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He stirs and is first struck by how warm he feels, second how content. Not until he smells sandalwood and leather does he realize he is not alone; that the warmth at his back and the chest to which he is pressed are other people, that they are holding him, that they are loving him.
His mind is hung up on that part. He lingers there, thinking surely, in a moment or two, he'll wake up for real and be lying on the floor of his apartment in a sunbeam, ejected from his bed by some particularly silly dream that made him roll all the way over. His head does hurt a little. His mouth tastes a little stale. He tries to reconcile these details with the others: With Antonio's heartbeat quietly keeping time beneath his right cheek; Nathan's breath ghosting along the back of his neck until he starts shivering. Anticipation churns in his stomach, though he's not sure whether it's the good sort or the bad sort. He shivers, cold and hot and nervous and confused all at once. The only coherent thought that keeps coming to him is I shouldn't be here.
This isn't his. He doesn't deserve-- this.
Nathan stirs first, perhaps jarred awake by Kotetsu's trembling shoulders, and he sighs languidly, leaning forward to kiss Kotetsu's spine, right between his shoulder blades. The lingering pressure there is as restrictive as a ton of bricks, though much more pleasant. Kotetsu holds as still as he dares, and wills himself not to wake up when Nathan breaks away, shifting and crawling up to completely cover Kotetsu's body with the warm spicy closeness of his own.
"Good morning," he whispers into Kotetsu's ear, and it's too much, this is all too much.
He starts to cry, which makes Nathan stroke his face, asking worriedly what's wrong and wakes up Antonio and now he just feels insensitive and it takes both of them, holding him and reassuring him, for him to find his center, to find calm or something close to it. He doesn't remember anything about how he got here, except that he's got a distinct feeling he agreed to the whole thing. The throbbing hangover certainly gives him a reasonable suspect for the case of the theft of his memory, and he can only imagine he horribly embarrassed them both the night before. What convinces him that this is the truth, and not some cruel fantasy his mind has manufactured, is the uncomfortable itch of stubble on his cheeks, the little details like the way Nathan's fingernails catch a little on his skin.
Nathan is stroking his throat just behind his ear, which makes him feel incredibly warm and tingly, and says, "Are you all right now, Kotetsu?"
He struggles to find his voice. It's not so easy, with Antonio casually thumbing his nipple and Nathan tracing the line of his Adam's apple. "Yes. I think. I mean," he closes his eyes, and that's so much better; he rests his forehead against Antonio's chest and groans. "My head feels pretty-- but-- I'm okay," he promises softly. "I'm okay, now."
They don't comment on the validity of his promise but Antonio shifts and wraps an arm loosely around Kotetsu's waist when Nathan pushes up and crouches above them a moment before stepping from the bed. "I'll be back in a moment with something for both of you to drink," he says with a sparkling laugh that puts Kotetsu oddly at ease. Everything just feels so comfortable here.
Antonio's chest buzzes with a low roar, his grunt of assent. He stops abusing Kotetsu's nipple for the moment, looping his other arm around Kotetsu's waist. Thoroughly trapped, Kotetsu thinks maybe he ought to feel slightly concerned or something. All he manages is to lift his head, settling his chin in the strange softness of Antonio's chest hair, blinking drowsily at him.
"What happened?" he asks, not too ashamed of the disheveled ruin that currently passes for his voice. Honestly, it's pretty good for hungover. "Did I do anythin' bad?"
Antonio's hands slide a little lower, cupping Kotetsu's buttocks and slowly squeezing. He doesn't answer right away; just squeezes, and relaxes; squeezes, and relaxes, and oh, fuck, that really does things to Kotetsu's libido that aren't proper considering he knows Antonio is spoken for now but it feels so nice he finds himself wriggling his hips up into it, concentrating on just breathing and feeling that.
Slowly, deliberately, Antonio slides his hands up, still rhythmically massaging every inch of Kotetsu's skin that he touches. He works his way up Kotetsu's back so painfully slowly that by the time he reaches Kotetsu's shoulders, Nathan has been back for several minutes, is dressed in a silk robe and has set two glasses of water and one helping of aspirin on the bedside table, watching them with a soft, fond smile.
"You were lonely," Antonio says at last, as he's digging his fingers down into the knots and sore tension that plague Kotetsu's shoulders, making him gasp in pain and bite his lip and ache. It's been such a long time since Kotetsu's been touched, intimately or at all, that he'd forgotten how it tangles with his emotions and drags out the secrets he makes of his personal life. He's embarrassed, knowing that Antonio and Nathan can see the tears that find their way down his face; but Antonio grunts softly, leans up, and licks them away. Under their gaze and in their care, he can't help feeling small and safe, and he ducks his head, letting Antonio continue. "After Sky High captured that bomber last night, we went out for drinks; it was your anniversary, so you got pretty wrecked. We took you home."
That's right. He feels the heavy twist of remembering Tomoe, but just like the knots in his back that Antonio is stubbornly massaging, he can't hold on to it for long. It slips away, and he sighs, surprised and grateful for the sudden lack of pain that spreads all warm and soft through his body. It's been such a long time since he actually felt this neutral that it seems like something special, something amazing. Same way he feels when he finally gets better after taking it for granted and getting miserably sick.
"We didn't do anything much," Nathan adds, now that they are capable of parting and Antonio is willing to let Kotetsu slowly sit up, guiding him to the side of the bed. He accepts the aspirin and one of the glasses of water, passing the second along to Antonio. It tastes just a little sweet; fresh; deliciously cold. "Showered together, since you were sick on the way here."
"And- just slept like that?" He inquires, a little surprised, a little embarrassed. Kotetsu tries to smile and shrug it off. "Sorry to have inconvenienced you like that."
Polishing off his own glass of water, Antonio steps from the bed like a god descended to Earth, and Kotetsu forgets that he knows what all that muscle looks like long enough to stare. "Wasn't an inconvenience," Antonio sighs, running a futile hand through his messy auburn hair and shaking his head. "Geez, you probably forgot what we offered you yesterday on top of everything else, huh?"
"Offered?" To be honest, Kotetsu has forgotten everything at this point except that it's a lot colder in the room without their warmth pressed up against him. He pulls up the sheets, wrapping them around his waist and covering himself shyly.
Nathan reaches out to collect Kotetsu's now-empty glass, setting it back on the bedside table. His un-painted lips are somehow fuller, rich and dark, and Kotetsu is startled to realize he wants to kiss them. The smile waiting there almost makes him feel like Nathan knows it, secretive and full of possibilities. "A deal, provided you're still interested."
"I-" This all feels kind of strange, and Kotetsu laughs, trying to defuse the tension he's creating just by being himself. "Maybe? I don't know. What're the terms?"
"Let us try to seduce you," Nathan says simply, as if it's the most natural thing in the world. For a man like that, with lips like that and long perfect fingers and muscles and skin like that, maybe it is. For Kotetsu, though, that sort of statement makes him red in the face and kind of choke on his tongue a little. "Hear me out," Nathan adds, his tone dropping half an octave, wheedling and yet more serious, too.
Kotetsu stares sheepishly at his hands, which he figures are probably safe. "We're, um. But we're coworkers? And we're supposed to compete with each other. It just seems kind of--"
"Are you saying you think I'd do this to sabotage your work?" The incredulous note in Antonio's voice makes Kotetsu even more embarrassed, somehow, than he was before. He mutely shakes his head, not meeting either of their gazes. They must think him petulant and ungrateful, and he's not sure they're wrong. "Come on, Kotetsu. I know it's always been pretty rushed between us, but those were good times, weren't they?"
Nodding once, Kotetsu forces himself to ease up on his grip of the sheets, rolling his shoulders self-consciously. Nathan sits down on the bed beside him, laying a hand over his, and he can't help smiling a little, amused at himself. "Thanks."
"You don't have to go along with this if you don't want to, Kotetsu," Nathan promises him. He sounds earnest, too, and Antonio makes a grumbling sound of agreement. "You're lonely. Antonio knows it, I know it; I'm not saying to let us do as we will with you. Just let us try to seduce you."
Kotetsu licks his lips, daring to meet Nathan's eyes and stammering when he finally manages to speak. "S-suppose you, um- you succeed. What-" And he swallows thickly, torn between anticipation and concern. "What happens then?"
"We have some very satisfying nights together," Nathan laughs, stroking a path up the inside of Kotetsu's arm that makes him grit his teeth, moaning softly. "Doing whatever it is you like to do best."
Nodding once, Kotetsu fidgets, rubbing at his face with his left hand. His mouth feels dry. "And this? Here?"
"Holding you?"
"Y-yeah."
"You can have this whenever you want, no strings attached. Even if you say no." And when Nathan brings Kotetsu's hand up to his lips and kisses his knuckles, he knows he's already going to lose to them but he doesn't care all that much, because it makes him feel kind of giddy and he's laughing and what the hell, why not?
"Okay," Kotetsu tells them, with a shake of his head and a smile that says I can't imagine why you want to do this. "Sure. Seduce me."