Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation, as much as want to.
Chapter 8:
"Tooku de me o hikarasete mezameru monotachi matte iru yoru no jouheki sasowarete utsurisumu mure no nukegara ni," Shuichi sang aloud as he washed dishes. He and Ryuichi had a rather large dinner and Shuichi felt like it was the least he could do after Ryuichi went through all the trouble of preparing all the food.
Though Ryuichi didn't seem like he had enough sense to do so, but he was a rather good cook, on either side of his personality to be frank. Shuichi was impressed. Ryuichi had made them fried rice, and what Ryuichi liked to call a 'Geisha Special', that consisted of a salad with ginger dressing, fried vegetables that were drowned in soy sauce, soy sauce marinated shrimp, and steak and chicken.
(A/N): I have had that combination before and it was served seperately by dish, and it was REALLY goodAnd I got the Geisha Special from a Japanese Restaurant called Shoguns.
"Ah, Shu-chan, you don't have to do the dishes na no da." Ryuichi said in his usual childish, whiney voice.
Shuichi grinned. "Sure I do. You overdid yourself with the food. You suprise me. I didn't think you could cook so well."
Ryuichi leaned over on Shuichi, snuggling into his side like a cat. "Oooh, there is a lot of things that are unknown about me, Shu-chan. Just ask Kuma-kun...I can be a VERY civilized person."
Shuichi snorted. Ryuichi's face fell. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! I can! See, I'll prove it!"
Ryuichi sat down on the floor, crossed his legs and arms, his head high, trying to make himself look proud; Kumagoro perched on his head. He looked completely silly. Shuichi had to struggle to hold back a laugh and go pinch Ryuichi's cheeks. He looked so adorably pathetic.
"Civilized people don't sit on the floor, Ryu-chan." Shuichi informed him, taking a towel and drying his hands.
Ryuichi pouted. "Some might.."
Shuichi snorted again, making Ryuichi pout even more.
"You're such a meanie!" he yelled, tears forming in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Ryu-chan. It can be civilized in your own way, ok?" Shuichi said kneeling down in front of Ryuichi and patting his shoulder.
Ryuichi turned his face, still pouting. He was trying to play hard-headed to catch Shuichi's full attention. He just loved messing around with him.
"Ryu-chan!!! Don't be like that!" Shuichi started panicking. He grabbed Ryuichi's chin and stared at him straight in the eye. Ryuichi still pouted, but eyes were glinting with mischief. "Ryu-chan!!!"
Ryuichi snorted then burst out in a loud laugh, jumping forward, glomping Shuichi, sending him flying to the floor.
"Ryuichi can't stay mad at Shu-chan!" he said giggling.
Shuichi, after recovering from the shock, returned Ryuichi's embrace (if you considered a death hold a hug).
"I'm glad to hear that, Ryu, now can you get off of me?" he said pushing Ryuichi up.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Shu-chan!" Ryuichi let himself up off the floor and helped Shuichi to his feet. His eyes suddenly widened. "OoOoOh!! Shuichi-kun, I got an idea na no da!!"
Shuichi raised an eye brow to his boyfriend. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, a wide, goofy grin spread across his face. He didn't know whether to like it or not.
"Let's watch a scary movie na no da!"
"Um...are you sure that's a good idea? Scary movies are...well...scary."
"That's the point! And when I get scared I can cuddle up with my Shu-chan! And vice-versa, haha na no da!"
Shuichi smiled and shook his head. "You are too much, Ryu."
"So, is that a yes or a no?"
"I don't know..."
"COME OOOOOOOON, SHUUUUUICHI!!! PWEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's been a while since I last watched a scary movie..Tohma pretty much banded me from them after what happened last time...but that's not important! I wanna watch one, PWEASE!!"
Shuichi had heard about what happened the last time Ryuichi watched a scary movie. Poor thing didn't sleep for days, didn't go anywhere alone, and kept the lights on in every room of his house. Tohma had gotten fed up with it, because he was being ridiculous. He tried reasoning with Ryuichi that the movies weren't real but Ryuichi wouldn't hear it. So, Tohma banned him from watching them ever again. Truthfully, Shuichi didn't like them himself. He had watched one with Hiro one time, because Hiro was a fanatic of those kind of movies and nothing like that seemed to effect him, but Shuichi was scarred for life. They watched The Ring. Shuichi didn't answer his phone or watch TV for weeks. After literally getting the sense knocked back into him by Hiro, he got over his phase, but refused to watch them anymore.
"PWEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ryuichi started pulling on his sleeves on the verge of crying. Shuichi thought he looked too cute to turn down.
"Fine...but if it gets too scary let's turn it off, okay?"
"YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OKAY SHU-CHAN, I PROMISE!"
Ryuichi ran upstairs. CLATTER! CLANG! BANG! CRACK! Shuichi, getting slightly scared, walked into the kitchen and peered up the stairs only to see Ryuichi running down the happily, a DVD in his hand. He held it up so Shuichi could see what it was. It was Freddy vs. Jason.
"K-san had gotten me this a few years ago for my birthday. Since Tohma had banned me from watching them I never watched it." Ryuichi said with a blush.
"It's ok. I haven't seen it either." Shuichi answered.
"YAY! So, it's new to both of us. hehe." Ryuichi went up to the TV, adjusting it to the right input to play the DVD player, turning the player on, popping in the DVD (after struggling to get the wrapper off the DVD and finally having to ask Shuichi to take it off, who did with ease), and running around the room turning lights out, then plopping on the couch beside Shuichi.
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"Leave Shuichi alone."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"But why?"
"Because I said so, that's why."
"But, look what he did to you! Look what he drove you to! I cannot let him get away with it!"
"I have already told you, it was all me, not Shuichi. And, I don't want you going anywhere near him."
"Why are you trying to protect him?"
"Because he isn't the one to blame in this. I am. End of story. Just leave him out of it."
Hikaru stared hard at his love sitting in the hospital bed beside him. "Yuki, don't blame yourself. You were just following your heart. You can't blame yourself for that, can you?"
"No...and I am not blaming myself for following my heart. I am blaming myself for putting so much hurt on such an innocent person."
"Yuki, you tried making him leave before, but he kept coming back! It's all his fault, not yours! He's the one who wore on you, eating away at your mind until...until THIS happened." He threw a dirty look at the hospital bed.
"Tell me how Shuichi drove me to this."
Hikaru was silent for a moment, thinking carefully for what to say before speaking again. "He made you feel guilty!"
"There is one thing you don't seem to understand, Hikaru... People can't make you do anything. They can instigate actions but it's completely your choice whether to do them or not. So, them blame doesn't go on anyone but yourself because YOU made that decision...They didn't make it for you."
"Yuki, this isn't like you at all..."
Yuki stared out the window. Hikaru was right, he wasn't himself at all. He felt like he had been completely immature in his decisions. He had been very selfish and didn't think of the outcomes of any of his actions. He had done Shuichi completely wrong. He wanted nothing more than for Shuichi to just forgive him. He hadn't talked to Shuichi since that short conversation on the instant messenger a couple of days before. Shuichi had left him saying that he was with Ryuichi and that he (Yuki) could carry on his life with Hikaru, but Yuki didn't feel forgiveness. Even though he didn't see Shuichi's face when he typed those words, he knew that Shuichi was far from forgiving him. Shuichi loved him after all, right? Who could just up and forgive anyone for doing something like that to them?
"Yuki, please..."
"Stay away from him, Hikaru." Yuki said in a final tone. "If anyone is going to confront him, I want it to be me. I want to settle it with him myself. Understand?"
"Yes, Eiri-san."
Yuki nodded at his love, Hikaru. He noticed that sadness and jealousy was in his lovers eyes. He felt even worse for making Hikaru feel that way, but he couldn't help it. He was going to protect Shuichi, no matter what. He owed him at least that much.
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Tatsuha didn't know who to turn to. He knew a plan to get to Shuichi..he had to go right to the source of Shuichi's weakness. He had thought about going after his brother, or Hiro, or even Ryuichi himself, but he knew none of those would work. He couldn't get close enough to any of them to have any effect. So, he decided on this: to get Shuichi by manipulating him with his favorite food in the world..pocky. It sounded ridiculous, even to himself, at first. But, actually it was rather brilliant. He would ask Shuichi to meet up with him somewhere because he wanted to have to talk to him one on one over a box of pocky. Then and there he would "take care" of Shuichi, then go back to Ryuichi to face him with the "sullen news that Shuichi has disappeared" and win the ex-Grasper's heart from there.
'Haha, Shuichi will never know what hit him.' Tatsuha thought as he sat alone in his room again, his plan still in the works.
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Only half-way into the movie Shuichi and Ryuichi were entangled in each others limbs, screaming and crying, clinging to each other like the little children they were.
"AHH, I can't watch!" Shuichi yelled.
"Me either!" Ryuichi replied.
They both turned their heads away, turning them back slightly to get a peek, and immediatly turning them back when they saw blood.
"I don't like this movie, Shu-chan! Let's watch something else!"
"I completely agree!"
Ryuichi and Shuichi somehow magically got untangled from each other and one bounced off the couch and ran upstairs, though not without peeking around every corner to make sure it was okay to go in, to look for another movie, and the other went to the DVD player to take the movie out, but not without peering inside the DVD player to make sure it was okay inside of it, too.
"HERE'S SOMETHING!"
Ryuichi came bounding down the stairs, a DVD case gripped tightly in his hands. He showed it to Shuichi. It was one the seasons of South Park, Shuichi wasn't quite sure.
"PWEASE! I love this show!" Ryuichi said, sounding much like Gir off of Invader Zim.
"You love that show, too! AWESOME!" Shuichi yelled. "YES, OF COURSE YOU CAN PUT IT IN!"
Ryuichi grinned wide and put in the DVD. All through it both of them quoted almost the whole thing.
"Eric, did you just say the 'f' word?" Shuichi mocked.
"Jew?" Ryuichi replied, sounding almost just like Cartman.
"No, FUCK! He means FUCK you FUCKING fat ass."
Both of them laughed until they cried.
"How would you like to see the school counselor?" Ryuichi mocked,
"How would you like to suck my balls?" Gasp.
"What did you just say?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, what I meant to say was," Shuichi pulled out an imaginary megaphone, "how would you like to suck my balls, Mr. Garrison."
They roared in laughter.
"Ah, Shu-chan, I had no idea that you liked this show as much as I do."
Shuichi suddenly got an idea. He leaned over on Ryuichi and started rubbing himself on him like a cat. "Oooh, there are a lot of things that are unknown about me, Ryu-chan." he said with a mischievious grin.
After a few minutes Ryuichi finally caught on to what he was implying (about what happened earlier that day in the kitchen). He blushed slightly, but grinned back nonetheless.
"You are one sly fox, Shu-chan."
Shuichi grinned and leaned in closer to Ryuichi. "I like being sneaky. Never what I might do..."
Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke.
"AHH, SHU-CHAN, THAT TICKLES!" Ryuichi yelled as Shuichi poked him in the side.
He felt backwards on the couch, Shuichi on top of him and not stopping poking him. Ryuichi struggled to get Shuichi to stop, but he couldn't because he was laughing so hard.
"Shu...can't...hahaha...breathe...haha!"
Shuichi finally stopped to let him catch his breath.
"SNEAKY FOX!" Ryuichi pointed at Shuichi, who grinned.
He layed his head down on Ryuichi's chest and began tracing the designs on his shirt with his forefinger. Ryuichi relaxed and started playing with his boyfriend's pink hair. They were both silent for a while, just soaking in each others company and the warm comfort of the silence.
"You're CD release is tommorrow, isn't it?" Ryuichi asked.
"Nhn. I'm excited. Sakano-san says he has really high hopes for this one."
"That's great." Ryuichi answered.
A few more minutes of silence.
"Ryu, how did Nittle Grasper get to be so popular?"
"The same way that Bad Luck did. Only, I didn't really have an influence. Tohma was the one who found me."
"Tohma found you?"
"Yeah. It was interesting. I have been friends with Tohma for a long time before then, but all that time he didn't know just what a singer I was."
"When did he realize how awesome you were?"
"He was over at my house one day while we were in high school. I was in the shower and he heard me singing. So, after that, he, Noriko, and I got together and decided to make the band. Noriko wasn't one of the most popular kids. None of us were. Tohma, me, nor Noriko, believe it or not. But we sure suprised them, didn't we? haha."
"Yeah, I would say so. I find that odd, because Hiro and I have always been popular at school. It was Sakano-san that thought we had potential, and look where we are now. haha."
"You have come far, Shu. The job is not easy, so you should be proud."
"Oh, don't worry, I am. I wouldn't be anywhere if it wasn't for you, though."
"Me? You didn't even know me back then."
"I know, but I idolized you..and still do to that matter. I always looked up to your work. I always wanted to be like you and everything. I knew everything I thought there was to know about you, well, as much as the internet, magazines, and news shows would tell you. Everything that I wanted to be revolved around you." Shuichi said, Ryuichi listening intently. "And, now look where I am. I have already surpassed Grasper, and I am lying here with my idol, and not just that..I am my idol's boyfriend. It feels like a dream, sort of. But, if it is, I don't want to wake up."
"Shuichi..."
"If it's a dream, it's a damn good one." Shuichi said with a shy smile, looking into Ryuichi's eyes.
Ryuichi caressed Shuichi's cheek with his thumb, gently putting his hand on the back of Shuichi's head and pulled him into a gentle kiss.
'I definatly don't want to wake up..' Shuichi thought as he closed his eyes and deepened the kiss.