Written for Lady Ganesh for Yami Valentine. Pinch-hit, so unbetaed. My apologies for any infelicities thus resulting. The chocolate mentioned is, in fact, Vosges Haut Chocolat, and they really do have truffles with the assorted things I mentioned.

"Bon!"

Hisoka turns at the call to see Watari running down the corridor toward him. 003 wings past Watari, then past Hisoka himself, shrilling a greeting before disappearing around the corner into the bullpen. Hisoka wonders where she's in such a hurry to get to, then the sound of approaching footsteps calls his attention back to Watari. There's a box tucked under Watari's arm, white with a purple ribbon, and Hisoka has a sinking feeling as Watari stops before him and presents him the box with a flourish.

Hisoka doesn't take it. "What is it?"

"Chocolate!" Watari beams.

"You want me to give it to Tsuzuki for you?"

Watari gets a wicked gleam in his eye. "We exchanged gifts this morning, though there was chocolate involved."

After so many years, Hisoka's learned to control the blushing, despite Watari's best efforts. He shrugs aside Watari's libido-driven emotions and levels his best glare. "If Tsuzuki's undergone any transformation--"

"As if I would risk that," Watari snorts. "I like all of Tsuzuki's parts exactly as they are."

"Good." Hisoka returns to his original question. "So what's the chocolate for?"

"I guessed--correctly, I see--that you wouldn't bring your own. So I decided to help you out."

Hisoka tightens his lips. There's something under Watari's sated lust and determined goodwill.... "What's in them?"

"It's an assortment." Watari huffs out a breath, blowing at his wild blond hair. "Come on, Bon, like I'm going to try anything with you and Tatsumi."

"Then why do I think you're waiting for something?"

Watari just looks at him for a minute, then leans in conspiratorially. "Okay, so it's a special assortment. Tsuzuki says you're not fond of sweets, and I know Tatsumi can take 'em or leave 'em, so I decided to look for chocolate that might suit you two. And getting it wasn't easy, so would you please take it and try it?"

Watari's hopefulness, at least, is sincere. Hisoka sighs and holds out his hands for the box. "All right, but if anything happens--"

"All that will happen is stuff you'll threaten to kill me for if I ask for details." Watari winks and beams again, then takes off running back toward his lab. "Later, Bon!"

Hisoka stares after him a long moment, then looks down at the box he's holding. At least it's not gold or red, though he's still tempted to just throw it away. While he knows Watari is genuinely wary of both himself and Tatsumi, Watari's scientific curiosity has overcome his self-preservation instincts in the past.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

Hisoka turns and looks up into Tatsumi's cool blue gaze. They're very careful to keep things formal at the office, unlike some people Hisoka could name at the top of his lungs, and only address each other professionally.

"Tatsumi-san--" Hisoka begins. A mechanical trill interrupts him, and 003 launches herself from Tatsumi's shoulder to flutter down the hall, following the path Watari took only moments ago. Hisoka watches her, nonplussed. He's never seen her perch on anyone but Watari before. He turns back to Tatsumi. "What--"

"Are those for me?" Tatsumi sounds surprised, but also pleased, and Hisoka suddenly remembers the box in his hands.

Well, he trusted Watari enough to take them, and if there's anything in them, at least he and Tatsumi can kill Watari together. He holds the box out to Tatsumi. "Yes. I thought we could share them...later."

That draws forth a smile from Tatsumi, still office-appropriate, but definitely warmer than the one he dons for politeness' sake. "Will you have lunch with me, Kurosaki-kun?"

Hisoka blinks, recalls lunch had been what he was pondering when Watari caught him. "Of course, Tatsumi-san."

"Excellent." Then Tatsumi frowns slightly, glancing at the box in his hands. "I've left something in the office. Why don't you come with me and we can decide what to eat?"

Hisoka follows Tatsumi into the bullpen, nearly empty at this hour, then to the back wall housing the doors to Tatsumi's and the chief's offices. Tatsumi opens his door and lets Hisoka inside ahead of him.

There are paper lanterns strung up in Tatsumi's office, casting soft, flickering shadows across the floor, walls, and ceiling. Tatsumi's blinds are closed, and under the lanterns is spread a blanket with a picnic basket atop it. Next to the basket, ripe strawberries overflow an exquisite porcelain dish.

Hisoka doesn't turn around as he hears the door close, then feels Tatsumi's hands on his shoulders. "Watari caught you too?"

Tatsumi bends down, presses his mouth to the nape of Hisoka's neck, and Hisoka shivers at the contact, closing his eyes for a moment. "No, though I did ask for his help in distracting you while I set this up."

"Why?" Hisoka whispers, opening his eyes, and Tatsumi slips around him, sets the box on a filing cabinet by the door, cups his face. Tatsumi looks at him very intently, a look he has never seen in the office.

"I haven't asked you what you would like to have done, had you not been ill. I don't want to hurt you, and I can't give you those years back. But I can give you this, a picnic on Valentine's Day, something you should have had. A picnic with your favorite fruit." Tatsumi gestures toward the wall behind Hisoka. "And chocolate."

Hisoka reaches up, threads his fingers through Tatsumi's hair and pulls until he's fitting his mouth against Tatsumi's, catching the faint taste of green tea. Tatsumi opens up to him, and he delves deeper, tea and ink and shadow and Tatsumi, things he wouldn't have if he weren't here.

He pulls back at last, breathes across Tatsumi's lips, "I don't need it. I don't need any of it but you."

"All the more reason to give it all to you." Tatsumi's eyes swallow the faint light, give it back intensely blue. It's become Hisoka's favorite color. "Will you have lunch with me, Hisoka-kun?"

Strawberries are tangier from Tatsumi's mouth, and the chocolate is a pleasant surprise, wasabi and chillies, rare spices, coffee, tea. Neither of them transform into anything but themselves, how they are out of the office, and when Tatsumi brings his shadows to play, using Hisoka's voiced pleasure as a guide, Hisoka stops waiting for a change, for some sign of an experiment gone wrong.

If this is anyone's experiment, it's Tatsumi's, and his, and as he makes Tatsumi arch under his hands and mouth, as he feels Tatsumi's shadows cradle him like Tatsumi's limbs, he hopes it's one Tatsumi will be willing to try again. He's quite fond of the results.

~END~