Introductions and Disclaimers from Tenshi
"Gravitation" and all its characters belong to the talented Maki Murakami. I originally wrote and posted this story here in 2001 in the span of a few days and thought I'd clean it up a bit in preparation for Nanowrimo this year. I hope you enjoy it even though it's just a quick write sort of thing! It's pure fluffiness Gravitation style.
"A Dedication to Gravitation"
Track 4: A Little Whipped Cream Never Hurt Anybody
Shuuichi looked at his watch. He had left Yuki with Mika and Seguchi-san over two hours ago but he still didn't see them anywhere. Sure, it had been nice to quickly pick out a gift for Hiro and Fujisaki and Maiko and small presents for some of the NG staff, but he had come here to spend quality time with Yuki. It was so rare he could spend a whole day with Yuki and even rarer that Yuki would agree to spend it with him. It was nearly noon and Shuuichi's stomach painfully reminded him that it had been 4 hours since he last ate. He wanted to find Yuki fast so they could go eat.
However, another part of him wasn't ready to meet up with Yuki yet. He still hadn't figured out what to give Yuki that would really show how much he cared. He'd checked all the stores. There were computer things, and book things, and writing things, and clothes, and all those other "normal" gifts, but nothing seemed special. Nothing seemed to say, "This is what you mean to me". Shuuichi wondered for a moment if Yuki would even really care if he got anything at all. He hadn't talked at all about Christmas, except to say that it was commercial and Western and if Shuuichi knew what was good for him, he wouldn't bake a Christmas Cake by himself.
"Christmas Cake," he pondered out loud. Shuuichi bet he really could make a good Christmas Cake. He'd give him the present Christmas Eve just before Yuki went to bed.
"Yuki!!! I want you to open this up now!"
"You're so loud! I'm trying to go to sleep now. Can't you see that? Leave me alone."
"But Yuki..." and he'd look at Yuki with tearful eyes.
"Fine, if it will make you quiet." and then he'd open up the present and ask "Strawberries and whipped cream? What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"
Shuuichi would giggle and say "You can make me your Christmas Cake silly." and he'd demonstrate by squirting just a little whipped cream onto the tip of his nose.
------
Shuuichi giggled at the thought. Yuki loved to play games, but somehow that didn't seem like an appropriate Christmas gift. He needed to get him something special that he could still open in front of everybody at the party. Shuuichi thought about song lyrics. Songs and poems always expressed how people felt! Then he frowned. Yuki had said he didn't have any talent when they first met. And Yuki was a writer, so he already had the upper hand. Anything Shuuichi wrote probably would sound a little childish. Besides, Shuuichi wasn't even sure how to express how he felt about Yuki. Sure, he loved Yuki more than anyone, but he couldn't figure out why. He was really cool looking; that was certain. But there was something more than that. Shuuichi seemed to constantly be holding onto Yuki to make sure he didn't slip away, but that wasn't the only thing holding them together was it? Wasn't there something more? It couldn't be just fate or destiny that had let them stay together. Even the media and Yuki's sister and Seguchi-san were opposed to their relationship, but that hadn't changed anything really.
Shuuichi sighed again. Maybe he would be able to think better if he wasn't so hungry. He decided to take the elevator up to the restaurant level and wait for Yuki to show up. When he stepped out of the elevator though, Yuki was standing there waiting to take the elevator down.
"YUKI!!!!!!!!" Shuuichi wrapped his arms around the tall blonde and placed his feet on top of his lover's. Yuki walked like this towards the restaurant not really looking down or acknowledging Shuuichi's presence. Shuuichi frowned a little, but enjoyed the ride into the restaurant. They sat down at a table with a view over looking the city. The weak sun had started to melt some of the ice on the streets below making it appear more slippery and dangerous than before. A waiter came by to take their order. Yuki ordered a latte and something odd-sounding and confusing, while Shuuichi picked spaghetti. It looked like the most normal thing on the list. Another waiter quickly came by to deliver an ashtray without Yuki saying anything. Shuuichi wondered if Yuki had been here before.
"Ne, Yuki, what did Seguchi-san want?" Shuuichi asked hesitantly.
"Nothing important. Mika just wanted to make sure I'm going to that damn Christmas party. Guess you got your wish after all." Yuki said sourly. It seemed like Yuki was hiding something, but Shuuichi decided not to push the issue.
"Oh... okay. So what do you want for Christmas?" Shuuichi decided to cheerfully change the subject.
"Peace and quiet." Yuki was definitely in a bad mood. However, he hadn't told Shuuichi to shut up or called him an idiot, so that meant he couldn't be in that bad of a mood.
"I don't think I could give you that Yuki. It's not like me to be quiet. If I was quiet, wouldn't you be worried?"
"No, cause the only time you are quiet is when you are sleeping and that's the best part of the day." Yuki gave Shuuichi another smirky smile. Shuuichi wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It seemed that sentence had a bit of double meaning to it.
Their beverages and meals were stylishly delivered to the table. Shuuichi was pleased to see his spaghetti looked quite normal. Yuki's lunch looked a bit stranger. It was a soup, but there were weird looking things floating in it. Yuki noticed Shuuichi staring at his soup.
"It's just soup for crying out loud. What's your problem?"
Shuuichi looked away and decided to just concentrate on eating his spaghetti while silently cursing Mika and Seguchi-san. They had ruined his perfect day with Yuki!
"Sorry." Yuki said quietly.
Shuuichi looked at Yuki a bit shocked, not quite sure he had really heard what he thought he had heard.
"I said I'm sorry, okay? Just... don't... I can't talk about it with you right now." Yuki looked bitter in a sad way and took another bite of soup. He couldn't tell Shuuichi what they had talked about, because that would ruin Shuuichi's perfectly planned Christmas gift. He had worked longer on writing a good dedication than he had writing the actual crummy novel. If that didn't mean anything... Yuki took another bite of his soup. "We're in a perfectly fine Italian restaurant and you order plain spaghetti. If you want spaghetti, I'll make it for you at home sometime."
Shuuichi blinked. Yuki had gone through some strange transformation right in front of his eyes. He cursed Mika and Seguchi-san again, because to make Yuki nice meant they had done something really really bad. "Are you sure? I mean, you are busy and stuff working on your next book right? It's my job to cook dinner and do the laundry cause you're so nice to let me" he was cut off.
"I said I'd make it so I'll make it." Yuki gave a heavy sigh and looked his lover straight in the eyes. He didn't want to be so harsh. He silently cursed Mika and Tohma for ruining his mood. The rest of the meal was fairly straightforward chatter from Shuuichi. He talked about meeting Hiro and that Hiro was thankful for Yuki's advice. He talked about the decorations and the music in the different stores. And while he talked, he looked so lit up and sweet and innocent, just like the angels Shuuichi was so animatedly talking about at the moment. Apparently a Christmas tree had been set up in the lower floor with a stunning angel on top. Shuuichi was going on and on about the angel and Yuki wanted to force him to be quiet, but in a way quite similar to what he thought about in the toy store. Unfortunately, that still wasn't an option, so Yuki used what he had at his disposal.
"Here, try some of this," he said passing the latte across the table. Yuki hadn't tried it yet, so the lavish toppings were still intact. It had a variety of colored sprinkles of dark chocolate, white chocolate, and caramel on top a cute mound of whipped topping. Shuuichi wasn't very fond of coffee, but the whipped topping was hard to resist after his earlier daydreaming. He took a small sip and ended up getting a small portion of whipped cream on the tip of his nose. He was about to wipe it off, but noticed Yuki was smiling at him.
Yuki leaned over the table and gently moved Shuuichi's hand away from his nose. Then he gently kissed Shuuichi's nose, carefully licking the whipped cream away. The skin tasted slightly sweeter than normal. Yuki realized it had been almost a week since he had tasted that sweetness. Perhaps, he thought, Shuuichi would be interested in a little more play with whipped cream that night. He was glad Tohma and Mika weren't around to see the table interaction. Actually, he thought, let them watch. They obviously didn't think Yuki was as serious about Shuuichi as he was. Yuki's expression turned slightly sour again thinking about the earlier conversation.
"No, Tohma. Maybe I'll be giving him the right idea. It's just not one I can express out loud." Yuki gulped down more beer and then starting talking again. "He's not a plaything Tohma. Hell, you treat him more like a plaything. You use him and me to advance sales for your company. What would you do if Shuuichi had never met me huh? Would you have so readily brought him under the NG label?"
Tohma eyes turned serious. "It wasn't my idea in the first place. But I've never used him or you Eiri. How can you say something like that? And do you honestly believe there is a chance you and Shindou-kun would never have met?"
Yuki faltered for a moment. It seemed almost unthinkable now. Unconceivable even. But yet, he had said it himself. What if he and Shuuichi had never met? He stood up quickly and tossed a couple of 1000 yen bills on the table. He was mad at Tohma, mad at Mika, for having brought up this stupid topic in the first place. And he was mad at himself for not being able tell Tohma then and there what he felt deep down. What he had written down so eloquently in his dedication. There was a force that had brought Shuuichi into his life. Why couldn't he admit it out loud? WHY?! He stormed away from the table and went out to the elevator in order to meet back up with Shuuichi. It was at that moment that Shuuichi had come bouncing through the elevators and started stepping on his feet. But he honestly hadn't felt any pain. It was more like physical comfort while he silently pondered in his mind why he couldn't be as honest verbally as he wanted. It made him feel weak emotionally, so he hadn't said anything to Shuuichi as they walked into the restaurant. ------
Shuuichi noticed his lover's face had turned angry again. Had he done something wrong? He pulled back just a little and motioned for the check to be delivered. After paying, they took the elevator back down to the ground floor and left the department store. Shuuichi had already seen everything and Yuki seemed to want to return home quickly. Shuuichi insisted that they take a cab "because of the sidewalks" but Yuki knew it was for his sake. Once they got into their blissfully warmer apartment, Yuki grabbed himself a beer out of the refrigerator and locked himself up in his office. Shuuichi took that as his cue to be as quiet as possible for a while. He bundled himself up with some blankets and his Christmas pillows on the couch and turned on the TV. Every channel had some sort of Christmas special. Christmas anime specials, Christmas karaoke shows, Christmas news stories, Christmas cooking how-to's. Shuuichi flipped from channel to channel without paying much attention. Every so often he'd look at the door wondering if Yuki would walk through it. Unfortunately, it never happened and Shuuichi fell fast asleep hugging his blanket tightly, dreaming of coffee, strawberries, an ashtray that had remained strangely unused, whipped cream, and a smiling Yuki.
Next Track: Brothers With Similar Tastes
Major Changes and Notes: Christmas Cake is a Japanese Christmas tradition. It's a white frosted cake with strawberries on top. It's really cute looking! Changed the type of restaurant since it seemed unlikely that a French restaurant would serve Italian food being that it's fine dining and all.
"Gravitation" and all its characters belong to the talented Maki Murakami. I originally wrote and posted this story here in 2001 in the span of a few days and thought I'd clean it up a bit in preparation for Nanowrimo this year. I hope you enjoy it even though it's just a quick write sort of thing! It's pure fluffiness Gravitation style.
"A Dedication to Gravitation"
Track 4: A Little Whipped Cream Never Hurt Anybody
Shuuichi looked at his watch. He had left Yuki with Mika and Seguchi-san over two hours ago but he still didn't see them anywhere. Sure, it had been nice to quickly pick out a gift for Hiro and Fujisaki and Maiko and small presents for some of the NG staff, but he had come here to spend quality time with Yuki. It was so rare he could spend a whole day with Yuki and even rarer that Yuki would agree to spend it with him. It was nearly noon and Shuuichi's stomach painfully reminded him that it had been 4 hours since he last ate. He wanted to find Yuki fast so they could go eat.
However, another part of him wasn't ready to meet up with Yuki yet. He still hadn't figured out what to give Yuki that would really show how much he cared. He'd checked all the stores. There were computer things, and book things, and writing things, and clothes, and all those other "normal" gifts, but nothing seemed special. Nothing seemed to say, "This is what you mean to me". Shuuichi wondered for a moment if Yuki would even really care if he got anything at all. He hadn't talked at all about Christmas, except to say that it was commercial and Western and if Shuuichi knew what was good for him, he wouldn't bake a Christmas Cake by himself.
"Christmas Cake," he pondered out loud. Shuuichi bet he really could make a good Christmas Cake. He'd give him the present Christmas Eve just before Yuki went to bed.
"Yuki!!! I want you to open this up now!"
"You're so loud! I'm trying to go to sleep now. Can't you see that? Leave me alone."
"But Yuki..." and he'd look at Yuki with tearful eyes.
"Fine, if it will make you quiet." and then he'd open up the present and ask "Strawberries and whipped cream? What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"
Shuuichi would giggle and say "You can make me your Christmas Cake silly." and he'd demonstrate by squirting just a little whipped cream onto the tip of his nose.
------
Shuuichi giggled at the thought. Yuki loved to play games, but somehow that didn't seem like an appropriate Christmas gift. He needed to get him something special that he could still open in front of everybody at the party. Shuuichi thought about song lyrics. Songs and poems always expressed how people felt! Then he frowned. Yuki had said he didn't have any talent when they first met. And Yuki was a writer, so he already had the upper hand. Anything Shuuichi wrote probably would sound a little childish. Besides, Shuuichi wasn't even sure how to express how he felt about Yuki. Sure, he loved Yuki more than anyone, but he couldn't figure out why. He was really cool looking; that was certain. But there was something more than that. Shuuichi seemed to constantly be holding onto Yuki to make sure he didn't slip away, but that wasn't the only thing holding them together was it? Wasn't there something more? It couldn't be just fate or destiny that had let them stay together. Even the media and Yuki's sister and Seguchi-san were opposed to their relationship, but that hadn't changed anything really.
Shuuichi sighed again. Maybe he would be able to think better if he wasn't so hungry. He decided to take the elevator up to the restaurant level and wait for Yuki to show up. When he stepped out of the elevator though, Yuki was standing there waiting to take the elevator down.
"YUKI!!!!!!!!" Shuuichi wrapped his arms around the tall blonde and placed his feet on top of his lover's. Yuki walked like this towards the restaurant not really looking down or acknowledging Shuuichi's presence. Shuuichi frowned a little, but enjoyed the ride into the restaurant. They sat down at a table with a view over looking the city. The weak sun had started to melt some of the ice on the streets below making it appear more slippery and dangerous than before. A waiter came by to take their order. Yuki ordered a latte and something odd-sounding and confusing, while Shuuichi picked spaghetti. It looked like the most normal thing on the list. Another waiter quickly came by to deliver an ashtray without Yuki saying anything. Shuuichi wondered if Yuki had been here before.
"Ne, Yuki, what did Seguchi-san want?" Shuuichi asked hesitantly.
"Nothing important. Mika just wanted to make sure I'm going to that damn Christmas party. Guess you got your wish after all." Yuki said sourly. It seemed like Yuki was hiding something, but Shuuichi decided not to push the issue.
"Oh... okay. So what do you want for Christmas?" Shuuichi decided to cheerfully change the subject.
"Peace and quiet." Yuki was definitely in a bad mood. However, he hadn't told Shuuichi to shut up or called him an idiot, so that meant he couldn't be in that bad of a mood.
"I don't think I could give you that Yuki. It's not like me to be quiet. If I was quiet, wouldn't you be worried?"
"No, cause the only time you are quiet is when you are sleeping and that's the best part of the day." Yuki gave Shuuichi another smirky smile. Shuuichi wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It seemed that sentence had a bit of double meaning to it.
Their beverages and meals were stylishly delivered to the table. Shuuichi was pleased to see his spaghetti looked quite normal. Yuki's lunch looked a bit stranger. It was a soup, but there were weird looking things floating in it. Yuki noticed Shuuichi staring at his soup.
"It's just soup for crying out loud. What's your problem?"
Shuuichi looked away and decided to just concentrate on eating his spaghetti while silently cursing Mika and Seguchi-san. They had ruined his perfect day with Yuki!
"Sorry." Yuki said quietly.
Shuuichi looked at Yuki a bit shocked, not quite sure he had really heard what he thought he had heard.
"I said I'm sorry, okay? Just... don't... I can't talk about it with you right now." Yuki looked bitter in a sad way and took another bite of soup. He couldn't tell Shuuichi what they had talked about, because that would ruin Shuuichi's perfectly planned Christmas gift. He had worked longer on writing a good dedication than he had writing the actual crummy novel. If that didn't mean anything... Yuki took another bite of his soup. "We're in a perfectly fine Italian restaurant and you order plain spaghetti. If you want spaghetti, I'll make it for you at home sometime."
Shuuichi blinked. Yuki had gone through some strange transformation right in front of his eyes. He cursed Mika and Seguchi-san again, because to make Yuki nice meant they had done something really really bad. "Are you sure? I mean, you are busy and stuff working on your next book right? It's my job to cook dinner and do the laundry cause you're so nice to let me" he was cut off.
"I said I'd make it so I'll make it." Yuki gave a heavy sigh and looked his lover straight in the eyes. He didn't want to be so harsh. He silently cursed Mika and Tohma for ruining his mood. The rest of the meal was fairly straightforward chatter from Shuuichi. He talked about meeting Hiro and that Hiro was thankful for Yuki's advice. He talked about the decorations and the music in the different stores. And while he talked, he looked so lit up and sweet and innocent, just like the angels Shuuichi was so animatedly talking about at the moment. Apparently a Christmas tree had been set up in the lower floor with a stunning angel on top. Shuuichi was going on and on about the angel and Yuki wanted to force him to be quiet, but in a way quite similar to what he thought about in the toy store. Unfortunately, that still wasn't an option, so Yuki used what he had at his disposal.
"Here, try some of this," he said passing the latte across the table. Yuki hadn't tried it yet, so the lavish toppings were still intact. It had a variety of colored sprinkles of dark chocolate, white chocolate, and caramel on top a cute mound of whipped topping. Shuuichi wasn't very fond of coffee, but the whipped topping was hard to resist after his earlier daydreaming. He took a small sip and ended up getting a small portion of whipped cream on the tip of his nose. He was about to wipe it off, but noticed Yuki was smiling at him.
Yuki leaned over the table and gently moved Shuuichi's hand away from his nose. Then he gently kissed Shuuichi's nose, carefully licking the whipped cream away. The skin tasted slightly sweeter than normal. Yuki realized it had been almost a week since he had tasted that sweetness. Perhaps, he thought, Shuuichi would be interested in a little more play with whipped cream that night. He was glad Tohma and Mika weren't around to see the table interaction. Actually, he thought, let them watch. They obviously didn't think Yuki was as serious about Shuuichi as he was. Yuki's expression turned slightly sour again thinking about the earlier conversation.
"No, Tohma. Maybe I'll be giving him the right idea. It's just not one I can express out loud." Yuki gulped down more beer and then starting talking again. "He's not a plaything Tohma. Hell, you treat him more like a plaything. You use him and me to advance sales for your company. What would you do if Shuuichi had never met me huh? Would you have so readily brought him under the NG label?"
Tohma eyes turned serious. "It wasn't my idea in the first place. But I've never used him or you Eiri. How can you say something like that? And do you honestly believe there is a chance you and Shindou-kun would never have met?"
Yuki faltered for a moment. It seemed almost unthinkable now. Unconceivable even. But yet, he had said it himself. What if he and Shuuichi had never met? He stood up quickly and tossed a couple of 1000 yen bills on the table. He was mad at Tohma, mad at Mika, for having brought up this stupid topic in the first place. And he was mad at himself for not being able tell Tohma then and there what he felt deep down. What he had written down so eloquently in his dedication. There was a force that had brought Shuuichi into his life. Why couldn't he admit it out loud? WHY?! He stormed away from the table and went out to the elevator in order to meet back up with Shuuichi. It was at that moment that Shuuichi had come bouncing through the elevators and started stepping on his feet. But he honestly hadn't felt any pain. It was more like physical comfort while he silently pondered in his mind why he couldn't be as honest verbally as he wanted. It made him feel weak emotionally, so he hadn't said anything to Shuuichi as they walked into the restaurant. ------
Shuuichi noticed his lover's face had turned angry again. Had he done something wrong? He pulled back just a little and motioned for the check to be delivered. After paying, they took the elevator back down to the ground floor and left the department store. Shuuichi had already seen everything and Yuki seemed to want to return home quickly. Shuuichi insisted that they take a cab "because of the sidewalks" but Yuki knew it was for his sake. Once they got into their blissfully warmer apartment, Yuki grabbed himself a beer out of the refrigerator and locked himself up in his office. Shuuichi took that as his cue to be as quiet as possible for a while. He bundled himself up with some blankets and his Christmas pillows on the couch and turned on the TV. Every channel had some sort of Christmas special. Christmas anime specials, Christmas karaoke shows, Christmas news stories, Christmas cooking how-to's. Shuuichi flipped from channel to channel without paying much attention. Every so often he'd look at the door wondering if Yuki would walk through it. Unfortunately, it never happened and Shuuichi fell fast asleep hugging his blanket tightly, dreaming of coffee, strawberries, an ashtray that had remained strangely unused, whipped cream, and a smiling Yuki.
Next Track: Brothers With Similar Tastes
Major Changes and Notes: Christmas Cake is a Japanese Christmas tradition. It's a white frosted cake with strawberries on top. It's really cute looking! Changed the type of restaurant since it seemed unlikely that a French restaurant would serve Italian food being that it's fine dining and all.