Yami no Matsuei (Tatsumi/Watari)
“Ah, of course. Science.” Tatsumi eyed the swarm of writhing black shadows that were tangled around Watari, holding him spread eagled upside-down in the middle of the lab for a silent moment. The much battered silver pot from which they all seemed to be creeping gave a suspicious little quiver which Tatsumi judicially ignored. He returned his attention to Watari with all the aplomb he could muster. “In that case,” he offered. “Would you rather I assist or take pictures?”
“Tatsumi!” Watari laughed, wriggling half-heartedly as a shadow tentacle wormed its way beneath the rucked-up hem of his sweater. “Come on, Boss Man! Help me out here!”
Privately, Tatsumi thought he wouldn’t mind a few photographs of this himself - Watari, cheeks flushed and hair disheveled, laughing as clinging black shadows twined around him. It was a striking image, to say the least.
He tactfully kept such thoughts to himself, however. “What did you do to them, anyway?” Tatsumi asked instead, reaching out to coax the shadows into relinquishing their prize. “I don’t think I’ve seen shadows behave so… boldly before.”
Watari shrugged, a very awkward-looking motion when he was wrong side up. “Oh, nothing much. Change a compound here, add a judicial dose of animation there - basic stuff really.” His grin was wry as another tentacle slithered affectionately up his sleeve. “Although I’m thinking I may have gone a bit overboard with the squid abstract.”
“You don’t say.” Tatsumi frowned at the shadows, forehead furrowing as his summons glanced off them without any considerable effect. The shadows were actually drawing tighter instead, twining thicker around Watari until the man squeaked.
“Um,” he hazarded, a light, belated concern in his voice. “I think maybe they like me?”
Tatsumi didn’t respond, planting his feet and drawing deeper on his power, willing the shadows to obey with all his strength.
Watari’s eyes widened. “Tats-!”
Tatsumi couldn’t move fast enough. One moment he was darting instinctively to the side as something black and angry slithered across the floor towards him, and the next he was being hoisted into the air by the ankles, shadows hissing in his ear as they looped warningly tight around wrists and neck and legs. His glasses clattered to the floor and Tatsumi swore when he found himself suspended alongside Watari, trapped and immobile.
Watari was chuckling good-humouredly, eyes bright and amused from only inches away. “Nice of you to drop in, Tatsumi,” he grinned.
Tatsumi stared at him blankly. “I have no idea why we pay you.”
Which just made Watari grin wider. “Eh, just think of it as necessary recreation time - a chance to hang out for a bit.”
Tatsumi was starting to get a headache. “Watari-san…”
“Sorry, sorry,” Watari chuckled. “But you have to admit it’s pretty funny. And it’s not so bad, really.”
“…we’re both trapped in your lab at the whim of a room full of impolite shadow tentacles.”
“Well yes, there is that. But I didn’t blow anything up this time!” A touch of wry resignation bled through the manic humour etched in Watari’s smile. “Although we can’t hang around here all day - well I can, but I’m fairly certain you have better things to do with your time, so we’d probably better see about getting this sorted out.” Watari tilted his head back with a thoughtful hum, glasses sliding further away from his face and catching in his hair. “Well I doubt you doing your Kagetsukai thing at them is going to be any more successful a second time round and, considering how long it took Tsuzuki to stop laughing the last time he came by, I doubt we can expect much help from anyone else in the office.” Watari twisted in the shadow’s hold, brushing lightly against Tatsumi as he shifted. “How about the one in the pot?”
Being nose to nose with one Watari Yutaka was an incredibly distracting experience, Tatsumi was chagrined to notice. He blinked fuzzily. “What?”
“The pot,” Watari indicated, with a jerk of his head that made his hair dance. It smelled like apples and smoke from this close. “The core of my homemade tentacle monster was just a normal shadow - and compounds I used shouldn’t have changed its basic structure that much… so maybe that original shadow is still in there?”
Tatsumi decided to forgo the upside-down shrug and settled for a short nod. “I suppose this situation can’t get too much worse.”
“If it kills us, you can blame me,” Watari offered sunnily, and Tatsumi rolled his eyes.
“Thank you, Watari-san. I’ll bear that in mind.” Tatsumi reined in his wandering attention sharply and focused on the swath of shadow tentacles below them, teasing out the trace of true darkness he could sense lurking beneath all the animated hybrids. He let the power build inside him until he was practically sparking with it, then thrust it all straight down into the heart of the shadow cluster.
The reaction was instantaneous.
Tentacles flailed everywhere, jerking and twitching fitfully, and only some quick thinking on Tatsumi’s part kept the two of them from splattering their brains all over the floor when the shadow limbs holding them suddenly vanished, recoiling into the battered pot with a long, infuriated hiss.
“Whoa!” Watari exclaimed, laughing, as careful --normal-- shadows cradled them and turned them both gently upright. “This certainly seems to be my day for being molested by shadows!”
“And whose fault is that?” Tatsumi asked as calmly as he could manage, bending to collect his glasses. “You’re the one who asked for assistance.”
“Why so I did.” Watari grinned him through bedraggled strands of blond hair, something unusually sincere in his eyes as he inclined his head. “Thank you for your help, Tatsumi.”
“Don’t mention it,” Tatsumi answered, concentrating on tugging his suit jacket back into place to stave off the unusual flutter that put in his stomach. “Although might I suggest you not experiment with mutant shadow tentacles any further?”
“No kidding,” Watari agreed, pulling his glasses back down and peering curiously into the now-quiet pot. “No more amorous mutant tentacles for me. Next time I’m going to hold out for the genuine article.”
Tatsumi paused on his way to the door, a hitherto unexpected option presenting itself to him, and Watari glanced up with a smile that was three parts affectionate good-humour and one part something deeper that made the fluttering in Tatsumi’s stomach return with a vengeance.
A golden eyebrow arched, turning that look into a question, and Tatsumi was suddenly abruptly glad Tsuzuki had pulled him away from his work today.
“You’re likely going to want supervision,” he offered neutrally, standing at the door but making no effort to leave. “If you intend to pursue shadow experimentation further, that is.”
“Oh absolutely,” Watari agreed immediately, smile brighter and more genuine than Tatsumi thought he’d ever seen it. Amber eyes were shining as Watari cocked his head coyly. “Who knows what I might get into without you here to keep me safe?”
Tatsumi was willing to wager that Watari could get into trouble perfectly well either way, but not even that thought could deter him for long. Not after all these years of hoping for a chance like this.
And, if Watari thought those tentacle shadows had been amorous, Tatsumi was looking forward to showing him a few things.
~owari
“Tatsumi!” Watari laughed, wriggling half-heartedly as a shadow tentacle wormed its way beneath the rucked-up hem of his sweater. “Come on, Boss Man! Help me out here!”
Privately, Tatsumi thought he wouldn’t mind a few photographs of this himself - Watari, cheeks flushed and hair disheveled, laughing as clinging black shadows twined around him. It was a striking image, to say the least.
He tactfully kept such thoughts to himself, however. “What did you do to them, anyway?” Tatsumi asked instead, reaching out to coax the shadows into relinquishing their prize. “I don’t think I’ve seen shadows behave so… boldly before.”
Watari shrugged, a very awkward-looking motion when he was wrong side up. “Oh, nothing much. Change a compound here, add a judicial dose of animation there - basic stuff really.” His grin was wry as another tentacle slithered affectionately up his sleeve. “Although I’m thinking I may have gone a bit overboard with the squid abstract.”
“You don’t say.” Tatsumi frowned at the shadows, forehead furrowing as his summons glanced off them without any considerable effect. The shadows were actually drawing tighter instead, twining thicker around Watari until the man squeaked.
“Um,” he hazarded, a light, belated concern in his voice. “I think maybe they like me?”
Tatsumi didn’t respond, planting his feet and drawing deeper on his power, willing the shadows to obey with all his strength.
Watari’s eyes widened. “Tats-!”
Tatsumi couldn’t move fast enough. One moment he was darting instinctively to the side as something black and angry slithered across the floor towards him, and the next he was being hoisted into the air by the ankles, shadows hissing in his ear as they looped warningly tight around wrists and neck and legs. His glasses clattered to the floor and Tatsumi swore when he found himself suspended alongside Watari, trapped and immobile.
Watari was chuckling good-humouredly, eyes bright and amused from only inches away. “Nice of you to drop in, Tatsumi,” he grinned.
Tatsumi stared at him blankly. “I have no idea why we pay you.”
Which just made Watari grin wider. “Eh, just think of it as necessary recreation time - a chance to hang out for a bit.”
Tatsumi was starting to get a headache. “Watari-san…”
“Sorry, sorry,” Watari chuckled. “But you have to admit it’s pretty funny. And it’s not so bad, really.”
“…we’re both trapped in your lab at the whim of a room full of impolite shadow tentacles.”
“Well yes, there is that. But I didn’t blow anything up this time!” A touch of wry resignation bled through the manic humour etched in Watari’s smile. “Although we can’t hang around here all day - well I can, but I’m fairly certain you have better things to do with your time, so we’d probably better see about getting this sorted out.” Watari tilted his head back with a thoughtful hum, glasses sliding further away from his face and catching in his hair. “Well I doubt you doing your Kagetsukai thing at them is going to be any more successful a second time round and, considering how long it took Tsuzuki to stop laughing the last time he came by, I doubt we can expect much help from anyone else in the office.” Watari twisted in the shadow’s hold, brushing lightly against Tatsumi as he shifted. “How about the one in the pot?”
Being nose to nose with one Watari Yutaka was an incredibly distracting experience, Tatsumi was chagrined to notice. He blinked fuzzily. “What?”
“The pot,” Watari indicated, with a jerk of his head that made his hair dance. It smelled like apples and smoke from this close. “The core of my homemade tentacle monster was just a normal shadow - and compounds I used shouldn’t have changed its basic structure that much… so maybe that original shadow is still in there?”
Tatsumi decided to forgo the upside-down shrug and settled for a short nod. “I suppose this situation can’t get too much worse.”
“If it kills us, you can blame me,” Watari offered sunnily, and Tatsumi rolled his eyes.
“Thank you, Watari-san. I’ll bear that in mind.” Tatsumi reined in his wandering attention sharply and focused on the swath of shadow tentacles below them, teasing out the trace of true darkness he could sense lurking beneath all the animated hybrids. He let the power build inside him until he was practically sparking with it, then thrust it all straight down into the heart of the shadow cluster.
The reaction was instantaneous.
Tentacles flailed everywhere, jerking and twitching fitfully, and only some quick thinking on Tatsumi’s part kept the two of them from splattering their brains all over the floor when the shadow limbs holding them suddenly vanished, recoiling into the battered pot with a long, infuriated hiss.
“Whoa!” Watari exclaimed, laughing, as careful --normal-- shadows cradled them and turned them both gently upright. “This certainly seems to be my day for being molested by shadows!”
“And whose fault is that?” Tatsumi asked as calmly as he could manage, bending to collect his glasses. “You’re the one who asked for assistance.”
“Why so I did.” Watari grinned him through bedraggled strands of blond hair, something unusually sincere in his eyes as he inclined his head. “Thank you for your help, Tatsumi.”
“Don’t mention it,” Tatsumi answered, concentrating on tugging his suit jacket back into place to stave off the unusual flutter that put in his stomach. “Although might I suggest you not experiment with mutant shadow tentacles any further?”
“No kidding,” Watari agreed, pulling his glasses back down and peering curiously into the now-quiet pot. “No more amorous mutant tentacles for me. Next time I’m going to hold out for the genuine article.”
Tatsumi paused on his way to the door, a hitherto unexpected option presenting itself to him, and Watari glanced up with a smile that was three parts affectionate good-humour and one part something deeper that made the fluttering in Tatsumi’s stomach return with a vengeance.
A golden eyebrow arched, turning that look into a question, and Tatsumi was suddenly abruptly glad Tsuzuki had pulled him away from his work today.
“You’re likely going to want supervision,” he offered neutrally, standing at the door but making no effort to leave. “If you intend to pursue shadow experimentation further, that is.”
“Oh absolutely,” Watari agreed immediately, smile brighter and more genuine than Tatsumi thought he’d ever seen it. Amber eyes were shining as Watari cocked his head coyly. “Who knows what I might get into without you here to keep me safe?”
Tatsumi was willing to wager that Watari could get into trouble perfectly well either way, but not even that thought could deter him for long. Not after all these years of hoping for a chance like this.
And, if Watari thought those tentacle shadows had been amorous, Tatsumi was looking forward to showing him a few things.
~owari