“Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Hold your breath, too.”
It was a repertoire he’d heard somewhere before. Leonardo closed his eyes slowly even as he questioned. Hugo lifted his chin, cupped the small face before him, and began gently wiping his wet eyes, cheeks, and lips.
The water droplets that bloomed from his fingertips cooled skin that had not yet escaped the heat. They lightly wiped away the saliva and bruises that instinct had messily left behind in the absence of reason.
He also delicately untangled hair that had been matted with sweat in the water particles. As the sensation of splashing water tickled his face, Leonardo’s eyelids twitched, even though he knew it wasn’t real. It was because he felt as if a tongue were touching him again.
Whenever the long fingers brushed his lips, his mouth opened automatically. He closed it again, embarrassed, but the other must have noticed.
Taking in each of the well-trained responses, Hugo finally rubbed the reddened eyelids with careful strokes.
“You can open them now.”
The hand that had roughly erased the traces withdrew along with the water droplets. Leonardo opened his eyes slowly and tentatively touched his chin.
“Did you wipe it because there was saliva?”
It was certainly cool, but there was no dampness. Hugo, making a strange expression, answered dryly:
“...‘I just kissed’ was written on your face.”
Because what he actually said wasn’t dry at all, Leonardo’s expression froze oddly. Not knowing what face to make, he only moved his lips.
Hugo, who had been watching, let out a low laugh.
“Seems you’re not immune to this kind of thing.”
“...What are you saying? I was just... surprised because you did it suddenly.”
“Is that so?”
Hugo, who quickly erased his smile, took a step forward. Leonardo unconsciously took a step back, trapped in his shadow.
Just as he was looking up with a face that said, ‘Surely not again...?’ Hugo took out a handkerchief from his inner pocket and folded the piece of cloth lengthwise. He wrapped it around Leonardo’s still-reddish neck like a scarf.
“...”
Leonardo stared blankly at the face that had come close. The blue eyes that pretended to focus on the knot curved slightly.
“There were marks left on your neck.”
Leonardo, who had been stiff, contorted his eyes. His Adam’s apple, swallowing dry saliva, bobbed as if uncomfortable.
‘He’s teasing me.’
Hugo wrapped the handkerchief around the traces he had left—and the secret he had not discovered in the end. As the black and red were covered by the cloth, his resigned heart felt much more at ease. While examining Leonardo up and down and tidying his attire, he casually asked what had been bothering him:
“You still look a bit... uncomfortable. Are you alright?”
“Huh?”
At the caring voice, Leonardo asked back dazedly. Following the other’s gaze, he lowered his head and saw his own front, still swollen.
He flinched, ears turning red, and tugged his backpack on his shoulder to awkwardly cover his lower body.
“...It’s temporary. You know that too.”
Though he answered as if it weren’t a big deal, they both knew the condition had persisted for a long time.
Hugo stared at the vigorous vitality hidden by the backpack, then slowly nodded and averted his gaze. It was certainly youthful—still so energetic even though the heightened atmosphere had faded quite a while ago. He couldn’t bring himself to offer help. After all, this was outdoors, and there would be various issues, including his dignity.
On the other hand, he was certain that if he had turned around when they were lying in the same bed a few days ago, it wouldn’t have ended with just a kiss.
“I’m glad your condition seems to have improved.”
It was a look that said he knew everything, and was pretending not to. Leonardo glanced at Hugo from the corner of his eye, then looked down at his front.
Honestly, he wanted to say the same was true for him, too, but he couldn’t voice it for fear of making the atmosphere strange. Even now, the presence of that slanted outline was overwhelming, as if he might still be aroused. But Leonardo knew clearly from their contact earlier that this was already a subdued state.
While wondering how far they would have gone if they’d crossed this line, Leonardo decided not to be greedy anymore, given that he was leaving. At least he had stolen His Excellency’s heart for a moment.
The secret he wanted... someday, when the time comes... he wanted to confess it on those lips.
“What are you staring at so intently?”
As the silence continued, Hugo broke it with an amused tone. Leonardo quickly averted his gaze, flustered. Hugo brushed back the still-damp golden bangs. Leonardo, blinking at the affection, blankly stared at the shimmering wristwatch.
Tomorrow, the moment he opened his eyes, he might regret today. But impulsively, he caught the man’s wrist along with the watch.
That large body was pulled toward him so easily, so willingly. Leonardo, still gripping the wrist, kissed him deeply as if leaving a final trace.
Hugo, who accepted it naturally, couldn’t push him away like the first time. Was it because he now knew this sensation properly? The clear, pure sound of “chok” tickled his ears again and again.
Mmm, mmm—. The moans, now more familiar to each other, resonated low. The mouth that had just been wiped clean glistened again.
When his lips became not just hot but painful, Leonardo tilted his head away and grinned.
“Because I’ll miss you.”
Looking at the other’s moistened lips, Hugo asked with an incredulous expression:
“Are you always this uninhibited?”
A hot palm wrapped around Hugo’s neck and drew him in. After planting a couple of bird kisses on his mouth with smack, smack sounds, he licked the man’s lips clean with his tongue.
“That’s my charm.”
It was a magical phrase that made him forgive everything. Hugo chuckled ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ at the brazen answer that made him feel weak. Though he knew the other had deliberately invaded his watch, he let it slide, only pressing his lips to those mischievous eyes.
The two walked hand in hand toward the end of the corridor where light was seeping in. The outside scenery had darkened considerably compared to when they first entered the waiting room. However, despite the time that had passed, the sun had not set.
The sunset had begun to fall when they were changing clothes in the Commander’s personal room, but as if time had stopped, twilight still lingered in the dusky sky.
When Leonardo questioned the unusually long sunset, Hugo kindly explained:
“Logia has a wide territory, so even though it’s the western gate, it’s at a higher latitude than the eastern gate of the imperial capital. Though not as much as the polar regions, the sun sets late enough that you can occasionally see the white nights depending on the season. That’s why the sunset is long, too... During the longest period of the year, this state can last for several hours.”
“Is that why it’s the ‘Gate that sees the sun’?”
Leonardo looked back at the stone gate behind them. He wondered if it had gotten that name because the sun stayed up for so long.
Hugo, who had looked back at the same place, shook his head.
“Well, I’m not sure about that either. I only know it was named by the last king of Logia.”
“How do you know that?”
“There’s an old library in my mansion. If you look in there, you can find records left by ancestors.”
Hugo explained that secrets and ancient documents that couldn’t be revealed to the world for various reasons had lived with the mansion for a long time. He said that looking back at the history of Agrizendro, one could glimpse the major events and figures of past Raina Logia. Surprisingly, he added that the events and people of those old days were very similar to their own times.
“Perhaps history... operates like a projector that repeatedly shows multiple films.”
“You seem to have a lot of interest in history.”
“I’m not uninterested. I look into it whenever I have time. But Leo, can you read the ancient language?”
“Yeah, a little. But you seem to know it too.”
“I only know a little, too.”
As they passed through the corridor that seemed long yet short, Leonardo found himself wanting to keep listening to Hugo’s stories. Since he hadn’t often seen this person talk about himself, watching him unfold his interests was both novel and intriguing.
Sometimes he felt resentful that he wouldn’t tell him his secrets, but in truth, it was the same for this person, too.
“You’re lucky. You have so many precious materials at home. They’re all left by your grandparents, right?”
At Leonardo’s seemingly innocent remark, Hugo’s lips momentarily stiffened before relaxing. Leonardo’s eyebrows rose slightly as he caught that fleeting moment.
Hugo turned to look at him with a gentle smile.
“If you’re curious, come to my mansion. I’ll show you—specially.”
“...Do you often hear that you’re persistent?”
“Why, is it not charming?”
“How could it not be?”
They stepped out through the wide-open gate, trading trivial conversation.
Beyond the bridge, the white cityscape and vast square of the Agrizendro territory unfolded. Befitting its name as the city of water, a huge fountain and intricately intertwined waterways greeted them first.
It was a scene not unfamiliar to either of them, for different reasons. Around them, the territory’s guard unit maintained a radius of about twenty meters, forming ranks with their backs to them.
The unit, holding up huge shields facing outward, straightened as if recognizing their lord’s arrival.
Having delayed inside for various reasons, Leonardo felt a bit sorry for them.
“Leo.”
The particularly shining golden eyes rolled to meet Hugo’s. The only touching skin moved dully, as if answering the call.
“Yes?”
It was a farewell scene where the bluish darkness that had arrived and the red sunset retreating—just in time—harmonized. They gazed at each other fleetingly, becoming the protagonists of a silent film in the slowly turning projector’s reel.
Leonardo, who had been standing side by side, turned as if entranced, shifting the lens’s direction. He wanted to see the subject more clearly. He stepped until he faced the protagonist. Even the majestic gate seemed to lower its grandeur for a moment, as if to highlight them.
In Leonardo’s view, only one man stood out clearly against the blurred barrier behind, to the point of seeming out of place.
The color of those blue eyes was particularly mysterious today. Calm and quiet beyond measure, yet perhaps because of the mixed red, they looked so sorrowful and lonely he couldn’t take his eyes off them.
Leonardo was enveloped by déjà vu, as if he had seen this scene somewhere before. When was it? When he had tried to escape this person’s embrace on the peninsula, but ultimately couldn’t leave?
“...”
Back then, the man had stared at him blankly for a while, then slowly reached out his hand as if it were his last hope. The same scene now unfolded in reality.
The two overlapping afterimages spoke to him in a muffled voice.
“Come here.”
Hugo, wearing a sorrowful smile, spread his five fingers like a flower. His broad embrace opened wide.
“Let me hug you just once.”
He opened his arms as if to gather him whole.
As if sensing the moment had come, Leonardo was suddenly overwhelmed by emotions he’d been trying to ignore. His eyes, rapidly heating, bewildered him. The reason he rushed into the other’s arms without hesitation must have been to hide the face that was about to become unsightly.
Even though he threw himself in with all his might, the large man didn’t waver an inch, as always. He only held him tighter, embracing the warmth melting into him. Hugo rested one cheek on Leonardo’s head and recited, almost whispering:
“I’ll always be here, so come find me whenever you need help.”
“...”
“By then... I promise I’ll be a strong person you can really trust and rely on.”
Leonardo, burying his face as he hugged Hugo’s back, gently raised his head at the new vow. His golden eyelids were drawn tight, sparkling with deep emotion. Hugo furrowed his graceful brows at the beauty of that expression that weakened his heart, a faint smile on him all the while.
“If you make that expression, I won’t be able to let you go.”
“...You’re already strong now.”
“Of course I am, but... I need to become more solid. So I can fully protect what I need to protect.”
A large hand rubbed the reddened eyelids in slow, thick strokes. It was a touch full of concern, as if afraid pearl-like tears might fall.
Leonardo stared blankly at the man, a face full of things to say. Then he tipped his head back and quietly looked up at the sky for a moment. He let the damp emotions tangled in his lashes be carried away by the breeze. Then he sank back, deep into the embrace of His Excellency, who had risked everything solely for his freedom.
Feeling that warm body heat melt into him, Hugo’s heart grew more complicated, too. It seemed like just yesterday that he had dragged him out into the world and fought as if they were the only two left in it. After barely saving him when they were both dying, covered in dirt, now the time had come when he had to send him away with his own hands.
But suddenly, the time they’d spent together rushed by like thousands of film frames. Hugo couldn’t easily let go of the warmth he held, because of the golden afterimages living and breathing in his memories.
He closed his eyes and buried his lips in the golden hair—then finally raised his head when the steam train’s whistle blew in the distance.
The red flag signaling today’s last freight train felt like a signal for farewell.
Hugo opened his mouth.
“Leo, it’s time to go now.”
Leonardo, lifting his face from where it had been buried, also stared blankly at the steam train. Then, turning to the unforgettable man, he took his hand and raised it to just below his chin.
“Thank you.”
The hero, with a twisted eye-smile, kissed the prominent veins on the back of his hand. Following the fingers, he pressed down his fresh breath, just as the other had done to him.
Hugo’s fingertips twitched. Leonardo, who had been caressing the man’s hand, carefully let go of his lingering attachment. Then he added one more thing:
“But I like you now too. I like you no matter what form you take.”
Hugo’s lower jaw moved painfully. His widened blue eyes urgently reached out the hand he’d been letting hang toward Leonardo.
But Leonardo, half-turned, leaped from his spot before their fingertips could brush his clothes.
“I’m going.”
In the instant he flew up into the air, the rapidly approaching steam train passed under the bridge, spewing black smoke. In Hugo’s view, the rippling black steam intertwined with the edge of the sunset and flowed away. He searched for the silhouette with an urgent heart, but nothing could be seen in the dark dust.
Standing still, waiting for the freight train to pass, he chased the afterimage with his eyes, trying to catch even the smallest trace of Leonardo.
But by the time the tail of the train was passing under the bridge, he finally had to accept it. Hugo stood at the last boundary where light entered and remembered the scent of sunlight that had flowed away like wind. Darkness had already settled in the eastern sky where the sun had set.
No matter how much he searched the empty air, the gold was nowhere to be seen. He quietly faced the incoming wind, then—remembering his waiting comrades—turned his steps.
But he stopped again after only a few. He turned back once more to imprint the scene like a photograph in his eyes, so he wouldn’t forget it.
The past few months felt like one long dream. Like light he could never hold in his hand from the beginning, an ephemeral longing pierced him.
But nevertheless, Hugo slowly closed and opened his eyes. He engraved this moment, soon to become memory, into his soul.
“Someday, we’ll meet again.”
The man’s low murmur scattered into the air, following the other. His steps lingered there for a long time.
