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Romeo stood in Chancellor Cornelius’ office with a deep scowl on his features, arms crossed, and tapping his foot impatiently. The petit chancellor had an awkward smile before he cleared his throat.
“I thank you for taking time out of your, ah, busy schedule to come here,” Chancellor Cornelius began. “I have an urgent mission that I’d like the Sinostra ghouls to undertake.”
“Urgent mission?” Romeo scoffed incredulously. “You keep Sinostra on probation until you send us to our deaths, and you’re trying to send us on another mission now that you just removed our probation?!”
Chancellor Cornelius raised his hands up in front of him, lowering them in quick motions in a soothing gesture, “I assure you, it was an error on our part. We underestimated the danger of the fabricated world.”
“Where is that DOF? He’s usually the one that foists these useless missions on us.” Romeo glanced at the doorway, expecting a surprise entrance. He wouldn’t put it past their eccentric advisor.
“Professor Hyde? He’s away on business for the Institute. And time is short. So it falls to me to arrange this mission.” The chancellor cleared his throat, “Getting back on topic, there’s a black market art auction, and we need Sinostra to investigate one of the paintings. Everything suggests the painting is cursed, and it is thought to be anomalous in nature.”
“What’s in it for me?” Romeo kept his gaze locked to the chancellor’s. “We’re off probation already. What benefit do we get out of it?”
“The special admissions student needs us to capture anomalies so we can cure her curse.”
Romeo scoffed again, “Well, where is the BB? She’s not here anywhere. So what good will it do her? Besides, don’t take me for a fool. We both know the kyklos isn’t a cursed painting.”
“She’s attending another mission with the other ghouls, so she won’t be present on this mission.” The chancellor’s smile twitched, “Lucci, must I remind you that Darkwick Academy and the Institute both strive for anomalous study? And in order to do that, we need your cooperation to capture anomalies.”
Romeo sighed, “You didn’t answer the question. What benefit do we get out of it? Ah, I seem to remember that our casino profits were reduced due to our probation. I want that taken off… and I think we can use some more expense money as well.”
“Lucci…” The chancellor frowned, his gaze sharply boring into Romeo’s gleaming amethyst eyes for a moment, but he sighed, “Fine. The auction begins tomorrow night. If you can get all of the Sinostra ghouls to participate and capture the anomaly, I’ll remove the penalty on the casino profits and I’ll grant Sinostra a 20% increase in expense money.”
“Deal.” Romeo’s lips curled into a knowing smirk. He snatched the file offered to him, and briskly walked out of the chancellor’s office before the chancellor took back his word.
—
Romeo reviewed the file once back in the Sinostra casino VIP room. One leg elegantly crossed over the other, he was seated in his favorite chair, soft jazz and the sound of running water from the fountains the only sounds as he perused each page. He had messaged both Ritsu and Taiga about meeting him in the VIP room as soon as possible.
Fifteen minutes after Romeo had sent the message out, a knock on the door resounded with a voice breaking through the white noise. “Vice-captain, Ritsu Shinjo here. May I enter?”
“Hurry up!” Romeo called out, exasperated. “You enter without knocking all the time, why stop now?”
Ritsu frowned as he came in, indignant, “You complained when I came in unannounced before. I have henceforth corrected the behavior per your request.”
“Nevermind that, we were assigned an urgent mission at the request of the chancellor.”
Ritsu took a seat on the rounded couch, sliding the file over to flip through it methodically and snap pictures with his digital camera of each page and picture included within the file. He spoke as he took photos, “So where’s the special admissions student? I trust she is coming as our inspector.”
“She’s not coming. She’s away on another mission, and the auction is tomorrow night. So we’re going without her.” Romeo tapped his foot on the ground impatiently, “Where is that BTH?!”
“Based on my behavioral model, he should be in the casino gambling at this time.” Ritsu answered the rhetorical question without even glancing up from the file.
Romeo had half a mind to use one of his first years to wrangle Taiga into the VIP room, but time was of the essence. He left, weaving between card tables and roulette tables until he spotted his quarry, perched on one of the chairs at one of the blackjack tables.
“Lulu…” Taiga drawled without taking his eyes off the cards on the table, “Come to play some blackjack?”
“You BTH! Why aren’t you in the VIP room?! I messaged you 30 minutes ago!” Romeo screeched with a stomp to accentuate his anger.
“Ah… I forgot.” Taiga laughed as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He tapped the table next to his cards to call for the dealer to hit him with another.
“Cash him out, and put his chips aside” Romeo hissed at the dealer, hand gripping Taiga’s shoulder and pulling him off his chair. “You are coming with me.”
“I was on a roll though!” Taiga whined as he allowed Romeo to march him off the casino floor.
Romeo didn’t release Taiga until they were in the VIP room with the door shut behind them. Taiga strolled to the couch and collapsed onto it. Romeo placed himself back on his favorite chair with an annoyed huff.
Ritsu, having finished with his documentation, looked between his captain and vice-captain, and when neither made a move to speak, he cleared his throat. “So I reviewed the case file. The art auction is tomorrow night, and we’re supposed to investigate one of the paintings that’s cursed.”
“Ah. Who are you again?” Taiga tilted his head inquisitively.
“My name is Ritsu Shinjo!” Ritsu’s calm smile broke into a frown, his brows twitching in frustration. “I’m a first-year ghoul in Sinostra!”
“Ah! I remember. You’re the blockhead!”
“My stigma allows me to harden my body, but I assure you-”
“Enough, we need to get moving.” Romeo interrupted Ritsu’s rebuttal. “There’s a cursed painting that’s thought to be anomalous, and we need to secure it. The auction is an underground art auction that features stolen or misappropriated artworks. One such painting is associated with its owners dying and is constantly being auctioned off. Apparently, there’s a stipulation in the auctioning contract that upon the owner’s death, the auction house has rights to the artworks. The next auction is tomorrow night.”
“Pass.” Taiga waved a hand from his relaxed position on the couch, laying on his side with an arm propped up to support his head.
“Huh? Excuse me?” Romeo blinked in momentary confusion.
“Not interested. I’m not going.”
“You have to go! You going is a part of the deal I made.” Romeo hissed.
Ritsu cut in then, “What sort of deal did you make?”
Romeo sighed, “The casino profits were cut due to our probation. They haven’t rescinded that penalty, so I had the Chancellor agree to take that off as well as increase our housing budget. But all three of us have to go, and we need to secure the painting.”
Ritsu clicked the voice recorder to save Romeo’s details of the agreement. “Very well, I’ll defend the oral agreement if Darkwick attempts to not follow through.”
“Don’t wanna,” Taiga groaned, rolling over on the couch to face the back of the couch and not look at Romeo’s angry expression. Out of sight, out of mind… if Romeo would let it slide.
Ritsu sounded his agreement, “I agree with the vice-captain. Captain, we need you to come for us to complete this mission. Being able to claim our profits and have an added housing budget will no doubt better our house. And adding another achievement to our list will put us closer to the Laurel Crown.”
Romeo had his arms crossed, his gaze boring into Taiga’s back as if it would burn a hole into him. He marched over to the unmoving, uncooperative lump, steps even, but the click of shoes on tile was the only sound cutting through the music and water running relaying the tension brimming in the room. He slammed his palm on the couch cushion right in front of Taiga’s face.
“I am working my ass off to fix your shit, and you can’t even be bothered to come on this case!” Romeo bellowed, finally letting out his anger in one go. “We have a chance to fully repair the financial damage you caused by putting us on probation for nine months!”
Taiga twisted, rolling onto his back and pulling Romeo on top of him. His green eyes gleamed as his free hand brushed Romeo’s bangs from his eyes, “You’re still pretty when you’re angry.”
“Hah?! Don’t touch me!” Romeo smacked Taiga’s hand away from his hair.
As he rose to get off of Taiga, Taiga grabbed Romeo’s wrist. The gleam in his eyes dulled, his gaze boring into Romeo’s. Romeo reflexively pulled back, but Taiga’s grip held firm.
Romeo opened his mouth, “Don’t-”
Taiga interrupted him, his voice dropping into seriousness, “Lulu… I don’t want to go.”
Romeo scoffed, “You don’t have a choice. The deal is too good.”
Taiga stared as Romeo stood up off of him, releasing his grip, something indiscernible in his eyes, his lips in a fine line. He sat up, his eyes following Romeo for a minute as Romeo sat in his favorite chair. He sighed, “Fine. If that’s what you want. I’ll go.”
“Finally! That should have been your answer in the first place!” Romeo declared. “Now we’ll have to arrange clothing.”
Ritsu questioned, “Why do we need special clothing? If anything, can’t we just rewear our imperial auction suits for the dress code?”
Romeo clicked his tongue, “This is why you’re still a GH, Shinjo. The art auction has a dress code, but it’s themed around the Renaissance. So in order to blend in, we’ll need to dress with the theme.”
Taiga tilted his head in confusion, “Penne sauce?”
“The renaissance refers to a cultural movement that took place in Europe in the 1400 to 1500s. The name comes from the French for rebirth. It was a movement that boasted a great change in architecture, music, politics, science, and art.” Ritsu stated matter of factly.
“Correct,” Romeo acquiesced. “Supposedly, a lot of the art at this auction is from the Renaissance era, but there are some pieces from other time periods. The Institute agent also mentioned in the case file that any outfits from the Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassist, or Romanticism era would blend in, since most of the art is from those eras, so anything in the vein of early modern European fashion would be appropriate.”
“Romanticism, eh?” Taiga purred.
Romeo ignored him, continuing, “The supposed cursed painting we’re targeting is actually from the 1950’s - The Crying Boy by Giovanni Bragolin.”
Ritsu held his chin as he thought, “Very well. I am going to look into Darkwick’s resources to pull up any data on The Crying Boy before we depart.”
“I’ll send messages to both of you. We depart tomorrow afternoon.” Romeo announced.
—
“What’s that, Lulu? You got a bird on your head,” Taiga chuckled as he strolled up to Romeo.
Romeo glared back at Taiga, “These hats were common in the 16th century throughout Europe especially throughout the higher class.”
Romeo stood in front of the Galaxy Express. Perched on his head was a black feathered beret with an ostrich feather. He wore a black velvet jerkin over a white doublet, black leggings, and black loafers. Adorning his hands were black velvet gloves.
“I don’t like these frilly clothes,” Taiga whined, pulling at his white ruffled shirt’s front.
Taiga stood wearing the clothes Romeo had picked out for him, clad in a white ruffled shirt and a long red coat with golden buttons. He wore loose black slops that tucked into brown leather boots.
“I think it suits you, Captain,” Ritsu offered. “You look like a pirate.”
Ritsu was dressed similarly to Romeo with a white doublet and a blue jerkin made of leather that was vertically slashed to aid in movement. He wore linen breeches in a tan color that were paired with buckled shoes.
Romeo cut in, “Now that everyone’s here, it’s time to head to the venue.”
—
They took the Galaxy Express to Roppongi, upon which they stalked through dark alleyways to an unmarked door at the bottom of unmarked stairs. A stoic guard dressed in a suit was posted at the door.
Romeo approached him, “The password is porta del paradiso.”
The man stepped aside, pulling open the heavy windowless door to allow the three of them to enter. Unlike the unmarked dark exterior, the interior was bright with overhead lights. Crowds of people in similar European attire stood in groups with champagne and wine glasses. They had ended up in what appeared to be an art gallery, with the auctioned items hung on the walls, lights highlighting each piece. On the right of each painting and sculpture was a metal plate listing the name, artist, and a description of the background of each masterpiece. Some plates were brief in materials used and the content of the work, while others described the inspiration artists had for their piece.
Taiga commented, “I thought it was going to be an auction like the other one.”
Ritsu answered, “They hold a gallery showing first, and later in the evening they hold the auction.”
“Ah… can’t we just grab the painting and book it?” Taiga complained.
Romeo glared at Taiga, snapping at him, “Do you realize how much security is here? We should try to win it in the auction.”
“Boring. Then I’m gonna go get a beer,” Taiga’s mind drifted towards his stomach, wandering off.
“Typical useless…” Romeo scoffed, his voice trailing off.
Ritsu cut in to prevent a further rant, “The captain aside, we should look at The Crying Boy. It wasn’t one painting, but a series that was mass-produced in the 1950’s. We should look at it while we can and see if there’s any hint as to the anomalous nature.”
“I hate it when you make sense,” Romeo shook his head. He plucked a champagne flute from a cycling waiter with a tray of champagne glasses, taking a sip of the bubbly beverage. “Not bad.”
Ritsu eyed the champagne flute, “Should you really be drinking right now?”
Romeo shook his head, “Shinjo, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. We have to look the part. I’m not downing this stuff. I can’t speak for the BTH however, but he’s here, so let’s just do our job.”
Romeo and Ritsu strolled through the lit gallery pretending to peruse the artworks as they wove around groups of people. As they rounded a corner and entered a side room away from the star pieces of artwork, the room was deserted with a lone painting on the wall. The boy on the painting had tousled brown hair with large eyes staring at the viewer with a lone tear rolling down his cheek. His tan shirt was akin to rags. The cursive script in the top right had the author’s signature, G. Bragolin.
Ritsu tapped his chin in thought as he examined the painting. “It looks like a standard oil painting, although perhaps unnerving based on the subject matter.”
Romeo scoffed, “You and I both know that looks can be deceiving. Look now.”
A small boy crouched in the corner of the room reminiscent of the one in the painting. His eyes were tear streaked, making small whimpering noises.
Romeo mused, “Kurossa mentioned that he had a case with an anomaly that was created through mass belief.”
“By Kurossa, are you referring to Vagastrom’s Leo Kurosagi by chance?”
“Who else would I be talking about?” Romeo scoffed. “The painting has a notorious reputation for being cursed. It wouldn’t be unheard of for mass belief to be the case here.”
“That could be, but what is bothering me is why is he crying? There are no clues in the painting since it focuses on him.”
“Why does it matter? We just need that painting and need to get it back to Darkwick.”
—
On the other side of the art gallery, opposite of the entrance, was a large auction hall where the second part of the evening would take place. To the side of the doorway into the auction hall was a large bar, set up with three bartenders and a dozen barstools lined up.
“Jackpot.” Taiga grinned.
He approached the bar, grabbing an empty seat in the middle.
“Yo, barkeep! Give me whatever beer you got!” Taiga called with a grin.
The closest bartender poured a beer and placed it in front of Taiga in a tulip-shaped glass.
“Eh, what kind of beer is this?” Taiga frowned, gesturing towards the unusual glass.
“Belgian white ale, sir.” The bartender replied.
Taiga laughed, “I dunno what that is, but as long as it’s good, I don’t care!”
Taiga drank his beer, snatching a plate of hor’dourves from one of the wandering waiters. The plate had a pair of skewered meat sticks as a light refreshment for the evenings’ patrons. Taiga dug in as some of the other patrons nearby began to talk.
“One of the paintings is cursed. It’s back again after the previous owner died!”
“How horrible! They said it was a fire. The whole house burned down except for the painting.”
“It’s definitely cursed. I’ll buy anything but that one. You’d be a fool to have anything to do with that painting.”
Taiga kept an ear out about the chatter as he ordered another beer, waving the waiter over to take another five plates to devour.
More patrons joined to gossip about the cursed painting, “See, the weird part of all this is they could find no reasonable cause of the fires.”
“I heard the bodies were burned, but they weren’t just burned, there were gashes on them too.”
“Gashes? Wasn’t the cause of their death the fire?”
“They won’t even let the family see the autopsy reports. All the funerals are closed-casket.”
Taiga hummed to himself as he waved the waiter down to grab another five plates of hor’dourves.
—
The waiters circling the gallery had ditched their trays of drinks and food and started ushering the guests into the auction hall for the second half of the evening. As Romeo and Ritsu followed the crowd towards the auction hall, they found their missing captain.
“Ah?! Why are you taking my food away?!” Taiga exclaimed at the waiter that was trying to get a move on with the event.
Taiga was still perched at the bar, even as the bartenders left to help usher the guests into the auction hall. All the other guests that were previously at the bar had long departed to enter the auction hall. Taiga had stuck around to eat and drink to his delight, but now he was arguing with the staff that had become an obstacle to his all-you-can-eat buffet.
Romeo stomped over to Taiga, “You BTH! Stop arguing with the staff!”
Ritsu followed, relaying calmly, “You’re louder than he is, vice-captain.”
“Huh?! Don’t have an attitude with me, Shinjo!” Romeo turned to bark at Ritsu before whipping back to Taiga, “And you, we’re supposed to be in the auction hall, now!”
Romeo grabbed Taiga from under his arm and dragged him away from the bar and into the auction hall. Ritsu trailed behind them to ensure their wayward captain was enroute.
The auction hall had a circular stage in the center of the room. Around the stage were private boxes with a table and a half-circle booth that were separated by partitions, so each party had some semblance of privacy. Each box had an unobstructed view of the stage, with aisles from opposite sides of the room leading to stairs up to the stage. The floors were dark polished wood. The walls had tapestries with coats of arms and large hanging velvet curtains. The centerpiece was an elaborate three-tiered chandelier hanging above the stage with lit candles held in place by golden-colored candlestick holders.
Romeo dragged Taiga to an unoccupied booth and practically threw him onto the seat, then sat down next to him. Ritsu wisely sat down on the opposite side, effectively blocking Taiga from making an exit.
“Ah, you guys are no fun.” Taiga whined.
“Quiet,” Romeo said, his eyes fixed on the unoccupied stage. “It’s starting.”
The overhead lights dimmed except for a couple spotlights focusing on the stage, the bright chandelier the focus with the light reflecting off the brass. A man in a suit came onto the stage with two assistants to bring the first artwork on bid. They called for bids and numerous people bid for the first item.
“Lulu… aren’t you going to bid?” Taiga asked, fiddling with the auction paddle that was provided to each table.
“That’s not the painting we’re after.”
Paintings and sculptures came and went. In the middle of the auction, the announcement came for The Crying Boy as the next auctioned item, and the hall stilled. Oddly enough, the assistants came up empty handed, stage whispering to the auctioneer.
“Something’s happening… let’s go check the painting,” Romeo got up and stepped out of the hall without checking whether Taiga and Ritsu followed.
When Romeo reached the side room in which The Crying Boy was earlier, still hanging in the same spot in the side room. The boy in the painting was no longer facing towards the viewer but away, showing the back of the boy’s head.
“Vice-captain! What’s happened to the painting?” Ritsu called as he hurried up to the same room.
“I don’t know…” Romeo looked around, “Do you see that little boy we saw earlier?”
“No… where could he have gone?” Ritsu mused, “Don’t you think he’s tied to the painting? If so, he couldn’t have gone far.”
Romeo approached the painting, the viewpoint of the back of the boy’s head still appearing in the same medium as the original painting had earlier. He reached up and tried to move the painting, but it didn’t budge off the mount. It was as if it was a part of the wall.
“What is up with this painting? It won’t budge!” Romeo complained.
“Vice-captain, look-!” Ritsu called.
The boy in the painting moved in front of their eyes. He turned towards the viewer, his face still tear-stained, raising his hand to point towards the room’s entrance.
Romeo and Ritsu both turned to see a humanoid being that wasn’t human. It was not in the right proportions, with way too long legs and way too long arms. Its fingernails resembled more like animal claws than human hands. It was on all fours, but its skin was saggy, and clung tightly to bones. Its hair on its head was as black as night and thin and raggedy. Its nose was also thin and hook-like, with a gaping maw of multiple rows of sharp tiny teeth like a lamprey’s. Its eyes were large and pitch black with no sclera.
“What is that?” Ritsu asked.
“Inopia.” Romeo murmured. “An anomaly of scarcity and destitution.”
Their exit was blocked with the massive anomaly taking up the bulk of the hallway. Romeo clicked his tongue as he clicked his sniper rifle artifact chain, but as he did so, Inopia dove for him, reacting to the movement.
“Vice-captain!” Ritsu called as he lunged for the anomaly with his book.
The anomaly retreated back to the entrance, dodging the swipe of Ritsu’s heavy tome. Ritsu leapt backwards to land next to Romeo, his attack attempt unsuccessful. Inopia stalked forward towards its prey, pushing Romeo and Ritsu back closer to the painting as if corralling them.
Then Romeo’s rifle clattered as it hit the floor, dropping to his knees as an oil paint fist burst through his abdomen in a splatter of blood. A choked groan of pain emitted from him as his arms clutched his wound, and his body collapsed onto the gallery floor.
“Vice-captain…!” Ritsu called. “The painting and Inopia are working together!”
Behind Inopia, widened green eyes were fixated on the wounded body on the floor. Taiga stood there, feet planted on the ground unable to move. His brain knew what it saw, and yet he couldn’t comprehend it. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, his heartbeat beating at a quarter of its usual rate. And then something inside of him snapped.
Taiga drove his fist into the nearest wall. The resulting thud and the crackle of drywall falling to the ground was enough for Inopia to turn its head to look behind it.
Before Inopia could strike, Taiga’s artifact machine gun was at its head, five shots firing in quick succession. Blood sprayed on Taiga, but he didn’t flinch as the blood splatter hit his hair, face, and stained his white shirt with a sprinkle of crimson. He shot the torso, emptying another five shots into it.
“Captain! The painting was working together with that anomaly!”
Taiga’s gaze darted from the anomaly corpse to the painting, driving a swift kick to the sack of bones and flesh, sending it into the nearest wall away from the entryway with a sick crackle of bone. The painting moved again, the boy’s face no longer tear-streaked, but smiling in an unsettling way.
“Call the clean-up squad,” Taiga ordered Ritsu, his voice dead serious and having something almost animalistic in it.
Taiga raised his machine gun and fired into the painting. The bullets went into the oil painting, and the boy simply moved to dodge them. The boy in the painting started to laugh. It was a child’s laughter, but it warbled in an unnatural way from the painting itself.
Ritsu hung up his cell phone, “The clean-up squad is on their way. They’re bringing a medic squad as well.”
Ritsu was crouched on the ground next to Romeo's unmoving body. Taiga tossed his coat to Ritsu. Ritsu caught it, and then barely caught the folded switchblade knife Taiga tossed after.
Taiga didn’t give Ritsu a chance to balk, “Bandage the wound to slow the bleeding. Hurry!”
“...Right!” Ritsu confirmed, methodically cutting strips of cloth from the coat and wrapping them around the abdominal wound tautly. “It’s a good thing ghouls are more durable than the average human. His prognosis wouldn’t be as good otherwise.”
Taiga sighed, a low threatening noise that almost sounded like a hiss. He raised his machine gun and rapidly fired a spray of gunfire into the painting for a solid 30 seconds. When he heard the whimper, he reached his hand into the canvas and yanked the boy out, a cord of paint still connecting the child to the painting. He slammed the child into the wall, and connected his fist into the child’s head. One, two, three… Over and over… It wasn’t the sound of hitting flesh and bone, but the wet sound of paint splatter. Still the painting anomaly groaned with each connection as if it were in pain.
“Taiga Hoshibami.” The Institute agents filed in, two on either side of Taiga holding him in place, preventing him from his onslaught. “We’re here to apprehend the anomaly.”
Taiga growled, releasing the paint anomaly and shaking the agents off. A crowd of medics were with Ritsu on the ground providing first aid on site. Taiga stood rooted, watching every move with gritted teeth.
Ritsu stood to give the medics more space, approaching Taiga, “They’re taking the vice-captain to Darkwick General once they stabilize him.”
“…”
—
Ritsu knocked on Taiga’s bedroom door, “Captain! I know you’re in there! I need to speak with you.”
“Fuck off!” Taiga growled through the locked door.
“It’s about the vice-captain!”
The lock unclicked, and the door opened. Taiga clicked his tongue with a scowl, looking impatient, “What is it.”
“The Institute secured the painting by carving it off the gallery wall. They were also able to apprehend the attendees and treat them with mesmer matches. I am not sure what they did with the Inopia corpse. Mortkranken might have acquired possession of it for study…”
“Screw all of that. Lulu-”
“Right, the vice-captain is stable enough for visitors now.” Ritsu proudly relayed. “I’ve been bringing him different things he’s been requesting.”
An expression that was a mix of disappointment and jealousy crossed Taiga’s face, “Why is a blockhead like you bringing Lulu stuff?!”
“As we’ve discussed before, although my stigma allows me to harden-”
Taiga pushed past Ritsu and started heading down the hallway towards the exit to campus. He shortly came back, “Ah, where is it again?”
Ritsu sighed, “Captain, how is Sinostra going to attain the Laurel Crown if you can’t even find your way around?”
—
At Darkwick General, Ritsu led Taiga dutifully to Romeo’s room. Like most hospitals, it was modern and white, freshly-remodeled after the general student case with the mermaid flesh. Taiga slouched as he followed Ritsu a few steps behind, his shoes clicking on newly tiled floors as Ritsu walked briskly and with purpose.
When they reached Romeo’s hospital room, he was sitting up and awake. His eyes were downcast, focused on reading documents. Although he didn’t have any visible bags under his eyes, the once-brilliant amethyst seemed duller. Unlike Romeo’s typically fashionable wear, he looked fragile in the standard hospital shirt and pants provided to patients. The hospital clothing was loose, and if Taiga didn’t know any better, Romeo looked thinner.
“Vice-captain,” Ritsu knocked on the open hospital room door. “I’ve brought the captain.”
Romeo glanced up, lowering the file with documents. “Shinjo, I wasn’t expecting you.”
Taiga was still in the hallway, outside of the room’s threshold. It felt strange to be on the outside looking in. The last time he saw Romeo was when he was bloody and unmoving. He could have been a corpse with a wound like that, and yet, here he was sitting in a hospital bed awake. His breath caught, Romeo was here… awake… okay - maybe? He looked okay.
Taiga entered the room, and Romeo’s gaze shifted from Ritsu to him, his eyes widening at the sight of Taiga.
“You…” Romeo murmured under his breath.
“Lulu… when are you getting out of this hellhole?” Taiga whined.
“I don’t know. They’ve closed the wound, but they’re still treating me.” Romeo replied. He was still in pain in his abdominal region and lower back, but he wouldn’t admit it aloud to anyone save the medical professionals.
Ritsu cut in, “I have some other matters to attend to, so I must be leaving. Please let me know if you need me to bring you anything.” He turned to Taiga to address him, “I trust you can find your way back on your own, Captain.”
Romeo sighed, “Don’t worry, even this worthless captain can find his way home.”
Ritsu pivoted on his shoes and briskly left.
With Ritsu gone, it was just the two of them left in the room. Their gazes met, and they both stared at the other wordlessly. Romeo bit his lip, his gaze shifting away from Taiga’s first. His go-to excuse was always how busy he was when he didn’t want to deal with Taiga or his antics, but laying in the hospital bed with nothing but a single file in his lap didn’t give him that leeway. He was at Taiga’s mercy with nowhere to run.
Romeo steeled himself, before murmuring, “Why are you here?”
Romeo watched Taiga, waiting for the carefree laugh, his typical flirting line. He scrutinized his face for the change in expression, the dismissal of anything serious.
Taiga was quiet at first, but the laugh never came, the joking flirtatious line he always spouted was left unsaid, “I thought you wouldn’t come back.”
Romeo’s eyes widened at the honest admission. Even if Taiga didn’t say it explicitly, the meaning was clear. Taiga had thought he wasn’t going to make it. Romeo had heard from the healthcare professionals. Ghoul or not, he was lucky the damage had missed anything vital. He was blessed with a faster healing rate and more durability, but wounds that caused enough damage were still fatal. Ghouls weren’t immortal. Ritsu had also given a detailed report of what happened, complete with details about Taiga’s little rampage. Even if Ritsu had filed each detail down to a fact with no subjective exposition attached to it, Romeo was aware of the nuances of Taiga’s behavior. They had known each other for too long after all. And yet, Romeo still asked aloud, as if needing that confirmation even if it came in uncertain terms.
Taiga stepped forward, a hand reaching out to brush his fingertips through Romeo’s bangs, down the side of his cheek. Romeo was here, awake, talking. It wasn’t all for naught. Romeo exhaled, his usual brash anger and venom left unsaid. His brows weren’t creased, his expression almost a puzzled one. Taiga leaned down to embrace Romeo, burying his face into the crook of Romeo’s neck. When Romeo released a hiss of pain from the motion, Taiga released him, but drew a finger under his chin to lift it up and plant a chaste kiss on his lips.
Romeo’s cheeks were flushed pink when they pulled apart, Taiga was still too close for his liking, “What was that for?!”
Taiga grinned, “So you’ll remember to come back to me.”
—
Life at Darkwick continued even as the Sinostra vice-captain remained in the hospital. The casino still had its cries of triumph and despair from its loyal patrons, even if the general Sinostra students that patrolled the casino floor seemed to be a bit lost without Romeo to bark constant orders at them. Ritsu had volunteered himself as Romeo’s substitute, running documents to and from the hospital as needed. From what Ritsu had informed him, Taiga was relatively well-behaved and not aggravating the faction war between his side and Romeo’s. He still gambled here and there, but the majority of his time was spent in his room or visiting Romeo.
At first, Romeo would get irritated with Taiga’s soon-to-be constant presence, especially as he would keep tabs on the casino’s profits due to Ritsu’s diligence in bringing him regular updates. So Romeo was not kept completely idle, yet Taiga added an additional distraction for him. Sometimes Taiga showed up just to take a nap in the chair in Romeo’s room. Other times, he would get a little handsy and affectionate in addition to his usual flirting. Even if Romeo was angry and uncooperative with Taiga’s antics, it did somewhat break up the monotony of being stuck in the hospital room.
Taiga seemed to relish in Romeo’s spiciness, as some sort of return to normalcy for the two of them, a moment to forget that Romeo was still injured and recovering. He seemed to be always careful to not press Romeo too much, to tread the line between Romeo’s harsh words and before he became truly upset. Romeo’s annoyance was a part of their routine in a sense; he was the straight man to Taiga’s comedy, the voice of reason to Taiga’s ideals, the catalyst for Taiga being grounded in reality. Even if Romeo wouldn’t acknowledge it outright, something in his actions and being seemed to recognize Taiga’s attachment and affection. At the very least, Romeo appeared to acquiesce to Taiga’s predispositions. He never outright refused or pulled away in a true denial, though he masked any affection on his part under his arrogance or annoyance.
When Romeo was released from the hospital, he was still under doctor’s orders to take it easy even if his pain was greatly reduced, and the wound had long been closed. Upon release, Romeo went back to managing the casino as usual. He patrolled the casino floor less and remained mostly in the VIP room, relying more on his EITS system even though that did have its own flaws. On the surface, no one was none the wiser. Things had returned to normal for Sinostra from the outsider perspective.
And yet, Romeo had a shadow. Even if he was just in the VIP room taking care of his daily tasks, his routine, Taiga was somewhere nearby. Taiga was keen to take naps in the VIP room, curled up on the couch as Romeo worked. Romeo would sigh and pull out a throw blanket to drape over Taiga with low mutters of making him work more when Taiga was perfectly ablebodied. If Romeo didn’t know any better, he felt he had a pet. A pet that had a penchant for gambling and eating things he shouldn’t be eating.
Other times, Romeo would have the feeling he was alone, but Taiga would be nearby. One late night as Romeo left the VIP room after ironing out an issue with the casino, he stumbled upon his walk back to his bedroom, and Taiga had been there, lifting him in a bridal carry. Romeo had been quite irate at that, but Taiga had no flirtatious or mocking demeanor, eyes only fixed forward as he carried Romeo to his room.
The night after that, Romeo was back in the VIP room after his morning routine, and he went back to work to make sure everything was in tip-top shape and running smoothly. The door opened and shut with hardly a sound, and Romeo slapped his documents on the table with a huff at the intrusion. Taiga was strolling in again to throw himself on the half-circle couch.
“This has gone on long enough,” Romeo fiercely glared at his daily intruder.
“Ah? What do you mean by that, Lulu?” Taiga dropped onto the couch, his elbows resting on the back of the couch and his legs relaxing in a spread position.
“This! All of this!” Romeo waved a hand in the air between them, “You being here and following me all the time! This has to stop!”
Taiga glanced at Romeo for a moment, his expression unreadable. “No.”
“Why not?!”
“You really would go for the heart, wouldn’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I thought you wouldn’t come back.”
Romeo got up from his chair, marching over to Taiga to stand in front of him. He looked down on him, a frown on his features, brow creased in frustration, “For all intents and purposes, I’m back to normal. I don’t know when I’ll be cleared to go on a mission again, but I’m alive and here. Why do you insist on following my every move?”
Taiga shifted positions, sitting up from his slouched, relaxed position. He reached around Romeo’s waist to effectively pull him into his lap so that Romeo was sitting sideways.
“What are you doing?!” Romeo barked, starting to push back.
Taiga didn’t say anything at first, but put his ear over Romeo’s chest, just listening to his heartbeat. Romeo too fell into a momentary silence, his protests abated as he stilled, his eyelids falling halfway as he allowed Taiga solace.
“Lulu… you can’t go where I’m not allowed to follow.” Taiga uttered.
Romeo ran a gloved hand through Taiga’s hair, gently stroking the wild strands into some semblance of order. Their prolonged closeness did eventually cause Romeo’s heartbeat to quicken which Taiga picked up on. His unreadable expression cracked slowly into a grin.
“You like being in my lap, don’t you?” Taiga purred.
“Hah?! No! What kind of stupid ideas are getting into that head of yours?!” Romeo vehemently protested.
“But I like you being in my lap, Lulu. I think you belong here.”
“You’re prettier when your mouth is not spouting nonsense,” Romeo clicked his tongue.
He lifted Taiga’s head to bring their lips together, continuing what Taiga started in the hospital room. Though this time, it was lengthy. Romeo took initial charge going beyond Taiga’s chaste offering. Taiga allowed Romeo some leeway before he fought back for dominance, daring to twine their tongues together. When they pulled apart, both their lips were reddened.
Romeo sighed, his arms wrapped around Taiga’s waist, his head resting on Taiga’s shoulder as he allowed his body to relax. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, he would never want to give Taiga any ideas, but maybe he did like sitting on Taiga’s lap. Taiga’s arm was supporting him, rubbing light circles on his back. Romeo’s eyes drifted shut.
“I remembered to come back to you.”