Dating Agency (Man, I feel old…)

Chapter 3: Soul-searching

Pairing: 6918. Unfortunately, not the other way around.

Note: Some language. Pretty much OOC, be warned.

Summary: Eh.

Rating: M

A/N: After 2 years of completely doing nothing on this website, I decided to reread my own fanfiction and bam, here I am again to continue this story purely for the sake of doing so. I just cannot leave this story alone, honest. Some sort of attachment (?) I guess. Unbeta'd.

Disclaimer: The like. Not into the series altogether anymore, but I still pretty much have a solid impression of these characters (ok maybe not). Unbeta'd (please tell me if there's any mistake).

Hibari gave the interior of his supposed room a long and intense stare.

I'd hate to admit this, but this is actually quite decen—

Fuck.

He clumped his eyebrows together in half-disappointment and half-regret. He, a self-proclaimed and the carnivore, out of every single being in existence, had possibly the most compromising and the least resolute thought ever.

He was supposed to turn tail the moment he vanished from his mother's field of view and by any means, get out of this darned dating agency before his pride and reputation, not to mention self-worth will crumble.

But, lo and behold, here is he, merely filling his head with the most felicitous of thoughts and being enamoured of the design of the room where he was supposed to interact and maybe, maybe develop a romantic interest towards a girl that was supposedly popular among the love-seeking male singles of this overly elaborate joke of a dating agency. If anything, he had the Cupid-cosplayer of a hitman infant to push the blame onto.

And the interior.

The room was spacious for two, but seemed a bit snug for three or more, subtly hinting at the dating agency's overall intention of playing matchmakers and patching two lonely souls together. In stark contrast with the terribly gaudy and almost love-hotel like exterior of the dating agency, the room had traditional Japanese-style interior, with a smooth and unblemished tatami mat that lined the floor, an appropriate wooden table with legs of adequate height just enough to fit both his legs into, a lone electric ceiling lamp that was the only source of light in the room, and two thin pillows that somehow looked comfortable and inviting. A well-trimmed bonsai plant aptly added the finishing touches to the overall atmosphere of the space.

Not forgetting to mention the two ceramic cups of green tea that lay innocently on the table.

If the design of the room wasn't screaming "Japanese!" right into his face, Hibari could be almost sure that even the Himeji Shrine wouldn't.

Now, the only quirk is that his blind date has yet to arrive at all, while him, being very uncomfortable and feeling pretty unpleasant is actually staying in the room for far longer than he imagined.

After a long and heated internal bout between his conscience and his instincts, Hibari decided to stay in the agency until the girl finally arrives. Well, he is certainly letting embarrassment and compliance chip away at his walls of self-dignity, but by how he miraculously managed to convince himself more than once, is the thought of it still being better off than not being gentlemanly and making a fool of himself by not being patient enough for the girl to make her presence. That will definitely put a stain on his reputations as the Discipline man.

Hibari resorts to sitting on one of the cushions on the tatami mat, cross-legged while he sips away at one of the cups of green tea that lay on the table. He silently thanks the newly-discovered pitcher of green tea that lay on the side of the table as he replenishes his patience meter with every drop of green tea he drinks down.

Halfway through his first cup, the wooden sliding door opens with a rather unpleasant and loud bang.

Hibari nearly flinches upon his peaceful silence being broken and the cup that he held in his hand shook. Some of the green tea in the cup splashed out of the cup onto his hands due to the surprise. His head flanked to the side and bore his eyes into whoever was at the entrance.

Once his brain managed to process the images of what he saw at the front door, every single vulgarity that Hibari knew from existence came yelling at him. Japanese, English, whatever. Even the most malicious, derogatory and demeaning of words was not even a fraction of what his blind date is. Hibari's face blackened almost instantaneously.

He found himself wrong on two matters.

Firstly, his blind date's gender. Well, he never concerned himself with the idea of a future companion nor a spouse to begin with, much less the gender of his counterpart. But as far as he knew, he remembered his mother telling him to go and get himself a cute girl, and Hibari never knew of any dating shenanigans, be it website or agency for homosexuals in Namimori. A flashback imagery of a fedora-wearing Arcobaleno floats into his memory and Hibari internally berates himself for his slight stupidity.

Secondly, the popularity of his male blind date. 15 minutes back, the cashier lady said she – no, he was one of the most sought-after single in the dating centre, but after recognising this man, Hibari can readily swear upon his pride and life that one look at his darned face will turn everyone off, especially himself. From his face, his hair – just utterly disgusting, his clothing style and his demeanour, Hibari hated every single fibre of it. Especially his hair. What went through his head when he thought it was fashionable. Jesus. This man deserved to be bitten to death until he cannot move even a single muscle for the rest of his multiple lives.

And that fashion disaster of a uniform. He donned the outfit from the last time he interacted with him, as if wearing it out of spite to bring back the nasty flashbacks that have haunted him ever since, the same old army green school blazer and long pants, which were annoyingly altered to show off more of his thin physique and that shirt with the camouflage print.

"I can read your mind, you know. But no less expected from you, I like it~ Kufufu~" That all-familiar smirk and that wispy voice just irked Hibari all the more. Hideous face, hair, every godamned thing about him, just fanned the flame of rage in him. A vein popped on Hibari's forehead and every facial muscle of his was stretched such that he had the frown of frowns.

Hibari seethed.

"Rokudo… Mukuro!"

A lot of things went through Hibari's mind at that moment.

The main thing was about why Mukuro was his blind date. The only memorable – more like traumatising and painful memory that he shared with the living pineapple was when he was disgracefully beaten by him in Kokuyo High School. His physical wounds did recover but not for the ones on his pride. Since then, Hibari swore that he would have a rematch with him and bite the living daylights out of this scrawny stick till he ended up grovelling on the ground.

Great. Out of all times to reappear in his life, it has to be now. To make sure history does not repeat himself (Hibari will never allow it, never.), he does a quick security scan on him to make sure that he does not hold any advantages against him.

At least he's like me, seems like he does not have any weapons on him right now.

With a small pang of relief washing over him, Hibari chooses to stay in the room, but with his muscles pre-emptively tingling for whenever Mukuro may strike.

The aforementioned man looks at his cup of green tea clasped in his hands and the slightest corners of his lips fold upwards and outwards, definitely not obvious enough for the skylark to see.

"Hello, Kyouya-kun. Let's have fun together for now, eh?" Mukuro smoothly got across from the entrance to the center of the room and made himself cozy across the table where Hibari was sitting at. Mukuro's mismatched eyes faithfully kept the cold glare that the other person had on him.

Glancing from the cup of green tea clasped in Hibari's hands, Mukuro's face seemed expoessionless, but the corner of his lips curled outwards and upwards into the slightest of grins that was not obvious enough for the skylark to see.

Conclusion: Very, very rusty. Shall start oiling my gears.