Pairing: Kurama/Yusuke

Rating: T

World: Canon

Submitted by: Spiritgununicorns

In the Absence of a Light

Kurama entered his apartment and smiled. He could feel Yusuke's presence somewhere in the building which meant that he wouldn't have to eat dinner alone that night. Even though he hadn't given Yusuke a key yet, the half demon still managed to find a way to break into his apartment when he needed to.

Since Kurama worked a full time job now, and Yusuke was doing…well…nothing, the fox in human form often came home to find his friend raiding his refrigerator.

He didn't mind honestly. Since Hiei had made the decision to remain in the Makai with Mukuro, he had been rather lonely. To the redhead's delight, Yusuke had started coming around more often when he saw how much Kurama enjoyed his company.

In return, Kurama had shown him that sex was an excellent way to work off all the excess energy the mazoku so often had.

They weren't dating. Not really. It was more like they were friends with benefits. Wonderful, sweaty, grabby, dirty benefits.

Now, Kurama put his briefcase down on the floor. "Yusuke?" he called, knowing that his friend could hear him. There was an answering flare of demonic energy from the roof, and Kurama rolled his eyes. He would never understand what it was with Yusuke and heights. He was almost worse than Hiei about perching on high places.

So the fox walked back outside of his apartment and climbed up to the top floor. He loosened his tie as he walked out onto the roof, spotting Yusuke sitting and looking out over the city.

"Hey," the half demon said without looking up. He took a drag of the cigarette he held between his fingers, then blew out the smoke. "How was work?"

"Uneventful. I did get asked out for dinner on Friday night," Kurama replied.

"And you said?"

"I said no, of course," the redhead answered as he walked closer and sat next to Yusuke.

"Well why the fuck would you do that?" the half demon demanded.

Kurama sighed. "We've been over this. First, I hardly ever am attracted to women, much less human women. Second-"

"It's bad enough that you have to keep secrets from your mother, you're not adding a significant other to the list," Yusuke recited. "I know. Still, you coulda gotten some."

That made Kurama roll his eyes. "If there is one thing you should know about me, Yusuke Urameshi, it's that I am never hard up for sex." He frowned and looked closer at his friend. "And what has you so crude today?"

Yusuke shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just down I guess."

"Ah." Kurama reached over and nabbed a cigarette from the box in Yusuke's pocket without even alerting the mazoku that he was doing so. He held it in his hands, using his powers to sort through the composition of the cigarette, making sure it was just tobacco. He had nothing against marijuana, but he wasn't in the mood for that right then.

The flare of energy caught Yusuke's attention. "When did you get that?" he asked.

Kurama favored him with a flat look. "Master thief, remember?"

"Oh. Right. Since when do you smoke anyway?"

"Not since I've been living in Ningenkai," Kurama replied.

"So why start now?"

The fox just gave him one of those 'wouldn't you like to know' looks that both aroused and annoyed him, stuck the cigarette in his mouth, and snaked his hand back into Yusuke's pocket for a lighter.

"Don't bother, it's out of juice," Yusuke said, indicating the yellow plastic lighter Kurama had pulled out. "C'mere." He grabbed the back of Kurama's head, pulling him close. He touched the tip of his lit cigarette to Kurama's and held it there. With his other hand he reached for the empty lighter.

Kurama's green eyes caught Yusuke's brown ones and held.

Yusuke pulled back first, inhaling and blowing out smoke.

The fox followed suit, shaping his lips so that his smoke came out in the form of elegant rings.

"How do you do that?" Yusuke wanted to know.

Kurama shrugged. "Practice. In the Makai there are herbs that burn all different colors and Kuronue and I would try to make pictures with them."

That gave Yusuke a mental image of Kurama in Youko form high off his ass, making pictures, and he chuckled. The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence, both blowing smoke at regular intervals. Yusuke tried to copy the shapes Kurama was making with his lips, but he was having no luck.

Eventually his patience, and his cigarette ran out. He stubbed it out on the roof and ran a hand through his hair. "So you don't date humans," he said suddenly.

Kurama blinked. "No. And I am rather firm about my refusal."

"But you'd be open to dating demons."

"I would," the fox said slowly. "Where are you going with this?"

"I'm not a human," Yusuke returned. "Not anymore."

"Yusuke-"

The mazoku cut him off. "I mean, we've been fucking for months now, Kurama, and it's been fun and all, but don't you ever want more?"

"Yusuke, I-"

"And I know that you're like this beautiful genius who every one in this fucking town wants to get their hands on, but I don't care about any of that shit. Well…I like that you're beautiful, but that's not why I like you, you know."

"Yusuke."

"And I just think that we could be good together. We know each other well enough and we've already seen each other naked so it's not like there'd be any big surprises."

"Yusuke!" Kurama all but shouted.

"Um. Yeah?"

"Okay."

"What?"

Kurama smiled. "Okay."

"Okay?" Yusuke repeated. "Okay what?"

"Inari, I am going to have an idiot for a boyfriend, aren't I?" Kurama sighed, still smiling.

"Boy…OH! You mean okay we can date?"

"Yes, Yusuke. That is what I mean."

The half demon let out a whoop and leaned in to kiss the redhead on the lips. "I thought you were going to say no," he admitted once they had pulled apart. "You've never seemed like a big relationshipy kinda person."

"I'm not," Kurama admitted with a shrug. "But I am dedicated to my try anything once vow I made a couple thousand years ago. Besides, all of your points were good ones. As long as we don't have to be gentle when we fuck, I am all for dating you."

Yusuke snorted. "I don't think we could be gentle if we tried," he said recalling the bed they had broken the first time they'd had sex.

"Hm. Good point."

A/N: So this is for my buddy spiritgununicorns over on tumblr. I'm not sure what her name is here. I'm so glad she submitted this picture because while Kurama/Hiei is my OTP, Yusuke/Kurama is rapidly becoming one of my favorite things to write. Anywho, thanks for reading and reviewing!