Sensitive.
Kaneda stole lingering glances at Tetsuo while they cleaned their motorcycles. Sopping sponges dangled from their hands, splattering chalky coloured water on the cracked pavement. They were tucked into the alley where the gang's favourite watering hole was. The flickering neon sign cast long shadows. Kaneda noticed as Tetsuo polished that he had come to favour his left side more; his shoulder had healed a while ago, but his movements still radiated pathos.
Sensitive.
It was in the tilt of Tetsuo's head as he listened to the obnoxious laughter of others. It was the intense gleam in his eyes while he lingered on the fringes, observing. It was the delicate fall of his hair and the tautness of his muscles as he slipped in and out of his motorcycle gear. It was the way he seethed, the way he set his jaw, the way he always hurled right back into Kaneda with an indelible attraction. Tetsuo was watching Kaneda now with a carefully blank expression. If only he would smile; give a wink or a shrug even, as if to say, "We'll be fine. That's a promise."
Sensitive.
A breeze came through the alley, carrying with it a tacit agreement. Kaneda would have let himself crawl toward Tetsuo if only the moment had not been so silent and fleeting. Instead, he walked over with dignity keeping his spine straight and the hot pulsing of his veins propelling him into motion, direction that kept his knees from shaking. Tetsuo looked up as Kaneda's shadow fell on him. Kaneda held his gaze. A slow sneer started to gather on Tetsuo's lips. But he suppressed it as soon as Kaneda let his fingers brush the crown of Tetsuo's head. The thrill of igniting an engine paled in comparison to the shock of this contact.
"What do you want?"
"A moment.
Tetsuo stood up. Looked Kaneda dead in the eye. Didn't flinch, not when Kaneda firmly placed his hands on Tetsuo's shoulders. Not when Kaneda's eyes pierced and held him still; demanding allegiance, craving the sensitive warmth of his touch. Tetsuo didn't shy away. Not even when Kaneda leaned in close. So close that he could kiss Tetsuo on the cheek, on the neck, on the lips if he wanted to. His breath hung warm and moist between them. Kaneda felt himself caught in a kind of paralysis. Minute vibrations cobwebbed the air and crawled over his skin. And suddenly Kaneda realized that he wanted to kiss Tetsuo, that it seemed as if he'd been waiting his whole life just for this moment, the rapture of it.
This moment, to be found, then lost, then found again.
