| [Jan. 31st, 2012|06:40 am] |
Bacon nothing, he’d broken his foot.
Kakashi kept his head ducked, half-dried hair obscuring his face as he worked through the bone-stinging result of the least ninja-like thing he’d ever done, and tried to get over his shock. Which was stupid, because it shouldn’t have been a shock. They’d had the whole conversation already, the first morning after Ryouma’s return, when Kakashi had said I want strings and Ryouma had said I’m done running, and it had somehow ended in Ryouma’s promise to stay out of ANBU and Kakashi on his knees.
Which, really, was not a bad way to end any conversation.
But they hadn’t talked about it since, even when Kakashi had given out his front door key. Ryouma had just... stayed. And continued to stay. And brought lunatics into Kakashi’s life.
Ryouma was on his feet now, hands loose at his sides--not stepping forward, but the leashed set in his muscles said he wanted to. The uncertainty guttering in his scent held him back. “You okay?”
Kakashi made a sound that approximated argh. “Fine, just stupid,” he said, and grabbed the upturned frying pan, leaving a carnage of bacon and raw eggs on the kitchen floor as he straightened. He dropped the frying pan on the stove top. “Guess it’s oatmeal after all.”
Katsuko’s noise of anguish was like a single kitten crying all alone in an empty cave.
Oats were in the cupboard by the sink. He was pretty sure he had enough milk for three people, and sugar somewhere for the two who’d inevitably prefer sweetness over salt...
He looked up without moving, meeting Ryouma’s eyes. “You mean that?”
Ryouma took two short steps, then visibly caught himself, every muscle tense. “I told you before,” he said, plain and certain. “As much as you want of me, I’m yours.”
Whatever you want, I’ll stick around.
I need you.
Kakashi swallowed. “You’re going to have to get over here,” he said. “I don’t think I can walk yet.”
If he’d blinked, he would have missed Ryouma moving. Ryouma was just there suddenly, tall and broad-shouldered, blocking the view to Katsuko and her sad, betrayed-by-bacon eyes. It was like seeing him fresh, re-learning him all over again, as Kakashi did every struck moment he realized Ryouma was still alive, back home, not six months dead and buried in an unmarked grave.
He was right here, saying whatever you want all over again, except this time he’d picked a solid place to stand first.
I’m monogamous.
In front of the woman he’d run to.
“I want everything of you,” Kakashi said, and meant it, because he’d lived through both sides of that coin, having Ryouma and losing him, but his inability to cope wasn’t any basis to build a relationship on. He reached out and wrapped his fingers lightly around the scarred side of Ryouma’s throat, thumb braced across Ryouma’s jugular pulse, and said, low, “But I won’t put a leash on you. If you turn around in six month’s time and there’s someone less crazy, or better looking in armour.” His mouth pulled sideways. “Or female--”
Ryouma cut him off. "You're less crazy already. Better lookin' won't happen. I like you male."
I’ll look after you.
Across the room, Katsuko made a whispered sound very much like now kiss, then there was a scuffle of blankets and a tightening spiral of chakra as she wrapped herself up in covers and resettled, scent turned sleepy.
For once, she’d given out a good piece of advice.
Kakashi pulled his mask down, tangled his fingers in the stretched neck of Ryouma's shirt, and reached up to kiss him. |
|