Title: Overtime

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Guilty

Overtime was nothing new to the Kyuushuu shinigami. Even though their area was supposedly quiet, they were usually the last ones to leave the office at night. Of course this wasn't Hisoka's fault; it was like pulling teeth just trying to get Tsuzuki to do any work, no matter how easy or trivial. He had managed to whine all day, eat four pieces of cake at his desk, and wander off to talk to Tatsumi on three separate occasions, but the stack of forms in his in-pile had never been attended to. The office had darkened bit by bit as the other teams signed out for the day, turning off their desk lights, adding to the pools of darkness spreading over the lines of gray desks, until only Hisoka and Tsuzuki's lights remained on. Hisoka, as always, was quietly filling in another form - he had started in on Tsuzuki's pile by this point, with a defeated sigh - while his partner had laid his cheek against the surface of his desk and pouted.

"Hisoka."

Hisoka rolled his eyes at the plaintive tone in Tsuzuki's voice, and responded shortly, "What." It wasn't a question so much as a warning.

Tsuzuki, ever fearless, jutted out his bottom lip. "I'm hungry."

Anyone with less will than Hisoka would have caved immediately at that expression. Hisoka, however, stamped the document he had just finished with an annoyed firmness. "And I'm the one who should be complaining, not you."

"But I can't focus when I'm hungry!"

"That was your excuse when I let you get cake four hours ago. And when you got back, guess what you still didn't do?" Hisoka wished his stamp could make more of an impact. It was harder to emphasize his point this way.

"My paperwork," Tsuzuki mumbled glumly.

"Mmhm." Hisoka took another form from the pile.

"I meant to do it. Honest."

"Mmhm."

"I'm sorry, Hisoka." Tears started welling up in those large purple eyes. Hisoka spared Tsuzuki a glance. Try the Tatsumi approach on him, would he?

"You know, I might believe you felt guilty about it if you were actually helping me get this done."

"Hisokaaaaa..."

Title: Compromises

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Interrupted

Tsuzuki was a morning person. He always woke up early. He loved to savor the peace of the chilly morning air, loved to linger over his hot mug of coffee and listen to the birds lazily twitter as they awoke. He loved going down to Earth and waiting in line for his favorite pastry shop to open, filling his lungs with the cozy smell of baking bread and sugary glaze. He loved the slow, lilting conversation of the little old lady as she wrapped up his cinnamon buns in brown paper. He loved taking walks by the river and watching the leaves color with the seasons. So even though he always woke up early, Tsuzuki always lost track of time, and inevitably wandered into work an hour or two late.

Hisoka was very much not a morning person. He stayed up late reading, or woke in the middle of the night shaking violently; he tossed and turned and spent many long nights not sleeping, so when his exhausted, eternally youthful body finally would slip into a restless sleep, there was nothing he wanted more than to sustain it for as long as he possibly could. He was always resentful when his alarm clock blared to life, jolting him harshly awake. He always woke up with barely enough time to throw on whatever clothes he could find and run out the door. He was always at his nastiest right before he drank his first mug of Juuohchou's bitter coffee. He was always busy, always in a rush, but never late.

The morning after their first night living together, Hisoka and Tsuzuki fought. While both of them wanted to take this step, neither had been prepared for the interruption in his respective routine. Hisoka's reading late into the night had given Tsuzuki a headache, and Tsuzuki's suggestion of doughnuts at six in the morning had made Hisoka snap at him, burying under the covers for another hour and a half of sleep. They made up before the end of the day, mumbling vague apologies without discussing a way to actually solve the problem. Words were hard for them.

The following morning, Hisoka stirred when he felt something nudging him. That something was Tsuzuki's hand on his shoulder, and his first sight upon waking was large purple eyes and a wide grin.

"Good morning!" Tsuzuki chirped.

"Tsuzuki..." Hisoka groaned, frustration already building. The alarm clock wasn't due to go off for another twenty minutes.

"I was wondering..."

"Tsuzuki, I just want to go back-"

"... if you would let me hold you."

"What?" Hisoka blinked. Tsuzuki gave him a sheepish look.

"I wanted to ask you first."

Hisoka's cheeks colored, but he couldn't think of a reason to refuse. He nodded, and felt Tsuzuki's arms gently encircle his body. He lay against that broad chest, Tsuzuki's heartbeat warm in his ears.

"Thought you were going to want doughnuts again," Hisoka mumbled, the warmth of his partner's body starting to lull him back to sleep.

"It's not the doughnuts that are important," Tsuzuki replied.

"So what is?"

"Savoring things."

"What're you savoring now?"

Tsuzuki pressed a gentle kiss to Hisoka's forehead. "You."

"Idiot."

But the way Tsuzuki was holding him - closely, securely - and the comfortable hum of Tsuzuki's emotions soothed Hisoka's brittle nerves, calming the anxious rush of his morning, easing away the unconscious worries he had about falling into a deep, restful sleep.

Tsuzuki watched the slow rise and fall of Hisoka's chest with every breath he took. His desire to rise and meet the new day was abated by the peace and comfort of the boy asleep in his arms. Tsuzuki carefully reached one arm over to turn off the alarm clock. He wanted to enjoy this moment just a little while longer. Even if it meant they were both late for work.

Title: Assumptions

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Naive

It's the middle of the night, and Hisoka's new partner has to be five types of naive if he thinks Hisoka can't hear him. He can feel him, even though Tsuzuki doesn't know that - can't know that - an incessant buzz of restless energy pressing in on all sides. Hisoka's eyes may be closed, he may be sprawled on the bed trying to get to sleep, but Tsuzuki isn't even trying to lower his voice, and Hisoka can hear every idiotic word.

"Should I kiss him goodnight?"

Hisoka's stomach churns and it's not from the alcohol. He doesn't know what it's from, only that the thought of Tsuzuki bending down and kissing him, when he doesn't even have the energy to fight back, is making his pulse rush in his throat, the familiar, nagging pain throb in his head. There is something wrong, and it's not just his partner being a superior asshole - though that in itself is a whole other problem - but Hisoka doesn't know what. He knows Tsuzuki - hell, all of Juuohchou - is a liar and tried to trick him, but as soon as he's done with this case, he's going to ask for a reassignment, because if they think he's willing to be saddled with this child of a shinigami as a partner, they have another thing coming to them.

But then Tsuzuki brushes his fingers against Hisoka's forehead, pushing back his bangs, his touch lingering against his temple. And for an instant he can feel Tsuzuki's emotions as vividly as if they were his own, frustration and worry and a shocking undercurrent of protectiveness, something Hisoka's only tasted from a distance, when he would brush by a family on the street or in a park, but never, never felt directed at himself until this moment. But what surprises him the most is the exhaustion seeping into every thought, every emotion, a weariness so old and painful that for a second Hisoka can't breathe - and then Tsuzuki's hand is gone and he's saying something inane to the chicken and laughing a little, and Hisoka can breathe, but for just a second. For just that one second Hisoka understands that he's the one who's really naive in all of this.

Title: State of Mind

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Feeling Beautiful

People had always admired Tsuzuki's appearance. A well-toned, slender body. Long, graceful fingers. Dark chestnut hair. Eyes that looked like pieces of amethyst. People had loved to touch him, from Tatsumi wiping crumbs from his cheek to the possessive hugs of Lord Hakushaku to Muraki's lust-driven groping. Tsuzuki had liked to be touched, had craved it, but it had never made him feel better (and had sometimes made him feel worse) about himself.

So when Hisoka took him in, battered and weary on the basement floor, covered in dirt and Muraki's blood and his tears and Hisoka's tears as hell raged around him - his hell, his doing - when Hisoka embraced this wretch of a person, Tsuzuki didn't know what to do. He didn't believe he was allowed to feel so happy, so needed.

And when Hisoka touches him, breaks through the raking nails of nightmares that force them both to their knees, when Hisoka gasps his name and lies curled against his neck every night, when Hisoka embraces the darkest, most horrifying demons that haunt Tsuzuki's eyes, and smiles, that's when Tsuzuki feels beautiful.

Title: Hot & Cold

Characters/Pairing: Tsuzuki/Hisoka

Prompt: Sexual Tension

Hisoka did not understand why, if not simply to torment the both of them, Tatsumi had sent him and Tsuzuki to the hottest rural town without an air conditioner in all of Kyuushuu. There was a case - or a suspicion of a case - but there was always a case, and why this particular case had to happen in August of all months Hisoka also did not understand, though he was beginning to feel that somehow Tatsumi had to be involved in that too.

Hisoka was content to wallow in his bad mood, sprawled on the tatami by the open door to the garden, futilely attempting to wave the stagnant night air around with a stiff paper fan, planning various forms of painful and drawn-out revenge against Juuohchou's secretary. However it was just as he had thought of the perfect way to steal Tatsumi's glasses when Tsuzuki upended a bucket of ice water over him.

"What the hell was that for?!" Hisoka sputtered, a fierce shiver coursing down his spine.

"I'm sorry, Hisoka!" Tsuzuki gasped, immediately crouching down and fixing Hisoka with a piteously apologetic look. "I was going to make an icy bath because it's so hot, and I thought it would be fun to try, to cool off, but I needed ice and the only place we have ice here is in the refrigerator, but then it started to melt so I thought I should run with it so I could get it to the bath in time but I didn't notice the cushion there, and I tripped, and now you're soaking wet, and I'm sorry!"

Hisoka was about to make a very cutting remark when Tsuzuki started stripping.

"Take my shirt, Hisoka! You're shivering!" he exclaimed, all worry and helpfulness and warm, smooth muscle. Hisoka flushed despite his shivering, trying to force himself to look away as Tsuzuki's perfectly formed upper body was unceremoniously exposed to him.

"D-D-Don't be an idiot," he managed between chattering teeth.

"Then I'll just have to run us a hot bath to get you warmed up again!" Tsuzuki concluded, scooping his young partner into his arms. Hisoka made a sound something like, "waugh!" as he was cradled against that warm, broad chest, the promise of an endless bath with his utterly clueless partner laid before him like a torture sentence.

He was going to kill Tatsumi when they got back.