My Best Friend

This is for my best friend, who is actually now my lover. I am frequently asked this question, or, at least, I used to be. I think I finally answered it.

"Hey, 'Soka? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," the emerald-eyed Shinigami said. At the time, he and his elder partner, Tsuzuki, were having a picnic in the park. Hisoka had seemed distracted the majority of the time they'd been there, thus far, and Tsuzuki was starting to worry about his friend. Hisoka, uncomfortable with his partner's gaze, turned to look at him. "I'm all right, really, I am."

"If you're sure," Tsuzuki said with a slight nod. "But I'm here to talk, eh?"

Hisoka gave an assuring nod, and Tsuzuki left it at that for now. If Hisoka wanted to talk, he would. Pulling a cookie out of the picnic basket, Tsuzuki started to munch on it thoughtfully.

"Tsuzuki?"

"Yes, what would you like?" Tsuzuki asked, looking towards Hisoka, who was gazing off ahead, eyes unfocused.

"I have a question for you…"

"What would it be, 'Soka? You can ask me anything, you know that."

"Why do you put up with me?" Hisoka asked, tilting his head slightly as he looked at Tsuzuki, emerald eyes digging into Tsuzuki's amethyst ones for any sense of reason at all.

"What do you mean, 'put up with'?" Tsuzuki questioned, slightly taken aback by the inquiry. Hisoka shrugged slightly, turning his gaze down. He was going to explain, but Tsuzuki spoke before he could. "Hisoka, I don't have to 'put up with' you at all!"

"But why not?" Hisoka narrowed his eyes. "I mean... I'm probably not the easiest person to talk to or hang around. So why?"

Tsuzuki let off a sigh, and gave Hisoka a look, before smiling. "Hisoka," he stated, clearly and firmly. "I don't have to put up with you. You're my friend, my best friend; you've accepted me despite my odd habits and occasional strange behavior, and you've been just a good friend in general. Not only that, despite the fact you sometimes hide your emotions, well, usually do, you're a wonderful person. You stick up for people you care about, and you're a very trustworthy person. If someone were to tell you a secret, you wouldn't tell anyone else if they asked you not to. And you're a good person to talk to."

"But…"

"Don't even start, Hisoka," Tsuzuki said with a slight wave of his hand. "You're my best friend, putting yourself down just puts me down. I know it's hard to explain, and I explained it as best I could."

"But I still don't understand," Hisoka said, rubbing his temples. Tsuzuki gave him a light hug, before releasing him, and laughing lightly, shortly though.

"Ah, Hisoka, why does everything need some form of logic behind it, hmm?" Hisoka looked up at Tsuzuki, who was smiling warmly. "Come on, you," he ruffled his hair gently. "Don't raise your blood pressure worrying about things that needn't be worried over."

Nodding once, Hisoka tried not to, and just tried to ignore that, according to him, Tsuzuki's answer had shone no light on the question. But then… they were friends, and Tsuzuki was right. Not everything needed logic behind it, did it?

END