It feels almost like my first fanfiction, it's been so long since someone actually read anything that I wrote! Unfortunately, like my first work, it contains many grammar errors because my mother language isn't English. I need a beta but no kind soul seems to volunteer... ::sighs::
Disclaimers: None of this belongs to me, maybe except for the plot. But, who knows how many 'love-triangle's people write about out there!
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A Waste of Time [One: Years]
White snow covered the streets, painting the city with cold beauty. It had been snowing for a while now and it didn't look like it would stop anytime soon. But the cold and the snow could be good sometimes, when they didn't create a traffic jam or keept people indoors by blocking the doors and sidewalks, the sight of the falling small flakes that brushed everything they found with silvery-white fingertips could distract the mind from the ordinary sad thoughts, it was highly addictive. The stores still wore Christmas and New Year decorations, memories of the two holidays that had just gone by. It was middle January now, and it was 'year' again. Another year.
As he walked, alone for the first time in a couple of years, Tsuzuki wondered what the new year would bring. He had long stopped doing "New Year Resolutions", knowing that, in the end, all of them would be nothing but wishful things and he'd end up fulfilling none. Just like everyone, Tsuzuki expected a new year full of pleasant surprises, he wouldn't dare to deny that, being truthful to himself as he was. More than a shinigami, a powerful god of death whose job was to collect stray souls, he was a man in touch with his inner child and, just like a good child, he tried to be optimistic even in times when, as his partner Hisoka would say 'things just couldn't get any worse'.
Tsuzuki was too distracted with his observation of snow and his thoughts to notice that someone had been following him for quite a while, first hesitantly, hiding whenever Tsuzuki threatened to look back, and now simply walking behind him and wondering when Tsuzuki would notice that he was being followed.
When it didn't happen, the person covered Tsuzuki's eyes with small gloved hands and whispered, so low that the shinigami barely heard the slightly familiar voice. "Guess who?"
Temporarily blind, Tsuzuki had only two options: instinctively guessing or trying to recognize or associate the voice with someone that he knew, which was actually a form of guessing. So, Tsuzuki chose the second method, since it was a method that promised more accuracy. The voice didn't belong to a grown man, and it was too high and excited to belong to any of his co-workers. It was probably from a boy in his late teens and the only one who matched this pattern was Hisoka, but Hisoka wasn't cheerful and wouldn't ask Tsuzuki to guess who he was. Well, since he wouldn't guess who it was anyway, he went for the next best thing. "Hisoka?"
The boy chuckled. "Almost."
The hands were removed from his eyes and Tsuzuki turned around to find a friend, someone he hadn't seen in a long time and that suddenly became his first New Year surprise. "Hijiri?!" he exclaimed, almost disbelievingly. Hijiri barely had time to nod before Tsuzuki delightedly flung his arms around him in a warm, tight embrace that sent away the cold feeling that snow brought along with its bliss. "Long time no see!! How are you?"
Hijiri gasped, feeling the air being drained from his lungs, he patted Tsuzuki's back. "Hey, I still need to breathe." Even though Hijiri's intention was only to make Tsuzuki loosen his grip a little, the man broke the hug completely, letting the cold return to Hijiri's body.
"Gomen!" Tsuzuki said, scratching the back of his head embarrassedly. "But it's been so long... I even thought I'd never see you again!"
Hijiri only smiled.
There was so much to talk that all the time in the world seemed to be not time enough for the old friends. They sat inside a cafe, to keep away from the snow and to be closer to the kitchen as Tsuzuki had insisted –and talked for what seemed like hours but wasn't more than thirty minutes, telling stories and commenting how life was strange, and how much people could change in a short period of time.
"'Short period', Tsuzuki? It's been two years." Hijiri said, frowning slightly.
Tsuzuki just smiled, for he knew that Hijiri would never understand that 'time' for him meant nothing. He had lived so many years that a couple of them were, in fact, only a second to him, a brief moment in his life. But, as they say, time flies when you're having fun and if the last two years hadn't been the best of his life, they were pretty close to it.
"Where is Hisoka? I thought he was your partner. Wasn't he supposed to be here with you?" Hijiri asked, looking around in hope to see the boy that had ressembled him so much, though probably not anymore because years had taken their toll on Hijiri as they never would on Hisoka.
"He preferred to stay at home," Tsuzuki said, smiling. "He doesn't like snow a lot, since for him 'snow' means 'traffic jam and slippery sidewalks'. A shame he didn't come. I bet he misses you as well."
"I miss him too," Hijiri confessed, green eyes turning said for a while then lighting up with glee again. "And what are you doing here on Earth, Tsuzuki?" he asked, lowering his voice so that only Tsuzuki could hear, thus keeping them safe from the ears of the curious.
"Believe it or not, I'm on vacation." Tsuzuki answered, gently. "So, I can go wherever I want to. Actually I've been spending more time at home because of Hisoka than anywhere else... How about you, Hijiri?"
"Me? Well, still the same old..." Hijiri said, waving his hand nonchalantly. "Just finished high school, going to college, still playing the violin...now more than ever because I've decided to turn professional. I have to practice a lot and learn new things, and keep learning until I think I have learned everything. Then I'll teach."
"You're already a professional violinist." Tsuzuki said, leaning his elbows on the table and supporting his head with his hands, watching Hijiri fondly as he spoke. It was good to talk to someone who he hadn't seen for so long, to learn what life had put them through and, sometimes, letting them know about his life as well. Not everything, of course. Tsuzuki didn't tell him about Kyoto. Didn't say a word about how close he had gotten to Hisoka since they moved in together. Hijiri didn't need to know.
"My god, look at the time!" Hijiri exclaimed, suddenly, looking at a clock on the counter for the first time. Tsuzuki could tell that he didn't want to leave, as he was standing up hesitantly as if he was expecting to be pulled back by his friend. Hijiri smiled, suddenly, taking Tsuzuki's cold hand in his and, with a pen that he borrowed from a waitress, began to write something on the shinigami's open palm. "This is my address. I'll be home all day tomorrow, why don't you come over? I have a violin lesson now, but I want to talk to you again..."
"Sure." Tsuzuki replied, with a cheerful smile. "See you tomorrow then."
Hijiri left and Tsuzuki stayed a little longer. If Hijiri had any second intentions, the other would never have noticed, all he wanted was to go home and tell Hisoka. Tsuzuki was sure that Hisoka would be very happy to see Hijiri again. A few minutes later, Tsuzuki left the warmth of the cafe and walked into the mercilessly cold winter evening, heading home.
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Hisoka was watching the snow cover the world from the window of the living room when Tsuzuki walked in, bouncing like a four-year-old in his everlasting and senseless joy, filling the house with the warmth that would never exist without Tsuzuki's positive feelings. The aforementioned warmth made Hisoka forget the snow and turn to his friend with quizzical eyes as he sensed that Tsuzuki was exaggerating in the happiness and that nearly bothered him.
"What?" Tsuzuki asked, almost uncomfortable under Hisoka's insistent gaze. It was not taht he wasn't used to the boy's wordless questions; Hisoka had never been a talkative person and he was content with the silent company. But today Hisoka seemed especially curious. Tsuzuki smiled smugly when he noticed that he was beginning to learn how to read Hisoka's eyes.
"You are all...bouncy. What happened?"
Tsuzuki's smile widened. He fell on to a couch and patted the place beside him gently, signing to Hisoka to join him. "Guess who I met today?"
Hisoka sat beside him without making a sound, looking at Tsuzuki, now more curious than ever though he didn't let it show.
One thing that Hisoka had learned with time was that when Tsuzuki said 'guess', he didn't really want him to guess. Tsuzuki became disappointed when he succeeded. So, Hisoka went for the most unlikely person to meet on the streets. "Tatsumi-san?"
"No, of course not! Tatsumi-san is working now!" Tsuzuki said, waving his index finger in front of the boy's face. "I met Hijiri!"
Hisoka felt that he wouldn't have guessed even if he had actually tried. His reaction to the reappearance of the friendly violinist was the opposite of Tsuzuki's. He frowned in concentration, compressing his lips. All that his mind managed to formulate as a reaction to that statement was a quiet "oh" of surprise. It wasn't that he didn't like Hijiri, since he thought that the other boy was a rather nice person, but Hisoka was very aware that Hijiri had feelings for Tsuzuki that now rivaled his own, though Hisoka was more than certain that they would never beat his in gravity and depth.
"I was surprised too." Tsuzuki said, since Hisoka didn't say anything other than the soft interjection. We talked for a while before he had to leave to attend to a violin lesson."
Hisoka sat in silence, but he wasn't listening to his partner's words as his mind seemed to find something better to dwell on. Hijiri would one day become a rival and perhaps Tsuzuki would like him more than he liked Hisoka, and even when he'd rather die again than admit it, Hisoka found the first flames of jealousy begin to burn within him.
"So, what do you think?"
Hisoka looked up at Tsuzuki, since he had lowered his head sometime during his friend's insistent babbling session. "About what?"
"Going to Hijiri's place, tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?" Tsuzuki asked, cheerfully.
Hisoka's good side beat his much less enthusiastic side to the answer, Hijiri was a nice boy, after all, and Hisoka did miss him quite a lot, maybe not as much as his partner, but still...besides, if Hijiri was going to meet Tsuzuki, or vice-versa, it had better be under supervision. "Sure, why not."
He'd discover 'why not' later, when it was already too late to turn back.
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