The boys collapsed on Benji's bed, exhausted but still laughing, two hours laughter. There was a new dent in Benji's wall from a flying remote, and each boy sported a few bruises from when they'd gotten too close together, but they had enjoyed the game too much to care.
"You were unnaturally good at that game. You should be the next Justin Bieber!" Benji gasped, sending them both into renewed fits of laughter.
They laid side by side on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as they came down from their high. Their silence was calm and friendly, the kind that didn't require interruption. Aaron looked up at Benji, who was leaning back on his elbows. Aaron's eyes followed the lines of his body before tracing his features, the curve of his mouth when he was relaxed and happy. A question hovered on the tip of his tongue, but he was afraid he would ruin the night by asking it.
"What?" Benji turned to Aaron, supporting himself on one arm so he hovered over him slightly, "Come on, just spit it out."
"Why did you join the host club?"
Benji's face froze before relaxing into a teasing smile. "Personal reasons."
"That's a lame answer," Aaron snorted.
Benji raised an eyebrow at him. "Why did you switch schools for senior year?"
"Personal reasons," Aaron replied promptly.
They laughed again, but it was different- softer, more intimate. They had matching smiles on their faces, the kind that could only come from knowing you shared something special with somebody. Their laughter gave way to silence again, but that too was different.
There was a sort of tension in the air between them. Aaron didn't fidget for once, but his breath fluttered in his throat like a trapped bird. Benji lowered himself, inch by inch, barely realizing he was doing it until their breath mingled. Benji's eyes climbed back up to Aaron's, watching they way they darkened until fluttering closed. Devoid of their warmth, he let his eyes fall back to Aaron's lips. Benji hovered, so close a sheet of paper would have crinkled between them, doubt leeching away some of his confidence. He'd never kissed a girl before, and he'd never been attracted to a boy either. He didn't know what he was doing, and he was terrified Aaron would push him away.
Their lips met, the gentlest of touches. Aaron made a soft sound, a quiet murmur, and Benji didn't know whether it was pleasure or protest. He froze up completely, knowing rejection at that point could very well kill him.
Then he felt Aaron's hands moving, skimming up his back to rest lightly on his shoulders, a gentle enforcement- keeping him close. He shifted to better accommodate Benji's weight; unlike the twin, Aaron didn't show any hesitation. He knew what he was doing, and though he might be reluctant to let kisses start, he'd never be the type to stop them.
Benji's worry began to fade as Aaron's lips moved against his, coaxing out a response. It was a soft, sweet kiss, the way everybody imagined their first kiss would be. But when neither of them showed any desire to pull away, and with drowsiness clouding their minds, it grew into something more- something hot and heady and intoxicating.
Aaron's fingers twined in Benji's hair, and he guided the boy to tilt his head at the right angle to deepen the kiss. Benji let out a sound like a groan when he felt Aaron's teeth graze his bottom lip before the boy sucked it into his mouth, soothing the sting.
Aaron could feel the heat running under his skin as Benji ever so hesitantly slipped his tongue between Aaron's lips. Aaron would never have thought Benji would be so damnably innocent, but somehow it only made the kiss better. Aaron traced the lines of muscle on Benji's back with his nails, making the boy quiver under unexpectedly knowledgeable hands.
Benji, still supporting himself on one arm, figured the touch barrier was broken; it left him free to explore. He wouldn't be a teenage boy if he hadn't watching something he shouldn't on the internet, and he let that experience guide him; he dropped his lips to Aaron's neck, loving the groan he drew from the boy's throat, and skimmed a hand along Aaron's chest. With Aaron’s pleased murmurs to encourage him, Benji dropped his hand to Aaron's hip and slipped his fingers under the boy's shirt.
Aaron jerked at the feel of Benji's touch on his bare skin, his breath rasping in his throat. The warm fuzz of pleasure vanished in an instant, replaced by a panic tinged with fear.
Benji felt the sudden change and pulled away quickly. Not sure what he had done wrong, he offered a contrite but questioning, "I'm sorry."
Aaron squirmed away from Benji as soon as he was free of the other boy's weight. He had more than half the bed between them before he was satisfied. Regret swelled in his chest when he looked up to see the hurt, bright and sharp, in Benji's eyes. "Benji," he started and paused, choosing his words carefully, "I don't want to hurt your feelings.
"It's just that this," he gestured between them, his eyes on the comforter and his face still flushed, "shouldn't have happened. I mean, I'm straight. We're both straight."
Benji didn't reply. He couldn't agree, not when all he wanted to do was pull Aaron close again, but he wasn't very well going to argue.
"And besides, we're just friends. Imagine what would happen to the host club if we started to do... this."
A frown pulled at the corners of Benji's mouth. It wasn't the club that would suffer- it was his face. One of them was likely to punch him if they found out; Benji wouldn't begrudge them at all, because he would do the same thing. Still, the rejection hurt the same way it always did- and this time, knowing he'd see Aaron every day made it hurt that much more.
"You're right," he forced past the desire to argue or plead, whatever would make Aaron stop talking like that, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you."
If their lives were a cliché movie, Aaron would have said "Don't be," and they would have eventually lived happily ever after. But he didn't, because he couldn't give either of them any hope that things would work out that way.
"I'll take you home," Benji hushed, defeat in his eyes and the slump of his shoulders.
Aaron couldn't stand it. "You don't have to," he said. Benji, startled, pausing in the act of getting up, "I promised I'd stay with you until your brother go home, and I'll still do that- so long as you don't mind if I fall asleep." Aaron added the last after a glance at Benji's alarm clock showed it was nearly three in the morning, which meant he hadn't slept in more than twenty-four hours.
"That's fine," Benji said quickly, his attempts to hide his eagerness almost useless, "You can sleep as long as you want- I'll wake you up in time for school."
Aaron smiled at Benji, eyes melting into rich chocolate before he wormed his ways beneath the covers. They were surprisingly warm and, despite the tension still winding him up, they did a wonderful job of helping him return to the sleepy state he'd been in while locking up the store. He smothered a yawn in one of the pillows before looking up at Benji. "You might as well sleep too. I'll sleep better knowing you won't be awake to put my hand in a glass of warm water."
Benji kept himself from smiling like an idiot- barely- and burrowed beneath the covers. He maintained the distance Aaron had put between them, and didn't even say anything when Aaron rolled so all he could see was the back of the boy's head; it was a good thing, because the longer he looked at those warm brown eyes and remembered the taste of the boy's mouth, the more he wanted to do things that weren't at all conducive to sleeping.
"Night, Aaron," was all he said.
"Night, Benji."
~~~
It was five thirty in the morning when Harry eased open the door to his brother's room to see if Benji was still awake. He was surprised to find Aaron still there, and in Benji's bed, but completely shocked to see them cuddled together.
Aaron's back was still facing Benji, but they'd gravitated toward each other's warmth in their sleep. One of Benji's arms was thrown over Aaron's waist, and the boys hand rested over his. It was an adorable picture, but it irritated Harry- because he hadn't been invited to join in.
He hesitated in the doorway for a second before shutting and closing the door behind hum. Harry padded across the room to the bed, every step careful. Exceedingly cautious, he snuck into the bed and under the covers. Telling himself he absolutely wasn't doing it because he was jealous of his brother, he carefully laid on his back next to Aaron. He pressed himself close, glad the boy was curled up like a pill bug because it meant they fit together well. Aaron murmured, shifting in his sleep, and Harry kept completely still as Aaron moved his head onto his chest.
Grinning, Harry took the liberty of burying his nose in Aaron's hair, inhaling the scent of gel and shampoo, letting the soft strands tickle his cheek. He turned his face away slightly to yawn, and reached for his brother's free hand, twining their fingers together. Happy with the way they were situated, he let himself drift of to sleep without remembering to set the alarm clock.
And that was how Aaron would find himself waking up, pleasantly sandwiched between the twins, so comfortable he'd overslept by two hours and was horribly late to school.
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