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[surfaceshine]

     It had started out as simple nostalgia; this is going to be Dean Winchester's first winter at the Mansion, and Hisoka Kurosaki has fond memories of last year.  The question of snow seemed a rather large one, ridiculously important in a way no other aspect of weather really is, but that's probably more to do with what can be done with snow that

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[cute_shinigami]

It's felt more like early autumn than late autumn, but Tsuzuki can't help but think of winter. And so he's passing through the main room with a pot of hot chocolate and a fresh pile of powdered sugar donuts, ready to share with any who'll have them.

[cute_shinigami]

"Ahh, yeah, she looked like that girl in the self-writing book, or at least, she was the same height and build," he says, with a happy wistfulness. "I was always at least a little bit larger, even when we were babies, but it got a lot more obvious when we were teenagers."

[in_summer_leaf]

[Moved left to avoid post crush.<3]

[in_summer_leaf]

"Did she have violet eyes, like you do? Couldn't tell in those black-and-white illustrations."

[cute_shinigami]

"Nope, she had dark brown ones, like our parents did," he says. "No idea how I got the violet eyes, unless there's something recessive there."

And a slightly unsettled look might tick through his eyes, as he briefly thinks back to a long-ago conversation with Muraki.

[in_summer_leaf]

Hisoka wasn't present for that conversation, but he remembers very well the fallout from it. Tsuzuki, collapsed against a brick wall in a snowy alley, saying, in a slurred, grief-stricken voice, "I'm not human," giving it that peculiar inflection that suggested a recent talk with Muraki. Hisoka has long held the doctor responsible for the manipulative way in which he had let drop that hint about Tsuzuki's genetic history. Still, for Hisoka, this is the past. But for Tsuzuki, it seems to remain a live, painful, unresolved issue.

Suddenly Hisoka has the thought that perhaps it IS time Muraki held a second conversation with Tsuzuki, and this time with honesty and as much compassion as the doctor is capable of. How could it make things worse?? Tsuzuki has been at the Mansion for years, and he still does not know. Hisoka doesn't expect it to be a simple matter for his partner to assimilate the information. How could it be? But he deserves a chance to try, and if people continue to keep it from him, he will never get the chance to

[cute_shinigami]

"Yeah, you never know what's on your family tree, or what can pop up later on," he says, lightly and trying to sound easy-going; they've tread on some delicate ground and he's easing away from it. "I had a cousin who had blue eyes and no one else in her family had them."

[in_summer_leaf]

"Remind me sometime to tell you about what's on MY family tree," says Hisoka, with a small smile, "speaking of odd recessives." Thoughtful pause. "But, Tsuzuki, you have such beautiful eyes, wherever they came from." He says this in a casual tone, one that won't interfere with Tsuzuki's continuing to ease away from the topic if he wishes.

[cute_shinigami]

"You really think they're beautiful?" he asks, hopeful. He's been annoyed time and time again by Muraki commenting on them and in the past, the kids in the village tormented him on account of them. But hearing Hisoka compliment him for them, particularly this Hisoka, is oddly inciting.

[in_summer_leaf]

"Yes, I do," says Hisoka, definitely. And he continues to look into those eyes

[cute_shinigami]

And despite their odd color, they are very human eyes as well, looking into Hisoka's soulfully, even with a hint of longing. For affection? for something more intimate? Or for something as simple as approval and validation?

That longing quickly changes to happiness, even a cheerful kind of embarrassment. "Thank you...that's all I wanted to hear you say about them," he says. "If you like them, then they aren't such a bad thing, no matter what anyone's said about them." The weight of past shame and self-hatred after the way he's been treated for them, seems to be lifting, slowly but surely.

[in_summer_leaf]

"I've always liked them," Hisoka responds. "Eyes that sparkle with emotion, vitalilty. What an asset! If anybody's said anything bad about them, I think that person or those people must have been either ignorant or malicious, or just had some agenda of their own and didn't care what effect it had on you." These are perceptions and thoughts that it would never have occurred to Hisoka to say aloud when he was younger -- he was emotional and reactive, and he could feel but not interpret other people's needs and desires and had difficulty responding to them. Not that it's easy now, but there's a difference. He continues to look into Tsuzuki's soulful eyes, his own face gentle. "You've never seen yourself when you are summoning or fighting a battle -- your eyes radiate power and protectiveness. You're quite amazing."

[cute_shinigami]

He beams, his violet eyes positively sparking with happiness and relief and a little modesty. "Thanks... coming from you, Hisoka, it means the world to me. You see things that others can't see or won't see, and that includes things I wasn't able to see," he says. "You're like a mirror that way, showing me what I can't see: I just hope that I can return the favor, somehow."

[in_summer_leaf]

"Well, you're the one who saw what others could not see when you looked at me, back in the old days," Hisoka responds. "So it's only fair I try to do the same for you." He twinkles his own green eyes up at Tsuzuki.

[cute_shinigami]

"What goes around comes around, eh? I'm glad to hear that, especially from you," he says, grinning, touched to the core by this. "Well, we'll see how fierce I am in a snowball fight. Knowing me, I'll likely end up headfirst in a snowbank, but we'll see. I surprise myself sometimes," he adds, grinning.

[in_summer_leaf]

"I'm looking forward to it," says Hisoka, delightedly. And he thinks it will be fine, whether Tsuzuki falls in a snowbank or smacks somebody with a barrage of snowballs.

[I LOVE that icon of Tsu summoning.^^ Ready for an FTB?]