This Is Gospel (ShimaxYukio)

32. Crybaby

Yukio felt fingers brush against him as he slept.

In his hair.

Down his neck.

Against his lips.

They were soft touches---gentle as to make sure that they would not wake him. His lips curled into a sleepy smile as a voice began to silently sing to him. It was a love song; his and Shima's song.

"Sweet love, sweet love
Trapped in your love
I've opened up, unsure I can trust
My heart and I were buried in dust
Free me, free us..."

Shima's voice was soothing and Yukio found it incredibly easy to lose himself in it, almost allowing himself to be lulled back into slumber. The singing pauses and Shima chuckles sweetly, his voice thick with sleep.

"C'mere, baby."

Yukio rolls over, arms wrapping around the body next to him. It was cold and stiff when he wrapped his arms around...

but what frightened Yukio the most was the smell of rotting flesh.

His beryl eyes snapped open and a scream ripped itself from his throat.

There, in his and Shima's bed, laid Russell with a gaping bullethole in his forehead, mouth gaping and eyes crossed eerily as maggots writhed through his rotting skin.

Yukio scrambled away, nearly falling off of the edge of the bed when his back hit warm flesh. His heart was pounding against his ribcage and---as slowly as he could---he craned his neck up to see Shima standing over him with a shit-eating grin, blood splattered across his skin. Yukio found himself frozen in fear, for when Shima opened his mouth...it was Russell's voice that he heard.

"Let me make you feel good, Shizu."

Yukio woke with a scream, scrambling to find his way out of the heap of blankets over him. A hand reached out to grab him and he panicked, flailing his fist out to hit something---anything---just to get it to release him.

"Let me go! Fucking let go!"

"Yukio! Yukio, calm down, it's me!"

Shima.

The brunette paused, trembling as Shima took him into his arms to sooth him.

It was...just a dream. Of course it was.

That didn't stop the tears from coming, however.

Yukio began sobbing into Shima's chest, allowing the pink haired man to rub circles into his back in an attempt to quell him. He didn't ask what the dream was about. He wouldn't ask because he knew that if Yukio ever wanted him to know, he would tell him. For the moment, his only concern was to comfort him. He rocked Yukio back and forth until his tears exhausted him and he fell asleep again.

#

"Honey...you okay in there?"

When Shima had risen the next morning, he found the bed empty and could hear sobbing in the master bathroom. He went to check on his fiance, but the door was bolted. The sobbing wasn't loud or hysterical, but it was still very alarming.

Is that...smoke?

Shima rapped at the door again, wiggling the handle as panick slowly took over him.

"Sweet Pea, you're scarin' me. Please open the door."

"I don't wanna open the fucking door!" came an angry reply. Shima was confused as to what he possibly could have done wrong with time. Was it something he said? Was it about that dream that he had?

"Baby Doll, I just wanna help. Tell me what I did wrong. Open the door so we can talk---"

"Does it look like I want to fucking talk?!"

Was that a trick question?

"I...I don't know, sweetie, I can't see you."

"...Go. Just go away, Renzo."

Yukio sounded as if he had been defeated and it tugged at Shima's heartstrings. He put his back against the door, sliding down to sit on the floor. He was certain now that he could smell marijuana in the air, sighing.

Yukio was having a panic attack.

"I'm sorry, Yukio." he mumbled, not particularly to Yukio himself. He sat in silence, waiting for Yukio's sobs to calm before he attemtpted to speak again. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.

"I'm scared, Ren."

There's a pause and a sniffle.

"I'm not myself anymore."

#

"Mmmm, right there, Daddy."

"That feel good, baby?"

"Oh God, yessss."

Rin arched his back as Bon rubbed his feet, careful not to tip over the bowl of dark chocolate covered strawberries that was perched on his round belly. He plucked one from the bowl to eat one, wiggling his toes as Bon's fingers rubbed between them. The ex baller chuckled at the raven, working out a knot in the arch of his foot.

A weird sense of deja vu hit them, but neither commented.

"Ling isn't coming over tonight." Rin announced, glancing at his phone as the message popped up on the screen. Bon shrugged. "He's a busy kid." He said. Rin shrugged back. "He should just come live here." He suggested.

"You sure about that?"

"He's here 24/7 anyway; he might as well. Besides, I feel like he's straining himself, you know? It would be easier for him here." Rin said. Bon smiled at his husband and how much he talked as though Ling was their teenage son and not their lover. It wasn't an awful idea, but he wasn't sure that it was altogether the best idea. "We'll talk to him about it and see what he says." Bon tells him. Rin nods in agreement, adjusting himself on the pile of pillows set behind his back as Bon let's go of his feet. The older man reached up and set his hand on Rin's belly, freezing when he felt something against his hand. It was gone just as quickly as it had come.

Was that...?

There it is again!

Bon looked up at Rin in awe, grinning as Rin smiled down at him.

"He kicked me."

"Yes, Ryuji, I felt it. He kicks me in the bladder constantly so I'm not all that excited about it but, baby, have yourself a ball with it."

The baby kicks again and Bon leans in to kiss Rin's belly.

#

Ling could barely hold his excitement in as he made his way over to Rin and Bon. He had told them that he wasn't coming over that night just so that he could surprise them with good news.

He was being scouted by pro teams!

This was a dream come true for him and he was certain that his family would revel in his happiness with him.

Yeah...he had a family now.

He beamed behind his helmet as the light turned green and he lifted his feet, pushing the accelerator and continuing his way to his destination.

Apparently another driver hadn't seen the red light.

A woman, phone to her ear, had run the light while turning to scold one of her children in the backseat. She wasn't paying attention to the traffic light and she certainly did not see Ling in the oncoming traffic.

Not until it was too late.

Ling, on the other hand, never saw it coming.

The SUV swerved as the woman tried to brake, knocking the bike from under Ling as he went rocketing into the windshield. The momentum was enough to send him rolling over the roof of the car, knocking off his helmet before landing on the rough asphalt face first.

The woman panicked, screaming in hysterical tears as he yelled at someone to call 911.

He blacked out almost immediately.