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He was finally sleeping.
The four of them looked at each other with the weary trepedation of parents who've just managed to get a fussy infant down for a nap and then back at where Takemaru lay sprawled across the bed, snoring, his mouth gaping open, blanket rumpled around his ankles. Takumi frowned at him, at the even rise and fall of his blood-stained, gauze-clad chest.
Yeah.
He was definitely finally sleeping.
It had taken all day, but he'd finally worn himself out after what seemed like a hundred thousand attempts to make a break for the door and find and strangle Ima with his bare hands.
Which meant it should be okay for them to leave, to go back to their own rooms and leave Takemaru alone to sleep off his rage and recover.
Yeah.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," Eito murmured, voicing Takumi's thoughts aloud, weirdly in tune with him as usual and with only the faintest hint of hesitation in his voice. "He definitely seemed like he was slowing down towards the end. I think he'll be much more willing to forgive and forget when he wakes up. We are all friends after all."
"Yeah," Gaku echoed, fidgeting with the hem of his oversized shirt as he glanced back and forth between the snoring guy on the bed and Takumi, his bloodshot eyes filled with an exhausted sort of desperation. "We should get out of here so we don't wake him."
They were right, of course.
He knew that, he did. He'd had the same thoughts after all, it was just....
Takemaru snorted, shifting in his sleep, flinging himself onto his side, arm flopping over the side of the bed to drag knuckles across the floor.
Shit.
Takumi scrubbed a hand over his face.
He couldn't do this.
"I'm gonna stay," he found himself saying, earning a gobsmacked look from Gaku and a raised eyebrow from Eito and a thoughtful hum from Yagamu who was sitting beside him on the room's violently purple sofa.
"Seriously?" Gaku breathed, incredulous.
"He could wake back up so someone should," Takumi blurted out, his face hot beneath the pressure of their scrutiny. "He could really hurt himself if he tries to go after Ima and no one is here to stop him."
Silence greeted his suggestion and Takumi wanted to sink through the floor into the center of the Earth. It wasn't a dumb idea, it wasn't, but damn if that silence didn't make him feel like it was. Still, he didn't want Takemaru's death on his conscious, even if it was only temporary, because he had no illusions that Ima wouldn't absolutely aim for a more vital organ if Takemaru went after him now.
"You guys should go get some sleep though," he blurted out, gesturing towards the door.
"No, no," Eito began slowly, shaking his head with a rueful smile. "We couldn't possibly. After all, we're friends and friends should stick toge-"
"Oh hell no," Gaku broke in, glaring at Eito as if he'd done something unforgivable, his voice rising with irritation. "Speak for yourself, man. If Takumi wants to stay here all night babysitting the meathead, that's his business. I'm going to bed. This is so stu-"
"Hush," Yagamu hissed, his usual soft, purring tones crashing over Maruk's derision with an undercurrent of menace so palpable that felt like a promise of inevitable violence. "If you aren't quiet, you'll wake the baby."
Looked like he wasn't the only one who was getting exhausted parent vibes from all this.
Gaku's mouth snapped shut with an audible click though that didn't stop him from glaring at them, though Takumi did notice that Gaku took a quick sidestep that put Eito between him and Yagamu.
Takemaru snorted again, turning his face into his pillow, his snores quieting into something softer, but no less blissfully ignorant of the tension in the room.
After another moment, Yagamu continued, his voice softer and less menacing than before, "I don't mind standing vigil. I'm quite used to... sleepless nights." He finished, a smile twitching up the corners of his lips, the lewd potential and wry humor of each of his measured pauses and careful words surfacing once more now that the danger of waking Takemaru seemed to have passed for the moment. "And I'm more than up to the task of dealing with him should he get.... out of hand."
Goddammit.
All the fleeting gratitude he'd been feeling towards Yagamu for speaking up feld in an instant, like the tide drawing out before the arrival of a tsunami, his thoughts swirling unpleasantly with all the unwanted images of a hundred different ways Yagamu might take care of a problems spilling through his head unbidden. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes until the world was black, dropping his head back against the wall with a soft thunk.
Yeeeeeah, there was no way he could leave Yagamu to watch over Takemaru alone.
"It's settled then," he said in a rush, before he could think better of it. "Yagamu and I will stay here and keep an eye on him and you two can get some rest."
"Sure, great, you bet, let's go Eito," Gaku replied, already grabbing handfuls of Eito's puffy jacket and yanking him towards the door as if afraid they'd change their mind and talk them into staying if he didn't manage to escape immediately.
Which, to be fair, watching Eito stumble over the beginnings of a dozen soft cheesy protests about friends and sticking together and teamwork as Gaku frogmarched him out the door, was probably for the best. Dread had begun to coil cool and heavy in the pit of his stomach, but before he could open his mouth to say anything further the door was closing behind them with a quiet snap of finality.
And then they were gone and it was just the two of them and Takemaru's unconscious body.
"And just like that, I have you all to myself," Yagamu commented with a soft chuckle and Takumi groaned, letting his head thunk back against the wall.
"You don't have to say it like that," he replied, his face hot with a sudden rush of embarrassment.
"Say it like what?" Yagamu inquired, shifting a bit on the couch to face him.
"Like you..." he hesitated, unwilling to put words to the way those words sounded, to give it a shape or form beyond implications and innuendo.
Yagamu hiked one pencil thin eyebrow at him, a silent inquiry.
"You don't have to stay you know," he finished, lamely.
Yagamu's answering smile was brilliant and did horrible, weird things to the dread that lingered in the pit of his stomach. "I know, but there's no where I'd rather be."
The room felt too small, too cramped, and Yagamu felt way, way too close and warm even with all the layers of clothes between them and the silence that fell between them was anything but comfortable.
Meanwhile, Takemaru snored on, oblivious to the world.
He's not exactly thrilled about Yagamu's lack of respect for personal space, but at the same time... it's kind of... nice, familiar even.
Karua had always been big on being close, always grabbing his arm or hugging him from behind and at the time it had been embarrassing. Now? He just... missed it. Missed her, yeah, the confusion Kirifuji caused him was a clear enough indication of that, but also just being touched so casually. He'd actually been jealous when he'd seen the way she clung to Mojiro's hand and it had been a surprise even to himself to find it wasn't because of Kirifuji or her resemblance to Karua but instead just because he missed being close to someone like that. Missed having someone who didn't think before touching him, someone who just wanted to hold his hand in the dark.
So he didn't hate the way Yagamu had insisted on sitting so close to him all day, or the way he sometimes laid his head against his shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world as he'd laughed, watching Gaku shove Takemaru back down into bed for what had felt like the hundredth time.
But it was different now that they were alone.
"Are you sure you don't want me to take care of our little... problem?" Yagamu purred, lips twitching up into a lazy smile when the silence stretched on too long. The offer dripped with inneundo, perfectly sincere even as he made no move to get up and relinquish his place at Takumi's side, as if he was utterly confident Takumi wouldn't take him up on his offer even as he followed it up with an amused, "I could make it..." The pause this time was so long that Takumi was sure he wasn't going to finish the sentence at all, but then he was leaning forward, pressing his lips right against Takumi's ear, "...quick."
He wasn't sure what it was about the delivery of the word. Whether it was the pause or the anticipation or the absurdity of it it all or just the fact that this had been such a long day in a series of long, tension-filled days. Whatever the reason, something about it caught him off-guard and he jerked back and away, feeling strange and wild and suddenly laughter was spilling from his lips, his chest seizing and thumping with unexpected feel of it, unbidden and unstoppable, and he was slapping both hands over his mouth to muffle the helpless torrent of giggles.
He knew Yagamu was talking about Takemaru, was offering to kill Takemaru as if it were a perfectly normal, reasonable course of action and that it shouldn't be funny.
But suddenly it really, really was.
It really, really was and he couldn't stop.
And Yagamu was staring at him, face blank, wiped completely clean of expression, and it felt... good.
Like he'd somehow managed to put Yagamu on the backfoot for once, to startle him.
And it just made him laugh that much harder until his eyes stung and swam with tears and he still couldn't stop laughing.
He felt hands against his shoulder, his back, his head, awkward and strange, each fleeting touch hesitant and tentative, like they weren't quite sure what they were doing. And that was funny too. Yagamu always seemed so utterly sure of himself, so certain, utterly unbothered by what anyone else thought about the things he said and did.
So very much the opposite of how he felt most of the time.
Everything always felt so far outside his control.
Like he couldn't stop anything or save anyone or do anything. It felt like he was barely treading water most of the time, only just managing to keep his head above the surface, and that any moment he might slip up, might drown, and take everyone with him. And, sometimes, he wasn't sure he'd even care if he did.
Everything was so... so... fucked.
It was stupid.
He was being stupid.
But even knowing that didn't help and it didn't make him feel any less....
He sighed, shuddering, the inescapable urge to laugh finally slipping away, leaving him exhausted and aching in the aftermath. He dropped his head back against the wall again and shifted his gaze to look at Yagamu who was somehow, impossibly, even closer than he had been before, hovering over him, gaze intent, "Hey."
"Hey yourself," Yagamu replied, unreadable expression softening into something more familiar. "For a moment I was worried I might have killed you with laughter, which would have been tragic since it certainly wasn't my intent and murder should always be done with intent."
Takumi snorted, dashing the lingering damp of tears from his cheeks before reaching out to tug gently at the chain of Yagamu's longer earring. "Do you have to make it weird? I was really enjoying this."
Yagamu chuckled, soft and low, "Really? Which part? The impromptu stabbing? The snoring?"
"Alright, you got me, everything about this day is pretty much the worst, but... this part isn't so bad." He gestured vaguely between them, hoping Yagamu would get the idea without him having to figure out a way to put words to it.
Yagamu blinked, once and again, letting the silence stretch between them again.
"I only really had one friend growing up," Takumi offered, reluctantly, unsure how to describe it, his relationship with Karua which had always just been there, a part of him, a role he'd been born to play, maybe. "And you're pretty good company."
Yagamu hummed, his long fingers tapping against the back of the sofa, "That's one more than I had, so I can't relate, I'm afraid."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Didn't you have friends, I mean, you're..." He faltered, unsure, face warming as Yagamustared at him with one eyebrow raised, head cocked to the side, the beginnings of that familiar sly smile curving his lips. "Shut up."
"You really are cute," Yagamu murmured, reaching out to poke a finger against the tip of his nose and Takumi wondered vaguely if it was possible to self-immolate from embarrassment. "I really could see myself falling for you."
"And then murdering me? Thanks but no thanks," Takumi snorted, shrubbing his palms over his face as if that might banish the flush there or the lingering feel of Yagamu's touch.
"Tragic, but understandable, I suppose," Yugamu replied, rolling his shoulders.
"Yeah, I'm the worst."
"No, you're really not. But we do have a whole night to kill and I somehow don't think you'll be comfortable sleeping with me. How would you like to spend it? I don't suppose you'd be up for a bit of experimentation? Since we're friends now? Massage? Light torture? What do friends do together? Sex? Is sex an option?"
Takumi snorted, shifting his gaze to Takemaru who was still fast asleep, his head fully buried under the pillow, "Those all seem pretty loud."
"Pity, but that's not a no."
Maybe if he closed his eyes and prayed the floor would open up and swallow him whole? Didn't seem likely, but he could hope.
"It's not a yes either," he replied. "We could see if he has cards or something?"
Yugamu clicked his tongue, but didn't seem bothered or put off in the slightest. "Oh, how about make up? I could do your make up?"
Takumi blinked turning his attention back to him, "Sure, I guess, Karua used to practice on me sometimes, but where are you going to get make up? Takemaru probably doesn't have a secret stash."
"People can surprise you," Yagamu replied smiling easily, as his hands disappeared up his long-drooping sleeves and reappeared a moment later with a magician's florish and a handful of different colored pencils. "But a good assassin is always prepared."
"If you can kill someone with that eyeliner, I don't think I want to hear about it."
"Don't be silly," Yagamu murmured, placing fingers under his chin to tip his head back ever so slightly. "I don't stab and tell."
He snorted, but held still as Yagamu leaned forward with one of the pencils, his expression serious and focused as he drew delicate lines against his eyelids and curling designs across his cheeks. Time passed easily as he opened and closed and opened his eyes again and again at Yagamu's soft urging, enjoying the gentle shift of his fingers against his cheeks, his chin. Firm pressure tilting his head this way and that, smoothing his hair back and holding it out of the way. It was... nice. And it seemed like ages and no time at all had passed by the time Yagamu finally sat back, satisfied, and pronounced him cute enough to kill.
Takumi rolled his eyes and pressed a finger against Yagamu's lips and to his immense surprise, Yagamu smiled against the pressure and stayed quiet.