Disclaimer: I don't own anything, all rights belong to Kazuya Minekura. No disrespect intended.
Warnings: shounen-ai, some angsty Hakkai
Coddle
Hakkai was the designated mother hen of the group. He was the one who healed them, mended their clothes, made sure no one killed each other or got food poisoning, took care of them when they were sick, made the grocery list…
In other words, Hakkai was the backbone of the ikkou, the go-to guy. The one who made sure everything went smoothly.
While some might say that this was due to his rather obsessive/compulsive nature, Hakkai begs to differ. It is because he actually cares for his companions.
His role in the ikkou was never argued or discussed, because it seemed only natural that Hakkai would be the one to take care of everyone.
If anything went wrong, Hakkai would fix it.
But what happened when Hakkai was the one who needed fixing?
He always knew this would happen. That things could go on like this for only so long. Everything cracked at some point after all.
And for Hakkai, it was today.
A totally unremarkable day filled with totally unremarkable things in a totally unremarkable inn in one of the many nameless villages they had the good luck to travel through.
Gojyo was out somewhere, and he was sitting with Sanzo and Goku in the inn's restaurant.
Sanzo was reading the newspaper and Goku, surprise of surprises, was trying to solve a maze.
"I think I'll go upstairs now," Hakkai said as he closed the novel he was reading and stood up. He walked a few paces when suddenly the serving girl bumped into him and he in turn hit his head on the wall.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed, rubbing the side of his head as he righted himself.
The serving girl apologised to him profusely at her clumsiness. She scurried away when he told he it was alright.
"Are you okay, Hakkai?" Goku asked, looking up from his puzzle. Sanzo merely glanced at him before going back to his paper.
"Yes Goku, I am." He smiled at the boy.
"Okay then." And Goku turned back to his maze.
"Ch. You should be more careful." Sanzo grumbled from behind his paper.
Somehow Hakkai felt hurt. It totally defied all logic. It wasn't as if Sanzo and Goku were like that on purpose, and he knew them well enough to know that there was even concern behind their words… So he couldn't figure out why his chest suddenly hurt so much.
"Ahaha… of course… I should have been careful. I'm off now!" He smiled cheerfully while inside he was frowning. His head actually hurt a little, and while it wasn't anything he couldn't heal with a minimal amount of chi, he simply didn't want to.
He went to his room, curled up on the far side of the bed, and proceeded to stew in a mix of negative and depressing emotions. His head throbbed steadily. And it wasn't even raining.
Surely they could do better than that? He all but babied them when they were sick, making sure they consumed enough fluids, maintaining a careful watch on their temperature, and staying by their bedsides at night… they needn't go to that extent but expressing a bit more care and concern wasn't too much to ask for, was it?
Hakuryuu was out hunting, so he couldn't even turn to him for comfort.
Hakkai felt irrationally lonely and pathetic. Didn't he matter at all?
The door opened and closed with a soft click. Gojyo walked into the room quietly, removed his jacket and boots and carefully put them away so as to not disturb the healer.
He slipped into bed behind Hakkai and pulled him close, placing a kiss on the 'W' of hair at the nape of his neck.
"Hakkai?" He asked in a voice slightly louder than a whisper.
The brunette sighed. "Yes, Gojyo?"
"Are you okay?"
"Of course I am… why wouldn't I be?" Hakkai mumbled into his pillow.
"Then why are you moping?"
"I'm not moping. I'm sulking. There is a difference."
"Okay… so why are you sulking?"
Hakkai turned in the circle of Gojyo's arms. "I feel underappreciated and frustrated."
"Why?" The redhead seemed a little confused. When the brunet gave him a weird look, he added "I mean, why now?"
"The waitress bumped into me and I hit my head on the wall. Sanzo and Goku couldn't have cared less. Sanzo even went so far as to say it was my fault!"
Gojyo tightened his hold around Hakkai's middle, while moving one hand moved to hold his head. "Oh, poor baby… does your head still hurt? Do you want me to get you anything?" He asked, creasing his brows a little,his voice filled with concern. "And Sanzo's a prick, you know that. Forget about him."
Hakkai felt inexplicably warm and happy, and so very, very, cherished.
He nuzzled his collar bone. "Thank you, Gojyo… but I'm fine now."
"Yeah? Glad to hear it then."
Gojyo kissed his forehead, then the bridge of his nose, the tip of his nose, and finally, his lips.
He kissed him long and slow and lazy and gentle before breaking off to pepper kisses along his jawline, ears and neck. Hakkai hummed appreciatively and ran his fingers through long strands of beautiful red hair.
Gojyo took one pale hand between both of his and tangled their fingers together. "Sanzo and Goku probably didn't mean to upset you, you know?"
"I know… but I still felt really bad. It's quite stupid, ahaha…"
"No it's not… it's ok to want the people you fuss over to fuss over you in turn. And besides, you need to be thanked more often; you do tend to go overboard a bit."
"No I don't." Hakkai lowered his eyes, smiling slightly.
"Of course you do… And I definitely think you need to be appreciated for it." Gojyo kissed the tips of his fingers before his expression turned a bit leery. "And from now on, I plan on 'appreciating' you properly and thoroughly every chance I get. Heh."
Hakkai rolled his eyes good naturedly, his emotions a mix of amusement, fondness and desire.
And then the redhead gave him another toe curling kiss, and all was right with the world.
!*!*!*!*! Fini !*!*!*!*!
Because I had a shitty day with no one to coddle me through it. If you think the characters are OOC or whatever, I'm sorry.
(later) so this is just a bucket of sap... But it's something I love, so... I think more can be done with it though, more descriptions, more...mood... Eh...
Reviews are always appreciated.