Tis but a Scrap - 1. In Heaven

In Heaven

Eoinn was supposed to be working with Masatoshi on their project, but the friends had taken a break when Eoinn became too fidgety and distracted to focus properly. So, instead of writing character analyses for their assigned character foils, they sat on Eoinn’s bedroom floor trading insults and trash talking with various anonymous Call of Duty players for the last hour-and-a-half.

They'd just finished another round, and were about to que up for another when Eoinn cleared his throat.

“Hey, Toshi?”

Masatoshi turned at the uncertainty in Eoinn’s voice. “Hai?”

“I think…I…” Eoinn shoved mousy brown locks out of his hazel eyes and looked as if trying find the right words. “If I told you something, would you promise not to freak out?” Eoinn groaned. “Oh, like that’s not going to guarantee that you’ll freak out. I mean, even I’m starting to freak out. Oh fuck, this is—”

“It’s okay.” Masatoshi bumped the other boy with his elbow. “Just tell me.”

Eoinn dragged his hand down his face. “So, remember that party a couple weeks ago? You know, when they started playing ‘seven minutes?’”

“Yeah, they put you in the closet with Stephan Bellinger.” Masatoshi nodded. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Eoinn said, fidgeting with the game controller in his lap. “Nothing happened.”

“Okay, so nothing happened.”

“Fuck…you can’t tell anybody this, but he kinda leaned into me a little…I think…or maybe I leaned into him…I dunno…but, it was just for a second and I pulled back and it got really awkward.” Eoinn paused. “Thing is, I keep thinking about it.” He took a deep breath, but kept his eyes trained on the still image on the screen as a florid bloom spread over his face. “Like I wanted something to happen.”

“Oh,” Masatoshi said simply, unable able to call forth a decent response.

“Never really thought about Stephan ‘that way’ before, but now I’m popping boners all over the place because I got locked in a linen closet with some guy and kinda sorta got the urge to make out with him.” The words fell from Eoinn’s mouth, surging from stuttering trickle to verbal diarrhea downpour. “It’s weird, but it made me wonder if I might be into dudes. Like, ‘doing gay stuff’ into dudes. So, I started looking up gay shit to test it out—watching porn, reading yaoi, and all that. Did you know Wikipedia has a whole entry on ‘gay sex?’” He didn’t give Masatoshi time to answer. “There were all these terms and illustrations, and not all gay dudes do butt sex, sometimes just hand jobs, which I guess is kinda cool… But, it wasn’t weird—I was getting turned on and shit. Then, I was watching some K-pop boy bands later and…I think I have a thing for Taeyang—not like a man-crush, I-want-to-be-like-Taeyang deal, but like a full-on want-to-lick-the-sweat-off-his-six-pack crush-crush thing. Like, dude, I’d trade my left nut to be the meat in a Taeyang/G-Dragon sandwich.” Eoinn peeked at a speechless Masatoshi for the first time since he began spouting off before suddenly whipping back around and groaning into his hands. “Oh fucking great move, Eoinn. Just go ahead and tell the straight Asian guy that you have a raging hard-on other straight Asian guys.”

“Eoinn—”

He looked at his lap. “And, while you’re at it, why not pop massive wood? There’s no way he’ll freak the fuck out…”

Masatoshi laughed.

“Sorry, man, forget everything I just said.”

“Dude—”

“I’m not perving on you, I swear.”

“Relax, it’s cool.” His mouth quirked up at Eoinn’s slouching back against the bed in relief. “Besides, I’m gay, not straight, so I wouldn’t really freak about you not being straight either.”

“Thanks.” Eoinn began to sigh before his eyes popped open mid-heave. “Wait, you’re gay?”

“Yup.”

“Oh.” It seemed the guy had finally run out of words.

Masatoshi shrugged. “So, you now have a crush on Stephen Bellinger?”

“No, not really, at least, I don’t think so. I guess I regret not doing anything when I had the chance.”

“Why?”

“As a trial run, or something,” Eoinn said. “Maybe to see what it’d be like to make out with another guy. I mean, what would you do if someone locked you in a closet with Stephen Bellinger?”

Masatoshi’s face heated up as he thought it over. “Uhm…”

“Dude’s hot, right?”

“Yeah, Stephen is pretty hot.” He slouched back next to his friend.

“So, yeah, I chickened out and wasted a chance to make out with a hot guy.”

“Any guy would do, huh,” Masatoshi chuckled.

“Pretty much,” Eoinn agreed, a sardonic note skirting the edge. “I mean, it wouldn’t have to mean anything, just to try it out and never talk about it again. But, I blew it. Yay, me!” He sighed. “Sorry for being such a…” He trailed off, waving his hand weakly, and the two young men sat on the bedroom floor, neither bothering to speak or resume playing their game despite their growing nervousness.

Masatoshi’s eyes cast around to find something, anything, to latch onto and pull them out of the awkwardness. Yet, for some reason, he kept returning to Eoinn’s bedroom closet. Masatoshi still found American closets oversized, especially those in apartments like Eoinn’s. His friend was tall, even by American standards, but would have no problems laying down in his own closet. And, even with all the boy’s clothes, shoes, and sports gear thrown in haphazardly, there was still room in the walk-in closet for more stuff. Masatoshi stared at the smaller door, his mouth suddenly forming words before his brain could properly vet them.

“We could try it now.”

“Huh?”

“In the…” He pointed feebly. “In the closet. ‘Seven Minutes.’”

Eoinn cycled through a few uhs and uhms.

“Just an idea,” Masatoshi added nervously as Eoinn sat up straighter. He shifted around, left hanging in an awkward pause.

“We…” Eoinn said. Before he finished the thought, he stood, and Masatoshi looked up. “We could.” And he stepped to the open closet and flipped the light on.

Masatoshi followed, and Eoinn held open the door before shuffling in after him and pulling to door closed. The boys stood face-to-face, avoiding eye contact. Eoinn wiped his hands on his pants legs then lifted them as if to settle them on Masatoshi’s shoulders, aborting the maneuver halfway and letting them drop back to his sides.

“Uh, lights on or off?” Eoinn asked quietly.

“It might be better if—”

“Yeah,” Eoinn said and cracked open the door so he could stick his hand out and turn off the light, leaving the door slightly ajar to let in a little light and air from outside. Eventually, Eoinn’s hands made their way onto Masatoshi’s shoulders, and Masatoshi watched the boy take a shaky breath in the meagre light. He closed his eyes moments before Eoinn’s lips connected with his softly, briefly. They giggled nervously in the semi-darkness, then both boys leaned in for another kiss, one just as chaste as the first, but slightly longer in duration. Eoinn’s lush mouth on his sent a thrill through Masatoshi.

“Was that okay?” Masatoshi asked.

“Yeah,” Eoinn answered. “Can I do it again?”

“Yeah.”

A flurry of kisses followed, their mouths lingered longer, parted wider, until tongues entered the arena of play and it was all downhill from there. Deep breaths and sighs gave way to panting and moaning. The hands that hand rested innocently on Masatoshi’s shoulders soon curled around his neck and before long became tangled in his hair. Not to be left out of the game, Masatoshi’s hands made themselves welcome at Eoinn’s waist, pulling their chests flush.

Eoinn pulled back first, resting his head on Masatoshi’s shoulder and sending his heavy breaths along his neck. Masatoshi gasped and shivered while Eoinn’s hands ghosted down his back to clasp at his waist.

“Yup, definitely into dudes.” Eoinn chuckled and planted a soft kiss along the curve of Masatoshi’s neck.

Something about that kiss—the placement, the warmth, something—sent a jolt through the boy and he arched his back with a small cry. For the first time, their hips connected, and while it had been only the briefest of glancing touches, it was enough to establish the other’s arousal.

"Oh fuck," Eoinn groaned before trailing a line of licks and nips up his friend's neck and back to his mouth. The exploratory nature of Eoinn's initial kisses gave way to something more akin to devouring....