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Saving The Best For Last
by Rhoe

Author's Note: BEWARE!! Mangled songfic, clichéd plot (what plot?), overly sweet dose of sugar and melodrama. Graah~! It was only after I re-read this fic did I realize how horribly written it was. ::cringes in embarrassment:: I tried to salvage what little that can be saved in this fic but it was a futile and hopeless attempt. However, and most unfortunately, it is the only thing I have to show for Sakuragi’s birthday, hence the decision to post it, despite its flaws… ::sighs::

Disclaimer: SD’s not mine. The song, “Save the Best for Last” is sung by Vanessa Williams.

Moonlight filtered down through thin gauze curtains as they fluttered gently in the evening breeze and the insistent clicking of cicadas outside the window coupled by the soft rustling of leaves slowly brought one sleepy boy awake.

The dark-haired boy blinked woozily in the darkness, for a moment confused as to his whereabouts. A slight tightening of a tanned arm draped possessively around his waist brought him back to the present.

A small smile flitted over the boy’s face as he gently covered the arm with his own warm one and brought it up to kiss the palm lovingly. Twisting slightly beneath the sheets, the dark-haired boy rolled over to stare at his lover.

Sometimes the snow comes down in June

How long have I been in love with him? The boy silently wondered to himself in the darkness as he watched the slow rising and falling of his sleeping lover’s chest.

Forever, I think…

Sometimes the sun goes round the moon

Yes, I’ve loved him for a long time… I just didn’t know if he felt the same…

And I still don’t.

Fingertips lightly traced the contours of his lover’s face, gracing over closed lids, moving down to the straight line of nose, lightly touching rosy lips. It was a face which he knew so well, gazed at for so long and loved so dearly but, until of late, never had the chance to touch or to caress or to kiss…

He leaned in for a kiss. Soft, gentle and tender, like his present mood.

And when he opened his eyes, he saw deep honey brown ones gazing right back at him.

I see the passion in your eyes

“Yohei?” his beloved mumbled, voice husky with sleep.

“Shh…” he whispered and placed a finger on warm lips. “Just go back to sleep.”

“Mm…” Eyelids fluttered shut and his lover gently nuzzled his neck.

Sometimes it's all a big surprise

Slowly combing his fingers into his lover’s soft, fiery red locks, muted in its radiance by the soft light of the moon, he smiled once more as he watched his beloved settle back into the pillows.

He leaned over, brushed a soft kiss on the sleeping boy’s temple and slowly untangled himself from the embrace and from the mass of rumpled sheets. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he stretched languidly for a while before he got up.

He padded over to the windows, threw the curtains back and stared out unseeingly into the moonlit garden below. His thoughts wandered.

Cause there was a time when all I did was wish

He was not a sentimental creature by nature, given to sentimental thoughts, but, he reflected rather sadly, it would have been nice if he could have heard an “I love you” just once.

You'd tell me this was love

“Yohei?” A pair of strong brown arms wound itself around his waist and he felt himself being pulled back into a warm, muscled chest. Sensual lips closed round a smooth shoulder and with a soft sigh, Yohei relaxed back into the redhead’s embrace and turned to see deep brown eyes twinkling up at him as Sakuragi slowly placed butterfly kisses along the planes of his shoulder towards his collarbone.

God, I love him so… he reflected sadly but managed to force a tiny smile.

“Yohei? What’s wrong?” Deep brown eyes lifted to gaze levelly into his own, concern and worry suddenly flashing in their depths.

But he doesn’t love me back…

Not the way that I want him to…

“It’s nothing, Hanamichi.” He turned his head away and focused his attention on the tanned arms that encircled him. The arms tightened again.

“Is it because I can’t say it yet?” A soft whisper broke through his thoughts.

God, I should be happy with what we have, shouldn’t I?

It's not the way I hoped or how I planned

“I care for you, Yohei. A lot. More than I ever cared for anybody. Can’t you be satisfied with that for now?”

But somehow it's enough

“Yeah.” He turned in Sakuragi’s embrace to face him. “I’ll settle for that… for now.” And he leaned up and kissed him.

And now we're standing face to face

Yohei’s world tilted crazily the moment their lips touched. Tentatively at first, they moved over one another, pressing lightly, softly, enjoying the tender moment.

And then he felt Sakuragi’s tongue gently slide over his semi-parted lips, licking lightly, as though tasting him for the first time, before it retreated.

Isn't this world a crazy place

Yohei moaned softly at the loss and, as if to soothe, the tongue returned, moving stealthily between his lips and dipping into his mouth.

Pressing himself closer to the redhead in an unconscious attempt to meld their heated bodies together, Yohei slid a hand up Sakuragi’s chest, curving round the delicate arc of neck and tangled his hands into tousled hair.

I love you, his heart cried silently as they kissed. I love you…

Just when I thought our chance had passed
You go and save the best for last

Yohei felt as though he was drowning, both in the heady sensations which his redhead evoked in him from just a touch; and from the memories of the past that seemed to flash right into his brain.

He recalled their friendship in junior high. How Sakuragi, tall and handsome in his eyes, yet so vulnerable when it came to the ones whom he thought he loved.

All of the nights you came to me
Some silly girl had set you free

Fifty rejections. Fifty heartaches.

You wondered how you'd make it through

He could only stand by helplessly when he saw the pain in his friend’s eyes each time it happened, uncertain how to soothe except to offer his silent presence as support. He could only watch with a certain sense of emptiness each time he saw the hurt reflected in his friend’s face and felt that he was not the one who could liven it up, put a smile back and, most important of all, see the bright spark of love shining in his copper eyes for him.

For a long time, all he could offer was his silent love and devotion and prayed that one day, Hanamichi would see it. And return it.

I wondered what was wrong with you

He had felt guilty during those heart-wrenching times. Guilty because he felt relief.

Relief that poured through him in waves because his secret love was still free…

Was still his…

Cause how could you give your love to someone else
And share your dreams with me

He recalled those times when he and Sakuragi would sit underneath the cherry blossom tree in the neighbourhood park, talking about the future, their friends, their thoughts and their dreams.

Yohei had treasured those times. They were the few intimate moments where, if he thought hard enough during those times, he could imagine that Sakuragi was his boyfriend and it was just the two of them, enjoying each other’s company

Sometimes the very thing you're looking for

He knew that deep down inside, Sakuragi longed to have someone to love; and to have someone who would love him back in return.

His redhead had tried looking for it in the fifty girls in junior high school. And in Akagi Haruko.

Is the one thing you can't see

Sakuragi never realized that the love that he had been so desperately seeking for, was there, right in front of him. Waiting…

Waiting with a sad kind of patience and hope that one day the redhead would look up and see, really see, that the support and friendship that had been freely and happily given during the years of their friendship had been but an indication of the underlying feelings that he had had for a long time.

The waiting never seemed to end. Indeed, he had almost given up and had resigned to himself to just being Sakuragi’s “best friend”.

It was not the position which he had wanted for himself.

But he figured that it was better than nothing.

Who would have thought that it all would have changed one breezy autumn day.

“Yohei?” Sakuragi’s low husky voice broke through his thoughts as he broke the kiss.

Dazed, the dark-haired boy could only stare at his lover in bemusement.

But now we're standing face to face
Isn't this world a crazy place

“It’s crazy but when we were kissing just now, I was suddenly thinking about the times we’ve known each other, about our friendship…” Sakuragi continued, looking slightly uncomfortable.

Oh no! Please don’t tell me that you think it’s better that we remain as friends. Please don’t tell me that! His heart screamed out into the silence of his soul. He could feel his pulse speed up in anxiety and he quietly closed his eyes, bracing himself for the worse.

“And… and I realized…I realized how much your friendship meant to me, Yohei. I know that I’ve often taken out friendship for granted but now, but now… I know better.”

It’s coming, I just know it! his slender frame started trembling uncontrollably as the shorter boy fought to hold back his tears.

“Yohei?” Sakuragi asked concernedly when he felt the boy in his arms tremble. “Are you cold?”

Yohei shook his head silently as he buried it in Sakuragi’s broad chest.

“Anyway, I was saying that… well… that you’ve come to mean a lot to me. And…”

Yohei instinctively squeezed his lover tighter as he braced himself for the outcome.

“And… I think I love you.”

Just when I thought our chance had passed
You go and save the best for last

-FIN-

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