The Intimacy Institution

Could it be that I managed to update again within a month? Well, one day too late, but still. The next couple of chapters probably aren't going to be as detailed in every single action, since I've been 6 chapters to do 2-3 days so far, so yeah. I'd like to give a shout out to the Fanfiction user, Immme, because they were so nice and awesome to review, and that made me kick start and do some writing. Please enjoy!

Chapter 6

Table tennis, giant flat screen TVs with tons of different consoles, and a sauna in the other room. That was only the first couple of things Aoba noticed when he stepped into the big "play room" in the institution. A nice music played in the background and the walls were filled with decorative paintings of nature and neutral architecture, and it smelt fresh. Was he in heaven?

"So, what do you think, Aoba-san?" Clear asked the blown-away man next to him who almost drooled from the sight.

"It's insane, is all this for us?"

"Yep, every single thing is free as long as you go here," It was almost too good to be true.

"Aoba! Over here!" Ren called from the round bar in the middle of the room which Aoba hadn't even noticed until now. He and Clear walked over where their friends already sat, but Koujaku was the only one with a drink.

"Can you believe this place? It's incredible!" Aoba was still in a mild state of shock over the room, but Koujaku leaned back while chuckling.

"It's so funny to see your reaction. I was here last year, so it doesn't come as a surprise to me at all," he spoke confidently. Oh yeah, that's right, Aoba thought.

"So, what else is there here?" Sly asked, and Clear looked more than happy to respond.

"TVs, fitness rooms, a swimming pool, a pillow room…"

"There is a pillow room?!" the three newbies asked in unison.

"Exactly! Filled with pillows, mattresses, and blankets. It's so fun to go in there to build pillow forts!" Clear answered in a happy tone, even though his facial expression still wasn't readable through the gasmask he wore. He continued with everyone's attention on him.

"Let's see… There's a cinema too, a disco, a library, a computer room, and last, but not least, a greenhouse!" This place is crazy, how the hell does Toue get the money for this..?

"What about snacks? I'm hungry," Sly blurted out suddenly.

"The bar serves snacks and appetizers around the clock, so just order what you like," Clear answered friendly. Sly then got up and went around the bar to get to the bartender on the other side.

"Well, we have lots of time until dinner, so what do you wanna do first?" Ren asked. Aoba thought for a while: there was so much to do, so it was almost impossible to choose.

"How about we go for a swim? It's been a long time since I swam here," Koujaku suggested, and since Aoba had no other ideas, he and the others went with it. They waited for Koujaku to finish his drink and for Sly to eat his snacks in shape of small slices of melon, and then they went through the door to the swimming pool.

The changing room itself was amazing, with pearls and marble in the walls and a mosaic of a dolphin in the floor. Aoba was getting more and more baffled and almost lost words. That tended to happen a lot in this place now that he thought about it.

Aoba suddenly remembered that he hadn't brought any swim shorts to the place.

"Guys, I can't join you, I don't have any swimwear with me," he said sadly. He would've loved to swim around, since he hadn't swum in ages either. Koujaku, who was already taking off his shirt, grinned and went to a rack on the wall. Aoba followed with his eyes, and saw that they all were swimwear in all shapes and sizes.

"Just pick one, and throw it in the laundry room when you're done," Koujaku said like it was the most obvious thing, and Aoba nodded and found a blue pair. He took off his shirt, his pants, but then got a weird feeling. He turned around.

"Eh..? Hey, stop staring at me, you guys," Sly, Ren, Koujaku and Clear were all looking at him with the same look in their eyes, and even though they all were guys, and it probably didn't mean anything, Aoba still blushed. He kept his back towards the others when he slid off his boxers as well, and…

"OW!" He felt a sharp pain on his bottom, and he quickly spun around to see what it was. Sly was laughing his butt off as he stood next to Aoba with his hand raised. Did he just-?

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself, you have a really great ass, hahaha!"

"What?" Aoba looked at the others, who just kind of looked away. What even...?

"You're asexual anyways, how would you be able to recognize a great ass?" Koujaku said, still looking away. He sounded very annoyed.

"First of all I'm still p-a-n, tattoo boy, and second of all I'm also a person, I know a good butt when I see one," he said and smirked in the weirdest way. Aoba facepalmed internally, and it looked like Ren did too, just externally. Aoba decided to grab his stuff, and went to the bathroom to change instead. Jeez, you guys.

"Whooooooaaaaaaa!" was the only word they could all agree on as the five all stood and tried to process what they were seeing: a huge area with multiple pools of unimaginable sizes, one with extra depth for springboards, and hot tubs. Seriously, what did this place lack?

"No wonder Toue would need so much money, this place must cost a fortune to run," Ren pondered, and Aoba had to agree. All of this luxury was far from necessary, so why?

"GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOO!" yelled Sly, and before the others could even think, he sprinted towards the edge of a huge pool, and dove head first into it. The splash was little, a perfect jump. But when he got his head above the water again, he started to splash the water on his friends.

"Come on, guys, the water is great!" Koujaku and Clear wasted no time, and hopped right into the water. Ren hesitated, though.

"Ren? Are you okay?" Aoba asked.

"I'm just afraid that my heart is too weak. What if it's too much and I'll get sick again?" He looked down to the floor. He sounded very worried. He probably should be, after all, since he had a weak heart, and simply running earlier had made him very exhausted. To be honest, Aoba hadn't really thought about it. But Ren should have a good time too.

"I'll swim with you then. If you feel sick, just tell me, and I'll help you back to your room, okay?" Aoba grabbed his one shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. Ren raised his face up again, so his eyes could meet Aoba's. His eyes widened as if he just thought of something. Then they became more relaxed, and he smiled at Aoba, whose face became light pink. Why am I blushing now? He's just friend.

Instead of jumping right into the water like Clear, Koujaku and Sly had done, Ren and Aoba took the stairs, with only a few steps into the water. Then they held onto the edge of the pool, and walked around in the low water. Ren didn't seem to be having trouble, and Aoba thought it was nice too. Until he was hit in the head with a ball.

"Hey! Sly, not you again!" Aoba yelled, but when he turned around towards Sly, he simply shrugged and pointed at Koujaku, who disappeared under the water. Where did he go?

"WH-?! HEY!" Aoba almost fell backwards into the water, when he felt something at his legs in the water, and then Koujaku popped out of the water between his thighs, lifting him up. The idea was apparently to balance Aoba on his shoulders, but he had miscalculated something, and ended up with Aoba sitting the other way around, his groin pressed into Koujaku's face.

"EH?! KOUJAKU!" Aoba pushed himself away from Koujaku's head, and lost his balance. He was going to fall backwards right into the water, if it wasn't because…

"I've got you, Master!" Clear caught him in midair, and held him bridal style right above the water. Aoba looked up at Clear, what almost gave him a small shock, since he was still wearing the gasmask, and his face was very close. In the distance was Sly laughing so hard he almost choked, and Koujaku's face turned red, and he hid his face in his hands. Goddamnit.

After an hour or two of swimming (Aoba had lost track) they went back to the changing room. After the incident before, they were all a bit awkward, and swimming silently seemed better. Ren didn't get sick, thank God, but Sly however was so exhausted from laughing that he had to be carried to the changing room in the end.

Being back in the changing room, Aoba had retrieved to the bathroom to change. Not that he thought that they'd be so goddamn embarrassing again, but he didn't want to take the chance. He thought about how Koujaku had been super embarrassed earlier, when he… Ugh, why did have to happen? It was so painfully awkward! And even on my best friend… He also thought about how Clear had caught him immediately, and then stared at him the whole time. Was he in falling in love with him? He was on the bi route after all, so he might have, but maybe Aoba was just thinking too much of himself.

Then he thought of Ren. How worried he'd been that he couldn't join his friends because of his heart. Now when Aoba thought about it, having a sick heart didn't fit him at all. He deserved to be healthy and live like everyone else. Besides, it didn't feel like he was sick, because his heart was so pure, so strong. But it only showed on the inside, and not physically, sadly. Aoba just hoped that he'd get better someday.

When he was done dressing himself, he opened the door and stepped outside of the bathroom. The others were almost done dressing themselves, except for Ren, who was putting on his underwear after putting the towel away. Aoba got a small peak of him completely naked: he was generally pale, not too muscular, but still quite… Whoa, I'm gonna think of something else now..!

When all were done getting dressed, they left the changing room. It was getting late, and time for dinner. They all went there together like always and thankfully found a table where they all could sit.

The served food consisted of fried shrimps, a vegetable soup, and noodles. It tasted wonderfully, and they all went multiple times, also because they were hungry from swimming.

They mostly sat in silence, unless someone brought a small subject up, that was discussed briefly, and then dropped. Aoba noticed that Koujaku was particularly silent, and he asked what was wrong. After a small pause, he finally said:

"I'm sorry for that awkward scene before, Aoba. Really sorry! I didn't mean to- you know…" Oh, that's what he's upset about.

"Hey, it's okay, Koujaku. I know it wasn't on purpose, so I'm not mad or anything," Aoba said reassuring, and Koujaku let out a sigh of relief. While they were at it, Sly also apologized for slapping his butt, Clear apologized for staring, but Aoba shrugged it off, and said that it was alright. They were able to continue their food undisturbed, and soon talked like normally.

The five friends decided to split up, since they all had to get up early the next day. Aoba was on his way to his room, when he suddenly remembered something important: he'd forgotten his lend swimwear in the changing room. The realization hit him hard, and he almost panicked. What if the room was closed now? Not that it was that important; he could always get it tomorrow, but he'd promised to take care of it.

He turned around immediately, and ran towards the entertainment rooms. The door was still open, and there was light inside, but the room was almost empty, except for a few people watching TV in the corner. Aoba snuck past the circular bar in the middle of the room where they sat earlier, and went through the door to the men's changing room.

He'd expected that the room was empty as well, but it… wasn't…

"Oh sorry, I didn't want to disturb, I'll just b…" Aoba tried excusing himself, but he found that the blond man in the room didn't really listen. He stood in the middle of the room with nothing but a towel covering his body from the waist and down. He stood with his back against Aoba, and he wasn't sure if he was just hallucinating, or if he saw something weird on the man's back..? He didn't want to be caught staring, so he just found the swimwear, and picked it up.

Suddenly the man turned around and faced Aoba, whose blood froze right in his veins.

"Oi. You came back just for that?" He asked with a deep voice, and Aoba then recognized him.

"Hey, you're the guy I bumped into the other day, aren't you?" He didn't answer, but just scanned Aoba from top to toe with his eyes.

"It is you! I'm still very sorry, it must've hurt," Aoba apologized, but only received a shrug from the blond guy.

"It's whatever,"

"It's definitely not! I rammed right into you, and you didn't even fl…" Aoba was interrupted in midsentence, because the stranger suddenly came really close. Like really close.

"From your silhouette, you look like you have a great body," Aoba froze in his place. Again. "But I could be wrong,"

"What are you talking about..?" Aoba's pulse rose, and his vision was suddenly blocked too. He felt something on his lips. Not again?!

"Mgn..!" He wanted to get away from the uninvited kiss, but he still couldn't move much. Why is this happening?

He finally managed to push the stranger off with a weak blow, and then panted hard. He wasn't sure if it was because he hadn't been able to breathe properly, or if it was… something else?

"W-what the hell?! What on Earth was that?!" Was the only thing he could say at the moment.

"It was a kiss? I just kissed you," he said with a normal tone, and Aoba was losing his mind.

"But why?! I don't even know your name!"

"It's Noiz,"

"Noiz…" He repeated the name, distracted for a short moment, but then asked him again: "Why did you kiss me all of a sudden?! It's weird!"

"I'm from the free route, and our teacher told us to try and discover our sexuality. And I don't think it's weird," he explained. The "free route"? Ohh, he probably meant the four people without a route, who stay there until they've found one they'd like to join. But then why would he…

"I-I think I'm gonna go now," Aoba said slowly, afraid that the guy, Noiz, might attack if he made any sudden movements. But Noiz just turned around and walked into the shower. Aoba heard the water run, and the unconsciously squeezing the swimwear in his hands. His first impulse was to go and sneak on the guy in the shower, but WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH HIM?! He hurried out of the room, and out of the entertainment area.

He had to ask around for the way to the laundry room, but he eventually found it in the other end of the institution. It was pretty obvious, really, because a lot of signs and pictograms pointed the direction, but Aoba was too distracted to think straight. The whole day had been so… weird. Kissing people he didn't know, getting groped in several places, and being stared at. Technically it was sexual harassment, although Aoba hadn't really put much thought into that.

The laundry room was big, not to mention empty, and had at least 20 washing machines and 15 dryers. This place…

He found a janitor, who was sweeping the floors, and asked him how to set the washing machines. He was very nice, Haga-san was he called, and he also told Aoba that he'd put it away when it was done. Aoba thanked him, and set the used swimwear to be washed.

He was about to leave the room, when he heard footsteps down the hall. Who could be around at this time, other than himself of course? He was exiting through the door when…

"Oh? Aoba-san, what a lovely surprise," a tall blond man said. He wore all red and green glasses. And there was something next to him in red too, but he was taller and wider than the first guy. Red… they must be from the asexual route. "Hey, Aoba~" said the other.

"Do I know you two? How can you know my name?" He was seriously curious. Is it the same way that his teacher earlier, Laura, had learned his name?

"No, Aoba-san, you don't know us, but we know you," the guy with the glasses explained. They both stepped closer to Aoba, and smiled widely.

"We're very interested in making business with you, Aoba-san, so would you like to talk some with us?" they kept asking. Aoba was beginning to feel slightly intimidated, since the two big guys stood right up in Aoba's face.

"I'm sorry, I can't, it's really late, and I should be sleeping now," Aoba excused himself, and the two moved out of his way.

"Sure, but if you change your mind, you know where to find us," the taller one said, and pointed at their red clothes. Asexual route, got it. Aoba nodded and walked past them. When he was a bit away from the washing room, he started running. Then I can stay the hell away from you two.

He'd almost reached his room, when he ran into Ren. He was on the way in the same direction as Aoba, so he called out to him.

"Oh, Aoba, I was just on my way to see you," he said and smiled lightly. On his way to see Aoba? Why?

"Sure, what is it?" Aoba said, trying to catch his breath from running up all the stairs. Losing his breath was almost common in this place now.

"Well, I wanted to thank you for helping me swim today. It'd been so long since I last swam, and thanks to you, I was able to again. Thank you so much, Aoba," He bowed slightly. It was totally unnecessary, but if it was a big deal to Ren, it was okay.

"It's alright, anyt…"

"And also," Ren interrupted, and then looked up in a very serious way. "Not only Clear is at fault for this; I think I also stared some at you today, accidently of course. I'm sorry," He looked like a kicked puppy, and Aoba felt very bad. He had also done that…

"It's okay…" Ren interrupted again, but not like before. He got down on his knees, and bowed deeply.

"No, it was wrong of me, so I'd understand if you don't want to be friends with me anymore," He sounded really sorry, and Aoba felt extremely bad now. He pulled him up to his feet again, and made him look into his eyes.

"It's really alright, and I would never kick you as my friend. I mean, Clear admitted it too, and I'm still friends with him, right?" Ren nodded. "And also…"

"What is it?"

"I might have stared at you too at some point… accidently," Aoba said and looked away. It was really too embarrassing to say. When he looked up again, Ren looked understandingly at him.

"That's okay. Then we're equals," he said and smiled sweetly, and Aoba nodded. It was getting really hot in there, or was it just him? He had to get away, and fast.

"I-I'll go inside and sleep now… Goodnight," Aoba said. Ren wished him a goodnight as well, and retreated to his own floor. Aoba exhaled, and then sprinted towards his own room, and locked the door behind him.

He checked the time on his coil, and it was almost 12 at night. He ripped off his clothes and put on a T-shirt and left his boxers on. Then he got into bed, and closed his eyes. But he couldn't seem to fall asleep, because just as he thought: I can't get Ren out of my head.

He wondered if it was because he'd touched him in some way, or if he had just made some extraordinary impression on him today, but he couldn't get him out of his head. It couldn't possibly be because he'd been able to see his naked chest while they were swimming, or that he got a peak of Ren's…

Aoba couldn't stand it any longer, and stuck a hand down into his underwear. He couldn't believe that he'd do this, that he'd resort to this in this situation, but he couldn't help it anymore. It was hot as he gripped it; he hadn't done this in a long time. Too long, he thought.

He tried to avoid the thought at first, to think of something else, a girl maybe. But all he could really think about was Ren, how he'd looked with water dripping down his chest, how he smiled at him earlier, Ren, Ren, Ren.

He felt everything melt inside of him, and his hand slowed. He hadn't noticed how hard he'd been panting, and how much time had gone by. He suddenly felt too tired to care about it all anymore, and fell asleep right then and there.

So Koujaku accidently being a pervert, Noiz kissing Aoba,Virus and Trip coming to say "Wassup?", and now nfsw-ish themes? Oh nuuuuuuu, but oh yes. Aoba is one filthy son of a twink, but no homo, guys, no homo. That was chapter 6 then, I hope you liked it, and if you did, then please review! Or review if you didn't like it, that kinda helps me get better and write cooler stuff for you guys. There will come more action in the future chapters, I promise, but perhaps also some boyfriend action? Stay tuned~