[ She should know that first and foremost: she's always welcome. Always.
Even before things between them had shifted into, well, this. He trusts her, pure and simple. It feels like it's been so long since he's really felt this way. Kougami will always have some of his friendship and they'll have their memories, but he only trusts the man so far. Theirs is a relationship shattered and glued back together. There will always be pieces missing.
It won't be this; Akane pulling him down with her, fingers tugging on his shirt. Like a good Enforcer, he follows, hands planted above her shoulders, steadying. He presses a less light kiss against her lips, hesitance erasing little by little. His real hand moves down, smoothing the creases of her shirt along her side. She's warm through the fabric, as though her personality couldn't be contained by her skin or clothes. ]
[ It doesn't matter how many times they've ended up like this. Each time is familiar enough to ease the tension that bears down on her shoulders, to be solacing, and yet different enough to be noticeable. Like the slow clatter of a lock and key. She welcomes his touch, curving against the movement of his hand down her side, up into the comfortable weight he provides. A laugh bubbles up in her throat when she breaks the kiss, quiet and unassuming. She's always been a little ticklish.
Leaning back and shifting beneath him, Akane reaches up to smooth some of his hair from his face. It's soft between her knuckles as she trails her fingertips along his brow. Impossibly dark against the tone of her skin. She's taken to liking being able to look him in the eye. Not out of assertion, but because they were so much more expressive than he ever seemed to let himself be.
Her expression flicks up, and he taps his cheek. Right below his eye, on the edge of a circle that's started to form beneath the skin. ]
[ Her soft laughter earns a smile curving against her mouth. She's always been good at getting him to relax, to be more of himself and not what he portrays to the rest of the team. It's because she understands and just lets him be. There's no judgment.
But there is worry. Gino can see a little bit of it on her expression as it forms. As she looks up at him and brushes the hair out of his eyes. Her bangs are askew, not sitting neatly across her brow as usual. The rest of her hair is fanned out on the couch cushion, and he thinks she has some kind of magic like this. ]
Can't help it, not when there's a stubborn Inspector to worry about.
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no subject
Even before things between them had shifted into, well, this. He trusts her, pure and simple. It feels like it's been so long since he's really felt this way. Kougami will always have some of his friendship and they'll have their memories, but he only trusts the man so far. Theirs is a relationship shattered and glued back together. There will always be pieces missing.
It won't be this; Akane pulling him down with her, fingers tugging on his shirt. Like a good Enforcer, he follows, hands planted above her shoulders, steadying. He presses a less light kiss against her lips, hesitance erasing little by little. His real hand moves down, smoothing the creases of her shirt along her side. She's warm through the fabric, as though her personality couldn't be contained by her skin or clothes. ]
no subject
Leaning back and shifting beneath him, Akane reaches up to smooth some of his hair from his face. It's soft between her knuckles as she trails her fingertips along his brow. Impossibly dark against the tone of her skin. She's taken to liking being able to look him in the eye. Not out of assertion, but because they were so much more expressive than he ever seemed to let himself be.
Her expression flicks up, and he taps his cheek. Right below his eye, on the edge of a circle that's started to form beneath the skin. ]
You're not sleeping very much either.
no subject
But there is worry. Gino can see a little bit of it on her expression as it forms. As she looks up at him and brushes the hair out of his eyes. Her bangs are askew, not sitting neatly across her brow as usual. The rest of her hair is fanned out on the couch cushion, and he thinks she has some kind of magic like this. ]
Can't help it, not when there's a stubborn Inspector to worry about.