Chapter Hundred Thirty-Three

Marital

 

 

Abihiko hummed in pain, drawing back.

Nekohiko's punch had a lot of force in it, and the angry red mark of a fist on Abihiko's pristine cheekbone was there to attest that. It would make a wonderful bruise later.

Good.

He deserved it so, so much.

The doors slid back into their place with Nekohiko manning the restoration, and finally -- they were completely alone. Without the prying eyes of the servant to witness them.

Time for more battery. Abihiko had done so many things wrong that Nekohiko was still brimming with rage at wanting to pound him. He turned, ready for another smack--

But this time, Abihiko's fist flew into his face.

Catching Nekohiko off guard.

"Ahhhh! You--" Nekohiko dashed backward, a bloom of pain so loud on his chin. His jaws rang against each other from clanging like that.

Abihiko held one hand over his hit cheekbone while the other was still pressed into a fist. Meaning to strike again if need be.

HE?!

This traitor -- hitting Nekohiko back? For what? How dare he?!

"I told you to stay away and to just fucking trust me!" Abihiko spat. "Neko, what the hell are we supposed to do now? We are trapped in this place -- and without food unlike during the honeymoon! How long do you intend to stay here when all the Great Lords are waiting for us patiently outside, prepared to rip us apart the moment we leave?"

"You did NOT just hit me," Nekohiko huffed, straightening up. "You, of all people! You liar, filthy liar! Trust you?! Are you kidding me? Who would ever trust you after the shit you pull!"

Abihiko had a hard time keeping his balance with how exhausted he was. All the fighting Nekohiko had seen him do -- and doubtlessly -- even more before that. He had to lean against the wall to even keep upright, yet still he looked as though he was ready for a brawl.

With Nekohiko.

Displeasure shone in his eyes.

"I told you I will take care of the Trial, and I did! Everything went as I wanted it to -- apart from you meddling in and not doing what I asked of you! Just keep quiet and wait for me! Was that so hard to understand, Neko?"

Rather than respond to this ridiculous accusation, Nekohiko slammed Abihiko into the wall, full force. Abihiko's lips curled back, baring his teeth with the obvious black tint coloring his gums. Blood. So much blood.

Nekohiko didn't even know what he was angrier at him about.

"I did what I thought I had to. I wanted to save you, idiot!"

"And I told you to trust me and stay put!" Abihiko roared back, wrestling Nekohiko's hands away from his lapels that Nekohiko grabbed, trying to strangle him. "Look what happened now. We are stranded in here -- imprisoned. With all of our foes waiting right outside whenever we come out. This wouldn't have happened if you just believed in me and did as told!"

RAARGH!

"This wouldn't have happened if you just didn't lie to me and told me everything upfront!"

Once again, Nekohiko wanted to push him down, but Abihiko got hold of both his wrists, twisting them aside however much Nekohiko resisted.

Oh yeah.

Nekohiko had forgotten how aggravatingly strong Abihiko had always been. Five years ago and during their brief time together in the present, Abihiko never truly dared to fight him off or suppress him. He had always let Nekohiko have his victories.

But before this moment Nekohiko had still believed it was because he was capable. Not because Abihiko tended to surrender to him without fighting.

He must be truly mad with Nekohiko to not care to be nice anymore...

With seeming ease, Abihiko snapped Nekohiko's hands out of the way, wringing them backward and forcing Nekohiko to arch his back to avoid strain. Nekohiko gasped, infuriated with how vulnerable this position felt. But with both his hands immobilized, the best he could do was--

Drive his knee into Abihiko's crotch.

He was not getting defeated by him so easily!

Abihiko's eyes went wide from such a devious strike, but he managed to shove Nekohiko off before the treacherous hit landed.

"Neko! What a dirty technique!"

Abihiko wrangled Nekohiko's elbow backward -- and in one swift motion -- smashed Nekohiko into the wall instead, face-first. Pressing into him from the back with his whole weight.

"You could have injured me." Abihiko sounded extremely disappointed.

"I nearly broke your nose just now and you barely flinched! But attacking your nether regions is of course off-limits!"

What person has priorities like these?

He did not enjoy being pressed into the wall, so he kicked backward, trying to topple Abihiko. Which didn't work, but...

Oh, they just went full-on with it.

"You! Did it! Again! You backstabbed me -- and right in front of the whole Empire. And you think I will let you be? You jerk!"

Nekohiko groaned in futility. He was unable to overpower Abihiko. A knee here, a boot in the chest next -- anything to push the bastard away and land a real hit on him. To have him learn his place and accept the punishment.

But Abihiko simply wasn't into it.

He parried most of Nekohiko's strikes and wrestled the rest of it off without breaking a sweat. If anything, Nekohiko's attacks only made him angrier.

"Stop it!!"

Abihiko once again caught him in the tight lock of his arms, dashing Nekohiko's back into another fancy wooden cabinet that was not meant to survive this scuffle.

"I will not stop unless you stop first! You deserve this! You-- you bastard!"

"I said ENOUGH!"

Nekohiko gripped Abihiko's lapels in both his hands, wanting to give him a good shake. Yet Abihiko was not so easy to catch, so in a fit of rage, Nekohiko yanked him to himself and ended up--

--ripping half of Abihiko's outer and inner clothes off. The fabric simply couldn't take the abuse, and a violent tear split over his shoulder, exposing the sliver of skin on Abihiko's chest. The pale flesh of his upper pectorals, with just a thin spiderweb of black corrupted arteries marbling it toward his throat...

...and to the very flushed and very pissed-off expression on Abihiko's face.

His eyes shining and his mouth partly opened from the fast breaths he was taking in anger.

For a moment, Nekohiko balked, thinking -- what the hell am I doing? Why am I ogling him while fighting?

But the thought was quick and vanished in an instant.

Actually, he decided, this is exactly what I am doing! He is my husband and he needs to know his fucking place.

And before Abihiko even noticed, Nekohiko pulled his hands apart and finished his destruction of Abihiko's clothes. The entire upper half of the fancy red robes came undone, revealing Abihiko's chest fully.

"..."

Abihiko took note, at last. Though his mindset about it was on a completely different page.

"Neko," he snarled, restraining him again by the wrists.

In a rush, Nekohiko bent forward and dug his teeth into Abihiko's exposed shoulder. So ferociously, Abihiko gasped -- and released him.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"None of your buthineth," Nekohiko growled into his shoulder. The bite he had given him wasn't deep enough to draw blood, so he wanted to take another one.

He was just too angry to let it go like this.

With his full weight, Abihiko rammed himself against Nekohiko, pinning him to the wall and --

HEY!

This time, Abihiko's cast a spell to Split apart the emerald breastplate Nekohiko was wearing and... he just ripped it off. Then he threw it aside. The Imperial Bodyguard plate clanged on the floor, rolling, and Abihiko's hands were already on Nekohiko's inner robes, dragging them apart to reveal Nekohiko's body as well.

"None of my business," Abihiko whispered in his ear, hoarse with either pain or fury. "Is that so, husband? Is the fact that you gave yourself flesh and skin all over your body also none of my business?"

Stunned with this turn of events, Nekohiko let go of Abihiko's shoulder.

"YES?" Nekohiko snapped, appalled. He wanted to pull his thin shirt closed, but of course Abihiko would not let him. "How is my flesh and skin related to you? I did it to come here and save you, you pervert. Hey! Stop -- undressing me, are you insane?! I thought you said we were under siege!"

"Save me? With what? With this kind of body?" Abihiko's temper only rose as he sized Nekohiko up and down in the most derisive manner. "I saw how you wanted to 'save me' with it! Lying on top of Kataji in his bedroom surely looked like your plans of 'saving me' going very well."

...

The marriage Bond reflected Abihiko's ache of jealousy into Nekohiko's heart, but he was simply too worked up to pay it attention.

"I knew what I was doing."

"Are you sure? You, a damn doll, went to see your maker and Blood Master? And then ended up being Ordered by him? Neko, it did not look at all like you knew what you were doing--"

"Hey, it's not my fault Kataji carved in himself magical arrays to defend against magic! But it worked out, didn't it?"

"No thanks to you."

Abihiko's tone lowered into a feral one as gave him one more push, splaying Nekohiko painfully against the wall. His whole body fixed him in place, flattening against him as Abihiko's eyes roved over Nekohiko's exposed neck and chest. He looked both savage and hungry...

Utterly maddened.

And even though Nekohiko was too annoyed to acknowledge that, he rather liked seeing Abihiko like this.

"If Morokata hadn't put his own blood inside you and betrayed Kata," Abihiko rasped in his ear, sounding barely in control, "would Kata's Order work? Would you fall in love with him? Would you forget me? Is this what you think a successful attempt to save me looks like? Is it, Nekohiko?"

Nekohiko hated when Abihiko called him with his full name. It always sounded so... frustrating, coming from Abihiko's lips.

"Well, maybe if I forgot you, I at least wouldn't have to endure more of your lies," Nekohiko retorted. He wriggled, gasping out of breath as Abihiko tightened his hold on him. "You are choking me and -- Abihiko! You-- shameless--"

The feel of strain and excitement in Abihiko's body only heightened Nekohiko's agitation.

Against his stomach, he felt the hardening erection pressing in, and with how disheveled and raging in their emotions they were, Nekohiko took this turn of events in the wrong direction. He didn't even know why. He wanted to pound and hit and fight Abihiko.

But instead... he was getting aroused by this situation -- more and more with each new passing moment.

It was the struggling. The fact that he kept squirming against Abihiko's tackle-holds and that Abihiko never stopped trying to restrain him. Somehow, it ended up sending all the wrong messages to their bodies.

His heat rose up and his pulse quickened. Abihiko's scent -- his sweat in their fighting, the delirious look in his eyes as he pushed Nekohiko's hands down. Nekohiko's mind clouded with so many inappropriate images...

He reached his hand down and wanted to pry even more clothes off Abihiko. "Pervert!" Nekohiko screamed, panting, amidst their passionate wrestling. "How dare you-- get aroused by this?! I am genuinely mad at you, and you dare--"

"Then stop struggling! We really have no time for this. What the hell are you-- don't touch my pants!"

They crashed to the floor, unable to keep upright with how desperate and disordered their fighting moves became. They weren't even fighting, anymore. They were just subduing each other, unsuccessfully. Groaning, rolling, snapping each other's hands away from their faces and clothes... spitting curses and breathing at each other -- so closely and heatedly...

"Mnnnnff," Nekohiko moaned, unable to stop Abihiko from twisting his wrists away.

By now, Abihiko managed to grab both of Nekohiko's hands in his right palm, jerking them up to pin above Nekohiko's head like a shackle. How had Nekohiko even ended up beneath him? He didn't remember. He was just so angry this ended up the position of their scuffle.

"Get off me! Get off ME!! You bastard!"

Abihiko forewent all words. Only animalistic huffs and grunts escaped him as he immobilized Nekohiko underneath him. His expression was truly frightening: eyes gleaming, teeth bared, red lips pulled back... his color was high, brightening his cheeks to such an extent that he looked a bit drunk even though he obviously wasn't.

Nekohiko head-butted into him in the last attempts to free himself. "Let me go!"

His legs parted around Abihiko's torso to kick against him and shove away from himself. But Abihiko used the fraction of time to his advantage. As soon as Nekohiko let him closer, Abihiko pressed against him. Pushing Nekohiko to the floor with his hips. Fully solidifying his victory in whatever the hell this fight was.

Enraged, Nekohiko bit him again -- on the neck, on the shoulder, closing his teeth around Abihiko's ear as though wishing to rip it off. Abihiko endured it all, but not for long.

His strain over Nekohiko's wrists grew stronger -- to the point of dull pain. Nekohiko swallowed the salty taste of blood he had drawn from the bites he'd given Abihiko. And then--

Abihiko's other hand clutched his thigh, warming right into the pants. His fingers dug into the newly-made flesh, squeezing and pulling the thigh apart as though reaching for something along its edge.

And Nekohiko stilled, baffled.

Mnnnno... what was this?

Abihiko had never been so violent or forward with him. This was so odd and so new.

So... exciting that when Abihiko gave him a look full of deep-seated spite mixed with want, Nekohiko clung to this image. Afraid to miss it.

"Is this what you wanted this new body for? Is this how you would have saved me, with Kataji?" Abihiko breathed in his face, furious to no end. His low, hoarse voice did not sound threatening to Nekohiko. Rather, it sounded seductive...

Making Nekohiko want to hear it again and again.

Even if Abihiko only used it when furious.

"Oh yeah, exactly that," Nekohiko said just to spite him. "Pity you broke into the bedroom and ruined it all."

...!

A shiver ran through him when he felt the prodding heat of Abihiko's fingers closing around his buttock. Strong, hot fingers he kneaded the tight flesh, rude, demanding. Inching its way toward Nekohiko's inner thigh and--

"Ahhh!" Nekohiko stiffened in Abihiko's arms. His eyes fixed on his in a silent question and plea of what he was afraid he wanted next.

"Is that so?" Abihiko told him, rough.

His mouth agape, Nekohiko's shallow breaths dried his mouth too much for him to muster any words now.

He could only glare, maddened.

Maddened that he couldn't punch Abihiko like he wanted to. Maddened that none of his many grievances with this bastard were being resolved by this depraved situation. And above all, maddened that he wanted this to go on...

And didn't even know what it entailed or why his body rang with such tension and ferocity in anticipation.

Defiant, he reached out and landed his most frustrated and angry bite yet.

On Abihiko's lips.

 

 

---

***

 

Abihiko shrugged off the pain of Nekohiko attacking his lips. Steady, he traced the inner line of Nekohiko's thigh, his long fingers finding the entrance that Nekohiko was never that aware of.

He... didn't know exactly why anyone would touch that area so openly -- and during fighting, too. But a dim suspicion still ignited in his mind.

The moment he felt Abihiko's fingers on the ridge between his buttocks, his legs twitched, wanting to close and hide that part of his body from being explored so thoroughly. Shame and curiosity mixed, threatening to swallow him, and he parted from Abihiko's lips. He drew a tremulous breath in.

"Wh-what are you doing..." he whispered, suddenly tame.

Abihiko's gaze was still clouded with anger, him having been bitten and smacked by Nekohiko several times. A wild, thoughtless thought crossed his eyes as though not even recognizing Nekohiko before him. A haze of lust made him seem alien... and savage.

His hand kept wandering over Nekohiko's backside, merciless with touching what nobody should touch -- while his hips pressed into Nekohiko's spread-apart legs as though to--

Ahhh, Nekohiko couldn't help another subtle gasp as he trembled. Even though Abihiko wasn't undressed down there, the fabric of his pants couldn't hide his hard, needy cock at all, making Nekohiko shudder only that much more in both fascination and shock at the mere idea...

If his fingers could come to touch such intimate body parts of Nekohiko, then... what else would?

N-no... that seemed downright impossible, yet--

Could it?

"I am doing what you seem to be wanting?" Abihiko said in his ear then leaned away just a bit to cast a glance over Nekohiko's tremoring, tense form. Down to the exposed lower half, pressed so firmly against Abihiko's. To the straining member that Nekohiko could not hide or deny however much he might want to.

This fight was very confusing to him, too, all right?

He didn't know what he wanted other than to brawl -- but apparently, his dick decided differently.

"You really got flesh and skin over your cock, didn't you?" Abihiko said, menace apparent in his tone. "Oh, that would have helped to 'save me' so much, sure."

"It was a package deal, and also -- ahhh!" Nekohiko flinched, desperate to free his wrists from Abihiko's hold. Abihiko's own hard member rubbed against his, and a wave of want coursed up Nekohiko's spine, settling in tingles over his scalp.

But no unpleasant sensations of being touched so intimately.

So far -- none.

The layers of skin and flesh seemed to have dimmed his usual aversion to touch. For the first time in his life, Nekohiko felt... astounded that all the feelings he got from such intense rubbing and squirming half-naked against another person -- were not making him crawl in his skin with dismay.

This was rather nice, actually.

Abihiko's fingers, though, didn't deepen their invasive search over Nekohiko's lower parts. They only stroked the valley ridge, subtly grazing the tips against the tender, shy rim. But never got deeper. And never left to brush against Nekohiko's throbbing front even though Nekohiko wanted...

He had never known he could want it this badly, but now he did.

Abihiko was too busy absorbing the sight of Nekohiko spread before him -- desire and frustration blended so harshly in his features, Nekohiko arched his back involuntarily. As though wanting with his whole being to entice Abihiko to do... more...

Now.

"Stop teasing me and just do it!" Nekohiko spat into Abihiko's face, heaving. "Didn't you just say we have no time for this?!"

At last, Abihiko tore his gaze off their grinding lower halves. He fixated Nekohiko with a glower, breathing just as hard and fast as Nekohiko. He flicked his gaze to the side, displeased.

His hands retreated. Both of them.

He let go of Nekohiko's wrists and rather than keep fondling Nekohiko's buttocks -- tried to pull Nekohiko's torn pants back up.

"'This is stupid," he breathed, husky. He lifted his hands to his eyes and rubbed his face tiredly. "I am angry, you are angry. This is not what--"

Nekohiko caught his hand in his and forced it down against Abihiko's reluctance. With his other one, he twined Abihiko's hair around his fist and tugged -- as though a master calling his pet to do his bidding.

"What you just wanted to do to me," Nekohiko said. "Do it. I want to see--"

"See what?" Abihiko's face went stormy again. "You don't even know how to. You're just so pissed you can't even think clearly!"

"I don't know. But you do."

"Neko! The damn oil is a dozen rooms away from here, and you want me to fuck you right in the doorway while you wrestle with me? Who do you think I am -- a rapist?"

...

Nekohiko only now felt the subtle shade of fear. And confusion.

"Oil? What oil?" he asked, numb. "What do you need oil for? We can go to the bedroom if you want, but... oil? Huh?"

Abihiko clearly wanted to shake his head, so pained he seemed at the question.

"All I'm saying -- now is not the time," he explained, still gruff with aggravation. "I am too annoyed at you not to want to hurt you, and that's... not how I would want our first time to be."

...

"First time?" Nekohiko huffed, too. His anger hadn't receded, really. It had only found a different outlet to pour into -- with the anticipation the rough, pissed-off sex would bring. But now...

That wasn't happening. And he was only getting angrier from the idea.

Rather than engage with him in another fight, Abihiko rose up. He slapped Nekohiko's hands off his hair and chest, straightening his torn robes and trying to wrap them closed. Nekohiko's gaze couldn't help but travel across his body, so utterly disappointed that Abihiko was much less undressed than he was.

Hastily, Nekohiko tried to cover himself up as well. Not that Abihiko was looking. He turned and walked away dismissively, still busy with trying to tie his tousled hair into the high ponytail.

"Did you even check the perimeters of this seclusion array? This place is the only thing we have against any attack that may come to us while we plan our next move." Sauntering away, he shook his head. "For Heaven's sake, Neko. What were you thinking -- coming here? I told you specifically not to, seeing as Okinaga would be here, trying to rescue me."

"...?" Nekohiko rushed to his feet and after him. He was just as agitated after his and Abihiko's quick and dizzying session of... brawling? Or of feeling each other up? Whichever it was, Nekohiko still found it hard to get his mind off it. "Okinaga was supposed to be here?"

"Mn. I counted on him doing this for me. He is my Ward Father, after all," Abihiko said quietly, strolling through the empty, shadowy rooms. Everything seemed exactly as he and Nekohiko had left it. Shadowy, strewn with the musical instruments and books like before.

Eerie, coming back.

"I am his only remaining 'family'. Everything he has. No way in hell would Okinaga allow the Tribunal or any of the other Great Lords decide my fate when the people's opinion of me is so low."

Abihiko stopped, watching the dark outline of the last room in the quarters. The Imperial bedroom -- mostly destroyed and still not restored after his and Nekohiko's "explosive" wedding night. Abihiko had tried to make the best of it during their brief honeymoon and had Bound a new ceiling and walls to make it more livable, but it still looked like a wreck.

Almost nostalgic, to see it again.

Nekohiko stopped beside him. However thoughtful and sincere Abihiko sounded, Nekohiko couldn't tamper his irritation at him. Just couldn't.

He punched him in the arm, then held himself off from punching him again -- and again. They were not getting into another fight. Just by the looks of it, Abihiko was disagreeable, even if he let Nekohiko hit him however much Nekohiko wanted now.

"So you trust Okinaga more than you trust me? Great to know--"

"Neko." Abihiko turned, gently pushing Nekohiko against the door frame with one hand. "I trust you. Like I trust no one else. But with the Trial... I also know you better than anyone else. And I knew that if I told you the truth of what I wanted to do on the Trial -- to clear you up by letting them arrest me and make me the prime criminal -- you would never agree to it."

...

Of course I would never agree! This is horrible!

Nekohiko opened his mouth to rebuke him, but Abihiko's hand swept up his chest and to his lips. Pressing them shut -- tender, yet certain.

"Neko, we both cannot remain pure and clean and heroic for others to see. Whether you like it or not, only one of us can have this image. And if I wanted to clear your name up -- then I, being the one who had murdered you, had to be sacrificed in the eyes of the public. My name sullied, by actions condemned."

"But--"

"No buts." Abihiko's brows knitted, the lips bitten by Nekohiko so wildly earlier -- thinning into a firm, grave line. "This is how it works, Neko. After you died, all the Lords called me the savior of the Empire, the Champion. The hero. You were claimed to be the Monster I freed them from. Do you really believe that for you to recover from that, I could have remained clean and innocent in the eyes of the world? Don't be ridiculous."

Nekohiko shook his head. An urge to bite Abihiko's fingers off -- from daring to press his lips shut -- rose in him with each moment. But he was also speechless.

He did not know what to say or how to cast Abihiko's arguments down.

"It is better right now," Abihiko told him as though soothing. "I am a criminal, and so is Okinaga because he is on my side. He revolted against the Tribunal -- while Kasuga and Iokirihime, being against you, the true Emperor -- are acting against the law as well. Neko? Every Great Lord will fall because the people are now aware of their treachery and actions against you. You are the only pure and heroic person on top of the Empire. People adore you. The Lords cannot help but drive themselves into self-destruction, struggling against the people. The non-Binder revolution will rise, the Ise and Izumo Priests will be on your side as well. Even the nobles within the Great Houses will join you and want to throw down the Great Lords for you.

"Why? Because all those Great Lords are now inconvenient, Neko. This is what the Trial was supposed to do. To shift the game table and put everyone who opposes you on the bad side. One they cannot help but lose at.

"Including me. Who is, alas, one of the bigger playing pieces on that side."

Nekohiko listened, unable to believe what he was hearing.

Abihiko had calculated so many things for so long -- and with such far-reaching aims...

And though Nekohiko did not like the plan itself, he had to give it to Abihiko: the plan sounded sensible. The Great Lords, forced to battle against their own Houses and the common people of the Empire and the Spiritway as well -- oooof.

That was not a winning side. Anyone with a brain would be able to see that.

Unfortunately, one of the people with a brain was--

"Morokata," Nekohiko whispered against his fingers, at last. "What about him?"

Abihiko's eyes darkened. He let out a tired breath. "Morokata is a separate thing. But at least we have one advantage against him now. We know where Iokirihime and Sakai keep your body parts. We can reclaim them. And the one that Morokata keeps... it will be harder, but we have a weapon against him, too. Suminoe's corpse. He was very clever not to bring it here during the Trial. But he cannot keep that Puppet away forever, and he knows that. Which is why he tries to ingratiate himself with your new reign so vehemently."

"I see." Nekohiko nodded on, wild with hopes and the light that he was seeing in everything Abihiko was telling him.

This was actually so easy, now that he understood Abihiko's plan! If only Abihiko had told him sooner...

Then again, he hadn't been able to.

Like Abihiko had just said: if Nekohiko knew, he would have never allowed this to go through. Which made Abihiko's lies, once again, justified.

And Nekohiko despised this idea too much to agree.

He lashed out with something else entirely. "You're still a bastard! Look at yourself! How much have you cast magic while bringing the Palace to ruin? At this rate, you will die before we manage to get back at Morokata! You... idiot."

Abihiko's eyes narrowed. He tilted his head.

Slow, his hand lowered down Nekohiko's chin to his throat as though to grab.

"You think you dare reprimand me for anything?" Abihiko told him, menacing once again. "The fight isn't over, Nekohiko. That I am no longer wrestling with you doesn't mean I am not furious with your actions. Even after I told you to trust me and not do anything rash, you still did? You came here and ruined everything that had been going so well for us. I have no idea what you were thinking, coming to Kataji -- of all people. Your damn Blood Master!"

"He wasn't, as it turns out!"

"Not the point!" Abihiko glared, and Nekohiko once again realized with displeasure how his height allowed him to tower over Nekohiko and make him far more threatening than he had any right to be. "We have to come up with some other stupid plan to get out of here because you and I ended up trapping ourselves! And I don't even know how to--"

"We rest." Nekohiko shrugged, serene. "You will have your powers back, and so will I. To our fullest capacity. Then we'll think of something."

"Rest?! How! I can't relax while--"

Rather than reply, Nekohiko simply nodded toward the bed. 

"We are in the bedroom. The 'oil' you were talking about -- is here, no? So are we."

Nekohiko could almost hear the indignation in Abihiko's silent scowl. But he didn't care. Abihiko had made him curious and aware of the things he had never even wondered about.

Did he truly believe Nekohiko would not follow up?

"You said that the fight isn't over," Nekohiko reminded him. "And that you're still angry at me like you were at the doors."

Like you were when you started groping and folding me the way you have never done before.

"Well, I am quite angry at you, too. So..."

"Neko--" Abihiko's tone once again dipped into an almost-animalistic growl. "I told you I would be too rough with you, so frustrated I am."

"Good. Makes two of us."

...

Abihiko ground his teeth in his mouth so loudly, Nekohiko heard it even from a few inches away.

"Gods, you are so in luck at least one of us can control himself. And actually knows what he's doing," Abihiko whispered right before he pushed Nekohiko off-balance and caught him.

And lifted him in his arms.