mindlessadri | From Firsts to Last

Rating: PG
Warnings: none
AN: This fic was written so each part can operate independently of each other for the most part. The 'Interludes' are meant to sort of bridge the gaps in time but otherwise are probably unimportant.

The kiss was forgotten and Fai's hair fixed. Their relationship didn't stay the same though. Kurogane never fully recovered from the embarrassment brought on by his first rejection but he couldn't bring himself to let Fai go either. He started becoming easily embarrassed, which translated to irritation. He was especially irritated by Fai and the blond took full advantage of it by coming up with ridiculous nicknames like Kuro-blush and Kuro-warrior. That's how their relationship became; a game of irritate and chase. Sometimes Fai would think that Kurogane really was done with him and Kurogane wouldn't see him for days on end. After enough sulking on his couch Kurogane would stomp through the woods to Fai's back door, pull the blond outside, and call him an idiot.

Fai also became an integrated part of the family, especially over the first summer. Though it was unknown to Kurogane, Fai's mom worked in the city and he was often left alone with his questionable step-dad. Fai's step-father wasn't physically abusive so much as he was mentally; he would constantly yell and scream at the slightest peak in his stress level. Fai's mother rarely came home from the city where she worked and so Kurogane's mother Tsumebe became a surrogate for the growing child. They would both snuggle at her sides while watching a movie and each hold a hand when they walked in town. And while they were young Kurogane could justify the way he felt towards Fai as brotherly: he wanted to protect him.

Elementary school passed without incident. When Fai finally started going during third grade, before he had been home schooled by a tutor because his mother had feared him entering a new school in the middle of the year, he became very popular very quickly and Kurogane experienced the same explosion of popularity by default. He became the scary friend in the background that glared death at you if you overstayed what he felt was your welcome. It's not as if they didn't have individual friends of their own it's just that the majority of their friends were mutual and neutral. Neutral in that they had no real strong affinity towards them. Sure each boy had people they liked more than others but they were attached at the hip for the most part. Nobody surpassed their best friend and they had the luck of being in the same class for both third and fourth grade.

Fifth grade was the year they got split up into different classes and what Kurogane's mom came to call the 'growing year'. Him and Fai had to grow into separate personalities instead of relying on the comfort of having each other. Instead of being known as Kurogane and Fai they had to individualize. Fai soon found a place in his class and quickly became recognized as charismatic and humorously dramatic. Kurogane found he more than excelled in sports: he dominated. While their new labels did little to soil their relationship in private they found they didn't need each other as much in public even when they secretly wished the other was there.

Middle school brought no relief. Six classes a day, only one together in their sixth grade year: PE. That was the first time Kurogane consciously realized he was different. He'd never really seen Fai with his shirt off, not even when they went to the local swimming pool or the nearby lake (Fai burned easily). Perhaps he had thought he might be different before this point but, hell, girls were hardly important to him while playing dodgeball... unless they were on his team then he cared. But middle school brought with it hormones; girls got boobs and the boys stared wide eyed wondering when girls became attractive. Well all except Kurogane it seemed and Fai to some extent. Fai more or less seemed uninterested in girl or boys for that matter. He would occasionally comment that a girl was pretty, much to Kurogane's contempt, and he would always reply politely when random females came to talk to him while blushing and stuttering like mad.

The friends they had made started talking about girls and giving each other horrible sexual advice. Sex became a regular topic even though not one of them had actual experience, though they feigned knowledge on the subject. Kurogane pretended to be interested in boobs. He was actually interested in the way Fai's cheeks dusted pink right along his cheek bones when the girls started staring at him. Fai stopped blushing once his own hormones started to catch up with him late in the seventh grade and instead he would flash his million watt smile that would throw the girls into a frenzy of giggles. Though even then it seemed Fai was doing it more to be polite than to actually show interest. Even so when that happened Kurogane found himself scowling more deeply than usual and he became more interested in the way Fai's hair framed his face and he thanked the divines more than once for bringing the v-neck back. He was too young to know that he wouldn't eventually grow past his preference for boys and actually be able to mean it when he called a girl cute.
But he convinced himself he would.

Part I
Interlude I
Part II
Interlude II
Part III
Interlude III
Conclusion