#shinkou

The Twincest Ship of the Day is:

@hkzv who has my heart so very much has done yet another wonderful thing for me. a little cold weather ShinKou since it's been far too long since I've had content of them to bestow upon the world. it is an honor and a joy to work with her every time she does art for me and I can't rec her enough as an artist and a friend when you need something drawn. hopefully a fic will follow this at some point, that would be nice, since the binder art she did paired so nicely with writing.

Either you can write them do epic horse stuff or stargaze together. Admittedly the stargazing thing could be more cute :3

this has been sitting in my inbox since i was drunk and i thought i'd be silly and do it now.

i've never written actual romantic KouShin so i actually have no idea what i'm doing but here we go anyway. i gave it a sammy-classic twist.

tw for recreational drug use (just weed)

The voice reaches his ears from what feels like much farther away than it is. With just a little sigh, Kouta trots over to the other room where his partner is calling him in an effort to prevent them from shouting again. He stands over them as they sit on the floor and thumb through a particularly old book he'd had on his personal shelf for the last three decades bare minimum. At least they had quieted down immediately when he made his entry, like a cat yowling for attention that was content the second said attention was received, though know he found himself wishing they would explain themselves as to why they needed his attention and presence in the first place. Both of his hands are placed on his hips and he tries to patiently await their verbal explanation but he makes a solid effort not to look actually annoyed.

"Do you know how outdated this thing is?" They finally properly look up at him with a raised brow. "With all this talk about the Nidaime being a cold unfeeling bastard with no sense of ethics or morals."

Kouta puts his hand out for the book but says nothing until Shin hands it over. "Thank you." He clears his throat before continuing. "Yes I'm very aware. I'm not attached to it anymore and frankly wish I'd never bought it in the first place."

"Maybe it's time you do a library purge to get rid of it and all of its ilk. Donate them somewhere but attach a warning label, perhaps."

"I've been contemplating doing something like that yes. It's better than throwing the lot of them out." And then he pivots the subject when some revelation appears to come over him. "Are those Itachi's glasses?"

Kouta thanks his incredible luck that Shin would never lie to him even about something small like this. So when they respond, he knows it'll be the honest truth. "Why yes they are."

"Are you planning on giving them back to him at some point? Preferably soon?"

"I am not." They shake their head twice to make sure he gets the picture. "These are an old-ish pair and in fact I asked him permission first to take them."

Kouta takes a couple good deep breaths and then lowers himself into a sitting position beside Shin. It's a bit difficult for him without his favorite wooden cane to help balance his weight on and it doesn't feel fantastic on his joints. But it's worth it to truly figure out what business his partner may have sporting a pair of glasses that he'd never seen them even attempt to try on casually before. Those stark white eyes that he found profoundly beautiful, faded over so much time without proper explanation, blink at him curiously but Shin opts not to speak in favor of letting their husband continue his questioning. They have plenty of time to answer all of his inquiries properly and hopefully give him real peace of mind.

"When did you get those from him? I don't remember you having them or wearing them at all in the past week. Am I just that unobservant?"

"No, it's only been two days. I got them from Haruka on Thursday per request and haven't had the time to actually use them until today. They're not really customized to me, since they're not mine obviously, but they're working well enough for my purposes."

Some sort of alarm bells begin to go off in Kouta's head when he hears them say all of this with a straight face. Not a hint of irony or play could be detected in their tone and the subject at hand could very much be considered serious so all of his attention became laser focused on his husband just then. He reaches up slowly and takes the frames gingerly off of their face so that he may inspect the light eyes behind them. Eyes as focused on him as he is on Shin, framed by bangs that had lost their silver hue in favor of a similar white tone with the natural aging process. Kouta scans their entire face first as if he's avoiding some confirmation of the worst before making himself look them directly in the eyes. Then he is able to let out a held breath in relief when he can see no signs of cataracts or ocular damage of any sort. Shin blinks at him but still chooses to wait their turn to speak, wondering what is going through the old weasel man's head.

"Shin?" Is all he can get out.

"Yeah? What's wrong? You look like you've seen some sort of ominous vision."

He sets the glasses down, folded and out of the way of harm, and then reaches both arms out to gently place one hand on either side of their head. His hands are warm and something about the touch is relaxing to them despite the fact that he's clearly doing it out of an anxiety spike. One of their own hands goes up to cover his own, savoring the warm touch while also meaning to reassure him that they're not going to combust and die in front of him. Kouta's heart speeds up just a bit in his chest but not out of some positive feeling. He's all too familiar with the capricious nature of Shin's state of health. They have had symptoms all over the map for as long as he's known them and he's no fool to pass off a single one even if it turns out in the end to just be weird luck of the draw. This requires professional attention and he's going to see to it that they get just that.

"Shin." He starts again. "Do you want me to make an appointment for you? I don't think Kabuto or Haruka are really qualified for optometry...so I could call a specialist? If you're needing Itachi's old glasses to look over some words in a book then maybe we need to get you checked out."

If the two had been a decade younger, they would have immediately pulled him into their lap to help let him know they were grateful and that this would all be okay somehow. But they knew damn well it was hard enough for him even to get this low and would probably need assistance getting back up so such a gesture was not the wisest idea. So instead, they let go of their hold on his hand and they take that as a sign to let go of them as well, and then they scoot over to properly sit beside him. Kouta looks at them long and hard for just a moment after they come to a stop and then he transitions to leaning his head on their shoulder for comfort. Shin puts one arm around him and holds him close just to make sure he feels extra secure. Not answering his question first was excusable this time because he clearly needed the physical closeness as a way to verify that he wasn't going to lose his partner of over 30 years just like that.

"Yes, I would appreciate if you could do that for me. I'm sorry I hadn't told you yet that something might be going on with my vision. Haruka kinda sorta knows...but only because I asked her to drop the glasses off to me. Itachi probably has an idea of what's up, even more than her. Sorry that you're the last to know."

"That's okay. I know you didn't keep it from me on purpose. You haven't done anything like that in a really long time." His still vivid orange eyes, now much more vibrant than his hair that had lost a lot of its color and luster, slowly closed as he spoke. He was still admittedly scared but there was a plan in place now so he could rely on that until they had further answers. "Thank you for being honest with me."

Their lips met his forehead in a kiss, another gesture to remind him that this would work itself out safely, and they held him just a little closer. The warmth he radiated was even more potent now and it reminded them of prime late summer days in late August just before their birthday the following month. All of the good he has brought into their life that they tried to return twofold, the memory of it made the weight of the current predicament lessen considerably. Kouta was very attached to Shin and they made sure to assure him that it was always going to be mutual. All of his nearly asocial behaviors through the years never once applied when interacting with them. He made sure to make exceptions for them as their bond has deepened from frequent awkward encounters to equally awkward friends to everything that trailed after. And though they had a much wider social circle than him, Shin always made damn sure to include him in every facet of their life.

While he was still cuddled up to them, they cast their gaze for a moment to the forgotten outdated reading material they'd left sitting on the floor next to their previous spot. It was as physically dusty as it felt emotionally and they were quite sure that it had to be gotten rid of the next time the two had a moment to go through the rest of the library. Who knew how many things were on those shelves that needed clearing out. And this one was different from all the obsolete tomes that had harmless guesses and disproven theories in them left over from an age when all the villages were still getting their shit together. This particular piece of literature most likely was written by someone with a malicious grudge against the second Senju brother and it favored that bias over actual history Tobirama had been part of. Kouta probably didn't pick up the book to hear an opinion on the man's life. No, they knew he was more interested in contributions made by those a book was about. So all signs pointed to this thing having worn out its welcome in their house.

"Kouta?" They verbally nudged him, not wanting to physically do so since he looked so comfortable. "Do you want me to help you up myself or am I gonna need to go get the cane?"

"Mmm, neither. We should stay here."

"That's really gonna hurt in the morning and you know it. Don't be shocked when you feel as old as you are because your back or your tailbone are screaming from sitting like this too long."

"Fine." He sighs in defeat. "You can help me up. I don't want you to have to go looking for my aid in case it's hard to find on directions alone."

He has to force himself to pull away from them so they can get up. When they're free they are quickly able to stand and stretch before offering him both hands as a lift. "I think maybe you shouldn't go playing hide and go seek with that thing when it's important for times like this. Just a hunch, though."

Kouta places both of his hands in Shin's but hesitates to actually let himself be pulled up for just a moment. Those eyes again, looking down at him, have him enraptured. He cannot believe how much he enjoys looking up into them and that there was a time when that gaze was a different color. Just like how it felt unreal that he'd managed to miss the transition of their hair from silver to white. All the time he had spent with his spouse and he still felt a sense of reverence from looking upon them. So much was he engrossed in the feelings of affection that he damn near forgot to respond.