| [Nov. 9th, 2011|03:30 am] |
“Thought you said I was still pretty,” Ryouma said reproachfully. “Or d’you say that to all the boys?”
Kakashi glanced up from underneath the rumpled grey brush of bangs, regarded him levelly for a moment, and then bit down.
“Oi,” Ryouma said, and bucked against Kakashi’s restraining weight. Heavy weight, as it turned out. Kakashi had gained muscle, and Ryouma’d lost it. Six months ago Ryouma had had maybe twenty-five or thirty pounds on him, and now it was entirely possible that Kakashi outweighed him.
Kakashi was still ticklish, though.
The breathless, laughing wrestling match ended when Ryouma rolled them over and they both fell off the bed. Ryouma was still leg-shackled in tangled sheets; he looked like an idiot and had never cared less. Panting, laughing, he dropped his head back onto Kakashi’s chest and just lay there for a moment, listening to the slowing thud of Kakashi’s heart.
Gentle fingers carded through his hair. “Cheater.”
He liked the way Kakashi’s voice buzzed through his chest, Ryouma decided, almost more felt than heard. That was another detail he’d never thought of.
“No such thing as cheatin’ in bed,” he said, and reconsidered. “Um. Okay, that wasn’t--”
Kakashi’s laugh sent tiny shock-waves through his ribcage, like the after-ripples of an earthquake. Ryouma grinned--and then lost it, and pushed himself up on his elbows, against Kakashi’s hand. He’d almost forgotten this section of his script, dreading it more than any part but one. But he’d been a coward for too long already, and now that it was before him again he had to say it, or poison everything that came after. He didn’t think Kakashi’d hate him--but it still hurt to meet his eyes and dredge up the words.
“I did,” he said. “On that mission to Lightning, when I ran--I slept with my partner, on the way home. Broke all my rules to do it, ‘cause--’cause I was scared, and she was nice, and--an’ I just wanted to not think, for a little while. Forget the future. I meant to tell you, when I came back. Get my head straight, apologize--for that, an’ for what I said at the Stone--work things out, if you wanted to. But I was runnin’ a soldier-pill overdose, and then I crashed, and then they sent me out again, and then... At least I got a lot of thinking done, these last six months.” |
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