The first thing that Mizuki realized when he woke up the next morning was the position of his hands.
One of his hands was still buried in Ren's brown locks and the other somehow ended up under the blanket and on Ren's stomach.
Mizuki froze and just as he was about to move them Ren started stirring. Mizuki immediately rested his head back against the cold wall of the cave and pretended to sleep as Ren slowly woke up.
Ren moved for about ten seconds before he completely froze and then he immediately jumped to his feet with a cute little shriek that broke Mizuki's pretence as he started shaking with laughter.
"Good morning." He greeted, with a stretch of his arms.
"Why-why was I laying on your lap?" Ren asked with wide eyes.
"I don't know, you must have fallen on top of me at some point in the night." Mizuki lied.
"I wouldn't." Ren said with wide eyes and red cheeks.
"But you did."
Ren didn't bother to say anything and instead moved as far away from Mizuki as he could trying to block out the feeling of embarrassment that was invading all of his senses.
"Where are we going today?"
"We're gonna fish, also we might as well wash up while we're at it and then move closer to my territory." Mizuki replied as he packed their bags.
"Wash up?" Ren asked with wide eyes and Mizuki concealed his smirk.
"Yes, wash up. Unless you want to stay with that stench." Mizuki said and Ren frowned.
Of course Mizuki didn't think Ren smelled bad, in fact he couldn't help but recall the sweet smell that came from the younger boy when he was laying on his lap.
"I don't smell bad." Ren muttered, but anyone could hear the self consciousness in his voice and Mizuki couldn't help but take back his mean words, "you don't, sweetheart."
The nickname had slipped without his permission and they both knew that there wasn't a hint of teasing behind it this time.
"Um-we should go." Mizuki said, with a clear of his throat as he turned around in hope Ren wouldn't catch sight of his warm cheeks.
He was grateful for his long hair that fell over his cheeks at the moment but he couldn't say the same for Ren as his blushing cheeks were clear as the morning sky.
They walked out of the cave and after feeding Niko Mizuki climbed on him and turned to Ren who now had his hands untied.
"Come on." Mizuki urged him to climb behind him and after a groan of distaste Ren did so.
As he put his foot on the stirrup and held onto Niko's back to climb his ankle twisted and he would have fallen if it wasn't for Mizuki's quick reflexes as he grabbed Ren's wrist with his hand and pulled him up.
"God, how clumsy can you be?" Mizuki said after his panic washed away when Ren was safely sitting behind him.
"It was an accident." Ren murmured as he pulled his wrist from Mizuki's grasp and wrapped his arms around his waist.
"Accidents, accidents." Mizuki teased, "like how you accidentally fell on my lap yesterday, hm?"
"Shut the fuck up." Ren groaned, softly hitting his forehead against Mizuki's back as the older shook with laughter.
-
When they finally reached a lake Ren's arms were still loosely wrapped around Mizuki's waist and his cheek was resting against his back as he softly breathed, the wind hitting his face.
"We're here." Mizuki said and then he got down first before holding his hand out for Ren.
"What are you doing?" Ren frowned.
"Making sure another accident doesn't happen." Mizuki said with a teasing grin.
Ren rolled his eyes but he accepted Mizuki's hands on his waist when he helped him down and he let his hands fall on the older boy's broad shoulders for balance.
Mizuki got his knife from his bag and then he started unbuttoning his black uniform as Ren stared at him with wide eyes.
"Why are you undressing?" He asked.
"Well I wouldn't want my clothes to get wet, would I?" Mizuki said.
"Oh-right." Ren said and then turned away as Mizuki slid off his jacket.
Mizuki chuckled and then he slid off his black shirt, unbuttoned his pants to take them off as well and then his boots and socks.
"Aren't you gonna undress too?" He said after walking up to Ren until his front was pressed to his back.
"Why are you so close?!" Ren exclaimed and then turned around, ready to say something else when his eyes widened and his mouth shut close when he noticed Mizuki was only wearing boxers.
Ren's honey eyes drank in the sight in front of him and he couldn't believe his eyes.
Mizuki was gorgeous.
Mizuki's dark hair fell over his shoulders as he had also untied it and the end of it brushed his bare and built shoulders. His defined chest was extremely muscular and Ren couldn't help but wonder how many times Mizuki went to the gym to get such an.. alluring body.
From the time Ren spent with Mizuki he could tell he was a soft hearted person, but staring at his body Ren couldn't help but think that Mizuki was anything but soft.
"Ren?"
Mizuki was hard, sculpted and so incredibly delectable.
"Ren!"
"What?" Ren's eyes finally met with Mizuki's and he couldn't help but turn red in embarrassment when he realized he had been staring.
"Aren't you gonna undress?" Mizuki asked, deciding not to bring up the fact that Ren had just been checking him out.
"Right." Ren cleared his throat. "You go..first?" He said pointing towards the lake.
"Okay, if you're not in in five minutes I'm coming to get you myself." Mizuki warned him.
"What are you gonna do, undress me yourself?" Ren retorted but gulped when he saw Mizuki staring at him intensely and he decided he didn't want to find out.
Mizuki grabbed his knives and went in the water and sighed in relief as the warmth of it enveloped him.
Mizuki recalled his training of catching fish with simply his knives; he managed to catch three before he heard the water splash behind him.
"Finally, you took-"
Mizuki couldn't blame Ren for staring at him earlier because if Ren even felt a fraction of what he was feeling right now he wondered how he held back.
Mizuki didn't want to even name what he was feeling because then it would be admitting to himself that Ren was....
Something.
But he didn't stop his eyes from running over Ren, Mizuki could only see the top of his chest as the rest of his body was underwater but it was enough to fill him with flutters.
His dainty shoulders were wet with droplets trickling down his bare and tan chest as he awkwardly swayed in the water.
Like usual, Mizuki's eyes strayed towards his face and onto his freckled cheeks. With them being wet it was almost like they were sparkling and Mizuki really hated how badly he wanted to run his fingers over them.
"Fuck." Mizuki rasped under his breath and he swam until he was only inches apart from Ren.
He raised his hand and placed it on Ren's neck making the boy's eyes widened and his breath hitch.
Mizuki trailed his hand lower on Ren's soft skin until it reached the bug on his chest and he flicked it away.
"There was a spider." Mizuki explained after dropping his hand and swimming away, leaving Ren wide eyed and breathless.
"I caught three fish, help me catch another one." Mizuki said and Ren snapped out of his shock as he moved over to where Mizuki was and grabbed one knife as well.
They caught their last fish together and then they put them on the grass before going back in deep towards the water.
"Mizuki."
Mizuki turned to Ren with raised eyebrows as he ignored the feeling that he got when his name left Ren's lips.
"Mhm?"
"What do you know about Yarisha? Like the royal family and everything." Ren asked as he swam around the older boy.
"Well I don't know much because you guy are secretive." Mizuki revealed, confused as to why Ren was asking him such a question.
"I know some names of the members." He added.
"Who?"
"The king, King Augustus Acosta and his wife Queen Marcella Acosta and one of the princes I think his name was...." Mizuki wracked his brain trying to remember the name of the Prince he knew of, oblivious to Ren's tightening fist and darkening expression.
"Oh!" Mizuki grinned when he remembered.
"Aslan Acosta."
When Mizuki turned to face Ren his smile dropped when he saw the deep scowl on his face and he frowned in confusion.
"What's wrong?" He asked softly, moving closer to Ren but Ren concealed his expression and shrugged his shoulders.
"Nothing." Eren said, his voice saying that he didn't wan to talk about it anymore and Mizuki decided to respect it.
"Why are you asking?" Mizuki asked instead.
"Eren."
"What?"
"My name, it's Eren." Eren said and Mizuki's eyes widened.
Eren.
"Why are you telling me now?" Mizuki asked.
"Because you don't know me. You don't know who I am."
"Is that a bad thing?" Mizuki asked cautiously.
"No." Eren said but the unreadable expression on his face made Mizuki deeply uncomfortable and he wanted to wash it away.
He wanted to see Ren-Eren smile again.
"Are-are you alright?" Mizuki asked awkwardly and Eren nodded as he turned away and climbed out of the lake.
Mizuki frowned as he watched Eren put on the wrong shirt.
"That's mine." Mizuki said as he too climbed out of the lake.
"Oh-sorry." Eren blushed as he grabbed the hem of it to take it off, just now noticing how it felt much bigger against his body.
"No-it's okay, I mean you already got it wet." Mizuki stopped him from taking it off and instead grabbed his jacket and put it on without his shirt and slid on his pants as Eren did the same.
"Are you sure you don't want the shirt?" Eren asked and Mizuki nodded.
"Don't worry about it, I'll take it back later." Mizuki said and grabbed Eren's actual shirt and shoved it in his bag before he sat down to skin the fish they caught.
"Come on, help me." Mizuki said and Eren did so.
They cooked the fish after starting another fire and then when they were done they quietly ate as a comfortable silence settled between them.
When they were finished eating Mizuki climbed back on Niko and gestured for Eren to grab his hand and do the same and after a moment of hesitation Eren grabbed it and let Mizuki help him up once again.
Hello!
Thoughts?
I tried to write the descriptions as best as I could but I'm sorry if it sucked jsjs. I do hope y'all felt the tension between them.
Also I can finally write Eren instead of Ren!
-till next time <3