Birthday Surprise

When the mid-morning sunlight streamed into the room and into his eyes, Tatsuha woke up and gazed down by his side while he lay on the hospital bed.

‘So that wasn’t a dream,’ he thought, spying a mossy head curled up under the sheet next to him. Shifting slightly, he put an arm around Ryuichi and smiled tenderly down at him. The smaller man shifted and sat up while rubbing at his eyes, looking all the world like a small boy just awakened from sleep.

'So cute!' the dark-haired man thought to himself when Ryuichi turned to look at him.

“Tatsuha? Are you okay?” Ryuichi asked as he peered at his lover, his azure eyes dark with worry.

“I’m fine. I just have to piss….uh…use the restroom,” he explained as he got out of bed. Realizing that his erection was caused by more than Nature’s call, he grabbed a nearby blanket that he noticed lying on a chair and wrapped it around himself.

“What, are you going to hide from me now? After last night?” Ryuichi asked, as he chuckled and tilted his head, smiling sweetly at the younger man.

“I…uh…oh, what the hell,” Tatsuha said, dropping the blanket just as the room door opened and Seguchi Mika walked in, followed closely by Seguchi Tohma. Scrambling, Tatsuha grabbed the newly dropped blanket and once again wrapped it around himself.

“I take it that’s NOT morning wood,” she said, taking in the situation as she put her hands on her hips and glared at her younger brother. Tohma stopped just behind her, an amused smile on his face while he too took in the scene.

“You must be doing well if you have a problem such as that, Tatsuha,” Tohma casually remarked as the raven-haired man blushed bright red and Ryuichi turned to gaze at the intruders.

“Be nice Tohma, he’s my new boyfriend,” Ryuichi revealed to the pair.

“Now Ryuichi-san, do you really wish to be with this rabid fanboy? He’s…” the blond began when Mika huffed and glared at the vocalist.

“Oh no he’s not your boyfriend! “ Mika yelled, cutting off Tohma’s next sentence.

“And why shouldn’t he be, Mika-san?” Ryuichi asked as both Tohma and Tatsuha looked at the vocalist, then back at the fuming woman.

“I won’t have you love and leave my little brother like you’ve done to so many others! I don’t want you to hurt him worse than the accident did!” she spat as Ryuichi nonchalantly climbed out of bed and walked over to retrieve his jeans from the floor.

“I don’t have any plans of ‘loving and leaving’ him, Mika-san,” the singer returned while he pulled up his jeans and zipped them closed, leaving the top button undone like always. “I plan on having a nice, long, loving relationship with him, if that’s his wish, now that he’s a legal adult,” Ryuichi solemnly explained, bending over once more to pick up his shirt.

Tatsuha, stunned at the disclosure with the blanket still loosely wrapped around his hips as the trio argued finally dared to open his mouth.

“If Ryuichi wants me as his boyfriend and not just a one night stand, then I’m not going to argue with him!” he cried, coming out from around the bed and defiantly placed an arm around the smaller man. Ryuichi placed his free arm around Tatsuha’s back, his shirt dangling from his other hand when he turned and reached up to kiss his new boyfriend. Tatsuha, momentarily forgetting that they were no longer alone, bent down and began to return the affection before pausing and glancing up at the pair. Ryuichi, not caring, pulled down the ebony-haired monk into a passionate kiss.

“Ryuichi! Be respectful! There’s a lady present!” Tohma warned at the same time as Mika began to yell at the pair, who by now had more or less tuned them out. When Tatsuha placed his other arm around Ryuichi, his blanket, which was no longer being held, fell to the floor and once again exposed the ebony-haired man’s physical state of excitement. Mika rapidly turned her back as Tohma hurried over to the pair and unfolding the forgotten coverlet, threw it over his brother-in-law’s shoulders.

Just as the couple broke off the kiss, the doctor and a large male nurse, who had heard the shouting, rushed through the door just in time to see the foursome.

“Now that you’re awake, Uesugi-san, I think it would be best if you ate breakfast and…” she began, realizing that her patient no longer was wearing his hospital gown, which was lying on the floor near the bed.

Picking up a bag of IV fluid that sat nearby, the nurse walked over to Tatsuha and soothingly hinted, “Maybe you would be more comfortable, Uesugi-san, if you climbed back into bed like a good patient.”

Shooing out everyone except the doctor, the nurse let his patient first use the restroom, then got him a fresh gown from a shelf in the closet and helped him over to the bed. By the time Ryuichi, Mika and Tohma were allowed back into the room, Tatsuha was back in bed with a new IV bag going while the doctor was finishing up her exam.

“I’ll be right back with your breakfast. Now you stay. In. Bed, Uesugi-san,” the nurse ordered before leaving the room. The doctor picked up Tatsuha’s chart and added more notes to it then gazed at the young man through her glasses.

“Well, apparently you’re doing…well…” she said, referring to the way she found her patient as Tatsuha blinked at the verbal jab. “If you can behave yourself, I’ll let you be discharged this afternoon.” She turned and gave him one long last look before exiting the room.

“How are you feeling, Tatsuha? Better?” Ryuichi asked as he watched the doctor leave and then sat on the edge of the bed as Mika took the chair and Tohma stood behind it.

“I’m fine, my headache’s gone. I’m just bored, that’s all,” he replied, smiling tenderly at his new lover.

“Tatsuha, I don’t think that this relationship-thing is a good idea,” Mika interjected as Ryuichi picked up Tatsuha’s hand and once again patted it.

“Mika-san and I agree,” said Tohma, echoing the sentiment. “I think that Tatsuha’s idol-worship of you will only get you hurt, Ryuichi. Perhaps you should rethink your decision.”

“Tohma, for once I’ve made a choice that I haven’t talked to you about and you expect me to give it up just because you think he’s ‘just another fanboy’?” Ryuichi growled. He turned to glare at his bandmate, who stared back coolly.

“Now wait just one fucking minute here!” Tatsuha said, interrupting the staredown and causing all three to turn and look at him. “Everyone here is trying to make decisions for me! Did you all forget that I’m now a legal adult and I’m perfectly able to make my own decisions?”

While all three stared at him, the room temperature seemed to drop a few degrees as Tatsuha gazed back and swallowed nervously before continuing.

“I choose to be with Ryuichi. Not because I’m a ‘so-called rabid fanboy...’ but because I’m in love with him. I always have been,” Tatsuha quietly admitted to the silent room as he dropped his eyes to stare at his hands folded in his lap.

“How can you possibly know what love is? Or did you just conveniently forget about all of your so-called lovers that you’ve had in the past?” Mika spat back at her brother.

Tatsuha glared at his older sister as he spat back, “I damn well couldn’t go after Ryuichi before when I was underage, could I? Besides, I couldn’t possibly compete with all the beautiful women that throw themselves at him!”

“Now Tatsuha, be reasonable. You couldn’t possibly be in love with Ryuichi-san. How would you know, even if you were?” Tohma asked.

“I know how I feel, and how I’ve always felt! It hasn’t changed since the day I met him,” Tatsuha explained as he looked up at his brother-in-law before turning to gaze at Ryuichi.

“I’ve been in love with you since the first time you came with Tohma over to our home to visit Mika. You probably don’t remember, but I do. Sure, I was only 13 at the time, but I still remember how you smiled at me as I sat out back by the koi pond after having a shitty day at school. You picked up a stick and told me, ‘I know it seems rough now, but one day when the bullies are long gone, your school days will be a memory you can choose to lock away.’ I fell in love with you that day.

Ryuichi turned his sapphire eyes to gaze intensely into Tatsuha’s face while the young man continued.

“When Nittle Grasper was just starting out and was still playing in small clubs, I used to sneak out at night and use my fake ID just to be close to you and listen to your voice. I would always imagine being with you as your lover, and that all your songs were directed at me. Whenever I went to your concerts, I would practically climb over people to get as close to the stage as I could, just to be near you. I plastered Grasper posters on my bedroom walls not only because I’m a fan, but because it let me feel close to you, like you were guarding me and giving me strength to make it through both school and monk training. I nearly dropped out of both countless times, but I’d look into your gorgeous blue eyes and I’d feel as if you were encouraging me to go on.

“I love you Sakuma Ryuichi, I always have.”

Feeling embarrassed tears burning in his eyes, Tatsuha closed them while they overflowed onto his cheeks as for the first time the heartfelt emotions he had held secret for so long were finally able to surface. He dared to look up, only to realize that Ryuichi was gazing directly into his eyes. Feeling exposed, he stared back while a loving smile appeared on the vocalist’s face, echoed in his sapphire eyes. Tatsuha shyly mirrored Ryuichi’s expression, feeling his heart swell.

Wiping his eyes, the young monk ventured to turn and look over at Mika and Tohma, slightly surprised when he realized that the couple was watching them intently; Mika with a crestfallen look on her face when she realized that she had lost the argument, and Tohma, his eyes hooded as he too realized that he had been defeated.

“Very well, Tatsuha,” the blond conceded, walking over to stand in front of his dazed wife in order to assist her out of the chair. “I only hope that you two can be discreet with your relationship. I don’t need to handle another media circus like I did with Eiri-san and Shindo.”

“You had to handle WHAT with the brat and me?” a baritone voice asked when the room’s door opened and Uesugi “Yuki” Eiri entered, dressed in a rumpled black suit after catching a redeye flight to Tokyo, followed closely by a fresh-looking Shindo Shuichi. Tohma moved from in front of Mika to stand behind her, his arm around her slender waist.

“I suppose you will undoubtedly hear this from your sister, Eiri-san, but your little brother just admitted his undying love for Ryuichi,” he answered coolly. Eiri moved around Tohma and Mika, who was still unable to speak and looked at his brother and grunted acknowledgement.

“It seems that I don’t need to hear it from him,” Eiri pointed out, watching the pair, who was now tenderly kissing on the bed.

Shuichi maneuvered around the taller man to look. “Awww, how sweet!” he exclaimed, watching when Tatsuha and Ryuichi moved back from each other and continued to gaze into one another’s eyes.

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Tsuzuku
(To Be Continued)

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