story_lottery FIC: "Yami no Matsuei" -- "Reading Materials" (PG)
I had a blast writing this one last night, while sitting in the coffeshop in the Salem NH Barnes & Noble.
Title: “Reading Materials”
Author: matrixrefugee
Fandom: “Yami no Matsuei” (aka Descendants of Darkness)
Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei, aka Descendants of Darkness, it’s characters, concepts and other indicia, which are the intellectual property of Yoko Matsushita, Hiroko Tokita, Manga Entertainment, Viz Media, Hakusensha, Central Park Media, et al.
Pairing/Characters: Hisoka Kurosaki, Asato Tsuzuki
Prompt: 3.3 - a park bench
Words: 1,211
Rating: PG
Summary: Sometimes Tsuzuki’s willingness to share new things with Hisoka can poke his young partner’s discomfort button…
Author’s Note: Not exactly a requested fic, but I was lovingly prodded to write this by the lovely folks in the carpe_ho_ras RPG chat room one night, thanks in no small part to Tsuzuki’s lovable awkwardness about… certain aspects of human nature (and his own in-character admissions to reading really raunchy romance novels…). I’d gotten myself hooorribly stuck trying to come up with something to break a moment of writer’s block when I was trying to come up with something based on this prompt, but everything fell into place…
It was Hisoka's turn to run for coffee while the two of them, Tsuzuki and himself, were on watch in a park that April morning. Though it cost a little more, Hisoka had a shot of espresso added to the mocha latte Tsuzuki had asked for: the older shinigami was apt to fall asleep on the job and he'd rather deal with a wired Tsuzuki than have to listen to Tatsumi or Chief Konoe lecturing them both on staying vigilant.
But to his surprise, when he got back to the park bench they had taken up their position on -- keeping an eye out for an incubus which had started terrorizing and killing young women and even some young men out jogging in the early morning and the early evening -- he found his partner sitting upright on the bench, instead of slouched against the back with his on his shoulder, as Hisoka had been apt to find him. Instead, the elder shinigami was reading a book which he held low, his shoulders hunched around it, almost as if he were embarrassed to be caught reading it. The pink tinge to his ivory cheeks and the slightly gauche look in his violet-colored eyes gave away why he was embarrassed, to say nothing of the quiet feelings of arousal that Hisoka sensed in his partner, which prompted him to sit down at some distance from him on the other end of the bench.
"What's got your face burning like that?" Hisoka asked, trying to get a look at the title on the spine of the book.
Tsuzuki jolted a bit, as if he had snapped out of some delightful reverie. "Oh! This? Well, ah, it's the newest book from Laurell K. Hamilton, that American paranormal romance writer who's so popular these days," he replied, recovering but still awkward, like a kid caught reading a girlie magazine.
"Paranormal romance? what's that?" Hisoka asked, not quite sure if he wanted to know what that could be, as it did not sound like his type of reading material.
"Well, it's pretty much a romance novel with a vampire or a werewolf or an elf or some other kind of paranormal being falling for a mortal, though sometimes it's about a pair of paranormal beings falling in love with each other and all the crazy things that happen to them along the way," Tsuzuki replied, starting to slip the book into his coat pocket and taking the cardboard cup that his partner held out to him.
"Sounds like a regular romance novel with fangs or fur added in," Hisoka said, taking up his pair of binoculars and pretending to watch birds, when he was really watching the passersby in the near distance.
"Yeah, some of the cheap paperback novels can be like that, but Ms. Hamilton is a lot better than that," Tsuzuki replied, taking a sip from his cup. "She writes so well, she makes it all seem real, as if there might actually be packs of werewolves or nests of vampires living in St. Louis, or a faery princess might be hiding in plain sight in Hollywood."
"I'll take your word for it," Hisoka said, taking a sip his cup of hot tea.
"Wouldn't you like to take a peek?" Tsuzuki asked, offering the book to him.
Hisoka lowered the binoculars and took the book, already getting another trace of sensual excitement off the book itself. "Yeah, all right, as long as you take your share of the watch this time," he said. He knew that if he refused, Tsuzuki would tease and wheedle him about it till he finally broke down and gave in, and if he had learned one thing about Tsuzuki, in the now ten years they had worked together as partners and in the six years they had spent as roommates and somewhat more than friends, that it was best to give in to the older shinigami and his goofy ideas than to risk the infamous puppy dog eyes of doom. Not even Tatsumi, for all his strictness and starchiness, was immune to Tsuzuki's wheedling when those violet eyes turned so sad and his mouth turned down in a pout. Plus, Hisoka was always trying to get Tsuzuki to read more classic literature and history, so perhaps a trade for something lighter for a change was fair enough.
"I hoped you'd say yes," Tsuzuki said, leaning back against the bench. "Besides, it's healthy for a young man your age to read something meant for the senses --"
"Ugh," Hisoka grunted, handing the book back to Tsuzuki just a little too quickly, after only a mere handful of pages. "What is this stuff supposed to be? Porn?"
"You don't like it?" Tsuzuki asked, dismayed and even a bit worried now. The look in his eyes made Hisoka pause before snapping back a reply: he knew that Tsuzuki was one of the most sincere people on either side of the line between the human world and the realm of the dead, and even his mistakes were usually the result of his own exuberance and his uninhibited zest for life getting the better of him. Even though he was dead, Tsuzuki lived life to the fullest and he was always trying to get Hisoka to join in, no matter how much prodding it took or how much he embarrassed his partner. The elder shinigami meant well and he could hardly be upset with him for that.
"It's... it's just not my type," Hisoka said, relenting. "It's a bit too ...descriptive for me."
"There is that," Tsuzuki admitted, humbled. He did not have to ask why since he knew that too well: physical intimacy on certain deeper levels, even written descriptions of it were still hard for Hisoka to take in and process, given the horrible things inflicted on him in his past, even though these traumas had happened to him thirteen years ago. "I shouldn't have shoved it at you like that. Maybe you'll be ready for it someday, when you're a bit older," Tsuzuki added, taking the book back and slipping it back into his coat pocket.
"Tsuzuki, you know that I'm going to stay the same age," Hisoka replied, trying not to sigh, even though this thought weighed on him intensely: of all the things that he could accuse Muraki of taking from him when he lost his life to that fiend, he greatly resented being stuck at age sixteen for as long as he remained a shinigami.
"Well, your body hasn't grown since we met, but you've matured quite a bit over the years we've been together," Tsuzuki replied, taking another sip of coffee.
"Maybe I just look more mature next to you," Hisoka replied, the closest thing to a playful jab that he was going to give in return.
"Aww, you know you like it when I'm being goofy," Tsuzuki teased, reaching over and fuzzing Hisoka's hair.
"Cut that out, you're the puppy, not me," Hisoka snipped, scooting away even further on the bench. But he had to smile just a bit, in reply to the playful grin on his partner's face, and the friendly feeling he sensed in the older male.
"Do I owe you one for that book?" Tsuzuki said, remorseful. "I didn't mean for it to upset you."
Hisoka shrugged one shoulder. "It wouldn't be you if you weren't trying to share something new with me. Don't worry about it. We got this case to worry about."
Title: “Reading Materials”
Author: matrixrefugee
Fandom: “Yami no Matsuei” (aka Descendants of Darkness)
Disclaimer: I do not own Yami no Matsuei, aka Descendants of Darkness, it’s characters, concepts and other indicia, which are the intellectual property of Yoko Matsushita, Hiroko Tokita, Manga Entertainment, Viz Media, Hakusensha, Central Park Media, et al.
Pairing/Characters: Hisoka Kurosaki, Asato Tsuzuki
Prompt: 3.3 - a park bench
Words: 1,211
Rating: PG
Summary: Sometimes Tsuzuki’s willingness to share new things with Hisoka can poke his young partner’s discomfort button…
Author’s Note: Not exactly a requested fic, but I was lovingly prodded to write this by the lovely folks in the carpe_ho_ras RPG chat room one night, thanks in no small part to Tsuzuki’s lovable awkwardness about… certain aspects of human nature (and his own in-character admissions to reading really raunchy romance novels…). I’d gotten myself hooorribly stuck trying to come up with something to break a moment of writer’s block when I was trying to come up with something based on this prompt, but everything fell into place…
It was Hisoka's turn to run for coffee while the two of them, Tsuzuki and himself, were on watch in a park that April morning. Though it cost a little more, Hisoka had a shot of espresso added to the mocha latte Tsuzuki had asked for: the older shinigami was apt to fall asleep on the job and he'd rather deal with a wired Tsuzuki than have to listen to Tatsumi or Chief Konoe lecturing them both on staying vigilant.
But to his surprise, when he got back to the park bench they had taken up their position on -- keeping an eye out for an incubus which had started terrorizing and killing young women and even some young men out jogging in the early morning and the early evening -- he found his partner sitting upright on the bench, instead of slouched against the back with his on his shoulder, as Hisoka had been apt to find him. Instead, the elder shinigami was reading a book which he held low, his shoulders hunched around it, almost as if he were embarrassed to be caught reading it. The pink tinge to his ivory cheeks and the slightly gauche look in his violet-colored eyes gave away why he was embarrassed, to say nothing of the quiet feelings of arousal that Hisoka sensed in his partner, which prompted him to sit down at some distance from him on the other end of the bench.
"What's got your face burning like that?" Hisoka asked, trying to get a look at the title on the spine of the book.
Tsuzuki jolted a bit, as if he had snapped out of some delightful reverie. "Oh! This? Well, ah, it's the newest book from Laurell K. Hamilton, that American paranormal romance writer who's so popular these days," he replied, recovering but still awkward, like a kid caught reading a girlie magazine.
"Paranormal romance? what's that?" Hisoka asked, not quite sure if he wanted to know what that could be, as it did not sound like his type of reading material.
"Well, it's pretty much a romance novel with a vampire or a werewolf or an elf or some other kind of paranormal being falling for a mortal, though sometimes it's about a pair of paranormal beings falling in love with each other and all the crazy things that happen to them along the way," Tsuzuki replied, starting to slip the book into his coat pocket and taking the cardboard cup that his partner held out to him.
"Sounds like a regular romance novel with fangs or fur added in," Hisoka said, taking up his pair of binoculars and pretending to watch birds, when he was really watching the passersby in the near distance.
"Yeah, some of the cheap paperback novels can be like that, but Ms. Hamilton is a lot better than that," Tsuzuki replied, taking a sip from his cup. "She writes so well, she makes it all seem real, as if there might actually be packs of werewolves or nests of vampires living in St. Louis, or a faery princess might be hiding in plain sight in Hollywood."
"I'll take your word for it," Hisoka said, taking a sip his cup of hot tea.
"Wouldn't you like to take a peek?" Tsuzuki asked, offering the book to him.
Hisoka lowered the binoculars and took the book, already getting another trace of sensual excitement off the book itself. "Yeah, all right, as long as you take your share of the watch this time," he said. He knew that if he refused, Tsuzuki would tease and wheedle him about it till he finally broke down and gave in, and if he had learned one thing about Tsuzuki, in the now ten years they had worked together as partners and in the six years they had spent as roommates and somewhat more than friends, that it was best to give in to the older shinigami and his goofy ideas than to risk the infamous puppy dog eyes of doom. Not even Tatsumi, for all his strictness and starchiness, was immune to Tsuzuki's wheedling when those violet eyes turned so sad and his mouth turned down in a pout. Plus, Hisoka was always trying to get Tsuzuki to read more classic literature and history, so perhaps a trade for something lighter for a change was fair enough.
"I hoped you'd say yes," Tsuzuki said, leaning back against the bench. "Besides, it's healthy for a young man your age to read something meant for the senses --"
"Ugh," Hisoka grunted, handing the book back to Tsuzuki just a little too quickly, after only a mere handful of pages. "What is this stuff supposed to be? Porn?"
"You don't like it?" Tsuzuki asked, dismayed and even a bit worried now. The look in his eyes made Hisoka pause before snapping back a reply: he knew that Tsuzuki was one of the most sincere people on either side of the line between the human world and the realm of the dead, and even his mistakes were usually the result of his own exuberance and his uninhibited zest for life getting the better of him. Even though he was dead, Tsuzuki lived life to the fullest and he was always trying to get Hisoka to join in, no matter how much prodding it took or how much he embarrassed his partner. The elder shinigami meant well and he could hardly be upset with him for that.
"It's... it's just not my type," Hisoka said, relenting. "It's a bit too ...descriptive for me."
"There is that," Tsuzuki admitted, humbled. He did not have to ask why since he knew that too well: physical intimacy on certain deeper levels, even written descriptions of it were still hard for Hisoka to take in and process, given the horrible things inflicted on him in his past, even though these traumas had happened to him thirteen years ago. "I shouldn't have shoved it at you like that. Maybe you'll be ready for it someday, when you're a bit older," Tsuzuki added, taking the book back and slipping it back into his coat pocket.
"Tsuzuki, you know that I'm going to stay the same age," Hisoka replied, trying not to sigh, even though this thought weighed on him intensely: of all the things that he could accuse Muraki of taking from him when he lost his life to that fiend, he greatly resented being stuck at age sixteen for as long as he remained a shinigami.
"Well, your body hasn't grown since we met, but you've matured quite a bit over the years we've been together," Tsuzuki replied, taking another sip of coffee.
"Maybe I just look more mature next to you," Hisoka replied, the closest thing to a playful jab that he was going to give in return.
"Aww, you know you like it when I'm being goofy," Tsuzuki teased, reaching over and fuzzing Hisoka's hair.
"Cut that out, you're the puppy, not me," Hisoka snipped, scooting away even further on the bench. But he had to smile just a bit, in reply to the playful grin on his partner's face, and the friendly feeling he sensed in the older male.
"Do I owe you one for that book?" Tsuzuki said, remorseful. "I didn't mean for it to upset you."
Hisoka shrugged one shoulder. "It wouldn't be you if you weren't trying to share something new with me. Don't worry about it. We got this case to worry about."