Akira tipped his head back with a breathless sound as Shirogane’s mouth slid down his throat, arms tightening around him.

And then he started a little as the silky weight of Shirogane’s braid thumped against his shoulder. Not for the first time he decided it was a little odd that he’d never seen it undone, not even when he was pressed up against the wall of the shower by the weight of Shirogane’s body.

Shirogane’s hand stroked down his back and the thought escaped on a sigh. "Do you ever undo your hair?"

Shirogane paused and lifted his head. He was smiling but his eyes were darker than they usually were in bed. "Not… for some time," he murmured.

Akira hmph-ed at this hint of more things he wasn’t going to be told about and Shirogane laughed. He tipped Akira’s chin up with light fingers. "Did you want to see it down?"

Akira flushed; it was probably silly, and he couldn’t even explain why, if Shirogane asked, but… "Yeah."

Shirogane looked at him for a long moment, and finally nodded. "All right." He sat up beside Akira and undid the clasp that held his braid, running his fingers through the silver swaths, unraveling them turn by turn to fan over his bare skin. Akira watched, eyes wide, breath coming light and fast. It was the most sensual thing he’d ever seen and it made an odd kind of heat uncurl inside him.

Shirogane finally shook the whole sweep of it loose and smiled down at Akira, settling over him again. His hair slid over his shoulders and down around Akira in curtains.

And Akira felt… warm.

He felt relaxed; he felt… home, which was a little weird. Of course they were at home. He couldn’t help reaching up to run his fingers though the strands, though.

Shirogane’s smile was soft and a little sad, but Akira didn’t have time to ask why before Shirogane kissed him, hands moving over him again, slow touches opening him up.

The silver around him made the afternoon different, lighter, closer. Shirogane’s touch felt new and familiar, and when Shirogane finally slid into him it felt so right he moaned out loud.

"Yes, please." The words spilled through him. "This… always this."

"Always, yes," Shirogane murmured to him, husky. "With you."

Akira moved with him, perfectly wanton, rocking up to match Shirogane’s thrusts, panting with the senseless brightness that filled him breath after breath. "Please…"

Shirogane leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Always one with you."

The words rang through his mind and body and swept him down in a wave of wild yearning. "Shirogane!"

Shirogane gathered him close and held him until he stilled.

And held him some more while he shivered.

"What was… that was so… I mean…" Akira looked up at Shirogane, a little shocked by how different this afternoon had been.

Shirogane’s eyes were gentle. "You are always you."

Always one. A harder shiver ran through Akira. "That was… Ryuuko?"

"I expect he would have some words to say to me about binding my hair, yes," Shirogane murmured.

Akira tried to fit that into the conversation and finally resorted to, "Huh?"

Shirogane’s mouth quirked. "It’s… one of the signs of what we are. The hair."

"Oh." Akira touched Shirogane’s hair again, biting his lip. "I just think you look better with it down," he muttered.

Shirogane blinked and then laughed. "That’s my Akira."

"Yeah." He looked back up at Shirogane, eyes level. "Yeah, I am." After a moment honesty made him add, "Too."

Shirogane smiled slowly. "I’m glad." His left hand slid down Akira’s body to close between his legs and Akira’s back arched off the bed at the rush of heat. Shirogane purred, "Because I’m not finished yet."

"Fuck!" Akira gasped for breath; and here he’d thought he was wrung out. "That another sign of what you are, when you do this?"

"Do what?" Shirogane asked, innocently, fondling Akira.

"When you… your left hand… so incredible," Akira panted.

"Ah." Shirogane’s smile turned hot. "This hand is where the mark I set the contract with is." He squeezed and Akira moaned. "You respond to it."

That was a hell of an understatement, Akira decided, lightheaded. When Shirogane thrust into him again he groaned, spreading his legs wider. There was nothing strange about it this time, just the hot pleasure of being fucked and the inhuman fierceness of Shirogane’s eyes and the silver of his hair falling around them, bright as the sensation inside him.

"Shirogane!"

End