in the silent night
llyse
The Alvis headquarters was different in the wee hours of the morning, geometrically precise corners blurred in shadow, metal-bright walls painted by darkness. Makabe Kazuki disliked the after-hours Alvis--it reminded him of formless nightmares, and perhaps it was ironic because the silent grayness of the place was the utter opposite of the blindingly beautiful forms that he fought by day, yet it still made him shiver.
The lounge chair had been comfortable--too comfortable--and Kazuki had fallen asleep wondering if Soushi had sat in that very chair. He knew the other boy spent quite a lot of time here when he was not field-testing improvements to the Siegfried System or filing reports or sitting in that tiny spare room of his, doing god-knows-what; some part of him wondered what was special about this place, that Soushi chose to live here rather than return to his home. Perhaps that had been what brought him here in the first place.
Silently the dark-haired boy clambered off the chair, awkward in his growing body. He reckoned he might top Soushi in height soon, but until then he liked to be able to look the other boy in the eye. One hand reached up to open the door, and froze as its owner turned to blink at a previously-overlooked form curled in one of the chairs.
Minashiro Soushi asleep looked so peaceful, it was practically a sin to wake him; and Kazukiknew Soushi's habits, knew how lightly the young man slept that it was a miracle that Kazuki had not woken him already. The door would certainly be too noisy.
There was nothing to do then but to creep as silently as possible across the floor, back to his chair; but something made Kazuki stop and glance at his sleeping friend, and something else made his throat constrict and his hand raise involuntarily to stroke the silken hair turned dark brown by shadow. Common sense made him stop; common sense, and possibilities conjured by Kazuki's overactive imagination, that Soushi would wake and glare, wake and look at him in disgust, wake and--
blink at him sleepily, trust in his eyes, and a murmur on his lips.
"Kazuki… What are you doing?"
Kazuki, hand upraised, blinked back and flushed invisibly in the darkness. "I… I fell asleep on one of the chairs. You did the same thing?"
"Something like that." And the old distance was coming back into Soushi's eyes now that he was waking up, and a part of Kazuki that usually operated in the background surged up and took control.
"Can I join you?" If it was possible for him to blush more, he would have. As it was, Kazuki wondered if he was glowing.
Soushi blinked again, and yawned. And perhaps he too was affected by the sleepy quiet of the darkened room, and the easy companionship of the two of them alone, no Festums or family members or well-meaning friends to complicate things; whatever the reason, the young man shifted position, clearing a space on the chair for Kazuki to squeeze in.
"It's like back when we were small," Kazuki mumbled, regretting his impulsive words but unable to refuse the invitation. Soushi rarely allowed anyone close anymore, these days. A man alone, was Soushi, choosing to shoulder all their burdens himself even though he did not need to, any more. Kazuki could tell he wanted to take care of everyone, but no one really seemed to take care of him.
The slender, lean body next to Kazuki's was cold, Soushi's skin nearly the same temperature as the fine strands of his hair. Kazuki shifted again, quite a feat given the constraints of the chair, and managed to get his coat off.
"Are you stripping?" Soushi's voice was faintly amused, half-asleep again, and Kazuki felt a kind of relief and a kind of sorrow, that Soushi trusted him enough to fall asleep beside him, and that Soushi was not feeling the weird things he was, things that would probably keep him from falling asleep for some time.
"Idiot," was Kazuki's response, as he draped the coat around the two of them. Soushi turned--far too close, and Kazuki was frozen in place as the other boy gently brushed dark hair from Kazuki's eyes and pulled the collar of Kazuki's coat up to their ears.
"Go to sleep, Kazuki," and Soushi suited his actions to his words, tucked his head down against Kazuki's shoulder, and was silent thereafter.
The room was quiet enough and Kazuki was soon half-dreaming again, sleepy enough to forget that they were both on the cusp of maturity, bearing awakening hormones and awakening Festum elements--one to bring confusion, the other oblivion--and simply fall into sleep. He did not dream, but woke with a memory of quiet contentment curled in Soushi's arms, and he felt like he never wanted to leave.