“Chika, what’s wrong?” Marude Itsuki is happy. Well, a nervous kind of happy. They’ve just apprehended an SS rate ghoul, their first enemy of that caliber. Now they sit in Chika’s apartment, sipping wine.
“N-nothing.” Chika flicks back his hair and smiles. It’s hard being the son of Tsuneyoshi, with the future of a bureau to defend humankind on his shoulders.
Marude smiles sympathetically. “I’m glad I got to take down this ghoul with you.”
Chika’s cheeks are flaming now. “Me too. I – when he had me pinned down – I was thinking that even if I died, I’d be happy because I got to fight with you.”
“Really?” Marude chuckles. “I’m flattered, Chika.”
He’s not sure what possesses him next, but he grabs Chika’s face and plants a kiss straight on his best friend’s lips.
Marude pulls back, realizing suddenly what he’s done. He’s kissed the heir to the CCG. He’s jeopardized a friendship and a career. “Chika – I – I’m sorry -”
“Don’t be.” Chika pulls him closer. “Do you – really feel that way?”
Marude nods, and the next thing he knows, Chika is kissing him back with more passion than a starving ghoul.
“Maru,” Chika whimpers in his ear. He mutters something else, too, but the only word Marude hears is ‘bedroom.’
And so Marude pulls Chika into the bedroom. Their lips never part, and the painting in the hallway is now off-kilter, but finally they fall onto Chika’s bed.
“You lead,” Chika whispers, because for once he doesn’t want to be in control.
Marude’s face is scarlet. Sweat beads his brow, and Chika has never thought him more beautiful.
He doesn’t feel like a ghoul right now. He doesn’t feel the damnation of his family or his upcoming nuptials to a breeding ghoul. He feels free, and warm, and loved.
It occurs to Chika, as Marude unbuckles his pants, that he might never have felt loved before.
With Maru here, he thinks as their bodies connect, he feels human. He feels like he’s worth something.