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The hour had grown late.
Altan did not need to look out the windows or at a clock to tell. He needed only to glance across the couch for his answer.
The light of the TV bathed the still form of Chaghan Suren in the vibrant colors of the cartoon currently playing, illuminating the sprawl of his body and the tangle of his limbs in the soft blankets. One of his legs had somehow gotten slung over the back of the couch, leaving him to lie at an awkward angle with his head on the armrest. An arm dangled off the edge, swallowed by the sleeve of the stolen hoodie he wore.
It would have been charming if he were not so preoccupied dreading the moment those eyelids fluttered open and wakefulness returned to the man.
He glanced down the hall where, if he tuned out the bubbly chirping of the characters in the kids show, he could hear loud humming coming from the bathroom. Two minutes had passed.
With a sigh, he dragged his gaze back to the man across the couch.
In ten minutes, Chaghan would be gone.
In ten minutes, it would be just him and the toddler again.
In ten minutes, he wouldn’t be laughing. He’d be shooing little Fang Runin to bed, battling her all the way until he shut the door behind him and wished her a final good night.
Down the hall, the water began to run and a child sang a very botched version of the ABCs.
He turned the TV up a little.
Better.
“…mrf…”
Nevermind.
Altan snatched up the clicker and instantly turned it back down. His eyes never left Chaghan’s face.
Still asleep. Good.
He shifted his leg to press against the other man’s. He was cold, even under the blankets and his pants. He filed that away for a later date.
For now, he wanted to be in the moment.
He let his eyes close.
CREEEEAAAAAK.
“BIǍOOOOOOO GĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒĒ!” Rin shrieked at the top of her lungs as she waddled out of the bathroom. “I WANT NEW JAMMIES! I HATE THESE ONES! WHERE ARE THE ONES CHAGHAN MADE ME?!”
Fuck.
Altan cursed his luck with rather colorful words and shoved himself up to his knees to watch his cousin.
The foot disappeared from where it rested on the top of the couch in his peripheral vision.
He didn’t think more about it.
She should not be running so fast. What had he told her?
He curled his fingers into the pillows.
“Ah—!”
THUD.
He spun around instantly.
And gawked.
“…ow,” Chaghan mumbled from where he lay on the floor.
“CHAGHANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!”
“NO—!”
Rin sprinted around the couch and charged toward the prone man still tangled in the blankets with a leg on the couch.
There was no time.
She threw herself at him without mercy.
Altan winced and looked away. He tried not to laugh when there was a cry of pain followed by groaning.
Oh, and the hysterical laughter of a victorious toddler.
He peered hesitantly over the edge again.
“YOU DEVIL! GET OFF ME! NOW! THAT HURT!” Chaghan shouted as he thrashed against both the blankets and the child.
Rin leaned right over his face to scream, “NO!”
The man outright recoiled and shut his eyes as if stabbed. His hands jerked up to his ears to cover them.
Altan moved then. He snatched the wriggling child up, plopped her down on the couch, freed her victim from the snare of blankets, and offered him a hand up. Chaghan glared at it with narrowed eyes as he rubbed at his ears.
A few moments passed.
In the end, he took it.
Altan stood up from the couch as he pulled him up, hand finding the small of his back to steady him, just in case.
He didn’t let go immediately either.
Chaghan didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy dusting himself off and muttering in his native tongue.
“Are you alright?” he probed after a pause to let him settle.
His concern was rewarded with a murderous glare.
“No,” Chaghan ground out, “your demon-spawn ASSAULTED me.”
Altan gave him an apologetic smile and gently turned his face away to inspect the back of his head. He sucked in a breath.
No blood.
His shoulders dropped a fraction and touched the spot where it had hit the floor just to reassure himself, earning a hiss as the man shied away.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Want me to grab ice? Tylenol?”
Say yes, he begged wordlessly, please.
Chaghan stared at him. He wrapped his arms around himself and pressed his lips together.
“No, I… I should get going, it’s already later than I normally stay.”
Quiet.
Altan’s shoulders dropped.
However it was Rin who spoke first.
“But WHY? I don’t want you to leave,” she cried.
The man frowned, shuffling awkwardly before pulling off the hoodie he wore. He pivoted and took a step towards Altan, holding it out. His lips were pursed now.
“This is yours.”
He nodded.
Didn’t take it.
“Are you sure you don’t want ice or Tylenol? Or anything?”
Chaghan’s brow furrowed. “Again, as touching as your suffocating concern is, no, I do not need it.” He thrust the hoodie at him again. “But also again, this is yours, and I am growing tired of holding it.”
His gaze dropped to the item.
He knew he should take it, but his hand did not want to.
“NO LEAVE!”
That was the only warning before Rin launched herself at Chaghan, and threw a heavy blanket over him. She snatched up the ends, tugging.
And the next thing Altan knew, Chaghan was on the couch again.
He stepped forward. Rin had wrapped her arms around her captive who was attempting to get the blanket off his head still.
He glanced down.
The bottom of the blanket was there.
He glanced back up.
And cautiously stepped on it.
Rin noticed him. She even grinned.
Finally, Chaghan freed his head and gasped for fresh air. He scanned his surroundings with wide eyes, chest heaving.
“…Altan, what are you doing?”
The toddler had crawled on top of him now, hands fisting in the black fabric of his shirt, face shoved against him. Her eyes, big and brown, had a sharp glint to them. She knew what she was doing.
Altan looked at Chaghan.
And sat down on the edge, pinning down more of the blankets.
He had never seen someone look so betrayed.
Altan managed a lopsided smile.
“As you said, it’s late. Maybe you should just stay. For tonight.”
Chaghan’s mouth moved, but no words came. His attention leapt rapidly between the two of them. He paused only to grope for his phone.
“It’s 7:30,” their captive said.
Altan reached forward and plucked the device from him. There was no resistance—even when he set it out of his reach.
“You rarely stay later than 6.”
Chaghan shook his head. “…there has to be some law against this.”
He shrugged.
Rin nuzzled into her makeshift pillow with a yawn. The white haired man thoughtlessly adjusted the blankets so she was covered and comfortable.
Altan hummed as he tucked the unruly strands of her brown hair behind her ear. He would have to tell her to brush it again.
“If you wanted me to stay, why didn’t you just ask?” Chaghan breathed low enough to not startle the child.
He shrugged again.
There was a furrow in his brow now, a cloud to those white eyes that told Altan something was bothering him. His thin lips parted as if words were teetering on the tip of his tongue.
Their gazes met again.
Chaghan smiled just a little. It was shy, yet genuine.
“I would have said yes.”
It was Altan’s turn to be speechless. He couldn’t hold his gaze.
He could feel a dusting of heat on his cheeks.
“…I didn’t want to hear a no.”
Quiet.
Altan reluctantly glanced back at him.
There was a grin there. Not sharp or mocking like usual. It was soft. Delighted.
It was beautiful.
He wanted to see it again.
He would make sure he did.
“I never would have refused you—not today and not any day before.”
Altan laughed, helpless and relieved, and leaned in toward him.
“I wish I had asked you sooner. That I was not so cowardly.”
Chaghan mirrored his movement.
“The hour is late and you are but a human, Altan. Tomorrow you can find your courage, hm?”
He couldn’t tell if he was being mocked, praised, or comforted. He only knew it made him warm and his thoughts blur in a rather pleasant way.
He wanted more.
They kept staring at each other. Both of them were smiling like idiots.
And neither of them cared.
Eventually though, the jarring theme music of the cartoon on the TV made them both return to reality.
Altan adjusted the lay of the blanket over Rin, uncomfortably aware of Chaghan as he fussily folded the hoodie from earlier.
“You should get her to bed,” Chaghan suggested, nudging him.
He nodded.
“You’ll be here?”
He was graced with another one of those smiles.
“I have nowhere else to be.”
Altan grinned and scooped his cousin up in his arms. She was a warm, sagging weight against him, the heat of her breath tickling his collarbone.
He drank in the sight of Chaghan one last time.
And walked away.
He didn’t have much difficulty putting her to bed. Normally she’d argue, protest, snarl, and do everything in her power to escape it.
He huffed as he tucked the blankets in around her.
This was far easier.
“Goodnight,” he whispered as he kissed her head.
He slipped out the door, shutting it as quietly as possible. The TV was still playing, but now at a lower volume.
Altan shuffled back to the living room.
He almost didn’t want to. Didn’t want to be proven right.
He peered over the couch.
He curled his hands into fists.
The ten minutes had passed, hadn’t they?
Sucked in a breath.
And Chaghan Suren was still there.
It seemed this wouldn’t be the last time.
He couldn’t have asked for anything more.