The 13-year-old cat boy was never more embarrassed than in this very moment. How could he have done such a stupid, reckless thing? The last time he checked, he didn't ran into a wall, which would have left him with a brain damage. Well. He wished that something like that could have exactly happened, because maybe it would explain the situation he was in right now.
There he was, lying in his bed with a dark brown sweater clutched to his chest. But it was no ordinary sweater. Hell! That's because it wasn't even his. The problem at hand. What would other people say, when they found out? Maybe Yuiko would say something romantic, that he was lovesick or whatever. But he wasn't! Or more like he wished he wasn't. His fighter's friend Kio would laugh his ass off or moreover call him a pervert. And Soubi himself? Well, he would just tease him to death. Of that he was sure.
Gosh. I will never hear the end this one.
Ashamed he buried his head into Soubi's fine cotton fabric sweater and breathed in his sweet scent. Damn! He did it again. Because of this irresistible smell, he brought himself into this mess. He wished he could just stop, but it was so calming. It really felt like, that a piece of Soubi was right here by his side.
Ok. He really sounded like a lovesick fool. That really disturbed him, because he didn't wanted to act like that.
So how did he get himself into this mess? Because really, if you look at it the logical way, the thing he had just done was considered stealing.
Two days ago he visited the blonde's place to hang out with him for a while. Nothing special happened until his foolishness. They ate lunch; Soubi helped Ritsuka with his homework, flirted with him a lot, much to the annoyance of the boy and let him make out with him once or twice. He tried to fight these moments, even if he knew that he enjoyed it. Soubi obviously knew that Ritsuka enjoyed it! That bastard. He is the one to blame. If he had just left him alone from the first moment, he would have never done something as moronic as to steal his fighter's sweater. Just one moment when Soubi excused himself to buy himself cigarettes at the corner of the street, Ritsuka decided to take a look at his bedroom. It never occurred to him to check it out the last few times he was there, so that left him curious. It had a big closet, one bed and a desk at the window. Pretty small, but it left Ritsuka with a warm and comfortable feeling. So when he saw the many clothes hanging on his lonely chair, his first thought wasn't: Whatever. No. Ritsuka thought nothing at all that moment! At first he blushed furiously, but picked up the first piece of clothing regardless and buried his nose in it. Somehow he felt himself relax and didn't even think about, what he was doing in this very moment. It was such an endearing scent. It was…Soubish and that was somehow delightful. So as he suddenly heard the door clicking, his first reaction was to stuff the sweater quickly into his schoolbag. His mind must have been blank or something. He could have just hung it back on the chair. End of story. But somehow his instincts took over and he just wanted to keep the scent of Soubi with him, which was, apart from crazy, really pathetic.
After that, he left a totally confused Soubi alone, with the excuse that he had to finish something at home and ran out of his place in one second.
After that afternoon he hadn't talked to Soubi a lot. He even send him away yesterday after school, because he couldn't face him. So not that he was just embarrassed and ashamed of himself, now he even have to feel guilty as well. Just as he knew Soubi, the poor man will probably think that it was something, that he had done wrong. Again.
Now he needed to work out, how to turn back time. That would be the perfect solution just that it won't work. Maybe he could just burn it, so that it would disappear forever. Soubi would just think that he had lost it, or Kio borrowed it and had lost it, and after a while he would surely forget about it. Ritsuka would never fall into suspicion and everything would turn back to normal. Right. Just that he couldn't do such a thing. And if he kept it, there would always be the risk, that Soubi would find it one day. That would be disastrous! He could just imagine how Soubi would laugh at him and call him a freak or something like that. Just the thought made Ritsuka want to puke.
After a while he heard his mobile beeping. Surly a text message from his lover. Yeah. After a while he had admitted to himself, that they had a relationship.
Sighing he picked up the phone and read.
"Is it okay to pick you up tomorrow?"
Now Ritsuka felt even guiltier than before. His fighter never asked for permission to pick him up after school. It surely was a sign, that he was to rough yesterday. But he just couldn't look him in the eyes. Soubi would see it written all over his face. So what will he do now?
He thought for a while and then pushed the buttons a few times. After that, he put his phone away and desperately tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow he will solve this.
"Sure. Do whatever you like. Good night."
Ritsuka sighed again and hugged Soubi's clothe close to him.
All his thoughts revolved around that one event. After his second lesson he already became paranoid and changed his opinion every second.
Soubi knows. Of course he does. Why shouldn't he? I came out of his room like a madman, left his place in one breath and acted strangely around him since. Why shouldn't he know? This man knows everything. Doesn't matter how much I try to hide my inner feelings from him. And there is of course the fact, that he is probably missing something that he likes very much. Well ok. I don't know that. Is it one of his favourite, he surely would miss it. But who knows? This guy has more dark clothes, than I have clothes at all. Maybe he wouldn't even miss it, because it looks like the others…
So by the end of his last class he was a bit more convinced, more confident and more paranoid.
No he doesn't know. Why should he? It is absolutely impossible to think I stole a sweater from him. And I will just tell him that I haven't felt well and didn't want to bother him, so I just went home. Or fled home in that case…
Didn't sound to convincing, but right now he didn't came up with a better explanation, because the others sounded even more stupid as the current one. Looking out of the window, he already caught glimpse of blond hair at the entrance. Ritsuka gulped nervously und took several deep breaths. If he didn't calm down, this will never work. His plan was really simple. Going to Soubi's, distract him a little bit, going to his bedroom, put the sweater back to his other stuff and act like nothing ever happened. Quite simple. Or so he hoped.
The bell made its presence and the class started to get quite loud.
"Ritsuka-kun! Is everything alright with you?" came a feminine voice not very far away from him. Yuiko, one of his best friends, stared at him intently. She had noticed his odd behaviour the whole day, but didn't know if she should have said something about it. He was even warned three times from Shinonome-sensei for not listening to the lecture.
"Yeah, why?" he replied shortly, knowing that he acted strange.
"It's just that you seem to have something on your mind. Do you want to talk about it?"
"I have something on my mind, but I want to solve it myself, ok?" Ritsuka wanted to be left alone, but tried not to answer to rudely.
Yuiko furrowed her brows in concentration, shrugged her shoulders and then smiled happily. "Ok let's go!" And they departed from the room with the rest of his classmates.
Soubi waited patiently like every time. As he saw his sacrifice making his way over to him, his face already lit up. Always glad to see Ritsuka. The schoolboy just wished he could say the same. He was a wrack.
Try to calm down. This is just stupid. Nothing to get your knickers in a twist. It's nothing ordinary.
That he tried to tell himself a thousand times. Not that it was effective.
"Soubi-kun, hello!" Yuiko was energetic as ever. And right now he just wanted her to disappear, so he can get this over with as quickly as possible.
The blonde just nodded friendly at her and then turned his attention to his adorable boy. His eyes beamed at him and somehow he seemed different.
Oh god! He knows. He knows! I want to die right now.
"So are we going?" He reached out his hand for Ritsuka and he hesitantly took it. They said their goodbyes to the pink haired girl and made their way down the street.
No words were spoken. Not even after Ritsuka guided his way to the direction of Soubi's home, instead of his. If Soubi was surprised, he didn't show it at all.
So he knows. He should have said something by now. But nothing! I am screwed.
Just after they arrived at his apartment Soubi started to open his mouth.
"I'm glad that you decided to come to me. Thought that something was wrong, but I hope that whatever it was, it's settled by now?" he said in his softest tone and looked at his lover with concern in his eyes.
"Oh. Well yeah it is. A-and sorry about the other day. I just haven't felt well and wanted to be left alone. And maybe I acted a little bit too harsh last time…" Ritsuka lowered his head and stayed silence. He really was sorry, so why not apologize.
Soubi gently took hold of his head with both of his hands and gave him a quick peck on the lips. He just shook his head.
"Please don't apologize." He really wasn't used to people saying sorry to him. At least not, when it came from his 'master'. It just wasn't right. But the fact that he said it nevertheless, made his heart grow with happiness.
"So what do you want to eat?"
They spent the afternoon as usual. Eating, talking, flirting and fooling around. Ritsuka slowly began to doubt, that his fighter had found out his little secret. After a while he came to the impression that Soubi didn't know it at all. Which was a relief. So he was left with a chance to fix his mess.
His time to act came shortly after Soubi made his way to the bathroom.
Ok. I have very little time. Now or never. Get this over with!
He quickly grabbed his bag and ran as quietly as he could to the bedroom. He opened the door, had the sweater out in a swift and….
Shit.
All the clothes from the chair are gone. The blonde probably put it away into his closet.
Ok. Then just throw it in the closet.
That was the plan. But after he got there, he realized it was locked. Locked? Which person locks his own closet? Maybe he had other thinks kept in there, maybe he could ask him, in the right moment-
Focus!
Ritsuka began to exhale uncontrollably. That wasn't good. He had no time left. What should he do?
God just don't stand here, put it away!
So he stuffed it back in his bag and shock his head. He needed to think that over. He was reacting way to slow und stupidly. If Soubi ever-
"Ritsuka…Just why exactly are you standing in my bedroom with my sweater in your bag?" came an amused voice from behind his back. Shocked, he turned around and saw his dear fighter leaning against the door, looking at him quite entertained. Just like he caught the boy in the act. He hadn't even heard Soubi approaching.
"Eh..I.I just…" Great. That's exactly the answer to distract the man from his foolishness. Now he really will be teased till the end of his existence. Soubi will never let him get away with this.
Soubi began to chuckle and shook his head. He made his way over to Ritsuka and looked at him in the most endearing way. The young teenager's cheek reached a taint of pink. This was so embarrassing.
"You know if you just wanted to borrow something from me, you could just have asked. Or have you really wished to play hide and seek the whole week?"
Ritsuka's head snapped up to look directly into his eyes.
"You…you knew? The whole time? And you didn't say anything?" he started quite shocked, but outraged as well.
I should have known. He knows everything.
But Soubi just smirked knowingly. "Why should I not? One of my sweaters was missing since you left my house like you needed to catch up with a marathon. Then you were acting quite funny these days. I just put two and two together. Oh and by the way it is one of my favourites. Would have missed it."
"And you didn't say anything, because?" Ritsuka couldn't think clearly anymore.
He will call me a pervert. I can never face him again.
"Why should I? It was quite fun to observe, how much you tried to act normal. Every time our eyes met, you started to blush. Just like now. Too cute little Ritsuka." Soubi said teasingly. He couldn't resist.
"D…don't say that." The teenage boy whispered shamefully. He felt so humiliated. He couldn't stand this. Right now Ritsuka just wanted to leave very fast.
"Sorry." He murmured out, opened his bag to give him back his sweater and started to run out of the room. He needed to get away.
Of course for Soubi this wasn't an option and as quick as he was, he caught up with the cat boy in an instant. He hugged Ritsuka from behind and started pulling them to the couch with the boy ending on his lap.
"Please let me go!" Soubi's sacrifice struggled against him and tried to get out of his arms. He just couldn't bear this.
But the blonde just even hugged him closer to his body. "Shh…would you please stop?"
And that's what he did. Ritsuka knew that it was a lost cause. This man was too strong. He couldn't do anything, just staying in his arms as long as his fighter wanted him to be. He could have ordered him to let him go, but was to agitated to even say a word.
They sat like that for a while. Soubi just let him be, until he got over his embarrassment, which wasn't going to happen, but he already felt more like himself again. Hearing his fighter breath in and out calmed him down.
"Ritsuka…" was breathed softly in his ear. "You are so adorable."
Softly he turned Ritsuka's chin up so that he could look at him intently. Of course, he turned a dark shade of red again.
"You don't have to be embarrassed. In fact you make me really happy."
The dark haired boy blinked at him in confusion. "What? So. You are not mad?"
Soubi chuckled und shook his head. "Never. I love you and I want to be close to you too." But Ritsuka didn't seem convinced.
"You could borrow me one of your shirts, so that your scent is always with me too." He said happily. Actually he found it wasn't such a bad idea.
That loosened the teenage boy up. He started to chuckle.
"Why do you have always to be so weird?" Replied Ritsuka to his offer.
Maybe he just made a mountain out of a molehill.
And just to reassure Ritsuka that everything was alright, Soubi leaned in to kiss him long on his tiny red lips. The black haired boy said nothing, just sighed contently. Sometimes he just had to give in.
Well.
The original smells even better.