(no subject)
Fandom 9 - Torchwood
Title: Liars
Rating: High R
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Summary: Jack sits and thinks while Ianto sleeps.
Jack was smoking a cigarette. He didn’t make a habit of smoking - given his inability to die, he was a little anxious about what would happen if he got lung cancer - but sometimes, he just wanted to.
Beside him, Ianto was curled up in the bed. Earlier, he’d been shivering with cold so Jack had draped his coat over him and now Ianto looked slightly swamped. One of his hands had come up and he was clutched the coat tightly to him, a small smile on his face. He looked so peaceful like that. So … untroubled.
Yeah, right.
Ianto said that he loved Jack tonight. The first time he ever claimed to be in love. It was in the heat of the moment of course - all sweaty limbs and tongues and hair in each other’s eyes. But he said it and he said it with such belief that Jack almost found it frightening.
Jack supposed that he ought to feel bad about his relationship with Ianto. After all, he wasn’t capable of being in love. Once, he’d considered himself to be the ultimate in love, finding it easy to be in love with many people but now … now he felt that he couldn’t love anything. And Ianto didn’t love him, not really. Not that Ianto was aware of that.
The first time they’d fucked, Ianto had been angry with him. Burning with rage, accusations, hatred. Ianto had called him a heartless monster and Jack had retaliated by laughing and mocking him until Ianto had flown at him, tears of rage spilling down his face. Jack had slammed him against the wall, scorning his fighting skills and Ianto had sworn at him, calling him an animal, saying he was controlled by nothing but instinct and knew nothing of love. So Jack had kissed him - he wasn’t quite sure why, it just seemed like The Thing to Do - and Ianto had kissed back furiously and neither of them had tried to call a halt to proceedings after that.
Somehow, in the middle of the hatred and rage they’d both felt, it had softened. Ianto’s tears had slowed and become quieter and he’d lain peacefully against Jack afterwards, hiding his face in Jack’s shoulder as Jack had kissed him tenderly and stroked his hair and said that he was sorry.
“Liar,” Ianto whispered back, sounding almost comfortable about it. “You’re always such a liar, Sir.”
Jack had rather thought that would be the end of it but it hadn’t. He should have know it wouldn’t really but he hadn’t quite put it together in his mind yet and so simply just didn’t think of it. So when Ianto came to him one evening after the others had gone and knelt down and kissed him, Jack had been a little startled. But he’d never been one to push away something offered on a plate so he had responded warmly, pulling Ianto over to the bed and down with him. Ianto had clung to him and murmured and called him Sir. He always called Jack “Sir.” How could you think yourself in love with someone if you never called them by their name?
Jack knew he wasn’t in love with Ianto. He never could be. Ianto would grow old - hopefully, Ianto would grow old - and die. Jack wouldn’t grow old. His face would never change. He wouldn’t be able to stay here forever - he’d have to move on before they started to wonder why his face never changed. Why his hair didn’t grey, why his skin didn’t wrinkle. And even if he stayed, Ianto would age and die and turn to dust and Jack would have to let him go. He didn’t have room for love any more. Too dangerous. Too painful.
Ianto wasn’t in love with Jack. Jack didn’t think Ianto had been in love with anything except for that woman. He’d spoken about his parents dispassionately. Jack knew they were dead but he didn’t know how or why. Ianto would never say. No siblings, no family, nothing. He’d worked because he had to and somehow, he’d become a member of Torchwood. Jack suspected that Ianto had originally loved his work in some strange way - the only constant in his life. And then he’d met Lisa. He’d loved Lisa. And she’d died and Ianto had kept loving her. And now … now he needed something else to love. And Jack was there, Jack the solid constant of Torchwood who’d fuck anything that moved. Fucking could lead to something else, couldn’t it?
At least, that was probably what Ianto believed.
“Sir?”
Jack blinked and looked down. Ianto’s eyes were half-open and he was staring at Jack sleepily.
“Yeah?”
“Shouldn’t smoke,” Ianto mumbled. “Get lung cancer.”
He snuggled down deeper and Jack grinned at him. He stubbed the cigarette out and slipped under the blankets with him, wrapping his arms around Ianto’s body, pulling him close.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said cheerfully. “It’d take more than lung caner to kill me!”
Fandom 10 - Jyu Oh Sei
Title: In The Dark
Rating: PG
Summary: Thor was never afraid of the dark before he came to Chimera. Somewhat subtexty regarding Thor/Saad
Thor had never been scared of the dark before.
Perhaps it was because this dark was different. There weren’t electric lights here. There was no light outside now that it was Night. And Rai wasn’t there to share it with him.
Rai had been the one who was afraid of the dark. When they’d been younger, they’d had a nightlight but their parents had proclaimed them too old for it eventually and taken it away. Thor had listened to Rai’s stifled sobs for a while before climbing into bed with him and cuddling him, telling him that there was nothing in the dark that would hurt him as long as Thor was there.
Thor tried not to think about the fact that the last time he’d seen his brother, Rai had been disappearing into the darkest place that Thor had ever seen. If he thought about that, he’d go mad.
He thought he might be going mad anyway. He hadn’t slept properly in what felt like forever. Once, he’d found it harder to sleep with a light on. Now the dark seemed to crush him so hard that he couldn’t breathe and had to press against one of the windows, longing to go outside and knowing that it was too cold to do so. When he did sleep, he dreamed of Rai and would wake up with his cries swallowed up by the blackness around him.
Tiz noticed that he was tired and distressed and although she dropped it when he asked her too, she obviously didn’t forget. She told Saad. Thor woke up from another dream about Rai being sucked into the darkness to find Saad kneeling beside him, making soothing noises and stroking his hair. Thor twitched away and angrily told him that he didn’t need a nursemaid. Saad, being Saad, quietly agreed and faded out of the room as though he’d never been there. Thor wished he hadn’t been so harsh then. He knew Saad wouldn’t hold a grudge because Saad wasn’t like that but still. Still.
The next sleeping period, Saad wasn’t there. Or the next. Or the next. Thor wondered how he could have hoped Saad might come back after the first time. He told himself he didn’t care.
The fourth time, Saad was there again, fingers gently running through Thor’s hair again, breath blowing warmly on Thor’s neck. Thor muttered a thank you and Saad seemed to be preparing to retreat again, his hand leaving Thor’s head.
“Don’t go!” Thor blurted out. “Please.”
Saad didn’t ask any questions like Tiz would have. He didn’t ask permission either. He simply slipped under the covers and curled himself around Thor, arms wrapping around Thor tightly and resting his chin in Thor’s hair. After the first stab of shock, Thor didn’t say anything. If he did Saad might leave and Thor didn’t want Saad to leave. Not just now. Besides, it made sense that Saad would want to be under the covers. It was very cold out there.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
“No need to thank me, Top,” Saad murmured. “I am always at your service.”
Thor closed his eyes and for the first time in a while, was able to sleep peacefully, untroubled by dreams.
Fandom 11 - Ayatsuri Sakon/Detective Academy Q
Title: Belogning
Rating: R - WARNINGS for weird stuff with puppets.
Pairing: Ryu/Sakon
Summary: Ryu tries to find a place to fit in. He finds Sakon who doesn't exactly fit in either.
It was rather weird to be seduced by a puppet.
Weird people did come to the XD Bar of course. That was really what it was for - the odd or lonely or unhappy people who wanted to go to a place to socialise, have fun and usually to forget for a while. Ryu had wandered into it by mistake once while walking and he’d decided that he rather liked the place. Somehow, he only ever seemed to find it when he was feeling unhappy and he wasn’t sure it often really cheered him up as such but it was fascinating, watching all the people there swimming through their fishbowl lives, looking for company and romance from people who were just as messed up as they were. Ryu supposed that he fitted in there just fine. It was good to belong somewhere.
Usually, Ryu avoided the other people in the bar. He wasn’t even sure why he’d walked over to that strange boy who was in the corner, clutching at what Ryu had first vaguely thought was a child and then realised was a puppet. He was bored perhaps, or thought the boy looked as lonely and confused as Ryu felt. Either way, he had and he’d discovered that the boy was only two years older than Ryu (not that he knew that of course - Ryu lied about his age easily and people always believed him) and his name was Sakon. Not that Sakon had said this himself of course. He’d left that to the puppet. To Ukon.
Ukon was a very chatty puppet. He got Ryu to buy him a drink (which Sakon drank) and asked Ryu all the right questions in a very forthright way. He’d discovered in that Ryu enjoyed solving mysteries and had lit up at that, revealing that he and Sakon enjoyed solving mysteries too. In fact, it was sort of their career - travelling round Japan and solving mysteries wherever they found them. This had of course led to a long discussion of their cases, during which Ryu brought them all several more drinks which meant that they were all slightly drunk by the time the barmaids called last orders. Ryu had sighed because he didn’t really want to go “home” - not that he had a home - and he said so. That had been when Ukon leaned across the table, given a disarming grin - at least as disarming as a puppet could get - and put his cards on the table, as it were.
“See, Sakon here wants to ask you to come back to his room, but he’s too shy,” he said cheerfully. “So I’m asking instead because what’s a guy to do? Sakon is never, ever gonna get anywhere with you otherwise!”
Sakon had blushed very red and Ukon had just kept grinning. And somehow, Ryu had nodded his head because, why not? What did it matter if your partner needed a puppet to talk for him? They weren’t going to talk. At least, Ryu assumed they weren’t going to talk. He wondered if he should be more bothered by all of this. Maybe he was drunker than he’d thought. He was sure that his grandfather would have a lot to say about going back to a strangers room but he didn’t care about that right now. He didn’t come out here to care.
The room was in a fairly cheap motel, sparse and soulless, as they all were. Ryu had spent enough time in rooms like that to hate the feeling they gave. All the rooms he’d ever lived in were like this - blank and soulless, as though anyone could live in them and not be out of place.
Sakon was clutching the ever-grinning Ukon tightly, his face pale, his expression bewildered, as though he couldn’t quite work out how this had happened to him. It was rather adorable, although Ryu supposed that he shouldn’t think that about someone he was planning on taking to bed. Never the less, it stayed in his mind and he found himself grinning back at Ukon, who laughed and shook his head in a pitying way.
“That’s Sakon for you!” he said. “How do I put up with this guy, huh?”
He reached up and patted Sakon’s cheek in an affectionate way and Sakon smiled rueful, as though acknowledging that his puppet knew him best. Ryu walked over, telling himself that there was nothing to worry about. He hadn’t actually done anything like this before but he strongly suspected that Sakon hadn’t either. It was just … somehow he was afraid. And he knew he shouldn’t be afraid because he was Ryu Amakusa and he wasn’t afraid of anything, he wasn’t allowed to be afraid of anything. Especially not something like this.
He leaned up and kissed Sakon gently, trying it out. Sakon trembled, as though even being kissed was too intense for him and Ryu got the feeling he was clutching Ukon tighter to him. Ryu smiled a little to himself at that and continued to kiss Sakon warmly until Sakon gave a little sigh and began to relax, just slightly. He wasn’t exactly responding but he seemed to be enjoying it. Ryu reached up and stroked Sakon’s hair, trying very hard not to squash Ukon. Currently, the puppet wasn’t speaking but Ryu knew that probably wouldn’t last long. His brain was moving rapidly, considering every angle. Sakon was scared but that was dealable with. But Ukon … that was different. Ukon was a puppet.
“Don’t squash me,” Ukon said softly, almost as though he knew that Ryu was thinking of him. His voice was odd, muffled and Ryu knew that was really because he was kissing Sakon but a fanciful idea came to his mind that it was because they almost were squashing Ukon. Sakon drew back a little, the baffled anxiety on his face again. Ryu kissed his jaw gently, reaching down to hold his wrists soothingly. Then he half crouched so that he was on level with Ukon. Moving carefully, he leaned forward and kissed the puppet on the lips.
The weird thing about it was that it didn’t feel like kissing wood. Ukon was warm and not exactly pliant but not the hardness that Ryu was expecting. Sakon made an odd sound above him, a sort of gasped moan, as though Ryu was still kissing him. Ryu reached up and hooked his fingers around Ukon, gently lifting him from Sakon’s grip and placing him down on a chair. Sakon was staring at him, eyes slightly glazed, breath coming in pants. Ryu moved over to him and kissed him again and this time, Sakon kissed him back.
* * * *
Ryu wasn’t quite sure what woke him. Perhaps it was vague guilt that Yurie-san was going to be worried about him. Perhaps it was because of the thin beam of sunlight that was now coming through the window shutters. Sakon was curled up beside him, sound asleep. Ryu looked down at him, wondering what Sakon’s story really was. He couldn’t be quite normal, could he? Not with Ukon.
Thinking about the odd puppet made him look over to the chair where he’d placed Ukon. He frowned. Last night, he could have sworn he’d put Ukon with his back to the bed. Ryu didn’t like eyes pointed at him. But Ukon was now sitting around, hands placed neatly on his lap, staring at them with lifeless eyes. As though he was watching them.
Ryu shook his head firmly. Ukon was a puppet and Sakon was messed up. That was just how things were. The XD Bar was filled with messed up people. People who didn’t belong.
He got up and began to dress swiftly. He’d tell Yurie-san that he’d stayed the night with someone and that it wasn’t her business. It wasn’t after all. She was to look after him, not to boss him around.
“Ryu-san?”
Sakon sounded sleepy and confused. Ryu looked at him, then lifted Ukon from the chair and placed it on the bed. Sakon’s fingers curled around the puppet and his confused look melted away, replaced by the strange, cool expression that he had worn last night. Ukon flickered into life and grinned.
“See ya, Ryu!” he said.
“Goodbye,” Ryu said politely. “It was nice to meet you both.”
He slipped out of the room, closing the door gently behind him and checking his watch. Time to get home and face Yurie-san. Just one more day before he would be a member of DDS. One more day and then he’d have a place that he belonged.
Title: Liars
Rating: High R
Pairing: Jack/Ianto
Summary: Jack sits and thinks while Ianto sleeps.
Jack was smoking a cigarette. He didn’t make a habit of smoking - given his inability to die, he was a little anxious about what would happen if he got lung cancer - but sometimes, he just wanted to.
Beside him, Ianto was curled up in the bed. Earlier, he’d been shivering with cold so Jack had draped his coat over him and now Ianto looked slightly swamped. One of his hands had come up and he was clutched the coat tightly to him, a small smile on his face. He looked so peaceful like that. So … untroubled.
Yeah, right.
Ianto said that he loved Jack tonight. The first time he ever claimed to be in love. It was in the heat of the moment of course - all sweaty limbs and tongues and hair in each other’s eyes. But he said it and he said it with such belief that Jack almost found it frightening.
Jack supposed that he ought to feel bad about his relationship with Ianto. After all, he wasn’t capable of being in love. Once, he’d considered himself to be the ultimate in love, finding it easy to be in love with many people but now … now he felt that he couldn’t love anything. And Ianto didn’t love him, not really. Not that Ianto was aware of that.
The first time they’d fucked, Ianto had been angry with him. Burning with rage, accusations, hatred. Ianto had called him a heartless monster and Jack had retaliated by laughing and mocking him until Ianto had flown at him, tears of rage spilling down his face. Jack had slammed him against the wall, scorning his fighting skills and Ianto had sworn at him, calling him an animal, saying he was controlled by nothing but instinct and knew nothing of love. So Jack had kissed him - he wasn’t quite sure why, it just seemed like The Thing to Do - and Ianto had kissed back furiously and neither of them had tried to call a halt to proceedings after that.
Somehow, in the middle of the hatred and rage they’d both felt, it had softened. Ianto’s tears had slowed and become quieter and he’d lain peacefully against Jack afterwards, hiding his face in Jack’s shoulder as Jack had kissed him tenderly and stroked his hair and said that he was sorry.
“Liar,” Ianto whispered back, sounding almost comfortable about it. “You’re always such a liar, Sir.”
Jack had rather thought that would be the end of it but it hadn’t. He should have know it wouldn’t really but he hadn’t quite put it together in his mind yet and so simply just didn’t think of it. So when Ianto came to him one evening after the others had gone and knelt down and kissed him, Jack had been a little startled. But he’d never been one to push away something offered on a plate so he had responded warmly, pulling Ianto over to the bed and down with him. Ianto had clung to him and murmured and called him Sir. He always called Jack “Sir.” How could you think yourself in love with someone if you never called them by their name?
Jack knew he wasn’t in love with Ianto. He never could be. Ianto would grow old - hopefully, Ianto would grow old - and die. Jack wouldn’t grow old. His face would never change. He wouldn’t be able to stay here forever - he’d have to move on before they started to wonder why his face never changed. Why his hair didn’t grey, why his skin didn’t wrinkle. And even if he stayed, Ianto would age and die and turn to dust and Jack would have to let him go. He didn’t have room for love any more. Too dangerous. Too painful.
Ianto wasn’t in love with Jack. Jack didn’t think Ianto had been in love with anything except for that woman. He’d spoken about his parents dispassionately. Jack knew they were dead but he didn’t know how or why. Ianto would never say. No siblings, no family, nothing. He’d worked because he had to and somehow, he’d become a member of Torchwood. Jack suspected that Ianto had originally loved his work in some strange way - the only constant in his life. And then he’d met Lisa. He’d loved Lisa. And she’d died and Ianto had kept loving her. And now … now he needed something else to love. And Jack was there, Jack the solid constant of Torchwood who’d fuck anything that moved. Fucking could lead to something else, couldn’t it?
At least, that was probably what Ianto believed.
“Sir?”
Jack blinked and looked down. Ianto’s eyes were half-open and he was staring at Jack sleepily.
“Yeah?”
“Shouldn’t smoke,” Ianto mumbled. “Get lung cancer.”
He snuggled down deeper and Jack grinned at him. He stubbed the cigarette out and slipped under the blankets with him, wrapping his arms around Ianto’s body, pulling him close.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said cheerfully. “It’d take more than lung caner to kill me!”
Fandom 10 - Jyu Oh Sei
Title: In The Dark
Rating: PG
Summary: Thor was never afraid of the dark before he came to Chimera. Somewhat subtexty regarding Thor/Saad
Thor had never been scared of the dark before.
Perhaps it was because this dark was different. There weren’t electric lights here. There was no light outside now that it was Night. And Rai wasn’t there to share it with him.
Rai had been the one who was afraid of the dark. When they’d been younger, they’d had a nightlight but their parents had proclaimed them too old for it eventually and taken it away. Thor had listened to Rai’s stifled sobs for a while before climbing into bed with him and cuddling him, telling him that there was nothing in the dark that would hurt him as long as Thor was there.
Thor tried not to think about the fact that the last time he’d seen his brother, Rai had been disappearing into the darkest place that Thor had ever seen. If he thought about that, he’d go mad.
He thought he might be going mad anyway. He hadn’t slept properly in what felt like forever. Once, he’d found it harder to sleep with a light on. Now the dark seemed to crush him so hard that he couldn’t breathe and had to press against one of the windows, longing to go outside and knowing that it was too cold to do so. When he did sleep, he dreamed of Rai and would wake up with his cries swallowed up by the blackness around him.
Tiz noticed that he was tired and distressed and although she dropped it when he asked her too, she obviously didn’t forget. She told Saad. Thor woke up from another dream about Rai being sucked into the darkness to find Saad kneeling beside him, making soothing noises and stroking his hair. Thor twitched away and angrily told him that he didn’t need a nursemaid. Saad, being Saad, quietly agreed and faded out of the room as though he’d never been there. Thor wished he hadn’t been so harsh then. He knew Saad wouldn’t hold a grudge because Saad wasn’t like that but still. Still.
The next sleeping period, Saad wasn’t there. Or the next. Or the next. Thor wondered how he could have hoped Saad might come back after the first time. He told himself he didn’t care.
The fourth time, Saad was there again, fingers gently running through Thor’s hair again, breath blowing warmly on Thor’s neck. Thor muttered a thank you and Saad seemed to be preparing to retreat again, his hand leaving Thor’s head.
“Don’t go!” Thor blurted out. “Please.”
Saad didn’t ask any questions like Tiz would have. He didn’t ask permission either. He simply slipped under the covers and curled himself around Thor, arms wrapping around Thor tightly and resting his chin in Thor’s hair. After the first stab of shock, Thor didn’t say anything. If he did Saad might leave and Thor didn’t want Saad to leave. Not just now. Besides, it made sense that Saad would want to be under the covers. It was very cold out there.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
“No need to thank me, Top,” Saad murmured. “I am always at your service.”
Thor closed his eyes and for the first time in a while, was able to sleep peacefully, untroubled by dreams.
Fandom 11 - Ayatsuri Sakon/Detective Academy Q
Title: Belogning
Rating: R - WARNINGS for weird stuff with puppets.
Pairing: Ryu/Sakon
Summary: Ryu tries to find a place to fit in. He finds Sakon who doesn't exactly fit in either.
It was rather weird to be seduced by a puppet.
Weird people did come to the XD Bar of course. That was really what it was for - the odd or lonely or unhappy people who wanted to go to a place to socialise, have fun and usually to forget for a while. Ryu had wandered into it by mistake once while walking and he’d decided that he rather liked the place. Somehow, he only ever seemed to find it when he was feeling unhappy and he wasn’t sure it often really cheered him up as such but it was fascinating, watching all the people there swimming through their fishbowl lives, looking for company and romance from people who were just as messed up as they were. Ryu supposed that he fitted in there just fine. It was good to belong somewhere.
Usually, Ryu avoided the other people in the bar. He wasn’t even sure why he’d walked over to that strange boy who was in the corner, clutching at what Ryu had first vaguely thought was a child and then realised was a puppet. He was bored perhaps, or thought the boy looked as lonely and confused as Ryu felt. Either way, he had and he’d discovered that the boy was only two years older than Ryu (not that he knew that of course - Ryu lied about his age easily and people always believed him) and his name was Sakon. Not that Sakon had said this himself of course. He’d left that to the puppet. To Ukon.
Ukon was a very chatty puppet. He got Ryu to buy him a drink (which Sakon drank) and asked Ryu all the right questions in a very forthright way. He’d discovered in that Ryu enjoyed solving mysteries and had lit up at that, revealing that he and Sakon enjoyed solving mysteries too. In fact, it was sort of their career - travelling round Japan and solving mysteries wherever they found them. This had of course led to a long discussion of their cases, during which Ryu brought them all several more drinks which meant that they were all slightly drunk by the time the barmaids called last orders. Ryu had sighed because he didn’t really want to go “home” - not that he had a home - and he said so. That had been when Ukon leaned across the table, given a disarming grin - at least as disarming as a puppet could get - and put his cards on the table, as it were.
“See, Sakon here wants to ask you to come back to his room, but he’s too shy,” he said cheerfully. “So I’m asking instead because what’s a guy to do? Sakon is never, ever gonna get anywhere with you otherwise!”
Sakon had blushed very red and Ukon had just kept grinning. And somehow, Ryu had nodded his head because, why not? What did it matter if your partner needed a puppet to talk for him? They weren’t going to talk. At least, Ryu assumed they weren’t going to talk. He wondered if he should be more bothered by all of this. Maybe he was drunker than he’d thought. He was sure that his grandfather would have a lot to say about going back to a strangers room but he didn’t care about that right now. He didn’t come out here to care.
The room was in a fairly cheap motel, sparse and soulless, as they all were. Ryu had spent enough time in rooms like that to hate the feeling they gave. All the rooms he’d ever lived in were like this - blank and soulless, as though anyone could live in them and not be out of place.
Sakon was clutching the ever-grinning Ukon tightly, his face pale, his expression bewildered, as though he couldn’t quite work out how this had happened to him. It was rather adorable, although Ryu supposed that he shouldn’t think that about someone he was planning on taking to bed. Never the less, it stayed in his mind and he found himself grinning back at Ukon, who laughed and shook his head in a pitying way.
“That’s Sakon for you!” he said. “How do I put up with this guy, huh?”
He reached up and patted Sakon’s cheek in an affectionate way and Sakon smiled rueful, as though acknowledging that his puppet knew him best. Ryu walked over, telling himself that there was nothing to worry about. He hadn’t actually done anything like this before but he strongly suspected that Sakon hadn’t either. It was just … somehow he was afraid. And he knew he shouldn’t be afraid because he was Ryu Amakusa and he wasn’t afraid of anything, he wasn’t allowed to be afraid of anything. Especially not something like this.
He leaned up and kissed Sakon gently, trying it out. Sakon trembled, as though even being kissed was too intense for him and Ryu got the feeling he was clutching Ukon tighter to him. Ryu smiled a little to himself at that and continued to kiss Sakon warmly until Sakon gave a little sigh and began to relax, just slightly. He wasn’t exactly responding but he seemed to be enjoying it. Ryu reached up and stroked Sakon’s hair, trying very hard not to squash Ukon. Currently, the puppet wasn’t speaking but Ryu knew that probably wouldn’t last long. His brain was moving rapidly, considering every angle. Sakon was scared but that was dealable with. But Ukon … that was different. Ukon was a puppet.
“Don’t squash me,” Ukon said softly, almost as though he knew that Ryu was thinking of him. His voice was odd, muffled and Ryu knew that was really because he was kissing Sakon but a fanciful idea came to his mind that it was because they almost were squashing Ukon. Sakon drew back a little, the baffled anxiety on his face again. Ryu kissed his jaw gently, reaching down to hold his wrists soothingly. Then he half crouched so that he was on level with Ukon. Moving carefully, he leaned forward and kissed the puppet on the lips.
The weird thing about it was that it didn’t feel like kissing wood. Ukon was warm and not exactly pliant but not the hardness that Ryu was expecting. Sakon made an odd sound above him, a sort of gasped moan, as though Ryu was still kissing him. Ryu reached up and hooked his fingers around Ukon, gently lifting him from Sakon’s grip and placing him down on a chair. Sakon was staring at him, eyes slightly glazed, breath coming in pants. Ryu moved over to him and kissed him again and this time, Sakon kissed him back.
* * * *
Ryu wasn’t quite sure what woke him. Perhaps it was vague guilt that Yurie-san was going to be worried about him. Perhaps it was because of the thin beam of sunlight that was now coming through the window shutters. Sakon was curled up beside him, sound asleep. Ryu looked down at him, wondering what Sakon’s story really was. He couldn’t be quite normal, could he? Not with Ukon.
Thinking about the odd puppet made him look over to the chair where he’d placed Ukon. He frowned. Last night, he could have sworn he’d put Ukon with his back to the bed. Ryu didn’t like eyes pointed at him. But Ukon was now sitting around, hands placed neatly on his lap, staring at them with lifeless eyes. As though he was watching them.
Ryu shook his head firmly. Ukon was a puppet and Sakon was messed up. That was just how things were. The XD Bar was filled with messed up people. People who didn’t belong.
He got up and began to dress swiftly. He’d tell Yurie-san that he’d stayed the night with someone and that it wasn’t her business. It wasn’t after all. She was to look after him, not to boss him around.
“Ryu-san?”
Sakon sounded sleepy and confused. Ryu looked at him, then lifted Ukon from the chair and placed it on the bed. Sakon’s fingers curled around the puppet and his confused look melted away, replaced by the strange, cool expression that he had worn last night. Ukon flickered into life and grinned.
“See ya, Ryu!” he said.
“Goodbye,” Ryu said politely. “It was nice to meet you both.”
He slipped out of the room, closing the door gently behind him and checking his watch. Time to get home and face Yurie-san. Just one more day before he would be a member of DDS. One more day and then he’d have a place that he belonged.