|
|
'Cause when the lovin' starts
and the lights go down
And there's not another livin'
soul around
You woo me until the sun comes
up
And you say that you love me
- Fleetwood Mac "Say You Love Me"
He lay on his bed, paying
no attention to the still rumpled
bedclothes. Why bother making a bed when
you would just end up
messing it up again? It had been a long
while since he'd left the
kitchen to get away from those flashing, silvery
eyes that had
watched him from the other side of the table.
The sun had slipped behind
the mountains and didn't give nearly
enough light to read the small type printed in
his book. He'd have
to get up and flip the light on soon.
A knock at his door brought
his mind partially out of the science
fiction novel in his hands.
"Who is it?" he called
distractedly, his eyes still scouring the
words currently held much closer to his face
than they should have
been.
"It's Sage. May I come in?"
Rowen felt his breath
catch in his throat. This was not who he'd
been expecting. Cye, yes. Kento,
maybe. Sage... most definitely
no. "Just a minute," he managed to get
out. He marked his page
and set his paperback down on his bed.
Calm down, he told
himself, just calm down. He's not here
for whatever it is you're
thinking.
God, I wish he was.
He sat up, crossing his
legs in something resembling a half-lotus
position, and ran a hand through his mess of
blue hair. "Okay."
The door opened slowly,
almost like Sage wasn't quite sure if he
was doing the right thing. When he finally
caught sight of the
blond, Rowen thought he'd never seen the man
so taken by nerves.
He felt jittery himself, not able to keep his
eyes on Sage for more
than a few moments at a time. The soft
click of the door closing
stilled his flitting gaze and he stared hard
at the floor.
"So. What are you
doing?" Sage asked, sounding a little too
casual.
It was a simple enough
question, though, and easily answered.
"Reading."
"Really? How unusual
for you," Sage smirked, taking a couple
of small steps farther into the room. "Do
you have any plans for
tomorrow?"
Keep your eyes on the floor, Rowen told himself. "Not yet."
"Oh. Would you like to do something with me?"
Take a deep breath. "Sure. What did you have in mind?"
"I don't know. I thought maybe we could just do whatever."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Rowen?"
"Yeah?" He fidgeted with his jeans, plucking absently at a seam.
He heard Sage exhale
slowly, as if working up to something,
then in a hushed manner, "Would you look at me...please?"
The archer froze, hardly
believing the sad tone of Sage's voice
and the implications that came with it.
If possible, he stared harder
at the floor, not even daring to breathe.
Why did Sage sound so
unhappy? He couldn't bring himself to lift
his gaze. God, Sage,
*don't* do this to me! I can't look at
you... You'll see everything
because I know I can't hide it from you right
now.
When a warm hand touched
his shoulder, he blinked and bit at
his bottom lip. He hadn't even realized
Sage had moved that close
to him, he'd been so wrapped up in his thoughts.
"Please?" The whisper was almost too faint for him to hear.
Rowen found it impossible
to resist that soft request. He lifted
his eyes shyly and gasped, turning away from
the emotions he saw
plainly playing across Sage's face. Then,
Sage's other hand came
up to his jaw, bringing him gently back to see
what was being
offered to him. Whether it was a gift of
Chance or Fate, Rowen
didn't care; something was going to happen tonight
because he saw
a mirror of his own emotions in Sage's eyes.
"I'm going to try this
Cye's way because I can't seem to figure it
out on my own," Sage told him, his voice low
for fear of having it
break at an inopportune moment. The feel
of Rowen's soft skin
beneath his hand was exquisite. Drawing
his courage together,
Sage traced his thumb lightly over Rowen's lips,
finding even more
strength as he watched Rowen's eyelids slip half
closed. A tiny,
hesitant smile came to Sage's mouth when Rowen
began to lean
into his touch like a favored cat.
He grabbed Rowen's hands
and urged him up off the bed.
Stepping close, Sage determined contentedly that
they were nearly
of a height; it was something he'd strangely
never paid any real
mind before. He combed his fingers through
the blue hair before
slipping his hands down to learn the fine arcs
and lines of the
beautiful face by touch, as he'd wanted to for
so long now.
Rowen's dark eyes were
closed, ardently fixating on the
sensation, his lips parted temptingly.
Sage almost took advantage
of the situation...it would have been so easy,
just to lean in and-
Instead, recalling Cye's
words, he caught Rowen up in his arms
and held him close. "Oh god, Rowen...
Touma... I want you. I
*need* you," he asserted fiercely, the words
tumbling from his lips
in a frenzied rush. He could feel tears
of undecided origin well up
in his pale eyes, threatening to spill when Rowen
hesitated, standing
still and shocked in his encompassing arms.
For a long, painful
moment, he was terrified that Rowen would shove
him away and
make them tears of heartbreak. Gods, I've
moved too fast! I know
I have... but I can't stop now. "I-I love you."
Then, suddenly, the archer's
arms slipped around him, subtle in
their strength, returning the embrace.
It was settled. They were
tears of happiness and they slid gracefully down
his glowing
cheeks.
Rowen leaned his head
against Sage's shoulder, basking in the
sudden warmth that suffused his body at the words,
when the arms
holding him tightened almost impossibly.
Was this really happening
to him? He hadn't expected anything like
this to happen so quickly.
Would he wake up soon and find this was all a
dream? His heart
fluttered like a mad hummingbird and he held
on to Sage like the
world would end if he let go. Real or dream,
he wasn't about to
throw his chance away. "...Seiji..." he
murmured, his voice
sounding small against the other man's chest.
One of Sage's arms moved
then and a hand began stroking his
hair. He felt wetness against his face
and raised his head to see
Sage weeping. Lifting a wondering hand,
he brushed the tears
away and whispered, "Don't cry. I'm here."
He paused, then leaned
in closer, to breathe into Sage's ear, "I love
you, Seiji. I'll never
leave you."
Sage felt his fears melting.
A smile spread wide across his face
and he lifted Rowen from his feet, following
a happy, childlike urge,
spinning the other around in circles as he laughed.
He collapsed
onto the bed, drawing a startled Rowen beneath
him.
"Cye was right," he spoke his thought aloud.
"What?" Rowen was confused.
"He told me that I should
just tell you and he was right. He also
threatened to do something about this himself
if I didn't take any
action," Sage explained, grinning. Then,
he babbled on, "Come to
think of it, Mom told me that, too. Not
with the threat, mind you,
but still. How can a body argue when two
people tell you the same
thing? Especially two people you trust
completely. I should have
listened to them sooner-"
Rowen blinked and said, "Oh. Sage?"
"Yes?" He looked at Rowen questioningly.
"I know it's a cliche
and all, but would you just shut up and kiss
me?"
Sage's smile became gentle
and he moved to do as he'd been
asked without complaint.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Cye glanced at the clock.
It was well past nine in the morning.
Sage *never* slept in this late. Where
was he? "Ken?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm going upstairs for
a moment. Please try to stay away from
the stove." His only reply was a half-shrug
that could've meant
anything. Rolling his eyes, Cye left the
kitchen and wandered up
the stairs and down the hall to Sage's room.
He knocked on the door
but received no answer. Raising an
auburn brow in curiosity, Cye cracked the door
open and softly
called, "Sage?"
Nothing.
Concerned, he pushed
the door fully open to survey the room.
Other than the normal furnishings and such, it
was empty.
No Sage.
The bed hadn't been slept
in and Cye knew for an absolute fact
that the blond *hadn't* gone out last night.
He paused then to
consider the talk he'd had with Sage the day
before and grinned
suddenly in giddy anticipation. Cye slinked
down the hall to
Rowen's room, tingling with excitement down to
his very toes.
Intent on catching something
good, he opened the door without
warning and sucked in a happy breath at the sight
that greeted him.
"Whatcha doin'?" Kento queried from the top of the stairs.
Shushing him with a finger
placed to his own lips, Cye waved
Kento over. "Look at this," he commanded
quietly, waving a hand
into the archer's room. Doing as told,
for one did not go against
the Imp's wishes, Kento smirked.
"About time," he commented,
then flinched when Cye swatted
him on the thigh. "Ow..."
Cye turned back to gazing
on the new couple, securely wrapped
around one another in the center of the bed and
sound asleep, then
released a happy sigh. "My work here is
done. Now I can move
onto my next project."
"Think you can do it?"
Throwing a look worthy
of Puck over his shoulder, Cye replied,
"Of course! She wants him, he wants her...
They just don't know
it yet. Give me time and I'll have them
all over each like white on
rice, or bees on honey-"
"Or Sage on Rowen?"
"Kento!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
THE END (of this particular tale...)
