By Zephyria “Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Hold your breath, too.”
It was a repertoire he had heard somewhere before. Leonardo closed his eyes slowly, even as he questioned him. Hugo lifted the tip of his chin, cupped the small face in front of him, and began to gently wipe his wet eyes, cheeks, and lips.
The droplets that bloomed from his fingertips cooled the skin that had not yet recovered from the heat. He also lightly wiped away the saliva and welts that his instincts had messed up while his reason was absent.
He also delicately untangled the hair that had been tangled with sweat in the water particles. As the splashing sensation of water tickled his face, Leonardo twitched his eyelids, even though he knew it wasn’t. It was because he felt as if his tongue was touching him again.
Whenever his long fingers brushed against his lips, his mouth would open automatically. He closed it again, embarrassed, but there was no way the other person wouldn’t have noticed.
Hugo, taking in each of his well-trained reactions, carefully rubbed his reddened eyes for the last time.
“You can open them now.”
The hands that had roughly erased the traces were withdrawn along with the water droplets. Leonardo stealthily opened his eyes and groped at his chin.
“Did you wipe it off because it was covered in spit?”
It was definitely moist, but there was no moisture on it. Hugo, wearing a strange expression, replied dryly.
“…It’s because your face said, ‘I just kissed someone.'”
The words he was saying weren’t dry at all, so Leonardo’s expression froze strangely. He didn’t know what kind of face to make, so he only moved his lips.
Hugo, who was watching, let out a low laugh.
“Looks like you’re not immune to this kind of thing.”
“…What are you talking about? I was just a little… flustered because you did it so suddenly.”
“Is that so?”
Hugo, who quickly erased his smile, took a step forward. Leonardo unknowingly took a step back, trapped in his shadow.
Just as he was looking up with a face that said, ‘Don’t tell me again…?’, Hugo, who had taken a handkerchief out of his inside pocket, folded the piece of cloth lengthwise. He wrapped the handkerchief around Leonardo’s still reddish neck and tied it like a scarf.
“……”
Leonardo stared silently at the approaching face. The blue eyes, which had been pretending to focus on the knot, curved slightly.
“Because there are marks on your neck.”
Leonardo, who had been stiff, distorted his eyes. His Adam’s apple, swallowing dry saliva, rippled uncomfortably.
‘He’s teasing me.’
Hugo covered the traces he had left and the secrets he had not been able to find out with a handkerchief. As the black and red things were covered with cloth, his resigned heart felt much more at ease. He looked up and down at Leonardo’s appearance and straightened him up, then casually asked about something that had been bothering him all along.
“You still look a little tired, are you okay?”
“Huh?”
Leonardo asked back, dazed by the gentle voice. As he lowered his head following the other’s gaze, he saw his crotch, which was still swollen.
He paused, ears reddening, and pulled the backpack from his shoulder to awkwardly cover his lower body.
“…It’s temporary. You know that too.”
He replied as if it were nothing, but both knew the state had persisted for quite some time.
Hugo stared at the vigorous vitality hidden by the backpack, slowly nodding before averting his gaze. It had been quite a while since the heightened atmosphere had subsided, yet he was still so lively—certainly young. He couldn’t bring himself to offer help. After all, this was outdoors, and there were issues of his dignity, and… various other problems.
On the other hand, he was certain that if he had turned around when they were in bed together 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 suggested he knew everything but was pretending not to. Leonardo glanced sideways at Hugo before looking down at his crotch in the same manner.
He wanted to say, “Honestly, weren’t you the same?” but he couldn’t bring himself to say it, fearing the atmosphere would become strange. Even now, the presence of the slanted outline was overwhelmingly noticeable, as if he were still aroused. But Leonardo knew clearly, thanks to their earlier contact, that it had already subsided.
He wondered how far they would have gone if they had gone further, but Leonardo decided not to be greedy any longer, now that he was leaving. At least he had stolen a moment of the Legion Commander’s heart.
The secret he wanted… he wanted to confess it on those lips someday when the time was right.
“What are you staring at?”
As silence stretched on, Hugo broke the quiet with a chuckle. Leonardo, looking embarrassed, immediately turned his gaze away. Hugo casually swept back his golden bangs, still damp, from his forehead. Leonardo, blinking at the tenderness, stared blankly at the shimmering wristwatch.
If he opened his eyes tomorrow, he might regret today. But he impulsively snatched the man’s wrist, watch and all.
The large body was easily pulled towards him, compliant. With his hand gripping the wrist, Leonardo left one last trace, a deep kiss.
Hugo, accepting it naturally, couldn’t push him away as he had at first. Perhaps it was because he now knew this sensation properly. Soft, clear, and pure sounds tickled his ears in succession.
Hmm, hmm—. Nasal tones, now more familiar to each other, rumbled softly. The corners of his mouth, which had been wiped clean, were glistening again.
As the lines of his lips burned and stung, Leonardo pulled back and grinned.
“Because I’m sad to leave.”
Looking at the other man’s moistened lips, Hugo asked with a bewildered expression,
“Are you always this forward?”
Hot palms wrapped around the back of Hugo’s neck, pulling him closer. He pressed a couple of bird kisses to the corner of his mouth, then cleaned the man’s lips with his tongue.
“That’s my charm.”
It was a magical word that made everything forgivable. Hugo chuckled at the impudent answer that left him feeling drained. He knew that he had deliberately encroached on his watch, but he let it go with a press of his lips against the mischievous eyes.
The two walked hand in hand towards the end of the light-filled passage. The outside scenery was considerably darker than when they had first entered the waiting room. However, even though quite some time had passed, the sun had not yet set.
Sunset had begun to cast its glow since they had changed in the Legion Commander’s private room, but the twilight still lingered in the dim sky, as if time had stopped.
When Leonardo questioned the unusually long sunset, Hugo kindly explained.
“Rogia has a large landmass, so even the western Gate is at a higher latitude than the eastern Gate of Zodiac. It’s not quite as extreme as the polar regions, but the sun sets late enough that you can occasionally see the midnight sun depending on the season. That’s why the sunset is long too… During the longest season of the year, this state can last for several hours.”
“So that’s why it’s called ‘The Gate that Sees the Sun’?”
Leonardo looked back at the stone gate receding into the distance. He wondered if it had gotten such a name because the sun stayed up for so long.
Hugo, who had looked back at the same spot, shook his head.
“Well, I don’t really know. I only know that it was named by the last King of Rogia.”
“How do you know that?”
“I have an old study in my mansion. If you look inside, you can find records left by my ancestors.”
Hugo explained that secrets and ancient documents that had not been revealed to the world for various reasons had been living with the mansion for a long time. Looking back on the history of Agrigento Territory, one could glimpse the major and minor events and the human figures of Laina Rogia in the past. What was surprising was that the events and people of that old era were very similar to those of our time, he added.
“Perhaps history is driven by a projector-like mechanism that repeatedly projects multiple reels of film…”
“You seem to be very interested in history.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m not. I look into it whenever I have time. But Leo, can you read Ancient Language?”
“Yeah, a little. But it seemed like you knew it too.”
“I only know a little too.”
Leonardo was lost in thought, wanting to continue listening to Hugo’s story as they passed through the long yet short passage together. He hadn’t seen this person talk about himself often, so it was new and interesting to see him unravel his interests.
He sometimes resented him for not telling him secrets, but in fact, this person was the same.
“You’re lucky. You have so many precious materials at home. They’re all left by your grandmothers and grandfathers.”
Hugo’s lips tightened and then relaxed at Leonardo’s seemingly innocent remark. Leonardo’s eyebrows lifted slightly, catching the fleeting moment.
Hugo turned to him with a gentle smile.
“Come to my mansion if you’re curious. I’ll give you a special showing, just for you.”
“…Don’t you hear that you’re persistent a lot?”
“Why, am I not charming?”
“It’s not that.”
The two exchanged trivial conversations and stepped out of the wide-open Gate.
Beyond the bridge, the white cityscape and vast square of Agrigento Territory unfolded. As befitting the name of the City of Water, a huge fountain and a complex network of interconnected waterways greeted them first.
It was a familiar sight to both of them for different reasons. Around them, the territory’s guards maintained a radius of about 20 meters, standing with their backs to them in formation.
The guards, who had been holding up huge shields facing outwards, straightened their posture as if they had recognized that their lord had arrived.
Leonardo felt a little sorry for them, as he had been delayed inside for various reasons.
“Leo.”
Unusually bright golden eyes rolled around and met Hugo’s eyes. The only skin that was touching moved softly, as if responding to the call.
“Yeah?”
It was a scene of farewell, where the bluish darkness and the red sunset that was receding were intertwined. They stared at each other, becoming the protagonists of a silent film in the slowly turning film of the projector.
Leonardo, who had been standing side by side, turned the direction of the lens as if possessed. It was because he wanted to see the subject more properly. He moved, shifting his feet to a position where he could face the protagonist. The majestic Gate also seemed to want to illuminate them, briefly calming its grandeur.
In Leonardo’s vision, only one man, against the backdrop of a blurred barrier, formed an image that was alien and yet vividly clear.
The color of his blue eyes was strangely subtle today. It was calm and serene, but perhaps because it was mixed with red, it looked so sad and lonely that he couldn’t take his eyes off it.
Leonardo was overwhelmed by a sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen this scene somewhere before. When was it? Was it when he had tried to shake off this man’s embrace on the peninsula and run away, but couldn’t leave in the end?
“……”
At the time, the man had stared at him blankly for a while, then slipped out his hand as if it were his last hope. The same scene as then was being drawn in reality.
The two overlapping afterimages spoke to him with a heavy heart.
“Come here.”
Hugo, wearing a mournful smile, spread his five fingers like a flower. His broad arms were also wide open.
“Let’s hug just once.”
He spread his arms wide as if he would embrace him fully.
Perhaps sensing that the time had come, the emotions that Leonardo had been trying to ignore surged up in an instant. He was embarrassed by his rapidly heating eyes. It must have been to hide his face, which was about to become unsightly, that he rushed towards the other man without hesitation.
Even though he threw himself into his arms with all his might, the large man was as unwavering as ever. He simply hugged the warmth that was leaning on him tightly. Hugo leaned one cheek against Leonardo’s head and murmured as if whispering.
“I’ll always be here, so come find me whenever you need help.”
“……”
“At that time… I promise I’ll become a strong person you can really trust and rely on.”
Leonardo, who had been hugging Hugo’s back and burying his face in it, gently raised his head at his new vow. His golden eyes, with their reddened rims, sparkled with a deeply felt emotion. Hugo wore a faint smile, but frowned at the beautiful face that made his heart weaken.
“If you make that face, I won’t be able to let you go.”
“…You’re strong even now.”
“Of course, but… I need to become more solid. So that I can fully protect what I need to protect.”
A large hand rubbed the reddened rims of his eyes intently. It was a hand that was anxious lest a pearl-like tear should fall.
Leonardo stared at the man with a face that had a lot to say. Then he tilted his head back and stared silently at the sky for a moment. He sent all the moist emotions clinging to his eyelashes flying away on the gentle breeze. Then he snuggled back into the Legion Commander’s arms, who had risked everything for his freedom.
Feeling the warm body temperature melting inside him, Hugo’s heart became even more complicated. It felt like only yesterday that he had dragged him out into the world and they had fought as if they were the only two left in the world. He had barely saved him from dying covered in dirt, and now the time had come when he had to send him away with his own hands.
But the time they had spent together suddenly swirled around him like thousands of reels of film. Hugo couldn’t easily let go of the warmth he was holding because of the golden afterimages that lived and breathed in his memory.
He simply closed his eyes and buried his lips in the golden hair, and then barely raised his head when the horn of a steamboat sounded in the distance.
The red flag indicating the last freighter of the day felt like a signal of farewell.
Hugo opened his mouth.
“Leo, you have to go now.”
Leonardo, who had raised his buried face, also stared blankly at the steamboat. Soon, he turned to the unforgettable man and took his hand, lifting it to his chin.
“Thank you.”
The hero, wearing a distorted smile, kissed the prominent blood vessels on the back of his hand. He pressed his fresh breath down along his fingers, just as the other man had done to him.
Hugo’s fingertips twitched. Leonardo, who had been caressing the man’s hand, carefully let go of his lingering attachment. He then added a word.
“But I like you now too. I like you no matter what you look like.”
Hugo’s lower jaw moved with difficulty. His expanded blue eyes hastily reached out to Leonardo, who had let go of his hand.
But Leonardo, who had turned halfway around, leaped from his spot before his fingertips could brush his collar.
“I’m going.”
In the instant he soared into the sky, a steamboat that had quickly approached spewed black smoke and passed under the bridge. In Hugo’s vision, the swirling black steam flowed away, entangled in the last rays of the sunset. He searched for the figure with an anxious heart, but nothing could be seen in the dark dust.
Standing blankly, waiting for the freighter to pass, he chased the afterimage with his eyes, trying to grasp even a small trace of Leonardo.
However, by the time the tail of the train passed under the bridge, he had no choice but to accept it. Hugo stood on the last boundary line where the light shone and reminisced about the scent of the sunlight that had flowed away like the wind. Darkness had already fallen on the eastern sky where the sun had set.
No matter how much he wandered through the air in search of it, the golden light could not be seen. He calmly faced the blowing wind, then turned his steps, recalling the comrades who were waiting for him.
But he couldn’t go more than a few steps before stopping. He turned back again and imprinted the scene, like a photograph, in his eyes so that he would not forget it.
The past few months had felt like a dream. Like the light that he could not grasp in his hand from the beginning, a futile longing ached in his heart.
But even so, Hugo slowly closed and opened his eyes. He engraved this moment, which would become a memory, in his soul.
“Someday, we’ll meet again.”
The man’s low murmur scattered into the air, following the other man. His steps lingered in that spot for a long time.