[log] Get Your Primp On [Hanato & Yuugao]
[Yuugao and Hanato Get Their Primp On, set before the double date with Kotsuki and Izume; If there are any mistakes, I'll try harder to find that file, Ki and hopefully that'll fix it...]
Yuugao had known the Inuzuka estate was large, but he hadn’t really ever bothered to look too closely. And he was definitely impressed. He only asked for directions once and then felt relatively secure in finding the area that Hanato lived. He’d learned not to stare idly at things - it wouldn’t do for an ANBU to be so easily distracted - though he did raise an eyebrow at the first few naked children, but let it go after that. He had better things to worry about than tumbling puppies and naked children. He managed to find the correct wing, second floor, third door on the left and proceeded inside after knocking on the doorway.
“Hanato-san?”
“Yo, Yuugao-c’mon in.” The voice was a little muffled by the shirt Hanato was currently pulling off; he emerged distinctly ruffled, and tossed the sweat-soaked tee-shirt in the general direction of a laundry hamper. It landed on the grey back of a dog instead, who snapped bad-temperedly and returned to her sulking. Hanato rolled his eyes. “Don’t mind the girls-they’re pissed they can’t come along too.”
“Ah,” he spared the dogs a glance. “I guess trying to cheer them up is out of the question.” He tried not to let his anxiety come back. No, he would be fine. Hanato would...whip him into shape. Or something. It wasn’t like Kotsuki was going to kill him if he was a miserable date, anyway.
“You gonna shower?” he raised an eyebrow and leaned against the desk, wisely choosing to keep his distance from the dogs.
“If it’s not a problem.” Hanato peeled out of his pants too, tossing them after the shirt; this time he hit the hamper, instead of Haiko, but she glared pointedly at him anyway. Clad only in briefs and his dogtags, he padded across the floor to snag two folded towels from his bed. One he draped over his arm; the other he fired directly at Yuugao’s chest.
“So’re you.”
Shower. But...he didn’t need to. Yuugao caught the towel and stared at Hanato for a second.
“What? But I already showered.” He frowned. “What? Do Inuzuka have some special pheromone in their soap?”
Hanato snorted. “Not for lack of trying; couple of the cousins every year always try playing with chemicals, and give the rest of us headaches for days...No, we’re doing the whole pre-date routine. So I can make sure you’re doing it right. Told you you needed a guy’s advice.”
He was already heading out the door, down the hall to the bathroom he shared with the four unmarried male cousins who had rooms on this floor of this wing. “Your cologne stinks, too. I’m not spending the night with you wearing that.”
He should’ve known to not wear anything at all. Yuugao sighed and unbuttoned his shirt, setting it on the table before following after Hanato. “Sorry for not having Inuzuka senses. Not really something I go out and buy too often.”
Was that a touch of petulance in his voice? It was certainly there in his scent, underneath the (extremely strong) cologne. Hanato paused, holding the bathroom door open, and glancing back over his shoulder. “Don’t apologize for something you can’t help. You can call that Lesson One for Dealing with Girls. In fact, never apologize, unless you’ve done something really wrong. Telling ‘em you’re sorry gives ‘em a chance to sink their claws in, and then you will be sorry.”
...That sounded rather misogynistic, didn’t it? Blame it on a week of dealing with Youen in heat and Haiko and Kemuri in Very Bad Moods. Hanato flung his towel over a rack, skinned out of his briefs, and ducked into the shower for a thorough scrubbing. Over the noise of the water, he called, “Just wash up like you usually would. Soap on the sink. Get your hair wet, too.”
“A bit late to break that habit,” he stripped down and started bathing. “Right, Hanato-sensei,” he sighed and let the water run over him. After he was sure he was good and wet, he lathered up and kept his gaze firmly on the wall ahead of him. Group showers were nothing new, but he certainly didn’t want to bother Hanato by staring or something.
That would certainly make the date all the more awkward.
The Inuzuka’s views on nudity were quite a bit more lax than even the most open-minded of Konoha citizens; most families didn’t let their kids run naked until it was time to force them into clothes and into school, after all. Hanato moved with the casualness of one completely comfortable in his skin, and completely untroubled by others’, though he did pause for a moment of comparison as he rinsed off. The deep slices in his chest had healed, but the scars were still there, raw and pink against his lightly tanned skin. Adding them to the innumerable scars on his hands and arms, the new and old slices in his legs, and the faded gash skittering up his side, he had even more scars than the ANBU.
Which probably just went to show that the other man was a hell of a lot better ninja than he, but oh well.
He turned off his stream of water, stepped up from the tiled basin of the shower, and snagged his towel. Drying off was the work of a moment, and he wrapped the towel around his hips and inspected his face critically in the mirror for a moment before he decided not to shave. A bit of stubble went a long way for the rugged look, anyway.
Sounded like Yuugao was done. He turned again, leaning against the sink, and snagged a bottle of hair mousse. “Get most of the water out of your hair, and come over here. D’you style your hair much beyond rolling out of bed in the morning?”
It was only after he’d turned off the water that Yuugao bothered to look over at Hanato. He’d heard about his injuries, but he certainly hadn’t expected to see Hanato so covered in gashes. But he only blinked and cocked his head a little. Hanato was looking at the mirror, so Yuugao dried off and was dealing with his hair just as Hanato gave his instructions.
He put the towel around his hips and came in, finger brushing out his hair. “Not really. Just let it do its own thing mostly.”
Too bad Hanato didn’t have the Yamanaka kid here to be properly horrified. He rolled his eyes in Inosuke’s place, snagged Yuugao’s wrist, squirted a tiny dollop of the product into the palm of his hand, repeated the process on his own hand, set the canister down, and rubbed his palms together briskly before he tackled his hair. “Freedom’s a good thing--but so’s control. Let it look like it’s doing its own thing, but you’re in total control the whole time, you know? Like with a puppy--or a girl.” He grinned, and ran his hand once more through his forelock to achieve the final perfection of that artfully dishevelled look.
He blinked at the dollop of mousse and then watched Hanato work. A quick glance in the mirror and Yuugao held back a sigh. “Control, right.” He rubbed his palms together and then put the mousse through his hair, though he wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to be aiming for.
A few more swipes with his hand and Yuugao just stared at his image in the mirror. “I don’t think I did that right.” He narrowed his eyes and poked a few strands. Now it just looked…a little too controlled. And hardly like himself at all. “I think this is too much control, too little freedom.”
Hmm. Hanato stepped back, giving the other man a critical eye. “Well, at least you know when you did it wrong.” He reached out, ruffled Yuugao’s hair briefly, tilted his head. “I think that works. What’re you planning to wear?”
“What I had on before,” he nodded his head at the pile of clothes. “The shirt was button up, so I was trying to at least not be too casual.” He looked up and down Hanato. “I doubt I’d fit in anything you have, in case you’re thinking of playing dress up as well.”
...Okay, so he’d deserved that. And at least the other man was snapping back a little, standing up for himself, which was what Hanato’d been going after in the first place. He shrugged amiably. “That’s fine-you’ve got a good dress sense, at any rate. Get ‘em on, and meet me back in my room-we’ve got a lot more to do.”
He wasn’t exactly sure how much a lot was, since he was winging this from start to finish, but it’d be best to put Yuugao on his guard, anyway!
Back in his room, under the resentful eyes of his dogs, he dressed quickly in slacks and a dark, short-sleeved shirt just dress enough not to be a tee-shirt. He was wrenching a sandal out from underneath Kemuri--who refused to budge--when Yuugao reentered, and he nodded in approval. “Much better.”
Dressing hadn’t taken long and he was glad that the almost…challenging tone in Hanato’s voice had faded. Yuugao wanted to trust the man and that slight twitch in his voice had just…unnerved him. Made him wonder if perhaps he’d get attacked from behind or tackled by Kotsuki.
He entered Hanato’s room and nodded in response. “Not too bad yourself. So what else is this ‘a lot more’? Surely you’re not going to put make up on me. I already--” He frowned, not wise to mention, but it was too late now. “I’ve already suffered that at their hands a few too many times. And trust me, eyeliner and mascara are terrible things.”
That earned him a steady, disbelieving stare from all four of the room’s occupants.
Was this one actually male? Youen wanted to know. No self-respecting dog she knew would let his bitches dictate what he did, and though he smelled male, he certainly didn’t act like Hanato did...
“I’m not the only guy in the world,” he told her sharply. “Some people are-“
Very, very strange, Haiko concluded. If these bitches were the ones Hanato was taking to dinner, he deserved whatever he got.
He spared a second to wonder what Izume and Kotsuki would think of his dogs’ descriptions of them, then decided he didn’t want to know, and snagged a small bottle from the table and tossed it to Yuugao. “A dash of this in your palm, and then rub it over your face and neck. And no make-up-that’s girls’ stuff.” He sighed. “Knew I shouldn’t let them give you all the advice...”
Great. Really shouldn’t have said anything. Yuugao looked to the side in annoyance, waiting for the silence to break, though Hanato’s outburst was unexpected. He decided to let it slide, seemed he was talking to the dog.
He caught the bottle and didn’t meet the other man’s eyes. “I’m quite aware that it’s not intended for men. But they blackmailed me.” He sighed and followed the instructions, wondering what this one was supposed to smell like. “What’s this odor? I can’t smell anything.” Yuugao put his hand to his nose and narrowed his eyes. “They’d have to get really close to me to smell anything at all…” he glanced over. “Or perhaps that’s the aim?”
“It’s woodsmoke and pine,” Hanato said absently, and held back on mentioning that he could smell it across the room (and, if he’d applied a touch of chakra to his nose, across three rooms and a very crowded mess hall). “Most people can’t catch a whiff of it till they’re really close, and then it’s intriguing enough they want more.” He grinned rakishly. “You can get a lot of cuddling out of that one.” Of course, the blend of pheromones added as a subtle accent helped quite a bit, too...
“Ah.” He looked to his hand for a moment and then noted the ninken sitting near him and cocking her head at him. He frowned. “What?”
Obviously he wouldn’t be able to understand whatever she said, so he simply took a step to the side and then looked to Hanato. “So, cologne’s covered. What’s next, oh wise one?” What else could he possibly need?
“Um.” Hanato hadn’t though this far ahead-hadn’t really thought ahead at all, and someday he needed to stop doing this. He glanced at Youen, sprawled languidly on his half-made bed, for inspiration; she ran her tongue out in a silent laugh. He made a face at her, and turned back to Yuugao.
“What are you looking to get out of the night?”
“Well, I’m certainly not thinking about this date like Aki-san does.” He glanced up at his hair, it was blocking his vision in a way he wasn’t used to and it was throwing him off. “I…didn’t really have anything specific. As this is oh, my second date? I’m just hoping to come out with a bit of my dignity, probably. But maybe that’s asking too much.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t really know. I let them talk me into dates and so…here I am. But it’s good for me.”
“Like Aki--?”
Oh, right. Getting laid.
And while that was a perfectly fine way to end most dates, in Hanato’s opinion, he could understand Yuugao’s point of view. Mostly. He’d never been good at letting himself get talked into anything (Too stubborn, his father said; Too pig-headed, his sensei’d said; and he didn’t want to know whatever Kabumi’d said...) and the notion of doing something just because it was good for you was, while...
Sounded an awful lot like training. Which dating wasn’t. Except maybe in Yuugao’s case...
“Bit of dignity’s not too much,” he said, deciding to put philosophy aside and tackle the issue at hand. “Not enough, I’d say. Let’s say you’re angling for a good-night kiss. Easy enough, and you’d have to mortally screw something up not to get one from Kotsuki. Which you won’t,” he added sternly.
“All right, all right.” He put up his hands. “A bit of dignity and a good night kiss. I can…probably handle that. More than anything, they usually pity me and think I’m…” he looked away. “Adorable or something. I guess it might be good to not fall into that pattern again.”
“What’s your aim?” As much as he appreciated the advice and concern, he’d much rather not have all of his flaws pointed out. Besides, it could be interesting to see what Hanato looked for in a casual date.
“My aim?” Wait, when did this become about him? He wasn’t the one needing help here, was he?
...Well, okay, at least Yuugao had achieved a successful long-term relationship before his lover’d gotten killed. He was miles ahead of Hanato if you were chalking up successes there. He had Hayako, and what’ve I got? A traitor, a few tumbles we both knew would never go anywhere, a woman older than my father who’s probably already forgotten my name...
He cleared his throat and scrabbled on the desk for another tiny vial of cologne, the subtle blend of musk and cinnamon that he only wore when he was really going all out. “I’m just looking for a good time.”
“I see.” He looked down at the ninken that kept staring at him and frowned. “What?” he asked and then moved again. “Right. Anything else I need to know, Hanato? Or am I all set to go out?”
He was about as good to go physically as he thought possible. What else could really be left? Well, aside from the pep talk. Undoubtedly he’d be given that. He could only hope it wasn’t too painful.
Hanato checked the clock on his desk--they still had five minutes before they needed to head out to make it to the girls’ apartment in time. He fixed Yuugao’s collar--leaving it less starch-creased but much better-looking than before--and stepped back again, one hand slipping into a pocket, the other automatically reaching down to the empty air at about hip-height. Kemuri whined, but a moment later her broad grey skull shoved itself under his fingers, and he grinned briefly down at her as he scratched her ears.
“There’s a whole host of stuff you need to know. But a lot of it’s stuff you can only learn by doing, or observing, or being. And I bet a lot of it’s stuff you knew already, but you’ve forgotten. Like...what d’you tell a girl when you first see her?”
“Hello,” he smirked. “No, I know. Compliment her hair or outfit or something.” Yuugao was glad to see that Hanato didn’t feel the need to spoon feed him everything. He still felt anxious, that much he had expected in the first place, but having been poked and prodded by Hanato for a while now, he thought that at least he had some hope.
Besides, he knew these girls. He could trust them. Though they took great pleasure in making him blush and…oh dear. He probably should address that.
“Well, I do have one request of you.” He couldn’t believe he was doing this. “Kotsuki-chan and Izume-chan take great…pleasure in teasing me. And I know I shouldn’t react to it, but I do. I’ve been getting better, but if they fall back into that? I’ll be hopeless.” He sighed. “So, I’m not exactly sure how you could prevent that, but…” he shrugged. “Any assistance would be appreciated.”
“Tease back,” Hanato said promptly. “Physically, if you need to-tickling’s always good.” And could lead to other things, sometimes, though mentioning that at the moment would probably explode Yuugao’s head...
“I’ll look after you,” he said, in his best big brother-ish voice of reassurance.
Of course, his grin totally spoiled the effect. “Unless joining in seems like more fun~”
“I just end up losing in the teasing…” he muttered and turned to face the door. “I’m feeling real reassured.” Yuugao glanced back at Hanato and started out. “C’mon, we don’t want to be late. I’m assuming you know the way there? Or do you need me to hold your hand?”
It felt good to have a spine. Well, sometimes.
Hanato raised his eyebrows. “Not unless you want the girls asking some real serious questions about why the two of us aren’t just going out on our own...”
“Can’t take a joke?” Yuugao smiled and put his hands behind his head, ready to get this date started. Maybe.
“I can always tease back,” Hanato pointed out, giving Kemuri one last pat on the head as he headed for the door.
And then, just to prove it, he slapped Yuugao’s shoulder, slipped past him out the door, vaulted down the stairs and over the tangle of puppies at the bottom, and was off running.
With any luck, they’d be halfway through the date before Yuugao noticed the “FREE KISSES” sign on his back.
Yuugao had known the Inuzuka estate was large, but he hadn’t really ever bothered to look too closely. And he was definitely impressed. He only asked for directions once and then felt relatively secure in finding the area that Hanato lived. He’d learned not to stare idly at things - it wouldn’t do for an ANBU to be so easily distracted - though he did raise an eyebrow at the first few naked children, but let it go after that. He had better things to worry about than tumbling puppies and naked children. He managed to find the correct wing, second floor, third door on the left and proceeded inside after knocking on the doorway.
“Hanato-san?”
“Yo, Yuugao-c’mon in.” The voice was a little muffled by the shirt Hanato was currently pulling off; he emerged distinctly ruffled, and tossed the sweat-soaked tee-shirt in the general direction of a laundry hamper. It landed on the grey back of a dog instead, who snapped bad-temperedly and returned to her sulking. Hanato rolled his eyes. “Don’t mind the girls-they’re pissed they can’t come along too.”
“Ah,” he spared the dogs a glance. “I guess trying to cheer them up is out of the question.” He tried not to let his anxiety come back. No, he would be fine. Hanato would...whip him into shape. Or something. It wasn’t like Kotsuki was going to kill him if he was a miserable date, anyway.
“You gonna shower?” he raised an eyebrow and leaned against the desk, wisely choosing to keep his distance from the dogs.
“If it’s not a problem.” Hanato peeled out of his pants too, tossing them after the shirt; this time he hit the hamper, instead of Haiko, but she glared pointedly at him anyway. Clad only in briefs and his dogtags, he padded across the floor to snag two folded towels from his bed. One he draped over his arm; the other he fired directly at Yuugao’s chest.
“So’re you.”
Shower. But...he didn’t need to. Yuugao caught the towel and stared at Hanato for a second.
“What? But I already showered.” He frowned. “What? Do Inuzuka have some special pheromone in their soap?”
Hanato snorted. “Not for lack of trying; couple of the cousins every year always try playing with chemicals, and give the rest of us headaches for days...No, we’re doing the whole pre-date routine. So I can make sure you’re doing it right. Told you you needed a guy’s advice.”
He was already heading out the door, down the hall to the bathroom he shared with the four unmarried male cousins who had rooms on this floor of this wing. “Your cologne stinks, too. I’m not spending the night with you wearing that.”
He should’ve known to not wear anything at all. Yuugao sighed and unbuttoned his shirt, setting it on the table before following after Hanato. “Sorry for not having Inuzuka senses. Not really something I go out and buy too often.”
Was that a touch of petulance in his voice? It was certainly there in his scent, underneath the (extremely strong) cologne. Hanato paused, holding the bathroom door open, and glancing back over his shoulder. “Don’t apologize for something you can’t help. You can call that Lesson One for Dealing with Girls. In fact, never apologize, unless you’ve done something really wrong. Telling ‘em you’re sorry gives ‘em a chance to sink their claws in, and then you will be sorry.”
...That sounded rather misogynistic, didn’t it? Blame it on a week of dealing with Youen in heat and Haiko and Kemuri in Very Bad Moods. Hanato flung his towel over a rack, skinned out of his briefs, and ducked into the shower for a thorough scrubbing. Over the noise of the water, he called, “Just wash up like you usually would. Soap on the sink. Get your hair wet, too.”
“A bit late to break that habit,” he stripped down and started bathing. “Right, Hanato-sensei,” he sighed and let the water run over him. After he was sure he was good and wet, he lathered up and kept his gaze firmly on the wall ahead of him. Group showers were nothing new, but he certainly didn’t want to bother Hanato by staring or something.
That would certainly make the date all the more awkward.
The Inuzuka’s views on nudity were quite a bit more lax than even the most open-minded of Konoha citizens; most families didn’t let their kids run naked until it was time to force them into clothes and into school, after all. Hanato moved with the casualness of one completely comfortable in his skin, and completely untroubled by others’, though he did pause for a moment of comparison as he rinsed off. The deep slices in his chest had healed, but the scars were still there, raw and pink against his lightly tanned skin. Adding them to the innumerable scars on his hands and arms, the new and old slices in his legs, and the faded gash skittering up his side, he had even more scars than the ANBU.
Which probably just went to show that the other man was a hell of a lot better ninja than he, but oh well.
He turned off his stream of water, stepped up from the tiled basin of the shower, and snagged his towel. Drying off was the work of a moment, and he wrapped the towel around his hips and inspected his face critically in the mirror for a moment before he decided not to shave. A bit of stubble went a long way for the rugged look, anyway.
Sounded like Yuugao was done. He turned again, leaning against the sink, and snagged a bottle of hair mousse. “Get most of the water out of your hair, and come over here. D’you style your hair much beyond rolling out of bed in the morning?”
It was only after he’d turned off the water that Yuugao bothered to look over at Hanato. He’d heard about his injuries, but he certainly hadn’t expected to see Hanato so covered in gashes. But he only blinked and cocked his head a little. Hanato was looking at the mirror, so Yuugao dried off and was dealing with his hair just as Hanato gave his instructions.
He put the towel around his hips and came in, finger brushing out his hair. “Not really. Just let it do its own thing mostly.”
Too bad Hanato didn’t have the Yamanaka kid here to be properly horrified. He rolled his eyes in Inosuke’s place, snagged Yuugao’s wrist, squirted a tiny dollop of the product into the palm of his hand, repeated the process on his own hand, set the canister down, and rubbed his palms together briskly before he tackled his hair. “Freedom’s a good thing--but so’s control. Let it look like it’s doing its own thing, but you’re in total control the whole time, you know? Like with a puppy--or a girl.” He grinned, and ran his hand once more through his forelock to achieve the final perfection of that artfully dishevelled look.
He blinked at the dollop of mousse and then watched Hanato work. A quick glance in the mirror and Yuugao held back a sigh. “Control, right.” He rubbed his palms together and then put the mousse through his hair, though he wasn’t really sure what he was supposed to be aiming for.
A few more swipes with his hand and Yuugao just stared at his image in the mirror. “I don’t think I did that right.” He narrowed his eyes and poked a few strands. Now it just looked…a little too controlled. And hardly like himself at all. “I think this is too much control, too little freedom.”
Hmm. Hanato stepped back, giving the other man a critical eye. “Well, at least you know when you did it wrong.” He reached out, ruffled Yuugao’s hair briefly, tilted his head. “I think that works. What’re you planning to wear?”
“What I had on before,” he nodded his head at the pile of clothes. “The shirt was button up, so I was trying to at least not be too casual.” He looked up and down Hanato. “I doubt I’d fit in anything you have, in case you’re thinking of playing dress up as well.”
...Okay, so he’d deserved that. And at least the other man was snapping back a little, standing up for himself, which was what Hanato’d been going after in the first place. He shrugged amiably. “That’s fine-you’ve got a good dress sense, at any rate. Get ‘em on, and meet me back in my room-we’ve got a lot more to do.”
He wasn’t exactly sure how much a lot was, since he was winging this from start to finish, but it’d be best to put Yuugao on his guard, anyway!
Back in his room, under the resentful eyes of his dogs, he dressed quickly in slacks and a dark, short-sleeved shirt just dress enough not to be a tee-shirt. He was wrenching a sandal out from underneath Kemuri--who refused to budge--when Yuugao reentered, and he nodded in approval. “Much better.”
Dressing hadn’t taken long and he was glad that the almost…challenging tone in Hanato’s voice had faded. Yuugao wanted to trust the man and that slight twitch in his voice had just…unnerved him. Made him wonder if perhaps he’d get attacked from behind or tackled by Kotsuki.
He entered Hanato’s room and nodded in response. “Not too bad yourself. So what else is this ‘a lot more’? Surely you’re not going to put make up on me. I already--” He frowned, not wise to mention, but it was too late now. “I’ve already suffered that at their hands a few too many times. And trust me, eyeliner and mascara are terrible things.”
That earned him a steady, disbelieving stare from all four of the room’s occupants.
Was this one actually male? Youen wanted to know. No self-respecting dog she knew would let his bitches dictate what he did, and though he smelled male, he certainly didn’t act like Hanato did...
“I’m not the only guy in the world,” he told her sharply. “Some people are-“
Very, very strange, Haiko concluded. If these bitches were the ones Hanato was taking to dinner, he deserved whatever he got.
He spared a second to wonder what Izume and Kotsuki would think of his dogs’ descriptions of them, then decided he didn’t want to know, and snagged a small bottle from the table and tossed it to Yuugao. “A dash of this in your palm, and then rub it over your face and neck. And no make-up-that’s girls’ stuff.” He sighed. “Knew I shouldn’t let them give you all the advice...”
Great. Really shouldn’t have said anything. Yuugao looked to the side in annoyance, waiting for the silence to break, though Hanato’s outburst was unexpected. He decided to let it slide, seemed he was talking to the dog.
He caught the bottle and didn’t meet the other man’s eyes. “I’m quite aware that it’s not intended for men. But they blackmailed me.” He sighed and followed the instructions, wondering what this one was supposed to smell like. “What’s this odor? I can’t smell anything.” Yuugao put his hand to his nose and narrowed his eyes. “They’d have to get really close to me to smell anything at all…” he glanced over. “Or perhaps that’s the aim?”
“It’s woodsmoke and pine,” Hanato said absently, and held back on mentioning that he could smell it across the room (and, if he’d applied a touch of chakra to his nose, across three rooms and a very crowded mess hall). “Most people can’t catch a whiff of it till they’re really close, and then it’s intriguing enough they want more.” He grinned rakishly. “You can get a lot of cuddling out of that one.” Of course, the blend of pheromones added as a subtle accent helped quite a bit, too...
“Ah.” He looked to his hand for a moment and then noted the ninken sitting near him and cocking her head at him. He frowned. “What?”
Obviously he wouldn’t be able to understand whatever she said, so he simply took a step to the side and then looked to Hanato. “So, cologne’s covered. What’s next, oh wise one?” What else could he possibly need?
“Um.” Hanato hadn’t though this far ahead-hadn’t really thought ahead at all, and someday he needed to stop doing this. He glanced at Youen, sprawled languidly on his half-made bed, for inspiration; she ran her tongue out in a silent laugh. He made a face at her, and turned back to Yuugao.
“What are you looking to get out of the night?”
“Well, I’m certainly not thinking about this date like Aki-san does.” He glanced up at his hair, it was blocking his vision in a way he wasn’t used to and it was throwing him off. “I…didn’t really have anything specific. As this is oh, my second date? I’m just hoping to come out with a bit of my dignity, probably. But maybe that’s asking too much.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t really know. I let them talk me into dates and so…here I am. But it’s good for me.”
“Like Aki--?”
Oh, right. Getting laid.
And while that was a perfectly fine way to end most dates, in Hanato’s opinion, he could understand Yuugao’s point of view. Mostly. He’d never been good at letting himself get talked into anything (Too stubborn, his father said; Too pig-headed, his sensei’d said; and he didn’t want to know whatever Kabumi’d said...) and the notion of doing something just because it was good for you was, while...
Sounded an awful lot like training. Which dating wasn’t. Except maybe in Yuugao’s case...
“Bit of dignity’s not too much,” he said, deciding to put philosophy aside and tackle the issue at hand. “Not enough, I’d say. Let’s say you’re angling for a good-night kiss. Easy enough, and you’d have to mortally screw something up not to get one from Kotsuki. Which you won’t,” he added sternly.
“All right, all right.” He put up his hands. “A bit of dignity and a good night kiss. I can…probably handle that. More than anything, they usually pity me and think I’m…” he looked away. “Adorable or something. I guess it might be good to not fall into that pattern again.”
“What’s your aim?” As much as he appreciated the advice and concern, he’d much rather not have all of his flaws pointed out. Besides, it could be interesting to see what Hanato looked for in a casual date.
“My aim?” Wait, when did this become about him? He wasn’t the one needing help here, was he?
...Well, okay, at least Yuugao had achieved a successful long-term relationship before his lover’d gotten killed. He was miles ahead of Hanato if you were chalking up successes there. He had Hayako, and what’ve I got? A traitor, a few tumbles we both knew would never go anywhere, a woman older than my father who’s probably already forgotten my name...
He cleared his throat and scrabbled on the desk for another tiny vial of cologne, the subtle blend of musk and cinnamon that he only wore when he was really going all out. “I’m just looking for a good time.”
“I see.” He looked down at the ninken that kept staring at him and frowned. “What?” he asked and then moved again. “Right. Anything else I need to know, Hanato? Or am I all set to go out?”
He was about as good to go physically as he thought possible. What else could really be left? Well, aside from the pep talk. Undoubtedly he’d be given that. He could only hope it wasn’t too painful.
Hanato checked the clock on his desk--they still had five minutes before they needed to head out to make it to the girls’ apartment in time. He fixed Yuugao’s collar--leaving it less starch-creased but much better-looking than before--and stepped back again, one hand slipping into a pocket, the other automatically reaching down to the empty air at about hip-height. Kemuri whined, but a moment later her broad grey skull shoved itself under his fingers, and he grinned briefly down at her as he scratched her ears.
“There’s a whole host of stuff you need to know. But a lot of it’s stuff you can only learn by doing, or observing, or being. And I bet a lot of it’s stuff you knew already, but you’ve forgotten. Like...what d’you tell a girl when you first see her?”
“Hello,” he smirked. “No, I know. Compliment her hair or outfit or something.” Yuugao was glad to see that Hanato didn’t feel the need to spoon feed him everything. He still felt anxious, that much he had expected in the first place, but having been poked and prodded by Hanato for a while now, he thought that at least he had some hope.
Besides, he knew these girls. He could trust them. Though they took great pleasure in making him blush and…oh dear. He probably should address that.
“Well, I do have one request of you.” He couldn’t believe he was doing this. “Kotsuki-chan and Izume-chan take great…pleasure in teasing me. And I know I shouldn’t react to it, but I do. I’ve been getting better, but if they fall back into that? I’ll be hopeless.” He sighed. “So, I’m not exactly sure how you could prevent that, but…” he shrugged. “Any assistance would be appreciated.”
“Tease back,” Hanato said promptly. “Physically, if you need to-tickling’s always good.” And could lead to other things, sometimes, though mentioning that at the moment would probably explode Yuugao’s head...
“I’ll look after you,” he said, in his best big brother-ish voice of reassurance.
Of course, his grin totally spoiled the effect. “Unless joining in seems like more fun~”
“I just end up losing in the teasing…” he muttered and turned to face the door. “I’m feeling real reassured.” Yuugao glanced back at Hanato and started out. “C’mon, we don’t want to be late. I’m assuming you know the way there? Or do you need me to hold your hand?”
It felt good to have a spine. Well, sometimes.
Hanato raised his eyebrows. “Not unless you want the girls asking some real serious questions about why the two of us aren’t just going out on our own...”
“Can’t take a joke?” Yuugao smiled and put his hands behind his head, ready to get this date started. Maybe.
“I can always tease back,” Hanato pointed out, giving Kemuri one last pat on the head as he headed for the door.
And then, just to prove it, he slapped Yuugao’s shoulder, slipped past him out the door, vaulted down the stairs and over the tangle of puppies at the bottom, and was off running.
With any luck, they’d be halfway through the date before Yuugao noticed the “FREE KISSES” sign on his back.