"Why do we have to do this?" Touya hissed to the fair-haired boy next to him.
Yuki simply paused and looked up at him innocently. "Sakura wants us all to play a game together."
"Well, yeah, but..." his darted eyes to the spread out board as his sister sighed while her piece slipped down a particularly long shute. "...why?"
Tomoyo encouraged her friend warmly as Yuki quietly replied with his disapproving frown. "To-ya... She hardly sees you anymore, what with the student work you've doing with school and everything. She misses you... You're never around..."
Touya's annoyed expression softened as Yuki let the words trail off, staring at his shoes, but he was drawn back to the yellow and red board by the sound of his sister's voice. "Oni chan! It's your turn," she announced, thrusting the spinner at him.
With the weight of a man accepting hemlock, Touya took the square of cardboard and flicked the plastic arrow. Little more than a gray blur, the arrow spun to its utterly meaningless resting place. "Oh, you got a four, that puts you on a ladder square," Yuki announced with a slight bounce. Though Touya noticed the bounce still at Touya's sullen manner.
Once his piece had been moved to the proper place he passed the cursed spinner to his friend, who quickly sent it turning. Yuki's cheerfulness was fully returned as he moved his little blonde character across the board and passed the board to Tomoyo. The broad smile was almost enough to brighten Touya's mood but as the Kaiju started rambling about how they could play Candyland next, and he started to consider swallowing his tongue.
As the girls chattered to each other about some time they'd played Candyland before, Yuki looked up at Touya (still considering suicide) and his face fell again. Yuki was still staring at his hands as Touya was handed the spinner again. He sent the plastic piece turning and Tomoyo leaned over to whisper something to Yuki.
He'd finally gotten an evening off to breathe after starting his workstudy program two months ago and here he was, playing Shutes and Ladders with his sister and her friend. Since giving over his power to Yuki running twenty four seven wasn't possible so that now when he wasn't at class or work he was passed out in his room. Of all the things he'd wanted to do, sitting here watching ridiculously cheerful cut-out people be moved around a technicolor board wasn't one of them. "Here," he said flattly to Yuki, passing the board over to Yuki.
"Ah, thank you." He took the board and looked over as Touya stared up at the ceiling, leaning back against the couch, and spun the arrow quietly. Reaching out, he began to move his piece but stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry. I'm very sorry; this was a bad idea. Excuse me," he said in a cracking voice as he ran out the door.
"Yuki?" Touya turned in his seat partially standing as he left, but was drawn back as Sakura shouted at him.
"Oni chan!"
"What?!" Touya spun around, fully standing, to see them both looking at him like he'd just hit Yuki. "What? How is this my fault?" When their glares refused to subside he stopped and, with narrowed eyes, headed out after Yuki, glancing back at them suspiciously. Everyone had obviously gone mad while he'd been killing himself at school.
"Yuki?" He'd eventually caught up to him, though it was only because the smaller boy had broken down on a curb a few blocks from his house. Touya was a little out of breath but he managed to compose himself enough to sit down next to the sobbing creature.
Yuki started at hearing his name, and he seemed to be about to run again when Touya grabbed his arm. "Please don't run again. I think my chest is going to explode."
Yuki almost laughed at that but went back to wiping his eyes and unsuccessfully trying to still the fast flowing tears. "I'm sorry... I ruined your evening."
"What are you talking about? Sakura came up with the dumb game, you were just decent enough to play along."
"No..." he was shaking his head emphatically as the tears started anew. "No, she did it for me. That game wasn't my plan but it seemed like a good way to be sure you'd be there, if she asked and all."
Touya looked at him oddly. "What? Yuki you've lost me. Why would she be torturing me with kid's games for you?"
Yuki sniffed. "I'm sorry..." he apologized again, wiping away new tears.
"No, no..." Touya started, scooting closer and squeezing his hand comfortingly. "It's alright, it wasn't that bad, just tell me why."
Yuki looked down at his hand, grasped it back, and covered it with his other one. Touya's face softened at this touch and laid his other hand over Yuki's, holding the delicate hands easily in his large ones. "...Yuki?"
His friend shook his head, still sniffling. "You're just... never around. I missed you... She was just trying to be sure you'd be there. I just... I'm sorry..."
Touya pulled his right hand free so he could wrap the arm around Yuki's shoulders. "Hey... It's okay, I promise. You all didn't need to do this; I was gonna spend the evening with you anyway. I hadn't decided anything particular but..." His voice trailed off as Yuki started to cry more, his thin shoulders shaking. Touya pushed aside another boundary as he wrapped his other arm around Yuki, pulling him against himself. "It's alright... I'm sorry. I haven't liked being away so much either."
Yuki drew his arms around Touya, burying his damp face in his chest. He cried a bit more as Touya did his best to comfort him and he eventually quieted some, leaning back to look up at him. "I'm sorry for being such a bother. I'm sure this isn't how you wanted to spend the evening either."
He shook his head, smiling a bit. "No, but that's alright. I didn't know I was upsetting you so much." Touya brought his hand up to brush the side of his face. "I missed you too... A lot. You should know you wouldn't need Sakura to make sure I'd be there."
He nodded a little, leaning into his hand. "I know. It was only... I wanted to be sure. I never get to see you anymore." Touya felt a shiver run up his spine as Yuki slid his hand up to lay over his heart. His bright amber eyes met his for a moment before they turned back down.
"Yuki... I..." he began, like so many times before, but this time it was Yuki who stopped him from going further.
"I love you," Yuki said suddenly, pulling away from him completely. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't but I do. All this time you've been away I've been feeling very raw and I shouldn't but I do... I'm sorry." He started to stand but Touya caught him.
"Yuki, wait. Wait, don't I get to answer?' he asked with a slight laugh and Yuki looked at him as if there was no answer to give. "I'm horrible person for you to love. I'm an over-worker, I never have enough time to spend with you, and I don't even take the little bit of time I have to assure you that I want to spend time with you." Yuki opened his mouth to argue but Touya continued. "I'm careless with you, absent... and I waited so long to tell you I love you that you're sure I don't." The amber eyes before him went wide. "I'm a bad pick, Yuki. You could do a lot better than me, but if you're set on me... I promise you won't have to doubt again whether I love you." He framed his face with his hands and kissed him gently, every inch of him alive with the feel of his lips finally.
Yuki wasn't slow to kiss back and it was only when their lungs complained for air that they released from each other. "...You love me? You really love me?" he asked with a disbelieving voice, tears collecting on his soft eyelashes and as Touya nodded he let out a sob and wrapped his arms around his neck.
Touya held him back, drawing him into his lap. "I love you... I always have. I'm sorry I took so long to tell you. I shouldn't have waited-" he stopped as he was silenced by Yuki's fingers on his mouth.
Bringing his smiling, tear covered face to his, Yuki kissed him again and refused to let go... Ever.