Stay Tuned As Life Continues For Others

Yutaka was busy playing the air drums to the song he had blasting throughout the apartment when knock came from the door. However the knocking was easily drowned out by the loud music. As the knocking continued, so did the music, keeping Yutaka from hearing the door. Eventually the front door opened and a red and green haired head poked in. “Hello?” No answer came. “Hello?” Still no answer came, so he decided to yell, “HELLO? YUTAKA?”

Yutaka snapped out of his jam session when he heard his name. He quickly remembered that he was busy styling his hair before he got distracted by the great tunes. He quickly tousled his hair and then glanced at his watch, his boyfriend was early. Yutaka looked at the mirror and realized his shirt was still unbuttoned, the thought of buttoning it was in his head only briefly as a better thought came to him. “Coming!” Yutaka left the bath room and made his way to the front door. He saw the visitor standing in front of the door. “I was just getting dressed.”

“I can see that.” Koushiro said as moved closer to his boyfriend. As he moved closer he noticed the fact that his boyfriend’s shirt was still open, showing of his thin tanned body. A body which distracted him from noticing that what Yutaka was dressed in was a shirt that seemed a little too fancy for a night spent in playing video games.

Yutaka’s smile grew as he saw that leaving his shirt opened had its desired effects, Koushiro was staring at him almost hungrily. Yutaka decided to play with him a little bit and began swaying his hips to the music as he began buttoning his way down his shirt. He watched as dark admiring eyes followed his hands down his shirt to swaying hips. Yutaka then watched as his lover’s cheeks reddened slightly. “Like what you see?”

A lump appeared in Koushiro’s throat keeping him from speaking. The best he could muster was a small squeak.

Yutaka tilted his head slightly and gave a wink. “I take that as a yes.” He stepped close to Koushiro and lifted his head. He leaned in planting a kiss on the pink lips that were so close to his. A brief shock went through him as his warm lips touched the still cold lips of his lover. He then took it upon himself to warm those lips.

After several moments of warmth sharing, the kiss broke. Koushiro moved to take off his jacket but was stopped. “Don’t, we’re going out.”

“I thought you said we were staying in.” Koushiro responded.

“Can’t a guy change his mind?” Yutaka answered. “Is that alright with you?”

Koushiro finally noticed Yutaka’s attire. “I just wish I had known earlier. I would have dressed nicer.”

“Relax. Your casual is most people’s formal.” Yutaka said. And with that, Yutaka tossed on his jacket and shoes and went out the door.

As they walked side by side towards the restaurant a few blocks away, Yutaka took the free time to fish his hand out for his boyfriend’s. After a moment of only finding air, Yutaka eventually made contact with his target. But before he could grasp the other hand, it moved away. Yutaka began fishing around again. After a few more seconds of awkward grasping Yutaka, grasped the other hand in his, just to have to slip out.

“Is everything alright?” Yutaka asked.

Koushiro turned his head away a little bit.

“Well, that’s a no.” Yutaka muttered.

“There’s just lots of people around, that’s all.” Koushiro answered.

Yutaka looked around; he hadn’t exactly noticed how many people were around, and didn’t really see why it was such a problem. So he just shrugged his shoulders and they continued their way to their destination.

As soon as they walked into the restaurant they were seated, as only a handful of tables were taken. They quickly ordered their meal and began the long process of waiting. They talked about how their day was, how their professors rattled on aimlessly and how the girls behind them talked nonstop. As they continued their conversations Yutaka’s hand crept its way across the short table. All while making sure that Koushiro didn’t see or know his hand was coming. Yutaka’s hand finally reached its destination and placed itself on Koushiro’s.

Koushiro stopped in midsentence, as his eyes opened wide. His mouth hung slightly agape. He quickly glanced around the room, looking at the other people in the room. Yutaka began to say something but Koushiro acted first, he quickly slipped his hand from under his boyfriend’s and placed his hands in his lap.

Yutaka glanced around the room, trying to see what Koushiro saw. The only people he saw that could have seen their hands were a group of older women with glasses thicker than the ones they were drinking out of. “Am I just repulsive today, or what?” Asked Yutaka.

“You just startled me is all.” Koushiro answered back.

Yutaka raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. The conversation continued, the food came and went, with dessert following the same pattern, but Koushiro’s hands were never laid on the table again.

Days passed and the weekend came, and Yutaka could be found standing in front of the nearby movie theater ticket office. Yutaka stood there staring at the person on the other side of the glass. The ticket seller’s fake smile had faded away a while ago, and Yutaka’s genuine smile had faded as well. Both of them glared at each other, both trying to break each other’s will. Eventually the theater employee caved and printed off two tickets. She thrust the tickets through a small opening at the bottom of the glass. “Enjoy your movie and have a nice day.” She sneered.

“Thanks WE will.” Yutaka said, once he was away from the window he then added, “Now that I no longer have to look at your ugly mug.” He handed one of the tickets to his boyfriend and opened up the door for him.

“Thanks.” Koushiro said, “We should have just spoken to a manager.”

“And make us late for the movie? Besides, if anything we could have just settled it the old fashion way.” Yutaka said.

“I hate to say it Yutaka but she’s triple the size of you, so I think she could take you.” Koushiro responded.

“That’s not what I meant. I meant just pay double, for the tickets and for her to save up to get that gorilla mask surgically removed.” Yutaka said. Koushrio let out a loud laugh, which he quickly covered up with his hand. Yutaka then stroked the side of his lover’s face, “Go get us some seats towards the back will ya, I’ll grab the popcorn and drinks.”

Yutaka waited in line until it was his turn to order, however when the concession worker saw him he got a strange look on his face. Yutaka in return gave him a strange look.

“Do I know you?” asked the concession worker.

“Nope.” Yutaka said, barely able to keep a straight face. For he recognized the concession worker, they had only been sitting next to each other in class since the term began a few months earlier. The clerk, having accepted Yutaka’s answer, wiped the look off his face and started back to work. A few minutes later Yutaka left with his hands full of treats to find his boyfriend in the dark theater.

After an embarrassing accident of sitting down next to the wrong person, Yutaka eventually found Koushiro. Yutaka didn’t understand why he hadn’t noticed him to begin with; he was miles away from anyone else and in the far back. As he sat down the last of the previews stopped and the movie began. Yutaka found himself interested in the movie for approximately five minutes before he found other interesting things, looking at the speakers on the walls, watching group of young teenagers tossing popcorn at each other, but particularly the most interesting and distracting thing was the hot guy sitting next to him. After a few minutes of preparing himself for another failure, he reached for his boyfriend’s hand. As he placed Koushiro’s hand in his own he felt the owner of the other hand tense up. But he was relieved when the hand wasn’t pulled from him. Instead Koushrio nestled up to him like they had done so many times his couch while watching a movie. Yutaka couldn’t help but smile, as if just for a moment in time, everything was alright.

As the movie drug on, Yutaka once again found himself bored. A thought popped into his head, since he couldn’t pay attention to the movie, he figured he shouldn’t the only one. So he turned to his boyfriend and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. Koushiro jumped and slightly pulled away. Yutaka figuring they were just playing like they had before, placed a few more kiss on the side of his lover’s face.

“Stop it.” Koushiro whispered as he moved away slightly.

Yutaka stopped just long enough for Koushiro to return, once he did Yutaka playfully licked his boyfriend’s ear and nipped at the lobe, a move that had always made Koushiro shiver and moan.

Koushiro instead pulled away and let go of Yutaka’s hand, “Stop it” he whispered, his voice filled with anger and lust.

“I thought you liked it when I did that.” Yutaka whispered back, his voice lined with desire.

“Not with all these people around.” Koushiro answered.

Yutaka sighed to himself and turned his gaze back upon the screen, as he knew he was now punished to sit through the rest of the movie, bored and alone.

Another week passed, and another weekend presented itself to the young couple. They found themselves shopping at a mall. Going from store to store, testing out musical equipment one minute and the next, signing themselves up for early copies of the next hot video game. Later on, as the day grew old and their arms grew tired, Yutaka saw something that brought a grin onto his face, The Tunnel of Love. He remembered seeing the advertisements while they had been working on it, but when it opened Yutaka was single. And few things are as sick and pathetic as someone going through the Tunnel of Love by themselves.

Koushrio saw the direction Yutaka was guiding him, and he wasn’t that happy about it. It also didn’t make sense to him. “Who puts a tunnel of love in a shopping mall?”

“Love, Fun, Romance or boosted sales for the lingerie store that sits right next to it. Take your pick.” Yutaka quipped back.

After minutes of talking, begging and bribing Yutaka finally had convinced Koushiro onto the small boat. Once they got settled in, the boat moved away from the dock and into the dark tunnel. Once the boat was away from the light and other people, Yutaka made his move. His hand slowly made its way across the short distance between them and found Koushiro’s hand. Yutaka breathed a sigh of relief once Koushiro accepted his hand. A minute passed, and Yutaka’s boldness grew. He leaned over to his boyfriend and kissed his cheek. He heard Koushiro’s sharp intake of breath, and knew he was on thin ice.

Yutaka sighed. “What’s the problem now? No one can see us, because there is no one is here.”

Koushiro started talking, “I’m sorry. I just don’t….”

“Don’t worry about it.” Yutaka mumbled, and blew his hair out of his eyes. He
leaned away from his boyfriend and put his hand over the side of the boat, dragging it in the water.

“Yutaka, I just meant that…” Koushiro started to say.

“Just forgot about it.” Yutaka huffed.

Minutes of awkward silence passed and the boat docked, its two passengers left, silent and a tension between them.

A week passed, a week that was unfamiliar to the young couple. A week that wasn’t filled with talks that went long into the night, movies spent curled up together on the couch, meals spent joking and laughing. Instead the week was filled with bouts of depression, overwhelming feelings of loneliness, nights spent tossing and turning in bed and meals spent moving food around a plate.

It was at the end of the week and Yutaka had had enough. He was on the bus on his way to Koushiro’s dorm, while trying to figure out what to say. Before he found the words he wanted to say he was in front of Koushiro’s door. Before his fist knocked on the door he stopped himself. He stood there with his fist hanging in the air for a few moments.

“You looking for Koushiro?” a voice asked from down the hall.

Yutaka turned and saw a tall girl with spiked red hair and thick black glasses coming towards him.

“Yeah. I just needed to talk to him.” Yutaka answered.

“He should be back any time, his class just got out.” The girl said.

Yutaka let out a huff as he glanced at his watch, and realized that he was more focused on what to say, than if Koushiro would even be there. “Can’t believe I forgot.” Yutaka said quietly to himself.

“Do I know you?” girl said, stooping down to look at Yutaka’s face.

Before Yutaka could say anything Koushiro entered the hallway, “Yutaka? What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you.” Yutaka said.

Koushiro stopped close to Yutaka, but out of reach. They looked each other over, trying to see if the other one was as lonely as they had been. He then turned to the girl standing next to Yutaka, “Can I help you Hina?”

The girl looked at Yutaka, then Koushiro then back at Yutaka. She stared at Yutaka for a brief moment before a grin appeared on her face. “No, I was just helping out a fellow musician.” And with that comment she turned around and left.
Koushiro unlocked his door and entered, ushering Yutaka into the room behind him. “Yutaka, I’m sorry. This last weekend and this week, I…”

Yutaka closed the door behind him. “It’s not your fault Koushiro. Don’t even try to lay the blame it on yourself.” Yutaka took a breath, “In case you haven’t noticed I’ve been a dick the past few weeks. I’ve been pushing you into things that you clearly don’t want to do, things you don’t feel comfortable with. I got upset because I didn’t understand why you were so hesitant to do things we had already done at home. It was over this past week that I’ve looked at myself and found an answer. I forget that I’m rather flamboyant and energetic and more outgoing then most people. I guess you could say I’m full of myself by thinking that everyone else is just the same. I also forgot what it’s like to be out for the first time, the feeling of constantly being looked at and judged. The feeling of baring your soul to the world, and fearing all the harsh judgments that can come from it. So I don’t blame you for not wanting to kiss me in public or even hold hands, and I’m alright with that. Besides the tunnel of love is a screwed up ride anyways. I mean it’s so stupid, you pay to ride in a short dark tunnel just so you can maybe get your rocks off. And when you get off the ride everyone knows what you did, so really you just paid some guy…”

“Yutaka.”

“…money, when you really could have saved that money and just made out on the bench like everyone else…”

“Yutaka.”

“…and instead of giving that schmuck your money. The money should have been used to get a gift or…”

“Yutaka!”

Yutaka blinked a couple times. “What?”

“You’re ranting.” Koushiro said simply.

“Oh.” Yutaka then rubbed his face, and took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. “What I was trying to get to was that this past week has really shown me that I didn’t know what I had till it was gone.” Yutaka stopped talking his eyes met and locked with Koushiro’s, and silent moments passed between them. That is until Yutaka asked, “So how about it, did I realize what I had before it was gone?”

Koushiro gave the other man a smile, “Of course you did.”

Yutaka stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, feeling his warmth for the first time in what felt like forever. The two lovers stood there in a warm embrace. Once the hug came to an end Yutaka ran his fingers through Koushiro’s bicolor hair a couple times. Koushiro nestled his head into his boyfriend’s hand, and was pleasantly surprised by what came next. Their lips met and sent a wave of warmth through both of their bodies. Their kissing led them to Koushiro’s bed, which they were soon laying upon.

After several minutes of extensive making out, the two lovers wound up lying side by side trying to catch their breath. It was during this time that Yutaka started to laugh. Koushiro rolled over on his side to look at his strange companion, “What’s so funny?”

Yutaka staring up at the ceiling said, “It just dawned on me that, I may be the first person in history to not even reach first base in the Tunnel of Love.”

Koushiro just rolled his eyes, and gave a slight chuckle, “What can I say Yutaka, you’re one of a kind.”

“Damn straight.” Yutaka answered back. Koushiro leaned over and kissed his boyfriend, picking back up where they had left off minutes earlier. With each kiss their bodies grew warmer, with each kiss their passion grew, and with each kiss their souls grew closer.

------------------
Author's Note: I LIVE!!!!!! Believe or not ladies and gentlemen I am alive! Just got home from Fall Term. Sorry there hasn't been anything for awhile, it's because I've been writing a paper or two a week for the past two months. Got home and had enough free time between decorating and baking to bust this chapter out. Hopefully in this three week break, I can churn out lots of chapters for both stories. Cross your fingers!