Inspired by an anon who wanted some angsty sex with kissing, and fieldofclover, who mentioned Fai's reset button. It's not exactly in the sword/shield series because Fai makes a ton of noise in Yama here, but otherwise the dynamics are very similar :P

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and its characters don't belong to me. My writing does, though.

"reset"

"Reset" is an alien concept in Nihon. Where Kurogane hails from, nothing will allow a person to start over a project with the same materials. Meat cooks irreversibly under enough heat, and split logs remain two separate pieces. There is unraveling a half-knitted sweater, perhaps, or leaving a field to fallow, but each involves wasted time, squandered resources.

With people, especially, there are words that mean "refresh", or "revitalize". Certainly none to describe a too-loud wizard shutting the hell up, and none to paint the way he glances about to reorient himself, that twisted mind of his cleared of impish smiles and jokes that Kurogane can't understand.

Shut up, Kurogane thinks repeatedly when Fai dances around the surly troops of Yama, blabbering nonsense that none of them understands. The men around them stare—some incredulous, some predatory—and Kurogane wishes the idiot had an ounce more self-preservation, had a bit more sense to get over here and scrub the dishes like he's doing.

"Hey," he says. "Idiot."

Fai turns at his voice, his smile stretched wide, his gaze cool and calculating, and Kurogane wishes he could wipe that pretense off. Return him to a blank slate just for a bit, so he doesn't have to keep listening to Fai make a fool of himself. The wizard rattles off a string of gibberish.

Kurogane sighs. Heat scratches within his chest, a meld of annoyance and weariness and other unimportant things. He pulls the last of the ceramic dishes from soapy water, dunks them in a pail of cleaner water, and stacks them up to dry. "Take these," he says, pointing first at the bowls, then at the cooking tent, where the rest of the crockery sit stacked on a low table. "Return them."

The wizard minces over, his voice lilting up in an incessant string of words, his eyes laughing at Kurogane.

"Stop it," he mutters, baring his teeth. Fai smirks. His long fingers curl around gleaming bowls, and he's gone in a patter of footsteps, setting the dishes carefully with the rest of the camp's utensils.

Fai returns, wagging a finger, saying more things that Kurogane can't fucking understand, and Kurogane's so damned tired of his voice. The way Fai's stupid words worm into his ears and into his mind, the way he grins like Kurogane's doing something wrong. The wizard leans in, pushing his face close, his strange black eyes gleaming.

"Damn you," Kurogane says, snagging his arm.

Triumph flickers through Fai's eyes.

"You need to shut up," Kurogane says, rising to his feet. He doesn't miss the way Fai's gaze lingers on his chest, down his midriff, to his thighs and feet. Like he doesn't look at Kurogane every other hour, every other day and month they've been trapped in this place.

Fai says more words, loud and grating, that Kurogane assumes is Look at that, Big Doggy's all grown up!

The soldiers watch them. It doesn't stop Kurogane from hauling the stumbling idiot behind him. They weave between tents, leaving behind glinting eyes, and Fai chatters the whole damned way.

They step into the forest. Over gnarled roots. Under low branches. Until they reach a broad, familiar tree, spots of cracked bark pried off by curling fingers. Fai blabbers louder.

Kurogane yanks the wizard closer, whirls him around and shoves him backward, his shoulder blades slamming into the trunk. Fai gasps. He fixes his eyes on Kurogane's bicep, and Kurogane steps in close, one foot between Fai's. He cups him between the legs, squeezes the half-hard bulge inside thick trousers.

The wizard tips his head back into the trunk, eyelids fluttering shut. Kurogane follows the length of him with his thumb, down to his head, nudging him there, and Fai sucks in a breath, suddenly loud in the still forest.

The uneven lines of the tree bark lead down to bright gold hair, to pale cheeks and soft pink lips. Kurogane shuffles closer so Fai doesn't have to avoid his gaze. Then, he strokes Fai through his pants, feels the way he lengthens, the way he presses insistently into his palm, the way his breathing hitches.

That's when Kurogane kisses him. He begins from the top of Fai's ear, because mouth kisses are something Fai still shies away from. Kurogane drags his lips along the shell of his ear, down his earlobe, to his cheek, and as he tugs the drawstring of Fai's pants open, he slips a hand inside, smooths down silky skin, and Fai gasps.

He tips Fai's head up, brushes their mouths together. For a heartbeat, Fai freezes. But Kurogane circles his tip gentle and slow, easing his skin down to expose damp, sensitive flesh, and Fai thrusts at him, moaning into his mouth, his slick smearing onto Kurogane's fingers.

And so Kurogane kisses him harder, when Fai parts for him, allows him in. He swallows the little sounds Fai makes when he circles his fingers around him, stroking down, then up, and Fai shivers, his nails biting into the tree, snapping bits of bark off.

Kurogane ignores the pressure building at his own groin, swirling his fingers around Fai's tip, tugging his baggy trousers down to free him. Fai remains tense for another heartbeat, his tongue hesitant, before he sinks against Kurogane, parting his lips wide, his hips rocking up, his cock grinding slick into Kurogane's palm. His hands come up to tangle in Kurogane's shirt.

For a taut, breathless moment, Kurogane just kisses him, feels the heat of his body as he gasps, the heavy slide of his cock against his fingers. Gone is that inane laughter, that senseless chattering, and Kurogane doesn't know how he can like this so much, when Fai's a quivering, panting mess in his arms, giving in willingly to kisses, and maybe, a little bit of kindness.

Fai spills, hot and thick between them, staining their clothes. He collapses against Kurogane, panting and boneless, until his hands wander along Kurogane's thighs and find the uncomfortable press of his cock. Kurogane inhales sharply.

A tiny smile tugs on Fai's lips. He sinks down to his knees, hazy-eyed and quiet, and Kurogane presses his forearm on the tree trunk so his knees don't buckle when Fai takes him into his mouth.

Later, after they wander back to camp, Fai speaks again when the other soldiers offer them booze, extending invites to join their campfires. It takes him beer and another minute before he begins to chatter again, and Kurogane basks in that lingering honesty.

In Yama, Kurogane sees the wizard lose his mask. He sees Fai struggle to remember his facade, and the way they both know how little it takes for that pretense to slip.

In Piffle, he learns the word "reset", and he thinks of the tree with the scratched-off bark, and Fai.

A/N: Piffle will be updated next weekend, plus I have a new story/ book thing coming out at the same time :D Look out for it!