Happy Santa_Smex, evilchiapet!
To: evilchiapet
From: na_kabaji_usu
Title: Twig and Berries
Recipient's name: evilchiapet
Rating: R
Pairing(s): Konjiki Koharu/Hitouji Yuuji
Warning: Beware of dorkiness.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created by Konomi Takeshi. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: evilchiapet I know this probably isn’t what you expected but I hope you like it just the same. Lots of love and thanks to N and K for helping me get my plot going and helping me out when I got stuck.
Nationals had passed and the third year players of Shitenhouji’s tennis team no longer attended practice, focusing on their educational future instead. Of course, even though they didn’t play anymore, most of the third year retirees could often be found watching the morning practice just before school started.
“Look what I found! Look what I found!” Kintarou practically bounced in his excitement, waving a small bushel of leaves and berries around. He and Zaizen had changed back into their school uniforms and joined the group heading back to the main building. “I found it taped above the door of the clubroom! What a weird place for someone to try and grow a plant…” He pulled a berry off, ready to pop it into his mouth when Shiraishi snatched it from his hand.
“You don’t want to eat that, Kin-chan. It’s poisonous.” He inspected the plant, turning a curious glance towards Koharu.
“Poisonous?” Kintarou’s eyes widened to the size of tennis balls.
“It’s mistletoe,” Koharu supplied from his comfortable position draped over Hitouji’s shoulder. “Or if you prefer, Phoradendron flavescens, of the Santalaceae family. According to mythology, mistletoe is said to have been cut with a golden sickle after being mistaken as holly. If it touches the ground, it loses its mystical powers.” Koharu wiggled his fingers at Kintarou before turning sharply in Chitose’s general direction with a grin. “Oh, and I wouldn’t try to smoke it unless you have serious circulatory or respiratory problems.”
Chitose snorted, giving him the same curious look as Shiraishi. “It looks like someone has been putting them up around the school. Saw a few over by the music room and one in the third year hallway.”
“Must have been someone looking for a holiday smooch.” Koharu shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the accusing looks.
“Smooch? What’s kissing got to do with it?” Kintarou asked, poking at the plant in his former-captain’s hands.
“If two people are caught underneath it, they have to kiss. It’s an American Christmas tradition or something.” Chitose swiped the mistletoe, waved it teasingly over Kenya and Zaizen’s heads, and grinned as they scattered out of the way (“Cut it out, senpai!”).
“Eww! I’m glad I knocked it down then! What if two guys were under it? They’d end up like Koharu and Hitouji-senpai!” Kintarou laughed, trying to grab for the plant in Chitose’s hand.
Yuuji and Koharu automatically wrapped their arms around each other, nuzzling their cheeks together.
“What’s wrong with that, Kin-chan?” they both asked, giving him puppy-eyes and kissy-faces.
Zaizen gagged behind his hand and turned away, Kenya rolled his eyes, Gin frowned (just a little, it was hard to tell sometimes), and Shiraishi and Chitose just smiled, obviously amused.
Kintarou just tilted his head to the side. “My mom says that two people shouldn’t kiss unless they’re in love. But I guess it's okay since you guys are just playing.” He laughed, finally getting his hands on the mistletoe again and tore off a few more berries.
The whole group fell silent. None of them wanted to say anything because, honestly, they weren’t sure if Kintarou had just had a rare moment of insight or if he was way off base.
For a split second, Koharu had that serious look on his face that he got when he was about to reveal something that only he knew, his goofy smile gone and back before anyone really noticed. “What makes you say that, Kin-chan?” All smiles and rainbows again.
“You guys are always touching each other but I’ve never seen you kiss for real.” Kintarou squished a berry between his fingers, making a face at the sticky white goo that oozed out.
Feeling that things had gone a little too far, Shiraishi stepped in, placing a bandaged hand on Kintarou’s shoulder and guiding him back to the school. “Come on, the bell is going to ring soon. If you’re late, you’ll have to suffer the consequences.”
“Wait!” Koharu called, untangling himself from Yuuji’s grasp. “Kin-chan’s right, ne, Yuu-kun?” He turned to his very confused looking partner and reached out for his hand, pulling him close again. Making sure everyone was paying close attention, he leaned in.
“Koharu, you better not be...” Yuuji’s protests were cut off, eyes wide. For the first time in their “relationship”, they had kissed for real, right in front of their teammates. It was mortifying; the whole team was watching- staring in a mixture of curiosity, horror, and embarrassment- as Koharu stole Hitouji’s first kiss, very much against his will.
Wrenching himself free from Koharu’s slimy lips and grabby hands, Yuuji- red and absolutely fuming- swung hard and cracked him good in the jaw. His hand would be hurting for a while but it was totally be worth it.
“Koharu, you bastard!”
There was nothing Koharu could do but watch as his partner stomped away from his spot crumpled on the ground, more angry at him than he’d ever seen him before. Despite being a genius, there was no way he could have predicted that sort of reaction, nor the amount of pain it would cause him, both physically and emotionally.
~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥
After being bandaged up in the nurse’s office, Koharu was sent on his way to class, not even having the heart to flirt like usual. She had checked for a fever but all he had was a large purpling bruise on his left cheek (and perhaps a minor case of a broken heart).
But he wasn’t going to let that stop him. At every chance he got during their lessons, he stared at Hitouji, tried to send him notes, tried to talk to him, but to no avail. Yuuji was giving him the harshest cold shoulder he had ever experienced to date, beating out that time he had asked for Atobe’s phone number.
Lunchtime came and Yuuji was nowhere to be found. He even wasn’t in his usual spot on the roof in the back corner that people usually avoided. He always went there whenever Koharu made him mad. Instead, he found two of his classmates tucked away.
Sighing, he squeezed in between Chitose and Shiraishi as they sat eating their own lunches.
“Still no luck?” Chitose asked, nibbling on an apple-bunny slice Miyuki had made for him that morning.
“None. He’s avoiding me!” Koharu wailed in despair, leaning onto Shiraishi’s shoulder.
“What should I do, Kurarin? He won’t even look at me! How am I supposed to apologize?”
“Don’t ask me. He’s your doubles partner, not mine.” Shiraishi shrugged Koharu off and went back to his bento.
“So cruel!” Koharu tried Chitose instead, clinging to his arm. “You’d know what to do, right, Chitose-kun?”
Swallowing, Chitose threw Shiraishi a look. “Why would I know what to do? You’re the genius, you figure it out.”
Getting the not-so-subtle hint, Koharu huffed and stood, leaving them with a parting shot. “I thought you would be able to help, Chitose-kun, since you have your own love troubles to deal with… By the way, how is Tachibana-kun?“
~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥
Koharu used his afternoon classes to plot and plan the capture of his wayward doubles partner; it wasn't like he needed to actually pay attention. The teachers had learned long ago not to bother him; they only ended up humiliated in the end. Instead, he spent his time staring at the back of Yuuji’s head, making mental notes and preparing to put everything into action the second the bell rang. He knew Hitouji’s usual routine for when he went home: pack up his bag, change his shoes, and walk home. Pretty simple. Of course, he knew that Yuuji knew he knew, so he was ready for any changes.
As expected, Yuuji found an excuse to stay behind, asking the teacher about an assignment. Koharu could feel the anger rising; that was his job! To help his partner with any problems he had on homework or in tennis or even in video games! Now he was asking the teacher? Koharu stepped out into the hall so he wasn’t forced to watch such a cruel scene. Yuuji was probably doing it on purpose to get back at him for all the times he himself had been made jealous by Koharu’s flirting.
Koharu’s brilliant plan went into motion the moment Yuuji walked out the classroom door. First step: follow him! Second step: beg for forgiveness. It seemed like a pretty solid plan. He immediately latched onto Hitouji’s arm.
“Yuu-kun. Where have you been all day? I’ve missed you.” He was pried off but that didn’t deter him, he just latched back on. “I’m sorry for what happened earlier! I won’t do it again. I promise!”
Yuuji stopped dead in the middle of the hall and turned to glare at him.
“You don’t even know why I’m mad, do you?”
The question caught Koharu by surprise and all he could do was stare back and think, think like he’d never think-ed before. He carefully took in their surroundings: an empty hall after school when everyone else had either gone home or to club activities, a classroom behind them, and a door to a janitor’s closet to the right. He knew if he said the wrong thing, his Yuu-kun would run again, so instead of answering, he took diversionary tactics.
“Oh look, mistletoe,” and as soon as Yuuji had looked up, Koharu pounced, shoved his partner into the broom closet, and closed the door tightly behind them.
It was pretty dark inside and the only light coming through was from the tiny gap between the door and the floor, but Koharu didn’t need light to be able to find Yuuji. That’s what hands were for.
“Koharu! What are you… Eh! D-don’t… WHAT ARE YOU GRABBING?!” Koharu was just lucky enough to dodge the elbow that went flying at his head.
“I thought they taught you basic anatomy in grade school, Yuu-kun. This is called a penis.” And to accentuate his lesson, Koharu gave said part of anatomy a good, healthy grope.
“Damnit, Koharu! Knock it off.” Yuuji’s words would have had more force if his hips hadn’t been rocking forward into Koharu’s hand.
“Ah!” Koharu had a sudden epiphany and stopped, wrapped his arms around Hitouji’s middle, and snuggled against his back. “I get it. I know why you were mad at me. You’re so cute, Yuu-kun.” Koharu had never been more relieved to have been wrong in his life, thinking that Hitouji didn’t like him at all.
“I-idiot.” It didn’t need to be said aloud for confirmation; they both just knew. Yuuji had been embarrassed that their first kiss had been in front of everyone and- although he was an exhibitionist in tennis- when it came to the real thing, he didn’t want to share with anyone else.
“Then this is better, right, Yuu-kun? We’re all alone here,” Koharu questioned, creeping his hands across his partner’s body, one back down to its former job, the other moving slowly up Hitouji’s shirt, rubbing gentle circles across his skin.
Koharu never received a reply other than a choked sound because his wandering hand had slipped under the waistband of Yuuji’s pants, searching for something to hold onto.
“Shall I teach you some more anatomy while I’m down here?” he asked, voice dripping with enthusiasm, popping open the button of his partner’s trousers. “This is what we call the scrotum and the testes.” He took Hitouji’s balls in his hand, gently kneading and rubbing them, eliciting a delicious moan from his partner. Feeling encouraged, he continued his lesson. “This here is called the raphe.” His finger stroked up the ridge on the underside of his cock all the way to the tip. “And this is the glans. Feels good, doesn’t it?” He took his time, teasing before wrapping his hand completely around him, slowly pumping.
It didn’t take much more than that to send Yuuji over the edge; Koharu’s warmth all around him, his scent permeating through the small enclosed area, and his voice right against his ear speaking of the most mundane things were enough. He came hard into Koharu’s hand, hips thrusting and breath short.
After the stars were gone from his eyes and he could think clearly again, Hitouji turned in Koharu’s arms and kissed him- a proper, not-for-show kiss.
“Next time, leave the doctor persona out of it unless you want to wear the outfit.”
Koharu squeezed him tight, absolutely ecstatic to know that he wasn’t joking.