[log] Kamio, Saeki

[saeki-siberian.livejournal.com]

Date: Today, early in the morning
Who: Kamio, Saeki
Rating: G (PG if you count sitting around in the buff)
Summary: Kamio and Saeki catch some together-time and discuss Oshitari and HFC business.


It might be early in the morning, but Saeki was awake. He knew what his lovers thought of his sleeping habits, but occasionally he was up and alert early in the morning. Beside him, Oshitari slept close, huddled into Saeki's side. Kamio slept on the other side, burrowed so far into Saeki's fur (the tiger form kept one warm on winter nights) there was hardly any Kamio left outside. Saeki stroked their heads lightly, lying there and looking at the ceiling. He closed his eyes, but for some reason sleep eluded him.

It was unusual for him to feel so fidgety, but right now, he did. After what felt like an interminably long time lying there listening to Oshitari and Kamio's light breathing, Saeki decided he'd get up. As much as he enjoyed the warmth of his lovers (and he was sure they were enjoying his), he needed to stretch. And perhaps walk some of this damned edginess off.

Tigers could move quietly when they wanted to. At the foot of the bed Saeki stopped, turned around, and made sure both his lovers were warmly tucked in. No point letting them get cold. Then he left the room, closing the door quietly after him. Outside the door, he shifted, hissing softly in pain. It never got easier. Now that Wings wasn't around, there weren't likely to be any more grapes in the fridge, but maybe there would be something else. He could always make some instant soup.

Kamio was acutely aware that…something was missing.

He shifted in his sleep, cold without being chilled. There was weight over him that hadn't been there a few moments ago. Next to him was a void, an empty space that didn’t belong there. It only took a few seconds for his blue eyes to flicker open. The mattress was blurry, a lump of sheets and bodies.

…no. Wait. A body. Not two.

If anything could jolt the redheaded speed mutant awake, it was that. He sat up, suddenly very alert and mindful of the blanket tucked over him. He hadn't gone to sleep with one over him. He'd been tucked against the side of that body that was missing from his bed. Though the space between him and Oshitari was still warm -- and his other lover was sleeping peacefully, unaware of the absence of their tigerish mate. Kamio shifted off the bed, his movements quickened.

If the bed was still warm, then Saeki couldn't have gone off that long ago. He couldn't have gotten very far.

And it would only take Kamio moments to check the entire house. Less than a minute later, he came across Saeki (human now, no longer tiger) in the kitchen, sitting at the table staring off into space while something steamed before him in a mug. Saeki didn't react to Kamio's presence, continuing to stare off somewhere.

He stared at his boyfriend's naked back for a moment, eyes skimming down equally bare legs nonplussed. "Babe?" Kamio's voice was pitched soft, for the redhead, as he came to a halt inside the kitchen door.

"Hmm?" Saeki looked up, and then blinked. "Akira. You're awake." Had he woken the other? He hadn't meant to, but Kamio had always been a lighter sleeper than Oshitari. "I'm sorry. Just ... " Saeki waved at the mug. "Want some soup?"

"Yeah, noticed my heater went missing," Kamio answered back, running his fingers through his sleep-messed hair. He slipped further into the kitchen; the tile was cool on his bare feet. "'s not a problem, babe." The words were lost in a yawn and he only nodded his head in response, pausing at a cabinet to grab another mug. He then settled down in the chair closest to his tiger.

"Yuu's still dead to the world, anyway." And that mattered most. Their other lover had been working himself too hard, so far as Kamio was concerned. But with all these new issues that had cropped up left and right, there was little anyone could do to stop him.

Oshitari was just too damn stubborn when he wanted something.

"Glad I didn't wake him. He needs it." Saeki poured the rest of the soup out for Kamio, setting the warm and now-empty saucepan down again. He stared off into the distance a while, occasionally looking down at his mug. It was still there, and the soup was still steaming. Too hot to drink, then. "Careful. I think I went a little too far. Can't quite keep soup warm like I do other things."

It was quiet in the kitchen for a while. Saeki stared off into the distance, seeing nothing.

After a while, he spoke again. "Kira ... help me out here. Yuu's working his butt off, and I feel like there's nothing I can do to be useful." Saeki's brow furrowed. "'Watch Ohtori,' he says. 'Trust me,' he says. And he expects us to watch him work himself down to skin and bone? I--" I feel helpless, Saeki thought. "You always knew him best, right, babe? I mean, you got together long before I came ..."

Saeki trailed off. That wasn't right. He shook his head, trying to settle his thoughts. Who'd approached whom? Hadn't he been the one to first speak to Oshitari? Kamio and Oshitari, and then Saeki walking in ...

No. That was the other world.

He shook his head, trying to cover for that. "I mean, you probably spend more time with him considering how much I sleep. Right?" He wondered if Kamio believed that.

"Nah, he's out." Kamio shifted restlessly on the chair; he could feel the build starting, even though he'd worn himself thin in the gym just hours ago. At least it was taking longer, but…hell. It was probably a good thing he'd woken up. He'd have to go run or something soon.

Smiling as he took the mug, he could feel the heat radiating. "Soup just doesn't get the benefit of your internal heater and I'm not too keen on sharing with it anyway." He leaned forward and blew some of the steam aside, then took a small sip. It was hot -- but not scalding; Kamio was pretty sure he could live with that, cold as he could get. He didn't mind the silence so much, for the time that it lasted, but when his lover spoke again, Kamio looked up.

And sighed. Hell, he had no idea where to start either. "Babe, your guess is as good as mine most days," he muttered. "'s all I can do to make sure you're both still in one piece and not…" Outta your damn minds. But he wasn't going to say that. "You know how Yuu can get, babe. He's not gonna listen to either of us when he's like this." Kamio didn't like it either. And worse, he didn't know what to do about it.

Short of tying Oshitari to the bed and locking away his damn laptop.

But he didn't even get a chance to dwell on that, lifting his head to give Saeki a befuddled look. Sure, he'd met Oshitari first -- and awkwardly -- in the locker room at the Brotherhood, but Saeki had wandered in soon enough. "Kou, babe. I don't think half an hour counts. I've just…after you disappeared…" Kamio trailed off and shrugged. "It's got nothing to do with you sleeping, babe. Though I swear I'm dragging both of your asses into the gym more."

"Stubborn fool that he is," Saeki agreed, then gave Kamio a rueful grin. "But we stick around anyway. Not sure who're the stubborn ones, really."

"Mmm, yeah," Saeki said, fudging. He wasn't sure how to tell Kamio how his head was mixing memories up, and from what he knew of Kamio, he wasn't sure full disclosure about what had happened in the AU was a good idea. Not right now. But he also knew he had to talk about it someday. It wouldn't be fair to Kamio to keep it a secret.

He was glad when Kamio mentioned the gym--it was a welcome change of subject, and Saeki conceded that he could do more exercise. Though one never really felt like exercising when one could rearrange oneself into a Siberian tiger. But maybe exercise would help the pain. Or something. "Yeah. Would get Yuu off the laptop for a bit, wouldn't it? Though he wouldn't like being the prey all the time. Though maybe he could amuse himself by making us shadowbox. I would, as long as he got some exercise out of it."

Kamio gave a soft chuckle, sipping the warm soup. "He can be," he conceded, shaking his head. They loved him anyway, but there were days…

None were as so bad as when Saeki went missing though. He had yet to smack his other lover across the face to get him to calm down and listen to reason since their tiger's return. But he didn't want to go into that; three months of worried hell -- and though he knew something was up (Oshitari had mentioned briefly about another world like their own…only not), Kamio had little patience for weird shit. Between Saeki's disappearance, Oshitari hugging him at random, Ohtori not sleeping, and then being possessed by another version of himself, Kamio had had his fill of the weird shit for a few months.

Maybe even a few years.

"It might…might not," Kamio sighed. "He won't even go fence with the kitten much right now." The redhead shrugged, helpless for now in the face of Oshitari's determination. "Think it might just be you and me for awhile."

Saeki sighed. "What are the chances he'll forgive us for kidnapping him once in a while to force him to relax? Scheduled breaks, and all that jazz?" He didn't want to become Oshitari's nanny--that wasn't what their relationship was for--but someone had to make sure Oshitari didn't run himself ragged. If he wouldn't confide all the details, then Saeki (and perhaps Kamio) would have to at least make sure everything else didn't require Oshitari's attention.

"Some Inner Circle we are," Saeki said with a soft chuckle. "Black King's got all the burden, and I feel like a castled rook on the wrong side of the king."

"…he's got until Christmas to get…whatever the hell he's doing done, and then we're going on vacation," Kamio groused flatly. "I don't care if I have to have Wings knock him out. He can forgive us for it after we get back." Even if Oshitari didn't think he needed a vacation, Kamio was pretty certain that he did. All of them did, probably, after the past summer. And Kisarazu would be out of school -- possibly even home with his parents for the duration of break -- so that was one less thing to worry about.

"I know, babe," he agreed dryly, taking a sip of the now-cool soup. "He seems to think he's gotta protect us for shit all the time. And I know what I'd like to do but…" The redhead frowned. "I'm not supposed to kill the idiot. Yet."

"Right with you, luv," Saeki said, agreeing. "Least we know we can trust Wings."

"Singular?" Saeki asked, reminded by Kamio's action of his own. He picked up his mug as well. "Charitable of you, luv. I could think of a few." Though right now he had one in mind, one his instincts were yelling at him to take out. "Damn Yuushi and his saving the world, and damn us for thinking he can?" he asked, a wry grin on his face. "But if we're thinking of the same idiot, yeah, I know what you mean."

"Can't exactly leave a bunch of bodies lying around like we used to, babe," the redhead smirked -- though damn. Sometimes he missed those days. "If we were going for numbers, then I can probably find at least a couple dozen that need gotten the hell out of our hair." The soup was being downed in swallows now that he wasn't going to scald his tongue on it. "Tell me about it." Kamio sighed and shook his head.

"We're just as bad as he is," he pointed out, equally wry. "And babe, knowing us…yeah. More than likely. I fucking hate telepaths."

"Power shovels, luv. Or concrete blocks in the sea. Heck, I've got claws and you've got your pretty knives. We could tear them up and feed them to the ... whatever needs feeding. Bet the lions at the zoo would like some," Saeki said. "Feel bad for the lions, though--eating that vile stuff. Don't want to give them food poisoning and all. And I'm with you on the other thing too, babe. I still don't trust the whole telepath thing. Something smells. Strongly."

He watched as Kamio gulped the drink down. "Whoa, slow down a bit on the soup," Saeki said. "In a hurry to go somewhere? I'll come with you. Haven't spent enough time with you lately, babe. If I don't I'll forget your face, and I know you'd never let me forget it if I did that." He sipped, and found his own somewhat lukewarm. Not exactly the way he liked it, but he wasn't going to complain about his soup getting cold. For crying out loud, it was only soup.

"How about we bury him in Tokyo Dome?" Kamio suggested blithely. "And save the lions from the indigestion?"

He was only half joking.

"I don't like it either, but so long as he's useful to babe, then he walks. The moment he isn't…" Kamio shared a look with his lover. They couldn't just leave someone that knew about them running around, and there was no way anyone in the household was going to ask Kisarazu to take care of matters.

"'m not in a hurry, just thirsty," Kamio told his lover with a smirk. He swallowed the last of the soup and set the cup aside. "Though I should probably go run soon," he sighed. His fingers were starting to twitch, that familiar itch racing through his muscles. "If you're gonna join me, you need to go put on some pants, Kou. Less you're running on four legs." And he needed to go grab some sweats. That was beside the point.

Pants? Saeki looked down, then laughed. "Would run like this, but I guess it would be pretty cold." He sipped his own soup, faster now that it was drinkable and Kamio was done. "No, I think the fur'll keep me warm. But yeah, go grab some sweats, luv. Meet you at the front door?" The cups could sit in the sink--someone would clean them, or he would later. He stood and stretched. If nothing else, he was getting a lot of morphing practice.