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“Aren’t we supposed to keep work and private separate?” It’s a tease; something to clear the heavy air between them.
“There is a balance, yes,” Veritas agrees, rubbing the lotion into his hands. “One that you still have yet to learn about. However, it does not mean we are to separate the two.” He spreads the lotion over Kakavasha’s back, warming up his muscles and skin. “Unless you wish otherwise, I will not treat you differently than usual during work hours.”
“Just without the ‘dear’ and ‘love’ ’s,” Kakavasha quips, drawing a breath as Veritas’s nimble fingers trace the outline of a profound scar. “Haha, but I don’t have to worry about that. You’re still as fed up with my plans as usual.”
Veritas scoffs. “Plans? Nonsense. That would indicate you had any to begin with. What I am troubled with is your lack thereof.”
Kakavasha laughs. Veritas drags his fingers along the edges of the scar, pressing the tissue together. An odd noise bubbles up in the back of his throat. Memories of the past are pushed aside despite their insistence on replaying in his brain on a loop. His smile makes way for a grimace that while Veritas cannot see, he still picks up on it.
“You do not have to talk about it,” Veritas tells him, his tone considerably softer. “This landscape… ought to bring with it unwarranted reminiscence.”
“You can say that again,” Kakavasha sighs. He shakes his head, craning his neck. “It’s fine, Veritas. I… yeah, I don’t think I want to talk about it, but just having you here with me, indulging this silly request… That’s already more than I expected.” He smiles wryly. Outside, the desert storms still rage on and the clatter of rain against their temporary stay is relentless, penetrating his eardrums no matter how hard he tries to focus on something else. “You can keep going. Please?”
“Of course, love,” Veritas replies, sliding his hands down Kakavasha’s scarred back. Kakavasha shudders. Such a tender touch contrasts with that of which caused them in the first place, and he fights to keep his emotions contained at his partner’s tenderness.
The rain continues to fall.
Memories of that faithful day woke him in a panic. Veritas found him outside, where Kakavasha was already utterly drenched and lost to the demons of his past. He looked haunted, Veritas said when he sat with him and guided him back inside. After a shower where Kakavasha all but wanted to cling to Veritas, he made his request.
Can you tend to my scars? I know they’re old, and I know it makes no medical sense, but they’re… acting up.
And despite his innate urge to correct even the smallest inconsistencies even at times where Kakavasha is on top of him, or rendering him near speechless with precise thrusts of his fingers, Veritas had not called him unreasonable.
He agreed, simple as that, and asked if Kakavasha needed anything else, too. If he wanted Veritas to stay the night. Kakavasha is still undecided on that, somewhere between feeling it may be too fragile and not wanting Veritas to see him in any possible state he could be in if he wakes from a similar dream, but Veritas would not pressure him to choose either until he was ready.
Veritas even went out of his way to ask Kakavasha if he wished to be addressed as Kakavasha at all here.
Kakavasha closes his eyes and smiles. “Thank you,” he whispers. "For doing all this."
"You needn't thank me, but if you insist... then I do suppose you are welcome. If you have any other requests to make of me that are within reason, I will hear them," Veritas responds. His candid words stand in stark contrast to his gentle tone. Kakavasha feels warm. How uniquely Veritas.
He draws a deep breath. The sound of the rain fills the silence. The black hole within him threatens to swallow up the warmth Veritas brought again.
Requests within reason... Kakavasha exhales at length and gathers what he feels to be a pathetic amount of courage to make another decently simple favor from his boyfriend. "Then... can you make noise for me?" His voice is quiet and small, betraying his anxiety. He presses his hands together, and adds a louder, "Different than the usual, though you know I love hearing you moan."
Innuendos are safe; sexual remarks are expected of him. However, Veritas being Veritas, he sees straight through him regardless, and deigns not to comment, as falling back into their usual banter would give Kakavasha an opportunity to hide behind his usual mask---and if he's being honest, he doesn't want to. Not right now.
"Certainly," Veritas replies, "Do you wish for me to talk? Perhaps regale a tale of my most recent exploits, or insight on an interesting piece of literature I read? Ah, or perhaps, if you simply wish for noise , I could hum instead."
"Humming sounds nice," Kakavasha responds, grateful to be given those options.
"Very well then."
While continuing to run his fingers across Kakavasha's various scars, massaging the tension out of the tissue and ensuring proper blood flow, Veritas starts humming a tune, and Kakavasha listens.
The sound of the rain gradually dies down. Not because the storm has faded, but because Veritas's tunes and tender care drown out all else, leaving no room in Kakavasha's brain to focus on the unpleasant. Though his anxiety has yet to fade entirely, his boyfriend’s warm touch and his presence that is equally as warm allow Kakavasha to close his eyes for a moment—a moment where only the present matters, where only he and Veritas are together and the world around them is but a distant memory he needs not dwell on.
He feels so relieved he could cry.
But he’s long run out of tears.
“Hey, Ratio?”
“What is it, love?”
“That song sounds kinda familiar. Where is it from?”
“Oh? I did not expect you to have an interest in the musical arts.”
Kakavasha laughs softly, slowly blinking his eyes back open to adjust to the harsh light in his room. “Right back at you, doc. Oh, actually, don’t tell me. Keep humming—let me guess. If I get it right, I want a reward.”
Veritas huffs his amusement, “A reward? You might have caught me in an indulgent mood, but whether or not I agree to your terms depends entirely on what this might entail.”
“A kiss,” Kakavasha responds, “Nothing more, nothing less.” He tilts his head back to look at Veritas, smiling gently.
“That, I can agree to. Very well, I will permit you three guesses.” Veritas starts humming again, and Kakavasha wracks his brain over where he could’ve possibly—
“That opera you said you loathed going to,” he recalls, the memory vivid in his mind. “But you secretly ended up enjoying it. You removed that handsome bust of yours when they played this piece. I don’t remember much of the show itself, but I do remember when your face switched from ‘do I really have to be here?’ to ‘this might not be so bad, after all,’” he plays the part of Veritas’s thoughts by imitating Veritas’s voice, prompting Veritas to huff and avert his eyes.
“Of course you would be focused on something like that,” he says candidly; it isn’t accusatory, merely an observation of his. “But you guessed correctly.” Veritas shifts slightly. Kakavasha looks on curiously.
Ah.
Is he nervous about how to approach Kakavasha’s reward?
Kakavasha’s smile threatens to take over his entire face. He turns around, leaving Veritas’s hands suspended mid-air for a brief moment before he realizes what Kakavasha is doing. He drops his hands by his sides. Kakavasha reaches out to take one into his own, interlocking their fingers. “Love, the lotion…”
“We can wash it off,” Kakavasha replies easily, leaning in. Veritas meets him halfway, tenderly caressing the back of Kakavasha’s hand with his thumb as their lips brush together. Slowly at first; somewhat careful, but Kakavasha dominates easily, licking at Veritas’s bottom lip for entry and pulls a lovely little moan from his boyfriend’s throat when he relents.
Kakavasha pulls away with a smirk, delighting in the blush on Veritas’s cheeks. He quickly pecks Veritas’s lips, content to bask in his warmth and proximity for a moment. “That’s enough excitement for tonight,” he says, “Ah, but… speaking of tonight, if you still want to–you know, if that offer—”
Now it’s Veritas’s turn to smile. “Yes, Kakavasha. I will stay the night with you.”
Kakavasha pulls Veritas in for an embrace. “Thank you. For everything tonight.”
“Of course, love. Now, shall we get some rest?”
“Mmhm. Sounds good.”
Though the rain may have yet to settle, the night no longer feels as dark and lonely, illuminated by the soothing presence of a single man.
No, that’s not entirely correct.
Of them both, together.