Title: Telling

Author: Lauand

Beta: Purpleicicles

Pairing: None really, but as I see it, this is clearly a Gojyo/Hakkai story

Rating: PG-13, mainly for a crude joke

Summary: Where do glow-worms come from?

A/N: Written for the Saiyukitime LJ community. Thank you very much to purpleicicles for the beta-ing!

"...and she said: 'that's what the rattrap is for!'"

Loud guffaws filled the air once more. Hakkai didn't remember who had started it, but some time after they had started the card game, one of Gojyo's habitual playmates had told a joke and now their hands lay forgotten, facing down on the table as they drank, smoked and shared the dirtiest jokes they could come up with. Maybe Hakkai didn't exactly share their sense of humour (not twisted enough for him), but there was the good feeling of people having fun together in the air, so he didn't regret having come.

The guy to Gojyo's right (Xiang Fu? Xiang Li?) signalled the barmaid for another round. Hakkai accepted his drink with a smile and the others got their own as another of Gojyo's friends started a new joke. Kuma, if Hakkai remembered correctly.

"This is a guy," the rest of the table fell silent as the man chuckled and, after regaining some control on his fit of giggles, he resumed his joke telling. "This is a guy that wakes up with the greatest morning boner he's ever had. A reeeeeeeally impressive hard-on," and he made an eloquent gesture to indicate how great the erection was. "And, well, he's really shocked at himself and all, damn, he's so fucking thrilled that he starts yelling: 'Miaaaaa! Mia! Com'ere and take a look at this!!'"

There was some stifled laughter from the men at the table and Hakkai took a sip of his drink. Gojyo lit another cigarette with the butt of his previous one and all the table listened as Kuma kept on talking.

"The woman, Mia, starts running towards the guy's room as the dude keeps on calling: 'Miaaa!! Miaaaaa!! You have to see this!! Come at once, dammit!!'" Kuma made a pause to gulp down half of his beer and the man at his left nudged him so that he ended the joke already. "The chick sprints the last meters--it was a big house--as the man keeps on shouting for her to come. And as the woman finally, finally arrives, the guy yells:" He then made a wide gesture as if he was getting rid of a blanket, "'look what you're missing for being my mother!!'"

Hysterical laughter burst at the punchline. Some of the men were laughing so hard that they were bordering tears. Hakkai wasn't one of them. He cast a worried glance at Gojyo and confirmed that the other man wasn't either. Hakkai hadn't expected him to be.

Waiting for the loud noise to subside a little, Hakkai audibly gasped.

"Oh my God!" He exclaimed. "The cookies!"

Wordless sounds of incomprehension filled the silence at the table. Hakkai jumped to his feet and elaborated.

"I left a batch of butter cookies in the oven and I totally forgot to turn it off before leaving! We must go back before something catches fire… Gojyo!"

Without waiting to see if the other man followed him or not, Hakkai started for the exit. The men at the table complained and tried to make at least Gojyo stay.

"Gojyo," Hakkai reminded him loudly without pausing or looking back, "it's your house."

Gojyo tried to grin apologetically, but he was not exactly in the mood.

"Sorry guys," he managed before trailing after Hakkai.

--

They walked in silence for a long time. Gojyo was the first to break the silence.

"You didn't have to."

Hakkai agreed.

"I didn't have to."

And that was all for a while. They walked in silence some more. The night was beautiful, even if the mood wasn't. The stars shone, oblivious to earthly problems or sad pasts. The air was crisp and smelled good.

"Come," Hakkai said before taking the small path that diverged from the main road and led to the river. Gojyo didn't question it. He followed Hakkai because that was what he did.

It wasn't long until they arrived to the shore. It was filled with glow-worms, dozens, maybe hundreds of tiny lights around them, mirroring the stars above them.

"Eeerr… very pretty, Hakkai. Really, it is, but I don't thi--"

"Once upon a time," Hakkai interrupted him softly, as if he hadn't heard Gojyo's protest, "the Moon realized that two of her raylights were missing. She wasn't prone to leave her things forgotten – because she knew where dirty socks belonged, when trash day was and what the ashtrays were for – so she deduced that the two rays of moonlight had been stolen. Wishing them back, she asked two of her trusted knights to look for them and to retrieve them. Because amongst the thousands stars that served her, there was a force of knights who rode the moonbeams and fought her battles. There is war even in the peaceful skies above. But I digress."

Hakkai sat carefully down on the grass by the river shore and looked up at the nocturnal sky.

"The fact is that the star-knights – whose names were Roku and Shichi – went to the place where the missing moonrays should have been. As everybody knows, moonbeams follow a straight line, so the empty space that they had left behind had to point exactly to the place on Earth where they had been abducted."

Slowly, nearly reluctantly, Gojyo took a seat beside his housemate.

"After conducting a thorough investigation – that I'll omit because it's not necessary to the flow of the story – Roku and Shichi found a cave. There, in a glass jar of pickles – emptied, of course – were the two missing moonlight rays; trapped, swirling in search of a escape. When the brave star-knights went to twist the lid open and free the moonrays, they heard a voice that begged them: 'No, please! Don't take them away!' Shichi and Roku turned around and saw a little dwarf – little even for the dwarven standards, that is – who ran past them towards the jar to hug it tight with his chubby arms. 'If you do,' the dwarf explained, 'my cave will be black again, and I'm so afraid of darkness!' 'But they're not yours to keep' Shichi reasoned, 'They long to be free and our mistress misses them very much' Roku added."

"Is there a point in this?" Gojyo asked suspiciously.

"Maybe. Do you want me to continue or rather not?"

Gojyo was used to reading between lines with Hakkai. He knew which grade of real permission his "Of course I don't mind, Gojyo" contained depending on the tone they were uttered with. This time, he didn't perceive any nuance of annoyance in the words, as though Hakkai didn't really mind if he had to interrupt his tale or not.

Gojyo shrugged.

"Sure."

Hakkai leaned back on his outstretched arms and unfolded his legs.

"The star-knights didn't know what to do. The moonbeams belonged to their Lady, but the dwarf – who wasn't more than a child, it was for that reason that he was so small – woke their compassion and they didn't want to leave him alone in the dark. After much thinking and some telepathic discussing – because the stars can talk without words, speaking directly to each other's minds – they decided to explain everything to the Moon so that she could act as a judge and find a solution to this predicament."

Hakkai took breath as Gojyo played distractedly with some weeds.

"And so, the star-knights, the dwarven child and the moonlight rays went to see the Lady of the Nightly Skies, to whom they explained the situation. After reflecting very gravely on it, the Moon reached her verdict. 'Stealing is wrong' she said to the dwarf, 'but living alone, surrounded by darkness isn't right, either; so I've decided that you'll give the moonrays back, but in exchange, I'll grant light to the nightly bugs so that they chase the darkness away and you don't have to be afraid in my kingdom anymore.'"

"And that way," Hakkai continued with the particular voice one used when the end of a story was near, "the glow-worms were born, the dwarf and the rest of the earthly creatures enjoyed the beautiful light of these nice bugs in our dark nights and the Moon kept on reigning the nocturnal skies. The end."

They sat in silence for a while as Hakkai watched the starlit sky and Gojyo tried to find some hidden message in the fairytale he had just listened.

"Uhm, Hakkai…"

"Yes, Gojyo?"

Gojyo hesitated and stared at his roommate, trying to grasp the words that gave form to what he was thinking.

"Mmmm, what has anything of that to do with me?"

Finally, Hakkai turned his face from the heavens to look at him. He warmly smiled.

"Nothing. I know you dislike being patronized."

Gojyo stared on as he assimilated the concept. Hakkai was weird.

"Shall we go home?" Even if his words suggested movement, Hakkai hadn't made a gesture that indicated he wanted to stand up.

"Maybe… maybe we could stay here for a while?"

Hakkai mmm'ed a yes and looked again at the night around him. He could feel Gojyo still staring at him, but that didn't bother him.

Some time later, he heard a rustle of clothes as Gojyo shifted and, slowly, with infinite care, a red head was placed in his lap. The head (and the shoulders attached to it) was tense, as though watching for Hakkai's reaction, waiting for a clue that indicated it wasn't welcome, ready to bolt and go back where it had come from when the hint arrived. The hint didn't come, though, so the head and the shoulders slowly relaxed on Hakkai's lap.

A nearby cricket started to sing. A soft breeze blew, making the rushes whisper. Gingerly, as though he had a wild, skittish red deer on his thighs, Hakkai caressed Gojyo's hair.

--