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Shishikuno Ren.
A simple and defined man born and raised in the mountains.
By simple and defined, I mean; unreadable. Always with that stoic face, as if he was a robot, all his moves were calculated. No mistakes. The small scars painted all over his body proved that he couldn’t make any, none at all. Most people he'd meet would simply reduce him to being “simple” just for being unreadable, confusing. A walking statue, none would ever look past the cold, hard stone to see his history. None except one…
Recently, he’s been given the honorable task from his father;
Kill Mogari and make it seem like an accident.
It was completely necessary of course, the head of the Shishikuno Clan was…clearly not in his right mind nowadays. It would only make sense if he chose someone from one of the branch families that was not Mogari. The boy was still young, and perhaps even immature for his age, that is, according to Ren’s father.
It’s been a week since he moved in next door to Mogari's apartment. Rent was surprisingly cheap for him (he was given money from his father before he left).
But what mattered most was the task at hand. Mogari was rather quick to catch onto his malicious intent much to Ren’s demise (perhaps he was smarter than he seemed). And now, the failed murder attempts were piling up day by day.
Then, a new neighbor moved in. At least he wasn’t the only new one there now.
Only, he only seemed to be…peculiar at best. With his dark clothes that stretched down to his ankles, a dark midnight shade, with that large crucifix that always found a way to be resting on his chest, as scars colored his face beige. And that bright hair of his along with his brown skin that Ren could only describe as “caramel macchiato” seemed to balance it out.
Ever since he was invited by him to a small conversation with wine, to which he had discovered his name, Charles de Noir Momaru, it seemed as if Ren had piqued his interest.
Alongside that, he came to find that he was actually Mogari’s Chemistry teacher…
How nice. He’s a threat now.
He might need to take him out first, then Mogari.
Now everyday, a single blooming red rose could be found at his doorstep but with no giver. He's been speculating that perhaps it was Charles who’s been leaving them there, especially with his timely presence afterwards.
Though he found the daily gifts a bit annoying, he’s been collecting these flowers and putting them in vases full of water to preserve them (he has four as of now).
“Are you the one leaving those roses?”
Ren asked him just as he caught Charles on the first floor about to leave for who knows what. He plastered on an artificial polite smile as he did so.
“What, who, me? What roses?” His smile seemed to falter into a slight scowl as Charles’ smirk widened at the same time. Maybe playing dumb wasn’t his brightest decision right now.
Ren’s eyes narrowed down at Charles’ pick of casual clothes. Jorts with a Hawaiian blouse? What could he possibly be up to now?
“What’s with the casual clothes?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.
“I’m driving the kids today. They’ve apparently heard of a poltergeist haunting a certain river, and it gets too hot in my usual clothes.” Ren’s scowl seemed to soften, the wrinkles from his furrowed brow disappearing slightly.
“You’re also in casual clothes. That’s rare to see,” His scowl returned as he pointed out his own outfit. A long-sleeved t-shirt and pants.
“Doesn’t matter. You mentioned a river?”
“Yes-” Ren sensed something off as soon as Charles stopped speaking midway. He then heard footsteps, fast ones coming from behind him.
“Ren! Charles-sama!” Mogari came running down the stairs, nearly tripping on the last step and landing face first.
“Am I-” He took a deep breath, “-am I late?!”
The other two gave each other a few looks regarding the teen in front of them, looking as if he was about to pass out.
“No, you’re just on time.” Ren crossed his arms as the other one spoke.
“Is Ren coming along?!” He beamed towards his teacher as he grabbed Ren by his shoulders.
Charles smirked at the other one who was seething (perhaps he was planning his murder right then and there.)
“Of course. The more the merrier right?”
The two of them walked along aside each other by the riverbank as the four teens go off to exorcise the poltergeist, they do seem quite capable of doing it themselves so they won't need to watch over them.
"I won't deny it," Ren looked at the other, who was smoking a cigarette at the time much to Ren's dismay, "You're hard to read."
"You're harder to understand," A small chuckle left Charles after Ren retorted back.
Suddenly, Charles stopped and swiveled right in front of him, peering down at him with his advantage of a height with a smirk. "But you can understand my actions, hmm?"
Then he pulled out a small bouquet of roses out from seemingly out of no where. Ren's cheeks seemed to faintly match the hue of the gorgeous flowers as Charles basked in the all new flustered state he caught him in.
"You do understand my intent behind these?"
"I'm not quite sure if I do," He spoke as he accepted the bouquet.
"Will this help then?"
It all felt like a blur to Ren. First he felt Charles getting closer, his warmth enveloping the two as his crucifix pressed against the bouquet. He tucked a stray lock of hair behind Ren's ear.
Then he felt his lips. Slightly chapped, but that didn't seem to be a problem for Ren at all. The kiss was painfully slow, both of them wanted to go further than they already were especially Ren for this was his first time.
"You taste like smoke," He whispered against his lips as he felt Charles smile into it.
"Well. you taste quite sweet," The other whispered back as his hand trailed up against Ren's side.
Before it could get any more heated, Mogari was calling out to them. The two quickly seperated and adjusted themselves, getting rid of any trace of what they were doing. Ren quickly hid the bouquet behind him.
The four teens were done doing their business and were ready to go back home, especially Kanzaki and Mogari.
The two walked back to the others with shared flushes on their face, a small souvenir from that moment.
The ride back home was quiet, save for the small snores Mogari let out as he rested his head on Korekishi's shoulder, who didn't seem to mind at all, in the backseat where the four teens were. Whereas the two adults got to sit in front.
Ren looked out the window though his focus wasn't on the view outside but what happened earlier. He can't deny the fact he did like it, for sure Charles did too. The other man reached out and rested his hand on Ren's thigh and slowly caressed it. Ren didn't need to look at him to see his small smirk, he could already feel it anyways. The corners of his lips tugged up to share that same grin.
It was a quiet moment, no words shared but it was enough.