Nora jogged happily down the paved walkways of her school as music blared into either of her ears from the soundproof headphones squeezing firmly down on her ginger head. With her duffel bag slung over her shoulder, she eagerly made her way back to the dorm to meet with Ren after having seen him off from the school's impressive gym complex just a half hour ago. Ren kept his regiment tight and regular, and so when Nora elected to stay behind a bit longer than usual to have a bit of friendly competition with Yang on the squat machine, Ren decided to return and clean up before her, allowing her ample time and hot water to enjoy herself. He often thought of her needs first, even if it meant going a little out of his way.
When Nora breached the heavy doors of the dorm building, she slowed to a saunter and caught her breath. She got a few waves and greetings from passersby, muffled or completely silenced by her running mix, and she returned their kindness with a bright smile. It wasn't hard to smile today, since she'd be able to stay up chatting with Ren all night, thanks to the weekend approaching, and her other two teammates' decision to spend the night out, doing harsh weather conditioning in the cold. It had been a while since it was just her and Ren, and she would treasure the time they were about to get.
At last she made it to her own room, and burst through the door happily, pulling her headphones from her noggin and greeting Ren with a powerful pose and smile. The red in her cheeks from running was quickly exacerbated by another stimulus, though. As she stood in the doorway, back to the quiet hall of the dorm, stood in front of her was her oldest friend and confidant, hastily pulling on a pair of shorts. She hadn't seen much, but the image of his bare back and bottom burned into her eyes for a few moments as he reached over to his bunk and pulled on the shirt laying there.
"Sorry, I just got out. I meant to finish sooner, but something kept me and I only got to rinse off. There should still be plenty of water though, so go ahead." Ren stretched a bit, and sat gently on the edge of his bed, reaching over to his nightstand to retrieve the small book on top. Nora shook the jumbled thoughts from her head and laughed.
"No worries!" She cheered, shutting the door and moving toward the washroom. She tried not to make eye contact with Ren, worried he might notice her blush. "I'm just gonna wash up and then I thought we could make some popcorn and watch a movie." She reached the door and managed to grasp the knob just as Ren responded.
"That sounds like fun. Make sure to wash your hair right, and I'll brush it out after you get out." Nora turn back to see Ren reclining on his bunk, flipping to a marked page in his book. She couldn't help but get a little flustered.
"I'm not a baby, I can brush it myself." She rolled her eyes a little, but Ren didn't raise his to see it.
"But you like it better when I do it. You even said I get the curls just how you like them." He licked his finger and flipped to the next page, smiling at something as he read; either something on the page of the thought of Nora waiting patiently as Ren cared for her follicles. Nora turned away and looked down at the doorknob in her grip.
"Yeah. I know." She sighed, and opened the washroom door before slipping in and locking it behind her. She dropped her duffel onto the tiled floor and began peeling her gym clothes off, humming a happy song to herself. She made sure to fold her headphones and tuck them into the duffel so as not to expose them to the shower steam, then turned the water on, adjusting the temperature to the exact heat she liked: maximum.
Nora washed carefully; knowing full well that Ren would find any errant bit of dirt or even crumbs she might miss as he styled her damp do later. As she did, she continued to hum a cheery song she had herself composed in order to track time in the bath since arriving at school. With only so much hot water allotted to each team, the need to be conservative and considerate was mighty, lest total anarchy break out amongst the masses. When at last Nora came to her hair, she reached for her usual mix of soap and conditioner, but then hesitated. Beside it, still slightly runny with suds, was Ren's bottle. It was a mild scent that he had used for many years, and though she preferred a powerful, fruity scent, she had come to associate Ren with the smell. She thought for a second, and then in a moment of bravery, decided to be bold. She gripped the bottle of Ren's choice in her hand, and squeezed a generous amount into her open palm before introducing it to her soaked hair.
As Nora lathered, she could already smell the familiar odor coming from the detergent, and could sense it beginning to permeate her scalp, soaking into her skin. She felt a little guilty taking what belonged to Ren, but the thought of having her pillow smell just like him for the next couple of days excited her more than she would have liked to admit. It made the shower feel a little extra warm. After two rinses, Nora shut the water off and stepped out, wrapping herself in a towel and moving toward the foggy mirror.
She reached out a hand and wiped the steam from the glass, trying to get a clear image of herself. It was hard, and the mirror kept fogging back up from the still trapped steam in the washroom, but she could make out just enough to know she looked amazing.
"Girl, are those guns registered?" She said quietly, flexing her arms and kissing her biceps. "And those eyes! I bet you could hypnotize a snake with those green-blue beauties." She turned coyly, as if trying to catch the eye of some distinguished prince, and batted her eyelashes daintily. "And I bet the boys in town can't get enough of that figure. You look like they chiseled you out of stone, girl!" She ran her hands down her sides, tracing the shape of her torso as she grinned. She was always confident, some might say to a fault, but today she felt like a queen. As she dried off and pulled on a fresh set of clothes from her duffel, she felt ready to take on anything and everything. This confidence quickly melted, however, when suddenly she smelled the scent of Ren's shampoo wafting down from her head.
She could take on anything, except him. The feeling she got when she considered it was difficult to sum up in simple words, but she knew there was something she wasn't saying that she wanted to say every day for the past few years. Something she might never get around to saying, but hoped he might still somehow know. She considered the absurdity of such a hope as she stared into the mirror again. This time the girl across from her wasn't smiling. She was trying not to cry.
A minute or so later, Nora stepped out of the washroom and tossed her duffel to the side of her bunk. When Ren looked up, he saw no traces of her anxiety or frustration. All he saw was her usual smile and rosy cheeks. He smiled at her too, and followed her gaze as she threw herself onto her bed and rolled around, stretching like a tired cat in the afternoon sunlight.
"Gah, I'm tired!" She shouted, spreading her arms and legs to the four corners of her mattress and arcing her back to feel the glorious sensation of her lower muscles stretching out beneath her.
"Then take a nap. You don't have to be up tomorrow." Ren flipped to the next page in his book. In the fifteen minutes Nora was washing, he'd made impressive progress.
"No! I want to stay up all night with you! It's been forever since it was just the two of us having a slumber party!" Nora exclaimed as she dragged herself across her sheets with her arms, planting her hands on the carpeted floor and peering over to Ren's novel. She couldn't make it out from that position, but she could smell his shampoo, though it wasn't certain whose head it was coming from anymore.
"Alright then, pick a movie." Ren smiled, but didn't look over to Nora. She began to grow a little jealous of the book which seemed to capture so much of his attention. She puffed her cheeks a little, but took a deep breath and rolled back onto her bed instead of pressing the issue.
"I dunno, I kinda wanted to watch something actiony. Do you have any more of those crazy fight movies where the plot is really hard to follow and none of the characters seem to do anything but argue and fight over honor and dumb stuff?"
"You mean Atlas Cartoons? Sure, we can watch one. But actually, before we do that there's something I wanted to show you." Ren marked the page he was one, then closed his book and set it on his nightstand. He swung his legs around to meet the floor, and stood before kneeling back down to open the drawer. Nora hopped to her feet as well, and scurried over to get a peek at what he was hiding. She tried to peer over his shoulder, but had no time before he stood again and turned to face her holding a pink box. Nora was confused for a moment, then realized there must be something baked inside.
"Here, Nora," Ren said, smiling as he lifted the lid from the box. Inside was a small, round chocolate cake. To say it was chocolate, though, was to say the ocean was large. The cake had two thick layers of chocolate with chocolate chips baked into the dough, with chocolate mousse in between them, and was frosted with chocolate cream inlaid with chocolate flakes, and the top was decorated with chocolate sprinkled and four chocolate cookies to suggest where one might slice the thing. In the center of the whole thing was a large, juicy strawberry dunked in chocolate and set to rest pointing up as the crown jewel of the artwork that was this cake. Nora could already feel her mouth beginning to water as the aroma of the thing rose up to caress and kiss her nose.
"Wow… Is this really all for me?" She said, staring at the cookies, which upon closer inspection resembled each of her teammates' heads in shape. "I don't know if I can eat all of this in one night."
"Hah, no. It's for everyone to share, but I made it especially for you, and I want you to have the first piece." Ren shut the box again, and set it back on his nightstand. He bent at the waste to dig back into his drawer, producing a pair of forks, two napkins, and a plastic knife.
"Really? What's the special occasion? Usually you only bake on my birthday." Nora sat on Ren's bunk, her butt muscles slightly tense at the notion of resting where Ren did. Ren followed soon after, his hands full of two thick slices of cake resting on a napkin with a fork each. He smiled and offered one to Nora, featuring the cookie shaped like her face. She took it happily, and began digging in without another thought. Ren watched her eat for a moment, happy to have done something to make her so joyful, then began eating himself.
Nora slowed down a ways in to allow them to both finish at the same time, replacing the cake that filled her mouth with ramblings about her thoughts. Though many saw Nora as ditzy, Ren never told her so. He always seemed interested in what she had to say, even when they both knew she was being silly for silliness' sake. When at last they finished, Ren took the napkins and rolled them into balls, throwing them into the wastebasket. Nora licked her fingers to get the last few crumbs as Ren fetched another napkin to wipe her mouth. She let him, shutting her eyes and basking in the attention. It was then she realized Ren hadn't brushed her hair like he'd promised. When she opened her eyes to say so, however, she was caught in his gaze. The two locked eyes for a brief moment, but to Nora it felt like hours. She looked away, clearing her throat, and noticed the small chocolate cookie from the slice she'd eaten. It must have fallen, she thought, and picked it up from the ground. She turned to show Ren, and was surprised when he still had his as well. The two grinned, and laughed at the strange coincidence.
"You're my best friend, Ren." Nora said, speaking through the cookie and bringing it closer to Ren's face. He raised his as well.
"You're my best friend too, Nora." Nora felt warm.
"I hope we get to be best friends forever!" said the Nora cookie.
"We will. I promise," said the Ren cookie.
"Yay! I love you, Ren!" said the Nora cookie, not knowing that Nora herself hadn't meant to say that out loud, and unaware of the powerful blush that filled her cheeks as it slipped out. Nora looked back up to Ren's face, and saw a bit of color in his cheeks too.
"I love you too, Nora," said the Ren cookie. He seemed to get a little closer to his counterpart, at least in Nora's eyes. She swallowed to clear the lump in her throat, and Ren looked up to see why she suddenly got so quiet. His smile transformed gradually into a look of concern. "Nora? You okay? You look like-"
"I love you, Ren," Nora repeated, almost silently. Ren seemed confused, but it was clear by the color in his face that he heard her.
"I…I love you too, Nora," he said, pulling the cookie version of himself away and setting it on his leg. "Are you okay?" Nora let her cookie drop to the floor. Ren looked down to see it land on the carpet before turning his eyes back up to Nora's.
"Ren, I need you to do me a favor, as my best friend," Nora said. Suddenly the confidence from the mirror Nora was back. There was amazing heat burning her up from head to toe, and her heart felt like it was trying to audition for a metal band, but both of these things just motivated her to press on. She placed a hand on the bed, and used it's position to edge just s bit closer to Ren and smell his shampoo. Ren himself seems a bit nervous. He stuttered as he responded.
"Of c-course, Nora. Anything." His eyes flickered down to Nora's mouth for just a moment before coming back up to her eyes.
"Ren," she said. She felt a tingling sensation begin to roll down her back, and crept even closer to Ren. She felt her breathing hasten, and couldn't pull her gaze away from his lips suddenly. "Ren, be my boyfriend, okay?" Nora felt tense up through his bedsprings. His eyes widened, and he seemed to run out of breath all at once. Nora felt the courage in her trying to escape, and so she attempted to trap it the only way she could think of.
Suddenly, and without forethought, Nora leaned in and placed her lips on Ren's. She closed her eyes, and brought an arm around under his waist to make sure the seal was tight, and let herself go. Ren didn't resist, but he didn't seem to comply either. As Nora felt Ren's softness, she began to fear the moment she would have to pull away. Again, a few moments felt like hours, as she memorized the feeling of something she may never again be able to experience. When at last she did release Ren, and pulled away to look at him, she was shocked to see his dreamily opening his eyes to look back at her.
"Wh-what? Why did you stop?" Ren asked, relaxing his shoulders and letting the air finally escape his lungs. Nora tensed up this time, but was able to squeeze out a few more words.
"So, does that mean you'll-"
"Yes," Ren said, leaning over and picking up Nora's wrists, taking one in each hand as he pressed his lips to hers again. Nora was shocked, but when she felt Ren asking for entry to the castle, she shut her eyes, wrapped her arms around him as her did her, and parted her pink lips to allow him in. She felt a shiver run down her back to her toes and then up and through her whole body as Ren's tongue met hers inside of her own mouth. Without meaning too, she allowed a slight moan of delight to escape through her nostrils.
The two of them remained joined in this way for a few minutes, pulling away only slightly to breathe a bit, before coming together in earnest again. Nora felt as though she was beginning to melt, and began squeezing Ren for support. It wasn't until he pulled away entirely, gasping for air that she realized just how tight she had been squeezing.
Nora apologized, but as always Ren was not just forgiving but understanding. They laughed together, and then their eyes met once more. Every breath Nora took excited her muscles, and made her skin tickle. No matter where she looked at Ren, he looked delicious. She wanted nothing more than to push him down on the bed and gobble him up then and there. As they stay locked in one another's eyes, hands delicately entwined between them, Nora felt years of anxiety wash away like a castle of sand, seated precariously by the shore. What had seemed to sturdy was taken away, and all but forgotten in a mere instant as nature took its invariable course between the two of them. Nora expressed this thought to Ren, and he laughed. It embarrassed her a little, but even his laugh was pretty hot to her right now.
"If you felt that way all along, why not just say so?" Ren asked, softly rubbing his thumbs over the back of Nora's hands.
"I didn't know how! And I thought you might not feel the same way. I didn't want to lose you as a friend because I was having a silly crush." Nora looked down and away, but Ren placed his thumb and forefinger on her chin and brought her face back to meet his. For a moment, Nora was sure she was about to get kissed again, and mentally prepared for it."
"Nora, you're my best friend. Of course I noticed you. We spend every day together. We used to bathe together. The day you started wearing a bra, I was nervous because I didn't want to make you think I was staring. I was though." At this, Nora felt her face heat up. "I don't know when I started loving you this way, but I've loved you for a long time, and I'm always going to. So, what do you say for now," Ren looked at their hands, and sandwiched one of her between both of his before turning back to Nora's face, "we try this. It can be a secret at first, but if it feels right, we'll tell everyone. If after we graduate it still feels right, we'll think about taking it further. Does that sound alright?" Ren smiled, comforting Nora immensely. She returned the gesture, and leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek.
"Yeah. Sounds good! But…" Suddenly Nora paused, and felt an odd sensation come over her. It was not new, but today it felt like it never had before. She gathered her courage again, and let out what she needed to, rather than suffer as she had been for another minute. "But how far can we take it now?"
Ren looked uncertain of her meaning, until his eyebrows raised and his cheeks became pink as spring flowers. Nora was somehow satisfied by this reaction.
"I-I g-guess, I mean if you want to do something like that I wouldn't mind it…" Ren trailed off, trying to look at anything in the room but Nora's lips, or any other part of her body for that matter. This made Nora even more eager. She took her hand from Ren's, and placed both of them on his shoulders.
"Ren," she said, in her sexiest voice.
"Y-yeah?" he responded, in his meekest voice."
"Look at me."
Ren turned back, and was caught in her come hither glance. Nora felt his hands rise up and rest themselves on her hips. It felt right. It felt like where they belonged, at least for now.
"I'm going to push you down on the bed now, and then we're going to let whatever happens happen. Okay?" Nora watched Ren's eyes wander from her lips to her chest, then to her stomach, and finally back up to her eyes.
"I love you," he managed in a whimper.
"Hehe, I know." True to her word, Nora shoved Ren backward onto the sheets, and crawled up to mount his hips. As her prey lay spread out before her, Nora reached down to grab Ren's face in her hands, squeeze his cheeks a bit, and finally bent at the waist to meet him in another embrace.