tp5: kippei and shinji

[shattermelt]

Kippei woke up early the next morning; it was too much of a habit, even though he was planning to take the day off. Shinji was curled up beside him with his face buried in the pillow, and Kippei took a minute to just watch him. When Shinji was sleeping and no one else was around, it was a little bit easier to just stop and feel things, let it show in a surprisingly unguarded expression.

It was a pretty amazing thing to wake up beside someone and think they were going to be there for the rest of your life. And while Kippei had known that, on some level, somehow today it was suddenly more real. It was a bit silly, and his faint smile showed he was laughing at himself, but still. He reached out to lay his hand on Shinji's back, just feeling him breathe, letting that sense of wonder fill him. "I love you," he whispered, just because no one could hear him.

He should get up, and call his office, and get dressed so they could go as soon as possible, but this kind of contentment was hard to disturb, even for such excellent reasons. Peace was rare enough and god knew, it probably wasn't going to last, but for the moment, they had all the time in the world.

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[ayretala.livejournal.com]

There was heat on his back and Shinji stirred slowly, not wanting to wake up when it was warm and comfortable and he was in bed with Kippei. He lazily stretched out an arm to touch Kippei but it hit air, which was weird when he could still feel the weight of Kippei in the bed. Disgruntled at this problem in scemantics, Shinji slowly blinked open his eyes and found Kippei sitting up...oh, sitting in the bed. Not lying down. Well that made sense. He smiled sleepily, far less guarded than usual and probably a little stupidly.

"Morning, Beautiful." The endearment was fast replacing Kippei's name.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei shook his head; that was never going to make sense, never stop seeming so incredibly ironic, to have Shinji call him that, but so long as it was just the two of them he couldn't really bring himself to object. Especially not when Shinji was smiling like that, although the smile did little but to reinforce the strangeness of someone like Shinji calling him beautiful.

"Morning, sleepy," he said instead, teasing lightly, his voice warm with affectionate amusement. "Did you wear yourself out?"

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"In your dreams maybe," Shinji murmered, rolling his eyes and flopping back onto the pillows, burying his face in the lingering scent of Kippei.

"Mmm...I think I'm more sore today than I was yesterday," he grumbled, and really he could grumble because it was all Kippei's fault. Stupid slave driver and his know it all combat techniques.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Kippei chuckled, running his hand over Shinji's bare back, luxuriating in the simple touch and the chance to do so. Now that he could touch Shinji anytime he wanted to, it seemed hard to stop.

"You'll be fine," Kippei assured him, absently. They should do some more training pretty soon; one lesson didn't go all that far in teaching self defense, although it was better than nothing. He wondered how much of Shinji's soreness was from that, and how much from last night's activities--though to be fair it should be him that was sore. He shifted slightly, testing his muscles, and he was a little bit sore but nothing much. It wouldn't last once he was up and moving around.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Kippei was being a little odd, then Shinji realised it was morning and he was supposed to be up and dressed and well on his way to the doctor's because today was their wedding day....sort of. He sat up a little too quickly and groaned at the light headedness and sore muscles, glaring a little at Kippei because he didn't seem to be sore at all and that was just not fair at all.

"I'm having a shower, you're calling work, then you're joining me in the shower, we're getting dressed and we're out of here. You have less than ten minutes to complete your mission." And he rolled out of bed and ran for the shower.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei laughed, aiming a swat at Shinji's arse as he went by, but he missed. He rolled himself out of bed too, stretching a little and confirming that everything still worked the way it was supposed to. He hadn't been sure for awhile there, last night; it had felt like Shinji melted every bone in his body.

Then he went to make his call, a matter of minutes, and joined Shinji in the shower well within his ten minutes--he was terribly amused by Shinji giving him a 'mission', but all the same he'd felt the need to take the challenge.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

The door opened and Shinji didn't bother saying anything, pulling Kippei into the shower, pushing him under the hot water and going about scrubbing that gorgeous body clean, having already scrubbed himself raw. His hands ran over Kippei's skin, intensely interested, and Shinji leant up and couldnt resist kissing Kippei's neck before whispering in his ear.

"Where are you gonna get it?"

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

At first Kippei didn't know what Shinji was asking, being highly distracted as always by Shinji's hands, with the sensual addition of clean warm water. His arms closed around Shinji's waist as he leaned in to whisper and he blinked, shaking water out of his eyes before he answered. Oh, right. Of course.

He hadn't really thought that far. "Mmmm," he said, thinking and stalling for time, turning his head to nuzzle Shinji's temple and lick drops of water from his ear. "I don't know," he said at last. "Where's yours?" He was sure that Shinji would have already decided.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"On my back. That is where wings go you know." Shinji smirked because Kippei was being indecisive which was so unlike him, and yet so like him at the same time. If you gave him an objective he seemed to make decisions faster than you could blink. But if it was something random, or something to do with him, and not a mission of some sort, then he never made up his mind unless you pushed him. Shinji thought it was rather odd, and incredibly cute.

"Are you clean yet? Can we go?"

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei had a sudden odd flash of the times when Shinji reminded him of Sada, that perfectly logical, 'duh' reasoning that, apparently, made perfect sense to them but not necessarily to anyone else. It made him smile a bit as he followed Shinji out of the shower. True, that was where wings went, but Kippei could think of several other places he might like to put them.

Also, the kind of tattoo Shinji was talking about was considerably bigger than the one he'd been envisioning. He wondered if Shinji had any idea how much that was going to hurt, and decided it didn't matter. It would look pretty fantastic all right. Did he want his in the same place? He ran down the list of possibilities in his mind as they went about the business of dressing as fast as possible. He discarded one as too sappy, one as too obvious, one because it meant splitting up the wings and that was not cool, and one of the others just felt wrong. Besides, they were supposed to match, his and Shinji's. He thought about it a little more. Yeah, he liked that idea. Shinji's wings on his back.

"Ready?" he asked Shinji as he pulled on his jacket.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"I'm always ready for you," Shinji noted, then realised how sappy it sounded and tried to avoid blushing by pulling his boots on and commanding the door to open. He walked close to Kippei, but not holding hands or anything else just in case other people were actually awake and walking around at this hour. He just hoped Ohtori was up and walking around at this hour. He wanted his tattoo and he wanted it yesterday.

"Are you nervous?" He asked because he remembered that Kippei had hardly thought about it before agreeing, and he didn't want to push Kippei into something he didn't want but at the same time he wanted this so badly he could taste it.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"No?" Kippei looked sideways at him, with a slightly quizzical expression. Nervous? Why would he be nervous? This was a great idea, it was perfect, he'd never felt more settled and certain and relieved in his entire life. It was like the complete polar opposite of nervous. Maybe Shinji asked because he was. It was... kind of big, after all. Maybe...

"Why, are you?" Maybe Shinji was having second thoughts. Kippei tried to hide his disappointment and the slight uncertainty as he offered, "If you want some time to think about it, that's...okay. It's, I don't know..." He cursed his own lack of words and finished lamely, "Seems important. I don't want to if you're not... really sure." Really, absolutely sure that you want this, want...me, for always. Was it about that? Now he was nervous. Just a little bit.

He wanted badly to reach for Shinji's hand, but the halls were a bit crowded at this hour and he put them in his jacket pockets instead, focusing on the floor as he watched Shinji out of the corner of his eye. He'd worn his old flight jacket; it had seemed appropriate, when they were going to get wings.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji laughed, and shook his head, no.

"I'm not nervous. You just agreed to it pretty quick, I wasn't sure if maybe you had changed your mind and I wanted to make sure. I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do, but I still want your wings. On me. Because it is important and I'm totally sure and I want it right now. Hell, I want it yesterday, and tomorrow and every second of every day when I can think about it and know its there." He reached out and tugged a little on the sleeve of the flight jacket, amused Kippei had worn it but happy too. Happy that Kippei felt okay wearing it around him now.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei let out a long, relieved breath, and smiled like Shinji hadn't just scared the hell out of him. Shinji wasn't nervous, he was sure, he wanted this as much as Kippei did, right now, yesterday. Sheer fucking relief and something a little delirious that might be joy.

"Me too," he agreed quietly. "So do I." He'd never change his mind about this, never in a million years, and even if Shinji had changed his mind and hadn't wanted to after all, Kippei was still going to because he never wanted to forget this ever; no matter what, Shinji was always going to be his wings and he wanted it burned into his skin like a brand. There was never going to be anyone else like this.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

A slow smile bloomed as Shinji saw Kippei's mood change from nervous to what, in Kippei, passed as deliriously happy and sure and certain and just the way it should be. He nodded his agreement as they boarded the shuttle headed for medbay, sure to choose a rather abandoned bench with enough room for the two of them where no one else was likely to sit, reaching out to tug Kippei down next to him.

"Are you sure the doc even knows how to do this?" Because it was really gonna suck if they had to go all the way back to brown.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

"Mmm," Kippei answered with a non-committal shrug. He was fairly certain that the doctor not only knew how but would do a much better job of it than a tattoo artist, at least in theory. Doctors did things like that, sometimes, he knew. This one might not have actually done it before, but he would know the process and the best way to do it safely and with a minimum risk of errors. Kippei wanted this to be absolutely, perfectly right.

"If not, we'll try the other place," he told Shinji, not much bothered by the idea of having to try two places. If that was what it took, then they would do it. This was definitely getting done today, somehow. He'd just prefer to try the doctor first, it would be overall a better option if it worked out.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji nodded and waited in silence, too excited to talk as the shuttle finally pulled up and damn near dragged Kippei out of it and into medbay, the door open and god they were getting this done right now even if it meant somebody had to die on the surgery table. Okay maybe he would wait then...if they gave him nice tattoo pictures to look at with Kippei while he waited. Maybe. Big maybe. He leant up while he was almost sure no one was looking and licked Kippei's jaw.

"Mine."

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei felt the shock of that travel all the way through his body, a burning feverish thrill that agreed completely and wanted just that more than anything. He took a deep breath, reminding himself to keep doing that; breathing was important. Shinji was practically humming with excited tension beside him, and Kippei leaned just a bit to brush their shoulders together where they sat side by side, waiting for a nurse or someone.

One of the doctor's assistants finally came over, and Kippei decided abruptly that he didn't want to talk to anyone other than Dr. Ohtori himself about this. It wasn't exactly an emergency, but as soon as possible. Fortunately, at this point, being recognized helped. The man nodded and went away again, presumably to find the doctor, and Kippei let out a long breath, trying to release some tension of his own. For some reason, he was sure that the doctor would understand.

A few minutes later they were called into the office and told that Ohtori would be there shortly, if they would like to have a seat.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji shifted his chair closer to Kippei's and hooked one foot around Kippei's ankle, hands closing around the arm rest as if his life suddenly depended on it. He didn't want to sit and wait and how long were they going to have to wait for anyway and he wanted it over and done with so he could go home and spend time with his hot boyfriend...he had to think of a better word than boyfriend because that wasn't right. And he was talking out loud again. Shit.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Ohtori was considerably startled to be told that Ambassador Tachibana was here to see him, but he was nearly finished with his current patient anyway, and none of the others needed his personal attention, so he told his assistant to have the Ambassador wait in his office while he got cleaned up.

He was even more surprised when he arrived to find not one but two men waiting for him, and neither of them looked injured or unwell. Ibu Shinji, and Ohtori noted the way the two of them sat as close as it was possible to get without touching. No, he amended as he noted the position of Ibu's feet. Touching unobtrusively, but as if they were unable to help it. He caught the end of Ibu's monologue and smiled at them both as he came in.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting," he told them, looking them over curiously. "What can I do for you?"

Kippei looked up in some relief as the doctor came in, and reached for Shinji's hand with a touch of defiance--Ohtori already knew about them anyway, and soon enough he was going to have the full hologram digitized and analyzed so there was no point in pretending.

"We were wondering if you could help us with something," he said slowly. And then he stopped, unsure how to ask what he wanted to know. He looked over at Shinji for help. Shinji probably knew a lot more about this than he did.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

"We want tattoos," Shinji said immediately. "Like...um..." he grabbed a piece of paper and started scribbling, straight lines in perfect proportion, just like drawing blue prints only not. "This...wings, with hinges here, and joints here and here with panels and his name in the panels on this side but nothing over here and...oh wait, I dunno what he wants..." Shinji stopped suddenly. "Do you even have a laser?"

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Ohtori blinked, and pulled the drawing closer to look at it, bending over to examine it. Well, that was an interesting request. Tattoos? He wondered why they'd come to him, but the question was dismissed as soon as it arose. He could think of any number of reasons they might prefer it this way, and it hardly mattered.

"Yes, I have," he answered absently, studying the sketch. Not too complicated, shouldn't be hard, but it was fairly large. He cocked his head at Tachibana, a questioning expression.

Kippei shrugged; the design looked good to him. "They should match," he said aloud. That was, after all, the point. "But I want his name on mine." He met Ohtori's gaze with a hard, steady look, daring him to comment. But the other man was already nodding, looking back down at Shinji's drawing.

"I'll need an exact copy of what you want," Ohtori told them. "I'll have to scan it in and then the laser can do it from there, but I'm no artist. I need you to draw exactly what you want before I start." He pushed the paper back over to Shinji, nodding at them both. "You want this done today?"

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji nodded and dug around in his pants until he found a black pen, checking that the nib was okay. Yeah, that would do. He grabbed a clean piece of paper off the doc's desk and got to work, figuring Kippei could be good and do the talking and explain that yes they wanted it done today, as soon as Shinji had finished a proper copy of the drawing. It would take an hour or so to do properly but whatever; it had to be perfect because it was going to be permanent and on Kippei. Shinji lost himself in the process of it; one connection leading to another and then another, everything intersecting. Symmetry was an amazing thing.

[shattermelt.livejournal.com]

Kippei kept half an eye on Shinji, partly out of habit and partly to make sure Shinji didn't have anything to add, but he was apparently done talking, so Kippei sat back in his chair and watched the doctor with a bit of wariness. The man seemed nice enough, but he was still a stranger, and Hyoutei at that. Although he didn't really seem to fit the stereotypical Hyoutei mindset.

"Yes, today," he confirmed. "Right now, or as soon as he finshes drawing it." They'd waited too long already.

Ohtori also glanced over at Shinji, tucking his hands in the pockets of his lab coat and estimating the time it would take the young man to finish. Awhile, then. He was internally rather delighted on Inanna's behalf that things seemed to be working out for her friends so well; he knew exactly what this step would mean for them, and if it was an original way of showing it, it didn't mean that it was any less of a committment. He hid his smile; he suspected that Tachibana would be less than amused if Ohtori told them it was cute, but it was, in some way.

"Very well," he answered, "I will leave you to it, and make sure the room with the laser equipment is available when you are ready. I will come back in about an hour, is that acceptable?" He waited for the confirming nod, and then let himself out of the room, going to find his assistant and tell him to rearrange his schedule for the next few hours.

[ayretala.livejournal.com]

Shinji didn't notice the time, too focussed on drawing two matching sets of wings, one with his own name the other with Kippei's, making sure they were the same in every other way; the same mechanical components making each and proportionate to the size of the person it was going on. It was hard, but not impossible. He just had to focus and maintain that focus for long enough.

Then he was drawing in the last lines and holding it up to look at carefully, comparing and making sure, but they were perfect and he smirked, pleased with himself. He put them down on the desk and his fingers crept across them one at a time, brain trying to comprehend that it was about to go on Kippei; on both of them and it would seal a deal, in a way; it was the proof he wanted so badly, that this was forever. He fancied he could feel skin under his fingers and not paper. He pulled back a little and looked at Kippei nervously.

"Is this okay?"