#[ HIIIIIII.............. HAVE I BEEN HOARDING THIS FOR AGES? MAYBE

[healthkits]

He should've left a while ago, when the sun first peeked through the windows ; his shop was normally open by now. In spite of that, Daigo only shifted closer. Dark eyes framed with fine lines traveled across what he could see of Joel from where he laid, tucked into his side. Tentative fingers trailed over the other man's chest. Daigo's coarse, silver hair pooled over his shoulders and pillow like a halo.

Without really thinking, Daigo craned his head up. His nose bumped into Joel's jaw as the ex - yakuza pressed his lips lightly to the curve of his throat. He tried not to think about the darker thoughts swirling at the back of his mind : that he didn't deserve to be happy after these last two decades ; that he should feel guilty for seeking comfort ; that anything taking the edge off of his biting sorrow was somehow wrong.

Daigo swallowed with difficulty, gave Joel's neck a final kiss, and nestled back under his chin. His fingertips traced a scar leisurely. "You're . . . " Daigo murmured to no one in particular, sighing. "Incredible, you know, Joel."

He'd been awake the moment Daigo moved against him, even if the comfort he felt only rose him to half-awareness. The touch of his hand on Joel's chest, the brush of his nose and the pressure of his lips-- he'd felt everything.

(And the gentleness that Daigo affords him, as always, provides a tantalising paradox of lethargy and energy crackling beneath his skin.)

Joel doesn't want to move, not really. Doesn't want to take the moment away from Daigo, not when he wouldn't even know where to begin. Nobody's ever thought him incredible the way Daigo puts it, and while Joel doesn't struggle with self-doubt-- only regret that he hadn't been cruel from the beginning to save his baby girl-- the exclamation would be thought as exaggeration if it had come from anyone else.

But it's Daigo, who's even more taciturn than Joel is. It's Daigo, who's never been soft until this... anomaly bloomed between them.

Daigo doesn't say things he doesn't mean. The thought of that makes his words settle in his chest, warm and unfamiliar.

He decides not to cheapen the moment with platitudes. But he wants Daigo to know that he heard, and so his head tilts down to kiss the other man's hair. Joel lingers before nosing at his forehead, then kissing his brow.

And in the end, without saying a word, he kisses him believing Daigo already sees it coming.

Maybe Daigo's become softer in the years since they've settled in Jackson. But Joel's fucking putty in comparison-- so much so that he no longer feels humiliation when he manoeuvres Daigo to lie on his back beneath him, a hand on his face and another one caressing his side.

You spoil me, he could tease.

You undo me, he could admit.

But Joel only murmurs: "Hey."

And it's not much, not really. But the smile that curves his lips is only Daigo's, and that ought to count for something.

Especially as Joel kisses him with it, full and honest and true.