Chapter 4

On a bright Sunday morning, Tino was trying to quietly get out of bed. He slowly slid off from the sheets, almost crawling to the edge of the bed-but was stopped by a large pair of hands pulling him back to start. The hands were met by arms that wrapped around Tino's naked body that placed him directly on top of his husband.

"Wh're d' you th'nk you're goin'?" asked Berwald with a sleepy smile. Tino sighed and then gave Berwald a 'good morning kiss' to fully wake his Swedish companion. The pair had been 'married' for three and a half years, since Tino was fourteen and Berwald had been fifteen. Tino used the word 'married' loosely-seeing as though they never really have been. Berwald, on the other hand, loved to call Tino his 'wife'.

"And a 'Good Morning' to you, too!" Tino gave a lighthearted flick to Berwald's nose, his face still flushed from their kiss.

"I just wanted to see the Talent Show they have today." Berwald frowned slightly, today (like all Sundays) was supposed to be a day where they sleep in-even though they usually didn't do much sleeping. He leaned forward, and gave Tino another kiss, a kiss that sent a tingling tremor all the way down to the tips of Tino's toes. The Finnish man shivered with excitement, but then abruptly pulled away from Berwald and rolled off the bed.

"No, I want to see this Talent Show; I've never been to one before." Tino's lips came together in a slight pout, as he tried to button his collared shirt. Berwald slowly slipped off the bed, exposing himself completely to the cold air. Goosebumps prickled his skin, but he ignored them as he stepped behind Tino and wrapped his arms around him. The much taller man's cock slightly rubbed against Tino's bare backside. Tino immediately stopped buttoning his school shirt and took a deep, uneven breath.

Berwald trailed his long fingers down Tino's arms, flowing past his hands and around his stomach, then back up to his chest, slightly grazing a soft nipple. Tino closed his eyes and leaned against Berwald's chest, humming slightly. The taller man spun Tino around and gave him another kiss, a soft inviting one that promised exciting things would follow.

Tino gave in and kissed Berwald back, flicking his tongue over the Swede's lower lip. Berwald hastily unbuttoned the linens and sat back onto the bed as Tino straddled his waist. Still kissing, Berwald's hands searched for the lube that was on the nightstand. He found it and tried to squeeze out a nice dollop, but the bottle was already empty-and it was only the first month of school.

Berwald stopped kissing the Finnish man, and switched places-Berwald now hovering over a flushed Tino. The smaller man brought Berwald's fingers to his mouth, gently coating them with saliva. Berwald removed his fingers and brought them lower to persuade Tino further.

"Okay, I guess I...won't go..." Tino said with a gasp as Berwald slowly swirled a wet finger around Tino's puckered hole.

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Roderich Edelstein was in a frustrated mood. He was to play Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano sonata, the 1913 edition, at the Talent Show today (for the 1931 edition was too simple, as well as the 1940 Horowitz version.) Roderich liked perfection, tranquility, and his music. So everything had to be utterly and completely perfect in every way. And that meant no distractions.

But, Elizaveta was always at his practices anyways. She never spoke, but her staring just burned into his back, causing him to become even more frustrated. He liked Elizaveta, of course, but she was annoying at times-constantly wanting attention, or dates.

He always said no, because his practice came first if he wanted to win the Junior International Piano Competition. So Roderich would always squeeze her hand and say they could try going on a date sometime later, and she would just sit in the corner staring-again.

But this, right now, was time for the utmost concentration he could muster from his every being. Even though he knew no one important was going to be there, he knew that the rest of the students might just know those people. So, he practiced even harder.

Today, Elizaveta was in the music room with Roderich, occasionally letting out a happy sigh as she watched Roderich's fingers dance over the onyx and ivory keys of the Hans Hollein 225 Bösendorfer piano. Roderich was almost at the twenty minute mark before he accidentally hit the wrong key.

Roderich stopped completely. He let out an extremely frustrated sigh and started back at the beginning. Elizaveta sighed contently-she could watch him play the piano for hours. Elizaveta had met Roderich when they were both very young. The usual 'if they pick on you that means they like you'-except Elizaveta was the one that picked on Roderich.

Elizaveta was the tomboy between the two of them. She liked to play in the dirt, pretend to be a dinosaur, and she played with batman action figures. Roderich would always 'fight' back, but he always lost. But in their first year of junior high, Elizaveta grew up. She let her hair grow out, shaved her legs, wore dresses (not to mention bras), and acted like a young lady should. Elizaveta become nervous when she started dressing 'like a girl', and always stuttered around Roderich.

Of course, Roderich never knew that he was the reason she started to dress nicely. Elizaveta told Roderich that she liked him on the St. Valentine's Day of their second year of junior high. He asked her out, she squealed with excitement and hastily said yes, but they had never been intimate.

Elizaveta always had dreams of Roderich hugging her, holding her hand, touching her, kissing her, everything that he never did, but what she had always wanted him to do. The one time she had tried to kiss him, he moved his face so she had only kissed his cheek.

Roderich sighed even louder and started the piece again, followed by another sigh from Elizaveta.

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Lily and Elizaveta were already sitting in the front row of the auditorium when Mr. Soo tapped on the microphone. Instead of staring at the students, he looked to the back of the auditorium where the teachers were sitting.

"Welcome to our very first Talent Show! Tonight we have many talented students who are going to perform this evening. First is..." he shuffled through his note cards. His eyes grew brighter when he found the right card.

"First is Mr. Honda Kiku and the art of...Origami!" Mr. Soo began clapping as Kiku came onto the stage. Elizaveta turned to Lily and gushed out about how excited she was to see Roderich play in the Talent Show-even though she watched him practice the whole morning.

Lily just fazed out, for she hadn't gotten much rest because of an English project she had finished the night before. Vash was helping her put it all together-but Lily used the word 'help' loosely. Every time she guessed on something she didn't know the answer to, and asked Vash if she was right-he would say she was, even when she wasn't. So Vash didn't really do much to aid her project.

Lily glanced at him as he sat next to her. When she was younger she cut all of her hair off so she could look just like him, her mother was furious and her father thought it was funny; Vash on the other hand...he was embarrassed. Lily cut her hair like Vash's every time it became too long; causing him to tell her she didn't need to look like him anymore, for people were beginning to think she was a boy. All Lilly did was take a ribbon from a vase in Vash's room and tied it into her hair. Vash doesn't mention it anymore.

Six more talents went and then Roderich came on stage. Elizaveta gripped the edge of her seat, and stared intently at the piano. Roderich cleared his voice and began to play. The piece went on for half an hour. Half an hour. Some students were trying to stay awake-others gave up and were asleep. Elizaveta thought Roderich was absolutely enchanting. She even hummed along with the song.

Finally, Roderich ended the piece and bowed.

"Now wasn't that...delightful!" said Mr. Soo as he tried to stifle a yawn. Elizaveta vigorously clapped her hands. Mr. Soo cleared his throat.

"Next up is..."East"? Singing the song... I'm Awesome? I'm sorry, that must be a typo of some sort-" he said with a frown. Out came a boy with white hair, dark sunglasses, large headphones around his neck, and a red hooded sweatshirt over of his school uniform.

"No, you're right. Everything's chill." Mr. Soo nodded with a slightly confused look on his face and left the stage.

Music began playing as the boy with white hair grasped the microphone.

"I don't necessarily need to be here for this..." he said as he looked through the crowd.

"Can I?" he looked back off stage and then nodded.

"I'm gonna keep the headphones though..." he pulled his hood over his head and detached the microphone from the stand.

"Mother fucker-I'm awesome!"

"No you're not, dude don't lie!" shouted a boy in the crowd with a thick Spanish accent.

"I'm awesome!" he nodded his head side to side, and began mimicking driving like a pimp.

"I drive around in my mom's ride I'm awesome! A quarter of my life gone by, and I met all my friends online..."All of the students were alive again, some even singing along as they chose to stand for the exciting performance. The English teacher ran down from the back of the room and tried to get up on stage.

"Mother fucker-I'm awesome! I will run away from a brawl!" he said as the teachers began to pull him off stage.

"I'm awesome!" he managed to yell before Mr. Weillschmidt yanked the microphone from his hands. Laughter could be heard offstage, but it was muted slightly from the cheering crowd.

Mr. Soo quickly ran onstage and apologized profusely, bowing repeatedly. Elizaveta was the exact opposite-she was extremely frenetic.

"I can't believe he just did that! Who does that? He ruined the last few moments after Roderich's beautiful playing!" Lily nodded and made it look like she was listening to Elizaveta's rant about the white-haired boy. She had thought it was funny, but didn't dare mention it to her.

After the last few acts were finished, Elizaveta jumped at the sight of Roderich and sprinted to tell him what a good job he did. Lily saw Roderich push Elizaveta away and look into her eyes. Elizaveta shook her head, and brought a hand to her face, wiping it across her eyes. She shook her head and shouted something loudly, looking up at Roderich's face. Roderich turned around, and walked away. Elizaveta covered her face as her shoulders shook.

Lily ran to her, Vash quietly following behind, and hugged her soft frame. Elizaveta cried even harder into Lily's shoulder. She began to hiccup as she tried to talk.

"He...he-huk-broke up with-huk-m...me," she said and cried harder as she spoke the words out loud. Lily stared at Vash as she shhh'd and patted Elizaveta's back. Elizaveta's tears were warm on her shoulder, as students passed the trio.

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A/N:

YAAAAAAAY! Chapter 4! You guys have no clue how much it took to write this! I'm sooo tired-I just had this thing called Spirit Meet (high school swimming) and I was one of the people who cheered the whole time, I'm exhausted and downright beat. UGGGGGG, well-I just introduced some new characters, and one who is especially awesome! (I made him unknown because Lily and Elizaveta don't know him yet)