Title: A Thousand Cranes
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Pairing(s): Shuichi / Eiri
Amethyst eyes squinted in concentration as he gingerly creased the fold delicately, the tip of his tongue poked out absentmindedly from the corner of his mouth as he smoothed the wrinkles from the recently finished work.
A look of satisfaction crossed the young singer's face as he added the newly formed crane in bright blue to the pile overflowing the table in the living room. The harem of brightly colored origami crowded the furniture, dozens of them already spilling off and littering the floor.
Ignoring the steadily growing mess, Shuichi reached happily for another square of paper colored a gleaming yellow this time.
'Just like Yuki's eyes,' Shuichi thought dreamily as he folded the first line needed to form the plain sheet of paper into an articulately formed crane.
"What is all this rubbish?"
The blunt demand from behind had the boy giving a squeak of surprise, the startled look on Shuichi's face quickly changed to a look of pleasure as he promptly abandoned the half formed crane to latch on his lover.
"Yuki! Are you taking a break? Jesus, you reek of tobacco, and alcohol too. Didn't you-" Shuichi broke off halfway in his ramble to paste an indignant look on his features. "Yuki! These are not rubbish! They are paper cranes." He informed the writer with a hint of haughtiness in his tone, before sitting back down on the floor and continuing his work.
Famous author, Eiri Uesugi, or Eiri Yuki, stared at his lover with a perplexed expression for a few seconds, before sitting down on the couch. He had wondered about Shuichi's mysterious quietness, why wasn't the hyperactive boy pestering him while he type away at his keyboard?
Apparently, the cause was the bundle of delicately folded cranes flooding the table. Curious, Eiri leaned forward to pick one of them from the pile, studying the paper art with a bemused look.
"I hate to ask, but why exactly are you folding paper cranes?"
"Don't you know the legend, Yuki? Anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish." The pink-haired boy stated happily, adding the bright yellow bird to the rest of the cranes, then picking up another sheet of origami paper to continue.
Eiri repressed the urge to point out there's a reason why it's a legend, and legends aren't necessarily facts. Shaking his head in exasperation, he finished up the cup of coffee he had in his hand, standing up to head back into his study.
"Have fun." Came the sardonic reply before the study's door shut with a click.
Two days later, Eiri could have happily swept the entire lot of cranes out of the window had he known how the situation would progress. He had thought Shuichi would have ran out of patience by now, after all, the boy never did have a lot of patience to start with.
But no, the entire living room is littered with the brightly colored birds, the table, the couch, everything. And it doesn't just stop at the living room either. There are a dozen littering the dining table in the kitchen, a scattering covering the nightstand beside the bed.
This morning, Eiri had sleepily wandered to the kitchen with caffeine in his mind, needing the boost of energy to perk him up. The act had been innocent enough, until he encountered one of those abominations.
Had Shuichi been at home, he would be confronted by an infuriated Eiri. The writer had stepped on the pointed tail of one of the gaily-colored craft on the way to the kitchen, and after cursing several choice profanities under his breath, had guiltily smoothen out the crease the little accident had put on the bird's rear end.
This is just getting ridiculous.
Eiri paused with frustration in his typing, the corner of his eyes caught sight of the bright monstrosities littering his desk. How had those things come into his study? Deftly saving his current project, Eiri tapped a cigarette out of its box, lighting the end of the stick and vehemently imagined he was lighting the cranes on fire instead.
"Yuki! I'm home!" The cheerful greeting rang out from the door before the sound of it shutting could be heard, as his young lover returned. A few shuffling sounds was produced, as the boy took of his shoes before racing to the study, latched on to his beloved, reprimand the writer for smoking, then was gone before Eiri could say a thing.
Stubbing the half finished cigarette out calmly, Eiri stood up from his chair and padded out into the living room, not at all surprised to find the boy sitting at the table again, his fingers patiently forming a crane out of a fresh sheet of paper.
"Shuichi, for god's sake, do you actually think folding a thousand cranes could grant you a wish?" The irate writer demanded, sweeping a handful of cranes onto the floor so he could actually sit on the couch, which he wanted to point out, was meant for sitting in the first place.
"Of course!" Shuichi defended with frown, purposely pressing down on the current fold harder than needed. "Why do you think I'm doing it for?"
"Right. So after folding the thousandth crane, a majestic replica of what you've been folding would descend mysteriously and grant you your long-awaited wish."
The frown on Shuichi's lips only pursed further into a pout. Now that Yuki had put it in this manner, it did seem rather foolish. The worry of whether his wish would actually be granted was quickly replaced by a new worry, as he considered the last bit of Yuki's statement.
"Shuichi?" Eiri hissed in annoyance to find that the young singer seem to have something else on his mind besides Eiri himself, which was a rather startling surprise. "Oi, brat!"
"Eh? Yuki! Don't call me that!" Shuichi replied indignantly, standing up and depositing himself unceremoniously on his lover's lap. "Besides, these cranes aren't really bothering you, right?" He sounded hesitant himself; there are a lot of them all over the place…
"Shuichi, I woke up with a couple of those things," Eiri spat the word out in disgust, "scattered on the bed, walked into the kitchen to face a pyramid of them on the table, headed into my study only to find out I have to dig my laptop out of the mountain of them on my desk." His annoyance steadily grew as he exaggerated a little, fixing Shuichi with a glare as he spoke. "What do you think?"
"Um, but-"
"Butt is right," Eiri stood up from the couch, incidentally emptying Shuichi on the floor with a 'hey!' He stormed back into his study as he growled out his threat. "If I find any of them in the bedroom tonight, I'm shoving the lot of them up your ass."
"Yuki!"
Amazing.
The next day, Eiri had woken to a spotless apartment. No cranes wait to stub his foot at the kitchen. Not a single crane can be found in his entire home. Not even a sheet of origami paper.
Pleased, yet a little worried about what Shuichi had done with the ton of paper crafts, Eiri had pondered about the situation as he worked on his manuscript. It certainly wasn't because of the threat, although Shuichi had cleared the bedroom last night of any sign of cranes, the horde of them was still flooding the living room when Eiri had retired to bed.
It's a good thing too, now that he thought of it. Any cranes left on the bed last night would have been squashed to a crumpled wad of paper, with the activity that had happened in the bedroom. But that was not the point here.
"Yuki! I'm home, and I bought dinner!" Shuichi called as he let himself into the apartment, carefully putting the bags of takeout on the table before eagerly bouncing into the study to hug his lover. "Yuki? Why are you looking at me like that?" A confused Shuichi blinked earnestly up at the writer, wondering why his lover wasn't protesting to the act of affection, not to mention the thoughtful look on Yuki's features.
"What happened to the cranes?"
"Oh. I bagged the whole lot of them and dumped them in the trash. Why? I thought you didn't like them?" Growing more perplexed by the second, Shuichi wondered if it was a mistake to get rid of those items Yuki seemed to be annoyed with.
Eiri gave his lover a bewildered look, "You got rid of the entire lot of them and gave up on the wish just because I didn't like them?"
"Ah. Well, I was thinking about what you said," Shuichi explained, cuddling happily on his lover's lap and taking advantage on the fact Yuki isn't protesting. "The thing is, I don't have anything to wish for. You're here with me, and that's all I need, Yuki."
Shuichi half expected the writer to roll his eyes at the corny confession, only to be surprised when his lover tentatively wrapped an arm around his slender frame and pressed his lips to his own in a light kiss. Giving a hum of pleasure, Shuichi snaked one arm up to prevent Yuki from pulling away from the kiss, deepening it as he blissfully let himself drown in the flood of sensations.
After all, he has everything he wanted, what more can he possibly wish for?
- Xerrine