Work Text:
“One last request before you go, Itsuki,” the Legislator said, smiling suspiciously.
Abeno paused, arm outstretched to summon the Mononokean, then sighed and dropped his hand back by his side. There was no escaping the Legislator when he was in one of his moods.
“And by request, I actually meant rule.”
“Yes, yes, what is it? I don’t have all day.”
“Tell Ashiya-kun about your feelings for him.”
In the silence, Abeno felt two things: the pulsing vein in his forehead, and the Legislator’s widening smile.
“That’s a rule,” the Legislator added.
Abeno let the pressure of his pulse build to a thrum before whirling to unleash his rage on the Legislator.
“Mind. Your. Own. Business.”
The Legislator wanted to flinch back, Abeno could tell, but annoyingly, he held his ground.
“The work done by the Master of the Mononokean is crucial. It’s my business to make sure that nothing disturbs it, and your feelings for your employee are interfering with your work.”
“I’m handling it,” Abeno snarled. “Or is some aspect of my work unsatisfactory?”
“I suppose not.” The Legislator breathed a long puff of smoke into the air. “But I believe it could be better.”
“I don’t care what you believe.”
“No, you care about the rules I make.”
The Legislator smiled again, and Abeno reminded himself that it would be unseemly for the Master of the Mononokean to knock out the Legislator’s front two teeth. Although it would be satisfying.
“In fact, I’ll add a rule that you must tell him today.”
Very satisfying. Abeno imagined the Legislator unable to speak, too vain to open his mouth and chance a pretty girl seeing his gaping injury. But no, Abeno has more self control than that.
“Fine.” He summoned the Mononokean, almost tearing the door off in his fury. “Later, Legislator.”
He fiddled all throughout class, aware of Ashiya shooting him nervous looks from the desk in front. As soon as the teacher stopped droning, he stood up and leaned over Ashiya’s shoulder.
“Rooftop. Now.”
He strode off quickly, already seated on the floor of the Mononokean when Ashiya’s fumbling footsteps sounded outside and a messy mop of black hair appeared in the doorway.
“Did something come up, Abeno-san?”
Inquisitive blue eyes scanned Abeno’s face. Abeno broke the gaze, turning his chin curtly so that he was staring at the wind chime on the side of the Mononokean’s scroll instead. Ashiya narrowed his eyes.
“Are you angry at me? You are, aren’t you! I could tell by that death glare you directed at me all morning!”
“I did not have a death glare,” Abeno retorted, then took a steadying breath. He needed to stop losing his composure so often, which was difficult given the idiots he was daily confronted with. “And I’m not angry at you. In fact, I like you.”
There. He had said it. He kept his eyes strictly away from Ashiya, and waited for a response.
“Did you hear that, Fuzzy? I got praised!”
Abeno jerked his gaze back to Ashiya. The idiot wasn’t even looking at him, focused instead on the white hairball on his shoulder. Suddenly Ashiya’s head shot back up and Abeno found himself arrested by a pair of bright eyes.
“Oh no, are you about to follow up with some bad news? Something along the lines of, I like you but I’m going to have to let you go because the Underworld is having a round of employee layoffs, or I like you but I don’t have enough money to keep you on, although on second thought you don’t even pay me anything so I don’t think that would be an issue, or …”
What is he blathering on about? Abeno wondered as he gazed into Ashiya’s eyes. He didn’t look away until the Mononokean chimed behind him.
Ashiya isn’t very bright ┐(' ～ `;)┌
You need to be more explicit
Of course. How had he failed to anticipate this? Ashiya had the comprehension skills of a five-year-old, after all.
“Completely wrong, as usual,” Abeno said. “When I said I like you, I meant that I’m interested in you. Romantically.”
Then he stood up and stalked out the door, keeping his back ramrod straight until he was out of Ashiya’s eyesight, whereupon he slumped immediately against the wall. If he strained his ears, he could hear snippets of Ashiya’s voice floating out of the tearoom, and the occasional tinkle of the Mononokean’s reply.
“… sees me as a five-year-old, so when he says that he likes me, is he really trying to say that he’s a pedophile? But Abeno-san scowls so much that kids are probably afraid of him, so that would be a real issue …”
Abeno’s head shot up and hit the wall behind him with a dull thud. He couldn’t believe that he had fallen for such a complete imbecile, he thought, rubbing the back of his head, and as soon as this was over he was going to march straight to Newt Lake and strangle the Legislator. He bet Koura would help if he promised her the Legislator’s vocal cords. For now, he primly shuffled a few feet to the left, till he was out of earshot of the Mononokean, and eased himself into a sitting position.
He sighed, his thoughts petering out as he thought about how much quieter it was with Ashiya’s inane babbling muffled. A breeze drifted over the school roof, and he wondered what time it was now, whether lunch break had ended. He hadn’t expected this to be such a drawn out affair—he was supposed to confess, Ashiya was supposed to be surprised but swift with a rejection, and then everything would be back to normal. Their work would continue undisturbed, just as the Legislator wanted. But in retrospect, of course Ashiya would turn a simple affair into huge hassle.
Finally, the door of the Mononokean slid open, and Ashiya stepped out. He scanned the rooftop sheepishly before spotting Abeno crouched against the side. Suddenly he was looming above Abeno, the exorcist craning his neck upwards. Abeno had prepared a short speech about how he already knew what Ashiya was going to say and that it was fine, he didn’t expect reciprocity and he wouldn’t let his feelings intrude on their working relationship, but somehow the words stuck in his throat. Abeno blamed it on the angle—he wasn’t used to looking up at Ashiya like this, having the other boy literally fill his whole field of view.
“Abeno-san!” Ashiya said brightly. “I was really confused at first, because, you know, you’re really handsome, and you have all these special powers, and you’re always responsible and cool-headed and selfless while I just blunder around and inconvenience you, and to be honest sometimes I worry that you can’t stand me, especially since you often tell me that outright, but the Mononokean explained that you’re not very good at showing affection so I need to pay more attention to your nonverbal cues, and it also said that you’re not very good at rating your own self-worth so I need to be very outright, and so—” the black-haired boy blushed slightly “—you should know that I like you too, Abeno-san. I like you a lot.”
“Oh,” Abeno said. He thought that the world might be spinning, but Ashiya was in front of him and not moving at all and that was enough of an anchor for him. He rose in a single motion and suddenly he was looking down at Ashiya’s upturned, earnest face.
“Ashiya,” he murmured. “May I kiss you?”
Ashiya’s blush grew deeper. “I’d like that.”
Abeno closed the gap between them with one step, his hands reaching out to cup both sides of Ashiya’s face. Ashiya’s lips were warm on his, and then he was guiding them past the sliding door of the Mononokean, where they were welcomed by tinkling chimes and the loud thumps of a delighted furball.
Neither of them made it to afternoon class.