INFORMATION

Disclaimer: The World Ends with You belongs to Jupiter and Square Enix.

Synopsis: This is a collection of short stories based around the relationship between Sanae Hanekoma and Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu. Each story is different and particularly unrelated to one another but all express their love and friendship in some way.

Warnings: Spoilers for the ending. Each story has different ratings so this entire story is rated M for safety.

Pairing: Hanekoma/Joshua

Immortals' Love Affair

001. Toast

A piece of golden brown bread slathered with a thin sheet of honey and served alongside a cup of hot tea is Joshua's usual morning breakfast. But it isn't as simple as it sounds. Joshua's refined taste calls for special attention to every minuscule detail which even applies to his morning meal.

And only Sanae Hanekoma knows how to execute every delicate procedure.

Every morning, before the barista even sets up Wildkat Café for business, he's already busy preparing breakfast for his favorite Composer. Hanekoma toasts the bread slice just right, not too brown and not too light. The honey, he paints on carefully, covering each and every crevice so that he can enjoy that small grin on Joshua's lips as he bites into the perfect proportion of bread and sweetness. Lastly, he serves the tea strong and plain because he knows how much Joshua loves to enjoy the aroma of his drink.

It is quite a hassle, and it's only breakfast, but Hanekoma hasn't complained. He won't.

Joshua doesn't need the breakfast at all but Hanekoma serves it to him anyways.

Whenever the young Composer eats, it's his smile that sets everything for Hanekoma. The barista mimics the smile, amazed that just a perfect breakfast can make Joshua feel more human, and happy.

002. Knife

Joshua thumbed the ornate, gemmed handle of the small blade that he found on one of Hanekoma's living room shelves. It was light in weight and alluring to the eyes and somehow, Joshua decided to bring the sharp end of the blade towards the pad of his index finger.

Maybe it's too dull to—

And the blade slid into and through his skin with ease, making him draw the blade back immediately, wincing a little. A thin line of dark red began to seep from beneath his pale flesh, but the blood continued to ooze from the wound without any stoppage and was soon dripping off his fingertip. Joshua only continued to stare idly with the blade still clenched loosely in his other palm. It wasn't so bad, just a little prick, but it did prove something.

"Guess you really are human now, Boss," Hanekoma said solemnly, entering the room with a mug of warm coffee in hand.

Joshua only grinned up at the man and leaned his back against the soft cushion of the sofa. He waited for Hanekoma to come around the coffee table and sit down next to him. The teen listened to the man's heavy sigh and eyed him carefully as the barista leaned over and pried the knife from the his pale fingers. When the dagger was safely set on the table, Hanekoma took Joshua's hand and brought it up to his lips, taking in his wounded index finger and sucked gently on the dripping blood.

"Sanae!" Joshua gasped and pulled his hand away, wiping it on his dark pants.

"I'm sorry," Hanekoma grunted and turned away from the teen. "Forgive me."

Joshua said nothing and continued to stare off into space, which left an uncomfortable curtain of silence hanging between them.

"Why did you do it?" Hanekoma eventually asked for what seemed like the hundredth time. There was a hint of evident sadness in his voice, but the ashen teen ignored it.

"The job gets old,'" Joshua replied casually. "Weren't those your exact words when they asked you?"

Hanekoma only replied with a short huff and shook his head. After a short silence, the café owner opened his mouth to speak but quickly changed his mind when Joshua got up from his seat and walked out of the room.

When the sound of the shutting door echoed into the living room, the lonely barista picked up the unsheathed dagger and eyed the small lining of blood on the edge of the blade. He glanced one last time at the direction in which Joshua left, and crossed the sharp metal against his own finger. Hanekoma laughed disbelievingly at himself as he sucked on the small cut. He laughed, because he knew nothing would hurt more than knowing that Joshua dethroned himself as Shibuya's Composer—not for him—but for Neku Sakuraba.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Originally, this was written for a Livejournal 100 ficlet challenge, but I never really got around to posting them on Livejournal. So, this fic will have a total of 100 short ficlets about these Hanekoma and Joshua because I love this pairing and these two don't seem to get enough love (as a couple).

Please tell me if you've enjoy these two opening stories; thank you for reading!