Pocky and Promises

Chapter 14: A Promise for Tomorrow

Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Gravitation, only my plot and the original songs contained within.

Dedication: To you, for reading through until the end. I present the final chapter of 'Pocky and Promises.'

Shuichi never could recall just how they made it back to Ryuichi's apartment following the impromptu concert. The twists and turns and taxi ride were enveloped in a smoky haze of delirium dotted with delicious, dizzying touches and a never-ending stream of kisses that left him disoriented, light-headed, and grinning like an idiot. Lost to the little bubble of blissful warmth they'd conjured, he followed along that path of intoxication in the one person he'd come to rely on with perfect love and perfect trust.

Ryuichi, well, Ryuichi was hovering just this side of drunk, attempting to hang onto his last shred of sanity, at least until they got inside, wherever inside was. Ah yes, his apartment complex. It was exceedingly difficult to think at all, when the object of your affections for, longer than he could-long enough, was wriggling all about in your lap, and completely neglecting his seatbelt in his earnest explorations of areas that Ryuichi would really rather not reveal to the public at large. But this was the power of Shuichi, invading his mind and better judgment, until all he could see, smell, taste, know, was his lover to be.

"Slow down, Shu-chan, or we won't make it inside," he laughed breathlessly, trying to think amidst the chaos being wrought upon his mental faculties, not that they were especially well-oriented to begin with.

"Does that really matter?" Shuichi replied, eyes darkened by lust, and hands currently causing Ryuichi's nerves to sizzle at his touch; he was briefly concerned that he might catch fire, but decided there were worse ways to die than by Shuichi's hand. Though, if he spontaneously combusted before they finally managed to consummate their relationship, perhaps Shu might not forgive him for that.

"Good things come to those who wait, right?" Ryuichi asked, trying, also, to hold onto some kind of grasp of reality, which was incredibly difficult when Shuichi was looking at him like that, and close enough to touch. And touch they did.

Shu was fairly certain that he was burning from the inside out, even as Ryuichi tried very admirably to be the voice of reason. He wasn't accustomed to having any real kind of initiative, but it seemed that today was to be a day of many firsts, including the first time that he'd ever actively sought to turn someone on. He hoped that it didn't turn into an unmitigated disaster, though the ragged gasp that met his ears suggested that it wouldn't.

"Nee, Ryuichi," Shu breathed against the skin of Ryuichi's neck, "how do you seduce a god?"

"Hah?" Ryuichi replied, feeling as though he were about to either set the car on fire, or perhaps just come in his pants like a teenager, and not terribly capable of cohesive conversation at the moment.

"Never mind," Shuichi giggled deviously, his hands skittering away from Ryuichi's waistband. "We're home," he said instead, kissing Ryuichi's lips teasingly before drawing back enough to unbuckle Ryuichi's seatbelt, and it suddenly felt much cooler in the car than before.

Ryuichi's penthouse, yes, that place with the stuff, and the bed; he mustn't forget the bed.

Cobbling together their errant thoughts, and wayward hands, they somehow made it safely indoors, and if someone tripped over their feet, well, nothing would be said about that until later, assuming that anyone remembered something so trivial in light of –finally.-

It was more like coming home than Ryuichi had ever quite experienced before, falling together down, down, down to the warmth and the welcome of both Shuichi and the comforter as they plotted against him, the cheeky bunnies they were. He might have to someday acquire a new comforter, but, Shuichi must stay. It had taken him an awfully long time to open his eyes, after all.

"I love you," Shu whispered against his lips, the words wrapping around him like an embrace, and Ryuichi was lost after that. Luckily, Shuichi knew the way.

There was no hesitation, or apology in Shuichi's kiss as they came together the way they should have before, but couldn't. His lips were sure, despite the slight trembling to his hands; a familiar act, with foreign hands finding ticklish places, and others that simply took his breath away. They were fairly dizzy, lying there amid the sheets, kicked away for having the audacity to run interference in this most important of moments; not for the act of sex itself, but rather the culmination of confessions and a promise sealed between them.

Ryuichi's hands moved greedily over Shuichi's skin, tossing his clothes hither dither and yon, but most importantly, out of his way. His fingers ached to touch, to tease, to know (learning didn't stop at graduation, after all) everything about the pretty butterfly who'd chosen him. Shu-chan sure knew how to make someone feel special, na no da. And if he pushed him just a little bit farther because he wanted to see him wriggle and giggle and squirm, was that really so wrong?

But then, they'd waited long enough, and teasing Shu only teased him too, and as delightful as it was, it was more than a bit maddening, too.

Perhaps he ought to get serious, Ryuichi thought. He cupped Shuichi's cheek in his hand carefully, his thumb whisking away an errant tear as he sealed his lips over Shuichi's in a languid kiss that warmed, rather than burned, though it couldn't stay that way for long, not when Shuichi was involved.

Shu, for his part, was just trying to remember how to breathe in the wake of the gentlest storm in history Sure, he was familiar with kissing, and rather enjoyed it, to be honest, but he'd never felt quite so… exposed, so raw, before. It left his brain a useless puddle of 'yes please', and his mouth, usually so wrought with words, straining to form even the smallest of sounds under Ryuichi's caress. His head was spinning, his pulse thudded in his ears, and they weren't even totally naked yet. He was so doomed, but in the best of ways, he told himself frantically, scrambling to hang on to, well, anything, that could prove an anchor. He supposed that Ryuichi's hips would do the trick.

Ryuichi teased Shu's lips apart, drawing the lower one into his mouth to be tasted, teased, and nibbled on, and smiled when his would-be lover shivered beneath him. His fingers skidded and skated across Shuichi's chest and down his sides, and wasn't sorry at all when he giggled breathlessly as they found a ticklish spot. He drank in the sight, and the sounds, as Shu relaxed under his hands, and committed each gasp and wiggle to memory.

Ryuichi had a fantastic memory, as it were, and sometimes, at the end of the day, memories were all he had, so he wanted to make sure they were sparkling clear, just like his Shu-chan's voice.

He sneaked open the fastening on Shuichi's jeans as he nibbled at his neck, and moaned softly himself at the warmth radiating from his chest. Taking the time to look properly, he groaned at the sight before him.

"When did you get those done?" he asked huskily, toying with the circles of silver through Shu's nipples.

"Aaaah," Shu replied, his back arching under the attention, and whimpering just a little when the brunet paused. "I, umm… about a month ago?" he answered at last, squirming and reaching out for Ryuichi.

"I like them," Ryu said, kissing Shu senseless before shifting down to tease the pierced skin with his tongue, and just a hint of teeth. He grinned around the peaks as Shu writhed and panted beneath him, busy fingers finally ridding him of his pants and boxers in one fell swoop. His tongue circled a perky nipple, gliding over it as Shu shivered and squeaked. "You're too cute," he laughed, nuzzling Shuichi's chest and neck as his hands slid along the smooth expanse of thigh and over his hips, teasing the dips and angles with inquisitive, knowing fingertips.

"Am not," Shuichi pouted, though it was quickly swallowed in the wake of Ryuichi's fingers wrapping around his length. "O-oh!," he muttered, quite unable to lie still at the moment, and covered his mouth with his hand, lest he scream or something equally embarrassing.

He didn't expect Ryuichi to stop (why did he stop? For the love of all things, why did he stop!?), and tug his hand away. "Don't do that, Shu-chan. I want to hear you," he said on a purr, and human voices really shouldn't be able to sound quite so… hypnotic, Shu thought dumbly, his mind becoming increasingly fuzzy and soft. "I-if you say so," he managed, very proud of himself for forming an actual sentence, with words and everything.

His only response was a low, dark chuckle, as Ryu slid down him a little further, and he distantly heard the rustling of fabric as Ryuichi's pants joined the rest of their clothes, Elsewhere. He couldn't stop shaking, no matter how hard he tried, at least until the comfortable weight (and warmth, Ryuichi was always warm, even when Shu forgot how) settled over him again, and he didn't flinch, not even when he heard the soft pop of a bottle opening. He did, however, nearly come unglued when Ryuichi's mouth closed around him.

It had been a long time, longer still since Shu had –wanted-, and god but he wanted. He was probably speaking gibberish by the time that gentle fingers began to work him open enough that it wouldn't hurt like high holy fuck, and the first time Ryuichi's long, careful fingers brushed his prostate, he did scream.

"OH GOD!" he shouted on a half-strangled note, almost seeing stars and feeling very disconnected from the rest of his body as his head fell back against the pillow, a shiver wracking his spine until he wondered if it might snap in two under the sheer force.

"God?" Ryuichi breathed across his skin, turning it to goosebumps, shifting Shuichi's left leg up and around his waist, his right in outer space for all he cared, and withdrawing his fingers to a keening protest. "Maybe. But you can call me Ryuichi," he grinned wickedly, pressing into him in one, slow thrust.

Words were rather lost between them, tumbling out in nonsense waves of little rhyme or reason, getting tangled between their intertwined fingers, clinging to their lips like the droplets of sweat that beaded along their foreheads, swallowed with the breath that came in erratic bursts.

Ryuichi's nails nearly broke Shuichi's skin as his hand clenched just that tightly over his palm, and when finally, finally they fell headfirst over the cliff side by side, it was shimmering, luminescent, and the lightest that Shu had ever felt, lying sated and giddy and just a bit stupid next to Ryuichi as they both tried to remember how to think or breathe or move. But somehow, it didn't seem all that important just then.

And it had never been like this before; it had never felt like this before, save perhaps once upon a time ago, when there was the belief in a happily ever after. But forever comes and goes, Shuichi learned, which was why each day was so very precious, which was why love was so precious, because in the end, what was there but to love, and to be loved in return? He'd thought he'd found that, before, in a different storybook, with a golden prince, driving a black Mercedes, and yet, that fairy-tale had come to a screeching halt, the sunset streaked with blood and shame and fear.

And perhaps, some princes weren't really princes at all, but rather monsters in disguise, and their all-consuming shadow was too dark to be broken by dawn. But it turned out alright, in the end, because someone else had shown up when he needed them the most, and he'd found a knight with a pink bunny, who was afraid of neither love nor his own demons. And they could shape their own future with their own hands, together, and Shuichi thought that was the best happy ending anyone could ask for.

-La fin

Author's note: I am… SO sorry, that this took so damn long. I, I hope that you enjoyed it though. I just wanted to do this story justice, being the first chaptered fanfic I was sure I could finish, even if it took me much longer than I'd –ever- intended to do so. Thank you, all of you, for your support, for your kind words, and for your faith, in me, and in Ryu and Shu.