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Was it weird to want to see him cry?
Kougami had known Ginoza ever since they were both in high school, had seen all there was to see about the inspector in those years they had shared ever since... Meaning, he knows what Gino's expression is when he is doing math in his head, or when he remembers something he had forgotten, how he hunches his shoulders when he is receiving bad news or how he stands tall instead when facing an argument with someone.
He knows what Gino looks like when he thinks about his dog, so much different than when he thinks about Masaoka instead... He also noticed the way Gino seemed to relax when they were both left alone in the office during the enforcers' lunch break a few years back, when they were both inspectors... He also knows that Gino seems to get stressed or maybe uncomfortable under that same scenario nowadays.
Kougami knows all of this and even more (he even knows what Gino looks like naked due to an accident in their last year of school), and yet, he doesn't know what the inspector looks like when he cries, and Kougami can't help but to feel guilty and sometimes weird when he notices that he wants to find out about it.
And then one day he wonders... Does he even know what would make him cry?
---
"Today he brought you into the conversation again, you know"
"Hm?"
"Ginoza, he mentioned you out of the blue today again" States the blonde, beautiful woman sitting in front of the computer screens, holding a cigarette between her smirking lips. Statements like that have been coming a lot from her recently, and Kougami knows that it is because she has the theory that the ever-so-serious inspector Ginoza fancies his friend and former partner as more than just that.
"Gino never does anything without a reason" Kougami answers, retiring his own cigarette from his mouth to let it hang between his fingers "So I really doubt that it was an out-of-the-blue kind of thing" He adds, returning the smirk.
"You sure seem to know everything about him, Kou" She says, speaking while turning her chair to face him fully in a playful manner.
Kougami tries to answer that he really doesn't, but she interrupts him with another sentence.
"Do you know what he is like in bed?"
This time he smiles more humorously before returning the smoking stick to his lips "That's something I'm willing to bet nobody knows, not even Gino himself"
That makes them both laugh a bit and exchange knowing looks, before Karanomori returns to her work and Kougami begins to wonder to himself if he'd like to see that side of Gino as well.
"Please don't forget to tell me how he is once you've found out"
It seems that the blonde has come with the answer before even he does, and that makes him smirk again, but it doesn't stop him from wondering.
---
A few days have passed, and Kougami isn't closer to finding out what Gino looks like when he cries or how he makes love, but he discovers a new side of him that he didn't know he was missing.
It happened at Gino's apartment, on a dark afternoon. They were both walking Dime at the park beside the building (something they used to do during college years and kept doing out of habit) when a thunderous, storm-like rain fell over them pretty much out of the blue, and not only that, it looked like it wouldn't go away anytime soon, so they both rushed to Ginoza's building while wishing they had brought at least one umbrella with them.
"Are you sure you don't mind me staying?" The blue eyed enforcer asks to his only companion (human companion, that is) while he runs a towel through his own raven hair. Gino on the other hand, is giving the same treatment to Dime's fur.
"And what am I supposed to do with you, then? I'm not willing to get out again to drop you at the agency nor can I afford a sick enforcer" He says without lifting his eyes from Dime, and Kougami only thinks how much of a tsundere his friend is.
"I bet you would still make me work" He answers, amused at how Gino stops in his labor just to glare at him for a few seconds before returning his attention to the brown husky.
"You better go and get a hot shower if you don't want to find out about it" He says with ultimate resolve, so Kougami complies after Gino clarifies that he'll go next.
He didn't take long, seeing that he's never being a fan of hot water, but he understood the importance of making an exception today. He stepped out of the shower and got dressed (same pants, borrowed shirt) and proceeded to switch places with the owner of the place, barely exchanging words when they did so.
He went straight to the living room where he found Dime in his cage, the rain falling heavily at the other side of the window, and a mug of tea placed on the coffee table. Kougami smiled and didn't waste time to drink down the hot liquid which he knew was meant to be for him, and then proceeded to lie down on the couch where sleep didn't wait too long to claim him.
"That idiot, he didn't dry his hair properly and now he's going to wake up with a headache..." Is the next thing Kougami hears, though it is a distant sound... He's somewhat awake now, but he doesn't feel like showing it... In fact, he's so relaxed that he doesn't feel like moving at all, not even when a wet, cold nose starts sniffing his hand.
"Dime, let him sleep" Ginoza says in a low voice before getting the dog away from him, Kougami feels, and he manages a smirk that apparently the inspector misses, because he doesn't comment or act on it. He just hears a sigh coming from his partner... And then he feels it; the most light touch he's ever felt in his hair...
Gino's moving some of the strands of his messy mane from his face so they don't keep dripping on his skin, and the feeling is so strange to him that he makes sure to keep the sleeping charade so Gino doesn't stop, or better, doesn't hit him... But, being there and feeling the inspector's delicacy, the way he isn't rushing so he doesn't awakes him, it is enough to make him believe for two seconds that Gino isn't capable of hitting him, so he finally gives up on curiosity and opens his eyes just a bit to try and see his friend's expression...
And he does. Even if it's blurry and shadowy, he manages to identify a light blush on his former partner's face, as well as the way that his eyes are half-closed and his mouth is slightly agape. And then he sees, a few moments later, the way his inspector takes back his hand like he's been burnt and takes a step back that can nearly be called a jump, and Kougami deduces that Gino saw him move his eyes and realize that he was in fact awake.
Or maybe he didn't?
He shifted a bit and kept the sleeping charade with hopes of fooling Gino again, and after feeling the way Ginoza stood completely still for a while before moving very slightly and calling his name softly, he realized that he had succeeded into fooling him again, and so Ginoza moved on to do something else somewhere in his apartment and left Kougami to think by himself...
So this is what Gino looks like when he can't hold the fact that he's being love-struck... And by him, none the less.
There wasn't room for doubt to him about that.
---
"Kougami-san, is everything okay?"
"Hm?" He asks, rising his eyes from the computer to stare at the female inspector of Division 1 "What could you possibly mean, Tsunemori?"
"What I mean is, you seem distracted lately" She answers, holding her steaming mug of coffee with both hands and offering him a friendly smile. It's been two days since the whole 'Gino likes me' incident.
"Distracted?"
"Yes... I mean, you've been staring at the same page for a while now, and did you even noticed that everyone has already left?"
"Left?" He asks a bit surprised, and after a quick scanning of the room, he confirms that she is right "Oh..."
That made the inspector smile even more before taking the nearest chair and sitting in front of Kougami to ask him if there was something wrong. In truth there really wasn't, he was just going through the 'Do I like him back?' debate in his head.
"Don't stress yourself too much about it" He answers, returning the smile before grabbing his jacket and standing up to put it on "It's not the job of an inspector to worry about a hunting dog"
"I'm not, I'm worrying about a colleague" She answers, keeping her smile on her face "I take it you don't want to talk about it?"
"It's not necessarily that, it's just that it isn't something that can be fixed by talking it out"
"Then how is it fixed?" She asks, a bit curious but never leaving aside her resolve to help him, he notices.
"I think most people would try and do a pros-&-cons list... Me, I'll just give the issue a few more thoughts before acting" He answers before crossing the office to take his leave, and the last thing he listens from Akane that day is her wishing him good luck.
---
They are alone in the enforcer's chambers, Ginoza and Kougami, that is.
It isn't unusual for them to be in this situation, they still are friends and talk casually from time to time. Kougami sometimes drinks, always smokes, and Gino always complains about the latter, and never joins in the former.
But tonight is different, Kougami isn't smoking, and Gino notices.
"Did you finally ran out of cigarettes?" The inspector asks, sitting in the middle of Kougami's sofa while he's serving them each a mug of coffee.
"Let's say I did" Kougami answers, not really going through the details of his abstinence that night. He's too busy retracing his plan in his head, which actually begins by sitting close to Ginoza when there's obviously more choices for him to sit on, and so the inspector gives him a questioning look.
"You usually don't sit this close..." He says before receiving his own drink.
"What's the matter? I'm cold and I ran out of cigarettes" He answers, managing a casual tone in his voice, before smiling sideways and looking directly at the inspector. "You are quite observant tonight"
"So?" Ginoza asks, cocking an eyebrow at that statement.
"I'll begin to think that Karanomori's theories are true" He says before taking a sip of coffee and then leaving the mug on the table, action imitated by Ginoza.
"What theories?" He's now frowning, and Kougami thinks this is now do or die.
"Don't you know that she thinks we are secretly a couple?"
That's enough to make the inspector look away from his companion's blue eyes "Preposterous"
"Yeah... Seems quite farfetched. If her theory was simpler, like saying that we like each other, then maybe..."
"What?" Gino asks, and now he seems angry, but he's looking at Kougami again.
That's all the enforcer needs to launch forward and kiss his inspector.
At first neither of them close their eyes; Gino is too shocked for such a thing and Kougami is determined to study his reaction, but soon he realizes that he won't prove anything if he keeps acting in such a way, so he doesn't waste time to change his approach, and soon enough Gino is being kissed softly by Kougami.
The seconds pass and there's no reaction on Ginoza's end, but Kougami doesn't give up, so he keeps moving his lips... No matter how much he'll need to breathe in a few moments, he keeps kissing. And then he feels a hand on his chest, and just as he begins to think he'll be pushed away, Ginoza responds.
And their mutual kiss doesn't last longer than three seconds, but that's enough for Kougami, who is now smiling caringly at his best friend.
"That was your first kiss, wasn't it?" He asks, smiling wider when Gino's blush gets redder and he directs his sight somewhere else "Aren't you glad it didn't taste like tobacco?"
"...How did you know?" The inspector asks, finally speaking after a few not-so-short moments in utter silence and finally regaining his pale color.
"About the kiss? It was kinda obvious" He answers in a somewhat playful manner that makes Ginoza look back at him to glare.
"Not that... About... My feelings for you" He clarifies, finding something really interesting next to them once again "Karanomori...?"
"Not really... I got entirely sure after the last time we went to your place, then I started putting pieces together"
He doesn't waste time to notice the way the inspector's face gains an instant pink blush once more, how a sigh of defeat leaves his mouth and how his eyes water a bit at the fact that he can finally reveal his real emotions after all this time of locking them up, and right then and there, as they begin to embrace for the first time ever, Kougami can guarantee that this side of Gino, he'll never forget.
---
'I know what Gino is like when he is kissing', is what he would like to tell Karanomori, but he doesn't. Instead, he just remains sitting in silence on the couch located behind her. He knows Gino will kill him if he makes their relationship public.
"He didn't mention you today" She says, obviously entertained due to her tone, before calmly turning her chair around "What did you do?"
"So if he mentions me it's suspicious, but it also is when he doesn't..." He answers, a bit entertained himself. "Are you sure you aren't searching for something that isn't there?"
"Women's intuition, and it makes me suspect that he always finds a way to talk about you no matter how random it seems, but today he completely avoided the subject" She said, leaning forward and therefore getting closer to the dark-haired enforcer. "Don't tell me you finally took him and you are keeping it from me"
He doesn't show it, but Kougami appreciates the delicacy of the expression 'took him' when there are obviously countless ways to phrase the same sentence.
He lets a few seconds pass while he takes a new cigarette, lights it up, takes a drag and then exhales it "...Shion, when that happens, I'll be so shocked that you'll notice right away and I won't have to say anything" he answers in all honesty, or so he thinks. He even uses her first name to show her that he's saying so as his friend and not as her colleague.
"...You took too much time to answer" She says, and that makes him laugh due to the efficiency of her female instincts. "I bet that soon enough you'll be shocked as you said, and yet you'll also be happier" The hacker adds, thinking that Kougami would deserve to feel like that.
He only thinks that he hopes so.
---
He doesn't get shocked that evening, neither the ones that follow. Gino seems to lack sex drive, but if Kougami's being honest, he really doesn't mind it that much as he thought he would...
And then he realizes that's because each day he falls a bit deeper for Ginoza.
---
They still don't get past the kisses and they still argue regularly (Ginoza's insecurities getting the best of him, it would seem), but there's definitely been some improvement on both sides. If there hadn't been any, then they wouldn't be cuddling in Ginoza's bed right now.
And that night, Kougami realizes what the real reason that made him wonder what Ginoza looks like when he cries is...
It isn't because he's curious.
It isn't because he wants to confirm his theories of what he must look like.
It isn't because he thinks it would be good for him or his hue.
It isn't because he's a sadist.
It is because he knows that he wouldn't waste time to hold his friend if he started crying, whatever the reason that could have pushed him to tears... He now realizes how much he has desired for such an opportunity to comfort him and get physically close to him, because in all his years of knowing Gino, he's never been granted with said chance... Until now, that is.
And that is enough to make him change his mind completely.
He now knows that, as long as he lives, no matter if someday he can't hold him anymore, he never wants to see Ginoza cry.