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[swordfucker]

Guren Ichinose | Red | #A5211F

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[swordfucker]

Because it's good for me, or good for you?

[It's probably flirting. Guren's smirking as he makes his next move, and his reactions have adapted a little, as well. He's sure he's no match for Dextera in the long run, but he'll still have times when he wins or pushes back enough. He wants that, he needs it.]

[passio]

Good for you. [ a beat. ] Fun for me.

[ it doesn’t matter how many memories about his brother make chess strange for him—he’s making new ones, with guren. he doesn’t play like someone who learned from a book, and that’s fun. guren is fun.

they’re just a few moves in, as dextera moves his next piece into place, but it’s already going a little differently from their matches before. ]

[swordfucker]

[It's always heated when they play chess, but now it feels even moreso. At least, Guren feels it. He doesn't know if it's the knowledge that Dextera kissed him and wanted that, or just that his own playing is going surprisingly enough that Dextera is having to think a little more than normal to push back, but it's an incredible feeling. Way too much excitement.]

This is pretty fun for me, too.

[He says it a few turns later, thinking out his next move and then placing it.]

[passio]

[ it’s a nice break from how hectic things have still been, the past few days. although it’s nothing compared to the town at large’s tendency to throw things at them every which way, dextera’s death and revival have made him busy. this is a kind of solace for him, to stick close to guren.

the oddity of guren’s earlier comment has been forgotten, thankfully. ]

…

[ although they’re not timing it, for this match, a good ten seconds pass before dextera makes his next move. it’s obvious, that guren just gave him a genuine pause. ]

[swordfucker]

[You know, there are plenty of times when Guren can be called catlike, but they're never enough to mention. Now, though, the stare he's giving Dextera at that pause is too amused, too focused, it's like you can see a tail flicking behind him.

Thankfully, he's not a furry, so he's just sitting and watching, but god he loves this.]

I got you on that one, huh?

[passio]

[ dextera looks up, and he’s surprised to see guren looking at him like that—even with that tone that’s clearly smug, he’s not sure he’s ever seen all of guren’s various quirks come together like this. ]

…hmm.

[ he looks away, setting his piece down with more force than is necessary, though the sound of it is somehow playful too. no!! you didn’t get him at all!!! ]

[swordfucker]

[...That's a look he wants to chase, but he doesn't want to ruin this really good chess game, either.

So, he laughs and looks back down at the board, thinking. Even if he teases Dextera about taking a while, his move after being stumped is always a strong one. Guren can't get too cocky, or he'll lose to that.

He's careful but he's confident with his next move.

He wasn't enough to save his friends... but maybe he can be enough to win a chess game, at least.]

[passio]

[ dextera plays his best to the very end, and it’s a tight match—but ultimately, it’s impossible for dextera to know every permutation of every strategy, and there’s a flicker of genuine frustration on his face as he moves his final piece.

he knows he’s lost, and he wouldn’t make such a face now if it hadn’t been so close. it’s only chess, but his heart is beating hard. ]

Again.

[ before guren even gets the chance to make his last move… he signs it quickly enough that his hands audibly smack against each other.

look at that competitive face! ]

[swordfucker]

[He wants to smooch it.

Anyway, he loves that competitive fierceness. He has a feeling Dextera is going to crush him this next time, even if he's trying out new methods, so he wants to enjoy this feeling while it lasts. So, even if Dextera was determined to end it early, Guren reaches over, and while staring directly into his eyes, makes his last move.]

Checkmate.

[At least let him win properly, first!!]

[passio]

—!

[ guren didn’t have to go through the trouble of claiming checkmate, but he did, and there’s a weird mix of feelings in dextera’s chest that push both annoyance and desire to the forefront of his mind.

mostly desire, though. he goes from eye contact with guren to looking at the smug shape of his mouth, and a moment that seems too long and yet instantaneous passes between them. ]

Again.

[ one more time, as he fixes his gaze from guren’s lips to his eyes. ]

[swordfucker]

...We can go again.

[He relents in that way, agreeing to a rematch, but there's no way he can focus on setting up the board just after that eye contact. He leans across it instead, his hand squishing a few pieces out of the way as he does, and yanks Dextera by his collar into a kiss that's a lot more heated than all those sweet ones they were exchanging before.

But it's fine. He's shirtless, scarred but not bleeding, he can try a scandalous smooch.

Though, he also wonders if Dextera is so eager to try again that he'll break this up.]

[passio]

[ his poor board—

but dextera doesn’t fight it at all, when guren kisses him like that, even if he gasps sharply while their mouths still have space between them. it’s a very different kiss than anything they’ve dared yet, but dextera doesn’t mind that at all.

it’s just that—well, there’s no excuse, except that he knows himself and knows he’ll take it too far, too quickly, if he allows too much leeway.

so he kisses guren long enough that there’s no doubt he wants it, even if it’s clumsy in both inexperience and surprise, and then he’s trying to work his fingers between their faces to get them apart.

like he has to pull himself away by a crowbar. ]

[swordfucker]

[Ahhh, there's too much desire. He's so used to giving himself so little in terms of this, and now that he's allowed himself any of it, he wants to keep taking and taking. It's horrible, probably... Even if Dextera does seem to enjoy it.

So much that it seems like he's forcing himself away with a little difficulty. Guren breathes out against his lips and pulls back so he has that easier.]

...Sorry. [He let himself get carried away. But if Dextera is... shy, or worried, then he doesn't want to push that.]

I'll stop. [Maybe... for now... this is harder than it should be]

[passio]

[ dextera wants to tell him not to stop with such a ferocity that it surprises him to feel, but—they should. they should, for no other reason than common decency. ]

…

[ even if dextera just tried to push him away, though, he’s stealing another kiss—but it’s tricky, in the way selling yourself on another five minutes of sleep just makes you want to take an hour. he breathes out, too, and then forces himself to sit back with real distance between them. ]

I like you.

[ like that solves everything… ]

[swordfucker]

[Another kiss. Which is it? Does he stop, or keep going? Guren watches Dextera, holding his breath as he considers how much he wants to keep that going. Hm.]

I know. [He's too embarrassed to say it back, still, but...] I hope you're not holding back for me. I'll be the first one to tell you if it's not a good time.

[He's thirsty and ready, in other horrible words. But maybe, just like how Dextera kissed him first, all those other advances might have to be made by him, too...? It's not like Guren has a good understanding of how this should work, anyway, with his single ex-girlfriend who basically stalked him and occasionally nearly killed him or threatened to murder all his friends.]

But it's fine if you're shy.

[passio]

…

[ dextera finds one of the pieces that got rolled off the board when guren moved, playing with it between his fingers. he sets it back down in place, and then answers without looking guren in the eye. ]

Not shy.

[ a little shy, maybe, but that’s not the problem here. what was the phrase…

he spells it out, since there’s no way he would know the sign for it. ]

”Hot and bothered.”

1/2

[swordfucker]

[Oh my god. Where did Dextera learn that phrase. In his weird cult? Here?? What asshole told him that's what you say when you're horny, he's going to die over here of embarrassment.

Guren ends up rubbing the back of his neck and trying to sit taller to appear confident even when he's... embarrassed.]

[swordfucker]

[He knows it's fast. But it's hard to feel fast when they've been slowly growing this bond between them for months now, dying and almost dying all over.]

So you... don't want to do anything about it?

[Smooth, he is a winner at words]

[passio]

[ dextera wants to do everything about it, which is something he has just a little too much shame to admit to. he can say that he’s hot to trot, but actually moving to act on it, after everyone telling him to fuck off and don’t even breathe in their direction, he’s all right holding off. ]

…

[ he takes a long, slow breath, and gestures to the board. that’s what he wants to do about it. ]

[swordfucker]

You're just a tease.

[That's what he's determined from this!! He's going to die this way. Ugh, but it's fine, he's already moving to help set up the pieces. He'll focus on the tension from this chess game that will definitely make him more horny on main.]

Fine, I'll beat you again, since you're so into it. This game feels pretty ingrained in our routine, somehow, so I guess it's only fair. Were you the one who asked to play first?

[Good thing the odd comments are back to kill any excitement]

[passio]

[ that is definitely an odd comment! dextera pauses in setting up the pieces, looking up now to obviously peer at guren curiously—it’s not like before, when he wanted something, when he was practically begging guren to kiss him.

doesn’t he remember? ]

…what do you mean?

[ he might as well ask. ]

[swordfucker]

I just mean, it feels like it's been so long, I can't remember when we...

[He trails off as he thinks. At first, he hadn't been paying much attention to the thought. It felt like he learned it a while ago, chess, but it was a vague "when" in his mind, and then of course there were all the times he and Dextera played, but...

It doesn't make sense. The second time they played, the one he's thinking of as the "first"... it was a continuation, wasn't it? Now he's frowning, bringing a hand to his head as he tries to think past it, into the hazy fog before that.

Hazy fog. His heart dips into his stomach at that, and he's realizing quickly that there's a piece missing. Just like Ryo had explained had happened to him in the forest. Just like others have had happen here, too.]

Something's missing. [He sounds incredibly bothered.]

[passio]

…?

[ dextera’s stomach twists, because he doesn’t know what that means—and yet, he does, with an immediate and terrible clarity. he doesn’t know why, no, but he knows that guren has been forced to forget something. a memory was taken from him? why? why this one, when chess is such a precious part of their relationship? ]

You don’t remember?

[ he moves the board out of the way, to come closer to guren. he places his hand on guren’s thigh, just for the contact. ]

Our first lesson?

[swordfucker]

Lesson? I...

[That does make sense, doesn't it. That it was a lesson. He tries to move past that haze, to think, to remember. He even considers asking Mahiru, but that would have to be later, when he could fall asleep out of the blue and discuss it. He can't get past this on his own. He can't find it at all.]

Damn it...!

[This is not only frustrating, but he knows it's important. He can feel that it is, even without Dextera reacting like he is. The reactions make it worse. He's worrying him, he's making him feel worse, all because he can't remember this one thing.]

I can't remember a thing about it.

[passio]

[ it’s something that the town did to them, and it hurts. why? what bearing did that memory have on anything except to upset them both? ]

Ah…

[ he clenches his fists, trying to hold back his upset. maybe if he just reminds guren, he’ll remember—it’s not that this changes anything about their relationship, considering how far they’ve come since then, but for someone whose memories are already so limited, it’s painful to imagine anything disappearing like this. ]

I taught you. [ he closes his eyes, exhaling. ] Why?