(Disclaimer: I don't own Nabari no Ou.)
A/n: Gotta start stretchin' them writing muscles, so watch me try and write something about my OTP every day. This is a vignette, post-end of canon and probably from the distant future of my other fic, Hanging Garden. Originally written for LJ's 31-days comm, December 6th, 2010 prompt - Of force and friction.
1. Wash
Raikou's footsteps as he makes his way to the door are soft, soft as the rain falling outside and the swish of his pajamas as he moves.
He slides it open and the rain smell rushes in; the cool air and the momentary feeling of wet that brushes Gau's skin is a relief from the smothering heat of the blankets. He pushes them back and feels the cool air settle over his bare chest and is more awake than tea could ever do.
That feeling and the sight of Raikou standing in the doorway soaking up the way the forest surrounding their home deepens and shines with absorbed rainwater; sometimes Gau thinks that's all he'll ever need to sustain him.
He knows not to delude himself into thinking that he's all that Raikou needs, because Raikou is lightning: pulse and heat and ferocious energy that must always be concentrated on something - fighting, leading their fledgling clan, sex. He's a force of nature, albeit one with a tenuous grasp on self-restraint, and Gau won't pin him in one place by demanding Raikou only desire him. He can't ask lightning to become something that it is not.
Gau is content to be the rain shower – soft and sustaining and covering everything that lightning leaves untouched. A gentler force, one that takes time to see the true effects of, but a force all the same.
The door slides shut again, and Raikou turns back, eyes half-lidded and shrugging to himself as if to say starting the day isn't worth the effort quite yet. He burrows back under his covers on the mat that's pressed close enough to Gau's to call it their bed, and falls back asleep, only the darting of his eyes behind their lids a clue to his inner restlessness.
Like lightning, Gau thinks again as he just lays there, watching Raikou sleep.