The terrain was muddy – it had been raining off and on for days, cold bitter rain, mocking him – but it didn't slow him down. The search team had been through this patch of wooded area half a dozen times, it wasn't far from where the bus was found abandoned, it was the first place anyone looked but he knew there had to be something, somewhere. People didn't just disappear, they didn't cease to be like someone had plucked them from the fabric of existence. There was evidence, and he would find it.

The light was all wrong, it hadn't been daylight – he remembered this, remembered the quagmire of mud he had almost lost a shoe to, remembered how the wind sounded through the naked branches, cast in sickly shadow when the moon emerged from behind the clouds. It was cast in warm tones now, pink and misty, and he realized, detached – oh, a dream.

That didn't mean he had any more control here – when he heard the woman scream, from back on the road he turned on his heel instantly. It wasn'ther voice but he reacted all the same, he ran toward the noise, toward the danger – and saw the dog gone rabid standing over the body, the woman backing away, screaming still at the blood running down the beast's jaw.

He swung his book bag like a weapon, thought about throwing it but his motion caught the dog's attention. It was larger than any dog he'd ever seen, and he knew now – not a dog at all – but it wouldn't change things, it never changed them.

You can't change what's already happened.

He came up from the dream fighting, Masayoshi's hands on his arms already, trying to hold him, or something – he was still adrenaline-shot, in that moment the flash of fangs tore open his arm, and he managed to throw Masayoshi off him.

Fight.

Teeth bared, fingers curled, he turned on Masayoshi – who kicked him square in the jaw, still on the mattress somehow. The impact caused Gotou's mouth to snap closed hard enough it felt like he cracked a tooth.

He laid on his back on the floor, completely dazed, and stared up at the ceiling.

Masayoshi leaned cautiously over the edge of the mattress, hair wild and eyes wide. They stared at each other for a long moment, Gotou's chest heaving, Masayoshi uncertain, before Gotou rubbed his jaw gingerly and sat up.

"Are you okay, Gotou-san?" Masayoshi asked uncertainly.

"No," Gotou said, and started to laugh.

Masayoshi held Gotou's face still, hands gentle. Gotou had one eye closed as Masayoshi brushed his thumb over the bruise, already well on its merry way to purple. "I got you good," he said softly. "I'm sorry, Gotou-san."

"Don't be," Gotou said. "It was my fault." He wanted to add on what he'd been saying for weeks, for months now, but Masayoshi wouldn't listen, stubborn fucking idiot that he was. He'd pretty much attacked Masayoshi, half asleep, and here he was in Gotou's personal space as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"You were having a nightmare." Masayoshi sat back on his knees. He'd brought a towel soaked in cold water, the best he could do without ice in the freezer, and Gotou had humored him by putting the towel on his jaw. "It was bad, Gotou-san. What was it about?"

Gotou looked away. "I don't want to talk about it," he said.

"Was it someone you hurt?"

"No!" Gotou pushed Masayoshi away, so he wasn't touching him any more. His heart was still beating fast in his chest – the adrenaline mostly worn down, but the fear, he could still see the blood-flecked jaw as the creature sank its teeth into his arm-

"Gotou-san," Masayoshi said softly, and Gotou jerked violently when Masayoshi touched his arm.

Gotou wrapped his arms over his chest and leaned forward. "I don't want to talk about it," he said again, eyes squeezed shut. He flinched again, but not as badly, when Masayoshi put his arms over Gotou's shoulders, sitting up on his knees, and pulling Gotou close to him.

"Then don't," Masayoshi said into his hair. Gotou inhaled a deep breath, his face pressed to Masayoshi's collarbone – and then he exhaled and let out an amused noise.

"...what's so funny?" Masayoshi asked carefully.

"Why are you aroused?" Gotou asked, and Masayoshi went stock-still.

"I'm not-" Masayoshi started to say, and then shifted around. "Oh."

Gotou started laughing again, and Masayoshi made a horrified noise. "It's just morning wood, Gotou-san, I'm not getting off on this, you're apervert-"

Gotou laughed harder, and tugged on the back of the tee shirt Masayoshi wore to bed. He leaned his head back and looked up at Masayoshi, who had turned bright red. "The least you could do is kiss me, before you start poking me with that thing," he said, and Masayoshi turned an evenbrighter shade of red.

"I bet you're hard too," Masayoshi said.

"Bet I'm not," Gotou said.

"How could you even tell, you weren't even touching me-" Masayoshi said, and then stopped. "Oh god, you can smell it."

"Full moon's tonight," Gotou reminded him. Masayoshi glowered at him, and pushed him away, setting back down on his haunches.

"Gotou-san, you are a pervert," he said.

"Aw," Gotou murmured. "I didn't even ask you to suck mine."

Masayoshi turned brilliantly red, this time all the way down his neck. "What?" he screeched, and Gotou leaned forward and delicately kissed the tip of his nose, completely amused and the high-pitched incoherent noise that Masayoshi made in response.

"Let's go back to bed," he said. "I can help you with that, if you want-"

"NO!" Masayoshi yelped, surging to his feet. He pinwheeled his arms comically in place for a moment, before rushing off to the bathroom, the door slamming behind him. Gotou laughed again despite himself, and then he rubbed his arm, the wound long since healed. His chin hurt, but the bruise would be gone before nightfall.

Masayoshi crawled back into bed with him some time later, hair damp. "Did you seriously take a shower after jerking off?" Gotou asked drowsily, smelling his own body wash on Masayoshi. "And you used my stuff again, too."

"I thought it was cool when you did that at first," Masayoshi said. "Now it's just creepy."

"Too bad," Gotou wrapped his arms around Masayoshi, pulling him back against Gotou. "You proposed to me, remember?"

"Yeah," Masayoshi said softly. After a long moment's pause he said, even softer - "You know you can tell me about it, right? Whatever your dream was about?"

"I know."

"Okay." Masayoshi exhaled. "Sorry I kicked you."

"Go back to sleep," Gotou murmred.

"Love you, Gotou-san," Masayoshi murmured.

"Yeah," Gotou said. "Me too."