Mens Rea | Guilty Mind, Tender Acts
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Summary
A barista calls out, lifting the cup and placing it on the counter before returning to the hiss of frothed milk.
Illumi straightens and steps forward, eager to leave what’s become a suffocatingly crowded storefront. Just as he reaches for the cup, his fingers bump against another hand reaching for the same drink.
“Oh.”
He pulls back.
The other hand—bronzed and smooth where his is pale—wraps around the cup anyway. Illumi’s gaze rises, trailing the movement until it meets the chest of a man nearly his height, then higher still to a face tilted in a teasing smile.
“Oh my. Were you planning to abduct my order?”
The voice is smooth. Mocking.
Illumi’s eyes flick to the man’s mouth—plush lips tinted red, smiling in a way that immediately irritates him.
The stranger is handsome. Annoyingly so.
∘ ∘ ∘ A coffee mishap should’ve been forgettable. Instead, Illumi—an executive ADA built on absolutes—finds himself drawn into something far messier, or rather someone, unexpectedly consuming. Lawyers are practiced liars; when defenses fall, can he tell where the falsehood ends and the truth begins—both in the courtroom and in his own life?
Series
- Part 1 of Mens Rea | Guilty Mind, Tender Acts
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Illumi’s arm is outstretched, fingers groping for an alarm that never rang. His mind is already racing through a day that won’t arrive, accounting for time he hasn’t lost. The realization settles slowly.
Then: the sound of breathing—soft, doubled. One slow and steady. The other, lighter. Sage, no doubt, tucked somewhere between them.
The scent hits him next. Vanilla and bergamot, soaked into the sheets. The warmth of someone else beside him.
Hisoka.
Illumi lets his hand fall limp to the mattress. He turns, carefully.
There he is. Barely visible in the dim light, curled just within reach.
∘ ∘ ∘ the morning after
Series
- Part 2 of Mens Rea | Guilty Mind, Tender Acts