Just A Little Bit Shy

Bats and Cages - 21 (Part 1)

With every moment spent in Ahane's presence, Y/n felt something being steadily chipped away. It was impossible to know what this something was, but when Ahane left him on Sunday, when they parted ways, Ahane shoving all Y/n's new clothes into his hands, speaking on and on — as if, for some odd reason the blond boy could not deter the impulse to elongate their goodbyes — and then Ahane grabbed his chin, pulled him around, just as Y/n made to step away, and a warm breath collided with Y/n's cheek a second before Ahane's lips found his skin again.

Ahane... Ahane keeps kissing me.

It was only then Ahane released him, smirk on his distracting mouth. "Alright, now you can go," the other boy permitted, tone making Y/n's heart flutter for some inexplicable reason. But... But Y/n had followed his directions, heading back to his solitary apartment. He carried the new clothes up the stairwell, a narrow concrete space with steep steps and stunted length. For this duration of time, Y/n did not let his mind stray from the tingling of his skin, all the places where Ahane had... had recklessly planted his mouth. All over his cheek; all over his jaw. Y/n's skin flushed in all those places...

What... what is he doing? It felt painful though, to try and look directly at Ahane's actions; as if Y/n were truly trying to stare at the sun with his naked eyes alone. His mind simply kept shying away from it, circling endlessly around, what is he doing? Such a useless thought, but Y/n feared this new level of affection from the other boy. Feared it... but more so, craved it.

And fears... fears craving it too much — fears losing it. All these emotions, conflicting and yet somehow unified, are a tangible tangle in Y/n's gut.

A quiet click signaled the opening of his apartment. And a near-silent one followed Y/n closing it behind himself, feet noiseless as they crossed the threshold. The shopping bags were placed, very carefully, on his mattress, the fitted sheets wrinkling at the unexpected disturbance. Y/n took a useless moment to adjust the bags, until they were all aligned; a wasteful action, he was aware, but an ominous emotion was eviscerating him.

The (h/c) boy hesitated, hand hovering over one of the bags before it delved inside. Y/n retrieved a single shirt. He laid it flat on the bed and smoothed his hand over it until it was wrinkle-free, perfectly straight. What item he pulled from the bag, by chance, didn't matter so much as... Y/n's fingers running across its fabric.

The sheer amount of money Ahane spent, carelessly, made Y/n balk. The more the items were wrung up, the more the tiny chime sounded and another shirt or pair of pants were packed carefully away, the more nervous and agitated Y/n became but still... He never could've foreseen how much it would truly come out to be.

And all Ahane did was distract him from protesting, hand appearing to press against the small of Y/n's back, seizing his breath and his courage, and Ahane shot him a smile; a simultaneous wink, and paid all in the same instance.

Ahane, you can't...

But the other boy did not even blink at the price. And Y/n... his cheeks burned. Y/n was weak. Couldn't say anything, couldn't stop the other boy, simply because the hand on his back made him too nervous. Simply because his eyes couldn't stop staring at Ahane's lips when he smiled, or his eyes when he winked at him.

I wish he wouldn't, Y/n felt choked up, even considering this single shirt laid out before him (he wasn't sure if he wished Ahane wouldn't care for him so, or wouldn't distract him so). I don't — I don't deserve any of this. I don't...

...Especially...

Y/n retreated from the bed, gazing blankly at the windows. The view was blocked by thick blinds, drawn shut. Barely any light leaked in between the slats. Razor thin lines of gold, banding Y/n's skin as he approached. As he stared at nothing.