Alias: This is a sequal of sorts to an older fic I did a bit back. Wet Blood, was its name, read it for reference if you like. Either of them stand alone. A story inspired by a bit of fanart, and my brain jumping up and kicking me to write it. Thanks again, Pervasive Threnody for the beta, as always!
Disc: All Saiyuki characters belong to Minekura-sensei, or I'd not be in university, ne?
Desc: PG for a bit of language, shounen-ai. Pairing: Hakkai x Gojyo outright. Mild spoilers for the Banri arc of Saiyuki Reload, vol 4.
Juxtaposition
By AliasOfWestgate
I didn't even realize it when I walked out of our small bathroom that he was there, as I toweled out my hair. It'd now been about a year into our time as housemates. He'd saved my dumb ass from Banri's so called "friends" a few months back, and we'd gotten less awkward in each other's company. I had a second towel on around my waist for modesty's sake. He was sitting quietly, arm on the ragged old beige couch sitting in the middle of the place, hand under his chin and a book negligently on his knee. Deep green eyes focused directly and intently on me, for some reason.
"Eh, Hakkai?" I ask him.
He jumps a bit as if mildly startled, but goes back to his book, nose buried in its pages and his thick brown hair covering his eyes. No answer from him though.
Feh. I sit down, towel bunched around my legs in the wooden chair a few feet from the couch.
"So what's planned for dinner before I go fleece the rank and file for all I can get?" said in as nonchalant a tone as I can manage.
Still no words, except an odd smile from him. I can see it, even behind the thick binding and pages of the book. I finally get all the water out of my hair, and set the second towel on my leg, where it sits, damp and cold to the touch.
"Crap, forgot the damned comb." I mumble out loud. Head noisily back to the bathroom, grabbing it off the bare sink. Dragging the comb through my hair and thinking, I didn't hear him come up behind me in the bathroom. The small mirror afforded me no view either, until I felt his presence. Quieter still, he takes the comb from me. Every now and then, I don't mind that. This mop is too high maintenance, and someone else combing it out saves me from doing it. But it also gives him peace. That's more important than my own laziness. So it's become a bit of a ritual, him sneaking up on me like this. Doesn't always happen, but it's something I've come to expect and enjoy.
Hands cleverer than before, the snarls in the longer strands are gone. That soft touch of his doing more work than my own annoyed pulls at it. He faces me, once he finishes. Tilts his head, as if looking at something. Those eyes of his, playful? What the?
"Ah, I did miss something!" An amused lilt in his light voice.
I watch as he reaches into my hair, drawing near enough for me to catch his scent of books and sesame oil. So near I can see the sheen of his hair, and feel his breath on my shoulder. Feels like he's removing something from the tendrils on the crown of my head, with a feathery touch. He doesn't stop, and he doesn't move away again. I smile at the thought of him so close, but restraining myself even as I get a familiar stirring below the waist. He doesn't move away, though his right hand his now at the nape of my neck, messing with the most vicious snarls there. Which are few, and don't even hurt. I sigh in pleasure, surrendering completely as he finishes.
His hand isn't gone. He's still so near. He's still so silent.
Eyes knowing, he draws me closer. The warmth of his lips on mine excites me beyond reason. He tastes of lightly of the plum wine he's so fond of, rich and sweet in my mouth.
Kissing back is no problem, after a second or two of stunned suprise from me.
He runs his hand through my hair even as I draw him further into it, and closer to me. Radiating with heat, he stays there but ends this unexpected kiss. He grins back at me once again. A lazy hand in my hair, he lets it cascade down through his fingers, as he watches it fall, still wrapped in my arms as we stand in the tiny bathroom.
"The only blood that doesn't stay on my hands." He says quietly. Backing out of my loose embrace, and walking out of the bathroom without another word, but an expression I've never seen before on him. A true smile, one that even reached his eyes.
Owari ;-)
Alias: I'll be around again! Up to my ears kickstarting a new project.(As if I need anymore?) Enjoy a bit of romance in the meantime.
