Title: Better than Before
Author: Setsuna-X

Summary: Spoilers for volumes 6+. Koutarou and Tatsuki are getting their lives back together, but like always, it's a little messy. Hopefully they can work some things out – with some better results.

Pairing: Shonen-ai Tatsuki x Koutarou

Notes: Just as a field of reference, this takes place before the last book. Both Koutarou and Tatsuki still have their powers. Koutari is in jail and their grandfather has passed away. Koutarou has his healing powers, and Tatsuki can still throw people around in fits of anger/strong emotions.

Chapter One: Reconciling

It was weird that after everything that happened, things just became …normal ..mundane.

After a whole year of mis-adventure with gangs and fights and psychics, the calm was eerie.

After much deliberation and talks, both Koutarou's and Tatsuki's parents decided that leaving the boys in their current house would be fine. They were old enough to take care of themselves and each other. It would just not be right to take them out of school and make them transfer again.

Thus the parents left, back to their respective homes and jobs while the boys lived alone.

'Is it just me or is the house too quiet,' thought Koutarou as he wandered around the building, making his way to the kitchen.

He hadn't really thought about it, but now that their Grandpa was gone someone had to do the shopping, cleaning, and cooking – and it sure as hell wasn't going to be just him!

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Koutarou forgot about his trek to the kitchen and made a beeline for Tatsuki's room instead.

Silently fuming, but forcing himself to calm down, Koutarou knocked on the closed bedroom door.

He waited there for what seemed like ages when the door finally opened.

"What?" Tatsuki snarled. He was clothed in his pajamas, possibly already getting into bed.

Koutarou could feel his anger escaping.

"Geez, no need to be so rude! I just wanted to talk! But if you're going to be an asshole about it, then forget it!" shouted Koutarou as he started to turn away.

Tatsuki reached out and grabbed his arm. "Fine, then talk. What is it?"

Koutarou was surprised. It wasn't often that Tatsuki touched him, and it was even rarer that Tatsuki wanted to talk. That alone helped calm Koutarou's nerves.

"Look, can I come in?"

Tatsuki seemed to think for a moment, clearly conflicted, but in the end he dropped his hand from around Koutarou's arm and went back into his room, leaving the door open as a clear invitation.

Koutarou warily walked in. He could count on one hand just how many times he's stepped into this room. He quickly found his way to Tatsuki's desk chair while Tatsuki sat on his bed.

Tatsuki just looked at Koutarou expectantly.

"So, how have you been?" asked Koutarou meekly. Tatsuki just glared in return.

"Gah! Fine asshole! Man, I can't even have a decent conversation with you! I don't know how we're gonna manage to live together!" shouted Koutarou to the door, unwilling to look at Tatsuki. He was a little hurt that after everything Tatsuki was still being a jerk and seemed to hate him.

"What's this about living together?" finally spoke Tatsuki.

At the sound, Koutarou whipped his head around. "Whaa?"

"I said, what about living together?"

Koutarou, still surprised, fumbled with his words a little bit.

"Well, now that Grandpa is gone.." Koutarou stopped for a while, taking a deep breath. "Now that he's gone, and that our parents are letting us live here, it seems like we're going to have to be in charge of the food and cleaning. I wanted to see if we could work something out together."

Tatsuki clearly didn't know what to say. He had just figured that they would go out to eat every night and keep their parts of the house clean. But the more he thought about it, the more that didn't make much sense. What about the other rooms in the house that they both used, like the bathroom and kitchen? And eating out all the time would become pricey and it definitely wasn't healthy. Maybe Koutarou did have a point.

Koutarou waited silently for his cousin to respond. Tatsuki seemed deep in thought as he stared at the blanket on his bed.

"I suppose that makes sense," Tatsuki said at last.

"Hey! Of course it makes sense! You don't have to make it sound like I don't have good ideas or anything!"

Tatsuki just continued on staring at Koutarou until the blonde finally conceded. "Ok fine, not all my ideas are the best…but anyway! So how do you want to go about this?"

They stayed in Tatsuki's room for another hour, arguing and debating what the best way would be. They figured they would both take turns buying the groceries. Whoever paid for them for the week didn't have to cook. They would try to cook something at least 4 days a week, the other days they would probably go out our get take out and eat at home.

As far as cleaning went, they would each keep their own space clean. Koutarou also had to take care of the kitchen and living room, while Tatsuki had the bathroom and lawn outside.

Once done with the conversation, Koutarou got up to leave.

"Glad we were able to work that out. So, um, good night I guess," he said standing up and making his way to the door.

Before he could close it, Koutarou heard a soft, "Night."

Once Koutarou left his bedroom Tatsuki flopped back onto the mattress. If living with Koutarou before was hard enough, living with him now without his grandfather as a buffer was going to make it harder. Tatsuki held no illusions that Koutarou liked him. Heck, with the way he treated the kid it was a surprise that he still wanted to talk to him.

Because of the power Koutarou gave him, Tatsuki was always scared to get close – scared to touch. It made things hard, but he just wanted to protect Koutarou and protect himself if he could.

Tatsuki never really wanted to analyze why he cared about Koutarou so much. It always made his head and heart hurt.

There was just something about his cousin the drove him in a primal way.

If Koutarou was hurt, he would damn near kill anyone who hurt him. It was frightening in a way that was also exhilarating. It was like a love so fierce that he would hurt anyone who harmed his cousin. But why?!

It didn't make any sense. He knew he liked his cousin. Just, the way they grew up – innocent and free without a care in the world; that's what he liked about Koutarou. Despite his temper and harsh words, Koutarou was still sweet and innocent and Tatsuki wanted to keep him that way.

That was why whenever something bad happed Tatsuki would take it upon himself to help out – to be the shield and sword to Koutarou. He wanted to spare Koutarou any of that pain in order to keep him clean, even if Tatsuki's own hands had to get dirty.

Yet, even that reasoning didn't make much sense. Why should he care so much that Koutarou maintain that innocence? What was in it for him? If anything, all his suffering came from Koutarou. First the ESP as a post-cog, and ever since moving to Tokyo he's gotten stabbed, choked, punched, and been to the hospital X amount of times all for his cousin.

It just didn't make sense!

But that was just it, wasn't it? The ESP, their weird connection, nothing about them made sense.

With that thought in mind, Tatsuki exhausted himself to sleep.

TBC