Melody for Sakano
A Gravitation fic by GHSNEKO
Suguru Fujisaki laid his hands on his keyboard, and began running quickly through scales.
Ten minutes later, Bad Luck's guitarist, Hiro Nakano, strode into the studio. The redhead nodded at Suguru as he pulled out his guitar and began checking his tuning.
Five minutes later, K burst through the door and nearly shot them. Sakano followed the crazy blond in after a moment, wringing his hands nervously.
Suguru glanced at his watch. Where was Shuichi? Yet again, the vocalist was late for practice. Another five minutes ticked by and Shuichi finally popped into the studio, babbling about being late because he couldn't find his shoes or whatnot. Suguru had stopped caring about Shuichi's reasons for being late long ago. He just wanted to get practice started.
They played through three songs before taking a short break. Suguru decided to continue at his keyboard and began playing a soothing classical melody he had composed a few days earlier during a spell of boredom. He heard an appreciative sigh nearby and glanced over to see Sakano, seated on the couch. The producer was leaning back with his eyes closed, his head tilted towards the music. It was the first time Suguru had ever seen Sakano look anything other than worried and nervous.
And that's when the idea came to him. He would record himself playing through his classical compositions and give the CD to Sakano anonymously. He really did appreciate the man's hard work for the band, and felt that Sakano deserved something in return that would soothe his frayed nerves. Besides, he had been considering recording a CD of his music anyway. His composition book was overflowing with melodies written on napkins, jeans, and his arm, then transferred to the notebook. Suguru smiled. This was the best idea he had had all day.
Even better than his decision to wear the blue shirt Ryuichi liked over the red one. Yes, Suguru had a crush on Ryuichi. So what? So did ninety percent of Japan.
Shuichi bounced back to his microphone and yelled back to Suguru and Hiro. "Ok, guys! Let's do Spicy Marmalade!"
Suguru saw Sakano's eyes fly open and the hand wringing resumed. Oh yes, that CD was definitely getting recorded.
Suguru spent several hours arranging his compositions in an order that flowed nicely, and writing in transition melodies.
Now it was time to record them in his home studio, given to him for his fourteenth birthday by Tohma. He switched on the recording equipment and glanced at his sheet music, then began to play. He had each sheet memorized and continued through the entire set without stopping. When he played the recording, it was satisfactory, but something was missing...What? He listened to it again and it dawned on him.
Tohma.
Suguru pushed open the door to his cousin's office.
Tohma was sitting at his desk, reading a magazine article on one of the band's under NG. He looked up as Suguru approached the desk and laid the magazine down.
"Good morning, Suguru,"
"Hey, Tohma." Suguru replied, leaning over to kiss his cousin's cheek. Tohma was his favorite cousin.
"What can I do for you today?" Tohma inquired, returning the gesture and leaning back in his chair.
"I have a project. And I need your help." He held up the CD of his recording.
Tohma took it and strode across the room to insert it into his stereo. Suguru's playing floated through the room, and Tohma listened with interest.
"Did you compose this yourself?"
Suguru nodded. "Yes. Mother wasn't happy about the jeans I 'ruined' on this part."
Tohma chuckled, then said, "I must say, I'm impressed. What is it you need me for?"
"Well, I'm making this for a friend. But I think that it would be better if there were two masters on the keys instead of just one."
"I see...May I ask who this friend is?"
"I'm making it for Sakano, actually. I was playing part of this the other day and noticed how...happy...he looked. For once, he was relaxed. Until Shuichi started yelling again."
"Ah. So you're doing something nice for your producer? I approve...and I'm sure Ryuichi would too." Tohma grinned slyly. He was well aware of Suguru's crush on his friend.
Suguru blushed and scuffed his feet awkwardly. "Yeah, well anyway, I was wondering if you would play with me on the recordings, like harmonies and such..."
"And synths?"
The younger tipped his head and considered this. "Yeah...That would be good in there too...Yeah, synths too. "
Tohma smiled. "Of course I'll assist, Suguru."
Suguru stared at the CD in its nice case.
It had taken them hours, but the recording had finally satisfied them. With each recording, Tohma and Suguru had thought of more and more ways to improve the music, thus leading to more writing and more recording. It had been fun, spending all that creative time with his cousin. And now the CD was ready to be slipped into Sakano's briefcase. Suguru waited until the rest of the band, K, and Sakano were out of the room before clicking the case open and sliding the disk in between some papers.
He closed the briefcase and crossed the room to stand innocently behind the keyboard as the others came back in. Everyone began gathering their things, and then said their goodbyes as they headed home for the day. Suguru was the last out of the room, and he watched the producer walk down the hallway before turning to go to his cousin's office.
"So, you gave him the CD?"
"Yes, I put it in his briefcase. He'll find it when he gets home."
"Good." Tohma replied, stretching. "Now, we have some business to discuss, little cousin."
"Ne?"
Tohma held up his copy of the CD. "You have even more talent than I realized, Suguru. This needs to be shared with more people than just Sakano."
"You mean...?"
The blond nodded. "I want you to release a professional recording of this under NG."
"You mean it, Tohma?"
"Of course."
Suguru grinned ecstatically. "Thanks Tohma! You're my favorite cousin ever, you know?" He kissed Tohma's cheek before running out the door, intent on going home to announce the news to his parents. Tohma smiled, and leaned his unkissed cheek against his fist. He loved that kid.
Suguru ran down the hallway towards the elevator. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath. It had just occurred to him that his parents were out of town.
Ryuichi looked at him oddly from the other side of the chamber. "Ne? Suguru-kun?"
"Ah, Ryuichi-san! Hello!"
"Ryuichi-kun." the singer corrected. "Hi. What's the hurry?"
"Tohma's gonna let me record a CD!"
"Really! That's so cool, na no da!" Ryuichi replied excitedly. "Let's go celebrate, Suguru-kun!"
"Huh? Really?"
Ryuichi nodded. "Yeah. Let's go somewhere." His blue eyes met Suguru's brown ones somewhat shyly.
"O-Okay, Ryuichi-kun." Suguru blushed.
The two artists exited the elevator together, walking a little closer than usual.
Sakano entered his apartment tiredly.
He laid his briefcase on the couch and took his jacket and shoes into his room. Then, he resignedly opened his briefcase. He wasn't hungry right now, so he had work to do. The producer pulled out a stack of papers and began carrying them towards the desk. A clatter was heard as a non-paper item fell to the floor.
Sakano laid down the paperwork and turned to see what had fallen. A CD was laying on the floor. Strange, he didn't remember putting any disks in his case. He picked up the mystery disk and examined it. The face of the CD had Melody written on it in Sharpie. There was a booklet slipped inside the case. Curious, he tugged it out and opened it to read what was inside.
To the world's best producer
World's best producer? Who was this from? Puzzled, Sakano sat on his couch and slid the CD into his stereo. He instantly felt relaxed as a light classical melody began playing. As the music progressed, Sakano began considering who this gift could possibly be from. The melody turned familiar and the producer smiled. Suguru Fujisaki was a nice kid.
He listened closer and realized there were two pianos and synthesizers being played. And he recognized the touch on both. One was obviously Suguru Fujisaki. And the other...The other was Tohma Seguchi. Sakano was somewhat touched. The president had contributed to this beautiful music for his cousin, who in turn had given it to Sakano. He felt it was the best gift anyone could ever give him.
Suguru awoke to bright sunlight streaming into the bedroom.
A glance at the clock told him that it was almost one in the afternoon. Fortunately, he didn't have to go to work that day. Also fortunate was the fact that his parents were out of town for two more days. So they would never know how late he had been out the night before with Ryuichi. He stretched and rolled out of bed.
Padding into his bathroom, he stripped and stepped into the shower, enjoying the feel of the hot water running over his body. After washing, he got out and ran a towel over his head and upper body before wrapping it around his waist. He then looked in the mirror. His reflection stared back perplexedly as his hand reached up to touch his neck and collarbone. Wha-? Oh.
He grinned and strode into his bedroom to his closet. He pulled out a dark purple t-shirt and a pair of black jeans and laid them on the bed while pulling some boxers and socks out of the dresser. Dressed, he fetched his converse from the middle of the floor. He picked up his cell phone and began dialing the number.
Doing nice things for your producer led to good things. He had gotten a recording contract for his music and thus had been able to go out with Ryuichi. And during the course of the night...Ryuichi had kissed him. The singer answered his phone brightly.
"Hey. You wanna meet somewhere?" Suguru asked, still a little shy with the older musician. Ryuichi chirped an affirmative. "Kay, I'll see you there in a few."
Hanging up, he headed downstairs, and out the door.
When he got to the park, Ryuichi was leaning against a tree, looking hot and mysterious. As Suguru approached, he smiled, looking at him over his sunglasses.
"Hey."
Oh dear God. Suguru's poor teenage heart was already threatening to burst out of his chest and he hadn't even gotten with touching distance of Ryu.
"Hi."
Ryuichi took a step forward and grabbed ahold of Suguru's belt loops, pulling him closer. Pressed against the singer's hard chest, Suguru felt his heart grow ever closer to exploding. And God, Ryuichi smelled good.
"How are you today?" Ryuichi inquired, still smiling as brightly as before.
And with that simple question, Suguru suddenly felt extremely comfortable. He smirked.
"I'm lovely. I'm going to have to buy some concealer though. You do good work." he replied, tugging down his collar to display the array of hickeys Ryuichi had left.
"I am rather proud of my skills. Yours aren't half bad either." The vocalist unzipped his jacket. The skimpy tanktop hid not one of the several lovebites Suguru had inflicted on Ryu's collarbone and neck.
"Why thank you."
And as Ryuichi leaned forward to kiss him, Suguru decided he was going to do nice things more often.
Fin
And the moral of the story is the when you do something nice for your overworked, stressed out with anxiety issues producer, you end up with recording contracts and a hot boyfriend.
No, actually the moral is that doing nice things is nice and good for the soul.
R&R please!
NeKo-ChAn
