"Akihiko, where are we going?"

"Patience Hiroki. That's one of the things you completely lack; patience."

Hiroki curled his lip and walked along silently, heels clicking on the elementary floor, face downcast. The halls were silent: no student chatter, no teachers gossiping or discussing assignments, no videos or songs running on the computers. Still silence.

The place looked a lot larger with everyone vacant. The lockers looked much larger without the flurry of children going at them, backpacks and lunch bags in hand. The classrooms looked larger too, or the ones that still had their doors thrown open with their lights already shut off for the day. From what Hiroki knew, everyone should have gone home by this time.

He didn't notice for a while where they were headed, but he stopped once he took notice of their general location; they were moving towards the gymnasium at the other end of the school from their last class and most of the school respectively.

"Why're we heading this way?" He cocked his head to one side, giving a slight glare to his partner. Akihiko didn't answer. Instead, he simply continued his pace forward, face aimed directly ahead of him.

Hiroki's mind began to wonder. Where in the world could he be taking him? What did he plan? Knowing that his friend wouldn't say anything to him, and that he was mysterious about most anything he was asked about, he knew it wouldn't do him any good to bother asking. Though, he did wonder about it. Then again, he didn't have to worry; it never was anything bad that he decided to do.

The two finally stopped their pace in front of the gymnasium doors. Hiroki, when he stilled his breath, could faintly hear the thump of a bass. He perked a brow and glanced at the stilled Akihiko. "Hiroki…" he finally said, his voice chilling. "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

As an answer, he took Hiroki's hand, lacing their fingers together, and pushed open the gym doors. The room was decorated in pink and white fabric draped from the bleachers, and the scattered round tables were covered by tablecloths the same, shining and shimmering in the dim light. In the center of each were clay pots decorated by Mr. Umami, splattered with paint to give them an ornamental look. The floor had its own covering of heart-shaped glitter and bits of cloth around the door, namely on the small pillars that couldn't have been made of anything but plastic. The only indications of the gym's actual purpose lay in the familiar wooden floors and the blaring light of the EXIT sign.

Akihiko smiled at him. "Here…The Valentine dance. You forgot, didn't you? That's okay though." His voice was warm and loving. Hiroki's face lit up and the spread of pink moved over his nose and tainted his cheeks. "Since I know you couldn't come tonight, and I can't either honestly, I thought that we could have our own little dance here before everyone else comes." He then cleared his throat. "May I have this dance?"

Hiroki's breath caught in his throat and he nodded. Akihiko's hand felt warm as his was taken, though it may have been his own sweat; no, it was his partner's warmth. Akihiko led him out onto the dance floor; the light seemed to shine on them and to turn its back on the rest of the large room. Even with the room being silent aside from the clicking of their shoes, music, sweet and romantic music, seemed to rain down and fill their ears with their tender lyrics and enchanting melodies.

At first their steps were clumsy, namely on Hiroki's side, but Akihiko stabilized him every time. They began to rock and sway, moving to the left then the right, forward then back. Their eyes met time and time again, breaking, and reconnecting. At last, with a small twirl, Akihiko at the forefront, their eyes met and locked in one another. They gazed deep into each other's souls, and both hearts began to race.

Akihiko raised a hand from the other male's hip and cradled his chin gently. "Hiroki…" he whispered and dipped his face into Hiroki's, leaving hardly an inch between them. Their breath mixed together and brushed each other's skin; they both shivered in delight at it, Hiroki more so in the embarrassment of the situation and the tenderness which filled his heart to the brim; it overflowed inside him and poured to fill his veins.

The heat of the moment only began to fill him more when their lips shattered the lingering distance and pressed together. Neither boy seemed to really understand this fully, but something kept them bound together, like someone had glued their bodies together; they were drawn like magnets, growing closer and closer until the space was not only shattered by their lips, but their childish forms hugged close. Their hands trailed along the shoulders, face, and body of the other. Their warmth merged into something glorious and without their initial loneliness.

Their salivation weaved together in their immature passions. Their fingers clenched and curled in their uniform fabrics and struck at the flesh beneath. They didn't exactly understand the sensations in themselves, but something was obvious to them both: their hearts were beating fast and they were racing together. A thought passed through them both. Is this what love is? Holding someone so closely and passionately like this?

They released their hold on one another and their gazes met, hazy in nature and loving deep within them. Not a sound was made. All breath was stilled. The world seemed to stop entirely around them. They were the only things that existed in the world. This was broken, however, when Hiroki cleared his throat. "Ah…A-Akihiko…"

Akihiko put a finger against Hiroki's lips. He smiled kindly at him, still with a little shyness of his own. He'd never seen an expression like that from the normally quiet and cool Usami, but this time there was something deep there. His smiles were rare and even rarer were they sincere, but he could sense the truth in that gesture. "Don't speak…It'll ruin the moment." He chuckled slightly and curled his arms around him. Hiroki nuzzled into him. For the moment, at least to Kamijou, it all seemed so perfect.