[bychkova]
HOUSE OF ECHOES
by orpheneritus
Yuushi takes off his shoes at the front door, turning them around to face the door.
'It's ugly,' Gakuto says following him into the house, '…and old.'
'It's affordable,' Yuushi corrects him, plucking the real estate leaflet from his hand and stepping onto the smooth and uneven wood of the hallway.
'What about-'
'Too expensive,' he interrupts. He doesn't have to turn around to know that Gakuto has scrunched his face up in annoyance, but still when he reaches a hand back behind him Gakuto grasps it tightly.
'But the commute-'
'Is only forty minutes,' he says soothingly.
'Yuushi,' Gakuto says stopping and tugging on his arm. He turns to face his lover, looking down into his upturned face. 'It's practically the countryside.'
'Hardly the countryside, it's still in the outer wards of Kobe.' He rests his hand against the side of Gakuto's neck, he can feel the stickiness of his skin in the humidity and the racing of his heartbeat.
'There's a rice field out the back, this place is probably infested with mice,' he says pleadingly.
He smiles and wraps his arms around Gakuto's shoulders, and leans in close to his ear. 'Gakuto… can't you see,' he presses his lips against the shell of his ear. 'It'll be ours.'
His hair rushes against your cheek as he nods slowly. 'Ours.'
Yuushi opens the kitchen windows to let the spring breeze clear out the stuffiness of rooms that have been closed for a time.
'This one's stuck,' Gakuto complains as he grunts and tries to slide the window open. The wood is warped.
They spend the day planing the frames and sanding them back until the window opens with only the minimum of resistance.
That night he fucks Gakuto for the first time in their house. On a thin and worn futon, laid out on the straw matts in the full moonlight that shines through the window, he presses Gakuto's legs back into his shoulders and slides into the tight heat of his body.
Gakuto smiles widely up at him. 'Guess we can be as loud as we want now,' he says with a suggestive raise of his eyebrow.
'Guess so,' Yuushi replies. 'It's our house.'
Yuushi slides the doors back on the runners opening the room to the hallway, letting the light from the windows filter through the soji screens. Gakuto likes the rooms to be open, every thing in the sun.
He sits in the tatami room in the mornings. Cross-legged with his hands wrapped around his teacup. Slowly sipping tea and allowing the sun to creep across the straw mats until it strikes him full in the face, hair lit up to a burning red, he closes his eyes and absorbs the warmth.
Next to him the cat, Tsukime, lays stretched out to her full length. Yellow eyes open only a slit, she purrs contentedly, every so often pressing her claws into the matting in deep satisfaction.
Gakuto reaches out to scratch the cat behind the ears, she presses back against his hand.
Yuushi sits beside him and strokes Tsukime absently. 'She's getting fat.'
Gakuto takes offense. 'She's getting older.'
'Will you be that forgiving, when it's my belly that is getting flabby,' Yuushi asks quietly.
'What do you mean when?' Gakuto replies tartly.
'Hmpmh,' Yuushi grunts in reply, his stomach isn't as tight as it used to be.
'I'm getting soft too,' Gakuto moans poking at his own stomach.
Yuushi glances over and tries to look on him critically, but to him, Gakuto still looks perfect. 'What are you doing?' he asks, touching the navy kimonos that pool over Gakuto's lap.
'Kimonos…' he replies quietly. 'For us to wear.'
Yuushi turns the fabric over to see the stitching Gakuto has done.
Cranes. They stand for commitment.
Yuushi places fresh towels under the counter in the bathroom, avoiding his reflection in the mirror.
Gakuto sits on the edge of the bath, hands covering his face. He kneels in front of his lover and gently peels his hands way to reveal red and teary eyes. 'I'm sorry, Gakuto,' he says laying his head in his lovers lap.
He feels Gakuto's long fingered hands thread through his short-cropped hair. 'I didn't think… I shouldn't have.'
'They called me the housekeeper… Yuushi. The housekeeper!' Bitter tears fall onto his head.
'I told them, Gakuto. A hundred times… a thousand,' he clasps his lovers hands tightly. 'They won't listen, they don't want to know.'
Gakuto rubs his eyes angrily and crosses his arms over his chest petulantly. It's endearing. 'If your father brings one more eligible woman around I swear, Yuushi… I swear I'll… Well I don't know what I'll do… but something,' he finishes lamely.
It turns out Gakuto slaps her.
Yuushi pulls the weeds from around the roots of the climbing wisteria. Gakuto planted it the first spring.
The table under the wisteria is filled with their friends, old and new, to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Chairs left empty by those that refused to come are removed quickly and quietly. Yuushi suspects Atobe of orchestrating this kindness before Gakuto comes out.
They wear their navy kimonos.
Gakuto is animated by the company of old friends, and shares his outrageous and sometimes lewd stories into the morning hours.
Yuushi's surprised that everyone brought gifts, but Gakuto's not. 'Of course they brought gifts. It's an anniversary celebration,' he says.
'But we never got married.'
Gakuto leans back into his arms and tilts his head back so he can see you. 'Only because we can't… besides I asked everyone to bring gifts.'
'You asked?' he replies.
Gakuto nods. 'I need to ask for them while I'm still gorgeous enough to get away with it.'
'So I'm off the hook for next year?'
Yuushi draws the box out from the attic space and brushes the dust from the top, before carrying it down to the bedroom.
'Yuushi,' Gakuto's voice calls brokenly from the attic.
He runs up the stairs as quickly as he can without loosing his footing.
'Yuushi, quickly, I found her.'
Yuushi steps onto the ladder behind Gakuto, pressing in close behind his to peer over his shoulder. The three-day search for Tsukime is over.
Gakuto looks at him pleadingly, his hands clutching the ladder.
Yuushi reaches over his shoulder and gently strokes the soft black and white fur. Tsukime is still. 'I'm sorry, Gakuto. She's dead.'
Gakuto sleeps restlessly, until he pulls him in tight to his body. Gakuto sighs and Yuushi knows he's awake, he can feel the wetness against his chest.
'I know,' Gakuto sighs again. 'I shouldn't cry over a cat.'
'I think it's okay,' he replies in a whisper. 'She was a pretty great cat.'
Gakuto gives a choked laugh. 'She was a terrible cat, really. She never caught a mouse, she couldn't walk a fence, and she was always falling off the chairs.'
Yuushi smiled and kissed his forehead. 'I remember the day we found her.'
'Stuck under the oven,' Gakuto replied. 'Do you think she suffered?'
'No, I think she found a warm spot and drifted off into sleep.'
Gakuto rolls onto his side and rests his head on Yuushi's shoulder. 'Sounds okay, I mean… that's how I'd choose to go.'
Yuushi sits on their bed. Creasing the crisp white linen. He reaches his hand across to the empty space beside him, allowing it to come to rest on the empty pillow.
'I'm glad I've come home,' Gakuto says as he laces their fingers together tightly. 'It's great to be here again.'
Yuushi pulls the covers back up over Gakuto's pale legs and then sits beside him on the bed, as close as he can get. He wants to say everything, he wants to say anything, but he can only squeeze the hand held in his tightly.
'I bet you're grateful I insisted on a thousand thread count sheets now,' Gakuto says spreading his thin hand out across the sheets. 'The sheets at the hospital are shit.'
'They are. And I am… grateful. Not just for the sheets, but for-'
'Let's watch a movie,' he interrupts.
Yuushi puts the movie in the player, but it's only fifteen minutes in when Gakuto falls asleep.
He spends the nights with his back pressed up against Gakuto's chest measuring, cherishing every breath. He doesn't even realise he cries until Gakuto's hands ghost across his face to brush hopelessly at the never ending wetness. 'Yuushi, please,' he whispers.
'I'm so helpless,' he cries, pressing their mouths together.
'There's nothing can be done,' he replies. 'I just want to stay with you, be with you now.'
Yuushi opens the box and folds back the protective papers around the fabric, the years haven't faded the brilliance of his work.
Atobe stands in the entrance way to the bedroom, tucking the envelope of papers under his arm unobtrusively. Atobe came the moment he'd called. Filling in paperwork, making arrangements, taking calls.
'The house,' Atobe says hesitantly. 'Will you sell it?'
He shakes his head. 'No. It was our house.' Yuushi finishes covering the fabric with the protective paper. He tapes up the box and slides it over to Atobe. 'Can you put that in the attic before we go?'
Atobe nods and picks up the box. 'Do you think you'll come back? All the memories…'
Yuushi sits back on his knees and slowly stands up. 'I'll come back because of the memories… in the spring.'
Atobe nods and leaves with the box.
Yuushi spreads the kimonos over the bed. The golden cranes stand out against the navy fabric. He'll hang them on the wall, above the bed where they slept.
There is pain in the echoes of Gakuto left behind, but one day there will be only comfort. He can live in their house, together. He can think of nothing better.
by orpheneritus
Yuushi takes off his shoes at the front door, turning them around to face the door.
'It's ugly,' Gakuto says following him into the house, '…and old.'
'It's affordable,' Yuushi corrects him, plucking the real estate leaflet from his hand and stepping onto the smooth and uneven wood of the hallway.
'What about-'
'Too expensive,' he interrupts. He doesn't have to turn around to know that Gakuto has scrunched his face up in annoyance, but still when he reaches a hand back behind him Gakuto grasps it tightly.
'But the commute-'
'Is only forty minutes,' he says soothingly.
'Yuushi,' Gakuto says stopping and tugging on his arm. He turns to face his lover, looking down into his upturned face. 'It's practically the countryside.'
'Hardly the countryside, it's still in the outer wards of Kobe.' He rests his hand against the side of Gakuto's neck, he can feel the stickiness of his skin in the humidity and the racing of his heartbeat.
'There's a rice field out the back, this place is probably infested with mice,' he says pleadingly.
He smiles and wraps his arms around Gakuto's shoulders, and leans in close to his ear. 'Gakuto… can't you see,' he presses his lips against the shell of his ear. 'It'll be ours.'
His hair rushes against your cheek as he nods slowly. 'Ours.'
Yuushi opens the kitchen windows to let the spring breeze clear out the stuffiness of rooms that have been closed for a time.
'This one's stuck,' Gakuto complains as he grunts and tries to slide the window open. The wood is warped.
They spend the day planing the frames and sanding them back until the window opens with only the minimum of resistance.
That night he fucks Gakuto for the first time in their house. On a thin and worn futon, laid out on the straw matts in the full moonlight that shines through the window, he presses Gakuto's legs back into his shoulders and slides into the tight heat of his body.
Gakuto smiles widely up at him. 'Guess we can be as loud as we want now,' he says with a suggestive raise of his eyebrow.
'Guess so,' Yuushi replies. 'It's our house.'
Yuushi slides the doors back on the runners opening the room to the hallway, letting the light from the windows filter through the soji screens. Gakuto likes the rooms to be open, every thing in the sun.
He sits in the tatami room in the mornings. Cross-legged with his hands wrapped around his teacup. Slowly sipping tea and allowing the sun to creep across the straw mats until it strikes him full in the face, hair lit up to a burning red, he closes his eyes and absorbs the warmth.
Next to him the cat, Tsukime, lays stretched out to her full length. Yellow eyes open only a slit, she purrs contentedly, every so often pressing her claws into the matting in deep satisfaction.
Gakuto reaches out to scratch the cat behind the ears, she presses back against his hand.
Yuushi sits beside him and strokes Tsukime absently. 'She's getting fat.'
Gakuto takes offense. 'She's getting older.'
'Will you be that forgiving, when it's my belly that is getting flabby,' Yuushi asks quietly.
'What do you mean when?' Gakuto replies tartly.
'Hmpmh,' Yuushi grunts in reply, his stomach isn't as tight as it used to be.
'I'm getting soft too,' Gakuto moans poking at his own stomach.
Yuushi glances over and tries to look on him critically, but to him, Gakuto still looks perfect. 'What are you doing?' he asks, touching the navy kimonos that pool over Gakuto's lap.
'Kimonos…' he replies quietly. 'For us to wear.'
Yuushi turns the fabric over to see the stitching Gakuto has done.
Cranes. They stand for commitment.
Yuushi places fresh towels under the counter in the bathroom, avoiding his reflection in the mirror.
Gakuto sits on the edge of the bath, hands covering his face. He kneels in front of his lover and gently peels his hands way to reveal red and teary eyes. 'I'm sorry, Gakuto,' he says laying his head in his lovers lap.
He feels Gakuto's long fingered hands thread through his short-cropped hair. 'I didn't think… I shouldn't have.'
'They called me the housekeeper… Yuushi. The housekeeper!' Bitter tears fall onto his head.
'I told them, Gakuto. A hundred times… a thousand,' he clasps his lovers hands tightly. 'They won't listen, they don't want to know.'
Gakuto rubs his eyes angrily and crosses his arms over his chest petulantly. It's endearing. 'If your father brings one more eligible woman around I swear, Yuushi… I swear I'll… Well I don't know what I'll do… but something,' he finishes lamely.
It turns out Gakuto slaps her.
Yuushi pulls the weeds from around the roots of the climbing wisteria. Gakuto planted it the first spring.
The table under the wisteria is filled with their friends, old and new, to celebrate their tenth anniversary. Chairs left empty by those that refused to come are removed quickly and quietly. Yuushi suspects Atobe of orchestrating this kindness before Gakuto comes out.
They wear their navy kimonos.
Gakuto is animated by the company of old friends, and shares his outrageous and sometimes lewd stories into the morning hours.
Yuushi's surprised that everyone brought gifts, but Gakuto's not. 'Of course they brought gifts. It's an anniversary celebration,' he says.
'But we never got married.'
Gakuto leans back into his arms and tilts his head back so he can see you. 'Only because we can't… besides I asked everyone to bring gifts.'
'You asked?' he replies.
Gakuto nods. 'I need to ask for them while I'm still gorgeous enough to get away with it.'
'So I'm off the hook for next year?'
Yuushi draws the box out from the attic space and brushes the dust from the top, before carrying it down to the bedroom.
'Yuushi,' Gakuto's voice calls brokenly from the attic.
He runs up the stairs as quickly as he can without loosing his footing.
'Yuushi, quickly, I found her.'
Yuushi steps onto the ladder behind Gakuto, pressing in close behind his to peer over his shoulder. The three-day search for Tsukime is over.
Gakuto looks at him pleadingly, his hands clutching the ladder.
Yuushi reaches over his shoulder and gently strokes the soft black and white fur. Tsukime is still. 'I'm sorry, Gakuto. She's dead.'
Gakuto sleeps restlessly, until he pulls him in tight to his body. Gakuto sighs and Yuushi knows he's awake, he can feel the wetness against his chest.
'I know,' Gakuto sighs again. 'I shouldn't cry over a cat.'
'I think it's okay,' he replies in a whisper. 'She was a pretty great cat.'
Gakuto gives a choked laugh. 'She was a terrible cat, really. She never caught a mouse, she couldn't walk a fence, and she was always falling off the chairs.'
Yuushi smiled and kissed his forehead. 'I remember the day we found her.'
'Stuck under the oven,' Gakuto replied. 'Do you think she suffered?'
'No, I think she found a warm spot and drifted off into sleep.'
Gakuto rolls onto his side and rests his head on Yuushi's shoulder. 'Sounds okay, I mean… that's how I'd choose to go.'
Yuushi sits on their bed. Creasing the crisp white linen. He reaches his hand across to the empty space beside him, allowing it to come to rest on the empty pillow.
'I'm glad I've come home,' Gakuto says as he laces their fingers together tightly. 'It's great to be here again.'
Yuushi pulls the covers back up over Gakuto's pale legs and then sits beside him on the bed, as close as he can get. He wants to say everything, he wants to say anything, but he can only squeeze the hand held in his tightly.
'I bet you're grateful I insisted on a thousand thread count sheets now,' Gakuto says spreading his thin hand out across the sheets. 'The sheets at the hospital are shit.'
'They are. And I am… grateful. Not just for the sheets, but for-'
'Let's watch a movie,' he interrupts.
Yuushi puts the movie in the player, but it's only fifteen minutes in when Gakuto falls asleep.
He spends the nights with his back pressed up against Gakuto's chest measuring, cherishing every breath. He doesn't even realise he cries until Gakuto's hands ghost across his face to brush hopelessly at the never ending wetness. 'Yuushi, please,' he whispers.
'I'm so helpless,' he cries, pressing their mouths together.
'There's nothing can be done,' he replies. 'I just want to stay with you, be with you now.'
Yuushi opens the box and folds back the protective papers around the fabric, the years haven't faded the brilliance of his work.
Atobe stands in the entrance way to the bedroom, tucking the envelope of papers under his arm unobtrusively. Atobe came the moment he'd called. Filling in paperwork, making arrangements, taking calls.
'The house,' Atobe says hesitantly. 'Will you sell it?'
He shakes his head. 'No. It was our house.' Yuushi finishes covering the fabric with the protective paper. He tapes up the box and slides it over to Atobe. 'Can you put that in the attic before we go?'
Atobe nods and picks up the box. 'Do you think you'll come back? All the memories…'
Yuushi sits back on his knees and slowly stands up. 'I'll come back because of the memories… in the spring.'
Atobe nods and leaves with the box.
Yuushi spreads the kimonos over the bed. The golden cranes stand out against the navy fabric. He'll hang them on the wall, above the bed where they slept.
There is pain in the echoes of Gakuto left behind, but one day there will be only comfort. He can live in their house, together. He can think of nothing better.