It was always a tradition for there to be a big get together between the Nohr and Hoshido families whenever Garon was out for some reason or another, especially if the most recent of his flings was going with him. This meant that they could see each other without risking the wrath of their father, and it was something that each one of them treasured when it came around. This time they were doing it regardless of the fact that they had only had a choir sleepover a few nights before.
"Do you want to come to us this time?" Xander asked. "Father is between girlfriends so we'll be the only ones there." He had said girlfriends, but Leo had said on many occasion that the only word for them was reverse prostitutes. He had sex with them, played around with them, sometimes married them, and then got lots of money from them in return. Their family weren't even poor. They'd never been poor.
"Sure, is Wednesday okay?" Ryoma asked. They'd tried, in the past, to split it between groups of siblings so two went to one house and two came back to theirs, but it didn't work and just created more cleaning up to do, though it had been fun when Mikoto had come to drop two children off and had just traded them for two others.
That Wednesday evening couldn't come quickly enough for Leo. He saw all of the Hoshidan family basically every day, especially Takumi, who he talked to via text after school and often before school, too, but there was something special about these times that they all came together. It was one of the few times he could be alone with Takumi without being judged for their friendship. He'd probably just be constantly teased about liking him in a romantic way instead, but at least he could talk to Takumi while that happened.
The four of them arrived, as usual, at four o'clock, each with a small bag with clothes and Ryoma was equipped with a bag full of food for them to share. With a final goodbye from their mum (and a reminder to Xander that if there was no cooked food in their house, she could always make them some), they were left alone in the mansion, or as alone as you could be with eight people there, anyway.
As usual, they split off into their separate groups, though they'd eat dinner together. Leo went up to his room with Takumi and after the very normal thirty seconds that they spent standing together awkwardly with nothing to do, Leo suggested that they play chess.
Chess was a normal thing for the two of them to do. When Leo had first met Takumi, it was at a concert that Ryoma was in, and Xander had introduced him to his friend's younger brother. Leo had started babbling about a recent obsession that he had developed with chess, and Takumi said that he had never played it. That was something the quite small Leo had decided was terrible, a tragedy even, and he'd been playing the game with Takumi ever since. They did it when they were bored or in hotel rooms or when one or both of them didn't really want to talk but they felt too awkward to just do nothing in the presence of the other. Leo always looked forward to playing chess with Takumi, because he felt that most of the time they were pretty evenly matched. Maybe he was a tiny bit better at it than Takumi, and he often had the upper hand, but at least Takumi was an interesting and challenging opponent. He wasn't like many people he knew who just gave up with chess once it got difficult.
Today, though, Takumi seemed more nervous than normal as they played. Leo could tell, because he wasn't playing as well as he did basically all the time. He was being sloppy, getting nervous when Leo started making more aggressive plays, and he didn't manage to put up much of a resistance once things started falling apart.
"You okay?" He asked. Sometimes Takumi wasn't up for doing loads of things, sometimes he didn't feel well, especially after a full day of school, and they were approaching the end of term. Leo wouldn't have been surprised if Takumi was exhausted and at the end of his tether with his nerves.
Takumi nodded. "Just thinking about how you're a smug little shit," he said with a grin. Leo smiled back. That was the Takumi he knew, and it was a relief. He understood that even Takumi's best friend was too much for him sometimes, but it was always sad when that time fell when they were planning to spend a bit of time together.
"Well, you're a pretty bad loser if you just insult me when you lose," Leo shot straight back at him. Takumi was one of the only people who could keep up with his wit, at least out of the people he talked to frequently and could freely insult without them being offended.
"It's a shame that I have to play chess with someone who blames his own ego on the loser," Takumi said, and he smiled an incredibly smug grin at Leo. Leo was suddenly hit with a thought of wanting to kiss it off him. Damn thoughts that meant almost nothing. They were just stupid impulses that caught him off guard.
"It's a shame that the only people I play chess with think that a pride in having a talent means I have a large ego." Takumi was being fair; in the past, his ego could have caused him to hit his head on a church ceiling, but he hoped that he was a bit better now.
"Can I kiss you?" Takumi asked, and Leo's jaw dropped. Takumi let out a bark of laughter. "It seems that I win," he said.
"Prick," Leo said, and he laughed too despite his disappointment. He was...he would say that he was curious about whether kissing Takumi would be nice or not. He had an intellectual interest in what it would be like, maybe.
"You didn't answer," Takumi said, and Leo felt his mouth dry up considerably. Did that mean that Takumi wanted to kiss him, or was this a test? This could be a friendship ending test if Takumi didn't want to kiss him. No matter what he'd read online when he was researching (for purely academic purposes that had nothing to do with having a crush on Takumi), he knew that asking to kiss a friend who didn't like you back would damage your friendship. "Or did the stick up your arse damage your vocal cords?"
Leo didn't say that the statement made no sense, though he probably should have jumped on any excuse to change the subject. "Go on, then."
And Takumi just leaned across the table and gently kissed him on the lips. It was quick, so quick that Leo could scarcely believe it had just happened. He might not have believed it, had Takumi not immediately sworn and pulled away, rubbing his ribs. "Ow..." He muttered. "The edges of the board are sharp."
Leo laughed nervously and stood up so he could go to the other side of the board to kiss Takumi back properly. He was so nervous. Did Takumi feel like he did? He hoped this wasn't going to utterly crash and burn, because he almost felt like it was going to. "Takumi, do you like me?"
"Leo," Takumi laughed nervously, "you're my best friend, of course I like you."
"No, do you like me in the way that you just kissed me." Leo cursed his inability to make this eloquent in any way. If they didn't completely destroy their friendship right now, this would be a stupid moment that Takumi could tease him for in years to come.
"Yes, I mean no, I'm sorry, I messed everything up, didn't I?" Takumi looked genuinely upset, and Leo had no idea about what to do except kiss him again.
He knocked noses with Takumi, and it was a moment that he was teased about for many, many years to come.
