Author's Notes: I'm sorry there have been no updates. Read the author's notes at the bottom for more information.
If you want, you can go here ) and see the "poster" for this story.
Disclaimer: I think we all know that I don't own Gravitation.
Gravitation Revisited: Magnetism
Shindou Yuu sat uncomfortably at his cherry-wood kitchen table. He was leaning forward, a stress-toy in one hand, and a manuscript in the other. His eyes skimmed over the page, for quite possibly the twelfth time. He would occasionally place the thick stack of papers on the table and reach for the pencil behind his ear. He would scribble a few corrections here and there, place the pencil back, and begin reading again. Kanna wanted the new chapter by this Wednesday.
It was only Monday afternoon, but Yuu had the chapter done already. He felt stiff and wanted to take a day off. Tuesday would be the perfect day to just sit back and relax.
He smiled at the thought.
A hard knock at the door broke Yuu from his musings. He straightened his stack of papers on the table and put down his stress-toy. Yuu stood from his seat at the table and pushed the chair back in absent-mindedly. By the time he got into the living room the knock came again, harder. Yuu rolled his eyes and trudged to the door.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" the author called grumpily. He unlocked the bolt on the door and swung it open. He froze.
Uesugi Eiri stood in Yuu's doorway, head hung low, wet hair hiding his face.
Why does this… seem like déjà vu? Yuu wondered, taking in the situation.
"Eiri-san…" The novelist eyed the downcast teen before him. "You're all wet…"
"It's raining," came Yuu's muffled reply. The author blinked. Was it really? He hadn't noticed.
"Are… you okay?" The older man took a step to Eiri, who flinched somewhat. "What happened?"
Eiri sniffed. "I…" His shoulders shook slightly. "Can I just… I… I got into a fight with my friends and my brother… and I…" He paused, swallowing hard. "Could I just stay here…? Just for a little bit…?"
Yuu flustered "Yeah, sure." He ushered the teen into the house. "Follow me; I'll get you a change of clothes."
Eiri mumbled in appreciation, his head still hung low. The younger man followed behind Yuu into a bathroom. Yuu informed him to "wait right there" and scurried down the hall.
The vocalist sighed and flicked wet bangs out of his face. He titled his head back and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. His contacts still weren't in… He didn't want Yuu to see that. And aside from the golden irises, the rest of the eye was red and puffy from unshed tears.
Eiri sniffed. This sucked. Why, when things were starting to go so well, did it all have to crash down on him? Why now?
"Eiri-san?"
The said teen flinched and hung his head again. Yuu was leaning in the door way. His face was serious.
"I got some dry clothes." Yuu held out his hands, which had articles of clothing folded neatly in them. "Grab a towel from the behind the door and dry off. Then change into these." The novelist handed the things to Eiri and then reached for the door. "I'll be in the living room."
Eiri nodded slowly as the door closed between them.
Yuu straightened out his manuscript and stuffed it back into its folder. He placed the pencil in along with it. Tucking the folder under one arm, Yuu picked up the stress-toy and walked into the living room. He knelt down in front of the coffee table and slid the folder and toy on the shelf underneath. He sighed and stood up slowly.
Yuu stretched his arms over his head and pulled his glasses down from where they had been perched atop his head. He was beginning to get a headache from concentrating on all the fuzzy objects before him.
The author just stood there a moment, looking around. He wondered what had happened to Eiri to make the teen drive all the way to Tokyo for shelter.
Yuu turned his head to the hall way when he heard jiggling of the bathroom door. His eyes focused on Eiri, able to see the boy clearly through the glasses, as he emerged. A towel was over the blonde's head, covering his face. Yuu smiled. He looked cute in the tee-shirt and boxers the novelist had supplied.
Yuu quickly pushed that though away when he felt his cheeks get hot.
"Eiri-san," the older man began. The said teen walked towards Yuu down the hall. "Are you okay?"
Eiri nodded and stopped in front of Yuu. The older man issued him to take a seat and Eiri did so.
"Want something to drink?"
The blonde kept his head low. "You got any alcohol?"
Yuu blinked. "You're seventeen."
"I need a drink," Eiri countered with a sigh.
"Can you hold your liquor?"
A short, brief laugh parted the younger man's lips. The author was relieved to hear it. "I'm seventeen," Eiri replied, echoing back the man before him. Yuu grinned.
"Okay then." He walked into the kitchen and opened a cabinet above his microwave. "I've got scotch, rum, and beer in the fridge," he called back.
Eiri leaned back in the couch, tilting his head to the ceiling, and pulled the towel down to cover his face. "Got any coke?"
"Rum and coke?" Yuu tossed back, venturing a guess.
"Please," the lion-eyed teen replied.
A few moments later Yuu walked back into the living room. He handed a glass of rum and coke to Eiri. He then placed on the coffee table the liter of soda and the container of rum. Eiri would probably want seconds.
"Thanks," the teen muttered under the towel. He sat up a little and dipped the glass under the towel to drink.
"Sure." Yuu sat down on the coffee table, right in front of Eiri. He smiled. This seemed to be a normal thing now. "Mind telling me what's with the towel?"
The vocalist stiffened. "Nothing," he snapped quickly.
Yuu raised a curious eyebrow, but decided not to question the topic further. "Okay then. Want to tell me what happened?" He paused when Eiri didn't respond. "You said you got into a fight…?"
"Yeah…" Eiri began hesitantly. "I… three of my band members are leaving…"
Yuu frowned. "Which three?"
"Taki, the other vocalist; Ken, the violinist; and Ma, the guitarist with the blonde hair." Eiri took a gulp of his drink. He cleared his throat. "They all decided to split and make their own band…"
If the towel wasn't over Eiri's face, the novelist would have seen that the teen's bloodshot eyes were beginning to tear the slightest.
"I… I was really pissed and… I started fighting with the three of them…" Eiri paused. He took another gulp. "Then Taki was all 'look, we'll stay with all of you until graduation. Then we'll split.' So I just told him to fuck off and leave now." The blonde sniffed. "And of course he got all pissy, and so did Hiro, the other guitarist. Hiro was yelling how I shouldn't be so ungrateful about them wanting to stay with us.
"Can you believe that?! Ungrateful! They're leaving for God's sake, there's nothing to be grateful about!" Eiri's voice started to crack. He kept on speaking, the words just flying from his lips. "And since Hiro was mad, my brother decided to get in on the fight, since the little shit has a crush on Hiro or something. By then I had everyone against me except Tohma…"
Yuu's head was spinning. He tried to get all the facts from Eiri's story in order. Okay, the violinist, blonde guitarist, and singer want to jet. Eiri gets mad, and the other guitarist now gets annoyed. So then… his brother? Who's his brother? The bassist? I think so, they look a like… Okay, the bassist gets annoyed, too, now… And Tohma is okay with all of this. Wait. Who's Tohma? The keyboardist?
Yuu rolled his eyes. He reached over to the rum and opened the top. He slugged some of it down. This was too confusing.
All the while the author was thinking about this, Eiri continued spewing out his story.
"I got pissed at all of them and stormed out. We were ironically all at my house." He hiccupped. "Then I just started walking in the rain. Tohma apparently followed me, and he started talking to me. But I was in such a bad mood that I snapped at him, and… Oh, God…" He clutched at the glass so tight it threatened to break. Yuu watched him carefully. "I'm such a stupid shit. But… but… I don't even know what I'm feeling anymore! I thought I was in love with him, but then… I want to get rid of Tohma, but yet I'm still afraid he might break up with me because of—" Eiri cut himself short.
Oh my God. Did I just indirectly tell him I'm gay?! Eiri's eyes went wide under the towel. No! Dammit! I didn't want him to know! He'll freak out!!
"Oh, so Tohma's your boyfriend?"
There was no surprise in Yuu's voice, but Eiri flinched.
"Y-yes…" The teen downed the rest of his drink. He would need it. "I'm sorry… I-I shouldn't… I'll leave." Eiri hurriedly put down his glass and blindly stood. "I'll go get my clothes and—"
"Hey, hey." Yuu got up as well, resting a hand on Eiri's tense shoulder. "Why are you flipping out?"
The blonde sputtered. "Be-because you're probably uncomfortable being in the same house with a gay guy…"
Eiri had learned the hard way that discrimination and homophobia was a tough, cruel thing. He thought it best not to make friends with straight guys, and if he happened to, then he wouldn't tell them about his sexuality. Never before, though, had Eiri slipped up like this.
"I don't care."
Eiri froze. Wh-what?
The blonde warily turned his head back to Yuu, even though the towel obscured his site. "What did you just say?"
The novelist was grateful Eiri couldn't see him right then, otherwise he would see the blush on Yuu's face. "I said I don't care." The older man pulled back his hand. "Your preferences are your business."
Eiri couldn't find the strength in himself to move. He gulped hard and stayed that way for a while. He stared off to where he thought Yuu might be standing, not that it mattered. His clenched hands were sweating.
Yuu could practically feel the apprehension radiating off of the teen. He smirked for a brief moment. Reaching a hand forward, the author took hold of the towel. This was too serious of a conversation for something goofy like that. He saw Eiri visibly stiffen as the linen was removed.
Bright golden eyes stared in awe at Yuu.
The slightly shorter man blinked once and just stared, expression blank. Eiri felt his face get hot and quickly whipped his head away.
"Are those contacts?" the writer asked curiously.
"N-no…" Eiri didn't feel like lying – not to Yuu. "The blue ones are contacts… I-I have naturally yellow eyes."
"Is your hair naturally blonde, too?"
The said blonde turned his head to the man before him. Yuu didn't seem appalled, but he didn't seem intrigued, either. He looked rather… indifferent.
"Yes," the singer replied after a moment. "It's all real."
Yuu made a little sound. "That's pretty interesting."
Eiri's eyebrows rose just the slightest. He didn't seem interested… The teen wondered just how it was Yuu could say something with emotion, but his face never quite changing. The most Eiri ever saw on the man was a smile, and that, too, seemed pretty detached.
"You don't think I'm weird, do you?" The younger man felt strange – almost like a bizarre exhibition. It's how he always felt when someone commented on his coloring. He wondered if this was how albinos felt, too.
"Weird?" Yuu pursed his lips. "Why would I think you were weird?"
Something in Eiri's chest lifted for the first time. No one had ever issued him with even a twinge of normalcy when touching on the subject of his hair and eyes.
"I just…" The vocalist found himself stumbling for words.
He had never felt so… accepted before. Even Tohma found it odd when seeing Eiri without contacts in. And not only had Yuu not cared about Eiri's coloring, but he didn't even care about his sexuality!
It was… a miracle.
"You know," Yuu began, cutting off Eiri's thoughts, "how I have that bright yellow car?" The singer nodded. "That's because yellow is my favorite color."
Eiri silently hoped that red was another one of Yuu's favorites, because he was sure his face was a lovely shade of it now.
"So don't worry," the older man continued. He had a hint of a smile on his lips, and Eiri almost though he could feel it that time. "I don't think you're weird. I think it's attractive."
The flushed teen turned away and bit his lip. He muttered out a small thank you, which Yuu laughed softly at. It made Eiri's heart leap. It was a nice, calming sound…
"Shi-shindou-san…"
"Call me Yuu, okay, Eiri-san?" He was smiling wider now. Eiri could have sworn he was blushing further.
"Okay… Yuu-san, then…" He liked the way the syllables pushed on his tongue. It felt nice to be able to call the novelist by his first name…
"Are you okay?" Yuu questioned, leaning his head back to get a better look at the boy. "You didn't get sick from being out in the rain, did you? You're face is all red."
"N-no… I'm fine…"
Eiri was sweating. He never felt this way with Tohma, not even in the beginning of their relationship. His heart never leapt by receiving just a glance. His stomach never flip-flopped just by a casual touch. His chest never tightened when they got so close that their breaths were mingling…
Eiri blinked. How had they just gotten so close?
"So," Yuu started, face only half a foot from Eiri's, "those eyes are real, huh?" Yuu's own violet ones look inquisitive, yet serious. "I guess I'm not the only one with strangely colored eyes."
It was the first time Eiri had ever seen Yuu this close, so it was the first time that he ever noticed the man's eyes were violet, not blue. It was…
"Gorgeous…"
Eiri swallowed hard. "What did you say…?" he choked out.
"You're eyes," the writer repeated. "They're gorgeous."
You just finished my exact thought¸ Eiri noted dizzily.
Honestly intrigued, and actually showing it, Yuu leaned down a bit farther. His eyes bore into the teen's own.
Eiri felt a shiver go down his back. What was Yuu leaning in so close for? His breath caught in his throat. Is Yuu… is he gay, too? the blonde wondered hopefully. Surely after all those aloof comments and those compliments… surely Yuu was flirting, right?
Which means… which means…
Realizing that this whole ordeal was taking way too long, the singer threw all precautions to the wind.
Before Yuu could protest, he felt his head being dragged down…
…and his lips being crushed against Eiri's own.
Author's Notes: XD Bwhahahahaha. Cliffie. How will Yuu react? Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk…
OK – the reason why it's been a week since I've updated this so-called "daily story"…
Basically I've either been incredibly tired or busy.
I usually can still write when I'm sleepy, but I just wasn't feeling this chapter at all, what-so-ever. And I'm positive I won't be feeling the next one, either. Ugh.
And the busy thing? Well…
I'm working on making a Gravitation Dating Sim. Yes, I am a sick, sick child.
It's tough work, though, I'll tell you that. XD
There will probably be another update on Tuesday, or so.
Please don't hate me?
Oh, and Hitomi… THANK YOU. You are the ONLY one that realized Yuu is detached from the rest of the characters. He is supposed to be, so THANK YOU. XD
It's especially felt in this chapter, no?
Thankies, thankies, thanky.
If you want, you can go here ) and see the "poster" for this story.