notes: I wrote this for Rinna-kun a while back before I started the 30kisses assignment that was/is going to include the same pairing, but unfortunately I've had trouble writing for this pairing. Sorry, Rinna; maybe this B/Near block will break soon, ja?

He watches the paint peel into thin curls until he can pull on them, and, with the smallest amount of effort, tear away the glossy color. The old strips are few and far between, but he discovers them hidden on the house's siding in places scarcely visited, tucked beneath tiny drapes of vines that curtain them from but the keenest of eyes.

Near has a gift for finding things that do not want to be found.

He sits and tugs at the white ribbons of paint in the company of no more than himself

"You're following me," he says one day. His voice is very subtle, and he keeps his eyes on the wall as he kneels on the grass, pallid skin stained with dirt.

The boy beside him shrugs. "Maybe," is his reply, spoken in a tone just as cool as Near's had been. Even more so, perhaps. "Do you want me to stop?"

Near pauses for a brief moment. "Will you?"

"Most likely not."

Near can feel the boy lean close and take hold of his hand, the one that had previously scrabbled at the wall. White paint clings beneath his fingernails. "You shouldn't do that," he hears the boy say. "It will ruin your fingers."

The boy bends his head and pressed his lips against Near's hand.

"Maybe they are already ruined," Near mutters coldly, jerking his hand away. "And if they weren't before, then they are now." He turns his hand over and inspects it, then raises a knee and brushed off the excess grass.

"Maybe," the boy says, grinning as he stands. No dirt or grass clings to him, though. He saunters into the house whilst humming a small tune; Near cannot identify the song.

The faint kiss lingers on Near's skin. He looks down at his hand and raises his fingertips to eyelevel, and he can see the remnants of paint jutting from under his nails. Sighing, he knows the boy had been right; however, his fingers are ruined now regardless. He examines the wall once and sees that the new, lustrous paint far outweighs the aged color that hides beneath it.

The secrets burn through his façade, and Near thinks that his fingers feel a little like the old paint.