On the Street of Dreams

Chapter summary: Eiri stepped forward, a soft smile on his face. “I do.” He cupped the side of Shuichi’s face. “You’re the boy I saw in some bar I stumbled upon one day and fell immediately in love with. You’re the boy I followed around like some love struck fangirl. You’re the boy I plan to spend the rest of my life with.”

***

Shuichi’s Final Confession


It was all very confusing to the sixteen-year-old when he finally regained consciousness.

Violet eyes fluttered open and slowly and focused on the stark grey ceiling in confusion. Where was he? This place did not look familiar. A warm hand enveloped his cold one. Shuichi turned his head and saw two men sitting side by side on a bench. Who were they? That guy with the shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes who was holding his hand looked vaguely familiar, as did the other guy with the shorter dark brown hair and eyes sitting next to him. When the one with the dark eyes turned to look at something past him, Shuichi turned and saw another man. Who was he? What was the uniform he was wearing and what was that strange instrument in his hands? The man opened his mouth. His lips were moving as if he was saying something, but Shuichi heard nothing.

Shuichi’s mind blanked as he tried to take in everything at once. His mind spun. It was all too much for the boy. His eyes rolled back and he passed out once again.

*

“Shuichi! Shuichi,” Ryuichi called frantically.

The EMT shook his head and dropped the stethoscope around his neck. “He passed out again.”

Ryuichi sighed in defeat and slumped down on the bench.

Tatsuha glanced from the boy to the medical technician. “Is he going to be alright?”

“Yeah, he should be all right. There doesn’t seem to be anything seriously wrong with him. From what you told me, I believe it’s just shock. He’s just overwhelmed.”

Tatsuha nodded, grateful that it was not anything serious.

Ryuichi bit his lip. He was not so sure. Shuichi fainted a little over an hour ago. He did not have a history of passing out. He only regained consciousness this one time. On top of that, he was pregnant. Or rather, there was a very strong possibility that he was. Shuichi may have taken a home pregnancy test earlier, but nothing was fool proof. If his little brother was indeed pregnant, this fainting spell may have something to do with that.

The EMT originally told him that they would treat Shuichi on site and when the boy finally woke, they would ask him if he wanted to go to the hospital just to be on the safe side, but Ryuichi was beginning to think that they should not wait until Shuichi woke.

“Is it possible…?” Ryuichi gazed down at his brother, lying comatose on the stretcher. “Can we bring him to the nearest hospital?” he asked the EMT.

“Sure,” the man nodded. “If that’s what you want. Is there any specific reason why?”

Ryuichi nodded. He opened his mouth to answer, but a different voice spoke.

“He’s pregnant.”

The EMT’s eyes grew large in shock before he was able to school his expression. He stared from one man to the other. “Are you positive?”

Tatsuha nodded. “He took a pregnancy test this morning. It came out positive.”

“All right.” The EMT removed the stethoscope from around his neck and stood up as much as he was allowed in the small confines of the back of the ambulance. He reached for the doors and started to close them. Over his shoulder, he told the other men, “This might be serious. You should have told us earlier-”

He cut himself off when he found that he was unable to close the door. It was stuck.

“What the…” He turned back and saw himself suddenly staring into a pair of yellow eyes. He let out a startled yelp and fell backwards, grimacing in pain when he hit his tailbone.

At the man’s shocked cry, both Ryuichi and Tatsuha whipped their heads around. Tatsuha breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted Eiri standing outside the ambulance. Ryuichi on the other hand, glared almost evilly at his brother-in-law.

Eiri brother pushed the doors back open and stared at the limp form of his lover before him. He swallowed, licked dry lips and blinked back threatening tears. Clearing his throat of a suspicious lump, the romance author pried his eyes from his teenaged lover to his twin brother. “H-how is he?” he choked.

The EMT, fully recovered from his fright, stood back up and faced the newcomer. “Are you family?”

Before Eiri could open his mouth, Tatsuha spoke up. “He’s my brother. He and Eiri are very close.”

The EMT nodded. “His stats look good, pulse, respiratory, everything, but he’s only woken up once in the past hour and we’re beginning to worry so we’re going to be taking him to the hospital now instead of waiting, just in case something is wrong and we just don’t see it.”

As the man’s words started to sink in, Eiri’s golden hazel eyes widened. Fear and worry flashed across his face. He thought the boy just fainted from shock, or something, too many things happening at once. What else could it be? As far as he knew, Shuichi had no serious health…

His eyes fell onto his still flat stomach. Oh, dear God! The baby! Was it possible…? No! No! No! Both Shuichi and the baby were going to be fine. They had to be! He and Shuichi had only had a few short weeks together and he was going to be damned if the boy was going to be ripped from him so soon. They had a long and bright future ahead of them. There was so much he wanted to tell him.

On the drive back here, Eiri had done a lot of thinking about many things; his family and their dark secret, about him and Shuichi and the future of their relationship, and came to some decisions.

Tatsuha saw the emotions fly across his brother’s face. He turned towards his lover. “Hey, Ryu.” He watched as Ryuichi schooled his expression, but not before he saw the bitter hatred and resentment that had masked the singer’s face. Tatsuha sighed heavily. Ryuichi was so over-protective of his brother that he most likely blamed Eiri for everything that had transpired here today. Tatsuha laid a hand on his boyfriend’s arm and kissed him chastely. “I’ll go with my brother and meet you guys there.”

Ryuichi nodded. He was having a hard time concentrating on what the young monk was saying. A surge of anger flushed through him. He could not help but blame that blond haired freak for all this. If that man had not opened his big mouth during his date with his baby Shu-shu, this would not be happening.

Tatsuha laid a hand on Ryuichi’s arm and squeezed it gently. Standing up, he kissed the lead singer of the greatest band in all of Japan on the cheek once again and whispered, “He loves him. Don’t worry.”

Eiri stepped aside for his brother as the younger man stepped out of the ambulance.

The doors were shut. A couple sharp bangs on the doors resounded and the vehicle vanished around the corner, with the Uesugi brothers staring after its exhaust fumes.

*

The emergency room was unusually quiet for which Tatsuha, Ryuichi and Eiri were grateful. The last thing either Ryuichi or Eiri wanted was to be swarmed by fangirls, especially now. When they first arrived, there had been a few people waiting in the waiting room, but now they were gone. Both were glad they had not been recognized. As much as they appreciated their fans, this was neither the time nor the place for such things. Though Eiri was known to be cold towards his fans, Ryuichi was known to be quite the opposite and the last thing he wanted was to be rude to them.

Time seemed to move slowly in the hospital. It was almost as if once you came in those doors, you stepped from the Third Dimension into an alternate reality. It quite bizarre and to Eiri, very annoying.

For what seemed like the zillionth time since they arrived, Eiri glanced up at the wall clock. He stared at the black and white face in disbelief. Only two minutes had passed since the last time he checked the time. That did not seem possible. The clock was obviously slow. That was the only reason why, even though it felt like they had been here for hours, not even an hour had passed according to the stupid clock.

He sat on the opposite side of the waiting room from his brother and his lover. Ryuichi, the idiot who could not read Kanji, was radiating extreme dislike like a man who had been caught in the middle of a nuclear explosion. It emanated from him in waves. He really could not blame Ryuichi for not liking him.

What the hell was he thinking? Of course, he could blame that idiotic moron. He did nothing to earn that man’s hatred. All he did was fall in love with his brother. So, he was six years older than the boy was. So what? Many couples were not the same age. His parents in fact, from what little he had been able to find out, had been at least a decade apart. And yes, Shuichi may be a minor- at least for the next eight months anyway- but it was not like they were the first couple to break the law in order to be with one another and they certainly would not be the last.

He had no idea what he did, or did not do, or what the guy’s problem was, but Ryuichi was just going to have to live with whatever it was because there was no way in bloody hell he was going to give Shuichi up without a fight. Shuichi was his.

When he heard the swish of the doors that lead into the ER, Eiri’s head snapped up and around. His heart jumped into his throat.

All three men stood up when a woman in a long white lab coat stepped into the room. She looked young, maybe in her late twenties, with long reddish brown hair pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck.

“Good evening. Are you here with Shuichi Shindou,” she asked them.

“Yes, we are,” Tatsuha answered. He laid a hand on Ryu’s shoulder.

The woman inclined her head politely. “I am Dr. Nakamura. I examined Mr. Shindou.”

“How is my brother?” Ryuichi asked with concern, stepping forward.

Dr. Nakamura smiled at the singer. “You’re brother is going to fine,” she assured him.

The room seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Eiri’s shoulders sagged in relief. Thank God, he thought. If anything would have happened to the kid…

“I believe his fainting spell was due to stress, shock-“

That made complete sense. It was obvious Shuichi had not intended to tell Eiri he was a neutral or that he was pregnant. Not that he could blame him, especially after what he said last night at dinner. His comment had probably…no, it had hurt and scared him. When Shuichi found out he was pregnant, he probably got scared that once Eiri found out, it would be all over and he would kick him to the curb just as everyone else in his life had. Not only was the boy the very thing that Eiri said he despised, but he had lied to him about who and what he was. Two for two. No, Eiri could not blame his young lover for wanting to take drastic measures to keep it all concealed. The kid would do anything in order to have some stability in his life.

And then to have that bastard Taki announce that the kid was going to have a baby? And gloat about the fact that it was his? Poor, Shuichi. Not only had that asshole blurted out the very things he wanted to keep quiet, but he pretty much confirmed the identity of the father of his unborn child. Eiri knew how much Shuichi hated Taki. He despised him just as much, if not more, than he did.

“-and possibly from a lack of food,” Dr. Nakamura continued. “He told me he hasn’t eaten since dinner last night.”

Eiri blinked. He stared at the doctor in shock. That brat had not eaten anything in twenty-four hours? What the hell was he thinking? Or not thinking? Especially when he knew there was a possibility that he might be pregnant.

What a minute! He told her?

“He’s awake?” Ryuichi asked, grasping onto what the woman said.

Dr. Nakamura nodded. “Yes, he is.”

Ryuichi breathed another sigh of relief.

“Doctor. What about…?” Tatsuha started.

Dr. Nakamura smiled. “We preformed a Beta-HCG pregnancy test on Mr. Shindou like you requested. This test detects beta-HCG, a hormone normally produced during pregnancy, present in urine. It’s faster than doing it the other way, which is to draw blood. That way takes several hours to several days. This way it’s done in several minutes.”

Ryuichi latched onto his lover’s arm tightly. He held his breath, waiting.

Eiri slowly made his way over to the where the others were standing.

“It came back positive.”

Ryuichi gasped. His hold on Tatsuha loosened and he collapsed into the nearest chair.

“Are you sure?” Tatsuha asked Dr. Nakamura softly.

“Yes,” she nodded. “Just to be on the safe side, I would like for him to return in a week so we can perform the test again.”

“Why?”

“It’s just to be sure.”

Tatsuha nodded and assured her that he would make sure Shuichi returned for a follow up.

Eiri stared at the woman in shock. Shuichi was…He was…He felt suddenly lightheaded. Licking dry lips, he clasped his hands tightly in his lap. A thousands thoughts raced through his mind and at the same time his mind was blank. He was not sure what he had been hoping she would say and still was not sure what he thought. It was all very confusing. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

“Doctor,” he said quietly. “H…How far…Can you tell…?” His tongue twisted into a massive knot, leaving him tongue-tied.

“…how far along he is,” she finished.

Eiri could do nothing more than nod. A herald of butterflies appeared in the pit of his stomach.

Tatsuha turned to stare at his brother. What was he thinking? What would he be thinking if he were in his brother’s shoes? Answer. He had no freaking clue.

Ryuichi glanced at his brother-in-law out of the corner of his eye and frowned.

“Nine weeks.”

Eiri halted. He felt like a deer caught in the headlights. He blinked stupidly at the doctor, staring blankly at her. Nothing she just said made any sense to him.

Nine weeks? Shuichi was two months along into his pregnancy? That meant…That meant that…

“If he’s pregnant I have the right to know…If he’s far enough along that he’s thinking of getting an abortion, than that rules you out as the father, Romance Man…And ever since Kizou had testicular cancer, Man Land just has not been the same.”

He remembered feeling shocked, bewildered, stunned and finally angry at Aizawa’s statement. He had not wanted to deal with any of that crap at the time. He had not been able to deal with that mindless drivel that asshole had been spewing. It brought up too many things he had not wanted to deal with yet. He had put it all on the back burner to simmer, but here it was, shoved right in his face.

Eiri’s throat constricted over a sudden lump and tears welled up in his eyes. A surge of grief and misery washed over him as the hard set of reality finally sunk in. What Aizawa said earlier was true.

“Are you the father?” Dr. Nakamura asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Eiri blinked. He cleared his throat. “Huh? Oh, uh…” A heavy weight settled over his shoulders. “No,” he said, shaking his head. His heart clenched. It was not his child his lover was carrying. God! He had actually been hoping that it was! “No, I’m not.” It hurt to admit that.

Tatsuha frowned sadly at his brother. Eiri looked devastated.

“Can we see him?” Ryuichi asked. He was glad Eiri was not the father. He liked the writer, just not with his baby brother.

Dr. Nakamura stepped aside and nodded. “Of course. This way gentlemen.”

She led them down a short corridor and into a large open space where at least a dozen hospital beds were made up then quietly excused herself. All the beds were empty except for one in the far corner where a small form lay huddled under the sheets. As they crept closer, they could clearly hear his soft muffled sobs. His narrow shoulders shook.

Eiri stood behind his brother and his lover, frowning sadly. He swallowed past a hard lump in his throat. Was it because of him? Was he the reason Shuichi sounded so distraught? He stood listening to his tiny lover sobbing. The poor kid sounded as if his whole world had come crashing down.

Ryuichi rounded the bed. “Shu? Shuichi,” he called softly. He laid a gentle hand on his brother’s shaking shoulder. The stifled wails quieted. The white hospital sheet lowered just enough to show a crop of bright pink hair and vivid violet eyes shimmering with tears. Ryuichi smiled down at his baby brother. “Shuichi.” Dr. Nakamura may have said there was nothing wrong with his brother, but it was not until right now that he felt a real sense of relief.

Shuichi threw back the covers and flung himself into his brother’s waiting arms. He hugged him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder.

Ryuichi smiled tenderly, rubbing lazy circles on his brother’s back. “Shh,” he cooed. “It’s alright. Everything’s alright now.”

Shuichi pushed away from his brother and shook his head violently. “No,” he sobbed. “It’s not!”

“Shuichi.”

Shuichi turned towards the newcomer’s voice, sniffling and rubbing his tear-filled eyes. He hiccup-sobbed as he looked at Tatsuha.

The monk stepped forward, a smile on his face and hugged the boy. “How’re you feeling?” he asked the boy softly, pulling back.

“How do you think?” he snapped angrily before he had time to think.

Tatsuha and Ryuichi blinked at the boy, their eyes wide in shock.

Realizing he said that out-loud, Shuichi snapped his mouth closed, his eyes growing wide, but they soon filled with tears. Shuichi’s jaw started trembling. Fresh tears flowed down his face, traveling already well-worn paths. He dropped his face into his hands, sobbing. “Everything’s not all right! It won’t ever be okay! Eiri’ll-!”

Taking that as his cue, Eiri stepped forward. “Eiri will what?”

Shuichi tensed, his sobs choked to a halt. Slowly, he lifted his head. His eyes widened as he caught sight of a very familiar blond haired, blond eyed man standing at the foot of his bed.

Ryuichi turned to follow his little brother’s gaze and frowned when he saw Eiri. He opened his mouth to make a comment, when a hand on his upper arm stopped him. He looked at its owner questioningly. “Tatsu, what…?”

Tatsuha shook his head and pulled the older man aside where he began talking quietly to his protesting long time lover.

Shuichi wiped at his face with the palm of his hand. Sniffing, he stared at his lover. He took a deep trembling breath and looked into Eiri’s golden hazel eyes, but had to look away. His gaze was too…it made him feel uncomfortable.

Eiri probably hated him and was just here to tell him it was over. His heart hurt just thinking about his love saying those words, “I just plain hate your guts. I’m sick of the sight of you.”

He would walk out of his life just like everyone else had. He would lose yet another person who meant so much to him. He hated the fact that he did not have many friends, that the ones he did have liked him for some reason other than friendship, that everyone in his family but Ryuichi despised him. He did not like that he virtually alone, but he had gotten used to it, but then Eiri came into his life and everything changed. To think that the one stable thing present in his life was not going to be in it…It was something he did not want to think about.

“Shuichi,” came a gentle voice from besides him.

Shuichi shook his head. “Just say it,” he whispered softly through his tears. Sniffling, he sobbed softly. “Just get it over with.” He squeezed his eyes shut tight, waiting for the inevitable.

Eiri stared down at his lover in confusion. “Say what?”

Tatsuha and Ryuichi watched from the sidelines. Ryuichi wanted nothing more than to race over there and protect his little brother, but something Shuichi said the other week echoed in his head.

“Always there to defend me! Always beating up the people who made fun of me, or said things…”

As much as it hurt him to say so, Tatsuha was right. It was time his brother began fighting his own battles.

“That you hate me!” Shuichi shouted.

Eiri blinked, taken aback. “What? Why would I hate you?”

Shuichi opened water logged eyes and stared at Eiri, who was standing by his bedside, through tear blurred vision. Sniffling, he scrubbed at the tears, but it was futile. Destroying one only created two more in its place. “I know you know!” He took a deep breathe and stared into those wonderful golden eyes. “You know what I am! What’s growing inside of me!”

Eiri stepped forward, a soft smile on his face. “I do.” He cupped the side of Shuichi’s face.
“You’re the boy I saw in some bar I stumbled upon one day and fell immediately in love with. You’re the boy I followed around like some love struck fangirl. You’re the boy I plan to spend the rest of my life with.”

Shuichi gaped at the older man in shock and surprise. His mind went blank.

“And growing inside of you is…my son.”

Shuichi, Tatsuha and Ryuichi were struck speechless. Shuichi opened his mouth to speak, but it was as if his brain had gone on holiday. He could not think of a single thing to say. He closed his mouth without be able to say anything.

Eiri was not sure when he made that decision, but it felt…right. What he did know was that he loved Shuichi and wanted to be with him. The fact that he was a neutral did not bother him. Yes, he was still a little angry that Shuichi had not told him, that he lied to him…

“I’m just a freak, a mutation, a waste of flesh...”

Those words echoed back into Eiri’s head suddenly. He remembered speaking with Shuichi in the park that night and Shuichi telling him how his father hated him because he was not what his father wanted. At the time, he had brushed it off. He had had other things on his mind at the time. Even if he had realized the truth at the time, he had not been ready to hear it or deal with it.

He knew that the child growing and developing inside of his boyfriend was that bastard Aizawa’s, but he loved Shuichi and this baby was apart of him. He had been hated his whole life by various people for a variety of reasons and he was not going to do the same thing to this child. He was going to love this child as if it were his own because it was his own.

“E…Eiri. I…I…” Shuichi still did not know what to say. What was Eiri saying? This was too surreal.

Eiri reached up and brushed away a stray tear that tickled down the boy’s face. “I guess I’ve known from the beginning, but…I just did not want to deal with it, but when it became something I could not ignore anymore...I was…I was unsure of what to do.” He dropped his hand and stared at it clench into a fist on the edge of the bed. “So, I went to my father’s place to meditate.”

Tatsuha’s eyes widened in shock. Even Ryuichi was taken back. Eiri fled his father’s house years before and had not once set foot in that house since. The two of them were always at each other’s throats. The Middle East had a much better chance at finding peace them the two of them.

Shuichi searched his lover’s face.

“And there…I learned something.” He lifted his gaze and stared blankly past Shuichi. “I grew up despising neutrals,” he saw the hurt expression cloud his boyfriend’s face out of the corner of his eye and his heart broke just a little bit, “because I was always led to believe that my mother abandoned us soon after Tatsuha and I were born.”

Shuichi blinked, confused. “Eiri? What…?”

“My…mother was one.”

Shuichi gasped, his eyes growing wide. “One…what?” he asked. He had to hear it from Eiri, just to make sure he did not jump to conclusions.

“Mother was…a neutral.”

Shuichi gasped.

“As it turns out that was just a load of crap engineered by my own family because they hated my mother, thought he was a freak, a mutation, a waste of flesh,” he said bitterly. “He was an embarrassment so he had to be gotten rid of!”

The world narrowed down to just Tatsuha and the words ringing in his ears. “Wha-what did you say?” he asked his brother breathlessly. “Is that…true?”

Eiri glanced over his shoulder and nodded, glancing at his brother with sad eyes.

Tears poured down Shuichi’s face.

The blond writer turned back towards his lover.

To Shuichi’s surprise, he saw tears rolling silently down the man’s face. He had never seen Eiri crying. It was a little unnerving and at the same time humbling. It made Eiri seem human.

Eiri stepped forward until his legs bumped against the side of the bed. He cupped Shuichi’s face with both of his hands. “My whole world turned upside down several times since last night. I can’t promise anything, Shuichi. I spent the first twenty-two years of my life distrusting and disliking neutrals and things’re not going to change over night.”

Shuichi stared into his boyfriends eyes.

“But…I care about you more than anything,” he continued, staring into those incredible purple eyes. “And my feelings out weigh…”

Unable to suppress and hold himself back any longer, Shuichi did not even wait to hear the rest of what Eiri was going to say before flinging himself at the man he loved with all his heart. Eiri was taken by surprise. With wide eyes, he stumbled backwards, holding tightly onto the human koala latched onto him hugging the life out of him.

“Do you mean it, Eiri?” he cried softly, wrapping his legs around his boyfriend. He pulled back just enough to be able to see his face. “What you just said? You…you don’t care that I’m…that I’m…and that I’m going…” His voice faded. He lowered his head, blushing.

“Of course I do, idiot,” Eiri whispered back.

“I love you, Eiri,” Shuichi cried, more tears pouring down his face.

A smile lit Eiri’s face. He hugged his partner back. I love you, too, he thought.

Tatsuha could not stop himself from smiling. He wrapped his arm around Ryuichi’s shoulder and held him at his side. He studied his brother and his young lover. Both were beaming and glowing. He had never seen his brother happier.

When he heard Ryuichi growl, Tatsuha squeezed his arm, a silent warning to the older singer.

*

“Now, Mr. Shindou,” Dr. Nakamura was saying half an hour later, “I want you to remember to make an appointment with an OB/GYN, all right?”

The boy nodded, blushing, avoiding looking at the older men standing around him as he sat on the edge of the bed.

The woman smiled widely, seeing his embarrassment. “And I want you to take it easy today alright? Rest and get something to eat.”

Shuichi nodded again, his blush deepening.

“Alright. Take it easy.” She nodded and turned towards a passing nurse. The two of them vanished down the hallway.

“Let’s get going, Shuichi,” Ryu told his brother.

Shuichi’s head snapped up. He stared at his older half brother with wide eyes. “B-but I…,” he protested.

Tatsuha laid a hand on Ryu’s forearm and said, “Go.”

“Tatsuha,” Ryuichi gasped, turning towards his boyfriend.

Tatsuha shook his head warningly.

Shuichi cried happily and leapt at his brother-in-law. “Thank you, Tatsu!” Grinning like a madman, Shuichi hopped around and jumped over towards his boyfriend. Latching onto the writers arm, he allowed the man to steer them out of the hospital.

Ryuichi was fuming! “Tatsuha Uesugi! What-!”

“Not here, Ryu.” He laced their hands together and walked out of the emergency room. “Come on,” he told his boyfriend. “Let’s get a cab and get back to the clinic.”

“Why?”

“My car’s parked around the corner from it.”

Ryuichi stood, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Tatsuha dial for a taxi. When the monk was finished, the singer was just about to explode. “Now, tell me what the hell is going on!”

“We’re going to go see your folks.”

Ryuichi blinked, Tatsuha’s statement draining all his anger away, leaving him puzzled. “What? Why?”

“It’s time we had a little chat with them.”

***