Archive of Our Own

Giyuu couldn’t believe how much warmer it was in Tuscany compared to Lombardy. Earlier in the day, he left his little apartment in Milan with a spring jacket, and now, in the late afternoon, after driving for five hours in a rented Fiat, he was sitting in a garden with a glass of wine courtesy of the landlady that was renting her villa.

He wasn’t much of a conversationalist, especially since he was here on a work visa and knew a little Italian (although he got by just fine with English), but the older woman with plump rosy cheeks and a flowery dress had insisted that he sit with her in the garden adjacent to the property, wanting to get to know him better.

Actually, in her words it was: get to know a handsome Japanese man better.

She enjoyed the company of foreigners and welcomed their differences. She also took the opportunity to broadcast her pride in the extensive gardens she maintained: from flowers to tomatoes, vegetables, and herbs. She was especially glad for the opportunity to talk about her children, who were attending school in Florence for dentistry and language arts.

The entrance to the garden was marked by a stone arch that was supported by two columns. Stone benches made in antiquity were almost as smooth as marble, weathered by centuries of rain and the oils of people’s skin. Vines and branches of flowers were slowly creeping along the edges of the ancient furniture, likely needing to be trimmed soon. 

They talked idly about nothing, and despite its awkwardness, the atmosphere felt nice. Plus, she was so chatty and full of smiles that it was hard for Giyuu to feel alienated. Even with two bastardized languages between them, they still laughed and had decent conversation.

The experience of just being there was surreal in itself. A glass of Italian wine and watching the Tuscan sun descend closer to the foothills on the horizon was something that most people saw only on the internet. The photos didn’t do it justice— not even close. 

For the first time in a very long time, Giyuu found tranquilly in the moment. The balmy evening air was warm against his neck and the taste of merlot was tart on his tongue.

“Ah, scusi—“ the woman placed her hand on his shoulder to interrupt him talking about his job in Milan. Her attention was abruptly stolen by someone riding down the road on their bike. Giyuu could see the person from where they sat on top of a hill.

“Tanjirou! C'è qualcuno qui che devi incontrare!” She shouted out to him. 

Giyuu’s limited Italian allowed him to, at the very least, understand that she was asking for the young man to come over here. 

“Chi?” Who? The stranger yelled back to her.

“Vieni, vieni!” Come, come! She gestured insistently as she waved her arm. The young stranger laughed and rode his bike up the side road that lead to the estate. Giyuu made the assumption that the landlady must know this guy well enough to invite him up.

Within a few minutes, the stranger was walking his bike up to the garden, which was exactly the moment Giyuu realized that the stranger looked to be of asian decent. Not only that but he looked to be barely eighteen— definitely younger than Giyuu, who just had his twenty-seventh birthday a couple months prior. 

The boy had wrapped his arms around the landlady to greet her, speaking in fluent Italian and clearly familiar with her. 

Over the years, Giyuu learned how to suppress the uneasiness of greeting someone for the first time, so when the landlady brought the stranger over to introduce them, Giyuu stood and extended his hand with practiced ease. 

“Lui è giapponese.” He is Japanese. That was what she said.

The stranger’s eyes lit up as they turned to Giyuu, snatching his hand up with both of his.

“You’re from Japan?” Tanjirou asked in Giyuu’s native language.

Giyuu couldn’t help but noticed that the boy's eyes were the most beautiful color of rosé. He also had gorgeous sun-kissed skin and short, burgundy-tinted hair.

“Yes,” Giyuu replied in Japanese. 

“Awesome! It’s been so long since I’ve spoken Japanese! I’m from there too, you know!” Tanjirou quickly pulled out a chair to the metal table Giyuu was sitting at, not waiting for an invitation to drag the heavy stilts through the dry dirt. At that point, the landlady decided to excuse herself, leaving two to chat alone.

“Ah. I’m Giyuu,” he introduced himself, not really knowing how else to respond to the sudden burst of energy. 

“I’m Tanjirou. Nice to meet you,” Tanjirou replied with an easy smile.

If Giyuu hadn’t been endeared by his charming appearance, he would have been by the energy spoken in a familiar language. Tanjirou made himself comfortable and folded his arms against the back of the metal chair, uncaring that his legs were spread around the back. He looked and sounded Japanese, yet his mannerisms were entirely Western. Plus, judging by the olive-tint of his skin, it seemed as though Tanjirou had spent a lot of time under the Mediterranean sun. Giyuu could tell by the tan-line on his thighs. 

“What brings you to Italy?” Tanjirou asked. 

“The company I work for recommended me to do guest lectures at the university of Milan. I teach classes in international business. The class is entirely in English though.”

Tanjirou’s eyes sparkled with fascination.

“Wow! You’re a businessman? With a suit and tie and cappuccino at 7am? What are you doing here then?” he asked excitedly. By here, it was obvious that Tanjirou meant the outskirts of Florence.

“There aren’t any classes during Easter,” Giyuu explained.

“Ah. Right. Classes are out now, aren’t they? You know, Easter is really fun here! I really like it. I love the big dinners and the picnics, especially by the canal. It gets very warm here around this time. And no one is working. Everyone takes their family outside. Oh, and we play music! Sometimes, if there’s a football game on, someone will invite us all over to watch it in their home."

Giyuu smiled, charmed by the boy’s sparkling personality and letting him dominate the conversation. At the next instance when conversation lulled, the next thing out of Giyuu’s mouth seemed inevitable albeit bold:

“Would you like some wine?” 

Maybe he’s caught the romantic hospitality, but more than anything, he just wanted to encourage more time with this boy. He was very cute and he spoke Japanese, which was a very rare and very alluring combination. 

“Yes, please!” Tanjirou eagerly accepted, finally correcting his sitting posture in the chair. Giyuu excused himself to get another wine glass from the kitchen.

Except, Giyuu felt like he needed to return with more than just a glass. While he was in the kitchen, he took out the slab of salami and aged cheese that the landlady left in the fridge for him: a part of his welcome package along with a jar of olives, fresh bread, and a basket of candy. 

With a hint of confidence in his stride, Giyuu returned downstairs with not only a spare glass, but also an entire platter of tapas. 

The look on Tanjirou’s face when he saw the food made Giyuu’s heart flip in his chest. The way Tanjirou's leaned across the table to help himself made his shorts hike up his thick thighs, exposing exquisitely toned muscle and smooth skin. 

In that moment, Giyuu quickly realized that he was already attracted to this boy. 

“So, business, you say!” Tanjirou started after swallowing his first bite. “What kind of business do you do?”

“My background is in international relations, but I got a job as a consultant. They liked that I could speak English well, so my boss recommended me to this university. He knew someone in the hiring committee,” Giyuu explained as he poured Tanjirou a glass of wine.

“You’re a very impressive person, Giyuu… or maybe I should be calling you Giyuu-san, since you’re my superior,” Tanjirou leaned his cheek into his hand with a flirtatious smile. 

There was a spark between them. Giyuu has dated enough men to instinctively know when a man was coming onto him.

“What do you do?” Giyuu asked as he bit into some cheese.  

“I work part time at a bakery. Mostly to learn how to bake bread. I like bread.”

“Why are you learning that here, of all places?” Giyuu asked skeptically. 

Tanjirou let out an airy laugh. “I don’t know! I just like it here.”

It felt like there was a lot of information that Tanjirou wasn’t giving, but Giyuu didn’t know him well enough to pry deeper into his personal affairs, so he didn’t persist. 

“So, you’ve been in Italy for a while then,” he concluded.

“That’s right!” 

“I can tell.”

“Why?”

“Your skin. It’s tanned. You have a tan-line on your thigh.”

Tanjirou looked down to his exposed legs immediately, then let out a noise that sounded more delighted than shy.

“Ahh, you’ve been looking at me? I’m a little embarrassed…” Tanjirou bashfully blushed. An aura of innocence surrounded him. 

“Sorry,” Giyuu replied.

“No, no,” Tanjirou laughed. “I like it.”

Giyuu realized that he was terrible at flirting, so his brain short circuited and hastily tried to recover the conversation.

“Um… so, bread?”

Tanjirou tilted his head cutely. 

“Do you like bread too?”

They were talking about bread now. 

“I guess,” Giyuu muttered before taking a generous gulp of wine.

“You should try some from the bakery that I work at! The baker makes fantastic bread— and fresh everyday! You can’t find any bread in Japan, you know,” Tanjirou proudly proclaimed. 

Giyuu didn’t answer right away.

“You can,” Giyuu eventually stated, a little confused as to why that wasn’t common knowledge to Tanjirou. 

“Really?”

Tanjirou was surprised? 

“Yes? Mostly sweet bread, but you can find croissants and baguettes too.” 

"Really? That sounds delicious! I’d love to try some!” Tanjirou giddily proclaimed. 

Giyuu’s eyebrows furrowed sceptically. Something about this seemed off, but he couldn’t collect enough thoughts to verbally express it.

Was this boy really from Japan? His Japanese was fluent. He looked like he was born in Japan. Plus, he had a Japanese name.

“Where in Japan are you from?” Giyuu asked, needing to quench his curiosity somehow.

“Oh um, a very small village in the mountains. North of Tokyo,” Tanjirou answered. 

That didn’t answer any of his questions. 

“How long have you been away from Japan?” 

That seemed to hit a nerve.

Actually, that seemed to give the boy have an aneurysm— at least that’s what it looked like as he spoke his next sentence. 

“Five… years ago.”

A piece of sausage hung from Giyuu’s lips as they locked eyes. Tanjirou didn’t say anything more, so Giyuu awkwardly swallowed what was in his mouth. 

“I see,” he muttered. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make this so awkward. I guess I'm just really excited to finally talk to someone from Japan again," Tanjirou shyly smiled.

"I'm staying here for about a week. We could... have more opportunities to talk, if you want..." Giyuu offered, avoiding eye contact.

“C-Can I please have your phone number?! Or your WhatsApp? Facebook? Whatever you have, I want it!” Tanjirou pronouned loudly.

Giyuu, of course, obliged. 

Giyuu tried to roll over in his bed only to find that there was something obstructing him. There was an extra weight there. Giyuu was vaguely aware of the fact that he was a double bed, which meant that there was little room for his own movement, let alone someone else’s.

When Giyuu opened his eyes, he saw a tantalizingly familiar face and sultry wine-coloured eyes. 

It was the boy from earlier; Tanjirou. There was a lamp or a nightlight somewhere in the room that illuminated golden skin over toned muscle. Tanjirou was stretched out beside him, completely naked and smouldering eyes looking at him like a seductive siren that just found its next meal.

Unfortunately, Giyuu couldn’t seem to find his voice. 

“Such a handsome one you are…” Tanjirou purred as he slowly straddled Giyuu’s waist, sitting his warm ass on top of Giyuu's pelvis with a grateful sigh. Giyuu's cock immediately throbbed. There was only a thin sheet between their naked bodies.

“And blue eyes too…” Tanjirou’s finger traced over his cheekbone, “Such gorgeous blue eyes. Very rare for a Japanese guy.”

Tanjirou’s body, fluid like the rolling tide, draped over Giyuu’s. Warmth seeped into his soul— he could feel it in his lungs. The pressure against his chest was dense, pining him in place and making it harder to breathe.

Giyuu was helpless but to soak up the warm touch and silky voice. His cock was getting hard under that body, pulsing and hardening so easily as fingers combed into Giyuu’s hair. 

The relaxed state of arousal was maddeningly sexy. His entire body was thrumming with heat.

He spread his legs and thrust his hips up against that pleasurable weight, which made Tanjirou smile.

“Does that feel good?”

Giyuu nodded without a word. Tanjirou reward him by slowly rocking his hips down, sparking pleasure so good that Giyuu's hips flinched upward.

Giyuu wanted to squeeze Tanjirou’s ass so badly. It looked so round and plump. 

He lifted his hands, slowly-- if only because his arms felt so heavy-- and groped both cheeks at the same time. Tanjirou moaned and rubbed his face against Giyuu’s chest— he could feel the tickle of Tanjirou’s hair against his neck. Giyuu’s cock throbbed harder and harder as he kneaded the fat flesh, spreading the cheeks and squishing them together. 

He wanted his cock between them. He wanted the bedsheet gone. He—

Giyuu woke suddenly from his dream. His room was dark and he was alone…

…with a raging boner. 

Giyuu groaned deeply in frustration. Why did he have to wake up right when it was getting good? Why would his subconscious torture him like that? 

He quickly threw the sheets off of himself and took his dick in his hand, determined to get off to the phantom sensations of his dream. He jumped back into the fantasy of that warm body on top of him, moving against him, with that ass in Giyuu’s hands.

Giyuu imagined what Tanjirou might sound like the moment he penetrated him. He imagined a sweet voice dripping with lust— saying his name like a prayer.

Tanjirou would ride him so well.

He’d have such a lewd look on his face, jaw slacked, ass and thighs meeting his hips with every bounce, getting faster and faster— voice getting higher and more desperate. He'd ride his cock like he was going to die without it, begging for Giyuu to fuck him harder, begging for Giyuu to cum deep inside him.

Giyuu clenched his jaw as he came, shooting so hard that cum landed on his chest, missing his hand completely. 

The dream wasn’t even that raunchy. It was purely sensual, yet he just came really hard. Tanjirou’s body had felt like heaven on top of him in the dream. Firm muscles and smooth, tanned skin feeling better jacking off to than any lover he’s had in real life.

He’s only met Tanjirou once and Giyuu has already had a wet dream about him. That’s never happened to him before— ever.

“Shit…” Giyuu cursed once his breath came back to him. 

He had to see that boy again. 

Giyuu started his morning a little later than usual. After he finished a light breakfast, he got dressed and decided to pay a visit to the landlady. She would know where he could find Tanjirou. Plus, Giyuu needed to get some groceries to fill his fridge today. 

Giyuu had the country-side villa to himself and the landlady lived in a house nearby, joined by a luscious terrace with a pool and several gardens. She rented out the villa to tourists, although her usual customers were probably families or couples. It was a lot of space for one person.

Luckily for Giyuu, the landlady was already outside in the garden, tending to the flowerbeds. 

“Buongiorno,” he greeted. The elder woman turned around with a pleasant smile.

“Buongiorno!” She replied back. 

“Are they not beautiful? They just started blooming,” she proclaimed proudly about the red flowers, and Giyuu had to agree. 

“What are they?” Giyuu asked for the sake of politeness.

“They’re uh, well, in Italian, they are called oleandro. They are a very… em, what’s the word—“

“I think it’s the same in English. Or similar,” he confirmed, letting her know that he knew what she meant. Curiously, Giyuu bent over to examine the flower closer.

“Yes! Good! But… you know, it is poison; this flower.”

Giyuu flinched back and the woman laughed.

“No, no! You can touch. Just when you eat too much, it’s poison.” 

“Ah…” Giyuu nodded his head, feeling a lot more comfortable leaning closer to smell them. They smelled exceptionally sweet; almost like fruit. 

“Yes, yes. Sometimes, the most beautiful things can also be the most dangerous,” she elaborated.

Giyuu ignored the strangely ominous meaning and stood back up.

“Do you know where Tanjirou is right now?” He asked. “He hasn’t answered my text.”

“A Montepulciano— work,” she answered.

Tanjirou had mentioned that he worked for a baker, but Giyuu hadn’t known where. Montepulciano was a small town just north of them, about a ten minute drive the and a half-hour bike ride. The landlady was kind enough to tell him the name of the bakery, but not without informing Giyuu that the boy’s favorite local food was bruschetta.

“Thank you… I’m going to go see him.” 

The woman said something that Giyuu didn’t understand, but judging from her wistful smile, Giyuu had a sneaking suspicion that she knew why Giyuu wanted to see him. The older woman waved him away with a chipper tone, encouraging him to hurry and go. 

Giyuu hopped in his rented car and drove through to the winding road between the vineyards. 

Giyuu’s heart skipped a beat when he located the bakery. The rustic sign hung over the stone building. Giyuu was at loss for what to say to Tanjirou. He hadn't come up with anything while he was driving. What would you say to someone after having a wet dream about them? He gulped down a bundle of nerves before stepping inside.

A friendly voice of an old man welcomed him immediately, right as the warm smell of fresh bread wafted into his nose. A senior couple occupying one of the small tables paused their idle conversation to observe the newcomer, obviously noticing that he wasn’t a regular.

In a small town like this, everyone usually know everyone else, and they could immediately single out a foreigner. It was quite an unnerving thing that Giyuu had to ignore.

Casual conversation and the noises from the kitchen created a cozy ambiance. The place seemed to double as a bakery and a cafe.

He didn’t see Tanjirou though.

“Scusi?” The old man at the counter was waving to get his attention, and Giyuu embarrassingly had to tell him, in broken Italian, that he needed a moment—

Then he heard laughter as someone emerged from the back. 

It was Tanjirou, except he was smiling and chatting with someone taller than him. It was a man who looked to be in his late twenties; about Giyuu’s age. The man said something to Tanjirou that made the boy shove flirtatiously at his chest. 

Giyuu narrowed his eyes. 

He didn’t like what he saw.

Before Giyuu could give into his jealous heart and concoct a way to steal Tanjirou’s attention away, Tanjirou noticed him. 

When Tanjirou smiled at him, it was like there was suddenly light in the world again. 

What a heavenly smile Tanjirou had. 

“What are you doing here?” Tanjirou excitedly asked as he draped his body over the counter.

“The landlady told me that you worked here,” Giyuu purposely replied in Japanese; a deliberate motion to exclude the handsome Italian from their conversation. Yes, Giyuu was being petty.

“And you came to visit me?”

“Yes.” 

Tanjirou practically radiated happiness. His grin widened as one of his feet kicked up behind him. 

“Such a gentleman! You sure know how to make a girl blush.

It took a moment for that sentence to register in his head. Giyuu’s eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

“What?” Tanjirou laughed, seemingly oblivious.

“Girl?” Giyuu asked.

Suddenly, Giyuu’s heart sank cold in his chest. Was Tanjirou not a boy? Was he transgender? Did he not like masculine pronouns? Had Giyuu just royally screwed up?

“A-ah, no, I meant boy! Sorry— you know, Italian! Sometimes I mix up the conjugation,” Tanjirou nervously laughed. 

“We’re… speaking in Japanese,” Giyuu stated bluntly, still confused. Tanjirou seemed completely lost for words the moment Giyuu pointed it out, which just made Giyuu feel even more awkward. Tanjirou’s feet shifted against the stone floor, seemingly trying to string a coherent sentence together. 

“Do— Do you want some chocolate? Let’s feed you some chocolate! And a cappuccino!” Tanjirou flustered, quickly darting behind the counter.

“S-Sure, but how much is it?”

“On the house!” Tanjirou shouted from behind the display case, fishing out a slice of chocolate cake, yet ultimately dropped it on the floor. The old man reprimanded him in lightning-fast Italian, to which Tanjirou apologized profusely. 

Giyuu decided to let the awkward exchange slide for two reasons. One, it was obvious that Tanjirou didn’t want to talk about it, and two, he didn’t feel like ostracizing the boy he was trying to flirt with. 

Maybe Tanjirou was transitioning. Maybe Giyuu should ask. 

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Tanjirou pouted. He just finished his shift and the two of them were walking into the small city centre of the modest town. Giyuu stuck around the cafe for the last hour of Tanjirou’s shift. 

“No, it’s alright… but there’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?” Tanjirou fluttered his eyes up at him. 

“Do you… what… would you like to be referred to as?” He asked with a bit of a hesitant stutter, unsure of how to bring up such a sensitive topic.

“What do you mean?”

“You were surprised that I thought you were a boy earlier. I’m sorry for saying the wrong thing and making you uncomfortable.”

Tanjirou’s eyes seemed to shimmer with amazement. 

“No, no you didn’t do anything wrong!” He insisted loudly as he placed both hands on Giyuu’s arm. “You can refer to me by male pronouns.”

“Are you sure?” Giyuu asked with uncertainty. Tanjirou smiled and wrapped his arm around Giyuu’s, hugging it to his chest. 

“Positive! I like being a boy as well,” Tanjirou nodded. 

“I see.”

So, it seemed as though Tanjirou was comfortable with both. That was alright. Giyuu didn’t mind either way. 

Tanjirou gave him another angelic smile. “Thank you for being so considerate of my feelings. You’re a very kind person.” 

Giyuu darted his gaze away and felt his cheeks warming. 

“So, um… Giyuu-san?” Tanjirou interjected as they waited at a crosswalk. 

“Yes?”

"Do you like my hair?!”

It was so abrupt of a question that Giyuu didn’t know how to react. 

“Your hair?” 

“Yeah! Do you think I should do anything different with it?”

“No? I think it looks good short,” Giyuu answered haphazardly. Tanjirou seemed happy with the answer— beaming, in fact.

“And my body?”

Giyuu didn’t like this conversation anymore. He could feel himself starting to sweat.

“What about it?” He asked, trying extremely hard not to look at the gorgeous body up and down. He tried even harder not to remember the dream he had last night--when that hot body was sliding against him.

“Is it nice? Do you like it?”

Giyuu stuttered. “It’s… nice?”

“Nice?” Tanjirou batted his eyelashes. He was clearly fishing for compliments. 

“Strong.”

Tanjirou seemed surprised by the adjective.

“Strong?” 

“Yes? It looks like you work out,” Giyuu clarified.

Tanjirou’s smile slipped a little. 

“Did I say something wrong?” Giyuu asked with a concerned tilt of his head. Tanjirou perked back up and shook his head. 

“No, no! It’s just… that no one really… sees that.”

Giyuu thought that the choice of words in that sentence was very strange.

“How could they not? It’s fairly obvious.”

“It’s just that… for men, they usually like slimmer bodies. Or long silky hair.” 

Giyuu felt like he was missing something— no, not just something, many things. There were a lot of little details that Tanjirou wasn’t telling him. Although, when Tanjirou referred to seeing parts of him, he probably meant them metaphorically. Either that or they wanted Tanjirou to change for them.

“Have you had long hair before?” Giyuu asked.

“Yup! Many times.” 

“Many?” Giyuu repeated. Tanjirou didn’t look that old. How many times could he have possibly grown out his hair and then cut it?

“When I was about thirteen, it came down to my chest. I often wore it up in a ponytail.”

“I see.” 

Giyuu couldn’t keep up with the conversation anymore because it felt like his brain was short circuiting. Tanjirou was so confident in himself, yet so weirdly oblivious to how weird he sounded. 

As they entered the supermarket to pick up some food for dinner (Giyuu had invited him over), the very strange aura surrounding Tanjirou continued to plague Giyuu’s mind. 

Giyuu spent the next two days with a head full of conflicting thoughts. 

Who was Tanjirou really?

What was Tanjirou? These oddities couldn’t just be a coincidence, yet Giyuu still felt like a superstitious idiot to be considering them. 

There was something about Tanjirou that just didn’t seem human. He spoke whimsically, like he had lived several lifetimes and saw things he logically couldn’t have seen. When he had been over for dinner, the stove had turned on by itself— twice. 

The second Giyuu turned his head to get something from the pantry, the vegetables in the skillet Tanjirou was holding mysteriously caught fire. Giyuu was glad that the old rustic house didn’t have a fire alarm, or they’d have some explaining to do. Tanjirou said he added too much oil, but the olive oil hadn’t left the shelf. 

The weirdest part was that Tanjirou gave Giyuu the exact same compliment about his eyes as he did in the dream.

“So beautiful and rare for a Japanese guy.”

Yet, Tanjirou was completely oblivious to his odd behaviour. He continued on, smiling and laughing like nothing ever happened— like he was happy just to be there.  

Giyuu opened his eyes and rolled over in his bed, facing the chestnut-brown wooden framed window. Now that it was dark, all he could see was the silhouette of the trees against a blanket of stars. 

The stars really were beautiful out here. They were so bright that he could see them from his bed. Giyuu laid still on the stiff mattress, wondering what he was going to do about the beautiful boy that had undoubtedly stolen his heart. 

This kind of thing never happened to him, so why did it have to happen in a place he had to leave? Tanjirou was Japanese, sure, but he had a life here. He had a job. Giyuu couldn’t ask the boy he’s only known for a few days to uproot himself just to follow him across the world.

They could do long distance to experiment… but even that didn’t feel right. It still felt forced, like he was holding Tanjirou back.

Giyuu let out a somber sigh and sat up in bed. 

His thoughts were racing too fast for him to fall asleep, so he stared at nothing in the dark. 

Until his aimlessly wandering eyes landed on a wooden carving of an angel that sat peacefully on the dresser next to the mirror. In a country has deep roots in Catholicism, it wasn’t peculiar to find religious ornaments in homes. Restaurants and cafes also had them. Most of these old villas had some sort of religious idolatry as interior decorations. 

Angels were beings of purity. They were beings of the light. They represented everything that was good in the world…

…sort of like Tanjirou.

Giyuu tilted his head thoughtfully, gazing at the figure who had her hands gently pressed together in prayer. 

The knowledge of his dreams. The oddity of him being unaware of his own body. The angelic way Tanjirou’s eyes would sparkle when he looked up at him. The way Tanjirou’s skin always felt so warm. 

There’s no way.

No. This was ridiculous. Giyuu felt stupid even considering it as a possibility. He hid his face in his hands as he hunched forward on the bed, groaning with simmering frustration. 

Tanjirou. Tanjirou. All he could think about was Tanjirou. Giyuu was completely infatuated with him. 

With little self control and against his better judgement, he reached for his phone and pulled up his conversation tab with Tanjirou, wondering what to say— if he should say anything at all. 

Are you free tomorrow after work?

He slowly typed it out, hoping that didn’t sound desperate, especially considering what time it was. 

To his surprise, he got a response right away.

I’m free right now!

Wait. Now? Right now? Giyuu didn’t know how to respond. Sure, Tanjirou lived five minutes away, but it was still 11pm— and ultimately, Giyuu was not good at doing things spontaneously. Acting on rash impulse made him all kinds of uncomfortable, for no reason other than the fact that it was spontaneous.

It’s the middle of the night. Aren’t you in bed?

Yes, but we could go outside and watch the stars! :D 

Giyuu was relieved that Tanjirou hadn’t meant a booty-call. He wanted to fuck Tanjirou— badly, but that wasn’t proper. He had to restrain himself.

Going outside to watch the stars did sound nice. Besides, this is what Giyuu gets for ignoring the voice of reason telling him to ignore the impulse to text Tanjirou. Of course the boy would want to do something at the drop of a hat.

Well… here goes nothing.

Okay. 

After sending the text, he threw the blankets off and dressed himself. 

Tanjirou texted him to meet in the garden, right where the copper-green metal table with rococo tendrils sat next to the bushes of red oleander and stone benches; the spot they first met. 

Wearing a light jacket and a pair of jeans, Giyuu strolled to their meeting place. 

Giyuu opted to sit on the stone bench the flowers were slowly enveloping into their branches. Stone was a little less cold than metal to sit on. 

In only a few short minutes, he heard Tanjirou’s shoes kicking up the semi-arid dirt of the pathway leading into the garden.

Giyuu has never been awestruck in his entire life, but in that moment, when Tanjirou approached him, illuminated by the waxing gibbous moon, Giyuu’s centre of gravity shifted. 

Tanjirou’s neck and shoulders were bathed in moonlight, glowing silver. Tanjirou was wearing an extra large sweater that slipped down his arms— likely the top he lounged or slept in. The silver sheen made him seem softer. It muted the lines of his muscles and revealed the entire silhouette of his lithe body.

Beautiful. 

Ethereal. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting!” He greeted sweetly. 

“I wasn’t waiting long. It’s okay,” Giyuu replied, standing up, not knowing why, but somehow his body was compelled to do it to be polite. There was a pretty twinkle in Tanjirou’s eyes as they gazed at each other that compelled Giyuu to be on his best behaviour.

“Do you want to sit with me?” Giyuu asked, repressing the urge to touch that boy's face. Tanjirou offered him a beautiful smile and took a seat next to him.

“Do you know the constellations?” Tanjirou inquired, looking up at the night sky. Giyuu’s head tilted back to do the same.

“Some of them.”

“I know many of them. I learned what they were while I was living there. It’s wonderful to see the stars from a stranger’s perspective— on the other side of the world.”

“Mm.”

Tanjirou seemed to shift closer. Their knees were centimetres apart. 

“What’s your star sign?”

Giyuu paused, trying to think. It was possible that he knew it once, but he was currently unable to remember. The silence made Tanjirou speak up again.

“When’s your birthday?” 

“February 8th.”

“So, you’re an Aquarius! Hold on, let me see if it’s—“ Tanjirou craned his head and tilted his body to scan the stars, meanwhile placing a hand on Giyuu’s thigh.

Giyuu didn’t give a shit about the constellation. All he could focus on was Tanjirou’s hand.

How was it so warm? How was it possible for Giyuu to feel that heat through his jeans?

“Ah, there!” Tanjirou pointed to the northern horizon. 

“What am I supposed to be looking at?” Giyuu questioned. There were too many stars. It really was amazing being so far from the cities, because he could see so many stars despite the moon being so bright. 

“There! See? Right there?” Tanjirou kept pointing in a general direction.

“Right… where?”

“Right there! Where a bunch of nothing is.”

Giyuu squinted. “Huh?”

“Just kidding. I don’t actually know where Aquarius is,” Tanjirou giggled, “I just wanted and excuse to get closer to you.”

Giyuu realized that they were shoulder to shoulder now and Tanjirou’s hand was still on his thigh. Red-hued eyes were so close to his own that Giyuu could see every single instance his pupils dilated and contracted. 

He could easily kiss Tanjirou right now— and it really seemed like Tanjirou was giving him the chance to. His gaze was just as soft and tender as his smile. 

Giyuu traced the edge of Tanjirou’s lip with his index finger with primal fascination. The touch was so soft, yet it made Tanjirou’s breath hitch and his eyes flutter closed. It was a very clear invitation that the boy wanted more. The magic of the boundless universe above them and the moon illuminating Tanjirou’s lips was a spell that Giyuu couldn’t resist.

He leaned in and gave Tanjirou the softest kiss. Tanjirou leaned in with just enough force to make their lips fit together perfectly— and they both lingered in that one blissful moment without moving.

It was Tanjirou that pulled away first with a soft smooch… but only to lean back in, placing both his hands on Giyuu’s thigh to insight a little more passion. 

The people that Giyuu has kissed in his past had been good, but not mind-blowing, not at all like the TV dramas or movies. This kiss— this one perfect kiss with Tanjirou though— it did feel like that. It felt like endorphins were coursing through his body, sizzling down his spine as if Tanjirou’s lips had been kissing the hormone into his body. Giyuu surprised himself when he brought a hand up to the back of Tanjirou’s head, tilting it ever so slightly so he could roll his tongue against Tanjirou’s bottom lip.

Tanjirou sucked in a deep breath of air and hooked his hand onto Giyuu’s wrist. Tongues timidly found one another for a moment, pressing and swiping against one another. The boy’s tongue felt hot. Feverishly hot— tinglingly hot.

Giyuu pulled back from the surprise of it, blinking wide-eyed. 

Tanjirou simply licked his lips with a smug smile, unaware of the fact that for a split second, Giyuu caught sight of something white-hot glowing in his eyes. It was a flash of… something inhuman. 

Tanjirou seemed to sense that he ought not to press further, so instead of leaning in for another kiss, he lowered his head down to Giyuu’s lap, mercifully letting the man’s brain reel through the experience. 

Was it really a superstition to think that Tanjirou was an angel?

“Aquarius is a water bearer,” Tanjirou interjected airily. 

Huh? Oh, right. Giyuu’s star sign.

“Oh,” he replied dumbly. He couldn’t help but lick at the parts of his lips that Tanjirou’s tongue swiped across. As Giyuu did that, Tanjirou plucked his phone from his pocket and googled something.

“See, look,” Tanjirou held the phone up to him. The screen was bright enough to make Giyuu squint. It somewhat distracted him from the fact that Tanjirou’s head was barely two inches away from his half-hard chub. 

Giyuu took the phone and tilted his head curiously, trying to visualize such a thing out of the scramble of random stars. 

“Ah…”

“And here’s mine. My star sign is cancer the crab!” Tanjirou explained as he did another google search, then showed Giyuu.

“How is that a crab?”

“I don’t know.” 

“That’s stupid.”

Tanjirou burst out laughing. Even his laugh was angelic.

“Don’t call the ancients stupid! That’s mean. They had wonderful imaginations, you know.”

Giyuu stuck to his guns. “It’s still stupid.”

There was a somber silence when Tanjirou’s laughter stopped.

“Do you think that poets are stupid for wanting to script the beauties of the world? A sailor’s wife lamenting to the sea for taking her love away from her?”

The tone and vocabulary of Tanjirou’s speech changed in an instant, almost like he was a completely different person; a wiser person.

“No…”

“That’s the beauty of humankind, Giyuu-san. They can make beauty from tragedy… light from of darkness… myths of great warriors from stars in the night sky.”

It was like Giyuu was staring an otherworldly spirit. There was something prudent about Tanjirou’s broad yet insightful knowledge, as if he had talked to many people over many lifetimes. It was like there was a conflict between Giyuu’s soul and his brain— like he could feel something that his rational mind refused to accept. 

Giyuu suddenly felt blessed just to be in his presence, compelling him to do something so foreign to him, but what felt so right in the moment. 

He lifted Tanjirou’s hands to his face and let his lips linger on the back of smooth skin, needing to somehow… thank Tanjirou for being next to him. 

His skin was so warm. He could feel it radiating against his face.

“Giyuu-san…” Tanjirou whispered, taken aback. 

Their gazes lingered under the twinkling stars.

Giyuu leaned forward and placed another kiss to Tanjirou’s forehead, then trailed down his face to peck at his blushing cheek.

It could have easily been a way for Giyuu to worship the gift that heaven sent to him.

“I want you.”

Giyuu watched as Tanjirou’s hands stroked down his own muscled torso. His legs were spread over Giyuu’s hips. That same golden light softly caressed their bodies.

Giyuu’s body felt heavy once again.

“I want you right here.” 

A voice so silky and angelic purred as Tanjirou’s fingers dipped between his legs, passed the base of his cock and to a slippery, puffy pussy. Giyuu sucked in a breath, mesmerized by the sight of fingers disappearing inside.

Despite how heavy they felt, Giyuu lifted his hands to stroke up Tanjirou’s thighs. 

“Giyuu-san— I want your cock inside me, right here,” Tanjirou moaned, pumping his fingers in and out, displacing slick until it was dripping down his thighs. Giyuu slipped his thumb up through the mess.

He wanted to push his fingers inside. 

As if reading his mind, Tanjirou took Giyuu’s hand in both of his, and then guided it to his cunt. Giyuu pushed his fingers inside. Tanjirou’s head tilted back as he moaned in ecstasy.

Giyuu’s fingers swirled and curled, mapping the hot passage slowly yet obsessively. Tanjirou’s rippling insides felt amazing just over his fingers— he could only imagine how it felt over his cock.

Oh, he wanted that so badly. 

His hands moved to Tanjirou’s hips at a snail’s pace, taking forever, but when his hands grasped them, he used it as leverage to thrust his hips up. His cock was erect and rock-hard. 

He needed to get inside.

Tanjirou’s cunt pulsed when the tip of his cock kissed it. Precum mixed with slick. Folds parted as he pressed up further— 

Giyuu woke up in his room. Alone. Again.

No, no no— go back to the dream, he told himself. He rolled over and tried to slip back into sleep, denying that he was even awake. He’d been so close to properly fucking Tanjirou. He’d been so fucking close. 

Unfortunately, his brain wouldn’t let him back into that dream, and only proceeded to wake him up further.

Giyuu threw himself onto his back with a frustrated grunt. 

Fine. 

He begrudgingly resolved to jerking off, doing it as quickly as he could before he forgot how hot Tanjirou’s pussy felt against his cock in the dream.

He’d question why he dreamt of Tanjirou having a pussy later.

“Italian cities during this time were accumulating a substantial amount of wealth because of trade, therefore, many noble families had money to commission projects such as cathedrals, statues, and paintings to accentuate their status. To the left, you’ll see—“

Giyuu took in the majesty of the famous cathedral of Florence. He decided to sign up for a guided tour in English. 

He was in complete awe of the famous cathedral of Florence. The magnificent structure commanded a sense of absolution, as if you were in a house of salvation and purity, from the towering stain-glass windows to the high-vaulted ceilings. Seeing the grand-scale of everything, how even the slightest movement echoed through the empty space, invoked a humbling feeling of insignificance. In a house of God, Giyuu supposed that the building was meant to insight such a feeling. 

“…and above you, you’ll see scenes from the final judgement. To Christ's right are the angels in heaven, who are leading people to salvation,” the tour guide narrated.

Giyuu craned his head all the way up to witness the scenes depicted. The angels were adorned in white robes with shimmering gold halos and beautiful feathery wings. 

“I’m sure many of you might be familiar with the arch angels Michael or Gabriel. Well, those are the archangels. As you can see, many more than are painted on this ceilings. Angels were created to perform certain tasks. Depending on what task they were assigned to do, they would--”

Several people nodded their heads. Giyuu, meanwhile, contemplated that thought. What was Tanjirou created to do? Spread happiness? Sensuality? Love?

The gears in Giyuu’s head started turning. He wondered if he should just ask Tanjirou these questions. Was he allowed to do that?Would Tanjirou even tell him? 

“Sir? Are you coming?”

Before Giyuu realized it, the tour group had left him behind and the guide was calling back to him.

Now that he was put on the spot, Giyuu took the chance to ask her something:

“Does scripture say whether angels can walk among humans or not?” He asked without moving from his spot.

“Oh— yes! Very good question. Angels do in fact, walk among us according to the bible. Gabriel was sent as a messenger to the virgin Mary to inform her that she would have an immaculate conception. Angels were sent to the Shepards to tell them of the arrival of the Messiah. And—“ 

She listed example after example, although after the third one, it went in one of Giyuu’s ears and out the other. All that mattered was the validation of his suspicions... even though it was a far-reaching one. 

“Thank you,” he said after she finished. She gave him a smile and encouraged him to follow them to continue the tour. 

Somewhere around the corner of the vast Florentine Cathedral square, there was a gimmicky gift shop that unfortunately caught his eye, mainly because some colorful ornaments caught the light of the sun and reflected in his eye. 

He browsed through the shop simply out of curiosity. He had the rest of the afternoon to himself before he had to meet Tanjirou at the bakery. From there, they were going to buy some food and have a picnic near the canal. 

Actually… he quite liked the idea of buying Tanjirou a gift, so he started to browse the store with more insightful thoughts.

A cross seemed too cliche. Trinkets of Florence or the cathedral were out of the question. Magnets in the shape of pizzas were just downright stupid.

“That’s stupid.”

“Don’t call the ancients stupid! That’s mean!” 

The memory flashed through Giyuu’s head and inspiration instantaneously came to him. He was in the wrong store.

He pulled up google maps and determined where the nearest outdoor vendors area was. 

After hours of broken Italian and searching for a perfect gift, Giyuu finally found what he was looking for. Tanjirou had hinted at the fact that he was comfortable being both a boy and a girl, so he thought that this gift would be perfect.

“Scusi,” Giyuu asked the barista at the counter if she knew where Tanjirou was.

The beautiful olive-skinned woman with her hair tied up in a bun seemed to change her mood completely when she heard Tanjirou’s name. She almost looked smitten.

“Unfortunately, I don’t. It’s a shame that you couldn’t tell me where he is,” she winked flirtatiously.

“What do you mean?” Giyuu asked.

“I was hoping to go on another date with him,” she sighed. “Our schedules are so… different now. We used to work together all the time and now? Is like he is stranger,” she dismissively said.

Giyuu’s heart dropped.

“Dates?” 

“Mmm. Dates,” she confirmed. 

“Oh…” 

She leaned forward over the counter, seeming to survey him.

“Oh? Don’t tell me… oh my— that man. Playboy! First Luca, then Marcello, and now you. How many men has he been with before me, huh? I’m starting to get a little self-conscious,” the woman pouted, clearly not sharing Giyuu's dilemma. She was taking it with a somewhat playful stride.

Giyuu felt like his heart was being shredded.

“How many... has he been with?” He asked cautiously.

She shrugged her shoulders. “You tell me!” 

It couldn’t be true. Maybe they were all in the past. There was no way that Tanjirou was still dating her, right? 

“Oh, you poor thing. If you ask me, you should find someone better. Ah! Would you like me to set you up with someone? My little brother is—“

Giyuu turned on his heels and stormed out of the cafe before she could finish, feeling pissed that she could even suggest such a thing. It felt like something was squirming under his skin and he had to leave just to quell it.

About halfway down the cobblestone street, he ran into Tanjirou. 

“Giyuu-san!” He smiled brightly. Giyuu was usually enthralled by it, but now it just ignited a scolding flame of jealousy. 

Rather than expressing that ugly feeling though, he walked passed the boy. 

“Giyuu-san? Wait! Wait, where are you going? Are you alright?”

Giyuu kept walking.

“What’s wrong? Why are you ignoring me? Hey!” Tanjirou insistently grabbed Giyuu’s arm— and it made Giyuu yank it away, breaking his calm exterior and glaring down at Tanjirou. The shorter of the two cowered back with uncertainty.

It only made guilt twist in his chest, mixing unbearably with the jealousy. Tanjirou was probably so excited about their picnic, but Giyuu couldn’t suppress the horrible clawing sensation in his chest. He didn’t know what do to but run.

He wasn’t dating Tanjirou. They weren’t a couple. Giyuu wasn’t going to stay in Italy forever and they would eventually move on with their lives. No matter how addicted Giyuu was to Tanjirou— how much he wanted to snare him in his arms and fuck the living daylights out of him, Giyuu couldn’t. 

He had no right to. 

He didn’t know what he’d been thinking earlier. He shouldn’t have even bought the gift. Tanjirou was going to stay in this country, sleep with a bunch of people, and live his life without remembering who Giyuu was. 

“Leave me alone,” Giyuu coldly said, then walked away. 

The next few days dragged on slower than being in the waiting room before a root canal. 

Giyuu wasted the days away in the villa, chastising himself for developing feelings for someone when he knew that it was a bad idea from the start. Anytime he got close to someone, it always ended up breaking his heart somehow. He didn’t know why he kept trying. He was better off just being alone.

Yet, no matter what he did, every single night was the same; he’d dream about being with Tanjirou. The dream would always start in his bed, like always, and he’d always get super hard and so close to fucking Tanjirou, and that was the point when Tanjirou would tell him that they couldn’t see each other anymore. Sometimes Giyuu would even wake up in a fit of jealous rage when the dream would end with the image of Tanjirou kissing someone else.

He hated this and he hated himself. He just wanted to go back to Milan so he could become a workaholic for the rest of his miserable life. 

The worst part was that Giyuu hated himself just for hating himself. How pathetic was that?

Tanjirou tried texting him many times. He must have found out why Giyuu was upset by talking to that woman at the bakery. Tanjirou even tried knocking on his door. In one of his most recent texts, he made an explicit promise to Giyuu that he wouldn’t see anyone but him.

However, that only made Giyuu feel worse. He’d already resolved to never seeing Tanjirou again. Tanjirou could have anyone he wanted, so he didn’t deserve to be tied down by Giyuu.

He hated falling asleep because his brain would conjure up those sensual fantasies about the boy almost sitting on his cock. Yet, without sleep, his brain became even more muddled and depressed. Giyuu was well-aware of the fact that his brain was producing way too much cortisol, but he didn’t know how to get himself out of it. 

Come to think of it, he could just call up a friend. It was evening in Japan right now, so Makomo should still be awake. 

He chanced pressing the call button on the app, just to see if Makomo would answer. She was soft-spoken and understanding. Sabito would just give him shit.

“Hello? Giyuu?” She answered excitedly. 

“Hi,” he replied. He already felt better just hearing her voice. 

“Hey! How are you? You never call me out of the blue!” 

“Sorry…”

“No, no, it’s alright. It’s nice to hear from you. How’s your spring vacation going?”

Giyuu sat up in his bed and hunched over his bent knees.

“Not well… a lot has happened,” he spoke lowly. 

“What happened? Are you alright?” She asked worriedly.

Giyuu had to take a moment to gather to courage to tell her that no, he wasn’t alright, but then another voice in the background interrupted her. 

“What’s going on? Is he in trouble? Where is he?” 

Ah. Sabito was there. Giyuu winced. Sabito was fiercely protective, but he was always ruthlessly upfront about facing one’s problems.

“Sabito is here, sorry,” Makomo added.

“No, it’s…”

“Giyuu, what’s going on?” He said louder, making Makomo shush him and insist that he be quiet. 

“I’m… I’m not really okay.”

“Why?” They both asked simultaneously.

“I met someone… but it’s not going to work out.”

“Oh, Giyuu,” Makomo responded heavily, sounding like her heart was aching for him. “Why not?”

“He’s… got a bunch of people that want to be with him. And I’m just going to head back to Japan by the end of the semester anyway, so—“

There was a rustling over the phone before Sabito’s voice dominated the conversation. If Giyuu had to guess, it meant that Sabito stole Makomo’s phone.

“Wait, hold on, let me get this straight…” Sabito began.

Uh oh. Here it comes.

“Is this guy dating someone?”

“No.”

“Is he into men?”

“Yes. We kissed.”

“Then why are you wallowing in self pity instead of going after him?” Sabito’s voice challenged over the phone. 

“I just said, because I’ll be heading back to Japan soon anyways.”

“So?! It’s the twenty-first century! You guys can hop on a plane to see each other. You can text, FaceTime, and call each other every day. Why are you pussying out of a potential relationship just because you feel sorry for yourself?”

Giyuu felt shameful, yet aggravated at the condescending words. Over the years, he’s learned that Sabito respects him more when he talks back instead of keeping feelings bottled up.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t understand,” he countered.

“What? What could it possibly be? You never find someone you like— you don’t even date— so what reason could be good enough for holding back?”

“This one woman was telling me that she still wants to see Tanjirou now— which means that he must have left her hanging, or…”

Damn it. When Giyuu said it out loud, he realized how stupid that sounded.

“Maybe he did, obviously that means he doesn’t like her enough to date her. You said he wasn’t dating anyone right?”

“Yes…”

“So why are you taking her word for it and not Ta— what was his name again?”

“Tanjirou.”

“Isn’t that a Japanese name? Hella old Japanese name but still!”

“Yes, he was born and raised in Japan.”

“Giyuu!!” Sabito bellowed.

“What?!” Giyuu shouted back, getting tired of being yelled at like a child. 

“You’re an idiot! You’re the biggest idiot in the entire world! You moved all the way to Italy, vacationed in a small town, and you met a native-Japanese person who happens to be into men... and you’re going to just let him go?! If you don’t go after him right now, I’m going to fly across the world and beat the shit out of you!”

Instead of replying with doubt that Sabito would actually do that, he felt humbled. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he'd feel regret about not trying to make the relationship work. Even if Tanjirou said no, he'd at least know that he tried his best.

Yet, there was still that one thing left on his mind, one thing that he couldn’t really tell Sabito or Makomo about; the fact that he was certain Tanjirou was not human. 

Yet… even that… was that really a big deal? Tanjirou was still Tanjirou. It wasn’t his fault that many people wanted to be with him. Was it any wonder why they wanted to be with an ethereal being?

Shouldn’t Giyuu be the one to pursue him after Tanjirou explicitly told him that he wanted Giyuu?

He needed to say something before Tanjirou decided to give up on him. 

He had this one chance now. 

“Giyuu!”

“Huh?”

“Were you even listening to me?” Sabito barked. He sounded pissed.

“No… but you’re right. I need to go after him.”

There was silence, as if Sabito was ready to say something else, but had to stop himself.

“Yeah! That’s right! You go after hi— hey!”

There was some more rustling over the phone.

“Call us when the dust settles, okay?” Makomo told him. Somewhere in the background, Giyuu could hear Sabito trying to talk over her.

“O-Okay,” Giyuu replied. 

“Ciao!” She giggled, then hung up.

Holy shit. Giyuu had to go after Tanjirou. 

Deciding to go after Tanjirou seemed to have been the easy part. 

Finding him was another matter. The one time he needed to find Tanjirou, the boy was nowhere to be seen. He even stopped replying to Giyuu's texts. 

He drove to the bakery, but he wasn’t there. He drove to the supermarket, the park they were supposed to have their picnic, and even alone the bike trail that Tanjirou always rode down. There was no sign of him.

Giyuu was too stressed to eat, so he skipped dinner, but he did stomach an aloe drink. An hour later, he downed some pineapple juice for the sake of hydration and sugar. 

Dusk was quickly turning to night. Still no sight of Tanjirou.

Right before Giyuu gave into defeat, a sneaking suspicion crossed his mind.

He sped down a familiar dirt path. His shoes constantly pounded against the dry earth, displacing it enough to create a small cloud of dust with each step. He knew the trail even in the dark.

He briefly noted that there was a beautiful amber full moon rising above the hills.

In the same garden that he and Tanjirou met— in the same garden where he and Tanjirou gazed at the stars, someone laid curled up in the fetal position on the stone bench that was enveloped by red oleander.

Could it be him?

“Tanjirou!” He called out on a whim. 

Tanjirou’s head snapped up immediately, reacting to his name.

A pair of reflective golden eyes penetrated the darkness like a deer in headlights. It sent a chill down Giyuu’s spine. 

Giyuu knew it. Tanjirou wasn’t human.

Giyuu walked closer and Tanjirou flinched back. 

“Stay away from me,” Tanjirou warned.

Giyuu had said something similar to Tanjirou not that long ago. There was fear in Tanjirou’s voice, which allowed Giyuu to find the resolve to stride forward.

“Giyuu-san, please, I mean it—”

“I was wrong. I’m sorry about everything. I’m sorry I ignored you. I’m sorry I blew you off.”

Tanjirou sat up and hung his head as Giyuu got closer.

“I’m so sorry. I— I screwed everything up. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but Tanjirou— I want— no, I need you. I’ve thought about nothing but you for the past few days... and how I’ve been such an idiot.”

A quiet whine came out of Tanjirou that worried Giyuu.

“Please give me another chance,” Giyuu pressed.

Tanjirou let out some sort of inhuman noise that sent another shiver down Giyuu's spine, but before he could question it, Tanjirou spoke up.

“No— you were right. It’s better that we don’t… it’s for the best.”

Giyuu knew that Tanjirou didn’t really believe that.

“It’s for the best,” Tanjirou repeated.

Giyuu once thought that as well. He actually believed it was for the best.

Tanjirou stood up and swiftly tried to walk passed Giyuu, but Giyuu snatched his wrist in an instant. He wasn’t going to give up. He wasn't going to let Tanjirou go.

“Don’t do this…” Giyuu pleaded.

“I can’t stay.”

“Don’t…” Giyuu stepped after him, his pupils constricting as desperation trickled.

“I can’t— there’s a lot you don’t know.”

“Tell me.” 

“I can’t— anyone but you. I’d do it with anyone but you.”

That made something ugly and possessive snap inside Giyuu's chest. His eyes narrowed as red-hot rage flared in his chest. A sneer spread across his face as he snatched Tanjirou’s other wrists, yanking him close.

“Don’t—!” Tanjirou gasped in panic.

Giyuu smashed their lips together in a fiery kiss. And oh god— Giyuu couldn’t believe how hot it made his body. Lust consumed him just feeling those lips against his. 

He wanted this so badly.

Tanjirou made a guttural whine in his throat before thrashing, breaking the kiss and pushing himself away.

Giyuu growled and yanked him back. Despite Tanjirou's struggle, Giyuu forced their lips together once more.

Tanjirou melted this time.

The moment their hot tongues met, Giyuu’s blood burned hot in his veins. Tanjirou’s lips quivered as they parted. Something akin to a keen rang high in the boy’s throat as Giyuu took what he wanted. His tongue plunged into that hot mouth, dominating, wanting more. 

Tanjirou sounded like he was choking— 

Giyuu didn’t stop. Now that he finally had him, he couldn’t stop.

Giyuu groped Tanjirou’s ass hard, thrusting his covered cock roughly against Tanjirou’s hips, squishing the smaller body against his own. Tanjirou’s moan sounded so delightful that Giyuu moaned just hearing it. 

Tanjirou finally submitted. He snatched Giyuu’s face and surged forward, licking insistently into his mouth. Oh, god finally—

Tanjirou was a desperate, moaning mess, mewling into their wet kisses and humping his groin against Giyuu’s thigh. Hands slid up to disappear inside of Giyuu's shirt, to stroke up the man's stomach and chest. Heat licked at his skin to feel Tanjirou’s fingers against his nipples.

Then, suddenly, something tingled painfully under those fingers. 

Tanjirou raked fingernails down his chest and it stung. At the same time, something pricked at Giyuu’s tongue. The warm taste of metal flooded his mouth.

Giyuu pried his eyes open and held Tanjirou at arm’s length. 

What he saw made a bitterly-cold chill run down his spine. 

Tanjirou’s beautiful cherry-eyes had changed colors. They were a piercing yellow and his pupils were sharp, narrow slits. Passed panting lips were protruding canines, illuminated by the rising full moon.

This was what an angel looked like?

It couldn’t be. Had Giyuu been wrong?

Tanjirou’s fingernails had elongated into claws, and with a chilling growl, the creature suddenly yanked at Giyuu's shirt with enough force to tear it off his body. The shallow scratches left on his chest started to pool with red droplets. He was bleeding. His chest and his tongue were bleeding. 

Giyuu’s shocked brain wasn’t able to catch up with reality, not before Tanjirou pushed him down to the dirt, knocking the wind out of him.  

Giyuu had to gasp desperately for air. Meanwhile, Tanjirou ran his burning-hot tongue over Giyuu’s wounds. He flinched at the sting of it, then felt a dizzy spell come over him, as if his tongue and saliva were drugging him. 

Giyuu’s back arched and his hands came up to Tanjirou’s hair. Somewhere between lust and fear, his cock got painfully hard in his pants, and just the slightest bit of friction made precum leak into his underwear. 

“Yes—“ Tanjirou moaned feeling the bulge against his leg. One of his hands descended down to massage it. Giyuu hissed in a breath and writhed underneath him. 

“Tanjirou, wait…” 

There was so much happening, and yet, Giyuu was so turned on that he couldn’t think straight. Wherever Tanjirou’s tongue licked, it left tingles against his skin. The more Tanjirou licked him, the more he felt dizzy, the heavier his body felt.

It was eerily like the sensations he had in his dreams. 

Tanjirou went straight for his cock, nuzzling his face over it, sucking on the head through the cloth with an impatient moan.

When Tanjirou yanked his underwear down, he licked one fat stripe from the base to the tip, a sensation that made Giyuu’s hips instinctively thrust up, thrusting right against Tanjirou’s face. Tanjirou purred with bliss. 

He then swallowed Giyuu’s cock whole.

Swallowed his cock whole. In one go.

Giyuu saw stars behind his eyelids. He tilted his head back and choked on the keen that wanted to leave his mouth.

Tanjirou’s hot throat kept constricting and pulsing, and when Giyuu dared to peak at the sinful sight, he could see the boy’s throat bulging outward.

He didn’t come off to breathe either. Tanjirou wasn’t breathing. Over and over, his throat budged out as Giyuu’s rock-hard cock was plunged deep into his esophagus. 

“Tanjirou—“ he hissed, gripping his hair tighter, trying to pull him off because the man was about to cum and possibly choke Tanjirou alive.

Those piercing yellow eyes threateningly snapped up to Giyuu. His mouth stilled firmly in place with his nose buried in Giyuu’s pubes. 

Tanjirou growled like a beast. Claws elongated and digging into Giyuu’s thighs. Saliva dripped from Tanjirou's riveting jaw down Giyuu's tightening balls. 

Tanjirou was acting like a ravenously hungry dog that was about to get its prey snatched from him.

Tanjirou looked like a demon.

Giyuu was a little disgusted at himself when his cock throbbed at the sight. 

With his most sensitive vitals trapped within the demon’s clutches, Giyuu was forced to let Tanjirou do as he pleased. The vibrating muscles were coaxing him into an orgasm, and it was as clear that it was exactly what Tanjirou wanted. 

“Fuck…” Giyuu cursed and thrust his hips, giving into the urge to fuck Tanjirou’s face.

Tanjirou gratefully bobbed his head along with him.

Tanjirou still hadn’t taken a breath yet and it’s easily been over five minutes.

Giyuu also realized that there was something long and black swishing back and forth in the air. It connected to the base of Tanjirou’s spine like a tail. Giyuu was positive that it wasn't his imagination.

Tanjirou really wasn’t human. He wasn’t human at all.

Giyuu swore loud when he came, exploding with semen because he’s never had a more intense orgasm in his life. Streams of it went straight down Tanjirou’s throat, making the smaller body shudder and whine with ecstasy. Tanjirou nuzzled his face all the way down and hugged Giyuu’s hips tightly, swallowing every last precious drop of hot fluid Giyuu fed him. 

After swallowing everything, Tanjirou slowly slid off his cock, leaving the length dripping wet. 

“More…” Tanjirou demanded as saliva kept dribbling off his chin. His hellishly hot tongue was lulling passed his lower canines, which had been mercifully retracted when Giyuu's cock had been stuffed in there.

“Shit…” Giyuu felt his cock throbbing again, . Tanjirou was licking his lips like he’d just been fed a delicious appetizer. 

Giyuu quickly realized that this beast was unrestrained. Something had snapped within Tanjirou to make him end up like this.

When Tanjirou pushed down his pants, Giyuu’s breath hitched. Thin strings of wetness shimmered in moonlight between Tanjirou’s legs and his pants.

It wasn’t precum. It was slick. 

Giyuu’s eyes honed in on the sight of a swollen and aroused cunt where his balls should have been.

Just like in his dream.

Tanjirou took Giyuu’s cock between his fingers and positioned himself over the tip.

“Tanjirou… wait…” 

It felt like he was going to pass out at any moment— and he didn’t know why. 

The puffy and wet pussy nudged the tip of his cock. Folds parted and Tanjirou’s breath hitched excitedly. 

“Wait—“ 

Tanjirou ignored him and sat down, taking it all cock inside.

Hot. Hot… burning hot. Having his sensitive cock hugged by velvety wet muscle was like ascending to heaven. And it was throbbing around him too. Another drunken wave of heat swept over him, drugging him like an aphrodisiac and making his spent cock throb back to full hardness, splitting Tanjirou’s hole wide open.

“Mmm… Giyuu’s cock,” Tanjirou blissfully sighed. A hint of demonic raspiness was present in his tone. Hips didn't hesitate to slam down rhythmically. 

Right in the middle of the garden with only the moon and the stars as their witnesses, Tanjirou bounced on Giyuu’s cock over and over again, producing the wettest, filthiest noises imaginable. 

It was so surreal. It was so feral and raw.

Giyuu tried so hard to stay conscious because he finally had what he wanted.

Giyuu soon lost the battle though. He passed out to the sensation of the demon’s pussy massaging his cock and feverish heat enveloping his body.

Hazy reality kept penetrating Giyuu’s exhausted brain in the form of a frantic voice. Something was jostling his shoulders back and forth too.

“Giyuu-san! Please… please…” 

Someone was crying. Giyuu groaned and stirred.

“Giyuu-san!” 

Ah. It was Tanjirou. 

“Oh thank god, you’re okay! I thought—“ 

Tanjirou’s sob interrupted whatever he was going to say. Giyuu was too exhausted to properly form coherent condolences. 

“Tanjirou…” 

“Yes?” He sniffled. The moment Giyuu mustered up enough strength to open his eyes, he noticed that Tanjirou’s face was contorted by his worries. His eyes were red, his face was flushed, and there was snot mixing with tears under his wrinkled chin. 

Giyuu's heart ached at the sight despite feeling like he’d just consumed an entire barrel of whiskey. 

“I’m fine,” Giyuu whispered.

Tanjirou sniffled again and noisily swallowed his own snot. Giyuu groaned and reached a weak, floppy arm out to him, then lazily tugged him down to the bed. 

“Where are we?” Giyuu asked, because he was certain he hadn’t passed out on a bed. Plus, the bed he was laying in wasn't his own. 

“My apartment,” Tanjirou mentioned between haggard breaths, “I carried you back here.” 

Ah. Giyuu didn’t question how. Tanjirou was a demon… creature thing. Nothing really made logical sense anymore. If Tanjirou carried him back here somehow, then that was that. All that mattered was that Tanjirou was in his arms. 

Tanjirou laid stiff and uncertain. Giyuu could feel the fluttering of his wet eyelashes against his bicep. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Tanjirou asked.

“I’m just tired,” he answered bluntly. 

“But are you hurt? Are you in pain?” Giyuu's lover insisted. 

“No and no.”

There were two questions, so Giyuu gave two answers. 

“But… I must have hurt you. I sucked so much energy out of you. You completely passed out! I made you cum twice— and you came a lot! You know, when a succubus absorbs energy from humans, sometimes it's too much at once and it could kill them!”

“Tanjirou.”

“Yeah?” Tanjirou sniffled again, taking in a shaky breath to calm a new batch of tears. Giyuu felt bad for worrying him. 

“I’m fine. Just tired.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Very sure.”

Tanjirou blinked some more, then finally relaxed his shoulders. 

“Okay…”

He didn’t seem satisfied. Giyuu waited for more to come, and sure enough, more did come. 

“I’m sorry for deceiving you. About being what I am.”

Giyuu shook his head. 

“I thought you were an angel.” 

There was a pause before Tanjirou burst out laughing. Giyuu was only slightly offended.

“No! No, not even close. Awww, Giyuu, you thought I was an angel? I’m so flattered.”

Giyuu closed his eyes and resigned to listening Tanjirou. The more he did that, the more Giyuu’s energy came back to him. 

“Angels are less inclined to talk to people. It’s the demons that mingle with humans a lot more. A lot of demons are bad, but others can actually be very nice,” Tanjirou elaborated. 

Giyuu shuffled so he could sneak an arm under Tanjirou. “So, you’re a succubus? As in… you have sex with people to sustain yourself?”

Tanjirou nodded.

“I… I didn’t want to be one. I was only trying to help someone in need. I didn’t know that they were a succubus. They… had their way with me… and on the brink of death, they transferred their powers to me to keep me alive… maybe because they felt guilty. I didn’t even learn their name.”

Giyuu wanted to strangle whoever that person was.

“I didn’t know I’d end up like this. I didn’t know that this would be my life. I had to say goodbye to my family.” 

Giyuu stroked up and down Tanjirou’s back to soothe him.

“I didn’t want this… to need to suck the life out of people just to live.”

“When did you really came here from Japan?” Giyuu asked, trying to shift the subject away from Tanjirou’s sorrows. He felt more awake now that he knew that Tanjirou needed him as a distraction.

“One hundred and six years ago,” Tanjirou answered gravely. That was a specific number. It meant that Tanjirou had been keeping track of every single year. Knowing that spoke volumes of the demon’s loneliness. 

“So… you’ve been with a lot of people. Sexually.”

Tanjirou nodded. “It’s how I eat. I get fed through sexual energy, especially cum.” 

Giyuu sighed. “So that’s why I passed out.”

Tanjirou squirmed with discomfort.

“I didn’t want to hurt you. When I first entered your dream, you only imagined me naked. In dreams, the mind is more lucid, able to come up with fantasies far easier. I can see exactly what they want to do to me. I appear in their ideal image.”

Tanjirou prodded his dreams? That was actually him in those dreams?

“But you just saw me as I was. Even in reality, you did. Nothing more and nothing less,” Tanjirou smiled, “No one has done that before... and it felt so nice… to be desired just the way I am… but I also felt bad. You weren’t someone tempted by sex, and yet, you just… always made me happy. I told myself that I couldn’t use you the way I’ve used others.”

That was a lot for Giyuu to take in. 

It did make him question one thing though:

“Then why would you make me dream about seeing you with someone else?” Giyuu prodded, realizing that if it was Tanjirou infiltrating his dreams, that most recent dreams was a cruel way of manipulating him.

“Huh? I never did that,” Tanjirou replied innocently.

“You didn’t make me dream about seeing you running off with another guy?”

Tanjirou let out an unexpected giggle, which was a little unnerving and mildly embarrassing for Giyuu. 

“No! I’d never do that. Not after knowing that you hate seeing me with others. That dream was all yours. I had nothing to do with that one,” Tanjirou explained, tapping the tip of Giyuu’s nose as he did. “I only give people good dreams.”

Giyuu pulled back and opened his eyes to get a good look at Tanjirou. The boy was naked with his arms folded against his chest. Succubus or not, Tanjirou still had an angelic smile, as if he could purify your soul with it.

“So… when you said that you wouldn’t be with anyone else…” 

Reality hit cold in Giyuu’s chest, because that meant that Tanjirou had literally starved himself.

“You were really upset. It made me really sad. It wasn’t worth being with other people if it meant upset you,” Tanjirou softly said.

“You still starved yourself. You needed to eat and I stopped you from doing it. All because I was jealous.”

Tanjirou shook his head and hugged Giyuu back against him. “As long as you’re with me, I don’t care.” Tanjirou admitted with a happy, blissful sigh. “This is so much better.” 

An ache of desire curled in his gut.

Tanjirou needed him to survive. He needed sex to survive. Even after their two rounds from earlier, Tanjirou had gone days without any of that energy, which had to mean that he was still hungry.

Giyuu’s cock stirred. He needed to feed Tanjirou.

Giyuu pushed himself up and rolled Tanjirou onto his back. His lover looked up at him with a curious gaze.

Giyuu pet his hand over Tanjirou’s toned chest. Tanjirou’s breath hitched. 

Without taking his eyes off his lover's, Giyuu pushed the demon’s legs open. 

Tanjirou eyes flickering hopefully.

Giyuu took his own cock and pumped it. Through action alone, he conveyed what he was about to do…

…and Tanjirou gasped deeply. As Giyuu prepared his cock, Tanjirou hugged his legs to his chest, exposing everything to him. Giyuu watched as shiny slick coated the puffy folds.

“Giyuu-san,” Tanjirou swallowed, clearly salivating. 

“So beautiful,” Giyuu praised, tracing his fingers down Tanjirou’s hardening cock and then over his wet opening. He desired all of Tanjirou— because the boy was perfect just as he was. 

Giyuu positioned himself and slid inside. Parting muscles made obscenely wet, squelching noises as Tanjirou keened with pure ecstasy.

“Ohh!” Tanjirou’s eyes became wet with tears. 

After just a few deep thrusts, the demon’s pussy pulsed with the same wet heat as before. His cock glided in and out so easily. Without any kind of foreplay, Tanjirou was wet and ready for him. Whenever Giyuu wanted to fuck him, Tanjirou would be this wet and hot for his cock.

No human body could ever feel this good. No person could ever be this perfect.

“Shit— you’re like an oven. So hot…” Giyuu panted. 

“Oh— Giyuu— Giyuu-san… so good,” Tanjirou couldn’t manage more than two syllables between deep thrusts, but he kept blabbering despite his body being rocked back and forth.

“More… more… feed me… please— I’m so… hungry—“ 

Giyuu’s brain short circuited. Such a beautiful, insatiable, and lustful creature beneath him was willing to starve just to have this with him. 

Giyuu’s self-restraint snapped. He yanked his cock out, flipped Tanjirou onto his stomach, and roughly thrust back in. His hips pile-drove forward, fucking the smaller body without restraint.

Tanjirou screamed. 

“Oh god, oh go— Giyuu! S-So good! Mmm... More! Fuck me! Fuck me—“ Tanjirou cried out, nearly incoherent with pleasure and slurring his words. Giyuu grit his teeth and dug his fingernails into Tanjirou’s ass, spreading the cheeks wide so he could have an unobstructed view of Tanjirou’s perfect little cunt. 

“Oh Giyuu-sa--!“ Tanjirou sobbed loud as his cunt convulsed.

There was so much slick. Giyuu’s near-brutal thrusts were making so much gush out to soak the bed beneath them… and that was when Giyuu realized that he just made Tanjirou cum. 

He made a sex demon cum. 

Giyuu fucked him right through that orgasm, never stopping. He couldn’t stop. That aphrodisiac spell was cast over him again, compelling his hips to move and his cock to throb even when he was passed his physical limit. 

It was probably Tanjirou’s body doing that on its own; seducing its human in a state of frenzy so it could nourish him.

“I— Can’t—“ Tanjirou choked suddenly. 

And then, right before his eyes, Giyuu saw a pair of jet-black demonic wings sprout from Tanjirou’s arched back. They flapped and fluttered in time with Giyuu’s unforgiving pace. A skinny black tail also grew from the base of Tanjirou’s spine, soon whipping in the air and tangling between Giyuu’s arms.

So he hadn’t imagined a tail earlier. 

Giyuu was in awe of this new form. Tanjirou was being driven so far from composure that he couldn’t contain himself.

A guttural gagging noise spilled from Tanjirou’s throat along with desperate cries. He was trying not to lose control of himself again, but the more Giyuu’s cock pounded into him, the more that control slipped.

Let it slip. Let Tanjirou finally be free.

Giyuu snatched the tail and twirled it around his wrist. With the black, cord-like tail around his arm, Giyuu gripped Tanjirou's ass cheek again.

Giyuu’s fingernails were digging so deep into the meat of that fat ass that it would have pierced the skin had he been human.

A little fucktoy, Giyuu’s primal mind thought, can be as rough as I want. 

Tanjirou sang with ecstasy when Giyuu came deep inside him without warning. His inner walls squeezed his cock like a vice grip, trying to suck every last drop of cum from his body.

This time, when Giyuu passed out, he didn’t wake up until morning. 

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. At this time we will be boarding section 4 and section 5 of flight ANA305 to Tokyo, please have your passport and boarding pass ready—“

Already? 

Giyuu checked the digital clock up on the wall of the airport bar. How did time fly so quickly?

“Shit, we need to go,” Giyuu announced to his travel partner as he hastily tried to get the bartenders attention.

“Can I finish your beer for you?” 

Tanjirou, the sweet little demon dressed in a baggy shirt and jeans rolled up at the ankles, reached for Giyuu’s glass. 

“Why? You can’t get drunk anyway,” Giyuu questioned. Tanjirou narrowed his eyes as he snatched the beer, tipped his head back, and downed the remaining half of it without issue.

“It’s not good to waste! Too many people waste food nowadays,” Tanjirou insisted as Giyuu tapped his debit card on the portable machine to pay for the bill. 

“Technically, it’s still going to waste. It does nothing to nourish you.”

Tanjirou laughed as he slung his carry-on backpack over his shoulder. “It’s the principle of it! Plus, it makes you look better.”

“Uh huh. Let’s go,” Giyuu muttered nudging Tanjirou ahead of him. He can walk and talk at the same time... which Tanjirou did. As they meandered down the pathways of the Milani airport, Tanjirou told Giyuu about how he and his family often had little food to go around, and how every last bite was precious. Giyuu listened compassionately to the story while searching for their gate, caring for Tanjirou's feelings, sure, but needing to concentrate at the same time. He kept his hand linked with Tanjirou’s so they wouldn't lose each other. 

A silver bracelet kept chiming as the single charm rattled against Giyuu’s hand. It was the gift that Giyuu had bought for Tanjirou in the Florentine market. The charm around the silver band was the pattern of stars that constituted Tanjirou’s star sign: cancer. 

After giving him the gift, the couple spent their last two days in the villa together. After that, Giyuu had to return to Milan. It was only a few days later that Tanjirou followed him there. Tanjirou has been by Giyuu’s side ever since. 

Now that summer had bloomed and the semester ended, they were both returning to Japan. 

Somehow, by some weird and bullshit black magic, a boarding pass and a Japanese passport had come into Tanjirou’s possession. The succubus has reassured him countless times that it wouldn’t be an issue.

“How do you think demons have been living in the human world for millennia? We can make people believe anything we want.” 

That was what Tanjirou told him. 

Sure enough, just an hour ago, border control and immigration gave Tanjirou the green light to leave the EU and board a plane to Japan. Giyuu had to restrain his jaw from dropping to the floor seeing the highest authorities acting like Tanjirou was just an average citizen with proper documents and a valid passport. 

Giyuu had an all-powerful demon of the underworld at his side, capable of starting wars if he wanted to, but instead, was completely docile. All he wanted was to be Giyuu’s boyfriend and share his bed.

“You know… I’m actually nervous to see Japan again. It’s been so long…” Tanjirou muttered as they walked through the tunnel to the plane. 

Giyuu lifted Tanjirou’s hand to kiss the back of it, then offered the blushing boy a light smile. 

“It’ll be fine. I’ll be with you the entire time.”

Tanjirou upped the PDA and hugged Giyuu’s arm to his chest, grinning ear to ear. 

Giyuu already knew that he was in love with Tanjirou, but he’d keep that as a little secret to himself for now. 

One step at a time.