Blaming this fic on Dorian Electra and his song Man to Man.

Kai… has a problem. A hulking-at-close-to-5'11 problem. And really, Kai likes to call it problem, but there are other names for it.

Ray Kon being the most common one in use.

It started with Tyson fucking Granger, like every other thing that has ever gone wrong in Kai's life. Except for the entire Voltaire-exists can of worms, Kai doesn't suppose he can blame Tyson for that one.

So, it started when Tyson announced he was going to woo Max… in front of Max, in true idiot fashion. The residential puppy had been looking scarily alike one for all afternoon and by the time evening dawned, Max announced he had been successfully wooed.

It made zero sense but Tyson had the IQ of a flea-infested cauliflower and Max has been crushing on him since before he knew what crushing on someone meant, so Kai didn't really know why he was surprised and pissed.

No amount of (admittedly) sexy brooding provided an answer, so Kai accepted it for what it was. Tyson and Max got together and that pissed him off.

He couldn't deny, after all, that forcefully and entirely against his consent, pesky brotherly emotions had been thrust upon him, especially when it came to Kenny or Max (one was tiny and stupid, the other was not so tiny but somehow more stupid, and really, Kai ought to have a talk with whoever raised the two of them-). He acknowledged that his weird, fuzzy, protective feelings might be getting the better of him but there wasn't much he could do about that. Really, dating Tyson Granger was not a road Kai would want anyone travelling, but there was also the fact that at heart, Tyson was good, and Max could've done worse.

If it was just that, Kai could've gotten over it. (He was about 82% percent sure that Ray had given a shovel talk to both of them, so really, there was not much else for Kai to do.) The problem is… that Kai is still pissed.

… and the last person he would ever expect it of, is now the cause of his ire.

Kai is objective enough now (and this is a skill hard-won, literally wrestled away, from his younger and far more dramatic self) to understand that Ray hasn't done anything wrong. Or he was in the beginning. Down the way, somehow, Ray not messing up also began to piss him off.

It's been three months. Kai still finds himself boiling at the mere sight of the neko-jin and his stupid bronze skin and bloody long hair that should be clogging the drains of their shared bathroom but of course Ray is too careful to allow that, which only pisses Kai off more because at least if the drains were clogged he could scream at Ray.

A strange sensation has settled permanently in the pit of Kai's stomach and it needles at his skin every time the neko-jin is within sight. Kai can feel frustration building inside him no matter what Ray is doing, which is downright insane. He feels a visceral need to punch Ray, more often than he doesn't. That is concerning, Kai admits to himself, and so he decides he has a problem.

Presently, he is sitting at the breakfast table with the red-haired cretin Tyson picked up, sipping coffee and waiting for the rest of the household to descend when Ray enters. Kai immediately straightens. Ray is wearing jeans and a loose tank top, today, which is rare. Kai grits his teeth and forces his eyes away.

Ray wishes the both of them good morning. Daichi returns his greeting, because somehow everyone wants to be on their best fucking behaviour around Ray when Kai hasn't so much as gotten a hello from the banana-for-brains, but Kai doesn't. Ray frowns but says nothing.

The problem is multi-faceted, you see. Not only can't Kai stop feeling so frustrated, but Ray has started noticing that Kai is frustrated with him.

Ray moves to the fruit basket, pulling out an apple to eat. He bites into it, fangs on shameless display for a second before he is chewing, a tiny tongue poking out to lick his lower lip a moment later. Immediately, Kai sees red.

It's because he was planning to eat that apple, he frantically invents.

He brings his empty mug down on to the table with a slam and storms out of the kitchen.

That night after having avoided Ray for the rest of the day, Kai finds himself ready for a confrontation as he waits for Ray in their shared bedroom. Ray doesn't give in though, entering the room in silence and wishing Kai good night with a smile before he gets under the covers on his own bed.

It only gets worse from there. Somehow, Ray not acknowledging Kai's rudeness only serves as another irritant.

Ray is up in the trees, skin glowing golden in the afternoon sun and that makes Kai's scowl deepen. Ray is sprawled across the couch laughing at something Dizzi just said to Tyson and Kai has to clench his fist to keep himself from picking Ray up and slam-dunking him headfirst into the floor. Ray is dressed in a colour Kai has never seen him wear before and Kai wants to kick his butt out of the house. Most importantly, Ray refuses to acknowledge anything, or be mean to Kai in any way and that simply makes Kai seethe.

Ray breathes and it makes Kai want to commit murder.

Okay… maybe not murder, but aggravated assault? Definitely.

So, one night Kai decides to consult his favourite expert in homicidal inclinations.

Which, in hindsight, is a bad idea, since Kai wants to get rid of his and Bryan won't have the reputation he does if he knew how to do that.

Bryan proves him right when he tells him poison would be the quickest route.

Tala interjects at that point to remind Kai to leave no evidence behind. It is a Fact, of course, that a police record will keep you from landing good jobs but the nonchalance with which Tala relates said Fact to Kai, makes him feel certain that a police record is probably why Tala was trying to glare that one cafe owner into giving him a job, when Kai visited him in Russia the last time.

Kai has a lived a good number of years. How has he not made any normal friends?

He has, though. He has a very normal, very intelligent friend, but said friend seems to be setting Kai's nerves on fire every time he looks at him so naturally he can't consult Ray.

He wonders if Google will be any help, but what will he even type in? How not to kill my teammate?

Kai groaned, and who else was to hear it, but Ray who was just entering their bedroom? The neko-jin stopped mid-step, shooting Kai a confused and vaguely concerned look.

"Are you okay?" He finally asks. It's a loaded question and Kai knows it because he's not stupid. Nobody sounds that worried over a groan.

Kai grunts in response.

"Use your big boy words, Kai. Open your mouth and tell me if you have a fucking problem, okay?"

Ray's voice sounds tenser now, the careful facade of politeness he has maintained all this time a little closer to snapping.

Good.

"God, why the fuck do you have to talk so much?" Kai bites. Ray opens his mouth but then seems to think better of it.

Without a word more, he gets into bed. He is snoring away soon enough.

He didn't wish Kai good night, though and Kai decides he is mad about that.

The next day, Kai finds himself roaming in the markets. He is not a market type guy by any accounts, or an existing-in-the-same-space-as-other-people type guy either but he is starving since he left the dojo without breakfast, curtesy of wanting to avoid the chef for the day, and he needs to find himself something to eat.

His initial plan was to just get something from a convenience store, but he overhears a couple of girls talking about the downtown market selling fresh taiyaki. Kai feels his mouth water. He hopes they are selling it with simple bean paste. He doesn't like the sugared variety.

He makes his way downtown. It's a nice, sunny morning and there is a gentle breeze playing with the hair on the loose back of his head. With no bronze-skinned, thick-armed neko-jins in sight, Kai can even say he is having a good time.

Though it might warrant some thought if it could be said that the absence of bronze-skinned, thick-armed neko-jins were the cause of Kai's good mood when Kai spent his entire walk to the market thinking about one such neko-jin and how glad he is to be rid of him.

… except then he comes across a stall erected on the sidewalk, while he is roaming in search of the infamous taiyaki stall. It has a nice peach tent and Kai's eye is immediately caught by a golden Chinese dragon brooch with a deep red stone for its eye.

It reminds him of Ray. He grits his teeth and feels his nostrils flare.

He buys it for him.

After a good meal of the most delicious taiyaki he has ever had, Kai returns home in considerably better spirits, the weight of the silk packet the brooch is in nearly unnoticeable in his pocket.

Then, he catches sight of Ray, siting and chatting with Hiro Granger (who must have arrived when Kai was out) and the rest of the team. Without thinking twice, Kai pulls out the brooch and, putting as much swing into it as he can safely use indoors, hurls it at Ray.

It smacks the boy right in the middle of his forehead and knocks Ray clean off the sofa and onto his butt.

For someone who has been aching to take a swing at Ray for months, Kai is cursing himself and running towards his fallen teammate immediately.

Ray climbs to his feet within seconds, eyes slits and fangs bared.

"What the fuck, Kai! What is wrong with you?!" Ray rages. Kai thinks if there weren't other people around, he might have grabbed Kai's collar. He won't be opposed to the idea, he decides. Damn that Hiro Granger (even though the older Granger sibling is not the only spectator they have).

Concern washing away within moments, Kai is close to squaring up against Ray when he realises he doesn't really have much to say to him.

What is wrong with you?

Damn, if Kai knows.

Unable to provide anything by way of response, Kai turns around and storms away. He can hear Ray trying to follow him with a bellowed threat involving a jackhammer and Kai's innards, but someone (probably Hiro, that smelly weasel) seems to be holding him back as everyone asks him to calm down.

Fuck that.

Kai almost turns around and heads back in, the pulling in his stomach damn near unbearable now. His nails have worked gashes into his palm.

Then he remembers Ray's question and that he has no answer to it.

He keeps walking.

He wishes he knew what was wrong with him.

… and then he thinks, a moment later, that Ray probably won't keep the brooch now. It's a shame. Kai is convinced the seller ripped him off over that one.

That night, Ray doesn't come up to their room. Kai lays under the covers, wide awake, waiting for him well past two in the night. He never shows. There is only one other empty room in the house, which won't be empty tonight now that Hiro is here. Kai tries not to wonder who Ray is sharing rooms with.

So, naturally, he ends up obsessively thinking about just that.

The morning finds Kai crankier than usual. It's problematic, however, the way nobody takes him seriously in the house anymore. Kai can still remember a time when his mere presence was enough to inspire a healthy dose of fear and awe in his teammates. Now, when he glares at them, they rarely even pay him attention. Kai recalls a horrible, horrible incident when Max summoned the audacity to pat him on the head and ask if he was okay when he was in a surlier mood than usual.

It's very inconvenient, trying to be a decent teammate. He couldn't even justify breaking Max's fingers to himself!

Just when he is trying to work out new (and harmless) ways to regain some of his old reputation, with a toothbrush in his mouth and paste dribbling down his chin, the door of the bathroom is thrown open by none other than headache of the month. It takes Ray a few seconds to notice Kai, busy as he is looking to the side and laughing at something someone out of Kai's line of sight is doing. When he does notice Kai though, his expression sours. With the patience of a saint that Ray Kon is famous in the beyblading circles for (he's also famous for his hair and his eyes and his speed in the ring and his extraordinary hardheadedness because holy shit, he is so fucking stubborn-) Ray closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and enters the bathroom, with a poker face to rival Kai's own, except it seems more effective some how because it is so rarely used.

It's a belated realisation, a stupidly late one, even but Ray has a very open and expressive face. It is usually relaxed and smiling, and Kai has never before noticed how strange it feels for Ray to not be smiling at him.

Crossing his arms, Ray leans against the closed bathroom door, eyes level with Kai's.

Also, has this bathroom always been so small?

"I've spent the entire night thinking about what I did to upset you," Ray begins. "And I still can't figure it out. Obviously, you're just in one of your moods again and you need to sort it out cause I have had enough."

Then, snatching his toothbrush out of the holder, Ray storms out of the bathroom, his braid mockingly hitting the door frame behind him. Kai almost reaches out to grab it, before he jerks himself out of it.

When he turns to the mirror, he notices tooth paste has spilled on to his t-shirt.

The logical side of Ray's statement is severely undercut by his treachery, namely how he cornered Kai and spoke at him when Kai couldn't respond dude to toothpaste reasons, and so Kai gives in to his irritation again. The problem is only exacerbated that afternoon.

It is deep cleaning day in the dojo and for the most part, every one has been covering for the tasks assigned to them (They are fed and housed for free here, the least they can do is this). At one point, Kai finds himself in the same room as Ray, Daichi and Hiro. Usually in a situation like this, he'd stick by Ray and mutter comments about the other two under his breath. Ever kind and sweet Ray would tell him to stop being mean, but he won't be able to bite back his own laughter, and so it would go, not entirely intolerable a time.

Kai won't even venture within two feet of Ray, for now.

He keeps aggressively dusting the couch and nobody says anything because everyone has realised he has some steam to blow off. Better the couch take it than their own asses.

Hiro is off to the side, cleaning the glass on the windows and Daichi has been tasked with mopping the floor. Ray is balanced on top of a ladder, cleaning atop the large and absurdly placed shelves on the opposite side of the room.

Kai, for his part, can't stop turning and peeking glances at Ray every five-seconds. It is very annoying, but at least Ray is turned away from him so he hasn't noticed.

It's annoying how thoroughly Ray is wiping up there. Seriously, what a show off. Why is he trying to turn cleaning into a pissing contest?

Kai starts beating the dust out of the couch with all the force of his arm thrown into it.

It makes Hiro finally throw him a warning glare. Kai considers flipping him off.

Ray, on the other hand, starts at the noise and that is, in general, not a safe thing to do on top of ladders.

He fumbles, a hand reaching out to grab at the edge of the foot-stand.

It helps as much as you think it does.

Kai can swear Ray lets out a weirdly feline noise before tumbling his way down.

Kai is running before he knows it, and he doesn't know why he is running either. There's no way he'll get there in time… but someone else does.

… because of course Ray tumbled like a helpless damsel. Apparently, his cat genetics only come into play when he needs you to stop looking at him weird for fitting more fish fritters in his mouth than should be humanly possibly. And of course Hiro is just in the right position to catch him… with his taller height and bigger muscles and stupid-not-stuck-in-a-still-growing-body agility. Apparently, ancient crypt hopping with a gorilla-like father and crossdressing as sad ninjas are exactly the sort of training that helps you develop the skills needed to impress helpless damsel neko-jins.

Kai doesn't think he is making any sense anymore.

He just has an insane urge to shriek… and to tear those two away from each other.

"That's cute." He bites out, and is startled by how angry his own voice sounds. "You two should be on the cover of kids' fairytale books."

Hiro looks ticked off now, but at least Ray has the graces to blush and jump out of Hiro's arms.

"And who are you?" Daichi is sniggering in the corner. "The wicked witch?"

Kai wonders if Daichi qualifies as a human and tries to mentally how much jail-time one gets for assaulting tiny woodland animals in Japan.

It's not worth it. He settles for a glare so fierce it makes Daichi gulp.

He feels sick.

He truly fucking feels sick now. The tugging in his gut is now a pull at his chest. Kai gives his couch a cursory glance. It's clean enough, he decides and moves on to go dust the beds now.

The shy, golden glow of dusk brings a revelation. The kids have taken to play-fighting in the yard before Grandpa G turns the water hose on them. They're all dirty from the cleaning as it is, and have clearly decided the mud and grass blades sticking to their shirtless backs isn't that big of a problem. Kai would rather just shower by himself in his own bathroom, though and so he keeps his distance, watching the others while he sips on some mint tea to help relax his muscles.

He watches Tyson's hand slip down Max's sweat-slick shorts-clad thigh and he can't take his eyes off of the two. Granted, Tyson is not so much trying to wrestle Max down as he is trying to pull the laughing boy closer, but the image still seems to have burned itself inside Kai's eyelids. He can't stop staring at the two, where Max has now forced Tyson dead on to his back and is sitting atop his hips now, fingers scrambling around, tickling the paunch of Tyson's stomach. That, Kai thinks, is the answer to this problem.

He needs to get his hands on Ray. Obviously, all he wants is a good fight.

He has been wanting to punch Ray all this time, so maybe he should! Ray can more than hold his own!

Setting his tea cup aside, Kai stands up from where he was lounging against one of the distant trees, shrugging his shirt off as he walks up to the neko-jin sat watching Tyson and Max muck around. He is laughing, hair loose and broken blades of grass catching themselves in those silky strands, sticking to his sweaty, muscular back and arms. His elbows muddy where he is resting all his weight on them. Kai feels that tugging in his chest again. Yes, this is the right idea. He just needs to rough him up a little, work it out of himself then everything will be back to normal.

Kai is starting to miss his friend.

Reaching Ray, he takes a second to admire how his skin looks all sweaty in the glow of the setting sun. Kai is seized by something akin to envy, because his own pasty, half-Russian ass would take a minute in the sun and erupt in red splotches all over.

Ray looks up when Kai extends a hand towards him. He frowns a little, but he threads his fingers through Kai's anyways, letting Kai lift him up to his feet.

He can feel the curious eyes of the rest of his teammates on himself. Strangely enough, Kai wants to take Ray away from everyone else. This is between the two of them, the rest of these people should have nothing to do with this.

Without a word, Kai turns, knowing Ray will follow. He knows him a little too well.

They move camp to a more secluded spot in the yard, away from the rest of the kids and Grandpa G with his water hose. Kai comes to a stop a few paces away from Ray, and watches Ray clench his fists by his sides.

"What, are you finally going to act on the murderous looks you've been giving me for weeks now?" Ray's hands fly to his hips like they always do when he is trying to explain to the others how something obviously harmful is harmful.

It's annoying.

"Maybe." Kai mutters.

Ray bares his fangs. Kai understands then, that he has well and truly tested the limits of the other boy's legendary patience.

"Careful, sourpuss. I just might punch you this time."

Kai lifts his hands and shrugs. He can't help the smirk on his lips.

"You're welcome to try."

So, Ray does try.

Martial arts training atop mountains and meditating under waterfalls has its perks, of course, but it doesn't top the literal 'top-secret-armed-forces-aspirant' level of conditioning that Kai has received. It's nothing for him to latch his fingers around Ray's wrist and whip him in, pulling his own arm taut across his throat as he backs into Kai, back against his chest.

This is right. Fighting is fun.

Except, what Ray lacks in technique, he more than makes up for in brute strength and speed. Kai doesn't even anticipate the foot stomping back into his shins. He loses his balance, his grip on Ray's wrist dying in an attempt to stabilise himself. Ray doesn't waste a second, hopping away from Kai and sending a kick flying to his side, that Kai avoids purely co-incidentally, because he doubles over right at that moment. He can barely keep himself from going sprawling into the grass.

Ray at least waits for him to straighten before taking a swing at Kai again, and really, somebody ought to teach this boy how to punch because it seems he stores all his power in his legs. Kai dodges his fist with ease, yet again. He doesn't make the mistake of trying to restrain Ray again, instead getting a jab in at his open flank.

Ray winces, but he pulls back just as quick. Kai waits for the sense of euphoria to hit him, now that he has gotten a hit in.

It doesn't come. Ray's frantic fingers massaging his ribs only make him feel more anxious, if possible.

Thus distracted by the complicated emotional churning of his, by now, barely functional brain, he doesn't notice when Ray decides to bring his who elbow in on the stretch between Kai's shoulder and neck. Kai groans out loud, a sliver of pain racing down his back and shoulder. He remains upright, but by the sheer force of will and this time Ray's punch to his gut lands.

He falls back, knowing better than to let himself collapse on his front. Ray is immediately upon him, trying to wrestle Kai's arms away and pin them back.

"I was distracted." Kai growls, face scrunched up in as thunderous a scowl as he can muster, because it's mortifying how quickly Ray put him on his back.

"Not my fault." He grins dimples forming into the streaks of mud on his left cheek that Kai hadn't noticed before. He lifts a brow, clearly willing to engage on some smack talk now that he has the upper hand and oh, Kai has to teach this brat a lesson how dare he-

It's difficult to gather any force in his thighs or calves with a human sitting atop them. Kai digs his heels in though, gritting his teeth as he lifts himself enough to shake Ray's grip on him. Ray's thighs quiver, and he tightens them around Kai, sending him crashing back down, his calves singing in pain as all the tension in them is reverted back inwards.

Desperate, Kai reaches out and grabs a fistful of Ray's hair where it is spilling forwards form his shoulder and pooling on Kai's chest. He gives one sharp yank, and then another and Ray comes crashing down on to him, his hands flying to get Kai to let go of his hair.

Now that he is within range, Kai's hindbrain (the one that has been permanently and unwillingly stuck in driver's seat for months now) doesn't allow him time to consider things before he surges up and bites Ray.

Right on his mouth.

Ray cringes and draws back, looking scandalised for all of a second. A flash of pearly fangs is all the warning Kai gets, before he feels something sharp digging into his own lower lip.

There's blood on Ray's mouth when he straightens, and Kai can't tell whom it came from and he doesn't really care. Right then, dirty and sweaty, panting like a steam engine with his hair open and ruffled on all sides, Ray looks so perfect Kai doesn't know how he could ever be irritated at someone like him.

Ray's posture is loose, and this time, Kai has no trouble throwing him off and crawling on top of him instead. His hands grab Ray's shoulders and then can't tell what to do next, so they travel down his arms in silent exploration that Kai absolutely did not authorise. Ray is just watching him and he doesn't quite look like he is in there.

So, of course, Sir-Hindbrain decides its up to them to fix it. What's one more bad decision when bad decision sums up Kai's entire fucking existence by far?

Kai leans down and kisses Ray. Or he tries. He misses by an inch and smacks his nose on Ray's cheek. He hears Ray let out a soft whine from underneath him and he can smell him over all the grime and sweat cloaking their bodies. Ray wiggles a little and Kai finds their mouths slotted together.

Kai doesn't quite know what he is doing curtesy of never having kissed anyone before, so he just clumsily mirrors the way Ray's lips press into his. It's nice enough, there is nothing making him feel like any moment now his gut will cave and oh.

Maybe it wasn't a fight he wanted after all.

His hands climb into Ray's hair and Ray makes that strange whining noise again. Kai wonders if he is always this receptive while being kissed and then, somewhat jealously, if Hiro was kissing Ray like this last night which makes no sense, even in the confusing confines of Kai's own consciousness.

He doubles his intensity anyway, holding Ray closer, and massaging his scalp. If he kisses him better, Ray would pick him. Simple.

He hopes he is better than all of the other girls Ray has dated, too. Why, that one red-haired classmate of Tyson that Ray went out with a couple of times was specially annoying, and Kai will be damned, if he isn't better than her at least.

Wait. Wait.

Kai isn't a girl. Ray has only ever dated girls. Very girly girls, too with you know… big boobs.

The relief of finally getting what he needed from himself lifts from the forefront of Kai's mind, making him hyper aware of every inch of Ray that he is in contact with. There is some stirring inside his pants, too that he really can't let Ray notice, and so, quick as lightning, Kai is jumping off and running away, grabbing his shirt, and then running further away.

He'll run all the way to Russia, he decides. On his legs, too because he doesn't feel like he can stop to board planes and shit.

Maybe if both he and Tala glare at that cafe manager, one of them will get the job.

He does not run all the way to Russia, though. In fact, he returns to the dojo when night falls.

Ray is going to confront him because he insists on being mature and pesky like that. Kai has his answers prepared for ever scenario. If Ray seems calm, Kai will explain how they were both high on adrenaline and shit happened. If Ray is angry, Kai will angrily explain how they were both high on adrenaline and shit happened. In either case, he won't fail to highlight that Ray was kissing him just as desperately and so Ray can't freak out on him.

No scenario whatsoever involves a confession because it will be worth nothing. Ray won't want him like that, and he definitely doesn't return his feelings.

… because feelings are what Kai has, he has realised that at least. Probably has had them for a while. There were a lot of signs he missed, because he had never considered anything of the sort. Really the way he favoured Ray over everyone, the way he spent hours thinking of his luscious, tanned skin envy-inducing hair, the way he would always seek Ray out whenever they happened to be in the same… The sight of Max and Tyson together just heightened his need to have Ray or something. It doesn't much make sense to him either but he has decided it is better than the insatiable frustration that had been eating at his gut all this while.

This time, Kai has convinced himself, he will not act like a fool. He will take Ray's indifference at its face value and he will accept it. If he needs time away, he will make plans and go take a vacation like a normal human being. He will absolutely not hurl brooches at people or endeavour to run to Russia on foot.

The dojo is quiet when he enters, as it should be, because he stayed outside late into the night. Not out of a sense of cowardice or a need to delay confrontation but simply because it took him a while to work out his emotions and devise the arguments he will present to Ray. Feeling sufficiently prepared now, he is about to climb the staircase to their room when his stomach growls. Kai groans. He was hoping to catch a quick shower before he'd have to confront Ray (and it didn't matter if he couldn't grab a change of clothes, he would walk in a towel and let Ray see the gorgeous body he was going to pass up for boobies) but now, he feels it will strongly undercut the effect of his words (and pecs) if his stomach growls again in front of Ray so he decides to take a detour to pick up an apple or bread or something.

Kai is only washing the apple when he hears someone step into the kitchen. For a second, he is convinced it is Tyson's grandpa for some strange reason and he feels weirdly small, as if his behaviour till now will be taken as a personal slight by the somewhat senile but always kind old man. When he turns around though, it is the one person he would hate to see even more than Tyson's grandpa.

Ray is standing underneath the ceiling bulb in his loose sleepwear. It's the pale blue t-shirt tonight, the one that always makes Ray appear softer despite his angular features and piercing golden eyes.

Ray doesn't look too pissed, not at all in fact. His hands hang by his side and Kai watches them be retracted behind his back, imagines Ray threading his fingers together. It's strangely endearing. Kai feels like he might blush.

Oh no, he hopes it isn't going to be like this. Will he blush at everything Ray does now? He is too pale, it will be too obvious. Kai panics for a second before he realises he isn't actually blushing and that his face is its usual expressionless mask, too.

"So correct me if I am wrong," Ray begins. He walks closer to Kai, and so far appears calm enough. "You decided to hit me because you couldn't figure out how to flirt with me."

Now, he is definitely blushing.

It sounds stupid when put that way!

Kai clears his throat and tries to come up with some sort of a response. He wonders if he can rely on his trusty grunts but when he, himself isn't sure what the grunt is supposed to convey he can't justify leaving it open to Ray's interpretation.

"Sorry." He mutters instead because it's the safest response, if somewhat lame.

"I realised it all after you left. Not really. I realised it after I saw the packet you threw at me yesterday lying on the breakfast table. It was pretty, the brooch."

Kai nods.

"It is for you." He says, just to make it clear. Ray laughs a little. His laughter always sounds light and breezy, like an elf's. All neko-jin's do. It's a wonder people don't resort to grabbing one and tickling them just to listen to them laugh.

"Thank you. Though the method of delivery could be improved."

"I already said sorry."

Ray hums.

"That you did." And a beat later. "Were you jealous?"

Kai quirks a brow. He has half a mind to turn away, and he almost does but he figures he owes Ray a straight conversation in the very least.

"Today. With Hiro."

Turns out, Kai isn't done having life-altering revelations because fuck he might as well have been.

He is not going to admit it, though.

"No. You two just looked ridiculous to me."

Ray's face lights up with a mischievous grin and he eyes Kai like he doesn't quite believe him but he lets up, anyway.

"I am not with Hiro." He states, instead.

Kai blinks, feeling relieved but remaining perplexed as to what Ray wants him to do with that information.

He keeps staring at Ray, and Ray keeps staring expectantly back. He tucks a few strands of his hair behind his ear after nearly a minute of complete silence, licking his lips nervously. Kai still can't tell what he is supposed to do.

"Good." He nods approvingly, all for the sake of doing something.

Ray frowns.

"You can ask me out, I mean. Whenever you want. Because that's what normal people do, you know."

Ray is very cute when he grumbles, his pointy chin quivering and eyes not knowing where to look. Ray is always very, very cute.

… and then his words hit Kai.

The only thing keeping Kai from verbalising an all-too-embarrassing 'huh?' Is the fact that he is so used to speaking so little. He stares at Ray for a handful of seconds more, till Ray starts blushing, clear signs of distress on his face as his eyes dart towards the kitchen doorway.

He is contemplating just leaving, and he probably won't ever allow this to be brought up again.

"You have never dated boys." Kai points out.

Ray shrugs.

"I had never dated girls till I dated one, either."

Kai shakes his head. He is not exactly sure when his heart climbed all the way up his chest and lodged itself inside his mouth, but it did and now it has. Not to mention that it has begun positively stomping and thundering around.

"I don't want to be an experiment, Ray."

Ray takes a step closer. Kai almost shies away, except when has he ever?

"It's not so much an experiment. I did kiss you back."

"That was one time. You can't be sure."

He doesn't know why he is fighting this. He really can't make anything easy for himself.

Ray places his hands on Kai's chest, sliding them up to his shoulder and then back down again. Through his shirt fabric, Ray's touch still feels electric, like a swipe of Driger's fangs.

"You can help me make sure."

"Now?" Kai questions like a moron, suddenly lost because of all of the simulations he had run in his head, this particular scenario was never supposed to occur.

Ray leans in and takes a quick lick up the freshly sealing gash in Kai's lower lip, curtesy his own fangs. He looks up at Kai and lifts a neatly plucked brow.

"Unless you have somewhere to be?"

Kai shakes his head, his arms already tightening around Ray's waist. He wants to lift him up, he realises. He really wants to lift him up.

"I… have apple." He croaks, instead. There's a knife stand right next to them and it is incredibly difficult to keep himself from pulling out the longest knife there is and gouging out his own eye out of sheer, mind-numbing embarrassment.

Ray just laughs.

"Okay." He steps back and if makes a half-aborted grabby motion at him, they never mention it. "You eat your apple. I will be waiting for you upstairs."

With a promising wink, Ray turns away. He has barely taken a step though, when he pops his head back inside.

"Oh, and make sure you take a bath before you come in, okay?"

Kai groans. Ray laughs, and Kai knows he is laughing at him. Somehow, it's all fine, though. It's all more than fine. He gulps down his apple in all of five bites and then practically runs to the washroom. He can't be moving fast enough. Inside his bedroom, he has the most handsome boy in the world just waiting to be thoroughly defiled, after all.

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