Additional note: This fic has an edited chapter, as well as an "omake" that will not be posted on due to its contents. If you are interested, you can find them on my webpage.
Chapter 5
The hostess greeted them with bright smile, leading them into a booth and presenting them with menus. Takeo's eyes bugged out when he saw the prices. One would think that, while in Japan, Japanese food wouldn't be so expensive! Damn, what were these people making their sushi with, rice made out of gold?
He looked up, but snapped his mouth shut to his comments when he saw Aburatsubo skimming through the menu with a mildly curious expression, as though he hadn't noticed the price at all.
They really had grown up differently. He'd almost forgotten how wealthy Aburatsubo's family was, despite the fact they lived in a regular, medium-sized home and drove the same kind of cars that most other people drove. The youth didn't flaunt it around like the other rich kids at school. His clothes were always nice, but they weren't anything fancier than other students wore.
Aburatsubo happened to glance up, and saw his troubled expression. "What's wrong?"
Takeo flushed and looked down at the table. "I don't have enough to pay for something on this menu," he admitted, feeling ashamed.
"Oh," the other returned slowly. "Don't worry. I'll pay for your meal. It's my fault for not mentioning that it would be a fancier place. All I said was that we were going to go for dinner."
Now he felt even worse. "But-"
"But nothing. It's a date, isn't it?" Aburatsubo interrupted. "You paid for our tickets every time we've gone to see a movie. The least I can do is buy you dinner."
Takeo looked up at the other, shaking his head. "That's not the point," he blurted, quickly lowering his voice when he saw a few heads turn in their direction. "It's just that I realized I won't be able to buy you nice things like a fancy dinner like this. And I feel bad about it."
Things were quiet for a moment, then Takeo's eyes snapped up to the other's when he felt Aburatsubo take his hand. "Things like that don't matter to me," Aburatsubo told him, his voice quiet but firm. "You should know that, Takeo. Listen, it doesn't matter who pays for what. It doesn't matter if you buy me expensive things. All that matters is that I can be with you, that we can enjoy each other's company, and whatever simple pleasures happen to come our way. I was the happiest I've ever been when you held my hand, and things like that are more important to me than any dinner or present could ever be."
He could only stare into Aburatsubo's eyes, hypnotized by the warmth and caring he saw there.
It didn't matter.
He realized it truly for the first time.
Aburatsubo loved him for who he was, for all his nervous habits and falterings, for all his awkwardness and mistakes. He wouldn't care if he was a bad kisser, if he tripped while they walked, if his body wasn't as nice as other guys.
Aburatsubo would never just stop caring about him.
He was humbled in that moment, as he looked into those eyes that told him so much, even more than what Aburatsubo had ever told him.
He really does love me, Takeo thought. And in that moment, it seemed to be the easiest thing in the world to lean forward and press his lips against the other's.
Takeo knew he'd startled his boyfriend, felt Aburatsubo gasp against him. Then the other youth was kissing him back, and Takeo couldn't think for the life of him why he'd shied away before. All of his reservations seemed so petty, in the face of the pleasure which the simple action brought. Aburatsubo's lip were warm, silken as they rubbed softly against his in a slow, sensual manner.
A startled yelp brought him back to reality, and Takeo pulled away when he realized the waitress was standing at the entrance of their booth, blushing and looking in every direction but theirs. "Um, I came to see if you were ready to order. But I can come back," the young woman stammered. She didn't wait for a reply, vanishing down the isle.
Takeo turned his head back toward Aburatsubo, his lips twitching when he saw the amused grin on the other's face. Neither of them could seem to quelch their laughter before it came, although they tried to keep the volume down.
"The poor woman looked so startled," Aburatsubo commented with a shake of his head once they'd calmed down. "You'd think she'd never walked in on a couple kissing before."
It didn't bother him, Takeo thought, sharing a smile with the other as they turned the conversation to which dishes they would order. Someone had seen him kissing a boy, and he didn't care. He'd thought he would be so embarrassed, that he wouldn't be able to face what the other person would think of him, but it wasn't so.
Perhaps he would have reacted differently if the waitress had looked disgusted instead of just embarrassed, but the fact of the matter was that nothing could take away from him the fact that Aburatsubo's lips had felt like heaven. Nothing could cast a shadow over the happiness he saw in the other's eyes.
Kisses... Kisses were supposed to be next to nothing for a boy. From the stories that the other students cast around, a kiss was nothing in comparison to everything else that could be done.
But Aburatsubo looked like it had meant everything to him. He was probably trying to stop it, but his lips were stretched in a wide grin, and Takeo could see the faintest of blushes along the other's cheeks.
Just a kiss had meant so much, just as holding hands had meant so much, and Takeo felt like a heel. These were the only things that Aburatsubo wanted from him. These were small signs of affection that elated his boyfriend so that he looked as though he'd just been given the biggest gift in the world.
How could Takeo of been so unkind to the other that he would of denied Aburatsubo even the slightest contact? It certainly hadn't taken nearly as much out of him as he'd thought it would to let Aburatsubo's hand rest in his own. And now, to give in to the temptation to press his lips against the other's. It wasn't just in the last three weeks, but as far back as he could remember Takeo had done his absolute best to make sure Aburatsubo wasn't given the opportunity to even touch him. He hadn't been completely successful, but he'd still tried to pull away at even the slightest brush of Aburatsubo's hand.
Of course, Aburatsubo had caught him off guard a few times, sweeping him up in a hug or planting a quick, heated kiss on his lips before scampering away before Takeo could react with more than a blush.
Now, he could admit that he'd liked the pleasure that had shivered down his spine in those moments. Before, he had always ignored it, telling himself that he couldn't be attracted to a boy, even one as pretty as Aburatsubo, and it was just a body's natural reaction that had nothing to do with really being attracted to the other young man. He'd latched onto his like of Sae almost obsessively, as though trying to prove to himself that, yes, he did like girls, and, no, it wasn't really Aburatsubo's face that danced before his eyes in his dreams.
Because it had happened more than once. The first one of 'those' kinds of dreams had hit him when he was twelve. And it had been Aburatsubo with him in it. After ward, he'd dismissed it off as his mind playing tricks on him, because Aburatsubo was his best friend, not a possible lover.
During the day, he could let his imagination run rampid over the different girls he saw in class and that he'd come to know. During the day, he could almost pretend that everything was normal with him. Even so, Aburatsubo would slip in there once and a while. And at night, when he had no real control of his thoughts, the fair-haired youth was always the one.
He could remember as they were growing up, running over to Aburatsubo's house every day after school. They would either play there, or go on over to his house, and Takeo could enjoy his company for hours. They'd done all kinds of things, played with toys, built forts, headed down the street to the small park. He remembered countless numbers of games of tag, laughing as they chased after each other. Never just a gentle tap of a 'tag', but leaping onto the other so that they fell to the ground in a mass of limbs.
As they had matured, they'd left the childish games, but had simply moved on to older ones. It had been around the time that they'd entered the same junior high that Takeo had discovered the secret within that cave and, of course, had shared it with his best friend. When they'd realized that the spells really were magic, and not just some hoax, their lives had begun to revolve around it and school and each other.
He didn't know when things had begun to change in Aburatsubo. As a matter of fact, he hadn't the slightest clue as to when the other had started to feel something toward him beyond friendship. Aburatsubo had always liked to touch him, had always spoken with kind words that lifted Takeo's ego, calling him smart and handsome. He'd always seemed gentler than other boys, a quiet presence at his side that he knew he could always count on. Aburatsubo had already known every secret Takeo kept from everyone else, the barest parts of his soul that he'd revealed only to those the closets to him.
It just happened that, one day, Aburatsubo had been watching him as they were studying with a funny look on his face. When Takeo had looked up, the other youth had flushed, still watching him, and begun to lean forward slowly. It had taken him a second to figure out that his friend was trying to kiss him, and that had been the second that he'd known.
Somehow, it hadn't changed anything, but had changed everything too. He knew it was an odd thing, but their friendship had stayed just as strong as it had ever been. They were just as close, spent just as much time together, joked around like they always did.
But there was an underlying tension, and Takeo had become very aware of himself and the other. It seemed as though, every time he was around Aburatsubo after that day, everything had a second meaning. If they happened to brush against each other, his skin would burn in that place, and he would automatically wonder if Aburatsubo had done it on purpose. Every time they sat next to each other, every nerve in his body would hum, and he wouldn't be able to stop thinking that, any second, Aburatsubo would lean over and kiss him.
Probably, that was the reason why the other had finally given in to it, and stopped trying to be descrete. And, honestly, Takeo hadn't minded. It had eased a lot of the tension that had grown between them, now that he wasn't wondering every other moment. Now he knew that, if Aburatsubo wanted to kiss him, he would try to!
Now, the pretenses that Takeo had always held had been stripped away. Before they'd begun dating, he'd gone through an ellipse of emotions. He'd been forced to face that which he'd been suppressing all of these years. And forced to accept that, yes, he really did have feelings toward Aburatsubo that had nothing to do with just friendship.
He really did want to know Aburatsubo in the way that only two people in love could know each other.
