Song: 'A Walk In The Forest' by Yiruma
"Look, Soubi, the trees even have baby pine cones!" Ritsuka twirled on one foot as he flitted across the forest trail, pointing up into one of the large coniferous trees with an excited smile directed behind him. His attention was quickly changed to getting closer to the 'baby pine cones' and Ritsuka thus glided over the root-entangled earth to reach a large pine tree's lowest branches. His camera flashed as he snapped a picture of a small bunch of pine cones dangling before his bright, enthusiastic eyes. "Come on, Soubi!"
Said Soubi sighed lightly before tracing over Ritsuka's previous steps with his larger ones, making a bit of an imprint in the pattern of the multi-colored leaves of autumn. "Hmm, they are small." He frowned a bit at the notion as he bent over to lean in close to observe the pine cones.
"Why do you have your angry-unhappy face on?" Ritsuka asked, inno cent confusion swirling in his eyes.
"What ever do you mean?" Soubi asked, looking straight into Ritsuka's eyes now from beside the small pine cones between them, fuzzed out of focus. Ritsuka, rather than shying away from Soubi's steely blue eyes, stared determinedly right through them.
"You have your angry-unhappy face on, so you must be angry or unhappy!" Ritsuka complained, his eyebrows furrowed in a confusing combination of anger and worry and with his arms crossed over his chest.
"I am neither angry nor unhappy." Soubi deadpanned, yet he somehow managed to smile out of pure habit from looking into Ritsuka's adorable eyes. Could eyes even technically be adorable? Soubi didn't mind if it didn't make sense.
"Then why are you pulling faces at pine cones?" Ritsuka asked, a bit peeved.
"Because I am somewhat piteous of them." Soubi explained with the same unconscious smile on his face.
"Why do you feel sympathy for a bunch of pine cones?" Ritsuka asked, now leaning a bit farther off the scale of confusion. Soubi's smile disappeared, but Ritsuka failed to notice.
"Because their growth has been stunted and they can not be as large and beautiful as they once had potential for. They can only be small and unnoticed for the rest of their lives, and have less potential to serve their purpose." Soubi inquired, but Ritsuka violently shook his head in disagreement.
"Soubi, how can you be so mean?! So what if a star doesn't shine as bright, or a leaf isn't as brightly colored as its brothers?" Ritsuka put his focus back on the pine cones in front of his face and smiled. "I think they're just as beautiful small as they would have been larger." His eyes brimmed with caring and acceptance directed for the petite figures.
"Even though they aren't as great as the others, they are still what they are inside. Someone will come to like them, too, even if they aren't the brightest star or the prettiest leaf or the biggest pine cone." Ritsuka trailed off almost to a whisper as he finished his speech.
"Do you really believe in that, or do you just want to believe in it?" Soubi caught Ritsuka off guard, causing the latter's eyes to widen a bit. "Would you really still love a star if it wasn't the brightest one, or a leaf if it wasn't the prettiest, or a pine cone that wasn't the biggest?" Soubi watched as Ritsuka searched the back of his mind.
"Yes." Was Ritsuka's answer, and apparently he hadn't found a reason not to like any of the three examples any less. "Not everyone is perfect, Soubi." Ritsuka tilted his head ever so slightly to the left, his eyes closed as he smiled up at him.
Soubi was now the one to be surprised, but he, as always, composed himself in mere seconds. He enveloped Ritsuka in a deep hug that said boy wasn't expecting due to his still closed eyes. He released a bit of a gasp at the presence of Soubi's arms around his shoulders. "Thank you, Ritsuka." Soubi whispered in his ear, and Ritsuka gladly let his own arms slide around Soubi's neck delicately in return. Soubi squeezed him just a bit tighter to recognize the act before breaking away just enough to put Ritsuka's face in front of his own.
"It's starting to get darker." Ritsuka said absent-mindedly as he stared up through the treetops to see the sky darkening into dusk.
"Shall we go back?" Soubi suggested, but Ritsuka shook his head for the second time that evening. It was rather cute when he did that, Soubi decided.
"We haven't finished our walk yet!" Ritsuka's cat ear twitched from the excitement the boy was feeling. Soubi laughed and laid a gentle kiss on the boy's forehead before sliding from his loose grip, but not without snagging his tiny right hand. They walked the entire trail back to its entrance and all the way back to Soubi's place without unlocking their hands. It was nearly pitch-black outside when they made it back.
BREAK
"Sou-chan, have you finished your painting for this term yet?" Kio asked with a nagging tone of voice, waving his lollipop in the air like an extension. He had a feeling he would receive a negative answer, but when Soubi responded positively, he wondered if he was coming down with a fever or Soubi had been possessed by their teacher.
Kio was taken out of his crazy internal tangent when he saw Soubi going for a covered canvas in the corner of the room. "Ooh, it's a secret! Tell me; is it a portrait of me naked?" Kio messed with Soubi, who simply ignored him. Ignoring Kio's fruitless advances had become a fine art.
Soubi pulled off the cloth covering his canvas to reveal a painting he'd done just a few nights ago.
"..Pine cones? I'm not getting the reference." Kio scratched his head and was somewhat confused. "Don't you usually do butterflies and whatnot?" Soubi smiled.
"I went for a different subject this time." Kio felt left out, because there was obviously something behind Soubi's new face. It was a happy-content face. Something that had yet to really show itself on Soubi's huge collection of signature faces.
"And I was hoping you had finally done my nude portrait." Kio sighed dramatically. "I even slept naked the other day so that while you did your perverted peeping you would get inspired!" Kio made a loud sucking noise on his lollipop, showing his amusement as he finally got Soubi's attention.
"Kio, I am not a pervert."
"Poor boy, you're in denial!" Kio sang before leaving the room for some reason Soubi didn't care about. As if on cue, the front door was knocked upon, and Soubi could immediately tell it was Ritsuka. His eyes lit up, but he quickly put the canvas back in place before opening the door for him.
"Hello, Soubi." Ritsuka smiled, but it disappeared quickly as he glanced around the small room before stepping in. "Where's Kio?"
"I don't know." Soubi responded, still not caring about his absent roommate.
"Soubi?" Said man was instantly alert and smiling down at his Sacrifice. Ritsuka raised his eyebrows and went on the tips of his toes to reach up to Soubi's face. Soubi didn't move in fear of ruining the moment as Ritsuka's fingers scaled over his facial features. "You have a new face."
"You're not the first to have noticed." Soubi responded, allowing confusion to flash onto Ritsuka's expression instantaneously before a smile took its place.
"It's a happy-content face." Ritsuka's smile grew wider. "I'm glad." Soubi was sad to feel Ritsuka's fingers leave his face, but that void was quickly filled when those same fingers embraced him softly. He saw relief in Ritsuka's eyes. They held each other in Soubi's doorway for an unaddressed amount of time, but Kio could tell you it was pretty long.
"So what are you hear for, love?" The pet name went strangely unnoticed as Ritsuka nearly jumped in excitement.
"You said you would take me to a carnival today!" Ritsuka's smile brightened up Soubi's eyes.
Soubi chuckled a bit. "Yes, I did." Ritsuka resisted the urge to do a dance on Soubi's doorstep as he waited for Soubi to get ready to leave. They left very soon after that.
Kio could hear Ritsuka's energized chattering from through the home's walls as they traveled along its hallway. He revealed himself from hidden within his room and looked at Soubi's pine cone canvas once more.
"Maybe it's symbolism for my naked body." Kio found such an answer sufficient and nodded in approval before slipping into the kitchen to make microwavable noodles for lunch.