Yuki sighed and let his head drop against the armrest. He was exhausted; it was well into the morning, and he and Ryuichi had been searching for the past nine hours without finding so much as a clue of Shuichi's whereabouts. His eyes closed as sleep began to creep towards him, though they shot back open when a sharp jolt nearly sent him off the edge of the couch. He angrily sat up and glared at the other end where Ryuichi was perched after presumably jumping there, picking at his fingernails in distress. Yuki growled at him and let his head fall again, though the continual quivering of the couch caused by Ryuichi's anxious state was merciless.
"Quit it," Yuki snarled, glaring at Ryuichi with as much malice as he could muster. "You'll ruin your pretty nails. I'm sure Tohma would hate that." The name Tohma was almost too hard for him to say, he found.
"Shu-chan might be in trouble," Ryuichi said, lifting his hand to his mouth to let his teeth begin to work, though he pulled it away when a drop of blood issued from his fingertip.
"There's nothing we can do," Yuki said irritably. "If he doesn't show up by tonight, we'll file a missing persons report—"
"Tonight? But that's so far away! So many things can happen by then!"
Yuki lifted his head just enough to enable himself to glimpse Ryuichi's face, though upon seeing the tears welling in his eyes, Yuki almost felt like crying himself. Quickly he hid his face under his arm and rolled over on the couch.
"He can take care of himself," Yuki said, though he knew the worry in his voice prevented it from giving any reassurance.
"Are you sure?"
Yuki removed his arm from his face and studied Ryuichi with a frown. There was something strange in his darkened eyes, a clouded worry that seemed almost too intense and surpassed just loving friendship. Yuki pushed himself into a sitting position and sighed heavily, the image of the scene in Tohma's office suddenly returning to him.
"Then," he started awkwardly, and sighed again before continuing, "what exactly is Shuichi to you?"
Ryuichi blinked at him, and for a brief instant the anxiety left his eyes to be replaced by a dull stare. However, the worry came back quickly, and Ryuichi sent him a wry, nervous smile. "Shuichi's my friend."
"That's all?"
Ryuichi looked confused for a moment, though his smile soon broke out again, even bigger and more sincere than before. "Shuichi's my best friend," he stated proudly.
Yuki lifted his eyebrow, though he didn't persist any further. Letting himself sink deeper into the cushions, he watched as Ryuichi began to attack his nails again with clouded eyes, and he almost felt relieved that he wasn't as anxious as that. He rubbed his eyes, knowing that sleep was probably impossible, especially with the constant nail-picking going on beside him, though despite that, he found his body relaxing instinctively, and he doubted he would be able to get up for anything.
He was proved wrong, however, when a loud pounding echoed from his door, and out of shock he sprung to his feet. He stood for a moment as the dizziness and darkness that had engulfed his vision receded and began to wonder if he had actually heard anything at all, or if it was his sleepy delirium making him hallucinate. He glanced down at Ryuichi in hope of an answer and got just that; the singer was staring it the door fearfully and wistfully at the same time, looking just as Yuki felt.
"Shuichi," Yuki whispered as he dashed towards the door. He grabbed the handle and fiddled with the locks angrily, wishing that he hadn't been so paranoid and locked the door. After a few seconds, which seemed like hours to him, he opened the last lock and flung the door open, ready to gather the pink-haired singer in his arms and apologize profusely.
Upon seeing his visitor, however, his heart fell instantly, and all he could do was stare disbelievingly at him.
"Tohma…" Yuki heard Ryuichi's voice behind him, though it hit his ears with a painful ring that caused a headache beyond what he had ever experienced before.
"Perhaps I really shouldn't have come so early," Tohma said, his voice hurting even more than Ryuichi's. "You look awful, Eiri-san."
He smiled and stepped past a stunned Yuki into the apartment. When he saw Ryuichi sitting on the couch with his knees pulled into his chest, Tohma lifted a quizzical eyebrow and glanced back at Yuki, whom still had not moved from his place at the doorway. Deciding that Yuki would not be a good source of information, he once again turned to Ryuichi and took a step towards him.
"I assume from your exhausted expressions that you two were out looking for Shindo-sa—"
Tohma let out a strangled squeak as a strong arm wrapped around his neck from behind and pulled him backwards. He flung his hands up to grip the arm in an attempt to pry it away for another taste of precious oxygen, though it was no use. He clutched the arms and jumped from the ground, kicking his legs in any direction until his heel contacted with something hard, and the hold on his throat loosened enough for him to breathe again.
"I'll kill you," Yuki's voice hissed from behind, and his hand came to cup around Tohma's forehead and hold it back against his shoulder. "I hate you."
"This isn't my fault!" Tohma cried. He tightened his hold around the arm, attempting to dig his fingernails into the skin in order to cause enough pain so that he would be released, but the long-sleeved fabric was preventing him from doing so.
"How is this not your fault?" Yuki questioned bitterly with a cynical smile creeping onto his lips. It disappeared quickly, though, and he craned his neck forward so that his lips were just beside Tohma's cheek. "You deceived Shuichi, and you deceived me. This was all part of a brilliant plan to break us up, wasn't it?"
Tohma gasped as the arm tightened around his neck, and on instinct he brought his leg forward, and then swung it backwards with all his might. Once again, his heel contacted with something hard, presumably Yuki's shin, and the hold on him loosened just enough for him to break free. He swung around and lifted his arms in defense as Yuki lunged at him and knocked him off his feet onto the ground. He felt one of Yuki's hands pinning his chest to the floor and opened his eyes to see Yuki perched on top of him, his face twisted into a loathing glare and his right fist inches away from his cheek, ready to slam down into Tohma's face at the first command. Tohma doubted he would have been able to escape, had it not been for an intruder.
"STOP!!!" Ryuichi cried, throwing himself at Yuki and knocking him off Tohma. Upon realizing his freedom, Tohma jumped to his feet and pushed a shaky hand against the bottom of his neck, as if willing his throat to open for breath again, as he coughed softly. Once his breath returned enough that he could breathe enough to sustain consciousness, he allowed his mind to return to the scene around him and stared fearfully at Yuki, whom was now being restrained by a determined-looking Ryuichi clutching his wrist tightly.
"Wasn't it?" Yuki repeated, causing Ryuichi to take a cautious step in front of him.
Tohma remained silent; unable to think of anything to say, he decided saying nothing would keep him out of further trouble.
"You had no feelings for Shuichi… The whole time, you were just leading him on, for what?" Yuki paused, as if for a moment of thought. When he spoke again, his voice was less sure as it had been before. "For me? Is that what you wanted?"
Tohma once again didn't respond, knowing that Yuki would find the answer in his silence. Yuki waited a few seconds before growling and readying himself to advance once again before Ryuichi stepped fully in front of him with his back towards Tohma. Rising onto his toes to be almost level with Yuki, Ryuichi leaned towards him and placed a gently hand on his cheek, looking over his shoulder at Tohma with a malicious glint in his unusually narrow and mature eyes.
"Not that it matters," Ryuichi said, smiling wryly. "Shindo, and you… don't matter anymore. Not to us."
Tohma felt his eyes widen involuntarily as Ryuichi leaned forward and placed a kiss on Yuki's lips. Yuki looked almost frightened for a second before closing his eyes and pushing Ryuichi's head closer to deepen the kiss.
Tohma stepped backwards unconsciously in shock, almost falling over when his leg hit the hard coffee table on the floor behind him. He fell out of his trance-like state and placed a hand over his eyes, as if to hide his face in embarrassment, and clumsily dashed out the open doorway away from the horrible sight. He stumbled all the way out of the building to fall against a tree and remain there helplessly with the realization of his failure clouding his eyes.
"Everything I've done," he whispered to himself, needing to hear his thoughts aloud. "Everyone I've hurt… It was for nothing… It wasn't supposed to work like this…"
Desperately holding back the tears stinging his eyes, he staggered to his car and pulled open the door, collapsing in the passenger seat and burying his face in his hands as the tears started to flow.
Ryuichi pulled away from Yuki quickly, his eyebrows twisted upwards in a sorrowful apology. He clamored backwards, tripping over his feet and falling to the floor in a disarrayed heap of limbs. He pushed himself up onto his hands and stared at Yuki fearfully.
"I… I'm soooo sorry!" he cried, bowing his head low. "I didn't mean to… I mean, I did mean to, but I didn't mean anything by doing that. It was just—" he paused for a second, gasping for breath, "—it was just that Tohma was being so mean. I didn't mean what I said about Shu-chan not being important… I just…" his voice trailed off.
"Forget it," Yuki said, striding towards the kitchen upon the realization that his appetite had finally come back to him after nearly three days of nothing. He was starving. "It was a good idea for pissing him off."
"It was my way," Ryuichi said, jumping to his feet and following Yuki closely, though he had to trot to keep up with his long strides, "of paying him back for hurting Shu-chan."
He giggled softly, though he let out a strangled yelp when colliding with Yuki's broad back. Confusedly, he stepped to the side to study Yuki's face, which seemed to be a mixture of shock and disbelief. Ryuichi glanced around the kitchen in an attempt to determine what had caused such a reaction, though upon finding nothing out of the ordinary, he looked back to Yuki and began to scratch his head in wonderment. He remained like this for a few more moments before Yuki sighed with a hint of a mocking laugh hidden within it, and shook his head.
"How could I have been so stupid?" he muttered, swinging around towards the front door. "Of course… He has to be there!"
"Yuki-san?" Ryuichi asked, watching the novelist rush out the door. It slammed shut with a bang, and Ryuichi frowned as he made his way over to the couch. "Hmm," he said aloud, pulling Kumagorou out from seemingly nowhere and staring at it questioningly. "I wonder if he was talking about Shu-chan?"
========
Shuichi shivered lightly and instinctively reached towards his feet in search of the blankets, though upon finding none, he lazily opened his eyes and was hit with a moment of confusion when realizing he had no idea where he was. He lay there for a while, wondering what had happened. He was on a bench, a park bench, and over the trees he could see the sun rising slowly, illuminating the musty smog of the city with a golden haze.
He tried desperately to remember when he had become a hobo, and if perhaps his entire life, his childhood, his job at NG, and his relationship with the novelist Yuki Eiri, had been one long dream.
Or maybe not… Maybe this was the dream instead. But still, it sure was cold, and uncomfortable, and everything seemed kind of normal for a dream. There was always, at some point or another, the invariable appearance of one Yuki Eiri in every single dream he ever had since he had met the author, though Shuichi did not see him anywhere. Besides, there was also no Kumagorou, and Shuichi had been having dreams about Kumagorou ever since he had heard of Nittle Grasper. Taking this into consideration, Shuichi decided that this was not a dream either.
However, there was still the question of when he had taken up this extreme likeness to a hobo. He breathed a sigh and lifted his eyes to stare at the clouds surrounding the sun, which was now barely above the tops of the buildings. That was it… It was too early. There was no way he could figure out something like this at such an early hour. It had to be at the most nine o'clock.
"Gotta think…of what…I'm going to say to…Seguchi-san for…being late…again…" Shuichi mumbled, shifting on the bench and folding his arm under his head as a pillow. "Hope…he doesn't…kill me…Seguchi—"
With a tight gasp, Shuichi flung his body into a sitting position and rubbed his head gingerly as tears began to well in his eyes. Not only did he now know where he was, that being the park where he had first met Yuki, but he also remembered why he had come there in the first place. Groaning sadly, Shuichi slumped forward and pressed his forehead into his hands, his elbows digging into his thighs under the weight.
"Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki, Yuki," he chanted, shaking his head in a defeated manner. "Dammit…"
Lifting his head from his hands, he turned his eyes to rest on the spot on the sidewalk, the point just before it curved sideways, lined with tall brushes. In a quick flashback, Shuichi found himself staring at Yuki, dressed in black, smoking a cigarette with the smoke gracefully curling upwards and disappearing in the darkness of the night, studying Shuichi's lyrics with a cynical glint in his eyes. Then, almost like magic, the darkness retreated into nothingness, and once again the brush was lit by the natural sunlight instead of the artificial streetlights, the figure before him was gone, and he could only see the empty walkway curving sideways.
"Why did I come here?" Shuichi grumbled, leaning back on the bench and pulling his knees into his chest. He sighed, and then suppressed a sob as he wiped a tear out of his eye. "Stupid, stupid Tohma…" He paused and bit his lip, and then released it, breathing into his knees. "No… I'm stupid. How could I let this happen? I'm such an—"
"Idiot?" a deep voice finished. Shuichi shot his head up to meet narrow golden eyes studying him with some unreadable emotion hidden within them.
"Yu-Yuki?" Shuichi gasped, blinking at him in disbelief.
A hint of a smile crossed Yuki's face as he knelt down to be level with Shuichi. "You are the biggest idiot I've ever met."
Shuichi felt his cheeks grow hot, and he lowered his head to hide them as much as he could while still staring at Yuki fixedly. "I'm sorry… Yuki. I'll never do that again. I'll never sleep with anyone else…not ever, even if you don't want me anymore…"
Yuki sighed and took a seat beside Shuichi on the bench. With a quick glance around to make sure no one was present to see, he tenderly placed an arm around Shuichi's shoulders and pulled the boy closer to him. "Idiot," he whispered. "Sacrificing your whole future love life because of a stupid promise you made to me?"
Shuichi let out a defeated sigh and closed his eyes, willing his tears to stop gathering in his eyes. He pulled his knees even closer and snuggled into Yuki's shoulder. "So then… You don't want me back? I guess I understand."
"I don't think you do," Yuki said, smiling fully now that Shuichi's eyes were closed. "Although I do rather disapprove of your…faithless…style, technically we weren't together at the time, and it was partly Seguchi's fault."
Shuichi blinked his eyes open, and Yuki forced his smile away just in time; wide, beseeching violet eyes caught his, blinking quizzically.
"And yes," Yuki said with a sigh, "that does mean that I forgive you."
"Really?" Shuichi asked, leaning forward and resting his chin on Yuki's shoulder so that he could stare at him with little effort.
"Really," Yuki replied, forcing his voice to sound irritated. "When that friend of yours said you disappeared, we spent all night looking for you."
"You and Hiro went looking for me?"
Yuki narrowed his eyes in a moment of confusion and glanced down at Shuichi, though as he did so, realization hit. "N-no," he said incoherently before managing to gather his voice, "no, I went with that Sakuma guy—" he stopped upon realizing that that would require further explanation, leading him down the path of admitting that somehow Sakuma had come to live with him, which would raise even further questions that Yuki was completely unprepared to deal with. He frowned irritably, wondering why this hadn't occurred to him before. Not only that, but he also wouldn't be able to deny all accusations that would inevitably be thrown towards him for living with the pop idol, since they had shared a kiss just a few minutes beforehand. Even if it didn't mean anything, it was still a kiss.
"Ryuichi was looking for me too?" Shuichi asked timidly.
Yuki's frown grew larger. "Yes."
"Wow… I didn't know he cared so much," Shuichi said distantly. He broke into a smile and lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Yuki's neck in a tight hug. "I was feeling so awful before, and then… Now everything's so much better!" he cried, burying his face in Yuki's golden locks. Yuki sighed contently and slid his hands around the slender waist, pulling Shuichi tight so that he could touch as much of the small body as possible at one time.
"Let's go home, all right? Shu-chan?" Yuki sang, pushing his arm under Shuichi's knees and pulling him into his lap so that his legs were draped lifelessly to the side. Shuichi squealed in delight as he leaned forward and pecked at Yuki's cheek. Smiling, Yuki lifted Shuichi lightly in his arms and rose to his feet, exerting only a little extra energy to carry Shuichi, whom was perfectly capable of walking himself. He didn't mind; it was only a slight effort, and besides, it wasn't as though he didn't enjoy the way Shuichi was letting out high-pitched purrs as he nuzzled Yuki's neck like a cat. In fact, he even sacrificed his dignity and carried Shuichi all the way home like that, pretending not to notice the enquiring glances the early-morning passersby were giving them.
Of course, upon approaching his apartment, Yuki realized yet another thing he had forgotten to consider—that being the fact that he had left Ryuichi at home, and although he was sure Shuichi wouldn't mind living with his idol, Yuki was certain he himself would become annoyed with the childish vocalist's constant presence and…interruptions… He was pleasantly surprised, however, to find his apartment Ryuichi-less. In fact, there was not a clue that Ryuichi had been there at all; there were no stuffed animals strewn about, no CDs or videotapes piled on the coffee table, and even all his romance novels and dictionaries were put neatly back into their proper places.
Yuki, amazed at how extremely well this day was going, especially compared to the last few, decided to take another step to make it even better. Setting Shuichi down on the couch, he slid in place beside him and began to kiss the boy's neck ravenously. When Shuichi let out an excited gasp, Yuki allowed himself a break for oxygen and rested his head on Shuichi's shoulder, instantly relaxing and almost falling asleep on top of him. He had forgotten to take into consideration that he had not slept in the last three days and was running on whatever amounts of caffeine was left in his system from the previous day.
"Yuki? Are you okay?" Shuichi's voice interrupted his sleepless purgatory. Yuki forced his eyes open and breathed in Shuichi's scent, though he could not bring himself to lift his head off the boy's shoulder.
"No," Yuki said angrily, letting his eyes close. He used his own weight to push Shuichi's body deeper into the couch to make his pillow flatter and much more comfortable. Forgetting his previous intentions, Yuki shifted above Shuichi until he was fully content with the position, so as to not have any back or neck pains when he awoke.
"Yuki?"
"Shut up," Yuki muttered, feeling his consciousness slipping away quickly. He managed to mumble something about sleep before it finally came, though Shuichi took the hint and obediently remained still beneath him, deciding that maybe that park bench hadn't really giving him much justice, and besides, he could always sleep when he really needed to.
Wrapping his arms around the still body above him, Shuichi smiled tearfully and whispered softly into his sleeping lover's ear, "Tohma might be my second choice, but you'll always be my first."
TBC
========
Notes: Feh… This chapter was really fun to write, and yet kind of hard at the same time. Sorry, I got a lot of requests for no Yuki x Ryuichi, but this was kind of necessary to get rid of Tohma, so… yeah… It's not that bad, is it?
Speaking of Tohma, I need some help as to what to do with him, 'cause, as you can probably tell, the end is coming soon… sadly enough… But I am still unsure as to what his fate will be. So you people get to help me! Yay! Still, who knows? Maybe I'll get struck with sudden inspiration and figure it out by myself… But I can do so few things by myself, so probably not.
Speaking of getting struck with things, this chapter would have come out a day earlier than it did, but sorry, there was a huge thunderstorm and I was worried my house would get struck by lightning, so I quit early. We actually got a flicker when a house not too far away got struck… Luckily it didn't affect my computer, because I was working on this that very moment and I hadn't saved in about an hour so I would have lost the whole second half of the chapter. And that would have been very bad. Besides, I didn't want my computer to get fried, so I stopped. I would probably cry if my computer got fried. Like chicken.
Anyway, next chapter will probably be the last, but I really can't promise anything… I'm surprised this is ending so soon, seeing as though I was making it up as I went along… Not that I would ever write a story without thinking it through beforehand… Actually, I really just wanted to write a Shuichi x Tohma romance/humor fic, but it didn't even really end up being that… I think that was because of Yuki's presence, though.
Until next time.
Cassi
