Saltwater

Chapter Two: Acrylic

The pair sat side-by-side on the lower bunk, the curtain drawn around it, with a tall stool placed just inside the curtain, upon which rested the laptop. The glow from the screen dimly illuminated their faces, flickering with changing colors as it changed from scene to scene. A speaker hung above them on a plastic hook, connected via Bluetooth to the laptop for better sound.

Yamaguchi had given it to Tsukki as a gift last Christmas, and it had moved around the room before settling in its current spot after just a few weeks. Since then, after what must have been a hundred movies, they'd gotten used to the way the sound reverberated through the wooden bunk bed frame. At first, the odd directions some sounds were thrown - water splashing, for example, or glass breaking - had made Yamaguchi jump or shiver.

Now, they watched as two brothers traversed the country, slashing demons and banishing ghosts and slaying vampires and waging war against angels, of all things. It was an American show, so they had to put on Japanese subtitles, but it was very good, regardless. Though there were no dinosaurs - at least, not yet - Tsukki seemed to be enjoying it. He hadn't complained once since season four, and he'd never checked his phone during an episode. Yamaguchi took those as good things, and smiled a little, turning back to the screen with his head resting on the other's shoulder.

Their sides pressed together, and the warmth, though familiar and grounding, threw just as much fireworks into Yamaguchi's stomach as it had the first time. Wordlessly, he snaked his arm under Tsukki's, finding his hand where it had been resting on his knee. Their fingers intertwined, and Tsukki allowed it with a barely audible exhale.

~•°•°---------------°•°•~

"How many episodes was that tonight?" Yamaguchi asked as he slid from the bunk, shutting the laptop.

Tsukki, already out, stretched his long limbs, arching his back. Yamaguchi swallowed at the patch of pale skin visible at his stomach, and busied himself with moving the stool back into the corner of the room as he waited for a response. Tsukki was wiping his glasses on his shirt when he turned back around, squinting down.

"Three," he said, finally. "And the one this morning."

Yamaguchi grinned as he stepped closer, taking Tsukki's glasses gently before he could put them back on. Knowing what was coming, he stood patiently, looking just slightly down at Yamaguchi with squinting amber eyes in the darkness. As promised, he wrapped his arms around Tsukki's bony ribs, sliding his hands up his back and fingering at the short, blond hair at the top of his neck.

"Tadashi."

Their noses bumped, then their foreheads, as they paused for a moment, simply breathing together with closed eyes.

"Tadashi," Tsukki said again, this time a whisper, and Yamaguchi gave him what had been silently promised.

Their lips brushed, then met, slightly parted, soft, and warm. They moved against each other, tasting of toothpaste and faintly like the candy they'd shared at the theater earlier that night. They were swept up into a rhythm as familiar as the backs of each other's hands, as steady as their matching heartbeats, and as private as the darkness of their shared room. It was midnight, now, and they stood there in each other's arms. A fan they hadn't yet gotten around to shutting off whirred, while their hearts pounded, and the room lit by the yellow, crescent moon-shaped night light Yamaguchi had insisted had to be plugged in if he was going to be able to sleep.

"Kei-" he finally gasped into the other's mouth, between deepening kisses.

Fingers found their way into long, green hair and buried into it, brushing sensitive scalp that made Yamaguchi gasp. He pulled away, but kept his arms around Tsukki, instead burying his head into the crook of his neck. Tsukki's hands stayed where they were, one in his hair and the other at his waist.