Thanks so much for the reviews!
Type: First time.
Spin the Truth
by Salysha
It was a higher law: when enough young men got together, sooner or later, the going got boyish and the men got up to mischief. This time, the jumpy ride of events led to a suggestion of Truth or Dare, most likely put forth by Steve Fox, though he escaped taking the hit for it. There was no backing down once the idea had been presented, despite the collective groan.
"Lars, you joining?"
Lars pried himself away from the window and hoped for the umpteenth time that he was working rather than cooped up in a hotel with three twenty-somethings bound to cook up something worrisome. Then again, nothing was on fire, nothing was dismembered, and no one needed CPR... The smile extended to his eyes. "Sure." He joined the circle on the floor, groaning mentally.
The second higher law was that sooner or later, when enough youth gathered together, the talk had to turn to sex. This time, the events were most certainly put forth by Steve.
"Truth or da—"
"Dare."
"That came kind of fast."
Hwoarang raised a brow.
"Fine, fine. Dare it is." A grin spread on Steve's face, a wicked one. "Pick a guy, in this room, you'd most like to make out with."
This time, the collective groan was instant and impossible to miss. Hwoarang tilted his head, and his glance at Steve bore a challenge. Steve returned the look, sly as a fox and much too pleased with himself. Hwoarang seemed to consider it, and then, suddenly, he wasn't sitting down anymore. "Sure. Why not?" he challenged with all the knowledge in the world.
The reactions varied, as Hwoarang eyed around the circle: Steve remained sure as ever and convinced that Hwoarang would back out yet and take a path that wasn't going to threaten him. Lars gave the air of someone who'd been hit in the head with a log. Jin was faintly hostile. None of them gave the particular air of someone looking to be picked, even in name. Hwoarang grinned slyly.
Then he crawled over in front of Steve. A mutual twitch of lips preceded his leaning forward. He and Steve shared a light, friendly kiss.
"Mate," Steve said with a smile as they pulled apart.
Hwoarang backed up and straightened, all eyes on him. Then he fixated on Lars, who spooked when he realized an intense stare was now on him. Lars remained statue-like on the spot, without making a run for it, even as Hwoarang dashed at him and locked lips with him. Even though the suddenness of the act caught the room off guard, the stir came when the kissing did not show the same playful friendship it had with Steve, but passion instead. It ended with Lars leaning back to his palms and holding them both up—shocked to the bone, but not pulling away more than gravity beckoned—and Hwoarang finally wrenching apart with a smack.
"Um, thank you," Lars said, startled.
Hwoarang measured him with a knowing look, satisfied. Lars didn't know what to do with it, but then Hwoarang backed up, and Lars was history.
One person had stayed quiet throughout the exchange. When Hwoarang faced Jin, he found a blazing pair of dark eyes on him.
"How about it?" Hwoarang said, but he received a dour welcome. Jin didn't pull away when he pulled closer, nor did he back out when Hwoarang pushed into his personal space as a blur. He met Hwoarang unshakably as Hwoarang leaned in and kissed him. The kiss that had been a passionate one with Lars was replaced by a series of the like, so fluent in succession it wasn't possible to tell one apart from another.
Jin was leaning backward now, barely holding them up, and still the kissing continued. In front of the amazed audience, Jin sunk on his back, while Hwoarang straddled him, mouths still locked, Jin's kempt mane looking decidedly more disheveled than earlier. Jin's knees were pulled up to keep the balance.
"Sheesh..." The comment in the background was accompanied by concurring mumbling and the redundant, "Get a room."
Finally, Hwoarang broke apart and let them both come up for air. He straightened up, while Jin still remained flat on his back. The inertness lingered only for a moment; then Jin pushed up and threw Hwoarang off in a fury. He was up on his feet in no time, looking down with hate in his eyes, and then he left the room and made sure the door stayed locked behind him.
Hwoarang was left sitting on the floor, like he didn't know what had hit him. The background noise he would have paid the world to hear right then was gone entirely. Feeling the full weight of awkward silence and clumsy by consequence, he scrambled to his feet. "Sorry," he said to the others in the room and then made for an escape himself without a backward glance, unsteady on his feet.
As he closed the door, the life in the room left behind died; it ceased to exist. He looked down the corridor left and right. There was no sign of Jin. Left or right? The anxiety kept building up. He headed for the elevators. The strides transformed into running steps quickly. Shit, shit, shit.
As he was yanked aside violently, all he could feel was relief. Out of a hollow, a hand attached to a powerful body grabbed him, and he was pushed into the wall. Hwoarang was let go and left facing a saturnine, brooding Jin Kazama. He wanted nothing more than to say something, dissolve the situation for which he knew he had to apologize, but he couldn't think of anything Jin would want to hear. He sagged against the wall, feeling the weight of the world on his eyes. He stared at the carpeting beside Jin's feet miserably. Damn nose, stuffed.
"If we're gonna do this, there isn't going to be anyone else. Just you and me."
That was Jin's voice, giving him things he wanted to hear. This could not be real. Hwoarang dropped his head.
"No more crap like that: no more kissing others," Jin said forcefully.
"No."
He felt Jin measuring him until warm arms enveloped him, and the Cimmerian shade Jin emanated turned into dark warmth, exquisite and fine. Despite all the roughing up and testing, it felt like they were touching for the first time. Jin captured him in a kiss, which, despite all the strength Jin's actions bespoke, Hwoarang found, could be quite gentle.
THE END
Many thanks to Gypsie for the proofreading!
Published March 15, 2011.
Thanks to all the reviewers: HOIME G, xCamilleon, Shizuhana, HappyMe-O, Toxic City, asukaxjinforever, Haruka The-Dark-Angel, yasaman, and XNightLadyX! Thanks for your time, and don't neglect to leave a comment.