Chapter Text
4:00 am sharp. Early morning, when the world is still dark, dimly lit with the faint white glow of the moon glistening off the clouds and trees. The air is crisp and sweet with the chilly fresh breeze of spring, silent and gentle as creation sleeps. One stirs on a newly set routine, Kiyotaka Ishimaru. He starts his new job as a prison guard today at Hopes Peak Prison, a specialized jail for those who have a kind of talent at being the worst in their own group, and he didn’t intend to be late.
Taka, who had been the former Hall Monitor for four years in a row in high school, had always been very strict on punctuality and early rising, he normally awoke at this hour anyway to do his morning stretches and plan out his day, but that routine was put aside for a new one. When he was still in school, his father had always pushed him to be Prime Minister of Japan like his grandfather, but unlike his father Taka had little interest in taking up his family’s mistakes. He also decided that he could put his moral compass personality to better use this way, in correcting the past corrupted.
Taka, swiftly combed his hair and brushed his teeth, he continued back to his room and pulled on his new white uniform, buttoning everything up just right and proceeded to lace his favorite boots (not part of said uniform but his recruiter gave him the ok), he was dressed and heading for his car within under seven minutes. Kiyotaka had turned 25 last year, though he look almost exactly the same as he did when he was 16, with the exception of his height which put on the rather taller side.
Taka arrived at the prison in little time and walked through the main gates. He greeted the receptionist briefly with eye contact and a nod. She let him through the electronically locked door with a press of a button and a neutral face. He continued down a lengthy hallway with a heavy echo of his boots on the hard floor. He stopped at the red door at the end and knocked on it firmly.
“Come in.”
Taka did as he was instructed and opened the door. The room was spacy but rather empty, bookshelves on either side but only one or two books on each. There was a single window on the far wall and a big desk in the center of the room. At the desk sat a tall, well rounded man with a military styled cut hair, and an angry expression seemingly plastered on his face that was similar if not identical to Takas own.
Taka bowed deep at the waist,
“I am Kiyotaka Ishimaru! I am here for my first day of guard duty, sir!”
The man huffed and rested his elbows on his desk.
“Mr. Ishimaru, your first day and you already seem pretty confident with yourself despite that fair face of yours.”
He man stood and Taka stood up straight. The head warden walked around the desk and stood next the Taka, eyeing him up and down. Taka’s eyes remained forward.
“I don’t know what our recruiter was thinking when he hired you, thin and pale, do you know where you are son? We house the worst Japan has to offer, if you stay here dear boy you will be eaten alive. Those hungry savages would do anything to get their hands on you. They’d fuck anything they could get their grubby mits on and with the figure you got I wouldn’t put it past them to move in packs to get a piece.”
The warden waited a moment for fear to form on Taka’s face, but none came as he kept the firm expression of the unwavering confidence he walked in with. Without turning his head, Taka replied,
“With all due respect sir, I know exactly what im in for and the risks that go along with it! I proved that I have what it takes to survive here when the man recruited me a week ago! I am also aware of how disgusting these delinquents are and I have no intention of letting such filth touch me! Deprived homosexual actions will not go without punishment!”
The warden smiled, seeming impressed with the answer. Taka turned toward his boss and unbuttoned his uniform top in one fluid motion.
“And also sir, I am not as thin as I appear to be.”
He reveled deeply toned muscles underneath his white top and thin dress shirt much to the warden’s surprise. The warden averted his eyes and coughed uneasily.
“So I see. If you think you can handle yourself out there im not gonna stop you, im just letting you know that if you get a dick shoved up your ass you can’t sue us.”
“Not going to happen sir.”
The warden nodded and Taka buttoned his uniform back up properly and straightened his collar. The warden started to walk out of the spacious office and into the hallway, Taka followed close behind him. They walked a short way down before entering one of the many steel doors planted throughout the hallway. The heavy metal door opened with a loud groan. The hallway of cells was quite seeing as all the inmates were fast asleep still, it being only 5:09 am and all.
“Your place will be with this group of stupid fucks,”
The warden expand in a loud voice. Taka looked around at the cells, a few men tossed or turn but none seemed to really care.
“Shiguri Oji will accompany you in dealing with them. Both of your jobs is to guild these bitches through their daily routine,”
Taka mentally smiled, this sounded like exactly what he signed up for. Putting order back into chaotic lives, forcing disaster into a neat line.
“You will wake them at 7:00am, at 7:30 Oji with lead them to the dining hall where they will eat, you will stay here and watch over any troublemakers who might have ‘detention’. At 8:00 you put them back in there cage. You and Oji will patrol this section and make sure all is well and dandy, fill free to pester or yell at them if you get bored.”
The warden snickered as he took out his baton and bashed it loudly against the nearby bars. The inmates inside jumped from the sudden loud sound, but just curled up tightly with their sheets and covered their ears with their pillows in annoyance.
“At 12:00pm a pair of guards with come and take them to the gym room and then to the dining hall again for their lunch, this is your break time. They will be returned to their cells at 1:00 and at 4:00 you and Oji will then escort them outside to the yard where you will stay out there with them with the yard guards and Oji with remain inside. You are to stay along the fence line and make sure no mischief goes on. Then at 5:00, you are to bring them back inside. By then the night crew will start to come in so you will be free to leave.”
The warden finished his directions and turned to face Taka who, at some time during his speech, had been taking notes down on a little pocket note pad. The warden raised a brow but didn’t say anything. He scratched the back of his neck.
“So anyway, that’s it. You got like an hour and a half before your shift actually starts so you can do whatever, just stay outta the night crews way.”
“Yes sir!”
With that, the warden walk away and out of the cell filled hallway, most likely back to his office Taka presumed.
He looked around at all the cells of sleeping criminals, the hollow room full of light snores and the shifting of sheets. He figured that he might as well take a look around. He looked down the hallway. Towards the end were two men, guards judging by their uniforms that were identical to his, sitting in two chairs facing each other on opposite sides of the hallway. He walked back to the beginning of the entry, which was only three or four steps, and started to walk back down damp dim passage, counting the cells under his breath as he walked by.
“One two…. three four… five six….”
He continued, slowly walking with an even pace. The two guards looked up and watched as he walked by. Taka didn’t even acknowledging their presence, just continuing to count the cells of prisoners.
“You the new guy?” One of the guards called out. Taka turned his head and saw them approaching with friendly smiles and tired eyes, obviously from staying awake all night. Taka turned his body to face them, noting that he left off on cell number 12.
“Yes, im the new guard. It’s very nice to meet you.” He said in a firm tone, bowing to greet his co-workers properly. The two guards stopped in front of him, one shaking his head with a chuckle.
“You shouldn’t show so much respect in a place like this, especially in front of the prisoners.”
Taka straightened himself. He didn’t understand why showing respect to his equals was wrong, since that all the inmates seemed to be asleep, but he didn’t argue. They had been there way longer then he so they most likely knew what they were talking about.
“You sure are here early, you exited for your first day or something?” The other guard joked, lazily laughing.
“No sir, just being punctual!” Taka answered back in a clear response. The guard stopped laughing awkwardly.
“Ah heh….yeeeah…”
The guard looked away scratching his cheek.
Worry sparked in Taka’s heart. Had he messed up? He knew that he was dense in the way of knowing if things were supposed to be jokes or not. Along with not being up to date with ‘hip’ things, always being serious, and having a naturally loud voice that seemed like he was yelling all the time. It’s because of these traits that Taka had never had any friends. None. Zilch. Never. He’d always tried to make friends. He tried really hard, but he always managed to chase them away, the conversations he made always seem to die within minutes. Just like this one.
The other guard pointed to the door at the other end of the hallway.
“A-anyway, it’s early and you still have plenty of time to do whatever. Over there’s the cafeteria, go get yourself something to eat while you wait.”
Taka looked at the door, then back to the two guards who had already started to walk away. He looked down at his boots and cursed himself. Why couldn’t he get this right? He’s a grown man for crying out loud you’d think he could get along with SOMEONE.
Taka sighed. He picked up where he left off, starting with 12 he continued to count the cells as he walked toward the cafeteria door.
He ended with 24 on each side, most cells had two men to each with little exception. It was a hefty number for two guards to look after but it didn’t matter much.
Taka reached the door and opened it simply, walking through. The dining room was well lit compared to the cell hall, it was full of long tables and lots of red chairs. The room being empty, Taka walked straight to the vacant “lunch line”. He looked down at the glass windows in the food line, most of the slots being empty considering it was still dark outside, and the food he saw didn’t look very appetizing. One of the slots was filled with tan, gooey- looking stuff that Taka assumed was oatmeal, another filled with small greasy sausages with a weird tint of red to them.
Taka frowned, perhaps he should come in later tomorrow so he could make time to eat breakfast at home.
An older lady came out from the back behind the counter. She stopped momentarily when she saw Taka but then smiled, the creases and dips in her face becoming more apparent. She looked nice enough. Taka returned the smile, bowing again,
“Good morning mam, sorry for disturbing you, I was just leaving.”
“Oh nonsense young man, you came for some food didn’t you? I’ll go get you some, I know how long the hours are for you guards.” She offered, already scurrying off to the kitchen.
“Uh- No thank you mam! Im not to fond of oatmeal!”
Taka yelled, of course he didn’t mean to yell it just sorta happened. He sweated nervously, he just screamed at an old lady that he did want to eat her food.
The chef giggled at Takas reaction, people laughing at him seemed to becoming a common thing. She turned to face him waving her hand in front of herself,
“You stupid moron, I wasn’t going to give you this repulsive shit. I got real food in the back for the bitches who work here.”
Taka’s jaw dropped.
The lady disappeared into the back once again without another word. Taka closed his gapping mouth and stood there awkwardly, he couldn’t very well leave now that was she already getting him the food.
A few moments later, the older woman returned with a tray of breakfast items. They all looked delicious and smelled just as good. She pushed the assorted tray of items into the confused guard’s hands. Taka look from the tray to her. She just smiled her little smile.
“..U-uh…. Thank you mam! H-how much is this going to cost me?”
She started walking back to kitchen again.
“Nothing dear, good boys eat for free in my kitchen!” She said with a flirty tone and a wink. Taka’s smile twitched. This lady was hard to read and frankly very unsettling…
Taka sat down at one of the tables with his tray of goodies, it was quite the haul. There was a plate overloaded with pancakes, waffles, fried eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. Next to it was a small bowl of rice, a blueberry muffin, and a juice box of milk with one of those bendy straws. Taka stared at the pile, a bit intimidated. There was no way he was going to be able to finish all this, but he had time to spare so he was going to damn well try.
~*~
Finally, 6:56. Taka had eaten the majority of his meal with the exception of two pancakes outta four. He sighed, thinking that maybe he ate too much anyway as he threw the reminder of his meal in the trash. He thanked the older lady and went back to his designated hallway.
There was only one guy there now, but he wasn’t either of the guys from earlier. He was very… buff. A combination of good genes and lots of time at the gym. But there was something off about this guy. Not anything mysterious… it’s just….. he had a bowl cut… It was so out of place on an otherwise good looking man Taka couldn’t help but stare. This prison held some very un-ordinary staff.
The guy noticed Taka and walked towards him with a grin. He stuck his hand out in front of him suggesting a handshake,
“Hi’ya pal! You’re my new partner, right? Sweet! Put ‘er there man, Im Oji!”
Taka met Oji’s hand with his own, his eyes drifting from his hair to his face. Oji was just about as tall as Taka if not a centimeter shorter, he had a hell of a grip though.
“Hello, nice to meet you, I’m Ishimaru.”
“I know who you are, there was a rumor going around that there was going to be a really girly look’in guy joining us and they weren’t lying! Ahahaha!”
Taka frowned, a little peeved at the stranger’s enthusiasm in this subject.
“I am not girly in the least!”
“Yeah ya are.”
“Where?!”
“The hips man. You got. An. Ass!”
Takas face turned beet red, hands immediately rushing up to cover his rear as if people were staring.
“Ahahaha! You even got the cute reaction to go along with it! You better watch yourself newbie or these thug will run their tongues all over that ass of yours.”
Taka cringed at the idea.
“Absolutely not!”
Oji snickered.
“Then you better not give them the chance.”
Taka furrowed his brows and look aside at the floor. He wasn’t girly. He was manly! He was buff! Not feminine! He bit his lip in frustration and growled. In all honesty, that came out more cute than anything but Oji didn’t want to say anything more on the matter seeing it was already make Taka feel uncomfortable.
Oji coughed. “Anyway, it’s time to wake these fucker up so let’s hop to it!”
Taka looked at Oji then to his wrist watch. He was right, 7:00 on the dot.
Oji walked to far side and turned to the right side of the hall, taking out his baton, beating it against the cold metal bars loudly.
“Hey! It’s time to get up you whores! Rise and shine!”
Taka watched and copied on the left side of the hallway without adding the “whores” part.
There was a lot of groaning and cussing from the inmates but he expected as much. By the time it was time for breakfast all the inmates were up, some finishing up their grooming, some sitting lazily on the edge of their beds, but everyone was up.
Oji leant over to Taka who was watching the inmates do their thing.
“Yo Ishimaru, now we gotta usher all them to the dining room.”
Taka looked over to his partner and nodded. Oji gave Taka one last grin then turned to one side full of cells and yelled,
“All right! It’s time for food! You pigs know what to do!”
With that, all the men moved and stood in the middle of their cell, hands crossed in front of them. Oji nodded to Taka and they both moved, Oji to stand at the front of the hall and start a line and Taka to unlock the cells one by one. They did just that, and all was going smooth, that is until Taka came up to the 3rd cell on the right.
He stopped dead in his tracks, hands freezing right before he stuck the key into the lock. In the cell was a guy who was older in age (about as old as the lunch lady he presumed) But the man next to him…. was gorgeous.
He was huge, tall and muscular with tan skin and wore the orange uniform that was unbuttoned to reveled a (really) low dipping white tank-top, he had long blond and brown hair, the blond part in a weird style of pompadour but still-! He had on dark eyeliner and rocked these light, sharp, beautiful lavender eyes.
“Hey, could you open the fuckin door already?”
Taka snapped out of his gaze, the rudeness of the strangers words bringing a frown back to his recently a gaping face. Taka didn’t respond, just opened the cell and let both the prisoners out, then proceeded to do the rest of the cells.
Just as he was walking to a chair to sit down while his partner led the inmates to their gross breakfast, he heard a loud SMACK. Followed by a hard THUD and a lot of yelling. He rushed up to the front of the line, pushing the inmates in his way aside.
When he got there he saw an inmate passed out on the ground with what looked like a huge wallop on his face. He also saw Oji struggling to hold back the “attractive man” that caught his eye earlier, he was yelling at Oji to let him go. Taka ran up and grabbed on to the guys other arm with a harsh amount of force, it was sure to leave a bruise. The Lavender- eyed man shifted his angry gaze to Taka and Taka stared back with an equally threatening stare.
“Let me go you fucking sons of bitches! That dick deserved it god dammit!”
Oji pulled the raging man back towards his cell, Taka followed his lead. Between the two of them they put the inmate back in his cell with a little less than ease.
“Are you fucking kidding me you stupid piece of shit, yer gonna put me in detention again!? You fuckin people are gonna friggin starve me this way!”
The violent man argued, throwing himself against the hard steel bars with a loud CLANG. Oji crossed his arms and shook his head.
“If you are hungry then maybe you should consider not punching the hell out of somebody every day.”
The inmate beat his fist against the bars, making Taka’s eye twitch, it sounded painful.
“Im fucking serious! That asshole started it!!”
“Nobody wants to hear your sob story Mondo, just shut up and go back to sleep you ain’t getting no food right now!”
And with that Oji lead the rest of the inmates into the cafeteria.
Mondo groaned, his stomach growling along with him. He glanced over at Taka who was staring again, he did mean to, he just found the man strongly alluring, a magnet for his eyes. Truth be told he didn’t even know he was staring. Mondo let out a snarl and threw himself on his bunk (which was the bottom) and curl into a ball facing the wall.
Taka turned his head away and walked back to the chair, successively sitting down this time, and crossed his legs, arms folded across his being. To be honest, he did feel some pity for the guy but on the other hand violence is not something to be tolerated and must be punished accordingly.
“Gggrrrrrrrrrggrr…”
Another loud growl from the sulking inmate’s stomach. Taka watched as he pulled himself into a tighter ball and cover his head with his sheet.
Taka sighed and looked away,
‘Nothing comes without consequence’ He thought.