Wednesday 1.41

[aki-jade.livejournal.com]

Schuldig blinked at Crawford admission, watching as the American actually retreated afterward. That... that was astounding. More than enough to make Schuldig forget his anger at the man. He was far too curious now. And a bit smug at having just seen the man beat a hasty retreat to his fortress of solitude.

Everything Crawford did was intentional. The number of times he chewed his food, the seconds he slept, the grains of sugar in his mocha latte that he probably didn't think Schuldig knew about, but he could always tell because the man would be in a slightly better mood than usual afterwards...

It only took a moment, seeing the door left opened a crack, and Schuldig was inviting himself inside, closing the door behind him and raising an eyebrow as he scrutinized Crawford. "... You didn't mean to? Am I supposed to believe that?"

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[aki-jade.livejournal.com]

Schuldig sat stiff and rigid on the bed, even as Brad embraced him and kissed him. He had never been good at keeping his emotions hidden from Brad. They'd simply known each other too long, and Schuldig, by the nature of his gift, tended to be very emotional. He just tended to keep those emotions buried under his attitude. But Brad had seen him at his worst many times, mentally naked and exposed to the world. Brad put him back together. Brad was the only person who could really see past all of his bullshit he used to protect himself, and still see the scared little boy who couldn't make the Voices go away.

Nagi and Farfarello were used to his act. They could brush it off and chalk it up to Schuldig just being Schuldig. They had seen him broken down and swallowed by his gift, but it was Brad who would fix him.

They were already married. Sex was just a formality.

"I don't know what this is... but I think I want to find out."

Schuldig sighed and finally relaxed, relief that he wasn't going to be pushed away again washing through his body.

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

Brad put all of these confusing thoughts out of his head, finally relaxing as Schuldig finally did as well. He pulled away, sliding back into bed, holding the comforter up in invitation.

[aki-jade.livejournal.com]

Schuldig smiled. A genuine smile. It was something that rarely graced his lips, and he was doing more of it in the last hour than he had in most of his life. He didn't need any more of an invitation before he was sliding back on the bed and curling up under the comforter, pressing up against Brad's side again.

He sighed and closed his eyes. Emotionally drained. He just wanted to sleep now. A shower could wait until he got up.

[oracle-dreams.livejournal.com]

Brad settled in, wrapping Schuldig up, pulling him in close. Again, his fingers drifted to his hair, combing through it as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Brad needed to recharge as well, but sleep was elusive. For a long while he just lay there listening to the soft cadence of Schuldig's breath, then called to alert when the occassional stray thought tumbled from his lips in an unintelligible murmur. Par for the course, they were nothing alarming.

This was all new territory and as much as the prospects unnerved him, he couldn't deny how comfortable this felt. How something so simple as contact may have been the only thing that constantly had them both at each other's throats all these years. The repression breeding contempt where affection desperately wanted to be.

Brad nuzzled the top of his head, feeling foolish for it but instnatly gratified as Schuldig sighed softly in response.

A snippet of a vision offered a glimpse of Abbysinian, animated and obviously insensed, verbally assaulting Balinese, worry and relief simultaneoulsy etched on his face. Balinese... it was time he went back. There was nothing left to use him for.

Carefully, Brad slipped out from under Schuldig and he immedaitely sought out the warm spot Brad had just vacated. Brad dipped into the bathroom to clean up a bit, sliding into silk pajama pants. He silently opened the door, heading for Schuldig's room.