A/N: It's a short one this time! Enjoy!
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Twenty-Six: Eternal
Fai didn't usually spend the night in Kurogane's room. Even if it was as late as three in the morning after they'd finished making love, he'd still part ways with his lover and tip toe to his own room after giving him one last kiss. Part of his reasoning was Yui. After their parents died, Yui'd had trouble sleeping by himself. Nightmares had plagued him regularly, and Fai had been the one to stay up no matter how long it took to soothe him. Yui had technically outgrown that habit long ago, but Fai still preferred not to leave him alone as a matter of habit.
Secondly, he was still paying rent on his dorm room, and even though it was cheaper now that he was splitting it with Yui, it was still enough to convince him that he should be spending a little more time in his room than he was. If he was going to skip out every night, he may as well just move in to Kurogane's room completely.
But tonight, he was finding it hard to leave. Like a typical man, Kurogane fell asleep right after sex, his firm arms wrapping around Fai tightly. Fai had initially tried to wiggle out of his grip to retrieve his scattered clothes from the floor, but when Kurogane drowsily pulled him closer and muttered something unintelligible into his neck, he found his will to resist slipping. He turned over and looked at his sleeping face instead. Kurogane's expression was usually so tense, but right now he looked perfectly relaxed and content. Fai loved that so much about him, how the gruffness he usually wore could be replaced by beautiful want when they joined together and then even out to peacefulness when he slept. This was his secret, something no one else would get to see.
He imagined what it would be like to wake up to this sight every morning. Watching wrinkles appear and his hair start to gray, but still loving him as much as ever. He'd been afraid when he was younger about caring for someone like this. His parents had passed away, his twin brother moved overseas, and his friendships never went all the deep. People weren't permanent; they could die or disappear when you least expected them to. They could take their love away and leave you on your own no matter how much you still loved them.
Even Kurogane wasn't an unshakable certainty. It was only his love from him that Fai was sure wasn't going to go away. It would grow and perhaps even suffer, but it wouldn't die. He'd harbored this love long enough in his heart that if he was going to give up on it, he would have done so a long time ago. By now, it had become much too precious for him to ever deliberately lose.
Fai had never properly envisioned what might come next for them. He didn't need a ring or a wedding or kids or a nice house, and he doubted Kurogane needed any of those things, either. If they were going to stay together, they would stay together even without anything official binding them together. It mattered more to him that Kurogane had chosen to stay with him through everything. That action had signified even more than the words 'I love you' or anything else Kurogane had ever said to him. The arms wrapped around him that wouldn't let go were what he'd needed to put his faith all along.
He burrowed further into those very same arms and pressed his lips against Kurogane's peaceful face. "Let's be together forever like this, nee?" he whispered. "That's what I want."
Fai dozed off just a moment too soon to hear Kurogane's sleepy voice lowly whispering in his ear, "I'll take you there."
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