Hurray, more sex demons! Only...with less sex demons?

[still_ciircee]

I told Aya to flip a coin! Heads was Finding Nino, tails was Sex-Demon AU!

Tails it was.

So! This takes place...actually right after More Than Heaven and spans through the events of Into the Parlor and One Moment/this snippity bit.

ALSO! 9squirrels made fanart for 'More Than Heaven'! It's Sho with his tattoo (in both Japanese AND Angelic script!). My heart! Please go praise the beauty that lies beyond that link!

AND literarylemming made manips. a;ldjkfs;ldjk LOVE. I HAVE IT.

This was my reward for working on my Hols fic! So it's kind of rushed. Sorry? At least part of it has porn?



Four Things Sho Learns About Being Mortal
And One Thing He Already Knew

1: Sleep

He watches Nino sleep and cannot stop touching him, tracing his face with gentle fingertips. Nino's skin is warm but not hot, almost faintly cool at first. There are not words for Sho's gratitude for this. His thankfulness that what he's sacrificed has given him this, given him a Nino that is whole and healthy and living still.

"You're kind of a creeper," Nino mumbles, eyes fluttering open.

Sho touches the fan of his lashes. "You're the most beautiful person I've ever known," he tells him.

Nino blushes, much warmer under Sho's fingers now. "Seriously, like a bad-touch creeper." He pauses. "Actually, you look terrible." His hands are suddenly on Sho's face, as light as down.

How had he never known that he needed this? The feeling of Nino on his skin as well as in his soul? Sho covers Nino's hand with his own and turns to press a kiss to the heel of his hand. "Thank you," he says seriously.

"Weirdo," Nino says, wiggling until he is sitting. "Seriously, you look awful. When's the last time you slept instead of watching me sleep?"

Letting go of Nino's hand, Sho scruffs his own through Nino's hair. "I don't sleep. But you should rest."

Nino bats him off. "I just woke up! I'm not tired."

Sho lets him turn on the tv instead of asking him to sleep again. Nino is the one who knows what he needs best, after all. This has always been true; as close as Sho has always been, he has never been inside of Nino's head. Just his heart. He links their hands together and gets a smile in return.

Eventually Nino sleeps again, still easily worn down despite being healthy again. Sho watches over him as he has always done. Sometimes it's hard to focus, sometimes it seems like Nino is far away and drifting like a cloud beyond Sho's reach. Sho holds his hand and murmurs to him as he used to do when Nino slept fitfully in his crib. "I love you," he whispers, holding Nino to him by the touch of his hand.

He knows Nino isn't really far from him, he does. He can't imagine why it seems that way. He can only attribute this to the fact that he is no longer tied to Nino by anything but his own heart, his own choice. "Nino," he sighs.

Nino's eyes open in a sleep-hazed blink. "Sho," he says on a breath and sleeps again. Sho watches over his dreams.

They are-or rather, Nino is-discharged the next day. Sho keeps his eyes firmly on Nino as they leave the ward. It's strange how Nino is keeping his on Sho. "What?" he asks when they're out in the wind, waiting for the bus (since Nino won't take a taxi, no way). He's trying to shelter Nino with his body and Nino is staring up at him and it's…well, it's almost disturbing. Sho is still not used to Nino being able to see him. "What's the matter?"

"You look like shit," Nino says. "I almost want to bring you back in there and make them poke you for a few hours."

Sho laughs and tightens his arms around Nino's waist. Nino is funny. "I'm fine!" he says cheerfully. The bus comes and he doesn't let Nino go until they stumble at the steps. Without Nino he still feels like he's stumbling, however, and he can feel the way he sways as the bus moves. He wishes that there are open seats. Nino should be sitting. "You should sit down," he tells Nino. Nino looks like he's swaying and swaying and swaying.

Nino gives him a bland look. "You look like you're going to fall on your ass. Are you sure you're all right?"

How sweet. Nino is so sweet. "I'm fine. I'm just adjusting."

"Well hurry up and adjust," Nino tells him.

The very next thing Sho knows is the scuzzy green shag carpeting that covers Nino's living room. "Huh?" he mumbles. He hurts all over and his head feels strange.

"Oh, good, you're alive," Nino says. Sho feels weight settle on his back, low down where his wings part. "I thought maybe you died."

"Wha-?" Sho asks.

"I barely got you off the bus and up the stairs," Nino informs him. "And then you passed out on my floor. I've been kicking you on and off for the last four hours because you're way too heavy to lift."

"I-?"

"Fell asleep. Passed out. Dropped like a sack of potatoes that was full of another sack of potatoes," Nino says pleasantly. Sho wishes he could see his face. "You've been out for four hours. If you can stand up, I'll let you sleep in the bed."

Nino isn't making sense but Sho will do anything for him, has done everything for him, and so he manages to push to his hands and knees. "Where-?"

There's a shift and suddenly Nino is not on his back anymore but beside him, helping him to his feet. "C'mon, Sho-chan," he says. His voice is gentle, like he loves him. Sho loves Nino so very, very much and it makes him happy to think that Nino loves him too. "No, quit trying to hug me. Let's get in bed, okay? You can hug me in bed, as wrong as that sounds."

Whatever Nino wants.

Sho opens his eyes to see Nino's sleeping face. It's dark except for the stray bit of streetlight that's caught him. He reaches for him.

"It's about time you woke up," Nino says when Sho opens his eyes for the third time (that he can remember). "It's been almost a whole day."

Sho's mouth feels dry and tastes awful. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep," Nino tells him.

Not possible. "Angels don't sleep," Sho tells him. Though he DOES remember the way the world seemed to keep staggering, and softness, and Nino telling him he passed out. "What happened?"

Nino rolls his eyes. "You fell asleep. For almost a straight twenty-four. You've got horrible morning breath and you drooled on my pillow and stole the blankets. Maybe that's why angels don't sleep," he adds as he finishes.

Sho blinks. "Angels don't sleep."

"Welcome to the real world," Nino greets him. "You probably have to pee after all of that. Go give it a try."

He doesn't dignify that with an answer. Though he DOES go pee.

2:Eat

"Are you sure?" Nino asks him and Sho smiles.

He can't resist touching the warmth of Nino's hand, rubbing his fingers around the place where the IV line goes into it. "I'm sure," he repeats. "I don't need it. You eat. You've lost a lot of weight since you've been sick."

Nino puts another spoonful of hospital food in his mouth and makes a face. "You sound like-" he says and then stops, his spoon halfway to being lowered to the tray again.

Sho touches Nino's face, cups his cheek. "Your mom?" he guesses. "She loved you. With the whole of her heart she adored you," he tells Nino, dropping his hand to rest on Nino's shoulder. "Your sister, too. They'd both be complaining about your weight and hiding the fact that they're happy you're eating." Sho loves Nino and he hurts for the loss of mother and sister for him. "Because they loved you."

Making another face, Nino dips up more clear soup. "That's a low blow, Sho," he says. He blows on it. "At least my dad didn't care," he mutters, shoving the spoon into his mouth.

He knows that Nino's father did care, does care, but he also knows that it's complicated and it's hard and it isn't going to get better unless they both want it. So he says nothing, just grips Nino's shoulder solidly. "Eat a lot, okay?" he encourages as Nino takes another spoonful.

"I want real food," he complains and Sho is completely charmed by how Nino can talk with a mouthful of soup.

"You're so gross," he says, affectionately.

And he ignores the burgeoning ache in the pit of his belly as he watches Nino eat. The emptiness of what he's lost can wait while he glories in what he's gained.

Slowly as the days go by the ache increases. It goes away only to come back stronger. Sho will admit that he clings to Nino. No matter how his body aches for Heaven, his soul longs only for Nino to be near to him. He tucks a stray bit of hair behind Nino's ear. "You should get a haircut," he says.

Nino frowns into his bowl of cereal. "I should have money for a haircut." He drops his spoon into his bowl. "They gave me too much," he complains. "Eat that so it's not a waste."

"You need to eat more," Sho reminds Nino. He picks up the spoon. "Say 'ahhh'," he invites.

"Bite me," Nino says pleasantly, opening his mouth obediently and eating anyway. "You can eat, you know. There's enough to feed both of us."

"I don't eat," Sho reminds Nino, holding out another spoonful of hospital grade breakfast cereal. "Ahhh!"

By the end of three days, discharged and rested and comfortably settled in Nino's shabby apartment and in Nino's comfortable life, Sho is in agony. He tries not to show it. "I'm fine. I'm with you," he says when Nino asks.

Nino looks at him. "Is this like the sleeping thing?" he asks.

Sho laughs at him. "No, it's not. Angels don't eat."

Nino keeps looking at him. Sho smiles gently back. "Whatever you say," he mutters at last as he locks the door behind them. "Let's just get to that other world and report my bloodsucking fiend neighbor and get home."

"It's all right," Sho says again as they walk. "It's just the adjustment." Somehow other fallen angels live through it, he reminds himself. Maybe being in the Hidden World will help. "I'm fine. And as long as you're here, I'm happy."

"How come you get to worry about me but I don't get to worry about you?" Nino grumps on the bus.

Sho doesn't answer. Somebody on the bus smells like roasted peanuts and the scent is making his stomach roll and pitch and clutch. He laces his fingers with Nino's and holds on. "The Crossways in the next stop," he murmurs.

He'd never been before. He knows how to find the Hidden World, of course, but he'd never had reason to go and it assaults him with all kinds of scents. He nearly doubles over.

Nino doesn't notice, hunched into his jacket and looking around curiously. "Huh. A food market. Somehow I didn't expect that."

"Hey, it's you guys!" a cheerful voice says. "Nino-chan!"

Sho straightens from his almost-curl and looks. A tanuki is grinning at them, his green hood pushed back so that tufty, furry ears show from between strands of sandy-dark hair. "You're-" he starts.

"Aiba-san," Nino finishes. "From the hospital. You're better, huh?"

The tanuki practically shivers with happiness at this, tail fluffing behind him. "Sort of!" He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah, well, mostly. I have to take it easy. Hey, hey, you want to come have lunch? My family owns this place!" He points behind him at a tiny oden shop. "My treat, my treat! You came to visit me and I never went to your room to repay the favor!"

Nino looks to Sho as Aiba bounds into the small shop, calling for his father.

Sho smiles at him with a shrug. He just wants to leave. Find the BountyMaster and report that vampire and leave because this place is making his pain worse and worse. "You always need to eat," he says.

Shrugging back at him, Nino follows Aiba and Sho follows Nino. Aiba is already, even in this small amount of time, waiting for them. He's got three bowls of oden on his arm. "Sit! Let's eat! It's hot and fresh and my dad makes the best! It's made with human stuff so you can even eat it without getting sick or weird, Nino-chan!"

Nino touches Sho gently, like he's afraid to touch him too much. Aiba, Sho finds, manhandles him as he shoves him into a chair and puts a bowl of food in front of him. "Ah," he says.

"He doesn't eat this stuff," Nino tells Aiba.

Aiba takes offense. "No way! This is the best there is! Just because you ate whatever that place feeds you guys!" he looks huffy. Sho opens his mouth to protest and explain and instead finds his mouth full of a spoon and…and…

Glory. It can only be glory that slides across his tongue, down his throat. His whole body seizes with the grace of it. "Oh," Sho breathes. "Oh." His hand cannot find the spoon fast enough and so he just lifts the bowl.

Dimly he hears Aiba and Nino talking. "Wow, he sure is hungry!"

"I told him he should eat."

Whatever. It doesn't matter. Nino is safe and there is Heaven settling into the growling, empty, aching pit of his being. He keeps pouring it in, barely pausing to chew the eggs and kamaboko and atsuage. There is broth running down his chin but he doesn't care. Somebody is tucking a napkin into his shirt collar anyhow. He just needs more of this. And maybe to make sure that Nino has some, too. Oh, yeah. "Nino, you have to eat this!"

"You have to learn to chew. And drink. And not be such an embarrassment," Nino says. "At least it tastes good enough to warrant the way you're moaning like that."

Good enough, Sho decides and goes back to focusing on his salvation.

"I like him!" Aiba says cheerfully. "Here, eat this one and I'll get more!"

Five bowls later-only three and a half of them Sho's-Sho can no longer move and his stomach is killing him but he feels so much better. He hasn't felt this good since he re-wrote Nino's Page. "Oh," he moans.

Nino is staring at him. He looks amused and disgusted and fond. "Pretty much," he snorts.

Aiba is sitting across from him, satisfied. "You're really cool, Sho-chan," he says.

"I can't move," Sho moans.

Nino snorts again.

3: Have a drunken one night stand

He can pretend but only for so long. Sho has known that this was coming. He'd felt the first sharp jabs of this hunger along with all the other human needs that came with his new mortality. He's a fallen angel, no longer isolated by Heaven's grace. What humans feel, he feels. The needs and the wants, the kindness and the cruelty. No matter what he says to Nino-who probably doesn't believe him-Sho really is scared of all these things the first time they happen. It is unfamiliar ground and he's already so far from home. He doesn't want to go any farther from it than he has and what if the next thing is the thing that pushes him down, over, tips him into the darkness?

What if it's worth it? he thinks now. The whole bar seems to pulse with perversion and filth and sick, dirty promises. There is sex in the air and Sho can almost taste it like salt on his tongue. He catches Aiba's hood. "Don't," he manages to choke out. They have to watch out for Nino. If he can just keep that in mind. If he can just keep Aiba there to remind him…

Aiba's eyes darken at him. "One drink, Sho-chan," Aiba says softly.

One drink is almost all it takes to get Sho drunk. Aiba is working on building up his tolerance. Sho goes along with this because it's easier to lie to himself about that then it is to admit that he wants what comes after that-the slick, hot kisses, the pressing each other into the couch or the floor or against the wall. The way he always retreats from it. From this lust. It's going to come and he knows it. He can't see it but that drop-off is close. "I-" he starts.

"You want it," a voice purrs in his ear.

"Pretty," Aiba says, his eyes even darker. "Sho-chan, there's a very pretty incubus trying to pick you up."

Sho feels fingers hook under his belt. "Sho-chan," says the incubus, "I'm going to give you everything you want. We'll fuck until you scream, until you can't scream anymore, until you can't even come anymore. And then we'll fuck again."

It feels like falling, like spiraling down. Heat and darkness and Sho is hard already. He can't do this. He can't. "Aiba," he gasps.

"He can come too," says the incubus at the same time as Aiba pipes up, "I can come too!"

They can't. They can't just- "Nino," he says desperately.

Somebody cups him and he's so hard.

"He's fine, Sho-chan," Aiba says and when did he get so close that his breath is hot against Sho's ear? "He's a big boy. He's been around. He's got protection."

"Mm," agrees the incubus and Sho doesn't even know his name. "He's with my friend."

The crowd parts and Sho can see… "A succubus?" he asks. How is THAT safe?

"Incubus," corrects the one behind him. "Succubus. Doesn't matter. He's just showing your friend what he's got to offer." He must feel something in him because there's a sharp bite at his earlobe. "You put a blessing on him. I can feel it from all the way over here. He's safe. Satoshi can't do anything to him that he doesn't let happen. Satoshi can't hurt him. I'll hurt you, though, when you ask for it."

That's not comforting, Sho thinks but the thought is pushed away by a hand pushing into the front of pants. He moans. Aiba giggles against his neck, licking him. "Sho-chan, Sho-chan, it's safe. I promise."

Oh, god. He can't. Sho is on the verge of praying right in the middle of The Filthy McNasty. He can't. "Drink," the dark voice at his ear orders and Sho feels a glass at his lips. He looks at Aiba.

"One drink," Aiba says.

Sho doesn't even know who's holding the glass with the potent-sharp smelling green liquor in it. He doesn't care. He's already made his choice. This is…this is just liquid courage. He opens his mouth and lets the glass tip, lets everything tip and spin and fall. The glass empties and is gone and a hand on his chin turns his head. Sho can finally see the stranger who is going to take him places he's never gone. Aiba is right. He is pretty. Strong features, pretty face, hands under Sho's shirt pinching his nipples so hard that he bucks against it. "Please," he whimpers. He's asking for it. Anything. Everything. Whatever this guy can give him.

The stranger smiles, predatory and pleased. "Come home with me."

Aiba's mouth finds his in a chaste kiss. "You won't fall, Sho-chan," he says. "Not again."

The night is a blur. He's not drunk, not really, but the night is still a blur. It's too much all at once. He can't stop begging, can't take enough.

His hands are bound, his balls are bound. Jun, the man who has taken him home, is taking him from behind. There's something inside his cock that's being moved with each snap of Jun's hips. Aiba is in his mouth, not in sync, not in time, but so good that Sho can't stop swallowing him. "Please," he moans. He's not sure what he's asking for but Aiba coming in his mouth is good enough, good enough to have him on the verge of screaming, just like Jun promised.

He's on his back, wings flared under him. He's got a vibrator inside of him but he's not sure who's controlling the speed. Jun is on top of him, riding his cock. Sho wants to see but he can't. His eyes are closed as he laps desperately at Aiba's entrance, getting him ready for what's next. Whatever is next. "Please," he whispers against Aiba's skin and Jun does something and he screams as he comes but he's already lost his voice and it's soundless.

Sho's got a set of beads in his mouth. He knows they just came from somebody's body but he just can't care anymore. It tastes like sex and that's all he wants. He doesn't care who does what to him. "Please," he begs. "Do you want it to hurt?" Jun asks him, and Sho doesn't know how he heard that over the way Aiba is groaning and grunting and straining against him. "Please," Sho closes his eyes on a whisper.

"May I shower?" he asks in the morning. He can hear the water running so it must be okay if Aiba is but he can't help having manners. In the big bed, Jun rolls to his side and considers him. He is beautiful with his hair in his face and his deep eyes and his long, naked body.

"No," Jun tells him.

Sho drops the clothes he's been picking up. "Huh?" he asks intelligently.

Jun smiles. "No," he repeats slowly. His eyes snap purple. "Go home like this. Covered in last night's debauchery, in come and lube and all kinds of scratches and bites. I suppose you'll have to put on clothes but leave the rest of it on."

The thought is mortifying. Nino probably knows what happened but that doesn't mean that Sho really wants to confront him with the reality. "Please?" he asks.

On the bed, Jun rolls over. One elegant hand goes between his legs and strokes. "You like saying that. No."

Sho licks his lips. He really…he really can't go home like this. He should also stop staring at the way Jun is jerking himself off, all lazy nonchalance. "Please?" he tries again.

Jun shakes his head. He also sits up against his headboard. "Come sit in my lap," he says. Sho finds himself walking over without even meaning to. "Come on, get on. I'm going to freshen you up for the trip."

Even knowing what he means, Sho straddles Jun anyhow. He's sore from the night but it doesn't matter. His cock is already hard again, already bumping against Jun's chest, his stomach. "Lube?" he asks. He doesn't really care if there's a condom or not at this point but he can't do this without lube. Not now.

"You know where it is," Jun says, pinching his thigh. There's a cabinet full of stuff-toys and tools and silk and leather and metal and condoms and lube-across the room. It's…Sho is not going to get up and go after it. He closes his eyes and shifts so that Jun is against his entrance. "Are you serious?" Jun sounds delighted. Sho opens his eyes only because Jun stops him from sinking down. He's holding a bottle of lube. It's mostly empty but there's some left. Enough left. "Hint: Always keep a bottle under the pillow."

He moans as he takes it. And takes it. Takes it again. He's not even sure he can come, even if he wants to. "I can't," he says through clenched teeth. He's got his full weight on Jun, nothing held back, grinding into him and he just. He can't.

"I can," Jun says, hips rolling up against him. His hands find Sho's wings and there are suddenly fingers against the one place among his feathers that has actual feeling. The place where one feather is missing. "Did you fall?" Jun growls and Sho can't look away even though he wants to. It hurts and it feels good. He's so confused. "Did you jump?"

Sho comes hard between them without even meaning to, dimly aware of Jun shuddering up against him, and then he's just breathing. Everything smells like sex and stale air.

"Man, did you guys have to wait until I was in the shower?" Aiba says. Sho rolls away from Jun. He can barely stand. "I couldn't have done anything but maybe I wanted to watch!" Aiba pouts and then ruins it by laughing. "Go shower, Sho-chan! We should go home. If Nino's got information, he's going to need us."

Nino. Shower. Nino. Home. Shower. Sho reaches for his shirt. "Right."

Aiba puts his hands on his hips. The fact that he's naked does not make this as imposing as he probably wishes it did but it does make Sho smile a little. "Shower," he repeats. Sho looks at Jun. Aiba looks at Jun, too. "Did you tell him he couldn't?" he asks. "Sho-chan, just ignore him and shower. He told me I couldn't either but I did."

When Sho looks back at Jun again, Jun grins at him.

Sho makes a dignified walk to the bathroom despite the way his legs wobble. He knows he's weak from more than sex but he knew what he was getting into when he went home with an incubus. He wonders…but he ignores that and concentrates on getting clean.

Aiba is sitting beside the shower when Sho finishes. He's dressed but his hair and ears and tail are still damp. Sho can't look him in the eyes, for some reason. With last night gone and washed away he can't make himself look up. Aiba cups his chin and lifts until he has no other choice. Clear brown, calm and happy and steady, Aiba's eyes are unflinching. His mouth is soft when it touches Sho's own. "Sho-chan," he says.

Sho is relieved. So relieved.

Jun is drinking coffee at the table when he and Aiba make their way to the door. "Um," Sho says.

Aiba giggles.

Jun lifts his eyebrows, amused.

"See you around," Sho mutters and escapes out the door. "I shouldn't have said that," he says to Aiba as they leave the building. "That was dumb. 'See you'." He could kick himself. If he could move in more than a kind of shuffling shamble.

Aiba brandishes a piece of paper at him. "It wasn't! I got his phone number!"

4: Let Go

Sho can feel the threat of evil, of the farther fall, in his veins. It boils and burns like acid. It's been a week. He doesn't care. He barely manages a civil knock on the door. It doesn't open and Sho kicks it down. It barely misses falling on Jun. Jun scrambles back. "Where is he?" Sho asks, stepping up to him, over him.

Jun is on his feet again, hands held out. "He came for help. He knew you were with me. He came to help him. He didn't just leave. We tried to call."

Sho doesn't care. It doesn't matter.

"Is he dead?" a new voices asks and Sho sees him properly for the first time. He's round-faced and sweet looking, Nino's height but with a stockier build. Nino's type, all right. Sho can't even answer him.

"Satoshi," Jun says it like a warning.

"Is he dead?" he asks again, ignoring Jun to focus on Sho. "Nino; is he dead? Did I kill him?"

Kill him. Sho has Satoshi against the wall, pinned by an arm at the throat and feet inches from the ground. "He was dead when we found him," Sho tells him. This is pure honesty. "The only reason he's living now is because what grace remains in me is his. He was dead." Sho gave up everything to prevent that, to stop that. That it could be so callously used up and thrown away. "Dead."

Satoshi's hands are on his arm but they're not clawing or scratching even though it's apparent that he can't breathe. "Alive?" he manages.

Sho steps closer, pushes harder. "By the grace of God," he snarls.

"He asked for it," Jun says. Sho thinks of dropping Satoshi to rip into him but holds off. "Your blessing on him was too strong. He had to ask for it. He had to invite it. Satoshi said he asked. They were careful. They tried to be careful."

These are things Sho already knows. Even before Nino had finally come back there had been enough in the apartment to tell the story. If they hadn't tried to limit things, Nino would have been beyond Sho's reach long before Sho had returned to his side. It doesn't matter. Nino's choices are Nino's choices. "He'll be back," Sho says, pressing harder into Satoshi and still Satoshi is not fighting him. "Back at that place and maybe back for you. But if this happens again there will be nothing that can save you, no magic, no place to hide. No matter where you go I will find you. I will tear this world to the ground and I will find you and you will suffer for it."

Even now he can feel his power building. It's not the power he used to feel and it's the most frightening thing he's ever felt outside of Nino's death, and he knows he will use it if he has to. He will destroy everything to make this one demon, this one soul out of billions, pay for hurting Nino.

Satoshi's eyes are calm and because they are Sho lets up enough to let him breathe, bracing him and ignoring the way Jun is scratching at his wings, trying to get past them to get to Satoshi. Let him fear, Sho thinks, let him understand this. Satoshi meets his eyes steadily. "If I hurt him like that, if I take more than he can handle, I won't run," he promises.

It is all Sho needs to hear. He lets the incubus back to his feet and steps back. He easily ignores Jun who is still shoving at his wings, unable to see just what it is that's happening to his friend. "All right," Sho says. They have an understanding. Nino will live or everything else will die. He looks at Jun and Jun backs up until he hits the wall behind him. "Sorry about the door," Sho apologizes.

1: Be There

They're watching game shows on television when it happens, he and Aiba and Jun. Just hanging out. Aiba with a beer, Jun with coffee, Sho with his milk, all of them dressed and, okay, close but just watching television together.

The commercials are ending and some really, really excited announcer is talking about their sponsors when the door of Satoshi's room flies open and Nino is in the living room, totally naked.

The thing is-Nino gets embarrassed easily. Everybody listens in on his sex life and he puts up with it because he has to, because he honestly can't be trusted to not let Satoshi devour him in every way imaginable. He plays it off with bravado and bluster and a swagger but Sho knows that Nino has moments where he cringes thinking of it. It's why Sho does his best to let Nino see him with Aiba and Jun (or Aiba OR Jun, whichever)-so that Nino is not alone in this, in these private moments being shared.

Sho is on his feet in an instant. "Nino?"

Nino comes to his side and plucks wordlessly at his feathers. Sho wraps Nino in his arms and wraps his wings around them both. They are alone, isolated, the shelter of his wings impenetrable. "Nino?" he tries again.

With a shudder, Nino leans into him. Sho holds him close. He can feel the way Nino's heart is racing and he smells like sweat but still clean, still faintly of soap and shower. Sho holds him even closer.

"I-" Nino says but says no more, just shakes his head and hides even inside of Sho's wings.

But Sho knows. Oh, he knows. "Fallen," he whispers, kissing Nino's temple.

Nino nods.

And Sho holds him.

RANDOM THINGS THAT DIDN'T FIT
after Sho is a total glutton and can't move for being full of food

"We still have to get to the Bounty whoever's place."

"BountyMaster?" Aiba perks up. "I love true crime! What have you got?"

"My neighbor has been blood-sucking all the 'hos in my hood," Nino says, putting on a tough face. "Vampire," he says, dropping it. "I don't like it. They may be junkie hookers but they're my junkie hookers."

Aiba nods. "That's cool. Where've you got him stored? The vampire?" he adds when both Nino and Sho look at him in confusion. "Well, if he's out there causing trouble and you bring him in then you get paid. You didn't know?"

Sho looks at Nino. "No," he says.

Nino pats him. "You digest. Aiba will show me how to get to the BountyMaster's." Sho tries to stand but he literally, actually can not. He sinks back into his seat with another moan. Nino pats him again. "You can tell me more about this 'get paid' thing on the way, Aiba-chan," Nino says.

Reasonably Sho knows that this will end…if not well than at least well enough. He'd care a lot more if he weren't falling asleep on the table, he's sure. "Be careful," he tells the table top. From the way Aiba and Nino laugh he thinks they got the message, too.

after the 'sorry about the door' bit

"I'll get somebody to fix it." He frowns a little. "Or get a whole new door." That's probably going to be the case. It's really…it's broken. A lot. Very much a lot.

Jun steps away from the wall, cautiously. "Forget it," he says. His voice is higher than normal but it doesn't crack or waver. "I'm in advertising. I can afford a new apartment if I want."

"I like this one," Ohno says. His voice is hoarse but he's not rubbing at his neck. There's a dark, angry line in the shape of Sho's forearm across his throat.

"You hate moving," Jun mutters.

Satoshi looks at Sho. He smiles a tiny, tiny bit. "Do you want a beer or something? We keep beer in the house."

Beer is all they have in the fridge. And the cupboards are stocked with hard liquor. Sho frowns at it.

"We've got milk?" Satoshi offers, holding out a pint bottle. "We tried to make White Russians but they're gross."

Yes, this is Nino's choice. Sho can see it the way he could once see the pages of the Book. What this will mean, how it will play out, is anybody's guess. Sho re-wrote Nino's Page and now it is all up to life to see how it finishes. He reaches out and takes the milk. "Thanks."

ALSO: Ohno is a lawyer. YOU SAW IT COMING, DON'T LIE.