[closed] I'm riding, I'm riding as fast as this car goes

[burnmetwice]

WHO: Kazu and Kururu
WHERE: Heropa 28 garage
WHEN:
WHAT: What the fuck do you do when you just make out with a guy in a beer cooler
WARNINGS: teenagers discussing sexuality

[Not fifteen whole minutes after texting Kururu, Kazu comes skidding around the corner, grabbing the edge of the garage wall to slow him down in a move that is probably bad for his joints.]

I KISSED KANEDA.



[Just like that. The noise echoes in the confined space.]

Comments

[resoundingpledge]

[ The garage is a lot less empty than the last time Kazu was here. Workbenches and metalworking machines line the three walls, ranging from a clearly antiquated hand press to the sleek lines and thick safety glass of a small CNC machine. Shelves hold opaque bins and boxes, some with bits of scrap metal poking out the top, and a complex web of cables runs up to the rafters.

His voice doesn't echo nearly as much as it once would have.

Kururu herself stops dead, hands still on the box she was about to pull down, and turns to look at Kazu.
Slowly, more than a little confused, her brows draw together. ]

Kaneda-san?

Why?

[burnmetwice]

I DON'T KNOW!! He was just—there.

[resoundingpledge]

I guess . . . he could kind of be Kazu-kun's type, but . . .

[ She lets her arms drop, leaving the box where it is. ]

Was it mind control?

[burnmetwice]

THERE'S NO WAY HE'S MY TYPE!

[But Kazu pauses mid-tirade. Was it mind control? that would make sense... He sounds a little hopeful.]

... Could it have been?

[resoundingpledge]

Kazu-kun isn't really someone who kisses people just because they're there.

If there were other things, maybe . . . but not just that.

[burnmetwice]

There were no other things! Definitely no other things!

[resoundingpledge]

[ Huuuh.

She turns fully, waving him into the room. There's not many places to sit, but the work benches aren't too bad a choice—she hops backward to sit up on the one behind her.

There's a simple, honest curiosity in her voice now. ]

Did you like it?

[burnmetwice]

......................




It wasn't bad.

[resoundingpledge]

Would you do it again?

[burnmetwice]

Kaneda has a girlfriend!

[resoundingpledge]

So do you.

[ She shrugs, as if both of these points were completely obvious and likewise have very little bearing on the subject at hand. ]

[burnmetwice]

Kaneda is never going to kiss me again.

[resoundingpledge]

It was Kazu-kun kissing Kaneda-san though, wasn't it?

Unless you mean Kaneda-san kissing back.

. . . did he kiss you back?

[ Kaneda would probably be the kind of person to do that. He's very friendly. And Kazu really is kind of pretty. ]

[burnmetwice]

Heeee. Yes. He did.

[resoundingpledge]

So you kissed Kaneda-san, and he kissed you back. And you liked it, but you don't want it to happen again.

If all of that sounds right, then maybe . . . tell me what happened? Before that part, I mean.

[burnmetwice]

fuck, fuck... He was messing with me. We were hanging out in the beer cooler in the grocery store and I told him if he was going to keep making jokes bout me being fucking gay he should just kiss me, and then he told me he was bisex and I told him he fucking can't be bisex just like that! —He can't, right?

[resoundingpledge]

Bisex . . . bisexual?

[ She blinks. ]

I don't know. I mean, I don't know how that works with boys. Only girls.

How did it work for you?

[burnmetwice]

[Kazu drags a hand down his face.]

I don't think it did. Fuck! If it worked I wouldn't be so messed up about it!

[Give him a minute to come around to Kururu and bisex again.]

Ugh... Anyway, he started talking about playing with my tits and I just. Snapped, I guess...

[resoundingpledge]

Your body fat is under 10%. You don't have any . . . I mean, you're kind of . . .

[ She gestures, kind of, at Kazu's very flat chest. So flat. She knows how flat that chest is.

She shakes her head. ]

. . . you know . . . how that sounds, right? I mean, if someone tells someone they like people like them, and then talks about touching them . . .

That's a lot more than Kaneda-san just being there.

[burnmetwice]

What are you saying.

[resoundingpledge]

That Kazu-kun still isn't a person who would kiss someone for no reason.

I don't know what it was, exactly. But it sounds like there was probably a reason there.

. . . not brainwashing.

[burnmetwice]

[Kazu yanks his hat over his face huffily, twisting it between his fingers.]

How does bisexual work for girls, anyway?

[resoundingpledge]

We're . . . tuners, right? The girls I know. So it's . . . not something anyone really hides. Or can hide. Not when we train with each other.

. . . it's not like the kind of romance you'd think of with a boy. Not dating, or . . . I mean. I've never kissed anyone.

[burnmetwice]

Shit... whoa.

All along Kururu was the most bisexual of us all...

[resoundingpledge]

Kind of. Probably. It's . . . something like that.

Kazu-kun knows what tuning's like now, right? So . . . like that. Closer, sometimes.

[ Uncomfortably close, sometimes. But Kazu knows that too. ]

[burnmetwice]

Sano could tune.

[Kazu drops into a chair with the weight of that statement, sprawling back in it and looking at the ceiling for a blank moment.]

I probably couldn't learn... right?

[resoundingpledge]

The Aeon-san that tuned the Flame Regalia was a cyborg controlled through an uplink to Lon Hortz Bone Town. I don't know if it would have been the same as it was if he was still human.

. . . it's still a road, though. Ring Road is, I mean. Most of us don't use A-T, so there's no READ data for you to use, but . . . you could try a little, if you'd like to.

[burnmetwice]

Maybe next time you tune me you could... Uh, I mean, if you want to do it again...

[resoundingpledge]

I'm free now.

[burnmetwice]

N-now...?

[resoundingpledge]

You're already sitting down.

[ Did you really think it's a coincidence that there's only one chair in this workshop, and it's more than broad and sturdy enough for two? ]

[burnmetwice]

[HE DIDN'T THINK AT ALL!!!]

I. Yes. I am.

[resoundingpledge]

[ She hops down from the workbench she's been perched on, and walks over— ]

Then . . . even if it's not everything, you can still try a little.

[ —and very, very casually, almost comfortably, reaches out to spread her hand across his chest, over his heart, gently and firmly pressing him back down. ]

[burnmetwice]

[Kazu goes down. He grumbles.]

Great, everybody wants to get a feel on my tits now...

[resoundingpledge]

[ She shakes her head, barrettes momentarily catching the light. ]

It's the other way around.

Give me your hand?

[burnmetwice]

Uuuuuh????

[The other??? Way around???

He does give her his hand.]

[resoundingpledge]

Mm! Like that.

[ Her hand cups the back of his, and she leans forward a little as she draws it close, pressing his palm against her chest.

Warm cotton. The ridged edges of hidden lace, contours that swell on each side of his hand rather than lying flat . . . and the drumbeat of her heart, a sound felt rather than heard. ]

Can you hear it?