GetBackers Fan Fiction ❯ Introspective ❯ Chapter 1

Title: Introspective
Author: AquaianGoddess
Rating: PG-13/soft R
Pairing: ShidoxBan
Summery: Ban had always thought it was weird.
Warnings: Yaoi, lime, light cursing, and possible over use of parentheses.

~~

Thanks, as always, to sammei for her crazy mad beta skills.

~~

 

Ban had always thought it was weird, watching Fuyuki when he came into the Honky Tonk, or when Ginji managed to convince him to go to Madoka's so they could visit with his friend. Such a giant man, being forced into small and awkward spaces, whether it was into the Ladybug, when Ginji insisted he go for a drive with them, or into Madoka's precious social mold. The man was almost like a puppy in this human world (for even in Mugenjou, according to Ginji, he had been wild), stumbling over his own legs and feet because they weren't where he expected them to be. Ban was startled by just how passionate the man could be, though, when he listened to Madoka, or even Ban himself, play.

 

Ban slowly brought the piece to an end, and put down the violin with a sigh, putting it away with the absent precision of the well practiced, and then nearly dropped it when he turned and saw Shido in the doorway, eyes sad.

 

“Geez, Monkey Tamer, put a damn bell around your neck.” Ban bristled, annoyed at being caught off guard…and vulnerable.

 

“That piece...”

 

“Yeah, what of it?”

 

“…It was...”

 

Ban just stared at the large man. “What?”

 

“I liked it.” Ban blinked, stunned, and almost waiting for the insult. “It's…different from what Madoka plays. She doesn't play about real things.”

 

“What are you going on about, Fuyuki?”

 

Shido blinked. “Forget it. Come on, lunch is ready.”

 

And the situation was never spoken of again, though every time Ban went to visit, he'd play the piece, and smile a little when Shido stopped in to listen.

 

Ban was also amused by Shido's natural curiosity about everything. To see Shido slinking about in the garden like an overgrown cat, sniffing plants and watching butterflies, it was almost cute. It also, apparently, extended to people and “human” things.

 

Himiko watched Shido and Ginji chat, amused. “You know that he, Maguruma and I just completed a job, right?”

 

“Yeah. Looks like you ran into a bit of trouble.” Ban indicated the small cut on her cheek.

 

“Just a bit. Did you know he's not affected by the degeneration perfume? I guess it makes sense in a way, his animal transformations and all. He was curious as to how it worked. How all of them work. Asked me to explain it to him on the way back.” She looked a little bemused. “He's…very smart for someone who never had any form of formal education.”

 

“How do you know that?”

 

“He told me.” Ban could only blink. “He did.”

 

“I believe you… sorta. He seems like such a quiet guy…”

 

“He is. I had woken up from…I guess it was a nightmare, though I can't remember it now. He pulled me into his lap, and just started talking, soft and low, about lots of things. The forest where he mostly grew up until he came to Mugenjou. I fell asleep in his lap.”

 

Ban snickered, “It sounds like he's either crushing on you, or you on him, Himiko.”

 

“No, no, it's not like that!” Himiko shook her head quickly, as Maguruma padded into the Honky Tonk, having finally found a legal parking spot, and went over to sit next to Shido and Ginji. “It's just, for a minute, I felt like I was with my brother again. The smell was all wrong, of course, but…the feeling was there.” She looked annoyed for a moment. “He calls me kitling. What the fuck is a kitling?!”

 

Shido ruffled her hair. “It basically means `kid', kitling.” Shido grinned at her as she bristled.

 

“I am not a kid!”

 

“…Of course not, kitling.” Shido ruffled her hair again, nodded at Ban, and walked out.

 

“…He pisses me off the same way brother did, too.”

 

Ban just laughed.

 

So now Ban was intrigued. Shido, who had hated him with a passion (according to Ginji, Shido did everything passionately), was now being civil; though Ban assumed it was more for Ginji's sake than his own. But Ban was also curious, so, he inquired.

 

“Ban-chan wants to know more about Shido?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Why?”

 

“…I think he might have a thing for Himiko.”

 

Ginji blinked, and laughed. “Shido doesn't like Himiko like that.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Trust me.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Shido…err, why don't you ask him yourself?”

 

“Because I'm asking you.”

 

“It's not my place to say, Ban-chan.”

 

The matter was dropped; leaving Ban more confused than before, and a little more determined to figure Fuyuki out.

 

Not one to be discouraged, Ban set out for Madoka's, Ginji asleep in the passenger seat (for it was late at night, as most odd impulses come at the strangest of times). Ban parked (legally!) outside of Madoka's and sat on the hood, smoking, debating whether or not this was a good idea. He was about to get into the car and drive back to Paul's place when the front door opened and Shido stood in the doorway, bare foot and shirtless, drawstring pants low on his hips and hair tousled from sleep.

 

“Come inside, Snake Bastard, I'll make you coffee.”

 

Ban snubbed out the rest of his (fourth) cigarette and padded after him. He was never one to turn down free coffee, after all.

 

~~~

 

“You've been asking about me.”

 

“Yeah, so?”

 

“Why?”

 

“What is your intent towards Himiko?”

 

“…what?”

 

“Himiko. Your intent towards her. What is it?”

 

“…playing the role of big brother, are you?”

 

“Answer me.”

 

“I don't have any feelings like that for Himiko, Snake Bastard.”

 

“Really? So you are seeing Madoka, then?”

 

“I don't have any feelings like that for Madoka, either.”

 

“…what?”

 

“Let me show you.”

 

~~

 

Making love with Shido was an interesting experience, to say the least. Hands on skin (callous-rough over scar-smooth), his mouth on his neck (gentle scrape of sharp eyeteeth across his pulse), Ban found that Shido was almost playful in bed, which (pleasantly) surprised him. Shido's playful nips and kisses, hands teasing, there wasn't a part of Ban's body that they didn't touch. Ban woke, satiated and a little sore, to Shido's face buried against Ban's neck, a leg over his hips, and an arm around Ban's waist. Ban decided that it was (cute) not that uncomfortable, and went back to sleep.

 

~~

 

Ban awoke again to soft nuzzles and kisses and kissed back. This time, their lovemaking was slow, almost lazy as Shido's hands moved in slow patterns along Ban's skin, mouth and tongue following in their wake. Ban had arched into it and rolled them over, mimicking what Shido had done to him (for he wasn't as skilled in these matters and most seemed to think). When they woke again, Shido kissed Ban (a simple brush of lips against lips) and stood, stretching.

 

“Want breakfast?”

 

“…sure.”

 

Ban also found out that Shido was a much better cook than Madoka was.

 

~~

 

The second (third) time they had sex, they were fighting. Ban had snarled an insult (upset and confused at just what the hell was going on between them) and Shido snarled back (hurt and confused about just what the hell Ban's deal was) and from there Ban somehow found himself pressed against a wall in the back room of the Honky Tonk, fingers digging into Shido's back and shoulders as Shido pounded into him, biting down on Ban's neck and growling. When it was over, Ban was dazed and limp in Shido's arms, and Shido was apologizing for the bruises on Ban's hips and neck. Ban kissed him to get him to shut up, and Hevn, Paul, Ginji, and Natsumi fell into the room as the door swung open.

 

After that, everyone pretty much assumed they were seeing each other, and Ban was asked out on the first date of his life.

~~

 

Ban still can't get used to Shido's constant need to touch him. In small, little ways. Like brushing Ban's hair out of his face, or rubbing his thumb across Ban's knuckles. Ban did have an image to maintain, after all, and leaning into your boyfriend's touch with a small smile and a content sigh sorta ruins the image of `bad ass professional.'

 

Not that Ban actually cares, because at the same time, he could reach up, skritch Shido behind an ear and have him purring like a motor boat in seconds.

 

Ginji thinks that the whole thing is cute, but knows better than to say it to their faces. Shido does think Ban's hot when he's pissed, after all.