Chapter eleven – Kissing, biting, sex and dragons

Kiku wasn't quite sure what had happened, but his English lesson had taken a quite drastic turn, and merged into a drama lesson.

Heracles had decided for 'added effect', he and Kiku would have to act out the scene rather than just reading the lines aloud. Also, the original scene they were going to read out was 'too boring', so they'd skipped right to the end, where Romeo and Juliet die for one another.

Kiku wished that he could kill himself.

He was lying on a table that they were now using as Juliet's deathbed. Heracles was reading out Romeo's lines of distress for finding his dear Juliet dead. Kiku, with his eyes closed and unenthusiastically pretending to be dead could feel Heracles above him – though he wasn't quite sure. It was extremely unnerving, especially as he was aware that the entire class watching their 'acting'.

Heracles, who was coming to the end of his monologue paused in his well-known lines, pretending to drink poison, Kiku could only assume.

"O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die." Heracles fell dramatically (Kiku was peeking through a crack in his eyes) but on his way down to the floor he grabbed Kiku's hand, kissing it passionately before falling to the floor.

Burning brightly, Kiku remembered suddenly that it was his turn to kill himself. He rose from the table, stuttering his lines. While he read from the script in front of him, his eyes darted around the classroom – terrified of what his classmates might think of him.

The disgust and annoyance he expected to see on his friend's faces wasn't there. Arthur was smirking a little, looking torn between collapsing into laughter or dying of the cuteness of the situation. Alfred looked pretty impressed too, he was even blushing a little. Feliciano caught Kiku's eye and gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, and Ludwig looked up from his notes, smiling at his friend. Even Francis, Antonio and Gilbert were showing their support, each looking very close to either swooning and nose-bleeding until there was no blood left in them (Francis and Antonio) or like their urge to burst into hysterics was dangerous. Kiku blushed a little; at least his classmates weren't judging him.

Although perhaps they might after what was going to come next, he corrected his thoughts, glancing to the bottom of the page and seeing just what he had to do next.

"What's here? A cup, closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. O churl! Drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after? I will kiss thy lips, haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to make me die with a restorative.

Kiku took a deep breath, glancing at the stage direction for a final time. A very clear 'Kisses him' was printed in the ink. It was bad enough having Heracles kiss his hand – at least he could claim that he had no control over the teacher's actions. But by kissing Heracles – on the lips no less – then that would force him to join the guilty party. He should just skip the kiss.

Then, Kiku thought to himself, if he was going to skip it, why was he leaning toward Heracles as if going to kiss him?

He could just straighten up and walk right out of the classroom if he wanted to. It was detention of public humiliation. Detention would always win.

Still he kept inching closer, though.

Kiku knew why he was inching closer, of course. He wasn't in denial – he knew that a part of him had been waiting for this kiss for a long time. He was aching to kiss Heracles, and had been ever since they'd broken up all that time ago. And now, when the chance had presented it's self to him, he was hesitating.

Oh for God's sake, Kiku's reckless side said – Kiku never really listened to his reckless side. It was too… well, reckless. Just kiss him!

For the first time in a while, Kiku decided his reckless side was right.

He lent down to Heracles, and gently pressed his lips to the other man's supposedly dead lips. It felt perfect and immoral both at the same time – Kiku didn't understand, but he knew he wished he could carry on doing it.

Mentally slapping himself, he pulled away. I have a boyfriend! He reminded himself, annoyed. Taking a deep breath he glanced down at his script, and finished the play as casually as he could, pretending to stab himself, and fell on top of Heracles.

He stayed there for a moment for 'added effect' – most definitely not because he liked the feeling of Heracles next to him – and heard Heracles whisper to him very softly.

"You did great," the teacher said, and then hoisted himself up, dragging Kiku up with him and taking a swooping bow. The class clapped politely – a few of them like Alfred or Feliciano shouting out chants of encouragement to Kiku. Hurriedly, Kiku ran back to his seat, blushing bright red and staring at the floor. Because his eyes were glued on the chewing-gum-covered carpet, he didn't see the triumphant smirk that Heracles was wearing.

"I hope you were taking notes, class, because I want an essay on Romeo and Juliet's love on my desk for Friday," the bell rung, as if on cue, "Off you go."

Just as Kiku was about to escape to the safety of the corridor, a strong arm held him back. He didn't need to turn around to know it was Heracles.

"I need a word," he said simply.

"Go on without me," Kiku told Feliciano, who nodded sheepishly, and followed Ludwig out of the door.

Once the classroom had emptied, Heracles sat down on top of a table, issuing for Kiku to do the same. Kiku didn't believe sitting on top of tables showed a lot of respect for the furniture, so he pulled out a chair, and sat on that. Heracles shrugged, and started his little 'talk'.

"I miss you, you know."

"I miss you too…" Kiku said, avoiding his gaze.

"Then why don't you come back to me?" Heracles asked, a little more emotion in his voice than usual.

Kiku shook his head, "You're a teacher and I'm a student – it could never work. Besides, I have a boyfriend."

Heracles' eyes widened a little at this, but he quickly shook it off, "But you promised – you said that we couldn't be together for the time being. You said that when you were ready, you could accept me! It's been over a year, surely that's long enough?"

"Heracles-san…" Kiku didn't bother to call his teacher by his last name, "I'm not ready yet. And, as I said before – I have a boyfriend, who I'm meant to be meeting in," he checked his watch, "Five minutes!"

"I can't let you go. Not that easily." Heracles shook his head, "It's so hard without you, Kiku. No one even beings to compare to you, you know that? You're perfect."

"Heracles-san, I'm flattered, but I really must be going," Kiku said, knowing that he'd hurt Heracles' feelings. He couldn't help it – he needed to tell the man straight.

Nodding, the teacher stood up, walking over to the door and held it open for Kiku, "Have a good day, then, Kiku."

Kiku knew that this wasn't going to be the end of this conversation. Heracles didn't just give up like that. He'd probably hatch a sweet little plan. But, giving him the benefit of the doubt, Kiku nodded his head and flashed a quick smile at his English teacher and bolted for the open door.

God that was intense… Kiku sighed. When he woke up this morning, he didn't think his day would've been filled with Shakespeare and kissing his ex.

Heading for the gate where he knew Lars would be waiting for him, he plastered a smile on his face. The school day was over! He should be happy – now he had the rest of his time to spend with sweet Lars. Someone who wasn't sex-sessed.

No, Kiku's reckless side whispered, he's drug-sessed.

Kiku wasn't thick – he knew Lars smoked many suspicious substances. He knew half of them could probably get him landed in prison for a long time. But, for some reason, rather than it putting Kiku off, it kind of made him want to stick around Lars even longer. He and Lars seemed to have a mutual sort of agreement that they'd never talk about his drugs. Kiku pretended not to know about Lars' addictions, and Lars pretended that he didn't know that Kiku knew about his habits. Kiku knew this could probably be quite a dangerous option for the two of them to take for many reason. That didn't stop him though.

The cold autumn air hit him hard as he skipped out of the back entrance that he'd gotten quite used to using ever since he'd started sneaking Lars into the school. Often they'd go out, but ever since the terrible English weather took a turn for the worst, they'd taken to sitting under Kiku's warm kotatsu. There was also the added benefit that Lars didn't like to smoke inside – and Kiku wanted to keep him away from the dangerous substances for as long as he could.

Rounding the final corner, Kiku smiled when he saw Lars' bright blonde head of hair waiting for him at the gate. Kiku ignored the cigarette (or that's what he hoped it was) that he quickly dropped to the ground upon seeing Kiku, and the Dutch boy waved at him, smiling.

"Hey there, Kiku," he smiled as the Japanese boy got closer, "I was wondering where you were."

"Sorry, a teacher needed a word with me…" Kiku muttered, trying not to think about Heracles.

Lars raised an eyebrow as he hopped over the gate gracefully, "Kiku Honda? Getting rebellious in your later school years? Don't worry – I know I did." Lars was a collage student, though Kiku knew full well that the only time he showed his face in collage was to see his 'friends' or to sleep in his apartment. If you were to ask him what collage was, he probably wouldn't even mention the classes.

Kiku smiled weakly, "No, it was just about…" Kiku blinked – what should he tell Lars? Thinking frantically, he blurted, "Culture."

"Culture?"

"Ehh… yeah. One of the teachers needed to know about Japanese culture…" Kiku made up hurriedly, and then quickly changed the subject, "It's really cold out here – why don't we go inside?"

"Good idea," Lars smiled roughly, "First though I want to steal something."

Kiku tensed up, blinking a few times, hoping he'd heard Lars wrong. Fair enough, he could do what he wanted in his spare time, but Kiku didn't want to be roped into it! "I-I'm sorry?"

Lars grinned, "Aww, you're so cute when you get worried. Chill, babes," Kiku didn't like that nickname, "I just want to steal a kiss."

"O-Oh…" Kiku sighed, relief flooding through him, "Well, I don't see why you have to steal one – I'll give one away happily."

"You're took kind," Lars smirked, leaning down to Kiku, and pressing their lips together quickly. He pulled away, but paused at Kiku's ear, "I'll save the rest for when we're in the warm," he muttered. Kiku blushed, and couldn't deny the sudden feeling of desire that coursed through his veins.

"Let's go then," Kiku whispered back, and the two ran as quickly as they could towards the school.

"Will you two stop kissing already? I'm trying to concentrate on my homework, for God's sake…"

"Arthur, this is our room, surely you should go and find some other place to work rather than bothering us!" Owain, who had his arms wrapped around Francis, glared at his brother.

"I'm doing something productive. The most you're going to do is catch AIDS from that frog," Arthur glared at his brother before turning back to his homework.

"I assure you, mon cher, if your brother was to catch a disease from me, he would've done so a very long time ago. I am completely clean… Well, that is unless you want me to be dirty," Francis winked at Owain, who grinned back at him.

"Give it a rest…" Arthur muttered tiredly.

"No! Go and bugger off if you can't put up with the lovey-dovey atmosphere!" Owain glared a his brother, not in the mood for being patient. It'd been his first chance in a while to have some alone time with Francis, and he didn't appreciate it being ruined by his brother.

"Fine, maybe I will! At least I'll get some peace somewhere else." Arthur grabbed his books and made for the door, "Have fun sucking each other's dicks!" he spat sarcastically.

"Oh, mon cher, we will," Francis drawled with a smirk, ignoring Arthur's sarcasm. Owain chuckled, even though Arthur had intended it as a joke, he really didn't understand the truth behind his accusation.

"Wait," Arthur caught on, "… You mean…?" you could hear the cogs working in his head, "Ugh! Why am even in the same room as you two?" he darted for the door.

Francis grinned triumphantly, "Well that soon got rid of him!"

"Maybe I should reward you…" Owain muttered, kissing Francis hotly.

"Oh mon cher, you know you get me all hot when you dominate… It gets tiring always being in charge…" Francis said, happily letting Owain tackle him to the bed, his arms above him as the Welsh boy nipped his neck, leaving little bite marks where his teeth had lightly pinched the soft skin.

"Maybe I should take over then?" Owain smirked, but then added in a hurry, "But you still have to top me. I don't think I'd be too satisfying if I were the one doing the fucking…"

"Oh mon cher, you know when you talk like that I could just eat you…" Francis drawled, groaning a little, "I'm sure you'd be more than satisfying, but you're right – I don't like the idea of being on the bottom. Perhaps we'll try it in the future, but for now, I'll just let you do the teasing…"

"My pleasure…" Owain licked his lips a little, tangling their tongues together once again while his hands snaked down Francis' shirt sneakily, "I remember you being particularly sensitive over here… no?" he said lowly, moving over to Francis' ear, and blowing on it lightly, making the blonde shiver in anticipation.

"You are awfully good at this…" Francis commented, before shutting up as Owain sucked on the top of his ear seductively. Man that felt good.

"Well, I was taught by the very best…" Owain replied, "Too much talk, not enough sex, Francis."

"Of course, mon cher…" Francis smiled at Owain's new attitude, leaning back and closing his eyes, letting the pleasure take over him. Owain really was experienced at this, even though he didn't usually get a lot of practice. If Francis' memory was correct, this was Owain's second time being the dominant one. Francis chuckled, oh this would be fun.

Just as Owain had got to the good part – ripping Francis' school shirt off with his teeth and throwing his own perfectly-done-up tie to land on some random object of furniture – there was a painfully bad timed knock at the door. Owain growled a little – actually growled – under his breath, glaring at the door before turning back to Francis.

"Leave them. They'll go away soon. It's probably Arthur begging for attention." Owain frantically began his licking/sucking/biting game with Francis' chest. Francis knew very well that he was going to get more than one hickey at the end of this heated session.

"My, my, you do get terribly aggressive when you're horny, dear Owain…" Francis muttered at the teen sitting on top of him, whose personality had been completely turned on it's head.

Ignoring him, Owain turned to glare at the door again, where the person was still knocking, "It frustrates me knowing that you'll never moan if you know someone could be listening… You're too proud to do such a thing… I want to make you moan. Why can't that person just go away?"

"You know me too well, mon cher," Francis chuckled, watching Owain climb off him, not even bothering to do up his shirt and open the door to their intruder.

Owain opened the door and glared at the person there, though he didn't explode like he originally intended to – he had a soft spot for Alastair, after all.

"Go away. I'm busy." Owain said shortly.

Alastair held up his hands in mock surrender, looking Owain up and down and raising his eyes at his open shirt and tight trousers, "I can see that… Bloody hell you're moody. I just thought you'd want to know—"

"Well I don't. Thank you for your concern – good bye." Owain turned curtly, trying to slam the door, but Alastair's sturdy foot stopped it. Owain didn't care though – he knew because Alastair was his brother, he'd clear off as quickly as Arthur did once he carried on with Francis. No brother wants to see their other brother getting off with another guy.

"So you don't want to know about Arthur and Alfred having a fight right in the middle of my dorm, then?"

"Not particularly…" Owain lied. Francis looked up with a grin on his face, curiosity burning.

"Or the fact that they're throwing things at each other?"

"Nope…"

"Or that some of the objects they're throwing are some of your wee dragon plushies you left behind when you moved into this room?"

Owain froze, and began buttoning up his shirt frantically. Before long, he was dragging Francis and Alastair out of the door with him, "We have to save my dragons." He said slowly and as calmly as he could, running in the direction of Alastair's room, worried about his beloved plushies.

"It always gets him moving," Alastair grinned triumphantly, and glared at Francis who was doing up his tie.

"Mon cher, trust me, I didn't seduce Owain – he was the one that came on to me. I will never intentionally hurt him."

"That doesn't mean you won't unintentionally hurt him, Francis," Alastair glared, "Whether intentional or not, if Owain has a scratch on him, whether that be a physical scratch or an emotional scratch, I will find you, and destroy your pretty little face."

"I can assure you, mon cher, hurting Owain is the last thing that both of us want. I can't promise there won't be any scratches on him, though – sex does get a little rough with him, especially when he's in a feisty mood like this…"

"Well you can expect a visit from me tomorrow morning," Alastair smiled sweetly, "Say goodbye to your nose."

"Okay, okay! We'll keep the biting to a minimum!"

"Good."

"I don't know what's taking you two so long, but you need to come and save my dragons with me!" Owain shouted from up head.

"Drastic means, drastic measures…" Alastair muttered and then took off after his brother, Francis following after him.

Then Francis suddenly realised, "He left me for dragon plushies!"

Kiku had never felt more daring in his life before. Right now he felt like he was on top of the world – a very risky position to be in, but also enough to get your adrenaline pumping.

No, he didn't feel like he was on top of the world – he felt like the world was on top of him. His world, perching on him and kissing him like there was no tomorrow.

It was safe to say that Lars was very experienced.

Part of Kiku wanted his to carry on. He liked the feeling of the Dutch's tongue dancing around his body in unpredictable ways, surprising him every time contact was made. He'd never gone this far with anyone – not even Heracles; he'd quickly stopped him when it looked like anything more than shirts were coming off. Right now, Kiku found himself with his shirt off, hands above his head, and trousers halfway down his legs, leaving his Pikachu boxers embarrassingly on show. He had the situation under control. He wouldn't let Lars go any further than this…

Well, he'd said that to himself when they'd sat down on the bed, then whenever his shirt was being taken off, and now look where it'd gotten him.

That was why the other part of Kiku was panicking. He knew he wasn't ready for sex in any way, but somehow it looked like a very possible outcome of this situation. He knew this would be a decision he would regret, but he didn't have the heart to stop Lars, and if he was truthful, he didn't want to stop Lars.

All he knew is that he was very, very confused.

Lars smiled down at him reassuringly, capturing their lips in another kiss. Kiku gasped a little when he felt Lars' hand fiddle with the hem of his boxers. That scared him. That scared him a lot.

Suddenly all of his feelings seemed to rush out at once, and he curled up into a tiny ball, tears flooding down his face. He felt childish – he didn't even know why he'd burst into tears, he just felt so confused and downright terrified.

Obviously Lars wasn't expecting this rush of emotion either. He stepped back for a second, trying to figure out what he should do. He'd never been very good with situations like this. He'd always been with people that had told him crying was a sign of weakness, and that it was extremely feminine. But with Kiku it was different – it made him want to cry too.

His instincts taking over, Lars reached for a blanket from Kiku's bed, wrapping it around the shaking teen.

"Shh, shh," Lars comforted, hugging Kiku the best he could, "Don't cry, Kiku. What's the matter?"

Kiku shook his head, "I-I don't know…"

"Did I go too far?" Lars asked quietly.

Kiku nodded sheepishly, "Y-yeah…"

"Don't worry, don't worry, I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry…" Lars didn't know why, but when comforting people it seemed you gain a weird habit of repeating things, "Kiku, I'm so sorry, I won't do it again, yeah? Is that good?"

"I-I'm sorry…"

"No, no! Don't be sorry, Kiku!" Lars panicked – what was he apologising for?

"I-I won't be able to give you what you want! It was like this with Heracles-san too… and then that ended in us breaking up… I'm sorry I'm not ready."

Heracles? "That English teacher?" ah yeah, Lars remembered Kiku telling him about a drop-dead-gorgeous Greek guy. "Listen, Kiku, whatever Heracles was like, I'm not like him. I'm not going to break up with you because you're not ready for sex! You can take as long as you need."

"N-No, Heracles-san didn't break up with me, I broke up with him… he was willing to wait for me, just like you…" Kiku frowned mentally – why was he sticking up for Heracles?

"What? Why did you do that?" Lars asked kindly, though he let his confusion shine through.

"Because I hated not giving him what he wanted… the same with you," Kiku muttered through his tears.

Lars then understood. He wanted to hug Kiku and burst into tears himself, and just melt with Kiku's adorable modest side, "Kiku… Do you think that people only date you for the… physical benefits?"

"What?" Kiku looked up.

"Do you think that when people like Heracles and I date you, all we really care about is the sex?" Lars kept his tone quiet.

Kiku paused, "… You mean you don't?"

"Kiku, sex and all that shit is secondary. Some relationships are just for sex, but not us! And I'm sure it wasn't like that with Heracles. When we say we're willing to wait for you, we're not lying. We mean it, because you mean an awful lot to us. Or you do to me – I can't speak on Heracles' part. Kiku, I'm with you now because I like being with you. You've made me a better person. Sex is just a benefit of our relationship – it brings pleasure to us bother, but that's not why I'm with you. I couldn't care less about that stuff if it meant loosing you. We can do it when you're ready, and not a moment before. I'm with you now because I really, really like you, I like spending time with you, and I like talking to you. You've genuinely made me a better person. I might even love you, Kiku."

Kiku froze for a moment, and then his tears gushed out quicker, his sobs increasing.

"What? Did I say something wrong? Oh God are you okay?"

Kiku leaned in to Lars' hug, "I-I'm fine… I'm just… well, I'm really happy. I… I knew relationships could be like how you said – where all people care about it holding hands and being with each other… but I just thought that people on TV got relationships like that… Especially with people older than me… I just thought you were all dating me because you liked the look of me… But, now I know it's not like that… It's a huge relief off my shoulders…" Kiku suddenly felt very bad about kissing Heracles in English earlier.

Lars smiled kindly, "Kiku, you're too modest. I just want to spend time with you – that's a blessing on it's own. Perhaps you caught my eye with your cute looks first, but I'm so glad I took time to get to know you."

"I'm glad you did too."

"Now let's get some clothes on you, and we can go out on a date, that sound good? It's only five o'clock. Maybe we can get food somewhere in town, yeah?"

"Yeah… Lars…?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you hold my hand?" Kiku whispered, blushing.

"You don't even have to ask, Kiku," Lars smiled, joining their hands.

Kiku smiled, shifting his blanked so it covered the two of them. He leant his head against Lars' strong shoulder, and squeezed his fingers, "Thank you."

A/N

OOC. OOC. OOC. I KNOW. I'M SORRY. XD
I've never written the Netherlands before XD I know he's definitely not like that though. X'D it was sort of a bad chapter to introduce him. But when I write him in the future, I'll make sure he's a little more like he really is. I guess he just has a soft spot for little Kiku?
So… I hope that was all in the T-rated zone… *shifts gaze* I know it probably is, I just worry about these things XD
And I'm sorry it took so long X'D I need to get my act together X'D
Also, if you don't already, you should read Alastair's speech in his Scottish accent – I tried doing it today, and it made me roll about laughing X'D I've never done it before X'D
Thanks again, guys! I love all you little reviews *glomps* and of course the faveouriters/followers *double glomp* you guys are awesome!

All my loves~