A/N: Hi guys! xD This is my first .hack fiction, and it's one of my favorite slash pairings, Haseo and Silabus. 8D I feel like there will never ever be enough of this pairing. xD So here's my small contribution to the small fandom. HaseSila foreva! ;-; I tried to focus a little bit more on the fact that The World is in fact an MMORPG, which I'm addicted to. xD So maybe it'll seem kind of like one? Anyways, this'll be two chapters, so second half will be coming.. eventually. I hope. Also, please forgive spelling errors, as with majority of my work. I'm way too lazy to proofread. Reviews are vastly appreciated! Thank you for reading!

chapter 1: [ONLINE]

Silabus watched, his PC paralyzed from an attack, as Haseo finished off the sole remaining enemy with a vicious swing of his scythe. As the weapon-like opponent faded away and the battle results appeared on the screen, Silabus regained his movement and ran up to Haseo, who was already being 'congratulated' by their third party member, Endrance.

"Haseo… You were amazing…" Endrance said, reaching out to stroke Haseo's cheek. "I am only sorry that I could not be of more assistance in the battle…"

"Uh… yeah," Haseo responded awkwardly, trying discreetly to inch away from the caress. Silabus stifled his laughter as best he could. He'd once asked Haseo why he always invited Endrance along if his antics creeped him out him so much. Haseo had responded by folding his arms over his chest, putting a typical frown on his face, and declaring that Endrance was a valuable asset to their team, creepy or not.

"Yeah, Haseo. We'd be toast without you," Silabus agreed, smiling at the adept rogue. Haseo glared, very likely knowing that Silabus was poking fun at him.

"Anyway," Haseo said, changing the subject. "What kind of experience did you guys get from that?"

"Not much," Silabus replied, checking his experience bar. "But it's still a lot more than what I'd get if I took on monsters at my level." Haseo had reached the current level cap of 150 a while ago, and had taken to power leveling his friends whilst he impatiently waited for CC Corp to raise the cap, or to see if they would. Silabus' level had increased rapidly since he began fighting alongside Haseo, and had gotten higher than he ever imagined it would. He never expected to even make the 100 mark, but thanks to his friend, he had gone well beyond it.

"I don't care about my experience level…" Endrance said. "I'm merely happy that I am able to spend time with you, Haseo…"

"Erm… Right…" Haseo said, and once again tried to tactfully divert the subject. He turned to face Silabus. "I got anti-paralysis armor from that last enemy. I can't wear it, and you'll need it we fight more of those monsters anyways." Silabus smiled to himself at Haseo's excuses – he didn't want anyone to know he was being nice, after all. "So, you want it?"

"Sure, Haseo," Silabus said with a smile. "If Endrance doesn't want it, that is."

The adept rogue furrowed his brow, and looked over at the other blade brandier for a moment, before telling Endrance: "I'll give you the next one I get, alright?"

Endrance smiled softly at the offer. "Thank you, Haseo… Any gift that you give me only makes me love you more…"

Haseo shifted awkwardly, and Silabus found himself suppressing his laughter again. It never ceased to amuse him that Haseo didn't know how to react to Endrance's comments. "Well, here then," he said, and a trade window popped up on Silabus' screen. He clicked the confirm button and donned the armor. It even had higher stats than his old one.

"Thanks!" Silabus said, warmly. Haseo crossed his arms and looked away, as though he were embarrassed. His PC stayed perfectly still for a moment after that, showing that Haseo had momentarily left his computer. Silabus and Endrance both waited patiently, and soon the PC regained his usual movement.

"Shit," Haseo spat out. "My parents came over. I gotta go. I'll get back on later if I can."

"I'll wait for you for eternity if I must, Haseo…" Endrance gushed.

"I'll probably be on still," Silabus chimed in.

"Alright. Oh, and I found a new weapon for you the other day, Silabus. I put it in the guild storage; you should be a high enough level now to use it," Haseo said, and he disbanded the party.

"Really?" Silabus asked, surprised. When Haseo said he 'found' something, Silabus had learned, it usually meant he was actively looking for it. Why Haseo had been looking for a new weapon for him was beyond his comprehension. Was he becoming a burden in battle?

"Yeah, really," Haseo replied flatly, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "I'm going now. See you guys." He took off towards the nearest platform, and the two blade brandiers watched as he gated out.

Silabus was still wrapped up in his thoughts, wondering why Haseo had gone through the trouble of getting him a new weapon, when Endrance spoke up.

"You're lucky…" Endrance told him. Silabus nearly jumped out of his skin. He hadn't been paying attention to him, but moreso, Endrance almost never spoke when they were in a party together. And when he did, it was only to compliment Haseo, or respond to something the adept rogue had said. He hadn't bothered to strike up any kind of conversation with Silabus before.

"Lucky?" Silabus asked. "Why do you think that?"

"Haseo is very fond of you…" Endrance said. "He always gives you gifts… He always invites you to fight with him… And he dedicates much of his time to the guild you invited him to… I can only wish he would show that kind of attention to me…"

"Wh-what?" Silabus stammered out, bewildered at the observation. "Haseo doesn't like me anymore than anyone else! He just gives me items and new weapons because I'm not very good at fighting… and…" The green blade brandier trailed off, trying to come up with other reasons Haseo acted the way he did. Why did Haseo do all those things for him? Surely at some point it went beyond Haseo trying to improve his skill in battle. After all, if he was such a hindrance, why would he keep inviting him along? His mind was drawing a blank at finding the answers to these questions; could Endrance be right?

"But as long as Haseo is happy…" Endrance continued, staring off into the distance with a serene smile on his face, "… Then I am happy as well." With that, the former emperor wandered off dreamily to the same platform Haseo had used and gated out, not even bothering to bid Silabus farewell. Not that Silabus expected him to – that was simply Endrance's way.

He found himself wondering more and more about what Endrance had said to him, but he was soon snapped out of his daze with a short mail from Gaspard.

x x x

From: Gaspard

Hey Silabus! Haseo just stopped by and stocked the shop with a lot of really good items! We're gonna make a fortune! ^_^ Are you guys done leveling yet?

x x x

Silabus smiled at the message and typed out a quick reply, saying that he'd be over at the shop soon. He made his way to the platform that his two former party members before him had used, and opened up the menu to it. He was about to gate back to town, but the "Access Storage" option caught his eye as he remembered what Haseo said about the new weapon he'd gotten him.

Curious now, more than anything, Silabus selected the storage option and shifted the menus over to view the weapons. Due to Haseo's constant adventuring out in the fields and dungeons, they had a large stock of equipment of all levels and types. But as Silabus scrolled down to the blade swords, he saw a weapon whose name was obviously different from the rest. He highlighted it with the cursor, his eyes widening at description of it. It had a rarity of five stars and boosted his stats considerably. He'd never seen the skill before, though it was undeniably good, from the description. Perfect for the way he fought, in fact.

He took it out of storage and equipped it. He thought for a moment about trying the weapon out, but then he remembered the area level was much higher than his own, and the only reason he'd survived it was because of Haseo. So instead he simply gated out of the area and into the root town of Breg Epona, a happy smile on his face.

Despite the confusion Endrance had planted in his mind, the obvious thought Haseo had put into the present made Silabus want to find the black adept rogue and simply throw his arms around him in a big hug. He'd been Haseo's friend for a while now (though Haseo would have never admitted to them being 'friends' in the beginning), but he had no idea that he meant enough to Haseo for him to go and randomly get him something.

"Silabus! Heeeeeeeeeey!"

The green blade brandier grinned at the greeting from Gaspard. Shop Acorn was swamped – ever since Haseo had taken over the guild, the popularity of Canard had skyrocketed, and by extension, so had their guild's shop. As he walked closer to the shop, he saw that Atoli and Alkaid were there helping out as well. Alkaid had decided to join Canard a little while back, saying that if she was the one that helped out noobs, then eventually there'd be no cheaters playing the game at all.

"Hey you guys," Silabus said as he approached the shop counter. "How are things going?"

"We're so busy!" Atoli exclaimed happily, though her voice sounded a little tired. On the other side of her, Alkaid was arguing vehemently with an obnoxious player that was trying to bargain by way of spamming the word "plzzzzz" in the chat box. Silabus snickered to himself and moved behind the counter to help his guildmates.

Some time later, all of the new equipment that Haseo had put in the guild shop had been sold out. Gaspard closed it down with a contented, "phew!" and turned to the others.

"I can't believe how much money we made! Haseo's gonna be so happy!" he beamed.

"Ugh… I'm glad that's over," Alkaid said with a heavy sigh. "I need to go kill something to try to forget those stupid noobs. You wanna level, Atoli?"

"Um… I have to eat dinner soon, but I can after that," she replied. The harvest cleric had never been keen on leveling, and only did so whenever Haseo asked her to, but when Alkaid came back to the game and was lacking in levels compared to everyone else, they turned out to be close enough in level to play together. As a result, the two had become pretty good friends.

"Oh! Speaking of, grats on leveling again Silabus!" Gaspard said.

"Oh yeah, thanks," Silabus replied with a laugh. "I'm only this high because of Haseo. And look, he just gave me this new sword. I don't even know where you'd find something like this!"

"Whoa," Alkaid gasped, being the only one of the three that could truly appreciate rare weapons. "I've only ever heard of those! I've never even seen one before! Man, Haseo gets you all the best stuff."

"No he doesn't," Silabus laughed. "I'm sure he just found it by accident and decided to give it to me." The argument didn't even convince himself.

"It's true!" Gaspard said. "I remember just last week you mentioned in passing that you wanted a Vigor Crystal to put on an accessory, and then only a day or so later, Haseo gave you the highest level accessory for your level with a Vigor Crystal put into it!"

"He said he found it, right?" Atoli giggled.

"Maybe Haseo liiikes you, Silabus!" Alkaid teased. Silabus felt a blush creeping up his neck that he was thankful his PC didn't emulate.

"D-Don't be ridiculous," he stammered. "I mean, this is Haseo we're talking about. The legendary PKK? The Terror of Dea—"

"You know, come to think of it," Alkaid continued, interrupting Silabus' protests, "Haseo's never really shown any interest in girls. I mean, he's never made any moves on anyone, and he's not really the kind of person to just 'wait and see.' In fact, the way that guys normally treat girls they like is sort of like the way Haseo treats…" Alkaid trailed off, turning to Silabus.

Silence.

"W-Wow," Atoli said, laughing a little. "Y-You're right."

"No," Silabus protested. His entire face was red behind his M2D at just the thought of it. "No! There's just no way."

"Um… what are you guys talking about?" Gaspard asked innocently.

"Oh, hey! It's Kuhn! Let's ask him! Kuhn!" Alkaid called, waving the steam gunner over. Silabus thought he was going to die. What on earth did Alkaid have against him to inflict this kind of anguish?

"Hey you guys," Kuhn greeted. "What's up? Taking good care of my old guild?"

"Kuhn, do you think Haseo gives Silabus special treatment?" Alkaid asked.

"Special treatment? What do you mean?"

"Like how Haseo always gives him the best items," Atoli chimed in. "And always spends time with him and things like that."

"Oh, definitely," Kuhn said with a laugh. "Personally, I prefer to spend my extra time with the ladies, but hey, to each his own." Kuhn turned to Silabus. "Hmmm… You know, now that you mention it, he does do a lot of stuff for you, Silabus. Heh, does he like you or something?"

"That's what I said!" Alkaid exclaimed. Atoli giggled.

"Silabus, what are they talking about?" Gaspard asked his friend. Silabus winced. He really didn't want to explain this already absurd conversation to Gaspard.

"And haven't you ever noticed how he never hits on any girls?" Alkaid continued.

"Wow… You've got a point there," Kuhn agreed. "Maybe he actually does."

Silabus sighed in exasperation. "C-Come on you guys, there is no way Haseo likes—"

"Hey, isn't that Shino? She knows Haseo pretty well," Kuhn said with a grin. "Hey, Shino!" The harvest cleric in question smiled and walked over to the group. Silabus wondered why he hadn't logged out yet.

"Hello everyone," Shino greeted. "What's going on?"

"Shino, you know Haseo pretty well, right?" Alkaid asked.

"Well, yes," she replied, sounding a little surprised. "I think I do, anyways."

"Do you think there's a possibility Haseo might like Silabus?" Kuhn urged.

Shino laughed a little. "Hmmm… Well, he does talk about you a lot," she said with a smile. "Not to mention whenever he's online, he seems to be spending time with you. And I think he mentioned something about getting a special weapon for you the other day… If you consider all the facts, I guess it is a possibility."

Alkaid and Kuhn laughed, but Silabus could only groan. This was far too embarrassing for him to endure any longer.

"You guys, I-I'm gonna go… do a quest… or find some noobs to help… or something…" Silabus said. Anything to get him away from here.

"All right, no prob. See ya around Silabus," Kuhn said. "Oh hey, maybe we should ask Pi too?"

"Yeah, is she on? Short mail her!"

The green blade brandier ran to the Chaos Gate as fast as he could.

x x x x x

It had been about an hour after the harassment that had been inflicted upon him, and Silabus found himself sitting at the small dock outside the old guild entrance to Canard in Mac Anu. He had come here to look for noobs in need of help, but after a while he couldn't find anyone and ended up wandering around town. It was kind of nostalgic to be sitting there, outside of the old guild entrance. When he met Haseo just a few months ago, he was barely more than a noob himself. But it was thanks to Haseo that the guild was prospering, and that he himself was able to attain a respectable level.

He smiled at the thought. Haseo really had done a lot for him. He'd done a lot for everybody, and had brought a lot of people he'd never dreamed of knowing personally together. But at the same time, out of all those people Haseo had met and helped, was he really someone special among them?

His smile turned to a frown. For all of his friends' teasing, he couldn't possibly see how he, of all people, could possibly be special to Haseo. But what they said did appear to be true – Haseo did treat him differently. They did spend a lot of time together, and they knew each other pretty well; it was to the point where they would even occasionally joke around and call each other by their real names. And Haseo did seem to go out of his way for him a lot…

Silabus jumped as a notice appeared on the screen that Haseo had signed back in. He went to select the name to send him a short mail, but then stopped. He didn't have anything he wanted to say to Haseo, if he thought about it. It had just become an automatic response to talk to him as soon as he logged on. Would Haseo message him if he didn't contact him first?

Before he could even finish the thought, a short mail from the adept rogue popped up on his screen.

x x x

From: Haseo

Hey, are you busy? I need to talk to you about something. It's kind of important.

x x x

Important? Silabus felt his heart skip a beat. What could Haseo have to talk to him about that could be considered important? What if Alkaid's crazy speculation had been right? What if Haseo actually did like him? What if this was going to be his confession of love!?

He shook his head vigorously and quickly typed out a reply. He told Haseo where he was and the rogue responded back, saying he'd be there in a minute.

This was stupid. Haseo wasn't in love with him. But why did the thought of it make him so embarrassed? And why was he getting nervous that Haseo was coming to talk to him?

… What would he say if Alkaid was right?

"Hey."

Silabus nearly jumped out of his chair in the real world. He turned around and saw the rogue, lit by the eternal twilight of Mac Anu, the light from the water reflecting over his features. He looked kind of…

It's just a PC! It's not actually him! he berated himself.

"H-hey there Haseo. What's up?" he asked. Looking at him only made Silabus more nervous.

"Is something wrong?" Haseo asked flatly, quirking a brow. Silabus shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. What did you want to talk about?" he asked. Haseo sighed and walked over to the dock to stand next to him, staring at the pretty CG water graphics. He was silent a moment, and when he spoke again, an icon popped up to indicate he was speaking in whisper mode, so only Silabus could hear him.

"This is kind of sudden," Haseo started. Silabus felt his heart pound. "And it might be kind of an awkward topic for you, but it's something I can only talk to you about."

"W-Why only me?" Silabus asked.

"Silabus…" Haseo looked the blade brandier right in the eye. Silabus felt his breath hitch. This was it… Haseo was going to admit his lo—

"You go to school in Sendai, right?"

Silabus nearly fell off of his chair. What did that have to do with anything?!

"… Silabus?"

"Sorry Haseo!" Silabus apologized. "I just wasn't expecting you to say that."

Haseo raised a brow again. "Then what the hell were you expecting me to say?"

"Oh… Just… Nevermind that!" Silabus gave an awkward laugh. "But, uh… Yeah, I do. Why do you ask?"

Haseo sighed. "Truth is, I'm thinking about going there." Silabus blinked in shock. He always forgot that Haseo was younger than him. But he was at the age where he had to start looking into universities… "My parents were just over here," he continued. "I told them I was interested in going to Sendai and they suggested I visit there for an orientation. You know, see if I like the campus and all."

"What are you going to be studying?" Silabus asked. Haseo shrugged.

"No idea," he said.

"Then why in Sendai?"

The adept rogue shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I have my reasons." A pause. "Whatever, I'll tell you about that later. What I wanted to ask is if I could stay at your place. I can pay for food and all that, but I'm kind of tight on cash right now so I'm not gonna stay at a hotel if I don't have to."

"Stay at my place?" Silabus repeated in surprise. Sure, he and Haseo had discussed meeting offline before, but the distance had put them at something of a disadvantage… And if Haseo was coming to Sendai, then they'd probably meet anyways. But staying at his place…

"I know it's sudden and weird and all that, but if you're not comfortable with it, it's cool," Haseo said nonchalantly. "I figured even if you didn't want me staying there, maybe you could show me around your campus or something so I could get some real information instead of that crap they put on pamphlets."

Silabus found himself snickering at the rogue. "Sure," he said. "Why not? My apartment's kind of small though. And messy."

"I live on my own too, I know how it gets," Haseo said, smirking. "Thanks man. I'll figure out the details later. You wanna go level now?"

Silabus smiled. "Sure. Who do you wanna bring along?"

"We can handle it on our own. C'mon."

Silabus followed Haseo to the nearest warp point. The more he thought about the idea of Haseo staying over, the more he liked it. Sure, maybe it wasn't the best idea when he'd never even met the guy in real life before, but the two of them were practically best friends, and even if he'd have given the proposal more consideration, he was positive he would've gave his friend the same answer.

But after giving his friends' earlier harassment some thought, now everytime Haseo looked his way, or said something on the verge of being kind, Silabus felt heat rush to his cheeks and butterflies in his stomach. He had always liked the rogue, he just never realized… how much he liked the rogue. He noticed all the things Haseo did for him that he never noticed before. Maybe Alkaid's teasing was right…

And maybe if Haseo did feel that way…

… Maybe Silabus felt the same.