#fencess2k18

There had been lingering touches, and long looks, and one time Nick could have sworn Seiji was about to kiss him. But then they had graduated and moved to college. Even though they were at different schools they weren’t far from each other. But after a Summer of no contact, Nick didn’t know how to reach out when Seiji hadn’t tried to either.

But he knew he was going to be inside now, after months of not speaking to one another. Nick knew he had to play it cool, act like it hadn’t bothered him in the least. Like he hadn’t even noticed. Nick wasn’t going to be the one to speak to him first, hell no, he was going to win this not-a-breakup.

Finally Aiden opened the door, pulling Nick into a hug, trying not to spill his wine glass and ushered him into the living room with the others. Nick was pulled into another hug by Bobby who squeezed him tight and immediately started asking him questions about school, as if they didn’t skype almost every night as it was. Nick rolled his eyes good naturedly, and that’s when he saw him. Hovering in the attached dining room, picking at the food spread on the table was Seiji.

Seiji looked up at the same moment, making eye contact with Nick. Nick felt his heart hammer against his chest, and he could have sworn time slowed down. Seiji looked good, really good. In a blue shirt and neatly pressed trousers, the shirt hugging his shoulders perfectly, like he hadn’t missed a day of training since the last time he saw him.

“So you managed to drag yourself away from the gym long enough to socialise?” Nick called out to him, making his way over to Seiji’s side. Well there went the keep it cool plan, but no one ever accused Nick of being ‘cool’. Seiji rolled his eyes, picking up a mini sausage on a stick and twirling it between his fingers before turning to face Nick.

“I’m in peak form, one missed practice won’t kill me, you on the other hand, have probably missed too many already” Seiji smirked, his eyes glittering in the low light of the room. God Nick had missed him.

“Oh, har har, do I need to remind you we finished on sixteen-sixteen wins each on our matches before leaving school”

“Are you saying we need to do one more match so I can finally show you I will always be the best”

Nick reached down, picking up one of the sausages himself, deliberately putting the the stick into his mouth, enjoying watching Seiji follow the motion, and bite off the sausage before sliding the stick out between his lips. He dropped into a starting stance, pointing the small toothpick towards Seiji.

“En garde?” He challenged. Seiji’s eyes lit up as he threw his head back and laughed with his whole body, a grin spread across his face to match the one on Nick’s. Seiji followed Nick’s lead and bit the sausage off the stick and placed it next to Nick’s matching his stance, giggling all the time.

“Will you boys not get competitive just for one day and join us in the living room, we want to know what you’ve been up to!” Harvard called them back through to the living room. Nick ducked his head blushing slightly, and placed the toothpick back on the table, gesturing with Seiji to follow him back to the others. He really should catch up with all his friends.

Just as they walked through the doorway, Bobby let out an ‘ooooooh’.

“Looks like someone got caught under the mistletoe” Aiden sang, pointing above them.

Seiji and Nick looked up at the same time to see the small green plant taped above the doorway they had just gone through. Had that been there before?

“Very funny guys, don’t be-” Nick started but was cut off as Seiji lurched forward and kissed his cheek. Nick could feel his cheeks heat, probably to match the bright pink colour currently spreading over Seiji’s.

“Ok, cool” Nick finished lamely before scurrying over to catch up with the others.

Some more time passed, filled with conversation and needling and catching up on everything he missed now they were at different schools.

“Oh dammit, I left the dessert out in the car, Nick will you grab it for me?” Bobby turned pleading eyes on Nick, obviously not wanting to move from where he was snuggled between the chair and Dante.

“Yeah no problem, give me your keys”

“There’s a few boxes though, I made a bunch of stuff for everyone”

“I’ll help” Seiji volunteered, standing up to help Nick get the stuff from Bobby’s car.

Just as they opened the front door to step out into the cold, it happened again.

“Look guys, the mistletoe found you again” Eugene pointed out, a sly grin on his face. They looked up and one again, they were under mistletoe.

Before anyone could say or do anything, Nick leaned in and pressed his lips to Seiji’s cheek.

“There, now we’re even” He nodded, before stepping into the cold not wanting to hear the reactions from the rest of them. Seiji quickly followed, his cheeks pink once again. But they managed to get the desserts inside without any other major incidents.

Seriously though, where had that mistletoe come from? Nick was sure it hadn’t been there when he had walked in.

They ate dinner around the table together, lots of laughing and joking, pulling of crackers. Those who were able to, got a little merry with the wine.

“Guys that was amazing, i’ve never been so full” Nick leaned back in his chair, patting his stomach.

Seiji snorted beside him.

“Please, i’ve seen you put away almost an entire vending machine full of snacks, at least this has vegetables”

Nick had no response to that except to stick his tongue out.

“Ok whoever didn’t contribute to the cooking, has to clear up the dishes, house rules” Harvard smiled as Nick rolled his eyes, but stood up and started clearing plates. Most people had brought a plate with them to the meal so the cooking was divided up between everyone, but Nick couldn’t cook anything that didn’t use a microwave.

“I’m not even going to complain, because that was delicious, and it’s probably for the best I did not attempt to add to it”

Seiji stood up beside him, also clearing plates, but smiling to himself, probably thinking the same thing. After passing dishes through to the kitchen a few times, they attempted to pass each other in the doorway to the kitchen, causing Dante to chuckle.

“It happened again boys, mistletoe” Dante nodded above them, and surely enough, even more mistletoe. Before Nick could form a response, most likely asking what the hell Harvard and Aiden were doing with so much mistletoe in their house. Seiji closed the space between them, this time kissing him on the lips. It was a little rough and fast, like he panicked slightly. But the scent of Seiji overwhelmed him for those few seconds they were pressed together, making Nick just a little dizzy.

Then Seiji was pulling away again, his eyes glittering with mischief as he smiled down at Nick.

“Two-One” He whispered for only Nick to hear, and the disappeared into the kitchen again.

Nick stared after him in disbelief. Oh it was ON!

Nick wasn’t even sure how it happened the next time. But he definitely felt a conspiracy was happening. He wasn’t really sure why, how, or what, but something was definitely against him...or maybe for him if he got to keep kissing Seiji.

The next time he was coming out of the downstairs bathroom, and Seiji and coming from the other kitchen entrance, and Aiden had been walking past on the stairs when he sang out;

“Mistletooeeeeee” Before he disappeared again.

“Yeah ok, I’ll show you a proper kiss” Nick grabbed the front of Seiji’s shirt, pulling them together once again. Slotting their mouths together like they were meant to be. Seiji seemed to melt into him for a beat, before they were separating again. Seiji blinked a couple of times, almost like he was dazed before raising an eyebrow at Nick.

“Is that all you got?” And waltzed off.

It ended up happening a few more times throughout the rest of the night. Nick really wasn’t sure where this stuff was coming from, one minute he was sure it wasn’t there, but then he would walk through a doorway and one of his friends would be pointing out that he and Seiji were under it once more.

Each time, the kiss got a little longer, a little more passionate, a little more real. Nick honestly didn’t know if they were trying to one up each other or prove something, but he wasn’t going to lose whatever it was they were doing.

Eventually it was a little late and people were making talk of leaving. Nick had to get the bus back and said as much. The others grumbled offering to take him, or let him stay over. Seiji put a hand on his arm.

“I’ll drive you back, it’s not a problem” He smiled, that same smile that made Nick think there may have been something between them last year.

They grabbed their coats and said their goodbyes, making their way out to Seiji’s car. Once they were seated, and the car turned on, in the faint glow of the radio they realised on the roof of the car between them someone had stuck a small piece of mistletoe.

“When the hell did they manage to do that?” Seiji asked, chuckling as he leaned in to Nick again. This time though, Nick stopped him with a light hand on his chest.

“Why didn’t you stay in touch?” He asked in a rush. He really did suck at playing it cool.  Seiji blinked, his brow furrowing at the question.

“You didn’t stay in touch either”

“Yeah, because I was waiting for you to do it first”

“Well I was waiting for you to do it first!”

“Why did I have to be the first one?” Seiji asked, his voice raising slightly, their bodies sinking easily back into their old argumentative routine.

“Because it was obvious I wanted to talk to you, I was waiting to see if you wanted to”

“Why is it obvious? It wasn’t obvious to me!”

“Because I’ve had a crush on you for years and I still don’t know how you feel about me” The silence in the car felt deafening after Nick’s declaration. He always felt his feelings were obvious, he wore his heart on his sleeve, how could Seiji not see that? Seiji still wasn’t saying anything.

“I swore I thought you were almost going to kiss me last year before Graduation, you remember the night we snuck out to the gym? And we just lay on the mats talking about everything. I thought you must have known how I felt, and I always wondered if you felt the same, but then you didn’t do anything about it, and then you didn’t talk to me all Summer” Nick twisted his fingers round his sleeve, pulling at a loose thread.

“I did almost kiss you, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to, so I didn’t and then you never said anything after Graduation, I just assumed you didn’t want to hear from me” Seiji finally admitted, his voice quiet even though there was only Nick to hear.

“We really are idiots” Nick smiled, placing his hands on either side of Seiji’s face and bringing their foreheads together. “Ok from now, we are going to talk every day, maybe twice a day, we are going to do it all, skype, snapchat, whatsapp, and we are going to meet up at least twice a week and you are going to take me on cute dates because you have money and I don’t, deal?”

“Deal” Seiji whispered, bringing them together again. Nick could feel his smile against his lips. This time the kiss was filled with everything they didn’t need to say, because now they had said it. It was tongue and teeth and heavy panting and the promise it would happen again and again.

The sounds of cheers nearby startled them apart.

“WOO, we popping the biggest bottles, I can’t believe that worked” Aiden cheered, whilst literally popping a champagne bottle and spraying it over the car.

“Want to come back to my place?” Seiji asked, already pulling away from the house and leaving their spectators behind.

“Sounds cosy” Nick smiled, placing his hand on Seiji’s thigh as he drove them, “You know we still need to come up with a tie breaker for our matches”

Seiji smiled placing his hand over Nicks, “I’m sure we can come up with something”