Azure Bead


by Tenshi


I would fly you to the moon and back if you'd be-
If you'd be my baby...

--Savage Garden


Rowen yawned his way into the den, hoping for a flop on the sofa and a nap before dinner. It was a cold fall afternoon, with steady rain kissing the windowpanes. The house smelled pleasant and cozy, tinged with the aroma of Ryou's gourmet chili and the scent of fabric softener from the basement, where Kento and Sage were doing laundry. The rumble of the dryer and Ryou singing along softly to Xjapan on the kitchen radio made a soft, furry noise that, mixed with the rain, would have put sleeping pills out of usage if it could ever be bottled.

Rowen smiled. He adored days like this, days were nothing huge happened, but where everything that was really important in life did. Friends. Laughter. Safety. All the good stuff.

And of course, Ryou's trademark armor of wildfire chili was not something to be sneered at either.

The indigo-haired archer caught himself before vaulting over the couch back, belatedly realizing it was occupied by someone who would doubtless object to being Rowen's landing area.

Yuli was sprawled mostly on the sofa, although one leg dangled off, threatening to expatriate itself. He was face down, nose tucked into the crook of his elbow and his well-loved yellow t-shirt had ridden up to his armpits at some point during his nap. The afghan had also retreated to a wad at the end of the couch, and his rumpled boxers might have been blue prior to their billionth washing. A faint snore rose from the tousled mass of ebon hair and glass beaded braids.

Rowen grinned faintly. Poor punk. He looked so cute and worn out... Ryou must be keeping him up past his bedtime. Rowen reached down to disentangle the afghan from Yuli's ankles, draping it back over his slumbering form. The house was old and drafty, and the warning chill of autumn seeped in easily.

Rowen's knuckles brushed the softly defined lines of Yuli's back and he hesitated, the edge of the blanket still clutched in one hand. Nineteen, Rowen thought ruefully. Once upon a time Yuli napping on the couch wouldn't have taken up half of the thing. Now one hand and one foot dangled off the armrests.

Nothing lasts forever, and that's good, Rowen thought. Although- but for the proof of time asleep in front of him, the atmosphere of the house could have been that of five years ago, of nine. But nobody stays nine. Rowen sighed. Just like nobody stays fifteen. His fingertips gently traced the path of Yuli's spine, marveling slightly at the graceful male form the boy had grown into. Ten years of loyal and intense Kendo training under Sage probably had a lot to do with it, but no amount of physical work could be responsible for the perfect features, satin hair or honey-colored flawless skin.

"Mnnn..." Yuli stirred, and Rowen tried to feign tucking the blanket in around his hips before recovering his hand- not so fast as to make it seem like he was up to something. Yuli blinked up at him fuzzily for a moment, indigo eyes glossy with sleep. "Rowen?" Yuli rolled over, shifting himself up on one elbow. "M'sorry, didn't know this spot was claimed."

"Nah, don' worry about it." Rowen grinned. "Why ya so sleepy, hnn? Ryou not lettin ya sleep at night?"

Yuli blushed bright crimson, his fingers worrying at the fringe of the crocheted afghan. "Just a sleepy afternoon, I guess." He shrugged with one shoulder, then yawned, blinked, and started to get up. "I'll go-"

Rowen waved him back down with one hand. "Gezz, kid, first come first crash. I have a bedroom of my own, ya know."

"But it's cold upstairs?" Yuli's eyebrows frowned. He had never lost his childhood paranoia of being an inconvenience to any of them. "Maybe... we could share? This thing has RMS "Titanic" on it somewhere..." He gestured to the large couch. It was certainly wide enough to hold them both, if they didn't mind getting cozy. He smiled drowsily at Rowen. "And it's already warm..."

Rowen paused, glancing back at Yuli. He sat with his legs tucked against his chest, T-shirt and hair rumpled, and one cheek red from where he'd been sleeping on it. His sleepy smile was innocently seductive.

"I guess- I could..." Rowen said thoughtfully.

Yuli beamed and shuffled over to the back of the couch, snuggling in against Rowen's warm shoulders as soon as the archer settled himself in front of him.

Rowen, unfortunately, was not as sleepy as he had been. The couch WAS warm, and so was Yuli, his breath soft and slightly moist against the exposed skin of Rowen's nape, one arm around Rowen's waist, long fingers barely brushing his navel. Yuli smelled good too, like honeysuckle shampoo and hot chocolate. It wasn't what Rowen would term "comfortable".

More like, "sensual as hell."

"Much better, nee Toma-kun?" Yuli's words made his body vibrate, shivering like a purr against Rowen's back.

No. Much worse. Not better.

Yuli shifted, a drowsy noise in his throat, and nuzzled his nose like a kitten into the soft spot behind Rowen's ear. Rowen tried valiantly not to shift closer, or to recall kissing Yuli that night amid the glitter waterball of the club. He certainly tried not to think of Yuli's first night with Ryou, and the part he had played, holding Yuli in his arms as Ryou made him shake.

Instead he made himself concentrate that Yuli was RYOU'S, and that surely he didn't mean to be a temptation... right?

Nahhhhh....

That's when Yuli's mouth brushed against Rowen's earlobe, capturing it gently. His fingers, now obviously intended to be in such a prime location, slid questingly lower, beneath the blanket.

Rowen's whole body tensed like his mystical bowstring. "Yuli!"

The younger boy released his hold on Rowen's earlobe to speak, his hand moving slowly, undoing buttons. "Just how innocent do you think I am, Ro-chan?" he chided softly. "Don't you know that I want you?"

"I tried not to think about it-" Rowen gasped, as Yuli's hand began to knead and shape the heat between his legs. "guess I neva gave ya enough credit."

Geez... Ryou's gonna KILL me!!! Rowen stifled his groan of need into the throw pillow, not really wanting the whole house to know that Yuli had reached into the suddenly undone fly of his jeans, past celestial print silk and was touching him. He tilted his head back, not quite able to look at Yuli since they were spooned together. "Whatsa mattah, anyway? I can't believe Ryou ain't enough for you."

Yuli's hand slowed thoughtfully. "It isn't that.. he's... " Rowen almost felt the delirious smile, "WONDERFUL. It's just that.. he's very...." Yuli struggled for the words.

"Intense?" Rowen suggested, feeling rather so at the moment. In about ten minutes he was gong to take Yuli and ask questions later.

"Yeah.. I guess that's it." Yuli bit lightly at Rowen's shoulder, through his t-shirt. "And.. I want to know how to... You know." Yuli cleared his throat slightly, and Rowen grinned at the blush he knew emblazoned Yuli's cheeks. "I guess he likes it enough when I-um.. but I'd like to know if uh.. I'm doing it right?" Yuli winced. "Do you understand?"

"Mostly." Rowen grinned. "What is it, exactly, that you want to do?" besides the list of things in my head that I want to do to you?

"I want to know... god, I Can't SAY it, Rowen!" Yuli's tone had gone to agonizingly embarrassed and frustrated, still running his fingers over Rowen as though seeking distraction.

Rowen bit his lip to keep from being distracted all over the couch. "Then just show me."

Yuli hesitated only a moment, and then Rowen felt his jeans being slowly pushed down to make a lump at the end of the couch. His shirt was removed somewhat more hastily, and Yuli managed to wriggle out of his own faster, finally pressing back against Rowen.

"this," Yuli whispered, almost sounding miserable, pressing his hips into Rowen's soft heat, nearly invading him. Rowen sucked in a sharp breath. He hadn't expected that.

"Yuli-" Rowen began, and was interrupted for the wrong reason. "Please Ro-chan?" Yuli pleaded, his tears hot on Rowen's bare shoulder, his need hard and insistent against Rowen. "You've taught me so much: stars and worlds and books... teach me this."

Rowen smiled faintly. He wasn't adverse to being taken, just to being taken DRY. "It's not that, Yul. First off I wouldn't recommend doing that without-"

"Wait...." Yuli rummaged for something hidden under the pillow. "I got that much." His laugh was nervous, hidden in his throat.

Rowen pushed back against him with a soft noise. "Then what are you waiting for?"

Yuli fumbled nervously, nodding and forgetting that Rowen couldn't see him. He attended to himself first, not realizing that his own touch would have felt so good. Rowen flexed his thighs, angling his hips back.

"Now me," he whispered.

Yuli bit his lip, hesitantly reaching down to touch Rowen, surprised that such simple contact could make the warrior shiver like that. He wasn't even inside him, yet. He paused before forcing entry into that tightness, surely it had to hurt-

"It doesn't-" Rowen answered his thoughts, for some reason having trouble getting air. "Remember... how I touched you. Remember?"

Like Yuli could ever forget. He slipped one finger inside. Rowen groaned, his hand going between his legs. Yuli blinked at the sensation, for some reason the tightness pulsing around his hand made his sex throb in agreement. He slid his finger in and out, testingly.

Rowen flashed a grin over one shoulder. "Ya don' hafta try me, Yuli. I ain't no virgin. "

"Oh..." Yuli quickly and regretfully removed his hand. "I didn't know-"

"Unnnnn.. . " Rowen pushed his hips back. "Take me."

"Like this?" Yuli maneuvered himself carefully, and felt Rowen right against him, hotter than he had expected. "Should I- Slow or-"

"MMM!!" Rowen's hand tightened on the throw pillow, trying not to submit to his own touch. "NOW!"

Yuli took a shuddering breath, and eased in. Or planned to, anyway. He got less than halfway before the ease became an urgent shove. Rowen's body rocked foreword, and he gasped, eyes going wide.

"Sorry!" Yuli cringed, shaking from the effort of holding still when his entire being screamed at him to thrust hard and fast into that perfection. Rowen was pulsing and hot and so ALIVE all around him, more so than he'd ever thought it would feel.

"Yuli," Rowen managed, roughly. "Never, EVER be sorry for THAT!"

"I'm... doing it right?"

Rowen bared his teeth in what was probably meant as a grin. "Uh-huh... " He tilted his head enough to see one anxious blue eye and a pouty lower lip caught worriedly between white teeth. He winked faintly. "Yuli?"

"Yes?" Yuli's brow furrowed anxiously.

Rowen smiled like it hurt, letting his hand move freely on his sex again, turning his head into the pillow. "Fuck me. "

Yuli would never have thought that two words could have that kind of effect on his body, but his hips seemed to lunge forward into Rowen of their own volition, as if they could comprehend Rowen's words like reflex. "Uhhhn!!" He couldn't stop, he couldn't slow down, trying to muffle himself against Rowen's shoulder. "Ro.. am.. Am I-?"

"Harder," Rowen panted, reaching behind to guide Yuli's hand to his sex. "and higher. There's a place where-"

Yuli hit it, dead center.

"UNNNN!!" Rowen jerked, clamping his teeth down on the upholstered pillow. Yuli didn't need instruction, he needed applause.

"there?" He gaped, hand moving faster. Rowen clutched the pillow, nodding.

"Again- un!"

"Rowen...! "

"HARDER."

"I-I can't- I'll-"

"Harder, Damnit, Yuli!! Before I- AH! Mmm....." Rowen's urgent retort slowed into a soft hungry groan, as Yuli stopped trying to be nice and gave in. His hand on Rowen's sex moved frantically, in time with every aimed thrust.

Yuli buried himself over and over in Rowen, lost even to the muffled noises the archer made. He'd never known what it was like to take someone who told you what felt good and what felt even better. Ryou didn't talk much. He made wonderful noises, but not instruction. Rowen shuddered suddenly, making a harsh sound, and Yuli felt the tightness clench repeatedly around him, and wet on his hand. His eyes went wide. He'd never been able to make Ryou finish, not like that. He hadn't known it would feel so-

"Ah! Rowen!!"

Rowen let a faint, exhausted smile trace his features, as Yuli whimpered and surged helplessly inside him. His sated sex, still grasped in Yuli's hand, throbbed in sympathy.

Yuli slumped down behind him, still mostly inside, but nature would make that impossible in a few moments. His breathing was rapid and harsh, but slowing.

"Ya okay, Yul?"

Yuli nodded. "yeh."

Rowen sighed. "I think I might have to show ya a few more things," He said slyly, eyes closed. "ya know... just for practice?"

"Just as long as it's LATER." Yuli replied. "No wonder Ryou's always tired."

"Now maybe you can occasionally relive him of that duty, huh?"

"Yes," came a different voice, from the other side of the room. "Maybe he can."

Rowen sat up like a shot, blinking at Ryou's threatening shadow in the doorway. "Uhhh.. Ryou! Um... Ah... " Rowen fumbled completely.

I'm gonna die.....

Yuli peered anxiously over Rowen's shoulder. "Ryou? I guess.. I should have asked-?"

Ryou winked.

Rowen shook his head slightly.

"What, you think I'm gonna be MAD?" Ryou folded his arms, spoon still held in one hand.

"Ya- aren't?" Rowen asked. He knew they were free with each other but sleeping with Yuli was like- sleeping with Mia!

Ryou shrugged. "of course not. I got to WATCH." He grinned like a tiger. Rowen put his face in his hands, he had no idea how long Ryou had been there. Yuli blushed.

"Now get cleaned up," Ryou turned back towards the kitchen. "Dinners ready. But-" He turned on his heel, and smiled in a way that implied doom. "Dessert is up to ME."

The door swung shut behind him.


At dinner, even Kento had the decorum not to inqure about the blue glass bead that was braided into Rowen's hair.


~o~





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