Author's Note: Wow I haven't updated in awhile, but yeah I'm still alive! This was my entry for the Miyusawa Reverse Bang on tumblr, with the accompanying art by the amazing hazeoflies (who doesn't have a tumblr, unfortunately) that you should totally check out! She was the one who came up with the idea of a soulmates au for this fic, too ^_^.
If you have no idea what's going on with the whole glow thing because Author is terrible at explaining things, see the end of the fic for more clarification!
Italics are thoughts, except for the long passages all in Italics. Those are flashbacks, and thoughts within the flashbacks are normal text. The beginning passage in italics is a story thing that's not really told by either of them, so I just put it in Italics. I hope that makes it a little less confusing!
ALSO I have no idea what's wrong with , but I can't insert links for some reason? Not into the fic or my profile, so I'm sorry that I just copy and pasted the links in orz
Title: Luminous
Rating: T
Word Count: 5017
Warnings: Minor cursing, unrequited love angst
Summary: Treasures are luminous. All things of beauty are, like stars, fireflies, Eijun's smile…but Kazuya never thought he'd be, too. Soulmate AU where when you touch, you glow.
ao3 link: /works/4791575 || Art Link: post/129025638400/a-big-thank-you-to-my-lovely-writer
Luminous
"Gather round children, and I shall tell you a story. It is the story of how the universe, and the people who inhabit it, were created. For once, there was naught but Dark and Light. Cold and Heat. Motion and Stillness. Only opposites placed far, far, far from each other."
"Over time, these opposites began to draw near and intersect. Intermediates were born. Warmth instead of freezing Cold or burning Heat. Breath instead of ceaseless Motion or utter Stillness. But at the intersection of Dark and Light, there was Color."
"And Color flew away, and formed the universe. Stars, planets, people—all the Color was used to compose everything we can see. Almost all of it was sacrificed, until the humans were left with a limited spectrum for which to view the universe."
"But they say fragments of the original Color remain, scattered throughout space until they are summoned by the very process that created them: intersection."
"True Light is not the ordinary light we see, children, and True Darkness is not the ordinary dark we see. They are the remnants of an Emptiness that has long ceased to exist, except inside us. We all contain particles of the original Light and Dark, hidden within the Color from which we were created. When one human meets another whose original Light and Dark particles ratio equal his own, intersection can occur in its entirety and call forth Color."
"We call these two humans who perfectly complement one another soulmates. When they touch, it is as if the universe is reborn…"
"The worst distance between two people is misunderstanding" – Neetesh Dixit
Kazuya
The first time Kazuya sees Eijun, he's neck-deep in a shouting match that involves brash declarations, gaping passerby, and a distinct sense of watching something more serious than an idiotic remark made by some cheeky middle schooler. Little does he know that the second, third, and fourth time he sees Eijun, the same chest heaving, fist clenching, and loud proclamations would also be present.
He's lost track of how many times he's seen Eijun now: in the morning on his runs, out the window during lunch break when the idiot continues to drag his tire around the field, afternoon practice, dinner in the canteen, evening in his room-slash-unofficial-lounge. Sawamura Eijun has become a staple in his life, like baseball and school and the glasses he uses to reveal the world but obscure himself.
The same glasses that are knocked straight off his face when Eijun unexpectedly rounds the corner and sends both of them sprawling to the ground.
Kazuya considers it to be karma in a sense; for the past week he's been avoiding Eijun, so naturally the universe sees it fit to literally throw the southpaw at him.
The universe is a bitch.
"Sorry, I wasn't—MIYUKI KAZUYA?" Eijun, eyes wide open, springs to his feet like he's just touched burning metal. "WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
Kazuya, preoccupied with his newly sore forehead, briefly forgets he's supposed to be avoiding the idiot. "I live here, Bakamura."
"I KNOW THAT MUCH, SHITTY FOUR-EYES—HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"Eijun shouts, pointing an accusing finger at the hunched figure trying to sneak away from him.
'Fuck,' Kazuya inwardly curses, and reluctantly turns back to meet the pitcher's eyes. "It's late, Sawamura. I'm going to bed."
Eijun is suddenly awkward, breaking his gaze and scuffing his sneakers in the dirt. "Can you hold on a second, Miyuki-senpai? I want to talk to you about something."
Kazuya almost breaks at the uncharacteristic shyness Eijun is showing, how absolutely vulnerable the pitcher looks standing in the hallway outside his dorm with the dim street lamps elongating the shadows of his eyelashes and emphasizing the creases on his forehead. Violet rims amber orbs that glow as fiercely now as they do on the mound, but with a different sort of desperation. Nevertheless, it's proof that tonight isn't the only night that Eijun has gone sleepless.
Were those bags there yesterday?
Kazuya inwardly curses again.
I should have been paying more attention.
"Sawamura," the lump in his throat thickens, "I'm sorry."
And he turns away, leaving a shell-shocked pitcher in his wake, to do what will best for both of them. There's no place for something like this, whatever this may be, in either of their lives, and maybe one day, when he's with someone who truly deserves him and actually knows what the hell he's doing, he'll thank Kazuya for turning his back.
His hands shake as he unlocks his door, and he leans heavily against the wood after it swings shut behind him.
He couldn't stay.
It wouldn't be right.
But he almost did.
Kazuya's room, 2:04 AM
...
He called me senpai
...
"We are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all." –Eleanor Roosevelt.
Eijun
Eijun almost chooses to stay in Nagano, safe, happy, Nagano, where his middle-school friends fill each day with sunshine and he can return home when the sky is dark and the moon is smiling to a boisterous yet loving family.
Then he hears the sound that has haunted him every day onward, trails each step he takes toward the mound and his dream. The sound that convinced him to leave the country life he so loved and move to bustling, metropolitan Tokyo to attend Seido.
"Nice pitch!"
Whether it's the first or five hundredth time Eijun hears Kazuya call those words, they never fail to send bursts of euphoria through his body, little tingles along his neck and up his spine which remind him exactly how much he treasures their battery, their partnership.
When it turned into more than that, he didn't know.
Eijun is no stranger to the simultaneous groans of the baseball team or his classmates as he misses a supposedly obvious point, or the gentle explanations by Harucchi of the true meaning of what he just screamed. He's never been the shiniest bat in the equipment shed with a lot of things, but when it comes to his own feelings, it seems to be especially bad. In fact, it's not until the first time he truly touches Kazuya, skin on skin, that he realizes what everything leading up to that moment could be hinting at.
Love.
He's felt it before, obviously, for his Gramps and baseball and even Wakana as a sister, but somehow it feels different when it's connected to Kazuya. It feels…thrilling in a way it never has before, yet more terrifying than standing on the mound at Koshien. It feels like nothing Eijun has ever felt before, and perhaps that was why it took longer than usual for him to figure it out.
Don't get him wrong, he loves the sound of his pitch thudding into the leather of Kazuya's glove. He loves anticipating the crack that echoes throughout the stadium, and the throaty grumble of the umpire's "Strike!".
But somewhere along the line (or was it from the very beginning?) he had come to love more the way Kazuya pulls off his catcher's mask and threads his fingers through his hair, impish grin lighting up the handsome features that earned him his "Pretty boy" nickname, running toward him with words of advice and teasing and just himself.
Without a doubt, Eijun had it bad.
But shoujo manga protagonist is a far cry from the reality of his situation. His goal to win the Ace title left no room for romance (to say nothing of the fact that his love would forever be unreturned), even if it means turning away from the little white glow that erupted whenever his skin met Kazuya's.
"I love you, that means I'm not just here for the pretty parts. I'm here no matter what." –Claudia Gray, Hourglass
Eijun
Miyuki was really attractive.
Eijun realized this when it was nearing midnight on a Wednesday night hours after even the most assiduous players had called it a day. He'd been tossing and turning in his bed for a while now, plagued by an unusual bout of insomnia, and just happened to remember a conversation he had overheard earlier in the day.
"Ne, did you see Miyuki-kun at practice the other day? He's so hot!"
"I know right! Captain of the baseball team, too. I'd kill to make him notice me."
"I heard that he's never asked a girl out before. Do you think he's waiting for The One?"
"Maybe! With his looks, it's only natural that he have high standards."
The voices faded as the girls turned away from the baseball field Eijun was heading to for afternoon practice, but their comments lingered in his mind.
Sure, he could appreciate the catcher's defined muscles and handsome features, but what about his shitty personality? They obviously didn't know what a jerk Miyuki Kazuya could be! He snorted. Who would ever like a guy like him?I almost can't believe it.
Three days later, as they were preparing to board the bus for a practice game, Eijun got his answer.
"Miyuki! Warm up with me first when we arrive!" Eijun waved his arms about wildly. "My shoulder's all warmed up and ready to go!"
"Have you forgotten that Furuya's starting today? I have to warm up with him."Miyuki brushed him off easily, passing him to store his bag beneath the vehicle. "Besides, who says you'll be pitching at all today?"
"Hey!" Eijun protested, "Furuya has no stamina! When he inevitably collapses, I shall be there to save the day!"
A snort. "In your dreams, Bakamura." Miyuki closed the storage compartment. "You've got no pitch control." Passing him, their hands accidentally brush, a touch so slight that someone looking ahead, like Kazuya, would never have noticed.
But Eijun did.
What he saw was the briefest of glows, a white purer than the snow of Nagano, where his fingers and Miyuki's had touched. It was barely there, as the contact had been minimal, but Eijun could swear that it was there.
No way…the legends Grandpa told are actually true?
A more telltale sign was the sudden warmth that punctuated the spot where Miyuki's hand had been, making the blood rush to Eijun's ears when he realized exactly what such a reaction implied.
Soul…mates?
He stared at the retreating figure of the main catcher, eyes fixated on the number 2 plastered to his back.
I love…Miyuki?
Eijun's Room, 2:05 AM
…
I love him
…
I love him
…
Why do I have to love him?
"I've learned that home isn't a place, it's a feeling." –Cecelia Ahern. Love, Rosie
Kazuya
"And with a final score of 7:5, Seido High School wins!"
Miyuki pulls his catcher's mask off, sliding his fingers through his hair where the helmet had matted it. Summer games were always tougher on the body, but this one feels more exhausting than usual.
The reason is standing approximately 18 feet away from him, fist pumping and shouting his signature"Osu! Osu! Osu!" to the groaning of the rest of the first string.
Sawamura Eijun, despite having spent the past three or so hours in the sweltering sun, is proving no worse for wear (a stark contrast to Furuya, who's being fanned by a sympathetic Haruichi).Even though it was merely a practice game, the southpaw had put his all into it like he did with everything. Admirable, even if he did give up a few walks.
Yet Sawamura chatters all the way to the bus and on the journey home, not stopping even when he almost chokes on his rice at dinner. Kazuya chalks it up to his hyperaware nature, but he could swear Sawamura is making an effort to talk to everyone but him.
The southpaw's not in his room that evening for the team's usual video games and hang out session, so Kazuya hunts around school until he finds the idiot asleep in the middle of the field, tire still tied to his waist.
Rolling his eyes, Kazuya nudges him with his shoe. "Oi, go sleep in your room. You're going to catch a cold, baka."
Sawamura mumbles, stirring slightly but otherwise seeming content to remain on the ground.
"Oi," Kazuya nudges him harder, making sure to really dig his shoe into his idiot partner's ribs, "Your upperclassman's giving you advice. Show some respect."
A light snore is Sawamura's reply.
Frustrated that even in his sleep, Sawamura is determined to be as difficult as possible, Kazuya crouches to his level and shakes his shoulder.
"Wake up."
No reaction.
"Coach is going to kill you if he finds you sleeping out here," he pokes Sawamura's nose.
Wait a second.
Kazuya pauses.
Was that…light?
He cautiously strokes Eijun's face, letting his hand linger for a moment longer than necessary.
Soft white light illuminates his immediate surroundings, and the glow traveling up his arm and over Eijun's face could only mean one thing.
Soulmates.
There's no way. I don't even see the idiot in that way, much less like him. It's late at night; I must be imagining it.
But when Kazuya skims his fingers over Eijun's cheek once again, sure enough the glow is there.
Shit.
"What would you ask for, if you knew the answer was Yes?" – Unknown
Kazuya
After practice, Kuramochi falls in line beside him, a habit from when they were first-years that now feels as natural as sliding on his catcher's mitt.
"Hey," he glances sidelong at Kazuya, "I want to talk to you about something."
Somehow, the words don't feel any less foreboding the second time around.
"Hmm?" Kazuya pretends to hum nonchalantly, like he hasn't spent the last few nights tossing and turning over his latest encounter with a certain pitcher. "If you mean Nori, I'm doing my best to raise his confidence, but even so his pitches are looking better than they have all season. I think he'll be a real asset to us in the fall tournament if he keeps this up."
"That's not what I mean and you know it."
Kuramochi's words cut through him like a knife, and as Kazuya opens his mouth to say that he has no idea what Kuramochi is trying to imply, the last person he wants to see just happens to run by, eyes fixed firmly on the team member ahead.
"Miyauchi-senpai! Will you catch my pitch for me today?"
If Kuramochi's words felt like a blade, Eijun's feel like a bullet, burying themselves deep within his chest and the heart he likes to pretend he doesn't have.
Of course, Kazuya pushes the pain down, like he's always done, and only lets a cheeky grin grace his features. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
"Miyuki," Kuramochi exhales, unbelievably pissed at his best friend's utter denial of his own emotions, "You just gave him The Look."
"What look? The Sawamura-Shut-Up-Before-I-Throttle-You Look?"
"No, the Sawamura-I'm-So-Fucking-In-Love-With-You-But-I'm-Too-Scared-To-Admit-It Look."Kuramochi slams his fist into the doorframe. "Don't even try to deny it Miyuki, because I have not been through hell and back in the past few weeks for you to conjure up some bullshit excuse about your relationship being purely about baseball, because it's not and anyone with eyes can see it."
"I-"
"Miyuki Kazuya, if you know what's good for you you will shut your mouth this instant and listen to what I have to say. Sawamura is difficult, there's no doubt about that. He's brash and loud and probably doesn't process what he's shouting until the entire team is either openly gaping or shouting back at him, but that's why you love him."
"Which scares you," Kuramochi continues. "The baseball prodigy Miyuki Kazuya is terrified at the thought of another human being slipping through the cracks in the walls he's built and no longer loving him once they see who he truly is, all the while being somehow unaware that he could probably burn all of their shoujo manga and still have the idiot pestering him to catch his pitches."
Kazuya doesn't know if he wants to laugh or cry, but he supposes he should be grateful Kuramochi cares so much for him and Eijun.
"Now go out there and confess to him or God help me I will Cobra Twist the fuck out of both of you until you can't tell where your spine ends and your legs begin!
Because sometimes all you need is your best friend threatening bodily harm to do what you should've done three almosts ago.
"Don't you wonder sometimes, what might have happened if you tried?" – Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Eijun
It's sunset, but Eijun stubbornly continues to run laps around the field, faithful tire tied to his waist as always. Lately, he feels as if there's been a certain distance between him and Kazuya, a frustrating awkwardness that he wants nothing more than to dissolve but doesn't know how to. He…loves the stupid catcher, so naturally he'd want their relationship to return to normal as soon as possible; anything is better than this hesitant dancing around each other. It had yet to affect their chemistry on the field, at least in ways that were obvious to most of their teammates, but the thrill of looking into Kazuya's eyes right before a crucial pitch had vanished as quickly as the morning dew. They were cold slits of amber, calculating the way they were in a game, but with a certain deadness to them that left Eijun feeling hollow inside.
He had a sinking suspicion Kuramochi knew about his secret affections for the catcher, noticed the glances he snuck in the dining hall as he gulped down his bowls of rice or the wrinkles that had appeared under his eyes now that Kazuya seemed determined to push him away. Stress had never treated Eijun kindly, but added to the pressure of the looming fall tournament, rendered him more haggard than anyone had ever seen him.
Before he could process what happened, Eijun was hunched on the ground, gasping for air as he fought the spots of blackness seeping into his vision. Pushing himself past his limit like this did more harm than good, as he had learned, but with the gnawing anxiety over his and Kazuya's relationship, how could he stop? He needed to be strong if he wanted to be the ace, not let the team find out how his catcher's newfound distance was eating him up. Maybe Kazuya didn't want to talk to him (and maybe, a traitorous part of him admitted, he didn't want to talk to Kazuya either and find out whatever this could be), but the only thing he could do was curl his fingers against the grit of the field, and force his straining muscles onward.
Said legs tremble, a testament to how long he has forced them to keep running, running, running towards his goal. Not his goal of ace, for once, but his goal of Kazuya. A goal so impossibly hopeless, he didn't see how he could ever achieve it.
Baseball is simple in his mind. Do warm-up laps around the field. Stretch after pitching. Throw so that the ball lands snugly within the center of Kazuya's mitt. Improvement is an uphill battle, but one that he is familiar with. Comfortable with. He knows what he needs to do.
With Kazuya, he doesn't. Should he swallow his feelings until they go away? Should he tell Kazuya he only sees him as a friend so that their dynamic can go back to normal? Should he pretend to like someone else so he can save their past relationship?
He wishes he were in a shoujo manga right now, where the narrator never seems to have to choose between her dream and her love. It's only a matter of time before someone notices the distance between them, and then a ticking time bomb until one is booted off.
"Sawamura!" Kazuya shouts, but all Eijun can hear is for the team. For Kazuya. And he runs.
"Two souls don't find each other by simple accident" – Jorge Luis Borges
It's uncharacteristic of him to run from a challenge rather than face it head-on, Kazuya thinks, chasing after the boy he needs to confront.
But he's not one to talk, having chosen to simply avoid the problem until it went away instead of finding a solution. He's the captain, and the upperclassman, and the less dense of the pair, so it should've been his duty to bridge the gap that had formed. The team was counting on him. Eijun, in all his inexperienced, awkward glory was probably counting on him.
"Sawamura!"
And so Kazuya finds himself running, running, running. Running faster than he ever has on the baseball diamond, wind knocking the cap off his head and skewing the glasses on his nose. Eijun has a lead, but desperation fuels his legs and he's catching up fast.
It's not because he's the more experienced one (he's not) that he's doing this, or that Kataoka would have his head if Eijun collapsed in practice, or even that the team dynamic depended on it. Kazuya's doing it because he cares about Eijun, damn it, has cared for him in all the time it took for him to admit it and longer.
(Oh how he hates that Kuramochi's always right)
He reaches Eijun at the hill behind the practice fields, catching his wrists before he can run down the stone staircase.
"Sawamura. Stop running from me."His tone is flat, hiding the frantic thudding of his heart against his ribcage. The white light emanating from their touch doesn't go unnoticed by the catcher; the southpaw is a completely different story.
"No!" Eijun struggles against him, but Kazuya's grip is strong. "Why should I stay when you've been the one avoiding me all week? Isn't that what you wanted?"
With a final effort, Eijun rips his wrist away and sprints halfway down the steps before a quiet "Eijun" stops him in his tracks.
"I know I'm not good with words, but I think we need to talk," Kazuya descends behind him, taking a seat.
Eijun follows suit, lips pouted petulantly but with a sinking feeling in his gut. Did he find out that I like him? Is he here to turn me down?
He's afraid to break the silence, and so is Kazuya. Several moments pass in awkwardness before the catcher coughs.
"I'm sorry."
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?"
Dire as the situation is, Eijun can't help his utter shock at Kazuya's apology. Since when did the catcher apologize for anything? And to him, of all people.
"Y-You better be sorry, shitty four-eyes! Do you know what kind of hell you've put me through all week?"
He's probably fooling no one with that half-assed response, a pathetic attempt at how indignant he normally is to any concession of Kazuya's.
"I know. I'm sorry."
This. This feels…strange. Out of place. Not the usual banter their battery shares, where Kazuya laughs off personal attacks or counters with a snarky one of his own. Never simply compliance.
Eijun's restless with the sudden unnaturalness that has settled over them like a storm cloud. It used to be so easy, swapping tidbits of conversation in between practices and during meals, but for once Eijun doesn't know what to say.
How many times has he been told by his teammates and Kazuya to shut up? He's the loud one who's overwhelmingly honest, who never shirks from speaking his mind, who's friends with (almost) everybody. Anger at himself knots in the pit of his stomach. Why can't I break this silence? Why? Why? Why?
Fingers buried in the grass, anxiously plucking at the stems, Kazuya searches for a way to articulate the storm in his mind. Beside him, Eijun has been silent for an unusually long time. Kazuya assumes he's thinking over what possible excuse Kazuya could have for how he's treated him, which is exactly what his problem is. How is he supposed to explain why he's been avoiding the pitcher for the past week without destroying their partnership?
I agreed to catch Furuya's pitch at night and I couldn't let you know otherwise you'd want the same treatment.
Kataoka wants you to get closer with the other catchers.
It's all in your head; I haven't been avoiding you, baka.
No, he couldn't do that. Eijun deserved better than lies. Eijun deserved better than him.
I started to have feelings and didn't want to ruin our battery
There's no way we would have worked out
You deserve better so much more than what I can give
He must have been searching for a moment too long, though, because now it's Eijun's turn to deny a request to talk by abruptly rising to his feet and turning away from Kazuya.
"I'm leaving."
"…Eijun," Kazuya has no idea what he's going to say, but he knows that he absolutely cannot let Eijun leave until they've settled this.
(How else is he supposed to live with himself?)
Eijun's fists clench, and he spins around so quickly Kazuya barely has time to process the tears forming in his eyes before Eijun's shouting, "Don't say my first name so casually, you jerk! You have no right to after you've been avoiding me all week! If you hate me, just say it! Who do you think you are, messing with my head like this? I DON'T KNOW WHY I EVEN LIKE YOU!"
"Ei—" Eijun doesn't give him the chance to finish.
"I SAID, DON'T SAY MY FIRST NAME! IT—IT'S NOT FAIR WHEN YOU'LL NEVER SEE ME THAT WAY," he brokenly sobs, "I WAS TRYING SO HARD TO HIDE IT SO THAT WE COULD—SO THAT WE COULD AT LEAST STAY FRIENDS, BUT WHY DO YOU HAVE TO HATE ME? I—"
"-BAKAMURA, I DON'T HATE YOU! YOU'D KNOW THAT IF YOU STOPPED JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS AND ACTUALLY GAVE ME A CHANCE TO SPEAK!" Kazuya finally snaps, grabbing Eijun's face so that he can look the pitcher in the eye.
Instantly, soft white light bursts from where Kazuya's hands touch Eijun's face, spreading across the contact to envelope both of them.
They glowed.
"Kazuya," Eijun whispers, bringing his other hand over Kazuya's after a moment of hesitation.
(How long has he been waiting to call him Kazuya?)
It glowed stronger.
…
Once again, neither wants to break the silence.
Instead, Kazuya averts Eijun's eyes, an adorable blush staining his cheeks.
"Can I…?"He trails off awkwardly.
"Yes."
Eijun feels like he's exploding when Kazuya's thumbs gently wipe the tears from his eyes, leaving a trail of magenta in their wake. The once white light had morphed into every shade of the rainbow, the colors that were named after exotic flowers and precious gems claiming them as their canvas.
The spots along his neck where Kazuya's fingers rest, so heartbreakingly tender, are pale gold, while violet curls lovingly around their waists. And when cerulean playfully creeps up their arms, he can feel its warmth seep from their embrace into the air around them.
Suddenly it is no longer two lovestruck teenagers and the stars, but ribbons of light weaving in and out of their silhouettes. No longer confined to the limits of the human body, they take to the skies in a symphony of liberation. Crimson. Saffron. Sapphire. Lilac. All the spectrum dances about them, twirling and shimmering in the bursts of incandescence the universe saw fit to reveal the contact of two soulmates.
The universe is pretty amazing sometimes.
"So,"Eijun starts, voice raspy from awe, "Does this mean…does this mean what I think it means?"
Kazuya is pulled in, by the slight o of Eijun's lips and the warm gold creeping over their hands. For the first time in his life, he throws caution to the wind.
"Yes."
Their kiss is clumsy, awkward, the mark of two boys who still fumble with the execution of this strange concept called love. Neither knows the work that keeping their relationship will take, or the many moments of doubt and hurt that will push the both of them to the breaking point. The odds have always been stacked, even against soulmates with rosy lights twined about them like lovers on a lazy morning. It is simply the way it is. It is the simply the way the universe has brought them together.
But Eijun doesn't know anything outside the butterflies in his stomach, or the slight chappedness of Kazuya's lips, or the pure exhilaration he feels at finally, finally being able to love the one he's fallen for.
And Kazuya's close enough that he can see himself in Eijun's eyes, feel the rapid thumping of his heart, whisper I love you and have it be heard without leaning in. It's too soon for that, he decides, though his feelings should be clear through the emerald currently being emitted from where his thumb met Eijun's jaw.
Kazuya's always expressed himself through actions rather than words.
Eijun always has, too.
This time, both of them lean in, meeting each other halfway. It's longer than the first, and less clumsy, but with equal amounts of love and tenderness. It dissipates the last of their fear, and fills their hearts with immeasurable joy.
(Is this what love feels like?)
Parting for air, Eijun begins to laugh and Kazuya can't help but join in. The colors surrounding them one by one disappear, until all that is left is soft white light. Even when that, too, fades away, their smiles stay.
Everlasting colors or not, soulmates are soulmates and love is love.
Together like this, their previous worries evaporate like a mirage. Would it be hard juggling baseball and romance? Absolutely. Was there every chance they wouldn't work out and their relationship would end in heartbreak? Without a doubt. But were they willing to break silences, break themselves, in order to keep going and see where this could lead to?
Yes.
"And when two soulmates call forth Color, the intersection also creates a new Color, one that can only be birthed by their own bond. It lives in the universe as a testament to what the simple act of touch between two destined lovers can create."
~Fin
This is like the longest fic I've ever written, so thank you for making it all the way to the end! If there's anything I can improve on, or you just want to say something about the fic in general, I'd love to hear it~
But as for the Soulmate AU thing that I didn't explain super clearly, it works like this: when you love someone and they're your soulmate (regardless of if they love you back, because sometimes your soulmate could be somebody else's soulmate!), they glow when you touch them. Just a soft white glow; technically both parties can see it, but when it happened only one was paying attention, hence Miyuki not knowing Eijun's soulmate was him, and Eijun not knowing Miyuki's soulmate was him.
But when you and your soulmate touch, and it's when you both love each other, are each other's soulmates, AND want to tell the other (and the contact lasts for more than a second yo), that's when you get the really strong glow and all the colors. It's like to mark the crowning moment when both of you realize that you ARE each others' soulmates and your love is returned. That's why the whole rainbow light show happened when it did, and not during their earlier realization touches.
And of course, there aren't going to be bursts of light and color whenever Miyuki and Eijun touch (like they high-five and suddenly it's the Fourth of July). No, after that initial confession, the glow really only appears for special moments when all their love comes flooding back. Like Miyuki comes home late one day and sees Eijun sprawled on the couch, having waited up for him even though Miyuki told him not to, and he just remembers how much he loves his sweet, idiotic pitcher, so when he strokes Eijun's face absentmindedly, a twist of ruby or spark of emerald might leap into the air around them and remind them of how perfect they are for each other.
Ahhhhh, I hope that made sense! Once again, I urge you to check out hazeoflies art for this fic at post/129025638400/a-big-thank-you-to-my-lovely-writer! I couldn't have done it without her! And maybe one day I'll figure out how to make links work! Thanks for reading!