"It only looked good up close."

Yamashita Tomohisa had excessive amounts of pride.

"When the camera zoomed out, you guys looked really stiff."

He liked to think that he was a pretty amazing kisser.

"And I can't believe you had to move her arm!" A blatant snicker.

With the above facts combined, it can be assumed that Yamashita didn't take well to people criticizing his kissing.

"But even in the close-up, Masami-chan looked like she was about to laugh. It must have been a pretty bad kiss."

At all.

Fingering his bangs in a distinctly dissatisfied manner, Yamashita Tomohisa indirectly glared at his insensitive critic. Indirectly, because after knowing said critic for half his life, he still didn't have the courage to glare openly at Ikuta Toma.

"I thought I did a pretty good job," muttered Yamashita as he gazed hardly at the ground.

The ground was shiny, but dirty. Boys of all types trodded over is aged surface as they hurried from dance practice to singing practice to break rooms. The ground was ugly, and Yamashita had no qualms about glaring at it. But he knew that if he transferred his gaze to the true culprit--who, by the way, was adorably laughing his head off--his anger would melt like wax put to the flame.

It's really unfair that Toma grew out of puberty looking like a bright yellow sunflower, freshly-bloomed, pretty beyond belief.

"You would think you did a good job. You're such an egotist," Toma finally replied, gasping for breath after laughing.

Yamashita pursed his lips in irritation and finally straightened up from his slouching position against the wall of the Jimusho corridor. Toma was taking it too far. Just because he's too cute for his own good doesn't mean Yamashita won't fight back.

"It's not like your kiss scene was any better." An indignant snort.

Toma looked inquisitively at Yamashita. "You mean, with Shun? In Hanakimi?"

"Yeah."

Yamashita regretted it. It was always a bad idea to bring up the subject. He sounded like he cared too much. He sounded like he was jealous, which he definitely was not.

Definitely.

Toma burst into hysterical laughter once more.

"Oh my god, are you still on that?" A breath of air, more laughing.

Yamashita averted his eyes, cheeks coloring a bit beneath the brown.

"I'm just saying. We're talking about kissing. Strictly. You didn't kiss any better than I did."

Toma finally calmed down and put on a serious, argumentative expression.

"Well, it wasn't supposed to be a romantic kiss. It was like...a shocking kiss. There's a difference!" exclaimed the slightly older boy with an air of superiority. "I thought you'd know that, as an actor."

A few, innocent HS7 boys walked down the hallway, only to flee in fear as Yamashita turned his glare of wrath on them.

"At least I looked pretty in the close up!"

Yamashita regretted saying that too, because Ikuta Toma was certainly not too cowardly to glare directly at him.

And so Toma did.

"Are you saying I didn't look pretty in my close up?" inquired Toma, cheeks puffing out in anger.

No. That was what Yamashita wanted to reply, but he couldn't back down.

"Not as pretty as I looked!"

Toma bit his lower lip in consternation, and his pretty fingers clenched into fists.

That's it. He had to use the ultimatim. The insult that beats out all other insults!

"Well, at least Shun liked it." The statement was crowned with a triumphant smirk. "He thought my lips were soft."

Yamashita's normally vacant expression transformed into one of horrified disbelief.

This time, Toma had definitely crossed the line.

"How do you know Masami didn't like my kiss?" he asked in faux-calmness, though he was all ready to do something drastic. "Maybe she was about to laugh...in bliss."

Toma shrugged indifferently, still wearing the smirk. He crossed his arms and leaned nonchanlantly against the wall opposite Yamashita's. The two young men were separated by a mere feet or two.

"She didn't say anything about your lips being soft. Shun obviously liked me more, because he openly complimented me."

"Masami's a girl. She was just too shy."

Toma threw Yamashita a glance that seemed to say I can't believe you're still arguing with me.

"Whatever, Yamashita." With that, Toma turned to leave. He couldn't believe he wasted 10 minutes talking about this with Yamashita. It must be Yamashita's low-IQ infecting his intelligence.

But before Toma could take the next step, Yamashita crossed the small corridor, took Toma by the shoulders, and pressed him against the wall.

The expression on Yamashita's handsome face was very serious, though with a dash of a devilish smile.

"I bet I can prove that I'm a better kisser than you are."

***

"So then, Yamashita-sempai kissed Toma-sempai--"

"And Toma-sempai sort of struggled against him and tried to push him away--"

"But Yamashita-sempai was too strong, so eventually--"

"Toma-sempai closed his eyes and put his arms around Yamashita-sempai's neck--"

"And then, Yamashita-sempai stuck his tongue into Toma-sempai's mouth--"

"Yeah! Yeah! And Toma-sempai's face was really pink, and he started um...--"

"Moaning."

The conservation in the Hey Say break room broke off in an awkward silence. Chinen, who had spoken the last word, had his eyes opened in shock. Yamada, who couldn't finish the previous sentence, looked down at his lap with cherry cheeks. Nakajima snickered a little to himself as he took the opportunity to attach himself to Yamada's arms.

Meanwhile, Yabu and Hikaru looked at the three reporters expectantly.

"And then what happened?" asked Hikaru impatiently.

Yamada blushed harder.

"Um...and then..."

"And then Yamashita-sempai put his hand under Toma-sempai's shirt--"

***

THE END

***