(no subject)
Title: Light My Candle
Type: Original
Genre: Fluff, fluff, more fluff, what can i do?
Warning: SLASHY fluff.
Light My Candle
----
Flames darted across the sky that was saturated and stained with red dust, and screams echoed, and houses burned. Men, humanoid and reptilian alike pillaged the burning village, relishing in the havoc, fear, and destruction they were creating.
Suddenly, one was run straight through with a sword.
A young man, not yet sixteen, stood behind the fallen man, dressed all in black, the visage of a slender, unexpected demon. Violet hair was held back but was coming undone, his emerald eyes were iced over with steel, reflecting nothing but hatred. Blood stained both of his hands, and there was a scarlet, dripping stain on his cheek.
With an almost perfunctory and mechanical grace, he torched the attackers with white flame from his hands, as hot as he dared, so hot that all he wished crumbled to dust where they stood, touched with that white fire. The villagers barely paid him heed, only began shoveling ashy earth over their burning homes.
The boy didn’t react further, but touched a finger delicately to his wrist.
"It’s done. Leave the payment with Windwaker, he will manage it."
And then he disappeared in a flash, courtesy of a device around his arm.
------
The boy appeared in a small room just inside the Delinquent, one not used for much but travel. He slid open the steel door, and for a moment sagged against the wall, hearing the voices filter in from inside.
So happy.
He closed his eyes wearily, letting out a deep sigh, distressed to find his limbs shivering madly. He willed them to stop.
Shivering, from anything, wasn’t tolerated.
Irritated, the boy squashed that train of thought back down to where it came from. Now wasn’t the time to be having thoughts like that.
He shuddered again.
"Tobi? You back there?" a voice called from the living room, and the boy straightened.
"Y-yeah," he responded, hoping and praying that his voice wasn’t shaking as well. "I’ll be in the bathroom, I need to clean up." Well said, and needed; his shoes, now taken off, had left faint, bloody footprints, and his hands had left smears where he had touched the door, before he wiped them off with a cloth.
He knew that Shishi would take care of them later.
Drawing in a breath, he padded down the hallway, ignoring the voiced concerns about his cuts and bruises, about his burned clothing, and about the weary, exhausted look on his face.
"It’s done," he muttered as he passed, "They’re free to rebuild their lives again. I told our client to leave payment with you, Shishi."
The blue-haired boy on the couch nodded, still worried.
"Alright," he got to his feet, "Go get cleaned up, and I’ll make you something to eat." Tobi nodded absently and entered the bathroom, slamming the door.
------------
Minutes later, he sunk into the hot, steaming water of the deep bathtub, watching as the mirror clouded up. As he cleaned himself off, the blood gradually cleared away, and the dirt and soot washed off his skin and out of his hair.
Tobi couldn’t get the water hot enough with the taps, so he heated it up himself, letting the heat rise so high and leaving himself vulnerable that it was allowed to scald him, replacing pale skin with angry red, before his body adjusted itself and he abruptly cooled down, despite the steam rising from the water.
Damnit.
When he found himself satisfactorily clean, he stood and wrapped a towel around his hips to dry them, before pulling on a pair of boxer shorts. Tobi stared at himself after wiping off the mirror.
Short and slender framework, with long legs in proportion to everything else, no hair anywhere but on his head, even at sixteen. It wasn’t a growth defect or what have you, it was just the way his people were, hair wasn’t very good in such a hot climate, except for protecting the scalp from any of their four suns’ rays. Scars, new and old, littered his skin, some white with age, but surprisingly, none on his face, hands, or neck. Adane had been sadistic, but sensitive to beauty, knowing better than to harm anywhere normally seen, at least, when fully clothed. Behind closed doors had been a completely different story. Tobi was thin, but bore the signs of a trained fighter. Long, violet hair framed his attractive, unexpectedly young-looking face, and his crest was blatant.
That damned crest.
A small blue slash, like an upside-down ‘v’ was tattooed over his nose, and another tilted to the right on his left cheek, with a small, blue triangle fitting into that.
Bright, emerald green eyes.
Frowning, Tobi glanced at his hands.
Still red.
He turned on the tap on the sink and began to scrub, furiously, at his hands. Still red. He shivered when it began to hurt, when the water began boiled, and when blood began to spill from where he had opened up his cuts. Unable to bear it, tears began to slip down his cheeks, treacherous tears and that stung and burned more than fire ever could.
It’s wouldn’t come off.
Stricken, Tobi couldn’t control himself any longer, and he began to sob, still scrubbing ferociously at his hands.
Someone pounded on the door, and he vaguely recognized Holly’s voice before the thought vanished. The girl shouted something, along with someone’s name, and the door burst open, shattering the lock.
The boy’s hands were abruptly pulled away from one another and wrenched out of the water.
Stunned, his nerves shot, Tobi allowed himself to be pulled backwards, and his captor lowered himself to lean against the bathtub, pulling Tobi with him. Still crying uncontrollably, Tobi didn’t resist, didn’t care, and didn’t notice that he was being held in a tight embrace.
One giant hand was attached to an arm that wrapped about the boy’s shoulders, while the other twined around his waist, holding him steady and offering protection that under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn’t have accepted. But he was too tired, too scared, and in too much pain to care about much of anything at the moment.
Shivering, he buried his face in a much-worn red shirt, unintentionally clenching his hands in the fabric, ignoring the cries of the raw skin as it pulled. The arm around his waist eased up gently, and a hand began running through his hair, unusually soothing.
Tobi didn’t notice or care that he was nearly completely naked, or that all of his scars were in plain view, but was finally, slowly beginning to calm, breathing in a familiar scent that wafted through his senses and pacified him.
A comforting, familiar scent that he had known for a long, long time. A scent that symbolized stability and security, something so comforting right then that he couldn’t help but relax.
The person who held him was trembling.
"Good God. What the hell is wrong with you?" Naozumi growled angrily, his grip tightening up again. "What did you think you were doing?" Tobi unclenched one of his hands.
"Can’t you see it? I was trying to get the blood off."
"I see nothing but your own." Nao snapped, trying not to show that he was more scared than angry, "Look at what you’ve done to yourself." The redhead exhaled roughly and leaned back.
"I was trying to get the blood off. I was just-"
"Shut up." Naozumi growled, and Tobi flinched. The man’s features softened. "The blood on your hands is your own, no one else’s." Sighing, he stood, gently pulling Tobi to his feet, handing him a pile of clean clothing that had been set outside the door. "Get dressed, and I’ll bandage your hands."
Now extremely self-conscious, and fully and uncomfortably aware that Nao had seen him at his very worst, Tobi shot an odd look in the redhead’s direction, and Nao obliging turned around. Thoroughly humiliated, Tobi pulled on the pair of pants and the black wife-beater, before clearing his throat. Nao turned and immediately sat the younger elemental on the toilet so he could take a look at his hands, wincing at the red, angry skin.
"You’ve definitely done a good job on yourself, kid," Naozumi murmured, applying dabs of burn balm on them, watching as the color returned to their original pale white. "They still need to be bandaged, though, so hold still." And hold still Tobi did, not daring to look Nao in the face. It only took several minutes for both of his hands, and when it was done, Tobi tried to express what he wanted to say.
"N-Nao?"
"Yeah?"
"I’m sorry." Tobi muttered quietly, averting his eyes, "It’s all because I was careless and I got hurt. I’ll be more careful on the next job, okay? I didn’t mean to scare you and make you worry. Okay? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-"
"Didn’t I tell you earlier to shut up?" Nao cut in, scowling. "You don’t seem to understand why I’m so upset, do you? It‘s not because you were careless, I‘m upset because you HURT YOURSELF, idiot."
"I’ll be more careful next time-"
"NO." There was raw anger in the older boy’s voice, and Tobi almost bolted, before he was caught in another crushing hug. "No more next times. I don’t want you doing this anymore. If we get clients and need the money, I’ll do it. I never want to see you go out on a job and come back like this ever again, it tears me up. People mostly just want the job done, but if they ask for you, they’re out of luck."
To be frank, Tobi couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
"WHAT? You can’t do that-!"
"I definitely can. You may think that it’s normal and that no one else can see how much you hurt, and that’s insulting. So you’re not going out on a job like this one ever again. You’re never going to come back in so much pain ever again, if I have anything to say about it. And Sojo will agree with me." Nao spoke confidently, knowing that while he threw his weight around often, the real power in decision-making lay with Sojo, who most DEFINITELY agreed with Nao. Tobi scowled, knowing he was trumped.
"It’s still not fair." the violet-haired boy grumbled, finally giving in and resting his forehead against Nao’s shoulder, tentatively touching his waist. "It’s really not fair."
"It’s more than fair," Naozumi stated, gently, but firmly, "And you know it." Letting out a sigh, he released his not-quite-so-unwilling captive from his clutches, and stood to put the balm back in the cabinet, before pulling Tobi to his feet, and wrapping an arm around his shoulders to guide him out the door. "Come on, you still look really pale. We’re going to the kitchen, so Shishi can stuff you with food until you explode." He was relieved when Tobi smiled, albeit a small one, but a smile nonetheless.
Upon entering the kitchen, Shishi was immediately upon the both of them, sitting Tobi down at the table and setting a plate in front of him, a large pile of delicious-looking food begging to be eaten. The boy stared at it, unsure for a second if his stomach could handle it at the moment, but began eating when he saw Nao’s hand slowly began to drift towards his plate. Possessiveness won out, always, in the end. Naozumi smirked slightly when Tobi glared at him, making subtle threats with his fork, daring the redhead to make even one MOVE toward his plate.
"Don’t even think it, you," he snarled, brandishing his fork, "Paws off."
Nevertheless, Nao was satisfied to see Tobi begin eating, slowly, but eating nonetheless. Shishi remained quiet, it had been impossible to ignore the shouts and crashing, and decided to remain quiet about it, at least until later.
- - - - - -
The room was dark, and from the window of the Delinquent, the faint light of a burning red star could be seen, giving the window frame a dim red glow. Tobi scowled at it from where he lay on his futon, but was too tired to get up and close the curtains. It had been hours since he had retired to bed, and sleep was nowhere in sight. For some reason, the events from earlier in the evening kept running over in his head, and he was getting embarrassed all over again at the way he had acted.
Clinging and sobbing like some little child, all over the man who was five years older than he was, honestly.
Tobi could feel his face getting hot again, and he buried it in the comforter, as if said man could hear his thoughts from the other end of the ship. God, he hoped not, that was the last thing Tobi wanted.
"Oh, come on, snap out of it, kid." he told himself, shaking his head. "Get over it, it’s over. We will never mention it again. That how it’s supposed to go…..right?"
For some reason, the thought saddened him, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway, and Tobi jolted, flinging the covers over himself and molding his face into the perfect image of sleep. It was surprisingly easy. His door slid open, and he heard voices, voices who were making obvious attempts to be quiet.
"Are you sure he’s okay?"
Sojo.
"As okay as he’s going to get."
That was Nao, Tobi realized with a start, and had to make efforts to keep still.
"Are you satisfied now, getting me up to check on the kid? He looks like he finally got to sleep, though. Thank god."
"Pretty much. But you didn’t have to come with me, you know."
"But you were too loud, I could hear you stomping around from next door."
A laugh, and the footsteps got closer, until a shadow fell over him, and a hand brushed his cheek, the touch as soft as butterfly wings.
"You can go now."
"Oh? Not going to do anything twisted, are you?"
"Oh, get out, you pervert. Go slip into bed with Casimi."
"Low blow, carrot top."
There were mutual snickers at each other, and Tobi could hear Sojo (he had to be the one still in the doorway) turn and leave the room, leaving the door open just a crack. The room was nearly silent, the only sound being Nao and Tobi’s quiet breathing, the redhead’s large hand still resting on the younger boy’s cheek.
"I guess you’re as alright as you’ll get, I suppose," he murmured, "I’m ridiculous for worrying for much."
Tobi gasped and jolted suddenly at that line, nearly scaring Nao half to death and causing him to flail away, eyes wide and the violet-haired boy sat up, pink staining his cheeks and his eyes just as wide. For several seconds, they simply stared at each other, measuring each other up, both equally embarrassed.
"Holy crap, kid, way to scare a guy!"
"Right back at you!" Tobi retorted, resting a hand to his heart in an attempt to slow his racing heartbeat, "You’re not exactly who I usually wake up to, you know."
Nao flushed and got to his feet, unable to meet Tobi’s eyes.
"Sorry," he muttered, and made towards the door, before Tobi spoke, unable to stop his words.
"Thank you."
Nao started, and their eyes met, emerald meeting crimson.
"F-for what?" he stammered, thrown off his guard. Tobi was strangely calm and serious, and his words flowed sincerely.
"For caring. For seeing me at my worst and still…..still wanting me. I mean, wanting me around." Tobi hid his shaking hands under the blanket, but kept his voice steady. Slowly, a small smile formed on Naozumi’s lips, and he shook his head, turning and returning to his previous position, kneeling next to Tobi’s futon.
"Hey, hey, you and I are the originals, you know? You and I’ve been together since the beginning- well, not quite the BEGINNING beginning, but, you know what I mean. Even when we hated each other, we still stuck together, because we needed people to care for. Even though we have we have others in our….family, so to speak, you were probably the first person since the master that I’ve ever been able to understand."
"Are you seriously going to stop me from going on jobs?" Tobi blurted out suddenly, leaning forward, and Nao smirked.
"Just the bloody ones. We’ll leave you to getting cats out of trees, and things like that."
Tobi rolled his eyes and lay back down, throwing his blanket over his face.
"Not fair."
"I’ll repeat, more than fair."
The boy stayed silent, but allowed Nao to pull the blanket off his head, only to have it replaced by his hand. Nao’s hands were so much larger than his, and always seemed to be so warm, Tobi mused to himself, suddenly getting drowsy, and as he finally began to slip off into sleep, Nao shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"Oi, I’m swiping some of your blanket." he informed him, and a sleepy hand fwacked his head lightly.
"…why?" Tobi questioned, already half-asleep.
"Because I’m tired and it’s too far to walk back to my room." Nao responded immediately, and was slightly surprised when Tobi surrendered half of his covers. Quiet, he pulled them over himself, resting his head on his arms, and watched, amused, that as Tobi dozed off he curled up, hugging a bit of his comforter to himself.
Crimson eyes closed, and Nao vaguely told himself that they were both going to be ungodly embarrassed come morning, but couldn’t bring himself to care at this point, settling for scooting a bit closer, unaware that sometime during the night his arms would twine around Tobi’s waist, in an unspoken confession.
-FINITE
-OWARI
By the way, my new screen name is haicrescendo. Thought I should let everyone I actually talk to know.
Type: Original
Genre: Fluff, fluff, more fluff, what can i do?
Warning: SLASHY fluff.
Light My Candle
----
Flames darted across the sky that was saturated and stained with red dust, and screams echoed, and houses burned. Men, humanoid and reptilian alike pillaged the burning village, relishing in the havoc, fear, and destruction they were creating.
Suddenly, one was run straight through with a sword.
A young man, not yet sixteen, stood behind the fallen man, dressed all in black, the visage of a slender, unexpected demon. Violet hair was held back but was coming undone, his emerald eyes were iced over with steel, reflecting nothing but hatred. Blood stained both of his hands, and there was a scarlet, dripping stain on his cheek.
With an almost perfunctory and mechanical grace, he torched the attackers with white flame from his hands, as hot as he dared, so hot that all he wished crumbled to dust where they stood, touched with that white fire. The villagers barely paid him heed, only began shoveling ashy earth over their burning homes.
The boy didn’t react further, but touched a finger delicately to his wrist.
"It’s done. Leave the payment with Windwaker, he will manage it."
And then he disappeared in a flash, courtesy of a device around his arm.
------
The boy appeared in a small room just inside the Delinquent, one not used for much but travel. He slid open the steel door, and for a moment sagged against the wall, hearing the voices filter in from inside.
So happy.
He closed his eyes wearily, letting out a deep sigh, distressed to find his limbs shivering madly. He willed them to stop.
Shivering, from anything, wasn’t tolerated.
Irritated, the boy squashed that train of thought back down to where it came from. Now wasn’t the time to be having thoughts like that.
He shuddered again.
"Tobi? You back there?" a voice called from the living room, and the boy straightened.
"Y-yeah," he responded, hoping and praying that his voice wasn’t shaking as well. "I’ll be in the bathroom, I need to clean up." Well said, and needed; his shoes, now taken off, had left faint, bloody footprints, and his hands had left smears where he had touched the door, before he wiped them off with a cloth.
He knew that Shishi would take care of them later.
Drawing in a breath, he padded down the hallway, ignoring the voiced concerns about his cuts and bruises, about his burned clothing, and about the weary, exhausted look on his face.
"It’s done," he muttered as he passed, "They’re free to rebuild their lives again. I told our client to leave payment with you, Shishi."
The blue-haired boy on the couch nodded, still worried.
"Alright," he got to his feet, "Go get cleaned up, and I’ll make you something to eat." Tobi nodded absently and entered the bathroom, slamming the door.
------------
Minutes later, he sunk into the hot, steaming water of the deep bathtub, watching as the mirror clouded up. As he cleaned himself off, the blood gradually cleared away, and the dirt and soot washed off his skin and out of his hair.
Tobi couldn’t get the water hot enough with the taps, so he heated it up himself, letting the heat rise so high and leaving himself vulnerable that it was allowed to scald him, replacing pale skin with angry red, before his body adjusted itself and he abruptly cooled down, despite the steam rising from the water.
Damnit.
When he found himself satisfactorily clean, he stood and wrapped a towel around his hips to dry them, before pulling on a pair of boxer shorts. Tobi stared at himself after wiping off the mirror.
Short and slender framework, with long legs in proportion to everything else, no hair anywhere but on his head, even at sixteen. It wasn’t a growth defect or what have you, it was just the way his people were, hair wasn’t very good in such a hot climate, except for protecting the scalp from any of their four suns’ rays. Scars, new and old, littered his skin, some white with age, but surprisingly, none on his face, hands, or neck. Adane had been sadistic, but sensitive to beauty, knowing better than to harm anywhere normally seen, at least, when fully clothed. Behind closed doors had been a completely different story. Tobi was thin, but bore the signs of a trained fighter. Long, violet hair framed his attractive, unexpectedly young-looking face, and his crest was blatant.
That damned crest.
A small blue slash, like an upside-down ‘v’ was tattooed over his nose, and another tilted to the right on his left cheek, with a small, blue triangle fitting into that.
Bright, emerald green eyes.
Frowning, Tobi glanced at his hands.
Still red.
He turned on the tap on the sink and began to scrub, furiously, at his hands. Still red. He shivered when it began to hurt, when the water began boiled, and when blood began to spill from where he had opened up his cuts. Unable to bear it, tears began to slip down his cheeks, treacherous tears and that stung and burned more than fire ever could.
It’s wouldn’t come off.
Stricken, Tobi couldn’t control himself any longer, and he began to sob, still scrubbing ferociously at his hands.
Someone pounded on the door, and he vaguely recognized Holly’s voice before the thought vanished. The girl shouted something, along with someone’s name, and the door burst open, shattering the lock.
The boy’s hands were abruptly pulled away from one another and wrenched out of the water.
Stunned, his nerves shot, Tobi allowed himself to be pulled backwards, and his captor lowered himself to lean against the bathtub, pulling Tobi with him. Still crying uncontrollably, Tobi didn’t resist, didn’t care, and didn’t notice that he was being held in a tight embrace.
One giant hand was attached to an arm that wrapped about the boy’s shoulders, while the other twined around his waist, holding him steady and offering protection that under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn’t have accepted. But he was too tired, too scared, and in too much pain to care about much of anything at the moment.
Shivering, he buried his face in a much-worn red shirt, unintentionally clenching his hands in the fabric, ignoring the cries of the raw skin as it pulled. The arm around his waist eased up gently, and a hand began running through his hair, unusually soothing.
Tobi didn’t notice or care that he was nearly completely naked, or that all of his scars were in plain view, but was finally, slowly beginning to calm, breathing in a familiar scent that wafted through his senses and pacified him.
A comforting, familiar scent that he had known for a long, long time. A scent that symbolized stability and security, something so comforting right then that he couldn’t help but relax.
The person who held him was trembling.
"Good God. What the hell is wrong with you?" Naozumi growled angrily, his grip tightening up again. "What did you think you were doing?" Tobi unclenched one of his hands.
"Can’t you see it? I was trying to get the blood off."
"I see nothing but your own." Nao snapped, trying not to show that he was more scared than angry, "Look at what you’ve done to yourself." The redhead exhaled roughly and leaned back.
"I was trying to get the blood off. I was just-"
"Shut up." Naozumi growled, and Tobi flinched. The man’s features softened. "The blood on your hands is your own, no one else’s." Sighing, he stood, gently pulling Tobi to his feet, handing him a pile of clean clothing that had been set outside the door. "Get dressed, and I’ll bandage your hands."
Now extremely self-conscious, and fully and uncomfortably aware that Nao had seen him at his very worst, Tobi shot an odd look in the redhead’s direction, and Nao obliging turned around. Thoroughly humiliated, Tobi pulled on the pair of pants and the black wife-beater, before clearing his throat. Nao turned and immediately sat the younger elemental on the toilet so he could take a look at his hands, wincing at the red, angry skin.
"You’ve definitely done a good job on yourself, kid," Naozumi murmured, applying dabs of burn balm on them, watching as the color returned to their original pale white. "They still need to be bandaged, though, so hold still." And hold still Tobi did, not daring to look Nao in the face. It only took several minutes for both of his hands, and when it was done, Tobi tried to express what he wanted to say.
"N-Nao?"
"Yeah?"
"I’m sorry." Tobi muttered quietly, averting his eyes, "It’s all because I was careless and I got hurt. I’ll be more careful on the next job, okay? I didn’t mean to scare you and make you worry. Okay? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-"
"Didn’t I tell you earlier to shut up?" Nao cut in, scowling. "You don’t seem to understand why I’m so upset, do you? It‘s not because you were careless, I‘m upset because you HURT YOURSELF, idiot."
"I’ll be more careful next time-"
"NO." There was raw anger in the older boy’s voice, and Tobi almost bolted, before he was caught in another crushing hug. "No more next times. I don’t want you doing this anymore. If we get clients and need the money, I’ll do it. I never want to see you go out on a job and come back like this ever again, it tears me up. People mostly just want the job done, but if they ask for you, they’re out of luck."
To be frank, Tobi couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
"WHAT? You can’t do that-!"
"I definitely can. You may think that it’s normal and that no one else can see how much you hurt, and that’s insulting. So you’re not going out on a job like this one ever again. You’re never going to come back in so much pain ever again, if I have anything to say about it. And Sojo will agree with me." Nao spoke confidently, knowing that while he threw his weight around often, the real power in decision-making lay with Sojo, who most DEFINITELY agreed with Nao. Tobi scowled, knowing he was trumped.
"It’s still not fair." the violet-haired boy grumbled, finally giving in and resting his forehead against Nao’s shoulder, tentatively touching his waist. "It’s really not fair."
"It’s more than fair," Naozumi stated, gently, but firmly, "And you know it." Letting out a sigh, he released his not-quite-so-unwilling captive from his clutches, and stood to put the balm back in the cabinet, before pulling Tobi to his feet, and wrapping an arm around his shoulders to guide him out the door. "Come on, you still look really pale. We’re going to the kitchen, so Shishi can stuff you with food until you explode." He was relieved when Tobi smiled, albeit a small one, but a smile nonetheless.
Upon entering the kitchen, Shishi was immediately upon the both of them, sitting Tobi down at the table and setting a plate in front of him, a large pile of delicious-looking food begging to be eaten. The boy stared at it, unsure for a second if his stomach could handle it at the moment, but began eating when he saw Nao’s hand slowly began to drift towards his plate. Possessiveness won out, always, in the end. Naozumi smirked slightly when Tobi glared at him, making subtle threats with his fork, daring the redhead to make even one MOVE toward his plate.
"Don’t even think it, you," he snarled, brandishing his fork, "Paws off."
Nevertheless, Nao was satisfied to see Tobi begin eating, slowly, but eating nonetheless. Shishi remained quiet, it had been impossible to ignore the shouts and crashing, and decided to remain quiet about it, at least until later.
- - - - - -
The room was dark, and from the window of the Delinquent, the faint light of a burning red star could be seen, giving the window frame a dim red glow. Tobi scowled at it from where he lay on his futon, but was too tired to get up and close the curtains. It had been hours since he had retired to bed, and sleep was nowhere in sight. For some reason, the events from earlier in the evening kept running over in his head, and he was getting embarrassed all over again at the way he had acted.
Clinging and sobbing like some little child, all over the man who was five years older than he was, honestly.
Tobi could feel his face getting hot again, and he buried it in the comforter, as if said man could hear his thoughts from the other end of the ship. God, he hoped not, that was the last thing Tobi wanted.
"Oh, come on, snap out of it, kid." he told himself, shaking his head. "Get over it, it’s over. We will never mention it again. That how it’s supposed to go…..right?"
For some reason, the thought saddened him, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway, and Tobi jolted, flinging the covers over himself and molding his face into the perfect image of sleep. It was surprisingly easy. His door slid open, and he heard voices, voices who were making obvious attempts to be quiet.
"Are you sure he’s okay?"
Sojo.
"As okay as he’s going to get."
That was Nao, Tobi realized with a start, and had to make efforts to keep still.
"Are you satisfied now, getting me up to check on the kid? He looks like he finally got to sleep, though. Thank god."
"Pretty much. But you didn’t have to come with me, you know."
"But you were too loud, I could hear you stomping around from next door."
A laugh, and the footsteps got closer, until a shadow fell over him, and a hand brushed his cheek, the touch as soft as butterfly wings.
"You can go now."
"Oh? Not going to do anything twisted, are you?"
"Oh, get out, you pervert. Go slip into bed with Casimi."
"Low blow, carrot top."
There were mutual snickers at each other, and Tobi could hear Sojo (he had to be the one still in the doorway) turn and leave the room, leaving the door open just a crack. The room was nearly silent, the only sound being Nao and Tobi’s quiet breathing, the redhead’s large hand still resting on the younger boy’s cheek.
"I guess you’re as alright as you’ll get, I suppose," he murmured, "I’m ridiculous for worrying for much."
Tobi gasped and jolted suddenly at that line, nearly scaring Nao half to death and causing him to flail away, eyes wide and the violet-haired boy sat up, pink staining his cheeks and his eyes just as wide. For several seconds, they simply stared at each other, measuring each other up, both equally embarrassed.
"Holy crap, kid, way to scare a guy!"
"Right back at you!" Tobi retorted, resting a hand to his heart in an attempt to slow his racing heartbeat, "You’re not exactly who I usually wake up to, you know."
Nao flushed and got to his feet, unable to meet Tobi’s eyes.
"Sorry," he muttered, and made towards the door, before Tobi spoke, unable to stop his words.
"Thank you."
Nao started, and their eyes met, emerald meeting crimson.
"F-for what?" he stammered, thrown off his guard. Tobi was strangely calm and serious, and his words flowed sincerely.
"For caring. For seeing me at my worst and still…..still wanting me. I mean, wanting me around." Tobi hid his shaking hands under the blanket, but kept his voice steady. Slowly, a small smile formed on Naozumi’s lips, and he shook his head, turning and returning to his previous position, kneeling next to Tobi’s futon.
"Hey, hey, you and I are the originals, you know? You and I’ve been together since the beginning- well, not quite the BEGINNING beginning, but, you know what I mean. Even when we hated each other, we still stuck together, because we needed people to care for. Even though we have we have others in our….family, so to speak, you were probably the first person since the master that I’ve ever been able to understand."
"Are you seriously going to stop me from going on jobs?" Tobi blurted out suddenly, leaning forward, and Nao smirked.
"Just the bloody ones. We’ll leave you to getting cats out of trees, and things like that."
Tobi rolled his eyes and lay back down, throwing his blanket over his face.
"Not fair."
"I’ll repeat, more than fair."
The boy stayed silent, but allowed Nao to pull the blanket off his head, only to have it replaced by his hand. Nao’s hands were so much larger than his, and always seemed to be so warm, Tobi mused to himself, suddenly getting drowsy, and as he finally began to slip off into sleep, Nao shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"Oi, I’m swiping some of your blanket." he informed him, and a sleepy hand fwacked his head lightly.
"…why?" Tobi questioned, already half-asleep.
"Because I’m tired and it’s too far to walk back to my room." Nao responded immediately, and was slightly surprised when Tobi surrendered half of his covers. Quiet, he pulled them over himself, resting his head on his arms, and watched, amused, that as Tobi dozed off he curled up, hugging a bit of his comforter to himself.
Crimson eyes closed, and Nao vaguely told himself that they were both going to be ungodly embarrassed come morning, but couldn’t bring himself to care at this point, settling for scooting a bit closer, unaware that sometime during the night his arms would twine around Tobi’s waist, in an unspoken confession.
-FINITE
-OWARI
By the way, my new screen name is haicrescendo. Thought I should let everyone I actually talk to know.