Holy fuck.

 

Ino was standing in Misa's kitchen holding a kitchen knife in one hand and an orange in the other when some beefcake walked in unannounced.

 

"Is Dan in here?"

 

Shit, his voice is nice. It has the deep timbre of a bass guitar. He's handsome, too, with tattoos all over the place. The pink hair only makes it stand out more. Ino thinks his legs might give out. Might even pee.

 

"Hey?" 

 

He's looking at Ino with an increasingly impatient expression. Shit, was he talking to me? What did he say? Ino's grip on the orange is loosening.

 

Luan isn't in a hurry. He never is when he's planned to visit Dan, anyways. Ever since they both left that shiny old suburban neighborhood where the sun always shines and the grass was greener than green itself. They're over all the etiquette and pleasantries. Well, at least Luan is.

 

Still, being stared at by a wide-eyed little high school kid with a knife in hand wasn't exactly how he planned to spend the afternoon. 

 

"Oh, Luan. You're already here," Dan steps out of the bathroom with a towel around his neck. His damp hair still sticks to his forehead and there's fog on his glasses. "Gimme a second, just gotta get ready."

 

"Right," great, just great. Dan takes a shit ton of time to get ready. Luan will have to deal with this in the meantime. 

 

Ino was only starting to regain feeling in his toes when Luan walked past him and dug around Misa's cabinets for a plate. 

 

"Are you cutting the damn orange or what?" He's met with big round eyes and hands fidgeting to the intense pace of a heartbeat. 

 

"Ah, right. Yes."

 

Luan snorts as the kid puts the orange on the plate to cut it open. His fingers still shaking a little, gripping the sticky fruit with all their might.

 

"You're Dan's friend?" He takes a slice. Feels it on his tongue.

 

"You could call me that."

 

Ino puts the knife down, taking a piece of fruit into his mouth. His hands are calmer now, but his heart only gets faster. He's about to ask for his name when Dan bursts out the bedroom door. 

 

"Alright, let's go. Oh, Ino. Tell Misa I borrowed her hairdryer," He puts his shoes on by the door, and Luan gets up to do the same. "We're heading out to do some… uh… stuff. Tell Jun I'll be back tomorrow." Dan's already outside.

 

Ino nods. The orange slice is between his teeth, spilling pulp and juice into his throat when he bites down after Luan bent over to tighten his laces. His pants barely leave anything to the imagination.

 

"Ino, huh."

 

He almost chokes on his orange-flavored spit.

 

Luan gets up and spares him a glance.

 

"See you around, then," He smiled, and walked out the door.

 

Ino spent the next few weeks waking up to soiled underwear.