Fic: Ever After (8.2)
Title: Ever After
Characters/Pairings: KuroFai, AshFai, SyaoSaku and DoumWataHima(ish?) Basically, anything implied (or outright stated in recent chapters of the manga with some pairings) in CLAMP canon that my mind stumbles across.
Rating: T
Summary: ‘Fairytale’ is a very trying place. Children get abandoned; loves fall under evil spells, and various members of royal families get abducted on an almost regular basis. Even with a witch on-hand all ills can’t simply be wished away - but then, if it’s really the ‘happy ever after’ you’re looking for, it’s quite obligatory to start with ‘once upon a time…’ AU, with heavy reference to canon.
A/N: Second part~ and...there's another bit still to come. ^^;
First part here.
The staccato beat of wood hitting wood echoed through the forest -
One- two-three-duck -
Carefully controlled breathing, feet on grass -
Two-two-three-block -
The wind through the tree-branches, catching the edge of Fai’s discarded coat, Syaoran’s cloak -
Three-two-three-hit -
Fai neatly side-stepped the stick that had been swung at his mid-section, shifting around the weapon as his partner’s momentum carried them past him, using his own stick to lightly rap Syaoran on the back of the shoulders.
Kurogane folded his paws in front of him where he was lying, watching the display. “Kid, you’re dead again. It’s a good thing the idiot decided not to use a sword.” (It had been less ‘decided’ and more out-and-out refused, Fai rejecting Kurogane’s offer of a temporary loan of Souhi without even glancing at the blade. When pushed Fai had only given that infuriating smile of his, querying that wasn’t it enough that he was fighting using Kurogane’s style to train Syaoran without taking Kurogane’s sword as well?)
Syaoran blushed, looking to the wolf. “I’m sorry, Kurogane-san.”
“Don’t apologise to me,” Kurogane fixed his gaze on the boy, “it’s your head that you’ll be losing should you go into a serious fight.”
Syaoran bowed his head, grip tightening on the stick he held. “…I’ll do my best to improve.”
“Ah, don’t be glum, Syaoran-kun~.” Fai curled an arm around the brunet’s neck in a loose hug, smiling brightly when the boy looked up at him. “Kuro-chan is just showing how worried he is about you. He wouldn’t want to see Syaoran-kun get hurt.”
“He - I -” Kurogane jolted to his feet, spluttering at the blond. “Don’t just decide these things for yourself, idiot!”
“See~?” Fai dropped his head to utter a perfectly audible stage-whisper in Syaoran’s ear, teasing blue eyes locked firmly with Kurogane’s red, “Big doggy is awfully fond of little puppy, even if he can’t express himself very well.”
“‘L-little puppy?’” Syaoran’s eyes were very wide, a blush on his cheeks again, though now for an entirely different reason.
“Ignore him, kid; his stupidity’s probably infectious.” Kurogane glared at Fai, hating the mage’s fake smile, advancing on the man until the idiot uncurled his arm from around Syaoran’s neck, stepping away from the boy and backing up. “As for you -”
Fai only smiled wider, delighting in the clear infuriation emanating from the wolf. “Hm, does Kuro-wanko want to give me a love-bite?”
“‘Love-bite’?!” Kurogane choked and Syaoran worried that the canine had swallowed his own tongue for a few seconds - but then the wolf pounced forwards, sleek, angry, and Syaoran did the very, very smart thing and dived hastily out of the way, Fai having already set off with a cheery ‘hyuu~’, laughter bubbling as he swung himself up into the nearest tree -
And then he slipped.
“Fai-san!”
Fai fell almost in slow motion, one pale hand stretching for a grip, the next branch, fingers trying and failing to find something to hold onto. He was a blur of white and gold crashing down through the green and brown branches, smacking into the hard ground below, sprawled alarmingly still across the roots on the forest floor.
“Fai-san!” Worry jolted Syaoran into movement, but Kurogane was faster still, having been already on the move, at the fallen mage’s side immediately.
“Ow…” Fai groaned when Kurogane gently laid a paw on his ribs, shifting so his companions could see he was still alive, bleary eyes flickering open at two (concerned, though Kurogane would deny it) faces. “I’m going to hurt tomorrow. Ah -” he winced slightly, pushing himself up into a sitting position, “I think I hurt now, as well.”
“Fai-san,” Syaoran crouched down beside the blond, a relieved smile touching his features, “I’m just glad you’re alright.”
“Thank you, Syaoran-kun.” Fai stretched out a hand, his expression warm as he ruffled the brunet’s already tousled hair. “I’m like a cat, hm? Always land on my feet.”
“If you land on your feet after falling far enough,” Kurogane growled, his irritation with the blond coming through once more now it had been ascertained Fai wasn’t dead, “you’ll break your legs.”
Fai only laughed, stretching out a hand and laying it gently on the other’s ruff. “So practical, Kuro-daddy. Can’t you just admit you were worried about Fai-mommy for once?”
Kurogane shook off the hand. “What the hell did you just call me?!”
“Kuro-daddy,” Fai waved the rejected limb laconically, lazily, knowing his fiancé’s honour wouldn’t allow him to attack someone when they were down. “Unless you’d rather be the mommy?”
“You - what -” even Kurogane seemed at a loss for words for a few moments, his voice taking on a bark of incredulity, “do you have no self-respect as a man?!”
Fai ignored the question, musing to himself. “Kuro-tan never really struck me as the mothering type…” he glanced at Syaoran, the boy looking rather lost at that moment in time. “What do you think, Syaoran-kun?”
Syaoran wanted very much not to think at all. Hopefully, if he gave it a few more seconds, the ground would obligingly open up beneath him and swallow him whole.
“Stop dragging the kid into your idiot games!!”
Fai continued to ignore their ranting companion. “That reminds me…” he reached into his back-pocket, pulling out the pendant the Ame-warashi had given him, “could Syaoran-kun please deliver this to Watanuki-kun for me when he returns to Yuuko’s shop? It’s a gift from the Zashiki-warashi.”
Syaoran took it willingly. “Of course, Fai-san.”
Fai smiled again and began pushing himself to his feet - only to let out a soft cry, leaning heavily on the tree-trunk beside him. “Ah -”
Kurogane grumbled at him, but his exasperation was relatively mild. “…What have you done, idiot?”
Fai laughed, letting his head fall back against the trunk, eyes shut, voice a little breathier than Kurogane would’ve liked it, considering the situation. “Only Kuro-sama could make an insult sound like an endearment.”
“Mage -”
“I appear,” Fai broke in before Kurogane could begin to complain again, letting his eyes flutter open once more, “to have twisted my ankle.”
“Are you sure it’s not broken, Fai-san?” Syaoran tried to inspect the foot the elder male was favouring, but Fai gently shooed him away, urging the boy to his own feet.
“It’s not broken, Syaoran-kun, but thank you for your concern.” Fai pushed himself up into a more upright position, smile still fixed on his lips. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to call an end to the training for today though.”
“I’ll help you back to your house.” Syaoran was quick to let the mage lean on him, Fai putting his arm across the boy’s shoulders once more for support and letting out a soft hiss as he put weight on his injured ankle. “Fai-san?”
“It’s alright, Syaoran-kun.” There was nothing else the boy could do to help, and there was little use in him feeling guilty either.
Kurogane groused, padding along at the side of his two companions as they made their slow way back to the house beside the waterfall. “It’s the idiot’s own fault, anyway.”
Fai sighed rather melodramatically. “Daddy’s always so cruel to mommy…”
“You -!”
#
“Himawari-chan~~!!” Watanuki beamed up at the girl in her tower - and then he caught sight of the golden bird perched on her window-ledge. “And Doumeki-kun.”
“Watanuki-kun!!” Himawari seemed to be just as delighted to see the black-haired boy. “Doumeki-kun said he saw you coming - he has very good eyesight!”
Watanuki was torn. On the one hand, he could happily chime in with Himawari and praise Doumeki, thus pleasing Himawari. On the other…he wasn’t about to praise the idiot bird simply because he could see long distances. Stupid eagle; he’d been showing up for a few weeks now - Watanuki never got any quality alone time with Himawari any more.
Watanuki went with a compromise. “I brought you a bentou!”
“Watanuki-kun is so kind~!” Himawari clapped her hands together, sparkles filling the air.
Doumeki leaned over the ledge, eyeing the boy on the ground. “Is there sanbei-jiru?”
“No!” Watanuki was affronted. “That’s a winter soup!”
“Hn,” Doumeki leaned back again. “Next time, make sanbei-jiru.”
“I’m not making that for you!”
Himawari’s eyes grew round. “Sanbei-jiru sounds so tasty!”
Watanuki practically swooned at how cute his darling looked right then. “I’ll bring you some next time I visit, Hi~mawa~ri-chan~~!”
Doumeki stuck his beak in again. “Don’t forget the daikon.”
“I’m not making it for you!”
#
It had been just over three months, by Kurogane’s internal reckoning. Three months since he’d disturbed the crystal case in the forest and been turned into a wolf, three months he’d been engaged to an idiotic blond mage with something seriously screwed-up in his airy head.
What exactly was wrong with Fai…Kurogane had hazarded a guess or two, but everything had been shot down in the face of the man’s lies. Fai lied and lied and lied, and infuriatingly kept lying even though he knew Kurogane saw through him. No matter how Kurogane pried at the locked box that was Fai D. Fluorite he got little to nothing out of it, the mage a master at deflecting conversations from himself, silver-tongued and sharp. The man was smart - Kurogane had flicked through a few of the blond’s books, and hadn’t even understood half of what some of them rambled on about -, and the man was skilled - he was strangely intuitive, could dodge things thrown at him without looking, and fought pretty well using the techniques Kurogane coerced him into doing to train Syaoran. It made the shinobi wonder, what Fai’s own techniques were like - you could see it in the way he held himself, that the mage knew how to fight -, but time and time again, Fai had avoided the issue, side-stepped the conflict, been rammed against the wall in the pitch-black darkness and outright refused when Kurogane couldn’t see him, couldn’t read the honesty that occasionally flickered in those unseen-blue eyes. During the day, to Kurogane, everything about Fai was grey. At night, when the colours came back, he couldn’t see them. If only -
“Mm…” Fai stirred slightly in his sleep, twisting about from his usual face-down sleeping position to a sideways sprawl that looked actually somewhat acceptable to a person still wanting to breathe. Kurogane, in his wolf-form, beside him on the bed, turned to look at him for a few moments, wondering whether the idiot was awake yet. When Fai didn’t make any further movements, the shinobi found it relatively safe to assume the blond was still asleep.
Ever since the mage had gotten drunk and Kurogane had dumped him in their bed Fai had actually slept in the bed every night, giving up the sofa in the lounge downstairs. Had it been anyone else Kurogane would’ve assumed that meant that the individual was trying to turn over a new leaf, but in all other things Fai seemed just as annoying as ever - more so, in fact, clinging onto Kurogane like a limpet and utilising his ridiculous pet names with ruthless efficiency.
Fai stirred again, a slight crease in his brow - the idiot was having a nightmare? It was too early for the blond to wake up; Fai usually gave it another hour or so before waking and heading down to the kitchen, whistling that stupid ‘hyuu’ noise he claimed was a whistle.
It was early for Kurogane as well - when dawn came he changed from man to wolf, the process waking him. He usually got up and shoved the clothes he’d been wearing as a human the night before into the wardrobe or the corner of the room (- invariably, Fai picked them up for him later in the day, either hanging them up again on a hanger, or putting them in the laundry basket). After that he’d crawl back onto the bed and go back to sleep, rising only when Fai’s obnoxiously cheery not-whistling eventually wore down through the layers of his unconsciousness.
But today…today, Kurogane just hadn’t been able to get back to sleep.
“Ash..ura-ou…” Fai, it appeared, was rather restless as well, calling out the name of strangers in his sleep. Kurogane frowned down at him -
Only for Fai to shift in his slumber again, moving against Kurogane’s side and seeking the other’s warmth, one of his hands burying itself in the wolf’s fur. The motion slid him out from under most of the sheets, one blanket trailing across his torso but failing entirely to cover his bare legs in any way, Fai’s nightshirt the only thing keeping his modesty right then. It was a wonder the cold didn’t wake the idiot.
Kurogane let out a low, discontented noise of affront, a mild grumble that didn’t really carry enough volume behind it to rouse his companion. It was wrong to blame a man for what he said or did while asleep, whilst at his most vulnerable, but being used as a cuddle-toy was not on his list of things to do that day. He shifted away.
Fai shifted closer, head cushioned against Kurogane’s side, his brow smoothing out as he heard the steady drumming of the wolf’s heart through his sleep, the inhale-exhale of the canine’s chest.
That was intruding on valued personal space. Kurogane growled, the sound reverberating through him.
“Hn…” Fai’s eyes flickered, the beginning of waking, and Kurogane turned his head away from looking at him, giving the other a little privacy to wake and hopefully swiftly disentangle himself, all the while trying to ignore the fact that Fai smelled rich and sleepy and warm, heavy with lingering drowsiness, fingers still tangled in dark fur in a distractingly good way.
Kurogane was sure, had he been human in body right then, he would’ve been analysing the bare stretch of those ridiculously long, pale legs as they shifted amongst the twisted blankets slightly differently - the soft sound of skin sliding on sheets was, to his mind, troubling enough, the added grey glow of half-lidded eyes was unnecessary, framed as they were by tousled hair.
As it was…Fai just smelled good, still half-curled and soft and kittenish, free of all scents but his own - and Kurogane’s, now the wolf thought about it -
And then Kurogane groaned, a low rumble of pleasure in the back of his throat, one of Fai’s hands having shifted unintentionally as the blond stirred, dragging down his companion’s side and stomach in a lazy half-stroke, half-scratch.
“…Kuro…chan?” The sound seemed to draw Fai completely out of sleep - the man really was too slow with coming around to wakefulness; even the worst of shinobis back at Shirasagi were better-trained than this idiot -, both his hands thankfully (sadly) falling away from Kurogane’s person as he pushed himself up slightly, propped up by his elbows. He yawned, his hair a mess. “Kuro-sama, what time is it…?”
“Too early,” Kurogane said rather shortly, sliding himself away to the other end of the bed, as far as he could get from Fai without falling onto the floor. Irritatingly, this end of the bed was cold. “Go back to sleep.”
“Hm…” Fai lay down again, pillowing his arms beneath his head, and regarding his bed-mate with a sleepy smile. “Kuro-chan is grumpy first thing in the morning, ne?”
“Go back to sleep.” Stopping the stupid nicknames was of high priority.
“And here I thought Kuro-pon would like me a little more if I stayed awake to keep him company a little while…” Fai was already drooping, halfway to sleep already.
Kurogane growled at him a little, wondering why it was the idiot just couldn’t do as he was asked straightaway, for once. “I like you the most when you're asleep.” Asleep, the idiot (probably) couldn’t cause any trouble.
“Strange…” Fai’s voice was soft, barely above a murmur, his eyes completely shut and lashes dark against his white cheeks. “Kuro-sama keeps telling me he doesn’t like me at all…”
Kurogane jolted at that. “You -” But Fai was too far gone, his breathing deep and even, sunken fast into slumber. Kurogane dropped the conversation.
He didn’t really want to continue it, anyway.
#
Watanuki was ranting again, his motions erratic as he beat the living daylights out of whatever concoction it was he had in the bowl in his hands, Yuuko, drinking sake as she leaned back against the kitchen’s doorpost, apparently not listening in the slightest.
“-and then the idiot bird demands I make him shougoyaki! Shougoyaki!! As if I, the great Watanuki-sama, have time in my busy schedule to make shougoyaki for the likes of him!”
“And yet,” Yuuko calmly pointed out, draining the last of the bottle she was holding and setting it down on the table, “you’re making shougoyaki, Watanuki-kun.”
“I - well - I - that is -” Watanuki blushed slightly. “Himawari-chan said she might like some, and I thought I’d make some for her as a treat - and that stupid Doumeki isn’t. Getting. Any. What kind of eagle eats pork anyway?!”
“Maybe it’s just your wonderful cooking, Watanuki-kun~!” Yuuko reached over and stole a piece of the boy’s ginger-flavoured pork, hmming in delight and letting little sparkles fill the kitchen around her. “Delicious as ever!!”
Watanuki smacked her hand with the spoon he was holding. “You’ll spoil your appetite.” He sincerely doubted it - Yuuko’s stomach seemed bottomless, at times -, but he had to defend his cooking somehow.
The black Mokona hopped up onto Yuuko’s shoulder, appearing from the hallway to whisper - loudly - in the witch’s ear. “Watanuki is saving the food for his boyfriend.”
Yuuko clutched her heart. “Watanuki-kun~! How could you?”
“He’s not my boyfriend!”
“There, there, Mokona,” Yuuko ignored her protesting employee, petting the mock-sobbing bun on her shoulder, “we’ll just have to accept that Watanuki has taken his love elsewhere -”
Watanuki flailed, his spoon a lethal weapon as it went through the air, an extension to his own arm. “Like I could ever love that - that Doumeki!”
There was a sudden, pregnant pause.
“Who,” Yuuko asked lowly, a slow, dreadful smirk stretching on her lips that had, alongside Mokona’s matching evil grin, Watanuki’s stomach plunging in sudden fear for his feet, “mentioned Doumeki?”
“…You…” words failed Watanuki, and the poor boy was sorely tempted to put his head in his hands and weep.
“I never mentioned any Doumeki.” Yuuko delighted in torturing those in her service. She turned to address Mokona. “Did you?”
“Noo~ooo~.” Mokona looked positively evil, the devil-spawn of the witch.
Yuuko continued to smirk. “Oh my…”
Mokona finished off the humiliation. “Watanuki loves Dou~me~ki!”
“I do not!!”
“Watanuki loves Doooouuuumeki~!!”
“I’m not in love with that stupid bird!!”
“Now, now, Watanuki-kun,” Yuuko petted the boy on the head, Watanuki stopping his attempts to grab hold of Mokona and throttle him to look up at the woman. “There are more to things than originally meet the eye in most situations. How do you know Doumeki-kun’s not secretly a handsome prince bespelled to look like a bird?”
“He’s a jerk,” the witch’s employee grumbled, “so it doesn’t matter whether he’s a prince or not.”
“Ah,” Yuuko chided, “but didn’t he save your life once, when that spirit attacked you looking like Himawari-chan?” Watanuki rued the day he’d ever told Yuuko about that.
Watanuki folded his arms, and looked away. “…He’s still a jerk.”
Yuuko only chuckled, and ruffled the boy’s hair, motioning for Mokona to bounce away again. “He sounds like a good friend.” Watanuki bristled, but Yuuko continued to pet him. “It’s good to make friends, hm, Watanuki?”
“…Yes,” the youth admitted, relaxing a little.
“Good! Now -” Yuuko pulled away, and Watanuki blinked open eyes he didn’t realise he’d shut to find the witch expectantly waving an empty bottle in his face, “more sake, Watanuki~!”
#
Mealtimes with Fai were always an adventure and a half. Although the blond was obviously a good chef and could produce some delicious food he still took it upon himself to provide a surprise with every meal - usually sugary, sweet, and something Kurogane had to complain about. Fai was agreeable to a certain extent with what he made - when he discovered Kurogane couldn’t drink or eat anything too milky he’d cut most of those things out of his menus completely, something that Kurogane was silently grateful for -, but on the matter of breakfast, drinks and desserts Fai was unswervingly stubborn. The mage cooked, so the mage decided what they ate, and the mage decided what they ate was so sugary it induced cavities merely by looking at it.
There was only so much sugar the Kurogane could stomach and, one breakfast, he drew the line and refused to eat what Fai had made, pushing back the pastries and hot chocolate and huffily stalking from the room. Too caught up in his own grand departure, he quite missed the somewhat hurt expression on his fiancé’s face.
At lunch, Fai served the meal as usual, though he was strangely silent. Kurogane, hungry after skipping breakfast, was eager to eat some of the rather tasty looking lamb the other had prepared, taking a big bite -
- And gagging, choking on the horribly salty flavour of the food. What had Fai done, dumped a whole bag of the condiment in?
Fai smiled at him. “Is something wrong, Kuro-wanko?” His eyes were glowing with a rich amusement that was more darkly-edged than normal, lips set with a vaguely triumphant curve. “Is the food not to your liking?” A challenge.
“…It’s fine.” Kurogane went back to eating, choking down his meal. He refused to back down from the other’s dare by complaining, and so he swallowed his pride with every foul-tasting mouthful, Fai’s pointed revenge for his constant complaints. It tasted disgusting but Kurogane ate it all, and then he ran off to be violently sick in the garden.
For dinner that night Fai served his usual good food, finishing the meal with one of his saccharine-sweet desserts. Kurogane ate everything that was put before him, thankful for edible food, his lesson well and truly learned.
Kurogane never - loudly - insulted Fai’s cooking again. (He grumbled in the corners instead.)
#
“What,” Watanuki asked as soon as he’d put down the tray of sake and snacks he’d been carrying out from the kitchen to the garden and pointing at the irritatingly familiar golden-eyed bird sitting in a tree there, “is he doing here?”
“Doumeki-kun is an emissary from the Faerie Court,” Yuuko laid a hand on the bird’s neck, disturbing the gold chain the eagle wore there. “He helps me organise wishes and collect prices.”
“The Faerie Court…” Watanuki was aware Yuuko occasionally had members of the fey as customers, but usually the race kept themselves to themselves. He took a seat at the table his employer sat at. “I wasn’t aware there was a Court.”
“Oh yes, there is one,” Yuuko nodded rather sagely, taking some of the sake and pouring it into a round cup for their guest before pouring herself some as well. “It’s ruled over by Ashura-ou, their king - in theory, anyway.”
“‘In theory’…?”
Yuuko waved a hand, dismissing the issue. “You needn’t worry about that.”
Watanuki nodded, still curious - and then he noticed Doumeki wolfing down the snacks he’d brought out to the garden. “Hey, leave some for others, you pig!”
Doumeki continued to eat, ignoring Watanuki entirely.
“Hey!” Watanuki snatched away the tray of snacks, moving them out of the eagle’s range. “Answer me, you glutton!”
“Watanuki-kun,” Yuuko stole one of the mochi balls Watanuki was trying to pull away, “Doumeki-kun can’t say anything when he’s wearing the fey crest around his neck.”
Her reluctant employee looked at her. “…He can’t?” Yuuko shook her head. “Why not? Is it a spell?” The witch nodded, and sipped some of her drink. “Oh.”
Watanuki looked at Doumeki, and Doumeki looked back.
Watanuki set the tray down with a clatter, and reached over rather aggressively to lift the chain with the crest on it from around the eagle’s neck. For all he was huffing all the while, Watanuki’s movements were very gentle, careful not to snag a feather or scratch any part of the bird’s face.
He set the chain down on the table they were sat at, hearing the soft clink. “Now you can answer me, you idiot bird.”
Silence.
“Doumeki.”
Slowly, Watanuki turned, only to find the eagle having slunk around his person, Doumeki happily tucking into the snacks Watanuki had prepared.
“Say ‘itadakimasu’, you pig!”
“Itadakimasu,” Doumeki said, beak-full, and kept right on eating.
#
Five months of living together, and Fai was still being a pain - a confusing, contrary, bewildering pain. He not-whistled and he warbled, endlessly vague when pressed for answers, avoiding any and all issues that were of relative importance, that were simply too personal for him to divulge. For someone who prattled about ‘togetherness’ Fai seemed quite determined to keep Kurogane and himself very much apart, his body prancing forwards to declare undying love for ‘Kuro-wan-wan’ with a fake smile firmly fixed in place whilst his mind took all its secrets and locked them deep, deep within the mage’s labyrinthine self. It irritated Kurogane, but nothing he’d tried to do had gotten the blond to open up for any longer than a few seconds.
It was morning again, another day where the two occupants of the house would wage another stage of their endless war with one another, all without raising a single (truly) hostile finger. It was giving Kurogane a headache - or perhaps that was just Fai, hyuuing away a stupid little tune into the kitchen Kurogane padded into -
And promptly stopped dead in his tracks.
“Kuro-chan!” Fai had turned at the sound of the wolf’s claws on the tiles, his smile sunshine incarnate, innocence all but radiating off of him. “Good morning.”
“…That’s my shirt.” Kurogane’s mind had temporarily shut down, caught on the long-sleeved white button-up the mage was wearing rather loosely and stalling between Fai’s beautifully exposed collarbone and bare legs that went on for ever and ever and -
“It makes a good nightshirt.” Fai’s smile inched up another degree as he shifted, the shirt hem brushing his mid-thigh and if he stretched just a little Kurogane would probably be able to see -
He was a wolf. Lusting after scantily dressed men whilst in animal form had to be ranking highly on the list of things that were Very, Very Wrong in the universe, especially when said men were blond, blue-eyed and probably very, very bad to know. Kurogane was going to do the very sensible thing and put the whole affair out of his mind, remembering strongly that Fai was an idiot and a liar and a pest and a tease, slept around, drank all the alcohol, flirted outrageously, looked sinfully good to eat at the moment and had those wonderful hands that felt so good when being used to stroke and - this really wasn’t working.
“Will a ham omelette be alright, Kuro-pii?” Fai had turned around again, his back to the wolf as he returned to his cooking, mixing eggs and milk in a bowl. “I can make you a few of them, if you’d like-”
Kurogane still hadn’t moved from the doorway. “Why are you wearing my shirt?”
Fai tossed him an amused glance over his shoulder, far too coy for the shinobi’s current disposition. “Would Kuro-rin prefer it if I took it off? My, how very forward of Kuro-pon, but then I suppose it’s nothing daddy hasn’t seen before - especially since he ogles me whilst I’m swimming -”
“I don’t ogle you whilst you’re swimming!” If Kurogane had been human right then, he would’ve been embarrassingly bright red - thankfully, his fur hid his blush, his defences slammed up as high as they could go. “I don’t ogle!”
“No?” Fai turned around, still holding the bowl. “What does Kuro-pu do then? Because he’s clearly doing something - my face is up here, Kuro-pervert.” The blond pointed helpfully to his head, smile bright and eyes glittering with what could only be described as evil. “You’ve been talking to my legs since you came through the door.”
Kurogane choked, and hastily averted to look at the wall just to the left of Fai’s smirk, refusing to carry on that thread of the conversation. “…Wear your own damn shirt to bed.”
“Aw, Kuro-daddy never wants to share -”
“My name is Kurogane.” The wolf wasn’t in the mood to be baited anymore; his growl then actually vicious as he locked gazes with his troublesome fiancé. “You’d think after this long even you would be able to get that through your idiot skull.”
“Saa,” Fai refused to drop his smile, “Kuro-tan is being grumpy again -”
“Stop,” Kurogane told him firmly, harshly, cutting through whatever falsehoods Fai let fall from his lips. “Mage, have you ever - ever - told the truth before in your life?”
Fai stopped stirring, and his smile flickered.
Kurogane continued to glare at him. “I don’t care what it is you’re running away from - and you are running,” the wolf insisted brusquely, seeing Fai about to attempt to protest, “but don’t you dare try to convince me that everything’s fine in your fucked-up little world. All the pretty faces you pull don’t hide the fact that you’re a liar - whatever the hell it is that you’re so fixated on, get over it. The world goes on as usual, with or without your cooperation.” The warrior turned around then, and stalked from the kitchen. He wasn’t in the mood to put up with any more of Fai’s stupidity that morning, regardless of how attractive and distracting the idiot tried to be.
Behind him, Fai quietly put down the bowl he’d been holding on the nearest bench, his smile still faltering, shaking with the trembles that ran through his arms. He steadied himself against the bench, and willed his legs to not give out on him, too shaky to even make it to a chair.
Kurogane always noticed the unnecessary things.
#
Bedtime that night was…an awkward affair, to say the least. When dusk fell Kurogane had changed form, pulling on some of his clothes to go outside and run through his exercises with Souhi once more. Fai had heard him go but, having really nothing better to do, had headed upstairs to bed, changing into his (own) nightshirt and slipping between the sheets, face-down as usual.
One of the biggest problem with the lights going out automatically at dusk - even when the days were relatively long -, was that Fai was hardly ever actually tired when he tried to sleep. He really wasn’t in a walking mood - going out the door would probably lead him past Kurogane anyway, and the wolf had been distinctly cold all day - and there wasn’t anything else he could do, save twiddle his thumbs in distraction.
Fai’s heartbeat counted out the passing time, the drag of air into his lungs the minutes trailing by, quiet lulling the blond into a withdrawn daze, not really thinking of anything. The click of the bedroom door then, when it came, was jarring, infinitely loud to Fai’s ears, a crack across his consciousness.
“You’re still awake?” Kurogane’s voice was rumbling, the man bringing with him the scent of the shower, the lingering breeze still on the edges of his skin. He’d washed after coming in from his exercises, and Fai’s lips curled just a little bitterly at the knowledge. That was Kuro-wanko all over - considerate to the last.
“I’m awake.” Fai raised his head answered the question even though he had the feeling it had been a rhetorical one - Kurogane seemed to be one of those irritating ones who could analyse breathing, or something equally exasperating to his avoidant housemate.
“I know,” there was the sound of Souhi being put within reaching distance on what had somehow (disturbingly) become ‘Kurogane’s side of the bed’, another’s weight pulling down that end of the mattress. Instinctively Fai looked that way, head still on his arms, even though he couldn’t see anything. “I’m just surprised you’re not sleeping by now, babbling away to yourself.” Fai froze. “You didn’t know?” (So apparently the irksome wolf could monitor breathing.) “You talk in your sleep - the problem’s always been getting you to shut up.”
Fai’s insides felt they’d been turned to ice, his usually quite-lively tongue suddenly feeling like a dead thing in his mouth. The only people he’d ever slept beside had been Yuui, Chii and Ashura-ou - Yuui had never mentioned anything, so he probably hadn’t talked in his childhood; Chii was too sweet to ever mention anything, and Ashura-ou…
“Don’t worry; you didn’t say anything incriminating.” Kurogane kept talking, strangely relishing in the horrified silence in the room.
And then Fai laughed. The sound was sliver-thin, a little sharp, definitely strained. “Silly Kuro-kun-kun…” his actual words sounded even worse. “Who could I possibly have to incriminate?”
“Yourself?” It was phrased as a suggestion, delicate, slender, a wonderful stiletto blade Fai thought would be much better suited in his own grip - but then, Kurogane seemed to delight in proving him wrong. The warrior could be clumsy in verbal sparring, but his directness tore away at the issue in such a way that most opponents would cower in submission rather than take on the scary, bulkier man head-to-head.
“Kuro-mu already thinks I’m guilty of heinous crimes -” the weight on the bed shifted then, rolling from the end where Kurogane was and moving closer to Fai. The fleeting, automatic urge to flee burst into the mage’s mind then, crystal-clear that he had to get away, away, away, but he only got as far as tensing his arms to push himself up before he felt foreign fingers in his hair, an intrusion and surprise that robbed him of speech and compulsion for a few startled milliseconds. Short as the shock was its after-effects lingered unpleasantly, the feeling of being corned, of being held in place. Those fingers were easily capable of tightening and yanking and -
Fai was suddenly, strangely thankful Kurogane had touched his hair, and not his face. He stared blindly into the darkness, wishing he could turn his head away from where his fiancé was so unexpectedly closer, but didn’t quite dare, feeling the challenge thrumming in the digits moving through strands of blond. (Had it been anyone else, Fai could’ve called the motions a caress, a pet, something soothing to send him off into sleep. It wasn’t anyone else - it was Kurogane, the unknown factor, in the middle of what was hastily degenerating into a thinly-veiled argument.)
“I don’t think you’re guilty.” Astute as he was - damn him -, Kurogane had to have heard the quickening in his companion’s breathing, easily linking it his intrusive actions. “I think that you think you are. You can’t run from yourself forever.”
And yet Fai had managed to do so for a terribly long time. Once half a millennium had passed he’d stopped bothering to count, focusing on nothing, caught up in a current he’d never cared to break free from. He had one goal, and that could be reached in many ways. If he didn’t stop, didn’t think, his smile would never, never slip, and he could pass on by through the lives on more transient things, never hurting anyone.
Kurogane pulled on the blond’s hair - gently but firmly -, and Fai acquiesced to the other’s silent request in the black, following the tilt of his head and rolling over onto his back. He was freer then, for a few blessed seconds, but Kurogane followed him across and Fai froze up once more as warm breath hit the side of his neck, another body far too close. His magic stirred within him, protective, defensive, but he leashed it back.
“We haven’t really…christened this bed yet, have we?”
“Ne, Kuro-myu…” the blond’s own breath felt like it was stuck in his throat, words coming out as a smothered whisper in the darkness, “this is only a…an engagement after all, so we needn’t - needn’t-” He’d only ever - he flirted yes, but Kurogane - he’d never… He’d flirted with Kurogane to push the other away - he’d seen at once the wolf wouldn’t like his games, and so used them time and time again to drive a wedge between them. People were malleable creatures - time, experience and the fey had taught Fai that quite well. Pretty faces were tools for distraction, prettier words and smoother motions offering a form of control that was perfect for one who had lived his early life with no control over it whatsoever. As long as people looked at the shell - beautiful, willing - they were too distracted to care about the intricately ruined soul within.
A warm finger was placed over Fai’s lips, and the mage fell silent, caged within the sheets over him and two broad hands, one at his mouth, the other still in his hair. He felt trapped, even when the finger on his lips fell away.
“I’m not a wolf at night.” Kurogane really was entirely too close for comfort, a heavy, warm presence looming over Fai, the hair on the blond’s skin standing upright, prickling with the knowledge of another body so near, his magic antsy in tune with his own feelings.
Fai laughed a little weakly, tilting his head to the side on his pillow again, inching away from his fiancé. The pull on his hair kept him from going too far. Although he couldn’t see anything, he could feel Kurogane’s red eyes burning a hole through him through the night - that was, of course, assuming the wolf kept the same colour of eyes when he changed form. “Believe me, Kuro-tan, I noticed.” …If Kurogane actually was reciprocating on Fai’s flirting now; he had a horrible sense of timing. Truthfully, this felt much more like Kurogane was attempting to prove a point -
“And yet, for all your forwardness at other times, you don’t act on it.”
Fai’s lips pressed into a thin line, rankling at the words behind Kurogane’s speech, turning back to look at the one he couldn’t see. “I never got the impression Kuro-wankoro ever wanted me to act on it.” His magic rose higher, cold fire inside of him, and Fai knew from experience that that could be felt by those even slightly receptive to magic, a change in the air, a warning. He tried to swallow it down, the furious chill hanging about his heart even as he forced a smile on his face. He raised a hand from where it had been curled, claw-like, in the sheets, pressing it against Kurogane’s chest, feeling the shirt’s cloth sticking to skin still slightly damp from showering. “But if that’s what Kuro-piyuu wants -”
Kurogane yanked Fai’s hair. Hard, with his fingers twisted in tightly near the roots so that Fai actually saw blinding stars for an instant and instinctively pushed against the one holding him, shoving Kurogane to the side. The action only made the pain worse, fire racing across Fai’s scalp as it felt like some of his hair had actually been yanked out.
The blond rolled on his side, curling in a little on himself automatically, one hand cradling his then aching head as he kept his back to Kurogane. “Kuro-”
The other cut him off. “If you ever say something that stupid again I’ll punch you.” Kurogane’s voice was completely unsympathetic, a low growl at Fai’s back, a heavy, unsettling presence. The shinobi was irate - Fai had clearly listened to nothing that had been said that morning. That the mage could be such an idiot, offering his mask out on a careless whim -
“I was going to say…” Fai’s own voice was still pain-laced, but colder, still angry. “Isn’t hair-pulling usually a past-time of women?” He sat up on the bed, glaring down where he thought Kurogane was. “A direct blow seems a lot more like the manly Kuro-tan - or would you prefer to gouge out my eyes with your painted nails instead?”
Kurogane growled again, taking the jabs to his pride and honour with predictable bad grace. Discovering the mage actually did have a backbone under his idiocy was both a blessing and a curse - Fai could, quite apparently, be vicious with his quicksilver tongue.
“I think I left some of the laundry lying about earlier.” Fai slid off the bed, striding around it - he knew the layout of the room; he’d left nothing lying about to trip over - and to the door. “I’ll go put it away.”
Kurogane sat up as well, loathing the blatant escape. “Mage -”
Fai ignored him, opening the door and stepping out. “I’ll see you later.”
It was worthless pursuing him when he was like that. “This conversation isn’t over.”
Fai left the room, and shut the door on him.
Kurogane wasn’t really surprised when he found one of Fai’s notes addressed to him the following morning, explaining why the blond had never returned to bed the previous night. Fai had gone to his home instead - and this time, he didn’t give a time for when he was planning on coming back.
Third part here.