Title: Ill at Ease
Characters/Pairings: Aomine and Kuroko
Summary: Aomine has his doubts about being an overgrown catboy, but Kuroko doesn't (and doesn't mind proving it).
Notes: Continuing on in the catboy!Aomine vein, a bit of fic about the aftermath of his transformation, taking place after "Workplace Hazards and Other Accidents." Adult for smut; 3184 words.

Ill at Ease

Tetsuya only wished that he wasn't intimately familiar with the formal procedures that came after an officer experienced an accident on duty, but the unfortunate truth was that he knew precisely what the next couple of weeks would entail: Daiki would be put on leave while Internal Affairs investigated the incident, and then there would be a hearing to determine what sanctions, if any, ought to be enforced. It was a necessary evil, he supposed, still entirely grateful that Daiki had escaped serious injury, and he thought very little about it until he realized that Daiki was going to spend the entirety of his leave underfoot. He took to lurking in Tetsuya's study, which Tetsuya would not have minded if only he had confined himself to napping on the couch. However, even Daiki could not nap all the time, and he was equally incapable of entertaining himself quietly. No, he had to pace around, poking his nose into Tetsuya's books and grimoires, utterly heedless of the fact that some were fragile and irreplaceable and that others were quite dangerous to the layperson.

He also took it very badly when Tetsuya reminded him that curiosity had killed the cat.

He poked and pilfered around in the shop, too, which Tetsuya minded much less (he'd always adhered scrupulously to good business and safety practices, even before Daiki had wandered in and embroiled him in his investigation and then his life). Everything in the shop was properly warded and secured for casual handling; even Daiki wasn't going to get himself into trouble messing around with the merchandise. No, what Daiki could do in the shop was intimidate, annoy, or otherwise exasperate Tetsuya's customers, which was terrible for business.

Tetsuya did his best to be patient, expecting that it would only take a handful of days before Daiki got tired of being cooped up indoors and went out to burn off some of his excess energy, but as the days went by, Daiki stayed close to home. The only time he went out was to attend his officially mandated counseling sessions and his meetings with the employee advocate handling his case.

He ran out of patience the afternoon a customer entered a shop, saw Daiki loitering there, and immediately turned and went out again. That was the end of enough. "All right," Tetsuya said, pointing at the door. "Get out of here. At risk of sounding like my mother, go play and don't come back until you can behave yourself."

"I am behav—" Daiki stopped and flattened his ears against his head as he reconsidered his protest under the force of Tetsuya's glare. He changed tacks. "Do I have to?"

"Daiki, I love you, but if you don't get out of here and stop destroying my business, I am going to kill you," Tetsuya said. He pointed at the door again. "Go."

"All right, fine, I'm going, geez," Daiki muttered, ears flat, and he slunk out the door.

Tetsuya sighed with relief, confident that Daiki would be able to entertain himself for at least a few hours, and settled in to get some work done.

Not even forty-five minutes later, he felt Daiki pass through the wards on the building. Tetsuya looked up from his catalog, fully prepared to be irritated, and stopped himself when he got a look at Daiki. His ears were clamped tight against his head, and his tail—which was lashing—was fluffed out like a bottlebrush. Tetsuya didn't need to check his wards to feel the anger and misery rolling off Daiki.

He left the catalog where it was and came out from behind the counter to pull the shades and flip the sign from OPEN to CLOSED as he locked up and set the alarms.

Daiki watched him close up without saying anything, but he allowed Tetsuya to lace their fingers together and lead him upstairs. He sat at the kitchen table and stayed quiet while Tetsuya made tea, shaking the leaves out from the jar that contained his calming blend. He even accepted the cup that Tetsuya poured him without complaining that it wasn't coffee, which would have warned Tetsuya that something was wrong even if he hadn't already known.

Tetsuya sat down with him and reached across the table to grip his hand. "What happened?"

Daiki looked aside; his ears were still laid back tight against his skull. "Nothing."

"I know you don't expect me to believe that." Tetsuya rubbed his thumb against Daiki's palm, slow and firm.

Daiki pressed his lips together so tightly that all the color fled them. Tetsuya continued to stroke his thumb over Daiki's palm, following the lines and tracing circles against the hollow of it. Eventually Daiki's shoulders slumped and he said, "People were looking at me funny." Tetsuya waited and was rewarded for his patience when Daiki, barely audible, added, "Couldn't find anyone to get up a game with."

"Ah," Tetsuya said, because that did explain it. "I forget how foolish people can be." Especially the people of their neighborhood, who had known Daiki for some time now and should have known better.

Daiki moved restlessly, still not looking at him. "They're just being careful."

That was the law enforcement agent speaking; Tetsuya bit back what he thought about that. "There is such a thing as being too careful. You're still you."

"Mm." Daiki's ears were still flat; the sound he made noncommittal. It could not be any clearer that he was not as certain of that as Tetsuya was.

That could not be allowed to stand.

The rest of the world would have to wait until he'd had the chance to strategize a bit. For now his most immediate concern was Daiki. "You are," he repeated, on the off chance that this would be the time that words outweighed deeds with Daiki, and took a drink of his tea.

Daiki merely grunted, but Tetsuya hadn't really expected that ploy to work.

He released Daiki's hand and rose. When Daiki finally looked up at him to see what he was doing, Tetsuya unbuttoned his shirt. He shrugged it off his shoulders as he walked out of the kitchen, letting it fall as he stepped across the threshold, and started in on his belt.

Daiki's hearing was more acute these days; there was no doubt that he missed that sound. As Tetsuya fully expected, he hear the scrape of Daiki pushing his chair back from the table shortly after undoing his fly and kicking off his shoes. Daiki poked his head through the door; his ears were pricked forward. "What are you doing?"

Tetsuya shoved his slacks down and stepped out of them. "What does it look like I'm doing?" He hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers as Daiki left the kitchen. His tail had smoothed down; just the tip of it was twitching now.

"Looks like you're getting naked."

Tetsuya overlooked the obvious joke about Daiki's powers of deduction in favor of sliding his hand down the front of his boxers and cupping himself. "Yes, I do seem to be," he agreed, stepping backwards through the doorway into their bedroom.

Daiki took a step forward, matching his pace, and smiled crookedly. "Are you trying to make me feel better by offering me sex?"

"Something like that." Tetsuya continued to make his way backwards, luring Daiki into the bedroom after him. "Is it working?"

"Just how easy do you think I am?" Daiki asked, mouth twitching, reaching the doorway as Tetsuya hit the bed.

"I decline to answer that question on grounds of self-incrimination." Tetsuya pushed his boxers down before Daiki could do anything more than say hey and wadded them up. "Here, catch." They bounced off Daiki's chest when he tossed them at him, but that was because Daiki was clearly attending to different matters.

Tetsuya smiled with satisfaction as he pulled the blankets down and climbed into bed. "You aren't going to just stand there and watch, are you?" he asked as he spread his knees wider and dropped his hand to his cock again, stroking himself slowly and breathing more deeply as it began to fill. "It's not what I had in mind, but I suppose I can work with that if I must."

"Nah," Daiki said. He reached back and yanked his shirt off, then pushed his sweatpants down, getting undressed with flattering haste. He was sort of easy, at least in one respect: he was already getting hard, even before he prowled over to the bed and crawled up the length of it to where Tetsuya was waiting for him. He braced himself on his hands and knees, looking down at Tetsuya, smiling the way he only did in these private moments between them, quiet. "Hey."

Tetsuya reached up to him and slid his fingers into his hair, finding the base of his ear with newfound expertise. He rubbed it slowly, until Daiki half-closed his eyes and began to purr, only a little scratchy. "Come here," Tetsuya told him, pulling him down and offering up his mouth for a kiss.

Daiki settled against him, the bulk of him heavy in a way that Tetsuya liked to feel over him. He stroked his palms over Daiki's back and slid his tongue into Daiki's mouth, humming his own approximation of Daiki's purr as Daiki cradled his head and sucked on his tongue. He rolled their hips together, grinding against Tetsuya slowly, moving with him as the heat between them began to build, rising and coiling back on itself as their breaths came faster. Tetsuya rocked up against him, moaning into Daiki's mouth as the friction scraped up his spine, but as good as that was, it wasn't quite what he had in mind for them this afternoon.

Daiki went utterly still over him when Tetsuya pulled his hand down and pressed the bottle of lubricant into it. "Tetsu," he said, pulling back from him and looking at him. His ears, Tetsuya saw, were tilted back, uncertain.

"Yes?" Tetsuya murmured as he drew his knees up, letting Daiki settled between his thighs and sighing at the weight of him.

Daiki could not have missed the significance of the gesture; he flattened his ears even further. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Inviting you to fuck me, of course." Tetsuya did his best to make it clear that he thought the answer obvious.

Daiki hissed—actually hissed, unhappy. "Are you nuts?"

Tetsuya raised his eyebrows. "I hadn't noticed that. Is there something wrong?" He lifted his hips, sighing as the hard length of Daiki's cock slid against his stomach. "Everything seems to still be in working order."

"I'm—my hands, Tetsu," Daiki said, low. "You know they're not—"

Tetsuya did not allow him to finish that statement, kissing him mid-word. "They're fine," he said. "Because they're yours, and I know that you'd never hurt me. And I know that will never, ever change."

Daiki whispered his name, staring at him with eyes gone wide and uncertain. Tetsu reached up and stroked his ears, slow and coaxing, trying to ease the tension out of him. Daiki swallowed hard and leaned into his hand. "Tetsu, are you sure?"

Tetsuya smiled at him. "Of course I am."

Daiki pressed his forehead against his shoulder and exhaled, slow and shuddering. "Fuck, Tetsu…"

Tetsuya stroked his hair gently. "That was the general idea, yes."

Daiki laughed; it was shaky, but still a laugh. "Smartass," he said, low, kissing the side of his throat.

"Maybe." Tetsuya reached for the bottle and plucked it from Daiki's hand. "You like it, though." He dripped the slick stuff over Daiki's fingers. "Here." As Daiki raised his head, he added, "And if you ask me whether I'm sure again, I'll bite you."

Daiki knew better than to test him, he did, and even so he asked again. "Are you, though—ow!"

Tetsuya mouthed his throat, sucking hard on the place he'd just bitten until Daiki was certain to have a dark bruise there. "Stop waffling and fuck me, Daiki."

"All right, fine, geez," Daiki muttered. His resentful tone was distinctly at odds with how gently he reached down to rub slick fingers against Tetsuya's entrance. That was the goal, so Tetsuya didn't object to how slowly Daiki was moving or the way he frowned with concentration as he circled his fingers against Tetsuya. It was a pleasurable feeling anyway, and Tetsuya never really minded the leisurely approach. He stretched himself under Daiki, sighing as Daiki stroked him, the pressure of his fingers warm and heavy, and reached up to rub the base of Daiki's ears again.

Daiki's breath hitched. "Tetsu," he said, low, warning.

Tetsuya continued to rub his ears gently. "You're fine, Daiki," he said, being certain for him since Daiki couldn't be.

Daiki shivered as the rough purr began to rumble in his throat again, murmuring Tetsuya's name as he began to nudge his fingers into Tetsuya, painstakingly slow.

"Mm." Tetsuya smiled up at him, since even with his eyes going heavy-lidded as he continued to rub his ears, Daiki was still watching him closely. "That's perfect." And it was, however slowly Daiki was going about opening him up, careful with the altered morphology of his nails. The stretch echoed through Tetsuya's body, singing over his nerves as Daiki bit his lip in concentration and worked his fingers in and out of Tetsuya. He curved them to slide over Tetsuya's prostate; the heavy flare of sensation drew a groan out of Tetsuya. He moved with Daiki, pressing down against his fingers, aching for more. Daiki took a breath and rubbed his fingertips over Tetsuya's prostate again, until Tetsuya caught at his shoulders, straining up against him. "Please," he said, breathless against the ache of wanting more. "Daiki, please…" He reached for the lube again to slick his fingers and reach for Daiki's cock.

Daiki groaned, rocking into the curl of his fingers and closing his eyes. "Okay, yeah," he said, husky, easing his fingers free of Tetsuya's body. He paused over Tetsuya, looking down at him. "Wait," he said; Tetsuya nearly groaned with frustration. "Wait, turn over. Please?"

He didn't seem to be experiencing yet another round of qualms, mercifully, so Tetsuya went along with it, unwrapping himself from Daiki and rearranging himself on his hands and knees. "Is this better?"

"Getting there." Daiki pressed against him, lying against his back, and the weight of him pushed Tetsuya down, spreading him against the sheets. Daiki pressed his mouth to his nape, wet and hot as a brand, and slid a hand under Tetsuya, lifting his hips and canting them up for the slow, hard push of his cock as he sank into Tetsuya.

Tetsuya closed his eyes, groaning for the aching fullness of Daiki's cock inside him and how easily Daiki held him in place for it. Daiki's weight was warm against his back; his purr rumbled against his ear, throaty and pleased. He murmured Daiki's name and reached for the hand Daiki had braced against the sheets. Daiki caught his hand and twined their fingers together as he kissed Tetsuya's nape, mouth open so he could brush his tongue against the skin. He lifted Tetsuya's hips a little higher and began to move, rolling his hips in long, deep thrusts.

Tetsuya groaned again, open, content to rest his cheek against the sheets as Daiki slid in and out of him and pleasure lapped through him, building in long, slow waves. Daiki mouthed his nape, licking and sucking and holding him with the sharp edges of his teeth, purring so deeply that it was nearly a growl. The sting of that wound through the rising tide of Tetsuya's pleasure, deepening it, until Tetsuya was nearly drowning in it even before Daiki shifted his hand and stroked it over his cock. Heat swept Tetsuya down, washing everything before it. He groaned as he shuddered, wringing down around Daiki's cock, until it left him limp beneath Daiki.

Daiki did growl then, his thrusts turning sharp and hard, and arched against Tetsuya's back as he came. He settled over Tetsuya after, flattening him against the sheets. Tetsuya luxuriated in the weight of him, drowsing in post-coital lassitude and wishing, vaguely, that he could purr to express his satisfaction, too.

After a bit, Daiki stirred, but only enough to nuzzle the back of his neck, nosing along his hairline and kissing it. Tetsuya hummed lazily to him, enjoying the caresses and the soft brush of Daiki's tongue as he lapped the salt from his skin, slow and methodical, working along his nape and nuzzling against the side of his throat…

Tetsuya opened his eyes. "Daiki," he said as Daiki lapped the side of his throat.

"Mm?" Daiki ran his tongue along Tetsuya's ear.

Tetsuya squirmed as he dragged it over the back of his ear, which tickled. "Are you grooming me, by any chance?"

Daiki froze mid-lick. "Er. Maybe?"

Tetsuya couldn't help himself; something about that struck him as being hilarious and he broke down into laughter at the ridiculousness of it.

After a bit, Daiki said, "It's not that funny." His peeved tone only made Tetsuya laugh harder. "Really, it's not. I didn't even realize I was doing it."

"I know," Tetsuya said, breathless. He wriggled until Daiki got the hint and rolled off him. Tetsuya turned himself over and draped himself across Daiki before he could get up and stalk out… like an offended cat. Tetsuya smiled at him and kept that comparison to himself. "I think that's why it's funny. You sounded so guilty." Or chagrined, perhaps. This didn't really placate Daiki, whose ears were laid back again. "This new form suits you. Have I told you that?"

Daiki looked aside. "It's weird."

"You're weird, too," Tetsuya said. He ran his thumb along the edge of Daiki's ear; Daiki flicked it at him, irritable. "But it does suit you. I like it."

Daiki continued to look aside, though he was watching Tetsuya from the corner of his eye. "It'd be better if I'd never picked up that stupid pen."

"No," Tetsuya told him. "Not better. Just different." He leaned in and kissed the uncertain line of Daiki's mouth. "I'd love you no matter what form you were wearing."

Daiki finally looked at him again. "Tetsu…"

He wasn't sure that he'd ever seen Daiki look so vulnerable. Tetsuya kissed him again. "I would. No matter what." He flicked the tip of Daiki's ear. "Now stop feeling so sorry for yourself. I may love you, but I also want to be able to live with you."

Daiki huffed and smiled, a little tilted. "That bad?" Tetsuya shrugged, declining to answer that directly. "Sorry."

"Forget about it." Tetsuya leaned down to kiss him again.

Daiki caught him closer, returning the kiss this time. "Thank you," he said, soft against Tetsuya's mouth.

Tetsuya pressed closer, smiling at him. "There's nothing to thank me for." There really wasn't, and none of Daiki's arguments to the contrary could change his mind about that.

end

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