Justification

He's often asked: why do you love me, but he has never got a real answer in reply. He's often wondered: when and how, but he has never dared voice them aloud. It's heaven in the other's arms, it's pleasure that he feels when he's with him, it's a sort of feeling he has always thought forbidden to the world.

Idealist, the other mocks teasingly.

Love.

He's watched his parents grow up together, watched as they grew closer, until the failure had caused his father to fall, and to divorce himself from the feelings inside his heart.

Love.

He's watched his friends pair up, watched as they exchanged sweet words, until a misunderstanding would cause one of two parties to start an argument, until they break up at long last.

Love.

He's told nothing lasts forever, and that one shouldn't hope for the best - because you never know where a tornado will take everything away from you.

Nothing's going to take me away from you.

He wants to say something else altogether, wants to disagree, but there is nothing he can do as he lies on his back and lets the other assault him - sweet kisses, gentle words. Pain and pleasure flood his senses, and he bites his lips to stop himself from groaning.

I love you, the other murmurs, and all Ruby can think of now is how. He moans as the other shifts on top of him, and thinks when.

But the only word that escapes him is why.

The other smiles, and leans in to capture his lips.

When Steven kisses him again, as the world melts away into nothing - when they exist only in the world of their own, Ruby realises, in that brief moment, that he has been wrong all along.

And, it is, in that instant, that Ruby holds onto Steven and prays that the other will never, ever let him go.

owari.