The late afternoon sky bled into shades of gold and violet when Akio slipped soundlessly through his bedroom window. The familiar scent of paper and metal greeted him as he moved, unclipping his hood, removing his gloves, and setting down the small mechanical device still pulsing faintly in his hand. It was the size of his palm, an intricate construct of fractured gears and flickering blue light. He placed it carefully on the desk, watching it pulse like a weak heartbeat before turning away to store the rest of his gear.

  A moment later, Gabriel slid in through the same window, closing it behind him. His movements mirrored Akio’s with equal focus and control—cloak folded, mask hidden, everything placed exactly where it belonged. The box Akio had set aside for him years ago waited in the corner, the faint scrape of metal and fabric the only sound between them.

  The silence stretched for a few beats, steady and grounding. Then Akio spoke, voice low but even. “We’ll need to decrypt and override the core sequence before it collapses. The outer layers are still reacting to the dismantling.”

  He pulled on his civilian shirt, leaving the collar loose, his hair still messy from the wind. His gaze remained fixed on the device—on the faint, erratic pulse of light trapped inside it.

  Gabriel was at his side now, his expression composed but alert. “I’ll handle the override,” he said, his tone quiet but precise. “You’ll have to do the decryption. That pattern’s too volatile to brute-force.”

  Akio nodded slightly, already expecting that answer. “I know.” He moved closer to the desk, eyes narrowing at the sequence of symbols flickering across the glass surface of the device. “It’s built differently this time. The encryption’s recursive. We’ll only have a small opening once the system resets. If we’re off by even a second, it’ll seal itself permanently.”

  Gabriel’s reply came steady, deliberate. “Then we won’t miss.”

  There was no need for further discussion. Akio adjusted the dial on the device while Gabriel prepared the small set of calibration tools from his pocket. The faint hum of the machine filled the silence, underscored by the rhythmic click of metal against glass.

  Akio leaned slightly closer, voice low. “We’ll stabilize it first, then trigger the sequence. I’ll give you the signal when the encryption breaks.”

  Gabriel nodded once, the faint reflection of blue light flickering across his eyes. “Understood.”

  The faint ticking from the device filled the room, each second stretching longer than it should have. The thin hum of anticipation tightened the air between them.

  Then—

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  “Hey, you guys in there?”

  Aira’s voice rang through the hallway, bright and unaware. “Can you help me with this assignment—”

  Akio froze mid-motion, every instinct snapping taut. Gabriel’s gaze flicked toward the door, sharp and controlled. The silence that followed was instantaneous.

  Of course. Aira had impeccable timing.

  Their eyes met, and in perfect unspoken coordination, they aborted the decryption process. Gabriel moved first—swiftly scooping the flickering device off the desk and tucking it beneath a stack of notes. Akio swept up the scattered tools and the remaining bits of vigilante gear, shoving them into drawers under the desk.

  Footsteps. Rapid. Too close.

  They were still in their vigilante gear from the waist down. No time to change, no time to escape through the window. If Aira saw them now, it was over.

  Akio’s mind raced. There was no logical way out. He glanced at the bed—blanket, pillows, cover large enough for two.

  Their eyes met again. No words. Just silent agreement.

  They dove under the blanket just as the door opened.

  “Ugh, I’ve been trying to figure out this chemistry problem for hours and—”

  The moment Aira's eyes landed on them, she froze.

  Akio blinked up at her from under the blanket, Gabriel's face inches from his shoulder. The air felt suffocatingly warm beneath the heavy fabric; the faint brush of Gabriel’s breath against his neck made staying still even harder. Their legs were tangled awkwardly, the blanket twisted between them, and Gabriel had gone perfectly rigid—muscles tense, not daring to move a fraction.

  Akio’s mind raced for an explanation that didn’t involve the truth or the absurdity of what this looked like, his expression calm and unreadable despite the fact that Gabriel was right beside him—bare-chested, hair tousled, both of them far too close for comfort. His shirt hung half-buttoned, the blanket a tangled mess around them.

  For several long seconds, no one moved.

  The ticking of the clock on the wall filled the silence, each second stretching painfully long. Aira’s quick intake of breath broke the stillness for a heartbeat, and Akio, frozen beneath the blanket, felt the weight of realization sink in: how utterly damning the scene looked.

  He blinked once, slowly.

  “…It’s not what it looks like.”

  Aira’s eyes widened in sheer horror.

  “WHAT THE—EW! LOCK THE DOOR NEXT TIME!” she shouted, spinning on her heel so fast her hair whipped over her shoulder. The door slammed behind her with a thunderous bang.

  The silence that followed was absolute.

  Akio and Gabriel remained frozen, still staring at the spot where she’d stood. Then, almost simultaneously, they sat up. The absurdity of the situation settled in—the gear half-hidden, the faint smell of smoke from the mission still clinging to them, and now this. The closeness was suddenly painfully obvious.

  Gabriel broke the silence first, his voice flat but laced with quiet amusement.

  “She thinks we were having sex.”

  Akio pressed his lips together, trying to suppress a laugh. He let out a long, exasperated sigh, shoulders relaxing as the tension of the near disaster finally eased.

  “Well,” he said dryly, “at least now she won’t bother us for a while.”

  Gabriel reached for his black shirt, slipping it on with methodical ease as he buttoned the collar. “I’ll give it a week before she can make eye contact with me again.”

  Akio smiled faintly, finally pulling the blanket off his lap.

  “You’re undershooting it,” he murmured. “She’ll need at least two.”

  ─ ? NEXT CHAPTER POV ? ─

  Akio