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Who: Hiyoshi and Niou
When: Thursday night, late
Where: Engineering
What: Niou has some questions for Hiyoshi and the trashcan is set on fire
The base was always peaceful at night, and despite not being a night person per se, Hiyoshi never minded staying up late to facilitate his visits with Uion. It was a nice break from the crowded Yomi base life, and it really put into perspective how lucky Hiyoshi had been to grow up in his family’s spacious compound.
Carrying two servings of replicator made crackers he let himself into engineering, heading over to where Uion was hunched over his desk destroying his back like usual.
Niou had been… distracted from his actually assigned task of trying to figure out how to make the treadmills more Tooyama-resistant, which, really just seemed to be due to the motor dying from overuse. He'd been thinking too much about things and then had returned to the computer to start playing with designs for glasses and then started reading up about contact lenses.
He was distracted with bionic eyes when he heard the door open and he jumped, looking over. And then Niou relaxed as he saw Hiyoshi. "Oh good you're here." He cleared off some space on his desk. "I have beverages." Of the weird vaguely citrus flavoured warm variety that he thought was the replicator's attempt at lemon tea.
“I hope I didn’t make you wait,” was Hiyoshi’s polite response complete with a tiny bow. It was more habit than anything, he was sure Uion was the type of person who could keep himself busy when needed, especially with the amount of damage Tooyama did around the base on a daily basis.
He set the crackers down on the desk, sitting down and helping himself to one of the drinks.The citrus was nice– it did a good job at covering the algal taste. Hiyoshi had quickly learned to choose his meals around that quality– it meant a lot of strong flavours, and a lot of vegetables and seaweed.
"I'm here all night, you know that." Niou pulled up the rendered glasses frames on his screen - a couple of different options since they'd helped keep him distracted - to show Hiyoshi. "I wonder if it's better to get like… a pair for when you're training? And then a daily pair?" Something functional with excellent peripheral vision, and then a slightly better looking daily pair.
He rotated the renders so Hiyoshi could see the sides of them. "There's a guy here who apparently makes lenses for the cameras." Go figure, Niou had apparently just never spoken to him. "Same idea, basically? He's got the equipment, so we should be able to cut the glasses lenses correctly."
Hiyoshi slid his chair closer to check out the designs Uion had come up with. As expected, Uion was good at this. “I already have my current pair for daily things, it’s work they get in the way of. What about the material, can you make it strong? Tooyama almost broke mine three times and I only wore them for a week.” He sat back and rubbed his eyes. “...maybe I should just get the correction surgery again.”
Ah, the risks of working with Tooyama. "I don't think there's a material that can actually withstand Tooyama," Niou said faintly. He tapped his fingers on his desk and rotated the designs a few more times. "I'll think on it. Strong enough to withstand Tooyama and not too bulky."
Niou glanced at Hiyoshi. "I'm not volunteering to do the corrective eye surgery for you. I can use lasers, but not in that way."
"If you don't do strong, easily replaceable works." Hiyoshi had to be realistic about his options. And speaking of realistic options– "I trust you, but not that much." There was a line between believing in your friend's talents and just being plain stupid.
"I can do easily replaceable." As long as the supply of materials held out. And even then, a lot could be cobbled together from scrap. Niou laughed and made a couple of notes to himself on the designs before he closed them. "I don't trust myself that much, don't worry."
"I don't know why they didn't send an optometrist to the base. It was short-sighted of them." Hiyoshi stopped mid-munch on his crackers when he realized what he said, turning to preemptively glare at Uion. "I didn't mean to say that, don't say anything."
Niou nodded in agreement with Hiyoshi before he paused as he realised what exactly had been said. Oh no. He had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud and just shook his head, making a zipping motion over his mouth.
Right, subject change. Get away from Hiyoshi and his bad joke. “I have a bit of a situation at the moment and I was hoping to get your thoughts and advice.”
Anything to get away from the bad pun shame. Hiyoshi wasn't sure how much he'd be able to help Uion, (after all he was a smart guy, and smart guys had smart problems,) but he was willing to at least hear it out. He nodded, going back to his crackers. "What's happening?"
Niou took a sip of his drink. And god he just hoped he could actually trust that Hiyoshi and Gakuto weren’t going to share gossip about Niou and Uion with each other because that would be so, so awkward. “I recently had someone tell me they have become… attracted to me,” Niou said and god but it was so much more awkward to say it actually outloud than just type it. “And I don’t understand? Like how did that even happen in the first place?”
Hiyoshi wasn’t sure what he had expected, but it wasn’t this. His gaze stayed perfectly level, searching Uion’s face for some sort of answer, because in Hiyoshi’s self-confident inner world, this sort of self-doubt just didn’t exist. After a painful minute of silence, Hiyoshi decided he needed more to work with. “Why wouldn’t someone be attracted to you?”
Yes okay, the silence and staring made it much more awkward. Particularly as he stared right back at Hiyoshi and tried to figure out his expression. Niou laughed at the question. "I'm not really an attractive sort. I mean, I'm an awful workaholic, I have terrible eyebags… I'm not particularly healthy? And…" he chewed the word around reluctantly. "I'm weird. Very weird."
“You’re not supposed to laugh.” That right there was enough to prove to Hiyoshi that all the stuff that followed was stuff Uion actually believed. His expression turned into a definite frown. “Did someone tell you all that or did you decide it on your own?”
Niou just shrugged apologetically, but, it had been quite a funny and blunt question. Especially when delivered with Hiyoshi's straight face. "A bit of both? I don't exactly need someone else to tell me I'm unhealthy and have bad eyebags. I can see my own reflection."
“Did you fail resume class in school? Everyone knows you’re not supposed to go around announcing all the bad things about yourself.” Hiyoshi folded his arms, this whole thing was mildly annoying to him, but it was clear Uion needed someone to kick his ass and it looked like it was going to have to be him. “It’s nobody’s business how healthy you are, and half the things you listed are things that people like. You’re the one being negative about them.”
"Resume class?" Niou repeated, sounding very confused. "I assume that's something you do near the end of high school." He had another sip of his drink and… Hiyoshi looked annoyed? He blinked in surprise and nearly choked on his mouthful of drink. "Okay hang on." He'd listed 4 things and half of them were things people liked. "... I don't see how those are attractive qualities. Unless people like weird insomniacs."
Uion really was that dense, wasn’t he. Hiyoshi was going to have to spell things out. “Not attractive: that’s relative and all opinion. Workaholic: you’re passionate and have good work ethic. Weird: you’re interesting. Other weird people exist and like that. Eyebags: some people are into that.” Hiyoshi stares Uion down, daring him to add anything else for him to refute.
Ah, some mad part of him kind of wanted to just reveal the dumb twin brother lie right now so Hiyoshi could actually see, in a completely irrefutable way, that Niou was fucked up and a weird disaster. "I assume the first two things are qualities that you like in me," Niou said, propping his chin on his hand. "I may have… crossed a physical touch boundary with this person though."
Hiyoshi made no comment on Uion’s guess about him liking those things about him, but he guessed right. Instead, he focuses on the next statement. Here come the squinty, judging eyes. “Crossed a physical touch boundary? What does that even mean? You touched them without permission?” That was called molestation, Uion.
Oh yes, he knew those eyes from some of their talks during the expedition. Niou just smiled blandly back at Hiyoshi. Hearing Hiyoshi say the phrase back, it did sound rather dodgy and he sighed. “No, it was all with permission.” What sort of person did you take him for, Hiyoshi Wakashi?! “It was just definitely beyond what was appropriate for our level of acquaintanceship and then he confessed attraction.”
Ah, it was consensual. That was good. And even better, Hiyoshi thought he’d figured out the problem now. “You made a move on a guy without realizing you were making a move, and now he’s reciprocating.” Sorry Niou, there was no sugar coating it. You’re dumb.
If only it was that simple. “Not entirely. He said he was attracted before we did any of that. Which again, leads me back to the problem of just how did it happen? I’m having a lot of difficulty figuring out when it flipped from just friendly conversation to… being attracted to.” And not being able to figure out answers to problems was… frustrating. No matter how much Niou read and reread comments, he couldn’t narrow it down fully.
“Why do you need to know when it happened?” Hiyoshi rubbed his eyes. With every question Uion asked, it let Hiyoshi in a little bit more to the emotionally stunted world that Uion was living in, and it was clear this ran deep. “Sometimes it happens all at once, sometimes it happens bit by bit. People are different, relationships are different. Your person probably fell slowly. Haven’t you ever liked someone before?”
“Because it’s me, Hiyoshi. I like to know how things work.” So he could then replicate things and make it better and use them in future designs. Although human emotions were difficult. Niou just looked frustrated at the answer he was getting. He needed to get more information, clearly. Look at different scenarios to try and figure out the common connection, even though Hiyoshi said every situation was different. “... No I haven’t,” he said shortly. “I was realistic about things, so.”
“That,” said Hiyoshi, back to his unimpressed deadpan, “Is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Niou’s cheek twitched and he just sighed. “Look. I didn’t really have friends growing up,” he admitted reluctantly. “My brand of ‘weird’ that you apparently like, wasn’t liked.” He looked away a bit self-consciously and okay he felt like he needed to put this in context for Hiyoshi since apparently his friend now was weirdly confident about him. “So I ran an experiment when I was younger, where I pretended to be selectively mute, to see how long it would take for people to notice. It took three months.” He gestured at Hiyoshi in a ‘do you get it now?’ way.
That certainly painted a picture. Hiyoshi had never been the most popular person in school, but Uion… it sounded like Uion was really at the bottom of the social ladder. Kids, he was reminded, could be incredibly cruel.
The problem was, what could you even say to that. Everything Hiyoshi came up with sounded weak and fake. He couldn’t just leave Uion in silence though, so he tried his best. “You’re not in school anymore.” He was around better people now. Hiyoshi could only hope the meaning behind it was conveyed.
Ah, Hiyoshi was trying to comprehend it all. Niou sat and observed quietly, sipping at his drink and stopping himself from adding on to the ridiculous story with what happened after. Because that was a mess.
He just chuckled at the comment when it finally came out. “Yes, because I left and didn’t go back.” Niou shrugged and took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. “So just to come back to the point, I haven’t liked anyone before. I’ve had like… one friend before you.” Question mark?
Hiyoshi nodded. “That explains why it doesn’t make sense to you.” If he’d thought it through more he might have confirmed that yes, they were friends, but it seemed such a natural assumption that even after all that had just come out it didn’t occur to Hiyoshi that Uion might not be sure. However, despite everything, Hiyoshi was still the type to stay on track and try to solve the problem, emotional issues be damned. “I don’t know how to explain it to you besides telling you that you are attractive. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“I’m quite emotionally broken, I know that.” Niou did appreciate the fact that Hiyoshi didn’t comment on the fact that they were friends and perhaps he could actually add a third to his confirmed list. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s very flattering to hear actually–” He just sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, so I’ll accept that I’m attractive in some way. But… Shit, I’m actually going to have to ask him if I want the answer for when and why.”
“Yep.” Unfortunately, it was the only way to know for sure. Hiyoshi felt confident now that they had solved this problem as well as they could. Except now there was the next stage of the problem. “Do you think you like him back?”
Damnit. He didn’t want to have that talk with Tachibana at all. He had just wanted to figure it out on his own. Niou looked at Hiyoshi at the question and then away, frowning. “I don’t know. I like talking to him? But I like talking to you maybe more? Him touching my hair was quite… intense.” Niou shrugged.
If Hiyoshi’s eyebrows weren’t already covered by his bangs, they would have disappeared into his hairline. “You let him touch your hair?” Even without knowing that Uion was Niou, Hiyoshi had figured out from their time together that Uion was a person who liked personal space. “Did you like that?”
"Yes. He'd let me run a few tests on him so, I was curious." Niou frowned and thought back to the weird spine tingling feeling that had come from it. "It was intense. Not bad though." He paused and glanced at Hiyoshi and then away again. "I mean, I would have let you touch my hair too, just, so you know. It was just 2 weeks of grease and, it wasn't nice." Just in case Hiyoshi was worrying about friendship levels or something.
“Oh. Thanks.” He thinks, anyway. Being on Uion’s short-list for hair-touching was a pretty big deal, right? But once again Hiyoshi was left with more questions. “What do you mean by ‘tests’? Hair touching tests? Why?”
Oh god he couldn't remember how much of his conversation with Tachibana was screened… surely all of it, right? "I was… oh my god I can't even say it, it will sound so bad." Especially as he thought about how exactly to explain it to a very judgemental Hiyoshi. "But it involved touching his hair, yes. And then… I was curious, so I asked him to return the favour to see my reaction to it."
Leaving things out wont free you from judgment, Uion. It just let Hiyoshi’s imagination fill in the blanks. “You sound like a teenager asking his friend to kiss him for practice.” Look Hiyoshi in the eyes and tell him that wasn’t what was happening, Uion.
… "Is that something people do?" Niou asked, and he looked first concerned and then… no that logically could make sense.
Oh god, Uion was considering it now, Hiyoshi could tell. “Only twelve year olds. You don’t have to speed-run puberty you know, you can take your time.”
No, see now the idea was in his head and he was thinking about it. "I'm not speed-running puberty." Niou considered Hiyoshi. "If I asked you to, would you? As my… second ever friend?"
“What else do you call this?” Because Hiyoshi called it making up for the years of social interaction Uion had missed, and guess when that happened! This was a mess. Uion was going to go ask his friend to kiss him now, and make some embarrassing excuse about it and complicate things more, and– wait, him??? How did he get involved in this? Hiyoshi couldn’t help but flush, and tried to cover it up with a frown to minimal effect. “Why me? Ask the guy who likes you.”
"It's … getting information that solves a lot of long standing questions for me." And giving rise to a lot more, but that wasn't the point here. Niou frowned at the suggestion and no, no he definitely couldn't ask Tachibana that was… not possible right now. "Wouldn't that confuse things more? Since he's attracted to me and I don't know?" And he didn't want to deal with more awkward talk right now. "And… you're one of the few people I'm actually comfortable with with physical contact."
“...okay, you’re right. Don’t ask him, it would definitely make things worse.” Hiyoshi rubbed his eyes again. He hated himself for considering this logically. “Do you really want to? Kissing is a lot different than hair touching, and you already thought that was intense.”
…Okay maybe part of him had been seriously expecting Hiyoshi to just tell him he was dumb and no, and they could move on to talking about other things. But the curiousity was there now and Niou shrugged. "I mean, it was intense the first time because I didn't know how I'd react. Better the second time." He awkwardly fidgeted with his sleeves. "I'm not exactly about to ask someone else for it. If you say no, then-" Niou shrugged again.
Oh, it absolutely was dumb. The problem was the entire conversation had been dumb, and Hiyoshi had been forced to reevalute what was and wasn’t normal. Was asking another twenty year old to practice kissing normal? Absolutely not. But for someone who never socially made it past his teen years? It was a lot more understandable. The real problem was Hiyoshi did think Uion was attractive, even though he hadn’t given it much thought until now.
…the awkward fidgeting was doing him in. Hiyoshi huffed, one more breath in his endless battle to save face. “What are your boundaries?”
Okay, so maybe Niou was realising that his face was feeling as heated as Hiyoshi’s looked and he had to take a deep breath to steady himself. “I don’t know?” he said, sounding a bit confused at the question. “Like… three weeks ago, I would’ve said just sitting next to someone? But I spent two weeks in a nanosuit right next to you and that was… nice.” The talking part of it, it had still been awkward even right at the end. “And then maybe my hair? But I’ve done that…”
Niou looked away to consider things for another moment before looking back at Hiyoshi. “Whatever you think, Hiyoshi. I do actually trust your judgement.”
…There was absolutely no way now that Hiyoshi could explain that he meant boundaries for kissing. It was clear enough from Uion’s response that tongue and teeth were right out.
Okay, alright. Hiyoshi got up from his chair, and raked his hand through his hair in a self-soothing gesture. “I’m going to go slow. If I do anything you don’t like, push me off or tell me. I haven’t done this in a while, so don’t blame me if it’s no good.” He took a step closer to Uion, placing one hand on either arm of his chair and leaning down so they were face to face. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
[The only interesting things in the log haved finished. Beyond this is just Niou and Hiyoshi sucking face for 1500 words. Kelly and I take no responsbility for you continuing to read this trashcan fire]
“I’ve got absolutely nothing to compare it with, so you’re fine. Setting the bar for me.” Niou tried to ignore how it felt like his heart was migrating up to his throat again as Hiyoshi was right there in front of him and caging him into the chair.
Niou moved his hands to place them on top of Hiyoshi’s, scanning up to then look directly at his face. “Yeah, I’m good. Ready now.”
Hiyoshi’s ears were completely red by this point, but he was determined. He had decided he was going to go through with this, so he was, no matter how weird or awkward it was. And damn, this was pretty weird and awkward.
…Good thing both of them were weirdos to start with.
Hesitating will only make it harder, so Hiyoshi dives right in. Just a soft, chaste, kiss on the lips, no real movement, hold for a few moments then pull back. He figured that was the safest, most basic place to start; if Uion couldn’t handle that, he couldn’t handle anything.
Niou’s fingers twitched as Hiyoshi was suddenly even closer and he stopped breathing for the few moments of the kiss. And then stared at Hiyoshi with wide eyes as he pulled away. And then… nothing followed? “Was that it?” Niou asked, and oh god his heart was racing as he suddenly became very conscious of it. He licked his lip and glanced down to Hiyoshi’s mouth and then eyes. “It was good?” Maybe?
“You don’t sound very convinced.” But Hiyoshi wasn’t offended, it was a pretty boring kiss all things considered. He stayed at a distance, but still with his hands on the chair. “It’s not polite to stick your tongue down someone’s throat all at once. You have to work up to it.”
It was nice to confirm that he was also definitely fine with touching Hiyoshi’s hands with his own, as they stayed there. “I see.” Niou frowned as he considered Hiyoshi’s words. “Okay, so it’s like how just touching my hair was just… nice, but then running the fingers through it was a lot more intense. The need for some sort of movement then. That makes sense.” Niou patted the backs of Hiyoshi’s hands with his fingertips. “Can I ask for one with tongue then, to check my theory?”
Did he just–??? Hiyoshi pulled one of his hands back to cover his face. Uion was shameless. And he couldn’t even really blame the guy, because Hiyoshi had agreed to this nonsense. And behind his hand, Hiyoshi knew he was going to do it. Who knew when he’d get the chance to kiss someone again, even if it was for idiotic reasons.
…Alright, Hiyoshi drew his hand down his face and put it back on Uion’s. “Don’t bite me if you freak out.” And then it was time for round two: decidedly less cautious despite the lack of immediate tongue.
“I won’t, I promise.” And Niou made a very strong mental note to himself that biting was bad. It was easier the second time - was apparently always easier the second time, from all his experiments - to have Hiyoshi come closer and Niou remembered to actually breathe this time. He moved his hand to grip at Hiyoshi’s forearm and made a soft noise and it definitely felt much better than before even without the tongue yet.
It had been so long since Hiyoshi had kissed someone, and even if he claimed things were ‘under control’, he did still have a sex drive somewhere under all the work-outs and meditating. As soon as it was clear that Uion was okay with the more active approach, Hiyoshi started to test, nipping and sucking on Uion’s lips and generally seeing what he could get away with. Was he taking out his pent-up frustration on this? Probably. But Uion didn’t need to know that, Uion didn’t know any better.
Yes okay, this was getting more intense now and Niou’s fingers tightened, and he pressed a little closer to Hiyoshi. It was hard to try and analyse exactly what Hiyoshi was doing when he couldn’t exactly see, and also monitor his own reactions to everything, and Niou felt even more mentally overwhelmed as he tentatively tried to mimic and nipped back at Hiyoshi’s lips.
Oh. That was so cute. Is that why some people targeted virgins and people who had never been kissed? Hiyoshi hummed a little, trying to give Uion a sign that he was doing good, and simultaneously tried to get a bit more comfortable, a bit closer to Uion. Knee on the seat of the chair, arm around the back of it, that seemed good for now. The things you do when you don’t realize you’re touch-starved. Anyway, back to kissing Uion, very important. Very important to kiss him, very important to coax him into kissing back.
Niou made more soft noises of complaint as Hiyoshi moved and he seemed possibly closer? Shoulders, shoulders were safe spots to touch, right? Niou moved his hand up there and gripped Hiyoshi’s top. He felt really stupid trying to copy Hiyoshi, but Hiyoshi didn’t seem to be complaining this was fine, right?
He finally broke away and breathed rapidly, staring wide eyed and feeling overwhelmed. Niou dug his nails into Hiyoshi’s shoulder so he stayed where he was. “Okay? Keep going?”
Hiyoshi, meanwhile, looks mildly dopey when they’re separated, not an expression often seen on his face. It took a moment for his brain to catch up with why Uion even asked that, but it does and he nods. “Yeah. I’m not done.” Which ostensibly was for Uion’s sake, because he hadn’t sucked his face properly yet, but more realistically was just a statement of Hiyoshi’s personal opinion.
Once again their lips met, and this time Hiyoshi’s movements were a bit more forceful than guiding, trying to convince Uion to open his mouth with a series of nips and licks. Whether Uion would get the message or not was up in the air, but Hiyoshi’s pride told him he had to at least try before he straight up told him what to do.
The third time was even easier, and Niou found himself almost leaning into it eagerly. His eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to figure out what Hiyoshi was doing. Okay, tongue? Right, that was meant to be the intense part. He felt kind of ridiculous as he questioningly licked back at Hiyoshi’s lip and that was… something his brain was still working on comprehending.
Again, very cute. Which was weird to Hiyoshi, because he was pretty sure he didn’t find Uion cute before this. Attractive maybe, from an aesthetic point of view, but not cute. He hummed again, pleased, and tangled his fingers into Uion’s rattail, brushing them against the nape of his neck. He’d said earlier that he could touch his hair, after all. Might as well do everything at once.
And speaking of everything, “Open.” Hiyoshi was more straight-forward this time, taking just enough time to make his order before getting back to business, ready to act the moment Uion complied.
Niou shuddered at the fingers suddenly in his hair and on his neck and his scrabbled at Hiyoshi’s shoulder and on the chair arm, tightening up in response. Unexpected. But not bad, since it was very, very clearly Hiyoshi doing it.
He was confused for a moment by the single word order (?), licking and nipping at Hiyoshi’s lips again and feeling a bit better about that. And then oh okay, it fell into place and Niou made an affirmative hum as he opened his mouth to the kiss, using his grip on Hiyoshi’s shirt to tug him a little closer.
Much better. Hiyoshi was so proud of you, Uion, and he petted Uion’s neck a bit in praise before getting straight to the important part: tongue in mouth. Despite trying very hard not to, Hiyoshi moans a little, small and quiet. Damn, it had been way too long.
Niou felt the shiver go down his spine from where Hiyoshi’s fingers were on his neck and then down, that was repeated even stronger as oh, opening his mouth made total sense now. He can’t stop the little answering moan and oh god there’s way too much to try and comprehend right now.
He thought he might have broken away once to try and breathe before deciding fuckit air wasn’t important, and kissing Hiyoshi again. But really, all the new information and sensations and little sounds he couldn’t bite back were all melding into one actual overwhelmed mess in his head.
It was good, right? Hiyoshi definitely thought it was good. Definitely having a great time here, despite how stupid and convoluted the reason for it was. But all good things must come to an end, and after a healthy dose of face sucking things slowed down a little, and eventually Hiyoshi pulled away. No words here, Hiyoshi’s brain was rebooting.
Niou thought his face had probably never been as red as it was right now, and he was just stuck staring at Hiyoshi as he tried to figure out what to do, what had happened… what was the point of that again? Right. Practice and data gathering. He stopped Hiyoshi from pulling away completely with a tug on his shirt again, so he could lean in and press one last chaste kiss to his mouth, because… he had to compare the difference, right? Something like that?
He laughed a bit hysterically. “I’m meant to work a full shift after this, you know.”
Hiyoshi was surprised by that last kiss, but didn’t manage much reaction besides a dumb blink. The laughter woke him up though, and as he straightened up the corner of his mouth twitched into the tiniest smirk. “Whoops.”
It was a bit easier once Hiyoshi was not leaning over him in the chair anymore and Niou fanned his face, trying to get the colour to go away. “I can’t even remember how we got onto that topic either.” He ran a hand through his hair and laughed again. “Thank you for that though, Hiyoshi,” he said, letting his hand drop and shifting on his chair. “I don’t know if I would have been able to do that with um, the other person. It would have been very awkward to ask.”
Hiyoshi had forgotten about the ‘other person’ thing and was somehow vaguely annoyed to be reminded about it, but he ignored it and nodded. “Don’t do that with him unless you’ve decided you like him. It’s not nice to lead people on.” He was sure Uion knew that already, but it didn’t hurt to say. “I should go so you can get work done. Thank you for helping with my glasses.” And the pent-up nonsense he’d had going on.
Niou smiled at Hiyoshi’s advice. “I won’t. I’ll keep that in mind.” He ruffled his hair one more time and right, time to reset and get back to work and actually be productive. “I’ll let you know when I get the first prototype together and we can try them on for you, and see how the glass is. And we can make adjustments to the design from there.” He smiled and held out the rest of the replicator crackers for Hiyoshi to take. “Go to bed, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Uion.” Hiyoshi accepted the crackers, and bowed out of habit before taking his leave. He’d be sleeping well tonight.
When: Thursday night, late
Where: Engineering
What: Niou has some questions for Hiyoshi and the trashcan is set on fire
The base was always peaceful at night, and despite not being a night person per se, Hiyoshi never minded staying up late to facilitate his visits with Uion. It was a nice break from the crowded Yomi base life, and it really put into perspective how lucky Hiyoshi had been to grow up in his family’s spacious compound.
Carrying two servings of replicator made crackers he let himself into engineering, heading over to where Uion was hunched over his desk destroying his back like usual.
Niou had been… distracted from his actually assigned task of trying to figure out how to make the treadmills more Tooyama-resistant, which, really just seemed to be due to the motor dying from overuse. He'd been thinking too much about things and then had returned to the computer to start playing with designs for glasses and then started reading up about contact lenses.
He was distracted with bionic eyes when he heard the door open and he jumped, looking over. And then Niou relaxed as he saw Hiyoshi. "Oh good you're here." He cleared off some space on his desk. "I have beverages." Of the weird vaguely citrus flavoured warm variety that he thought was the replicator's attempt at lemon tea.
“I hope I didn’t make you wait,” was Hiyoshi’s polite response complete with a tiny bow. It was more habit than anything, he was sure Uion was the type of person who could keep himself busy when needed, especially with the amount of damage Tooyama did around the base on a daily basis.
He set the crackers down on the desk, sitting down and helping himself to one of the drinks.The citrus was nice– it did a good job at covering the algal taste. Hiyoshi had quickly learned to choose his meals around that quality– it meant a lot of strong flavours, and a lot of vegetables and seaweed.
"I'm here all night, you know that." Niou pulled up the rendered glasses frames on his screen - a couple of different options since they'd helped keep him distracted - to show Hiyoshi. "I wonder if it's better to get like… a pair for when you're training? And then a daily pair?" Something functional with excellent peripheral vision, and then a slightly better looking daily pair.
He rotated the renders so Hiyoshi could see the sides of them. "There's a guy here who apparently makes lenses for the cameras." Go figure, Niou had apparently just never spoken to him. "Same idea, basically? He's got the equipment, so we should be able to cut the glasses lenses correctly."
Hiyoshi slid his chair closer to check out the designs Uion had come up with. As expected, Uion was good at this. “I already have my current pair for daily things, it’s work they get in the way of. What about the material, can you make it strong? Tooyama almost broke mine three times and I only wore them for a week.” He sat back and rubbed his eyes. “...maybe I should just get the correction surgery again.”
Ah, the risks of working with Tooyama. "I don't think there's a material that can actually withstand Tooyama," Niou said faintly. He tapped his fingers on his desk and rotated the designs a few more times. "I'll think on it. Strong enough to withstand Tooyama and not too bulky."
Niou glanced at Hiyoshi. "I'm not volunteering to do the corrective eye surgery for you. I can use lasers, but not in that way."
"If you don't do strong, easily replaceable works." Hiyoshi had to be realistic about his options. And speaking of realistic options– "I trust you, but not that much." There was a line between believing in your friend's talents and just being plain stupid.
"I can do easily replaceable." As long as the supply of materials held out. And even then, a lot could be cobbled together from scrap. Niou laughed and made a couple of notes to himself on the designs before he closed them. "I don't trust myself that much, don't worry."
"I don't know why they didn't send an optometrist to the base. It was short-sighted of them." Hiyoshi stopped mid-munch on his crackers when he realized what he said, turning to preemptively glare at Uion. "I didn't mean to say that, don't say anything."
Niou nodded in agreement with Hiyoshi before he paused as he realised what exactly had been said. Oh no. He had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud and just shook his head, making a zipping motion over his mouth.
Right, subject change. Get away from Hiyoshi and his bad joke. “I have a bit of a situation at the moment and I was hoping to get your thoughts and advice.”
Anything to get away from the bad pun shame. Hiyoshi wasn't sure how much he'd be able to help Uion, (after all he was a smart guy, and smart guys had smart problems,) but he was willing to at least hear it out. He nodded, going back to his crackers. "What's happening?"
Niou took a sip of his drink. And god he just hoped he could actually trust that Hiyoshi and Gakuto weren’t going to share gossip about Niou and Uion with each other because that would be so, so awkward. “I recently had someone tell me they have become… attracted to me,” Niou said and god but it was so much more awkward to say it actually outloud than just type it. “And I don’t understand? Like how did that even happen in the first place?”
Hiyoshi wasn’t sure what he had expected, but it wasn’t this. His gaze stayed perfectly level, searching Uion’s face for some sort of answer, because in Hiyoshi’s self-confident inner world, this sort of self-doubt just didn’t exist. After a painful minute of silence, Hiyoshi decided he needed more to work with. “Why wouldn’t someone be attracted to you?”
Yes okay, the silence and staring made it much more awkward. Particularly as he stared right back at Hiyoshi and tried to figure out his expression. Niou laughed at the question. "I'm not really an attractive sort. I mean, I'm an awful workaholic, I have terrible eyebags… I'm not particularly healthy? And…" he chewed the word around reluctantly. "I'm weird. Very weird."
“You’re not supposed to laugh.” That right there was enough to prove to Hiyoshi that all the stuff that followed was stuff Uion actually believed. His expression turned into a definite frown. “Did someone tell you all that or did you decide it on your own?”
Niou just shrugged apologetically, but, it had been quite a funny and blunt question. Especially when delivered with Hiyoshi's straight face. "A bit of both? I don't exactly need someone else to tell me I'm unhealthy and have bad eyebags. I can see my own reflection."
“Did you fail resume class in school? Everyone knows you’re not supposed to go around announcing all the bad things about yourself.” Hiyoshi folded his arms, this whole thing was mildly annoying to him, but it was clear Uion needed someone to kick his ass and it looked like it was going to have to be him. “It’s nobody’s business how healthy you are, and half the things you listed are things that people like. You’re the one being negative about them.”
"Resume class?" Niou repeated, sounding very confused. "I assume that's something you do near the end of high school." He had another sip of his drink and… Hiyoshi looked annoyed? He blinked in surprise and nearly choked on his mouthful of drink. "Okay hang on." He'd listed 4 things and half of them were things people liked. "... I don't see how those are attractive qualities. Unless people like weird insomniacs."
Uion really was that dense, wasn’t he. Hiyoshi was going to have to spell things out. “Not attractive: that’s relative and all opinion. Workaholic: you’re passionate and have good work ethic. Weird: you’re interesting. Other weird people exist and like that. Eyebags: some people are into that.” Hiyoshi stares Uion down, daring him to add anything else for him to refute.
Ah, some mad part of him kind of wanted to just reveal the dumb twin brother lie right now so Hiyoshi could actually see, in a completely irrefutable way, that Niou was fucked up and a weird disaster. "I assume the first two things are qualities that you like in me," Niou said, propping his chin on his hand. "I may have… crossed a physical touch boundary with this person though."
Hiyoshi made no comment on Uion’s guess about him liking those things about him, but he guessed right. Instead, he focuses on the next statement. Here come the squinty, judging eyes. “Crossed a physical touch boundary? What does that even mean? You touched them without permission?” That was called molestation, Uion.
Oh yes, he knew those eyes from some of their talks during the expedition. Niou just smiled blandly back at Hiyoshi. Hearing Hiyoshi say the phrase back, it did sound rather dodgy and he sighed. “No, it was all with permission.” What sort of person did you take him for, Hiyoshi Wakashi?! “It was just definitely beyond what was appropriate for our level of acquaintanceship and then he confessed attraction.”
Ah, it was consensual. That was good. And even better, Hiyoshi thought he’d figured out the problem now. “You made a move on a guy without realizing you were making a move, and now he’s reciprocating.” Sorry Niou, there was no sugar coating it. You’re dumb.
If only it was that simple. “Not entirely. He said he was attracted before we did any of that. Which again, leads me back to the problem of just how did it happen? I’m having a lot of difficulty figuring out when it flipped from just friendly conversation to… being attracted to.” And not being able to figure out answers to problems was… frustrating. No matter how much Niou read and reread comments, he couldn’t narrow it down fully.
“Why do you need to know when it happened?” Hiyoshi rubbed his eyes. With every question Uion asked, it let Hiyoshi in a little bit more to the emotionally stunted world that Uion was living in, and it was clear this ran deep. “Sometimes it happens all at once, sometimes it happens bit by bit. People are different, relationships are different. Your person probably fell slowly. Haven’t you ever liked someone before?”
“Because it’s me, Hiyoshi. I like to know how things work.” So he could then replicate things and make it better and use them in future designs. Although human emotions were difficult. Niou just looked frustrated at the answer he was getting. He needed to get more information, clearly. Look at different scenarios to try and figure out the common connection, even though Hiyoshi said every situation was different. “... No I haven’t,” he said shortly. “I was realistic about things, so.”
“That,” said Hiyoshi, back to his unimpressed deadpan, “Is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Niou’s cheek twitched and he just sighed. “Look. I didn’t really have friends growing up,” he admitted reluctantly. “My brand of ‘weird’ that you apparently like, wasn’t liked.” He looked away a bit self-consciously and okay he felt like he needed to put this in context for Hiyoshi since apparently his friend now was weirdly confident about him. “So I ran an experiment when I was younger, where I pretended to be selectively mute, to see how long it would take for people to notice. It took three months.” He gestured at Hiyoshi in a ‘do you get it now?’ way.
That certainly painted a picture. Hiyoshi had never been the most popular person in school, but Uion… it sounded like Uion was really at the bottom of the social ladder. Kids, he was reminded, could be incredibly cruel.
The problem was, what could you even say to that. Everything Hiyoshi came up with sounded weak and fake. He couldn’t just leave Uion in silence though, so he tried his best. “You’re not in school anymore.” He was around better people now. Hiyoshi could only hope the meaning behind it was conveyed.
Ah, Hiyoshi was trying to comprehend it all. Niou sat and observed quietly, sipping at his drink and stopping himself from adding on to the ridiculous story with what happened after. Because that was a mess.
He just chuckled at the comment when it finally came out. “Yes, because I left and didn’t go back.” Niou shrugged and took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. “So just to come back to the point, I haven’t liked anyone before. I’ve had like… one friend before you.” Question mark?
Hiyoshi nodded. “That explains why it doesn’t make sense to you.” If he’d thought it through more he might have confirmed that yes, they were friends, but it seemed such a natural assumption that even after all that had just come out it didn’t occur to Hiyoshi that Uion might not be sure. However, despite everything, Hiyoshi was still the type to stay on track and try to solve the problem, emotional issues be damned. “I don’t know how to explain it to you besides telling you that you are attractive. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“I’m quite emotionally broken, I know that.” Niou did appreciate the fact that Hiyoshi didn’t comment on the fact that they were friends and perhaps he could actually add a third to his confirmed list. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s very flattering to hear actually–” He just sighed again and ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, so I’ll accept that I’m attractive in some way. But… Shit, I’m actually going to have to ask him if I want the answer for when and why.”
“Yep.” Unfortunately, it was the only way to know for sure. Hiyoshi felt confident now that they had solved this problem as well as they could. Except now there was the next stage of the problem. “Do you think you like him back?”
Damnit. He didn’t want to have that talk with Tachibana at all. He had just wanted to figure it out on his own. Niou looked at Hiyoshi at the question and then away, frowning. “I don’t know. I like talking to him? But I like talking to you maybe more? Him touching my hair was quite… intense.” Niou shrugged.
If Hiyoshi’s eyebrows weren’t already covered by his bangs, they would have disappeared into his hairline. “You let him touch your hair?” Even without knowing that Uion was Niou, Hiyoshi had figured out from their time together that Uion was a person who liked personal space. “Did you like that?”
"Yes. He'd let me run a few tests on him so, I was curious." Niou frowned and thought back to the weird spine tingling feeling that had come from it. "It was intense. Not bad though." He paused and glanced at Hiyoshi and then away again. "I mean, I would have let you touch my hair too, just, so you know. It was just 2 weeks of grease and, it wasn't nice." Just in case Hiyoshi was worrying about friendship levels or something.
“Oh. Thanks.” He thinks, anyway. Being on Uion’s short-list for hair-touching was a pretty big deal, right? But once again Hiyoshi was left with more questions. “What do you mean by ‘tests’? Hair touching tests? Why?”
Oh god he couldn't remember how much of his conversation with Tachibana was screened… surely all of it, right? "I was… oh my god I can't even say it, it will sound so bad." Especially as he thought about how exactly to explain it to a very judgemental Hiyoshi. "But it involved touching his hair, yes. And then… I was curious, so I asked him to return the favour to see my reaction to it."
Leaving things out wont free you from judgment, Uion. It just let Hiyoshi’s imagination fill in the blanks. “You sound like a teenager asking his friend to kiss him for practice.” Look Hiyoshi in the eyes and tell him that wasn’t what was happening, Uion.
… "Is that something people do?" Niou asked, and he looked first concerned and then… no that logically could make sense.
Oh god, Uion was considering it now, Hiyoshi could tell. “Only twelve year olds. You don’t have to speed-run puberty you know, you can take your time.”
No, see now the idea was in his head and he was thinking about it. "I'm not speed-running puberty." Niou considered Hiyoshi. "If I asked you to, would you? As my… second ever friend?"
“What else do you call this?” Because Hiyoshi called it making up for the years of social interaction Uion had missed, and guess when that happened! This was a mess. Uion was going to go ask his friend to kiss him now, and make some embarrassing excuse about it and complicate things more, and– wait, him??? How did he get involved in this? Hiyoshi couldn’t help but flush, and tried to cover it up with a frown to minimal effect. “Why me? Ask the guy who likes you.”
"It's … getting information that solves a lot of long standing questions for me." And giving rise to a lot more, but that wasn't the point here. Niou frowned at the suggestion and no, no he definitely couldn't ask Tachibana that was… not possible right now. "Wouldn't that confuse things more? Since he's attracted to me and I don't know?" And he didn't want to deal with more awkward talk right now. "And… you're one of the few people I'm actually comfortable with with physical contact."
“...okay, you’re right. Don’t ask him, it would definitely make things worse.” Hiyoshi rubbed his eyes again. He hated himself for considering this logically. “Do you really want to? Kissing is a lot different than hair touching, and you already thought that was intense.”
…Okay maybe part of him had been seriously expecting Hiyoshi to just tell him he was dumb and no, and they could move on to talking about other things. But the curiousity was there now and Niou shrugged. "I mean, it was intense the first time because I didn't know how I'd react. Better the second time." He awkwardly fidgeted with his sleeves. "I'm not exactly about to ask someone else for it. If you say no, then-" Niou shrugged again.
Oh, it absolutely was dumb. The problem was the entire conversation had been dumb, and Hiyoshi had been forced to reevalute what was and wasn’t normal. Was asking another twenty year old to practice kissing normal? Absolutely not. But for someone who never socially made it past his teen years? It was a lot more understandable. The real problem was Hiyoshi did think Uion was attractive, even though he hadn’t given it much thought until now.
…the awkward fidgeting was doing him in. Hiyoshi huffed, one more breath in his endless battle to save face. “What are your boundaries?”
Okay, so maybe Niou was realising that his face was feeling as heated as Hiyoshi’s looked and he had to take a deep breath to steady himself. “I don’t know?” he said, sounding a bit confused at the question. “Like… three weeks ago, I would’ve said just sitting next to someone? But I spent two weeks in a nanosuit right next to you and that was… nice.” The talking part of it, it had still been awkward even right at the end. “And then maybe my hair? But I’ve done that…”
Niou looked away to consider things for another moment before looking back at Hiyoshi. “Whatever you think, Hiyoshi. I do actually trust your judgement.”
…There was absolutely no way now that Hiyoshi could explain that he meant boundaries for kissing. It was clear enough from Uion’s response that tongue and teeth were right out.
Okay, alright. Hiyoshi got up from his chair, and raked his hand through his hair in a self-soothing gesture. “I’m going to go slow. If I do anything you don’t like, push me off or tell me. I haven’t done this in a while, so don’t blame me if it’s no good.” He took a step closer to Uion, placing one hand on either arm of his chair and leaning down so they were face to face. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
[The only interesting things in the log haved finished. Beyond this is just Niou and Hiyoshi sucking face for 1500 words. Kelly and I take no responsbility for you continuing to read this trashcan fire]
“I’ve got absolutely nothing to compare it with, so you’re fine. Setting the bar for me.” Niou tried to ignore how it felt like his heart was migrating up to his throat again as Hiyoshi was right there in front of him and caging him into the chair.
Niou moved his hands to place them on top of Hiyoshi’s, scanning up to then look directly at his face. “Yeah, I’m good. Ready now.”
Hiyoshi’s ears were completely red by this point, but he was determined. He had decided he was going to go through with this, so he was, no matter how weird or awkward it was. And damn, this was pretty weird and awkward.
…Good thing both of them were weirdos to start with.
Hesitating will only make it harder, so Hiyoshi dives right in. Just a soft, chaste, kiss on the lips, no real movement, hold for a few moments then pull back. He figured that was the safest, most basic place to start; if Uion couldn’t handle that, he couldn’t handle anything.
Niou’s fingers twitched as Hiyoshi was suddenly even closer and he stopped breathing for the few moments of the kiss. And then stared at Hiyoshi with wide eyes as he pulled away. And then… nothing followed? “Was that it?” Niou asked, and oh god his heart was racing as he suddenly became very conscious of it. He licked his lip and glanced down to Hiyoshi’s mouth and then eyes. “It was good?” Maybe?
“You don’t sound very convinced.” But Hiyoshi wasn’t offended, it was a pretty boring kiss all things considered. He stayed at a distance, but still with his hands on the chair. “It’s not polite to stick your tongue down someone’s throat all at once. You have to work up to it.”
It was nice to confirm that he was also definitely fine with touching Hiyoshi’s hands with his own, as they stayed there. “I see.” Niou frowned as he considered Hiyoshi’s words. “Okay, so it’s like how just touching my hair was just… nice, but then running the fingers through it was a lot more intense. The need for some sort of movement then. That makes sense.” Niou patted the backs of Hiyoshi’s hands with his fingertips. “Can I ask for one with tongue then, to check my theory?”
Did he just–??? Hiyoshi pulled one of his hands back to cover his face. Uion was shameless. And he couldn’t even really blame the guy, because Hiyoshi had agreed to this nonsense. And behind his hand, Hiyoshi knew he was going to do it. Who knew when he’d get the chance to kiss someone again, even if it was for idiotic reasons.
…Alright, Hiyoshi drew his hand down his face and put it back on Uion’s. “Don’t bite me if you freak out.” And then it was time for round two: decidedly less cautious despite the lack of immediate tongue.
“I won’t, I promise.” And Niou made a very strong mental note to himself that biting was bad. It was easier the second time - was apparently always easier the second time, from all his experiments - to have Hiyoshi come closer and Niou remembered to actually breathe this time. He moved his hand to grip at Hiyoshi’s forearm and made a soft noise and it definitely felt much better than before even without the tongue yet.
It had been so long since Hiyoshi had kissed someone, and even if he claimed things were ‘under control’, he did still have a sex drive somewhere under all the work-outs and meditating. As soon as it was clear that Uion was okay with the more active approach, Hiyoshi started to test, nipping and sucking on Uion’s lips and generally seeing what he could get away with. Was he taking out his pent-up frustration on this? Probably. But Uion didn’t need to know that, Uion didn’t know any better.
Yes okay, this was getting more intense now and Niou’s fingers tightened, and he pressed a little closer to Hiyoshi. It was hard to try and analyse exactly what Hiyoshi was doing when he couldn’t exactly see, and also monitor his own reactions to everything, and Niou felt even more mentally overwhelmed as he tentatively tried to mimic and nipped back at Hiyoshi’s lips.
Oh. That was so cute. Is that why some people targeted virgins and people who had never been kissed? Hiyoshi hummed a little, trying to give Uion a sign that he was doing good, and simultaneously tried to get a bit more comfortable, a bit closer to Uion. Knee on the seat of the chair, arm around the back of it, that seemed good for now. The things you do when you don’t realize you’re touch-starved. Anyway, back to kissing Uion, very important. Very important to kiss him, very important to coax him into kissing back.
Niou made more soft noises of complaint as Hiyoshi moved and he seemed possibly closer? Shoulders, shoulders were safe spots to touch, right? Niou moved his hand up there and gripped Hiyoshi’s top. He felt really stupid trying to copy Hiyoshi, but Hiyoshi didn’t seem to be complaining this was fine, right?
He finally broke away and breathed rapidly, staring wide eyed and feeling overwhelmed. Niou dug his nails into Hiyoshi’s shoulder so he stayed where he was. “Okay? Keep going?”
Hiyoshi, meanwhile, looks mildly dopey when they’re separated, not an expression often seen on his face. It took a moment for his brain to catch up with why Uion even asked that, but it does and he nods. “Yeah. I’m not done.” Which ostensibly was for Uion’s sake, because he hadn’t sucked his face properly yet, but more realistically was just a statement of Hiyoshi’s personal opinion.
Once again their lips met, and this time Hiyoshi’s movements were a bit more forceful than guiding, trying to convince Uion to open his mouth with a series of nips and licks. Whether Uion would get the message or not was up in the air, but Hiyoshi’s pride told him he had to at least try before he straight up told him what to do.
The third time was even easier, and Niou found himself almost leaning into it eagerly. His eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to figure out what Hiyoshi was doing. Okay, tongue? Right, that was meant to be the intense part. He felt kind of ridiculous as he questioningly licked back at Hiyoshi’s lip and that was… something his brain was still working on comprehending.
Again, very cute. Which was weird to Hiyoshi, because he was pretty sure he didn’t find Uion cute before this. Attractive maybe, from an aesthetic point of view, but not cute. He hummed again, pleased, and tangled his fingers into Uion’s rattail, brushing them against the nape of his neck. He’d said earlier that he could touch his hair, after all. Might as well do everything at once.
And speaking of everything, “Open.” Hiyoshi was more straight-forward this time, taking just enough time to make his order before getting back to business, ready to act the moment Uion complied.
Niou shuddered at the fingers suddenly in his hair and on his neck and his scrabbled at Hiyoshi’s shoulder and on the chair arm, tightening up in response. Unexpected. But not bad, since it was very, very clearly Hiyoshi doing it.
He was confused for a moment by the single word order (?), licking and nipping at Hiyoshi’s lips again and feeling a bit better about that. And then oh okay, it fell into place and Niou made an affirmative hum as he opened his mouth to the kiss, using his grip on Hiyoshi’s shirt to tug him a little closer.
Much better. Hiyoshi was so proud of you, Uion, and he petted Uion’s neck a bit in praise before getting straight to the important part: tongue in mouth. Despite trying very hard not to, Hiyoshi moans a little, small and quiet. Damn, it had been way too long.
Niou felt the shiver go down his spine from where Hiyoshi’s fingers were on his neck and then down, that was repeated even stronger as oh, opening his mouth made total sense now. He can’t stop the little answering moan and oh god there’s way too much to try and comprehend right now.
He thought he might have broken away once to try and breathe before deciding fuckit air wasn’t important, and kissing Hiyoshi again. But really, all the new information and sensations and little sounds he couldn’t bite back were all melding into one actual overwhelmed mess in his head.
It was good, right? Hiyoshi definitely thought it was good. Definitely having a great time here, despite how stupid and convoluted the reason for it was. But all good things must come to an end, and after a healthy dose of face sucking things slowed down a little, and eventually Hiyoshi pulled away. No words here, Hiyoshi’s brain was rebooting.
Niou thought his face had probably never been as red as it was right now, and he was just stuck staring at Hiyoshi as he tried to figure out what to do, what had happened… what was the point of that again? Right. Practice and data gathering. He stopped Hiyoshi from pulling away completely with a tug on his shirt again, so he could lean in and press one last chaste kiss to his mouth, because… he had to compare the difference, right? Something like that?
He laughed a bit hysterically. “I’m meant to work a full shift after this, you know.”
Hiyoshi was surprised by that last kiss, but didn’t manage much reaction besides a dumb blink. The laughter woke him up though, and as he straightened up the corner of his mouth twitched into the tiniest smirk. “Whoops.”
It was a bit easier once Hiyoshi was not leaning over him in the chair anymore and Niou fanned his face, trying to get the colour to go away. “I can’t even remember how we got onto that topic either.” He ran a hand through his hair and laughed again. “Thank you for that though, Hiyoshi,” he said, letting his hand drop and shifting on his chair. “I don’t know if I would have been able to do that with um, the other person. It would have been very awkward to ask.”
Hiyoshi had forgotten about the ‘other person’ thing and was somehow vaguely annoyed to be reminded about it, but he ignored it and nodded. “Don’t do that with him unless you’ve decided you like him. It’s not nice to lead people on.” He was sure Uion knew that already, but it didn’t hurt to say. “I should go so you can get work done. Thank you for helping with my glasses.” And the pent-up nonsense he’d had going on.
Niou smiled at Hiyoshi’s advice. “I won’t. I’ll keep that in mind.” He ruffled his hair one more time and right, time to reset and get back to work and actually be productive. “I’ll let you know when I get the first prototype together and we can try them on for you, and see how the glass is. And we can make adjustments to the design from there.” He smiled and held out the rest of the replicator crackers for Hiyoshi to take. “Go to bed, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight, Uion.” Hiyoshi accepted the crackers, and bowed out of habit before taking his leave. He’d be sleeping well tonight.
