Chapter Text
"And remember, young man. If you need assistance, you know how to contact me."
Despite how overbearing Aogami was at times, Kei couldn't help but laugh slightly through their nose. Both of them could finally take a breather, more so Kei, after a plethora of demon-related ordeals. Who knew fetch quests could be so exhausting?
"Right," Kei nodded at him, "though I don't suppose you've never really thought of taking a break yourself?"
"There's no need for that. I have my own objectives I need to take care of, and that includes protecting you." Ah, classic 'gami. Really taking his directives to heart (does he? Frankly, Amemura isn't quite clear on Proto-fiend anatomy). Kei does worry about him sometimes, despite how ridiculous the thought was, but they supposed that was natural. They are a team, after all.
The two would continue to walk down the hallway to Kei's dorm room before Aogami would pause at the door.
"Ah, before I leave. A reminder to take the time to rest or catch up on-"
"Aogami, I'll be fine, you don't have to worry about me right now." Fiddling in his pocket, he would grab the key to the room, talking to him as he unlocked the door. "I'm sure that I've been functioning pretty decently in the face of world-ending dangers so.. far?"
Amemura's voice would trail off as he looked at the inside of his room. Nothing had been touched since he got back, that much is sure. Everything was where it was: desk, cabinet, the terminal drum...
The only problem was his bed, occupied by a body that definitely wasn't himself.
Situated on Kei's bed was the Demi-fiend, or rather, one Naoki Kashima, in a jacket and sweatpants over the usual bare chest and shorts, markings and all. He had propped himself up with some of the pillows, enough to sit up straight without the horn on his neck causing problems, and was scrolling aimlessly through a smartphone (how'd the hell he get that?).
God, there were so many questions. This felt like one big fucking comedy skit set upon him by the universe, and Amemura was both unfazed and baffled at the same time.
And it seems that Aogami is just as shocked as Kei, looking at the young man to see if they should engage this as the Nahobino instead, before Kei finally spoke softly.
"No, it's fine. I'll deal with this. Not a threat, I was expecting this to happen."
"Right.." A slight pause in Aogami's thinking. "..then I shall leave you be. I believe you two have traveled long enough with each other to ease my concern. After all, you do share a fair bond."
Now, a "fair bond" is putting it lightly. It's honestly hard to call it a bond, as it is to just say "it's complicated" instead. The two have grown significantly close, despite the circumstances that surround them both. Yet, they found a rather keen solace in each other. Who knew that the infamous King of Chaos that had been whispered by the fiends Kei had faced was, of course, a match for the Nahobino's own power, but really just a quiet, gruff teenager under all the demon stuff? Kei feels like the same could be said for them: just two teenagers drawn into the horrifying ordeal that is the clash of spiritual forces for dominance, huh?
Honestly, there's a lot more that Amemura wants to know about him outside of sparring, but there are bigger problems here, problems that Kei himself was responsible for.
Such as giving the Demi-fiend access to use their dorm terminal. In hindsight, this was both a brilliant and awful decision.
Aogami would offer a small wave of farewell before walking off to wherever he was needed, and Kei would slowly reopen the door to his dorm. Naoki's ear closest to the sound of the door would perk up slightly in response as he'd put down the phone.
"Yo."
"Hey."
Another thing Kei had noticed was how quiet he was. Usually, Pixie was stuck to the man's hip as his interpreter, and he never really spoke unless in the event of potential negotiation, which was hardly ever an occurrence. However, the longer he spent with the fiend, the more comfortable he felt engaging with him. His small talk became more frequent with the Nahobino as they traveled.
Hell, even Pixie had acknowledged it out of her own curiosity, saying that this was definitely something new in her time with him. "You're really dragging that ol' stick out of the mud! He talks about you, like, suuuuper often, it's kinda cute." Kei had recalled her saying. He had brushed off the comment out of embarrassment, but there was a part of him that wondered how true that really was.
Because of this, Kei had given him the offer of perhaps getting away from Da'at to take a break in his Tokyo for once. After all, Naoki looked like he needed it after the ordeals he's gone through. He told him about the terminal to his dorm offhandedly..
..so it was truly a surprise to see that he apparently made himself at home.
"I knew I shouldn't have made that proposal."
"Well, too late for that now, hmm?" Naoki smirked.
Amemura would put his stuff up, slipping his shoes off at the door before beelining it to his desk chair to slump in. They'd push it out and turn to face the fiend.
"Whatever, I guess you decided that you could just crash at my dorm whenever you please, huh?"
"You also did state that if I wanted to take a break here, I was permitted."
"Damnit.."
"If you're so butthurt about it, I can leave." The fiend's eyebrows lowered.
"No! No- it's.. fine, I just.. didn't expect all of this. Sorry, I've been running all over the netherworld today, I'm exhausted."
"Well, at least I can sympathize with that. Seems you and I know the trials of being the apocalypse's #1-rated delivery boy."
Kei snorted at the comparison. "Well, not in denial about it. You seem to be going on your comedy streak today. You really feel that comfortable around me? Definitely seem comfy enough to wreck my bed."
"It's not wrecked, I made arrangements. It's not easy having an inconvenient sensory organ sticking out of your neck."
"Seriously? I thought that thing was hollow."
"Nah, it's like a weird bone. It's still ass that I can't sleep on my back though, one of the many human luxuries I've been robbed of." Naoki would put on a dramatic accent with his last statement, feigning his best "woe is me" expression.
"Well, a massage table is always an option- the one with the space in the upper part for your face or whatever. Just repurpose it for your neck spike."
"Still sounds uncomfortable, I'll take a nice mattress over nothin'. If I impale it, it's not like the world'll end again."
"Your world's gonna end if you even think about becoming a pincushion for my mattress."
"You challenge me to a fight once more? Is that a promise?"
God, Kei saying "fight" in front of Naoki is like saying "treat" in front of a dog; it's no different in his brain.
"No- no challenging fights in the dorm, meathead. I don't have the time or money to pay for repairs."
Naoki would sigh. Truly, woe was him.
The two of them had sat in silence for a bit, scrolling through their phones near each other, before Kei spoke up.
"Also- another thing? Where the hell did you get a phone? I thought you didn't know that tech."
"Would it be a shock to say that Aogami gave it to me?"
"Ah, but of course." A sarcastic statement from Amemura. Aogami never mentioned that to him; maybe it was his version of a surprise for Kei? Who knows what goes on in his head, but if it were for the benefit of his knowledge, he could understand why.
"Well, easier than a flip phone, but it took me a bit. It's not like I'm some fuckin' elder when it comes to technology, thank whatever for that."
"Fair enough, should we... add each other's contacts?"
"Exchange.. numbers?"
"Yeah, y'know, to catch up and chat? Like normal human beings?"
Like normal human beings, huh? In the span of time that he had traversed the Vortex World and subsequently Da'at, that phrase had lost all meaning until recently.
"..yeah, that'd be nice." Naoki's tone was softer with that response.
Once they had added each other and tested to see if they could receive their respective messages, laced with a few funny images Kei had saved as a sort of peace treaty, Kei would ask another question. Well, this will be convenient if the two are ever outside of Da'at for once.
"Uh, Naoki?" Kei would shift in their chair as they talked.
"Mm?"
"You said your horn was a sensory organ, right?"
"Yeah, it is. Why do you ask?"
Amemura had searched for the right words to use so that he didn't end up saying something too weird. Then again, demon anatomy is weird- and he supposed Naoki is a special case, being the Demi-fiend and all.
"Is it, like, sensitive for you?" No matter how he ended up trying to word it in his head, it was weird.
"What the fuck kinda question is that?" Naoki would snort. He was almost baffled by the inquiry.
Quickly realizing that he interpreted it as a light bit of banter, Kei had steeled himself. Guess they swayed his heart a little. His brain had betrayed him with that thought alone, face dusted with the slightest blush as retaliation for their thoughts. Trying to save face, he would awkwardly laugh it off, a hand going up to shade himself from Naoki looking right at him.
"N-no, no! I didn't mean it like that, it was just curiosity, that's all."
"You say that like you have an idea, Kei."
God, even Naoki saying his name had swayed him.
Naoki had turned from his position on Kei's bed, putting the pillow that was propped up behind his back for stability back to where it was on the bed before he'd sit on the edge, facing Amemura, who clung to his desk chair.
"What? You seriously backing out now?"
The fiend's eyes stared not directly at Kei, but through him. If he didn't know any better, he feels like he's about to get his ass beat.
Luckily, that ass beating is only reserved for Nahobino-related endeavors, and this isn't one of them.
"No, I suppose not," Defeated, Kei would sigh, getting up from the seat to tread closer to him, "I guess I'm being indulgent for the sake of it."
"Just a couple of rowdy, no-good teenagers." Naoki snorted.
"If anything, that describes you, not me."
"Shut up!" Naoki would jab him in his side, eliciting a yelp from Kei, before the two of them would break into chuckles.
"God, you're such a dick sometimes!" Kei would playfully push back at Naoki in retaliation.
"But I'm your favorite dick, let's be honest here, Kei." He had a slight, genuine smile on his face. A rare sight to see, frankly.
But Kei was quickly reminded of what he had initiated amidst the banter between the two. Naoki would make his move, a hand resting on Amemura's thigh.
"You still got theories to test, don't you?"
"Ah- oh c'mon! You're making this seem like I'm some fucking researcher at Bethel or something!" Kei's face had been dusted with pink once again, a rather embarrassed laugh coming from him before he'd let his own hand reach towards Naoki's.
A snarky grin would light up the fiend's face as he'd slide his fingers between the gaps of the hand Kei had offered, slowly raising them both.
"Didn't know that the Demi-fiend had clammy hands."
..before that smirk was replaced by a scowl.
"They're not clammy- y'know what? Fuck this."
With his grip on Kei's hand tightening, he'd move to grab his shoulder with his other vacant hand. Kei would yelp once more as his body would be fully shoved onto the bed, Naoki looming over him.
And while Kei would never admit it (not now at least), the view of Naoki's markings from this angle is both terrifying and incredibly exhilarating.
"Jesus- warn me before you throw me on my bed, damnit! If you break this, I hope you have the cash to repair it!"
"Relax, I haven't broken anything. Yet, at least."
"Yet? The hell do you mean by tha-"
The tension quickly snapped with a kiss. Slow, but intense, their hands still interlocked as Kei would return the energy, eliciting a groan from the other. Naoki's mouth would trail off from its path to Kei's neck.
Kei's other hand would unconsciously reach for the back of Naoki's neck, gently grazing the horn like a lifeline as the fiend twitched in response.
"Getting- ah.. handsy?"
"Just keep going, please." An order from Kei, to which he obliged rather quickly. A part of him wonders if he's gotten too soft around him, but at the same time? It was refreshing.
It was even more of a relief to be able to indulge in this kind of thing.
Naoki's head would move back up, canines grazing his ear. "Please, Kei.." He would slowly worm his hand out from Amemura's as it slithered towards the young man's neck. He needed something from him, anything from him to hold. Kei's skin prickled with goosebumps as a result before he would cut between the sounds of the two.
"For someone who's so feared by demons as their 'King of Chaos' or whatever, you're.. really deprived, aren't you?"
"Shut up. Just let me have this, god."
Kei giggled a little at him. He does feel a little bad, though, thinking through his lenses. He supposed that if he put himself in Naoki's shoes, deprived of worldly pleasures for so long, he'd also be pretty pent up.
Yet somehow, beneath the exterior that Naoki had intricately built to protect himself from the godless and unforgiving nature of the world (well, worlds really), there was a semblance of an interior that had been discarded in exchange for survival- an interior that occasionally bubbled up from its surface, Kei suspected. It wasn't entirely noticeable outright, but Naoki's actions spoke much louder than he did.
The hand resting behind Naoki's neck would reach up to the horn once more, his fingers gliding over it with a feather-light touch. But even that much was sending Naoki reeling, his movement jerky and conjoined with a variety of noises that Kei thought very fascinating.
"Well, aren't you noisy? And here you were calling me handsy as well."
Naoki was at a loss for words, the fiend stuttering for an answer as the markings on his body would glow more intensely than they seem to be usually did. Hell, even the markings around his face had shifted to a slightly red hue. Kei would stifle an "aww" at the discovery to save the fiend from further embarrassment.
Naoki's hands would release from his neck to slide down to Kei's uniform. Just as he was about to unhook the top button, his hands hesitated, looking back from the uniform to Amemura's face; a silent gesture of confirmation as his markings continued to idly pulse with vigor.
"Yes." It was the quietest that Kei had been between the two of them so far, looking both at him and his own chest.
Naoki had suspected that it'd be a bit of a sensitive thing to bring up in the heat of it all. The fiend had realized that much from past talks with the young man in their travels through Da'at, but it seemed that from those few interactions, they came to even further understandings of each other.
Naoki would swallow dryly as he unbuttoned the jacket, then the dress shirt beneath. He couldn't understand why he was feeling this way when he had acted so boldly beforehand. He supposed that he chalked it up to the fact that this was Kei, the mortal half- the knowledge.
With the Nahobino, he could go all out, fighting fang and nail against the only being the King of Chaos could consider a true equal in combat. With Kei, however, it was a different story. There was a restraint to his movements, treating him with utmost care. Something precious, even.
Precious. That was the word that rolled around on his tongue. The thought alone was rather jarring. It was terrifying that he now thought of something, or rather someone, as precious to him. But the fear slowly gave way to a sense of yearning, a sense of mutual protection between the two of them.
That was the unspoken vow they had agreed upon.
A hand had moved up to graze the Demi-fiend's cheek. In the midst of his dissociative retreat into his headspace, Kei had snapped him out of it just as quickly, and it took all of Naoki's strength not to lean into his touch all the same.
"You have that look on your face again." Kei cut the space between them.
"Just thinkin', that's all." Naoki's strength could only go so far, as he leaned slowly into Amemura's touch.
"What's there to even think about now?"
"A lot."
There was a beat of silence as Naoki looked away, the markings on his being slowly dimmed to reflect.
The hand that Kei was using to touch the back of his neck would also slide forward to cup the other side of Naoki's face.
"..do you wanna talk about it?" Kei sighed, his thumbs subconsciously moving in circles. "You don't have to if you don't wanna. You've been forced to do enough as it is."
"No- no, it's nothin' serious, I promise. I don't wanna ruin our thing right now." Naoki had looked away from his face, either out of shame or simply because he couldn't bear to look at Kei in this moment.
"Well.. look, whatever it is, I'm not upset. That includes you, or anybody else right now."
Naoki's eyebrows would crease at the comment. In the amount of time he's been like this, stifled with fate, it becomes increasingly harder to look beyond the mortifying thoughts that linger about. His lips would form a line in thought before he sighed through his nose, looking back to Kei.
"We can talk about it later, I just want.. this. Us, I guess."
"Later it is then." A short response and a smile, before he would prop himself up slightly, Kei's upper back off the mattress to kiss the fiend on the cheekbone. Naoki couldn't help snickering at it all.
"Thanks. I mean it." His voice has softened to almost a murmur.
"Well, we're in this together, I guess," Kei retorted, "and besides, you kinda left me a bit shirtless. Or- slightly shirtless."
"Ah." Naoki's eyes snapped from Kei's face to his chest, and back again. "Right."
Kei would laugh a little, causing him to laugh as well. It was just them now, a brief respite between the two before the bigger pieces came into play. But they didn't need to think about that now, pressed against each other as if wanting to get within the other's skin.
Perhaps without the weight of it all hanging over them, things could pan out differently. But the fate of the world could wait for only a moment; the only thing that mattered to them was each other.
And to them, that was enough to get by.