A Twisted Triangle

Author's Note: First of all, happy 4th of July! =D Hope everyone had a good holiday. Today, the fireworks were not in celebration of America's independence, so much as it was a celebration of Gackt's birth. ^_^;; Haha. But, I digress.

It's getting harder and harder for me to write this story. After all, it's not all flowers and sunshine for our beloved trio. But, reviews keep me going. =)

So, please, rate and review as you see fit. More to come. So stay tuned and... stuff!

The drama ensues...

~*~

“Ritsuka. It’s Soubi.”

“Soubi!”

Soubi could just imagine Ritsuka’s tail swishing back and forth, the way it always did when he used that tone of voice; one of an excited child. Given, a fifteen-year-old wasn’t really a child, but it was to Soubi, now twenty-three and an art teacher at the local college.

It was on his way out of the airport at four o‘clock on the dot that he gave Ritsuka a call. Ritsuka’s high school let out at three-thirty every day, save for those wonderful Wednesdays when teachers had nothing better to do than to let their students leave around noon. Such convenience for Soubi, whose class didn’t take place on Wednesdays.

Ritsuka’s fifteenth birthday had just passed. He and a gaggle of his friends had gone to the amusement park that day to celebrate - so Soubi was told. He hadn’t been there. Family matters had dragged him out of town that day to Osaka. Blasted family… Since when did they bother him anymore?

It hadn’t been a pleasant visit, either. Not really, anyhow. They all smiled, sipped their tea, acted like civilized human beings, but it was the utter fakeness of it that made Soubi want to retch. It was the cool-as-plastic behavior that made him despise these little get-togethers. His cousin’s coming of age ceremony didn’t interest him in the least, but it was his sense of duty that forced him to attend. Kio had taken Soubi’s place at his art class for that week he was gone.

Drat the luck, anyhow. A fifteenth birthday was a big one. Soubi mentally vowed to make it up to the young Aoyagi.

“I just got back into town,” said Soubi over the hustle and bustle of Narita Airport. Just to his right, a child marveled at the luggage carousel spinning around and around as Soubi waited for his suitcase to surface.

“I know. The screen says your flight just arrived.”

Soubi blinked. “Screen?”

“Yeah! I’m standing in front of the escalators by McDonald’s.”

A smile tugged at Soubi’s thin lips. “You came to the airport? I didn’t expect you to do that.”

“I wanted to surprise you. I’ve been here all afternoon,” said Ritsuka.

Again, Soubi blinked in surprise. “Don’t you have school?”

“Nope!” Ritsuka chirped, and once again, Soubi could imagine that black tail of his swaying in excitement. “There were teacher conferences today, so they called off school for the day.”

How thoughtful was this adolescent!

“I see,” Soubi murmured. “Well, I would be down by the escalators already, but my bag hasn’t turned up yet.”

“Did it get lost?”

“No, no. Luggage carousels here take their time, apparently.”

“Oh. Well, I can wait. I would go up there, but all that security business…”

“I don’t blame you,” Soubi concurred with a mild roll of his eyes at the thought. Their damned metal detectors and their damned wands, which, to Soubi, looked more like handheld vacuum cleaners than security devices, saving the world one dust bunny at a time.

Almost on cue, a midnight blue suitcase surfaced betwixt a hideous red duffle bag and a child’s backpack, pink in color, with prominent purple daisies adorning its cover.

“Ah, here it is.” Soubi scooped up the suitcase and checked the name on it.

Agatsuma Soubi

“I’ll just be a few minutes. It’s not far to the escalators from here.”

“Okay!” Ritsuka chimed. “I’m at the benches now. I’ll watch for ya.”

Soubi chuckled at the boy’s enthusiasm. “Alright.”

Their call ended and Soubi meandered toward the elevator, dragging the roll-along suitcase behind him.

It was a nice surprise to have Ritsuka there to meet him. If anything, he would have expected Seimei to be there at the gate, waiting around for Soubi to surface so he could drag him off to his car for a quickie. Soubi sighed at that.

Four years, and still just a sex toy. What was more, no-one even knew that Seimei was no longer a no-less-than-pure virgin. He still wore clip-on ears everywhere he went, save for when he was in Soubi’s company and behind closed doors, in which case, he tore them off, tossed them in a corner somewhere to collect dust while he went about claiming the blond. Nothing had changed there.

But who was Soubi to complain? He never told Seimei to stop. He couldn’t.

At least this way, he could give Seimei what he wanted. At least this way, he wouldn’t be a complete failure. At least this way, he had a reason to get out of bed every morning.

Given, it was a pretty shallow reason.

Seimei was in it for the sex and Soubi was in it for the sake of a purpose. After all…

What else was he good for, besides being used?

What would Soubi be without that?

Nothing.

Not a goddamned thing.

Just another man without a reason for breathing.

His will had been cracked years and years ago, and Seimei had completely shattered what was left of it. The tiny fragments that had been left behind were far too small to be repaired; far too sharp to handle. The only thing that killed Soubi every time was… Seimei knew that. He knew very well what he was doing and made no attempt to stop or change.

And Soubi never tried to make him stop or change.

A minute or two later and the escalator was in sight. Soubi stepped onto the moving platform and leaned against the railing, blue eyes combing the crowd for a familiar set of ears.

He needn’t have looked far. Ritsuka waved to him from the line of benches and potted plants.

Suddenly, everything looked a little brighter, and it wasn’t the change in fluorescent lighting. No, it was the presence of Aoyagi Ritsuka that illuminated Soubi’s world. Ritsuka, who was so much like Seimei in physical form, and yet… so unlike him.

Seimei was manipulative and vindictive.

Ritsuka was laid-back and amiable.

Seimei was a smooth-talker and a liar.

Ritsuka was a jokester and, overall, too adorably naïve to lie about… well… anything.

Seimei and Ritsuka were perfect antonyms, and Soubi guessed that neither one of them was even aware of it.

Given…

Ritsuka had a side that hardly anyone else ever saw. Thanks to his mother, he had two separate sides to him, two completely different attitudes. While he was usually happy-go-lucky and carefree, he could also be dark and broody, albeit only when he had just been victimized by the matriarch of the Aoyagi household. Aside from that, he was happy as could be. Just your average fifteen-year-old to the public eye… and so unique in Soubi’s.

“Soubi!” Ritsuka called the blond over eagerly.

Soubi, rather content with finally being in the presence of his secret crush, grinned and made his way over. Ritsuka greeted him with open arms - literally; he pounced on Soubi in a hug the moment they were within two feet of each other. It was all Soubi could do not to fall over.

The blond chuckled and wrapped his arms around the young Aoyagi’s waist.

“I missed you,” Ritsuka mumbled into Soubi’s shoulder. His ears laid back, his tail swished to and fro. Soubi affectionately rubbed behind those feline ears of his, eliciting pleasured purrs from the teen.

They had grown close. Maybe too close. Ritsuka probably had no idea of just how badly Soubi had it for him…

No idea at all.

“I missed you, too,” Soubi muttered, setting Ritsuka back down upon the tiled floor. His arms refused to let go.

“How’ve you been getting along without me?” Soubi teased, ruffling up Ritsuka’s unruly bangs.

Ritsuka laughed some. “It’s been boring. Seimei’s been so busy with school that I only see him at night anymore.”

Ah, yes. Seimei had enrolled in business school to get his Master’s.

“It does keep one busy,” Soubi concurred.

“Let’s get going,” the blond said after a moment, once more taking the handle of his suitcase into his palm. “I want to get unpacked before I get too lazy and never get around to it.”

Maneuvering through Narita proved a difficult task; so many pushy pedestrians who wanted to be the first to reach the door. It proved harder than once anticipated to get out of there without bruises!

When the two reached the roundabout full of hotel transports, limousines and cabs, Soubi kept a weather eye out for a vacant one.

“Hey… Soubi.”

“Hm?” Soubi turned to his cat-eared companion.

“Can I ask you something?”

Soubi nodded. “Anything.”

“Are you and my brother…”

Soubi could have sworn his heart stopped for a split second.

“Are we what?” Soubi asked tentatively.

Ritsuka’s face went red, and he shook his head quickly.

“Nothing, nothing… Never mind.” The teen smiled and shrugged it off, but Soubi couldn’t help but be a little nervous about it.

Did Ritsuka know something he wasn’t supposed to know?

Whatever it was, it was going to have to wait a moment. A taxi had just pulled up to the curb, empty as anything, just calling Soubi’s name. Soubi shuffled over to the blatantly yellow car, had the cabbie open up the trunk where he deposited his suitcase, and then it was off to his apartment complex.

No longer did Soubi room with Kio. However… Kio only lived one floor below Soubi himself. The two would never be too far apart, Soubi had theorized in elementary school. In those days, Kio lived across the street. They attended the same schools from then on, and even to that very day - Kio taught a class just down the hall from Soubi. Soubi taught classic-style painting, and Kio taught a more… radical art class that generally consisted of darts, water balloons, Marilyn Manson and fans to splatter paint swatches.

Such an odd man. Soubi wondered sometimes if all that sugar from all those lollipops had finally gone to his head.

When they reached Soubi’s apartment, Ritsuka brought it up again. And with the same words, no less.

“Soubi, are you and my brother…”

Soubi set down his suitcase and turned to Ritsuka, giving him his full attention.

“Well, I…” Ritsuka flushed and looked away. His ears went flat.

“Are we what, Ritsuka?”

“Are you guys… going out? There, I said it! So are you?” All of a sudden, Ritsuka went from embarrassed to curious. His ears twitched and his burgundy eyes shimmered.

Now it was Soubi’s turn to find himself at a loss for words. It wasn’t in his nature to look away, so he didn’t. But he had never wanted to so much as he did right then.

“Ritsuka, it’s… complicated.”

“I knew it.” Ritsuka flopped down on Soubi’s stark white couch with a huff of air.

A moment of silence between the two.

“… How?”

“How did I find out?”

“Mm.”

Ritsuka twirled a strand of his wild raven hair around his bandaged finger and blushed again.

“Well, it… it was years ago, but…”

Soubi had a feeling he was in for a long conversation. Sighing, he perched upon a black ottoman in front of his coffee table, folded his arms and sat back, readying himself for whatever Ritsuka had to throw at him.

“I didn’t even know who you were then…”

What is he talking about?

“I was twelve. Mom had just made dinner. She sent me upstairs to get Seimei, and I saw you guys… on his bed… doing stuff.”

Again, Soubi’s heart skipped a beat. If his heart kept doing that, he was going to have some serious internal problems.

Soubi went silent. Dead silent.

“But I wasn’t looking in on purpose, I swear,” Ritsuka defended himself ahead of time. “It was an accident! He usually keeps his door locked…”

“… How much did you see?” Soubi dared to ask.

“Not much…” Ritsuka twiddled his thumbs nervously. “You still had all of your clothes on, so…”

Thank God for that.

“Ritsuka,” Soubi muttered before Ritsuka could get another word in. “Have you… said anything about this to Seimei?”

“No! No, of course not. I don’t think I could talk to him about that.”

“But you can talk to me about it?” Soubi questioned.

“Well, yeah…”

Was he dreaming, or was Ritsuka actually saying that it was simpler to talk to Soubi about such things rather than Seimei?

Shaking it off, Soubi placed his hand against the side of his head, reeling with a tinge of disbelief with just a splash of shock. He had feelings for this boy, for crying out loud, only to find out that the object of his affections had seen him in the arms - and the bed - of another man?

Not as if those feelings would amount to reality, anyhow.

Get a hold of yourself, Soubi.

“Do me a favor, Ritsuka?”

Ritsuka’s ears perked up.

Soubi smiled a bit nervously at the teen.

“Don’t mention this to Seimei. Please. I don’t know how he would take it.”

Actually, Soubi knew just how Seimei would take it. He would lash out. He would lash out and he would take said lashing out on none other than Soubi himself, probably in the most demeaning way possible; in bed, the way Soubi was so usually victimized when Seimei was in a mood, the target of whatever utensil of punishment Seimei saw fit for that particular evening. Afternoon. Morning. Whatever it was at the time. Seimei was a bona fide sadist, and Soubi his masochist. That was just the way it went.

“I won’t, I won’t,” Ritsuka said quickly, shaking his head.

Soubi breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.”

“… You wanna play some videogames?” Ritsuka asked hopefully, a sheen in his gorgeous burgundy eyes.

A smile crawled across Soubi’s lips.

“I’ve never been so relieved to hear you ask me that.”

It was over these crucial months in Ritsuka’s fifteenth year that Soubi grew more and more attached to the young Aoyagi. Ritsuka resembled Seimei more than he would ever know in so many different ways, but it was in those drastic differences between the subtleties that appealed to Soubi the most. While for as long as Soubi could remember, only Kio, his best friend and confidante, could elicit Soubi’s playfulness and softer side, Ritsuka had managed to bring the real Soubi to the surface more times than he could count. And without even trying, too.

Did Ritsuka have any idea just how deeply he was affecting Soubi?

He hadn’t a clue.

Ritsuka’s life was as normal as normal could be - if one overlooked the abusive mother and all. He went to school, got his mediocre grades, spent time with his friends. It was just going so smoothly, not only for Ritsuka, but for Seimei and Soubi as well.

But, as they say, all good things must come to an end.

The end came all too suddenly. All too quickly. All at once.

In the early summer of Ritsuka’s fifteenth year, things changed.

Drastically.