Golden Pair fic!
Uh...so, I was bored tonight and decided to go ahead and write up one of the fic ideas I've had for what seems like forever. Enjoy! ♥
Title: "Hidden Intentions"
Author: Kaede
Pairing: Golden Pair
Rating: G, completely worksafe
Length: about 2,600 words
Notes: Er...so, having no actual experience with kissing games, I just kind of made up the rules to this one based on stuff I remember from TV shows and such. They probably don't even play games like this in Japan. Whatever. :D Also, this has had very little editing. You've been warned.
(Random girl's name from random name generator)
------------------------------------------
Hidden Intentions
As he reluctantly joined the circle quickly forming on the floor, Oishi wondered yet again how he’d been talked into all of this.
He knew the answer, of course - that answer was sitting right across from him, beaming, spinning an empty bottle nonchalantly in his hands. Oishi started to wonder how Eiji had managed to talk him into all of this, but was soon interrupted by the host of the party.
“Okay, these are the rules,” the girl - Ritsuko was her name - was saying. “On your turn, you spin the bottle. Whoever it points to, you kiss them.” A murmur went through the circle, and Oishi felt himself begin to sweat. Had Eiji known what this game was before he asked him to play? “Now, the first time it lands on someone, you kiss them on the cheek. If you spin again and it lands on the same person, you kiss them on the mouth. If it happens a third time…you go in another room.” Ritsuko said the last part with a grin and far less of a blush than Oishi felt on his own face. What in the world had he agreed to?! “Oh, and everyone gets a turn. I’ll go first, and then it goes around to the left. Any questions?”
More whispering. “What happens if it lands on someone of the same gender? Or on you?” one girl asked.
“Oh, I forgot about that. You skip your turn. Is that the only question?” No one said anything else. “Okay, let’s start! Eiji-kun, the bottle?” Eiji was sitting on her right, and handed the bottle over happily.
…Did Eiji want to play this game? An odd feeling crept into Oishi’s stomach at the thought.
It was soon forgotten, however, in the nervousness that consumed him as Ritsuko set the bottle on the ground. Why did he seem to be the only one bothered by any of this?
“Okay, here I go!” Ritsuko announced, then gave the bottle a quick spin as Oishi watched helplessly. Some of the girls squealed as it went around and around, then slowed and stopped. Oishi let out what he hoped was a silent sigh of relief - the bottle was pointing somewhere off to his left. Laughter and more squeals meant that it must have landed on a boy.
Giggling, Ritsuko moved forward into the circle, while the boy - really, why did Eiji insist he come to a party when he only barely knew one or two people there? - did the same. He looked nervous, and it make Oishi feel a little better.
The kiss was over in a fraction of a second, and both of them scurried quickly back to their seats to the applause of the crowd. The next person, another boy Oishi didn’t know - although he did now realize why they had been instructed to sit boy-girl-boy-girl - eagerly grabbed the bottle and spun it.
Oishi could relax a little bit for that one; he didn’t have to worry about anything if it was a boy spinning. But that turn was over rather quickly too, and it suddenly occurred to Oishi that there were only three more people between him and the bottle.
He would have to spin it, too. He would have to kiss someone. What was he going to do? He couldn’t kiss someone…not in front of all these people…not someone he didn’t even know! What was he going to do?!
A collective “Aww” from the group brought him back to his surroundings, and he saw that the next girl had spun the bottle and it had landed on another girl. That was it! He just had to make sure the bottle landed on another boy, or himself. Then he could skip his turn. That should be easy enough to do.
As the next boy spun the bottle, Oishi watched intently. He tried to pay attention to how hard he spun it, how heavy the bottle seemed, the angle of the floor - anything that might help. More squealing, a quick kiss, and it was the next person’s turn. He watched again, closely, closely…he could do this, it wouldn’t be hard…the bottle slowed, stopped - and Oishi heard a familiar laugh.
He jerked his head up and saw Eiji nearly bounce into the middle of the circle, awaiting his kiss. That odd feeling in Oishi’s stomach returned a thousand times worse and he barely managed to stifle the surprised “Eiji--!” that formed in his throat. Instead he stared, transfixed, as the girl crawled shyly forward and pressed her lips against the cheek being offered to her. A quick “Thank you~!” made the girl smile, and then Eiji bounded back to his seat as the circle clapped again.
Oishi couldn’t think straight anymore. He felt a nudge on his shoulder, and heard a girl’s voice say “Oishi-kun, it’s your turn!” Shaking his head slightly, he reached forward for the bottle, suddenly not caring who it landed on.
Still, he was grateful when it landed on a boy.
The crowd expressed its disappointment again, and play continued. The bottle missed him again, again…Oishi began to think he had chosen the best seat in the circle by far.
And then it was Eiji’s turn. “Finally!” Eiji said loudly, as he leapt forward and grabbed the bottle. He didn’t spin it immediately, though - he held it in his hand for a second first, then tossed it lightly from one hand to the other a couple of times.
“Hurry up, Eiji-kun!” Ritsuko scolded light-heartedly.
“Sorry, sorry.” Eiji grinned, and set the bottle purposefully on the floor. He gave it a spin, and it went around slowly, slowly - Oishi suddenly realized he was holding his breath - and then came to a stop.
Pointing directly at Oishi.
Eyes wide, he looked up at Eiji, whose grin had gotten even broader. “Well, that’s no fair,” Ritsuko was saying beside him. “Someone finally gets Oishi-kun after all this time, and it’s only Eiji-kun. Well, my turn then - “
“Ah, wait,” Eiji interrupted, turning to her. “I probably should have asked this at the beginning, but - do I have to give up my turn?”
Oishi felt his face go white, and then get hot so quickly he thought he might pass out. There was laughter all around him.
“What do you mean, Eiji-kun?” Ritsuko asked. For some odd reason, she was smiling, too.
“I mean, it’s not fair that I have to give up my turn.”
“But you landed on a boy, you don’t get to spin again, Eiji-kun!” another girl spoke up.
“I didn’t ask to spin again.” The laughter stopped. “Oishi doesn’t mind, right Oishi?” Eiji turned expectantly to him, and then every other person in the circle turned to face him too.
Oishi gaped in shock. Eiji, what are you doing?! he asked silently, pleading with his eyes for his friend to stop this madness.
The look Eiji gave him in return made Oishi blink repeatedly. He knew that look, knew it very, very well. Except, he usually only saw that look on a tennis court, right before they unleashed some new play that left their opponents wondering what had hit them.
That look was Eiji telling Oishi to trust him.
So what else could he do?
“I…I guess not…” he managed, in a small voice. Murmurs erupted around the circle.
“See!” Eiji said, turning back to their hostess. “So is there a problem?”
Ritsuko was laughing. “It’s your turn, Eiji-kun, do what you like.”
In a flash Eiji was in front of him, and before Oishi had time to even consider the possibility of dying from embarrassment it was all over. Eiji was back across from him, and only the noise of the crowd and the small cool spot on Oishi’s still-burning cheek were left to prove it had actually happened.
Still giggling, Ritsuko took her turn, and the game continued, with Oishi in something of a daze. It was soon his turn again, and he felt like he was far away from himself as he spun the bottle. It landed pointing back towards him, but he barely noticed.
A minute later and a sudden, intense squealing - girls sure did that a lot, he was beginning to notice - made him focus his attention again. He didn’t know what was going on, until Ritsuko shouted out “On the lips this time!” Someone must have gotten the same person they did the first time around.
He watched as a boy and girl, both full of nervousness and excitement, moved towards each other, paused briefly, then quickly pushed their lips together and just as quickly shot back to their seats.
As the crowd applauded loudly, Oishi thought that it hadn’t looked so hard.
The last girl spun the bottle, and it took Oishi a second to realize it had landed on him. He nearly jumped, then took a deep breath and headed bravely out into the middle of the circle. He glanced at Eiji, who seemed to be fighting back a laugh. Oishi gritted his teeth and turned his head, then felt something soft and wet on his cheek. He moved back to his seat, resisting the urge to wipe the feeling off of his face.
When he sat back down, Eiji already had the bottle, and once again seemed to be testing its weight. He set it down just like the first time, spun it just like the first time - and just like the first time, it landed exactly on Oishi.
Oishi froze. Eiji couldn’t possibly be serious. Was he doing that on purpose?!
“Gonna skip your turn this time, Kikumaru?” one of the boys said with a laugh.
“Nope,” he answered immediately.
“Eiji!!” Oishi said before he could stop himself. He felt all eyes on him once again.
“You don’t mind, do you, Oishi?” Eiji’s voice was full of confidence. And he had that look again.
Oishi had the sudden, irrational hope that his cell phone would ring and he could escape all this somehow.
Because if he kept sitting there, he knew he was going to give in.
“This is the second time, so you’d have to kiss on the lips!” a rather unhelpful, and entirely too happy girl chimed in.
“I…it…” Oishi couldn’t believe what he was saying. How quickly would this spread around the school? “It….it’s fine…”
Eiji was in front of him again. And he didn’t close his eyes. Oishi wanted to close his, but he couldn’t, not with Eiji staring at him like that. Oishi’s heart was pounding, his face was burning, his palms were sweating - and Eiji was looking at him, and then Oishi felt something soft and cool on his mouth, and all he could see was Eiji, all he could hear was his heart beating, all he could feel was Eiji’s mouth on his, and for a moment, time stopped. Then a grin, a flash of red hair and Eiji was gone again, and Oishi suddenly needed to catch his breath.
He made a mental note that one apparently still had to remember to breathe while kissing even if it only lasted for a total of three seconds.
Oishi was so busy trying not to look at Eiji that before he knew it it was his turn again. He spun the bottle, wondering what would happen if it landed on his friend. But it landed on another boy, and when Oishi looked at him he saw fear across his face. “You want to skip your turn, right?” the boy asked.
Oishi blinked. “Yeah…” Why wouldn’t he want to? It wasn’t like the kissing-Eiji thing had been his idea.
“Good.” The girls giggled, and the game went on.
Soon it was Eiji’s turn again. Oishi watched him get the feel of the bottle, watched him place it carefully on the ground, watched him spin it thoughtfully - and realized that Eiji was quite blatantly doing it on purpose.
So he wasn’t really surprised when it landed on him yet again.
“Yoshi!” Eiji yelled and jumped up, as the crowd went suddenly silent. [1]
Oishi looked up, confused. What did the third time mean?
“You two can go in my parents’ room,” Ritsuko said, breaking the silence.
....Oh right.
Eiji was grinning like he had accomplished something he was rather proud of, and against his better judgement Oishi felt himself rising slowly to his feet.
“Thanks, Ritsuko-chan,” Eiji said happily as he walked over to Oishi and grabbed his wrist. He started heading towards the hallway, pulling Oishi along with him. “Bye-bye!”
As soon as they were out of the room, Oishi could hear a rush of noise behind them. Eiji was still leading him somewhere, and Oishi was too nervous and confused to protest.
They stopped in front of a door, and Eiji opened it slightly and peered in. He pushed the door open the rest of the way and pulled Oishi inside, pointing to one of the walls. “Ta-da!” he announced triumphantly.
Blinking, Oishi followed the line of Eiji’s finger - and there, along the wall, was the largest aquarium Oishi had ever seen inside a house.
“E - Eiji!” He turned to his friend, startled. “Did you know this was here?”
Eiji was grinning, obviously pleased with himself and with Oishi’s reaction. “Of course I did. Did you think I was kissing you just for the fun of it?”
“Well, I…” - that couldn’t possibly have been disappointment Oishi was feeling - “I wasn’t sure what you were doing.”
“It was all part of my plan! Well, what are you waiting for? Go look!” Eiji shooed him in the direction of the aquarium, and followed him over to it.
“This is…really, really cool, Eiji,” Oishi said, awed. “I’ve never seen an aquarium like this in someone’s house before…look at all of the stuff they’ve got in here…”
Eiji laughed. “I thought you’d like it. When I was helping Ritsuko-chan in the kitchen earlier, I saw some aquarium books lying around and asked her about it, and she said her parents had this huuuuuuuge aquarium in their bedroom. I told her you’d love to see it, and she said I could show you - but only if I got you to play a game with everyone.”
“Wow - so you knew what game it was?”
“Well, she didn’t tell me, but she got me to carry the bottle, and I’ve heard about games like that from my brothers.”
“Oh.”
“And I figured you wouldn’t want to play it, but I didn’t think you would want to tell everyone you didn’t want to play it, either…” Oishi wondered if he was that easy to figure out, or if Eiji just knew him that well. “So I figured I would try to make the game end quick.”
“And that was your solution?” Oishi asked, still staring at the fish tank. It really was cool. “Public embarrassment?”
“Well, I didn’t have much time to think up something.”
Oishi chuckled. “Well, I appreciate the effort, I guess. I’m glad I got to see this…so thanks.”
“You’re welcome!” Eiji answered brightly. They watched the fish together for a little while, and then Eiji said, like he was talking to himself, “It was kind of fun, though.”
“What was?” Oishi asked absent-mindedly. He was trying to figure out what kind of plant that was in the corner.
“Kissing you.”
Oishi froze, and the heat rushed to his face again. “…How do you mean?”
“I mean, it was fun. I’d never thought about it before, but…I dunno. It was fun. You didn’t think so?”
How could he respond to that without hurting Eiji’s feelings? “I - I think I was too busy being nervous to notice. There were so many people…” He trailed off, hoping he wouldn’t have to explain anymore.
“Ah.”
Silence again, and Oishi began to relax.
“Well, there aren’t people around now. Wanna try again so you can find out?”
Oishi’s head spun quickly to the side. Eiji turned slowly to face him, and Oishi’s breath caught in his throat.
Eiji had that look.
What choice did he have?
~ End ~
Footnotes:
1-- "Yoshi" means something like "Okay" or "Good." The "i" at the end isn't generally heard.
Will be x-posted to golden_pair at some point or another. (Hence the footnoting.)
Title: "Hidden Intentions"
Author: Kaede
Pairing: Golden Pair
Rating: G, completely worksafe
Length: about 2,600 words
Notes: Er...so, having no actual experience with kissing games, I just kind of made up the rules to this one based on stuff I remember from TV shows and such. They probably don't even play games like this in Japan. Whatever. :D Also, this has had very little editing. You've been warned.
(Random girl's name from random name generator)
------------------------------------------
Hidden Intentions
As he reluctantly joined the circle quickly forming on the floor, Oishi wondered yet again how he’d been talked into all of this.
He knew the answer, of course - that answer was sitting right across from him, beaming, spinning an empty bottle nonchalantly in his hands. Oishi started to wonder how Eiji had managed to talk him into all of this, but was soon interrupted by the host of the party.
“Okay, these are the rules,” the girl - Ritsuko was her name - was saying. “On your turn, you spin the bottle. Whoever it points to, you kiss them.” A murmur went through the circle, and Oishi felt himself begin to sweat. Had Eiji known what this game was before he asked him to play? “Now, the first time it lands on someone, you kiss them on the cheek. If you spin again and it lands on the same person, you kiss them on the mouth. If it happens a third time…you go in another room.” Ritsuko said the last part with a grin and far less of a blush than Oishi felt on his own face. What in the world had he agreed to?! “Oh, and everyone gets a turn. I’ll go first, and then it goes around to the left. Any questions?”
More whispering. “What happens if it lands on someone of the same gender? Or on you?” one girl asked.
“Oh, I forgot about that. You skip your turn. Is that the only question?” No one said anything else. “Okay, let’s start! Eiji-kun, the bottle?” Eiji was sitting on her right, and handed the bottle over happily.
…Did Eiji want to play this game? An odd feeling crept into Oishi’s stomach at the thought.
It was soon forgotten, however, in the nervousness that consumed him as Ritsuko set the bottle on the ground. Why did he seem to be the only one bothered by any of this?
“Okay, here I go!” Ritsuko announced, then gave the bottle a quick spin as Oishi watched helplessly. Some of the girls squealed as it went around and around, then slowed and stopped. Oishi let out what he hoped was a silent sigh of relief - the bottle was pointing somewhere off to his left. Laughter and more squeals meant that it must have landed on a boy.
Giggling, Ritsuko moved forward into the circle, while the boy - really, why did Eiji insist he come to a party when he only barely knew one or two people there? - did the same. He looked nervous, and it make Oishi feel a little better.
The kiss was over in a fraction of a second, and both of them scurried quickly back to their seats to the applause of the crowd. The next person, another boy Oishi didn’t know - although he did now realize why they had been instructed to sit boy-girl-boy-girl - eagerly grabbed the bottle and spun it.
Oishi could relax a little bit for that one; he didn’t have to worry about anything if it was a boy spinning. But that turn was over rather quickly too, and it suddenly occurred to Oishi that there were only three more people between him and the bottle.
He would have to spin it, too. He would have to kiss someone. What was he going to do? He couldn’t kiss someone…not in front of all these people…not someone he didn’t even know! What was he going to do?!
A collective “Aww” from the group brought him back to his surroundings, and he saw that the next girl had spun the bottle and it had landed on another girl. That was it! He just had to make sure the bottle landed on another boy, or himself. Then he could skip his turn. That should be easy enough to do.
As the next boy spun the bottle, Oishi watched intently. He tried to pay attention to how hard he spun it, how heavy the bottle seemed, the angle of the floor - anything that might help. More squealing, a quick kiss, and it was the next person’s turn. He watched again, closely, closely…he could do this, it wouldn’t be hard…the bottle slowed, stopped - and Oishi heard a familiar laugh.
He jerked his head up and saw Eiji nearly bounce into the middle of the circle, awaiting his kiss. That odd feeling in Oishi’s stomach returned a thousand times worse and he barely managed to stifle the surprised “Eiji--!” that formed in his throat. Instead he stared, transfixed, as the girl crawled shyly forward and pressed her lips against the cheek being offered to her. A quick “Thank you~!” made the girl smile, and then Eiji bounded back to his seat as the circle clapped again.
Oishi couldn’t think straight anymore. He felt a nudge on his shoulder, and heard a girl’s voice say “Oishi-kun, it’s your turn!” Shaking his head slightly, he reached forward for the bottle, suddenly not caring who it landed on.
Still, he was grateful when it landed on a boy.
The crowd expressed its disappointment again, and play continued. The bottle missed him again, again…Oishi began to think he had chosen the best seat in the circle by far.
And then it was Eiji’s turn. “Finally!” Eiji said loudly, as he leapt forward and grabbed the bottle. He didn’t spin it immediately, though - he held it in his hand for a second first, then tossed it lightly from one hand to the other a couple of times.
“Hurry up, Eiji-kun!” Ritsuko scolded light-heartedly.
“Sorry, sorry.” Eiji grinned, and set the bottle purposefully on the floor. He gave it a spin, and it went around slowly, slowly - Oishi suddenly realized he was holding his breath - and then came to a stop.
Pointing directly at Oishi.
Eyes wide, he looked up at Eiji, whose grin had gotten even broader. “Well, that’s no fair,” Ritsuko was saying beside him. “Someone finally gets Oishi-kun after all this time, and it’s only Eiji-kun. Well, my turn then - “
“Ah, wait,” Eiji interrupted, turning to her. “I probably should have asked this at the beginning, but - do I have to give up my turn?”
Oishi felt his face go white, and then get hot so quickly he thought he might pass out. There was laughter all around him.
“What do you mean, Eiji-kun?” Ritsuko asked. For some odd reason, she was smiling, too.
“I mean, it’s not fair that I have to give up my turn.”
“But you landed on a boy, you don’t get to spin again, Eiji-kun!” another girl spoke up.
“I didn’t ask to spin again.” The laughter stopped. “Oishi doesn’t mind, right Oishi?” Eiji turned expectantly to him, and then every other person in the circle turned to face him too.
Oishi gaped in shock. Eiji, what are you doing?! he asked silently, pleading with his eyes for his friend to stop this madness.
The look Eiji gave him in return made Oishi blink repeatedly. He knew that look, knew it very, very well. Except, he usually only saw that look on a tennis court, right before they unleashed some new play that left their opponents wondering what had hit them.
That look was Eiji telling Oishi to trust him.
So what else could he do?
“I…I guess not…” he managed, in a small voice. Murmurs erupted around the circle.
“See!” Eiji said, turning back to their hostess. “So is there a problem?”
Ritsuko was laughing. “It’s your turn, Eiji-kun, do what you like.”
In a flash Eiji was in front of him, and before Oishi had time to even consider the possibility of dying from embarrassment it was all over. Eiji was back across from him, and only the noise of the crowd and the small cool spot on Oishi’s still-burning cheek were left to prove it had actually happened.
Still giggling, Ritsuko took her turn, and the game continued, with Oishi in something of a daze. It was soon his turn again, and he felt like he was far away from himself as he spun the bottle. It landed pointing back towards him, but he barely noticed.
A minute later and a sudden, intense squealing - girls sure did that a lot, he was beginning to notice - made him focus his attention again. He didn’t know what was going on, until Ritsuko shouted out “On the lips this time!” Someone must have gotten the same person they did the first time around.
He watched as a boy and girl, both full of nervousness and excitement, moved towards each other, paused briefly, then quickly pushed their lips together and just as quickly shot back to their seats.
As the crowd applauded loudly, Oishi thought that it hadn’t looked so hard.
The last girl spun the bottle, and it took Oishi a second to realize it had landed on him. He nearly jumped, then took a deep breath and headed bravely out into the middle of the circle. He glanced at Eiji, who seemed to be fighting back a laugh. Oishi gritted his teeth and turned his head, then felt something soft and wet on his cheek. He moved back to his seat, resisting the urge to wipe the feeling off of his face.
When he sat back down, Eiji already had the bottle, and once again seemed to be testing its weight. He set it down just like the first time, spun it just like the first time - and just like the first time, it landed exactly on Oishi.
Oishi froze. Eiji couldn’t possibly be serious. Was he doing that on purpose?!
“Gonna skip your turn this time, Kikumaru?” one of the boys said with a laugh.
“Nope,” he answered immediately.
“Eiji!!” Oishi said before he could stop himself. He felt all eyes on him once again.
“You don’t mind, do you, Oishi?” Eiji’s voice was full of confidence. And he had that look again.
Oishi had the sudden, irrational hope that his cell phone would ring and he could escape all this somehow.
Because if he kept sitting there, he knew he was going to give in.
“This is the second time, so you’d have to kiss on the lips!” a rather unhelpful, and entirely too happy girl chimed in.
“I…it…” Oishi couldn’t believe what he was saying. How quickly would this spread around the school? “It….it’s fine…”
Eiji was in front of him again. And he didn’t close his eyes. Oishi wanted to close his, but he couldn’t, not with Eiji staring at him like that. Oishi’s heart was pounding, his face was burning, his palms were sweating - and Eiji was looking at him, and then Oishi felt something soft and cool on his mouth, and all he could see was Eiji, all he could hear was his heart beating, all he could feel was Eiji’s mouth on his, and for a moment, time stopped. Then a grin, a flash of red hair and Eiji was gone again, and Oishi suddenly needed to catch his breath.
He made a mental note that one apparently still had to remember to breathe while kissing even if it only lasted for a total of three seconds.
Oishi was so busy trying not to look at Eiji that before he knew it it was his turn again. He spun the bottle, wondering what would happen if it landed on his friend. But it landed on another boy, and when Oishi looked at him he saw fear across his face. “You want to skip your turn, right?” the boy asked.
Oishi blinked. “Yeah…” Why wouldn’t he want to? It wasn’t like the kissing-Eiji thing had been his idea.
“Good.” The girls giggled, and the game went on.
Soon it was Eiji’s turn again. Oishi watched him get the feel of the bottle, watched him place it carefully on the ground, watched him spin it thoughtfully - and realized that Eiji was quite blatantly doing it on purpose.
So he wasn’t really surprised when it landed on him yet again.
“Yoshi!” Eiji yelled and jumped up, as the crowd went suddenly silent. [1]
Oishi looked up, confused. What did the third time mean?
“You two can go in my parents’ room,” Ritsuko said, breaking the silence.
....Oh right.
Eiji was grinning like he had accomplished something he was rather proud of, and against his better judgement Oishi felt himself rising slowly to his feet.
“Thanks, Ritsuko-chan,” Eiji said happily as he walked over to Oishi and grabbed his wrist. He started heading towards the hallway, pulling Oishi along with him. “Bye-bye!”
As soon as they were out of the room, Oishi could hear a rush of noise behind them. Eiji was still leading him somewhere, and Oishi was too nervous and confused to protest.
They stopped in front of a door, and Eiji opened it slightly and peered in. He pushed the door open the rest of the way and pulled Oishi inside, pointing to one of the walls. “Ta-da!” he announced triumphantly.
Blinking, Oishi followed the line of Eiji’s finger - and there, along the wall, was the largest aquarium Oishi had ever seen inside a house.
“E - Eiji!” He turned to his friend, startled. “Did you know this was here?”
Eiji was grinning, obviously pleased with himself and with Oishi’s reaction. “Of course I did. Did you think I was kissing you just for the fun of it?”
“Well, I…” - that couldn’t possibly have been disappointment Oishi was feeling - “I wasn’t sure what you were doing.”
“It was all part of my plan! Well, what are you waiting for? Go look!” Eiji shooed him in the direction of the aquarium, and followed him over to it.
“This is…really, really cool, Eiji,” Oishi said, awed. “I’ve never seen an aquarium like this in someone’s house before…look at all of the stuff they’ve got in here…”
Eiji laughed. “I thought you’d like it. When I was helping Ritsuko-chan in the kitchen earlier, I saw some aquarium books lying around and asked her about it, and she said her parents had this huuuuuuuge aquarium in their bedroom. I told her you’d love to see it, and she said I could show you - but only if I got you to play a game with everyone.”
“Wow - so you knew what game it was?”
“Well, she didn’t tell me, but she got me to carry the bottle, and I’ve heard about games like that from my brothers.”
“Oh.”
“And I figured you wouldn’t want to play it, but I didn’t think you would want to tell everyone you didn’t want to play it, either…” Oishi wondered if he was that easy to figure out, or if Eiji just knew him that well. “So I figured I would try to make the game end quick.”
“And that was your solution?” Oishi asked, still staring at the fish tank. It really was cool. “Public embarrassment?”
“Well, I didn’t have much time to think up something.”
Oishi chuckled. “Well, I appreciate the effort, I guess. I’m glad I got to see this…so thanks.”
“You’re welcome!” Eiji answered brightly. They watched the fish together for a little while, and then Eiji said, like he was talking to himself, “It was kind of fun, though.”
“What was?” Oishi asked absent-mindedly. He was trying to figure out what kind of plant that was in the corner.
“Kissing you.”
Oishi froze, and the heat rushed to his face again. “…How do you mean?”
“I mean, it was fun. I’d never thought about it before, but…I dunno. It was fun. You didn’t think so?”
How could he respond to that without hurting Eiji’s feelings? “I - I think I was too busy being nervous to notice. There were so many people…” He trailed off, hoping he wouldn’t have to explain anymore.
“Ah.”
Silence again, and Oishi began to relax.
“Well, there aren’t people around now. Wanna try again so you can find out?”
Oishi’s head spun quickly to the side. Eiji turned slowly to face him, and Oishi’s breath caught in his throat.
Eiji had that look.
What choice did he have?
~ End ~
Footnotes:
1-- "Yoshi" means something like "Okay" or "Good." The "i" at the end isn't generally heard.
Will be x-posted to golden_pair at some point or another. (Hence the footnoting.)