Title: Closer

Fandom: Uta Kata

Pairing: Kai/Sei

Rating: PG-13.

Word Count: 634

Summary/Description: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.

Warning/Spoilers: Spoilers for the end of the anime, including OVA.

A/N: More angst, but it's still pretty fluffy. Takes place a few months after the OVA, let's say.

Disclaimer: I do not own Uta Kata.

It took a while for Sei to notice. He tended to avoid mirrors. On a good day, they made him nostalgic; on a bad day, the hurt and the tears would drive him to his knees.

He walked out of the bathroom, a towel slung around his hips, another in his hands as he rubbed his dark hair dry. He padded along the wooden floors of his room, making a beeline for the dresser drawer. A couple of windows were open, and the wind rushed through, chilling his damp skin. He didn't mind; it made him feel brisk and awake.

He had just dropped his towel and was reaching for a pair of underwear when he saw it. A brief flash of sun warmed brown in the mirror.

He looked up with a sharp jerk of his head, staring into the mirror. Kai stood behind him.

He wasn't wearing any clothes, and his hair was slick and damp, just as Sei's was. The light filtering through the windows cast shadows upon the long, lean lines of his body. Here and there a stray droplet of water glinted. One hand lay casually on his thigh, and the other smoothed back his hair. He looked for all the world as if he had just come out of the bath with Sei. He looked happy, fresh, and carefree.

"This… is a dream," Sei said slowly, understanding, even as his heart clenched painfully within his chest. He did not turn around. He could never turn around. He looked at him in the mirror instead, and felt weak in the knees and in his heart.

Kai came up behind him and slung an arm around his shoulders. He pressed a kiss to his cheek, and Sei closed his eyes, telling himself that he could feel the moisture, feel the warmth.

"Pretty good dream, if you ask me." Kai grinned, cuffing Sei gently on the chin. Sei opened his eyes, and when he did, there was Kai, meeting Sei's eyes head on in the mirror. They glittered brightly with the moisture in them.

"Yes," Sei verified on a shuddering breath. After a moment's inner struggle, he reached back and combed his fingers through Kai's hair. It felt like velvet on his hand, and it was hard to believe that this wasn't real. "A good dream."

Kai's smile widened, and he kissed him again, this time on the temple.

"Why do you look so sad, then?" His voice was gentler this time. One of his hands rested on the flat of Sei's stomach, steadying him and caressing him, and it was such a tender gesture that Sei could barely keep himself from crying out softly. He settled for a quiet sigh that rustled his bangs just so.

"It is very hard," he said, stopping to swallow, "harder than I'd thought, without you. Especially after..."

"Baaaaka." The hand on his belly pinched him slightly. It tickled more than it hurt, and Sei couldn't help but smile. "What do you mean, 'without me'? I'm always here. Always," Kai emphasised. "Closer than you think." He looked Sei straight in the eyes when he said it, and his words were so earnest and full of honesty and sincerity that he had no choice but to believe.

Sei closed his eyes, revelling in the feeling of Kai's body against his as his words washed over him.

"How long can you stay?" he murmured. He reached back and laid a hand on Kai's thigh; the other cupped his cheek.

"Until you have to wake up," came the playful reply near his ear from a warm mouth. That same mouth pressed against Sei's lips a moment later, like a sweet nepenthe.

Sei kissed back, pouring himself into Kai, and resolved to be asleep for a very long time.

A/N: I'd love to know what you think. :)