AN: Whoohoo!!! Chapter 10!!! It's party time!!!!! Oki, sorry guys, this chapter may actually get a bit gloomy cuz I'm kinda depressed... I just used the last of my money to get to a job interview in a nearby city and then those bastards call and tell me they've picked someone else... And I haven't been able to write to Krissie for days... This ain't fair... ::sob:: Besides, I ain't got a clue as for what to write for the first half of this chapter... I have the ending alright, it's one of those things that made want to slap myself on the back and become temporal egomaniac when I wrote the last chapter... duh... writer's blocks should be banned... not that this really is a writer's block: I know exactly where going and want to write the next chapters but I need a little filler here... the explanaion's after the story... Maybe you guys don't notice it if I just write stupid author's notes one whole chapter's worth... ::sweatdrop:: Oki, maybe you guys really want the story...
Yay... fixed it.... not angst-alert anymore... and it didn't even become an annoying filler... probably lot of typos, though...
Double Reflections
Chapter 10
"Hey, Houjun, can ya gimme a hand with this?" Houjun turned around to see an uncharacteristically anxious-looking Genrou holding out a physics book. "I know it's really not yer job to help me with anything else than history and there's this bit of diffraction I don't get and you're always so clever and everythin' -"
Houjun decided to be merciful and simply answer give his answer to the boy before he would run out of breath completely and collapse to the floor due to the lack of oxygen.
"Sure. I'll be glad if I can be of any help now that I have seen how hard you are actually studying."
For some reason this made Genrou blush slightly. "How could ya ever have doubted my extreme diligence?" Genrou said in a mock tone flashing his toothy grin, but then he turned serious again. Well, at least as serious as someone with red hair and protruding fangs ever could. "Not that I've actually been doing much anythin' before. Now I just decided that it was time to do somethin' the right way for a change but I'm so behind in every subject that I'm not sure if I'll ever make it through finals alive..."
"Shall we go to the library?"
***
It had worked!!! His plan to get some private time with Houjun had come out perfectly! He had said to the other guys that he had to go beg some pills from the nurse because he still had such a hang-over from the previous night and none of the folks he used to hang with ever came close to the library so there wasn't much of a risk of getting caught. Even if someone saw them he could always say that he hadn't wanted them to know he was studying, which actually was also true. It would so ruin his character...
"Hey, Houjun, d'ya think we could go sit there in the corner where we're not so easy to spot? I know this is gonna sound a bit weird but I'd really prefer it if we weren't seen hangin' together outside the tutorin' hours cuz it could kinda get us both into a helluva lotsa trouble..."
"Ah, right, no mingling between different social groups, and definitely not the popular ones and the weirdos." Was Houjun actually trying to be sarcastic?
"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. It's not that I really care but some of those guys can be such narrow-asses that it's just easier this way", Genrou tried to cover up. He hoped he hadn't hurt Houjun.
"Don't you think I am the one who should know it?" There was a certain bitterness to the blue-haired man's tone of voice but Genrou had already learned to read Houjun well enough to know that if he had really hurt Houjun all he would have got back was a bright smile clearly stating that nothing was at all...
"Ah, excuse me, I must have drifted off for a moment. Let's get straight to the point. Diffraction, was it?"
***
Houjun blinked. He seemed to have developed a bad habit of smiling fondly at the screen whenever he wrote to Tasuki. That might cause some nasty questions if someone was present but as Houjun was alone in the dormitory again je allowed himself at least one genuine smile for a change.
Besides, he just had to smile. The feeling that he was needed as a person instead of a counselor or some other tool for success made him feel so special. This was even added by the fact that Tasuki had dropped even the last ripples of his tough-bandit act by admitting that he could also feel unsecure from time to time. Houjun felt closer to Tasuki than ever before now that they had both removed their masks. He hoped he could make Tasuki understand just how much it meant to him. Still smiling gently Houjun started typing:
" 'There's no way I could ever leave you. You see, your sign is wing, no da? I finally figured out what it means.
You are my wings.
I need you to be free, to be able to fly.' Chichiri smiled gently at the bandit. 'I'll always be here for you, that's what love is all about.' "
Hold on a second.
Love?!?!?
AN: Okay, guys. This is kinda the end of the first part of the storyline. Houjun's little mental problems have been mostly taken care of, he's no longer on the brink of a break-down and feels that life could actually be quite nice. He and Genrou have now both recognised that there's something deeper developing between them and from now on they'll have to face different kind of problems: how to cope with their new sexual identities, how to act around other people, and whether there will eventually come a moment when it all becomes more than just a story... Tune in for these breath-taking answers tomorrow at the same time!!! (...the time being when my sis goes take a shower so I can get my hands on the compy...... wonder if that brought the tension of my commercial down a bit...?)
Yay... fixed it.... not angst-alert anymore... and it didn't even become an annoying filler... probably lot of typos, though...
Double Reflections
Chapter 10
"Hey, Houjun, can ya gimme a hand with this?" Houjun turned around to see an uncharacteristically anxious-looking Genrou holding out a physics book. "I know it's really not yer job to help me with anything else than history and there's this bit of diffraction I don't get and you're always so clever and everythin' -"
Houjun decided to be merciful and simply answer give his answer to the boy before he would run out of breath completely and collapse to the floor due to the lack of oxygen.
"Sure. I'll be glad if I can be of any help now that I have seen how hard you are actually studying."
For some reason this made Genrou blush slightly. "How could ya ever have doubted my extreme diligence?" Genrou said in a mock tone flashing his toothy grin, but then he turned serious again. Well, at least as serious as someone with red hair and protruding fangs ever could. "Not that I've actually been doing much anythin' before. Now I just decided that it was time to do somethin' the right way for a change but I'm so behind in every subject that I'm not sure if I'll ever make it through finals alive..."
"Shall we go to the library?"
***
It had worked!!! His plan to get some private time with Houjun had come out perfectly! He had said to the other guys that he had to go beg some pills from the nurse because he still had such a hang-over from the previous night and none of the folks he used to hang with ever came close to the library so there wasn't much of a risk of getting caught. Even if someone saw them he could always say that he hadn't wanted them to know he was studying, which actually was also true. It would so ruin his character...
"Hey, Houjun, d'ya think we could go sit there in the corner where we're not so easy to spot? I know this is gonna sound a bit weird but I'd really prefer it if we weren't seen hangin' together outside the tutorin' hours cuz it could kinda get us both into a helluva lotsa trouble..."
"Ah, right, no mingling between different social groups, and definitely not the popular ones and the weirdos." Was Houjun actually trying to be sarcastic?
"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. It's not that I really care but some of those guys can be such narrow-asses that it's just easier this way", Genrou tried to cover up. He hoped he hadn't hurt Houjun.
"Don't you think I am the one who should know it?" There was a certain bitterness to the blue-haired man's tone of voice but Genrou had already learned to read Houjun well enough to know that if he had really hurt Houjun all he would have got back was a bright smile clearly stating that nothing was at all...
"Ah, excuse me, I must have drifted off for a moment. Let's get straight to the point. Diffraction, was it?"
***
Houjun blinked. He seemed to have developed a bad habit of smiling fondly at the screen whenever he wrote to Tasuki. That might cause some nasty questions if someone was present but as Houjun was alone in the dormitory again je allowed himself at least one genuine smile for a change.
Besides, he just had to smile. The feeling that he was needed as a person instead of a counselor or some other tool for success made him feel so special. This was even added by the fact that Tasuki had dropped even the last ripples of his tough-bandit act by admitting that he could also feel unsecure from time to time. Houjun felt closer to Tasuki than ever before now that they had both removed their masks. He hoped he could make Tasuki understand just how much it meant to him. Still smiling gently Houjun started typing:
" 'There's no way I could ever leave you. You see, your sign is wing, no da? I finally figured out what it means.
You are my wings.
I need you to be free, to be able to fly.' Chichiri smiled gently at the bandit. 'I'll always be here for you, that's what love is all about.' "
Hold on a second.
Love?!?!?
AN: Okay, guys. This is kinda the end of the first part of the storyline. Houjun's little mental problems have been mostly taken care of, he's no longer on the brink of a break-down and feels that life could actually be quite nice. He and Genrou have now both recognised that there's something deeper developing between them and from now on they'll have to face different kind of problems: how to cope with their new sexual identities, how to act around other people, and whether there will eventually come a moment when it all becomes more than just a story... Tune in for these breath-taking answers tomorrow at the same time!!! (...the time being when my sis goes take a shower so I can get my hands on the compy...... wonder if that brought the tension of my commercial down a bit...?)