Disclaimer: The Characters in this story aren't mine, nor are their worlds. I make no money, else I would not be so god damned broke.
AN-THANK YOU ARI! Everyone reading this story should thank Ariaeris for the wonderful idea! He's(so they do exist!) a great author, and super nice to let me take his idea! This is the first installment in a series of oneshot Harry Potter crossovers, all beginning with the letters of the alphabet(As afore mentioned, Ari's idea). It's really great fun!
Warnings!:Foul mouth. Thus the M. It's SLASH, though there is no sex. Sorry guys, didn't want to open this idea right off the bat with PWP, though I, being a 'Great Pervert'(not my words), was sorely tempted.
Accismus
To feign disinterest in something one truly desires
He pretended not to notice. He pretended not to notice the quick glances, the soft lingering touches. It was difficult, because, by nature, he was brash about such things. It was odd, he couldn't remember a time when they hadn't been this way. Maybe... maybe it was different before Harry had been here, but that was a time he could hardly remember. It had been so long... so long since he was anything but the storekeeper. Was this how Yuuko had felt? He remembered her, vividly, the only bright thing in all of his memories. He could hardly recall his friends, the ones who had moved away, or married. Even Doumeki had left him in death. For so long he had counted the time only in visits and wishes granted, but even those few, precious times had begun to bleed into one another until he came along.
"Kimihiro? Kimihiro, are you okay?" Called the accented voice from across the room.
"Hmmm? Oh! Yes, I'm sorry, I was just thinking..." He called, forcing back a blush. How juvenile, blushing. He felt like a school girl, honestly.
"Alright, if you're sure, space cadet. I'll be getting the groceries, is there anything you want specifically?" Watanuki nodded a simple no, and looked up into the green eyes of his assistant and house mate. How long had he been here? So long, almost as long as Watanuki had been alone. He remembered how odd it had been, the wish of the man-child that had stumbled into his shop early one winter morning...
It had been a day like any other day, or so he thought. It was cold, though he hardly felt it through the fabric of his thick kimono. Suddenly, he heard the creak of the door opening, and sat a bit straighter. He noted absentmindedly that this was the first customer he had had since the season's change.
"Hello?" Came the voice from the front room. "I was told I could have wishes granted here. Anyone home? Hello? Testing, one, two, three..."
"Ah, this is the first time a human customer has known what this shop was all about." He heard, distantly, Maru and Moro repeating the last few words in their sweet, singsong tone.
"I never have been one to fit into a mold. Hmmm, you're not exactly what I expected either. The Space-Time witch? I was expecting someone else, a female, I s'pose. Oh well, if you can grant my wish it's okay."
Normally, Watanuki would have a response, but he was too caught up in staring at his customer. The man was oddly enticing, with mid length black hair that seemed to writhe in the early morning light like agitated snakes. He had venom green eyes, the kind of eyes too old to reside in a face no older than seventeen, no older than his own face. He was tall, and slim in a way that conveyed wiry strength.
"I can. Grant your wish, that is."
"Okay, well then, let's get this show on the road! I wish for a place to stay." Watanuki's brow creased. That was too easy.
"There must be something more... the shop would not have opened otherwise." He looked into the strange eyes of the foreigner with his own two toned gaze.
"I need to be able to stay there forever. As in, until the end of time." Watanuki merely raised his eyebrow, prompting the odd man to continue. "You see... I can't die."
Harry Potter, the man with the green eyes, explained his past, his duel with a dark wizard (a wizard!) and how he had gained, through the wording of a prophecy and the gaining of certain items, immunity from death. He hadn't aged in a long time, Watanuki realized. So, he offered his home, in exchange for the symbol of the power over death, though not the power itself. He marveled at the cloak and the ring, though he dared not use them. The stick, the wand, felt wrong to him, and so he quickly gave it to Mokona to put away.
That was the start of it, of the odd relationship they shared. The years had gone by so much faster with Harry around, so much less boring and monotonous. He supposed, after being each others closest companions for so many immeasurable years, that the next logical step was to become lovers.
But it was hard.
And scary.
Watanuki had never had a lover, never had a girlfriend or a boyfriend before he was attached so neatly to the store. He was new to love, new to the thought of devotion or the feeling of longing.
And, above all, he was scared. Scared of loosing Harry, scared of Harry hating him. What if he had been reading the signs wrong? What if the only human being in the world that could stay with him through his endless life left? He would feel so utterly alone. That was why he said nothing. That was why he pretended not to see those maybe signs, or feel those lingering touches. That was why he didn't pay attention to the inane grins that threatened to split his face, or the fluttering of butterflies in his stomach.
There was that creak at the door, and Harry's familiar, heavy foot steps.
"So, I got some kick ass sake for dinner, real cheap, at the..." Watanuki turned a deaf ear, and pretended not to care.
"Why do you do that." Came the quiet question from next to Watanuki. He hadn't noticed Harry moving. "Why do you always fucking ignore me like that? What happened? I thought... I... you know what? You can fucking have dinner alone. See if I give a shit." He stormed out, dropping the cheap plastic bags on the floor with such force that the glass inside shattered like ice.
There was a slamming of doors, and Watanuki could feel his heart squeeze tight, as if there was a fist around it. His breath caught, and he felt tears in his eyes.
How long had it been since he'd cried? Too long, since before Harry, when he was still alone. His once still breath began to quicken, and he felt the unfamiliar feeling of warm water on his cold cheeks. His heart still hurt, so he curled in on himself, protecting the venerable muscle from invisible pain. He sat there for a long, long time. Alone, and when the candles burnt out, in the dark. There was no sound other than the settling of the floor boards, and the creak of the items in storage.
Watanuki, still crying, drifted into the kind of slumber one only experiences when one has cried more than is healthy.
It may have been days, hours, or minutes later when Watanuki heard a soft shuffle next to him. He blinked blearily, eyes crusted with dried tears, up into the sadly smiling face of his assistant and only friend.
"I'm sorry," came the soft voice, "I'm sorry for making you cry. Look, you've got tears all over your face, space cadet. I'm so sorry Kimihiro, I'm sorry for freaking the fuck out and ruining our food. I'm sorry for making you sad. I shouldn't have gotten so angry, I should have already gotten over this. Over the fact that you can't..."
"Can't what?"
"Love me." the whispered answer was painful, and precious in its fragile nature. Watanuki's odd eyes shot wide open in shock, and he inhaled sharply. "It's okay though!" he said quickly. "You don't have to give me an excuse, I understand. I'm used to it. It's always been 'Oh Harry, I can't date you because you're a man. Because you're a wizard. Because I'm straight. Because I'm gay, but I just don't see you that way. Because you're my friend. Becau-'"
"Harry." Watanuki interrupted.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
And then he leaned in and kissed him.
Well that wraps it up, folks! If you would be so kind as to review, I would be SUPER happy!
