Title; The Rose
Rating; M (though this chapter is G and fluffy! xP)
Disclaimer; Yeah, I do not own it. Happy? Wanna rub it in my face some more?
Author's Notes; The final part of The Rose (although I'm probably going to go back and edit the living heck out of it at a later date.) I feel happy and sad about that. I'm weird, I know. The epilogue here will be largely fluff, the dénouement of everything that's been going on in the last couple chapters. Beware the extreme fluffiness! It might make you want to go hug a puppy…or something. So, anyway, this ought to be shorter than the others (I know the prologue was long,) but most of the "dénouement" happened in the last chapter, so, yeah. And it's not gonna be first person. Sorry, but it is Watari point of view (that crazy scientist!)
And what it all boils down to
Is that no one's really got it figured out just yet
I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is playing the piano
What it all comes down to my friends
Is that everything's just fine fine fine
-Alanis Morrisette, "Hand In My Pocket"
There were ways Watari showed how he cared for Tatsumi. A lot of little ways that exposed him. He stopped the secretary from working himself to death, he brought the man his deficit reports, he stole the very same deficit reports if Tatsumi had any notions of working past nine o' clock when he didn't have to, and he refrained from drugging the coffee pot.
At least, he waited until after eight-fifteen to drug the coffee pot because that was when Tatsumi took his second mug of coffee and then, well, then all bets were off.
Watari had never told Tatsumi how he had adapted his schedule for the man. One, because Tatsumi would just ask him why he couldn't stop spiking the coffee in general, and two, he hadn't really trusted Tsuzuki not to eavesdrop after that last incident, and his friend was one of the perfect people to test on. He'd eat anything.
The only thing that tempted Watari to tell Tatsumi was that smile. It was a small smile, after all, he rarely grinned, but it was easy for Watari to make all sorts of fool of himself for just one of those smiles.
He really needed to stop daydreaming. Watari reached up to the crown of his golden hair and pulled down the eye goggles that rested there. Experiments were fun, but just because you were a Shinigami was no reason to be stupid. With a sigh, the scientist tweaked the Bunsen burner slightly, scribbled down the time, and grabbed his latest concoction.
Here's to hoping for minimal property damage.
Adding the newest of his "potions" together, Watari stepped back only slightly and waited for a reaction. Five seconds passed…then ten…. It began to steam softly (not even smoke,) and offered nothing more promising.
Watari raised the eye gear back up to the top of his head, and glanced up at 003, who had, wisely, flown up to the top of one of the cabinets near a window. "Well," he finally said. "That was anti-climactic." This earned him a peep in return. "At the very least, 003, I was hoping for something to happen. Anything. I certainly wouldn't have been unhappy if the sex-change potion finally worked. I want to test it on Terazuma." There was actually reasoning behind using Terazuma; if he used either Tsuzuki or Bon the kid would kill him, he was not turning his lover into a girl, and he was curious to know if Kagankokushungei, Terazuma's Shikigami, would react badly if its host became female.
A knock on the door interrupted his musings, and Watari glanced at the clock. It was only eight thirty, would they have a new case for him this early? Dare to dream; even mechanical engineers-wannabe chemists got bored occasionally. "It's open," he called over. "C'mon in."
Wearing his usual pressed suit and placid expression, Tatsumi let himself into his lover's lab, and glanced about with a wary eye. Apparently deciding that there was nothing in here that was dangerous to his health, he returned his gaze to the man before him. "Watari," he greeted. "I wished to ask you about something."
Watari relaxed on his lab stool with a smirk. "Shoot, Seii." Tatsumi might prefer formalities, but he didn't, and while he would respect that when others were around, the lab was empty except for them, 003, and the penguin.
Removing his glasses, Tatsumi folded them up and tucked them into his suit's chest pocket, before shrugging out of the jacket and draping it on a chair. If he caught Watari's raised eyebrows and growing look of surprise he ignored it. Unbuttoning his cuffs, he rolled up the sleeves, revealing his forearms, and Watari realized exactly why Tatsumi was coming into his laboratory to take off his jacket.
About half of his forearm was a rich shade of cerulean blue. "Uhm…" Watari trailed off, unsure of exactly how one was supposed to react to the fact that a co-worker was nearly ready to double for a smurf.
Tatsumi gave him a dangerous look, and responded with only, "And it's freezing cold," before adding, "I'll ask, what did you put in the coffee?"
"Uhm, well, Seiichiro," Watari said, standing and moving even as Tatsumi had taken his first few threatening steps towards the other man. "Sacrifices in the name of science and all that. Uhm, now, by cold do you mean--?"
"I mean it's cold, and it's spreading very quickly, and if I turn entirely blue, Yutaka, I will murder you." Tatsumi made dive for his lover around the edge of the lab table.
Watari wisely chose to run, jumping the other edge and making a break for the door even as he called over his shoulder, "Already dead!"
------
Hisoka glanced up as a small crash was heard. Through the door of the break room, he could see….
The boy blinked. Tatsumi was chasing Watari, who was shouting something about already being dead, and being able to fix it (whatever "it" was.)
"Well, on the bright side, blue is a really good color for you," Watari called over his shoulder, grinning. It was unsure whether the man was attempting to placate Tatsumi or egg him on.
There was another small crash and they had taken off (presumably to some other wing of the Summons Bureau.) In any case, Hisoka decided either one of two things; something was wrong with the coffee, or he had already had enough.
If you were seeing a secretary turning blue and chasing a scientist, one had to consider the fact that they were having a little too much black coffee.
------
Things weren't perfect, he had mused to himself, after the entire ordeal had been straightened out (which had involved an antidote for at least two other members of staff and heading back to the drawing board.) They weren't perfect, but no one achieved perfect no matter who they were. They were happy, though, and that counted for a lot.
Tatsumi still thought of Tsuzuki, and that was okay. Watari still acted how he did, so strangely, out of desperation to keep the secretary close. As he became more comfortable, the lab explosions didn't happen nearly as often. And all things considered, it had been worth the times when they had missed each other to finally arrive at this point.
Maybe not worth some thirty-odd years of being oblivious, but what they had now made up for a lot of it. It was, after all, worth it to see the Watari that didn't entirely hide behind gay smiles and random bouts of insanity to keep his co-worker's moods lightened, or the Tatsumi who glared and snapped, and generally scared people.
Having any relationship as a Shingami was difficult, between guilt, insanity, and the constant threat of losing one's own life (or whatever facsimile of life it was,) but it was worth it.
Author's Notes; Yesh, just a quick little fluffy ending. xP I might just go beat myself over the head from the fluffiness of it all! Arg! Eh, I'll write Tatsumi/Watari angst next, because it will make me feel better and more evil. ZOMG, The Rose finally ended. Took me long enough. Bad Phoenix. I really do need to beat myself over the head once or twice. Basically, this was a lot shorter 'cause it was the epilogue. It wasn't supposed to be a whole other chapter. If it was, I promise, I would've written my usual nine-ish pages or whatever it is I write. Out of curiousity, did anyone catch the whole symbolic thing with Tatsumi being "cold"? Maybe it was just me being stupid. xD I hope this lives up to the rest of the story, and I hope I'll have more people reading some of my new stuff as it comes out. THANK YOU. I really can't get that across enough, especially to people who took the time to review. -
Eternalsailorsolarwind- What happened to this story? I happened to it! Actually, just so much stuff happened, and I started yelling at myself to finish, 'cause I was having a hard time with it. I'm sorry about the wait there. Lol, did Tatsumi come off as maidenly? Basically, it's sort of Tatsumi being Tatsumi… sex would be just another acknowledgement of a relationship which he just lives to question the hell out of. And Watari doesn't question anything. At least, he doesn't most of the time. xDD Thank you so much, and I hope the epilogue was cute enough for ya.
PuppetofDreams- Kawaii? Good! Kitsune replied with something along the lines of "OMFG porn!" and started making references to Watari being pregnant. ….That was an interesting math class. Yep, 003 got thrown out on her feathery little butt. Tatsumi's not exactly an exhibitionist. Um, to answer your question, I always like Tatsumi as seme. Since Watari has girly hair, I think he's uke (not insulting him; I love his hair!) But I'm sure they switch around and stuff.