Adjustment
It had taken a while, a long while actually, for Neku to be with Joshua like he was a friend again. He had laughed inwardly when he called the Composer his 'friend', wondered whether a lab rat would call the scientist one too, but it faded. The Game, it's effects, how he had been used and shot not once but twice, the memories that lingered with their friend Pain seemed to shut up a bit. Neku was nearing the end of his schooling now, he had friends, he enjoyed the world outside his headphones a little more, and talking to Josh became easier, enjoyable to as much of a degree as it could be. Tense, awkward conversations and arguments became friendly, he could actually play multiplayer with him and not be constantly thinking there was going to be a new hole in his TV screen. There was always that tug in his mind though - you're kidding me, right? you've forgiven him for killing you? - but he started to ignore it.
"Why did you start treating me like a friend again?" Joshua, if he were normal, would've sounded hesitant but all emotion apart from his default is again masterfully hidden behind a smirk. 'I'm not your partner anymore, you know. You could have just ignored me if you wanted." The Composer and his ex-proxy are sitting lazily around on the couch, looking like they don't have a care in the world. Nothing is playing, everything is off and neither of them can be bothered to get up and turn the light on, dim orange light of late afternoon casting the boy's faces in yellowed shades.
Neku has to think about that. Why was the word, and he just couldn't really think of a definite reason. In the weeks where Joshua didn't show up at Hachiko after his escape from the UG, although he was with his friends, there was something always missing. A snide remark here of a giggle there that should have been audible, a flick of ash-blonde hair and a smirk that he couldn't see. Neku hated to admit it, he really did, but he missed him. Then he decided to show up. It was a month and a bit after those three weeks, that silhouette of the Composer slightly glowing, Shibuya and it's people tinted orange in the sun's set much like it was now. He'd genuinely smiled at Joshua for the first time and as far as he could see, the other had done too.
"Maybe I didn't want to." He says quietly, looking over at the ash-blonde who raises an eyebrow at his response. "Ignore you, I mean."
Joshua smirks, leaning over to rest his head on Neku's shoulder slightly. "Thanks, dear."
A/N: Hey there! First story on this shiny new account. This is sorta like an introduction to what's going to hopefully be a series of drabbles with Neku and Joshua. There may be more than one in a chapter if it doesn't have enough substance. Please tell me what you think, as it would help me out a whole bunch!