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[Spoilers for Banana Fish; meant to take place post episode 13,
but I don't know what actually happens next so this is really just for fun haha.]

Waking up to an empty room was a chill that wormed into Eiji's bones far quicker than the biting autumn air outside. The hideout was silent, for once--all asleep, or out, or quietly electing to respect the stillness of the early hour. Eiji's sock-footsteps felt too loud against the concrete landing he stepped out onto, the black metal railing sending goosebumps up his arm where he gripped. Tucked under his other arm was a rolled up blanket, ratty like every other one the gang owned, moth eaten in some places, but warmer than nothing.

When Eiji reached the top stair and peered onto the rooftop, a curious smile graced his face, something easy and automatic. "Sort of figured you'd be up here," he murmured, wind stirring black hair as he carefully pressed a knee to the flat top roof and hoisted himself up. "Ash."

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Ash kept his eyes closed even as he was addressed. He heard Eiji on his way up, even beneath the distant, raucous sounds of the city. A spray of gunshots miles away, angry shouts in an alleyway a few buildings down, cars honking in three-AM traffic... and then, Eiji's gentle voice.

He opened his eyes and turned his head as Eiji settled on the rooftop beside him. "I'm not getting predictable, am I?" he asked with a small almost-smirk, angling his head amusedly as Eiji chuckled and sat down on his knees.

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"No. In fact, I was worried about you," Eiji murmured, unfurling some of the blanket and draping it over himself and Ash, the latter of whom grunted softly in response. "You've been out here for awhile, huh?"

"How'd you know?" Ash retorted, quiet, like disturbing the blanket of nighttime around them, city-polluted as it was, was a crime.

"Your bed was cold."

"Creep," Ash poked fun, nudging Eiji in the side, who sputtered and flushed in exasperation.

"I'm not! I was right, wasn't I?" he snapped good-naturedly, jabbing Ash back. A bit too clumsy--Ash stiffened and grit his teeth with an audible wince as Eiji's fingertips roughly grazed gauze beneath his shirt. Bandage catching on delicate skin. "Sorry," Eiji whispered, immediately knowing the hurt, and its source.

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Ash murmured Eiji's apology away with a shake of his head, shifting a bit to gather more of the blanket around them both. It helped. Eiji's warm body next to him helped. Before long, Ash had slid fingers between Eiji's, and grasped a loose hold on the Japanese boy's hand.

"It's good to have you home," Eiji said, as if home was a place. Maybe it wasn't, Ash corrected himself mentally. Perhaps Eiji meant what Ash was coming to learn was true--that home was far less of a place, some temporary thing he'd have to leave behind, and more so a person, who Ash was quickly realizing was impossible to leave behind. "And not in jail," he added, a bit more lamely. It gave Ash an out, an excuse to laugh where tenderness was beginning to bloom. Cover it up. He was in too much pain to be soft.

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"Still can't believe you managed to get past Kong and Bones. Did you run all that way after you ditched them?" Ash murmured, and Eiji smiled, sheepish in his not-quite-guilt.

"Nah... had some help. They found me about halfway down Ocean Parkway. Kong and Bones did, I mean." At Ash's sour face, Eiji jumped slightly, letting out a nervous, tittering laugh. "Th-they won't get in trouble, right? I mean, it really was my fault. They were trying to follow orders, right? I just..." His higher tone trailed off into something lower, something more important. Weighted. "I had to find you."

Ash stared up at the smoggy sky, thumb beginning to move in a slow arc back and forth over Eiji's wrist. "I know. I'm glad. But I'm still mad at you."

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"Good," Eiji said, dark eyes sparking with a mirthful light. "Be mad at me. I live for that pouting face," he joked, and Ash grumbled something about Eiji not knowing a damn thing about any damn thing, then twisted to catch Eiji's mouth on his own.

Eiji effectively froze, laughter stalling out instantly, swallowed up by the simple kiss. Ash pulled away without much in the way of haste, but perhaps there was an edge of bashfulness to it. Uncharacteristic. Eiji's lips parted, and he cleared his throat, glancing away with a heat in his face.

"What happens next?" Eiji whispered, after whatever that had just been faded enough into afterthought for him to process words. "Arthur... he's dead, right? So..."

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Ash had taken to staring up at the sky, at the haze of city light and pollution on the horizon, threatening the arrival of dawn. They still had a few good hours left before the morning crowd of New York started to come to life. For now, the moment was still theirs. Just theirs. "I haven't decided yet," he murmured, and Eiji knew it was a lie, because Ash always seemed to be three steps ahead of everyone in his own plans.

He didn't press it. The quiet, almost vulnerable hush to Ash's voice was enough to tamp down any sort of curiosity, or indignation for being left in the dark. "Hey," Eiji whispered after a moment, squeezing the hand that his own was still linked to. Ash was slow to respond, but eventually turned to look at Eiji, his head tilting back to see the other boy's too-close face. "I feel like I'm always so unprepared whenever you kiss me. It's... not very fair, right?"

"S'only happened a couple of times. Don't blame me for you being too easily startled," Ash murmured, the corner of his mouth barely tugging upwards.

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"Even less fair, then!" Eiji countered, turning onto his side to more properly face Ash, shivering as chilly air snuck under the blanket as a result. Ash seemed undeterred by Eiji's fire, though the tiny smirk on his face showed he was enjoying this. Eiji frowned and propped his cheek up on his arm, furrowing his brows. "You know that was my first kiss, when we visited you in prison."

"Wasn't really a kiss. It was just to relay that message--"

"To heck with that! There was tongue involved!" Eiji cried, and Ash couldn't help it--he burst into giggles, rolling over to gently bat at Eiji's chest with his hands, pushing him backwards onto his back once more in some sort of thoughtless, playful action. A hand came down on Eiji's bicep and pinned him there, Ash's long blonde hair hanging down in a halo around his head, grin careless and wild and open for those few, brief moments.

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Eiji's wide grin had softened into something awed, as he stared up at Ash's face, dark lashes fluttering as instinct drove him. Silently he reached up and gathered a partition of blonde locks, tucking them behind Ash's ear, knuckles trailing on smooth, sharp jawline. Ash seemed bemused at the contact--tenderness was sometimes lost on him. Eiji, too. But it was times like these where Eiji simply let himself move, let himself feel, let himself read Ash quietly and carefully and easily.

Soft fingers hooked behind Ash's neck, and pulled down. Gentle. Eiji's free hand came up to cradle Ash's face as he bent down low and sighed out a breath against Eiji's lips, mere millimeters away. He hesitated. Felt his face rush with warmth as self awareness hit him like a ton of bricks, uttering a hurried, "I-is it okay if I--" and then Ash closed the distance with a fast, rough kiss that made Eiji come up sputtering for air when Ash leaned away with a devilish grin on his face.

"How!" Eiji fumed, pretending to be furious, but it was impossible to believe with how huge his grin was. "You are such a stink! A total stink! No, no, get back here, you." Eiji swatted a hand at the empty air where Ash ducked out of the way and slipped off the rooftop and onto the concrete landing with a sly smile.

"If I stink so much, I should go grab a shower before the sun rises. Start the day early."

"The day never ended if you were out here for hours, you know."

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Eiji sat on his knees with a sigh through his nose, watching as Ash turned to leave. He glanced off at the horizon, beginning to pale with light, and he whistled to get the blonde's attention. "C'mon... if you're gonna take my dignity like that, at least stay and watch the sunrise with me," Eiji murmured in a joking tone, but there was a softness to his voice that suggested a real desire to just stay up there for a little while longer. Up there, they could pretend to just be two boys on a rooftop in the city, and not two boys in the absolute deepest shit that Eiji had never fathomed could possibly exist.

Ash didn't take very much convincing, for once. He climbed back onto the roof and picked up some slack on the blanket, carefully maneuvering so that he was sitting beside Eiji, wrapping the old red blanket around both of their shoulders. The dawn was beginning to claim the nighttime sky with a vengeance, peeking over rooftops and painting the concrete with strips of pale gold. Ash had settled against Eiji without a word, his bony shoulder pressed flush to Eiji's softer arm. Somehow or another, their hands found one another again.

Eiji's eyes were drawn to a streak of light that had alighted on Ash's straw-colored hair, his gaze tracing the blonde's profile in the new morning light. Conviction gripped him. Eiji leaned in and pecked a kiss on Ash's cheek, making the boy jump with a sharp intake of breath. Eiji opened his mouth to think of something witty to say, but the look of quiet, gentle surprise on Ash's face was enough to stun him into silence.

They sat, with Ash's head tucked neatly into the crook of Eiji's neck and shoulder, with Eiji's arm supporting the boy's back, with nothing around them but the sounds of the sleepless city putting on its best face for the morning.

For now, the moment was theirs.