Eighteen Minutes

6918

Summary: Eighteen minutes was all it took for them to meet, learn to love, and completely fall apart. But Mukuro would be damned if he ever let Hibari leave again.

Happy birthday, Hibari!

Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Any similarities in events or characters living or dead are entirely coincidental.

Enjoy!

Eighteen Minutes

It was raining when he met Hibari.

Mukuro had been out shopping for food when the downpour had caught him at the worst possible moment ever. Arms full of the cheapest packaged snacks he could get and the grocery bags overflowing with instant ramen, the blue-haired twenty two year old finally managed to locate a bus shelter just a few feet away from him. Clutching his purchases, Mukuro ran for cover.

"Damn, so unlucky," he sighed to himself, shaking water out of his hair and dropping his bags on the floor. It was dark in the shelter, possibly because of it being located under a giant, sprawling tree or maybe because there was hardly any sun out at all. The map pinned to the side of the glass wall was damp and ragged from years of exposure to weather and vandalism. A sign posted by the bus stop sign read 'New arrivals every eighteen minutes'. Mukuro pulled off his sweater, prepared to wring water out of it, and promptly let out a rather unmanly shriek when he finally noticed that he was not alone in the bus stop.

There was another man. There was a short dark haired man sitting on the blue plastic seats off to the side. He was only wearing a plain white shirt and dark pants that stuck to his body like a second skin because of the rain, shivering slightly. His eyes were somewhat unfocused, staring off into the distance, and if he had heard or seen Mukuro barge into the shelter, he made no sign that he noticed the other taking cover from the rain. His bangs were plastered to his forehead, nearly covering his eyes. He looked so much like one of the youkai in old folklores that Mukuro found himself questioning his normally non-superstitious beliefs.

"Err…" the blue-haired man said nervously, wringing water out of his ponytail. "You okay over there?"

There was no answer.

Mukuro cautiously leaned in and half-waved his hand in front of the raven's face.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

Still nothing.

"Nice weather we're having, eh?"

The raven suddenly snapped his head over in Mukuro's direction, making the taller of the two jump back in fright again. The bangs that were previously stuck on the raven's face were tossed aside, sticking up in little tufts by the side of his head, eyes focused on a point past Mukuro's and more towards his right ear.

"Hey, man, don't scare me like that," Mukuro huffed, clutching his chest. "You okay? You seem a little spaced out."

The raven paused for a moment, appearing to think over his answer before replying. "Just…thinking. I didn't think it concerned a herbivore like you."

A what? Mukuro thought, blinking. What an odd guy. "Well, uh, cool, then," the bluette stuttered lamely. "Uhm, I'll be hanging around here until the rain stops, if that's alright with you."

The raven continued to stare past Mukuro's shoulder. His expression didn't change once. "I don't care…not really."

Mukuro hummed a little and turned to face the outside of the bus shelter. The rain pelted down hard, splattering on the sides of the roads and obscuring anything from view. Twice, a car passed by and Mukuro didn't even see it until the vehicle splashed the glass as it drove by.

The silence was getting way too awkward.

"So, uh, are you from around here?" Mukuro asked, trying to sound cheerful despite the fact that his toes were freezing. The raven looked down at his feet, his expression unfocused again. "Yeah…I go to school here."

"Oya? College?"

"Namimori University."

"Ah…" Mukuro said, sweatdropping a little. He'd run in a prestigious school kid. "What are you majoring in?"

The raven tilted his head up to stare at the ceiling. "Literature and Fine Arts."

"That's nice. I go to Koukyo College of Design. I'm in my second year, how about you?"

"Second year."

"Cool. Busy workload?"

"…sure."

"That's nice."

There was something a little strange about this guy. During their conversation, not once had he made full eye contact with Mukuro. Whenever he looked in the blue-haired man's direction, his gaze would be more or less directed to some point around his face; such as his ear or his shoulder, but never his eyes. His answers were short and to the point, making it very difficult to hold a conversation. Mukuro didn't mind silence, but for some reason with the raven, it was an unbearable awkward silence if Mukuro didn't try to initiate half-hearted small talk.

"So, uh—whoa!"

While Mukuro had been having a battle against the silence with his inner self, the raven had apparently moved from his seat on the blue chairs and was now currently standing right next to him, staring out at the rain pouring down. Up close, he looked rather skinny, pale, and sickly. He shivered, sending the water droplets hanging from the ends of his thick black hair falling down onto the pavement, dotting the area between them with little circles. The shirt was a limp mess of wet cloth bunched up around his sides and arms, clinging closely. Mukuro coughed, trying to get his breath back.

"You're creeping me out. Don't scare me like that, alright? And aren't you cold?"

"No," the raven replied, not making eye contact.

Vrrr. Vrrr.

Mukuro jumped again as his back pocket vibrated loudly, cussing in annoyance as he had to pull his cell phone out from his wet pants. The caller ID indicated Fran.

"What?" the bluenette asked grumpily, wiping water off his screen as he picked up.

"Where are my snacks?" his roommate, Fran, whined into the mouthpiece. Mukuro rolled his eyes. He knew that the aqua-haired boy was doing that on purpose. He considered himself far too mature to actually be whining.

"It's raining, Fran. I'm waiting for it to stop before coming home."

"If you don't bring me my spicy instant udon now, I'll destroy your art collection," Fran warned in his monotonous voice. Mukuro swore loudly. "Fran, don't touch—!"

Beep. The dial tone droned in his ears. Mukuro sweatdropped badly. The scary part was, he couldn't be sure if Fran was just pulling his leg or really going to mess up the collection Mukuro had made for his finals. Fran had that weird streak on him. Once, he'd trolled Mukuro into thinking that he'd given all his oil paints away to the school's holiday charity when he didn't buy him ice cream from the store. Mukuro had rushed home from class, nearly gotten run over by a bus when crossing the road, only to find Fran snoozing on the floor of their room, and his paints still safely stored on his shelf.

"Hey, man, gotta go," Mukuro said wearily, pocketing his phone. "My roommate's messing with my head again…I'll catch you around, yeah?"

"You're going?"

"Uh, yeah, my roommate…well, he's a strange one." Mukuro picked up his shopping bags and peered cautiously out at the pouring rain. "It's really not safe to leave anything around him, really, and he learned how to pick locks a week ago so I'm seriously considering moving out of that place…uh, see you later then…"

He didn't receive an answer. Shaking his head slightly, the blue-haired man gave the other one last wave before gathering his purchases and leaving.

Mukuro had a foot out of the shelter and could already feel the rain falling on his face when a cold hand grabbed his wrist. "Huh—?"

For the first time since they'd met, the raven met his eyes. They were deep, dark onyx eyes that seemed to look right past Mukuro's dark blue orbs. It was stunning. Then, the shorter of the two hugged Mukuro tightly, stood on tiptoe…and kissed him. His lips were cold too, but his tongue was warm and it made Mukuro's heart skip a beat when the small hands pulled him closer. The shopping bags fell with a wet splat and Pocky boxes spilled out onto the pavement as the two of them stood under the rain, kissing. Shakily, Mukuro raised a hand to touch the raven's soaked hair, feeling the water run through it and—

Screech.

Mukuro jumped as the bus suddenly turned the corner and its headlights came bearing down on them. Quick as a cat, the raven pulled away sharply and ran.

"Whoa—wait!" Mukuro yelled, startled and confused. But the shorter man vanished into the shadows cast by the trees growing beside the road, and Mukuro couldn't see him through the heavy rain no matter how much he tried to look.

What on earth had just happened?

Mukuro stood frozen, still feeling the other's lips on his and the water running down his back until he heard another voice yell at him.

"Oi!" It was the bus driver. "Are you getting in or not?"

"Huh?" Mukuro jerked in surprise. "Uh, no, no, I—I'm not getting in…"

The bus driver rolled his eyes and closed the doors, splashing Mukuro as he drove away, past the now empty shelter and the sign indicating that buses arrive every eighteen minutes. The ramen laid on the pavement with the Pocky boxes, soaked through, getting soggier by the minute, and all Mukuro could think was:

He didn't even know the guy's name.

When Mukuro finally managed to get himself and his shopping bags back into the apartment, his brain was still numb over the events that had occurred just then. What on earth was that guy thinking? Did people normally just kiss strangers they'd met in a bus shelter? And why was he still thinking about that? Mukuro suddenly froze, gulping when he felt heat creep into his cheeks. Did he just admit to himself that he liked that kiss?

Then his vision finally focused on Fran holding a giant can of shaving cream over his fragile paintings, poised to spray.

"Uh-oh," Fran muttered in his usual monotonous voice, tugging on his froggy beanie hat.

"Holy shi—!"

The next five seconds consisted of Mukuro letting out the most girly scream of his life for the second time that day as he football-tackled his roommate to the floor.

"What," Mukuro growled, "in the devil's name were you thinking of doing?"

"Whut," Fran muttered through a mouthful of noodles, "you weren't home yet with my udon."

Mukuro glared, drying the ends of his long hair with a fluffy white towel. He'd finally managed to change out of his wet t-shirt and jeans, now sporting a comfy sweater and pants. The two roommates were sitting across from each other in the den, squashed between blank canvases, undone laundry and drying pottery. Mukuro rummaged through his bag for a hair tie and shot back, "If you really messed up my paintings, I'd kill you."

"Sure," Fran mumbled. "If you really had killed me, I'd come back as a ghost and haunt you."

"Really now," Mukuro replied in a bored voice, opening a bottle of tea and taking a sip.

"Yup," Fran continued. "I'd bug you to death, ruin your paintings, hide your books, trip you on your way out the door, watch you in the shower—"

Pffffft.

Mukuro choked and spat out a mouthful of lychee tea. "Don't say stuff like that!" he yelled, traumatized. What was wrong with this kid? Fran shrugged his shoulders, slurping his noodles noisily.

"By the way, Nappo-kun—"

"I'M NOT A PINEAPPLE, YOU INSUFFERABLE FROG!"

"—did something happen while you were out?" Fran continued, as though he didn't hear the outburst.

"What?" Mukuro asked, frowning. "Why are you asking?"

Fran tilted his head. "You came back and just stared at the floor for about five minutes. I about to spray your painting, and when you came in, I thought you'd slaughter me, but all you did was stand in front of the door with this dazed look on your face until your brain woke up or something. Then you executed some excellent sports skills and made the can of shaving cream explode under me when your excessive body fat placed me in a very intimate position with the floor."

Mukuro's eyebrow twitched at Fran's dull monologue. "There's something wrong with your brain, kid," he muttered, venting his feelings by pouring the rest of his tea into Fran's soup. Had he really been that spaced out…? The aqua-haired boy stared at the gross mixture swimming in his bowl, and then asked, "Was it a girl or something?"

"What?" Mukuro groaned, falling backwards against the squashy couch. "No, Fran. Shut up."

"So it was a guy," the other continued, poking at his noodles with his chopsticks.

"No!" Mukuro snapped, unable to fight the blush coming on his face. Unfortunately, Fran chose that moment to look up and notice the blue-haired man's red face. "Huh, so I'm right. Nappo-kun likes men."

"So do you, frog," Mukuro snarled, grabbing a pillow to muffle his face in. "What happened to that annoying boyfriend of yours?"

"Hmph. Better that I have an annoying boyfriend than you pathetically pinning over some guy you met on your way out to buy me food."

"I'm not your slave. And I didn't even say that I met anybody. It's just your imagination running wild, stupid frog."

"Sure, sure…but you know, your greatest weakness is your passiveness, Mukuro."

The blue-haired man raised an eyebrow under the pillow. If Fran was using his name, then he was actually being serious. Huh. Who knew.

"If you keep on dragging things out, you'll be even lonelier than before."

"Whatever, Fran," Mukuro muttered in response. Fran hummed something before saying, "Ne…Mukuro."

"What?" Mukuro asked, pulling the pillow off his face. Fran was suddenly looming over him, soup in hand.

"The noodles are soggy now."

Then, the hand tipped, and the mixture of tea and spicy udon broth spilled onto Mukuro's face, hair, and up his nose. While Mukuro started spluttering slightly, brain trying to catch up with the events, Fran skipped into the kitchen, calling out, "Oh, yeah, my boyfriend is coming over in an hour. Baka-Bel likes to eat the seaweed sold at the corner store, so go and get me some once you're cleaned up, Nappo-kun."

"God damn it, Fran!"

Fate must've really hated Mukuro, because two days later, on his way to the library after unable to stand hearing Bel and Fran making out in the room next to his for another minute, he ran into the raven-haired man by the bus stop again. Literally. The raven was running around the corner and promptly crashed into the bluenette.

"Whoa!" Mukuro yelped, falling backwards onto the pavement, scraping his elbows. The raven tripped and collapsed on top of him with a grunt. For a moment, the two of them were virtually nose to nose, the dark-haired man's bangs tickling Mukuro's forehead, and then the raven stood up.

"Sorry," he mumbled, extending a hand and staring at Mukuro's shoulder. "No worries," the other muttered, pulling himself upright and dusting his jacket off. There was silence.

"So…we meet again," Mukuro said, looking curiously at the raven. There it was again. That whole obviously-avoiding-eye-contact thing. Why did he do that?

The shorter blinked, now moving his gaze to Mukuro's forehead. "…have we met?"

"Eh?" Was this guy for real?

Then, the onyx eyes focused on Mukuro's ear and the raven frowned. "Oh…you're the one from the other day…with the earrings."

Earrings? Was that how he was being identified now…? "Uh, yeah. I was in the shelter taking cover from rain. You don't remember…?"

"No, I do." The raven replied curtly, eyebrows furrowing, his gaze redirecting itself to the tree behind Mukuro. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to the library," Mukuro grumbled. "My roommate's an ass."

"Wasn't he threatening to destroy your property or something?"

"Yeah…"

"And it's safe to leave your things with him?"

"Well," Mukuro said, scratching his neck, "his boyfriend's over, so they're…kinda busy. It'll be safe until that creepy blonde leaves. Then I'll probably go home to make sure nothing bad happens." There was a pause, and then eyes the moved their focus back to Mukuro's ear. "Are you dating someone then?"

"Huh?"

"Are you?"

"No…not really." Mukuro responded. "Why?"

The raven tilted his head, crossing his arms. He was wearing a comfy looking teal shirt and a dark blue scarf that looked a bit out of place in the sunny afternoon. Nonetheless, it looked really good on him. "Have you ever dated anybody then?"

"Uh…yeah…I've had a boyfriend before," Mukuro replied, twitching at the memory of his ex. Stupid, cheating, white-haired morons… but why was the raven asking? Better yet, why was Mukuro responding?

"Che. That's nice." The raven turned away, staring across the street. The wind blew lightly, making leaves rustle in the late autumn afternoon. It was a mild day, very different from the day the first met. Working up his courage, Mukuro said suddenly, "I'm Mukuro Rokudo. What's your name?" The raven stiffened. "Why are you asking…?" he said quietly.

Mukuro frowned, moving so that he stood right in front of the other's vision, making the onyx eyes shift immediately to the left. "You kissed me two days ago. For almost no reason. Now you just asked me about my love life, for no reason again. I think I'm entitled to a name."

There was a bit of a tense silence. Then, the raven looked him right in the eye, said, "Hibari Kyoya," and kissed him. Mukuro, not expecting that to happen, dropped his bag. His art supplies spilled out and began rolling in every direction. But despite the randomness of the situation, only one thought really registered in his mind: Hibari Kyoya was a really nice name. Hibari leaned forwards and Mukuro instinctively reached out to hold the shorter man closer, stepping on one of his little tubes of paint so that red squirted out onto the pavement. When they pulled apart, Hibari held his eyes again for a second before dropping his gaze onto Mukuro's chest.

"Will you be around here again?" Mukuro asked, determined to figure the raven out. Hibari shrugged and looked to the side. "Maybe."

Mukuro half-smiled, heart beating fairly quickly now, and kissed Hibari's temple. "Come back. I'll hang out with you again."

Maybe it was just his imagination, but for a moment, the smallest of smiles lifted Hibari's lips too.

"Sure…Mukuro."

Hibari was a weirdo. That was the most obvious thing Mukuro had concluded, yet he still enjoyed the raven's company. They met again two days later, went out to eat sushi, took a stroll in the park, then moved to the library where Mukuro finished his research and Hibari read his way through an entire shelf on art history, impressing Mukuro to no end. Oh, well. The guy was a literature student after all.

The following day, Mukuro dragged Hibari halfway across town to see the new sculpture exhibit that had opened up and the two of them spent two hours waiting in line, during where Mukuro learned that the raven liked to keep pet birds, was his middle and high school's head prefect (turns out the schools he went to were linked with Namimori University, the school he went to now) and hated gutless people he deemed herbivores (explaining what he called Mukuro the first time they met).

The fourth time they met, Mukuro finally managed to bug Hibari into giving him his cell phone number. The fifth time, they went out to dinner. By the sixth time they had gone out and Mukuro had come home late, Fran actually put down his charcoals, detached himself from the project that he'd been ignoring even Bel for to ask if Mukuro was finally dating again.

There was only one thing that didn't seem right.

Hibari never looked him in the eye.

Once in a while, Hibari would actually make eye contact, but it was rare. His gaze was often directed to Mukuro's shoulder or his neck, even going as far to as looking in the other direction or towards the sky, and rarely did onyx and blue meet. Yet Mukuro sensed no ill intentions from the raven. He was reserved and a little cold at times, but mostly calm and simply quiet. After seeing the man's pet bird and hedgehog, Mukuro no longer harbored any doubts about Hibari's character. Admittedly, he was slightly jealous that Hibari was a little more attached to his pets than him, but that wasn't the point. He was happy being with Hibari.

Sadly though, good things don't often last.

Mukuro was on his way back to his dorms after yet another night out with his boyfriend, this time to an outdoor art show being hosted in the evening by the city hall, when he heard his name come from a familiar voice that he had worked on for six months to forget.

"Mukuro?"

He knew who it was before he even turned around.

Byakuran was standing several feet behind him, still dressed in his favourite white vest, still with that tattoo under his eye, still the infuriating, cheating bastard Mukuro remembered him to be.

Yeah, fate really did hate him.

"I didn't think I'd run into you here…what a coincidence, eh?"

"Don't play stupid with me," Mukuro said dryly. "You know I go to school here."

"No, Mukuro, I honestly didn't know you were here," Byakuran said quietly, stirring his drink. They were seated in a small bar a block away from Mukuro's dorms. "I was heading down to the bus stop from the outdoor art show."

Mukuro choked a little on his pick-me-up. Byakuran was there? Thank the gods he didn't run into him. It would have pissed him off to no end. Come to think of it, Mukuro was pretty pissed having to look at the guy's face now.

"So…how've you been, Mukuro?"

"What do you think?" Mukuro muttered. "School. Art. Whatever."

"Ah…that's nice," Byakuran said, smiling. "Congrats on getting into Koukyo. That's where you wanted to go, right?"

"Sure."

"Mukuro…don't be like this," Byakuran said a little pleadingly. The blue-haired man gave him a dark glare. "I wasn't the one who messed up, Byakuran. Speaking of, how's your little love muffin doing? Or did he walk in to you with someone else like I did with him?"

Byakuran winced a little. "Listen, Mukuro, I didn't ask you to a drink to talk about that. It's about the guy you're dating now…what's his name? Hibari?"

Mukuro stiffened. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't you know who he is?"

"Sorry, I need to go," Mukuro said harshly, standing up, but Byakuran got to his feet to and blocked Mukuro's way out. "Wait, Mukuro—"

"Get out of my way."

"Hibari doesn't look you in the eye, does he?"

Mukuro stopped despite himself, freezing up at what Byakuran said. How did he know…?

"Mukuro, I'm being serious," Byakuran said quietly, touching his arm. "I'm only telling you this because I care."

"Spit it out," Mukuro growled, jerking his arm back, "or I'm leaving."

"Alright, alright…do you remember the accident at Namimori High School a year ago?"

Mukuro frowned. "What?"

"There was a car accident by that high school. A man came to pick up his younger brother when a drunk driver in broad daylight rear-ended them into oncoming traffic. A truck smashed into their car, and the older brother died, but the guy survived."

Mukuro's thoughts reeled. Namimori High? Was it…?

"I'm sure you've guessed; the guy who survived was Hibari, but he had a severe head injury and barely escaped with his life. The damage was lasting. The accident caused a chemical imbalance to occur in his brain."

"And what does that do?" Mukuro was not surprised to find himself whispering.

Byakuran paused, looking at his untouched drink. "It's…difficult to explain. To put it simply, it causes selective amnesia. He'll forget something if he feels too much emotion at once, particularly a strong emotion."

"A strong emotion?"

"Yeah…such as hate. Or grief. Or—"

"Love," Mukuro cut in. "That too, right?"

"Mhmm. The imbalance will cause him to pass out and when he wakes up, he won't remember anything about the cause of his emotion."

"Is that why he never looks at me when we're together?" Mukuro asked, throat tight. Byakuran tapped his finger on the table. "Yeah, most likely. I know people he was friends with back then. After the accident, he'd usually look at their ear or their eyebrow when they're talking, but never their eyes. His idea was that if he didn't get attached, he wouldn't forget them, and he could remain acquaintance at the least."

Mukuro frowned. "But Hibari…he doesn't really do that with me…he looks in the opposite direction. Or he looks up at the sky. What does that mean?" Byakuran looked at him. Was that expression one of pity and slight jealousy? "Then he likes you, Mukuro. He likes you a lot."

The white-haired man didn't get a reply. Sighing, Byakuran pushed his drink away. "I know what you're thinking; I'm a liar. I won't deny that I did you a wrong, but I'm being serious. I didn't even know this until Giotto told me. Tsuna's older brother, remember? Tsuna was in your year. Giotto was friends with Hibari's brother, Alaude. I won't lie to you about something this serious."

As much as Mukuro wanted to tell his ex to throw his ridiculous theories out the window, he realized that there was a merit to Byakuran's story. He was friends with Tsuna in his high school days, and he did remember that Tsuna had an older brother who attended the funeral of a friend who died. If that was the case…

"Don't stay with him, Mukuro," Byakuran said quietly. "It won't last. I know that much. There's nothing you can do about it, and you should leave before you get attached and you break your heart over it."

"Ah," Mukuro said, temper rising. "I doubt that would happen, Byakuran. You broke my heart once already, so there's really nothing left to destroy anyway."

"Mukuro—"

"Don't tell me what to do. I love him, and I'm not letting go this time."

With those words, Mukuro turned on his heel and left the bar.

The hard part was confronting Hibari about it. There was no doubt in his mind that Byakuran had been lying, but Mukuro couldn't stand it. For the first time in a long while, he actually had the capability to care for someone, and he didn't think his heart could bear it if Hibari left.

If Kyoya left…

"What are you doing?"

Mukuro jumped when Hibari appeared beside him, looking at the lamppost across the street, holding out his drink wordlessly to him. Mukuro accepted the soda with a small nod, popping it open. "Hibari."

"What?" the raven asked, half glancing his way, leaning comfortably against the rail. They were standing a little ways from the bus stop where they first met under a cloudy sky. It was getting chillier.

"Hibari, I love you."

Hibari stiffened. "Don't say that," he said immediately, directing his gaze to the bus stop sign. Mukuro bit his lip and reached for Hibari's hand. "Listen, Kyoya, I know what happened to you and why you don't look me in the eye." The other's expression was pained now, but Mukuro plowed on. "Listen, Kyoya, even if this right now doesn't work out, I promise you that I'm not going to leave. I won't go, not matter how far you push me away, how many times I have to make you remember, how long it takes before it works out. I won't leave. I'm staying."

"Don't," Hibari choked, trying to pull his hand away. "Don't, Mukuro, you can't say that!"

Mukuro threw himself at the raven, hugging him as tightly as he could. The soda can fell to the ground and rolled away, bumping against the sign indicating new arrivals every eighteen minutes. "I'll be here," Mukuro whispered, feeling tears running down his own face as Hibari cried into his shoulder. "I love you, so please. Love me again, even if you forget."

"You're an idiot!" Hibari yelled, punching Mukuro. "Such an idiot…I can't…stupid Mukuro…I…"

But he didn't finish his sentence. Mukuro yelped a little in surprise as Hibari slumped against him, unconscious. It was over.

It started to rain. Tears still running down his face, Mukuro half dragged, half carried Hibari's body to the bus shelter. He ducked under the plastic roof, dark because of the sprawling tree limps blocking out the light. Or maybe the sky was just dark because of the clouds. He laid Hibari across the seats and sat down on the floor, crying silently to himself. It was almost half an hour before the raven twitched a little, eyelashes fluttering as he finally came back into consciousness. Mukuro wiped his eyes and leaned forwards to press a kiss to Hibari's temple.

Then, he got up and left. It was still raining. Mukuro didn't look back.

When he got back to his dorm, he was soaked to the bone. Mukuro stood blankly in the doorway, letting water fall onto the doormat, feeling his hair stick to his back. Fran came out of his room ten minutes later, jumping a little when he saw his roommate standing like a statue.

"Mukuro…?"

Mukuro couldn't help it. The tears just weren't stopping. He wandered into the den and fell onto the couch, curling up into a ball and crying. For once, Fran didn't say anything. The aqua-haired boy just grabbed a blanket and tossed it over the artist. The last thing Mukuro remembered before falling asleep were small hands patting his head in a rare act of comfort and the pain of another broken heart.

A week later, he was on his way home from the store, under an abnormally sunny sky for such late autumn weather with a bag filled with new paintbrushes and a tube of red paint when he saw a figure in the bus shelter. For a while, Mukuro stood there, the heel of his shoe standing over a smudge of red paint on the sidewalk that seemed to have been there since forever. Then, he adjusted his bag on his shoulder and walked into the shelter.

"Nice weather we're having, eh? Are you waiting for the bus?"

Hibari blinked and cast a half-glance in his direction. "No…not really. Why are you asking, herbivore?"

Mukuro chuckled, dropping his bag onto the floor. "No reason, really. By the way, you go to school here? I'm in Koukyo Collage of Design. Do you like art?"

Hibari frowned, now looking at Mukuro's collar. "…a little, I guess."

"I knew a person who took literature and fine arts at the local University. They read an entire shelf of art history at my college library in four hours."

"…what?"

"So, are you dating someone?"

Hibari paused, his eyes level with Mukuro's ear. "No, I'm not. Why are you asking?"

"I'm not either," Mukuro said brightly. "I'm Mukuro Rokudo, what's your name?"

"…Hibari Kyoya. Have we met?"

"No, I don't think so," Mukuro responded, reaching out to brush Hibari's bangs out of the way. "Is there something on my ear? You've been staring at it an awful lot."

Hibari paused. "No…there's nothing there. Why did you get your ears pierced? It's such a herbivore thing to do."

"Maybe," Mukuro hummed. "Hey, let's make a deal."

For a moment, their eyes locked. Onyx with blue. Emotion flitted in Hibari's eyes, but then it blanked out. "What sort of deal?"

"Meet me here tomorrow. We can hang out again. I know an outdoor art exhibition that's going on and a nice sushi place. What do you say?"

The eyes were back to staring at the sky again, but Hibari didn't look upset. On the contrary, the small smile he sometimes wore was back.

"Sure…Mukuro."

End

Thank you for reading!

-BlackStar42Roses