A/N: I'm loving the response, thank you and keep the comments coming!
By the way, the length of this fic is five chapters, and we're already on number two. It'll definitely be finished before Christmas, so hang on to something; we're moving pretty fast.
Ethereality
soumanyon
Chapter 2-Existence
"Shuichi…" Tatsuha murmured in his lover's ear, still spooned against him and fiddling with soft pink hair, "Do you ever miss him?"
In the pseudo-dark of the curtained room, Shuichi sighed, shifting uncomfortably. What was there to say to that?
"Do you ever miss him?" he retorted softly, stroking the back of Tatsuha's hand and pressed his lips against it remorsefully as he felt his lover flinch against him.
"How can I?" Tatsuha's tone had a badly concealed tinge of bitterness, "I've never…" Tatsuha stopped and faded into a sigh that echoed Shuichi's as he tightened his embrace, crushing the smaller man to him. "I like you, Shu-chan." He nuzzled into soft pink hair that used to smell like strawberries. Now it was a spicy orange and Tatsuha loved it. "I like you a lot."
Shuichi smiled. "I like you, too, Tatsuha."
Silence.
"Good." Came the younger man's reply, muffled by Shuichi's hair, "because it'd be hell to find another good fuck—ow!" Tatsuha groaned as he curled around Shuichi's elbow that was jabbed into his stomach. He winced before laughing it off as Shuichi sputtered indignantly.
It was near noon when Shuichi's whines of starvation were getting too irritating and the pair finally got out of bed.
Shuichi stumbled off to the kitchen, miraculously being the better cook of the two, while Tatsuha was stuck making the bed and changing all their soiled sheets. It was all fun and games until someone had to clean up bodily fluids that had had a few hours to dry. He resigned himself to daintily grabbing the sheets at the corners and edges where, hopefully, they were clean.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Shuichi was happily standing guard over the toaster which he could satisfactorily work. When the smoke alarms finally quieted after the smoke from his failed attempt at eggs had dissipated, he heard Tatsuha's voice from inside the bedroom. Curious, he padded out of the kitchen to investigate.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Tatsuha was standing in his boxers and an overlarge T-shirt, apparently on the phone. "Don't worry, he's fine."
Tatsuha's face scrunched up in annoyance in a way that Shuichi found absolutely adorable. He squeaked before he could get his oven-mitted hands over his mouth.
"What? Yeah." A roll of the eyes. Apparently, Tatsuha did that a lot. "Sure you don't."
He winked at Shuichi waving sheepishly from the door.
"I gotta go, but I'll come over to pick up some boxers for him later. Uh-huh." A smirk grew into an evil grin, "Hell yeah. Bye, bro." Tatsuha put down the phone and looked up to an ashen-faced Shuichi.
"T-that was…" he pointed at the phone that Tatsuha had just set down. "Yu—uh, your brother?" he tried for a casual tone that failed miserably.
"Yep." Tatsuha nodded, "So what'd you make? Toast? Do we have any jam?"
Shuichi trailed him to the kitchen wordlessly. Sure, it had been a month or two…or one month, two weeks, four days, seventeen hours, and twenty-two minutes ago…give or take a few, but it felt like years. He'd tried so hard to forget Yuki that having the fact that they were very much in the same country much less a few blocks away shoved in his face was really a startling revelation.
By the time Shuichi woke from his reverie, Tatsuha had finished inhaling his food and was getting dressed. Shuichi followed him back to his room, his own plate untouched.
"Where are you going?"
Tatsuha frowned, looking away, only mumbling a barely intelligible apology before turning away to search for his favorite jeans.
Shuichi knew what that meant.
For some reason going to visit Ryuichi always made Tatsuha uncomfortable around Shuichi, even though the pink-haired singer had made it clear that he didn't care. But for some reason, Tatsuha always felt guilty about the double-timing, if it could even be called that.
It wasn't as if the little dates he went on with Ryuichi Sakuma were anything less than innocent. The so-called genius vocalist probably didn't even realize that they were dates. He treated them like field trips. They'd go to the movies or to the mall or to a nice restaurant for dinner. Sometimes they'd go to the carnival or Ryuichi's eternal favorite, the zoo.
And every time, Tatsuha would return to Shuichi for a night of earth-shattering sex. Sometimes it was gentle; how he'd act if it were actually Ryuichi moaning under him. Sometimes it was rough and Shuichi's fantasies would be lent a new dimension of realism.
Either way, once the lights were out, it was a thoroughly enjoyable time for the both of them. A twisted partnership to fulfill each others' fantasies. If there was something wrong with that, neither of them cared. After all, it was better to be someone, anyone, than to be alone.
And if that someone happened to look extraordinarily like your beloved and you happened to look like theirs...well, it was a pleasant perk.
tbc...