Puppy Love

'Puppy love', that's what Jun had called it--Ren's little fascination with his green-haired friend. He'd been dropped into several friendships all at once, and the whole thing was rather new to him, which was why he didn't quite understand his need to hang on his every word, the irresistible urge to watch him for every second he was in the same room.

It took him an entire year of being friends with Lyserg before he realized his obvious attraction, and was hit with the shock of his life when somebody screamed across the room during science class: "REN, LYSERG JUST SAID HE LOVES YOU!" He had expected it to be a joke, of course, but when he looked over at Lyserg he discovered the boy was the darkest shade of red he'd ever seen.

He started paying closer attention after that, watching Lyserg's every movement, gesture, facial expression, keeping a special eye out for those tiny blushes and coy smiles. It wasn't long before he was agreeing with whatever kid it was who had yelled the accusation.

Then he started testing things, sitting closer than necessary when everybody crowded at Yoh's house for movie night, making odd little comments about how he liked the strange yet natural colour of his hair or eyes, suggesting that they were two of a kind.

He even pushed himself when they had a substitute teacher during maths who couldn't figure out a seating plan if there were only two people to seat. He'd park himself beside Lyserg, and rather than paying attention, spent the entire class stealing glances and stroking his hand with the tip of his pencil. Of course, he had his elbow propped up with his chin in his other hand, forcing the most bored expression he could muster up, just in case Lyserg got a little freaked out.

After careful watching and listening, after tiny experiments, after the senseless flirting, he finally just came out with it. He caught Lyserg alone one time after gym class, he'd hidden his clothes right before class and then afterwards had volunteered to help him find them, using this tactic to simply gain them some alone time after everyone had left the change rooms.

"Lyserg, I've been meaning to talk to you about something . . . " He remembered seeing that timid blush spread across Lyserg's cheeks then, and was fairly certain he was blushing a little himself too. "I know it seems kind of . . . strange, but I . . . " He scratched his head, flushing with embarrassment, praying to God that everything he had assumed about Lyserg was wrong. "I really like you and I think maybe we . . . should go out?"

Lyserg's eyes widened and he was silent for a second.

Oh, God, I was wrong.

Dread instantly filled his mind and he stammered for some sort of excuse for his behaviour, only coming out with a simple: "If you don't want to, I completely understand, let's just stay friends."

There was another couple seconds of silence and he seriously considered just bolting through the door, running all the way home, and locking himself in his room until the end of the world or the day Lyserg was bopped in the head and got amnesia. However, his panic was calmed when Lyserg smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'd love to go out with you, Ren." He answered quietly. "I actually . . . wanted to ask you a long time ago, but . . . well, you know . . . "

He could remember it really well, the first couple of weeks--they were so great. They would spend hours talking on the phone, never really about anything in particular, the purpose of the conversations were more just to listen to the voice of the other. They stared at each other endlessly through class, constantly writing little notes to pass to each other and getting caught a hundred times over.

"Tao Ren! What is that in your hand?" Ms. Izuma would screech.

Ren shrugged his shoulders and answered truthfully, as always. "A note."

"Well, would you care to share whatever it is you couldn't possibly wait another ten minutes before your lunch break to say with the rest of the class?"

Ren smirked. "I don't think you want me to."

Ms. Izuma rolled her eyes and took the note, which he readily surrendered. She unfolded it and read the one simple sentence: 'I think my wrist is broken, I guess I'll have to use my mouth next time.' She scoffed in disgust and quickly threw it in the garbage bin, giving both Ren and Lyserg a distasteful look before returning to the lesson.

Despite that they were both fairly shy, both boys brought up the account time and time again, laughing at the look on Ms. Izuma's face when she read the note. Neither of them liked her too much, so they didn't really care what she thought anyway, and at least she never asked them to read aloud their notes whenever she caught them again.

Still, five months was a long time . . .

Ren sighed in boredom as he laid stretched out on his bed, one arm sticking straight up in the air as he waited to see how long it would be before all the blood drained out of it and it simply flopped back down. Before, whenever he was bored, he'd just call Lyserg and they'd be entertained for hours just talking about why the numbers on alarm clocks were always red or why the sheep eyes they dissected in science didn't look like they had any pupils.

His mind played with the idea of sneaking out and going over to Lyserg's house but . . . even kissing and touching each other got boring after a little while.

He didn't even know why, Lyserg had never done anything to make him less interesting, he just sort of . . . faded.

'Puppy love', that's what Jun had called it. Once Ren, in one of his bored states, had actually gotten a dictionary and looked up the term.

Puppy Love:

1) Adolescent love or infatuation, especially one that is not expected to last.
2) Temporary love of an adolescent.

Maybe it was normal then? Ren wasn't experienced with relationships, in fact he hadn't even had a real relationship with anybody before Lyserg. Maybe that's why nobody ever stays with their first mate? Maybe the entire world suffered from a bad case of puppy love?

Their relationship had become robotic. Before, every kiss was savoured and smiled into, now it was an automatic way to say good-bye and hello. They'd somehow run out of those random, endless conversations, and the only way a phone call lasted longer than a half an hour was if whatever time was used after that half an hour involved lots of heavy breathing and moaning.

They'd lost their spark. The puppy love was dead and now they were just pulling each other around, afraid to let go, as they were both terrified of being alone . . . even though Ren knew he wouldn't be left alone.

It wasn't too long ago, or maybe it had been? He didn't remember. But it had happened in any case.

"Ren, I know this is kind of awkward, especially considering you have Lyserg and all, but I just feel like I should tell you . . . I like you." Ren could remember how cute he thought it was the way Horo smiled nervously and quickly added. "Just, still be my friend, okay? I don't want it to be awkward, I just wanted to tell you."

He smiled a little at the memory. Horo was cute. He was shy like Ren was in some ways, yet completely not in others. They had more in common than most people realized, on a more personal level. They shared the same insecurities of romance, both sharing the rotten luck of falling for people that just didn't work.

As great as Lyserg was, Ren couldn't stop himself from letting his thoughts constantly drift towards the Ainu. He could be staring straight at Lyserg, or even kissing him, and Horo's face would appear in his mind. He thought about him just before he drifted off to sleep at night, several times lately he'd been on the phone to Lyserg and he'd start thinking about him again.

"Hello? Hello? Ren, are you there?" He remembered the way Lyserg's voice rang in his ears, calling to him through the phone, and he wouldn't hear him until a few seconds later, then apologize and make up some excuse for not listening.

He told Horo that they could stay friends, and he wasn't awkward about knowing that the older boy liked him, probably because of his own growing attraction for him in return. He wondered a lot about whether something with Horo would last. Would it be a long relationship? Would it just be a fling? Would it end in a really nasty and hurtful way?

. . . Would it end at all?

He had no doubt that he would want a relationship with him, he'd gotten past the fact that he liked guys long ago, and Horo seemed to be a definite eye-catcher for his affections. He'd known Horo just as long as he'd known Lyserg, but Horo knew him better. Horo knew all his fears and weaknesses. He'd witnessed so much during the shaman tournament and was always so open with him, eventually Ren couldn't help but to return the honesty.

He couldn't think of what seemed like a good enough reason to leave Lyserg, other than that he liked Horo better, and that seemed like such a cruel thing to do. But the worst part was that he couldn't think of a reason to stay with Lyserg.

It's all in your head. You're just a little bored, that's all. It's normal, it'll go away.

He kept trying to convince himself it was stupid to throw away something as stable as his and Lyserg's relationship--something with that much security, just to take a chance with Horo. But no matter how much he told himself he was being stupid, he couldn't seem to shake the feeling that their relationship had gone as far as it would go.

He groaned in annoyance and reached for the cell phone sitting on his desk, dialing Lyserg's number and bringing the phone to his ear. His parents weren't home, and desperate times call for desperate measures. It was time for his final attempt to knock the boredom from his head and the excitement back into his love life.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Lyserg, it's me. Um . . . what are you doing right now?"

"Not much." Came the simple reply. "Why, what's up?"

"Can you come over?"

"Yeah, sure." There was an odd little pause for a second or two. " . . . Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just . . . you might wanna think about bringing a change of clothes."

XxXxXxXxX

Ren sighed quietly, Lyserg doing his 'good morning, sexy!' routine. He did it every morning after they'd spent the night together, his special way of saying good morning. Ren was rarely awake when he started, he'd just open his eyes to the feeling of his ears being nipped playfully or a tongue dragging across his chest. Right now Lyserg's lips had closed around the flesh of his neck and sent those little pleasurable vibes through his body.

Last night was pretty fun, Lyserg knew exactly what he wanted. He barely even got the front door open before he found a pair of arms wrapped around his neck and Lyserg's tongue slipping into his mouth. They stumbled over each other up to the bedroom and Ren threw him down on the bed.

He sighed again, but this time it sounded kind of unhappy. He didn't really know what he was expecting, but something a little more than this. The spark hadn't returned, and for some reason, almost seemed to have faded a little more.

"Ren?" Lyserg stopped his special treatment momentarily, his green eyes staring deeply into the other boy's.

"Hmm?" Ren returned the gaze, lazily bringing up a hand to cup his cheek.

" . . . That was break-up sex, wasn't it?"

The question definitely took him by surprise, and for a second, he was certain that his heart had stopped. "Uh . . . " What was he supposed to say?

Lyserg nodded a little and smiled softly. "It's okay," He muttered, leaning down and capturing his lips in a long, gentle kiss. He pulled away and looked down at Ren again, still smiling, though a little more sadly. "Thanks for a great night."

Ren felt his heart sink when Lyserg climbed out of the bed and started gathering his clothes from the floor, not saying another word.

"Lyserg, listen . . . I-"

"No, it's okay. Really." Lyserg answered quickly. "We'll still be friends." He grabbed his backpack off the floor to pull out his clean clothes and shove his dirty ones in. "I hope you don't mind if I use your shower before I leave."

Ren sighed quietly. "Of course." He watched sadly as Lyserg nodded and went to leave the room. “Lyserg, wait.” He muttered, looking up at the green eyes staring back at him. “I-I'm sorry . . . “

Lyserg smiled faintly again. “Don't be.”

He wasn't quite sure if this was normal. He had been prepared to have Lyserg yell at him and call him an asshole, or possibly even cry and ask him not to leave . . . if he did that Ren probably would have given in and just stayed with him. But Lyserg wasn't doing either, he was just gathering his clothes, going in the shower, and leaving.

He wasn't prepared for him to just be okay with it. Not that he wanted to argue with him or have him start crying, he just wasn't expecting this--that he wouldn't fight with him, or even fight for him.

. . . Maybe Lyserg had felt the same way?

XxXxXxXxX

"It's weird, isn't it?"

Ren's eyes glanced to the end of the driveway, easily recognizing the voice before he even saw the trademark blue, spiky hair.

"What is?" He answered, lifting the ball and throwing it, loving the swish! sound it made when it went through the hoop. He jogged up to grab it again before it rolled down the driveway.

"Being single." Horo answered, shrugging his shoulders a little. "I mean, you and Lyserg were, like . . . it. I bet it's weird not being with him anymore. It's kinda lonely, huh?"

Ren's eyebrows raised in interest, it had been two weeks since he and Lyserg broke up and Horo was still talking about it. "Did you come here to fix it?" He asked, dribbling the ball down to the end of the driveway and taking another shot, this time it rebounded and flew back towards him and he merely had to reach out his arm to catch it. "You here to fix my 'loneliness'?"

"Not really." Horo shrugged again. "But I could if you wanted me to."

Ren chuckled in disbelief and shook his head. "All this time I thought you liked me, but you're just after a one-night-stand, aren't you?"

Horo frowned. "That's not true."

Ren narrowed his eyes. "Then what are you here for?"

"I was just in the neighborhood."

"Yeah, right." Ren rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "You live two miles from here, Horo, and I don't live near town. You're not 'just in the neighborhood'. What do you really want?"

"Well, I kinda came here on the intent of asking you out on a date, but I'm thinking about chickening out."

"Oh, really?" Ren raised an eyebrow, dribbling the basketball in his hands absent-mindedly. "Why's that?"

Horo shrugged his shoulders for the hundredth time, it seemed to be an annoying habit he's picked up for the day. "I'm afraid you might say no."

"What if I said that I wouldn't say no?" Ren answered, smirking a little in amusement.

Horo scrunched up his face. "You might be lying, you don't give stuff away for free."

"Alright," Ren narrowed his eyes again, this time with challenge, and he passed the ball. "If you can get the ball in the hoop, I'll go on a date with you."

"You swear?"

"I swear."

"I've never been very good at basketball." Horo said thoughtfully, looking at the ball curiously. "But then again . . . " He raised the ball and threw it, closing his eyes and listening for it.

Swish!

Horo grinned. "Friday night, I'll pick you up and six." He muttered, catching the ball on its return, and then suddenly leaning in, taking the Tao by surprise when he captured his lips.

It was a very brief kiss, but Ren's eyes widened greatly in surprise anyway. A blush spread across his cheeks when Horo pulled away and he could only ask in a timid voice. "Where are we going?"

Horo smirked, amused by how shy Ren got all of a sudden. "If you can get the ball in the hoop, I'll tell you."

Ren narrowed his eyes again and took the ball from Horo, squinting at the hoop and making a very careful throw. Still, the ball hit the rim and flew off into the front yard.

"Guess it's a surprise." Horo grinned widely.

"Oh, come on!" Ren whined. "Just tell me, it's important that I know."

"Why?"

"Because . . . I need to know how to dress." Ren answered quickly. "If it's cold where we're going, I'll need to dress warmly."

Horo chuckled again. "I'll keep you warm, don't worry." The he turned and started heading back down the street, waving his hand a little and leaving Ren to watch him go. "See you Friday."

XxXxXxXxX

Yeah . . . this is weird XD But it has purpose! . . . I think XD I got a little inventive with the ending, cuz the ending hasn't happened yet . . . ? Anyway, this is for a special person, who will know who they are D

As for everyone else, I hope you like it!

REVIEW PLEASE