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“What’s the matter Kuki, I thought you wanted this be a real workout? Stop holding back.” The sound of a hard thud echoed in the training room.
Urie would have snorted if he could breathe. His back hit the floor too harshly. Mutsuki had a bad habit of not caring about injuries, often pushing things past their limits. Urie had a bit more self discipline about this stuff, and saw it as a challenge to tone things down for them. Currently, Mutsuki has him pinned to the ground, the wind knocked out of him. It’s kind of funny considering this scenario was usually the opposite in their earlier days, when they were still under Sasaki’s guidance.
But Mutsuki is way better at pacificism than Urie would ever be, even when it was a front. So he aims a knee towards Mutsuki’s stomach, a weak spot of his. Mutsuki loses his grip on Urie for a second but that is more than enough time for Urie to push him off of him and grapple him in a headlock, pushing his head unto the floor. He struggles momentarily to lock Mutsuki’s legs with his own, the latter putting a good fight. Mutsuki is kicking relentlessly, pushing his torso out of Urie’s way. Unfortunately for his partner, when it comes to outmuscling someone, Urie is better than him.
The calculative side of him points out that he could have had the same effect if he head-butted Mutsuki, could have made him delirious and easier to subdue, but Urie’s objective is not to make him bleed. Just push him into learning how to beat a bigger more experienced opponent, another weakness of Mutsuki’s.
Now if he used his ukaku there’s no way Urie could keep his hold, but this specific spar is to strengthen Mutsuki’s close sparring techniques. According to Dr. Nishino’s studies on Sasaki, overusing their kagune as half ghouls spells trouble for the both of them. This is in case his quinque knives don’t cut it, so to speak.
Mutsuki is still squirming in his hold, attempting to loosen Urie’s arms and reach for his face, but Uries managed to lock him good. Despite that, Mutsuki hasn’t tapped out. If he had a knife on him, Urie muses, he could definitely do a lot of damage despite the position. But again, the whole point of this is to extend his other skills.
Urie squeezes Mutsuki’s head with his forearms, careful not to do it too hard.
“I could have already ripped your head off if I wanted to, Mutsuki. You have to be quick- ow shit what the fuck!”
Mutsuki bites into his arm mid sentence, enough to take a small chunk. The shock has Urie loosening his hold enough for Mutsuki to escape. Suddenly, Mutsuki’s knee is on his neck— and Urie would scoff if he could, more annoyed than anything. He has to fucking clean the blood stains off the matt now. He coughs a bit at the pressure.
He taps on his partner’s thigh in resignation. The bastard was smirking.
“I thought we agreed we weren’t going to do any ghoul stuff, Mutsuki.”
“Last I heard, biting is still pretty human, Kuki.” The -kun honorific was added, making Urie squint his eyes at the tone. It’s definitely mocking.
“(Yeah but eating the flesh isn’t).” Urie bitterly thought, watching Mutsuki lick the blood off his lips. “(Seriously. Even ghouls don’t eat other ghouls.)” The other part of him recognized that it would still be effective on a fight, and it did meet the goals. Even if it unsettles Urie’s stomach (and maybe it does something else he doesn't want to name).
“Hey guys!” A voice breaksthrough Urie’s thoughts. Turning their heads, Saiko’s silhouette greets them by the door. “If you two nincompoops are done having fun, Hsiao’s cooking will be waiting for you. Saiko even set the table already.” Her eyes shifted to the blood, but she didn’t say anything, only proceeding to put her hands on her hips. “Well?”
Urie sits himself up. “I’ll be there in a bit. But first I have to do some cleaning up thanks to a certain someone (I’m so pissed right now).”
Mutsuki has the audacity to give a meek expression as he scratches his head.
“I’ll help too. We’ll be right there Saiko.” And Urie tries not to huff at the change of tone. It’s silly but it hurts that Mutsuki gets more soft with her than with him.
Saiko nods and leaves. Quickly after, Urie gets himself up with both hands. The wound is no longer bleeding thankfully, just a bit raw, so Urie can still use it. Heading towards the locker room bathroom to clean himself up, he senses Mutsuki follow behind.
“Are you mad at me, Urie?” His tone still sweet.
“(Oh so we’re back to family names now).”
The sink is running loudly as he rushes to wash the blood on his shirt, hoping it doesn't stain. Urie hates wasting clothes. Not that long after, he feels a chest press against his back and soft hands trail along his forceps.
“You’ve always been a sore loser.” Breath against his neck. Then an open mouthed kiss. Urie turns around, shirt forgotten.
Mutsuki's hand traces up to hold his cheeks now.
“Is this okay?”
Urie shakes his head and cradles Mutsuki's hands instead. Their foreheads touch.
“What are you doing Mutsuki?”
He feels Mutsuki's breath hit his face as he laughs.
“Getting you to talk.”
Urie grimaces. He leads Mutsuki’s hands away from his face and tries to put some distance between them. But the sink is already digging into his back.
“Seriously Urie I’m not going to eat you. Again.”
Urie would have snorted if he was in a humorous mood. Right now, if he were honest with himself, he was scared. But he’s seldom honest. It’s better to pretend he was feeling annoyed instead.
He feels Mutsuki shift his weight as he prepares to speak. “Maybe I should eat you then. Again. Maybe the you guys will finally-“
“Finally what?” Urie burts out, still holding Mutsuki’s hands. He can guess where he's going with this. It’s an old argument and Urie already wants to finish it before it starts. “We aren’t going to kill you, Tooru.”
Mutsuki scoffs.
“Of course not. I’m still useful to the TSC. You love that I’ve climbed the ranks so fast. ‘That’s my Mucchan’.“ He says the last part imitating Saiko’s voice. “How sweet.”
“She loves you, you know.” Urie grits his teeth, feeling protective and conflicted. A part of him wants to be on the offensive but he knows Mutsuki's mind can shift into extremes when he's upset.
"This is- It’s genuine, Tooru. We want you to do well."
“You can’t even say you love me.” Mutsuki retorts, atempting to step back, but Urie’s grip on his hands (still strong) stops him from going too far. Urie, embarrassed, tries to loosen his hold but he doesn’t let go completely. Though he would if Mutsuki pushed. Mutsuki doesn’t. They stand there for a bit before Urie speaks up.
“Would it matter? I feel like. I feel like it wouldn’t help you if I said that.”
“Since when have I needed your help?”
Urie flinches, not liking the ugly feeling of uselessness creeping up on him. He lets go of Mutsuki’s hands.
“I don’t understand. What do you want? (I want to take care of you. Am I that bad at it? I can never do well enough).”
Mutsuki grabs unto his own shirt, sweaty and gross, crumbling it. He takes a long breath and after a long second, he lets it go. His heartbeat is rattling but his mind is determined.
“I don’t. I don’t like it when I do things like that, Urie. I hurt you and you let me. You and Saiko both did.”
“It was handled.”
“You don’t know that. You can’t know that. We’re not together all the time! What if I’m still crazy?”
“You’re not-“
“Funny how I’m not anything you don’t want me to be.”
“Tooru.” Urie says helplessly. And it feels like a whine. How embarrassing.
“I just. Maybe that’s what I want. I want you to say it. That I’m not okay.”
Urie sighs, shoulders sagging.
“How many times have I lashed out at you guys? Do you think I’m crazy, too?”
“Maybe I do.” Mutsuki says petulantly, crossing his arms.
“Not funny.”
Mutsuki shrugs.
The gesture actually makes Urie laugh, startling them both.
“Whatever! (If so, then you are worse than me but) It doesn’t matter. You guys still took care of me and well. I like to think I’m doing better. Like I’ve said before, you guys saved me. It’s the same with you. We want to take care of you. You shouldn’t feel ashamed.“
Mutsuki makes a face at that.
“Seriously, Tooru.” Urie gets off the sink and steps closer towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Just let us take care of you. We’ve got you if you fall. Trust us to make the call.”
Mutsuki feels something in his eyes prickle and looks to the side, paying attention to the dirt on the wall.
“I suck.”
He knows he sounds childish but he wants to let it off his chest. He’s still angry at what happened, he realizes. And it is shame that he feels, Urie’s right about that. Surprisingly. He’s throwing a tantrum because he feels bad about what he did to Urie. Mutsuki blinks.
“Yeah well, tough.” Urie’s voice breaks him out of his reverie. He squeezes his shoulder then goes back to the sink.
“You stink by the way. Take a shower.”
Mutsuki scoffs.
“Okay team leader, thats enough. I get it. You stink too.”
“I’ll gladly shower after you do. So hurry.”
“Shower with me.”
(What?)
”What?”
“Shower with me.”
“Stop teasing already.” Urie barks and Mutsuki snickers, walking away.
(Seriously.)