Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Little Things ❯ Smile III ( Chapter 9 )

Little Things

Smile III

By: eternalsailorsolarwind

 

Disclaimer: Not owned by me. Unfortunately. If I did, Tsuzuki/Hisoka and Tatsumi/Watari would be canon.

 

A/N: Yet another chapter about smiles. Tatsumi/Watari this time. Tatsumi might be a touch OOC, but not by too much.

 

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Tatsumi leaned back in his seat at the foot of the table as Kachoe Konoe's meeting began to drag on, and glanced at the shinigami sitting around the table. Tsuzuki and Kurosaki were sitting together, Tsuzuki manfully sacrificing himself for his younger partner/lover by placing himself between Saya and Yuma. Of course, that also placed him directly across from Terazuma. The two had been glaring at each other off and on the entire meeting.

 

Next was Kannuki, Terazuma's partner. The senior of the partners, she was usually good about keeping Terazuma in line, especially when it came to the inevitable animosity between and Tsuzuki and Terazuma. Her partner had wilted more than once at a stern look from her during the meeting.

 

Finally, sitting near the head of the table, directly across from Kurosaki, was his own lover and sometime partner, Watari. The blonde scientist had propped his head on one long-fingered hand, obviously only half-listening to Kachoe's lecture. There was a silly little smile on the man's face, making it obvious that his lover was in the middle of pleasant daydream.

 

It was all Tatsumi could do to not start to flush. A large part of him - larger than was good for him, considering they were both at work - hoped that he was the subject of that daydream.

 

Abandoning any pretense of listening to Konoe's meeting (he had written the speech anyway); Tatsumi continued to watch his lover. It was more entertaining, for one thing. For another, Tatsumi had learned that the best judge of the mood Watari was in by the smile that the scientist was wearing - usually.

 

Watari was known far and wide as the man who always smiled. Those smiles hid his pain, as well as told the world that he was happy. His mask, mused Tatsumi for a dark moment, was much better than Tsuzuki's. Tsuzuki couldn't always make himself believe that everything was fine, though he tried for everyone else's sake. Watari, however, could make himself believe that everything was fine. The blonde scientist swallowed so much of his pain that it was a wonder that he could function at all.

 

It had taken Tatsumi a long time to realize that. He knew that was because he had, for so many years, been so focused on making Tsuzuki happy that he hadn't paid enough attention to the scientist. Kurosaki's arrival had begun to change that. Now that Tsuzuki was happy, Tatsumi could step back and see what he had missed.

 

More than he had realized. He had been amazed to see that the blonde scientist had waited patiently for him for nearly thirty years. It had been a shocking, humbling, and oddly endearing thing to discover.

 

As had been seeing how much Watari's smiles actually meant to him. So much so that Tatsumi began to take what he liked to term Watari's Smiles 101. Even before their relationship became “official,” he would unobtrusively (He hoped, Watari could be remarkably observant when he chose to be.) study his lover when he got the chance, seeing the little nuances that made up all of Watari's various smiles and grins.

 

He wanted insight into the other man. He wanted to know more about what made the determinedly genki scientist that he loved tick. And most of all, Tatsumi wanted to be able to comfort him - especially when Watari tried to hide his pain from him. Something that the blonde tried to do more often than Tatsumi liked.

 

So he continued to watch, learn, and judge. Did a slight crinkling of the eyes mean that Watari is pleased? Or is he ecstatic? Are bared teeth a sign that his lover is angry? Or that he is beside himself with joy? Unfortunately, as Tatsumi has discovered, it could be either. Or even both.

 

Movement broke Tatsumi out of his thoughts. Watari had glanced his way. After a moment of honest surprise to find Tatsumi watching him instead of paying attention to the meeting, Watari smirked at him, one eyelid dropping into an amused wink.

 

Naughty Tatsumi. Caught you watching me.

 

At least, that's what Tatsumi assumed his lover meant by that smirk. He briefly wondered if that meant he was learning how to read the scientist better, before suddenly realizing that he had eternity to learn all the nuances of Watari and his smiles. There was no need to rush. One day he would understand what all of his lover's smiles meant.

 

But for now, he could just enjoy them.