Dis Aliter Visum

Chapter 67

Kuroro awoke to the definite sensation that he was being watched. He took a moment to take stock of his surroundings, keeping his eyes closed and focusing all of his attention on what he could hear and feel instead. He'd crawled into bed after a long, awkward day driving through the countryside with Kurapica, with whom he was currently sharing a bed, actually. This was probably the source of the stare he could feel.

He smiled, keeping his eyes closed still. "Are you blinking?" he asked the blond.

He heard a light snort. "Idiot," the younger man accused, though there was no anger in his tone.

The mattress dipped and shifted. Kuroro finally opened his eyes. The blond was on his back now, looking up at the ceiling, a thoughtful frown pulling his eyebrows closer together above the bridge of his nose. Kuroro took this opportunity to study the boy's face. It would have been easy to pull him in, making the blond blush, making him look flustered and embarrassed. He had half a mind to do it, but refrained. There was a shift happening in the boy's disposition, he was certain of it. It would be so easy to push him further, but Kuroro had done that the previous day and it had made things awkward. In any case, he kind of wanted Kurapica to move closer on his own now. He'd already bound him tightly, metaphorically speaking. Now, it was time to slowly let go once more, to see if the boy would stay, to see if he would remain by his side of his own accord.

Kurapica glanced at him from the corner of his eye. "You're definitely not blinking now," he remarked.

"What can I say," Kuroro answered, a smile pulling at his lips, "I like observing beautiful things." He lifted a hand and slid the back of his fingers down the Kuruta's cheek. Kurapica coloured slightly and closed his eyes. This was too easy.

It was so tempting to do more, but he controlled himself. Anyway, they had another long drive ahead, and he wanted to leave early so that they could get to Mir-Idlin before sundown. Technically, registration for the university officially started three days from then, but he wanted to spend the day just before it began actually investigating the professor, who definitely should not be earning enough to afford a pair of the precious living rubies. He wanted to be on site, to get the general layout of his house. One could never be too well prepared, after all.

He sat up, raking his fingers through his hair before letting his hand fall onto the mattress. He glanced at the blond. Their eyes met. After only a moment, Kurapica's gaze slid away. He looked embarrassed and Kuroro hoped that it was a good sign, that perhaps the boy was wishing that he would do something.

"We should get ready to leave," the Spider Head told him instead. "I'll be driving all day again and I'd rather start early."

Kurapica's shoulders slumped, but whether it was from relief or disappointment, Kuroro couldn't say. "Okay," the blond said, pushing himself up and sliding his legs off the bed. He sat on the edge a moment and repeated, "Okay."

Kuroro got to his feet and glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand next to the younger man. It was just a little before seven in the morning. Not too late. "You should take your shower first while I go downstairs to see if the owner is up and we can have some coffee. She probably won't expect you to have make up on, so you don't need to bother with that today either."

The blond nodded and went to his bag to retrieve a change of clothing while Kuroro checked the hallway to make sure that the coast was clear so that Kurapica could slip into the bathroom unobserved. On a nod from the older man, he quickly walked across the narrow space between the two doors. Satisfied now that he'd heard the lock slide into place behind the boy, Kuroro made his way down the staircase and into the kitchen, still dressed in loose cotton pants and T-shirt.