the bucking horse

“O-Oh,” Dino stutters, staring down at the drawing, his smile flickering briefly. “It’s, uh. It’s lovely…”

“Don’t you like it?” Letting the smile falter, the corner of his lips turn down in false disappointment.

“It’s... it’s very nice,” he says, “why don’t you tell me more about it?”

He points to a crudely drawn stick character, topped with a yellow smudge, that he presumes is meant to depict himself.

“O-Oh,” Dino stutters, staring down at the drawing, his smile flickering briefly. “It’s, uh. It’s lovely...”

Dino wouldn’t go nearly as far as to call himself an expert in the romance department, but he does like to think that he has himself more or less figured out by this point in his life. Girls are soft, and pretty, and they always smell so nice. He’s stolen enough brief moments in secluded hallways attached at the mouth to various female classmates to know for certain that girls are awesome, so the first time he finds his eyes drifting appreciatively over the short, inky black hair and pale skin of one of his male classmates he needs to excuse himself from class to have a quiet meltdown locked in a bathroom stall.

He isn’t closed-minded enough to have a problem with same-sex relationships, of course– he was raised better than that– but for a boy who’s spent the majority of his teenage years firmly rooted in the idea of his own heterosexulality, the realization that he might not know himself as well as he’d thought he did is a little jarring, to say the least.

Once he gets his breathing under control and his face schooled in as regular a grin as he can manage he heads back to his dorm. He knows that trying to focus on the rest of his last class of the day is futile what with being in the midst of an internal crisis and all, so he feels justified in cutting for today.

Dino knows that Squalo, his roommate and best friend forever (though Squalo himself would likely disagree with that particular descriptor), will most likely be in their room at this time of day, so he pauses outside the door for another moment to collect himself before he pushes it open.

The kid was annoying for lack of a better word. The attempted playboy lady killer personality aside… He was clumsy, or rather he was a disaster on two legs. He was obnoxious, he was everything Squalo hated in a person and he was forced to spend more time than he liked at his side. Squalo was a prodigy in fencing, as far as he was concerned he should have been paired with someone on a tier equal to his not this…. Mess.

What was even more bullshit was he actually liked the kid.

Somewhere in the months they had spent living together, the future Cavallone boss had managed to worm his way into his good graces and Squalo had actually found himself going from tolerating Dino’s presence, to enjoying having him around. The annoying quirks ended up being funny, and there was something refreshing about the sass that was capable of leaving this boy’s throat when he wanted it to.

When the blond had returned after classes, Squalo was already laying in his own bed, a magazine spread open in front of his eyes; reading an article on a new Turkish sword that was being pulled from the market. Almost immediately the boy started to speak… Letting out a sigh he lowered the magazine, making am mental note to find a copy of that sword before letting silver eyes slide to look at the other.

Dino’s whirling thoughts are making his stomach clench uncomfortably, so without raising his face from his pillow he lets out a whine, muffled by cotton and probably more lengthy than necessary, in an attempt to relieve some of his frustration.

It doesn’t work, so he turns his head to the side, staring at the opposite wall of their dorm room and trying to think of how to phrase his issue in a way that will be easy to back out of if things seem like they’re turning sticky.

“Have you ever thought about another boy that way before?”

Well, fuck.

Awesome. Subtle. Perfect job, Dino. Huge failure, as always.

“Not put off, huh?” he murmurs, lowering his face to rest his forehead against his student’s shoulder. “That’s good, I guess. I’ll take it.”

Kyouya’s confusion is to be expected, of course. The boy’s only experience thus far with intimacy had been brutal and animalistic; something that the older man regrets more than he has words to express. If things had been different, if he could take back the mess he’d made of everything on the clifftop he wouldn’t be pushing Kyouya to let him do this now, but there’s no way in Hell that Dino is going to allow Kyouya to walk away from this trip believing that what they’d done together is the norm.

He turns his face slightly, pressing his lips softly against Kyouya’s throat. He can feel the boy’s pulse against his mouth, and his own flutters in response. Unthinking, he parts his lips and presses a bit closer to lay a line of kisses up and down the pale neck before him.

The feeling of Dino’s fingertips moving down his torso; the too gentle press of lips against his throat… He could feel goosebumps rising on flesh but the feeling it left pooling down in his stomach was different. While fighting, the tension in his chest had been thick, had been something he wanted to rid himself of as fast as possible while this… It was lingering, it was building slowly with every inch further up under his shirt that man went.                        And he hated it. He hated the way his breath was catching, he hated the way his skin burned under the other’s touch, he hated that he was laying at the mercy of another; allowing his man to touch him in any way other than violence. He also hated how he could all but feel Dino’s eyes moving up his body to settle on his face.

Dino feels some of the nervous tension in his stomach relax at the sight. He doesn’t miss the way the touch of his hand against Kyouya’s stomach sends a shiver down the boy’s spine.

Kyouya’s eyes are covered, so Dino doesn’t bother to mask the look of affection that steals across his face as he gazes down at him.

Deciding that Kyouya must be getting used to the change in pace by now, Dino allows his hands to drift up to the buttons on Kyouya’s shirt, sliding them open one after another as his hands move down the boy’s torso. 

Both of his hands move up to take hold of Kyouya’s head, fingers gently twining through the boys hair. He’s not afraid of holding too tightly; he knows that the second Kyouya decides he wants to end it his grip will be easily broken.

Kyouya doesn’t seem too interested in ending this yet, though, but Dino still wants to take it slow. He’s not worried about spooking the boy, really. He just wants to make sure that when they’re finished here, Kyouya will understand the difference between what they’re doing now and what happened on the clifftop.

Using his height to his advantage Dino presses forward, forcing Kyouya to lean back until he’s lying down on the bed. Hands on either side of the boy’s head, Dino props himself up, breaking the kiss and hovering over Kyouya with a gentle smile on his face. When he speaks, his voice is low.

When the strong hand found it’s way into his hair he found he enjoyed the small sparks it sent down his spine, and he left it there, allowing it to keep its grip. Though his grey eyes finally fluttered open when he felt his back press into the soft mattress of the bed, finally being pulled back to reality out of his thoughts.

Staring up at the man above him, he just held Dino’s gaze, letting the soft words settle over his ears as he considered their meaning. 

How did he feel? Lowering his gaze down to just stare between them, his eyes took in the way Dino was propped over him, the way he was laid against the white sheets of the hotel bed, the way his stomach was tight with an anticipation he hadn’t quite felt before. It didn’t feel the same as before a fight, but it was a twisting feeling that he knew was one in an eager anticipation. He felt the way a strange heat was pooling in his stomach much like the way it had on the cliff side, though the angry force from before didn’t accompany it.

“Confused” he said bluntly, before allowing himself the time to filter out what might make him seem vulnerable.

“Not put off, huh?” he murmurs, lowering his face to rest his forehead against his student’s shoulder. “That’s good, I guess. I’ll take it.”

Kyouya’s confusion is to be expected, of course. The boy’s only experience thus far with intimacy had been brutal and animalistic; something that the older man regrets more than he has words to express. If things had been different, if he could take back the mess he’d made of everything on the clifftop he wouldn’t be pushing Kyouya to let him do this now, but there’s no way in Hell that Dino is going to allow Kyouya to walk away from this trip believing that what they’d done together is the norm.

He turns his face slightly, pressing his lips softly against Kyouya’s throat. He can feel the boy’s pulse against his mouth, and his own flutters in response. Unthinking, he parts his lips and presses a bit closer to lay a line of kisses up and down the pale neck before him.

“Do you not delegate?” He asked, his tone cautious, as though unsure he wanted to allow himself to participate in this conversation, knowing once he started he was likely going to be obligated to continue; though he knew he could simply leave if he decided he was done being ‘social’ for the day.

Kyouya looks a little surprised by his own words as well, and Dino can’t help the fond smile that breaks across his face as he looks back at the boy. A few months ago an atmosphere like the one that permeates the air in his office would not have been possible, but it seems like the hours and hours Dino has spent at Kyouya’s side have finally begun to open the boy’s heart, if only just a little.

Is that so. It looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me with you, don’t I?

Is that so. It looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me with you, don’t I?

Soft? Of course not, Kyouya will always be Kyouya.

Soft? Of course not, Kyouya will always be Kyouya.