Yup, another fic! I wrote this and Cold within days of each other. It was a productive period. Hope you enjoy. Rei/Boris. Kai/choosewhomeverfitsyourfancy

Metaphor

by

Red

Grey is the color of dead, sleeping things.

Or so he has learnt.

This is his first winter-as-a-full-season and he examines everything with a poet's scrutiny.

Skies are no longer blue; they are a constant, flowing grey. The ground is grey as well, a first snowfall making everything a sea of white and shades. Trees are like just stationary waves on that sea, rising up out of the sparkling mess, still covered in it. The hills are grey, grey with little hints of a green that does not seem full of life, and the river that they encompass is covered in sheen of grey, though it seems to be the only thing still awake, still flowing under its camisole.

He has not been surprised to find that even certain people seem to fit his thesis. The reason why he is scrutinizing this winter is indeed because of this certain person. He knows that winter is an apt metaphor, so if he can understand this metaphor, he may have a better understanding of that certain person himself.

The sky is grey, grey as his hair. He wonders if it is as flowing as the multi-hued sky.

The ground is white, white as his skin. He wonders if its touch would be as cold, cold but smooth and soft.

The trees are uprisings, uprisings like the scars. He wonders if they are indeed blemishes, or more like the trees themselves and just reminders of what they were.

He wonders whether those gloves, endless layers of heavy padding of leather and cloth, would ever come off for him. Whether he could ever see if there was any blue in those shaded eyes. Whether snow could catch fire...

"Rei."

He blinked and started at the sound of his name, as pronounced by a distinct voice. As Kai glared down on him, Rei grinned sheepishly up from where helay on the couch.

"What on earth have you been daydreaming about for the past hour? You're supposed to be in bed by now. It's one in the morning."

Rei thought for a moment that perhaps Kai was just itching to be somewhere else, but was not going to risk his neck this late at night with such a comment. Damn trigger-happy Russians, ruin all the fun. Even though he definitely could continue this train of thought in his bedroom...

Kai smothered a yawn and padded up behind Rei as they headed upstairs to the third floor, where they were staying. Rei headed into his bedroom, and Kai into...

There was a little double-take as Rei registered exactly who's room Kai was heading into, but then he just covered a snicker and headed back into his own room, shaking his head. Maybe he would not be the only one keeping clandestine thoughts tonight.

"You know, if you actually looked around you, you might actually see something worth seeing."

So, Boris did open his eyes with an eternal suffering look on his face.

"What are you blathering about?"

Yuri nodded towards the opposite end of the yard and silver-grey eyes widened to find shining yellow-gold ones staring intensely in his direction. But they obviously weren't actually seeing, otherwise they would have noticed the fact that they were being watched back.

"What does that mean?" Boris murmured, turning to Yuri with a frown, who only smirked and crossed his arms.

"Even you are not so dense as to not get it when someone has been staring at you for long periods of time. They're either planning your demise, or... well, planning your demise in another way."

Boris got the coded hint. They had always referred to falling in love as the demise of discipline. He winced.

"Do you really think?"

Yuri nodded solemnly, concerned eyes shining from underneath fiery brows.

Boris was bewildered, and rightfully so. What on earth did he have in connection with that cat-like Chinese freak? Okay, sure, Kai was a connection between the two teams, and he had had a few decent conversations with the teen...

"What should I do?"

Tala smirked yet again and thumped Boris' shoulder as he passed. "How would I know?"

Rei had been sitting in a chair, all curled up and reading a book when Boris confronted him.

"Do you like me?"

Rei nearly fell out of his chair, but managed a half decent cover.

"Um, well, yeah, I guess. I mean, you're a great 'blader, and I guess you're-"

"You know what I mean."

Boris was as uncomfortable as Rei, but he wasn't going to show it. He had had no idea how he was supposed to deal with this, so the best thing to do was to just face it head on and see what happened.

Rei was studying his book very intently, but from the way his hair was falling forward to cover his face, Boris gathered that he wasn't exactly reading. There was a deep breath, and Rei tucked part of his hair behind his pointed ear. Boris had to give him credit. He wasn't running away. But he should have known he could have expected that from this person.

"Yeah, actually, I do."

Even though he had been expecting that answer, it still surprised him.

"You...you do?"

Rei nodded and blushed right back.

"...oh."

The gloved hands grabbed a seat and dragged it over closer to the other before the body sat in it.

"So, um, were you ever planning on actually telling me?"

Rei laughed, unexpectedly. "No, not really."

"Well, you know, I wouldn't exactly say no if you were to ask me out some time."

Rei's eyes flashed with a sudden joy as he asked in surprise: "Really?"

Boris nodded and knew that he was blushing at himself. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, and he was jumping in with both feet. Probably a bad move, but hey, he had no idea where else to go either. And it was too late now.

They were both silent for a while, staring at anything other than each other, but occasionally shooting glances that they hoped were not noticed by their opposite. Eventually Boris gave up trying to think of something to say and just stood up.

"I'll see you around, then."

"Yeah."

Rei stood up as well, and they eyed each other uncomfortably before just heading their separate ways.

It will suffice to say that it was a very interesting courtship, not unlike the attempts of an overly friendly cat at cuddling with a predatory bird.

Thank you for reading! Intelligent comments are very much appreciated.