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It happened the moment
When you were revealed
'Cause you were a dream
That just should not have been
A fantasy real
- Maxwell "Ascension"
It's been a long day...and
it's not even half over yet. I don't ever
want to see another hose in my life. Next
time, Ryo takes the
overgrown housecat with him. What to chronicle
now?
Kento and Cye have been
hiding out most of the day doing gods
only know what... I'm sure I could hazard
a guess, though.
(Smirk.)
Mia's been out of town
since last night. She said it was family
business, so I decided not to pry. Hope
it's not anything serious,
though. I would hate for her to get bad
news when everything's
been going so well recently. She took Ryo,
so I'm not too worried
about her.
What else? Oh,
yes. Yuli. He's gone for the weekend.
("Thank God! Hmm. I really shouldn't say that.")
He's off on a camping
trip with a few of his friends. I can hardly
believe he's old enough to be out on his own
like this. It seems like
only yesterday that he was on all of our heels
constantly, begging
for us to do something with him. Where
has all the time gone? Did
it really pass by so quickly?
(Thoughtful pause.)
And then there's Rowen.
We went out to lunch with my mother
yesterday. He seemed nervous for some reason.
(He's been jumpy
for the past couple of weeks, actually.)
I haven't gotten him to tell
me what's been bothering him yet. I'll
just have to keep working
on him, I guess.
I mentioned the 'gifts'
Kimi had given him to Mom. She
*forced* him to show her. Gods, I don't
think I've laughed so
much in long time. His face was as red
as Ryo's armor while Mom
poked and prodded first at his piercing, then
the tattoo, and then
the piercing again! I think he found her
curiosity more
embarrassing than lifting his shirt in the middle
of the restaurant.
(Chuckle. Sigh.)
He's so lovely.
I don't think he knows that. I *would* tell him
just how beautiful he is but I doubt he'd listen.
I've talked to Mom about
how I feel about him before. She says
that I should tell him what I've told her.
I can't. There's so much -
almost too much - that I want to say that I know
would scare him
away. Probably even destroy the friendship
we have now.
(Quiet, sad smile.)
Even if I did tell him,
he would most likely just throw it back in
my face and laugh - or even try to physically
hurt me. I couldn't
handle a reaction like that when all I want to
do is take him in my
arms and lavish on him what so many girls - and
they *are* girls -
have begged me for.
Sometimes, though, I'm
not so certain that he would push me
away. But then, when I think that maybe
he might possibly return
some of the feelings, he turns away and ignores
me. Am I just
looking for something that's not really there?
I don't know exactly
when I started to think of him like this.
Sure, he's not the first person, male or female,
I've had an interest
in but it feels different from any other time.
So much more
implicitly *right*. It seems like it all
really happened within a few
short heartbeats one day - I couldn't say when.
I looked at him...I
mean, REALLY looked at him...and found myself
gazing at the
other half of my soul.
(Blink back the swirling disaster of impending heartache.)
My sweet Touma, what
would you do if I *could* find the
nerve to tell you that I want nothing more than
to hold you close to
me for the rest of our lives? I'd so very
much like to know.
Hn. No more of
*this* today. I'm starting to sound like a sorry
character in a bad romance novel.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sage set the sleek, black
pen down on his desk and, with a deep
sigh of resignation, closed his journal.
The smooth, emerald cover
was dark under his pale hands. Slowly,
he opened the lowest
drawer of his desk and proceeded to bury the
book which contained
his most secret of thoughts.
He smiled a little, thinking
about how shocked his friends would
be if they knew how shy he truly was about expressing
himself to
others. Oh, they knew he was incredibly
flirtatious but flirting and
*real* love, want, desire, were entirely different
things. And how
badly he'd found himself wanting Rowen, his closest
friend, was
indescribable.
He stood and walked over
to one of the large windows that
graced two of the walls. Lovely things,
corner rooms. Grinning,
Sage watched the scene in the back yard unfold
below him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rowen uselessly attempted
to keep himself dry as the still
soaked White Blaze decided it was time to shake
off yet another
ten or so gallons of water. Blinking against
the spray, Rowen
glanced up at Sage's window and saw the blond
smiling down on
him. Was he *laughing* at this?
Yep. He was.
Sage had left right after
they'd finished sudsing and then hosing
the formerly mud-covered cat down. (It
never failed. In the middle
of summer, White Blaze *still* managed to find
a mudhole to roll
in.) Rowen had never even gotten close
to the large cat with the
towels to dry him off. He'd spent the last
half-hour chasing White
Blaze around the yard. It never took Ryo
this much effort but, then
again, White Blaze *was* his cat.
Scowling, Rowen waved
to Sage with one finger and was then
crushed to the ground under several hundred pounds
of wet tiger.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sage sat at the kitchen
table, watching Cye, who'd recently
reappeared with Kento, wander from one cupboard
to another as he
unloaded the dishwasher. He tapped out
a staccato rhythm on the
table with a sharpened pencil, the yellow shaft
showing a great
many bite marks left by a thoughtful man with
blue hair.
He'd left his room right
after he'd recovered from his giggle fit
caused by White Blaze's trouncing of Rowen.
His quiet, renewed
snickering at the memory made Cye pause for a
moment as he
shoved a stack of plates onto a shelf.
"What's got you in such a
good mood?"
Sage grinned. "Rowen."
An auburn brow rose sharply
on Cye's forehead. "Really? What
did he do to leave you so amused?"
"Nothing special. He was just being himself."
"You find that funny?" The Brit appeared bewildered.
"He had White Blaze's
help, too," Sage clarified. "And, when
he's not confusing the hell out of me, yes, I
find Rowen very funny."
Cye narrowed his eyes
and regarded Sage curiously. "What's
that supposed to mean?"
Sage pursed his lips
as he considered how to reply. "Never
mind," he said as a damp Rowen trudged in through
the sliding
glass door. "So...did you have fun, Rowen?"
The deep indigo eyes
flashed over him with a glare. Sage smiled
at the archer sweetly. Rowen hesitated
then sat irritably on the
opposite side of the table.
Quiet descended over
the kitchen as Cye returned to his work
with a shrug. The tapping of the pencil
began again. Leaning back
into the chair, Sage propped his feet up on another
and let himself
observe Rowen, a tiny smile tugging at his lips.
Rowen blatantly
ignored him, at least for a while.
A few minutes passed.
When the blue-haired man finally let his
eyes slip over to check on Sage, he appeared
more than slightly
startled to find the pale eyes gazing right back
at him. Sage
watched the little twitch as Rowen quickly turned
away, lightly
clearing his throat. Was he just imagining
that those pale cheeks
now held a hint of pink?
Rowen suddenly stood
and announced, "I'm going to my room.
That's where I'll be if you need me." Then
he was out of the room
in a rush. A rather hasty retreat, Sage's
mind drawled, making him
wince at the implications.
Sage let his chin fall
low and idly began picking at the cloth of
his shirt, feeling empty. He knew quite
well why he felt like that.
It happened every time Rowen left his presence.
He felt Cye's eyes
blazing deep into him from the other side of
the kitchen and sensed
clearly when the other moved toward him.
It was no surprise when
strong, slender fingers lifted his face
and he found intense, sea-colored eyes peering
into his own. Cye,
finding nowhere else to sit, slipped onto his
lap and scrutinized him
for an endless minute. "How long?" he finally
asked, his voice quiet
and gentle like the sea at low tide.
Sage closed his eyes
and took a deep breath before looking at
Cye again. There wasn't any reason to ask
what the question was
about, just as there was no reason not to answer.
"I couldn't say."
"Sage, tell him."
"I can't. I'm not even sure how he would take it."
"Haven't you *seen* him
looking at you?" Cye's hands cupped
Sage's jaw, not letting the blond move away from
the verbal assault.
"It's tearing *me* apart watching you two pine
over one another
and do nothing about it."
Throwing his initial
astonishment aside, Sage decided it wasn't
really all that surprising that Cye had him figured
out. Wait, had he
said "you two?" He couldn't possibly mean...
Could he? Yes, he
could. Cye was *not* one to lie or make
things up. Sage's heart
leapt in his chest. If Cye saw something
in Rowen, it was far more
than likely there.
"He's so damn confusing,"
Sage admitted. "One minute it's like
he wants me to rip his clothes off and devour
him, then in the next
he doesn't want anything to do with me, ever."
Cye's hands dropped gently
to his shoulders, his face serious.
"A little advice, Sage. Do it. Tell
him. Drag him into your arms,
don't let him go, and tell him. If you
don't, I'll be forced to take the
situation into my own hands."
Sage blinked in wonder
at the bearer of Torrent. Had he always
been this strong? This observant?
He nodded his surrender and
accepted the chaste kiss Cye brushed against
his lips.
"It's an old, bad, overused
plot, Halo," Cye said softly. "Don't
drag it on like in the movies."
With an impish grin,
Cye stood, ruffled Sage's perfect, blond
hair and walked back to finish his cleaning.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kento rested against
his lover's warm, cotton-clad back, arms
firmly snugged around Cye's middle. They
were sitting on the floor
in front of the couch. He watched the flickering
of an old horror
movie on the TV as Cye flipped a deck of cards
onto the coffee
table in a game of solitaire.
"I talked to Sage today,
love," Cye commented obscurely,
turning over an ace. If Kento was interested,
he would ask.
"And?" The word
was smothered in a warm breath against his
neck. A tender hand slipped beneath his
shirt, resting against his
stomach.
Cye smirked. Kento
was interested - and not just in what had
passed between Sage and his better half.
"We discussed Rowen."
"Really? Anything going on there I should know about?"
"Not yet. Soon, I should think, though."
"That's good," Kento
murmured, nuzzling close, "You're just my
little matchmaker."
Cye dropped his cards
onto the table and leaned back into
Kento's thick arms, reaching one leisurely hand
up to tangle in the
ashy blue hair. He turned to gaze into
Kento's dark blue eyes. "I
did a good job with *us*, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did."
Their lips met.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Sage stood outside the
door of Rowen's room. Uncertain, he
raised a hand to knock, growled at himself when
he grew nervous,
then rapped a swift three-beat against the white-painted
wood.
"Who is it?" came the muffled query.
He took a deep, steadying
breath and said, "It's Sage. May I
come in?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
END PART TWO
