A/N: Suddenly realised how annoying it is that you have to agree to the guidelines every time you post a new story. They can't change that often, can they?

Calling Hearts

Lying in the darkness of his room, Ritsuka sighs –

And feels another wave of hollowness.

Groaning through the nausea/emptiness/coldness/heat, then rolling onto his back as though to suffocate these, he stares at the ceiling.

Round and round go the patterns in the plaster. Round and round and round; hypnotising, just like –

Ritsuka turns to his side.

He is restless. Tired. Bored.

He wants –

Where are you?

His eyes find the mobile resting quietly by his hip. The screen is lit blue; it shows the time 20:48. His hand twitches, eager to snap it open, but he sniffs and determines not to give in. As though to prove this, he brings both hands to his chest and holds down the one closest to the phone, tight, unprepared to let it win. He holds it at the wrist, like it was held before, when Sou –

The rush of excitement all over is something he knows he shouldn't feel.

He lies on the hand instead.

No, I can wait. It doesn't matter. I don't need him to –

He has grabbed the phone with his other hand before he realises and, grumpily, he stares at it as though he can call up a text. He has become familiar with the trill of his mobile, the sign that he is being thought about. But there is nothing, not even a message in his inbox from earlier that he can look at and feel secretly pleased over. With a little huff – how could you? – he chucks the mobile onto the bed, then picks it up again, rolls to his back once more and places it on his chest. Now his heart is resting under there, calling out with each pulsation. But he likes to think that it's more silent than his thoughts.

Sighing, he rests his cheek against the cool bedspread. He looks to the window, idly playing with the strap attached to his phone. The one he was given by –

Shouldn't you be here by now? You always said…

"I'm not thinking about you," he mutters, pressing his palms to his eyes. "I'm not. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not."

I just – don't wanna be on my own. Why won't you just –

The pull of something incredible.

Ritsuka jerks upwards with it at the right time, forward and up until he is kneeling on the bed. Once more, his eyes find the window.

The curtain swishes aside dramatically and he is standing there, like a demon summoned from a wish.

They look at each other in silence. Soubi's hair is unkempt, his glassless blue eyes unguarded. Like he is looking for something that can't be seen when the walls around his thoughts are up and unbreakable. Or like he wants Ritsuka to see something in them.

But Ritsuka can't see anything in the everlasting blue, at least nothing that he can name. But he isn't learned enough when it comes to Soubi. He likes to think he's getting there, slowly, surely, but not… He isn't Seimei. He wants to know for himself. Discover it on his own, at his own pace. And he knows it takes longer than a quick order and the understanding that Soubi will always be there no matter how long it's been since he was last contacted.

Soubi lifts his hand, moves tangled hair from his eyes. The question is faded but just about there, lightly floating between them like a strange, uncontrollable connection.

He opens his mouth slightly, pauses, licks his bottom lip, and then asks it slightly breathless, making it bold and beautiful: "Did – did you call me?"

Ritsuka blinks slowly, looks to the floor, narrows his eyes in thought. Shakes his head: no, I didn't. Doesn't think so. He looks back, can't help but smile at the adult standing there. You're really here. Shrugs his shoulders: dunno, well, maybe...

"I…"

He pauses, tail curled ever-so-slightly at his back. Does it really matter now?

"No, never mind," Soubi intones with a frown, moving forward slowly, watching Ritsuka all the while. "Would you – May I… stay for a while? Now I'm here?"

Ritsuka looks away, pinches the bedspread between his first finger and thumb. His ears twitch. "I guess," he mumbles, nodding, uncurling his legs and shifting over a little to give Soubi room. "Now that you're here."

We're getting stronger, aren't we, Sou—

He is kissed, and then he kisses.