Off the Rails, Kudari/Nobori, NC-17
Title: Off the Rails
Author: Nanaki BH
Pairing: Kudari/Nobori
Words: 2,696
Warnings: Incest
Summary: There was a moral dilemma about this kind of thing that Nobori kept avoiding. He was going to have to face it one day... Just perhaps not this day.
Notes: Written for Round 5 of kink_bingo for the "wet messy dirty" square on my card.
Sleep was a luxury. The time they spent on the trains occupied most of their time and usually encroached on the midnight hours when there were trainers whose battles had yet to reach their conclusions. A lot of that time was spent by themselves in their train car, waiting for the lucky trainer who would make it to them at last.
It was too good to be true, Nobori thought. When was the last time he had hung his hat at the coat rack next to their bed? When was the last time his jacket had met their bedroom floor? Too long. It had been way too long since he had enjoyed the simple pleasure of sleeping in his own bed. It actually wasn't that uncomfortable to sleep shoulder-to-shoulder with Kudari on the train, but it got awkward if any trainers came by while they were like that.
It had happened. A few times.
Kudari thought it was funny, but Nobori didn't like the attention. He was there to battle. Letting trainers see him and his brother like that... It took away from their image. They had an image to maintain. They were like legends on the subway now and he didn't like getting caught off guard.
It bothered him. When Kudari got his way, he let him have it. He rarely tried to stop him, really stop him. It was a moral dilemma he didn't let himself ponder too heavily, because if he did, he might decide to push back for real. He didn't want to think about it, so instead he focused on the way his pillow felt under his head, comfortingly conforming to his shape.
He must have fallen asleep because there was a black, formless gap in his memory between the moment when his head hit the pillow and what came next: the feeling of his brother's hands around his neck. He couldn't see, his eyes obscured by some kind of blindfold, but the touch was undeniably that of Kudari. Had he not woken with such a start, he would have preferred to lay there silently to observe where this would lead.
“Did I wake you?” Kudari asked quietly, smoothing his soft, gloved hands along Nobori's jaw.
Nobori huffed softly and turned his head to the side, trying to see from underneath the blindfold to no avail. “Yes,” he answered. “I was asleep. I was enjoying it, in fact.”
“Sorry. I'll try not to disturb you further.”
Blatant lies. Kudari grasped his chin between his thumb and forefinger and turned his head, bringing their lips together at a fine angle. It was around that moment that Nobori attempted to lift his hands to return his hold - push away - but found that they had been tied together and were trapped between them, unmovable.
“Was that necessary?” he asked.
“Your hands?” Kudari asked.
“My hands. Yes.”
“No. Not really. I guess. Is it?”
“Necessary?” he asked.
“Yes. Would you rather they not be tied together? I can untie them... If you won't try to escape, that is.”
Nobori thought about it for a split second and remembered that he didn't want to think about it. “Leave them. Have your way.”
Kudari didn't need to hear anything more, that being enough to satisfy him. Nobori could tell that he licked his lips first before they were pressed against his again, a little wet and sweet. He opened his mouth to accept the unique taste, letting his brother explore his mouth with a ravenous passion. He sighed, his head feeling a little light, like he was floating or drifting back down to sleep. With his eyes closed, he could imagine that he was dreaming, the weight of his brother pressing down on him just a figment of his unconscious imagination.
He had his own way of enjoying his time off. This was Kudari's way. It wasn't what he could conventionally call 'relaxing' but the smooth rhythm of Kudari's lips pressing against his made him feel more at ease; relaxed, even.
Two kisses to his left cheek. One lower, beneath his jaw. Then a light pinch as he bit gently at the corner of his mouth.
He didn't have to see him to know what it all looked like. Nobori could see the scenario as clearly in his mind as if he were looking in a mirror. The only difference was the smile he wore, pressing against his own slightly down-turned lips. Kudari wasn't smug, though. He simply enjoyed himself too much.
“It's been a while,” Kudari said, his breath gusting against his ear. “Too long.”
With one more little tug, his tie was freed from the collar of his shirt and Nobori heard it flutter to the floor somewhere beside him. Without bothering to untuck his shirt from his pants, Kudari began unbuttoning his shirt from the navel up. He could never just do things the regular way. No, he only felt like opening his shirt enough to get a peek at what he was after; the flat of his stomach, the width of his chest.
Nobori could hear his brother's breath quicken the moment before he felt his mouth decent upon one of his nipples. He bathed it with his tongue and brought his lips together to provide the kind of suction around it that made Nobori worry for his sanity. Kudari must have figured out how easily he could be wrapped around his fingers if he paid his chest some attention.
“What are you doing?” he asked after a moment's pause.
“Observing,” Kudari said, voice hushed. “Admiring.”
“You could do that in a mirror. Why do you need me?”
He didn't expect his mouth to be attacked with such force for that. It was like Kudari was taking something out on him, like he took offense to that comment.
The corner of his mouth received another bite. Surely, there would be a bruise left over, if not worse. “Silly Nobori,” he said, sounding a little wistful. “Because I love having a brother.”
He swallowed thickly. “I see...”
Kudari placed a thumb along his bottom lip and lower, curled his palm around the ridge in Nobori's pants. He hissed, already cursing himself for responding so immediately to his touch. Kudari found it amusing, of course, chuckling quietly to himself as he rubbed the heel of his palm against the outline of his cock.
The second he lifted his hand away, Nobori found his hands struggling against their bonds, wishing to reach out to return his hand to where it had been. He had no choice but to remain helpless to his brother's whims. He trusted him... somewhat. With his level of devotion, he knew that he would never do anything to hurt him, but he couldn't help but feel a little wary at the same time.
He lifted himself off of him for a few moments. There was more rustling. Kudari's clothes, he assumed. Nobori kept his patience as he waited for him to return.
“Now then. Allow me.”
His buckle clinked as the leather belt was pulled free from it. It slapped against the sensitive, exposed portion of his stomach as it was pulled from its loops, but it felt nice to be rid of some of the pressure. At last, his pants were unbuttoned and unzipped and were tugged down his thighs. He wondered himself why he hadn't even bothered doing that for himself when he first got into bed. Perhaps that was a testament of how tired he had actually been. All of that seemed to be in the past, though, all of his attentions alert and focused now on what Kudari would do next.
Once he removed his pants, he pushed his shirt open further and raised his arms above his head, linking them behind his neck. He grabbed his chin and inclined it toward his chest. Not so gracefully, he straddled his chest and Nobori's head swam, being able to smell his arousal so close.
“Nobori's mouth,” he said admiringly. “You're drooling.”
“I am not,” he snorted.
He felt him nudge the head of his cock against his lips and his pulse pounded in his ears. He didn't want to make Kudari sound right, but his mouth was watering and his cock was responding to his brother's proximity.
“Go on...”
He moved forward a fraction and let his lips close around the head. The heady taste of him spread across his tongue the farther he took him into his mouth and it was impossible to disguise the effect it was having on him with his tongue so wet and anxious. Kudari sighed and leaned back, putting his hands on Nobori's bare thighs to balance himself.
“Good,” he said simply, letting him do all the work. It was tougher than Nobori expected, not being able to use his hands for it, but he managed. Even when his cock slipped from his lips, he wasn't deterred, letting it rub against the side of his face, licking it with the flat of his tongue.
“Kudari...”
He didn't mean for it to sound so pleading, but that was how it came out. He knew what he wanted, essentially, but he didn't feel like putting it into words. Kudari was there for that.
“You want my cock?” he asked, caressing a hand along the sensitive inner-side of one of his thighs. Just that was enough to make his cock twitch and his hips jerked on reflex. He felt the head of his cock brush against the back of his brother's dress shirt, picking up coarse friction, and he groaned. “Yes?”
“Are you really so determined to hear me say it, Kudari?”
“I am!”
Perhaps he shouldn't have even asked. If he just kept rutting against him, rolling his hips around the bed, then he probably would have relented on his own. But no, this was Kudari. His thoughts weren't very predictable.
He could bite the bullet this time.
“You know what I want, Kudari.”
“Is that the best I'm going to get?” he asked, sounding disappointed. Nobori could picture his smile faltering, his eyebrows quirking.
“Yes. Now put it in.”
He sighed like it was such a concession. “Fine.”
Kudari eased himself off of him and slid down his body. Once he was seated between his legs, he leaned over him and gave him another kiss, as if seeking to find a taste of himself left behind on his lips. Nobori returned the kiss, sliding his tongue along his brother's as he felt him begin to tease his fingers around his entrance. The wince he gave must have indicated his discomfort because Kudari's fingers disappeared a second later and he heard him shuffling through their things next to the bed.
“Hm...”
Instead of what he was expecting, he felt his brother's fingers press against his lips, seeking entry. As long as they hadn't run out of lube, he would be alright with this for now. He opened his mouth and sucked on his fingers greedily, working his tongue carefully over both digits to thoroughly coat them.
His skin tasted a little salty, but something about sucking on his fingers really made his cock ache. This whole time, he hadn't paid a bit of attention to his cock and the ache was growing into a need that was going to turn painful soon if he didn't touch him.
“Kudari,” he mumbled around his fingers.
He pulled away his fingers eventually, leaving him gasping, chest heaving.
“So nice,” he praised, rubbing his other hand through his sweaty hair as his spit-slicked fingers traveled lower to press against his entrance. He massaged them around the tight muscle but found no resistance when he began pressing them inside. “Very willing too, I see.”
“O-of course. You've been working me up this whole time. What else would you expect? Get on with it. Now.”
“Okay,” he sang.
He heard the familiar sound of the lubricant being uncapped and his nostrils flared just hearing the wet sound of Kudari stroking some amount of it over his cock. A hand roughly grabbed one of his knees and pushed it to the side. Nobori obediently followed by spreading the other leg out for him and breathed a sigh when, at last, he felt his cock nudging inside.
There was some kind of moral dilemma he was avoiding about this kind of thing, wasn't there? With Kudari's cock firmly buried in his ass, it was hard to remember what that dilemma was about, though. All of his senses were consumed by the sound of his brother's thighs slapping against his, the bed creaking, the feeling of his fingers finally giving him what he wanted as they wrapped around his leaking cock. Even more wonderful - that was the hand he had used to lubricate himself. The same fingers he had him suck on for him.
He moaned his brother's name, turned his head to press his cheek into the pillow to hide the shame his pleasure brought him. Even if his eyes were blindfolded, there was no hiding the degree to which is body accepted Kudari's. His body accepted Kudari's as if it were his own. Hopefully the blindfold was enough to take the edge off of how narcissistic that sentiment sounded to him.
For a while, he let himself escape into the sound of skin on skin that dominated the atmosphere around them. Aside from the banging of his heart against his ribs, the sound and rhythm of it was quite relaxing and hypnotic. Unable to see anything, it was like he had fallen into an abyss where Kudari was the one who controlled each of his senses.
His arms were starting to get pretty sore and the soreness was starting to travel to his shoulders, but it wasn't so bad that he couldn't ignore it for the moment. He had better things to focus on, like the way Kudari was rolling his palm over the head of his cock with each quick stroke he gave him. The closer Kudari drove to his own limits, the faster and tighter his grip seemed to become.
Without warning, his climax hit him, sweeping over his whole body like a forceful wave, come splattering over his stomach and chest.
“Kudari,” he whimpered, feeling too sensitive as Kudari continued to thrust deeply inside him, dragging his cock over the spot that made him feel like he was melting. “Don't ever stop.”
“Afraid I'll have to,” he replied with a laugh. With a few more sharp snaps of his hips, he came inside him. His grip on his knees grew viciously strong, his nails digging into his skin as his hips stuttered. “If you could see yourself...”
He took Nobori's spent cock in his palm again and gave him a few more strokes, probably just to watch him jerk and sob for it.
Finally, at the same time as he slid out of him, he removed the blindfold and tossed it aside. Nobori wasn't sure what he was expecting to see anymore. Before him was the silhouetted, naked figure of his brother, straddling him in the light of the moon. His skin looked pale as the moon itself, his expression soft and sated. There was no more devilish intent to be found anywhere in his face, just affection.
As he longed to reach out for him, Kudari untied his hands. Once they were undone, he leaned forward and enveloped him in his arms, pressing his face to his chest.
“Stay right here with me,” he mumbled. Not like he had anywhere else to go. They shared one bed most of the time.
Kudari hummed and scratched his fingers along the back of his neck. “Shouldn't I bathe? I'm gross now. You don't want me like this.”
“It's fine,” he assured. “You're fine. Stay.”
They collapsed back into the bed together and it wasn't long before sleep overcame both of them. His brother's warm breath against his neck and the delicate smile on his face may have convinced him then, if only until the sun rose the next morning, that there was nothing for him to worry about after all.
Author: Nanaki BH
Pairing: Kudari/Nobori
Words: 2,696
Warnings: Incest
Summary: There was a moral dilemma about this kind of thing that Nobori kept avoiding. He was going to have to face it one day... Just perhaps not this day.
Notes: Written for Round 5 of kink_bingo for the "wet messy dirty" square on my card.
Sleep was a luxury. The time they spent on the trains occupied most of their time and usually encroached on the midnight hours when there were trainers whose battles had yet to reach their conclusions. A lot of that time was spent by themselves in their train car, waiting for the lucky trainer who would make it to them at last.
It was too good to be true, Nobori thought. When was the last time he had hung his hat at the coat rack next to their bed? When was the last time his jacket had met their bedroom floor? Too long. It had been way too long since he had enjoyed the simple pleasure of sleeping in his own bed. It actually wasn't that uncomfortable to sleep shoulder-to-shoulder with Kudari on the train, but it got awkward if any trainers came by while they were like that.
It had happened. A few times.
Kudari thought it was funny, but Nobori didn't like the attention. He was there to battle. Letting trainers see him and his brother like that... It took away from their image. They had an image to maintain. They were like legends on the subway now and he didn't like getting caught off guard.
It bothered him. When Kudari got his way, he let him have it. He rarely tried to stop him, really stop him. It was a moral dilemma he didn't let himself ponder too heavily, because if he did, he might decide to push back for real. He didn't want to think about it, so instead he focused on the way his pillow felt under his head, comfortingly conforming to his shape.
He must have fallen asleep because there was a black, formless gap in his memory between the moment when his head hit the pillow and what came next: the feeling of his brother's hands around his neck. He couldn't see, his eyes obscured by some kind of blindfold, but the touch was undeniably that of Kudari. Had he not woken with such a start, he would have preferred to lay there silently to observe where this would lead.
“Did I wake you?” Kudari asked quietly, smoothing his soft, gloved hands along Nobori's jaw.
Nobori huffed softly and turned his head to the side, trying to see from underneath the blindfold to no avail. “Yes,” he answered. “I was asleep. I was enjoying it, in fact.”
“Sorry. I'll try not to disturb you further.”
Blatant lies. Kudari grasped his chin between his thumb and forefinger and turned his head, bringing their lips together at a fine angle. It was around that moment that Nobori attempted to lift his hands to return his hold - push away - but found that they had been tied together and were trapped between them, unmovable.
“Was that necessary?” he asked.
“Your hands?” Kudari asked.
“My hands. Yes.”
“No. Not really. I guess. Is it?”
“Necessary?” he asked.
“Yes. Would you rather they not be tied together? I can untie them... If you won't try to escape, that is.”
Nobori thought about it for a split second and remembered that he didn't want to think about it. “Leave them. Have your way.”
Kudari didn't need to hear anything more, that being enough to satisfy him. Nobori could tell that he licked his lips first before they were pressed against his again, a little wet and sweet. He opened his mouth to accept the unique taste, letting his brother explore his mouth with a ravenous passion. He sighed, his head feeling a little light, like he was floating or drifting back down to sleep. With his eyes closed, he could imagine that he was dreaming, the weight of his brother pressing down on him just a figment of his unconscious imagination.
He had his own way of enjoying his time off. This was Kudari's way. It wasn't what he could conventionally call 'relaxing' but the smooth rhythm of Kudari's lips pressing against his made him feel more at ease; relaxed, even.
Two kisses to his left cheek. One lower, beneath his jaw. Then a light pinch as he bit gently at the corner of his mouth.
He didn't have to see him to know what it all looked like. Nobori could see the scenario as clearly in his mind as if he were looking in a mirror. The only difference was the smile he wore, pressing against his own slightly down-turned lips. Kudari wasn't smug, though. He simply enjoyed himself too much.
“It's been a while,” Kudari said, his breath gusting against his ear. “Too long.”
With one more little tug, his tie was freed from the collar of his shirt and Nobori heard it flutter to the floor somewhere beside him. Without bothering to untuck his shirt from his pants, Kudari began unbuttoning his shirt from the navel up. He could never just do things the regular way. No, he only felt like opening his shirt enough to get a peek at what he was after; the flat of his stomach, the width of his chest.
Nobori could hear his brother's breath quicken the moment before he felt his mouth decent upon one of his nipples. He bathed it with his tongue and brought his lips together to provide the kind of suction around it that made Nobori worry for his sanity. Kudari must have figured out how easily he could be wrapped around his fingers if he paid his chest some attention.
“What are you doing?” he asked after a moment's pause.
“Observing,” Kudari said, voice hushed. “Admiring.”
“You could do that in a mirror. Why do you need me?”
He didn't expect his mouth to be attacked with such force for that. It was like Kudari was taking something out on him, like he took offense to that comment.
The corner of his mouth received another bite. Surely, there would be a bruise left over, if not worse. “Silly Nobori,” he said, sounding a little wistful. “Because I love having a brother.”
He swallowed thickly. “I see...”
Kudari placed a thumb along his bottom lip and lower, curled his palm around the ridge in Nobori's pants. He hissed, already cursing himself for responding so immediately to his touch. Kudari found it amusing, of course, chuckling quietly to himself as he rubbed the heel of his palm against the outline of his cock.
The second he lifted his hand away, Nobori found his hands struggling against their bonds, wishing to reach out to return his hand to where it had been. He had no choice but to remain helpless to his brother's whims. He trusted him... somewhat. With his level of devotion, he knew that he would never do anything to hurt him, but he couldn't help but feel a little wary at the same time.
He lifted himself off of him for a few moments. There was more rustling. Kudari's clothes, he assumed. Nobori kept his patience as he waited for him to return.
“Now then. Allow me.”
His buckle clinked as the leather belt was pulled free from it. It slapped against the sensitive, exposed portion of his stomach as it was pulled from its loops, but it felt nice to be rid of some of the pressure. At last, his pants were unbuttoned and unzipped and were tugged down his thighs. He wondered himself why he hadn't even bothered doing that for himself when he first got into bed. Perhaps that was a testament of how tired he had actually been. All of that seemed to be in the past, though, all of his attentions alert and focused now on what Kudari would do next.
Once he removed his pants, he pushed his shirt open further and raised his arms above his head, linking them behind his neck. He grabbed his chin and inclined it toward his chest. Not so gracefully, he straddled his chest and Nobori's head swam, being able to smell his arousal so close.
“Nobori's mouth,” he said admiringly. “You're drooling.”
“I am not,” he snorted.
He felt him nudge the head of his cock against his lips and his pulse pounded in his ears. He didn't want to make Kudari sound right, but his mouth was watering and his cock was responding to his brother's proximity.
“Go on...”
He moved forward a fraction and let his lips close around the head. The heady taste of him spread across his tongue the farther he took him into his mouth and it was impossible to disguise the effect it was having on him with his tongue so wet and anxious. Kudari sighed and leaned back, putting his hands on Nobori's bare thighs to balance himself.
“Good,” he said simply, letting him do all the work. It was tougher than Nobori expected, not being able to use his hands for it, but he managed. Even when his cock slipped from his lips, he wasn't deterred, letting it rub against the side of his face, licking it with the flat of his tongue.
“Kudari...”
He didn't mean for it to sound so pleading, but that was how it came out. He knew what he wanted, essentially, but he didn't feel like putting it into words. Kudari was there for that.
“You want my cock?” he asked, caressing a hand along the sensitive inner-side of one of his thighs. Just that was enough to make his cock twitch and his hips jerked on reflex. He felt the head of his cock brush against the back of his brother's dress shirt, picking up coarse friction, and he groaned. “Yes?”
“Are you really so determined to hear me say it, Kudari?”
“I am!”
Perhaps he shouldn't have even asked. If he just kept rutting against him, rolling his hips around the bed, then he probably would have relented on his own. But no, this was Kudari. His thoughts weren't very predictable.
He could bite the bullet this time.
“You know what I want, Kudari.”
“Is that the best I'm going to get?” he asked, sounding disappointed. Nobori could picture his smile faltering, his eyebrows quirking.
“Yes. Now put it in.”
He sighed like it was such a concession. “Fine.”
Kudari eased himself off of him and slid down his body. Once he was seated between his legs, he leaned over him and gave him another kiss, as if seeking to find a taste of himself left behind on his lips. Nobori returned the kiss, sliding his tongue along his brother's as he felt him begin to tease his fingers around his entrance. The wince he gave must have indicated his discomfort because Kudari's fingers disappeared a second later and he heard him shuffling through their things next to the bed.
“Hm...”
Instead of what he was expecting, he felt his brother's fingers press against his lips, seeking entry. As long as they hadn't run out of lube, he would be alright with this for now. He opened his mouth and sucked on his fingers greedily, working his tongue carefully over both digits to thoroughly coat them.
His skin tasted a little salty, but something about sucking on his fingers really made his cock ache. This whole time, he hadn't paid a bit of attention to his cock and the ache was growing into a need that was going to turn painful soon if he didn't touch him.
“Kudari,” he mumbled around his fingers.
He pulled away his fingers eventually, leaving him gasping, chest heaving.
“So nice,” he praised, rubbing his other hand through his sweaty hair as his spit-slicked fingers traveled lower to press against his entrance. He massaged them around the tight muscle but found no resistance when he began pressing them inside. “Very willing too, I see.”
“O-of course. You've been working me up this whole time. What else would you expect? Get on with it. Now.”
“Okay,” he sang.
He heard the familiar sound of the lubricant being uncapped and his nostrils flared just hearing the wet sound of Kudari stroking some amount of it over his cock. A hand roughly grabbed one of his knees and pushed it to the side. Nobori obediently followed by spreading the other leg out for him and breathed a sigh when, at last, he felt his cock nudging inside.
There was some kind of moral dilemma he was avoiding about this kind of thing, wasn't there? With Kudari's cock firmly buried in his ass, it was hard to remember what that dilemma was about, though. All of his senses were consumed by the sound of his brother's thighs slapping against his, the bed creaking, the feeling of his fingers finally giving him what he wanted as they wrapped around his leaking cock. Even more wonderful - that was the hand he had used to lubricate himself. The same fingers he had him suck on for him.
He moaned his brother's name, turned his head to press his cheek into the pillow to hide the shame his pleasure brought him. Even if his eyes were blindfolded, there was no hiding the degree to which is body accepted Kudari's. His body accepted Kudari's as if it were his own. Hopefully the blindfold was enough to take the edge off of how narcissistic that sentiment sounded to him.
For a while, he let himself escape into the sound of skin on skin that dominated the atmosphere around them. Aside from the banging of his heart against his ribs, the sound and rhythm of it was quite relaxing and hypnotic. Unable to see anything, it was like he had fallen into an abyss where Kudari was the one who controlled each of his senses.
His arms were starting to get pretty sore and the soreness was starting to travel to his shoulders, but it wasn't so bad that he couldn't ignore it for the moment. He had better things to focus on, like the way Kudari was rolling his palm over the head of his cock with each quick stroke he gave him. The closer Kudari drove to his own limits, the faster and tighter his grip seemed to become.
Without warning, his climax hit him, sweeping over his whole body like a forceful wave, come splattering over his stomach and chest.
“Kudari,” he whimpered, feeling too sensitive as Kudari continued to thrust deeply inside him, dragging his cock over the spot that made him feel like he was melting. “Don't ever stop.”
“Afraid I'll have to,” he replied with a laugh. With a few more sharp snaps of his hips, he came inside him. His grip on his knees grew viciously strong, his nails digging into his skin as his hips stuttered. “If you could see yourself...”
He took Nobori's spent cock in his palm again and gave him a few more strokes, probably just to watch him jerk and sob for it.
Finally, at the same time as he slid out of him, he removed the blindfold and tossed it aside. Nobori wasn't sure what he was expecting to see anymore. Before him was the silhouetted, naked figure of his brother, straddling him in the light of the moon. His skin looked pale as the moon itself, his expression soft and sated. There was no more devilish intent to be found anywhere in his face, just affection.
As he longed to reach out for him, Kudari untied his hands. Once they were undone, he leaned forward and enveloped him in his arms, pressing his face to his chest.
“Stay right here with me,” he mumbled. Not like he had anywhere else to go. They shared one bed most of the time.
Kudari hummed and scratched his fingers along the back of his neck. “Shouldn't I bathe? I'm gross now. You don't want me like this.”
“It's fine,” he assured. “You're fine. Stay.”
They collapsed back into the bed together and it wasn't long before sleep overcame both of them. His brother's warm breath against his neck and the delicate smile on his face may have convinced him then, if only until the sun rose the next morning, that there was nothing for him to worry about after all.