[Log] Isn't So Simple Anymore
Who: Genma and Minato When: October 10 Where: Dorms, Specifically Minato's Door What: Minato returns to his room to find Genma leaning against his door. Again. Warnings: Genma, flirting -_- Open or Closed: Closed Observable: No.
Minato hadn't been isolating himself. He'd simply been avoiding being overly friendly. Or visible. Other than participating in the games he'd spent most of his free time quietly working in the common room or training in the forest. He went to the cafeteria to get food and took it back to his room. He'd even managed to avoid his new roommate. He wasn't being antisocial. He simply had a lot on his mind lately and his time was better spent sorting out information he'd been gathering.
The only time he'd ventured out with anyone recently had been with Balfour. An accidental meeting and an enjoyable afternoon having tea.
But avoiding Genma was an entirely different matter altogether. He didn't want to avoid Genma. He hadn't intentionally avoiding Genma. And now here was, returning from training to find Genma leaning against his door. Just like the first time.
Minato couldn't help smiling softly at the man as he approached, discretely moving his hands back out of sight. The Rasengan was nothing short of a Bijuu bomb condensed into a tiny ball that could be held in his hand. That much chakra tightly packed and nowhere near being capable of controlling it made training more...painful.
Genma had a lazy smile on his face, his senbon hanging from his lips as usual. He was dressed a little less formally than last time, his vest missing and his uniform shirt replaced with a t-shirt. His bandanna was still over his head though, the metal plate scraping a little against Minato’s door as he moved his head.
He didn’t move his way out of the door just yet, simply lifted a hand in a wave. He shifted a foot against a box sitting on the floor next to him.
“Brought you something,” he said, mildly. A slight push with his foot sent the box with the little teapot and teacups in it a couple of inches away from himself, toward Minato.
Minato raised an eyebrow at the man and then looked down at the box where it had stopped at his feet. Or he had stopped at the box. It had happened all too perfectly so he really wasn’t sure. But he was amused.
“For me? A gift? I’m flattered that you would be thinking of me when I’m not around.” he crouched to pick up the box and looked up at Genma, a slight smirk on his lips despite the throbbing ache in his hands. “You’ve been studying your drawing of me, haven’t you?”
He waited until he was standing right in front of Genma before opening the box and pulling out one of the cups, a bright smile for his friend, “You were thinking of me.”
Genma nodded, and then thinking of a certain conversation with Izumo about fools, leaned in just a little.
“I’m always thinking of you,” he said playfully, the corners of his lips turning up a little. He reached out to touch the box with a finger. “You wanted a teapot. So... I looked around and found you one. In between spending time with my drawing of you.”
“Thank you, Genma.” Minato smiled a little less bright, sincere and warm, and carefully set the cup back in the box. “Were you here to deliver this or do you have time to try out my new teapot? It’s a lovely shade of blue, the design. You were inspired by my eyes, weren’t you?”
“Guilty as charged,” Genma said, laughing lightly. He chewed his senbon for a moment, as if considering his options, and then stepped out of the way of the door, so that Minato could open it.
“I think I might have time for a cup of tea. I’ve been a little busy lately, but I figured it was past time I come to visit you.”
His eyes, however, moved back to the box, or rather, to the hands holding it. His eyebrows lifted. “Besides, it looks like you might give me a bit of practice.”
“Hm?” Minato hummed innocently, as if he had no idea what Genma was talking about, and moved to open the door. The Rasengan was very important. He didn’t have time to be careful. And he’d been soaking his hands in ice before bed. No problem.
“I’ll get the tea started. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve learned from the drawing?” he glanced back at Genma, smiling and disappeared into his room. The tea set was placed on the dresser and then he moved over to the bed and started removing all of his weapons and his pouch and vest.
Genma followed into the room, closed the door, and then settled himself into a cross-legged position on the floor. He sat watching Minato move around, resisting an urge to get up and offer to make tea.
Next time, he’d allow himself that.
For now, he shrugged his shoulders and gave his report. “I’ve spent hours looking over it, but there’s nothing in the design itself that speaks to me. I’ve tried comparing it to seals that we use, and I’ve tried poking around to look for similar markings everywhere. I’ve even checked out a couple of other people’s tattoos: without saying why, of course. The best I can think of is that we might be able to blow it out, but I don’t think I can do anything too fancy with it.”
He sighed, not liking what he had to say. He would have loved to have been more help, but this just wasn’t like anything else. “I do know some good unsealing methods I can try, but I can’t promise much.”
“The we’ll try to blow it out and whatever else we can think of.” Minato hummed softly to himself as he prepared to make the tea. It was a habit he’d started not too long ago when he realized he couldn’t avoid damaging his hands while in the process of creating the Rasengan. Kushina would get so concerned whenever he would make small noises in protest of the pain he started humming random tunes while working on whatever task he’d been assigned to help with dinner.
He hadn’t expected it to work, but she seemed calmer for it lately. He didn’t really think about it anymore.
“Sugar with your tea?” he asked, pulling out his bag of sugar cubes and the tea he’d pilfered from the kitchen. “If you want to make any attempts to break this seal today I might have to request a moment for a shower.”
Genma continued to watch Minato steadily from his spot on the floor. He wasn’t fooled by the whistling trick at all, though he’d known Minato quite a bit longer than the man had known him, of course. He twitched the senbon between his lips and wondered what his chances were at forcing the man to let him heal him.
Not good, he thought. Not that it would necessarily keep him from trying. Of course, if he decided to work on the tattoo today, he’d just be hurting Minato anyway, and he’d need all his energy as well.
“Sugar, yes,” he sighed, obviously busy thinking about things. He could let those things show in front of Minato, at least. He twitched his senbon again, then answered the implied question as well. “It’s your choice, Minato-sama. I should have enough energy - I’ve recovered fine since doing a Game - and I’ve done nothing more taxing today than play with Izumo’s lover. So I’m fine for an attempt today if you want.”
“Excuse me?” Minato stopped, blue eyes turned towards Genma, confused and very much curious. he rolled a cube around between his fingers, decided that wasn’t the best thing to be doing when his fingers were stiff and painful and popped the cube into his mouth before going back to making the tea.
“This I have to hear about. Not that I like gossip, but you started it.” he teased, it was a nice distraction from Genma’s thoughts.
“You do like gossip,” Genma argued, amused. He had actually sort of wanted to talk to Minato about that particular situation, but he hadn’t intended to interrupt the serious discussion to do so. He leaned his head back against the wall, scooted a little further down it, and tucked his legs in closer to his body, still crossed.
“Izumo-kun rather... tossed his lover at me today. I’m not sure what I think about it yet. Kid’s young - not too young mind you - and was apparently a virgin before Izumo got his hands on him. I figured it was just a new way of teasing me and that Balfour would back out, but... he didn’t.”
“Balfour? Tea loving Balfour?” Minato asked, looking at Genma again, amused. He finished pouring the tea and cleaning up the little mess he’d made being painfully clumsy and went to sit on the floor in front of Genma, holding the man's tea out to him with one hand and carefully holding his own cup so he wouldn’t have to wrap his fingers around it, the bag of sugar cubes tucked between his teeth.
“That would be the one,” Genma said, with a laugh. He took his tea, then unfolded one of his legs from the other, slipped it out, and settled it on the other side of Minato, touching his. He didn’t comment on the movement or try to explain it; he hadn’t really thought about it at all.
“I should have known Izumo would get me in some kind of trouble or other. We’re sharing a room now, and I do enjoy his company, but I hadn’t quite expected such a thing.” He brought the cup up toward his face, taking in the steam and the scent for a second, before laughing. “Oh, I forget that you don’t... know. Unlike our sock ninja, I tend to be very picky about partners; I don’t like sleeping with people I don’t trust. So Izumo tossing Balfour at me while he was present himself to make me feel safe was about the only way he was going to get me laid.”
“I’m a little surprised Balfour agreed. He seemed....reserved.” Minato grinned into his tea, the cup resting in his palm rather than actually holding it. He had a slightly higher pain tolerance, but not today. Maybe it was time to take a day off from working on the Rasengan. Back home he wouldn’t be pushing this hard to complete it, but here he needed to have something a little more powerful up his sleeve.
“At least someone around here is getting laid.” And he washed that down with a mouthful of hot tea, because he didn’t usually share that kind of thing with anyone. But arriving straight from the tail end of a mission when he was looking forward to going home to Kushina and celebrating a safe return with lots of sex made him a little irritable.
Genma snorted at that. His eyes were following Minato’s hands, but he didn’t think it was too obvious, given that the man didn’t know him the same way the older version had.
He shrugged a shoulder. “I think Izumo got to him. I feel a little guilty about it, honestly.” He bumped the leg he’d rested on the other side of Minato against the man’s leg, gently.
“All you’d have to do is the say the word, you know,” he said, very quietly, with a certain seriousness that was rarely in his tone. Then he reached out and poked a finger against Minato’s hand, as if seeing if he’d jump. He was still deciding whether he’d get away with holding the man down and healing him.
“Dammit, Genma.” Minato hissed, jerking his hand back. It was a good thing he didn’t have much tea left. But he quickly covered up for not having the forethought to not react to the poke and the pain. “Don’t offer something like that when my self control is dwindling.”
Despite his reaction, he set his hand on Genma’s leg, and lightly curled his fingers around it, gave it a weak squeeze because that’s all he was good for at the moment. He’d keep the offer in mind if things here took longer than they should.
Genma gave his Hokage - and he couldn’t help but think that, despite it not really being true - a lazy smile, then shrugged a shoulder. “Had to be said, I guess. It’s hard to remember you don’t know things like that.”
Not that they’d had any sort of intimate interaction in the past, but that Genma would have. He raised one hand from his cup, held it above Minato’s without dropping it on top, trying to come to a decision.
“So. Are we going to save my energy and try to tamper with your tattoo today? Tell me now, because otherwise I’m putting it elsewhere.”
“Are you this much of a brat in the future? I need to know so I can work on how I’m going to deal with this brattiness for a very long time.” Minato pouted, turning away with a loud sigh. “Fine. We can tamper with the tattoo later.”
Not because he was in pain. Maybe because he was needing something and he wasn’t willing to admit it. He wasn’t ready to commit to Genma’s offer, but he could enjoy the soothing comfort of being healed. A connection to someone for even a moment right now would be nice.
Genma’s smile spread as if he were being offered something far better than the sex he himself had put on the table. He dropped his hand to rest over Minato’s, gently.
“Let me finish my tea first then. And I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I was an even worse brat when you knew me.”
“Aren’t men suppose to mature as they get older? You must have been a serious brat at my age if you’re still a brat at your age.”
Minato couldn't argue. He wanted to finish his own tea while it was still hot. And he couldn’t argue with letting Genma heal his hands. He wanted that too much right now. A much nicer and more enjoyable choice than asking the man to cause him more pain. He left his hand on Genma’s leg and sipped his tea rather than gulping it.
“Brat enough to offer your Hokage sex often?” he asked, more than a little curious now about their future relationship as friends and shinobi.
Genma was rather proud of himself that he didn’t blush, now. His younger self certainly would have, or rather, had.
He kept his touch on Minato’s hand very light, so as not to cause pain until he healed it. He didn’t, however, move his hand away.
“Welllll...” he drawled, a rather lopsided smile coming to his lips. “I might have tried it a time or two. And gotten teased mercilessly, if turned down. Of course, in that situation I couldn't blame you for not being interested, but things are a little different here.”
“You mean I’m not attached. Officially.” Minato smirked, taking the gulp he’d promised himself he wouldn’t take. He could make more tea later. This conversation was far more interesting than his tea. “I’m glad to know we’re close enough in the future to make such offers and to tease about them. And I’m glad to have someone here whom I can trust.”
And not only with the tattoo or to have his back. He understood the moment Genma made the offer how serious he was. It was also something that would be distracting him for some time. That thought that always finds a way to sneak in when you least expect it to. “And...that means I end up marrying the sexiest kunoichi in Fire country. Possibly even all five great Nations. Why else would I turn you down?”
He couldn’t think of any other reason.
Genma laughed easily at that. “Maybe because I laugh at you when you get sappy on me. Damn, I make you an offer to fulfill my own teenage wet dream and you go getting all gooey.”
He rolled his eyes, but there was still that smile on his lips, something a little soft about it. He took another sip of his own tea, shrugged his shoulders. “She’s a hell of a woman. And you’re still attached, officially or otherwise. But there’s no harm in it either, here and now, I think.”
“I’m seriously amused by the fact that you make it clear you see me as being attached and still offer to have sex with me.” Minato teased, setting his empty cup down next to him to give Genma his full attention. “I can’t help it if I get sappy sometimes. I spend most of my waking hours training to take the lives of people I don’t know and even some I do. I’m allowed sappy. And gooey. I’m also allowed to accept your offer if and when the time is right.”
He squeezed Genma’s leg a little tighter, still gentle, but firm enough to let him know he was taking his offer seriously.
There was a moment where something inside Genma felt like it was sitting on a fence, deciding which way to jump. He knew already that he was planning on trying to do what he could to keep the situation with Minato’s desires to change the future and save everyone! from causing too much harm to those already in this world. He already knew that he’d do anything he could to support Minato as long as he could, however, and he knew that his reasons for offering such personal things as physical intimacy were based on something quite different. A desire he’d felt as a teenager, long years past.
He could have said something serious, made a comment about the deeper issues influencing him.
He could have made a joke.
In the end, he did neither. He patted at Minato’s hand, very gently, and set his own cup aside. “You wouldn’t be much good at it with your hands all burnt up like that. Let me heal you, Minato-sama.”
“I’m Minato-sama today?” Minato smirked, lifting an eyebrow at the man. A short, brief teasing moment before he moved himself closer, intentionally invading Genma’s space.
“Here or would you like me on the bed?” he asked, no hint of teasing left in his eyes or his voice. This wasn’t an offer for sex. That had already been laid upon the table and accepted for another time. This was about healing in more ways than one. Because something had flashed in Genma’s eyes, across his face, and he was calling him Minato-sama and Minato was missing a lot of things that were easy to ignore back home, but were becoming more of a nuisance here.
“Jiraiya-sensei once told me my heart was too big for my head.”
“Smart man,” Genma said, quietly. There was a bit of sadness at the mention of Jiraiya’s name, but he didn’t show it. He’d given various amounts of information about future events to the different shinobi he’d met so far, but he’d prefer not to bring up every loss that happened.
He pushed himself up, then nodded toward the bed.
“Might as well. It’d be more comfortable. It will take me a few minutes with this kind of damage.” He paused, then tilted his head and smiled. “Thank you. For letting me take care of you. You have no idea what it means to me. Minato.”
He left the -sama off, watching Minato’s face for the response. It was difficult to do sometimes, but he was thinking that the young man preferred it that way.
“Take your time. I’m in no hurry.” Minato said softly, slowly standing and gently brushing past Genma to the bed as his gaze followed Genma’s eyes, expression warm. And maybe just a tiny bit flirty. He liked being called Minato. Maybe someday he’d like being called Minato-sama. Maybe when he’d earned it. Right now he felt no where near strong enough and he hadn’t earned anything more than the reputation to be feared. “I’m getting more out of this than you are, I think. But thank you for taking care of me, Genma.”
Genma snorted at that. He wasn’t outright going to argue with Minato, but he certainly didn’t agree with him. Then again, Minato probably didn’t fully understand about Genma’s feelings at the moment. Perhaps because Genma wasn’t being totally honest with him. And that was something that Genma himself couldn’t fix, not right then.
He laughed wryly and shook his head, stepped over and took a seat on the edge of the bed.
“Okay, give me the hands. And kindly ignore any evidence that I’ve developed strange reactions to performing healing.” His eyes twinkled with amusement as he said the words.
Minato had started to hold out his hands when Genma had spoken and said something very interesting. He paused with his hands held palm up and looked at Genma, one eyebrow quirked higher than the other and a slow little smile pulling at the corners of his lips.
“In all the years you’ve known me have you ever known me to ignore anything?”
All information was important, even the little things. Just because he pretended to ignore things in the best interest of secrecy or politeness and respect for others didn’t mean he wasn’t always paying attention.
“Jerk,” Genma muttered. There was a certain fondness in the tone, however, and he’d been quite aware that he wasn’t getting away with asking Minato to ignore it. For that matter, he was sure Minato would have noticed even if he hadn’t said anything. It was better to be up front, in that case, wasn’t it?
He pulled both of Minato’s hands toward himself, shifted so that he was sitting cross-legged on the bed, and settled the wounded hands on his own thighs, close to his knee. His eyes were on his Hokage’s - no, you have to remember he’s not - hands as he did a couple of quick hand signs, then settled one of his own hands over each and began to work.
“Rasengan, huh?” he asked.
“It’s not fair that you know me so well.” Minato pouted playfully. Healing was an intimate thing for a shinobi. Feeling someone else’s chakra soothing pain and repairing your body was like having sex for the first time. Some people were horribly uncomfortable with the sensation while others enjoyed it, found calm and peace. And in Genma’s case something even more intimate.
It happened and he certainly wasn’t going to judge Genma for it. But he would tease him and use it to his advantage when the time was right.
“Rasengan.” he confirmed softly. He’d never spoken to anyone about the theory behind his idea. Not even Jiraiya-sensei knew. They had both been very busy lately and there was no time for conversation over sake and tea these days. But he trusted Genma and there was no point in secrecy here. “Imagine a bijuu bomb. All that chakra compacted into a tight little ball in the palm of your hand. Pure energy that is naturally trying to escape your control. And this...” he looked down at their hands, “This is only the beginning and I’ve been working on this for months already.”
“I want to lecture you for it, but I know all too well that your work is important,” Genma admitted. He wouldn’t say why, or talk about the fact that he’d seen someone other than Minato using Rasengan. Instead, he offered a lopsided smile and flicked his eyes up to MInato’s face.
“Still, you shouldn’t work yourself into the ground too hard. Are you still doing the Games, as well as working on this?”
“Yes.” Silly question Genma and the thought showed in Minato’s eyes. You didn’t stop missions because training was difficult. “There is a war going on at home right now. I can’t afford to be complacent about things.”
Never mind he had serious issues with this situation and the people being used here.
“I have enough energy to walk away at the end of a game. And I’m being very careful. I avoid using chakra most of the time. This way I don’t expose what I’m capable of to anyone who may be watching and I get more hand to hand combat exercise.”
It had been a silly question, but Genma didn’t apologize for asking it. He might know better, but this wasn’t a mission, the games weren’t missions either. That was why they bothered him so much, honestly.
“What kinds of matches have you been getting? I just started, but already... it’s a little strange, the sheer variety they have here. I’ve fought against kids who seemed to have not much experience at all, and then one guy who I swear could have just put me down if I hadn’t been quick and clever about it. Have you really been able to get away with not much chakra use?”
He didn’t doubt that Minato was amazing, of course. He knew that. But there were what seemed like godlike beings here, too.
“Not always, no.” There had been a few games that reminded him of battles back home. Without all the bodies. Quite a few close calls that forced him to pull out a few tricks and he’d allowed himself to be a little more physically abused than he would normally. And then there were some games where he couldn’t afford to get too close to his opponent.
But the games were a means to an end to this place.
“I thought you were going to focus on healing. Now you’re fighting in the games.” He looked at Genma the way he would a puzzle, a new jutsu, curiously wondering what had changed.
Genma shrugged his shoulders, though he didn’t move his hands away. He wouldn’t forget what he was doing, the gentle flow of his energy into Minato, the way he had to focus to work on the burns. Burns were the worst to heal.
He glanced up at Minato again, briefly.
“Well, I was offered the option, and I thought about it. But the drawback of only doing healing is that I would feel like I was on the fringes of everything going on around here. And Izumo-kun already works the information angle pretty damn well, and seems quite willing to share with me, as long as I play his games.”
There was a slight flush at the words. It wasn’t because the pseudo-sexuality of that relationship was embarrassing, but because Genma hadn’t realized just how much he’d already come to depend on Izumo. “But being in the Games puts me more in contact with people from this world too, because if I get enough attention, I can talk to fans at the club, and that’s... it might be useful, that’s all.”
“Hmmm.” Minato could agree with that. Didn’t change his curiosity, but he would let it go for now and offer a tease instead. “Sounds like you and Izumo-san are quite close. He’s an interesting man.”
The slight flush was a little too adorable to ignore or let go so easily.
“He’s a good friend,” said Genma honestly. He tilted his head, as if listening for someone to give him an answer to a question he couldn’t ask aloud. The problem was that he himself didn’t know either the question or the answer.
He laughed, softly.
“It’s comforting to have someone from home, who isn’t dead or a renegade. We weren’t really all that close at home, but he’s become a good friend here. If a difficult one. Still, there is some measure of business going on there, the way I’ve been asking him for information.” He shook his head, a little bemused. “And he did get me laid, so I guess I can’t say he wouldn’t be useful with or without the information.”
“I was wondering why you seem...more relaxed than usual.” Minato smiled, laughing softly, amused by this entire conversation. He may not be in the alive category for comfort, but Genma had offered him something nice so he wasn’t bothered by it. He’d died doing something good, or so he’d been told. How could he apologize for that?
Genma snorted.
“He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would put you at ease, I guess, but he’s good for me, in his own way.”
Genma frowned. “He didn’t want me to do the games, not really. But I’m not sure I can explain why I feel I have to.”
“Genma.” Minato’s smile wavered into something softer and more serious. He was thinking of Balfour and their conversation over tea. “I’ve been told some people would prefer to stay here rather than go home. For whatever reason they find this place a better choice.”
Perhaps Izumo was one of those people. Not because he didn’t think he could go home. But was Genma? Did he have second thoughts about this?
“I can do this alone if I have to.”
Genma sighed, rolled his eyes, and shifted his leg. His foot bumped against Minato’s leg as sharply as he could manage from the position. He wasn’t going to risk moving his hands while he was trying to heal Minato’s, and he wasn’t letting him go.
But he had to take some kind of revenge for those words.
“I gave you the choice between the tattoo and having your hands healed. You made the choice. I still intend to help you any way I can. And for the record, while our dear friend the sock-ninja might be in his element here, I am not.”
“Ow!” Minato frowned, not really in that much pain but playing it up a bit, and very much tempted to pull his hands away and ask for work on the tattoo instead. He was probably reacting a little strongly because of other things and not Genma’s reaction, but he didn’t have the energy to care at the moment. He needed to vent a little. “I was giving you a choice, too. This isn’t Konoha and I’m not your Hokage so you’re not obligated to help me do anything.”
Genma immediately kicked Minato again, though with less force behind it.
He met Minato’s eyes squarely, straightened his spine - such a rare thing for him - and spoke very quietly and seriously. “This isn’t Konoha, and you’re not the Hokage. You’re not even the man I knew, not yet. You don’t have his power, his strength, or his relationship with me. I realize that.”
He smiled softly. “But I can see the beginnings of him in you, and it’s enough that I’m here, doing this.”
“I’m sorry.” Minato said after a moment, his gaze unwavering even if the rest of him felt like it was deflating a little, slumping where as Genma was not. It almost made him laugh. Almost. At least he understood now. His younger self had appeared and shattered quite a few images of his older self for anyone who hadn’t known him before this great heroic event he’d been careful not to ask about.
“I didn’t mean to insult you. Usually Kushina deals with my....momentary weakness. At least you only kicked me.” he smirked.
Genma laughed, relaxing a little.
“My hands were busy,” he explained, rubbing a thumb against the back of one of Minato’s hands.
“Besides, it’s not your fault. You don’t know me the same way I know you, this whole thing is rather unfair to you. But just for future reference...”
He didn’t change his posture or his expression to be more serious again, but his voice came out with a hint of steel in it. “Before everything else, I am a Konoha shinobi. However comfortable I found this place, I wouldn’t stay here beyond what is necessary, because there’s a war and I’m needed, even if I’m just one of many.”
“I understand.” Minato faltered, lowering his gaze to a spot on Genma’s chest. He understood exactly how Genma felt about going home. The loyalty he felt. He also understood why his future self had this man by his side. The more he spoke to Genma and spent time in his presence the more he learned about the man. The more he learned about the man he needed to become.
“Thank you.” He looked up, unsure how to say it that didn’t sound pathetic or too young to be leading missions. “Other than Kushina...you’re my first real friend.”
“You’re welcome,” Genma said. He didn’t honestly know what else to say to that. He’d always had friends, didn’t understand being in a situation where he wouldn’t have them. But then, he’d never excelled at anything enough to have the goals or expectations that Minato did. He was a shinobi, nothing more. Not a candidate for Hokage, not a legendary hero.
He’d always been a little glad of that, for various reasons, but never more so than this moment.
He gave a slow nod, then closed both his hands over Minato’s now-healed ones, and squeezed.
“Not exactly the hero everyone expected. But I’m working on it.” Minato sighed, frowning at the sudden loss of Genma’s warming chakra. He hadn’t been focusing on the feeling of it working to repair the damage to his hands so now that it was gone it felt surprisingly...lonely, despite the man holding his hands. Or maybe he was just so exhausted it felt that way.
“Next time we’ll start working on the tattoo.” Focus on the goal and not on the pain he has to suffer to get there.
Genma nodded, paused for a moment as if he deciding something, then leaned down enough to press a kiss against one of the hands he was holding. He then released both of Minato’s hands and scooted back a little.
“Just tell me when.”
“Surprise me.” Minato smirked, leaning back on his hands simply to do something with them so they didn't feel so empty. “I’ll let you decide when the time is right for you. You’re the one doing all the hard work. I’m just planning to lay here and be lazy.”
Maybe lazy wasn’t the right word for it, but Genma would be doing all the work.
“I’ve been thinking....” He shook his head slightly and changed his mind about what he was going to say. “We should raid the kitchen sometime and camp out in here or somewhere quiet and just....be friends.”
He couldn’t admit that he really was hoping he didn’t remember any of this because he did want to remember Genma. He just didn’t want to remember anything else. It made him feel like he had to do something about it all and right now, in this moment, he was tired of having responsibilities that always dealt with life and death. And that feeling wasn’t acceptable. He hated he was even having the thought.
A smile spread across Genma’s face at that. He slouched comfortably, practically lolling across Minato’s bed now that he’d finished healing him.
“You know, that sounds like an idea worthy of a genius,” he said easily.