Suguru laughs and goes to him. Warm, sweaty, bloody hands frame Satoru’s face. He can’t help melting into the touch. “Your sunglasses got crushed, I think. Come shower with me, then sleep?” “No. Feed me.” “We’ll order takeout, if you warp us down the mountain to pick it up.” Suguru presses in for a kiss, slow and salty. “I really, really like you, Satoru.” Satoru rests his forehead on Suguru’s. “You were mean to me today. Do I have to fuck you up every time you get cranky?” “I’m sorry. That was just--too many missions back to back. I’ve missed you.” Satoru sighs, instantly mollified. “Say it again.” Suguru’s left eye crinkles prettily. The right one is swelling shut. “I’ve missed you, and I’m sorry about your bento.” “Your loss. It was a one time thing.” Satoru squirms as blood trickles down his leg, tickling at the hair there. “Shoko is gonna give us hell for this.”
“None of it is serious enough to go to Shoko. Not unless we get another surprise mission.” It’s a valid point. Satoru stretches to feel all the little aches, charmed by the notion of carrying them around for days. It’s funny. He remembers licking his wounds after the mission in Gifu. He hadn’t been upset by them, but he certainly hadn’t felt any desire to keep them, either. It’s so different when the pain reminds him only of Suguru. However, “Your neck, man.” Suguru hesitates. “Yeah. I guess I can’t let it scar.” Satoru would lose his mind if it did. If Suguru kept a permanent reminder of him in such a visible place on his body. It’s wrong to think that, surely. “Hey.” “Hm?” “You liked this, too, right?”
Suguru pushes off the wall and pulls the hair tie off the remains of his bun, cards his fingers through his hair and gathers it into a high ponytail. Satoru watches him hungrily: the angle of his elbows, the way his shirt sleeves slip and reveal the underside of his arms. Despite the mess in his boxers, Satoru isn’t satiated. “It made me feel safe,” Suguru offers finally, close to a whisper. “Safe?” This again. Safety. Like Suguru isn’t one of the most powerful people in Japan. Like he couldn’t, if he so desired, wage war singlehandedly. Like the higher ups haven’t caught on. They hadn’t known what had fallen into their hands in the early days, but now, especially after the summer, there’s been talk. The consensus seems to be that it’s too late to turn back now, and that Suguru respects the rules. That he can be kept in line. “Yeah. I didn’t expect it to be so…” Suguru laughs. “I don’t know. It’s hard for me, sometimes, to relax.” Understatement of the century. Satoru gets it, though. He used to be the same, before he realised that Suguru is strong enough to handle things, to make them both untouchable. They are mirrors of each other in some ways, and yet completely different. Satoru doesn’t know how to ask for safety in return, beyond what’s already offered.
i get so excited every time #WIPwedndestay comes around and i have something to show. i'm this 🤏 close to posting a chapter for the first time in months
#stsg