Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Roses ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 3 )

Thanks toNo One in Perticular (ano... isn't it Particular?), draguslavelina, Serena, TalonSage (very good point there, I'm really worried about all that, I hope I can keep it cohesive!), Nicky the Tokyo Boy (I love your Game Over story ^_^ I reviewed it and all but I think ff.net forgot to post it ;_;), Carolyn, chibiukyou (I love reading your reviews they make me smile ^_^), and CSMars for your reviews and encouragement ^_^ It really keeps me going!

I don't know if they had carriages or not in the 1910s, but since I'm not tooooo sure I'm keeping it until I can figure out. It's a good guess... and in the Time Machine movie the only car I saw was crappy and could only fit one person. I found out that homosexuality was shunned and highly opposed in that time period. That'll make it even harder for Yuki, I mean Edward, and Shu, I mean Stuart, to be together, ne? Oh, and since I'm recently a Ryuichi x Tatsuha fan (and Tohma x Sakano), expect those couplings at some point in the story ^_^; (if I don't get around to getting them in this, yell at me or demand I write one with them >.o I'll do it, really!)

Cast:

Yuki Eiri - Edward Young - 22 - Accomplished Novelist

Shuichi Shindo - Stuart Shubrook - 19 - Aspiring Poet and Song Composer

Seguchi Tohma - Thomas Savage - 32 - Wealthy Publishing Company Owner

Sakano - Kenneth Saunders - 29 - Stuart's Agent

K - Claude K. Winchester - 36 - American Ex-Mafia gunman, works for Thomas as an Agent

Sakuma Ryuichi - Reece Swift - 31 - Accomplished Poet and Song Composer

Nakano Hiroshi - Hugh Norris - 19 - Aspiring Violinist

Uesugi Tatsuha - Timothy Ulysses - 16 - Schoolboy

Suguru Fujisaki - Frederick Sullivan - 16 - Schoolboy and Aspiring Conducter/Composer

Noriko Ukai - Natalie Udell - 28 - Accomplished Pianist

Ayaka Usami - Anna Udolf - 17 - Schoolgirl

Rating: PG - PG-13

Roses

~-~-~-~-~-~

Today was going to be a bad day. Scratch that, today was already a bad day. Edward woke up to a heavy storm, felt a cold from his excursion the previous night, and felt a headache. The writer groaned and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, then stood. Edward stepped forward and, in accordance to today being a bad day, immediately stubbed his foot on his nightstand table. "Damnit!"

Edward grumbled and hobbled over to his dresser and splashed some water on his face, then got dressed.

"Mr. Young?" Edward glanced up from his meager bowl of oatmeal and cup of tea.

"What?"

His maid curtsied quickly and took a step away from him. "You have a visitor."

Edward sighed and leaned forward, massaging his forehead. That little brat he was supposed to tutor came awfully early. And Edward had hoped to sneak out unnoticed and avoid the whole matter, "Fine."

"Shall I bring him in, sir?"

He shrugged and finished his tea. The maid curtsied again and hurried out of the kitchen. Edward looked down, shielding his eyes. "You're too early. I'm not going to tutor you at this hour so it'd be in your best interests to go home."

"Edward!" The man's head lifted upon hearing a soft, effeminate voice. Of course, it had to be Thomas. Of course he wouldn't let Edward sneak out and ditch his appointment, "I'm glad I caught you before you left."

He grunted. Thomas merely smiled and took a seat across from him, "You didn't honestly think I'd let you get away with skipping your lesson? You're worse than a school child."

"I was hoping you'd forget."

"Honestly Edward, since when do I forget?"

The younger blonde picked up his dishes and walked over to his kitchen counter, placing them in the sink. "Edward, why do you eat in the kitchen? I mean, isn't that typically where the maid would eat?"

"My dining room is too empty." Edward turned and sat down in his chair again, "I prefer eating in here, it's not as formal."

"Really, Edward, you could just find some girl and marry her, if you're so lonely. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard."

"And have a marriage like you and Marianne?" The writer shook his head, "No, I think not. And besides, I would just be distracted. Only women writers have marriages."

"I'm just thinking about your best interests."

Edward scoffed, "I'm sure."

His publisher sighed and leaned back in his chair. Edward glanced at him, an eyebrow raised, "When are you leaving?"

"When your student does."

"So not only am I stuck with some brat who couldn't write if he were Lord Tennyson himself, but I'm stuck with your face all day."

"Precisely."

"Wonderful..." Edward stood and pushed his chair into the table, "I'm going to my study. You can stay, but don't bother me until that boy arrives."

Thomas nodded and stood also, following Edward out of the kitchen. The blonde turned quickly and glared at his publisher, "Which means that you stay out of the study until then." Thomas blinked and watched the study door shut in his face. The older man sighed and turned to look at Edward's maid, "Is he always this cold?"

"Ah! Y-yes, sir." The maid curtsied quickly, blushing. Thomas sighed and leaned up against Edward's door, "What an odd man..."

The 'odd man' was currently pacing in his study. He hadn't let Thomas in not because he wanted to be alone, which was partly true, but because he knew that he'd try to kill the man if he was alone in the same room with him for too long. Not only had he made him give up his break but he'd done it the day Edward's vacation started. And not only did Edward have to tutor some brat with less talent than his pinky, but he'd have to do it the day after his vacation started. Which happened to be today.

And with Edward's luck, the boy would be early.

~-~

"Stuart!" The young man was being roughly shoved by... someone. He just grumbled and turned away. Again the hands were on his shoulders, pushing him, "Stuart, you need to get up now. Didn't you say you were meeting Mr. Saunders before you went to your tutoring session?"

"I can go later..."

"It's already nine, Stuart." He sighed and turned over, looking at his mother. She nodded, gave him another shove, and left the room. Stuart grumbled again and sat up in his bed, "I don't want to see Mr. Saunders or that Edward Young guy..." The red-head fell back against his pillow and closed his eyes...

"STUART!"

"Yes, mother..."

"Honestly, Stuart, you need to do something with this poetry of yours. Make some money, get out of the house. You're 19 years old, many of your friends are already married!"

He groaned and took an apple from the fruit basket on the kitchen table, "Yeah, yeah. I'm going to go now."

"Don't screw this up this time, Stuart, I mean it! Be respectful of Mr. Young, he's doing you a big favor by tutoring you. And thank Mr. Saunders."

Stuart nodded during her little lecture and bit into the apple, "Yeah, yeah." He left the kitchen and headed for the door.

"And don't talk with your mouth full!"

Not surprisingly, when Stuart arrived at Mr. Saunders house, the man was in a frenzy. And also not surprisingly, he about had a heart attack when he saw Stuart arrive at his front doorstep. The frenetic man quickly ushered his client in the door, "Where have you been?!"

"Sorry, Mr. Saunders."

"'Sorry'! Will you say sorry at my funeral when you finally kill me?"

"Yes?"

Mr. Saunders let out a quiet girlish scream and took a step back. "You'll be the death of me!" Stuart sighed and led his hysteric agent into the man's parlor and sat him down on his couch. He sweated slightly as the man crumpled into a heap.

"Uh, I'll go get you a glass of water..." Stuart hurried out of the room and to the kitchen to retrieve water for his mentor. He sweated again as he came back into the room and found Mr. Saunders all over the floor, mumbling to himself. "M-Mr. Saunders?"

"Stuart!" he jumped up and ran over to the boy, "You're late! You have to meet Mr. Young in a little while and I have to accompany you and, and Mr. SAVAGE will be there!" He flustered and took the glass, drinking all of the water in one gulp, then tossing it (Stuart made a dive and caught it) aside.

"Uh... all... right..." The boy coughed and walked back into the kitchen, placing the cup on the small table in there, then walked back into the parlor, "Are you alright Mr. Saunders?"

"I'm fine, apart from the fact that you just gave me a heart attack, I'm just dandy!"

Stuart coughed again, "That's... good. I think."

"Have you met Mr. Young before?" Mr. Saunders walked over to his couch and plopped down, looking at Stuart, "I haven't but I hear he's very talented."

The boy sat down next to his agent and shrugged, "Hugh told me a little about him yesterday."

"Ah! Hugh knows about him?"

"I guess he does."

"Well..." he looked around, as if someone was listening to their conversation, "I heard from Mr. Savage," he smiled, "that he's a cold-hearted bastard."

"Mr. Saunders!"

He shrugged. "I'm just saying what I heard." Stuart sighed and looked down at his hands, twiddling his thumbs idly. He didn't think it would be too pleasant to work with an eccentric egotistical writer that didn't even have social skills. He had to be eccentric and egotistical, all writers were. Except for him, of course. Stuart coughed.

"I'm sorry?"

"Ah, it's nothing, Mr. Saunders."

Somewhere in the man's house, a clock chimed eleven times. Mr. Saunders scrambled and turned to Stuart, "Eleven! You have to meet Mr. Young in a few minutes!"

"You're coming, aren't you?"

"That's right!" Mr. Saunders stood up and put a hand to his forehead, "I'm coming too! And Mr. Savage is there and - " the older man turned to Stuart and grabbed hold of the boy's wrists, "I'm going to have a heart attack, I know it!"

Stuart closed his eyes and smiled uneasily, "It'll be fine, Mr. Saunders. I'll try to behave."

"It's not you I'm worried about, Stuart!"

The red-haired boy coughed and stood up, prying his hands from Mr. Saunders's grip, "Ah, should we go now?"

"Go..."

"Yes, to Mr. Young's house."

"Of course!" Mr. Saunders grabbed Stuart's arm, then his coat, then ran out of his house. He waved for a carriage, even though Mr. Young only lived a couple blocks away, and climbed in with Stuart.

"Are you going to stay in there all day, Edward?"

The writer glanced up from his seat at the couch in his study, "Yes. Yes, I am." He could hear Thomas's exasperated sigh, then a shuffle of feet.

"It won't do either of you any good if you teach the boy through a wooden door."

"Tough."

Thomas sighed again and turned to face the door, seeing a carriage pull up outside, "They're here." He walked over to the door and pulled it inward, smiling at the frantic agent and the red-haired boy trailing behind him.

"They?"

"Yes, didn't I tell you Mr. Saunders was coming with him?"

Edward stood up and walked to his study door, cracking it open a bit, "Who?"

"You know, that agent that always seems to go into cardiac arrest when something wrong happens." [1]

"Oh." Edward started to shut the door again before Thomas dove in and placed his fingers in between the door and the frame.

"Please try to be civil, Edward. It'll go along a lot smother that way."

"Do I have to deal with you all day?"

"Oh, no!" Thomas smiled disarmingly, "Just until I'm sure you two won't kill each other."

"Mr. Savage!" The black haired man by the door huffed, placing a hand on the frame. He stood quickly and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, then pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "I'd forgotten you were going to be here!"

"You were talking about him the whole time on the way here..." A red-haired boy grumbled, pushing his way past Mr. Saunders.

"Ah, Stuart, what are you talking about?"

"You must be Mr. Shubrook, correct?" A blonde feminine man walked up to Stuart and grasped his hands, "Pleasure to meet you."

Stuart smiled and shook Thomas's hand quickly, "Y-you too. You're the publisher, right? Thomas Savage? You're a famous writer! You wrote songs for Natalie Udell with Reece Swift!"

The blonde man smiled, "Yes. You know your history."

"Ah, well, I'm sort of a fan," Stuart rubbed the back of his head nervously. Thomas continued smiling and turned to nod at the study door, "Edward is in there. He won't come out, he's an obstinate ass." [AN: y'know... like a donkey or mule or... yeah.]

"Mr. Savage?"

"Yes Mr. Saunders?"

"Are we to stay here the whole afternoon?" The agent looked at his superior, a sort of hopeful gleam in his voice and eyes.

"Well, if Edward refuses to come out, then we probably will."

"Oh, good!" Mr. Saunders smiled, straightening his posture.

"Excuse me?"

"I-I mean, it's good that... that we'll be spending time - I mean, with Stuart and - no, not that - "

Stuart coughed stepped back to his mentor, clamped a hand on the man's shoulder, and pushed him forward, "So, if he doesn't come out, can I go home?"

"No."

"So... I'd just be stuck here all day, sitting around waiting to see if he comes out?" Thomas nodded.

"Oh..." Stuart ran over to the study door and pounded on it, "Hey! Come out!" just as he got the 'out' out, the door opened, "Eh?" Apparently Edward had forgotten to close it all the way... The boy shrugged and pushed the door all the way open, walking into the room. Thomas and Mr. Saunders followed behind him - Thomas curiously, Mr. Saunders hesitantly.

"Mr. Young?" Stuart walked forward, seeing the back of a blonde haired man standing in front of the study's side window, "Ah, it's Mr. Shubrook. Your... student."

The writer's head shifted slightly, turning to an almost profile, but Stuart still couldn't see his face, "Damn... didn't get the door closed did I?"

"No." The man sighed and turned fully to greet Stuart, deciding that it was best to just get this over with, since Thomas surely wasn't going to let him get away with skipping every meeting. But, when Edward turned and saw the boy, he had this odd sense of deja vu. Like he'd seen him somewhere... and then images of sugar and licorice flashed in his mind. Then he saw the boy's bright red hair and shocking violet eyes and came to one conclusion...

Stuart smiled hesitantly as the man turned, deciding it was best to make some sort of good impression on him. Except, he looked kind of familiar. A lot like that man he'd run into, literally, at Mr. Avery's store the other day. He had the same blonde hair, gold eyes, and was exceptionally tall and handsome. And he had the exact same scowl the other man had. Which meant one thing to Stuart...

"You!" they screamed in fury, pointing fingers accusingly. Thomas sighed and placed a hand to his forehead, Mr. Saunders flailed his arms upwards and sank to the ground, and they both had one thought on their mind - it was going to be a long day.

~-~-~

[1] - I don't know if "cardiac arrest" was a term used then or not. I tried other phrases but that one just worked the best. If you know if it was a known term please tell me >.o

And again thanks for reading! Please be a nice reader and review, too (encouragement is especially good, cause it fuels me, but constructive criticism [not flames!] is good too!). I actually finished with a cliffhanger! I love writing cliffhangers. When I first thought about the idea for this chapter I was just going to have them actually have the session, but when I figured that I could squeeze in 6 pages meantime, I decided to do the cliffy ^_^; (I'm also surprised at how fast I'm writing this! I only started on Thursday!)

Eee~ and when I first submitted I forgot that Yuki has GOLD eyes >.o stupid me.