nuruafton9
The night was quiet, cicadas singing in the distance. Rengoku sat on the engawa, his back straight, a cup of tea cooling in his hands.
Beside him, Tomioka Giyu sat in perfect stillness, as always.
Silence. Heavy, steady.
It should have been suffocating. And yet, with Giyu, silence felt... comfortable.
Rengoku exhaled loudly, breaking the calm.
"Tomioka! You're far too quiet! Don't you ever get bored living without words?"
Giyu turned slightly, meeting his eyes with that blank expression of his.
"No."
The simplicity of it should have annoyed him-but instead Rengoku's chest gave a strange little tremor. He covered it with his usual booming laugh, head thrown back.
"Ha! You really are strange, Tomioka!"
But when his laughter died down, he realized he was... staring. Too long, too openly. At Giyu's eyes-still pools of water. At his hands curled around the teacup. At the fall of his haori across his shoulders.
Rengoku's heartbeat quickened.
No. Not like that. I'm just... admiring him. That's all.
He bit his lip and looked away sharply, afraid Giyu might notice.
But then Giyu's voice broke the quiet, low and steady.
"You're staring."