Tai: Okay I have to admit this is probably the most boring chapter of the story; no Kai/Max/Ray alone time really, but I felt the chapter somewhat needed. I mean there's only so much time I can send Kenny and Tyson away for, right?
Right.
Also; beware the Max.
The remainder of the evening was rather uneventful; Kenny questioning Max and Ray to find out if they'd done any special training over the past few days, seemingly glad he hadn't missed anything important. Tyson was still attempting to work his way out of training, quickly irritating Kai to the point he stood and left the room. When the slate haired male finally returned he handed his cell phone over to the blue haired male, who went slightly pale upon speaking to the person on the other end.
The conversation didn't last long, and it became obvious quickly who the slate haired male had called; the world champion's girlfriend. He soon stopped his complaints and joined the short brunette in questioning what they'd missed over the past couple of weeks.
"So battles and drills…were all three of you battling at the same time?" Tyson questioned, making the blonde blink. "You know, like a three way battle?"
"No, we took turns; whoever was sitting out battled the winner of the match." He explained, the amber eyed male nodding in agreement. "Unless you won three in a row, which was the other switch over point."
"It stopped one of us from getting too tired because they didn't lose." The neko-jin explained, both he and Max grinning.
"Sounds like that last rule was made for me; Dragoon and I would've been winning all day!" Tyson grinned, causing Chief to turn his gaze on his computer.
"Not necessarily Tyson; I'm guessing there's another rule you two haven't mentioned." The brunette stated, looking between the two. "What was it?"
"No bit beasts or spin gears." Kai informed them, taking up his normal position leaning against one of the walls. "If you had to call out your bitbeast or activate your spin gear, you lost."
"Ah that makes sense!" Chief smiled, "I thought it was strange that you'd be doing basic drills, and then doing battles using your bitbeasts. Going completely back to basics must make things more difficult."
"It does. It shows how much we rely on our bitbeasts when we battle and how much we take for granted." Ray agreed, looking between the pair that had been missing. "After the first couple of days Max and I had a battle with Drigger and Draciel; some of the things that were difficult before were…well…"
"They were really easy; it seemed like they responded faster and understood what we wanted them to do easier because we'd done it without them." The blonde finished for him, the dark haired male thankful for the help.
"It would; if you know how to control your beyblade without relying on your bitbeast, your bitbeast will just improve that control so it responds faster." Kenny stated, clearly impressed with the idea. "I'll have to get some video so I can see how much of a difference it's made."
Tyson still seemed sceptical of the idea but the Chief's excitement at the news prompted the world champion to stay silent, with proof of whether or not it actually worked bound to come tomorrow when they witnessed a battle.
"Since you two have missed training the last few days, I'll wake you both up early so you can get a head start before you make breakfast." The slate haired male stated, earning a small groan from the world champion.
"Come on Chief, might pay to get some sleep before we get dragged out of bed in the morning." The blue haired male muttered, walking off toward the room the team had been sleeping in.
"Night guys." Kenny smiled, following suit.
The remaining trio sat silently in the lounge for several moments, waiting for any indication that one of the pair would be returning just as quickly as they'd left. When they heard nothing, the neko-jin was the first to act, moving to lay down with his head in Max's lap. It was a rather simple movement as they'd been seated on the same couch. "We could tell Kenny."
"We could." Kai agreed, moving to sit on the ground alongside Max. "But we should probably leave it for a little while." He smiled as the blonde started running a hand through his hair; an unfamiliar feeling but still very relaxing.
"I kind of wish they weren't going to be here tomorrow so we could relax some more." The blonde sighed, smiling as the slate haired male rested his head against his leg. "Do we really have to train tomorrow?"
"Yes, but you two will get a decent sleep in." Kai smirked, closing his eyes.
The trio sat in a comfortable silence for several moments just enjoying one another's company while Tyson and Kenny slept several rooms away. Max had taken up running a hand through both of his companions' hair, and the dark haired male was unable to stop a low growl of satisfaction from escaping him.
"Kai…Ray…are you two going to go back to dressing like normal tomorrow?" the blue eyed male asked softly, the pair turning to look at him.
"You mean me binding my hair back and Kai putting his paint back on?" Ray questioned, earning a nod from Max. "Probably; why?"
"It's just…you look more relaxed the way you are now." The blonde stated, earning a smile from the older males.
Kai pondered the statement for several moments before answering, careful about his choice of words. "We're more relaxed because we have you and each other Max; clothing will go back to normal tomorrow, but any time the other two are away for an evening we'll go back to being like this, okay?"
"Okay." Max agreed, looking at the pair. He sighed before speaking again, clearly not really wanting to say it. "As much as I'm enjoying sitting here with you two…shouldn't we be heading to bed?"
Despite their grumbling, the two older teens knew he was right. Kai stood first and helped Ray to his feet, pulling the male swiftly into a firm embrace and claiming his lips in a hot kiss. The blue eyed male watched with fascination from the couch, his cheeks taking on a pink tinge
As the slate haired male released his ebony haired boyfriend, he turned to the blonde and pulled him into a similar embrace, Max gasping slightly as Kai kissed him firmly. Finally releasing the younger of his two boyfriends, he pulled both into a brief hug, enjoy their combined warmth. "I'll see you two tomorrow."
Training for the next two weeks proceeded largely like it always had; Hilary turned up on occasion to make sure her boyfriend wasn't slacking off, forcing him to keep up with Kai on some of the hottest days. Ming Ming visited almost as frequently, joining in on their training most visits which thankfully evened out their numbers.
They'd finally received contact from Daichi in the form of a letter, the redheaded male explaining he wouldn't be back in time for the next tournament and he'd send another letter when he knew further details of his return.
And, although Kai had been frustrated that Tyson and Kenny were blowing off practice to be with their girlfriends, having them around all the time meant he rarely had time to spend alone with his boyfriends. It was grating on his nerves to the point where he wanted to drag both Ray and Max off to a secluded motel in Russia so the three of them could be alone.
The universe, it seemed, was feeling kind. Hilary and Ming Ming turned up early one morning, managing to catch the team before training matches started for the day, and requested to talk to Kai alone. The slate haired male obliged, ordering the rest of the team to continue with practice matches while he was gone.
"What is it?" he asked, attempting to keep the snappiness from his voice.
"Well we were wondering if we could steal our boyfriends away…" the aqua haired girl began, her voice trailing off quickly under the gaze of the Russian.
Hilary was quick to pick up the request. "For a trip we were thinking of planning-"
"How long?"
"They'd miss a week of training, maybe two at the most." The brunette informed him, somewhat surprised at his sudden interruption.
The ruby eyed male stood pondering the suggestion for several minutes; Tyson and Kenny would be gone for at least a week, which would mean a week of just him, Ray and Max doing whatever they saw fit. It was a seriously tempting proposal. "Starting when?"
"…tomorrow?" Ming Ming stated meekly, both girls flinching as they expected a negative response from the male.
"Fine. Tell them to go and pack; I don't need them distracted during training." The slate haired male stated, turning and heading back to the team. He'd managed to keep his temper firm and interest in the idea silent. The girls still seemed stunned at the receiving approval, but soon enough they raced past and practically jumped on their boyfriends with squeals of excitement.
The sudden distraction caused both males to lose their respective matches against Ray and Max, who stood blinking at their opponents. "What's going on?" the neko-jin asked curiously, looking at the two girls.
"Kai agreed to let us drag Tyson and Kenny off on holiday for a week!" Hilary stated happily, still grinning as the gaze of all four males turned to the stoic captain, who didn't react.
"Come on, we need to go and pack; Kai doesn't want you two distracted by it while you're training." Ming Ming purred, pulling the short brunette toward the dojo, the other couple following quickly.
The black haired male waited until the quartet was out of earshot before turning to the slate haired male. "You're letting them go on holiday?" he hissed, glaring at the male.
"Yes; they fuck off for a week and we…" Kai moved to stand between them, wrapped an arm around each male's waist and used his new grip to pull them close. "We get to spend a week alone together with no possible interruptions."
The blonde pouted up at him. "But I want to go on holiday…"
"Kai's taking us on holiday to Hawaii once Tyson's grandfather gets back." Ray assured him, the slate haired teen blinking at the sudden firm guarantee.
"I am?"
"You are. And we're not training at all while we're gone."
Max laughed happily at the plans, planting a swift kiss on each of the two male's cheeks. "I'm looking forward to it. Now I'm going to start lunch!" Bounding over toward the dojo, the blonde was oblivious to the glare the team captain was giving their black haired boyfriend.
The neko-jin blinked up at the male, cocking his head to one side as the male continued his half-hearted glare. "What?"
"Hawaii?Really?" the ruby eyed male questioned, receiving a sharp nod. "And when did I put you in charge of making holiday plans?"
Grinning, Ray pulled him into a brief but firm kiss. "You say that but we both know you're not going to make a liar of me and disappoint Maxie. That and you're just as excited about having us alone in a tropical paradise as he is."
Kai grinned at the comment and released him, following the youngest of their threesome into the dojo to help with lunch. It was something they'd become accustomed to; the three of them would sort lunch while Tyson and Kenny continued to train; even after two weeks they weren't quite caught up.
"Why are you letting them go, Kai? You've said yourself that neither of them had caught up on training." Max questioned, his bright blue eyes turning on the slate haired captain. The blonde had already retrieved all the ingredients for lunch and was holding a rather large knife as he watched the older male.
The ruby eyed male was somewhat wary of his slightly younger boyfriend; Max had become scarily skilled with a knife just from his cooking practice in the kitchen to the point that the Russian was becoming concerned. "Because their girlfriends would drive me insane if I said no, because they stopped seriously focusing on training three days ago." he stated before closing the gap between them and pulling the blonde firmly back against his chest, locking his hands across his abdomen. His lips next to the male's ear, he smirked as he whispered the final statement. "And because I'm sick of having to keep my hands off of you and Ray."
A familiar pair of arms encircled the Russian, trapping him between the pair. "Really? I thought it was just me." The neko-jin purred, resting his head against Kai's shoulder.
"As comfortable as I'm sure you two are, we still have lunch to make." Kai smirked, earning small groans from the pair, though Ray none the less released the Russian, who in turn released the American. "So what are we making?"
"Pizza!" Max chirped happily, handing the knife to Kai and fetching another two; one for himself and one for Ray. "Come on you two, we still have training this afternoon, and we can do that sort of thing tomorrow."
The comment drew smirks from both of the older males, but they none the less agreed and set to work cutting up the variety of vegetables and meats their boyfriend had retrieved from various places in the kitchen. Max was right; they could hold off for one more night.
"Bye Kenny! Bye Tyson!" Max yelled happily, waving to the two males as the pair were half dragged down the street by their girlfriends to ensure they wouldn't miss their bus.
"Have fun on your holiday!" Ray chimed in, grinning as the group disappeared from sight. Their ever stoic team captain had opted to shower rather than see them off. With the quartet well out of sight, the neko-jin turned to his slightly shorter blonde companion and pulled him into a gentle kiss. "Come on, let's go see if Kai's out of the shower."
Blushing, the younger male followed his lead and the pair worked their way through the house, though Max quickly became side-tracked as the smell of pancakes reached his nose, steering him toward the kitchen. "I think he's making breakfast."
Sure enough as they entered the kitchen, the pale older teen standing shirtless in front of the stove, towel draped around his neck as he flipped pancakes onto a plate. "You should do that more often." Ray smirked, startling the blue haired male from his thoughts. "It's a good look for you."
Without the blue shark fins on his face his sudden blush was much easier to see, prompting a giggle from the youngest of their trio. "Shut up you two; breakfast's almost ready, and then you need to decide what we're doing now that we have the house to ourselves."
"I wanna build a fort!"