Here's a set for the build-a-fic prompts for you to see if you can work with. <3 ✮ QUOTE: i should've kissed you when i had the chance. ✮ FEELING: longing ✮ TROPE: confessions at 2am
(For any pairing you'd like.)
Okay so first of all thank you for giving me this prompt. <3
Second this was a little bit of a struggle. I came up with an idea, wrote about 1300 words for it, was unhappy with how it was turning out, scraped the entire thing, started from the beginning and wrote an entire new fic today.
I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I don't have much experience writing fics and I haven't found a good way to write the characters yet, but I asked for prompts to learn and try out a few things and I think I was successful in that.
But enough yapping for now, hope you enjoy this fic.
(Oh and parts of it turned out quite angsty because I couldn't help myself :))
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All he could feel was a cold numbness in his chest. The video on his phone was playing on repeat and he stopped counting how many times he's already seen Akai Shuuichi die.
Gin must've felt really good when he sent this video to Bourbon. That bastard, after he took Hiro from him, Gin also managed to get Akai killed.
As if Rei hadn't already lost enough people in his life. At this point it was getting harder and harder to tell himself that he was doing all of this for his country. That it was worth it and that he was doing important work.
It didn't feel like it anymore. He felt stuck. Getting even remotely close to the boss of the syndicate seemed impossible and all he did was let Vermouth play with him and get people killed.
Being alone was nothing new for Rei, but he hadn't felt this lonely since before he met Hiro. He talked to Akai just a few weeks ago. Scolding him for being back in Japan and asking him to please stay safe. It was the first time he'd seen or spoken to Akai in two years and apparently it was also the last.
Rei closed his eyes, thinking back to the time when they were just Rye, Bourbon and Scotch. Those seemed like easier and happier times compared to now. Even though they were all undercover in a dangerous syndicate.
~
Rei was not happy when Hiro suggested that another syndicate member should move in with them. Hiro seemed to like him, he was a fellow sniper and they worked regularly on missions together. Still he was a dangerous criminal and inviting someone like that into their home was extremely risky.
But Hiro insisted and eventually he won. So one night there was a tall handsome man with intense green eyes; a serious face and long black hair standing in front of him. Rei didn't intend to be nice to him and he wasn't but Rye apparently didn't mind. That annoying bastard just smiled at him no matter what insults Rei threw his way, it was infuriating.
After the three of them had been sent on a couple of missions together Rei could at least acknowledge that Rye was not only very skilled, but he also wasn't outright cruel like so many other syndicate members. It made him warm up a bit towards the other man.
When cooking dinner for them Rye usually sat at the table and watched Rei. When Rei made a snide remark, Rye shot right back with a smile on his face. When Rei was in a bad mood Rye would notice and silently make him a cup of tea. (After butchering his first attempt at making tea so bad, Rei showed him how to properly do it. Rye hadn't fumbled making a cup of tea ever since.) When Rei had the urge to talk about anything Rye would always listen without complaint.
Rei tried to ignore the way his heartbeat quickened when he talked to Rye. He was on a mission he had important work to do, he couldn't develop feelings for a criminal. Worst of all, those developing feelings didn't seem to be one-sided. When Hiro tried to talk to him about it Rei dismissed him.
They never actually did anything more than flirting. Rei would've never allowed it, no matter his feelings. Then one day two years ago he got a message from Vermouth. Rye was a traitor, his real name is Akai Shuuichi and he is with the FBI. Bourbon was to catch him and bring him in before Akai leaves the country.
He found Rye, no Akai. Of course he did, by this point he knew him well enough to predict where Akai would be hiding and which way he intended to leave the country. It was in one of Tokyo's dark alleys where he caught him.
“Don't move.” Rei said, his gun pointed at the back of Akai's head. “I figured you would find me Bourbon. I'd rather you kill me now than bring me in to get questioned and tortured by Gin.” Rei exhaled slowly and then lowered his weapon. “I don't intend to kill you and I also don't intend to hand you over to Gin.”
This made Akai turn around and give him a surprised look. “What?” “You should take a train to Nagoya and fly from there. You'll have a better chance of escaping them from there.” Rei said while looking him into his eyes trying to keep his expression neutral.
“Why are you helping me?” Akai asked, the surprise clearly audible in his voice. “Stop asking stupid questions and go before I decide otherwise.” But instead of going Akai Shuuichi pinned him to the wall, their faces were extremely close and Rei could feel his breath against his skin.
His heart rate started to quicken, his eyes were wide open and his breath hitched. Those green eyes were intensely staring at him. For what felt like several minutes nobody moved or made a sound. Until Rei broke the spell by turning away. “You should really go, I'm not the only one looking for you.”
After a few more seconds of looking at him, Akai nodded and went. Closing his eyes Rei tried to get his breathing and heart rate under control. He stood in the dark for several more minutes before taking his phone out and texting Vermouth that he hasn't found Akai yet.
An angry Gin in an abandoned warehouse told him that Akai successfully made his escape. They were here for a different mission, but the hostility from Gin towards him had increased significantly. Thankfully Gin couldn't just kill him like that. Being Vermouth's favourite had some significant advantages.
Three months after Rye got exposed as a traitor both Bourbon and Scotch were summoned by Gin. Allegedly for a new mission, but something seemed off. Thinking back to this moment, Rei wished he had told Hiro about the uneasy feeling he had because it would turn out to be one of the worst days of his life.
As soon as they entered the warehouse a shot rang out and with a loud thud Hiro dropped to the floor next to him. Hiro's face was turned to the side, the eyes open and empty. He was dead. Realising immediately what was happening Rei told himself to breathe, not to panic and not to show any signs of distress.
Emerging from the dark Gin was holding the gun he just fired, a sadistic grin on his face. “He was a traitor just like Rye, did you know that?” “Obviously I didn't.” Rei answered, demanding his voice to stay calm. He knew Gin was trying to get a reaction out of him, trying to make Rei reveal himself as another traitor. He would not give Gin the satisfaction of catching him as well.
Gin was clearly unhappy about Bourbon's lack of reaction. A buzzing sound interrupted the silence and Gin made an unhappy face when he checked his phone. “Clean this mess up, I have better things to do.” And with that he left the warehouse.
Rei waited several more minutes before he finally allowed himself to kneel down in front of Hiro. He couldn't allow himself to break down now, so he just sat there looking at how his best friend's body was growing cold. It took him more than an hour before he could move again. Rei called Kazami and asked him to collect and bury Hiro's body.
As soon as he closed the door to his apartment behind him Rei's legs gave out. His whole body started to shake and he felt like he couldn't breathe anymore. Hiro was dead, just like that. One moment he was standing next to him and not even a second later he was just dead. His mind still couldn't quite process what happened.
Rei lost any sense of time; he didn't know how long he sat in his apartment. It could've been minutes or days, all he could hear was his ragged breathing. His mind was blank and there were silent tears rolling down his cheeks.
Only a couple of days later he learned from Kazami that there was a mole in the PSB who leaked Hiro's information. His superiors called it lucky that this was the only information that got leaked. This sentiment made Rei angry. The mole disappeared before he was caught, but a few weeks later he was found dead. The local police determined it to be an accident.
After Hiro's death Rei clung to the idea that he had to continue, that his job was important, that he would do everything to take down Gin and he also clung to the idea that he was not fighting alone. Akai may not be undercover anymore, but surely he would still work on destroying the syndicate. He had to believe in that, otherwise he didn't think he would've survived the months after his best friend got killed.
~
Two years after Akai Shuuichi left Japan he was back. Rei only learned about that when he found a message in his mailbox. At first glance it looked like a normal flyer from a local restaurant, but taking a closer look revealed that there was actually a code hidden in the text. Deciphering the code was easy enough and it revealed a set of coordinates, a date and a time.
It was midnight when Rei entered the park, he could already see a tall figure standing beneath one of the lanterns. “I wasn't sure you would come.” Akai said as soon as he noticed Rei approaching him. Standing in front of Akai after two years apart made his heart skip a beat. “You shouldn't be here, it's too dangerous. Gin still wants nothing more than your head.”
He could see Akai's expression soften. “I know, but I made it my mission to hunt them down and I'm not giving up on that. I… I also heard what happened to Scotch, I'm so sorry I know you two were close.” Rei closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His voice sounded rough when he answered: “We were. He was my best friend. If I could, I would've killed Gin a thousand times for this already.”
Akai nodded and pulled Rei into a hug. Rei didn't even remember the last time he received a hug, his body went stiff for a moment before he melted into it. They stood there like that for several more minutes until Rei broke free and looked away. “Just… don't get yourself killed.” Akai nodded before answering: “I won't, I will not rest until each and everyone of them is either dead or in jail.”
After hesitating for a moment Akai lifted his hands and cupped his cheeks. His face was once again very close to Rei's. It looked like his eyes were asking for permission to kiss him. Even after years of not seeing each other and meeting in a syndicate with lots of lies between them, Rei's feelings for him haven't subsided.
But he couldn't give him his permission. Not yet, not when the syndicate was still active and doing well. If he took this step now, it would mean that there would be another person in his life he couldn't bear to lose. So he took Akai's hands and took them off his cheeks. “Do it when the syndicate falls and we both survive it.” “Alright.”
They parted ways shortly after. Rei was a bit surprised that Akai put so much trust into him. Yes he helped him escape after his cover was blown, yes they obviously both had feelings for each other, but he hasn't actually told him that he was a NOC as well and Akai also didn't even know his real name.
~
Opening his eyes again, Rei finally closed the video of Akai getting shot by Kir. Trying to concentrate on his breathing he just sat there in the darkness for another hour or so.
Ever since Akai's death everything in him just felt numb. He was going through the motions of his day job as a server and his night job of meeting Vermouth and collecting information for her. He tried to avoid sleeping, not wanting to dream of both Hiro and Akai getting shot over and over again.
It's been five days since Akai Shuuichi was killed and Rei found himself bleeding out at a construction site with no one around and a destroyed phone at 2 am. He was supposed to gather some information from another criminal organisation for Gin, but it was a trap. Somebody alerted them that he was there. Fighting off several armed men was too much for his sleep deprived body.
He barely escaped them and was able to hide long enough until they eventually gave up. Unfortunately they managed to severely wound him and with no help around he was sure to just bleed out in about an hour.
Out of all the ways he could've gone out this one was the worst. He couldn't contact Kazami to give him every last piece of information he had on the syndicate; he wouldn't die fighting the syndicate itself and he would go out all alone.
Rei must've started hallucinating from the blood loss because he could swear there was someone kneeling next to him putting pressure on his wound. “Don't move and try to stay awake.” A painfully familiar voice said. Rei closed his eyes and opened them again, but the hallucination didn't go away. The man with the familiar green eyes and his signature knit cap was still next to him.
How cruel of his brain to make up Akai being alive and talking to him in his final moments. He didn't know what made him say it but his mouth was faster than his brain when he whispered: “I should've kissed you when I had the chance.”
Rei heard a breath hitch next to him. “Please save your breath.” His hallucination answered. “I love you and I'm not letting you die here.” Fate was so cruel, these were the last words he heard before Rei fell unconscious.
To his own surprise Rei woke up in a bed and not in some kind of afterlife. He had trouble opening his eyes and his whole body ached, but he was alive, somehow. He could hear some movement next to him and with enough effort he was able to open his eyes a bit. “You're awake.” The person next to him said.
Rei's sight was still a bit blurry but he recognised the voice immediately. “Am I still hallucinating?” He croaked. A quiet snort escaped Akai's mouth. “No you're not. You're alive and I'm alive. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier.”
A couple days later Rei was well enough to be able to sit up. Akai told him what happened. He told him about the trick they used to fake his death and how he kept an eye on Rei and was able to find him at the construction site.
“Do you remember what you said to me before you fell unconscious?” Akai asked. Rei's face grew hot. Yes he remembered and he blamed his words on the blood loss. “You said you would only allow me to kiss you after the syndicate fell, do you still feel that way?”
Rei didn't answer immediately. Thinking about it, he said it because he thought that would make Akai one of the people he couldn't bear to lose. But he realized now that Akai had been someone he didn't want to lose long before he ever said that. “I don't, but…” He was cut off by Akai cupping his face.
Before their lips met Rei said: “Furuya Rei.” Akai blinked in surprise. “What?” “My name, I thought you should know that before you kiss me.” A smile formed on Akai's mouth. “Ah, nice to meet you Rei-kun.” And with that their lips met and Akai pulled him into a slow and tender kiss.
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