Transaction

Disclaimer: Opium is ours.

Author’s Notes: My fever is down to 100.3. I'm guessing I just have to keep sweating it out. And I can't do much else considering I get dizzy if I get up. So under these blanket I shall stay! This sucked, but hopefully I'll be good by the time I have to get to one of the jobs.

WOO!

So, enjoy the next chapter.
~~~
Transaction

Chapter Forty-Nine
~~~
Taki knew it was getting bad. Worse then before. He was burying himself in work that wasn't there, and it was nearing the end of the week. Everywhere he went in the building, he knew there were cameras catching his every move. He kept his head bent down over the paper he wasn't really reading as he entered the elevator.

It had been a rush of irrational honesty that made him tell Tohma the truth. He wished he hadn't. For the first time in his life, he was regretting an action, and he found that it wasn't making him feel any better.

He'd woken that morning to the lingering memory of a dream. He knew it had to be a dream, because he had never seen Tohma above him like that. He had felt the bed moving beneath him, and Tohma was backed by a white light, so Taki couldn't really see his face.

And when they were finished, Tohma had collapsed on top of him, body shaking and breathing ragged. Then Taki had woken up, showered, and gone to work, determined to ignore the dream.

It had been plaguing him all day.

Tohma had to rush forward, catching the elevator before it closed, stepping inside the lift, hitting his floor button while he spoke on the phone, oblivious to the rest of the world around him. He had the small phone cradled between his shoulder and ear while looking down at the paper he'd picked up this morning. He'd nearly been late.

"Yes, I know," he said with a smile. "No, I didn't forget. I'll pick it up for you on my way home tonight. What? No, no, no! I'm surprised you even offered to do that for me."

The blond laughed quietly into the phone, smile large. "Yes, you were great. No, I- what? Oh, I'm sorry. Try not sitting for a bit then." He laughed again. "Alright then, no, listen, I'm at work, so I'll give you a call around lunch if I can, alright? Yes, you too. Bye."

With a small sigh, Tohma removed the phone from his ear, folding it closed and slipping it into his pocket, leaning against the wall and reading the paper with his smile still present.

Taki wished he could melt through the floor. He kept his eyes focused on the paper, even though there was no chance he could see the words. The hand not keeping the page up was fisted behind him, pressed tight between his body and the wall. His eyes were too narrowed to see the words.

He didn't want to know. No. No, no, no.

And it was just his fucking luck that Tohma was in the elevator with them, and that both of their offices were on the higher floors. Taki would be able to get out first, but he was sure he would be noticed before then.

Or make himself noticed. There were so many words on the tip of his tongue, he was having a hard time keeping them back.

The first were "I hate you," but he didn't dare let himself say them.

It was all too obvious what had happened. Taki wanted to kick himself. Tohma had found someone else. But, that wasn't supposed to matter to him! It was just a fucking contract, there was nothing personal about it. Nothing.

He had no reason to care, but that didn't stop him from doing it.

"Even my wife deserves something from me sometimes, Aizawa-san," Tohma said without looking up from the paper. "I do have marital obligations to uphold. As I'd like you to know, I am a man of my word."

Tohma was a married man. He had been for some time now. He wouldn't be getting a divorce any time soon. He'd made a promise and he would keep to it. Nothing would make him do anything but. Mika was kind enough to understand, but she did love him, and while this made guilt a very tangible thing, Tohma always made sure she was able to have what she wanted once in a while.

"Being married wouldn't've changed. Even for you," he said softly. The elevator dinged! and Tohma's eyes flickered upwards briefly. "I believe this is yours."

It felt like a long time between the door opening and the door closing. Taki was silent while it stood open, and once it was shut, he stepped forward and hit his fisted hand against the emergency stop. Immediately, the fingers uncurled and Taki braced his weight as they elevator jerked and halted.

"Everything's always about you, isn't it." It wasn't a question, Taki was just stating facts as he saw them. "The world just isn't right if Seguchi isn't the center of the universe."

He was glaring, he could feel it on his face. His voice was low and angry, past yelling. He'd been past yelling for days.

"I am so, so sick of it." He took a deep breath, like he was trying to keep himself under control. "I don't breathe because of you. I don't think about only you. I work for you, I slept with you, and if that's all it's ever going to be, stop rubbing it in my face. I know. You don't need to remind me that I'm nothing."

It was hard for Taki to keep his voice level, and it was starting to shake with the strain. He couldn't keep his eyes on Tohma's face, either, because there were points in his speech that he knew weren't true.

He did only think about Tohma, and that made it worse. He knew he would never be anything to the other man. Nothing but a contract and an on-the-job-fuck. He'd known he was being used as soon as it started. Hell, it had started with him using Tohma, too. He could admit it. He would. But it wasn't about use anymore. There was something in Taki that didn't want to let go, but it was the rest of him that was giving up.

"It's almost Friday, and I haven't heard anything from Kenji and Haido. By Monday, I doubt you'll have to deal with me again, so our continued acquaintance is no longer necessary." He was just hurting himself with these words, and he knew it. Tohma didn't give a shit, and that just made it fucking harder. "I'll be gone before you remember I was here."

Tohma had his legs crossed at the ankle as he leaned against the wall. When the elevator came to a sudden stop, he jerked putting one foot out to the side to keep his balance. He paused completely, folding up his paper as Taki had gone off on his rant.

His fingers paused ever so slightly when Taki had hit points that hurt. Making him feel like he was nothing. Saying that, basically, he was an attention whore... things along those line dug in deep. He placed the paper down on the floor of the lift and straightened up, looking at Taki, square in the eyes.

"Let me understand this," he said drawling it out. "You intentionally aggravate me at the hospital, so I leave. After all, you didn't care. Then, you avoid me, I leave you to come back when you're ready, and now, now when I'm just talking in the wrong place at the wrong time, suddenly I believe the world revolves around me?"

He crossed his arms, fingers gripping tightly as he glared, officially glared at Taki, mouth pulled down tight into a frown.

"Enlighten me, Taki. Please, tell me where I've gone wrong in all this. Tell me where I've messed up and starting thinking that it was your fault we haven't seen each other."

He took a deep, calming breath, eyes closed briefly.

"I knew you didn't want me to leave you that night, Taki. But I wanted you to ask me to stay. Would it have been so hard to have outright asked me to stay with you?"

"Yes!" Taki was a man of pride, and asking Tohma to stay with him... It would have been like bowing down to his humanity and letting it take control of him. Taki couldn't do it. He wouldn't admit that he was no better then anyone else, because he had spent so much of his life perceiving himself as above all that.

It would have been too hard. Just like keeping himself steady while Tohma glared at him was too hard. He couldn't do this. He couldn't.

But Tohma had known. Tohma knew that Taki had wanted him there, whether or not Taki had known it himself. And still, Tohma had left, just because Taki hadn't asked him to stay.

What a fucking load of shit.

"I can't just... do that." He shook his head, fingers gripping at the wall as if they could break through it.

A man of pride, Taki didn't let his feelings get in the way. Only once, and it had caused him more problems then he had ever imagined it would. And now, again, because of that same damned man! Taki didn't know what it was about Tohma that made him feel so much that he couldn't keep it in, but whatever it was, he wished it would go away, and leave him alone.

He couldn't keep doing this. He couldn't keep dreaming about Tohma, he couldn't keep seeing Tohma's face everywhere he went.

So, it was just as simple as that? A small shred of pride had caused this much? So much horrible torment between them... all because Taki was an idiot. Tohma was absolutely speechless. He could not believe the complete moronic attitude of the other man. Pride, of course, was all well and good but... well, then again, maybe Tohma had been making too much out of this. Mountains out of molehills and the like.

Fine. Let it end, he decided. It would only be best, wouldn't it? Opium would most likely never return and 'grace' the corridors of N-G with its presence. The contract would then become null and void. Both the band contract and the one between Taki and himself. And though there was something settled deep down within, and everything rational left inside screamed against this, the blonde decided to have himself in control one last time.

Stepping forward, his fingers curled into the front of Taki's shirt past the jacket and jerked him forward. Having the slight height advantage was actually a pleasure as he let his head tilt downward just a little, frown still deep.

"I don't like the way you play with me, Taki," he said softly. "However intentional or unintentional it is, I don't like it."

Tohma threw all caution, anger and hate into the kiss he pressed hard against Taki's lips. In the far reaches of his mind, he hoped he'd bruised them just a little.

The kiss hurt, though Taki couldn't tell if it was physical hurt or emotional. It didn't matter, because Tohma's lips burned against his, pressed hard in the most trying kiss Taki had ever experienced. The only space between them was brought by Tohma's arms, and Taki knew he would pull away if Tohma hadn't been gripping so hard.

Playing with him? Taki's eyes narrowed but didn't shut, and he dropped the paper to hold onto Tohma's shoulders. He didn't care if he bruised In fact, he hoped he did, gripping too hard to possibly be acceptable. Playing with him!

That fucking bastard.

It was instinct that made him return the kiss, instinct that made Taki part his lips and force Tohma's open to. He didn't have words for what was rushing through him, there were no words for it. He was so far past anger that the fury felt like it could drown him, and he knew that if Tohma pulled back and forced him to speak, nothing intelligible would come from him.

He had never hated Tohma more in his life. He hated everything about him, from the tips of his hair to the toes of his overly shined shoes, Taki hated him. And where there was a fine line between pleasure and pain, the line between love and hate was even finer.

When Taki's mouth parted and forced his to do the same, Tohma had no complaints to do so. But he would dominate the kiss, and he did. His tongue pushed in, eyes drifting shut, and making darting sweeps of the other mans mouth. To be this close to Taki again... he didn't think it would feel like such a relief. But it was just a last relief.

His free gloved hand came up and removed his bowler of his head and let it hover over into a corner of the elevator. He didn't care if it had landed into a pile of filth at the moment. Using his hands, he slipped the jacket off of Taki's shoulders before pushing him up against a wall of the elevator, hard, using his body to keep him there.

His quickly fumbled his gloves off and when his hand were bare, he let his fingers slip smoothly down the sides of Taki's face, petting down his neck until the shirt blocked him. The bare skin felt smooth under his touch-restricted hands.

Ah, God, he'd missed this...

When he hit the wall, Taki couldn't help but moan. He didn't know how it had happened, or when, but somewhere during the kiss, he had let Tohma have control. He knew he wouldn't be getting it back, and somehow, he wasn't exactly sad to see it go.

His fingers gripped and pulled at Tohma's jacket, tugging to get it off Tohma's shoulders. But he didn't pull hard, head tilting back to press into Tohma's hands.

Damn those hands. They felt so achingly perfect against his skin that Taki didn't want Tohma to ever stop touching him. Taki would stay like this for hours if it meant Tohma would never pull his hands away. But Taki knew it didn't work like that, and so he took what he could now, because he was sure that after this Tohma wouldn't be touching him at all.

It was nearly Friday.
~~~
Author's Notes: Woo! I love elevators. . This wasn't planned at all, but it happened anyway. Oh Fate! How do I love thee? YAY! Anyways, I'm down to 99.7 now, so that's even better! I'll get back to editing tomorrow, it seems. Ah, a nice break while it lasted.

Drop us a line!

~Subby