Acta Non Verba

Cho Tokyo; 01:50 AM, Rowdy Shogun HQ - Shadowmane Manor.

Deep in the depths of Shadowmane Manor, if one could navigate all its deceptive hallways, one could find an extravagant office hidden behind a grand arch at the back of the library. The library had been personally compiled by the Master of the Manor over the years in his lifelong pursuit of education and understanding magic. In the heart of the office, a grand oak desk filled with paperwork stood in front of a fireplace that breathed life into the heavy atmosphere of the room and a fur rug and sofa in the reading area. 

On such a night, like any other, the leader of Rowdy Shogun had been holed up in the said office. He perched on a desk, on the right to his large leather chair, as he read over an unmarked red letter that had been left on his desk. It wasn’t strange that notes and tip-off written accounts have been left for him, considering his entire network of credible connections who make him privy to note worthy movements in Cho Tokyo.

He chanced a glance outside through the window, watching the rain pour down in sheets, behind his desk after he read the contents of the letter. It left him a little amused.

“Interesting.” He mused softly as he tossed the letter into his fireplace.

The letter may be gone but the words remained with Lupus, “Don’t drink the wine.”

Clearly the single line letter gave no other clues or type of context under which this rule should be applied.

Lupus turned his attention to the newspaper on his desk.

“ASTRO PARK GRAND REOPENING.”

“WHO WILL MAKE THE GUEST LIST FOR THE PARTY OF THE DECADE?”  

He canted his head to the side, thinking about what the near future held for him. Astro Park has been something Lupus has been keeping an eye on personally for years. Never had he imagined they would surface so brazenly.

But Lupus knew that Astro9 probably had a few tricks up their sleeve to make them confident enough to approach in such a bold manner.  

His musings were cut short by a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

A tall man stepped into the room. He’s dressed in a large soft white hoodie and jeans unlike how his older brother was dressed in a dress shirt and slacks. However the glaring point were the cybernate implants around his right eye and in his left ear. A foreign element in contrast to his soft messy blonde hair and sleepy eyes. He was clutching onto his tablet and Lupus can make out new cybernate implants on his hand, his fingertips covered with metal alloys and Lupus spies it stops at his wrist.

Lupus wasn’t expecting to see his baby-brother-turned-cyborg standing in his office in the middle of the night. The cyborg had a habit of retreating to his charging deck, given the late hour of the night. He stood rigidly and waited for further orders.

“Q-B. Is something wrong? Engage social mode.”

He watches the cyborg visibly tighten his already perfect posture.

“Error. My matrix refuses to disengage until my findings are reported.”

“Proceed.” Lupus raised an eyebrow while crossing his arms across his chest.

“There’s been movement in the region where Astro Park is located. Unnaturally high levels of energy have been recorded and they are climbing.”

“That’s natural. They’ve been planning this party for a while. We’ve been waiting for this. I don’t see the need to be on alert.” Lupus hummed.

“I can’t detail the energy signatures. It's intricate. There are traces of DNA in it.”

“Ah. That’s magic, Q-B. Like my own.”

“The signature differs from Subject Lupus.” He frowns.

“Oh? How so?”

“The first is linked to a Subject Dill.” Q-B’s eyes brighten with electric blue light as he accesses his data analysis on the energy readings. “My analysis states he’s concentrating the energy for some purpose.”

“What does he specialise in?”

“Hypnosis. My matrix doesn’t see the need to correlate these two.”

“Magic and energy work on strange levels. It goes hand in hand with their craft following the theme of the party.”

“The scale matches but the energy doesn’t comply. The reading is almost triple.”

“Monitor for now, Q-B. I don’t think this is the right time to poke at it.”

“Understood. The other is linked to Subject Aria.”

And Lupus visibly frowns, unaware of how he’s set Q-B off and he reads over Lupus.

“You’re displaying elevated levels of emotions. Curiosity has spiked the most.”

“Q-B…” Lupus warned softly.

“It is in my new protocol to survey when there is a disturbance in a subject’s neuro-levels. Especially if it is a companion in my presence. My matrix engaged concern for you. Deal with it.” Q-B huffed.

“Aria…” Lupus tested the name on his tongue carefully after what seemed like years, “What is he doing that is giving off an energy signature?”

“Readings are synonymous with charting star alignment. He has engaged Horologium from what I’ve extrapolated from your memories you’ve shared with me.”

Lupus was caught off guard by that information. He didn’t expect Aria to be using his ability so freely with his new group. He distinctly remembers the latter telling him he wished to keep his abilities a secret.

“Can you help me keep my secret?”

Lupus shook off the intrusive memory and turned his attention back to his brother.

“Keep this classified.”

“I must disagree with this decision, Lupus.”

“Disagree all you want, Q-B, but do it quietly. I don’t want anyone else to be aware of this.”

“We could be at a tactical disadvantage if we don’t prepare accordingly to these vital readings.” He urged.

“We do need to look like we are at a tactical disadvantage.”

“Unacceptable. We have the party in a few days and we have VIPs to take care of. We would heighten their chances of being endangered at this party by threefold according to our current preparations.”

“Trust in me.”

“Lu-”

Q-B was cut off when there was someone at Lupus’ door for the second time that night.

“Lupus-sama.” A quiet voice carried through his closed office doors.

Lupus sighed, “Yes, Lucas. Come in.”

It was then the fiery redhead entered. Lucas, Lupus’ right hand in strategies and planning, had been dressed down for the night. The lines in his cheek and his mussed hair gave the clear sign he had been napping before arriving at Lupus’ office.

“Am I interrupting something?” He asked gently, clearly sensing something going on between the brothers.

“No. No, you’re not. I was just wrapping up with Q-B,” He turned to his little brother, “Dismissed. We will discuss this at a later time.”

“But -”

“Unless you want me to prompt a forced shut down on your primary systems and set your social matrix to people pleaser mode, get out.” Lupus hissed in annoyance.

“Fine. I’ll be working on the equipment.”

“No. You will not modify anything. Go to bed, Q-B. That is an order.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“As your Nii-san, I can. If I only find you later with a battery with anything less than 98 percent -”

“Fuck. Fine. Goodnight.”

The cyborg leaves in huff, slamming the door behind him.

“You shouldn’t be so hard on him.” Lucas said as he watched Lupus pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Get out if you’re here to lecture me on sibling squabbles.” Lupus scoffed.

“I’m not. I’m just saying, be more understanding. It’s not easy for him. His transition wasn’t smooth. It's difficult for him. Trying to remember how to remain human while having all that technology being invasive to him is quite the mental struggle and he still manages to stay on top of things.”

“Smooth or not. It was life saving. He’s being a brat and abusing his new found power because he’s become one with his gadgets and computers.”

“Let him be, Lupus. I think it’s exciting because he’s still finding his way.” Lucas grinned but his dazzling look softens into a gentle smile, “C’mon, you should unwind. It's really late.”

“I can’t relax. Miya and Kisaragi aren’t back yet.” He sighed again as Lucas pushed him into his office chair and Lucas perched on his desk.

“Oh!” Lucas’ face lit up with realisation, “That’s why I’m here! I meant to tell you they’re back.”

“Why haven’t they reported to me yet?” He growled.

“You were being loud while arguing with Q-B. They’ve been outside your door a good ten minutes, waiting for a chance to enter and report their findings. I’ve sent them off because they got caught in the rain.”

“Divines. Help me.” Lupus clicks his tongue and frowns as he faces his fireplace, glaring at the flames.

“I spotted them and rescued them from being your next target of your anger.” Lucas snickered.

“How noble of you.” Lupus hissed the remark.

“When last did you sleep?”

“I - It's been… a few rough nights for me…” The leader admitted with his shoulders slumping with defeat. Lucas leans forward and grips the arm rests of Lupus’ office chair before reaching to Lupus’ cheek.

“Maybe you should take advantage of the night and sleep. Spend the night with m-”

“Good night, Lucas.” Lupus cuts him off and gently pulls his hand away from him. He stands up, taking advantage of the slight height difference with the fiery redhead, clearly identifying hurt on his beautiful features. But Lucas looks away, staying silent for a few moments before nodding his head, almost convincing himself to agree with Lupus.

“Right right. Good night, Lupus.” He didn’t spare one glance at Lupus as he headed out and closed the door behind him with a quiet click.

Lupus finally sunk down into his office chair after being left alone. He hated rejecting Lucas so coldly but it was best for Lucas. He wasn’t willing to cross that line with him. But the idea of holding someone close seemed nice. The mind numbing effect that comes with a good fuck and the tension relief after an orgasm sounded appealing.

Lupus shut his eyes for a moment, trying to unwind. The idea lingered. His mind played a dirty trick on him by surfacing old memories of the last time he had someone under him. He could almost feel their hands in his hair again. Their lips against his ear.

“Lupus.”

He sat up, far too rattled. He could feel his skin prickling with desire and he could already feel arousal pooling in his lower abdomen. He shook his head, trying to catch a grip. The voice behind calling out his name left him on edge. It had been too long and he had hoped he forgot the sound of their voice.

“Maybe I do need sleep… a shower first.” He scrubbed a hand over his face before staring out his window that gave him a full view of his Manor gardens.

Lupus had retreated further into Shadowmane Manor. Not many knew where to find Lupus’ bedroom. He liked that about the manor.

“Only I know how to find my way to you. I always have and always will.”  

He felt the small shudder shake him to his core. He didn’t like the voice that was chiming in from his memories. He had kicked off his boots, stalking towards the bathroom. Lupus reached into the shower and flicked the tap to the hot end and opened the tap. He unbuttoned his shirt, catching the sight of the faint scars from years of combat training, before stepping under the water spout.

Lupus stood under the water mulling over how to get rid of the lingering thoughts. He needed just a few hours of decent sleep before he needed to start his day all over again. He had a ton of issues to deal with once he woke up. Eventually he stopped thinking. He felt the water rush down his back, the heat on his back allowing him to relax.

“Then let me indulge you.”

And Lupus had never wished more to actually hear those words with some other voice but not him .

“I want you, Lupus.”

“Fuck!”

“All of me is yours. Yours only.”

He snarled while slamming his fist against the tiles of his shower cubicle.

“Lup-ah! Lupus… Lu-”

He shut his eyes, leaning back against the cold tiles, trying to tamp down on the need to delve further into those memories. He felt even more irritable with how hard he was.

“We’ll be together forever.”

He shakily exhaled, tipping his head back, as he gave in and wrapped his hand around his length to find relief. It was years since Lupus found himself being this needy… this caught up in his own memories of the very last time he was starving for affection and carnal pleasure. 

“C’mon. I don’t need this right now.” He growled under his breath when his orgasm built up but he couldn’t fall off the edge. It was a struggle despite the pleasing pressure of his hand and the measured pace of stimulation and it wasn’t like Lupus didn’t know his own way around his own body. Everything he did was perfect in terms of a technique to please his body but there he was struggling to finish. 

Lupus was very much in tune with the things he liked and disliked. He especially knew what could get him off the fastest and of all times for it to fail him. He locked his jaw as he felt the surge of lust punch through him, reminding him it was a vicious and greedy demon.

It wanted more from him. It needed him to let go of his mental guards. Reminded him that lust was not his to hold control over. His desire held him prisoner to let go of his pride and inhibitions that he had kept an iron fist over for years.

Just once.

He let go of everything that was telling him no and fell into his instincts.  

“Lupus.”  

He gasped as his orgasm ripped through him. He felt him spilling white all over his hand and he barely even recognised his own low moan of satisfaction. His shoulders sagged with feel good hormones seeping into him.

“That should not have felt as great as it did…” He realized how fucked up he was since he was berating himself aloud.

With good reason. Lupus spent a moment trying to blink and shift his ability back to his human sight level. The wolf vision made him hyper aware of how he’s kept his bodily instincts and nature suppressed all these years. It was screaming to let loose again. He didn’t expect to trigger his own wolf abilities by succumbing to such a minute incident.

But it used to happen frequently when he was around.

“Tch.” Lupus grimaced. He needed to clean up, bath all over again and go to bed.

And banish the memory of this night for good.

When Lupus had emerged from his shower, it had been freezing with the rain coming down in icy sheets and the temperature had plummeted to the point Lupus could feel the cold steal its way into his room, even with the fireplace crackling. He didn’t like how the cold had been numbing him entirely. It was very telling of how quickly he was brought back to reality.

Is this fear? Is this anticipation?

The morning found Lupus too quickly. But it didn’t seem quick enough to escape the long vivid dreams of bright brown eyes clouded over with lust and soft plush lips calling his name. He was uncomfortably hard when he woke up. He felt too heavy and sensitive.

Lupus sighed irritably, rubbing at the tension in his neck. He was caught up in the thick of work, with Rowdy Shogun balancing many delicate and time sensitive projects, yet he was mulling over how his body was reacting like a hormonal teenager again.

Another shower.

Lupus had stood in front of his mirror, running a hand through his hair. He looked wrecked. It's not noticeable to others but he can tell when he’s off kilter. He could see this was taking a toll on him. He needed more sleep.

Coffee will fix this.

It wasn’t long before he was dressed, a crisp stone colour dress shirt and black slacks, and he stepped into his signature boots before heading to his office.

He felt an uncomfortable aura surrounding his office. He placed his hand on the door knob and heard muted shuffling before he opened the door and waited three seconds before stepping into the room.

He spotted Miya and Kisaragi seated on his reading sofa, waiting for him. Kisaragi had one of Lupus’ fictional novels, something that was a shared love between both men, in hand while Miya had been playing with one of the holographic puzzles Lupus kept on his desk.

A great cover as if nothing else had gone on in his office, but Kisaragi’s turtleneck shirt is wrinkled and Miya’s hair had a noticeable ducktail fashion which was not how he styled his hair. The biggest give away was Kisaragi had been tugging on his ear as he was reading - Lupus knew this was a telltale of when he was nervous or worse, caught. 

And given the puffy nature of Kisaragi’s mouth, he was indeed caught.

“Next time. Not in my office.”

Both of the silent spies whipped in the direction of their leader and stared with wide eyes.

“Don’t fucking look at me like that. I don’t care what the both of you did but I can practically smell the carnal energy in this room. You two may be my best spies but your pheromones, unlike the both of you, aren’t discreet. Keep it together at least until you’re out of my office.”

You’re much more in tune to carnal want because you’re craving it.

“Sorry.” Kisaragi apologised curtly, tugging at his turtleneck collar.

“Look. It's been a long night for us all. Have you two eaten breakfast yet?” Lupus sighed, resigning to not wanting to deal with Kisaragi sulking.

The two canted their heads to the side and blinked.

“Unbelievable.” Lupus muttered.

Lupus grimaced, lamenting how exhausting his day was going to be, hitting the intercom on his desk that linked to the head maid.

“I don’t have an appetite this morning. Kisaragi and Miya are dining in my office for breakfast. Plan breakfast accordingly.”

It was then Lupus sat on his desk.

“Lucas said you were trying to report back to me but I was otherwise occupied last night.”

“Q-B mentioned something like that.” Kisaragi smirked.

Another sigh from Lupus, “Drama later. Report first.” He scolded Kisaragi softly.

“We merely had been patrolling Astro Park to ensure there was no foul play behind the party preparations.” Miya intervened, knowing that Kisaragi was a malevolent tease and loved to push Lupus’ buttons from time to time.

“What of A9 and their party?” Lupus asked.

All this talk of Astro 9 had increasingly developed into a headache for Lupus.

“Their choice in party décor seems a little… dark.” Miya worded slowly, clearly unnerved by his own findings.

“Be specific.” Lupus frowned.

“There’s obviously a likened theme to the upcoming solstice. We’ve seen all kinds of carnival-like décor but there's definitely an obsession with stars.” Kisaragi piped up, flexing his knowledge on the topic.

“Are we to be alarmed with this?” Lupus asked, hoping to know where Kisaragi was going with this.

“For now? No. However, the party date aligns with the solstice at its peak. We need to be mindful if they’re manipulating cosmic energy. Come to think of it, I can’t recall a single ability in A9 that would have a great advantage to this.” Kisaragi mused softly as he gave Lupus a knowing look but he wouldn’t press further. As far as Kisaragi knew, he only was inclined to believe that Lupus had more knowledge behind anything relating to cosmic energy given when they had been in the back then known Torii Gates gang together. 

Kisaragi pulled out his communication device and brought up their profiles and their abilities.  

Aria would.

“Come to think of it. It would be beneficial to all ability users.” Miya hummed, contemplating what the solstice meant for all ability users.”

“You too, boss.” Kisaragi made eye contact with him.

He sometimes hated how perceptive Kisaragi was, but that is what Kisaragi excels at. 

Observing .

“Why me?” Lupus questioned.

“It's a lunar eclipse for this solstice.” Kisaragi mumbled while reading through his data from the night before.

“Yeah. As a wolf ability user, you’re vulnerable.” Miya said.

“Not vulnerable. We’re susceptible. It's actually an empowering period.” Lupus sniffed as he corrected the spy.

“Anyway, speculations aside. What else do you have to report?”

“Not much. They’re keeping a lot of their stuff under wraps. We couldn’t even get our hands on the guest list.”

“Clearly they’re blocking you intentionally. It's difficult when the both of you are stumped but it is not your fault. You two are free to retire for the day - please do so, quietly. Or I will find work for the both of you and neither of you will enjoy it.”

“Right,” Miya sulked. He didn’t like being scolded for something he had done… well, yet.

“What’s our strategy going forward?”

“We wait on invitations.” Lupus' jaw locked as he brooded over the thought.

Lupus was nearly startled when Q-B’s cube communication device on his desk unfolded to display the holo avatar of Q-B. His eyes widened with surprise but then he recovered his normally collected demeanour. 

“Yes, Q-B?”

“My system crashed. Seems like one hell of a party invitation. You should come take a look at this.” Q-B shrugged his shoulders.

Lupus wanted to wince. He really shouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning.

He spoke too soon.

Location: Celestial Sky Swallowing Shrine. Domain: Unknown. Time: Unknown

Cho Tokyo is home to many secrets. Some are as superficial as Blue Shield’s true agendas and some are as sought after as Black Diamonds. They come in all forms and shapes and aren’t limited to its intensity or extravagance. One such secret is a crystal walled chamber, hidden from the prying eyes of the average masses of Cho Tokyo. This is the Celestial Sky Swallowing Shrine.

The name is derived from the enchanted overhead ocular opening to the skies but concealed from the vain material world by illusion magic. In the centre of the chamber lay an open pool of luminous moonstone, the entire thing structured to represent the celestial sphere that exists and its integrated thick copper equatorial rings, engraved with measurements and prayers to the stars. The instrument was a modified armillary sphere - an astronomy instrument to chart the elements (ecliptic and celestial phenomenon) of the sky surrounding the earth.

It stood proudly, its rings thrumming with ancient magic as it moved silently as the planets aligned. It chimed softly with the dawn breaking over the ocular opening of the shrine, faintly casting its incandescent lights over crystal walls in the chamber.   

Aside from the intricate design of the armillary sphere, stood a grand oak table. It was mammoth in its scale, specifically its surface area and thickness. The table was carved to display an ancient astrolabe. 

Normally, astrolabes were made of common metals and were hand-held devices used to navigate the horizons and to keep time. But this one was crafted from silver, far too large to be held in a single man’s grasp and engraved with prayers in ancient script. 

Yantraraja .

The King of Instruments. 

As it was named so, it was the most accurate tool ever bestowed to the devotee of the shrine. It held many truths as it whispered fates and visions. 

The table was scattered with several clear crystal spheres that would move according to the person who was charting the stars. The spheres rolled quietly indicating dawn had arrived in earnest. Layering the Yantraraja was a Cosmolabe, manifested from nothing but pure magic. It hovered over the surface of the table in the form of pure dazzling opalescent white light as it divined the positions of the heavenly bodies.

However one more thing resided at this table.

A man.

Dressed in robes of the shrine. 

His outer robe which had been draped over his shoulders - an old habit from someone very close to him in his past - was thick enough to shield him from the cold of the night. It was the only traditional thing he would wear while being in the shrine as per the prayer rituals needed to enter the shrine by the one who would invoke the powers of the universe and the stars. The robe was made of rich navy dyed fabric and was grand in its design with heavy oriental brocaded edges on the hemlines and the mimicked mosaic of the night sky, scattered with millions of stars in fine silver stitch work.

The man truly never wore the robe as it was much too big on him. The sleeves would fall past way beyond where his fingertips would end and the robe would gather on the floor despite his above average height. 

Under the draped robe he lay asleep, his soft cream coloured dress shirt unbuttoned as his long gold chain scattered over the desk. It was a thick ring that would click out of place and turn into an armillary sphere of nine different equatorial rings that would generate the holographic image of a pale blue stone in the middle of it. Currently the rings lay closed forming the chunky ring.

He was asleep over the astrolabe, a cool crystal sphere pressing against his cheek as he was asleep over the coordinate it was meant to sit on. His curly black hair tumbled over his work space, which was a mess of several notebooks filled with his neat looping handwriting - each one dedicated to the subjects of his studies, red letter paper and his inkwell. 

His snores were silenced by the wolf who had been wrapped around his chair legs and rested its head in his lap, the muted snores drowned out any other sound in the shrine. He fell asleep with a hand over the wolf’s head, petting and soothing his shining coat of fur, the brilliant shade of starlight, as he lulled the wolf to sleep with him.  

“Aria… My Aria… Mine.”

The man jolted awake, startled out of his sleep by the cosmic forces rushing through him. He scrambled, trying to purchase onto something to hold him down as unwelcomed forces surged through his being. His breathing hitched, his chest tightening with the overflow of magic. 

“Aria…” 

The wolf beside him howled as if pained before it threw itself away from the man’s touch. It stretched out, almost physically resisting the cosmic forces surging through its body; its lips curling back before growling as its body shifted back to the wolf’s original beast size under the foreign aura surrounding him. The wolf’s normal warm brown eyes had changed into a deep red.

Like the wolf, he had been affected. 

He had tried to sit up but his arms gave out their support as he leaned on the table and collapsed over the astrolabe, his jaw slacked with his gasp and his eyes completely covered with blinding starlight and dark purple flecks before he passed out.

“ARIA!”

Aria’s silver haired companion, Karasu, had been at the entrance of the shrine carrying a tray of food with him. But the tray was a mess on the floor as he ran over to pick Aria up. The wolf whined as he nudged at Aria’s limp form, licking over the back of his cold hand gently.

“C’mon, Aria, wake up.” Karasu cursed softly as he cradled Aria against him. Sometimes Karasu hated how the younger one was so much smaller in his arms. It was always concerning in moments of him getting visions. Aria’s visions weren’t dangerous. The trick was waking up so he didn’t fall into a cosmic coma. His visions were always exhausting but they needed to keep him grounded to their material world and not lose his entire existence to the stars.

Karasu slowly rubbed his arms, feeling Aria’s slight and lean body becoming cold after the sudden surge of magic in his body had disappeared, and pressed his lips to Aria’s temple.

“Come back to me, Aria. You’re stronger than this.” He whispered softly, entangling his fingers with Aria’s as the younger’s head rolled to rest against Karasu’s chest.

It was quite the stretch that Karasu sat in Aria’s chair with Aria curled up in his lap. His wolf, Lykos, slowly encircled around Aria’s chair so his tail wrapped over Karasu’s legs and his neck rested as headrest for Karasu, keeping the two men warm and didn’t dare move from his spot.

It was only when Aria’s astrolabe chimed that it was close to 6 AM did Aria stir.

“Aria…” Karasu woke up the moment he noticed the shift in Aria’s breathing.

He looked down to see the younger actually readjusting his head to rest against Karasu’s arm comfortably. Karasu’s grip on his hand tightened a fraction when he saw the sleepy smile on Aria’s full petal lips and those bright honey brown eyes staring back at him.

Karasu felt his chest tighten. Aria in one word was soft. 

Every line that made up Aria was the softest; gentle sloping lines and organic curves that were only humanly possible. His eyes would scrunch up in half moons and his lips were plush but subtle in their shape, drawing one into watch his mouth as he spoke.

“Good morning,” He hummed a little and gave a little cat-like stretch, “I heard you… but I was too tired. My body wasn’t listening to me but I felt… something .” Aria shared softly before frowning a little.

“This is why you shouldn’t spend all night locked up in this Shrine. Especially when you have Horologium engaged. I came to fetch you.” Karasu scowled as he scolded Aria.

“Lykos was here as usual.”

“And Lykos was also affected.” Karasu scolded harshly, making Lykos whine loudly and lower his head in shame.

“Fuck… I didn’t mean to upset you, boy. Gomen, Lykos,” He tilted his head back to apologise to the wolf. “I’m just worried. This little experience shows that it isn’t a guarantee that you’ll both be safe on your own. We need to work on a better option especially when you won’t let anyone else but me in here.” He sighed and held Aria close to him.

Aria’s mysterious and secretive background has always been a sore point with Karasu. He always felt like he was fighting tooth and nail for even the smallest detail from Aria. He knew nearly next to nothing about the younger man but he was already too attached and ready to bend over backwards.

How could he not?

He could never resist the soft gentle way Aria would call his name and tell him he relies on Karasu and he would give Karasu the sweetest of smiles.

“You’re always taking care of me, Karasu. That’s why I let you in here. You’ve helped me get better.” Aria smiled.

There it is.

He nearly zoned out but his attention snapped back when he realised Aria had leaned up to kiss his cheek.

“It’s expected. I mean, no one would leave you on your own when your own ability is too much for you.” His cheeks burned with embarrassment and he looked away, a hand clasping at his neck as he rubbed at it unconsciously.

“But I was on my own before I met you.” Aria reached up, cupping his cheek and rubbing his thumb over the curve of his cheek.

“And that was a cruel mistake on you.” Karasu hummed softly.

“Do you think everyone can be charmed by me, like the way I charmed you?” Aria grinned playfully.  

“I… No - It's not like that… Everyone in Astro 9 would extend the same behaviour if you let them in here,” He struggled for words and Aria chuckled, evading Karasu’s earnest urging, a low and happy sound before he got up from Karasu’s lap.

“I think I’ve held you up long enough… Aren’t we sending out invitations this morning?” Aria stretched again and grabbed his notebook.

“Oh? Did you see something in your vision?”

“Hmm… Something … I just want to make note of this before I forget this little detail…” He flipped open toward the back of his book for an empty set of pages and looked over his shoulder to see Karasu petting and playing with Lykos a little ways from his desk before he penned two words.

His eyes darkened as he glared at the words.

Lupus. Solstice.

Cho Tokyo; 09:50 AM, RuBix Lab, Rowdy Shogun HQ - Shadowmane Manor.

“Fuck!” Q-B snarled as he slammed down the flat side of his fist on his console, leaving a hairline crack in the touch screen surface. He angrily threw down his earpiece and harshly yanked his hand back in a fist as the cybernate transmitter implants unplugged from his console. His entire lab had been rendered useless as Astro 9’s invitation had popped up on his display monitors like a virus and had refused to budge while it took control away from him.

It was then Lupus had entered Q-B’s lab.

Lupus' eyes roamed over the non responsive monitors and looked at Q-B’s ruffled hair - it had been a far wilder appearance than when Q-B takes naps, telling Lupus that Q-B was still prone to his habit of running his hand through his hair when frustrated. Even the look on his face was a dead give away to the cyborg’s mood.

Both the brothers had suddenly felt the weight of the atmosphere pressing down on them. They clearly were unnerved by the verbal disagreement and neither one of them had yet to apologise. 

It was then Lupus made the first move to break the tension.

“Status report?” He gave Q-B a wry smile, clearly understanding the entire situation and Q-B gave a sarcastic laugh.

“You’re joking, right?” Q-B huffed as he looked at his monitor in disgust as he sat down on his workstation table surface.

Lupus and Q-B stood in front of the display monitor reading over the digital invite in rich graphics of gold and black, inviting Rowdy Shogun to the Astro Park Grand Reopening.  

“Well, what happened?”

“It seems like this invitation needs to be accepted. And every fucking process I’ve run in the last twenty five minutes has been denied or ignored. I can’t ‘accept’ the blasted invitation and it keeps prompting a cackling clown every time I enter something wrong.” He vented as Lupus picked up one of the rubicund cubes, a playful puzzle Q-B has built in his spare time with holo tiles on every surface as he plays with it.

Lupus hummed softly, “Q-B, give me access.” He tossed it at Q-b after solving the puzzle in five swift moves.

Q-B raised an eyebrow as he caught it, “You know, watching you solve nine weeks of coding and building in just five moves is a little irritating to me right now,” He clucked his tongue and turned his nearest mounted tablet toward him before accessing his command station.

“Would have been less… Did you purposely leave out the 45 degree motion axis?”

Q-B stopped tapping on his screen and stared in horror at Lupus, “You could tell?”

“Quite…”

He seemed a little rattled before clearing his throat, “Uh… well… It seems I still have the option to hand over access. It's almost as if we’re playing a game and we’re rotating between players.” Q-B’s robotic voice came through as his eyes lit up with dull blue light as he plugged in his transmitters again, the thin cables springing out from his cybernetic implants on the back of his hand and attaching themselves almost parasitically to his console again.

“Hmm… Q-Bx…” He waited for Q-B’s computer to respond. He had insisted on creating an artificial intelligence persona who could carry out functions where Q-B would fail.

“Awaiting prompt.” Q-B’s lifeless voice spoke.

“Engage cybernetic identification.”

Lupus looked down to Q-B’s touch screen surface as the little frame for him to start popped up. He placed his palm flat on the surface, within the box frame and spread his fingers out, in a starfish like manner. He watched the thin cyber blue light scan over his hand, digitally mapping out his hand print.

“Subject Lupus. Welcome to QBx. Mainframe access granted.”

“Thank you.” He murmured before he stared back at the invitation, “Q-Bx.”

“Yes, Lupus?”

“Accept.”

“Access denied.”

“Why?” He raised an eyebrow at his brother.

“Subject Lupus lacks clearance.”

“How do I get clearance?” He folded his arms as he stared hard and long at his brother.

“Clearance key phrase required.”

“Hint?”

“Four words.”

He hummed, recalling his letter from last night.

“Don’t drink the wine…”

“Access Granted. Invite Accepted. Congratulations, Subject Lupus.” The lab seemed to sing as it started to come back to life. It whirred and hummed happily with fully control granted back to the AI. His phone buzzed in pocket and he pulled it out.

SxxSTxxE: The first sip is always taken out of curiosity…

Lupus hummed, thinking about how this keeps getting more and more interesting. He pocketed his phone again.

“Thank you, Q-Bx. You were very helpful. I’d like my brother back now. Disengage.”

Q-B shook his head, pressing the heel of his palm against his temple to release the pressure, finally regaining full consciousness and pulled out his transmitter implants, “Let’s never do that again.”   

Lupus snickered, “Modify Q-Bx to operate without your neuro-link as the conduit.”

“Give me time. I just started working on Q-Bx like…. what? Eight months ago? He’s already super intuitive and he has the ability to learn as he works. And I’ve been a cyborg for eleven months… No human has integrated as smoothly as I have.” Q-B huffed, pouting as he started running diagnostics.

Lupus walked over to his brother, clearly seeing the signs of a sleepless night on Q-B’s face and ruffled his blonde hair until it stood up in tufts, “I know. You’re my little genius. You’ll get it soon. How about you take a nap while I deal with the invitation?”

“Our guests? We’re protecting quite a few of them. More hands will make less work.”

“They’ll be fine. I can handle this. Also you need to regenerate. How long has it been since you docked in your alcove?”

“It's been a while...” And Q-B bit his lip as he averted his gaze from his brother.

“Greater or less than forty eight hours?”

“Greater… But Lupus…” Q-B stopped his brother from scolding him and hugged him tightly, “I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

And Lupus wraps his hand over the back of Q-B’s head, “Sorry for what?”

“I’m sorry for arguing with you last night. I was overstepping my boundaries. I mean… I always know to trust you and you know things that I don’t know but my matrix won’t let me follow that instinct. My intuition is often overridden in the name of hindsight. I didn’t mean to question your authority. It just seems like this party… I don’t have a good feeling about it.”

And Lupus slowly returns hug, wrapping his other arm around Q-B’s waist, hooking his chin on Q-B’s shoulder, given the height difference between the brothers, “I know. I’m sorry, too. I lost my temper with you too quickly. Just… trust in me like you always do.”

Lupus hasn’t fully gotten used to the hard materials that comes with hugging Q-B. His once soft younger brother is now clad with metal and he thrums with electricity. He holds the younger closer, paying attention to the rhythmic hum of his reinforced systems whirring and pumping his heart and lungs. It's practically soundless but Lupus’ wolf instincts make him aware of the foreign elements within his closest bond.

“Always, nii-san.” Q-B’s hummed softly, sounding very sleepy as he burrows a little tighter to Lupus.

“Off to bed, Q-B.” Lupus grinned softly before pressing his lips to his brother’s cheek.

Shadowmane Manor Library, the very same time in which Lupus is at Q-B’s lab.

“Fuck!” Kisaragi hissed when his shoulder blade hit the cold hard shelf he was just slammed up against.

It hadn’t been much of a walk before Kisaragi and Miya had exited Lupus’ office. To be precise Kisaragi had picked up the pace as he passed through the shelves of Lupus’ library while Miya gave chase to catch up with the blonde spy. He was hoping to prolong the opportunity of evading Miya.

A short lived whim, Kisaragi reflected, as he stared up at Miya through his messy bangs falling into his eyes. He grunted as he tried to evade Miya but the older man held his ground, trapping Kisaragi in the tight space between Miya’s toned body and the bookshelf.

“Fucking let go!” Kisaragi cursed softly.  

Reporting to Lupus in the morning was a trying enough experience given how unbearable Miya was the night before. Things had been miserable since his solo mission was busted by Miya. They had narrowly escaped being caught at Astro Park, it had been a dark detour through the cold and wet streets before they found their way back to the Manor, trudging through the hallways, soaked to the bone while trading hissed words and snarky remarks.

Kisaragi made a struggle and tried to glare up at Miya but the other’s face was obscured on account of how dark the room was with the curtains drawn.

“Miya! You’ve been a fucking menace since last night so let me go!” He struggled to counter Miya’s heavier weight but he kept his tone even despite the harsh sharp breaths falling off his lips.

“Certainly, kitten. Once you stop avoiding my questions. Care to tell me why you didn’t report to Lupus what truly happened at Astro Park last night?” Miya chuckled as he grinned down on the shorter of the two men.

“You’re equally guilty. You covered for me when I didn’t need your help.” Kisaragi spat venomously.

“Now I was not about to throw my boyfriend under the bus even when he’s acting shady and I believe I am entitled to be in total control of whatever I get myself involved in. Lupus may believe us to be horny bastards who have no control around each other and I wasn’t about to correct the big man about that. I mean he has no other reason to believe otherwise, isn’t that right, kitten?” Miya smirked as his hands came up to hold Kisaragi’s hips. His hands sliding under the younger’s turtleneck sweater, drawing out a very shaky breath from Kisaragi. It was more than enough of a green light for Miya to continue with what he had started in Lupus’ office.

“I mean, this is just us continuing what we were planning on doing earlier, isn’t it?” Miya whispered softly as he pressed his lips to Kisaragi’s ear, sliding his hands up further and lifting Kisaragi’s sweater until it was bunched up under his chin. The cool air of the library made Kisaragi suck in a shuddering breath between his teeth. It broke his skin out in goosebumps and made his nipples pebble, hard and taut against the cold air. 

“You’re fucking asking to be decked.” Kisaragi growled under his breath, glaring despite the dusting of pink sprinkling across his cheeks.

“I’ve asked for a lot of things but getting decked wasn’t on the list. Ready to talk, kitten?” 

The silence was telling to Miya. 

“Alright, we’re doing this the hard way then, huh?” Miya’s hot touch skated down Kisaragi’s torso until it dipped into the curve of his arched back and pulled him closer while he covered the small noise of surprise from the younger with his lips. It had been a long night for them both and they had been fighting ever since they left Astro Park last night. He could easily feel Kisaragi finally giving up and slowly melting into the searing kiss.

Kisaragi’s hands settled on Miya’s shoulders before sliding up his neck and into his brown hair.

“Do you think you’re winning like this?” Kisaragi asked softly, his tone deceptively gentle as he ran his fingers through Miya’s hair.

“I believe this is a much more beneficial way for both of us to come to an agreement.” Miya suggested.

“Oh yeah?” Kisaragi asked, tone very flirtatious as he continued to stroke through the silky stands.

“Absolutely. I didn’t like what I did to you earlier.”

“You mean you didn’t like the fact that you would have to explain to Lupus why you had your boyfriend, his most dear pet, pinned down in his own office because of an argument you started.” Kisaragi’s tone became harsh and cold as he raised his knee high enough to land sweetly in the side of Miya’s ribs before escaping Miya’s restraint. He had to at least put space between them.

Miya turned around, rubbing at the sore spot in his torso as he tilted his head to the side to shrug his shoulders. Kisaragi scowled at him while he fixed his sweater in place, pulling it back down. Miya took two steps to the left and watched Kisaragi take two steps to his right, maintaining that space between them. 

“Maybe I wouldn’t need to explain anything to Lupus if you were more honest with your boyfriend.” Miya raised an eyebrow at the younger. 

“This is so fucking typical of you! You interfere and then you have to play control freak and even guilt me into sharing intel. You don’t even let me try to explain. No one asked you to follow me. No one asked you to get involved with my business.” Kisaragi scoffed, walking right up into Miya’s space to spit heated words at him.

“Are you truly not guilty of being at fault? You don’t think that the act of sneaking around and being suspicious leaves you the least bit incriminating?” Miya grinned, cool and collected.

“I am not. I’m a fucking spy, Miya, I am suspicious in anything I do.” Kisaragi’s posture tensed and he frowned at Miya. Miya knew Kisaragi was on edge. He was practically in a stance to launch him on his instinct, be it fight or flight.

“We can talk this over, babe.” Miya sighed and wrapped his arms around Kisaragi’s slim waist.

“No. Don’t touch me.” Kisaragi stepped back out of Miya’s grasp, “I think I prefer this space between us. I can’t stay mad at you if you get closer. How do you expect me to be honest with you when you’ve been following me?” Kisaragi looked hurt, his eyes clearly expressing the betrayal.

“How about clarity then? As your boyfriend.” Miya’s expression sobered, clearly growing displeased with the direction of the situation.

“I was working.” Kisaragi replied flatly.

“Working? Solo? When every mission you’ve worked for the last two years was assigned as a pair. Need I remind you? I am your partner.” Miya scoffed, “Maybe pick a better lie.”

“For fuck sakes! This is our job. We are required to do shifty things.” 

Miya frowned, watching Kisaragi finally lose his composure. The younger wasn’t known to be prone to outbursts like this so Miya understood how upsetting this was to his partner. But it still didn’t stop his harsh tone when he berated Kisaragi. He didn’t want his partner to be making stupid mistakes.

“For Lupus! Under Lupus’ command! Which was completely off your agenda last night. You were acting completely independently.” Miya emphasised, folding his arms over as he expected an explanation.

“The lines aren’t always clear, Miya… you know this… Don’t you trust me?” Kisaragi looked away, staring hard at the wall.

“They never are, but I trust you as much as you trust me. But last night, it was very… not you. Not us. How do you think that makes me feel when you’re clearly meeting up with someone you knew before you even joined Rowdy Shogun? What was so important that you needed to hide the fact that you went to see Dill?” Miya walked up to Kisaragi and gripped him by either shoulder, fixing him with cold and harsh words at the younger man.

“Because I knew you would react like this! Lupus isn’t the only one who lost connections after we dissolved Torii Gates. I was there because I had someone depending on me. Meeting you was unplanned. As for last night, well, I would have an answer for that question if you actually let me go through with my meeting. But you stopped me and Dill obviously realised I was compromised. He won’t risk meeting me a second time. You fucked this up for all of us!” Kisaragi raised his voice as he shoved at his chest to separate them again.

“What was the reason for the meeting?” .

“The party.” Kisaragi answered curtly. 

“What about the party?”

“He’s been using his hypnosis ability for some reason for the party that he wouldn’t explain to me… all he mentioned was that this was something beyond his limits.”

“How is this your issue?”

“That’s the thing… it’s not.” Kisaragi softened as hurt played across his features, “He told me he didn’t want help. But he wanted a friend. An old one. The one who was there with him when he first got his ability. He’s going blind and it's scaring him…” Kisaragi admitted with finality and Miya finally softened and closed the space between the two of them, his hands raised in surrender. 

When Kisaragi didn’t protest or evade, Miya wrapped his arms around his boyfriend.

“He was warning me…” He sighed heavily and leaned into Miya.

“About what, kitten?” He softly asked as he pressed a kiss against Kisaragi’s temple.

“He warned me that he may lose control of his abilities entirely if his sight fails altogether. He’s partially blind already… Well, that was what he told me prior to our meeting. He hasn’t told anyone yet. Not even the other Astro 9 members know.”

“Do you have any idea why he was asking to meet in person? So close to the party?”

“Well… The solstice is the point of focus. It could be why he’s going blind. But in all reality, he must be scared, Miya. Imagine losing your sight because of your ability.” Kisaragi shuddered as he burrowed his face in Miya’s neck.

“I’d hate that. Slowly losing the ability to see you, kitten… yeah, that does sound shitty…” Miya hummed as he thought it over.

Kisaragi snorted softly, “This was not a moment for you to be smooth with me… I need comfort. I need your trust. I wouldn’t dare betray you. More especially, I wouldn’t betray Lupus. Not when I owe him.” He promised softly as the two spies held onto each other in the dark room.        

“Maybe we do need to make Lupus aware of this…” Miya suggested.

“No. I’m going to talk to Q-B about this. Surely he can factor this in within the parameters of the security detail. We need a countermeasure in place that won't end up putting Dill in danger.” Kisaragi huffed as he pulled away from Miya’s chest. 

“Wait! You’re going already. Are you still mad at me?” Miya asked while Kisaragi stepped away entirely, “At least kiss me before you go!”

Miya only gets the sound of Kisaragi’s soft laugh as he leaves the library.

Six Years Ago

Ginza District, Cho Tokyo, 12:30 AM

Lupus loved going out on nights that promised rain. It was a smooth drive from his dingy shared apartment with Q-B to the heart of Cho Tokyo, his hover car soundlessly pulling into the underground parking of the Sphere - Cho Tokyo’s tallest building, a hotel and elite hotspot for anyone who was young and wanted to influence the city - before he stepped out. He hissed softly as the cold bite of February winds stole its way through his layers of jackets.

No one ever used the underground parking - well, not many knew that the Sphere had an underground parking - not when the Sphere was popular for its winding plasma driveways surrounding the building - perfect for racing without any damage to the environment.

Lupus’ hover car was a sleek long thing, clearly custom built and modified between him and his brother and affectionately named Usagi by Q-B. Lupus sighed as he sat on the bonnet of the hover car, having a quick smoke before heading into the crowd.

His ring clad fingers slowly traced over the large Torii Gate insignia over the bonnet.

The Torii Gate was a special symbol to Lupus. It was something like a personal brand he liked to put on his attachments in life.

Like Usagi-chan.

Speaking of his brother, he snickered when his phone started going off with multiple notifications. He walked over to the elevators to take him to the surface level.

Q-B: BRING HER BACK HOME!

Q-B: YOU ACTUALLY HAD THE AUDACITY TO TAKE OUR HOVER CAR AND GO RACING AGAIN. YOU JUST WERE WAITING ON ME TO FINISH THE NEW MODS ON HER. FUCK, I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TOLD YOU!

Lupus: You forget who bought little Usagi-chan.

Q-B: Oh boo hoo. Your credit card is crying AS IF I CAN’T HACK THOSE CREDITS BACK INTO YOUR BANK ACC. You don’t love her like the way I do. Lupus… I swear to the Holy Divines if you only scratch up Usagi-chan…

Lupus: She’ll be fine. She’s not racing tonight. I actually hid her away. Poor thing… she’s so popular, if anyone saw her, she’d steal the show tonight.

Q-B: anD YOU ABANDONED HER ON TOP OF TAKING HER.

Q-B: Hey! You went without me… The absolute betrayal. I work so hard on her in my spare time and I still don’t get to see her in action.

Lupus: OI! I work on Usagi-chan too, dumbass. I’m the one helping you. Remember?

Lupus: That’s what happens when you’re a genius and in college before turning eighteen. You don’t leave the Manor tonight. Study for your exams.  

Q-B: You’ve only just turned 20. Stop bullying me over text! Semester doesn’t start for another 2 months.

Lupus chuckled softly, tapping the edge sole of his chunky combat boot against the tiles before pocketing his phone and catching his reflection in the mirror interior of the elevator. He ruffled his hair by running his hand through the one side of his straight hair. He had just shaved off majority of his sides for an undercut but kept his long hair and had dressed in skinny black jeans that had been ripped and stained with white paint motifs and a simple thin, almost sheer, black tank top which he layered with a zip up hoodie and leather jacket, neither of which he bothered with zipping up.

The last thing Lupus adjusts is the way his hoodie and leather jacket are almost slipping off his shoulder, it had been pulling at his tank top, revealing the red fine line work tattoo of the Torii Gate under his collarbone. A tattoo many people weren’t aware that Lupus had.

It wasn’t long before the elevator chimed softly and opened up to the rooftop level of the parking lot. He grinned when he realised how lively the night had been despite the light shower of rain. It was practically a rave party on the rooftop given all the holo-lights and pixel-graphics that were on display on the makeshift digital billboards to create the atmosphere. The rooftop had been filled with loud music, multiple flashy hover cars on display and tons of people socialising while waiting for the Master of Races for the night to announce the challenges.

Lupus had stepped out onto the rooftop, immediately bumping into a pretty girl, barely clad in any clothing as she had a nude bodysuit on but LED rope lights wrapped around her body were more eye catching and an awful irony to the lum-hair bands holding up her pigtails that made her cute.

“Hi,” Lupus smirked but the girl gasped when she realised who he was.

“AYE LUPUS!” He heard name being called by Hades, in the distance.

With that moment the girl runs back to her friends, making Lupus sigh at the lost opportunity and turns his attention back to Hades.

“Hey, man…” Lupus greeted back as the older man with braids in his hair approached him and exchanged a strong handshake and drew Lupus in for a brotherly hug. Hades was the definition of the bigger brother type but he was also an enabler for Lupus’ troublemaking habits. Lupus’ eyes fall to the red Torii Gate tattoo on Hades’ hand, cleverly hidden in plain sight as it was a small thing on the back of his hand between his thumb and wrist.

“Where’s Usagi-chan? I thought you were racing tonight?” Hades asked, raising an eyebrow, walking them over to the betting table.

“I can race without her tonight. The mods on her aren’t completed as yet. Q-B would have killed me if I took her out before she was ready,” Lupus snorted as he lied to Hades about Usagi, but turned his attention back to the rave bunny who ran away from him. She had been standing next to her friend, fiddling with her whip of fibre cables that was turned on, displaying pixel lights as she twisted the handle in her hands. She tried to meet Lupus’ eyes but she bit on her lip and looked away when he stared at her openly.

Hades sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he could clearly see Lupus had more in mind than racing so he tried to catch Lupus’ attention again.

“So… You’re racing but not with Usagi… Well… that’s not a problem. I mean Kisaragi is also here tonight so we’re not short on cars when he’s around…”

That caught Lupus’ attention, “That rich kid wants to race with us again?”

Hades grinned, “Yup. He beat Phantom's newest driver last month, Miya. We don't know much about either of them but they’ve been in contact since then… It seems tonight is mostly about their rematch.”

Lupus had cleverly scanned the crowd as he listened to Hades fib, knowing that he was spouting well placed lies about Miya and Kisaragi, searching for who could possibly be listening to them.

“It would be a shame if I stole their thunder tonight…” Lupus chuckled softly as he caught Hades’ concerned look.

“Goemon is going to kill me if you do that.” Hades groaned.

“He’s here tonight?” Lupus raised an eyebrow.

“We’re here in the first place because of him. He’s the one that’s been chatting up the sponsor’s daughter.”

“Clever man.” Lupus nodded as he read over the list of drivers that are lined up for the night and punched in his name. He heard cheering when the crowd surrounding the display LED board spotted Lupus’ name.

Lupus looked up from the display board to catch that little rave bunny staring again. He was about to make a mental note to talk to her if he won the race but that idea was cut short when someone had grabbed the tablet in his hand and shoved into Hades chest, who scrambled to catch it and was clearly making a poorly executed excuse to leave Lupus alone.

“Huh?” Lupus frowned and tried to turn to face the person but in the same moment Lupus was grabbed by his hoodie neckline to draw him into a kiss.

“Woa-hmm,” Lupus was a little tense, clearly being caught off guard - it certainly wasn’t his first time being greeted with a kiss but it was always a tricky guess of who exactly was the person behind the kiss. 

He hadn’t the chance to see who was kissing him until he realised who the soft mouth against his belonged to - it was the unmistakable way this particular person had Lupus’ top lip caught between their own small but full lips.

He immediately melted into the affectionate greeting, returning it with enthusiasm as he took control of the kiss and he drew the person in, close and tight to him, tilting his head to deepen the kiss until his partner gave a soft moan.

“Hi, Aria,” He greeted as he finally eased up and broke off the kiss to press his forehead against Aria’s, listening to the ragged breath of the other.

“Don’t get cute with me. You’ve been flirting with that girl the moment you stepped out of the elevator. Is this how you behave the moment I’m not around? Am I supposed to get jealous?” He ignored Lupus’ flirtatious greeting in favour of giving a heated response.

“Have I told you that you’re cute when jealous?” Lupus pressed on with his agenda to flirt with Aria, leaning into another kiss, playfully pecking Aria. Once, twice, on the third time, Aria bites down on Lupus’ lower lip and rolls the abused flesh between his teeth until Lupus hisses and Aria shoves Lupus to put distance between them.

It leaves Lupus chuckling, his tongue darting out to swipe over the throbbing sensation on his lower lip as his dark gaze sweeps over Aria. His tongue slowly drags against the corner of his mouth when he catches Aria staring at his mouth. Lupus feels his heart rate rocket as the wolf in him calls to mark what is his.

Aria was dressed in an oversized black pullover hoodie covered in reflective and holographic prints of traditional dragons winding and twisting up the arms until the heads of the dragons rested on the shoulders of the sleeves while a single yin-and-yang was printed on the torso and he paired them with tight black jeans and chunky white sneakers. 

The way Aria dressed always made himself look smaller and shorter than he actually is. Lupus’ eyes fall to the large neckline of the hoodie, offering up the sight of Aria’s clavicle and the thin gold chain resting on his chest. Lastly Lupus adored the way his soft brown hair had been styled, the tufts of hair had been teased to look windswept as the ends flicked outwards and lifted to the sky. Lupus swore he could see thin reflective tinsel tied into through his hair.  

“You’re incorrigible.” Aria smiled despite his sharp words.

“I’m pretty sure in Aria’s vocabulary that translates to ‘you’re difficult but still very fuckable.’ ” Lupus sniggered, “Did you bring Star Chaser?”

“Hmm… I did.”

“Good. I’ll race using her tonight.”

“I don’t think that’s an option for you. Do you think it’s that easy to drive my Star Chaser?” Aria teased.

“Oh? Why can’t I drive your Star Chaser now?” Lupus grinned.

“New mods. Star Chaser has a new key.”

“Let’s see?” Lupus asked, already intrigued.

“You’re looking at it.” Aria smirked and pointed to himself.

“So, Star Chaser is powered by you?” Lupus gave a tilted smile.

“Yup. This cutie channels the cosmic energy I feed into her systems, making her a little faster than the rest of the hover cars that are still lithium based.”

“Q-B is going to be so mad. You just turned Usagi-chan into a turtle like this.” He sniggered softly.

“C’mon, I’ll show you the new mods.”

It was a short walk across the rooftop as Aria dragged Lupus over to his hover car, which had been parked in a dark corner, away from all the fuss of where the flashier hover cars were lined up. It wasn’t as long as Usagi but it was definitely slimmer and covered with dark purple paint and dotted to look like a cosmic belt of stars. He threw up the scissor door and offered the driver seat to Lupus. It was an entirely new console, complete touch screen interface and was handled by sensory touches.

Lupus gave a low whistle as he sat down in the driver’s seat, “Mind giving me a demonstration of the new system.”

Aria leaned into the hover car and pressed his palm down on the smooth surface before the console seemed to have a life of its own. The interior lit up with a cool purple light.

“Welcome, Aria. Driver doesn’t match Aria.” The console’s voice reported.

Lupus raised an eyebrow - this wasn’t a cheap mod.

“Star Chaser, enable scan. Label specs as Driver Lupus.” Aria commanded softly.

“Welcome, Lupus.” The console’s robotic voice called out.

Lupus immediately set out to examine the hover car’s system, already reading through the car’s scans and health stats with light touches and taps as he interacted with the interface but Aria reached over and pushed Lupus to rest right back into the shape of the driver seat before he climbed into Lupus’ lap.

“Is this part of Star Chaser’s test drive?” Lupus grinned, his hands quickly finding purchase on Aria’s waist as the younger balanced on his knees that were on either side of Lupus’ hips.

“That depends…” Aria looks at Lupus through his lashes, him biting the inside of his lip to stop himself from smiling.

“Depends on what? I have magnificent control when it comes to taming out of control rides.” He smirked but laughed when Aria knocked his fist against his jaw before leaning in to kiss along the abused spot on his jawline.

“You're talking an awful lot tonight.” Aria snorted drily, but yelped when Lupus tugged Aria closer until the younger had fallen into a sitting position on Lupus’ lap, clearly feeling how hard he already was and gasped when he felt Lupus’ hands slipping under his hoodie, pleasantly surprised when he found Aria had been wearing nothing else underneath.

“Hmm.. I’m in a good mood. Need me to demonstrate?” Lupus purred into Aria’s ear, chuckling at the way Aria shivered, especially the way he had been slowly dragging his fingertips up the length of Aria’s spine. 

He felt Aria arch into him as his spine hollowed out with the playful touch but Lupus was more pleased with the unsteady breathing near his ear as Lupus' cold rings pressed into the warm skin of Aria’s torso. His touch skated up, over the fine lines of his lean body until Lupus’ thumbs grazed over the sensitive nubs on Aria’s chest. The action rewarded Lupus with Aria fisting the fabric of Lupus’ jacket with the tiniest whimper from the pretty boy in his lap. It made Lupus more eager to touch more and make Aria call for him.

“Lupus…” Aria called for him softly and sweetly as his hands climbed into Lupus’ hair. A sound Lupus had never forgotten but always found how it settled into him like a calling for the first time. The sound gripped him, enticing to make more of those honeyed notes fall from Aria’s precious lips. Lupus pressed his lips against Aria’s jawline but the other pulled away by just a fraction as his arms came up to pull Lupus’ hoodie and jacket off the rounds of his shoulders.

“Are you saying no?” Lupus taunted playfully as he nudged Aria’s cheek with the tip of his nose.

Aria huffed and turned his head to pull Lupus into an urgent kiss, making the latter’s chest rumble with the deep satisfied hum he gave. He couldn’t remember the last time he had time to touch Aria like so. The last few times between them had been woefully rushed and impatient moments of mere kisses that lasted long enough to soothe the ache for that heartbeat.

“Are you saying no?” Aria’s breathless tone betrayed the bite of his retort.

“Absolutely not… Not when you’re trying so hard for me, Aria-chan…” His mouth tilted wickedly with the taunt, smothering Aria’s protest to the cute endearment attached to his name with his lips on Aria.  

It had been sweet, savouring Aria was something Lupus never could fully fathom. He could practically taste the energy running under Aria’s skin. Aria tasted like starlight and sugary lip balm. It was as if the wolf in Lupus had found its centre in the world with its own personal moon in the form of Aria. He could never understand how intrinsic Aria was to the peace to the beast resting within Lupus. It gave a low guttural rumble with the satisfaction seeping into Lupus’ body.

Lupus growled low and heated against the kiss when he felt Aria’s hips cant down, pressing hard to rub against Lupus in search of some sort of friction relief with his hard length against Lupus’ abdomen. Lupus felt like he was astral projecting because he didn’t recognise his own hands moving, one hand curling into the soft tousled hair at the back of Aria’s head and the other had been cupping his cheek, sliding down to hold Aria’s chin as he angled the kiss into a harsher slant across Aria’s pretty lips.

He smirked as it drew out another soft moan before letting that hand slide down Aria’s chest and all the way south until he was already unbuttoning Aria’s jeans and he was curling his hand into Aria’s jeans waistband, pulling the material so the zip would final fall apart and give him freedom to touch.

“Lupus… Not here…” Aria had the semblance to pull away from Lupus’ dizzying kisses but that didn’t stop the other from letting his lips slide over the soft skin of Aria’s neck, momentarily worrying and nibbling at the one sensitive spot before sucking a deep red hickey on said spot. Aria’s protest dies on his lips with another moan when Lupus uses the heel of his palm to rub over Aria's aching length, absolutely tormenting the younger with his heated touch through the single infuriating layer of clothing.

“I agree. Let’s skip racing tonight. I have a better idea for our time tonight.” Lupus’ voice came out gruff and hard, as if he was really considering blowing off the racing for the night. He stared up at Aria with dark intense eyes as their trembling breath mingled, Lupus was waiting on the green light from Aria.

That was when Aria put his hands on Lupus’ chest to finally put space between their heated bodies.

“Is something wrong, Aria?” Lupus frowned, immediately cupping the younger face between his palms. At times, Lupus forgets how young Aria is - how Aria feels on a much more intricately ranged emotional sphere than him. Lupus may be an animal where his instincts run deep enough to entwine with his intuition but he does have to remind himself that Aria is built all so different from him.  

“No…Well… I don’t think I can fully enjoy this… I’m not fine. How much longer do we have to be apart for this mission? It's been months like this.” Aria sighed softly before pressing his lips against Lupus’ and resting his forehead against Lupus’ own.

“You want out?” Lupus asked softly, a hand reaching up to rub his thumb affectionately over the round of Aria’s cheek gently.

“No… I understand why we’re doing this… But I want you. I’m always going to need more than this and I can’t ask more out of you because that would be selfish and counterproductive to our goals. It’s only so much fun before pretending starts hurting. I feel so disconnected from you and I know you’re not to blame. Neither am I but this is becoming scary, Lupus. You’re not in my stars any more…” Lupus could feel Aria trembling with the weight of his confession. He didn’t know he had pushed the younger one so hard.

Aria and Lupus had seen the harsher side of what Cho Tokyo did to those when the fickle city threw them away. But they wanted a future that changed that. Lupus and Aria wanted to take from Cho Tokyo. Take what was rightfully theirs - the ability to take up space in the city. Have their names uttered with mingled fear and respect. There was a destiny worth carving into such a shallow façade to shatter the utopia aura surrounding this city of illusions.

Aria had been in charge of creating links to Lupus to extend their network. The underground racing circuits had become their target of choice - it was easy. Race long enough until you can race for the big shots. It was easy between Aria slowly gathering intel on the other racers and learning the craft behind custom tailoring hover-cars - which Q-B had eaten up like a man starving for his next morsel. It seemed smooth when it was explained in a manner of words.

Except it wasn’t that smooth when it came down to all the actions leading up to their success.

Lupus had been so close to finally establishing that dream. They were on the cusp of greatness but all it would mean nothing if Aria’s fears were fathoming faster than their success. For the sake of Aria, Lupus would throw everything away and disappear overnight if it meant protecting Aria.

There was an overwhelming silence that lingered between them. Aria didn’t have anything more to say and Lupus didn’t seem to be responding. Finally Lupus drew Aria back in, for a gentle and slow kiss, wrapping his arms around his waist and holding on tight all the while coaxing Aria wordless through the affectionate kiss. Aria sighed, he knew Lupus wasn’t the best at expressing his emotions despite being devoted to catering to Aria’s emotions.

“We’ll quit tonight. No more racing. No more pushing against the grain. We’ll leave later and no one will find us again. Ever.” Lupus said decidedly.

“What?” Aria’s eyes widened, “No… We can’t leave. We’re so close…”

“It doesn’t matter. This was only to build us up into a better life. Money isn’t a problem for us. We have more than enough to get us through the next few years. We can lay low and find each other again. We can find other ways to achieve what we want.” Lupus hummed softly.

“Lupus…”

“Hmm… I don’t want that sad look on your face. I feel like I’m hurting you when you look at me like that.” Lupus sighed tiredly.

“You’re not. But I just… Maybe I’m being paranoid and impatient. We still have so much more that we want to achieve. We knew what we were getting ourselves into. We knew that things wouldn’t be easy and we seem to be tackling things much bigger than us.”

“No… Maybe we do need a break…” Lupus considered, threading his fingers through both of Aria’s hands to hold on tight. He brought up one of Aria’s hands and kissed along his knuckles softly.

“Lupus… Don’t make decisions so hastily. We need to think this through. We still have all of the Torii Gates to consider. I mean, there are consequences if we want out of this right now…”

“I’ll take care of it. If we’re in danger, I’ll find us a place to hide while I fix our problems.”

“This isn’t what I wanted for us… There has to be another way around this. I feel like we’re stagnating and it’s making us unhappy.” Aria frowned.

Lupus hugs Aria close to him and the younger takes the opportunity to rest his head within the curve of Lupus’ neck, “I know. We can always start over.”

It was then someone had cleared their throat loudly to catch their attention and Aria was clever enough to turn his head away, hiding his face as Lupus discreetly pulled Aria’s hoodie over his undone pants to make them appear decent.

“Lupus-sama.” A man with short cropped hair, fashioned into a comma style across his forehead, greeted Lupus.

“Miya… what the fuck… you shouldn’t be he-” Lupus hissed, knowing Miya shouldn’t be in public contact with them.

Miya was working undercover for Lupus as the newest member in Phantom - the biggest underground racing gang, which consisted of political heirs and influencers. Phantom lived up to its name with the majority of its racers unknown but all carrying heavyweights names and based on the outcomes of the races, society would shift accordingly. A lot more than hover cars were at stake in these races - people would bet their family fortunes and their companies. It wasn’t often lives were used to pay the gamble.

It would have to be serious if Miya was risking blowing his cover.

“I know. All my correspondence goes through Kisaragi but he doesn't know about this. He shouldn’t find out about it.” He sounded on the verge of panic.

“Know about what? What is going on?” Lupus asked hurriedly.

“Kisaragi. They want to kill him. Phantom wants him dead. We thought they’d welcome him by winning against me but it backfired. It’s either me or him. I have to win tonight to stay in Phantom but I can’t let Kisaragi die. Phantom wants to make his death look like a hover car accident into tonight’s race. They’re already timing the turns on the Sphere circuit for the barriers to give out so he either crashes or worse -”

And Miya doesn’t have the strength to finish his sentence. He can’t imagine someone purposely pushing Kisaragi off the track. He looks at Lupus, imploringly, and Lupus knows that look. He would do the same for Aria given it was him in the same situation.

“I won’t be able to talk him out of it if I approach him, Lupus-sama. He only listens to you and he wouldn’t dare come and ask you because he’d think it’s part of his job to prove it to you that he is worthy of the Torii Gate tattoo you just gave him.” Miya shared his troubled perspective and Aria finally saw the only sane way out of the situation.

“You have to race, Lupus. Keep Kisaragi safe.” Aria begged into Lupus’ ear so softly.

“I’ll protect him, Miya. Go back to Phantom for tonight. Do what you need to do to win. If Kisaragi and I are harmed, we will openly attack Phantom tomorrow morning.” Lupus decided.

As he waved off the older man, Lupus slowly curled his hand over the back of Aria’s neck, where just under the hoodie neckline lay the red Torii Gate tattoo, centralised on the base of his nape. Aria noted how Lupus’ hand had slipped under the fabric to stroke at the tattoo with his thumb, comforting them both.

“Aria.”

Present Day

Cho Tokyo; 6:45 PM Shadowmane Manor

Day of The Solstice, Day of the Astro9 Grand Opening.

Lupus stood in front of his mirror, wiping down the fog that settled over the pristine surface after his shower. He made out his own reflection in the murky mirror surface, leaning in to wipe down the water clinging to his jawline and neck as it trickled from his wet hair. He threw the towel over his shoulder and wiped down the water droplets still lingering on his skin before pushing the towel into his hair to dry it.

Lupus sighed, running his hand up through the fine fuzz of his undercut before he tugged at the length of his hair at the top of his head. Q-B had been nagging him to cut his hair all week long and the cyborg had caught him for long enough to have his way with his hair.

It was great but Lupus wasn’t sure if he was ready to deal with how short his hair was, since he always favoured his long hair.

For things to appear like they have changed, they have to not look the same as before. Right?

His eyes fall on his tattoo and he clasps his hand over his shoulder, his thumb gingerly tracing over the red lines creating the Torii Gate.

Aria. 

Six Years Ago

Ginza District, Cho Tokyo, 01:00 AM

“Race with me, tonight? Like old times.” Lupus said as he stopped Aria from getting out of the hover car by grabbing onto the sleeve of his hoodie. 

“What?” Aria turned back to look at him with a wide eyed expression, a little frustrated over the tense atmosphere that had settled over them. Their conversation was far from over and Aria could tell Lupus had no intention of letting them evade each other. Aria gritted his teeth, he could clearly see the pattern that was building up into a fight with Lupus and Miya hadn’t brought any better news. 

But it was a distraction. 

Aria should have felt guilty, he knew being this honest with Lupus would take a toll on him. Even as he thought it over, he could see the excessively rigid sense of responsibility settle into Lupus’ frame as his shoulders squared out and his spine stiffened almost painfully. Manning the controls didn’t require such posture but Aria knew how Lupus was practically functioning on instinct, his entire body wound up too tight and on high alert despite the simple task of examining the readings and vitals of the hover car.

“Come with me. I’m going to need help if Kisaragi gets hurt.” Lupus won’t look at him as he explains. Aria pursed his lips, watching Lupus fiddle with the interface, already tuning and optimising the systems to his preference for racing. 

“You think you won’t get to Kisaragi in time?” Aria snorted, hoping the joke would give them a chance to communicate better. 

But to no avail.

All it drew was Lupus’ silence. 

“Lupus…” Aria tried to reach out but he knew this would be good as a ramming up against an iron wall. If Lupus didn't want to communicate, then there simply would be no way to communicate. Aria puffed his cheeks, Lupus had the most annoying habit of being closed off and very very unforgiving in his demeanour when he was in a bad mood.

Lupus sighed, knowing he needed to talk to Aria. 

“We have so much at stake tonight,” Lupus explained very slowly, “I can’t afford for us to lose Kisaragi. It would destroy Miya if anything happened to Kisaragi. We can finish discussing… whatever we need to do after tonight once I know that he’s safe.” 

Aria nodded and watched Lupus’ shoulders sag for a moment before he leaned over the dividing console between their seats and hugged him. 

“I’d be sad if we lost Kisaragi, too. Let’s save him and then you buy me a drink.” Aria grinned, talking into Lupus’ ear softly.

“Deal. I’ll take you to that noodle bar we used to always meet at,” before he felt Lupus tilt his head in his direction for their lips to meet. 

“I don’t think I’d be ab-” Aria silenced Lupus with his finger over his lips. 

“There will be time for this later tonight. You have a race to win first.” Aria chuckled softly.

Lupus had told Aria to stay in the hover car as he slowly brought it to a stop on the track and hopped out.

“Why the fuck are you here, Lupus?” Kisaragi scowled when he spotted the Torii Gates leader. 

“Good to see you too, pretty boy.” Lupus chided in his greeting to the hissing catboy. 

Kisaragi was quite the livewire in his charade to Phantom - that also included being hostile with anyone from the Torii Gates, especially Lupus. 

Lupus smirked because Kisaragi had a knack of being a believable actor. A thrill chaser of a racer. All blonde hair and piercings and devil-may-care attitude. Quite different from the quiet introverted boy who has a silent but obvious crush on Miya. 

He wore cybernetic ear mods that ran a thick but translucent holo-strip across his eyes in cool purple light like digital sunglasses. He tapped the right ear mod the moment he spotted Lupus to disengage the holo strip. 

“I’m winning tonight’s race for Phantom so you can sit this one out. I don’t think there's a place on the track for a rabid wolf tonight.” Kisaragi spat, giving Lupus a mean grin. 

Lupus snorted, not hurrying his pace to approach Kisaragi, not even trying to compensate for the slight height difference Kisaragi had over him, and connected a clean cross punch to his jawline. He hears the crowd gasp and erupt into murmurs as he watches Kisaragi fall to his knees with a pained noise before he bent down and lifted Kisaragi’s face by the chin, spying the little dribble of blood from the corner of his mouth.

“There’s a problem I have when it comes to disrespectful racers, my kawaii nekochan. I like to tame them with a shameless display. Especially when they’re as pretty as you.” Lupus said loudly, not breaking eye contact with Kisaragi while they heard some cheering in the background.

“Fuck you and your fucking fan club, Lupus!” Kisaragi panted as he dropped the hostile act for a moment. Kisaragi hissed softly, ducking his head and using the opportunity to press his jacket sleeve hem to his mouth, feeling the fabric turning damp with his bleeding lip, “Did you have to hit me that hard?”  

"Sorry. I don’t know how to pull a punch. That smirk on your face reminded me of the first time we met and how I put you in your place.” Lupus grinned down at him.

“Oh fuck off. Sometimes I feel like you have it out for me personally.” Kisaragi scowled.

“You wouldn't be my favourite if I didn't enjoy kicking you around.” Lupus snickered, raising his eyebrow in a flirtatious expression.

“You don’t pay me enough for this fuckery.” Kisaragi huffed, clearly understanding Lupus needed something from him if they were this close to blowing their covers by associating with each other in public, “What do you need?”

“Throw the race tonight to Phantom’s actual racer.” 

“Tch. There’s been a change in plan, I assume?” 

“Make it look like you’re still aiming to win.” 

“Cool.” Kisaragi schooled his features and nodded.

“From behind my tail lights.”

“Fuck no.” Kisaragi whined.

“Play nice with me and I won’t punch you again. Unless you get off that kind of shit, you twisted fucker.” Lupus patted his cheek with a smirk.

“As flattering as that offer seems, Aria would kill me if I tried anything with you.” Kisaragi snorted before he shot to his feet to resume his charade with Lupus by shoving his back against his hover car. 

“Do you have a death wish, pretty boy?” Lupus smirked, tilting his head up at Kisaragi who was breathing down his neck.

“Get off the track if you know what’s good for you.” Kisaragi warned with a scoff before he stormed away, loudly demanding ice for his jawline. 

Lupus snickered before he walked back to Star Chaser. 

“Well, that looked entertaining.” Aria commented, amusement reaching his eyes. 

“I didn’t know you liked to watch me work…” Lupus chuckled lightly as he settled into the driver’s seat. 

“It’s hard to not watch you cause a scene.” Aria snickered while busying himself with the set up of the monitor on his side of the console, they needed a detailed outline of the race route and how many racers were online for the night. 

“Fifteen racers?” Lupus observed as he read the stats on the monitor.

“Yup. Five more than the standard race.” Aria hummed, looking at the cramped style of the startup placement.

“Clearly that’s extra man power that Phantom has on hand. They’re planning to crowd the track and make the accident look more plausible on account of poor planning and allowing too many racers on the Sphere.” Lupus was disgusted with how transparent the plan was. Surely, Kisaragi had already picked up on this.  

Lupus turned to Aria, holding his honey gaze for a moment, hesitating to make a rushed apology for making but all the music had been cut and an electronic voice filled the air.

“Racers. Ready at the Start. Countdown on 3.” 

Aria smiled at him and Lupus knew they’d be okay. There’s no reason to rush to explain their feelings.

“...1! GO!”

Lupus barely could breathe when he slammed down the control shift gear and threw the hover car into full throttle across the track. The momentum jerked him around in his seat and it took him a moment to find his balance again. 

“Holy shit!” Lupus laughed when he realised how much faster the new mods made Star Chaser. He glanced up at the monitor watching how they were ahead of the pack of racers. Aria’s new mods seemed to give them an advantage.  

“What the hell are you feeding her? She runs like a beauty!” Lupus asked before he turned to Aria with a boyish grin on his face. 

Aria felt his chest tighten and his heart hammering against his ribs. 

That smile. 

It was like he was sixteen all over again.

Aria recalled a Lupus who was barely legal himself, who had only turned eighteen a few days prior, lied about his cheap and clearly forged hover permit as he begged for a chance to get on the track with a busted up hover car that they fixed in a low tech junkyard.

Sixteen year old Aria had been dressed in nothing but a grease smeared hoodie and torn jeans and Lupus had been wearing a tattered tank shirt and graphic lettered sweats, covered in hydraulic fluid. Despite Q-B’s fucking fantastic wiring, they got the hover car online but it took both Aria and Lupus to pilot the baby. 

They were given the go ahead to compete, everyone thought they’d crash on their first race. 

The sound of Lupus chuckling brought back Aria’s attention, making him return the boyish smile as they were high on the rush of the moment. It was as if nothing had changed. Aria felt all the warmth and affection in Lupus’ mesmerising gaze. It was still devastating to realise he was still the sole grounding element of Lupus.  

It seemed like slow motion when Aria saw Lupus’ smile fade into pure horror before everything went black with the very faint sound of his name getting further and further away from him.

The crash threw them. Literally. Lupus’ urge to lunge for Aria was rendered useless as he was knocked off his balance, away from Aria, and landed hard on his right shoulder. He gasped, hard and forced, breathing through the pain shooting through his arm that rammed into the door. He groaned softly, adjusting slowly as his eyes frantically tried to focus on the blurred outlines of a very still Aria. 

Lupus growled as he caught sight of the black hover car circling above their own as a slim man in a black helmet slipped out onto the bonnet with a gun on a sling strap on his shoulder and a weighty but shiny silver ball in his gloved hand. He threw it at Star Chaser and the ball embedded itself on Star Chaser, making the entire hover car cease up, rearing left and right into the barrier of the track. 

“Fuck! EMP!” Lupus growled, slamming his fist down on the console to lift him off the floor of the hover car, hissing softly with the pain blooming with every movement. He stood, not daring to take his eyes off the mysterious figure on the black hover car, Lupus knew the black helmet guy could see him clearly. The black helmet guy then propped the gun in his arms and aimed directly at Lupus. 

“I dare you to shoot, you fucker.” Lupus bared his gritted teeth with a manic grin. 

But the black helmet tilted to the side, almost mocking Lupus before holding his hands up in a surrendering motion before turning and climbing to the roof of the black hover car. It wasn't a moment later that the black hover car took off on the track, completely out of sight. 

“Phantom, you’re going to regret this…” Lupus breathed, a little out of control as he could feel himself shifting between animal instinct and his own trained demeanour. Neither him or Aria, picked up on how the black hover car behind them was aiming to smash into their rear. The rear smash didn't do much, thanks to the buffering mods Aria had in place but the hover car was out to sabotage and it had deployed an Electromagnetic Pulse device.

An alert went off, making Lupus aware of the upcoming pack of racers who had finally caught up and they were still caught against the barrier and dead at the controls. 

Phantom isn’t above making accidents happen.

“Aria!” Lupus called out, his voice tight and tense, as he lunged over to the honey haired boy to brace. Lupus was right as he felt another hover car ramming right up against his side while he juggled getting emergency power in Star Chaser on. He glanced down at the unmoving Aria in his arms. He couldn’t hear a thing over the deafening sound of the rest of racers passing them but he did see the black hover car merge into the pack of racers, following closely behind Kisaragi’s.

His head snapped back at the sound of Aria’s soft groaning, finding the honey haired boy lifting his head off the dash. He made a hissing sound as he sat up, “That asshole hit us pretty hard.” He blinked rapidly, trying to re-orientate himself. Lupus’ eyes widened when he saw the glaring red liquid skating down his face. The broken skin in his hairline gave way to the blood trailing over his eyebrow, left eye and the side of his face. 

“Shit… You’re bleeding!” 

Aria hissed, using his sleeve hem to wipe the blood out of his eye while looking at the cracks and broken glass protruding on his console and the blood smears on it. 

“Are you okay? How the hell do we still have emergency power despite getting hit with an EMP?” 

“Stars. Celestial Cores. Emergency battery.” Aria explained slowly in staccato before shaking his head to steady his vision. He took in a deep breath, all the blood was putting Aria on edge.

“We’re damn lucky after getting rammed twice but we need to get rid of that EMP so we can catch up with the racers. Whoever got us is also after Kisaragi” Lupus growled as he unlatched the sunroof visor above them. 

“How?” Aria asked as he rerouted power to a scanner to find out where the EMP was sitting on the car. It wasn’t long before Star Chaser’s scan was complete. The little ping brought up a display of where it was.

“Aria, come sit here. Take control.”

“Where are you going?” Aria asked. 

“We’re going to be dead at the helm if we don't get the EMP device off the Star Chaser.” Lupus felt the hover car jolt against the magnetic field. 

“Take this.” Aria handed him a pair of in-ear comms from a compartment in the door and Lupus fixed them in place before he slid the visor open and vaulted through it to get onto the roof. 

“This is not a smart idea.” Lupus berated himself aloud as he tried to find his balance. Star Chaser was maintaining its speed but it was fast approaching the first bend of the route. 

"You’ve got like thirty five seconds at most to get the EMP off. Any idea what to do?” Aria asked. 

“I don’t know. I was just going to smash it.” Lupus huffed. 

“Elegant as usual, Lupus.” Aria retorted in deadpan.

“I only aim to impres- Whew, hello, sexy.” Lupus gave a low whistle.

Aria rolled his eyes, “How bad?” 

“This wasn’t cheap. I almost feel bad about smashing it. This could be a pet project for Q-B.” 

“Drool over the electronics later. You’re hanging over the edge of my hover car and we’re avoiding crashing, right now.” 

There was a sharp sound of static filled Aria’s speakers. 

“Lupus?” Aria called out.

The entire hover car exited emergency power and roared to life. 

“Lupus? Fucking hell - where are you?” Aria whispered, squinting as he watched the sunroof as he took the turn barely brushing up against the edge of the barrier. 

Aria nearly jumped when Lupus’ boots landed heavily on the bonnet and Lupus turned to wave at him with a grin. It alarmed Aria when he spotted the track of blood skating down from Lupus’ right ear to his jawline. The in-ear comm was still fitted into his ear. It made Aria bite down on his lip with worry.

“Your ears…” 

“Yeah… it's healing already. The hearing loss was minimal. I had no idea what you were saying despite the fact that I knew you were speaking.” 

“Your wolf abilities are weird.” Aria smiled, a little thankful that Lupus wasn’t injured badly.

“We’ll discuss what constitutes as weird some other time, right now we need to catch up! We’re like dead last right now.” The sound of Lupus’ voice and his chuckles crackled over Aria’s comms as he eyed his boyfriend casually sitting in a squat pose on the bonnet. 

“Gravity force boots?” Aria sighed. 

“A convenient and well paid off investment, no?” 

“You couldn't just come back through the sunroof?” 

“Where is the fun in that?” Lupus snickered. 

Aria’s eyes widened when they heard a sonic boom. 

“What the fuck was that?” Aria asked as they picked up speed and got closer to see the barrier shattering and multiple hover cars falling off the track and free falling from the sphere. 

“How many racers did we lose?” 

“Eight. I can’t find Kisaragi’s car.” Aria observed.

“Keep your eyes peeled fo- WOAH!” Lupus fell back onto his butt when Aria had swerved the first incoming piece of debris from the sonic grenade explosion.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! I wasn’t trained to pilot through carnage.” Aria hissed, standing at the helm for a better vision scope. He was feeling unnaturally exhausted and sleepy as he watched Lupus’ figure blur before him. 

“LUPUS!” Kisaragi screamed as Lupus spotted him hanging off the edge of the barrier that was blown up. 

“Aria! Get us closer!” Lupus called out and got up to edge off the hover car so he could reach forward to Kisaragi’s outstretched arm. 

“Fuck me dead! I’m so glad to see your ugly face, Lupus! Mind helping me? This isn’t my idea of a dead hang.” Kisaragi threw his head back to laugh as he was hanging to his death. 

“Sorry that not all of us have Miya’s face.” Lupus snorted as he grabbed on and pulled Kisaragi onto the bonnet before shoving him up to the roof. “Get in through the sunroof.” 

“I feel so loved! It's like you guys were waiting for me!” Kisaragi made an awww sound before slipping in.  

“Hey Aria… ooohhh, pretty!” Kisaragi was already in Lupus’ seat, touching things on the dash. 

“Guest Kisaragi. Welcome.” Aria’s Star Chaser greeted smoothly. 

“Fuck! That’s cute! Please teach my hover cars to do that too!” Kisaragi exclaimed. 

“You don’t sound like someone who just crashed.” Lupus rolled his eyes as he hopped back in and shut the visor to a close. 

“After you and Aria valiantly rescued me, I couldn’t be in a better mood.” Kisaragi preened as he tried to shake the soot from his blonde hair. 

“Anyway, what happened?” Aria asked softly. 

“After the EMP hit you, Phantom tampered with the track and they pushed Miya off and a black hover car hit me. I slammed into the barrier and then three others piled up against me. The impact totaled the engines on my hover car. I had no choice but to get out and I knew you wouldn't be far behind. I hadn’t counted on the guy in a black helmet crashing through my windscreen. He tackled me. They definitely wanted me gone, especially after the sonic grenade that was set off into my hover car.” Kisaragi shared. 

“So how did you escape?”

“Miya came back in one of Phantom’s other hover cars. It got the attention of the black helmet guy. It was good enough for me to escape dying but both the black hover car and Miya fell onto the unused track below us. Miya gave chase and I have seen nothing more because I was trying not to fall to my death.” 

“Fuck. It looks like we need to track down that driver.” Aria suggested. 

“No. If we chase, it could very well be bait. We need to retreat from this. We need to regroup and look at our intel again. It's possible we’ve had a leak.” Lupus gauged calmly. 

“I could deal with the extra sleep for a few weeks.” Aria muttered as he shut his eyes with pain and fainted back into his seat. 

“Aria!” Lupus was already beside Aria, pulling him into his arms and examining the wound on his head, hissing at how Aria had been mopping up all his blood loss on his hoodie sleeve. 

“Here! Let me take care of him while you pilot.” Kisaragi had found the first aid kit in Aria’s storage. 

It didn’t take Kisaragi long before Aria’s head had been wrapped up and secured and Kisaragi had pulled off his shirt to take care of the shrapnel in his side. It was silent between Lupus’ anxious gaze over Aria who was asleep and curled up in the co-pilot seat. 

“So what’s the next move, Lupus? My cover has been blown and I think so has yours. Are we going to get these bastards back?” 

“Hmm...” Lupus made an affirmative noise, “But we need to take a step back and plan.” 

“Clearly. Did you see the A-grade tech? We weren’t prepared for tonight. This clearly wasn’t about racing anymore.” Kisaragi winced as he was removing glass from his side. 

“Let me worry about that. How are you wounds?”

He threw down the bloody tweezers, “Nothing seems deep enough for stitches. Miya can look at it later. I’ll just wrap it up a little.” Kisaragi sighed before he started to unravel the gauze and mefix tape. 

“We need to rest. Go back to Miya tonight and hide, Kisaragi. Stay in pairs. But don’t interact until Q-B informs you.” 

Lupus sighed after Kisaragi was dropped off at a safe location. He had been on the phone for most of the night with Q-B as he held Aria in his lap. He had let too many of his people come into the forefront of danger and that worried Lupus. He needed to keep everyone safe. Clearly they were in a situation of they had bit off more than they could handle. In a matter of hours they shifted from wanting to infiltrate a secret network on Cho Tokyo’s elites to being targeted by them. 

He drew the sleeping Aria closer to him and kissed his uninjured temple before setting coordinates out of Cho Tokyo. 

"Let’s run away and never come back.” Lupus murmured before he held Aria tighter and drifted into a deep sleep while autopilot did the work for them. 

“Lupus… Lupus…” Aria had called for him softly, waking him from his sleep, “We’re fifteen minutes out on the route to our destination. Where is Kisaragi and where are we going?” 

Lupus groaned softly, feeling the strain in his neck from the awkward sleeping position but could still feel Aria’s weight on him.

“Aria… When did you wake up?” He asked, his voice gruff and gravelly with sleep, his arms unconsciously tightening around Aria.

“The autopilot rerouting alert woke me. I guess I’ve been out for quite a while, huh…” 

“Hmm… Kisaragi tended to you and I got us to safety.” 

“Where is he?”

“Kisaragi? Safe.” Lupus reported with a tired murmur. 

“We’re heading to a capsule hotel in the middle of nowhere.” Aria mumbled, not ready to get up and curled further into Lupus, “It sucks going into hiding but at least I get to spend time with you. How long do you think we’ll need to lay low?” 

Lupus’ silence was very telling. 

“Lupus.” 

“I don’t know…” Lupus answered quietly as he pressed his lips to Aria’s forehead.

“We can move to a new district…” Aria suggested softly. 

“What about…” Lupus started before he stopped as Aria climbed to sit in Lupus’ lap looking him directly in the eye.

“About?”  

“What if it’s time for us to escape?” Lupus asked. 

“What are you even talking about?” Aria gave a forced laugh.

 I can’t let you get hurt again.” Lupus cupped Aria’s face. 

“Lupus - wait… think about this seriousl-” 

“What part of this is me not being serious? Aria, you are hurting here, already…” Lupus puts his palm over Aria’s chest, where his heart was drumming under the surface, “And then I let you get hurt here…” Lupus’ hand reaches for the bandages around his head. 

Aria gives Lupus a sad smile. 

Aria’s still hurting. 

“We just need time to ourselves. C’mon. It won’t be that bad.” Lupus urged. 

“Lupus. We don’t need to do this. We just need to rethink things. Find new places to hide and plan new strategies” Aria sighed. 

“And be apart from you again? No. I don't know how to be apart from you and still keep you safe. Being the leader of this makeshift gang makes me be apart from you. It makes sense to abandon what puts us in danger.” 

“Do you really still think I need to be kept safe?” Aria asked, ready to pick a fight with Lupus for undermining his ability to take care of himself. 

“Absolutely.” Lupus answered, sober tone and dead serious expression before he took Aria’s face in his palms, “You’re so fucking precious to me that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t treasure you with all my power. People will come and go but it’s always been about us. Always me for you. I was made to love you, Aria.” He vowed solemnly as he pulled Aria in a kiss.

In that moment, Aria could taste all of Lupus and his promises, bitter and heartbroken but still longing for Aria. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself either, if he knew he was the sole reason for crushing Lupus’ potential. He couldn't stand that this man loved him so much that he was willing to throw away everything he built just to hide from the world to be him.   

“But the Torii Gates…” Aria asked softly.

"Not our problem anymore.” Lupus murmured as he rested his head on Aria’s shoulder. 

“Lupus… you’ve spent years building that network and giving a home and sense of identity to those people. What about them?” Aria carded his hand through Lupus’ dark hair.

“Everything I have done was spent in building the future to be with you. But that’s not for us anymore. Hades can…” 

“You cannot shift that responsibility onto him…It's unfair to him!” Aria scolded him.

“And what about us? When will it be fair for us to be together?” 

“You know things aren’t that simple anymore, Lupus… We just need to -”

“We just need to do nothing! I can't pretend like this is okay and it’s worth salvaging when it’s clearly destroying us. I don’t see the value in something that will bring us more harm than opportunity and you said it yourself, our missions were stalling for months.” Lupus growled out, his eyes flashing red as both him and his wolf became agitated.

Aria sealed his lips, not even wanting to retort against the way Lupus had twisted his own words against him.

“Calm down and think clearly before you talk to me.” Aria decided coldly and got up to get away from Lupus.

Lupus scoffed and looked out the window, knocking his head back against the seat as he threw himself to rest in his seat, not looking in Aria’s direction. 

“I’ve made up my mind. I’ve never been more certain of my choices. Don’t undermine me with sentiment.” Lupus hissed softly before closing his eyes, expecting no response from the younger. 

Aria huffed as they spent the rest of their trip in stony silence. It was the beginning of dawn when they finally arrived at the hotel. The rooftop car park was deserted - it made for an odd but worthy hiding spot for Star Chaser.  

They got out of the hover car, spying Cho Tokyo in the horizon as they watched the sky streak with orange and pink to welcome the sun for a new day. They stared out in silence until they were drawn to look at each other at the same time and Lupus could feel his anger melting away. Aria was still so young and beautiful. It settled in Lupus that he had no regrets on giving up everything to be with him. 

Aria is everything to him. 

Lupus wished he could remember this vision of Aria forever. Even in his icy anger, the sun warmed his brown eyes, sprinkling the light into his eyes for just a moment. Just long enough to see that Aria still loved him as much as he did. 

It was oddly comforting that Lupus could tell that he and Aria wanted the same thing but they still couldn’t come to an agreement on how to execute what they wanted.

Lupus stepped forward to reach for Aria but Aria withdrew. 

“Sunrise is coming soon… We need to get inside… C’mon, I know someone here who can get us a room without asking questions.” Lupus sighed as he started to walk toward the elevator. It would take them down to the reception area. 

The two of them stood in the empty lobby, listening to the muted raving music in the bar next door and the cheering of the fight club in the parking lot under them. Lupus had talked to a guy behind the main desk of the building before he slid them a card. 

Lupus motioned for the elevator before they decided to talk.

He held up the single key card for their room. He flipped it over, scanning it for any sort of tampering as he glossed over the holo design in the plasma film of the card.

“I couldn’t get us two rooms… as much as we’d like that right now,” Lupus commented snidely before he huffed, “Anyway we have to lay low. If we spend the day sleeping, we have a less likely chance of getting caught by Phantom.” 

Aria nodded and Lupus sighed. They waited in silence until they got to their floor. 

“Why don’t you go on without me. It would be better… It would give the impression we’re separated. I’ll go get food… It’s cabin F-9.” Lupus said as he remained behind in the elevator and handed over the key card. 

Aria raised an eyebrow at him but took the card, not even sparing Lupus a second glance as he walked out of the elevator and already turned to make his way down the hallway. He hadn’t even waited for the elevator doors to close.

Lupus breathed in and grimaced at the closed elevator doors. He felt the tiny lurch in his tummy as it headed to the ground floor again. Lupus spent a moment trying to burn a hole into the floor as he glared. He was angry. He hated when Aria punished him with a cold shoulder in their fights. 

It normally took something severe for them to get to this point but this situation was everything but normal. Too many things had escalated too quickly and that included their emotions and decisions.

“Fuck!” Lupus growled as he punched one of the LED monitors with an advertisement of the hotel. 

He hated fighting with Aria.