A/N- Being the emotional person I am, I can't seem to detach myself from the Characters that I both did and didn't create and had to stop resisting and spend a little quality time with them in the form of some cute and/or funny and/or fluffy little one-shot moments that occured within the huge time gap between the High School reunion and Hidan's speech/spontaneous proposal. You know me... I get ideas and just gotta run with them.
Figured you guys would all enjoy it too. ;)
(Follow Your Arrow)
Wherever it Points
I.Role-model
Bullshit.
The only word he could really think at the moment, given the circumstances. It's one thing to be tired, he was always tired, it was something he'd sort of adapted to since a certian nuisance had come into his life. It was the kind of tired no amount of rest or sleep could fix, wary might perhaps be a better description... or perhaps not because who the bloody hell gave a damn about proper terms and eloquence when he had just gotten home after a three-day business trip to a conference that had absoloutly not been worth the trouble of going except for the whole 'mandatory' aspect.
Imagine, losing his entire practice and career just because he refused to go sit through a few days of idiotic lectures in which some young big-city doctor thought they were big shots and rambled on the whole time about basic knowledge and results of recent surveys that were deemed 'important' despite them making absoloutly no progress or difference in the medical world, making jokes and cracking smiles as if being likeable were all it took.
Tedious and stupid. Those were the only accurate definitions for the whole thing.
Speaking of stupid...
"Hidan!" He barked, side stepping the pair of muddy shoes thrown on the floor, a migraine already starting to gnaw at the back of his skull. There was no answer immediatly, he made it through the foyer, pissed at the shape of it, a jacket tossed onto the floor directly beside the coat rack, a pair of discarded jeans that hadn't even had the belt pulled out from the loops shoved into the corner, another pair of shoes, these ones clean at the very least, but still tossed without consideration to the edge of the room.
Buuuullshit.
He growled under his breath as he stepped into the livingroom, in faaar worse shape than the entryway. Clothes scattered everywhere, drinks left unattended on the coffee table, a blanket halfway on the couch and halfway under it, a wrinkled pillow, and good God the stench.
"HIDAN!" He shouted now, dropping his suitcase in favor of clenching his hands over and over, closing his eyes, trying to calm down before he went on a rampage and actually and literally destroyed the entire bloody house.
There was no other word for it, bullshit is all it was. Complete and utter bullshit. Of course this would happen, after all he'd repeatedly hammered into that little twerps head that he was not to go to Kakuzu's house for anything other than to bring his mail in and do his laundry. It was bad enough tortureing himself the entire time wondering what that lunatic would do with access to his home and his things, how that moron would handle this new responsibility and telling himself over and over and over again that Hidan could, in fact, be trusted not to fuck everything up, after all he had a spare key to the clinic and had never done anything horrible there. He'd spent the night multiple times here with him and KNEW how the Doctor liked things to be kept orderly, and the way he'd begged and pleaded as if he were sentenced to murder instead of just staying away Kakuzu had thought that maybe, just maybe, he would take this responsibility seriously... All the endless infuriating worrying and constantly telling himself it would be fine, that everything was fine and surely the psychotic man wouldn't have a fit and destroy all his possessions and finally feeling better about it when he came back and everything on the outside of the house seemed usual and he thought perhaps he'd worried over nothing and he should trust Hidan a little more but then he goes and trashes the place!
"I don't think so you little ingrate." He snarled under his breath, storming through the house, grinding his teeth harder and harder as he passed the disheveled kitchen, the bathroom which actually wasn't that bad that he saw in his quick glance except the musky smell of a few wet towels that had been dropped carelessly to the ground and left there.
The bedroom door was cracked open just barely, the humming sound of a fan came from inside and with yet another growl he shoved it open harder than he intended, wincing and rising to another level of pissed when it slammed into the wall behind. Hidan would be paying for any damage, this was his fault anyway.
"Hidannn..." He ground through clenched teeth. There was no one in here, though there clearly had been, the bed was a mess with a blanket tossed as if someone had woke up in a huge rush, the pillow still had a bit of an indention in it where someone had slept. Without rationalizing it to himself he scanned for an open window of the two in the room. There wasn't one, which meant the albino hadn't heard him calling and booked it out of there, it meant he'd already been gone.
"Of course he would be." He mumbled to himself, getting further irritated that he was now talking to himself. Honestly, he was already dead tired from that rediculous trip, and he had to come home to this. He'd likley end up having to clean it up himself, Hidan was incapable of doing any sort of a decent job cleaning unless Kakuzu walked him through it step by step as he'd had to do at work but who had time for that, or hell, who had such patience!?
He glared hard at the twisted bedspread, absently reaching to turn off the bedside fan he recognized as the cheap piece of plastic he'd gotten for the pale little idiot after his first few nights at his own apartment.
'It's too goddamn quiet.' He'd complained in a rather nice voice, gruff from lack of sleep, after coming into work looking very similar to a homeless person. 'I just can't fucking sleep.' Hidan didn't sleep much anyway, well, that wasn't true he had been sleeping much more like a normal human being recently, So Kakuzu introduced the idea of white noise to him which of course the loudmouth had thought was rediculous despite it turning out to work rather well... But aside from that it had actually been a rather pleasant day with the insane miscreant. Grumpy, short-tempered, frustrated, but still calm and quieter than usual Hidan was probably the most endearing personality he'd seen yet on the boy. Or maybe just the least annoying, hell if he knew or cared. Idiot had too many personalities as it was.
He humph'd and tried idly to smooth out the wrinkles in the sheets. He ought to just go start cleaning now, being so late on Sunday as it was, surely Hidan would wander back soon, he'd like to at least have half of it done before he had to turn right around and start cleaning that insufferable brats blood off the walls after the doctor beat the hell out of him.
Despite this thought he found himself shrugging out of his coat, laying it gently across the dresser and more or less gracefully collapsing onto the mattress.
Maybe it could wait, it wasn't as if the mess was going anywhere, and besides he shouldn't be so submissive, cleaning up a mess he didn't make. What the hell was happening to him to even consider such a thing so naturally?
His brows creased despite his eyes having slid themselves shut involuntarily. Hidan, damn him, it was as if he'd been letting that albino idiot chip away at him, carving him into something else. He'd concluded after one of Hidan's little breakdowns that his ...significant other (Mother of Franklin that was still such a strange way to think of the boy) wasn't the only one who needed to work on a few aspects of his personality. He'd relented somewhat, doing his best to take small babysteps in being less critical of the idiot... And it's pretty evident that he'd taken far too big of step here.
He inhaled deeply, letting the breath out in a growl he didn't really have much reason for except that the bed smelled... really good actually. Like Hidan... Which would make sense seeing as he'd clearly been sleeping here for two nights, probably tossing and turning like he did so much since the doctor hadn't been here for him to smash himself against like a refreshing coldpack pressed into his back...
His eyes snapped open and he shoved himself up off the furniture in one quick, smooth motion. What the hell was he doing!? He was supposed to be pissed at that pale neanderthal not daydreaming about him! Damn it all there he goes again going and manipulating him without even BEING HERE!
"Fuck!" He snapped, then growling loudly and throwing his hands up after saying something so goddamned Hidan-like in his frustration. He whirled, realizing that now the smell had sunk into his clothes and now he couldn't get that plesant aroma out of his head because it was literally all over him, and stormed into the bathroom, snarling out a series of curse-words and threats when he saw Hidan's comb and hairgel and strands of silver fucking hair all over the sink and floor and shower. Good God that man shed like an animal!
Refusing to let himself care, he grabbed everything, even the bath mats and threw it out the door, slamming it shut and rattling damn near the whole house. To think, he'd almost let himself fall asleep and release this rage, then Hidan would have gotten off easily and no lesson would be learned. No, that fucking inconsiderate child was going to pick up every last speck of his mess if Kakuzu had to sit there with a goddamned cattle prod and poke him every time he tried to make an excuse or weasel his way out of it.
He let himself grin a bit while turning on the shower faucet to the right temperature, pictureing the ways he was going to throttle that man whenever he had the misfortune to return here. He could see it now, he would walk through the door, see Kakuzu, he'd probably try to butter him up with that absurd crooked grin of his and tell him he missed him and he'd come juuust close enough for Kakuzu to reach out and grab him by the throat. His eyes would go wide and he'd start his usual writhing around and blabbering in defense and ooohhhhhhh the Doctor smiled darkly to himself as he removed the scented clothing and stepped into the shower... He would turn that perfect shade of red as he realized he wasn't going to get away and he'd start trying to fight back and you know actually Hidan was rather hard to contain when he really got worked up, the agile little shit. Like a swarm of mosquitos, he'd get you a little here, squirm out of your grip, get you a little on the other side, run off, then pounce on you from out of nowhere when you tried to chase him down. Not as if it was hard to get him off but that determined little zealot sometimes took quite awhile to wear down when he really went for it... Hyperactive damn child.
He blinked again, having to resist the urge to slap himself. HE WAS DOING IT AGAIN! Dammit! Wouldn't that little pest just fucking come back already so he could just get it over with and go to sleep and forget about it? They both had to work tomorrow after all and he didn't need this rage hanging over him while they tried to be decent respectable people around each other and all he wanted to do was take a damn nine-iron after the twerp.
He took another deep breath, pushing it from his mind, pushing all of it; the annoying flight, the cheap motel room where everything was covered in ugly, matching, floral print, the droning on and on of arrogant, young, fresh-out-of-college doctors, the cold, uncomfortable bed, the stark raving frustration of having nothing to consume the time wasted doing absoloutly nothing because there wasn't anything to do that struck any sort of interest.
Then he had to come back home wanting to just relax and catch up on his usual minimal four hours of sleep only to find it in the state it was in and unable to relax due to said mess created by his goddamned teenager of an infatuation.
He sighed deeply...
Bullshit.
.
It was about four after midnight when the Doctor finally heard his front door open without a knock. He paused in his act of scrubbing down the counter where someone had spilled what appeared to be an entire cup of coffee and just let it sit there and carmalize to the area, making it nice and thick and sticky to the point where he'd actually had to scrape it off with a butter knife before scrubbing the remainder.
He continued stareing down, expressionless at the counter while the flame of wrath that erupted inside ate away at him. The door was closed roughly as if it had been kicked shut, there was a shuffling of papers, a breathey string of swears and when he finally dared to look up he was finally rewarded, meeting the eyes of his nemises that instantly shot to huge proportions.
The corner of his mouth crooked up in evil glee as they stared between each other, Hidan looking like a deer in headlights, though... a very tired deer with exhausted bloodshot and baggy eyes. Not that that could break through the brick wall of fury the Doctor had built in the few hours he'd been trying in vain to get the place tidied up.
"You're back." The younger said, his voice cracking but eyes looking the darker man up and down with interest.
Kakuzu said nothing, only put down the sponge and wiped his hands on his already thoroughly dirty, halfway unbuttoned shirt, not breaking eye contact. He gestured with one arm to the state of the house, the younger didn't budge, still ogling silently with those damned eyes, more purple now against the reddened background.
Breathe. Right, Hidan had done a lot of things far worse than this, he'd been far angrier with him than he was now, miles and miles farther. Like a month ago when he'd tackled him down off that stage and let everyone and their dead grandmother in on what was supposed to be a secret of utmost importance. Oh he could have killed him then, and very nearly actually did, he had to remind himself, after Kisame had drug him off the runt three seperate times during the course of the rest of the night. As if trying to upgrade the clinic to a larger and more adequate building weren't a challenge enough, of course that ingrate had no idea how much stress that was alone, how much more it added having to do all that damage control with the rumors, even if it turned out most people had nothing to say about it... Well not to him at least. Kisame certianly had been getting in more fistfights, coming into the clinic twice now after having a glass bottle smashed across his face once and the second time bringing the attacker from the first time who had a broken nose and very, very, broken pride. Hidan showed up at his house only once with a darkened eye and matching bruise on his collarbone, sporting a torn shirt with a bit of blood spatter on it. "Don't worry, it's not mine." He'd said, as if Hidan's saftey were the first thing he'd worry about. Come to think of it though that had been nearly half a year ago though when their relationship had still been a blessed secret...
Honestly with the reputation Hidan and Kakuzu, himself, had; Impulsive, temperamental, vulgar, unashamed and the doctor; narssisitic, cold, heartless ... Most people were probably just too frightened to say a word about it. Add a person who looked the way Kisame did into the mix defending the two (Kakuzu really wished he wouldn't for multiple reasons, but Kisame and his damn loyalty, what could he do?) and it went surprisingly smoothley, Which of course Hidan constantly rubbed in his face...
"So... uh... I'm gonna clean this up."
"Damn right you are."
"Yep. I'm on it." They continued stareing at each other for a few more heartbeats before the Doctors patience sent out a warning flare.
"Well!?" He barked, upset when Hidan didn't jump and instantly start shuffling around to get started.
Nope, there it was, that toothy smirk. Kakuzu ground his teeth, trying not to stare, Hidan just adjusted the load in his arms and the strap of his laptop bag. With a box of what looked like files under one arm and his computer on the other, in a collered pale blue shirt. Fuck he looked so... Adult? Responsible? Reliable? No... Mature.
Damn it all he looked good.
Kakuzu's eyes narrowed further, if that were possible.
"I missed you." The enemy stated, completley at ease, just as the larger man had predicted.
"Clearly. I can't help but believe you while my nostrils are assaulted by your handiwork." He said back. "I'm impressed with your dedication to destroying my home. I was afraid I might come home and get to relax for a change."
Silver brows shot up in amusement. "Trip was shit huh?"
"Entirely. Clean this up. Now."
"Toldja you shoulda just taken some of that Cognac in the freezer."
"Hidan..."
"And let me guess you stayed in the shittest, nastiest, dirtiest motel you could find hm?"
Kakuzu only sighed and put his head in his hands.
"You better not have picked up a hooker. I'll be so pissed Kuzu, seriously, I might have to do something drastic-"
A tanned hand slammed onto the countertop, giving the old man the reaction he'd wanted in the first place via Hidan jumping slightly in surprise. "If you don't get your shit and get out of my sight in ten seconds then I'M going to do something drastic!"
"Good God Kuzu you just got back! Can you stop trying to fuck me? I'm damn tired." Hidan said with overdramatic disbelief, turning and starting toward the bedroom. "Man, fucking rude."
Unfortunatly he glanced back just in time to see the furious grizzley in the shape of a human rounding the counter and bearing down on his heels and escaped marginally unscathed.
.
The worst part about Hidan living rather sucessfully on his own was that his confidence seemed to have skyrocketed, and this was, in most cases, not a good thing. Though, when the Doctor really tried really, really hard to consider it, it was probably with good reason.
He didn't know the little idiot before all this, didn't know what he was like, though he had gotten a taste of it a few times after being 'with' him for over two years now and lots of alcohol-filled nights... He didn't know the people the twit associated with, how he spent twenty-two years of time and somehow still had zero skills or achievements when he'd come kicking and screaming in and turned the doctors entire existance upside down. But he could gather a pretty good idea, though really it was kind of strange that Hidan never spoke of it, not of any of it... Well, what concern was it of his anyway? It wasn't as if the stone-hearted doctor ever revealed much of anything about his past either. Hidan certianly wasn't that person anymore, not with Kakuzu's help. He was something entirely new now, though still just as exhausting as ever.
"Hey... Kuzu?"
Kakuzu groaned and repositioned himself. Dear Benjamin he was hearing Hidan in his sleep now, not only that, now it was waking him up!
"Go... away..." He ground out, not sure what was happening or why, and certianly not careing, just wanting to continue sleeping.
Silence. Ahh, how wonderful.
It was actually a little disappointing, for reasons he couldn't begin to fathom and frankly was pissed at himself for tireing himself with such useless emotion over something like this, how quickly the zealot was becoming something else. How easily he was adapting and taking on new challenges, handleing them with such grace. It wasn't natural, really... Even Kakuzu had had his share of problems trying to learn the in's and outs of living on your own, and he'd practically been doing it since he was 14.
And he didn't like in in another way, he thought... Because Hidan was... well... He wasn't Hidan anymore. He was, still sarcastic, foul-mouthed as ever, but different. Not as energetic, not as curious about the dumbest, most insignificant things. He never saw that childlike wonder that had been so frustratingly fascinating out of the man anymore. His moodswings that normally came and went with the ferocity and indecisivness of the weather had calmed significantly, still there but usually subdued... controlled... If the old man were to be completley honest with himself, and only himself and never anyone else... well he sort of missed him. Sort of. Especially over the last three days and two nights.
Only in the way that when he wasn't sitting in a chair around other men his age or older than him, most of them there for the actual fact that they were older and now had to be introduced to all the new technologies and developments in medicine and given a general run-by on changed rules and 'You can't do this anymore because it could cause a lawsuit' and 'This procedure is now strictly prohibited unless directly requested by the patient' and 'This one is still being researched but heres a list of stupid reasons why it's being investigated so until we prove that it's a bad thing, don't do it.', when he wasn't sitting there listening to these boring, monotonous droning preaching lectures about things he generally already knew (Because he's a smart person and keeps up with things like that in the news and media. After all the way he went about his doctoring was considered unprofessional in the world of medicine so he had to take every precaution) he was sitting in a hotel room, restless and bored and of course irritated. This didn't happen very often as the conference had lasted the entire three days he'd been there both nights in which he hadn't spent doing that he quite literally had done nothing else, couldn't even get any sort of decent sleep on the horrible beds.
He hated cities, all the bustleing and rushing. Towering buildings, enormous crowds that didn't give the slightest clue that they were aware of your presence but would gladley make faces at you and make you feel like a complete moron if you even had the smallest projection of how lost and insignificant you felt showing on your face. It reminded him of his college days, the initial college days, before he'd ever met Kisame or anyone that had even temporarily accompanied him and had any real friends at all. He hated cities yes, with a burning passion, and had no intention of wandering out in it when he wasn't 'working' all alone.
So... Maybe he'd missed Hidan. But only in the way that... maybe if the irritating runt had been there with him he wouldn't have been so damn bored...
But! To Immediatly contradict that is the fact that he would have been playing parent the entire time anyway should that nuisance have joined him and therefore would have been pissed off just as he was the whole time anyway.
Honestly it was all Hidan's fault in the first place that he even got bored anymore. In all the years (and that's a lot of years) that he'd been going to those things he'd done exactly the same thing and never had any sort of conflict with it, not until now.
Everything was changing... And so damn quickly. Quickly, but slowly at the same time. It had been a bit over two years after all. It seemed like such a long time and yet really didn't in the grand scheme of things, just for the fact that so much had happened in that timeframe when the previous 40 plus years of his life everything had progressed with perfect timeing, exactly according to schedule. No surprises, nothing interesting. Just plain... boring... normal life...
"Kakuzu..."
Again the voice invaded his head and he stirred slightly. Bloody hell he thought this problem was solved! Two nights of very close to no sleep, comes home to a demolished house, and now he couldn't even rest.
Maybe if he just ignored him he'd go away...
He heard a soft sigh and what sounded like knuckles popping, which brought him instantly to full awareness. Surely that little shit wouldn't have the audacity to hit him just to wake him up, if he did he'd better be ready to learn a whole new level of pain. Just because maybe he'd missed him didn't mean he wanted to forego any chance for sleep he had to trouble himself with the imbicile and whatever nonsense would arise of it...
He didn't receive any punches or shoves or anything of the like, the door squeaked shut (it did that now since Kakuzu had kicked it open earlier) and that was the end of it. And now the older man laid stareing into the dark in confusion.
He rolled to his other side, stareing at the door quizically. Just wait... he'd run in here in a bit and body slam him or come in buck naked and try to squirm under the covers and use sex to get out of cleaning up the house.
Five minutes... Ten minutes. Nothing.
He rolled his eyes, now that he was wide awake and it was- He rolled his head to look at the alarm clock- nearly daylight outside anyway and he still had quite a bit of work to do that was building each second that he chose to try and sleep in instead of going at the usual time, he might as well get up and go check on the incompetent fool.
As he rose and contemplated whether to put proper clothes on or wait until he'd woken up fully he also wondered idley how ironic it was that he was wrong yet again. It was true that every time he thought Hidan had no surprises left in store he was proved tragically wrong but this situation was different for the fact that... well... he didn't really know. But it was incredibly irritating, even moreso because he had no idea why.
He decided, after standing and stareing at his closet blankley for a few lasting moments, to just not bother with clothing. Another thing that had changed, The normally efficient, punctual doctor wasted so much time now just being lazy. It was hard not to spare a few moments when dealing with such exhausting things as what he now dealt with on a daily basis without end or break.
He was in the livingroom before he knew it, and was pleased that Hidan had actually done a rather good job of cleaning up, did he even wipe the dust off the shelving? Impressive. Maybe he would get off his back a little, he'd done what he'd been asked after all.
He blinked out of the thought, realizing Hidan was nowhere around. Strange... he never left so... politley.
Swallowing hard for some reason and feeling very not himself, the doctor continued toward the garage simply out of a gut feeling which was reinforced when he noticed the light in the laundry was on and as he stepped just a bit closer he was assaulted by the distinct smell of cigarette smoke.
His small amount of satisfaction with the pale lover of his divebombed into anger and exhaustion. "Hell no." He growled, grabbing the door and sliding it forcefully open and glaring down at his employee that looked like he really just might shit himself, stareing back at him in wide-eyed, speechless silence.
He moved his vision from Hidan to the cigarette between his fingers then back to Hidan and the younger jolted into action, rushing to put it out in the bottom half of a coffee can he'd cut up apparently just to use as an ashtray.
Kakuzu only waited, knowing that if he so much as spoke he would most likley snap and murder the man. For one, Hidan had lied to him, telling him nearly two months ago that he'd finally quit, he'd even put on quite the superior act about it too. Secondly, what screw came loose in that broken mind to make him think it would be okay under ANY circumstances to do that in his house!?
His anger quickly deflated, however, as Hidan didn't even attempt to get up and only looked up at him with sad eyes that damn well could have belonged on a puppy.
"...Sorry." He mumbled low, averting his gaze.
"Good for you. Are you going to explain?" Kakuzu snapped right back, keeping his firmly planted.
"No. Not really."
He was taken back by this, and left bewildered for a moment. He recovered though, thanks to the quickly returning anger. "What the hell do you mean 'not really'?" And to think, he'd just been feeling as if Hidan being mature wasn't natural and how he might have missed his moodswings. He should really learn to just stop feeling at all.
"Why the hell should I?"
"Hidan dammit you wake me up and I come out here to find this! You had better explain if you have any appeal to the idea of ever stepping foot in this house again!"
Finally those still dark magenta eyes met his, and yet again the anger washed away, this time replaced with actual concern. Hidan didn't say anything at all, alarming in and of itself, and the Doctor was kind of glad he didn't. He knew that look all too well, and now that he thought about it, was a little surprised he hadn't recognized it earlier when Hidan had first come in.
Alright, he could do this without making Hidan blow up, surely he could, he'd already had so many experiences dealing with these temper tantrums, he could do it. He was prepared this time, and it'd been so long since the last one. He could do this with as minimal effort as possible.
"Come on." He said, nodding his head behind him and turning to leave the tobacco-drenched room. He made it two steps back toward the main area of the house before he noticed Hidan wasn't following, and backtracked. Again he was met with surprise and confusion to see him still just sitting on the floor, with his head in his hands now.
"Hidan..." He said, warning in his tone.
"I can't work your stupid washing machine..." The younger finally said in what Kakuzu could have swore was a growl.
Breathing deeply, the older stepped into the room. He pushed the few buttons on the machine, the settings were all over the place, probably a result of Hidan attempting to run it. It was a pretty new model, with all sorts of buttons and flashing lights, no wonder he couldn't figure it out, Hidan and his short attention span. But that wasn't the problem, he knew Hidan much better now than to think something so simple is really the problem. As childish as he was, Hidan wasn't that stupid.
He blinked, what a strange thought to think so easily. Two years, how long and incredibly short.
The machine came to life and he turned, stareing down at the folded over man. "Alright, it's done, come on out of this room. Stinks in here."
"Can't fucking even manage to wash clothes... Can't stop myself from smoking even though I didn't even want to. I was just trying to fucking stay calm until you woke up. What the fuck is wrong with me?" Hidan mumbled, grabbing fistfuls of already terribley messed up hair on either side of his face.
Kakuzu stared. "It looks far more complicated than it is. I'll show you later."
"No. I don't even want to."
There was that damn headache again pricking at his skull.
Alright, enough of this. "Get up." He demanded, stepping over to him, when he didn't do as instructed the older man grabbed him by the arm and yanked him up and dragged him out to the livingroom, ignoring the threats and profanity slung at him as he did. Using his weight he hauled Hidan around him, letting go so that he was thrown onto the couch.
"Kakuzu would you fucking quit! I know how to walk on my own! Fuck!"
"Shut up." He snapped, both happy and irritated when the pale man did as instructed, though glareing much like a child being told no.
"Stop mopeing, we've been through this enough times for you and I both to know that this behavior only means something is wrong. Instead of acting like a pair of senseless emotional teenagers and bickering and fighting, just come out with it."
Hidan still didn't respond right away, though he let down his glare and was chewing his lip in thought.
Trying to contain himself, Kakuzu looked away too, noticing that the morning had officially begun and daylight was leaking in through the curtains.
"Have you been up all night?" He asked aloud without getting the chance to think it first. Damn, he was still so tired...
"Yeah... it's not a big deal."
"Yes, it is. You're tired and exhausted, look at you. That's probably half the cause of whatever your problem is."
"Tch. I haven't slept the last two nights either! Who cares!?"
Again Kakuzu was taken back but this time it lit the spark on the anger he'd continuously been trying to repress since he'd been home. "Who the hell do you think cares you idiotic child!? I kept my temper when you trashed my house and acted as if nothing at all was wrong with that, when you woke me from a long-awaited sleep and proceeded to smoke in my laundry room instead of just going outside like anyone with common decency would have done, and here I am trying to help you though I have no damn idea why and you're asking who cares!?" He growled, leaning down toward the younger in an unintentional but still usually effective show of intimidation.
Hidan rebounded, jumping from the couch and stomping up close to scream directly in the Doctors face. "I cleaned your goddamn house you fucking miserable codger! And your fucking stupid neighbor was outside sitting on the porch like the creeper he is and quitting smoking is pretty much the only fucking thing anyone gives me credit for in this stupid goddamn town so I didn't want rumors going around that I'm a fucking liar on top of everything else I constantly have to put up with!"
The doctor managed to remain silent now only for the fact that that kind of made sense in a way only Hidan could make it. Anyone else came at him with that he'd probably call them a imbecile and hit them.
"Anything else I've done wrong you want to fucking give me shit about because I know you've got a god damned arsenal in there!" He pointed to Kakuzu's head at this. "Two fucking days of hell I don't get to see you and you come back with all your fucking guns loaded huh!? What about 'Thanks for keeping the clinic open and getting me more money while I was gone Hidan!' Or fuck even something like 'Hello.' would be more preferrable than you just immediatly fucking railing into me! I'm fucking SORRY I was here while you were gone okay? I just... it's really hard when you're not around."
He stopped and started pacing around the livingroom, Kakuzu only stayed in place doing his best not to smirk. He was really worked up... like it used to be. Shouting incoherantly but still somehow sort of making sense even though he really didn't and damn why did he look so good in such a pitiful state with his clothes all rumbled and sleep-deprived eyes that somehow still held all that firey, angry energy and damndamndamn you old man get ahold of yourself.
He could accept this much, Hidan had missed him, that was... understandable, he supposed. Honestly Kakuzu had more or less expected this to happen, he could now say since he'd gotten the minimum 4 hours of sleep and the disarray of his house wasn't eating away at the back of his conciousness.
"You know I don't even know what I'm doing most of the goddamn time, You're always right there you know? Telling me what to do and how to do it. I hate when you're not around, I hate it. Nothing makes sense, shit doesn't work like it's supposed to and my head starts getting all 'Oh gee Hidan's having a hard time better make him fucking FUCK himself over!'" He did the last in a mock voice that made it very hard for the Doctor not to crack a small smile, instead he just crossed his arms over each other and continued watching the show.
"And with all this moving and shit to the other building people are still confused so instead of me staying and handleing things there while you're at the other getting all that fucking shit sorted I have to constantly figure out how to get back and forth and then even after all that's over with this stupid fucking online schooling is turning out to be a bunch of horse shit. I've barely even gotten into all the gen-ed shit and I feel like my heads going to explode! As if I needed another reason to feel like a fucking brainless piece of trash. And even worse than that I still have all this fucking dept to pay off and now I have rent and electricity and of course the stupid internet that I need to the stupid fucking 'classes' and then fucking BOOKS!" He shouted incredulously, voice going shrill and throwing his hands in the air.
"Books Kakuzu! FUCKING BOOKS! Of all the fucking evils in the world I HATE books! And then they're like 40 bucks a piece and they never have them at the library and I have to go pleading with Itachi to help me fucking figure out how to order them online and there's all this reading and studying that I don't ever have the time for because even when I do I can't concentrate because there's a thousand other fucking things I have to remember and things I have to do and it's just right fucking here all the time. ALL the fucking time!" He jerked his hand towards and away from either side of his head over and over again as he ranted.
"I CAN'T FUCKING DO IT! I CAN'T BE A NORMAL, RESPONSIBLE, MATURE PERSON! How do people even do this? How do you do it? Is this why you're so pissed all the time!? God I totally fucking understand now! Money and everything money-like is such BULLSHIT! I hate this, I hate all of it so much but I have to do it so you'll be proud and so I don't have to mooch and I feel like I'm just constantly bugging Itachi all the time for help and I CAN'T DO IT! I just can't fucking do it and... and I don't want you to... you know whatever... I don't know..."
He fell back onto the couch now, stareing up at the ceiling and breathing hard. "It's too much. I just... needed a smoke. You were tired and I knew I'd freak out if I went back to that shitty apartment and do something stupid. I don't know what the fuck to do I took all this shit on and it's kicking my ass and I just know I'm gonna screw everything up."
He couldn't hold it in anymore, and Kakuzu laughed. It started as just a quick exhale and jumped to a chuckle. Hidan of course flailed to stare at him as if he were the one making the scene. "Are you kidding me!? You sadistic son of a bitch! It's not FUNNY!" He screeched.
He held up a finger to Hidan, trying desperatly to stop his face from making this terrible expression and moved to the Kitchen as means of distraction. First things first; It was morning, They had to go to work soon, and they both were in obvious desperation for a little caffiene. Hidan followed him in, stareing in dramatic disbelief the whole time. "You're gonna casually fucking walk away and make coffee? "
"Yes."
"You ASSHOLE! Like this isn't fucking humiliating every single fucking time this happens you're not gonna fucking say ANYTHING?"
He could only shake his head, not trusting himself to form words until he could stop the laughter that still itched at the back of his throat.
"Whah... but don't you want to insult me or something? Call me stupid? Tell me I'm overreacting? Come on you old bitch I know you can come up with something."
Deep inhale, Get it together. Straight face. "No."
"Why the hell not!? Jesus fucking christ I just laid it all out on the table like you told me to do and you're just gonna ignore me?"
Kakuzu poured the water in the back of the canister and shut the lid, pressing the power button, then turned to him. "I don't really see how that was embarassing."
Hidan looked as if he'd been slapped again, so the older man just sighed and ran a hand through his own hair, still down. He had asked what the problem was, he had instigated this, put himself in this position where he would now once again have to be empathetic and understanding, despite the fact that he did, in fact, want to tell him to stop whining and griping about a completly normal situation that every single person in the world ends up going through when they go out on their own, only Hidan's was a few years late.
How hilarious that he'd just been thinking but a few minutes ago about how strange it was that Hidan seemed to be having no trouble at all with everything he busied himself with... Life was still throwing him curveballs, even if he didn't recognize them until he swung and missed. Even the king of assholes couldn't keep a straight face. Here he was prepared for some sort of epic meltdown or an admission of something horrendously stupid his young partner had done like start again on drugs or attack the town Mayor or some absoloutly rediculous nonsense. He didn't really know what he expected, but he definitly didn't expect somthing so... normal.
"Everyone gets overwhelmed." He said simply, shrugging. "I was in dept up to my eyeballs when I came to this town. Didn't cry about it." He wondered to himself idley how bizarre this situation was for the fact that... it really wasn't. He could say to himself without a doupt that he'd never really thought Hidan would do things like an average person, even if it was mental breakdown due to overload of stress, he had those a lot, but never over such relateable things.
Struggling with money, schooling, work. Trying to juggle it all. How mind-boggling...
He looks so good.
STOP IT!
And here he was acting like a normal person in a normal relationship when in any other instance he would dismiss it or state how little he cared and walk away. It wasn't his problem, it's still not his problem, except it was, completley and entirely. Mainly for the fact that Hidan San was a walking, talking problem wraped in human skin.
Well, no. Not anymore, not really. The only thing he ever seemed to do unexpectedly anymore is show up at all hours of the night with a case of beer or some new liquor he hadn't yet tried, which was rediculous in and of itself that there were so many different forms of alcohol.
Actually now that he really thought about it... that habit hadn't even started up until a few months ago, when he started that rediculous nonsense on the computer he called his 'schooling' actually.
"Hidan." He said, voice hard now that another thought occurred to him. Violet eyes flicked up to him, still clouded with all the questions he was holding back for whatever reason, making the doctor wonder for a second how they kept seeming to change colors so subtley like that, and why he'd never so much as given it a second thought in all this time... Then slowly blinked himself out of this train of irrelevant thought.
"You haven't been smoking behind my back have you?"
Hidan let out a huff, as if he couldn't really believe he was being asked that, though his expression suggested he was still just trying to process his thoughts. "No... I bought the pack about a month ago when I thought I was close to losing it. Itachi showed up outta nowhere and distracted me with his bullshit, forgot I even had them until you left."
...That was probably the most calm, rational, and straightforward answer he'd ever gotten from the eerily sullen man. Maybe he was taking this a little too lightly. Hidan wasn't hysterical and yelling anymore, which meant the anger had passed, which meant the next part was the most exhausting and irritating one, even moreso than the shouting for the fact that a depressed Hidan always seemed to somehow pass his mood on to Kakuzu through sheer osmosis. There really was nothing more irritating than watching a full grown man mope, whether he had the brain of a child or not.
"Alright, listen here." He said, resolving himself and setting his features back to unreadable mostly for the fact that this was always the most uncomfortable part of these episodes. "It's normal, believe it or not."
"...Normal?" Hidan's face tightened in confusion, making the older of the two have to take another internal deep breath, as if it were such a hard concept to understand.
"Yes. Normal. You took on more than you could handle while trying to live up to everyone's expectations. Everyone does that, some never stop doing it."
Hidan stared in confusion down at his hands as if a better explanation would magically appear there, still breathing hard from his hysterical rant a few moments ago, thinking over this apparently strange response. Kakuzu pinched the bridge of his nose to cover his uncharacteristic smirk. This was what he missed, as completley irrational and stupid as it was to miss such a thing, this was Hidan San. His Hidan. Baffled by the simplest, most common problems while at the same time somehow still able to think deep resounding thoughts. Amazed by simplicity because he naturally assumed everything was too hard for him to understand.
Kakuzu thought, just like every other time, maybe that was a side effect of being told you were stupid your whole life. Not as if it were entirely everyone else's fault either though.
"So. You're fucking telling me that everybody freaks out like this?" Hidan finally said, the confusion gone as he apparently came to some conclusion, now replaced by the usual anger.
Kakuzu raised his brows sarcastically, nodding slowly. The coffee maker bubbled behind him, the only sound in the eerily silent house. Well... of course it would be confusing for someone like Hidan who had gone their whole existence being told he wasn't normal, that he was broken and crazy.
"It's normal." Hidan mumbled to himself, squinting thoughtfully. "I'm being normal then? by freaking out like I always do?"
Kakuzu couldn't help the snort that forced it's way outta him, earning a scowl from Hidan. He turned around as the coffee maker beeped out it's signal of completion, glad for it's wonderful timing. "You'll never be normal Hidan."
"Oh..."
He could practically feel the man behind him begin to deflate again, closed his eyes shut hard, and opened them up again, looking over his shoulder. "But that's not a bad thing, in your case."
Silence, he grit his teeth through it, refusing to look back mainly for the fact that this was usually the point in time when Hidan started being either adorable by means of overcompensating for showing weakness and launching right into a petty arguement which he would inevitabley lose and then pout about it or become irritatingly jovial again and start making sarcastic comments and throwing casual insults around and even though the stoic old man was trying really hard not to feel one way or the other about it... well there was this damn warmth right in the center of his chest cavity and for some stupid reason his face kept trying to make him smile.
"Huh. Yeah... then I'd be boring as fuck." Hidan said bluntly.
Kakuzu took a breath. Wait for it... Insults or arguement, which would it be?
"Did I ever tell you you're a badass?"
He blinked. Wait... what?
"Excuse me?" He said without thinking, twisting to give the younger a skeptical stare. Hidan was giving him that grin, and the doctors features set automatically back into a mask of indifference. Good thing too, because honestly he was still reeling.
Dammit Hidan, unpredictable little shit.
"Yeah. You know... Can't really fucking explain it without going on a fucking tangent-"
"By all means then, don't."
Hidan breathed out a laugh and rolled his eyes. "You are though, just so you know, even though you probably already did, you self-righteous dick."
"Mm. As are you." He said, meaning to only think it in his head and kicking himself when instead it came out as a murmur.
"What?"
He turned around and casually took a sip of his coffee. "Nothing. "
Well, 'badass' may not be the right term, but if Kakuzu understood correctly what he was implying, (which he probaly didn't but didn't feel like pursueing further lest they end up doing that annoying touchey-feely shit Hidan always somehow tricked him into doing) then Hidan... deserved a little credit too... probably... After all he was practically an actual adult now.
Hidan studied him for a moment before smiling sheepishly and reaching up to rub the back of his neck, shifting into a full-body stretch as he spoke. "You know, I don't think I'll ever be able to do what you do."
Kakuzu stared, awaiting him to explain further.
The younger wrung his hands together."Work, I mean... "
"I didn't expect you to." He said back, doing his best not to growl about it and start a bickering match. Ah, he knew where this was going now. And despite everything, he was glad it was finally happening. He hadn't ever actually expected Hidan to pursue this ludacris idea of working side-by-side as equals in their feild of work. Hidan couldn't be a doctor, And that had absoloutly nothing to do with how people saw him as a person or his healing broken mentalities or any of the like. It was simply an enormous task to take on, and his young partner had far too much catching up to do to ever have a hope of it. And don't even get him started on the money it took.
It was in its entirety just a childish dream Hidan had gotten in his head, and in all honesty had tried very hard with what means he had to make it happen. It wasn't as if Dr. Hoku didn't support him or expected him to fail, no, it didn't even reach that point. It was just something that wasn't going to happen. He'd never felt one way or the other about it, and humored the man-child so he might understand for himself instead of the huge fight that would likley take place over it if Kakuzu had just stated his opinions out loud. The dream was too big, the window of oppurtunity far, far too small.
"Yeah..." Hidan said, emotions flashing across him again, thoughtful, angry, somber- "No one did... I don't even think I thought I could do it." -and right back to a grin. "But you know, I think I'd be a pretty kick-ass nurse."
For however many times it had been now, Kakuzu blinked in surprise, brows going high in interest. This caught him off guard for several reasons; One being how easily Hidan just accepted defeat. That... Just didn't happen. Ever.
The second being that it was almost as if he'd been reading his mind, taking the dream and minimizing to fit through the window, persay.
Third was that he'd thought of this idea that was actually reasonable and much more realistic on his own, out of the blue, when ten seconds ago he was having trouble understanding the fact that everyone alive takes on more than they can handle at one point or several more.
"I mean you'd make more money that way right? Maybe get some of those dumbasses that stopped coming to come back if I were licensed and certified and shit? Plus you'd have one more thing to make fun of me for! So, fuckin' win-win all the way around." His face beamed brighter and brighter with each word, speaking as if it was all just now coming to him.
Having made up a mug of coffee for his excited young partner while he'd been more or less rambleing on to himself, Kakuzu set it on the counter in front of him. "Sounds like a much more attainable goal. Are you done now?" He asked, not quite managing to hide the crook of his mouth that finally won it's battle. He certianly wasn't instigating anything but now he was being adorable in another sense, basically by impressing Kakuzu which still was a pretty hard thing to do, though Hidan had carved his own special set of adjustable standards in the mans mind, and anyway it was really starting to get uncomfortable with the way it was harder and harder to keep tearing his eyes away from the excited little idiot.
Hidan blinked himself out of his blabbering, finally noticing the coffee beside him and giving it a soft smile before grabbing it, holding it with both hands in a way that usually drove the Doctor nuts, especially with the way that Uchiha boy did it constantly. But for some reason he didn't really care to think much more into, it sort of... added to the whole scene. "...Yeah. I think so. Goals and shit, right?" He said, crooked smile dominating his features as his eyes locked onto Kakuzu's and made the older man's chest sort of settle strangley.
Honestly this was probably the smoothest breakdown he'd ever dealt with of Hidan's, and in all the perfect rations. It was never a matter of Hidan changing, people didn't really change, not at the core, as Kisame always liked to say. Pretty spot on, the Doctor thought to himself as he nodded in response. He'd just been trying far too hard, just the same as the very first day they'd met, it was almost as if Kakuzu could sense when the brat was putting on an act.
There was a peaceful silence in the room then, couldn't have been for more than a few minutes before Hidan piped up again, making the elder sigh.
"Everyone does it? No shitting?"
Was he still on this? "Everyone."
"Even Itachi? He always has his shit together, all the time."
The older man scoffed, raising the mug up to drain the last bit of liquid caffiene. "Shows how much attention you pay attention."
"Well, I mean like... aside from when he's playing mommy."
"I've watched that boy break down more times than I care to count."
Hidan considered this for a moment. "Wierd. Me too, but it still always seems like he knows what he's doing all the damn time."
Kakuzu only gave a soft, drawn-out grunt in response, finally standing up, stretching his back, and starting toward the bedroom. He'd wasted far too much time today with all this nonsense, and despite not being at the clinic for three days but feeling as if he'd done more than usual ,there was still real work to attend to.
"What about you?" Hidan said, not having moved from his spot but turned most likley to watch the coffee-skinned man leave.
"What about me?" He said, a little disturbed when it came out in a more teasing tone than a signal to drop the subject and move on.
"You ever get overwhelmed?"
"Every second I spend with you." He replied, not missing a beat.
"Tch, you love me old man. Just admit it." Hidan shot back, finally starting to follow when the Doctor returned to his task of prepareing for work.
"It would be easier if you'd shut up once in awhile..."
Hidan made a victorious half-laugh sound, flopping onto his back on the bed and resting his head on his open palms while Kakuzu rummaged through the closet.
"Hey does this mean I can finally get a day off?"
"Absoloutly not." The doctor snapped quickl, shrugging into a deep green shirt.
The albino flailed all the way onto his stomache, the perpetual scowl he was known for back in its rightful place as if none of the last half hour had transpired. "WHAT!? But you just got three days vacation and I didn't even complain when you told me to stay and do customer relations bullshit despite the fact that they all hate my guts!"
"It was not a vacation and you don't get a cookie every time you do the job I'm already paying you to do, rude customers or not."
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! You are so not getting any of this ass any time soon!"
Kakuzu had to stop for a moment in his act of slipping into a pair of dark brown slacks to stare incredulously, though he managed to stay expressionless so it was more just a blank stare. "You say that as if it's a punishment."
"Just you wait fucker." The younger responded, giving an irritatingly attractive sinister smile. "I'll get you. You'll be begging."
"I highly doupt that."
He moved toward the door, intending to go to the bathroom to take care of all the rest of the hygine related preparations when instead an agile pale blur jumped in front of him, taking him offguard and because of that successfully managing to shove him enough to where he stumbled backward and landed in a normal seated position on the bed.
In less time than he had to protest there was a body on top of him, lips against his and that insufferabley delicious tongue forcing it's way between. Cold hands slipped up the shirt he'd only just put on, sliding along his sides and eliciting a growl from him when he couldn't resist the shudder they caused.
Hidan pulled back, and it took a couple of moments for the larger man to blink back to reality, welcomed of course by that damned grin.
Kakuzu scowled back. Damn it all. There was no winning was there?
"Are you trying to get hurt?" He ground out, doing his best to seem threatening despite the fact that Hidan was most likley completley aware of what was happening down lower seeing as he was straddled over his waist.
Lips pulled back in a wicked sneer, exposing Hidan's strangley sharp canines. "As long as you don't get overwhelmed."
It was another hour until they made it to the clinic, with about twenty voicemails and a continuous surge of patients to handle. The day drug on like it would never end, and there was only word he could really think at the moment, given the circumstances.
Bullshit.
A/N-
As much as I would love to, and as many requests as I've gotten for it, I can't do a sequel due to the demands of daily life. It would just end up getting left there to rot halfway through like the other stories I still haven't finished. But I've got quite a few more of these one-shots planned which will be devided up into chapters. Not really 'planned' but just general ideas I intend to vomit some words onto and mix into something worth reading. I really loved doing this, as much of a pain and the ass as it was to do it. (It took four days for this tiny thing and that was with me writing at every oppurtunity I had, not even kidding you.) And I'm excited to do more. So hopefully this little project won't putter out and die like the others. Reviews would certianly help keep the motivation strong.
Thanks for reading everyone, forgive the typos it just as un-beta'd as everything I do is.
Much love.
-Wierdo