Rivalry

 

 

            “Watari-san? Are you okay?” Hisoka poked the blonde timidly as Watari gazed blankly down at the device in his hands.

            No. He wasn’t, as a matter of fact. He’d be a lot more okay if Hisoka’d keep his grimy little empathizing-paws off of Tsuzuki.

            Watari sighed, turned and smiled brightly at Hisoka. “Perfectly fine, Bon!”

            Hisoka’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t call me that.”

            “Whatever you say Bon.” Watari patted him absently on the head and held out the pencil sharpener he’d been fixing to him. “There. Tsuzuki shouldn’t be able to jam this baby *now*!”

            A tiny smile of approval flickered over his face. “Thanks.” He turned and started to walk away, but Watari couldn’t just *let* him dash off like that.

            “Hisoka!”

            Slowly, Hisoka turned and raised an eyebrow at the scientist. “Is something wrong? You used my name.” A rare event in*deed*.

            “I wanted your attention.” Watari flashed a quick smile and continued, his heartbeat picking up and a cold sweat forming on his palms as he asked the question. “Do you like Tsuzuki?”

            A shadow of a smile crossed the younger man’s face as he answered. “Not as much as you do.”

            Watari started, his eyes widening and a blush flooding his face at Hisoka’s matter-of-fact knowledge of his feelings. His emotions couldn’t be *that* evident, could they? The shadow of a smile flickered into a full-fledged smile momentarily. “Don’t look at me like that. I think I’m the only one that knows…”

            “H-how?” Watari managed to say hoarsely, his head spinning. Hisoka *knew*! His one rival…*knew*!

            “I’m an empathetic,” Hisoka stated matter-of-factly. “I’m much more aware of things than you think.

            “Obviously.” Watari studied his fidgety form momentarily before blurting out in a rush, “Do you know how Tsuzuki feels about *you*?”

            “No. I don’t let myself think about it.” Hisoka blushed faintly and glanced away, shifting his weight around and tossing the pencil sharpener from hand to hand – the first time Watari had seen Hisoka display such forthright positive emotion about Tsuzuki. Watari’s heart sank at this new knowledge…if there were even the slightest chance Hisoka returned Tsuzuki’s affections…there was no hope at *all* for a certain scientist. Watari sighed softly and turned away, adding automatically, “If that sharpener jams again, you’re better off just buying a new one.”

            “Okay then.” Hisoka grasped the pencil sharpener tightly in his hands and started off. He paused in the doorway and added softly, “Thanks Watari.” Watari nodded and he was gone.

 

#@#@#@

 

            Once Watari was back in the safe solitude of his lab, he promptly shoved a table-full of notes, vials, chemicals, and other equipment to the floor, effectively clearing the table for use. The blonde paused in his actions to stare down at the mess at his feet and wrinkled his nose in distaste, sweeping the pile beneath a counter to keep it out of the way. He could be concerned about cleanliness later, a much more important matter was at stake here.

            Pulling a tall stool out from under the table, Watari sat down, his face scrunching up in serious thought. With Hisoka’s unconscious admission to returning Tsuzuki’s affections, there was a very slim chance Watari would ever receive anything other than friendship from the violet-eyed brunette. But that didn’t mean he just had to lie down and watch that chance, slim as it was, fly by!

            Watari frowned with thought as he set a yellow stenograph notebook on his lap and deliberately uncapped a pen, tapping the side of the notebook with the pen. With a resigned sigh, he began doodling on the pad, ignoring the poor quality and realizing with a blush his results were Tsuzuki-like stick figures. Slapping the notebook closed, he tossed it to the ground along with his pen.

            He was going have an awful lot of cleaning to do when this was over.

            Watari let out a groan and dropped his head into his hands, an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness surrounding him.

 

#@#@#@

 

            Hisoka was extremely angry at the moment.

            No, he wasn’t angry. He was *FURIOUS*!

            Tsuzuki was his, had always been his, and would never be anyone’s *but* his! Who the hell did Watari think he was, just showing up with *feelings* for Tsuzuki all of a sudden?

            Hisoka forced himself to slow his pace and take deep breaths, a sudden blush flooding throughout his body as he realized the possessive path his thoughts were traveling along. Watari had more right to Tsuzuki than him, Hisoka reflected. Watari had known Tsuzuki longer…had been friends with him while Hisoka rejected all offers of kindness…and only a few nights ago, Watari had comforted Tsuzuki after their loud, public argument. And spent the night.

            Green eyes widened with a horrified thought. Watari had spent the night with Tsuzuki! They couldn’t have…Hisoka shook his head vehemently. No! Even though he didn’t doubt that Tsuzuki might jump into bed with someone if the fancy struck him and the timing was right, he had an idea the timing hadn’t been right and Watari would’ve fended him off even if it had. But still…for the brief moment he’d entertained the thought, he’d nearly given himself a heart attack.

            If he could’ve even had one, considering the fact he were dead and his heart probably didn’t function normally or serve any purpose any how.

            Hisoka sighed heavily as he pushed open the door to his shared office; relieved to see his partner wasn’t there. It would’ve been hard to consider the love triangle he was in with the object of his affections sitting next to him, chattering away and offering him a bite of whatever sweet thing he happened to be munching on at the moment. Hisoka smiled slightly. In fact, Tsuzuki was probably off buying some more food at that moment.

            Hisoka sighed as he set the pencil sharpener down on Tsuzuki’s desk, retreating to his own chair. If he knew Watari, the scientist was either throwing himself into his work trying to forget about Tsuzuki or he was thinking about Tsuzuki, trying to think of a way to drag his affections away from Hisoka.

            Emerald eyes darkened at this thought. Hisoka had never liked sharing much…and he wasn’t about to share Tsuzuki with Watari.

            “This…is war,” Hisoka decided, standing up and heading out the door.

            And what better way to start it than buying Tsuzuki some apple pie?

 

#@#@#@

 

            The logical thing for a scientist to do would have been to create a love potion. A couple of droplets thrown into Tsuzuki’s cup at lunch, a little strategy used in positioning of people and boom! Tsuzuki would’ve been his!

            Except…Watari didn’t know how accurate those results would be. The last thing he wanted was Tsuzuki hitting on the Gushoshins or some other person that definitely was not *him*. And anyway, Watari didn’t even know if that was the kind of reaction he wanted from Tsuzuki. Did he really want to gaze into violet eyes only to see a mechanical affection?

            No. He didn’t.

            If the only way Watari could get Tsuzuki’s affections was by scientific intervention, he didn’t deserve the man, did he? If there was one idea that had carried over to death with Watari, it was the firmly fixed notion love shouldn’t be forced. And still…he was sitting here contemplating it?

            Watari shook his head, shoving aside his half-hearted notes and beginning to run his hands through his hair. He’d never dealt with this kind of situation before…always before, it had been enough to stay in his lab, only coming out when needed. And he’d been happy…content to be that way.

            But somewhere along the way, something had changed and he’d found himself in *love* with Tsuzuki! How…how…he couldn’t explain it. Love wasn’t something equations and diagrams and textbooks couldn’t explain. It wasn’t some black-and-white picture; it was a thing full of shades of gray that couldn’t be pinned down to one thing. It was…

            …It was indescribable.

            And if his affections had been returned, Watari would’ve said it was wonderful.

            But they weren’t. They were focused on a little snobby empathetic who wouldn’t know love if it hit him upside the head and bit him in the butt to boot. [1]

            And Watari wasn’t about to let things end that way when they were put in *that* perspective. No. This was…

            “War.” Brown eyes gleamed thoughtfully behind shining glasses. “All’s fair in love and war. And this, my dear Bon, is war.”

 

#@#@#@

 

            “TSUZUKI!”

            “TSUZUKI!”

            “Waa! I swear I wasn’t slacking again, this isn’t apple pie, this is really my new way to research cases, it’s um, like a computer in disguise!” Violet-eyes stared in panic at Hisoka and Watari, feeling very much like an animal cornered by its predators. Tsuzuki’s lower lip trembled as he stared sheepishly up at his friends. “You…you won’t tell Tatsumi-san will you?”

            “Of course not!” Watari chirped cheerily the exact second Hisoka opened his mouth to assure Tsuzuki the same thing. Green eyes shot a poisonous glare at the blonde’s back as Watari plopped himself down next to Tsuzuki. “How’s your pie?”

            “Good. Want some?” Tsuzuki beamed and held a forkful of apple pie before Watari.

            The blonde nodded and without a second thought, Tsuzuki popped the bite into Watari’s mouth with no preconceived planning on the scientist’s part. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed it immensely…Watari flickered his gaze up to Hisoka to see how the younger man was taking it.

            Not well. Hisoka’s whole face was a vision of anger as he stared at the two. There was a loud exhalation of breath followed by a loud inhalation as Hisoka finally said, “Tsuzuki we should get back to work. You can take the pie with you,” he added quickly at Tsuzuki’s sad eyes.

            “I don’t want to leave Watari all by himself,” Tsuzuki protested even as he stood up, his hand catching a hold lightly of Watari’s sleeve. There was a pause while violet eyes locked on brown ones and Tsuzuki whispered quietly, “It’s lonely.”

            Hisoka hadn’t any idea what they were talking about but the light in Watari’s eyes and the soft smile on Tsuzuki’s lips made it clear it was some inside understanding he didn’t know about. He was on the outside of things and what made it worse was that it was the only serious rival he might have for Tsuzuki’s affections. Something inside him tightened and pulled taut, making it almost unbearable to look at the two. Some still reasonable, logical part inside of him pointed out that it was only friendship being conveyed, while a more hysterical part of him screamed this was what he was afraid, he was going lose Tsuzuki, lose something he never had-with a sharp gasp, Hisoka stumbled away from the two and began to *run*.

            “What’s wrong with Hisoka?” Tsuzuki asked, whipping around and staring in the direction the ash-blonde had taken off. “Why did he run off like that?” Violet eyes shimmered suspiciously as their owner whirled back around to gaze demandingly at Watari. “Watari, what happened? Did I do something?”

            “He…I…don’t know.” Watari sighed heavily, his gaze flickering away from Tsuzuki to stare down at his own hands. “Maybe you should go after him.”

            Tsuzuki stared after the direction Hisoka had taken for a long moment, finally pausing and shaking his head as he sat back down. “Later. I’m gonna finish my pie first. Hisoka obviously needs some time to himself so I might as well give it to him.” Watari gazed down at the brunette who only smiled with a slight impish look in his eyes and asked cheerily, “You want some more pie, Watari-san?”

 

#@#@#@

 

            “Hello Hisoka!” Tsuzuki chirped out cheerily, sitting on the desk his partner was working at and smiling brightly down at the younger man. Hisoka didn’t respond and Tsuzuki, taking it for a positive thing if nothing else, went on. “How come you ran out on me and Watari like that? You missed the rest of the apple pie!”

            “I had *work* to do.”

            “Now you sound like Tatsumi,” Tsuzuki stated mournfully. “Hisoka-kun, what’s wrong?”

            Hisoka glanced up and caught Tsuzuki’s gaze. There was a moment of silence and finally, Hisoka said softly, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

            “The hell you don’t! You’ve been acting weird for *ages*! What’s going on with you Hisoka?” Tsuzuki snapped angrily, his eyes flashing with emotion as he stared down at the unusually vulnerable looking Hisoka. “If you haven’t got a reason for any of it, stop it!”

            “Tsuzuki…you are an *idiot*,” Hisoka finally said, his breathing falling slow and even as he stared straight ahead, his voice devoid of any emotion. “You’ve got two men in *love* with you…and it all flies straight over your head.”

            “I…*WHAT*?”

            “You idiot! You stupid, stupid idiot!” Hisoka cried angrily, jumping to his feet and circling the desk to stare furiously at Tsuzuki. “Haven’t you seen it? For *ages* Watari’s been falling for you, for ages *I’ve* been falling for you-and you go on like nothing’s changed! EVERYthing’s’ changed!” Hisoka let out a sharp cry as he slammed his hands flat down on the desk next to Tsuzuki’s amazed form, his whole upper body heaving with uncontrollable sobs of breath.

            “Oi, Tsuzuki, you left your…” Watari trailed off, starting to back out of the office, Tsuzuki’s wallet clutched firmly in hand. “Sorry…I didn’t know there was something going on…I’ll just leave this here on the cabinet…”

            “Watari-san…is it true?” Tsuzuki asked softly, his eyes wide with incredulity as he gazed at the blonde slowly stumbling away from the scene.

            “Is what true?” Watari asked with honest puzzlement, running a hand carelessly through his hair.

            Hisoka turned and glared daggers at him. “It’s all true. Tell him, it’s true Watari. It’s true that for we’ve been in a silent rivalry over Tsuzuki for what, months? Isn’t it true Watari?”

            Watari’s eyes widened behind his glasses but without missing a beat, he nodded, a tiny melancholy smile on his lips as he tilted his head and gazed at Tsuzuki. “I’m afraid he’s right, Tsuzuki-san.”

            “Okay…okay then…” Tsuzuki mumbled, putting a hand to his head and feeling vaguely disoriented. “This morning…I had no one. And now…I’ve got…you. Both.” Tsuzuki stared at them with wide eyes.

            “Say it,” Hisoka demanded, determined to get the confrontation over with once and for all. “Say that you don’t want either or which you want.”

            “Hisoka-,” Watari began but was quickly cut short by the angry glare Hisoka shot him.

            “No. I can’t.” Tsuzuki stated matter-of-factly in a calm voice, his countenance devoid of anything other than collected coolness. “I thought I…but then…” Tsuzuki’s voice trailed off and he shook his, dropping the collected manner and resuming his bewildered one. “I’m simply lost right now…I’ll…I’ll let you know…if…anything changes…” Still mumbling vaguely to himself, Tsuzuki started out the room, a rather dazed look on his face as he headed down the hall.

            “If…when he comes back, his wallet is right here,” Watari said uneasily, setting the wallet down on the desk Hisoka was still leaning on.

            “Watari.” The blonde paused and gazed questioningly at the empathic as Hisoka went on. “Tsuzuki knows everything now. So…let’s just call out rivalry on…a truce?” Watari gazed at the surprisingly disinterested ash-blonde but finally, nodded and held out his hand, grasping Hisoka’s hand in a firm handshake.

            “Truce.”

 

::End::

 

[1] Eep, forgive me if this seems offensive to any die-hard Hisoka fans! ^^;;

 

Ah my GAWD, the sequel seems to need a sequel! *sigh* Let me know whatcha think okay? I thrive offa reviews. ^_^