The gardening threat

by you-and-I-we-have-the-stars

Following Hotsuma's mad adventure in "The Chicken Threat", the blond Zweilt finds himself subjected to landscaping the Twilight Mansion's garden. Thankfully the Voice of God can count on his friends to help him out. It only remains the question whether the blond wouldn't have been better off without everyone's help after all. Sequel to "The Chicken Threat" from "Tishikari".

Author's note: This fic is a sequel to the fic: "The Chicken Threat" that was written by the wonderful "Tishikari". Tishikari gave me permission to write a sequel and put it up on the net. You can read my fic without having read Tishikari's Chicken Threat one, but I would recommend to read "The Chicken Threat" all the same cause it is a wonderful, cute and fluffy story that will brighten your day. You can find "The Chicken Threat" here at ffn: s/7561401/1/The-Chicken-Threat

Dedication: To Tishikari cause I was not only allowed to write this sequel and share it with you all but also cause it was Tishikari's Chicken Threat story that inspired this fic. Without the existence of "The Chicken Threat", this story probable never would have seen the light.

Characters: Shusei and Hotsuma in the main roles andas supporting characters Sairi, Tachibana, Toko, Tsukumo, Luka, Yuki, Takashiro and Fuyutoki. Special mentioning of Juju the chicken and Minnie the bunny.

Implied pairing: Shusei X Hotsuma

Pairings to discover if you want to see them this way: Luka X Yuki although Yuki is still rather oblivious; Fuyutoki and Takashiro with the butler certainly not minding to become more to Takashiro than just his close and trustworthy servant

Warnings: yaoi! If you don't like yaoi or have a problem with boy X boy relationships, please read some other story than this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Uragiri at all. I just borrowed the characters of this wonderful serie to have some fun with.

Fic:

The gardening threat …

Shusei brought his hand above his eyes and gazed upwards at the light blue and cloudless sky. The sun was shining brightly and there was not a single tiny breeze at all. It was a glorious, hot, summery day. A perfect day for sunbathing beside a pool or to just lazily rest somewhere in the shade with a good book which was precisely what Shusei was doing currently. He had dragged one of the lawn chairs – one of those bigger ones that also had a platform to rest your legs and feet on attached to its sitting area – to the blissful shade of a big oak tree in the garden of the Twilight Mansion and was laying on it with a book in his hands. Beside him stood a small table. On it lay a second book and stood a large glass of deliciously cool water. It truly was a great day, Shusei mussed, and the day was only made better by the sight that greeted him as he lowered his eyes anew and gazed over the rim of his book at his Zweilt partner.

Hotsuma was giving the ground a dirty look whilst he dug the sand up, dropped it back down, divided the big lumps of earth into tinier ones and then restarted the process a few inches more to the left. The blond was sweating and had removed his T-shirt, exposing his perfectly chiseled chest. The muscles beneath Hotsuma's bronze skin bunched and un-bunched, his muscles flexing each time the blond had to put a bit more force on his shovel to have its steely blade pierce the newly attacked ground part. Dirt smudges marred Hotsuma's face and his chest, the blond either not caring that he got dirty each time he wiped some sweat off his face or body or the blond just simply forgetting each time he used his hands that his hands were dirty. Shusei suspected the latter as Hotsuma wasn't truly known for having a long attention span. Unless it concerned video games that was. Then the blond could remain absorbed in them for hours and wouldn't probably even notice if the Twilight Mansion around him burned down.

Shusei's book fell forgotten in the brunet's lap as the young Zweilt unembarrassed enjoyed the view his younger partner presented. As if sensing his partner's gaze upon him, Hotsuma paused in his activities. Golden eyes met green-golden ones and the discontent expression on the blond's face darkened.

"Instead of just staring at me, you bloody creepy peeping Tom, you'd do better to freaking help me," Hotsuma voiced annoyed at his partner.

Shusei's left eyebrow rose delicately. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am not the one who turned the garden into a war zone. Besides," the brunet gestured with his right hand to some spot further up ahead behind Hotsuma, "you already have help."

Hotsuma turned around on the ball off his feet and the irritation displayed on his face gained new heights. Luka and Takashiro had just as him been sentenced by Tachibana to fix the garden after Hotsuma and Luka had destroyed the plot of ground due to a prank Takashiro had played upon the blond Zweilt. Not only had their steward been highly displeased with the damage they had caused to Tachibana's beloved garden, but the fact that most of the damage had occurred during a wild goose chase after their steward's most treasured chicken Juju, had been the straw that broke the camel's back and had made Tachibana's anger reach new heights. Tachibana was forcing them now to bring the garden back to its original state, something the three males had been working on during the last three weekends. The only bright spot in the whole punishment ordeal for Hotsuma had been that their beloved leader hadn't either escaped Tachibana's wrath. Their steward saw Takashiro as the one who had lit a fire under the fuse and thus needed to join in on the punishment which was fine with Hotsuma since all of this had all happened just to lighten up Takashiro's otherwise boring day. The blond Zweilt however wasn't at all pleased with how Takashiro was fulfilling his community service, or how Luka was tackling it for that matter.

Whilst the Opast at least didn't shy away from the heavy labor, Luka could draw comfort out of the fact that Yuki was taking care of him during the gardening work. The strawberry blond boy hovered the entire day around Luka, handing the Opast a nice, cool drink at regular intervals or a towel so Luka could wipe away the sweat that shone on the Opast's face. It was sickening sweet and made Hotsuma's stomach turn which was also one of the reasons he had decided to go and work on the garden out of the Opast's vicinity.

Their leader however was a completely different story. Takashiro shied away from the heavy labor, complaining about a bad back and a weak constitution, and the little work the man did do, went so slow and could be deemed as unnecessary so that the man was no help at all in the end. But still each day Takashiro was there with a big smile on his face, declaring he loved being out in the fresh air and loved doing some serious gardening, nurturing things and watching things grow after which he trotted off to some flower bed to go and weed there with Fuyutoki trudging right behind him. The butler then continued to hold the entire day a parasol above Takashiro's head, to prevent his master getting sun burned or developing a headache due to the glaring rays off the sun, and handed Takashiro constantly refreshing cocktails and admonished Takashiro the entire time not to overdo it. How anyone could overdo it with pulling out tiny weed here and there and announcing every five minutes that he needed a break and then relaxed an entire hour in a lounge chair was Hotsuma's guess. In the end Takashiro was still pulling their legs, but Hotsuma had no idea how to fix it. And Tachibana was no help either as their steward appeared to be conveniently blind to Takashiro's slacking off. So far for Takashiro's punishment, Hotsuma thought darkly.

But seeing Yuki and Fuyutoki flutter like nervous butterflies around Luka and Takashiro brought the blond Zweilt's attention back to his own partner. Shusei hadn't volunteered a single time to be there for Hotsuma. To support him like Yuki and Fuyutoki were doing with their beloved ones. The brunet hadn't even once massaged Hotsuma's aching muscles at the end of a hard day labor. Hotsuma scowled. "Would it kill you to be supportive?" he directed at his Zweilt partner, his displeasure about Shusei's recent behavior coloring the tone of his voice.

Shusei's eyebrow rose in a questioning manor after which he picked up his currently forgotten book and lay it on the table beside him. He swung his legs off the garden chair and sitting with his feet firmly placed upon the ground, the brunet regarded Hotsuma intensely.

Hotsuma nervously gulped. Had he perhaps said something wrong? Had he pushed Shusei too far and would the brunet's rotten character raise its ugly head? Perhaps he truly should learn to think before he spoke …

Shusei's facial expression however lightened after a few moments and he agreed with Hotsuma which shocked Hotsuma to the core. Some Deity up there seemed to like him, Hotsuma thought as he got spared from Shusei's wrath and Hotsuma vowed to himself to bring tribute later on to whoever up there had saved his ass. It wasn't every day Shusei admitted his wrong and yielded to him. It truly seemed to turn out to be his day after all, Hotsuma mused after which he quickly asked his partner for a cool drink before Shusei would change his mind and would leave him hanging anew.

Shusei's golden-green eyes darted to the small table beside his chair and then returned to settle upon Hotsuma's figure. "Is water all right or would you rather have something else?"

Deciding not to push his luck, Hotsuma nodded. "Water's fine."

Shusei's slender fingers wrapped around his glass of water and he rose. As he walked over to where Hotsuma was standing, the tiny ice cubes in his glass of water floated around and ticked melodious at regular intervals against the sides of the glass. The brunet stopped in front of his blond partner and held the drink out in offering. Hotsuma eagerly accepted the glass but just as he was about to bring his lips on the rim of the glass, the blond paused. His eyes lowered to the spot on the glass where he had just wanted to put his lips, then focused on Shusei who was still standing in front of him and was waiting patiently for Hotsuma to have had his fill and hand the drink back over, and then back to the glass. There was a very faint imprint left there of Shusei's lips, the brunet having drunk of the water in the glass from the exact same spot as he was just about to do. Hotsuma lowered the glass anew, gave it a half turn and then brought the glass anew to his mouth and tipped the cup to let the cool water slide down into his mouth and throat.

Shusei regarded his partner's antic amused. "What's the matter, Hotsuma? Afraid of an indirect kiss?"

Hotsuma, who had just started to drink, sprayed immediately the water back out. With a beet red face he shouted flustered and wound up at his friend: "Don't sprout such stupidity when I'm trying to drink!"

Shusei, portraying the perfect innocent angel, opened his mouth to answer his partner but before he could utter a single word, another voice drifted over towards the two boys and put their conversation on hold.

"Hotsu!" From the terrace Tachibana was looking their way and waving at the blond Zweilt. "You'd better not be taking a break there or slacking off! You still have more than half of a garden to go!"

Hotsuma turned towards their – in the blond's opinion: annoying - steward and just wanted to yell back at the man to lay off him since he was the only one truly doing something in the wretched garden when Sairi bypassed Shusei and Hotsuma and helpfully informed Tachibana of what Hotsuma exactly was doing.

"Boy wonder is putting the moves on his partner," Sairi called back to Tachibana in a lightly raised voice, loud enough to be heard by the Twilight Mansion's steward on the terrace but not too loud as to wreck the composed and laid back picture he was emanating. The older blond's eyes landed on Shusei and he gave the other Zweilt a small nod. "Shusei."

"Who the hell is flirting, you damn, horndogged, hormonal skirt chaser?!" Hotsuma immediately whirled around on the ball off his feet, forgetting all about Shusei and Tachibana. His attention was now completely on Sairi. The older blond was looking perfect as usual. There wasn't a single drop of sweat anywhere on the older, blond Zweilt as if even the sun had fallen victim to the charms of this blond walking God on earth and the sun refused to pierce through that lie and make Sairi suffer like the rest of them under its glaring rays. The older Zweilt's white dress shirt hung loosely around his perfectly sculptured chest, the three top buttons left open and exposing some of said divine looking skin. Black long trousers underneath the white shirt, a pair of sunglasses in Sairi's hair … The older blond Zweilt portrayed the perfect picture of women's wet dreams. The only thing that was still missing was a soft breeze that would play with Sairi's blond locks of hair. It pissed Hotsuma even more off …

A cruel expression appeared on Sairi's face and he walked closer to the younger blond. "What's the matter, you fire-trigger idiot? Just thinking about kissing your partner too shocking for you? How young you still are. How innocently naive …"

Rising to the challenge, Hotsuma took a step forward and pushed himself in Sairi's personal space. "Shut your filthy mouth, you shallow, sexual predator on two legs. Just because you can't handle being in one room with your partner without wanting to jump their bones, doesn't mean we are all like that, you pervy society menace. Shusei and I are just friends. Nothing more, right, Shusei? You put this sex deranged, immoral heap of trash …" Hotsuma's words died down on his lips as he had turned towards his partner, expecting to find some support there, only to find the spot behind him empty. During Hotsuma and Sairi's heated match, the brunet had gone back to his lounge chair and had installed himself back on it with his book back in his hands and his attention on the story written on its pages.

"SSSShhhhhuuuuussseeeeiiii …" Hotsuma lowly growled, not at all pleased with how his partner had abandoned him just like that. Giving Sairi the complete brush off, the younger blond Zweilt stomped over towards his partner. He stopped right beside the lounge chair, waiting for Shusei to notice him. It didn't take long as Hotsuma's figure threw an extra shadow upon Shusei and his book.

The brunet looked up, one of his hands held above his eyes to shield them from the sunlight. "Hotsuma, you are blocking my light," the brunet simply voiced as if Shusei hadn't just left his partner hanging out to dry.

"What the hell was that just now?!" Hotsuma roared, gesticulating wildly with his right arm in the direction of the spot where he and Sairi had just been.

"Huh?" Shusei blinked up at the blond boy. His eyes travelled in the direction Hotsuma was indicating before the green-golden eyes focused anew on Hotsuma. As Shusei looked back at his partner, the brunet's eyes were completely devoid of any guilt or understanding of what the blond boy was getting at.

"You. Hung. Me. Out. To. Dry." Hotsuma punctuated each word carefully.

Understanding washed over Shusei's face, but Hotsuma wasn't entirely sure if it wasn't all just an act. If Shusei indeed hadn't known already what he had been referring to. Sometimes Shusei was just too good in hiding emotions and thoughts.

Shusei's mouth formed a perfect 'oh' which he too voiced casually before continuing, his eyes going back to his book whilst he was still speaking to Hotsuma. "You seemed to be handling yourself just fine. And if you wouldn't mind to move now …"

Fingers closed over the upper edge of the book. The fingers were covered in dirt smudges and earth was stuck beneath the finger nails. Shusei looked up at the owner of said fingers. "You're getting the page dirty, Hotsuma," he reprimanded the blond who was towering above him and looking down upon him. ""Didn't I tell you to wear gloves? I even went to the trouble to buy you a pair last week, remember?"

Hotsuma had the decency to color bright red upon his partner's words. When Shusei had come in his room a few days ago and had handed over a pair of gardening gloves to him, he had thrown them in a fit of annoyance on the ground and he hadn't been able to find them anew ever since in the cluttered mess in his room. It was as if the junk in his room had swallowed the gloves wholly without leaving a single trace of their existence behind. Not even the plastic wrapping they had still been in. But he'd be damned to confess this to Shusei. The brunet would probably regard him blankly and then tune him out without saying a single word about it, but Hotsuma would know. The younger Zweilt would know that he had hurt Shusei's feelings and the brunet would make sure Hotsuma would feel guilty about it for the rest of the weekend and his weekend was already ruined enough with his gardening duty without having to add a nice boot of guilt to it.

Hotsuma looked away as he mumbled out something about having forgotten them in his room and not wanting to go and retrieve them cause then he'd drag sand all over the house and would give Aya, their housekeeper, even more work than the woman already had.

Shusei smiled sweetly upon Hotsuma. "I didn't know you were this thoughtful, Hotsuma," he voiced good-natured, but Hotsuma knew his partner already long enough not to miss the underlying message hidden in the brunet's tone of voice.

Hotsuma gulped. Shusei knew. Shusei freaking knew! The way the brunet was looking at him, that tone of voice … Shusei was just waiting for him to crumble down and fess up the truth. But like hell he would! Screw the brunet boy!

Hotsuma brought his hand up and nervously scratched the back of his head. "Well, you know me …" he mumbled, feeling the heat upon his cheeks and trying to will it away but having no clue how to do that. How the hell did Shusei manage to school his emotions and expressions all the time anyway?! He seriously needed to ask his partner about this one day just not now cause then Shusei would want to know why he was suddenly interested in this and that would lead to all kind of places Hotsuma didn't want to go to at this moment. He'd throw his room tonight completely upside down until he'd have the blasted gloves in his hands. He would show Shusei.

The brunet's eyes in the mean time had narrowed and his green-golden eyes were transfixed on something on Hotsuma's palm. The boy lowered his book and put it away after which he rose back to his full height. Hotsuma unconsciously took a step backwards, unsure what had suddenly gotten into his partner but not liking this mood swing at all nor the intense expression on Shusei's face.

"Shu-shusei?" Hotsuma asked nervously as his friend advanced on him.

"You're wounded," Shusei spoke. His right hand took a gentle hold of Hotsuma's left one. The brunet turned Hotsuma's hand over so the palm was now facing upwards and indeed, on the lower half of the blond's hand – right beneath Hotsuma's thumb – ran a cut. The wound wasn't bleeding anymore, a crust already formed over it.

"You should be more careful," Shusei continued, bringing his friend's hand upwards to his face for a closer inspection. "There is a reason I got you those gloves."

A faint blush appeared on Hotsuma's cheeks and he pulled his hand back free from Shusei's grasp. He had no idea why he suddenly felt this embarrassed but having Shusei's lips so close to the wound and feeling the brunet's breath ghost over his hand, made him feel funny in his stomach.

"Yeah, well, I'll …" Hotsuma's sentence was cut short as suddenly a pair of pink gloves appeared in the blond's line of vision. "What the …?!" the boy exclaimed as he whirled around on the ball off his feet to the person standing behind him who had trust the gloves over his shoulder in his range of vision. Behind him stood Toko. She wore a sleeveless, light red, checked top, white shorts and white sandals. Her empty hand was in her side and she looked sternly at Hotsuma.

"Wear them and stop worrying your partner," she said, her tone of voice holding no room for any objection but Hotsuma wasn't going to let this deter him.

"Why would I want to wear your girly, stupid gloves?!" he yelled back at Toko. "And stop listening in on other people's conversations!" He immediately managed to ruffle Toko's feathers who took the pose of an insulted child.

"I wasn't eavesdropping at all!" Toko yelled back. "If you wouldn't be so obnoxiously loud, Tsukumo and me wouldn't have to listen to you all day!"

"Me loud?!" Hotsuma immediately retaliated back. "Look who's talking! Maybe you should try acting like a lady for once instead of some brat!"

"How dare you! Everyone knows how delicate I am!"

Hotsuma snorted. "Delicate? Perhaps you should look it up in a dictionary cause you are anything but delicate or feminine for that matter!"

"You stupid dummy!" Toko yelled back, her face now flushed red. "No wonder you still don't have a girlfriend! You are just some stupid, uncivilized boar!"

"And why is it then that you still don't have a boyfriend, huh?!" Behind him he could hear Shusei say his name in a warning tone of voice but the blond was to riled up to capitulate and leave it at that. "Cause they all fear they'd be dating a guy instead of a girl!"

"You insensitive foul-mouthed brat! You have the sensitivity of a snail!"

"A snail?!" Hotsuma repeated slightly dumbfounded. "Who in their right mind compares someone to a snail?!"

"I do, you big dummy!" Toko roared back when suddenly Tsukumo's calm and soothing voice sounded.

"Toko? What is going on? I was waiting for you to come back, but you didn't." The gray-haired Zweilt wore a soft green T-shirt and light beige shorts. His feet were tucked away in sport sneakers, a tiny rim of his white, short socks peeping over the shoe's side. As Tsukumo had uttered the last sentence, he had represented the perfect image of a boy who had just lost his favorite toy.

"Tsukumo!" Toko cried out as if the biggest wrong possible had been done to her but that she was thoroughly pleased and relieved to see her brother cause he would put things right for her anew. She ran to her brother's side and settled into his embrace after which she threw Hotsuma a nasty look. "It's his fault. Here I was trying to be nice and all he does is throw it back in my face."

"You call bringing me insulting gloves being nice?!" Hotsuma roared back.

"There is nothing wrong with my gloves!" Toko shot back furiously after which she looked up at her brother, her facial expression turning sweetly and into one of an angel. "Isn't that right, Tsukumo?" she asked sugar sweet.

Tsukumo's attention settled upon the fuming blond in front of him and his sister. "Hotsuma, can't you be a bit more grateful?" he asked gently but in all seriousness.

"Thankfull?! They are pink! PINK!" Hotsuma screamed back.

"So?" Tsukumo replied, obviously not seeing the problem at all. "Toko was so kind as to run up to her room and go get them for you when we heard how you had wounded yourself and how this affected Shusei. We could have just as easily ignored it."

"Then why didn't you?!" Hotsuma fumed back. "I would have much more preferred that!"

"You know how Toko-chan is. She is way too sensitive to ignore someone else's pain."

"Sensitive?!" Hotsuma yelled back, his used tone of voice betraying that the blond couldn't believe what he had just heard. "She just compared me to a snail!"

Tsukumo's eyes lowered to his sister. "Toko-chan," he started in a lecturing tone of voice, "you know better than that. It ain't nice to insult snails."

Hotsuma, who had been nodding satisfied the entire time Tsukumo talked to his sister, suddenly froze. His eyes grew wide as the insult registered in his mind. "How dare you! You're as bad as your senile sister!" During his tirade Hotsuma pointed at the two siblings.

Tsukumo however refused to let himself be goaded into a screaming match. He gently removed the pink gardening gloves out of Toko's hand and threw them in Hotsuma's direction, the blond reflexive catching them before it even registered to Hotsuma. "Come one," Tsukumo spoke gently to his sister whilst coaxing her away with him from Hotsuma and Shusei, "Minnie got baby bunnies this morning. Let's go see them together." Immediately Toko's face brightened and she let herself be led away by her brother without giving a single other thought to the fuming blond behind them.

"How many does she have? And what colors? Are they all boys or are there also …" Toko's voice drifted off as the siblings withdrew further and further away from Shusei and Hotsuma.

Hotsuma snarled and threw the pair of pink gloves angrily to the ground. "Like hell I am going to wear anything this girly!" Without any further comment about what had just transpired, the blond stomped back to where he had been digging through the earth. He gave it a final glance over and then stomped further to where rows of bought flowers stood. The colorful plants were still in their plastic flower pots and organized by type in wooden trays. Hotsuma pulled a small piece of paper out of the pocket of his pants, scrutinized it over and then let his eyes wander over the various trays of flowers before him. Having found the one he was looking for, Hotsuma pushed the scrap of paper back into the pocket of his trousers after which he bent down. He collected the desired tray of plants and loaded it into the wheelbarrow that stood aside. The blond then grabbed the handles of the wheelbarrow and made his way back to where he had been working. He set the wheelbarrow beside his abandoned spade and then grabbed the first flower of the tray.

Shusei silently watched his partner march away. He allowed himself a few seconds to admire how the fabric of Hotsuma's pants stretched tight over the blond's firm butt before the brunet turned away from his pissed off friend. The pink gloves lay forgotten on the ground and the brunet bent down to retrieve them. He walked back over to his lounge chair and placed the gloves on the little side table to hand them back later to Toko. Shusei then grabbed his book anew and thumbed back to the page where Hotsuma had interrupted his reading. The imprint of one very dirty, not to him belonging thumb told him exactly which page he was hunting for. With a sigh Shusei rubbed over the dirty, left behind evidence of his partner but the imprint was there to stay. The brunet allowed a small scowl to decorate his face before he ignored the thumb imprint and tried to lose himself back into the story he had been engrossed in until Hotsuma had removed his shirt and had become a bigger attraction than the adventure in the book was. He hadn't been submerged into the book's tale for a good five minutes or curses and sprouted obscenities dragged him back out of the wondrous land of the main character's home. Shusei's golden-green eyes travelled over the expanse of his book and settled on the blond a few yards away from him. Behind Hotsuma lay a heap of abused flowers, their stems broken and the flower heads hanging half broken off their respective stems. In the blond's hand was Hotsuma's latest victim, the head of this flower also already hanging limply.

Shusei lightly shook his head. He laid his book once again away and rose to his feet. Whilst he made his way over to his partner, Hotsuma threw his latest murdered victim onto the pile of lost flower plants whilst throwing said pile a look that seemed to accuse the flowers of dying on purpose in his hand.

"You're too brutal," Shusei voiced before Hotsuma could grab a new plant and murder it. The blond's head lifted and golden eyes focused on Shusei. "Flowers are delicate. You should treat them with more care," Shusei continued. He stopped beside Hotsuma, bent down and retrieved one of the last remaining flower plants. "Here," Shusei held the flower plant in his hands out towards Hotsuma. Hotsuma accepted the plant with a confused expression, unsure of where his partner was going with this. Shusei then grabbed another plant after which he walked over to the small holes Hotsuma had created in the ground to plant the flowers in. The brunet stopped in front of the first dug hole and motioned the blond over. Obediently Hotsuma trudged over to Shusei. He watched Shusei crouch down, place the flower plant the brunet was holding in his hands on the ground after which Shusei patted the ground beside him and told Hotsuma silently to crouch down too. Hotsuma did as invited and mimicked Shusei's action and also placed his potted flower plant on the ground beside him. Shusei in the mean time grabbed the small, hand spade and placed it within their reach.

"Now then," Shusei spoke anew and to Hotsuma's confusion the brunet rearranged himself so he was now sitting behind Hotsuma. Before the blond however could ask what his friend was doing, Shusei's head settled on Hotsuma's shoulder and the brunet's arms snaked around Hotsuma's torso, his hands coming to cover Hotsuma's.

"Shu-Shusei," Hotsuma sputtered unsure, a heated blush appearing on his cheeks. "Wha-what are you doing?"

"Let's try this again," Shusei said as a way of explanation. "I'll help you."

Hotsuma remained silent, uncertain of what to say in answer to his best friend. Feeling Shusei's warm and moistures breath on his ear shell was making Hotsuma's stomach feel funny and he wondered if Shusei also felt strange when the brunet was this close to him. He however didn't dare to ask the brunet boy and instead focused his attention on their linked together hands with a determined passion. Shusei's slender, clean fingers formed a wonderful contrast with his own tanned and dirty ones and a pleasant warmth spread through Hotsuma's body as he remembered all those nights slept together in the same bed with their hands linked together when they had still been younger. It had almost always been him who had sought out Shusei, but the brunet had never once denied him access to Shusei's bed or complained about it and on very rare occasions – when Hotsuma had been too tired and had been dead to the world before his head had even hit the pillow – Shusei had been the one coming to his room and sneaking into his bed, making him wake up in the morning to the loveable image of Shusei curled up against him. With a pang of sadness Hotsuma wondered what had happened to those moments. Why couldn't things have stayed as simple as they had been back then?

"See the flower as a girl, Hotsuma." Shusei's words dragged Hotsuma back to the task at hand and the blond frowned. He never truly had been interested in girls, not like Shusei was. His partner seemed to have a girl on every finger of his hand and a date every weekend with one or another girl. Hotsuma scowled. He didn't get what Shusei saw in wasting time with all those air-heads. All they ever did was blush, laugh silly and try to attach to Shusei like some damned leech. If Hotsuma didn't know better, he would have declared them all possessed by some demon, but he seriously doubted duras and demons infested human beings just so they could act like a complete idiot around a Zweilt. No, all those girls were just nitwits whose highlight off the day was probably buying some new color of nail polish.

Unaware of his friend's inner thoughts, Shusei continued with his explanation of how Hotsuma should treat the flowers that the blond was trying to plant in solid ground. Hotsuma tuned in just in time to catch the final words of his friend. "… Someone delicate, fragile. Someone who you care deeply about and you'd never want to harm, not even in the slightest way possible …"

Hotsuma swallowed as Shusei's last words drifted over him. The brunet's spoken words didn't show him an image of a girl at all before his mind's eye but dragged up an image of his own partner which in turn made Hotsuma suddenly hyper aware of the brunet's body pressed up against his own. Shusei's clean and smooth skin - interrupted here and there by rough patches where the brunet boy sported burn scars - deliciously resting against his own, Shusei's shirt the only layer of fabric still between their flesh …

Suddenly Hotsuma felt like it was hard to breath. Warmth pooled together in his stomach and raged there like a ferocious, untamed animal that wanted to uncoil itself and be set free. Hotsuma swallowed harshly, trying to drag his thoughts away from the heat he was feeling in the pit of his stomach. The flower. He had to concentrate on the flower …

Shusei smiled inwardly. Hotsuma was like an open book to him and he didn't need his God's talent to see the effect his closeness to Hotsuma had on the blond and it was exactly the kind of feelings Shusei had been hoping for. Perhaps they did have a chance after all, but that would be something left to explore on some other day. For now Shusei was just going to enjoy the sight his partner presented. Even if the blond was unaware of it himself, there was just something deliciously wicked about Hotsuma when the blond was flustered and all worked up. Helping Hotsuma out sure was a way better way to pass his time than reading a book. Especially if his partner would keep reacting this cutely to his nearness and touch.

Pretending to only have the flower's best interest at heart, Shusei brought both their hands – his hands still intertwined with Hotsuma's hands - to the potted flower plant. He gently guided Hotsuma's hands as he helped his friend to bring the flower carefully out of the pot and into the small awaiting hole. The brunet then directed their hands towards the hand spade and together they used the small hand shovel to fill the remaining space in the hole up with previously removed earth. Next they lay the small spade away and Shusei lightly put more pressure on Hotsuma's hands as he helped the blond to press the loose sand more firmly on around the flower. Finally the brunet sat lightly back on his heels, satisfied with the end result. His body however stayed lightly pressed up against Hotsuma's and his hands remained joined together with his partner's hands, his right thumb softly rubbing in a lazy manner circles on the flesh beneath Hotsuma's thumb.

"There, that wasn't so hard, now was it? One down, one more to go," Shusei breathed, his tone of voice sounding completely innocent and angelic as if the Eyes of God wasn't at all aware of what he was doing to the boy pressed up against him. As if his help and actions truly were meant as innocent and good-intentioned aid and nothing more.

Hotsuma on the other hand didn't know what the hell Shusei was talking about but as far as "hard" went; he and the brunet clearly had a different view about it. Shusei looked calm and unaffected as if his friend did this every day and pressed himself up to other people every day without a single problem, but to Hotsuma this was completely different and the blond felt very out of his depth here. He may be the most people loving one out of the two of them – even after the whole burning accident had happened and people had started to shun and shut him out and he in turn had started to keep people at arm's length to protect them, he still was the one who craved human contact the most – but this was a completely different ball game. Having Shusei this close to him. Their fingers intertwined. The naked skin of Shusei's palms against the back of his own hands. Shusei's silken, undamaged palms lightly brushing over his rough knuckles. His friend's thumb caressing the palm of his hand. The brunet boy's warm and moisterous puffs of air teasing his ear shell. The tips of Shusei's chestnut hair tickling his bare shoulders. His partner's firm and lean body pressed up against his back …

The blond shot without a single warning away from Shusei as if he had just been stung or burned and perhaps he had been. Had he been a water boiling kettle, the top of the kettle would have just blown off it with a loud and shrill whistling noise. No matter what, Hotsuma suddenly knew very clear that he wouldn't survive another round of flower planting with Shusei this closely pressed up against him. The brunet's proximity did things to him he couldn't bring under words nor had he ever felt them before for anyone.

Hotsuma swallowed thickly as he regarded his partner, his eyes lightly hidden underneath his blond bangs. Shusei was still crouched down and looked up at Hotsuma with a feigned confused and innocent expression. He had a very clear idea of what had just happened with Hotsuma, but he wasn't about to let Hotsuma off the hook that easily. Watching Hotsuma squirm around was just too yummy to pass up on. "Hotsuma?" he asked instead, portraying the image of a completely innocent angel.

Hotsuma swallowed anew before answering his friend. "It-it's all right," he stammered, cursing himself mentally as he heard his voice waver lightly. He was already sporting a severe blush. Shusei so didn't need any more hints that there was something off with him, damn it!

Hotsuma cleared his throat, trying his utmost best to get himself back under control before continuing. "You've helped enough. Thanks. I got it now." And as if to proof his point, Hotsuma bent down, quickly retrieved the second flower they had brought over and started to gently remove the plant from its plastic casing.

"Well, if you're sure," Shusei spoke up, his golden-green eyes following his friend's movements. Part of him was disappointed that his playtime with Hotsuma had come to an end this soon but the other part of him was extremely pleased with the end result and how easily he had been able to coax Hotsuma to where the blond currently was at. The future certainly looked very hopeful …

Hotsuma silently released a relieved sigh as his friend's tone of voice didn't hold a single note of Shusei knowing something was off with Hotsuma or that Shusei felt hurt about the sudden brush-off cause the last thing Hotsuma ever wanted to do, was hurt Shusei. As if on cue Shusei's words popped back up in his mind: 'Someone who you care deeply about and you'd never want to harm, not even in the slightest way possible …' Unintentionally Hotsuma's hand fisted reflexively more strongly around the flower's stem as he remembered those words.

"Hotsuma?" Shusei's concerned voice pulled him back to the situation at hand and the blond cursed loudly as he felt and saw – after he had lowered his eyes to the held plant - the bruised stem in his hand. Disgusted with himself for not having a better control over himself, Hotsuma stomped over to the mass grave of killed flowers and dropped his latest kill on it.

"Are you sure you don't need me to show you one more time?" Shusei's helpful voice drifted over to Hotsuma as the blond stalked over to the wheelbarrow and grabbed carefully a new potted plant out of the tray in the wheelbarrow. Albeit Shusei had taken his "helping" of Hotsuma to some other level, the brunet boy still had started out to genuinely want to help out his partner. It was just his friend's own damn fault that it had turned into something else that quickly with how adorable Hotsuma had immediately started to react to his closeness. But perhaps he had taken the game too far. It wouldn't do if Hotsuma kept murdering all the plants instead of actually planting them. Then again, it wasn't like the Giou household couldn't afford to buy replacements and Hotsuma's reactions were just too adorable to feel much guilt about it.

"Yes," Hotsuma huffed, more rudely than he intended to be and without looking at his partner. He crouched down at the dug hole and started the process of planting the flower, taking extra care not to let anything distract him anymore. One more manhandled flower and Shusei would take over no matter what Hotsuma said and if there was one thing Hotsuma was certain off, then it was that this would only lead to a disaster. He needed some time and space away from Shusei so he could calm himself again and could kill that little voice in his head that was telling him to forget about the garden all together and that he should just drag his partner to some secluded spot and …

Hotsuma shook his head to try and clear his mind before that little devil on his shoulder - who was looking suspiciously a lot like a little Tachibana in a devil costume – could continue on and direct his mind to unknown regions he'd rather not venture to at the moment.

"Okay then." Shusei rose back to his feet, dusted his pair of trousers off and gave a final glance at his partner before he started back to his lounge chair. Unseen to Hotsuma, a small smile played around the brunet's lips. Shusei was feeling highly pleased with how productive the afternoon had turned out to be after all.

Hotsuma however didn't share Shusei's contentment. Sensing his partner withdrawing, the blond Zweilt released a relieved breath of air. Shusei couldn't have left a second too soon as far as Hotsuma was concerned. A bit longer and the hand spade in his hand would have been thrown on the ground and he would have …

Hotsuma released an inner cry, feeling like banging his head a few times against the ground for good measurements. What the hell was wrong with him?!

The blond Zweilt looked all around him, as if the reason for what he was feeling and thinking could be found there. His golden eyes landed on the glaring sun high up in the sky and he paused there. Was he perhaps suffering from sunstroke? … Yes, that had to be it! The sun was brutal today and he had been working in it all day …

Relieved Hotsuma took a fresh breath of air. There was nothing wrong with him. It was just a case of heatstroke. Content with the rational explanation his mind had come up with, the blond Zweilt attacked his gardening duty with a new fierceness, hoping that losing himself in some hard physical labor would be enough to dispel the effects of the sunstroke he was feeling.

In the mean time Shusei had installed himself anew on his lawn chair, grabbed his book again and opened his reading material back upon the page he had left it. Unseen to the hard working blond further ahead, the small smile from before crept back up on Shusei's face. Hotsuma may be blaming what had just transpired on sunstroke – Shusei had seen how Hotsuma had looked at the sun and how suddenly the blond had relaxed as if Hotsuma had found the answer to all of his questions and knowing his partner, it hadn't been too hard for Shusei to figure out what the younger Zweilt had come to believe - but Shusei knew better. His blond friend could chant to himself all he wanted that it was just a case of heatstroke and nothing more but as far as Shusei was concerned, he would show Hotsuma quickly enough that sunstroke had nothing to do with it at all. For now however the brunet contented himself with just enjoying the view of his partner stewing in his own denial. The image Hotsuma presented like this was far too adorable and Shusei didn't have the intention to just let that go to waste. But soon he would cue Hotsuma in cause even if losing the cuteness of Hotsuma's cluelessness was a definite downside, the sight of a sweaty Hotsuma would definitely be a more than good and fair trade. The only difference then would be the reason for Hotsuma's body being covered under a layer of sweat and gardening wouldn't be involved at all in this …

THE END

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Author's note 2: I hope you enjoyed the fic. That it made you laugh here or there or at least made you smile. And a review would be greatly appreciated, even if it consists just out of one word. Thank you for reading!