Hunted

Not quite as Kiyoshi had hoped, but he couldn't really blame the guy. Kyun did tend to cut friends and friends of friends some slack, and it was an easy guess to make that someone had exhausted that. Didn't seem impossible to fix, though, and what that blond guy had said sounded encouraging.

When he finally made it to the door, he stopped to lean against the wall before opening it. He had gotten a bit sloppy a few times because there wasn't much pain any longer, but said pain returned tenfold whenever he strained it. Better be careful.

Entering the room, the Japanese saw the redhead laying on his side on the bed, devouring a bit of candy. Seemed rather calm, which was good. Kiyoshi slowly made his way over, then sat down next to him. "Sorry it took so long..."

It took awhile for those brown eyes to focus on him. Looked like there was still a great deal of guilt behind them, but a smile was flashed anyway. Nele pushed himself to sit up and scooted closer to Kiyoshi, claiming the Japanese mouth briefly with his own. "It's fine. Me and the cats got some much needed exercise. They kicked my ass."

The Japanese smirked lightly, giving a quick kiss in return. "Good to see you're in a better mood." He paused for a bit, not knowing how to phrase it for best effect. The last thing he wanted was for his friends to get along less because of what he said. "You know, Kyun doesn't seem all that mad at you. He didn't want to talk about it with me, though."

Nele stared at him for a minute and his brows slowly furrowed as his good mood began to fade. He pulled away to stand up. "What do you mean he wouldn't talk to you? You didn't go out there just to talk about me, did you?" He brought his hand through his red hair, messing it up further. "Why would you do that?"

Blinking in confusion, the Japanese quirked a brow. That sounded like he did something wrong! It took a deep breath to avoid jumping on the defense immediately. "Because I want you to move in with us! We talked about that less than an hour ago."

"How the fuck am I supposed to get any respect if they think I'm too much of a wimp to face them myself? I'm not a goddamn coward, Kiyoshi..." He shook his head and started pacing back and forth. His voice wasn't raised, but the distress in it was obvious. "I don't need you to clean up the messes I created myself. What kind of man would I be if I asked that of you?"

Alright, now this was officially going in the wrong direction. Kiyoshi sighed as he leant back against the wall. If this was what he got for caring, perhaps it still wasn't worth the bother. "Now you're getting ahead of yourself. I told them you didn't ask me to, and nobody called you a coward. I wanted to tell him my opinion, that's all!"

Heading to the door, Nele spoke over his shoulder without looking back. "I appreciate you trying to help, Kiyoshi, I really do, but they think I'm enough of an ass as it is. If you don't mind, I'd like to solve this on my own with my dignity intact." With that said, he opened the door and left the room.

~~~~

That was bad. Even if they didn't call him a coward outright, they were probably thinking it. He knew Kiyoshi only had the best intentions, but having someone uninvolved try to fix his problems just made him feel emasculated. It wasn't supposed to go down so soon, but in order to save face it had to get resolved.

Nele made his way into the main room where the others were sitting around. The rodent was with the cool Korean on the couch as usual. Wondered if it was even possible to find those two separated. Luo was there, making it a little unnerving, and Takuya nearby making food. That wasn't much of a problem. Takuya was a pain in the ass, but not nearly as bothersome as the intimidating Luo. Nele found a seat away from the others and glanced over at the couple on the couch. He wouldn't make the same mistake again of trying to talk to one alone.

"Kyun, I think we should talk."

Smiling amicably over at Nele, the Korean pulled the purple-haired fellow closer, resting his chin on the guy's shoulder. "What about?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Great. Did they always have to be so mushy? It was annoying as hell. Nele took a deep breath and looked away for a moment. "I was out of line pushing you like that. I'm not going to apologise for calling Julian a mouse, because it'd be a lie. I work with animals all day, how can I help but compare people to them?" He chewed his lip thoughtfully and looked over to try and spot any sign of insult in the rodent's face. So far so good. "The way I acted earlier, though... It was wrong."

The Korean pondered that for a bit, brushing Julian's side with his fingers meanwhile. "It's okay. Don't worry about it." He paused, then straightened himself up and claimed an unrelenting eye contact. "I shouldn't have touched you either."

"Hell, I would have done the same if I were you. When I thought you were only putting up with me because you pitied me, I panicked." He leaned forward and watched as Julian proudly stroked Kyun's hair. Nele frowned lightly as he held the Korean's gaze. "You've gotta understand, I care about Kiyoshi so fucking much. I'd do anything for him. I know I don't have much proof to stand on, but I really want to be with him."

Kyun quirked a brow, then leant back, apparently getting comfortable. His arm was still wrapped around Julian, and his gaze drifted up as if he could see the guy stroke his hair. When his eyes returned to Nele, they were milder than before. "If you want me to think you're right for Kiyoshi, show me that you are. I didn't say you aren't, but he's really important to me. Convincing me is going to take more than seeing you two around each other for a few days."

That was to be expected. He sighed and looked down at his hands, trying to figure out how he could possibly prove something like that. Surely there'd be a chance sometime. Could only hope. "Okay... I figured it would take more than that, but I just wanted to say it too, you know?" He chuckled lightly and glanced up at the television. "I've been trying to prove myself my whole life. I ain't about to stop now with this."

With the purple-haired guy still playing with his hair, Kyun smiled amicably at the redhead. "I understand. Hope it works out for you two." He turned to start playing with the purple hair, but stopped almost immediately to turn back and look at Nele. "You know, you're kind of cool sometimes."

Nele grinned. He didn't hear that a lot. In fact he couldn't remember the last time anyone complimented him besides the typical pervo comments from the fairy journalist. He got up and started back toward his room, addressing Kyun as he went. "You ain't so bad yourself."


~~~~~

This is a collab, written together with Chlover. You can find her author profile here: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=26260