A/N: So...who's ready for a confession short? Requested by Sister of the Pharaoh.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's. That goes to the respective owner. I only own my OC(s).

First (Indirect) Kiss:

(Ren's POV)

"Soo...Ren."

"Mm-hmm?" I hummed, focusing my attention more on the guitar I was tuning than my band mates. It was an off-day for us. No practice, no gigs, just checking on the instruments or anything else we wanted to do.

"We heard you've been dating Yusei Fudo, right?"

"Yeah, and?" I brushed my hand over the strings, wincing when it still sounded off.

"Well, we keep hearing different things of how you guys hooked up, so we want to hear it from one of you two."

I paused. Oh shit... Of course, while I wish it was something along the lines of I told him, he told me, or whatever other cheesy way of doing it...it actually didn't go along the lines of the norm (or even of other past relationships I've had).

(Flashback)

"I swear, you literally have double standards to your 'jump in with no caution' attitude sometimes," AJ sighed.

"Well, excuuuse me for not having a clue on how to say anything," I retorted, rolling my eyes. What were we talking about? Mainly about the crush I developed for a certain turbo duelist, Yusei. I will admit, I'm not one of the people that does the whole 'love at first sight' thing (hell, I practically have to either face-palm at a lot of romance movies doing that or just roll my eyes because it's a way too risky to fall for a complete stranger), but lately the past couple of months have kind of shifted me viewing Yusei as a friend to a 'oh shit I think I have a crush on him' view. Oh, sure, I did ask people out in the past when I realized I liked them in that way, but I just...I don't know, I can't find the reason why I'm hesitating this time.

"You didn't have trouble asking Micheal or even Daiki out. What's wrong now?"

"I don't know! I mean, with the former, I really shouldn't have done that 'cause he was an ass and all, and with Ace it was a whole childhood crush on him. But I don't know what the problem is now."

"You're not making any sense, bro."

"Trust me, it's just as jumbled up in my head." I sighed, leaning my head back. "Feels like I can think of every way to mess up all at once."

"Ahh, now I see. You're afraid of rejection."

"No! I'm not!"

"Denial's always the first step to admitting everything, Ren."

"Pff, I ain't in denial."

"Mm-hmm, sure."

"I'm not!"

"Whatever you say, bro."

I growled, putting my head on the table. Even though my face and stance displayed an annoyed vibe, my thoughts were anything but. How in the hell do I tell him about this? I can't exactly go up and say, "Oh, hey, Yusei. By the way, those friendly feelings have now evolved into a crush. Just thought I'd let ya know." Yeah, no. That sounds really weird. I don't even know that he likes guys that way. Way to go, Ren. Fall for someone who probably wouldn't look at a guy in that way.

"Earth to Ren, anyone home?" AJ said, lightly tapping on my head.

"Okay, enough!" I swatted her away, hearing her laugh at my expense. "Seriously, I never tease you about having crushes."

"That's because you usually give anyone I date the stink eye."

"Hey, you're my sister. I'm supposed to protect you."

"Ren, I can handle myself. Besides, who was the one to put you in a headlock the last couple of times?" I blew a raspberry as a retort. "At any rate, maybe you should talk to him."

"No. No no no no no."

"And why not?"

"Because-!"

"You're afraid of rejection."

"I told you, I'm not!"

"You're literally showing all the signs of it. Come on, even if he doesn't feel the same, he's not going to hate you."

"But still..."

"I will literally march over there and tell him myself if you don't."

My eyes bugged out, looking over to where Yusei was and back toward her. "You wouldn't dare."

AJ met my glare with one of her own. "Try me."

For someone who was basically my opposite, AJ could end up being more determined about something than even I was once she set her mind onto it. Definitely not someone you want to try their patience with. "Okay okay, I'm going. Sheesh."

"Good, because your moping is starting to get to me."

"Grr..." Sometimes I hate how alike she can be to me. I get up from the table we were sitting at, walking over to Yusei who had gone over to the drink table (I asked my 'boss' if I could rent the club my band played at for a get together and he allowed it as long as we cleaned up afterward). Keep it calm, Ren. This is no time to have a panic attack. "Hey, Yusei!"

He turned to me. "Hey, Ren," he replied. "Finally decide to socialize?"

"Oh, ha ha. No, AJ just chased me away from the table."

"Chased you away? Did she get tired of you?"

"Pff, I guess after at least eighteen years stuck with me. I wouldn't be too surprised if she decides to move out in the next week."

"Only in the next week, huh?"

"Hey, it takes me a while to think things through. If there's any part of her personality like mine, it's that." So far, so good. Okay, now I'm getting thirsty standing here. I looked to the table, trying to find a drink.

I didn't see what Yusei was doing until he spoke back up. "Say, is there a place we could talk privately?"

"Oh, yeah. I know a spot in the floor above. Just let me...ah-ha! Here we go!" I grabbed the can I was looking for.

"Lead the way, then."

It didn't really hit me until we got to the room when I realized...Oh wait, shit. Now there's no one else to hear if I decide to tell him how I feel. Crap, now I'm more nervous. What was I thinking? We both put our drinks down on the table in the room.

"I hope this isn't your boss's office," Yusei said.

"It's not. He didn't give me the key to it," I replied.

"Well, that's a bit comforting."

"Anyway...what were you wanting to talk about?"

"Oh, that. I thought we could at least have a bit of time to talk by ourselves since we've both been a bit too busy."

"Okay, but it didn't really bother me too much. You did at least try to catch me before or after my gigs. And also things are trying to get settled down after the whole battle against the Dark Signers. It was just luck I managed to get this little thing scheduled after the bridge's completion."

"I know, but at least it's given me some time to think things through."

"Oh? Like what?" Without looking, I grabbed the first can I felt on the table, bringing it to my mouth.

"Uh, Ren."

"Yeah?"

"That's actually my drink."

I blinked, taking a closer look. Then my eyes bugged out as I hastily set it back down. "Oh, God. I'm sorry! I should have looked before I grabbed! Wait, shit, that sounded wrong. Uhh..." I covered my face with my hands, feeling my face heat up. Crap, what a way to screw up! Nice going, Ren! Share an indirect kiss why don'tcha?!

"Ren, calm down. It's okay." I felt hands on my shoulders.

"No, it's not. I had to go and do a stupid thing like that, and you probably aren't even in to guys like-"

"I was wanting to say that it's given me some time to sort out feelings I've developed for you."

My hands slid down from my face. "...huh..?"

"I was trying to sort out a few things. I wasn't sure how to tell you. I didn't exactly picture it like this, though."

"Hey! Not my fault I grabbed the wrong soda!" Then I remembered. "Well, uh, you weren't the only one trying to sort things out."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, but I was sure you weren't, well, into other guys that way. I was pretty much chiding myself when I thought you wouldn't be interested."

"I guess we both were stalling until now."

"Looks like. So, uh, does that mean..?"

"Only if you want to."

"Well, if you have no objections to it."

(Flashback Ends)

"Oh, you know, we couldn't resist each others' charms," I replied with a grin.

"That doesn't tell us much."

"Hey, you asked."

A/N: Ren, you troll. XD At any rate, I've got two more requests to post up (I'm going to try to get them posted up this month, hopefully), so expect another update soon. I've also been drawing quite a lot of Ren from some of the crossovers over on my deviantART page (sorry if the link doesn't work, but the username on my profile is what I go by on that site). Also, I'm doing a poll on my profile to decide what the Valentine's Day oneshot will be. I'm leaving it open until around February 3rd, so that gives at least three weeks for responses to be put in (and hopefully enough time for me to type it up before certain things come up IRL). Anyway, see y'all in the next installment!

Forgot to mention I finished revising Dragons' Souls a while back and am planning on rewriting some of the chapters to other stories as well (namely Elements of the Original Dragon and Split Destines).