thenearshore | "Wait, did you just flirt with me?"

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"Wait, did you just flirt with me?"

Who: Chikusa Kakimoto and Ken Joshima
What: At long last, Chikusa finally makes an attempt at making a move on his questionable crush. Now if only he'd told the crush in question that this is a date... and could think of a date idea that doesn't involve what they basically already do on their daily hang outs. Hm.
When: November 3
Where: The Near Shore

As it turns out, finding a good movie to take Ken to is a little harder than Chikusa anticipates.

Because that's the first step, isn't it? That's the stereotypical way of things. Chikusa would know. Romance, even just the idea of it, has never particularly come easy to him. It's why he had to read a lot of things, from proper novels to bodice rippers to women's magazines , to get a good idea, before he could even think of starting to write the story that he had in mind, and even then he's fairly certain he's not doing everything right. Still, he's read enough by now. He knows a few good date ideas, or, at least, they're ideas that have come up more than a few times all across the board.

A lot of them he knows he doesn't have the energy for. For example, more than a few shoujo stories have introduced the concept of amusement parks, running around with all sorts of shenanigans and misunderstandings happening. Still, they always have one good moment of romance, which Chikusa can usually pick out from the increase in sparkles and art quality, usually toward the end of the chapter or story or whatever it is. He knows why. It's to signify that the whole mess was worth it.

Well, that really is a romantic view, because Chikusa sure as hell isn't doing it. It's not even because he's unaware of what amusement parks are around in Japan. In fact, he knows of one that's apparently really popular called Capypaland, and within easy distance. (And why does it feel like Japan has more amusement parks than Italy... Why is that a thing?) But the simple fact of the matter is that Chikusa knows himself, and he knows that he most definitely doesn't have the expanse of energy necessary to spend on the kind of all day event that going to an amusement park would require, even if he saved up. Besides, he feels like Ken would get in a fight with a mascot, or something.

So he goes with the common tried and true method: movies.

It's a strange thing as he spends a day flicking through his options, of what places to go to and what could be out. It's never occurred to him that he would need to reserve a seat for a movie at all.... which he doesn't do anyway. They're going to sneak in and not pay at the front, because why? They're ghosts, nonexistent to the world, and don't have to pay for shit. Chikusa is glad for it, honestly, and not only because he's cheap, but because it takes him long enough just deciding on a movie. He knows his partner's tastes, after all. Ken doesn't even read for fun, or if he can get away with not doing it at all. Like hell he's going to watch a movie (or at least have fun doing it) that makes him think.

....Which makes it a problem, Chikusa reflects as he keeps scrolling through his phone, that so many movies out right now seem to be dramas or mysteries.

It takes him literal hours of debating with himself on if Ken would be alright with some drama so long as it contained lots of fighting or maybe even a gory horror movie before he finally decides some action looking anime movie will do just fine. They're both teenagers, and Ken has even less of the usual maturity of one in Chikusa's opinion. It should be fine.

All of this is the lead up to Chikusa, seemingly out of the blue from where he'd been laying limply across the couch, asking Ken if he wants to see a movie.

...Neglecting to tell him, of course, what he really has in mind.

It's just an experiment he tells himself as they go from temple to shrine to movie theater. It's not a real date; they do this sort of thing all the time. They go somewhere, mooch off of something so long as they can get away with it, eat, and wander around a little bit. (At least, that's his plan for the night.) This doesn't have to be anything besides their usual.

If only he could make himself believe that. If only he could figure out what makes this time different. Yet Ken's proximity to him, right by his side and so close, distracts him completely and utterly from the journey through the movie itself. As the two of them pick up their three different jugs of popcorn (buttered, caramel, chocolate, all actually legally bought as movie food is a lot harder to steal), Chikusa reflects on the empty cup of soda he has with him. He's pretty sure he didn't "go" like he sometimes does.... and yet he can't really recall when, exactly, he drained the thing dry. He can't really remember much about the movie, either. All he can remember is focusing on how close him and Ken had been, much like he often gets so lost in it whenever they curl together in their bedroom on the verges of sleep, and if it would have been too much too soon for him to touch his hand or his shoulder or that messy blond hair of his...

It's entirely possible that he's been staring at his partner for most of the movie, only occasionally drifting off to focus on what had been happening on the big screen.

Right now, however, he simply leaves their various food stuffs (or the containers food had once been in) left in the trash, and his gaze is a bit distant as he glances up from beneath his secondary birthday beanie, tentacles and all. Ah.... He had a plan, he thinks, and lets out a breath as if that will get him to focus any better. He should probably stick to it, and stop glancing at Ken from the corner of his eye as they leave the theater.

He doesn't ask Ken if he's still hungry, because he always is, and instead says, "What do you want to eat?"

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"Yakiniku!" Ken answers happily. Chikusa's right; he's always hungry.

It's been a good day so far. The movie was fun, even if Ken gets restless after an hour no matter how good a movie is; he'd expended a lot of his restlessness on eating popcorn. The popcorn was in fact a primary feature of the day; he considers it and the movie to be two separate good things that have happened to him today. Plus he's hanging out with Chikusa, and he's noticed something about his partner in the time since they've regained their memories of each other - Chikusa's more fun to be around now than he was when they were alive. Chikusa seems to like him better, and treat him better...even if he's still annoying and nags him about dumb stuff. But the dumb stuff is usually for Ken's own good, so even if he doesn't like it, he can acknowledge - grudgingly - that the nagging might be necessary...even if it's not enjoyable.

But something's beginning to nudge at him. Some part of him has been vaguely aware of it, though he hadn't paid attention to it initially; but like a dam in a rainstorm, the pressure's been building on it, and his curiosity is starting to leak through.

"How come we went to a movie, Kakipi?" he asks, glancing at Chikusa. "We don't usually go to movies, byon."

The fact that Ken has chosen meat is completely and utterly unsurprising. Chikusa has known his partner for long enough, memories or no memories, to know that he'd likely survive on meat and sweets if he could. It's just the kind of meat that is the question, and Chikusa makes a small noise of acceptance at the answer that comes. Barbecue then.... That works. Hakkai has probably given Ken a new favorite thing with what he pulled that one night, honestly. From out of his pocket he pulls out his phone, swiping it on. He's pretty sure there has to be some restaurant that does "all you can eat"...

He's still going through the prices on one site (it's a lot harder to eat for free at actual restaurants, as it turns out, unless you are really good at pretending to be with a large group) when Ken speaks up, and Chikusa's shuffling steps stutter for a second.

"No reason," he mutters down to his phone, tilting it a little so that he can see the screen better. It's not quite sunset yet, but the sky is clearly heading there, and he's aware, suddenly, of some of the more overt couples around them huddling for warmth even as they shuffle down the sidewalk. Or perhaps that kind of thing was always happening, and it's only recently he's begun to notice. "I wanted to. Didn't like it?"

"You're the one who didn't like it, byon," Ken replies, frowning. "You barely even watched it. Why'd you wanna go to a movie if you weren't gonna watch it? And it was my kinda movie, too."

He scratches his cheek. "I still miss Roy-sama, but it's not that bad still...you don't have to keep trying to cheer me up, byon."

Trust Ken to pick up immediately on details like that... "I didn't not like it," Chikusa mutters down at his phone, which is true, because he would have needed to really pay attention to it to have a solid opinion one way or the other. As it is, he's really only vaguely aware of what the plot was. Then again, considering the kind of movie it was, perhaps that's all he really needs.

But that's not really addressing the point, and Chikusa blinks up at him, attention finally torn away from his phone. "That's..." And just as quickly, he looks away again. "...I didn't do it for that..."

"How come, then?" Ken frowns at him. "It's not like you really wanted to see the movie, byon. And you're letting me pick the food, too..."

His eyes narrow. "Are you gonna make me shower when we get home, byon?" Maybe Chikusa's just buttering him up for something.

A faint sound that seems to be the very distant cousin to the laugh leaves Chikusa's mouth. Maybe he should have made Ken bathe before they did this. Then again, he suspects that would have just made the temptation of touching Ken even worse with the addition of another part he'd want to touch. When Ken is clean, even if it's only relative, his hair looks nice to touch.

"No.... I'm not." Finally deciding on a place, Chikusa slides the phone back into his pocket again. "I.... just wanted to try something different. To see."

Ken doesn't often get anything even close to a laugh out of Chikusa, and the sound perks him up a little even through his frowning confusion. It makes him stand a little taller.

"To see what, byon?"

Shoulders tightening a little bit, closer to his head and the rest of his body, Chikusa glances away. He hadn't wanted to spill anything so soon, but... Even as they continue to walk, yet another couple passes them by, cuddled close together and smiling. Things like that have always felt distant to him- the sigh of a life untouched and oblivious. Yet when he turns his head to glance at Ken again from behind his curtain of hair, due for cutting, it feels like he's not distant at all.

Maybe if he's subtle. He's an assassin, he can do subtle, can't he?

"Ken... Have you noticed a lot of people on the Near Shore... doing this kind of thing a lot lately...?"

"Doing what kind of thing?" asks Ken, who's been paying attention to no one but Chikusa. Flattering, but at the same time frustrating under these circumstances.

It'd be flattering if he knew he was the only one Ken's been paying mind to... but, as it is, he just lets out a soft breath of annoyance. Trust Ken to not care about people unless it's regarding a fight, or danger.

Maybe he shouldn't bother being subtle. It is Ken. He probably won't get it anyway. It's almost reassuring.

"Things like.... going out as couples... and things like that."

Ken considers this for a moment, then looks around at their surroundings, taking in the people he can see. There are indeed several couples in view.

"I guess, byon," he says dubiously, frowning. "Is that weird or something?" He's not sure why Chikusa is pointing out a proliferation of couples. Is it bad? Is there some kind of romance ayakashi they're hunting? Are they the bait?

Ken doesn't have the least clue what other people being romantic as couples has to do with the two of them. Though he is, at least, getting closer to the idea that what they're currently doing is essentially romantic couple stuff.

Yeah. Somehow, Chikusa begins to relax. That's right, it's Ken. He doesn't have to worry at all. Someone like Ken could probably read the story he's working on, and not pick up on the similarities, couldn't he? That makes it a lot easier to deal with, when he doesn't have to watch his words so carefully.

"Not really." Pausing at a stoplight, he checks the street again out of habit. He knows this city fairly decently by now, with how much effort he's put into learning about it, but it never hurts.

"I just... wanted to see why people like doing that, I guess." The light flicks green, and Chikusa gets moving again. In the throng of people who don't notice them, he doesn't have to worry about speaking so easily. "Ken... You like cute girls, right?"

"So...this is research?" Ken frowns, puzzled. "Does that mean this is a date, byon?" Then, before Chikusa can necessarily start his heart attack - "Don't you need to do it someone you like?"

Since he's seemingly critiquing Chikusa's approach, the implication is that Ken thinks Chikusa doesn't like him. Chikusa may be paranoid enough to assume that means Ken doesn't like Chikusa, of course, but his paranoia will have to reach a little for that interpretation.

At the mention of cute girls, Ken promptly turns pink. "Nuh-uh," he huffs, looking away, with denial written in large print all over his face. "Girls are all...soft, and they smell funny." By which Ken means scented products, which admittedly are often more of a feminine thing.

Shit, he thinks his heart might have forgotten to beat for a moment there, and Chikusa is still recovering over that sensation- not painful, because it's him, but certainly uncomfortable- to really pay much mind to what Ken says right after. "Yeah, you do," is all he says absentminedly, resisting the urge to touch his chest before remembering that there's nothing int here anyway. Right.... Dead. Even though it doesn't feel like it.

Coming out of his brief attack at the question, Chikusa watches Ken's face go from regular to almost neon in the space of a second. Right... "So you like them," he says bluntly, calling his partner out. Well, he'd already known that, just because he knows Ken, and has seen him react to cute girls. But, more importantly... "Then... Have you ever thought a boy was cute before...?"

Which is what he really needs to know. Chikusa knows he's not 'cute', of course... He might not really have a preference for that kind of thing, like Ken does, but Chikusa can recognize what's socially accepted even when he doesn't care. Cute is big shining eyes, and being able to peer up at someone with those same eyes, and soft colors. It's not being made of fish bones and desperation, elbows too sharp and limbs too long, eyes duller than concrete and about as worn. Chikusa hates looking at himself in the mirror. The person in it always seems fake, not real, not connected to him at all. But... He still knows what he looks like, and he knows what he's not.

Still... So long as Ken likes boys too...

Ken blinks at Chikusa for a moment, then frowns. "Only girls are cute," he says, in an impatient 'everyone knows this' voice. "Guys are handsome. It's different, byon." As to the greater question at hand, though, which he recognizes as more 'do you look at girls the same way you look at boys', he falls silent for a moment, eyeing Chikusa.

"I dunno if I like boys," he says eventually. "I never thought about it. The only guy my age I like or spend much time with is you. And you're Kakipi. We've always been together, but never, like...as a couple."

Which means that now, as he looks at Chikusa, he's looking at him in a new light. It's weird, and it's doing that thing to his stomach again. Like he's hungry, and Chikusa is what he wants to eat. It's definitely not the awkward, embarrassed, hot feeling he gets around cute girls...but he doesn't actually dislike the feeling.

"Do you like me like that, Kakipi? You wanna know if I think you're cute, right?" He sounds more curious than anything, and he's come to a complete stop - which is a big deal, when they're on their way to go eat.

In only what seems like the space of a minute- perhaps a couple if he's optimistic- his stomach gets jerked around every which way. A sink at the response that only girls are cute, a flutter upwards when guys are handsome, and then-

There's honestly no describing what his stomach does when Ken point out that the only boy he's ever spent as much time with has been Chikusa himself. What can he say to that? It's true. Chikusa has gotten to know a few different boys around his age, with varying reactions- even a few that he's come to recognize as vague fondness half because they share some of the same traits that Ken has. But Ken... Him and Ken are together almost always. They wake up together, and, when night falls, they go to sleep together.

So that next question....

It shouldn't be a surprise that it comes, that he can almost feel Ken stop and end up behind him instead of along his side. That should be expected. So why does a heat overtake his skin, burning him up against the autumn chill in the air? He doesn't turn to face Ken, only stops as well... and hopes that the fire seemingly burning up to his ears and against his neck remains hidden. Hopes his hair, untouched ever since he became a shinki and grown longer, hides the burning red along his skin, or at least that his beanie can reinforce that. For a moment, the words stay strangled in his throat, unsure of how they even want to form for him.

"I..." A swallow. It doesn't help the knot in his throat. "I didn't ask anything about if you thought... I was cute..." It's not the best response, and it's half mumbled into his jacket, but it's the only one he can really manage. Nothing he's read has helped him for this, either.

"Who else would you wanna know about? And what other guys do I even know that I could think were cute?" Ken moves a couple steps forward, peering at Chikusa's face from the side. "Besides, you're the one who brought me on a date."

Ken's not stupid, merely thoughtless - and, at times, he does think. This has brought down people in the past, and Chikusa's fallen victim to it on occasion...like now.

Chikusa's definitely turned red, which Ken takes for the confirmation it is. The thought of Chikusa liking him, wanting to date him...it intensifies that feeling in his gut. That almost craving. It's not an unpleasant feeling, still, but there's something unsatisfied about it. He wants something, badly, but he's not quite sure what it is or how to get it. What he is sure of is that Chikusa's the one who can satisfy it.

"You're too tall to be cute, byon," he says critically, still watching Chikusa closely. "But I don't care if you're cute or not. You look like Kakipi. If you looked like anything else, I wouldn't like it."

There's another long pause, while Ken tries to figure out what to do next, before he leans in and licks Chikusa's cheek. Not a rough, exuberant lick, but a warm, wet drag of his tongue.

"In general," is the mutter to thin air as he studiously avoids looking at where he can hear Ken moving back into place besides him. "On television, or something." Maybe even just someone he's not really met. Ken does know other people besides him, after all. That's how he knew Roy, and a couple of other people Chikusa doesn't really bother with. It doesn't really matter.

What matters is how intently Ken is staring up at him- never a good sign. Really, Chikusa has to admit he's kind of stupid. He'd coasted by too much on the hopes that Ken would stay oblivious and just ask dumb questions, distracted by the prospect of food. That's backfired, obviously. Now everything is right there on the table, where he hasn't even had a chance to prepare himself.

...Especially for all this blushing as his words fail to manifest with every single thing that leaves Ken's mouth. Frankly, he can't tell if Ken is insulting him or complimenting him. What is he supposed to say to any of that? He turns his head, looking away from Ken's intense probing gaze, and opens his mouth to say something, most likely 'shut up'-

His brain stops.

Utterly and completely.

Ken can probably literally see the way it short circuits behind Chikusa's eyes, which have gone uncharacteristically wide. This isn't even like the first time Ken licked him, at least as shinki, when he'd gotten named by Hakkai. This is entirely different, earning that strange bubbling heat in him that he thinks could almost substitute itself for a heartbeat. He doesn't even look at Ken, so utterly bluescreened.

Sorry, Ken. You broke your kappa.

"Kakipi?" Ken gets worried almost immediately. This isn't the same as Chikusa's leaving, when he goes away behind his eyes somewhere, but somehow it feels the same. Chikusa, staring at nothing, with nobody really home upstairs.

He moves around in front of Chikusa, reaching up and turning Chikusa's head to look at him. "Kakipi!" he says, more sharply, trying to call him back.

Fortunately, just calling his name is enough to jerk something back into place inside his head, and being grabbed definitely speeds it up. Ken's touch, seemingly burning hot as always, snaps through his own warm haze. Chikusa jolts, hand napping up to bat away at his partner. "What was that for!?"

Perhaps what's most interesting is what his face is doing, however. On a normal day, Chikusa's expressions are fairly.... limited. At some point, in the transition from childhood to adolescence, it became too tiring to express emotions. Emotions became too tiring in general. If he had been on his own, well, it wouldn't have mattered... (Partially because there wouldn't have been anyone to bother with, partially because he's not sure he would have lasted.) Yet there's always been at least Ken, Ken and someone else, so he's had to show something, experience something. His compromise has been an often subtle language- his head tilting down against his chest for thought, a twitch of his mouth instead of a smile, adjusting his glasses to show annoyance. Anything beyond that has always been a sign that he's become overloaded and unable to leave the sensations behind.

Well. He's sure as hell overloaded now.

Chikusa honestly doesn't know what to do with his face, or what his face is even doing right now. He thinks his eyebrows are doing something, which he's right on- they're both trying to scrunch up even on their way to the beanie line to hide. Where his eyes are usually dull and half lidded, uninterested in everything, well, Ken sure has his attention now with how they've become a lot more bright and wide then they normally would. Adding to it all, the pink flush along his skin has only deepened, now a deep lobster red.

He doesn't know what to do with his mouth, either, quite fucking frankly. He's not sure his mouth even knows what it wants to do. With such a confusing impasse, it's possibly no surprise that it's in a strange little twist.

"Me licking you?" Ken cocks his head, considering it. He'd mostly just done it; it was more impulse than conscious decision, so he's having to retroactively figure out why he'd had that impulse. It takes him a few moments.

"'Cause you looked..." He frowns. "Not cute, but...it made me hungry. I wanted to taste you, byon." After a pause, he adds, "You taste good. Even with all the soap."

He's watching Chikusa's face through all of this. Considering how strictly Chikusa rations all emotions and expressions, this is a year's supply all being burned at once; even if Ken doesn't know what to make of it, what to do with it, it's fascinating and he can't look away.

....Hungry. And he sated his hunger by licking him.

Why does this feel familiar....

At least reasoning like that, well. It doesn't cool him down completely. In fact, if anything, being "tasted" by Ken only feed the tinder burning up inside his chest, casting his skin that burning iron red. Perhaps it was a mistake, reading through all those cheap bodice rippers in pursuit of figuring out how to write romance. All he can think of are... other things. Things that he doesn't need to be thinking about, right now, with Ken right in front of him, asking questions about if he wants him to like him.

Why is his god damn tongue out.

On the flip side, innuendo aside, it's a response so fundamentaly... Ken, thinking about food and violence and nonsense like his aversion to soap, that it settles the outburst of expression contorting his face. His expression settles back into the usual, drawing him away from whatever strange spaces lie within his skull, and it's back to the almost sulky resting bitch face he more usually has. "That's because... you're always thinking about food..." He hunches in further on himself, as if to hide in face in the tentacles of his beanie or the collar of his hoodie.

"I shouldn't have told you about getting dinner..."

"It's not the same!" Ken says hotly, enough that the vehemence is almost a little surprising even to him. "It feels different, byon. I'm hungry all the time, so I know what that's like, and this isn't the same as that..."

He licks his lips. "Besides, I don't wanna eat you. But sometimes you make me hungry, and I wanna taste you...and it only happens with you, byon." He frowns. "Like when your face gets red...or when you showed me where you got hurt training that one time. Or when we're lying together and your skin's all warm. But it's different than just wanting food!"

Is Ken...talking about Chikusa turning him on? And just not having the proper vocabulary to express it? Because it's starting to sound like that.

It's sure starting to sound like that, in plain public, where Chikusa has nowhere to run to unless he dives straight into oncoming traffic. With every further description Ken gives, Chikusa's face only seems to get warmer and warmer until he feels as though he's going to completely burn out. Even in the sweltering heat of Italy when they didn't have any shelter to hide in, he doesn't think he's ever heated up this much, but, well. Here he is.

"Ken," he forces out, voice feeling tighter than a noose, "shut up." He doesn't know what he'll do if Ken keeps talking about him like that, with something he has no idea how to address. "I get it. That's not.... That isn't hunger."

....Sort of.

"Then what is it, byon?" Ken frowns at Chikusa. "And why're you so red?"

It's not that Ken is unfamiliar with arousal, or sex. He's perfectly well aware of those things, at least when they occur in other people. But he doesn't know how to identify them in himself, and certainly not how to put the idea of them and Chikusa together in his head. It's like peanut butter and bologna; they're not two things he'd ever have considered putting together on his own, but once the idea is there, and he actually tries it, he might find it surprisingly satisfying.

He's going to have to explain this. He's really, truly, going to have to explain this. For a good, long, solid while, Chikusa refuses to say a single thing. He just stares, intently, at a streetlight across the street. What is he supposed to say? Can he just look up the definition of 'arousal' on his phone and shove it at Ken?

In his time aggressively having a staring contest with metal, however, it finally hits Chikusa that he knows exactly what he should do in this situation. His research has made that much clear. So, finally, he shifts his gaze and head just enough to meet Ken's stare again.

"...Close your eyes... and I'll tell you."

Ken blinks at Chikusa for a moment, then huffs. "All right, but you better hurry up, byon." And Ken closes his eyes, standing still.

The faint reddening of his cheeks suggests that even he might have at least a suspicion of where this might be going. If he does, then his compliance with Chikusa's request could be construed as approval...

Ken blushing isn't particularly unusual. He's so much more easy to fluster than Chikusa, blushing at a lot- cute girls, cute girls talking to him, cute girls giving him things.... Being pointed out that he gets worked up about cute girls...

It's different like this. Ken isn't blushing because of a cute girl this time. He's blushing because of him. Shinki don't have heartbeats, can't feel that particular organ twist or skip a beat, but... He feels something excitedly humming throughout his veins. Taking a deep breath, he leans in. Distantly, he remembers a conversation on a beach, towards the beginning of summer.

Right... One hand rises up to lightly rest upon Ken's shoulder to keep him where he is. The other is a lot more tentative, fingertips brushing against those flushed cheeks. As always, Ken is so warm... Something in his stomach twists eagerly. It's a mix of anticipation and nervousness. But it's fine. Tilting his head to the side so that their faces don't crash together, he leans in until he can feel Ken's breath.... and presses their lips together, gently...

...Before nipping his bottom lip. Just a little bit.

Ken's face goes an amazingly deep red when he feels Chikusa's lips press to his - and the way he doesn't freak out or pull back does indeed suggest that he had a pretty good idea this was going to happen. He returns the kiss, a little awkwardly at first...until Chikusa nips him.

Is that...is that part of kissing? His brain fires up with the idea. Biting is something he knows how to do. If he can show Chikusa he likes him by biting -

Chikusa's getting that nip returned, now, from a set of sharper and quite eager teeth. Followed by another nip. And another. To the point where what they're doing is not really kissing anymore - even if their mouths are still against each other's - so much as it's an interconnected string of bites.

Introducing Ken to the idea of biting while making out is either the worst or best thing he's ever done in his life, and Chikusa can't tell which. At least, not while Ken keeps pressing up against his body like this, every bite making him shiver.

He's really glad he figured out this particular thing ahead of time, or he thinks he'd probably get far too flustered by Ken's teeth.

Of course, the down side... is that Chikusa is both the best and worst person to get into this with Ken. While he feels every tug or pointed pressure against his skin, the warning pings of pain are completely absent. It takes the taste of copper on his tongue for him to remember things. Pulling away inbetween bites, Chikusa blinks. His face has only become all the more red in the time they've spent doing this... matching the blood welling up on his mouth nicely.

"Ken- Bleeding."

Ken pulls back, licking his lips. There's a dark, hungry look in his eyes that Chikusa has seen a few times before; Ken always looks this way when he's worked up. But Chikusa's probably never seen Ken worked up about him before.

"So what?" he says in response to Chikusa, leaning in and swiping his tongue over Chikusa's lip to lick away the blood, resting a hand on Chikusa's chest as he does so. "Kakipi tastes good."

Oh.

Oh no.

He's hot.

There's no rapid heartbeat to give away Chikusa's feelings here, but, then, there doesn't need to be. Not with the quiet flutter of his own breath as Ken presses in close, tongue on his lips and hand against his chest. This whole situation has gone in directions he wasn't expecting, but not any he's complaining about. Not even the ragged state of his lip right now. "How good?" he asks, glancing up from beneath his eyelashes carefully. "More good than the yakiniku we're supposed to go get...?"

Yes, he's definitely fishing for compliments here... but it's actually really nice to hear how important he is to someone... especially with the kind of feelings that have been twisting up in his chest for weeks and months now.

Well, if Chikusa was fishing for compliments, putting himself in competition against food, with Ken, may have been the wrong way to go. Ken has to give this question perhaps more thought than Chikusa will find flattering. "Just as good," he declares, after a few long moments. "But it's different, byon. And even when I've tasted you before, it wasn't the same as now. You taste better now."

And then Ken presses up against Chikusa, kissing him again. The kiss is sloppy (to be fair, Ken is new to it...but then, on the other hand, Ken's never not been sloppy in anything so perhaps that doesn't matter) and demanding, and Ken is...definitely inappropriately close. With his hands on Chikusa. It's hard to tell if Ken isn't thinking of how inappropriate he's being, if on some level he's not even aware of it, or if he simply doesn't care. Whatever it is, though, Chikusa, these are increasingly involved makeouts in the street that you are engaged in.

Edited 2018-06-13 12:46 (UTC)

Goddammit, Ken. As the seconds drag on, some of the blush fades in intensity, and his eyelids dip lower with how unimpressed he is. When that unsatisfactory answer at last comes, his lips stick out just a little more. He's not sulking, or pouting, or anything like that. "Seriously," he mutters, right before Ken smacks their lips together.

Well. He guesses 'just as good as food' is fine enough when it comes to a slob like Ken. Especially when it leads to an outcome far better than anything else he could have imagined.

With his partner already touching him, fingers against his jacket, it's surprisingly easy to return the gesture in kind as his arms slide across Ken's shoulders to lazily rest there. This is far clumsier, and sloppier, than the practice kiss he had... but that's fine. This is more Ken, too, and he accepts it in no particular rush. That they're right there in public, on a street, doesn't really bother him.

Hey, they're already dead.

As the making out continues, Ken starts feeling...restless, is the best term he can come up with for it. He wants something, but he's not sure what it is, how to articulate it, or how to go about getting it. The kissing and being pressed against Chikusa's body feels good, but increasingly not good enough. He's soon shifting and squirming in Chikusa's arms - and when he finds that this actually seems to feel better, he simply begins doing it more. In an increasingly pointed way, as he narrows down just how to make it feel the best.

Chikusa, what being dead has to do with making out in public was already questionable, but this is shifting fairly quickly into the territory of you either needing to stop Ken, or at least relocate to somewhere more private. (Or, if not more private, at least more comfortable.)

Listen, being dead means no one can see them, right? So it's fine.

...At least, as far as making out goes. Public indecency? That's, well, that's something else entirely.

It takes Chikusa a second to realize what's going on, because Ken is warm, and kissing feels good, and, well, it's embarrassing but he's caught up in all of that. It takes at least a good solid ten seconds of Ken squirming against him before his brain finally gets back to focusing, and he jolts a little. Oh. Oh right. He's read enough bodice rippers to know where this is going. Bodice rippers are also, unfortunately, really shit at saying what to do about this. Best to hold on for a second.... So Chikusa does the first thing he can think of, which is grabbing Ken's collar to jerk him away.

Honestly, it kind of sucks. He thinks he really likes kissing.

"Ken." From the intensity of Ken's kissing, Chikusa's voice has gone a little hoarse and ragged, and he blinks owlishly down at his partner. The flush has returned from all the.... activity. It's probably not going away for a while. "Do you want yakiniku or not?"

Ken is panting a little, looking at him. Since, with Ken, this involves his tongue hanging out(a lot of things with Ken involve his tongue hanging out), he looks even more canine than usual. At the question, he almost whines. Chikusa hasn't explicitly said that Ken can only have one - yakiniku, or following this up - but he gets the feeling that's the case. "I do, but..."

Can't he have both?

Maybe it's just because of what they've taken a break from, but the way Ken looks up at him like this- large brown eyes, tongue flopping out in a way that should be gross, the near whining- all makes Chikusa want to kiss him again. He thinks he's read about that, too....

But no. Someone passes by them talking too loudly on their phone, and Chikusa takes in a deep breath, reminding himself of where they are. "We should go get it," he tells him, even as his fingers curl into Ken's jacket. "Since we can eat in public."

Will that subtle implication of 'we need somewhere more private' get through to his partner? Who knows. But Chikusa needs a second to catch his breath regardless. Honestly, he's not sure what he was expecting. Of course once Ken gets into something, he flings himself bodily into it, following his emotions wholly. This was the only logical outcome.

Well.... It's a pretty nice result.

Ken's brow furrows. "So...we can't do the other stuff in public?" he asks, after a moment. It took him a minute, but he got there.

"Can we do the other stuff after we eat?"

He has apparently unleashed something horrible and amazing. Chikusa's face stays bright pink even as his chin bobs a little.

"Yeah... Definitely." If Ken remembers, anyway, but it's fine. Chikusa is pretty sure he'll remember all on his own.

"Okay." And then Ken grabs Chikusa's wrist, tugging him as he starts walking again. "So let's hurry up and eat, byon!"

His eagerness would be more flattering if he wasn't always in a hurry to get food. Chikusa can certainly read into it if he wants, but he's probably too familiar with this routine to chalk it up to the after-dinner entertainment.

Oh, he's more than familiar with it. That doesn't mean it's any less exciting, with the moment being so easy to get caught up in as it is, but, he knows what really has Ken's excitement. Funny, for someone who'd been so indecisive on food or him a few seconds ago...

But, after a second, he tugs at Ken's hand and tries to start guiding him along instead. "You don't even know where we're going, Ken."

"Then hurry up and lead, byon." Ken pouts at him. "It's not my fault you're slow."

"I'm not slow... You're just impatient." And being lead by the hand, now that Chikusa is in front. This is honestly something of a lie, since they both know that Chikusa prefers to lag behind more often than not.... but whatever. "Try to remember to stop eating at some point when we get there..."

Not that Chikusa really cares about that much. It'll be fine if Ken mildly horrifies the restaurant staff with how much he eats. All he can think about is Ken's warm hand in his, and the blood still lingering on his lower lip.

It's going to be a good night. He can feel it.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

"Wait, did you just flirt with me?"

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call it done here?