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Hisoka and Illumi were idling in their four poster bed, as the afternoon sun waltzed in uninvited through their balcony windows. Yorknew was bustling with chatter and cars and life but the only sound that pushed into their room was the subtle whisper of the winds, a usual visitor in their apartment that was more or less a thousand meters up from the ground.
Hisoka had his back pressed on the headboard, his chest lacking a shirt and his face free of the makeup and symbolic icons that he usually adorned. Illumi was lying down, near buried in the sheets from the shoulders down. He sported a book, and was reading silently.
The husbands often found themselves like this, in each other’s space but not too much in each other’s mind; they each had their own tasks to do and routine to stick to. Sundays were quite different from the week though, it was the only day they’d grant themselves peace.
Peace in each other, perhaps, or peace in the quiet that always embraced them.
Hisoka moved to break that peace with a sigh, obnoxiously louder than needed. “Illumi.” He called, catching his husband’s attention. “What do you want to do today?”
“We don’t usually do anything today.” Illumi countered. “Why break that tradition?”
With a chuckle, Hisoka inched his way closer to the reading man, crossing the ocean of sheets. Illumi gave him little to no reaction as he reached over, with his near bulging arms, and swaddled him into his chest.
“What are you doing?” He asked. Hisoka had pulled him up by the armpits and pulled him into his own, Illumi’s head under Hisoka’s sharp chin and into the alcove of his well-muscled neck. “Hugging my husband, of course.”
“Yes, I can see that, but why?”
“Love, you are quite literally reading a book about physical intimacy. Might as well give you the real-life package.”
Truth be told, Illumi wasn’t reading. But Hisoka did not need to know that he’d willingly spend hours staring at words just to be this close to him. Two years of marriage, and Illumi still felt awkward about touching his husband, much less to do so without reason that didn’t involve mere… starvation of it.
He wasn’t even reading anything remotely close to what Hisoka had mentioned, so perhaps Hisoka already knew.
Illumi set the book down and melted into the absolute warmth of Hisoka’s bare skin on his. Hisoka was humming, but it was a song long lost in the white noise that rang in his ear, that heated his own ears near crimson.
“You’re blushing.” Hisoka pointed out. Illumi glared though it didn’t bear its usual bite. “I am not.”
“Whatever you say, love.”
Hisoka continued his humming, his hands snaking around Illumi’s that were uselessly resting by his sides. The red head humored this idea, and interlocked their fingers. He felt Illumi melt even more.
“You’re like a cat.” Hisoka said, and as if to prove his point Illumi hissed in distaste at his choice of word. Hissed much like a cat, he thought. “Do you want me to pet you like a cat, too?”
“I’m not a-”
A hand patted the crown of Illumi’s head, as the shelter of Hisoka’s chin withdrew from him. Illumi froze, a memory flashing before his eyes. Him and Alluka, in the estate’s surrounding forestation. Black, beady eyes stared back from where his sister’s inherited Zoldyck eyes were. “Pat my head.” Her darkly lined lips had said.
Illumi had done as he was told, incredibly fascinated. She was merely two years old back then, barely able to walk, much less talk. She had requested for a hug and a kiss on her forehead, and Illumi delivered gladly. “Okay, you get one wish, yes.”
Slightly panicked, Illumi’s mind had gone totally blank. If he could get anything in the world, what would it be? Nanika had smiled at him, because he loved her and he wasn’t scared of her, so in turn she’d let him have one thing his heart desired for.
“I wish to find someone who would…” Illumi had hesitated. “Who would pat my head, and hug me, and kiss me like I did to you. Someone who’d love me, wholeheartedly.”
“Ai.”
“Darling? Are you alright?”
Illumi blinked, and was back to the present; back in their apartment, not the Zoldyck estate. Back with Hisoka, and not Alluka- his husband gave him a worried gaze. Illumi smiled to ease it.
“I’m alright.” Illumi said, this time being the one to cross the great ocean between them to tackle his husband down. Illumi wrapped both of his arms around Hisoka’s large torso, pressed his lips to the crook of Hisoka’s collarbone, and felt Hisoka reciprocate.
“Pat my head again, please.”
That memory has long blurred but the emotion, the sheer want with which he’d wished for Nanika, it still hummed lively in his heart. And now, as Hisoka played with his hair, and embraced him, and kissed every inch of his face, Illumi knew his wish has come true.