"Something That Lasts" -- Gravitation, Eiri/Shuichi
Title: Something That Lasts
Fandom: Gravitation
Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi
Rating: PG, I think
Disclaimer: Gravitation and its characters do not belong to me.
i.
The glass breaks into little tiny pieces. The pieces fly out like shrapnel and Shuichi’s eyes close on instinct; he can’t see where they break the skin of his fist, but he can feel the sudden, sharp pricks of pain that erupt on his knuckles and the back of his hand. He hisses between his teeth as loud as he can, as if the breaking of the mirror wasn’t enough noise to draw his busy lover from his study.
“What the hell, moron?!”
Shuichi can hear the concern leaking from the anger, and it makes him laugh through a wide, pained grin.
“Why are you laughing? Have you gone insane?”
Shuichi shakes his head and holds his fist up to his chest. Eiri frowns at him and steps carefully into the bathroom, trying to avoid cutting his feet on the glass fragments on the floor. He takes Shuichi’s fist in his hand and uncurls it, letting the blood stain the pads of his fingers.
“Dumbass,” he mutters, gauging the damage, which is practically minimal. “Why did you do something so stupid?”
Shuichi replies like it’s the simplest thing in the world, “I wanted to see if it would break easily.”
ii.
Maiko broke her ankle when she was eight. Shuichi, being a young boy, teased her relentlessly about how slow it made her. And he made her cry and got in trouble, but she let him sign her cast anyway.
Shuichi realized then, vaguely, that the body was frail. The body broke-and it broke easily. It wasn’t as dependable as he originally believed it to be. Even though it could be fixed in time, the fact still remained that it broke in the first place.
Nothing was solid. Everything could be destroyed.
iii.
“Hiro! Hiro, wake up!”
Hiro buried his face in his pillow.
“Wake up!”
Hiro snored loudly.
“Dammit, Hiro, my heart is breaking!”
Hiro groaned and lifted his head with reluctance to look at the clock.
“Shuichi, it’s two in the morning and…how did you get in my house?”
“Hiro,” Shuichi whined, climbing onto the bed and tugging at his best friend’s arms. “I’m depressed.”
“All right, all right.” Hiro let the singer pull him into a sitting position and yawned into Shuichi’s pink hair as he settled against him, Shuichi’s back to his chest. “What happened?”
“I got kicked out.”
“I figured.” Hiro rolled his sleep-gazed eyes. “What’d you do?”
“Me? Me? I didn’t do anything!”
“Of course not.”
“He’s mad at me for breathing.”
“Breathing?”
“Yes.”
“Well, stop it, then.”
“Hiro!”
“It’s two in the morning!”
Shuichi turned his head and pouted at him. Hiro sighed and leaned forward a bit, getting comfortable with the boy who was practically on his lap.
“Okay, so you breathed…and he kicked you out.”
“Well, it was a bit more than that…” Shuichi ran his fingers along Hiro’s wrists and bit at his bottom lip worriedly. “Hiro, he got so angry at me. What if he hates me now? Maybe he never wants to see me again…” He sniffled, and then proceeded to wail pitifully, “Hiro, he said it was over!”
“Again?” Hiro chuckled and started a soothing rock with the singer in his arms. “Shuichi, Yuki-san breaks your heart everyday.”
“Does not!”
“But he always manages to fix it in the end. Am I right?”
“…Yes…”
“Then calm down, get some sleep, and we’ll call him in the morning, all right?”
Shuichi nodded and turned in the guitarist’s arms, cuddling into his warm chest. Their breathing slowed and they slept easy, and in the morning, they awoke to a certain blond novelist calling Shuichi’s cell phone.
iv.
Mika clinked her glass of brandy against Shuichi’s with an almost playful smile on her red lips.
“To you,” she said with a gleam in her eye, “for breaking my brother.”
Shuichi’s eyes went a little wide and he quickly bowed his head.
“I’m sorry!”
She reached over to lift his chin up with her fingers.
“No, it’s a good thing,” she assured. “It means you’ve tamed him.” She took a sip from her glass and laughed. “I mean, when was the last time he fooled around?”
Shuichi frowned thoughtfully around the rim of his own drink.
“I don’t know. More than a year.”
“You’re quite the miracle worker.”
Shuichi blushed and rubbed at the back of his neck modestly.
“Oh, I don’t think that really has to do with m-”
“Of course it does,” she interjected firmly. “Do you know how many times we tried to make him quit his constant womanizing?” She propper her elbow on the table and held her chin in her palm and smirked. “You have my little brother wrapped around your finger.”
“You really think so?”
“I even heard he’s thinking of cutting back on the smokes. Your influence?”
“Guilty as charged.”
A grin spread across her face and she leaned abruptly across the table to kiss him squarely on the forehead.
v.
Shuichi should’ve been pleased-in a naughty, vengeful way-when he heard that ASK had broken up. Instead, a terrible and heart-sinking thought flashed through his mind: What if Bad Luck broke up?
It was bound to happen, was it not? Didn’t every band eventually fall apart? Even the group he idolized, the group that inspired him to sing in the first place, had split ultimately.
“Hey, Sakuma-san?” Shuichi leaned into the man sitting beside him on the park bench, arm pressed fully against arm. “How did you deal with the break-up?”
Ryuichi looked at him quizzically over his three-scoop ice cream cone. Shuichi smiled.
“The band’s break-up, I mean. Was it hard for you?”
“Break-up? Break-up, break-up, break-up…” He licked thoughtfully at his ice cream before saying brightly, “My crayons break all the time! I always have to get new ones.”
Ryuichi eagerly returned to his ice cream and Shuichi frowned slightly as he thought about those words.
“New ones, huh?” He worried his hands in his lap until his knuckles turned white. “New ones.”
He jumped, startled, when, a few minutes later, Ryuichi’s sticky hand covered his own. He wasn’t smiling and his voice was low and quiet when he said, “But it still sucks. Because they may be new and pretty, but they aren’t the same.”
Shuichi stared evenly into his friend’s eyes, matching his deep and serious gaze. Until Ryuichi grinned again and offered him the melting remains of his sweet and sugary treat.
vi.
Shuichi picks idly at the bandage on his hand while Eiri clears the dinner table and heads to the sink.
“That mirror broke so easily…”
“It was glass, baka.”
“Do you think…people can break that easily?”
Eiri takes a moment to respond, distracting himself with scraping chicken bones and other food scraps into the garbage, setting aside the wishbone on instinct. And maybe he just doesn’t want to answer.
“Some people. Yes.”
Shuichi nods slowly and murmurs in agreement, “I think so, too.” After a pause, he adds, “And couples?”
“They can.” Eiri knows there’s no point in lying. He knows what Shuichi’s getting at. “We won’t.”
Shuichi looks up at him.
“How do you know?”
Eiri shrugs and begins filling the sink with soapy water.
“I just do.”
“But you can’t just know.”
“Yes, I can.”
“No, you can’t.”
“I can. Here,” Eiri takes the wishbone at one end and offers the other to Shuichi. “Break it.”
“But-”
“Do it.”
They both pull and when the bone snaps, Eiri gives his lover a gentle smirk.
“See? I win. So we’ll last.”
Shuichi doesn’t protest, just says his name simply, sweetly-“Yuki”-and tilts his head up for a kiss. And until the need for air becomes much too pressing, they don’t break away.
Fandom: Gravitation
Pairing: Eiri x Shuichi
Rating: PG, I think
Disclaimer: Gravitation and its characters do not belong to me.
i.
The glass breaks into little tiny pieces. The pieces fly out like shrapnel and Shuichi’s eyes close on instinct; he can’t see where they break the skin of his fist, but he can feel the sudden, sharp pricks of pain that erupt on his knuckles and the back of his hand. He hisses between his teeth as loud as he can, as if the breaking of the mirror wasn’t enough noise to draw his busy lover from his study.
“What the hell, moron?!”
Shuichi can hear the concern leaking from the anger, and it makes him laugh through a wide, pained grin.
“Why are you laughing? Have you gone insane?”
Shuichi shakes his head and holds his fist up to his chest. Eiri frowns at him and steps carefully into the bathroom, trying to avoid cutting his feet on the glass fragments on the floor. He takes Shuichi’s fist in his hand and uncurls it, letting the blood stain the pads of his fingers.
“Dumbass,” he mutters, gauging the damage, which is practically minimal. “Why did you do something so stupid?”
Shuichi replies like it’s the simplest thing in the world, “I wanted to see if it would break easily.”
ii.
Maiko broke her ankle when she was eight. Shuichi, being a young boy, teased her relentlessly about how slow it made her. And he made her cry and got in trouble, but she let him sign her cast anyway.
Shuichi realized then, vaguely, that the body was frail. The body broke-and it broke easily. It wasn’t as dependable as he originally believed it to be. Even though it could be fixed in time, the fact still remained that it broke in the first place.
Nothing was solid. Everything could be destroyed.
iii.
“Hiro! Hiro, wake up!”
Hiro buried his face in his pillow.
“Wake up!”
Hiro snored loudly.
“Dammit, Hiro, my heart is breaking!”
Hiro groaned and lifted his head with reluctance to look at the clock.
“Shuichi, it’s two in the morning and…how did you get in my house?”
“Hiro,” Shuichi whined, climbing onto the bed and tugging at his best friend’s arms. “I’m depressed.”
“All right, all right.” Hiro let the singer pull him into a sitting position and yawned into Shuichi’s pink hair as he settled against him, Shuichi’s back to his chest. “What happened?”
“I got kicked out.”
“I figured.” Hiro rolled his sleep-gazed eyes. “What’d you do?”
“Me? Me? I didn’t do anything!”
“Of course not.”
“He’s mad at me for breathing.”
“Breathing?”
“Yes.”
“Well, stop it, then.”
“Hiro!”
“It’s two in the morning!”
Shuichi turned his head and pouted at him. Hiro sighed and leaned forward a bit, getting comfortable with the boy who was practically on his lap.
“Okay, so you breathed…and he kicked you out.”
“Well, it was a bit more than that…” Shuichi ran his fingers along Hiro’s wrists and bit at his bottom lip worriedly. “Hiro, he got so angry at me. What if he hates me now? Maybe he never wants to see me again…” He sniffled, and then proceeded to wail pitifully, “Hiro, he said it was over!”
“Again?” Hiro chuckled and started a soothing rock with the singer in his arms. “Shuichi, Yuki-san breaks your heart everyday.”
“Does not!”
“But he always manages to fix it in the end. Am I right?”
“…Yes…”
“Then calm down, get some sleep, and we’ll call him in the morning, all right?”
Shuichi nodded and turned in the guitarist’s arms, cuddling into his warm chest. Their breathing slowed and they slept easy, and in the morning, they awoke to a certain blond novelist calling Shuichi’s cell phone.
iv.
Mika clinked her glass of brandy against Shuichi’s with an almost playful smile on her red lips.
“To you,” she said with a gleam in her eye, “for breaking my brother.”
Shuichi’s eyes went a little wide and he quickly bowed his head.
“I’m sorry!”
She reached over to lift his chin up with her fingers.
“No, it’s a good thing,” she assured. “It means you’ve tamed him.” She took a sip from her glass and laughed. “I mean, when was the last time he fooled around?”
Shuichi frowned thoughtfully around the rim of his own drink.
“I don’t know. More than a year.”
“You’re quite the miracle worker.”
Shuichi blushed and rubbed at the back of his neck modestly.
“Oh, I don’t think that really has to do with m-”
“Of course it does,” she interjected firmly. “Do you know how many times we tried to make him quit his constant womanizing?” She propper her elbow on the table and held her chin in her palm and smirked. “You have my little brother wrapped around your finger.”
“You really think so?”
“I even heard he’s thinking of cutting back on the smokes. Your influence?”
“Guilty as charged.”
A grin spread across her face and she leaned abruptly across the table to kiss him squarely on the forehead.
v.
Shuichi should’ve been pleased-in a naughty, vengeful way-when he heard that ASK had broken up. Instead, a terrible and heart-sinking thought flashed through his mind: What if Bad Luck broke up?
It was bound to happen, was it not? Didn’t every band eventually fall apart? Even the group he idolized, the group that inspired him to sing in the first place, had split ultimately.
“Hey, Sakuma-san?” Shuichi leaned into the man sitting beside him on the park bench, arm pressed fully against arm. “How did you deal with the break-up?”
Ryuichi looked at him quizzically over his three-scoop ice cream cone. Shuichi smiled.
“The band’s break-up, I mean. Was it hard for you?”
“Break-up? Break-up, break-up, break-up…” He licked thoughtfully at his ice cream before saying brightly, “My crayons break all the time! I always have to get new ones.”
Ryuichi eagerly returned to his ice cream and Shuichi frowned slightly as he thought about those words.
“New ones, huh?” He worried his hands in his lap until his knuckles turned white. “New ones.”
He jumped, startled, when, a few minutes later, Ryuichi’s sticky hand covered his own. He wasn’t smiling and his voice was low and quiet when he said, “But it still sucks. Because they may be new and pretty, but they aren’t the same.”
Shuichi stared evenly into his friend’s eyes, matching his deep and serious gaze. Until Ryuichi grinned again and offered him the melting remains of his sweet and sugary treat.
vi.
Shuichi picks idly at the bandage on his hand while Eiri clears the dinner table and heads to the sink.
“That mirror broke so easily…”
“It was glass, baka.”
“Do you think…people can break that easily?”
Eiri takes a moment to respond, distracting himself with scraping chicken bones and other food scraps into the garbage, setting aside the wishbone on instinct. And maybe he just doesn’t want to answer.
“Some people. Yes.”
Shuichi nods slowly and murmurs in agreement, “I think so, too.” After a pause, he adds, “And couples?”
“They can.” Eiri knows there’s no point in lying. He knows what Shuichi’s getting at. “We won’t.”
Shuichi looks up at him.
“How do you know?”
Eiri shrugs and begins filling the sink with soapy water.
“I just do.”
“But you can’t just know.”
“Yes, I can.”
“No, you can’t.”
“I can. Here,” Eiri takes the wishbone at one end and offers the other to Shuichi. “Break it.”
“But-”
“Do it.”
They both pull and when the bone snaps, Eiri gives his lover a gentle smirk.
“See? I win. So we’ll last.”
Shuichi doesn’t protest, just says his name simply, sweetly-“Yuki”-and tilts his head up for a kiss. And until the need for air becomes much too pressing, they don’t break away.