Kanda had been nursing his shoulders ever since returning from his last mission. The aches stretched across his entire back, but he could only alleviate so much, and even that was hardly enough. No matter how hard he rubbed, the knots persisted. Three weeks of sleeping on nothing but cold, hard ground had definitely done a number on him. And, lucky him, it was one of the few things his regenerative seal couldn’t do anything about. Thus he’d been forced to make due with it for the past three days.
He supposed it was only a matter of time before a certain stupid rabbit made the entire ordeal that much worse.
“Yuuuu,” called the nasally voice. Kanda could already feel his head throbbing. And virtually every other part of his body, but that was besides the point.
“Stop calling me that,” he growled, walking in the opposite direction that the voice came from. Soon enough, however, Lavi was upon him, slinging an overly friendly arm around his sore shoulders and making him wince. “Get off.”
“Wow, you’re stiff,” Lavi noted, squeezing the shoulder opposite to the side he walked next to. “Have you even slept in a real bed?”
“What does it matter to you?” Kanda snapped, shrugging off Lavi’s hand and pulling away. As a matter of fact, he had slept in a real bed, and it had done next to nothing to help.
“Why don’t you let me give you a massage?” the redhead suggested with a too-wide grin.
“Forget it.”
“Come oooon, you’ll love it! You don’t even have to thank me or anything.”
Kanda turned on him and narrowed his eyes.
“‘Thank you’ are the last words I would ever say to you for invading my personal space even more than usual.”
Lavi’s smile persisted. “But you just did~”
Kanda had to clench and un-clench his fists several times to refrain from decking him in the face.
As it turned out, Lavi did manage to persuade him, much to his internal (and external) chagrin. He honestly didn’t even care how he got suckered into this; as far as he was concerned, he could easily break Lavi’s jaw and numerous other body parts if he tried anything funny. In reality, though, he wasn’t sure what would constitute “anything funny” when it came to a massage. He’d never gotten one and he’d never cared to see anyone get one, much less give one to somebody. He knew there was hand-to-body contact and, humiliatingly enough, he had to take off his shirt. He doubted that it was a necessary step, but Lavi insisted and Kanda’s patience was growing thin both with the redhead and his aching muscles. Lavi brought out some kind of oil to show him why he needed to bare his skin, but even still he was reluctant to agree.
By the time he was lying flat on his stomach, cold air on his back, he was thoroughly regretting his decision. Having his back exposed, even to a fellow exorcist, set his nerves aflame and he couldn’t stop turning his head from side to side to watch Lavi’s every step.
“Relax,” Lavi said, walking behind him. Kanda gritted his teeth. “That’s the whole point of a massage.”
“Do you even know how to give a massage?” the swordsman ground out, fists clenched as he rested his head on his forearms.
“Of course I do!” His voice held an air of mock offense. “I learned lots of techniques while I was in Egypt, and even more from China. I’m sure I can find something that tickles your fancy~” Kanda didn’t know how much he liked that tone of voice.
“Just get on with it. Watch your hands—…” He cut himself off as Lavi mounted the back of his thighs on the bed (thankfully they’d chosen his bedroom and not Lavi’s; God knew how embarrassed Kanda would be if Bookman walked in on him—on them—like this). He heard the bottle of oil open, and the sound of Lavi dousing his hands tainted his ears until, finally, they touched his skin.
He jumped more than he would like to admit, but by some grace of God, Lavi didn’t comment. He splayed his well-oiled fingers over each of Kanda’s shoulder blades, letting him get accustomed to the cold temperature before it gradually warmed up with friction. He rubbed his palms in small circles, pressing down with the heels of his hands when they met closest between his shoulders, on either side of his spine. A quiet breath left him, unbidden, but the unfamiliar touch of another’s hands slowly but surely working skillfully at his back made him forget momentarily that those hands belonged to Lavi.
He could hear the grin in the redhead’s voice when he next whispered to relax, and much as he wanted to snap back, he instead found himself complying. With each circle of Lavi’s palms, Kanda commanded his muscles to relax, and soon he was completely pliant under the Bookman’s touch. He didn’t know when he’d closed his eyes, but he found them fluttering open with a barely muffled gasp when Lavi’s fingers stretched upward, scarcely brushing against one of the knots that had been the bane of Kanda’s attitude for the past three days. He almost tensed when Lavi paused, but he was back at it a split second later, moving the focus of his ministrations to that spot on either side of his shoulders. A soft moan escaped him as immediate relief saturated through his muscles.
“See? What’d I tell ya?” he heard Lavi say, but his only response was another moan of questionable nature. He vaguely heard the redhead chuckle above him, but he was purely entranced by the magic of those fingers. The blissful tingle of returned blood flow he hadn’t even known was blocked made him sink farther into the mattress, unable to restrain the appreciative noises that followed each pass of fingers over his skin. Why hadn’t he done this sooner? This was akin to meditation for the mind, except his body was able to relax in ways it previously couldn’t. Maybe he really would thank Lavi for this after all. He couldn’t recall ever feeling so good in his entire life. Both lives.
Lavi grinded down with the heel of his hand then, and a floodgate opened. He moaned loudly as he felt his body slump despite how lax he’d already been. Lavi paused again, and Kanda was grateful for the moment to catch his breath, but then he concentrated on that spot, and that was the end of the swordsman’s composure. His face flushed with the sounds he produced and the way his body reacted to the release of built-up pressure, and it was all he could do to keep his eyes shut throughout the euphoric torture. Lavi rocked into the motion of his hands and Kanda was acutely aware of what was grinding against his ass, but all he could do was surrender himself to the redhead’s touch. He couldn’t even bother to be offended right now.
When the assault on his shoulder ceased, he took in a shaky breath, but the ordeal wasn’t over yet. Lavi’s slick hands moved down his back, crawling along his spine with precise movements. His thumbs pressed into the dip of his spine while his fingers danced along just behind his sides, just behind the cusp of tickling. When he reached the small of his back, Kanda couldn’t help but roll into the touch. The motion caused him to rub right up against the prominent bulge of an erection in the pants of the man on top of him, and they both moaned in surprised unison. Lavi gripped his hips to still them, and Kanda simply focused on breathing. From the sounds of it, Lavi was doing the same.
“Think I worked out all the kinks,” the latter said quietly after a moment. Kanda couldn’t formulate an articulate reply, allowing his eyes to fall closed as he tried to dispel the onset of mortification at his own wanton actions. It had felt good, sure, but had a mere massage really warranted such a reaction? Or was he just that in need of relaxation? Even now, embarrassed as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to push Lavi away or chide himself seriously or convince himself that he didn’t want it to continue.
Opening his eyes, though lidded, and turning his head, he gazed over his shoulder at Lavi, strands of loose hair across his face (had he taken out his hair tie?). A faint blush rested on the Bookman’s cheeks, his own green eye fighting back an all-too-familiar haze. Kanda turned over completely, shoving Lavi off balance enough to make him fall forward. He put his hands on either side of Lavi's face and held him there, centimeters away. He stared into that green eye, daring him to make the next move. Lavi's hot breath mingled with his own, and the hair that hung over his bandana tickled his forehead. The Bookman still straddled his thighs, hands supporting himself on the mattress to either side of Kanda. It was quite possibly the most intimate position he'd ever been in with anyone outside of battle. Once again he was struck with the realization that this was Lavi, but as he looked into his eye, he couldn't find the carefree, obnoxiously loud invader of personal space. There was far more depth in that eye, far more than he had ever shown to Kanda. It was almost frightening how much could be seen within him just by getting a good look past his upbeat exterior.
"Yu," Lavi whispered. Kanda could feel the faint flutter of air against his lips. "Give me a call if you ever need another...massage. 'Kay?"
He blinked and all too soon Lavi was pulling away, handing him his shirt. He took it numbly (literally and figuratively) and simply watched as Lavi pocketed his bottle of oil and left.
What the hell? Kanda hissed to himself, lying back on his bed. His back still tingled with relief, and though his other extremities were still quite active, he felt the urge drain out of him as the seconds ticked by. What was he doing? Had he really just tried to proposition Lavi after a measly massage? The thought of his propositioning anybody seemed ludicrous. He had never wanted to undress somebody so quickly. In fact, he couldn't recall exactly wanting to undress anyone until today. Why Lavi, of all people? Just because his hands were like angels singing against his skin and Kanda’s body was still lost to the unsatisfied echo of bliss didn't mean the fucker was worthy of bedding him.
But fuck if it didn’t sound nice.