Work Text:
Fuji slips out of the student council room, leaving Teru and Akane alone.
There’s some miscellaneous paperwork that they’d assured the rest of the members they’d take care of so they could head home. Only the clicking of keyboards and pencil scratches can be heard.
They work in companionable silence and when Teru’s done he sets the finished sheet atop the pile at his side. With a yawn, he stretches his limbs, tipping his head back. He takes a moment to look at Akane as the boy continues to write and sign forms.
There’s some brown peeking out at his roots. He’s been pestering Akane to let him help re-dye his hair but the boy had refused and simply forgone the whole process. The glasses Teru charmed for him are still on top of his nose - even though he doesn’t need them for reading - and his nose scrunches when a mokke’s ear accidentally brushes against it.
As he sits there and watches the clockkeeper he feels something flutter in his chest. He almost wishes he could grab the butterflies in there and toss them out to rid himself of this feeling. He knew what the feeling was - a deep sense of yearning for something he can’t have.
Teru and Akane are a great fighting duo.
Even without his clockkeeper form, Akane has always been able to keep up with Teru in a way no one else has. It’s nice, knowing that no matter where Teru goes Akane will be close behind.
Well, almost.
As of now, Akane is in his supernatural form, having used his power over the present to stop time for the student body. It was a pesky swarm of low-level supernaturals - nothing too difficult, just tedious.
Despite trusting Akane to be able to hold out on his own, Teru finds himself turning around to look for him after every supernatural being he's exorcised. Teru doesn’t know if his fighting style is all Akane or if it’s some innate ability that comes with his clockkeeper form. He must spend too long dwelling on it, eyes trained on where Akane is roundhouse kicking some creature in the face when Teru feels the wind knocked right out of him.
He’s sprawled out on the floor when he catches sight of the culprit. Again, more of a nuisance than anything, Teru makes quick work of the tiny bug-eyed thing and when he turns around Akane is there, holding out a hand to help him up. Teru ignores the hand in favor of using his sword for leverage instead.
He also ignores the hurt that flashes across Akane’s face.
The moment passes quickly and neither of them say anything as Teru dusts himself off. The pause on the student body must be coming to a close because his head tilts rhythmically to the seconds for a bit and he’s then off.
Teru doesn’t even need to ask where he’s going and heads in the same direction. (He’d left his sword case that way, sue him. It just happened to be in the direction Akane was running towards.)
Just as expected Akane can be found kneeling in front of Aoi, hands out as if caressing her face, but not quite touching her. For all that he throws himself at the girl and shouts declarations of love to her at the top of his lungs, Akane has never been anything short of respectful towards her.
Teru wonders what she has that he doesn’t.
He doesn’t dwell on it much, instead focusing on running a rag over his sword before tucking it into his case. He makes his way to the student council room before time is unpaused and not once does he look back at the clockkeeper.
(If he had, he would’ve seen Akane watching as he goes.)
When Akane is done with his paperwork, he similarly stretches out his limbs, pushing his chair back from the desk to do so. The only warning he gets is the rattling of Teru’s rosary beads as he moves before a set of lips crashes into his.
Akane barely even registers what’s happening before he’s kissing back—hard, rushed, like he’s trying to silence something before it spills out.
The chair scrapes loudly as it’s pushed back further. Akane’s hands come up instinctively, one gripping the edge of the desk in front of him, the other hovering near Teru’s arm like he’s not sure whether to hold on or shove him away.
Teru’s hand has a fistful of Akane’s shirt as he presses closer.
This isn’t the first time. They’ve done this before. A few stolen moments here and there behind closed doors—when the halls are empty, when no one’s around to see. But it never gets easier to breathe through.
Teru kisses like he’s trying to burn something out of himself. Akane lets him and pretends he’s not doing the same.
He parts his lips slightly, and Teru takes it as permission. Their teeth knock for a second before it smooths out. Teru’s hand comes up to cup the side of Akane’s face, thumb pressing into his cheek, holding him in place like he might disappear if he lets go.
Akane finally touches him, just lightly—his fingers settling over Teru’s wrist.
For a second, Teru’s heart stutters. He thinks about pulling away.
He doesn’t.
He deepens the kiss instead. It’s not soft. It’s not sweet. It’s desperate. It's a mess of unspoken rules and want.
Nene, Akane, and Aoi going over to the Minamoto house has become a thing since the Severance. Tiara loves the attention and has grown quite attached to Aoi and Nene after spending so long with just male figures.
That evening Kou had gone out to who knows where and the girls were all painting their nails in Tiara’s room leaving Akane and Teru in the living room. Their pinkies are hooked under the blanket they’re sharing as they mindlessly watch some drama on the TV.
Currently there’s a ghost of a bride trying to marry a very much alive human and Akane doesn’t know why he opens his mouth to say, “When Aoi finally says yes, I’ll probably marry her, huh?”
Teru stiffens a bit, but his voice is even as he replies, “She’ll probably make you ask for her hand in marriage a thousand times too.”
It’s a jab at Akane’s long running love confessions and he knows he shouldn’t fall for the bait. It’s the easiest button of Akane’s to push and yet despite knowing this he still finds himself taking quick stock of the house. He can hear the faint sound of the girls giggling upstairs and Kou had texted a few minutes ago that he’d be out late. It’s all he needs confirmation of before he’s grasping at Teru’s hand to pull him close and lock lips.
There’s a certain desperation in their kiss - there usually is.
Their mouths move fast, unthinking, unrelenting. He bites down on Teru’s lower lip a little harder than he means to. Teru inhales sharply. His hand flies up to cup the back of Akane’s neck, fingers threading through hair that’s half-grown out and unkempt. Akane kisses Teru feverishly as if the other could taste the words he can’t say.
He doesn’t want to ask Aoi to marry him a thousand times. He doesn’t even want to keep asking her to date him because at some point the thoughts of her saccharine sweet smile had been replaced with a smirk and blue eyes that bore into your soul.
There’s no time to think. Just this: the scrape of teeth, the warmth of Teru’s breath and it has Akane wondering if maybe, just maybe-
The sound that alerts when a supernatural is near the perimeter of the house chimes. Teru is quick to pull away and before Akane can even blink he’s already out the door, sword in hand, telling Akane to check on the girls upstairs, leaving Akane reeling by himself in the living room.
When they finally separate, they’re both breathing hard.
Teru's hand stays curled around the fabric of Akane’s shirt. Akane’s breath is warm against his jaw, still catching, still shallow. They’re both flushed—lips swollen, hair mussed, hearts thundering in unspoken sync.
The air in the student council room is heavy with everything they won’t say.
Teru doesn’t move.
Neither does Akane.
They just stand there, close enough to feel each other’s heartbeats thrumming through their skin. The tension should've passed by now—should’ve burned itself out with every heated, frantic kiss—but it hasn’t. If anything, it lingers, pulsing under their skin in silence.
Akane’s eyes flick to Teru’s—bright, searching, uncertain.
There’s something so alluring about Teru and Akane wants to know every bit of him. He wants to remind Teru that he can be more than just an exorcist - that he can just be Teru and Akane would stay by his side through it all.
Teru swallows, his gaze fixed on Akane like he’s memorizing the shape of him. Like he’s afraid he won’t get the chance again.
Akane loves with every fiber of his being and Teru wants that love to be directed at him, even if just once. He would cherish Akane’s heart like the most precious treasure of them all and keep it close to him at all times.
They’re not sure who leans in.
There’s no urgency this time, just reverence. When their lips meet again, it’s soft. Too soft. Too tender. The kind of kiss that shouldn't exist between people like them.
The kind of kiss that Akane hopes says I won’t let you have to make the choice between your clan and me.
The kind of kiss that Teru hopes says I couldn’t possibly put myself between you and Aoi.
Akane sighs into it, letting himself forget, just for a second, that this isn’t theirs to keep. Teru cups his jaw like he’s fragile, like the weight of the world would tip if he pushed any harder.
They stay like that—quiet and close—long enough for the clock to tick over into the next hour.
Eventually, they part.
No words. No backward glances.
Just the rustle of fabric as they gather their things, the gentle click of the door as they leave one after the other, and the empty echo of a room that will never hold them the right way.
They walk home separately. As always.