Harvest

[carduinal-cyn]

Just what was Motobuchi's angle?

It wasn't that embarrassing to say you didn't listen to music. Hell, Sho didn't know that much of it himself. That probably went double for a son of the government; everything besides the state-approved banal pop garbage was definitely illegal in the Motobuchi household. He could just admit he didn't know. Maybe they could spend a little time making fun of Flip Side and Junya Kenzaki, call it "Flop Side", "Flip Shit", something like that. It'd be fun.

Then there was the matter of his movements.

Sho prided himself on perception. He was no fool: he could see the other boy scooting closer and closer whenever he felt he had an opening. Did Motobuchi want to talk to him? That would explain his insistence that Shimizu sing again. It'd give them a few minutes to discuss something... clandestine. What secret Motobuchi wanted to confide, Sho didn't have the foggiest idea. But it had to be important — otherwise, a rule-abiding goody-two-shoes like him wouldn't dare talk while someone else spat bars.

He looked over at the bespectacled boy, unable to hide his puzzlement. Motobuchi's eyes were trained on Shimizu. But there was a strange emotion etched into his face, a barely perceptible frustration.

"If you're having trouble," Sho suggested, "you could always step outside for a moment to think."

There. That was subtle enough, wasn't it? He was throwing Motobuchi a line here. If the other boy had something on his mind, he need only say the word.

[almostinhuman]

Well, that certainly wasn't the response he'd been looking for. From either of them. He looked down, face flush with embarrassment at having been put on the spot like this.

"I uh, I don't really know much music. The government-approved stuff is mostly kinda bad, so I never bothered keeping up with any of it. And my father would've beaten the shit out of me if he caught me listening to anything like you guys have been singing."

Only a mild exaggeration.

"I guess I'm just... trying to enjoy it now, is all. Trying to enjoy all the stuff I denied myself over the years at his behest."

He looked back up at Shimizu, eyes a little pleading.

"So, um, yeah. I don't have any songs to offer, but I'd appreciate it if you kept going."

He wanted to keep fishing for something - anything - from Tsukioka, but it wasn't only that. Everything he'd said about the music she'd shared was true. Having her sing it was emboldening him, somehow, in a way he wasn't sure he'd still be feeling if she stopped. It wasn't a feeling he was used to, and one he didn't quite wanna give up yet.

"Uh, sorry, though. If you were looking to stop, that's fine."

[Aura]

Oh.

Now she could see it.

Motobuchi might've been a privileged kid with an important dad, but that didn't mean his life back home couldn't suck too. She knew how rough it was to live with a cop, so an uptight government type couldn't have been any easier to deal with. Poor guy probably never even had a chance to try to act rebellious. All this Republic shit was hovering over him all the time.

Made sense why he was just sitting back and listening to her and Tsuioka. Poor bastard never heard any good music in his life. Well, Hirono had never been a people-pleaser, but that didn't mean she didn't have a heart. The guy just wanted to hear some songs, and given their situation, it couldn't hurt to at least grant him that.

"All right, I got something else if that's what you're asking for." Hirono smirked as she swung her arms while she stood in place. "Wish I had a backing track for this. Sounds way better with the music y'know?" It was a little joke, but it was also the truth. But like everything else on the island, they were getting by with what they had. She cleared her throat and warmed up her voice for a moment, then went for an encore. This time she went with something more fun, with a little more energy to perk up the group.

I'm expressing with my full capabilities
And now I'm livin' in correctional facilities
'Cause some don't agree with how I do this
I get straight, meditate like a Buddhist
I'm dropping flavor, my behavior is hereditary
But my technique is very necessary
Blame it on Ice Cube, because he said it gets funky
When you got a subject and a predicate

[carduinal-cyn]

So much for perception, Sho thought as Motobuchi explained himself, heartfelt and true. He could have sworn there was something unspoken, something right on the tip of the other boy's tongue. His eyes glazed over a little, searching for any hint that what he'd sensed beneath the surface was true.

He sat back and tapped his toe to the beat of Shimizu's next rap. What strange and wondrous rhymes the illegal poem-songs made! Shimizu spoke of jails and dissent and all sorts of things with an easy smile. For a moment, they could've been back on the bus again, joking and laughing like old friends. He didn't expect a girl as rough-and-tumble as her to be so generous with her time, but, then again, it would take a heart of stone not to keep going after the story she'd been told. It wouldn't do him any good at all to go on appearance alone. People were always more complex beneath the surface. He'd have to remember that. After all, he had a nasty cut across his face — so much for his dashing good looks! Wouldn't want anyone thinking awful things about him.

Sho glanced over at Motobuchi again. He leaned his big frame over to one side, so he could whisper in the other boy's ear.

"Anything on your mind?" he asked. "You seemed like you wanted to tell me something before the last song ended..."

[almostinhuman]

Kyoichi hadn't meant to reveal so much of himself like that, but he was glad Shimizu understood and obliged. He was having a good time, honestly. If they somehow made it out of here, he'd definitely have to check more of this stuff out. As it stood, where their escape was no such guarantee, he was happy to get whatever little scraps of it he could. It also gave him cover to continue slowly approaching Tsukioka, hoping the other boy would figure it out, take the lead, or at least let him down without forcing Kyoichi to say any of what he wanted out loud.

He didn't quite expect Tsukioka to lean in and directly ask him what he wanted. He met the other boy's gaze, eyes alight with renewed panic.

"I..." he murmured, uncertain now. "Um..."

He knew what he wanted here. He knew a million different things he could say to get it. But he could think of no good way to say it, nothing that could make it past the fear racking his body again. His eyes silently searched Tsukioka's face, as if he'd find some answer there, some way to ask for what he needed from him. But no. There were no words he could muster. Anything he said would let his panic continue, give himself too much of a chance to back out. The only thing he could think to do was rip the band-aid off.

He swiftly leaned in, lips pressing against the other boy's. It was clumsy, inexperienced, a little too forceful, and far too desperate.

But he didn't care. This was now or never - and he was tired of settling for "never."

[Aura]

As Hirono finished the song, she couldn't help but wear a smile as she rested her voice. This time she was able to add a bit more energy to the performance, and she was really having fun hitting the more fast-paced verses. She felt like she was hitting her stride, and she would've been fine just continuing.

However, taking a look at her tiny audience revealed something that she genuinely didn't expect. When she had started, Tsuioka and Motobuchi were just sitting there, being all polite while she was getting ready for her jam session. And now Motobuchi was leaning forward, his face right in Tsuioka's as their lips were having a nice little meeting.

Damn, guess I underestimated him.

Hirono almost had to do a double take. Nerdy-ass Motobuchi, just straight-up going for it like that? Not something that she ever would've expected from him. All kinds of surprises were happening today, or at least that's how it seemed. She hadn't even realized that Motobuchi liked guys in the first place. But hey, she didn't judge. Dude likes what he likes, nothing wrong with that.

"Having fun?" She asked with a smirk, her attention fully on the duo.

[carduinal-cyn]

If someone had told Sho last week that he'd end up kissing Kyoichi Motobuchi, the nerdiest guy in the class, he'd have laughed them off and told them to crawl back into whatever gutter their mind came from. The idea seemed impossible. Yet that was the reality: out of nowhere, Motobuchi pounced, and practically mashed his lips into his. How bold, Sho thought, how very daring...

He barely noticed Shimizu's song ending. The split-second look of surprise that crossed her face missed him completely. He was focused on the other boy now, and in his heart of hearts he understood. The way Motobuchi must have repressed everything; the loneliness; the guilt. Sho took in every contour of his face, the silver frames of his glasses. Then he heard her voice, and the shock was enough to rattle him out of his poor bleeding heart. He looked awkwardly over at her as she smirked. His body was frozen, and his lips dared not move.

Really, his nerves were singing. He began to process that he was still in the lighthouse, still ostensibly there in the middle of a concert. But the unbelievable was happening today. Death games. Fights. New friends. And now, finally, someone else in his class who knew his very special pain.

Motobuchi was an awkward sort of kisser, and that only got more apparent as split-seconds ticked by. But you couldn't fault him for heart. Sho realized this was his "last dance", so to speak: that if he died here, he could die knowing he sated some long-dormant love within him. And he knew it was selfish, but Sho felt himself wanting all the same. (Of course she would understand. Hadn't she been arrested for compensated dating?)

Without a word, he pulled away long enough to give Shimizu her answer: a frank and simple nod. Then he looked at Motobuchi — no, Kyoichi — and gently touched their lips together.

[almostinhuman]

Kyoichi had never felt so overwhelmed in all his life.

He'd thought about this moment for years - perhaps not literally exactly like this, though the feelings it brought were still achingly familiar. He'd starved himself of it, ashamed, even as it gnawed away at his insides, fed only by fleeting dreams and longing looks. He'd convinced himself he could live with that, never going beyond idle fancy. You could live on meager scraps of food for years, if you had to, and surely this was less crucial to go on living.

He'd been wrong. He'd been so very fucking wrong. He'd been silently killing himself without realizing it, and now that he knew, he couldn't do it anymore.

When Tsukioka pulled away, if only for a moment, Kyoichi was afraid. Had he overstepped? Perhaps he'd been wrong, and Tsukioka wasn't okay with a relative stranger kissing him out of the blue. Plus in his haste he'd managed to forget Shimizu, though the girl seemed unbothered, even impressed, somehow. Yet having someone witness this, even unjudgingly so, brought all that panic and shame back to life. For a split second, Kyoichi wanted to pull away, pretend it was a joke, try any possible way to take it back.

But then Tsukioka returned the kiss - gentler than Kyoichi's, and more practiced, but no less hungry. The other boy was every bit as desperate for this, he realized, or at least it felt that way. He wasn't simply doing this for Kyoichi's sake, but his own, too. Kyoichi knew how others spoke of Tsukioka; it was a huge part of why Kyoichi had never let anyone know. He also knew how painful these feelings could be, and that was without others cruelly jabbing him over it. It couldn't have been easy, especially dealing with it for so long, all alone. Perhaps he also needed someone who just... understood. Who felt the same way and could share in it all, both pleasure and pain.

Or maybe Kyoichi was just projecting. But there'd be time to figure that out later. He felt like fucking lightning right now, and he didn't need anything else. Kyoichi shut his eyes, his body relaxing as he let Tsukioka take the lead.

[Aura]

Well, Hirono was happy that Tsuioka and Motobuchi we're doing fine. More than fine, from the looks of it. Those boys were going at it like... well, like a couple of horny teenagers. There wasn't much of a metaphor here.

However, she couldn't help but feel like kind of a third wheel in the group now. Yeah, they still had their plans. Link up with the rest of Tsuioka's crew and see what Motobuchi could do with the collars. Then, of course, the plan was to leave.

But right now they were on some rare leisure time, and she was watching them make out in front of her. Did it make her look like some kinda voyeur to watch them like this? Had she been watching? Damn, she hoped she wasn't making this weird.

She leaned against the wall and let the boys enjoy themselves. Eventually they'd get around to talking again, but they could probably afford a couple more minutes of leisure time.

Damn, she wished she had someone to kiss...

[carduinal-cyn]

Sho's lips were tingling with barely constrained want. More practiced at first, more gentle... but it wasn't long before the heat of the moment overtook him, and his kisses turned deep and feverish. Maybe he'd be too much for Kyoichi. So be it, he thought, so be it! The lighthouse, the third wheel, all selfishly vanished in a haze of his own making. Truly, this was what it meant to love...

At the mixers, they had a game called "seven minutes in heaven", where they'd lock you in a closet with some lucky girl and let the two of you do what you wished. Sho wasn't in one now — far from it, this was the least closeted he'd ever been — but he'd be damned if he didn't get his seven minutes. (No one tell him, but the great Sho Tsukioka only ended up lasting about two before he pulled himself away.)

Sho pried himself away at last, his broad chest heaving up and down. His face had overheated all over, like an egg frying in a pan. Kyoichi was no Nanahara, of course. But God damn — had the little geek done a number on him! Sho's hands had already migrated underneath the other boy's uniform in the midst of their amorous stupor; his palms lay on Kyoichi's bare waist. He wore a stupid little grin, a stuck-it-right-to-the-man grin. Then he let out the kind of sigh you normally heard from marathon runners on the finish line.

"...Now how was that, Kyoichi?" he breathed. He was teasing, a little mischievous, for he knew it meant the same to both of them. In one short kiss, both boys had tasted freedom.

[almostinhuman]

When Tsukioka pulled away, coyly teasing him over this moment they'd shared, Kyoichi couldn't say anything. His brain was jelly, utterly annihilated by the intensity of it, the bliss of it. Words had completely failed him here.

So he settled for laughing. Not a cruel or mocking laugh - the sound was a warm, clear, euphoric one. It was the kind of laugh Kyoichi wasn't sure he'd ever actually managed before now. He hugged the other boy, his laughter continuing unabated. Tears slipped from his eyes a bit, though these too were joyous. This shit had overloaded him completely in the best way. Eventually, he managed to whisper a reply into Tsukioka's ear.

"It was fucking incredible."

He gently pulled back, one hand sliding down Tsukioka's arm to intertwine its fingers with those of the other boy's. It was then that he remembered once again that the two of them weren't alone. He quickly pivoted to face Shimizu, sitting up rigidly. One hand quickly wiped at his tears and readjusted his glasses; his other hand and Tsukioka's remained tangled together.

"O-Oh, uh... sorry, Shimizu." He blushed, suddenly a little embarrassed at how brazen he'd been. "Didn't, um, mean t-to make things, uh... awkward."

[Aura]

So they finally remembered that the third wheel was there, huh?

Admittedly, Hirono felt kind of like a voyeur for just sitting there and watching while the two boys made out. It wasn't like there was anything else going on to draw her attention away or anything. She wondered if she would have done the same thing if it had been Yoshimi or Mitsuko making out with someone, but she was pretty sure she'd never had to test that. They were usually split up when one of them started getting hot and heavy with someone.

But at the same time... damn, those boys put on a show just now.

"Hey, don't mind me." Hirono said casually, putting up her hands. "I'm just glad we finally broke the tension around here." She closed her reply with a smirk. "We kinda swapped it for sexual tension, but hey, what can you do?"

[carduinal-cyn]

Oh, my. Sho had nearly forgotten there was a witness to their little tryst. He wiggled his fingers sheepishly at Shimizu, with his one free hand. (Kyoichi had made a second bold move and taken the other— and who was Sho to refuse such an offer?)

"Enjoying the view?" he asked. His tone positively dripped with innuendo-laden confidence. Of course you did, it seemed to say. All the embarrassment showed in his face and his body language — you just couldn't take the confidence out of Sho Tsukioka's voice! "I'll be happy to stop," he offered, "and let us get back to the concert. I do so hate to interrupt... of course, we could discuss sleeping arrangements, too. It's a long night ahead."

But while Sho's proposition seemed a logical one, the truth was that he needed a simple, brief respite from the adrenaline pounding through his heart. Kyoichi's sudden advances, and the ensuing make-out session they'd briefly shared, had nearly driven him mad. As confident as he might've been in seeking him out, Sho knew that even living above a gay bar didn't inoculate you against the wiles of your fellow man. He was grateful Shimizu spoke up when she did. If not, he may never have left Kyoichi's lips for the entire night.

So he hoped Kyoichi would forgive him when he leaned in close again, his lips nearly touching the other boy's ear. "A very long night," he purred, "if you don't mind sleeping late."

God, what was he doing? Caught up in the heat of the moment, perhaps. Or maybe, just maybe, he was more desperate for an outlet than he ever guessed.

With those parting words, he uncoupled himself from Kyoichi's scrawny frame, the interlocked fingers separating just like that.

[almostinhuman]

Oh. He hadn't expected that little offer. Tsukioka had already had him melting, and that was enough to wreck what little wit he still had left.

"I-I... uh, we..." he babbled, blushing even more furiously than before. "... sure, yeah. Cool."

He could tell he sounded like a fucking idiot. But somehow the words he wanted weren't getting to his mouth, and he was stuck with whatever inane drivel made it there first.

Tsukioka left him, letting go of his hand. It was just as well. Kyoichi needed a minute to stop his heart from tearing his chest open with how fast it was beating. He gripped his knees, one of his legs bouncing anxiously. He looked to the floor as he tried to get his breathing under control. He was still beaming like an idiot, still riding the high of the last few minutes, but he didn't care how obvious it was. Not like there was any sense being ashamed of it anymore.

[Aura]

Oh, those two were definitely fucking later.

Hirono hoped they weren't too distracted, though. They were both in a real good mood now, do that was good. Gonna keep spirits high and everything. However, they still had their escape plan to think about. She knew that they needed Kyoichi and some collars to work on. As well as the other Kiriyamas, even though Hirono still had plenty of doubts about how useful they'd be.

Still, more people not trying to kill her was a perk she wasn't keen to pass up.

"So Tsuioka, did you and your boys have a plan for where you were gonna meet? Or you remember where you saw 'em last time?"