Kin no Shuichi

Written by: Chochowilliams

Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Summary: Things were good. Or so Shuichi thought, but one mistake by Eiri could throw everything they've worked so heard for out the window.

Chapter Summary: Shuichi fears they will be late for dinner with his parents.

Warning: M/M, romance, angst, OOC-ness, language, Shuichi/Eiri, implied Eiri/oc, implied Shuichi/oc

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A/N: Thank you to lilgurlanima, fahaar, Miyabi-Elegance, Acherona for your reviews. Several of you wondered if Yoshio was really straight. Truthfully, he doesn't know what he is. He just does what he has to do (or "who" he has to do) in order to get what he wants. He WILL cause trouble for our couple in the future.

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Chapter 7.75: Ready?

"Eiri, come on! We've got reservations for eight."

"In a minute," Eiri called back.

Shuichi sighed tiredly. "That's what you said five minutes ago," he reminded his husband from the doorway of the study.

"So I did." Eiri continued to pound away at the keyboard. His eyes behind the glasses moved just as rapidly as his fingers.

"Eiri! You're not even dressed!" Shuichi scolded, stepping into the office.

"Yeah, well, unlike some people," Eiri threw a pointed look at Shuichi, "I don't take fifty million years to get ready."

Shuichi blushed.

"Just let me finish this."

"And how long is it going to take?"

"I'm almost done."

"What're you doing anyway?" Shuichi inquired curiously. He trooped to the desk and stood behind Eiri's chair.

"An email."

Shuichi huffed. "We're going to be late for dinner with my parents because of an email?"

"We won't be late," Eiri insisted.

"Yeah, says the man who can't tear himself away from the computer long enough to get ready."

Eiri hit the send button, then "okay" to confirm the email address his short, but crisp note was being sent to and then sat back. "There."

"Done?"

"Yeah."

"Finally!"

Eiri glanced at the clock on the bottom right hand corner of the screen. "Baka it's only six-thirty. We have plenty of time."

"Not if we want to drop Sayo off at my sister's on the way."

"Don't worry." Eiri went through the motions of shutting down his laptop. "We'll get to the restaurant on time."

Shuichi bit his lip.

Eiri pushed away from his desk and made his way to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

"…Who were you emailing?"

"Some chick."

"What chick?"

"Don't know." Eiri undressed and stepped into the bathroom. He didn't bother shutting the door.

Shuichi crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall besides the door. He stared blankly at the wall above the toilet across from him. "Then why did you email her?" he asked, raising his voice above the sound of the shower.

"She sent me an email."

"So?"

Eiri received how many emails and letters? What made this girl so different?

"In my shirt pocket."

"What?"

The sound of the showered quieted. Moments later, Eiri stepped out dripping wet and naked. Shuichi drank in the erotic sight. All other thought fled from his mind in that instant.

"Look in my shirt pocket."

Eiri's voice cut through Shuichi's muddled thoughts. "Huh?"

Wrapping a towel around his waist, Eiri smirked knowingly over his shoulder glistening with water droplets as he grabbed a second towel out of the cupboard. "My. Short. Pocket," he reiterated, drying himself off.

"Oh." Overheating and not from embarrassment, Shuichi bent to retrieve whatever it was from Eiri's shirt pocket. It turned out to be a folded sheet of paper. "What is it?"

"Her email." Eiri tossed the towel into the hamper and ran his comb through his damp locks.

"I can see that. But what does she say?"

Done with his hair, Eiri strode out of the dressing room and into the walk-in master closet.

Shuichi followed behind, unfolding the sheet of paper.

"She was bitching about something in my book."

"Again?"

"This's another chick."

"Oh."

Shuichi quickly read through the email. Confusion quickly turned to anger. "What the…? What the hell is she talking about?"

"No idea," Eiri admitted as he emerged fully dressed in a green button up shirt tucked into a pair of black slacks. A black belt was cinched around his waist. He was fixing the collar of his black suit jacket as he stepped around Shuichi to the dresser to find a pair of socks.

"Doesn't she know you're a monk?"

"Obviously not."

"But…! Why would she say such…such…?"

"Crap?" Eiri suggested. "Who knows? She obviously didn't read the story."

"What? Of course she did. Otherwise-!"

Eiri shook his head as he checked out his appearance in the mirror above the dresser. "I mean, she must not have been paying close attention to what she was reading. Because in that same paragraph she's bitching about, I explain why the character is like she is. Why I wrote what I did."

Shuichi read and reread the email. With each glance, his fury only grew. "I don't get it," he exploded. "How can she say something so…so disrespectful? I mean, how can she even think you'd think that?"

"Don't know." Eiri started out the door. "Coming?" he called back at Shuichi. "You were the one complaining about being late."

"B-but, Eiri!" Shuichi raced after him.

Eiri snatched the email back. "You go get Sayo." He ordered. "I'll get her things together."

"How can you be so calm?"

"Because I already took out all my annoyance in that email I sent her," Eiri explained. Though he could feel it starting to rekindle the longer they discussed it. "She obviously read too much into it, jumped to a conclusion and…"

"And obviously didn't know you."

Eiri inclined his head. "Guess not. But you know, it happens. You can't please everyone all the time. There will always be that one person who will take offense to the smallest slight, whether it's true or not or even whether there is a slight. Some people make something out of nothing. They'll take things out of context in order to prove their point." Eiri shrugged. "It happens. Now, let's go."

"It's like that other girl, right?" Shuichi asked as he gently lifted Sayo out of her crib.

Slinging the diaper bag over his shoulder, Eiri shrugged. "I suppose."

"What was she complaining about?"

"Don't remember," Eiri admitted. "Something about being a prejudiced bigot."

"Bitch," Shuichi hissed as he slipped into his shoes with help from Eiri, seeing his arms were full.

"She's entitled to her opinion."

"Even if she's full of shit?"

"Even if."

"Don't people know the meaning of the word 'fiction'?"

"Guess not. Just like they don't know what 'symbolism' is."

The couple stepped into the elevator.

"By the way," Eiri said as he cast Shuichi a sideways glance. "Told ya we'd make it in time."

"Huh?"

Eiri pulled back the sleeve of his coat and held up his wrist.

"Oh," Shuichi said as he read the time on Eiri's watch. It had only taken Eiri fifteen minutes to get ready.

"Baka."

---TBC---

Preview: "In Regards To"

A/N: This was an unplanned chapter. I wrote it in like ten minutes, but I had to get it out. It is in response to a review I got for "Still Raining".