blushed heavily and buried his face in his hands. "Why me?" He moaned. Hilary giggled at the world champion's embarrassment.
"Now hold on," Kenny's squeaky voice piped up. "Aren't we a little young for this talk?!" He asked, face beat red.
"I dunno, Chief," Ray whispered. "I'm kinda interested in what Tyson's old man has to say about it."
"Ray!!!" Kenny screeched.
"Settle down little dudes – and dudette," Gramps gestured to Hilary. "Anyway, the bir-ah I mean, the bees and the bees. Ya see, when two bees who like each other meet-"
"Waitaminute, Tyson and Kai didn't really like each other when they first met." Max quipped.
"Max!!" Tyson warned, his threat backed up by a glare from Kai's side of the table.
A kendo stick slammed against the wood in front of Tyson, making him almost jump five feet in the air. "Listen up T-meister, you're only gettin' this talk once!" The old geezer settled back into his lecture stance.
"As I was sayin', when two bees meet, they might wanna… get some honey, ya see?"
"What?" Kenny asked in confusion.
"I mean, they may be wantin' to drink some sweet juice from each other's flowers!" Gramps tried again.
Max snorted back his laughter. "Hehehe sweet…juice!"
"GRAAAAMPS!" Tyson yelled in frustration having finally snapped.
"Hmm.. that ain't right, I mean a bee is supposed to get some of that fine honey from a flower, not another bee. But… hold up where do the chicks fit into this love story?" Grandpa scratched his head and then gave up. "Oh well, the moral of the story be this homies, so listen closely!"
The teens were all ears.
"Don't do the deed until ya got the heed!"
Hilary was dumbfounded. "Say what?"
"Isn't it supposed to be 'Don't do the deed until you've got the need?'" Ray asked with a slight smirk.
"NO!" Gramps waved his arm as he shouted. "What's I'm tryin' to say here is that ya got to wait until you got a promise."
"Promise???" The teens all stared at the old man with wide eyes.
"MARRIAGE!" He slammed the kendo stick onto the picnic table for the final time. "Ain't no bee on bee action going on until the sacred promise of marriage, ya dig?" At the blank expressions of his students, the old timer nodded to himself in satisfaction at having the talk done and over with. He left the yard to carry on with his work inside the house.
"Er…" Tyson blanched as everyone's stares turned on him, except Kai's, who was staring moodily away. "How about we dig in?"
Everyone had chowed down on the scrumptious BBQ foods and were now lounging around in the yard around the one big tree that sat in one corner of the courtyard. There wasn't going to be any training today by the looks of it as no one seemed interested in Beyblade (for once) rather, they wanted the whole mess between Tyson and Kai explained.
"I can't believe your grandfather just gave us a talk about s…-s-se-se… procreation!!" Kenny wailed. "Can you please explain to me why I had to go through that Tyson?!"
Tyson sweatdropped and looked at Kai out of the corner of his eye. The tallest member had his back to the tree, sitting face to the high wall that surrounded the courtyard instead of the rest of them.
He really didn't know what to say.
What could he say?
It was only yesterday that Kai had revealed his 'secret' to him, literally. Plus, he didn't really know what to think. It didn't really seem like the old sourpuss to ask for help willingly. Couldn't he have used a Q-tip or something instead of Tyson's fingers? Also, he didn't really see the logic behind Kai keeping the ring a secret, now that he thought about it more and more as he stared at the team captain's dark hair. Kai usually didn't care what anyone thought about him and wasn't Voltaire behind bars…?
Tyson's expression contorted into a strange look directed at the older teen. The rest of the team gave each other puzzled glances at Tyson's uncharacteristic silence.
"Kai," The world champ's voice sounded strange too, making the others' eyes widen. "Why did you really tell me your secret?"
At Tyson's soft words, Kai's shoulders visibly tensed. He did not say a word, but hidden from view his hand went to cover the ring, his fingernails catching on the tight fabric.
Sensing this was an important question to be answered, Max nodded to himself and punched his palm with determination. "Okay, I know what we need to do! Let's play a little game!!"
Ray, Hilary, and Kenny gave him dubious looks, but when they realized Tyson was still staring at Kai with that strange expression, they felt their resolve break.
"Ooook!" Max cheered. "Now this is a game I like to call 'Secret Secret, heeeeere's your secret!' The rules are simple, we all sit in a circle and then we each say something embarrassing we've done!"
Kenny muttered under his breath. "You just made that up now."
"Like I didn't see that one coming," Hilary said a bit sarcastically but sat down next to Max anyway. He smiled at her.
Grumbling, everyone assembled into a crude circle with the base of the tree acting as the place for Kai who was sitting on the other side of it.
Ray scratched his head as he looked at Max beside him. "So what happens if you don't tell an embarrassing secret?"
Max rubbed his hands together. "Then you'll have to take off one article of clothing."
"What the heck is this?!" Kenny screamed. "Strip Truth or Dare?!"
Tyson groaned as he leaned his shoulder against the tree. He could hear Kai shift behind it and he knew that this was just some silly game to get the dual-haired teen and himself to fess up but… A blush spread across Tyson's cheeks. What he really wanted to do was to have Kai kiss him again, maybe just one more time… to make sure if it was really true.
Kai liked him. It was so obvious now that it had been practically shoved underneath his nose.
Tyson sweatdropped, how come he had never noticed it before?! Something burst inside him, giving Tyson the impulse to crawl around the tree and wrap his arms around Kai, but he couldn't do that.
Kai was already feeling angry enough as it was and the world champ didn't want to make it worse than before. But… Tyson bit his lip just as Max started up the game, he could try and make it easier for Kai to say the secrets he knew the older teen wanted to say – by telling some secrets himself.
"I think Hilary's cute." Max started off the game. The brunette next to him blushed a vibrant red with wide eyes. Everyone else snickered.
"You don't seem too embarrassed to share that secret Max." Ray laughed.
"But you gotta admit," Tyson piped up, cracking a grin that showed his sparkling personality was surfacing once more. "The fact that it's Hilary is the real embarrassing part!!"
"TYSON!" Hilary yelled, her face red with anger this time as she clobbered the world champ over the head.
Max smiled nervously at the violence between his two friends and sweatdropped. "Your turn Hilary."
She hesitated with a shy look at the blond, but took off a shoe.
"Awwwww…" Everyone gushed.
"Shut up Tyson." She glared holding up her shoe as a threat.
Ray diffused another bout of pain. "Time for Kenny's secret!"
"I am not playing this game! I'm still in trauma from that talk!!"
"Keeenny!! C'mon," Max poked at the smaller boy and soon Hilary, Max, Ray were all needling Kenny who protested for all he was worth.
Tyson let out a breath and smiled, cupping his hands over his mouth so the others would shut up. "I think nipple rings are sexy!"
The others blinked, and from behind the tree Kai sat up straight his eyes wide and mouth open in complete surprise.
"Oooh," Ray grinned. "Kinky, Tyson. Didn't know that about you." The pony-tailed world champion just gave them a cheesy grin, putting a hand behind his head.
"What about you Ray?"
"Me?" The Chinese blader thought for a moment before smiling nervously. "It's kind of silly that's why it's embarrassing for me. But er, I really hate water."
"OoOOoOoo" Max made a scary noise waving his arms like water at Ray, and they all fell into laughter again.
Tyson's voice cut through the group's amiable noise once more, a pleasant tone to it. "I have a thing for face paint."
His friends gave each other sly glances, understanding what Tyson was trying to do.
Kenny smiled and adjusted his glasses. "Any other secrets you've got under that baseball cap, Tyson?"
"Yeah," The teen grinned, his palm was sweaty against the cool rough bark of the tree. He could hear Kai's slightly rapid breathing from just behind him and he knew he only had one thing left to say.
"I was kissing Kai in the dojo before the barbeque, and I kinda want to do it again before he thinks he has to leave."
No one spoke at that because it was shocking to hear that their two teammates were actually doing that in the dojo (but relieving to hear they hadn't been doing more than that, Kenny didn't want to be even more mentally scarred). A breeze blew through the teens' hair and ruffled their clothing in the lull and for a minute Tyson was scared that Kai had left and wasn't sitting directly behind him, but he was frozen and didn't want to look around the tree to check.
"That's not true Tyson…" Kai soft yet slightly rough words carried from behind him and Tyson exhaled, his expression was anxious and in full view of Kenny, Hilary, Max and Ray.
"You lied." The dual-haired blader looked around the large trunk to his teammates and gave Tyson a half smile. "It was me who kissed you."
Tyson smiled back.
"Say Kai!" Max was grinning, his hands pulling at the green grass excitedly. "You got a secret?"
The team captain stood and came fully out of the shade of the large tree to stand next to Tyson's sitting form. The world champ beamed and tugged at Kai's baggy pant leg.
"Okay guys," Kai's fingers went to the bottom of his purple tank top and he lifted it up catching Tyson's eye before he pulled it of completely. "Here's your secret."
The sun had gone down on another day letting the stars out into the dark blue sky. Hilary and Kenny had gone to their own respective homes to catch some shut eye and the bladers left at Tyson's home were in the middle of unrolling their futons.
"Well today was sure interesting, wasn't it?" Ray asked idly, covering his mouth as a yawn escaped.
Max put his sleep hat on, "I'll say! It was sooo fun though, and heh, we got to learn some wild things huh?"
"Sure did." The Chinese youth's smile curved higher so that one elongated canine poked through. "But I don't think things will ever be the same again."
Max nodded and his big blue eyes drooped. They both crawled into their respective bed rolls, pulling up the sheets. "Now it can only get better." The blond smiled and closed his eyes.
"Tyson, can you keep another secret?"
Kai and Tyson were sitting out in the courtyard underneath the tree. Their backs were cool against the bark of the tree and the rapidly lowering temperatures due to nightfall. Tyson smiled as he watched Kai pick a blade of grass from the ground and stick it between his teeth. Tyson leisurely took the blade of grass from Kai's lips with a s teasing grin.
"Don't tell me you got your other nipple pierced." The world champ joked.
"No…it's…" His voice became unsteady so he closed his mouth and held up his hand. Between his index finger and thumb was a small gold ring.
"Kai!" Tyson exclaimed, "isn't that your-?"
"Yeah." There was a long pause and for a while it didn't seem like the team captain was going to continue but then, "I decided it wasn't really for me."
Tyson stared at the piece of jewelry and a pink tinge appeared on his cheeks as the dual-haired teen moved forward and cupped his gloved hand against the shorter boy's cheek, giving him a light kiss on the mouth.
The reason he'd gotten the ring was because he'd thought Tyson might like it. He thought it could be appealing and make himself more attractive for the other teen, but…
Kai took Tyson's left hand and slowly pulled his blue glove off. Gently he took the small gold ring and slid it onto the pony-tailed boy's pinky finger. Their gazes locked.
"Keep this for me." Kai's voice was whispery as the first rays of moonlight began to wash over the yard. The leaves in the tree swayed creating dark patterns of shadows over their faces.
Tyson gripped Kai's hand and he touched his lips to the team captain's, moving them slowly in a sweet kiss. They broke it gradually.
"Okay, Kai." Tyson replied, his smile full of affection. He replaced his fingerless glove to cover up the ring.
Kai stood and pulled Tyson up with him. He leant down and kissed the boy again, running his hands through those inky blue strands of hair.
"C'mon little dudes!! It's getting late out, get to bed!!" A rickety old voice called from inside the house where a light was still on in the kitchen.
Tyson and Kai parted, feeling embarrassed and not wanting the old geezer to catch them in the act again. They cut across the lawn through Gramps' flower bed and slid the door open to the dojo.
As the door slid closed Tyson smiled and told Kai, "Don't tell my grandpa, but I got a nipple ring." At Kai's curious glance, he continued.
"And I think it's a promise…"
THE END
Ending Author's Notes:
Bloody hell it's been a while since I wrote anything and though I really should have been studying for an exam in like, 2 days, I finished this up for Ranma instead. XD; So please let me know what you think of the ring!