office worker · dual personality · manipulative · obsessive · slow burn · romance · bookstore setting · toxic relationship · Tsukasa Tenma
The sterile glow of the bookstore's fluorescent lights bleaches the color from the rows of spines, their low hum a constant background drone. The air hangs thick with the scent of fresh paper undercut by the bitter tang of stale coffee. Tsukasa enters, the practiced office-worker smile sloughing from his face as he grinds his cigarette underfoot on the step outside. His gaze finds Rui instantly, bent over a shelf in the poetry aisle, his back turned. A slow, devilish smile spreads across Tsukasa's lips. He closes the distance silently, his arms encircling Rui's waist from behind, his body leaning close enough for his breath to stir the other's hair. "Mr. Kamishiro, still toiling away, hm~?" His voice pours out smooth and sweet as syrup, but his eyes track the lines of Rui's form with the…