Chapter Text
“You can take a break for five minutes, but you still owe me four more rounds.”
Noi flopped onto a nearby bench theatrically, holding the back of her hand to her forehead in feigned exhaustion. “My senpai is a cruel taskmaster.”
Shin rolled his eyes and nudged at her ankles with his feet until she made room for him next to her on the bench. In truth, she wanted to go again now, itching to redeem herself after he’d pinned her to the mat one too many times in quick succession. But she could feel herself getting frustrated, which was when she started to get sloppy. Maybe a few weeks ago she would’ve pressed forward anyway, but in the six months since they became partners she’d learned that Shin was not a forgiving opponent even in training, and took great pleasure in punishing her for careless mistakes. For now, she willed herself to calm down and refocus, letting her magic slowly relieve the ache in her back, and settled for snatching his water bottle out of his hands and draining it while he explained to her in great detail what she’d gotten wrong.
Despite her current irritation, learning from Shin-senpai was still the best - well, maybe second best, after the actual fighting itself - part of her job. Noi had honestly expected to chafe at the constraints of their partnership, and especially at her role as mentee (deference wasn’t exactly something she’d pictured as a big part of her life as a devil), but she’d been pleasantly surprised by how much she had to learn from him, and by how much fun she (usually) had.
Shin was really good at killing people. While he was taller (still, even after her latest growth spurt, which was so annoying), Noi was definitely stronger, still fully capable of tearing his limbs off, which she’d be more than happy to demonstrate if he’d ever agree to arm wrestle her for the check at dinner again. Despite this theoretical advantage, though, she struggled to keep up with him in the thick of things, never quite matching him kill-for-kill.
Noi had seen him fight before, of course, but never with this frequency or in such close quarters. She didn’t know if she would call him graceful, exactly, but there was something about the way he moved in the middle of a fight: always sidestepping an attack at the perfect moment, no hesitation as he hooks the claw of his hammer into the underside of his opponent’s jaw, his combat instincts drilled into him by necessity. And sometimes there was something else, too, especially if his adversary actually managed to land a blow on him, something that always sent a sick thrill low in her belly - that cruel glint in his eye, veins throbbing hotly in his hands and neck, radiating adrenaline and pure, bloody violence.
There had been a moment, at the tail end of one of their very first jobs right after becoming partners, where Shin had looked up at her from the center of a pile of gore, stripes of bright white ribcage revealed by a deep gash across his chest. He was breathing hard, mask long forgotten, and for a second Noi wondered if he’d actually given himself a heart attack - but then his face cracked open into a huge, ugly grin that exposed all of his teeth. She felt her own lips curl into a wide smile to match his, her pulse picking up, and realized they really did understand each other. It felt like she’d finally released a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. This is going to work.
“You just need to pay more attention,” he sighed finally, interrupting her train of thought by taking the empty bottle back and rapping it gently against her knees once he realized she was only half paying attention. “You know what to do, you just get reckless if things don’t go your way fast enough.”
Noi huffed, readjusting her wrist wraps. Her skin still buzzed unpleasantly from the acid-sweet preworkout drink they’d shared earlier. “We never fight anyone that lasts as long as you do, though.”
She knew it was the wrong thing to say as it was coming out of her mouth, and Shin visibly prickled right on cue. “Yeah, and if we ever do, it’ll be my ass on the line for letting En’s precious baby cousin get stomped. Besides,” he added, softening slightly as she puffed her chest up in preparation to protest his choice of words (precious? baby?!), “if you ever get tired of buying me dinner, you’re going to have to figure this shit out, because there’s no way you’re going to bag more bodies than me like this.”
Noi groaned dramatically, knocking her forehead onto his shoulder. He was right, as usual, which was annoying, and even more infuriating was the fact that she didn’t really mind.
Shin had taken to his new role as senpai quickly, managing to appear authoritative instead of silly in his suits now that he’d put on some muscle in his chest and shoulders, and the sureness in the way he gave her orders was… thrilling, in a weird way. Noi had never cared what anyone else thought of her before, but she couldn’t deny the warmth that bloomed in her chest whenever he gave her that rare little half-smile of approval. She wanted to make him proud, to maybe make up for the way En had saddled him with a partner even though he’d been happy working alone for the past few years. Plus, fighting was especially fun with him making the decisions since she didn’t have to think so hard about it - she liked being able to throw herself full-throttle in any direction he pointed her in and focus on beating the shit out of people.
Noi wrinkled her nose against Shin’s shoulder, his t-shirt damp with sweat. “Ugh, you reek.”
Shin let out a short bark of laughter and then suddenly he had her in a headlock, her head wedged firmly under his armpit. His sweat was sticky on the back of her neck. “Please, you like it. Is that why you keep letting me take you down? Coming back for more?”
Noi couldn’t stop herself from laughing even as she struggled against him, kicking futilely at his shins, though it sounded more like gasping from the grip he had on her neck. “Ewww - shit - that’s so gross, senpai -”
Shin was laughing too, now, starting to kick back at her, and while he was distracted she managed to jab her elbow sharply into his gut. His grip relaxed slightly as his breath left him in a big wheezy oof. Noi took the opportunity to kick hard off the ground, tipping them backwards off the bench onto the bare floor, and Shin took the brunt of the impact as she was half sprawled across his chest. She quickly squirmed out of his grasp and knelt heavily on his chest, his collarbone sharp against the bones of her knee.
Shin went limp underneath her, no longer laughing. His face had softened into a familiar smile, almost-but-not-quite like the one he gave her when she got something right, one she hadn’t learned to interpret yet, but that was okay. She’d figure that out, too.
Noi grinned back down at him. “Finally got you!”
Noi shifted from one foot to the other impatiently, balancing about thirty-five kilos of GuraGura’s dog food on one shoulder. This was exactly why she preferred to do the shopping on her own - Shin was too picky about brands, and spent way too much time selecting the perfect cut of meat. Neither of them were good enough cooks for it to matter, anyway, and to her, protein was protein. But he’d insisted on coming in this time, since apparently the coffee filters she’d been picking up were unacceptable, and they really were out of garbage bags so they had to get this done now. Whatever.
He dropped a package of chicken thighs into the basket she held out for him. “We’ll have to make this quick so these don’t go bad in the car. No playing with your food today,” he warned mildly, marking them off the list in his pocket.
Noi rolled her eyes. She wasn’t the one who was dragging this out, she was more than happy to get on with the fun part. “Yeah, fine, senpai,” she sighed, hefting the dog food onto her other shoulder.
Shin glanced at her with one corner of his mouth quirked up. “Too heavy for you, Noi? Do you need a cart?”
“Of course not!” she exclaimed, standing up ramrod straight. Shin had tasked her with carrying the kibble through the store after one too many quips about how much bigger and stronger than him she was now that she’d finally outweighed him a couple of weeks ago. They were about the same height now, and in fact she was maybe a little taller, but she was saving that ammunition for later.
Shin just hmmmmed, and returned his attention to his grocery list.
It struck her as kind of funny, to be standing there in the middle of the meat section debating ten versus fifteen percent fat ground beef when they were on their way to slaughter a couple dozen people. They’d been partners for two years now, and it still surprised Noi how domestic they’d gotten, for lack of a better word. They obviously spent a lot of time together on the job, and training for it, but they’d spilled into each other’s personal lives too. Regular wagers over who’d treat the other to a night out turned into half the menu from their favorite takeout place spread out in front of Noi’s TV, which in turn became jostling each other at the sink in Shin’s tiny kitchen as they tackled the wreckage Noi had left in her wake while cooking. She’d bought a dog bed for GuraGura to keep in her room, constantly tripped over the toys he left at her feet. Kept a few bottles of Shin’s preferred wine in the cabinet. She didn’t even own an alarm clock anymore, just relied on him to rouse her at the start of his morning runs so she’d be ready to join him at the gym by the time he was finished.
Even on their days off they were together more often than not - Shin had recently taken it upon himself to build replacements for the furnishings En provided (“particleboard shit,” Shin had declared), and Noi liked to watch him work. She’d pass him whatever hardware he needed until he got tired of her chattering, at which point she’d sit nearby in one of his shitty particleboard chairs and read (obscure grimoires pilfered from En’s private collection, cheap thriller paperbacks from Tenjin’s). It was … nice. She liked the way they’d made room in their lives for each other.
Shin was wearing his new glasses as he reviewed the list, with his mask shoved into the pocked of his jacket. She liked those too, the way they made him look a little older, complimented the angles of his face. Her gaze lingered on his profile, the broad line of his shoulders, how small his pen looked in his hand, and something stirred low in her gut.
That was one area of Shin’s life that Noi hadn’t managed to penetrate (haha). He’d been deeply resistant to any amount of flirting despite her best efforts. She never pressed too hard, just tested his boundaries here and there, and sometimes she was rewarded with a truly impressive blush, but otherwise he remained completely inflexible, which was frustrating to say the least. And it’s not like she wouldn’t understand if he just wasn’t into her (well - that wasn’t completely true, she knew how hot she was), but she’d definitely caught him sneaking glances at her whenever she wore something sexy, or if her suit got shredded in the excitement of a fight. So… what, then?
She wasn’t pining for him or anything, she’d just… thought about what it would be like a few times. Thought about shoving that cute blushing face between her legs and holding him there. About how he might fuck her, fast and brutal like the swing of his hammer. Imagined what his hands would feel like in place of hers - they were bigger than hers, weren’t they, strong and sure and solid like the rest of him, yeah, all rough calluses and that row of stitches just above the first knuckle - okay, so maybe she’d thought about it more than a few times.
Pocketing the grocery list, Shin turned to her, and she straightened again, doing her best to look completely unburdened. It really wasn’t that heavy, just awkward, and it occurred to her that maybe he took his time with the shopping to see if she’d give up. He gave her a little smirk, indicating that, yeah, that’s exactly what he’d been doing. “We’re done,” he announced, striding towards the checkout line as he stowed his glasses in his jacket and pulled his mask back on.
“You totally owe me barbecue for this,” she grumbled, trailing behind him.
He laughed. “Noi, you can stop at any time. I’m not making you do anything.”
Hours later, Noi picked through refuse at her feet, searching for anything still warm and squirmy to dump into a garbage bag. True to her word, she’d torn through the waves of thugs that had fallen upon her without pause, which made it a little boring, but at least now they were done and she could maybe prod Shin into buying her dinner. Judging from the mangled limbs and neat slices of flesh carpeting the floor, she might have gotten more kills than him anyway, which was more than enough justification in her mind.
Something (somebody) in the bag behind her gurgled loudly and she turned to give it a warning kick, only to find that the noise hadn’t come from the bag - it was Shin, unsteady on his feet, face starting to go a little gray. He’d seemed okay earlier, but now his shirt was saturated with blood on one side, dripping onto the floor. Noi immediately dropped the slab of muscle she was holding and picked her way over to him, ignoring the moaning that started up again as it hit the floor with a wet smack.
“Shit - senpai, you have got to tell me if you need help, stop waiting ‘til it gets this bad,” she muttered as she pulled off her mouthpiece. Shin let out a sharp wheeze that she guessed was supposed to be a laugh, and the effort made him sway a bit. Sounded like a punctured lung. Noi grabbed his shoulder and yanked him close before he could fall backwards.
Shin closed his eyes as she leaned forward, almost-but-not-quite brushing her lips against his as she exhaled clouds of smoke into his lungs. His breaths, warm against her face, grew deeper as he recovered, but he leaned against her like he still needed help standing. Delight bloomed in her chest - he usually stayed completely rigid when they were this close. Maybe he’d bled out more than she’d realized if he was allowing himself to relax like this. She shifted her hips to one side under his weight, but as she moved she felt - something - brush against her upper thigh - wait -
Noi’s smoke dissipated abruptly as laughter bubbled out of her chest unbidden, suddenly feeling feverish, and before she could stop herself she shoved her leg between his, felt him harden against her, and blurted, “Hey, senpai, isn’t this kind of perverted?”
Shin seized up, spluttering, and struggled to pull away from her, but she still had her hand on his shoulder. Her grip tightened instinctively, holding him in place, and without thinking her other hand streaked down his chest, clearly intending to - feel him? How hard was he? How could he even manage it after losing so much blood? Why -
Shin caught her wrist in a vice grip before she could make contact. “Noi. Let go,” he said sharply, eyes wild as he met her gaze, and she dropped her hand from his shoulder immediately.
Noi kept her eyes locked on his, trying not to make the situation worse by staring down at his erection as she waited for the inevitable shove at her shoulders before he staggered backwards away from her. Her mind was racing, still working to process - Shin, her Shin-senpai, half-hard in his pants while they tore their targets limb from limb. It was so weird, so gross, but so, so him - of course he got off on this - that she wanted to fall to her knees and laugh, scream, fucking combust. Had he gotten a little aroused earlier in the car, even before the fighting started, in anticipation? Was it the violence in general, or was it his own physical dominance that did it? Was he some kind of masochist? His pain tolerance was really high, was that why he’d waited a little too long to let her know he needed healing? Or… maybe he liked watching her fight. Liked seeing her kill with her bare hands.
That particular idea sent a jolt down her spine, startling her back into herself. She was suddenly hyper-aware of her own body, the heat between her legs, the way they were both still breathing hard from their scuffle and - how close they still were. He wasn’t moving away. He still held her wrist tightly in his hand.
Noi furrowed her brows at him quizzically, licked her lips in preparation to ask are you okay? are you still hurt? but as she did, Shin finally broke eye contact to watch her tongue swipe at her bottom lip. Oh?
A smirk tugged at the corner of Noi’s mouth. Shin suddenly couldn’t look her in the eye, maybe couldn’t look at her at all, his gaze flicking from side to side like he was searching for an escape route. But - he was still there, still hadn’t released her hand. Noi took that as an invitation to lean forward, pressing into him cautiously at first, then harder, encouraged by a little jerk of his hips against hers. Her hand was starting to go numb from how tightly he was squeezing her wrist.
Noi’s pulse raced in her ears. The heavy line of his cock was unmistakable against her as she moved slowly against him, and, incredibly, as he began to grind back. Her smirk grew into a full-on leer, eyes bright as she watched him. He had such a strained expression on his face - eyes squeezed shut, muscles working in his jaw - that it almost looked like he was in pain, but the little moans that escaped him every so often gave him away. Fuck, he was hot. She wanted to lick the square angle of his jaw and bite down on the veins jumping in his neck. To reach down and take his cock in her hand, make him moan for real. Would he even let her? Were they really doing this? Was he really into it?
She was too excited for the words to come out right. “Senpai, are you - can we -”
Shin’s eyes snapped open, his face brick red. “Noi - just - stop talking,” he groaned, and then dragged her in by a fistful of hair to crush her mouth against his.
Noi lunged forward to meet him, moaning shamelessly into the kiss. The dry heat of his lips was familiar, but the desperation with which he licked into her mouth, the hand that had pushed up the hem of her shirt to grasp at her hip, his touch electric on her bare skin - that was new, and, fuck, it was so much better than she’d imagined. She felt almost dizzy with enthusiasm, wanted to touch every inch of him finally, finally, and was startled by the way her hands trembled as she slid them beneath his jacket.
Shin was gripping her hip so tightly he’d leave fingerprints if she could bruise, openly panting into her mouth now, and yeah, she knew it, he was totally into it, into her, with the thick ridge of his cock pressing sharply into her hip. Noi giggled breathlessly and slid a hand down to give his ass a playful squeeze as he rocked against her, managing to feel smug through the haze of want. Grumbles vibrated low in his chest in a way that she could feel more than hear and he bit down hard on her lower lip in retaliation, but she couldn’t keep herself from giggling even as she gasped at the pleasure-pain that sparked through her. He was just so cute, how could he be so cute and sexy at the same time?
Her fingers skittered excitedly over his body, feeling the muscles up and down his back flex under her touch, then around to linger at his chest - ugh, his pecs - before she worked a hand between them to cup his dick firmly. She pressed the heel of her palm against the head of his cock as she stroked him through his pants, shivering at the way it made his breath hitch, and then she couldn’t take it anymore, she needed to touch him for real. Too impatient to bother fiddling with his belt, Noi unzipped his pants and pushed clothing aside enough to draw him out, her fingertips slipping into his boxers to feel for the base, and she whimpered at the heft of his cock in her hand, the way that he rutted back against her, pushing close so insistently that she didn’t even have room to wrap her fingers around him properly. Trying to memorize the weight of him, the precise angle of the little curve up towards his stomach, Noi shuddered as he sank his teeth into the side of her neck and moaned. She was so fucking wet, could feel the slide between her legs each time he jostled against her, heat building deep in her body, and he hadn’t even touched her yet. Mercifully, Shin seemed to notice how desperate she’d gotten, and released her hip to pick her belt open with one hand while the other remained fisted in her hair.
“Oh, fuck, Noi,” he moaned, dropping his forehead onto her shoulder as his hand pushed into her underwear, fully soaked by this point, and finally made contact with her cunt. Noi could only whine in response. She was too worked up, had wanted this for too long - he hadn’t even entered her, just stroked up and down her slit while he thumbed roughly at her clit, his fingers sliding easily through her arousal, but she could feel heat building in her lower belly already, pleasure throbbing through her body. Shin’s hand had slid from her hair to her neck, his thumb resting on a pressure point - was it intentional or instinctive? didn’t matter, the threat of violence, the reminder of what kind of person he was had her trembling against him - and she barely registered the moans rising from her throat, her hand damp from the blood on his shirt and from where he was leaking precome, his cock twitching in her grasp, and it was too much, too intense, her hand fisted in his jacket as her orgasm rocked through her. He kept his hand where it was, fingers curling slickly against her as he thrust into her loose grip, muttering her name over and over into her clavicle, and Noi couldn’t do much more than pant at his neck and let him grind the head of his cock against her palm until his come spilled over her hand.
It was still warm in her hand as Shin abruptly detached himself from her. Noi absently wiped it off on one of the nearby corpses, still in a daze from how hard she had come, and watched him right himself while conspicuously avoiding her gaze. She was a little confused - she hadn’t expected him to stroke her hair or tell her he loved her or anything, but she had thought he’d at least be able to look at her considering what they’d just done.
“Shin -”
“Don’t,” he cut her off sharply. “We - this never happened. Understand?”
Noi didn’t respond, just frowned at him as he yanked his mask down over his face, now red again, and made a beeline for the car. Weren’t they past this? She gave him a few seconds’ head start before snatching up the garbage bags and stalking after him, leaving a few critical bits of their conquests behind.
Fine, if that was how he wanted it. She was used to following his lead anyway.