23 and 33, erich/kisuke, “Adam and Evil”? 😀
ser
(23: One night stand turns serious, 33: Balcony Wooing scene Erich/Kisuke)
Kisuke eyes the slowly lightening sky, then glances over his shoulder at the bed where Erich is casually leaning back against the headboard, a book in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other.
“I thought you were going?” Erich asks as he glances up from his book, his gaze almost a physical sensation as he trailed it down Kisuke’s body. “You certainly got dressed quickly enough.”
“Maa… well…” Kisuke purses his lips and looks away, trying to focus on the town outside instead of on the awkward urge to simply turn back and crawl into bed with Erich once more. “I should… really head out,” he murmurs, trying to convince himself more than anything else; catching feelings certainly wasn’t in his plans when he fell into bed with Erich the night before, both of them jittery with the relief of surviving— of repelling— a full Otherworld Invasion practically on their own.
He’s proven his theory sound, proven that he can indeed predict the waves of monsters from beyond, and now… now he needs to move on. To the next town, the next critical point, the next lonely struggle.
(He has to do something to make up for all the mistakes he’s made in the past, and if this is all he can do, if running from town to town to fight the hoards until he dies is his penance, then he’ll do it.)
(There is no other option.)
Erich hums softly and turns the page in his book. “You don’t have to do everything alone, you know,” he says, voice deliberately casual.
Kisuke hastily bites back a snort at Erich’s words; no matter how willing the man was to both fight at his side and later fall into bed with him, he truly doubts the man means the implicit offer of his words. The Quincy are a bold people, unafraid of living in the wild-lands under constant threat of Otherworld Invasions, but they are also a prideful people, and the idea that a Quincy would permanently ally with a Shinigami is ludicrous.
(Shinigami are the ones who, long ago, drove the Quincy out of safety and into the wild-lands beyond.)
(Nearly every Quincy he’s come across in his travels holds that grudge near and dear to their heart.)
(That Erich hasn’t shot him in the back already is enough of a miracle.)
(He isn’t going to push his luck further.)
“If you think I’m unaware that you’re a Shinigami, then you need to seriously stop and rethink your approach,” Erich tells him with a touch of amusement. “The sword alone is pretty obvious.”
“Ex-Shinigami, thank you,” Kisuke replies, a bit more sharply than he intends, then grimaces at the way Erich’s expression shades towards thoughtful. “Never mind,” he mutters in an awkward attempt to brush it aside. “Stay on your toes. There will probably be another invasion here in a week and a half.”
“A week and a— hey! Kisuke! Get back here and explain!”
Kisuke flinches at the rising anger in Erich’s voice but doesn’t pause. He vaults over the little balcony’s railing and the minute his sandals hit the pavement below, he darts away in a burst of shunpo.
He has other towns to visit, other invasions to thwart.
He can’t let unexpected feelings get in his way.
(Never again.)
(Never.)
The next time they meet, Kisuke is exhausted and wounded and fighting for his life, and Erich is a deadly storm that sweeps in and shoves the rising tide of monsters back.
Erich is… Erich is beautiful, Kisuke acknowledges numbly; the man’s every move carries intent almost as powerful as the monsters’ own, and he drives them back with furious ease, leaving dead and dying monsters in his wake. Not one manages to slip past him, not towards Kisuke, not towards the town Kisuke was trying to defend, not even towards the plains beyond. The only way they can escape is back through the Otherworld Tear, and with every minute that passes more and more monsters decide to flee back to their own realm, until finally the Tear collapses and a watchful silence settles.
Kisuke swallows as Erich turns towards him, hand clenching tight around the Benihime’s hilt, but he can’t force himself to move. Can’t force himself to run the way he should.
(He’s weary-injured-exhausted and Erich is fresh-powerful-furious and they parted poorly and he— he can’t— Erich will—)
“You foolish man,” Erich says as he closes the distance between them, gaze sharp and hands warm-kind-soft as he begins to assess Kisuke’s wounds. “Sorry,” he murmurs in apology as his fingers catch on a bloodied scrap of fabric and Kisuke chokes back a pained noise. “Come on, let’s get you back to town so I can actually treat these.”
“N-no, it’s fine,” Kisuke forces out while trying to bat Erich’s hands away. “I can take care of it myself, and I have other places to be.” Which is a lie, or at least the part about needing to be elsewhere is; his calculations don’t indicate another Invasion for more than a week, which is fine. He’ll just… find a place to hole up for a while as he heals. Maybe find Tessai to help. He’ll be fine. He will.
Erich narrows his eyes and steps back, arms crossing over his chest, his voice sharp-defensive-wary as he says, “You have five minutes to get out of my sight, then. Otherwise, I’m bringing you back to town with me.”
The breath freezes in Kisuke’s throat as he stares blankly at Erich, uncertain how to take the man’s words. Last time, they’d fallen into bed simply because they’d fought side-by-side and survived, but this time—
This time, Erich had to come to his rescue. This time, Kisuke is at his mercy, has turned down the (maybe honest?) offer for help, and now Erich wants him gone, so he—
Flees.
Tessai heals him, because of course Tessai does, and then Kisuke immediately flees before he has to listen to any further comments about his (lack of) common sense; Tessai doesn’t know why Kisuke ran four towns over in the state he did, and Kisuke’s not about to tell him about Erich, so it does probably look like a worse decision than it was, but that’s fine.
Tessai’s had opinions about Kisuke’s common sense since they first met, and it hasn’t changed their friendship in the slightest.
Kisuke makes sure to keep an eye out from then on, senses stretched to the limit in order to catch the smallest trace of Erich’s presence, and does his best to stay on the move. He doesn’t know what a third meeting will entail, but he doesn’t want to risk it; with his luck, Erich will simply shoot him on sight without giving him a chance to escape.
Still, he can’t just stop. He’s the reason for the rising tide of invasions: it’s his research, his experiments, his knowledge that Aizen is using to influence the worlds.
And Kisuke just let him have it.
(He should have seen through the man’s tricks, should have been more cautious, more wary, more alert!)
(Instead, he fell right into Aizen’s trap, too blinded by his own hubris to see the jaws closing around him and now—)
(No.)
(He doesn’t have time to wallow.)
(He’ll fix this.)
(He will.)
(…he has to…)
(art by ser)