Tomorrow's Medals, Underwear, and the Miraculous Power
part 2
Breakfast, Paranoia, and Ankh's First Kiss
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This thing is getting away from me.
Oh well!
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“I guess I can be relieved he's as dismissive as ever,” Eiji said as Chiyoko shooed him toward the table. Breakfast was usually a fend-for-yourself arrangement, but Eiji wouldn't argue with being doted on a little. A hot breakfast made specially for him in a familiar place brought on a little wave of untainted nostalgia he'd willingly enjoy in small doses. “How'd you get him to eat breakfast?”
“He asked for it.” Chiyoko set a little tray under an aluminum foil tent before him and resumed her work behind the counter. “He liked it, too, I think.”
“Huh,” Eiji murmured before tucking into his food. He didn't believe for a second that Ankh hadn't been cajoled into eating a real breakfast, but he could accept a renewed appreciation for it. He let himself taste his food and fall back into the day to day rhythm of things he'd enjoyed for the past year. “Are we doing anything special today?”
“Hosting one family party and shutting up early so I can run errands and you can rest,” Chiyoko said. Her tone left no room for argument. “Everyone could use a little peace after yesterday, I think. Besides, you two can have the place to yourselves for a little while.”
Eiji swallowed nothing. “Yeah.”
.oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo..oOo.
“Hey, Eiji.”
They'd graduated to dancing around one another by the time the restaurant emptied out, though Eiji didn't realize he was avoiding Ankh until he caught himself creeping past the door to their room. He rewound himself a step and craned his head through the half open door.
“Finally feeling talkative?”
“Maybe.” Ankh slid off his perch to meet Eiji's eyes. He squared his shoulders and tipped his chin up. “I hope you don't think I owe you anything for this body.”
Eiji bristled and warmed from the neck up. He met Ankh's eyes coolly. “What am I supposed to expect from you?”
“How would I know?” Ankh's gaze wandered for an instant before snapping back onto Eiji's face. “You want me for something.”
“I wanted you to live!”
“For you!” Ankh snapped, suddenly surging forward to close the short distance between them. His lips were drawn into a thin, pale pink line. “And, if for me... Well. Nobody gives anything away. Not even you.”
Eiji took a deep, steadying breath. His chest ached at the expansion of his lungs. “I don't want anything in return, believe me. I got what I wanted.”
Ankh sneered and jerked to one side, stomping around him and out the door. “You never cared about my 'life' beyond the fate of that body and what you could get from me, so why is this different?” He paused to look back with flitting, wild eyes, then whirled to leave again. “Don't pretend you're above-”
Ankh's words ended abruptly in a gasp when Eiji took one long stride forward and snapped an arm out to turn him back around by the wrist. He pulled him back into their room, fighting hard to ignore the pang of regret he instantly felt when the bones of Ankh's wrist shifted subtly under his fingers. He let his hands drop to his sides.
“I know that.” He let his expression stand as apology for grabbing him, but Ankh wouldn't meet his eyes to see it. “I know. I took advantage of you.”
“For power,” Ankh spat, suddenly, an old but raw hurt showing through in his voice. He turned cold, bitter eyes on Eiji and sneered. “For the whole world.”
“Yes,” Eiji said. He dipped his head a little. Ankh didn't have to make the comparison directly for it to sting. “But that changed. I didn't want it to change at first, but it did. I didn't come to save Shingo that time in the park, or... or the time after that. I worried for you. I missed you.”
“Shut up.” Ankh's face contorted into a mask of exaggerated sharpness. “I can't kill you easily with this body, but I can knock that stupid look off your face.”
“If you don't want me to talk, then don't provoke me.” He touched one of the balled up fists at Ankh's side. It jerked away. “Why are you panicking like this?”
“Stop!” Ankh finally met his eyes with bright, glossy points that reflected the sunlight through their little skylight. “Damn it, just stop.”
“I won't.” He moved to take Ankh's hand again, slowly, deliberately, gently. Ankh's fingers unfolded limply in his hand. Eiji waited a beat for a blow that never came. “They're true words and you deserve to hear them.”
“Are they?” Ankh asked, his attempt at flippancy ruined by the way his voice wavered.
“Yeah.”
Tension worked into Ankh's fingers as he considered his next words. They curled in on themselves. “All of them?”
“Yes.” The word came easier than he had expected. The fibers of his shoulder muscles slackened and he let his hand travel up Ankh's arm, over his shoulder, to rest on his back. “Is this okay?”
“Do what you want,” Ankh said, his voice and the muscles under Eiji's hand tight and trembling like a steel cable on the verge of snapping. “I don't care.”
He pulled him close, held him lightly and cautiously when he wanted so badly to cling to him and wrap him up and take all that distrust and fear into himself. He let Ankh unfurl in his own time. The beat of Ankh's heart passed through layers of flesh and bone and cloth, strong but still fluttering in a familiar way that brought back the sting of wind against his face and the gut-drop of spinning mid freefall.
Eiji hadn't kissed anyone, really kissed them, since high school, but when Ankh leaned forward and let their cheeks touch he found himself turning his head just far enough to let their lips brush instead. Ankh started and puffed up with a sharp gasp, but made no move to pull away, so Eiji let himself remember how it went. He brought his free hand up to cup Ankh's face and stroke his cheek with his thumb as he deepened the kiss. Not too deep, just parted lips and slow movements and hands wandering over a clothed back. A safe, high school caliber kiss.
A hot bead of wetness rolled over Eiji's fingers and he made the conscious decision to stop slowly rather than pull away. He closed his lips against Ankh's one last time and leaned back a bit while Ankh pawed at his eyes.
“Ankh?”
“Shut up!” His voice hitched. His face was red. He took a long breath that made his whole frame shudder.
“Did I screw up, doing that?”
“I'm fine. Don't look at me like I'm pathetic.”
Eiji heaved a sigh and unwound the scarf from his neck. “Come on, it's...” He closed his mouth around a tangle of words that threatened to squeeze out of his throat. Shocking? Cute? A relief? None of these descriptors would put Ankh at ease. He let Ankh take the scarf and mop his face. “It's normal. It's not pathetic.”
Ankh side-eyed him from behind the mound of fabric pressed into his cheeks. “Then what's with that look?”
Eiji blinked and touched his own face as if his fingers would make a functional mirror substitute. The corners of his mouth had turned themselves up, the insuppressible smile at odds with the way his eyebrows knitted together.
“You like seeing me like this.”
He shrugged, let himself smile wider as he retrieved his scarf from Ankh's fingers. “I'm happy and afraid at the same time, that's all. It just looks weird.”
Ankh straightened and took another big breath while he mulled this over. He made visible effort to look smug. “What are you afraid of?”
“Right now?” Eiji looped his dampened scarf around his hot neck and shrugged. “That I hurt you doing something you didn't want, I guess.”
“I said I was fine.” He turned on his heel and padded out the door. “I'm going for a walk. You can tag along if you want.”
Eiji brightened instantly and trailed after him, letting him walk a few paces ahead. “Hey, Ankh.”
At the foot of the stairs, Ankh paused and looked up at him. “What?”
“If you're all right, then I'm just happy.” He pointed to his face. “See? Not weird at all.”
Ankh scoffed. “What for?”
Eiji shrugged and his smile turned too hard to one side. “That I could make you feel that much, I guess. My first kiss wasn't like that at all.”
Ankh clicked his tongue and turned his back to Eiji a split second after his face flashed pink. “You're buying me a popsicle every time you bring that up.”
Eiji smiled to himself and followed him, a little more closely now. “That's fine.”
“Idiot.”
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