The summer heat was stifling, and Isa felt like he was walking through an oven set on broil, and that oven was the streets of Radiant Garden, and he was roasting along with everybody else. There was a water bottle glued to his hands it seemed, and as he lifted it to his lips and gulped down the now very warm water, he tried to pretend that he could feel it cooling the lava flowing through his veins. He couldn't though; his blood was pulsing and his skin was flushed and another drop of sweat slid down under his collar and oh god did he need a shower. He ran his fingers through his sweat-drenched hair and cringed.
The heat was wearing him down and he wanted to curl up and sleep somewhere, but his bedroom was a good ten degrees hotter and his parents wouldn't let him have an air conditioner, so he'd spent a better part of the morning just wandering around town, eating enough ice cream that his stomach hurt and drinking more water than his bladder could keep up with. He considered going to Lea's house, but his discomfort was mostly Lea's fault in the first place and the heat was just making him more angry with him.
"Isa?" Speak of the devil. Isa turned his head in the direction of Lea's voice, a frown on his face. "... What are you wearing?"
Lea stood there, his normally wild red hair hanging limp on his head and his white undershirt tied up in the front, exposing his stomach to the scorching sun. He was sweating almost as badly as Isa, though a good portion of the moisture on Lea's skin could have been from the water bottle mister in his hands. The expression on his face was similar to Isa's.
Isa was standing there, however, in an oversized turtleneck sweater that had once been Lea's, his sweat staining his chest under the collar and the wool under his arms.
"It's laundry day," Isa lied.
Lea frowned. Isa was never a good liar.
"It's like ninety degrees out here. I know you have clean tank tops. I was there when you did your laundry, you know," Lea turned the fan on to his mister and drenched his face and torso, relishing in the sweet, short-lived relief until the heat and humidity regained their control and he was uncomfortable again.
"I can't wear them," Isa snapped.
Lea scowled. "I just asked a question, no need to get all bitchface about it,"
They were both falling victim to the heat; Lea was a straight-up dick when he was miserable and Isa turned his head away and finished the rest of his water bottle in one go, trying to avoid any unnecessary arguments. He was just too hot and uncomfortable to fight.
"Wait a second…" Lea said, approaching Isa with a confident strut. He pulled down Isa's collar, exposing the left side of his throat. Lea burst out in laughter almost immediately. Isa's face flushed, and he slapped his free hand over the angry bruise on his neck, purple and blue and roughly the size of a golf ball.
"Shut up," he mumbled.
"Shit Isa," Lea snorted. "There are better ways to cover up a hickey."
Isa glared at Lea. "Or you could just, you know, not give them to me. If my parents see this I'll be grounded through college,"
Lea wrapped his arms around Isa and pulled him in close, burying his face in Isa's throat and lightly kissing the bruise he'd left there the night before. "Lose the sweater, Isa. I have some waterproof concealer at home to cover that up with," He inhaled. "You smell terrible."
Isa pushed him away with a frown, yanking his sweater up by the hem and lifting it over his head. He felt infinitely better without the wool holding the extra heat against his body. Lea traced his finger along Isa's bare chest, touching two more less-noticeable bruises along his collarbone.
"Let's go shower, and I'll cover those. And maybe give you a few more," Lea said with a sly grin.
"Please don't give me any more," Isa deadpanned.
Lea smiled, grabbing Isa by the hand and dragging him in the direction of his house, on toward blessed air conditioning, a cool shower, and another love bruise to add to Isa's new collection.