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Lilia was an evil mastermind. Most people would agree, and no one could produce a single person that was on Lilia’s level as a rebuttal. Malleus was proud of this fact. The rest of their house was, too. Lilia brought in great ideas, planned fantastic schemes and was a genius when it came to inventing new ways to cheat during exams. He was cunning, and sneaky, and a bit unhinged. It’s what the Thorn Fairy would have wanted - determination and chaos, despite all circumstances.
Opinions varied when you walked out the doors of Diasomnia, but the main point still stood - Lilia was an evil mastermind.
If you asked Idia, he would say that Lila was truly cracked at gaming, too smart for his own good and absolutely insane. The evil mastermind part was implied.
Idia was not an evil mastermind, which was actually rather heartbreaking as he would like to pretend he was hardcore. But he just wasn’t. He cried during his favorite classic RPGs, he would have a panic attack just from going to the cafeteria, and he had bad gamer rage. Like, really bad gamer rage. Like, “have to order a new third monitor every four months” bad gamer rage.
Lilia was different. Lilia had a rage that was giggly, full of smiles and calmness and biding their time. Idia was smashy, and pouty, and whimpery. Idia’s rage wasn’t scary, it was laughable. And Lilia loved to laugh at it. Idia would be curled up in a blanket, nursing an energy drink with tears in his eyes, and Lilia would just be behind him, laughing so hard that he needed to lay down.
Idia was pathetic. But Lilia liked it.
At least, that’s what Idia would like to think. It was easier to assume that. He kind of hoped Lilia liked it, or at least found it entertaining.
Idia was more fascinating than most people Lilia had met during his painfully long teenage years. Lilia had said so himself. Idia fluctuated from deep contempt to extremely passionate, according to the vampire, and Idia showed each person he talked to a different face. He was a completely new person when Lilia got him alone, and that made Lilia interested in everything he had to say. It was so easy for Lilia to feel involved with him and to talk like he was eager to be a part of his life.
Idia thought Lilia was just pitying him when he talked about him like that.
Because Lilia was an evil mastermind. So much smarter and cooler and more popular and more social and more everything than Idia.
Idia was so humiliated when he found out Lilia was muscleRED. He had been walking the halls, staring at and judging and analyzing Lilia and his crew of popular boys, and then going online and venting to Lilia about Lilia. He left out names, but he thought he was too obvious in retrospect. And Lilia did the same - thinking too hard about the quiet guy in the back of his class, and armchair-psychiatristing him to Idia over DMs. But Lilia didn’t feel embarrassed like Idia did, at least not outloud.
“Get out of your head.” Lilia had said. “Don’t overthink it. Do you just want to start doing game nights in person?”
Idia didn’t remember saying yes. But Lilia still started to come over.
And that’s when Lilia started to make fun of Idia when he would rage.
That’s also when Idia learned that Lilia looks very different out of uniform.
Very different.
Very approachable.
Very attractive.
Big shirts, small shorts, loose pants, crop tops, sweatshirts with too long sleeves, socks that went up to his thighs. He had an endless supply of green and black and purple clothes made of soft cottons, stretchy polyesters, and sheer linen. He wore different combinations every time he wandered over on Friday nights to the Ignihyde dorms. Idia wasn’t blind. He could see the way his dormmates would stare as Lilia walked in the halls with a spoon dangling from his mouth and ice cream cartons in his hands. He saw the way eyes traveled down to look at Lilia’s short frame.
He would be lying if he claimed he didn’t do the same. The times Lilia wore small shorts and big shirts with bare feet were his favorite.
But it didn’t matter. Plenty of people made him stare. He was just the kind of person that stared. Lilia wasn’t special. Not even when he would beat his own high score and do this stupid little happy dance and Idia would smile despite himself and feel warmer inside.
Nope. Not special.
“Gloomy! I’m here!” He would call through his suite door. He would never knock, only yell through the wood.
“My name is Idia.” Those were always the first words out of his mouth when he would let Lilia in, but the shorter boy seemed to simply ignore that every single time. The online nickname just stuck. Idia couldn’t understand, for he never could bring himself to call Lilia ‘Red’ like he used to. Not here, not in the real world, where his friendship with Lilia was out of place and fragile and scary.
Red was someone he could text whenever, and Lilia was the popular kid who sat at the head of the lunch table. Red was the person he knew everything about, and Lilia was too pretty and cruel to look at in the eye.
But Lilia acted so natural about everything. Gloomy and Idia were one and the same to him. If he had problems adjusting to their new friendship, he didn’t show it. He was eager to wave to Idia in the halls and would motion for Idia to sit next to him in class. He would even still message Idia all the time, like they used to. Why was it so easy for him? Idia wanted to dissect his brain and find out.
Especially when Lilia would come over and get so comfortable, too comfortable in Idia’s depressing blue space. He made himself at home on Idia’s bed, with Idia’s stuffed animals. He would open drawers and poke around shelves. He was nosey and invasive and overwhelming. It was the worst when he would start to clean. He would throw away Idia’s energy drink can stash or his take-out box tower, and it made Idia start to twitch.
But no matter how he freaked out over Lilia’s presence, he didn’t stop inviting him on Friday’s. Maybe because it was routine, maybe because it was something deeper. He couldn’t address it. He didn’t want to think too hard. He didn’t want to think too hard about how Lilia was the only person on earth he didn’t flinch away from when they sat too close. He didn’t want to think about how he used to lay up at night, hoping to one day meet the person he totally-didn’t-maybe-ofcoursenot-kind of had a spark of feeling for, and now how he had that .
He didn’t want to think too hard in general. Thinking too hard led to migraines.
Idia just wanted to play his video games in peace.
“Dude, you’re really shit at this today.” Lilia giggled. He was in joggers and a tight tee-shirt, his feet barely poking out of the bottom of the pant holes. He was very at home laying on his stomach on the bottom of Idia’s bed.
Idia, pressed against the headboard and irritated at his third loss of the night, was fighting the urge to melt his controller in his hands. His hair was already burning brighter. “Yeah, well, it’s not my fault that the pink team is totally using a hacked client.”
Lilia kicked his feet back and forth, carefree as ever. “You can’t just say that about anyone that beats you.”
“But I’m not wrong!”
“I just think you need some practice.” Lilia rolled over and stretched his shoulders, letting out a whimpering bat-like coo as he finally released all the tension in his back. “You have to learn to work through distraction.”
“I don’t get distracted.” Idia muttered. He grabbed a stuffed animal next to him and chucked it at the wall. “My controller just keeps getting stuck! And I keep rubberbanding, you see it! My wifi is just shit. It’s probably that. I should call Ortho so he can come fix it.”
Lilia propped himself on his elbows. “No, you just get distracted.” He cocked his head, a mischievous glint in his red eyes. “You should probably work on that.”
“Yeah? How?”
Lilia pushed himself onto his knees and wiggled his eyebrows. “Push play on the round.”
“What are you going to do?”
Lilia stood up on the bed, wobbling on the fluffy mattress. He positioned himself right in front of Idia, so he was fully blocking the screen. He held out his arms and looked over his shoulder to give Idia a shiteatting grin. He bent down, pressed the green X on his controller to start the round, and then started to jump on the bed.
“Wait, wait!” Idia cried. “You joined a lobby! I can’t leave without fucking up my ranking!” He whined. “I can’t see!”
“Don’t get distracted!” Lilia said in a sing-song voice. He jumped until he lost his footing, crashing to the bed with a surprised yelp. When he landed, he rolled right into Idia’s lap.
“You’re going to break something.” Idia frowned. He was too busy trying to not lose to a bunch of casuals that he didn’t notice that Lilia was on top of him, pressed against him, close to him. Closer than he would usually let anyone else. But he didn’t feel too bad about Lilia being there. At least, not bad enough to push him off.
Lilia waved his arms above his head. He was so short that he fell easily into the curve of Idia’s horrific posture. It just made it more convenient to get into Idia’s face and block the screen. “Your health is low!”
“I know that!” Idia snapped. “Stop it!”
Lilia had too much energy. He was moving. A lot. Moving up and down, bouncing on his knees, rubbing up against Idia’s shorts. The bed was getting very claustrophobic, and Idia was starting to sweat. Lilia was soft, muscular, and incredibly well angled to do horrible things to Idia’s personal space.
Considering that this was the first time anyone had ever been in this personal space, doing these personal things? To say that Idia was suddenly very tense was an understatement.
Idia took a deep breath. “Lilia, you’re being really annoying right now!”
That only made Lilia laugh. “You haven’t gotten a single kill! This is so fucking sad!”
What was really sad was the fact that Idia was such a hopeless mega-virgin newb that Lilia’s cold skin close to his body was enough to set him off through his clothes.
“Lilia, stop it!” Idia felt that warm tightness building in his stomach, that pleasure that he knew too well. His left hand had given him this feeling over and over for years - he knew what was coming.
“Finish the round!” Lilia giggled, still wiggling around to knock his arms and block his view. Lilia was so focused on the game, that he didn’t notice that Idia was struggling to lean away from the rhythmic simulation that was incessantly rubbing against his crotch.
Idia bit his lip. “I can’t even fucking see, I can’t focus - “
“Come on, Gloomy! Get good!”
His head was getting cloudy from the pleasure. He caught himself leaning into it more than once, much to his chagrin. Everything was moving so quickly, and his social anxiety was too high to assert himself. Or maybe he didn’t want to assert himself, but he would never admit it. Even while quickly approaching a humiliatingly fast orgasm, he would never admit to himself that he liked this.
Lilia bounced one more time, and Idia’s hair blew up a bright pink as he came in his shorts.
For a second, Idia was completely out of his body. He was warm, and blissed out, and he slumped back in his seat. His hair sizzled around him, flames curling and lighting up the room. Then he snapped back to reality. Everything turned from pink back to his usual somber blue, and his blood ran cold.
Lilia had gone still as stone. “Did…”
“Get off of me!”
“Did you just - “
“Get off !”
“Gloomy, did you just cum?!”
Idia shoved Lilia off of his lap, and off of the bed. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
“Holy shit, you totally did!” Lilia cried as he toppled off the bed. He seemed so shocked that the impact of his butt on the carpet barely registered. “Your hair got all pink and then - “
“Shut up!”
“I wasn’t even doing anything!” His mouth hung open in shock. “I was just, you know. Playing!”
“You were doing all that on purpose!” Idia clutched onto the sheets around him, his hands burning holes through the dark blue cotton. It was either letting the fire out of him, or letting it make him cry from embarrassment. The most basic way to ruin a friendship was to be a little pathetic creep who couldn’t handle the most basic affection without getting gross. He was bracing himself for the worst. “You were, weren’t you?! That was on purpose!”
Lilia brushed some stray hair from his face. For a moment, he even had the decency to look a little guilty. “I didn’t think I was doing that much!”
Idia’s stomach dropped. He couldn’t enjoy the fact he had caught Lilia in the middle of one of his stupid evil mastermind schemes. Because Lilia wasn’t reacting right. For the first time in any of their in-person interactions, Lilia’s voice wasn’t assured or confident at all.
Idia must have really fucked up.
He felt panic rising in his throat. He was going to cry, wasn’t he? That would just make things worse. His hands clutched his sheets until they were ash. “Just get out of my room!”
Lilia pushed himself to his feet. “Idia, wait - “
“Get out!” Idia’s hair turned a burning red as his voice finally cracked, the sob finally boiling out from the depths of his chest. He whipped himself around to face the wall and curled up, knees against his chest, hands on his ears, hair blazing and hiding him from view.
He knew he was being childish. He didn’t fucking care.
He didn’t see Lilia leave. He only heard the minute of silence as Lilia stood in the middle of the room, then hurried out the door.
The next morning, Idia would realize Lilia had forgotten his shoes. He tossed them under his bed and left them to rot.
There were no game nights for an entire month. Idia made sure of it. He started to implement sudden and unnecessary rules about having non-Ignihyde students in the dorms. He set a curfew, blaming it on some made-up mysterious incident that never really happened. He made himself scarce in class, feigned sick every other day, and rarely left his room. He even started turning Ortho away, finding silence and loneliness a better self-punishment for everything he had done.
What had he done exactly? Well, that’s when the lines get blurred. Because he obviously didn’t do anything bad according to Lilia. In fact, he received no less than fifteen texts a day from the other boy. He turned off his phone after a week of constant notifications, but his PC just kept pinging at all hours of the day. Lilia was haunting him digitally and it made him want to melt his CPU and live like a hippie in the woods with no technology.
It was better this way, even if it was the worst he had felt in a year. It was better alone. He got too close to a real life person - and this is what happens.
He could only imagine what Lilia was telling people. “Oh, Idia is a total loser virgin who jizzes in his pants and has a super embarrassing crush on me and also sucks at every FPS ever!” Everyone was probably laughing at him now, literally right this second, and it wouldn’t be long before word got back to his own dormmates. He would be demoted from Housewarden. His family would be forever shamed. He would simply have to banish himself to the deepest parts of Hades to escape.
Idia had somehow become more pathetic.
Day thirty-two. One month exactly after The Great L of The Century. A voice pierced through his headphones. “Gloomy!” It screeched. “Gloomy, let me in! I can’t do the silent treatment anymore!”
It was the day of reckoning. Idia should just jump out the window.
“Gloomy!” Lilia was starting to scream louder. If the Ignihyde students hadn’t already been bothered by his noise, they would soon. There would be too many eyes on Idia’s dorm. He had to act fast.
He yanked open the door to his room, hiding himself behind it. “Just come in!” He squeaked.
Lilia walked in, arms crossed over his chest and nose in the air. “You have my shoes.”
Idia closed the door behind him. “Ah. I see.” He shuffled his feet, toes digging into the carpet. “I, uh…forgot where I put them.” His brow creased as he tried to think, but he kept coming up blank. Lilia being in his space again was cause for major brain fog. “I can look though. It might take a second.” His eyes scanned over the piles of filth that gathered over the weeks he had been in exile.
“Yeah…” Lilia frowned. “Jeez. What happened?” He turned on his heel and looked at Idia.
Idia crossed his arms. He didn’t realize how little clothes he was wearing until Lilia was staring him down. Boxer shorts and a deadmau5 tee were not enough anymore. Goosebumps were crawling all over his brimstone skin. “I just…got sick.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Can we please just find your shoes?”
“Why haven’t you answered any of my messages?”
Idia shuffled towards his bed. “I’m still feeling sick, I’m going to sleep.”
“Don’t turn away from me!” Lilia was using his single-parent voice, his ‘I’ve been alive longer than you can imagine’ voice. “Why haven’t you talked to me? I’ve tried apologizing, I’ve tried not mentioning it, I’ve tried everything in between.”
He just shrugged. “I don’t know…” When he dared to look at Lilia’s face, he was taken aback. There were such ample layers of rejection and betrayal that it almost looked over-exaggerated. Lilia was hurt, really hurt, and now he was here, begging for answers from someone as meek as Idia. “I thought you would want me to go away.” Idia said, voice bleeding with uncertainty.
“ I was the one messaging you! ”
Idia didn’t have a response for that. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “I mean…I guess. But it’s because you pity me. Right?”
Lilia scowled. “I don’t pity anyone. That’s a waste of my time.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means I genuinely wanted to talk to you, you idiot.” Lilia huffed.
“But what if you actually didn’t!”
“What does that mean?!”
“I was just trying to make it easier on myself.” Idia said. “If I cut you off first then it wouldn’t hurt that you hated me.”
“And did that work?” Lilia cocked an eyebrow.
“...No.”
Lilia threw his hands up, exasperated. “Then you should have just talked to me! That’s what I wanted to do! You didn’t think about what I wanted!”
Idia closed his eyes and clenched his fists. “I’m so bad at this! Fucking hell! Then do whatever you want, I probably want it too!”
Lilia dragged Idia down to his level and kissed him.
Their lips smashed together - literally. Idia had no clue what the hell he was doing. He was clumsy and used far too much teeth and tongue. Lilia grabbed his jaw and kept him still, and started to guide him into a much more pleasurable rhythm. Lilia tasted like apples, like candy corn, like autumn incarnate. Idia wondered what he himself tasted like. He wanted to ask. But he didn’t have to.
“That’s really hot.” Lilia muttered against his lips.
“What?”
“You taste like grape Monster.”
Idia flushed. “Cool.”
Kissing was weird. Kissing was really weird. If Idia thought about it too hard, he got confused about why people did it. But then Lilia’s sharp fangs would graze Idia’s bottom lip and he totally understood how people would want to do this for hours.
Idia was the one that pulled away first. “I’m confused.”
“Why?”
“Because I pulled a totally cringe move and you still want to come hang out. And you kissed me. This isn’t normal right?”
“It wasn’t cringe.” Lilia shook his head.
“What do you mean?”
“I liked it.” Lilia’s eyes narrowed, a dark blush over
Idia nearly jumped out of his skin. “You liked it?!”
“I want to see you do it again.”
“Deadass?”
Instead of answering, Lilia pushed Idia onto his knees and sat down in the dark blue gamer chair at the desk. Lilia had the high ground, and made good use of it. He kicked off his slippers and leaned back in the chair. His face was stoic, but he couldn’t control the nervous ticks in the rest of his body. He couldn’t stop his nails from picking at the seams in the seat’s leather. “Stay down. Scoot closer.”
Idia did as he was told, mainly because he didn’t know what else to do. All he knew is that he was into this, and he didn’t know how to be into it without making a fool of himself.
Lilia took a deep breath. “Idia. Spread your legs.”
“Why?” He couldn’t help himself.
“Can you stop asking questions?!” Lilia cried. “You’re making me nervous!”
He swallowed hard before parting his knees enough for his boxers to be more exposed. “I’m not meaning to.”
“Just tell me if you want to stop. Okay? Just be vocal about that instead of stupid questions!”
“Whatever.” Idia was practically pouting. “The anticipation is going to make me pass out, can you do whatever you want to do?”
Lilia stuck his head out and ground it right against that sensitive spot between Idia’s legs.
All the air left his lungs. “Fuck.”
“Just relax. Enjoy it. Okay?”
Idia nodded, his hips bucking before he could even think. “Okay.” He started to let little whines escape him, his chest heaving between each delicate noise. He struggled to maintain that sacred eye contact as each second pulled him closer and closer to coming undone. “If you keep doing this, I’m going to cum!”
“Beg if you want it.”
“What?”
“Beg if you want to cum.”
“Lilia!”
He dug his heel in harder.
“Lilia, please, I can’t - “ Idia’s voice hitched as he felt the first wave of his orgasm start to build and build, his hips practically moving on their own. “I can’t handle this!”
Lilia smiled sweetly. “Okay.” And removed his foot right as Idia was about to be pushed over the edge.
Idia paused. He blinked. Oh. Oh. This was so much worse.
Lilia watched him, smile wide and eyes sparkly. His expression was cute, but blank. Manipulative.
Waiting.
Through the sudden silence, all they could hear was each other’s breathing. Idia shifted around, pulling his knees together and putting his hands in his lap. It was hard to ignore the strain in his gut, the burning that made the flames of his hair thrash around more wildly, more brightly.
He closed his eyes. “Lilia?”
“What is it?” Lilia’s voice was pitched a bit higher than usual. Feigning innocence, faking uninvolvement.
How could he do it? How could he be so casual, when Idia was about to die from want?
A familiar, cold wave washed over Idia’s mind. Here it was again, the feeling that only managed to stay at bay when Lilia’s face was hidden behind a screen: insecurity.
Maybe Lilia could be casual because he wasn’t invested, wasn’t impressed. Maybe Idia was too weak, too easy, too gross, too skinny, too nervous, too pathetic, always pathetic, endlessly pathetic. Lilia could destroy Idia with just one word, one look, and Idia couldn’t do anything about it.
“Hey…Idia? Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You’re trembling.”
When Idia opened his eyes, Lilia was off the chair, kneeling on the floor, moving forward with a look of concern furrowing his brow. “I’m fine.” Idia scooted back.
Lilia held out his hand, fumbling for Idia’s forehead. “Are you feverish?”
Idia smacked his hand away. “I’m fine!”
“Should we stop?” Lilia had seen that his confidence died. Fuck. His flames had simmered down, and Lilia saw.
He couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Do you hate me yet?” He blurted out.
Lilia blinked. “What?”
“I keep fucking up. And I’m bad with friends. And people.” Idia couldn’t stop talking. The floodgates had broken and it was all downhill from here. “I want this to be good with you. I don’t hate being around you. I don’t hate hanging out with you. I don’t hate touching you. I don’t hate when you touch me. I don’t hate you at all.”
Lilia was still for a moment. Then, he let out a heavy sigh and sat criss-crossed on the carpet. He propped his chin in his hand. “Well, that’s a relief. I really didn’t want you to hate me. Because I don’t hate you at all.”
“Really? But…” He trailed off.
“What?”
“I thought you were way too cool to know me.”
Lilia shook his head. “Are you kidding? I always thought you assumed you were too cool for me. You’re so…aloof. I thought you wouldn’t want anything to do with me!”
“Too cool for you?!” Idia cried. “Are you kidding?! Look at you!” He motioned Lilia up and down. “You’re, like, the coolest person that talks to me.”
“How could you think I’m cool? You hate everything I like.” Lilia said. “Pop music, fashion - “
Idia shook his head. “That’s not true. We like the same games. And you make me laugh! And you know so much about all our classes. You’re, like, crazy smart.”
“Well, you’re kinder than you think you are. Or at least kinder than you pretend to be. And I think that’s cool.” Lilia said. “And you’re so creative! I can’t draw for the life of me, let alone do all that digital stuff you do.”
“I could never do what you do. Being so…open.” Idia’s voice came out softer, and his shoulders slumped. He took a deep breath. “Maybe that’s why you scare the fuck out of me.”
“You scare me right back. And you especially scared the shit out of me when you blocked me out like that.” Lilia said. “I didn’t want to lose my best friend.”
“I assumed I had lost you the second you knew me.”
Lilia’s face softened. “I’ve always wanted to know you. Online, in real life, it didn’t matter to me. You’re my Gloomy.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You don’t have to get it. I get it. Now shut up, you’re getting too sappy on me.” He smirked. “You aren’t the sappy type.”
Idia decided to try to feel safer. “Why did you stop? When I was shaking?”
“You looked so scared.”
“I wanted you to continue.” Idia said.
“But then why were you so terrified?”
Idia cast his eyes away. “It’s vulnerable.”
“Let me join you, then.”
Idia saw the hoodie hit the floor, but not the body that it had been hiding. He felt a gentle hand turn his head forward.
“Look.” Lilia’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I don’t want you to look away.” He leaned back, just enough so that Idia could see the expanse of Lilia’s torso. He was muscular, but slender, and long scars from decades of hard work left dark purple streaks against his pink skin. He had the body of someone who had seen the whole world.
He had seen the whole world, and he still wanted to be here with Idia on his floor, surrounded by Monster cans and dirty socks.
Lilia’s fingertips traced down his stomach to the front of his pants. Knowing he had Idia’s full attention, he finally started to wiggle out of his joggers. His thighs were strong - dangling upside down will do that - and the muscle line led up to the edge of his underwear. A wet stain growing in the front turned the rich purple cotton even darker, and piqued a curiosity in Idia. He wanted to feel it, touch it. Taste it.
He wouldn’t dare reach out and do it, but the thought was nice.
Lilia freed himself of his pants and crawled forward until he was sat on Idia’s lap. Lilia’s skin was so much colder than Idia’s. Ice against fire. Lilia didn’t take his red eyes away from Idia’s yellow ones as he spread his legs and shifted around until the sharp bone of Idia’s twiggy leg was placed between Lilia’s thighs, against that alluring wet spot.
“You stopped shaking.” Lilia said softly.
Idia blinked. “I, uh…I think I wasn’t in my own head. For just a second.”
“Then keep looking at me. Stay out of your head. Okay?”
He swallowed. “Okay.”
With slow, languid movements, Lilia started to grind himself against Idia’s thigh. His hips rolled like waves, a rhythmic in and out that matched his sharp intakes of breath. The display of rosey skin against marble white, muscles tensing, head tossed back - it was mouthwatering.
Lilia wasn’t just taking care of himself. He was putting on a show. He was making sure every inch of his pleasure was visible for Idia, was in Idia’s reach. Lilia was being open with him, in that way that Idia admired. He was inviting Idia closer. Idia dared to reach out and put one shaking hand on Lilia’s thigh. It elicited a gasp, and Lilia started to move faster.
Cool. That’s what this was. Really cool.
“Can I get off too?” Idia mumbled, squeezing Lilia’s thigh in an experimental move.
It was received well. Lilia moaned. “I can’t hear you, I’m - “
“Can I touch myself?!” Idia repeated himself a bit too loudly.
“Fuck yes!”
It only took a few strokes for Idia to get where he needed to go. Once again, everything turned pink. He bit his lip and let out a low groan, hips bucking and forcing his thigh to press harder into Lilia. Lilia came with a shudder a few moments later. His eyes fluttered shut and he gasped. After his body tensed and twitched, he relaxed all at once and slumped against Idia’s chest.
Idia hesitated, hands flexing as he debated what to do. He was supposed to be comforting, according to all the hentai otome games he had played in his life. As he wrapped his boney arms around Lilia to hold him, he cringed at himself. He really needed to get out more.
After a few minutes of loud heartbeats and heavy breathing, Lilia spoke against his collar bones. “Do you have a private shower or a dorm one?”
“I have a just-me one.” Idia said. “Why?”
Lilia pulled away. “Why?” He echoed.
“Yeah, why?”
His red eyes narrowed. “Gloomy.”
“Yeah?
“I came in my underwear. You came in your underwear. Please don’t tell me that you weren’t going to shower.”
Idia’s hair flared up. “Uh…No. I was totally going to shower.”
Lilia wrinkled his nose. “...Dude.”
Idia’s face flushed blue. “What?!”
“Just for that, you’re going first. I need to monitor you.” He started to wave him off, peeling himself off of Idia’s sweaty body and finding a nice seat on the floor.
Idia made the conscious choice to pretend like he wasn’t a bit offended by the fact Lilia was treating him like a child. That choice was an easy one to make when he sat and realized he hadn’t showered in a week.
He stood up and made his way to the bathroom. He had to push a pile of laundry out of the way, but he finally found his way there. When he opened the door, he was met with the reflection of his wrecked face, messy hair and dark eye bags. Even though he looked like he had been run over by a truck, he noticed a particular light had re-entered his face.
Noted.
“Hey? Red?”
Lilia perked up. “Yeah?”
“I would be okay with doing more. If you wanted to.” Idia hid half his face with the door.
Lilia smiled. “Me too!” He looked so genuinely eager. Then something dark crossed his expression. “You’re a verse, right?”
Idia’s eyebrow quirked up. “Verse in what?” Lilia’s silence was his answer. He blushed and slammed the bathroom door. “You’re like five feet tall, you aren’t supposed to do that!” He cried through the door. The hentai games did not prepare him for that.
“Grow up, Gloomy! The world is changing.” His laughter was loud enough to still be heard with Idia’s head under the shower water.
When Idia came back out, Lilia had dug his shoes out from under the bed. “Got them.” He gave Idia a little wave. “I’ll head out then.”
The pair stood awkwardly a few feet away, both not knowing how to say goodbye. After too much time shuffling their feet and small-talking about nothing, Lilia finally cleared his throat. “So. Friday?”
Idia nodded. “Yeah. And maybe, like, days that aren’t Friday too. If you want.”
Lilia perched on his tip-toes and placed a gentle kiss on Idia’s cheek. “Sure.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.”