Chapter Four

Yuri was horny.

Very horny.

A few days had passed since he and Layla entered into their little "arrangement", but neither had taken advantage of it as of yet. Truthfully, Yuri just wanted to forget he had ever agreed to such a stupid proposition, but the head in between his legs wouldn't let him.

So, as he drove Layla home, Yuri wondered how he should broach the subject with her. He wasn't accustomed to outright asking for sex. Usually he took a girl out, showed her a good time, and if the mood was right…things would just naturally happen. However, Layla had been very clear that romance was off the table, so it wasn't as if he could ask her on a date.

He let out a groan, lightly hitting his forehead against the steering wheel while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

"Yuri, it's just a red light," Layla said, misinterpreting his frustration. "No need to be so dramatic about it. See, it's already green again."

"Right. Sorry." He tapped on the accelerator and made a left turn, keeping his eyes on the road as he asked, "So, any plans for tonight?"

"No, not really. You?"

"No, me neither." Yuri briefly risked glancing over at Layla. She, too, was staring straight ahead, although her fingers were digging into the fabric of the white skirt she wore, the hemline coming dangerously close to the top of her thighs. He unconsciously licked his lips and swallowed, feeling himself harden.

Should he just pull over? Yuri had enjoyed their previous romp in the car, but he had to admit it wasn't the most comfortable location.

"Want to go back to my place for a while?" he asked instead, deciding to just bite the bullet. "We can…uh, you know…"

He ran a hand through his hair, berating himself for sounding like a nervous virgin, but Layla didn't seem to notice, answering, "Sure, I don't mind," in her usual tone of voice.

"Okay."

They were silent the rest of the short drive to his apartment.

"Nice place, Yuri," she said, looking around as she entered the living room.

"Thanks."

It occurred to him that this was the first time he had ever invited Layla to his place since they had been paired up at Kaleido Stage. He occasionally went to her house to practice at her private gym, sometimes even staying for dinner at her maid's insistence, but Yuri had never had a reason to ask her over before.

"Do you want anything to drink?" he asked.

"Bottled water would be nice, if you have any."

"Sure. Make yourself at home."

Yuri headed to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of bottles of Evian from the fridge. When he returned to the living room, however, Layla was no longer there.

Had she changed her mind? "Layla?"

"Outside," she called out, and he noticed that the sliding door to the balcony was halfway open.

Relieved that she hadn't left, Yuri joined her out on the balcony. "Here," he said, handing her one of the bottles.

"Oh, thanks." She took the offered drink and twisted off the cap to take a sip. "What a gorgeous view you have. I can even see Kaleido Stage from here."

"Yeah, it's pretty nice, I guess." Not wanting to think about Kaleido Stage at the moment, Yuri turned around so that his back was leaning against the railing and took a large gulp of his own drink. "So, are you hungry? I'm not much of a cook, but we can call for delivery if you want."

Layla looked over at him, frowning. "Yuri, this isn't a date," she reminded him. "I didn't come here for food."

"Right."

As if he could forget.

Yuri took Layla's water bottle from her hand and set it, along with his, down on a small table he had placed out on the balcony for whenever he wanted to eat outside. He then moved behind Layla and reached underneath her skirt, hooking his thumbs around the waistband of her panties.

"Here?" she breathed, glancing back over her shoulder.

"Why not?"

He began slowly pulling down her panties, giving her a chance to say "no" if she wanted, but she didn't object, stepping out of the lacy briefs when they hit the ground. Getting down on his knees, Yuri lifted up her skirt and admired her firm, tight butt.

"You have a gorgeous ass," he said, kissing her round cheeks as he ran a hand up the smooth skin of her inner thighs. When he reached the apex, he slipped his pointer finger inside her, pleased to discover that she was already quite wet with arousal. A soft gasp escaped her lips. "Spread your legs."

Layla did as she was told, gripping the balcony railing as she leaned forward to give him better access. Yuri continued to finger her, experimenting with various positions, pressures, and speeds to determine what she liked best. Circling her swollen clit with a light touch seemed to get the best reaction, Layla almost panting as he increased his speed. Sensing that she was close to climax, he took his finger away and replaced it with his tongue, soon pushing her over the edge. She stifled a scream as he drank of her juices.

"Oh, that felt amazing," Layla declared, pulling her skirt back down and turned back around to face him.

Smiling, Yuri rose back to his feet and took a swig of his water – or maybe it was Layla's. He couldn't remember which bottle was whose, but after what he had done to her, drinking out of her water bottle was…tame. Almost cute, in a way. What was that phrase he had once overheard Sarah – Kaleido Stage's resident Japanophile – use to describe it?

Oh, right. An indirect kiss.

Setting the bottle back down, he gave her kiss – a direct one, that left little room for interpretation – and asked, "Want to continue this inside?"

Layla nodded and followed him back inside the apartment, Yuri leading her toward his bedroom until he remembered there were some personal items on display in his room that he would rather Layla not see.

"Wait here for a sec," he said, holding up a hand. "I want to straighten up some. I wasn't expecting company, so it's a bit of a mess in there."

"Oh, okay."

Yuri entered his bedroom, careful to close the door behind him, and picked up some of the dirty clothes he had laying on the floor, throwing them in the hamper. He then grabbed a couple of framed photographs of his parents from off his dresser and hid them in the top drawer, underneath his boxer briefs. He was looking around the room one more time, making certain that there was nothing else in sight to incriminate who he really was, when a knock on the door startled him.

"Yuri, have you finished hiding your porn yet?" Layla asked from behind the door.

"Just one more minute," he said, not bothering to correct her assumption – although it did remind him of the issue of Playboy that had fallen off his nightstand the other day, wedged in between the bed and one of the table's legs. He snatched the magazine from its spot and stuffed it underneath the mattress.

One more quick survey around the room confirmed that he had indeed hidden everything that needed to be hidden, so Yuri finally opened the door and let Layla inside.

"Sorry about that," Yuri apologized when he opened the door.

Though truthfully a little annoyed by the wait, Layla shrugged her shoulders and entered the room, closing the door behind her. "No problem. I didn't mind."

Layla glanced around the room – his room – and involuntarily bit her lip, realizing it was the first time she had ever entered a single man's bedroom that wasn't her father's. She wasn't sure what she expected, but it wasn't much different than hers at home. Of course it was smaller, and the furniture and décor leaned more masculine in style… She frowned as her eyes landed on the bed, which looked like it had been recently been slept in. Yuri was apparently not in the habit of making up his bed when he woke up in the morning.

"I wonder how many girls he's screwed on that bed," she mused to herself, a dangerous thought she immediately pushed out of her mind. After all, what Yuri did with other women was none of her business.

"Layla? Something wrong?"

Brought out of her head by his voice, she shook her head and walked over to where Yuri stood, crushing her lips against his as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He seemed surprised at first by her sudden boldness, but he soon returned her kiss with equal fervor, one hand finding its way up the back of her shirt while the other caressed her butt through the fabric of her skirt.

Still kissing him, she subtly pushed Yuri back toward the bed. He sat down on the edge of the mattress, and Layla positioned herself in between his legs. While he fumbled with the tiny buttons of his shirt, she reached for the hem of her blouse and pulled it over her head, revealing the lacy black bra she wore underneath. Yuri sucked in a sharp breath at the sight.

Layla bent down to kiss him once again, helping Yuri out of his shirt and tossing it on the floor. His hands roamed up her back until they found the closure of her bra. With practiced ease, he unhooked the clasp, releasing her breasts from their confines. His hands then moved down to rest on her hips, pulling Layla closer toward him and taking a pert, pink nipple into his mouth.

A moan escaped Layla's lips, and her fingers lightly dug into Yuri's bare shoulders. Already, she felt the wetness in between her legs returning, a fact made clear to Yuri as well when his right hand disappeared underneath the skirt she still wore. Once again, he slipped a finger inside of her, touching her in the way he knew she liked from his earlier experimentation. Layla's head rolled back, closing her eyes as she lost herself in the sensation.

His mouth continued to lavish attention of her breasts. Kissing, licking, sucking – even some very light biting, his teeth just barely grazing her skin. After a while, his other hand joined in the fun as well, caressing and tweaking her hard nipples.

Soon, Layla felt herself on the brink of climax.

"Pants off," she demanded, pulling Yuri's face away from her chest and forcing him to look up at her. "Now."

She didn't have to ask him twice. Standing up, he pulled a condom from his pocket, which he handed to Layla, then he quickly divested himself of his jeans and boxer briefs, Layla doing the same with her skirt. When they were both fully naked, she tore open the foil package and slid the condom onto his erect penis. After Yuri sat back down, Layla straddled him and began grinding her hips against his pelvis.

It didn't take long for her to orgasm thanks to his earlier ministrations, but Yuri had yet to come. He flipped Layla onto her back, pinning her underneath him, and kissed her deeply. Moaning, she wrapped her long legs around his hips and held onto his neck as he plowed inside of her. He was being a little rough, only really concerning himself with his own pleasure after focusing so much on hers for most of the session, but she didn't mind.

A couple of minutes later, he finally came, his body shuddering in ecstasy before collapsing on top of her. He stayed there for several minutes, his heavy breaths echoing in her ear, until Layla glanced over at the alarm clock on the nightstand and saw what time it was.

"It's already seven?" she exclaimed, pushing Yuri off of her.

Layla sat back up and started gathering her scattered clothing from the floor. She hadn't intended to stay so late!

As she passed by Yuri's side of the bed to grab her bra, he reached out for her arm. "Hey, no need to rush out of here," he said, rolling on his side. "Why not spend the night? I don't mind."

But she did. Though Layla was tempted by his offer, she knew that staying over would only set a bad precedent. Girlfriends spent the night, not "friends with benefits". If their arrangement was to be successful, she couldn't allow such a blurring of lines.

"Macquarie is expecting me home for dinner," Layla said, putting her bra back on. "She's probably getting worried as it is… Where are my panties?"

Yuri smirked. "The balcony. Remember?"

"Oh…right." To hide the blush she felt coming to her cheeks at the memory, Layla tugged her shirt over her head. "Anyway, I need to get going."

"I'll drive you back, then," he offered, reaching for his rumpled jeans on the floor.

"That's not necessary, Yuri. I can just call a cab to pick me up," she said, pulling her skirt over her hips.

"I thought you said you were running late. Waiting for a cab will just make you even later," he pointed out. "Let me take you home, Layla. It's no problem. I was thinking of getting take-out for dinner, anyway."

"Well…" He made a good point, and if he was going out again, regardless… Besides, Yuri had dropped her off at her house plenty of times before; there was nothing inherently romantic about a friend offering another friend a ride home. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

A few minutes later, after Layla had retrieved her missing panties from the balcony and Yuri had finished getting dressed again, they were back on the road. The ride from his apartment building to her house was spent mostly in silence, broken only by the sound of the radio playing old 70s rock. During one particular song, Yuri turned up the volume and started tapping his fingers against the steering wheel in time to the beat as he sang along, his voice slightly off-tune.

The next Sarah Dupont, he was not.

Layla hid a smile behind her hand, reminded of that night in Paris when Yuri, drunk out of his mind on champagne, had sung "I'm Too Sexy" while performing a striptease for her.

"Oh, sorry," he said mid-verse, noticing that his singing had caught Layla's attention. "I just really love this song. It's one of my all-time favorites."

"No, it's fine," she assured him. "What is it called? I like it."

"'Dream On' by Aerosmith. I have the CD, if you want to borrow it." He nodded his head toward the glove compartment in front of her. "It should be in there, I think."

Layla opened the glove compartment and pulled out the stack of jewel cases she found inside. Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones… She paused when she saw an Eric Clapton CD, flipping it over to read the track listing on the back.

"'Layla' is a great song, too," Yuri said, guessing what track she was searching for.

Layla, flustered by the way it seemed like he had read her mind, shoved the CDs back into the glove compartment and shut it close. "The Aerosmith CD wasn't in there."

"Huh. Must be at home, then. I can bring it to you tomorrow."

"No, you don't have to do that. I don't listen to CDs very often anyway," she said, noticing that Yuri's car was pulling up to the front of her house. "Thanks again for the ride."

"No problem. See you tomorrow."

DISCLAIMER: Kaleido Star doesn't belong to me.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I've been trying to keep up a once-a-month posting schedule with this story, so I just want to warn you that Chapter Five might take a little longer, depending if I decide to keep the original chapter or just skip onto the next (which is already written for the most part). The original Ch. 5 is kind of filler-y and not strictly necessary, but I want to try to make it work if I can. We'll see. Thanks to everybody who has been reading so far. It's nice to see that there are still some Kaleido Star fans still out there!