After a self-release in the bathroom, Tsuzuki wiped off, washed his hands, and zipped his fly. The bulge inside his pants had been taken good care of. He returned to Hisoka and sat not next to the boy, but one chair away. It was safer like that. Also he was afraid he still smells of... huh... never mind.
He scanned the pages of the brain book that he carelessly grabbed a long moment ago. There were some gory pictures of the human brain, and he thought, good thing I'm not a brain surgeon. Several pages down, he found some mathematics on longetivity, a bunch of tables, figures, and lists of chemicals. He had never been skilled in scientific topics. He could feel Hisoka eyeing him. Maybe I'm making too much noise, he thought. Pretending to be interested, he picked Chapter 2 and stopped flipping pages. There were some photos of people and their loving family, cozy homes, tender pets, and he started reading at the middle of the page.
"... muscle rigidity, slow speech and movement, and weakness ..."
He skipped a few lines.
"... gradual paralysis of face, lack of facial expressions ..."
Strangely, the words pinched something inside Tsuzuki. His mind went blank for a minute. Then slowly, he turned back to page 1 of the book and started reading honestly. Later that day, when Hisoka suggested they go eat something, Tsuzuki asked if he could use the boy's account to check out the book. Smiling, the boy nodded. For a man that did not like books, his partner has indeed changed for the better.
They ate dinner at a local restaurant not too far from the library.
"What were you reading, Tsuzuki?" Hisoka asked curiously.
"Some brain book. I don't understand much, but just enough to keep reading. I'll let you know if I learn something from it, or if it makes me smarter than you." He smiled his sexy smile and winked at the boy.
Hisoka blushed. Damn! Why is it that everytime this man uses his seductive smile and wink combo, my legs go weak. Damn him! The boy thought to himself. The waiter brought their meals and they ate and talked and laughed, but all the while, each could not bring himself to declare his feelings for the other. Although Tsuzuki enjoyed the dinner, there was one line from the brain book that kept him from fully savoring his caramel apple pie. He had a small bite only, so he asked the waiter to box up the left-over. Surprised, Hisoka teased, "toothache?" but the man smiled his sexy smile and said "saving it for bedtime", and winked at the boy.Hisoka blushed again. Damn! Damn! Damn! Why is it that he keeps using his seductive smile and wink combo! Can't he just use one or the other? Why the combo? Damn! My knees are shaking. Aarrgh!!!
The passage of the book, that kept bothering Tsuzuki, quoted "This disease has no known cure to this day. However, treatments to slow down the nervous crash are under development (K. Muraki, Advanced Medical Research, 1999)."