Summary: When Jadeite loses once again against the scouts, Nephrite is waiting to 'cheer' him up.
Notes: I had an absolute blast writing this. It's part of a challenge I'm doing on live journal which basically involves writing a piece of fanfic for each of the fandoms I've ever written for in the past. Nephrite/Jadeite was the first slash/yaoi pairing I ever wrote years and years ago. I'd forgotten how much fun they were to write (possibly because I didn't even begin to write them in character and had banished that stage of my fanfic life into the dusty corner's of my memory), but they really are. Might have to write some more about them at some stage.
Written in the Stars.
The distant slamming of a door, softly muttered curses, and only a fool wouldn't have known that Jadeite had just returned from yet another unsuccessful mission. Nephrite smirked slightly as he rested gently against the messy, book laden desk. Waiting, waiting …
"Those blasted …"
There.
Jadeite didn't finish his sentence, choosing instead to collapse against the most recently slammed shut door on an already long list. It was a shame the way those pretty eyes drifted closed as he did so, but as it meant that Jadeite hadn't realised he shared his quarters with a guest, Nephrite did not mind all that terribly. It was rare for anyone to be allowed to see Jadeite like this – the scouts aside; as they were the ones who tended to reduce the fool to such a condition – which was really all sorts of a pity. Jadeite wore the mixture of anger, vulnerability and … was that ash? … rather nicely, and Nephrite would have been content to merely observe the other man for quite a bit longer. He may have done just that if Jadeite's eyes hadn't suddenly flickered open, piercing blue eyes coldly penetrating him through to the core.
"What are you doing in my bedroom?" The quiet, iced words did not have the reaction that Jadeite was surely after, as Nephrite's smirk only grew.
"Was there something in particular you were hoping for?" If possible, Jadeite's gaze became even colder. "You've got an interesting array of books here, by the way." He turned to the pile that was stacked hazardously on the edge of Jadeite's desk, running his fingers lightly down the spines. "Looks like someone's been doing their research, as well as brushing up on some magic tricks." Nephrite's gaze slid back towards Jadeite. "Been of any help?" Nephrite sighed with mock sadness when Jadeite practically bristled at the question. "Maybe next time." Definitely ash. "I found this one-" he pulled one from the bottom out expertly, leaving the messy pile still in one piece, "-particularly fascinating. I never knew you had an interest in astrology."
Jadeite did move then, crossing the distance between them in only a handful of angry steps.
"You know exactly how that book got here," Jadeite growled, snatching the book from Nephrite's grasp.
"I know how it got into your bookcase," Nephrite corrected. "How it managed to migrate from there to your desk is one of this world's great mysteries, it seems. If you do happen, just be chance-"
"Why are you here?" Jadeite's curt interjection seemed more like a command than a question. "Surely you have better things to do than to rub in the fact that I lost once again."
"If there are better things than that, then I have yet to discover them," Nephrite replied with a blasé smile, tilting his head slightly to the side as he waited for Jadeite's reaction. Jadeite, as always, did not disappoint.
"Well then perhaps you should, or is it too much to expect you to do anything more than simply stand around sprouting nonsense about the stars? I don't care, I don't care, as long as whatever you do you do it somewhere else. Anywhere else. I'm sure Zoisite makes a far-"
"Jadeite." Unlike Jadeite's previous interjection, Nephrite said the word softly, seriously, and Jadeite really had no choice but to freeze under the quiet request, remaining that way even when Nephrite gently stroked his fingers across his cheek. "You had a touch of ash right there."
"Nephrite," Jadeite finally replied slowly, his low tone trembling with barely suppressed anger. "I am covered in ash."
"Oh?" Nephrite's eyes widened in 'surprise'. Not allowing Jadeite the chance to respond, he quickly clasped one of Jadeite's hands and dropped a small pouch into it. "That should help with the pain in your shoulder." A flicker of confusion sparked in Jadeite's gaze before he pulled away, suspicion clouding his features.
"Let me guess, the stars forewarned you." This time, it was Jadeite's tone that held all the mockery.
"That you would be stupid enough to get yourself injured? Yes. Although, given your track record of late the stars were hardly all that necessary." Nephrite's smirk returned as Jadeite clenched his fists tightly at his sides. "That it was your shoulder that hurt the most? You were favoring it slightly when you entered, and you've been overcompensating in an attempt to hide it since then. Now, if you'll excuse me, as much fun as this has been I do believe I am required elsewhere." Of all the things that Nephrite had expected Jadeite to next, stepping deliberately into his path and actually preventing him from leaving was not one of them.
"Why?" Again with the demands that masqueraded as questions. "Why do you keep doing this? Why me?" Nephrite wondered, just briefly, if Jadeite ever reflected on the fact that while it was Nephrite who always did the teasing, it was Jadeite who tended to always close the distance between them even as he angrily demanded space. There were mere millimeters between them now, and Nephrite hadn't moved an inch.
"Did you know, Jadeite," Nephrite began quietly, his gaze never wavering from Jadeite's. "Did you know, that the stars don't only tell of the future, but also of the past?" For a moment, it was almost as though the words seemed to mean something. Jadeite suddenly appeared strangely conflicted, and something shimmered in his eyes that may have just been something closer to recognition and remembrance. For a moment, Nephrite held his breath.
"Get out."
When he let it out again, it was accompanied by a smirk he did not quite feel and a lavish bow that demolished the last of the good will Jadeite may have still had for him.
"All you had to do was ask," he replied with faux pleasantness as he left, his smirk becoming a tad more real when the door was slammed behind him with a familiarity that echoed both in this world and one long lost.
The stars had a lot to account for.