📕📃📜 Crush Gear Turbo | Fly By Birdie

[g_uava]

NSFW | 13K+ words | Marume Claude/Jin Kyousuke

Over spring break, Claude shares his apartment with Kyousuke and Kouya, who has arrived on a visit to the city where Claude and Kyousuke go to university. It's like old days, except that Claude is dating Kyousuke and Kyousuke sees the vague outline of a love triangle for which Kouya stands on the third point. Part of the series: Everything in Its Place.

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Someone's bulging shopping bag bumped Kyousuke's side, upsetting his balance. Before he fell to the floor of the train station, Claude caught him and pulled him close to his chest. To support him as Kyousuke righted himself on his feet, and because Claude could.

Leaning against Claude, Kyousuke murmured, "How rude."

Claude checked his watch and said, "It's still pretty crowded here even after the rush hour."

Kyousuke grabbed Claude's arm to lower it to his eye level and check the time. "Just where is Kouya?"

"His train should have arrived. Maybe he's taking a look at the shops."

"He'd better not keep us waiting."

Claude scanned the station for any signs of Kouya. For the next four days and three nights, they — or more accurately, Claude — would be hosting their friend and teammate in the city where Claude and Kyousuke attended university. With both the university and Kouya's high school closed for spring vacation, Kouya was free to visit, catch up, explore and think about whether he'd be interested in the upcoming year to go to the same school as Claude and Kyousuke and train at one of the local Crush Gear clubs.

In the group chat for the senior members of Tobita Club, new messages revealed that Kouya had been wandering about looking for the right exit in the station. Below his frantic apology was Kaoru scolding him for being scatter-brained and Jirou's suggestion to give Claude a call.

Just when Claude was about to call Kouya first, he spotted a brown-haired boy in an oversized white hoodie with red hood and sleeves. Kouya was ladened with all sorts of baggage — one green backpack, one large zip-up tan tote bag and a familiar orange Crush Gear kit slung over one shoulder.

That was Kouya, all right. As Claude caught his eye, Kouya grinned and raised his hand to give Claude an eager wave.

Claude smiled and waved right back.

"Kouya's here," he said.

Kyousuke turned to look out for Kouya, seeing past the gaps between the throng of commuters. As Kouya approached, Claude dropped his arm that had been curled around Kyousuke. His hand itched to hold Kyousuke's hand and as consolation, he let the backs of their fingers brush before stepping away.

"Claude! Kyousuke! Finally, I'm here!"

"Welcome!"

After exchanging their greetings, Claude and Kouya did their best to hug with Kouya's baggage getting in the way.

"You've got taller again," Kyousuke observed. "Unfortunately."

"I guess," Kouya said, chuckling and accepting a friendly bump of the fist under his collar bone from Kyousuke.

Reuniting with old friends was always a special occasion for Claude. Learning about the new and welcome changes that had taken place in their time apart was wonderful and better still was seeing what had remained a constant. Like Kouya's childlike excitement in travelling to a new place, even to one just four hours away from home, and his usual adventurous spirit only slightly dampened by the fatigue from his long train ride and lugging around his bags.

Claude took his large tote bag from him, asking, "Shall we go and get some dinner?"

Freed from a literal heavy weight, Kouya pumped his fist in the air. "Yes, let's eat! I'm famished!"

Close to the station was a diner where Claude and Kyousuke often had their dinner dates. Once they had broken free from the crowd outdoors and snagged an empty booth for themselves, Kouya allowed himself to relax, plopping down on the plush seat with all his bags next to him. Opposite him, Claude sat side by side with Kyousuke.

Their usual order was a pizza with two different flavours. On that night, Kyousuke let Claude share the pizza with Kouya and ordered a main dish for himself.

While waiting for their food, Kouya asked Claude, "Is that coat new?"

"This?" Claude peered down at the long sienna brown coat that he wore over his purple sweater. "I think I've had it for a few months."

"I see...anyway, you really look like a university student!"

"If you haven't noticed," Kyousuke chimed in. "He's not the only university student at this table."

"Oh, Kyousuke..."

Kouya turned towards him and studied his appearance.

Kyousuke had stuck with wearing spectacles with round frames that enhanced his large eyes. Since the evenings had yet to get warm, he had under his moss green polo shirt a black long-sleeved one, covering up the small hairs on his forearms that Claude knew would stand up on being exposed to the night wind.

Kouya declared, "You look the same as ever!"

Kyousuke grimaced. "I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult."

"It's neither!"

Their food arrived: a marinara meatball pasta and a half-Hawaiian, half-anchovies and olives pizza. Both flavours of the pizza were those which Kyousuke would never go for. As he tucked into his pasta, Kouya reached for a slice of Hawaiian pizza with ham and pineapples.

"I brought lots of goodies from home!" Kouya patted his large tote bag. "There's a container of coffee-flavoured brownies. Do you think the restaurant staff would mind if I take them out for us to have for dessert?"

"We'd better not," Claude said. "Besides, at this hour, even a bit of caffeine might ruin our sleep."

"Nonsense," Kyousuke said. "We could have those brownies at Claude's place after digesting some of our dinner."

"Great!" Kouya replied. "I baked this batch myself while thinking of you guys."

Kyousuke paused chewing on a meatball to say, "Hope that wasn't your excuse for slacking off on training."

"It wasn't, and I didn’t!"

Kyousuke swallowed, scrunched up his face and brought his glass of complimentary water to his lips. Claude glanced at Kyousuke's plate of rapidly depleting food, then back to Kyousuke, who must have skipped lunch earlier that afternoon. At least it meant Kyousuke's research was going well if he had treated eating as an afterthought.

"You might get too full for dessert," Claude said.

"You know how the saying goes," Kyousuke replied. "There's always room for dessert."

He flashed a smirk at Claude. Underneath the table, he pressed his knee against Claude's knee. That got Claude to understand the kind of dessert Kyousuke was interested in, and Kyousuke faced his front again.

Before the both of them, Kouya indulged his culinary curiosity on a whim, mixing up the flavours of his pizza slices even more as he used a spoon and fork to switch the olives with the pineapples.

**

None of their friends knew about them getting together. It happened close to their high school graduation when one chapter was closing and another was about to begin. One with a strong likelihood of seeing each other a lot less after years of being and staying the best of friends.

That didn't come to pass with Claude seeing Kyousuke almost every day, rather more than they did back home, since they moved to the same city. Their days together were to Claude a gift that kept on giving, extending to their fast approaching adulthood and beyond.

Keeping what they had a secret was Kyousuke’s wish. Just for a while, until Kyousuke sorted out his sexuality, and know for certain whether he was into only Claude or men in general. The matter was a distressing one for Kyousuke, almost pushing him to a genuine mental breakdown whenever he tried discussing it. To Claude, letting it rest and acting like nothing had changed between them was no issue at all, as long as they weren't really deceiving anyone who mattered and continued being devoted to each other.

Allowing his devotion to ring loud and clear had become one of Kyousuke's favourite activities. Done in the night, in the nude, in Claude's bed, keeping it free of rest and sleep when there remained a greater height of satisfaction to scale.

Even with Kouya taking the couch in Claude's apartment as a makeshift bed, Kyousuke claimed his space on Claude's bed. Claude let him. But he had to stop the outrageous commentary running from Kyousuke's mouth.

"It's not…necessary to 'supervise' my wanks."

Talking was difficult with Kyousuke's hand around his dick. With a giggle, Kyousuke curled his fingers a fraction tighter to further challenge Claude's ability to hold a coherent conversation.

"It absolutely is," Kyousuke said. "You're still so hard after blowing your load once. Without me, you wouldn't even get started, much less go again."

Claude squirmed and abandoned a few helpless thrusts into Kyousuke's hand. Only with Kyousuke did he have to face the nature of his sexual appetite – one that seemed both an alien and innate part of him. Getting it under control had been simpler with some mental discipline but that was before he had an obsessed lover on his hands.

All Claude could do was let lust take him over under Kyousuke's deft, capable fingers. His firm and rapid strokes had got Claude's first release out of the way. Barely was he finished when he started from the top, jerking Claude's cock again, massaging the same sensitive spots at a slower pace, restoring it to full hardness and getting more pre-come flowing from its tip.

Slowing down allowed Claude to really look at Kyousuke's fingers wrapped around his cock. They looked tiny and obscene, dampened by lube, pre-come and Claude's earlier ejaculate. Claude longed to suck them clean, then do the same for the erection between Kyousuke's thighs. So far, Kyousuke had been batting Claude's hands away from it and only treating it to the briefest strokes, intent as he was on getting Claude off.

"We should take turns," Claude said. "I want you to come in my mouth."

"Keep your pretty mouth to yourself. I don't want to get wiped out and slack off on satisfying your slutty cock."

"Kyousuke, really –"

The brush of the pad of Kyousuke's thumb over the tip of Claude's cock, followed by a hint of a scratch of Kyousuke's nail, got Claude letting out a strangled cry. It would have been deafening not just to himself, but to everyone else in his apartment, if not for Kyousuke's promptness in muffling most of the noise Claude made as he clamped his hand over Claude's mouth.

"Quiet down," Kyousuke said. "We wouldn't want to corrupt Kouya."

He kept his hand covering Claude's lips. Claude narrowed his eyes, communicating without speech what Kyousuke should do if he really wanted to retain the innocence of their younger friend sleeping in the next room.

Kyousuke only smirked. Then he dropped Claude's dick to pat and caress the hair on Claude's crotch. Claude just lied there while he allowed his annoyance towards Kyousuke's messing about to evaporate along with the sweat on his skin.

"Don't get mad," Kyousuke said. "You'll sleep so well once we're done."

His promise that Claude often heard — one Kyousuke never failed to fulfill.

After Kyousuke returned his hand to Claude's cock, an extra weight settled on him. The weight of the warm length of Kyousuke's cock resting against his own cock. To rub them together, Kyousuke thrust his hips back and forth and also stroked their cocks with his wet fingers.

The meeting of skin on skin, the rustle of the bedsheets beneath and Kyousuke's increasingly erratic breathing, all combined to create a filthy tapestry of sounds for Claude to luxuriate in. Coming again was inevitable, but he wanted more.

He wanted to get even closer to what Kyousuke only allowed him glimpses of. That is, to close in on the root of Kyousuke's want for him.

Freeing his mind of all other thoughts, Claude gripped Kyousuke's wrist to pry it off his mouth. He fastened his other hand onto Kyousuke's hip for leverage as he brought Kyousuke down on the bed's empty space and got above him. Still holding onto Kyousuke's wrist, he pinned it above Kyousuke's head and arranged his limbs to trap Kyousuke in.

Kyousuke didn't struggle, yet he was undeniably displeased. His glasses had gone askew and his lips were twisted into a scowl. Bending down, Claude kissed it away while taking up Kyousuke's task of getting them off with one hand wrapped around both their cocks.

A knot loosened in Claude's chest as Kyousuke relaxed, thrusting back against Claude while moaning into his mouth. He came first, incredibly getting a burst of energy from his release. With his legs raised and locked behind the small of Claude's back, he urged Claude to keep going, to take as much as Claude wanted, to spill on his skin a mess that was just for him.

**

From home, Kouya had brought a jar of Claude's mom's homemade apricot jam. An eternity seemed to have passed since Claude had it with some toast. In the kitchen, he popped slices of wholemeal bread into the toaster, then turned back to the two lunchboxes on his kitchen counter.

Both lunchboxes contained identical meals for Kyousuke and himself: one serving of omurice with a side of edamame and cherry tomatoes. After sprinkling chopped parsley on the omurice for garnish, he listened to the sounds in the apartment that told him what the others were doing.

Successive splashes of water in the bathroom where Kouya went to wash his face and brush his teeth. A short while later, the blare of a siren from the bedroom, which died down almost immediately. Just Kyousuke's unique morning alarm, chosen to spur his urgency to shut it off before others around thought an emergency had occurred.

On mornings when he was far enough from the ear-piercing alarm, Claude could laugh at it.

He had risen from a deep and dreamless sleep. One that he could only sink into through carnal means, instead of more restful methods like exercise and meditation. Before he started sleeping with Kyousuke, taking care of his physical urges was an undertaking he just got over and done with, going from the mental strain of polluting his mind with filth to letting oblivion take over.

Really, he appreciated having Kyousuke to hold his hand, and other parts, through the whole act. Even if he remained skeptical that he had to do it multiple times a day in a week, as Kyousuke claimed was necessary. If the mental and physical benefits seemed greater than usual, the credit lied less in the frequency of coming on its own, and more from achieving it through making love.

A door opened with a soft whoosh of air escaping from an enclosed space. Kouya soon emerged from the bathroom, humming and patting his cheeks with both hands. The toaster dinged, and Claude set the toasted bread on a plate.

Turning to Kouya, Claude said, "Good morning. Hope the couch was comfortable enough."

"Morning! Honestly, I thought I could sleep anywhere yesterday," Kouya said as he entered the kitchen. "What's for breakfast?"

"Toast with my mom's homemade apricot jam."

"Awesome! I could fry up some eggs too, if you have any."

There were a few left in the fridge, but the one frying pan that Claude owned had yet to be cleaned after cooking up his omurice.

Kouya took care of that, cleaning and drying the pan before oiling it up. On its sizzling surface, he cracked in two eggs, transferred them with a spatula to a clean plate once they were done and drizzled on more oil to fry two more eggs.

As Claude watched from the side, he said, "You've got pretty good at that."

"Just getting a head start on the skills I'd need to be independent after high school," Kouya replied. "Hey, morning, Kyousuke!"

In staggered Kyousuke, murmuring a half-hearted greeting. Barely awake, he approached Claude out of habit to get his first kiss of the day. As Kouya stared at them, Kyousuke froze in place, realising his mistake.

To smooth it over, Claude grabbed a spoon to scoop up his mom's apricot jam straight from the jar and handed it to Kyousuke. Kyousuke took the spoon and stuck it into his mouth, looking up at Claude through his eyelashes to relay his gratitude.

He could not have looked more kissable. Claude imagined where Kyousuke should be kissed. First on the forehead, next on the lips that by then bore a trace of the rich sweetness of apricot.

Before he got carried away, he heard Kouya say, "Is it nice eating jam straight like that?"

"It's not bad for a concentrated sugar rush," Kyousuke said.

After sucking the spoon clean, oblivious to Claude's excessive interest in spreading jam on toasted bread to stop ogling at his mouth, he threw it into the sink.

Then he sniffed the air and asked, "What's that smell?"

"Must be the eggs. Look out!"

Oil spattered as the egg whites in the frying pan bubbled and popped. Protecting Kyousuke from harm's way, Kouya held out an arm. Close to him, Kyousuke clutched the front of Kouya's shirt, going even closer to smell his neck.

"It's you!"

"Me? I can't be stinky, I washed up properly last night. Crap, the eggs are gonna burn!"

While Kouya rescued the eggs and turned off the gas, Kyousuke waited with his brow scrunched into a frown and his arms folded.

He stayed close behind Kouya as Kouya set the plate of eggs on the table, saying, "You smell like my eczema soap. Did you use it last night?"

"Er..." Kouya rubbed the back of his neck as he thought back to his last shower. "Was it the bodywash in the green bottle?"

"Yes!"

"It smells really good, like green tea!"

Kyousuke huffed. "No surprise there since it costs a bomb and is only made in America, and takes ages to arrive here."

"Kouya," Claude said. "Use my soap next time, if you don't mind its scent. The one in the purple bottle."

"Okay," Kouya replied. "I'll do that. What about the shampoo and conditioner? Are those off-limits too?"

Those belonged to Claude. "No, go ahead and use as much as you like."

"What about the skincare and hair products in the cabinet?" Kouya asked.

"They're mine," Claude said. "You're welcome to try any that catch your eye."

"Ah, actually, I was just asking."

"Kouya, you've really made yourself at home," Kyousuke said.

While Claude and Kouya were talking, Kyousuke had opened the fridge for a piece of Kouya's coffee-flavoured brownie to munch on. As he closed the fridge's door, he glanced at the contents of the lunch boxes on the counter.

"I don't like cherry tomatoes," he complained.

Having his possessions handled without his permission had put him in a bad mood. It would not take too long to blow over, as Claude knew well.

He said, "It's not too different from the ketchup sauce on the omurice."

"It's different by a lot."

"Kyousuke, I'm sorry for using your expensive soap, I really didn't know. Look, I'll eat your cherry tomatoes for you."

Seeing Kyousuke seething and standing apart, Kouya jumped into action and took a cherry tomato from Kyousuke's bento box to pop into his mouth. Claude heard that it was common for siblings to support each other through finishing vegetables that their brother or sister disliked, yet Kouya's affectionate gesture only pissed Kyousuke off even more.

"No," Kyousuke closed the lid of his lunch box with more force than necessary, "these are mine to deal with."

"May I cook up some eggs for you instead?" Kouya offered.

"No thanks, I don't eat much in the morning, and I've got students to consult at school."

Those students were in fact graduate students seeking to discuss their dissertations with Kyousuke, despite him being a first year undergraduate. For even at the university level, Kyousuke was recognised as a genius mechanic.

He saw no point in telling Kouya all that. Without saying a word, he drew out a checkered green cloth from a drawer, wrapped his bento up in it and took the bundle along as he strode towards Claude's bedroom.

Left alone with Claude at the dining table, Kouya just stared after Kyousuke while nibbling on a corner of a piece of toast. Then he turned towards Claude, as if waiting for Claude to illuminate what was going on in Kyousuke's head and whether the morning was like any other ordinary one in Claude's home.

It wasn't. Kyousuke's prickliness then was at a level beyond what Claude was accustomed to, though only just slightly.

Kyousuke re-emerged with a black backpack containing his laptop, his purple Crush Gear kit and his wrapped up bento. True to form, his good humour and affection for Kouya prevailed, and he laid his hand on Kouya's shoulder on his way out.

"Enjoy exploring the city," he said.

Kouya beamed as Kyousuke sliced with his farewell the tension knotted in the air.

"Thanks!"

Claude turned to Kyousuke, saying, "Have a good day."

"Same to you."

In Kyousuke's rush, he went past Claude while barely looking at him. After the door closed behind him, Claude cut up one of the eggs that Kouya fried, took a bite and complimented him again on his cooking.

"Do you think I can also become the world champion of cooking?" Kouya joked. "Like perhaps a Michelin Iron Chef."

"There's no such title," Claude replied. "What's possible is participating in the Iron Chef cook-off and running a Michelin-starred restaurant."

"Have you ever fantasized about yourself doing that? Maybe when you're making your bento?"

Claude laughed. "No, I'm perfectly pleased with assembling simple meals."

"Simple is good!"

For the rest of their meal, Claude let Kouya concentrate on gobbling down his toast and eggs. His impatience to be out and about was understandable as he would be exploring not only a new and unfamiliar place, but also the possibility of having it as his home for a good part of the year in the near future. All part of a youthful, carefree adventure for which Claude wished to partake in, but that had to wait until the next day, for like Kyousuke he had his own plans.

As Kouya deposited his dirty dishes in the sink, he looked at Claude's packed lunch, saying, "That omurice looks pretty good. Did you make it to save on eating out?"

"It's more to save time," Claude explained. "I've got to cover a couple of classes at my dojo since my sensei has a wedding to attend. It'd be quicker to eat there in between my sessions."

"I see..."

Just when Kouya was about to step away, he paused, then turned back to Claude's lunch. It seemed to have sparked some kind of absorbing thought.

As Claude joined him at the counter, he asked, "Is anything wrong with it?"

"No, I was just thinking that you don't really cook more than one serving of omurice at once. So you cooked an extra one specially for Kyousuke's lunch?"

"Yes," Claude admitted.

"You're so kind! For my next visit, cook for me too, okay? So I won't miss out on your delicious cooking."

Kouya's praise, unearned as it was since he had only seen Claude's food without tasting it, still rang with sincerity. Always, Kouya's guilelessness heartened Claude, and he would never overlook an opening to further please his friend with whom he was unable to see as often as before.

"If you really want to, you can take my bento," Claude said. "That is, if you're fine with skipping an opportunity to try out another one of the restaurants here."

"Can I? Then in between lunch and dinner I'll just target all the interesting snacks over having heavy meals." Kouya patted his stomach, indicating where everything that he'd salivate over would go. "But what about you? What will you eat?"

"I'll just eat at the soba cart close to my dojo. Also, I know a place with a great view that's good for eating outdoors."

A week ago, Claude had gone there with Kyousuke, just to talk and walk hand in hand with hardly anyone around in the quiet park elevated and separate from the main urban area of the city. It had been sunset then, with Kyousuke huddling close to Claude for warmth.

Under a different sky, Kouya stood at the same place, snapped a photo of the scenery before him and sent it to the Tobita Club group chat. Among the buildings that seemed like miniatures, some towered above the rest, one of which Kouya had circled in red in an edited version of the same photo that appeared below the original.

Kouya's next message: 'I'm going to live here and invite Claude and Kyousuke over for dinner every night.'

Technically, that wasn't impossible, for the skyscraper he picked happened to be a hotel belonging to Manganji Group.

**

Two distinct sounds greeted Claude at the entrance of his home — the continuous spray of water and the repetitive rising and falling of feet as someone paced the wooden floor. That would be Kouya, walking in circles walking in circles outside the closed bathroom door with his hands shoved into the pockets of his oversized white hoodie.

As Claude approached, Kouya stopped his pacing and looked over Claude from head to toe.

"Welcome back," Kouya said. "If you're here, then who's in there?"

Glancing at the bathroom, he rocked forward and back on his feet, still in a pair of white socks.

"That must be Kyousuke," Claude replied. "He has a spare key."

"I see…the shower's been running since I got back. I've got to use the toilet, but he's really taking his time!"

Visibly gritting his teeth, Kouya went up to the closed door and put his ear to it. Claude remained where he was and closed his eyes. All he heard was water descending through the air, then one drop after another landing on the shower tiles. No other clue as to how Kyousuke was drawing out the act of washing up in the bathroom, at least none that were detectable from outside.

If Kyousuke was pleasuring himself while naked and wet…Claude would know. He had seen and heard it all. The intimate sounds created were unforgettable, amplified as they were by the acoustics of the enclosed shower booth.

"I can't take it anymore!"

Raised in the air went Kouya's arm with his fingers closed into a fist. Just as he flung it down to bang on the bathroom, Claude caught it mid-air.

"I'll take you to the public toilet downstairs," Claude said.

"Can't I just go here? It's not like Kyousuke is on the toilet!"

"Go downstairs."

Letting Kouya answer nature's call somewhere else seemed a lot simpler than having him cobble a hasty plea for Kyousuke to pause his shower and unlock the door. After Kouya's full bladder did the convincing for him, he followed Claude back out into the cool evening air, then down the lift of the apartment building.

They went to a quiet area behind the complex that was one of Claude's favourite spots in the neighbourhood. While Kouya took care of his business in the public toilet, Claude strode towards the wooden bench before it. As he did on his regular walks, he had brought along his shinai. From its sleeve, he drew it out, then laid the sleeve over the backrest of the bench and climbed the small mound of grass hemmed in by the bench and three others on all sides.

Atop the mound, Claude swung his shinai again and again. Not to get in some practise, but solely to hear the familiar whooshing that swept away the clutter of insignificant background noise in his ears. He loved that clean sound which was a fine complement to the riotous, operatic clashes of a Crush Gear fight. In between his cuts, the furious whirring of gears in machines running hot echoed throughout his inner landscape, only to dissipate with his next swing.

"Still getting in some practise after a whole day of kendo?"

Blades of grass trampled underfoot, accompanied with the disordering of minute particles of soil on rubber soles stamped on the mound. Claude halted his swings and looked to the side where Kouya stood.

"I didn't get to practise much at the dojo," Claude said. "Fine-tuning the lower dan students' form and technique took up most of my day."

"Fair. It's good, isn't it, to be able to take your equipment and train anywhere."

"Yes, that's right."

"I can practise too, even without a ring!"

Kouya ran off to examine the ground around the grassy mound. From under one of the benches along its edge, he picked up a small rock and tossed it in the air as he returned to Claude.

"Finally, the ban on my signature throw has been lifted!" Kouya said. "It's been a while since my wrist injury, and I just can't miss out on challenging other fighters in this city. But Jirou still asked me to look out for signs of...what's that again?"

"Repetitive strain injury. Just don't overexert your wrist."

"Okay. Here goes!"

After spinning in place, Kouya leaped into the air. A gust of wind followed, as if summoned by a majestic eagle flapping its wings. It carried the rock flying out of Kouya's hand towards a nonexistent release line.

A long while had passed since Claude witnessed in person Kouya pulling off the throw that led their team to the finals of the World Cup, the summit for Crush Gear fighters, twice in a row. Kouya's technical prowess was as ever familiar yet impressive, conjuring for a moment the massive ring, the roaring crowd and the cresting thrum of energy and adrenalin of a high stakes tournament entering full swing.

The rock hit the ground, setting off a sharp high-pitched yelp.

It turned out to have missed injuring a black dog by a hairbreadth. Leading it along on a leash was a ponytailed young woman in a green tracksuit in the middle of jogging and walking her pet.

Without slowing down, she shouted, "Throw rocks elsewhere, shithead!"

"Sorry, I'm very sorry!"

Kouya charged down the mound and delivered an apologetic bow even as the woman didn't care to throw him another glance. Claude looked about, not seeing anyone paying any attention to their exchange.

He took up his shinai sleeve from the bench he left it on, slid his shinai back into it and watched Kouya unbend his back while retaining his sheepish wince.

"How's your wrist?" Claude asked.

Holding Kouya's wrist in his hand, he laid gentle presses of his thumb all over it to try to detect any sign of swelling. Everything seemed fine until Kouya frowned as he flexed and extended his wrist.

"There's a bit of strain," Kouya said. "Just a bit."

"I have an ice pack at home, if you need it."

Back in Claude's apartment, the bathroom was empty. Kouya walked past it, then backtracked, switched on its light and went inside. Perhaps thinking he'd better sit all he could on the loo before another obstacle kept him from doing so. Listening to Kouya turn the lock, Claude chuckled at his amusing antics and headed into his room.

A very pleasant homecoming awaited him in the shape of Kyousuke in his bed. The blanket was pulled up to Kyousuke's chin and his glasses had been put aside.

Squinting, he said, "Welcome home."

"I'm back."

After Claude put away his shinai, he burrowed under the covers to hold Kyousuke and let himself be seen up close. As he pulled Kyousuke in for a kiss, his palm met the bare skin of Kyousuke's arm. Letting his hand travel further down, he discovered not a single stich of clothing that created a barrier between his carresses and the rest of Kyousuke's beautiful body.

Every single part of Claude perked up. He followed his urge to hold Kyousuke tighter, pressing them flush against each other.

Kyousuke moaned, then curled his arm around Claude's neck. The blanket covering him rose and fell, revealing more of his skin to the air and settling below his pink nipple.

"Get your clothes off," Kyousuke said, gusting his warm breath over Claude's neck. "Don't want them in the way while I ride your dick."

"Not yet, I'd like to taste you first."

Down the line of Kyousuke's throat, Claude laid a trail of kisses. Kyousuke's every word, every little murmur of delight, every surge to meet his lips stoked the flame growing inside Claude. He freely fed it with his mouth on Kyousuke's nipple, sucking and licking up its clean taste.

"No…" Kyousuke's voice rang with a faint tremor. "Not that…"

Claude unlatched his mouth from Kyousuke's nipple to blow cool air on it. That, he knew Kyousuke liked a lot.

Even as Kyousuke wriggled in delight, he repeated, "Not that!"

Grasping Claude's bicep, he continued to say, "You've got to get your dick in me before all the lube in there dries up."

"You mean…"

Claude only believed what Kyousuke had done to himself after confirming it with his hand. He prised apart one cheek of Kyousuke's butt, then ran his finger down the crack to prod at Kyousuke's hole. The rim was slick and gave easily at a press of Claude's finger. As Claude slid it in, burrowing it into Kyousuke's tightness, Kyousuke gripped Claude's bicep harder.

"I'm going to shoot all over your clothes if you keep that up," Kyousuke warned.

Playing with his hole had got him more than warmed up. Claude supposed he had done it earlier in the bathroom, letting the water run to cover up his noises as he bent over and reached his hand back to get at his opening. Perhaps he got the idea after giving his hole a thorough wash, telling himself he was doing it for Claude while liking how tingling and pliant that part of him became before taking his fingers in.

Releasing Kyousuke to get off the bed and strip down were necessary evils for Claude to get done. By the time his underwear hit the floor, he was fully hard.

He lied again on the bed, face up, like Kyousuke wanted. From him, Claude's cock got a couple of soft smacks of Kyousuke's palm, as if Kyousuke's interest lied in just testing its rigidity. But that wasn't the case as Kyousuke covered it with a fresh condom and drizzled lube right over its tip.

Claude sucked in his breath at the cold wetness sliding down his length. He pressed his lips together as Kyousuke's fingers were wrapped around his erection to spread the lube up and down.

After a few strokes, Claude forced himself to say, "Careful. We've got to be –"

"–Quiet. I know." Kyousuke ruffled Claude's pubic hair, then squeezed the base of Claude's cock. "I'll take responsibility if I go too far screwing your brains out."

Straddling Claude's thigh, he guided Claude into him, letting out a long breath as Claude's cock filled his hole. The sheer effort to take it all in, written all over the tension in his cheeks and jaw and his arms propping himself up on the bed, stirred both Claude's heart and cock.

When all of Claude's cock was inside him, with Kyousuke's balls resting on the hair over Claude's crotch, Claude caressed the back of Kyousuke's hand. A silent praise that Kyousuke answered through turning his palm over to entwine their fingers.

He had to let go to better go up and down, rubbing Claude's length along every bit of the inside of his butt. Giving his all to meet Claude's upward thrusts. As he tended to do whenever he went on top and took Claude's cock, he shut his eyes, insisting it was to keep himself from getting dizzy while seeing without his glasses.

Yet he still took furtive peeks at Claude in between wiping away the sweat on his brow with the back of his arm. Within him, his want to see Claude unravelling for him warred with his shyness over seeing the rest of himself, exposed under the light with no machinations or machines to hide anything.

Every cell in Kyousuke seemed to beg for Claude's aid to get him to lean into that extreme exposure. Claude lied in wait for an opening, holding back from getting lost in Kyousuke's tight warmth around his cock. Then when Kyousuke faltered on slamming himself down, with his thighs trembling from the beginning of fatigue, Claude grabbed the juts of his hips and turned them sideways before thrusting up.

Kyousuke flung both his hands to his mouth, silencing a good part of his breathless moan. One of Claude's favourite sounds that told him he had succeeded in striking his cock to Kyousuke's prostate. To hear more of it, Claude took over setting the pace, gripping Kyousuke's hips firm to keep them at the best angle for his thrusts to meet their mark. Each one pushed Kyousuke to finishing, eroding his restraint as he shook and squirmed. What was left of Kyousuke's presence of mind, he marshalled to clamp his fingers tighter over his parted lips and dam the broken cries falling from them.

He depended on Claude for his release. And Claude gave it to him, maintaining the rhythm of his thrusts as he took one hand off Kyousuke's hip to wrap it around Kyousuke's cock. Along its entire length he stroked, absorbing its familiar warmth and weight, letting it wet his fingers with pre-come.

Then Kyousuke stilled and tightened around Claude's cock inside him. The white drops leaking from the slit of his cock's head thickened into a gush. As Claude tightened his fingers around Kyousuke's cock, he aimed its flow on his chest, protecting the cleanliness of his sheets with the extra gratification of painting his skin with proof of the ecstasy he had brought about for, and with, his lover.

Ignoring his mounting desperation to come, he watched for the signs of Kyousuke descending from his high. The slowing of his hips' rise and fall, and then the hitch in his breath when his softening cock became over sensitive. Claude released it and stroked the front of Kyousuke's thigh.

Sated, and having spilled every trace of his bashfulness, Kyousuke met Claude's eye and said, "The fun only begins here."

He stretched out his hand and put one finger to Claude's chest. As he drew it through his come, Claude tried and failed to hold in his giggles from the ticklish press of Kyousuke’s finger and from what was being written on him — Kyousuke's own name.

Kyousuke giggled back. Then he dropped his smile and craned his neck towards the door.

"The shower's running," he said.

"Yes, I noticed," Claude replied.

"There's a problem..."

"If you need the toilet, just knock and Kouya will let you in. He would be okay with that."

"No, it's just...my soap!"

Kyousuke got off Claude's dick and the bed with a faint hiss. On wobbly legs, he snatched up his glasses from Claude's bedside table and put them on. Beside them were a large packet of wet tissues that he unsealed to pull out a few for wiping his cock and the divide between the cheeks of his butt.

That Kyousuke became so bothered over the possibility of someone else depleting his premium eczema soap, Claude had not foreseen. Then again, using a different soap as a substitute had given Kyousuke an awful rash. It happened early in their first semester as university students, when Claude could not be more sorry since he bought the soap for him and Kyousuke to shower together at his place.

Done with wiping himself, Kyousuke tossed the packet of wet tissues at Claude. It landed with its corner scratching Claude's arm, but he let Kyousuke's thoughtlessness pass without comment.

Doing the same and letting him face their friend buck naked would be disastrous.

"Kyousuke!"

Just when Kyousuke was reaching for the doorknob, he turned to look at Claude staring at his bare butt. He whirled around, threw open the doors of Claude's closet for a clean towel to tie around his hips and then marched out of the room.

Before Kyousuke's semen on his chest dried into an itchy layer of crust, Claude wiped it off. He cleaned his groin too, taking his cock in his hand just to hold it aside and get at the areas where lube and sweat had mingled. Being left alone had resulted in his erection to flag, but not all the way. He could take care of it by himself, at the very least to finish in the condom and not waste it.

After some thought, he separated his hand from his cock. Sometimes he was turned on to the point where it was almost painful, but not right then. It seemed fine to let his cock return to its softness without doing anything, which he did more in the days when he had no one to poke and bait his libido.

Besides, he might be needed out there. He opened his bedroom door a little to hear what was going on between Kouya and Kyousuke.

"If you don't believe me, smell my arm! It smells like Claude, not you."

"That's not necessary, I believe you."

"I guess you're just not used to sharing, but that's okay. Hey, how about I wash your back?"

"W-What? Here?"

"We're not in a bathhouse, but this shower seems big enough for the two of us. You're mostly naked anyway, so why not just hop in?"

As Kyousuke spluttered excuses and tried to get out of showering with Kouya, Claude chuckled behind his hand and shut the door. No one, not even him, was better than Kouya at bringing out Kyousuke's cuteness.

He put back on the pair of black briefs that were discarded on the floor and set about tidying his room. His tolerance for Kyousuke's messes only extended to those of the organised sort. Some wads of wet tissues had missed the bin, so he cleared that up, then he straightened and neatened the stacks in his closet which Kyousuke disarranged on pulling out a towel.

Last to do was to gather the rest of his clothes from the floor. These should have been from the start put in the laundry hamper in another corner of his room. Strange how the distance from there to the bed seemed like a yawning chasm when Claude's cock took over a part of his brain.

Lying in bed, he waited for Kyousuke to return and for the shower to be free. His mind emptied itself of various different thoughts, settling into a calming blankness.

On the verge of dozing off, a combination of warmth and wetness tethered him to reality. His underwear had been pulled down for the head of his cock to be exposed and taken between parted lips — Kyousuke's lips. Held in Kyousuke's mouth, Claude's cock became firm again and expanded against Kyousuke's tongue and the inner walls of his cheeks.

After Kyousuke pulled his lips off him, Claude fought the weight of his sleepiness and patted the back of Kyousuke's head.

"Told you our fun has only just begun," Kyousuke said with his fingers curled around Claude's hard length.

"Never mind about that, just let me hold you."

"Not when you're still all pent up."

Kyousuke grazed his thumb over the tip of Claude's cock, teasing out some pre-come. As Claude's thighs quavered, Kyousuke did it again, getting Claude's cock to betray what Claude really wanted.

Instead of pressing his lips together and trying to keep his hips still, Claude should just ask. He really should to save Kyousuke some trouble and energy. Yet he had his own perverse streak too, which kept him hanging back to better see the lengths that Kyousuke would go to have him.

"It's easy for you to stop me," Kyousuke said, relenting on his teasing as he just held the base of Claude's erection. "You're a lot stronger. You can grab me and throw me around."

"Yes," Claude replied. "Yes, I can."

"You did it last night. You know what else you can do...you can ram your thick cock into my hole. Destroy it even if I cry and scream and lose my voice."

Just the bare details of Kyousuke’s depraved scenario dealt a deadly blow to Claude’s sanity. Claude's sanity was its first fatality.

Barely thinking, Claude said, "I can do all that, but I won't."

"I can let you. Only if you earn the right to."

"How..."

Kyousuke released Claude's cock to climb up the bed and claim a kiss. In went his tongue into Claude's mouth, thrusting and taking up as much space as possible.

He drew back, saying, "You'll have to let me destroy you in my own way."

"All right," Claude said, breathing hard from Kyousuke’s kisses. "As long as you put me back together afterwards."

"Goes without saying."

Kyousuke took another kiss from Claude that was softer but no less affectionate. He smiled against Claude's lips, seeming like he wanted to kiss some more, but he pulled away and got off the bed.

The doors of Claude’s closet were opened and shut. Soon, Kyousuke returned to bed, bringing back with him an adult toy from their joint collection.

A black fleshlight was put in Claude's hands, leaving Kyousuke's own free to pull Claude's underwear down his legs and got out of the way for Claude to widen the spread of his thighs.

Even after repeated exposure to adult toys, actually seeing and holding some of them still had Claude flinching mentally and fighting a persistent disbelief that he had got to know well their potential to carry him to the height of ecstasy. Determined to get over it, he stared into the slit of the fleshlight, then traced his index finger over the groove of the sliding switch along its handle.

Originally, the toy only had one button to switch on and off its vibrating function. For better control of its vibrations, Kyousuke had it modified. He had been pretty proud of himself, explaining to Claude that while the maximum intensity of the toy remained the same as its factory settings, it could do much more to magnify the explosiveness of its user's orgasms.

Claude flicked at the fleshlight's switch and had it vibrate on its lowest setting. Starting from his palms held against the toy, its tremors spread across his skin to shake him up on the inside.

He switched it back off, saying, "Maybe you could pick another toy. The vibrations from this one might raise some questions."

"If Kouya asks, just say that it's from a massage gun," Kyousuke replied. "The kind that sportsmen use on their sore muscles."

If only a similar tool existed for dealing with the kind of soreness which followed a vigorous roll in the sheets. Yet having it as part of Kyousuke's toolkit might only provide an excuse for escalating his playing, teasing and tormenting.

Thoughts irrelevant to wanting to come were no longer possible for Claude's mind to hold as Kyousuke worked his cock into the fleshlight. Following his want dominating the rest of him, the toy's vibrations smothered all other sounds, muting even a good part of his own cries. A flick of the fleshlight allowed some of them to return and graze Claude's ear before they were engulfed once more in the toy's intensified thrumming.

The tightness around his cock, the vibrations in his ears and the molten churning of his blood pounded into his very core what Kyousuke wanted him to understand – his control over everything that went in and out of Claude.

Claude's release crashed upon him and receded with excruciating sweetness as the fleshlight continued to vibrate.

After flicking the switch to a lower setting, Kyousuke planted a kiss to Claude's inner thigh and said, "One more, okay?"

"Hngh…"

Claude continued taking all Kyousuke wanted him to have. The fleshlight's vibrations were kept low as Kyousuke slid it up and down, creating a gentle accompaniment to the sloshing of Claude's come collected inside. He managed to get hard, but not for long, and came with a sob of utter defeat.

In bed, unlike in the ring, all wins and losses were shared between lovers. So Claude believed before he passed out, with Kyousuke embracing him and kissing away the tears that had gathered on his cheeks.

**

Regardless of where he lived, Claude's first and foremost loyalty in the Crush Gear world was to Tobita Club. Kyousuke too. Since moving for school, they attended training sessions at various local Crush Gear clubs, separately and together, always asserting from the outset that they would not be representing any other club aside from Tobita in official tournaments. All they held were basic membership for supporting the club's upkeep of their facilities and to pay their dues to the Gear Fight Association.

Yet with their long track record, being treated as 'basic' members was impossible at any club they went. Not even an hour after their arrival and they would have all their fights lined up for the day. They were in hot demand week after week, never lacking challengers courageous enough to find out what it was like to fight opponents with skills proven to be world class.

That changed in the weekend with Kouya around. The defending world champion himself, willing to take on anybody at any level.

The day before, when exploring on his own, Kouya dropped in on three different clubs. He really thought he could just observe the club's training methods and culture, all while resting his still recuperating wrist. Of course, being the passionate Gear Fighter that he was, he took on not just one but a dozen extra fights than was good for him.

An aggravation of his wrist injury would not be in the cards, not with his old friends and soulmates at hand.

Right after breakfast, Claude and Kyousuke led him to the club ran by Lilika's friend, where they trained the most. Together, they exchanged pleasantries with the owner and manager, then Kouya entered the ring with Claude for a fight.

Even held back by his wrist, Kouya gave as good as he got. And Claude held nothing back in his offense and defense with Shooting Phantom, trusting Kouya's improvisational ability to get at him without resorting to straining himself and his machine.

Indeed, Kouya managed to force their match to a draw, just when Claude thought he could pull off a ring out. Applause rang out around them from the club members who had been watching with rapt attention, faces practically pressed to the glass of the ring and perhaps in their heads putting themselves in the shoes of either Kouya or Claude.

Once Garuda Phoenix decelerated to a stop in Kouya's waiting hand, Kouya stood up with his Gear. With a half-smile, he turned to Claude and shrugged his shoulders. Claude understood — it really was a pity that they had to wait for another occasion to go all out and see each other's progress after no longer practising together on a weekly basis. He retrieved Shooting Phantom, held it to his heart and returned Kouya's smile.

To both accommodate the numerous challengers and include breathers for Kyousuke to modify Garuda Phoenix's settings, Kouya's following matches were restricted to one round instead of the usual best out of three. Everyone in line to fight him were orderly for the most part, but when their displays of excitement and their commentary as spectators got too disruptive in the relatively small building of the club, Kyousuke screamed from the sidelines for them to behave.

Almost forgotten, and not minding one bit, Claude hung around the back of the club to watch Kouya's fights. Bits of analysis flitted across his brain, connecting the results of each short match to what he knew of the fighting styles of Kouya and his juniors at the club. Sounds from passionate clashes inside the ring and the exchange of friendly encouragement within and without it created a cheery atmosphere reminiscent of the usual Tobita Club going-ons, back then and up to the current day.

While he soaked it all in, someone called out for him.

"Claude-san!" One of the Gear fighters who was in elementary school went up to him, asking, "Could you give me a hint on how to last at least a minute against the world champion?"

"How about seeing first how long your round would last?"

"You've been watching everyone else's fights. How long do you think I'd last?"

"He can lend you his ears and his strategies, but not his fortune telling ability, because he doesn't have any."

That retort came from Kyousuke, exuding an aura broadcasting his inability to suffer fools gladly and shooting a reproachful glare towards the younger Gear fighter. Their junior bowed, squeaked out a line to excuse himself and left Claude alone with Kyousuke.

On the other side of the ring, Garuda Phoenix rested partially dismantled on the table beside Kouya's opened Gear kit. Its owner sat before it, fiddling with his extra parts and chatting with other fighters.

Claude turned from him to Kyousuke, asking, "Are you going to go back there?"

"Nope, I've collected enough data to work on Garuda Phoenix," Kyousuke replied. "Besides, I can't let him get too used to having these hands around."

He raised both his hands and curled his fingers into little fists. Appearing to get caught up in thinking about his new ideas for Garuda Phoenix and beaming with pride, he missed Claude's smile, as always smitten over Kyousuke having no idea how cute he was.

Then Kyousuke tugged at the long sleeve of Claude's dress shirt.

"I want to talk to you," he said. "We should go somewhere quiet."

"Sure," Claude replied.

Linking their arms, he led Kyousuke to the area outside the washrooms on the other side of the club. Privacy was all theirs with no one about. They faced each other with Claude leaning against the wall and Kyousuke withdrawing his arm to hold Claude's hand.

"We haven't fought in a while," Kyousuke said.

"We did," Claude said. "Last week, at Teppen Club."

Kyousuke sighed. "I meant as boyfriends. No problems in that area."

"I agree, and I'm very happy. Are you?"

"I am. But well..."

A pause as Kyousuke looked away. Even while Claude kept himself from jumping to conclusions and predict soul-wrenching words, he could not stop the acceleration of his heartbeat.

Puncturing all suspense, Kyousuke said, "I'll shape up in the ways where I'm less than adequate. As a boyfriend. Recent events got me motivated after going on as we've been doing ever since we got together."

"Recent events?"

Claude could not name one to save his life — anything that had struck a blow to Kyousuke's sense of security. Anything that he could have fended out of harm's way, dedicated as he was to protecting Kyousuke's mental and physical safety.

"Kouya," Kyousuke mumbled. "His arrival gave me some proper motivation."

His revelation left Claude floored. It seemed like a joke, except that Kyousuke's distressed gaze and tight grip around his hand told him that it wasn't.

"Do you mean to say that you see Kouya as a romantic rival?"

Each word of Claude's question sounded strange to his own ears. Kyousuke answered with a solemn nod, bowing his head and appearing smaller.

Claude wanted to take him into his arms, but stopped himself, for Kyousuke had more to share.

"As I said, it's recent. I didn't think that way when we were all together, before all these months of just being with you in this city. But seeing him again and how you are with him…I thought I'd better not get overconfident."

A quick review of Claude’s interactions with Kouya since the start of Kouya's visit revealed nothing to Claude that might turn Kyousuke's mind down a warped and murky road.

"Nothing has changed," Claude insisted. "Kouya, of all people."

Kyousuke inhaled a long breath, then said, "Yes, him. He knows you."

Being facetious and feigning cluelessness was unnecessary, for Kyousuke's meaning ran loud and clear. Few out there really knew Claude, and Claude believed fewer would want to. Those willing to get close to him, to see his actual self and appreciate it better than the respectable front that the rest of the world seemed to prefer, were those he treasured forever.

"Kouya knows me like you know me," Claude pointed out.

"True. There lies the problem," Kyousuke replied. "For quite a while, I couldn't imagine anyone who could actually be, what did you call that, a romantic rival. I thought there's no way I can lose."

"When will you think you've won?"

"No idea…I just know I don't want to lose."

Some prize must still seemed to Kyousuke out of reach. One which had the power of sweeping away all doubt that he had won Claude over in heart, mind, body and soul. Rather than ask Kyousuke to name what he wanted most from Claude, what Claude had yet to share with him, Claude cobbled together a subsitute for the prize that Kyousuke sought to lay at his beloved’s feet.

"I have to correct myself," Claude said. "No one in this world knows me like you do. You've seen what I never want to show anyone else."

"Yeah, I have."

Kyousuke turned his head from side to side, seeing no others, then looked up at Claude.

"Okay," Kyousuke said. "Give me a quick one."

His tilted chin and shut eyes were obvious cues for what he liked Claude to do. But Claude had to indulge himself and just admire Kyousuke before him, allowing his fondness to warm the entirety of his being. Kyousuke's impatient pull on his hand got him leaning forward and pressing his lips to the tip of Kyousuke's nose. It crinkled in tandem with the pursing of Kyousuke's lips and those Claude kissed too, soft and sweet.

A buzzing from Kyousuke's pants broke them apart. Kyousuke released Claude's hand to fish out his phone, glanced at the name flashing on its screen and accepted the call.

Pressing his phone to his ear, he said, "Okay, I'll be there."

Kyousuke stared off to the side as he repocketed his phone. His mind had drifted elsewhere, perhaps back to the series of matches taking place at the front of the club, where the countdown timer went off and marked the end of another one.

Turning to Claude, Kyousuke said, "I'm wanted by the mechanics for some advice."

Claude smiled. "Go ahead, spoil them a bit."

"I've done that." Kyousuke chuckled and pushed up his glasses. "When I fed them the cherry tomatoes from yesterday's bento."

"Nice of you to up the vegetable intake of your juniors," Claude said with a laugh.

"Don't think I missed out on eating healthy. I traded my vegetables for some broccoli and carrots cut into the shape of flowers."

"I'll put those in the next bento and anything else you like. That's one respect for me to shape up too, as a boyfriend."

"No, it's fine."

To bring home that he meant it, Kyousuke embraced Claude, resting his head in the crook of Claude's neck.

"To be cared for when I've got nothing really important to do," he said, "that's what I never thought I'd get in my entire life."

"Kyousuke...to me, your whole existence cannot be more important."

The arms around Claude were wrapped even tighter.

"Damn," Kyousuke said with a faint tremor in his voice. "I really want to drag you into the toilet to have a longer quick one. But we shouldn't, and I won't be staying over tonight."

"I'll see you soon," Claude replied. "We still have an entire day all to ourselves before the semester begins."

"So close but so far away. Before then..."

Craning his neck, Kyousuke brought his mouth to Claude's ear. Claude hugged him closer, waiting for the warm gust of Kyousuke's breath and the reverberation of his voice.

"Think of me and have fun with our toys," he said.

Claude breathed in deep to cool his blood. He had better step away from Kyousuke even if that defied what he truly wanted. Where they were, in public and not far from those who looked up to them, he must ignore his baser self's demands to shove Kyousuke against the wall and crush their lips together.

Footsteps resounded close by, and someone would see them if they took too long to step apart from each other. With mutual reluctance, they did, just when Kouya appeared.

He stopped in front of the door of the men's washroom, saying, "Hey, there you are! What have you been talking about?"

"Nothing for the ears of high schoolers to hear," Kyousuke said.

"HUH!?"

Ticked off, Kouya marched towards him, glowering with his hands on his hips and his shoulders thrown back, trying to appear as large as he could.

"Claude, tell me," he insisted.

"Kyousuke's right," Claude replied. "If I tell you, you'd just find it inappropriate."

"Whatever! You guys may act like mature university students, but you'll always be just one year older than me!"

Spinning away and letting out one derisive huff, Kouya disappeared into the washroom.

Alone once more, Claude glanced at Kyousuke, and they exchanged smiles.

Both of them had missed Kouya dearly. Bantering with him like in the old days seemed to have let Kyousuke set down his emotional baggage, and pick back up the familiar thread of his friendship and partnership with Kouya. That was how it should be, and hopefully always be, if Claude could have life go his way.

**

A full day of Gear Fighting ended with many exhausted and hungry. On the invitation of the club’s manager, the Tobita Club members joined the others to have dinner at a yakiniku restaurant.

Too much meat was piled on Kouya's plate as many offered him a piece they grilled. On another table at the restaurant, fats dripping from thin slices of pork sparked bursts of flame from the grill, and Kyousuke shrieked, almost spilling his bowl of miso soup. Claude flipped his meat for him in between eating pieces that he had cooked.

After their meal, Kyousuke took off for his room at the university dorm, where he only slept in when he had to be close to the school's facilities for days at a time or when he liked to spread his tools and materials all over the place for clearing his backlog. Or if he wanted some space after fighting with Claude, which thankfully was a rare occurrence.

Together with Kouya, Claude took the subway to the train station closest to his apartment.

Once they alighted, Kouya said, "It's still early! Is there anywhere else fun that we can go?"

"Sorry, you’ll have to be on your own again. I've got to take care of some household chores," Claude replied.

Kouya groaned, as if also on Claude's behalf. "On a Saturday night?"

"That's the life of someone living alone."

Kouya sighed, loud enough for the two of them, and declared that he would stick with Claude.

What took priority was getting the laundry done, while the coin laundromat would be emptier on the one evening of the week when most were out and about for social activities. On returning home, Claude topped up his big jar of hundred-yen coins with more coins from a red pouch that Kyousuke handed him earlier. Since he had taken to getting Kyousuke's clothes washed too, Kyousuke started contributing to their funds for running the laundromat's washer and dryer.

Kouya examined Claude's coin jar, then observed with fascination the falling and clinking of the new coins. As he had never set foot in a laundromat before, Claude explained its workings.

"I'd like to take a look for myself," Kouya said. "Tell you what, I'll go there and do your laundry for you! How about it?"

"I can't ask you to do that, you're my guest!"

"It's fine! You'd be helping me out too by letting me have a taste of independent living! Besides, the sooner you get your chores done, the sooner we can just chill."

"You're right. Truly, thank you for taking the trouble."

Grinning, Kouya delivered a playful sideways bump to Claude's flank. Unlike the days before his growth spurt, he had become taller and heavier, and knocked Claude off his balance a little.

Claude laid his hand on the lid of his coin jar, saying, "Take a handful of these for the machines. I'll draw a map to the laundromat just in case."

"Got it!"

"Also, while you're at it, could you drop by the drycleaners to pick up some items? It's a short walk from the laundromat."

"No problem, put that on the map too."

On the top sheet of a notepad, Claude drew with his fountain pen a rough map of the neighbourhood and put crosses on the shops where Kouya had to go. He tore off the map and passed it to Kouya, also explaining the route for him to take, then went to fetch two white drawstring bags which contained his and Kyousuke's laundry.

Kouya took them up, slung them over his shoulder and gave Claude a backward wave with Claude's little map in his hand. Verbal directions would have sufficed for him, who had honed his skill for getting around unfamiliar places from all the travelling he had done for international tournaments. Yet it was best for Claude to ensure he wouldn't get lost after dark.

After having companions around for the past couple of days, the quietness of Claude's apartment seemed unnatural with just him there. Quite unlike the sort of quiet he was used to in his Japanese childhood home, where it was spacious and every member of the household could go about their own devices unseen and unheard. Everyone had a generous share of privacy, and the freedom and comfort that went with it. These were further complemented by the backdrop of calming sounds that Claude's parents took care to provide, like the fountain's rhythmic spill and flow of water and the shuffling of socked feet over tatami mats.

One downside of living there was that any sort of chaos, both within and without, had always seemed out of place. Claude never told his family, since they never asked about his preference for sorting out his thoughts at his dojo. In the city, he had changed in actually favouring to do his thinking at home, which could be chaotic and peaceful in equal measure.

As he settled into his cleaning routine, dusting and vacuuming and wiping surfaces, the rote, mechanical motions freed his mind up to tackle the fresh problem that Kyousuke had presented to him. About Kouya, about Kyousuke's lack of security over his future with Claude.

He tried to envision the sort of absurd, ludicrous scenarios staged in Kyousuke's head. Like Claude leaving him and running into Kouya's arms just to have someone whom he could reliably split mundane chores with.

Who did he think Claude was? Had Claude in any way let him think that he could easily stop loving the boy he has been in love with since he was twelve?

If he could, he would not be in his bathroom, washing the fleshlight that Kyousuke had him come in twice last night.

He put one finger into the toy’s slit and rubbed around to dislodge any clinging filth. Just having the tight press around his finger turned him on, and he relived the memory of Kyousuke speaking in his ear, telling him to have fun on his own.

On a towel spread over the sink, he set the fleshlight down. He wanted his hands free to splash some water on his face, douse the rising heat within him and pick back up the problem at hand.

Kyousuke's problem. One for which he thought the solution, in his own words, was to 'shape up' in the ways where he thought he was inadequate. Nothing there about how he liked Claude to change, with no blame placed on Claude for the turmoil that sprang on him. When he shared all that, all he wanted was for Claude to listen, to hear his thoughts.

Well, Claude should have listened harder. He ought to have detected even the most minute hairline crack in Kyousuke's soul.

All his thinking screeched to a halt as the ringing of the doorbell echoed throughout the apartment. Kouya was back. Claude wrapped his adult toy in the towel and hid it at the back of his closet until later when it was safer for him to leave it out to air dry. As he answered the door, Kouya stumbled in with the bags of laundry in one hand and in his other hangers sticking out of plastic clothes covers.

"There you go," Kouya said. "Mission accomplished!"

"Really, thanks again," Claude said, taking the dry cleaning from him to drape over the back of the armchair in his living room.

"By the way, you're the only person I know besides my mom who sends clothes to be dry cleaned. Is that green blazer yours?"

"This one?" From under the plastic cover containing one of Claude's more delicate shirts, Claude pulled out and held up the other cover with a sea green double-breasted blazer. "It belongs to Kyousuke."

"That's funny…when I first saw it, I thought it seemed a little small for you and would fit Kyousuke better. But wearing formal clothes doesn't really fit Kyousuke's image, does it?"

Kouya giggled at his own pun.

Claude let out a little laugh, then said, "It doesn't, but one has to start somewhere. Especially now that Kyousuke has to get funding for his projects and appear presentable in front of investors from traditional industries."

Kouya nodded, stepping closer to study the lapels of the blazer and its bronze buttons.

"It looks pretty expensive," he said. "Did Kyousuke actually shell out for it?"

"No, I got it for him, for his birthday."

"Wow! I'm kind of pleased to hear that, rather than find out our Genius Gear Master has become a Mister Fancy Schmanzypants."

"Would you like that for your birthday gift, a pair of 'fancy schmanzypants'?"

They carried on joking around while sitting on the floor and folding on the coffee table the clean clothes that Kouya brought back. Kouya assisted Claude once more for Claude's final chore of the day, insisting that two sets of hands were better than one and that he had become practically a pro at folding clothes from doing it for his mom every week. He really was a good son and would one day make a good boyfriend, probably for someone who was not a member of Tobita Club.

"Will Kyousuke be coming over?" Kouya asked.

"Not tonight," Claude replied. "He has a couple of early morning video call meetings with Gear Masters from different continents."

"Where does he stay anyway when he's not here?"

"In his university dorm room. You might have passed by the building while visiting our campus."

"Maybe." Kouya put aside a shirt he had folded, then stared into space as he thought back to all he had seen and explored the day before. "It's funny that the both of you aren't living together. I've noticed that he has got super comfortable around you, going around almost naked and keeping his stuff here like it's his own home."

"Yes, he has."

"Have the both of you become more like family?"

"…You can say that."

"So why don't you become roommates with him?"

"He thought he might as well keep his dorm room since he can stay there for free as part of his scholarship. And this place doesn't really have enough room for two."

What Claude had to keep to himself was the most important reason behind him and Kyousuke still living apart — to do otherwise might set off as yet unknown landmines for them. Committing to being around each other day in and day out involved a closeness interwoven with intimacy, yet also some amount of friction. As to how much of it they could take from each other, before what they had imploded in their faces, they were in the midst of learning. Until then, they continued as they were, with Claude having to be content with waking up and falling asleep together only on some days.

"Then get a bigger place!" Kouya scoffed, shaking his head as if in disbelief that he had to raise such an obvious solution. "Somewhere nice and affordable so Kyousuke won't mind paying rent. Seriously, he eats here, showers here and sleeps here –"

He stopped there and wrinkled his brow.

"Where exactly does Kyousuke sleep?" He asked.

"In my room," Claude replied.

As Kouya turned to him, Claude saw in his wide eyes the pieces falling into place to complete the full picture of what his friends had been up to in another city.

"May I," Kouya said, "take a look inside?"

"Sure."

Withholding the final piece of the puzzle was within Claude's reach, but he decided against it. No better timing might arise for him to let Kouya know about his love, without compromising Kyousuke's wish to postpone telling their friends about them.

After Claude opened his bedroom door, he stood aside. At the doorway, Kouya scanned the inside of the room, lingering on one piece of furniture after another. Claude could not help but hold his breath as Kouya turned his attention to Claude's closet, even if Kouya lacked any means to see through solid barriers and spot the collection of adult toys inside. Opening up about being romantically involved with Kyousuke was enough of a big step without having to scandalise Kouya also.

"There's just one bed. So, unless you get out a mattress," Kouya said, leaning against the door jamb, trying to look and sound casual. "Kyousuke will have to sleep on…"

"My bed," Claude finished for him.

"Yeah. And I suppose if he can lie on a bed someplace else, he wouldn't come all the way here just to sleep on the floor?"

"That's right."

"And the panels on the wall are for…?"

Those were the corrugated foam panels in various shades of black that were affixed to the walls of Claude's bedroom. The same kind of panels which lined the inside of Kyousuke's workshop in his father's factory.

"To soundproof the room for what takes place here…at night."

"I see!"

Tugging at the door handle, Kouya slammed it shut. Shaken in more ways than one, and not just from the reverberations in the air, Claude seized Kouya by the shoulders and turned him to stand face to face. Kouya's wide eyes, parted lips and frozen look reflected no smidge of disgust, only shock that seemed to send his brain tailspinning.

"What…How…When…"

While Kouya strived to secure a mental hold on what he just learned, Claude let some tension drain out of him. To do his best to stay composed, he entertained a brief thought about how his current situation could have got more hilariously horrifying, if he had to hammer home the truth through explaining how gay sex worked and what a fleshlight was for.

Leaning into the agitation churning within him, he dived right into the important message which he must get his friend to understand.

"I can only answer all your questions on another day," he said. "At an indefinite point in the future that's for Kyousuke to decide."

That counted as an indirect answer to one question Kouya would have wanted to ask – on who, between Claude and Kyousuke, set the parameters on how much to share about them. With it, Claude resolved a great part of Kouya's confusion as Kouya nodded with a small smile, relaxing in Claude's hold, giving off his familiar aura of acceptance and warm-heartedness.

"I get it, I think," he said. "I won't try to find out more. About the little I know…what should I do with it?"

"Just keep it between us," Claude said.

"Us, as in?"

"As in you and me. Absolutely no one else."

Even Jirou, Kaoru, Lilika and especially Kyousuke – all of them had to be kept in the dark, for the moment, about what Kouya knew. Straightforward as he was, he had never been dense, and saved Claude the heartache of spelling out his entire request.

"Okay, understood," Kouya said. "Just you and me. Still, I hope even after everything, we'll continue to be soulmates — you, me, Kyousuke and everyone else. Always, no matter what."

"Always," Claude repeated. "No matter what."

A hug put a comfortable stopping point to the stressful portion of their conversation. Or so Claude thought, until Kouya pulled back and scrutinized his face.

"I know I shouldn't ask," he said. "Or even say anything..."

"Yes?"

"With the height difference between you and Kyousuke, wouldn’t he get a cramp? Maybe in his neck or legs, when you guys..."

Claude released Kouya and stepped back. It appeared Kyousuke had some concrete basis after all in his idea of the potential, though not the likelihood, of Kouya taking his place.

**

In slightly less than two days, when schools reopened all over Japan, Kouya's spring semester would begin with a physics test. The importance of studying for it had slipped his mind, only returning full force on his way to the train station for his homewards trip. As he sighed and groaned, Claude advised him to take a long nap and save his energy for revising at home.

"Flunking it won't matter since it's not the big exam," Kouya grumbled.

"You'll flunk that too if you don't take your preparation seriously," Claude said. "Have you forgotten your promise to the other Gear Fighters yesterday? That you'll pass the university entrance exams with flying colours to attend school with Kyousuke and I, and give them all the rematches they want at their club?"

"I'll just go to Jirou's school. And I never said 'flying colours'."

"Jirou's school has stricter entry requirements than ours, don't you know?"

They hung around the train platform, waiting for Kyousuke. A short while before Kouya had to board his train, Kyousuke showed up, panting and clutching his side. Out of breath, he looked like he was about to keel over, and Kouya caught him in his arms.

"Kyousuke!" Kouya clutched him tight. "You made it!"

"Yeah," Kyousuke replied, rising and falling against Kouya's chest. "I'm here, since I like you more than I hate train stations. So big, so crowded, so unnecessarily complicated to get to the right place."

Kyousuke's forehead was sweaty, his cheeks were flushed and dark circles coloured the bottom of his eyes.

"You look like you got no sleep," Claude commented.

"I didn't," Kyousuke said. "I lent a hand in untangling a snag in the Korean Gear Master's latest project. Sacrificed one night's rest for about a month's worth of interesting discussion."

"Well done," Claude said.

Then Kyousuke patted Kouya on his back, saying, "Oy, when are you going to let go?"

"Just absorbing your genius for a troublesome test," Kouya said, and stroked both his arms up and down Kyousuke's back. "But I'll let go soon, so Claude can take over."

He turned to Claude to throw him a wink full of meaning. Feigning ignorance, Claude schooled his features and rested his hand on Kouya's shoulder.

"It's almost time for your train to leave," he said. "We'll see each other again soon."

"I hope we do!"

"Have a safe trip," Kyousuke said, squeezing Kouya extra tight and patting the back of Kouya’s head.

Only after Kouya's train whizzed past, with him waving like mad at the window, did Kyousuke take Claude's hand. Rather than wanting to leave straight away, he sat with Claude on one of the station's benches and rested his head on Claude's shoulder. Their joined hands were laid along Claude's thigh. Into Claude’s chest, Kyousuke set loose a long yawn.

"It'd be great if I could absorb some of Kouya's energy in exchange for my genius," he mumbled.

"He really livens up everywhere he goes," Claude said. "This weekend with him around was both fun and interesting."

"Interesting, how?"

"Often Kouya is like our little brother. But with just us, without Jirou or Kaoru, he's like a son or a puppy."

"Is that so!"

Shaking with laughter, Kyousuke sat up straight, more awake than before.

"I know what you mean," he said. "And you did have to take him out to pee!"

Claude's affectionate casting of their friend in familial, non-romantic roles pepped Kyousuke up on their short walk to the restaurant near the station. The same one where they ate with Kouya three nights ago. And like then, they got their fuel first before going home to cuddle on a comfortable bed.

As Kyousuke picked at his bowl of ravioli, seeming too weak to bring another forkful to his mouth, Claude said, "The sooner we finish, the sooner we can take a nap."

Kyousuke sighed. "I don't know…my eyes are heavy but my mind is restless."

"I'll read to you one of the readings for my philosophy class – Jean-Paul Sartre's "The Problem of Nothingness"."

"Oh, that's perfect."

Some half-hearted chewing followed, in the middle of which Kyousuke swallowed too soon. He coughed, then paused eating to sip from his glass of water.

Claude waited for him to finish drinking and swallowing his water.

"Kyousuke, I love you."

"…Say that again when my dick is in your ass."