On the Street of Dreams

Chapter summary: The blond writer growled in irritation. He hated to repeat himself. Especially when it was so damn embarrassing. “Wecangetmarried,” he shouted all in one breathe.
Source: Japanese marriage laws: japan.usembassy.gov/e/asc/tacs-7114a.html or go to: seiyaku.com/seiyaku/en/discussion/law.html

***

Listen To Your Heart


Shuichi was running down a dark tunnel. A figure was walking steadily ahead of him. No matter how hard or fast he ran he could never seem to catch up.

Sobbing hysterically, his violet eyes overflowing with tears, the pink haired singer stared after the man through tear-blurred eyes.

“Daddy,” he sobbed piteously. He reached out a shaking hand. “Daddy, please!”

His father stopped and glanced over his shoulder. Shuichi was taken back. He never noticed before, but staring into his father’s tanned, leathery face, was like looking at an older version of him. Purple eyes locked with dark brown ones and for just a split-second, Shuichi thought he saw his father’s face soften but the tenderness was gone as quickly as it appeared and the hard mask returned, making Shuichi wonder if it had just been a hallucination.

He watched as his father turned his back and walked away. Shuichi gasped. Panic raced through Shuichi. His heart beat a rapid tattoo. “Daddy,” he cried. His violet eyes widened in shock and alarm.

Then from out of the shadows stepped a beautiful woman he recognized instantly as his mother. Shuichi slowed to a stop and watched her as his father passed her without a word or so much as a glance. He ignored her as if she was not even there, but the woman stepped into line behind him and followed him down into the dark tunnel.

“Mama,” Shuichi cried, reaching out for her. “Mama, please!” He started after his parents, racing so fast it felt as if his heart was going to explode, but he was not getting any closer to his parents. They seemed, in fact, to be getting farther away from him. “Mama! Daddy!”

Shuichi flew up out of bed gasping. His heart was racing, beating a rapid tempo against his ribcage. Sweat drenched his face and dribbled down his neck. It plastered his clothes to his body like glue. Panting, he stared straight ahead, not seeing the cream-colored wall as the dream replayed itself over in his head.

Sudden tears blurred his vision. He slapped a hand over his mouth as a sob escaped parched lips. He held back the torrent of tears that were clawing to be set free. His chest strained against the effort to hold the wave of despair back, but it became too much. The dam broke and it all came gushing forth. He dropped his head into his hands and sobbed.

His father hated him! His own father hated his guts and wanted nothing to do with him or the child he was carrying- his own grandchild! Shuichi had known that and had always told himself that he would be okay with that as long as he had someone who could love him. And he did! He had Eiri, who loved him and wanted him and his child, even though it was someone else’s. He had his brother and Tatsuha, Hiro, Fujisaki, Tohma, Noirko and everyone else. So, what did it matter if one miserable old man hated him? Why did it hurt so much? Why did it feel as if his heart had been torn in two?

There was a light tap on the bedroom door. Shuichi looked up and watched through his tears as his brother stepped into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Ryuichi said nothing as he walked silently across the carpeted room. He sat down on the edge of the bed and clasped his hands between his knees, saying nothing.

Shuichi wiped at his tears, but it was a futile action. They continued trickling annoyingly down his face. “I’m sorry,” he apologized in a soft voice thick from crying, breaking the silence.

Ryuichi turned towards his brother in surprise. “For what?”

Shuichi stared at his wet hands now clasped in his lap. He took a deep trembling breath. “For fainting earlier.”

Ryuichi’s face softened. He shook his head. “Shuichi, no. You have nothing to apologize for. Any-”

“I finally…I finally got it,” Shuichi sobbed, cutting him off. A fresh wave of sadness flowed through Shuichi. He sniffled and glanced at his brother despondently through a thick torrent of tears. “No matter how hard I try, he’s always going to hate me! I’m always going to be a disappointment to him!”

Frowning sorrowfully at his baby brother, Ryuichi sighed unhappily. Without asking, he knew exactly what Shuichi was talking about.

Shuichi flung himself at his brother and hugged him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. Ryuichi held his brother as he cried. Shuichi’s tiny, lithe frame shook as he sobbed. Ryuichi felt his heart breaking for his baby brother. He rubbed small lazy circles on the boy’s back. Tears flowed silently down his cheeks.

When Ryuichi heard a soft click, he turned around and saw Eiri standing in the bedroom doorway, a concerned look on his face. Behind him, Ryuichi could see Tatsuha. The writer threw the older singer a questioning look. Ryuichi nodded, saying without words that everything was all right. Eiri nodded once and stepped out of the room, shutting the door quietly.

“Ya know,” he said, the words choking on the lump in his throat. “I don’t know if you know this, but Mom and my father- my biological father,” he clarified, “were high school sweethearts.” Shuichi’s sobs lessened, but his grip on him did not. “They planned to get married after graduation and start a family right away. My father wanted to go into the family business. Mom planned to stay home and take care of the children. Much like what she did after she met Dad.” Meaning Shuichi’s father. He felt Shuichi nod that he got it so far. “But a month before graduation Mom discovered she was pregnant.”

Shuichi pulled away and wiped at the tears drying on her cheeks. He sniffed. “You?” he questioned quietly, almost shyly.

Ryuichi nodded and smiled, brushing a lock of hair off his brother’s forehead.

“She was scared to death and a little ecstatic and thought her boyfriend would be too. After all, this was what they had been talking about doing, but when she told him about the baby, he got angry with her and accused her of cheating.”

Shuichi gasp. His eyes grew wide in disbelief and shock.

Ryuichi nodded. “The bastard broke up with her, denying that I was his and said he wanted nothing to do with her or the ‘bastard child’ she was carrying. Heart broken, Mom did the only thing she could and went to her parents for help, only to be turned away. They wanted her to either have an abortion or go abroad for the duration of her pregnancy and give up the child when it was born. Mom was against both ideas and left home after telling Grandma and Grandpa to pretty much go to hell. She moved in with some friends, got a couple part time jobs and started saving up to get her own place.”

Shuichi nodded. He never realized his mother went through pretty much the same thing he was going through now. History was repeating itself.

He sat up and dried his face with the hem of his shirt. The infinite well of sadness and morose began to melt away.

His mother had been through this. She had been low in the dumps and she had gotten through it. Hell, she even reconciled with her parents. She even met a wonderful man who wanted both her and her son, a man who decided to adopt the boy and take him in as his own. That man- his father- turned out to be a neutral hater, but that was beside the point. The point was that his mother had made it out okay in the end. And if she could do it, then so could he.

“Thank you, Ryu,” he smiled brightly.

Ryuichi chuckled and ruffled his brother’s pink hair. Shuichi protested weakly. “Any time, baby brother.” His smile slipped slightly. “Ya know my father tried contacting me a few years back.”

Shuichi blinked. “Really? I don’t remember that.”

Ryuichi nodded.

“What happened?” he asked eagerly. Shuichi crossed his legs, waiting patiently.

Ryuichi shrugged. “I told him to go to hell.”

Shuichi gasped, his eyes growing wide.

“I told him I had a father.”

Shuichi’s jaw dropped.

Ryuichi shrugged. His biological father had somehow managed to track him down at a very convenient time, when Nittle Grasper was finally beginning to hit it big in Japan. When he was younger, he promised himself that when he grew up, he would find his birth father. When he finally did grow up, he realized that finding a man who denied his very existence all these years, finding a man who did not give a flying fuck about him was not very important anymore. He was the one who did not care anymore.

“The same thing may happen to you. As much as Dad might hate to admit it, you are his son. He may come around. If that day ever does come, it’ll be up to you to decide whether you want a relationship with him.”

Shuichi bowed his head and nodded, deep in thought. What would he do if that did happen to him? On one hand, he was his father, his flesh and blood. He was the reason for his existence. He feed him, clothed him and put a roof over his head…some of the time…whenever Shuichi felt the need to remind his folks that he was still breathing- not that they cared one way or the other. On the other hand, his father had not been much of a father. He had ignored him as if he did not exist, despised and hated him. His father never came to school on parent’s day, went to parent-teacher conferences or came for open house. He never helped him when he needed it, never came to his concerts or even listened to him sing.

Shuichi sighed again.

He would give anything to have a normal relationship with his father. It hurt, truly hurt to know his father did not want the same thing.

“Until then,” his brother was saying, “all you can do is go about living your life. There’s no sense complaining over split milk. Just clean up the mess and pour yourself another glass.”

Shuichi looked at Ryuichi in amusement. He chuckled and shook his head. As retarded as that sounded, his brother was right. It was not going to be easy, but what else could he do? He had a child on the way, a wonderful boyfriend and a band to take to the top of the charts.

“We…” Ryuichi said in a quiet voice, breaking the silence.

Shuichi slid out of his thoughts and glanced at his brother.

“…have no intentions of replacing Mom and Father.”

“I know,” Shuichi nodded.

Ryuichi gave a half smile. He stared at his hands playing with the bed covers. “They’ll always be your parents, Shu. Tatsuha and I just wanted…we wanted to give you a better life, a place to call home without feeling as if you weren’t wanted.”

Shuichi nodded, feeling tears prickling his eyes.

“We wanted you to be able to take care of your child without having to…to relay on people who don’t…care.” It hurt him to say that last word.

It hurt Shuichi to hear it. His heart deflated.

Ryuichi saw the devastated expression on his brother’s face and mentally hit himself. “Speaking of which,” he said, “how was your doctor’s appointment? Do you know if it’s a girl or boy?” His brow furrowed in thought. “How were you able to make a doctor’s appointment anyway?”

Shuichi smiled his appreciation at Ryuichi then frowned in thought, scratching his head. “Well, truthfully, I have no idea how I got the appointment. Eiri made a few phone calls last week and I suddenly had an appointment for today.” He shrugged.

The answer came to Ryuichi quickly. Tohma. There was nothing else he could come up with for the writer getting Shuichi an appointment and so quickly. That man truly was amazing, he thought with a smile.

“So?” Ryu asked.

Shuichi looked at his brother blankly. “So…what?” Suddenly his eyes lit up. “Oh! Well.” He blushed. “The doctor asked and I said I didn’t want to know. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Ryuichi groaned. A surprise? He just thought his brother wanted to torture the rest of them for the next seven months.

“But,” Shuichi continued, “Eiri wanted to know.”

This caught Ryu’s interest greatly.

“He said that it would be better to know the sex of the baby because then we’d know what to buy for it instead of trying to buy gender neutral stuff, or something.” He paused to take a breather.

“And,” Ryu prodded.

A bright smile lit up Shuichi’s face. His eyes sparkled. “They think it may be a boy, but they weren’t too sure.”

Ryuichi squealed and flung himself at his brother, startling the younger man. The singer laughed. “Shu-shu’s going to be a mommy,” he sang. He froze as realization hit him. If Shuichi was going to be a mother, then that made him…an uncle! With a gasp, he flung himself off the bed and out of the bedroom, screaming for Tatsuha.

Shuichi watched his brother wide shocked eyes. Then chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. His brother truly was…His mind blanked as he tried to come up an appropriate word for what his brother was. Nothing seemed to be appropriate enough.

“What’s wrong, Ryu?” Shuichi heard Tatsuha ask.

“We have to go get ready for Shu-shu’s baby! Come on! We have to get lots and lots of presents!”

Shuichi snickered as heard Ryuichi jabbering a mile a minute about what they had to do in order to get the apartment ready for the new baby. “…baby gates and outlet covers…”

He could also hear Tatsuha’s sputtering as he tried to get a word in. It was not working. “Dammit, Ryu! Will you at least let me get my damn shoes on before you drag me shopping?”

Shuichi fell back onto the bed and belted out a laugh. Sighing happily, he smiled up at the ceiling. The smile faltered into a frown as a strange feeling washed over him. It felt as if he was forgetting something. Try as he might, he could not remember what that something may be. So, he shrugged it off and sat up. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he jumped off and walked across the hall to the bathroom. He had a funeral to get ready for.

*

Eiri sucked long and deep on his white cancer stick. His brow was furrowed in thought. His eyes were glazed over had a faraway look to them.

How was he going to bring it up to him?

Eiri was leaning against his car outside the Aizawa house, smoking while he waited for Shuichi to finish speaking with Aizawa’s parents. He lowered his cigarette and taped the ashes off the tip, blowing a thin stream of grey smoke into the warm late afternoon air.

Lifting his head, he caught sight of his lover.

Mrs. Aizawa was crying again. That was not anything new. Her son was dead. There was nothing worse then losing your child, someone who was supposed to bury you. It must be so hard on not only her, but on her husband as well.

He had to admit, he could not even begin to understand how they were feeling. He just learned of his mother’s death yesterday, but since he had never known him, it was a disconnected kind of loss. He had never suffered the loss of a loved one, someone close to him before and he hoped he never did.

But this time, Mrs. Aizawa’s tears were not from her grief.

Shuichi had decided that he would tell Aizawa’s parents about the baby. It was the least he could do, he said. They had lost their only child. Shuichi thought that maybe knowing that a piece of their son was still here would help them get over the loss of their son that more quickly. As much as Eiri hated that bastard, he had not seen any reason not to let the Aizawa’s know about the baby.

This time, her tears were from happiness.

A high-pitched squeal echoed across the street. A smile curved the corner of Eiri’s mouth as he watched Mrs. Aizawa fling herself on his lover. He chuckled softly as Mrs. Aizawa early crushed the life out of Shuichi.

“Honey.” Mr. Aizawa’s soft exclamation could be heard clearly across the yard where Eiri was standing. He stepped forward and tried to pry his wife off the boy. “Dear, that’s enough now. Don’t want to strangle the poor boy, now.”

“Oh!” Mrs. Aizawa let go of Shuichi and stepped back. She was flushed with embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, Shuichi!”

Shuichi smiled and waved off her apology. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” Though Eiri saw that he did take a couple steps away from her and wrap his arms protectively over his flat stomach.

Eiri’s eyes traveled over his lover. Shuichi was wearing a black suit with a white button down shirt. He even had on a black tie. The pink haired idiot hated ties- he claimed it felt like they were choking him, go figure- so instead of being straight and neat, his was hanging slack around his neck, but not so he looked like a complete slob. He actually looked…mature. It was a nice change, but at the same time, it felt too…too…It just was not him.

His heart soared as he studied his teenaged lover. God, how he loved him. A frown slipped over the writer’s face. Being so deeply in love with the kid was exactly the problem, though. Or, “the kid” part being the problem. As much as he loved Shuichi and as much power and influence as Tohma may have, Eiri was not so sure if his and Shuichi’s relationship could be kept hidden for very much longer. Shuichi becomes of age in April, but that was still about seven months away. And with Eiri being so well known, the press was constantly following him around and snooping into things that did not concern them. Then there was Shuichi. The kid was going to be famous in his own right once Bad Luck’s album dropped in the spring. Then the paparazzi were going to be all over him like bees to honey. There would be no hiding it then.

He dropped his cigarette butt and crushed it with the heel of his foot.

He loved Shuichi with all his heart, had since the moment he laid eyes on him and did not intend to let him go. He was his now and forever, but in order to make sure the kid was not taken away from him, there was only one thing they could do, but was he ready to take that next step? Was he ready to make that flying leap?

Frankly, just thinking about it scared the living shit out of him. His doubts and fears resurfaced, making his heart pound and made him break out in a cold sweat. What if their relationship did not work out? What if it was just a May to December fling? What if, in the end, it turned out Shuichi did not love him as he loved him? What if it was nothing more than a crush? What if Shuichi left him for someone closer to his own age? His doubts threatened to overwhelm him. He panted, his heart pounding unnaturally loud in his ear.

The one thing that scared Eiri the most was being left alone again, of being abandoned. He was not sure he could take that. Not again. He watched his lithe lover speaking with the Aizawa’s. When Shuichi laid his hands over his flat stomach, he thought of the child growing in there. He pictured his lover’s stomach swelling as their child developed and his uncertainties and doubts began to vanish.

There were no guarantees in life, as much as he would have loved for there to be, and if he did not do this, take the risk of his worst fears becoming reality, then he would spend the rest of his life wondering, “what if”.

When a pair of startling violet eyes suddenly appeared right in front of him, Eiri nearly jumped out of his skin. Cursing, he placed a hand over his racing heart. “Dammit, Shuichi! Don’t do that. You scared me half to death.”

Shuichi smiled sweetly. His eyes crinkled in laughter. “Sorry, Eiri,” he giggled.

Eiri glared through squinted eyes in mock anger at the boy, but Shuichi was not deterred. He hooked his arm through Eiri’s and turned around to the Aizawa’s, waving his final goodbye.

“Keep us informed about the baby,” Mrs. Aizawa called out to them.

“We will,” Shuichi shouted back, waving.

“Ready?” Eiri asked.

Shuichi turned back around. His whole face was glowing with a beaming smile. He nodded. “Yep. Let’s go home.”

Home. He liked that.

Eiri gave the Aizawa’s a small nod and rounded the car while Shuichi slipped into the passenger side. Buckling his seat belt, he slipped the key into the ignition and listened as his car purred to life. The romance writer put his Mercedes into gear and peeled away from the curb, vanishing down the street.

The ride back to Eiri’s apartment was made in silence. Each man lost in his own thoughts. Eiri was trying to gather up the courage to talk to his boyfriend while Shuichi was trying to figure out what was gnawing at the back of his mind. He knew there was something he had been meaning to talk to Eiri about for the last few weeks now, but for the life of him, he could not remember what it was!

As they passed the park where the two of them first met over a month ago, Eiri found himself turning into the parking lot.

Shuichi blinked, taking in their location. “Eiri? What’re you doing?”

“We need to talk,” Eiri said as he pulled into an empty space.

Shuichi swallowed over a sudden lump in his throat. He looked over at Eiri. He had a serious expression on his face. Shuichi suddenly had a bad feeling.

Eiri turned off the car and unclasped his seat belt. Opening the door, he slid out of the car and pocketing his keys, shut the door and walked to the grassy knoll in front of the car, leaving Shuichi inside, staring after him in fright.

A sudden flood of doubts crept over him. Was Eiri going to break up with him? Had he finally realized that because Shuichi was a minor, he was not going to take the risk of going to jail for statutory rape? Did he think Shuichi was too immature? Or did he change his mind about the baby?

Shuichi yelped when there was a sudden sharp rap on the passenger side window. Slowly, he turned to face his lover, soon-to-ex-lover?

“Come on, damn brat. Are you going to sit in there all day?”

Licking dry lips, Shuichi took off his seat belt.

Eiri stepped back as Shuichi opened the door and stepped out. Shuichi had a naturally tan complexion, but as the boy shut the door behind him, Eiri noticed that his partner was pale. His eyes darted around as if he was searching for the executioner. As he took the boy’s hand, lacing their fingers together, he felt Shuichi shaking. He mentally cursed. Shuichi was scared. The poor kid probably thought he was going to break up with him.

He led Shuichi to a very familiar bench. It was the same bench where he met Shuichi the night they became lovers.

Shuichi was still trembling. He even now had tears prickling his eyes.

He draped an arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulled him tightly against him.

Shuichi curled up besides his older lover, wrapping his arms tightly around Eiri’s waist. He felt the tears forming. The lump appeared in his throat. His chest tightened. If Eiri truly was going to break it off, he was determined to not let the man go.

Eiri sighed and stared out over the park. There were a few families picnicking under the shade of the trees. A dozen or so children were playing on the jungle gym. Screams, cries and laughter filled the air. A smile lit the writer’s face. Soon, it would be his child playing out there. It surprised him just how much he wanted this. It was not too long ago that he hated the idea of being tied down. It was funny what meeting the right person would do to a person.

“I’ve been in love with you for a year,” Eiri said suddenly.

As hard as he tried, Shuichi could not stop a sob from escaping. A stray tear trickled down his face.

Eiri hugged his little lover closer, feeling a lump forming in his throat. He hated that he was the cause of his distress. “But we’ve only been together for about a month.” He blinked, taken back. He thought about that. Had it really only been a month? Wow, he thought. Seems like he has known Shuichi his entire life. It was somewhat odd to think that only a few weeks ago, he had been fawning over the kid from a dark corner of a bar watching as he danced and pranced around on stage. “And we’re already connected for the rest of our lives,” he continued, placing a hand over the boy’ stomach.

Shuichi unfurled a hand from Eiri’s waist and laid it on top of his partner’s, trapping it there.

“Shuichi, you’re sixteen years old. I’m twenty-two. In February, I’ll be twenty-three. You don’t become of age until April.”

Shuichi said nothing. He tightened his hold on Eiri. He screwed his eyes shut, trying to block out the inevitable words from the blond haired man.

Eiri snorted. “Only sixteen and you’re already going to have a baby.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Not too mention, you’re involved in a sexual relationship with a guy six years older than you.”

Shuichi did not bother stopping the tears flowing freely down his face. “You’re going to break up with me, aren’t you?” He sniffed and shook his head vehemently. “I won’t let you go!” he cried, gripping Eiri’s white button down shirt tightly. “You’re mine! Mine! You promised! You said you wouldn’t leave me! You said…you said…” His voice faded into a torrent of sobs. “I won’t let you go! Ever!”

“Good,” Eiri stated firmly. He raked his free hand over Shuichi’s soft, silken pink tresses.

Shuichi’s sobs vanished as if a switch had been thrown. He lifted his head and stared at the writer through a veil of tears and snot. “What?” he asked, sniffling. He sat up and wiped his face with the back of his hand.

Eiri smiled tenderly at the boy. “What I’m saying is I think we’re moving a little too fast.”

Shuichi’s face screwed up and fresh tears poured down Shuichi’s face. “You do want to break up with me!”

Eiri sighed deeply. “No, Shuichi,” he said in a calm, even voice. He gripped Shuichi’s shoulders and turned him so that they were facing one another. “Look at me, Shuichi,” he told the boy. “Shuichi, look at me,” he demanded more firmly. When the boy turned a water logged face towards him, Eiri smiled non-threateningly. “Shuichi, I’m totally devoted to you and the baby. He’s my son after all, right? Right?” he repeated.

Shuichi sniffled and rubbed his leaky eyes. He nodded. “Mm hmm,” he hiccupped.

“Look, all I’m saying is, I think we’re moving too fast. I just want us to slow down and get to know one another a bit before things get any more serious.” Shuichi opened his mouth to protest, but Eiri cut him off before he could speak. He shook his head. “And no I have not met anyone else. No, I have not fallen in love with someone closer to my own age. No, I don’t want to see other people.” He cupped Shuichi’s face and stared deeply into his eyes. “Shuichi, I’ve been in love with you ever since I stumbled into that bar you were performing in a year ago. I haven’t felt this way about anyone else since or before. You are it, Shu. You make me want to do things I always told myself I would never do. I. Want. To. Be. With. You. Do you understand?”

“You…you don’t want to break up with me?” His voice broke saying those words aloud.

Eiri grinned and shook his head. “Never. I love you, Shuichi Shindou,” he whispered as he leaned into the boy. He brushed their lips together lightly, but he got the reaction he was hoping for. Shuichi’s cheeks took on a color very similar to his hair color. He chuckled as he pulled away.

Shuichi laid his hands on top of Eiri’s and searched his face. Was he telling him the truth? “Really?” He hoped to God that was the case. He did not know what he would do without Eiri by his side.

“Yes, really,” Eiri reassured him with a smile.

Shuichi had heard or read somewhere that the eyes were the windows into the soul of a person and as he searched the depths of Eiri’s soul, he knew. He knew that Eiri was not lying. Everything would be all right.

“But,” Eiri sighed.

Shuichi tensed. Fresh tears prickled his eyes.

“Shuichi…as much as I love you and want to be with you, because you’re a minor…It’s -”

“We can make it work,” Shuichi cried crazily into Eiri’s face. “We can get Tohma-”

Eiri shook his head and pried his lover’s hands off his shirt collar. “Even Tohma can’t go above the law on this. It’s illegal for me, being over 17, to have a sexual relation with you, not yet 17.”

Tears trickled down Shuichi’s already flushed face. “Eiri,” he cried softly. He had known all that and he did not want to get Eiri into any trouble but, still he did not want to lose him either.

“But there is one way where we can be together.”

“Really?” Shuichi scrubbed his face dry. He stared at Eiri hopefully.

Eiri nodded. “Uh, huh. I’ve been doing some research on the net this past week while you’ve been asleep and…” His face flamed hotly.

Shuichi grinned widely as he saw the red tint on Eiri’s face. He was so cute was he blushed.

Eiri coughed into his fist, his flush growing. He turned his face away from giggling his lover was doing.

Shuichi’s smile grew wider. His eyes sparkled and the tears and misery that had engulfed him earlier vanished. “What was that, Eiri?”

The blond writer growled in irritation. He hated to repeat himself. Especially when it was so damn embarrassing. “Wecangetmarried,” he shouted all in one breathe.

Shuichi’s eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth and tried to get his mouth and brain in sequence. “A-are you serious?”

Eiri shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. He was still not looking at him. “Males have to be 18 or older and women and neutrals have to be 16 or older, but because you’re under 20, you have to get your guardians permission and I, uh, kinda did that earlier when, uh, Tatsuha and Sakuma were over.”

“And they said…?” Shuichi felt detached from the conversation. Marriage? He could not believe that Eiri wanted to marry him.

“They, uh, said yes.”

Shuichi slumped back on the bench. Marriage?

Eiri leaned back and draped an arm on the back of the bench. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his lover’s stunned, pale face. He could not blame the boy. He had the same reaction when he learned what they would have to do in order to stay together. Marriage was not something either one of them had ever thought about. But was it all that bad? Being attached legally to the one person he loved more than anything in this entire world? The mother of his son?

No, Shuichi answered himself, it was not, but like Eiri said, he was only sixteen. Bad Luck was just taking off, he had a baby on the way and Tohma was-

“Idiot,” he cried aloud. Shuichi smacked his forehead. Now he remembered what it was that he had forgotten.

“Shu?”

“I’ll make you a deal,” Shuichi said. He turned towards the man.

Eiri raised an eyebrow at his lover. “Oh? What kind of deal?”

“Well, I’ll agree to marry you only…”

Eiri waited.

“…if you agree to…” The rest was lost as Shuichi bowed his head, his face burning and straining.

Eiri blinked, not sure he heard his lover right. “What?”

Shuichi’s face burned warmer. “Next fall, Tohma’s going to…uhm; he’s going to be moving the uhm, record company to Tokyo.”

Eiri stared at Shuichi blankly for several long moments.

Shuichi blushed deeply. He stared at the ground, unable to look at his boyfriend. He could not believe that he had forgotten something like this!

Then it came.

“What?!”

***

A/N: In this story, neutrals are a legally recognized third sex and are able to marry legally (for this is an alternate universe/fantasy where neutrals are hermaphrodites, but only in the sense that are a perfect combination of both sexes) either males or females.