#shinkengold

It’s a knife to his chest, digging out innards and guts, finest sashimi being crafted out of singing swinging heartbeats. 

He’s drowning. 

He cannot breathe.

His teeth dig into soft lips and his hands shake, sweat ticking and trickling down the back of his neck and soaking into his shirt. There is a pout to his lips, though he tries to correctify it. He doesn’t want pity. He doesn’t want his beloved to tease him and taunt him, tugging him along.

Umemori Genta wants the truth.

But it’ll hurt him all the same. 

Their eyes narrow as they chew on the morsel - only the finest of fish for his beloved, he made careful sure of that - gears whirling and churning in their head. He could hear them clack, or maybe it was the clack of his own teeth?

His eyes don’t leave their form - perfection immaculate - his own brows mirroring theirs. He watches their throat bob, swallowing the piece and inhales deeply after swallowing that similar bob within his own esophagus. He calls out their name and they turn to him, cocking their head to the side curiously. 

“How…how was it?” his knuckles shift to snowy scapes as they grip the wood of his cart, threatening to shatter and splinter under his strength. “Was it good?” he bites down upon the tongue before he could bombard them with questions, flooding them with worries and what-ifs. They already have enough to contemplate, he doesn’t want to add more. 

They only chuckle, a gentle smile to their lips. “Genta,” they speak, clear and calm; a bell ringing through the dark. 

His throat is dry, his tongue darting out to lick parched lips. “Y-Yeah?”

“It’s great, I love it.” They smile a smile that graces the heavens, that sets his heart aflame and Genta pauses, and stares. His nostrils flare with air and his heart howls and whoops and screams. 

It all explodes out of him with the loudest yelp of elation, his head slamming against the top of his cart with a loud hiss leaving his lips. His beloved runs towards him, gripping him. “Are you okay?! Genta, you need to be more caref-”

Silence reigns the moment he slammed his lips against theirs, not caring for the taste of the ocean mingling with vinegar and home. They part when the ocean can no longer take the land’s love, a laugh leaving his lips. “Really? It is? You’re not joking are you? Just saying things?!” he lightly shakes them and they only chuckle again.

“I promise you, Genta.” they say while painting an ‘X’ over their heart. “I promise.” 

Genta squeals once more, peppering wave upon wave of kisses on to their face - eyes, nose, cheeks, forehead, hair, and finally lips - with the brightest of smiles. “Thanks, I knew you’d like it! I got the best stuff for you-!”

“I love it because you made it, Genta.” 

Waves are dyed red, parting lips and shock upon his entire form. Genta feels heat rolling upon the tides of his form, his smile brighter, “Really?” it’s an octave higher, something he never knew his voice could do.

“Honest.” 

Again he squeals, bringing them into the largest and biggest hugs, resting his chin upon their shoulder. He turns ever so slightly, pressing a kiss to their cheek, to the lobe of their ear. “Thank you.” he nuzzles further into their embrace. The ocean meeting the land, a harmony within his chest and home dusting at the corners of his heart. 

“You’re welcome. Come on, let me eat! I don’t want to waste it!”