The mission had been a mess.

Explosions. Screams. Scraping shots. You almost lost sight of Kenji for distressing minutes. When it was all over, the silence was deafening. But it didn’t last long. As soon as they returned to the base, you went straight to your room - still with blood (not yours) on your clothes, your body trembling.

Minutes later, the door opened without slamming. Kenji came in. The dirty face, the wild eyes, the chest gasping as if it had run to you.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice low, but intense.

You nodded. “I’m.”

“You could have died.”

“You too.”

He stopped in the middle of the room, his hands shaking on the sides of his body.

“I saw you surrounded. I shouted your name, and you didn’t look. You didn’t even hear me.”

“I was trying to survive, Kenji!”

“And I was going crazy.”

The silence between you has become dense, almost physical.

His heart was beating high in his chest, and his too.

He took a step forward.

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to see you almost die and not be able to do anything?”

“Yes,” you replied, staring at him. “Because I feel it every time you run out to save someone as if your life didn’t matter.”

He stopped in front of you. The dark eyes burning.

“You matter to me.”

“And you for me.”

The world seemed to stop for a second.

Kenji shortened the distance, his dirty hands touching your face as if you were made of glass and fire at the same time.

“If you don’t want that, tell me now.”

You didn’t say anything.

You pulled him by the shirt and glued your mouth to his as if you wanted to erase all the pain of the day.

He answered with the same urgency, his hands running down your back, pressing you against him as if he still didn’t believe you were alive.

The tension exploded. Intense kisses, failed breaths, desperate fingers. Neither of them could stop.

“You’re all I think when the world is falling apart,” he murmured against his skin, pushing his jacket away, his eyes fixed on his.

And for the first time, you saw Kenji - the real one, without armor, without jokes. Only him. Feeling everything.