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Usually, he would get into this gym just to pass some time, keeping himself in check, just focusing on working out. Lately, though, he was having an exponential amount of fun every time he stepped foot in the room.
As it turned out, inviting Kuro to a boxing course with him has been a very good idea. They had a trainer for the last month or so, but they were used to meeting each other to practice on their own after learning about some safety measures that ensured them to both have fun and challenge each other without risking ending up in a hospital.
These sessions were, of course, very useful and fun, but today Kuro had the horrible idea to show up with a high ponytail and it has been way more distracting than he would have liked to admit.
He looks way too good for his own sanity, and it is getting in between the actual work-out because he can’t stop thinking about it. Every time he'd try to punch him, Madara physically felt the need to look at him, admiring the work of beauty standing in front of him, and it was utterly pathetic.
At the fourth time of him landing on his ass, Kuro glares at him. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't work and somehow makes matters worse.
“What’s gotten into ya today?” He asks, his tone slightly upset at the situation.
He could tell him, it wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary. They often sneaked out in some corner to make out and went off to a private place to hold some dates, it was normal for him to say he found him attractive.
He decides not to, simply because it would be weird to bring it up now.
“Nothing?” Madara says instead. “Am I acting differently?”
“Yer hesitatin’ more often.”
“It’s not like I can hit you in the face, I have to-”
An instant, painful burning sensation suddenly explodes on his face, and he feels blood marking his skin.
He stumbles back down, hitting the floor again, and his hand rests on his nose, effectively confirming that Kuro didn’t break it, at least.
Madara isn't even angry at him, but he lets out a pained whine when he realizes what just happened. Despite everything, it still hurts a lot.
As he’s thinking about what to do now, a wet cloth reaches his face, and Kuro's hands lean into his face.
“Sorry.” He almost whispers, barely able to be heard. He bites his lower lip in thought as he presses the fabric on his cheeks and the area around his nose.
It is delicate and forceful at the same time, and Kuro's lips barely part as he focuses on the task at hand. The initial hurt from the hit washes itself out as those motions keep going and his attention could fully go to the man in front of him again.
“Are ya alright?” He asks quietly, laying the cloth on his cheeks and slowly rubbing his thumb against it.
Madara is honestly breathless.
He knows he had to be angry at him, he knows that he had all the reasons to pin it on him– after all, he decided to hit him, but he doesn't want to. He isn't mad or upset, he just feels a slight burning on his nose and his head starting to spin, but nothing more than that.
As he reaches out a hand and Kuro removes the cloth from his face, Madara hisses in pain.
Kuro, as usual, is already next to him again, leaving a tender kiss on his forehead. “Sorry, sorry. I'll get ya cleaned up.”
He places another wet cloth on his face and kisses the top of his head as an apology. “Sorry, hon.” He whispered, then turning his attention to stopping the bleeding and easing his pain.
Madara hums and groans every time he feels a different sensation on his skin, ultimately smiling when he doesn't feel blood running down his nose anymore.
“Why the hell did you even do that?” He weakly whispers, still feeling his head spinning enough to let Kuro drag him on the floor so that he could sit.
The tissue against his cheeks is cool and wet, and he leans into it, before it’s abruptly taken off of his face. Madara whines, but he doesn't have the time to voice anything, because Kuro forcefully grabs him by his chin and examines him with sharp eyes.
Madara shakes his head to get him off of him, but he catches him again, and again, and again.
“Stay still. 'M tryin' to see how yer nose's doin'.” Kuro scolds him, finally getting him to stop moving.
After a few seconds he simply nods, satisfied by what he had seen. He consequently lets him go and gives him a pack of ice to use if he had the need to.
Madara grabs it, putting it on the side of his nose. It still hurts everywhere, but that point in particular was still burning.
All of a sudden, he feels arms drop on his shoulders from behind and a couple of caring kisses on his cheek. “‘M real sorry, darlin'.” He whispered again, then dropping his head on his shoulder and gently rubbing against it.
He smiles and runs his hand through his hair, turning to leave a kiss on his arm. “Kuro-san, I'm fine. All apologies accepted.”
Kuro sighs, seemingly not convinced about what he said just yet, but he lets him go and stays there, kneeling on the pavement, taking a pause for himself before speaking again. Madara welcomes the silence, only reaching up to his nose every few seconds to check if it started bleeding again. Thankfully, it looks like it stopped and it was nothing too serious.
“So ya'd stop hesitatin'.” Kuro blurts out, prompting Madara to turn to look at him. He shakes his head and sighs, looking at the ground. “Reason why I punched you is ‘cause ya were hesitatin'. 'M sorry I hurt ya.”
Madara fully turns his body towards him and rests a hand on his cheek, Kuro immediately leaning into it.
“It’s fine.” He whispers, with a warm voice. “My fault for not taking it seriously, I know how much you hate that. We can start again, if you want.”
“Ya should go to a hospital.”
“Don’t worry, it'll be alright. It's not broken, I know you can control your strength enough to avoid that.”
Kuro glares at him, but doesn't press further on it. It’s his decision, in the end, and he’s old enough to know what to do when he hurts himself.
Instead, he brings back the question he asked two topics ago. “‘Bout that, is there a problem? Ya know ya can talk to me.”
He wishes he could avoid answering, really. He makes him upset, sorry and scared in the same five minutes because he thought he looked better than usual, and above all else, it’s embarrassing.
“Well… you, uh,” he stumbles on his words, “you look good with that ponytail.”
A soft laugh that gradually grows louder fills the gym, Kuro covering his mouth and doubling over, until he could properly look at him. Madara is beyond surprised. He’d never heard him laugh like that, and he certainly didn't expect this out of that confession.
“That’s why ya couldn't focus. Because yer horny.” He says in the end, between a snort and the other.
Madara dramatically sighs. “Who mentioned sex? Bad Kuro-san.” He lightly hits him on the head, nothing more than a poke. Then, he softly looks at him, turning serious again. “I just… you're so pretty. I wish you could realize that.”
Kuro quickly looks away for a couple of seconds, embarrassed, but turns his head towards him again almost immediately.
“Thanks.” He mutters, just huff at him. “Still, though, my ponytail?”
“Kuro-san, I don't think you realize how good you look right now. The first thought I had when I saw it was kissing you.”
“And you haven't done it yet because…”
He doesn't need another request. He crawls on him as he kisses him, both of his hands on either side of his face. He was greedy, he didn't let either of them time to take a breath, too occupied to listen to the mews leaving Kuro's mouth and feeling his hands squeeze harder on his hips.
It’s not like he hasn’t kissed him in so long that he wanted to do so again, but seeing him worrying over his injury so much ignited something within him that compelled him to just go ahead and do it. Kuro, on his part, clearly liked it, so he didn’t see any reason to stop either.
“We should be careful.” Kuro breathes out, running a hand on Madara’s hair to untie his ponytail and braids.
He smirks, kissing him on his cheek. “Mhm, pity that I don't care right now.”
Kuro kisses him, this time biting hard enough on his lips to let a few drops of blood fall down his chin. He smiles and sucks on the wounds, kissing him as a consequence of the gesture.
“Kuro-san,” Madara whispers, with a knowing smile on his face, “are you enough of a freak to like blood on your lover's mouth?”
He shrugs, coming closer again. “Looks good on ya.”
Madara stops his face with his hands looking at him as he licks his lips. A soft laugh came out of his mouth before he could make him lie on the floor instead, crawling on him to get his prize.
“Freak.” He whispers, right before Kuro kisses him again, this time sucking away all the blood on his face.
He lets out a soft giggle as soon as they part, his eyes almost shining. “I wish we could meet up more often.”
“Ya know the rules.” Kuro smiles at him, reaching out with a hand on his cheek. “If I could, I'd search fer ya every time I had free time.”
Madara hums, leaning into the touch. “I want you all for me today.” He smiles at him, locking his arms around his shoulders. He doesn't say anything else for Kuro to nod and kiss him on the cheek and help him sit up.
“Let’s go take a shower.” He suggests. “Then, we can go someplace together.”
“We can sleep together too.” Madada adds, with a hopeful tone in his voice.
Kuro snorts and nods, only to gesture at his face with his index finger. “Mhm, as long as ya do somethin' ‘bout that blood on yer face.”
“Who broke my nose?”
“Maybe I like seein' blood on yer skin.”
“How do you say that with that happy smile on your face? You're a menace, Kuro-san.”
“Hear hear, the guy who threw himself off of a window at the second floor has somethin' to say.”
“And you like it, so…”
He sighs dreamily as he throws his head back, in an obviously exaggerated manner. “Mhm, stupidly dangerous guys are attractive.”
“Are you like this only with me? Why are you so different all of a sudden?” Madara softly laughs at the light playing around exhibited in front of him.
“Y’know why.” Kuro answers, with a vaguely serious tone, as he looks down. “Masks are hard to put down, after yer too comfortable with yer given character.”
He honestly didn't expect him to mention it. It's an unspoken truth between them, the fact that Kuro is accustomed to setting up a fake, pleasant personality to get people to talk to him and see him as more than just an ex-delinquent.
Madara doesn't like it. He hates that part of him, but he can't point fingers too much, since he's done the same thing for years.
“The goody-two-shoes act doesn't fit you at all.” He whispers, deep in thought.
He thinks some of it is similar to his actual personality, but it's far from who he truly is. Luckily for him, he was able to see his true self early on.
“Now, I wouldn't say it's that extreme…” Kuro rolls his eyes, dismissing the little nickname.
“But that's what you aim to look like, right?” Madara asks immediately, before resting his hand on Kuro's. “I prefer you like this. Don't care if you end up hurting me, I can take it and I know you either have a good reason to do so or you didn’t mean to.”
Kuro stares at him first, then their hands, moving his own to intertwine fingers with his. He doesn't say anything, deciding to just listen to what he has to say.
“I largely prefer you being a freak over me having smudged blood on my lips and almost killing myself rather than feeling like you need to hide yourself from me.” Madara smiles, kissing the hand wrapped around his.
In response, Kuro looks at him with a weirded out expression and a slight blush on his cheeks for a few seconds, then relaxes his shoulders and softly smiles at him. Madara laughs in return, realizing just then just how light he feels.
The constant burdens on his shoulders were gone, the perpetual sinking feeling of his heart and the worry about everything around him were all gone, replaced by a weird feeling of lightness, almost as if sitting on the clouds during a sunny day.
He looks at him as he lowers his head again, his fingers playing with the back of his hand.
“I was afraid, y'know. We both have massive issues in the sentimental department, I thought it'd never work.” Kuro admits with a half smile on his face, yet avoids looking at him. “But yer real important to me, so I tried. Dunno if we can keep this up, or one of us will say somethin' he'll regret, but… I'm grateful for now.”
Madara's heart stops for a second upon hearing those words. It's something normal to admit, he knows that both of them didn't know if this would have worked or not. The soft tone, vulnerable approach he adopted and that last sentence, though, are something that he simply isn't able to ignore.
“I’m grateful to know ya.” He remembers he said once, a few months before they confessed to each other. “Dunno if somethin' like destiny of a deity made us meet or not, but I'll always hope to meet you again.”
He remembers he was confused about that sentence. They met already, they've been hanging out for the past two years, he genuinely didn't understand what he meant.
He shyly answered, asking for explanations. “Kuro-san… you'll have to explain, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand.”
He remembers his smile as he turned towards him as well. He's sure he had never seen him smile like that before.
“I meet ya all over again every time we see each other. Every time it's like meeting ya fer the first time, I find out a new side every time we meet.” He closed his eyes, his face as relaxed as it could possibly be. “I met a thousand parts of ya and I wish I'll meet another thousand.”
He hesitated.
He didn't tell him how much he cared about him as well then.
I love you.
It's simple. Just three words, with all his feelings attached to them. It's so simple to do it now. He wants to let him know, at the very least.
Kuro raises an eyebrow at him due to his sudden silence, bringing him back to reality.
“Madara, are ya-”
“I love you.”
He blurts it out, it rolls out of his tongue so easily that it almost scares him.
Madara turns to look at him, to find him with a pleasantly surprised expression. He doesn't say anything, really, and he's glad he doesn't because he has more to say past those simple words.
“I love you,” he repeats, “I didn't say it yet, right? What kind of lover would I be if I can't even say that to someone who said all of that to me?”
It's the first time he calls him something other than his partner, and it feels… good, he finds out. He quietly smiles when he feels Kuro squeezing his hand in acknowledgement as well.
“Yer not forced to. Those were jus' some of my thoughts.” Kuro sighs, reserving a gentle smile for him. “I knew it was hard fer ya, I'd have waited like I've done all this time. But, I'm real happy to hear ya say it. Love ya too.”
He leaned in, giving him a kiss on his lips to enforce the statement. He probably knows what that means for both, and he wants both to have something to hold onto, other than just words.
As they part, Madara hums and calls our his name. “Kuro-san, I'm happy we met.”
Kuro gives him a warm smile, before layinv his lips on his for another quick kiss. “I’m happy I can share my moments with you. I'm glad you're part of my life, Madara.” He whispers, caressing his cheek.
He leaves a few more kisses, and Madara lets him. Those moments aren't nearly as often as he would like them to be, so he made a decision to always be thankful for them.
Except, this time Kuro starts sucking on the point uniting his neck and left shoulder, leaving a couple of very visible marks unmistakable for anything else.
On his part, Madara is enjoying it, and only realizes what he was about to leave on his skin too late to do something about it.
“I told you, we have to be careful.” He simply says when he checks them over, after Kuro lets him go.
He pouts as he looks at the result, visibly content with it. “Mhm, ya can cover ‘em up.” He concludes, finally standing up and waiting for him to do the same.
He laughs at the situation, opting to just follow him. “You’re going to be the death of me, Kuro Kiryu.” He whispers in his ear in a playful tone, gladly listening to the soft laugh in response.
Nothing will ever be better than this , he thinks. This is something I wouldn't trade for anything else.