Wow, my first Gravitation story, and my first attempt at a continuing story since I was into that sad little show known as Yu-gi-oh. I've found it's a rather alternative pairing that I'm using, so please accept Tohma x Yuki into your hearts and try to see Tohma's side of the story as everything unfolds. I know a lot of people don't like Tohma, but I'm asking you to give the poor guy a chance. Please review!

This is an edited version -blush- I made an error about them going to school together, and they really didn't. Thanks Silverone!

Defying Gravity

Acerbitas

Chapter One

Eiri's breathing was light and soft and his silky blonde hair was endearingly disheveled. Mouth twitching upwards, Tohma affectionately brushed away a lock that was threatening to fall into Eiri's slightly open mouth. He eased himself off of Eiri's bed, distracted by a halfway open drawer that was stuck suspiciously outward. Enormous eyes peering mildly inward, he was met by a large print shop picture of an ecstatic Shuichi and an aggravated Yuki. Underneath, he found an odd pink pullover that his Eiri would die before wearing. Pulling them both out, Tohma stared at them for several seconds, then stepped over to the trashcan near the door and let them drop. Suddenly, he jumped. An alarm clock was beeping and Yuki was groaning loudly in aggravation.

Yuki hit the alarm clock, but nothing happened. Now, he was pissed. "Shut up," he growled fiercely, striking it twice in quick succession, "Shut the hell up!"

Tohma strode over to the other side of the bed, saved the alarm clock from injury, and flipped it off lightly. "Good morning!" Tohma chirped pleasantly, peering over Eiri with a sweet smile, "I made you some coffee!"

"What did you do? Sleep on the couch?" Yuki's hand shot out and snatched the now silent object from Tohma's cradling fingers. "I told you to leave last night," Yuki growled sleepily while throwing off his covers in a fit of temper, "And I meant it. Leave. You've fucked with my life enough already." He sat up and blinked ferociously. "Why do you have to come over every stinking day and make a huge mess trying to help me? I can do things on my own, in case you didn't notice. Hell, things turn out better when I do them myself." Eiri pushed himself out of bed and started towards the door, then stopped and stared at the trash can, "What are you doing with my stuff?" His half monotone voice was tinged with frustration and annoyance. Reaching down, he salvaged Shuichi's sweater and photo from the trash and placed them carefully back where they had been before. Tohma's eyes fixed on Yuki's fingers as they brushed over Shuichi's features as tenderly as Eiri could muster.

"You need to get over him," Tohma told him in a motherly tone, "You can't hold onto him forever, it's not healthy for you." He gazed at Yuki endearingly, "Please Eiri. Please listen to my advice."

"Shut up. It's not healthy for me to have you around either," Yuki stomped toward his kitchen in a sleepy daze, "I think you need to realize that we're not teenage boys having a little love fling anymore, and that I'm not the innocent kid I was. Do I look like I'm in need of protection? Do I?" Not waiting for an answer, Yuki continued to the kitchen unabated.

Tohma felt his emotions rush together into a convoluted mess. He told Eiri to get over Shuichi and move on. He told him not to cling to things of the past. He told him to do everything that was good for him, but couldn't accomplish the same feats himself. The few months that Eiri and Tohma had been together were something that Yuki viewed as a mere passing love affair. Tohma, however, had dwelled upon those few moments of happiness for the rest of his life, flitting constantly over Yuki in a desperate attempt to protect and care for him. He told himself persistently Eiri needed him, he convinced himself Eiri wanted him, desired his company. Finally, desperately, he had married a woman he could never love, to cling to a love that could never happen again.

They reached the kitchen and Tohma took a chair, folding his hands together and gazing protectively at Eiri. Yuki helped himself to Tohma's coffee, and then put it to his lips. Suddenly, he made a small muffled sound, "Why the hell is there so much sugar in this?" He gave Tohma a dirty look, "I hate this much sugar!"

Tohma's eyes widened and a pained look crossed his countenance, "I thought you liked lots of sugar!" In New York, he had watched a slightly happier Eiri pour large packs of sugar into his coffee, grinning sheepishly as he did so.

For a second, Yuki stared into the coffee cup with distaste. "This is disgusting." Yuki poured all the coffee into the sink and set about making a new cup, "I'm trying to lose some weight."

Tohma got up and came over, attempting to take the coffee package from him. "No, let me make it," Tohma smiled at him hopefully, "I make it right this time."

"You're as bad as Shuichi," Yuki told him blandly, pulling the coffee out of his reach, "No, you're worse. Shuichi just tried to be helpful, you act like a mother. I can do things by myself. I. Can. Do. Things. Myself. Got it? Now for the hundredth time, get out. Go see my sister, have a blast. Do anything. Just leave me alone."

Tohma was not giving up that easily. Almost shyly, he reached his hand to Yuki's and placed it on top of his. A younger Yuki smiled cheerfully at him in his mind, hand stretched out innocently and acceptingly, "Come on Tohma, go to the park together!"

Tohma returned to reality reluctantly, realizing the new Yuki, the cold Yuki, had said something, "What did you say?" he asked as Yuki turned from him and stomped towards his refrigerator.

Eiri smiled slightly, thinking he had won a small battle. "I said stop touching me or I'll tell my sister on you." He reached up and grabbed a large box of Raisin Bran.

"She wouldn't put it past me, and on top of that you know she wouldn't care," Tohma said, a slight hint of bitterness and pain creeping into his voice, "It's not like I'm attracted to her anyway. She got a piece of me, and I got a piece of you. It's a deal. A business deal."

"Well, fine then. Go back to your business deal. Whatever. Just get out. And don't come back."

As Tohma headed towards his flashy BMW, ready to drive back to his large suite and his beautiful wife, he felt a great surge of rejection and hurt well up inside of him. He knew Yuki was just stressed because of his deadlines, but he wondered how long Yuki would still open his door and let Tohma in when he called. He felt like he had failed somehow in his protection of Yuki; he felt as if he had been rejected. Yuki didn't need him anymore, but instead of feeling proud of Eiri's independence, he felt dreadful. Why did he feel like this all the time, and why was the pain never any less? He was just trying to make Yuki content, but everything he did just made Yuki get even more angry and frustrated. It almost seemed as if someone had taken his happy, sweet lover of nineteen and destroyed his personality, leaving him with this cold, cruel shell. Yet somehow this didn't stop Tohma from refusing to move on, from leaving things as they were and going on with his life. All of his other emotions he swept under the carpet, refusing to allow them to influence his decisions. He discarded people like he discarded objects, anyone that wasn't useful he eliminated or destroyed. But now he was the one being rejected and removed. He loved Yuki with such passion that a deep desire to protect and care for him constantly consumed him. However, it was a confusing type of love. It wasn't a simple need to leap into Yuki's bed, and it wasn't a romantic love either. It was something else, and Tohma couldn't define it. It was something that ate away at him and consumed him with unhappiness and grief as he constantly made wrong turns and found dead ends. It was a devoted, affectionate love that was constantly being trampled on.

He got into his car, stuck the key in the ignition, and let himself drop helplessly over his steering wheel. Tears escaped his usually bright eyes and rolled down his cheek into his fur collar. He sniffled and felt his shoulders shake weakly. Soon he was weeping, unable to stop thinking about something that would never go back to the way it had been before. Yuki didn't need him anymore. After fifteen years of revolving his life around Eiri, Eiri was finally breaking the final ties of a long friendship. Tohma's last act of love had been to remove Shuichi from Yuki's life. Everything was hopeless. His life was worthless now. And at that thought, he choked and placed his hand over his quivering mouth. He sat in his motionless car for an hour or more, weeping, not ready to go home to Mika, and with nowhere else to go.