Loveless, Fuss, G (Soubi, Ritsuka) AU / Mark, PG-13, (Kio)

[ciircee]

Meg (lazulisong)has made it two years (and her sister's brain surgery) without smoking. Celebrate, people!

My celebratory offerings sort of suck. BUT AT LEAST I HAVE THEM.


Fuss

He…doesn't mean to be a pest about this. Ritsuka hates it. Ritsuka has ordered him not to fuss at him. But this isn't fussing, is it?

Soubi stretches beneath Ritsuka's hand, tipping his head to the side, feeling his hair slither over his neck, leaving it bare. "Mm," he hums under his breath. "The dinner Kio brought tonight was very nutritious."

Ritsuka snorts softly. "You shouldn't make him do your shopping for you." His fingers continue to shift through Soubi's hair idly, drawing it warmly back over his neck.

"It makes him feel useful," Soubi says, curling closer and rolling his shoulders and head to readjust his fit against Ritsuka. He can feel his hair slide back over his shoulder. He twists a little more so that it forms a soft puddle under his cheek in Ritsuka's lap. "Besides, then we get to eat together. That's pleasant."

"You like it," Ritsuka replies. His fingers brush over Soubi's face and Soubi turns to follow it. "It's okay to say that you like it. He's your friend."

He can see that Ritsuka is smiling softly, his eyes focused somewhere in the distance. It makes him smile a little himself. His desire for Ritsuka's happiness wars with his desire for Ritsuka's health. He gives in to both. "Yes," he says, "it's nice to share a nutritious meal with a friend."

For a moment a slight frown creases Ritsuka's forehead and his hands still. Then he sighs. "I know what you're doing. It's all right. I'll eat in a bit." His voice is a little cross, but not sad. "I thought I told you not to fuss at me about that."

"I'm not fussing," Soubi says. "You ordered me not to. I’m…hinting."

Ritsuka's smile stretches differently around the fangs that his vampire-tainted blood has given him, but the sweetness of it hasn't changed. Soubi quiets, enjoying the way that Ritsuka strokes his hair. He does not mind so much when Ritsuka fusses at him for being glad that he is the one Ritsuka feeds from.


This one contains SPOILERS OF SOME SORT. I think. It's about Kio and his (highlight for spoilers wife and child.


Mark

He was barely eighteen. Kio swallowed nervously and looked at the woman beside him. Kiko smiled at him, the blonde of her hair seeming to glow gold against the green streaks. "Hey," she whispered, leaning over to him. "We can always get out of here."

She put him at ease. He slid her hand into his. "No. I've loved you for a long time."

Kiko covered a wide smile. "You didn't even know me until two weeks ago. It's fine to wait if you want. You're young yet."

"I met you two weeks ago," Kio told her. "But I've loved you ever since I saw 'Portrait in a Mirror'. Your heart was in every line." He could still see it when he closed his eyes. The deep, dark eyes and that amused, silly smile peeking over her shoulder. It had taken him days to realize that it was a nude, despite staring at it for hours. "Your display was why I wanted that school. It was definitely fate that had you showing me around the campus."

"I have a secret," Kiko confessed. "I wasn't supposed to show you around. I saw you arrive as I was going to get more paint thinner for a project. I liked your body shape and I wanted to paint you, so I skipped my senior symposium to be your guide."

"How shameful!" Kio gasped. "A twenty-three-year old student ditching class to proposition an underclassman!"

"Excuse me," a woman in a dark suit interrupted. "But the magistrate is ready now."

Kio got up, tugging Kiko with him. "Thank you!" He turned to Kiko. "I'm so glad we're getting married."

---

Kio was stretched out on the floor and adding the barest hint of white to the green paint on his palette. He only wanted a subtle shift in color. He heard the door knob rattle and lifted his legs so that they were swinging above him. "Welcome home," he called out, twisting as the door opened, bumping against his knees.

"Good to be home," Kiko sighed. She rumpled her hair. I'm beginning to hate anime. 'Puddle and push'," she sighed. "But at least it pays the bills."

"Mpfh," Kio agreed as Kiko sat down in the small of his back, leaning back against his feet. "And it's not making okonomiyaki." He stroked the new green up the stalk of bamboo. "Think Sensei will complain about how much color I've got?"

His wife's weight settled warmly over his back, her arms bracketed his. "Probably. He's pissy that way. I think it's beautiful. It makes me feel very peaceful."

"That's what I care about," Kio said. He added another hint of the new green above the notch in the stalk. "Sensei complains about my earring, too."

Kiko's breath was warm at his lobe. "Hm. And did he lose it when you told him it was your wedding ring?"

Kio hummed. "He said I should be traditional and wear a finger ring and gloves when I paint to protect it. Gloves to paint--can you imagine?" He wriggled. "Kiss there again."

"Mm, are you sure? It's very new."

"I'd deserve it," Kio said, shoving his painting and his paints away. He rolled, catching Kiko against him as she settled back down. "I told you—every time we go one full day without seeing each other, I'm adding an earring." He fingered the three bumps in his ears. "Though I think my plan is backfiring. I like them."

Kiko giggled, nipping gently up along his ear. "So do I; I might have to talk to our bosses so that our schedules don't match more often."

Kio grinned. "For now, tell me again how much you like them."

"Oh, I really like them…"

---

"I got it! The scholarship!" Kio waved his letter at Kiko when she came home. "As long the school gets my first showing, the rest of my classes are covered!"

Kiko smiled. "That's great, Kio!"

"What's wrong?" Kio dropped his letter as Kiko's smile faltered and tears filled her eyes.

"Nothing," she said, her voice hitching. "Nothing is wrong."

Kio put his arms around her and pressed his cheek against hers. "Then tell me what's not wrong."

"I'm pregnant. We're going to have a baby."

He wasn't even nineteen yet. "You're right, Kiko, nothing is wrong at all." He drew back and cupped her face. "It might be rough, and money might be hard to come by, but I'm very happy. I want to be a daddy."

"Kio!" she flung her arms around him again and cried into his shoulder. "I'm happy too, Kio. I'm so happy."

"Probably I'm going to get more earrings."

Kiko laughed.

---

"It's what's best. For you and for the baby."

"But what about you?"

"When I'm done with school, I can join you. Or you can come back once the baby isn't so little. It…Kiko, it means a lot that your mother will let you live with her and watch the baby while you work."

"That's…that's years, Kio. For sure one and probably two. You wouldn't have any ears left."

"I know so I thought…do you remember when your senpai showed us his tattoo parlor and you said that the needle felt like your brush?"

"Yes I—oh! Oh. Oh, Kio…"

"If you can make the design, you can do the outline before the baby comes. And you can fill it in when we see each other."

---

His baby was kicking at his back. "How about 'Kana'?" he asked. He was careful to keep his voice even.

"Mm. That's not bad. I thought maybe Kotori, but I like that, too. It's okay to say bad words, Kio. I'm right over your spine."

"What if Kaede heard?"

Kiko stopped, the needle buzzing uselessly somewhere above his skin. "Kaede? Bleah. No."

"Yeah, no. Too sad." He shifted a little. "I met somebody today," he said as the needle came back down. "Agatsuma-san."

"The one everybody calls scary?" Kiko's voice was a laugh. "And were you scared?" she when Kio nodded.

"No. He does very beautiful flowers. His lighting is very soft. I complimented him on it. He ignored me, just kept painting. One petal on a rose took almost ten minutes."

"His paintings must be lovely."

"Yes. But you're still my favorite artist."

She pinched one of his earrings. "I had better be."

He laughed back at her, pillowing his head on his hands. "You are. Your work is like opening your soul." He paused, thinking. "Agatsuma-san's…" he frowned. "He's very beautiful, too. But so…he paints butterflies in almost all of his paintings. And they're so free you feel like they're going to flutter off the canvas and into the air. He's like a butterfly that's been pinned down."

Above him, Kiko moved. The needle quit buzzing and then there was a soft touch just under his shoulder blade, where the needles had left off. "Kio," her breath was humid and warm on his skin. "Promise me that while I'm gone you'll become friends with Agatsuma-san."

Kio relaxed as Kiko's mouth moved, tracing a path just under the new lines of the tattoo. "I promise. Why?"

"Because he's lonely now and you'll be lonely then. But if you're together, you won't be lonely. Plus, he's a project and you love a challenge."

"Hm. I know something else that's a challenge," he said as Kiko's mouth touched the small of his back.

She giggled. "Well, I love a challenge, too."

---

"Kaido Nanami," Kio said, tracing his baby's perfect, kewpie doll mouth. "Daddy will see you in two weeks."

"And talk to you every night," Kiko's eyes shone with determination. "And every day he goes without talking to us, he's going to get another earring."

"That's right. And you, Kaido Kiko," he turned to his wife. "I will see you in two weeks."

"I'm not filling in the tattoo until the end. You're just going to have to be uncomfortable on the ride home." Kiko hugged him, shifting the baby to a comfortable position between the two of them.

Kio put an arm under hers to support their daughter. "It's worth it." He used let go Kiko just long enough to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. The green streaks were back after a nine-month absence. "Besides, maybe Agatsuma-san will ask my about why I'm moving funny and I can say something outrageous to him."

"When have you ever needed an excuse?"

"Excuse me. Kiko-chan, we really have to get going. It's a long drive."

"I know, Mother. We'll be right there." The apartment door clicked softly closed. "I love you, Kaido Kio."

"I love you, too."

---

"Ba-ba-ba-ba-da!" Nanami slapped her hands on the floor and pushed herself up to sitting. "Da-da-da-da!"

Kio smiled into the crook of his arm. "She's getting close to saying 'Daddy'," he said. "Are you going to come to Da-da-da?" he asked his daughter. "Ma-ma-ma is sitting on him and won't let him up."

"That's right," Kiko said over the buzz of the needle. "And if Da-da-da tries to pick up the bay-bay-bay-be Ma-ma-ma is going to ruin almost two years worth of work."

The baby in question flopped down and pushed herself up on to all fours, rocking back and forth.

"By the time I see her again, she'll be crawling. I'll have to baby proof another layer of the apartment."

Kiko chuckled. "Do two levels at once. I think she's going to start pulling up to stand soon. I'm going to have to bolt my easel to the wall, I think."

"I'll do mine, too. Agatsuma-san can ask me about it and I can say something outrageous."

"And how is Agatsuma-san?"

Kio thought about it. "Better when that asshole Aoyagi isn't around."

"Mm." Kiko made a soft, non-committal sound. "If the relationship is really that unhealthy, he'll realize it on his own. Being friends with you should help him see what it should be like."

"I know," Kio pouted. "But it's frustrating. I just know he'd be better without that guy. He's really great when he forgets himself and has fun with me. Last time I talked to him, I said something really suggestive and he had this face—I thought he was going to laugh."

"Keep it up, then." Kiko kissed his ear. "What suggestive thing did you say?"

Kio grinned. "I asked him how naked he wanted me to get."

Kiko giggled. "I'm almost afraid to ask."

"He saw the tattoo when I was changing into a spare shirt. He thinks it's beautiful. He wanted to see the rest of it."

"Ah. And you told him in stopped at your hips, right?"

"Nah, I figured it would be better to surprise him."

The needle bumped over the middle of his back. "Kio! That's cruel!"

"Mm-hm."

"You're brilliant."

"You're the brilliant one. He's got a very good eye." He twisted his head a little more to the side, trying to catch Kiko's eye. "When you come to see me next month—I want you to meet him. I think he'd like to meet you and see some of your work."

"And does some of 'my work' include Nanami?"

Kio grinned. "I bet he has an expression when he sees her. And once we make him hold her? Forget it. He'll crack. I know it."

Kiko giggled. "Can I tell her that he's her uncle Sou-chan?"

"I am so glad that I married you.