Pool
Pairing: Genma x fem!Reader
Genre: romance, fluff?
Wordcount: ~2.4k
Warnings: language, suggestive, mentioned hookup
Track: Eduard Romanyuta – I Want Your Love
A/N: This is for the first request I ever got, so I hope you like it!
“There are multiple ways to hold it, just remember you make the bridge with your non-dominant hand.” You noticed a senbon coming from behind you, appearing in your visual field, until his hot breath fanned over the shell of your ear. Paralyzed you could only throw it a side-eye. His chest made contact with your back, softly pressing your hips into the table. Instinctively, your upper body moved an inch forward, trying to escape the burning sensation, and your hands darted on the table’s surface to steady your balance. His chest tremored as he chuckled, lightly touching your back in the process, before moving further forward and caging you between his body and the table.
His proximity made your heart race and gave you goosebumps under your shirt, but you did a good job at hiding the impact he had on you. Years in the ANBU entailed a perfect poker face. “You think this will work?”
Genma clicked his tongue and chuckled again, the sound caressing your soul. “It did last time. Now, where were we? Ah yes, the cue.” Placing his left hand on yours, his right one put the cue on the pool table.
“Don’t flatter yourself. That was on the alcohol.”
Without touching upon your remark, he continued, “Just choose which position is the most comfortable for you. For example, you can sprawl your fingers over the surface and guide the cue along your thumb and index finger, like this. Personally, I’m the best with this one.” With his left index finger, he enclosed the cue, resting the tool on his thumb and splaying the remaining three fingers on the billiard cloth. “It helps me keep control over the shot.”
You sneered. “Yeah, I figured you like being in control.”
Soft lips brushed over your neck and his senbon graced over your collarbone, the chill of the metal seeping through your shirt. “I remember you being more than willing to submit to that.”
Heat crept up your neck as shreds of that night a few weeks ago flashed before your inner eye. Images of him hovering over you, a film of sweat covering his forehead with a reflection of pleasure on his face, and others of him holding your back against his chest, his hand on your throat and his lips on your neck. The sound of your ragged breaths, both of you panting, and skin slapping on and brushing over skin echoed in your ears.
Still, you let nothing of your inner turmoil show on the surface. “So? I merely stated an observation I made; I didn’t voice an opinion.”
“So, you’re not here to reiterate that night?”
A sigh slipped past your lips and you thanked every god – existing or not – it wasn’t shaky but sounded annoyed. “I told you I’m here because I need someone to teach me the rules of pool, so I can win the stupid bet I made with Asuma when I was drunk.”
His breath fanned over your ear once again. “You need me, huh?” When you didn’t react, his presence disappeared behind you and the thick tension between the two of you vanished. Now he was the one to sigh and say, “Damn. The Hokage Rock is more expressive than you.”
Your muscles you hadn’t noticed tensing relaxed and you took another relieved, deep breath. Grabbing the cue, you got into position for the break shot. “Back to topic: Whether I have to pocket the solids or the stripes I determined when one of us pockets the first one. If you pocket a solid one first, I got the stripes and vice versa, right?”
“Correct. Except for balls pocketed in the break.” He removed the rack around the balls and took a step back from the table, crossing his arms before his chest and giving you a challenging smirk. “Let me see what you got.”
Your break shot scattered the balls across the table, several hitting the cushion and one stripe stopping conveniently near a pocket. Unfortunately, the cue ball was surrounded by multiple other balls, making it a little complicated to pocket the single ball. “Since the table is open, it’s not a foul if I hit a solid ball before pocketing a stripe, does it?”
Genma nodded. “Also correct.”
“In that case...” You shot the cue ball so it hit the solid in just the right angle for it to hit the stripe which then fell into one of the pockets. “I got the stripes.”
Hands resting on the tip of his cue, he watched you, admiring you. “You’re learning fast. I see why you’re in the ANBU.”
You managed to pocket two more before your shot wasn’t hard enough and you missed pocketing another ball by an inch. Nonchalant you stepped back from the table, giving Genma a nod. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Your turn.”
His face did nothing to hide how impressed he was. Not only by your quick learning but also by how uninterested you were in his flirting. His brain couldn’t wrap around the fact the person leaning over the pool table was the same person who had fucked with his mind, making him question his determination to be a single. You got under his skin. Not because you returned his flirting, his banter, his sarcasm and not because you were flustered by him, acting shy, giggling. No. You got under his skin because you didn’t. While others would’ve laughed, rolled their eyes or retorted something at his comment about your expressiveness, you hadn’t reacted at all. And that’s what threw him off. He wasn’t used to his flirting and antics getting ignored.
Before your hookup a few weeks ago you had been acquaintances as you were friends with Yamato and Kakashi since their time in the ANBU, so he didn’t know you very well though Anko had merely shrugged her shoulders and answered that’s just how you are when he had asked her about you. Much to his dismay, she had then asked why he asked and he couldn’t even explain how the two of you had landed in his bed that night, so he had come up with the lame excuse he had simply wondered what kind of person you were.
“Not your type”, she had replied to that. Little did she know... Especially since she seemed to be right as you resisted every other attempt of him flirting since then. Had it really only been the alcohol?
For the first time a woman wasn’t running after him and he wished you did. There was this inexplicable urge to impress you, make you fall for him like he had fallen for you. Oh, what he would give to have you on that pool table, to wake up next to you, to kiss you first thing in the morning.
A knocking sound pulled him from his daydream. You had tapped your cue on the edge of the pool table, your features stoic as ever. “Are you gonna stand there all night or can we continue?”
“Sorry, I was just enjoying having a beautiful woman in my apartment.” With his ever so smug grin he swiftly pocketed two of his own balls, unfortunately missing a third in the following shot and hitting your suit first, thereby leaving you in the lead.
Not a single muscle in your face twitched at his excuse. You only leaned over the cushion again and Genma couldn’t stop his eyes from roaming over your perfect curves. He bit down on his senbon to keep any noises from slipping past his lips.
Another one of your balls landed in a pocket, simultaneously pocketing one of his in the one across, before you looked at him again. “I’m surprised you’re still hitting on me. I thought you only hook up with someone once and despise when they run after you afterwards.”
Because you were different. You practically ran away from him with the sun rising the morning after, declining his offer to make you breakfast. He was convinced you would’ve had left his apartment silently like the shinobi you were, had he not woken up by you moving out of bed. You had awoken the instinct to chase after you in him. Not that he would tell you.
“Can’t I make an exception?”, he asked with a shrug, desperately concealing just how much you affected him. Nervously he played with his senbon, rolling it from one side to the other.
You walked around the table to shoot from the other side, eyeing Genma in the process and his twitching senbon didn’t go unnoticed by you. “You can. I just didn’t expect me to be said exception when you have enough women throwing themselves at you. So why would you choose me who’s even less emotional than – and I quote – the Hokage Rock?” With ease another one of your balls landed in a pocket.
He clicked his tongue. “And I didn’t expect you to rip me off like this. Why did you ask me for help if you’re winning easily here?”
“I never said I couldn’t play, I just needed someone who goes through the rules with me, like what actions count as a foul, how the turn-taking works.” Your eyes scanned the balls on the table. With every ball pocketed it got harder to strike your own suit instead of Genma’s.
“Touché. Though I’m still questioning why you asked me of all people to help you. After what happened I thought you wouldn’t turn to me.”
Your body froze. The hand holding the end of your cue tightened its grip until your knuckles were white and you gulped. You could only hope Genma didn’t notice your eyes widening. Truth to be told, you weren’t sure yourself, it had just felt right to ask him. “You’re the only with their own pool table and what happened was a casual hookup, I don’t see how that would affect our relationship.”
Although Genma had noticed your hesitation, causing him to suspect there was more, your words hit home. Not knowing what to do or say, he could only watch you pocket the last three balls of your suit, leaving only the solids and the black ball on the table.
“Left one over there”, you said, tongue suddenly heavy, designating the pocket you chose for the last ball. Pocketing this one was easy, but it felt oddly conclusive. The air felt sticky, thick, crushing and you couldn’t bring yourself to move. You only stared into the void with your mind blank.
You didn’t know how much time had passed when Genma clearing his throat lifted the fog off your mind. “How about something to drink?”
Still numb, you nodded before managing to straighten up your upper body, barely noticing him leaving for the kitchen. You took a deep breath to clear your thoughts and lift the weight on your chest. You liked Genma and judging by his demeanor he liked you too, so what was holding you back?
In the next room, Genma did the same, calming his nerves and contemplating giving up on winning you over. ‘One last try’, he promised himself. Grabbing two glasses and a water bottle, he came back to find you sitting on his pool table, legs dangling of the edge.
He put the glasses on the billiard cloth, filled them with water and handed one to you. Your fingers trembled when reaching for it and bringing it to your lips. He sipped on his own when you mustered up the courage to talk.
“It felt right to ask you. When I thought about it, you were the first person coming to my mind.” You paused for a moment before continuing, “To be honest, I like spending time with you. You’re fun to be around.”
His characteristic smirk tugged on his lips. He hadn’t made the wrong decision when choosing to pursue you. “How could you not? I’m a pretty awesome person.” When you only looked at him expressionless, he added, “And so are you.” Propping his hands on either side of your thighs, he looked deep into your eyes, searching for any signs of uneasiness only to be met with pure affection. “There’s a reason I kept flirting with you, because somehow you managed to make me question my bachelor lifestyle.”
Hiding your feelings was significantly easier when he couldn’t see your face this close. With your noses brushing against each other he saw your dilated pupils in your widened eyes, your nostrils moving ever so slightly with every breath you took and your gaze flickering between his eyes and lips.
“But you said–”
Genma shut you up with a kiss. Not a long, deep one. Just one barely long enough for you to process what he was doing, but not long enough for you to react. “I know what I said, but unlike the face on the Hokage Rock, only your facade is made of stone.”
“I’m gonna be away a lot...”
He kissed you again, still not leaving you time to react. “So will I. Kakashi’s the only one with more completed missions than I, so I’m off on a new mission about every week. And I prefer a partner who’s a shinobi as I won’t have to leave someone home alone more often than not.”
“I’m not just a shinobi, I’m in the AN–”
Another kiss. “So? Hayate and Yuugao are happy too.”
“But I’m not good with feelings.”
He chuckled and kissed you again. “Neither am I. All my life since I was a teenager I’ve only slept around, never catching feelings for anyone to the point I questioned myself.”
“But–”
Another kiss. “Will you stop worrying now so I can kiss you properly? Please?”
You nodded, not saying anything, letting him capture your lips in a long-desired, deep kiss. Your body melted into him, your hands found his sides, pulling him closer by the shirt, as his found your hips, pulling your hips closer at the same time. His senbon felt warm in the corner of your mouth, just like his lips.
“Maybe making that bet with Asuma wasn’t so stupid after all”, you mumbled when he pulled away.
Genma grinned, giving you another peck. “About that: Would you like to play another round or would you rather stay like this and do other things?”