Finally. Today was the day Mikhail came back.
The plush velvet curtains in his new room were pulled open with those fancy satin ties on either side, and the French doors that led to the balcony with its cast iron balustrade and view of St Petersburg were thrown open.
Soothing sounds from the streets crept in, the whoosh of cars going passed on the road, the ting of shop bells as doors opened and closed, raucous laughter from the group of women having a lunch time catch up outside the café a few buildings down. It sounded scandalous, and Akihito was pretty curious as to what they were all cackling about.
Fresh air burst in every now and then and ran over his body as he lay staring at the ceiling on the huge bed in front said doors, it ruffled his clothing and made the edges of the curtain flap as the fabric tried to break free of its ties. It was so weirdly comforting, like that fucking curtain was just as impatient as he was.
This bed was fucking huge, its sheets with a million billion thread count or whatever, and duvet that was as light as the clouds in the sky and way softer than the grass in front of the cathedral he'd laid down in front of when he first got here.
Really it was a sweet bed.
His room had been upgraded free of charge all of a sudden, he'd gone down to the lobby to extend his booking – indefinitely because he had to be honest with himself, he didn't know how long he was going to be here for now – when the woman at the front desk practically jumped as if he'd ordered her with a fucking gun at her head and then announced the upgrade for his prolonged stay.
He wasn't one for complaining, but this was one hell of an upgrade – he even ran back down to the lobby to check they'd actually got it right, and yup; apparently they had.
So he had this awesome new dig, with the really awesome bed and massive spa bath, but he couldn't bring himself to relax one bit.
Mikhail was coming back today, and even though he'd filled in the time for the passed two days by doing all the things that tourists did in St Petersburg, all it was, was a distraction. Today he spent in his room, wallowing in his impatience.
"Ah, when did I become such a sop?" He sighed to himself, and rolled so that from here he could see the sky and the tops of buildings that sprawled over the city. Colorful domes of traditional buildings, grey brick, and gold spires mixed with the horizon – Russia in all its glory was out there and all he could think about was something else.
He'd even been checking his phone more often, including smiling like an idiot whenever a text from Mikhail came through. This really wasn't like him. Ugh!
Soon, about five minutes until he'd be here, according to when Mikhail said he'd be picked up.
He didn't know if he wanted to pace around in the living room with its Persian rugs and huge ass vase decorations so he could answer the door quickly and not keep the Russian waiting, or if he should chill in the sleeping quarters and take a while so it didn't look like he was actually waiting for him like some nervous date.
"Oh!" he shot out of bed and ran actually, because his room had been moved and Mikhail didn't know about that, so he'd be waiting forever because he'd be knocking on the door to an empty suite.
"Shit." He slipped some shoes on and made for the door as he looked at the time, he might already be down there!
Of course he tripped on the edge of one of those damn rugs as he launched himself across the room, and stumbled all the way to the door before righting himself in time, he ripped the brass handled door open in a hurry, not even taking the time to catch his breath and of course because his life was a fucking movie he barged right into the muscled chest of the person he'd been waiting for.
In the split second before they collided he saw that Mikhail had his hand in mid air, probably two seconds away from knocking – and he had this startled 'o' to his mouth and glimmer in his eye that said his surprise could be labeled a pleasant one.
Akihito didn't even have time to collect himself, not one moment to recover or better yet just stare at Mikhail for a bit, because with a chuckle the arm that had been about to knock on his door shot out and snaked around his waist – and even now he was still surprised at how well it fit there.
He was pulled intimately close, the heat of Mikhail's skin under his shirt radiated, he could smell his cologne, a little different from the other day – this one was more musky, earthy and sweet all at the same time. It was intoxicating in itself.
"You're that eager to go out with me that you are running out the door, hm?" the hot tease was whispered into the top of his head, and the resulting shiver travelled from his neck all the way down to his toes.
"N-no, I mean yes!" Akihito leant back to stutter, only because Mikhail wasn't letting go, in fact his grip only got tighter, "I thought you wouldn't know where my new room was so I came to get you."
Those ashen pupils looked down at him in laughter, and the way Mikhail's lip curled when he smirked was really, seriously sexy, he decided now that he got to see it close up again. No matter how many times he'd tried to draw that face, nothing would ever compare to the real thing.
"Oh… About that! The counter staff told me when I asked, so here I am." The other arm snaked around his waist then, squeezing as it did so. "Do I get a kiss now? Three days is a long time and I need you to invigorate me cos I'm sooo tired." The laughter was gone from his features now, and he was met with steel intensity and Akihito realized that Mikhail was dead serious. He wanted Akihito to make the first move again.
It didn't take him as long to decide as last time, Mikhail kept in touch for three days, had rung when he could, he hadn't forgotten him or gotten tired of him no less, he'd been brewing in his own anticipation for three damn days so of course he could fucking do this.
Before his eyes shut; Akihito savored the sight as he brought his arm up and wrapped the crimson of his hand around the nape of Misha's neck to pull him down. There was something fulfilling about seeing his tattooed skin contrast with Mikhail's, and the fact that Mikhail moved down to meet him was near unthinkable. This absolute huge presence of a person before him was bending down at his prompt to kiss him.
Surely he was hearing things though, because that in no way was a relieved sigh leaving Mikhail's lips just as they made contact, right there at the door where anyone who walked by in the hallway could see.
It started off soft, their lips simply touching until it turned into slow open-mouthed kisses without urgency but with shared breath between them instead. The obscene noises their mouths were making echoed in his ears, and really he could probably kiss like this forever. There was no urgency in it, no feeling threatening to drive him insane, just the amazingness of kissing and being kissed – to feel Mikhail's insanely soft lips and enjoy them for all they were worth.
Eventually though, the ting of the elevator arriving at his floor cut through their moment – because it was definitely a moment, he was sure on that – and openly kissing a man outside his room probably wouldn't bode well for him.
Mikhail could read him too well though, like he knew Akihito's movements before he himself did, and as he dragged his hand back down the muscles of Mikhail's chest, his hand was caught – and one arm around his waist was still enough to keep him locked there.
"I want people to see." Came the declared whisper as Mikhail bowed forward to press their foreheads together. And this was way too close, way too intimate to be with someone he realized he still knew nothing about, the people in the hall walked passed chatting, he could hear their feet on the carpeted hall way, the beep of one of their phones and their conversation that died out the closer they got to his doorway.
They were probably staring, probably with scandal or distaste, probably both – but he couldn't bring himself to care about it, and he normally would really fucking care about it. Those charismatic grey pools of control were sapping all his attention this close, he was drawn into the whirlpool hand first, because the hand Mikhail still had a hold of was placed on the man's cheek, tender with Mikhail's hand atop his own.
The way the scars on his fingers alternated with the clean skin of Mikhail's own was balancing, like his hand wasn't just a mass of bad things anymore, there were equal good things that went with it, too.
This time it was his own sigh that echoed between them as he shut his eyes to try and hide from it all. Fuck. It felt way to good to just be like this - he hadn't even noticed the hallway was empty again now.
"Hello there, stranger." Underneath his hand he felt Mikhail smile as his cheek moved under fingers, he felt the vibrations of his speech and the tremor of his chuckle that shook them both.
"Hi…" Akihito greeted finally as he opened his eyes once more, "Long time no see."
"Mm, way too long. I thought I was gonna go fucking crazy, you know." Another quick kiss and Mikhail let him go finally, the skin on his head and around his waist was cold at the loss of contact, but his hand was still held and it was enough to make up for it. "Are you ready to go?"
"Oh yeah, just let me get my room key and shit, wait here!"
Oh, Mikhail was in deep shit – his mom was going to have a damn field day. He in no way, ever, expected things to go like that right off the bat, to feel like that from the moment Akihito was in his sights – from the way he molded against his body, and the way his head fit perfectly under his chin when they drew close.
The way in which Akihito calmed under his touch made him feel much too powerful, he could see the shift in him, his panic stricken pupils wide as the elevator opened, then narrowed in calm with a few honest words from him. That was probably what it was really, the fact that his, Mikhail Arbatov the leader of the Russian Bratva's honest words had placated him. He was used to telling lies to reassure people, to roll the venom off his tongue and transform it into honey at the last second and melt them with his stare, which few could handle.
Really, he didn't need to sugar coat anything with Akihito, could stare at him openly the way he wanted and it that was all that Akihito needed.
It was an addicting feeling, in all of his fake honesty, because he was still a lying piece of shit. There was one thing that still needed to come out into the open before he could really validate the thrumming in his blood.
Tonight, after he'd wooed him, charmed him and wrapped him around his finger, the finger that had the words 'We Always Collect' inscribed on the gold ring he wore, that's when he'd tell him. It was sick, to associate those things together, but that was exactly what he was going to do.
He knew it would be fine, but there was a small amount of uncharacteristic uncertainty that niggled at him, and he wish he could just solidify the feeling so he could fucking shoot it.
Akihito was a tough nut, he'd been through some shit and looked back on it without emotion, like the way Mikhail pulled the trigger to end someone's life, it was just something that happened – Akihito looked at his life the same way, which explained why they both liked to live in the moment a little more than others, because it was only the now that mattered. Even if his take on life might have pissed the old coot Yuri off every now and then.
So while he listened to Akihito's rather ungraceful thumping footsteps in the room he'd arranged to have him upgraded to while he waited, he threw that stupid uncertainty into the depths of his mind and smiled, because what he had planned was so fucking genius that he knew tonight was going to go down well.
"Okay! Come at me, surprise date!" Akihito appeared and thumped his chest with his fist in a staunch 'I got this' action, and Mikhail laughed as he led the smaller blonde back towards the elevator with Akihito's hand in his.
He really had no hope of brushing these feelings aside. Shit.
"Where are we going?" the Hummer sped down the free way, passing makes and models of cars Akihito had never seen before, the roads were clear and traffic was minimal this far out, they'd been driving for 45 minutes and it was into the evening now, he was starting to get suspicious.
Maybe he'd been too trusting, maybe Mikhail was this serial killer who was luring him out to the country side to kill - he'd be chopped up in to pieces, or put in a vat of chemicals and never seen again. He really wanted to know where they were going.
The city was starting to thin out, and there were open patches of grass and small factories dotted along the dwindling city outskirts - the perfect place to slaughter someone, if you asked him.
Mikhail just laughed and kept his eyes on the road, and he really was too trusting because psychopaths laughed too didn't they and he could be in the car with one.
"Seriously." He put in again, and maybe he fidgeted in his seat a little, he could put up a fight, but Mikhail would win with his size by default.
His unease seemed to attract Mikhail's attention then, and Akihito watched as his hand with the gold ring on the index finger changed gears on the leather stick, he wondered what the words said as the gears changed down one after another until the vehicle eventually came to a stop on the side of the free way.
"You don't trust me?" and Akihito wished he were still driving, so that Mikhail would still be looking at the road rather then giving Akihito all of his attention. Cars rushed passed in whooshes of air, followed by a truck that made Hummer shake as the draft of air in its wake hit.
All of a sudden he felt stupid, and he brushed off his stupid concern with an impish shrug, "Well, you could be leading me out here to kill me or something, how am I meant to know!"
It wasn't air from cars speeding passed rocking the Hummer this time, but Mikhail's booming laughter as he braced himself on the steering wheel and shook with amusement.
"What! You're not telling me fuck all." Akihito spat indignantly as he crossed his arms, it did sound stupid when he said it out loud, but didn't mean Mikhail could laugh that hard.
"Haha, oh shit. You're funny, and extremely fucking morbid aren't you?" Mikhail turned once more and leant over the center console.
Calloused fingers ghosted over his cheek as the Russian leant in close with the smile still in his eye, "I like that. But no, I could eat you, but never kill you."
"Something tells me that's still just as bad." He stammered, because he still felt like he was captive in the mouth of a lion even if he wasn't going to be killed.
"Oh, it probably is, but I'll make sure you like it, hehe." The wink he got then was playful and genuine, but the notion behind it still made him shiver.
"It's seriously just off the next exit, okay?" Mikhail's thumb ran over his cheek lightly before they parted once more, "Kill you, pfft. You're a dumb ass." Mikhail snickered as the car lurched into motion again.
"Shut up and drive, you're a psycho until proven otherwise!"
"Oi." Akihito deadpanned as the Hummer slowed, the ticking of the indicator only gave him a small warning until the vehicle turned into the destination he hoped they weren't going to. No fucking way. "I think I'd accept the psycho killer thing rather than this." Because even if he couldn't read Russian he could still make out the giant signage on the buildings and hangars that they were parking next to.
"Ooooh, are you scared?" like a mocking school boy Mikhail poked his tongue out and then promptly jumped out of the car and shut the door behind him without so much as a backward glance – he didn't even try to reassure him! What a shitty date.
Of course Akihito had no choice but to follow, his footsteps crunched on the gravel, slower than the speed of his racing heart that was for sure.
"I'm not scared!" Akihito rebuffed as he increased his speed to a trot to catch up to the Russian, who was walking backwards and looking at him with a taunt in his eye. "But I don't see the point how jumping out of a perfectly good plane constitutes as a date!"
"Fwahaha! Don't worry, I'll hold your hand, sweetheart. Come on, I'll show you something amazing, trust me."
And he just had to get drawn in to Mikhail's infectious attitude, because from the way both his wrists were grabbed and pulled forward as a result, it was clear Mikhail was excited – he had this childish grin on his face as he dragged Akihito with him, his eyes gleaned in the evening light and his whole body seemed to emanate enthusiasm, and once again he found himself getting swept away with no choice but to follow Mikhail into the massive sky diving building that loomed overhead.
Nerves bristled as he tried and failed to zip up the jumpsuit that he'd changed into, Mikhail was already strutting around in the black jumpsuit issued by the sky dive company, and Akihito cursed because he looked seriously, seriously amazing in the aerial gear. It made his blonde hair pop, and his teeth shine, it followed the curvature of his body perfectly and Mikhail so just so fucking hot it wasn't funny.
"Fuck." He cursed aloud this time, dropping his hands to his sides as he tried to calm down. He might be called a daredevil back home, but… skydiving was not the reason why.
With his eyes shut as he took a breath, he felt the unmistakable presence of Mikhail approach, felt the tug on the fabric all the way up his body as his hands not his own zipped Akihito's jumpsuit up for him, and then Mikhail stepped even closer.
"Come on, you can get into a brawl but not do something as easy as just jump and fall?" Mikhail teased hot in his ear as one hand whispered down the front of his suit along the zip line. The sound of his nail rasping against the metallic teeth made his hair stand on end.
"S-shut up." Akihito hissed under his breath, "I've never done anything like this before so of course I am gonna be nervous, you calm bastard."
He was going to go in-fucking-sane, Mikhail just chuckled into his ear, and his hair was still on end, but for a very different reason now, the sound traveled right through him, it made his cheeks hot and he really thought he was passed this blushing stage!
"It's okay, Akihito, we'll be tandem diving together, I'll be with you for every single second of it and I promise, you will love it."
Just like that his worry about jumping was gone, his heart was still thumping but it was because of what Mikhail said, how he said it, how this man was so sure of everything and anything, and how easy Akihito got pulled in every single time.
He was so fucking doomed.