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“Truth or dare?” Idia underhand-tossed the paper ball in his hand toward Azul.
“Truth,” Azul replied, grabbing the ball as it landed on the floor beside him.
Technically Boardgame Club was over, but the room was always left empty for the rest of the day anyway. Why not stay a while every so often? The two sat across the room from one another, backs to opposite walls.
“You always pick truth,”
“I'm a very honest man,”
Idia scoffed and rolled his eyes at Azul's smug grin, but a slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth in spite of himself. It had been hours now. Idia was pretty sure he'd rolled through every question he could ask at all as he sat against the wall, rifling through everything in his mind.
Every standard, lame smalltalk topic had been exhausted. Every favorite, every book or movie req. There were only so many questions you could ask before going back to the drawing board, right? There had to be something left…
Firsts.
“Who was your first kiss?” He almost cringed. What had possessed him to ask something like that? He didn't even see how Azul’s face dropped.
For his part, Azul did handle his shock well. He certainly hoped at least. Naturally, in the name of sportsmanship, he had answered each prior question with full honesty, but this? This was just embarrassing. There was no way he could answer it- “What kind of question is that?” his voice came out a bit more shrill than intended.
“Wha-?” Idia jolted, shaken back to the world he'd left behind. “H-hey, I wasn't the one who picked truth for two hours straight!”
“It hasn't been two hours!”
“Yuh-huh!”
“Don't even start that!”
“Whatever, you still have to answer it, that's how the game works.”
“I-”
“Nuh-uh, no deals, no weasling, play the game.”
“Why can't I have a different question?”
“Because I can't think of one, now answer!”
“Fine!” Azul set his jaw, his teeth gritted. His legs moved against his conscious control, his knees pulling to his chest, and he couldn't meet Idia's eye. “I…” There was a sting of tears in his own eyes as he took a breath.
“I haven't had one.”
Idia blinked. “Wait for real? You’re 17 and haven't had a first kiss?”
“Not all of us get proposed to by ghosts, Idia.”
“That!” Idia opens and closes his mouth a few times. “That didn't count, okay? I didn't even kiss her-”
“Then I assume we're even.” Azul folds his arms as Idia's face scrunches up in distaste. He ignores the tense bolt of nausea that had struck him from the question. It wasn't his fault of course. Anyone would be caught off guard being asked that. And by Idia Shroud of all people? It was practically unheard of for him to even bring up the topic of love. The room lapsed into silence. Not a tense silence necessarily. Silence was always a comfortable thing with each other. It was an absence of expectation placed on eithers’ shoulders.
They could both feel weight bearing down on this silence.
They avoided each others eyes, gazing at the floor, their shoes, their knees.
The crumpled paper ball lay forgotten beside Azul.
The wall clock in the classroom ticked the seconds away, the only sound echoing through the space.
He was overthinking it. It was an easy enough question to come up with. One of the few that hadn't been asked, likely due to some quiet comprehension they were in the same boat regarding it. The sense of solidarity in their answers was broken the second Idia blurted that damn question out. But now, Azul couldn't get a new notion out of his head. It was a stupid thought born of nothing but that irrational fluttery feeling in his chest when Idia smiled and the way his brain fogged over when Idia was too close to him. The way flickers of him kept Azul up at night. What if he'd asked out of some subconscious desire?
The sun was setting through the tall windows above Azul, casting a brilliant orange light across the walls. And, of course, over Idia.
Something in Azul's gut twisted.
And he made a very poor decision.
“I have a proposal for you,” he blurted into the quiet, startling Idia who let out a mousy squeak. “Neither of us havee had a first kiss, right?” A lump formed in his stomach as Idia nodded. “Well,” he cleared his throat. “I’d say that issue is resolvable right now-”
“HUH?” Idia bolted upright and Azul’s body jolted, his back pressing hard against the wall as every blue ember on Idia’s head was instantly replaced with a bright pink that framed his body. “Wh- y-” The pink slowly began to fade as he shook his head, regaining his composure even as it lingered. “It doesn't… work like that, right? Like… doesn't a first kiss have to be special or something..?”
“Is this not special enough for you?” Azul folded his arms, an eyebrow raised. “We've been alone in this room together for an *hour* longer than necessary playing truth or dare, there's a beautiful sunset outside… Not to mention you did get flustered at the offer.”
“You're one to talk, you're as red as boiled octopus.”
Azul hadn't even noticed his face heating up until his hands went to his crimson cheeks. He sputtered as Idia's laughter only made him burn brighter. “It-it doesn't have to mean anything, you know. Just a matter of convenience…”
There was a beat.
“Can it?” Idia said.
“What?”
“Can it mean something?”
Azul stared, dumbfounded and red-faced as pink crept back up to Idia's scalp. He looked like he was about to throw up.
“Do… Do you want it to..?”
“I mean… Yeah..? I wouldn't have… yknow, asked otherwise…”
Azul could suddenly understand the nausea Idia must have been feeling. He'd taken a risk proposing the action, but this… He swallowed. “It can,” he affirmed.
For a moment the only sound was Idia's sneakers on the wood floors as he shuffled over and slid down the wall beside Azul. He illuminated the shadows Azul had been in under the window. Hues of pink outweighing the blue glow that usually followed Idia. He cupped Azul’s warm face in his hands, cooling his skin.
The pair locked eyes and Azul could see how nervous Idia was. He was sure Idia could see Azul's nerves in his eyes too. He found a determination in Idia's that made him feel like a coward.
Idia leaned in and their lips met, gentle and trembling. They hovered so close together Azul could still feel Idia's lips brushing against his and he closed any semblance of a gap. When they broke again, a breathy giggle escaped Idia's mouth which was shortly followed by one from Azul and even more shortly chased by another kiss.
Azul's arms wound around Idia as Idia's hands moved from Azul's cheeks to his neck to his shoulders. The ticking clock was joined by quiet gasps for breath and the press of their mouths in a faint rhythm.
A rhythm broken by a sharp yelp from Azul as he drew back.
“Wha-? What is it? What's wrong?” Idia panted. His face was a deep blue color that clashed wildly with his hot pink hair.
“Nothing-” Azul huffed, his hand covering his mouth. “I think you cut my lip,”
“Oh… Sorry,”
“It's alright,” He pressed his forehead to Idia's. He could feel Idia's eyes bore into his, even as he sheepishly avoided meeting them. The fog in his brain was so thick he could hardly string together a sentence and a swarm of butterflies had invaded his stomach, fluttering so violently he could feel jitters all through his chest.
“Can we do that again some time..?” Idia shyly asked.
Azul met his eyes and offered a nervous smile. “It would be my pleasure,”