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"Come on, Kyo-chan. Pleeeease?"
Gosh. Tamaki could be such a chore. Kyoya didn't extract her hand from where their fingers twined, though.
"No. I told you already, we should wait until after halloween for the sales to increase. We can't fit another cosplay in the interim."
"But Kyoya, it will bring in revenue on its own, I promise! They'll never be able to resist you in red, come on."
"Hmph." Kyoya turned on her side, trying to get more comfortable on the mattress.
"I know I certainly can't resist you in red..."
"Flirt," she muttered.
Tamaki laughed.
Breath on the back of her neck made her shiver. She hoped it went unnoticed, or she'd definitely lose this argument.
"Numeric profit before new purchases," Kyoya said evenly.
A sigh. It gusted hot through her hair.
She held her breath.
"Kyoya..."
Each syllable was a gentle puff of air on her neck. She shivered involuntarily.
Tamaki had definitely noticed. He'd shifted closer——His voice was much closer to Kyoya's ear now, close enough that she could feel the heat of his body at her back. She tried to stay relaxed.
She failed.
"Kyoya..." Tamaki's voice was teasing, now. There was the softest brush of his lips against the collar of Kyoya's pajama shirt——and she did not gasp, but it was a near thing.
"Incorrigible," she grumbled, but stayed put.
Tamaki's head ducked, forehead pressed against her back. "You're really mean, you know that?"
Mean or not, he laid a kiss at the spot between Kyoya's shoulder blades. Even through the fabric, she could feel it burn into her.
"So mean," murmured Tamaki, kissing up her spine.
"Tamaki..." she started. But he'd passed her collar and was now kissing the sensitive skin of her neck, and Kyoya was lost.
"Hmm?"
Fingers curled in her hair, lifting it away from her neck so Tamaki could kiss the spot behind her ear.
He kissed Kyoya's hair, sweetly, gently. It was so, so gentle, his lips against the tangles caught in his fingers. So gentle, not even touching Kyoya, there was no pressure at all——so why was she being crushed by the sudden urge to cry?
Tamaki hadn't untwined their fingers, and his thumb stroked the back of her hand. It steadied her, the smooth repetition. But this steady hold encouraged the tears more, it seemed. She held onto them with clenched teeth. She would not cry. Not for this.
How strange, that Tamaki could knock her feet out from underneath her while making her feel more grounded than ever. How strange, that Tamaki could love her so gently that she shattered in his hands.
Tamaki kissed down her neck again, this time along the side. His lips flowered against the column of her throat.
Such light, burning kisses. Kyoya couldn't take it.
"Okay, okay, you can stop. We'll do it," she said, rolling over.
"Do what?" Tamaki's eyes were genuinely confused. He sat up.
"The... thing. We'll do the plan that you wanted."
"Oh."
Had he really forgotten already? Now Kyoya felt stupid. She sighed.
"Oh, mon amour, I didn't mean for this to be... I got distracted, I didn't mean to make this part of our argument."
Kyoya could die, honestly. "It's fine."
"No, Kyoya." Tamaki was utterly serious, voice firm. Then he softened. "I kiss you because I want to, because you're beautiful and I want to make you feel nicely, not to win some silly arguments."
Oh, Kyoya really would die. She stared at Tamaki, reading the sincerity in her gaze, and believed.
"Okay," she breathed.
In return, Tamaki searched her eyes. She didn't need to move or speak to give Tamaki what he was looking for, she knew. He would find the truth in her eyes, that steadily burned through her worst nights, that trust for Tamaki alone.
Kyoya reached out her hand to touch Tamaki's face, asking, silent. Obligingly, her best friend leaned in and kissed her again.
It was chaste, for a kiss between two teenagers in the privacy of a bedroom at 2am. But the soft unexpectant press of Tamaki against her made her heart race, made her knees weak.
When she finally pulled away, Tamaki was panting too. He grinned, brilliant, and Kyoya felt her heart shiver at how much it moved her. Danger was letting a smile lift you high into clouds when there was a real world to plan against and work for and race.
"Let's run the numbers and see if the projected income can cover a new cosplay, and if it can't, we won't," said Tamaki, reaching out to smooth Kyoya's hair.
She sighed, a tired giddiness. "Alright."
Tamaki smiled as he saw the last vestiges of anxiety settled. Kyoya saw it, like she saw everything and everyone, and wondered for the millionth time at being seen herself.
It was a strange thing to be understood. To be loved.
"I love you," said Tamaki, as though reading her mind. "Do you consent to be loved?"
"Only by you," murmured Kyoya, and curled back into the safest place on earth.