Chapter 5

It was day two and Shuichi still hadn't shown up. Two days wasn't a long time, Eiri knew, but he didn't realize how long they felt when Shuichi wasn't around. He stopped by a couple spots Shuichi loved to drag him to, but no success. Hiro called once, telling him that nobody saw Shuichi yet. He told Eiri he would contact him later after he looked around. This happened hours ago and now night bleached the sky with indigo.

A faint noise buzzed and Eiri stopped typing and tilted his head in puzzlement, trying to place what made the sound. By the time the noise rung again, he already identified that the front door's intercom was the source and he was rising from his rolling chair. He sighed at the interruption in his writing. Hiroshi dropping by, no doubt, but it wasn't a huge deal. He did tell Eiri that they would talk later, but the blond assumed he meant by phone. Ah well, whatever worked. He pressed the speaker's call button. "Hello?"

"Yuki?" a timid greeting called out.

Time froze, crystal shards of fragmented words filled with fear, hope, and anger echoed inside his mind. Among those syllables, his own name appeared and he wondered why. Then Eiri realized the speaker had repeated his name. He found his voice and responded coolly, "Shuichi?"

The memorable high squeal of Shuichi's voice sounded like a low drone. "Yes, it's me. Can I... can I come up?"

A frown creased Eiri's eyebrows. The moron had a key, so why didn't he use it? "Sure." He pressed the intercom button off and hit another one which unlocked the main door in the lobby.

The wait of a minute dragged on forever, and the writer's brain tried to think of appropriate words to say while he wrung his hands. I'm relieved, I'm frustrated, I'm happy, I'm nervous, I'm furious beyond words... what am I?

A reluctant knock tapped on the boring gray door with its cold reverberation. His stare rested on the handle, then his hand turned it, the door easing open to reveal a face that drew so many emotions out. Gazes lingered at different spots, each man taking in the appearance of the other. A ruffle in a shirt sleeve, messy bangs swept aside.

"Are you all right?" Eiri finally queried. His self-control to knock Shuichi out with a punch or knock him over with a hug made his fingers tingle.

Shuichi nodded quickly, his reply muted. "I'm ok."

"You didn't call. Didn't let me know where you went."

"I know."

"You called me from outside. You lost your house key?"

Rosy hair shook from side to side. "I wanted to be invited. You were mad at me and all."

Eiri stepped aside. Shuichi slowly walked inside, taking in the surroundings. The door clicked shut behind him and when he eventually turned around, he was smiling. Eiri's emotions burst from the dam of restraint. "Where did you go? Why the hell did you run off?"

Silence, then the facial ink of delight bled into confusion. In a stutter, Shuichi said, "W-w-well, I needed some time to myself. I-I went home. I talked to Maiko."

The impact of his confession splashed cold water on Eiri's reality. Lately, home to Shuichi was always his apartment, and hearing Shuichi say that home was elsewhere shocked him. He snapped, "Why did you talk to your sister?"

"You were annoying! Did you hear yourself?"

"Don't turn this on me! We're talking about you."

Shuichi's defiant hand pointed at Eiri's face. "You were being mean and I needed advice. She has a boyfriend so I figured she could help me out."

"Advice on what? How did she help you?"

"It's private."

Eiri waved a dismissive hand. "Fine. I don't care about it."

Shuichi paused to think of what to say next. Eiri simply waited. The pink-haired devil sounded like an entirely different person when he asked in an incongruously calm voice, "Don't you still care for me? I know some part of you must if you let me in through the front door."

"I don't have to tell you." Yuki's face burned as he walked briskly to the living room table for his smokes. He silently cursed when they weren't there. He must have left them in the study.

Shuichi had not followed the disgruntled writer and he smiled oddly when Eiri made his way back. "Isn't it true? You would have left me outside all night if you didn't let me in. I could have caught a cold or maybe worse. Then I might have wandered the streets, thinking you were in those crowds. You let me inside the house so none of that stuff happened. You are nice."

Yuki burned even hotter as he glared at the person standing before him who acted strangely... logical. Shuichi didn't beat the floor or slam against his head against the walls in some attempt to figure out the situation. This new attitude creeped Eiri out for possibly the first time in their relationship. The real Shuichi would protest, yell, or act generally disagreeable in some way. Now he was a quiet peacemaker? What had just happened? In a swift move that must have been subconscious, one of Eiri's hands had its fingers wrapped firmly around the singer's delicate throat. "Don't. Talk."

Surprised by his movement, Shuichi kept smiling in that enigmatic way. "I am so right. And you know it. Uh, except maybe now."

Eiri jolted a bit when he realized that what he was doing was not the definition of nice. He let go of him.

"Don't...you want to say something to me?" A wounded tone ended Shuichi's question. He sounded more like himself now.

A million answers entered Eiri's thoughts, but he could only stare at the person who, as hard as it was to admit, meant more to him than the monster would ever know. Under his harsh glare, his lover's face faltered and Shuichi said quietly, "I missed you."

Eiri turned his back as jumble of feelings swirled around inside him like pale cream in coffee. He was at a loss to the right words to utter. He wasn't very good with being sentimental. His bare feet pattered across the short distance to the balcony's clear sliding doors, where he rested his hand on the door's cool glass. His focus settled on the small dots of brake and headlights from the occasional cars that passed by, then to the neighborhood. Staring out into the night-blackened buildings seemed like all he was doing lately.

Soon, or maybe much later, the weight of Shuichi's forehead rested against his back, a small hand taking solace from his shirt-tail. Barely a whisper, Shuichi prodded, "Didn't you miss me?"

Behind him in the dim reflection of the glass, Eiri made out a hopeful face that was struggling to keep the expression neutral. Hmph, I'm a romance novelist and I can't even say the words. What is right? Shuichi's face ticked Eiri off, and made him float gaily above the sea of brooding, and exasperated him, and worried him, and yet-

Lips crushed together, Eiri's tongue begging madly for his lover's. Some sort of protest got lost from the startled teen when Eiri's large hands were seizing his neck, drinking in a kiss like a desert wanderer longing for nourishment. A gasp leaked from Shuichi when they sank to their knees on the hardwood floor, but Eiri's lips possessed his again before speech could be coherent. There was an even louder gasp when they broke apart. Shuichi rubbed his backside after he landed roughly on it. His ragged breathing pleased Eiri. The blond smirked.

Shuichi's arms flailed, complementing the high pitch his voice took on. "Are you trying to suffocate me? That's not a very nice thing to do! Or are you telling me something?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" the kisser teased, glad not to have to say perfect words after all.

"I want to hear it from you."

"Figure it out yourself."

"Yukiiiiii! Pleasepleaseplease!" Shuichi was being stubborn now and he clung to Eiri's arm.

Eiri sighed heavily and carelessly tossed out, "You entered my thoughts periodically."

"You don't mean that!" Shuichi cried out.

"Hey, I did what you asked."

"Pleaaaaaase! I want to hear the truuuuuth! I want to hear it better!" The pink-haired ball of emotions had his eyes scrunched up and he looked pathetic enough to take pity on. Eiri suddenly felt euphoric when his gaze caressed Shuichi's face. The teenager turned remarkably quiet and very still. Eiri stirred at Shuichi's anticipation. He murmured slowly, "You were in my thoughts the whole time."

Pink circles appeared on Shuichi's cheeks. "You were in mine too. I didn't mean to make you worry. I was mad. Well, you'd know that best." He giggled in a pitch that Eiri couldn't normally stand, but the writer didn't mind today. A crestfallen expression filled Shuichi's face right then.. "I'm going to be in so much trouble when I go to rehearse tomorrow. Bad Luck is extra busy lately, but I really wanted a break."

"You won't be in any trouble."

"Huh?"

Eiri glanced away. "I asked Hiro to help you out with your manager so you wouldn't get into trouble. You were sick."

"Yuki!" The crazy teen bowled him over with a crushing hug and Eiri's vision tilted toward the ceiling. The added bulk of Shuichi's frame made him grunt, but the happy spaz never noticed. Shuichi just shouted, "Thanks so much! You're really, really, really kind!"

Warmth that showed in the faintest chuckle made Eiri say, "Hey, there's no need to tarnish my reputation."

Shiny amethyst eyes stared deep into Eiri's own and his insides fluttered once more. Shuichi smiled. "Too bad for you." His face didn't even smile fully before it fell yet again and he gasped at another revelation. "Your writing! Did you get sidetracked because of me? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't even think about your deadline! Then there's the..." A watery look began to fill his eyes.

Before ear-splitting wailing erupted, Eiri quickly placed a hand over Shuichi's mouth. He could only take so much of Shuichi's emotional changes in the same minute. "I'll make the deadline. I'll make it. There's no need for you to cry. Okay?"

Shuichi slowly nodded in understanding. Eiri felt relief and moved his hand away. The yearning for silence was short-lived. Shuichi cried anyway, but he smiled when he did it.

-

"So, how did your walk turn out?" Hiro and Ayaka lounged around on the floor in the tiny living room of his place. Hiro couldn't believe she had to leave already. Most of his time had been spent trying not to blow his stack like Sakano would whenever Shuichi went missing. For a brief moment, Hiro absolutely despised how Shuichi had ruined what he would have considered to be the best weekend in a long time, simply because Ayaka visited for more than an afternoon. Then he shrugged it off, feeling fine. Things happened. Shuichi came back home in one piece and he felt glad to spend any amount of time with Ayaka, even if it was pretty short. Ayaka had went for a walk by herself yesterday and when she returned, her face had a peaceful smile that he never quite saw before. Hiro didn't know what happened, so of course he tried to find out now. He had a pretty good idea what made her so happy, though.

Ayaka took a sip from a can of fizzy orange soda, her face appearing calm as usual. "It went well. I saw Tatsuha along the way. I hadn't seen him for weeks so it was nice to talk to him."

Hiro, who lay on his stomach beside her, propped up on his elbows. "So where did you see him?"

"He was near Eiri's place when I-" Ayaka stopped, looking caught.

He waved a hand for her to continue. "It's fine. I'm getting past this Eiri thing, really. It's nothing for me to worry about."

She paused a while longer, but she did speak again. "Well, I wanted to take your advice and tell Eiri how I felt. So I thought about going to his place, but then Tatsuha came and I got sidetracked. I did talk to Eiri afterwards. He was... kind." Ayaka's gaze drifted from him and she smiled a private smile. Hiro felt a pull inside him, but she looked at his face and explained, "He gave me his dessert. The whole thing. Chocolate cake. It tasted great."

Hiro laughed, mainly at himself. "You like chocolate cake, huh? I'll keep that in mind for future dates."

Ayaka's grin widened. "Well, the cake did help, but he spoke to me so openly. I mean, as open as I've heard him. He reminded me of you." A shy look crossed her face. "You're honest with me with your feelings and I appreciate it so much. Thank you for sticking with me even though we can't see each other too often." Before Hiro could say anything, Ayaka leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. She blushed madly.

Hiro felt like his face was going to crack from smiling so wide. Ayaka could surprise him in such unexpected ways.

THE END

A/N: Well, that's it! The end of my story. sniff I thank those readers who have been patient for my updates and for newcomers who liked my story enough to leave a review.