Masayoshi woke up suddenly, yanked from a deep sleep to consciousness. He blinked slowly, stared through the murky light at an unfamiliar ceiling, and felt his heart settle back in his chest as he remembered where he was. Even now he could hear the shush-hush of rain still drumming steadily against the roof and the window, the sounds muted and dull.

They could have both slept in the bed, Gotou had said, but Masayoshi wouldn't. It was disrespectful, he argued, under Gotou's mother's roof. Gotou rolled his eyes but pulled out a futon for himself - and then they fought over who was going to sleep on the futon, because Masayoshi wasn't going to sleep in Gotou's bed while Gotou was sleeping on the floor, and like hell Gotou was going to let Masayoshi, the guest, sleep on the floor - which, this argument continued until Gotou's mother had slammed her hand against the door and yelled that they could BOTH sleep on the floor, and to stop shouting about it loud enough that the neighbors could hear!

The visit had been Masayoshi's idea. He liked the idea of getting to know Gotou's family's better - after all, they were going to be his family too - and the thought made him blush, even in the darkness of the room. He didn't know how Gotou's mother was going to react when they told her; that Gotou had accepted his proposal and that they were going to get married in the summer - but she had covered her mouth with her hand and then cried into Gotou's shirt.

When they were making dinner, Gotou helping to chop vegetables and Masayoshi setting places at the table, he heard her ask Gotou quietly. "He makes you happy, then?"

Gotou's voice was soft, firm - resolute. "I love him."

That was all that was said. Gotou's mother doted on Masayoshi - Gotou rolled his eyes at her, and she clucked at him disapprovingly. She sent Gotou out to the store - Masayoshi could tell by the way he'd been twitching his fingers that he desperately wanted a cigarette but hadn't thought up a good enough excuse to leave - and by the time he'd returned she had the family albums out, and was showing Masayoshi pictures.

(There was one picture in particular that was now set as Masayoshi's cell phone background … it was of a tiny young Gotou, curled sleepily around a Harakiri Sunshine figurine, three of his fingers stuck in his mouth as he slept. It was the most adorable picture he had ever seen, and he was going to treasure his digital copy forever.)

The soft drumming of rain on the side of the house turned harder, and the sudden flash of lightning lit the room in solid relief - the rumble of thunder followed shortly after.

Masayoshi turned on his side, and looked across to the futon beside his. Gotou was sleeping on his back, his mouth slightly open, snoring softly. Masayoshi watched him sleep for a while, the realization that this was the furthest apart they had slept while in the same room since he moved in all those months ago weighing heavily. He wanted to slide out from under his futon, drag himself over to Gotou's - and then tuck himself under one splayed out arm and relax against him, lulled back to sleep by the beating of Gotou's heart.

Next week was going to be a particularly bad one. He'd be gone for a few days, again - he hated this criss-crossing the country stuff … he wished he could drag Gotou along behind him, but he hadn't been off his suspension for that long. Gotou was determined to make up for everything that happened and work three times as hard as an officer - and that alone made Masayoshi proud of him. Gotou might not be interested in being a toku hero, but he stood for justice in his own way.

Lightning again, and thunder followed right on its heels; the kami were fighting among themselves in the sky above. Masayoshi sat up and looked out the partially-shuttered window, thinking about how his grandfather used to tuck him in tight in the storms, warning him to keep his stomach covered. Masayoshi smiled at the memory. He was watching out the window when the lightning flashed this time, and the thunder rumbled before the light had even faded, a crack above them as violent as one he'd ever heard, enough to shake the fixtures in the walls.

Masayoshi was half under the covers beside Gotou before he'd even caught himself.

Gotou's arm slid around him before he could change his mind, and Masayoshi gave up and snuggled into his side. He could still see the top of the window, and he watched the rainwater slide down the glass, tiny ribbons of condensation lit from below by the neighbor's porch light until sleep took him again.

The bright band of sunlight hadn't quite crept across their faces yet - Gotou was turned in toward Masayoshi, his arm thrown over Masayoshi's shoulder and the other curled between them - Masayoshi had tucked himself up against Gotou, his hand resting in Gotou's open one. They looked so peaceful together that she just couldn't bring herself to disturb them.

Gotou's mother sighed, exasperated and a little amused. "Really," she murmured as she closed the door softly. "They could have just slept on the bed, and saved me the extra washing."