[LOG] Tachibana and Niou 🐋🐋🐋

[chickens]

Who: Tachibana and Niou
When: Evening of August 10th
Where: Tachibana and Tooyama's room
What: Niou and Tachibana were meant to have nice soft cuddly time but ended up SINNING

THERE ARE 🐋 SINS 🐋 UNDER HERE. IT'S LIKE 5000 WORDS OF SINNING I AM SO SORRY
why is it always me posting the sinning


Niou felt slightly dead inside as he ate the last few bites of food off his plate and then pushed it aside. He would have normally just left it for later, but it felt slightly different since he was actually having dinner with Tachibana, in his room tonight. And it was meant to be about keeping Tachibana company to stay distracted from ‘empty nester’ feelings with Tooyama gone.

“I think I’m going to go into a coma from eating too much,” Niou said, leaning back slightly in the chair. “This is all part of your plan, isn’t it? Get me into a carb coma so I stay the night because I can’t move.” He glanced at Tachibana mock-accusingly. Though after a few very long shifts with last minute things, and then the stupid medbay repairs… Niou wasn’t entirely against actually sleeping tonight.

Having dinner with Niou had helped ease some of the loneliness and anxiety Tachibana was feeling. He cleared away plates, laughing softly. "You caught me. Should I pull out the weighted blanket next?"

Niou laughed and shook his head. Had Tachibana actually made him the weighted blanket? “At least let me get into pyjamas and brush my teeth first before pulling that out on me.” He glanced at Tachibana. “You know, you don’t have to wear underwear to bed, since your roommate’s away. I’m not about to drag you out for a late night run.”

Tachibana turned bright red at that little comment. "Ah…are you sure though? You might be compelled to, and then I won't be ready…" he chuckled. He had made a weighted blanket, but that probably wasn't going to be used tonight. "I'm going to go brush my teeth…" and splash some water on his face.

“I can run like 100 metres before getting winded,” Niou said with a smile at the blush. “I definitely won’t be asking you to run with me tonight, don’t worry.” Nor was he going to use the pullup bar that was on the door to the bathroom. Niou nodded and moved to stand up. “I’ll go back to my room and brush mine too then, and get changed.”

Tachibana nodded. The small time apart would allow him to send the dishes off to the kitchen, brush his teeth, and get dressed. "Good idea." He nodded. He did make a mental note that Niou’s running stamina was probably not a joke.

Niou smiled again before heading out the door and back to his shared room. And he took a bit of time to get changed and brush his teeth, eyeing the re-emerging shadows under his eyes from too many long shifts in the lead up to the expedition.

And then he grabbed a pillow from his pile on his bed, to take with him back to Tachibana’s room. Niou considered a second pillow and… no he’d resist. And then, with a weird nervousness already twisting in his stomach, he was knocking on Tachibana’s door again.

Tachibana had struggled, for a bit, quite honestly over whether to actually wear underwear or not. He was honestly confused as to why Niou brought it up. Still, it would be nice to be completely comfortable, so he opted to go without.

At the knock, he released the door, trying to convince himself this was all going to be fine. It was just sleeping.

Niou glanced over Tachibana as he came into the room and then tossed his pillow in the direction of Tachibana’s bed successfully. “I like sleeping with pillows,” he explained. … Two was not enough, but he’d deal. And then Niou went over to Tooyama’s desk to carefully take down the plastic sleeves (thank you Sanada) and put them down. “Sorry, I was being weirded out the whole dinner by the entirety of the Yomi crew staring at me.” And the central card of Tachibana in his underwear was… Niou tilted his head in confusion at it before taking down that sleeve as well.

"Pillows are fine." Tachibana chuckled, going to grab a spare blanket as well, just in case. He laughed as he saw Niou take down the card sleeves. "I'm actually weirded out by it, too, it just keeps Kin-chan happy, so…"

“So you’re fine with a naked photo of you just on the wall at all times,” Niou said, shaking his head as he took down the last few. Thank god, now he didn’t have all the eyes staring. “You’re almost like Sanada with your level of body confidence.”

"I'm not naked, I have on underwear." Tachibana laughed. "It's weird, but it's not like Kin-chan has it up there for impure reasons." He was nowhere near Sanada's level of confidence, but he didn't say that outloud.

All the hooks where the plastic sleeves hung definitely looked like Sanada’s handiwork and Niou squinted at them suspiciously. “I still have your card as well,” Niou said idly, now picking up one of the sleeves to look at the construction a bit more closely. “Gosh, maybe I should ask Sanada to make me some of these too.”

"Sanada is very good at building things." Tachibana smiled. "It's nice that you two get along so well." Having a good coworker must be nice.

“He’s actually a really good complementary skill set to mine.” Niou finally pulled himself away from looking at the sleeves to turn around and focus his attention on Tachibana. “So, health check first and then we can… do other things?”

Tachibana chuckled softly. Why did Niou have to make it sound so sketchy? He held out a hand. "Let me see your fingers, first."

Niou moved closer, putting his hand in Tachibana’s easily. “I made those ridiculous gloves for your roommate last minute. We had to custom make them from scratch because his hands were so small.”

Tachibana examined Niou’s fingers, pressing a nail in and looking pleased when the finger quickly bounced back. "Okay. Keeping hydrated. That's good." He did take note of a callus on Niou’s and and gently stroked a thumb over it. "I'm sorry again that he made so much work for you."

… oh what, Niou thought it was meant to be just handholding. Niou blinked at whatever it was Tachibana was doing and his fingers twitched slightly. “Yes, I drink a fair amount of water,” he said, puzzled. He shrugged at the apology. “It’s not really your fault to apologise for. It’s fine, I got overtime and I can take a night off for this.”

Now that he was done examining, Tachibana just held on to Niou’s hand. "Doesn’t have to be my fault for me to be sympathetic."

Niou tugged on Tachibana’s hand to lead him to sit down on the bed, sitting next to him. Much better. “It really is fine though. If things were too quiet here, I’d go mad and do something drastic.” He used his other hand to guide Tachibana’s hand up from just handholding to his wrist under the sleeve of his shirt.

Tachibana’s heart skipped a beat, looking at Niou for a moment. "Ah…oh yeah, health check…" He had forgotten for a moment.

It had been much easier to just tease about it on the journals, but now that Niou was facing the point of… actually going through with it, he stalled. “Yes, collarbones and ribs. Just quickly though–” Niou pushed up his shirt sleeve first though and showed Tachibana his forearm. With the mark up near his inner elbow.

Tachibana looked at the mark. "Can I touch it?"

Niou blinked. “... I thought I gave you 2 weeks of blanket permission to touch?” Although they’d gotten a bit distracted by stuff in that conversation. “With warnings for new things.” He smiled. “You can even kiss this one if you want, it’s my not-daring secret.”

"Ah, you did…" Tachibana blushed. He ran a thumb over the spot and then, just because he could, he did kiss it. "It's very cute." He teased.

Watching lowered Niou’s reaction to just a finger twitch at the kiss. “You’re very biased,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t have one on the other arm.” And to demonstrate, Niou pushed his other sleeve up to show.

Tachibana nodded. “That’s okay. If they were symmetrical, it would be a little weird.” He motioned to the mark on his forehead. “Like this weird thing…right in the middle of my forehead…”

Niou grinned and poked Tachibana on the forehead. “Aren’t they meant to be places you were kissed lots in a past life or something? I think on your forehead matches you a lot.” He moved his hand down to then press behind Tachibana’s ear roughly where his other secret mark was.

Tachibana chuckled. “I apparently didn’t get kissed much in my past life, then.” He only had the two that he knew of. “Not like you. You were apparently well-loved.” He poked the mark on Niou’s face before suddenly remembering his conversation with Akutsu. He pushed down that thought, smiling softly.

“Or maybe you were just the one doing all the kissing,” Niou shrugged. “That could also fit you.” He pulled back for a moment to pull down his sleeves and studied Tachibana’s face. “... what are thinking about, Kippei? That’s a weird look.”

Niou really did know him well. “...I was thinking about that thing I told you about. About why I may have been so angry as a kid.” He sighed. “...I was talking with Akutsu.”

Okay, that was a fair thing to think about… and then Niou’s expression turned instantly wary and concerned. “... Why were you talking to him?” More importantly, why was Akutsu talking to Tachibana? “Was he nice to you? Did he tell you any weird lies?”

“He came into the kitchen, looking like death and needing a meal.” Tachibana said. “He was actually very nice. Told me a little about his mother, and I spoke about mine and… It made me realize that my parents weren’t really keen on being parents…and maybe the lack of attention was the reason I acted out.”

… What the fuck. There was a lot of information there and Niou shuttered off his expression as he thought it through. “Acted out and went through your violent teenager thing. And wanted to become a boxer to punch people,” Niou said, checking Tachibana’s face to make sure he was on the right track. “Are you going to… do something with this? Or is it just helping you figure yourself out more?”

“I mean…it’s good to know.” Tachibana said softly. “...I’m not sure what I could do with it, other than maybe not take all the blame for the way I was. Am.” He tried to swallow his anxiety, but he was actually quite upset by this whole discovery. He had thought his family was normal. He had thought that every family just threw their kids outside instead of spending time with them, didn’t hug them, and yelled at them for being the reason they had to work so hard. “Sorry, can we switch the subject, I don’t want to ruin the mood…”

Niou watched Tachibana’s face closely and… oh fuck that. He exhaled, annoyed and toed off his shoes. And then scooted back on the bed to up near the head, leaning against the wall. “Lie down, Tachibana,” he said, sounding annoyed and gestured at his lap. “Head here. Don’t talk for… 8 minutes.”

Tachibana nodded, almost numb, as he listened to Niou and did exactly as he said. He hadn’t meant to make Niou mad at him, and was worried that maybe Niou was second-guessing everything. He laid his head on Niou’s lap and stared at the ceiling in thought.

Niou noted the time as Tachibana laid down and okay, 8 minutes of silence. He ran his fingers through Tachibana’s hair, pushing it back from his face. And then fell into silent hair petting, staring across to the other side of the room.

Tachibana closed his eyes, letting out shaky breaths as he tried not to think about bad things. He reached out to grab Niou’s free hand to hold, not knowing how much time had passed.

Was Tachibana crying? Or just overwhelmed? Niou couldn’t tell and didn’t want to look down to check. So he just held onto Tachibana’s hand as requested and kept petting his hair. And okay, maybe the 8 minutes turned into a more rounded 10… and Niou trailed his fingertips down Tachibana’s neck when it was done. “If you want more than that, you have to pay for an extension.”

Tachibana shook his head and sat up. He wanted things to just go back to normal, as awkward as normal was. He was becoming conditioned to try not to feel anything akin to sadness around Niou, but sometimes it slipped. He knew Niou was just awkward, and didn’t know what to do, but sometimes, Tachibana worried he felt everything too intensely for Niou to deal with. “We should probably just do what we were intending to do. Health check then sleep, right?”

He felt like he should… say something more about Tachibana being sad, but words failed him. "I hope there's a bit more in between checking my collarbones and then sleeping," Niou said, smiling a bit and grasping onto the subject change. He hesitated for a long awkward moment before abruptly just pulling his shirt off, tossing it to the other end of the bed before he could change his mind.

Throwing the shirt surprised Tachibana a little, but he didn't argue. He looked at Niou’s collarbones. "They do look better. Not as pokey."

It felt very weird sitting shirtless instead of just pulling up his shirt and Niou sat on his hands to stop himself from crossing his arms and bunching to hide. "Yes, I am actually getting some weight back." He looked at Tachibana and then away. "... I would like to be greedy and request that you take your shirt off as well."

Tachibana blushed and nodded, taking off his shirt. Sure, he had been shirtless around Niou before, but this felt different. "Is that better…?" He asked softly, still feeling quite raw emotionally.

Niou's gaze traveled slowly from Tachibana's face down his front and then back to his face. He was still looking… off. And he wasn't sure if both of them being shirtless made this more or less weird. "I want kisses, please," he said, reaching out one hand to touch Tachibana's arm.

Tachibana let out a soft sigh of relief and gently drew Niou closer. "Of course." He lifted Niou’s chin up a little before pressing a kiss to his lips.

He let himself relax a little bit into the kissing but even that felt… off. And Niou let out a frustrated sigh, pulling back. "This isn't working." He moved to go grab his shirt, suddenly quite frustrated. "Talk to me, Tachibana. We're going back to the topic of your parents and you being a violent teenager, since you're ruining the mood."

Tachibana’s heart was drumming in his ears. "I'm sorry." He tried to take deep breaths. "I'm trying not to…I'm trying to close that off so you don't have to deal with it. There's nothing to talk about. I can't change it."

Niou pulled his shirt back on, feeling deeply unimpressed. "Well, you're shit at closing your thoughts and emotions off." Which Niou found absolutely fascinating. He leaned against the wall again and looked steadily at Tachibana. "We're friends, aren't we? I've already seen your angry side, you don't need to keep trying to hide things."

Tachibana stared back. “You’re confusing me. Yes, we’re friends.” Just friends, as Niou liked to remind him. “But you seem to be absolutely annoyed when I get sad. So I try not to…but then you get angry if I hide things…even if the thing I’m trying to hide annoys you.” He sighed softly. “I’m being selfish. You’re tired, and I should be helping you relax…not… this.”

Niou ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. “I get annoyed because I don’t know how to deal with it,” he sighed. And he hated that Tachibana made him feel like he should… explain things, but then god he hated explaining things so much. “I don’t get sad. I cut that ability off a long time ago. So it’s just…” he looked uncomfortable. “Just tell me what you need me to do to help. And I’ll do it.”

Tachibana wasn’t sure what to tell him. “Just give me a minute.” Tachibana said. He stood up and went to a wall. He thought about just punching the hell out of it, but weirdly, one punch told him that wasn’t going to cut it anymore. He wasn’t a kid. And the wall was harder than his hand. “...Ow.” He shook it, and then looked at Niou. “...I must be getting old, that used to help.”

… What the fuck. Niou stared in confusion and… “You used to punch walls?” He couldn’t help the snort of laughter that bubbled up. Better than punching people, he supposed. “You might need to do the adult thing now and actually talk about things to feel better.” And since Tachibana wasn’t going to come out with information, Niou would have to pry it out of him. “Right. So you talking to Jin made you realise that you were probably an unintended pregnancy they couldn’t abort… and they… were shit parents?” He was going to kill Akutsu.

At least Niou’s little snort was enough to make Tachibana laugh a little as he walked back over to him and sat down. He placed his sore hand on his lap, offering it to Niou if he wanted to hold it. “Yeah, basically. Dad was always yelling and threatening to leave, and Mom just tossed me outside unless I was in trouble, and blamed me for being the reason she couldn’t get a job.”

Niou took Tachibana’s hand. “That’s… not great.” He rubbed his thumb over the first two knuckles because honestly, who thought punching a wall was a good idea. “My parents were always very careful around me. Treated me like I was going to break if they were anything but patient and nice.” Niou stared down at their hands. “Your parents seem… more difficult.”

“...I guess it’s just one of those things I always knew, but ignored. I guess maybe a really stupid part of me wonders if they even love me at all.” Tachibana laughed at himself. “Absolutely stupid.” He looked at Niou. “That didn’t seem to work, though. Looks like they did more damage than good.”

“Does it matter? If you’ve got other people in your life who love you, and it’s not like you’re going to be able to see them for 5 years at least…?” Niou shrugged. He glanced up at Tachibana’s face and then down to their hands again. “You’re not damaged, Kippei.”

“Love is a really strong word.” Tachibana said softly. “I guess it doesn’t matter. You’re right.” He wasn’t so sure he agreed with Niou’s statement. Something was off, there, that was probably going to always be off. “How do you know?”

“Yes I know it is.” Niou glanced up at Tachibana again and then looked away, still inspecting his knuckles. “I know damaged people. You’re not one of them. I think you’ve got some wounds, but they’re being mended over. If you’re so worried, you could always send a message to your parents in the next communications package.”

Tachibana nodded. He didn’t think he would ask his parents, but it was nice to know Niou thought Tachibana was going to be okay. “I don’t think they would really dignify me with a response. But I think I’ll be okay.”

Niou tilted his head slightly and stared at Tachibana’s navel as he thought. “What about your sister? Do you think they had the same resentment towards her?” Or was Tachibana actually just the only unintended baby? … Or unwanted because he was a boy…?

“If they did, I made sure they never showed her.” Tachibana said. “I was so bad, she seemed amazing. An was a good girl… she’s an amazing woman. She and mom are close.” Tachibana smiled softly. “I wasn’t great in school. Can you believe that? Couldn’t sit still. An always got full marks.”

… Yeah it was definitely because Tachibana was a boy. And a troublemaking boy, who acted out for attention that he didn’t get. “Given that you’re Dr Tachibana, yes I have a hard time believing that,” Niou teased. “Were they… did they hug you and stuff? Or is the lack of it the reason you like it so much now?”

“No hugs.” Tachibana admitted. “Not much of anything, really.” He knows he did overcome a lot to finally get that Doctorate, but that was after he had finally left home. “...Maybe I am just really starved for it.”

Oh. Well, that certainly did explain it then? Niou nodded and ran his free hand through Tachibana’s hair, trailing down his neck. “Good thing you have people now who are willing to make sure you get enough, then,” he said, smiling a bit. “Just don’t hug Akutsu, he will punch you. And he tells me repeatedly that he doesn’t cuddle either.”

Tachibana smiled softly, squeezing Niou’s hand. “Yeah, I am pretty lucky.” He always had Senri and An and Miyuki, but now he had even more people. He felt better now. It helped that Niou let him talk it out a little. He brought Niou’s hand up to his lips and kissed his knuckles. “Thank you, Masaharu.”

Niou petted at the back of Tachibana’s neck, looking up at him. “Do you feel better now?” he dragged his fingertips down Tachibana’s lips and to his chin. “Can we continue my health check, or do you still want to talk?”

Tachibana closed his eyes for a moment before looking at Niou with a smile. “I’m okay now.” He said. “We can continue your health check.”

Niou narrowed his eyes at the smile - was that a genuine smile or just putting one on? He leaned in to press a soft kiss to Tachibana’s mouth before pulling away, still inspecting his expression. “I used up all my daringness taking my shirt off the first time. You’ll have to do it yourself if you want to see again.”

Tachibana laughed and pushed Niou’s shirt up, pulling it off. “There.” And then he tossed it onto Kin’s bed. “I’ll finish my examination now, Masaharu.”

Oh god, that was definitely out of reach now and Niou let himself laugh as well, chasing away any last tension. “Yeah okay. I’m in your care, Kippei.” Now he was just back to feeling nervous, the annoyance having faded into his once again racing heart.

Tachibana smiled, looking at Niou’s ribs. “You’ll be happy to know I’m not compelled to count your ribs.” He said. “I do want to kiss that charm point, though.” He smirked. “Did I say I had to check anything else…?”

A very sudden mood shift, then. And Niou glanced down at his own chest before up to Tachibana’s face again. “... I think you said you wanted to kiss my throat.” They’d gotten very sidetracked in that conversation. “And if you’re going to kiss the one on my chest, you need to do the one on my back and chin first.”

Tachibana nodded and, deciding to kiss the mark on Niou’s chin first, holding both of his hands. “One down…” He smirked. “Should I have you pick the one I do next? Throat? Back…?”

The kiss on his chin made him smile and bite back a laugh, and he wondered wildly if Tachibana could feel his pulse in his hands or something from how hard his heart was beating. “... Throat seems logical. Move down the front, you know.” Niou sat up a little straighter and tilted his chin up to bare his throat. “You can do a proper collarbone check too while you’re there…”

Tachibana chuckled and kissed Niou’s chin again before trailing his kisses down Niou’s throat, then to his collarbones. “Yeah, they’re just right. Good job, Masaharu…” He kisses Niou’s throat one more time, finding the pulse there quite addictive. “I’m really proud of you.”

Niou groaned softly, his fingers twitching in Tachibana’s and he swallowed against the kisses. “I’ll make sure they stay this way for the next two weeks, then,” he said and god, his heartrate. “And you’ll have to check them.”

“I can check them as often as you want.” Tachibana said, really wanting to kiss that mark on Niou’s chest, but being too respectful of Niou’s rules. “Where is the one on your back? Turn around…”

“You’re so dedicated, thank you.” Niou was actually a little thrown that Tachibana didn’t just keep… doing down from the throat but he nodded and pulled his hands free to turn around, showing Tachibana his back. “Left side. It makes a pair with the one on the front, right? I used to joke they were where I was stabbed through the chest in a past life.”

Tachibana ran his fingers down Niou’s back to touch the mark. “I hope not…” He said, pressing a small kiss to the mark, before gently grabbing Niou’s shoulders and pushing down onto the bed and kissing the mark on the front. Niou’s heart was beating very fast. So was Tachibana’s.

Niou shivered at the touches that he couldn’t see coming. And oh, he stared at Tachibana in shock as he was on his back. He shifted his legs, squirming a little. “No teeth,” he managed to get out. “There’s another one on my hip, but I won’t tell you which one.”

“No teeth.” Tachibana promised, kissing the spot again and then curiously ran a finger along the waistband of Niou’s pyjama bottoms. “You do know I’ll have to pull this down a little to see, right…?”

How far could he push his nerves, Niou wondered. Now that he expected touches from Tachibana, they were all fine, but the questions were affecting him now. “... Yes I know.” He’d thankfully considered that when they’d first been talking about them. “... Just a little bit. I’m not wearing underwear so… not too low.”

Tachibana let out a soft groan. “Fuck…” He muttered softly. Did Niou even know how much he was tempting Tachibana? Still, they were here and Tachibana was curious. He lowered the waistband just low enough to see his left hip.

Niou bit back his reply to the quiet swearing because not right now when he was on his back and Tachibana’s hand on his waistband. He looked down as well and laughed at the careful movements. “Wrong side,” he said, thankful that his voice managed to come out teasing rather than as strangled as his throat felt.

Tachibana laughed softly. “Obviously…” He fixed the pants and then moved to the other side, pulling it down. Spotting the charm point, he gently ran a finger over it before kissing it. “That one is pretty cute…”

Niou just nodded at the comment, letting out a shaky breath and shifted his suddenly twitchy legs again. “Do you remember what you agreed to trade with me, for the throat kiss and mole-checking?” he asked, staring up at the ceiling. And he wondered, if he tilted his head back a bit more, would Tachibana take the hint…

Tachibana licked his lips, his mouth suddenly dry. Yeah, he remembered, and just because Niou was bringing it up, he kissed Niou’s throat again, getting his full 5 seconds. “I remember.” He said once he was done. “...Through my pyjama pants is okay, right…?”

His first reaction was no of course it wasn’t okay, that would be ruining the validity of the test because he’d checked every other spot on bare skin. But then he paused with the abrupt realisation that he’d told Tachibana he didn’t have to wear underwear. Oh.

Niou went red. “I’ll close my eyes. And you can move my hands where they need to go. Okay?”

Tachibana was also quite red. “...I…Um…” He looked around. “I mean…I could go put on shorts…” Or underwear. Possibly underwear. “...Is…is that okay?”

Niou nudged Tachibana to move so he could sit up and glanced down to Tachibana’s thighs. “No that’s weird. You’ll just have to take them off again for sleeping.” He shut his eyes and covered them with his hands for extra emphasis. “Just… I promise I won’t look. And I won’t touch like I did with everywhere else.”

“How are you going to scratch them if you are using your hands to cover your eyes…?” Tachibana asked.

“My eyes are definitely closed under my hands,” Niou said, his voice a bit higher than normal. “You’ll just… have to trust me to keep them closed.” He did shift a little uncomfortably. “Although we’re both males, unless you suddenly have like a second penis or something, it’s not like it’s something I haven’t seen before…”

Tachibana sighed and nodded. Well, here goes nothing. He pulled down his pants and grabbed Niou’s hands, placing them on his thighs. “Please do it quickly.”

Oh god, thankfully his eyes were actually closed and Niou tensed up as his hands were suddenly grabbed. He was going to assume that he was meant to just scratch downwards…? Niou patted carefully down to make sure that yes, that was the direction of Tachibana’s knees. And then slid his hands up until he felt the hip joints on both sides. And before he could talk himself out of it, Niou scraped his nails down both of Tachibana’s thighs.

Tachibana let out a moan that he tried to bite back. That was too much. Way too much. Shakily, he grabbed Niou’s hands, removing them and pulling his pants back up, turning his back to Niou. Not good. This wasn’t good. “...You…You can open your eyes…”

Niou nearly opened his eyes the moment his hands were moved until he remembered oh no, Tachibana still had to put the pants back on. He stared at Tachibana’s back and shifted closer. He wanted to ask if it was a 10 or a 9, but bit his tongue. “You have a point here, you know,” he said suddenly, poking Tachibana on a random patch of skin on his shoulder blade to change the topic.

Tachibana’s skin felt like it was on fire. “I…I do?” No one had ever pointed it out before.

“Yes.” No. “It’s just a little one though.” Niou touched it with his finger with much the same gentle curiousness that Tachibana had used. And then feeling particularly daring, leaned down to press a kiss to the same point.

Tachibana’s breath hitched. “So maybe I was kissed there only once.” He laughed nervously. “Your body is definitely more interesting.”

Niou laughed and sat back to run his hand over Tachibana’s back, tracing down his spine. “More interesting but not as nice to look at,” he said, going all the way down to the waistband of Tachibana’s pants. “I mean, you’re not even looking at me now and you’re the first person to see me without a shirt on in… a decade.”

“A decade, huh? Does that mean I’m special?” Tachibana asked, almost whispering. He turned to finally look back at Niou. “Hands are getting kind of low there.”

“Yes, you’re very special. No one else gets blanket permission to touch.” Niou slid his fingertips along the waistband to Tachibana’s hip as he turned around and took his hands back looking a little embarrassed. “... Do you need a cold shower?” And he would not look down, focusing closely on Tachibana’s face.

Tachibana shook his head. “No…No…I’m okay.” He smiled gently, turning to pull Niou closer to kiss him with a little more passion than he had before. Apparently, being called special had made him want to kiss Niou.

Niou very happily accepted the kiss, running a hand through Tachibana’s hair. And then he pulled away with an embarrassed look, shifting on the bed to lie down. “Hang on.” Just had to shuffle the pillows to get comfortable. “Come here, Kippei. I want to keep going.”

Tachibana chuckled at Niou getting comfy, but made no arguments. He basically had Niou pinned to the bed as he started kissing him again. “You’re quite greedy today, huh?” He asked, his lips barely leaving Niou’s.

Yes this was nice. Niou’s hands went back to Tachibana’s hair and he melted into the kisses. “I think giving you the blanket permission has just made me greedy,” he said, tilting his head to nip at Tachibana’s lip. “Since I don’t need to worry about watching out for unexpected touches anymore.”

Tachibana groaned and returned Niou’s nips with his own. “So you just always suspect that I’m going to touch you.” He said with a breathy laugh. “Good call.”

“When we’re in private, yes,” Niou laughed as well. “If we’re in the kitchen under the watchful eyes of Renji on the cameras, I expect you to hold back. Or in engineering, with Chitose nearby.” He lazily scraped his nails down Tachibana’s back. “Maybe I should think about like… taking away permission if we’re in private, so you know when not to touch…”

Tachibana slid his kisses down to Niou’s neck again. “What if I don’t want to listen?” He asked. “What if I don’t care what Yanagi has to say?”

Niou groaned and bared his neck again to Tachibana’s mouth. “Then I’ll be most cross with you,” he said, the threat behind the words definitely dulled with the soft, pleased sounds that slipped out. “And I’ll forward the stupid powerpoint to you, so you can suffer as well.”

“I’m sure if he caught us, I would get it as well…” Tachibana said, grinning against the pulse in Niou’s throat. “Okay, then…what would you do if I ignored the no teeth rule from earlier…?”

“Yeah, except he’s my friend and would probably send me a more horrifically updated one.” Also since it would be his second time getting it… so there was no excuse. Niou blinked at the question and exhaled shakily. “It wasn’t really a rule... I just didn’t want you biting my nipple…” he flushed and god he was glad Tachibana’s face was in his throat right now and not looking at him. “And it would hold for when you eventually get to see the one on my thigh and ass, just by the way.”

“Friends are great that way, aren’t they?” Tachibana said sarcastically. Knowing that the teeth rule only applied to certain locations, he started leaving little love bites on Niou’s neck, spacing them out with kisses as he went.

Niou snorted. “I didn’t even try to make friends with him, it just happened.” And he still wasn’t sure if being friends with Yanagi actually came with enough benefits to justify it. He made quiet sounds at every bite to his neck, squirming a little underneath Tachibana because oh shit, it was sending some very nice tingles down, digging his nails into his back. “Definitely not… not allowed to do this in public.”

Those sounds were doing things to Tachibana, but he was confident he could still pull away when Niou had too much. He pulled away just to look at Niou, smirking. “Of course I won’t do this in public. I want to be the only one to hear you sound like that…” He knew his back was going to be a mess if he kept letting Niou scratch him, but he didn’t care. He closed the gap again to continue kissing, returning to Niou’s lips once he felt he had sufficiently marked up Niou’s neck.

Niou flushed at the mention of the sounds and pressed a hand against his mouth, digging his other hand’s nails in again in retaliation. “The cameras don’t have audio,” he mumbled around his hand, letting his hand slip away and slide back to Tachibana’s hair once the kissing migrated back to his mouth. His legs were getting twitchy again though and he squirmed again, pressing a thigh up between Tachibana’s as he tried to get the restlessness out.

Tachibana laughed softly. “But someone might walk in and hear. Can’t risk that.” He growled, biting Niou’s lip perhaps a little harder than he had been. He noticed Niou’s legs and moved a hand to gently stroke one of Niou’s legs. “Do we need to stop?” He asked softly.

“Greedy.” Niou gasped at the bite and bit back. But it was a bit of a relief that Tachibana was definitely willing to keep this private. Less of a relief was that apparently touches extended to his legs as well and he jerked at the hand on his thigh. “No? I said I’d tell you if it was too much.” Niou paused and then looked at Tachibana’s face closely. “... Unless you want to stop. Because it’s too hard?”

The touch on the thigh was meant to be a comforting one. One to ease the restlessness. “Just checking.” He said. “I’m still okay…” He could still pull away if he had to. He smiled, licking his lips, specifically the spot Niou bit. “You were just moving your legs a lot.”

Oops. “I’m just not used to lying on my back, sorry.” And maybe he was also… getting a physical reaction to everything suddenly. Niou shifted and ah, of course. “Can we switch positions? You wanted to try having me sleep on top of you anyway, so it’ll be more convenient for when we finally… do that.”

Tachibana smiled fondly. “Don’t be sorry.” He said, pulling away so Niou could sit up. With the space between them now, he could admit that maybe they were both reaching their limit. “Sit up, Masaharu, so I can lay down.”

“It works out well though, since you said you’re a back sleeper. And I like my side or stomach.” Or sitting up, but shh. Niou let out a relieved breath and sat up, sliding to the edge of the bed to give Tachibana room to get comfortable.

Tachibana snuck a kiss to the charm point on Niou’s back before laying down. He reached over to pull Niou closer. "This will work out just fine."

Tachibana with permission to touch was a very tactile person, Niou had figured out. He let himself be pulled, moving carefully to lie half on top of Tachibana and propped himself up on his elbows, bracketing his head. “Okay?” The contact on their bare skin together was… interesting. And it was a bit more daring since he had to lean down this time to initiate the kiss. “Should I bite you too, Kippei?” he asked with a grin.

Tachibana chuckled, quite liking this view as well. "I wouldn't mind." He smiled back. It was interesting, laying like this…but strangely, he was less tense than before.

Niou smiled and shifted down a little, pressing a kiss to the pulse point on Tachibana’s neck. And he mimicked what he thought Tachibana had done before, nipping and sucking on the skin, to slowly make a trail of marks - and that explained it… Niou made a note to himself to check the mirror at some point - down to his collarbone.

Tachibana groaned softly, raking a hand through Niou’s hair as he kept kissing. He gently tugged on it if a bite was too rough, but otherwise, he was content to let Niou explore.

These marks were fascinating and Niou felt this urge to do an experiment one day to check things about them. Maybe later. He did reach behind him though to pull his hairtie out, to let Tachibana properly touch his hair, flicking it off to the side somewhere. He moved to kiss Tachibana on the mouth again, this time slipping his tongue in briefly, shyly. “Kippei… I think I’m becoming addicted.”

Now that Niou hair was free, Tachibana was more than happy to keep playing with it. At the confession, he smiled fondly. "Oh? To kissing?" That tongue had been quite enticing and so Tachibana kissed Niou again, this time slipping his tongue in.

Niou just hummed his affirmative into the kiss, pressing Tachibana into the bed. Addicted to kissing and to Tachibana’s touches that ranged from gentle and careful to daring ones that sent tingles down his spine. And he just kept kissing, muffling his pleased noises, until his arms wanted to give out and he had to pull away. “I… can we stop?”

Tachibana gently reached up and stroked Niou’s cheek with his thumb. "We can. No matter how far we get, I'll always stop when you ask." Because consent was important. "Do you think you can sleep, now?"

He frowned and self-assessed. There was definitely the shadows of tiredness under everything, but there was also the restlessness from the kissing and touching, and Niou shifted to rub slightly against Tachibana’s hip. “Even if I can’t, I said I’d stay the night. I can just lie and doze, or think about things if you want to sleep.”

Tachibana gently rubbed Niou’s back. "I won't fall asleep right away." He admitted. "We can talk about nothing until one of us falls asleep."

“Yeah that sounds doable.” Niou moved and awkwardly laid down half on top of Tachibana, putting his head on his chest as the position had been described to him. “Is this okay?” he asked, draping an arm over Tachibana’s chest.

"Depends, are you comfortable?" Tachibana asked. He was fine, but if Niou wasn't comfortable, they could adjust.

“No this is fine,” Niou said, shifting a little. He could hear Tachibana’s heart which was kind of nice. “... Do you have any questions for me?”

Tachibana lazily ran his fingers through Niou’s hair. "Hm…oh…you did say you wanted to tell me something?" Was he remembering that right? "What was it?"

Niou moved his legs to sling them over Tachibana’s legs, cuddling up to him like a pillow a bit more. “Oh…” he frowned and tried to think, distracted by the hair petting. “... I can’t remember,” he admitted, still frowning. “I think… I might have wanted to tell you I’m getting very fond of this.”

"Of this?" Tachibana asked. He was a little confused, because this was the first time they were doing this. He racked his brain to try and think of what Niou meant, but maybe Niou was just too tired to really remember. Tachibana didn't press any further, absolutely sure Niou would tell him if he remembered.

… Tachibana was so sneaky, wanting Niou to actually elaborate, probably because he wanted to hear it said outright. Niou narrowed his eyes and pinched Tachibana in the side. “Of this thing. With you. Looking after me,” he said stiffly, turning his head to press his face into Tachibana’s chest so he definitely couldn’t be seen.

"Oh. Ow." Well, now Tachibana felt bad and stupid. He blamed it on Niou literally kissing him into stupidity. "Me, too." He said, just continuing to pet Niou’s hair.

The hair petting was really nice and Niou shut his eyes. They should… turn the lights off and he wondered if it had been coded to Tachibana’s voice or something, so Tooyama couldn’t do insane things with the lights. “So tomorrow I’m going to stay up I think… and then the day after, I’m having a 3 hour nap with Hiyoshi…” Niou said, talking more to himself.

Tachibana chuckled softly. "Napping with other men already, I see…" He teased softly. The lights were indeed coded to Tachibana’s voice and he quietly said the command. He was sure if Niou was a typical person he should be worried about the Hiyoshi thing, but he honestly wasn't.

Niou relaxed a little bit more as the room went dark and he cuddled up a little more. “Mmm, just him and Akutsu. But I don’t think Jin would let me nap with him ever again,” Niou laughed a little to himself and hunted around blindly for Tachibana’s hand to hold, patting at a lot of random parts of the body. “He stinks like cigarettes though, you…” He turned his face into Tachibana’s chest again and sniffed. “... don’t.”

Tachibana knew what Niou was looking for and took his hand before he patted anywhere dubious. "Yeah. For such a rebellious teen, I never did pick up that particular habit." He shifted to kiss the top of Niou’s head. "Sometimes, I might smell like food though."

Niou let his hand lay still in Tachibana’s grip. “I tried it a couple of times. Never got into it.” And he hated it now so much. He felt… so relaxed right now, it was weird. “Are you comfortable?” he asked. “Not too heavy? Hair not in your face? You can breathe?”

Tachibana could feel himself drifting, but he still nodded. "I'm comfortable. You fit perfectly here, Masaharu."

Even with the lights off, Niou couldn’t turn his brain off fully. “We won’t be able to do this when your roommate’s back,” he said, sounding a little off. “Or, well, unless you want to just permanently become nocturnal.”

"I might have to…" Tachibana pondered. Of course, he couldn’t do that to Kin-chan. He rubbed Niou’s back. "I'll make sure we can do this a couple of times a week… okay?" He didn't like that odd sound in Niou’s voice.

Niou laughed a little and shook his head. “I only sleep a few hours a day though, remember?” he said. “And Sanada’s going to build me a bed in my office…” He moved their hands to lay in front of his face so he could stare at it through the dark. “... God my sleep schedule is fucked.”

"You don't want to sleep together sometimes?" Tachibana asked. "I've already told you, I don't have a set schedule. I can be flexible…" He gave Niou’s hand a squeeze. "Do you want to regulate your schedule?"

This was actual manipulation. And he had a feeling that if he tried to refuse, it would upset the comfiness that he found himself in now. “Sleep together in what way?” Niou asked instead, injecting a bit of teasing into his voice.

"Like right now." Tachibana said. "Unless you're finding that you hate it, then we don't have to." Tachibana was really enjoying it, but if Niou didn't want to, he couldn't force him.

… Definitely manipulation. “No it’s fine.” Niou sat up abruptly and grabbed the blanket, pulling it up over them and settling back down on top of Tachibana, curling up under the warmth. “I’ll think about it,” he said reluctantly. “I can’t promise regular sleeps because I just don’t... but occasionally.”

Tachibana was worried for a moment, but then Niou returned and he relaxed. "Okay." He smiled, actually cuddling now. He was finding it harder to keep his eyes open.

Niou returned his hand to holding Tachibana’s. “Go to sleep, Kippei,” he said, because maybe the sound of Tachibana’s breathing would put him to sleep eventually? But right now, it was hard. “I’ll try not to wake you up through the night.”

"Mm…" Tachibana couldn’t fight it anymore, no matter how much he wanted to keep Niou company. He closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep. At least he was a quiet sleeper.

Niou tracked the moment that Tachibana fell asleep and he eventually shifted to prop himself up and look at Tachibana’s face. This was… weird and he idly petted at Tachibana’s hair to keep himself occupied, twisting the strands into little plaits.

He did eventually get to the stage of his eyes drooping though and Niou tucked himself back under the blankets and into Tachibana’s side to try and sleep again.