Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ A Place To Stay ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Suguru needs to find a place to stay; Shuichi is in desperate need for a roommate after he left Eiri. A simple placement as friends, roommates, and band mates turned into much more in time, leaving both poor boys confused on their feelings.

Anime/Manga: Gravitation Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Angst | Type: Shounen-ai | Uploaded On: 11.27.2005 | Updated On: 11.27.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 10.9K | Visits: 479 | Status: Work In Progress

A Place To Stay

By: Araki

Disclaimer: Maki Marukami owns Gravitation, not I. If I owned it, I wouldn't be sitting here, I assure you. Anything Else I talk about in it (suppose Walt Disney, Cartoon Names, Actors, excreta…) I don't own, because I'm poor.

Pairings: Suguru x Shuichi

Summary: Suguru needs to find a place to stay; Shuichi is in desperate need for a roommate after he left Eiri. A simple placement as friends, roommates, and band mates turned into much more in time, leaving both poor boys confused on their feelings

Warnings: Fluff! Maybe some child molesting on poor Suguru's account

~*~*~

It was his birthday. It was suppose to be the most wonderful time of year, and truly, it was - in a sense. His band, BAD LUCK, had thrown him a birthday party and he got really cool gifts (especially from Shuichi, additions to his synthesizer were more than necessary), his cousin, whom he rarely spoke to if not about work, had even given him a gift and wished him a happy birthday. Seventeen-year-old Suguru Fujisaki was now on his way home, and with each step his mood was disintegrating. The smile he left work with was now straight and narrow, pierced and unready.

NG was heaven. Away from home, away from his father, away from his life. He really didn't allow his personal life to mash into his professional life - unlike some people - but sometimes, he wondered if it would help him just to tell all. His mother had died in a car crash when he was four, he could barely remember the woman, but his father once spoke fondly of her, and Tohma (not to be confused with work as Seguchi-sama) had told him all about his mother from the side of being the woman's nephew. Now, his father was remarried, and not for the better. It didn't get out to the family that Fujisaki-san could not maintain a job anymore nor could his half beat wife (or as Suguru secretly called her, the bitch), and their entire income was from what he made. Suguru was penniless by name; his father had the money he earned from BAD LUCK.

The apartment wasn't the best or the worst they could live in. Sometimes, Suguru figured they stayed there because it was the last place his mother lived before her death, and his father needed that reminder. Sometimes, the reminder was never good - the marks on Suguru's back were more than enough to prove it. The young keyboardist frowned disapprovingly at the mess that littered outside the door, a couple of empty cases of beer, and several bottles, it only stated that the insides was doomed to be worse.

And that it was, today there were cans everywhere, bottles broken upon the floor (which made Suguru decide to be disrespectful and walk through the house with his shoes on so he wasn't cut), and trash piled everywhere. That was where the half beat step mom came in. She would come home from work (she was a stripper, ironically) be puckered out, and sleep. His father, by this time, should be hopping the bars to drown his sorrow. An unhealthy family. Walking towards his room, Suguru stepped inside and removed his shoes with respect, placing them by the door where all his other shoes were.

He could hear the master bedroom door open, and his `mother's' voice asking him if he had come home, and Suguru didn't really want to answer. Another fact about the woman, she didn't marry his father because she loved the man, but more for the green haired son that made a lot of money by actually going to work at a spectacular job. Clamping his lips shut, he sat upon his futon, staring up at the ceiling that had glow in the dark stars attached to it. He was five when he had asked his cousin to help him put them up, at the time the small boy wanted to be an astronaut just so he could fly to heaven and see mommy. A small smile played on the keyboardist's lips with the memory before jerking, as there was a knock on the door.

“Suguru, are you in there?” He was asked. Didn't silence mean that no one was home? In a “Shuichi Moment” (a name given by K-San for when you did something stupid that you knew not to do but still did it) he almost called out that, no, he wasn't there. That wouldn't have been good. The knocking finally ceased, and Suguru turned onto his side, closing his eyes just as the door opened. “Suguru-kun, why didn't you answer when I called for you?” The floorboards leading to his bed creaked, causing the green haired keyboardist the tense. “Are you sleeping?”

Never once did he open his eyes as he felt hands go through his hair, brushing the thin strands out of his face, affectionately, lovingly. Lips descended to his own, and Suguru had to fight retching up his lunch as she kissed him. Disturbed mostly, he made it look like he was asleep by flinging his arms in the air and turned upon his stomach to bury himself within his pillow. It worked; his step mom walked out of the room, slammed the door shut, and left him to his misery. He loved his father, what son couldn't love his own parents (Eiri “Yuki” Uesugi excluded in that list of people)? He needed to leave, get out of the house, away from this family that was unhealthy. Save his life earnings, one paycheck could put his father in rehab actually - getting the man there was the problem. Oh, and get away from the pedophile that wanted to be his mother and lover.

What was stopping him? Japan's law for one. He was only seventeen, he had to be eighteen to live on his own, out of high school (he was only a senior, last year then he was free to go), and have a steady job. He had the job, just not the other two. He had looked into it, the only loophole in the whole thing stated that he could move out before that if he were to live with someone who met all those criteria. Situation, none of his friends were really live in material.

Hiro was in the middle of dating Ayaka, so he wasn't taking a roommate. Besides, he was living in a one-room apartment, that wasn't much help. K-san and Sakano were out of the question. He would never ask Tohma for a place to stay, one being that the blonde was unaware of the poor green haired boy's living conditions. Last of his older than eighteen year old friends (being the two Nittle Grasper members - both either having a family to take care of or out of their minds and would drive anyone crazy) was Shuichi. Shuichi would have been okay…if the boy was at least living on his own. Personally, Suguru figured Shuichi would have been a wonderful person to hang around with if it wasn't for a writer that caused the genki singer to be crazy.

Grumbling the keyboardist rolled onto his back once more, stared up at his ceiling before remembering that he had homework to do, and it was best to be done.

~*~*~

Walking into the recording room that was assigned to BAD LUCK that week, Suguru was not the least bit shocked to find Shuichi curled in a ball, head on Hiro's lap, crying his eyes out. Sakano - who was becoming use to this - was trying to calm him down repeating over and over “It's okay, Shindou-san…” whatever it took to get the bawling vocalist out of his tears and into singing mode. K-san opened the door, holding his new - and improved - betting chart on how long this `break up' would last. He asked Suguru if he wanted to put a bet in, but the green haired boy shook his head. That seemed a little mean to put amusement down for Shuichi's long since broken relationship.

“What happen this time?” He asked, trying to get the details. It was likely that the writer had kicked the boy out, said cruel words to him, or Seguchi-san was once more interfering with the boy's love life. Never a dull moment in the studio, never.

Shuichi opened one eye, sniffling before collapsing into tears again, soaking his best friend's lap. Suguru had to hand it to the guitarist, having the strength to handle Shuichi's mood swings and excessive crying. Taking in a deep breath, Hiro gave a weary smile. “The usual, but this time we are really taking bets on how long it will go because Shuichi is the one that broke it off.” The words had the pink haired twenty-year-old crying - over and over again - for “Yuki”. You'd at least think that if they were in a relationship he'd call the man by his real name; maybe that's why Eiri was more than ready to push the boy out a window?

“Really,” Suguru was amazed, “Shuichi broke it off?” Shuichi nodded, whimpering slightly from where he was. Maybe he could try being nice for the boy, if they could permanently remove the blonde writer out of Shuichi's life, then things would be a little better for BAD LUCK. A few tugs would work.

The singer sat up, nodding his head tiredly, eyes puffy and red. “Yuki is ignoring me…more than usual. Girl's have been calling more then I ever thought possible. He was cheating on me, I can't live with him - I don't want to share him with anyone!” He balled up again, bringing his knees to his chest and hugged them. “I started moving out weeks ago, expecting him to notice that my stuff was missing, to see if he really loved me,” Suguru rolled his eyes, Eiri and love were two words that did not go together, “Everything has been gone for a week, and he didn't notice anything. Just sits there, smoking and drinking at his damn computer. I even left a note once that said that the extra bedroom was empty, and it's still there!” He whined.

“It's okay Shuichi,” Hiro hugged his friend, smiling thinly. “Getting over him is the first step of recovering from the relationship, now you're living on your own! See, one step at a time!” He grinned.

“I'm lonely at home. I even brought home a cat, and the thing doesn't even acknowledge my existence. I think I should get a dog…” Shuichi muttered, causing Hiro to chuckle.

“You do that.” He laughed. “I still don't understand why you got two bedrooms, wouldn't one do?” He asked, causing Shuichi to cheer up.

“I told you, I'm lonely! I'm going to get myself a roommate!” The genki singer did another one-eighty mood swing, and Suguru's ears perked up from where he was turning on his keyboard. Roommate? Another bedroom? His prayers had been answered! He jumped again as four shots cracked Shuichi's sniffles, and K-san stared at all of them getting each member's attention.

“Pity party over, start singing!” He yelled, clicking his gun to prepare firing rounds at Shuichi. Suguru often wondered if the manager would actually shoot them - but when a gun was against your temples getting you to work, you didn't ask questions.

I'll ask Shuichi later about the roommate thing…

~*~*~

Around seven, BAD LUCK began to get ready to go home. Shuichi was pleading to K-san that he would bring lyrics in a week at the latest. That week, of course, was changed to twenty-four hours at the latest. Hiro hadn't said much since that morning, staring at Suguru as the green haired boy packed up his homework he had been working on while Shuichi grumbled on and on about needing time to work “magic' for lyrics.

As Hiro stepped out of the room, following Sakano out, Suguru pulled Shuichi towards him, smiling nicely (a smile that reminded everyone of his dear cousin), causing Shuichi to tense. “Shuichi, I've been needing a place to stay…I'm having a bit of a problem at home, and just can't go back for a little while.” Shuichi's eyes relaxed, before he began grinning like the idiot he was.

“You can stay with me then, Suguru-san!” The green haired boy smiled a little. It was strange for one older to call anyone younger (especially one still a child) by san without a last name. Shuichi was weird like that, being informal and formal at the same time. “What's going on at home that you can't go back, though?” He asked, tilting his head a little.

“It's nothing big,” Suguru kept his face straight, a poker face, “I just need to get away for a couple weeks, make a few changes in the household, just so things can work out.”

The two stepped out of NG, and Shuichi turned a sharp right, starting towards where the residential area of Tokyo lay. Suguru ran to catch up, wanting to know where they were going as Shuichi started talking about whatever that was going through his head, and Suguru kept his mouth shut. Let him talk, he reminded himself, it bettered the chances of having a place to stay for a while. They made turns; passed some at home businesses, game shops, and other buildings before apartment plazas started, and Shuichi stepped towards one of them. It wasn't that far from Suguru's home, maybe five blocks at the most, so the green haired boy knew the neighborhood. Wasn't all that bad, wasn't costly either. Shuichi started towards some stairs, walking towards the second floor, watching out for the children that were running down, screaming at the top of the lungs. Suguru had to turn, watching as they jumped into the arms of a businessman returning from work, a small smile falling on his lips.

“They're really nice. Their mother died a few months ago from cancer, but you never see them down.” Shuichi explained, walking towards a door and sliding his key in. “The apartments aren't noisy, even though there are a lot of children in this place, I loved it the moment I had the first tour.” He stepped in. Suguru stared around after, taking in the location and area that was there.

It was a small living room, still being unpacked but still empty. It was obviously like that, since Shuichi had always lived with someone and never on his own. It was attached to the small kitchen; the only thing that broke them off was a tiny island counter and the change from the soft blue carpet to hardwood. Suguru took Shuichi's example and removed his shoes at the door, upon a darker blue shoe mat that had a cat sewn upon it. Pretty. Suguru stared around some more, the boxes in the room were in one corner, Shuichi had been slowly unpacking, obviously by the few things littering the floor like some toys. A window that was closed showed the streets of Tokyo, but Suguru had not noticed it because Shuichi had a side apartment, and upon the windowsill was a black and white kitten that stared tiredly at them, before turning its head. That explained some of the boxes, like the kitty litter box in the far corner, and some of the toys happened to be catnip toys.

Shuichi led the keyboardist down the hall that was adjoined by three doors, two across from one. “The last one is a bedroom, the one next to it is the bathroom.” Shuichi opened the bathroom door, showing Suguru the spacious room that had a reasonable sized tub for a small family, a counter sink, and the other bathroom material like the toilet. On the sink were toothpaste, Shuichi's toothbrush, and other toiletries. Shuichi shut the door, opening up the bedroom across from the bathroom, smiling politely. “This would be the room you're looking into.” He explained, and Suguru stepped inside. It was the normal Japanese bedroom, not big, but customary to Japan's growing population. It was empty, giving him knowledge that it had a small closet, a mirror attached to the wall, and one window, once more opened to face the outside of Tokyo. Beautiful, that was for certain. Suguru smiled, turning to his band mate. “You have quite the deal…how much is the rent?” He asked, and Shuichi's grin expanded at the understanding that Suguru wanted to accept the offer to be his roommate.(1)

“Forty-eight thousand yen(2),” Shuichi smiled. “I have the first three months paid off, so no problem there.”

“Not bad…” Suguru whispered. They could easily afford that with their careers. “Then…can I be your roommate?” Suguru was more then ready for the glomp he received that knocked him upon the floor, and Shuichi nodded his head, saying that it was more than okay. Suguru stared up, once more at his new home, and smiled.

~*~*~

Part II

~*~*~

Hours later, Suguru felt like a spy from a James Bond movie trying to sneak back into his home for his supplies - bags of clothes, his portable futon, and other things to bring over to Shuichi's apartment. Just purchasing a moving truck would have been too conspicuous to his father, so working by hand was a better idea. He'd have to go out a purchase a few new things, but that really didn't matter. The lights were out, both people likely asleep in their bedroom, unaware that Suguru was planning on moving out.

Stepping into his bedroom, he looked around at what items he needed. First he carried his Futon to the taxi that he had waiting. After a couple of minutes, he had clothes sitting in the back, his futon, cleaning items, pictures of his family in happier days, and other things he wanted to bring with him - including all the items for his keyboard. On his way out, his eyes fell upwards, upon the stars that Tohma had helped him put up before he finally found a ladder to climb up on and start tearing them down to bring with him. Damn emotional history.

As he sat in the back of the taxi, he smiled silently as they started towards Shuichi's apartment, his hands fiddling with his new keys, the thought that he had a place that was also his home. Shuichi was going to help him bring the things up to the apartment, but after that, Suguru was on his own because the vocalist needed to write lyrics before the next day. With this bit of knowledge eating at his memory, he wasn't shocked that Shuichi was standing outside with the little girl, way up past her bedtime, talking aimlessly about Buddha knew what. He smiled, waved at them from the taxi as it pulled to a stop next to the pink haired singer. Suguru paid the man for the distance they had driven, watching as the small girl and Shuichi began to unload what was in the hatch as the green haired keyboardist went to help.

“This is Inori Sakura,” Shuichi introduced the small girl, “she doesn't bite or anything, Suguru.” He grinned. “Hard at least,” he broke into giggles, as did the girl as she dragged Suguru's suitcase up the stairs to the second floor. The green haired boy just shook his head, and carried his futon up as the taxi left them in the night. He was a little surprised that after the small girl put his things in his bedroom, she didn't leave the apartment, but sat at the table, drawing on a piece of paper. Shuichi just smiled, and continued on with his lyrics, leaving Suguru to unpack and plan his next day.

~*~*~

He had opened a new bank account on his way to work, and in his hands was his new address and account information. So many things he'd have to change, and all of this would fall onto his cousins lap, so he was expecting to see the more known keyboardist at their door soon, demanding to know why Suguru `ran' away from home. It all has to come out sometime, he thought grimly as he stepped into the NG building. He made a small detour on his way to the studio to the human resources to drop off the few changes he'd made, before turning to go towards the studio.

Moving in with Shuichi made a few changes upon his schedule, twice he walked into Shuichi's room to get the lazy singer up. Finally - after so many attempts - Suguru came back with ice water and poured it on the boy. So, he wasn't shocked that Shuichi was on time that morning, and hopefully always would be. K-san was talking about all the wonderful changes since there was no more Eiri, and Shuichi only grumbled, glared at Suguru, and turned his back.

“Wonderful news,” K-san held up his gun, clicking it to get their attention. Off with the safety, they knew he was ready to fire at will. “Since we're on time today, and Shuichi turned in lyrics, we have a full schedule! Let's get to work!” He fired a few rounds, and the whole band ran to their stations before the bullets could find targets.

Hours upon hours of music placement, organizing, their painful whines, BAD LUCK finally had their `break', and was taking it to the extent possible. For a lunch break, something they were lucky to get. Where a normal NG employee had about thirty to forty minutes lunch break, K-san's high standards and criteria for his management was only five minutes, leaving the boys to scarf down their meals. If you were new to the label, and were to see them, you'd be scared half to death, but the ones used to it continued with their lives, some watching in fascination. K-san stood behind them, a stopwatch in hand and a smile on his lips as they finished their meals, and his hands fell upon the timer.

“Meal's over, let's get back to work.” He started towards the door, and all three boys stared at one another. Shuichi took one last gulp of water before tossing his bentoo-bako(3) box in the trash, followed by the other two as they followed K-san through the long, depressing halls back to the recording rooms. Death row was starting to look really good. Once Shuichi had made the joke about them all just chaining themselves to the equipment dressed in black and white jail clothes. K-san, without a second notice, said he'd invest in such next paycheck. Shuichi never said anything along those lines again, and luckily the outfits and chains never happened. But they didn't take their chances anymore.

It was hours until they were finally released to go home, Shuichi and Hiro exchanged swift hugs before Shuichi started down the street, going through his wallet, and Suguru ran to catch up. Shuichi began to gabble about going to the corner shop to pick up some makunouchi(4) meals for dinner, and asked if there was anything that Suguru wanted to eat that was microwaveable until he was capable to use the stove fire free.

Nodding, Suguru explained his desire for good old fashion onigiri(5), Shuichi giggled and agreed, that would hit the spot. As the two set out into the store, in their own directions to pick up food, Suguru couldn't help but stare back at the boy looking at the food on the shelves. The Shuichi he knew seemed so different, sure the boy talked a lot, but he seemed more … mature now, purchasing food and paying for everything with understanding that Suguru was broke until the next (technically first) paycheck.

Meeting the singer back up at the cash register with his onigiri, Shuichi paid for their dinner and both headed towards the apartment to eat.

Long after dinner, when they just sat around, resting their sore muscles, the door rang. Suguru had a feeling he knew who it was, but Shuichi had to open the door. Seguchi-san stood outside, his impassive exterior hidden with a friendly smile as he greeted the vocalists and congratulated him for leaving Eiri (the only one who would even do so, besides Mika). That brought tears to Shuichi's eyes and made him run off to his room to cry for the fifth time in forty-eight hours. Suguru, who had been leaning against a pillow playing a card game with Shuichi, muttered that his cousin was being particularly friendly to the singer.

“I am glad that he left Eiri, I won't fool around with false emotions towards my happiness with that alone.” Seguchi-sama said before his complexion relaxed, becoming a little friendlier. Seguchi-sama made his switch to Tohma-kun, Suguru's older cousin. “Uncle Genji called, asking if you were with Mika and I earlier this morning. Then in the afternoon, I received notice that you had changed your address. Suguru, why did you run away from home?”

Suguru sighed, moving his remaining rice around with his thin chopsticks, lips curling in a frown. Already looking for him, just wait until the man found out his source of income was gone also. “I didn't runaway, Tohma.” He explained, “I left for a reason and Shuichi needed a roommate. Better this way anyway.” He brought some rice to his lips, chewing on the plan substance in thought.

“That's just your hormonal imbalance talking and the drive to be a responsible adult, Suguru,” Tohma stated, “I did it myself, when I was seventeen, the drive to live on your own, out of your parents house. However, running away from home is not going to solve anything. If Uncle Genji isn't giving you enough room to do what you please, you have to ask. Just go home, Suguru, he is scared something is going to happen to you. Hell, even I fell insecure with you living here with that.” He pointed to the room where Shuichi's soft wails of `Yuki' were calling out.

“Shuichi is being very helpful, even though he doesn't understand why I want to live with him. My freedom to do anything isn't why I moved out, Tohma!” Suguru stood up, his foot knocking his dinner onto the floor. “Dad hasn't been doing very well since mom died! I thought he was okay the first year, but we only went down hill! He can't keep a stable job. Shika,” he referred to his step mom, “is a fucking stripper and a whore mongrel that only wants to sleep with me. I'm trying to make some changes with his life and kick that bitch out so we don't have any more of these problems! I can't do anything if I'm worried about waking up to being molested in the middle of the night! The income I try to collect for Dad to get into a good rehab for his drinking and to help with the bills is spent lord knows where!” He took a deep breath, bending down to clean his mess. “Shuichi's the best person I can live with right now, and he's my friend, so don't complain!” He glared, and Tohma only huffed his breath out.

“Suguru-kun…” Tohma looked crestfallen at the news that Suguru had shared with him, but Suguru couldn't meet his eyes.

“Please, everything will work out well in the end. One paycheck should get dad into rehab, knock some sense into him to throw Shika out, and we can start back at square one when mom died. I'm over it, really I am, but he never could get over it. Shika was only brought in the picture because he thought I needed a mother figure in my life. I don't need any more help; I can work everything out on my own.”

Tohma frowned, stepping towards the door before his kind smile fell back on his face. “Suguru, if you need anything, feel free to call your dear cousin for help. I'm always here for you.” He smiled and stepped out, leaving Suguru with his spilt bentoo meal and Shuichi crying in the backrooms.

~*~*~

Part III

~*~*~

It was after midnight when Suguru finally pulled the keys. His breathing rapid as he tried to calm down and look his calm expression. Cram School had ran late, then some students thought about keeping him late, asking about BAD LUCK's next concert, music, and other things that weren't their business. In the end, he had missed his train and ended up having to walk home. Perfect. He was likely going to be scolded by Shuichi for being out late, he could just see it. As he opened up the apartment door, he was only met by a small mew by the nameless cat that usually slept with Shuichi.

Giving the cat a firm pet, Suguru removed his shoes and started through the house and towards his room. Shuichi was likely asleep, well no duh, since they had work the next morning and it was after midnight. Still, he was more than ready to be yelled at, even though Shuichi didn't look like the type to easily get mad. As he landed upon his futon, his eyes didn't leave the ceiling and the stars he had once more put up. His body curled, but his eyes never left them. You couldn't see stars above the Tokyo city lining, light pollution had caused that this would be as close as he would ever get to them. With a small smile on his face, he fell asleep.

What seemed like hours later, he was awoken by Shuichi, telling him it was breakfast time. He sat up, quickly staring at his alarm clock, expecting to tell him he would be late for work, but found that they were still an hour early, and that his alarm clock had never gone off that day. Sitting up, he stretched before going to take a shower and eat his breakfast. He and Shuichi were quiet (oddly) during breakfast, as Shuichi ate lazily, glaring at the phone that sat on the counter.

“Did someone call?” Suguru finally asked; feeling left out of something as Shuichi glared daggers upon it. “Was it Yuki-san?” Shuichi nodded, laying his chin in his hands.

“He told me to stop playing this foolish game and return to his home because he was horny. I always do what he wants, but not this time, if he can't love me, then I don't want to go back…though it does soothe me to know that he realized I'm not there.” Shuichi grinned playfully as he took another bite of his miso soup (6).

Suguru felt an awkward silence fall on them, his conscious biting away at him as he finally stared up, “sorry about being so late last night, cram school ran late, and a student caught a lot of my time asking about our upcoming concert - that made me miss the train…”

“Wasn't going to say anything,” Shuichi smiled, placing his empty dishes in the sink to wash later. “You're seventeen, I'm not your father, if you want to go out and not come back until an hour before we head off to work, have fun. I'm not stopping you.” He leaned back, a serious look in his eyes. “I'll only put a stop to it if it's starting to get dangerous with your work or you're bringing something harmful into here. Until then, have a blast.” He reached for his backpack, muttering about getting to work before K-san arrived to hand deliver them there. Suguru smiled hesitantly, that went well…to an extent that a serious Shuichi scared him.

Grabbing his backpack and notes, Suguru followed him out the door, locked it, made a polite greeting to Sakura as the small girl stood outside waiting for a dad to take her to school and took off towards work. A smile fell on his lips as he recalled the last two days of living with Shuichi. A learning experience, if nothing else. The boy was full of life, emotion, and quirkiness, but oddly Suguru felt an attachment to the genki singer that acted immature most of the time. Shuichi stood at a stoplight, holding his hand in the air as he called the green haired keyboardist to hurry or they'd be late. Actually, he never thought Shuichi to be the type to worry about being late, being that he was usually always late, but the change seemed good. It didn't help Sakano's case; the man was, since Suguru and Shuichi lived together, freaking out about Armageddon preparing to happen since the vocalist was early.

See, Tohma, Shuichi wasn't that bad to live with… he made everything fun. Suguru smiled as Shuichi began crying that nobody was ever happy when he was early or late, why bother showing up. His answer came with a gun to his head, and K-san telling him rule zero. “You show up, because you like living.” That he did.

~*~*~

Part IV

~*~*~

They didn't need to go to work, but that didn't matter one bit. There was an electrical shortage somewhere in the night, and Suguru's alarm clock still flashed midnight, leaving him alarmed when he sat up. No school, no work, but he never slept past seven on any day, too risky. Fumbling around, he lifted up his watch, staring at the eleven that stared back at him. Two minutes until noon, he had slept most of the day away. Shuichi wasn't asleep; he could hear the pink haired boy laughing in the living room with some company. Still, noon or not, Suguru was not a morning person, and hated anyone that was happy in the morning.

Pulling himself off his futon like dead weight, he reached towards his dresser to find something to wear for the day, and found out that he had to do laundry at some point, only having two outfits to really wear. His school uniform needed to get washed as well. Grabbing one of the outfits, he started towards the bathroom, only inches away when he stared into the living room. Sakura (who Suguru was starting to think that she didn't have a home of her own) was sitting on the couch in her pajamas - one's with the Walt Disney Princesses - a pair of house slippers, and her untidy hair pulled back into two ponytails. Shuichi looked no different, still wearing his bedclothes and making what looked like hot chocolate. Suguru was about to get changed when Shuichi finally realized his presence.

“Konnichiwa, Suguru-kun. Join us out here!” He raised his hands, and Suguru did as he asked, just so the pink haired idiot didn't wake the whole complex with his annoying babble. “We were going to sit around, watch movies and drink cocoa, no reason to get dressed unless you're leaving today to go somewhere. Are you going somewhere, Suguru-kun? I can make your cocoa on the go if you are.” Suguru rolled his eyes, took a seat and frowned at the boy. The lithe singer was wearing what seemed more like a woman's set of sleep clothes, a spaghetti string top that said in bold, bright letters “Baka 1/2" personally, Suguru would have made it a whole.

“Fine,” he laid his head down, wanting to sleep some more. “Did her father drop her off here before he went to work?” He mumbled, staring at the small girl on the couch, watching cartoons at full attention.

Shuichi didn't reply as he placed the cups in the microwave (still not trusting the stove). “Would you like anything in your cup? I'm sure there is something in the `fridge.” He opened the door, ignoring the green haired keyboardist all together. Suguru frowned, ran his hand through his flimsy hair, and rolled his stiffening shoulders, Shuichi did catch that and broke out laughing. “I just noticed you have cockroach hair in the morning!” He yelled through his laughter, both Suguru and Sakura stared up like he had grown a second head.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Suguru repeating the action to his disheveled, hair, brushing strands that stuck up back, they only came up again, leaning against his forehead.

“Your hair, you have two strands that stick in the air, then fall into your face. Like cockroach antennas. Don't get rid of it!” He reached forward, stopping Suguru's hand. “I think it's cool!” He grinned, and Suguru gave him an unfriendly smile as he took Sakura's glass over to her and plopped down upon the cool atmospheric green couch. “Don't worry Suguru, I promised, I am sure no one is going to be coming today. Sakura-chan arrived a little past ten, and you were still sleeping, so I stayed up with her. Her father's not at work, she just … wanted to come over and hang with us for the day.” He smiled hesitantly at the small girl that, silently, nodded. Suguru watched them carefully before standing up and walking once more into the kitchen with his drink.

Shuichi stared at him as he sat down, staring at his drink. “I can tell there's more in it than either of you are letting on. Tell me.” He muttered.

“You haven't noticed the bruises on her arms, have you? I realized them when she first came in, looking like she suddenly was pulled out of bed and tossed outside. I couldn't leave her out there, so I brought her in and put her hair up some. She has marks all around her neck, Suguru…I can't send her back there now.” He watched the small girl watching TV, her fingers brushing her long black pigtails around. Sighing, Suguru raised his arms in surrender. Now he couldn't get rid of her.

“You can't keep her though, she's not a pet. She can be over her when her father's home, but when he's not, she has to be back over there, or we can get in trouble for kidnapping.” Shuichi grinned, jumped up and hugged Suguru. As the two landed on the floor, they were both greeted by staring up through the living room window cat cameras flashing, and the media smiling. “Oh shit!” Suguru jumped up, running to shut the window. Sakura sat up on the couch, watching as Shuichi and Suguru stumbled around the house shutting every blind they possibly could. As they returned to the living room, the doorbell began to ring, those outside trying to get their attention.

“Who are they?” Sakura asked, watching as Suguru and Shuichi fell lazily against the door, blocking it from being opened at all. “Are you guys bad guys that the media wants to put on the news and make mean comments about like they do with some of those people?”

Shaking his head, Suguru smiled a bit. “No, we're not any kind of bad people, they're the bad people trying to get us to talk.” Shuichi nodded. “We're in a band, big band in Japan now, and they just want to talk.” They stared at the phone as it began to ring, to their dismay, more of the media, asking questions over the phone on why they were living together, who was the little girl, is there something going on between Keyboardist Fujisaki and Vocalist Shindou Shuichi? Unplugging it, Shuichi ran to turn the television to a news station, gaining an annoyed `I was watching that' from Sakura.

“Konnichiwa, we're here at the local residence of BAD LUCK's two members, Fujisaki Suguru and Shindou Shuichi. Many questions have recently arisen with the two, rumors that they are dating and such. Many fans are drawn towards the questions for Shindou Shuichi, has he and romance novelist, Eiri Yuki, broke up. Neither of them would speak, but coverage from inside says, yes, they have broken up.” An image flashed quickly, that already had been taken of Shuichi and Suguru on the kitchen floor. Perfect, Suguru muttered under his breath. They weren't dating, he was only seventeen, a year off from being an adult, this slander was going to cost them big due to statutory rape on Shuichi's case, reasons why the twenty year old needed to learn to be less vibrant and friendly with people.

“There's nothing between us!” Shuichi, childishly, yelled at the TV. Suguru sat on the couch again, keeping his mouth closed as they watched the havoc out there, neighbors being asked what they had seen, noise of any sorts. Still, nothing was being straightened out. So far, they adopted a kid, were banging each other, and that poor Suguru was expecting another kid because recent looks had stated he was putting on weight. The green haired keyboardist was on towards a heart attack when the quiet sound of his cell phone rose into the living room. Taking off towards the room, he wasn't shocked that people were trying to look through his closed window shades.

“Moshi moshi, Fujisaki speaking.” He muttered into the phone, watching the camera's shadow outside that was moving around. Shuichi hadn't gone outside yet to straighten anything out, that was a good thing. “Tohma-san?” His voice was beginning to shatter. “No, Tohma, we didn't do anything stupid. No, Shuichi didn't do anything stupid. I don't know how they found out where we were living. Oh…the whole underage dating thing? Shuichi was giving me the glomp of the morning and they just happened to be looking inside. God! I'm not pregnant!”

Suguru turned to the slight giggling at the doorway, staring at Shuichi that was on the verge of laughing. “Seguchi-san, they're making horrible assumptions that we're doing something like that. Suguru just looked so funny with his hair the way it was!” He grinned as Suguru subconsciously clutched his two up right hair, damn Shuichi for making fun of his morning look.

“You'll straighten it out, Tohma-kun? Okay, we'll leave for a little while, don't worry, no answers…er…wait…we're in our pajamas…” He stared down at his extra large shirt that had no text on it whatsoever and the pair of shorts that were under it. “What?” He cried into the phone, Shuichi's interest shot up. “No, we're not going out like this…Shuichi didn't change out because we have a small girl here in her pajamas, we're making her feel very comfortable by not getting out of our own. Fine, you come here, we'll stay put.” He flipped his phone, shutting it off, and stared at Shuichi. One part of him wanted to stick his tongue out at the expression Tohma's voice had used when exclaiming over the fact that they were still in their nightclothes at noon.

“What are we going to do?” Shuichi asked, sitting on the keyboardist's futon, and Suguru just frowned, glaring out his window…quiet, to quiet for the media to be pestering.

“Where's Sakura?” Suguru finally asked, having a bad feeling about the quiet. Shuichi pointed towards the living area, standing up, Suguru followed where the finger pointed, swung open the door, and met with Buddha knew how many flashes from cameras. Well, that looked even better on the news. He swore, the media were like vampires, it took permission to come in, and they drank their fill before they got out. Sakura ran behind Shuichi, clutching onto his pant legs, crying.

“I opened the window, to see if they were still there, and they said if I let them in, they'd give me some yen to get candy and toys with. I didn't mean to!” So innocent, Suguru snorted, media was the big bad wolves of this horrible fairy tale.

“Shindou-san, is it true that you're having underage sex with Fujisaki-san?”

“Is everything over with you and Yuki-sensei, Shindou-sama?”

“Fujisaki-sama, did you and Shindou-sama adopt a little girl? What is your daughter's name? Is it true that you're pregnant, Fujisaki-sama?”

“A picture of the happy family, please!”

Leaning over, Shuichi made a breathless whisper, “Take Sakura and go and tag a taxi, I'll get my wallet, tame the media for a few seconds, and get down in no time. We're heading to Hiro's.” Suguru nodded, lifted the small girl that did not belong to him, gave a cheerful waved towards the media, and took off past them. Stopping the media from turning, Shuichi held up his hands, once more getting their attention. “I can answer questions, just ask away.” He edged towards where the kitchen was, to grab his keys, cell, and wallet. “No, I'm not having sex with Suguru-kun, we're just living with each other so I can have a roommate, and he has a place to stay. The little girl isn't ours, nor adopted by us. She's our neighbor. Cute girl isn't she?” He stepped out the door, leading the media out of his home, smirked at an elderly woman that lived a few houses from him, to shut his door as he led the media a distance away so he could run off. “Yuki-san and I quit dating, a few weeks ago actually. You should really go bother him to get more information on that,” he took off down a corridor, leaving the media alone. They followed him.

The stairs were once more a problem, crowded with toys that had been abandoned by children; Shuichi jumped five steps, landed awkwardly but still was able to run. His leg stung some, likely from a strain of muscles. Suguru was standing on the curb, barefoot still, holding the taxi. “Hurry, they're coming up behind you!” With a quick nod, Shuichi caught up with him, made sure Suguru got in the center, and pulled into the taxi himself. “To the address I told you, hurry before that group catches up.” The cab driver nodded as he turned the corner, leaving the crowd and apartments long behind.

~*~*~

“Oh my god, Shuichi, you're going to become one of those evil ex's that send horrible problems to their last lover. Sending the media to Yuki-san's new apartment, that was low.” Hiro laughed, his head leaning against the armrest to his couch. Suguru was grumping on the floor of his kitchen as Shuichi innocently bit his lip watching. Sakura, their sudden `kidnapped' child was drawing next to Suguru.

“Mmm? Well, they wanted to know about our break up, let him tell all about it himself.” Shuichi stubbornly muttered.

“So he actually knows you moved out? Let me guess, he hasn't bothered getting you back either, so you're going to be all pissy on me.” Hiro grinned playfully at his band mate, and Shuichi turned his head.

“No, Hiro. That's not it. He's called a few times; I woke up to him calling earlier this morning. Something about my ass needed a fuck, too early to get some woman because one-night stands take a lot of work. I'm not his personal whore, I wasn't going back just so he could screw something. Told him to use his hands.” Shuichi leaned forward on his elbows, watching as Eiri stepped out, demanding that they get off his lawn. He said nothing about his break up with Shuichi, turned back in, and left the media out in the open. Sighing, Hiro turned the television station to cartoons, and Sakura ran back into the living room and sat right in front of it. “Thanks for putting up with us right now, Hiro-kun.” Shuichi hugged his best friend.

“You'd think he'd stop doing that, hugging me is what got us in this whole relationship mess.” Suguru yelled from where he was still stationary. Shuichi just giggled.

“But look Hiro, he has cockroach hair!” Shuichi laughed, his hands clutched to his chest smiling brightly. Hiro stared down Suguru, a small smile on his face as Suguru grumbled, asking for a brush so he could deal with this `cockroach' hair, and Hiro granted him the brush. As Suguru brushed it back, Sakura ran forward to Hiro asking if she could braid his hair, and the guitarist fell for her big eyes, muttering something along the lines of `curse those eyes', and ended up on the floor with his guitar pick in his mouth as her fingers combed his long hair down.

Sitting the brush down once more, Suguru stood up, walked into Hiro's bathroom to check his hair before returning. “There!” He sat down. “Now leave me alone, my day has been horrible because of the two of you!” He growled. Waking up late, not changing, the media, all Shuichi and Sakura's fault.

Tears clouded Shuichi's eyes as he started screaming that he was sorry, Hiro watched the two carefully as Suguru laid his head in his hands, amused by the scenario. Damn it, not even living with Shuichi for two weeks, and the boy was growing on him. If they were at work and Shuichi broke out crying, he would have slapped the boy in the back of the head, but now that he was seeing Shuichi more than needed (except when he was at school) he was starting to appreciate and need Shuichi's company. Loud and annoying, always observant, Suguru realized. How many traits Shuichi had that he never realized, good traits, interesting traits. Shuichi had been on time recently, was trying to change his behavior now at work. It was strange how he was finally starting to realize these things, like how Shuichi's lips moved, or how his lithe body had a few muscles on his chest. Things he didn't want to realize.

What's wrong with me?

~*~*~

To Be Continued

~*~*~

Notes

(1)- I admit, I'm not an architect, so this looks horrible, but you can find the layout here animepassport.net/Shuichis_home.jpg - I've also haven't lived in an apartment for…don't know, a long time

(2)-approximately $450

(3) Bentoo-bako (or Lunch Box) - a boxed meal that can be taken anywhere, be it school, work, excursions, train trips, sports meets or cherry blossom viewing. Rice, Japan's staple food, generally accounts for a large portion of each obentoo: okazu, or side dishes, are added to suit personal taste or nutritional needs. Okazu are often made of fresh, colorful, in-season ingredients, arranged appetizingly in the bentoo box

(4) Makunouchi - Makunouchiis now a standard type of obentoo available at train stations, bentoo shops almost anywhere else. The rice is shaped into little cylinders and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Tamagoyaki (sweet omelet) is typically included, as is grilled fish, kamaboko (boiled fish paste) and many other kinds of foods.

(5) Onigiri - Made from Japan's staple food, onigiri are easy to carry, and they keep for a long time. Japanese rice is sticky, so forming a ball of rice that holds its shape is no problem. The rice is compressed into a ball while it is still hot; the addition of salt helps presence onigiri, and an umeboshi filling acts as an anti-bacterial. Tuna salad and other unusual filling are a relatively recent invention, giving onigiri an intercultural flavor.

(6) Misu Soup - A breakfast that is soy bean paste