meretricula | bored

...and alone in the house. bad combination. anyway.

i'm trying to decide whether or not to post this to

inu_kai. opinions anyone? it's kinda short and crappy, but then, that's never stopped me before...

Temperature Control

Inui can always tell when the temperature has dipped below Kaidoh's comfort level - not because Kaidoh complains, or even ever mentions the weather, but because Kaidoh's nipples tighten up to hard points beneath the thin, transparent wife-beaters he wears around the apartment. Kaidoh considers turning on the heater to be equivalent to conceding defeat, so of course he refuses to even put on a long-sleeved shirt. Inui already knows, before he asks, what the response to his suggestion that perhaps it is time to raise the thermostat will be.

"Put on a sweater," Kaidoh snaps, glaring. Inui almost smiles. He finds Kaidoh's stubbornness about such inexorable forces as the weather amusing, to a point. That point is when Kaidoh starts sneezing, coughing, or showing other ill effects of the chill in their three-room apartment.

Still, Inui is unpleasantly surprised to find that he has apparently succumbed to the weather before Kaidoh this year: he wakes up feeling flushed and feverish, and when he shuffles into the kitchen for breakfast, Kaidoh takes one look at him and orders him back to bed.

Inui lies down and pulls the covers up around his chin, awaiting Kaidoh's reappearance with an unsympathetic lecture on the functions of winter clothing. However, as always, he has forgotten to factor in the one element that makes Kaidoh, even now, difficult to predict: Kaidoh hates to be predictable.

Inui wakes from a restless doze to a considerably warmer apartment. Kaidoh is sitting on the edge of the bed, carefully balancing a bowl of okayu and a glass of orange juice on a tray. "You should eat something," he says quietly, and helps Inui sit up. He doesn't spoon-feed him - that would be rather too much, even for Kaidoh's well-hidden mother instincts - but he sits and waits until Inui finishes, and tucks the covers under Inui's chin when he lies down again.

"I have to go to class," Kaidoh tells him, putting the tray of empty dishes on the dresser. "Get some sleep, and I'll be back in a few hours."

"Concentrate on your studies," Inui croaks.

"Yes, senpai." Kaidoh smiles faintly, almost indulgently, and presses a gentle kiss to Inui's forehead. "Oh, and Sadaharu?" he adds over his shoulder, as he leaves the room. "Next time you feel cold, just turn on the heat."