Simple Things by silvershadeus
"Does it bother you?"
Watari shifted from his oh so
comfortable position leaning against Tatsumi so that he could better see his
face. A moment later Tatsumi turned to look at him, forehead furrowed in a
frown.
"Does what bother me, Tatsumi?"
Tatsumi held his gaze a
moment longer before looking away, suddenly unable to meet Watari’s eyes.
"That I don’t...do things for you. Things that people in a relationship
like ours..." Tatsumi trailed off uncertainly, his voice dropping to a whisper
as he felt Watari’s eyes on him.
"Things?"
Tatsumi cleared his
throat softly; clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to say, yet
determined to do so.
"Things like...flowers,
chocolates..."
Watari couldn’t help the small smile that made it to his
face as Tatsumi spoke, the barest hint of a blush on his cheeks. It was so very
rare when Tatsumi blushed that Watari knew he was the only one that ever got to
see it.
"Ah...’Things’." He murmured, chuckling softly as Tatsumi looked
over at him, eyes narrowed. "If you don’t mind my asking, Tatsumi...what brought
this on?"
Tatsumi just looked at him, expression softening slightly as he
watched Watari watching him.
"Tatsumi...as lovely as those things are, I
don’t need them. I‘ve seen so many people give each other gifts and not have the
faintest idea as to why they do it. They think of it as an obligation - the
price they have to pay in order to have love. They just...they don’t understand,
and I don’t want that for us."
Tatsumi nodded slowly, relaxing slightly
as he read the sincerity in Watari’s eyes. Wondering at the sad look in them as
Watari leaned into him, wrapping his arms around him as Tatsumi shifted to
accommodate him.
"What do you want then, Watari?"
Tatsumi didn’t
have to look to know Watari was smiling again, he could hear it in his voice. In
the way his hold tightened around him.
"I...we both know that what we have
isn’t a usual relationship, Tatsumi. And that is what I have always wanted. I
don’t want what we do - who we are - dictated to us by others. I don’t want us
to do things a certain way because it’s always been that way. I just want us to
be who we are, what we are. It...it makes me happy to be like that."
Tatsumi looked down at Watari, only to find himself returning the small,
hesitant smile in kind when he saw Watari watching him. Clearing his throat as
the weight of Watari’s regard unnerved him, Tatsumi looked away.
"But
still...it might be nice for you if I did some of those things for you
sometimes, wouldn’t it?"
Watari snorted, leaning his forehead against
Tatsumi’s shoulder.
"I won’t lie to you and say that I would refuse a
gift of chocolates now and then, Tatsumi. But I don’t need it, honestly. The
things you already do for me mean much more than any material gift." Sensing
that Tatsumi didn’t quite understand, Watari sat up and placed the palm of his
hand along the side of Tatsumi‘s face, voice low and urgent. "Tatsumi, you make
time for me even when you don’t have any to spare. You listen to me when I tell
you about my day or some new discovery I‘ve read about. You care for me - worry
about me. You do so many things for me everyday and you don’t even notice. To
me, Tatsumi, that’s love. That is what I want, not some gift of flowers or candy
or anything else. Do you understand that, Tatsumi? I just want
you."
Tatsumi reached up to cover Watari’s hand with his own when he felt
the other man pull away from him.
"Is it really that simple,
Watari?"
Watari smiled, an answer in itself to Tatsumi’s way of thinking.
"For us it is, Tatsumi. For us it is."