Chapter 8. You & Crappy Movies

"One!" Aki swung a fist.

"Two!" Another one followed, straight into the middle of the punching bag. Sweat ran from his forehead to his chin, then falling to the ground. He jumped to change guards and resumed throwing punches. He felt his tank top and shorts heavy, soaked with sweat. He didn't go to the gym very often for boxing training, he usually did only when he had a lots of stress and thoughts to unload, and after all had happened only a few days before, it was definitely time. He had been through so much that his brain still hadn't fully processed it.

First he had been attacked, almost to death. The face of the disgusting monster popped into his mind again. He inhaled deep, preparing himself. He landed a strong right hook on the punching bag before starting a rampage against it. It really made all the blood boil in his veins.

It had not only injured him, perhaps that was the minor thing. His body could heal and he knew that. The thing that infuriated him most was that it had deceived him twice in a row.

Then he found out he had been saved and he was happy, truly happy. He certainly did not want to die, but the situation was desperate and he had resigned to the worst possible situation. A fierce devil like that one would never allow its preys to run away, so if he was still alive, the enemy must had been eliminated; that had been the first thought to cross his mind once he had woken up in the hospital. His logic seemed impeccable to him. Damn! He was safe and his enemy had been killed... it couldn't have been any better than that. He felt relieved, almost ecstatic: that terrible task was over and no one had been hurt. The weight of the enormous responsibility that had been placed on his shoulders, almost crushing him, was finally gone. He could not have been happier.

And finally, he discovered that everything he had assumed was wrong. The devil was neither dead nor defeated, his madness would not end there. At that realisation, he once again felt his world crash down upon him. He felt himself being dragged down into the billows of a great ocean of despair with even more force than before, almost as if he were about to drown.

Moreover, Ange had chosen to save him. He did not understand how he could do that; rationally, it was not the best solution. Of course, he was glad he was still alive, but he had always been sacrificable and was prepared to pledge his life, if it would guarantee one more victory against the devils. In that case, he would not have defeated the Gun Devil with his own hands, even if that was his only goal, but his death could have helped those who would do so later. That was the key concept that was instilled as soon as one set foot in Public Safety: make yourself useful, but remember you are a mere pawn to be exploited in a far bigger chess battle. Not that they said it openly, but day by day a subtle awareness crept into their minds and grew more and more into becoming the truth. He had accepted it long ago.

However, Angel had chosen him and his life, even when he hadn't, over all the other innocent people's and over even the dogmas of the Institution. For Angel, his life was more important than any other.

Angel.

The small face of gentle features and placid red eyes, framed by dishevelled wisps of hair, appeared in his mind.

He stopped his fist right before it impacted against the punching bag, which continued to swing slowly back and forth by inertia, squeaking. He took a couple of breaths, recomposing himself. He blocked the punching bag in his hands, that noise was becoming annoying between his thoughts. The muscles in his arms ached, they were sore from the long intensive training he had done.

He too had saved Angel before continuing to fight against the enemy... He was only a hypocrite. Angel was much more honest, both with himself and his feelings, than he who, besides, made honesty one of his cardinal principles.

He took the small bottle of water and opened it. He drank eagerly to quench his thirst, a few drops of water escaped his lips and flowed down his chin and then down his neck. He untied his hair and shook his head to shake off the excess sweat. He grabbed the towel, threw it behind his neck to dry himself and walked to the mirror.

His face was strained, the purplish dark circles under his eyes were evident, especially in contrast to his clear eyes... that job was seriously killing him. Not to mention all the thoughts and the brand new 'Angel' issue that now seemed to occupy every part of his brain and every moment of his day. He was well aware that it wouldn't leave him alone until he had cleared up that mess in his head.

He picked up his gym bag from the floor and walked out of the room towards the bathroom, trying to shoo those thoughts away.

They had just finished dinner. Aki had already washed the dishes and was finishing tidying up the remaining items left on the table while Denji, on the other side of the room, was fiddling with the remote control, trying to set up the television and at the same time was trying to push Power away.

"Let me do it, I'm better with it!" Power wiggled around making surprise attacks to snatch the remote from the boy's hands.

"Let me try first" Denji replied, planting a hand in her face to block her, bringing the object of their arguing as far out of her range as possible.

"Give it to me!"

"No!"

"STOP! Shut up!" Aki shouted, raising his voice and violently placing the last plates on the kitchen counter.

"Hey hey, someone's on edge here, we're just playing around" Power said, stopping whatever she was doing and eyeballing him.

"I have no patience today, stop it!" he added.

Denji pulled out a videotape and waved it in the air: "We're putting on a movie for everyone so in the meantime, you start by chilling out!"

Lately Denji had been getting into movies, so it wasn't uncommon for them to spend their evenings in that way.

"I don't feel like it tonight. You guys watch it, just don't bother me."

He wasn't in the mood, he just wanted to go to sleep.

"Come on, you are such a pain in the ass! It's no fun if you're not there" Power huffed, pouting. Aki rolled his eyes. It was useless to resist those two, they would have dragged him out of bed anyway to hold him hostage in front of the TV with them.

"Fine," he surrendered, "but I only stay until I want to, as soon as I'm sleepy I'm going to sleep."

He headed for the kitchen and grabbed a can of beer from the fridge, turned off the light and positioned himself comfortably on the side of the sofa, leaning on the armrest.

Power joined him, sitting on the other side, followed by Denji who, once had finished arranging everything, placed himself in the middle, between them.

The title appeared on the screen: it was a romantic comedy, he couldn't get a moment of peace. Denji, always lately, seemed to have developed a specific passion for that kind of movie. He also saw others genres, but in a specific way he seemed to be emotional about that kind of story. Power, on the other hand, was not a cinema enthusiast at all, she probably didn't even care about it. Aki was convinced that she got dragged along by Denji and, more than watching the film itself, what amused her were the comments they made to each other. Denji also seemed to have fun in the same way, but there were times when he was absolutely focused on the scenes and dialogue: films were serious business for the boy. Aki wouldn't have called himself a film lover. He certainly had favourite films, but of quite different genres. Relaxing in front of a good action film starring the international spy of the day or an adventurer lost in an unknown country was certainly enjoyable, but his hobbies were quite different, and watching romantic films was definitely not one of them. He had been framed again that night, he could confirm with disappointment.

And while he usually put up with them for Denji's happiness and because, in the end, romcom didn't require much mental effort to follow, this time he was not digesting the choice. He drank a sip of beer to distract himself from the beginning of the film: it would have been a very annoying sight.

Not even twenty minutes into the film, he found himself with both guys' heads resting on his leg, using it as a pillow, and they had assumed a position that could not seem more uncomfortable to him, their legs and arms tangled in absurd ways that did not seem anatomically possible. He could feel Denji's suspicious glances poking him sideways as he brought the can to his mouth. Aki didn't understand what was wrong with him.

The movie's protagonist had met shortly before who seemed to be her full-fledged love interest and her misadventures were beginning. Aki could already imagine them: dates, misunderstandings, fights... and then everyone lived happily ever after. That's why he couldn't stand those films; reality was not like that.

Reality was much more different, especially his own: it was facing devils, losing lives, being afraid for the people around him, it was revenge and above all death. Not chasing love and happiness.

Yet as he watched those scenes, that very evening, he could not help but think that he too would have liked to try and live like a normal person... No, it was useless to yearn for something he could never have. He had chosen that life. It was too late now.

Red hair, shyly illuminated by a halo, and very pale wings materialised in his mind. Once again, the red eyes would not leave him alone.

Why was he thinking about him while watching a romantic movie? What was wrong with him? It was impossible for him to avoid overlaying every scene, every detail he saw on the screen with something he had experienced with Angel. Angel once again. It was a fixation.

Towards the end of the film, there was indeed an argument and Aki found himself interested in following the story, more than he would have liked to admit. The tones between the two characters escalated and the protagonist, in a moment of anger and sadness, had decided that she would be leaving, moving to another town. She had gone to catch her train and immediately before departure, her boyfriend had made an appearance. He had run at breakneck speed on the platform, arriving at the girl's coach, shouting her name and confessing his love. She got off and the two sealed their promise of love by exchanging a passionate kiss.

Aki moistened his lips instinctively. He found himself remembering when they had gone to that awful restaurant the week before and how the thin, all-too familiar lips had curved upwards slightly in satisfaction, but for a dessert. The question flashed through his mind for a short, fatal, momen: would Angel ever smile in the same way for him as well?

The credits appeared with their sudden change of colours, awakening Aki from those thoughts. He turned to see the reaction of his housemates. Power was sound asleep, drooling, curled up on Denji's lap this time. Instead, the boy sat composedly with his hands to his face, barely illuminated by the greyish light of the television, covering his mouth in astonishment. Aki hadn't even noticed that he had gotten up from his leg. He went back to watching the writing cascading over the final images.

'What a crappy movie...'- he thought.

It had ended with the most classic of clichés, a cliché that he, by the way, had always detested. That movie was unrealistic, absurd to say the least, almost unbearable... real life was not a fucking movie.

So why was he wishing his life was one?

It was so hot... he could feel the sweat running down his face and the hair sticking to his forehead.
There was a strong pungent smell in the air that he couldn't identify. Angel was hugging him thoughtfully as he continued to cover his face with kisses. Aki pulled him close. They shared a long, passionate kiss, their tongues clashed with violence and hunger. He spread his wings to cover them, creating a small shelter between the clean white sheets. The sun's rays barely filtered through the feathers, they were so fine they created rosy reflections shining on their faces and bodies. It was so pleasant... he felt serene. Angel began to leave a long trail of wet kisses on his neck. He slowly descended lower and lower, until...

Aki opened wide his tired eyes. He was in his room and it was dark. The blinds were firmly shut, there was no light. It wasn't warm, in fact he was snuggled between the sheets, trying to keep as much warmth as possible. Nor was Angel there.

It was the third time in that week that his dreams were invaded by that kind of scenarios, each time more and more detailed, each time more and more intense, making him wake up more tired than when he went to sleep.

He turned over on the other side of the bed disappointed. He knew he would never be able to fall asleep again; that image, which kept replaying in his mind, was too cumbersome... along with something else.

He threw off the sheets with a firm gesture and sat down pathethically on the edge of the bed. No, those thoughts would not torment him also that morning. It was a game far too dangerous and he was better to push it out of his mind right away. Why did Angel keep coming back even in his dreams, haunting him in that obsessive way? Until that very moment it had not been so obvious to him why, or rather, he had never seriously considered the possibility that he might like him in that way. Of course, in his mind hovered the knowledge that the angel's company was pleasant.

'Nothing more, nothing less' he had tried to convince himself. He had been succeeding for a while, immediately silencing those thoughts as they came, but apparently he reached the point where he could no longer deny the evidence.

He yawned soundly and got up, heading for the bathroom.

He turned the tap knob to the coldest possible temperature and rinsed his face, hoping the water would not only wash away sleep, but also those thoughts.

It was absolutely useless.

He left the room and automatically went towards the vacuum cleaner. Cleaning and tidying up relaxed him, it seemed like a good idea at that moment. He switched it on and started to pass it around the living room, hoping that the noise of the machine would drown out the one of his thoughts. After he had finished taking care of that room thoroughly, he decided to go towards the corridor and the kitchen.

'Great' - he thought: he had already been at it for a while and there was not even a trace of Angel in his mind. He passed by Power and Denji's room. He was absorbed by that small task, concentrating not to miss a single corner, which were the most difficult places to clean and where the most dust accumulated. He went over the same spot a couple of times.

Something smashed into the back of his head violently.

"What the fuck, it's fucking seven o'clock in the morning, asshole! Wanna turn that thing off?" Denji shouted furiously from his room. Aki turned around and saw a pillow on the floor.

"Excuse me for taking care of this place, which would be a disgusting pigsty left to just the two of you" he replied loudly in turn, angry: Denji had interrupted his attempt to distract himself. At that point it was all useless, his efforts had faded away. He switched off the hoover.

"He's finally lost the last wheel..." he heard Power mutter.

He walked towards their room and faced the doorway ready to give them a piece of his mind. He watched them as they settled better under the covers, hugging each other so they could get back to sleep. Power had taken up all the space and lay on top of Denji as well. He with one arm held her close to him. Seeing them, Aki's heart clenched with affection. He decided he would say nothing. They had nothing to do with whatever was going on in his mind and, objectively, he was being a greater asshole than usual. He sighed.

He headed for the kitchen, prepared all the pots and pans needed for breakfast and put the coffee kettle on as well. Not that he really needed it to wake up that day; he liked to start the day with that strong flavour, strictly without sugar.

He was filling everyone's plates when Denji emerged from his room yawning deeply, with one hand in his hair, tousling it, and the other under his shirt, scratching his belly. He walked past him, took his plate from the Aki's hands and walked towards the living room, taking a seat. He was joined in seconds by Power, barely awake and already energetic, followed by Meowy meowing insistently, demanding food. The girl filled the bowl and then sat down in front of Denji. Aki joined them, carrying the coffee cup, her plate and Power's, which he placed in front of her.

The first few minutes were peaceful, no one spoke as they were busy enjoying their breakfast. Denji, especially, needed a good fifteen minutes to tune up and get all the neurons in his brain working before he was fully active. Power, on the other hand, was too busy carefully discarding the vegetables and eating what was left. Aki finished sipping his coffee. The warm, clear rays of the early morning sun lit them quietly. That was peace. No shouting, no excitement, above all no superfluous thoughts about anyone... all that was missing was a cigarette and he could say he was experiencing a moment of absolute bliss, but he never smoked indoors. He closed his eyes, relaxing. He brought his palms behind him, leaning back and just letting his head fall back, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"So your brain is really gone?" he heard Power's voice. Aki opened his eyes again and saw her slightly doubtful expression as she chewed a huge mouthful, probably of rice. A few grains had remained around her lips. He glared hard at her.

"I was chilling..."

"You chilling? That's a new one" Denji commented. "And what did happen to be so 'chill'?" he added.

"Nothing, is that so strange?"

"I want to remind you that you were vacuuming at dawn, asshole... and now, instead, you've found peace. Who gets you..."

Aki didn't even have time to counter.

"He's lost his mind, Denji, this is our time! Maybe we can re-establish dominance in this house."

"Nothing has happened to me... it's all as usual" he explained, interrupting Power's conspiracy theory.

He saw Denji give the girl a dubious look, which she did not catch, however.

''Anyway... we have to go to Miss Makima today! Ah, I can't wait, who knows what she has to tell us?" announced Denji excitedly, smiling cheerfully and throwing another handful of rice into his mouth.

Ah, yeah... Makima. He forgot all about her. One more time. It was so strange. When she wasn't around she completely slipped out of his thoughts, almost like she was never there. Was Angel right on that matter, too? He seemed to have been spot on. Could it be that Angel was more understanding of his feelings than Aki was?

"Again with Makima, will you stop? You mention her every two seconds, I can't stand her any more" complained Power.

A vegetable flew towards Denji. The boy caught it with his mouth, swallowing it. Power reached across the table and took advantage of Denji's moment of distraction to steal a piece of fish from him.

Red hair.

"Thief! Thief!"

Makima.

"That's not true, we made a trade! Liar! Cheater! Braggart!"

No, Angel...

"Aki, tell her something" she turned to him.

"Huh?" he awoke from his thoughts.

He felt two pairs of eyes scrutinise him. Denji and Power looked at each other and then back at him.

"You didn't see... anything?" asked Denji with scepticism.

"I was thinking about something else..."

"About someone else?" corrected Power mockingly, pointing at him with his chopsticks. Power's speed of thought made him mentally pale.

"Makima" Denji guessed.

"No, he's not as obsessed as you are. And cut it out, no more in this house! That name is banned!"

""What did she do to you?" Aki changed the subject. He didn't understand her hostility, Makima had always been fair and transparent with everyone.

"She intimidates me. It's scary."

"Because it's scarily strong and you shit your pants," Denji sniggered, "Ahhh, Miss Makima really is the best."

"No, NO! That's not true, it's you who can't see straight. And that's enough, anyway, you talk about it more than Topknot talks about the angel."

"I... WHAT?!" he gasped. Since when did they use him as a measure of comparison?

"Mhh... you're right" Denji hammered a fist into his palm and a new sharp grin appeared on his face.

Ah, he really wanted to slap them. It wasn't true at all! He had never realised it! The image of Angel appeared more forcefully than ever in his mind. This time the hurt expression after he had insulted him during their fight, the week before... what a mess. "Move your asses and get ready we're going to work. Enough with both Makima and Angel" he said irritated, as he stood up, picking up the empty plates.

He absolutely had to find a way to remedy the situation with Angel.

He was in the car, ready to leave to go to the grocery store and return home. He had looked for Denji and Power all over the Public Safety building but had not found them; at first he had been worried about what had happened to them, but then he had decided there was no point in waiting for them to get back home together. In fact, he had thought it would be better that way: he could surprise them with a slightly more elaborate dinner than usual to make up for his behaviour in those days. He sighed in defeat. He did not know where to start.

In that week of solitude at work, he had discovered crucial details about the case and had wanted to discuss them with Angel, but he had ruined everything between them. He had behaved terribly and why then? Because he was an idiot. Angel was right... he was right about everything.

He rested his forehead on the steering wheel to try putting his thoughts in order and look for a way to sort it all out. Maybe there was still something he could save. He had realised late, far too late, that he liked Angel. Angel, on the other hand, had told him to his face. And what had he done? He thought back to the insults he had angrily shouted at him...

No, there was no hope of resolution, certainly not from the perspective he would have liked. He would have been lucky enough if Angel had only wanted to a circumstantial relationship with him. Aki would never have given someone else a second chance if they had behaved with him like that. He wiped his hand heavily over his dejected face.

He regretted their quarrel. Indeed, if he had to be honest, and he owed it at least to himself, he had created and fuelled the fight. He had unjustly lost his temper out of guilt for having almost mortally wounded him and for having failed in his mission at the expense of so many innocents. Not to mention the unconscious fear of having to face his feelings, which he had continued to ignore and repress.

'Aki, come on, think about work, use work as an excuse...'- he gathered his courage. That might be the only hope he had left. He ran his fingers through his tufts, messing them up and then rearranging them nervously.

The next day he would use that strategy: he would stop by to open Angel's cell, as he had done for all those days when they hadn't seen each other, but this time he would wait for him and he would ask him to cooperate, by telling him that he needed his knowledge of the cases. Which wasn't even true; he was really too worked up about everything that was happening in his life in just a few days, as if everything was falling apart, and he couldn't find a way to stop the lethal machine that was his brain. In order not to think about it, to give himself a semblance of normality and to calm his anxieties, he had decided to use all his free moments to study the material he had at his disposal, locking himself in the Public Safety archive. So yes, he had read, very reluctantly, even the thirty cases he had assigned to Angel at the beginning, but Angel would never know that.

He heard a great racket, precisely loud voices, but paid no attention to them.

He remembered all the afternoons he had spent in those four walls, crouched over the table, following the one miserable lead, retrieved from the newspaper archives: at least it had led to something. However, as soon as he closed the crumpled pages of an old newspaper, the little voice in his mind came back to haunt him: 'You have to talk to him, you've been an asshole'. And he often acted like a jerk to others, especially when he was angry or under pressure, but very, very rarely, felt remorse for his actions.

The screams were getting closer and closer and were disturbing him. He was already going through a tough session of introspection and guilt, perhaps the worst in days, he certainly did not want to be disturbed.

He decided to go over the plan for the next day in his mind, looking for weak points to improve it, when he heard a knock on the passenger-side window pane.

He turned around.

Angel ducked himself just enough to be seen through the glass, his expression slightly tilted in what Aki would have described as concern. He was quickly signalling for him to open the door. He then pointed behind him. Aki followed his finger with his gaze and saw two Devil Hunters heading towards his car, unsheathing their katanas. Aki quickly got out of the car.

"He's with me" he said loud. His colleagues answered nothing, looked at him in annoyance and turned back. Aki got back into the car and opened Angel's door from the inside. Angel got in and sat down composed next to him.

'Well, no tomorrow's plan' - thought Aki. It was all anticipated at that moment. He felt nervous: he could have settled the matter sooner, but the fact that it was not going according to his plan blocked the words in his throat. There was a heavy silence that lasted far too long. Neither of them was speaking; a silence that never existed between them, or at least not like this. They were two quiet people, after all, and usually their silence was comforting, even a company. Not a third wheel. Aki inhaled, taking courage: he would speak.

"I have some news about work" it was Angel who broke the ice, he was rigid in his seat and was blatantly avoiding him with his eyes. Aki, however, looked at him.

"'So do I" he said, swallowing the excess saliva. "I need your help to figure it out though..."

He mentally slapped himself because, once again, this was not how he had imagined the conversation, not so pathetic. He would have tried not to think about it.

"You go first, then" Angel suggested to him.

Aki gathered his thoughts and began to speak: "I did some research these days, there was something that didn't make sense to me and so I went to review some even older newspaper articles. I found out that this is not the first time there has been this phenomenon, in fact, this is the third, yet nowhere in the archive there is a report of a devil with the same power that attacked us. I checked the murders before the chain began. The numbers didn't add up, the sequence was always missing a murder. In fact in the first month there were two, then four, eight and so on, but two to the power of zero, which makes one, was missing. I had thought that there should have been an extra couple. So I kept looking and I think I found that one, but it is not a pair. Before each cycle of murders, a girl would die. It would be a minor thing compared to everything else, and a murder or a strange death might not be related, but the peculiarity is that these three girls all died the same way... burnt completely, nothing was left of their bodies. Even in this cycle, the same thing happened and I think it has something to do with it. In the paper there are the names of the girl and her sister. Her name is..."

"Shion" Angel completed the sentence.

"How do you know that name? It's not the dead girl but her sister..." reacted Aki surprised.

"I'll start from the beginning. I spoke to the Spider Devil and asked her if she knew of a devil with a similar power to the one that attacked us, she's been here in Public Safety longer than me and, I think, on Earth as well. Do you know what she told me? She asked me if I knew one of the legends of Hell: 'It is said that Love and Deception are lovers'. I did not know it."

"Love?"

At that moment Aki felt like a fool, of course, it was the Love Devil... and he was the first to feed its power.

"Yes, let's say love is a very broad concept, apparently this devil particularly likes the murky kind, or the kind they have with Deception. The Spider Devil also told me that, according to this legend, after leaving Hell Love never returned there, and that she waits every time for Deception to return to her. If all this is true... when she manages to make Deception come back to earth, they start killing people."

"The dead girls at the beginning of the chain would be the Deception fiend, then?"

"Yes..."

It was not a good sign, they would be facing two very strong devils.

"You still haven't told me how you know the name."

"Shion is a PR from Tokyo nightclubs and is planning an large scale attack in Roppongi along with two other people who, at this point must be the fiend and the devil we're looking for..."

"What the fuck... an attack?"

It was getting worse and worse.

"Yeah..."

"It's that party everyone is talking about, I even saw some flyers..." realised Aki, leaning his forehead against the steering wheel again. He was truly devastated. "How did you find out about it?"

"It's a secret..."

Silence fell heavily again between them. He felt Angel's gaze on the back of his head, but he didn't want to get up.

"If we've told each other everything, I'm going" Angel whispered a little dejected and disappointed. A few more seconds passed before Aki heard the sound of the door opening.

"Wait..." Aki said quietly, resting a hand on Angel's leg to stop him.

"Stay, please" he added, looking at him. Finally Angel returned his look. He had missed seeing her red eyes looking at him. Angel closed the door again. He remained composed, silent, waiting.

"I was an asshole..."

"Yes."

"Those things I said about you... I don't mean them, and they're not even true. You saved me, for the same reason I saved you, and I didn't even thank you properly. Then, you were right about everything else... even about me."

"I know."

"I'm sorry for the way I acted..."

'I was scared'- he thought, but did not say. "And... I think I li...-"

Yes, he was going to tell him, so he would fix the things between them.

"You don't have to say it if you don't feel like it, you don't need to. You didn't tell me, but you let me know. What do you think? That I don't know you're the one who comes every moring to open my cell to let me out? And the bunnies you drop off each day... However, that doesn't take away from the fact that you really are an idiot" Angel sketched a slight smile and then turned towards the window, leaning his elbow on the door "You want to make it up to me, don't you? Let's go get ramen together."

From the reflection, Aki saw his serene expression. Their eyes met again through the mirror.

He was sure of it: everything would be fine.

Author's Notes: Hi and welcome back! I love this chapter, it is one of my favourite of this fic and I put inside everything I wanted! From the initial boxing scene (fanservice by me for me, sorry not sorry), Aki tremendously pining, a lot of Hayakawa's family dynamic... everything! I hope you liked it too :3

See you soon!