Setting: Late Showa Japan (~1970s-1980s)
Characters: Agni, Sebastian, Tanaka, Ciel
Tags: Established Relationship, Modern AU, 1980s AU, Sickfic, Disabled Agni, Yokai Sebastian, Supernatural Mystery, Slice of Life
The premise: Sebastian is a yokai, but he’s kept this hidden. He first met agni 10 years ago, halfway across the world from Japan. Agni was the first human since Ciel to show Sebastian kindness, so he hung around, eventually showing up in human form.
One stormy day, Agni’s cafe is empty, and he’s contemplating closing early when an absolutely drowned and dripping Sebastian shows up at his door. Not wanting him to catch his death, Agni insists on closing the shop and bringing Sebastian upstairs to his apartment to dry off and warm up.
However, Sebastian back then was not accustomed to humans or how they lived and was baffled why Agni wanted him to shower and get wet *again*, which made Agni laugh and insist that he at least warm up and change while he makes some soup and tea.
And they ended up spending the day together, as friends, and from there, eventually lovers… but Agni has a chronic illness, something he’s had his whole life, and one day he’s hit with such severe pain they end up in the hospital. He’s OK for now, but the scare means he has an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which is basically a dilation/thinning/tearing of the walls of the abdominal aorta that takes blood from your heart to your lower body.
The doctors explain that they can’t say when or where, but it will burst and he will die, and all they can do is keep his blood pressure and heart rate under control, and his stress low, to try and extend his life as long as possible.
It’s an enormous blow, although Agni knew his heart would probably be what killed him eventually, he had hoped he’d have more time.
He tells Sebastian that he’ll accept the offer for the cafe he’d been considering… Bc he knew he’d have to retire soon; he already is struggling with the pain of standing for long periods, and waking early is becoming harder and harder as his fatigue grows worse and his pain interrupts his sleep. He’s trying to put on a brave face. He realizes he’ll have to find a new place to live, too, and wonders if maybe it’s time to move on.
To his shock, rather than suggesting they break up, Sebastian says he was planning to find a new place (he’d been living in a room he rented from a very sweet cat lady he did cat sitting for), and suggests they find somewhere they can live together… Eventually, Seb takes him to Japan, where he’s found a doctor who claims he can extend Agni’s life and give him better treatment.
The story is focused on their time in Japan, as Agni feels the ever present touch of death and his growing isolation from the world and his lover… and a mysterious figure, a neighbor named Tanaka, seems to be ready to help Agni, and yet….
What Agni does not know is that Sebastian is willing to give up his immortality, his very life, to save Agni, bc he lost the human he loved once, Ciel, many years ago. And he’s vowed he’d never let anything like that happen again.
So that’s the gist of the story!!! I hope someone is interested bc there’s a lot more going on ofc…. like the fact that Seb can dispel curses (and curse people too). It takes place during summer, so we’ll see Tanabata and Obon play roles in the story…
Agni is extremely tall with long limbs that give him a “freakish” look to many people, so he’s used to being stared at— but Sebastian is the first one who stared but seemingly with only a childlike curiosity and no judgment to malice…
And as a demon, Sebastian is used to being reviled and chased from place to place. Agni is one of the only ones who showed him genuine kindness in both his animal and human forms… and enabled him to experience a kind of love he had never known.
I’d love to hear from you if this story intrigues you!!!
@lotus-ignis @moonlithaze