♡ . * ◟AKECHI * . ▸
it pleases akechi , once the illusion drops away , like the collapse of a magician’s curtain , giving way to all the smoke & mirrors that make up the actual show itself : the reality beneath the glitz & glam , the showy , glittery outfits , the benign smiles. there’s a vulnerability to jun , then : as precise and blanched as an exposed bone , and when he leans back , akechi is gentle with him , careful , hovers fingers over his body and presses lips to the side of jun’s neck , trails and lingers , hums in response , says , ❛ i promise , ❜ as though a promise can mean anything from the mouth of a murderer.
❛ i appreciate your honesty , ❜ more meaningless phrases , he recites them all without missing a beat , as though reading lines from a script. ❛ you’re right , of course … i am going to protest it. but it’s alright for you to be hurt. if something happened to you because you chose not to rest … who would lead us? but i understand the time crunch. i can hardly blame you for it. ❜ he tucks a strand of hair carefully behind one ear , but does not release jun. cradles him against his chest , keeps him safe , for as long as he can.
they’re on a time limit , after all. jun said so , himself.
❛ i will be at your side , ❜ he says. ❛ if this is something you feel you must do , i can understand it. i’ll keep you safe , and i’ll keep the shadows off of you ; we can worry about the wound once we change sae’s heart … it isn’t as though we won’t have the time to do so , not having to concern ourselves with the time limit. is that suitable? would that be your preference? ❜
HE MUST BE SOME KIND OF MASOCHIST to ask for protection from the boy holding a gun to his lower back , finger on the trigger and the barrel still warm . that , or akechi has some changes of heart involving the murder of the boy before him —— he hopes so , but hope is often foolish at best , tragic at worst . still , there’s comfort in akechi’s promise , the corners of his lips turning upward in a grateful smile .
❛ it would be . it’s not that i don’t want to take care of it at all , you know , it’s just … there are more important things than me right now . ❜ he says and he can think of a novel’s worth of things that would fill that list ------ sae’s palace , his potential murder , his friends , their futures ... ------ and he wonders if akechi will see fit to disagree with him , offer some honey sweet words that will have his heart a flutter . should he , he wonders how stained that lie will be . ❛ but i feel better knowing you’ll be watching my back . i feel like i couldn’t be safer than with you looking out for me , haha . ❜ he wonders if his are any cleaner .
he shifts into akechi’s touch , revels in it , these soft hands and gentle movements that he has never once felt before ( and likely shall never feel again when november fades away and december snow takes its place ) and he allows himself to pretend he’s content in his masquerade they’ve both been attending for so long . they’re such brilliant actors he finds for a moment he actually believes it . ❛ not that i want you to play babysitter , but ... ❜ soft tone , just above a whisper ; there’s no need for volume with akechi’s heartbeat thudding distantly against his back , ❛ nice to know you’ll be there , is all . ... nice to know you’re here now , too . you’re really comfy , actually ; how much to replace my bed with you instead ? ❜
