RP Log: Shiraishi & Hiyoshi

[vinum_wine]

Date: May 1st
Rating: PG
Summary: Shiraishi has just moved into his fab new apartment in Shibuya and Hiyoshi is the first guest to come over and have dinner with him. Flirting ensues.



Hiyoshi stood outside Shiraishi's new flat, balancing a potted plant and a bag of takeout in his arms. It was a nice area, and convenient to travel to, which meant that it would be easy to visit Shiraishi whenever he wanted. Somehow, Hiyoshi managed to press on the doorbell with his elbow. Hopefully he wasn't too early, and Shiraishi was done unpacking.

Shiraishi was standing in the middle of the main room, surveying what little he had and what he probably needed to make it look more like a home and a place Hiyoshi would want to spend time in when the doorbell echoed. He laughed a bit at the fact that it really did echo in his bare home and went to the door smiling which only expanded when he saw the man on the other side, partially obscured by a plant.

“Wakashi! A bit early but not a problem, come in,” Shiraishi helped to usher the man inside, indicating he could kick his shoes off if he was able to and grab the spare pair of slippers he had bought earlier that day for the sole purpose of Hiyoshi having a pair when he came over.

Hiyoshi toed his shoes off and shuffled into the slippers before entering the flat. It looked sort of ...bare. "Um, you're not done unpacking yet?" he asked Shiraishi. "And I brought a plant for you to brighten the place up."

“Thanks! Was this just a typical housewarming gift or did you remember my interest in plants?” Shiraishi gladly accepted the plant and moved to the only table in the room that was set by a window and already had one plant on it. Once that was situated nicely where he felt both would get ample sunlight while he happily avoided it in the bedroom, the vampire turned back to his guest with arms spread out to show off his home.

“I finished unpacking earlier. I told you I didn’t have a lot of stuff. So uh... welcome to my floor space!” He really needed to go shopping some time soon. Too bad Japan didn’t have twenty-four hour Wal-Marts like North America.

"You did say something about liking plants," Hiyoshi reminded him, looking about him. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't, since you shared an apartment." Though a lot of floor space wasn't bad-- it meant you could do stretching exercises indoors. Belatedly realising he was voicing his last thought aloud, Hiyoshi coughed, slightly embarrassed, and waved his bag of takeout. "...Ah, I brought takeout. You must be hungry after all that moving."

“But only if you’re joining me in the yoga I have the room for,” normally his flirting was more under control and even subtle when it did come out but after their conversation about going on real dates, Shiraishi figured being a little more obvious at times was now allowed. Showing interest in the guy you were developing a crush on-against better judgement all things considered-wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Hungry and lacking food. I do, however, have wine and strawberry cake,” if nothing else, Shiraishi thought those two things were the perfect combination of human food and drink. He also happened to know it was something in the dessert side of life that wasn’t too sweet and Hiyoshi liked. Hooray for mind reading and endless experiments in what the man would eat.

"Don't know yoga," mumbled Hiyoshi, flushing a little. "Sounds good. Do you want to get the plates? Which way is the kitchen?" He was confused by modern apartments, having lived in either a dorm or a traditional Japanese house all his life. Randomly, he picked a door and opened it.

“More motivation for you to come over and learn with me,” Shiraishi never tired of that blush that appeared with half of the things he said-the other half brought out that great scowl he was certain Hiyoshi had perfected by the age of three. Too bad he couldn’t revel in making that blush darken when he started to laugh a bit at the closet door being opened to reveal two jackets and nine pairs of shoes-a guy could never have enough foot wear.

“It’s actually this way but it’s about just as bare as here, so pull up a piece of floor and make yourself comfortable while I grab the things from the kitchen,” luckily for Hiyoshi, Shiraishi had a moment of brilliance while out the day before and bought two of all the essential utensils and dishes to make his home more human. So when he returned, the vampire was balancing two plates with knives and forks on top while the other hand held two wine glasses and the bottle was tucked in the crook of his arm.

"Maybe," muttered Hiyoshi, wondering if it would help his martial arts. Seeing Shiraishi emerge with an armful of stuff, Hiyoshi went over and took the plates from Shiraishi before setting them out on the low table. Unwrapping the takeout, he transferred the food onto their plates.

"Hope you don't mind Chinese," he said, smiling just a little as he settled on the floor.

“Can’t really say I’m too picky an eater but I take it this is one of your preferred treats? Maybe while studying all night?” Shiraishi flopped down on the other pillow he had set around the table that now had two plants and dinner on it. He seriously needed to get furniture.

“I promise the next time you come by I’ll at least have a chair for you to sit on, maybe even a full collection of chairs,” he laughed lightly and grabbed one of the untouched containers to help serve them. “I’ll still give you the grand tour later so you don’t walk into another closet when trying to find the bathroom.”

"It's quick and tastes alright," Hiyoshi said a little defensively, before regarding the low table thoughtfully. "Actually, it's quite comfortable sitting on the floor. Maybe you should just buy proper cushions and leave it as it is."

"Modern housing is so confusing," he grumbled half-heartedly at Shiraishi's gentle teasing.

“I like modern housing. I feel like I’ve been living in traditional standards for far too long,” one day, Shiraishi would love to tell Hiyoshi exactly what he meant by that and explain that he was a vampire but tonight likely wouldn’t be that night either. His friend was too analytical and scientific to believe in vampires and if he did accept the fact, there would be the fear to overcome and of course the accusations of if he was fed from.

Shiraishi wasn’t ready for all of that and opted to just dig in to the hot food and enjoy another normal human ritual of take-out on the first night in the new home.

"Oh? Does your family live in traditional housing?" Hiyoshi asked, pausing in his attack of his favourite black pepper beef. Come to think of it, he'd never asked very much about Shiraishi's family.

“They did,” Shiraishi didn’t mean for his tone to sound so final and uneasy about the subject but he couldn’t change it after the fact regardless of that. He forgot what that comment of his would inspire considering they never talked about his life that much and now he had to deal with the topic of his family that he had silently watched from the shadows decades ago.

“They died years ago,” he couldn’t make up a happy family life if he expected to come clean about what he was some day so the truth-minus dates-was what he had to go. Shiraishi offered a weak smile to Hiyoshi in an effort to add to the charade that it was still a fresh wound and went back to shovelling some rice into his mouth.

"Ah..." Hiyoshi said, subdued and regretting ever having broached what was obviously a sensitive topic. "I'm sorry, Kuranosuke." Not really knowing what he was doing, he got up, walked over to where Shiraishi was sitting and rather awkwardly attempted to put his arms around him.

“It’s o-eh,” Shiraishi was at a loss for words at the hug from nowhere. Even with his ability to read minds, he didn’t see that coming. No point in letting a hug or good intentions go to waste! He awkwardly-thanks to his position and not emotions-returned it, savouring the non-initiated contact but letting go soon after so Hiyoshi wouldn’t feel trapped or obligated to stay.

“It’s okay; it was a long time ago. I met Sae and Bane not too long after that. It’s why I’m close to them. They’re a little older and helped me out like family would do,” again, for the most part, that was the truth.

"Ah, I see. I still think Saeki and Kurobane are annoying, though." Hiyoshi returned to his seat, a little red in the face but feeling somewhat pleased with himself. He picked up his cutlery again and resumed eating. "So how's work going?"

“They can be but you just have to learn not to take them so seriously all the time or just ignore their flamboyant ways and tantrums,” that last statement was more about Saeki but it fit Bane as well since he used the tactics on both of them. Taking a cue from Hiyoshi, Shiraishi started eating again as well, stopping only to refill the spring roll things he surprisingly really enjoyed.

“Good choice in food,” he complimented as he thought of a way to distract Hiyoshi away from all the questions about himself that had answers with too many holes in them if they were looked at closely. “Work is going pretty well since I could afford this place but how about your studies? I’m glad you took some time away to come over tonight.”

"You like the spring rolls?" asked Hiyoshi eagerly, taking mental note. "The shop's famous for them." He frowned a little at the mention of schoolwork. "It's not like I study all the time," he protested. "It's just that there's club activities as well, and recently I've had to go back to the dojo pretty often to help out. I'll have more free time soon, though."

“I do and you should either take me to this place or bring more with you next time you come,” Shiraishi liked that tone in Hiyoshi’s voice; the one that screamed he was excited about something or proud that he did something right. He was wondering what else he could do to turn that sound again when it changed thanks a frown and his poor topic change.

“Do you need help at the dojo? I don’t know your style but I could help out in other areas and you can teach me here when we’re not doing yoga in all that free time you’ll have soon,” he playfully stuck out his tongue and then attacked the last spring roll on his plate.

"It's not very far-- we could go sometime." Hiyoshi smiled, watching Shiraishi devour the roll with relish. "My brother just needs help with the new students. You could help...sweep the floor?" Hiyoshi decided that Shiraishi deserved that after all that teasing.

“We should and I could if it’ll lighten your load a bit. You’d be surprised at how much free time I have...as long as it’s in the evening,” Shiraishi felt like he was off-kilter. Why was he so close to making so many slip ups? If he didn’t tack on when he was free he was certain Hiyoshi would have him at the dojo at high noon and he’d be left floundering over why he was busy-most likely with his imaginary job but that wasn’t the point.

“I’ll play maid jus for you,” a grin Bane had once said Saeki taught him appeared before tending to the wine he realized he had never poured. He was well on his way to earning the worst host award; no furniture and failing to supply the guest with alcohol. Once the bottle was uncorked and glasses poured with one offered to Hiyoshi, Shiraishi clinked their glasses together, not sure what they should toast to.

"I was just joking," said Hiyoshi, the brief thought of Shiraishi in a maid uniform distracting him from Shiraishi's uneasiness. "The new students do all the sweeping, anyway." He raised his glass to Shiraishi. "Um, to your new home, I guess."

“I wasn’t,” Shiraishi grinned even more at the idea that appeared in Hiyoshi’s mind although he didn’t think he’d be the first in their relationship to dress up in any sort of dress or costume without a party attached to the word. Then again, he couldn’t quite see his adorable and grumpy human doing it willingly either. Oh well.

“You guess? And I’ll tack on a toast to growing relationships,” and with that, Shiraishi sipped at his wine and then returned to a piece of chicken still lingering on his plate acting like he hadn’t brought up the idea of dating.

Hiyoshi knew his face had to be tomato red, from how hot it felt. "Yeah..." he agreed, ducking his head and pretending to be absorbed in his drink. He wondered if they were considered to be dating...

Deciding to show mercy even though that shade of red still looked nice on Hiyoshi, Shiraishi finished up his dinner and waved to the remains on his friend’s, “as soon as you’re done, I’ll go grab the dessert.” Idly, he wondered if it wasn’t him that craved the dessert more as Hiyoshi did just barely tolerate sweets. Nah, it was strawberry and that had been approved by his grump so no need to worry over anyone’s sweet tooth or lack of so Shiraishi busied himself with cleaning up the empty cartons.

“Training for being your maid,” yeah, he just couldn’t keep the teasing quiet tonight. Then again, he could have made mention of lacking the dress but would have one ready for the next time.

Attempting a scowl, Hiyoshi ate the rest of his beef before standing and helping to clear the dishes. "You'll need a dress," he grumbled, wandering towards the kitchen. "...Kuranosuke? Where do you keep the dishwashing liquid?" It was indeed rather bare, compared to his cluttered kitchen at home and the filthy ones at school.

“And just why would I tell you when you’re the guest and shouldn’t be washing anything?” Shiraishi quickly moved in to take the dishes from Hiyoshi and turn him around and away from the sink the man thought to use. What kind of host and potential suitor would he be if he made guests do the clean-up?

“How about we do that tour now since you’ve seen half the apartment already, might as well show off the rest.”

"It's fine, really," protested Hiyoshi, though he allowed himself to be guided out of the kitchen. "That would be okay. This place looks larger than it seems from the outside." He turned to smirk at Shiraishi. "You're not hiding any secret belongings, are you?"

Shiraishi laughed lightly at the teasing that was too close to home but figured he’d just go with it. “You have no idea,” he wouldn’t tell Hiyoshi tonight, damn it! He just wanted the memory of them hanging out and happy in his new apartment before he had to shatter the illusion he had been willingly living in.

Determined to keep the illusion alive, Shiraishi showed Hiyoshi first the bathroom-after teasing him about finding the hall closet already-and then reached the only other room which had the door shut. “Welcome to the bedroom,” he casually tossed out as the door was opened and the large bed in the centre of the room greeted them. Like the main room, he was lacking in a lot of furniture again.

Completely oblivious to Shiraishi’s inner turmoil, Hiyoshi followed the other all over the apartment, curiously looking at everything. "It's pretty neat, your apartment-- though of course you've just moved in," he decided, more than a little impressed by the tidiness. The place could do with more furnishing, of course, but all in all Shiraishi had a pretty nice place. Peering into the darkened bedroom, he blinked at the size of the bed. "That's a pretty big bed for one person."

“I hope I won’t be sleeping alone forever,” Shiraishi slipped in the flirtatious comment as he brazenly let his hand trail across the small of Hiyoshi’s back in the lightest of touches. His human companion would probably turn red again but it was fun to see and make appear. Without looking for the reaction, the vampire moved to the end where he sat down to watch the floundering he suspected might come with it.

Hiyoshi jumped nearly a foot into the air at the touch, letting out an audible squeak. "You---" he spluttered out, blushing hotly. Was Shiraishi implying-- no, no, he must be just teasing. Resolutely steering his mind away from the implications of Shiraishi's suggestive comment, Hiyoshi decided that he would not be defeated by Shiraishi's constant teasing. Gekokujou! Willing himself to stop blushing, he plopped down beside Shiraishi.

"You...you need a bookshelf," he concluded rather lamely.

Shiraishi opted for the oblivious and nice route this time as he ignored the openings Hiyoshi left him with the squeak and stuttering as he looked around his room until his gaze fell on the pile of books. “I think you might be right. That pile won’t stay that small for long now that I have my own place again and I don’t plan on moving any time soon.”

"Ah, I've never asked you what sort of books you like to read, Kuranosuke," said Hiyoshi with a wry smile. He slid off his seat and wandered over to squat by the pile of books, sifting through the titles. "Interesting...some of these look pretty old."

“I read a lot of everything,” Shiraishi leaned back on the bed, not in a hurry to move though he was pleased Hiyoshi had taken to the mundane topic to distract himself. He liked teasing and flirting with the human but he didn’t want to drive him batty to the point he up and left. “Usually, books that people would consider study material are what I like. I pick a subject and learn everything I can about it.”

For a moment he almost forgot what books Hiyoshi was referring to but then remembered they weren’t old to him because they were the same age or younger than his vampire self, “some of the books have been in my family for what seems like forever, and others I find while digging around used stores.” Once again, more or less true.

"Oh." Hiyoshi was secretly pleased that Shiraishi seemed as much a bookworm as he was. Sitting himself down on the floor, he reverently opened what looked like a genuine first edition copy of a text, and sneezed lightly at the dust. "You have some pretty good stuff here. I might have to come over more often." He looked up, only to see Shiraishi lounging on the bed. "You'll get fat if you lie around after meals, Kuranosuke."

“I wouldn’t mind that though I wonder why I didn’t bribe you with books sooner,” Shiraishi laughed lightly and took delight in the way Hiyoshi made himself at home and started browsing his books. He was getting dangerously close to thinking like a human and believing he could have a happy life with this one with how many things they had in common.

Luckily, Hiyoshi set himself up perfectly for a flirtatious comment that would distract the vampire from such thoughts, “is that so? I can think of a couple of ideas to help keep me active right now.”

"Because I never knew you had such books and you didn't know I liked them," replied Hiyoshi smugly, before frowning at Shiraishi, not quite understanding. "You're not supposed to exercise too vigorously after eating, either."

Shiraishi nibbled on his lower lip to keep from laughing at his clueless human. How could someone be so dense when it came to flirting and sexual undertones? Perhaps wisdom did come with age and life experiences. Whatever the reason, the vampire was soon off the bed and sitting beside Hiyoshi, practically on top of him, as his most sincere and charming smile was given.

“How about something a little less strenuous, like kissing?”

Startled, Hiyoshi dropped the book he was holding, gaping slightly. "...K-kissing?" Granted, he had sort of thought about it, but they were both men and it wasn't like he'd fooled around very much with Minako...

“Hey, where’s the book respect?” Shiraishi was of course teasing when he saw the reaction he had expected to get out of Hiyoshi. If he was going to kiss the human, he figured it’d have to be a surprise attack and not one that was mentioned before doing it. But at least what he wanted was now out in the open so he had a better chance of not getting a fist to his face or knee to his groin if he ever did manage to steal that kiss.

"It's your fault," grumbled the once-again-blushing Hiyoshi, giving the other man a half-hearted shove. He picked up the dropped book and dusted it off carefully, making sure he hadn't accidentally dog-eared any pages when the book had shut on hitting the ground. "Let's go back to the living room and finish the wine and cake," he suggested, eager to change the topic.

“An excellent plan,” Shiraishi got to his feet and let Hiyoshi do the same on his own instead of offering assistance. He knew the human had a lot of pride and babying him-or what Hiyoshi would see as that-too often would irritate the man. As he headed out the door he explained he would bring the cake out and to wait for him at the table.

“Unless of course you think cake and wine is better had in bed,” some days, he believed he really was related to Saeki.

"You'll get crumbs---" began Hiyoshi, before belatedly realising the sexual connotations of Shiraishi's words and abruptly shutting his mouth. "Hurry up with the cake!" he huffed, flopping down on the pillows next to the table and pretending to be very interested in the seams.

“Yes, my lord,” Shiraishi said in English donning a sassy voice. He had to practice playing maid and butler for the human, after all. Smiling the entire time he grabbed the cake and new plates, the vampire soon returned to flop back down on his pillow with the cake set between them on the table.

“You can eat as much as you want. Don’t worry about being polite or something,” Shiraishi had bought the cake for Hiyoshi and he suspected he wouldn’t eat much of it after the human left. To help encourage this devouring of sweetness, a large slice of cake was set in front of Hiyoshi.

Hiyoshi rolled his eyes at Shiraishi's posturing and turned his attentions on the slice of cake. "Are you trying to make me fat?" he accused, even as he dug in. "You just gave me nearly half the cake." Hiyoshi wasn't really bothered, though-- he did enough exercise to burn off whatever he ate, anyway. He ate slowly, savoring the soft, spongy texture of the cake and the sweet and slightly tart flavor of the fruit.

“That you are thoroughly enjoying,” Shiraishi pointed out on a laugh, once again glad he had remembered the detail that Hiyoshi seemed to like this cake the best out of all the experiments. He left the fat comment alone, however, as it made way for too many flirtatious comments that he was pretty certain he had already reached his quota of for the month and it was still only the first!

"Well, aren't you eating?" grunted Hiyoshi, secretly happy that Shiraishi had been attentive enough to identify one of the few sweets that he liked.

Shiraishi looked down at his slice, noticing it had only one bite missing from it. He hadn’t realized he had taken to poking patterns in the icing with his fork instead of eating it. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it; he had merely been distracted by their conversation and figuring out the human. He felt he had a good handle on Hiyoshi but trying to pick the right time to kiss the man and tell him all about vampires was pretty damn difficult.

“I’m making sure there will still be some left in case you devour everything else and still want more.”

"I can't possibly eat everything," Hiyoshi pointed out. Stabbing a chunk of cake with his fork, he held it out in the vague direction of Shiraishi's mouth. "Eat," he said gruffly, turning faintly red.

Amused at the way Hiyoshi sometimes set himself up so perfectly for the flirting, Shiraishi automatically leaned in to the fork appearing before him and wrapped his lips around it. He behaved by not doing tongue twirls or putting on a show of what his mouth could do though he did savour the moment a little before pulling free and munching happily on the cake with a mumbled thank you.

“Although,” he found he couldn’t keep quiet after all, “the next time you feed me a strawberry, it has to be from your mouth. Much more satisfying that way.”

Hiyoshi sucked in a deep breath. "Like this?" he asked boldly, sliding a strawberry between his lips and holding it in place with his teeth. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. What on earth was he doing?

Was this for real? Shiraishi wondered what he had done to earn such a reward and, figuring it was simply due to good behaviour, decided to shut up and enjoy it. “Definitely like that,” his voice was a purr and before anything could prevent it from happening, Shiraishi had leaned in to pull the fresh fruit from one mouth to the other and even dared to linger for an awkward stolen kiss.

It wasn’t what he imagined the first kiss to be but he’d take it and sat back to eat the strawberry with a smile. “Definitely tastes better.”

The lingering juices of the fruit sweet on his tongue, Hiyoshi privately agreed, his blush deepening. "Ahem, yeah," he mumbled. "So you should eat." What had come over him then? Hiyoshi wanted to believe that he was just strategically taking the pre-emptive strike, so to speak, but there was something very like happiness welling in his heart.

Shiraishi held his tongue and shovelled a large bite of cake into his mouth to keep from asking whether that innocent comment was about cake or another kiss. He knew Hiyoshi was close to his limit of being daring and flirted with so it was best to just give another smile and quietly eat his cake and wave his fork at Hiyoshi’s to encourage him to finish up.

Despite his earlier protests, Hiyoshi ate every single crumb of cake on his plate, and even stole a few strawberries from Shiraishi's portion. He gave Shiraishi a defiant glare, daring him to say anything.

“I knew you could finish off that chunk and more,” Shiraishi grinned as another strawberry was stolen. His slice was sadly out of the fruit with that last thievery but that didn’t stop the vampire from grabbing one from the remainder of cake. He made it look like he was going to feed it to Hiyoshi but quickly pulled back to set it between his teeth like the human had done earlier. With a challenging perk of brow, Shiraishi waited to see if Hiyoshi would come for this one as well.

Hiyoshi growled at the taunt and bit down on his lower lip in hesitation. He couldn't back down! Gekokujou, he told himself, before leaning over to accept the fruit from Shiraishi's mouth.

Too bad for Hiyoshi that he was playing with a vampire that had an evil streak just like any other and sucked the fruit into his mouth at the last moment to draw the man in for a proper kiss. It still wasn’t perfect, but was any surprise kiss ever more than a little sloppy with the impulsiveness? He didn’t care, not when he finally had a real taste of the human that had grown on him far too much since meeting.

Taken completely by surprise, Hiyoshi allowed Shiraishi to kiss him for a couple of seconds before drawing back with a gasp. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before spluttering out, "...d..did you just kiss me?"

“Technically, I think you should have asked that earlier since I count this one as the second kiss of the night,” Shiraishi was positively glowing but he was still on guard for any fists that might be swung his way regardless of the feelings he thought he had been reading correctly from Hiyoshi. Then again, maybe he deserved it and wouldn’t dodge anything tossed his way.

"Don't be so smug," grouched Hiyoshi, giving Shiraishi a hard smack on the arm. He stood up, plate in hand. "I...I'm going to do the dishes!"

“And I said you were the guest and not doing dishes,” Shiraishi countered as he jumped to his feet and tried to take the plate from Hiyoshi. The smack to his arm still stung but he refused to do more than that wrinkled face and ‘ow’ when it hit.

"It's okay," Hiyoshi muttered, not releasing his grip. "Don't break the plate, Kuranosuke."

“I’ll buy another if you break it and no,” Hiyoshi wasn’t supposed to want to be so damn domestic and just sit there eating cake. Why wasn’t the human cooperating? Was he seriously going to have to kiss the man into silence?

That wasn’t such a bad idea and soon Shiraishi used their shared hold on the plate to pull Hiyoshi into him for a real kiss that he would later wonder over and if he should have done it or not.

"M--mph!" Startled, Hiyoshi abruptly let go of the plate. Damn it, his knees were going weak.

“My apartment, my rules, and tonight you don’t wash the dishes,” Shiraishi barely parted from the kiss to mumble out the new rules of the place as he adjusted his hold on the plate he had nearly flung from Hiyoshi letting go, “unless you want more kisses in which case I will be happy to punish you.” His playful smile was back in place though golden eyes danced with the passion awakening for the human as the free arm dared to loop around his friend’s waist to somewhat shackle him close and keep him standing.

Still a little dazed, Hiyoshi leaned on Shiraishi for a few moments before realising his position and what Shiraishi had said. "Oi! Don't be so smug," he grumbled, trying to wriggle free. "Who wants more kisses?"

Shiraishi couldn’t help the smug look, even with the wriggling Hiyoshi gave. “Are you asking if I want more so you can give some out?” he knew what the human meant and knew he was pushing his luck but even still, he pressed on that little bit more. “Because I definitely want more but I’ll go back to behaving and wash some dishes.” He released Hiyoshi and turned for the kitchen where he started running the water to ready the sink.

"Of course not!" snapped Hiyoshi, blushing deeply. "You're not getting anymore today." Belatedly, he realised what he'd implied. "...That is...I mean. Argh... I'll be in the living room!" he finally stammered out, and beat a hasty retreat. He was somewhat outraged by Shiraishi's actions, but couldn't help but smile, just a little. Yes, he realised, he really did like Shiraishi, very much.

Several minutes of cleaning and smiling later and Shiraishi was back in the living room, eyeing Hiyoshi. Was he waiting to hit him? If he was, it would be to cover up his feelings the vampire was rudely reading in his mind. But he had to know where his actions had left him! He wasn’t necessarily in a great place but he didn’t feel like he was in the dog house either. Sticking out a hand, Shiraishi offered it in truce. “Sorry for the kissing and teasing. I definitely liked the kisses but I promise to behave from now on and not do that again.”

"It's okay," mumbled Hiyoshi gruffly. "I don't...really mind."

“It still wasn’t very friend-like of me,” Shiraishi tried to act modest or ashamed but they just didn’t fit with him and ended up switching the conversation to an English novel he had started reading and would lend to Hiyoshi if his English was good enough for such a thing. It was best to get them back on their line of friendship and forget the feelings he was developing. He was a vampire and his friend didn’t know it and possibly should never know it.

Friends? Did Shiraishi mean that they were just friends? Hiyoshi felt a vague feeling of disappointment, but refused to think further on it and focused his attentions on the book Shiraishi was talking about.

"My English should be good enough," he said. "It sounds interesting, but you should finish it first before lending it to me."

“I should be able to drop it off in a few days then,” he couldn’t help it! As they discussed the mundane, Shiraishi kept trying to grab sneak peeks into Hiyoshi’s mind and was baffled by the disappointment he saw. Should they be kissing again instead? Maybe he should ask them to be going out in a more official capacity? Did he really want to do that with the whole vampire thing between them? Yes, he did want all of that and more but not the conversation he swore he would have before it became too serious.

“So do you want to hang out here a little longer and risk being fed more cake and me going back on my good behaviour and kissing you again, or do you think you should be getting home?” It was only fair to give Hiyoshi all the options although the struggling vampire felt if they ended up making out again, he might not be able to control himself which meant he really should encourage his friend to leave. Why was he babbling inside of his head?

Hiyoshi shrugged as nonchalantly as he could manage. "I don't really have anything to do back in the dorm." He picked at some loose threads on his sweater. "No more cake, though."

“All right but if you miss the last train later, you’re staying the night,” Shiraishi grinned innocently at the plan, pretending to be concerned about the taxi fee and the dangers of the city after dark. Of course that meant having his temptation with him all night and possibly-hopefully-curled up in bed beside him but he would manage. He would damn well make sure he did!

"Yeah, yeah." Hiyoshi offered Shiraishi a small smile. "Mind if I go look through your books again?"

“Go right ahead,” now who was the mind reader? He had almost suggested the books be looked through again but didn’t want to sound like he was trying to end their conversation and force some activity on his guest. Having the guest suggest such a thing showed Hiyoshi either was comfortable in the empty apartment already or he was trying to avoid conversation. Shiraishi chose to believe in the first option and waved off to the bedroom.

"Aren't you coming?" Hiyoshi cast a questioning look over his shoulder as he headed for the room. "I saw some in European languages-- you'll have to explain them to me."

A smile slowly spread over lips as Shiraishi nodded and stood up to follow Hiyoshi to the bedroom. They were probably the only two in all of Tokyo that considered take-out on the floor and looking through old books to be the perfect Friday night and the vampire didn’t mind it one bit and had a feeling they really would be distracted past the last train. “I’m not proficient in all the languages you’ll find but I can work my way through most and will be glad to tell you about whatever you find.”

"How many languages do you know, anyway?" asked Hiyoshi as they settled on the floor next to the pile of books.

“Let’s see... Japanese, English, French, and Latin are my strongest but I can get by in Spanish and German as well,” he was proud of the languages he knew that helped him travel but then thought Hiyoshi might think it’s odd to know so many for someone that looked so young and quickly tacked on, “I’ve had a lot of time to study when I was younger.” It wasn’t entirely a lie.

"Ah." Hiyoshi picked up a book and carefully dusted it off. "So you like languages? I know a few people like that, who learn half a dozen tongues just because they want to." He presented it to Shiraishi. "This is Latin, isn't it?"

Shiraishi peered at the pages opened to him and nodded at the assessment and secretly smiled at how easily he was accepted again, “it is and I did. Well, I still do but I stopped learning language after language to focus on something else. I like to learn everything I can about something and move on to the next subject. Right now, its plants and possibly various forms of martial arts,” he did love to learn and had yet to find a subject he wasn’t good in-except for dealing with humans, obviously.

At the magic words "martial arts", Hiyoshi perked up and launched into lengthy conversation about his favourite subject. As they chatted on through the night, Hiyoshi's eyes began to grow heavy from the combined effects of food, wine and tiredness. Eventually, he fell asleep, head pillowed on Shiraishi's lap.