Beyblade Burst Adventures

Sudden

In which Free make a move, but it's way too sudden. (Free is 17, Lui is 15.)

-----

Free gazed up at the blue night sky, the stars twinkling above him while a cool breeze blew past, brushing against his bare shoulders and making the dragon Blader shiver ever so slightly. Yes, Free was getting cold, but no, he couldn't go inside yet. He had someone he wanted to talk to, and he could feel it in his bones- they were going to come soon.

"Free De La Hoya," A voice called, and Free almost smiled.

Free turned to the owner of the voice, a fifteen-year-old boy with fiery hair that was robin-blue in color, and he had a pair of purple eyes that always held a certain intensity in them. The boy was also a dragon Blader, the owner of Nightmare Luinor.

"Lui Shirosagi," Free responded in a voice that was quiet and nearly emotionless, save for a hint of amusement. Lui easily caught that hint and he narrowed his eyes.

"Don't sound so happy, I'm only here to tell you that you're not going to be safe for long."

Oh, gods, Free thought, his expression betraying none of the exasperation he felt. Is he really going to do this now? And just when I was hoping we could have a normal conversation...

"I am going to crush my opponents, then I'm going in for another shot at you." Lui growled, baring his teeth as he stepped closer to the other dragon Blader. And this time I will beat you! I will destroy you and your Bey in front of the whole world, even if it's the last thing I ever do!" The corners of his mouth turned upwards, turning his scowl into a Cheshire Cat grin. Free stared on, seeming indifferent despite the internal groaning.

"If you want to stand a chance against me, you better get to training, because I will be. I'll train day and night without rest until I'm strong enough to beat you, then at long last I'll be the World Champion and Fafnir will be a pile of dust on the world stage! Oooh, I can see it now- I'll be standing over you, laughing while you try to pick up the sad pieces of your Bey, and after the tournament no one will remember your name!

"You'll be completely forgotten, and you'll be forced to relive your ultimate loss every single day of your life! Whenever you hear my name, you'll quake in fear and you'll wake up with my laugh stuck in your head at night- or day, since you still nap like a bear." Lui rolled his eyes at himself, trying to pick his train of thought back up. "And when you're thirty and you have no life, you're gonna look in the mirror and think, "what did I..."

He trailed off when he realized Free's expression had turned far more blank than usual, like he wasn't even listening to any of what the younger dragon Blader was saying. Thoroughly aggravated, Lui crossed his arms and snapped,

"Free, you better be listening to me! I swear to the gods, if you're ignoring me I'm going to murder you!" He waved one hand in front of the older dragon Blader's face. "Earth to Free!" He started to put emphasis one every word. "Lui- is- gonna- fricken'- kill- you- if- you- don't- LISTEN!" He leaned closer to Free's face, crossing is arms again. "Seriously, show some respe-"

Free suddenly leaned forward in return, pressing his lips against Lui's and finally silencing the blue-haired Blader. After a few minutes the gold-haired Blader pulled away, the corners of his mouth turned up into a little grin- which only grew at how dumbfounded Lui was.

The younger Blader stared in shock for a few minutes, his face red as a tomato, then he began to stammer. "You- I- how- why- you-you-you- I- why would- you just-" He made a face, then suddenly screeched, "Whaaahhhaaaa?! Free why the hell did you do thaaahahaaat?! I was talking and you just- it just-"

Free cocked his head to the side. "Did you not like it?"

"What?! No- I mean- yes- I mean- I-I dunno! It was just-!" Lui was looking everywhere but Free at this point. "That was way too sudden, Free! Y-You didn't even give me a warning- or- or a hint, you never even mentioned anything like that you just- you just kissed me!"

As Lui stammered on, Free suddenly found himself realizing that Lui was still kinda young, and since he focused most of his time on Beyblade, he probably never even thought of doing anything romantic with someone. This was probably a pretty big deal for him...

"Was that your first kiss?" Free asked quietly.

"Wha- well, duh! I'm fifteen, for the gods' sakes, you baka!" Lui began rambling in Japanese, a language Free had absolutely no grasp on. It did sound like he was still stammering, and "baka" popped up a few more times.

By the point that Lui actually swapped back to speaking Spanish, he had become so flustered, confused and frustrated that he had come to the brink of tears, and his solution to that was burying his face into his feather boa. Needless to say, Free was starting to feel a little bad.

"I mean- I just- ooooohhhh, gods! You don't just do that to someone, Free!" It seemed he also completely abandoned the word "kiss." "You build up some context, a confession, or at least a couple of hints! Then you gauge their reaction, ask them if they feel the same way, and if they say yes then you can!..." He did some vague gesture with one hand, like that was supposed to convey the word to Free.

"Okay, then," Free replied with a simple shrug. "I like you. Do you feel the-"

"NOT RIGHT NOW YOU SMARTASS!" Lui screeched, and since his eyes were still hidden he missed the way Free rubbed his ears sorely. "Uuuughhhhhh! This is so embarrassing!"

"You know I didn't mean for it to be, right?"

"I- It doesn't matter what you meant, you still did!" The blue-haired Blader growled. "I'm just-" He began speaking in Japanese, only this time he sounded very angry and it seemed like he was intentionally keeping Free from understanding his words.

When Lui finished his rant he took a deep breath, finally pulling away from and preening his boa for a few minutes. "I'm going to go back to my room. Just- just think about what you've done!"

---

A little while later, Free was at a table in the hotel BC Sol was staying in, sitting quietly while the others Bladers ate dinner and chatted cheerfully.

"How was it outside, Free?" Kristina asked as she sat down beside her childhood best friend. "You were out there for quite a while."

"It was fine, but the reason I was out there for so long was to see Lui," Free admitted, shrugging. "He was talking so much that it was hard to hear myself think, so I decided to get him to stop by, well, telling him how I feel about him. Non-verbally, I mean."

Kris lit up excitedly while the others perked to attention, curious.

"That's great, Free!" She placed a hand on Free's shoulder. "And what did Lui say?"

"He said... A lot," Free sighed. "I couldn't understand some of it- he got really flustered and started rambling in Japanese. Especially at the end, as he told me-"

Even though Free couldn't understand the language his memory of the words was perfect, allowing him to relay the younger dragon Blader's exact message and the true feelings laced into each syllable. Maybe it was some kind of flustered confession after all?

But given the way Valt choked on his food and the way Rantaro spewed his drink all over the table- both actions in shock and disgust- Free couldn't be sure.

What Lui said was definitely not appropriate for young ears. The only question was if it was shades of yay or enough profanity to make the devil blush.