#happylikehappy

[no6secretsanta]

For: @happylikehappy

From: @hetapeep41

Happy holidays!

[no6secretsanta]

Going home

To: @Beccaelizart

From: @happylikehappy

Happy holidays!

You requested a Safu survives AU and I did my best to deliver. Originally I wanted there to be a short reunion / meeting with Nezumi and Shion but unfortunately that did not happen. Since this is an AU I took some artistic liberties to make it a little more logical but I might have skipped some many details. Hope you can still enjoy it if only a little!

Have a good time!

_____________

It was hard to keep her ears and eyes open. Especially the latter. But she willed herself to stay awake. Otherwise she might lose herself.

Safu squinted through the water, ignoring the burning of her eyes. The room ("No, lab", she corrected herself), she was in was way too bright. She wasn't sure if they had turned the lights off even once ever since she came here. Or rather ever since she got forcibly taken there.

Why her of all people? Hasn't she been a virtuous citizen? Hasn't she served No 6 well?

Questions over questions. Yet she could never ask them. For one, the mask which helped her breath under water prevented her from saying anything. Secondly they — the professors — didn't let her out. Thanks to the various tubes attached to her body she was able to survive without taking a single step outside her tiny aquarium. She certainly did feel like a fish though ten if not hundred times worse. At least a fish could move and in most cases hide.

All of a sudden a pair of all too familiar steps came closer to her. It gave her goosebumps every time. More often than not it meant pain for her. But precious results for them.

Willing her eyes to stay open, she regarded the person in front of her carefully. Due to the water and the awful lighting she could barely make out a human shape as usual. When she first came here the blurriness wasn't that bad. Yet while she would like to see more, she found it more important to hear. If only she could listen in on their conversations then she'd know what exactly their plan was with her.

Bzzzzt!

Strings of electricity washed over her brain like a huge wave.

Even though she had already expected it as it happened so many times it didn't make it hurt any less. But at least she didn't pass out from it anymore. She didn't even get paralysed.

However she still pretended to be knocked out because otherwise they'd give her a much higher dosage.

On the other hand, there was this voice in her head. It didn't sound human yet she slowly started to understand them.

Before it had only been bits of pieces. Now a full sentence was ringing clear as if whispered right into her ears,

"They have to be stopped."

Seems like her companion was also starting to understand her as well.

Safu tried to follow their example, "Who are you?"

It was quiet for a while. She wasn't sure if it was cause that being was thinking over her question or their responses were delayed. Like having bad connection.

"You may call me Elyurias, little Safu."

What an unusual name. Something she's never heard before not even as a word from another language.

While she was curious she refrained herself from asking more questions. Now was not the time. Plus she had a feeling she'd get a good picture of who and maybe what exactly that Elyurias is very soon.

"Alright, Elyurias."

There was no point in introducing herself when the other party already called her by her name. No matter how suspicious it was, she decided it was best to go along with it for now.

"Do you have a plan?"

"Yes," they replied much faster this time.

All of a sudden Safu saw bright images flashing before her inner eye. It took her a moment to recognise them as various screens. There was even what looked like camera footage.

At the same time, the overload of information made her head feel like it's spining and cracking at the same time.

Yet she much welcomed this pain which was arguably worse. A small price to pay for regaining her freedom.

Elyurias didn't tell her exactly what she should do. But it took Sayu only seconds to come up with the best way to use the mighty tool she was given.

First she made an alarm go off so the scientists would leave.

As soon as no one was left inside the room, she opened up the capsule and finally stepped out of it. Or rather she stumbled out of it and somehow managed to separate from the tubes. At least she didn't have to worry about getting them off anymore.

However, it took her a bit to stand up as her body was weakened from being coped up for so long. Even though her limbs were sluggish it was such a relief to not be under water anymore and be able to move freely again.

Once she had managed to get on her feet without falling she looked around the room until she found it. A set of clothes. One of the only things she could make out when she first came here was how one of the scientists secretly kept some extra clothing in her drawer. At the time she had deemed that information useless. Now it came in handy. Especially since the full body suit she was wearing was wet and uncomfortable. Plus and more importantly the lab coat would help her blend in.

After getting changed she made Elyurias take her to the heart of the lab. Thanks to a digital map and the ability to open any electric door she made it to the room in no time.

There she walked up to a glass capsule similar to but bigger than her own. What caught her eyes first were the traluscent wings which she imagined to be much prettier in flight. Next was the rest of the body which was very similar to a wasp or a bee.

She knew what or rather who it was without being needed to be told.

"We're almost there." Elyurias urged her which she was quick to oblige.

In no time did she get her prideful companion out.

Yet instead of flying to their freedom they headed to giant computer and started attacking it.

Safu was frozen at first until she ran up to her temporary ally.

"Wait!" she shouted, voice chords straining from the sudden use in so long.

"If you break it then everything will blow up!"

"So what?" they retorted in such a cold tone.

After steeling herself, Safu spoke up again in a clearer voice, "Everyone will die."

When she saw them reaching out to smash the console again, she quickly added, "That includes you and me too."

It was quiet for a moment as the two continued to stare at each other.

"You want to live." A statement, not a rhetorical question.

"Didn't you want to help me escape?" Safu asked, "To get me away from those awful people?" She wrapped her arms around herself, a weak attempt to shake off everything they did to her. Yet the memories would haunt her forever.

"There are still awful people," Elyurias pointed out, "They're everywhere."

It wasn't only the scientists. It wasn't only the government. No 6 was full of bad actors. Safu was all too aware of it.

But at the same time, she considered herself lucky to have been close to good people. Like Shion, her best friend and one-sided crush. Like Karen who was like a second mother to her. Like her grandmother who she missed dearly. Yet she was nowhere near ready to see her again, not like that.

"You're right Elyurias and I won't deny that."

Sayu took one more step closer to them to gently caress their arm.

"We've both been hurt by them. Yet instead of thinking of them I'd rather spend my time being with the people — the good people — I love."

She stroked their arm one last time before pulling away.

"So while you may only seek revenge I don't. I just want to go home. No, I'm going home."

Once again they were caught in a staring contest. Technically Safu lost for the second time. Not that it mattered.

Finally, Elyurias deflected.

"I suppose it's only fair that I give back to the human who helped me."

All of a sudden a gust of wind enveloped Safu.

"Elyurias—"

"You want to go home. So let me take you there."

Without awaiting her reply the metaphorical taxi started its engine.

The journey went as expected. Safu was beyond dizzy afterwards. She wasn't sure how it was possible that she survived that. It was a miracle that she didn't even have any injuries.

After regaining her sense of self she took notice of a sweet and a familiar scent. A moment later two strong arms were wrapping around her for a tight embrace.

Karen.

Then it finally sunk in. She was back home after what felt like a neverending nightmare.

[no6secretsanta]

From @shionsnezumi6 to @happylikehappy

I hope you like the gift,

Happy holidays!

[no6secretsanta]

Unexpected Guest

For @happylikehappy from @radio--free--hayden

“What the hell is that?” Nezumi came home to his, no wait, their apartment to see Shion sitting on the couch and something small crawling around in his lap. He and Shion had been roommates for a while, ever since they left school and decided it was better to split the price of an apartment between the two of them rather than find places to stay on their own. It’s fine for the most part, both of them being busy with their jobs. They usually only spend time together at night for meals, otherwise one of them is usually out somewhere doing who knows what. Their relationship is at that weird stage where they’re not quite just friends anymore, but neither is willing to make any moves further and risk breaking up the system they have going. But that’s not important right now, the important thing is whatever Shion thinks he can hide from Nezumi.

Shion looks up at Nezumi and quickly pulls a blanket over the thing he was holding, “nothing…” The lump under the blanket begins to move, searching for a way out.

“Don’t play dumb you know I saw it, now what was it?” Nezumi kicks off his shoes and walks over to the couch, sitting next to Shion and grabbing at the blanket.

“No wait- I wanted it to be a surprise,” Shion tries to push Nezumi away. Unfortunately for him, Nezumi is stronger and fights back. In the chaos of the two of them pulling the blanket back and forth, the mystery being that was under it crawls out and the couch and walks away.

Nezumi drops the blanket and just stares at it as it moves. “Why do you have a cat?" 

Shion sighs, "I didn’t want the two of you meeting this way, but I found her sitting outside on my way back from work so I brought her in. Isn’t she cute?” The cat crawls back over to Shion, seeing that the disturbance is over.

“She’s small, wouldn’t last much longer out there. Where did she learn her survival skills from because clearly they’re lacking.” Nezumi laughs, leaning back on the couch and kicking his legs up onto the coffee table in front of them.

“Hey, don’t be so mean to Mocha, she’s still young and probably got left behind by her mother.” Shion pokes Nezumi in the side which earns him a dirty look in return.

“You named her already? Great, now you’re gonna get attached and never want to get rid of her.”

Shion scoffs, “why would I get rid of her, she’s family now.” He reaches down to pick her up and sets her on his lap. She’s a dark brown color with a tan patch on her face and feet, her fur is still slightly damp from the bath Shion had given her before Nezumi arrived home.

“Do you even have food for her? Or a place for her to sleep? You need to think these kind of things through before just jumping in without a plan.” Nezumi rolls his eyes and leans back on the couch more. Mocha takes a few experimental steps closer to him and smells his jacket before running back to Shion. “Oh it cant smell that bad…” Nezumi says under his breath.

“Well, we can just feed her some of our leftovers and uh, she can sleep wherever she wants really, she’s small enough to not cause much of a problem.” Shion runs a hand along her back as she calms down in his lap, “and it really does, you should wash it.” He sticks his tongue out at Nezumi who returns the favor with a kick to his shin.

“Yeah but what about when she needs to go to the bathroom, I’m not cleaning any of that up.”

“Uh, ok you got me there I didn’t think about that. We need to go to a pet store anyway to get food and stuff so we can find something then.” Shion grabs his phone off the table in front of them and starts typing up a list.

“Yeah but what about in the meantime? It’s a bit late to go now.” Nezumi looks out the window, the sun had gone down a few hours ago.

“Whatever, I’ll clean up after her for tonight, but does this mean we can keep her?”

“As long as she doesn’t cause any problems, I suppose it’s alright for now…”

“Sweet! Thanks,” Shion picks Mocha up and gives her a kiss, “You know, she reminds me a bit of you?”

“How so?”

“She’s tough and cute and was on her own until I picked her up to help out.”

“You did not pick me up, I just decided you were decent enough to go to for assistance. And what was that second thing you said?”

“Nothing-” Shion laughs as Nezumi reaches over to pet Mocha.

“Yeah sure,” Mocha licks his hand a bit before he stands up, “I’m going to bed, be ready to go tomorrow to get things for her.”

“It’s a date.” Shion says before realizing the other meaning to his words, “I mean, it’s not a date it’s just, you know, I’ll be ready.” His face turns red and it’s Nezumi’s turn to laugh.

“Get some sleep, and make sure she stays out of my room.” He walks to his room and closes the door, leaving Shion to figure out what to do with Mocha for the night.

~~~

“Are you sure this is going to have what we need?” Shion grabs a basket in the entrance to the pet store. He was woken up by Mocha’s cries for food early in the morning and had been up since then taking care of and spending time with her. Nezumi on the other hand, had been complaining the whole time about how Shion needs to train her to behave better. It was something about her bothering his ‘beauty sleep,’ to which Shion suggested that Nezumi sleep longer, earning himself a swift kick to the backside.

“It’s a pet store, she’s a pet, they’ll have what we need. You do know what we need right?” Since Shion was carrying the basket, Nezumi was (unfortunately for him) tasked with carrying Mocha. She layed comfortably in Nezumi’s arms scouting out the store and watching the strangers as they passed by. Nezumi was just relieved that she was surprisingly calm given the situation.

“I did some research before coming here, but no not really.” Shion looked around for an employee and went to ask them about what they’d need for a new kitten. Nezumi was left to wander with Mocha.

“Well,” he looks down at her, “I suppose we should get you a collar of some sort.” He’s never really had pets in the past so this was all new to him. Sure he’d had a few rats growing up but those don’t exactly need identification. He makes his way over to the aisle with assorted collars and holds up Mocha higher. “If you see one you like, say something,” he laughs, “I cant believe I’m talking to a cat, Shion what have you done to me." 

Nezumi picks out a few different colors and holds them up to Mocha. He cant help but wonder why there are so many different types of collars. All they do is signify ownership of the animal why do they need to be so fancy.

Mocha mews when he holds a teal collar up to her, "is this the one you want?” He tries using his free hand to clip it on her but struggles. “Don’t run off on me now,” he sets her down to fasten the collar around her neck. She didn’t dare run off, especially not with Nezumi being the one watching her. Nezumi sighs, “you are pretty cute aren’t you…”

“What was that?" 

Nezumi turns around and sees Shion at the end of the aisle with a shopping cart instead now, filled with various cat necessities. "Nothing,” he picks Mocha back up before she can get a chance to run away, “did you get what we need?”

“This should be enough for now. It’s just the basics plus a few toys. I was going to pick out a collar next but I see you’ve already done that. Did you two have fun?”

“Sure, now can we go? This place smells like dirty animals.”

“Yeah yeah, come on.” Shion turns around and pushes the cart towards the checkouts. Nezumi isn’t too happy about the total price but the look on Shion’s face makes up for it. How can someone be so excited over something this small and helpless? Though he supposes he was like that at one point too.

As Nezumi drives them back to their apartment, Mocha is happily purring in Shion’s lap. Nezumi steals a glance at the two of them, “is that a normal noise for her to be making?”

“Purring?” Shion turns to face Nezumi, “You’re telling me you’ve never heard a cat purr before? And you used to call me the clueless one.” He rolls his eyes for good measure.

“If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a cat person. I’ve never really been around one before.”

“I cant believe the mighty Nezumi, the all knowing Nezumi, doesn’t know how a cat works,” Shion cant control his laugh anymore and leans back in his seat. Mocha stirs with the commotion, “this is priceless. I need to tell Inukashi-” He pulls his phone out from his pocket and texts them.

“Don’t you dare. All they know about is dogs too I’m sure they’ve never had a cat before.”

“They’re the one who I texted when I first found Mocha, they told me the basics. Just admit it, you’re the least knowledgeable about something.”

“This is a one time situation.” Nezumi pouts, returning his focus to the road ahead of him. Shion continues to mock him until they get home.

Once they’re back to the apartment and have everything from the store brought in, Shion gets to work setting up. He picks a fairly unused corner to keep the litter box in, much to Nezumi’s disapproval.

“Cant that go somewhere more out of sight? I don’t want to be staring at the cat doing her business every time.” Nezumi on the other hand, is laying on the couch watching Shion do all the work.

“Maybe we can put up a curtain or something so it’s more private for her?" 

"I really don’t think she’s going to worry about privacy. Why not put it in the closet or something so it’s away from us.”

“But how would she get in and out of there?” Mocha has been wandering around the bags and boxes of new items, climbing on top of the ones she finds particularly interesting.

“I thought you were the cat expert, cut a hole in the door or something.”

“Oh that’s actually really smart-”

“Yeah I know.” Nezumi leans back and props his arms behind his head.

Shion stumbles around more, working on setting up the cat tree for her to safely climb on and stocking a cabinet in their kitchen with cat foods.

It isn’t until later that evening that Shion is satisfied with the set up for their new roommate. He takes a seat next to Nezumi on the couch. Nezumi had found it very entertaining, watching Shion wander about the apartment trying to find places for everything in their limited amount of space. Before he sat down, Shion left out a bowl of food for Mocha in the kitchen, letting her eat in peace.

“So, was it worth it?” Nezumi kicks his feet up onto Shion’s lap as he lays there.

“Was what worth it, bringing her in here? Yes and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

“You really like that cat don’t you?”

“You just need to give her a chance, get to know her a bit.” Mocha finished eating and runs out to find them. She jumps up on the couch and crawls around on Nezumi.

“How do you expect me to get to know something I cant talk to?” He grabs her and holds her above him, she tries to paw at the stray hairs that fell down from Nezumi’s hair-tie.

“Just do it,” Shion pushes down Nezumi’s legs and stands, “I’ll leave you two alone to bond” and before Nezumi can object, Shion is already in his room and closing the door.

“I guess it’s just us now…” He sets her down onto his stomach and she curls up on him. He runs a hand along her back, “I guess you’re pretty soft which is nice.” Mocha, enjoying the pets, starts to purr. “You’re going to be a troublemaker when you get older, I just know it,” he laughs quietly, “reminds me of someone I know.”

The two lay there until night falls. Nezumi picks up the sleeping Mocha and brings her back to his room, laying her comfortably on his bed. He quickly gets ready for sleep and returns to see that she moved from where he had left her to on his pillow instead. Nezumi, too tired at this point to care, ops to just forgo using a pillow for the night to let Mocha sleep. If Shion sees them like this he’ll never let him live it down, but Nezumi is ok with that. 

[no6secretsanta]

To: @ikathemadhatter

From: @happylikehappy

_______

That was not how Nezumi imagined to spend the morning and afternoon before the party. He had thought he would just relax and take care of his mice until it was time to go.

Instead, he was standing in front of a burning hot oven and one second later he was taking out some bread. Sweat was already running down his forehead from running around and serving people at the bakery.

Karan, the owner of the bakery, talked to him once they had a free minute.

“Thank you so much Nezumi.”

“It’s nothing,” Nezumi assured her.

Yet he had been pissed a few hours earlier when Safu called Nezumi. After all, it had been at half past three in the morning. Though his anger was quick to disappear when she explained the situation to him. According to her they were understaffed as the other two workers were on holidays and Shion had fallen sick.

If Shion had been a normal friend he would not have bothered coming but as they were boyfriends Nezumi felt obliged to help his mother, the owner of the bakery, out. He had done it a few times already, although never that early. Plus since he was there he could look after his lover too.

~

As soon as he was on break, he excused himself to Shion’s room. There Nezumi found him sound asleep. He looked almost peaceful if it was not for his reddened face and the sweat. Nezumi wet the towel again and put it back on his forehead before he drank some water and ate a little. Thanks to Safu’s late notice and the busy state of the bakery he had not been able to have a proper breakfast.

Karan had been kind enough to give Nezumi some pastries from the bakery and even made some more coffee for him. If it had not been for the coffee every half an hour to hour he would not have been able to stay awake at all.

It was kind of weird for Nezumi to be around Shion while he was asleep. They had only started dating recently. In fact, this was his first time to be in Shion’s room. But Nezumi’s focus was only on him.

“So defenceless,” Nezumi mumbled as he moved some hair out of Shion’s face. For a moment his eyes scrunched up which in turn made Nezumi tense up. When Shion relaxed, so did he.

After watching his boyfriend for a little longer, Nezumi finished eating in record time and returned to work.

~

Karan walked up to Nezumi once it was time for lunch and business was slower. Safu decided to stay alone behind the counter so they could eat.

“Thanks again for coming.”

“You don’t need to thank me that often.”

It was already the third time she did.

“Also thanks for the food Ma’am.”

“It was the least I could do,” Karan insisted, “Oh, and please call me Karan. You don’t need to be so formal with me. After all, you’re my son’s boyfriend.”

“Alright.”

Nezumi took a sip of his coffee as Karan sat down opposite him.

“You know, I still can’t believe it,” she admitted.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“That your son is dating someone of the same gender?”

“That my son is dating at all.”

Letting out a sigh, Karan twirled some spaghetti noodles on a fork before eating it.

“It’s just… Shion was always so focused on studying and not really looking at people.”

“He still is,” Nezumi pointed out before putting some bacon in his mouth.

“Yeah, I guess he didn’t change much but at the same time he did.”

Shaking her head, Karan picked up her cup of tea.

“I don’t make much sense, do I?”

Biting his lip, Nezumi observed her and found a few similarities with Shion. They really were related and one could see it.

“Well, I don’t know Shion nearly as well as you do.”

Or rather he seemed to barely know him compared to her but Nezumi did not dare say it out loud.

After taking a sip of her tea, Karan put the cup down.

“You shouldn’t compare yourself with me. Of course, as his mother, I have been with Shion far longer…” Even though her voice became more stern her gaze stayed soft. “… but I’m sure you’ve seen sides of Shion I haven’t before.”

In an instant Nezumi remembered the time he saw Shion shouting in the rain. Or the time a girl had kissed him and it took him a whole minute to react. He was almost certain Karan had not witnessed either of it.

“But on another note…” Her warm voice brought Nezumi back to reality. “This is the first time we’re having a conversation like this, correct?”

She was right. While they had talked before, especially when Shion introduced him as his boyfriend, it was always short. If Nezumi did not include his mother warning him to not hurt Shion and stay safe.

“I suppose so.” He brought his coffee glass to his lips for a short moment. “But then again, there is not much we could talk about. Except for Shion.”

“Aren’t you curious Nezumi?” Karan asked. “About what Shion was like before you met him?”

It took him a while to reply, “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.”

As if she had been waiting for this, she got out her phone to show Nezumi some photos and gush about her son.

~

Finally, Nezumi was allowed to leave work in the afternoon. By now Shion was awake again. His eyes grew big when he saw Nezumi enter his room.

“I’m not dreaming, am I?” Shion wondered as he stared at Nezumi as if he was an idol.

He could not stop himself from rolling his eyes. “Last time I checked your fever wasn’t that high.”

“Ah.”

His head dropped much like a puppy’s. Even his eyes turned sad.

“I’m sorry Nezumi.”

“What for?”

Although he could clearly tell that Shion was apologising for being sick, he found it unnecessary. Plus it was not him who had forced Nezumi to fill in for him at the bakery.

“I didn’t mean to make you worry. Actually, I feel much better already.” Flashing him a smile, Shion added, “So you can go to the party with Safu. Don’t mind me.”

It took Nezumi a moment to process his words. But as soon as he did he flicked Shion’s forehead.

“Why would I go to the party with Safu? You’re my lover, not her.”

He did not miss how Shion’s cheeks turned a darker shade of red.

“I wouldn’t want to make my boyfriend jealous.”

After taking the few steps to his bed, Nezumi ruffled his hair.

“You’re such an airhead.”

“I wanted to dance with you,” Shion blurted out all of a sudden, “And hear you sing. They have a karaoke machine so I thought you could.”

With a baffled expression, Nezumi was staring at him until he clicked his tongue.

“So that was your true motive. I was wondering why you, of all people, wanted to go to a party.”

“I’m a teenager,” Shion retorted, “So shouldn’t that be normal?”

“You are anything but normal though.”

“…That’s an insult right?” Licking his lips, he avoided Nezumi’s gaze.

“Well, it’s more of a fact than anything. Or would you call me normal?”

To his relief Shion let out a chuckle.

“I guess not.”

“Good. Now that that’s settled, how about you take your medicine?” Nezumi suggested.

Even though the mere mention of medicine made Shion scrunch up his face, he nodded.

Even though the mere mention of medicine made Shion scrunch up his face, he nodded.

In order to lift his mood, Nezumi made him a promise.

“If you are a good boy and do as Doctor Nezumi says, I will sing you a song tonight. We could even dance when you’re feeling better.”

This brought a smile to Shion’s face.

“You better keep your word.”

“Oh please. When have I let you down?”

And so Shion did everything he could to get better just to get a goodnight song from Nezumi.

His voice actually lured him to sleep. Shion did not even notice when Nezumi placed a soft kiss on his forehead and wished him sweet dreams.

~ ~ ~

[no6secretsanta]

From: @happylikehappy

To: @sillydragpoes

Happy New Years!

Sorry for the late and short present but I hope you still like it. You wanted some fluffy slice of life and I was happy to deliver.

———

Shion watched Nezumi put his hair into its usual ponytail. He noted how it had become a little longer than when they had started living together in their small apartment. 

"What is it?" Nezumi asked, bringing the other back to reality, "You're staring pretty hard at me. It's creeping me out."

Shion blinked once but kept his gaze on the handsome man. 

"Your hair is rather long."

"Heh." 

At that Nezumi took a loose strand of his hair and twirled it around his finger. He usually kept a little part out of the ponytail. 

"I guess it is. Does it bother you that much?"

For some reason that thought made Nezumi snicker. 

Shion on the other hand shook his head. 

"No. I like it that way."

He reached his hand out to touch Nezumi's hair but got his wrist grabbed instead. 

They looked into each other's eyes for a while, grey daggers boring into ruby reds, before Nezumi let go of Shion. 

"How many times do I have to tell you not to touch me?"

He clicked his tongue.

"It's for your own safety."

"Sorry." 

This time Shion apologised for his behaviour. 

"It's just... Your hair looks like silk." 

Nezumi stared at the other until letting out a snicker. 

"Why thank you for that oh so original compliment."

His remark made the other frown. 

"You're teasing me again, aren't you?" 

"Where would you get that idea, your majesty?" 

He couldn't help but laugh when Shion rolled his eyes and turned away with a sigh. 

"I'll just go ahead and make dinner."

A moment later Nezumi was left alone in the living room. Now that silence had returned once again, he decided to finish the book he had been reading until Shion disturbed him. 

However, he wasn't as focused as he was before. His mind kept drifting back to their earlier conversation. 

Shion had wanted to touch my hair, didn't he?

Nezumi closed his book two pages later. 

But come to think of it, didn't he want to get a haircut soon?

Right now Shion's hair reached a little below his chin in a chocolate brown mess. It was always funny to see his reaction whenever Nezumi would run his hand through them and ruffle them. While he mostly did it to see his reaction — which was oftentimes surprised accompanied by annoyance — he did like the feel of them. 

His hair was actually soft to the touch. Nezumi wouldn't habe guessed from someone who was the picture book definition of a workaholic. 

After putting his book away, he decided to join Shion in the kitchen. 

"Make sure the soup isn't too salty this time." 

—

"Thanks for the food." 

Once they were done eating, Nezumi brought the dirty dishes to the kitchen and washed them right away. It was one of their prime rules of living together to split the house chores evenly between them. So if one of them cooked it was only natural for the other one to clean after the meal.

As they were always taking turns doing the chores, living together had become rather comfortable. 

After the last dish had been dried off and put back in its place, Nezumi returned to the living room. 

"Don't you have work soon?" he asked his roommate who shook his head. 

"They just texted me that they won't need me after all," Shion explained. 

With a smirk Nezumi sat down next to him. 

"That means you finally get a Sunday for yourself in a long while." 

"Almost." 

When Shion leaned his body sideways to give him a gentle nudge he didn't dodge. 

"So I was actually wondering…"

"Yeah?" 

Nezumi urged the other to continue after a long moment of silence. 

"Can I brush your hair?" 

It took him a while to register Shion's question and then even longer to answer him.

"Alright, fine." 

The other's face brightened up over the positive response. 

"However, under one condition." 

Nezumi watched his confused expression with a small smile.

"What is it?" 

Although he looked hesitant, it was obvious that he was more curious than scared. 

Which was why he was quick to tell him.

"I want to style your hair."