Hilary Tachibana's Dating Life or Lack of One
Tyson's had orgasms. Many in fact. With people, without people, with his hand, without his hand and they had all been more or less the same, simply varying in intensity. They had never been a full body experience. Not really. He could say some had been felt everywhere but not like this. Not to this extent.
He had felt that orgasm from the top of his head to the very tips of his toes. He may have even felt it in his hair. And everything leading up to it had been toe-curlingly good too but he'd never admit it out loud. Not to anyone. Especially not to Kai. Tyson had accidentally mumbled some nonsense right after and Kai had laughed. Too proud.
God if there is a sound that he hates more than the smooth cadence of Kai's voice then it's his voice when he laughs. He fucking loathes it. And the knowledge that he was laughing because he got Tyson to say something close to praise…
Sometimes Tyson has moments of clarity, like right now, when he faces the fact that he's having sex with his enemy and he asks himself why exactly he's doing it. Well, there are reasons that he often tells himself. He tells himself those reasons every time he gets within touching distance of Kai but none of them can properly explain why the fuck he's doing it.
Because it's batshit insane.
He knows he can jump through as many hoops as he wants to to try and justify it in his head whenever he touches him but he will always come back to this point where he asks himself why and finds no real answer.
He's stopped by the lake. Winded from his morning run, which he had to do around the park instead of training at campus with his team because he got suspended by the same dude he kisses with his own mouth, willingly, every few days.
He stands there with that question of why and a vague feeling of something akin to self disgust hanging over his head for all of five minutes before he continues on a jog, worrying about Zeo who isn't fitting in quite well with the rest of the team. He's the only freshman who made the cut this year and on top of that Tala and his little trio of demons consisting of Cenotaph, Sanguinex and Lupinex are making things harder for the boy.
He should drop by Zeo's dorm today, he decides. Just go up to him and start being his friend because there's no way that kid is going to approach anyone on the team on his own. May be he'll drag Lee along too.
May be he could get a couple more chill guys from the team and they could all hang out together. If Zeo would be up to it of course.
He got to talk to Lee first.
Tyson does a couple more laps around the park before heading back to the dorm.
Kai wakes up in a horrible mood. He hadn't been able to sleep for most of the night, tossing and turning every minute, and when he'd finally managed to get some rest close to sunrise his phone had rang.
Fucking cursed thing.
He'd thought he put it on vibrate but here he sits rubbing sleep out of his eyes and listening to the voice of Enrique complaining about some blown tire.
"Why are you calling me about a tire?" he asks, pretty much growls. Annoyed.
"I'm high as fuck."
"It's 6 a.m."
"You shouldn't have answered, man. Put it on vibrate or something. You know I like to talk when I'm high-"
Kai hangs up and tosses the device on the night stand before flopping back on the mattress, pulling the covers up over his head.
As if that could help him sleep.
As if it would keep Tyson away from his brain. Stop him from tormenting him.
He's already tried everything he knows. And nothing had worked. He'd really like to be left the fuck alone.
He's had enough. He's not calling Tyson today. He's going to avoid him like the plague till Monday evening. May be he'll even stand him up on Monday. Who gives a shit?
Boris has him picking trash around campus in the afternoon. Tyson jabs at crushed cans and picks up half empty bottles and throws them into a garbage bag as Boris strolls ahead of him humming a merry tune under his breath.
"I don't do pot," he says after a half hour of picking trash.
"That's what they all say," replies Boris in his high-pitched nasally voice.
Tyson huffs. "I really don't. Professor, do I look like a pot head?"
The purple-haired man glances at him over his shoulder and purses his lips. "You look like many things, Mr Granger, but I don't think you want to find out what they all are."
Tyson's jaw drops open. How is he even allowed to say stuff like that to students?
"It was Kai," he says, sputtering as he recovered from the insult. "Kai Hiwatari planted the weed in my locker."
He realizes his mistake too late. He second-guesses saying it out loud as soon as the man's ears quite literally perk up in interest. "Kai did what?" he asks, turning to look at him with eyes hungry for more information.
Kai. Boris never uses any student's first name. That's strange. And he's pretty sure it was a slip of his tongue. Boris must not even have noticed that he'd just referred to a student by their first name. He knows Kai. Enough to feel comfortable calling him anything other than Mr Hiwatari.
"He planted the weed?" Tyson says unsurely. "In my locker?"
He should have never brought it up. Boris's eyes gleam.
"Such a juvenile prank," he mostly says to himself, playing with the rings on his fingers. "So unlike him but I can tell you're not lying." Then his gaze snaps up to Tyson again. "You can go, Mr Granger," he says, deciding that he'd gleaned enough out of him.
Shit, as happy as he is to be let go he regrets saying anything about Kai to Boris. He doesn't know why he feels like this but the way the man had responded to it…Something in his gut tells him he should have kept his stupid mouth shut.
"Enjoy the rest of your afternoon," he dismisses him with a gleeful smile.
He spends the rest of his afternoon with Em and Hilary at a coffee shop in a mall just because they felt like having a different scenery to their conversations.
Emily arrives just a few minutes late. "Got something for you," she says, pushing a gift bag Hilary's way across the table.
"Oh Em, what's this for?" She beams. She loves surprises and gifts. Hilary's on the moon right now. Tyson feels jealousy stinging his chest for two reason. One, Em didn't get anything for him. And two, that's his best friend she's wooing with her gifts.
"Nothing for me?" he asks bitterly.
"Nothing for you," Emily says to him then turns to Hilary. "A belated birthday gift."
"You've already given me so many gifts." Hilary dives into the bag. "You're spoiling me."
"I love spoiling you." Emily looks on eagerly as Hilary pulls a small jewelry box out.
Tyson's dying of jealousy. But it's true however. Emily loves spoiling her friends. And her mother's loaded so she can afford to do that.
Hilary gasps as she opens it. "Oh Em, you didn't! It's so pretty!"
It's a silver necklace with a cute pendant on it.
"She already has a BFF necklace," says Tyson.
"Stand down, Granger. I'm not stealing your bestie. And I got her a necklace that matches the one you gave her," she says, leaning over to help Hilary put it on. Tyson holds her hair up. "It looks perfect on you!"
It does.
The BFF chain he gave Hilary is shorter and sits nearer to her throat while Emily's lies just below, complimenting it. They look like a set.
"Wow" says Tyson.
"I know, right?" Emily smirks. "I knew you'd come around."
"I'm not around."
Hilary opens the front camera of her phone and fawns over the jewellery. "Thank you" she squeals.
The necklaces remind Tyson of the thin gold chain that hangs around Kai's throat. The one that drives him insane with the way it lays against his luminescent skin.
Woah, what the fuck?
Luminescent? Tyson needs help. Luminescent is crazy. He's literally never used that word. He didn't even know he had that word in his vocabulary. But Kai's skin is great. His skin rocks.
Tyson had shamelessly licked him from head to toe yesterday. And he has zero regrets! He lightly smacks his lips together remembering the feel of it.
He can't wait to do it again. He drums his fingers impatiently on the tabletop.
"What do you think about him?" asks Hilary, showing them her phone screen.
"Who's that?" asks Emily.
"I think I've seen him around campus," says Tyson, breaking out of his filthy thoughts. The guy on Hilary's phone screen has a multicolored head, buzz-cut hair died in shades of pink and purple. He has a decent face and a nice body though. The photo seems to have been taken on a beach.
"His name's Obi Nguyen, a third year. He asked me out today morning. Through DMs."
Tyson starts shaking his head immediately.
"DMs?" Emily wrinkles her nose.
"We've been texting for a few days." Hilary looks at him, biting her lip. "He's nice and funny."
Tyson knows he's overly protective of Hilary. But rightfully so. The last time she'd gotten involved with a guy it hadn't gone well, had it?
"I think I'd like to try something casual with him. You know?" She lifts a shoulder in a shrug.
Emily's got that scowl on her face that says she heavily disapproves of something but is trying to be respectful about it.
Tyson chews on his lip.
"Why are you guys so quiet?" asks Hilary, looking at each of them in turn.
"We need to discuss this at length," Emily says. "You need to discuss it with him," she points to Tyson, "then you need to discuss it with me. And then we need to discuss it altogether. So what happened with He Who Must Not Be Named doesn't happen again."
"Urgh, you guys," Hilary groans. "I'll be fine. I'll be careful."
"We still need to talk about it," says Tyson, pulling his boba tea closer and stirring it with the straw. There are so many things swirling in the corners of his mind right now. None that he wants to directly face. But he needs to make sure Hilary is alright. That she doesn't end up more hurt than ever. And for that they need to talk.
"Yeah, sure," says Hilary. "Let's talk about it."
Tyson waits for Hilary to join him on the bed. He's already laid all of his stuff around him on the mattress. She does a little dive because her bed is bouncy and laughs when it ends with her almost face planting on his knee.
"That could have ended badly," she says, combing her hair back into place.
"Jesus" says Tyson watching her. "Caught yourself just in time."
"Killer reflexes"
"X-woman" He grins.
"Never beating the allegations."
She pulls out her laptop and books along with a variety of pens and the collection of chocolates she got for her birthday.
"You're nearly three fourths through already," Tyson complains digging in to the chocolate stash.
"Hey, I live in a dorm filled with college girls," she says in defense. "We're like animals with this stuff."
He pouts. "Could have at least saved my favs for me."
"I did, babe. Look properly." Hilary uncaps a pen with her teeth and pulls a slim notebook into her lap. "I'm gonna kill that man."
"Which one?" he asks around a mouthful of Snickers. Hilary did save his favourites.
"Daitenji obviously."
"Obviously"
"When will he retire?"
"May be we should set him up and get him fired or something," he grumbles, opening his laptop to complete one of Daitenji's countless assignments that he doles out daily. Tyson's suspended but he's still obligated to submit his assignments on time. Isn't that insane? This institution is built against the students who study there.
"Tyson!" Hilary chastises. "What did you just say?!"
"What?" He looks at her offended. "Kai got me suspended by planting weed in my locker." He will wail about this till the end of time. "It's possible to do the same to Daitenji."
"Tyson!" she shouts, eyes wide. "Listen to you!"
And he finally comes back to his senses. "Oh my god." He's plotting evil against his professor. Like the Blitzkriegs. Like Kai.
"You've been corrupted!" says Hilary, sounding like she wants to stage an immediate intervention.
He falls back on the bed. "Fuck"
"That man is rubbing off on you." The man is question is Kai. She crawls over and starts doing chest compressions on him.
He clutches her hand tightly. "Hil, it's too late for me. Save yourself. Run for your life!"
"You're crazy if you think I'll abandon you, Peter."
He stops fake dying to ask, "Who's Peter?"
Hilary pauses, blinking. "I don't know."
They start laughing and it takes them a while to stop because they keep cracking up when they look at each other.
"Stop. Stop, oh my god, why are you laughing?"
"Why are you laughing?"
"I'm laughing because you're laughing!"
Tyson holds his stomach. His abs hurt. He reaches over for the half-eaten snickers bar but she beats him to it, snatching it up and taking a bite.
He looks at her giggling form lying on the bed and says, "Don't choke yourself."
"Don't worry," she says, chewing. "I'm more coordinated than you."
Tyson chooses another Snickers bar and unwraps it.
They need to talk about what Hilary had said earlier. About her decision to start casually dating people.
He bites off a piece of the chocolate in his hand and chews thoughtfully. Choosing his words with consideration for her feelings. "Hil? Do you want to try casual dating because of what happened with…" He takes a breath. Fuck that son of a bitch. This is all his fault. "Kai?"
Hilary sits up, regarding his question. A small piece of chocolate left between her fingers. "Why?" Her brow furrows.
"Does it?" asks Tyson, turning to look at her with concern.
Hilary searches in his eyes and looks away thoughtfully after a minute. "May be"
Tyson exhales slowly. Controlling his emotions because getting angry and flipping out over him right now is not going to help her. He patiently waits for her to go on. For her to piece all her thoughts together.
Hilary glances at the Snickers wrapper with the last piece of chocolate left in it and says, "I mean I feel like don't have much dating experience. I fall in love with people too easily."
Hilary's only ever dated one guy before college. His name was Sawamura and they'd dated for two years before breaking up when Hilary moved to Tokyo to attend Toho. She had been horribly heartbroken about it and hyper focused on academics during her freshman year to move on from him as well as make the breakup worth it. Sacrificing love for a good education.
But by the end of freshman year she was over that guy and more like her old self again. She got a feeling that she had gone a little overboard with academics, taking college too seriously and not having any fun. This resulted in her going to her first ever Blitzkrieg party (before that rager she had gone to may be three parties at best. All attendances forced and peer pressured. She left them all early too.) Enter Kai. Hilary had obviously heard about him and his friends before. Everyone has.
But the thing was for all the unapproachable air he exuded when Hilary said hi to him with all the bravery a few shots of alcohol had given her he hadn't turned and walked away. Kai had talked to her. He hadn't been the posh prick everyone said he was.
And that was what caused all the problems. Hilary didn't know then that Kai wasn't a regular run-of-the-mill asshole. But a lying, conniving, manipulative bastard of a kind no one has ever encountered before (Tyson might be getting a bit sidetracked.)
Anyway he had been nice and it made her think she had a shot. She did but only as far as his bed because you can't reach a heart that doesn't exist. It's cold and dead (Tyson might be getting sidetracked again.) And why wouldn't she take the chance when this totally hot guy that everyone said was mean and unattainable and completely not nice was being nice to her?
She was starstruck.
"He was just being nice to me, but I thought that meant he liked me and wanted me more than just physically," says Hilary and her voice sounds vulnerable.
Tyson's heart hurts. He hates seeing her like this. Talking like this. He can hear the insecurity in her voice and he knows that Kai had greatly contributed to it.
"Because I was naïve and didn't know much about boys," she says, gaze on her lap. "I still don't know a lot about boys and so I need to date more, but not like in a serious way. I don't want to have sex with strangers but I don't want to be clueless either you know? I never want to listen to a guy tell me that he doesn't want anything more than sex from me and then proceed to delude myself into thinking that he does."
Tyson listens to her with a lump in his throat but the last sentence has him frowning in confusion. "Wait what?"
"What?" Hilary looks at him. Her eyes appear slightly wet.
Tyson swallows down the lump so he can speak properly. "You said he told you he wanted nothing more than…" he trails off but Hilary understands what he's talking about.
"Yeah" she says. "He did say that."
"You never told me," says Tyson, feeling surprised.
Hilary shakes her head. "I was telling myself stories. To you as well. Must have forgotten to tell you the real part where he said what he actually wanted from me."
"He really said that?" Tyson asks again, reeling.
Hilary nods. "Yeah and I still went head and embarrassed myself. So to avoid further embarrassments like that in my future I'm going to date people in a fun way for a while."
It used to shock him when he was younger when Hilary would say exactly the same thing he was thinking about. Or hear her thinking along the same lines he does, and it's still surprising to see her doing it but not as much as before.
He glances at her and she meets his eyes. Hilary smiles.
"Do you think it's stupid?" she asks.
"No" He shakes his head. "You know most of our batchmates aren't in serious relationships."
"Exactly!"
"None of them are dating to get married the way Mike and Emily are."
Hilary bursts out laughing and it's like a breath of fresh air to hear her laugh again after the last twenty minutes.
"Or Rei," supplies Hilary.
"They might be married already the way they act," says Tyson.
Hilary snorts. "Old couple"
"Ancient"
"Have you made a move on Trent yet?"
"Woah no"
"Woah?"
"I'm honestly scared. What if he's like straight and homophobic?"
"Then I'll chop his balls off."
"You would do that," says Tyson, turning his head to look at her as they both lie on the bed, chewing on sour candies.
"Be brave, Ty," says Hilary. "Die a hero."
"A hero who lost the fight against evil?"
"Hey, if it all goes south, at least you'll know you took your shot and didn't stay in the dark guessing."
"That's one optimistic way to think about it."
"Yeah"
He has a meet this Friday and there's a good chance that Trent will be there too. He imagines going up to him and flirting with him. He'll have to keep it real lowkey. Lowkey in a way only a gay man would sense it. But what if he's gay and dense? What then?
Tyson exhales in frustration. He'll just figure it out as he goes. Let his gut lead the way. His gut is almost never wrong.
They lie like that talking about a bunch of things for a while, finishing up the chewy sweets and then they run out of topics and continue resting in comfortable silence.
Tyson checks his watch. He has a few more minutes before he has to go hang out with Zeo. He thinks Hilary's asleep.
But when he looks over, her eyes are open, gazing contemplatively at the ceiling. He wonders what she's thinking about.
But he doesn't have to for long.
"Was it a guy?" she asks out loud.
He freezes. An undeniable feeling of knowing in his gut that tells him what she's talking about.
"The mysterious hickeys you had on your neck a month ago," she explains, looking at him. The expression on her face is knowing and softly curious.
He thinks about lying and immediately feels repulsed. He can't do it. He can't lie to her. Not like this. Not when they've been so open with each other for the last hour. "Yes" he breathes.
She could ask who and he might just tell her.
Hilary barely blinks. Unsurprised. She gives him an understanding nod. "I thought it would be a guy because it would make sense why he'd want you to keep it a secret. If he isn't out of the closet he wouldn't want anyone to know."
Tyson takes a deep breath. She could just ask. And he would tell her. He holds his jaw tightly so Kai's name wouldn't accidentally just slip out or something.
"Don't worry. I won't ask you anymore questions about him. I don't want you to break your promise." She puts her hand over his. "But Ty, I hope you never go back to him again. You deserve someone who loves just as loudly as you do."
He thinks he'll say his name. But what comes out of his mouth is, "It was nothing."
It will always be nothing because this feeling right here? He hates it.
"Good"
Kai lounges on the couch across from the bed fiddling with a glass of alcohol.
Yes, he's aware that he didn't stand him up. That he's there early. He's aware that he looks dressed up in his black button down and slacks but he had come straight here for a moment of peace after a dinner filled with drama.
It had involved Julia and Queen and a plate of lobsters. And he really doesn't care about fucking anything right now.
Especially not that he appears to be waiting for Granger. He has zero fucks to give about that.
The drink is to dull his senses and it's working. He takes a slow sip from it listening to the faint ticking of his own watch.
There's a knock on the door and Kai briefly considers just letting him wait outside. But Granger is less likely to hang around the corridor waiting and more likely to go back downstairs and call Kai.
Kai's not interested in listening to Granger's voice over a phone right now.
So he lazily drawls out that the door is open.
Tyson waltzes in in a flurry of activity, wearing a coat and a scarf. "It's getting chilly outside," he says shutting the door loudly and taking those outer layers off, hanging them up. "And it's barely October."
He sounds winded. He sounds like his mouth tastes like cool fog.
Kai drags his eyes away from him and sips on his drink.
Tyson walks over and stands in front of him with his hands on his hips. "None for me?" he asks after a beat.
"Why would I give you any?" retorts Kai, taking his sweet time with it.
"Because you want to get in my pants and you won't be able to till you get me drunk?" he says, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
Kai sends him a funny look. "Does amnesia run in your family?"
He falls back on the bed with a groan. "A guy can dream." He got one boot up on the edge, the other dangling. It's a nice view for Kai who's seated right across him.
"Oh you can see Toho from here," says Tyson, face turned towards the window, looking out through the crack in the curtains. He gets off the bed and walks over to the balcony. "This view is awesome," he says, before sliding the door wide open and eagerly stepping out.
Kai can still see him. Tyson pulls off his team jacket as soon as he gets a whiff of the cold air, leaving just the pale yellow sleeveless shirt and blue jeans on. He ducks halfway back in for a second to throw the jacket on the bed, but his gaze draws in Kai's direction with a certain quality to it.
Like he's checking if he's watching him.
Like he wants him to look.
Kai's hand tightens around the glass in his hold as their eyes meet. He's looking.
Even as Tyson goes back out and leans on the railing. His lithe form something like a dream against the backdrop of Tokyo.
Kai thinks of going outside, joining him. Running his fingers up his bare arm. Across his shoulders. Trail goosebumps in his wake.
But he stays put.
Lets him come to him.
But Tyson stays out there for a while, gazing at the skyscrapers, leaning on his elbows. On his forearms. Resting the side of his head on them.
Then he straightens up and walks back over, eyes on Kai even through the glass. He stops at the door, putting a hand on its edge.
"Do you want to try something?" he asks, meeting his gaze.
Brown on crimson. They may as well be kissing with the amount of heat in the air between them.
"How about a toy?" he says, eyes like sin, heady with the thoughts playing behind them. Clear that he's thinking about nothing holy. Kai can almost see them. The images in his mind. See the effects of them on his features. Tyson leans his back against the edge of the open door, continues telling Kai about his fantasies.
"The ones with different settings?" he goes on. "That you can choose?"
Oh.
Any less control and he'd have ruined his pants.
He listens to him barely breathing, rarely blinking. Tyson draws his bottom lip into his mouth, his front teeth sinking into it with the slightest peek of his tongue behind them as he slides his gaze to Kai's.
Kai wants to touch him. He looks like he wants to be touched.
He can't move. His body's failing him. His limbs too weak. Can't remember how to coordinate his spine with his hips and knees to move his legs, walk to Tyson.
He wills him to himself, wishes for the power of telekinesis because his mouth can't form words, string any sentences together.
And as if he knows the effect he's having on Kai, Tyson moves away from the door, making his way to the couch where Kai sits. A statue entranced by him, his long legs, his gait.
He almost jerks when Tyson touches him, hands sliding up his knees as he bends toward him. "I went through the drawers the last time I was here," he says, and Kai can't concentrate on anything except the palms on his thighs, slipping up, the words on his tongue, the way his lips move around them. His entire world reduced to the shape of the boy in front of him. And the sound of his voice saying things he hadn't dared to even dream of.
"There was a purple box in one of them." His hand strokes up his leg. The box. He has the faintest memory of buying it last year. For someone else. Never using it. The fabric of Tyson's shirt shifts to reveal more of his collarbone. "It seemed new," he says, his gaze half-lidded. "Red and white."
He's so close that his lips touch the edge of the glass Kai's holding the next time he speaks. His eyes swallowing up everything else around Kai. "Do you want to try it on me?"