For once, at midnight, Gojyo was home. Home and in bed. And there
wasn't a woman involved. To top it all off, he was sober. So there was
a decided tinge of strangeness to the night. Another strange element
was the reason for all of these things. That reason was, in a nutshell,
Goku.
The monkey in question was, at that minute, almost asleep, curled in
the bed with his back to Gojyo's stomach. One of the kappa's arms was
draped over his bare shoulders, more out of habit than conscious
action.
"Hey…"
Goku's eyes opened halfway.
"Mmm- hmm?"
"Do you know what you're foing?"
"Dunno… "
"… you… never mind. Go back to sleep, monkey."
Goku was more than happy to oblige. Gojyo watched him for a few
minutes, his head propped up on one arm. Of course, he'd have to go
back to his own bed eventually…
"Come on, we're leaving."
"Gojyo and Goku still aren't up yet, though."
"It's eight o clock in the morning. How late can those idiots sleep?"
"Nine, apparently."
"Just go get them. I want to get out of this damn town."
Somehow, the more Sanzo- worship occurred in a given town, the nicer
their hotel was. And just because Sanzo hated the glories of his title
with a passion, the nicer their hotel was, the earlier he wanted to
leave. It wasn't really rational, but it wasn't rational to try to
argue with him either.
And so Hakkai went to go wake up the second half of their party.
Falling asleep embracing someone is a rather nice experience, and one
Gojyo was able to experience almost every day. One downside of this,
however, was that over the years he had managed to acquire a weird
habit. Namely attaching to whatever, or whoever else in in the bed and
staying that way pretty much all night. Usually, his bedmate didn't
mind. Goku certainly wouldn't have, had he actually woken up to find
himself enclosed in such an embrace. But Goku sleeps like the dead.
This might have been the reason that Gojyo didn't wake up in the night, realize where he was, and go somewhere more appropriate.
This, in turn, was the reason that when Hakkai came to wake them up the
next morning, he was greeted with a rather interesting sight.
Namely, Gojyo and Goku, together, basicly tied up in Goku's blankets. Not sure exactly when that happened.
He cleared his throat, and knocked on the doorframe.
"Sanzo says it's time to go."
"Mmghrf," Goku grumbled burrowing down deeper under the covers.
Gojyo was not quite so eloquent. He looked from his bedmate to Hakkai
and back again and then began desperately scrambling off the bed.
Which was pretty hard, seeing as he was still entombed in the blankets.
So he ended up falling off the bed, shoulders- first. The subsequent
cussing brought Goku around. Or, at least as far around as a teenage
boy can get at eight in the morning.
Hakkai was exceptionally relieved to see that both of them still had
their jeans intact, even if their shirts seemed to have gone missing at
some point along the way.
"Um… this isn't what you think-" Gojyo started, but Hakkai was smiling
That Smile again, so he figured he'd better shut up for a bit.
"G'morning, Hakkai," Goku said groggily. He searched around for a bit,
found his shirt crumpled near the door, slipped it on over his head,
and proceeded to stumble out of the room in the basic direction of
breakfast.
"I didn't… he… um…"
"Don't do this to him, Gojyo," Hakkai snapped, cutting him off. "He's
not just some girl you can fool around with and leave the next morning."
"I know that! I didn't even want… he wanted to… shit. Just don't tell Sanzo, alright? I'll work this out."
"Why shouldn't I tell him? If you're sleeping with his monkey, he should know."
"I didn't sleep with the monkey. Well, sleep, yes, but not the way you
think. Just, please don't tell him. You know what'll happen to me if
you do."
Hakkai considered.
"I won't tell. This time. But you have to understand me, Gojyo. Goku
isn't like you. He's innocent. And if you do anything else to that
innocence…"
Hakkai smiled That Smile again. The man was a master of unspoken threats. He could hum 'I'm going to kill you.'
Gojyo worked his way out of the blankets, locating his shirt and
pulling it over his head. After throwing most of the bedclothes back on
top of the bed, he made his way down to breakfast.
Hakkai's right.
Stupid monkey.
The threat of instant death was hanging over him if he ever touched
Goku again. Still, the decision not to was still way harder than it
should have been.