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The New Year after Koichi graduated, Rohan's domicile was darkened by a group of deplorable eighteen-year-olds. At least, he assumed they were all eighteen now, because he couldn't be bothered to remember all of their ages.
When Rohan offered up his house as a gathering place through gritted teeth, Koichi had given him a dubious look, which only made Rohan more determined to prove that he could host, and in fact, he would be the best host in Morioh, perhaps even Japan. Thus, his house was temporarily decked in tastefully festive decor. Minus mistletoe, because he refused to have sloppy teenagers smashing their revolting faces together in his home. God forbid if he were to get involved. He had never experienced a kiss that didn’t bore him. Not that he wished to get caught under the mistletoe with any of these imbeciles, or Koichi (whose girlfriend would likely put him in the hospital for such a transgression) either way.
As part of his mission to ensure the idiots and Koichi were left in awe of his hosting capabilities, Rohan had enlisted the help of Tonio in crafting custom New Year’s chocolates. The result was a beautiful box of extravagant truffles, each wrapped and tied with a tag designating the recipient, which Rohan had left out on the kotatsu in the sitting room with strict instructions for each person to take only their designated chocolate.
The box included a chocolate for Josuke. Rohan, in all honesty, had intended to graciously give it to him despite their differences. He begrudgingly acknowledged Josuke after their experiences facing common threats together, but that didn't mean he regarded him as any less of a pain, nor did it erase the bad taste he left in Rohan's mouth after being put in the hospital, cheated out of his money, and having part of his house burned down because of him. If Josuke thought he could charm Rohan into being disarmed, with his dopey smile and his facetious offers of help—as if Kishibe Rohan would ever need assistance from him—he had another thing coming.
Josuke immediately failed to ingratiate himself to Rohan when he arrived late and tracked his icy shoes into the entryway, leaving them to melt into slush across the wooden floor. He greeted Rohan's grimace with a grin and a “Yo, how's it going, Rohan?” before attempting to waltz right on in.
Rohan seized the back of his jacket collar. “Put your shoes outside, you cretin.”
“Ack! Hey, what's the big deal?” Josuke shrugged Rohan off and turned to scowl at him.
“Were you raised in a barn?” Rohan asked snidely.
Josuke visibly took a breath, then pasted on a cheery expression, eye barely twitching. “Sorry about that, buddy.” He grabbed his shoes and stuck them just outside the door, where Rohan hoped they would get ruined by the snow still coming down.
“I'm not your ‘buddy.’”
“Believe it or not, Rohan, but we're friends.” Josuke shouldered past Rohan to join the rest of the teenagers in the sitting room. Rohan caught his mutter after: “...Dick.”
If Rohan thought the teens were obnoxious before, they became even more so after Josuke’s arrival. Okuyasu greeted him with typical oafish enthusiasm. As Rohan reluctantly trailed after Josuke, he watched Okuyasu wave at the kitchen wildly. “BRO! You gotta have one of those chocolates! The last one is for you. I can’t look at it anymore or I won’t be able to resist it!”
Rohan realized the box was missing from the kotatsu and surmised that Okuyasu must have moved it to the kitchen to avoid temptation. Sure. Help yourself. It was annoying to have his kitchen invaded like that.
“Whoa, chocolate?” Josuke’s eyes lit up. “Great!”
“They’re from Tonio!” Koichi chimed in. “Rohan got them for us.”
Josuke glanced at Rohan oddly over his shoulder for just a moment. Then he dove for the kotatsu, tucking his lower half under the heated table and his hands under the blanket, shivering as the cold leached from his body. “I can’t wait to have mine, but man, I’m freezing.”
Rohan resumed his spot in the armchair in the corner with his sketchbook while Koichi, Yukako, Okuyasu, and Josuke chatted about why the latter was late (shoveling the snow from his pregnant neighbor’s driveway so she could get to the hospital), New Year’s resolutions, and other drivel. Meanwhile, Okuyasu offered Josuke some of the spiked eggnog that Rohan had graciously provided, stating that it would help warm him up. Josuke eagerly accepted.
Rohan sketched the scene in his sitting room. Koichi and Yukako, cuddled up together, stayed nicely still. Okuyasu was a pain to draw due to his animated nature, and Josuke wasn’t far behind once he stopped shivering. The more he imbibed, the looser he became, smiling sloppily, laughing louder, and sprawling more languidly under the kotatsu. His cheeks became flushed a deeper pink than the earlier shade from being out in the cold.
“Rohaaaan,” Josuke drawled. “Why are you over there’n not here?”
"Some of us have actual work to do instead of lounging around like lazy mutts." Rohan narrowed his eyes over his sketchbook as his illustration was interrupted.
“My bad, forgot you were doodling.”
“Doodling? ” Rohan was halfway out of his chair with a menacing expression before Koichi laughed nervously and began waving his hands.
“H-Hey, what about that movie we were gonna watch! Rohan, what do you think would be fun? You should pick.”
Yukako’s gaze sharpened as she silently conveyed: If you upset Koichi, I’ll kill you.
Rohan clenched his jaw and reluctantly allowed Koichi to steer the subject, settling back down and reaching for the remote. He was an excellent host, and excellent hosts did not murder their houseguests, even if some of said houseguests were uncultured idiots without the capacity to understand art.
After much deliberation, Rohan put on a magnificent arthouse film—a French drama exploring the hidden desire between two rival chefs trapped in an elevator—that had won the Palme d’Or. Surely even these philistines could appreciate true cinematic artistry.
Rohan spent the duration of the film enraptured by the developing tension between the leads, expressed through close-up shots of cast shadows. He leaned forward in his seat and did his best to tune out the jabbering from the kotatsu, occasionally hissing “Shhh! ” when his guests drowned out the murmured dialogue. It wasn’t until the climax of the film, in which the chefs shared a single spoonful of soup in a moment of profound intimacy, that Rohan realized Okuyasu, Koichi, and Yukako had all fallen asleep. Josuke was halfway there, leaning his cheek on his fist with his elbow propped on top of the kotatsu and blinking drowsily at the television. That made Rohan frown, but he supposed the hour was getting late. They could doze for now, but he would have to wake them up before midnight.
As the movie drew to a close, Rohan quietly excused himself from his seat and gathered the empty mugs from the table, creeping away to the kitchen and rolling up his sleeves to clean them. Before he could get started, the sound of stumbling footsteps came closer. He glanced over his shoulder to see Josuke in the doorframe with a hand steadying himself on the wall.
“Oh, s’that the chocolate?” Josuke’s eyes wandered to the box on the counter, a dumb smile creeping up on his face. Just looking at him made Rohan feel flushed with irritation.
“What does it look like, Higashikata?” Rohan clicked his tongue.
Josuke’s smile faltered for just a moment, before he shook his head and laughed. “Mm. Y’got me. Been looking forward to… to trying it all night.”
“Have you? I couldn’t tell.”
Dopey and drunk, Josuke tilted his head like a puppy that needed to be kicked. “Whassat mean?”
“Obviously you weren’t all that interested, since you never bothered to get it.” Now Josuke wanted Rohan’s magnanimous New Year’s gift after so clearly failing to appreciate it?
“Try’na get it now. Sheesh.” His expression changing to a scowl, Josuke stomped into the kitchen and reached for the chocolate box. Rohan crossed the distance and slapped his hand away from it.
“Wha’s your problem?!” Josuke snapped.
Rohan didn’t have any particular reason for it. It was just satisfying to irritate Josuke as much as Josuke irritated him. He lied, “Let me get that for you.”
Josuke watched in bewilderment as Rohan lifted the top from the box and unwrapped the chocolate.
Instead of passing the chocolate to Josuke, Rohan popped it into his own mouth.
“HEY!” Rohan’s smug smile lasted for only a second before Josuke slammed into him. “Give it back!”
Rohan’s back pressed against the edge of the counter, trapped, Josuke’s hands braced on either side of him. Josuke’s body was a radiator, burning against Rohan’s front. They were close enough that Rohan could smell the eggnog and rum on Josuke’s breath. The chocolate was melting on Rohan’s tongue as his heart was racing with frustration. Josuke’s eyes were furiously dark, with the intensity of an approaching storm.
Rohan met his stare, white-knuckling the counter behind him. “No.” He dragged the single syllable out, savoring the way Josuke’s jaw clenched tight, teeth grinding. His nostrils flared as he breathed heavily, standing straighter, as if trying to loom over Rohan.
Rohan had an instant of warning as something in Josuke’s expression flickered, some kind of coiled spring snapping.
Josuke’s mouth met Rohan’s roughly. It shocked Rohan into reflexively swallowing the melting chocolate as an outraged sound left him. Josuke took advantage of his parted lips to assault Rohan’s mouth with his tongue. It was everywhere—licking the roof of Rohan’s mouth, his teeth, his gums, the inside of his cheeks, the underside of his tongue—sweet and spiced and hot, overwhelming.
And Rohan—took it, panicked and catatonic. His stomach flipped in a disorienting, ticklish sensation. His knees weakened, he moaned low and throaty. He couldn’t think. He’d never been kissed in such a lewd, sloppy way, as if Josuke couldn’t restrain himself from exploring every inch and taking what he wanted in desperate passion.
Josuke’s motions slowed as it became evident that the chocolate was gone, moving his mouth more lazily over Rohan’s, his hand trailing up from the counter to skirt the back of Rohan’s neck and brush the fuzzy hairs of his undercut, twisting into the longer locks above. But his eager tongue moved in deeper until Rohan was panting, dizzy, his ears and the back of his neck feeling impossibly flushed. Their lips made slick sounds together as breathless noises slipped out of Rohan without his consent. Somehow his trembling hands had fisted into the back of Josuke’s shirt, and his body had arched into him. It was too much, he couldn’t… His whole body shivered. His head tilted at a better angle and his mouth opened wider, letting Josuke have his way with it.
By the time Josuke pulled away, his lips and chin were messy with green lipstick, kiss-slick and bruised. He looked at Rohan in stunned silence, eyes soft as they took him in.
“Cute,” Josuke whispered, his thumb rubbing over the sensitive area behind Rohan’s ear.
Rohan shoved him away as violently as possible. “Get the hell out of my kitchen.”
Rather than waiting for Josuke to comply, Rohan stormed off to his bedroom, where he slammed the door shut.
In the privacy of his room, he slowly sank down against the door and caught his breath. His head felt fuzzy. He traced his fingers over his lower lip.
What the hell was that?
How had Josuke’s clumsy kissing been so…?
Whatever. It didn’t matter! Rohan had been the victor, clearly, as he had deprived Josuke of his chocolate and successfully gotten under his skin. Moreover, if Josuke was attracted to him, which he clearly was, that was one more tool in Rohan’s arsenal against him. He could drive that stupid boy insane with his superior sex appeal.
Rohan’s shaken expression morphed into a devious smile. Oh, he would show Higashikata. In fact, he could engineer situations to steal more of Josuke’s food to trick him into repeating tonight’s incident. After all, he needed to investigate this new discovery. Josuke’s inferior little peanut brain would never see it coming.