Ritsuka & Soubi
AN: To be perfectly serious, I wasn't going to give a solid, definitive ending to this but… I couldn't help it.
"I love you."
The words.
They could break and bend and twist the balance of everything that their relationship was, or would be. It hurt him; it made him feel high and light as a feather, depressed and leaden as a stone. He could fly, he could—
He could drop down to the earth at any moment depending on what came out of the boy's mouth.
"…"
The silence.
They could do this dance a million times. Soubi would take it, as long as Ritsuka stayed with him. Ritsuka could take it, as long as he wasn't damaged any further than he already was. But a million was Soubi's limit. They had done this dance a million times, and they were in the middle of a million and one.
"Ritsuka…. Say something."
The unexpected move.
They could resume their little twisted tango of emotional pinball hoop as if nothing out of the ordinary had been said. Or they could make variations of the same tired theme. Ritsuka could take it, he could. A million and one times over. Too bad it was a million and two.
"Soubi, I—"
The parry to Soubi's move; a stalemate.
They could hear the beat of each other's hearts as the silence grew tense. They were both tired of the dancing, so dead tired of the games. As long as no one got hurt, they could both be happy with it. But neither was sure what was to come next.
"Soubi… I don't love you."
The big amethyst eyes avert, not in shame or remorse, and a soft blush spreads.
"But I will."