Title: Youth
Pairing: One sided Tetsuya/Shuichi
Challenge: Pick the most random/bizarre pairing you can think of and attempt to write or draw it believably. Done for gravimusemeet on lj.
Rating: PG
Summary: Tetsuya finds himself being drawn to Shuichi's energy despite his best efforts.
Notes: It's really not that weird a pairing if you put Tetsuya's age and personality aside, since in the manga, he did appear, at least to me, to really admire Shuichi's energy.

Thanks to Aja for the edit.

Now, Tetsuya considered himself a devoted husband. After all, his wife was a vision of youthful energy and beauty, so why would he want to stray? No matter how sexy the woman, Tetsuya could always tell himself that in a few years she'd be old inside and out. His belief that no one could match Noriko's youthful energy and vigor had been the shield with which he protected himself from impure thoughts and he had never expected that shield to crumble.

Then again, no one had told him about Shuichi Shindou's youthful beauty and energy, which was obviously drawn from some far off galaxy's sun. Of course, this was the boy who had managed to seduce the sour little brother of Noriko's best friend, so it shouldn't have been that surprising that Tetsuya himself would fall. It was all he could do to keep himself from salivating whenever Shuichi Shindou appeared on TV or was even mentioned. Fortunately, when his daughter and wife noticed, they just thought he was being their "Silly Daddy."

If only they knew how silly his fantasies were. Granted, Tetsuya had never believed in the whole "act your age" spiel and had always prided himself on doing the opposite, but there were things a man his age just shouldn't seriously contemplate. Such as swinging into Shuichi Shindou's bedroom window and whisking him away to the ancient city of El Dorado. Or accidentally meeting him while on a trip to Dublin and setting off in search of the leprechaun's gold.

Somehow, he managed to keep these and other such exciting adventures to himself, though Tetsuya had started laying off the wine, least he accidentally blurt out something that would get him divorced. Not that he didn't deserve it, because he definitely did deserve the boot at this point, his heart having strayed so far. How he wished it could be otherwise! But whenever he was convinced that his heart was finally Noriko's again and her's only, someone would drop Shuichi's name or worse, he'd drop in himself and Tetsuya would be gone.

He considered restoring his faithfulness in a million different ways and had tried a few without success. Going to psychiatry had been the first one, only he'd found that his doctor hadn't been very sympathetic to the plight of an old "pervert" as the man had so poignantly put it.

He'd quit seeing that fool and had gone for option number two, taking a month long trip to visit the many historic monuments of Italy and had spent the entire trip without any exposure to young Shindou. The plan had appeared to be going well and it was as if he had never met the young man, until he came back and was instantly bombarded with a bill board for Bad Luck's latest album. He'd fallen faster than an ex-junkie thrown into an opium den.

The third option, which he had tried recently was to anonymously declare his infatuation by sending a hundred roses to Shuichi Shindou, along with an elegantly written poem. The moment he had placed the order, Tetsuya swore that he could feel a weight slightly lifted from his shoulders, which was more relief than he'd ever felt. As long as he didn't get a response to the letter, which was the only possible occurrence, he'd finally be able to move on with his life. He'd be himself again, devoted to only one vision of youth. He'd practically felt like skipping and had in fact skipped to work every day of the week after that.

Things went perfectly, until the next time Shuichi came over for dinner, bouncing in such a way that it would have put a teeter totter to shame. As he'd watched the exchange between Shuichi and Noriko at the dinner table, he had to come accept the fact that he could no longer depend on Noriko's own beauty to keep him loyal.