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“You’re late”, Arisu greets him.
“Hello to you, too. I’m fine, thank you for fucking asking”, Niragi retorts as he slides onto the bench opposite of Arisu and looks around the room.
There are more people than usual at Karube’s bar, filling the spaces that are normally empty, laughing and screaming and generally being really fucking annoying. Niragi can already see a headache coming in the near future.
He feels a leg nudge his own and looks to his right where Tatta is sitting with his hands wrapped around a beer bottle, smiling at him.
“It’s good to see you” Tatta says, before doing a double take. “You're wearing glasses!”
Niragi rolls his eyes. “Good to know your eyesight’s still intact.” He presses the dark frames higher up his nose, feeling a little self-conscious. “My contacts get itchy sometimes and I use these to make up for it.”
“It’s because you're old”, Kuina calls from across the table where she sits with her legs on the bench and her back against her wife’s’ shoulder. Ann doesn’t even react to Kuina’s antics, deep in conversation with Chishiya about fuck-knows-what. Open heart surgery, probably, or maybe quantum physics, you can never know with those two.
Niragi throws a napkin at Kuina. “You're not allowed to call me old; you're literally five months younger than me.”
“Yes, but you're thirty now, which makes you old. Something that I am not.”
That gets a reaction out of Ann. She turns around and looks at her with a raised eyebrow.
“I am thirty-two” she comments drily.
Kuina waves her comment aside. “You don’t count. You're literally perfect, which is something Niragi very clearly isn’t.” She makes a gesture like she is presenting Niragi to an audience of curious zoo visitors. “cause the glasses and, like, everything else.”
“I like them”, Tatta pipes up. “I think they look good on you.”
He's grinning at him, like it’s a thing they do all the time, complimenting each other on their looks and shit.
Like it doesn’t make Niragi’s heart go wild in his chest.
He really hopes his stupid blush isn’t visible in the low light of the bar, but one look at Kuina’s shit-eating grin tells him otherwise.
“Look”, Tatta says, leaning into Niragi’s space, “those girls in the corner have been giggling and staring at you since the moment you arrived.” He points somewhere behind Niragi’s shoulder, but Niragi doesn’t turn around. He tells himself it’s because he doesn't want to make said girls uncomfortable, but it’s actually just because he doesn’t care about them, not even a little bit.
“Tatta, have you forgotten that I am fucking gay?”
The man just rolls his eyes. “Obviously not. I just thought you’d like some validation from somebody who isn’t me, you know. People think you're attractive, even with your glasses. Maybe especially with those glasses”, he adds with a wink and Niragi wants to scream.
He never knows if Tatta is actually flirting with him or if it’s just wishful thinking. Tatta’s just being nice, isn’t he? That’s just something he does, pointing out people who fancy Niragi, being a proper wingman, but sometimes he adds things that make Niragi’s stomach swoop with tentative hope instead.
To distract himself from Tatta and his stupid glinting eyes, his stupid kind smile and especially the stupidly attractive shirt he's wearing today, Niragi does a mental headcount of their friends. “Usagi isn’t coming?” he asks after he can’t find her anywhere at the bar.
“Kota’s babysitter’s running a little late, but she just messaged me that she’ll be there in a few” Arisu tells him.
“Oh right, how is the little guy?” Tatta asks.
Arisu shrugs. “Still pretty devastated, missing his parents a lot, but he seems to be old enough to understand they won’t be coming back and that he’ll have to stay with Usagi now. He seems to be quite interested in cars, though. Usagi actually wanted to ask you if you’d be okay with them visiting you at your garage at some point in the future. Show him some of the cars you’re working on.”
“I’d love to!” Tatta says, grinning from ear to ear and looking like a little boy himself. He always does whenever he gets to talk about his garage and the vintage cars he has specialized in. Usually, it’s Niragi who gets the brunt of his excitement; not that he minds. Letting Tatta ramble about them while he gets to look at the charming blush that overtakes Tatta’s cheeks whenever he talks about something he enjoys is one of Niragi’s favorite ways to pass the time.
The moment Tatta leaves to get himself and Niragi something to drink, and Arisu wanders off to find out if he will get a single word in during his boyfriend’s and Ann’s discussion, Kuina takes the opportunity to slide into the booth next to Niragi.
He takes one look at her face and crosses his arms in front of his chest. “No, leave me the fuck alone”, he grumbles. “I'm not listening to you.”
“Nope, you don’t deserve that because you're pathetic and I can no longer take you seriously.”
“You have never once taken me seriously in the fifteen fucking years we’ve known each other”, Niragi points out.
“Yeah, well, you're right, of course. But – and I mean that with all the love I feel for you as my oldest friend and fellow victim-turned-badass – this is getting ridiculous, and you really have to do something about it.”
Niragi tries to ignore her and ends up observing Tatta instead, who is leaning against the bar, laughing at something the girl behind the counter is saying. It seems to only spur Kuina on however, because she leans into his personal space and forces him to look at her instead. For once, she seems uncharacteristically earnest.
“Niragi, you need to hurry up if you're serious about him. I was obviously joking about you being old, but we are getting to that age where people realize that a sweet, thoughtful, and all-around great guy like Tatta is actually the best fucking thing that will ever happen to them. People are openly flirting with him. I'm pretty sure that chick behind the bar just slipped him her number. So get your fucking ass into gear, because if you don’t, he will find somebody else to make him happy. And you will regret never having said anything for the rest of your pathetic life.”
Niragi glares at her. “I hate you so much for being right, you know?” he mumbles and takes a second to press his forehead into her shoulder.
Kuina pats his head, which is the only comfort he will get from her.
“Ask him tonight” she tells him before getting up and walking back to her wife.
And Niragi is actually resolved to do as she said. He is prepared to put years and years of one of the best fucking friendships in his life at risk for a chance at happiness.
It’s just that, now that he has pulled himself together enough to actually go through with it, the world seems very committed to interfere with his decision to ask Tatta out every chance it gets.
First, it’s Usagi’s arrival at the bar, then it is her and Tatta excitedly making plans for Kota to come and look at the cars. After that, it’s Arisu, who needs Niragi’s opinion on some fucking game announcement from last week, and then, finally, Tatta is sitting next to Niragi again, contently sipping his beer and smiling at him, but Chishiya calls Niragi over to the other side of the table.
“What?” Niragi snaps as he looks down at the man who is smirking up at him.
“Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to thank you for being some of the best entertainment I’ve had in days.”
Niragi stares at him.
“No, really. This has been so much fun!”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Not at all. Seeing you so desperate has been the highlight of my day.”
Niragi hates him, from his poorly dyed hairline to the fucking shoelaces on his sparkling clean white trainers. And a few years ago, back when he had still been running the streets with Aguni and his people, Niragi would have had no qualms putting his fist into that fucking condescending smirk of his.
But he isn’t that man anymore, and so he just turns around and stalks back to his seat where Tatta is looking at him with a slight frown on his face.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine. He’s just in one of his fucking moods again.”
Tatta looks over to where Chishiya watches them both with a small smirk on his face.
“He does seem to take those out on you a lot these days. Maybe we should talk to Arisu. Having a personality disorder is no excuse for treating you like that.”
Niragi shakes his head. “Just leave it”, he says. “It won’t change anything. It will only stress out Arisu, and the guy needs to keep his head straight for his finals. But hey, now that we’ve got a moment, I wanted to ask if – “ he looks over at Tatta and realizes the man has already put on his coat and is in the act of slinging a bright red scarf around his neck. “You’re leaving?”
“Yeah, sorry. Got an especially early morning tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep.” He winks and gets up. “You gonna let me out?”
Niragi makes a decision then. “I think I’m gonna go with you”, he says as he gets to his feet as well. “This place is giving me a headache tonight. And I could do with some beauty sleep myself.”
Tatta snorts. “I think you're the last one who needs it. The girls are still staring at you, by the way.”
This time, Niragi turns around – and then does a double-take. “Jesus, they’re barely even legal! Is that what you think of me? Fuck you!”
Tatta grins and evades the light punch Niragi has been aiming at his shoulder. “I only think the very best of you, you have to know that by now!”
Fuck, Niragi is going to ask him. He is so going to ask him the second he doesn’t feel Kuina’s and Chishiya’s eyes on him anymore.
They say their good-byes, which takes at least five minutes because suddenly, everyone seems to have some thing or other they have to discuss with them. But finally, they get to leave the bar and step into the cool Tokyo air.
It is uncharacteristically cold for a late-March evening and Niragi observes how their breath condenses into cloudy little puffs in front of their mouths.
“What was it you wanted to ask me?”
Tatta is looking at him, bundled up in a dark coat and that fucking red scarf of his, looking extremely fucking adorable, and Niragi’s resolve crumbles.
He can’t, he just can’t.
He's not going to risk being friends with this incredible fucking human being just because he can’t stop waxing poetic about Tatta’s stupid freckles and his fucking smile.
“Dunno” he shrugs instead, not meeting Tatta’s eyes. “Don’t remember.”
“Are you sure?”
For a second, Tatta looks like he knows full well what Niragi wants to ask him, but that can’t actually be true.
“Yeah.”
“Okay then. You just have to tell me when you remember.” He's smiling, he has been smiling so much all evening, and Niragi has to tell him.
“Tatta…”
“Yeah?” Does he sound a little hopeful, a bit breathless even? But no, it surely is the cold air and Niragi’s dumbass mind playing cruel tricks on itself.
“…get home safe.”
Niragi is a fucking coward.
♡
The next morning, he wakes up to three texts. He swipes the first one from Kuina away after seeing the two dozen question marks she finished her message with, ignores the one from Chishiya who’s probably apologizing for last night but also not really because he's a fucking asshole, and opens the one from Tatta instead.
Tatta: Are you free on Saturday?
Niragi replies before he even finishes getting out of bed.
Niragi: Yeah, why?
He doesn’t expect to see an answer before eleven when Tatta usually takes his first break, so he's a little surprised when not even ten minutes later, his phone pings with another message.
Tatta: There’s this really cool exhibition at the Tech Museum all week and you said you wanted to see the one on cyphers. Wanna go?
Huh.
Niragi vaguely remembers having mentioned that exhibition, but that must have been months ago.
But he likes spending time with Tatta and he is actually really interested in those old codes and cyphers. And he's working on this one game where it could actually come in handy.
Niragi: Sure
Tatta: Great, I’ll get you for breakfast! 10:00?
Niragi: Make it 9:30. I know you get up at 7:00, you heathen. Wouldn’t want you to starve to death.
Tatta: Cute, but sure, 9:30 it is. See you then!
♡
As promised, Tatta arrives three days later in his red vintage car.
It’s color and the fact that it's vintage and would have been quite expensive had he not fixed it up himself are the only things Niragi remembers about said car.
He really tries to memorize all the things Tatta tells him about his job and the automobiles he cares so much about, but Niragi has never liked cars and he has no idea why Tatta chose him as the person he wants to share all this stuff with, and not Arisu for example, who has at least some understanding of what Tatta is talking about, but fuck, Niragi's certainly not going to question it.
When he lets himself fall into the passenger seat, he does a double take.
“Where the fuck is your hat?” he asks.
Tatta grins at him from the driver’s seat, very much hat-less, hair all disheveled and shit.
“Left it at home” he shrugs but doesn’t specify if it was accidental or not. “Where are your glasses?”
“Got new contacts.”
“Hm.”
Does he sound disappointed? Niragi thinks he kind of does, but he can’t really focus right now because Tatta without his cap is really fucking distracting.
“Where are we going?” He's also kind of starving.
“Hmmm” Tatta seems to contemplate a few options in his head. “How about waffles?”
He starts the car, which is a manual, something Niragi doesn’t even try to wrap his head around. He doesn’t like to drive at all, and he has no idea how Tatta manages to navigate Tokyo with the added pressure of having to shift gears every fucking minute without going completely crazy.
“Sounds fine to me” he mutters, looking out the window, because if he doesn’t, he will almost certainly look at Tatta again, and at his fucking hair that is still sticking out in every fucking direction.
Niragi really wants to put his hands into it.
When they arrive at the waffle place however, Niragi doesn’t get to look away anymore, because if Tatta is one thing, then it’s being a sneaky little shit who has known Niragi for a long time and as such knows something other people would never even guess about him.
In short: Niragi has a terrible sweet tooth.
Which means Tatta knows that getting waffles with him is the best way to get Niragi to loosen up, to forget whatever his fucking mind tells him at any given time, and just enjoy himself a little.
And it’s working.
They laugh while they stuff themselves with doughy goodness, chocolate sauce, raspberries and powdered sugar and everything that could probably power a small company of little children for at least a week straight. They make fun of the tacky decorations and the people coming in, spinning tales about their lives, dreams and thoughts. And for some reason, Tatta pays for the both of them during Niragi’s quick trip to the bathroom. He also asks the lady behind the counter for some oats and nuts, which Niragi finds a little confusing, but ultimately decides not to question too much.
He is having too much of a good time.
When they arrive at the museum, it turns out that the exhibition Tatta wanted to see had ended the day before. He doesn't seem phased though and just tugs Niragi into the direction of the cypher exhibition instead.
Niragi's pretty sure that Tatta does not care for cyphers or codes at all. But they still spend a truly outrageous amount of time in those handful of rooms and Niragi gets to silently geek out about all the ways people have been hiding secret messages since the dawn of time.
After the museum, Tatta leads him to a small vendor selling dango a few streets away. He gets them two skewers each and they're really fucking delicious. While they eat, they wander to a nearby park and Tatta gets out the bag of oats and nuts he got from the bakery.
"I want to feed the ducks" Tatta explains, which is such a Tatta-thing to say that Niragi just snickers and choses to sit down on a bench while Tatta approaches the edge of a small pond.
It had been a really fucking great day, Niragi thinks as he watches Tatta, who is holding out a handful of oats to a small family of tentatively approaching ducks. The trip to the museum had been super interesting and had actually given Niragi some really great insights and inspiration for the game he's working on. Being around Tatta is always great and he feels more relaxed than he has in weeks. Also, he got to eat some really tasty food, which he did not even have to pay for himself.
Which he did not even…
Hold on a fucking a second!
Niragi repeats one more time what he just summarized in his head, and then once again for good measure.
He turns to look at Tatta. “Are we on a fucking date?”
Tatta chuckles as he looks up at Niragi from where he's still crouching on the ground, feeding a curious duckling a few flakes of oats. “Yeah”, he says, smiling at him with his stupid freckles and laugh lines.
"Why?" Niragi asks and instantly wants to fucking kick himself.
Tatta shrugs, still smiling. "Because I really wanted to, and I had the feeling you also did, but you never asked." Then, a little less confident: "Did you like it?"
Niragi can only nod, because he really did, but apparently, now that he has what he wanted, he doesn't know what to actually do with it.
Tatta seems satisfied with the answer however and turns to feed some more ducklings that have been waddling up to him.
They are silent for a while.
"And now?" Niragi asks eventually.
Tatta shrugs. "That's up to you, I guess. I would absolutely love to kiss you right now, but if I somehow misread this whole thing, because let's face it, that is something I am totally capable of doing, then I'm also fine with just leaving it at that and going back to how we were before. There's really no pressure here."
He is still smiling, and Niragi can feel that what he said was completely honest. It's all up to what Niragi wants.
The thing is: Niragi wants a lot. Too much, really, because Tatta is not just some guy. They are friends first, best friends, and Tatta is offering something Niragi has never been brave enough to even ask for. But Tatta is also giving him the choice to turn it down.
He just really doesn't want to.
And Tatta has done such a brave thing by putting himself out there. It makes Niragi want to be brave, too.
He gets up and takes a few steps to where Tatta has finished with his oats. He is standing now, and the sun is making his hair look all shiny and soft.
Slowly, Niragi reaches for Tatta’s face and takes it in both of his palms. He searches Tatta’s expression for discomfort, uncertainty, basically any sign that he should fuck off. But there's nothing on Tatta's face except complete fucking honesty, so Niragi slides his hands down to the lapels of Tatta's coat, closes the space still left between them, and kisses him.
He doesn’t close his eyes for the first few seconds, keeps them on Tatta’s face instead and thus is in the perfect position to observe what seems to be a moment of pure bliss appear on the man’s face. Then, Tatta inhales sharply through his nose and winds his hands around Niragi's neck, drawing soft circles into the skin there and Niragi finally closes his eyes, purely concentrating on the feel of Tatta’s lips on his own.
It’s a soft kiss, a mere press of lips on lips first and then a few, featherlight touches. They keep it simple, which is something Niragi a hundred percent expected from Tatta, and did not expect from himself at all. But he is content, so fucking content to be kissed like that in a secluded little park somewhere in Tokyo. There's nowhere else he'd rather be.
Fuck, Niragi really has gotten soft with age. Kuina would probably make fun of him forever if she knew.
But Niragi is also a greedy man at heart, and now that he got the finger, he feels like going for the whole fucking hand instead.
So, when they break apart but stay close to each other, Niragi leans his forehead against Tatta's and catches the other man's gaze.
"Will you take me home?"
And Tatta smiles, wide and beautiful.
♡
“It's pretty messy", Tatta warns as he pushes open the door and shoves away a pair of shoes and a discarded umbrella.
"Yeah, I know. I've been here before."
Tatta rolls his eyes and clearly wants to answer something witty. Niragi can’t have that. He really has something different than conversation on his mind and takes a step forward right into Tatta’s personal space.
Tatta smiles. "Hi," he says and takes a moment to just lean his head against Niragi's chest.
Niragi can't help but smile in return before he takes Tatta's chin in between two fingers, pushes it up a little so Tatta has no other chance but to look him in the eyes, and kisses him.
It’s a different kiss altogether than the one they shared before. Tatta hums and almost immediately opens his mouth to Niragi's tentative tongue. When Niragi lets his piercing click against Tatta’s teeth, he shivers and grips Niragi's hips under his jacket.
Tatta is a good kisser; Niragi is both thrilled and a little jealous to learn. Who had been the one to teach him first? Does he know that person?
"You think too much" Tatta murmurs, but he's still smiling, always smiling, and Niragi doesn't know where to put all these emotions inside his chest. Tatta feels good against him, and he smells really fucking nice and his grip on Niragi's waist is unexpectedly strong. Also, his hair is really soft.
His hair.
Without the cap.
The cap Niragi can see discarded next to the shoes in the genkan.
“Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me. You left that fucking cap on purpose!”
“Yeah”, Tatta grins. “It really gets in the way sometimes. Especially during this.” And he reaches up and kisses Niragi again and again, short pecks against his lips at first which turn into longer kisses that make Niragi’s head spin.
He involuntarily shifts his hips against Tatta’s and the other man breaks away and looks at him with pupils blown wide. "I have a bed" is what leaves his mouth after a few breaths. Niragi can only nod.
They kick off their shoes and leave them in the genkan, together with the coat, jacket, and scarf. Tatta wraps his fingers around Niragi’s wrist and leads him through the small living room and straight into his bedroom. There, he pulls Niragi close again.
Niragi thinks Tatta must feel his pulse hammering between his ribs, it's so obvious and he has no idea how it's not jumping out of his fucking chest. But Tatta only smiles again before he lies down on the mattress of his bed, tugging Niragi down with him.
Tatta takes a second to just look at Niragi above him. "I've kinda dreamt about this a lot" he confesses, and Niragi has to close his eyes, the raw honesty in Tatta's eyes added to the overall situation just too much for him to take in all at once.
He buries his face in Tatta's neck instead and just breathes for a few moments. "So, no fucking pressure then" he finally answers and feels Tatta chuckle and start to run fingers through strands of his hair.
"No, no pressure at all" Tatta agrees.
They stay like that for a while. Tatta keeps playing with his hair and humming contently and Niragi breathes him in.
"You know we don't have to do anything, right?" Tatta finally asks. "I'm more than happy to just lie here with you like that."
Secretly, Niragi thinks he would be too, but he wants more, if Tatta is willing to give him more, that is.
“I kinda want to do everything all at once and now that I can, I don't even know where to start" he admits. "I can't believe you actually took me on a fucking date. I never thought I'd get to do that with you."
"I take it you've wanted this for a while, as well?" Tatta asks and his fingers on Niragi’s scalp feel so good that it takes a moment for the words to sink in.
When they do, Niragi snorts. "Yeah, you could say that."
"How long?"
"Hm?"
"How long have you wanted me?" Tatta repeats.
Niragi stays silent for a while. "Probably since we first met", he finally admits, his voice quiet.
"What?"
The hand in his hair stops and Niragi sighs. Looks like they'll have to do some more talking. Which is probably a good thing, all things considered.
He slowly slides from Tatta's chest and lays down next to him, with his head propped up on one hand, but he keeps the other on Tatta's stomach, moving his thumb up and down in slow strokes.
"Yeah", he admits. "I mean, not from the second we met. But somewhere around the time I realized you kept coming back even though I was a complete asshole to you. It doesn't excuse the way I treated you, by the way. Pulling your proverbial pigtails because of my inability to actually process what I was feeling is still fucking terrible reasoning for treating you like I did. Especially since I was already twenty-two at that time and not a fucking ten-year-old. I should have known better. "
There is a contemplative expression on Tatta’s face. "But you never said anything. For over eight years. Or was I just too dense to get it?"
"No." Niragi shakes his head and begins to play with the upper-most button of Tatta's flannel to distract himself from the other man's gaze. This isn't exactly easy to talk or even think about, but he understands the need to get all of this shit out of the way first. "No, I never said anything."
"Why?"
Niragi sighs. "When we met, I probably wasn't in the right mind to even recognize my feelings for you as something positive in my life. Aguni had me so deep in his clutches and it took months to even get me sane enough to understand what I felt about you was something really fucking good. And when I got better-"
"I was with Ginji", Tatta finishes his sentence.
Niragi nods. "Exactly. And you were so happy. You had been such a great support through all those terrible manic episodes I had, and there was no way I was gonna fuck up your happiness like that. So, I didn't say anything. I kinda wanted to hate Kyuma for how he was allowed to have you all to himself, but I couldn't, and I think that was the thing that annoyed me the most. He's such a good guy that even I didn't find it in me to dislike him just a little bit."
"You know what? I think I will tell him you said that." Tatta is wearing a shit-eating grin now and Niragi kind of regrets everything. "But after Ginji and I decided to end our relationship, you didn't say anything either." It doesn't sound like an accusation, just like he's stating a fact.
"Yeah, I guess I had just... I don't know, kind of given up on relationships and all that shit. I still didn't think I deserved to have one and decided that being your friend was more than enough."
Tatta frowns. "But you did have relationships after that."
"I wouldn't call them that. They were flings, but nothing more. I told myself if I found someone, just anyone, who I maybe liked enough, then I would try to get over you, but" Niragi stops playing with the button to look Tatta in the eyes, "they weren't you. No one is."
Tatta's smile is blinding, and Niragi's helpless to do anything but kiss him.
Soon, Tatta traces his hands down Niragi’s sides and begins to tug at his shirt, so Niragi swiftly unbuttons it and lets him take it off. He grins as Tatta's eyes fall onto the small barbell in his right nipple.
"This is new."
"Kinda, yeah." It isn't completely new, and Niragi thanks all the deities he doesn't believe in for that fact, but it's recent enough that Tatta didn't have the opportunity to see him with it yet.
"Can I touch it?"
"Sure, knock yourself out."
He tries to go for nonchalance, but the second Tatta presses the pad of his pointer finger against the silvery steel, Niragi lets out a quiet moan. Tatta's hands are calloused from years of mechanical work, and his touch goes straight to Niragi's cock.
Tatta looks delighted.
"You are wearing too much", Niragi manages to say.
Tatta just lifts an eyebrow. "Then do something about it!"
So Niragi does. He strips him from his flannel and groans in annoyance when he finds there is still a t-shirt and even an undershirt to go through. "Why are you always wearing so many fucking layers?"
Tatta just shrugs and smiles innocently. "Cause I get cold pretty easily.” But soon, shirt and undershirt join Niragi's dress shirt on the floor and Niragi is finally able to take in Tatta's form underneath him.
At least he tries to, because almost immediately, Tatta starts to distract him by peppering his neck with kisses and even an attempted hickey, but Niragi doesn’t let him.
Or, well, maybe he lets him a little, because the leg that slides right between both of his and presses on his very obvious hard-on just feels way too good and it would be very easy to lose his focus, but he's nothing if not tenacious.
He grips Tatta's wrists and presses his arms down on each side of Tatta's head. Tatta looks up at him, his breathing quick and his cheeks stained a lovely red.
"Like what you see?", he asks when Niragi doesn’t say anything for a moment, just looks down at him, taking him in.
"Yeah, I really fucking do."
The red turns a shade darker, but Tatta is still grinning. He's miles away from the timid young man Niragi met years ago, and he supposes he has Kyuma to thank for that. Building up Tatta's confidence, showing him what an amazing person he was and treating him as the equal he deserved to be – Niragi wishes it could have been him who did all of that, but he also knows that he wouldn't have been able to have done right by Tatta. Not in the way Kyuma has.
And he supposes it's okay.
They are here now. It has to be enough.
Niragi lets his hands run up and down the sides of Tatta's torso and enjoys how it causes goosebumps to appear all over the skin. He traces some of them with his tongue and delights in the fact that it elicits something between a moan and a giggle.
"Ohhh, are you ticklish? Is that what this is?"
"No."
"Are you sure about that?", Niragi grins and moves his fingers over Tatta's skin in featherlight touches.
Tatta giggles again. "Stop it!"
"Nah, I don't think I will."
Tatta grips his arms and then they're rolling on the bed, wrestling with each other until Niragi is the one on his back, staring up at Tatta who is sitting smugly on his lap.
"I let you win", Niragi pants, embarrassingly out of breath.
"Sure you did", Tatta says good-naturedly.
He presses Niragi's wrists into the mattress and now it's Niragi who's pinned underneath him, not the other way round. Niragi doesn't mind that one bit.
"We have a lot of lost time to make up for, I guess." Tatta leans in and brushes his lips against Niragi's. Niragi's not even ashamed of the whimper he lets out when their crotches press against each other through the denim of their pants. "So, how do you want to do this? What do you like?"
Niragi's brain halts to a total standstill and it takes some time for it to reboot. When he has finally managed it, his voice is unsteady, but he is meeting Tatta's gaze head-on. "Whatever you want", he croaks.
"Yeah no, I asked you first."
Tatta looks very determined and a groan escapes from Niragi's throat. "Tatta…" His face feels very warm, and he swallows the urge to hide it in the pillow behind his head.
"Yes, that's my name! Glad you still remember it. Now, tell me what you like!"
"I haven't—" Niragi starts, but he cuts himself off. He wanted to say, "I haven't done this in quite a while, but I am fine with anything", but then he decided against it and now it sounds like he wanted to say something completely different.
The fact that Tatta pulls back a little with a quiet "Oh" shows that he clearly got the wrong message here.
"Are you—"
"No, I'm not a fucking virgin", Niragi snaps. He closes his eyes and grips Tatta's hips reassuringly, stroking his thumbs over his skin in what he hopes feels apologetic. "No one has ever asked me that question, is all."
That seems to do the exact opposite of what he had hoped it would. Tatta cocks his head to the side, his face clearly unnerved. "No one has ever bothered to ask you what you want? What you like?"
Niragi shrugs, feeling uncomfortably exposed all of a sudden. "They usually want me to top and just assume that’s what I want as well."
"It's not though, is it?"
Niragi doesn't look at him. Instead, he focuses on a spot over Tatta's right shoulder. "I don't mind topping", he says through gritted teeth.
"But it’s not what you want." It's not a question.
Niragi resigns himself to feeling slightly mortified. He supposes that's what being in love feels like. So he just meets Tatta's eyes head-on. "No. No, it's not."
And there it is again, that beautiful, all-encompassing smile. It should blind him, but it doesn't, it only makes him feel warm from the inside out.
It makes everything a little easier, it seems.
"Well, then it will be my pleasure to be the one to fuck you into the mattress." Tatta grins, all proud and shit, and that’s all it takes for Niragi to get his bearings back.
"Oh yeah?", he asks and rolls them around, so he's the one on top again. "You're such a little shit, you know that?"
"Sure," Tatta says easily, still grinning, "but you love that about me."
Niragi groans. "Fuck me, I do. I really, really do." He lets his forehead rest on Tatta's chest and feels Tatta's fingers card through his hair again almost immediately. He presses a kiss to his chest in return.
"You sure you want to fuck me?" He would be okay doing it the other way round; it’s what he had expected anyways. Only slightly disappointed, but it’d still be fine with him.
Tatta stops petting his head, takes Niragi's face in his hands instead and forces him to meet his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure", he says and when he can't seem to find what he's looking for in Niragi's eyes, he adds "What, did you expect me to say no?"
Niragi just shrugs.
"Jesus, you're going to be the death of me", Tatta sighs. He strokes both of his thumbs over Niragi's cheeks, like Niragi is something precious, something worth holding onto. "Hey, look at me." Niragi can't help but comply. "There is nothing I'd rather do right now. Do you get it? I really, really want to fuck you! I want to be the one who makes you feel so good you forget everyone who's ever looked at you, who's ever assumed they knew what you liked without bothering to ask first. I'll make you feel good. I promise!" He presses a kiss to each side of Niragi's mouth.
Niragi shudders. It's a full body shudder, one that he can feel starting around his scalp and travelling all the way down to his toes. "Fuck, I want that too!", he says and this time he doesn't feel ashamed by how his voice breaks halfway through.
Tatta kisses him then, really kisses him, nothing like they did before. He licks across Niragi's lips, coaxing his mouth open, and kisses him deep and slow while he presses his pelvis up and rolls it hard against Niragi's own.
He's also the one to break the kiss again, tilting his head back, panting and with his eyes closed. Niragi takes the opportunity to explore his neck with his tongue and teeth. Tatta doesn't seem to mind, alternating between moaning and giggling whenever Niragi reaches a particularly ticklish spot on his throat.
"We should probably... ah...probably lose the pants", Tatta says just as Niragi dips his tongue in the gap between his collarbones.
He pushes up on his elbows and stretches one arm out, fumbling for something in his nightstand. Niragi gets temporarily distracted by the veins in his arm and how he looks much stronger than you would expect.
Then, he spots the full bottle of lube and the unopened pack of condoms in Tatta's hand and lifts an eyebrow. "Did you plan this?"
Tatta shrugs. "Kinda, yeah. A lot of it was just wishful thinking, but I wanted to be prepared. Are you complaining?"
Niragi grins. "No, not at all."
"Good. Now, take off your pants, will you?"
"Have you always been this bossy?", Niragi grumbles but still loosens his belt and pops open the button of his jeans.
He can feel Tatta's eyes on him, watching his every move and, fuck, he hadn’t thought that was something he found arousing at all, being watched by somebody else while stripping, but here he is, clearly enjoying every fucking second of it.
"I have to ask", Tatta says then as he fumbles with his own pants. He's a little uncoordinated and this is good, Niragi thinks. Confident Tatta is fucking beautiful, but seeing some of the old Tatta in him, the one Niragi fell hard for all those years ago, feels reassuring somehow.
"Hm?" Niragi watches a little amused as Tatta fights with his pant leg. It's really fucking adorable.
"Like, have you bottomed before and realized you liked it, or is this completely new to you and just something you really want to try?"
"Nah, I have." It feels easier to reveal something like this about himself, now that he knows Tatta won't judge him or make fun of him for it. "It's just been a really long time and doing it to myself just isn't the same, you know?"
He silently applauds himself for the absolute perfect timing when Tatta's eyes widen. "Doing it to-Jesus", he splutters as he loses his balance and nearly topples off the bed. Niragi catches him at the last second, feeling very smug about it.
"Jesus", Tatta repeats, "you can't just say things like that! Do you want to kill me?"
"Why? Don't you want to hear about me touching myself, using some really good toys while thinking of you and your-" He breaks off laughing as Tatta presses a hand to his lips.
"Fucking hell, Niragi!" But then Tatta blushes a deep and shining red. "Well, maybe I do want to know about that, but not now."
Huh. Looks like Niragi isn't the only one figuring out new things about himself tonight. "Fine" he agrees. "Later then".
Tatta nods, and knowing that later is an option at all fills Niragi with a kind of satisfaction he thinks he's never experienced before in his entire life.
He takes pity on Tatta and helps him out of his jeans the rest of the way before he leans back to admire him. He knows he's quite attractive himself, all tall and dark with shiny piercings, but Tatta is gorgeous, soft hair mussed, eyes big and brown and freckles all over his cheeks and nose. He's lying on his back, legs falling open and his erection very prominent in his briefs.
He's the most fucking beautiful thing Niragi has ever set his sights on.
And so, he tells him exactly that. With some more expletives, obviously, he's still himself after all, even if he's gone soft and mushy with age.
Tatta blushes, deep and gorgeous, all the way to his collarbones. "I thought this was about me making you feel good, not the other way round?" he grumbles.
"No, this is about us feeling good together, you dumbass. That includes you!"
Instead of giving an answer or maybe bickering a little more, Tatta surges up and kisses him roughly. Niragi holds him by the shoulders and kisses back, arousal seeping deep into his bones.
His tongue piercing scrapes over Tatta's lip and against his tongue and Tatta moans, loud and unabashedly while gripping his hipbones and grinding his clothed cock against Niragi's.
It's too much all of the sudden, but also not enough. Niragi needs them to lose the final layer, he needs to feel all of Tatta against his own skin, and he needs it now!
He fumbles with the hem of Tatta's briefs, right as Tatta starts panting into his mouth. "Yes, please. Come on, do it."
Niragi swears and pulls back a little, just enough to strip off his own briefs before attending to Tatta's, and he tries to not make it obvious that he's staring, but he can't help it, he has thought about this a lot, okay?
"Oh, come on, can you not look at me later when I am not about to burst?", Tatta complains.
Niragi grumbles a little unhappy but manages to drag his eyes away from him, grasping for the lube Tatta had placed on the nightstand. He looks at it for a moment, then at Tatta, who watches him with heavy-lidded eyes and a content little smile on his lips.
"Do you want to do the honors, or should I?"
Tatta shrugs. "I can do it, but I am also very happy to just watch if you’d prefer that.”
Even though he is still very much aroused and so ready to get on with it already, Niragi takes the time to ponder this a little. Tatta is leaving him the choice, telling him to do whatever it is he wants most, and so he will.
"You do it", he finally decides and presses the bottle in Tatta's hands. Those hands with those calloused fingers he really wants to have inside of him right now.
"Sure. You wanna be on your stomach or on your back for it?"
„Neither“, Niragi answers and climbs onto Tatta's lap, "I really want it like this".
Tatta smiles and sits up, then presses a short kiss to Niragi's lips. He uncaps the bottle, pouring a generous amount of lube onto his fingers. The sun has already set outside the little bedroom and there are shadows over Tatta's face that hide his freckles but make his eyes look darker and really fucking beautiful.
And now Niragi has turned into a fucking poet. The things he does for love.
"Tell me if you need me to slow down", Tatta says before reaching between Niragi's legs. His arm brushes against Niragi's testicle, making Niragi moan.
Niragi nods, concentrating on the feeling of Tatta's finger rubbing at the sensitive skin around his rim. Shit, this feels really good already!
Tatta watches him with hawk-eyes, seemingly looking for any sign of discomfort. But there isn't one. There won't be one, Niragi is sure as his breathing gets faster, because Tatta is really good at what he is doing, slowly putting pressure on his rim, then retreating, until he can slip his first finger in without any resistance or pain. Sure, it feels weird at first, but it always does, and soon, Niragi urges Tatta to use a second finger.
Tatta - being the little shit they had already declared him earlier - ignores him though and continues to open him up at an agonizingly slow pace.
"You asshole" Niragi pants, tilting his head forward until he can lean it on Tatta's shoulder. "Get on with it already!"
Tatta only hums and continues to push and pull his single finger in long, drawn-out strokes. "I distinctly remember you saying, ‘you do it’, so this is what I'm doing." But he presses a soothing kiss on Niragi's shoulder and slides his other hand up to Niragi's pecs.
Then, and Niragi has no idea how he manages to time it so perfectly, he strokes his thumb over Niragi's pierced and sensitive nipple just as he grazes his prostate with the pad of his other finger.
Niragi almost shouts. His hands are in Tatta's hair, scrabbling to hold onto something, anything, to anchor him in the here and now.
Tatta shifts, nudging Niragi's legs further apart, and finally, finally, adds another finger.
"You’re doing great" he murmurs and while Niragi normally isn't one for praise, he likes it when its Tatta who is giving it. Like, it doesn't do it for him sexually, but it makes him feel warm and relaxed and really good about himself.
Niragi lowers his hips to meet the two fingers, trying to hit the same spot again, but naturally, Tatta purposefully avoids it just to rile him up.
Fine.
Niragi can fight dirty too!
He grips Tatta’s hair a little more and pulls, just a bit at first and then a little more when he feels the way Tatta goes loose and pliant, eyes turning even darker as he looks up at Niragi.
It’s a fucking good view, Niragi thinks, Tatta with his eyes on and two of his fingers in him, even if he's just teasing at the moment.
Niragi let's go of Tatta's hair, drifts his hands to his shoulder blades, leans in and kisses him. Tatta smells so good; he tastes fucking incredible, and Niragi can’t get enough.
His lips leave Tatta’s to nip along his jaw, dragging over his neck and finding his earlobe, giving it a gentle tug with his teeth before pressing his piercing against the shell of Tatta's ear. Niragi really fucking enjoys the way it makes Tatta’s breath hitch.
Then he opens his mouth and murmurs in a low voice: "You know, I imagined this, just a few nights ago. Right after all of us met at Karube’s. I wanted to ask you out that night.”
Tatta chuckles. “I know.”
“But then I chickened out.”
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“And you were wearing that dark blue shirt that really brings out your eyes and I couldn't take my eyes off of you all evening. When i got home, I was so frustrated, and I couldn’t get you out of my head. I didn't even get all the way to the fucking bedroom before I was touching myself."
Tatta moans and grips Niragi's hips hard with his other hand but does not actually stop Niragi from talking.
Niragi grins and let's his breath ghost over Tatta's ear. "I was on the couch, shirt unbuttoned and with my pants only halfway down my ass, playing with my piercing and stroking my cock while wishing it was you who did all that. I imagined you watching me with those beautiful fucking eyes of yours, your hand around my cock and pressing the fingers of your other hand into me, just like you're doing now."
And fuck, this has probably been a miscalculation on Niragi's part because it’s affecting him way more than he had thought it would. But when he looks at Tatta and sees him looking back at him with his lips parted, his eyes dark and his pupils blown, it's so fucking worth it.
Then he gets out his final weapon, as he leans in again and whispers "Tatta. Please!" into the other man's ear.
"Fuck." Tatta presses his forehead against Niragi's chest. "Shit, okay."
Niragi chuckles. "Sorry, that might've been a little too much."
Tatta raises his head and looks at him. His pupils are still blown wide. "You think? Fuck, I need a minute, or this is over before it's even begun."
"Take your time", Niragi murmurs, feeling a little bad now, and runs his hands up and down Tatta's back until the man breaks away, chuckling.
"You know, I was in a similar state that night. I was so sure you wanted me, but then you just left again, and I didn’t know if I wanted to kiss you or kill you for it. You also have this really infuriating habit of leaving open the first few buttons of your shirt and it's been driving me fucking crazy for months. And then you had those fucking glasses on and had the audacity to feel self-conscious about them while you looked so incredibly good. So yeah, that night when I got home, I was right here, doing the same as you."
Now it's Niragi who groans as flashes of Tatta appear in front of his inner eyes. Tatta, completely naked, with his eyes closed and his mouth hanging open, his head thrown back and his legs spread wide, two fingers up his ass while furiously working his cock, moaning long and loud and beautifully.
"Shit", he presses out, gripping Tatta's shoulders so hard he leaves little marks on his skin.
"Yeah," the other man laughs, "a little taste of your own medicine." Then he sobers and looks at Niragi, eyes all wide and earnest. "But seriously, I want a repeat of that. Not now, but definitely later. I really need to know more. We could even compare notes."
He winks and Niragi loves him, he loves him, he loves him so fucking much it hurts.
“Sure,” he murmurs and leans his forehead against Tatta’s, “whatever you want.” The man knows he’s soft, there is nothing left to hide, so fuck it. If he wants to be all mushy now, no one gets to say a damn thing about it!
It takes a while, but slowly their breathing evens out.
"How are your legs?", Tatta asks as he rubs his free hand over one of them. "You wanna change positions or can you keep going like this?"
Niragi, who has wound both arms around and buried his face in Tatta's neck, only shakes his head. "Nah, I'm good. You? That angle probably isn't the most comfortable to hold for a long time."
"Don't worry, I'm used to keeping my arms in weird angles", Tatta reassures him.
“Oh yeah, that thing you do where you assault old cars."
Niragi grins as Tatta slaps his thigh. There is a glint in Tatta's eyes that Niragi likes very much, something that tells him good things are about to happen.
"I think you had just about enough adjusting", Tatta decides and pulls his two fingers out. He gets more lube and generously pours it on three of his fingers.
Niragi shudders in anticipation, feeling empty after being filled for so long. But soon, Tatta goes back to prodding at his rim, entering him with only one, then two and finally with all three of his fingers.
The stretch is fucking divine, Tatta brushing Niragi's prostate on every second or third stroke, scissoring his fingers in between, and Niragi decides to not feel awkward about any of the sounds he'll make over the course of the evening.
"You think-" "Yeah" Niragi interrupts him, pressing his fingers in Tatta's neck. He can feel sweat running down his temple and his cock has been steadily leaking pre-come onto his stomach for what feels like hours now.
He is so, so fucking ready it almost hurts.
Tatta pulls out his fingers and cleans them on the bedsheets. "Okay. Okay." He slowly breathes in and out as if to calm himself and in the midst of grabbing the box of condoms to open it, Niragi is hit with the realization that Tatta is nervous.
He stops what he's doing and forces Tatta to look at him. "What's wrong?"
But Tatta just laughs and presses his forehead against Niragi's chest again. "I've wanted this for a long time too, you know?" he admits quietly.
Well, now Niragi is curious. "Since when?"
"I mean, I did have a small crush on you during that first year of knowing you", Tatta admits. "But I think I really fell for you around the time Kuina and Ann got married."
Niragi's eyes widen. "But that was when you were still-"
"Yeah, I was still dating Ginji at that time. It was actually one of the reasons we broke it off. Not the only one, mind you, but also not insignificant." He smiles. " We had always promised to tell the other if we caught feelings for somebody else, and so I did."
Niragi is stunned. The honesty in that relationship had always astonished him, but mostly it was- "But that was three years ago!"
Tatta looks at him. "Yeah, I know."
Niragi swears. "Fuck, we really could have done this years ago!" But he isn’t angry. He had his reasons for not telling Tatta about his feelings, he cannot be mad about Tatta doing the same.
He grabs Tatta's face and kisses him roughly. "So what you are actually saying is that there'll be a lot more catching up happening in the future?", he asks afterwards and promptly gets blinded by one of those fucking smiles again.
"Oh, you can bet on that!"
"Good", Niragi answers and finally gets his hands on the pack of condoms. He fishes one out, foil crinkling, and swiftly opens it.
Tatta's gaze is on his hands and for a second Niragi ponders the possibility of Tatta fixating on Niragi's hands just as much as Niragi does on his, but then he gets the condom out of the foil and his focus wanders elsewhere.
Tatta moans when Niragi rolls the condom on him and adds a little pressure just for the hell of it.
"Shit, Niragi, I can't promise you that I can hold on for long", Tatta admits but Niragi just shakes his head.
"Good," he says as he positions himself, feeling the head of Tatta's cock nudge against his rim, "because I definitely know I won't."
Then he sinks down.
He'd love to say that he seats himself in one swift motion, but it's been a while and he takes it one inch at a time, breathing deep and slowly while Tatta holds his waist and rubs his thumbs over his skin in a soothing motion.
"You’re doing so good", Tatta murmurs and kisses along Niragi's cheeks. "You feel amazing!"
"Fuck, you too!" Niragi pants. This is no comparison to what he usually does to himself. Having a real cock in him is on a whole other fucking level than a toy and he would be lying if he said it wasn't a little overwhelming.
When he bottoms out, they stay like that for a while, just sharing slow and lazy kisses with each other, and Niragi is thrilled to feel the fast and heavy thump-thump-thump of Tatta's heart when he places his hand against Tatta's chest.
"I'm so fucking in love with you", he murmurs and even though he hasn't planned on revealing it like that, in that very moment or even on that day, he doesn't regret saying it. Because he feels fucking perfect and he has no idea how else he can make Tatta understand.
Also, Kuina would probably say that honesty is the way to Tatta's heart or some other soppy shit like that.
Niragi presses his lips to Tatta’s and starts moving before Tatta can even get a single word out. It earns him a low groan and the pressure of Tatta's fingernails pressing into the skin of his hips.
It takes every fucking strand of willpower Niragi has to keep it slow and teasing at first. Tatta looks so good underneath him, head on the pile of pillows he has in his bed at all times, with his hair disheveled and his lips kiss swollen.
But what looks and feels even better is how obviously Tatta is enjoying it, his head thrown back, mouth hanging open in little gasps that go straight to Niragi's still completely untouched cock.
Tatta's hands wander from Niragi’s hips to his ass, just spreading his palms on the soft skin. It feels like a caress whenever Niragi moves, amplified by the callouses on Tatta's hands and fingers.
But soon, Tatta is rocking up against him, meeting him with every roll of Niragi’s hips, and Niragi almost collapses forward.
“Fuck”, he murmurs but he manages to plant trembling arms on either side of Tatta's head. Tatta feels so fucking good and Niragi really wants to tell him that, but the actual words tumbling from his mouth are nothing but curses and Tatta’s name repeated over and over again.
Niragi would feel embarrassed, but Tatta is no better, gripping the flesh of Niragi's ass hard, urging him to move faster while calling out expletives that would have made a young Tatta turn bright red, but seem so incredibly fitting now. Niragi feels a little proud because that was all him, that was his influence, and he laughs in disbelieve because that should by no means turn him on like that, but it does, it really fucking does!
Tatta clearly has no idea what Niragi is laughing about, but he smiles at him anyway and surges upwards to meet him in a searing kiss that takes all the air out of Niragi’s lungs. It also changes the angle of Tatta’s thrusts, not by much, but enough to graze Niragi’s prostate on every stroke, and shit, this is not going to take long, this is not going to take long at all.
“Fuck”, he grinds out, his voice shaking, and it must tell Tatta something because one of his hands leaves Niragi’s butt to grab his neglected cock instead. He doesn’t do much, just keeps his fingers wrapped around it, but it’s the first time Tatta is actually touching it and that’s more than enough for Niragi to completely lose it.
His orgasm tears through him with a string of expletives that Tatta swallows eagerly, joyfully, while he keeps his hand around Niragi’s cock and strokes Niragi’s back with the palm of his other hand.
Strings of come land on both of their chests and on Tatta’s hand, but the man clearly doesn’t mind, too distracted by the way Niragi clamps around his cock buried deep inside of him.
“You want me to stop?”, Tatta asks a little breathless after a while. He has leant his head against Niragi’s shoulder, but Niragi only shakes his head.
“Fuck no”, he pants, pressing his legs against Tatta’s hips, keeping him from going anywhere. “You stay right where you are!” He is still moving up and down Tatta’s cock, enjoying the edge between just perfect and a little too much.
Tatta does as he is told.
“Not gonna take long”, he moans and his breath ghosts against Niragi’s shoulder. “I’m almost there.”
And then after just three more strokes he is coming with a gasping laugh on his lips as his arms wind around Niragi’s neck and shoulders in a strong embrace.
Niragi wraps his arms around Tatta as well and they stay like that for a long while, quietly catching their breaths and just enjoying the other’s existence. Tatta even hums a little as he lets the pads of his fingers roam over the plains of Niragi’s back.
It feels really fucking perfect, so when Tatta stirs, clearly about to move away from him, Niragi protests and winds his arms a little tighter around the man underneath him.
“No,” Tatta laughs and softly slaps his shoulder, “we are disgusting! I adore you to death, but that's no reason to stick to each other until we get all crusty and gross.”
When Niragi still doesn’t let go of him, Tatta slaps his ass instead. “Come on, it won’t take long. Just give me two minutes to clean us up a little, then we can go right back to cuddling.”
Niragi still grumbles but pushes himself upright on shaky arms and winces when Tatta slips out of him.
He rolls onto his back with a groan and watches with half-lidded eyes as Tatta walks over to the bathroom and disappears into it after turning on the lights. He hears the lid of the trashcan open and close as Tatta discards the used condom before the sound of running water reaches his ears.
When Tatta emerges with a wet washcloth in his hands, Niragi doesn’t even try to hide how he's blatantly staring at him. Tatta is glowing in the low shine of the bathroom lights, all that soft skin on display, and Niragi's the only one who gets to see it.
What a fucking exhilarating thought!
The cloth is warm, but goosebumps still appear on Niragi’s skin when Tatta cleans his stomach, his chest, and between his legs.
“Sorry”, Tatta murmurs and kisses Niragi’s shoulder when Niragi winces a little as the cloth grazes the sensitive skin around his rim.
Then, Tatta disappears for a second time, but this time he returns almost immediately, climbing onto the bed and then straight onto Niragi’s lap, still buck-naked, effectively trapping Niragi underneath him again.
Ah, Niragi thinks wryly. Here comes the talk.
“You”, Tatta says and presses his finger on Niragi’s nose, making him go a little cross-eyed as he tries to follow it with his eyes, “are such an asshole, you know that?”
“Yeah, but what’s new?” Niragi tries to resort to bickering because it’s safe territory.
“Why wasn’t I allowed to say it back?” Tatta questions him, planting his arms next to Niragi’s head. His eyes are glinting and for a second, Niragi thinks he has actually fucked up, because he can’t read the expression on Tatta’s face at all.
But Tatta seems to find something on Niragi’s face that makes his eyes go soft, maybe even a little sad.
“You didn’t think I would. You don’t think I actually love you back.” Again, it’s not a question.
Niragi tries to look away, but Tatta won’t let him, taking his face in both of his hands, forcing their eyes to meet.
“Niragi, believe me when I say that I'm so in love with you, it feels like I can’t breathe sometimes. You mean everything to me. And if I have to, I will tell you every single day for the rest of our goddamn lives until I'm sure it got into that thick fucking skull of yours, you hear me? I –“
The rest of his words get lost when Niragi surges up and pulls him into a desperate kiss.
Outside, darkness has swallowed the last remainders of daylight and has given room to the moon, hanging proud and full in the sky, its glowing light reaching between the blinds and throwing a silvery gleam onto the plains of their naked bodies.
They're way too distracted by each other to notice.
♡
The next time they all meet, Kuina laughs her ass off the moment she sees them enter the bar hand in hand, Niragi wearing his glasses and Tatta sporting a not-so-subtle hickey underneath his chin. But when no one is paying her any attention, she shoots Niragi a thumbs up, looking all proud and shit, and it makes Niragi feel all kinds of mushy in his chest again.
He still gives her the middle-finger.
After all, she did call him old.