Romeo and Juliet

"Oh, I'm sorry, Yusuke - Shuuichi isn't at home."

Yusuke blinks, surprised, and Shiori smiles apologetically. "He's gotten himself involved in the school play - you can probably find him on campus, if you'd like."

"Thanks," Yusuke says, turning to give her a wave as he leaves, wandering his way to Kurama's campus.

He grabs the first kid he sees, dragging him around by the front of his shirt. "Hey," he demands. "Where's the practice for the play?"

The boy squeaks in response - Yusuke's never understood why the smart kids (with the exception of Kurama, who doesn't really count, 'cause of the whole demon thing) can't seem to defend themselves - and points a trembling hand to the large auditorium in the center of campus. Yusuke glances at it, nods, and releases the boy with a muttered thanks - not that the boy hears it, he's so busy running in the other direction.

Rolling his eyes, Yusuke jogs to the auditorium, pushing open the large doors and slipping inside. There are a good number of students filling the seats by the stage, rifling through what are probably scripts, as well as several actually on the stage - a girl in what looks like a wedding dress lying motionless on a platform, a boy in heavy velvets hovering over her and speaking...English?

Yusuke shakes his head, glancing around for Kurama. You'd think the guy would be easy to spot, what with his bright red...hair...

Stunned, Yusuke lets his gaze slide back to the stage, just in time to catch the boy collapse onto the stage, the very-clearly-not-girl stir, lifting the gauzy veil and opening bright green eyes. Kurama begins to speak, but Yusuke doesn't catch any of it, fumbling behind him for the doors and backing out of the auditorium dazedly, never noticing the way Kurama's eyes follow him, dark and curious.

The incident is never discussed, and Yusuke is fairly confident that Kurama doesn't know that Yusuke's seen him in a dress - and that he never needs to. So it comes as something of a nasty surprise when he answers the phone about a week later and Kurama's voice sounds in his ear, calm and collected.

"Come by and help me run lines?" Kurama asks softly, after explaining - unnecessarily, but Yusuke's not about to tell him that - the situation with his school play. Something about a Shakespeare and teenagers and death - as if Yusuke needs to be any more familiar with that.

"Aren't they in English?" Yusuke asks, desperate for an excuse. Because if he's being completely honest with himself, he hasn't been able to stop thinking about Kurama, and he's not sure what that means. And he's absolutely sure that if he goes to help the fox-demon, he's just going to keep seeing the way that dress hugs Kurama's body, the way it bares his collarbones and clings to his waist - and he hadn't even looked at him for that long, how had he noticed all of this?

"Yusuke?" Kurama's voice cuts in, with some exasperation, and Yusuke realizes he's missed something.

"Huh?" he answers, rather eloquently, and Kurama laughs gently.

"I said, the lines are in English, but you really won't need to read any of them, anyway. What I really need most is a body, so that I can practice my staging and delivery," he elaborates.

Yusuke swallows loudly, wondering if Kurama can hear it. Probably can, he thinks bitterly. Stupid demonic hearing.

"Uh, sure. I'll be there in a bit," he agrees, and it's only after he's hung up the phone that it occurs to him to wonder why Kurama can't just use someone from his own family to help.

Yusuke very carefully does not run to Kuramas house, but walks...well, at a rather fast clip, but that's normal for him, right? He lifts his hand to knock, but pauses for a moment, taking one last, deep breath of the cool evening air. He can do this. No big deal, right? After all, Kurama's just another one of the guys... Yeah. And it's probably just the chill in the air making his throat dry. Yusuke swallows nervously and knocks.

His knock goes unanswered for several moments, which is highly unusual - Shiori is generally very quick to welcome guests into her home. And then he hears Kurama's voice drift from around the side of the house.

"Yusuke?"

Confused, Yusuke moves to peer around the corner, where he sees Kurama wave a hand and lean out his bedroom window. "Hey, Kurama."

"The door's unlocked, Yusuke," the fox-demon says, slipping back inside. "Come on up."

Returning to the door, Yusuke finds that the handle does, in fact, turn easily under his hand, and he steps inside, closing and locking the door behind him. He climbs the steps slowly, realizing that the unnatural silence means Kurama is alone, which explains why he's called Yusuke to help him rehearse.

The door to Kurama's room is ajar, a thin angle of light spilling into the dim hallway, and Yusuke pushes it open gently, pausing to let his eyes readjust. And then he freezes, though whether it's from shock or dismay or pleasure, he can't quite decide.

Oh, no...

Kurama's wearing the dress, his back to the door, arms drawn up above his head to pin his long, red hair into a complicated knot. And now Yusuke can see how the back of the dress laces up, leaving a broad expanse of the fox-demon's skin covered by nothing more than criss-crossing ribbons.

Kurama half-turns, then, glancing back over his shoulder. "Hello, Yusuke," he murmurs softly, smiling. "Thank you for agreeing to help."

Yusuke only nods, not sure he's capable of producing words at the moment. Kurama moves towards him, his gaze thoughtful.

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to run the last bit of Act Five - the monologues can be a bit tricky."

Again, Yusuke can't do anything but nod, letting Kurama steer him towards the bed - and trying not to panic. All he can really think is that he wishes he had some sort of idea about what's going on. It's like these strange feelings have just shown up out of nowhere - he's certainly never had any reason to see Kurama as more than a friend and teammate, after all. So what does he do? What can he do?

"This couldn't be easier for you," Kurama reassures him, arranging him in a sprawl atop the covers, pressing a small glass vial into his hands. "All you need to do is lie there - you're dead."

Yusuke glances up in time to catch Kurama's teasing grin, and he reaches beneath himself to pull out a pillow, hurling it at the fox-demon, who only laughs as he catches it.

"Been there, done that," he mutters, resuming his position.

"Then I expect this performance to be utterly convincing," Kurama teases. Yusuke just rolls his eyes - and this is good, he's relaxing, and if he closes his eyes, he can't see Kurama anymore, can't get distracted thinking about how...good he looks.

But then there's a gentle touch at his hips, sliding across his waist, and he tenses up again as Kurama's fingers brush against his stomach.

"Wh-what's up?" he asks, squeezing his eyes closed more tightly, because he can't look at Kurama, not now.

"I'm sorry," Kurama murmurs, close enough that his breath ghosts across Yusuke's neck. "There's a prop I've forgotten - a knife. But it's on now."

He tugs on the belt now fasted around Yusuke's waist, straightening and fussing, and Yusuke has to bite back his groan as the fox-demon's hands brush across his body again and again - and what is wrong with him? This is Kurama, he shouldn't... He can't even finish the thought.

Kurama's speaking now, softly - and why didn't Yusuke ever pay attention in English class? He can hear the dress rustling softly as the fox-demon moves around the room, and suddenly the bed dips under Kurama's weight, and his hands are on Yusuke, pulling his head to rest atop the fox-demon's legs.

Yusuke holds his breath as Kurama trails gentle touches along his face and neck, down his arms to tug the vial from his hands, speaking all the while. And just when Yusuke's begun to think he can handle this - can ignore the way the fabric feels against his cheeks, the way he can sense the power in Kurama's body beneath the dress - there's a soft brush of lips against his.

His eyes fly open with a soft cry of surprise, and Kurama slips his tongue briefly into Yusuke's mouth before pulling away, green eyes unreadable.

"I'm sorry, Yusuke," he says softly, though he doesn't retreat very far - there's only about an inch of space between their lips. "I thought you knew the play."

Yusuke doesn't hear a word. His gaze is fixed on Kurama's mouth, and before he can think about what he's doing, he reaches up, slides his hands into the fox-demon's long hair, and pulls, arching up.

Kurama meets him easily, parting his lips to Yusuke's kiss, giving a soft noise of pleasure as Yusuke tangles his fingers into red hair, pulling it roughly from the fastenings holding it up. It spills, thick and heavy, across his chest, and Yusuke has to wonder why he ever bothered worrying about this.

The fox-demon is warm against him, and Yusuke slips a hand down to his hip and pulls him closer, shuddering in pleasure when Kurama breaks the kiss with a gasp to thrust his hips forward against Yusuke's.

Yusuke scrabbles desperately at the ties to Kurama's dress, fingers tangling in the complicated lacings, groaning in frustration as he thrusts his hips up, desperate for more contact. He hears Kurama laugh, and then the fox-demon pulls away from him, moving to stand at the side of the bed.

He's quite a sight - cheeks flushed, hair mussed, eyes dark as he reaches behind himself to pull at the ribbons. And slowly, slowly, the dress falls from his pale skin, trailing down his arms, baring him to Yusuke, who can only lie on the bed and watch him. It's like Kurama's put some sort of binding on him, the way his body refuses to cooperate, the way he can't react, save to stare at the fox-demon, like he's trying to memorize every inch of Kurama's skin.

And then Kurama's hands are on him, tugging at his shirt, at his jeans, brushing across his skin in touches that could well be accidental, but that make Yusuke groan and arch, nonetheless. Part of him thinks he should protest - what are they doing, when did this change, should he be concerned? - as Kurama's breath ghosts hot across his skin, as the fox-demon curls his hand around Yusuke's erection, stroking firmly, but all he can manage to do is to moan something that might or might not be the fox-demon's name.

He makes no move to stop it, even when Kurama slips long fingers into his body, and Yusuke winces at the strangeness of it all. And then Kurama twists his fingers and moves, and the groan comes spilling from Yusuke's lips without a second thought. And suddenly, it doesn't matter anymore, that this is Kurama, or that he's another guy, or anything. All that matters is that Yusuke wants him - oh, how he wants him - now.

"Kurama," he mutters, reaching for the fox-demon, and it's wrong how Kurama's answering shudder of pleasure just makes Yusuke harder - except that it's so right. And then the fox-demon is pushing into him, fingers gripping his hips so hard, it's nearly painful, and if Yusuke didn't know what dying felt like, he'd be tempted to think this was it.

Urameshi Yusuke, self-proclaimed delinquent and all-around tough guy, arches and whines and moans Kurama's name, and he just can't bring himself to care. And when Kurama reaches between their bodies to stroke roughly at his erection, Yusuke throws his head back and comes with what can only be described as a scream.

He hears the answering cry from above him, and manages to open his eyes - when had he closed them? - in time to see Kurama, cheeks flushed and eyes bright, shudder one last time before collapsing onto Yusuke's chest. Before he can think about what he's doing - before he can consider what he's just done - Yusuke reaches up to tangle his fingers in the fox-demon's long hair. And it's worth it, to hear Kurama sigh, to feel the soft exhale across his flushed skin.

Think about it later, Yusuke decides, shifting slightly and feeling Kurama stir, atop and inside him. There'll be plenty of time later.

For now, it's more than enough to simply breathe.