A/N: I just picked up the first two volumes of CLAMP School Detectives today and, to put it simply, I adore them like one might a minor GOD. *worships the holy quartet that is CLAMP* And yes, I have become deeply enamored of the characters therein, and this pairing has been tempting me since the beginning. *_*

Angsty fluff. Shounen ai. Nokoru/Suoh. And, y'know, good stuff like that. ^_~ 15-minute challenge for temps mort; no topic.

Nokoru's POV.

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"Selfish Mysteries"

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When he sleeps, he looks so peaceful.

That is what sleep so often does, you know. It steals away the day's worries, its problems and cares, and leaves you in the comforting warmth of nonexistence.

The sight of him in repose is a distracting one, if only for the novelty of seeing him for once not completely in control of himself. I wonder, would he look at me and think the same thing, if I curled up at my desk and let myself sleep?

I have no intention of asking him that, though. I could try to find out . . . but I simply don't think I want to know. Better to wonder.

Not every mystery should be solved.

Nagisa-jo might cry if this one turned out the way I suspect it might, and I do not make damsels cry. The day I cause a woman's distress is the day I will be unworthy of this life I was given.

Yet when watching him sleep . . . sometimes I wonder, would it really be so bad? If she cried, just a little? Love is so easily replaced.

But then I remember that I am lying; that I am being selfish. That I am myself experiencing that emotion and therefore have lost my objectivity and become selfish, desiring the affection of a certain person.

He is so lovely right now. Hair askew, face slack, paperwork scattered across the desk he's been working at . . . he's probably been up all night finishing the work I kept him from while pursuing our last case.

Perhaps . . .

Perhaps today, I will do the paperwork without running away.

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* finale *

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. : papercut of the soul : .