Still the One
One-Shot
Written by: chochowilliams
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Summary: It's Valentine's Day and Eiri has been sent out of town by his publisher leaving Shuichi alone.
Warning: angst, romance, slash
Pairings: Shuichi/Eiri
Inserts: "Still the One", Orleans & "If I Say Things Like I Love You"(an original poem by me), information on Valentine's Day thanks to Wikipedia
A/N: Here is a little shot for Valentine's Day. Enjoy!
oOo
We've been together since way back when
Sometimes I never want to see you again
But I want you to know, after all these years
You're still the one I want whisperin' in my ear
-"Still the One", Orleans
oOo
He fully realized that Valentine's Day here in Japan contrasted sharply with how it is celebrated elsewhere. Here in Japan on Valentine's Day, women were the ones expected to hand out chocolates to their co-workers and sometimes to close friends and loved ones. However, since the fourteenth of February fell on a Sunday this year, unpopular co-workers received what was called, "ultra-obligatory", or cheap chocolate, instead of "favorite chocolate".
Still…
"At least they get chocolate," Shuichi grumbled unhappily as he crossed his arms over his chest with a humph and slumped down in Eiri's chair in Eiri's office.
He knew that technically, he wasn't supposed to be in here without the written and/or oral consent from Eiri, but what Eiri did not know would not hurt him. Besides, if he were to, say, go into Word and inadvertently open one of Eiri's important files, like the notes for his next novel, and accidentally press select A and then mistakenly hit the delete button, it would be all Eiri's fault for leaving his precious laptop out in the open, unlocked, like this instead of taking it with him when he agreed to go on this stupid book tour Mizuki had suggested.
"Coincidentally, Mr. Yuki, the release date of your new novel, Sweethearts in the Moonlight, coincides with Valentine's Day. As the plot centers on Valentine's, wouldn't it be advantageous to take advantage of this opportune chance?"
"Coincidentally my ass," Shuichi continued to grumble.
In the Western World, where the holiday originated, Valentine's Day was a celebration of love and affection between not just intimate companions, but colleagues, friends and family, even the mail carrier or that dude that jogs passed your house each day at the same time no matter the weather. This celebration is traditionally expressed by both women as well as men, young and old, with flowers, some sort of confectionery, and greeting cards.
In Japan, because of a typo back in the 1960's, men were off the hook. They did not have to scramble at the last minute to find a bouquet of flowers (possibly some wilted half dead artificially colored daisy's or some other less desired flower in an even more pitiable state as all the roses with their sweet aromas would be sold out), a heart shaped box of chocolate with gooey centers (possibly a half crushed box that had several gouges in the plastic wrapping) and a romantic card overflowing with sentiments of love and adoration (possibly one meant to be given to a parent or some other authoritative figure from a child or even worse a Bakugan valentine the size of business card that said simply "Friends Brawl Together").
Still…
Shuichi heaved an aggravated sigh.
There was always White Day. It was only a month away. White Day was a day marketed in Japan as the day when the men are supposed to "return the favor", as it were, by giving a gift to those women who sent them a Valentine. Of course, the cost of the gift was expected to be at least two or three times more expensive.
Still…
"It's not the same."
At least they celebrated Valentine's Day here in Japan. In India for example, some Hindu fundamentalists discouraged the holiday. They believe it is "cultural pollution from the west". In Saudi Arabia, the holiday is banned because it is seen as a Christian holiday. Of course, this ban has led to a black market demand for roses and wrapping paper and whatnot. It was much like what happened in the United States during Prohibition. The ban of alcoholic beverages led to the rise of organized crime and mobsters such as Al Capone instead of what lawmakers had expected out of the experiment: reduced crime and an improvement in the health of Americans. Then there is Pakistan. The Jamaat-e-Islami political party wants the holiday banned because they claim Valentine's Day is "a shameful day. The people in the West are just fulfilling and satisfying their sex thirst." They claim it is an insult to Islam.
Still…
"Stupid Yuki," he grumbled.
Eiri was not one to gush about love and adoration and all that nonsensical crap, as he called it, but at least he always manages to leave at least a card lying around somewhere. Last year, Shuichi woke up to find a box of his favorite pocky (strawberry of course) sitting on the kitchen counter. But not this year. This year there was nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Not so much as a freaking email.
Bastard.
Fine. If he wanted to play it that way, then Shuichi guessed he had no other option then to play along. Eiri knew how much the holidays meant to him and yet he continued to pretend ignorance. Well, Shuichi was just as good at playing pretending as Eiri was. He can just pretend he didn't know Eiri's birthday was only nine days away….
No. Scratch that. Eiri didn't give a flying flip about his birthday. So ignoring it was not going to be good enough revenge.
Violet eyes carefully scanned the office, Eiri's private sanctum. They took in the hundreds of books filling the shelves, for both pleasure as well as research, file cabinets filled with notes and manuscripts and who knew what else and finally the computer. Eiri's second most prized possession other than his stupid Mercedes (the Saab could go up in a ball of flame and Eiri wouldn't even bat an eye).
An evil thought started to form.
Unfolding himself, Shuichi quickly hacked his way into Eiri's private files. A document captured his attention. It was titled, Untitled. This meant Eiri had not given the document a name yet. So Shuichi knew whatever this document was was not notes. Had Eiri already started a new novel? That was quick. It usually took Eiri a week, minimum, to start a new project. Curiosity getting the better of him, Shuichi clicked on the link, telling himself that he would completely wipe Eiri's hard drive after he satisfied his curiosity, which would probably be a waste of time anyway. Word opened and words spilled forth.
He quickly scanned the short paragraph that had opened before him, not really expecting much, but quickly found himself shaking. The words blurred as tears filled his eyes.
If (I wanted to ask you out, what would you say?)
I (cannot speak,)
Say (the things I want to say.)
Things Like (I want to make you mine and)
I Love You (more than words can say),
What Would You Say?
Shuichi froze.
If I Say Things Like I Love You, What Would You Say?
There was a noise behind him. Startled, Shuichi jumped up out of the chair and twirled around. The desk chair flew into the wall with a hard thud. There standing in the doorway was Eiri. His Eiri.
"Hey," was all the blond God said.
With a sob, Shuichi launched himself across the room and into Eiri's waiting arms. "I love you, too," he sobbed.
With a smile, Eiri tightened his arms around his quivering baka and whispered, "Happy Valentine's Day."
…The End