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“That’s the thing about humans, Yuuji.”
Yuuta’s smile is wide and full of adoration, his eyes equally wide and equally bright with the same adoration that he has always held for Yuuji since he was seven. A decade later, that adoration has only grown stronger.
At seventeen, he stands taller than Yuuji. At seventeen, he is stronger than Yuuji.
That means it is easy to hold Yuuji in his arms, to cradle Yuuji’s face between his hands because Yuuji is the most precious thing in the world to him. To him, Yuuji is the world.
Yuuta’s smile is wide and adoring, his eyes equally wide and adoring but in the shadows cast by the fading sunset behind them, Yuuji can finally see the sharpness of Yuuta’s teeth in his smile and the inescapable, all-consuming void in those eyes.
“We’re selfish, Yuuji,” Yuuta whispers into Yuuji’s ear, breath soft like a lost midnight breeze. “And we’ll do whatever it takes to get what we want.”
Yuuta has never seen Yuuji’s eyes before. He does not know what color they are, or their shape because Yuuji has never let him look beneath the white mask that covers the upper half of his face.
Yuuji tells Yuuta it is because his eyes are an unnatural color, as strange as the vibrant pink of his hair and of the fluttering, golden cranes that constantly move across the folds of his haori.
“Most people would be too afraid to approach me if they saw me,” Yuuji once told him, a little wistful, a little bit lonely.
Yuuta’s small heart twists in sympathy and he reaches out to grab Yuuji’s hand, afraid that Yuuji would disappear in that moment.
“I’m not afraid of you!” he loudly declares. “I-I-I like Yuuji!”
And Yuuji laughs, loud and bright, dispelling the sad wistfulness and squeezes Yuuta’s hand in return.
Thump , goes Yuuta’s heart at the same time.
Thank you Yuuta,” Yuuji says to him, and though Yuuta cannot see his eyes, he knows Yuuji is looking directly at him and Yuuta feels too warm, too light in that moment. He thinks he could float up into the sky at that moment, buoyed by Yuuji’s smile alone.
The binding spell dispels the mask from Yuuji’s face and Yuuta sees Yuuji’s eyes for the first time.
His breath catches, his cheeks flush red and Okkotsu Yuuta falls in love all over again.
“Oh Yuuji,” he breathes out, cradling Yuuji’s face ever closer, bringing him closer until their breaths begin to mingle and Yuuta can almost taste the saltiness of the tears that Yuuji cries as the binding marks appear against his skin – a brand of burning, angry red symbols that will change him and tie him to Yuuta forever.
“I knew your eyes would be beautiful,” Yuuta says as he kisses Yuuji’s fluttering eyelids and ignores the way Yuuji is no longer crying tears, but blood.
Yuuta thrusts the small clumps of flowers before Yuuji.
“These are for you!” Yuuta says, his heart thundering in his ears. “I-I know it’s not much, but I made sure to get the prettiest ones for you.”
“Oh Yuuta,” Yuuji cooes, ever fond as he gently takes the flowers of Yuuta’s hands. The way he cradles them in his hands makes Yuuta think of his cousin’s wedding and how the bride had held the flowers in the same way; he feels himself grow dizzy with the thought.
“They’re perfect,” Yuuji tells him with a (lovely, radiant, all of Yuuji is beautiful) smile. “You’re too sweet, Yuuta. You shouldn’t treat a cursed spirit like me with so much care.”
Yuuta frowns. “But I like you Yuuji. And Rika-chan says I should give flowers to the person I like."
“Yes, a person,” Yuuji gently points out. “Another human, Yuuta. Like your adorable friend, Rika-chan.”
“But I like you Yuuji!” Yuuta near shouts, frustrated. “So what if you’re a cursed spirit? I still like Yuuji. And Yuuji likes me too!”
Yuuji’s smile is soft, sympathetic. “You’ll understand when you’re older, Yuuta.”
“I do understand now Yuuji,” Yuuta whispers against Yuuji’s thrashing form, pressing kisses against the marked skin.
“We’re meant to be Yuuji. We always have been.”
Yuuta is still distraught beyond measure. It’s been hours since Yuuji had escaped the jujutsu sorcerer who had come after him in an attempt to exorcise him but Yuuta refuses to leave his side.
It’s getting dark now, and Yuuta’s parents will surely begin looking for him soon but Yuuta clings to him with every intention of staying.
“You’re hurt, Yuuji,” Yuuta wails into his kimono, eight and still so small, so powerless to protect his most precious person. “And you almost disappeared! I don’t want you to disappear Yuuji!”
Yuuta is a kind boy, Yuuji thinks. He would cry tears over a cursed spirit like Yuuji, over someone who wasn’t even human.
“I won’t disappear Yuuta,” Yuuji tells him, gently running a hand through Yuuta’s hair, his other arm holding Yuuta close.
“Promise?”
Yuuji hesitates, for the briefest of moments, because promises were dangerous.
Yuuta looks up him imploringly, but there is a steeliness in his eyes, a steady determination that does not belong on a child’s face.
(Or perhaps it does, because a child’s heart was the purest. Their promises were the strongest because they were pure, unfettered by all the complicated nuances in the world that they have yet to learn.)
“I won’t let you disappear Yuuji. I promise.”
“Thank you, Yuuta,” Yuuji slowly says, not yet realizing that something has irrevocably changed between the two of them.
(That night, Sugawara no Michizane's descendant awakens.)
The ritual finishes in a final explosion of cursed energy, a combination of Yuuji and Yuuta’s merging together, two supernovas collapsing inwards to bind and reform together to something else.
At the end of it stands Yuuta, the youngest Special Grade sorcerer alive.
Yet now, he is merely a boy in love, as he slides on the newly formed cursed ring that binds Yuuji’s spirit to his, their two souls irrevocably, permanently changed so that they can be together.
The ring on Yuuta’s finger pulses pink and dark black-blue, crackles of pink lightning jumping across the surface before settling and turning into glowing pink vortexes across the band, the eyes of galaxies circled by the infinite darkness of the universe around them.
The boy in love smiles as he raises the ring to his lips, and kisses it.