Title: Ending/Beginning
Author: upsidedownbutterfly
Rating: PG
Summary: RJ /Casey. The end of the war with Dai Shi and the beginning of something else.
"Hard to believe it's really over," Casey says as he plops down on the steps beside RJ. RJ scoots marginally to his left in an attempt to give Casey more room, but the stairs connecting the upper and lower sections of the Jungle Karma Pizza loft are narrow and they end up pressed shoulder-to-shoulder regardless. Not that RJ is complaining. "It feels like it was just yesterday that you were blowing our minds by showing us all this" – Casey gestures about the loft in needless emphasis – "for the first time."
RJ hmms his agreement, because Casey is right and he can barely believe it either. It's been just shy of a year now since Dai Shi's escape from his millennia-long imprisonment and the beginning of the fight against him that would come to all but define their lives. Just shy of a year spent risking their lives in a near-constant succession of battles, interrupted by just enough downtime to prepare themselves for the next. It was strange and more than a little unnerving how quickly and wholly that had become their norm.
Yet now Dai Shi is gone and his forces either defeated or defected, and for the first time in almost a year, there's no new enemy lurking in the shadows, no new battle looming on the horizon. Their war is finally over. Only it's taking RJ some time to adjust to that idea.
Logically he knows that what he should be feeling is relieved – and truthfully he is. For all his Pai Zhua training, RJ never really was – never really wanted to be – a warrior, and he relishes a chance to once again live in peace. Yet there's an unexpectedly bittersweet tinge to it too. Probably because now that they all finally have a chance to stop fighting and move on with their lives, everyone seems intent on moving on in separate directions. Fran and Dom are already gone, off backpacking across Europe, and over the last few days, Lily and Theo have begun packing their things up as well. Only Casey has made no move to leave the loft. Yet, RJ notes mentally, because Casey's already been offered a position teaching back at the Pai Zhua temple and RJ figures it's only a matter of time before he relocates there as well.
It's that last thought – of Casey leaving – that bothers RJ the most, more than it should. He tells himself it's only because Casey will be the last, but RJ's always been a shitty liar even to himself.
A rustle of fabric breaks RJ's reverie along with the comfortable silence that has settled between them. He glances to his right to find Casey with his right sleeve pushed up past the elbow studying the dark three-clawed slash of his master's stripes as if it's another thing he can't quite bring himself to believe. That of course RJ finds positively ridiculous. Never for so much as a single instant – even after that first disastrous master's test – did he ever doubt that Casey would earn those stripes, and RJ can honestly say he can think of no one who deserves them more.
"I'm a Pai Zhua master now," Casey says out aloud, and he actually doesn't quite sound surprised. Instead his tone carries an edge of thoughtfulness like he's working out the answer to some intangible puzzle that only he can see. "And the team's disbanded." RJ can almost watch the thought turning over in Casey's brain, though he can't even begin to fathom why Casey is intent on examining it so closely. "Which means I'm not your student anymore. Or your leader." He glances at RJ out of the corner of his eye, and there's something in his expression that makes RJ's throat go dry and his heart rate speed up even as he berates himself for being ridiculous.
But then Casey is leaning closer until suddenly the several inches between their faces shrinks to mere centimeters and RJ can feel the warmth of Casey's breath against his cheek. His heart leaps to his throat then plunges down to his feet, yo-yoing back and forth as RJ oscillates between anticipation and terror. For a moment, the terror wins and he attempts to pull away, but Casey's hand is on the back of his neck, holding him in place. Then Casey whispers, "Which means I can do this," just before he kisses him.
RJ is on fire with the contact. Every nerve in his body tingles as he kisses Casey back, his body betraying precisely how badly he's wanted this. His hands flail ineffectually about his head until one finally settles against Casey's chest, pressing but not quite pushing away. I can't, he thinks for a panicked moment because he's the master here and he shouldn't be taking advantage of his student like this. Except Casey was right and RJ isn't anyone'smaster anymore, and Casey very much initiated this.
RJ isn't sure if he hesitates or if Casey just knows him that well, but after a moment Casey breaks the kiss, pulling back a fraction so that their lips are a hair's breadth apart. "If you want me to stop, tell me and I'll stop," Casey breathes, each syllable a warm puff against RJ's mouth. He can still taste Casey on his tongue.
RJ doesn't want him to stop. Not at all. "Don't stop," he whispers.
"Okay," says Casey and kisses him again.