Akira's shirtless, in his underwear, eyes glistening in front of the only light source illuminating the small room, his computer. It's around midnight and he's busy looking for mistakes to fix in his work. As a notable head in his line of work, it's only proper to send small summaries of his most recent missions to the main boss, whoever he was. Akira would rather be asleep and not killing his eyes in front of the screen, but George Ace kept poking and pressuring him about it, so in the end he cracked and decided to get on with it.

The computer slowly shut itself off as Akira lazily slipped under his bed covers, taking a glimpse of the sleeping boy taking over the other half of the bed. Natsuki had started to groan and open his eyes, and at the sight of Akira, he smiled. "I love you." he said, voice so amazingly clear and sweet to Akira's ears. The Indian ran a hand through his own thick curls and swallowed nervously. He loved him too. He loved him like how cats loved to nap in the sun and how children loved to incarcerate insects inside their nets and supple hands. "Say something," Natsuki continued. "A simple 'I like you' or even a 'That's nice' is fine." Akira looked at Natsuki's half-open eyes, barely noticable in the dark. They were like shiny, thin buttons and he loved them. He opened his mouth hesitantly.

"I'm scared." he said, half laughing at his cowardice. Natsuki rubbed his bare legs and feet over Akira's, they were warm and prickly. "Every time I try to say it, my throat gets really dry and my heart starts pounding very quickly, I start to sweat and get dizzy, I feel like I'm 14 again. I feel like I'm at the gas station convenience store, hands sweating as I reach for that candy bar and hastily put it in the sweater I'm sporting that's way too big for me. I don't know why I'm so scared, Natsuki. Please tell me why I'm being such a coward." Akira looked at Natsuki's face desperately, hoping somehow his heart race would slow down.

Natsuki reached up to him and pulled him down into his chest. "You know, we've done it so many times before and you were never scared. You were nervous the first time, but never scared. You're scared of words, you're scared of how much meaning they have behind them, aren't you? Even though I say 'I love you' so many times, maybe too many times, your face always turns into a ruby, or a strawberry. I don't know how you can feel such deep meaning behind those words when today they're being so carelessly tossed around by people like me, but I think that's what I love about you." Natsuki smiled as he said those words and he felt Akira envelop his stomach with his arms and his stubbly legs graze his equally as coarse twigs.

"Ah." Akira let out a dreamy sigh and drifted off to sleep with Natsuki in tow.

i wrote this when the sun was rising a few days ago and i do believe it isn't all that great, mostly because in my opinion, there's too much talking going on and it's a bit ooc, but being half asleep is my excuse. i just joined the ff community today and things seem a lot more strict than i had previously imagined. ah, i hope i'll be able to survive here. i just want to share my love and passion for akinatsu, is all.