Almost as good.
Sometimes the one you love can't be there for you. Sometimes because
they can't. Sometimes because they won't. Sometimes it's better not to
find out. Yaoi drabble
Goku had always been the kid. Gojyo had joked with him about girls, and later, boys, but he never got it.
Sanzo saw all this.
He knew Goku wasn't ready. And so he ignored what he felt for the boy, pushing it all behind a mental barrier, not allowing even a smile to escape for Goku.
So Goku went to Gojyo instead, to learn what Sanzo wanted to show him.
And Gojyo taught him. He ran his fingers through short brown hair and thought of another.
It was never a secret. None of them had ever been good at keeping those.
So they roomed together, night after night, leaving Hakkai and Sanzo together.
Sanzo ignored everything. He stared out the window and chain- smoked and tried not to think about what was happening on the other side of the wall.
In the back of his mind, a quiet, buried voice murmured of lust and love and silent passions.
He ignored it, and wished, like always, that it would shut up.
Hakkai pushed the glass open, letting clear air into their room. He took his mind off his friend by talking to the ever- silent monk.
The annoying little voice wouldn't be silenced. Not by mental barriers or alcohol or even the teeth- rattling bang of a banishing gun.
So Sanzo found another way to shut it up.
Hakkai kissed him back, tasted alcohol and cigarettes and thought of another.
But Gojyo had never been above tricks to get what he wanted. He would kiss Goku in the open, sending glances at Hakkai. He didn't miss the jealousy on his friend's face.
Sanzo would stare at Goku, wondering what it was that he saw in the pervert kappa, and silently wish it was him the monkey was kissing.
And then he would shoot at them and tell them to stop being perverted.
And slowly, time went on.
Goku slowly got attached to his bedmate.
Sanzo slowly lost interest in his.
And Gojyo just got tired of waking up next to the same face morning after morning, and went back to doing what he'd always done.
He'd win a few hands, and that was enough for his own room, in an inn slightly seedier than the places Sanzo usually went for. But, the condition really didn't matter when he was really only going there for a quick screw and a shower.
Getting two rooms for three people meant someone was always by themselves, and Sanzo quickly grabbed the opportunity, both because he paid for the rooms and because he was liable to shoot anyone who argued.
Goku would sit up, watching out the window, hoping that maybe the kappa would come back to him. He didn't.
Very often, anyway.
But most nights, there was a cold emptiness in the bed near him, where he had grown used to someone being.
He didn't want to be alone.
Not again.
Not ever again.
Hakkai would wrap his arms around him, a heat like sunshine. He imagined that he could taste Gojyo in Goku's mouth, smell him in the boy's hair.
And Goku wasn't alone anymore.
And that was alright.
Gojyo convinced himself that he didn't care. Hakkai could sleep with whoever he damn well pleased. It never occurred to him that Hakkai slept with Goku to somehow be closer to him.
It didn't occur to him any more than it occurred to him that he slept with Sanzo for the same reason.
Sanzo still couldn't find what Goku had seen in the pervert kappa. It wasn't long before he started throwing Gojyo out of their room once they were done.
This took the kappa by surprise. Since it was usually too late to hit a bar, he had nowhere to go but to the other rented room.
After a few mumbled curses and assorted bangs that sounded surprisingly like jeans being hastily replaced, they would let him in.
This lasted about a week before they got tired of sleeping three to a room. After drawing straws, Goku was banished to Sanzo's room.
Of course, his straw wasn't much shorter than the other two. But he didn't complain.
Gojyo didn't go out much after that.
And when the door to Goku and Sanzo's room was opened, a white haze of cigarette smoke no longer poured out.
Gojyo occasionally wondered aloud what Sanzo did all night if he wasn't smoking.
Sanzo, on these occasions, usually offered to blow his empty head off.
And all was well.
Yes? I wrote this in one sitting. Every pairing possible. Harder than you would think.