002. where are we hurrying to

[takasugi]

( to be lacking in new merchandise as an idol is dire, apparently, but without a decent photographer to call their own anymore, things have been rough. a couple handmade badges and flyers won't do it forever. the fans need something more personal, or so takasugi is very easily led to believe, and so who better to take up the task of learning the equipment than their tech savvy president? finding another augmented that can even come close to the way a certain someone had effortless portrayed their personalities like stories to canvas sounds daunting, at least, so he takes to the work with little complaint at first.

the studio is small, the garish light setup tilting as takasugi angles a black umbrella at the side for a softer hue.

the backdrop is a dark shade, and as he stands in front of rinne with hands raised together in a rectangular shape, his notched brow creases. )

You know, for as much as you two pushed for me to be the sexy one of the group, you would've filled the role easily.

( he steps forward, closing the gap with the ease of a man who always steps with the grace needed to draw at a moments hesitation.

at rinne's front, there's a beat. a single moment of pause before he starts undoing a tie, starts tugging open a collar so gently as to do nothing more suggestive than reveal the skin of the younger man's collarbone. he runs the edge of a claw lightly against bone, making sure the creases of fabric are pushed to the side just so. )

So maybe you could stand to be a little more.provocative in these. Everything about you reads as seductive to me, at least ... your very first fan.

Comments

[takasugi]

Something else...

( the sudden panic pounds in his chest for rinne's sobbing. )

The Katalyth... would surely kill us and infect where we're going. My own life is a no-go.

( but he's always had a better answer. as he digs hands into rinne's back, thinking of how in truth, he just wanted to show him the way the waves hit the rocks down here. he wanted to press the familiar scent of the sea into rinne's hand and share the bare memories he had left of hagi with him, but now it's all so...

takasugi nuzzles his face against all that red hair. he tries not to shudder, and surprisingly, his own tears won't come. )

Saying goodbye once was hard enough, Amagi-kun. I know you know that well enough. But running away from my dream, ... to live with you, and see our ideals come to life, would be even more unbearable.

[hanikamu]

[ Rinne's breath hitched, eyes wide open at the revelation that struck him like lightning.

Oh, that's right.

There was a reason they called Takasugi Shinsaku a hero.

There was a reason the light in his eyes danced like cherry blossoms in the wind and twinkled like the stars in the endless sky, drawing Rinne to him the way the love of even one fan would, cheering him on, guiding him like a shining beacon in the night.

When Rinne lost his way in the dark, all he could do was kill the hope that made him whole.

The one who wanted another answer wasn't Takasugi at all. ]

Yeah. [ His voice trembled, barely fighting the emotion that shook it. ] I know.

That man had a dream, too. You had more freedom than him, but he would have wanted to give that dream to you.

[ Even if it took his very own life.

Rinne didn't need a book to know that much. ]

🎀

[takasugi]

( rinne's heartfelt assumption of takasugi's mentor cuts through, stomping against his heart like the dance moves the older man had witnessed at that bar, with the lights flickering wild to trace shapes into the shadow of the audience below. his chest swells against rinne as he tries to breathe against his hold and all that emotion, the memories of yoshida shouin like strings attached to his limbs that he's trying to cut with scissors that are anything but sharp.

snip, at everything he had promised with trembling fingers while writing letters. snip, at the way he had vowed back then to make shouin's legacy eternal.

but here is a younger man from the future acknowledging that yoshida shouin had dreams too.

that those aspirations didn't come to nothing just like his, and as takasugi's shaky claws raise from rinne's back to make certain that yes, yes, the tangled hair in a darker shade of red is still attached to a strong neck and isn't going anywhere, that isn't about to roll off and away from him, takasugi can come back to earth again and relax. )

Exactly.

( he replies, the facade just barely in tact. he can't cut himself free properly, but he can force the dull instrument into the knot in his heart and stall the harsh beating.

a hero isn't without his sacrifices, and a student knows to repay their promises, but he'll do anything in this case. so he tiptoes to press their foreheads together lightly. )

With our help, Shouin-sensei will get to see the rest of the world and more. That's exactly it, Amagi-kun. The dreams of a dead man can't lie rotting here. So we'll bring him along with us. To reach our destination, I'll exhaust this undying spirit, ... and use it as our guiding light.