Title: 
Author/pseudonym: NemKess
Fandom:  Here is Greenwood
Pairing: Shinobu/Mitsuru
Rating: PG13
Status:  
E-mail address for feedback:: nemsmuses@msn.com

Disclaimers: Shi-kun or Suru-chan belong to me?  I could only wish.  Nope, not mine.  No copyright infringement is intended and no money is made.  This is purely to silence the voices in my head.  ^_^


Notes: 


Summary:   Takes place after Shinobu refuses to be possessed and Misako leaves for the night.
Warnings:  Shonen ai.

 

"He's mad at you, isn't he?"  The regretful voice came from his left.

Mitsuru just sighed and flopped down onto the floor. 

"I don't understand why Shinobu was so upset in the first place.  It was for the good of the entire dorm!"  And the indignant and self-righteous one from his right.

"Exactly.  We were trying to use his feelings against him for our own benefit.  That wasn't very nice."

"They're best friends!  It's not like it's a big deal.  Nobody would have held it against either of them.  Why do I get the feeling I'm being kept in the dark again?"

"Mitsuru..."

The upper classman stared at the ceiling.  He hated it when his roommate and best friend was mad at him.  It made things so uncomfortable, especially since an angry Shinobu usually meant a near freezing room.  He'd never quite understood how that worked, though he supposed it didn't matter.  What mattered was that it did. 

With another sigh, he turned his gaze towards his pink-haired friend.  "What, Shun?  Might as well tell him.  Everyone else knows."  Actually, he hadn't realized that Hasakawa didn't already know himself.  Without waiting for Shun, he answered.  "Shinobu is in love with me."

He glared as the redhead started laughing.  It wasn't funny.  Apparently, Hasakawa managed to grasp that from the serious expressions around him.  "That's a.. joke... right?"

Mitsuru shook his head before laying back down, using his arm as a pillow.  "No."

"But.. this is.. Shinobu!"

Shun reached over and swatted the back of his friend's head.  "So what?  Is it so unbelievable that Shinobu could be in love with Mitsuru?"

"Yes!  Shinobu is too... too... well.. he's Shinobu!"

And that, Mitsuru thought, probably summed it all up.  It made it easy to forget, sometimes, that there were certain areas where his friend would not be pushed.  Because Tezuka Shinobu could be so very cold and distant, everyone- Mitsuru included- forgot that he could still feel jealousy and love and hurt.  Having the ghost Misako around would have pushed all those buttons anyways, without the added annoyance of having the entire dorm trying to push the boy into allowing himself to be used like that. 

"He's still a human being!"  Shun looked so indignant on Shinobu's behalf that Mitsuru had to smile at the younger boy.

"Well..  How do you know?" 

"Ska!"

Hasakawa glared at his own roommate.  "I meant, how do you know that he loves you?  I can't really see him actually saying anything even if it is true."

The blonde shook his head as he answered.  "No.. He didn't.  It was Nagisa actually.  Our first year here."

He and Shinobu had been roommates for about four or five months when the woman had made her very first appearance at Greenwood.

"I honestly thought he was gonna kill her when she teased him about it- in front of half the dorm, no less.  After she left, I thought he'd tell me that it wasn't true, just his sister's psychotic babbling.  Imagine my surprise when Mr. Cool and Collected himself wouldn't meet my eyes and told me that he'd never intended for me to find out at all, never mind in front of all our dorm mates.  He even offered to change rooms if his presence made me uncomfortable because he understood how most guys felt about gay people."

It was the look on the silver-haired bishonen's face that had convinced Mitsuru more than the words.  Nagisa's accusations were true.  Shinobu really did love him.

He'd been seriously weirded out at first.  Up until that point in his life, he'd never really acknowledged that homosexual people really existed, never mind that another guy might actually be interested in him.  It was a joke, and insult tossed between buddies in locker rooms.  It wasn't real.

Only it was.

His very male roommate, a guy who'd quickly become the best friend he'd ever had, was interested in him.

Mitsuru had considered Shinobu's offer, but in the end had decided that it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.  After all, in the almost five months they'd known each other, Shinobu hadn't so much as stared at him longer than any other friend would, never mind done anything that could be construed as improper.  It had blown all of his preconceived notions about 'those sorts of people' right out of the water.

"It took a while for us to get comfortable with each other again after that, but I think we're even better friends now."

"Poor Shinobu."

He looked up at Hasakawa's sympathetic tone.  "What?"

The redhead glared at him.  "I said, 'Poor Shinobu'."

"Why do you say that, Ska-chan?"  Shun looked genuinely curious, but Mitsuru was a little indignant.  Poor Shinobu?  What about poor him?  He was the one who was haunted by random ghosts of cute but very dead girls while his stuffy roommate refused to do the one thing that would have gotten rid of her!

"He has to be around the oblivious moron that he loves almost all day long.  That has to hurt."  Hasakawa had turned to stare out the window.  "And you're even worse than Sumurei."

"Hey!  What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Hasakawa just sighed and shook his head.  "Figure it out on your own.  Get out of our room and go make up with Shinobu."

Gaping at his friend, Mitsuru was only dimly aware of Shun twittering on making excuses for the redhead's abruptness.  Hasakawa was frequently annoyed with him and often ordered him from their room (not that Mitsuru ever paid him any mind) but never had he done so in such a... sad and resigned tone.

As if Hasakawa was disappointed in him.

As if Mitsuru had done something so low that it just took the wind right out of him.

Mitsuru wasn't exactly sure why that bothered him so much.  

And besides, what had he done that was so bad?

It wasn't like he'd thrown a fit and insisted that Shinobu never come near him again.  They were still friends.  

Poor Shinobu....

He stood abruptly and headed to his own room.   He had a sudden overwhelming need to see his roommate.

~*~*~

Shinobu didn't look at his roommate when the other  boy entered.  His eyes were closed and he'd slipped into a quasi-meditative state to try and release the tension and anger that had been swamping him since Misako had first appeared.

The simple comment on how she was 'pretty enough to date, but kinda dead' had gotten under his skin quicker than anything else.  It hurt to know that a ghost had a better chance of winning Mitsuru than he did.

That was so horribly unfair.

He was the one  the blonde boy always turned to when he needed something or someone.  He was the one who'd helped Mitsuru get untangled from his past with the gangs.  He was the one who nursed his roommate through any and all sicknesses, no matter how distasteful he found the task.

He was the fellow plotter, the confidante, the shoulder to cry on.

He was Mitsuru's best friend.

Him.

But because he was a guy, he was overlooked.

"Shinobu?"  He'd been aware of the soft shuffling steps as Mitsuru crossed the room and knelt beside his bunk.  The tentativeness of the voice wasn't too surprising though it still sounded completely out of place.  Confidence had never been a problem for Mitsuru.  Except when dealing with a love struck Tezuka Shinobu.  "Please don't be mad at me.  I don't... I don't like it when you're mad."

Frosted emerald eyes finally glanced over to meet and hold amethyst for a long moment before Shinobu sighed and looked back up at the bunk above him.  The pleading in Mitsuru's eyes finally accomplished what an hour of meditating had not.

He was calm again.  "I'm not mad at you, Mitsuru,"  he murmured.

There was a relieved sigh from his side and then quite suddenly he was being hugged for all he was worth.  "I'm glad.  It sucks when you're mad at me."

Shifting uneasily, Shinobu brought one hand out from under his head to stroke the silky blonde strands of hair.

Mitsuru was as friendly and openly affectionate a person as Shinobu was the exact opposite.  It made things uncomfortable for him sometimes.

While he was more than willing to be as affectionate as Mitsuru wanted, he knew he ended up seeming even colder than usual at times.  It was just so hard.  No matter how many times the blonde hugged him or gave some other easily misconstrued gesture, Shinobu had to force himself to remember that it was just a friendly thing.

Shinobu never touched anyone he didn't have to.  Except Mitsuru. 

His roommate on the other hand, touched everyone.