Roleplaying
by Leareth
Epilogue
Tatsumi sighed, closing his eyes and revelling in the leather-smell of his office chair. He was early, as usual, and it was nice to bask in normalcy and routine now that everything was sorted out. He had a stack of paperwork to do that had been piling up in the days he had been away. Obviously Muraki hadn't done any of it while masquerading about in his body, not that he had expected him to. And besides, it wasn't as if he didn't like doing paperwork. Contrary to popular opinion he actually found it relaxing, a way to centre his thoughts. Which is what he was going to do right now.
Sitting up straight, he picked up a brand new pen, pulled over the department account book, and got straight into it. He got so into it that he didn't notice the blond whirlwind approaching his office until Watari had burst the door open, grabbed him by his suit jacket and started shaking him.
"TATSUMI SEIICHIRO WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BEST BUDDY LAST NIGHT?!" yelled Watari. Tatsumi couldn't answer; he was having enough trouble trying to see straight. "IF YOU DID ANYTHING PERVERTED I SWEAR I'M GOING TO KICK YOU FROM HERE TO GENSOUKAI!"
Tatsumi was getting dizzy. Whether it was because his arms were tired from shaking or he really was giving Tatsumi a breather, the secretary wasn't sure, but for whatever reason Watari stopped rattling Tatsumi like a rag doll and settled for burning glares instead. When the world finally got off the roller-coaster Tatsumi returned the glare as he straightened his tie.
"What on earth are you talking about, Watari-san," he said exasperatedly. "There is absolutely no call for you to come in here in such a manner and—"
"No call?! No call?!" Watari's face was livid. "Hisoka-kun dumps Tsuzuki on me after you take him out and he's half-traumatised, and you have the audacity to say no call?!"
Tatsumi blinked. His memory did a recall. He paled. "Oh no."
"Oh yeah," retorted Watari. "So you did do something!"
"I did absolutely nothing!" said Tatsumi defensively.
Watari sat on Tatsumi's desk and folded his arms. "You give Tsuzuki roses and chocolates. You try to seduce him in the common room. You hit on him in the office in front of everyone. You take him out for a dinner date. Tsuzuki turns up at my door in the middle of the night with his shirt falling off and shaking and you call that nothing?!"
Watari could screech like a woman when he wanted to; Tatsumi put a hand to his head and groaned. Muraki, you are dead when I see you next. "I didn't do anything," he said as calmly as possible. "Ask Kurosaki-kun, he'll verify that statement."
The scientist glared. "If you claim you didn't do anything to Tsuzuki, then what happened to him?"
"It's a long story."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Tatsumi was rapidly losing patience. "Just go ask Kurosaki-kun, I don't have the time for this. Where is Tsuzuki-san anyway," he asked, trying to sound casual.
"Probably on his way here from my place with Hisoka-kun," said Watari icily. "You owe him an apology."
"An apolo—" Tatsumi held his head in his hands and silently added torture to the things he owed Muraki. "Oh god."
"Uh huh."
Tatsumi didn't hear him. He got out of his chair and left the office. It was more populated then when he had first arrived at the JuOhCho as other shinigami filtered in to start the workday.
"Good morning, Tatsumi-san!" a voice chirped. Tatsumi turned to see Wakaba, Terazuma as always just behind her. She came up to him with a smile and one eyebrow raised. "Did you enjoy yourself last night?"
Tatsumi blinked. "I beg your pardon?"
"Tatsumi-san! How can you pretend not to know?" She tilted her head and gave him an arch look. "Or is it that you wish for such things to remain private?" Behind her, Terazuma was looking uncomfortable.
Tatsumi was turning red, he could feel it. "I – I—"
Wakaba smiled at him. "It's oka~ay!" she said encouragingly. "You don't have to say anything, just as long as we know you two enjoyed yourselves! Let's go, Hajime-chan!" She turned and waved to Tatsumi. "Laters!"
The secretary didn't answer. He was starting to get a very bad feeling.
"TATSUMI-SAA~AN!!"
Tatsumi twitched. He turned around. "Saya-san, Yuma-san—"
The Hokkaido duo bounded up to him with cat-at-cream grins. "Soo~o, how did it goo~o??" asked Saya, tugging on his sleeve.
"Tell, tell, tell!" That was Yuma, tugging on his other sleeve. "Where's Tsuzuki-chan? He didn't come with you? Mou, Tatsumi-san, you're so closed-mouth! We didn't know you were such a romantic!
Tatsumi wanted to put a hand to his head and groan, but since both of his arms had a girl on them he couldn't. Nor was the ordeal over yet.
"Tatsumi." Konoe appeared around the corner. His old face looked puzzled. "Can I speak to you for a moment?"
"Of course," said Tatsumi with as much dignity as possible with Saya and Yuma hanging onto him.
The Chief's face grew more than a little embarrassed. "Recently I've been hearing rumours, and I don't know what to think of them," he said. He scratched his head uncomfortably. "Apparently you're involved in some office romance and—"
That was it. Tatsumi disengaged his arms and fled to the relative safety of his office. Relative being the key word; Watari hadn't left. On the other hand Hisoka had turned up. They had obviously been discussing something regarding him, for the moment he appeared they shut up.
"Tatsumi-san?" asked Hisoka, seeing his frazzled state. "Are you alright?"
Tatsumi glanced at Watari. "Did you explain things to him?" he asked Hisoka.
The boy-shinigami nodded. Beside him, Watari was still shaking his head. "I don't believe it."
Tatsumi glared. "You think I'm the type who gives people roses?"
Watari grinned. "Well, I did wonder if something was up when you gave me that research grant," he said.
Tatsumi stared. "What?!"
The scientist triumphantly waved an authorisation notice in the air. "Too late, it's already been signed and deposited!"
"You—" Tatsumi glared. "Give me that, I didn't authorise it."
"As far as everyone else is concerned, you did," replied Watari, sticking his tongue out. "It's aa~all mine."
"Ah, Tatsumi-san," said Hisoka, as the secretary began to move threateningly towards Watari, who jumped off the desk and prepared to run, "your mail is here." He quickly grabbed the nearest envelope and held it out. "Here."
With another glare Tatsumi reached out and took it. He opened it carefully, missing the grateful thumbs-up Watari gave Hisoka, and skim-read the contents inside.
"Where's Tsuzuki?" asked Watari.
Hisoka thumbed to the general direction of outside. "He was taking too long so I walked on ahead."
"Oh, so you did pick him up." Watari folded his authorisation paper and put it away with care. "I thought that—"
"HE USED MY CREDIT CARD?!"
The infuriated bellow probably rattled windows on the other end of the JuOhCho. At this close range it knocked Watari and Hisoka off their feet. When they climbed back up again they saw that Tatsumi was glowing a scary angry red. "He used. My credit card. To pay. For dinner?!" the secretary bit out, gripping the credit card report he had just received. "I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!!"
Hisoka frowned as he straightened his clothes. "How did he figure out your PIN?"
"I don't know," growled Tatsumi. "It's not as if my PIN number is something obvious—" He broke off.
"What?" asked Watari.
Tatsumi put a hand to his head and groaned. "Don't worry."
There was a knock on the door. "Hello?"
The secretary froze. Watari looked up then smiled. "Hey, Tsuzuki, you're finally here, you sleepy head!" he called out through the door.
"Better let him in," said Hisoka.
"Hisoka?" asked Tsuzuki from the other side of the door. "You there too? Why did you walk on ahead and leave me behind?"
The boy-shinigami rolled his eyes and pushed past Tatsumi to open the door. Tatsumi hurried to his desk and grabbed the nearest accounting book. "Because you were getting distracted looking at the cake shops, idiot," said Hisoka, letting his partner through.
Tsuzuki came inside with a pout, tie undone as usual. "But I wanted breakfast!"
"I thought I left you some," said Watari.
"Hisoka wouldn't let me eat it."
"How come?"
"Your so-called ‘breakfast' was left-over popcorn and chocolate," said Hisoka.
Watari gave him a Look. "You're getting as picky as Tatsumi. Speaking of which—" here he nudged the secretary who was trying a little too hard to look busy, "—shouldn't you be saying something?"
Tatsumi didn't look up from his accounts. "Good morning."
Watari's eyes narrowed. "That's not what I meant."
Tatsumi kept his eyes down. "Good morning, Tsuzuki-san."
Hisoka and Watari glared at him. Tatsumi ignored them. Tsuzuki was looking confused.
"Hey, Hisoka-kun," said Watari loudly.
"Yes, Watari-san?" asked Hisoka.
"Did I ever show you that new chemistry book I got in?"
"No, you didn't. Can I see it?"
"Of course." Watari smirked. "In fact, why don't we go now?"
Tatsumi wasn't stupid. He looked up, a little panicked. "Kurosaki-kun—"
"I haven't got anything to do at the moment," said Hisoka. He and Watari began to leave. "Tsuzuki, you'd better not come. We don't want you breaking the test-tubes or anything."
Tsuzuki also began to look panicked. "Hisoka—"
"We'll see you at lunch," said Watari. He tipped Tsuzuki a wink. Then he and Hisoka closed the door. The sound of the lock turning was rather obvious. So were the whispers that could be heard for a second or two before they rather suspiciously settled down.
Tatsumi manage to pretend to work for about a minute. After that, it was rather difficult to resist the purple eyes he could feel watching him. Almost hesitantly, Tatsumi looked up.
Tsuzuki watched him steadily.
Tatsumi sighed and sat back in his chair, unsure of how to begin an apology. He wanted to close his eyes, but that would mean shutting Tsuzuki out.
"Watari's being an idiot, you know."
Tatsumi blinked. Tsuzuki smiled a little and walked around to his side of the desk, leaning against it. "All right, Watari is an idiot a lot of times, but expecting you to say sorry is so beyond silly it's silly. Uh, did that make sense?" He frowned, thoughtful for a moment. "Anyway, you don't have to say sorry. It's not your fault."
Tatsumi stared. "Tsuzuki-san—"
"Actually, if anyone should be apologising, it should be me," said Tsuzuki quietly.
There was a pause. Tatsumi frowned, and sat forward a little. "Why do you say that?"
Tsuzuki didn't look at him. "Because ... I should have been able to tell it wasn't you. I mean, after knowing you for so long, I should know what's normal for Tatsumi, right?"
"Tsuzuki-san—"
"You spending money like that on me should have already told me something," Tsuzuki continued, staring down at his feet. "You wouldn't do that for no reason. And the thing is, I knew it was strange for you but I didn't think about it at all, and I don't know why I didn't cause you're never that nice and—"
"Tsuzuki-san." The voice was clipped, authoritative. "You're babbling."
Tsuzuki smiled weakly. "I have a tendency to do that, don't I."
"I've noticed," said Tatsumi dryly. Then he sighed. "If we keep swapping blame and apologies between, we're not going to get anywhere, and I don't think the eavesdroppers who are no doubt huddling outside my door will let us out. So let's just put it all aside, shall we?"
Tsuzuki laughed. "Good idea."
"And besides," Tatsumi added. "Who said I wouldn't spend money on you for no reason?"
The amethyst eyes blinked at him, startled. Taking advantage of it, Tatsumi reached out to take Tsuzuki's hand. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?" he asked worriedly. Tsuzuki gave a wordless shake of his head and Tatsumi sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."
Hesitantly, Tsuzuki lifted his free hand and began to run a finger over Tatsumi's wrist, tracing circles on his skin. "Actually, he was pretty nice for the whole of the evening." He glanced up at Tatsumi almost shyly. "I think that's the reason I thought he was you."
Tatsumi gave Tsuzuki a soft smile.
* * *
It was nice to have things peaceful, thought Oriya, looking over his garden. Hopefully it would last this time. Those shinigami were very good at making a nuisance of themselves, especially the blue-eyed one, and they caused a hell of a lot of trouble.
On the other hand, Muraki caused enough trouble all by himself.
Footsteps in the room behind him; Oriya didn't turn around. "This is a surprise," he said. "Usually you don't wake up for another hour."
"I haven't been going out at night lately," Muraki replied. "Is there any tea?"
Oriya made an exasperated sound. "Is it too much for me to hope that one day you would make tea for me?" he asked, entering the room and getting the tea things.
"Perhaps, but until then I will continue to drink yours." Muraki sat down on the floor, watching Oriya make the tea. After a moment he lifted a hand to his head and winced.
Oriya flicked an eye at him. "Headache?"
Muraki waved him off. "It's nothing."
Oriya was not amused at having his concern dismissed. "You sure it's not some side-effect of that spell that kid did?"
"I'm fine, it will pass, Oriya," said Muraki a little sharply. "I'm a doctor, I of all people would know these things."
The sword-master sighed. "If you say so." The tea was ready; he poured some of it into the bowls and stirred. "Just be careful; you've been pushing yourself a lot lately." A warm fragrance rose out of the bowls and Oriya slid one over to Muraki who accepted it with a nod of thanks. He watched his friend drink, keeping an eye out for any hint of pain. There wasn't any. Only then did Oriya pick up his own bowl to drink. He had barely taken a sip when a thought struck him.
"Muraki." The silver-haired doctor glanced at him. "Did you really mean it when you told that shinigami you didn't do anything to his friend?"
Muraki shrugged and sipped his tea. "Strangely enough, I did."
Pause. Oriya put down his tea and stared at his friend almost in disbelief. "So. You are still there."
Muraki looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Oriya didn't answer. He merely picked up his tea again and hid his smile behind the bowl.
+ owari +