Author's Note: I'm so sorry guys! I'm so eager for Kyo and Yuki that I'm having a hard time focusing on Yuki and Haru lol a couple things I am sorry for in advance: this chapter...I had such a hard time and decided this morning that it MUST be finished. I'm also sorry for not going to the twenty-four hour clock format...I'm from America and we don't speak that way sooooo...also it's been forever since I've read FRUBA so I'm sorry if a) my characterizations aren't the best and b) Black Haru's characterization...I know it has to be a little off. Anyway, happy reading! I'm HOPING to get the next chapter up in a few weeks, but we shall see...hopefully I'll fly right through these chapters so I can start getting to the juicy stuff :D
Chapter Seven
In Which The Boys Share Their First Date
Yuki tossed and turned in his sleep, restless. He kept flopping out of his blankets, only to shiver and get cold enough that he awoke and had to situate his sleeping arrangements again. It always took him a few minutes to return to his seemingly endless slumber. He kept being half asleep and thinking "is it morning yet?" He knew he was dreaming, but every time he gained the slightest bit of consciousness, he couldn't for the life of him remember what it was precisely that his mind was concocting for night time dreams. When he did finally awaken - for real, this time - he sat up groggily, his head feeling like it weighed a metric ton. He brought a tired hand to his eyes and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands. He drew his fingers through his hair and took a stretch before placing his feet on the floor. He stood up and stretched once more. Today was definitely be a morning where he wasn't going to be able to function without a shower. In a daze, the boy made his way down to the bathroom. He stepped in and turned on the hot water. As the water surrounded him with warmth, he finally began to relax a little bit. Relaxation continued with his fingers massaging shampoo into his hair, it was like a personal head massage with the combination of his fingers and the water. He turned off the water when he was finished and opened the shower door. Just as he was about to grab for a towel, the bathroom door abruptly opened to reveal none other than Kyo. Both boys froze, a deep shade of maroon reflecting on each of their faces. Yuki was the first to recover, finishing the action of capturing the towel and holding it over himself like an embarrassed girl. Kyo continued to stand there, mouth a little open, face red, completely horrified.
"Um, Kyo?" Yuki said in a patient, soft, but slightly annoyed tone.
Kyo shook his head violently. "AH!" He screamed awkwardly and jumped back. "What?!" He answered to Yuki, his voice still a little too loud and distressed.
Yuki smirked and shook his head slowly. "Will you mind, terribly, leaving the bathroom for a few minutes so I can dry off?" Kyo looked dumbfounded. He furrowed his brow and returned to his usual 'I'm Kyo and Yuki is a thorn in my side' expression.
"Yea, whatever," He said blandly and backed out of the door, his face still a little flushed. Yuki stood there for a second, while the color continued to leave his own face. Why did he just stand there? He drew himself out of that thought and continued to dry off before he made his way to his room.
And that was how Yuki's day started. Luckily, he chose not to dwell on the awkward encounter shared between rival housemates. Instead, he decided to think about school. It was official: Haru and Yuki were together. Would Haru want to act any differently towards Yuki? Would he want to hold hands? Would he want to walk with him to each class? Would he carry his books for him? The latter seemed highly unlikely, but who knew. Yuki was still bewildered that Haru liked him. He was also completely awestruck when he found he had feelings for men, not that it was a big deal, but shouldn't he have known that prior to Haru being interested? Would Haru insist on kissing in the halls and on a lot of public displays of affection? Were these all things that came with the relationship title?! Yuki didn't know if he was ready for those kinds of things yet. He hated to think about what other people would say, but it was a present thought in his mind. Would his classmates insist that because he was gay, that should be even more incentive to dress him up in girlish attire?
A deep and heavy sigh came from him then while he, Tohru, and Kyo were walking to school. Tohru turned her head to look at him, Kyo - as he had been doing since the shower incident - kept his eyes straight forward.
"Yuki, are you okay?" Tohru Honda's sweet voice interrupted Yuki's thoughts. He jumped a little and turned to Tohru and smiled reassuringly.
"Me? Oh yea! I just had a lot to think about for today," He said, hoping it would ease the conversation off him and his thoughts.
Kyo's face pinched together for a second, as if he had swallowed something sour. "I'm sure you do," He murmured to himself bitterly, but not quietly enough for Yuki not to hear him. He chose to ignore the comment and tried to change the subject.
Haru was waiting for the trio on a bench just outside the school. When he saw Yuki, he stood up swiftly and gracefully and made his way towards his new boyfriend. Yuki blushed and smiled; out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kyo grimace and walk swiftly forward to get out visual range. Maybe he is afraid of gays, Yuki thought to himself as Haru came straight up to him and wrapped his arms around his waist. Yuki blinked and looked at Haru and smiled. He slid his hands up Haru's arms and held his own hands behind Haru's neck. "Well good morning, Haru," Yuki said cheerfully. Haru chuckled and smiled.
"Good morning, dear Yuki," He returned with a smile that made Yuki flush softly. Haru slid the back of his fingers over Yuki's faintly blushing right cheek, back towards his hair, and brought them under his jaw, tilting it slightly upward. Yuki just stared at the other, barely making it past breathing. It was then Haru's lips came down upon his. It was a great greeting, no doubt about that. Maybe coming out to the school wouldn't be so bad, this wasn't bad. It was really amazing, actually. How Haru's lips were massaging Yuki's - gentle, but not too soft. How delicately he pulled Yuki closer to him and sighed just a little. Yuki let out a sigh in response and gave into the kiss, feeling completely at ease.
He pulled away and looked at Haru. "So that's how we say good morning?" He asked with a smile.
Haru nodded enthusiastically. "Mhm! And just wait until you see how we say goodnight!" He said with a wink and a black glint in his eye. Yuki wasn't sure how much he liked that idea, but he let it go and let Haru enjoy his excitement. He let go of his grip around Haru's neck and started walking with the boy into school.
"So do we have to do," Yuki took little gaps in between his phrases, not wanting to offend Haru. "you know, coupley things?" He asked with what he wanted to be nonchalance, but the plan was thwarted with his pauses between his words. How he disliked being nervous; unfortunately, that's the behavior Haru procured.
His boyfriend looked a little taken aback, but he recovered quickly. However, not quickly enough for Yuki not to notice. "Well, no, not necessarily. I don't want to do anything you're not ready for," He said reassuringly, but there was a twinge of sadness in his voice. Regardless, Yuki was happy that Haru was willing to do that for him. He could tell that Haru wanted to talk more about it, but Yuki didn't want to explain why he wasn't down with public displays of affection; it sounded silly even to himself, but he still wasn't comfortable yet and that was the only thing that mattered. It was still too new. Relationships weren't his thing - hell, friendships hadn't even been his thing until Tohru came waltzing in his life - and he was still so new to the concept that he had a boyfriend, much less the social protocols that went along with having a boyfriend.
School passed by without much consequence. There were whispers of Hatsuharu and Yuki, but only about how they seemed to be a lot closer as of late, and how they would see each other more often. This angered the cat, deeply. Of course, he was right smack dab in the middle of this gossip, and wanted to hear, much less be part of, none of it. He spent his lunch hour away from Tohru, Uotani, Hanajima, Momiji, Kakeru, Hatsuharu, and Yuki - because Kakeru was now sitting with Tohru at lunch, also. Yuki assumed that Kyo was probably up on the school roof attracting more cats with his anger. He smiled to himself, knowing how much he hated their attention, especially when angry.
Haru joined the three housemates on the walk home. It was then that Haru decided he would try holding Yuki's hand, which he allowed as soon as they were far enough from the school. He tried more PDA related things, but Yuki shrugged him off. He knew Kyo was uncomfortable enough, he didn't want to make him so grouchy that he walked away from them. The real question was why did that matter? Yuki rationalized it to himself that he didn't want another fight once they got home, and it was true that he didn't want to fight when they returned home. However, why was it Kyo's right to get upset with him about it? The more he was around, the more Yuki thought that Kyo was a homophobe.
Late the next afternoon, after Yuki's Mathletes, he found Haru waiting just as he did a couple days prior. Seeing Yuki, he stood up quickly and dusted off the seat of his pants. Yuki grinned and walked towards Haru. "Hey you," He greeted the boy cheerily. Mathletes always set him in a good mood; it was a much needed distraction from his thoughts and numbers were always constant, unlike life. He found Haru smiling back at him, his arms opening for an embrace, and closed slowly as if he remembered he wasn't supposed to do that. Haru's grin fell for a fraction of a second, just long enough for Yuki to see, before he pushed it back up. "How were the parts of your day that I didn't witness?" Yuki joked.
"Boring," Haru replied with a chuckle. "I'm just happy I can be with you now," He continued to smile as they walked out of the school, their paces even and matched.
Once more, when they were far enough away from the school, Yuki allowed Haru to hold his hand. The boys played a game on the way home where they picked a car and made up a story as to where they were going and what their lives were like. Yuki liked games such as those for, once again, they took him out of his life and into someone else's. The more lives they picked, the more ridiculous the story lines for. "How about that one?" Haru pointed to a dark green SUV with a woman driver who looked to be in her forties with two children in the backseat, both girls, who looked around the ages of eight and eleven. Yuki pondered for a moment before answering, tapping his free hand to his chin in contemplation.
"She looks like a Keiko. She does most of the work in the family, which is why she has so many wrinkles on her brow, while her husband has an affair with his secretary. She's driving her daughters to gymnastics practice, from the way their hair looks and the shirts they're wearing. The daughters are inseparable, which eases the mother as she knows the elder will always watch over the younger. She wishes she had chosen to marry a more honorable man, but can do nothing more about that now and often fantasizes about the attractive salesman that comes to her door once a month to see if she's interested in whatever new item he is advised to sell." Yuki decided this was their life story. He chuckled softly to himself and smiled and looked at Haru. "I hope she finds happiness in the salesman," He added with a wink and Haru laughed. He enjoyed making Haru laugh, it was such a sweet sound to hear.
"I hope she does too, it sounds like her life is too difficult. She needs a break." He agreed as he continued to laugh.
Kakeru and Haru were once again guests at dinner. This time, Kakeru and Tohru were deep in a discussion about how their Saving the Seals mission was going. Yuki and Haru held hands as they ate their food and Shigure nosed his way into asking "how their young love was blossoming" which only turned both boys into blushing shells. They dropped hands and moved away from each other a little bit. Kyo remained silent and Yuki kept his eyes off of him, embarrassed to have this scene actually unfolding. "It's too soon for love," Yuki spat gently. Haru nodded emphatically as he returned to his leeks. He heard Kyo snort, faintly, as if in approval.
Yuki and Haru offered to do the dishes before the housemates and guests sat down to a movie. This time, it was Tohru's turn to pick. Luckily, she chose a film by Hayao Miyazaki called Kiki's Delivery Service. Haru held Yuki against him and luckily there wasn't a fight during this movie. Even Shigure didn't have anything perverted to taint the movie. Kakeru and Tohru were animatedly talking to the TV screen, making Yuki smile. They make sense, the pair of them, Yuki thought fleetingly. After the movie, Yuki walked Haru to the door. "Hey, today was fun," Yuki said, realizing it was lame before he could take it back. Haru smiled and nodded, interlacing fingers on both hands with Yuki's. He leaned into the boy and gently grazed his lips over Yuki's before lowering them down completely over his. Haru deepened the kiss and Yuki placed his hands on Haru's shoulders, his fingers gripped the other boy's shirt. Yuki let his tongue slide just barely out of his mouth and onto Haru's upper lip, which Haru met with sliding his own tongue onto Yuki's. He couldn't help but let out a deep sigh before Haru leaned away, leaving Yuki breathless once more.
"So, I've been doing some thinking," Haru said matter-of-factly. Yuki dazedly nodded in response, which made Haru smile once more. "I don't think our relationship is official yet," Yuki snapped out of his daze and shook his head and straightened.
"What?" He asked in a bland tone. "What do you mean? You asked me out, and I said yes. How much more official can it be?" Maybe it was because Yuki had never been a relationship before that he did not know such things, but what else could there be to make a relationship official? Wasn't it just accepting the proposal? Apparently not, which worried Yuki a little more than a bit.
"Of course, but we haven't been on a real date yet." Haru said patiently, the smile still pushed up on his perfect features and reaching all the way to his eyes. Yuki sagged with relief. After a moment of neither one saying anything, Haru asked "So do you want to go on a real date?"
Yuki nodded his head quickly, forgetting that he should have said something sooner. "Of course! That sounds lovely..." He trailed off and blushed. Did he really just say a date sounded lovely? Haru, however, was amused and laughed. He kissed Yuki once more and once again on his forehead.
"Good! Then I shall pick you up tomorrow around six thirty!" He said cheerily before turning away. He started to walk off, then turned around to look at Yuki. "You're adorable when you blush, dear Yuki." He added and turned away while Yuki's blush turned into a deeper red.
The entire next day, while everyone else went to the mall and enjoyed each other's company, Yuki stayed at home and caught up on his gardening. He felt as if he had neglected them since all the weirdness with Haru, but he had definitely forgotten how relaxing it was tending to his plants and taking care of something else. He brought his homework out with him and ended up losing track of time between his math homework and his gardening. He was so absorbed that after a while he had forgotten where he was, although this could have just been from the nap that he accidentally decided to take on his history book. He felt a tap on his shoulder and he violently jumped up on all fours and looked around. He heard a soft, high pitched giggle and looked towards the sound finding none other than Tohru standing above him. "Hello, Yuki! I just came out here to see if you were alright; Shigure said that you had left the house with your backpack hours ago after we left. We were worried about where you had ventured off to. However, I knew, or at least I had an idea," She said, her brown eyes soft and smiling along with her mouth. Yuki smiled back at her.
"Yea, I guess I fell asleep on my history book; learning about the Kamakura period was pretty boring," He said with a chuckle as Tohru extended an arm to help him up which accepted, not allowing her his full weight in fear that he would knock her over. He brushed his clothes off from the grass that had attached them and paused, his eyes widening. Tohru had asked him what was wrong before he asked, "What time is it?"
Tohru glanced at her watch before answering. "It's ten past six," She answered slowly as Yuki flung himself into gear and gathered all of his books. He tore away from the clearing in which his garden sat and ran to the house. It was his first date, he couldn't be late for that, especially since they were meeting at his own house. Tohru hurried past him. "Yuki? Yuki! Yuki, wait up!" She called from behind him. He almost broke through the front door and was immediately reminded of how destructive the cat was. He bolted up to his room, not even bothering to shower - mainly because he didn't have time. He panted as Tohru came up behind him and stood in his doorway. "What was that all about?" She asked, breathless. Yuki looked around for suitable date clothes, but in all reality he had no idea what a boy would wear on a date with another boy. Would it be the same as what he could wear if he was going on a date with a girl? Did everyone think this much about first dates? Was he putting too much stock into the fact that he was going on a date with a boy? Were they going somewhere nice? At this thought he sagged, relaxing a little. At least he knew that Haru wouldn't take him somewhere really nice...or would he?! Yuki tensed again until he felt Tohru's hand on his bicep. "Yuki? What's going on?" Her voice a little more timid, but cut through his thoughts sufficiently. He looked at her and sighed.
"Haru's taking me on a date tonight because he said our relationship wasn't official until we did so," Yuki said evenly as his eyes flitted around his closet in search of a shirt to wear. "He's supposed to come over six thirty and I have no idea what to wear..." He trailed off and looked at Tohru, hoping she'd be willing to help. Instead she had an odd expression on her face and she looked at her hands. When she looked back up, her expression hadn't changed and confused Yuki greatly.
"Are you," She started and let the rest of her words vanish in front of her. Yuki automatically knew that she was having trouble with whatever she wanted to say. He touched her shoulder letting her know it was okay to ask him whatever she wanted to ask. This seemed to give her back her words as she finished her sentence. "Are you sure that you want to be with Haru? I mean, didn't he only start showing interest in you sometime last week? Isn't it a little fast?"
Yuki had the same thoughts regarding the subject as well. The question tripped him up momentarily. Sure, in many ways it was fast, but in so many others it wasn't at all. However, was he completely sure he was meant to be Haru? Did his relationship mean that he and Haru were together for life? For some reason he felt that that was exactly what it meant. Was he ready for a forever already? He was only a teenager. Did people find their forever as teenagers? That didn't seem logical. And weren't people supposed to date around to find their forever? Yuki knew that with being with Haru meant he probably wouldn't be able to date anymore because he and Haru would stay together. Did he want to? Was there someone else that he would want to date? "I think so," He said hesitantly as these thoughts whirred around his brain. He shook his head as he looked back up at Tohru. She looked less than convinced. "I mean, Haru seemingly only started showing an interest a week ago, yes. But I know Haru, and I know those feelings have always been there," And didn't he at least owe it to himself to explore the feelings he had for Haru? Did that make him a bad person? This explanation seemed to be reasonable to Tohru since she then grabbed Yuki's hand and led him over to the closet to help him pick out some clothes for his first date.
It seemed no time at all that Haru had walked into the house and Shigure called Yuki down with animatedly glee. He just knew that he was eating all this up with a spoon, stupid dog. Yuki rolled his eyes in disgust and opened his door to Tohru on the other side. She nodded emphatically and sent Yuki down the stairs. This definitely was turning into quite the scene. With the exception of Kyo, all of his housemates were congregated in the living room to see him off. Was that normal? He flushed slightly at their presence and decided to then devote his attention to Haru, who was smirking. Uh-oh, Yuki thought to himself with a sense of fear creeping over him. It looks like Black Haru is taking over...or maybe I'm misjudging his expressions? Yuki settled on the latter, more to put his nerves at ease than anything else. He decided to prepare for Black Haru, just in case. He pushed a smile upon his lips and greeted the other with a peck on the cheek.
"You ready?" Haru asked smoothly, which didn't settle his nerves because Haru was always smooth. Yuki silently nodded, not trusting his voice. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous, but most of his nervousness dissipated when Haru took his hand and led him out of the house. When they were out of the house, Haru let go of Yuki's hand and wrapped an arm around his waist.
"So where to?" Yuki asked as casually as he could, glad that he wasn't as nervous as before, but frustrated that some nervousness lingered.
"Well, I figured we'd see a movie!" Haru replied jovially. They walked to the cinema whilst conversing happily. Yuki told him about how he fell asleep on his history book - his story involved him taking a stroll through the woods to do some homework in the peace and quiet because he still wasn't ready for anyone except Tohru to know about his gardening. "Ah, so you're quite the outdoorsman, are you, Yuki?" He said with a black glimmer in his eye. Yuki blushed and knew that Black Haru was more than likely going to be visiting him tonight.
"A little," He murmured in response, thankful they were at the cinema then. Haru was quite the gentleman and paid for the movie, popcorn and beverages. Yuki wasn't paying attention to what kind of movie they were seeing, so he decided to ask.
"Well, dear Yuki, we are seeing a horror movie. It's a very special showing because it hasn't been in theaters in over a decade," Haru said with an enthusiastic smile. He could tell that Yuki wasn't as excited about his genre decision as he was, so he put an arm around Yuki's shoulders and pulled him close. "It's okay, though, Yuki, as I will protect you from all danger!"
Yup, Black Haru is making an appearance tonight, Yuki thought. This could be both a good situation or a bad one. On the one hand, Black Haru was always amusing. However, on the other, Black Haru could try and make a move towards Yuki that he wasn't ready for. He already made advances such as those before they got together, so wouldn't it be more intense now that they were together?
The movie was terrifying. It followed the life of a girl named Yumi whose friend Yoko received a mysterious phone call from two days in the future. A voicemail message was also left detailing the sounds she made as she died. She, of course, died and set to motion the strange phenomena that Yumi is wrapped up in and must try and stop before she befalls the same fate. Haru was at least true to his word and held him through eighty percent of the movie. If Haru wasn't holding him, he at least held his hand, but Yuki was pretty spooked. Horror movies were definitely not his thing. Despite Haru holding him or holding his hand, Black Haru definitely was showing through. A few separate times during his "comfort" attempts for Yuki, he slid his hands elsewhere while leaning into his neck and caressing it with his lips. Yuki had to shake out of his arms in these moments. "No, Haru," Yuki whispered firmly.
"But Yuki, it will bring us closer together and now is the perfect time as we are in a movie theater and it was one of the places I wanted -"
"No!" Yuki hissed. It went about that way for probably the first hour of the movie before Haru understood he wasn't getting lucky three days after he and Yuki had started dating and definitely not in a public cinema!
This, however, was not the only altercation the two had. (As previously stated, Haru held Yuki for eighty percent of the movie.) Haru tried again. He placed his hand on Yuki's thigh with the other arm around his shoulders. He leaned up to his ear and breathed gently into it while licking Yuki's ear lobe. Yuki assumed that if it were any time but now - where one of the characters was going to get an 'exorcism' in order to make the angered spirit and death sentence disappear - he would probably get chills up his spine and be a little more receptive to Haru's ploys, even if it were Black Haru. But, it wasn't any other time, and he wasn't having it. He shivered in response to the movie, which Haru took as a sign to proceed.
"You know, dear Yuki, we could go into one of those family bathrooms..." He breathed in his ear.
As tempting as that sounded at the present time to get away from the scary movie, Yuki wasn't ready to proceed in that direction with Haru and didn't know when he would be. This would, unfortunately, have to be a conversation to have with White Haru for Black Haru surely wouldn't understand. Yuki pushed Haru's limbs off him - Haru was twining his legs with Yuki's and trying to climb on top of him at this point - and placed him back in his seat. "No!" He hissed more firmly. And this is where Haru finally got the hint and begrudgingly settled for holding Yuki's hand instead.
Because Haru felt bad for pushing Yuki's limits, and taking him to a scary movie - White Haru had made a comeback - he decided to take Yuki to get some ice cream. Yuki felt like a child because of it, but it did make him feel a little better about the night's events. They held hands and walked him, licking their ice cream and Haru talked about how awesome the movie was. At least one of us liked it, Yuki thought to himself. When they got home, Haru gave Yuki a long embrace. "I'm sorry," He said softly, almost soft enough for Yuki not to hear it. He pulled away and pressed his lips against Yuki's softly.
Yuki pulled back and pecked his lips quick. "It's okay, I was preparing myself for it anyway," Yuki replied with a smile. However, Haru remained serious.
"No, it's not okay. I should never have pushed your boundaries like that. There's no excuse," He looked past Yuki and looked down a little. Yuki brought his fingers up to Haru's hair and drew his fingers down to border his face. He slid his fingers under his chin and made him look at him.
"It's okay. I still like you. And I think you're pretty great. Besides, I've dealt with Black Haru before, and you always made advances. Granted, they have never been that bold, but I know how to fend Black Haru off," Yuki said lightly and gave Haru an affectionate wink. This seemed to calm Haru down some for he softened and smiled at his boyfriend. He leaned in for another kiss, this time more passionate than the first one and said good night.
Yuki walked into his home with a smile on his face, hoping Shigure and Tohru weren't waiting around for him. He took off his shoes and took a cautious look around the living room only to find the cat sitting on the sofa facing the door. The rat furrowed his brow and turned to walk upstairs, not wanting to dignify the cat with any response.
"Did you have a good time on your date?" Kyo spat venomously. Yuki turned his head over his shoulder and replied that he had.
"What's it matter?"
"It doesn't,"
Yuki snorted and shook head. "Alright, then," He said and started to head towards the stairs. The more he interacted with Kyo in regards to him and Haru the more he thought that the cat was just a plain old homophobe. Why else could he be acting like this? All of a sudden, the floor disappeared from under Yuki's feet and returned with full force under his back. Kyo pressed his shoulders into the floor and straddled his body, the look on his face was hard to decipher, but Yuki didn't think about that now. His entire body had electric shocks going through it, and he didn't think it was attributed to the force on his back. He looked at Kyo with a bewildered expression before he kneed Kyo off of him. "What is your problem?!" Yuki exclaimed. He breathed hard out of his mouth for a beat as he looked at Kyo's crumpled form on the floor. The cat lifted his eyes to look at the rat but said nothing. His eyes held the same expression as they had the night he saw Yuki and Haru kiss for the first time. They reflected the same pain and defeat that he had witnessed before, and like the time before he had no idea how to respond. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He took this as his sign to retreat and left the crumpled boy on the floor, too afraid to do or say anything else to help him.