Disclaimer: Toei's, not mine
Notes: Spoilers for up to Case 20
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He had heard Sion say the words before. The first time, sincere but with no real clue about the gravity of what he was saying, only knowing that it was the truth. But he learned eventually, and he heard the words more often: quick enough to say in one breath as they left for their separate jobs during the day, panicked enough to break through his haze when he was hurt in battle, a desperate cry in the final moments of their lovemaking... and almost too soft to be heard afterwards, when he thought Domon was asleep. He'd heard those words so often he should be able to say them himself by now.
Key word 'should'.
To make things worse, he had no idea why he couldn't. He'd never had a problem telling anyone how he felt about anything before... and even if he couldn't say it, he knew how he felt about him. He doubted Ayase and Yuuri would care much as long as it didn't affect their mission, and Tatsuya had already commented more than once on what a cute couple they made. Not that they had anything to do with this. The only two people that did matter when it came to this were himself and Sion.
And how he had treated Sion today was inexcusable.
He waited until Tatsuya and Ayase were asleep before he made his move. "Do you mind some company tonight?"
Sion looked up from his work and shrugged. "Of course not." Domon proceeded to take a seat next to him, noticing that Tekku was in his sleep cycle. It would be just the two of them.
"Listen, about before. I'm sorry, I said things I shouldn't have."
"Domon-san, you said what we were all feeling." There were times he wished Sion wasn't quite so understanding.
"Yeah, but no one acted the way I did." Suddenly feeling edgy again, he drummed his fingers against the top of Sion's computer desk. He was supposed to be apologizing, not being told it was all going to be okay or whatever else Sion would try to convince him to believe. "I mean, I knocked you down like you were nothing. That's not how you treat someone you..."
Sion picked up where he had trailed off. "You may not have noticed, but I was able to pick myself back up. And you more than made up for it today--"
"That's still no excuse, damn it! I love you, and--"
Both of them were quiet. Had he really said it? After all that agonizing, just like that?
Sion stared at him, his face unusually cryptic... and then he kissed him. "I know that." He smiled at him before returning to his project. "But it is nice to hear you say it out loud occasionally."