A/N: Finally gave in and bought the last two volumes of Gravi...
I'm sensing, after that ending, that after this and Disillusionment, that I'll be writing a lot of Gravi fluff from now on. I'll have to reread Dhampir's Cutting Through It All to get myself in the mood for Disillusionment! (btw, if you haven't read Dhampir's fics, please do; they're incredibly well written, perfectly in character, and frighteningly realistic. Just be forewarned to get lots and lots of tissues.)
Ethereality
soumanyon
Chapter 4 - Lost Heaven
If a pink-haired boy sprinting down busy Tokyo streets in an overlarge shirt, tight pants, and carrying a pair of boxers looked weird, Shuichi didn't care. When he got to Hiro's place, he was out of breath and panting, sweat dripping down his face and effectively disguising the tears that had fallen in his dash from Yuki's apartment.
"Hiro!" Shuichi banged on the door, "Hiro! Open up, it's me!"
Finally, the brown-haired guitarist opened the door with bleary eyes to his best friend.
"the hell, Hiro?"
"Funny," the guitarist yawned, "I was just about to ask you that."
"Why are you sleeping at…" Shuichi glanced at his wrist, no watch. "in the afternoon?"
"Why are you dripping sweat on my doorstep and holding your boxers?" Hiro shot back. Shuichi bit his lip, looking away,
"Yuki—" but he was cut off.
"Shuic—goddammit, I said I didn't…" Hiro huffed angrily, "I didn't want to hear anymore about him."
"I know!" Shuichi pleaded, "I know, it's just that I was at his apartment…"
Hiro winced, tilting his head back to look up at the sky before sighing in exasperation, motioning his friend inside. After Shuichi had helped himself to Hiro's shower and they were sitting on the couch, Shuichi toweling his hair dry in his retrieved pair of boxers, they continued their conversation.
"You were at his apartment," Hiro continued with a sigh, "and you saw Ayaka."
It was Shuichi's turn to wince. "Why her?" he begged his friend for answers, "I thought you and her were…"
Hiro chuckled bitterly, "Shuichi, I slept with you."
"Only for a week!" Shuichi protested with a blush. They had later decided that it was too awkward and returned to being friends and only friends.
Hiro continued, ignoring Shuichi's outburst, "Ayaka didn't like that."
Shuichi puzzled, "I thought you two weren't together back then?"
Hiro winced again, squinting his eyes in thought, before finally replying. His words were carefully chosen so as not to make Shuichi any more guilty about their little affair than he already was. Than the both of them already were.
"Off and on." He shrugged casually but Shuichi still inhaled sharply. "Oh."
Shuichi stared down at the towel in his lap, his bangs effectively hiding his eyes from Hiro.
"So now she's getting back at me."
"By sleeping with Yuki Eiri," Hiro nodded, "Yes."
"B-but," Shuichi coughed, disguising the hiccup in his voice, "But why's Yuki…" the rest was left unsaid but Hiro understood. And there was no easier answer.
"Why is he sleeping with her? Shuichi, he rubbed off on you more than you'd ever think. Or you rubbed off on him." Hiro chuckled, "What did you do afterwards? Think about it."
Shuichi did think. And he blushed a very, very deep crimson.
Hiro, Ryuichi, Suguru, Tohma, that one creepy time. Hell, he'd almost considered Sakano.
"Oh." Shuichi's reply was quiet, embarrassed. "But he wasn't the one--!" Shuichi stopped, eyes brimming again like all the nights Hiro had rocked him to sleep, the week after.
"He wasn't the one betrayed." Hiro nodded, opening his arms to Shuichi, who leapt on his friend, clinging to Hiro once again as he sobbed out his pain.
tbc...
I don't hate Ayaka, really. I used to but I got over that. Still...it just wrote itself in, strangely enough.
And truthfully, is there anyone who hasn't been guilty of the post-breakup race of trying to get back into the game faster than the ex?