[Can You Feel The Love Tonight | Movie Version]

"I can see what's happening." Shades glinted from behind a worn oak tree.

"What?" A green bow bounced behind a thick bush.

"And they don't have a clue!"

"They don't?"

"They'll fall in love, and here's the bottom line: our trio's down to two."

"…Oh."


"Wily never gave you a curfew?" Rock leaned back in the swing, sticking his feet out. The rusting metal chains in his hands strained as he pushed.

Bass watched, arms folded as he leaned against the supports of the swingset, "No. Of course not. You think my old man'd be able to keep me in the house after a certain hour?"

Rock giggled. "I can barely get you to sit still, let alone stay in one place at night." He swung back, his stomach whirling with the blurred playground that whizzed past him.

He liked getting dizzy like this. Lost in the the moments where everything blended together.

"Calling, Bullshit." Bass pouted, "I showed up at your bedroom window every night for two weeks. I didn't leave your bed till–" He felt his round cheeks ruddy.

Rock gave him a sly smile.
"I know. I kinda…miss that. Being here with you reminds me of those days."

"Y-yeah." Bass puffed up, looking away. His heart was already racing. He wondered if Rock had already guessed why he'd brought him here. The kid was more clever than he looked, Bass learned.

They sat in relative silence among the chirping of summer crickets. The woods in the distance were covered in what looked like the night sky come down to visit, stars weaving in and out between the leaves.
A few fireflies, however, had wandered over to the playground where Bass and Rock were, lazily floating around the two.

"Hey." Bass straightened, and scuffed behind Rock, still scowling when the boy tried to crane his neck to look back at him while he swung. "Shit! Be careful, don't get twisted up, you can really hurt yourself! Those chains suck." He bristled, seeing Rock's swings become a little more wobbly.

Once Bass and Elecman had gone to an abandoned playground a long time back, and Bass got his fingers twisted in the chains when he fooled around too much. He'd cried into Elecman's arms for almost ten minutes afterwards.

"It's okay, I've done this a lot." Rock straightened himself out. "What do you want?"

Bass's pout grew. "Lucky." He whispered, then, blinking out of it, "Oh, I uh…" He trailed off shyly. "I wanna…I'm gonna push you, okay?"

"Not off, right?"

"I'm not a dick, Rock!"

Rock giggled. "You were."

"Yeah." Bass scoffed, "A year ago." He could feel his chest lighten every time Rock's back pressed into his palms, before he gave him a gentle push forward.

"It's been a while. I wish we could've seen each other more…"

"It's summer," Bass gave him a little firmer push, "We can be together all we want now."

Rock felt his heart skip a beat, ears reddening. All they wanted.

The warm fear had returned, shared in the lush air of a summer night.

Once more, silence. Soft and welcome.

Each time Rock's shoulders met Bass's palms, more words tumbled onto the boy's tongue, but never made it past his lips.

If he was truthful to himself, nowadays he worried, worried that if all that mattered was the anticipation, and if the actual moments would be lost in–

"Hey, Bass?"

The shoulders seemed to press into his hands longer this time. The boy tensed. He wanted to curl his fingers, to hold him there, hold him close, hold–

"Can you, uh…come round?"

"Uh…yeah. Sure."

Warm fear, grows hot.

Bass swallowed sharply, shuffling through woodchips, head still down. He shied at the thought of not seeing what he wanted in Rock's eyes.

"You alright? You're really quiet. I'm kinda used to you yelling and stuff." The boy began to slow his swinging.

"I don't have to be loud all the time to be okay, alright?" He huffed, round cheeks puffed up in his signature childish pout.

Rock smiled softly. "I know. Penny for your thoughts?"

"Ha, mine are at least five hundred yen and you know it." He grinned to himself.

Rock spluttered and laughed. "I better get a stuffed animal if I'm paying that much."

"Yeah, well, uh…" Bass folded his arms and stuck his nose up. "This one's a pretty important thought."

Rock's lips split into a wide grin. "Oh yeah?" He leaned over in the swing, so his face was just inches from Bass's for a moment. The boy's pout turned into a wide eyed squeak of surprise. Rock laughed again.

"Y-yeah! It's…totally like, top secret and stuff." Bass resumed his pout, turning it up to 11, chest puffed, bottom lip pooched out. His shoulders were nearly bunched up to his ears.

"Top secret, huh?" Rock wiggled his feet out, brushing his toes on Bass's hip, startling him again.

"S-stop that!" The boy broke composure to stomp a foot indignantly. "S-stop teasing me, I'm super serious!"

Rock giggled. "Ok, fine. Then let's make a deal."

"A deal?" Bass scowled. "What deal?"

"A contest."

The boy scrunched his nose up. "I'm listening. What kinda contest?"

"You gotta stand in front of me. If I can knock you down, you gotta tell me what you're thinkin' of, okay?" Rock pushed himself back to gain momentum.

"HA! Yeah, right. You couldn't knock me down in a hundred years. Deal." He crossed his arms, sticking out his chest, squaring up in front of Rock as he swung forward.

"I used to do this with Blues, when I was little." He smiled, "I won't kick you in the face, I promise."

Bass managed to withstand a good few blows to his chest, but the fifth one staggered him. Both boys were laughing at the new game they played. With each push, Bass made a funnier face and a louder gasp, just to make Rock giggle more.

The seventh, Bass acted on impulse. There was too much energy, too many thoughts that clouded his judgement on a sultry summer night like this.

The seventh, instead of blocking the feet, Bass's hands shot out, and grabbed Rock's thighs. He stepped forward, arms pressed to the boy's calves.

Rock, out of breath from laughing, stared open-mouthed at the look Bass's face. The look of summer, of warm fear grown hot, of it pushed down, down, down until only the heat remained.

"We could do this all night, y'know." His voice was low, soft.

"U-uh, huh, y-yeah…" Rock managed, knees shaking.

"Did you really wanna know…or did you just wanna try and beat me down?" Bass smiled up at him.

The boy fumbled futily with an answer, but none came.

"Wanna play a different game?"

Rock felt a shiver shake his entire body. Bass NEVER sounded like this.
Deep, warm, hushed and husky…was it really the summer? There was something in his eyes, how they glowed, how–

"W-what…k-kinda game…?" Rock stammered weakly.
Bass's grip on his thighs tightened. He was being pulled closer.

"You have to get off the swing. To play." Bass laughed rustily. "It's okay. I'll catch you."

Rock nodded, and let himself slip into Bass's burly arms, melting into the embrace as he felt the boy's hands slide up to hold him close. Carefully, he brought him down for his feet to touch the ground again.

But Rock still felt no earth beneath him. In Bass's arms, it was as if he were still at the peak of a swing, where the world for once was in perfect clarity below him, a split second of euphoria before he swung back into the unknown. But there was no fear of the unknown now. Only curiosity, buried deep under shyness.

Rock's knees quivered as Bass gently pulled him even closer, hands trailing in separate directions. His whole body tensed at the sensation of fingers threading themselves in his thick hair, the sensation of fingers tenderly pressed into the small of his back.

He let out a pathetic noise as Bass's nose brushed the side of his neck.

"Still wanna play?" Bass murmured into his ear. He could feel Rock's weight shifting, slipping down, down on weak knees. He made his grip firmer.

"Mm…mmhm." Rock had already squeezed shut his eyes. Summer was no longer a season the world experienced. It was here. Here in Bass's strong arms. It was in the breath on his skin, the fingers tangled in his hair, the heartbeat against his. The warm fear reduced to hot curiosity.

"Don't worry. The rules aren't hard to understand." Bass chuckled, slowly pulling back to catch Rock's gaze. "Just…do what…"

Rock blinked, vision blurring vividly as Bass's face seemed to get closer. Arms once like stones, jerked to life, hands slipping up the boy's sides, not one contour left untouched. The tiny fingers settled on his broad chest.

"Feels right."

To think, to think this was all it took, to reduce Rock to a shuddering mess of wildly firing circuitry–this boy's breath on his lips, the welcoming warmth as they became one–oh, oh Bass, you could have defeated him so long ago, with such a simple kiss, as this!

Rock's eyes snapped shut, and the hands on Bass's chest made their way up, skinny little arms wrapped securely around the boy's broad shoulders. It kept happening, again, again, again! The melting, pressing, wandering, ecstasy! With every fleeting taste of Bass on his tongue.

He fought vainly against the weakness in his bones, heart, trying his best to push back into Bass, to follow his strength, heat, but every time, he failed, relinquishing every last shuddering gasp he had left in his lungs.

But as the boy's knee bent, foot shakily pulling up behind him, the weakness swept over him in a wave of passion, the summer heat melted into boyish giggles, and Bass's lips became harder to kiss as his smile grew. The boy squealed, feeling his cheeks, neck, nose, peppered with little kisses.

Rock struggled in the strong arms, squirming as Bass pushed his nose into the boy's shoulder, belly-laughing.

"Y-your foot!" His chest shook with sloppy laughter. "Ah, ahaha! Did you see your stupid little foot?! Oh, oh my God," he pressed his forehead to the side of Rock's neck. The boy felt hot tears on his skin. "Y-you're so fuckin' cute, I can't…can't believe it, ahaha!"

Rock's chest swelled, and he scrunched his face up into an ugly pout. Bass kept laughing for a few more moments before catching his breath, his grip on him loosening.

"Shit, sh-shit, oh, hahah…s-sorry–" He pulled away, trying to hold back any more giggles–but to no avail. His cheeks puffed right back up, and he spluttered into another laughing fit. His arms slipped from Rock, leaving the shorter boy to pout even more.

Once Bass had finally calmed down, he rubbed at his eyes, cheeks ruddy.
"S-sorry, Rock." He hiccuped. "You're just…so cute, I…" His lips curled into a cat like smile, "I, I love you…ha,haha…"

Another messy laugh, "Just like in the movies! You're…just like…" Bass trailed off, his body relaxing, callused hands reaching out for Rock's, "…in the movies." His gaze was soft once more.

The boy continued to pout.

"Oh, c'mon! I apologized, and you know you'll never get that out of me willingly." Bass grinned, magenta eyes glowing.

Rock huffed hotly.

"Well? If I got a foot pop on my first try, I'd say I was a born natural." He sneered down at the boy.

"Were you doing it just to get a reaction out of me?!" Rock snapped, hot tears in his eyes. Had this been a joke?

Bass stumbled back in alarm.

"W-what?! You think, you think I'd do that just, just to mess with you?!" He looked stunned. "Why would I do something like that?"

Rock felt hot shame wash over him. He turned his head away.

"What the fuck, dude! I LOVE you! I…" Bass seemed shocked by his own words. "Wait, I…shit, shit, I'm supposed to, I was supposed to say that, fuck, some other time, or, uh, shit!" He kept stammering angrily at himself until he felt Rock's tentative fingers on his clenched fist.

"You can say it now." Tiny, quiet. The boy's brown eyes were warm, misty with emotion. "There's no such thing as…a perfect–"

Rock's startled gasp was caught in Bass's lips as he was swept up into the boy's arms once more, and his eyes rolled back under the force of passion. Breathless, hearts pounding, lightning in their wire veins–fingers grasping, curling, nails pushing deep into one another's soft skin.

Like thunder after the flash, they pulled away to pant heavily, noses still touching, eyes half lidded.

"I never, NEVER want you to question, my love, any time we're…like this. It's real, it's mine, and it's yours."

Rock's heart shook under the weight of the world on Bass's tongue.

"No one can take this from us."

Tender now. Gentle now. Love, now.

Love, now.

Rock followed willingly, giving, receiving, until the tears mixed with Bass's.

"It'll always be summer for us. No matter what. We'll always, always have this." Bass pressed his forehead to Rock's, palms cradling the boy's cheeks. "Understand? We'll be young forever."

Rock could not play devil's advocate, even to this. He simply smiled, his own hands caressing Bass's face. The boy leaned into the touch.

The summer's breath was in them, surrounding them, holding them close in the rushing confusion of youth. Kept them warm, safe in the promise their hearts would never grow old, and their love would stay young.

"Bass?" Rock slid past the notion of doubt, right into the boy's burly arms. He rest his head against his shoulder.

"Mm…" Bass wrapped him up in a tender hug, lips pressed to his temple.

"There's…a lot they don't show in the movies." He smiled against the soft skin.

Bass blinked, furrowing his brow.

"Hm?"

His eyes widened as Rock's tiny fingers slid up under his muscle shirt, cool against the heat of his stomach, chest.

"Let's go back home. There's a lot even your brothers don't know."

"U-uh," Bass managed weakly, his breath coming out in shaky puffs, "W-whaddaya mean…?"

Rock giggled. "There's…more to it than just kissing."

"…" Bass pulled away with an incredulous look. "That's bullshit. You fall in love and kiss a lot. That's all it is, right?!"

It was Rock's turn to fall into a messy gigglefit.

"Of course not! C'mon. I'll make sure to lock the door this time, so Roll can't 'accidentally' barge in on us." The boy's smile turned sly as he looked up at Bass.

"Wait, you mean, like…cuddling? Cuz uh–" Bass froze as Rock got up on tiptoe to lightly kiss his neck. "I…l-like…c-cuddling." He stuttered, vision blurry as the tiny fingers crept back up to his chest again. He gulped.

"…l-lock it up tight. Play the music loud, okay?"

Rock giggled again.

"Of course."

Stealing through the night's uncertainties, Love is where they are.


"And if he falls in love tonight…it can be assumed…" The green bow bounced behind the bush.

"His carefree days with us are…history."

"In short, our bro…"

"Is doomed." The shades gave one lonely last glint in the moonlight.