Hello my dear readers. Sorry for the delays. Lots of unimportant details that I dont want to bother you with :) So on with the story I say! I hope you like and I dedicate it to you my lovely readers.
Chapter Nine – Surprises
Ray was humming cheerfully to himself the next morning as he shoved the key into the lock, desperately praying that Kai wouldn't be there. Taking a deep breath he opened the door and stepped inside looking for his rival. He spied a prone form in Kai's bed and snuck over to retrieve his suitcase.
A low moan caught his attention. Ray looked over and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw a blonde head rise up slightly before sinking back into the bed.
"OH. MY. GOD!" Ray exclaimed quite loudly, his eyes bugging out at the sight before him. Kai's head snapped up at the early morning shout, then the Russian suddenly winced as pain lanced through his skull.
A movement to Kai's left alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone. He sat up and looked down next to him. Lying there was a naked Max. Kai stiffened in shock. He tried hard to remember last night's events.
He glanced over at Ray who still stood frozen in his tracks. He could recall the fight with the neko-jin quite clearly. It helped that Ray's lip was still swollen...Tala, Kenny and Max had then promptly dragged him back to the hotel after he had been thrown out of the club for fighting...Max had given him a thorough talking to...Max had helped him finish a bottle of vodka before he had ordered up more alcohol...they had talked more...and...and...he frowned in concentration.
And he had kissed Max! And Max had kissed him back!
He brought a hand up to his aching head. He had seduced Max.
The blonde moved weakly next to him and then turned and looked up at him. Blue eyes met red. They both looked away blushing.
Ray suddenly snorted with laughter. Two pairs of eyes turned to look at him glaring. The identical looks make him laugh even harder.
"It's not funny Kon!" Kai snarled angrily. Max's face burned bright red with shame and embarrassment.
"I'm not laughing at the situation you two are in." Ray managed to choke out. "What I'm laughing about is that Tyson was talking about trying to set you two up. He swore blind that you would both make a great couple. And he was right!"
Max hauled himself into a sitting position fighting back the nausea that threatened to overwhelm him. "What? Since when?"
"This morning. Over breakfast." the smugness in the raven haired blader's voice made him forget momentarily how sick he felt.
"You mean it's over? You've finally got him to accept you as his mate?" Max asked hopefully. The smirk he got in reply was the only answer he needed.
The blonde let a huge grin envelope his face. "So are you going to make it official or anything?"
A thoughtful look crossed Ray's face. Kai shifted uncomfortably keeping quiet. He was no good at stuff like this. He snuck a look at Max. His mouth turned up a little at the blonde's infectious smile. Warm arms encircled him in an excited hug. He returned it clumsily.
"Yes. That's a good idea." Ray said looking at the pair. He nodded once with determination and went to his suitcase, pulling out a fresh change of clothes.
"Where's Tyson Ray?" Max asked curiously.
"Spending the day with Hiro and Gramps." Ray said over his shoulder heading into the bathroom and leaving the pair alone.
"Aaahhh." Kai said as the door shut looking down at his lap embarrassed.
"Last night was fun Kai." Max said sliding out of the bed and quickly dressing himself. He turned back to the other blader shyly. "Let's do it again sometime."
Kai's jaw dropped as he looked up at the blonde. Max gave him a lazy salute before sauntering out the door. Kai just gazed after the blonde in a complete state of shock.
ts
Ray knocked lightly on Kian and Mariah's door. The magenta haired blader opened it. A smile dawned on the petite woman's face.
"To what do we owe this pleasure?" she asked teasingly. She motioned gently for her old friend to come in and close the door behind him. They walked out into the main room. Kian lay in the bed clearly bored while Miah fussed over him. Lee sat back comfortably in a chair. He shot an amused glance at his old friend.
"Ray!" Miah exclaimed loudly suddenly noticing the raven haired neko-jin.
"Hey." he said with a friendly nod trying his hardest not to smile at the pained look Kian sent him.
"How are you?" Ray asked Kian seriously. Tyson's concern over breakfast about how Kian was had raised his own.
"I'm sorry that you got hurt last night." he said contritely looking his teammate square in the eye.
"I'm fine mate. Seriously. I should have been quicker." Kian said shrugging off the concern. Miah turned and glared at her older brother. Mariah glared at him as well.
"You shouldn't have gotten involved at all!" Miah scolded. Mariah made a noise of agreement.
"And you should have known better Ray. How could you be so stupid as to lose your control like that? You should have approached it differently." Miah rounded on Ray. He raised his hands defensively.
"Miah." Lee said warningly. "Let it rest. What's happened is now in the past."
Miah glared at her husband before turning her back on him, and returning to mothering Kian much to his dismay.
Ray scratched his head with embarrassment.
"So..." Lee said eyeing Ray speculatively. "Where did you disappear to last night?"
"Well." Ray said with a smirk. Everyone turned to look at him noting the smug look on his face.
"So. It's finished?" Mariah asked hopefully. "He's yours now?"
Ray's smirk grew even wider. "Yes."
"About damn time!" Kian said with exasperation. The other three laughed.
Ray scowled at them. "Some friends you are." he muttered grumpily.
"Where is he?" Lee asked cheerfully.
"With Hiro and Gramps." Ray said in reply.
"Well. Hopefully he'll be coming to the demo match between Kian and I tomorrow." Lee said leaning back in his chair.
"Of course he is. He'd never miss a match." Ray reminded him. "Besides, we have plans for tonight."
"Ray has a date! Ray has a date!" Mariah and Miah chanted. Lee and Kian roared with laughter at the disgruntled look on Ray's face.
"Bunch of wise guys." Ray muttered embarrassed.
ts
"So little homie. How was the night out?" Gramps asked doling out lunch to the hungry teen and Tyson's amused older brother.
"Alright." Tyson said flushing slightly as he remembered last night's activities.
Hiro rolled his eyes and sighed impatiently. "Ray ended up crashing here because he and Kai managed to get kicked out of the club after having a huge fight. What were they fighting about Ty?"
Tyson turned an interesting shade of red. "Mmmm. Mmmmph" he muttered inhaling a big mouthful of food. Gramps and Hiro looked at him a bit confused.
"What was that? I didn't quite catch it." Hiro asked with a smirk.
Tyson swallowed the remainder of his mouthful and then studied his food. "It was me." he muttered again.
"You?" they asked simultaneously looking at each other and then back at Tyson.
The blunette sighed and rubbed his head with embarrassment his appetite gone.
"So. You have two guys fighting over you." Hiro said with amusement. Tyson refused to look at either of them. Gramps looked down at his youngest grandson arms folded.
"We know Tyson." he said gently. The blunette glanced up at his grandfather.
"Know what?" he asked tentatively.
"We know that you aren't into girls." Gramps replied. "We've been waiting for you to tell us little dude. We don't love you any less because of it."
Tyson finally looked at Hiro and then Gramps. "You knew? All this time and you knew?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.
Hiro snorted. "Of course. It kinda clicked when you were mooning over Kai last year."
"Oh my God! Just how obvious was I?" Tyson exclaimed horrified, burying his head in his hands, lunch forgotten.
Hiro and Gramps shared an amused smile. "We know you well Ty." Gramps said gently. "And back to the beginning of the conversation. Why were Kai and Ray fighting over you?"
"Because Ray's been rather overprotective of me. Andhe has been showing an interest. Kai made a move and this kinda upset Ray. They exchanged words and Kai then threw the first punch." Tyson said squirming.
"Ray?" Hiro said with a frown. "The same Ray you shared a room with last night?"
"Yes." Tyson replied, refusing to look at his older brother. Hiro's mouth tightened with suppressed anger. It was time he had a little talk with Ray...
"In fact. We are ummm. Kinda going on a date tonight." Tyson said shyly.
"A date huh? Where are you going?" Gramps asked slyly.
"I don't know. It's a surprise." Tyson said flushing bright red again.
"Well. You are going to need your strength to fight that boy off so eat up little man." Gramps said with a laugh, tucking into his food.
Tyson and Hiro followed suit. Tyson was so embarrassed he didn't notice the unusual look on Hiro's face.
ts
Ray wandered back to his room after having been shopping in town. He spied a familiar blonde blader lurking near his door.
"Max." he called out. The blonde whipped around and smiled nervously when he saw his friend.
"I was looking for you." Max stated shyly. "I needed some advice.
"Well. Come in." Ray said as he opened the door. Max breathed in a quiet sigh of relief when they found that Kai wasn't there.
Max wandered over to one of the chairs while Ray settled on the edge of his bed. He studied his friend carefully.
"So. What actually happened last night?" Ray enquired, amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Well. Tala, Kenny and I dragged him back here after your ... altercation. And then I told him to back off on Tyson while giving him a little in for about your neko-jin background, but only what the elders said I could say to 'outsiders'. Then we ended up sharing his bottle of vodka and then ordered up more alcohol. He kissed me and I kissed him back. It went on from there and we ended up in bed together." Max said sheepishly rubbing his head embarrassed.
"Next thing I know is that you walked in and woke us up. The problem is that now I don't know how to approach Kai." Max said looking down.
"Well. What do you want out of the night? Do you want to further your relationship with him? Or pretend that it never happened?" Ray queried. He studied Max carefully.
"Well. I can't pretend it never happened. I kind of told him that I enjoyed myself and that maybe we should do it again." Max admitted reluctantly.
Ray just stared at Max gob smacked. "Max!" he exclaimed scandalised. Max blushed.
"It just slipped out." he said defensively.
Ray just shook his head in disbelief. "Have you talked to Kai since this morning?"
"Every time he sees me; he either turns around and walked the other way or he walks straight by me as if I'm not there." there was a slight hint of frustration in Max's voice.
"Well. You know what Kai's like." Ray reminded Max. "He won't talk about it until he's sorted it out in his own head and even then it's like trying to draw blood from a stone."
Max sighed. "So. If I did want to explore having a deeper relationship with Kai what do you recommend that I do?"
"Give him at least one day to absorb it all and think it over before approaching him. Think about in the meantime what you're going to say to him." Ray replied frowning in concentration.
'Okay." Max said slowly. He looked up at Ray. "Thanks man. That's helped a lot."
"That's good." Ray replied, a smile breaking out on his face. "Glad I could help."
"So. See you at dinner?" Max asked as he stood up.
"No. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm taking Tyson out for dinner tonight." Ray said with a smirk.
Max shook his head and laughed. "Well. Have fun then and don't do anything that I wouldn't do."
He sent Ray a saucy smile before he wandered out the door.
ts
"So. What did you do today?" Ray asked curiously as he looked across the table from Tyson. They were in a small Chinese restraint Ray had found last time he was in Beycity.
Tyson glanced up at Ray shyly. "Well. Gramps and I had some kendo practise in the morning. We both had lunch with Hiro and then I spent the afternoon together with him while Gramps had a nap. What did you do today?"
"Well. After I left you I walked in on something rather interesting. You can't tell anyone about it though." Ray stated. Tyson nodded in agreement.
"Max and Kai were in bed together. They ended up getting trashed and then slept together." Ray began. "I accidentally woke them up. They both were rather embarrassed to say the least."
"Max and Kai?" Tyson said wide eyed. "That's just weird! We were only talking about that this morning."
Ray laughed quietly. "I know. Well after having walked in on that I got changed and went and visited Kian. He's okay by the way. And then I went to town and when I got back had a talk with Max. Now. I'm here with you."
Tyson returned Ray's smile shyly. "I told Hiro and Gramps at lunch."
"About what?" Ray asked fiddling with a chopstick.
"That you and I were on a date tonight." Tyson said softly, a light blush gracing his cheeks. Ray reached out across the table and grabbed Tyson's hand and gave it a light squeeze. Tyson looked up into liquid gold eyes; they burned with a strange light. His blush deepened.
Ray now understood the strange, hostile looks Hiro had given him this afternoon. All of Tyson's friends knew how protective Hiro was of him. He made a mental note to avoid the older man at all costs.
"How did they take it?" Ray asked gently, worried about a bad reaction. He gripped Tyson's hand tighter.
"Pretty well actually. Gramps said they already knew that I was gay." Tyson said squirming slightly. "How is it that they knew before I did?"
"They know you better than you know yourself sometimes." Ray stated wistfully.
"Are you talking from experience Ray?" Tyson asked.
"Well. Lee and Mariah are pretty much the only family I have now. They knew before I did what was happening and managed to keep me from doing something really stupid." Ray said looking Tyson in the eyes.
"Here we go." the waitress interrupted as she brought them their food.
"Thank you." Ray and Tyson said simultaneously bowing their heads politely.
"You're welcome." she replied, bowing her head in return. They tucked into their food forgoing conversation for the moment.
Sorry. Theres at least one more chapter in the works...So what did you think? Did you like it?
Please drop me a line...I do get so lonely. :(
Love youse
Storm