One Art

One Art

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

The art of losing’s not too hard to master

He still could remember the day he received his first kiss. It had been a breezy summer afternoon and even though his heart felt like it was breaking, the day still had a cheery essence to it. That day, seeing Yohji walk away, he had been sure he would never see him again…yet here he was, and he wasn’t very sure if it was a good thing.

"Man, talk about slave work." Goushi hadn’t been happy that their boss had kept them two hours after closing time. Goushi was very jealous of his free time.

" Come on it wasn’t that bad. Besides we get extra pay." Kaori was full of smiles today. The guy that had entered with the nice girl who they later found out was named Asuka, had given Kaori small remarks about how pretty she looked. Goushi had been seething; Ran knew how much Goushi hated smooth talkers since he was not one of them.

Yohji and Asuka had been steadily visiting the restaurant for the past three weeks. It was odd in a way since Yohji didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would like eating there. He was the kind of guy his father used to label as ‘those who live above their means.’ The guy would come in almost every day accompanied by his ‘girlfriend’ and eat the same thing - noodles. Asuka denied being Yohji’s girlfriend every time Goushi asked her about it. As of late, Goushi had stopped asking her when Yohji decided to tease Goushi about it.

Little by little, Ran started to notice that Yohji was a creature of habit. He would come in, eat, and ask for a lighter. Then he would watch the people coming into the restaurant with an amused smile, a rather pointless hobby in Ran’s eyes. Yet the guy did it every time he came by the restaurant. He would watch the people coming into the restaurant and the people who worked in it. It was starting to grate on his nerves the way the blonde would watch him. Kaori had laughed at him, saying that Yohji liked him and that was why he was watching him. Ran was thinking more along the line that Yohji thought him a freak and that was why he kept staring at him.

" Well, I don’t like it," answered Goushi, bringing Ran back from his reverie. " Besides, that guy, what’s his name…?"

"Yohji!" Kaori was giving Goushi one of her famous glares. " You better remember that!"

" You just like him cuz he stares at your ass…"

" He does not! Does he?"

" I was lying. So you do like him!" Goushi said the last laughingly while Kaori tried to kill him with her book bag.

" You guys play too much." Ran was already irritated and tired at having to endure their company a while longer.

" Wha…"

" Are you mad, Ran-kun?" asked Kaori soothingly. " You know you can tell me anything."

" I am not mad, just tired."

" He’s frustrated cuz you’re a pain, Kaori," he said this while he took Kaori’s book bag and started walking home with it.

" Aww…you’re being nice to me."

" No, but I know your mom watches us when we get home. Don’t want her mad at me."

Ran’s eyebrow started to twitch at their stupidity… "Bakas…"

For the rest of that week, Yohji and Asuka did not come by the restaurant at all. It was odd since they had been coming steadily for almost a month. Kaori had been coming out of the kitchens every time she heard a voice that sounded like her Yohji.

" He’s not coming." Goushi couldn’t hide how amused he was at the situation.

" Shut up, Goushi."

" Besides…I don’t like him. He stares at Ran as if he were from another planet. The guy just stares…"

" Anyone I know?" Goushi turned beet red when he heard the voice. He had not noticed Yohji enter the restaurant.

" Ummm…ohayo."

" Don’t pay any attention to him. He does stare." Asuka always smiled and this day was no exception. Goushi was grateful for her comment for it made him feel less embarrassed by the whole situation.

" Um...same as always?"

" You know it," answered Asuka with the wink of an eye.

Ran had been waiting on tables all day. In Ran’s terms, as Goushi lovingly liked to refer to, it meant that he was tired, grouchy, and more than likely not a very good host. So when Yohji and Asuka’s order came, Ran was not in the mood to put up with the staring.

" Here’s your order. Enjoy" However, it seemed the gods where not on his side this day.

" Hello Ran." Ran simply nodded to Asuka and was about to go when he heard the other voice.

" Not very talkative are you?"

" Yohji…" Asuka warned. The blonde either didn’t hear her or pretended not to.

" Your friends are always talking but you don’t talk at all. Are you shy?"

Ran knew the guy was taunting him. He didn’t understand why, but he was. Usually he would’ve smiled and shrugged it off. However, today was a different thing; he was tired and in no mood to put up with this guy’s shit.

" I am working. So I don’t see a reason why I should waste my time with idle chatter when I have about ten tables I am waiting on. Does that answer your question?"

Yohji just gave him a lazy smile before he answered, " That’s good enough."

Ran turned and walked away even though he could feel his face flaming…how he hated that man.

That same night Aya had the cleaning shift alone. Goushi and Kaori had begged him … or more like conned him, into taking their shifts because they wanted to go see some rock band. Not that he cared, but it was just that, Buchida sensei had been in a bad mood. Of course, Ran’s bad mood did not help. Thank the gods he was done with that. However, the whole episode with Buchida-san had given him a headache.

" Damn it," whispered the redhead while massaging his temples in an attempt to ease the discomfort.

" Anything I can help with?" Ran almost had a heart attack when he heard the voice. Turning toward the inside of the ally from the sidewalk he had been walking on, he noticed the smoking figure.

" Y—Yohji?" asked Ran hoping it was the guy or he would have to run for his life.

" Hey kiddo. Didn’t mean to startle you." Yet the guy was smiling as if that had been the very thing he had wanted to do.

" You didn’t." Ran’s glare must have been very obvious because the guy put his hands up in surrender.

" Hey, I just came here to apologize for teasing you. I didn’t mean to make you mad. It’s just…you’re so odd…I’ve never seen anyone like you."

" Well, you have now. You’re forgiven. Good night."

After that, Ran wished he had been nicer to the guy since they never came back. That was, until the day he found Yohji shot.

Yohji was acting like a kid in a candy store. He was glad that Ran didn’t have any previous sexual experience because that made him more receptive to his ministrations. The guy was basically convulsing with want. He could hear the small whimpers and moans that escaped the redhead’s lips. He was in heaven.

Yet as much as he wanted this, there was a part in the back of his mind wondering if Ran really wanted this.

" Ran?" he whispered, stopping to look down on the redhead. He knew he would lose any chance of ever bedding the redhead by stopping now.

Slowly, the redhead started to focus on what Yohji was trying to ask him. It was as if by degrees, the sensation became tolerable and he capable of coherent thought. Yohji could see it through Ran’s eyes - how Ran had been glassy eyed and little by little, regained his bearings. Seeing that Yohji was watching him, Ran unconsciously licked his lips, an unconsciously sensual gesture. Yohji’s gaze was riveted to those lips.

" What?" Ran’s voice sounded huskier. Yohji liked it.

" Do you want this?" Ran’s brows knotted in confusion.

" I mean…I don’t…"

A small chuckle was his response. The redhead released the hold he had in the bed sheets and very carefully caressed Yohji’s face as if the blonde were made of glass.

" I don’t know…I’m so confused…"

Yohji was touched by the confession. Usually, Ran was so reserved, but right now he was not. It was then and there that Yohji decided to take the decision into his own hands and consequences be damned.

" Listen to me carefully," spoke Yohji, close enough to Ran that his lips would brush up with the redhead’s. " I want you. Gods, I want you to the point of pain. Do you want me?"

Ran nodded once.

" That’s good enough for me." Then the blonde proceeded to overwhelm the redhead with heated kisses and caresses.

He started to rub his erection against Ran and the redhead began arching off the bed. It made Yohji smile that he could affect Ran so. The ice-statue, the guy who had refused him for almost half a year was panting and writhing beneath him. It was like a wet dream…correct that, it was a wet dream.

" Gods, Ran, you are so beautiful." Ran stared at him in disbelief. Yohji simply smiled. "I was always intrigued by you. Do you remember when you used to work at that restaurant?" He didn’t wait for a response; the redhead was beyond speech now. " I kept thinking that if I weren’t so in love with Asuka, I would have been all over you."

He had already worked off Ran’s shirt and pants. When he encircled the redhead’s erection, Ran’s eyes snapped open and he gripped Yohji’s shoulder painfully.

" Yohji…"
" Shhh…it’s okay. Calm down."

" But…" The complaint almost sounded like a whine, making Yohji’s smile widen.

" Do you trust me?"

A shy nod was his response.

" Then you are going to have to let me do this. Okay?" This was said while the blonde caressed Ran’s erection. A sharp intake of breath and a nod was all Ran could relay.

" Still so sensitive…"

" Yohji! Aya! We’re back!" screamed Ken from the bottom of the stairs.

" Don’t scream Ken-ken. Maybe Aya-kun is asleep."

" I bet. That guy is weird. Anyways, were we supposed to get any gifts?"

" Nope. We can’t keep any of them anyway." Omi seemed sad when he mentioned the last. He couldn’t remember a time in his life that had not been filled with death and murder. It was days like this that he wished he had a normal family: a father, a mother, a sister…

None of which he would ever have. He had already resigned himself to his fate. It made it easier to deal with disillusionment.

" Omi? Are you okay?"

" Hmm…yes. I just wonder…"

" Wonder what?" Ken was taking the groceries out of the bag.

" What Christmas would be like if we had our families? Would we be happier or just bored?"

Ken eyed Omi warily. It was almost the same question that seemed to plague all of their thoughts. However, it was wiser to just ignore it. It was safer.

" I don’t think about it."

Omi sent Ken a wry smile before sighing defeated.

" I guess that would be the smart thing to do."

Yet, when Ken heard that a small chuckle escaped him. "Nobody said we were smart."
Omi smiled.

Yohji was having the best time bringing Ran out of his shell. The redhead was proving to be very sensitive, even to the lightest of touches. By now, they were both completely naked and Yohji had settled on top of the redhead, pressing his arousal against Ran’s. He had heard Omi and Ken downstairs so when he settled on top of Ran, he had to swallow the redhead’s cry with a kiss. It made the exhibitionist side of him feel excited.

Of course, Ran would never appreciate that angle of things.

Yohji had already reached the limit on how much foreplay he was willing to engage in.

" Ran, this is going to sting a little…"

Ran was obviously out of it. His eyes were glazed over with pure lust and he was more than willing to do anything to fulfill the ache between his legs that was driving him crazy.

Yohji leaned down to kiss Ran deeply before getting up and walking to the bathroom, leaving a very frustrated Ran in the bed. He returned quickly and settled between Ran’s legs again before opening the bottle of lotion he had found and coating his fingers.

" Ready?"

A shy nod was his answer.

The blonde started probing at Ran’s opening, feeling how the redhead tensed.

" Shh…it’s okay."

The first finger pushed into Ran and the redhead clamped down at the intrusion. Green moss-like eyes held amethyst ones while the redhead was being stretched. A second finger joined the first and Yohji searched for that special spot in the redhead. When the redhead arched and cried out, Yohji knew he had found the spot. A smile crossed Yohji’s face while he kept touching Ran on that spot while loud moans and whimpers escaped the beautiful creature beneath him.

" Yohji…onegai…"

" Okay…"

Coating himself liberally, Yohji gently pushed into the redhead and hope that he wasn’t hurting Ran in his eagerness to seat himself in.

Ran’s eyes flew open at the intrusion and he held his breath while keeping his eyes tightly closed. He felt like he was being split from the inside. He could still fill the pleasure that had been coursing through his body but with this new pain, it was becoming a vague memory. That was until Yohji moved and touched that spot within him that made him lose all thought.

" Oh gods…" whispered Yohji into Ran’s sweat coated shoulder. "Are you okay?"

" Yeah…" breathed Ran while he arched when he felt Yohji move slightly and brush that spot in him.

" Okay…just tell me when you’re ready."

Ran nodded while a small whimper escaped him. " Move…"

" Are you sure?" Yohji could relate to Ran: he was also having problems controlling his body’s reactions.

" Yes…"

Yohji pulled himself out and pressed in slowly trying to make Ran enjoy it. Little by little, a rhythm started building and it was not long before Ran met him half way, arching in order to have Yohji press in deeper. Of course, it would not last. Before long, both men were desperate to fulfill themselves and when Ran finally climaxed, spilling his seed over both their abdomens, Yohji followed suit.

The blonde collapse on top of Ran and hid his face in the redhead’s shoulder, trying to bring his breathing and body under control. When he pulled out, both men winced at the slight discomfort before Yohji hugged Ran tightly to him. Ran looked uncomfortable, almost like he wanted to flee.

" Are you okay?"

Ran opened his mouth to say something but shut it, opting to nod instead.

"Do you want to rest for a while? I just hope you don’t regret this later."

" I won’t…it just…it surprised me that’s all."

A small chuckle escaped Yohji. " That’s good to know," the blonde replied before they both fell asleep.

" What are you smiling about?" The guy in question was sitting on his desk with an amused smile grazing his lips. " You won’t tell me will you?"

" Everything in its own time…"