A/N: Warning, this is an X-rated chapter.
Chapter Thirteen: Regimental Red
The next day was filled with anticipation of their next date. Haruka was absolutely annoyed at the younger man's outfit-apprehension.
"Good God," the American snapped, "he thinks you're hot anyways, relax about your damn clothes."
"But I want to look nice for our date," the blond whined, having woken up no later than nine thirty. His roommate was still half-asleep and on perhaps his third cup of coffee. He moaned out into the empty room and looked through his options, occasionally modelling for Haruka.
"Should I wear a skirt?" he pressed.
"You'll freeze your ass off," Haru replied, eyes closed and lips seeking his warm mug.
"Pants feel so dull, though - not at all that flirty style I'm aiming for." He wanted the slipping and sliding Rei to fall into his cute, stylish arms and think of just how beautiful he was, not 'what a fashion wreck'. The thought would occasionally float into his mind that the lawyer never thought any less of him, but he wanted to show off if he could.
"Then wear a godforsaken skirt," his roommate grumbled back, abandoning him to the pursuit in favor for more coffee.
"Ugh," Nagisa whined, falling back on his bed. He changed his underwear to a pair that gave him confidence in his cuteness - his ruffled pink boyshorts that Rei had seen him in when he spent the night. He glanced through his room again, picking up a cherry blossom pink sweater that matched his panties. Okay, it was a start. He'd be cold with just that, so he picked up a chambray button-down. Alright, he could wear his dark wash jeans with this. And instead of a jacket, he could use his quilted vest with faux-fur trim on the hood. Ooh, and wouldn't his brown ankle boots and scarf go well with the outfit? And the necklace his father had given him would be the perfect subtle accessory to hang over the collar of his shirt!
Once he'd finished getting dressed, he put Haruka in black jeans, combat boots, and his own cute vest and winter shirt. His ensemble was considerably more casual - he really needed to improve his wardrobe - but he looked as cool as ever.
After two hours of being dragged around the city due to Nagisa's sheer boredom, Haru left him alone, insisting that he'd had an appointment with Makoto and some other lawyers on the team that he needed to attend. Frustrated, the writer made his way home all alone. He had nothing to do but fix up his make-up and impatiently submit his article for Monday's publication. And even after that, there was still extra time. He paid his bills, he cleaned his room, he wrote a shopping list - just how long would Rei take?
At long last, there was a firm, loud knock at the door, long after the sun had set, at 7pm. Nagisa leaped off the couch and sprinted to the door, tearing it open and flinging himself at the attorney in a fluid motion. He wrapped his legs around the man's waist and whined into his ear, "You took forever !" The brunet grunted, gently placing his boyfriend back down, and mumbled something strange. "What was that?" Nagisa asked, turning back to grab some ivory mittens and locking the door.
"I said I couldn't decide what to wear," he admitted, offering his arm politely for the smaller blond. He took a minute to glance over his beau's outfit - a red sweater he must have overlooked when he raided Rei's closet, black trousers, a white button-down, and his grey overcoat - and kissed him on the cheek.
"You look wonderful!" he complimented. The man held open the door to his car for his partner gratefully.
"I just got the sweater today," he admitted bashfully, starting the car and pulling out of the neighborhood. The writer was practically vibrating in his seat all the way to the park, he was so thrilled, and the staunch attorney himself even seemed unusually receptive to his hints of affection.
The park was visible from a mile away, strung in golden pearl lights like jewelry, with the cheerful rattle of chatter pouring around from all the shops. As the couple entered, they held hands so as not to lose one another amidst the crowd. Nagisa was distracted by each booth, dragging Rei every which way while the lawyer desperately tried to remind him that their ice skating time was approaching. He couldn't help but admire all the beautiful trinkets!
"They're all so shiny! And so pretty - I really ought to treat myself, don't you think?" he said of one booth. Of another, he insisted, "Oh, I'm sure I've got something in my closet that'll match these! They just sparkle, don't they?"
"Yes, that's all lovely," the brunet soothed, placing a hand on the small of his back to guide him away, "but we'll be late for skating if we don't get going soon. I reserved us the 9 o'clock time." Reluctantly, he was hauled away, but in a few minutes more, the blond was secretly enthusing to himself how charming it would be to have his straight-laced man falling all over his arms in the ice rink.
Rei checked them in and they picked out their skates (Nagisa's narrow feet warranted a white pair of women's in a size 11), and in a moment, he was left behind by his bond as he took off into the rink.
"Be careful, darling," he insisted as he stepped out into the rink himself. The younger boy spun backwards and teasingly waited for his boyfriend to tremble over to his open arms, unsteady as a newborn deer on the ice. It did not go as he planned. The attorney gracefully glided to his side, taking his arm and informed him, "There are inexperienced skaters, be more cautious not to cut them off."
As the older man tugged him along, the blond fixed up his most incredulous pout. They skated quietly for a turn, but he attentively noticed the young boy's sour face and gave him a questioning stare.
"You were supposed to be bad," he explained, "so that I could hold and guide you all the way along."
"That would be unsafe - either one or both of us would fall," he explained sensibly, arching a dark eyebrow over his glasses. "Besides," he proceeded logically, striding ahead of his boyfriend and spinning around so that he was backward, "if we were inexperienced," and he took his waist in a dancing embrace, "we couldn't do this."
"Oh, how romantic of you," he teased, his face blossoming in pink warmth completely unrelated to the chill. "How did you learn to do this, anyways? You're pretty good!" Rei absorbed the praise like a dog and launched into an explanation.
"Well, you see, skating is really just elaborate maths on ice, so when I was younger I rather enjoyed skating out graphs, especially sine and cosine..." Nagisa tuned out the mathematics, preserving an amused look on his face while inadvertently keeping an eye on the arena. Toward the rail, couples and children slipped and slid around, but throes of elegant skaters made great leaps in the middle, improvising to the warm waltz of the gentle music. Some wore glittering dresses tailored for the professionals while others kept themselves bundled cozily in their heavy winter coats, most in dark, neutral fabrics. And was that another vest he saw across the way?
It was. Moreover, it was a familiar vest over a white winter shirt. He released Rei, passing him to get a better vantage point and unknowingly interrupting a statement about the value of maths in everyday life. The blond got a clear look again - yes, he put that outfit together. And the man wearing it was supporting an unstable brunet.
"That's Haru!" Nagisa declared as his abandoned boyfriend sulked up beside him. "He's with Makoto!" The American across the rink had, in no platonic way, his arm around the soft-spoken lawyer, helping him not to fall all over the place, but with apparent levels of difficulty. "They're totally on a date," he gushed, beginning to push himself forward to catch up with his friends for some light-hearted teasing, mostly involving Haruka's no-longer-mysterious absences at night. His own attorney hooked his hands around his waist, however, locking him in place before he could dash off on his own again.
"Now, now, don't be rude," he chided, kissing the top of his blond head before letting him take up his arm. "Leave them be, they didn't know we'd be here as well. Besides," he added, noting his younger date's reluctance to be ordered around, "let me have the chance to pay attention to you." Well, he certainly knew his boyfriend, the writer could give him that - in a second flat, the red-cheeked boy elected to stay, cuddling closer to his guide expectantly. After less than half a lap of quiet and Rei's wandering eyes, he grew impatient.
" Well?" he prompted insistently, squeezing his arm.
"Well what?" the brunet hummed absently as his gaze drifted back to the discontented Nagisa. "Oh! Oh, right. Erm... uh... You're pretty as always," he tried lamely. He rolled his eyes and heaved a dramatic sigh.
"Right, thanks," the blond responded sarcastically. He released the older man, turning backwards to face him, and more seriously asked, "Is something on your mind? You're being such a busybody tonight." The attorney shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose and furrowed his brow in frustration.
"I was just thinking," he replied, making a go at his boyfriend's mittened hand again. He pulled away, placing both on his hips, and giving the man quite the scolding stare.
"Then tell me what about," he pressed. "I get that you like to think, but dates are designated 'us' time, not 'you' time."
"It's really nothing," Rei insisted, considerably flustered by the irritable boy before him, "it's just, I realized you were getting hard to be around and I was thinking of my ex and -" He stopped hastily as an offended look began to eclipse the blond's pretty features. "No - no, not like that, that came out entirely wrong," he groaned as the writer began to leave him behind. "Goodness, this is why I'm always thinking, it comes out wrong when I don't!" He caught Nagisa's hand and took a deep breath, pulling him over to the exit of the rink as their hour came to a close. "Let's - let's just go somewhere else, where I can actually talk to you," he pleaded, placing a hand on his forehead.
"Well if you insist," the smaller man grumbled, stepping off the rink and onto dry land. He removed his skates rapidly, not waiting for Rei, and began marching toward a less-used path that wasn't part of the fair. A minute later, a panting lawyer joined him, trying again to take his hand. The blond left it limp, but didn't pull away this time.
"I just meant that it's been hard to be with you," he explained, attempting to look his boyfriend in the eye, "because we haven't had any private time for just us two. Everywhere we go is filled with all sorts of people, and we run into everyone we know, and I really just hoped for some peace, some time to just be exclusively for us." The haughty man deflated, giving in, and meeting his lover's blue gaze. "And, well, my ex isn't important, I was just thinking of how much more I love you and how fortunate I am to have you with me." When the blond didn't reply right away, he tacked on an awkward apology. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin our time together."
"You didn't ruin it," he mumbled at last, leaning into the taller man's chest. "You just should've told me earlier, we could've done something else."
"We still can," he offered, petting his lovely hair, "if you want to. I don't want to leave you on a bitter note." At this, the writer scoffed.
"Of course. You have to fix it, anyways, and I won't leave till you do," he informed the brunet. With a relieved sigh, the man took his hand firmly and turned away from the carnival attraction and down a darker path.
"Let's take a walk then, shall we? Just like the end of our first date." The memory made Nagisa grin fondly as his boyfriend indulged him and held him close.
They strolled around the outer edges of the park, past frozen ponds and under naked, trembling trees. That silence was so difficult for the blond, but the older man grew more relaxed with each step they took and he found that this Rei he could easily embrace as the time passed. Their breaths billowed out in cloudy dances but every now and then, as they stopped walking between to lampposts, those white rolls of their breaths would mingle sweetly. The night around them was cold and clear, dotted with distant rhinestone stars like winter snowflakes. With each step, the park grew blacker, calmer, and they were guided only by the glow of the stars and their ivory breathing. For a long while, they stayed like that, under the spangled, bare branches, until Rei thought it wise to check the time.
"It's past eleven," he murmured to his rosy-eyed date. "We ought to be on our way." He only offered a quietly stunned "oh" in response as they turned tail and found their way back to his car. The blond had forgotten this comfortable, confident man in the throes of holiday excitement, family, and the ease of progression. This was the one who had kissed him under the red maple and the one who took him dancing in pajamas and the one who had left such an empty feeling in his heart after a first evening of crosswords in the rain, so many months ago.
These were the thoughts that kept him quiet all throughout the ride home. The pair held hands all the way up to Nagisa's front step, drifting to a stop in front of his house, as the orange glow of street lamps leaked through the forming fog. Neither one was quite ready to leave the other.
"I missed this," the blond confessed, wrapping his arms around the other man's neck. "I forgot how nice it was to just be together and all." Rei simply nodded, but the pair stayed as still as the stars in the midnight sky. Enthralled by his lover's lips, he bit his own to keep from stealing a kiss. His heart began to throb in his chest against his soft pink sweater and his nails sunk into the older man's collar. He opened his mouth in a silent plea, but rather than what he thought to do, words bubbled up at his lips like a fountain. "You're welcome to stay," he whispered, delicately handling the familiar words. "We could have a glass of wine or... something." The enchanted, starry-eyed brunet held his gaze steadfast and serious, try as he did to look away.
"Yes... Yes, I would like that very much," he murmured earnestly, his arms fastened tight around his lover's. With shaky hands, the blond reached behind him to open the door for his partner. The house was dark and slightly chilled and, assuming his roommate was elsewhere, he sent the American a quick text warning him not to come home tonight. Or tomorrow morning, for that matter.
"Y-you can just have a seat on the couch," Nagisa instructed nervously, gesturing weakly to his living room as he flicked the lights on. Rei removed his coat and sweater, draping them over a chair, before sitting on the sofa as the blond busied himself with picking his best red. He settled on a four-year-old Pinot Noir, popping the cork and pouring it out in a pair of glasses. "Here you are," he said uselessly, joining his boyfriend. He considered it one of his most romantic wines, tasting of rose petals and cherry, and hoped it would do the trick.
They both tentatively sipped at the wine for a few minutes, neither quite sure of what to say. The more he drank, the warmer the blood in his body became. He noticed that the deep red stroked Rei's tan lips sensually and he had to look away for a moment.
"I'm -" the blond stated out into the silence, setting his wine aside. "I'm just going to, um, get a little more comfortable." He trotted into his room, thankful that he thought to clean it earlier in the day, and wriggled out of his constricting jean top, practically ripping it away from his throat. God, how hard it was to breathe! He used his pink sweater as a replacement.
The older man had finished his wine by the time his partner returned to sit awkwardly at the edge of his seat. They looked everywhere but at one another - the fireplace, the open cupboard, the half-finished glass of Nagisa's wine practically gathering dust right in front of them. When at last they had nowhere else to stare but at one another, though, a tiny giggle spilling over the edge of the blond's pretty lips dissolved the tension like sun did the fog. Simultaneously, the couple moved in closer.
They leaned into each other naturally, with the ease that could only come with hundreds of practiced kisses, entirely familiar with the feeling of their lips, but both hearts shivered like it was their first. The warmth of Nagisa's breath reflected straight off of Rei as they separated and floated back in kind. The brunet's hand hovered right by the tuck of the blond's waist, hidden by his draping pink sweater. His fingers trembled with hesitation, and while doing so they brushed the fabric and the cashmere grazed the skin of his hips. He uncertainly opened his lips to speak, but before a word was whispered, Nagisa breathlessly nodded his consent. Rei swallowed, taking the hem tentatively in those shivering fingers, but his partner's expectant gaze and his own pure curiosity overcame the unsure shake of his heart.
Nagisa flinched at the cold as he gently tugged it off, though his skin warmed with the wonder of new discovery glittering in Rei's starstruck eyes, so dark that they mirrored the glow of the blush spreading across his own little body, rising with each little breath. His hand hovered around every curve, at a loss as to where he should begin his exploration, before pressing curiously at the fold of his waist, where he had begun. They released a flinching breath together, and Rei nervously withdrew his hand.
"Sorry," he apologized uncertainly. "Was that - erm, was that all right?" Nagisa, his nerves having entirely dissipated in the familiar situation, was eager, already beginning to perspire at this thought which had crossed his mind so many times before.
"Yes, it's fine," he breathed, waiting with innocent expectancy for his next touch. He muttered awkwardly, mentioning something about the absurdity of it for this certainly was not his first sexual encounter, and pushed his falling red glasses up the bridge of his nose. The blond shuffled over to Rei on his knees, bouncing softly where he sat, and the man rolled his blue eyes slightly, turning to face his beau as he recalled that he was with someone that loved him.
The attorney cupped his plump, creamy cheeks and pulled him in for a tender kiss. His boyfriend hummed into it, wrapping his arms around his neck with abandon, but a moment later, Rei eased him off. He took the pretty hands that trapped him, and the tickle of his kiss caused a sigh to slip from Nagisa's heart-shaped lips. His eyelids fluttered as he warmly progressed to his milky wrist, shivering at the affectionate gesture and nibbling at his lips. Rei noticed, but patiently bided his time with his creamy skin before returning to kiss those downy lips.
Now, the blond was not to be left out, and as such gifted him with a feather-light touch as his hands embraced every curve of the man's tanned arms. He was as soft as chiffon in his movements and Rei trembled in reply.
"It's not nice to tease," the blond explained softly, ignoring that he'd done just that to the lawyer. He received a noncommittal 'hmm' as a response and it was evident that Rei elected not to listen. Not that Nagisa particularly minded, of course, when the brunet folded both arms around the small of his back, dropped his face to his collarbone, and trailed his wet tongue along his partner's peachy skin. The younger man blossomed like a flower with a cherry blush as those violet eyes strolled naturally to the hug of his shoulder, and his butterfly kisses were soon to follow. Nagisa's chest surged into him as a moist moan leaked out into the atmosphere for want of something more, as every touch had been too gentle thus far. Ever the gentleman, Rei responded by allowing his hands to travel downward, grazing the surface of his nipples so lightly that despite their sensitivity, the blond was unsure if it had really happened. He began to sweat when Rei deliberately pressed his finger down, his eyes half-liddedly touching the blond's blushing creme skin.
His curiosity soon switched focus as he finished exploring Nagisa's chest. The blond gave a trembling "oh!" as he tentatively drew his long fingers down to his navel, tickling the peachy hair along his stomach and causing Nagisa to flinch from the warm brush of his hand upon the cool skin that remained achingly curious for his partner's touch. His breathless sighs tickled the brunet's short hair as he reached for Rei's shirt, twisting the buttons around until they popped open. The older man meanwhile had cupped his hands around Nagisa's hips and was rubbing them deeply until his white shirt fell open around him. When he sent one final uncertain glance his way, he was met with a steady, roseatte gaze, one that asked no questions, but that gave the permission to continue with his discoveries. Rei reached for Nagisa's jeans.
The blond's grip upon his partner's shirt tightened with the new sensation of hands rubbing his now awakening cock through his pants. He bit his bottom lip with great force - he hadn't known Rei would be such a tease. "Oh, Rei!" he whined wantonly, pressing his barely-there erection against the curve of the brunet's palm in order to get himself fully hard. The lawyer, seeming to have understood the message, tugged the zipper down and undid the button. In a shivering haze, Nagisa could only watch and twist his fists into the white fabric of the shirt.
Rei's eyes widened when he was faced with a pink bulge, hidden under ruffles and ivory polka dots. Shit. Nagisa had completely forgotten. "Um," he trailed, trying to wiggle his way out of Rei's hand that still held the small of his back, but the other man only pulled him closer, laughing breathlessly, until the blond was upon his lap and their foreheads knocked together.
"How sentimental of you," he commented, a finger teasing at the band. "I didn't think you'd planned this out, but you must have if you picked these ones." They snapped back at his hips as the attorney released them.
"I did not!" he protested earnestly, crossing his arms defensively over his damp chest. The rubbing thumb said more to the lie than the attorney ever could. He explained desperately, "Well, not really - it's just that I feel cuter in them and I wanted confidence for tonight. Anyways," he proceeded quickly, vying for the upper hand, "you don't seem brave enough to take them off."
When he removed his arms from the blond's waist and penis, the blond was convinced he'd offended Rei with his haughtiness. He reached for his shoulders, but found that he was merely removing his red glasses.
"I'm near-sighted," he stated as he folded them up and placed them upon the coffee table, "and thank God for it, otherwise I'd never be able to deal with those glasses slipping all over the place."
"I didn't think it mattered that much," he replied, wrapping his downy, white hands around Rei's neck. He looked down at the attorney questioningly.
"It does ," he admitted emphatically, his arms settling back at the small of his partner's back. "I'm very fortunate, not needing my glasses during sex, otherwise I -" he cut himself off and just as the blond thought he'd need to pry, he finished, "I wouldn't be able to see you. And believe me," he said, tracing his fingers over the edge of the writer's growing bulge. Nagisa's mouth opened and soft sounds spilled out, blanketed by Rei's low, vibrato voice. "I want to watch." His pale eyelashes fluttered at the declaration, but he wouldn't be outdone. His hips surged down into his boyfriend's and the brunet let out a stunning cry. He pressed his bare chest against the smaller man's, whose back fell away like a riverbend.
"What do you want to watch?" he asked innocently, having fallen back from his position of advantage. His sunrise, doe-eyed gaze was misty as the morning and Rei's cloudy wisteria stare stroked his lover's body before his hands followed in kind, massaging every dip and roll in the blond's body. The man didn't need to respond.
"You're too good for a couch," he stated, ignoring his boyfriend's taunts. The attorney slipped his white shirt off of his sweating body, dropping it on the sofa, and lifted his young partner up from where he lay. The bedroom door was open, so it certainly wasn't difficult to find in the dark. Gently, he placed the blond's body upon the translucent white sheets, crawling up over him immediately after. Light permeating through the closed curtains coated his sweaty body, and his chest swelled like a golden wave below him.
"So beautiful," the man whispered, stroking Nagisa's bare shoulders for a moment. He rid himself of his own undergarments, casting them off onto the floor while never once looking away from that small, wanton man below him. He leaned down to kiss the blond's sensuous lips, releasing a whimper of his own as their hot, silken tongues melted against one another. The blond tasted the bitter hint of wine.
Rei busied himself elsewhere, passively allowing the kiss to happen, but focused on his fingers sinking into Nagisa's milky, rotund thigh. He tightened his fingers in the brunet's royal blue hair, forcibly tying him to the languid, lazy kiss.
"Please," Nagisa begged, opening his eyes and meeting the lawyer's equally pleading navy stare, "oh God, Rei." His shivering arm reached back into the bedside table for lubricant and a condom and when he found what he desired, he tossed them haphazardly at the older man.
He made quick work of slipping the condom on over his long cock and coating his fingers with a sheen of clear lubricant. The half-lidded blond wrapped his thighs around his lover's neck as with one hand he toyed with his pretty, pale hard-on and massaged his hot hole with the other. When a sweaty finger slipped in, Nagisa moaned delightedly, his back arching off of the mattress and his hands tangling in the sheets. The brunet wiggled it around some, stroking his younger partner's erection with greater speed until he managed to slide in a second. The writer's thighs tightened around him as he explored the walls with lazy thrusts of his long digits until a scream told him he found what he needed.
" Ohhhhh! Oh please, do it, do it again," the blond pleaded, his hips curling up towards that sensation. His boyfriend forced in a third finger and twisted them around like a corkscrew, in time with Nagisa's cries. He stretched them apart a few times, watching the luxurious image unfold below him for a few throbbing heartbeats before he pulled them out, leaving the young blond's body aching with delicious want.
The emptiness was there for but a brief moment until, digging his fingers into either side, Rei pulled Nagisa's hips onto his stiff member. The head twitched tentatively against the smaller man's prostate and, dragging a breath into his lips like breeze, his entire body shivered. He pulled out almost all the way, the tight walls collapsing as he did, and let out a ragged sigh before guiding those wide hips back to his own. His nails dug into Nagisa's firm ass.
"Oh my God," Rei groaned, folding himself over the smaller man's thin body. The blond in kind wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling him into his chest. His deliberate, languid movements gave way to instinctive pounding against his beau's peach-blushing bottom, the moist sound of skin slapping skin muting the lustrous moans. Perspiration drip-dropped into the hollow of Nagisa's collarbone as their bodies tangled like an ocean wave in the sand.
"I l-l-love you," the younger man whimpered into his boyfriend's ear. He dropped his head into his blond's neck and sucked and nipped at the cream skin.
"I love you," he murmured hoarsely, hands freely roaming all over his pale navel, thighs, and hips. He bit his lip, gripping the boy's dick and milking it in time with his noisy thrusts. The blond felt Rei's cock swell larger and in response practically threw his hips back at it, his body rolling with the heat of pure white delight. Rei tossed his cock as deep as possible into the blond's tightening cavern, allowing the muscles to rid himself of all the cum in one go.
Like a sigh, they both collapsed onto the bed, shaking, hot, and wet. Nagisa obligingly removed the condom, tying it shut and shamelessly tossing it over the edge of the bed. He lay there, shivering and dirty, until the brunet made himself move, licking away all of his boyfriend's fluids. When their eyes next met, they both asked simply, what now? Their bodies answered.
They fell asleep.