Word count: around 2000

Genre: romance, angsty, smut

Rating: not worksafe

Note: Behold my inability to write graphic sex. Dunno how I feel about this one, but I guess I don't have a real reason to leave it loitering around on my hard-drive. Un-beta'd.

"And you don't feel anything at all?"

"No."

"Nothing at all?"

"I said no already, didn't I?"

A punch to the shoulder. "How about this?"

"No."

"This?" A tug at his index finger.

"No, dammit!"

A brief silence. Oh, beautiful silence. "…maybe something went wrong."

"Maybe you didn't pay a high enough prize." He would have been hesitant to say it, if it wasn't for the fact that after everything he trusted the idiot to at least be able to tell when he was joking.

"Kuro-sama is so mean to me!" Well, good.

"Whatever."

Kurogane huffed and pulled the artificial arm free from Fay's grip to cross both of his arms over his chest. While he would be very careful to never let is show through, he was actually rather relieved that Fay was once again being a nuisance, teasing the ninja whenever he got the opportunity to do so, but as opposed to before everything that had happened recently, he didn't seem to make an effort to make Kurogane really angry. It was more like he used the teasing as a way to assure Kurogane that he'd keep trying, doing his best for all of them.

It wasn't like he'd even be able to make Kurogane really angry, anymore. He was way too used this now. And while the ninja had to admit that he would have preferred it if Fay had chosen another way about it than to continue to do his best to pester the taller man until he snapped, he was also secretly thankful that he'd chosen a behavior that Kurogane at least knew how to deal with. This wasn't the right time to be picky, in either case.

He twitched lightly when Fay pulled at his arm again. "What do you want now?!" he barked, glaring daggers at the mage over his shoulder. The only thing he got as an answer was that strange, new smile that he'd never been able to figure out, and a harder yank at his arm. "Oi, watch it!"

"But Kuro-run said he doesn't feel anything with his arm," the blond said.

"I know what I said! Just because I can't feel anything with the arm doesn't mean I can't feel when you're fucking pulling at it! It's still connected to my shoulder!"

"Oh." Fay blinked. "Sorry. I didn't realize it was that sensitive."

Kurogane scowled. "I just had the damn thing chopped off, what the hell do you expect?!"

When Fay didn't answer in a long while, Kurogane almost started to suspect he'd hurt the blond. He threw the mage a narrow eye glance… that very soon turned into a rather wide eyed glance when he saw what the other man was doing.

The blond's eye were fixed on Kurogane's face, and the desire was clearly visible on his face as he sucked and nibbled on the ninja's index and middle finger, treating it like he would a blowjob.

He really wished that his left arm hadn't been completely, one hundred percent numb. Because he could tell just from looking that it would have felt really good. When Fay had made sure that Kurogane had seen exactly what he was doing, he released the fingers, slowly letting them slide out of his mouth, still keeping a firm hold of the dark haired man's wrist as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the artificial hand's palm.

"Are you sure that you can't feel this…?" he murmured, eye still on Kurogane's face as he let his tongue caress the wires and joints in the hand and wrist.

"I already said I can't," he answered gruffly, although he had to make an effort not to let his voice come out husky. It had been a very long time since they had been able to indulge themselves in each other like this. Everything had been so messed up after they'd left Tokyo; neither of them had been able to get in the mood during their entire stay in Infinity.

Well. Not getting into the mood didn't seem like a problem of Fay's at the moment. That much was for certain. Kurogane stared openly as the blond leaned in further over him, nipping lightly at the artificial arm's lower arm, humming softly in the back of his throat; a sound that Kurogane had come to associate with a Fay who was hungry for something entirely different than sex.

"You won't be able to feed from that arm, idiot," he pointed out.

"Silly Kuro-pon~" Fay chuckled. "I already know that."

"Then why the hell are you…?"

"Because I want to," the mage answered simply, smiling softly up at him. "Won't you let me get to know this new part of you, Kuro-sama?"

And Kurogane let him. Of course he will let him, when the situation between them was as fragile as it had been after Acid Tokyo. Fay let his fingers and mouth explore the new limb, red eyes following his every movement as he travelled closer and closer to where metal met flesh. It was a good thing that he had such good control over his body, Kurogane thought, because otherwise, he would probably have found himself shivering with anticipation.

But just as the first of the mage's pale bangs whispered over the skin of his shoulder, the other male drew back slightly, blue eye big and filled with some strange emotion that the ninja couldn't quite make out. "It feels strange," the blond man mumbled.

"Then don't touch it," Kurogane said, grinding his jaws together and closing his mouth around a growl. Really, what the hell kinda reaction was that. It wasn't as if was forcing the mage to touch him, was it?

Fay shook his head slowly. "No, I meant… It feels strange, to touch you and not get a reaction," he explained. "Whatever I did or said, Kuro-min always reacted the strongest when I touched him. Now… you don't feel anything at all."

What was he supposed to say to that? It made him a bit happy that Fay wasn't repulsed by the idea of him having a fake limb, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let the mage know that it meant even the tiniest bit to him. He'd just take it wrong and use it to tease him, or get too cocky and full of himself…

And before he'd even realized he was doing it, Kurogane had once again started to think about their current situation as normal, and that everything was just the way it had always been. Scowling, he interrupted his own train of thought, reminding himself that things weren't that simple anymore. Fay wasn't the same, he wasn't the same, and the kids most certainly weren't the same.

But right now, he had Fay climbing into his lap, metal arm still in a tight grip, eye fixed on Kurogane's face as he guided the cold metal fingers down his own throat and over his collarbones, encouraging the taller man to take the initiative and push the mage's yukata out of the way, artificial muscles and nerves that wouldn't work quite as they were supposed to slipping over pale skin, soon adding pressure and causing the blond to gasp and rock his hips shallowly against the ninja's.

When Kurogane raised his other hand to let it join the fake one in it's explorations, slender fingers closed around his wrist just hard enough for him to look at the mage in surprise. "I told you," Fay said, his face serious and very unfamiliar, at least considering the situation. Fay never behaved like he was serious about sex. This was usually the part where he would tease Kurogane to the verge of it almost being taunting, making the man snap and angrily press their mouths together to silence his idiotic words and with rough hands start to undress the other.

"I told you," the former mage continued, voice soft. "I want to get to know this new part of you. I want to get to know it properly," he added. "So just touch me with your new arm, okay? No cheating."

For a few moments, Kurogane sat frozen, staring at the other man. He would have wondered if he was serious, if it hadn't been for the fact that Fay's eye told him the answer to that question without him even having to ask. The blond was dead serious, and also begging the ninja to understand, silently asking him not to question this, just go along with it, please just go along with it…

"Fine", Kurogane said shortly, causing his lover to smile that silent smile, which was a lot sadder than the ones he had used to show them, but that Kurogane also knew to be completely honest and a lot more sincere.

Fay didn't move in a long time after Kurogane had given his approval to this new rule, just sitting there, smiling, and after a while, Kurogane understood that he was waiting for him to make the first move. He narrowed his eyes; this was something new that he hadn't agreed to at all. It was always Fay who took the initiative, either by teasing Kurogane until he got angry enough to let go of that tight band of control he always kept himself in, or by simply just pouncing the ninja himself.

Kurogane had never been asked to make the first move before, and to be honest… he wasn't entirely sure about how to go about it. He tried to mask his hesitation with annoyance, glaring at the mage and challenging him, trying in every way he knew about to make the other man move, to speak, do something that would break this silence between that that grew rapidly more uncomfortable as the seconds ticked away.

Finally Fay sighed and reverted his eyes, shaking his head while still smiling. "Silly Kuro-daddy," he said, chuckling, and reached out to grab Kurogane's still raised hand in his own intertwining their fingers. "I don't mind it being this way, I thought I already told you that. I just want to let you know that."

"I know that already, so why—"

"It's not the same, Kuro-sama," Fay interrupted. "You're afraid that I'll find being touched by this artificial arm repulsive, aren't you?"

"Tch, I'm not afraid of anythin'."

"…okay. Sorry."

Kurogane blinked. "What?"

"I said I'm sorry. I shouldn't taunt you about this, not since I'm the reason why you have the arm in the first place."

"…idiot. That's not it." And to hell with it all, it wasn't like he'd lose anything from being the first to lean forward and press their mouths together for once. Fay opened his mouth almost immediately, a small moan getting lost somewhere in-between battling tongues and harsh breathing.

Afterwards, Fay curls up against Kurogane's side, and finally allows himself to be touched by the other man's regular arm. Kurogane places his hand on the blond's back, not doing anything besides keeping it there, while the mage once again occupies himself with studies of the metal limb. When he finally sighed and intertwined his fingers with Kurogane's, a feeling settled between them that the ninja couldn't quite describe and didn't want to analyze.

That night, Kurogane dreamt of fairies, clad in thick, light blue winter coats, who danced around him and poked his new arm repeatedly, singing little silly songs containing lines like "how sad, how sad, but at least it wasn't his third leg", and when he woke up, the good feeling was gone like it had never been there at all.