I own nothing.
"It's more than that, the extent of my…" a man trailed off, for simply he lacked the word to describe exactly what he was feeling. He looked at home in the plush sofa he was sitting.
"Obsession?" another man offered. He leaned in a little bit, to show his interest at the matter.
"Perhaps," the man mused. "but perhaps not. Possessiveness, yes."
"Your possessiveness, then," his therapist agreed easily, urging the other to continue.
"My possessiveness, yes, Kuroko-sensei," the patient said, as if he was taking a sick satisfaction from repeating the word. "I want to swallow him whole. I want to crush him with my own bare hands." He murmured faintly, taken to another world that only he could see. His palms closed, the owner imagining a windpipe between his fingers. A blink of his eyes was the only sign that he was shaken out of his reverie. "And pick him apart, Sensei. Bit by bit. And I would eat him slowly, so slowly; surely then he would be safe and sound in my stomach."
The patient studied the man called Kuroko intently, looking for the sign that the other was uncomfortable with his words. But other than a nod, he found no other visible reaction from his therapist.
"And how does that make you feel, Akashi-san?"
Akashi sighed deliberately. "Good. It makes me feel good."
"Why do you want to do that to your boyfriend?"
"He needs my protection," Akashi threw a hand almost carelessly, but the other knew it was a calculating move in his part, too. "He is a fragile little thing, you see. Yet he flutters everywhere, like he doesn't know the slightest wind could destroy his wings, and that there is a spider web in the corner. But he does know, my lover. I almost think he is born just to infuriate me."
Kuroko made a humming noise back in his throat, one that wasn't too sympathetic, nor too judging. Carefully, however, he frowned, putting just a bit of an expression on his face. Akashi took the change of Kuroko's countenance greedily.
"Isn't your boyfriend only several months younger than you? Do you think he needs your protection?"
"Those spiders in the corner," here Akashi wiggled his fingers under his chin, mimicking little hairy legs. "they are waiting to snag what's mine, when I don't look. I can't always look. Do you see now, Sensei, why I want to swallow him whole? He'd be with me all the time. Safe. It'd be great if he comes in bite-sized. Then I could savor him, little by little."
"Does your boyfriend know about your feelings?"
"That I would like to eat him? I said that to him, every day. But then I always eat him, in the only way we both could enjoy. I think I made him misunderstood."
Kuroko was dying to take notes, but he knew that if he did, it would disrupt the flow they had. It was not like he could pick up his pen, his hands were too shaky. He hid it cautiously by twining them above his knees.
"So he does not know."
"Oh, I'm sure he knows, now." Akashi smiled wickedly. He caressed the armrest under his palm, eyeing his therapist lazily—the other man did not succeed in hiding his tremor as well as he thought. "Good for him. Then he can be prepared, if I snap. But I will not let him run away."
The timer suddenly beeped twice.
"I believe our time is up, Akashi-san,"
Akashi nodded, standing up. When the other mirrored him, his dark gaze swept on the stretched figure of his therapist. It did not go unnoticed. The redhead smiled—that was his intention. "Next week, same time, same place?"
The question weighed heavily. The man was giving Kuroko chance to back off, he knew. If he said no, this arrangement would be over.
Kuroko swallowed, aware of a pair of eyes almost drunkenly followed the movement of his Adam's apple, "Of course, Akashi-san, that would be my pleasure."
Akashi took the hand his therapist offered. "Pleasure is all mine, Sensei."
"Let me escort you to the door," said Kuroko, eager to get rid of this man.
"Thank you."
The walk to the door was tense. Akashi took a great pleasure in being helped by the shorter man to get into his coat.
"Good day, Kuroko-sensei."
"Good day, Akashi-san."
Akashi offered one last predatory smile, before the door closed. Only then Kuroko freely took a deep, shaky breath, like it was his first intake of air after a long while. He bit his lips, staring at the door, before schooling back his expression.
Any minute now.
Two knocks resounded from the other side of the door. Kuroko opened it without hesitation.
"Seijurou-kun."
"Tetsuya," Akashi said in affection. He closed the door behind him before kissing his boyfriend on his temple.
"How was your therapy?" asked Kuroko as he helped Akashi out of his coat.
"Enlightening, as usual."
Akashi hung his coat. He turned to face his lover, eyes searching Kuroko for any crack. In turn, the other steeled himself. If he as much as flinched, he knew the arrangement would be over. A month ago Akashi confessed that he was in need of a psychologist, yet he could not bring himself to trust anyone. Kuroko had offered himself.
The redhead had agreed, but he had made Kuroko promise not to bring the matter into their personal life, nor let it affect the way Kuroko acted towards him.
Now Kuroko knew why his lover did that.
It took its toll on him, this arrangement. Akashi's words today were nothing but a warning. But Kuroko could not bring himself to stop—he needed to know more. He began to understand Akashi's behavior towards him more and more after each session.
It was unhealthy, and yet. And yet.
(It wasn't like Akashi would let him go. I find myself pleased to see my lover covered in red, Akashi purred, two sessions ago.)
Kuroko smiled. "I'm glad."
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