The Moments Between Us
Summary: A collection of one-shot/drabble moments shared between Natsume Hyūga and Ruka Nogi as strangers, enemies, best friends, and lovers. Based on a list of 100 personal challenge prompts on LJ.
Rating: K – M (but will be mostly classified as T)
Dislcaimer: i don't own gakuen alice. really. you can all stop harassing me now.
Memory 9 –From Our Whacked Out Dimension to Yours.
Pairing(s): AU!Natsume x Ruka; impliedbroken! NatsumexMikan, RukaxImai; Canon!friendship(?)futurellovers!NatsumexRuka
Warning(s): uhm, yaoi couples and scary fangirls? 0.o and oh! remember the AU for the first day of daycare with yo-chan? yeah, well this is the same AU natsumexruka from that time, but a couple of years earlier :D does that make sense? haha
Rating: K+
Summary: This is what happens when you have two meddling yaoi fangirls as your girlfriends.
Based on: Prompt 098 –Alternate Dimensions; Writer's Choice
"So…" nervous blue eyes glanced around the room, "does anybody want any tea?"
Two pairs of incredulous crimson and a pair of weirded out identical blue met his own before a tanned hand reached out, pulling the blonde male to a seat across from his doppelganger. "No tea for these weirdos, Ruka," the raven said, glaring at his look-alike with suspicious eyes. "Not until we figure out what the hell they are in the first place, and how the hell they ended up landing into our freaking beds at two in the morning."
The raven's look-alike who was clad in a black t-shirt and slim dark jeans rolled his identical crimson eyes, contempt clearly held on his face. The blonde's look-alike, who was wearing a white hoodie and jeans, calmly patted his companion's thigh underneath the table.
"We already told you," the look alike raven said, "Ruka's girlfriend accidentally sent us here with her stupid machine."
The raven-haired man in the pajama pants rolled his eyes at that. "And I told you, dumbass. Ruka is married to me—has been for five years now. Cut your bullshit and figure out another story to tell us." He took his blonde's hand and raised it just to prove the point, showing off their golden wedding bands as it glittered in the light of the small chandelier above them.
Everyone but the pajama clad raven blushed in the room as pajama clad Ruka took back his hand with a fierce embarrassed whisper of, "Natsume!"
Pajama clad Natsume wasn't paying attention though, watching the two blushing look-alikes in front of him squirm as they looked away from each other. "You're gonna tell me that you two aren't married?"
Jean clad Natsume looked at him and glared through his blush while jean clad Ruka shifted nervously next to him. "Of course we're not! We're not even… t-that w-way…" the last part was said in a small whisper that made the pajama clad Natsume roll his eyes irritably. This other him was starting to grate on his nerves pretty quickly with all his bullshit—not being with Ruka was something that pajama clad Natsume couldn't even dream about. It should be the same with these look-alikes—even if they came from some whacked out separate dimension or whatever stupid crap they were spouting off earlier.
"That's sort of sad…"
Pajama clad Natsume turned to his Ruka, a frown pulling at his lips when he noticed that his blonde was upset. Their hands moved together as if they were magnets that couldn't be pulled apart, and when Natsume's hand gripped tighter on Ruka's own, Ruka's frown turned a little more deeper and his eyes a little more sadder.
"They're not us, Ruka," Natsume said fiercely, making the blonde turn his saddened baby blue eyes to meet fiery crimson, "they're stupid phonies of us in some random whacked out universe." He leaned forwards and pressed a sweet kiss to his Ruka's lips, smiling gently at the blush that rose up as an immediate response. "Their universe has to be messed up if we're not together."
"Aww," jean clad Ruka cooed. Jean clad Natsume turned his glare onto his best friend at the sound, mouth turning into a sneer.
"How could you think that that's cute Ruka?" He practically shouted; face incredulous, "That's us! In freaking love with each other!"
Shouts of an offended "Hey!" came from pajama clad Ruka who glared with all of his might, his husband growling as a warning next to him. But out of the looks he got in the room, his best friend's hurt look was what he needed to feel like an instant jackass.
"Would it be so bad if we were like that…?"
Jean clad Natsume opened his mouth to say something but all that ended up coming out was a weak, "Ruka…?" The raven swallowed then, a frown at his lips as he ignored the glares from his look-alike. Natsume would always, always feel like shit when Ruka looked sad and hurt like that. Something in his stomach hurt whenever Ruka looked like that, and try as he may, Natsume just couldn't stop mentally blaming himself while wishing to take it all back.
"But Ruka… what about Mikan and Imai…?" Natsume tried again, not liking the painful lurch in his heart when he noticed that his Ruka was turned away from him. "I-I mean… do you really want to be like—like them?"
Jean clad Ruka didn't answer though, choosing instead to stand up, face still faced away from a hurt looking jean clad Natsume who looked as if he was a puppy that just got kicked by its master. "Can you help me?" Ruka said instead, turning to his pajama-clad twin. "I need some… tea…"
Pajama clad Ruka immediately stood up, chair scraping as he nodded briskly. His blue eyes sent signals to his partner who gave a brief nod before Ruka was off, leading his doppelganger into the kitchen to start a pot for the tea.
When the blondes left, pajama clad Natsume sighed as he sat back in his seat to watch his look alike fall apart. The jean clad male was scrunching up his raven hair in a habitual action that was similar to what pajama clad Natsume did when he was nervous or bewildered himself. The male scrunched up his nose when he realized that this stupid look-alike had some of the same habits as him, but he figured that they were bound to share some of the same things—even if the other male was an idiot.
"Would it really be so bad if you were like us?"
Jean clad Natsume broke away from his hair scrunching to blink at his look-alike, the other male staring back evenly with a raised eyebrow. "What?" he asked quietly.
"I said," the other Natsume sighed almost tiredly, "would it really be so bad if you were like us? Is it bad to be in love and happy?"
The jean clad Natsume looked pained, "I-I'm dating Mikan…"
His look-alike shook his head irritably, "I don't care who you're dating. I asked you a question and I want an answer." He narrowed his eyes at his tired looking other, "is it so bad to be loved and love in return? Are being both males something that you can't overlook? Even for love?"
"B-but I don't love Ruka like that…"
An eyebrow rose at that weak answer as the pajama clad Natsume smiled a small secretive smile. "Oh yeah," he said calmly, "is that why you're stomach is going through one hell of a painful rollercoaster right now? Because you guys are just friends, the reason can't be because of Ruka's pained looks, right? Because you obviously don't care about him that much, right?"
Natsume narrowed his eyes and glared, "stop being such a smartass"; his look alike grinned, "I'll stop when you stop being so obliviously stupid about Ruka's feelings."
The jean clad Natsume opened his mouth to say something more but quickly shut it when the blondes came in. When Ruka sat down next to his husband, he gave him a kiss and smiled brightly at his look alike who didn't even shift his head to acknowledge his own Natsume. The jean clad Ruka instead smiled back softly, picking up his teacup from the tray.
"So," the pajama clad Ruka said, "what did we miss?"
"This is your son?" the jean clad Ruka asked with a smile. He stared down at a sleeping baby Hyūga Yōichi with something akin to awe on his face, and the pajama clad Ruka, seeing it, smiled softly as he nodded.
"Yes," he said happily in a whisper, "Yo-chan is our baby boy." He brushed away the messy strands of hair away from the baby's sleeping face, leaning down to kiss the downy ashen hair before moving away. "Adopting him was the best thing to happen to us and when we got him, he was like a gift from above."
The jean clad Ruka chuckled, shaking his head in mirth. "I still can't picture Natsume being a papa though," he chuckled.
Pajama clad Ruka laughed along with his look alike, "me neither at first," he said with a shake of his head, "but trust me when I say that he's a natural-born papa!"
The mood turned somber as the jean clad Ruka remembered his best friend. It had hurt when Natsume spoke of them being together as something hideous. Ruka had found it sweet and had secretly hoped in his heart for something to happen, but with a few choice words, Natsume had crushed it all down with his sharp tongue and his idiotic tendencies to talk before thinking.
The trip back toward the guest room was silent, but the pajama clad Ruka broke it when they arrived at the door. The identical blonde smiled at his saddened look-alike, taking his hands with his own in a warm grip. "Everything will work out just fine," the pajama clad blonde said, "if it's meant to happen in your world, then it will." The blonde pulled his saddened twin into a tight hug, "you just have to be patient with the stupid," he chuckled and pulled away, "sooner or later he'll get it." Jean clad Ruka smiled at that and nodded, walking in the room when his doppelganger pushed the door open into the fairly spacious and stylish guest room.
"If you'll be here later and Yo-chan stays asleep longer, you're welcome to join us for brunch—"
"If somebody's awake at that time, cause I sure as hell know I won't." pajama clad Natsume cut in. He chuckled when his slighter husband good-naturedly slapped him on his chest, blue eyes rolling in faux irritation that was heavily drowned out by his amusement.
Jean clad Ruka's lips twitched in his own form of amusement while jean clad Natsume looked sadly upon his blonde who didn't even spare him a single glance when he walked in the room.
"Before some people rudely interrupted—"
"By landing in certain people's beds from out of nowhere at two in the morning"
"—there are some extra pajamas laid out on the bed for you to change into before you sleep." The pajama clad blonde finished with a smile, ignoring his raven-haired husband all together as jean clad Ruka watched with a small chuckle.
The two blondes hugged briefly again as the two ravens watched from the sidelines. "I'll see you later, hopefully," the pajama clad blonde smiled, "but if I don't, just remember what I said and you'll be fine."
The jean clad blonde smiled and hugged the other blonde again, pulling away with a small laugh. "Thanks for the advice."
Pajama clad Ruka nodded with a small laugh of his own, moving away with a nod. "Good night then," he said in a happy chirp; then he was gone, dragging his own Natsume behind as they disappeared behind the closing door.
"Ruka—"
"Go to sleep, Natsume."
"No… I-I…" a gulp, "I need to say this before I…say something else entirely stupid."
A sigh was his only answer, Ruka's body shifting and rustling the white sheets as he moved to turn and face Natsume on his side. The light of dawn was seeping through the drapes of the window, enough so that they could see each other.
"What is it?"
"I-I just…" Natsume started, "I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry about the… stupid."
Ruka nodded, eyes already starting to blink to try to keep the sleepiness away.
"And I just wanted to say that it's wouldn't be bad," Natsume moved his hands, gesturing to Ruka himself as the blonde lifted a sleepy confused eyebrow. "I-it wouldn't be bad if I were to fall in love with you…"
Blue eyes met crimson steadily without fear for a couple of heartbeats. Then Ruka smiled at the nervous raven, moving closer so that he could nuzzle his face sleepily into Natsume's collarbone, falling back on his old habits of sleepy cuddling.
"Apology—"he yawned, "accepted." The blonde smiled a sleepy smile, hand patting the raven's cheek in a comforting manner, "now go to sleep, silly Natsume."
The raven froze for a moment, his brain trying to register all the emotions that filled his body. That was when he realized that disgust and hate wasn't in any of the warm mixture he was feeling, and Natsume, staring down at the blonde in his arms, figured that he could get used to the feelings he was feeling. As he wrapped his arms around Ruka's slighter frame, he nodded to himself. Yes, he figured, he could certainly get used to falling asleep like this.
As they fell asleep, the two men missed the light that enveloped them, whisking them away as if they weren't ever there and bringing them back to their dimension where they landed ungracefully onto an awaiting bed. The impact woke them as they both blearily sat up, still close together as they looked around, trying to make sense of everything that just happened through their sleep induced fog.
Hearing giggling, they turned to where their girlfriends stood. Both girlfriends had mischievous smiles on their faces and when they high-fived each other, it suddenly occurred to Natsume that they had been in some part of an experiment.
"Did it work though?" Imai asked, pondering the question as she smiled down at a sleepy Ruka and a confused Natsume.
"One way to find out," Mikan said with a smile. She turned to face Natsume and said out clearly, "I'm breaking up with you," with a grin on her face.
Natsume could only blink in confusion and the girls waited with held breaths. They watched as he looked between Mikan and Ruka before bursting into a smile and shrugging.
"If you're done messing with our lives…" Natsume drawled out with a small smirk. He gestured to Ruka who was drooling away on Natsume's shoulder, oblivious to the world and its happenings.
The girls looked at each other and giggled. "We're done," Imai said with a small laugh, "I'll break up with Ruka tomorrow so you guys can sleep—"
"Or do something else entirely, we don't mind." Mikan said with a small perverted giggle.
Natsume only raised his eyebrow, nodding to the door. "Just sleep thanks," he said, "as soon as you guys leave the damn room."
Mikan pouted as Imai dragged her out, but when they were finally gone, Natsume carefully took his time to lay Ruka down on the bed they were on. He carefully pulled the covers up for the both of them before lying down himself, cuddling his blonde closer to his body.
Natsume didn't know what was going to happen after this, but as he held Ruka close he figured it wouldn't be as bad as some things that could happen. Instead of missing out on five years of marriage to his blonde, Natsume could've missed out on meeting Ruka at all. Yes, Natsume thought to himself, worst things could have happened. After all, he could have been living in some whacked out world without the blonde by his side or something.
Now that, he figured, that would have been downright horrible.
A/N: this chapter took me a long time to write and i'm still not satisfied with it :/ but at least i made the deadline right? :D well, i hope you guys get something out of this haha. a ray of sunshine on your saddened cloudy days maybe? xD
word for commenting this week: fiddle faddle! (haha, i'm currently eating them too :D)
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