Kage’s eyes soften at the thud against the glass, and the sound, paired with Kalego’s expression, nearly pulls a laugh from him. Not mocking, never that. Fond, if he is being honest, and perhaps a little too charmed by the glimpse of something so....unguarded.
He lets Kalego hold his face, lets that faint static gather between them, lets the closeness remain exactly as it is. There is no flinch in him, no recoil, only attention sharpened by the weight of what is being offered.
"It may already have rubbed off on you, dear. I fear the evidence is mounting."
The teasing is gentle, but it fades when Kalego speaks of the rest, of hunger, of destruction, of what he does when he feels himself turning into something harder to contain. Kage listens without interruption, his hands settling at Kalego’s wrists, steady there, not to remove them, only to keep the contact.
When he answers, his voice is lower.
Simple at first. Certain.
"I would still give you my time."
His thumbs shift once over the insides of Kalego’s wrists, grounding, thoughtful.
".....And if you are asking whether I would stay when you are difficult, when you are greedy, when you are restless and sharp and half-feral with the need to tear into something..."
A faint slant returns to his mouth, though his gaze stays serious.
"Then yes, Kalego, I would."
He tilts his head into Kalego’s hands slightly, deliberately, as if to answer the question with more than words.
"You say that as though I have not already let one in."
There is warmth in it, and something darker too, something knowing.
"A starving beast is not what would frighten me. Dishonesty would. Silence would. Being shut out while you gnaw through yourself alone would."
Kage’s eyes hold his, red and unwavering, stripped now of most of their playfulness.
"If you come to me in that state, I will not mistake you for a burden, and I will not turn you away simply because your want is ugly or excessive. I would rather have your teeth near me than have you locking yourself away to suffer in solitude."
His breath catches lightly against the space between them, warm, measured.
"And if you are annoying about it, if you are possessive, if you keep me from leaving...."
Now there is the faintest spark of teasing again, threaded through the intimacy.
"Then I suppose I shall suffer very bravely through the ordeal."
But he does not leave it there. His expression softens again, and the next words are quieter, more intimate for the lack of dramatics.
"You do not have to be easy for me to want you near."
One of his hands slips from Kalego’s wrist to the side of his neck, fingers spreading there, firm and warm.
"You only have to let me....see you."
Kage leans in then, not quite kissing him yet, just enough that the distance turns thin and charged again.
".....if the beast is yours, let him in."
