"Okaeri, Nezumi!" Shion called from the couch, beaming brighter than his usual.
"Mm." As he stepped into the room, Nezumi tossed aside his superfibre and jacket. He then went to flop down on his bed.
"I saved up dog washing money and got something special for dinner."
"So that's what smells different." Nezumi turned on his side with his knees bent and his face to the wall as always; eyes away from Shion.
"At Rikiga's… you said you like meat pie."
"Well, that'll be a nice break from your soup, anyway," He looked back at Shion over his shoulder. His silver eyes sparkled, though his face remained calm. "So where is it?"
"I'll bring it out when we're ready to eat." Seeing through Nezumi's attempts to conceal his excitement, Shion grinned with pride. "And, I'd like to ask you something after dinner."
"Oh?" Though tired, Nezumi was in a pretty good mood today. "What's that?"
"After dinner." His grin receded to a smaller, more cautious smile.
"You're treating me to a special dinner and you've got a secret question to pop on me later… My goodness, are you finally going to propose to me?"
Cheeks flushing slightly, Shion looked away as he mumbled his retort: "Sorry to disappoint you…"
"You're blushing. See what I mean about your linguistic competence?" He let out an exaggerated sigh. "You're such an airhead, you don't even realise what you're saying." And with that, Nezumi flipped back around on the bed.
Shion knew there was no serious intent behind Nezumi's cruel barbs— that he merely spoke the truth as he saw it— but the words still pained him. He didn't want to risk upsetting Nezumi this evening however, so he bore the sting quietly while Nezumi seemed oblivious to his hurt.
oxoxoxo
A short time later, Shion set the dinner out as Nezumi took his evening shower, and they ate together as usual. Shion also took care of the dishes, while a contented Nezumi reviewed some of his favourite passages of King Lear to help him get into the mood for the role of Cordelia, the lines for which he'd already long since memorised.
Once the dishes were put away, Shion sorted some loose books into their spots on the bookshelves, and gave a quiet but sincere apology to Hamlet. The demanding white mouse squeaked indignantly, dissatisfied that they would have to begin their third reading of Macbeth at another time. Cravat and Tsukiyo chased after him as he darted under the sofa to sulk. But finally, the time had come. Shion walked up to Nezumi with butterflies in his stomach but a resolve of steel. "Nezumi…"
Nezumi rolled back from the wall in order to face Shion. "Oh yes I almost forgot we were courting, this evening…" Now, lying on his other side, he rested his head in one hand and brought his knees up, legs bent at differing angles in a seductive and feminine pose that would thrill Eve's audiences without fail. He put on a temptress' face and an affected voice to match. "Well you're young and you've got a pretty face, but I'll warn you now that you've got a lot of competition. I'll have you know I have plenty of suitors vying for my attentions. Men of means," he sniffed defiantly, nose in the air.
It was now or never for Shion: "Fight me."
"What?" The pose remained, but Nezumi's face and voice projected confusion.
"I want you to fight me. I'll attack you first. Don't worry, I won't bite this time."
After an initial moment of shock, Nezumi succumbed to the absurdity of it all. He fell onto his back with his arms spread out on the bed, chest convulsing with laughter. "Oh god, that's… that's the funniest thing I've heard all week…"
"I'm serious. I don't expect to win or anything. I just… thought I'd try fighting you once."
"Shion, is this your way of telling me we need a chessboard or something? They've got all sorts of stuff like that at the antiques shop next to—"
"Here I come!" Shion sprang toward the bed with decent speed, only to find himself leaping toward where Nezumi was. He spun around just in time to find a hand reaching for his shoulder, and managed to sidestep it with a turn to his right just fast enough that Nezumi's fingers slipped by without finding a grip or pressure point. He tried to kick toward Nezumi's stomach with his closer leg while his balance was on the other.
Nezumi took advantage of this by scooping that leg up out of the air, but took care not to let Shion topple to the floor.
With Shion's struggling leg raised into a numbing vice grip under his right arm, an incredulous Nezumi glared into Shion's eyes and asked: "What the hell are you doing?"
Hopping on one foot, Shion replied: "I want to see how far I can go."
"Before what?"
"Before you defeat me. You're a really amazing fighter, Nezumi. I want a better idea how far I would have to go before I can fight more like you do."
The second he finished speaking, Nezumi swung Shion's leg, slamming him into the end of the bookcase and knocking him off balance. His hipbone slammed against the hard wood, bringing a terrible explosion of pain to Shion's side as books rained down on his head. But before he was even finished crying out from the pain, he was grabbed by the neck, tripped from behind, and forced to fly backward onto the bed. A few more books fell to the floor, punctuating the sentence Nezumi had just brought down upon Shion.
On his back, looking up at a hard-faced Nezumi, Shion realised he was pinned down in exactly the same manner Nezumi had used four years before. Both of his arms were restrained behind his head by one of Nezumi's, and Nezumi was squeezing his knees into Shion's sides to tighten the grip, just as he had back then. The smarting in his hip was subsiding, but Shion noticed both his legs numbing to the toes… "Well, this is nostalgic."
"Isn't it, though? Almost romantic, you could say." Nezumi smiled cruelly. "So you want to fight like me, huh? Impossible. While you had your comfortable life of privilege as a No. 6 elite, kids in the real world were learning the hard way how to fight for their lives. Even the lowliest residents of that hamster wheel of a city had clean streets, food, hospitals, schools, and safe, warm places to rest. Unlike them, the people out here grow up with no guarantee of shelter, no guarantee of food or water, no easy health care, and of course, no guarantee of security."
Nezumi's stormy grey eyes narrowed. His icy smile was replaced with a cold glare.
"And instead of going to school, they learned from experience: Whenever you get a scrap of food, you have to eat it before it's stolen from you. Whenever you're sick or hurt, you treat yourself, or suffer through it. Safe shelter is temporary because it's either too flimsy to last or because of mid-night intrusions by robbers or worse. And no matter how careful you are, trouble will always eventually come to find you anyhow. At those times, the only way out is to fight. To fight is to survive. Those are lessons of life in the real world, Shion. You can learn to fight— you have to, if you're going to live out here. But don't think a former No. 6 elite like you can fight the way I do unless you're forced to fight for your life many times over… Or are you arrogant enough to say you envy the kinds of experiences that forced me to learn to protect myself?"
Shion averted his eyes for a moment, feeling like a guilty child. Speaking softly, he replied "No, of course not."
But lying there the way he was, Shion remembered the last time he'd lain like this; straddled by a small, slender boy with the freshly dressed bullet wound and such beautiful eyes; that fellow 12 year old who had opened his eyes to the truth about No. 6. Someone he endured four years of longing to see again… and who finally was with him now.
He smiled, looking directly into Nezumi's angry yet still enchanting mirror glass eyes. "You're incredibly strong, Nezumi. Not just physically, either. To have lived through all of that and emerged the person you are now… you're really amazing. I'm really glad you've survived… and that I could meet you."
Even as he finished speaking, a look of total admiration remained on the boy's face as he gazed up at the one who held him captive. Nezumi's legs loosened and Shion felt heat and sensation flooding back toward his toes.
"Oh, that feels better."
"So we're done fighting now?" Nezumi's visage was now unreadable.
In this still moment, he noticed how beautifully the eyes above were reflecting the lamps' warm glow. Silvery grey contrasted with golden flecks of light.
The two stared at each other for a moment before Shion looked away, somewhat discouraged, thinking to get up. "Yeah, I guess we are. Thanks for humouring me a little. You must want to—"
Nezumi may have loosened his grip on Shion's legs, but he wasn't moving his body any further and he still had Shion's arms pinned down.
"I'm not quite finished," he interrupted. Shion watched Nezumi lean down toward his shoulder, like he did four years ago to threaten him with a spoon. He brought his lips close to Shion's ear, just like back then, and spoke gently: "Four years ago, you healed and clothed me, you gave me food, you gave me shelter… and you gave me security, Shion. Only you did, and no other stranger would." Nezumi let the side of his face fall into Shion's silk-white hair, their heads softly touching together. "If it wasn't for you,I wouldn't have survived."
Shion blushed at this. Simultaneously, he ached for Nezumi to tumble down on top of him so the two of them could fall asleep together. He wanted to lie just as they were back then; Nezumi in his arms.
The hot breath on Shion's ear disappeared. Nezumi was leaning back now, but used his free hand to stroke Shion's hair, and brought his thumb across the boy's cheek. Looking up, Shion could see Nezumi's facial expression had softened considerably from his earlier impassive gaze. These caresses (and sudden mood changes) weren't anything new for Nezumi, but now, positioned as vulnerably as he was, Shion felt his heart rate gradually beginning to surge.
"Are you—" but Shion's thoughts were lost as Nezumi slid a finger down his left side from chest level, passed each rib, and ended at his no longer painful hip, resulting in a shivering exhalation and a soft gasp for breath. Shion closed his eyes, regaining himself. He now became aware that at some point, his arms had been released, and that Nezumi had apparently loosened his leg grip enough so that it would be quite easy to pull free if he wanted to. Instead, Shion stared up at his tormentor, appraising the new smirk he had on. "Nezumi, what are you doing to me?"
"Seeing how far I can go."
"Before what?"
Nezumi lowered himself down to Shion's ear again, and whispered: "Before you surrender." He rose back up again with amusement evident in his smile.
As Shion caught on, the colour in Shion's cheeks deepened further, but he wanted to test his hypothesis: "Well I think you'll have to go a little farther than that." And his red eyes sent a challenge up to Nezumi's grey.
Nezumi smiled and traced his thumb in a slow loop over Shion's upper and lower lips, as if to signal acceptance of that challenge. Without a word spoken aloud, the terms of their mutual endurance test had been set.
Okaeri (お帰り) - Common Japanese greeting to give to people returning home. Normally this would be either preceded or followed by "Tadaima" (ただいま), which means "I'm home," but Nezumi isn't quite that cordial. ;)