A/N: Okay, let's face it. I'm always about writing with plot and depth. But you know what? I just don't have the patience for that lately. SO HAVE SOME PWP. ...Yeah, I'm not even kidding. There's very thin plot to this and if you blink, you'll miss it. This is based mainly on a sketchy drawing done by a Japanese artist - yes, that's almost wholly what prompted it. This can be assumed to be post-series by a couple years, and Ahiru is a girl again (no, I don't even explain why or how this time). This is also told from her POV.

Summary: Fakir disappears after abruptly excusing himself during Ahiru and the intermediate class's performance. A disgruntled Ahiru tracks him down and demands to know why he left. But she gets an answer that's a bit more than she bargained for.

Disclaimer: Princess Tutu and all of its characters do not belong to me. They belong to the wonderful Itoh Ikuko and HAL Films. I am only borrowing them for writing purposes.

Just a Little Bit Closer

Of all places, she finds him near the south side of the ballet building. It's a shadowed little nook and she really only went there as a last resort after failing to find him anywhere else on the grounds, but there's no mistaking the young man with the dark-haired ponytail who's propped up against the stone between two towering columns.

He looks like he's brooding, she thinks as she approaches him, her ballet slippers clutched to her chest. He's leaning against the wall, arms crossed, and looking rather intently at the ground. She's not entirely sure if he just hasn't heard her approaching or if he's being distant on purpose - with Fakir, it could be either.

However, Ahiru is not one just to let things go without an explanation. She is not sure what it was that upset him during the small performance she and the other intermediate students had given to the advanced class at the end of the day, but she's been with him too long to be put off by his bad moods.

And besides, she wants an answer - straight from his mouth.

A few feet away from him, she comes to a stop. He still hasn't looked up and she digs the point of her black shoe into the ground.

"Fakir." She says his name clearly, but he still gives to sign that he's even acknowledged her presence. Her cheeks puff out with annoyance. "Fakir!" she repeats more insistently, voice reflecting her building agitation.

He shifts, which is the most movement she has seen from him so far, but somehow that ruffles her feathers even more. What is his problem?

"Was it really that bad?" she huffs out, brows drawn together as her hands find her hips. They had been dating for a couple of months now. She thought he might be at least a little more supportive, even if her dancing was nowhere near on par with what he could do. "I tried really hard to get everything right! I don't see why you had to-"

"That's not it," he cuts in, though he's now purposefully looking away from her.

"Then what is it?" she presses, taking another step forward. She really wasn't in the mood for the guessing games. Did he have any idea how embarrassing it was for her when she nearly finished her part of the routine and he just... stood up and left? "If you don't tell me, I'm not gonna understand!"

He turns toward her, then, briefly staring at her before he sharply turns away once more. She watches his adam's apple bob for a moment before his lips part. "...Never mind."

She tries not to let it get to her - she really does. But Fakir knows how lacking in self-confidence she is. Ahiru thought that he would at least tell her to ease her nerves, if nothing else! And she can't decide if she feels more angry or more disappointed about his dismissal. He's teased her before, but this is not the same. Something is very obviously bothering him and he won't even trust her enough to tell her what.

Slowly, her hands slide down from her hips and hang with her shoulders slightly slouched as she releases one long sigh. "...Y'know I'm gonna worry about it, right? Whenever you say things like "Never mind" or "It doesn't matter" or "Forget it", I... it just makes me worry more 'cause I know you're not telling me something! And if I upset you, then... then I at least want to know."

And she really would leave him be if that's what he wanted, but she didn't want this kind of tension to follow them both back to Charon's, either. At least if it was out in the open, she could apologize or... something, at least. It was better than being left in the dark and wondering if he was mad or upset. As it was, it took her at least twenty minutes to find him back here.

Yet Fakir doesn't move a muscle, staying stoic and quiet, legs crossed as he leans against the building. And Ahiru didn't really want to get in a fight. She is irritated with him, but she knows well enough that prodding at him usually leads to explosions and them not speaking to each other for sometimes a full day afterward. That isn't something that she wants and she doubts that he does, either.

With one more glance in his direction and another sigh, the redheaded girl turns around. "I won't dance in front of you anymore if it makes you upset or ashamed or whatever, okay?"

Before she can walk away, however, his hand is suddenly on her shoulder and she blinks with a small jerk of surprise. She didn't even hear him move.

"I said that wasn't it," he speaks from behind her, and she thinks that his voice sounds a little strained. "This isn't... This isn't something I should tell you about. Leave it at that."

Any lingering anger she was holding onto fades away at those words, quickly replaced by concern. He sounds more awkward than normal; his words don't carry the firm tone that she's used to. The subject of her worry abruptly changes. "Fakir? Are you... are you alright?"

Suddenly, she feels guilty. She had been so worried about her own embarrassment that she hadn't even stopped to consider that Fakir might have left for an entirely different reason. He even said so, but she had been too blinded by her irritation with his lack of a straight answer.

Instead of him answering verbally, though, she feels his fingers kneading just along the collar of her shirt. The motions are slow and... oddly soothing.

"Fakir...?" she tries again, but her voice softer than before.

His fingers still momentarily, then the digits slide over to her shoulder, down over her arm...

And suddenly, with a small squeak of surprise escaping her throat, she finds herself all but pressed right up against him, his arm firmly latching over her front and pinning one of her arms to her chest in the process. A flush swiftly turns her face to nearly the color of her hair. "F-Fakir?"

"Don't...move away," he breathes into her ear, his words almost hitched. She almost thinks she can feel his heartbeat from where her back is pressed up to his chest. "I just need..."

He doesn't elaborate any further, but the near-plead to his voice is enough for her to follow his wishes. She likes being held by him - that was something that the duck-girl discovered long ago - but this is not quite the same. This warmth is... different. It's...

It's cloying and she can almost feel it like a hot pressure that surrounds her - like he's radiating the heat himself. She squirms, once, and the sharp gasp in her ear makes her own breath catch in her throat.

When did Fakir ever make noises like that? She feels something almost like a shiver that wants to course through her, but she's not cold. No, she's not cold at all.

For a long moment, they simply stand like that, his heartbeat against her back, his breaths shallow and tickling the curve of her ear. And her face is growing hotter, as though she's channeling in that abundance of heat that he's giving off.

It's strange, but now her heart is starting to beat more quickly, as well. This is not the same as when he shyly took her hand and kissed her for the first time. Not even the second or the third or the fourth.

He seems desperate somehow - his grip is unrelenting, as though he's afraid she might just vanish if he releases her. And she doesn't not understand, but even with her mouth working soundlessly, she cannot find the words to ask.

It is rare that he touches her - most especially in public - and it's usually fleeting. They don't kiss for long, he usually gets awkward about holding hands, and embraces are more or less initiated by her. This is different - the way he's holding her, the heat, his breath lightly tickling a few stray strands of her own hair against her face - he's close and he's not moving away.

After what feels like forever, she finally manages to find her voice long enough to ask, "Fakir, is s...something wrong?"

She feels his fingers slide up and down her clothed arm. "Something... might be wrong with me," he answers in a breathy manner that makes goosebumps form along her arms beneath the uniform. And she prepares to inquire further when she feels him giving a sudden jerk of his hips into the back of her skirt. But as instantly as the contact is made, he pulls straight back. "I..."

Ahiru is unsure of what to think. Should she check if he has a fever? Does she need to lead him home so he can rest? Those are the obvious things that come to mind, but there is a part of her that seems to think that's not it at all. So what did he-

"I want to touch you," he interrupts her thoughts, his voice lower than before, and the shiver she fought down before tingles straight up her spine without warning, her eyes growing wide. "I need to..."

The words are foreign to her ears. They almost sound like something that couldn't come from his lips, and yet she's certain that she didn't mishear them.

Before she can bring herself to respond, she feels him move - edging them both toward the side of the building and still keeping his grip taught around her front. "Ahiru," he speaks her name in a needy manner that she is completely unfamiliar with, but that is strangely nice to her ears. "Please..."

"I..." her own voice, she realizes, has grown hoarse. Swallowing down, she tries again to break the words free. "I... can help?"

By now, he nearly has her all but pinned up against the side of the stone building, one of his legs rubbing along the side of hers. The warmth that once flocked to her face spreads, reaching her ears and her neck. "I need you," he responds in that same husky tone, leaning in far enough that she can feel his lips brush her cheek as he speaks. "That room was stifling... I couldn't take it. I had to get... out."

The words don't make much sense to her. He needed her, but he was bothered enough that he had to get out of the room? Did he mean it was something else that drove him out?

"It... wasn't my fault?"

The pause that follows her question makes her insides tighten a little bit further with uncertainty.

"It is your fault," he responds as he presses his warm lips right beneath her ear. "And mine."

Trying to make sense out of Fakir was usually difficult, yes, but normally he would be straight with her sooner or later - even blunt at times. Now, she only felt more and more confused with every word that passed through his lips.

Lips that felt good against her skin...

"What... did I do?" She does want to know, but her voice almost breaks when she feels his hips move forward against her again. He doesn't pull away so quickly this time, and can feel... something stiff pressing up against the small of her back through her skirt.

"You..." his breath is hot on her neck, his dark bangs brushing her skin in a way that makes her tense in his grasp. "Moved... captivated me... made me want..."

She braces herself against the stone wall with the hand not held to her front, his voice making her weak in the knees. "W... Want?"

His breath releases in pants, the arm viced around her front finally loosening. "Want you," he says with a firmer tone than before, and in the blink of an eye, his hands are on her chest beneath the folds of her uniform jacket, cupping underneath of the small mounds.

For a moment, Ahiru is unsure of how to react. She is not familiar with being touched there, but she can feel the heat from his hands, feel it flooding into her. And it's making her squirm.

"F-F-Fakir?"

He answers her not verbally, but with a squeeze of his fingers around the lower half of her chest, and she gasps out in surprise from the sudden shock that lights up in her. "A-Ah!"

"Please," he repeats, leaving a short trail of wet kisses down along the juncture of her neck and shoulder. "I can't..."

Though she still doesn't understand what exactly it is that he's pleading with her for, Ahiru can't deny that even if the sensations are new and strange, it feels good. He has never touched her like this before. And for once, he's not shying away from her or shutting her out.

"Mm," she responds on a tight breath of her own, arching into that strangely addicting motion of his fingers over the springy flesh. "I... I like that."

And she's not making it up for his sake, either. His hands feel good where they massage and crease the cloth covering her breasts. He is not as hesitant as he was when he would hold her fingers in his, or brush them along the side of her face. And she likes this change.

It's not long before she can feel even more confidence in his touch - or maybe it desperation, she's not sure - but he's growing more firm and eager in his ministrations. And her breath is getting shorter as a result, the heat moving and expanding within her.

"I won't... go too far," he says, as if in reassurance to her. Ahiru doesn't know just what he means, but she decides that she doesn't need to. She knows that Fakir cares about her a lot - and she trusts him.

With his declaration, though, he starts moving too quickly for her to really follow what is going on - especially when she's facing the building. One of his hands dropped from her chest, and where it went, she didn't know, but she could feel him shifting around behind her, one leg still jerking up against her own. The other set of fingers never left where it was planted on her front, still kneading her from above the clothing.

"Hnnhh... mnn!" Her body definitely feels hot, and her bangs are clinging to the side of her face now with a moisture she didn't feel there before.

"Ahiru," he speaks her name again, and this time it sends a slice of heat up through her - which only intensifies when she feels a draft just briefly before his groin is pressed directly into the back of her panties. The stiffness she thought she felt before is definitely there, but it is not as restrained, and she swears she can feel him pulse against the light fabric that separates their skin.

Fakir groans into her ear as he rubs the hardness up against her underclothing, pushing her further into the wall. And she can feel him tugging at her panties with the same hand, trying to pull them down.

The area between her legs feels... damp. It is something she hasn't noticed until now, but she feels it when he tugs at the cloth impatiently.

"Fakiiiir," her own voice takes on a needy edge and she sways her hips against his, as if that will help somehow. All it does is provoke a strained noise from him, however, and he slides his hand over her exposed backside, the shudder that goes through him passing straight to her.

This is definitely the most touching he's done and the most intimate they have ever been, but Ahiru doesn't find herself alarmed at all. Fakir is making something birth and grow in her and she wants to experience new things with him. If he can make her feel good, she wants him to feel good, too.

Somehow, it becomes lost to her that they are even in the back of the ballet building, together in a manner that is most certainly inappropriate for the academy grounds. All that exists is this heat and him and the press of his body against hers.

He moves again from behind her, little grunts escaping him as he pulls back slightly from her backside and jerks his hand around beneath her skirt. Then, a moment later, he releases a sound she can't quite identify - almost like a sharp hiss - and the hairs on the back of her neck instantly stand up on end.

His breathing has somehow grown even harsher and his grasp of her chest is unwavering as he shifts - and then she feels it.

"Ahhhn!" her voice raises a little as she flattens herself into the stone of the wall, legs quivering. What was hard and pulsing is now touching her rear, no cloth between either of them, and the heat is just too intense for her not to react. His hand pulls out from beneath her skirt and appears at the wall next to her head, and she can literally feel his heavy and unsteady breaths as he just marginally moves that piece of flesh up against her.

"Ngh...God, you feel so..."

He trails off between gasps and grunts and other low-pitched noises as he slides himself against her, the bell of her skirt hiding the actions beneath from direct view. She cannot even form words well. The heat is so tight, the throb of him against her is making her feel so strange, but she needs...

"M...more...!"

Ahiru doesn't even know exactly what she's asking for, but she knows that she needs him to keep going. She needs to feel more of this.

And he obliges wordlessly, grunting out against the back of her neck as he increases the pace of his actions. The hand bracing against the wall once again lowers, moving to give a quick squeeze to her chest before traveling down further.

It is hard for her to decipher what's going on, but from one moment to the next, he's moving his hard length deeper between the cheeks of her backside and his fingers are down between her legs, stroking the wetness she felt there before. The sensations are so overwhelming that she can't even stop herself from crying out.

"Y-Yes!" he growls out against her skin as if in immediate response to her, the jerking motions of his hips increasing, but losing more and more control as the seconds pass. "That's it... that's..."

Fakir cuts off on a loud groan as he slips just the tip of his finger experimentally between her folds. And instantly, she tenses up, a strangled noise catching in her throat. It suddenly feels like everything is just too much, even though she wants more, and she can't make sense of it but somehow she just needs...!

He is still moving faster. She doesn't know how he can be at this point, but he is and she feel so much and she swears something in her is just going to burst! Especially with the way his single finger is moving in her, driving her closer-!

"Ahi...Ahi-!" His voice is so strained that she thinks he sounds like he's in pain, but he's not stopping. And she doesn't want him to. She's all but clawing at the stone building as she fights for air, and he's clutching to her breast to hold him solidly against him as he bucks her into the wall over and over.

Then, from one moment to the next, Ahiru could no longer determine what was even happening. He tenses first and she feels it and she feels a huge throb against her rear just before he cries out her name and his body shakes and trembles almost violently from behind her. And she can't even ask him what's wrong because something then overtakes her completely when that single digit of his within her touches something, sending her body, her mind, her entire consciousness suddenly flooding through with white and pleasure and exploding a myriad of dancing colors in front of her eyes.

Ahiru doesn't know how long it is before she feels like she knows who she is and where she is once more, but she finds herself half-collapsed against the wall of the building, Fakir's warm weight pressing over her, and feeling like she just danced for her life. She heaves for breath, taking in all she can to refill her needy lungs. Her body feels sweaty and sticky but there's relief and unmistakably nice, warm feelings running through her.

That was just... with Fakir, she shared something... incredible.

"I'm sorry," his voice suddenly rasps out after a short groan when he shifts against her, his limp length still pressing up along her backside. He takes several breaths before he continues. "I knew... I was going to lose it if I stayed around you. And... you had to come looking for me. You idiot."

She blinks, certainly not expecting those to be the first words out of his mouth.

"Then... Then I'm an idiot," she concedes, her voice is still not completely back to normal. "And so are you, for being sorry."

Maybe Fakir doesn't understand some things either, she thinks. While this was definitely new to her, she wouldn't take it back if she was given the opportunity. It's special and it means something between her and Fakir - and she instinctively knows that.

"...You're not upset?" His voice sounds oddly surprised. "After I just..."

Ahiru can hear the underlying shame in his tone and she doesn't want that. No, she wants him to be as pleased about this as she is.

"I feel closer to you," she blurts out, and feels her cheeks heat up a bit again. "I like that feeling. It's so much better when you don't try to shut me out or protect me from everything."

She turns in his slackened grasp, moving to press her lips rather clumsily just above his chin. And seeing the puzzled look on his face, she can't help but smile. "Please don't treat it like a bad thing? I'm fine... I'm better than fine. I promise."

He stares at her for a long moment, with that same quizzical twist to his features, and then leans down to bump his forehead against hers. "Moron. You're such an idiot. You're..." He breathes out against her skin, almost like a contented sigh. "...Everything I could ever want."

The last of his words are unexpected and fluster the redhead, her lips moving silently for a moment before she sputters, "Wh-Who are you and what did you do with Fakir?"

Just the corner of his lips curls up, not quite a smile and more like a teasing smirk. He leans in close to her, still pinning her half against the wall and half against the ground. "You don't want me to protect you from everything, right? Isn't that what you said?"

"W-Well yes, but-!" Her heart is definitely fluttering and beating in her chest just from the way he's looking at her. "Fakir, we're still... the school! We're right behind...! What if-!"

"No one comes back here, idiot. And no one will as long as you quiet down."

And that's all he supplies before his mouth is on hers.

A/N: ...I swear to God, this was meant to be short. I feel like I'm physically incapable of writing out what was a simple idea and making it like a drabble. EVERYTHING just expands in my writing. It's like a curse.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I tried writing this in present tense, since the majority of my work is in past tense and I wanted to challenge myself a little bit. Also, I apologize if the writing and/or smut is at all lacking. I haven't written fic in awhile, especially smut stuff, but I hope it's sufficient. I know the dialogue is kind of... odd at points. Sorry about that.

If you enjoyed this or even if you didn't, please feel free to leave a review and tell me what you thought! It's much appreciated.

As always, thank you very much for reading!