The Taste of an Empty Mouth

Wataru stared owlishly inside the dark bistro Yuichi had pulled them into.

"What is this place…?"

Smiling he commented, "We're in Little Italy, this is Magnolia Street, the best place for Italian cuisine on this side of the globe."

"Is this expensive?" Wataru kept glancing up and down, he felt as if they were staring at them, all these foreigners… oh wait, no, he was the foreigner. Was that why he felt so out of place?

"Not really, don't worry about it, get what you want to eat. It's really good food."

Masanobu smiled, slinging his arm around Wataru, which finally riled a reaction from the brunette as he jumped. "Masanobu! What do you think you're doing?"

Yuichi's eyes narrowed. Oh he had an idea of what that interloper was doing, he just didn't like the idea of it. Everything about him pissed Kazuki off, the familiar touches, the way he slung his arm around Wataru to flirt, the way his boyfriend didn't get mad enough to punch him… what was worse, the least he could do would be to put up with Masanobu and treat him, as his guest. After all, he did fly Wataru there, if he hadn't…

Kazuki knew it wouldn't have been impossible for Masanobu to have seduced a drunken Wataru into bed and possibly convince him to be his lover, in heart-break thinking that Kazuki had left him. Rebounds weren't uncommon after all.

That was what he found the strangest, the older man wasn't playing dirty, he was following every rule he could in order to win over Wataru, he couldn't ever risk that happening! He loved Wataru too much to let the other go out of his life, and Mizuho had almost wrecked everything for him…

At least the blessing in disguise showed that Wataru was so hurt that he naturally sought him out, that much made him feel loved, though it did hurt to see those betrayed blue eyes land on him. Kazuki silently vowed to make up for that hurt, in any way he could to Wataru.

Wataru looked at the Romanized alphabet, his head spinning at the strange words before him, this wasn't even in English?! What the hell, how was he supposed to even try to understand this… this… pollo? And zuppe? English was hard enough but now, this? He put the menu down and hung his head in defeat, he could tell below that it did say the ingredients, he at least recognized the word tomato, though what a Roma tomato was, for the life of him he had no idea.

"Kazuki, I don't understand a word of this."

Looking at the baffled Wataru, Kazuki smiled softly, "Well, I can tell you about anything that looks good… what do you want, do you want some pasta, or a meat-dish? Chicken, steak, pork, shrimp, fried squid or clams? Or there's raviolis, that's a shell of pasta stuffed with cheese with sauce on top, or penne ala vodka that's noodles with a tomato-vodka sauce. They have pasta fazoli, which you don't want at all, it has onions in it."

Wataru's head was spinning, trying to sort out the strange foods, "Uh, clams?"

"They have a pasta-dish with a white-wine sauce and seafood, it isn't very spicy, but it's good. And there aren't onions in it." He couldn't help but be amused by how much Wataru hated onions.

Wataru nodded, "Alright… what's it called?"

Kazuki smiled at Wataru, really doubting he'd get the pronunciation, "Linguini with White Clam Sauce."

"Rin… Ringua… what?"

"It's this one here." Kazuki pointed to the seventh line down on the second page of the menu.

Wataru looked down, "Oh."

"Do you want a bottled water, coffee or soda?"

Holding his head, Wataru felt completely lost amid the sea of background gibberish. His hangover remedy now wearing off and strange characters lit up as neon signs like 'Lite Beer' was catching his attention more than the waiter droning on at them in some strange dialect English.

Kazuki waved his hand in front of Wataru's face trying to catch his attention. "Wataru… Wataru are you listening to me?"

Wataru's washed out features made Kazuki nervous, he looked ready to collapse, "Can you bring over an extra-sweetened Italian Soda--immediately, I think he's going to faint otherwise. You can come back to get the rest of our orders afterwards."

Nodding his understanding, the Italian-American waiter left to approach the counter, filling the request. Within the minute he returned, drink in hand.

Wataru shook his head out of his reverie as he spotted a bright red fizzing soda before him in a large glass, ice and straw adorning it.

"Drink up, I think you'll like it. After lunch you can get a gelato or a pastry, they have a lot of really good ones here, canolis, napoleons, tiramisus, all of them are really sweet too."

Unsure of whether he should try to make sense of the words or just show his open confusion, Wataru decided to take a sip of the soda laid before him. He was taken aback by the sudden sweetness inside the drink, unlike ramune or even colas, the fruity flavor was as powerful as a sparkling fruit-punch. It seemed to do the trick to bringing him back as his headache subsided or at least quieted, the room spinning slightly less.

"Thanks… I needed that." He muttered, a bit sheepishly.

"Don't mention it, it's the least I could do." Kazuki took hold of Wataru's hand in his, despite the eyes anyone would throw their way, as long as he could convince Wataru of his true feelings, he'd be happy to put on this show for them. It struck him how very few eyes there were, despite the public display of affection, but then again, it is America, and New York City to beat all, even between two men this must seem like a daily occurrence he surmised.

"Would you like to place the order for the rest of your drinks? Or are you ready to order your entrées as well?" The waiter asked, not minding the hand-holding at all.

Masanobu started, "I'll have a bottled-water and for entrée the clam casino. My friend here will have--"

"Linguine with White Clam Sauce, for Wataru," Kazuki nodded his head toward Wataru, signaling him, "and for myself a coke to drink and the penne ala vodka for myself. When should it be ready?"

"It should be ready in another twenty minutes."

"Thank you." Kazuki locked eyes with Wataru again, giving a sideway glance to acknowledge Masanobu as still being there, "Wataru," Kazuki faltered for a moment not sure how to word his concerns, and there were so many of them: Wataru's insecurities, confirmation of their mutual feelings, to apologize for the hurt Wataru went through, for not being able to call, for Masanobu being opportunistic as well as Mizuho for that matter, not to mention the plans for the future, his exam scores, asking him to move in and move forward with him, really with so much where could he possibly begin? "I love you, you're my world, just say the word and I'll fly back with you."

"…And leave Mizuho behind?" Wataru asked.

"Well, I don't think she's up to air-travel just yet, so yes." Kazuki smiled until Wataru wilted, pulling at his own wrist.

"That doesn't sound very like you, to just walk away especially after you decided to extend your stay for her sake in the first place." Wataru looked down, "Am I in the way or something, being here? Is that what you mean? That I wasn't supposed to see this…?" He covered his eyes, "You aren't really having an affair, are you?"

Kazuki's eyes went wide, "Of course I would never do such a thing! Wataru you have to trust me, I'd never hurt you intentionally like this, any of this! I stayed behind because she needed me, yes, but not as some man-whore. Give me a bit more credit than that."

"A good man-whore?" Masanobu chimed, he sipped his water uncaring to the daggers shooting from Kazuki's eyes at him.

"She doesn't really need me here anymore, and after what she pulled I don't think I want to stay around. Please Wataru, you have to believe me when I say you're the only one for me."

"…It… just never made any sense, every time you say it, that same rudimentary flaw appears. Me. I'm the rudimentary flaw, I'm not popular, or smart, or handsome, or even very athletic, to boot I'm a younger man, yet you fell for me? I mean, come on! We hardly have an equal relationship… you don't even let me call you Yuichi! You mock me and then spoil me, it's like I'm just a game to you and with everything that's happened… I just wish I could hate you but I can't… I really must be an idiot. I don't even regret giving up a normal life with the prospect of starting a family to be with you, but you- you're worth so much more than …this… me." Wataru's eyes stung as beads of water welled in the corners.

Wataru looked down, hard, into his lap. He could feel his fingers and hands shaking, quivering even.

"What's worse is, I even expect my parents to kick me out if they found out I was gay, but at least Karin and Kawamura except me, our relationship. Touko doesn't really accept me but accepts if you act more manly, your brother might as well hate me, and your parents… if they ever found out you think they'd even give Mizuho a second glance as far as bad-decisions go? All of this… I mean, I should have just accepted it when you dumped me… but…"

"I NEVER dumped you!" Kazuki cut in, "Wataru, I love you! I don't care about any of that… none of it matters to me as much as you do."

"Well don't you think I DO care? Particularly because you can't be bothered with it; I swear, you can be so insensitive at times!"

Kazuki pulled Wataru into his lips, his fingers raking through his hair, managing to turn even a few seasoned heads at the display. He released Wataru's lips when he started to return the kiss slightly.

"I- I can't believe you did that, we're in a public restaurant, Kazuki." Wataru looked around, his blush moving past his ears he felt so embarrassed.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?" Wataru blinked, not sure what Kazuki was getting at.

"No, it's not Kazuki. You're right, I should have just told you to start calling me Yuichi, but I thought you'd just start on your own. I didn't want to pressure you into feeling closer with me than you were comfortable with at the time. Believe me, in my dreams, you aren't calling out Kazuki when we make love." He gave Masanobu a look that told him not to dare imagine any of this. "But, I've decided I want to be greedier than that. Wataru I want you, all of you, all to myself and I sure as hell don't want to share you with him! I want to be all to yourself too. I want you to monopolize me, if I have to buy you cars, plane tickets, clothes, computers, anything to make you want to just be mine I'd have done it already. I know you aren't cheap though, simple tricks like taking you out to dinner won't buy your heart because you're not that kind of person. That's something I love about you, but it doesn't mean I don't want to take care of the person I love. Isn't that natural, in any relationship?"

"I guess… …yeah, it is." Wataru looked down then back at Yuichi.

Masanobu excused himself to use the bathroom, not feeling comfortable with the comparison of trying to buy his way into Wataru's pants or heart.

"Do you want to know why I sent the ring back to you? The real reason I did?" Yuichi gazed strongly into Wataru's eyes.

"…Yes."

"I wanted to exchange new rings with you, ones with a meaning so much more than just getting something we gave up on back. I want to buy rings for each other to symbolize the future we'll have together, and I don't mean silver rings. I mean this as a proposition. I want you to move in with me. I want to start a real life together. I needed some time to figure out how to word it, and to give you time to prepare so I sent a letter. True, I wanted to be there to see your reaction but I thought it would be unfair to spring something like that on you. Wataru, say something…"

"…Something…" Wataru blinked, absorbing all of these feelings being flung at him so openly and honestly.

Yuichi smiled, "So glad to see your sense of humor still intact." He petted Wataru's cheek intimately, like he had done so many times after making love with Wataru until the time Wataru would collapse in fatigue.

Seeming to catch on to that, Wataru couldn't help but whisper, "Pervert…" before blushing vividly. "I… got into the Science Department at T-U. I… was really surprised that I pulled it off, I mean, really surprised. I'm not smart or anything so it was pretty much a complete miracle. According to the results, I didn't even get wait-listed."

"That's fantastic! I knew you could do it Wataru! Congratulations!" Yuichi beamed.

"Well, you sacrificed so much when you were studying, I had to give it my all too, fair is fair."

"Then Wataru, what do you say? Will you move in with me?"

Wataru looked down then back to Yuichi, "Yes. I… really would like that. Yuichi, I love you."

"I know, I love you too."

Just as the plates were delivered and Masanobu returned, Wataru was about to take a bite when his phone began to ring.

"…It's Karin…" He saw upon his caller ID, "I told her I was going camping, she should know I wouldn't have service…"

"I… um, should mention that I called her, when I found out that you were flying here with Masanobu."

"You WHAT?!" Wataru put his hand over his face, groaning, "She's going to kill me." He answered the phone, immediately pulling it from his ear as she began to rant- loudly- through the receiver.

"Wataru, I can't BELIEVE you'd do something so stupid! And you lied to me! What would have happened if you got hurt?! No one would have known where you were! When you get back here so help me I think I might just…"

"Karin, Karin calm down! What's this about? You didn't tell mom and dad, did you?"

"Of course not, what do you think I am, an idiot? But you owe me for this, oh, right… the roaming charge is going to be murder so I'll get right to the point. Did you two make up yet?"

"…We're working on that right now, actually."

"Alright. Then I'll let you go, but you are so dead when you get home!"

Wataru swallowed hard, "Yes ma'am… bye Karin…"

"And get me a souvenir! Bye Wataru-nii!"

The phone disconnected, Wataru letting out a sigh before rubbing his head, his headache returning slightly. Taking out his frustrations upon his head, and the table, he dropped his head into the table causing a reverberating thud before picking his head back up. He took up his fork and spoon and tried to remember how to eat pasta with the utensils.

"I'm sorry…" Yuichi mentioned, looking at Wataru's dismayed face.

"Oh don't worry, you'll help make up for it, too." Wataru disliked sounding so underhanded, but he was going to require the master's touch for finding a good souvenir for Karin. Maybe a designer purse? This was going to be financially crippling.

TBC.