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The bar was mostly empty, save for a few scattered patrons sitting in its dimly lit interior.
Soft music drifted from the room’s stereo, mingling with the low murmur of hushed conversations that were too faint to make out.
The airship Illumi was traveling on was well-suited for long journeys, furnished with private sleeping compartments, a modest cafeteria, and the quiet bar he now occupied.
He swirled the ice in his glass, mixing the last remnants of a once particularly stiff Old Fashioned, now more water than whiskey.
Hisoka was late—
again.
Not that Illumi had expected some newfound punctuality on his associates’ end.
Still, this was a business meeting, and his patience ran thin when tight schedules were involved.
Outside, the sun was beginning to fall slowly beyond the clouds passing the airship’s windows. The candlelight on nearby tables had already flickered to life, casting long shadows across their surfaces.
Illumi sighed as a much larger shadow stretched across his table.
“Sorry I’m late~♡”
Illumi didn’t look up at Hisoka as he sat down beside him, not even casting a glance at the fresh glass of whiskey that was being placed down in front of him. Though his features remained imperceptible as always, there was the unmistakable aura of annoyance emanating from him that Hisoka had now grown accustomed to.
"You're always late," Illumi said, finally turning to face Hisoka, who was watching him with his usual amused smile.
It had been three months since their first acquaintance, and about two since they'd begun their casual working partnership.
Illumi typically worked alone, aside from the occasional troublesome contract that required the involvement of his family. Bringing in someone from outside the Zoldyck family was virtually unheard of— and even now, he felt a vague sense of discomfort with the man sitting just a foot or so away, sipping his drink.
Still, their combined talents proved particularly effective in situations that demanded a… heightened level of combat. Hisoka’s methods were far from refined, but their results spoke for themselves: a flawless success rate.
And to Illumi, that was all that mattered.
Hisoka, for his part, appreciated Illumi’s involvement when missions required a more delicate touch. He made no effort to hide his admiration as Illumi dispatched enemies with clinical precision— sometimes without so much as a drop of blood hitting the floor.
Illumi sometimes noticed the other man’s gaze seemed to linger a bit too long.
As he would move ahead through the dark rooms and narrow alleyways he had now grown accustomed to, the feeling of being watched never left him. Perhaps it was his years of training—his instincts honed beyond normal human limits.
Or perhaps he’d been meant to feel it—
a gaze that lingered like a touch Hisoka would never dare attempt.
It made no difference to him—
they would soon separate and return to their respective refuges, and Illumi would purge him from his thoughts like a pesky fly that had flown in from a window.
Despite their clear differences and… personal quirks, they made an admittedly formidable team, Illumi thought to himself. Perhaps this was what it was like to have a partnership. He had no metric to judge by, after all.
“I want to go over the details of the assignment with you before we land.” Illumi began, pulling a folder from a bag that sat on the table in front of them.
“We’ll need to coordinate a place to meet in the middle, once the targets guards have been neutrali-“
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. Can’t we just play it by ear?” Hisoka interrupted, waving the folder that Illumi had attempted to hand him away.
“No,” Illumi responded, before shoving the folder into his associate’s hand.
“we need to talk strategy, otherwise this mission is going to be a waste of time.”
Hisoka sighed dramatically, flipping open the folder and pulling out the thick stack of papers crammed inside. He scanned the pages in an exaggerated, performative manner, barely suppressing a yawn as he skimmed dossier after dossier detailing each guard and hitman surrounding the house they planned to infiltrate the next morning.
“This feels more like homework than a field trip~” Hisoka mused, letting the folder drop back onto the table with a thud.
“That’s because it isn’t a field trip,” Illumi replied, resignedly slipping the folder back into his bag. “It’s work.”
Hisoka didn’t bother responding to Illumi’s exasperation. Instead, he took a long sip of his drink. Ice clinked against the glass as he tilted his head back, draining it in four large gulps.
Illumi’s gaze lingered on Hisoka’s exposed neck—
pale skin stretched over delicate blue veins. The carotid artery pulsed just beneath the surface, the jugular mere centimeters away. If he wanted to, he could—
“You haven’t taken a single sip of your drink, Illumi~ ♡””
Illumi snapped back into the present, blinking away his thoughts as he took a robotic sip from the drink in front of him. Even if Hisoka had slipped some deadly poison into his glass, his body would barely register it. Years of poison tolerance built over the course of his childhood had made it nearly impossible to dispatch him this way.
Illumi suddenly tasted something on his tongue. Sweet— much sweeter than he’d expected.
He looked down at his glass, inspecting its contents only to be greeted by two maraschino cherries.
Hisoka chuckled as he placed his cheek in his hand, a smile spreading across his face as his eyes laughed in kind.
“I gave you mine. You looked like you needed something sweet, such a sour face when I saw you sitting alone beside the window~♡”
“Because you were late.”
“I’m sorry~♡”
“I don’t believe you.”
Illumi sighed. As much as he struggled to admit it, “playing it by ear” was a tactic that Hisoka excelled at. It was messy, yes, but elegance was not as important as success, he reminded himself yet again.
“Have it your way, Hisoka.”
Hisoka celebrated his victory by moving to order another drink, removing his empty glass from the table before being stopped by Illumis’ hand on his wrist.
“We’re done here, correct? I’ll be returning to my quarters to get some sleep.”
“Oh, come on~♡” Hisoka replied, not moving to remove Illumis hand from his arm “Is having a drink with me so bad? Lets spend a little quality time together, enjoy the sunset.”
“I’m not interested.” Illumi responded flatly, removing his hand and standing up to leave.
He suddenly found himself exhausted and craving the comfort of his warm, quiet sleeping quarters.
Hisoka, for his part, pouted dramatically as he watched the other mans hand return to his side. Illumi nearly sighed at his childishness but determined that not giving the other man the attention he craved would be a better strategy for removing himself from the situation without resorting to more… extreme methods of extracting himself.
“Fine,” Hisoka sighed, in what sounded like genuine defeat. “let’s go over the dossier.”
——————
An hour—and another drink—had passed by the time they finished going over the documents. Hisoka, for his part, seemed to at least feign interest as Illumi’s plan unfolded throughout their discussion. For all the man's childishness, Illumi was keenly aware of the intelligence buried beneath the seemingly endless layers of irony that wrapped around him like a cocoon.
The plan was finally set, and their conversation had stretched into the final moments of sunlight that had begun to fade just beyond the window. Illumi stretched, easing out his limbs to shake off the stiffness that had settled in his joints, while Hisoka yawned, leaning back in his chair before finally handing back the envelope.
As Illumi reached for the dossier, he felt the lightest brush of Hisoka’s fingertips against his own as their hands exchanged the packet. Hisoka’s face remained unchanged, appearing to not have noticed their contact. Illumi, however, had felt the rippling static of the other man’s aura course across his skin like a microcurrent, the hair on his arms standing on end in response to its overwhelming energy.
There was a long pause before Illumi finally broke the silence.
“Well, that will be all.”
Illumi found himself beginning to push his chair back yet again, thoughts of a private room to sleep in at the forefront of his thoughts once more. As he began to move, however, Hisoka’s voice once again broke through the silence like a chainsaw in an untouched forest.
“Illu~♡”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Illumi, do you know what I like about this seat? ~ ♡”
"I don’t really ca—"
Illumi was cut off as Hisoka’s arm slipped around his shoulders, pulling him closer before he could change the subject.
“What I like about this seat,” Hisoka continued, his golden, catlike eyes gleaming with playful amusement, “is the view this time of day.”
Illumi tensed, resisting the urge to remove Hisoka’s hand by force.
“When the sun bursts across the clouds in a sea of red…” Hisoka continued, his gaze fixed on Illumi despite his supposed admiration for the view beyond their window.
“… it’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Illumi felt the tips of Hisoka’s claw-like nails dig into the soft flesh of his shoulder, as his own hands sharpened into blades, ready to strike at the pale flesh that showcased so many pretty blue veins.
“I’ll never get tired of watching something so pure and white become so utterly drenched in crimson ~♡”
Illumi met his gaze, the flickering light of the sunset catching in Hisoka’s eyes like wildfire.
The clouds passed silently before them, but Illumi never turned to look.
He only gazed back.
“Yes,” he returned at last, eyes still locked with Hisoka’s.
“it’s quite beautiful.”