Title: Young and Beautiful
Summary: Dohko will be a dry plum sitting in Rozan in 243 years, and Shion will be a blow of stardust in the universe.
Genre: Friendship, very light Yaoi, Drama, Reflection
Characters: Aries Shion and Libra Dohko, Dohko/Shion
Warnings: I think I may have switched the timeframes too fast. Hope it doesn't feel confusing :-s
Timeframe: Set after the Holy War against Hades in the Lost Canvas. Timeframes switch to the 20th century, like visions.
Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine! The characters belong to Kuru-sensei, unfortunately -_- *steals them*
Note: Yep, that stupid Lana del Rey song got to me. It made me develop this stupid headcanon about Shion, that he's too afraid of growing old. And well, is there anyone better to lift his mood than Dohko? :P
- You're not just a pretty face -, Dohko's told him countless times. He's never too tired to repeat it, when they're laying in bed at night, when they're entering a battlefield, when he's looking at himself in the mirror.
Shion doubts, and if it weren't for the Chinese man's almost infinite patience and insistence, he would keep denying his friends' words.
He's no longer young. He's no longer beautiful. It's been a lot since he last felt it.
He's sitting behind closed doors, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 30 days a month. He's been sitting there for years. How's life treating Dohko now? What is he doing in Rozan? Shion wishes he could visit his old friend, but the Sanctuary demands his presence at all times.
He's not there anymore. He lets his mind wander off to 1743, to memories of a lost war, of corpses who he had seen smile sometime in his life, who he was sure were people sometime ago. Now he wishes they could be ash so they could be spared the shame of decomposing in open air.
Like he wishes he could be, 243 years later. He's going to die old, sitting in an old chair, in an old Sanctuary, with old solitude holding his hand by his side, he is sure.
Dohko knows Shion isn't feeling well. He hasn't been for a long time. Dohko figures it's the years wearing him out. Years that for him are merely days. He wishes he could trade his fate with his friend, who looks so sad with the premise of having to age someday, but he can't. He's got a duty to fulfill, and he will, for Athena.
But at the same time, he still doubts if he'd rather sit at Rozan, peaceful and lonely, or with his face hid behind a cold mask, aging amongst the youth of the Sanctuary.
- I don't know who got that into your head - Dohko sighs, for the 100th time. Shion is worried again, and he's looking at his own reflection in the mirror. Again. As he's done countless times before.
- I don't need anyone to put things in my head, Dohko - Shion reassures him assertively. - It's a conclusion I get to, every time I remember that I'll... be here... and you'll sit there.
He doesn't say it, but Dohko hears it, in a faint darkness that surpasses Shion's cosmos: that he wants to trade places with him. He wishes for that, and Dohko wishes he had the power to grant his friend something that would calm his raging cosmos.
- That doesn't change anything.
Shion turns around and snaps at him. - Doesn't it? Doesn't it change the fact that I'll die way before you do? Doesn't it change that you'll be renewed after 243 years and I'll be stardust?
- No, it doesn't. It still doesn't change anything. Why do you care so much about being beautiful anyway?
- I'm afraid.
- You're afraid. Do you think I'll look beautiful when the Misopheta Menos kicks in?
- I never thought about it. You might look.
- As much as I might look like a dry plum. I might be a dry plum, Shion, a chinese dry plum! - Dohko laughs wholeheartedly at the thought, and he sees from the corner of his eye that he's made Shion crack a tiny smile.
- I'll still be stardust, Dohko - Shion muses sadly. Dohko gets up from the bed he was sitting on and stares at Shion, with an intensity he doesn't remember ever feeling. He takes in all of the lemurian's features, the porcelain skin, meticulously stretched out; the rosy, long eyes; the weird dots he has for eyebrows that Dohko has learned to love; the small, slightly puffy lips; the green-ish hair framing his face. He thinks only a fool could deny Shion's innate beauty.
Oh, how Dohko wishes he had the power to make Shion see himself through Dohko's eyes. There is not a power he wants more than that one right now.
His dark eyes soften when they meet Shion's lilac ones, and he feels the tension in his friend's cosmo. He leans in and pecks his cheek softly, letting his lips linger on the porcelain skin he loves so much. He trails a sinuous way of little pecks down his cheek till he reaches Shion's lips. The lemurian's warm breath tickles his mouth and Dohko leans in, pressing their lips together in a firm, chaste kiss.
- And I don't care. I'll love you until the stars burn out.
He finally feels Shion's cosmo lifting, like there was some kind of dark fog surrounding it the whole time. Dohko is glad he made it disappear, and he can tell from Shion's small smile against his lips that he is too.
End note: Yup, I wrote a silly thing. :P The idea wouldn't leave me alone, I had to do something about it. Hope you enjoyed it. And since English isn't my first language, feel free to point out any mistakes. Leave reviews! I'd love to hear what you think about my story. :)
-x-
Kykeon (written July 2013)