Disclaimer: Not only do the characters not belong to me, but uh...
Notes: Yeah, they're extremely minor characters, which have not had much revealed about them just yet. For that matter, there may end up being massive discrepancies between the anime version and the manga version of each. So I'm working with the anime versions here, though I did drag a few Teshimine details from the manga.
Warning: Spoilers for the end of the series. If you don't want to spoil the last arc for yourself, read no further. Seriously.
Slashiness, but nothing explicit or even terribly overt. They're dignified characters, and I like to let them keep their dignity... no matter how hot they are. And how immediately upon seeing a screencap of Masaki, I thought "He'd look awfully good with Teshimine..." However, if they hadn't actually had a past together and if I didn't like them both an awful lot, I wouldn't be doing this. Really.
Descending Olympus
"What will you do now?"
The question is too open-ended; his plans for the future include only what he will not do any longer. What he'd left behind was a life he'd not wanted for years. The only answer Kurusu Masaki can give is a very different one than he was given long before, when he asked the same question of the one who now questions him. His response is simply a bland "I don't know."
The two of them are sitting together inside an old building in Lower Town, on the outskirts of Mugenjou, near the exit into what could be called the real world. The others have already gone, but there is something still holding Masaki back, and Teshimine Takeru is willing to wait with him. More than anyone else, Teshimine knows what it's like to be in such a position, and Masaki wonders if he knows what it is that's keeping him here, when he could have left. If he knows, he isn't saying.
"You will stay with MakubeX and the others, won't you?"
"I owe them that much," he agrees.
Teshimine shakes his head. "The result of Ginji's victory is the freedom to do as you please. What you owe them is choices you make yourself, choosing your own destiny. That may or may not include Volts."
"It does include Volts." His answer is quick not because it is reactive, but because it's what he's wanted for a very long time. Things have changed a great deal since he first began to think that, and in ways that even he and the others who called themselves gods had not predicted, but he could not forget a life he had lived mostly apart from predictions, instead lived through trust and faith in more simple things.
A warm hand rests atop his, and squeezes lightly for a moment. "If you need to take some time away first, you can stay with me."
It sounds strange, coming from a man that he'd nearly killed not long past, but that was Teshimine. "Faithful even to those who betray your trust..." Masaki murmurs. "Did he learn that from you?"
Teshimine shakes his head. "I learned it from him." Masaki nods thoughtfully, his eyes downcast, for he has learned much the same thing.
He'd always wondered if Teshimine's guardianship of the boy who would become Raitei was by chance or by purpose. Even though the gods had proclaimed it to be a part of their grand design, Mido's assessment of the situation seemed to hold truth, from what Masaki had witnessed in the weeks after Mido had himself destroyed years of careful planning on his own part. He could have written it off as god plotting against god - and against a god who had given up most of his deity, at that - but things had been unpleasantly tense. And now...
The hand atop his squeezes again. "Let's go outside, Masaki. Dare I say... you need a vacation, even if only for the night."
Masaki nods, feeling the truth in those words. "We can't go far in one night. What did you have in mind?"
"I know a peaceful place where we can have a drink and a bite to eat." There is a brief pause before he adds, "Say what they might about the power of the gods of Babylon City, I don't believe a single one of them has ever brewed a decent cup of coffee."
When Masaki looks up, it feels like old times, because Teshimine is smiling. The truth in these irreverent words of his make him smile as well as he rises, ignoring the unsettling twist in his stomach at the thought. "So much for omnipotence."
Teshimine chuckles, and in a few moments they are outside.
Outside Mugenjou, Masaki finds himself ill at ease, nervous. He spent months outside before, in the midst of unbendable reality - things he cannot change with his will. Somehow, he never became entirely comfortable with it. This time, its cacophany and chaos drive home just what he lost when MakubeX and Gen transferred the Archive's data stores to a host which he cannot control. Anything could pose a threat - and even if he returns, Mugenjou will be much the same, a world he can't control. His uneasiness is kept internal, beneath an even expression and a cold stare.
Walking through the city streets, with people and vehicles going every which way, is like waking up from a dream. Masaki suddenly sympathizes with Amano Ginji; not the confident Raitei, but the frightened boy who gave them a shaky farewell and walked off wide-eyed with a near stranger into a world he knew nothing about. The fact that Ginji found happiness so easily in a world he could not rule, despite his fear, is an encouragement, as is the knowledge that Shido also found peace in a land foreign to him. Amidst the fragments of passing conversations and the sound of engines, Masaki reminds himself of this.
The cafe Teshimine leads them to is blessedly quiet once the door closes behind them, aside from the jangle of the bell and the cheerful greeting of the young waitress. She seems to recognize Teshimine, and is even pleased to see that he brought a friend. They're the only ones in the cafe at the moment, and Masaki wonders if she's so pleased simply because they don't get much business.
The owner seems pleased also, and surprised, explaining that Ginji isn't there at the moment, but maybe if he waits... Teshimine shakes his head, and states that they only came for the coffee this time - but they might come back again and catch him at a time when he's there. When the waitress asks with a smile if Masaki is also a friend of Ginji's, Masaki just nods. She reminds him a bit of Ginji, and he suspects that she would feel the same way he did - if Ginji said he was a friend, then a friend he was.
The coffee is indeed better than any Masaki has tasted in Mugenjou, even in Babylon City, and the food as well. Little details like the texture of the bread and a water spot on the saucer are evidence that it was prepared by someone for someone, and Masaki reflects silently upon this as Teshimine converses with their host. It was something he first experienced in Lower Town, the feeling that everything was done with a purpose. Even though he'd believed at the time that the purpose was illusory, he could taste the difference - and this food not only has that quality, but tastes cleaner and fresher.
He has a second cup of coffee before they leave, and with a smile promises to come back someday for another. Teshimine knows him too well to be surprised, and both the host and the waitress know Ginji too well. It's only Masaki himself who is surprised.
They make it to Teshimine's apartment, where the sounds of an indisputably free world are muted by glass and plaster and concrete, before he breaks down.
He could have returned to Babylon City. He might have been able to offer some excuse, or accept punishment and move on. He wouldn't have been happy, but his position and his power had allowed him to make a difference. Some, like Raitei and MakubeX, had been able to fight against the system from the outside, but he had never known how to go about doing so - he did what he could from within, without hope of truly solving the problem. Without that insider influence, and moreover without Raitei's guidance, no matter what his talents, he didn't really know how to go about things at all.
He had walked up to the door, but he had turned his back and walked away again. It might have been his own choice, or was it only that they'd granted him freedom? Or was it the punishment Brain Trust had handed down to him, despite what Kagenuma had said? Away from the idealistic speeches of the two retrieval agents, he did not feel so certain anymore.
Masaki was a god and a man, and has always considered himself such - he doesn't remember how to cry. He simply sits on the end of Teshimine's bed, head in hands, trembling slightly.
A pale light shines from the bathroom, glowing brighter as Teshimine emerges in silohuette, offering him a cup and an easy excuse. "Too much coffee will make you jittery... Have some water. Or something stronger, if you like?"
Masaki nods and accepts the glass pushed into his hand without looking up. "That would be good... Thank you." He sips at the water anyhow, and notices in his distraction that even the water here tastes better.
When Teshimine returns from the kitchen with two glasses and a bottle, he sits down beside Masaki without saying a word. Masaki feels the arm resting on his back as he tips his head back to drink, and it closes gently around his hunched shoulders as he returns to his earlier posture.
"Can a god give up being a god?" he asks, after a few more drinks. "Is he a fool to do so?"
He hears the slight jingle of Teshimine's single earring beside his own ear as the silver-haired man shakes his head. "When a god is being controlled by other gods, and not doing as he wills, he isn't a god anyhow. I'd rather be a man, and have free will, than be a god who bows to others."
Masaki sighs wearily. "That's what I thought, too... I want to help people, as Raitei did. But without him there to lead the people... and MakubeX. After all that happened..."
"He understands why you did what you did. In fact, without your intervention, he and countless others would have been erased from existence." There is a rustle in the darkness as Teshimine nods thoughtfully. "If he was willing to destroy himself for the sake of the people of Lower Town, I imagine he'll forgive you for a simple kidnapping."
"Is it selfish?" Masaki asks, the words coming before he can think about them. "To give up the way that I know I can help some... in order to live life as just a man, and be at peace despite knowing that I only have a chance now at helping those people?"
Teshimine shakes his head again. "It's what everyone deserves. Freedom to live a peaceful, meaningful life is what you wanted for others, even when your actions seemed to go against it. It would be hypocritical to deny yourself what you believe in. Besides..." The arm around Masaki's shoulders drops to his waist, making the position more intimate. "You might say... that only as an ordinary man can one become a true god. Rising above the false gods of Babylon City to create his own destiny - wasn't that what both Ginji and MakubeX accomplished, without even being aware of Brain Trust?"
Seeing his point, Masaki nods slowly and says nothing more. His decision was already made, besides, and can't be taken back now. Even if he hadn't turned away from the door back to Babylon City, with the Archive having been replicated externally, what power he'd had there was diminished to nearly nothing. That was a part of his life that no one could get back, no matter what the retrievers claimed - and it's just as well, he decides, because he doesn't want it back.
He has freedom now, and the will to act upon that freedom, in a way he has never had before. The traces of his former life that still remain are the ones that he values most - his friendships with Ginji and the other Volts members, and Teshimine's arm around his waist, reminding him of moments long past. If he wasn't so proud, he might have rested his head upon Teshimine's shoulder - he is tired, and grateful for the forgiveness he's been shown. Such vulnerability has never been their way, however, and even in those long-ago moments they shared, their dignity remained.
Teshimine remembers too, and Masaki feels the smile as his own arm slips around Teshimine's waist. "You haven't changed, Masaki."
Masaki shakes his head. "The circumstances have changed, but... that's because for once I acted as myself, as you said before. I haven't changed at all."
Teshimine says nothing more, to Masaki's surprise. He'd have expected a question, something to the effect of Is that your choice then? But Teshimine remains silent; to prompt would be to rush things, more than they already have been rushed.
Masaki too accepts what is offered, and no more.
Teshimine's bedsheets smell both familiar and unfamiliar when Masaki wakes the next morning; the mellow scent of him, like fine incense, is buried under the false fragrance of detergent. Masaki has the excuse of a yawn to inhale deeply, and hold it within for just a moment.
The breaths of Teshimine himself are deep and even as Masaki carefully rolls over, trying not to disturb his sleep. It would have been a lost cause years before, but the time spent outside seems to have taught Teshimine to sleep soundly after all, and he doesn't stir a bit from where he lies on his side, on the far edge of the bed. Masaki had refused Teshimine's offer to let him have the bed to himself - even knowing that either of them could sleep just as well on a carpeted floor. Certainly, there is a peace on Teshimine's face that Masaki never saw while he was in Mugenjou, even in sleep.
Perhaps Teshimine's sound sleep is proof of the difference between them - Masaki's time spent outside never broke his habit of waking at any small sound, which he'd developed in Lower Town. For that matter, Masaki still sleeps on his back. It might be evidence of where he belongs.
He will go back, once Teshimine has woken. Not as a secret god hidden among lesser beings, nor as a conqueror - but as an ordinary man, unshaven and with his clothes rumpled from sleeping in them. There are any number of men in Lower Town who would fit that description, but one thing that he learned during his time with Raitei was that each of them was different and special regardless of their similarities, or even the origins of their existence.
For perhaps the first time, he realizes that this principle applies to himself as well, and he smiles.