Twisted Strands of Fate

Disclaimer: I did not create Eerie Queerie or any of the characters from the Eerie Queerie series. I also have a mortal fear of lawyers. Eerie Queerie and all its rights © Shuri Shiozu.


II


A/N:


II


“HASUNUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMA!”


Hasunuma looked up from his work and slipped off the headphones that were rendering soothing classical music into his ears. Thinking he’d heard something, he cocked his head to the side, and listened as his roommate called his name again. Laying his pencil in the seam of the textbook to mark his place, he closed it and rolled back his chair so that he could stand.


As he neared the kitchen area and heard the frustrated sounds of his companion, he slowed his pace. Peering around the cr, hr, he was rewarded with the pleasant sight of his ‘officially unofficial’ boyfriend, Mitsuo, bent over their dorm’s miniature refrigerator. Taking another moment to savor the view, he crossed the room stealthily and crossed his arms over Mitsuo’s back, resting his chin in his palm.


“You shouted?” He spoke in the slow, soothing voice that was characteristic to him, it it made Mitsuo look over his shoulder grinning. Hasunuma smiled back. “What’s got you screaming my name like that?”


Mitsuo missed the innuendo, as he often did, and his features curved into a pout. “We’re out of food.”


“Wasn’t Ichi going to get groceries after practice?” He asked. Ichi was their other roommate. The three of them had met during high school, all because of Mitsuo’s psychic dilemmas. Thankfully, his episodes of spiritual possession had gone down over the years as he learned how to better control his powers, and for the past month they’d been incident free.


“Yeah,” Mitsuo answered, but he didn’t sound happy. “But I’m hungry now.”


Hasunuma, chuckling, laid his cheek against the curve of Mitsuo’s back and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy’s waist. “Why did you call me, then?”


The blonde had gone very tense beneath his hands at the sudden touch, but second by second he was relaxing, the breath escaping his lips in a long, silent sigh. “I dunno,” he grumbled and poked around the scarce contents of the fridge.


Hasunuma lifted his head slightly and rested his chin on Mitsuo’s spine. “I tell you what,” he murmured, tapping his fingers against the blonde’s stomach. “How about we go out for dinner?”


Mitsuo straightened, unknowingly pressing the entire line of his body against Hasunuma’s. They both stumbled backwards a few paces at the sudden motion and Hasunuma’s aro around Mitsuo’s waist tightened. “Really?” Mitsuo asked, trying to crane his neck to look up at the substantially taller boy. “What about Ichi?”


“He’s still at practice,” he reminded him.


“Oh, yeah!” Mitsuo gave him a doofy look and pulled away. “I’ll get changed and then we can go, okay?”


Hasunuma ran a hand through his long bangs and smiled. “Me too. I’ll leave a note for Ichi.”


Fifteen minutes later, the pair was out the door and on their way to Babylon.


II


Setting his Coke on a nearby table, Mitsuo bounded over to the pool table in the secluded part of the bar and happily splayed his hands against the green felt. Mewing in contentment, he grinned widely up at Hasunuma as the brunette moved to stand beside him.


“Did you want to play?” He asked slowly, despite the obviousness.


Mitsuo nodded enthusiastically and ran to get two cues from a nearby rack. Juggling them both in his arms, he hurried back anxious to starstarted. Laughing, Hasunuma took them from him before he knocked something, or someone, over. “Have you played before?”


Mitsuo frowned slightly, “Hai, but I’m not very good.”


Hasunuma handed him his cue, and smiled winningly. “It’s alright; we’ll just play for fun.”


Mitsuo watched as he leaned his cue against the wall and started filling the plastic triangle with balls. Hasunuma must have sensed his gaze, because he looked up from his work and smirked, making Mitsuo blush. “Thank you for taking me out, Hasunuma,” he stammered, clutching his pool cue with unhealthy force.


Hasunuma brushed the bangs back from his eyes and smiled. “Anything for you.”


Mitsuo didn’t know what to say to that, so the two of them fell into silence as Hasunuma finished setting up the table for play. When he was satisfied with everything, he deftly lifted the plastic mold, leaving the colored globes in its shape, and hung it back under the table.


“You can go first,” he told him, and Mitsuo excitedly chalked up the end of his cue.


After a great deal of bouncing about, Mitsuo finally bent down over the table and prepared to break the triangle of balls. One eye was closed to better focus on his target, and his tongue had slipped unconsciously out of the corner of his mouth as he summoned up all his concentration. It was just as he was about to shoot, that he happened to glance up.


Hasunuma was standing directly opposite him, deep gray-blue eyes, the color of a rainy day, fixed straight upon him. Mitsuo’s hit went wide and he gasped as it bounded off the side and crashed ineffectually into the grouping. None of them went into the pockets.


“Let me try,” Hasunuma said, and he looked as if nothing had happened. He walked around the table to get a better shot and in doing so, brushed against the shocked blonde. Mitsuo mumbled something incoherent and took a large gulp of his Coke, watching Hasunuma play.


He was still unsure of where he stood with the other boy. He knew Hasunuma cared for him a lot, and he felt the same way. But at the same time Mitsuo was hesitant as to what to do for fear that it would ruin their friendship. Hasunuma had been his first real friend and had done so much for him that Mitsuo would do anything to keep from losing him. He had once thought that meant their relationship could go no farther, but now he wasn’t sure. And judging by Hasunuma’s recent actions, he had other things in mind as well.


He watched the brunette miss his next shot and sighed. It was his turn again.


Nodding briskly, and determined to do better this round, Mitsuo settled his cue against the table’s wooden rim, and set his sights on the white cue ball. As he prepared to hit it, Hasunuma spoke up.


“Take your time,” he said lowly.


Mitsuo let out a ragged breath and, against his better judgment, looked up. Hasunuma was sitting at the table beside him eating some of his dinner. Whatever it was, it must have been messy, because the boy was taking particular care in licking the sauce from his fingers. He slipped one slender digit in and out of his mouth, and then another, and another. And Mitsuo couldn’t stop the blush from flaring across his face.


He knew he could be particularly dense at times, but never before had Hasunuma been so blatantly obvious. He was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate, with the picture of his friend just out of the corner of his eye and the startlingly loud sounds of Hasunuma’s mouth working.


By some annoying cosmic force, Hasunuma made a low noise that sounded very much like a moan just as Mitsuo had moved his cue stick forward. The cue ball bounced up off the felt and flew off the table colliding with the wall.


Hasunuma was staring at him in shock, while some of the less-drunk bar patrons with their alcohol flushed cheeks laughed rowdily at him before turning back to their glasses. Cheeks turning bright red, Mitsuo ducked his head to hide his embarrassment and quickly got down on all fours to retrieve that wayward ball.


After fishing it out from behind the pinball machine, he started to get up and nearly collided his head with Hasunuma’s knee. The taller boy was looking at him in concern.


“Are you alright?” he asked kindly. “You’re face is flushed; do you have a fever?” One hand tilting Mitsuo’s chin upwards, he placed the other on his forehead. “Are you sick?” he asked.


Mitsuo grabbed the hand upon his forehead with the intent to pull it away, but didn’t get that far. “No, no. I’m alright. It’s just a little hot in here.” He lifted up the slightly dusty ball, and smiled weakly. “Let’s keep playing.”


“Alright,” Hasunuma agreed after a moment and moved a hand to help him up. Mitsuo took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.


Hasunuma knocked two more solid colored balls into the pockets before he ended his turn. At the rate Mitsuo was going the game would be over soon and he’d surely have lost. He rechalked his cue – as if that would help him – and got in position. Forcing himself not to look at anyone...anything besides the table, he quickly put three balls away. But as he was preparing for his fourth, he made the fatal mistake of glancing up at his silent companion.


Hips pressed up against the table as he leaned forward, Hasunuma’s cue was trapped between his legs and wrapped within his arms. The gunmetal eyes were settled on the ball Mitsuo had been aiming for, but as he felt his gaze those eyes shifted towards Mitsuo himself. Seemingly unaware of his actions, Hasunuma’s thumb was stroking up and down the smooth wood in a slow and repetitive pattern that made Mitsuo’s breath catch.


The cue slipped out of his hands and scratched a shallow line through the felt. Hasunuma’s smile crept into a smirk. “What are you doing?” Mitsuo whispered breathlessly.


Hasunuma brushed back the hair that seemed to be constantly getting in his way. “Seeing how long you could last...”




Mitsuo didn’t know how they made it back to the dorms, but the next thing he knew Hasunuma was bearing down upon him as he fumbled to get their door open. It spun underneath his desperate hands and opened up behind them. Mitsuo tumbled backwards onto the floor and Hasunuma went down with him.


Mitsuo was panting softly as Hasunuma held down his hands. “ ‘Numa-kun,” he whispered breathily as the brunette moved his head to hover his lips over Mitsuo’s anticipating the coming kiss. He was about to close the fraction of a inch that kept their lips apart when somebody cleared their throat.


Both he and Mitsuo, pinned beneath him, turned their heads to look up at Ichi standing beside them, still wet from his shower. “Welcome back.”