Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Inspired ❯ Chapter 22 ( Chapter 22 )

Rating: PG-13: Some language and adult situations…

Pairings: ShuichixTats, Ryuichi/Taki, and a little bit of Yuki/Suguru.

Note: Sorry this took so long. I've been having issues with school, not to mention I've discovered some interesting rps. Once again, I apologize for the wait.

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Chapter 22

That morning, Tohma was still keeping a rather scary, twitchy smile on his face. "That was the most amusing humiliation I ever went through, wasn't it, Mika dear?" He didn't seem to notice her flinch as he continued. "Why, I must congratulate Suguru on his cleverness… Where is he anyways?"

Mika nearly choked on her cereal before coming up with a carefully formulated answer. "He hasn't returned since last night. I think he went over to a friend's place for the night."

"Oh… What a convenient time for him to develop a social life…" Tohma darkly chuckled in a silent way that caused Mika to flinch. [I hope Suguru stays away for a long, long time.]

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"Thanks for letting me stay here Nakano-san." Suguru smiled at the drowsy looking guitarist. "I'm sorry if I interfered with your alone time with Ayaka-chan."

The younger boy grimaced at Hiro's rather pissed off look. When he had come there, he had been knocking for five minutes, sure that Hiro was there and well, when the guitarist had answered the door with a rather flushed looking Kyoto girl behind them, it had occurred to Suguru that he had made a mistake. It was only because of Ayaka's sympathy that he had not only been allowed to live, but to stay as well. Which no doubt pissed Hiro off to know end at that moment.

"Think nothing of it, and I mean that." The older teen snarled as he fixed some coffee. Suguru himself was feeling unusually talkative though, despite having slept on the couch.

"So, where is Ayaka-chan anyways? Still asleep?" The younger boy said this with a really bad rendition of a knowing smile. Hiro's glare told him so. "Uh, well I mean you, uh-"

"We each kept to our own side of the bed, alright?" Hiro snapped as he slammed two mugs on the table. Suguru shivered but said nothing as he watched Hiro, who looked tense.

The younger teen hung his head down. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get in the way of anything." The apology seemed to melt away whatever animosity the other man felt as his shoulders went slack.

"It's alright… It's my fault for letting you in. Why did you come here anyways? I mean besides getting Seguchi pissed off. You've been acting weird lately." He gulped at Hiro's gaze, not sure he wanted to discuss this. "I mean," the long haired boy continued, "it's not like you to pull pranks. And also, you were being friendly with Shuichi that one day, but it's like there's something else going on with you, I can't quite put my finger on it."

"I-I was trying to impress…." Hiro's eyes were on him as he tried to stammer out his confession. "I wanted to make him laugh. Yuki-san that is." He heard something drop and turned to see Hiro looking at him rather shocked, his cup of coffee having nearly spilled over. Suguru prepared to be yelled at. He knew that Hiro would think he was being stupid or that he was betraying Shuichi, but well, it was the truth…

At the sound of a chair scraping across the floor, Suguru opened his eyes to see Hiro sitting in front of him, arms crossed, eyes serious. "Okay, tell me everything."

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That morning was the first morning Yuki Eiri had woken up sober and whole in about a week or so. Not only that, but he had actually finished a significant portion of his book. He had come home feeling, to put it quaintly, 'in the zone.' Now he was almost tempted to reach for a beer, but he chose a cigarette instead. He honestly couldn't stop smiling at last night's antics. An irate Tohma punishing poor drama students was not a sight a man saw too often in his life time. And then, the hunt for the newly mysterious Suguru Fujisaki had taken place without much success.

Mysterious was certainly the word Yuki would have used for this behavior. Then again he had never bothered to learn anything about the boy either. All he knew was that the child was Tohma's cousin, a young and precocious boy eager to follow in the man's footsteps. So, there really hadn't been much to the child in Yuki's mind.

But, this last week had proven him wrong as he continued to make more discoveries about the boy. He had a sense of humor, a sense of warmth, and humanity, and other sensibilities that Yuki could appreciate. But, he was also Tohma's blood relation, there was no doubt. He had manipulative side that used people, a desire for closeness, yet an ethereal quality that made him seem separate from others.

[How that must hurt… Not that I should care. So what if his little prank, which was clearly for my amusement, made me feel better than I have in a long, long time?]

He wasn't making the mistake he made with Shuichi in assuming that a simple spark would last forever. This was merely an investigation. An intrigue in his life which was suddenly less busy. A nice distraction he told himself.

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Shuichi held all the photo albums in one arm as he shut off all the lights in the house. He had taken a quick glance in the bedroom and knew that Tatsuha was still sound asleep and would be for a while. He didn't want to lie to the teenager about where he was going and he sure as hell didn't want to tell Tatsuha the truth. Truth being that he was going to see his ex-lover one last time to return pictures.

As he hurried out the apartment to the bus stop, he felt the load getting a little heavier. It wasn't like he returned something as intimate as pictures everyday. And it meant seeing Yuki again, which made him feel a little aggravated. He was so tense, that the bus ride seemed to increase in length, as if he was trapped in a loop.

When he finally got off, his feet felt like lead, as if with each step, he was destroying pavement. The closer he got to Yuki's, the slower he moved, till he finally reached the doorstep, his body moving at a pace that even a snail wouldn't envy. The moment he rang the door bell though, he suddenly had to quell the urge to fly that filled his limbs.

In fact he had actually turned and was about to run when he heard a familiar voice behind him. "Look who comes crawling back." He turned around to see Yuki looking, well, he guessed normal, though he was sure there was something off. Before he could have time to ponder it though, what Yuki had said sunk in.

"I have not come crawling back! I just came here to return some things." The pink-haired boy hissed through his teeth, now too pissed to be scared. Seeing the blond cock his eyebrow in that familiar, 'oh really' motion only cemented his determination. Shuichi shoved past him into the kitchen and dumped his load on the table. "Here, you can sort it all out." The plan was then to stomp out, slam the door and run as far away as possible.

Unfortunately, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Shuichi, we need to talk. Now." The younger man creaked up his head towards Yuki, who looked, well serious. Not that he wasn't always serious, but this seemed a little different. He felt the pressure of the hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to sit down. Shuichi shoved it off, not so much annoyed at Yuki as well, annoyed with himself for nearly getting sucked in.

"Make it quick. I have places to be." Yuki seemed surprised, but didn't try to place his hand back there again.

The older man crossed his arms and looked at Shuichi carefully. "Are you serious about this? About my brother?"

"Why wouldn't I be serious?" Shuichi turned his back to Yuki. "It's over between us, it's been over for a long time, hasn't it?" Yuki honestly couldn't come up with an answerer to that one. "I mean, in the end, what did we have in common? We just happened to be able to keep from killing each other long enough to fuck on occasion and maybe make out. That doesn't make a relationship." And suddenly, before Yuki could stop him, Shuichi bolted out the door.

Finally, he found the right thing to say, as lame as it was. "Then, what makes a relationship?" Said to no one now. And as he sat down at the table, he realized that he had no answer.

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Suguru didn't like it when Hiro glared at him. When the guitarist did it to Shuichi, it was okay. But, when it was directed at him, it wasn't . "Are you trying to tell me that you have the hots for Yuki-san?" Oh man, that was an ugly glare and that was an ugly…

"I didn't say that!!! I just want to be his friend! His friend!" It was obvious that Hiro didn't buy it though. "Please, Nakano-san, I'm not doing it to get at Shindou-kun. Really."

"Have you told Shuichi about any of this?" Seeing Suguru's look of fear, he groaned. "You better tell him soon, or else he's going to think you're a boyfriend stealer." He whispered conspiratorially into Suguru's ear.

The younger boy jumped up, his side accidentally banging into the table. "For the last time, I'm not in love with Yuki-san!!!"

"…Yuki-san…" Mumbled a sleepy reply. Both boys turned their heads to see a sleepy Ayaka in the door way hair disheveled, eyes still heavy with sleep.

Hiro popped up and rushed to her side. Grabbing her by the shoulders he gently guided her out of the kitchen. "Ayaka-chan, the bathroom's this way." Suguru could hear a sleepy grumble or two coming from the girl as Hiro led her away. There was the sound of a door shutting and Hiro came back in, looking a little less annoyed. "Fine, it's none of my business if you like him or not. But, tell Shuichi, alright?"

Suguru looked down a moment before nodding. "Fine, but just remember, it's not because I stole Yuki-san from him. It's just so he doesn't get the wrong idea." Hiro obviously didn't believe him, but that was beside the point. He'd talk to Shuichi about this because it was the moral thing to do. Not because he wanted to make sure he wasn't encroaching on someone else's territory.

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Ryuichi laid on his side on the couch that morning, unable to sleep for some reason. Well, he actually knew why he couldn't sleep. Because he was seriously freaked out by what Taki had asked him. And he didn't know why.

'Is this going to last?'

He hadn't thought about it. It should have been easy to answer. He should have been able to say, 'of course it will, forever and ever.' But, he couldn't. And Taki had just shrugged it off after a bit, apologizing for saying something stupid. And everything had been normal, well for Ryuichi's guest.

But, now he didn't know. He'd been so excited to get Taki, just to get him into bed that he hadn't thought about what was really going on. "What if I made a mistake? What if I'm wrong? What if I change my mind? What happens to him? He'll hate me…" Ryuichi whimpered to himself, holding onto Kumagoro.

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Taki flopped back on the bed, surprised to find himself alone, but not really blaming Ryuichi for it. He couldn't believe he had said something that idiotic last night…

'Is this going to last?'

[Why the fuck should I care? Because I might have just screwed us both over for nothing? Because I want it to be more then just some casual relationship? Or because I don't want it?]

The worst thing was, he had the feeling that Ryuichi didn't really want a long term relationship. The way the older man had looked at him when he asked the question, had been proof enough. The whole evening had been odd after that and Taki had done his best to pretend he hadn't said anything important. But, it was obvious that Ryuichi was bothered by it.

"I'm such a fool." He whispered to himself, rolling over and hiding his face in a pillow.

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The moment Shuichi got back to the apartment, he was confronted by a rather pissed off looking Tatsuha. "Where the hell were you?"

"Uh, I was…"

Tatsuha's face was set in a thin line. "You would have woken me if it was something innocent."

"Hey, how do you know what I would do?" Shuichi knew he couldn't avoid where this was going, but he wanted to, least Tatsuha got paranoid again.

"Well then, what was it?" Tatsuha looked stern, almost, monk like of all things.

"Uh, well it was, I had to um, return something." Eyes were boring into his skull, drilling into the lie filled center…

"Tell me who it was and what it was, now." The younger teen looked pissed.

[Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning. I better tell him the truth in case he finds out later on his own.]

"I went to return some things of Yuki's. That's all. We talked for a tiny bit and then I left, that's all." Tatsuha looked annoyed for a moment longer before his shoulders slumped and he got a hurt look on his face.

And then, he got whiney. "Why didn't you tell me? I could handle it. I really could."

"I just didn't want you to worry."

"Well, you could have brought me with…"

Shuichi stared at him, arms crossed. "Sure I could. You would have started a fight."

At that the younger teen smirked. "He would have been asking for it. I could have clocked him good. It'd be fun. Haven't you ever wanted to clock him?"

"Well yeah, but I'm trying to be the mature one here." Tatsuha started snickering, causing Shuichi to get annoyed all over again. "What's so funny?"

"You and mature don't mix." Shuichi whapped him playfully and ran towards the bedroom, a come hither look in his eyes. The teen approached slowly, lust in his eyes, till he was just inches from the door, when Shuichi gave him a strange smile and slammed the door in his face, locking the door. "Shuichi… Open the door… Come on…" Tatsuha began to claw on it like a dog.

On the other side, Shuichi was sitting on the floor, back to the door, a big grin on his face. "Nope. I'm going to be taking a shower. And when I come out, there better be a five star breakfast on the table. Then maybe I'll give you a reward."

"Shuichi…" Tatsuha whined this a few times until the sound of the shower came on, signaling that the older teen was serious. "The things I do to impress a hot chick… or rather in this case, a guy…" He grumbled to himself as he got up and headed towards the kitchen.

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Yuki laid back on the couch, now more annoyed. He had thrown the photo albums into the trash without a second look. He didn't care if he lost something important. He wasn't the type who lived in the past. No agonizing over the brat for him. And no hoping for him to come back either, living for the future being equally stupid.

He sat up after a few minutes when he realized that he had run out of cigarettes. Walking over to his stash, which he kept by the fridge, conveniently next to the beer, he was startled to see Suguru's note from the other day. "I wonder if that kid's still alive?" He mused on this for a while as he retrieved another pack of cigs. [Maybe I should call? Reward him for his efforts… Wait, reward him…]

He nearly choked as he realized how preposterous his thoughts were. He had just had a perverted thought about his brother-in-law's cousin. A boy the same age as he baby bro, only more precious and innocent looking. And no doubt, much less experienced and worldly.

"Yeah right, like I want to get involved with another brat." He muttered as he slammed the fridge door shut. But, as he stalked off, the thought lingered in all it's un/pleasant glory. [Maybe the kid wants me…]

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To Be Continued…

It's a big day at work… Suguru must make an unpleasant confession to Shuichi without getting killed. Yuki goes to see Tohma about certain things, which sets our favorite president on a rampage. Tatsuha tries to find another job, and tries to avoid becoming Shuichi's 'housewife,' and Ryuichi and Taki keep running into each other at work, all while trying to decide if they have a future together.

I'm hoping to eventually finish this story off. Tats and Shuichi are already more or less together for the moment… Taki and Ryuichi are going to be cemented together soon as well, while Yuki and Suguru I plan on leaving a little less clear. I will then be working on finishing my other fics so that I can move onto some other projects. One of which will be a sequel to this fanfic, so don't' worry about not having anymore fun.