Title: Applied Psychology
Rating: PG-14
Characters: Hakkai, Gojyo
Pairings: slight Hakkai/Gojyo
Warnings: none
Spoilers: a little about Hakkai's past
Genre: angst, gen, humour
Word count: 571
Summary: three ficlets about various stages of Gojyo and Hakkai's relationship
A/N: I don't really know much about psychology, so the use of the terms for titles may not be entirely accurate
Disclaimer: I don't own Saiyuki and make no money from writing this
1. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Gojyo wakes up and listens. That dude is crying in his sleep. Crying and muttering something incomprehensible. Gojyo quietly slides off the couch and tiptoes out on the porch. He lights a cig and carefully does not think about anything. He feels vaguely uncomfortable, as if he had been eavesdropping. That man has the rights to grieve in private.
However, next night the guy screams in his sleep. Gojyo has never heard anyone scream quite like that, it is as if the man is getting torn apart. Private grief is one matter, but nobody should suffer alone like that, Gojyo thinks and shakes the guy awake.
He grabs Gojyo's arm almost painfully and trembles. Gojyo notices how pale he is. That's probably just the blood loss, Gojyo tells himself. Gojyo attempts to say something comforting and soothing, although he hadn't had much practice comforting people.
It appears to work, and Gojyo feels an odd sense of accomplishment.
2. Oedipal Complex
That guy, as soon as he could get up without pulling out all his stitches, took over the household chores.
'You don't have to,' protested Gojyo.
'I don't need you to repay me,' Gojyo tried to explain.
But the guy still cooked and washed, and scrubbed, and made sure Gojyo had clean shirts, and said 'Be careful!' every time Gojyo went to the bar in the evening. Gojyo didn't know what to call that sort of behaviour, until the word 'mothering' occurred to him.
And he found he didn't actually mind it much.
3. Passive-aggressive
It was not like Hakkai was not talking to Gojyo. He still replied if he was asked and still told Gojyo what groceries to buy. But he did not share amusing information (well, amusing for him anyhow) from his books, and he did not make his usual drily humorous remarks on various aspects of Gojyo's habits and behaviour. That was the first clue.
The second was when Hakkai had not cut the crust off Gojyo's sandwiches.
And the final straw was when he did not ask Gojyo's help to wash the dishes. Gojyo didn't even like to wash them, but there was a strange feeling of companionship standing together in the warm kitchen and doing that small domestic chore, and he somewhat missed that.
Gojyo decided to try the subtle approach: 'Hey, Hakkai, you're not mad at me, are you?'
Hakkai gave him a look and said: 'Of course not, why would I be?'
Both the look and the tone translated in Gojyo's mind into 'I am, and it's your fault.' The only question was – what had he done this time?
The understated silent treatment continued for a couple of days. Gojyo analysed his behaviour in great detail, but still could not find the exact thing that got Hakkai like that. At last he couldn't take it anymore.
Gojyo walked into the kitchen and shouted: 'I'm sorry, ok? Sorry for whatever I did, sorry for everything, sorry I was born...'
Hakkai interrupted his tirade by grabbing his shoulder, squeezing hard and hissing: 'Don't ever say that!'
Gojyo stared at him, wide-eyed, but the normal, cheerful Hakkai was back already.
He told Gojyo in his usual tone: 'Incidentally, if you thought I would not find out that you've been using beer cans as ashtrays again, you were wrong.'
Gojyo almost laughed with relief – so that's what it was about. Could have been worse.