Kiss #1

"Oh no," Kuroko said quietly. He gripped Nigou's collar and fidgeted at Kise. "Please get me the tweezer, Kise."

"What for?" Kise asked as he stacked their dishes in the sink.

"Nigou has a tick on his face."

"Gross…" Kise mumbled. He gave the bottle of soap a good squeeze over the plates and turned the hot water on before leaping across the kitchen, down the hall and into the bathroom.

"Glass cupboard above the sink!" Kuroko shouted.

Kise took a second to check himself in the mirror; he ran his fingers through his hair and wrinkled his nose before opening the cupboard and taking out the small silver tweezer. He reached up and plucked a stray piece of hair from between his eyebrows before he heard Kuroko call from the kitchen.

When he came back, Kise saw Kuroko doing his best to calm down the small, frustrated dog. "Please hold still. It will all be over and a minute." Kise smiled at the other boy, trying to sooth the dog with soft whispers and delicate touches. He watched for too long as Kuroko's nervous blue eyes shot up at him. "There is a lighter in the drawer under the sink. We have to sanitize them first."

"Oh—right, yeah, yeah." Kise hastily pulled the drawer open, hearing the silverware smash against each other. He fumbled through the stuff he had only seen in his sister's cooking catalogues. Finally he spotted a red lighter, took it out and stared dumbly back at Kuroko.

"Thirty seconds? I think that's long enough?"

"You've never done this before?"

"I've never had a dog before."

Kise smiled down at Kuroko, arms and legs wrapped around a very confused dog with the same eyes. "Yeah, that'll be enough."

Kise flicked the lighter to life and held the flame along the sharp end of the tweezer. He saw the metal turn blackish and then wiped it on his shirt, which was probably not a great idea but Kuroko was not watching. Kise dragged the garbage can across the kitchen and kneeled down next to Kuroko. Nigou looked up, finally getting uneasy. "Ok, you grab his face and point to it and I'll grab it."

Kuroko's knees locked down on the dog as he ran his fingers around the dog's ears, hushing softly. He pulled at the side of Nigou's face, gently prodding the skin under the dog's eye, "See it?"

Kise held his breath and nodded. His fingers only shook a little bit as he inched the tweezer closer to the little dog's face. That's when Nigou seemed to realize what was going on and let out a whine, trying to wriggle back out of Kuroko's grip. Kise stuck his right leg out, his left knee now almost jabbing into Kuroko's thigh. Letting out a breath, Kise leaned in, securing the bug in the tweezers. He gave a sharp twist, and the bug popped off before hurling it into the garbage can.

Heaving a sigh Kuroko dropped his arms and Nigou jumped free, giving the two a grudging and undignified look before trotting off into the living room. Kise relaxed too, dropping his left hand into Kuroko's lap and smiling. He saw Kuroko eye the thumb on his knee and gather the concentration in his forehead.

"Hey, Kuroko…can I kiss you?"

Kise wanted to hold his breath in the silence but suddenly he felt like he was panting as bad as the dog had been.

Kuroko straightened up, bracing himself on his palms, "Yeah…um…" he nodded, eyes falling shut as Kise felt his shoulders cave in—

And the sound of water hitting the ground was like a shock down Kise's spine.

The two boys jumped up, almost tripping over each other to get to the overflowing sink. Kise slid into the sink before too much water pooled across the floor. Kuroko stood next to him as they stared into the abundant soap castle. Slowly Kuroko reached into the foam, scooping a bit onto his finger and standing on his toes to dot Kise's cheek.

Kise froze, for too long probably, as Kuroko grabbed a dish towel and started on the drying rack.

The two did the dishes in silence, the only sounds were Kise's intensely awkward scrubbing, and Kuroko's vigorous, squeaky drying.

As Kise made it to the bottom of the sink, his hands were covered in white pearls. He watched them drip from his fingers, almost hopelessly. He turned to the boy with blue hair, "Yeah?" he asked quietly.

"What?"

Kise leaned in, wet hands on Kuroko's cheeks. The second soap fell from his wrist to Kuroko's collar bone they both met halfway. Kuroko let out a weak sigh through his nose. As Kise pulled back, moving his hands to the other boy's neck, soap falling down the front of Kuroko's shirt.

Kise grinned, resting his forehead on Kuroko's; "Sorry," He giggled.

Kuroko cleared his throat, "Again, please."

Kise snorted, but closed the distance between them again, this time pushing Kuroko back just the slightest. Pushing against his lower lip a little harder, his thumbnail a bit too rough on Kuroko's neck.

Nigou barked at the door, impatiently and also a little triumphantly.

Kise flung a handful of soap across the room.

Inspired by the 3 ticks I pulled off my dog this week.

xoxo