Chapter Text
Takeru is sitting on the couch when he hears the familiar sound of a sliding window. He doesn’t have to turn around as he hears a rustling and the sound of a thump that signals a soft landing as he continues to type and navigate the mouse on the touchpad.
He has been sitting on the desk so long his back had begun to hurt, and since Yanagi stepped out to take a look around a recent crime scene and Mineo had gone somewhere to be a useless idiot, he had decided to let his guard down and get a bit more comfortable on the couch instead.
“It’s just you?”
Okazaki’s tone of disappointment causes him to scoff as he resists the urge to send a glare in his direction.
“Don’t act as if you didn’t know. I’m not stupid enough to believe you aren’t watching us enough to know who steps out and when.”
Okazaki chuckles, and Takeru hears the sound of steps approaching.
“You’re right, I wanted a reason to catch you by yourself, since you haven’t gone home in a few days.”
Takeru finally looks away from the screen of his laptop when he hears the rustle of a bag being placed on the coffee table before his gaze travels up to Okazaki’s smiling face.
“There’s been a lot of work to be done. It’s more efficient to stay here and get Yanagi’s input,” Takeru says.
Okazaki’s smile turns into a pout as he rubs the back of his neck.
“Yanagi’s pretty reliable, huh?”
Takeru frowns at the look on Okazaki’s face. He looks like a kicked puppy.
“Of course. I wouldn’t be working with him if he wasn’t.”
Okazaki’s pout only deepens, and Takeru grins.
“What, don’t tell me you’re feeling neglected.”
Okazaki sends him a reproachful glare, not that it looks at all threatening.
“Of course I am… I haven’t been able to sleep well at all without you…”
Takeru sighs.
“That’s your own fault. Stray dogs shouldn’t get attached to random people.”
Okazaki’s violet eyes seem to turn to a cold silver, and Takeru feels a shiver travel up his spine as the white-haired man regards him with unreadable eyes.
He never knows what to expect when Okazaki gets like this. Usually, his laid-back and almost child-like wonder is easy to deal with, even when he knows it’s intentional. It’s what makes Okazaki so cunning, his ability to make others drop their guards around him with those easy smiles and kind eyes. Of course, Takeru has known for a while now that Okazaki is many things, but naive and kind are not exactly the words he would apply to him.
Because beneath those easy smiles lies the real Okazaki, the deadly and selfish man that Takeru knows him to be.
He guesses he should add possessive to the list of nouns to assign to the man, especially when in the time it takes him to blink and look back to his computer screen, Okazaki has maneuvered them so that he easily lifts him off the couch, laptop an all, before placing himself underneath him and settling him on his lap, so that his back is to his chest.
Takeru feels the familiar warmth of blood pooling in his cheeks at Okazaki’s antics, and feels goosebumps form on his arms when he feels Okazaki’s arms wrap around his waist and pull him closer as his face nuzzles into the side of his neck. He feels his warm breath on his skin that causes him to shiver.
“I dislike that I can’t be more useful to you… I hate that you’re counting on Yanagi more than me. I get that he’s a reliable guy… but it makes me like him a little less.”
Takeru relaxes in Okazaki’s hold, decides to melt into his embrace instead, even if he knows it’s dangerous and Yanagi or Mineo could come back at any moment.
After all, even if he refuses to admit it to Okazaki, he’s not the only one that’s missed this. He’s gotten far too accustomed to sleeping beside this man, to waking up within his embrace even if Okazaki has to leave far too early in the morning for his liking. He never stays to sleep more than three or four hours, and with the deadline to X-day closer by the day, their nights spent together are less frequent. Still, Okazaki tries to at least come by three days a week, and tries not to let more than a day or two pass between his stays. He can understand why Okazaki has grown impatient since he has neglected to go home for three nights straight.
“You brought me food, didn’t you?”
Takeru looks to the bag on the coffee table and feels Okazaki’s chuckle rumble against his skin.
“Yeah… I figured supplying you with sweets will at least keep your favor if I can’t directly help you with your work…”
Takeru scoffs but reaches eagerly for the bag anyway and opens it to see it filled with some of his favorite convenience store snacks and some food that he can heat up later when he’s hungry. He takes out the bag of strawberry pocky first, before setting the bag back down within easy reach.
It’s a little difficult to balance the laptop on his lap and open the carton of sweets while he’s sitting atop of Okazaki, but he manages and takes out one of the strawberry coated sticks before eagerly biting on it. He has been craving something sweet for a while now, but was too absorbed by his current project to go out and get something, so it was perfect timing for Okazaki to arrive with some much needed brain food.
It’s funny, how Okazaki seems to always know just when he needs something and be there at the right time.
It’s why he doesn’t berate him and demand to let him go.
“You can sleep if you want, but you can’t stay long. Yanagi will likely be back soon, and I’ll kill you if Mineo sees us like this.”
Okazaki makes a sound of contentment as he once more nuzzles against him, and Takeru shivers again when he feels one of his hands slip underneath his shirt to caress his skin lightly.
“If I sleep, I won’t be able to enjoy holding you like this.”
Takeru knows that Okazaki is feeling slighted when he gently nibbles the lobe of his ear, and he almost chokes on the pocky he is chewing on.
“Okazaki…” Takeru’s tone is stern and admonishing, “I’m working.”
“Then work… don’t tell me this is enough to distract you. After all… I’m just a stray dog, right? A stray dog doesn’t deserve your attention…”
Okazaki is using that voice. The only voice that has ever managed to make him bite back a snide and demeaning remark. Okazaki is good at that too… turning situations around in his favor and taking power away from someone else. From him.
It’s an anomaly, really, how much of an outlier Okazaki is.
There is no box that Takeru can confidently put him in.
At first, Okazaki seems like the listless type, but the fact he is SP immediately contradicts that. Not to mention, Takeru has seen him in action, and knows just how competent and talented he is.
To the untrained eye, Okazaki also seems naïve or oblivious, when in reality he is cunning and similar to Shiraishi with his ability to read people, yet rather by deduction, by instinct instead.
Still, Takeru can’t deny that Okazaki is pretty useless in mostly everything else that most people need to do to lead normal lives. Things like cooking even basic meals, operating common household appliances, and navigating everyday life.
Okazaki prefers following orders than taking initiative, and even leadership with his underlings comes begrudgingly.
Normally, he would look down on someone like that. But somehow, Okazaki is the exception. He is not an idiot. He is not incompetent where it matters. His motivations are not superficial, and not the kind that he can disrespect either, even if Takeru himself can hardly understand them.
Okazaki also makes him feel out of his depth, and not in that way that Yanagi does with his self-righteousness.
Takeru can’t make fun of him like he can Mineo, because Okazaki will just smile and tease him back, successfully, and easily render him speechless.
His line of thinking makes him feel annoyed, because now he’s lost focus on his work, and is hyper aware of the warmth and hardness of Okazaki’s body instead.
Hastily, Takeru pulls out another pocky stick, but rather than aim it for his mouth, he dangles it next to his head instead, where Okazaki’s face is nuzzled.
“Eat,” he commands.
It has the desired result, because Okazaki pulls away from his neck to look at the pink treat instead, and he blinks as his eyes fill with delight at the offering.
“Aw, Takeru-chan, you’re sharing?”
Takeru grumbles in reply.
“Shut up and take it. Even stray dogs should be fed sometimes.”
He can almost picture Okazaki’s imaginary tail wagging, before Takeru feels the feeling of tension against his hold on the stick as he pictures Okazaki’s lips wrapping around the small stick to take a small bite. He refuses to turn his head to look and knows that Okazaki has no intention of grabbing the stick as his hands remain around his waist.
So Takeru holds the treat in place as Okazaki happily nibbles on it, until he feels Okazaki’s lips against his fingers, and only when the pocky stick is gone does one of Okazaki’s hands leave his waist to hold his hand in place instead, and Takeru once more feels the familiar feel of heat pooling in the pit of his stomach as Okazaki shamelessly presses gentle kisses against his fingers.
“You know… if you keep feeding a stray dog… it’ll keep coming back…”
The words send a shudder up Takeru’s spine as he closes his eyes.
Takeru doesn’t reply. There is nothing he can really say to that without acknowledging what he has mostly avoided for the past few months.
There is more important and pressing matters to worry about, matters that he should be focusing on rather than indulging the white-haired man holding him so tenderly.
With that in mind, Takeru sighs.
“You should go.”
He feels Okazaki stiffen underneath him, feels his grip tighten against his fingers.
It makes him grin as he carefully sets his laptop on the table, so that he can turn around and straddle Okazaki with ease.
Okazaki looks uneasy, uncertainty visible in his violet eyes as he regards Takeru cautiously.
Takeru’s grin widens, before he cups Okazaki’s face with his palms and descends onto his lips.
Okazaki relaxes underneath him, and Takeru knows that Okazaki had worried he said something to upset him.
He prefers it this way… when he feels he still has some power over this wild untamable man and not the other way around.
He feels powerful when Okazaki grabs him desperately and kisses him eagerly, when he whines wantonly when he pulls away and looks at him with those unfocused eyes.
“I’m serious… you need to go. Yanagi said he wouldn’t be gone long, and Mineo could come by any minute.”
Okazaki frowns and opens his mouth to say something before Takeru beats him to it.
“I don’t care if you have Yoshinari tailing him and told him to tell you when he’s on his way back, I have important work to do, and you have no one tailing Mineo.”
Okazaki pouts, and Takeru knows he’s won this round as the white-haired man sighs dejectedly.
“Fine… but can you promise you’ll go home tonight?”
Takeru remains quiet for a moment, not because he’s debating the answer, but because he’s already made it, and he’s not sure he likes it.
But Okazaki’s gaze only becomes more piercing, and finally, he sighs.
“Yes, I’ll go home tonight.”
Okazaki smiles brightly, and something stirs in Takeru’s chest.
“Idiot, don’t look so happy. I planned on going home anyway. I need a shower with better water pressure, and Yanagi tends to snore.”
Okazaki’s smile doesn’t falter, and Takeru just knows that he sees through his lies.
The next moment, Okazaki has maneuvered them so that Takeru is on his back on the couch, with him leaning over him and his white hair falling down like a curtain around his face.
“Okay, I’ll look forward to showering together then…”
Takeru’s eyes widen, and before he can rebuke him, Okazaki leans down and covers his lips with his once more.
It’s brief, but it somehow manages to leave him breathless and dazed, so that when Okazaki pulls back, his breath is slightly labored.
“Makes sure to leave your window open for your stray… okay?”
Takeru blinks, but Okazaki leaves without waiting for a response, and Takeru frowns as the air around him suddenly feels cold.
Takeru takes a moment to regain his bearings as he sits up from the couch and can’t help but look back to the still open window.
He knows he has a fondness for pets… but…
He isn’t so sure that Okazaki can actually be compared to a stray dog…
Rather… he’s more like a cunning fox.
Or maybe… a lost wolf.
He decides he likes the latter analogy better.
After all, something lost can be found, and there's something reassuring about that thought.