For Tsubasa's big 30. Happy birthday, my beautiful muse!
Characters: Tackey, Tsubasa, Jin, Pi and Johnny-san
Genre: Angst, AU, romance and supernatural
Rating: PG
Summary: Every now and then, Tsubasa would wonder what happened to that handsome stranger who breezed into his life and whisked his heart away.
A Love Less Ordinary
'I love you too.'
Tsubasa looks at the note in his hand, a serious declaration in childish handwriting. He smiles every time he sees it - a bittersweet smile. The stranger who wrote it was very similar too, sometimes serious but often silly.
Who is he? One fine day, a stranger knocked on his door and introduced himself as his new neighbour.
What did he do? They hung out as friends, doing nothing special, yet feeling something different.
When did it happen? Before he realised it, Tsubasa had already given his heart away.
Where did he go? It was the morning after. They had made love for the first time and Tsubasa woke up all alone.
Why did he leave? Tsubasa said 'I love you.' And he wrote 'I love you too.' So why did he leave?
....................
It is his first time on the 99th floor of the building. The lobby, bare and desolate, is bone-chillingly disconcerting. Despite being an old-timer, Takki feels shaken to his core.
If the situation is not dire enough, he soon finds himself in unfriendly company. The Director of Human Resource has just stepped cautiously out of the elevator, and Takki braces himself for hell. Surprisingly, all Jin does is stand quietly next to him. And what follows next is the familiar sensation of hands slowly creeping up his arm.
'Grow up, will ya!' Takki laughingly chides as he brushes the naughty hands away.
'I'll miss molesting you.'
'There's always Yabu.'
'Actually, I've always preferred older men.'
Takki cracks up again. He'll miss Jin too.
'I thought you were gonna give me hell.'
The air is suddenly ominous again.
'Nay, I'll leave that to MD* Johnny-sama.'
'Where's Pi?'
Gingerly, Jin draws a long deep breath before he continues.
'Busy crying his eyes out as he types the long apology email to the MD of the Life Division. Bet he's never had it this hard as a Director of Foreign Affairs. And you even had the audacity to ask him to put in a good word for that lover boy, Tsubasa.'
Takki hangs his head. He's painfully aware that what he's doing is against the most sacred of protocol and policy. But it had to be done.
'I never expected this. Nobody did. You knew better.'
Takki didn't expect it either. Out of goodwill, he'd always made it a point to help fulfill the most cherished dream of the soul he was to fetch. And Tsubasa was supposed to be just another case, and his desire to fall in love just another dream.
'You must really love him, huh? To do such an exchange.'
Love? Takki'd always regarded being in love as merely a state of chemical imbalance, or even temporary insanity. He could never understand the obsession with it. Nonetheless, he was also secretly curious, and maybe even a little envious of those fools and dreamers. While it's true that he wrote those infamous words, 'I love you too', Takki wonders if he truly understands what they mean.
Lost in his reverie, he's soon rudely jolted back to harsh reality. It is time, time for him to open the door and walk through it, into the great unknown. For the first time in his existence, he feels fear. He knows all about what happens after death. But what happens after the death of a shinigami**?
.........................
'Imai Hideaki! You know you're not supposed to open that drawer.'
Startled, Hideaki-chan drops the note in his hand. But his lost of composure is quickly recovered.
'So who wrote this?' The evil glint in his eyes is unmistakable.
'And what's it to you?'
'Aww... nothin' much, just thinking of using it as blackmail material. This childish handwriting's definitely not mum's.'
It doesn't take long for Tsubasa to give in, his teenage son has been known to be very stubborn and persistent.
'Someone I used to love.'
'Used to? You still have it and it's all cased up in this plastic folder.'
This time, Tsubasa doesn't answer. He only smiles weakly. Deep down inside, he doesn't want to give up the past. And even if he wanted to, he knows he couldn't.
'So what's she like?'
Again, Tsubasa is tight-lipped, offering yet another bittersweet smile. There is simply no way he can break the news and say, 'It's not a 'she' but a 'he'. And he's exactly like you.'
End
* MD - Managing Director
** Shinigami - Grim reaper or Death god
A/N: Takki sure gave Tsubasa a very precious present, ne?
Next up, one more present for Tsubasa, Photo comic strip:
Birthday Suit.