EDEN | mitsukai

five

hakkai couldn't bring himself to glide the pencil in hand to move, brittle atop the dried gesso on his canvas. the subtle smell of turpentine and poppy seed oil ticks his noise, aside from the continuous quiet swirls of brushes. his eyes run over things, usually finding their way back to the moving hand of death. three hours. three hours left, and their five-hour session will be over; he can go home, sleep the nightmare away.

he tried focusing his eyes on anything and everything. he noticed the white cloth, the fruits in the corner, the gold accent on the platform, the lights, the window, and his classmates. he turned his eyes around, observing the four-cornered room. as if afraid to turn into stone like the fallen soldiers who challenged medusa, he averted his eyes from the intense lilac ones boring fever attention to his soul.

though bitter, something in him would want to look, admire the model, perplexed that his strings tugged despite his resolved repulsion towards the man. his honeycomb took the risk and gaze at the model, with child-like wonder on the foreign beauty.

he stared at the him, with skin made from the finest opal, eyes gleaming with a flame hakkai couldn't understand but is captivated to look. the valleys in his collarbones and rolls of flesh underneath the velvet skin lure painters to stare than paint his image. his colors were the palette of spring, cream rose, and golden, contrary to winter's silver-white and blue. botticelli would love painting him, replacing venus on his painting, a human that reaches the divine. while mona lisa radiates sophistication, the man represents venus' sensuality.

mitsuya takashi, the infamous young prodigy, is a malicious beauty.

however, hakkai knows beauty is a scary thing to adore. a devil was once an angel, or he would condemn icarus for the naivete of loving an unattainable being and dying the consequences. he could list thousands of events where beauty has been the death of the many; he could count this encounter to be one. not his death, though, but his classmates.

the bell rings, indicating the break for everyone, breaking his stare from the model. hakkai noticed how the room stops when mitsuya stood up and stretched, admiring his charms; he's damned if he claimed that the moment didn't humor him. like a human caught in a trance by a nymph, they ogle before him. well, he is indeed a nymph. that is all mitsuya is to hakkai's eyes, tantalizing yet sly.

he clean after himself with his sketchbook and duffel bag, brushing off everyone, occupied by the fact that he hasn't started anything on his canvas. the fifteen-minute break they spared is too precious to lose, especially to hakkai. his feet drag him at the back of his department, confused as to why he doesn't know either.

he rummaged at the contents of his duffel bag, working his eager fingers through mountains of crippled papers, notes, and pencils until he hits the smooth plastic-y texture buried in his trash. a pack of marlboro he kept hidden. hakkai had convinced everyone, including yuzuha, that he is one to stay away from vices as much as possible. it's a thing he'd unconsciously done, wishing he could kill it. setting the tip lit, he inhaled the nicotine, and sigh, forming ghosts of his frustration through the air.

"maybe, i understand now, what eve felt after she ate the apple,"

hakkai jumped from where he stood, turning his gaze to the unwelcomed visitor who violated his peace. sanzu haruchiyo. a famous student around the campus for his eccentricity, especially in his art pieces. a man of caution and scandal, two words that couldn't fit but somehow describe sanzu. hakkai knows better than associate himself with a man like him, or at least what he convinced everyone around him.

"the serpent," said sanzu, "deception has and will continue to be humanity's greatest enemy,"

hakkai took out the cigar with his hands, pursing his lips, "however, it has been in a man's nature to be deceiving."

"are you implying that the infamous prodigy, mitsuya takashi, is a cunning person, old friend?" a dramatic gasp followed by an exaggerated gesture covers sanzu's mouth, earning a chuckle by hakkai.

"it did not come from my mouth," puffing out another smoke of his cigarette.

he offers his pack to the man beside him, and soon veil of smoke appears through the air. there was a pregnant pause between them, accompanying the afternoon wind that plays through the trees.

"you thought of the same thing, huh?" sanzu said, taking back the cigarette to his mouth.

"he's something," hakkai puffs out the smoke into the air, "and, i don't want to know what that is."

"be careful, old friend. pandora had said the same thing."

the break went by fast, and the room he had left earlier starts filling with heads of people held captive by mitsuya. if given a chance, hakkai wouldn't even choose to come back, choosing to spend his time sleeping than paint. but, it's a must. more than whatnot, it's something engrained on his mind to abide a must.

hakkai sat in front of his easel, waiting for mitsuya to sit butt-naked on the platform once again. in his mind, there is desperation clawing at his nerves. sanzu's words struck a chord in him, even though it sounded light-hearted in his ears. it is enough to rattle his core like a chime in a gentle breeze. intoxicated or not, the lad has his way with words.

he intently followed mistuya, observing the lad take off his robe, bare naked in front of everyone. and, he sat—as for what hakkai could describe—in the most sensual pose: one that even the goddess of beauty would envy. hei felt something in him snap. paint the madonna of mischief. it screams and begs, itching his hands to draw, though this time, there's something different in him.

he draws his pencil, letting it dance in the canvas; it felt light more than he expected.

the room, once filled to the brim, is now empty. the hands of the cock had indicated it was two hours past the end of their session, and the sky had long since enveloped with darkness. but, hakkai didn't bother to stop, hands moving with eagerness to finish the painting with what he had in mind.

gashes of paint on his forearms and apron show the universe he indulged in at the moment. the apricot color overlaps the green, forming into the shape of the model and his sensual pose. the carnal flesh of his exposed body parts was still obscure, far from the detailed imaged in the expanse of his mind.

"out of all the paintings i observed, yours is truly impressive," turning around to see who the unsolicited visitor he has at the moment.

scrunching his nose in disdain and turning back to his work. hakkai mustered to say, "i appreciate the thought, but i don't need such compliments."

"i don't give such compliments to just anyone you know,"

"please leave," stopping his hands from moving the brush to the canvas, "i do not have time to entertain you."

"watching you is entertaining enough," he twirls the pencil he got somewhere in his hand, eyes intently observing hakkai's reaction.

"i don't find you entertaining,"

the tapping sound of the pencil in the man's hands was overbearing for him, irking him like the clock that enveloped their silence. his eyes would try to glance behind him to see the man smiling from ear to ear, sitting at the space behind him, with his chin cushioned by his hand. paint me. mitsuya's presumptuous gaze would tell him, demanding him to paint even a dash of paint to his image.

"did you like it?"

hakkai felt his breath near his ear, and he immediately moved back, stumbling down his seat. the colors in his face fade as if he had seen a ghost himself, taken aback by the intrusive action of the man. but, he only earned chuckles and a couple of questions asking why he was so distant. if he could only answer without much hostility, he would do it.

"why did you even agree on being our model?" standing up after composing himself, "aren't you busy being the prodigy?"

"oh, dear, of course not," he walks towards hakkai, "especially when i learned that you're here,"

his alluring eyes compete with those of priced amethyst, blessed by the heavens with his seducing charms, walking towards him with a flame attempting to eat hakkai on his spot.

"me? what's your business with me?"

"i'm interested in you."