A Tender Warmth

Prologue

It was just a one-night stand, though.

Makoto sighed as he turned his body in his bed, only to feel the other side empty and cold. Sousuke did say he had to leave early in the morning. If only he could of woken up in the arms of the young man he admired.

The minutes passed by quickly, turning into hours upon hours. The tall boy refused to get out of bed that day, only thinking of how broken he felt. His body rejected the sleep he was forcing himself upon, but that's all he wanted. To sleep away the loneliness he suddenly felt washing over his body.

Makoto tried to think of many things besides what happened the previous day. It all seemed like a fairy tale. Now it was just one hell of a nightmare he was trying to crawl out of without any luck.

The words that Sousuke whispered to him as they made love, only to be burned into Makoto's skin as if they were a curse.

It's not like they hadn't done this before, but this time it actually meant something. It made him feel something.

But what was that 'something'?

Was it love?

Or maybe it was just that one moment where Sousuke made him feel like he was worth it, worth all the trouble they were getting themselves into.

Makoto stared out his window, through the thin blue and white curtains, and watched the day twist into sadness.

The sun felt sad as it shone on Makoto's naked body.

Finally, he got out of his lonely bed and had a refreshing hot shower. His small shabby apartment was dark and aloof.

The once cheery boy made himself a bowl of lame store-bought ramen, and forced himself to eat it as he drowned his thoughts out by watching television until he fell asleep on the couch.