Pick Up The Pieces

Unease

The air was riddled with tension that could be cut cleanly in twain with a katana. Izumo stared dumbfounded, words trying to scramble out of his throat but to no effect. Silence pressed down on both of them, stamping out the rest of the world and forcing them to have no choice but to look at one another, waiting for the other person to speak first. Kotetsu trembled in his blanketing, shaking so vigorously that his edges appeared blurry.

'...say that again?' Izumo said, breaking the silence; his voice almost foreign to his ears. The question hung in the air between them, like a dead weight that refused to budge.

'You...you heard me...' Kotetsu stammered, unable to break his gaze from Izumo's dark eyes, piercing into him as if they were a threat.

'I...I think I'm...in...in love...'

He took a shuddering breath, feeling smaller and smaller with every ticking second.

'With you.' He whispered, cutting off eye contact and staring at his feet, his face burning a terrific crimson and his heart hammering furiously against his rib cage; almost as if it was bruising him internally.

Izumo slumped onto the foot of the bed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He pulled off his bandana and fidgeted with it in his hands.

'...that is what you said.'

It was almost as if Izumo was trying to convince himself that he had said something completely different, something casual like "Hey, I just made some tea, want some?" But no, he hadn't. Loudly, his best friend for countless years just admitted to something personal, scandalous even, and it regarded him just as much.

'You...you must hate me...'

'No Kotetsu, I don't hate you.'

'But...but it's...wrong.'

'Wrong? In what universe is this wrong?!'

'This one! You know how they talk about me already!'

'They talk about us that way. It's not only you.'

'Izumo, I can't sleep because of it. All I...all I ever think about is you and it...'

He trailed off, wrapping his arms around him, trying to protect himself from his own emotions, and any reaction from the brunette in front of him.

'It what, Tets? What is it?'

'It hurts because...you don't feel the same.'

'You don't know that.'

'What do you mean?'

'You don't know how I feel.' Izumo simply put, staring at the ceiling with his arms folded.

Kotetsu narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously, the gears in his brain clicking to life to make sense of his words.

'Doesn't matter, I know who you're into anyway.'

'Really? If you're talking about Shizune, that was one fuck and it was over pretty quickly.'

'Bullshit. You're just saying that.'

'No. Really. Ask her if you have to.'

Kotetsu fumed slightly. Why wasn't he taking this as seriously as it should be? Surely he understood what this means, and how much of a toll it was taking on his sanity? Of course he did, but there he sat, unmoved and uninterested staring at the ceiling. It made his blood boil.

Izumo, however, understood perfectly what was going on, and was trying to find the best words to describe his own situation. But perhaps, words were not what was necessary in times like this. Maybe, just maybe, this would work, and he can finally tell him his side of the story.

As if on cue, the lights flicked off simultaneously and everything was switched off. A power cut at this time? Perfect. Silently, Izumo pulled himself up and ghosted closer to Kotetsu, who had finally decided that his body had seized up enough and time to stretch. Personally, he took this darkness as a gift, letting himself hide away his embarrassed features. Izumo, however, took grace in this the blackness for his own purposes and tried to calm his now rattled nerves.

Izumo's hand groped out for him in the darkness, his fingers brushing the ends of Kotetsu's spikes. Tenaciously, he took a step forward, before sliding his fingers through the inky tresses in a soft massage. In the darkness he had found his bearings and pulled himself close to his friend.

'Tets?' He whispered softly.

'Yeah buddy?'

'If I did something...would you hate me for it?'

A small moment of silence, Izumo's breath started to quicken in suspense.

'Izumo, I can never hate you...'

Slowly, cautiously, his fingers trailed down the back of Kotetsu's neck, pulling him closer and closer until there was just a minuscule space between their faces in the dark. Izumo fell forward, taking this opportunity to press his lips to the tender pair waiting less than an inch before his. Kotetsu's body stiffened in surprise, mind whirling and heart pounding. Before he realised, he found himself leaning into the other man, fighting for dominance but his friend was much too powerful, pinning him against the wall.