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He was, he thinks, going to make sure Kaiser never left him. He had to, didn’t he? For after the older had praised Isagi– Ness had had to swallow down the utter anger and jealousy that came from the compliment.
Kaiser was his partner. The man who’d been his childhood friend, who’d said he believed in Ness’ magic– Kaiser was Ness’ partner and Ness knew every little thing about him. Like the fact he hated milk and drinks, the fact that Ness was the only one allowed to cut his hair, that–
That Kaiser thinks of himself as mentally weak, that he is bad at hygiene, that the two of them bathe together and Ness kisses his shoulder as the water laps at their skin, at the soap sloughing off their bodies.
He knows, too, that Kaiser will shake at night, combating nightmares that Ness cannot help with, that he can only hold his friend— lover— Kaiser close, waiting for those moments between sleep and waking, where Kaiser is blurry-eyed and blinking up at the ceiling of their shared room.
The sunlight will beam through the curtains, and for a moment, Kaiser will not know where he is, and panic at Ness’ arms around his waist, and Ness will do nothing but hold him tighter and utterly hate himself for it, but he does not, cannot, bear to lose the man in his arms to his own awful dreams. He simply cannot bear to lose Kaiser, for Kaiser was his world, the man who believed in Ness’ magic, and Kaiser was his best friend, his childhood friend.
Kaiser was everything to Ness and Ness would do anything to keep it that way. He had to make sure that Kaiser would never leave him. He simply had to, for there was no other choice. Not when it came to Kaiser.
It did not matter if Kaiser degraded him in front of the others, for Kaiser was Kaiser, and Ness was Ness, and that was how it always would be forever and always, so Ness would keep Kaiser here for as long as he was able to do so. Even if Kaiser protested.
It could not, would not, go any other way.
Ness would not allow it, he refused to do so. And as Kaiser stirs under him, under his grip, under Ness’ arms around his waist, staring to haul himself from that dream he’s had time and time again, of his mother never leaving them, of his father never turning out to be utterly awful and blinking awake, a scowl tracing the lines of his face, Ness tucks Kaiser’s hair behind his ear, absentmindedly noting that it was getting long again, that it would need to be cut, and he– Ness –was the only person Kaiser could ever trust to do so.
Kaiser stirs from that dream, blinking awake as Ness tucks hair behind his ear, as Ness leans to kiss the corner of his mouth, and oh, Ness can feel the moment his beloved figures out that it is him, for Kaiser relaxes. Only a small amount, but Kaiser does, the beautiful man, as he turns from staring at the ceiling to the windows, to the curtains, and then, finally, turning completely on his other side to stare at Ness, to slowly press their foreheads together.
Ness cannot ask anything more of him, except to stay by his side forever. It wasn’t an ask, really. Just something Ness had to make sure of, especially when Kaiser looked at him like that. It was a simple fact, deep in his chest, in his bones– his heart –that Ness would do anything for Kaiser to look at him like that, to keep the ace striker looking at him like that.
He simply, though maybe not easily, had to make sure that Kaiser would never leave him. That was the way the world worked. He and Kaiser, together forever, and nothing would ever come between them.
Nothing at all.