So wow, since people have been messaging me about updating and I thought I posted this interlude a long time ago, but instead when I checked it turns out I didn't; and then it gave me a heart attack because various Hikago files have disappeared from my computer. I was recently infected by a virus and had to re-format. I thought I recovered everything but...well, luckily this ficlet was backup on a secondary place, but now I'm looking for my previous scribbles in this verse. . Not to alarm everyone, but wish me luck.
Title: Five Times Hikaru Went to Bed with Sai
Rating: PG13
Summary: Title says it all. Timeline...probably between chapter 2 - 3 in LBS.
The first time Hikaru is already asleep. His tall, lanky teenage body is amazingly held in the arms of the seemingly frail but miraculously real re-incarnation of a 1000-year-old ghost. If Hikaru was awake he might have protested against the traditional carry of an arm under his legs, the other under his shoulders, and his head comfortably tucked under the slightly taller, much older man's chin. But he's not and maybe he wouldn't have protested at all, for being able to be and to touch Sai – that's everything he would have wanted in the moment.
. : - : .
The second time is lost in a desperate, frantic blur of terror, disbelief, anger, sorrow and shock. Hikaru mumbles, sobs and slurs all his words; tears falling like dying stars in the reflected light, emerald eyes wide and broken, still not believing it was real even as the exhaustion drags him under, assisted by the elegant fingers combing his hair back tenderly. He chokes on a dry sob, emotionally wrung out, red rimmed eyes dry but still shining. He hiccups, hands fisted into smooth cloth, breath heavy but regular, staring up from his place with his head in a much yearned for loved one's lap.
Don't leave me. He wants to say, but that is a selfish request and his selfishness is what drove Sai away in the first place. So Hikaru breathes and hopes he's still dreaming the next time he opens his eyes.
. : - : .
The third time is a bit more coherent and slightly awkward. He stands in front of the bed in his borrowed pajamas, sleeves ending at his fingers tips and too-long pant legs draping over his feet, slightly rumpled on the group. The wide expense of the bed looks intimidating even though logically he knows he has slept there the past two nights already. The dark sheets are smooth under his hands as he brushes out the crinkles.
A silent presence stands by his side and Hikaru slides under the royal purple sheets and turns, waiting like the world might end. Sai joins him, boxing Hikaru in between the wall and his own body, but Hikaru doesn't care, doesn't mind in the least. For the first time they lay on the bed side by side in the night and Hikaru reaches, shifts, curls his arms around Sai's torso, little nudges and pulls until he is tucked into the curves of the older man – man; not ghost. Sai wraps his own arms around the teenager and Hikaru clings; lets the steady sound of Sai's heart – beating heart – lull him to sleep in the sweetest lullaby there ever was.
. : - : .
The fourth time Hikaru doesn't pause by the bedside, simply slides in with an clench jaw and a stubborn tilt of his chin, as if daring somebody – anybody – to question his right to be there.
Sai stands by the door way and smiles, a gentle lift of his lips: soft, tender, amused, and tinted with mystery. He watches indulgingly as Hikaru shifts and turns, mutters as he pulls the blankets around himself. He waits until the prickly teenager has settled himself in, tension seeping out of those so much broader-then-remembered shoulders, until bright green eyes turn to him in a desperate beseeching invitation that Sai could never, would never, be able to deny.
. : - : .
The fifth is easy.