Precious
Pitter patter pitter patter. The sound of falling raindrops was strangely calming, as Nezumi made his way home with slow footsteps. It was a cold night, and peaceful moments like these were hard to come by.
It was on a night like this when I found you, wasn't it?
Raindrops landed haphazardly on his clothes, forming little polka dots. He was going to get a scolding from Shion when he got him. "Why didn't you bring an umbrella?" He would sigh, a small frown on his face. He could be so silly sometimes – while everyone else in the Western District was thinking of how to survive, all he could think of was how awful it was to get drenched in the rain. The corners of his lips turned up.
When did I start looking forward to these little moments?
A resigned sigh escaped his lips and he opened the door, only to be greeted by a mop of white hair rushing towards him and— "Welcome home, Nezumi." Enveloped in Shion's tight embrace, Nezumi blinked, momentarily stunned.
"I'm home." He finally said as Shion broke away, a frown starting to form on his face. Ah, it's coming—"Why didn't you bring an umbrella?" And there it was, that worried expression again.
"I won't die from getting drenched, you know." Nezumi sighed as he took off his coat, hanging it up to dry. "But you'll get sick, and taking into account how hard it is to get proper medication in this place, you could easily end up dy—" Nezumi firmly grasped his shoulder, looking straight into his eyes. "I'm still here. I'm not going to die any time soon."
The white-haired boy bit his lip, seemingly deep in thought. Then he nodded and hurriedly went off to prepare dinner.
Nezumi glanced at him as he dried himself off with a towel. It was ridiculous, how much this boy actually cared for him. But perhaps what was even more ridiculous was that Nezumi couldn't take his eyes off him, couldn't stop caring about him.
I'm losing it. Nezumi sighed. He'd told himself over and over again that he would, could never have any emotional attachments to anyone. And yet…
"Dinner's ready!" Shion smiled warmly and passed him a bowl of delicious looking stew. Mm. It was hot – hot enough to scald the tongue, just how he liked it. The corners of his lips turned upwards.
"How is it?"
"It's not terrible."
"Eeeh? I thought I'd made it perfectly this time! The heat and salt and all…"
But still, Nezumi lifted the bowl to his lips once again. Warmth. Shion was the first, and the only person in his life to have ever shared warmth with him. He took him in even while knowing he was a wanted fugitive. He trusted him.
Shion looked at him expectantly, his own bowl still untouched.
Nezumi sighed. "It's good," he muttered, giving in.
Shion broke into a warm smile, practically beaming at him. At that, even Nezumi couldn't help smiling back a little. "Thank you." The words escaped his lips before he could even stop them. It was too uncharacteristic of him – he should've been able to control it, but he didn't. He couldn't.
And then it crossed his mind that it might already be too late. It was too late to regret saving Shion, it was too late to try to forget about him. It was too late to let go.
"Hey, Nezumi?" Shion's voice broke the calm tranquility of the moment.
"Hm?"
"Promise me you won't get yourself drenched again."
Nezumi rolled his eyes, giving an exasperated sigh. "That again? Shion, I told you, I'm not going to—"
"Promise me you're not going anywhere." Shion said, a tinge of panic and desperation rising in his voice.
A flash of lightning momentarily blinded them, a crash of thunder following shortly after. A vicious storm was brewing outside.
"What's this about, Shion?" Nezumi looked at him, trying to catch his gaze.
"Just promise me, will you?" Shion's voice wavered, breaking at the end. His fingers, still tightly clutching the bowl, began to quiver.
"What's wrong, Shion?" Nezumi said, moving towards him.
"I'm scared." He froze. "I'm scared that one day something will snatch you away from me."
Shion's head dropped, "I'm scared that one day you'll just disappear, scared that one day I'm going to wake up and find you missing from my life."
"Look at me."
"I'm scared, because I won't be able to bear it. I won't be able to bear the pain of losing you, I can't—"
Nezumi grabbed both of his shoulders then, staring right into his eyes. "Look at me." Velvet red met shimmering silver.
The bowl nosily cluttered to the floor, rolling around in circles.
"Please don't go." Shion whispered, burying his face into Nezumi's damp shirt, fingers lost in fabric. Tears spilled from those red orbs, streaming down his face. "Please don't leave me."
Something in Nezumi broke at that moment. His resolve faltering, his arms found their way around the boy's waist, bringing him into a warm embrace, his lips gently brushing against his snow-white hair.
Oh who was he kidding? Nezumi wasn't sure whether to laugh or to cry. 'Emotional attachment?' They'd already gone way past that point a long time ago, didn't they? Just holding Shion in his arms, just knowing that that endearing smile will always be there for him, was so much more than anything he could have ever asked for.
"You're such an idiot." Gently lifting Shion's face to his, Nezumi leaned down, softly kissing his tears away. "There's absolutely no way," Nezumi sighed, hands softly tracing the contours of his face, "I'm going anywhere without you." And then his lips met his, and everything seemed to fall right into place. Even as the deafening thunder roared in the storm, Nezumi felt as if he finally found what he had been looking for all this time.
Because every single moment they shared together was so precious in his heart.
And so that night, they lay side by side, fingers tightly intertwined and legs lazily draped over each other, content with waking up the next morning to the thought of seeing the same morning Sun. Shion pressed his lips against his partner's lips once again, words softly escaping into the night.
"Stay with me?"
A few moments pass.
"Always."
I took so long to write this ADFHSKHAL. Turns out Nezumi/Shion was quite hard to write and I wonder if I even captured their personalities properly D:
THIS IS MY FIRST BL STORY it felt so weird writing "his lips met his" WHO AND WHO? Because usually it is "his lips met hers" but gahhh my overflowing love and adoration for this couple is ever-growing (':
Also, the stew thing has been an ongoing joke between my friends and I because every single time we see them eat they're eating stew and bread. xD DO THEY EAT STEW EVERY DAY because I like stew but stew every day would be… (dies)
Comments, criticism, anything? (: