Page 24 of Pandion

“Oh crap, he’s coming over. This is bad!”

“What do you want me to do? Do I let him in but lock you in here? If I leave him outside, he’ll wake up the neighbours, but if he decides to make noise, he’ll make as much noise in here.” As Takazaki said this, Satoru was already out there banging on the door. “Hmm, he is indeed loud. Look, Kagesawa, you’re going to have to take one for the team.” To Kagesawa’s horror, a slightly crooked grin appeared on Takazaki’s face.

“You’re not thinking of letting him in, are you?” Kagesawa tried to stop him, but Takazaki wasted no time, probably since Satoru was already making so much noise.

“Hi, hello!” A heavily inebriated Satoru was let into the apartment with absolutely no resistance. “I decided to join you,” he said and latched onto Kagesawa like a koala onto a tree.

Kagesawa lost his balance but, instead of falling over, backed into a wall. Why was this even at all arousing? Why did he feel such a strong urge to eat Satoru…?

“You can use my bed, I’m not squeamish. I’ll wait in the living room,” Takazaki said as if all of this was nothing out of the ordinary. Who the hell offered their bed so willingly under these circumstances?! Also, if it was going to end like this anyway, they could have gone home instead!

Sadly, Satoru didn’t seem concerned by the location. He merely mumbled, “OK, thanks,” and pushed Kagesawa into the bedroom.

Fuck.Really?

“On second thought, I think I’ll go for a walk. I’ll be a while. You kids have fun.” Takazaki waved at them and hurried out the door.

“What kids? Shit—” Kagesawa tried to resist Satoru, but this persistent side of him was actually rather endearing. “Are you sure you want this?” Was there even a way to obtain valid consent when he was in this state? He was too precious to take any risks.

“Did youh, ah, just call me precious again?” Satoru let out a barely half-suppressed laugh.

“It wasn’t intentional.” Kagesawa blushed. Satoru giggled at him.

Kagesawa tried to remain serious, fearing this would soon turn into a mutual giggle-fit. He could already imagine them rolling on the floor laughing.

“Tsuyoshii.” Satoru managed to take a few deep breaths and stop laughing. “How do you dampen even, ‘t seems like a shit-ty way to do it. I need you to do it prop’rly.”

“I don’t know. This is how I learned it.” Kagesawa did his best to concentrate and show it to Satoru.

“Yea, no. Stop that. That’s like trying to strangle yourself.” It seemed to be helping with Satoru’s speech impediment, regardless. Kagesawa tried to concentrate to allow Satoru more time to explain, but it was tricky in his present, less than ideal condition.

Satoru did not hesitate to take what he could get. “Do it like this instead,” he said.

What he did next was nothing short of impressive: he not only demonstrated the proper dampening technique so that it was clear and easy for Kagesawa to follow, but he also did it without dampening the link inadvertently in the process.

Kagesawa had gone through the standard empath training, but this drove home the difference between his school and the SEU. He couldn’t help but stare at Satoru in awe, unable to form a coherent sentence.

“Did you get it?” Satoru asked. When he stopped, there was a momentary wave of exhaustion before he resumed dampening.

“Maybe…” Kagesawa tried it out. It was suspiciously easy. He could tell when Satoru stopped at his end to hazard a test. “Well? Is it any better?” Kagesawa asked. For a full minute, Satoru waited, expression blank. “Well…?”

“What the hell!” he finally shouted. Kagesawa flinched.

“What? Is it working?”

“Yes! Yes, it’s working perfectly. It’s fucking working like it should!” Satoru used a few more choice curse words and started to pace back and forth. “What have you been doing up until now? Who the hell taught you to dampen? Moreover, you picked it up so well from just that? I could have fixed this in less than two minutes waaaaay before it got to this point?!” He groaned.

Kagesawa frowned. Yes, he was glad it was working, but what was this baffling mixture of relief and disappointment? Was he so attached to the idea of being forced into an intimate relationship with Satoru? Wasn’t it a nuisance…? Yes, yes, the sex was fine, but the rest of it was a huge anxiety-inducing inconvenience! At least Satoru was now unable to pick up his inner confusion, right? Right? He waited. No response.

This wasn’t even all that difficult. In fact, the only slight challenge was that he was drunk. If it was this easy now, it must have been child’s play sober! Which begged the question, how tired had Satoru been before when he’d had trouble with this? Or in a similar vein, how messed up did this drinking make him feel? Kagesawa was hit with an immense burden of guilt.

“I’m so sorry,” was all he could say.

Satoru stopped pacing. “Well, you didn’t know you were doing it wrong. The main thing is it’s fixed now.” He turned to leave.

Ah, right, yes. He wasn’t here out of his own will; it was the beer. Kagesawa sat down on the bed, realising how tired he was.

“Aren’t you coming?” Satoru asked from the door.

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