Hello all~ It had taken me a while to get back into writing, I think I've actually taken almost 2 years off writing anything at all (not just fanfiction), so it has been really odd to suddenly be in quite a creative mood. Obviously I am rusty, so this is probably awful, but I would appreciate any reviews and a possible beta-reader for if I choose to take this further. I hope you're all wearing your angsty fluff protection gear because there's going to be a bit of it to follow. I watched No.6 in one sitting, it killed me, this is set after so may be spoilerific.
It had been two years since the wall had fallen. Reconstruction of the city, including the integration of the 'new district', was almost complete. The well established streets of No.6 had obviously taken priority as the clearing of bodies and debris from the old west district was a long, laborious task. The new government had been ushered in without anyone really being consulted, but with delegates from each district (strangely enough including Rikiga) it had worked well so far. Shion was much the same, he looked out over the familiar breakfast bar where he sat; the same one he had sat at for twelve years of his life. His mother had loved this house and although it carried with it sour memories, it made sense to move back when they were given the opportunity. His gaze shifted over to her, now happily baking, a beaming smile adorning her beautifully aged face. Yume, the young child that he had saved during the cleaning process, was playfully tugging on the dark brown ears of their patient dog. He had grown so quickly, watching the toddler play brought a small smile to his lips which was quickly diminished as his mother spoke to him.
"It's been two years Shion, perhaps you should start looking. You don't stay that handsome forever." He looked up at her, his eyebrows knotting into a frown. "You can't love twice, that's greedy." He retorted strongly, breaking his gaze and staring back out the window. "You should know that best." She was shocked at his reply, it was true that she had never sought the comfort of another man after meeting Shions father, but that was not to say she would never attempt it.
"Safu would be upset with you."
That hurt him, more than she could ever know. With a sigh he pushed his half eaten dinner to the side and slid from his position at the table, it was not Safu he was talking about. "I don't feel well." It had been an excuse he had used plenty of times to escape the awkward conversations his mother had recently seemed so keen on pressing him into, but this time when he stood he actually felt his legs waiver. A sharp sensation ran up through his body and strangled his heart, causing Shion to clutch at his chest. His mother was ignoring him, but the patient dog turned her head with a look of concern. "Please don't bother me tonight..." He wheezed out, the evident difficulty of his words did cause his mother to look up and finally appreciate that the boy was indeed in pain. She rushed over, placing her hand on his skin. "You have a fever. It's all that work in the rain you are doing!" Her voice was raised, though it was unlikely even she knew why.
Shion had taken a job which involved the re-landscaping of the city to incorporate both No.6 and the new west district, promote luscious wildlife and provide a stable ecological environment for citizens to grow necessary crops and keep vital livestock. He moved sharply away from her touch and stumbled towards his room, the same one where on that night six years ago his life had taken a serious turn. He opened the window slightly, well aware that this area was not safe from bandits, and smiled as the cool air enveloped his body. It was not long before he found himself asleep on the floor, his back against his desk (littered with notes on the new city and sketches of plants) and his body facing the glass. Hamlet, his pet rat, quickly scuttled through the gap in the window.
It was perhaps a few hours later that a dark figure appeared in the window, his light grey eyes observing the scene before him. The little white rat reappeared, now sitting on Shions knee, looking up at the new stranger. A stranger who never thought he'd find himself back at this place. He took a tentative step in, slowly sliding the window door closed behind him, before getting closer to the sleeping boy. His hand nervously reached out, aching to once more touch his beautiful white hair but when he did make just the slightest contact the boy began to stir and the dark haired stranger recoiled immediately. "Nezumi..." The quiet whisper strained through his rough throat, not quite awake it took him a while to look up and confirm his suspicions. Shion immediately put it down to feverish delusions and could feel the tears well up within his eyes, the beautiful stranger before him was just an illusion caused by illness. How, for two years, he had yearned to see his mighty rat turn up at his door and stroke his hair the way he had just imagined it. It felt so real.
Nezumi paused for a moment, unsure of how to handle the situation. He had thought that perhaps Shion would grant him with a smile, make some airhead comment, speak to him as if two years had not passed. But instead tears? The loyal little white critter had found him and told him that Shion was very ill, and now looking down at the pathetic little boy he could see why the rat was so concerned. "Hamlet found me. Said you were ill." He knelt back down as his whispered those words, placing a comforting hand on Shions unoccupied knee. The comment was paired with a complimentary squeak from the critter in question. Shion looked up, his dull red eyes still clouded by a mixture of illness and tears. "Fever." He croaked, still convinced that what he was witnessing was just a figment of his perturbed imagination. "I'm so ill I'm imagining the one thing I can't live without" his words were syncopated due to the tears which choked him, the sentence earned him a scoff and it only then became apparent to Nezumi why he had been greeted in such a way. He squeezed tightly onto his knee, trying to prove that he was real, offering up a comforting smile. 'The one thing he can't live without'. Those words had filled the taller male with so much happiness, for he too had been so lost without little Shion by his side. As annoying as the boy was, he had offered him salvation many times from the harsh reality of the world.
"You're probably spending too much time in the rain."
His voice was as cocky as ever when he needed it to be, but rattling off what his mother had told him only hours ago was no comfort to Shion. "This illusion is cruel." His eyes never broke their gaze with Nezumi, but at this statement he frowned. He was not an overly patient man when it concerned Shion. And so he dropped his hand from his knee and instead grabbed the sick boys wrist, pulling him up and swinging him round so that he could force him up against the glass of the window. The whole ordeal earned him a yelp, which he appreciated fully. Nezumi pressed himself into Shions back, sliding his hands so that both sets of fingers were interlocked and flush against the pane. "An illusion could not do this" he whispered sickly into Shions ears, the closeness of his lips to the heated flesh produced a shudder from Shion – who felt somewhat helpless with his chest against the glass. It was then that Nezumi brought one hand down, lifted Shions shirt to expose the hot skin beneath and forced it even closer to the window.
The feeling of cold glass against burning skin was exhilarating. He leant his head back and rested it on Nezumi's shoulder, finally allowing the boy to see a smile, tears no longer staining his cheeks. "Why are you back." His words much stronger now, harking back to how he was two years ago. "I already told you, Hamlet said you were sick." Shion nodded "I've been out in the rain too much." This caused them both to release a light laughter. He pressed his stomach closer to the window, his eyelashes fluttering at the sensation it caused.
"I think you are sick with loneliness." Nezumi whispered back, his lips now tentatively close to the others neck. His warm breath did nothing for his fever, but Shion appreciated their closeness. The statement rung true to him, causing him to pause for a moment in silence and just drown himself in Nezumi's addictive scent. A mixture of old books and dirt and blood. "Mother wants me to 'start looking'." Sarcasm was a tone not often used by Shion, it sounded foreign with his voice, but nevertheless his disdain for the notion was quite clear. Swiftly, Nezumi flipped Shion around so that they were face to face. The cold glass now sending chills down his back. The stranger had released both his hands, so that he could cruelly trace teasing fingers over the red marks which served as a painful reminder to the No.6 that once was.
"You should have been looking."
Nezumi's voice was low, his eyelids half closed causing his beauty to take on a whole different look. It was seductive – not that Shion particularly needed seducing. He was unlearned in the ways of sex, his only experience being a few chaste kisses, but spending years around Safu allowed him to appreciate what his brain was telling him. Deep down he'd always known it. And yet the words seemed so contradictory; he didn't want to start fresh and look for a woman to marry and reproduce with, he wouldn't be able to love her, he wouldn't be drawn to her as he was to him. "You should have been looking for me." Those words stung him deeper than any bee. His mouth gaped open as Nezumi's gaze only intensified. At once his free hands flung around and entwined themselves within the soft strands of Nezumi's perfect hair, the colour of the sky at dusk, and he pulled forward with such ferocity it complete threw the taller boy off balance. Only once had Shion surprised him like this, and that was many years ago, where he suspected Eylurias was using him as a puppet. However this demanding tug was different. It pulled their lips into a sweet embrace, which once started soon developed into something much more different to the kisses the two had previously shared. Tears had once again begun to roll down Shions face and the taste of salt entwined with the sweet flavour of the white haired boys' mouth, only serving to make Nezumi hungry for more. He had never imagined that Shion was capable of such...dominance.
His fingers tightened in his hair, Nezumi used his own hands to push against Shions stomach and force his back flat against the window, his hips now rocking forward so the pair touched. Like a dance. Shion pulled away, his cheeks flush and hot from a fusion of illness and breathlessness, his red eyes once again filled with life. "I am so sorry." His words were broken by tears by spoken through a beaming smile, "I should have been looking for you, my Nezumi."