Developing Trust [Part 4]
Sep. 1st, 2014 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Noblesse
Summary: Developing trust takes time.
Rating: PG-13
Contains: Takeo/Tao
Notes: Set after chapter 143.
Written as a parallels treat for Kiyutsuna.
Genre: General.
Word count: 5,002
Word count: 17,321
Status: Complete
There were fingers running through his hair. Only one section, with light tugs, but it was still strange, something Takeo wasn't used to.
The hum of a laptop was also right by his ear. It wasn't hard to piece together who it was.
The hand paused and lifted away. "Mornin'," Tao said.
"Morning." Takeo didn't say anything for a few seconds, hearing Tao's typing resume. "I don't mind."
He didn't move, trying not to think as Tao's typing slowed. "Really...?" Tao's voice was hesitant.
"Yeah."
"Okay." A soft intake of breath. "Cool." Takeo closed his eyes again when he felt Tao's fingers go through his hair once more.
* * *
Takeo blinked at the wad of cash Frankenstein had offered him and Tao. "Sir?"
Frankenstein's lips twitched. "There's no need to call me that." He didn't retract his hand. "Since I was otherwise detained for the last number of days, I apologise for the lack of clothing at your disposal."
"You're giving us money in apology?" Tao asked, taking the money from Frankenstein, flicking through it. It hadn't been too bad; they still had a few clean clothes left. Tao's eyebrows shot up. …How much had Frankenstein given them…?
"No." Frankenstein shook his head. "I'm giving you money to buy your own clothes."
"Woah, really?" Tao beamed. "Thanks!"
Takeo studied Frankenstein. "Is it all right for us to leave the house?" The police were still calling for witnesses in the wake of the 'explosion'.
Tao snickered, waving a hand. "There's no video footage of us."
Which meant any he found had also been deleted.
Frankenstein nodded. "And you're healed enough that I'm satisfied."
Ah, that was good to hear. He'd been feeling better but hadn't wanted to push too hard.
"C'mon!" Tao said, grabbing Takeo by the bicep and tugging him towards the door. "Time to go shopping!"
"Ack-! Tao!" Tao didn't listen, not letting go of him.
* * *
It didn't take them long to find clothes shops and Tao dived into one, browsing the selection with vigour.
Takeo couldn't help but feel unsettled though, unused to doing something considered so 'normal', especially surrounded by so many people. There was a difference between doing that when he thought they would only stay in the area for a few days and staying there indefinitely. He fell back into habit, keeping his back to the wall, watching everyone around them, in case they had drawn any attention. They hadn't – there were a few people who took a second glance, but they weren't measuring, hostile looks.
"Hey, Takeo, how do I look?"
Tao had found striped tops of varying colours, a number of them draped over his arm while he wore a light blue and white one. He span around with his arms out so Takeo could see it all at all angles.
"They don't sell off-shoulder tops here?" Takeo asked, amused. That was what he'd expected Tao to go for first.
"Do you know how hard those are to find?" Tao puffed up his cheeks. "I had to get those in bulk whenever I got lucky."
He couldn't help but smile at Tao's reaction. "Ah, all right."
Tao peered at him, then swept the room with a casual glance. "We're both supposed to be getting clothes, remember?"
"I...haven't found anything I liked." But that was because-
"You haven't looked!" Tao ducked behind him and pushed him towards the racks.
"Hey!" Dammit, that would draw attention!
"Go and find something." Tao kept pushing. "Or do you want me to choose what you get?"
"Gck, no!" He'd done that once and that that was more than enough. Though, part of the reason why he had disliked them on sight was because of how bright the colours had been and how they would have made him stand out on a mission.
"You did know I bought them for when we were off mission, right?" Tao was studying his face.
"…No." Why hadn't he said that at the time?
"Then go." Tao gave him one final shove and when Takeo looked at him over his shoulder, flicked his hands at him, shooing him towards the racks again. "Or else I'll use up all the money and then we'll have to share."
"I thought you said Frankenstein had given us enough money to buy an entire floor?" Tao shouldn't be able to do that with just clothes. Technology, easily, but not clothes.
"He did; my threat still stands." Tao crossed his arms and grinned, daring him to try it.
"All right," Takeo said, shaking his head.
* * *
"Okaaay," Tao said, adjusting his hold on his bags. "I think we're done?"
Takeo slid his newly bought brush into a bag he already had and nodded. "Yeah." Underwear had been another item on the list –that Tao had made once they realised they needed one- and as far as Takeo was aware, everything had been checked off.
"Sweet." Tao bumped his elbow with his own. "So I – ooh, coffee shop!"
The smell of the coffee hit Takeo before he saw the shop… Ah.
Tao nudged him again when he didn't say anything. "We've got lots of money to spare – it'll be fine."
That wasn't why he was staring. "This is where I went with Shinwoo and Yuna." He hadn't realised they'd been going in this direction.
Tao's eyebrows shot up. "Huh, weird. I came here with Ik-han."
That…was a bit of a coincidence. Or maybe it wasn't. "Since the three of them are friends…" Takeo suggested, watching a group go into the entrance.
"Yeah. We can ask them later." Tao shrugged. "Anyway! I need to remember what I ordered last so you can try it."
"And if I didn't have it because I didn't like it…?"
"Then you pick something else, of course." Tao shaded his eyes, squinting at the glass. "C'mon, before the queue gets any longer."
Judging by the groups of people converging towards the shop, they would have to be quick and Takeo followed Tao inside.
* * *
"Damn, that feels good." Tao set his bags down and started unpacking his purchases.
There was only one problem.
"Why are you putting your clothes in my room?" Takeo stayed where he was, watching Tao fold clothes into empty drawers. It wasn't that much of a deal to him –the room had more space than Takeo could ever fill- but… Tao had his own room.
Tao didn't pause. "'Cause I spend way more time here than I do in my own. Especially sleeping. No point going all the way back to 'my' room when I can just keep my clothes here."
That made sense. "Fine." Takeo started unpacking his own stuff. "But… How will we know whose is whose?"
"Should be easy enough." Tao paused, holding a shirt they'd both bought. "Though the size'll help.
"If it's too big for me, then it's yours and vice versa."
"How about we pick which drawers belong to who as well…" It might be a problem when their clothes were washed but for the moment it would help.
* * *
"Hey, Frankenstein," Tao said, approaching him. "can we get keyed into the security?"
Frankenstein blinked. "You are – no, of course you're not." He turned and indicated they follow with a tilt of his head. "Come. We'll do it right now."
Frankenstein took them down into his lab, taking a right this time into one of the rooms.
They were led to one machine on their left; it was smaller than the others, with a monitor on top.
Frankenstein switched it on and both screens lit up, scrolling text appearing on the monitor, only for a second.
"You merely have to place your hands here- "Frankenstein indicated the lower screen. "-and say a phrase."
"A phrase?" Tao asked. "Does it have to have anything specific?"
That had to be for the voice recognition.
A shake of the head. "No. Just something for the machine to figure out your baseline."
"Hmm…" Tao said as he walked up to the machine. "Aha!" Tao snapped his fingers. "Got one!"
Tao put his hand on the lower panel and cleared his throat, a look of concentration growing on his face. "The giraffe drawing that I drew is a well-drawn drawing-" Takeo's eyebrows shot up when Tao started talking, the words sliding together, sounding far too similar. "-and the giraffe drawing that you drew is not – ah, shoot." Tao frowned, working his mouth. "So close!"
Frankenstein chuckled, pressing a few things on the machine, making it hum and beep. "It was enough."
"Heh, all right." Tao stepped back, muttering the tongue twister under his breath.
Takeo took Tao's place, putting a hand on the lower screen. He came up with a blank when he tried to think of something to say, however. "Uh, I'm not sure what to say." The wrong phrases Tao taught him came unbidden to his mind. "I'm not saying those either, Tao," he said in case Tao decided to give him suggestions.
Spluttered laughter as a response.
"There's no need for that," Frankenstein said, the machine beeping again. "You now have access to here."
Tao grinned. "All right, thanks!"
* * *
Tao followed Takeo into his…no, it was their room now, wasn't it? Tao spent more time in it than Takeo did.
They didn't exchange words as they stripped out of their clothes and changed into their night clothes.
They settled into bed, Tao not asking this time, and when Tao opened his mouth, Takeo wrapped his arm around Tao's shoulders.
Tao stiffened under him, his eyes wide.
Takeo blinked, and drew his arm back. "Sorry." He'd thought…
"It's fine!" Tao said, grabbing Takeo's hand. "I was just surprised you did that without me asking first."
One side of Takeo's smile curled up into a small smile. "I'd thought it would be better if I did it before you complained again."
Tao grumbled, settling Takeo's arm over his shoulders. "I wasn't complaining; I was stating fact. I was cold and you were warmer than me. Fact."
"All right," he said, letting it slide, since they both knew what he'd said was true.
Tao stuck his tongue out at him and then wriggled closer, pressing his forehead to Takeo's chin.
Takeo raised his eyebrows, but adjusted his arm to wrap around Tao better.
"Yup, having a personal hot water bottle is great." Tao snickered when Takeo rolled his eyes and thwapped the back of his head.
"Don't people usually hold their hot water bottles?" The words tumbled out of Takeo's mouth, and for one second, two seconds, Tao didn't say anything or move.
"Weeell, since you asked so nicely..." Takeo heard Tao's smirk. Tao shifted, sliding his arm over Takeo's waist, resting his hand at his back.
They stayed like that for a few seconds, tense, waiting, and when nothing happened, they relaxed at the same time. Takeo's sigh ruffled Tao's hair.
Tao lifted his head to Takeo's, wrinkling his nose. "How am I supposed to sleep when you're breathing on my face?"
"You've slept in worse conditions." They had already talked about that. And he wasn't breathing on Tao's face.
"Breathing. On. My face, Ta-ke-o." Tao drew his name out, prodding him in the back.
"You could turn around," Takeo said, his lip twitching again as he teased him.
"But then how am I supposed to have my arm around you if my back's to you?"
"You want to have your arm around me that much?" Takeo asked, amused.
"Uh, well-" Tao cheeks went pink.
Takeo waited, used to being the person flustered, not the person doing the flustering. It was fun; he could see why Tao did it.
"I want both!" Tao poked him again. "Hmph."
"So it's your choice." Takeo didn't move, watching Tao come to decision.
His lips a thin line, Tao squirmed his free arm up between them and tilted Takeo's chin up with his fingers. "There, better."
…Not what he'd expected. "I am not sleeping like this." It was uncomfortable for his neck already, to say the least. He tried to straighten his head, Tao only resisting enough to be felt.
"Do it until I fall asleep."
"No."
"Dammit." Tao sighed, taking his hand away. "Okay, fine." Tao wriggled closer, resting his forehead on Takeo's collarbone. "Now you can't breathe on my face." Every word tickled the skin there.
"You're breathing on my chest."
"So turn around."
Takeo chuckled, squeezing Tao for a brief second. "No."
* * *
Takeo heard the hum of Tao's laptop next to him when he woke up. The usual tapping that accompanied it was missing; there were fingers in his hair again instead.
Tao hadn't seemed to notice he was awake, still running his fingers through Takeo's hair, starting at his crown and going all the way to the tips. He didn't seem to be playing it with, the movements methodological and the same every time.
It felt nice.
"You going to lie there all morning or am I going to have to start putting things in your hair so you 'wake up'?"
Takeo opened his eyes but didn't move his head. "…You knew I was awake?"
A huff. "Of course." Tao's fingers kept sliding through his hair. "Your brow scrunches up when you wake up." Tao poked him on the forehead, probably right where it happened.
Takeo tried to bat his hand away, and Tao pulled back, snickering, their fingers not connecting. Tao's hands were in Takeo's hair again a second later.
"I bought a brush." It was lying on the bedside table; Tao had been there with him when he'd bought it.
"I know." Tao's hands didn't stop. "I prefer doing it this way."
Oh.
Takeo blinked, his brain starting to put together what Tao was saying. "You're brushing my hair for me?"
Tao nodded. "You spend a lot of time brushing your hair in the morning so I thought I should help."
Huh. "Thanks."
"No problem."
Except wariness grew in Takeo's gut when he saw Tao's smile. What was he going to say now? "So I was doing some research and-"
"No." He didn't want to know before Tao said it.
"-what should I try?" Tao continued, ignoring him. "Braids? Something simpler? More complicated?"
Dammit, Tao was being stubborn about this now, not protesting. "You are not playing with my hair while I'm sleeping." Takeo could already picture Tao adding things to his hair. And if they got stuck…
"I'll make sure your hair's all in place when you wake up, promise." Takeo wasn't sure what that gesture Tao did but he didn't trust it.
"Okay, fine," Tao said, before Takeo could say anything. "I'll do it when you're awake so you can tell me if I'm doing it wrong."
"I... Okay." That was probably going to be the best compromise he was going to get.
* * *
Tao stretched, his hands behind his head as he, Takeo and M-21 left the school after the final bell had went. "So that's what a 'normal' day of work feels like."
Takeo smiled, M-21 in between them, leading the way. It had been like that for the entire day, Takeo and Tao content to follow M-21 as he was the more experienced one here. Being at the centre of attention was strange, Tao revelling in it and trying to greet everyone he could. They'd gotten a few people who followed them around at a distance but M-21 assured them that would stop soon enough.
"What did you think of it?" M-21 asked.
"Boring," Tao said, his lips twitching. "But that's good – that means no stress and people aren't yelling in my ear. It's pretty awesome."
"Heh, yeah," M-21 said, nodding.
"So, that's the highlight of the day – patrolling the grounds and soaking up some sun?" Tao asked.
"Uh..." The hesitation made Takeo pay more attention to M-21. What did they need to know? "There was some trouble a couple days after I started."
There was something about that that Takeo couldn't place. There shouldn't have been anything M-21 couldn't handle at a school that had no modified people bar them and if there had, M-21 would have told them about the situation already.
"Yeah?" Tao leaned closer, grinning.
M-21 snorted. "Someone parked their car in the wrong place and tried to sic his bodyguard on me. I nearly kicked his van over."
Tao snickered. "But what did the Boss say?"
Takeo raised his eyebrows, looking at Tao. "'The Boss'?" Where had that come from?
Tao nodded. "Yeah, the Boss! He's our Boss now, isn't he?" Tao looked between them as if for confirmation. "We're working for him and getting paid and everything."
Ah, that made sense when it was put that way.
"He was fine with it," M-21 said, bringing them back to the original topic. "So long as I don't kill anyone, he doesn't care. Same with him."
Takeo filed that away for future reference.
* * *
Tao ambushed Takeo as soon as he left the dining room, laughing and slinging an arm around his shoulders.
"It's not that funny." Takeo had wanted to help M-21 with the dishes – he hadn't thought Frankenstein would make it a routine.
"It is!" Tao was more leaning his weight on Takeo than his own feet, still laughing. "Boss got you good."
"And what do you think Frankenstein will get you to do?" Takeo tried to shove him off.
Tao stuck his tongue out at him, swivelling out the way. "He won't." He ended up standing in front of Takeo, his other arm around Takeo's shoulders and Takeo blinked. That was a lot closer than Tao normally got.
"Tao-"
Tao leaned in, sliding his arms further around Takeo and rested his head on Takeo's shoulder.
Before Takeo could say or do anything, Tao let go, hopping back.
"…What was that." And when the words were out of his mouth, Takeo knew the answer Tao would give.
"It's called a hug, Takeo; I thought you knew what they were." Tao wagged a finger at him.
Takeo rolled his eyes; Tao dodging his actual question again. "I do."
"Heh. That's good." Tao walked off and Takeo sighed. If Tao didn't want a hug in return, he wouldn't give one.
* * *
Tao had been jittery since the children had gone upstairs. Their yells could be heard from the living room and Takeo assumed they must have gone to the computer room. Tao's leg was in constant movement, bouncing up and down as he stared in that direction.
"You want to play with them?" M-21 asked, sipping his tea.
"Kinda?" Tao glanced at him. "I just want to try out what they're playing. It sounds fun."
"You can go up now," M-21 said with a shrug. "They love playing with people."
"Rea-" Tao paused, then chuckled. "Seeing how they keep trying to drag you and Boss into playing with them, I shouldn't be surprised."
M-21 shrugged again. "We used to play games with them when it was just the three of us."
"Hmm…" Tao glanced between the three of them. "How about the three of us play?"
What?
"C'mon, it'll be fun."
Of course Tao would that. "Says the one with the most practice," Takeo said, shaking his head.
"Pfft, playing a game is different from hacking! We'll all be on the same playing field." Tao paused, glancing at M-21. "Well, maybe."
M-21 smirked. "I've played it a few times, but I'm not that good at it."
"Oooh, trying to lull us into a false sense of security before kicking our butts, are you?" Tao turned to Takeo, raising a hand to his mouth and said in a conspiratorial tone, "We should team up just in case."
"Or I could team up with M-21 for when you get used to it," Takeo countered. That would make it fairer later on.
Tao eyes went wide in mock hurt. "How could you? After all the time we've spent together!"
"And I know how good you are with everything computer related." And gaming definitely was that.
Tao pouted, crossing his arms.
"The teams can be randomly generated," M-21 said, a small smile curving his lips.
"Nope." Tao shook his head, eyes closed, and he sniffed. "I'm going on whatever team Takeo's not on."
That was one way of choosing teams…
* * *
The title screen loaded in and… Huh. Takeo hadn't asked what kind of game they were going to play, but maybe he should have.
Takeo logged in and he navigated the menus that popped up after a few false starts, listening to M-21's explanations.
The view when he was finally in the game was first-person, a gun held up at the bottom of the screen.
…It was a shooting game.
Takeo smiled, getting comfortable.
"Oh, crap." Tao's mutter could be heard throughout the entire room.
The game was definitely going to be interesting.
* * *
"Ass - asshole!"
Takeo ignored the yelp, still clicking the crosshair at the avatar. The game was too removed from firing an actual gun; he had a habit of moving his mouse 'wildly' when trying to aim, too used to using his entire arm for that.
He groaned when he got headshotted instead.
"I demand a rematch!" Tao yelled, jumping to his feet and pointing at M-21.
"You're getting one," M-21 shot back.
Takeo shook his head as he listened to the exchange, smiling. He may have had the lowest score, but he had to admit, the game was fun.
* * *
Takeo heard Tao's whooping laughter long before he heard the footsteps racing towards him.
"Takeo!" Tao sped around the corner and almost crashed into him. He didn't, slowing at the last second, wrapping his arms around Takeo's shoulders instead and using him as an anchor to stop. "The Boss just gave me spare parts! The parts he used for his pcs!" Tao made an incoherent sound, vibrating with energy.
"I get to build my laptop with these. C'mon," Tao said let go of him and hooked a hand around Takeo's wrist. "I need to find the extra parts – like the case! Aaaah, what else do I need?" Tao didn't stop talking the entire time as he pulled Takeo out the house.
* * *
"Okay, that's everything…" Tao muttered, securing the last piece of his laptop into place. "Now to see how well this runs."
Takeo was sitting on his bed, brushing his hair after a shower, watching Tao work again.
Tao set his laptop on the desk and with a flourish, pressed the power button.
The screen lit up, text scrolling down before flashing away, more things replacing it before they also disappeared.
Tao whimpered, and Takeo slowed his hand. "It's not working?" It seemed fine to him.
"Where did you get that from?" Tao span around to stare at him, spluttering. "This is already-" Tao pounced on the laptop, slotting in one of the disks by his hand. The loading bar filled without a pause and in a few seconds, it was complete.
"This is handling like a dream! And I haven't even-" Tao's fingers flew over the keyboard and the start screen loaded up with a proud tune.
"Now for a short test…" Tao twirled a usb stick Takeo hadn't seen him pick up between his fingers. Maybe Tao kept it in the same place as his cables. "Let's see how you work with this…"
A new window popped up, and once Tao had clicked on a few things, it was accompanied by more.
"And it's all done." Tao whistled, grinning. "This'll do me for a while."
Takeo had opened his mouth to say something, but Tao's grin faded, and Takeo looked at what had Tao's attention.
One of the windows on the screen was split into smaller panels; Regis was in one of them, walking down a corridor. The corridor right outside their door and Takeo could hear his footsteps in tandem to what he was seeing.
Ah. "The cameras." They hadn't taken them down and Takeo had almost forgotten about them.
They shared a look.
Tao rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze sliding away. "We don't need this anymore, do we?"
"No." They didn't. They trusted the rest of the household now, knowing they weren't planning on hurting them.
"But…" Tao frowned, staring at the camera feeds again. "Maybe they would be a good security procedure in general? Just in case something happens. The Boss does have a lot of equipment and information that could go really wrong in someone else's hands."
Takeo nodded. "It's good he only cares about improving his master's ramen recipe."
"And looking after us, heh."
* * *
Takeo leaned back on the balcony railing, Tao leaning on it beside him, his arms crossed.
"Hah, who knew the quiet would be broken that quickly again?" Tao said, drumming his fingers, his leg bouncing.
Takeo just nodded, his eyes closed. He hadn't been able to do anything, only watch as M-21 was injured in front of him by that blond noble.
He was the fastest out of the three of them and he had still been too slow.
"We need to get better," he said, opening his eyes. That was their only option if they wanted to make sure no-one else they cared about got hurt.
…Is that what the household was to him now? People he cared about? But they were, the shock and anger at the sight of M-21's blood a real emotion in his gut. It wasn't something he'd needed to think about.
"Yeah. Hm, Boss?"
Takeo nodded. "Sparring will only get us so far." And it had done nothing to improve them; the three of them had worked out a few strategies when working together but they wouldn't be able to match a noble's speed with that.
"Then we'd better wait until Boss gets out."
Together they left the balcony and went downstairs.
* * *
Takeo focused on breathing, in and out. He'd had worse treatments at the Union -far worse- but he still ached, his skin tingling with sensitivity.
He felt a soft tug on his head and when he focused, he saw Tao's hands in front of his face, running his fingers through his hair.
"What…" No, it was obvious what Tao was doing; there was no point asking.
Tao's hands twisted, twining parts of his hair together. "Braiding your hair, s'all."
Did he care? No. Takeo settled to watch the hypnotic movement of Tao's fingers, trying to figure out what his next movement would be.
"Just don't put anything in my hair…"
Tao chuckled, his hands not stopping. "Don't worry – the hairties are aaall the way over there and I'm aaall the way over here and that's just way too much effort."
Okay, good…
* * *
"Ah, Takeo, Tao, there you are."
Takeo turned at Frankenstein's voice; he and Tao had decided to go to the balcony, wanting some fresh air. "Yes?"
Smiling softly, Frankenstein said, "It has come to my attention that you two have been sharing a room since your arrival here."
Takeo's eyebrows shot up. Wait – how did he know? And why did Frankenstein care? Was he going to tell them to stop?
"I can put in a second single bed if you wish." He paused, looking between them both. "Or a double bed, if you prefer."
Oh, that's why he was asking.
"Uh…" Takeo and Tao shared a look. "I don't mind?" He said that more to Tao than answering Frankenstein's question. He really didn't mind, but if he was being honest…he'd gotten used to sleeping together.
Tao beamed. "A double!" he said, turning back to Frankenstein. "I'd always wanted to sleep in one of those, heh."
All right. "That's fine," Takeo said.
Frankenstein nodded. "Very well. If you could make sure you don't leave anything in your bed and that there's room for the double bed in its place?"
"Righto, Boss!" Tao said, saluting. "We'll be right on it."
* * *
Tao flopped back on their new double bed, his arm spread wide. "Wow, I can actually do this now. Feels weird."
Takeo smiled, climbing into bed.
It was nice having that much space after spending so much time nearly on top of each other.
They lay there, and Takeo listened to Tao's breathing, expecting to hear him drop off, but he didn't.
Tao hummed, twisting in bed, patting the space around him.
"Trying to warm yourself up?" Takeo commented, watching him.
"No." Tao huffed, and rolled towards him, looking at him.
Takeo chuckled and held his arm up.
A relieved smile broke out on Tao's face and Tao wriggled into the space Takeo had made, Takeo wrapping an arm around him once he was there.
* * *
Only Tao's breathing greeted Takeo when he woke up. There was no tap on the keyboard, no hum of the laptop, no fingers through his hair.
He opened his eyes and… Huh. Tao was asleep, his hair falling over closed eyes, his breathing even and steady.
It wasn't often Takeo woke up before Tao. He reached over, checking if Tao reacted as he did so. Tao didn't, and Takeo started running his fingers through Tao's hair.
It wasn't the same as finger combing his own hair, not getting feedback. The white part of his hair felt different from the rest. Coarser. Tao shifted under his touch, leaning into it and Takeo paused to see if he would react further.
Tao didn't and Takeo smiled, starting again. Was this what he was like when Tao played with his hair? He sat up to access Tao's hair easier.
A few minutes later, Tao's breathing stuttered for three breaths and then evened out again, his body tensing for the same amount of time.
So it was easy to tell if someone woke up if enough attention was paid.
"Morning," he said, slowing his hand.
"…Ooh? Do I have to check if there's anything in my hair?"
Takeo huffed. "You can if you want."
"Hmm, nah, I trust ya." Without opening his eyes, Tao snuggled closer.
__________________________________
The tongue twister can be heard (by google translate since I couldn't find another video of it) here
Summary: Developing trust takes time.
Rating: PG-13
Contains: Takeo/Tao
Notes: Set after chapter 143.
Written as a parallels treat for Kiyutsuna.
Genre: General.
Word count: 5,002
Word count: 17,321
Status: Complete
There were fingers running through his hair. Only one section, with light tugs, but it was still strange, something Takeo wasn't used to.
The hum of a laptop was also right by his ear. It wasn't hard to piece together who it was.
The hand paused and lifted away. "Mornin'," Tao said.
"Morning." Takeo didn't say anything for a few seconds, hearing Tao's typing resume. "I don't mind."
He didn't move, trying not to think as Tao's typing slowed. "Really...?" Tao's voice was hesitant.
"Yeah."
"Okay." A soft intake of breath. "Cool." Takeo closed his eyes again when he felt Tao's fingers go through his hair once more.
Takeo blinked at the wad of cash Frankenstein had offered him and Tao. "Sir?"
Frankenstein's lips twitched. "There's no need to call me that." He didn't retract his hand. "Since I was otherwise detained for the last number of days, I apologise for the lack of clothing at your disposal."
"You're giving us money in apology?" Tao asked, taking the money from Frankenstein, flicking through it. It hadn't been too bad; they still had a few clean clothes left. Tao's eyebrows shot up. …How much had Frankenstein given them…?
"No." Frankenstein shook his head. "I'm giving you money to buy your own clothes."
"Woah, really?" Tao beamed. "Thanks!"
Takeo studied Frankenstein. "Is it all right for us to leave the house?" The police were still calling for witnesses in the wake of the 'explosion'.
Tao snickered, waving a hand. "There's no video footage of us."
Which meant any he found had also been deleted.
Frankenstein nodded. "And you're healed enough that I'm satisfied."
Ah, that was good to hear. He'd been feeling better but hadn't wanted to push too hard.
"C'mon!" Tao said, grabbing Takeo by the bicep and tugging him towards the door. "Time to go shopping!"
"Ack-! Tao!" Tao didn't listen, not letting go of him.
It didn't take them long to find clothes shops and Tao dived into one, browsing the selection with vigour.
Takeo couldn't help but feel unsettled though, unused to doing something considered so 'normal', especially surrounded by so many people. There was a difference between doing that when he thought they would only stay in the area for a few days and staying there indefinitely. He fell back into habit, keeping his back to the wall, watching everyone around them, in case they had drawn any attention. They hadn't – there were a few people who took a second glance, but they weren't measuring, hostile looks.
"Hey, Takeo, how do I look?"
Tao had found striped tops of varying colours, a number of them draped over his arm while he wore a light blue and white one. He span around with his arms out so Takeo could see it all at all angles.
"They don't sell off-shoulder tops here?" Takeo asked, amused. That was what he'd expected Tao to go for first.
"Do you know how hard those are to find?" Tao puffed up his cheeks. "I had to get those in bulk whenever I got lucky."
He couldn't help but smile at Tao's reaction. "Ah, all right."
Tao peered at him, then swept the room with a casual glance. "We're both supposed to be getting clothes, remember?"
"I...haven't found anything I liked." But that was because-
"You haven't looked!" Tao ducked behind him and pushed him towards the racks.
"Hey!" Dammit, that would draw attention!
"Go and find something." Tao kept pushing. "Or do you want me to choose what you get?"
"Gck, no!" He'd done that once and that that was more than enough. Though, part of the reason why he had disliked them on sight was because of how bright the colours had been and how they would have made him stand out on a mission.
"You did know I bought them for when we were off mission, right?" Tao was studying his face.
"…No." Why hadn't he said that at the time?
"Then go." Tao gave him one final shove and when Takeo looked at him over his shoulder, flicked his hands at him, shooing him towards the racks again. "Or else I'll use up all the money and then we'll have to share."
"I thought you said Frankenstein had given us enough money to buy an entire floor?" Tao shouldn't be able to do that with just clothes. Technology, easily, but not clothes.
"He did; my threat still stands." Tao crossed his arms and grinned, daring him to try it.
"All right," Takeo said, shaking his head.
"Okaaay," Tao said, adjusting his hold on his bags. "I think we're done?"
Takeo slid his newly bought brush into a bag he already had and nodded. "Yeah." Underwear had been another item on the list –that Tao had made once they realised they needed one- and as far as Takeo was aware, everything had been checked off.
"Sweet." Tao bumped his elbow with his own. "So I – ooh, coffee shop!"
The smell of the coffee hit Takeo before he saw the shop… Ah.
Tao nudged him again when he didn't say anything. "We've got lots of money to spare – it'll be fine."
That wasn't why he was staring. "This is where I went with Shinwoo and Yuna." He hadn't realised they'd been going in this direction.
Tao's eyebrows shot up. "Huh, weird. I came here with Ik-han."
That…was a bit of a coincidence. Or maybe it wasn't. "Since the three of them are friends…" Takeo suggested, watching a group go into the entrance.
"Yeah. We can ask them later." Tao shrugged. "Anyway! I need to remember what I ordered last so you can try it."
"And if I didn't have it because I didn't like it…?"
"Then you pick something else, of course." Tao shaded his eyes, squinting at the glass. "C'mon, before the queue gets any longer."
Judging by the groups of people converging towards the shop, they would have to be quick and Takeo followed Tao inside.
"Damn, that feels good." Tao set his bags down and started unpacking his purchases.
There was only one problem.
"Why are you putting your clothes in my room?" Takeo stayed where he was, watching Tao fold clothes into empty drawers. It wasn't that much of a deal to him –the room had more space than Takeo could ever fill- but… Tao had his own room.
Tao didn't pause. "'Cause I spend way more time here than I do in my own. Especially sleeping. No point going all the way back to 'my' room when I can just keep my clothes here."
That made sense. "Fine." Takeo started unpacking his own stuff. "But… How will we know whose is whose?"
"Should be easy enough." Tao paused, holding a shirt they'd both bought. "Though the size'll help.
"If it's too big for me, then it's yours and vice versa."
"How about we pick which drawers belong to who as well…" It might be a problem when their clothes were washed but for the moment it would help.
"Hey, Frankenstein," Tao said, approaching him. "can we get keyed into the security?"
Frankenstein blinked. "You are – no, of course you're not." He turned and indicated they follow with a tilt of his head. "Come. We'll do it right now."
Frankenstein took them down into his lab, taking a right this time into one of the rooms.
They were led to one machine on their left; it was smaller than the others, with a monitor on top.
Frankenstein switched it on and both screens lit up, scrolling text appearing on the monitor, only for a second.
"You merely have to place your hands here- "Frankenstein indicated the lower screen. "-and say a phrase."
"A phrase?" Tao asked. "Does it have to have anything specific?"
That had to be for the voice recognition.
A shake of the head. "No. Just something for the machine to figure out your baseline."
"Hmm…" Tao said as he walked up to the machine. "Aha!" Tao snapped his fingers. "Got one!"
Tao put his hand on the lower panel and cleared his throat, a look of concentration growing on his face. "The giraffe drawing that I drew is a well-drawn drawing-" Takeo's eyebrows shot up when Tao started talking, the words sliding together, sounding far too similar. "-and the giraffe drawing that you drew is not – ah, shoot." Tao frowned, working his mouth. "So close!"
Frankenstein chuckled, pressing a few things on the machine, making it hum and beep. "It was enough."
"Heh, all right." Tao stepped back, muttering the tongue twister under his breath.
Takeo took Tao's place, putting a hand on the lower screen. He came up with a blank when he tried to think of something to say, however. "Uh, I'm not sure what to say." The wrong phrases Tao taught him came unbidden to his mind. "I'm not saying those either, Tao," he said in case Tao decided to give him suggestions.
Spluttered laughter as a response.
"There's no need for that," Frankenstein said, the machine beeping again. "You now have access to here."
Tao grinned. "All right, thanks!"
Tao followed Takeo into his…no, it was their room now, wasn't it? Tao spent more time in it than Takeo did.
They didn't exchange words as they stripped out of their clothes and changed into their night clothes.
They settled into bed, Tao not asking this time, and when Tao opened his mouth, Takeo wrapped his arm around Tao's shoulders.
Tao stiffened under him, his eyes wide.
Takeo blinked, and drew his arm back. "Sorry." He'd thought…
"It's fine!" Tao said, grabbing Takeo's hand. "I was just surprised you did that without me asking first."
One side of Takeo's smile curled up into a small smile. "I'd thought it would be better if I did it before you complained again."
Tao grumbled, settling Takeo's arm over his shoulders. "I wasn't complaining; I was stating fact. I was cold and you were warmer than me. Fact."
"All right," he said, letting it slide, since they both knew what he'd said was true.
Tao stuck his tongue out at him and then wriggled closer, pressing his forehead to Takeo's chin.
Takeo raised his eyebrows, but adjusted his arm to wrap around Tao better.
"Yup, having a personal hot water bottle is great." Tao snickered when Takeo rolled his eyes and thwapped the back of his head.
"Don't people usually hold their hot water bottles?" The words tumbled out of Takeo's mouth, and for one second, two seconds, Tao didn't say anything or move.
"Weeell, since you asked so nicely..." Takeo heard Tao's smirk. Tao shifted, sliding his arm over Takeo's waist, resting his hand at his back.
They stayed like that for a few seconds, tense, waiting, and when nothing happened, they relaxed at the same time. Takeo's sigh ruffled Tao's hair.
Tao lifted his head to Takeo's, wrinkling his nose. "How am I supposed to sleep when you're breathing on my face?"
"You've slept in worse conditions." They had already talked about that. And he wasn't breathing on Tao's face.
"Breathing. On. My face, Ta-ke-o." Tao drew his name out, prodding him in the back.
"You could turn around," Takeo said, his lip twitching again as he teased him.
"But then how am I supposed to have my arm around you if my back's to you?"
"You want to have your arm around me that much?" Takeo asked, amused.
"Uh, well-" Tao cheeks went pink.
Takeo waited, used to being the person flustered, not the person doing the flustering. It was fun; he could see why Tao did it.
"I want both!" Tao poked him again. "Hmph."
"So it's your choice." Takeo didn't move, watching Tao come to decision.
His lips a thin line, Tao squirmed his free arm up between them and tilted Takeo's chin up with his fingers. "There, better."
…Not what he'd expected. "I am not sleeping like this." It was uncomfortable for his neck already, to say the least. He tried to straighten his head, Tao only resisting enough to be felt.
"Do it until I fall asleep."
"No."
"Dammit." Tao sighed, taking his hand away. "Okay, fine." Tao wriggled closer, resting his forehead on Takeo's collarbone. "Now you can't breathe on my face." Every word tickled the skin there.
"You're breathing on my chest."
"So turn around."
Takeo chuckled, squeezing Tao for a brief second. "No."
Takeo heard the hum of Tao's laptop next to him when he woke up. The usual tapping that accompanied it was missing; there were fingers in his hair again instead.
Tao hadn't seemed to notice he was awake, still running his fingers through Takeo's hair, starting at his crown and going all the way to the tips. He didn't seem to be playing it with, the movements methodological and the same every time.
It felt nice.
"You going to lie there all morning or am I going to have to start putting things in your hair so you 'wake up'?"
Takeo opened his eyes but didn't move his head. "…You knew I was awake?"
A huff. "Of course." Tao's fingers kept sliding through his hair. "Your brow scrunches up when you wake up." Tao poked him on the forehead, probably right where it happened.
Takeo tried to bat his hand away, and Tao pulled back, snickering, their fingers not connecting. Tao's hands were in Takeo's hair again a second later.
"I bought a brush." It was lying on the bedside table; Tao had been there with him when he'd bought it.
"I know." Tao's hands didn't stop. "I prefer doing it this way."
Oh.
Takeo blinked, his brain starting to put together what Tao was saying. "You're brushing my hair for me?"
Tao nodded. "You spend a lot of time brushing your hair in the morning so I thought I should help."
Huh. "Thanks."
"No problem."
Except wariness grew in Takeo's gut when he saw Tao's smile. What was he going to say now? "So I was doing some research and-"
"No." He didn't want to know before Tao said it.
"-what should I try?" Tao continued, ignoring him. "Braids? Something simpler? More complicated?"
Dammit, Tao was being stubborn about this now, not protesting. "You are not playing with my hair while I'm sleeping." Takeo could already picture Tao adding things to his hair. And if they got stuck…
"I'll make sure your hair's all in place when you wake up, promise." Takeo wasn't sure what that gesture Tao did but he didn't trust it.
"Okay, fine," Tao said, before Takeo could say anything. "I'll do it when you're awake so you can tell me if I'm doing it wrong."
"I... Okay." That was probably going to be the best compromise he was going to get.
Tao stretched, his hands behind his head as he, Takeo and M-21 left the school after the final bell had went. "So that's what a 'normal' day of work feels like."
Takeo smiled, M-21 in between them, leading the way. It had been like that for the entire day, Takeo and Tao content to follow M-21 as he was the more experienced one here. Being at the centre of attention was strange, Tao revelling in it and trying to greet everyone he could. They'd gotten a few people who followed them around at a distance but M-21 assured them that would stop soon enough.
"What did you think of it?" M-21 asked.
"Boring," Tao said, his lips twitching. "But that's good – that means no stress and people aren't yelling in my ear. It's pretty awesome."
"Heh, yeah," M-21 said, nodding.
"So, that's the highlight of the day – patrolling the grounds and soaking up some sun?" Tao asked.
"Uh..." The hesitation made Takeo pay more attention to M-21. What did they need to know? "There was some trouble a couple days after I started."
There was something about that that Takeo couldn't place. There shouldn't have been anything M-21 couldn't handle at a school that had no modified people bar them and if there had, M-21 would have told them about the situation already.
"Yeah?" Tao leaned closer, grinning.
M-21 snorted. "Someone parked their car in the wrong place and tried to sic his bodyguard on me. I nearly kicked his van over."
Tao snickered. "But what did the Boss say?"
Takeo raised his eyebrows, looking at Tao. "'The Boss'?" Where had that come from?
Tao nodded. "Yeah, the Boss! He's our Boss now, isn't he?" Tao looked between them as if for confirmation. "We're working for him and getting paid and everything."
Ah, that made sense when it was put that way.
"He was fine with it," M-21 said, bringing them back to the original topic. "So long as I don't kill anyone, he doesn't care. Same with him."
Takeo filed that away for future reference.
Tao ambushed Takeo as soon as he left the dining room, laughing and slinging an arm around his shoulders.
"It's not that funny." Takeo had wanted to help M-21 with the dishes – he hadn't thought Frankenstein would make it a routine.
"It is!" Tao was more leaning his weight on Takeo than his own feet, still laughing. "Boss got you good."
"And what do you think Frankenstein will get you to do?" Takeo tried to shove him off.
Tao stuck his tongue out at him, swivelling out the way. "He won't." He ended up standing in front of Takeo, his other arm around Takeo's shoulders and Takeo blinked. That was a lot closer than Tao normally got.
"Tao-"
Tao leaned in, sliding his arms further around Takeo and rested his head on Takeo's shoulder.
Before Takeo could say or do anything, Tao let go, hopping back.
"…What was that." And when the words were out of his mouth, Takeo knew the answer Tao would give.
"It's called a hug, Takeo; I thought you knew what they were." Tao wagged a finger at him.
Takeo rolled his eyes; Tao dodging his actual question again. "I do."
"Heh. That's good." Tao walked off and Takeo sighed. If Tao didn't want a hug in return, he wouldn't give one.
Tao had been jittery since the children had gone upstairs. Their yells could be heard from the living room and Takeo assumed they must have gone to the computer room. Tao's leg was in constant movement, bouncing up and down as he stared in that direction.
"You want to play with them?" M-21 asked, sipping his tea.
"Kinda?" Tao glanced at him. "I just want to try out what they're playing. It sounds fun."
"You can go up now," M-21 said with a shrug. "They love playing with people."
"Rea-" Tao paused, then chuckled. "Seeing how they keep trying to drag you and Boss into playing with them, I shouldn't be surprised."
M-21 shrugged again. "We used to play games with them when it was just the three of us."
"Hmm…" Tao glanced between the three of them. "How about the three of us play?"
What?
"C'mon, it'll be fun."
Of course Tao would that. "Says the one with the most practice," Takeo said, shaking his head.
"Pfft, playing a game is different from hacking! We'll all be on the same playing field." Tao paused, glancing at M-21. "Well, maybe."
M-21 smirked. "I've played it a few times, but I'm not that good at it."
"Oooh, trying to lull us into a false sense of security before kicking our butts, are you?" Tao turned to Takeo, raising a hand to his mouth and said in a conspiratorial tone, "We should team up just in case."
"Or I could team up with M-21 for when you get used to it," Takeo countered. That would make it fairer later on.
Tao eyes went wide in mock hurt. "How could you? After all the time we've spent together!"
"And I know how good you are with everything computer related." And gaming definitely was that.
Tao pouted, crossing his arms.
"The teams can be randomly generated," M-21 said, a small smile curving his lips.
"Nope." Tao shook his head, eyes closed, and he sniffed. "I'm going on whatever team Takeo's not on."
That was one way of choosing teams…
The title screen loaded in and… Huh. Takeo hadn't asked what kind of game they were going to play, but maybe he should have.
Takeo logged in and he navigated the menus that popped up after a few false starts, listening to M-21's explanations.
The view when he was finally in the game was first-person, a gun held up at the bottom of the screen.
…It was a shooting game.
Takeo smiled, getting comfortable.
"Oh, crap." Tao's mutter could be heard throughout the entire room.
The game was definitely going to be interesting.
"Ass - asshole!"
Takeo ignored the yelp, still clicking the crosshair at the avatar. The game was too removed from firing an actual gun; he had a habit of moving his mouse 'wildly' when trying to aim, too used to using his entire arm for that.
He groaned when he got headshotted instead.
"I demand a rematch!" Tao yelled, jumping to his feet and pointing at M-21.
"You're getting one," M-21 shot back.
Takeo shook his head as he listened to the exchange, smiling. He may have had the lowest score, but he had to admit, the game was fun.
Takeo heard Tao's whooping laughter long before he heard the footsteps racing towards him.
"Takeo!" Tao sped around the corner and almost crashed into him. He didn't, slowing at the last second, wrapping his arms around Takeo's shoulders instead and using him as an anchor to stop. "The Boss just gave me spare parts! The parts he used for his pcs!" Tao made an incoherent sound, vibrating with energy.
"I get to build my laptop with these. C'mon," Tao said let go of him and hooked a hand around Takeo's wrist. "I need to find the extra parts – like the case! Aaaah, what else do I need?" Tao didn't stop talking the entire time as he pulled Takeo out the house.
"Okay, that's everything…" Tao muttered, securing the last piece of his laptop into place. "Now to see how well this runs."
Takeo was sitting on his bed, brushing his hair after a shower, watching Tao work again.
Tao set his laptop on the desk and with a flourish, pressed the power button.
The screen lit up, text scrolling down before flashing away, more things replacing it before they also disappeared.
Tao whimpered, and Takeo slowed his hand. "It's not working?" It seemed fine to him.
"Where did you get that from?" Tao span around to stare at him, spluttering. "This is already-" Tao pounced on the laptop, slotting in one of the disks by his hand. The loading bar filled without a pause and in a few seconds, it was complete.
"This is handling like a dream! And I haven't even-" Tao's fingers flew over the keyboard and the start screen loaded up with a proud tune.
"Now for a short test…" Tao twirled a usb stick Takeo hadn't seen him pick up between his fingers. Maybe Tao kept it in the same place as his cables. "Let's see how you work with this…"
A new window popped up, and once Tao had clicked on a few things, it was accompanied by more.
"And it's all done." Tao whistled, grinning. "This'll do me for a while."
Takeo had opened his mouth to say something, but Tao's grin faded, and Takeo looked at what had Tao's attention.
One of the windows on the screen was split into smaller panels; Regis was in one of them, walking down a corridor. The corridor right outside their door and Takeo could hear his footsteps in tandem to what he was seeing.
Ah. "The cameras." They hadn't taken them down and Takeo had almost forgotten about them.
They shared a look.
Tao rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze sliding away. "We don't need this anymore, do we?"
"No." They didn't. They trusted the rest of the household now, knowing they weren't planning on hurting them.
"But…" Tao frowned, staring at the camera feeds again. "Maybe they would be a good security procedure in general? Just in case something happens. The Boss does have a lot of equipment and information that could go really wrong in someone else's hands."
Takeo nodded. "It's good he only cares about improving his master's ramen recipe."
"And looking after us, heh."
Takeo leaned back on the balcony railing, Tao leaning on it beside him, his arms crossed.
"Hah, who knew the quiet would be broken that quickly again?" Tao said, drumming his fingers, his leg bouncing.
Takeo just nodded, his eyes closed. He hadn't been able to do anything, only watch as M-21 was injured in front of him by that blond noble.
He was the fastest out of the three of them and he had still been too slow.
"We need to get better," he said, opening his eyes. That was their only option if they wanted to make sure no-one else they cared about got hurt.
…Is that what the household was to him now? People he cared about? But they were, the shock and anger at the sight of M-21's blood a real emotion in his gut. It wasn't something he'd needed to think about.
"Yeah. Hm, Boss?"
Takeo nodded. "Sparring will only get us so far." And it had done nothing to improve them; the three of them had worked out a few strategies when working together but they wouldn't be able to match a noble's speed with that.
"Then we'd better wait until Boss gets out."
Together they left the balcony and went downstairs.
Takeo focused on breathing, in and out. He'd had worse treatments at the Union -far worse- but he still ached, his skin tingling with sensitivity.
He felt a soft tug on his head and when he focused, he saw Tao's hands in front of his face, running his fingers through his hair.
"What…" No, it was obvious what Tao was doing; there was no point asking.
Tao's hands twisted, twining parts of his hair together. "Braiding your hair, s'all."
Did he care? No. Takeo settled to watch the hypnotic movement of Tao's fingers, trying to figure out what his next movement would be.
"Just don't put anything in my hair…"
Tao chuckled, his hands not stopping. "Don't worry – the hairties are aaall the way over there and I'm aaall the way over here and that's just way too much effort."
Okay, good…
"Ah, Takeo, Tao, there you are."
Takeo turned at Frankenstein's voice; he and Tao had decided to go to the balcony, wanting some fresh air. "Yes?"
Smiling softly, Frankenstein said, "It has come to my attention that you two have been sharing a room since your arrival here."
Takeo's eyebrows shot up. Wait – how did he know? And why did Frankenstein care? Was he going to tell them to stop?
"I can put in a second single bed if you wish." He paused, looking between them both. "Or a double bed, if you prefer."
Oh, that's why he was asking.
"Uh…" Takeo and Tao shared a look. "I don't mind?" He said that more to Tao than answering Frankenstein's question. He really didn't mind, but if he was being honest…he'd gotten used to sleeping together.
Tao beamed. "A double!" he said, turning back to Frankenstein. "I'd always wanted to sleep in one of those, heh."
All right. "That's fine," Takeo said.
Frankenstein nodded. "Very well. If you could make sure you don't leave anything in your bed and that there's room for the double bed in its place?"
"Righto, Boss!" Tao said, saluting. "We'll be right on it."
Tao flopped back on their new double bed, his arm spread wide. "Wow, I can actually do this now. Feels weird."
Takeo smiled, climbing into bed.
It was nice having that much space after spending so much time nearly on top of each other.
They lay there, and Takeo listened to Tao's breathing, expecting to hear him drop off, but he didn't.
Tao hummed, twisting in bed, patting the space around him.
"Trying to warm yourself up?" Takeo commented, watching him.
"No." Tao huffed, and rolled towards him, looking at him.
Takeo chuckled and held his arm up.
A relieved smile broke out on Tao's face and Tao wriggled into the space Takeo had made, Takeo wrapping an arm around him once he was there.
Only Tao's breathing greeted Takeo when he woke up. There was no tap on the keyboard, no hum of the laptop, no fingers through his hair.
He opened his eyes and… Huh. Tao was asleep, his hair falling over closed eyes, his breathing even and steady.
It wasn't often Takeo woke up before Tao. He reached over, checking if Tao reacted as he did so. Tao didn't, and Takeo started running his fingers through Tao's hair.
It wasn't the same as finger combing his own hair, not getting feedback. The white part of his hair felt different from the rest. Coarser. Tao shifted under his touch, leaning into it and Takeo paused to see if he would react further.
Tao didn't and Takeo smiled, starting again. Was this what he was like when Tao played with his hair? He sat up to access Tao's hair easier.
A few minutes later, Tao's breathing stuttered for three breaths and then evened out again, his body tensing for the same amount of time.
So it was easy to tell if someone woke up if enough attention was paid.
"Morning," he said, slowing his hand.
"…Ooh? Do I have to check if there's anything in my hair?"
Takeo huffed. "You can if you want."
"Hmm, nah, I trust ya." Without opening his eyes, Tao snuggled closer.
The tongue twister can be heard (by google translate since I couldn't find another video of it) here