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It starts like any other bad decisions that Akira has made in his life—in a bar with one too many drinks. In his defense, Akira has thought this through. He brought Seraph along for that purpose, in case Akira ever succumbed to his loneliness and end up trying to hook up with someone less than a month before breaking up with his boyfriend.
“God, I hate couples.”
He doesn’t, he craves for the connection that they have. At least, the ones that don’t look like they’re secretly cheating on each other. For example, Akira’s ex who somehow also here with a familiar face, some young guy that had tucked his hair and blushed when he spoke to them for the first time and Akira had been so stupid to not realise his boyfriend at the time grinning wolfishly in return. He was an asshole, Akira isn’t hung up on him. If anything Akira was glad to have a reason to break up, but it doesn’t make his heart hurt any less.
He thinks Seraph noticed him too, glancing over behind them once and since then he’s been all over Akira like he’s trying to cheer him up. Seraph is cute in that way, straight as he is. He doesn’t get it. Akira downs another drink, Seraph taps his lower back as a small reminder to slow down, then he rests his hand there, humming in thought.
“I could pretend to be your boyfriend.”
“… Why would you?”
“To make him jealous?”
“Horrible idea,” Akira decides. Seraph looks too straight to pull it off, anything he does will end up looking platonic. Not to mention that his whole… aura, whatever, they all just make him look unattainable.
His ex stands up then, and Akira’s pulling Seraph closer by his arm, all pride thrown out the window to make them look like they came here together. For someone who suggested the idea in the first place, Seraph laughs too hard to be serious for once in his fucking life.
He’s leaning over into Akira’s space to continue giggling by his ear and Akira’s flushed red, and he’s still clawing Seraph’s arm because his ex looks over to them and gives him an awkward smile of acknowledgment.
“Stop laughing,” Akira hisses, his ears are burning from Seraph’s heat. “He’s staring.”
Seraph only chuckles some more, he seems to enjoy Akira’s suffering. But then he slings a heavy arm over his shoulders. “Hm? Then what do you want me to do, kiss you?”
Akira immediately recognises that as a joke. So he scoffs and tells Seraph to fuck off. He would shrug Seraph’s arm off his shoulders too but the guy is still peering behind to look at them every once in a while and objectively being all lovey dovey with Seraph would look like he won. Because being able to bag someone like Seraph would be a lot.
Seraph isn’t even putting his weight on Akira but even just the deadweight of his arm feels heavy on his shoulders. “You want me to go up to him?”
“Huh?”
“Y’know, spook him a little. I’ll go ‘is this guy bothering you babe?’ and he’ll stop looking at you.”
“Awful idea,” Akira decides again. He said the same thing about the pretend boyfriend thing just now before following through it, but this is just too much.
“We’ll go show off in front of his face since he keeps staring,” Seraph reasons. “I think he wants to talk to you.”
“Listen, if we start this thing then we’d have to commit to it. Which we can’t, then it’d be embarrassing once he finds out.”
“He won’t find out,” Seraph says. It’s not like him to be so weirdly confident with stupid ideas. Maybe he’s had too much to drink after all. But Seraph doesn’t get drunk, his body is built different or something. “I’m already taking you home after drinking, anyway. I doubt it’s any different.”
“I can tell you the many ways it could go differently.”
Heave-ho, Seraph goes, not really struggling to pull Akira up to his feet. “Not really the time to be go all tsun on me, Nagi-chan.”
Akira punches his arm in retaliation because for someone who has an image of a good boy, Seraph doesn’t listen. And Akira is mostly afraid because he kind of… likes it.
“Nagi-chan,” Seraph whines, a clear pout in his voice. “You’re hurting me.” See, that’s a lie. That’s Seraph being annoying on purpose because nothing could hurt him. He’s indestructible, all tall and wide. Someone like Akira wouldn’t be able to physically dent him in any way. He’s like a gorilla, or a cockroach, in that sense.
Akira bites his lips. He’s so unfair.
(Seraph doesn’t actually end up picking a fight with that guy, instead he pulls Akira to a dark corner to whisper to him that his ex is still staring like a creep, ‘did you date a perv, Nagi-chan?’ then takes him home after a minute of them giggling in each other’s space. He said that should be enough to show him—what, Akira still doesn’t know.)
Somehow playing pretend boyfriend keeps going even after that one night. At least, it feels like it. Because Seraph is terrible. He’s a total sadist. He links their hands together and announces to the rest of Volta that they’re together and Hibari laughs so hard he starts sobbing. Kanato looks more convinced, if the worry in his eyes were any indicator.
Akira would rather be outright bullied than played around unintentionally. Because now Hibari’s also into this ‘pretend boyfriend’ thing, Akira helpfully explained, and said they should celebrate their lovely relationship. Seraph suggested the amusement park but Hibari said it wasn’t romantic, Akira assumes he already had somewhere he wanted to go even before this announcement of theirs.
Seraph plays along, not flushing a single time whenever Hibari calls him Mr. Boyfriend and Kanato gives the two of them an awkward pat on the back. Poor guy. Akira could make this enjoyable for himself as well by turning it into a game to ensure it’s an awful experience for Kanato, but it feels so much more humiliating to try when the stupidly sweet actions that Seraph do actually gets his cheeks red.
He’d have to duck his head when Seraph would peer and try to look at his face too closely, asking him sweetly, ‘Nagi-chan, are you sick?’ or ‘Is the sun too hot? I’ll cover you with my shadow‘. Akira will become sick from the concern instead. Maybe scream like he’s getting assaulted when Seraph tries to push his bangs back to get a better look at his face.
“I’m fine,” Akira bites out, hoping it sounds more annoyed than embarrassed. A small blessing that Akira thank the Gods for is the fact that Kanato and Hibari have taken to tussling each other on the sand, each having too many cans of beer during their impromptu trip to the beach that evening. That at least serves as a distraction from a shirtless Seraph sitting so close to him.
Seraph is unusually handsy today. Usually Akira’s the touchy one between the two of them. To say that it’s because Seraph is a bit tipsy would be a lie, because, again, alcohol barely affects him the same way his body is able to nullify everything else. Even poison wouldn’t be able to take him down, Akira thinks. A shot to his head and he’d still be able to smile until his eyes crescent. So Akira can’t seem to make up any excuses as to why Seraph is staring at him so intensely, almost as if he wants to kiss him.
That’d be a funny joke. Seraph is cruel in that way, anyway. He’d pull back after brushing their lips and huffs a laugh while going, ‘Did I make you blush, Nagi-chan?’ and Akira would step on his toes in retaliation (and Seraph wouldn’t flinch).
They pair off the way they always did, but it feels different now when Seraph follows him to the shower, it’s outside but more secluded from the public that Akira’s getting nervous when earlier all he wanted to do was wash the sand off his buttcrack. They wash off in silence, tension feeling thicker in comparison back when they had the other two’s loud laughter as a distraction. Akira can tell Seraph was going to touch his bare shoulder before he actually does, they already turned off the shower and Seraph’s bangs stick to his forehead when Akira turns to look.
They’ve opened the lights outside, sun already dimming but Seraph is still shining so brightly. He wonders if it’s still them playing pretend when he feels Seraph’s forehead against his, and Akira doesn’t want to pull away. He stays to see what Seraph has in store, wants to see how much further Seraph is planning to push this.
Seraph’s hands are so big, cradling Akira’s face gently, angling him up to meet his mouth. And he’s so warm, warm enough that Akira can feel the heat despite his own burning face. His lips are soft and gentle against Akira’s and of course Seraph, tall and talented at cooking, violin, sports, everything imaginable, would be a good kisser as well. Of fucking course he’d slide a hand down Akira’s jaw, his palm warm and so, so big, settles at the side of his neck, fingers loosely wrapped around it, and his thumb rests at the underside of Akira’s jaw.
The warm heat of Seraph’s hand lazily resting around his neck makes it a little harder to breathe. He wonders if Seraph would tighten his hold just a little. Seraph pulls away and for a split second Akira’s heart stopped thinking Seraph also somehow gained psychic powers and could read his thoughts.
But the heat of Seraph’s breath moves down and Akira’s breath hitches when he feels a small nip at his throat.
“That’s—“ Akira sucks in a sharp breath at another scrape of teeth. “Shit.”
“This okay?” Seraph murmurs into his skin. “I promise I won’t leave marks where you can’t hide.”
Akira doesn’t say anything and Seraph peers up, going, ‘Nagi-chan, talk to me,’ until Akira has to force a little nod and a strained, ‘Yeah,’ to get Seraph to stop pouting.
He’s just so evil.
Seraph knows Akira doesn’t mind getting bullied a little. But this is just torture. Being constantly asked is embarrassing. Having to admit that yes, Seraph can be a little rough, a little mean. That Akira won’t know what he likes at the moment until Seraph surprises him first with a kiss, or a lift until his feet doesn’t touch the ground, or a bite that gets Akira to gasp and push at Seraph’s chest, because it felt so good he’s surprised with his own reaction to it.
Seraph pulls Akira closer, almost completely pinning his weight against the wall and he makes it look so easy and effortless while Akira makes a small noise, pitched a tad bit too high for an action so simple to Seraph.
Ah. Embarrassing, embarrassing.
“Nagi-chan, you’re all red,” Seraph laughs softly, thumb wiping the spit he didn’t realise that on his lower lip. “You liked it that much?”
It’s questions like these that make Seraph sound so cruel. Putting Akira on the spot like it’s a game to him, some humiliation play that Akira never agreed to join in. And Akira likes it.
“It’s okay, you can be honest.” Seraph grins cheekily. Thinks he’s so smooth. Maybe he is, but Akira isn’t giving him the satisfaction of knowing that.
So Akira hides his face, the only way he knows how to respond to Seraph these days.
“I won’t know unless you tell me, y’know?” Seraph pouts.
“Just,” Akira groans. He’s so embarrassed he could die. Why can’t Seraph just take the hint? “Just do whatever you want with me.”
Seraph laughs then, in the soft boyish way he is. “That’s a little too honest, Nagi-chan.”
“Oh God,” Akira says, he’s seething. “You’re ridiculous.” Perfect. Amazing. Too good to be true.
“Mhm, you like it though.”
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