Remember Me (Illumi x reader) (Modern)

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 2

The bus hissed as it pulled up, loud and heavy like it had something to complain about. I shifted on my feet, blinking sleep from my eyes, trying to pretend the cold air wasn't slicing straight through my hoodie. Illumi stood beside me, as still as a statue carved out of something expensive and untouchable. His posture perfect. His expression unreadable. Typical.

I fished for something to say, something to break the weird quiet that always formed around him like static. Then I bowed once the doors opened, low and exaggerated, hand sweeping out like I was auditioning for some Shakespearean tragedy.

"Ladies first," I said, smirking as I looked up at him.

He blinked once, slowly. That was all I got. No smile, no sarcastic jab, not even a twitch of his mouth.
My smirk faltered, and he stepped onto the bus without a word. I followed quickly after, tugging my bag higher on my shoulder like I needed the pull-down of the weight to make sure I actually had it with me.

I slid into a window seat and watched him stay standing, fingers tapping across his phone screen like he was texting a boyfriend. Or maybe just Hisoka. Same thing, probably.

I tugged at his sleeve—gently, almost shyly. "Sit," I said, patting the space beside me.
He sighed, like I'd just asked him to write a dissertation on why air exists, and finally lowered himself into the seat. I leaned my head on his shoulder, the way I always wanted to in daydreams.

Five seconds in, he pressed a hand to my face and pushed me off.
Not harshly. But not softly either.

"You can sit beside me," he muttered. "But don't smother me."
I blinked at him, then sat up straight, lips folding into something between a grimace and a pout.
"Didn't know I was smothering you," I hissed.

The rest of the ride passed in silence, except for the bus groaning around corners like it was going through something. Illumi stayed quiet, phone glowing in his hand, and I leaned against the window, watching fog creep in around the edges of the glass.

When we stepped off the bus, I was immediately met with the chaos of a school morning. People moved like bees around a hive, loud and half-awake, and the sky above was that heavy shade of grey that made everything feel like it hadn't fully loaded yet.
I had just opened my mouth to ask if he had completed that science homework when I felt it—that weird itch along my spine that meant someone was watching.

I turned. And there he was.

Hisoka.

With the kind of smile that felt like it had teeth, standing already too close.
"Hello, (Y/n)~," he purred.

I barely got out a "hi" before Illumi appeared beside me, tension radiating from him in quiet pulses.
"You sent me fifteen messages this morning," Illumi said, voice low and clipped. "Why?"

"I was bored~" Hisoka replied, draping himself over Illumi's shoulder like a cat no one invited into the house. "I missed you."
Illumi's jaw tightened. I shrank back a little, suddenly aware of how out of place I was in whatever game they were playing.

I took a step toward the school doors, hoping to slip away quietly, but Hisoka's attention snapped to me like a spotlight. And then he was beside me again, too close again, long arms blocking my way.
"How are you, (Y/n)~?" he whispered.

I froze. "Can you not—?"
Before I could finish the sentence, Illumi was at the other side of my body, his hand placed promptly on my shoulder—not harsh, but firm. His eyes locked on Hisoka's.

Hisoka released me with a slow, lingering touch and a giggle that made my skin crawl. "Relax, I was only playing~"
Illumi didn't move. Didn't blink. Just watched him.

Eventually, Hisoka turned and walked away, lips still curled into something unsettling.
Illumi's hand lingered on my shoulder for a second too long before he realized it and pulled away. "Come on," he said.

We made it to our lockers, and I was finally starting to feel my exhaustion again. I shoved more books into my bag, head full of schedules and caffeine cravings, when my hand brushed something that didn't belong.

Something small. Squared.

I pulled it out.

A piece of gum.

Not just any gum.

Bungee Gum.

Illumi appeared beside me like he'd been called for.
"What's that?"

"It was in my bag," I said, holding it out to him like it was cursed. "I didn't put it there."

He took it without a word and pulled a tiny ziplock bag from his coat pocket. He dropped the gum inside, zipped it shut, and pocketed it.
"I'm throwing it away later," he said.

"Why?"

"Hisoka," he replied, like that was explanation enough. And honestly? It kind of was.