runner: I find some of the other shinki pretty interesting, it's just that I'm most interested in Yato and Yukine's interactions, so I tend to focus on them more. But it can be fun to explore those other relationships a little bit from time to time too, and it would be nice if people did more of it. I might do it myself if I didn't have so many projects going on XD

Aofery: Yeah, sorry, I'm afraid I have to take responsibility for "Ricochet" too :3 I've been spamming the fandom with random crap for a couple months now lol Thanks, ha ha.

Epilogue

"Hey, Hiyori?" Yukine asked, tapping the end of his pencil absently against the table.

Hiyori broke off in the middle of her sentence—part of their math lesson, which Yukine suddenly realized he had been totally zoning out for—and tilted her head. "Yes?"

He chewed on his lip and glanced around their bedroom even though he knew Yato was out running errands. Or getting into trouble. One or the other. The god had slept for nearly eighteen hours straight after the ablution and had a bit of a wonky sleep schedule for a few days, but he had bounced back quickly and was back to his normal trouble-making self already. Two weeks later, and it was like it had never happened at all.

"You know how I was asking you about your dad before?" Yukine asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, about how I knew that he loved me."

"Uh… Yeah. I was wondering…"

Hiyori set the book down on the table and gave him her full attention, math forgotten. "What is it?"

"Well…" Yukine frowned down at the pencil he was twisting in his hands. "How do you make sure that he knows you love him too?"

Hiyori eyed him in surprise and then smiled. "Well, I tell him so. Sometimes it's nice to hear the words, you know? But I also go to him with problems and follow his advice. I tell him about what's going on in my life and make sure to spend time with him too. I do what he asks me to without complaining too much and laugh at his jokes even when they aren't funny. I pay attention to how he's feeling and do nice things for him when he isn't feeling well or seems upset. Just little things like that."

"Oh…" He turned that over in his head. "I see."

"Don't worry so much. Yato already knows."

Yukine started in surprise and whipped his head up. "What do you…?" He trailed off as Hiyori's smile widened and her eyes took on a knowing gleam. His face felt like it was on fire and he dropped his gaze back to his page of math problems. Math problems were much easier to solve than life problems. "Do you think so?"

"Of course! Now, where were we…?"

Yukine mulled over her words for the next few days. Hiyori's advice was good and he trusted her, but… He also sometimes felt like he should be doing something to make up for everything he had put Yato through.

It had felt like everything had been turned on its head, but things had settled back to normal almost immediately and it seemed like very little had changed after all. The biggest change was that occasionally he would deliver a minor sting when he said something particularly rude, but Yato had taken to scolding him gently for it—ironically enough, for feeling guilty about it rather than for insulting him. It wasn't anything major enough to produce another blight, and Yukine was slowly losing some of those guilt reactions again. Everything else was pretty much the same as before, despite how far things had deteriorated before being patched up.

On the one hand, that was a good thing. On the other, it felt a little…anticlimactic. It had felt pretty momentous at the time, like they had totally crashed and burned and then pulled together tighter than ever. He was glad that their relationship hadn't changed too much, especially since he had been so afraid of what his stupid actions might do, but he still thought about how close it had come to falling apart sometimes. Not all the time, not too deeply, because he didn't want to bother Yato with his unsettled emotions, but sometimes.

It was worse when he started wondering about what actually was going on under the surface, if things were as okay as they seemed. He was more secure and grounded in the relationship than ever—although, to be fair, he had gone through a couple weeks of hell to get to that point—but he wasn't entirely sure about Yato. He wanted to think that their talk had set the god's doubts to rest as much as it had Yukine's, but it was always hard to tell with him. The problem was that Yukine knew he had hurt Yato a lot, and he couldn't hide behind the excuse that he had been hurt too and only taken it out on his god, true or not.

And worse, he knew Yato could hide it very well if he was still hurt. It was the same way that Yato had hidden the blight for weeks and downplayed it once it had been discovered, the way he had stood firm and steady to be Yukine's rock through the ablution even though he must have been in more than enough pain to curl up on the ground and wait for the shinki to figure it out himself. That was the way he was. The fact that he had been so visibly upset by Yukine's actions later on only went to show that he had been extremely hurt, and even then Yukine was sure he hadn't seen the half of what Yato was feeling. The masks he wore were often his armor, and cracking them took a lot.

If he was still hurt, he would have quietly slipped that pain beneath a smile like he always did and blithely continued on as if nothing had changed, with Yukine none the wiser. Even if he understood the reasons behind Yukine acting out and knew it wasn't his fault, hearing all the shinki's doubts could have cut deep. Yukine didn't want Yato feeling insecure the way he had.

Maybe things really were alright now and Yato had just bounced back like a stretched rubber band snapping back before hitting its breaking point, but either way… Yukine had accepted Yato's forgiveness, but he still felt like maybe he should be doing or changing something to make up for everything.

And…maybe not only as a sort of apology, but also as a thank-you. Because the only thing that quite managed to outweigh Yukine's guilt was his gratitude. Yukine knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he had a home and family in Yato, someone who would care about him no matter what and love him unconditionally. He just wanted to know that Yato knew he had that in Yukine too.

He was still pondering these thoughts a few days later when Yato came bounding inside with a grin.

"Yukineee! Want to do some ayakashi hunting? There's a big storm brewing over in the east district."

Yukine had just finished helping Daikoku in the shop and would much rather flop over and take a break, but he just nodded. "Okay."

"Wonderful." Yato grabbed all the shinki's winter clothes out of the closet and hauled them out again, eliciting a sigh.

"Really?" Yukine complained as the god started stuffing him into his coat again. "I'm not five."

"Well, you have this bad habit of running around in the cold without a jacket and then complaining about being cold and shoving your freezing hands all over me."

Yato bundled Yukine up in his coat and scarf and hat and handed him those dumb gloves with a hint of a grin. Yukine sighed but pulled them on.

He wondered if this was one of the things Yato had picked up from watching human families, one of the things he had adopted to try changing himself into a more 'normal' father. He wondered if Yato realized this was something parents did to little kids and not teenagers. But he only offered a few token protests to maintain his reputation, because the truth was that he didn't mind so much.

Yato was crackling with energy as he dragged Yukine out into the cold and chatted gaily as he headed for the storm gathering several streets over like angry swirls of black mist winding through the air. Yukine followed along quietly until they were almost on top of it, working up his nerve.

"Yato?"

"Yeah?" Yato abandoned some ridiculous scheming about how to best harass Bishamon. Yukine ducked his head lower to hide the heat creeping across his face and mumbled into his scarf. "What was that? Oh no, don't tell me you're going through one of those mumble-y phases? I've heard that can be a teenager thing too."

Yukine took a deep breath and tried again. "I said," he said a little louder, "I love you."

He glared at the sidewalk like it had personally offended him. It took a few seconds to realize that Yato was no longer beside him, and he turned to see that the god had stopped in his tracks several paces back and was staring at him with wide, startled eyes. Yukine buried his face further in his scarf and hunched his shoulders.

Yato stared at him silently for a few seconds longer before slowly shaking his head. "You know… I think that's the first time anyone has said that to me and really meant it." His gaze slid away, distant and misty, and his lips slanted into a faint frown. Yukine felt a pang of sympathy. That seemed sad, to live for hundreds of years and never feel like anyone loved you. But then Yato looked back again and a crooked little half-smile lit his face. "I love you too." He walked over with a new spring in his step and grinned as he pinched Yukine's cheeks. "Aw, you're growing out of your prickly phase and getting all soft and squishy! What a cutie!"

Yukine slapped his hands away. "Don't get used to it."

He was pretty sure that he just felt too hot out of embarrassment, but maybe some of the warmth in his chest came from something else. He knew they would be okay.

"Uh-oh, don't look now, but I think we've found the storm!" Yato grinned and pointed at something behind Yukine. The shinki turned and nearly jumped out of his skin as he came face to face with a large, fish-like ayakashi bearing down on him. Yato didn't even hesitate. He ran past and leaped at the phantom, throwing his hands out as if beckoning. "Sekki!"

Yukine answered the call, jumping to Yato's hands just in time to slice through the charging ayakashi. And they fell seamlessly back into their old rhythm of trust and teamwork, dancing with blades like two halves of one perfect whole.

Note: D'awww, they're too precious lol

Someone just give Yato a hug and say they love him already D: Poor guy needs to hear it lol

But yay, they're one little happy family again now :3 So maybe they both had a rough couple weeks, but it worked out in the end. It's more satisfying to see them all happy and snuggly if they went through hell first :D (I swear I'm not a sadist :X) And let's all give Yukine a round of applause for briefly indulging in sappy emotions instead of running off screaming like the prickly teenager he often is XD

runner: He's both :P He tends to be more prickly with Yato and sweeter with other people, which is what makes it so cute when he's overtly sweet to Yato since he often buries it under snark. I know it's tempting to whitewash our favorite characters and make them a little too perfect, but that cheapens them and wrecks the depth of their personalities. Yukine is such an interesting character because he can be both.