"N, are you even—" I started, ending in a surprised gasp as he pulled me back against his hard chest, his hands resting on my hips.
"N!" I laughed, shifting so that I could turn around and see his face. But he held me tighter against him, his fingers almost biting into the skin above my shorts. I felt his breath warming the tip of my ear. "N…N, what are you doing?" I breathed.
"Something I feel I should have done a long time ago," he murmured.
"W—what?" I stammered, hands braced on the counter top. The half-diced vegetables sat on the cutting board by the knife, temporarily forgotten.
His lips brushed my ear, and I stiffened. They trailed slowly down my neck to my bare shoulder, soft and warm, leaving a tingling trail in their wake.
"N…" I whispered, startled by the goosebumps that broke out over my arms at his feather-light touch.
"Touko, I want you," he moaned against the curve of my throat. "I've wanted you since I first met you. You were so strong and brave, so full of fire. You were firm in your belief and unwavering as you tried to save me; tried to help me see how wrong I'd been."
I shivered as his breath fanned out over my collarbone. His fingers were massaging my waist now, tracing gentle, soothing circles just beneath the hem of my top. My own breath came a little thicker, a little heavier.
"And then," he continued, shifting his mouth back up my throat, pausing just below my ear, "something changed. You were already beautiful. You had always been, but…but when you stood across the Champion's Hall from me, the light from Reshiram's stone thrown onto your face, you looked magical, mysterious. And, with Reshiram at your side, your face set and determined, you were powerful. The link you shared with that pokemon, a legendary one that you had carried and awakened, but still barely knew… That link was astounding. I've never seen such a strong bond between trainer and pokemon before, not even with Alder, and that was a beautiful thing. You both fought with a single-minded determination. It was as though you shared one mind."
N's arms slid around my waist, his chin settling on my shoulder. His long hair was tickling my cheek.
"Zekrom and I didn't stand a chance. We didn't have the connection that you two did. I assumed that I knew what Zekrom wanted, but I didn't ask for his help; I demanded it. He complied, but our tie was weak. Since then, what I've felt has been more than want. Although, there's still been plenty of that."
And with that he whipped me around, bent his head, and crushed my mouth with his.
~N~
That spark of electricity I felt whenever Touko was near burst into a white-hot lightning that coursed through my veins as I finally met her full, rosy lips with mine. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her as close to me as I could manage. One of my hands wrapped around her waist, and the other tangled in her thick, dark brown hair. She let out the cutest little squeak that only served to provoke the storm in my stomach, sending the electricity sparking lower in my abdomen. I closed my eyes and parted my lips slightly, taking her lower lip between both of mine and applying a gentle pressure. She sucked in a sharp breath through her nose. I pulled back, tugging on her lip before releasing it. Before she could speak, I went in for another, deeper kiss, slanting my mouth over hers.
Her small, slender fingers clenched the front of my shirt, balling it in her fists as I moved my mouth slowly against hers.
"Breathe," I whispered, breaking away only for that split second, before I glued my mouth back to hers.
~Touko~
What was going on? Just minutes ago we'd been arguing, and suddenly one of my best friends was kissing me with a positively feverish intensity. His hands slid down from their posts along my sides, and he lifted me up onto the counter, making me almost as tall as him. his eyes were closed, his face soft and vulnerable despite the passion there. Seeing that was like flipping a switch.
N had been kind, if withdrawn, when I'd first met him, but had proved cold and calculating when he told me exactly who he was, due to his father's upbringing. He had had good intentions, but he was taking them too far. I'd sought to help him, and somewhere in there I'd seen something no one else had. I'd seen his heart. Our encounters were many, and as they progressed, N started to change. He began questioning what he was doing, what his father had always told him. He was completely open and honest with me no matter what. I'd even seen him cry, and I held him as his tears streamed unchecked to the ground. And then, on that fateful day, when I defeated him and Zekrom, somehow that had led to a friendship. He told me that I'd shown him the errors of his ways.
And now he was telling me that he's wanted me ever since our first meeting. Said his feelings went farther than want. And he was kissing me. So what did I do?
I kissed him back.
I closed my eyes, surrendering to the fire that boiled inside me at the feel of him sucking and nipping at my hot lips, the way his hands traced invisible designs on my thighs. I felt his smile of victory against my mouth when I knotted my fingers in his long, silky hair. When the tip of his tongue shyly brushed across my top lip, I granted him entrance without a second thought. His tongue flooded my mouth, stroking my own with an almost teasing sensuality that stoked the fire building in my blood. That action right there, sensitizing and erotic, made me lose it. I pulled him as hard against me as I possibly could, all rational thought wiped away as I wrapped my legs around his waist. Our tongues twisted together, our breaths came in short, hard gasps, and my skin felt ready to burst into flames.
He groaned my name into my mouth; I sighed his.
So lost was I in this strange euphoria that I didn't realize that his hands had been climbing up my legs. However, when his hands reached my stomach, and one started to slide beneath the denim of my shorts, reality hit me.
"N" I gasped, catching his wrist. I opened my eyes to find his already locked on me, glazed and hooded.
"Touko?" he answered throatily.
"I—I don't…" I stuttered. "I don't think that…"
N smiled softly and withdrew his encroaching hand, instead lacing his fingers with mine. He brought them up to his lips and brushed a soft kiss across my knuckles. I blushed.
"That's alright, Touko," he murmured. "We don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with."
I shivered; his tongue was flicking ever so slightly between my knuckles, causing more goosebumps to erupt across my skin.
"Thank you," I answered, shocked that my voice sounded so rough. His smile grew until it lit up his whole face, and he leaned in to plant another, gentler kiss on the corner of my mouth.
"Of course," was his soft reply.
Then, after a moment of silence, he asked me a question.
"You haven't asked me how much deeper than lust my feelings went," he noted as he helped me off of the counter. I shook my head ruefully, and he leaned back in. "Would you like to know?"
"I would," was my response. He leaned in even closer, until his lips barely touched me; they brushed mine when he spoke.
"Touko, I love you."
