Snippets (PG-13, OshiGaku), 13. Untitled
Title: Snippets (13)
Pairings: Oshitari/Gakuto.
Guest Stars: Rest of Hyoutei.
Rating: PG-13, for gay pairings.
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is created by Konomi Takeshi. This work is a piece of fanfiction and no part of it is attributed to Konomi-sama or any other entity holding any legal right associated with and arising out of Prince of Tennis . It was written purely out of fanservice and it is not to be used for profit or any false association with Konomi-sama or aforesaid entities.
Author's Apology: Once more, I apologise. I've missed several days, due to work. There's a rather major matter that's happening now. I've also been sick -- that was yesterday. I won't be able to post until this Sunday.
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13. Untitled
There are days when Oshitari Yuushi crawls back into the house in the wee hours of the morning, barely able to hold himself together. It feels as if he’s been bleeding his energy and strength into his work forever-but it’s only been eighteen hours a day on average, three weeks in a row, seven days a week. The pain seeps deep into his bones and flesh and skin, a dull, hollow reminder that his physical being is at its limit. His eyelids keep drooping close, and his brain keeps shutting down, so that it is only with great difficulty that he avoids falling over the drain grating, running into the lamppost on the corner, and tripping over the bump in the sidewalk on his way in.
If Gakuto’s there, on the other side of the door, everything’s all right. The door will open even before Oshitari reaches for it, and Gakuto will be there to prop him up before he falls over the doorstep on the way in. There’ll be a bath waiting, and all Oshitari needs to do is to find his way into it-and if need be, sometimes Gakuto gives him a helpful little shove in the right direction. If Oshitari’s too tired, and it’s too dangerous for him to bathe in case he falls asleep and drowns himself-well then, the sofa-bed’s all ready, so he doesn’t really have to do more than shed his coat and tie, and then tumble down into soft sheets. Then he’s dead until the morning light. When he wakes, he’ll find that Gakuto’s tucked himself neatly under the sheets too.
It’s when Gakuto’s not there that Oshitari drags himself to an armchair and slumps into it, without bothering about pulling out the sofa-bed. He’ll wait up for Gakuto, he thinks, because Gakuto sometimes keeps even later hours than he does at work. But then he’ll fall asleep in the armchair, despite his best intentions. And when he wakes up in the morning, he’ll find that he’s lying on the sofa-bed. Gakuto will be sprawled out next to him, deep in slumber, with a line of drool trailing from one corner of his mouth - and somehow, the comforter and blankets will all be wrapped around him, leaving none for Oshitari.
When they were just friends, there’d be at least one other person there to help, too-either Shishido or Hiyoshi. They’d take turns, waiting up to let in whichever one was late. It’s a measure of their excellent friendship. - But when they were just friends, Gakuto never spent the night on the sofa-bed, next to Oshitari.
So the first time Shishido stumbled down the stairs early in the morning and saw them fast asleep in the sofa-bed, together, he was so stunned that he fell down the last three steps and twisted his ankle. Then he woke the entire household, screaming blue murder and yelling something about bleeding eyes, and that he was going to burn the sofa and then throw it.
They keep the sofa; good furniture is hard to come by, after all, and it is really quite innocent of the slanderous things Shishido says about it. But Shishido decides that he will never, ever sit on it again - and when Ohtori returns from abroad later that month and hears the story, he buys a new two-seater sofa bed for the living room.
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