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Learning to Land	By : Suteishichic Category: Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Ohjisama > General Views: 11419 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis (Tennis no Ohjisama), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Learning to Land. Chapter Eighty Two ~Oshitari~

Warnings: Yaoi, Love, Angst, Fluff, and Lots of Sex. Some kink. You've been warned ;)

Disclaimer: Nope not mine. Still in my dreams. ;)

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The gorgeous redhead in Yuushi's arms shrugged as if he wasn't thrilled, "Yeah, okay. You wanna hear the rest of my story now?"

Yuushi nodded and noted that Gakuto had some need to tell him this although he was still uncertain why.

Gakuto shrugged again, "There's not much to tell. I tried again to talk to his friends to get someone to tell me what was goin on, but they wouldn't talk to me and were acting all weird and stuff." Gakuto sighed, "So I waited outside his door for him to come home. When he saw me, he told me to go away but I forced myself into his room and said that he'd better start talkin to me. He told me if I was smart that I'd walk away and not look back. I didn't get what he meant at the time. I was too pissed off so I wasn't really thinkin or listenin to what he was sayin. And then he turned his back to me, sat at his desk, and ignored me."

The tensai mused how ironic it was that Gakuto detested being ignored and yet he was quite skilled in this tactic. Gakuto said heatedly, "I yelled at him and said that if he really did have any kinda feelings for me at all then he would at least be my friend and talk to me, you know? He never even asked me how I felt about him and didn't he wanna know? I told him he should tell me what the hell I did that was so bad that he couldn't even be my friend anymore. And I called him a liar because someone who really liked me wouldn't let anybody hurt me if I had feelings for them or not. He kept ignorin me. I told him thanks for nothin. If he wasn't gonna ever talk to me again then fine, screw him. I didn't need him, it was his loss. I called him a few good ones and I left."

"I was really pissed off. I was so angry I couldn't see straight, but at the same time, I was kinda...hurt. I mean he was bein a big jerk and it hurt that he was bein like that. I was mad and was just trying not to cry like a little kid as I walked by everyone. I wasn't even really lookin where I was goin, I just kept walkin. I didn't know where I was goin, I just wanted to be alone, but I only got about ten steps outside his dorm when someone grabbed me from behind. I thought it mighta been him but it wasn't. It was Jomen and Fudaki and they were up to no good. I was so surprised I guess I kinda froze up. The bastards picked me up and dragged me around to the side of the building where no one could see. I remember thinkin that I was dead. I was mad at myself and thought what an idiot I was for forgettin to watch my own back."

"They told me if I yelled or did anything that they were gonna hurt me worse so I didn't fight back. I tried to talk my way outta them hurting me. I was tryin to bargain with them or something when that bastard Fudaki slammed me up against the wall and knocked the wind outta me. He told me there was nothing I could do or say that was gonna stop them so I should shut the hell up. He said they were gonna have some fun and teach Atobe and his little followers a lesson in respect. I was doubled over, just tryin to catch my breath. Around then I thought to myself fuck this. No matter what happened, I wasn't gonna let this be easy for them. Hell no. I was gonna fight back. They were gonna hurt me or whatever no matter what I did so there was nothing I could do, but I still could hurt them back. I was gonna hurt the bastards right back this time." Gakuto's mouth set in a grim, determined line.

Yuushi didn't know what to say so he just listened. His brain was screaming at him to say something but the tensai couldn't think of a single coherent or appropriate sentence. For a tensai who often had all the answers, it was completely new and frustrating.

Gakuto didn't even notice because he was completely into telling his tale, "Jomen held me down on the ground and I was just about to try to kick him offa me when all of a sudden he made this kinda...yelping noise. I thought maybe he hurt himself or somethin because I hadn't done anything yet, but that wasn't it."

"When I looked up and saw what it was, who it was, I couldn't believe it. It was the junior. He musta ran after me and when he saw them tryin to hurt me, he kinda went crazy fighting the both of them. He took them both on at once and yelled at me to get up and run inside in case they weren't alone. I guess he thought their friends musta been around or coming to help them. He was gonna take on their friends and anyone else too. All alone I guess because he never told me to get him help. Just to run inside and help myself."

"I couldn't move though. I couldn't get any air still and I felt like I was gonna hurl, so I just stayed down on the ground when Jomen let go of me. It was a really bad fight. I mean I've seen some bad ones, but nothing like this. It was two on one and even though the junior was strong and in shape, so were Fudaki and Jomen. I didn't know what was gonna happen because they were all fighting dirty, but the junior was used to fighting with kendo and stuff and they weren't. When they tried to trap him by making him focus on one of them like they were playing doubles, he seemed to fall for it but really didn't. He elbowed Fudaki who came up behind him in the face and broke his nose. There was blood everywhere and then he somehow swept Jomen off his legs and onto the ground. He punched Jomen in the face once hard when he was down, and that was it. Jomen didn't get up again. It was brutal and fast. The whole thing was all over in about ten seconds with both of them rolling around on the ground in pain and the junior was by my side, askin if I was okay."

More than ever, Yuushi wanted to know who this junior was. He had a strong suspicion. It was something he had always idly wondered about after hearing a few small, passing remarks what now seemed like ages ago. Yuushi really only then realized how long he had been in love with Gakuto.

Perhaps he had even had an attraction that very first day they met, that very first moment, and he keenly felt regret now that he had been too into his own little world and situation to help the little redhead back then. If only. Maybe they could have been together this entire time if only he had been able to feel anything beyond searing pain and futile injustice at being sent away to Hyoutei. Now he felt guilty, like a spoiled child does once they realize how self-absorbed they have been and that the world has a lot bigger problems that can't so easily be solved by tantrums and hugs. He reasoned that most people feel that way as they grow up, and though he hadn't been there for Gakuto then, he could fix the things that went wrong from now on. Maybe, he mused, Gakuto could fix him too. They just fit together.

His mind also raced and started suspecting several other things. Not just about himself, but about Gakuto. He started thinking how upset the little redhead would be seeing a vicious fight after what happened to him. He reasoned that if just witnessing violence like that upset his roommate so, then the tensai wondered how Gakuto would actually deal with having sex.

Especially after Sato. Sex and violence must be confused in his mind and it would take a lot of love for Gakuto to sort them out. It might even go back earlier than that. Deeper. Gakuto needed love to be open. Love that Sato didn't give him, but he must have at least pretended to in the beginning. And yet, despite everything, Yuushi had the feeling, now more than ever that Gakuto was capable of love still.

Capable of love and open to it. He responded to love with surprising hunger as if he wanted it. Perhaps as much as the tensai did. Yet, Gakuto was surprisingly old-fashioned. Much more than Yuushi ever knew before. He wanted to be wooed and love had to be proven to him slowly over time. His heart had to be earned. The tensai realized he should not have been surprised.

Yuushi came up with several startling conclusions that he had never known before. They awed him at first but as the tensai reasoned his way through and recalled what he had read about other young sexual assault victims in medical and psychological studies of post traumatic stress, it all added up to something he had never figured out regarding Gakuto before. People, he knew, tended to go from one extreme to the other after such a trauma. He had just always guessed the wrong extreme with Gakuto.

He surprisingly had to admit to himself that he, like everyone else, had been taken in by Gakuto's bravado. He had allowed himself to be misled by the many rumors and sense of mystique that surrounded the little redhead. Yuushi was annoyed at himself for being fooled. He should have listened to his heart more than the raging gossip. He should have listened in between the stories and jokes that Gakuto told. He should have known better. He resolved to always do better for and by Gakuto after this.

Gakuto continued talking about the many comforting things the junior had said when he was down. He was so into his story that his leg was shaking and he never noticed that part of Yuushi's attention had drifted away to process things. Normally Gakuto would have noticed this immediately. He would have been furious at Yuushi not giving him his undivided attention, especially on such an important topic.

Any other time Gakuto probably would have hit the tensai and then pitched a screaming fit that would have taken the tensai hours to soothe him out of. Any other time Gakuto generally demanded the tensai's full attention whenever he was speaking, but perhaps he felt he was owed it this time. For the tensai to not pay attention to him now while he was divulging his deepest secrets in such an open and trusting manner would be almost a betrayal.

Yuushi resolved to focus and concentrate as the little redhead went on, "...and the junior was all bloody from them and for a moment I thought he was gonna turn on me. He had seemed really angry when he had yelled at me to run away so I was kinda scared. He musta thought I was hurt and kept sayin how sorry he was. He said he shoulda never let me walk out alone. That all this was his fault."

"The guys were still there and I was scared they were gonna get up and wanna fight some more. The junior tried to pull me up to standing and get me goin but I couldn't walk so he carried me piggy-back style all the way up to his room. His room was right by the stairs on the top floor and he took all five flights with me on his back. He held onta me tight and was talkin to me the whole time askin me if I wanted to go to the hospital and wantin to know what they did to me before he got there. He said he was gonna take care of me from now on and that no one was ever gonna hurt me again. He said he was gonna protect me from then on. He said he was really sorry and that he really, really liked me. More than anything. More than I would ever know."

Yuushi was dismayed at how similar this sounded to things he also had said repeatedly to Gakuto. The tensai wondered if the little redhead he so adored perhaps did not believe him because of this. Yuushi wished he had heard this tale sooner because then he would have known to perhaps say and do other things. However, the tensai also also reasoned the only reason he was hearing any of this at all was because Gakuto felt close to him.

Dismayed, Yuushi knew at the same time Gakuto felt so close to him that the little redhead felt afraid. In reality, because of his fears, Gakuto was telling him this in an attempt to try to push the tensai away while trying to pull him simultaneously closer. Yuushi reasoned to himself he couldn't change the past for either of them, but he could change the future. Their future.

Gakuto went on, "We got up to his room. I don't think anyone saw us. He took off my clothes and checked me out all over. He asked me if I got knocked hard in the head or somethin and I guess he thought that was why I probably seemed kinda outta it. He took care of me. I think I mighta cried when he undressed me, and he kissed me again. He talked to me the whole time and was tellin me things. A lotta things and I shoulda listened closer. He was sayin stuff like how I had to just trust him, and that he was gonna get me ready, show me what to do and stuff so it didn't hurt, and he was gonna always take care of me. He said he wouldn't let me get hurt. That it was just one night and then he was gonna make me happy and take care of me always. That he would keep me safe from then on. That my life would be better. He said he really liked me again and again and that he had real, true feelings for me and stuff. It was weird hearin a big guy like him say lovey, dopey stuff like that, but even now, I think he kinda meant it."

Yuushi felt coldly furious. He knew who it was now and felt lividly jealous. He wished he had been there. He wished he had gotten to school a day earlier and he wished he had been Gakuto's first. He knew there was nothing he could do to change that past, and that one did not necessarily preclude the other but he was angry at himself. He tried to hold his emotions in check because this was about Gakuto. What the little redhead experienced, felt, and went through--not what Yuushi was feeling as he heard this for the first time.

Gakuto didn't seem to notice Yuushi feeling emotional and continued on with his story, "He was so busy takin care of me that he didn't notice he was all banged up. I hadta tell him that he was cut on his eyebrow and his lip. He was bleedin but he laughed and told me it was nothin. He said he got hurt all the time doin kendo. He said it was just lucky those guys didn't know he was recoverin from two cracked ribs or he woulda really been in trouble. I made him let me clean the cuts on his face and knuckles up. He told me I was gonna stay the night with him and we would talk and stuff. He had some left over pizza and we kinda ate that though I wasn't really hungry. I was still naked, but it didn't feel weird because it seemed like he knew me. Like he was my brother or something, even though when he kissed me it wasn't feeling at all like when my brother kisses me."

"I dunno. It was weird. Like a girl but different. I told him to stop because I was worried about Taki, and he made me call him. I told Taki to not go out alone, that I wasn't gonna come home, and to not be worried anymore because it was taken care of. Taki kept wantin details and I said I couldn't talk but I'd tell him everything tomorrow. All Taki said was to use lotsa lube, he laughed, and hung up."

Gakuto snorted, "I was so stupid I didn't know what the hell Taki was talkin about. I mean, I was really an idiot. Well, anyway, after a while, the junior started kissin me and stuff again and then we just kinda did it." Gakuto shrugged as if it meant nothing to him.

Yuushi knew otherwise. The tensai just knew there had to be more because normally Gakuto loved to give too much information. Especially with Yuushi. He normally enjoyed making the tensai uncomfortable with too many graphic details. That Gakuto was holding back, especially sexual information was very significant.

When it seemed like Gakuto wasn't going to go on any more Yuushi asked, "And so how was it? Your first time? With a guy?"

Gakuto almost nervously met his eyes and then looked away. He looked down and to the left as if he were lying. He shrugged again as if indifferent, "It was okay. You want details? You're not gonna get all jealous again?" Gakuto looked at him again and rolled his eyes.

So he had noticed. The tensai miscalculated how well Gakuto knew him. Yuushi truly did not want details, but knew there was more to what happened than this casual nonchalance Gakuto was feigning. The tensai nodded, "I will be jealous, but I would like to know."

Gakuto sighed, "I dunno. It was a long time ago. He started kissin me and then went down on me. He said it was his first time and he was bad at giving head. He used his teeth and stuff and was surprised when I told him to stop because it kinda hurt. He thought it was my first time doin anything and he was surprised when I told him that he was wrong because I'd already been with that girl. He hadn't done a girl and probably still hasn't." Gakuto looked proud about this.

Yuushi had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling at how adorable he was.

"I think he's kinda more into guys but whatever. Then he used his hand on me, his finger, down there, you know, in me...and I...I got...upset. It felt a little weird and I told him to stop but he just thought he hurt me and said he would go slower. I was kinda scared and I think I cried a little. He used more cream and said he would be really gentle but that he didn't want to stop because he had to show me this. I cried a little more and told him to stop. I thought he was gonna stop but he kept doing it and told me to relax, relax, relax over and over again. He kissed me while doin it and said he was getting me ready because he liked me so much and then we just did it. It didn't take long for him to come, and I came, so I guess it was okay. He said he was really happy and he told me that he loved me, but that no matter what I couldn't ever tell anyone that he'd been with me. He said I had to trust him. I figured it was cause he was worried that we were both guys or somethin like that, but I was wrong. He said that no matter what I had to trust him and to believe that he did want to see me again. Lots. He said he'd always protect me. He told me he loved me and then he went to sleep. That's it." Gakuto met his eyes and shrugged.

"You came or you had an orgasm?" Yuushi really needed to know.

Gakuto seemed to seriously consider this and then shrugged again, "I dunno. Never thought about it. Before you told me that a guy could do one without the other I always thought they were the same thing. I guess I just came. I think it was too weird for me to have an orgasm. It was okay but I didn't really like it. I remember really wishing he would stop and I kept saying to but I did it kinda like a girl I think. You know, when a girl says stop but she doesn't mean it and when you do stop, she says to start again? But I meant it. I wanted him to stop, but I didn't want him to be mad or not talk to me again. I dunno. It was okay. I mean some of it felt good and I would stop saying stop when it did but then other things didn't feel good I would say stop. He would go slower or lighter but not stop. I kept expecting it to really hurt but it didn't, so that was good. I guess it was all over too fast. I mean it probably only took about two minutes for the whole thing. Five tops. So I don't think I had an orgasm or if I did it was really small. You know, not like a really good one. I mean it never felt like how it does with you. I mean it! Not with anyone. Before you I woulda said I had my best orgasms by myself. Well I wouldn'ta said that to anyone but, you know...it's good with you..." Gakuto finally smiled and Yuushi felt both happy and pain at the very honest admission.

Because it meant something else Yuushi suspected was true. The tensai blurted his earlier conclusions out without censoring his thoughts, "Sato was only the second man you were ever with...and Naomi was the second woman..."

There was a small flash of shock and pain in Gakuto's eyes and then he looked away. He shrugged, "So what?" Gakuto locked eyes with him and his perfect chin set in a defiant stance, "What the hell, Yuushi! You know what happened to me, and I've been with a lotta other guys. Guys and girls. I been with a lotta other people. That...that doesn't mean anything!" Gakuto looked very angry, "But I'm not a slut! I'm not! People always are wanting me to do it with them but I don't! Just cause I kinda would like someone and we dated and stuff doesn't mean I always had to have sex with them you kno..."

"I didn't mean it in a bad way." Yuushi kissed him to kiss away the look of anger and bitterness that crossed his beautiful face. Gakuto at first refused to kiss him back, but after a moment finally yielded and allowed the tensai kiss him.

Softly when he broke the kiss, Yuushi said, "I didn't mean it in a bad way at all. And I do know that you're not a slut. I never thought you were. Not for a second. You're the opposite, you're very choosy of who you are with. Very particular in fact which was a primary reason it took me to long to confess to you because you have your choice, Gakuto. You could have anyone, and the truth is, I never thought you would choose me."

Gakuto shrugged. Only partially satisfied by his placations.

With Gakuto, Yuushi knew the thing to do was to calm the initial burst of the storm and then after they could talk more once the fury passed. "I also know you didn't want to do what you did with Sato. I saw that first-hand. I was there, remember? And I am so sorry I didn't protect you or act sooner. I was so busy trying to find a way for us to be together that I fear I took too long. Maybe if I had helped you earlier much of what you went through with Sato could have been avoided. Even at our expense it would have been worth it. I can promise you this--all the things I have ever said to you, Gakuto, I really do mean every one. I truly love you. I truly will never let anyone hurt you, including myself. I swear I will never hurt you, Gakuto..." Yuushi went to seal it with the word that was their binding oath, but Gakuto suddenly covered the tensai's mouth with his small, strong hand.

"You can't swear that Yuushi! You're gonna hurt me and I'm gonna hurt you. Stuff like that happens when you're with someone. You argue and fight. My parents fight all the time and it's okay. You and me...we are gonna fight--maybe even a lotta the time, and we're gonna hurt each other even if we don't mean to, but just don't...don't...you can't..." Gakuto seemed to struggle trying to find the right words to express himself.

He appeared upset and agitated and something else the tensai couldn't quite put his finger on, "All that's fine. It's okay if we fight and stuff and you get mad or if I do, but no matter what, you just can't...even if you...even if things...you just can't...if you love someone then you don't..."

The tensai held him close. Gakuto trembled slightly in his arms. This was part of the rush of emotions the little redhead expressed too. They washed over him like a sudden storm when he felt something intensely . Usually the tensai had seen these thunderclouds erupt in anger but now Yuushi was learning they happened any time Gakuto felt something deeply. He would often coat his feelings in an angry explosion but after his initial wrath cooled, he was raw and open and emotionally vulnerable. Then he would be able to talk about whatever it was he was feeling and would be open to listening.

Guessing from his highly agitated current state, whatever this was he wanted the tensai to agree to was huge--but Yuushi was completely lost as to what it was Gakuto was trying to say. Yuushi asked calmly though his heart was beating faster, "I don't think I know this. I may have never learned this. Will you tell me so I understand? Just once? Please? If you love someone then you don't...?"

Covered by the tensai's body, Gakuto's voice was quiet and muffled. He still sounded annoyed however, "No. You know, Yuushi."

Yuushi really had no idea. His mind raced to fill in the blanks. If you love someone then you don't...what? Hurt them? Cheat on them? Lie to them? Use them? Mislead them? What could it possibly be? "I'm sorry. I want to know, but I truly don't. If you love someone you don't what? Please Gakuto, please tell me. I want to get this right. I want to know more than anything. Please?"

Gakuto said a word. It was soft, almost a whisper, and angry, as if he felt put upon for having to say it.

"I didn't hear you...please?" Yuushi felt like everything came down to hearing that one muffled word. And he had missed it. "Please?" he whispered and begged.

"Leave..." Gakuto whispered furious. It was as if Gakuto just handed Yuushi the skeleton key to every lock inside his heart and soul. Yuushi was awed and his brain whirled in calculations all trying to make sense of it all. Gakuto said again quietly in a very low, dangerous tone, "If you love someone, you don't leave. No matter what."

Yuushi struggled to make sense of this. He tried to quickly compare it to everything he had ever heard or read about love and it still didn't make any sense. He asked completely befuddled, "Why would I ever leave you?"

Gakuto shrugged but he was clearly watching Yuushi to see his reaction. The tensai knew this was a test but was totally lost on how to begin to take it let alone how to pass it. "Dunno. But you might. I might make you really mad or something. Or hurt your feelings. You know. Like the other night when I told you to get away from me. You mighta got mad and then left because you were mad."

"I wasn't mad." Yuushi had been hurt and very confused, but he never felt angry and had never thought of leaving. In fact, the only reason he lay down on his own bed was because Gakuto had threatened to leave if the tensai did not go away and leave him alone. Yuushi recalled the terrible panic he felt over Gakuto leaving him. True, a part of that fear was because Sato and possibly other harms were out there and Gakuto would have been alone to face them. But the only things Yuushi had feared then and now was Gakuto leaving him. He was terribly afraid Gakuto would say it was over and reject him. The tensai was trying to do everything he could to prevent that. It only occurred to him now that Gakuto in his own way was afraid of that as well, and trying to prevent it also. And if that was how Gakuto was feeling, if this was what had him so upset and this promise was the one he needed Yuushi to make, then the little redhead had a lot more than feelings of like for him. Whether Gakuto realized this or not.

The tensai just wasn't sure so he speculated, "You know I don't really get mad. It takes quite a lot to anger me, but even if I were to feel angry and leave," Yuushi paused not able to even comprehend doing something like that, "it would only be to take a walk to cool down. I would return shortly. I won't leave you."

Gakuto shrugged, "You might."

"Gakuto," Yuushi took Gakuto's two fingers into his mouth and licked them in that way that seemed to soothe him. They lay like that looking at each other in the dim light. He held Gakuto close and safe to him until he felt some of the tension flow out of the little redhead's body. He removed Gakuto's fingers from his mouth and remembered his own biggest fear. Yuushi suddenly knew what to do, "I swear I will never leave you. I swear I love you. I swear no matter what happens, I will never leave you..."

Again he went to seal it with their oath, but Gakuto covered his mouth, "Oh yeah? Really? Well what happens if I hurt you? Or if I leave you? What if I meet someone else or never fall in love with you or what if I wanna get married? To a girl? What if I hurt you like that? You still gonna never leave me? Yuushi, we're in freaking junior high and you can't swear..."

Yuushi already knew that answer. He had thought of all of this and worried over it long before he ever originally confessed. "I swear it. Even if it kills me Gakuto, no matter what happens or what might happen, I will never leave you. I love you. I always will. I swear it."

While Gakuto's jaw was dropped open, Yuushi swore their oath.

For some reason, Gakuto's voice sounded full of tears as if he was almost going to cry. He smirked though and said hoarsely, "You are so dead if you're lying to me..." He laughed slightly, "You're really being stupid making an oath like that...you don't even know everything about me..."

Gakuto was choked up, and the things he had said might happen, that he would hurt Yuushi, or fall in love with someone else, or leave him, or that one day he might want to get married, the pain of those things made Yuushi feel like crying too. The tensai's voice was thick with unshed tears, "Maybe it is stupid, but it's true. And you know me, you know I would never swear it unless I really..."

He sniffled loudly and then Gakuto said, "Yeah, I know, but you gotta know the rest first. I won't hold you to it until you know the rest. Until you know everything. Even the worst..." Gakuto wiggled closer to him. He held Yuushi close and put his head down so that the top of his head rested under the tensai's chin. His face was pressed against Yuushi's neck and chest, and Yuushi felt him kiss him there. That was so Gakuto, he thought. Passionate heat and sweetness, behind a wall of anger and bitter-sweet, emotional turmoil. You never knew if he would make you laugh or cry, but you always wanted to be closer to him and make him feel good.

The tensai held Gakuto tightly to him although he didn't have much choice. Gakuto held him close and tight and was breathing deeply as if trying not to cry. It was hot between his breath and his body heat and Yuushi felt wetness there against his skin. Gakuto was silently crying, but Yuushi knew that he couldn't just say that everything was all right. It wasn't. Gakuto needed more than lies and comfort.

Gakuto had to get whatever this was out. This was just the calm before the storm. Whatever he was feeling or wanted to say was eating away at him. Yuushi knew how terrible it was to have a deep dark secret and no one to tell it to. It weighed you down and wore you out day after day. A secret like that became your own private hell that you learned to live with. Even he hadn't told Gakuto everything he had gone through, but there would be time for that. Just that Gakuto knew and cared was somehow more than enough, perhaps because it was more than Yuushi expected to ever have. They were so right for each other.

He quickly thought of a thousand things to say. They ranged from again telling Gakuto he loved him to other reassurances, but somehow Yuushi knew right then, it would all be meaningless to Gakuto who had worked himself up to this extremely volatile state. The only thing that would work was the right thing. Perhaps the skeleton key was the answer.

Gakuto understood actions better than words. Yuushi prayed to the gods that he was right in acting and pulled Gakuto even closer to him. He held the naked, shaking and sniffling redhead closer to him with his hands, his arms, his entire body as if to physically show Gakuto that he wasn't going to ever let him go. Nothing else mattered anyway. He was promising Gakuto without saying a word that he loved him and nothing else mattered. Not even how long he had to hold Gakuto like this. Yuushi said after he held him closely for a long, longtime, "All right. I'm ready."

As if testing his resolve, Gakuto said and did nothing for a long moment. Yuushi was tempted to make sure the little redhead was breathing or to check and see if he was crying still, but he knew it would have been a breech of that promise so he held him close and steady and waited.

Finally Gakuto took a shuddery breath and nodded as if saying he was finally ready as well.

He took another breath and when he let it out, softly he said, "I remember..."

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Learning to Land