Dis Aliter Visum

Chapter 69

Morning came too early for Kurapica. He'd spent so long thinking himself in circles that he'd only had a short few hours of sleep by the time Kuroro awoke. He felt the mattress dip and shift as the older man moved, waking him instantly. He waited, tense and silent, wondering what the Spider Head would do.

Nothing, apparently.

Minutes ticked by, second by second. The silence was oppressive, overwhelming. He knew Kuroro was awake. He was sure of it! He'd felt him awaken and move. Had he just shifted in his slumber? Perhaps he'd gone back to sleep? Kurapica strained his ears, trying to listen to Kuroro's breathing, hoping to discern from the pattern of inhales and exhales whether the older man was asleep or only pretending to be. He couldn't tell.

Finally, he couldn't take the silence anymore. Slowly, carefully so as to not awaken his bed-mate on the off chance that he was still slumbering, Kurapica turned his head to look behind him. Nearly immediately, he felt a strong arm slide around his waist and he was pulled back against a solid chest.

"Finally," Kuroro murmured, right by his ear, making the blond shiver. "I thought you'd never move. I was getting pretty bored."

"Why didn't you say something?" Kurapica asked him. "I was worried I'd wake you up if I moved. I wasn't sure if you were still sleeping or not."

"You knew I was awake," the older man contradicted him.

"I knew you'd woken up," Kurapica defended, "but not if you'd gotten back to sleep or not."

"Well I didn't," Kuroro answered him – rather unnecessarily, the blond thought.

"Obviously," he said, putting his hand over Kuroro's arm. He meant to push it away, but when he felt the warmth emanating from him, he found that he didn't mind it being there after all.

"So," the older man murmured after a moment, "an entire day to ourselves. What ever shall we do with it?"

"Didn't you want to get an idea of the man we'll be up against and the layout of his house?" Kuroro chuckled softly, his breath making the bond's hair flutter a bit and tickle his ear. He resisted the urge to rub it against his shoulder. "What's so funny?" he wanted to know.

"You're so literal, sometimes," Kuroro informed him. He squeezed him a little tighter and nuzzled the back of his neck.

Kurapica held his breath, his heart pounding. The way that the older man was nosing and trailing his lips over his skin had the blond soon trembling in spite of himself. "What are you doing?" he whispered.

"Nothing," Kuroro whispered right back.

"It tickles," the blond complained.

"Is that why you're trembling?" Kuroro wanted to know.

"I'm not trembling," Kurapica denied. "I'm trying to resist the urge to punch you because you – are – tickling – me.

The older man chuckled and suddenly pulled away. Kurapica turned onto his back to look at him. Kuroro sat on the edge of the bed, then got to his feet. Half-turning, he glanced at the blond and slowly arched his eyebrow. Kurapica shrugged and averted his eyes.

Kuroro stretched. "I'm going to go get us some food and coffee," he told the blond, already walking to his bags. He dug through them and selected a fresh change of clothes to wear for the day. Black, black and more black.

"Do you ever wear colours?" Kurapica asked him before he remembered that he wasn't supposed to be staring.

Kuroro looked at him, a small, amused smile on his lips. "Occasionally," he answered. "What about you?" He grinned. "I bet black would look great on you."