Red Light; Green Light
Warnings: Yaoi/Slash, whatever you prefer to call it, of the Fruits Basket variety. I haven't written slash in a while so forgive me if I'm a little rusty.
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We went for a ride.
Maybe he'd thought about it.
Maybe during those nights, lying awake long after the others had drifted off. Maybe Yuki did when he could feel the heat radiating off of Kyo during a fight, maybe when he could feel it long after they'd stopped, when that heat left a dull ache inside of him.
He thought that maybe Kyo thought about it too. Maybe he did when Yuki would run lingering fingers gently across yellowing bruises a few days after they were inflicted. When he would press soft, ghostly kisses to Tohru's temple when she cried or when he'd smile at the people in their class. He wondered as his hands directed the steering wheel with ease how often Kyo thought about it if he in fact thought of it at all.
Was he thinking of it now?
The top of his silver convertible was down, the wind toying with both of their hair. Kyo was in the passenger seat, leaning on the door with both of his arms crossed and his head down, facing the road. The dark made it difficult for Yuki to fully see what he might have of him. Earlier, Kyo'd been wearing a rough and worn denim jacket that was much too large for him. He thought it was strange as the night wasn't really that cold but he didn't question the other. They'd gotten into the car and started down the road at a casual pace and somewhere along the way, Kyo had taken the jacket off and placed it in his lap before Yuki could get a good look at him.
The expensive car they were in was a present from Yuki's mother on his eighteenth birthday two months ago. He thought she might have been trying to reach out to him again, to regain some control over his situation and that made him want to refuse the silver car immediately but a long and mentally exhausting argument with Ayame convinced him to keep it. But only until he could afford his own.
This was not the first time Yuki and Kyo had gone for a drive together. Tohru had, in a fit of insanity as later described by Shigure, gotten it into her mind to convince them that spending time alone together would help them to fight less. Neither of them could remember her reasons for wanting the two rivals to be alone but it had made a reasonable amount of sense at the time. At least by Yuki's standards.
Before Yuki had gotten the car they would go for walks into town or, if either of them were in a bad mood, into the nearby woods. They didn't help the fighting any, didn't last more than half an hour, and only served to keep the really vicious fights away from Tohru. Yuki could recall being embarrassed to go back after the first time. He'd really bloodied Kyo up that day.
He looked over again, knowing there were no bruises now nor had there been for awhile and couldn't help but to ask himself why. Tohru believed they'd reached a breaking point, she'd called it a breakthrough, and didn't need to fight anymore.
His eyes snapped back to the road when Kyo shifted in his seat, his body still almost entirely facing away from him. Yuki thought it was the driving itself that had stopped them from ripping each other to pieces every day. The half hour walks turned into hours and hours of driving around. They never picked a destination and rarely did he ever actually stop the car until they got back.
There had been a few times, when the silence turned sour. The car would come to a screeching halt and in their malicious anger fighting would turn feral and deranged. They were too angry to get out of the car, too frustrated with what they couldn't change, it was just overwhelming. There wasn't room to hurt each other the normal way. Punching and kicking changed into biting and scratching, Kyo's hard nails coming in handy but even so Yuki came out on top. Maybe, he would wonder later, this was how Haru felt, when he couldn't see outside of the red light glowing on the hood of the car in the dark. Red, like Kyo's eyes and hair, red like the blind rage he didn't know he could feel. It would go too far and they would both be hurt even if it was Kyo who was screaming. On those days they would come home until much later after hours of sitting quietly in the back seat together, agonizing of what they'd just done.
The first time had been brutal, they didn't speak to each other for weeks afterwards and the drives stopped for awhile. That is until Shigure made a comment about it and Ayame flounced into the room asking if they'd had a lover's quarrel. Kyo ran upstairs to vomit and Yuki joined him after punching both his older cousin and brother in the face.
That next week the drives resumed, lacerations faded from Yuki's back and Kyo stopped flinching every time he walked into the room. They realized, a few weeks into their trips that Haru hadn't visited since their alone time had started and quietly spoke of inviting him along with them one night.
They never did actually invite him but he ended up tagging along a few times despite it. He always lightened the mood considerably, White Haru engaging them in meaningless small talk and Black Haru teasing Kyo to no end. This was not one of those nights however, this time they were alone. Tohru made it a point to encourage alone time as much as possible, she never allowed herself, Shigure, or Ayame to go.
Tonight, Yuki realized, he was allowing himself to go farther on this road than he had since that one drive, the one he was sure Kyo would never forgive him for. Kyo noticed this as well and sat up straight, glancing at him as he did so. They were reaching an intersection, and the light turned red before they reached it.
Yuki didn't want to stop.
The entire time they'd been driving Kyo'd been praying for a Red Light, as Yuki often used them as stopping points; moments to turn tail and head home. He was tired and the cool night wind did nothing to alleviate his drowsiness. But now that they were at one Kyo didn't want to stop either. He'd noticed that they were coming close to where it happened and figured they'd be going back soon. He wondered if they kept going, past the intersection and deeper into the night, would they vanish? Just disappear, never to be found again? What would they do with the Cage if he wasn't there to fill it in a few months? What would they do without Yuki?
He looked up at the light, as they drove up, saw it turn red and felt a bubble of disappointment fill inside of him. This feel was immediately replaced with the nervousness of surprise when the car accelerated instead of slowing down.
A truck was coming, it had the right of way and Kyo started to say something then stopped. His ears were muffled with wind and the look on Yuki's face felt both familiar and alien to him.
He couldn't say he hadn't thought about it.
Their eyes met briefly and Yuki's foot hit the brakes. They screeched to a halt, Kyo's hand gripping the seat tightly. The truck honked as it blurred by, the only sound on the deserted roads of back country around them. Yuki looked at Kyo's white knuckles with fascination before reaching out to touch his hand. Kyo looked at him quietly, not sure how to break the thick silence around them.
Yuki wondered what Kyo would do if he kissed him. He wondered if it would lead to the things they'd done that cold and empty night or to something else, something amazing. Yuki was sure if the red head kissed him back he wouldn't be able to take them home.
Kyo's hand was warm.
Slowly, that hand released the cold leather seat but didn't move away. They both watched in rapture as their hands touched and laced, not really understanding what was happening.
Before either of them could really think about it he pressed a soft, quietly smooching kiss to Kyo's mouth. Yuki hovered close to him, searching his eyes until when neither a positive nor negative response was given finally whispered a thank you in his ear, turned the car around and drove them back to Shigure's.
Kyo thought that even if they had both thought about it, it didn't change anything.
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