SO, my internet decided to collapse on me for a few days. I finally got someone to fix it, though, and now the updates shall continue...

Title: Thanks

date written: 10-17-06

Pairings: a little Oshitari/Gakuto

Warnings: a little bit angsty...

Gakuto was very light.

Oshitari shifted the weight in his arms, trivial though it was, afraid of dropping his partner. He tried to avoid thinking about the events of the afternoon, an effort to get his heart-rate back to normal, concentrating instead on the limp form and how light he was, even as dead weight.

He shouldn't be surprised, he knew. Gakuto was slightly built for a boy their age, and everyone was always commenting on how weightless he looked when performing his acrobatics. Even so, he had never really thought about how small his partner was, or how delicate.

Oshitari's grip tightened, drawing the other boy closer to him as he thought about it. The pressure must have done something, because suddenly Gakuto was stirring in his arms. The redhead opened his eyes groggily, staring around himself with dull confusion.

"What…? …Yuushi?"

"I'm taking you to the nurse's office," Oshitari stated, unable to keep the relief out of his voice. "You fainted."

Gakuto looked at him blankly for a moment and Oshitari, worried about the unresponsiveness, wondered if he was really okay. Then the redhead knit his brow and scowled.

"I did not faint," he denied adamantly. "And I don't need to go to the nurse's office. Yuushi, I'm fine. Put me down."

"Gakuto, you almost fell off the bleachers. You probably hit your head on the way down, and the fact that you passed out at all is enough to warrant a trip to the nurse."

Gakuto was silent. He didn't seem particularly inclined to argue, which was a little worrisome because Gakuto was almost always in the mood to argue. Oshitari continued to walk, still holding his doubles partner bridal-style.

"Did everybody see me…" he struggled to find a word that didn't sound girly.

"Not-faint?" Oshitari supplied, smirking a little at the expression on the acrobat's face. "Pretty much the whole team did, yes. I wouldn't worry about them very much, though. I doubt they'll mock you for it, not for a few days at least."

It had been far too scary to make light of. The Hyoutei bleachers were impressively big, and if Gakuto had fallen backwards instead of forwards he might have been killed on impact.

"I'm never going to hear the end of it…" Gakuto grumbled. "That bastard Shishido better not say anything. If I hear one crack about—"

"Gakuto," Oshitari interrupted him before he started on his little tirade, "have you eaten anything today?"

Gakuto blinked, mumbled something, and fell silent. Oshitari frowned.

"Gakuto…"

"I overslept, okay?" Gakuto said defensively. "I didn't have time for breakfast and I forgot my lunch."

Oshitari remembered vaguely wondering where his doubles partner was at lunch that day. They usually ate together outside, but the acrobat had been mysteriously absent. He had guessed that Gakuto had been given detention by one of his many disapproving teachers, and hadn't thought much more about it.

"Why didn't you just eat in the cafeteria?"

Gakuto snorted.

"That stuff isn't food Yuushi, it's disgusting. You know that."

Oshitari had to admit that he was right on that count. Hyoutei might have been a rich school but cafeteria food was still cafeteria food wherever you went and it was, by definition, inedible. The fact that most of the students brought lunches from home only made the staff stop trying to make anything consumable. It wasn't enough to give Gakuto an excuse to skip two meals, though.

"You could have asked for some of mine," Oshitari said mildly. Gakuto didn't say anything to this, but Oshitari hadn't expected him to. It was a strange quirk of personality that Gakuto, who loved to bully and convince people into buying things for him, was strangely reticent about accepting actual offers. Oshitari had come to the conclusion that this was because the redhead viewed coercing people as a challenge and a triumph, but denounced gifts that came from sympathy as charity. He was proud and independent, and staunchly refused to believe that he needed charity. Gakuto probably avoided him at lunch for that very reason; he knew Oshitari would offer him food and that it would be rude to refuse, but he was loath to accept it.

Oshitari sighed. Everything would be so much easier if Gakuto could just accept that sometimes people did things out of sheer affection, and not pity.

"Yuushi, will you put me down already?" Gakuto had that sour look on his face again. "I'm fine. I refuse to be treated like a girl!"

"Of course, Gakuto," Oshitari replied. Even so, he carried him the rest of the way to the nurse's office, holding onto his doubles partner—who now felt quite a lot heavier in his arms than he had before—even when the redhead threatened to bite him. For some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to let go.

------

The next week, Gakuto forgot his lunch again. This fact did not surprise Oshitari in the least. What did surprise him was that Gakuto told him about it that morning, complaining that his clock was broken and he'd missed breakfast and forgotten his lunch and half of his homework and been late to class and it was raining damn it and he was wet because he didn't have his umbrella either and Yuushi was going to damn well share his lunch with him because Yuushi didn't want to know what would happen if he became a contributing factor to what Gakuto was beginning to refer to as his own personal "day of hell."

"Besides," the acrobat added, with a glint in his eyes, "you owe me for last week. I've never been so humiliated in my life, you dork."

Oshitari simply passed his partner the bento without a word, recognizing a thank-you when he heard it.