Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Inspired ❯ Chapter 23 ( Chapter 23 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Silverone 
Anime/Manga: Gravitation Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.11.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 327 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gravitation Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 01.11.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 327 | Status: Completed
Pairings: Ryuichi/Taki, Shuichi/Tatsuha and slight Yuki/Suguru.
Rating: PG-13. Just to be safe.
Summary: Some confessions between a few different groups of characters.
Note: I’m sorry I’ve been taking so long. I’ve been busy with certain things unfortunately and as usual, I get writer’s block at certain parts of the story.
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Inspired
Chapter 23
Going into work that morning, Suguru made the decision to tell Shuichi the truth. The truth being that in a fit of spiteful rage, Suguru had told on him. Well, maybe it wasn’t as big a deal as Hiro made it out to be, right? After all, Shuichi had gone over to Tatsuha rather quickly if he understood what everyone had been saying. [Technically, I have nothing to worry about then, do I?]
As he opened the door to their studio, compositions cradled in one arm, he resolved to handle things as he saw fit. And either way, he wasn’t going to waste the effort justifying himself to Shuichi Shindou, who was sitting right there, right in front of him, ready to start the day, without a care in the world, oh mommy…
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Ma-kun and Ken-chan were both rather surprised to find their band mate sitting in the corner staring off into space. After their attempts at getting his attention failed, they both sat down next to him and started staring off in the same direction he was looking.
“So, what are we looking at Taki?” Ken whispered after a few minutes, looking very intently at that spot on the wall that seemed so interesting to their vocalist.
Taki leaned back slowly, sighing to himself, but not breaking eye contact with that point on the wall or whatever it was. “Have either of you guys ever been with someone that began messing with you perception of reality and had you, well, changing?”
“In what way?” Ma-kun asked as he lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “Good way or bad way?”
The shortest of the three drew up his knees and hugged them, still starring. “I don’t know. I suppose as in the ‘I don’t know why I’m suddenly wanting stupid things’ kind of way.” Both looked at him a moment and shook their heads. “Thought so…” Taki muttered bitterly, still staring off into space.
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Ryuichi had concluded that coming into work today had been stupid. Nittle Grasper wasn’t doing anything today, so Noriko wasn’t going to be here, and Tohma had chosen today as his rare personal day apparently. The idol singer normally came in on non-work days when he wanted to watch NG’s other acts rehearse. He found that there was something refreshing about being around young singers in their prime. Plus, it made him feel younger than he felt. Because regardless of what some people thought, he did feel old at thirty one sometimes.
Today though, there were certain young people he didn’t want to run into, like Taki. Not after he had reacted in such a stupid, stupid way yesterday. [What was wrong with me? That should have been my dream for him to ask me something like that and I just… Argh!] He had woken up by now and knew what his answer would be if he was asked again, but he knew that his chances of being forgiven for yesterday were completely screwed. Taki probably hated him and would never trust him again.
Which once again begged the question, why was he here when he could be groveling in a corner at home? He’d run into Taki if he stayed here! He was about to leave, when he could here the nagging voice of Kumagoro, asking for coffee. “Okay. Just one cup of it, then we’re going home.”
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“Hey, Suguru you’re here early, as usual.” Shuichi grinned, holding in his hands what were quite possibly lyrics
“Uh, hi Shin-I mean Shuichi. You are here awfully early yourself.” The younger man replied cautiously as he sat down, across from the singer. [Of all the days for him to be early too.]
Shuichi giggled as he leaned back, almost perilously close to having the chair fallout from underneath him. “Well, it’s funny you know, it’s like when I’m with Tatsuha, I’m actually able to think clearly. When I was with Yuki, I was so worried about losing his love that every little thing became about him. That’s not to say I don’t love Tatsuha as much, it’s just that I know how he actually feels. It’s like I understand him and he understands me. You have no idea what a relief that is compared to when I was with Yuki.”
Suguru slowly set his lyrics down, sighing to himself, realizing that now was the time to get it over with. “Speaking of Yuki-san, there’s something I need to tell you about what happened that night he found you guys out.” Shuichi stopped rocking back in his chair and looked at Suguru, gaze vacant, but intent if that was even possible. “Well, you see, I well, sort of called him that night, and well told him about you and Tatsuha…” Shuichi looked shocked and slowly let the chair fall onto all four feet and leaned forward. “Well, you see, I got annoyed with you two and told myself that it served you right and -”
And suddenly, he was aware that Shuichi was now really close to him and looking, well, he couldn’t tell what he looked like, except there seemed to be an evil gleam in his eyes. “Suguru…” He whispered dangerously, leaning closer.
The younger man closed his eyes, unable to swallow the lump that was now forming in his throat. “Uh, I think I need to leave now. I just remembered that I forgot to uhm, uh, call my mother! Yes, I forgot to call my mother.” He got up, hoping to leave as soon as possible, only to find an arm locked around his neck. “I, uh, Shuichi, I’m…”
“Come with me into the sound booth, now.” Shuichi said darkly as he began to pull him in that direction. Suguru began to silently say his prayers, hoping he wouldn’t be killed too badly.
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As he stormed towards the break room, Taki couldn’t help but curse his useless friends. When he had explained what had been going on, they had laughed, apparently thinking that it was cute that he was behaving in such a manner. Teasing him about his fragile, maiden heart had earned them a few good smacks upside the head. Now, he was hoping to spend some time away from the two idiots, a lot of time.
As he opened the door though, he was dismayed to hear some rather familiar cursing. “Kumagoro, that mean machine stole our coffee! Bad, icky, mean machine!” It was Ryuichi, yelling a vending machine, holding his stuffed rabbit in front of him, both apparently pissed off. Taki pulled back slowly and was about to make his hasty exit, when Ryuichi turned around at the sound of the door. “Finally someone who can kick this machine’s rear… Taki?” They looked at each other a moment, both nervous and trying to figure out how to get away from the situation, without looking stupid.
Taki sighed to himself and decided that maybe he should be the one to break the ice. “Uh, listen, I think we should…” Before he could finish though, Ryuichi was rushing out the door, not even looking at him.
“Sorry, I’d really like to talk, but I have really, uh, important things to do.” With that he was gone, leaving Taki feeling just a little peeved. [He blew me off. He blew ME off…]
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By the time Shuichi was done with him, Suguru was nearly dead from a lack of oxygen. Who knew that tickling would be the vocalist’s response to apparent betrayal? After what had possible been thirty minutes of torture, Shuichi had dropped his keyboardist to the ground in a red, breathless, giggling heap. Suguru lay there for a few minutes until he regain himself.
Shuichi merely looked down, a hand resting on his hip and a smirk on his face. “That’s what bad boys get for turning on their band mates like that.” Suguru slowly got up, still a little shaky, but no longer laughing, much.
“You’re not mad?” He looked the older teen in disbelief, having expected more than just tickling. He had been expecting a beating or a fight in which he would thus be kicked out of the band.
Looking off to the side, a sour look on his face, Shuichi sighed. “No, just honestly, not even surprised. It’s just like you to do such a bratty thing.”
Suguru scowled, but decided not to rise to Shuichi’s bait. “Well, as long as everything is clear between us, then I’m satisfied. I also hope that now that you know the truth, there will be no misunderstandings in the future.” He suddenly had the itch to play the keyboard a little, now that he was feeling much less pent up.
Shuichi merely watched as the younger boy got up and headed over to the equipment. “What do you mean in the in the ‘future?” Unfortunately Suguru was now ignoring him as he began to play a random number. “Come on, Suguru!!” He whined but to no avail, as the younger man was blissfully off in another world now.
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Ryuichi was really regretting running out of there, knowing that he must have appeared to be very cold, but he hadn’t been able to help the panic he felt. Which had only been aggravated by the fact that he hadn’t had his coffee yet. He had spent the rest of the morning wondering where he could go to find fresh coffee, without running into Taki and had remembered Tohma’s office had a really, really nice coffee maker. It was only a matter of using the key he had to get in there, and soon, he had been swimming in warm, caffeine-filled goodness.
He had spent the rest of the afternoon inside the office, playing with Tohma’s tv and the rather large, comfy chair that his friend kept. Truth was, Ryuichi was still too scared to come out, but he wasn’t about to admit it, even if Kumagoro kept nagging him.
The rabbit kept saying that since he knew he had been wrong, he should just admit it to Taki and get it over with. Ryuichi had made it quite clear at that point that he wasn’t afraid to admit that he had goofed up (he did that all the time), but he was afraid of Taki. He had a fair idea of what the younger man’s temper was like and was pretty sure he was going to be dumped. He had known things had been going too well, so he shouldn’t have been surprised, but on some level, he was very, very disappointed.
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Taki had spent the rest of the day pissed off as hell. He had been ignored! By Ryuichi! By his stalker… Of sorts… Well, he guessed boyfriend? Well, whatever Ryuichi was, he had ignored Taki and that was the last thing the younger man had expected. It wasn’t allowed! No one was allowed to ignore him, especially Ryuichi.
And to think he had been upset before and feeling dejected…. He was going to give the older man a piece of his mind, just as soon as he found him. He had searched Ryuichi’s little office, if it could be called that and had turned up nothing. Searching through different recording studios hadn’t exactly helped either. He had finally decided to try Seguchi’s office out of desperation and wasn’t exactly pleased at this last resort. After all, he didn’t exactly want to run into his boss, only to be harassed because he had upset the man’s best friend.
Only he found no secretary there, the woman apparently being out on break. He noticed that the door was opened a crack and decided to hazard a peek inside. Looking around, he saw nothing but Seguchi’s chair turned backwards, facing the window. “Seguchi-san? You there?” He waited quietly, hearing no answer at first. Finally, concluding no one was there, he made to leave, only to hear a cough. [Hmm, that cough sounds very familiar.]
The singer stepped in very quietly and closed the door and waited a few minutes, letting the other party think he was gone. It wasn’t long before he heard a relieved sigh. “That was close Kumagoro. He nearly caught us.” Taki scowled and quietly walked over to the desk, deciding to surprise the unaware Ryuichi. Just as he reached the desk, he heard a sudden movement and ducked down just as Ryuichi swiveled all the way around. He heard what sounded like feet being swung up onto the desk and if he looked under it, he could see the chair leaning back dangerously. There was silence in the office for a few minutes as both contemplated things, Ryuichi unaware of the full situation.
After a few minutes, the older singer began speaking, apparently addressing the rabbit. “I am so stupid. I can’t even talk to him and apologize…” At the word apologize, Taki found himself focusing his complete attention on the situation. Ryuichi himself sounded like he was sniffling as he continued. “I don’t know why I acted the way I did either. It’s like I got scared. Everything was going so well, so I became afraid that if I took the chance, it would all go down hill. And so I acted stupidly.”
“So, that was it?” Taki muttered, sitting up on his knees resting his arms on the desk. “You were afraid of being too happy?” Ryuichi blinked a few minutes at the unexpected guest then jumped and screamed, his finger pointing.
“How? When did you… How long were you there!?” Taki stood up and stretched, giving Ryuichi a catty glare.
“Long enough to hear you talk to your rabbit about apologies and your success phobia.” He leaned over the desk so that he was only a foot away from Ryuichi. “You honestly had me feeling like a complete chump these last few days, you know that? I mean, I basically told you I wanted a future and you looked at me like I was out of my mind. The way I‘ve looked at any chick who ever said that to me. I was crushed.” He kept his gaze neutral and level with Ryuichi’s, who was just short of trembling.
“Well, I, it’s just, you were acting weird…” Ryuichi stammered as he looked down. “It caught me off guard. I didn’t expect you to start talking like that.”
Taki looked at him incredulously. “What do you mean like that? Is it really that strange for me to talk like that?” Seeing Ryuichi nodding slowly, Taki threw his hands up in to the air. “You and everyone else… So, we’re clear than? You’re not pissed off at me for thinking about something more and you understand that I don’t hate you for acting all weird about it?” Ryuichi nodded again, this time much happier. “Then come on, we’re going.” Taki said as he headed towards the door, stopping so that Ryuichi could catch up.
“Where are we going? The work day isn’t over yet?” Taki looked at him, shocked, then started laughing.
“Since when do you care about work? Besides, we’re not ditching, we’re taking… a personal day. If you can’t get us out of work, then who can?” Ryuichi perked up and grabbed Taki’s hand, now just as eager to leave.
“Just leave it to me!”
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Tohma normally didn’t like taking personal days, but he was always willing to make an exception for his favorite brother-in-law. Mika wasn’t exactly there to entertain, apparently working in the garden on her roses, or rather yelling at the gardener. As they sat down to some hot tea, Tohma could already tell that Eiri was going to drop some sort of bomb shell on him. He found himself praying that it wouldn’t be anything too horrendous or catch him terribly off guard.
“Say, that brat cousin of yours, Suguru, how old is he?” Tohma raised his eyes brows at the odd question, but decided not to question the bizarre interest in another person.”
“He’s sixteen and only a few months older than Tatsuha in fact. Why?” The blond shrugged, merely drinking some more of his own tea.
“Just curious. So does he live with you then?” Now Tohma was suspicious. Eiri was too interested in his cousin and he was going to have to figure out why.
“He has his own apartment, but only spends part of the week there. He prefers to stay here so that he can practice with me and no doubt so that he can have some company. On the weekends, he usually stays with his parents, unless it’s inconvenient. Is there a reason for you to be concerned?”
The two stared each other in the eyes, Tohma daring Eiri to tell him the truth. Instead Eiri decided to respond with another question. “What about school? How does he do academically?” Tohma could instantly tell that this was going to be a long, long day.
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Tatsuha sighed to himself as he sat down to analyze his to-do list. “Change the sheets, check. Wash dishes, check. Grocery shopping, check. Find Job… Argh!” He had been looking at the paper for hours and had found nothing that seemed appealing. What did kids his age do for work? Well, okay he knew the answer to that question, because his friends in school had crappy jobs, and so had Shuichi, if he was to be believed.
He didn’t want to settle for some medium wage thing, but at this rate it was either that or be Shuichi’s little wife… Which as far as he was concerned was the least appealing option of all. He was no one’s drudge, least of all his lover’s. If anything, it should have been Shuichi doing the work, well okay, considering the other’s job, that was unrealistic. But, couldn’t they get a maid or housekeeper, preferably one with the proper assets? Of course that question had earned him a slap. Shuichi had made it clear that they were only getting a domestic if both of them were working and if the older teen had his say, not one who was easy on the eyes.
He grabbed the news paper and scanned it one more time. [Why do all these jobs blow so much?] He grimaced to himself as he looked over the ads, none of them promising. Being a monk did have it’s perks and he was sorely missing them right now. [Speaking of monks, I wonder if the old man misses me yet?]
Before he could contemplate things further, he looked down at his list, past the failed ‘find a job option.’ “Shit, I’m supposed to make dinner… Wait, why am I making dinner for him?” He sat down, now determined to find a job a score himself a semi-decent looking house keeper.
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By now, Yuki knew everything about Suguru that there was to know, from the boy’s shoe size, to his favorite foods, and also including all the birth marks he had (not that anyone wanted to know how Tohma knew about those.) The tea had gotten cold and Tohma was for some reason he couldn’t name, in an extremely bad mood. Well, he could name the reason: he was annoyed that his brother-in-law had shown more interest in Suguru, then he had ever shown in Tohma himself.
“Eiri, I’ll ask you one more time and I expect an answer: Why the interest in Suguru?”
Yuki raised an eyebrow and looked at Tohma coolly, obviously deciding that now was the time to answer. “I think he feels an attraction towards me.” One could hear the pieces fitting together in Tohma’s head at this statement, bit by bit. Eiri decided that now was the time to drop the even bigger bombshell. “And I think I’m interested in him too. In a purely physical sense of course.” He couldn’t stop smirking now as he saw Tohma crumbling. “In fact, I think I’ll be leaving, now that I have the info I need.”
He got up and left the room, Tohma apparently frozen, staring downwards into his glass of tea. In fact, he was left starring like that for a good thirty minutes before he spoke again. “…unacceptable… Both of you… Simply Unacceptable…”
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To Be Continued…
Tohma threatens Suguru, who is rather clueless. Shuichi also gets wind of the Yuki’s latest yearnings, and his reaction isn’t one that Tatsuha likes. We also have Ryu/Takiness…
Before anyone cries out about Yuki admitting having feelings too soon, note that he didn’t say anything about them being romantic. Not that he doesn’t care for Suguru on a more platonic level, but the thing is, now that he’s free, he wants to screw around a little and doesn’t want a serious relationship. He basically wants to take advantage of Suggy for the moment. He told Tohma because he wanted to be mean to our favorite president. I’m just having fun at their expenses.
Also, Yuki/Shu fans… Sorry!!! So sorry about them not being together. I don’t think they will be in this fic at all either. But, I may write a fic in the future to make up for it, maybe. And there are plenty of nice fics for the couple else where. Sorry to disappoint people. I have nothing against the couple personally, but I have no strong desire to write about them at this point in time.
Rating: PG-13. Just to be safe.
Summary: Some confessions between a few different groups of characters.
Note: I’m sorry I’ve been taking so long. I’ve been busy with certain things unfortunately and as usual, I get writer’s block at certain parts of the story.
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Inspired
Chapter 23
Going into work that morning, Suguru made the decision to tell Shuichi the truth. The truth being that in a fit of spiteful rage, Suguru had told on him. Well, maybe it wasn’t as big a deal as Hiro made it out to be, right? After all, Shuichi had gone over to Tatsuha rather quickly if he understood what everyone had been saying. [Technically, I have nothing to worry about then, do I?]
As he opened the door to their studio, compositions cradled in one arm, he resolved to handle things as he saw fit. And either way, he wasn’t going to waste the effort justifying himself to Shuichi Shindou, who was sitting right there, right in front of him, ready to start the day, without a care in the world, oh mommy…
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Ma-kun and Ken-chan were both rather surprised to find their band mate sitting in the corner staring off into space. After their attempts at getting his attention failed, they both sat down next to him and started staring off in the same direction he was looking.
“So, what are we looking at Taki?” Ken whispered after a few minutes, looking very intently at that spot on the wall that seemed so interesting to their vocalist.
Taki leaned back slowly, sighing to himself, but not breaking eye contact with that point on the wall or whatever it was. “Have either of you guys ever been with someone that began messing with you perception of reality and had you, well, changing?”
“In what way?” Ma-kun asked as he lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “Good way or bad way?”
The shortest of the three drew up his knees and hugged them, still starring. “I don’t know. I suppose as in the ‘I don’t know why I’m suddenly wanting stupid things’ kind of way.” Both looked at him a moment and shook their heads. “Thought so…” Taki muttered bitterly, still staring off into space.
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Ryuichi had concluded that coming into work today had been stupid. Nittle Grasper wasn’t doing anything today, so Noriko wasn’t going to be here, and Tohma had chosen today as his rare personal day apparently. The idol singer normally came in on non-work days when he wanted to watch NG’s other acts rehearse. He found that there was something refreshing about being around young singers in their prime. Plus, it made him feel younger than he felt. Because regardless of what some people thought, he did feel old at thirty one sometimes.
Today though, there were certain young people he didn’t want to run into, like Taki. Not after he had reacted in such a stupid, stupid way yesterday. [What was wrong with me? That should have been my dream for him to ask me something like that and I just… Argh!] He had woken up by now and knew what his answer would be if he was asked again, but he knew that his chances of being forgiven for yesterday were completely screwed. Taki probably hated him and would never trust him again.
Which once again begged the question, why was he here when he could be groveling in a corner at home? He’d run into Taki if he stayed here! He was about to leave, when he could here the nagging voice of Kumagoro, asking for coffee. “Okay. Just one cup of it, then we’re going home.”
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“Hey, Suguru you’re here early, as usual.” Shuichi grinned, holding in his hands what were quite possibly lyrics
“Uh, hi Shin-I mean Shuichi. You are here awfully early yourself.” The younger man replied cautiously as he sat down, across from the singer. [Of all the days for him to be early too.]
Shuichi giggled as he leaned back, almost perilously close to having the chair fallout from underneath him. “Well, it’s funny you know, it’s like when I’m with Tatsuha, I’m actually able to think clearly. When I was with Yuki, I was so worried about losing his love that every little thing became about him. That’s not to say I don’t love Tatsuha as much, it’s just that I know how he actually feels. It’s like I understand him and he understands me. You have no idea what a relief that is compared to when I was with Yuki.”
Suguru slowly set his lyrics down, sighing to himself, realizing that now was the time to get it over with. “Speaking of Yuki-san, there’s something I need to tell you about what happened that night he found you guys out.” Shuichi stopped rocking back in his chair and looked at Suguru, gaze vacant, but intent if that was even possible. “Well, you see, I well, sort of called him that night, and well told him about you and Tatsuha…” Shuichi looked shocked and slowly let the chair fall onto all four feet and leaned forward. “Well, you see, I got annoyed with you two and told myself that it served you right and -”
And suddenly, he was aware that Shuichi was now really close to him and looking, well, he couldn’t tell what he looked like, except there seemed to be an evil gleam in his eyes. “Suguru…” He whispered dangerously, leaning closer.
The younger man closed his eyes, unable to swallow the lump that was now forming in his throat. “Uh, I think I need to leave now. I just remembered that I forgot to uhm, uh, call my mother! Yes, I forgot to call my mother.” He got up, hoping to leave as soon as possible, only to find an arm locked around his neck. “I, uh, Shuichi, I’m…”
“Come with me into the sound booth, now.” Shuichi said darkly as he began to pull him in that direction. Suguru began to silently say his prayers, hoping he wouldn’t be killed too badly.
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As he stormed towards the break room, Taki couldn’t help but curse his useless friends. When he had explained what had been going on, they had laughed, apparently thinking that it was cute that he was behaving in such a manner. Teasing him about his fragile, maiden heart had earned them a few good smacks upside the head. Now, he was hoping to spend some time away from the two idiots, a lot of time.
As he opened the door though, he was dismayed to hear some rather familiar cursing. “Kumagoro, that mean machine stole our coffee! Bad, icky, mean machine!” It was Ryuichi, yelling a vending machine, holding his stuffed rabbit in front of him, both apparently pissed off. Taki pulled back slowly and was about to make his hasty exit, when Ryuichi turned around at the sound of the door. “Finally someone who can kick this machine’s rear… Taki?” They looked at each other a moment, both nervous and trying to figure out how to get away from the situation, without looking stupid.
Taki sighed to himself and decided that maybe he should be the one to break the ice. “Uh, listen, I think we should…” Before he could finish though, Ryuichi was rushing out the door, not even looking at him.
“Sorry, I’d really like to talk, but I have really, uh, important things to do.” With that he was gone, leaving Taki feeling just a little peeved. [He blew me off. He blew ME off…]
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By the time Shuichi was done with him, Suguru was nearly dead from a lack of oxygen. Who knew that tickling would be the vocalist’s response to apparent betrayal? After what had possible been thirty minutes of torture, Shuichi had dropped his keyboardist to the ground in a red, breathless, giggling heap. Suguru lay there for a few minutes until he regain himself.
Shuichi merely looked down, a hand resting on his hip and a smirk on his face. “That’s what bad boys get for turning on their band mates like that.” Suguru slowly got up, still a little shaky, but no longer laughing, much.
“You’re not mad?” He looked the older teen in disbelief, having expected more than just tickling. He had been expecting a beating or a fight in which he would thus be kicked out of the band.
Looking off to the side, a sour look on his face, Shuichi sighed. “No, just honestly, not even surprised. It’s just like you to do such a bratty thing.”
Suguru scowled, but decided not to rise to Shuichi’s bait. “Well, as long as everything is clear between us, then I’m satisfied. I also hope that now that you know the truth, there will be no misunderstandings in the future.” He suddenly had the itch to play the keyboard a little, now that he was feeling much less pent up.
Shuichi merely watched as the younger boy got up and headed over to the equipment. “What do you mean in the in the ‘future?” Unfortunately Suguru was now ignoring him as he began to play a random number. “Come on, Suguru!!” He whined but to no avail, as the younger man was blissfully off in another world now.
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Ryuichi was really regretting running out of there, knowing that he must have appeared to be very cold, but he hadn’t been able to help the panic he felt. Which had only been aggravated by the fact that he hadn’t had his coffee yet. He had spent the rest of the morning wondering where he could go to find fresh coffee, without running into Taki and had remembered Tohma’s office had a really, really nice coffee maker. It was only a matter of using the key he had to get in there, and soon, he had been swimming in warm, caffeine-filled goodness.
He had spent the rest of the afternoon inside the office, playing with Tohma’s tv and the rather large, comfy chair that his friend kept. Truth was, Ryuichi was still too scared to come out, but he wasn’t about to admit it, even if Kumagoro kept nagging him.
The rabbit kept saying that since he knew he had been wrong, he should just admit it to Taki and get it over with. Ryuichi had made it quite clear at that point that he wasn’t afraid to admit that he had goofed up (he did that all the time), but he was afraid of Taki. He had a fair idea of what the younger man’s temper was like and was pretty sure he was going to be dumped. He had known things had been going too well, so he shouldn’t have been surprised, but on some level, he was very, very disappointed.
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Taki had spent the rest of the day pissed off as hell. He had been ignored! By Ryuichi! By his stalker… Of sorts… Well, he guessed boyfriend? Well, whatever Ryuichi was, he had ignored Taki and that was the last thing the younger man had expected. It wasn’t allowed! No one was allowed to ignore him, especially Ryuichi.
And to think he had been upset before and feeling dejected…. He was going to give the older man a piece of his mind, just as soon as he found him. He had searched Ryuichi’s little office, if it could be called that and had turned up nothing. Searching through different recording studios hadn’t exactly helped either. He had finally decided to try Seguchi’s office out of desperation and wasn’t exactly pleased at this last resort. After all, he didn’t exactly want to run into his boss, only to be harassed because he had upset the man’s best friend.
Only he found no secretary there, the woman apparently being out on break. He noticed that the door was opened a crack and decided to hazard a peek inside. Looking around, he saw nothing but Seguchi’s chair turned backwards, facing the window. “Seguchi-san? You there?” He waited quietly, hearing no answer at first. Finally, concluding no one was there, he made to leave, only to hear a cough. [Hmm, that cough sounds very familiar.]
The singer stepped in very quietly and closed the door and waited a few minutes, letting the other party think he was gone. It wasn’t long before he heard a relieved sigh. “That was close Kumagoro. He nearly caught us.” Taki scowled and quietly walked over to the desk, deciding to surprise the unaware Ryuichi. Just as he reached the desk, he heard a sudden movement and ducked down just as Ryuichi swiveled all the way around. He heard what sounded like feet being swung up onto the desk and if he looked under it, he could see the chair leaning back dangerously. There was silence in the office for a few minutes as both contemplated things, Ryuichi unaware of the full situation.
After a few minutes, the older singer began speaking, apparently addressing the rabbit. “I am so stupid. I can’t even talk to him and apologize…” At the word apologize, Taki found himself focusing his complete attention on the situation. Ryuichi himself sounded like he was sniffling as he continued. “I don’t know why I acted the way I did either. It’s like I got scared. Everything was going so well, so I became afraid that if I took the chance, it would all go down hill. And so I acted stupidly.”
“So, that was it?” Taki muttered, sitting up on his knees resting his arms on the desk. “You were afraid of being too happy?” Ryuichi blinked a few minutes at the unexpected guest then jumped and screamed, his finger pointing.
“How? When did you… How long were you there!?” Taki stood up and stretched, giving Ryuichi a catty glare.
“Long enough to hear you talk to your rabbit about apologies and your success phobia.” He leaned over the desk so that he was only a foot away from Ryuichi. “You honestly had me feeling like a complete chump these last few days, you know that? I mean, I basically told you I wanted a future and you looked at me like I was out of my mind. The way I‘ve looked at any chick who ever said that to me. I was crushed.” He kept his gaze neutral and level with Ryuichi’s, who was just short of trembling.
“Well, I, it’s just, you were acting weird…” Ryuichi stammered as he looked down. “It caught me off guard. I didn’t expect you to start talking like that.”
Taki looked at him incredulously. “What do you mean like that? Is it really that strange for me to talk like that?” Seeing Ryuichi nodding slowly, Taki threw his hands up in to the air. “You and everyone else… So, we’re clear than? You’re not pissed off at me for thinking about something more and you understand that I don’t hate you for acting all weird about it?” Ryuichi nodded again, this time much happier. “Then come on, we’re going.” Taki said as he headed towards the door, stopping so that Ryuichi could catch up.
“Where are we going? The work day isn’t over yet?” Taki looked at him, shocked, then started laughing.
“Since when do you care about work? Besides, we’re not ditching, we’re taking… a personal day. If you can’t get us out of work, then who can?” Ryuichi perked up and grabbed Taki’s hand, now just as eager to leave.
“Just leave it to me!”
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Tohma normally didn’t like taking personal days, but he was always willing to make an exception for his favorite brother-in-law. Mika wasn’t exactly there to entertain, apparently working in the garden on her roses, or rather yelling at the gardener. As they sat down to some hot tea, Tohma could already tell that Eiri was going to drop some sort of bomb shell on him. He found himself praying that it wouldn’t be anything too horrendous or catch him terribly off guard.
“Say, that brat cousin of yours, Suguru, how old is he?” Tohma raised his eyes brows at the odd question, but decided not to question the bizarre interest in another person.”
“He’s sixteen and only a few months older than Tatsuha in fact. Why?” The blond shrugged, merely drinking some more of his own tea.
“Just curious. So does he live with you then?” Now Tohma was suspicious. Eiri was too interested in his cousin and he was going to have to figure out why.
“He has his own apartment, but only spends part of the week there. He prefers to stay here so that he can practice with me and no doubt so that he can have some company. On the weekends, he usually stays with his parents, unless it’s inconvenient. Is there a reason for you to be concerned?”
The two stared each other in the eyes, Tohma daring Eiri to tell him the truth. Instead Eiri decided to respond with another question. “What about school? How does he do academically?” Tohma could instantly tell that this was going to be a long, long day.
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Tatsuha sighed to himself as he sat down to analyze his to-do list. “Change the sheets, check. Wash dishes, check. Grocery shopping, check. Find Job… Argh!” He had been looking at the paper for hours and had found nothing that seemed appealing. What did kids his age do for work? Well, okay he knew the answer to that question, because his friends in school had crappy jobs, and so had Shuichi, if he was to be believed.
He didn’t want to settle for some medium wage thing, but at this rate it was either that or be Shuichi’s little wife… Which as far as he was concerned was the least appealing option of all. He was no one’s drudge, least of all his lover’s. If anything, it should have been Shuichi doing the work, well okay, considering the other’s job, that was unrealistic. But, couldn’t they get a maid or housekeeper, preferably one with the proper assets? Of course that question had earned him a slap. Shuichi had made it clear that they were only getting a domestic if both of them were working and if the older teen had his say, not one who was easy on the eyes.
He grabbed the news paper and scanned it one more time. [Why do all these jobs blow so much?] He grimaced to himself as he looked over the ads, none of them promising. Being a monk did have it’s perks and he was sorely missing them right now. [Speaking of monks, I wonder if the old man misses me yet?]
Before he could contemplate things further, he looked down at his list, past the failed ‘find a job option.’ “Shit, I’m supposed to make dinner… Wait, why am I making dinner for him?” He sat down, now determined to find a job a score himself a semi-decent looking house keeper.
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By now, Yuki knew everything about Suguru that there was to know, from the boy’s shoe size, to his favorite foods, and also including all the birth marks he had (not that anyone wanted to know how Tohma knew about those.) The tea had gotten cold and Tohma was for some reason he couldn’t name, in an extremely bad mood. Well, he could name the reason: he was annoyed that his brother-in-law had shown more interest in Suguru, then he had ever shown in Tohma himself.
“Eiri, I’ll ask you one more time and I expect an answer: Why the interest in Suguru?”
Yuki raised an eyebrow and looked at Tohma coolly, obviously deciding that now was the time to answer. “I think he feels an attraction towards me.” One could hear the pieces fitting together in Tohma’s head at this statement, bit by bit. Eiri decided that now was the time to drop the even bigger bombshell. “And I think I’m interested in him too. In a purely physical sense of course.” He couldn’t stop smirking now as he saw Tohma crumbling. “In fact, I think I’ll be leaving, now that I have the info I need.”
He got up and left the room, Tohma apparently frozen, staring downwards into his glass of tea. In fact, he was left starring like that for a good thirty minutes before he spoke again. “…unacceptable… Both of you… Simply Unacceptable…”
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To Be Continued…
Tohma threatens Suguru, who is rather clueless. Shuichi also gets wind of the Yuki’s latest yearnings, and his reaction isn’t one that Tatsuha likes. We also have Ryu/Takiness…
Before anyone cries out about Yuki admitting having feelings too soon, note that he didn’t say anything about them being romantic. Not that he doesn’t care for Suguru on a more platonic level, but the thing is, now that he’s free, he wants to screw around a little and doesn’t want a serious relationship. He basically wants to take advantage of Suggy for the moment. He told Tohma because he wanted to be mean to our favorite president. I’m just having fun at their expenses.
Also, Yuki/Shu fans… Sorry!!! So sorry about them not being together. I don’t think they will be in this fic at all either. But, I may write a fic in the future to make up for it, maybe. And there are plenty of nice fics for the couple else where. Sorry to disappoint people. I have nothing against the couple personally, but I have no strong desire to write about them at this point in time.