Chapter Text
The job had seemed like a simple one. No weird organizations on their tail, no Fujiko trailing behind to snatch up the spoils once they’d gotten their hands on them, just a good old-fashioned treasure hunt in South America in a deadly booby-trapped Aztec temple. Jigen liked those odds.
Until he watched it all go wrong.
He heard the click of the mechanism Lupin was fiddling with. He saw the way the thief’s posture went rigid. And he felt the all-too-fast rush of air as darts emerged from the wall, even before his eyes could clock them.
He moved before he thought it through, covering Lupin’s body with his own and throwing them both to the ground.
He felt barbs sink through the fabric of his suit over his shoulders and back. The last memory he had was Lupin shouting his name, tearing off Jigen’s shirt and jacket, and fixing his lips to one of the puncture wounds.
It all went hazy after that.
When he woke up, he was in a bed he didn’t recognize, with his hat and the golden gem-adorned monkey statue they’d been after sitting on the bedside table.
Seemed like Lupin had managed to haul both his sorry ass and the treasure out.
Couldn’t have been easy.
Jigen rubbed his eyes and looked around the room.
Lupin sat asleep in a chair next to Jigen’s bedside, his arms crossed and his head lolling to one side as he slept.
That couldn’t be comfortable, Jigen thought. He reached for his hat out of habit, and once he had it one his head, pulled back the covers and tried to sit up.
The world spun.
He must have made some sort of noise, because suddenly Lupin was awake and out of his chair. He caught Jigen’s shoulders and steadied him.
“Dammit, Jigen,” he whispered. “I pass out for five minutes, and that’s when you decide to wake up?”
Jigen grounded himself with a hand against Lupin’s hip. “How long was I out?”
“Too long.” Lupin sighed and pressed his forehead against Jigen’s, bumping his hat out of the way gently. “A few days. I sucked out what I could and high tailed us out of there. I treated you for the symptoms, but poisons are tricky. It took time to analyze the stuff I got out of the dart I snagged from the temple.” Lupin slipped his hands from Jigen’s shoulders and wrapped them around Jigen’s back. He hid his face against Jigen’s neck and stroked his hair. Everything about the thief’s posture said that he was scared he’d been too late.
Jigen hugged him, using him like a pillar to remain upright. “I wasn’t worried.”
Lupin made a harsh sound. “Can’t be worried when you’re dead.” He pulled back and threw Jigen back down into the bed.
Jigen hissed, the world reeling. He closed his eyes to keep from throwing up.
“Now stay down. Since I don’t have to check your pulse and breathing every five seconds anymore, I’m going to make us some food. Don’t make me regret leaving you alone.”
Jigen wanted to argue, but the world blurred away from him again. When he woke up next, it was to Lupin coaxing him into a sitting position against more pillows that Jigen had ever seen in his life. He sheepishly complied while Lupin fed him soup.
* * *
“I want to get out of bed already.”
Lupin sighed and looked up from his newspaper to glare at Jigen. They’d been doing this dance all day. Lupin had done everything for him since he’d woken up three days ago, from cooking and cleaning to sponge baths and helping him to the can. Jigen was tired of feeling like an invalid. His fingers itched for his magnum. He could just see it through the door, resting on the end of the kitchen counter. If Lupin would just let him get up…
Lupin sighed and re-crossed his legs over Jigen’s stomach. He shook the paper and dropped his eyes back down to find his spot. “And I said no. You’re still woozy, and if you fall, you might hurt yourself again.”
“This is stupid.”
“Enjoy the time off,” Lupin crooned. He lifted a foot to toe at the statue on Jigen’s bedside table. “You’ve got a great view, a soft bed, and someone waiting on you hand and foot.”
Jigen huffed and threw Lupin’s leg back over his other one. “Foot is right.”
“Jigen,” Lupin admonished, dragging out his name, all downward cadence and edge. “All you have to do is stay in bed. Whatever you want, I’ll get for you.” He grinned. “After all, what are thieves for?”
Jigen gave him a sullen look, sighed, and flicked the brim of his hat. “What I want is to get out of this bed—”
“Not gonna happen.”
“But since that’s not gonna happen, you can get me some ridiculously overpriced scotch and a comforter made out of diamonds.”
Lupin frowned. “Be reasonable.”
“No.”
“Diamonds won’t be very comfortable.”
“I don’t care.”
Lupin sighed and folded his paper. “Fine, have it your way.” He lifted his feet, swung them to the ground, and stood. He walked to the door, paper swung over one shoulder, then stopped. He turned his head, aiming one series eye at Jigen. “But if I come back and find you’ve stepped one toe out of bed, I’m giving every single one of those diamonds to Fujiko, and you’ll have to watch.”
Jigen actually shuddered under his covers. He didn’t stray out from under the blankets until Lupin got back and helped him into a sitting position. The scotch was nice, and the ridiculous patterned diamond comforter Lupin brought back was hilarious. Both put Jigen in a good enough mood to fall asleep.
* * *
“Ready?”
Lupin’s hands laid open in Jigen’s, palm to palm, full contact but no weight.
“Ready,” Jigen answered.
Lupin closed his eyes and let his hands settle against Jigen’s. He always played this by feel—said sight lied. Jigen used both when he was the one testing Lupin, but Lupin was the judge today, and Jigen was hardly going to argue with tactics he thought might help him win.
He tipped his hands a few times, trying to get Lupin to flinch and figure out where the boundaries were today. Lupin’s hands stayed steady against Jigen’s palms even when Jigen tipped them almost completely vertically.
Pretty sure of himself.
Jigen didn’t give him time to reconsider.
He twisted his hands in midair, using torque to give him speed, hoping Lupin wouldn’t be fast enough to get away.
He hissed through his teeth as he missed Lupin’s hands again.
It was like the distance between them was getting wider instead of thinner, too.
It made Jigen itch. He’d never had a poison meddle with his performance for this long.
Lupin whipped his lighter out of his coat pocket, hands still too quick for Jigen to slap, and lit a cigarette. “You know the rules,” he said, lips moving around the filter. He pulled air and fire through the cigarette, bringing it to life, then slipped it from his own lips and put it between Jigen’s—a consolation prize. “No getting out of bed until you can win a round of slapsies.”
Jigen growled around the cigarette, grinding the filter between his teeth and falling back against his mountain of pillows. “It’s been a week, Lupin. Stop holding me hostage in this bed.”
Lupin leaned forward and tucked the covers around Jigen cajolingly. “And until you win a game of slapsies, what a cozy dashing hostage you’ll be.” He dropped a kiss to the side of Jigen’s mouth as he withdrew. It didn’t soften the blow as much as Lupin probably wanted it to.
“Sweet talk and cigarettes ain’t gonna keep me in this bed forever.” Jigen tipped his head back enough to glare out from under it with one eye at Lupin. “I want to stretch my legs.”
Lupin hummed—warm deep-chested understanding woven effortlessly together with a note of dark gravel warning.
“Just a lap around the apartment. Or a real shower.” Jigen breathed smoke into his lungs, feeling pent up and frustrated. “Hell, you haven’t even left me alone long enough to rub one out.”
Lupin’s lips twisted, something like disappointment and annoyance tied together with a thread of thoughtfulness. He twisted his chair around so he could lean his hands against the back, stole Jigen’s cigarette, and took a slow drag off it. He released the smoke, tipping his head gently towards the ceiling like a man whose thoughts were elsewhere. He met Jigen’s eyes again when he put the cigarette back in Jigen’s mouth.
“Just a lap around the house,” he murmured. “And a shower. And an orgasm.” He let his fingers brush over Jigen’s cheek and down the line of his beard. “That’s all you want?”
Jigen peeked out from under his hat. Was Lupin being serious?
“If you’re not gonna let me out of this bed and gimme back my gun, yeah, it’d be a start.”
Lupin’s eyes went hard the way they did when he was thinking. Then he was out of his chair, kissing Jigen’s forehead, and heading for the door, goofy grin and clever promising eyes in place. “Dinner first—but be good for me, and I’m sure we can come to some kind of compromise, Jigen dear.”
Jigen swallowed, then pulled down his hat and frowned.
Compromise.
He didn’t like the way Lupin said that word. He was sick of being babied. He wanted his gun back in his hands. Wanted to take it apart and put oil in all the right places. Care for it like it needed to be cared for. His fingers itched for it. And it was just out of reach…
His eyes flicked to the magnum, resting on the kitchen counter just through the door. He slipped a leg down from the mattress, letting the ball of his foot touch the smooth wooden floor boards. He held his breath, waited, listened.
Then he let it out with a sigh, pulled his leg back into bed, and glared at the dingy ceiling fan that spun above him.
Even if he went for it, he was likely to see stars and fall if he went fast, and get caught if he went slow. Even if he didn’t do either of those things, Lupin would know he’d touched the gun, even if Jigen put it back exactly as he’d found it.
Uncanny bastard.
He hated when Lupin was right and it wasn’t want he wanted to hear.
Ah, well.
He settled into the bed again and took another surly drag off his cigarette. He breathed the smoke out through his nose.
At least he was probably getting an orgasm out it.
* * *
“Can’t believe you’re feeding me French food when we’re in Peru.”
“You’re the one who complained about me going out all the time!”
“Yeah, and I’m complaining about this too.”
Lupin hung his head with a noise of disgust and shoveled another mouthful of slow-cooked pork and bean cassoulet into his mouth. “There’s meat, there’s beans—that’s like all the Jigen food groups. And somehow you still find a way to be snobbish.”
“Hmph.” Jigen finished his food and laid the plate aside on the bedside table. “Tell me about our compromise, Lupin.”
Lupin’s expression bloomed into something gleeful, and he set his food aside without finishing it. He slid his hand up Jigen’s leg to his thigh. Jigen watched it as it slid higher, anticipation building in his gut.
“I thought we could take a turn around the apartment to some slow music,” Lupin said. His voice was low, seductive. “Something suave, classic. Your kind of thing.”
Jigen grinned. “I’m listening.”
“Does it sweeten the deal if I help you into one of your suits first too?”
Jigen’s body already ached for the touch of real clothes again. “Yeah, it does. Keep going.”
Lupin’s smile widened, but there was a hint of hesitation to it. “You’ll have to let me lead…”
Ah, there was the catch. The compromise. No conversation of stealing the lead from each other like they did normally. One role only—the one where Lupin could support him.
“I can live with that.”
Lupin nodded, like that was the biggest hurdle he needed Jigen to vault for him. “Then we can wash away the exertion with a real shower. You can practice standing on those two feet of yours again, and I’ll wash your hair and your back—”
“Do I get to return the favor?”
Lupin ducked his head bashfully and laughed. He was so used to being the wooer in his relationships, it still took him off guard when Jigen wanted him. Jigen cherished it, hoped the soft color that rose in Lupin’s cheeks was something he’d be able to bring forth forever. “If you like.”
Jigen put his hand over Lupin’s. “You know I do.”
Lupin opened his eyes and gave Jigen an adoring look before he moved on. “And then I thought we could finish up with an orgasm before we get out. Make sure you’re nice and satisfied but also clean before we rub you down and dry you off for bed.”
Jigen hummed appreciatively. “Sounds like an evening.”
Lupin leaned in, looking romantic and hungry, his eyelids already drooping as he went in for the kiss. “I’m glad you approve.”
“Might even make up for that French food.”
Lupin stuttered and caught himself on the edge of the bed. “You always know what to say to ruin the mood!”
Jigen laughed and waved him off. “Go on, put on some music. I’ll still be here when you get back.”
Lupin stuck his tongue out at him, but got up and obliged.
Jigen sighed appreciatively when he heard a slow sultry tango float through the air from the other room.
Lupin returned, his ego back in place, and helped Jigen get dressed. It felt good to have a real shirt on again, the weight of his jacket, the hard leather edge of his belt. Lupin held up a finger as he finished tying Jigen’s shoes. “Wait, we’re missing the finishing touch.”
Jigen paused, watching Lupin as he went to the door. What was he talking about? He had Jigen dressed down to his tie.
Lupin leaned around the door, leg splayed up in the air as he balanced to reach something. He twirled back into the room with a fierce smile on his lips and Jigen’s magnum in his hand.
Jigen gasped.
“Couldn’t forget the most important thing,” Lupin crooned into Jigen’s ear as he slid the gun under Jigen’s jacket, over his hip, and finally to its resting place in the waistband of his slacks.
Jigen seized Lupin by his tie and kissed him.
Lupin kissed back, but pushed Jigen away before he could take it too far. “Save it for the dance floor, Romeo.”
“Make me, Juliet.”
Lupin punctuated the tango with a single loud laugh and extended his hand to Jigen. Jigen took it, stood, and took the few steps he needed to wrap his arm around Lupin’s shoulders and lean against the other man.
Lupin hummed and nuzzled Jigen’s face in the embrace. “I love when we get time to do this.”
“Make more then.”
Lupin stuck his nose up in the air. “Maybe I will.”
Jigen rubbed the space between Lupin’s shoulder blades soothingly. “I’d like that too.”
Lupin’s posture softened a little and their embrace eased closer.
That’s what Jigen loved about dancing with Lupin. It didn’t matter who was leading or following or even what kind of dance they were doing—Lupin always made it feel like there was no one else on the dance floor and like your body had always been made for his touch.
Tango had been a good choice, though. Good warm close embrace, plenty of support, useful to be leaning a bit against your partner, nice range of tempos. All the support of Lupin acting as his crutch without any of the belittlement.
It was a caring compromise, all things considered.
Classic tango with guitars, bandoneons, and lyrics about love on the radio, the magnum at his back, and Lupin against his chest…
Maybe it had been worth getting poisoned if it made Lupin slow down and romance him like this again.
He turned his head and pressed a kiss to Lupin’s cheek.
Lupin hummed and Jigen felt it go through him too.
Lupin kept their pace slow and steady as he worked them around the tiny apartment. He circled the dingy green couch and crisscrossed between the cathode ray tube television and the coffee table. Jigen knew the slower speed was to keep his head from swimming, but it didn’t feel like it. It felt like slow dancing because Lupin couldn’t bear to be torn from the line of Jigen’s body. That every move had to be slow enough for Jigen to follow without his body shifting away from Lupin’s.
The intimacy had Jigen’s heart rate up by the end of it even if the exertion didn’t warrant it.
Lupin kissed Jigen’s temple as he slid the magnum from Jigen’s waist band and replaced it on the kitchen counter.
Jigen whined at the loss, and Lupin cooed apologies and condolences to him.
“It’ll be worth not having it in a moment, I promise,” he said.
“I’ll hold you to that,” Jigen bit back.
Lupin grinned and rolled against Jigen, sulty and slow. “You can hold me to anything, Jigen darling.” He nipped at Jigen’s ear and tightened their embrace, making Jigen weak in the knees in a way that had nothing to do with his health. “You know I’ll always deliver.”
Jigen chuckled and nuzzled Lupin’s cheek affectionately. “Go on then.”
Lupin turned his head to see and danced them backwards into the bathroom, letting the radio play on from the kitchen without them.
Lupin kept his stride, pulling Jigen into a lean against him as he pressed his back against the sliding door of the shower and turned the knob to turn on the water. Jigen took the opportunity to shoulder a little more of his own weight, opening up the embrace to run his hand sensually down Lupin’s torso. Lupin closed his eyes and breathed, swelling like a wave rising to meet the pull of the moon under Jigen’s palm.
Jigen grinned. Lupin was always so responsive. It was easy to make love to him with little touches when he responded like that, taking everything and amplifying it through his entire body.
Made Jigen wish they could switch who was leading like usual. For all that Lupin was a phenomenal lead, he was Jigen’s favorite follow.
He slid a leg between Lupin’s thighs and pulled the other man back into the kiss he’d broken earlier. This time, Lupin didn’t resist. Their fingers undid overly specialized tie knots and traced down rows of buttons—caressing and peeling away layers of fabric until all the clothes Lupin had carefully helped Jigen into were mixed with Lupin’s own on the floor.
Lupin tested the water with hand, made a few adjustments, and then tested it again.
“Water’s ready,” he whispered. He took Jigen’s hat from his head and laid it carefully on the counter.
“Good.” Jigen caught Lupin’s cock in his hand and gave it a slow tug. The thief huffed and leaned more heavily against the sliding door.
“You’re going out of order,” he whined.
Jigen laughed. “Is that a problem?”
Lupin groaned, agitation and denial. “You’re the one who said you wanted a shower first!”
“Changed my mind.”
“You—!” Lupin cut himself off with a moan as Jigen kissed his neck.
So responsive.
Lupin buried a hand in Jigen’s hair and pulled him away. Jigen went, only putting up enough resistance to make the feeling tense, not painful.
“I worked too hard on this plan for you to go changing it now,” Lupin huffed.
Jigen smirked. “Now you know how I feel when you change things during a heist.”
It was meant to be a jest—a jibe made in good fun, like the rest of their easy banter. Lost in the feeling of Lupin’s skin against his, Jigen had forgotten they were in this situation to begin with because Lupin had messed up.
But the quick hurt that flashed through Lupin’s eyes reminded him.
The set of Lupin’s jaw changed as he dropped his eyes to the floor. Maybe he thought he’d been fast enough that Jigen hadn’t seen. The curls of his smile were still in place.
Jigen winced. He bumped his nose against the skin under Lupin’s jaw apologetically. “Sorry,” he murmured.
Lupin shook his head and ran his hand over Jigen’s hair. “No, you’re right. I fucked up.”
“Lupin.”
The hard edge in Jigen’s voice got Lupin’s eyes back on him.
“Wash my god damn hair.”
Lupin’s smile thawed back out into something real. His eyes slid away more gently this time as he closed them and gave Jigen as much of a bow as their entanglement allowed. “If Master Jigen would care to step this way…”
He guided Jigen over the edge of the tub and into the shower. Jigen looked down when his foot encounter something squiggy and perforated under his foot instead of the slick porcelain of the tub. A rubber mat that looked like it had been quickly cut into the right size lined the interior of the tub.
Well. That was a stroke of genius. No slipping with something like this down, and it would give them both better footing if Jigen’s knees went weak and Lupin had to catch him.
Jigen flicked an eye back at Lupin from under his hair. “Where did you get this?”
Lupin grinned at him like the mad thief he was. “You know I have my ways.”
Jigen chuckled and shook his head affectionately. “That you do.”
Lupin stepped through and closed the shower door. He turned Jigen into the spray of the shower and took up a stance behind him, crossing his arms around Jigen’s middle and nuzzling the nape of his neck.
Jigen sighed as the warm water ran over them. Lupin had gotten the temperature just right, like he always did when they showered together.
“Hand me the soap?” Lupin said.
Jigen found the bar and tucked it into Lupin’s palm. He hummed as Lupin lathered up a washcloth against his stomach. He let himself relax against Lupin as the thief’s clever fingers slowly took him apart and rubbed the tension and grit from his body. Lupin guided him back onto his own feet and turned him so they were facing each other. He handed off the soap and washcloth and stretched to snag another bottle with his fingers.
Jigen set to work on Lupin as the thief lathered shampoo in Jigen’s hair. The steady pull and massage on Jigen’s scalp made washing Lupin a stop-and-go activity, but it was just the same for the way the thief’s fingers caught in Jigen’s hair whenever Jigen eased a knot from Lupin’s shoulders or grazed a ticklish spot.
This wasn’t about efficiency anyway, Jigen told himself. This was about the luxury of getting to run your fingers through someone’s hair and hold them while they rubbed you down with soap.
They traded tools again so Jigen could wash Lupin’s hair while Lupin pulled conditioner through the gunman’s own. Jokes about Jigen’s hair clogging the drain were traded and nullified, and then it was just Lupin holding Jigen adoringly as Jigen massaged conditioner into the thief’s short hair.
“Ready for part three?” Lupin mumbled lovingly against Jigen’s neck. His voice was so low and relaxed it sounded like he was on the verge of sleep.
Jigen raised his eyebrows skeptically and pulled Lupin’s hair gently. “Are you? Sounds like you’re ready for bed instead.”
Lupin shook his head like a petulant child. “I’m relaxed, not sleepy.”
“Sure.”
Lupin gave Jigen a flat look and then pushed him face-first against the wall of the shower. Jigen gasped. The shower had been plenty warm, but the wall was an adjustment. His cock strained and his nipples hardened against the cooler porcelain. He flexed his fingers when they found what looked like hastily installed hand-hold in the dry wall above where the porcelain ended. He smirked. That was certainly one way to give him an extra layer of stability for this next part.
“You shouldn’t doubt me when it comes to love making, Jigen,” Lupin rumbled in his ear.
Jigen’s head tipped back, his eyes closed, all the sensual ideas Lupin was giving him playing like old movies on the back of his eyelids. “Gonna take me from behind, big man?”
He felt Lupin leer against his ear. “Nothing quite so forceful. We don’t have time for that kind of prep work…” A hand at the small of his back kept Jigen against the wall as Lupin dropped to his knees behind Jigen. There was a rustle and Jigen gasped again as cool lube and latex spread itself over his anus. He twitched despite himself.
Fuck. Lupin was going to eat him out?
His fingers squeezed the handholds as Lupin licked him.
“Be a good boy and stay where you are, yeah?” Lupin said. “Fall down, and I’ll have to stop.”
Jigen huffed. “Don’t threaten an invalid.”
Lupin nipped his buttock and Jigen yelped. “Don’t be such a difficult patient, then.”
Jigen blushed, from the heat of the shower and Lupin’s reprimand. He knew he’d been difficult. He just hated feeling useless. “Don’t want to be down if you need me, s’all,” he muttered.
“Jigen, darling.” Jigen moaned gently as Lupin licked at him again. Lupin’s next remark was throaty enough to make a priest lust in church. “I always need you.”
Jigen groaned as Lupin split him open with his tongue. The thief traced warm fingers up Jigen’s legs, running them over and between, making designs on the insides of Jigen’s thighs and tripping over his cock and balls until Lupin steadily took hold of them and pulled just hard enough to be pleasurable instead of painful.
Jigen leaned against the wall for support, panting and hanging on for dear life.
Lupin’s tongue swirled around his entrance and Jigen pushed back against him. Lupin pushed closer and squeezed Jigen’s ass possessively. He switched his hold in front to pull at Jigen’s cock, and Jigen bit his lip to keep from moaning.
It was one thing to have Lupin fuck him. That was something they both got lost in. But having Lupin’s complete and intensely undivided attention focused on him like this was overwhelming—and that was before Jigen factored in the warm velvet heat of the shower and the poison-fog still swimming in his head.
He clutched at the handholds, grateful for them in a way he hadn’t anticipated. Lupin had thought of everything. God, was there nothing he couldn’t do?
Lupin zig-zagged his tongue over Jigen, and no, no there wasn’t.
“Lupin,” Jigen gasped.
Lupin pressed Jigen harder against the wall and pushed his tongue in.
Jigen sucked in a breath and tried not to clench around him. He spasmed as Lupin pulled at him, and broke embarrassingly quickly.
He hadn’t been ready for Lupin to pin him and take him apart like that.
Lupin worked him through his whole orgasm, and only stopped when Jigen begged him to, aching and overstimulated. Lupin broke from his place between Jigen’s cheeks then and turned his hands to the task of massaging Jigen’s muscles instead. He worked up, taking his mouth and hands from calf and ankle up over Jigen’s back until he was kissing Jigen’s neck and working the last of the tension from the gunman’s shoulders. Jigen turned his head, desperately seeking Lupin’s lips. The thief met them forcefully and pulled at Jigen’s hips to turn the gunman around. Once they were facing each other, he pinned Jigen’s back to the wall with the weight of his own body.
Lupin kissed and rubbed against Jigen until he was panting and erect once more, then took them both in hand, slippery with soap he must have slipped over his dexterous fingers on the sly. Lupin spilled with a desperate breath against Jigen’s lips, and then sank back to his knees to suck Jigen until he came again.
Jigen sagged, his knees going out from under him as he came. Lupin caught him, pinning him to the wall with his weight again, and helped Jigen into a sitting position. He fiddled with the knobs of the shower and changed the water to flowing out of the bath faucet, then sat back against the end of the bath and pulled Jigen up against his chest as the bath filled. The warm water enveloped them, and Jigen dozed, lulled to sleep by the heat, release, and Lupin’s arms.
When he woke, it was to the sound of water draining. He felt a little stronger, and braced himself against Lupin’s arms as the thief helped him out of the bath. Lupin sat him on a stool and fussed over him, drying his hair, rubbing him down with lotion, and even painting his toenails with polish that matched the periwinkle of Jigen’s favorite shirt. Lupin read to him from Jigen’s favorite volume of Argentinian poetry as they reclined on the couch wrapped in fluffy robes and waited for the nail polish to dry.
Jigen felt truly satisfied for the first time in days when Lupin finally led him to bed—but he frowned when Lupin pulled away and made for the door. He caught the end of Lupin’s robe and pulled it back toward him, making the thief pause.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jigen mumbled crossly.
Lupin looked frozen—like he wanted to take the few steps back to Jigen, but didn’t think he deserved to.
“I don’t want to crowd you when you’re feeling ill,” he murmured.
Jigen frowned hard and yanked on the robe, pulling it part way open. “You’re fucking up your neck sleeping on that couch.”
Lupin shrugged—something that he was trying to make look easy but that Jigen had seen enough times to know was manufactured. “It’s not so bad.”
Jigen made a dismissive noise, the same one he made whenever Lupin was bullshitting. “Come over here and cuddle me, you asshole.”
Whatever was holding Lupin back, that seemed to break it down. The thief shrugged out of his robe and climbed under the covers. Jigen fell asleep pressed against Lupin’s back with the feel of Lupin’s easy breathing and steady heart against his palms.
But the thief was gone when he woke up.