Chapter Text
Once
upon a time, gazing from his crooked throne above—there was a God of Love. But the being has been lonely for a long time as his mate is no longer by his side. With many moons and suns, God’s cries are shed endlessly to nourish soils, create seas, and melt the rough earth into the land where species live in harmony. While maintaining the balance, the god himself looks at him in a river as an ideal flash in his mind.
“...Ah! How foolish of me, if I can’t see $%&^(@ then I will make beings in his image!”
The god rips a spine bone in his body and pieces of his heart–with these two ingredients, he molds the first human.
“Finally, I can touch you again Aka—”
A long-haired boy startles awake as a high-pitched squeal reaches his sleeping ears. Groggily, he glances at the girl who’s talking with her friends, though she doesn’t even notice his long stare. Fatigue catches up to him as he breaks off to the soft morning outside the window.
…How strange. Does the sky always look like this? I’m supposed to be in a room, isn’t it?
He takes a quick look at his hand, as the rough palm is the only view in his eyes. His brows furrow, but his elbow soon touches a misaligned thin book as he reaches out.
What is this? A manga?
Pages to pages are characters that scratch the back of his mind as the bleed echoes his head, his head squeezing violently as the boy clenches it, his fingers still flipping through the pages.
Fuck, what’s with this headache? Who are they? I have to stop…I have to stop now!
A flickering mirage grazes through his eyes as he stops at a page where a boy talking happily with his friend. The texture of his hair burns the innards of Ushimitsu’s palm. The tender pat where he places on his shoulders aches. The warmth of his mouth where Ushimitsu can grasp soever tightly.
Agh…what–?! What are these?! Who is it in my memory—
“Hey, buddy!”
His ears flinch at the voice as he turns his head, and four eyes collide as the image of that boy merges with him. The shininess of his eyes, always brighten brings Ushimitsu’s heart outside his chest.
Huh? What? Is this who I–?
“Oh! What the hell, dude? Why are you crying again?”
“...I–I don’t know.”
“Sheesh, having a nightmare or something? All righty then, wait a minute.”
The boy turns his head at his two friends as he raises his hand, shooing his pals away with a chipper tone.
“Aoyama, Wakabayashi! Y’all can go first, gonna help this big guy to the nurses!”
“Come on! You don’t even know the guy!”
“Hey, it’s just that he’s been squirming around since this morning so I’m worried okay? Get off my case, man!”
The boys by the door cackle unlike this boy’s delight chuckles, somehow Ushimitsu can vaguely see the image in his mind, he too just like back then, laughing by his side.
Is this what they call twin flame? Soulmates? What are these memories of him…? Why him? Why is my heart beating so fast?
“Hey, can you get up Ushimitsu?”
The long-haired boy’s eyes widen at his name called by him, this boy, just the syllables of his name are enough for him to grab onto the hand that extends toward him with no reserve.
“Yeah.”
Is this what people call love? So I love him, the memories of him, the boy standing here right now…but when?
As he let him lead both of them out of the room, only the squeaking of their shoes fills their silence as Ushimitsu stares at the back of his head only to let his mouth ajar.
“Um, my name is Ushimitsu Kyoshirou and—can I-I know your name?”
The boy flicks his head back at him as the shorter boy breaks out into a smile, not a crude laugh or a sneering, but the one that flushes Ushimitsu’s hyperventilating heart.
“Dude, you don’t even know your classmate's name? It’s Akashi Yasuto, those two are Aoyama Senichi and Wakabayashi–”
“I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU, PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME AKASHI!”
Maybe because there’s no one in the classroom or maybe there are few people in the hallway, smack dab of kids peek out as some recognize Akashi, whistling excitedly.
“Yo, is that Akashi got a confession?”
“Who is it? So freaking loud…”
“Oh my god, isn’t that a guy??”
“What?!”
Mixes of whispers and cheers fill the silence between them as Ushimitsu bows his head, and the hand that holds him falters as their palms disconnect but the long-haired boy doesn’t mind the staring, the things are only between him and Akashi. Words that have stained his teeth for a long time pour out as if it has gritted for too much, he can feel the tears trickle down his face again.
What’s with me?! Why…But I have a feeling that I can’t have this opportunity again…Why? Is it the unforbidden rules of society? Why am I in love with him? Why–
“You’re are my light, Ushimitsu…”
“I…I really do love you, Akashi. You’re my light too, as always you have been…”
“Ushimitsu?! Why are you crying?”
Again, with those warm palms gripping Ushimitsu’s shoulders, he can lift his tear-stained face at the boy with a worried gaze in his confused expression.
“Let’s get you to rest okay?”
“But…my confession…”
“Yeah, Akashi! Respond to him!”
Putting out the words of their peers, the two of them retreat to an always-empty nurse’s office as Akashi lays the taller guy on the bed with a weak sigh.
“What the heck, dude…I didn’t know you can be this loud, it jump the shit out of me.”
“I can talk just fine, it’s because I don’t want to interact with other people.”
The shorter boy quirks his brows at Ushimitsu’s stoic face as he slaps his shoulders, startling the taller boy out of his daze.
“What’s with that?! If you don’t talk to people then how do I know why the heck did you fall in love with me? We didn’t even talk until now! Why—damnit, just tell me why.”
Even though the ache of Ushimitsu’s shoulders palpitated his skin, the sight of Akashi hiding his face behind his palms with a shade of evening sun trembles slightly, somehow it becomes a spark, a dearest, a fondness that even the past him or the future him, Ushimitsu reaches out to those flushes cheek.
“You don’t remember Akashi but I have fallen for you in the past…in somewhere that is colored with blood and gore, even though I should have remembered the horrors, I can only see you with all these feelings inside me…”
“Huh? Did we meet in war or something?”
Ushimitsu chuckles as he brings the boy’s forehead to his, grazes of skin embracing this trail of images as if he’s the only thing that made Ushimitsu humane. A human.
“Yes, I remember your gallant brightness, your kindness, your bleeding heart for others…I was hoping that you too, could save me but I–I can’t bear it. The thought of you not being here, I–”
“Okay, okay, okay! Sheesh, you’re one passionate guy Ushimitsu.”
His hands push them apart as only now, he can gaze into those clear black eyes of Akashi and there he is, reflected into his retina.
“I’m stubborn Akashi and even so will you go out with me?”
Akashi flicks his head away from Ushimitsu as he finally separates from his grasp, scratching his neck absentmindedly, still with that lovely expression on his face.
“...I have my question for you too so why not. I want to make sure why I’m blushing.”
“Okay.”
The boy springs up from his stool as he trudges to the door, hands covering his mouth instead of his neck as he takes one last look at Ushimitsu.
“Go to sleep, okay? I’ll be seeing you after school.”
The taller boy nods as he settles in his bed, smiling broadly as if this is a dream before a nightmare.