"I'm bored," Li announced, his back sinking into the couch he sat on. Next to him, Emil tossed his controller aside and watched him. They sat in Emil's basement, with the air conditioning on full blast. An unusual heat wave had struck Iceland, where Li was staying for the summer. They had spent the past three hours playing video games, and now the two had tired of the constant action. Emil stared at the ceiling, his body heavy and sluggish from hours on the couch. The two of them were home alone; his parents had gone out to some farmers' market, taking the only car available with them. It wasn't as if there was anywhere to go in the small town he lived in, anyways. There was only a community pool plagued with the "accidents" of small children and a small park, which neither wished to go to in the heat. Aside from the collection of video games arranged sloppily onto shelves, there was absolutely nothing to do. "What are we doing tomorrow?"

"We could either go to the waterpark or the beach," Emil replied, gaze still towards the ceiling. "I don't really care."

Li nodded and shrugged. "Either one is fine." He swung his legs onto the couch and shifted his position so that he was lying down. His feet prodded Emil's leg, but Li didn't seem to care. "I seriously don't think I can take another day like this."

"Yeah," Emil agreed, watching him. He was a little irritated that Li wasn't giving him personal space, but he found it hard to be angry with him. They were best friends, they only saw each other during the summer, and they had just wasted another day. He could have sprawled his feet onto Emil's lap, for all he cared. "We could watch a movie or something, I guess."

"I don't wanna," Li whined. "There's like, nothing to do."

"It was just a suggestion." They spent a few minutes in silence, unsure of where to go from there. Emil knew he wasn't being the best host, with these prolonged periods of boredom. He had to suggest something to break up the atmosphere. Currently he found the situation awkward and uncomfortable, and wanted nothing more than to change it. However, he had nothing to suggest, no matter how desperate he was for an idea.

Fortunately, Li decided to break the silence. "Are there any interesting clubs around here?"

"No," Emil frowned. "Well, there's one, but we're not old enough to get in. Maybe my brother could sneak us in somehow . . ."

"Where is your brother, anyways?"

"He's out with his friends. They didn't invite me." Again, he almost added. His brother Lukas's friends were practically his friends, too, but they always left him out of their plans. It pissed him off to no end, but Li couldn't see this. He simply nodded in understanding.

"I see. At least your brother is cool. Ugh, Yao is so old sometimes, you know? He doesn't understand like, anything, and he's in his twenties!" Emil scoffed.

"Lukas isn't cool. He spends half of his time studying Norse mythology and the other half pretending he's not in love with Mathias."

"Yao still uses a flip phone—and he barely knows how to work it!" Suddenly, Li appeared thoughtful, and seemed to forget about proving his point. "They've probably kissed behind your back or something. It's probably why you're never invited." Emil laughed a little, but he shook his head.

"I don't know. I just don't think they see me as an adult. I don't know why; I'm the most mature out of all of them." Li sat upright again and scooted closer to Emil. Their knees were an inch away from touching, which Emil didn't quite understand. They had more room than this. "Personal space, Li." His friend ignored him.

"Hey, have you ever had a girlfriend?" This question. Only his parents ever asked it; when Emil told them no, they would always reply with "one day, someone will see how cute you are!" or something embarrassing of the sort. However, he'd never been asked by a friend. He didn't even know why a friend would ask.

"No," he answered. "Why would I? I don't talk to people."

"Yeah, me neither," Li shrugged. "I wonder what it's like sometimes." Emil hadn't put much thought into romance. He'd always assumed he'd meet someone eventually, but never cared much. He had never been that interested in girls, anyways. Still, he nodded in response to Li, and sought a comment in return.

"I suppose it'd be a lot of kissing," he guessed, bored with the conversation. "But I really don't care about—"

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" How rude. Li had interrupted him for such a stupid, embarrassing question. Why did he have to answer? He did anyways.

"No."

"Me neither." There was a pause between the two. Li's dark eyes were unfathomable as he watched the black TV screen absently. Emil inched away from his friend. He felt a little hotter, even with the air conditioning running on full blast.

Li turned towards him, his chocolate eyes boring into his. "Maybe we can like, try it or something. Kissing."

"What the hell? You want to kiss me?" Heat flushed to his face. "Why?"

"Do we have anything better to do?" So this is how bored they really were. They were about to resort to kissing each other to see how it felt. Well, why the hell not, Emil admitted. After all, Li had a point, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he wouldn't mind kissing his friend. His lips seemed soft enough, anyways—whatever that meant. He nodded, showing Li that he was right, that they had nothing better to do, and that he was ready. "Sure."

Very slowly, the two leaned towards each other, watching the distance between faces. At first, they kept inching away out of nerves that suddenly appeared. Why did he feel so nervous? Li was only his friend. This was only an experiment. He closed his eyes, hoping for a leap of faith as Li's hot breath fell on his chin. In the next instant, their lips were crashing. His heart thundered in his chest as his lips sought Li's hungrily and clung to them desperately. The intensity of it all shocked him, yet he could not stop. It felt slippery and soft and strange and . . . it felt right. Unconsciously, his hand reached for Li's silky hair. He ran his fingers through it as he kissed deeper; all self-control was lost. Li returned the favor with equally intense passion. His arms were wrapped around Emil's torso and showed no signs of release. He had no idea how long they sat like that, locked in their embrace. All he knew was that Li's arms burned into his sides, his lips felt fantastic, and when it ended, he could still hear his heartbeat in his ears. They took deep, frantic breaths as Li let go, and the two found themselves sitting casually on the couch, hotter than before. Emil did not know what had happened. He looked to Li, and found a new kind of beauty in his eyes, in his glorious skin, in his thin arms. It was almost impossible to tear his eyes away, when he noticed he was staring for a while.

"So," Li began awkwardly. "Well, that was like, interesting."

"I guess we know now," Emil added. Li was glowing with an aura of attractiveness. He tried his best to ignore it. "Strange, huh?"

"Sure, yeah, I guess." Li had smooth, deep brown hair . . .

"An interesting experiment, indeed."

If it was only an experiment, then why did Emil want to do it again?

A/N: Hey~ I've been into HongIce recently, but I'm extremely picky about it. I can't find enough stories where Hong and Ice and treated as equals in their relationship instead of one "dominating" the other, the way I prefer it. So I've written this little drabble. I hope you've enjoyed it.