Title: Gentle

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Bed

Tsuzuki loved to watch Hisoka sleep. The first night of their partnership, Hisoka's angelic sleeping face had melted his heart a little, made him less inclined to hate that rude, explosive, disrespectful brat. Inexplicably, he'd felt the sudden urge to kiss him. And he felt that urge every time since then. There was something helplessly adorable about Hisoka when you couldn't see his maturity or his burning temper or his caustic tongue. It drew forth a protective streak in Tsuzuki surprising even to him.

And he couldn't help himself. Hisoka just looked too cute when he was sleeping. Curled up on his side in their bed - their bed! - pale brown hair soft against his cheekbones, his finely-boned face looking completely relaxed. Hisoka carried too much tension in his face - his default expression was a contemplative frown - and if ever he dropped his guard, he compensated for it with discomforted blushes and even darker frowns than usual. So Tsuzuki savored those moments of peace Hisoka allowed him to see, and when it got to be too much, he indulged his urges.

Hisoka gave a contented little sigh and it was too much. Tsuzuki leaned down and pressed his lips gently to Hisoka's soft pink ones. Brilliant green eyes opened halfway and blinked drowsily. Tsuzuki smiled, his lips hovering close to Hisoka's.

"You looked so cute I couldn't resist," he admitted sheepishly. Hisoka blushed, clearly offended that he could look cute when he couldn't help it. But he too was feeling indulgent, it seemed, his thumb brushing Tsuzuki's cheek as he returned the kiss; Tsuzuki could taste the smile on his lips.

"Idiot."

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Title: Running Water

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Shower

Hisoka always took multiple showers a day. His body didn't regulate its internal temperature well, so it was showers in summer to cool off and showers in winter to warm up.

Of course, some nights he needed showers for entirely different reasons. He would wake up and just couldn't get the sickly smell of cherry blossoms and Muraki's cologne off, and it was those nights he would sit huddled on the bathroom floor, long after the water had grown tepid, shivering as he hugged his knees.

The first time Tsuzuki discovered him like that, he had to fight the overwhelming urge to lash out, scream and throw the wash basin and cover his thin body of awkward limbs and scar tissue in shame. Instead, Hisoka rolled his eyes - had to do something with them or he'd start crying, he knew it - and Tsuzuki came forward hesitantly, ready to bolt and leave Hisoka to himself at a moment's notice. The layer of water over the bathroom floor began darkening Tsuzuki's socks and the cuffs of his pants.

"Your suit-" Hisoka pointed out helplessly. His voice broke and he quickly ducked his head so Tsuzuki couldn't see the tears slip down his cheeks.

Wordlessly, Tsuzuki sat down beside him, exhaling heavily and holding his arms open in quiet invitation. His emotions were carefully guarded, reserved and non-judgmental, but Hisoka felt hints of sorrow and protectiveness slip through. Hisoka all but collapsed into Tsuzuki's arms, muffling his cries in Tsuzuki's soaked chest and clinging to his partner for warmth and comfort.

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Title: Slightly Unexpected

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka, Tatsumi

Prompt: Couch

Tsuzuki and Hisoka had a favorite couch in the office. It was large and warm brown leather, and so old it was considered unsightly by most of the people in the office.

Tsuzuki liked how soft the couch was. It smelled old and comfortable, hundreds of scents absorbed by the leather, and the countless bodies beating the leather into shape. Tsuzuki always slept soundly on that couch.

Hisoka liked how big the couch was. He could curl up completely on it with room to spare; the dark brown leather offered him respite whenever he had a headache, the lazy emotional residue buried in the folds of the leather old and soothing. Every time he lay down, he felt his stress immediately dissipate.

Tsuzuki had asked Tatsumi once how much it would cost to take the couch home, and Tatsumi had given him a look that expressed the utmost incredulity for why one would want to take furniture out of the office, and that particular piece of furniture especially. But then Watari had blown something up, so Tatsumi had distractedly snapped that Juuouchou was not a furniture store, and that had been that.

Like many things in their partnership, they hadn't realized their mutual love for the couch for a long while. Whenever they worked late into the night on assignments or paperwork, they would inevitably take shifts, each sleeping on the couch while the other worked, completely unaware of their shared affection for the couch. It was one night, when Hisoka was frustrated and irritable because the research was going nowhere, and he had a headache, and the office was too dark when it was just the two of them working at 3 a.m.

So he got up from his desk to look for his partner, and to his surprise found Tsuzuki in the break room, sleeping on Hisoka's couch, a contented grin on his face. Hisoka laughed very softly to himself at that. Now that he thought about it, it was in no way surprising that they would be drawn to the same couch, the same haven, the same comfort. He and Tsuzuki were two polar opposites by all appearances, but their hearts had beat in synch once. Sometimes it was easy to be irritated and standoffish and nasty to his partner. Sometimes it was very, very hard.

Hisoka gingerly slipped onto the couch and lay down, thankful for how accommodating it was for two people. Tsuzuki, as if noticing Hisoka's presence in his sleep, draped an arm around the boy and snuggled closer to him; sleepiness permeated Hisoka's body, and he promised he would just close his eyes for a moment before getting Tsuzuki up and back to work.

The next morning, Tatsumi came into the break room to get his coffee, and discretely backed out of the room, shutting the door behind him with a delicate cough. He walked briskly back to his desk to write Tsuzuki's new salary, less the cost of one worn-out couch.

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Title: Hot Chocolate

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Floor

Warm smells, fishy, with just a hint of sweetness, simmered in the cozy apartment, perking up Tsuzuki's keen sense of smell. Hisoka was making a stew. Tsuzuki closed his eyes and sniffed the air, as still as a bloodhound. He had just put in the potatoes. Sniff sniff. About twenty more minutes to go. Despite the fact that anything he personally created tasted like dirt, Tsuzuki's nose had no equal when it came to food. Tsuzuki allowed himself one last deep inhale of the savory smells of the stew, and settled back into the couch, paging idly through a magazine.

He glanced over the back of the couch, towards the kitchen. Hisoka was so quiet when he cooked, almost meditatively so. Twenty minutes. Tsuzuki tossed the magazine on the coffee table. Maybe he could sneak a taste from the pot...

He rose and crept into the kitchen. Hisoka was stirring the stew with slow, rhythmic motions, a dark green apron tied around his waist. Tsuzuki revealed his teeth in a mischievious grin to Hisoka's back and snuck up behind his partner, sliding his hands around Hisoka's small waist and pulling Hisoka back against him.

"What are you doing?" Hisoka asked with a comfortably mimicked annoyance.

"Seeing if you need any help." Tsuzuki's reply exuded innocence, so much so that Hisoka gave him a sidelong glance of rich green eyes.

"Mmhmmmm."

Tsuzuki peered over his shoulder to gaze longingly at the stew. "Can I have a taste?" he asked, nuzzling his partner's cheek affectionately. He started swaying slowly back and forth, pulling Hisoka along with him.

"No," Hisoka teased, taking a sip of the stew himself.

"You're horrible," Tsuzuki smiled. His steps were getting wider and wider, and he gracefully spun Hisoka, spoon still in hand, around to face him. One hand still on Hisoka's waist, Tsuzuki took the boy's free hand and swept him across the kitchen floor in a waltz.

"Oh no..."

"Hisoka, I never knew! How you could so heartlessly deny me stew!" Tsuzuki crooned, giving Hisoka a turn. Hisoka, for his part, was trying not to smile, and only gave Tsuzuki two eyerolls, a new record for him. Every time he tolerated Tsuzuki's spontaneous playfulness, Tsuzuki's chest burned pleasantly, even if he was far from making Hisoka sing along.

"Ohhhh, whatever shall I do? I'll shower all my love, not upon the stew... but on youuuuuu!" Tsuzuki dipped Hisoka as he reached the grand finale; laughter bubbled up between them, easy, honest, and uncontrollable, filling the empty spaces of the apartment.

Outside the snow fell; a silent winter night.

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Title: Peaceful

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Hearth

Hisoka loved to read in front of the fire on long, dark nights without any assignments. The warmth and intermittent snap of burning wood soothed his frazzled nerves after hours of endless paperwork and buzzing office activity and convincing Tsuzuki to do his fair share.

But recently he found himself enjoying small interruptions of this routine. Hisoka found new serenity in the warm hands on the side of his face; letting his book slip from his lap, he found himself in gentle kisses and violet eyes that reflected the oranges and reds of the blazing fire.