 |
| What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed? |
In all honesty, Toketsu would have to be stupid to try and lie to himself, and as it was obvious to everyone who knew him, he was far from stupid. Yet, as his best friend came over and pulled him into an embrace as his way of saying hello, and as the few words floated across the very short distance from the others mouth to his ear, a subtle shiver ran down the Mercury son's back. Toketsu never got cold, it was practically impossible. Half of the techniques he used during battle consisted of him being encased in ice, sometimes for short periods of time, others for longer when used defensively. Hell, his body temperature dropped so dramatically when he transformed that his skin turned almost white and his lips blue. But now, as the warm, almost hot energy of his best friend was pressed against his own body, and as he heard the few words coming from the other, it was undeniable that it was causing a subtle but unstoppable reaction in Toketsu's body.
Reaching his own arms out, he wrapped them tightly around the other boys waist, putting light pressure into the hug. "Good to see you too Yori," he responded, his voice just barely above a whisper. It was true, he missed his best friend. Just how much he missed him though, and the feelings that were surfacing, were two things the ice based boy wasn't willing to dissect or think about at the present time. When the embrace ended, Toketsu kept his face as flat as possible, channeling his father's restraint on emotions as usual in an attempt to regain normalcy in his reactions. Turning his attention instead to the two new arrivals, Toketsu simply nodded his head as a greeting before following the group out toward the main hall.
Once there, a hint of a smile crept up on the boys lips. Between seeing the rest of the Saturn group conversing with his own parents, Youta, and the beautiful decor that was already up, the boy couldn't help but realize how he had really missed everyone, how he had even just missed Mars. Maybe that was it...his longing to see everyone had just been focused into seeing his best friend, and that was the cause for his reaction. It was a logical explanation after all, Yori was his best friend, and in result, his 'rival' as the red headed boy so fondly put it.
Toketsu's train of thought was quickly interrupted as Youta's cheery face came into his line of sight, pushing two boxes of eating utensils into his arms. Instructions were given quickly, and the boy kept his face straight once more as Yori looked over to him. As soon as the duo reached the first table though, the smallest hint of a smirk pulled on Toketsu's lips. "Race ya," he said quickly, and it was all the encouragement that the other boy needed. The two both sprung into action, racing to see who could get their items placed faster. As Toketsu placed another set of utensils, his strategics kicked into action. Maneuvering about the tables in a certain way and a few chairs pulled out in strategic locations, the white haired boy placed his last set down milliseconds before Yori had the last plate down. This caused a small smile to come over his features as he walked over and set down the extra items down next to the other decorations.
"I beat you fair and square, that's all there is to it," he chirped, much to the other boys annoyance. There wasn't ever much fighting Toketsu in the ways of logics and such, and the other had learned it long ago. Didn't mean that the red head was about to throw the towel in though. Moments later, both boys had rolls of streamers in hand and began to run to opposite sides of the hall. Toketsu quickly began to attach the silken rolls of cloth in an orderly but quick fashion to various spots on the wall, only to turn around and see that Yori was thoroughly beating him and he was using his powers to give him a boost up every once in a while. Toketsu couldn't help but feel a momentary rush of pride run through him, considering a few years ago had Yori tried doing what he was, he'd have burnt the floor and just about anything flammable in a 5 foot radius of himself. Now, his control allowed him to give just the right boost without setting anything alight.
Narrowing his eyes, Toketsu turned back to his wall and forced himself to move faster, stopping only for a moment to summon up his own element to assist. 5 seconds later, his well learned technique of ice wings sprouted from his back, and with a couple of flapping motions, he was off the ground, hovering in a few places to continue his work. Then, someone yelling stopped his work as he turned in mid-air to look at the commotion, something that caused a snicker to rise from his throat. Obviously, competition threw the others control off a little.
"Yori Holt Hino, watch what you're doing! You shouldn't be using your powers inside!" Sno suddenly said, rushing over toward the curtain that had burst into flames. Summoning up her powers, water rushed from the Mercury Queen's palm and doused the flames. Toketsu watched from up in the air until he caught his father's gaze, one that was obviously reprimanding him for his own power usage, a sheepish look overtaking his face as he came down to the ground, his wings disappearing. Once the commotion died down, Keiko ended up separating the two boys, sending Toketsu to decorate outside with Hikara while Yori remained inside with Hiruko. Valerick and Kesiom then took over the streamer decor, the older Saturn brother using his telekinesis to levitate the items to where they needed to be as the younger gathering what was needed when asked of him.
Toketsu ended up giving Yori a small shrug before Hikara practically dragged him from the hall by his wrist. "You two are never going to stop, are you?" she asked, her hands reaching out to touch one of the fire lilies that dotted the pathway and arches that led to the main doors. The girl had explained how there really wasn't to be decor outside, but Youta had asked her to make sure the lilies, her aunt's favorite flower, were lively and vibrant with her powers. Toketsu was mostly just to tag along as to make sure there was no more competition between him and Yori. "You have to admit that you and Hiruko feel competitive toward each other," the white haired boy managed up, trying to make an excuse for the way he acted around Yori.
Hikara just ended up laughing. "It's hard to be competitive with someone who practically shares my mind. We think too alike to really compete with each other in any way, it always ends in a stalemate." Toketsu just nodded as he watched the other bring buds to life, to revive downtrodden petals. He often forgot how close the twins were, and the thought only brought back memories of how close he had felt to the red headed boy just a little while ago.
"Toketsu? Hellooooo?"
Toketsu's attention snapped back up to Hikara's face in front of him, and he shook his head gently. "Sorry, thinking," he said, and Hikara just giggled a little. "Fancy that!" she said with a devious grin on her face, and Toketsu simply raised an eyebrow ever so slightly, his way of showing he was a little irked by the statement.
"Time to come inside!"
Turning, Toketsu saw Kesiom standing in the doorway with Keiko standing next to him. Simply nodding his understanding, he waited until Hikara was finished with the flower she was working on, walking up to the doors next to her. "Apparently the birthday girl is getting antsy about being away from her duties," Kesiom explained as they walked back in through the halls. "But the birthday girl is already here," Toketsu responded in one of his rare jokes as he peered at the Saturn Queen, and Keiko simply rolled her eyes, rustling his hair much to the teen's annoyance. Once they were all in the hall, Toketsu found himself naturally gravitating to stand near Yori, not realizing his arm was comfortably behind Yori's until Sno announced the energies were coming into the castle. Had the boy moved his arm forward, his hand easily could have grasped Yori's, but instead he moved it backward, clasping his hands together behind his back. Not seeing it out of the corner of his eye, Nicholai standing on the other side of the group peered at the two boys like he had in the hall before leaning over and whispering something to Aphrodite.
Yori’s mind was lingering on how it felt to hug Toketsu a few moments before, rather than on the task at hand on decorating the main hall. The boy was his exact polar opposite, and every time they got within a foot of each other, Yori could feel a change in temperature because of the other’s naturally cool demeanor. He enjoyed it, for it wasn’t a feeling he got often, and Toketsu was the only person he knew who could make him feel that way. Not even Sno, who obviously had the same elements as her son. For some reason, it was much more pronounced with his best friend.
Hearing the other spark a competition got Yori from his thoughts, and he glanced sidelong at his best friend with a small smirk as he nodded in agreement. For as long as the boy could remember, he and Toketsu had been competing in healthy competition with one another, able to turn practically any task into a race or contest. Like setting plates and forks. Most would have thought it odd (in fact, his mother liked to tell him so as often as it came up) but it was something Yori had grown to count on. Toketsu pulled the best out of him, and vice versa. They would never have gotten as strong as they were now if it weren’t for the other’s constant encouragement and pushing. When Toketsu placed his last utensil down just a second before Yori finished, he adopted a very Kiko-esque pout and crossed his arms, demanding it was a tie instead though he knew it wasn’t. Instead of lingering on the loss, they turned to yet another decoration and turned that into a race; Yori had managed to get a better grip on his control, so using his fire to propel him higher in the air to get the streamers at just the right height was easy enough, though he knew he could have been doing a bit better job at spacing and making things look neat. He was more concerned now about beating Toketsu rather than evenly spaced streamers.
He noticed Toketsu catching on to his tactic and could feel the boy manipulating his energy to sprout his characteristic ice wings, which made him switch to high gear. This, of course, didn’t bode well for the flammable curtains just below him, and within the second they caught fire. He dropped to the ground, landing expertly on his feet, but before he could try and put out the fire he’d started, Sno was on the scene. She reminded Yori a lot of his mother at times, especially when he was being reprimanded. He gave a sheepish nod and an apology before glancing over at Toketsu. Jirou, who had been preoccupied listening to Youta go on about the last party they’d had in this hall, was watching his son now, a look he knew pretty well on his face. Jirou never had to say anything if he didn’t want to, his face was expressive enough. At the moment, it was scolding. His son would not get away with using powers indoors either.
Being split up from Toketsu had Yori pouting briefly before Hiruko nudged his shoulder, ”I’m not that bad.” he joked. Yori opened his mouth to apologize and demand he hadn’t meant it like that, but his cousin just shook his head with a gentle laugh. Hiruko had his oddities, sure, but Yori truly enjoyed his positive attitude. He went about putting down place mats, setting up more chairs, and making sure the food set out was hot and ready before they noted Kiko was fast approaching. His father had convinced the woman to take a longer route around her normal patrol spots, but even he couldn’t stall her for too long. Once they were all back into the main hall, Yori found himself gravitating toward Toketsu yet again, who had chosen to stand directly beside him. He glanced down at their hands, close enough they could have touched had he shifted an inch, but the boy brought them behind his back before Yori’s mind could trail off with the idea.
”I don’t understand, why did we come this way again?” his mother’s voice on the other side of the large double doors caused him to look up just in time for them to open. In unison, the group shouted the typical, ”Surprise!" before falling into a fit of applause. Keiko bounded over to her twin, securing her arms around the woman’s shoulders in a firm hug. Kiko just stared in moderate shock for the first few seconds before she furrowed her brows, shaking a finger at her sister like a mother would scold a child, ”I had a feeling you would do something like this…" though she tried to seem upset about the party, her tone gave away her surprise and excitement. She playfully smacked Aleks in the stomach, reprimanding him for being so sneaky, before giving him a well deserved kiss.
After singing happy birthday to the Mars sisters, the party goers mingled on their own, leaving Yori standing by the buffet as he watched the people around the hall. Aphrodite was standing with Toketsu by the double doors, and his mother and father were sipping drinks and laughing about something with Sno and Jirou. He wished he had super enhanced hearing or could read lips, because he was rather curious as to what Aphrodite was speaking to his best friend about…
”You did a great job with decorations, Toketsu.” the woman smiled, placing a hand over his shoulder for a moment before dropping it back down to her side. ”How have you been since the last time I saw you? I can sense you’ve gotten stronger, you should be proud.”
.jpg)
