Kin no Shuichi

Kin no Shuichi
Written by: Chochowilliams
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Summary: Shuichi and Eiri are working things out after a mistake on both of their parts nearly ended their five-year relationship. But what about Bad Luck? What does the future hold for them?
Chapter Summary: A bored Eiri reads one of Shuichi’s yaoi mangas
Warning: M/M, romance, angst, OOC-ness, language, Shuichi/Eiri, implied Eiri/oc, implied Shuichi/oc
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A/N: Thank you to lilgurlanima, ferler, David boreanaz’s wife247, Hanamaru, Kaoru Sayuri Kamiya, esmeral_chan for your reviews. You guys are awesome! I always look forward to reading what you have to say.

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Chapter 37: The Problem with Dear Myself

Eiri scoffed. “What a fucked up fruit loop,” he announced as he finished reading one of his husband‘s yaoi mangas. He tossed the soft cover graphic novel aside carelessly. That had been a serious waste of his time. He could write better trash in his sleep. Dropping his head back, he stretched his arms out on either side of him along the top of the sofa and stared up at the white ceiling.

“Eiri?”

Letting his head fall to the side, Eiri watched his baka lover step out of the short hall that led to the master bedroom suite.

Shuichi let his searching gaze roam about the condominium as he crossed towards him. “Have you seen my manga?”

“Which one?”

“Dear-Oh,” he interrupted himself as he spotted it on the coffee table. “Here it is. I’ve been looking all over for it.” He picked it up. “But what’s it doing out here?” He frowned as he studied the cover. His gaze swept to Eiri. “Were you reading it?”

“I was bored.” Eiri laced his hands behind his head. He stretched his legs out before him.

Shuichi sat sideways on the sofa besides him. “What you think?” he asked, cocking his head to the side cutely.

Clearing his throat, Eiri deliberately looked away to gaze out the sliding glass windows opposite him as he tried to ignore the heat that enveloped his cheeks. “That Daigo is a psychotic moron who should be in the loony bin,” he confessed. Maybe it was the influence of being in the States too long, but he felt Daigo was the story’s antagonist and that Hirofumi guy had a backbone made of jell-o.

Shuichi scoffed. “You just don’t get it.” He turned his back on Eiri. Pulling his feet underneath him, he settled comfortably into the corner of the sofa and opening the manga, started to read it.

“What’s there to get?” Eiri bit. His head snapped around. “It’s obvious that he’s mentally disturbed and has never received adequate help. Everyone around him baby’s him and pampers him and feeds into his delusions! He just gets even worse in World’s End!”

Taken by surprise, Shuichi blinked. Shocked, he closed the manga and turned towards Eiri. “You read it?”

“Whether I have or not is not the point!” he yelled angrily to cover the immense embarrassment he felt at having been caught reading such girlie trash.

Shuichi frowned. He hadn’t done nothing to warrant this hissy fit. “Then what is?” he demanded.

Eiri ripped the manga out of Shuichi’s hands. “Have you even read this damn thing?”

“Of course I have!”

“Oh, so you think what Daigo does to Hirofumi is acceptable?”

“Well…”

Eiri tossed him back the manga.

With a yelp, Shuichi caught it a mere hairsbreadth from his face. He scowled angrily.

“Sure the sex is great, but there’s more to a relationship then fucking.” Eiri started counting on his fingers. “He refuses to let Hirofumi get a job.”

“Because Daigo says he’ll provide for Hirofumi,” Shuichi tried to clarify.

“Even though Hirofumi doesn’t want that?” Eiri shot back.

Shuichi was struck momentarily blind by the truthfulness behind that statement. He wracked his brain for a comeback. “Well, yeah, but…Hirofumi said himself it was his male pride that wouldn‘t allow him to except Daigo providing for him, right?”

Eiri had to give Shuichi that. He nodded. “True, but he also said that being forced to remain at home twenty-four-seven, three-sixty-five was driving him insane, right? Not only is he bored out of his mind, but he’s starting to feel discontent and smothered. So it‘s no wonder that he very nearly has an affair with that chick he knew back in junior high.”

“Well, yeah, I suppose, but he just-”

Eiri sighed. “If Hirofumi wanted to be a stay at home husband then that’s fine. That’s his choice to make, but it isn’t his choice. Choosing to be a house husband and being forced to be a house husband are two completely different things. Nobody enjoys having their freewill taken away. You didn’t like it when I told you you had to quit Bad Luck, did you?”

Shuichi cringed at the memory. “Well no, but-”

“And on top of that,” Eiri continued as if Shuichi had not said anything, “Daigo won’t let him cut his hair.”

“He thinks Hirofumi looks good with longer hair and so do I.”

“He fuckin’ looks like Akihiko!”

Shuichi was taken a back. He had never thought about that before, but Eiri was right. Still though, that did not mean anything. Maybe Daigo had a thing for men with long hair. He himself was a sucker for blond haired men.

When an image of Tohma flashed through his head, he shuddered.

Scratch that. Make that six-foot tall blond haired men.

When an image of his psychotic manager popped into his head, he quickly amended himself once again as his stomach swirled nauseously.

Okay so make that six-foot tall blond haired, blond eyed Japanese writers.

Oh, yeah. Much better.

“Not only does he interfere so that Hirofumi can’t get or hold a job, he tries to prevent Hirofumi from going anywhere or seeing anyone unless they’re together! He wants to know where Hirofumi is at all times!”

“Yeah, but-”

“Then after Hirofumi gets into an accident after his junior high school class reunion, Daigo ends up keeping Hirofumi chained and locked up in their bedroom as a virtual sex slave!”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?” Eiri snapped back.

Shuichi flinched and cowered farther away from the heated anger.

Noticing this, Eiri tried to reign in his temper. Slipping off his glasses, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He was starting to get a headache. “I understand that Daigo had a traumatic experience when he was younger,” he continued in a calmer voice.

Shuichi froze. Déjà vu swept through him. Something about this seemed vaguely familiar.

“But it’s because of what he went through after Akihito died that his present relationship with Hirofumi is suffering and he doesn’t even see it!”

Shuichi slowly uncurled himself and turned towards Eiri.

“Daigo…because he’s allowed to continue to go through life without any sort of treatment, the psychological damage he suffered when Akihito died is affecting his judgment. It’s turning him into an abusive partner.”

Shuichi nodded. He got it now. Daigo and Eiri were similar. Both had suffered a traumatizing experience involving someone they trusted and loved dearly. The experience forever and profoundly changed both of their outlooks on life. The difference between them though was that unlike Daigo, Eiri had sought help, whether it had been voluntarily or forced upon him Shuichi was not sure, but Eiri had a psychologist he saw to help him sort through everything. He also had people around him, family and friends, who supported and loved him. Daigo on the other hand, had no one, no one but Hirofumi. Shuichi and Hirofumi were just as similar as Eiri was to Daigo. The two of them choose to stand by their man despite the hardships. Though, because Daigo refused to seek any sort of help, Shuichi could understand how much more difficult it must be for Hirofumi. But like him, Hirofumi refused to give up.

“We’re…the same,” Shuichi whispered.

Eiri blinked. “What?”

Shuichi lifted his head. Violet met gold. “Hirofumi and I.”

Eiri’s face softened.

“I get it. I really do.”

“Shu…”

“Yes, Daigo is mentally unstable, but Hirofumi loves him anyway.”

Eiri reached out and caressed Shuichi’s face. “Yes, but love doesn’t always conquer all. If things don’t change, if Daigo does not seek some sort of help, the next time something like this happens, Hirofumi might not be able to get out of it alive.”

Shuichi nodded sadly. “But that’s why Hirofumi had that doctor concoct that capsule thing.”

Dropping his hand, Eiri scoffed in disgust. “Ya okay so instead of pushing him to get the help that they all know he needs, they decide to encourage his suicidal rantings, even knowing damn well that it could be the death of Hirofumi. And, of course, instead of facing justice like a man when that happens, they gave him the easy way out by allowing him to commit suicide.”

Shuichi sighed. He pulled away from Eiri and moved to stand up. “It’s just a story, Eiri,” he reminded him.

Eiri pushed up from the couch and followed Shuichi into the kitchen. “Ya know what I hate the most about this story?”

Shuichi rolled his eyes. Usually, he enjoyed when their roles were reversed. This time, though, it was starting to get on his nerves. Now he knew how Eiri felt when he was bugging him.

“In the end, Hirofumi is made out to be the bad guy because when he tried to leave Daigo, which I applaud, Daigo tried to kill himself!”

“But all Daigo needs is to have Hirofumi by his side,” Shuichi said as he set his manga down on the bar and went to the refrigerator.

“Even if it turns him into a murderer?”

“Daigo wouldn’t-”

“A starving man will do anything for a scrape of bread.”

Shuichi sighed heavily. He had to remember to hide his manga somewhere so that Eiri could not get into them.

---TBC---

Preview: “Abandoned Burning Love”

A/N: This chapter was mostly so that I could get out my frustrations with Dear Myself and World’s End (the sequel). If you’ve ever read them, you know what I’m talking about. I for one am with Eiri. The whole story pissed me off, which made writing Shuichi‘s argument hard as hell to write. And that part about Eiri telling Shuichi to quit Bad Luck is from the manga.