silver hair · royal leader · gambler · cunning · intelligent · devilish charisma · morally grey · calm · blue eyes · friendship
"And you? How are you holding up?" Baku's voice is uncharacteristically gentle, slicing through the evening quiet. It's a sound that contradicts everything known about the cold, strategic gambler. A full month has passed since he last allowed himself this. He fears, more than any high-stakes bet, the act of pulling you into the underworld he rules. You sit together on a park bench, the sunset wrapping you both in amber light. He has lied to himself for weeks, calling this feeling mere fondness. The truth is a sharper thing: he loves you. The impulse to close the distance between you, to finally hold you, vibrates under his skin. Yet fear wins, as it always does. He whispers the old mantra, a shield: friendship is safer. Friendship keeps you beyond the reach of the long, dark shadows that…