Home is where the heart is
"Should I put my stuff in the living room, or your mother's?" Tai dropped in the box in his arms to the floor, and eyed the hallway warily. They'd been moving furniture and boxes for the better part of three hours, and had worked up a sweat, and an appetite. Kari and Jun had gone to get food, and Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya had both had to be elsewhere. Since Kari and Tai had both skipped school, they were the only one out of their group that had been able to help them move. The others would arrive as soon as possible once school was over, but that was still three hours away, at the minimum.
"Why not throw it all in mine?" Davis moved past him, dragging a chair behind him. "Unless you want to have your own bed back?" He paused for only a second, barely long enough to gauge the reaction on his boyfriend's face. Brown eyes flickered up, and watched as he resumed his pulling of the overstuffed recliner.
"If it's cool with you that I invade your room, it's cool with me." Without further discussion, he picked his box back up, and dumped it unceremoniously next to the door, wincing when something glass inside broke. "Oops."
"That sounded bad." Two arms wrapped around his waist, and Tai grinned.
"Oh well." He turned around, and wove his arms under Davis' pulling them tight together. "I'm sure that it's replaceable." He leaned down and kissed him lightly. "What do you say we take a break, and go find out if the soda in the fridge is cold?"
"Sounds like a plan." Davis let go and backed away, smiling slightly. His face was tired, the result of finding out that his mother was going to soon be in residence with them, as well. The Kamiya's had announced that her insurance had run out that quickly, and they wouldn't be able to afford her stay anymore. The hospital wouldn't keep her, and there was no place else for her to go. Her own mother was too old to be responsible for her.
Summer would officially start in two more weeks, and Jun, Davis and Tai were all getting jobs. They would work at different times, allowing someone to be in the apartment at all times, while giving them a steady income. "Glad that you agree. Bring me back one, please."
"Excuse me? Since when have I been designated to fetch and carry?" His eyebrow raised in exaggerated affront, and Tai bit back his grin.
"Since you look so cute with your hair in a barrettes."
"That's not even funny!" Davis crossed his arms, remembering waking up that morning with his hair styled. Kari had run from the room, giggling, with camera in hand. "I can't believe you let her do that to my hair."
"Let her do it? Man, I was the one that suggested it. I was trying to talk her into painting your fingernails shortly before you woke up."
"That is cruel and unusual punishment!"
"Yeah, but you looked so cute." Tai ran his hand playfully through Davis' red hair, letting his fingers graze his cheek gently. "Of course, you look cute all the time."
"Don't try to butter me up. Your turn will come, my friend. Your turn will come."
"Promises, promises." Davis had moved forward, and was inching his hands up Tai's chest. "Tell me, what evil things are you planning?"
"Oh, replacing your aerosol deodorant with hairspray? Or mixing in glue with your shampoo?"
"You are so evil." Tai let the redhead take his hands, holding them out at their sides, fingers entwined.
"Yeah, but you love me so well." Davis grinned, watching as his boyfriend leaned down.
"You know it, love." He paused, moving his up from Davis' lips. "You do know it, don't you? Because I do." He saw the tears begin to form in Davis' eyes, and frowned. "What's the matter, love?" He wrapped his arms around him, feeling his body trembled.
Within seconds, he could feel hot tears scalding his shoulder as Davis hugged him tightly, squeezing the air out of his lungs. The redhead mumbled something unintelligible, and Tai ran his hand through his hair.
"What was that, love? Calm down, babe. I can't understand you." He rubbed his back, moving his hand in small circles. "Come on, baby, talk to me."
"Why?"
Tai heard the disbelief and pain in his voice, and didn't hesitate over the question. "Because you're perfect. You're beautiful, and loyal, and fearless. You are one of the most determined and persistent people on the planet, and I love you for it. You don't back down, you don't give up. You stick by everything you believe in, even when the world is falling apart around you."
"You just described yourself. Does that mean that you love me because I'm like you?"
"Hell no! If that were the case, love, we would probably have beaten the shit out of each other several weeks ago, and you'd still be in some god-forsaken boarding school. You fight more that I ever did, and I'm not talking physically. You refuse to be beaten, and you never admit defeat. You could lose battle after battle, and still insist that you'd won the war."
Davis snickered slightly, his tears drying as he pulled back and glared at the brunette. "That's stupidity."
"Oh, love, it's not. It's more than that. Somewhere, somehow, you understand that giving in accomplishes nothing. Even if you know you're losing, you still know that there's always a chance to win, unless you give up. You refuse to say that you've lost until it's over and done with. That's admirable. That's strength, and courage, and everything that you are."
"Then why-"
Tai cut him off by kissing him, pressing his lips firmly against the redhead's. When he pulled back, Davis' were hooded, and he was silent. "Because they have no understanding of what love is. They've never loved anyone but themselves in this life. They haven't the capacity for it, just as some have no capacity for pain. It has nothing to do with you, except how it has affected you. You're so much better than they are, Davis, because you have no limits on your feelings. You care so deeply, and so strongly for people, that you have no concept of how it is to feel nothing."
He held his face in his hands, staring into his eyes intently, ready to answer whatever question came next. There was silence, as brown searched brown, until the redhead finally sighed. He reached his hand up without a word, and gently caressed Tai's cheek, running his thumb along his bottom lip.
"Well, well. Isn't that nice?"
The end
Davis flinched at the sound of his father's voice, his eyes closing tight to block out the peripheral image of the man whose voice had intruded upon them. He felt something warm press against his lips, and realized that it was Tai's mouth. It was gone quickly, just a fleeting kiss, before he felt Tai move to block him from his father.
"You're trespassing. State your business and leave. Or better yet, just leave."
"This apartment belongs to my wife and I. We share the lease."
"Wrong. This apartment is now under my name. It's mine, and you, sir, are not welcome."
"Still interfering where you don't belong? I came for my family."
"That should be simple enough. You don't have a family, so you can leave the same way you came. Empty-handed." He ignored his boyfriend's lack of speech, covering for it by standing between both generations of Motomiya's.
"With my wife hospitalized, my son and daughter belong in my care. You are legally bound to turn the minor over to my custody."
"Maybe you should check with your lawyer, father. Mother gave over her rights to me to the Kamiya's. If you want to be anywhere near me, you have to go through the courts to do it." Davis stepped forward so that he and his boyfriend were shoulder-to-shoulder. "You have no legal standing where me and Jun are concerned."
"Boy, don't you be talking back to me."
"He can talk back to you all he wants. He's on privaty property, with permission of the owner. You are not."
"The police are on their way." Jun stepped past her father, eyeing him warily as she moved to stand beside her brother.
"Where's Kari?"
"Calling your parents." Mr. Motomiya glared at them, his eyes glowing with suppressed hate and anger.
"This is not over with. I will have custody of my child."
"Don't bother. By the time you're awarded custody, I'll be eighteen, and it will do you no good."
"Just get out of our life. Walk away, and stay away." Tai's hand gripped Davis', giving and receiving support through that simple touch. "Leave."
______________________________
"That was almost too easy." Jun dropped into the nearest chair with a tired sigh, watching the space where her father had been only moments before. "It's almost anti-climactic, after everything else that's happened today."
"What else has happened?" Tai was standing behind Davis, his arms around him. Davis had his arms looped backwards around Tai's neck.
"I stopped by the hospital, and mother was being picked up by Grandma Motomiya. It seems that she'd rather live with her mother-in-law than her children."
"One less financial burden on all of
us." Davis leaned back against Tai, letting the brunette support most of their
combined weight. "Now we don't have to worry about being babysitters."
"That's a mean thing to say about your mother, Davis." Tai rebuked him softly, leaning back against the wall.
"But true." Jun closed her eyes, setting the chair into a rocking motion with her foot. "I can't believe that it was this easy."
"You call this easy? It's been the hardest five months of my life, personally."
"Cry me a river, Tai."
"I can't believe that you just said that to your boyfriend." Kari glanced over them from the doorway.
"You didn't really call the police, did you?"
She looked at her brother, and shook her head. "No. I did call our parents, though. I was still on the phone when he left, so they won't be running this way, don't worry."
"Thanks." Tai closed his eyes, resting his chin on Davis' shoulder. "Tired, love?"
"Unbelievably. Just a few minutes ago, I was ready to tackle the world."
"Don't worry, Davis. The world will still need tackling after you've rested. It's got a lot of battles to fight yet, and it doesn't necessarily have to fight them today."
"Actually, I don't have to fight them at all."
There was a pause and Tai frowned. "What does that mean, babe?"
"It means that I'm going to sit back, and let you wage war for a while. I'm too damn tired to kick ass today."