“We’re here,” Kamijo said, finally breaking the silence that had developed during the car ride to their mysterious destination. He hadn’t told Hizaki where they were doing, which made him awfully antsy and almost too anxious to find out; he spent the entire car ride staring out the window, trying to guess where Kamijo had wanted to bring him.

But now that they’d reached the spot, it didn’t seem to live up to its promise.

“What is it?” Kamijo asked, noting Hizaki’s silence. Hizaki instantly perked up and shook his head, forcing a little smile.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said. “It’s uh, nice here.” Kamijo simply nodded while Hizaki stared out the passenger seat window, taking in the trees and bushes bathed in gold light from the setting sun. The hill they were parked atop of slanted downward, the dim lights of the city visible beneath them.  

“See? I told you it was nice,” said Kamijo, opening the driver’s side door. “C’mon, I wanna go look around.” He stepped out of the car and headed for the edge of the hill, Hizaki watching him fade into the darkness from his place in the passenger’s seat.

Hizaki pushed his door open and stepped out into the dirt road and took a few steps forward into the grass, trying to be careful to avoid wild rose bushes that he saw sprouting up from the dirt. He pushed his way through some small trees, the leaves shuddering in the chill night wind.

He shuddered as the wind passed over his bare legs, his skirt fluttering in the breeze. He made an attempt to cover his exposed flesh by grabbing at the hem of his cheerleading skirt and pulling it down, but he knew it wouldn’t do much. Sighing, he paced across the grass, wondering where Kamijo had gone. It was dark in this little forest and there were no streetlights on the road they had come down, so Hizaki could barely make out where he was.

“Kamijo?” He said quietly, almost a whisper on the wind. He stood still for a moment, waiting anxiously for a reply. When he didn’t get one, he set out back onto the road, traversing to the opposite side.

He felt grass under his shoe again and stopped when he heard rustling in the trees behind him.

“Hizaki?” Kamijo said with a laugh, though Hizaki still couldn’t see him. “Where did you go?”

He turned and tried to follow Kamijo’s voice, but just ended up walking into a rosebush instead.

The scream was more from shock than real pain as the sharp thorns brushed harshly against Hizaki’s leg. He felt warm blood trickle down to his ankle as he tried to move around the bush and find the road, still searching for Kamijo in the darkness.

“What are you doing?” Kamijo’s hand landed lightly on Hizaki’s shoulder, making him jump a little where he stood. “And what was the screaming for?”

“I stepped in something,” answered Hizaki, scanning the ground around him for the plant he’d just encountered. “It was a rose bush, I think. It cut my leg.”

“Don’t worry, princess,” said Kamijo, sweeping Hizaki off his feet with one swift movement. “I’ll carry you to safety.” Hizaki giggled and threw his arms around Kamijo’s neck, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek.

Kamijo tread carefully, trying to balance Hizaki’s weight and avoid the all-too-dangerous rose bushes at the same time.

“Does your leg hurt at all?” Kamijo asked as he glanced down at Hizaki’s leg, his white knee sock ripped and dotted with crimson patches.

“It’s not bad,” Hizaki said, shaking his head, “it just stings a little.” Kamijo smirked and moved in close, touching their foreheads together.

“When we get back to the car, I’ll make it all better, okay?” He said, smiling. Hizaki smiled back and leaned forward to give Kamijo another kiss, but their lips only touched for a moment before Kamijo’s foot met with another rosebush.

Hizaki landed on the dirt road with a thud, a cloud of dust exploding from beneath him. Kamijo was laying half in the dirt and half in the grass, laughing despite the scratches he’d suffered. Hizaki, however, was not amused, and rolled his eyes as he sat up, brushing the dirt off his cheerleading uniform.

“Sorry about that,” Kamijo said, rising to his feet with a smile, extending a hand to help his fallen princess. It wasn’t much of an apology, but Hizaki would take it. He sighed and grabbed onto Kamijo’s outstretched hand, allowing himself to be helped to his feet.

Hizaki hated when their romantic moments were ruined, as he definitely felt they didn’t have enough of them. Kamijo was never in the mood for romanticism, and certainly seemed to have no problem putting Hizaki off for more important things - like football. He’d hoped this would be one of the rare occasions when Kamijo would make it seem like he really did care, but so far it wasn’t going as well as he thought it should have been.

“Come on, I set up a nice place for us to sit,” Kamijo said, gently tugging on Hizaki’s hand. He followed Kamijo into another section of the bush near the end of the hill, which was cleared of trees and those pesky rose bushes. Green grass covered the ground, and the space left by the trees revealed a clear view of the city below. A little picnic blanket was spread over the grass almost haphazardly, causing Hizaki’s lips to curl up into a slight smile.

“We’re having a picnic?” he asked, letting out a little giggle. Kamijo just shrugged and walked over to the blanket, taking a seat and patting down an empty spot next to him for Hizaki.

“Not quite,” said Kamijo as Hizaki claimed his spot on the blanket. “I told you this would be nice. Check out the view.”

Hizaki stared out across the vast expanse of land beneath him, scanning the line between the city and the sky. He had a perfect view of both, his eyes wandering from the city lights to the stars that were just beginning to show from behind the setting sun. The moon was already up, hanging high in the sky and casting a pale shadow through the scant clouds. Though they were still obscured by the sun’s fading light, the stars that shone out here already seemed brighter than they were in the city, and he even caught a glimpse of a flash in the corner of his eye; the flare of light as a star fell.

“Did you see that?” he asked, eyes still fixed on the sky where he’d seen the star.

“No,” answered Kamijo, shifting his gaze to the sky where Hizaki had been looking. “What was it?”

“A shooting star,” said Hizaki. “It was over here.” He drew a line across the sky with his finger, tracing the path the star had taken.

“I can’t believe you missed it,” he added, leaning back onto his elbows on the blanket. Kamijo watched him with a smile on his face.

“Did you wish on it?” he asked, inching closer to Hizaki and taking his hand.

“No,” said Hizaki, shaking his head. “I don’t have anything to wish for.” Kamijo raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” he asked. Hizaki turned and draped his arms over Kamijo’s shoulders, pulling himself upward so they were face to face.

“I already have everything I want,” whispered Hizaki, softly pressing his lips to Kamijo’s. His mouth tasted strongly of cigarette smoke laced with mint, but Hizaki didn’t mind. In fact, he’d almost gotten used to it. Kamijo’s hands slid down over his back and stopped at his hips, gently pulling him forward.

“You’re so sweet,” said Kamijo, breaking the kiss. He moved one hand up to undo Hizaki’s ponytail, letting his blonde hair fall onto his shoulders. “And so beautiful, too.”
Hizaki smiled, feeling his cheeks getting hot. Even though it was getting dark out, Kamijo had obviously noticed, planting short kisses on both of Hizaki’s cheeks.

“Quit being so adorable,” he said, beginning to press kisses down Hizaki’s neck, his fingers finding the buttons on Hizaki’s sweater and popping them open, sliding it off his shoulders and onto the blanket. He continued what he was doing, despite the fact that Hizaki protested by trying to squirm away from him.

“It’s too cold out here,” Hizaki blurted out, which finally made Kamijo stop. Hizaki inched away from him and Kamijo grabbed the sweater off the ground, reluctantly handing it back to Hizaki.

“We can go back to the car then,” said Kamijo, getting to his feet and beginning to fold up the blanket. Hizaki stood and pulled his sweater back on, struggling with the buttons as another breeze flew by and made him shake.

“Go start the car and warm up,” Kamijo said, tossing Hizaki the car keys as he went back to work with the picnic blanket. Hizaki left his sweater unbuttoned halfway to catch the keys, nodding absent mindedly as he trudged off towards their parking spot, making sure to be careful of where he stepped.

Truthfully, Hizaki was nervous. Thoughts of what could happen in Kamijo’s car filled his head and made him anxious, and he knew he could do very little to avoid it. He had told Kamijo that he didn’t want to be put into these situations, to be forced into things he didn’t want to do. Kamijo had seemed to understand at the time, but recently, he was getting worse and ignoring Hizaki’s personal boundaries.

He fidgeted with the car keys as he unlocked the driver’s side door of the car, happily sitting down where he’d finally be shielded from the wind. He was barely any warmer in the car than he was outside, so he started the car and turned up the heat. He pushed the seat back and lay there, staring out the side window for any signs of Kamijo. It was getting darker out and making it harder to see out the window, his own reflection obscuring his view.

He was startled by the sound of the passenger’s side door opening, and he jumped a little in his seat when Kamijo popped his head in. He threw the folded blanket onto the empty seat and shut the door again, but not before swiftly unlocking the door to the back seat. He climbed into the back of the car instead, motioning for Hizaki to come and join him.

Hizaki clambered between the two front seats, struggling to squeeze through and make his way to the back. Kamijo reached out and pulled him forward, resulting in Hizaki landing uncomfortably with his face in Kamijo’s lap. He let out a muffled cry of surprise into the fabric of Kamijo’s pants and then shot upright, nearly falling onto the floor of the car before he righted himself.

His cheeks were flushed a deep red as he pulled himself up onto the seat next to Kamijo, who was smirking at him.

“I liked where that was going,” he said, sliding even closer and taking Hizaki in his arms, easing him up onto his lap. Hizaki tried to laugh it off in a vain attempt to hide his insecurity.

“You’ve fallen down too many times today,” said Kamijo, running a hand through Hizaki’s hair. “I told you I’d make it better, right?” Hizaki nodded, and a wide smile crept over Kamijo’s lips.

He didn’t say anything else and just watched him with a look Hizaki had never seen before, his eyes roaming over every part of his body while he displayed a sinister smile he didn’t seem to be aware of. Hizaki stayed still, aware of how uncomfortable he was becoming with the situation. While Kamijo continued staring at him, he tried to think of solutions – other things for them to do, anything he could say to get Kamijo focused on something else, any way he could get out of this car – but he barely had time to piece something together before Kamijo had pushed him down onto his back and was kissing him hard. Hizaki was surprised at his aggression, but returned his kisses nonetheless.

“I love you,” Kamijo managed to whisper between kisses, “I love you so much.”
Hizaki’s heart swelled at hearing those words; Kamijo would rarely say he loved him, and even though that was sometimes discouraging, it made Hizaki feel even more important when he did manage to say it.

“I love you, too,” Hizaki gasped, nearly out of breath. Kamijo smiled and gave him one last, long kiss before pulling him back up to sit. Hizaki climbed up onto Kamijo’s lap and straddled his waist, arms encircling his neck to give him a quick peck on the nose.

“Hizaki,” said Kamijo, his eyes now roaming down to Hizaki’s exposed legs. He rested his hand on Hizaki’s knee and began to slowly move it upwards, much to Hizaki’s discomfort. He grew more and more uneasy the further Kamijo’s hand dared to go and the longer the other stared at him so unabashedly.

“I want you so bad,” he finally said, swiftly sliding his hand all the way under Hizaki’s skirt. Hizaki gasped and tried to pull away, but Kamijo quickly grabbed onto his arm with his free hand and pinned him helpless against the car seat. Filled with panic, he tried to free himself from Kamijo’s grip, but his fight was useless.

“What are you doing?” Hizaki cried, feeling Kamijo’s cold fingers between his legs.

“Don’t worry, princess,” whispered Kamijo, leaning over Hizaki’s body and giving him a rough kiss. “You’ll like it too.”

“Please, stop,” Hzaki pleaded, still mildly struggling against Kamijo’s unwanted touches. “I don’t want to do this!” Kamijo gave him a furious look and slammed down on top of him, trapping Hizaki against the seat under his weight.

“You owe me this,” he hissed into Hizaki’s ear. “I do everything for you all the time. This is what I want, is that hard to understand?”

“This is what you want?!” Hizaki screamed, forcing Kamijo back. He had obviously not expected that reaction, as his angry glare quickly shifted into a shocked gape.

“What about all the time that I spend with you?” Hizaki continued, “What about everything we’ve done together? What about me?” He felt tears stinging his eyes as he forced the words out, now curled up against the car door while Kamijo stared at him, looking awfully guilty.

“You really don’t care about me, do you?” He said, watching Kamijo’s gaze shift to the floor. When Kamijo didn’t reply, Hizaki threw open the car door, nearly breaking off into a run down the dark road.

He tried to convince himself that he shouldn’t care, that he shouldn’t cry, but he couldn’t help sobbing, his ragged breath catching in his throat as the tears streamed endlessly down his cheeks.

All he wanted was to be left alone, but of course, Kamijo wouldn’t be far behind. He tried to pick up his pace but seemed to have no energy, slowing down to a walk not too far down the dirt road. The headlights of Kamijo’s car caught up to him quickly, casting a long, distorted shadow in his path as they approached.

“Hizaki,” Kamijo said from the open car window, “I’m sorry, okay?” Hizaki ignored him and kept walking, crossing his arms and staring down at the road to avoid Kamijo’s gaze. He heard him let out an aggravated sigh, but still didn’t look up.

“Just get in the car and I’ll drive you home.” Hizaki simply shook his head and pushed himself to speed up.

“I don’t want to go with you,” he managed to say, still staring at the road. “I’ll just walk.”

“You’re being crazy,” said Kamijo, “get in the car.” Of course, Hizaki didn’t want to walk home, but there was no way he would submit and get back in that car. Even if he was freezing cold and alone in the middle of the night, at least he had his self-respect.

“Just get out of here and leave me alone,” he choked out, feeling fresh tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

The taillights and the hum of the car’s engine slowly faded as Kamijo drove away, and Hizaki finally managed to pry his gaze from the road. The stars overhead were blurred by the tears in his eyes, so he wiped them away to get a better view. He looked out onto the city, and the realization of how far he really was from home hit him hard. All around, there was nothing but darkness and dead silence.

He sobbed, pulled up his socks, and began to walk.