| [Apr. 22nd, 2018|09:24 pm] |
Ryouma blinked, face gone blank. Kakashi gave him the moment to process, because he knew what he’d said and what it meant, and he knew Ryouma had expected something different.
Very carefully, Ryouma said, “You can still change your mind. But if you don’t… I can wash my sheets. Any time.”
A small, distant part of Kakashi’s brain noted: Remember this moment. It’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to you.
The rest of him wanted to crow at Successfully Navigating Pillow Talk (one hundred points!), but what actually came out of his mouth was: "The same goes for you." Ryouma tilted his head, puzzled, and Kakashi clarified. "About changing your mind. You can, you know."
“Oh.” Ryouma was still for a moment. Then, with the returning spark of challenge in his eyes, “I do know how to say no, y’know.”
Not, Kakashi thought, when it counted, but perhaps this was something Ryouma hadn’t realized about himself yet.
“Good,” he said simply. And added, with almost complete truth, “I like it when you argue with me.”
Enlightenment dawned slowly across Ryouma’s face. “We’ve argued a lot.”
“I’m bad at flirting,” Kakashi said.
Ryouma laughed — just laughed, helpless and delighted, like a weight had been lifted and he could finally get air into his lungs. His arm slipped down to Kakashi’s waist and tightened; he rolled them both over with an easy show of strength, and braced himself over Kakashi, looking down. “Those times you kicked me in the head?”
The sheer predatoriness of it made Kakashi’s pulse jump. He reclined on his back, in the cage of Ryouma’s arms, and enjoyed the hot, red shiver that came entirely from the hindbrain. He was learning all sorts of things about himself today.
“Sixty percent necessary.” He placed a testing hand on the center of Ryouma’s chest, and pushed. He might as well have tried to push a wall. Kakashi grinned.
“Well, I needed it sometimes,” Ryouma admitted. “But in the future, I like biting better.”
Kakashi kept a straight face. “That is brand new information.”
“Use it wisely,” Ryouma advised, and yawned.
That effectively doused the stirring embers of new interest. Kakashi let them go without regret. One tumble in the — admittedly dark and secluded — outdoors was risky enough. Two was just courting disaster. Tanuki. Superior officers. Pakkun.
Where was Pakkun?
This time, he shoved Ryouma’s chest with intent, and Ryouma rolled aside to let him up. Kakashi rose in a shower of grass and rumpled clothes, and took a renewed look at himself and Ryouma. Sweaty, bruised, and in Ryouma’s case, obviously debauched. Red-bitten mouth, marked throat, silvery trails still drying on his bare stomach and hiked-up shirt. Kakashi had matching evidence on his own shirt, because Ryouma had been right about being sticky. A change of clothes was unlikely; they couldn’t unseal a scroll without chakra. So, the pond. |
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