Requested by jinnina at the tsusoka LJ Comm.

Please excuse the crappy writing. Self-beta. All fuck-ups are mine.

MATURITY

"Tsuzuki."

"Yes?" The older shinigami looked up from where his face was pressed against Hisoka's neck. His amethyst eyes were filled with love and lust and something the green-eyed shinigami couldn't identify. He looked away—out the window—and watched the red moon.

"Watari-san said my adult body would only be temporary; a side-effect of his experiment." Hisoka paused for a moment. "I want to know…" The younger shinigami trailed off, not knowing how to put his thoughts into words. Warm hands were suddenly at his cheeks, making him look into Tsuzuki's eyes.

"I'll still be here in the morning," the brunet said, pressing a soft kiss to the blond's forehead. Tsuzuki slowly let down his shields and Hisoka let himself get swept away by the flood of emotions his partner unleashed.

xxx

Hisoka shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around his body. Earth—unlike never-changing Meifu—was cold this time of the year and the thin jacket the blond was wearing wasn't enough to fend off the chill the air brought with it.

The shinigami walked faster, trying to make his way to the sweets shop were Tsuzuki was before it got dark. Hisoka's borrowed clothes were a bit too big and he accidentally stepped on the edge of his pants leg, causing him to lose his balance just as he rounded a corner.

How cliché, he thought to himself as he slammed face-first into someone. There were shouted curses as the two of them fell to the ground, Hisoka dimly thankful that he wasn't the one to hit the sidewalk.

When the feeling of falling through space ended, the blond shinigami tried to glance up and see if the person he had crashed into was okay.

Emerald eyes met emerald eyes.

"Hisoka?"

"Hijiri?"

xxx

Tsuzuki tapped his fingers against the top of the counter and wondered where Hisoka was.

"I hope he's not lost…" he said to himself as he popped another piece of candy into his mouth.

xxx

Hisoka laughed at another story that Hijiri told him about his college classmate. They were sitting inside a café, the brunet insisting on buying and eating lunch with the shinigami.

"You know," Hijiri said, "I had originally planned to eat lunch by myself before going off to do my Christmas shopping. But I think I'd rather stay here and catch up with you."

Hisoka swallowed the last bit of his food. "We can catch up with one another while shopping."

Hijiri grinned and paid the bill. "My treat," he insisted when the other green-eyed youth began to protest.

As they stood up to leave, the brunet cleared his throat. "Umm…I was just wondering…" he trailed off, averting his eyes for a moment. When he received a nudge from Hisoka, he went on. "I thought…you wouldn't grow up. You know…physically."

The shinigami blinked before answering. "One of Watari-san's experiments is responsible for this. It's only temporary."

"Too bad," Hijiri replied as they began walking. "You look as old as me. We could be twins or something."

"Hn." Hisoka felt like he had forgotten something but he simply forced the little nagging voice at the back of his head to shut up as he talked with Hijiri.

xxx

By the time he got home, it was late. Hisoka wasn't expecting to find Tsuzuki sleeping on his couch. He supposed he should have expected it. Suddenly, he slapped his palm against his forehead; he had forgotten Tsuzuki at the sweets shop.

With a sigh, he sat down on the floor beside his sleeping partner and glared at the older shinigami's face as if he were the one to blame for everything that had happened that afternoon.

"'Soka? Is that you?" Tsuzuki sat up sleepily and rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah," Hisoka mumbled. There was a pause and the amethyst-eyed shinigami stretched and yawned. The blond fidgeted before blurting out, "I'm sorry."

"Hm?"

"Sorry for not meeting you at the shop." The younger shinigami waited for the anger or annoyance but instead, he felt a hand ruffling his hair.

"It's alright, 'Soka. I forget things too."

The smile that was aimed at him was almost blinding in its intensity. Hisoka smiled back—it was smaller though—and he wondered why he felt like calling up the number Hijiri gave him and talking to the other green-eyed youth.

xxx

One morning, Hisoka woke up and found out that his body had gone back to normal while he was asleep. He sat up in bed, staring at his hands for about five minutes. Slowly—not even looking at Tsuzuki's sleeping form beside him—he got up, took a bath, put on his clothes, and went to Earth.

He walked quickly, making his way to the place where he had eaten lunch with Hijiri a few days ago. As he entered the café, he saw that Hijiri was already at their table, waiting for him.

"Hijiri," Hisoka said in way of greeting.

The brunet turned around at the sound of the blond's voice, a smile on his lips. It faltered when he saw Hisoka. "You're…"

"Yeah…" The shinigami stopped a few inches away from the table, hands in his pockets. He fidgeted a bit under Hijiri's gaze. The sound of people chatting around them made Hisoka painfully aware of Hijiri's silence. He turned to leave. "I think I'd better go—"

"No! No wait!" Hijri stood up and placed his hand on Hisoka's shoulder. "Stay. I was just surprised that you've gone back to normal, that's all."

Hisoka simply looked at Hijiri for a few moments, reaching out with his empathy, trying to feel what the brunet felt. There was surprise. There was a warm something that Hisoka translated as friendship. And there was…disappointment.

Disappointment because he was back to normal? Did Hijiri like his adult body better?

Hijiri ruffled his hair affectionately as the blond sat down at the table with him.

xxx

"'Soka! You're back to normal!"

He had barely walked through the door when he was swept up into a pair of arms. The flood of relief, happiness, surprise, and love threatened to overwhelm Hisoka and it was a few minutes before he managed to speak.

"Put me down," he snapped, green eyes narrowing a bit in annoyance at being carried to the living room of Tsuzuki's apartment.

His partner simply ignored him and plopped down onto the sofa. With a smile, he rearranged Hisoka so that the younger shinigami was sitting on his lap, legs crosswise to his. Before the blond could utter more harsh words, Tsuzuki wrapped his arms around Hisoka's waist, forcing to blond to rest his head against the brunet's chest.

"I like you this way lots better. I can't cuddle you when you're grown up."

Hisoka didn't know what to say. After a while, he grudgingly placed his arms around Tsuzuki's waist as well and pressed himself a little closer to the older shinigami.