Rivals 🌈 ✔

13 - One Last Kiss

Juice didn't answer immediately, instead he let Raine's words settle. The words "I'm in love too" kept echoing through his head. Despite their difficult situation it made the tinglings rush through his veins. 

"We could leave," he said eventually. He bit his lip. It was a very drastic measure of which he didn't know whether he would ever want or dare to take that step. His cheeks started to flush as his friend looked at him. "I don't mean anytime soon... But imagine that our feelings won't go away.... then we could confess to our clubs that we're in love and that we want to be together, stressing that we understand their disapproval and that patching out might be the only way."

"How do you think that will go?" Raine sighed. "They will feel betrayed. We choose someone of another club over our own club."

"It would be a compromise." If it turned out that he really loved Raine and that hiding his feelings from the world was making him unhappy, he wanted to believe that his brothers cared enough about him to want him to be happy, even when he had to pay a heavy price for it. He bent his head. "I'm not sure I could," he said honestly. "The club is everything I have and I... I'm not good in relationships. If things doesn't work out like we hope... we have given up the most important thing in our lives for it. But it could be an option... one day."

Raine rubbed his temples. "I had intended not to think about this at all anytime soon."

"Then we won't. We'll put it to rest for a couple of months, okay? We're not making a decision anytime soon anyway; we wanted to build a friendship first." His fingers cramped. He stretched out his hand to Raine's. Very lightly, his fingertips stroked the back of Raine's hand. For a moment he thought the man wanted to pull his arm away, then he turned his hand, his palm upwards. 

Juice hesitated, then he pulled back his arm himself and sighed. 

"I think I need firm borders," he said quietly. His head already felt heavy because of the constant fight in it. What was he allowed to do, what not? Which affect did their touches have, was it making things easier or more difficult for them? "I know I said that we might unnecessary make things harder for ourselves by blocking all our feelings... but every time I touch you I want more." A little nervous he pursed his lips. He felt safe enough around Raine to tell him the truth, but it wasn't easy. 

"I feel the same." Raine smiled a little sadly. "I kissed you twice today, both times unintentionally. Maybe we should stick to a hug. Don't do things we wouldn't do with others?"

Juice thought about the electricity he had felt when they touched, and he remembered how heavenly Raine's lips had felt in his neck. Something had awakened inside him, something that had never been there, and even now he recalled the touches in his memory, waves of tinglings rolled over him. Yet, he nodded. "Yeah... I guess that's for the best."

Raine kept his glance as if he wanted to decide whether he was speaking the truth or not. "One last kiss?" he asked, a shy smile on his lips. "Would you mind? Just to make sure we won't  wonder for the rest of our lives how it would have been?"

Suddenly his mouth felt dry. "You mean – a real one?"

The Mayan lifted the corner of his mouth. "Or are you not ready yet to kiss a man?"

It indeed was something he wouldn't have wanted a few weeks ago. Now however, his tongue already started to tingle at the thought of it. "Yes I do," he whispered. "I do want to kiss you."

Although Juice had kissed with so many girls he had lost count years ago, he suddenly felt so nervous it felt like his very first kiss. 

Raine turned a little more towards him. His brown eyes found Juice's and when their eyes locked, the nervousness faded. The Mayan lifted his hand and cupped Juice's jaw, his middle finger resting upon the top of his ear. The skin underneath it was tingling and he closed his eyes. As if that had been a sign Raine waited for, he pressed his lips against Juice's.