“Why are you looking at me?” Mutsuki shivers.Â
Urie looks hurt. “I just…I’m glad you’re back, Mutsuki.”
“Oh. Okay.” Mutsuki smiles tentatively.Â
Urie trudges to bed. He loves Mutsuki and he wants him to know it, but Mutsuki is so fragile now.Â
How do I help? He wonders as he falls asleep.Â
He awakens at 2 am to the sound of someone training. Hell, not even Urie is this hardcore. Good investigators need sleep!
Urie slips downstairs to see Mutsuki practicing his knife work on shadows.
“Want help?”Â
Mutsuki jumps. “Oh! Sure.”
“Did you sleep at all?” Urie takes off his shirt. He’s solely clad in his boxers, and Mutsuki turns red.
“No. I’m afraid what I’ll see if I do.” Mutsuki hugs himself, even though the knife is still in his hands. “I have to be strong and sharp so I don’t hurt anyone else.”
“Mutsuki, you don’t scare me.” Urie steps closer and swipes Mutsuki’s legs out from under him.
But Mutsuki springs up faster than he calculated, and kicks Urie over. He straddles Urie, knife at his throat.
Don’t you dare betray me, body. Urie tries to focus on the task at hand instead of how close he is to Mutsuki. He twists Mutsuki’s arm away and scrambles free. “Ha!”
“Get ready.” Mutsuki leaps for him, and Urie barely dodges. But Mutsuki misses his next kick.
“Wow, you’re strong.” Urie wipes sweat from his brow and somersaults away. He rushes Mutsuki again, and this time Mutsuki’s bikaku catapults Urie to the floor.
“No fair!”
“Fights aren’t fair.” Mutsuki grins and dives atop Urie again. Once more, the knife presses his throat as they pant. Their bodies are sweaty and sticky and Urie thinks he sees flickering in Mutsuki’s eyes.Â
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Mutsuki has just realized how comfortable he feels, even with a nearly naked man below him. “I trust you, that’s all.”
Urie’s expression softens. “Thank you.”
Mutsuki smiles back as he uses his bikaku pins Urie’s arms by his side. “I win.”