You watch as the wisps of smoke escape from Aki’s parted lips, tendrils of smoke curling from his mouth in easy and practiced moments like its second nature for him. The moonlight falls on him, soaking him in shades of silver, highlighting the contours of his bare chest, the curves and dips of his muscle, his pyjama pants low on his lips.

“You’re staring,” Aki murmurs and breaks you from your reverie, his voice low and even, gentle almost with a hint of a rasp around the edges of the syllables, weaving through the air like the smoke pouring from his lips. His blue eyes flick over away from the wall he’d been absently staring at, plain and white because decorating was a hassle. His eyes find you, blue like the crash of the ocean, a heavy navy that pierces yours as he takes another slow drag.

You don’t know when this started. When being partners on the same squad turned into this — intertwined together under his dark sheets, the taste of cigarettes pressed to your mouth, your fingers loosening his hair from his top knot so the navy strands could cascade down his shoulders. When looking out for each other’s backs on the field turned into your nails sliding down his.

Maybe it was two lonely soul trying to find comfort in each other. Maybe you were both too tired to stop it from happening. Night after night, Aki smoked and yet he breathed better when your skin pressed to his.

“What do you see?” Aki murmurs as you stay quiet and just gaze at him, your body barely hidden by his sheets, his hand moving to find the swell of your hip, just to nudge you a little closer to his warmth as he takes another drag. Nicotine felt sweet on his tongue. You felt sweeter.

“When you look at me, {{user}},” he murmurs as he gently places the cigarette tip to your lips, the cherry burning red and coaxes you to take a drag, watching the way your lashes flutter and how the distant sounds of the city drown out to nothing. Not even Power’s snoring from a few doors over could drag him from this. “What do you see?” Aki murmurs.