In Another World

Burgers and Feelings

It took Angel a full week to be able to look at the many instant messages that Aki had left. Aki had even called several times and left messages on his voicemail, but Angel was not brave enough to look at those. It had been a week and a day since Angel and Aki dry-humped like crazy rabbits. Angel couldn't bear to look at Aki and had been doing everything in his power to avoid him.

Angel couldn't stop overthinking the situation. Aki had mentioned before that he hadn't dated in two years, so he was almost certainly horny and desperate for some attention to his dick. Desperate enough that he was willing to give up his straightness? Well, many straight men had sex with each other in jail because there were no women in the proximity, so why not out of jail too? Aki was desperate to get some, Angel looked reasonably ambiguous, and Aki was drunk, so, as long as nobody found out, what was the harm?

Except Denji and Power were bound to figure it out, and Aki would probably hate him. That was probably what he had been messaging over the week. He probably hated Angel by now. He would have wanted to avoid him at all costs because he felt like he caught the gay from Angel.

Aki had an excuse. He could just say, "I was too drunk," and that was an acceptable excuse. Angel, however? Angel had no excuse. He didn't even have half a glass of wine. He was extremely sober during that interaction and was even begging Aki to keep going. Angel may have been touch starved, but that was no excuse to keep demanding more and more out of Aki. Angel had never been happier than that moment, but he knew he would never get another shot.

Everything seemed to be going wrong in Angel's mind. He was having more nightmares, and that included the dream he had about him being a devil. In that dream, he and Aki walked down to the beach, but just before they did, Angel stopped walking. Aki turned to face him, looking back with some slight confusion.

"Aki... Aki, we could-"

"No. We can't. I need to protect Denji and Power."

The finality of Aki's words sent Angel into despair. He wanted to run away with Aki because he loved Aki so damn much. He wanted to live out the rest of eternity with him, even if that eternity lasted less than two years. Angel wasn't sure he would be able to live without Aki, but instead he just quietly nodded and followed him as they walked down to the beach. They spoke a little, with Angel being unable to help being jealous of his supposed feelings for Makima.

And then they met her at the beach. Angel's dream became much more strange and tragic after that, with Makima turning out to be the Control Devil. Angel realized as he watched Aki agree to make a contract, and he remembered that she made him kill all of those people that he loved. He could not let this happen. Aki would surely be killed if Angel didn't act immediately. He couldn't go through life without love again.

Angel had failed in the dream. He watched somewhere in the back of his mind, the part of him that wasn't controlled but couldn't do anything. He watched as Aki died. He watched as Makima used up thousands of years of people that he had killed. He didn't remember exactly how he died, but he was almost certain that it was by the Chainsaw Man. He woke up in the morning crying, unable to handle the intense grief of what happened to him in his dreams. It was like a forewarning that he and Aki would only end up in tragedy if they went for each other.

Angel had drunk a few too many glasses of wine and had played The Sims for a bit too long when he finally opened up the instant messaging service, scrolling back a week without really reading anything. When he found the first message, sent at eight in the morning on the first of January, he took a big swig of his wine, prepared to feel like absolute shit, and cry into his pillow for the third time in a week.

♡Aki♡

Hey, Angel, I'm really sorry about last night, I

was way out of line. I need to talk to you,