| [Apr. 22nd, 2018|08:53 pm] |
Ryouma’d been all set up to have his heart warmed and fuzzy — maybe he’d even offer to help Kakashi with that blood-blade jutsu again — but Kakashi kept talking, and Ryouma tripped right over himself.
“Risky sex?” he scoffed, before his brain had quite caught up. That was bad enough, but his mouth kept moving. “You? You wouldn’t even have a go on the kitchen counter. I bet you’d need, like, white sheets and rosebuds, maybe a shamisen serenade...”
Shut up, shut up, shut UP— His brain finally wrenched back control. He closed his teeth with a click.
“Seems unnecessarily fussy,” Kakashi observed. “Have you ever listened to shamisen music? It’s neither rhythmic nor sexy.”
Ryouma had suffered through several evenings of Hakone’s attempts to educate him about ‘real’ music, but Kakashi wasn’t supposed to be disagreeing with him here. He tried to find his bearings again. “What, you can’t tell me Shuriken Force is doing it for you.”
“Was it not supposed to?” Kakashi asked innocently.
What Ryouma was supposed to do now was back down. Play the game, admit Kakashi’d called his bluff, take the conversation somewhere safe and sensible. Somewhere the lieutenant would approve.
He couldn’t quite remember where that might be.
“Well, I’ve been seduced by a song once, but nobody’s ever said the same to me.” Not that he’d ever actually sung for anyone else, before. “So, what d’you think? Ready to throw your briefs up on stage with the rest of ‘em?”
Kakashi turned his head a little on his folded arms. He gave Ryouma a slow, thoughtful, dark-eyed look. “Not for Shuriken Force.”
Was he saying—?
Ryouma swallowed. “I could do something from Feral Porpoises.”
“Veto.” Kakashi untucked one arm from behind his head and reached up to catch the shoulder-edge of Ryouma’s underpinnings. His fingers crooked beneath, warm against Ryouma’s skin, and tugged.
Ryouma could have resisted. He couldn’t think of a good reason why.
He let himself lean back, angling into Kakashi’s pull. His abdominal muscles tightened. He could lie back beside Kakashi and gaze up at the stars, comradely as ever. Or rotate his shoulders just a little, and lean over him…
Kakashi released his grip on Ryouma’s shirt. His fingers slid away. Ryouma turned his head, looking down at him.
The lantern light caught gold in Kakashi’s hair and gleamed in his eye. He lay still, his hand still lifted, curved with the memory of touch.
Ryouma closed his eyes, opened them again, and lay down beside Kakashi, shoulder against shoulder. “Maybe Shutdown Assassin?”
Breath sighed out, softened by Kakashi’s mask. “Do they win a lot of briefs?”
“Probably not. They’re angrier.” Ryouma folded his right arm up, behind his head. His left shoulder brushed against Kakashi’s with every rising breath. Kakashi didn’t move away. “I listened to them more a couple years ago. Not so much lately. I’d probably have to make up some of the lyrics.”
He was babbling again, but his coward mouth seemed to be running in the other direction now. Boy, make up your mind.
Well, he had already, hadn’t he? Kakashi was his friend. Friends could tease, but they couldn’t push. Kakashi had drawn his boundaries once already, and that was enough. Ryouma wouldn’t cross them.
He could wish, with a stomach-clenching urgency, that Kakashi would reach across, but—
No. That longing led to misery for them both. He’d done it too many times already.
Kakashi’s shoulder did move, then. He rolled onto his side facing Ryouma, right arm curled under his head, right eye glinting beneath the fall of his hair. His voice came as soft as his breath. “What’s something else that makes you happy?”
Ryouma’s mouth betrayed him once more. “Spending time with you.” |
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