Disclaimer: Yami no Matseui is the property of Matsushita Yoko.
Thanks to my beta, Sybil Rowan.
Watari can handle all tools brilliantly. Including words.
They're his favourite weapons. Not only to hurt, though Tatsumi has good reason to know how sharp and accurate his words can be. He can also mislead. Obfuscation and jargon are skills he never lets fall into disuse.
Tatsumi thinks of words as a sort of currency, and he's never spendthrift.
When they start living together Tatsumi thinks there will be less arguing. He thinks Watari will trust him more.
Watari never distrusted Tatsumi. He continues to use words to get what he wants from his lover.
More words. Mostly from Watari.
Even now, Tatsumi uses the word 'no' often.
And then the flat has no more words in it. No more Watari.
Tatsumi wants that nasal, Kansai-accented voice back. But does Watari want him, if Tatsumi won't do what he says?
They still have to work together. Tatsumi is very conscious of words from other people, whispering. But the words from Watari are the ones which matter.
Watari has always used words well. He used words to mask and hurt, now he uses them to reveal and heal. There is something else new about them, too. His talk has silences in it.
Watari is learning to listen.