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This was the day.
Renzou had taken Aidan to Kyoto to meet his family, introducing the teen as his boyfriend and everything, just to do the whole thing right.
Go big or go home.
He’d even kissed him, which made his brothers laugh to no end, but Renzou didn’t care.
He actually loved this boy. He’d found something in Aidan that his brothers will never know or get to experience, and for that, he pitied them while they laughed.
He pitied himself, too.
Renzou couldn’t believe he had let it go on this far.
Now, the monk was leading Aidan on a hike through the forest, hand in hand, as he took him to see his most favorite spot.
It’s where he went when he was a child, to get away when things became too much.
It was where they found him.
The place meant a lot to Renzou, to say the least.
“Where are you taking me?”
The pink-haired teen grinned back at Aidan as he helped him over a tree root in the way of their path. “You’ll see~!”
And right at dusk, Renzou finally found the opening into the clear.
“We’re here.”
There was a medium sized pond in the clear with a lone tree grown right in the middle of it. The light breeze created ripples in the water in which the pink sunset danced along, creating a dream like feeling to the place. Cicadas chirped and there were bugs all around, but Renzou wasn’t scared.
He was never scared there, which was why he brought Aidan here to confess.
Setting his backpack down, he pulled out a blanket and spread it across the grass near the edge of the pond, settling down as he pat on the place beside him, welcoming Aidan to join him.
But looking up at the other, he was stunned.
Aidan was just staring in awe, lips parted as he took in the place with the reflection from the clouds sparkling in his eyes.
“It’s beautiful.”
You’re beautiful.
He brushed the thought away, giving a slight chuckle as Aidan finally realized he was supposed to sit down. “Heh. You don’t even know the half of it.”
As the other planted himself down next to Renzou, the monk brought an arm to wrap around Aidan’s waist, pulling him close while the star rested his hand on the pinket’s shoulder.
The real magic of the place started when it was dark, so they had a while to wait.
Aidan’s warmth was comfortable and Renzou turned his head to place a nuzzling kiss on top of the other’s head, murmuring, “You know I love you right?”
“I know,” he heard the other mutter, scooting a little closer to the monk.
“Good.”
Aidan hadn’t ever said it back yet, but Renzou was okay with that. The star had been through a lot and Renzou knew how hard it was to completely open up your heart to another, especially when the other’s life was so unpredictably upside down. But Renzou knew he felt it, whether or not he would say it, and that’s all that really mattered to him.
He’d be a hypocrite if he was mad that the other didn’t completely trust him yet.
“Is there something special about that tree?” Aidan turned his head up to peek at Renzou through his lashes.
“Just wait a little longer. I promise.”
And they both turned to continue watching the tree.
The silence was comfortable between them, and if things turned out badly, Renzou was going to miss it. He had hooked his foot under Aidan’s ankle to tangle their legs together as they snuggled and Renzou snuck under the hem of the star’s shirt to gently rub his thumb in circles at the skin on the other’s side.
Yeah, he was definitely going to miss this.
The sun had set before they knew it, and soon enough, the sky was lined with stars that couldn’t even compete with the light of the one in Renzou’s arms.
And then it started.
The tree began to glow little and little at a time before the branches were completely overwhelmed by little blinking lights, looking like the tree was just a cloud of holiday lights.
Though, Renzou was sure that Aidan had seen his fair share of lights, these were completely different. They weren’t actual lights and Aidan had no power over them at all, which was the big thing about it.
They were fireflies, and probably millions of them.
He felt as Aidan sat up a little, lifting his head from Renzou’s shoulder and looking on in amazement as the tree illuminated.
The star broke his gaze away from the sight to give Renzou the most dazzling smile. The monk returned it.
“It’s amazing…”
And he turned back to watch.
Renzou took the moment to explain, what long ago, someone with much more power in the world had explained to him. “They’re called seaside fireflies. They’re only found around brackish water, and this is their breeding season.” The monk didn’t usually take to memorizing weird trivia like that, but it was just something he couldn’t forget, since, this place was Renzou’s second most favorite thing in the world, next to the boy beside him.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t it?”
Slowly, fireflies began lazily drifting away from the tree and Renzou smiled as one passed by Aidan, the star’s eyes excitedly watching as it went.
After letting the sight be soaked in by Aidan, Renzou withdrew his arm from around the teen as he turned to fish something out of his book bag. Pulling out a bare sprig resembling a mini, leafless tree, he handed it to the star, who took it, looking at the twigs in confusion.
“It’s a present.” Renzou gave a cheeky grin, knowing how weird it looked at the moment. “It’s actually the most beautiful flower in the world~!”
Skeptical, Aidan peered closer at the bare twigs, furrowing his brow. “It is?”
That only made Renzou laugh and he leaned over to press a quick kiss to Aidan’s cheek for being so cute. “Yeah, it is. Just stay still for a moment.”
And he watched as the other did as he said, halting all movement.
Fireflies began to drift from the trees to their direction, seeming to be attracted to the bare sprig as they began to attach to the branches, crowding the twig until there was barely anything left of the bare sprig to be seen.
It was just a flower made out of light and Aidan held it in his hands, looking at it in complete fascination.
“The tree’s sap is very similar to the pheromones the fireflies emit, so they tend to gather around the branches.”
Renzou could see tears welling up in the other’s eyes and felt himself start to tear up as well—Aidan was so wonderful. He hadn’t hesitated to bring him here, a place he had never brought anyone else before, and just seeing the other’s reaction to Renzou’s own very treasure was worth it all in itself.
He felt himself fall a little more.
“Th-thank you…”
“I’m glad you like it.” Renzou bitterly smiled as he turned to face the tree again, untangling their legs as he pulled his knees up to his chest.
“Renzou, I lo—“ Aidan turned to the other, but was quickly interrupted.
“I can’t give you what you truly want.”
The star’s smile fell.
“What… I truly want? What do you mean?”
“Someone to trust.”
He couldn’t meet Aidan’s eyes.
“I’m not good, Aidan. I’ve lied to you. I’m much stronger than I let on. I’m a high class exorcist and I work against the order.” He paused, letting that sink in. “I work for the Illuminati.”
He could feel the shock radiating off of the boy beside him, the confusion, the disbelief…
“In two days, I have to betray all of the cram school students, the ones I let you meet. My mission here was to look over them, especially Izumo-chan, and feed information back to my superiors, but I just got direct orders to kidnap Izumo-chan on the day of the festival, where they’ll have a helicopter waiting for me. I’ll probably have to fight some of them, if they come at me.”
He didn’t know why he was telling all of this to Aidan, who could so easily stop his plans. Maybe he was giving him a chance to, just to end Renzou, to just stop things right there.
He honestly didn’t know who could win in a fight, either. Their powers were too conflicting, too confusing. Renzou didn’t even know for sure if Aidan was even completely human.
Renzou didn’t deserve Aidan.
He was the darkness and Aidan was a star.
“I’m a spy, Aidan. A backstabber.”
Renzou folded his arms over his knees and buried his face in hole, shaking his head as the tears fell.
“I’m sorry.”
And that was when, not having anything else to say, Aidan finished his sentence from before he was interrupted, “I love you.” His voice cracked.
Renzou felt his heart break.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Renzou repeated, beginning to breathe harsher as he tried his hardest not to start crying.
He didn’t want to hurt Aidan, whether it was mentally or physically, and confessing all of this to Aidan was such an unusual thing for Renzou to do, who much preferred to take the easy way out.
But he couldn’t let Aidan find out two days later, when all had been done and passed.
That would’ve been even worse.
He barely heard the whisper from the other.
“Was any of it even true?”
Just the fact that Aidan even questioned Renzou’s feelings made the teen release a harsh, ragged sob as he nodded his head in his arms.
“I love you. I love you. I’m so sorry.”
He knew he shouldn’t have let this go on so long. He knew he should’ve had let his feelings develop for the other. He knew that what he had been doing was wrong. But he just wanted to see what it was like, to fall in love with somebody completely and wholly, but he never knew it would be so fucking painful.
“I’m so sorry.”
Light streamed into the little cave Renzou made with his legs and his arms, light much brighter than the fireflies, light brighter than the demon who had shown the fireflies to him in the first place. But it was over in a flash, and looking up from his arms, Renzou found that he was alone.
The only thing he had left of Aidan was the fading warmth from where the light had hit him.