Chapter Text
“Wait. You actually want to work on Saturday?” Daiki asked, dumbfounded.
The large sunglasses took up half of Taiga’s face, so Daiki couldn’t adequately see the faint blush upon his cheeks. “Hey, weren’t you the one bitching and moaning earlier this week about wanting to go some bar but Tetsu didn’t? So I’m just trying to help a brother out, y’know?”
Daiki cast Taiga such an intense glare even his sunglasses couldn’t mask it. “Don’t give me that shit. What game are you playing, Taiga?”
“Nothing, man.” Taiga shrugged, though in his stiff, pressed suit, it came across as more of a flinch. “Just figured it wouldn’t hurt having you owe me one.”
“Nah. I’m not buying it. Why would you be willing to give up your only free Saturday this month to babysit the prime minister’s son?”
“Maybe because it’s our job,” Taiga said, slow as if speaking to a child. “And dude, he’s your best friend. How can you talk about him like he’s cockblocking you?”
“ ‘Cause he totally is! There’s this bartender down in Asakusa, and man oh man.” He motioned to his chest area and made cupping motions with his long fingers. “You have to see how her rack just bounces—”
“Yeah, like you can score that.”
Daiki straightened his designer suit jacket. “Dude, have you seen me in this suit? Chicks dig it.”
“And then you open your mouth.”
“Like you can do any better,” Daiki snorted, arms crossed as he leaned back against the wall, next to the classroom’s door. “We’ve been doing the same detail for almost two years, and I haven’t seen you even look at a girl, let alone speak to one. And when was the last you had a date?”
Taiga glanced away and down the hall, skimming the suddenly crowded aisles as classes let out. “Hey, I’ve got game.”
Daiki scanned in the opposite direction. “That’s what all guys say when they have none—” The classroom door swung open, smacking the unsuspecting Daiki right in the nose. “Ow! What the hell, Tetsu!”
“Oh, my apologies, Daiki-san.” Tetsu gave a polite little bow as he exited the lecture hall, though his face remained as stoic as ever. “I didn’t see your pointlessly large body there.”
Daiki looked on the verge of attacking Tetsu, but his skewed sunglasses and bloodied nose made him appear more pitiful than angry. “You don’t look sorry at all.”
“I don’t? Oh. Sorry.”
“Don’t make me hit you, Tetsu!”
“But it’s your job to protect me,” Tetsu said in that deliberately blank voice he did when trying hard not to laugh. “Kagami-kun, tell him.”
Taiga couldn’t keep a straight face but tried his best not to laugh loudly. “He’s right, Aho. You’ll lose your job if you harm him.”
“I’ll take a bullet for you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t punch you!”
Taiga stepped between Tetsu and Daiki, which seemed to infuriate his partner even more. “I bet that bartender will think this is an improvement. Your nose will finally fit the size of your ego.”
“Shut up, Bakagami.” Daiki then put two fingers toward his eyes before pointing them at Tetsu in the universal sign of “I’m watching you.” Then, he huffed off to the nearest bathroom.
Taiga held in his boisterous laughter as best he could, and he would have let it out completely if not for the hand that grabbed a fistful of his ass.
“Hey!” He spun around, noticing the mischievous glint in his boyfriend’s eyes. “Didn’t you learn in preschool? Keep your hands to yourself.”
“I would rather not, Taiga-kun.” When he offered his hand, Taiga sighed and folded their fingers together. “Did you get Saturday night duty?”
Taiga nodded. “Daiki’s suspicious, but he took the bait. He’ll switch with me, no doubt.”
Tetsu hummed thoughtfully. “So Daiki-san wanted to take me to a bar in Asakusa. Where did you want to take me?”
Four days later, Tetsu stood, blinking at the neon lights flashing back at him. “Taiga-kun brought me to a bar in Asakusa.”
Taiga wore a sheepish smile – along with relaxed jeans and a tight T-shirt. “Maybe, but it’s not what you think.”
Tetsu cocked his head to the side and arched an accusatory eyebrow, prompting Taiga to growl, “It’s really not! I promise!”
Taiga still took all the necessary precautions, placing a baseball cap upon Tetsu’s head, dressing him in a large hoodie – it might or might not have been Taiga’s, and Taiga might or might not have loved seeing Tetsu in his clothes – and led the shorter man into the rundown bar.
A familiar, festive mood swept over Taiga, though Tetsu seemed nervous in the darkened environment, huddling close to Taiga’s larger form. Taiga took the initiative then, tucking Tetsu under his arm as they made their way through the row of crowded booths and around the tall stools. As they passed by the well-built and rather tall men and women, who wore dark T-shirts and spenders, a good-natured man called, “Kagami! Pull up a chair and join us!”
“Can’t you see he’s on a date?” another man, slightly shorter and sporting glasses, hissed.
A tiny but fierce woman slapped the back of their heads with a large fan. Taiga smiled tentatively and shouted over the live band, “Maybe later!”
“Who are they?” Tetsu said as loudly as his voice would allow, and still, Taiga’s ears barely caught it.
“You know how I was a firefighter before becoming part of your detail? Those were some of my buddies from the station. They hang out here a few nights and get free drinks.”
“You get free drinks here?”
Taiga’s cheeks flushed. “Sometimes, if Alex isn’t being a cheap ass.”
“Alex?”
As they came to the long, old-fashioned wooden bar, clamoring with people to get their drinks, they waited until two stools next to each other emptied. When a blonde turned from the blender on the opposite side of the bar, Taiga shouted, “Hey! What does a guy have to do to get some service around here?”
The girl resituated her blocked red glasses upon her nose and opened her mouth to tongue-lash before her eyes glistened. “Taiga! You’ve come back!”
She pounced, lips shoved toward his, but Taiga threw up both his hands to cover her mouth. “I’m dating someone, Alex! Dating! And it’s serious. You can’t do that anymore.”
“So serious that you haven’t even brought him around here, huh?” she pouted once she took a step back, and then a soft but persistent voice interjected from Taiga’s side.
“I believe that is why I am here, Alex-san.”
With a terrible screech, Alex jumped back before glaring at Tetsu with open hostility. “How dare you take Taiga away from me!”
“Don’t listen to her,” a handsome bartender replied, placing a beer in front of Taiga. His dark hair covered one of his sharp eyes, while a mole occupied his shown cheek. A ring hung around his neck, mirroring the one about Taiga’s. His smile was kind, inviting, and even a bit commiserating. “Alex’s bark is loud, but it’s missing all its bite. I’m Tatsuya, by the way. Taiga’s brother. You must be Tetsuya.”
Tetsuya’s smile was small but there, warm and gentle as he accepted the offered hand. “Yes. Taiga speaks highly of you. Both of you.”
Tatsuya gave Taiga a sinister sideways glance before pulling a beer for Tetsuya as well. “Well, it’s all lies. My little brother was practically a saint growing up, so I had to be the bad one. And Alex was no role model – ALEX!”
Tetsuya’s eyes practically bugged out his head when Alex landed a forceful, assaulting kiss straight on his mouth, and the crowd cheered, hooting and hollering at the public display of affection. Taiga thought he’d died right then and there. Not only had he’d failed at his job – no one was allowed to touch Tetsuya without his permission – but his mother figure was making a move on his boyfriend.
“Hey! Hey! Hey!” A massive hand landed upon Alex’s shoulder and tore her away from Tetsuya. “You do not touch Tetsu. Got it!”
What the hell was Daiki doing here?
Once Daiki looked over Tetsu, minding the lipstick and assessing his charge was fine, he swung back to the bartender with a lazy smile. “And why would you want to, anyway? He’s practically a ghost. Kissing him would be like kissing snow – or a vanilla milkshake, which is just disgusting.”
Tetsu grabbed a napkin to wipe off his mouth. “Thank you for your honest response, Daiki-kun.”
“Eh,” Alex shrugged. “I’d say he’s about an eight.”
Taiga choked. Alex one time gave him a four.
Blinking, Taiga finally came to senses and screeched, “Aho! What the hell are you doing here?”
“I told you I was going to try to charm the bartender with the huge rack.” He motioned to Alex, who smiled smugly before yelling at Tatsuya to get back to work. “Why’d the hell you bring Tetsu here, huh?”
Daiki’s eyebrow furled in intense concentration, baiting, demanding, accusing.
Taiga flung a concerned glance at Tetsu, but Tetsu’s cool hand patted his own, to soothe and calm. He smiled gently at Aomine. “I asked Taiga-san to bring me to his family’s establishment. I did not realize you like older women, Daiki-san, especially Taiga-san’s mother.”
Daiki choked in mid-sip of Tetsu’s beer. “That’s Taiga’s mom! Bakagami, how did she give birth to you?”
“Shut up, Aho! Alex adopted Tatsuya and me when we were kids.”
Aomine blinked, eyes blown wide. “You shitting me? You got to look at that your entire life?”
Taiga pushed back from his stool, muscles tensing as he growled, “Aho, you are two seconds away from –”
“Hey, is that any way to speak to your future stepfather?”
Stepfather, his ass –
“Daiki-kun, did I hear that right?” Tetsu asked, and Taiga spied his boyfriend’s sinister little smile. He was up to something. “Did you just say you wanted to be reassigned to my brother’s detail?”
Daiki sobered instantly. “You wouldn’t, Tetsu. That’s just cruel.”
“Then have a good night, Daiki-kun. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Growling, Daiki downed the rest of his beer and slammed the necessary bills on the bar. “Y’know what, Bakagami? …I’ll pay you for any nudes you’ve got of – ”
If not for Tetsu’s fingers digging into his wrist, Taiga would have decked Daiki. “Get out of here before I get Atsushi to eject your sorry ass.”
“Hm. You sure you can’t get your ma to – ”
Taiga growled; Daiki lifted his hands in surrender before patting Tetsu on the head like the favorite little brother he was. “Hey, you need me, you call me, okay? Even buzzed, I’d protect you better than Bakagami over there.”
Taiga slammed down the beer and shouted at Daiki’s retreating back, “Hey! Hey! That’s so not true! I could protect Tetsuya better than you drunk – and I’ve got a higher tolerance!”
“Very mature, Taiga-kun.”
“Ah, hush you.”
“Come on, Tetsuya!” Tatsuya appeared just behind Tetsuya and snatched his wrist, dragging the startled Tetsuya off his stool and onto the dance floor.
Taiga reached out to snatch Tetsuya’s wrist as a picture of the prime minister’s son dancing with another man might be seen as scandalous, especially one as good-looking as Tatsuya. But Tatsuya sent him a warning glare – Let us have some fun, Tiger – and with Tetsuya’s weak presence, not many people would probably noticed him anyway.
Sighing, he pushed back onto his stool and rested an elbow onto the bar, content to watch the undeniably heart-warming sight of Tatsuya trying to get Tetsuya to sway to the beat. And with a beer in his hand and Alex muttering behind him, he thought this might be a perfect moment.
“You are a baka,” a vicious but familiar voice decreed, and just like that, the moment ended.
Taiga glanced to the side and immediately tensed. On the stool next to him leaned a lithe man with eyes as dark as an abyss and a devious smirk only criminals wore. A baseball cap pressed his dark bangs to the side of his cheeks, and his sweatshirt and jeans lent him the conspicuous appearance of an average bargoer.
But Taiga knew Hanamiya Makoto to be anything but.
“What are you doing here, Makoto?” Taiga grunted, throwing back another gulp of his beer. “You’re not working tonight.”
Makoto let out a sinister laugh as he glanced over his shoulder at the dancing Tetsuya and Tatsuya. “Heard from Yukio you were coming here. Thought you might be a bit over your head.”
Taiga narrowed his eyes as Makoto followed Tetsuya’s movements with an almost voyeur intensity, and like always, it unnerved Taiga. Despite being a conceited asshole who spoke down to Taiga, Makoto also loathed the Akashis. Why would he ever be assigned to protect them, Taiga always wondered.
Their paths didn’t cross too often since Makoto was usually assigned to Seijuro, and their shifts and the brothers’ schedules would have to correspond perfectly in order for Makoto and him to meet. When those few and far between times occurred, Taiga always made sure to be on hand. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Makoto to protect Seijuro and Tetsuya – okay, maybe it was – but Makoto’s sadistic glares and snide comments always left Taiga unnerved. The day he referred to Seijuro as the “the demon’s son,” though accurate in some ways, was the day Taiga made sure Tetsuya was never left alone with Makoto again.
“I’ve got this,” Taiga asserted, finishing his first and only beer of the night. “Go home.”
“So you can continue your date?”
Taiga didn’t flinch. He didn’t sputter. He just frowned at Makoto, watching as the bastard’s sadistic little smirk showed itself.
“Oh, I know all about you sneaking behind the prime minister’s back with his younger son, but don’t worry.” Makoto patted Taiga’s shoulder in a haughty manner. “I won’t tell the prime minister. I’d like to exploit this secret myself.”
Just like that, Taiga wanted to rip Makoto’s throat out, but he refrained. Though he wasn’t quite ready to have Tetsuya introduce him at the dinner table, he wasn’t ashamed of his relationship with the prime minister’s son. And if he got fired for it, then he’d just go back to being a firefighter.
“Do whatever you want, Makoto,” Taiga replied dryly. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Then you’re even more of a fool than I thought.” A vicious gleam shimmered in his eyes. “Yeah? What do you think will happen once Daddy finds out about you? Do you really think he’s going to allow you to continue dating his son? You’re a bartender’s kid. You’re beneath pedigree like him.”
Taiga’s fists flexed; his anger flared. “Don’t talk about Tetsuya like he’s a dog.”
Makoto shrugged. “Seriously. How long until Daddy says no and Tetsuya decides to cut you lose?”
“That’s none of your business,” Taiga snapped, wishing with all his might that Daiki was the one next to him. Dude was an ass but not an asshole like Makoto.
“Come on now.” Makoto’s voice carried in a mockingly sweet tone. “No need to get all defensive, especially if you have nothing to hide.”
Tetsuya laughed; the pure joy upon his boyfriend’s face was endearing.
“Ah. So that’s how it is,” Makoto muttered, sounding mad – perhaps even at himself. “You’ll have to be put down, too.”
“Put down?” Taiga fumed. “What the fuck are you talking about, Makoto?”
No one would ever touch, Tetsuya. Taiga would make sure of it.
Makoto finished his beer and heaved a melodramatic sigh. “People like us, Kagami, we don’t stand a chance against people like the Akashis. We’re nothing more than their playthings, movable pieces on a chess board called life. If we’re lucky, we’re the knights or the bishops. If we’re not – then we’re the pawns. Me?” He paid his tab and sent Tetsuya one last, lingering glower. “One day, I’m going to be the king.”
Taiga watched him weave through the bargoers before disappearing into the crowd altogether. A heavy pit settled in Taiga’s stomach, Makoto’s words finding purchase in Taiga’s fear. But as the crowd lessened and quieted, Taiga let the tension bleed from his shoulders and joined Tatsuya and Tetsuya in a corner booth, watching as a large man with purple hair moaned and mopped the floor.
“What do you see in him, Tatsuya?” Taiga whined, ankles crossed upon a table top. “He’s practically an overgrown child.”
Tatsuya swallowed another sip of his beer and glanced at Tetsuya. “I don’t know. Tetsuya, what do you see in my brother?”
“It’s not the same thing!”
“It’s totally the same thing.”
“He’s an idiot.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“You are, idiot.”
Tatsuya rolled his eyes, but a genuine smile lingered upon his face. Taiga relaxed and enjoyed the easy atmosphere, as well as the beautiful view. Tetsuya’s hair was skewed just so, his eyes wide and shimmering with confusion and delight. He currently stared at his half-drunken bottle like it was the most interesting thing in the world. He first lifted it up to the lights and then squinted, staring down the neck with one eye. Taiga bit his bottom lip to stop from laughing. His boyfriend was such a light weight.
“Hey, enough dawdling!” Alex chastised, coming to smack her two boys with a wet towel. “Out, the lot of you. Time to head home.”
“Dawdling?” Taiga mouthed to Tatsuya, who smiled in return.
Alex lunged for the half-plastered Tetsuya, lips locked and loaded, but Taiga intercepted her. “Hey, no more of that. I told you. Tetsuya and I dating.”
“I’m still skeptical. What does the prime minister’s son see in you?”
“His biceps,” Tetsuya giggled, hiccupping twice. “And his abs.” As if to emphasize, Tetsuya snatched Taiga’s shirt to reveal his sculpted abdomen. “Have you seen them?”
“All right!” Taiga’s cheeks flushed with heat. “You’re cut off.”
“But Tai-kun! I’m not done yet.” Those eyes glimmered with a mischievous glint, the bastard, and Tetsu dragged Taiga down in order to bury his fingers in Taiga’s hair. “No brush can combat Tai-kun’s unruly hair.”
As if he weighed nothing, Taiga scooped Tetsuya up, throwing him over his shoulder, beer bottle and all. “Say good night, Tetsuya.”
“I haven’t even started on your backside, Tai-kun.”
Taiga yelped at the stinging slap across his ass. “You jerk!”
Tetsuya giggled, loud and bubbly, and Taiga found himself sighing, unable to keep up the angered façade. Taiga loved Drunk Tetsuya. He was fun, playful, and affectionate.
After they said their good nights – and Alex assaulted Tetsuya with another kiss – Taiga wandered down the rundown streets of Asakusa toward the brighter lights of Shinjuku.
All the while, Tetsuya rambled, “Alex-san smelled nice. You smell nice, too, Tai-kun. Like wood and fire and ginger. Do you like ginger? I like vanilla.”
“Really, Tetsuya? You like vanilla? That’s news to me.”
“I like that place. It’s loud and busy, but that’s okay. You didn’t lose track of me.”
Like that would ever happen. He wasn’t Daiki, who one time lost Tetsu in his own room.
Tetsuya’s voice deepened and turned serious. “Thank you, Taiga-kun, for bringing me to meet your family.”
Taiga shrugged, jostling Tetsuya who still hung off his shoulder. “ ‘s okay. Only made sense, y’know? I know your dad.”
“My father pays you to protect me.”
“I’d do it for free.”
“Hm, really? The taxpayers of Japan will be happy to hear that.”
Tetsuya let out a swift howl, followed by a drunken giggle at the loud slap Taiga gave his backside. But even while giving his boyfriend a teasing spank, he remained alert, watching the shadows, the passersby, and the cars on the street. Makoto’s entire conversation made him more uneasy than usual, and he wasn’t even sure why. Makoto never outwardly threatened Tetsuya or the Akashis, but there was just something in his tone and diction that never settled right with Taiga. At least they didn’t have much farther to go to reach the Kantei, the official residence of the Prime Minister, and then Taiga could relax.
A thought popped into his mind, persistent and demanding.
“Hey, y’know, Alex and Tatsuya – if you ever needed a safe place, one completely off the grid, you could go to them.”
Tetsuya huffed and Taiga grunted when Tetsuya’s elbows dug into his back. "Tai-kun and my father are both delusional. As if anyone could ever see me to attack me. And they’ll most likely go after Aniki.”
“Well, let’s be honest,” Taiga laughed. “Most people would want to kill your brother, the ass – ow! Tetsuya!”
“Aniki is brilliant. It is not his fault the rest of Japan cannot handle his intensity.”
“You hid his violin for a whole month just because he locked your dog in a room.”
Tetsuya shrugged. “I do not know to what you are referring, Tai-kun. Aniki loses nothing.”
“Uh-huh. Right. Try that on someone who doesn’t know you.”
Once they finally entered the Kantei, Taiga navigated the halls with Tetsuya still thrown over his shoulder, and though Aida-san shook his head, he didn’t say a word. Taiga had always taken his duty to Tetsuya seriously, and he – as well as Daiki – sometimes took drastic measures to ensure Tetsuya’s safety, especially with their charge’s lack of presence
Taiga placed Tetsuya on the ground just outside his bedroom and fisted his hands in his boyfriend’s shirt to draw him close. “Hey, thanks for coming with me today. It-It meant a lot to me.”
“Hm.” Tetsuya’s tongue dragged across his lower lip in a seductive manner that Taiga did not need to see at one o’clock in the morning. “Tai-kun could show me his appreciation.”
Taiga inched closer, fitting Tetsuya’s smaller form against his larger one. “Yeah? How so?”
Maybe if they were quiet, they wouldn’t wake up the prime minister, and Taiga would get to keep his job. Yeah, that sounded like a good plan – until Tetsuya’s smile grew mischievous and he pushed up on his toes to whisper, “Tai-kun can run downstairs and get me a vanilla milkshake.”
Tetsuya pulled away then, slipping into his bedroom, and Taiga called after him, “You have to be freakin’ kidding me.”
“Milkshake, Tai-kun,” Tetsuya said, grabbing the helm of his shirt and tugging it over his head. “Then maybe sex.”
Growling, Taiga guessed he could put up with a little ribbing from his boyfriend-slash-charge, considering Tetsuya definitely kissed like an eight and looked like a fourteen. So he headed downstairs to the kitchen for a milkshake, only to return to find his boyfriend passed out on his bed, his shirt off and boxers and jeans still holding onto his backside lovingly. Nigou, Tetsuya’s vicious beast, was curled up next him, and the pup panted and smiled when Taiga approached.
Taiga sighed, then retreated to the closet for a blanket and a fresh shirt for Tetsuya. After all, Yukio would be waking them up tomorrow, not Ryouta, and if there was one thing Yukio knew, it was how to mind his own business.
Taiga’s thoughts wandered back to Makoto. If he happened to hug Tetsuya like a plushie that night, keeping him safe from the Hanamiya Makotos of the world, then Taiga was just doing his job.
*^*^*
More than a year passed with Tetsuya and Taiga sneaking from shadow to shadow, but eventually, a tabloid printed a picture of them kissing. Taiga worried that he would be fired the next day but instead just received the “protection” talk, which, y’know was kinda his job anyway, being a bodyguard and all.
Daiki gave Taiga the stinky eye, even going insofar as to ask Tetsuya why he had such terrible taste in men – after all, Ryouta was prettier and willing to jump Tetsuya with so much as a smile – but Tetsuya admitted that he had a thing for idiots with sculpted arms.
Taiga should have been offended, but he wasn’t. (After all, his arms weren’t the only part of him that was sculpted, and he knew Tetsuya liked those parts, too.)
Taiga grew complacent, enjoying Saturday nights out with his boyfriend, locking lips and holding hands in public, not worrying about what anyone thought. He invited Tetsuya to his apartment, and he took double shifts, so they could lounge around in bed the next morning. He woke up to scent of fresh coffee and smoky bacon, and when they were in the Kantei, Taiga took great pleasure in opening the door, wearing nothing but his briefs, when Daiki arrived for his shift.
He began to plan and think of things he shouldn’t – like rings and houses and kids. But as Tetsuya’s graduation from university approached, Taiga found himself called before the prime minister, in his official place of business.
Even as a protector of the family for more than four years, Taiga found meetings in the prime minister’s office intimidating.
“My son is going to be a great politician one day,” the prime minister explained, eyes sharp, voice stern and condemning. “After he graduates, he will head into a master’s program to study political science and economics.”
Like Seijuro? No way. “Sir, Tetsuya wishes to be a kindergarten teacher. I believe his program of study is elementary education.”
“He is mistaken. Soon, he will see all the good he can do for Japan and decide to follow in my footsteps.”
Like Seijuro? No way. “Sir, is there a reason you called me here? Because I don’t think I can convince your son to forgo his dreams for – ”
“I do not need your assistance in convincing Tetsuya this is his future,” the prime minister snapped, opening a folder on his desk and skimming it as he spoke. “I need your assistance in doing what is right for Tetsuya as he will need someone by his side who is gifted in tact and presence.”
Taiga would be the first to admit – he wasn’t always the quickest person in the room. “Like an advisor?”
The prime minister met Taiga’s eyes now, his glare cold and ruthless. “Like a partner.”
Taiga’s blood froze in his veins.
“I appreciate all you have done for Tetsuya, Kagami-kun. I truly do. I can see the progress you have made in him – the confidence, the poise, the stronger presence. But ultimately, you will only hold him back. A bodyguard is not a worthy partner for a future Diet member.”
Wow. Taiga’s mouth opened, slightly agape, shock sweeping through his body and numbing his thoughts. Two swift knocks sounded on the door behind him, and the prime minister stood to accept his jacket from his assistant.
“I know this must be difficult for you to accept, but I have no doubt you will. Until then, I’ve asked Aida-san to reassign you to Seijuro’s duty. As always, thank you for your service to my family and Japan, Kagami-kun. You are an asset to our nation and one of its finest citizens.”
And the prime minister was gone, leaving Taiga standing in the middle of the empty office. Hands loose at his thighs, eyes stinging with fresh tears, he wondered what the hell just happened. Had he been dumped by his boyfriend’s father? But – But Tetsuya wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. There was no way he would enter into the world of politics. The prime minister had to be wrong…right?
“He’s wrong,” Tetsuya fumed in one of the few times Taiga had ever seen his boyfriend – ex-boyfriend? – furious. “He has no right to say such things to Taiga-kun. I am not going to follow in his footsteps. I am going to be a teacher.”
Despite every fiber of his being screaming at him to stop, Taiga forced himself to say, “He’s not wrong.”
“He is,” Tetsuya hissed, hands clenching his bedspread. “I am not going to study political science. Aniki will be our father’s heir, and you and I will – ”
“I will watch your brother achieve your father’s dreams from his side.” Taiga’s shoulders slumped as he refused to meet Tetsuya’s eyes. He briefly wondered what he’d see if he did – hurt, betrayal, resignation. “I’ve been reassigned to his detail. I’m supposed to check in with Reo tomorrow morning.”
“No!” Tetsuya’s cool hands slipped into Taiga’s and squeezed. “I will speak to my father, Taiga-kun. He doesn’t understand – ”
“Maybe it’s you who doesn’t understand, Tetsuya.” Taiga hated himself, hated that he even thought this way. “You need to do what’s best for you.”
The cold tone in Tetsuya’s usually blank voice drew Taiga’s eyes. “Perhaps Kagami-san should trust me to know what that is.”
Kagami-san, not Taiga-kun.
“What if you decide one day you want to be an elected official and find out you can’t because of – of – ” …me.
“That won’t happen.”
“Yes, because I won’t let it.”
Taiga expected more. He expected bitter words neither would be able to take back. He expected that fury he saw burning in Tetsuya’s eyes to erupt into a vicious, vindictive spew that would leave Taiga utterly destroyed and begging Tetsuya to take him back, though he knew he could never be worthy of one of Japan’s favorite sons.
Instead, Tetsuya dropped his arms in a tired, distraught manner, and turn his back to Taiga. “I…would appreciate it if Kagami-san left now. I believe he has said what he came to say.”
Taiga blinked, taken back by the outwardly calm demeanor, but perhaps he shouldn’t have been. Tetsuya kept his emotions tightly reigned at all times, but Taiga wanted Tetsuya yell. He wanted Tetsuya to show some emotion other than the monotoned pitch of his voice, dull and flat and tired.
“Tetsuya, listen – ”
“You are dismissed, Kagami-san. Your services are not required anymore this evening.”
Fine. All right. If that was the way Tetsuya wanted to play it – Taiga spun on his heel and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him. He leaned back against it, ignoring the questioning looks from Yukio and Hayakawa, and let his shoulders tremble and his eyes burn.
He stayed there for a long time, unbeknownst that on the other side of the door, Tetsuya did the same.
To Be Concluded...