Disclaimer: Okane Ga Nai © Hitoyo Shinozaki and Gentosha Comics, Inc.

Ayase was warm.

That was his first thought as he drifted into wakefulness. Then his brow creased in puzzlement. For some reason, his right hand was cold.

Someone was also gently scrubbing his back with what felt like a washcloth.

Ayase blinked his eyes open, the world of Kanou-san's bathroom sharpening into focus as his sleepy eyes adjusted.

The warm, soapy washcloth continued its gentle massage along his shoulder blades and down his spine. He sighed, leaning back against it and the hard, warm body behind him. It felt wonderful. And he was so tired, for some reason…

"Someone is awake." There was humor in Kanou's voice.

Ayase blushed. Caught… He looked to the side, and then noticed his right hand. There was a thick bandage wrapped around his palm, all the way to his wrist. Kanou had made sure that it stayed resting on the rim of the bathtub so that it wouldn't get wet.

Kanou's dark eyes noticed him looking.

"The Watanabe's CEO thought he could take you from me…"

Ayase's gaze roamed around his body, cataloging other signs that he had been pretty well roughed-up… He swiveled his head around and looked up into the brunet's face, a question in his large blue eyes.

Kanou shook his head and answered the unspoken inquiry.

"I got there in time, but… You need time to heal, so we won't be doing that for a while." He ended with a leer down at the slighter male, a new gleam in his eyes.

Ayase blushed and looked down. It was starting to come back to him… He had been walking to the parking lot after college classes to be picked up by the elder Kuba brother as per Kanou's orders when… He couldn't remember what happened next. He just remembered waking up in what looked like a wealthy businessman's office with three men. One of them had forced him up against the couch and… He would have been in a very tight spot if Kanou hadn't arrived when he did… Kanou always saved him…

He felt Kanou wait a moment longer, as if to see if he would continue speaking, then returned to running the cloth along his back. After another minute, he took the washcloth away. The next thing Ayase felt was a cascade of warm water pouring down his back, taking the soap away. He moaned softly when the torrent stopped, and leaned back blindly, seeking the heat from Kanou's body. He turned around in the man's lap and pressed against him, chest-to-chest, feigning fatigue.

Kanou's chest was broad and warm and both soft and hard at the same time… Soft skin over hard muscle. Like silk over rock.

His chest was also slick from the bath. Ayase felt his body sliding slightly to the side. Then a large, warm arm came up around the back of his waist to hold him steady. Ayase sighed in bliss, his breath creating warm puffs of air against Kanou's skin. He felt the muscles under his cheek twitch, then still. Ayase relaxed.

A while later, Ayase blearily felt the loss of heat and made a small noise of protest. From somewhere high above him, Kanou chuckled. A fluffy towel was used to wipe away the moisture from his skin as he hung limply against the other man, still refusing to open his eyes and give up his content repose.

He felt himself lifted, then eased onto a softly yielding mattress. The comforter was pulled over him, and he opened his eyes to see Kanou straightening beside the bed.

Ayase twisted his mouth. He hated this bed… Not only did it hold some bittersweet memories of being, um, raped… multiple times… although lately he couldn't honestly define it as "rape" because he had started to even, well… like the sex, as much as it embarrassed and shamed him to no end to admit it… But this bed was always so cold and impersonal and huge. He felt like he would be swallowed up and vanish without a trace within the folds of the white sheets.

It was this thought, and a quick burst of impulsiveness, that made him sit up and tug Kanou's sleeve before the brunet left the bedside, and the room, entirely.

Kanou stopped. "Hm?"

"A-ano…" Ayase bit his lip, resolve fading as those dark, unfathomable eyes locked onto him. He looked down and forced the words out. "A-are you going back to w-work?"

The business tycoon did not answer for a moment but waited, appraising him. He seemed to discern everything Ayase had said… and everything he had not said.

"No," the man said at last. He spoke slowly, carefully. "I don't need to go back to work until later."

"A-Ah. I see…" Ayase gripped the sheets with his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists. He trembled at his audacity. "Then y-you should use this time to, um, rest…" He blushed fiercely and looked down at his white-covered lap.

Time stretched. Ayase sweated. Was Kanou-san upset with him for daring to suggest that he not return to his business right away? Or for presuming to ask his company? It was just… the large, stark white bed didn't seem as forbidding when Kanou was there. In fact, if he dared to put his thoughts into words, Ayase would even say it was… comforting… Ayase shook his head and berated himself. He should have just kept silent… The youth chanced a quick glance through his light bangs at the brunet.

Kanou blinked. His features softened from surprise into unexpected tenderness and… wonder? Now it was Ayase's turn to blink.

"Yes… I think I shall." Kanou swiftly shed his clothing, leaving the garments draped neatly over the room's single chair before he walked around to the other side of the bed. The comforter was lifted. Ayase felt Kanou slide in beside him. And then that sinfully warm chest was pressed against his back… The heat of the skin-on-skin contact was divine. Ayase pressed back, trying to inconspicuously shift closer. The man gave off heat like a furnace…

A very warm arm slid around Ayase's waist, yanking him closer. Ayase mewled as that band of heat stayed pressed against the tender skin of his waist. He was surrounded by warmth, and the pillows and mattress were soft. He felt himself dropping off.

Seized by his last ounce of bravery for the day, he turned around in Kanou's arms, carefully so as not to jar the man's arm and prompt him to remove its warmth, and pressed a soft kiss to Kanou's lips.

"Arigatou," he breathed against Kanou's lips. And then, refusing to meet the man's eyes, he hurriedly lay down and snuggled into Kanou's chest. Warm and content, he descended rapidly into slumber.

Kanou looked down in shock as Ayase made himself comfortable against his chest before quickly falling asleep. That fleeting kiss…

He could hear and feel Ayase's breathing deepen. Carefully, so as not to disturb him, Kanou raised a calloused finger and ran it gently down Ayase's porcelain cheek, gazing at the sleeping youth with an intensity that would have stunned anyone who knew him.

This boy was full of surprises, it seemed… Kanou also knew intuitively that this afternoon they had crossed a line in their …unconventional… relationship. He was eager to see where it would lead, if it would even get to the point of…

But the comfort of his bed and the lithe, pliant body in his arms was calling out to him, telling him for once to stop thinking and just… let go. He buried his nose into Ayase's silky hair, inhaling the scent of the shampoo that they both used but was somehow far more fragrant and erotic when he smelled it on Ayase, and murmured one last sentence before he too succumbed to sleep.

"Oyasuminasai… Ayase."

Author's Note:

Okay, I know that in Japan, you wash outside the bath and then use the bathtub itself as a place to soak, but I'm going to use artistic license and claim that Kanou has a Western-style bathroom, which is pretty plausible anyway given the way the rest of the apartment looks. :D

* Arigatou = Thank you

* Oyasuminasai = Goodnight