“Hey, Hakkai…”

       “Yes, Gojyo?”

       “Uhm…” At Hakkai’s attentive tone and polite smile, the redhead’s determination started to waver. If only that freak was a fucking chick… he could handle chicks, he was born to attract them, to seduce them, to love them… Polite nutcases were just a bit out of his area of expertise and he didn’t really know how he should broach the subject. He probably just shouldn’t. That’s right. Better to leave this stupid conversation for another moment. Maybe for another life. He was still in time to ask about the laundry; something along the lines of ‘where the hell is my headband’ or ‘did the blood come out of my vest’. Ok, that was it. He opened his mouth and started the manoeuvre of distraction:

      “Can we talk?”

      Fuck. That was not what he was supposed to be saying. And the worst was that Hakkai had stopped drying the dishes and had turned towards him, fake smile still firmly in place.

      “Of course, Gojyo. What is it?”

      “Errr…” The hanyo scratched the back of his head in a nervous gesture, and trying frantically to find a way out of the situation, he started, “I’ve been thinking, and…”

      Hakkai patiently waited until it was clear that Gojyo wouldn’t resume his speech if he wasn’t prompted to.

      “Oh, really?”

      The redhead frowned. Damn, he could never be sure if Hakkai was mocking him behind that stupid smile or not.

      “Yeah, really. Not too much, not to stress my few active brain cells, but well…”

      Time stretched like Hakkai’s forced smile as silence ticked between the two figures standing in the kitchen. More as a well-thought-out decision than a sign of impatience, Hakkai nudged again.

      “And?”

      Nearly flinching, as if he wasn’t aware that the conversation wasn’t finished, Gojyo replied. “Ah, yes. Well, you know…”

      After another minute of quietly staring at each other, Gojyo nervously fidgeting and Hakkai calmly smiling, the redhead made up his mind.

      “Have you seen my headband?”

      Hakkai nearly lost control over his facial expression at that. Only with a great effort and concentration, did he achieve to keep his lips curved in his trademark gesture.

      “Gojyo,” he began as he guided his hesitant companion to the kitchen table and made him sit, taking a seat himself across from the half-breed. “Do I need to start worrying?”

      “Ehm… maybe?” Too late now to back off, Gojyo took in air and started. “Well, did I already mention that I’ve been thinking?” After Hakkai’s tense nod, he continued. “Good, then… well, you know… we’re kind of close already, aren’t we? I mean, I’ve seen your entrails and everything… I even touched them to put them back into you, and that’s… well, I mean… how much more intimate can two people get? Because that was kind of intimate for me… not that I’m saying that I would like to see them again, thank you very much, it was pretty messy the first time, and, anyway, that’s not what I was trying to say… I was more of the mind to let you know that… well… you… I mean, I… you… we… Dammit Hakkai, you make really good coffee, if you understand what I mean, and well…  I kind of… feel good when you brush my hair back and keep it out of the way when I’m throwing up my guts after I come home totally smashed and - well, all the good one can feel while puking, that is - and I’ve been seriously thinking that I… that you… that maybe I could be… you know, in those awful rainy nights, I just feel the urge to… you know… be there and… well, I’d like to… what I’m trying to say is… well… can we fuck?”

      Hakkai blinked. After a few seconds, he blinked again.

      Gojyo’s anxious gaze hadn’t changed a bit since he had stopped talking. If there was a person on Earth that could decipher his babbling speech, that would be Hakkai.

      Slowly, Hakkai’s eyes fell to the table and the cold smile he usually wore turned to something else. Something honest. Something unstoppable. He first chuckled, then giggled, then outright laughed.

      Still unsure if the dark haired freak was laughing at him or not, Gojyo couldn’t help, however, feeling warm and content to see Hakkai sincerely splitting his sides. He was beautiful when he seemed happy.

      When the laughter subsided a little, Hakkai wiped tears of mirth out of his eyes and slowly, teasingly, stood up and leaned on the table to get face to face with the red-haired half-breed.

      Showing a tiny, shy smile, he got incredibly close and whispered against Gojyo’s lips: “That was sweet.” He then kissed the tip of the paralyzed hanyo’s nose and drew back, intending to walk out of the kitchen.

      Not sure what that meant and afraid that Hakkai could just leave it at that, Gojyo called after him just a little bit alarmed.

      “Hey! That was a yes?!”

      Reaching the doorframe, Hakkai turned back a little and with that rare, heartfelt, teasing smile of his, retorted:

      “…Maybe.”

      He then went out of the room, leaving a bewildered hanyo behind.

      Gojyo shook his head in incredulity and fished for his cigarettes in his pants, while he grinned like an idiot and planned his next move. There was still hope that that damned tease loved him back.