You had agreed: no feelings. This was something you and Chuuya had established right from the start. What you shared were nothing more than late-night encounters, tangled beneath the sheets, a temporary escape from the crushing stress that the Port Mafia constantly placed on your shoulders.

There was nothing else to it. Only nocturnal meetings, stolen hours in the darkness, with no love involved.

At least, that was what you tried to keep telling yourself.

But as the days went by, the certainty began to erode. Doubt crept in, haltingly and softly, into the silence after your encounters. But of course, you knew better than to speak of it. To talk of it might destroy what you shared. It would be breaking the unspoken rules of the compact between the two of you.

“What are you thinking about?”

His voice pulled you back to the present.

Chuuya was lying beside you on your bed, the sheets draped loosely over his body, covering him only up to his stomach. His bare chest was on full display —the same chest you had undressed not long ago, your hands still remembering its warmth. His skin bore faint marks from your touch, proof that what had just happened was real.

his auburn hair was a bit disheveled, his curls spilling into his eyes, and his normally sharp and composed face was replaced by a softer, more fragile look. The lighting in the room was subdued, the lights of the city of Yokohama casting a glow through the curtains, creating shadows on the walls. Outside, the realm of violence and strength never slept, but in the room, time stood still.

You lie there alongside him, your gaze fixed upon the ceiling, the sound of his breathing a steady cadence in your ears. These were the most dangerous moments of all. Not the heat, not the kisses he stole: but the silence. The look he gave you when he thought you weren’t looking. The way his hand hung upon him a moment too long when he reached for you.

You turned your head slightly, catching his eyes. Blue eyes scanned your face, trying to decipher the thoughts racing through your mind that you so desperately tried to conceal.