A/N: Just so we're clear, this is Hannah writing this oneshot (Cha-Cha-Cheesecake - Magicasaki wasn't involved in this fic at all! ^^) (It's a surprise for her.)
Inspired by the storyline of Brokeback Mountain, even though I haven't seen so much as the trailer (I just wiki'd it for the hell of it). It sounds quite sweet… maybe I'll watch it some day. And the trailer music, Wings, is uber-sweet :')
Warning: Lime. (Sort-of? One paragraph, but still…) Also, it's yaoi, men slash, boy-on-boy, BL (boy love)… whatever ya wanna call it. No likey, no ready, please.
Summary: When it comes down to it, the Rat and the Cat were always destined to loathe one another. Once upon a time, hate turned to love, and at last the curtain falls, shielding them from the scrutiny they would always be pressured by.
A Fairytale of Wings
"It's not too late to come back, you know. Anybody's welcome in these mountains, so long as you treat them with respect." Kyou's gruff tones weren't enough to fool Yuki - the Rat had come to realise in the few weeks that he'd stayed in the mountains, Kyou truly loved the remoteness, and although peace and quiet was nice… bickering with somebody you detested every once in a while could be a comfort at times.
"Thanks for the concern, but I'll survive," he said, smugly. "Perhaps you should return back to civilisation sometime instead of hiding out in the wilderness your whole life." Kyou's eyes narrowed.
"Just piss off back to the house already, you damn rat." Yuki turned his back on Kyou and the two realised simultaneously that what they'd been saying was more childish than ever, and they cracked up.
Growing up had changed them, though they were reluctant to admit it; life's little bumps along the way had really opened their eyes. Their ways of falling for the same girl, being lifted of the curse they hated so much, waking up one day and realising that the fight they'd been living had all been worthless…
Though the two had never come to terms with one another completely, civilly arranging for Yuki to stay with Kyou in the mountains had been a good decision to make. The two had channelled their energy in the sense that they no longer cared that they had loathed each other so much in the past, and for that they were grateful - hate could be tiring during the best of times.
Bonding time had paid off - the two were now, at least, on vaguely good speaking terms.
"Are you… Are you sure you wouldn't mind staying another couple of days?" Kyou asked jokingly. "Or would The Wife get too mad?" Yuki shrugged.
"Nah… Tohru should be fine with it, if I ask her nicely," Yuki said. "What about your Darling Kagura? Will she mind that you won't be returning to your cabin for a while?" Kyou cracked a smile.
"Well, she'll probably try and kill me, but I reckon that won't make much difference," he grinned. "Care to go fishing?"
"Sure, whatever. It'll go nice with the lentil soup," Yuki said, grimacing at the thought of another flavourless supper. "But let me call Tohru first. I've gotta let her know about the new arrangements."
XXX
"Huh?" You're staying another night?" Tohru asked, resting the phone in the crook of her neck as she tackled the dishes. "How come?"
"Er… Well, you know. Kyou and I reckoned we might as well share one last night together, if you know what I mean," Yuki said, sounding distracted. "I, uh, I'm sorry I haven't called. How have you been? Has everything been fine?"
"You worry too much," Tohru said softly, glancing down at her front. "The doctor visited yesterday. He said that I still have a mild flu, but nothing too serious… Okay?"
"R-Right," he stuttered, "but again, I'm sorry that I haven't been around. I promise after tonight I'll head home, all right? So remember! I will take care of you!"
"I will," she giggled. "And promise me that you'll get Kyou to phone Kagura, all right? She's been lonely without him around, and I've been too unwell to visit her."
"I promise," Yuki vowed. "I'll… I'll see you tomorrow, Tohru." He gripped the phone.
"Y-Yeah. Love you."
He hung up, fiddling with a strand of hair worriedly. He felt like a total jerk leaving Tohru by herself when she was ill, but she insisted that she didn't want his time with Kyou to be cut short for her sake, and that so long as she stayed home and took medicine she'd be absolutely fine.
And he was an idiot and believed her.
"You done calling?" Kyou opened the door to the main room of the cabin and rested against the doorframe. Yuki nodded, handing him the phone.
"Yeah. Tohru asked me to tell you to call Kagura, though. Apparently she's been missing you." Kyou raised his eyebrows.
"Uh, okay, sure." He tapped in the number and pressed the phone to his ear.
"…Hello?"
"Oh, hey, Kagura!" Kyou grinned, feeling a little foolish. "Um, sorry I haven't called much, but… how have you been?"
"Um, I've been fine," Kagura said. "I'm in the bath right now, if you must know." His face flooded with red.
"Er, um, well, uh, I, g-guess I should p-probably call you back s-some other time then, er, right…?"
"No. It's okay." Her voice softened. "How come you decided to call? You never usually do."
"Um, well… I, uh, I just figured I'd see how you were doing," he said gruffly, arching his back a little. She giggled.
"I'm fine… The baby misses you too, you know. Now that I've heard you voice, it just started kicking really hard - it's probably because I'm so happy to talk to you, and…" She took a deep breath. "…I'm just really happy that you've called, you know?"
"Uh, well, I'm… I'm glad too, that I called," he said simply. "Cause I, well, I miss you and stuff. You know? And… Well, I'm going to stay another night, but… I just wanted to let you know, I, erm… I, uh, I love you, and stuff."
"Oh, uh, okay," Kagura said, surprised. "That's all right. I suppose I'll see you tomorrow night then. Right. Got it. Okay, um, well, I'm a little tired so I'm about to get to bed once I've dried off." She yawned, stretching, as she stepped out of the bath. "Good night, Kyou."
"Good night, Kagura," he said, smiling warmly. "I'll… I'll see you tomorrow."
As he put down the phone, Yuki raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"How's Kagura?"
"She and the baby totally miss me," Kyou said proudly, folding his arms. Yuki grinned.
"Cool. And of course, me and Tohru will definitely be its godparents - right…?" Kyou shuddered.
"You, be my child's godparent? Get real!"
"Fine, fine. Have it your way. Now, lets go fishing."
XXX
The day flew by quickly after that. Jokes were thrown back and forth as they reeled in fish with sturdy determination, insults were tossed into the mixture along with swearing and trash-talking as the fish broke free, and somehow the two ended up with only one fish between them as they set up their tents alongside the lake.
"We both suck at fishing," Yuki sighed, twisting the fish on the spit over the puny fire they'd created.
"Correction: You suck at fishing," Kyou retorted. "I happen to be all right, but you screwed up my concentration." Yuki grabbed a stone from beside him and tossed it at Kyou, pulling a face.
"Sure, whatever you say. Either way, we're stuck with this lame excuse for a fish, so lets just come to the agreement that the lake is full of retardedly small fish."
"Fine by me."
The two sat in a tense silence as Yuki irritably prodded the fish with a stick, while Kyou opened the can of cold lentil soup and began to pour it into two plastic bowls for them.
"…What do you reckon Master is doing right now…?" murmured Kyou, tilting his head up to stare at the stars. They were ten times more visible here than in the city.
"Sleeping?" Yuki suggested, grumpily watching the fish spinning slowly on the spit.
"Perhaps. I sure hope he's happy," Kyou said, smiling up at the slither of moon visible in the sky. Yuki saw his eyes cloud over slightly and nudged him, grinning cockily.
"Don't worry about Master, I'm sure he's completely fine," he said reassuringly. "Now pass me my soup."
Kyou handed him his bowl of cold soup and Yuki stirred it listlessly, watching idly as the breeze rustled the trees surrounding them. His feet were cold in his walking shoes, and he scrunched his toes up, hoping for them to warm up a little that way.
At long last the fish was well-done, and Yuki picked it apart and laid it out in front of them on a sheet of tin foil in front of them.
"Take however much you feel like, I guess," he said, shrugging. Kyou nodded without much enthusiasm and scraped a few pieces up with his spoon, setting them down in his soup and stirring the food up.
"Hey… it tastes pretty good!" His eyes were round with surprise. "Try it, Yuki!"
"Uh, okay." Kyou watched eagerly as Yuki put a spoonful in his mouth. "…Wow, you're right…! That is pretty good."
"Who says retarded fish don't taste great, huh?"
XXX
"Ohh, my stomach hurts."
"Who would've thought such a puny retarded fish could be so bloody filling…?"
"Ow… I'm gonna explode…"
The two were lay on their backs, stuffed after eating their meal. Kyou belched and frowned up at the sky.
"If I'm stuck with this food-baby forever Kagura's gonna tease me for life."
"Just run around a bit, then," Yuki suggested, closing his eyes sleepily. "If you exercise you won't gain anything."
"And what about you?" Kyou countered. "Don't you care that you look like Father Christmas with that dumb beer-gut?"
"No, because I have high metabolism. It'll just convert into energy all by itself, without me needing to do anything."
"Figures!" scoffed Kyou, folding his arms. "It only figures that the O Great Rat has everything done for him!"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Yuki snapped. His usually composed attitude came with a price; he had to be in a good mood, and right now, stuck with Kyou and full to burst, feeling good-natured was not an option. "I do a lot of things by myself!"
"Hah, you don't even know how to fasten a tie properly," sneered Kyou. "You have your Tohru Sweetheart to fasten it for you."
"Piss off," Yuki growled. "What do you know? If you have the same attitude towards everyone who needs help doing simple things, what kind of a father will you turn out to be?"
"Don't even go there, damn rat," Kyou snapped, sitting up painfully. "You have no right to go around telling me I'm going to be a crap father if you haven't even been there yet!"
Yuki frowned and sat up too, stretching. "I don't want to have this conversation right now, Kyou," he said. "Right now, I just want to go to sleep."
"Oh, no you don't!" Kyou grabbed his arm and turned him towards him, eyes glinting with determination. "I'm not letting you go until you take back all of that crap that you just said!"
"Kyou, just drop it," he said, trying to pull away. Kyou shook his head, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him down to the floor. Yuki took one look at Kyou knelt above him and realised how risky this situation could turn out to be. "…Don't you think this is kind of an awkward position to be in, Kyou?"
Kyou, oblivious, merely shook his head, still grinning manically.
"Take it back. Take it back," he repeated, leaning forward more.
"Or what?" Yuki dared. "You'll kiss me? Your face is about as close as it can be before you really do, you know."
And then the most bizarre thing of all happened. Kyou leaned forward, and…
And kissed him.
Yuki's eyes widened, unsure of how to respond. As soon as Kyou broke apart he sat up, a cold bead of sweat trickling down his forehead.
"You… What the hell what that…?" Kyou shrugged, turning away.
"I… don't know."
"Don't give me that!" Yuki grabbed Kyou's shoulder roughly and Kyou turned around, shame-faced. "What the hell did you do that for?"
"Y-You told me to!" Kyou gabbled, face pink. "I-I mean, you said 'Or what, you'll kiss me', so I figured that was you daring me! I don't back down from those kind of things!"
"Hah? So you think it's okay to go kissing your wife's best friend's husband behind her back? That's the most insane thing I've ever heard!" Yuki stood up, angrily storming over to the water's edge. He took off his shirt, the cold air greeting his chest like an old friend.
"Hey, you have weak bronchial tubes, ya know!" Kyou called, jogging over. "If Hatori were here he'd completely spaz out!"
"Who cares?" Yuki snapped, not even trying to keep his cool. "What you did was totally out of order, Kyou!"
"Bloody hell, don't jump in!" Kyou said, sounding alarmed as Yuki began to take off his shoes. "You're nuts!"
"So what if I am? Just sod off back to Kagura's-" He was cut short as Kyou grabbed him in a headlock and marched him over to his tent, pushing Yuki roughly inside. Kyou shook his head.
"No way are you climbing into that frigging lake at this time of night," he said, beginning to take off his clothes. "Those retarded fish are gonna eat your feet."
"Pff, whatever," Yuki sniffed, folding his arms. "And why are you acting like I'm still talking to you, after what you did?"
"Because you liked it, that's why," Kyou said, shrugging. "Simple as. You didn't resist, and that's enough proof that you at least felt conflicted as to whether you should reject me or embrace me. Now…" Kyou sat cross-legged in the tent beside Yuki, in nothing but his boxer shorts. "…Tell me now. Do you wanna embrace it? Or reject it?"
XXX
"I know it's unfair," Kyou whispered, caressing Yuki's hair as he lay beside him. Yuki's face was scrunched up, flushed and confused. "I know it's unfaithful to them, but I can't help it anymore. When I see you acting so earnest and carefree around me, I…"
Splash!
Kyou watched as the stone he skimmed sank beneath the surface of the water. He barely registered much beyond the stone, though. His thoughts were distracted by what had happened the night before.
He'd done it - he'd slept with Yuki. It felt so weird, that thought skittering through his mind like tiny footsteps. He didn't want to admit it to himself, even though it was his idea in the first place; it just felt too strange to acknowledge the way he'd been feeling.
Confused, messed-up, disorientated.
He'd enjoyed it, though. He couldn't deny that.
"…You cold?" Kyou turned around. Yuki stuck his head out of the tent, hair ruffled with unsettled slumber. He emerged moments later wrapped in a blanket, shyly unravelling it as he sat down beside the cat.
"Yeah, a bit," Kyou said, cracking a wan smile. He took the blanket from Yuki and watched as the rat sat beside him, staring out at the lake. "…So…"
"It was bizarre," Yuki cut in, staring straight ahead. "You know… being that way. It felt different to how it felt with Tohru."
"Well, in case you didn't know, I'm not a girl," Kyou joked. Yuki shook his head.
"I don't mean like that. I mean how I felt about it all. It was confusing. Like the more I thought about it, the more our feelings got entwined and mixed up. I'm scared. I don't want Tohru to find out." His voice squeaked slightly. "I mean… I really liked it, and that's the part that confuses me the most - we're both married, and we're both perfectly happy."
"So why does that emptiness remain?" Kyou finished. His hand felt around for Yuki's, and without looking at one another, their hands became a tangle of fingers and palm, resting against one another dependently. "Why do we both feel like we're missing a part of our hearts?"
"Except for last night," Yuki added. "Last night… things were different."
"Why is that?" Kyou continued. "The legend clearly stated that the Rat betrayed the Cat, therefore the two were destined to hate one another."
"But before that, the Rat and the Cat were friends," Yuki mumbled, shivering. "They must've been lonely, once they vowed not to get along."
"I mean, sure, they had their differences, and they both were foolish… But to not like one another ever again…"
"Why did the Rat even say those things? Was he about to confess that he liked the Cat, but chickened out at the last minute and instead came out with some crap about the banquet being cancelled?"
"Perhaps the Cat was the one about to confess, and the Rat made that up to change the subject because he was scared to admit his own feelings."
"And… And…"
"And how does that Rat feel now?" Kyou's gaze flickered up towards the wispy clouds lining the early morning sky. Not even the ghost of a blush was visible; rather, he just appeared to be concerned. "How does that Rat feel about the Cat's feelings?"
"…He knows that he needs the Cat," Yuki decided after a while. "And that the part of his heart that yearns for the Cat will always be there. But there are too many people watching them. They're the Tom and Jerry of the Zodiac, destined to have a grudge distancing themselves forever. If those two were to engage in a romantic relationship… the spirits would descend into chaos. And so, once the curtains of fantasy fall, they'll stay in different worlds, only occasionally overlapping." Yuki looked at Kyou, who silently nodded.
"Okay then. That's how it should be, then."
"Yes. You and Kagura and your new baby, and me and Tohru. We'll keep in touch, and we'll stay friends - even silently be in each other's hearts. But that's how it has to be, and how it has to stay. I'll miss this day, always. But even though it's been painful and cold to talk about, I don't regret it."
Kyou put his arm around Yuki, and at once tears sprung to his eyes.
"I… I… I don't regret last night," Yuki wept, resting against Kyou's shoulder. "Even though it's selfish and unfaithful, I don't regret falling for you, not even in the slightest…!"
"Me either," Kyou whispered, wrapping the blanket around the two of them.
And so the Rat felt guilty about betraying the Cat's trust. He wandered back to the Cat and told him the banquet was on after all. The Cat told him he wasn't fooled… So, instead of leaving him the Rat sighed in defeat and sat with him…
They talked all evening about how good the banquet would be tomorrow, although the Rat secretly knew they weren't going to go…
They sat side-by-side and fell asleep resting against one another, living a dream, a dream within a fairytale of wings.
[ A Fairytale of Wings / End ]
A/N: And so ends my first yaoi Fruba fic! :D I wrote this in three hours, and now I'm sooooo tired, so imma go hop into mah bed now and sleep. Please review, and don't judge this harshly because this was based off of Brokeback Mountain (A. I haven't even seen it, B. I know some people have strong views on a subject like this but I'm not really basing this off experience, so meh, and C. I laik reviews, but reviews that are too harsh or serious I get bored with and they are the flames of which I roast mah marshmallows on).
Seeya! :D