A/N: Not sure how I feel about this one…;; un-beta'd.

They've been arguing again — their worst fight yet. Neither chose to submit. One slept all night on the hard couch, the other slept in a cold bed; normally one would give in and the argument would cave in as the two slept peacefully beside one another, but this time it was different.

Shintarou stood at the foot of the bed, meticulously wrapped fingers tangled in satin cloth; after all these years he still wraps his fingers, still can't manipulate his tie just right. He can feel the emperor eye trained on him, but he pays Akashi no mind.

It didn't take a special eye to see the anger Midorima harbored. His upper lip was stiff, drawn taunt over his teeth enough to see the outline faintly. All muscles were stretched tight, ready for fight-or-flight, and the only sound throughout the house was the sound of the television a few rooms over.

He doesn't have any scheduled patients and planned to close down the clinic early in the afternoon, but perhaps he will stay at the office instead of coming home while the storm clouds loom over the couple. The atmosphere was almost impossible to bear.

As he's turning to leave without so much as a goodbye, he realizes Akashi is no longer in bed, but beside him. He realized too late, however, and tumbles backwards onto the mattress with comically wide eyes.

Akashi still hasn't forgotten how to "ankle-break" — old habits die hard.

Shintarou wants to protest; he has to go to work, he'll say, but Akashi will tell him that Takao can open the clinic and will understand Midorima's delay. He wants to say that he's furious and refuses to be handled, but he knows his smaller lover will just chuckle, amused.

It isn't soon before the two of them lack clothes, and Akashi is showing the signs of domination. "Make this quick, I need to go." But his request only brings a thin smirk to the face of the ex-Teiko captain. It isn't too long before Shintarou is hardly coherent at all, and he is reminded time and time again how Seijuuro's skill comes in handy.

Soon Shintarou is a puddle of goo, having been touched, kissed, bitten in all the right places, though Akashi's determined eyes are enough to make him a little weak in the knees. The ginger insists on eye-contact, and though it makes Midorima uncomfortable, he knows Akashi enjoys exchanging hooded looks while fingers plunge in and out to prepare Midorima for what is next. It's been a while since the vision-impaired doctor was on the one on on his back, so preparation is a long, thorough process.

And when the act is done and the two are panting and glowing with euphoria under the dim morning light that seeps in through the window, Akashi cleans up the mess before he retreats to his nest of new sheets and blankets which drape around him like a billowing cloud. He looks like the cat that ate the canary with his eyes narrowed so alluringly, cheeks flushed, and smile sharp as hetero-chromatic eyes trace Shintarou's profile as he readies himself for a short day of work for the second time that morning.

"Are you still angry with me, Shintarou?" Akashi purrs, his chin supported in his cupped palm.

Shintarou shakes his head, though he mumbles something about having to go to work 'in the state he's in' while Akashi can lie around for the rest of the day, but the smaller male only smirks.

This time when he stands by Midorima's side he straightens his tie and pecks his lips goodbye before the doctor leaves for another day at the clinic and the shogi champion heads for the shower to start his day.

Shintarou will close up the clinic as planned, and join his partner for lunch in the afternoon, surely.