Kiku brought Herakles and Sadiq out for sushi. Sadiq seemed very weary of the raw fish, but Herakles enjoyed it very much.
"Do you two want to go to a movie after this?" Herakles asked, grabbing another plate off the conveyor belt.
"What's showing?" Sadiq asked.
Kiku was seated across from Herakles, Sadiq to his left. He listened as the other two discussed their options.
"There's that one horror that just came out," Herakles suggested.
"Oh," Sadiq hesitated, glancing over at Kiku. "I don't know if Kiku would like that."
"I love scary movies," Kiku assured him with a smile, popping a piece of squid into his mouth.
Herakles nodded smugly. Sadiq never, ever said so, but Herakles knew Sadiq got really jumpy in scary movies. And if Herakles used this knowledge to purposefully always suggest the scariest movie in theaters, it was Sadiq's own fault for never owning up to it. He always refused to admit he was scared.
"I'll look up the show times right now," Herakles offered, pulling out his phone.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to the restroom," Kiku said, politely scooting his chair back.
Herakles nodded in acknowledgement. "The theater down the block from here has a showing at three thirty. We should go then."
Sadiq nodded. He didn't really want to go, but he could see the secret challenge in Herakles' eyes, and his pride would not let him back down now.
Herakles' phone vibrated on the table. He sighed, "Sorry," and picked it up.
He answered with Greek, so Sadiq couldn't understand a single word of it. He zoned out for the most part. Probably his Mom or something.
When Herakles hung up, he looked somewhat apologetic (as apologetic as he got when he spoke to Sadiq), "My Mom needs me. I'm going to have to ditch. Still go with him, though. Pay for my food. Bye," he said rapidly, standing up.
Sadiq didn't even manage an indignant response before Herakles put his jacket on and left.
Kiku came back momentarily and sat. "Where did Herakles go?"
Sadiq shrugged. "Family thing or whatever. Looks like it's just you and me for the movie, eh?"
Kiku frowned just a bit, but nodded. "We'll enjoy it even without him."
"Did you bring your homework?" Leon asked immediately when he opened the door.
"Homework? It's Sunday night, I already got it done," Emil answered haughtily. "I did bring my backpack for tomorrow morning, though." He swung his backpack off his shoulder and tossed it on the ground near the front door.
"Good. Do you want to change to pajamas now, then?"
Emil smiled and nodded.
Emil and Leon were never very intimate with each other, honestly—except that one time when Leon came over to 'help Emil with math' (seriously, that was why Emil invited him over!) and they ended up making out, Leon on top of Emil, his shirt hitched up to his rib cage and Emil's legs around his hips. Of course, that was when Lukas walked in on them, having never even known they were a thing, and, shocked and aghast, threw Leon out of the house. Lukas has been passive aggressively disapproving ever since then, reluctantly and sneeringly allowing them to continue meeting for study group.
Now, though, in an empty house, they had no qualm getting closer. They fell to bed, Leon grabbing Emil's hand and kissing the plain of his cheeks. He liked the shade of pink Emil's face became when he did that.
Emil sighed into the kiss once Leon finally kissed his lips. Leon curled a hand into Emil's hair, and Emil gripped his bicep. Emil was so thankful of that fact that Leon slept shirtless, because it meant that he could look at and touch his toned muscles all he wanted. Emil's flush crept down his neck. Simply feeling the flex of Leon's arm as he crushed their lips together made him feel too hot, made him want to feel more.
Emil wore a flannel shirt to bed every night, even when it was hot out and especially when he was spending the night with someone else. He had chubby, girly hips and he was very self-conscious.
Which was conflicting, when Leon slid a hand under his shirt, hand pressing into his hip.
Before Emil could complain, Leon pushed him back to lie flat, following his lips and moving to lay over him, one of his legs coming between Emil's thighs, which was necessary for balance due to their height difference. Leon braced his arms on either side of Emil's head, going back to kissing his neck, now licking and nipping as well. Emil ran his hands through Leon's silky black hair, one arm coming to rest of his shoulder. He bit his lip when he found how tense his shoulder muscles were. He sighed when Leon did something particularly clever against the juncture of his shoulder, and traced his fingertips along the contours of Leon's shoulder blade.
The leg that was not trapped beneath Leon bent, sliding against Leon's hip, and Emil wanted to wrap it around his waist, but that was very forward. He was too embarrassed. He wanted to touch Leon so much more. His body told him to take off his shirt—oh god, and feel Leon's chest pressed right up against his, he shuddered at the though—but his conscious told him not to. Leon didn't want to see how unattractive Emil was under his clothes.
Leon kissed lower on his neck, of his collar bones, his hand fiddling with the top button of Emil's shirt.
"Um, maybe not…" Emil said, grabbing that wandering hand.
"Oh," Leon pulled back. There was a flush to his cheeks, and his lips were red. "You're right, we should stop here," he said, nodding absently and pushing himself off Emil.
"We—we don't need to stop," Emil placated, feeling cold without Leon's warm body over him.
"No, no, I, like—I need to stop," Leon assured him distantly, licking his lips.
Emil was unsure of what that meant. He asked, tentatively, "Don't you want me?" Not that Emil wanted that right now, but it did make him wonder.
Leon looked at him sharply, eyes wide, and nodded. "Like, of course I want you. The problem is more that I want you too much."
"Oh," Was all Emil could say. "But I'm fat," he debated.
"What?" Leon asked in returned, outraged. "You're not fat. You're a little chubby, sure, but so what? You're…" Leon faltered for lack of words. The word he'd wanted to use felt too committing and intimate. "You're like, perfect."
Emil was stunned for a moment, before he looked away, scoffing, "Whatever. You haven't seen me naked."
"Emil, you could be absolutely hideous and I would love you. We've been dating for like, a year; do you really think I care what you look liked?" He flopped onto his stomach and put an arm across Emil's chest. "Not that I think you're anything but beautiful."
Emil blushed and frowned trying to hide it. "You love me?"
Leon froze; he had not meant to let that slip. "Um, yeah. I do. I hadn't really meant to say that."
"But it's true?"
"Yeah. Of course."
"People don't really say that unless they want to stay with them for a long time."
Leon knew that plaintive tone. Emil was testing Leon to see if he was being truthful. "I do want to be with you for a long time. I can imagine graduating from school and living near you when we go to college and getting married after that and adopting kids, if you want, and buying a house in the suburbs."
Emil was taken aback. "You're just saying that."
"We'll buy a house in the middle of a bunch of roundabouts so most of our relatives will get confused and lost and rarely visit."
"Oh my god that's brilliant." Emil grinned and kissed Leon's cheek.
The movie was absolutely terrifying. Sadiq squinted at the screen, making a pained expression, and glanced at Kiku out of the corner of his eye. Kiku was fucking grinning, what a sicko.
Sadiq jumped at the sound of blood spatter, his attention brought back to the movie. The scene was morbidly gory and gut-wrenching, and Sadiq feared he would have to throw up—and that would be disastrously embarrassing.
There was a jump scare that succeeded in making Sadiq jumped really badly, and Kiku glanced at him curiously. Poor Sadiq looked pale and tense. Kiku smiled gently and slid his hand into Sadiq's hand that was gripping the armrest between them.
Sadiq peered down at the hand in his, and squeezed it tightly. He smiled a small, grateful smile at Kiku before another wrenching scream distracted him.
Kiku was almost regretful, then, experience just how tight Sadiq's grip could be.
Ivan came over at about seven, which was when Yao had instructed to. He actually brought his own change of clothes and everything, too.
Yao was already in red pajamas pants and a t-shirt, so Ivan changed into his immediately.
"I was in the middle of one of my shows, come sit by me," Yao said, patting the couch beside him.
Ivan, knowing already knowing that he wasn't going to be interested in whatever show this was, sat and pulled Yao to lean against him.
"Sorry, there aren't subtitles," Yao explained, pressing play and wrapping his arms around Ivan's waist when Ivan put his arm over his shoulder, nuzzling into Ivan's shoulder.
Ivan was still giddy in his stomach whenever he could get so close to Yao, despite it being rather normal now.
"Is this show in Spanish?" Ivan asked suddenly, once it registered that the actors were not speaking any eastern language.
"I think Chilean and Argentine dramas are the best," Yao shrugged. "Although not as good as Chinese. Chinese are naturally the best."
"Naturally."
"Hey, shut up," Yao said, playfully punching Ivan's arm.
Ivan just laughed it off.
Yao then shushed him, and was consumed by the show. Ivan, knowing absolutely no Spanish, zoned out. He stroked his hand through the ends of Yao's ponytail distractedly.
Once the show was done, Yao stretched and lay back on the couch, putting his legs up on Ivan's lap, grinning at Ivan.
"I think tonight is a good night to cuddle. I don't really feel like doing anything else," Yao said, languidly arching and cracking his back.
"Okay."
"I thought it would be fun to make s'mores, too, so I bought all that stuff. We can roast marshmallows over the stove." Yao rolled onto his feet and went into the kitchen and Ivan followed close behind.
"We can just use forks to roast them on," he continued, turning on a burner. The flame jumped to life and Yao opened the bag of marshmallows. He grabbed forks and passed one to Ivan.
"I've never actually roasted a marshmallow before. How do you do it?"
Yao shrugged, stabbing one onto his fork's prongs. "You just have to learn it, I guess."
The first attempt was terrible, and only half of it melted, the other side got crispy but not all the way cooked. Ivan made a face, biting into the inconsistent treat. Ivan enviously watched Yao eat his beautifully golden brown marshmallow.
"Just keep trying."
His second attempt burst into flames. Yao couldn't help his laughter at Ivan's look of disgust, crestfallenness, and frustration.
"Don't laugh at me, you suck," he pouted.
"Oh come on, I'll make you one, okay?"
Yao did, and Ivan was both cursing and praising the perfection of that marshmallow.
"So what's with this anyway, wanting to have a sleepover with s'mores and everything, all of a sudden?"
"I don't know. Everything's been so serious, lately. I wanted to relax. This kind of stuff reminds me of being a teenager. Have I ever told you about my cousin Leon? Oh, I guess you've apparently met him. Well, I have tea with him often, but yesterday morning when I dropped by, he wasn't there. Before I knew it, he's being dropped off by some boy, and he's giving this kid a kiss goodbye."
"Emil?"
"Yeah, I found that out later. They've been dating for a year- this boy who I speak to every week, and he didn't even tell me! Aiyah, kids these days." Yao shook his head. "But anyway, this reminded me of me, because when I was a senior, my father 'forbade' me from going to prom, but I already had a date and everything, so I snuck out and went, and event went to the after party, and that was the first time I ever had alcohol and my first hangover, and waking up that next day I realized just how right my father had been. Probably the most right he had ever been, the bastard." Yao laughed, and Ivan just smiled.
"You know you could've just not gone to the party?"
"What teenager can pass up a party when their girlfriend wants to go?"
Ivan bowed his head with a smiled, and looked back up curiously. "Did you really like your girlfriend?"
Yao shrugged. "You know, I assumed I was straight back then. Figured I'd be more physically attracted to girls when I was older, despite what they said about teenage boys and their libido," Yao laughed. "Man was I wrong."
Ivan laughed too.
Sadiq and Kiku left the theater holding hands.
"Herakles probably took the car. Do you want me to walk you home?" Sadiq asked. It was still new to him, treating Kiku as more than just a friend. He liked the feeling that Kiku's smile gave him, and he smiled back.
"Actually, I told Yao I would be gone for the night, so he probably has his boyfriend over and I do not want to walk in on any of that."
"Oh, so, to my place?"
Kiku nodded, linking arms with Sadiq (they had about a foot height difference, and it would be too difficult to hold hands), and starting to walk down the street towards Sadiq and Herakles' apartment.
It was a very nice evening, and a lot of flower vendors were set up along the busy street.
"It would be nice to bring Herakles some flowers. What kinds does he like?" Kiku said, eyeing a particularly well stocked and reasonably priced stand.
"What kinds of… flowers does he like? I don't know," Sadiq said, dumbfounded by the idea of bringing flowers to Herakles.
"You don't know? Haven't you ever bought him flowers?" Kiku raised an eyebrow.
"No?"
Kiku tsked him and pulled him to a hault in front of one of the stands. "I think he'd like lilies. Buy that one."
Sadiq grumbled a little, but did as he was told, handing a fiver to the man behind the table. "I don't know if he even likes flowers," he said, taking the packaged bouquet.
Kiku shrugged. "Even if he doesn't, I do," and Sadiq didn't say any more.
They made the rest of the walk in quiet companionship.
Outside the apartment, door, they paused.
Sadiq rubbed the back of his neck. "Herakles is probably home." Kiku nodded. "This was fun."
Kiku nodded again. "If you wanted to, you could probably kiss me on the cheek," he said slyly, smiling a private little smile up at Sadiq.
Sadiq felt like such a grade schooler, but that smile gave him butterflies. He wondered if Kiku could see his flush despite his tan. He leaned down and pressed a quick peck to Kiku's cheek—which was really soft, damn—and stood back up quickly. Kiku smiled sweetly.
"You can open the door now."
Sadiq nodded curtly. "Right. Yeah. The door."
