Birthday request from a real-life friend who wanted a "20 things" meme-type chapter. Naturally, I had to drop everything and write. Happy birthday, M!
Also, here you'll see homages to some Hirato/Akari writers on this archive: Faikitty, mizamiko, featheredxrequiem, Stiletto Amante (whose handle is purpleicecrystals). Karneval fanfiction writers are so amazing. This is my humble thanks for permitting me to visit your worlds.
1. Hirato loves marking the delicate skin of his lover's neck and collarbone. Conversely, he's largely unenthusiastic about the fingerprint-patterned bruises along the doctor's hipbone or the scarlet abrasions circling his fine wrists.
2. Akari cherishes every memento of their trysts (so long as they're invisble to outsiders). Whether placed voluntarily by Hirato's gentle worrying of flesh or via persuasion by his own directives of harder and faster, they signify ownership. He craves that feeling of belonging most of all.
3. Flattery gets Hirato nowhere, but incessant teasing never fails.
4. Once, they inadvertently dressed in each other's clothes. Akari's unaware that Hirato had switched the positions of their discarded clothing in the middle of the night. The blond is unbelievably alluring in the captain's rumpled shirt, after all.
5. The commander enjoys brown sugar coral calcium too, particularly when sampled from the lips of a resisting doctor.
6. Akari never laughs. But his sincere, unguarded smile is like the sunrise.
7. Low along the researcher's side, there's a swath of skin that's incredibly ticklish. Hirato guards this secret with his life.
8. The brunet often visits Research Tower. He looms over Akari's shoulder, frustrating the man to no end. This sends the nurses into fits of giggles, likely because they find a prickly doctor rather adorable.
9. Akari loathes it when Hirato visits Research Tower. It reduces his staff to schoolgirl hysterics, likely because they find the commander's charming smile and bedroom eyes irresistibly attractive.
10. Both are mistaken, of course. Thoughts of the two men in a range of compromising positions are what truly set the nurses' hearts aflutter.
11. Hirato never cries. But he might if ever he discovers himself at fault for Akari's death.
12. The blond hates candy. He doesn't know why; he just does. It has nothing to do with the small mountain of chocolates he finds addressed to his lover every Valentine's Day.
13. Neither man believes in the gods; they place faith in one another.
14. Tsukumo is Akari's favorite member of Airship Two, partly because of her mature disposition, and partly because he perceives an affinity in the way she gazes at Hirato.
15. The captain regularly entertains fantasies of microwaving Hearty. He's not cruel, though, just thorough.
16. On each anniversary he shares with Akari, Hirato buys Tsukitachi an obscenely expensive bottle of scotch. A lifetime supply would not convey the depth of his gratitude.
17. Contrary to the brunet's opinion, the doctor is not afraid of needles. He is, however, understandably wary of protozoan idiots likely to induce air embolism.
18. Akari's learned a few tricks. Memories of the time he laced his paramour's coffee with soy sauce always curl the edges of his mouth (but only slightly).
19. On rare nights when the physician sleeps, he has fitful dreams. He never recalls them upon waking, but his bedmate remembers every startled twitch and shuddered inhale.
20. Circus stole Hirato's past, it's true. But in the searingly beautiful and brilliant lecturer he met at Kuronomei, they unwittingly gifted him a home.
So, what's your favorite?