Cage of bones

5.

Izuna

"Izuna... Hey, Izuna."

I blinked myself awake and stretched. Why was I naked? I never slept naked.

Then, I remembered and blushed.

Tobirama was leaning over me, a light stubble on his cheeks, his hair wet, smelling delicious of a musky cologne. He looked concerned, as if prepared to protect me from any looming danger.

"Oh, hi", I said with a blush and pulled the duvet up over my mouth.

"Fuck, you're cute", he said. "I regret to inform you I'm going to work."

He sounded so formal I wanted to squeeze him. I looked at my phone.

"But it's seven am! On a Sunday!" Then, I remembered what his job was. "Oh... I'll be ready to leave in a minute", I said and made to raise up, but he pushed me back gently with a hand on my chest that made my skin burn beneath his fingertips.

"Nonsense. The spare keys are on the kitchen table. There is breakfast foods in the fridge and the pantry. Take whatever you want. Leave whenever you're ready. I left a towel in the bathroom if you want to take a bath. Take whatever you want in there, too." He kissed my forehead. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye", I whispered as he left.

He left a lingering silence after him that was so delicious, I could almost taste it. Was this how things could be? I had always been so focussed on my dancing that I hadn't made time for anything else but this... This was fantastic.

I fell back asleep and slept for another two hours. Then I lay and looked at videos about snails on my phone for another hour, before I got up and I soaked in the big bath there for two hours in a cocktail made of everything I could find in Tobirama's cabinet. I even washed my hair with his shampoo and used his colognes on my skin  so I could  smell like him. I found his dressing gown hanging behind his bedroom door and put it on, revelling in it as I made myself breakfast. As I was eating the toasts, one with cheese and tomato, one with cream cheese and fig jam, Martin called me.

"How was it?"

I told him everything, and was grateful for his soft, tender and respectful reactions.

"How about training together today and then go to my place and watch a film?" I asked when we were done. 

"Stunning", he said. "I'll bring popcorn."

Before I left, I wrote a note to Tobirama thanking him profusely for everything.

I left his home with a smile on my face and the keys to his apartment in my pocket and the key to my heart in his.

Tobirama

"Coffee, Sir? »

I looked up and saw the young police officer I'd flirted with so profusely on Monday come in. Monday... A lifetime ago. So much had changed since then. 

"Thank you", I said groggily, accepting it. "How did you know it's exactly what I needed?"

"The purple bags under your eyes." I jerked, and the boy blushed up to his reddish blonde roots. "Sorry, Sir."

"You're absolutely right, though", I said and smiled at him, and his shoulders sagged with relief. "Not much sleep." I didn't need to specify why there hadn't been much sleep. "Any news about the latest disappearance?"