Your Cheating Heart by scheherezhad
Rating: PG-13 for language
Disclaimer: Don't own, not making money, please don't sue.
Author's notes: I hope you know that this is a sign of just how much I love you, Kim, dear. I wouldn't write something like this for just anyone, though I do think it's probably not quite what you were wanting.
Feedback: Desperately craved. scheherezhad@yahoo.com

"And...that's game," Yusuke said smugly. "A beautiful finish, if I do say so myself." He blew on the tip of his cue stick, then tossed it at Kurama to put back in the stand against the wall.

"I think you just like playing pool with me because it's so easy to distract me from my game," Kurama replied, letting his heated gaze drift over his lover's body. Yusuke was wearing dark, tight, low-riding jeans with a dark red muscle tee. Every time he'd bent over to make a shot, it had exposed an enticing handsbreadth of skin at the small of his back, one of Kurama's favorite spots.

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm so hot."

"Indeed." His fingertips ghosted over Yusuke's wrist. "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"I'll be here," Yusuke replied, taking a seat at the bar. As he waited for the bartender to come take his drink order, he looked over and saw a hunky blond smiling at him from a few stools away. He smiled back briefly and returned his attention to giving his order; the guy was good-looking, but his type ran less toward the buff jock-next-door and more toward the slim, sexy redhead walking toward him right now.

He was so caught up in watching Kurama cross the bar, turning heads with every step, that it took him by surprise when an unfamiliar, somewhat slurred voice to his left said, "I'll get that. Put it on my tab."

Yusuke's gaze slid away from his lover, and he saw the blond taking the stool next to him with a broad smile.

"Hi."

"Hi." Yusuke glanced back over at Kurama, who had stopped short and claimed an empty table. He had a strange look on his face. "Uh, thanks for the beer," he finally said to the guy.

"You're welcome. So...you wanna come back to my place? I'll show you a nice time."

Well. That was blunt. "Uh..." Yusuke said eloquently.

"You can go tell your friend you'll find your own ride home. I'll be waiting."

Yusuke was dumbfounded. Nodding awkwardly as the guy went back to his stool, he went over and sat down next to Kurama.

"That guy was hitting on me."

"So I saw."

"He asked me to go home with him."

"Would you?"

"No! I'm with you," Yusuke said, slowly spinning his glass over the tabletop.

Kurama ran a finger through the water trails it left behind. "And if you weren't?"

"I...maybe. I dunno." He thought for a minute. "I guess I would. I mean, I never really dated before, and then there was you."

"I see. If you'd like to date, we could...back off for a while," Kurama suggested quietly.

"What? Are you seriously telling me you want us to see other people?"

"No," he said quickly. "No, I'm saying that if you want to try dating other people, I'll respect that decision and back off in our relationship."

Yusuke frowned. "What about you? You got someone in mind or something?"

"No. There is no one else for me."

"So you're saying that if I walked away right now with every intention of leaving with that guy, you wouldn't stop me. You'd just go home alone while I fuck someone I just met."

"Yes," Kurama said quietly, staring at the table. "If you would rather go with him than come home, I can't stop you."

"Can't means won't," Yusuke spat. He downed the rest of his beer and slammed the glass down on the table. "I'm going."

Kurama remained silent, just looked at him with pain tightening his brow.

He shoved away from the table, stalked back to the bar, and spoke briefly with the blond. He shot Kurama a triumphant look as they left, pretending it didn't make his chest ache when he didn't stop them.

Yusuke was miserable. He was sitting on a couch, half naked and nearly crying, wishing to God he hadn't come here. He should've kept his temper under control and not overreacted when Kurama had let him go. If Kurama had just said something, one word to stop him, he wouldn't have gone through with it; but he hadn't, and now Yusuke was in an unfamiliar neighborhood, in a stranger's apartment, with said stranger passed out and snoring drunkenly behind him. He hadn't even found out the guy's name.

He didn't know what the hell he was going to do. Calling anyone to pick him up was out of the question even if he did know where he was, and he didn't have enough money on him to catch a taxi. He damned sure wasn't going to wait around here for Mr. Mystery Date to wake up, though, so he picked up his shirt from the floor and put it on slowly while he tried to come up with a plan.

Finally, he reached for the blond's back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He needed the cash to get a cab home, and what was a little petty theft, after all, when he'd already fucked up the best thing he'd ever had?

It was almost two when he finally made it home. He'd wandered the block for an hour after the cab driver had dropped him off, trying to build up the courage to go in and face Kurama. When he entered their apartment, he found Kurama sitting at the kitchen table in his pajamas and a robe with a cold cup of coffee and a blotchy face.

He'd made Kurama cry. God, he'd fucked this up.

"Hey," he said lamely, hovering near the table but not yet daring to sit down.

"If you'd like to go to bed now, I'll sleep on the couch," Kurama told him dully.

"Don't. Don't do this." He reached out, and Kurama flinched when their hands touched. "We didn't do anything but kiss. He passed out, and I realized what the hell I was doing, and I left. It...took me a while to work up the nerve to come in," he added in explanation for his late arrival.

He waited for Kurama to speak, to yell at him, to scold him; anything would be better than this cold silence. But nothing came.

"Dammit," Yusuke finally whispered. "I never wanted to leave with him. I just got so mad when you were just gonna let me go without a fight. It felt like you were saying you didn't think our relationship was strong enough to stand up to stupid shit like some other guy flirting with one of us."

Kurama looked up at him then, hand reaching out tentatively for Yusuke's. "Yusuke, I would fight Enma himself to have you by my side, but if being with someone else will make you happier than you are with me, I won't stand in your way."

"Goddamit, you're not listening to me. Would you just be selfish for once in your life? You're it for me, okay? No one else will ever make me as happy as you do, and if I ever forget that, you go kick their ass and mine until I remember it," he said fiercely, gripping Kurama's hand tightly. "You're too damn self-sacrificing, fox."

"So I've been told."

They sat in silence for a while, fingers intertwined as they sifted through their thoughts. Yusuke finally kissed Kurama's knuckles softly, then went to shower and brush his teeth, cleaning away the scent and taste of his flirtation with infidelity. When he came out of the bathroom, his lover was still at the table, so he led him to their bedroom. They kissed once, chastely, and fell asleep in the comfort of one another's arms.