AN: This is for Sagakure, a long promised prize for her review for 'Picture-Perfect' and generally for her absolute wonderfullness to this fandom, and because she likes ZeroxKaname pairing so much. It is rated M, and I'd say genre-wise it's a lemony fluff with elements (Ok, it's really one element but big) of hurt/comfort.

So... The story takes place in roughly the same AU as 'Picture-Perfect' - that is Zero and Kaname are living outside of Cross Academy, together, and they both have accepted their relationship, but are still pretty new at it (though maybe less so here than in 'P-P'). Oh, and I have invented a certain twist to a pureblood physiology that is completely non-canon, but hey! it's AU!

That said - it was really meant as a one-shot, and I probably should've waited till I write it in full, but I found myself waiting for hours for a delayed flight, so I wrote this, and now upon arrival had typed it up (and am falling asleep at the keyboard, so please forgive any typos for now), and because I'm impatient I will post it too, even though the plot hasn't even started and all I have is Zero's thoughts, so just take it as a teaser, and I promise to write more soon... (and I'm rambling on and on and on, which only goes to show how tired I am).

Edit: Aaaand... the typos are corrected thanks to dear YenGirl!
Btw. - just an unrelated thought - I've just noticed that both my tales of this pairing are named using (if we disregard the article) exclusively with words beginning with "P". It's purely coincidental, but, for some reason it's funny!
Thank you to everyone who already reviewed, I will answer your reviews in a little while.

Disclaimer:Zero and Kaname belong together and VK belongs to its rightful author, and that is not me.

Zero is tired. The assignment has taken six days instead of four he agreed on, and a seven hour long ride on an overnight bus hasn't helped either.

He is tired. And he stinks. And he is damn homesick.

'No,' he corrects himself in a sudden bout of honesty. 'It's not exactly homesick that you are. You are missing Kaname damn badly. Why else would you take that bus at all, instead of spending the night at the hotel with the rest of your team, and washing, and drinking beer, and going back in the morning in the Association car?'

He knows, it's true. He knows it by a tingling, more than likely entirely unsubstantiated worry that eats at his insides after almost a week in the field, after almost a week where there were no phone booths, hell, not even a cell connection to call the pureblood - just a bunch of level Es leading them on a merry chase. And when they got back to the town they'd started from, he was too scared to miss the freaking bus to spare time for a phone call, and his cell was discharged, lying as a dead weight in his pocket, and what was a call anyway, if in seven hours he could be back and see for himself?.. would be back with this arrogant, stubborn, perpetually sulking and/or perpetually clingy, passionate, tender, and sometimes so hopelessly lost, when faced with the simplest things of this life - despite being the ancestor, and that great master-mind, and a business-shark (or whatever they call the head of huge multinational corporation this days?)... fuff... pureblood...

And he is home already, standing - key in hand before the door of their penthouse-apartment, feeling slightly incongruous with his dusty clothes and well-worn duffel-bag (and he can swear that the concierge still views him suspiciously, even though they have been living here for five months).

But it is not that that brings on the sudden apprehension and makes him hesitate before inserting the key. It's the absolute, time-proved surety that the pureblood will be sulking, when he comes in... sulking, pretending to be too busy (at this time in the morning? try something else), scolding him for not calling and generally reminding him that last time they talked about it he had agreed (under pressure) to not take any out-of-town assignments that would last more than four days. As if it is Zero's fault that his assignment hasn't ended on time! They have agreed to continue with their respective jobs, haven't they? Is it Zero's fault that Kaname feels like "some housewife" (his words) simply because most of his business deals can be handled from his downtown office if not right from home - via e-mails and international calls, and if he ever needs to attend a foreign meeting personally - a private jet takes him there and back again within barely a day? What does he know anyway about stinking buses, about stinking little shitholes of towns, about small hotel rooms smelling of stale smoke and casual sex... let alone such a thing as a sleeping bag? What does he know of places miles removed from the nearest cell relay tower, not to mention a phone booth, and of living with danger looking over your shoulder every hour?..

And there he stops abruptly. Because this is just not true. Because Kaname knows about danger all too well. So well in fact, that at times Zero wants to erase this silent knowledge from his eyes, to rub it off with reverent touches and gentle kisses... And he knows that - at least at times - he really does.

Just as he knows that if Kaname sulks - it's only because he misses Zero just as badly, worrying himself sick every minute of each day that Zero is away from him living his dangerous life. Zero knows that Kaname is probably dreaming about the day, when the hunter gets a promotion and is given some dull but honorable post at the Headquarters, and even though Zero hates the very thought of being confined to a stuffy office, sorting through papers eight hours a day, he will probably accept - if only for Kaname's sake, or maybe because he doesn't mind spending each night at home with his pureblood "housewife" (even if he wouldn't admit it, not openly - just yet).

The key turns with a soft click and Zero steps out of the blazing early morning sun and into complete darkness inside the apartment. The contrast is sharp, it is as if not only the sight but also the sound gets muted, but of course his vampire senses make up for the change, revealing the world wrapped up in different shades of shadow, as he puts his duffel down right by the door and moves stealthily further into the penthouse.

The couch in the living room is empty, and it's a good sign. If Kaname feels really cranky, he'd move over here, regardless if Zero were home or not, and sleep ridiculously curled up in too little space, getting himself a cramped neck and tingly toes when he wakes. Naturally the sped up healing dissipates all these small pains in no time, but the pureblood makes sure that Zero is fully aware of any moment of discomfort he feels. More often than not though, when Zero only sees Kaname clutching his pillow and trudging off to the couch, he lifts him out of it and dumps him unceremoniously back into bed - kicking and squirming, but - hey! doesn't it just make for more passionate sex? And sex is one magic medicine that can heal Kaname's sulks, hell, just any of Kaname's bad moods - Zero-related or not.

Zero prefers when Kaname is in a relaxed and happy state though, for the pureblood can be adorably playful and childish then - tickling and teasing, and - man! - can he tell the craziest things with a completely straight face, so that Zero is almost always taken in and has to retaliate - physically, and they both end up somewhere on the carpet in Kaname's study, satiated and glowing, sprawled on their backs beside each other and laughing their heads off.

Ah... duh... is he going to stand here all day - thinking about Kaname, when the object of his thoughts is just on the other side of the door?

Just as stealthily Zero moves on, and - right there! - the pureblood is sleeping, curled half-under, half-above the blanket on his side, his face pressed full into the pillow... Still - sulking?.. But then Zero notices that it is his half of the bed that Kaname is lying on, and his pillow that he is pressing his face into so fully, wrapping himself in Zero's scent. Not sulking then. Just missing him damn badly. Zero knows. He does the same on those rare occasions, when it is Kaname who is away - and he wonders briefly, if the pureblood with his extra-sharp senses has detected the lingering traces of Zero's smell on his own pillow upon his return.

Now though - the mere sight of Kaname doing just this fills Zero with an almost unbearable desire to lean over and... just kiss him softly... eh... at least for starters... but he is fully aware of just how dusty and sweaty and just plain unsanitary he currently is, so he tip-toes to the wardrobe to retrieve his pyjama trousers and then out of the room and into the guest bathroom, where the sound of streaming water won't wake the sleeping beauty that awaits him in bed.