lg: kippei and shinji

[shattermelt]

Meeting Shinji for a game at the street courts, unofficial as it was, was one of Kippei's favorite things. It only made him anticipate more than ever what it would be like to play Shinji in a real match, officially. He seriously wanted to poke Seiichi about the potential lineups and make sure he got to play Shinji whenever they played Yamabuki. He wasn't entirely sure that was ethical, possibly it was even suicidal, but nobody but him had to know that. He might just mention it and see what Seiichi thought of it.

But for today, the unofficial match had been damn good in and of itself, and he was pleasantly high from the exercise and the effort and if he was honest, from Shinji's company. So much so, that he was reluctant to call it a day and go home. It was the weekend, they had all day if they wanted it, and he was selfish enough and probably masochistic enough to admit that he did.

"Hey, you want ice cream?" he asked randomly as they put away their gear. The question was light and casual enough, but the knot in his stomach as he waited for Shinji to answer definitely wasn't. He was so screwed.

Comments

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

"Ice cream?" Shinji paused, considering. Then his hands started moving again, packing up faster until it was all packed away and he was a bit dirty and smelly from the game but so was Kippei so he didn't care, and Kippei was asking him out for ice cream and he knew it wasn't a date but he could pretend it was like one since it wasn't likely he was ever going to get to go on one. He shouldered his bag and went over to stand beside Kippei, still thrilled from getting to play him and feel just how strong Kippei was. He was awesome. Just what Shinji imagained, all the damn time.

"You made the suggestion so you have to pay now because I want ice cream now and I wouldn't have if you hadn't said anything so its your own fault."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei was amused. "That was the idea," he drawled as he finished packing up his own things and shouldered his tennis bag. He could pretend it was a date, even if it wasn't. That was a slippery road to start on, but what the hell, he was screwed already so it didn't matter.

"Come on," he said, resisting the urge to reach out and touch, Shinji's shoulder or his arm or hell, just anything as they headed off in search of ice cream. He'd figured out a long time ago that ice cream was a good way to get to Shinji. He didn't mind paying for it at all, but it amused him that Shinji tried to stick him with it anyway. "That cafe a couple streets over okay with you?"

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Shinji smiled faintly and followed obediantly, skipping a few steps to fall into step beside Kippei. He wanted to reach out and hold Kippei's hand and had to keep mentally reminding himself that was not allowed, and not a good idea anyway. Kippei had had a relationship with the 'real' prodigy. And even that hadn't worked. Not that Shinji would ever dump Kippei, but Kippei would always like Fuji more and that was damn near heartbreaking. Especially when Kippei knew all his favourite ice cream places.

"Yeah, its really good. They make the best sorbets, which means they're not as fatty, which I dont really care about but girls do, so when its really full and there are lots of girls they dont have that feeling guilty look on their faces and the atmosphere is better. Girls should worry less."

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei blinked, slightly taken aback by this assessment of the ice cream place, but okay. He supposed that might be a minor consideration, not that he'd ever noticed it himself, but if you noticed it then it was probably a good thing.

"Girls are just weird," he observed, because that was his opinion of the entire gender, An usually excepted because An was An, and never followed the rules anyway. Kippei normally stayed as far away from girls as possible, because they didn't make sense and were not very interesting besides. Very few of them liked tennis, after all.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

"Mmm...girls are a bit scary I think. They're like little hurricanes waiting to happen." Like An's arrival and Akira's heart...hurricane. Girls were just like that. They had some weird whirly-wind power. But Shinji didn't want to say that to Tachibana in case he insulted An, which was just a no no despite the fact Shinji would probably be insulting his own sisters in the process, but they were scary.

"Can I have banana and chocolate flavours?" Two scoops...mm maybe he shouldnt be making Kippei buy him two scoops...that was pretty bossy.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

"Mhmm," Kippei answered absently, because of course Shinji could have whatever the hell he wanted. "Anything you want," which was more true than Shinji knew, and he shouldn't be thinking things like that or he'd end up saying something he shouldn't.

"Chocolate sounds good," he decided, and maybe he'd have two scoops of that, himself.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Kippei was having chocolate too? For some reason that made Shinji feel good. Kippei was having the same flavour ice cream as him...well, without the banana, but Shinji liked the banana because it reminded him of...well, he was a guy after all. And he was hanging out with the walking wet dream, so whatever.

"Anything I want? Hmmm what if I wanted something you couldn't give? That's a pretty silly thing to offer me, but I guess you didn't promise it so thats sort of okay." Still, he didn't want Kippei offering just anyone anything they wanted.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei looked sideways at him, then focused his gaze firmly on the ground in front of him as he walked.

"It was a promise," he admitted quietly. And it was a promise he'd make to anyone else, but to Shinji, that was what it was. Anything he wanted that Kippei could give him, he would.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Startled, Shinji tripped in the gutter and righted himself by grabbing hold of Kippei's arm. Warm skin under his and god, he wanted to stay holding on, but he didn't, pulling away quickly, reestabishing some semblance of personal space, flushing a little in embarassment. Anything...fuck, Buchou had no idea how Shinji was taking that.

"Chocolate and banana then," he reminded Kippei, and reached out to push Kippei through the doorway of the ice creamery, grabbing them two seats outside and waiting.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei nodded, silently missing the warmth of Shinji's hand on his arm, but he wasn't going to say anything about that. Shouldn't even be thinking about it. Yeah.

"Right," he agreed, feeling a bit numb as he turned away and went inside to order for them. It hadn't been this bad, before, and he wasn't sure why it was worse this year, but all of a sudden the way he felt about Shinji seemed to have snapped all the bindings he'd tied it down with and it was harder and harder to ignore. Trying not to think about it wasn't working anymore.

He stared at the counter as he waited for the order, and stopped trying not to think about it, letting his thoughts run down the familiar path bruised into his mind. He'd thought he'd buried it deep enough that he could pretend it wasn't an issue, and up until recently, he'd done a pretty good job of fooling himself that it was true. It was just something that was never going to happen, couldn't and shouldn't and he should just get over it. He didn't really want to get over it, but it might be nice to not have it stab him in the heart every time he turned around.

He still did a pretty good job of hiding it, though, he decided, as he smiled politely at the girl behind the counter and took the ice cream back outside.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Shinji had been glumly watching cars zip past while other people licked at their ice cream when Kippei came back and his mood immediately lightened as he reached up to take the ice cream, smiling at the two big scoops of cold sugar. Hell yeah, and Kippei had bought it for him. Somehow that made it just about the best ice cream he had ever had, without even having tasted it.

"Thanks." He gave Kippei a rare, delighted smile and langidly licked up the side of his cone.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Thud. Kippei froze for a second, just staring at the smile on Shinji's face and trying not to hear the way it made his heart hammer crazily for a minute. Jesus.

"Welcome," he said automatically, and quickly turned his attention to his own ice cream as he took the seat across from Shinji. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Shut the fuck up, brain, look you made him happy, doesn't that feel good?

In spite of everything it did make him feel warm inside, made him grin to himself as he tasted his chocolate and he decided to pretend that it was just because he really, really liked chocolate ice cream.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Shinji tried to ignore the way Kippei looked with a small smear of ice cream in the corner of his mouth by focussing harder on his own ice cream. He licked around the bottom first, not wanting to lose any to the warmth of the sun. This was, after all, the ice cream Tachibana had bought him on their non-date.

"Mmm..." Lick. "It's really.." Lick. "Really." Lick. "Good..."

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei was so not watching. Really, really not watching because he so did not need that kind of fuel for the fantasies that tended to sneak up on him when he wasn't careful. Then again, if fantasies were all he had, why not enjoy them?

He sighed wryly, and watched anyway as he mimicked the licking, slurping innuendo that was Shinji and ice cream. Hell, Shinji probably wouldn't even notice how suggestive it was.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Shinji became aware of Kippei watching at him and carefully wiped his mouth, figuring he must have been making a mess, but there didn't seem to be anything when he wiped at it. Frowning a little, now aware of such things, Shinji reached out and gently stroked the dab of ice cream from the corner of Kippei's mouth, then shrugged and licked it off his finger.

"You shouldn't stare at people, its rude you know."

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

What the fuck. Kippei looked away, embarrassed by his own thoughts, but seriously. What the fuck. If he didn't know better, he'd think Shinji was flirting with him, but Shinji didn't flirt, and definitely not with him.

"Sorry," he muttered, trying to ignore the way his skin was tingling where Shinji had touched it. God, he had to go and lick his finger and that was doing nothing to help Kippei's state of mind, not to mention his cock, which was still half hard from playing tennis. With Shinji. Yeah, so, maybe this hadn't been the best idea ever.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Shinji stared at Kippei, realising Buchou looked a little on the miserable side of life. Discontent with the look on Tachibana's face, Shinji leant forward earnestly and shook his head.

"You dont have to be sorry. I like when you look at me...just not when I'm eating because it makes me think I have stuff on my face...that chocolate ice cream is really nice though...I haven't gotten past the banana yet...wanna try it?" He offered Kippei his cone, like he often did with Akira.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei shook his head, giving Shinji an ironic look. I like when you look at me? Did Shinji have any idea how that sounded? Of course he didn't. And did he want to try it? What the fuck kind of question was that, and what was he supposed to say? Hell yes, was definitely out, and he didn't mean just ice cream either.

Not that Shinji was offering anything more than ice cream and probably had no idea that it could be interpreted that way and Kippei really, really had to remember that. Banana, wtf, and there were some mental images he really didn't need.

"Uh, no, that's okay," he assured Shinji, trying not to sound as unsettled as he felt. "I like chocolate," he added, raising his own cone as if in explanation.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Kippei really was acting weird and it was making Shinji nervous. Had he done something weird again? Was he bad company? Did Kippei want to be somewhere else? With someone else? Well, until Kippei made his excuses Shinji wasn't going anywhere. He missed spending all his time with Kippei; had missed it for a year and now was tired of missing it.

"I like chocolate too..." He looked down, to see how far he had to go on his cone before he got to chocolate. He had less than he thought, because it was dripping down the cone. A small sound of distress escaped before Shinji madly licked it up, tidying the cone back up again. Cups were so not this messy.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei smiled faintly, amused as he watched Shinji rescue his ice cream. At least he wasn't making love to it anymore.

"Mhmm," he agreed, making sure that his own cone didn't get too melty on him. He couldn't do anything about his heart, but that was old news. Melty clear through where Shinji was concerned.

"We should do this more often," he heard himself saying, and groaned mentally. Did he have a death wish or something? Stupid. Like the stupid little smile on his face. Shinji just made his brain go permanently out to lunch or something.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

He was smiling again and saying they should do it again. No, not again; often. That was a good thing right? Right. Shinji nodded enthusiastically and finished off his first scoop, finally getting to the chocolate. For some reason, his brain now associated it with the ice cream he had taken off Kippei's mouth...

"What other flavours do you like?" He had heard lube came in funny flavours. Like pineapple. What was that about?

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei thought about it while he finished the first scoop of his ice cream and started on the second. "Mmmm...mint chocolate chip," he offered. "And.... vanilla. French vanilla. It's the best for mixing things with, like fruit and syrup and candy." He wasn't going to admit that he liked it just plain, too, because that was kind of lame.

"The best kind is black cherry, though," he decided. The absolute best. "Even better than chocolate."

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Shinji blinked, wondering why he had the sudden urge to bath in black cherry syrup and go to Tachibana's house at midnight. Maybe there were drugs in the ice cream or he was getting a brain freeze or something.

"I like vanilla...just...normal vanilla...but not the cheap stuff, it has to be the really creamy ones. Lots of milk in it. Mmm...and strawberry. My sister says boys aren't meant to like strawberry ice cream because its pink, but guys can wear pink shirts now so I think they can like strawberry ice cream too."

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei blinked, and then smiled, a faintly wry quirk of his mouth. Or not so lame after all.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Plain vanilla when it's the good kind. Strawberry is good too. But don't expect me to wear pink again. If I can't wear Fudomine colors, there's no reason to wear pink, ever." Besides, ice cream wasn't about color, but taste.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

"Not even at a school reunion? Or...or I dunno. I guess you're right. But that wasn't really pink, that was so red...what school makes a pink uniform. Hmm...and its cerese anyway, not pink."

He made quick work of the rest of his ice cream, just enjoying Kippei's company, not wanting to make a fool of himself when Kippei was actually talking to him and enjoying himself. But he ate too quickly and tentatively rubbed his lips.

"Mmm...my lips are numb now."

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei chuckled. Red, pink, whatever, it had been his least favorite part of the Fudomine uniform, but it hadn't mattered because it had been Fudomine.

"Mine too," he admitted, grinning, but that was half the fun of ice cream. "Got a headache?" he asked, slightly concerned, and mentally kicked himself. Stupid, ice cream headaches were not a big deal and it wasn't like Shinji would let him kiss it better if he DID have one.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Huh? Shinji just stared and blinked at him. Headache? He actually looked like he was worried that Shinji might have an ice cream headache? That was weird...even for Buchou.

"Mmm...trying to find my weakness? Planning to feed me up on ice cream before our match and give me a headache? I didn't know you were so scared of me, Buchou." He smirked playfully.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei shook his head, the grinning turning a bit crooked. Yeah, right. That was so not what he'd been thinking.

"I don't have to cheat to beat you," he growled, pretending to be offended, but he was still grinning so it wasn't all that menacing. He wondered, though, how difficult it would be to beat Shinji if both of them were playing for real, playing hard and all out for different teams. He had a feeling it would be a close game.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Of course Kippei didn't have to cheat; that was what made it so damn good. Shinji shared the grin and then stood and held out a hand. Then realised he was holding out his hand. Like on a date. Oops.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei automatically took the hand Shinji held out, and then caught himself. What the hell was he doing? Did he think he could just hold Shinji's hand like he wanted to without sending all the wrong--or right, but Shinji didn't know that--signals? Idiot.

He squeezed Shinji's fingers awkwardly and let go, not without some effort, and gave him a wry smile. "Ready to go?" he asked with forced casualness, as if he hadn't noticed the awkward moment.

[teagoblin.livejournal.com]

Dont let go, dont let go, dont let go! Kippei let go and Shinji's fingers tingled. He curled them into a fist to keep from snatching after Kippei's hand. God, stupid stupid stupid!

"Yeah." No. He wanted to stay and talk and hold Kippei's hand, but that was the last thing Kippei wanted or needed so Shinji shouldered his bag and shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei sighed and called himself ten kinds of a fool for wishing Shinji had given him a different answer, tucking his own hands into his pockets as he followed Shinji out to the street. So stupid. His hands really shouldn't feel empty now. It wasn't any different than before.

Maybe that was why they did.