KKM:

Shorts::Game

Hang Time

By: Lotus Curtiss

(Michelle)

He was home. Sitting at his desk. A baseball tight in his grip. The leather worn with use of being handled and hit multiple times over, the stitched threads not quite bare though still strong, yet it still did its job; there was some game left in it. He sighed. Not because of exhaustion or frustration. A sigh. That's what it was. A single sigh. Thoughtless and with out meaning. What was he supposed to do? Finally home. The time for practice had passed and his mother had not called dinner time. He could...then his thoughts truly wondered down a path. The next time he blinked, the sun had gone down and there was a tray next to his elbow with a plate of curry, still warm. Grateful, he ate it to fill his empty stomach.

What to do? It was a swarming question that left him more empty minded than he liked and really could not answer completely with out it coming to a stall. Truly not like him. He looked into the mirror of the bathroom, the lights off and he could see his twenty five year old self. More mature, wiser than when he was fifteen going on sixteen. And more kingly. Being king was rough...demanded serious attention and decision making. Though it seemed he was doing a job most Kings would rather want to disregard and sit back and let others do.

"Quit staring at your self." He turned to see his oldest brother leaning against the door way with the hallway light that was filtering in from behind him, illuminating the dim room. "And turn the light on."

"Shori..."

"Stop. Your confused about something and don't bother trying to explain it to me while you're in that state, I really can't help you when you get like this." Ouch, harsh words. Though the first time trying to explain it to Shori left him in the dust as he walked away.

"How can you tell?" Asking point blank.

"Your face gives it away." Then he left the door way.

Might as well return to his second home and sort it out there. With out hesitation, he jumped into the water filled bath tub and in a glimmer of gold, he was taken down a portal he had used so many times. Known so well in fact over the past ten years. He surfaced. Familiar vaulted ceilings over head and water spewing from a stone lions mouth. He had returned to his second home. A place where time flows on an axis different than Earths own. He sighed. Might as well enjoy the bath even with his cloths on. It not like anyone else would be using it this time of night and the castle would be in an uproar that he had returned unannounced the next morning.

The same mundane routine here would resume like it would on Earth. He bit his lower lip and then leaned back into the water to float, staring blankly at the arched ceiling. The movement of water and wet fabric against his skin made him feel like he was by himself, on another world not related to Earth or the Demon Kingdom. Making the surroundings slip away, no stone, no mortar. Just him and the water, lost on thoughtless wonder causing his confused state. He could hear the spewing water, its echoing thrum in his soul. What was making him so? He closed his eyes and let even his wondering thoughts slip away in a single sigh. He just drifted.

This was worse than the hang time when you just hit a baseball on a line drive out of the field on a home run and your first thought is to run, just run. Get those feet moving. Hurry to first base, that panic that your homerun would fall short to a catcher in the back field. Foot touching the pad as a sharp ninety degree turn puts second base with in sight, all prayers as you watch that ball soar over the center field from the corner of your eye. Taking another sharp turn as the sight of the ball is just beyond your left eye and third in front of you. A short burst and blowing past the short stop that could ultimately tag you out. One last turn and you see the ball finally fly over the fence line but home is right there and you smile upon walking across the base.

He felt like that hang time between hitting the ball to dropping the bat when his feet was supposed to be moving, that instinct to run...he could not find out what was causing the paralyze to occur. Just frozen. This was way worse was his ultimate deduction.

Finally blinking to wake from the stuffy mental state, he could see a pair of chocolate eyes staring down on him. Was he supposed to be the only one in the bathing pool? His first initial reaction was to freak out and try to bumble an excuse but he found no words or actions coming into being. They just stared, only allowing the passing silence of the spewing water to remain resolute. What made his own heart tremble and left mindless thoughts? It smoldered. Fizzled. Sparked. A glowing ember of curiosity taking hold. What if he did this?

Reaching out a hand that touched skin covering the bone next to the corner of the eye, he could feel the muscles twitch in a blink of eye movement seemingly like shock. Tracing the just shell of the eye socket to the brow, the thick, short hairs constantly laying in one direction maybe with a few that went unnoticed due to being too small or light to be seen, askew. The finger tips resting on a slight indentation of skin, it was paler then the cells around it, the sign of healing long ago completed; the scar cutting through the brow. He knew of the origin of where it came from. He felt tears sting his eyes. A flood of memories coming back during the endeavor to the past. There was a stream of ache through his nerves to his heart, a throb of pain coursing inside, he had cried. Cried for the ones that were outcasts and considered unwanted. A blemish to a nation of already beautiful people inside and out, not so different from him. Not so different from the rest.

The chocolate iris's softened and smiled. Telling him to cheer up, bringing a sense of calm to his troubled waters. How many times they helped cease the turmoil and confusion that would rage with in? Numerous. Too Numerous. It was every single day he was here. All the time, never too far off to seek advice. Made his day better, made him smile. The corners of his mouth tugged upward. Made him feel that everything was going to be okay, that it's fine. The small bubbles of courage. A push in his weary path. He realized for the first time in ten years since becoming King that his thoughtless mind was tired. Just tired. The mundane routine that caught him in the ebb and flow of the tide. He needed to get away. Break away since it was only diplomatic affairs that had taken place for the past six years. The cutting edge of adventure left him a taste to escape. To go someplace he had not yet or visit someplace and see how well it is doing.

The smoldering, fizzling, sparking, glowing ember of curiosity grew. What would happen? Granted, his others friends did a whole lot and meant a lot to him and he loved them for it. Yet, the taste of adventure to start with the very person before him had overwhelmed his empty brain. His hand sliding up till it touched the ear shell and not much effort, neared those eyes even closer till he could see the feint reflection of himself in them. Emotion driving his actions. The taste becoming sharper as warmth ghosted lightly, a warmth throwing gasoline onto the small flame, seeping deeply down. Consuming.

Simple. He wanted this person. Wanted them. Needed them. It was not a full on touch however it left his heart pounding madly for more. Tell me. A silent plea conversed through his eyes before a feathered answered of the touch came. Delighted. He pulled them closer. His lips, Their lips. Pressed together. Before he could fully counter react, he was lifted and held tightly.

"Conrart..." He whispered silently as they curled next to the other under the covers of the bed, both breathless from their elopement.

"I love you, Yuuri."

Somewhere else in the castle...

Wolfram snoozed ever so loudly that even a mouse can't get to sleep.