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Finding himself in the wealthiest part of town, sure wasn’t on GV's list of plans for the afternoon.
Did Copen really live here? How?
If he weren’t driving, he’d try to double check the address the albino had given him some days prior.
The two had planned this little outing weeks ago—neither could find the time any earlier, what with schoolwork flooding both their calendars.
He really could have lived without Mr. Benz' insistence on him giving another presentation about the importance of emotions. Speaking in front of an entire lecture hall of people simply wasn’t good for his heart.
The blond came up to a fork in the road—if he remembered correctly, Copen texted something about his house being somewhere on the right. A sleek Cadillac was driving behind GV. He felt judged, just a bit.
Driving on Ninja usually did wonders to clear his head—now, though, he couldn’t get rid of the nerves that got him overthinking his every move.
The albino and him had mostly been in contact via text, since the night they met. Courtesy of them having classes in different buildings on campus, and the albino’s aunt being pretty strict about him coming home on time.
Lola was always down to chat in person, though. Lumen and her had really hit it off, by now. He was happy for his big sister.
The road led him down to a cul-de-sac. A large house—mansion, really—greeted him, once the asphalt gave way to a pristine sidewalk.
GV stopped on the side of the road, yanking his phone from his bag the second the ignition was off. Raising the visor and readjusting his glasses, he went through his and Copen’s chat log. Yep, correct address.
He eyed the beautifully decorated front yard, hidden behind neatly trimmed hedges. The whole place looked like it came straight out of a novel.
A ping reached his ears, through the material of his helmet. Returning his attention to the small device in his palm let him see a picture—showing himself, obviously taken from one of the higher windows.
‘Sorry, Lola stole my phone’ popped up shortly after, in the chat. It got GV to chuckle. The two may not be siblings, but they sure acted similar to how he and Lumen tended to annoy the ever-loving jitt out of each other.
It was adorable, really.
Seeing as he now had undeniable confirmation that he—indeed—was at the correct house, the blond made sure Ninja was properly parked and shut off, before stepping down from the stirrups and landing on solid stone.
Messenger bag with way too many pins hanging securely off his shoulder, and two helmets in hand, GV began striding towards the front door.
Greeting him behind the door, was a woman with a short, red bob—she was also wearing a maid uniform. Just how rich were these people?
“Good afternoon, you must be GV, I presume.”, the woman spoke, politely. He was caught off guard by the formality of her words. “Hello. Uh, yes, I am.”
The woman stepped aside, letting the blond enter the home. It looked even more expensive from the inside—it had that monotone minimalist aesthetic, with some colorful individual furniture pieces and art sprinkled in-between. Were those marble stairs, back there?
He felt so out of place here—in just a simple pair of jeans and white shirt under a leather jacket. The blond could practically feel the value of the property decrease, just from his sheer presence.
He was led into a living room—Mytyl was also there, laying on the couch in front of the TV. Her wheelchair was left standing beside said couch. The albino scrambled into a sitting position, when the red-headed woman cleared her throat.
She waved GV over, urging him to sit beside her. He went down willingly. The shorter woman looked around for her phone, before the sound of rapid-fire typing began ringing throughout the space.
‘Hi, how you doing?’
“Good, thanks.”, his eyes flicked over to the TV, which was still showing some action movie he had never seen, “Is that movie any good? Joule has been looking for new stuff for movie night.”
Mytyl gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Footsteps could be heard behind them, steadily increasing in volume. One set of the footsteps sped up, until Lola popped up next to the blond, halfway laying over the sofa’s backrest.
“Hey there!”
GV did not jump out of his skin, barely so. “H-hi, Lola.” You could say the blond’s heart rate was sufficiently spiked now. The green-haired girl then slid the rest of the way over the back of the couch, before actually moving to sit normally.
Copen’s deadpan voice could be heard behind the trio: “Hey.” Looking over his shoulder, GV could see the albino standing some ways away, still in a nearby corridor. He looked nervous, almost.
“Copen, get your flat butt over here! It’s rude to leave your guests hanging!”, Lola’s impatient command was enough to get the man moving. He stayed behind the couch, leaning on the back by Mytyl’s side. “Did you find the place okay?”, asked the albino.
GV nodded at that: “Yeah, just fine.”
With not much else to say, the blond held out one of the helmets for the taller man to take. It was his spare—or rather, the one Joule and Lumen had claimed for themselves, for whenever he took them places. It was covered in all sorts of stickers. “You still up for a ride?”
Copen gingerly took the thing out of his hands, looking it over a little.
The maid—he should ask her name, it feels weird to just keep referring to her by her profession—spoke up, sterner than she had been before. “I hope you aren’t planning on driving around in that, Copen. You’ll get injured.”
“I was not planning on letting us go skidding across the asphalt.”, GV replied, just a tiny bit offended. But, it was true, technically—the man was wearing only a tee over a thin long sleeved shirt and jeans—it wouldn’t do much to keep him safe, if an accident were to happen. As if GV was unprepared for that scenario.
“But,”, he dragged out the vowel for dramatic effect, “that’s why I also brought this.”, he rummaged through his bag, pulling out his folded bike leathers, “You look like you’re around my size, but we’ll see how it fits.” His forethought seemingly got him in the woman’s good graces.
The piece of leather was snatched from his outstretched hand, by Lola. She began to thumb over the thick material. “Looks high quality.” It is—took him half a summer’s worth of paychecks to pay for it, too. Oh, the joy of wanting a custom-made piece.
The short woman eventually got up and shoved the garment into her friend’s arms—exchanging it for the helmet—before pushing him back over to the hallway they previously came from. “Go change! I want to know what you look like, in that.”
With a few embarrassed grumbles, the albino was off.
And, with the man’s disappearance, two sets of eyes suddenly bore into him. In a flash, Lola was in front of him, easy smile on her lips. It didn’t reach her eyes. Mytyl wasn’t as scary, but the fact he couldn’t even begin to guess what she was thinking, unnerved him nonetheless.
“So, pretty boy, I’ve got a question.”, Lola leaned over, getting way too up into his face. “Just what, pray tell, are your intentions with our dear klutz?” Well, that was unexpected.
Maybe it was the threatening aura suddenly permeating the room, or maybe it was the daggers still being glared into the side of his face—but GV’s brain couldn’t process their intent, exactly. “What exactly do you mean?”
Lola groaned, before backing off. But he wasn’t off the hook just yet, it seemed, seeing as the short albino sitting beside him roughly poked the blond in-between the ribs. A phone screen was thrust into his face. ‘What are you planning on doing with my little brother?’
“I thought you two were twins?” Mytyl made some hand motions, which he could only interpret to mean something along the lines of ‘doesn’t matter!’.
Then, it was like a light switch had been flipped, in his mind. “Wait– are you two trying to give me the shovel talk?”, he couldn’t help the giggle, that escaped him.
The green-haired woman standing across from him visibly deflated, disappointment lining her features. “Man, you’re supposed to be intimidated by this.”, she poked him in the chest, “Let me rephrase what I mean, then.”
The taller woman took a deep breath to calm down. When she faced GV again, her face was serious once more, but nowhere near close to the glare from before. “We’re trying to look out for Copen – the idiot is a complete newbie, when it comes to dating – so we expect you to treat him well!”
And didn’t that get him sputtering. “Dating? You two do realize we’ve only been texting, right?” It was sufficient to get the taller of the two to back off a little. The albino woman looked perplexed, then the frantic tapping on her screen started up again. ‘I thought you two were an item by now???’
What a misunderstanding...
“What gave you that impression?” Lola shrugged, clearly searching for the right words to say. “Well, Copen’s been floating on cloud nine, pretty much since the night of your last race.”
Another tap to his side, much gentler this time. ‘So we just assumed…’
He chuckled at that. He couldn’t really blame the two for trying to look out for the albino—hell, he’d do the same, if he were in their position, probably. “If it helps you sleep at night, I wouldn’t dream about letting him get hurt.”
Before much more could be said, footsteps alerted them to a presence entering the living room. Judging by Lola’s steadily widening grin, it was quite a sight.
“What are you doing, caging GV in like a criminal?”, Copen’s slightly disturbed inquiry was enough to get the person, still hovering over GV, moving. Lola bounded up to the taller man, shaking him by the shoulders.
“Look at you!”
The albino flushed a little. It looked just as cute as GV remembered the sight to be. “Looking good, Copen.” The blush got worse, spreading to the tips of his ears.
The black leather hugged the taller man’s figure nicely, though the jacket part looked a tiny bit oversized on him. And those sparse blue accents drew attention to all the best places. His bright white hair also contrasted with the dark of the suit really well—it really brought out the man’s crimson eyes.
“You think so?”, the albino said, lips quirked up in a nervous smile, fiddling with the hem of his sleeves. The blond nodded enthusiastically. “Does it fit alright?” All the while, Lola was busy circling the man, giving him a solid once-over.
“It’s a little loose around the shoulders and chest.”, he rolled his shoulder for emphasis. That got the short woman going. “Around the chest?!” she snapped her head back over to GV—clearly trying to look for something.
The blond took that as his cue to get up from the sofa, striding over to the duo. For his sanity’s sake, he did not comment on the green-haired girl’s antics.
Being the center of attention, like this, was really unnerving.
Four sets of eyes on him were enough to get the hair on the back of his neck to stand up on end. Thanks to Lola’s rather unconventional way of finding information—literally poking Copen in the chest, to gauge just how big the difference in size between him and the blond was—had him squirming, where he stood.
Mytyl partook in the staring, too—but she, at least, had the social awareness and decency to be more discrete about it.
He desperately hoped the woman beside him had enough tact, to not go fondle the shorter man—that would surely axe any chance he possibly had with the blond. The albino also didn’t think he could survive the humiliation of that sight.
Copen swore he saw GV raking his gaze over him, once the shorter man stood directly next to them. The albino hoped the appreciative look the blond gave him wasn’t just his imagination playing games. “The pant legs are a little short for you. Makes sense, you’re taller than me.”
He looked down, where the leather stopped a few centimeters above his ankles. “Is that going to be a problem?”, he asked, a desperate edge to his tone. Copen really hoped it wouldn’t be—he was this close to actually riding on a bike! He was not about to just let that chance slip away, even if he would need to bribe Nori to not mention any of this to his aunt!
GV waved his concerns off. “As long as you have a pair of sturdy boots, to cover that up, it should be fine.”
Yes! The albino didn’t even care, if him pumping his fist into the air looked childish.
Nori went over, appraising the leathers herself. It made him feel like a child. He was a grown man, there was no need to baby him like this! The older woman regarded the blond again. “Please have him back before dinner – so around seven.”
Copen should be used to this by now, but it was mortifying, right in front of his crush. “I’m not a little kid, you know.” GV, for some unknown reason, did not seem to care in the slightest. “Will do.”
GV shouldered off his bag, leaving it by the sofa. “Dumb question, but could you tell me where the bathroom is? It’s that time of the month.”, the blond looked a bit sheepish.
Lola was helpful enough to point him down the hall. “End of the corridor there. Door to the right.”
“Thanks! Be back in a sec.”
Once Copen was sure GV was out of earshot, his head snapped back to his best friend. “Please tell me you didn’t do anything dumb.” At the indignant huff he got in response, the albino crossed his arms, thoroughly unimpressed. “Don’t play dumb. I know you.” A glance to the side revealed…Mytyl pointedly looking everywhere but at him. Oh no.
“Nori, what did they do?”, he was panicking, just a little. He had not the slightest clue what exactly Lola and Mytyl had attempted to do, but the scene he had walked in on earlier, spelled trouble.
The red-headed woman remained as calm as ever, curtly stating: “Looking out for you.” As if he couldn’t do that himself! He said as much.
Lola piped up again. “Look, I know you like him – we do too, don’t get us wrong! He’s a sweet guy.”, she hesitated for a bit, “And we’re all thrilled you’re actually coming out of your shell, a little.”
Meanwhile, Nori had stepped beside Mytyl, proceeding to read her texts aloud. “You have to admit, those races and stuff could lead to trouble.” Once she was done, the woman righted her posture, before adding her own comment on the situation. “From what I heard, a fight nearly broke out that day.”
Copen groaned: “But nothing serious happened. Did these two tell you that, too?” The woman in question shook her head. Sadly, she wasn’t done, yet. “But they did say, that your friend here was the instigator.”
“Only in retaliation for the jitt Eden pulled!”
Lola rested an arm on his shoulder, then. “Okay, okay, this is getting out of hand. We cleared that all up already!”, she was holding on to his arm, now. “We just wanted to make sure you’d be safe. It’s a messed up world, out there.”
“Alright, you good to go?”, GV asked, when he returned—none the wiser about the insult to his own honor, that had occurred only moments prior. Copen just nodded, in lieu of a reply.
“Bye, you two! Stay safe!” yelled Lola, once they got to the door.
Ninja was exactly where he had left her.
Copen’s excitement visibly grew, once he laid eyes upon the machine. The albino began tapping on the surface of the helmet in his arms. The guy was basically vibrating on the spot.
“So, I’m your chauffeur until seven – where do you want to go?”
Visibly blanking at the question, the taller man narrowed his eyes in thought. He also wrinkled his nose in a really cute way. It clearly took him a moment to consider his options—GV waited patiently beside him, idly humming a melody.
Eventually, nodding to himself, Copen asked: “You know the way to that spaceship wreck, outside of town? Can we go there?”
He was talking about the crash-site of an old Sumeragi aircraft. The thing had just plummeted to the ground one day, landing right on the top of a hill just outside the borders of the city—long before they were even born. Attempts to salvage and remove the wreck have been made for years, until the government eventually gave up and just left it there. It had become a popular destination for hikers, in the years since.
“Sure, we can!” Straddling the bike’s seat, GV turned the key. The vibrations of the engine did wonders in getting the blond in just as good a mood as Copen. He patted the space behind him. “Hop on!”
He kept both legs firmly planted on the ground, keeping the bike stable, as the albino put on the helmet and gingerly climbed into the seat. The taller man seemed unsure of what to do with his arms, keeping them close to his sides.
“You have to hold onto me, once we start moving or you’ll fall off.”
Copen audibly sputtered, before shakily wrapping his arms around GV’s waist—pressing his chest against the blond’s back. “You just sit still, alright? I’ll take care of turns – if we throw her off balance, it’ll get ugly.”
“Got it.”
“You ready to go, then?”
“Yes!” GV really had to tamper down the laugh that threatened to bubble up, from the eager exclamation. He released the clutch and slowly accelerated, causing the bike to lurch forward. Once they were moving, he turned to exit the cul-de-sac and drove down the street.
Pretty much every single movement caused Copen to tighten his hold on the blond. It made sense—for someone not used to the motions, it was almost like the bike was threatening to tip over any second.
He didn’t judge—GV looked no better, the first time Zeno let him ride as passenger on his bike. Man, that was already four years ago.
GV laid one of his hands over the arms still clinging to him, at least while they were still on the mostly empty roads of the albino’s neighborhood.
Once they left the quieter residential areas of the city, is when the real fun began.
They picked up quite a bit of speed—still under the legal limit, of course. But it was still enough to have Copen keep the torso of the man directly in front of him in a vice grip.
GV drove steady and safely, not getting close to any other vehicle in traffic with them. Another person on a motorcycle shot past the duo, overtaking anyone as soon as they got close and weaving between cars—it's, admittedly, how he expected GV to drive, what with the shorter man’s affinity for high velocities.
Copen took in the sights around him—mostly just a landscape of concrete and steel—a pretty mundane sight, if you think about it. But the speed at which they passed by buildings, the wind whipping past his ears, along with the steady and grounding presence of GV, all combined to make his heart race with something so different from the fear of earlier.
With some newfound confidence, the albino hyped himself up, until he yelled over the air currents: “Faster!”
He was sure it must have been barely audible, muffled through his helmet and over the roar of the engine—but the blond’s back noticeably stiffened up, before finding his gaze in the side mirror. It was easy to guess what the man wanted to convey. So, Copen gave a vigorous nod.
GV sped up.
After confirming the albino had indeed just asked him to go faster, he changed gears and let Ninja gradually pick up more speed. If he accelerated too fast, the burst would surely catch Copen off-guard—and that might make him fall off. Definitely don’t want that to happen!
The blond was not at all disappointed, when the arms around him got tighter. It just felt right.
They were going above the speed limit now, but not by much. Over the years, he had developed a feeling for the threshold the police wouldn’t care about and simply turn a blind eye to. He had never been pulled over, and he was certainly not about to let that change—especially with Copen still right there.
Even if it wasn’t considered all that fast for him, personally, the albino clinging to his back was in awe. In his side mirror, GV could see the other looking around at their surroundings flying past them—the taller man’s eyes were crinkled in an obvious grin, visible even behind the tinted visor.
GV could feel a smile of his own forming. He was glad, he could make the albino’s first bike ride a good one.
After around thirty minutes of driving, they reached their exit, on the edge of town. He slowed down Ninja considerably, as the wide four-lane road tapered down into just one.
He could see Copen take in their changing surrounding—having long since transitioned from the urban streets of their neighborhoods to the rural outskirts, the occasional one-family home breaking up the vast expanse of grassy fields.
The distant silhouette of the wreck was clearly visible, steadily getting closer.
The arms around him got tighter once more, when he had to swerve around a pothole. The maneuver forced him to slow down even more—a speed he kept up. He would need to slow down anyway, once they got to another exit—the one that led directly towards their destination.
The dirt road that followed the exit wound itself through the hills framing the area’s skyline. The path was even more neglected than the previous streets, so he had to be careful.
Trees began to cast shade onto the road, soon transitioning into what could actually be considered a forest. He could see why it was such a popular spot for hikers. Speaking of which, the path led them to a clearing with packed down dirt—the rest of it was blocked off for vehicles.
Slowing down to a crawl, GV parked at the edge of the clearing, before turning off the engine.
Copen gave him a pat on the shoulder: “We’re here.”, before scrambling to get off the bike. His steps were just a bit wobbly. The albino began fiddling with the strap of the helmet, clearly struggling.
GV took pity on him, getting off Ninja as well, and opening the strap for the taller man. Once the albino’s face was fully visible, he could see the slightly dazed look in his eyes.
“All good?”
Copen blinked in surprise, before practically lighting up. “More than. That was so much fun!” He laughed, playing with one of the longer strands of his hair. “It was scary at first, but once we sped up it was just– wow!”
GV grinned in response. He was glad that Copen had enjoyed the ride. The other man’s enthusiasm rubbed off on him.
The albino began making his way over to the barrier, before looking back to the blond, expectantly.
“I wasn’t aware, we’d be going on a hike.”, the blond man chuckled.
The two continued down the beaten path, which slowly became steeper as they headed closer to their destination. “It won’t be a long one. Promise.”, Copen assured the other.
He took another moment to look at GV—the man seemed to be the very image of calm. Copen wished he could feel even an ounce of the other’s confidence.
As much as he wanted to pretend it wasn’t an issue, Copen couldn’t help comparing himself to the other. The blond acted not-at-all bothered by his own skin—hell, the first time they properly talked, GV was running around in just his binder!
Meanwhile, here Copen was—on some days, just looking in the mirror was too much for him. God, he is just pathetic.
“Everything alright?” The question managed to return the albino back to reality. He had stopped walking, just standing in the middle of the path. GV was a few steps ahead of him, worry clearly etched onto his features. Now embarrassed, Copen hastily made his way over to the shorter man, not wanting to give his head any more chances to spiral. This has to be the worst possible time to get gender dysphoria!
Something tugged at his arm. Looking down at his wrist, he could see GV’s hand—steadily holding on to him. “Hey, what’s up? You’re worrying me here, mate.”
Copen paused to take a deep breath. Was he fine?—not really, if this internal breakdown was any indication.
“I’m alright. Just got lost in thought.” The blond seemed not convinced, but just sighed and gave him a tentative smile. “If you say so.”
It only took them another ten minutes to actually reach the crash-site—still walking hand-in-hand, much to the detriment of Copen’s still burning cheeks.
The trees gave way to clear skies, and Copen was glad the area turned out to be entirely devoid of people—what a miracle, considering it was the weekend.
The view from all the way out here was truly something else.
The blond seemed to share his sentiment. “Wow.”, he gasped, “I’ve never actually been up here – what a mistake that was.”
The remains of the old spaceship oversaw the entirety of the city. You could see the old industrial complex—where GV's troupe raced—all the way over to the popular shopping districts and even Sinner’s Row.
Copen dragged them over to the edge of the hill, before sitting down on the dry grass. In an inexplicable surge of confidence, the albino squeezed the hand still interlaced with his own. When the blond returned the gesture, he was thrilled.
It might be the nostalgia he associates with the place, maybe it was the steady presence beside him—who knows—but something urged Copen to talk. “My parents used to bring Mytyl and I up here, whenever she could leave the hospital for a while.”
“Sounds sweet.”, the blond lightly knocked his shoulder into the taller man. Copen nodded: “Yeah, it was.”, he took a deep breath, “I couldn’t bring myself to go here alone, after they passed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Copen frantically tried to ease the other’s frown. “Don’t be – that was years ago. And, you had nothing to do with it.”, he heaved a sigh, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
At that, the blond placed his free hand on the albino’s cheek, cupping it and slowly redirecting Copen’s gaze until he was looking straight into determined, bright blue eyes. “Hey now, stop that. No need to apologize for something like that. This place obviously means a lot to you.”, his eyes softened into something more somber, “You want to talk about it– them– whatever?”
That worked wonders for the frown on the albino’s face—he even giggled a little. He shrugged, playing with the hand still acting as a solid weight in his.
“Well, when we were little, Mytyl was really sickly. She spent most of her time in a hospital bed – she hated it, understandably so.”, he huffed, “Our parents were always looking for things to do and places to go, whenever we’d get a weekend all together. She had been completely wheelchair bound, back then, so that narrowed our options down. But, we made the best of it.”
The hand he was holding let go, moving up to pull him in by the shoulder. Copen went down easily, letting his head rest on GV’s shoulder.
“When the doctors gave us the green light to take her outside for longer periods of time, dad suggested this place. It was hilarious, watching him struggle with her wheelchair because the ground was muddy.”, the albino laughed at the memory, “Once we made it here, we just sat down and watched the town and nature around us, until sunset. We made a tradition out of it.”
He had to take a deep breath to get through the next bit. “Dad died in a freak accident at work, when I was seven. Safe to say, we didn’t take it well – mom especially.”, he swallowed the lump stuck in his throat. He had already come this far—it would be alright to say the rest. “Mom… took her own life, a little over a year later. Our family had a history of mental illness, so it was assumed that – with the grief and responsibility of two children – she just couldn’t handle it.”
The blond spoke up again: “They sound like great parents.”, the arm around his shoulders gave him a stronger side hug. Copen nodded, and sniffled wetly at the dredged up emotions. “They weren’t perfect – but to me, they were the best.”
Feeling just a tad bit too vulnerable, the albino felt the need to deflect the attention off himself. “What are your parents like?”
GV froze at that.
Despite Copen’s immediate regret, the other actually talked. “I don’t know my parents.”
“Jitt, I’m sorry–“
The blond shushed him. “Don’t be – I don’t really care about that. Haven’t in a long time.” The man giggled—honest to God, giggled. “You talked about something difficult for you, only fair I share something about my childhood too, no?” The blond scratched the back of his neck—no doubt, did finding the right words come with some difficulty.
“I’ve been a foster kid for as long as I could remember. Wasn’t even given a name, by my bio parents. Got passed around from family to family, until I aged out of the system.”, he shrugged.
Copen was confused at that. “What about your sisters, then? Did you stay together, when switching families?” The albino desperately hoped the trio had been able to stay together.
To his disappointment, GV shook his head. “Joule and Lumen aren’t my sisters by blood. They are related to each other, though. I met them in a foster home when I was 14, and we just hit it off. They came from an abusive family, so they both had some… issues, regarding people. I wanted to stand up for them, keep them safe. Took blame for stuff they did, so that they wouldn’t get yelled at, or got into fights with bullies. It was well worth the detention.”
The blond took a deep breath, before a smile formed on his features. “We toughed it out together, for those last few years. Also caused a big fuss, when they wanted to separate us again, since I was supposed to be sent off to another family. In the end, we managed to stay together.”, the smile got bigger, losing the sad edge to it altogether, “Once Lumen and I aged out, only a few months apart, we found a tiny place we could barely afford with our minimum wage jobs, and moved in together.”
He began fiddling with the helmet in his lap. Specifically, he thumbed over the butterfly sticker on the side. “Joule got out a little over a year later, and she came to stay with us. We made it work, somehow, and with some elbow grease, stubbornness and a lot of extra shifts at work, landed here.”
“Is that why you started with those races?”
Nodding in confirmation, the blond sighed: “Yep. Used to drive on Asimov’s – err, Leader’s – old bike, back then. The man taught me everything I know about motorbikes.”, GV grinned to himself, “Saved every extra penny I got, to afford Ninja. Man, was that a stupidly high goal – still don’t know how I managed that!”
Despite the amused lilt in his voice, the blond was still clearly affected by his past. Placing a hand on GV’s knee, Copen tried to be comforting. He should say something, to try reassuring the other, but words were still difficult for the albino, right now.
The silence felt comforting, somehow.
Pouring out his heart must have been as difficult for Copen as it had been for GV. For a while, they simply sat there, holding each other.
At some point, the sun began to set, painting the sky in brilliant hues of pink and orange. He could understand, why Copen’s family had enjoyed it so much.
The comforting pressure on his knee vanished, then Copen removed himself from the blond’s hold—taking GV's helmet and putting it aside. The albino shifted, before GV suddenly found the man straddling his lap.
“If I don’t do this now, I know I’m going to regret it!”, the albino muttered, agitated. The dead-serious look on his face was adorable. He obviously struggled to keep up the eye contact.
The albino took a deep breath, then: “Can I kiss you?”
Huh?
Now it was his turn to get as red as a tomato. The question caught the blond completely off-guard. He sure was not opposed to the idea—he had some thoughts about maybe asking the other man out, especially after Lola's little confirmation, that Copen was probably into him.
It was surprising, is all, to have the much more reserved person in front of him be the one to make the first move.
GV suddenly realized that Copen was still staring at him expectantly—already looking like he was second guessing himself. Not trusting his own voice right now, the blond opted to nod.
With his arms still laced around GV’s shoulders, Copen leaned in until their noses brushed—it felt exhilarating. With the albino’s confidence wavering, GV bridged the rest of the gap.
It was clumsy, since both of them were pretty inexperienced. They kept it chaste, but the blond could still feel teeth, lightly digging into his lower lip. If the content hum leaving the albino was any indication, Copen seemed like he enjoyed himself, too.
When the blond pulled back a little, his glasses fogged up from the close proximity, he could truly take in and appreciate the sight in front of him—Copen, beautifully flushed and with those vivid crimson eyes sparkling in the same way they did after the bike ride. If he wasn’t already interested, GV was sure that sight alone would make him fall head over heels.
Once his breathing evened out, Copen took another long look at the position he had put himself in. The shorter man’s hands, lightly resting on his sides, seemed to only amplify the albino’s sudden embarrassment.
The man in his lap started squirming. Deciding to take mercy on him, GV relinquished his hold over the other’s waist. Copen immediately scrambled to get off. “Um, sorry?”
GV put an arm around the taller man again, pulling the albino close to his side. “What for? Believe me, if I didn’t want this, I’d have thrown you off a long time ago.”, he chuckled into Copen’s silky white hair. A thought entered the blond’s mind: “I think we might have done this stuff in the wrong order – so, let me ask you this.”
He waited until bright red eyes turned to face him again—lovely blush still dusting the man’s cheekbones. Then, blowing a stray lock of hair out of his face, GV asked: “Would you be interested in going on a date, sometime? A proper one, this right here doesn’t count.”
The albino went wide-eyed, but responded nonetheless: “Yeah– yeah, sure.”, a crooked grin beginning to form.
The two stayed like that for a minute, grinning at each other before a fit of giggles bubbled out of them.
A quick glance at his watch revealed to him, just how late it had gotten. The blond grimaced. “Hey, sorry to ruin the moment, but we should probably start heading back – or else your family will probably serve my head on a silver platter.”
Copen yanked on his wrist to see the watch, before all but jumping up and offering the blond a hand.
Despite the time, the two walked down the path at a leisurely pace. At one point, the blond’s hand found the albino’s own again.
Mischief glinted in Copen’s eyes, once they reached the clearing—still only occupied by Ninja. The tapping on the helmet also started up again. When they were standing directly beside her, the albino instead tapped GV on the shoulder.
“Think we could go even faster, this time?”
The blond was already in his seat, helmet secure on his head—he was sure his own delighted look was still recognizable, though. “Don’t tell me I’ve accidentally turned you into an adrenaline junky – now I really need to worry about going missing. But, sure thing!”
The albino got on behind him again, the arms around GV's waist returning.
Traffic was a lot slower than before—rush hour had long passed—but still, numerous cars were driving alongside them.
GV could actually overtake a few of them—now that Copen was a bit steadier, holding onto him. The albino’s laugh was audible, even over the roaring engine.
Copen’s neighborhood drew closer with every passing minute—it made him sad, kind of. He was having fun like never before.
He didn’t want this to end.
But, any longer and auntie would surely have an aneurysm. It was already past seven—no doubt would he get questioned about that. Could he lie about the traffic, say they got stuck behind a truck, or something?—Probably not…
The street leading straight to his house felt so much shorter, than it actually was. Up in the distance, Nori was already standing outside—clearly expecting them. Thankfully, his aunt hadn’t decided to come along.
GV stopped them right in front of the woman, killing the engine once they came to a full stop. It was Copen’s cue to get off, but he was hesitant. The albino fiddled with the helmet, before getting it off and sending Nori a pleading look. She only shook her head in reply. It was worth a shot.
With a heavy heart, the man removed himself from GV’s back. His legs were wobbly again—but GV said that was normal, for the first few times—Nori didn’t know that, though, and gripped his arms to steady him. He had never managed to wrestle himself from her grip before, so he resigned himself to his fate—her scrutiny.
“Are you unwell?”, her face was as deadpan as always, but her tone held concern. Her stare hardened into silent fury, once her sights were set on the blond. Copen stepped in, before GV could get caught in the crossfire. “I’m fine. Don’t give him that look, he has nothing to do with me stumbling.” At least he could match her intensity, when it came to glares.
The shorter man now, too, removed his helmet—his gaze held confusion.
“Don’t mind her, she’s always like this.”, Copen felt the need to say. He had just scored a date with the handsome man. If anybody dared scare GV off now, he’d riot!
Once Nori deemed him not in danger, she led the two men to the front door. She looked around for her keys, before stopping right in front of the slab of wood. She turned to Copen, the barest hint of a smile gracing her lips: “Mytyl volunteered to keep Ms. Kamizono busy. Better be quick, if you don’t want to get interrogated.”
His sister really is the best.
The second that door opened, Copen grabbed the blond’s hand and dragged him to the stairs. If he wasn’t so scared of getting caught, the albino would be horrified at how direct he was being.
Slamming the door to his room open and shoving the smaller man inside was probably going to get him teased by Lola for life, but he could live with that. GV seemed to be a good sport about all this. The man burst out laughing, once the door was closed.
“Do I need to be that afraid of your aunt?”, he giggled out, voice laden with disbelief.
“You didn’t grow up with her…”
If he knew, that his evening would include sneaking a boy—like a damn high schooler—into his room, he would have cleaned up the place, a little. Books were strewn out over his desk and floor, he hadn’t made his bed this morning and the evidence of his and Lola's bi-weekly gaming marathon was still on clear display.
That damned blush was back with a vengeance. “Sorry about the mess.”, he muttered, moving to—at the very least—pick up the discarded packaging of junk food on the floor.
“Don’t worry about it.”, came the carefree baritone behind him, “Wouldn’t be a proper college experience without drowning in your own chaos, at least once.”
Regarding his bed again, Copen found a messenger bag laying at the foot of it. The multitude of pins clued him in on who it belonged to. “I thought you left your bag downstairs?”
To his horror, GV took a seat on the mattress, lightly nudging the bundled up comforter aside. “I did. Maybe the others put it here, because of your aunt.”
That made sense. Auntie would definitely want to know who they had let into her home, if she found it. And then, there would be no shot at getting out of basically spilling the entire story to her.
Realizing he would be expected to appear at dinner soon, Copen rushed to the mirror on his closet door—his hair had gotten pretty disheveled, from the helmet. Only then did he notice, he was still wearing the blond’s bike leathers.
The nearest bathroom was down the hall, right past his aunt’s room—there was a good chance he’d get caught on the way there. But, he also couldn’t just change in his room—GV was still in here!
He was wearing a shirt underneath, but that hardly made the situation better. GV seemed to sense the growing uneasiness radiating off the albino—as Copen suddenly felt and saw, through the reflection of the mirror, a pair of arms wrapping around his shoulders.
“What’s up? You’ve been glaring daggers at that mirror like it owes you money, for a while now.” His voice held humor, but it was obvious GV was starting to get worried.
He bit his tongue for a few seconds, getting his thoughts in order. GV would understand, surely—the other would maybe have had a similar experience.
“I still need to change…”, Copen trailed off, hoping the shorter man would figure it out.
“Oh.”, blue eyes landed back on the door, “Do you want me to leave?”
He groaned: “That’s the problem. There’s a good chance that auntie’s out there. Believe me, you do not want to be caught alone with her, if she doesn’t know you.” Copen hoped, desperately, that his distraught face conveyed just how bad of an outcome that would be.
“If she’s stalking the halls, how am I supposed to get back out? Jump out of the window? Wouldn’t be the first time, but your room is pretty high up.”
“Absolutely not! I’m not letting you break your legs because of me.” He, admittedly, hadn’t really thought about how he’d sneak the other back out, though. But, he would definitely grill GV about that story, later.
“Let’s not worry about that, for now.”, GV smoothed his arms over the sides of Copen’s biceps in a reassuring manner, “Would you be alright changing, if I just turned around?” The shorter man’s tentative smile held an understanding Copen would have killed to have received, at a younger age.
It would still be embarrassing, even if all eyes were averted from him, but he didn’t really have any other option—that wouldn’t throw GV to the wolves, at least. “Should be fine. Sorry for being difficult.”
It earned him a strong pat on the shoulder. “No worries, I get it.” Then, the pressure on his shoulders moved away. Taking a seat on his unmade bed again, the blond’s eyes were trained on his phone, body facing a bookshelf against the wall.
Dragging down the zipper made an uncomfortably loud noise. Copen tried to be fast about it, but that just made the zipper catch on the fabric of his t-shirt. It was a mortifying experience.
A calm hum began to filter through the room, then. GV was humming some kind of melody, and it managed to keep the albino just barely level-headed enough to get the leathers down to his hips.
Right at that moment, the hinges of his door began squeaking.
“Hey, you’re back! Why didn’t you–“, Lola’s energetic sing-song voice was abruptly cut off, once she took in the scene unfolding before her—Copen, still trying to wrestle himself out of those tight leather pants, with GV sitting on his bed…
The woman stood in the doorway for a moment, stunned. Once GV cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable, it spurred Lola back into motion. She stepped into the room, slamming the door shut behind her. “What’s going on here, mister?”, she asked her best friend, in a freaked out tone.
Maybe he should try jumping out of the window…
Lola’s conspiratorial look flickered between the two, before coming to a conclusion—judging by the redness blooming on her face, it was very far off from the truth. “Ohmygod, sorry!”, she couldn’t get to the door any faster, “Pretend this didn’t happen! Have fun, stay safe, try to keep it quiet!” And with that, the door got slammed shut again.
Did she just insinuate that– Nope! Not letting that thought continue!
It was uncomfortably quiet.
The sheer absurdity of the situation had Copen shaking in silent laughter. At least, he hoped it was laughter. Great, he’s never going to be able to face Lola or GV ever again…
“I genuinely can’t tell,”, a heave interrupted the sentence, “if we just traumatized her, or if she’s happy for you.”, came as a breathy laugh, from the blond. Pushing through the humiliation of facing the man again, the albino looked over. GV had fallen back on the mattress, covering his eyes with an arm. The shorter man’s chest shook in poorly restrained laughter.
With the blond distracted, Copen scrambled to kick the leather pants off and get changed into his jeans from before. He felt a lot less self-conscious, now that he was in his familiar clothes.
Not that he hadn’t liked the leathers, but he was so hyper-aware of the fact that those belong to his crush. Well that, and they really drew attention to his hips—he definitely did not have the confidence to show that off.
After taking a deep breath to will his heart rate to calm down, Copen took a seat beside GV. The dip of the mattress alerted the other to his presence, and the blond sat up again. He silently took his leather gear back, folding the piece meticulously and stuffing it into his bag.
“So, what now?” Copen appreciated the blond’s attempt at getting them back on track.
A horrible, horrible thought crossed the albino’s mind. It was certainly a plan, but how would he even survive the ordeal? And, Lola would only get worse, then.
His mouth opened without the albino’s consent: “You could… stay here, overnight? Auntie never comes into my room, and she should leave pretty early in the morning.” That blush had taken up permanent residence, on his face.
Why did he offer that?
“It’s been a while, since I had a sleepover.”, the blond chuckled, “I don’t want to leave Ninja standing outside, though. Even if your neighborhood probably has a crime rate in the negatives.”
Copen had been rubbing his cheeks aggressively, hoping to get the heat in them under control. The fact that the blond wasn’t opposed to the idea, undid most of his progress.
And apparently, both were already set on this sleepover idea. “I could ask Lola or Nori to take it to the garage. Nobody else goes in there.”, the albino offered.
A bemused smirk was plastered on GV’s face. “You sure Lola needs any more fuel for her assumptions?”
The albino gave a nonchalant shrug: “I can deal with that. It’s not like I don’t have blackmail material on her, to get her back.” He wanted to savor the giggle that statement earned him, forever.
Since this was now, apparently, how the albino’s evening would play out, Copen pushed through some of his residual embarrassment to get to dinner.
He’d promised to bring the blond something afterwards. For his part, GV was a good sport about having to stay in hiding. And wasn’t that a thought to turn red about—having a guy hidden away in his room, like they were getting up to something nefarious.
Lola’s curious stares all throughout dinner didn’t particularly help with this feeling, like he was doing something forbidden.
Too bad that the woman also caged him in, before he could sprint back up the stairs, to the safety of his room.
“So, had fun? That was pretty quick.”, she snickered. The albino placed a hand over her mouth, trying to shut her up—she simply licked his palm, causing him to recoil. Blegh—just gross.
“Stop saying that! Nothing happened – and you know that!”, he hissed. But just because it wasn’t true, didn’t mean it didn’t get his cheeks burning up. The downright disappointed pout that admission earned him, seriously made the man rethink his friendship.
“Seriously? Man, and here I hoped you’d finally be all grown up.”, she sighed. Then, something akin to realization flashed in her eyes, before morphing into something clearly disgruntled. “Wait, that means I lost the bet! Dammit Copen, I was counting on you!”
“You placed bets on me? For what?!” He hoped—prayed, really—that this yelp was not loud enough to alert the others.
The shorter woman looked anywhere but directly at him, sweat slowly beading on her forehead. Did he really want to know, what his friend thought about him?
His grim expression eventually made her resolve falter, causing her to laugh nervously. “Well… we placed bets on if you would… you know, err…,”, she coughed into her fist, “finally… ask him out?—Yes, that! We placed bets on if you’d ask GV out!” Her continued nodding only made her look more like a liar than anything else.
The excuse wasn’t believable in the slightest, but honestly, Copen had already gotten a gnawing sense of dread from her struggle—it would probably be best to leave that be, for his own peace of mind. Or else, he might just actually go through with throwing himself out the window.
“Who else was in on this bet?” The albino had at least one person in mind, but it couldn’t hurt to ask, just to know who he’d have to curse in his thoughts.
The woman managed to quell his concerns, somewhat. “Just me, Mytyl and Lumi. So no need to break your pretty little head over it.”
“Fine, fine.”, he sighed, “Quick question – can you get GV’s bike into the garage, when you’re leaving?”, the albino fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “He’s staying the night.”
Now that got her going again. She looked at him with wide eyes. “So the bet’s still on?”
“Would you do it, or no? Please.”
She nodded her head, already far too giddy already. Just when she turned back to bound down the hallway—no doubt to say goodbye to the others, before driving home—he stopped her dead in her tracks again. “And just for your information, I do have a date with GV.”
He needed that upper hand on her—the fact that it was GV, who actually asked, didn’t matter.
Luckily, nobody overheard their exchange.
“Did I get found out, yet?”
GV had made himself comfortable on the albino’s bed, reading through the absolute bomb that had gone of on his phone. Joule and Lumen had quite a bit to say, about him suddenly deciding to stay at someone’s house.
The room’s owner stood, dumbfounded, in front of the closed door, carrying a plate. He stared at the scene in front of him. Was it normal for someone to blush this much?
“Did you clean my room?”, he squeaked out. The man moved over to his desk, where his books and notes were now neatly stacked on the slab of wood.
He might have gone a tad overboard with it—even making the albino’s bed and fluffing up the pillow.
The blond bashfully laughed: “Sorry. Thought I’d make myself useful. You know, since I’m stuck here anyway.” Was this something weird to do? Definitely. Not that that’s ever stopped him.
“It’s fine. Just embarrassed you had to see that in the first place.” Copen shuffled in place, glaring at the stack of books beside him. Then, he turned around to face the blond again, holding the plate of food out for him to take.
“I promised I’d get you dinner. You won’t believe the look Nori gave me for asking.”, he grimaced, “I think I owe her for not snitching, now.”
Copen had taken to typing away on his computer, while GV was eating dinner. The fast-paced clicking of the albino’s keyboard served as welcome white noise.
The sun had set, at some point. He hadn’t even realized how much time had passed.
A yawn cut through his train of thought, drawing his attention back to the other person in the room. The albino was stretching, joints cracking with a loud pop. The blond had to admit, the sight reminded him a bit of Tuna, whenever she stretched.
Suddenly, a pair of eyes had found his own. He’d be flustered about getting caught staring, but Copen didn’t look like he minded it. The albino turned to his computer, powering the machine off and standing up to stretch again.
He really does look like a cat, doing that.
The nervous shuffling started up again. Copen was clearly trying to say something, so the blond remained quiet, for now. “I think I’m about ready to call it a night.”, he ended up muttering, playing with his bangs, “How are we going to do this?”
Crimson eyes began flicking between GV and the part of the bed the blond wasn’t occupying. He got the message. “I can sleep on the floor, don’t worry.”
“Absolutely not! Stop that!”
The directness from back on that hill returned, with Copen stomping over to his closet. Digging through its contents, he pulled out some clothes, before throwing them right into GV’s face. “I’m not letting my guest sleep in jeans.”, was all the albino said, when he saw GV’s perplexed expression.
The bundle of fabric in his arms turned out to be a plain pair of pajamas. Without much thought, the blond began taking off his shirt to change. It was late, he was tired and hadn’t slept well the night before—so sue him for not particularly caring about his surroundings at the moment!
Said surroundings being a very awkward—and apparently very sheltered—man. “Jeez– warn a guy next time!”, came Copen’s punched out breath. He noted, the albino didn’t avert his eyes.
He pulled the black pajama shirt over his head. Now that he was decent again, GV turned his full attention back to Copen, snorting: “Like what you see?”
The albino began coughing at that, red as a tomato, once more. It even spread to the man’s ears—cute. The blond couldn’t resist a bit of teasing: “Do you get like that every time someone takes their shirt off? How did you ever survive gym class?”
Now mortified, the other man groaned into his hands.
After a deep breath, the albino turned away from the blond, another pair of clothes in hand. “Just because you’re somehow fine flashing people, doesn’t mean I am.” , he muttered.
GV couldn’t help but laugh at that, turning away to give the albino man some privacy. The rustling of clothes was heard from both sides of the room.
The albino stepped back into GV’s field of vision a moment later, tentative smile tugging at the man’s lips. There was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.
“Come here.”, came GV’s reassuring voice, accompanied by a tentative smile. He patted the mattress twice, for emphasis.
Copen went down without resistance, getting caught easily by the blond’s open arms. Despite the limited space on the bed, the two managed to get comfortable—the albino ending up half laying on the shorter man’s chest.
When they were both huddled underneath the thick comforter, GV couldn’t help the quiet chortle, that bubbled out of him. “Yeah, we’re definitely doing this whole dating-thing out of order.”
Copen responded with an exasperated huff: “Who cares, now go to sleep.” His words were accompanied by a squeeze to the blond’s waist.
Relenting, GV began caressing the short hair of the albino in his arms, eliciting a content hum from the man. Yeah, that cat comparison is going to be stuck in his head forever.
“Good night, Copen.”, he mumbled into the man’s hair, just louder than a whisper. The arms around his waist tightened again, for a moment.
A barely audible response came from the albino. “Night.”, accompanied by another yawn. And with that, the man buried his face further into the person he was using as a pillow.
In barely a minute, it was lights out for them both.