One Plus One
by Lethe Seraph
Chapter Five: In Which Our Protagonist Does NOT Learn the Deadly Secret of Eclipse, but Rather, Thinks about His Hair
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I don't like this chapter. At all. I just lacked Inspiration when I wrote it. Sorry about that. -_-;
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Krayon winced. "Did you have to yell so loudly? Honestly, I get enough of that in school."
"Sorry," apologized Chris, however reluctantly. He didn't really want to be the subject of 'Great Teacher' Krayon's wrath again. "But that was a surprise."
"Raenef could be in danger!" cried Erutis worriedly. "We've left him alone with… with…" She shivered.
Krayon's
wince became a frown. "Now,
now. I would trust Eclipse with
my life."
"But would you trust him with
Raenef's?!" demanded Erutis.
Krayon faltered under the girl's glare but then regained his footing. "Yes!" he said stubbornly.
"I care about Rae," said Erutis in a dark voice that caused Chris to give a small 'meep!'. "I'm going to go check up on him. Now."
"See you on Monday, Krayon," said Chris gloomily, even ignoring Krayon's admonishment of "That's Great Teacher Krayon to you!"
Damn, but Erutis was scary when she got into one of her moods.
And he had to put up with her for the entire car ride to Rae's…
--
It being Friday, and Raenef being too lazy for his own good on Fridays, the two had decided to stop studying entirely and watch a movie – if Raenef were able to answer a certain algebra question correctly, off the top of his head, without help from the calculator or from Eclipse.
And he had.
Raenef beamed and rummaged through his small collection of DVDs. "What do you like, Eclipse?" he called.
"What do you have?"
"Not much… um… some stuff by Hayao Miyazaki, a few Harry Potter movies, and Titanic…" He could feel Eclipse's bemused look through the wall. "It was a present from my friend Erutis," he explained quickly.
"Ah. What would you like to watch?"
Raenef thought. "Do you like cartoons?"
"Not in particular."
"Then that rules out Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke…" said Raenef. "Have you read the Harry Potter books?"
"Yes."
"Did you like them?"
"They were well-written, but the description of magic didn't appeal to me very much. It didn't resemble what I had perceived magic as."
"Huh," said Raenef thoughtfully. Well, that was another discussion for another time. Monday, maybe. "Then Titanic it is! Would you like popcorn?"
"No, thank you. The cookies were quite filling."
"Okay!" Raenef bounced back into the living room, put the DVD in, and jumped onto the couch next to Eclipse. He grinned. "It's been a while since I saw this."
Eclipse nodded. "There's a bit of a glare on the screen. Should I turn the lights down?"
"I'll get it!" volunteered Raenef immediately. He did, and came back.
They were silent for a while as the movie introduced itself, and they became interested in the plot. Or, at least, Raenef assumed that Eclipse was interested; he was watching it, after all. Once or twice Raenef had caught him with a sweet almost-smile on his face.
The question now was, why did he keep catching himself trying to edge closer to Eclipse's side of the couch?
--
"You're speeding! You're speeding! Damn it, Erutis!" cried Chris, cowering in his seat. "Try obeying the law for once, I'm sure Raenef will be fi-"
That was when he beheld Erutis's Glare Of Doomy Doom ™. "Shut up, Chris."
He shut up.
--
A hand shot up and pressed against the window for a moment, before trailing down and leaving a humid path in its wake.
Raenef blinked. "What are they doing in that car, anyway?"
Eclipse raised an eyebrow. "You're a teenager, Raenef. You cannot tell me that you have never thought about that sort of thing before."
"What sort of…?" Raenef thought for a moment. "…you mean…"
Eclipse sighed.
"Have you ever dated, Eclipse?"
Eclipse twitched and turned away from the screen again. "Are you still hung up on that, Raenef?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Yes, I have. They all turned out miserably. Shall we continue watching the movie?"
The answer wasn't one Raenef had expected, granted, but it was satisfactory for the time being. "All right!"
However, the time being didn't last very long. After a few minutes, Raenef spoke up again. "Why?"
"Because Jack and Rose are in different social classes," said Eclipse.
"No! Not the movie!" said Raenef. "Why did they all turn out miserably?"
Eclipse sighed and reached forward, stopping the movie. "Why do you want to know so badly, Raenef?"
"I care about my friends," said Raenef simply.
His expression was so trusting. Whatever I tell him, he'll take as truth, thought Eclipse. He knew it was a fact – Raenef was too innocent for his own good. Every bit of Raenef's being was opposite his own.
Eclipse answered with a question. "You consider me a friend?"
"Of course! We are friends, right?"
"Most students wouldn't call their teachers friends, Raenef."
"But you're… Eclipse!" protested Raenef, as though it were all the explanation needed.
Eclipse smiled slightly. "Hard to argue that one."
Raenef swung his feet up onto the couch and turned to face Eclipse, crossing his legs. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands. "So, can you tell me?"
"There's not much to tell," said Eclipse with a small, elegant shrug. He shifted – Raenef noticed again just how snugly his black pants fit him, and then wondered why he noticed. "The people I dated were idiots."
"Then why did you date them?"
"Because I didn't realize until afterward that they were idiots."
"Ah," said Raenef in a manner that, for him, passed as thoughtful.
Eclipse sighed. Raenef certainly was persistent when it came to his personal life. "Raenef, have you ever liked anyone?"
"Of course!" said Raenef brightly. Eclipse groaned; he knew what was coming. "I like Erutis, and Chris, and you, and-"
"Not like that," said Eclipse. He rephrased. "Have you ever had a crush on anyone?"
Raenef thought for a moment. "Well, there was a girl who liked me, but that was a while ago, and I don't think I really liked her like that… um… not really," he said sheepishly.
"It's all right," said Eclipse.
Raenef couldn't take his eyes off of him.
The movie had started again, and it would have been interesting if Raenef had been paying attention.
But he wasn't.
Eclipse was, so he didn't know that Raenef was staring – or so Raenef thought.
He couldn't help himself!
There was just something about Eclipse that made him want to keep staring forever. If he were an actor, Raenef would be just as enthusiastic as any fangirl in his pursuit of the handsome man.
Eclipse was the only person Raenef had ever known that really was tall, dark, and handsome. Well, his skin was actually pretty light, but everything else about him just screamed 'Dark!'
His name fit him.
Raenef watched as Eclipse crossed and uncrossed his legs – those shiny black pants – and Raenef's gaze traveled upward, to the loosely fitting black sleeveless shirt – Eclipse had taken off his jacket a while ago – his gaze traveled upward, to Eclipse's face-
Eclipse was watching him!
Raenef blushed and snapped away.
Idiot, idiot, idiot, he told himself. Eclipse would think that Raenef was weird or something if he knew the thoughts running through Raenef's head. But it wasn't like that, not at all, Raenef just thought that Eclipse was really pretty-
And smart-
Kind-
Raenef snuck a glance at Eclipse. The older man had turned back to the movie; a small smile touched upon his face.
Suddenly, Raenef was overcome by an overpowering urge to touch Eclipse's hair.
--
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to issue you a ticket."
Erutis groaned. "But I'm such a dainty young female-"
"Stow it, lady. Have a nice day."
The officer left, and Erutis sped away just as quickly as before.
--
Yes!
No.
Yes!
No.
He'll think I'm weird.
It's all right. He already does anyway.
What if he thinks I'm into him?
Well, so? Aren't I?
No! No, I'm not! I just…
…really want to touch his hair? Yeah, that's a bit odd.
It looks so soft, though.
It's pretty long. I wonder how long it takes to brush it every day. I wonder what he would look like with it down.
I shouldn't.
But I want to.
No.
Yes.
Argh!
You know what? I'm just going to… not do it. Yeah, that's it. I'll just sit here, hands in my lap, watching the movie and not Eclipse who is glancing at me and smiling and turning back to the screen and I really want to tug his hair now but I'm not going to do it because-
--
Emerald eyes met surprised ruby and grinned sheepishly. Raenef's fingers were entangled in Eclipse's hair now. He had been right; it was really soft, and silky. He wondered whether it smelled as nice as it felt.
"Raenef…?" said Eclipse.
"Heh. Sorry. Your hair's really soft," said Raenef, still unmoving.
Eclipse leaned closer to Raenef and brought his own hand to Raenef's hair, stroking it gently. "I could say the same about yours."
Raenef leaned into Eclipse's touch. Eclipse could almost hear him purring.
Before either of them really knew what had happened, their faces were millimeters from each other's-
And that was when the door burst open.