damned_institute | DAY 37: MEN'S SHOWERS (4th Shift)

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DAY 37: MEN'S SHOWERS (4th Shift)

There had been an awkward air left between him and Tyki after their conversation. Yuuri knew he wasn't the best at explaining much of anything, and for the tenth time he wondered why Murata wasn't here to answer the difficult questions for him. Everyone had been herded out of the cafeteria after that, and Yuuri had simply followed along in confusion as he headed towards the showers.

Yuuri still hadn't seen Wolfram yet and the young Maou was wondering if the blonde Mazoku was alright. Stretching his head up higher, Yuuri attempted to look over the heads of the other patients around him in an attempt to catch sight of Wolfram. Unfortunately, though, he was unsuccessful.

"Where are you, Wolfram?" He muttered to himself while stepping under the shower's spray. Maybe a shower would help clear his mind.

[Waiting for Wolfram]

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"Of Zabuza-san?" Haku shook his head slightly. "No, of course not. I am worried about you though. You had said he was threatening you."

"A little, yes..." Artemis suddenly wondered if he was the one he should be more worried about. "But mostly, I don't want you to feel as though you're keeping something from him for my sake. If that bothers you..."

Haku shook his head. "No, not in the way you might think. I keep things from Zabuza-san in order to make his life run smoothly. This wasn't something that affected him directly, and indirectly it has benefitted him. If I'd felt otherwise, I would have mentioned it."

Smiling, he glanced over at Artemis. "He is my Master," he began, "but he is ... Zabuza-san as well."

Artemis paused at thought on this for a moment. Dammit, why hadn't Schuldig mentioned that Haku didn't have a problem with concealing this before?!

"...perhaps it would be best to leave it for now, then," he said.

Haku shrugged a shoulder. "It's up to you. I won't have your safety compromised though, so I do need to know if he's threatening you." He frowned at the bathroom wall.

"He is not stupid and will eventually come to a conclusion though, and it is best if he comes to the correct one rather than one he comes up with."

Artemis didn't like the sound of that. "He isn't... actively threatening me. He only said that if I came between you two that he would kill me. About... two days ago.

"But I agree. I don't want him thinking that I want to take you away."

Haku thought about that. "Do you feel as though that is a possibilty?" His voice was soft and barly audible over the rushing water.

"That I would come between you? Of course not," Artemis said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It would be as though... as though children forgot their parents after leaving the proverbial nest. There will always be that bond, no matter what happens. There is always a bond when it matters... nothing will ever change that."

"Zabuza-san is not a parental figure to me," Haku pointed out. "He is my Master."

Artemis sighed, giving Haku a tired smile. "Would you prefer it if I changed the word 'parent' to 'master', then?"

"They aren't the same thing," Haku said, moving to lather up his hair and smiling back. "But perhaps that is a conversation better left to another place and time?"

"You have a bond, whether you wish to deny it or not," Artemis said, pointedly ignoring the cue to change the subject. "Parental or different, it is a bond of some sort. One that I will never threaten, nor hope to threaten."

Haku leaned back and rinsed his hair, silent until he was finished.

"Our relationship is indeed different," he said. "But for over ten years, it has only been Zabuza-san and myself. To introduce another is still something of a threat to 'us'.

"In his eyes."

Artemis' smile faded. Haku seemed upset now... had he said something?

"Oh..." He faced the wall again, silent as well. "Would it be better if I... stopped?"

Stopped what? Stopped talking to him? Stopped liking him? Stopped everything that he'd discovered and loved in the past few weeks?

"Better for who? For me? No." Haku shook his head, offering a small, but honest smile. "I would probably be unable to function properly if you 'stopped'. But, if it would make you happier...." Haku resumed washing as if he weren't speaking of his own mental breakdown.

"No," Artemis said immediately, practically glaring at Haku. "No, that would not make me happy, that would make me miserable. I would rather die knowing that I never once wavered in my feelings towards you, than live with the knowledge that I renounced the most wonderful thing in my life."

Haku nodded his head. "I'm glad to hear that," he said. "I would hate to cause you pain like that." He turned and smiled at Artemis.

"Then you shouldn't worry about me or about Zabuza-san."

Artemis looked tired. Tired of dealing with these things. He drew one of the stools over and sat down, holding his head in his hands as the water ran over him.

"I can't help it. I always worry about you."

Haku frowned slightly, concerned. "Why do you worry about me?" He worried about Artemis, but that was partly because the young man seemed so fragile and wasn't terribly good in a fight.

He liked to think he was a decent fighter.....

"I'm so afraid I'll lose you. And that I won't be able to do a thing to stop it." The boy curled into himself, shoulders shaking slightly. "And I worry... that these things that I feel for you stop with me. And that if I do die, something will happen to you."

Haku crouched down so that he was level with Artemis. "You won't lose me. Ever. I swear that. And what you feel certainly doesn't stop with you, and finally, you aren't going to die."

"I was so close, Haku," Artemis looked at Haku. He was tearing up again, he could feel it. His hands went to the scar just over his heart and the one where the nurse had nearly opened his shoulder. "I thought I was done, and I hadn't even said goodnight."

The boy sniffled and tried to hold in his telltale crying noises.

"You don't have to," Haku said as gently as he could. "I know how you feel and I know that you would have wished me a good night were it possible."

Artemis nodded, sniffling again. "I would have, and I won't ever not say it again. Life is too short for regrets," he said, shifting so he could rest his forehead on Haku's.

Haku smiled. "I'm glad you feel that way and I'm glad you've gotten over your irrational worry about being naked around others as well."

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