And Seyyan's back with a new Tohma/Shuichi fic. Sorry for the long wait (those who knew about this must've been frustrated at the very late release). Anyway, at least it's here now, ne?

As always, I own nothing. Not even bleep.

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A Spoonful of Gravity

by: Seyyan

Seguchi Tohma, former president of NG productions, hummed softly to himself as he turned the key to unlock the door of the small apartment he shared with his lover. It had been three years since he resigned as NG president and sold most of his stocks as well as his properties and fled to London with his younger partner. They fled to London, to escape their demons—his beloved's enraged and abusive ex-lover,Yuki Eiri; his own vengeful ex-wife, Uesugi Mika, whom he divorced on her account; and the insensitive paparazzi that hounded them as famous musicians.

They had been living in the outskirts of the city for three years now. He worked as a bookstore manager, while his lover was in art school—they discovered his apparent talent for painting and decided that he go to school and further it. For those two years, they have lived a relatively simple and easy life, away from the eyes of the public. They blended easily with their town's eclectic crowd of various nationalities. They occasionally indulged in music, but never in front of an audience—they could not risk getting discovered by anyone, after all.

For the most part, Tohma enjoyed this relative peace and quiet. How could he not, when his lover is not plagued by his demons? And yet sometimes, there's a part of him that wants to live the way he used, taste the power he used to have, the control and manipulation. Fame and all its glory—he missed all that. But now, his priorities have changed somewhat. All that matters to him now is Shuichi and his peace of mind.

Honestly, he was not surprised at the emergence of Shuichi's talent for art. He was a musician, after all. Not only that, but also a very passionate and expressive creature. When Shuichi decided to give up his music, it was only inevitable that his artistry will manifest in another way.

And manifest itself, it did. For a novice, Shuichi fared pretty well. At first, he did not shine as brightly as his art classmates—he had no previous special training in art, since he had focused all his energies on music. It frustrated him to no end how badly he was doing compared to his classmates. He spent almost all his waking hours painting, all in hopes of catching up to his contemporaries. He forgot to eat, neglected sleep, and sometimes even shut himself in the house, not allowing himself even a single glance of his long-enduring lover. Those were dark times for the couple.

In the end, it all paid off. After more than a year of hard work, Shuichi's star began to shine. Slowly but surely, he worked his way up to be one of the university's top ten artists. Their relationship improved. No longer were they strained by their frustrations. They spent more time together reliving memories, both good and bad. They trusted each other more: Shuichi started opening up to Tohma, admitting his inadequacies and his need for his older lover, and Tohma continued showering his younger love with his affection, but in a less constricting manner.

The golden-haired man took off his shoes, and placed them at the shoe rack near the door. If there was one Japanese custom he could never get rid of, it was the habit of removing shoes upon entering the house. Gracefully, he managed to remove his shoes, all the while grasping his heavy work bag in hand, and a bag of groceries in the other. He donned his house slippers, almost noiselessly padding towards the tiny kitchen. A small wistful smile appeared on his lips as he thought of his purchase: surely Shuichi will be excited by his discovery of a nearby Asian market. Humming softly to himself, he started arranging the groceries and set apart the ones he was going to use for dinner.

Finished, he grabbed his surprise for Shuichi and headed towards their rooms. Their small apartment had two rooms: the bigger room they reserved as their bedroom, while the smaller room was set apart to be Shuichi's studio. Shuichi was usually in their room at this time of the day, taking a short nap after school. He gave two sharp knocks at their bedroom door, waiting a bit for an answer. Not hearing anything, he opened the door and stepped inside. No Shuichi in sight. He sighed, realizing that Shuichi might be hard at work in his studio again. Gently closing the door, he walked to the other end of the hall and gave the door another two sharp knocks, but the door swung a bit open. Gingerly, for he knew how Shuichi gets upset if disturbed from his work, he opened the door and peered inside. He was greeted by a dim room, brushes and paint knives strewn about the floor, as if a tornado ran through the room. He stepped inside, softly calling out Shuichi's name. There was no response.

He was heading out the room, when he heard the faint creak of the closet door. He sharply turned his head and saw a glimpse of the Shuichi's shaking hand through the partially open closet. Noiselessly as not to alarm the young man, he stepped inside, his heart beating irregularly, fearing for what he might find.

"No…Stop it…." A terrified whisper rang to Tohma's ears.

Carelessly dropping the object in his hands, he sprinted towards his lover, slamming the closet door open. The sight broke his heart. Shuichi was pale and shaking terribly, his eyes wide open in fright. Quickly, he engulfed the younger man in his embrace, desperately trying to comforting him from whatever it was that brought him to the state.

Shuichi flinched. For a brief moment, Tohma felt anxious about himself. Was it his fault? Shuichi was terrified of something, Tohma was sure of that. But what it was that he was terrified of, remained a mystery to the elder. But he would have to think about that later, because at that moment, Shuichi was hyperventilating.

Quickly, he turned the young man towards him, forcing those glazed amethyst eyes to focus on his.

"Shuichi, shh...it's ok, I'm here." He gently whispered to calm the other.

Eventually, the youth calmed down considerably, enough for him to recognize who was holding him.

"T-Tohma…I-he—" Struggling with his words, Shuichi broke down and instead threw himself against his lover, embracing him as tightly as he could with his this arms.

Pain and happiness swelled in Tohma's heart as he petted his beloved's head and nestled his chin above it. He was happy and relieved that it was not him who caused his young lover to become like this, and yet he ached for him and the still unknown cause of Shuichi's suffering. Whatever it was—whoever it was—it was still out there, waiting to prey on the gentle soul he was trying so hard to protect.

"I love you, Shuichi."

Shuichi pulled away from the embrace, and gazed at the blonde's face. "I—I…I'm sorry, Tohma! I do love you, I really do! I'm sorry I worry you a lot even when you already do a lot of things for me. I don't even deserve this! I'm burdening you—"

"Shu…" Tohma's soft voice cut off Shuichi's self-depreciating rant. "Shu, I want to do this for you; let me do this for you. I love you, that's why I do this."

The younger man's head was bowed down, partly in shame for his words. Seeing this, the elder closed his eyes, willing away the tears of hurt that threatened to fall down his face. Shuichi loved him back, that was the most important thing right now. They can take care of the problems as they come. For now, they can enjoy this bittersweet moment.

He suddenly opened his eyes when he felt faint, but pleasant tingles from his fingertips. It was from Shuichi: his beloved was kissing his hand gently, almost reverently. He knew what this meant. Shuichi was asking for forgiveness

A loving smile broke out from his lips as he drew his love close, his lips meeting the slightly parted ones of his beloved. He could taste the salty tears that turned bitter in Shuichi's mouth, but they did not last long. As their tongues danced together to the tune of the ancients, he could taste the sweetness that was Shuichi: rare and not too overpowering, but enough to bewitch him for all eternity.

He mused to himself as he picked up his love and languidly headed out the door. Did he ever taste this sweetness? Maybe he didn't, because if he did, he wouldn't have abandoned this creature so easily. Then again, he really shouldn't worry about him right now. All that matters now is himself and this gentle beauty that decided to stay with him. That, and getting to the bedroom.

Omake:

Shuichi's eyes opened halfway as he felt himself being lifted up as he was being kissed. Suddenly, a small, dark green box, that strangely resembled the bento boxes back at home, caught his eye. He suddenly broke off the kiss as Tohma was about to unknowingly step on it.

"Wait!"

His lover quirked his eyebrows amusedly, probably thinking that Shuichi had some kind of game in mind. Shuichi, on the other hand, frantically pointed down to the floor, trying to bring Tohma's attention to the bento that was about to be squished to death.

"Tohma, don't step on it!"

Looking down (though it was quite difficult, considering that he was carrying Shuichi after all), Tohma saw that indeed, he was about to step onthe bento—the surprise he brought for Shuichi. He sidestepped and put Shuichi down for a moment to pick up the abandoned lunch box.

"Tohma, what do you have there?"

Tohma smiled brightly as he slowly opened the lid. "It's my surprise for you…"

Suddenly, his smile turned into a dismayed frown. He opened the box revealing…..melted mochi ice cream.

Shuichi's eyes shined with amusement at Tohma's disappointment. Sure, he would've wanted to eat those, but just the fact that Tohma found those for him made up for the wasted sweets.

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And that was the story. If you're asking about the possibility of a lemon accompanying this fic, it's still being considered. And yes, this is a oneshot.

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