SCARLET

Fuma was so embarrassed. 

He thought he could do it. He was so damn sure that he could kiss Taiga, it would be easy since he had such beautiful features. He ressembled an ex-girlfriend of his; same long lashes, the same defined cheeks, aquiline nose and sparkling eyes… that was why he got so easily attracted to him at first. 

He reminded him of her. 

Of Scarlet.

She was dangerous but alluring. He loved her so much until she disappeared without leaving a trace except a broken branded lipstick whose color matched her name. Fuma didn’t touch it. He left it there, at the edge of the washbasin of his. It belonged there, broken, red, at the edge of the sink, ready to be drowned. He didn’t have the strength to throw it away. He kept staring at it while brushing his teeth, while taking a shower, while thinking about her.

One day, Taiga fiercely shoved his phone against his face, taking Fuma aback. 

When he took the phone away from his face and looked at the screen, he recognized his own face while being on a call with Juri. They were drunk, bored and playful, so they asked each other daring questions. 

Fuma had asked who would he kiss amongst his friends, and Juri had hesitated before muttering, “them all,” he had smirked. “I want’em all.”

They had both laughed in that video, Fuma recognized the bliss they had felt, being able to talk without any filter, without any worries. But Juri had recorded their private conversation and Fuma would need to spank his ass for betraying him like that.

“How about you?” Juri had asked and Fuma never wavered when he said:

“Definitely Taiga, I’m not into men, but he makes me want to kiss him hard,” Fuma was staring the wall as he answered because he wanted to imagine Taiga while giving his most earnest answer. “He’s like Scarlet. He’s dangerous, someone you want to touch but you can’t or it’ll bite back. I wish I could make a mess of him.”

Fuma never forgot the silence he had gotten from Juri at that moment. The atmosphere had become weirdly tense and awkward. It was how Fuma had found out that Juri had something for Taiga. He didn’t know what since he never asked him straightforwardly.

They could talk about anything, but they never talked about Taiga.

It was the first and last time Fuma talked about Taiga to Juri.

“Do you really want to kiss me?”

He didn’t expect Taiga to ask this specific question. He thought he would get his ass kicked for even thinking of Taiga that way but he wasn’t mad at all. He looked determined, and even amused by how red Fuma was becoming. He felt like being caught red-handed, cornered by his own statements.

“Why would you ask me that?” Fuma was mumbling, not knowing what to say, not knowing where to look because if he stared too long at Taiga’s face, he might stare at his lips that he so wanted to kiss. He felt like they were pinker than usual and he wondered what Taiga had been doing before coming.

“Why would you tell Juri that you wanted to kiss me hard ?”

“I didn’t think much when I said it.” Fuma whispered, hiding the fact that he actually had a dream about it. 

He just woke up one day, all confused about those feelings that he didn’t know he had.

“I think you did but you just don’t want to admit it to my face. You’re just talk. As usual.”

Fuma was still fighting himself as he attempted not to lower his head when his face was so close to Taiga’s. Weren’t his lips so eerily moist and inviting…?

“Whatever.” Taiga finally said. “You’re a coward, as usual.”

Yeah, he was. 

Fuma was aware of being a coward when it came to Juri. He still had him in mind. Even when he finally admitted:

“I do want to kiss you.”

The slight smirk on Taiga’s curvy lips made Fuma think that he was being fooled, that Taiga just wanted to mock him but when Taiga pushed Fuma against the wall behind him, his hand firm on his torso, he was expecting Taiga to be the one to kiss but he didn’t move anymore.

“So?” Taiga urged him.

Under the pressure, Fuma just couldn’t. He ducked under Taiga’s arm and walked away so fast he might have been running.

*

“You absolutely didn’t make a mess of me,” Taiga joked as he closed the door behind him.

Fuma was probably crazy for letting Taiga in his apartment. He shouldn’t invite someone like Taiga inside the comfort and peacefulness of his place. Taiga wouldn’t enter if Fuma had refused but he couldn’t. He was still embarrassed but he still had this unswerving affection fueled by curiosity and most accurately, a toxic desire.

“Whatever,” Fuma said as he went back to his bed, too exhausted to socialize. He wasn’t in the mood.

As expected, Taiga stood in front of his bedroom without stepping inside.

“Nice abs.”

Taiga was, again, mocking him and Fuma wanted to kill him but didn’t answer as he stayed naked and inert on his bed, looking at the undecorated black wall. What was he doing? Taiga could kill him at any moment, why was he tempting the devil? Did he have a death wish? Maybe. 

“You can enter,” Fuma said. And Taiga did, looking around the bedroom, with his eyes at first before touching things. Feeling things with the tip of his fingers. There was nothing much to be observed, Fuma was a normal guy.

“Why the lipstick?” Except for that lipstick.

Scarlet’s.

Taiga found it.

Immediately, Fuma jerked out from his bed and ran towards the bathroom where Taiga was already holding onto the lipstick.

He— He moved it from its original place.

He took it.

Opened it.

Smelled it.

“Smells familiar.” 

Fuma’s eyeballs almost fell out of his sockets as he watched Taiga slip a curious tongue between his lips before using the Scarlet lipstick on his own lips. 

He licked his lips again.

“Tastes like a wonderful woman.” Taiga smiled devilishly. “She’s like me, right? That’s why you want to kiss me? Make a mess of me?”

Fuma hated hearing his own words through Taiga’s mouth. His voice was raw but still possessed this taunting tone.

“Do you have a fetish? ‘Cause I’ve been told I look good in it.” Taiga jested.

Fuma’s tongue was locked and paralyzed inside his mouth. Maybe it was fear and anticipation that reduced him to silence and immobilization. 

“You’re so fucked up, Fuma. You think I’m Scarlet ? I’m not. I’m worse. I’m fire and I’m gonna burn you until you can’t recognize yourself anymore.”

Taiga’s lips curled up as he applied sin on his lips. 

Scarlet was now adorning his extremely pale face.

Fuma was feeling the heat growing in the pit of his stomach and spreading inside him as soon as Taiga’s face approached, he felt his breath accelerating, counting every second that separated himself from Taiga’s lips.

His kiss was cold. He felt like death had grazed his lips, but it ignited Fuma even more as he parted his lips to let Taiga’s tongue explore his insides in depth. Fuma wasn’t sure what Taiga was looking for but he indulged in the impact of his lips being abused, bitten and licked.

He had nothing to hide, except this burning desire for Scarlet. Fuma had everything to offer and made it clear as he whimpered in pleasure. Taiga’s lips sucked and moved with his own, leading him to a path he didn’t know he had been waiting for.

“Burn me.” Fuma pleaded, feeling Taiga’s touch against his skin. His nails sank into his flesh, becoming even redder than Scarlet.

Fuma’s eyes were burning but he managed to open them wide, he needed to see Taiga’s face as Scarlet blurred the lines of his lips, spreading across his face like folly and before he could say anything, Taiga’s teeth bit into Fuma’s side.

It hurt. 

It burnt.

His muscles were relaxing as Taiga’s fangs dug deeper.

Deeper.

When it bled, Fuma felt free.

He was free.

Free from Scarlet.