Work Text:
“What a load of idiots.” Tachihara mumbles as he leans on one leg, staring at the row of men and women in front of him, literally on their knees, to present their gifts to the prince.
For Pete’s sake, they were exposing their necks to one of the most powerful people in the kingdom! Why the absolute hell would you expose your neck when said person probably had a knife in the sleeves of his clothes, is a question Tachihara would like to ask. Like, yes, maybe Tachihara had a little crush, but that doesn’t mean he’ll just drop onto his knees, just like that.
Tachihara fiddled with his coat, tugging at the green threads that were starting to come loose. Better ask Gramps for help later. As he moved closer and closer to the prince, Tachihara began to grow nervous.
And he abruptly did a quick one-eighty.
Well, now, he understood the appeal of being on his knees and offering his neck.
The prince’s very presence made him weak in the knees and the only reasonable action to do was to get on them. And offering his neck? Yeah, he totally would, because that gave him an excuse to avoid looking up.
Now there were only three people in front of him. Tachihara tucked his face into the strip of fur onto his coat, the soft feeling of the fur rubbing the tears that had sprung into his eyes from nervousness.
He fiddled with the jewel in his hand; a carnation that he had carved from a ruby.
A deep, red carnation, symbolized deep love and affection, something that he had found out too late from Gin.
“Next!” A servant shouted out.
Tachihara jolted as he walked mechanically to the prince. He refused to bend down still. Instead, he walked over and handed the carnation ruby in both hands out.
The man merely raised an eyebrow from where he had propped his head in his hand; elbow resting on the handles of the chair. He heaved a sigh, “Well? What do we have now?”
Tachihara maintained his poker face, though his jaw was hurting from the effort of not smiling out of nervousness. “Here.” He said, placing the jewel into Jouno’s outstretched palm.
Jouno maintained his passive frown as he weighed the jewel in his hand. Before he brought his other hand over to touch the various grooves and petals adorning the jewel. He smirked once he figured out which flower it was, “Oh? A carnation, now?”
“Yes, sir.” Tachihara stumbled out, kneecaps stiff and frozen with nervousness.
Jouno huffed in amusement, finally adjusting his lazy, slumped posture, into something more… regal. He sat tall in his seat, arranging the white fabrics around him until they fell and waved like the moon reflecting off the ocean.
“May I ask where you got this jewel?” Jouno says, twirling the flower that was the size of his palm.
And it is safe to say.
This is where Tachihara’s soul left him.
He heard the sounds of breaking glass faintly in the back of his mind and Gin’s rare laughter (more like the cackling of a witch, but he got kicked for saying that, so you never heard that from me) ringing through the air, and he saw red splatters across the room as the glass sliced him.
Well, your majesty, I broke into one of your shops and stole the very jewel I just gifted you!! And maybe!! I have a small crush on you!!
“Ugh. I found it.” Tachihara spew outs.
Raising an eyebrow, Jouno echoes, “You found this. Just, I dunno, lying on the floor?!”
Play cool… play cool… “Yeah.”
Jouno’s frown grooved even deeper into his mouth as his eyebrows lifted in mock amusement. “How interesting- your name?”
Posture hesitantly relaxing a bit, the more he stood up there, because How much more can he mess up? “I’m Tachihara Michizou.”
Tilting his head to the side, because That name was familiar… “I feel like I heard of you before somewhere.”
Nervously chuckling as sweat began to gather at the back of his neck, the red-head merely twiddled his thumbs as he stood there, trying to push the intrusive memory of a picture of his squad that appeared on the front page of the newspapers.
Well, at least they didn’t show your faces. The other part of Tachihara tried to reason with himself.
That doesn’t make it less scary.
“Oh, well.” Jouno says, shrugging it off. “It’s a nice gift. Thank you.” He said, the last part hurriedly rushed out, as if it pained his throat to actually utter the words.
“Your welcome.” Tachihara says, rubbing at the back of his neck, one of his actions that showed his nervousness.
Jouno smiled a soft smile, placing a jewel on the table located at his right hand, with cups of tea and flowers there, gingerly. “See you around, Tachihara-san.”
And see him around he did.
Jouno started appearing in the streets, blending in with the commoners’ dressed in shades of browns, blues, and blacks. Always appearing right when Tachihara least expected it.
He appeared over Tachihara’s shoulders, whispering “Hey.” and startling the absolute shit out of him.
“Watchya doing Tachihara-san?” Jouno said, leaning over Tachihara as the redhead was peering over some of an artisan’s pens and pencils.
Banging his knee against the table, shaking and rattling the goods, Tachihara yelled, “HOLY-”
Jouno chuckled behind his gloved hand, before sighing a puff of breath into the air.
He appeared right in Tachihara’s face as the red-head was about to exit an alleyway after completing some business with somebody else.
“Right. Thank you.” Tachihara says, tucking the wad of money into one of the pockets of his coat.
“Why, hello there.”
“OH MY-” Tachihara’s heart was beating right out of his chest. Part of him wanted to turn his head behind him to see if the man had left yet, but he refrained, knowing that would only heighten Jouno’s suspicions.
Always the soft greeting, light as the brush of a feather. Always the sly smirk, like he knew what Tachihara was up to and enjoyed tormenting him with the knowledge.
They found themselves under the tables, hands and feet dangerously close to being trampled by the people walking by them. The only thing hiding the both of them, was the white tablecloth that fluttered with every movement.
Tachihara found himself walking up the courtyard, where Jouno was sitting on a bench staring up at a cherry blossom tree.
That was the only time Tachihara saw the Prince open his eyes.
“Tachihara-san.” Jouno said, once he lowered his head and his eyelids fluttered shut. “Come here.” He gestured, patting the spot next to him on the bench.
Tachihara took a seat, gingerly lowering himself down, as he heard the creak of the bench as it bended below his weight. “Something happen?”
“No.” Jouno smiled, the red tips of his hair whipping the base of his neck as it twirled to the wind’s command. Before he turned his head to smile at Tachihara, “I do have a question though.”
“Wuzzit?”
“Would you like to be part of the royal court?”
Tachihara froze, spine snapping tight at the question, because with his background? “May I ask why you’re asking me?”
Kicking his feet and disrupting the calm layer of blossoms that had gathered on the floor, Jouno replied, “No reason, really. And I don’t mean like an official, just as a friend or something. My closest acquaintance.”
“So no political ties?” Tachihara asks, scratching at his nose, skeptical.
“No political ties.”
Tachihara, shrugged, wondering How hard can it be? “Sure.”
It was very hard.
Well, at first, it was quite simple at first. Just Tachihara and Jouno talking in the hallways, in the streets, back-alleys. One time, Jouno had hidden behind one of the massive curtains shielding the window, and scared the other man when he was trying to get used to the layout of the damn place.
And then somehow Tachihara found himself being handed a picture.
Of hi-
“This is a squad that has been causing trouble in the Underground, Michizou-san.” Jouno says with a wave towards the general direction of Tachihara. He’d gotten into the habit of addressing the redhead by his first name lately.
Tachihara gripped the paper tightly, causing creases to erupt, “Oh, really now.”
“Mhm.” The silver-haired hummed, with his chin propped up on his folded hands. “They want you to infiltrate it and see what’s happening.”
“They?” Tachihara thought, but his questions were answered as he looked up and saw. He looked past Jouno who looked like the angel in flames. The flames being the other government officials who were staring down at the two of them like hawks.
Flame came out in snorts directed at the two of them as their noses dripped with sweat and Tachihara suddenly the nerves erupted a hundred fold.
One of the burly men stepped forward and asked in a tone that showed he wanted to waste no time, “So? You gonna do it, kid?”
Jouno flinched when the hand of the man dropped onto the back of his chair. Tachihara regretted everything right now. He should’ve never gotten involved with politics. Never should have-
Never-
Never-
But what other choice did he have?
Thirty minutes later, he walked out with another title on his head.
Infiltrator.
Spy.
Traitor.
As his steps echoed through the hallroom and his shoes dug into the velvet rug that was laid onto the expanse of the hall, his head was drooping down as he thought of a way to define his situation.
He was supposed to spy on his original group? Did that make him a traitor? But he didn’t even want to spy on them… so a reluctant traitor? But he still loved his original group.
Shaking his head and forgetting the thoughts, he walked the familiar route to the hideout.
His toes kicked the stones out of the way to assert dominance into the bushes of carnations that melted into a flurry of hyacinths. He kept walking, with the knee-high flowers swaying in the dark keeping the moonlight captive within their petals. He tucked the coat more firmly around his sides, the fur brushing in front of his mouth and nose, tickling it.
He turned around the bend and got met with the rows of camellias that Gramps decided to plant in his free times when he wasn’t exterminating the resident gangs.
Mourning the loss of his hand when he removed it from the warm pocket, he raised it-
“Hi.” Gin says, yanking the door open before Tachihara could knock.
“Geez, Gin. Ever the freak, aintcha.”
Gin’s cheeks lifted and their eyes disappeared into the folds of their eyelids; the only thing signalling a smile as they had a mask on.
He stepped inside; berating himself on how he could give this up.
The homely glow given by the lantern lighting the cottage up; effectively hiding the fact that it was housing a gang. The other Akutagawa was reading a book, socked feet dangling on the wooden floor, with Higuchi on the floor playing with one of the cats she and Gin brought home when they left for a mission. The blonde cooing and petting the animal who wouldn’t stop purring. And Hirotsu was completing some papers in his study; the scratching of the quill seeping through his open office door.
Sighing as he made his way to his room at the end of the house, Tachihara slumped against the door as the emotions of the day hit him.
No, he wasn’t happy with this at all.
It showed in his actions, in the way he couldn’t stand up straight like before, and was sometimes unconsciously hunched with a hand braced on the wall when outside of a conference room.
But, he wasn’t the only one unhappy.
Jouno could clearly feel something was amiss with Tachihara and pulled him over, hiding underneath a table, “There’s something wrong, isn’t there.”
Not even a question at this point.
And then Jouno was starting to get passive-aggressive with the officials. Starting to snarl and fume at them; his silver tongue becoming a whip as he lashed out at everybody. Smiling during his arguments knowing that they wouldn’t dare talk against him.
But never with Tachihara.
Never at Tachihara.
It was as if this was his twisted way of showing his stance in making Tachihara “betray” his own organization. Though the red-head hadn’t revealed any information yet, little things here and there, yes, but nothing enough to exterminate the group.
But like all actions… there are consequences.
“The Prince’s hostile actions…” Hirotsu sighed tiredly as his sentence dipped; eyes coming together in frustration as he pointed at the map, that was illuminated by the lamp hanging above the group.
He tried again, clearing his throat, internally groaning, “The Prince’s hostile actions… have caused disruptions across the other lands.”
A fleeting thought of Jouno’s sly smile as he talked down the absolute monsters of the other land creeped through Tachihara’s mind.
“And with that, they’re infiltrating our land and, in turn causing trouble for us.”
Akutagawa, ever the straight-forward one, “So we kill the Prince.”
The reaction was instantaneous. Higuchi looked up to the curtains and windows, confirming that they were closed, shut, and bolted. Gin’s hands ducked into their pocket, wrapping around the hilt of their knife.
“You idiot-” Gin hissed under their mask.
Rolling up the map and listening to the groaning and crackling of the paper, Hirotsu replied, “I’ll have to agree with Akutagawa-san here.”
“Gramps-”
“Sir…”
Tachihara and Higuchi reacted, while Akutagawa stood up there with a triumphant glow in his coal dark eyes.
“Well then?” Akutagawa asked, a smirk on his lips and a crazed glow on his eyes and a dust of pink on his cheeks when his mentor agreed with him. His eyes slid to Tachihara, “Who’s going to do it?”
Tachihara cursed his horrible luck. Cursed Akutagawa. Cursed Jouno. Cursed literally every-single-fucking-thing-on-this-horrible-god-forsaken-hell-of-a-world.
He cursed Akutagawa who suggested he be the one to kill.
He cursed Jouno for somehow coming up with a date to meet him in a tower.
Cursed his group for pressuring him to take that chance to do the last deed.
Tachihara stopped halfway up the winding stairs, and looked towards out the city and saw the wispy shadows of Akutagawa and Gin as they ran around with Kajii, one of their partners in the business, setting up bombs along the border of the kingdom; right where other organizations’ bases were planted.
Tachihara reached the top of the tower; the hilt of the knife steadily growing heavier and heavier in his pocket. He opened the latch in the ceiling and was met with the sight of Jouno staring down at his kingdom, blue silks moving with the wind.
He turned to Tachihara, pushing his hair behind his ear so it wouldn’t get in his face as the wind picked up, “Ever the quiet one, aren’t you.”
“That’s ironic for you to say.” Tachihara says as he moves to stand on Jouno’s left, his right hand in his pocket.
“Whatever do you mean?” His voice tainted in mock innocence as his eyelashes reflected the moon that was above them.
He turned to look at Jouno one last time, capturing and memorizing the healthy, alive, glow to his skin.
His hands shook, as he looked at his friend. When did Tachihara start to regard Jouno as his friend anyway?
His crush had disappeared somewhere, and looking back? It was pretty embarrassing, making him cringe internally at the mere thought of it. His hand gripped the hilt firmly, sliding part of it out.
“Hey, Michizou?”
“Yes?” It was a wonder he didn’t drop the thing, so sudden was Jouno’s question.
“I just wanted to say thank you. For being my friend.” Jouno said, it felt too much like a goodbye, in Tachihara’s opinion as his vision began to swim in tears. “It really meant a lot.”
“It meant a lot to me, too.” He whispered softly.
“Thanks for being there.” Jouno said.
Do it now.
His guard is down.
Do it now.
Now!
The knife slipped out of his pocket, the blade flashing in the night. Jouno’s smile widened as he leapt onto the rim of the tower, “You gonna kill me now?”
Tachihara froze, as he watched Jouno’s feet hit against the wall of the tower from where he was sitting on top of it. “How’d you-”
“You had a knife in your pocket.” Jouno continued, peering down at his kingdom. He continued, “Do you want to kill me?”
Tachihara frozen, spoke the truth,
“No.”
“Do you trust me?” Jouno asks, his bare hand reaching behind him.
Tachihara, so stuck in a path where he so believed he couldn’t see a bright future, he answered, with a resolved voice, “Yes.”
“Alright, then.” Jouno says, scooting over to make room for Tachihara as the redhead got himself situated on top of the tower; their hands entangled between them, resting on the cool stone.
Tachihara looked down between his feet and down the tower, all the way to the bottom.
“Michizou-san.” Jouno prompted.
“What’s up.” Tachihara replied.
Jouno wistfully smiled, before asking, “Tell me the color of the sky before we go?”
Licking his chapped lips, he tried to get his heart to stop thudding so much. “It’s like the ocean. When you touch the water, it always escapes you. That’s like the sky, can’t capture anything. It’s dark, cuz it’s night. Kinda like what you’re wearing right now, the color’s about the same and it feels the same.” He sighed, “That was probably lame.”
“On the contrary, it was not lame.” The last word came out awkwardly, like he’d never said it before, “It was quite you.”
Tachihara smiled a bitter smile as he saw the flare light up in the distance and the white shirt of Akutagawa as he sprinted through the dark streets.
“Ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”