Drabble 002 : Frostbite
Rating : PG
Warnings : Vague mention of alcohol. And more toothrot, of course.
A/N : Um, very short.
He couldn't put his finger on it. It kept him awake in bed, so that all the noises and creaks of the house became painfully loud. He stretched his toes and fingers out, hoping for that pleasant brush of soft clean sheets on tired skin. But he felt odd, he felt cold and achy, and it disturbed him. What was it? What was this sensation he couldn't shake?
Why was it there?
Shun had spent his day unconstructively, some would say. Shun would argue otherwise. For most of the afternoon Shun was curled up on the couch with a large book, observing the routines of the other Saints. He had caught Seiya sneaking into the kitchen to gorge on the unprotected chocolate cake, and he had seen Shiryu meandering from room to room in a meditative-yet-mumbling state. He had heard Ikki making some rather unflattering remark about the Gold Saints, and Saori's half-hearted retort.
And of course, he had watched Hyoga.
Hyoga had been sitting opposite him all afternoon. He was holding a glass filled with ice and some stinking alcoholic substance. All afternoon he had taken but one sip of it, and Shun had concluded that Hyoga wasn't holding the glass to drain its contents, but that he was also partaking in an observation. Hyoga, it seemed, was watching the ice melt.
Shun theorised and speculated as to why, each time coming to no real answer. He wasn't really trying to find one. He wasn't really reading his book either, but peering over it and lowering his eyes whenever he thought he had been seen.
But Hyoga remained unaware, his sapphire-shard eyes unfocused and bright. He was thinking, remembering, maybe even mourning. Shun was filled with a desperate need to approach Hyoga and to hold him and to...comfort him? No, Shun wanted to do more, and was surprised when his stomach churned with awe-struck butterflies. It almost felt like a hot oily liquid filling him up, making him comfortable yet uneasy.
He retreated again behind his book, his face working the expressions of someone both confused and utterly amazed. From what he knew, it felt awfully like...like a crush.
Shun was crushing on Hyoga, badly- and had been for a long time, it seemed. It was only that odd bubbling deep inside his chest that had ultimately made him aware of that. He peeked over his book again, his face slightly red. He observed the figure before him bit by bit.
He realised it was all too easy to crush on Hyoga. He shouldn't blame himself, because it was all too apparent as to why it had happened. Hyoga was tall, leanly muscled, with a flop of almost white-blonde hair and those piercing, cold-as-ice eyes. He was also emotionally distant and unavailable, too caught up in his grief to be able to truly express any feelings besides sadness and guilt. Despite all this, he also showed and extra-ordinary kindness and respect towards others, and Shun remembered him as one of the first people to show him any scrap of decency.
Shun had let a small sigh escape him - it fluttered in the air like a frightened moth but it was enough to break Hyoga's concentration. He focused his eyes sharply upon him, and Shun felt an inexplicable iciness creep across his back and into his limbs.
It was pleasant at first, but as the evening wore on, the chill had moved to his extremities and it had become almost painful. His fingers and toes looked fine, but they felt cold and numb. He had acquired a hot-water bottle for the evening in the hope it might alleviate the glacial state of his digits, but to no avail.
Shun guessed he had some kind of frostbite. Not the kind you get while climbing mountains, but the kind you get when you start to develop feelings for a Saint who's the very embodiment of ice.
"This hurts," he whispered to the dark room around him. Only then did he notice that there was another presence in the room, almost glowing, and that it must have appeared while Shun was busy debating with himself. Shun gasped as he felt that familiar cosmos light up, filling the room with invisible frost.
"How do you think I feel?" it said.
A/N: Please remember that this is just a collection of drabbles, which will probably bear no link to each other. Drabbles ARE short, and drabbles do not really require much thought. It's just character interaction in my interpretation. As there is no plot or connection, you should be fine to read these in any order you wish.
