Izumi's P.O.V.

"This place is so nice. The sand feels so good between my toes!" I exclaimed happily. We were currently on a private beach that Rei, Hiro and I purchased when we started out. We came here every so often, but I'm still always happy coming here.

"The good thing about this place is that we can be as affectionate as we want." Hiro comments. My face goes pink and I smile shyly.

"Yeah. Let's set up our things and head to the water." I say, laying our large beach blanket somewhat near the water.

"Don't run off yet, you have such pale skin, we can't have you string a sun burn. If you got skin cancer, I'd be sad." Hiro pouts.

"Can you help me put it on then? It's impossible to reach my back." I ask him.

"No problem." I hear the pop of the cap and and the squirt of sunscreen on his hands. The cold substance was then pressed against my back and being spread to every inch of my back. It gave me shivers.

"You get me too. And remember, we have to reapply every half hour." Hiro informs as I do the rest of my body.

"I'm not tall, so lay down on your stomach." I inform and Hiro shrugs, laying down in the sand, his gloriously toned back facing me. I sit on his butt and squirt some sunscreen in my hand before rubbing it in his back. His back was smooth under my hands, warm too. It was nice. When I finish, I got off him.

"Let's hit the water then." He had grabbed my hand and we ran towards the water, laughing a bit. Every thirty minutes we'd reapply our sunscreen, then hit the water again.

"Take this!" I kicked up a huge wave of water which hit Hiro.

"Bring it on shortstop!" Hiro kicked up an even bigger wave, swallowing me. I was fine, only underwater for a few seconds.

"Ah, it's about time for lunch, we should hit the showers and go." I say with a sigh, the sun hanging in the sky and reflecting blinding light off the sea.

"Yeah. Let's go." Our private beach has one large bathroom facility with showers. We brought towels of course, so we'll be dry by the time we finish. After this we planned to head to a small café we both know pretty well and then we're going to get some photos taken at the strip mall. And by photos taken, were using a photo booth and then looking around the mall.

"No peeking!" I say, pulling the curtain shut behind me.

"I promised to let your feeling catch up first, remember? I'm not some asshole that takes back his words." I heard him say, followed by the hymn of his shower. I blush and turn on my own shower, washing all the saltwater and sand off my body, yet still somehow smelling like the sea. When we finished and changed, we threw our swimsuits and beach stuff in the trunk of Hiro's car and drove home, continuing the rest of the day on foot.

We could drive, but it's fun to walk and feel the nice warm breeze on our skin. Since we live in a place where celebrities can walk freely, it's fun. The only problem is paparazzi, and I'm surprised we haven't seen any yet. Oh well.

"Ah, no Rei today?" The cashier questions. Because the three of us came here often, we came to know everyone who works here. The person there now was a girl named Erza. Yeah, looks like her namesake, her red hair was pulled back tightly into a ponytail.

"Nope, he's all mine today." I felt my hand being grabbed and he was showing it off. I blushed and smiled slightly.

"Cute. Oh, that reminds me, you know that power couple and that friend of theirs? They're sitting over there, you should drop by and say high. Misaki was gushing about how he had never met someone so cute before." Erza informed.

"Well, you are cute. Can we have our usual?" Hiro orders.

"Hot chocolate in California is so stupid." She shakes her head, but makes it for us anyways. We pay and take it to the corner table where we see Gray, Misaki and Savannah.

"So, I heard someone over here called me cute." I joked.

"You know, even though I know you meant it as a friendly complement, I can't help but get jealous." Gray complained.

"Don't worry, I only love you."Misaki hugged his boyfriend who turned slightly pink.

"Why don't you two join us? It's not everyday we see each other." Savannah invites. We smile and sat down with them.

"So, where's the third member to your best friend trio?" Gray questions.

"Well, he went to hang out with some other friends. He didn't want to intrude on our...." My face burned as I tried to say it. They wouldn't blab about it.

"Date." Hiro finished for me.

"Well, now everything you two said at the interview makes sense." Savannah smiles.

"Make sure you guys take things slow. We kinda fucked up a lot along the way." Gray advises.

"Yeah, fights, break ups, make up sex, near death situations. It's something we could've avoided. But, things are better now. We fought for this live." Misaki smiles, then held up his left hand, a sliver band on his ring finger. A band that wasn't there before. "Gray proposed to me the other day!" I couldn't help but smile.

"Congratulations. We still have a long way to go in our relationship." I inform, taking a sip from my drink.

"We haven't gone past kissing." Hiro says casually, causing me to blush.

"Regular kissing, or French kissing?" Misaki questions.

"What's French kissing?" Hiro questions. I raise a brow at him.

"For someone who has been pinning for me his whole life, you're pretty damn innocent." I remark.

"Well, I was never interested in porn, where am I supposed to learn about stuff like that?" Hiro questions. Savannah reached in her purse.

"Here, I have a friend who teaches Sex Ed. She recommends this book to men. It teaches things you may want to know when you finally get there. Trust me, it's helpful." Hiro takes the book from her and he blushes, handing it back to her.

"Can you mail it to us? I can't carry this around with me." She smirked a bit and the rest of us looked confused as hell.

"No problem. Izumi, I'll mail this you your place. I'm guessing he's situated himself into your home." The two of us blush now.

"There's a reason we never go out there coffee with you. None of us even like coffee!" Misaki exclaimed.

"Don't shout you idiots!" Erza shouts from the front.

"Sorry Erza!" Gray shouts back.

"Well, we've got a date to get to, we'll see you guys later." I was yanked out of the booth and we left the store, our drinks not done yet.

Hiro's P.O.V.

"I look good in this photo." Izumi was holding our photo booth photos and I smiled. I kinda felt like a teenager again doing this with him. I mean, I couldn't be happier. I don't care if his feelings never catch up, I'm fine with kissing him, holding his hand, sleeping next to him. I could live happily with just that.

"Yeah." Izumi looked up at me and raised a brow.

"What's with that look?" He questions.

"I'm just so happy. I don't think I could be any happier. Even if your feelings never catch up, I'll be fine. Just knowing that you finally feel something for me, is enough. I love holding your hand and sleeping besides you. I love kissing you, I wish I could always do it." Izumi blushed and looked at the ground, but I could see that he was smiling.

"You idiot, if you keep saying things like that, the gap will close sooner than you realize, and we'll do something stupid." I pull him to my chest, not caring about who was looking. "Hiro, people are staring." He whispered.

"Screw them all. I don't care what they think." Izumi looks up at me and presses his head to my chest.

"Let's go home. I want to do something stupid." Izumi gripped my shirt, clenching fistfuls of the fabric. I tilt his head up and press a kiss against his head.

"Remember, I'm waiting until your feelings catch up. Besides, there's so many things we still have left to do." Izumi blushes and nods, pulling away and grabbing my hand. What were doing is stupid, considering both of our popularities. Yet, I couldn't help but want to show him off to everyone I could. Even if there was a million stares on us, we kept walking, enjoying our times together.

Savannah's P.O.V.

"They remind me so much of you two. Except they have yet to have sex." I comment, looking at the two hugging in the middle of everything.

"Yeah. It almost makes me worry." Gray comments, his arm around Misaki's waist.

(A/N: See Disgrace for the love story between Misaki and Gray. My second favorite story I've written.)

"I think they'll be fine." Misaki comments, smiling brightly. Gray sighs and kisses the top of Misaki's head.

"Yeah. I just don't want those two to go through the same shit we did." I look at the pair and place a hand on Gray's shoulder.

"I can promise you that things will work out for them." Yeah, it has to. Yet, even I didn't notice a camera going off, snapping a picture of the pair.

A few hours later

Izumi's P.O.V.

My heart was beating feverishly as we entered the house and brought our things to our rooms. I was surprised Hiro couldn't hear it, it thundered in my ears and my entire body ached terribly. Was I sick? Yeah, lovesick.  I wanted to kiss Hiro, but I had no idea if I would want more.

"So, what is French kissing?" Hiro questions as we put the last of our things. I swallow dryly and look up, a lust filled look plaguing my eyes, I knew my pupil was dilating.

"I could shot you." I say, biting my lip slightly.

"But you haven't kissed anyone besides me." Hiro comments.

"I'm not clueless about these kind of things." I say softly.

"Izumi, how do you feel about me? Depending on your answer, I may or may not allow you to have what you want." Hiro smiled.

"Well, right now, my heart is pounding so loudly, I can hardly think. My body aches, and it's not a feeling I'm used too. I feel hot, even though I know I'm not sick. When I think of you, I think about things that I normally wouldn't think about a friend, or an attractive girl. I don't know if it's lust or love, I never felt either before, so I don't know." That much was the truth. Hiro walks over to me and turns to sit on my bed.

"I'm glad you feel that way towards me Izumi, though I don't think it's love just yet. Come here." I blush and move forwards, straddling his hips. He looks up at me, his hands cupping my face, my own hands cup his. They felt warm on my skin. It was comforting, I seemed to melt into it. I even close my eyes to savor the moment.  When I open them, I smile at Hiro.

"Can I kiss you?" I question. He nodded and dragged my mouth to his, our lips attaching together. I bit his lower lip a little to make him gasp, succeeding in my endeavor and shoving my tongue in his mouth. When I did this, it felt better than usual to kiss him. His fingers tangled into my hair as he pulled me even closer. He tasted like hot chocolate and cotton candy, even if it sound disgusting, it was a heavenly mixture that had me begging for more.

At this rate he might have me begging more more, but he wouldn't give me any more than this. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him even more fiercely, mad when we had to pull away, a long strand of saliva connection our mouths, more like tongues. Panting heavily, I hug him and bury my face in his neck.

"I like you a lot Hiro." I say softly.

"And I love you Izumi. Let's make dinner." I look at him and smile, resting our foreheads together.

"You idiot."