Warning for implicit sex and voyeurism
Nikolai didn't know, admittedly, much about handling a woman. In general, if he was going to be honest. School didn't help, dad didn't help. Taiga was as clueless as he was. At that time, at least, he could laugh about it with someone else.
But then Taiga got a girlfriend, and it just threw his world out of orbit. He wasn't sure how to feel about it.
She was a pretty girl, all things considered. She was pretty and smart, and it seemed like Taiga drank up all that she had to give.
She was a tease too. It was all he could do to hate her.
"You're thinking about me," she would tell him when they were alone, a laugh at the edges of her mouth. He, as they grew older, as college took over their lives, wanted to bite it until it swelled and bled.
"Of course I'm not," he would say back. She would laugh again.
"You're not the first."
She was such a horrible woman. It was a waste of good looks.
He watched them. He expected her to deviate, to break his best friend, giving him a reason to drop these sensations of molten... something. He expected one day to find his best friend a broken mess pushed under the rug and her with someone else, laughing carefree and going down the same lane, like they had never met.
And it never happened.
The guilt made him sick.
He visited their house one day, as he often did, letting himself in because there was another fight with his father. He wanted to steal something to drink and have a soundboard. Taiga liked that sort of thing sometimes. It was probably why high school had given him a sudden barrage of popularity. It was a weird sort of thing, He'd enjoyed it while it had lasted. Taiga, of course, had hated it.
He had walked in expecting that from them (both of them, odd as it sounded) and found a somewhat empty apartment. There were sounds, sounds he had guessed at but hadn't been able to turn away from. He had moved closer before he had been able to tell himself no.
He heard Taiga groan heavily through an ajar door and then let out low gasps. Her voice was just as vocal, but still somewhat relaxed. She found so many things worth smiling at. He winced and failed to look away.
The bed in the next room continued to creak as he watched. It creaked and mixed with their quiet voices and low sounds. Whatever Taiga said, he didn't hear, but it caused more laughter. It was honey turned into a sound. And as it all started to mix once again, he saw a sole eye pass over to stare at him.
Nikolai scrambled away from the doorway, back to the living room. He ran to the couch and covered his lap with a pillow and pretended he wasn't turned on. He was failing miserably.
It's a miracle he kept his hands where they belonged. He could still hear them, the pleased murmurs. Their searching gasps for air.
He was relieved when it was over, but he didn't want it to stop, either.
Taiga, disheveled (because what else would he be), eventually ambled in. Shirtless, of course. He laughed at the sight of him. "You all right?" Taiga asked. Because while he could let himself in, he usually knocked The only exception was when he was angry, for days like today. Now Niko didn't know what he was.
"Been better," he said, keeping the pillow right where it was. "You?"
"Uh… great." Taiga scratched his head, cheeks red. "Knock next time. I would have been out here sooner." He looked around. "Hang on, I hid the soda so the others couldn't find it. Want one?"
I need two bees and a martini, but soda will have to do. "Soda's fine," he said aloud. Taiga left the room, looking relieved.
He saw her come in out of the corner of his eye. She winked at him. He scowled. "What?"
"All you have to do is ask," she said with a laugh, walking past with no sense of decency and every awareness of his wandering eyes. Damn her.
Knock next time, Niko mouthed to himself as Taiga came back into the room. Yeah, sure he would. It probably wouldn't be on the front door either.
A/N: So this was one of those weird things that I wrote while very out of it and happened to fit some challenges I'm doing, so I'm posting it and maybe someone will enjoy its derpiness. I dunno. This clearly is not my thing.
Challenges: Titles Set Boot Camp prompt 20. Full of Licks, AU Set Boot Camp 25. naughty! AU (eg. strip club, BDSM, looking at porn, fetishes, in a relationship but having an affair/cheating etc.), Prompts in Steps Step 3.01 - gracious, and Diversity Writing Challenge B56. write a fic with no dividers