Author Notes (er, Thanks):

Scorch66: Yes, more sticky stuff!
Kirayasha: Here's another edition and I hope you enjoy this as well. It has a follow-up, too, which should present an opportunity for interesting results. I always wanted to send these two away on holiday.
RoxasIsReal13: Well, laughter is the best medicine. And I always felt there was just as much humour in their relationship as stress and all the other BS they go through together. Hopefully, I'll find better ways to expose the humour in the future.
Supershu-chan, thanks for that. I know what you mean. I'm just glad that I could make you like Touma.
lilrocker: lol, I didn't think I could earn that title, but thanks for that.
Aryna.Tahashi: Always! They belong together!
Rikke: Of course! You probably get too stressed from Doubt; we all need a break once in a while.
Vindalootoo: Thanks! I always love your input, you always seem to have a way of seeing what I really mean. Big Shu hugs to you too!!
Thanks also to: Phantomsnow, Estelle, and EvelynnHill

--

Needing You
07 July 2007
Rating: PG
Summary: Who needs who?
Warnings: Disgustingly sticky romantic fluff

--

It had only been a few days ago that Shuichi had disappeared for a series of promotional appearances just after a recent Bad Luck tour. The new separation had grated on the writer's nerves, as it had been a little too soon after Shu had been away for two weeks for the tour.

He'd been especially cranky as those few days off for Shu had coincided with his own latest deadline. In his own way, Eiri wanted to make it up to the kid for how nasty he had been. He had a reason to feel as guilty as he did, especially after their screaming match last winter and the weeks of awkwardness that had followed.

And the boy had been disconcertingly quiet since he'd come home… so once again, Eiri found himself doing one of the few things he felt comfortable doing for Shuichi to show his… affection: Cooking

He chopped up slivers of beef, letting the oil and oyster sauce heat in the pan. He resisted the urge to peek out of the kitchen and catch a glimpse of his lover in the living room then turned to tackle the vegetables. He hated that his lover wasn't near him now, acutely aware this behaviour deviated from Shuichi's usual post-separation clinginess.

He swallowed the relief when Shuichi, as though summoned by the thoughts, slowly ambled in minutes later. With his usual emotional compassion and patience, the writer asked, "What's been bothering you?"

"I missed you, Eiri," Shuichi said on a sigh, flopping into his kitchen stool. He put his head down on the table, arms hanging limply at his sides instead of pillowing his head, limply lying there. He murmured, "I tried not to call like you asked and I didn't call. But it was really hard." He sighed, "And now it feels strange to see you again, like I'm detached."

"Idiot," Eiri said softly, tossing the meat into the pan to sizzle. He began to slice up the mushrooms and peppers with quick and efficient strokes… and tried very hard not to snap something the singer would not need to hear, like how he was being overdramatic.

"Yea," Shu murmured, unmoving. "I know."

"It was just a few days," Eiri pointed out, unable to control the slight resentment from his voice. "And anyway, you can't have missed me that much. I couldn't reach you when I tried to call you." He inwardly cringed when Shuichi propped his face up on his chin and levelled an accusing look at him.

"You told me not to call anymore, so I threw my phone away."

"What'd you do that for?" Eiri demanded with a sharp look, before turning back to the stove to dump the veggies into the pan and stir the medley. He flashed the singer a glare.

"You said not to call," Shu shrugged, looking sad, "and that was the only way I could think to--"

"Moron," Eiri interrupted. He took a moment to step up to Shuichi and tell him softly, "I don't want to hear news about you from other people."

"I was just trying to do what you wanted for once," Shu's eyes widened when he said, "I didn't like it so if you… you know… don't like it either then I…" He trailed off, expression turning miserable. Things would be back to square one if he had his phone.

"You missed me, didn't you?" Eiri said more than really asked, and he wasn't being smug about it. Shuichi always missed him, he knew that, and in a fit of temper he had tortured the poor kid by telling Shu he would break up with him if he called again. So apparently the singer had thrown his phone away and suffered in silence.

Shu bit his lip and looked away, hands clasping on the counter top, shaking.

"And I scared you when I said… what I did," Eiri finished. He huffed, annoyed with himself, and turned to shut the stove fire off. Behind him, he heard the scrape of the chair and Shuichi's slight form suddenly pressed against his back. He closed his hand over Shuichi's arms, the ones that had wrapped tightly around his waist, guilt pouring into him. Ducking his head, eyes slipping shut, he murmured, "I shouldn't have said that."

The arms tightened. "I didn't want to get in your way again. I can't tell when it's okay to talk, when I can't see you."

"I know," Eiri murmured, gently disengaging Shuichi's stranglehold on him so he could turn around. He needed to face what he had done. He didn't want the kid to ever hurt as badly as he'd done just the past winter… he never wanted that to happen again. Closing his arms around Shuichi, he bent and whispered into the kid's ear, "I'm sorry."

Shuichi resumed his stranglehold.

Bending, Eiri scooped the kid up into his arms, noticing how Shu hadn't gained back the weight he'd lost over the tour. Shuichi reacted instinctively to his closeness, arms wrapped tightly around his neck, head resting on his shoulder, and legs clasping around his waist. Leaving the food, he turned and marched out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the bedroom.

Despite his habit of making Shuichi writhe and scream and cry beneath him, when he wanted to apologise over yet another stupid situation he'd been responsible for, Eiri found he couldn't take that route this time. Heart-sore, he set Shuichi down on the bed, stripped them both down to their bare skin as usual… But this time simply pressed close and cradled his lover against his chest. He wrapped the kid up in his arms and held Shuichi, the quilt over them both, and it occurred to him they needed this; the time to cuddle.

After their recent fiasco with K taking Shuichi's phone away over the tour, the subsequent days they had been out of touch, and the past winter argument, Eiri felt the strain in their relationship. And he knew his little singer was feeling it too; Shuichi needed him. Internally, he admitted he didn't know how to do without his lover in his life anymore. Maybe they needed a vacation, he thought, some time together away from the things that made them cranky and unreasonable…

Tightening his hold, he didn't miss the fact his thoughts carried him down a path so far from his former growling about being fine just by himself.

"Vacation," Eiri mumbled.

"Hmm?" Shuichi sighed, snuggling again. Then the word seemed to hit him and he stilled before pulling away to look up at his lover's face, "Did you say 'vacation'?"

Nodding, Eiri pulled Shuichi back into his arms. "I was thinking we need to 'throw the cell phone away' on the rest of the world." Surprised, Shuichi said nothing. Knowing his lover had likely been shocked silent, he continued, "They can all rot, as far as I'm concerned. We don't need this shit, especially after that incident with K." And most especially after last winter.

Shuichi muttered, a tone of resentment lurking in his voice, "He just didn't know about us and how we work. But I do."

And you still threw your phone away, Eiri thought guiltily. He had truly frightened Shuichi, then. Softly, he breathed into Shu's hair, "I'm sorry."

Shu sighed, "I know."

A little embarrassed, Eiri pulled away from the instant forgiveness feeling rather… unworthy. He brushed at Shu's bangs, admiring the softness of his lover's hair over his fingertips and said, "We should get something to eat, you're too thin. And, luckily, I got another set of spare phones off Mizuki." He smirked a bit, "It seems, as you know, my phones magically disappear when a deadline approaches."

Shuichi giggled a little, "You go through phones quicker than I do!"

"Don't care," the writer mumbled. On a firmer tone, he said, "I want you to have a phone, if only so we can happily leave both our phones on the couch for K to find when he comes looking for you."

Shuichi's eyes widened and he blurted out, "You can't mean we're going to sneak away?"

"In the dead of night," Eiri affirmed, pulling gently away and reaching for his robe.

Shu pouted, calling after him, "That's just more revenge for the phone-takeaway incident."

"I am never going to forgive him," Eiri called over his shoulder as the door shut behind him.

When he returned with a tray of food, he set up the bed table and set everything out. To one side of the bed table, when Shuichi was ogling the food, he set the phone down and, with as little ceremony as possible, slipped a little package half underneath it then immediately turned away and got into bed.

"Phone!" Shuichi cried, then squealed, "Kumagurou!" He snatched up the plastic-encased paper card within which hung a Kumagurou phone charm. "This is the Rock-God edition, and it's not even released yet! Look at the little leather jacket and cap, it's so cute!" He suddenly demanded, "Where'd you get this?!"

"Touma," Eiri replied curtly, but secretly pleased with Shuichi's reaction. It was certainly well-worth suffering his insolent brother-in-law's knowing looks when he'd asked for the damn thing.

"Man, I wish I had the balls to ask Seguchi-san for stuff," Shuichi lamented, "I mean, I work in his company, isn't it good promotion to have your other stars sporting the goods earlier than everyone else? Seeing as how we get a lot of attention on our own anyway?" he sighed. Then, grinning his face in half, he ripped the packaging to shreds. When the pieces of his assault lay over the table, and some in his food, he triumphantly held up the charm and crowed, "I can put it on my new phone!"

Watching his lover fuss over a stupid charm, Eiri felt his guilt swell. Shuichi never asked for much, never asked him to spend any money on him. All the kid wanted was his time, his voice, his thoughts. Private things, unfortunately, what he most felt uncomfortable giving and yet which, as his lover, was most entitled to…

How something as simple as a damn charm made Shuichi grin so much and—oh, that smile was rather blinding—"Eat," Eiri reminded the brat, half-smiling himself, he would never understand it. It was just a damn charm. And at the same time, he knew ten more would never fetch the same result. He didn't get it. Watching his lover's glowing eyes, he thought, and not for the first time, how much easier things would be if the kid asked him for material things. At least then, he would know what to do.

But I would never have been as happy, he realised.

"Thank you, Eiri," Shu whispered. He leaned over, ignoring the terse reminder, and threw his arms around the writer. Pressing a kiss to the writer's cheek, he scrambled onto his knees before the bed table, paused to prod at his new charm, and picked up his chopsticks. With a wide and happy smile on his face, he half-yelled before tucking in, "Itadakimasu!"

Watching him, Eiri wondered when the kid would ever make any sense.

Probably never.

But who ever said that was a bad thing?

--

Please feed(back) me!