DISCLAIMER: Gravitation belongs to Maki Murakami. I'm just borrowing the characters to fulfill the needs of my own morbid plot bunnies.

AN: I don't know about the ending. I wanted there to be more, but then I was satisfied with it at the same time. Hm. Well, here's the end.

Eiri

Eiri flicked on the television to find that it had been set to watch the VCR. Shuichi must have been watching a video before he’d come home because he certainly hadn’t been. He remembered how strange Shuichi had been behaving before he’d disappeared out the door. Normally when Shuichi returned from a tour, they were in bed within minutes. What had Shuichi been watching that had made him so subdued?

Eiri pressed the eject button on the remote only to discover that there was no tape in the VCR. Strange. Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe Shuichi hadn’t been watching anything. The whole situation was a bit bizarre though. Shuichi had been gone now for nearly an hour and Eiri was starting to get a little worried. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, fingering the buttons lightly. Should he call Shuichi? Just in case?

As though on cue, he heard Shuichi’s keys in the door. Eiri stood up and made his way to the doorway to greet Shuichi. He was relieved that he had finally come home and he really, really wanted a little comfort from his lover. This absence had been particularly difficult.

“I’m home,” Shuichi said very softly, his voice raw.

“Welcome back,” Eiri responded.

Shuichi seemed surprised that Eiri was waiting for him at the door. “I’m sorry. Did I worry you?”

“You idiot,” Eiri started, embarrassed by his own feelings. He stopped though and looked hard at Shuichi’s face. “You’ve been crying.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a clear and concise statement. Shuichi sighed resignedly and stared Eiri in the eye. Eiri didn’t like the serious expression on his face.

“Yes, I have been.”

“Why?”

Shuichi drew in a long, deep breath and avoided eye contact. He tried to push past Eiri, but Eiri didn’t want to just let this go.

“Yuki, please. Let’s just...forget about it.”

“No. Why won’t you look at me?”

Shuichi drew in a loud breath again and raised his eyes slowly to meet Eiri’s. There was a sadness in them that made Eiri’s heart pound uncomfortably in his chest and his stomach to twist miserably.

“I know.”

That was it. That was all he’d said. ‘I know’. But what did he know?

“What do you know?” Eiri asked as casually as he could.

“I know about,” Shuichi released a sigh and looked away again, hesitating.

“What?” Eiri asked sharply. But he already knew. Shuichi knew. Shuichi knew about the darkness within him. And this would be the end of his life as he knew it.

“I know about you and Tohma and Tatsuha.”

Eiri shook his head repeatedly. “No. You...you can’t. It’s sick.”

Shuichi’s eyes watched Eiri’s face carefully. He reached out to Eiri, but the writer backed into the wall behind him.

“Eiri...,” Shuichi started.

“No! No, you can’t know that!”

Eiri’s voice had raised several octaves and was near hysteria. He twisted out of Shuichi’s grip until there was nowhere for him to go except flush against the wall. The younger man stood in front of him and said nothing as Eiri brought his hands up to his face, nearly drowning in his own tears.

Eiri felt the warm arms of Shuichi around his hunched form and slid down to the floor, brining his lover with him. He remembered what Tatsuha had said. Is that what Shuichi wanted now? Did he want to rape him, too? Or, was he feeling so betrayed that he would leave him? But then, why was he holding him? Eiri reached out and clutched Shuichi to him almost violently.

“You can’t leave me.”

He had meant it to sound stern, but it had come out as a cry. Eiri felt Shuichi relax against him and prepared himself for whatever he was about to say. He deserved it. All of it. For having such a dark mind, for using Tohma and Tatsuha, for still dreaming about Kitazawa, for betraying Shuichi. For being so sick. He deserved all the hate that Shuichi could muster, even if it would destroy him. Even if he wasn’t willing to let Shuichi go, he knew he would if he had to do it. He was tainted, dark, and ruined, after all. Shuichi was light and brilliance, totally untarnished.

“Don’t be stupid,” Shuichi said softly, stroking Eiri’s head lightly, “I’m here to rescue you.”