Also, this is all based on the ANIME TIMELINE because it left room for my own 'artistic' improvements, among other things. Chapters are short due to my goldfish-memory-theory attention span, please forgive me
Disclaimer: Do not expect this fic to be good.
-
Hazard Warning: Contains Mush, Shounen-ai, necessary and much deliberated-over OOC, mild songficcage and the (originally 'inadvertent') slashing of the authors two favourite characters, and thus should not be read by anyone except her.
because I feel terribly under-qualified to write about Tohma
-
Health Warning: If the following fic makes your brain melt: STOP READING
-
That is all.
Canned Pop - 1 - Tactics
SPG VERSION 3
'That's it. I've had enough.'
'Ah! Fujisaki! Please don't go!' Sakano clung to the youth's shirt as he reached for the door handle. Shuichi sat in the middle of the recording studio wailing loudly, comforted by an exhausted Hiroshi.
'How do you expect me to work in this mess?' Suguru snapped, prising the desperate producer away, who promptly crumbled onto the floor. There was a click (barely heard above the noise), and a cold barrel leveled at his head a second later.
'Where do you think you're going?'
'Away from here.'
K raised his eyebrows
'I somehow doubt that shooting me is high on your list of priorities, K.'
The wails increased in volume.
Suguru cast a despairing eye at Shuichi, who showed no signs of stopping any time soon.
'Why don't you just shoot him instead?' he suggested, turning the handle with as much defiance as he could muster, and slamming out into the corridor.
K blinked. Then he fired.
'Shut UP and get OUT!' he yelled at the contents of the room, as plaster rained from the ceiling.
Sakano and Shuichi sniffed quietly.
Suguru hurried out of the building, expecting any second a rain of gunfire from the studio window. That had been an awfully stupid thing to say to the manager, to K of all people. He half wondered if he would be kicked out of Bad Luck for this, or worse, assassinated. He never thought K's behavior to be...normal. He often thought he was the only one to think so.
With that in mind, he hastily made his way away from the studio building, stopping only when he was sure he wasn't being followed.
He hadn't really any destination in mind, which became apparent when he realized he was in the park. It was hardly on his way home, in fact the opposite direction. But it didn't matter; at least he was safe for now.
He allowed himself a heavy sigh. Why hadn't he just put up with it? He usually managed to cope with Shuichi's outbursts, but today something had made him snap. It wasn't the incessant cries of "Yuki!", nor the desperate pleas of the producer. It must have just been a bad day. He hadn't been playing to the best of his ability either.
But still. To ignore K and slam out in a hormonal rage was not the best way to go about things, and definitely not something his cousin would have done.
Tohma...
His heart dropped. What if Tohma found out? What if the president found out how whiny and arrogant and downright stupid he'd been?
The cold park railings did little to comfort him.
'Hey...er, Suguru?'
'Fujisaki,' Suguru replied automatically, without looking up.
'Fujisaki, okay. What are you doing here? This isn't on your way home, right?'
Suguru looked up, bleary eyed and suddenly exhausted. 'Do I know you?'
The black haired stranger blinked. 'Well I know you...ah, it must just be Shuichi's ramblings, he likes to talk about you - you're the synth player in Bad Luck, right?'
Shuichi's rambles? Suguru was finding this difficult to digest.
'I'm Tatsuha, Tatsuha Uesugi,' he smiled.
Realization dawned slightly.
'Oh,' he managed, 'well I'm Fujisaki Suguru, but you seem to know that already.'
'Yeah, being Yuki's brother lets me in on most of Shuichi's whining - most of it is pretty dull - but you seem to be quite a character, with quite a temper so I've heard.'
Suguru stared at the taller boy, grinning in the evening sun. 'What?'
Tatsuha backed away, 'Ah, sorry! I didn't want a demonstration.'
He didn't rise to it. It wasn't worth it.
'You're Yuki's younger brother then? Shouldn't you be at school?'
'Shouldn't you be at work?' Tatsuha smiled innocently back.
'That's not really any of your business now, is it?' Suguru said primly, turning his back on his unwelcome visitor. 'Now if you'll excuse me.'
'Say hi to Shuichi for me when you get to the studio!' Tatsuha called to his retreating back.
'Who says I'm going there?' Suguru snapped.
'Well, logic tells me that you wouldn't have gone to work without a coat at least? Where are your keys? Your wallet?'
His heart sank.
Tatsuha laughed.
Suguru thought it best to ignore him, as he hopelessly made his way back to the studio, and certain doom.
Everything was silent.
The recording studio was empty. A lone cleaner worked her way down from the end of the corridor. Suguru tried the door handle - locked. He peered through the glass in the door. No sign of anything save for a few bits of plaster scattered on the floor. He sighed again. It was a wonder he had any life left in him to waste on sighing.
'Are you all right there, Suguru?'
He froze. Fear, admiration, embarrassment, guilt, and absolute terror flooded his veins all at once. He turned slowly.
'Er, er, er, yes President, I was..um...just...er...' he trailed off, willing himself to calm down.
'I have your coat here, K gave it to me, I just needed to talk with him about something,' Tohma smiled.
'Er,' Suguru struggled.
'Is everything all right?'
'Yes,' he said quickly. Then added '…Thank you.'
There was a silence. Tohma smiled.
'I'd er, better be going now, then,' Suguru mumbled, stumbling down the corridor and out into the air, his heart pounding.
He'd done it now. K must have told the president what he'd done... That must be why Tohma had his coat! He was coming to tell him that he was dismissed from Bad Luck and NG Studios! It was all over now. There would be no point coming to work tomorrow, no point in wasting the energy to be told it was over.
Right?
Suguru ground it over in his mind as he made his way home, becoming more angry and more determined as his ploughed through the crowds at the station and towards his apartment.
Was he just going to give up? Surely they couldn't dismiss him from Bad Luck just for a little outburst? He was a talented musician, after all. Wasn't he? It wasn't like he had played badly or snapped at work before...
You've got quite the temper, I've heard...
And it wasn't like he got in the way of anything or interfered with anyone else...
Shuichi's always talking about you...
And it definitely wasn't like Bad Luck could find a keyboard player at such short notice if they did kick him out. After all, the only good keyboardist he knew was...
Tohma.
He slammed the door behind him as he entered the apartment, flinging his coat to the floor and storming into his bedroom. The room was silent but his ears were ringing, his eyes burning and head throbbing. He buried his head in his pillow angrily.
Even if Tohma didn't dismiss him from Bad Luck, he had still taken a step back from his idol. Doing something so stupid and so immature was not likely to go down well with the president. But if he was to pick himself up from this mess then he would have to swallow his pride and ask for forgiveness. Not only from his cousin, but from K as well... And his fellow band members.
He wanted to shout something, wanted to cry. But it wasn't like him and he wouldn't let himself become any more childish over it. He lay in silence for some time, before exhaustion claimed him, and he fell into a fitful sleep.
Meanwhile, back in NG Studios, someone was having a little crisis of their own.
'I don't see what the problem is,' K said 'I think it would do you good.'
Tatsuha looked outraged 'What do you mean, "do me good"! What is it that you're implying? There's no way I should have to baby-sit that hormonal little runt!'
'I'm with you there,' K said 'but how would you like me to tell your darling Sakuma Ryuichi just how obsessed one of his fanboys is?'
'He has lots of obsessive fanboys,' Tatsuha snorted 'what difference would it make?'
K smiled politely. 'Well, if he knew your name, age, and your profile...how would you like to never be allowed into a Nittle Grasper concert ever again?'
The dismay was plain.
'Damnit, this isn't fair! Just because my brother is mixed up with Shuichi...'
'That's life, I'm afraid,' K stated bluntly.
Tatsuha seethed.
K twiddled his thumbs.
'So do I have your agreement?' the manager prompted, finally.
There was a silence.
'Think of it as proving your love for Ryuichi.'
Tatsuha unclenched his fists. 'Fine.' he said 'But not for long.'
K smiled again 'Thank you for your co-operation'
Tatsuha turned to leave.
'Oh, I nearly forgot to mention,' K added casually.
'Yes?'
'Fujisaki...he's older than you.'
The dark haired youth stared back.
'By nearly five months!.'
'Damn you...' Tatsuha hissed under his breath, stalking out of the room and into the corridor, his fist clenched around a small, shining, freshly cut door key.
Despite its size, it seemed impossibly heavy in his pocket.
K smiled to himself, satisfied. There was never any harm in trying a new tactic, was there?