50 Ways to Express Love and Affection Without Having Sex

#4 Make a surprise picnic

The sun just peeked though to the window, and Hikaru was already wide-awake. He hadn't managed a full nights sleep; not because of some horrible feeling, but simply because he was far too excited about today. Almost the whole night, he had feigned sleep so his younger twin wouldn't be up with him. He didn't realize how long it actually took for Kaoru to fall asleep; it took an hour longer than he thought it would, but once he was sure, he had things ready to be set up.

A fond smile graced his normally tainted devilish lips, and his hand came up slowly to gently brush against the soft curve of his brother's cheek. A loud chime, however, jerked his hand away just before contact and quickly slammed down on the annoying alarm clock. It only managed to beep once. Quickly glancing at Kaoru, finding that he was still peacefully asleep, Hikaru hesitantly crawled out of bed and quietly left the room, trying to keep his sleeping twin like that: sleeping.

As the boy ran down the stairs, still in his pajamas, Hikaru rushed into the kitchen where one of the male chefs placed a basket on the main dining table. Hikaru quickly grabbed it and continued toward the back door. Before he darted out, he turned back to look at the stunned man.

"Kaoru shouldn't be down here till around eleven or twelve. When he does, tell him I'm out in the back garden. I'll be waiting for him." Before the chief could mutter a "yes sir", the energetic boy darted out the glass door and toward the clearing in the back of the garden the two brothers had been in just last evening.


Breathing in sharply, Kaoru tensed up, stretching out his back, and let out a soft sigh. His hands reached out to the other side of the bed, searching for the familiar warmth out of habit. Though, once the feeling of Hikaru's soft skin wasn't registering on the boy's hands or head, Kaoru lazily opened his eyes to find himself alone in the large, empty room.

"Hika—?" The boy called out, his voice cracking a little due to the fact he just woke up. Sitting up and tiredly rubbing his eye, Kaoru looked around once more, figuring his brother must have gone to the bathroom. Wether it was for its intended purpose or not wasn't his issue, but it gave Kaoru a little bit of relief.

It took a bit of effort, but Kaoru finally got out of bed, and crawled down the stairs—half expecting to find his missing twin since he hadn't returned yet. Hikaru was still nowhere in sight, but one of the maids did find their way to the lonely twin.

"Oh, 'Good Morning', Kaoru-sama," the maid lightly laughed jokingly, adjusting the try in her hands that held a small teapot and a freshly poured cup of the hot drink. Kaoru assumed it was for his mother who was working—most likely—upstairs. Kaoru just nodded politely, though remained silent when the maid continued. "Hikaru-sama was just down here. He left for the back garden and said that he wanted you to come see him."

"Oh, really? Odd…" the boy muttered to himself, but quickly regained himself and smiled at the woman, "Thank you. I'll go see him right now." He bowed modestly, and went off toward the back door, the woman continuing with her business.

The bright midday sun of the early summer wiped whatever fatigue that had managed to still linger with the boy out, leaving him fully awake and seemed to mindlessly wonder the back garden. It had been a while since Kaoru had found the time to actually admire the flowers and plants that had been growing here for years. Last night didn't very well count as his eyes were shamelessly elsewhere. That thought made him feel slightly embarrassed with himself.

"Kaoru!" The boy quickly turned around at the sound of his name; a small part of his heart relieved to hear it in Hikaru's voice. Hikaru ran up to him and smiled that huge grin of his and started pulling Kaoru toward the clearing he had come from. "C'mon. I've been waiting for you to wake up for a while, sleepyhead." He turned back to face his brother, still smiling and pointed toward the clearing, "I've got everything ready."

"What are you talking about, Hikaru?" Kaoru asked, a touch softer than what he intended when he noticed that Hikaru had gotten dressed for the day while Kaoru still remained in his sleepwear.

Hikaru just smirked proudly as he led Kaoru to where he was talking about. The surprise in Kaoru's eyes was obvious when he saw a large red and white plaid cloth laid out in the middle of the large clearing, and a simple whicker basket placed on top, looking rather inviting. A picnic?

"You said you wanted to do something together this weekend, so I though we'd do something a little different." Hikaru smirked wider seeing his brother stare like that. He looked adorable, and Hikaru took selfish pride in the fact he could make him blush like that. Getting over that—or not—he pated Kaoru's bare shoulder and went over to the blanket and sat himself down, digging though the basket for a moment. Kaoru followed soon after; silent due to the fact he just wasn't sure what to say. He felt it odd for his brother to be doing all these things, but once an onigiri was shoved in his face, a large, playful smirk behind it, he figured… maybe it didn't matter.