I Want to be Home for Christmas
One-Shot
Written by: chochowilliams
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters, places or names. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Summary: Shuichi has to decide between a winter holiday in Hokkaido with Eiri or a holiday tour with Bad Luck
Warning: Language, angst, drama, romance, sappiness, M/M
Pairings: Shuichi/Eiri
Inserts: -
A/N: Remember the two R's: READ and REVIEW!
oOo
November - NG Productions Conference Room
Shuichi had achieved Nirvana. It was the only explanation for how deliriously happy he was. Not even the wake up call he'd received from K at the ass crack of dawn this morning-and the subsequent boot up the ass from Eiri (as if it was his fault his psychotic American manager decided to ignore the fact that it wasn't even four in the morning when he called)-could not bring him down from his high.
He burst into the conference room with a song on his lips.
Hiro greeted the dramatic entrance by enthusiastic applause and whistling.
Shuichi bowed. "Thank you! Thank you!"
"Don't encourage him Mr. Nakano," grumbled the all too familiar voice.
"Lighten up Fujisaki," Hiro told the younger man.
"I'm just saying! Why can't he enter a room like a normal person?"
"Because he's not normal?" Hiro suggested.
Frowning, Shuichi cocked his head. His forehead creased in thought as he contemplated that. He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not.
Hiro sighed.
Deciding it didn't matter either way, Shuichi twirled into the nearest chair.
"Must you do that Mr. Shindou?" Fujisaki snapped.
Shuichi rolled his eyes at his keyboardist. "Yes, Fujisaki, I must." He was happy dammit and he was going to damn well spread the joy-even to a cranky old man like Suguru Fujisaki.
Hiro chuckled. "You're in a good mood. Get some last night?" he teased.
Suguru groaned and banged his head-hard-against the table. He so did not want to hear about Shuichi's sex life.
Shuichi ignored Suguru. It wasn't that hard. As he did it all the time, it had become second nature. It was a good thing Suguru was so talented. He did not need someone so cranky and depressed in his band.
But he couldn't ignore the heat that rushed to his face.
Hiro chuckled. "How do you like that Fujisaki?" With his arms crossed over his chest, he sat back and regarded his best friend with a glare, though there was a twinkle in his eye. "While some of us have nothing more than a cold empty bed to look forward to each night, others have some hot, sexy hunk to warm their backsides." He clucked his tongue and gave a sad shake of his head at the unfairness of it all.
"Speak for yourself." Suguru's muttered went unheard by the others in the room.
The teasing stirred the coals of the dieing flames. His embarrassment renewed, along with his blush, Shuichi cleared his throat and corrected his friends' misguided conclusions. "Actually, Eiri's taking me skiing for Christmas."
Suguru snapped his head around so fast he very nearly gave himself whiplash. There was an undetermined expression on his face.
Hiro whistled. "Nice."
Shuichi grinned.
Now, Shuichi had never gone skiing before, so it was a safe bet to say that he therefore didn't know how to ski and maybe he was a little nervous-and a lot scared, but whether he ended up making a fool of himself in front of thousands of people-some of whom might end up being fans or, knowing his luck, paparazzi-or discovering he was a natural, he would be spending three glorious weeks with his Eiri in Hokkaido either way.
Life was great.
It was no ring, but it was the next best thing.
"Mr. Shindou…"
Shuichi turned to regard their boss' cousin.
"When are you leaving exactly?"
"Uh…" Shuichi scratched his head. His forehead once again creased in thought. "The thirteenth maybe? The fourteenth?" He shrugged. "Something like that. Why?"
Now Hiro was studying the younger man. There was more to that inquiry than just curiosity. "Fujisaki?"
Suguru squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. "Didn't Mr. K tell you?"
Hiro and Shuichi exchanged a look. Neither liked where this was going.
"Tell us what?" Shuichi asked with a confused blink.
"What's going on Fujisaki?" Hiro demanded.
Suguru hesitated for only a moment before standing up and crossing to the door. He cast a quick glance out into the hall, noticed nobody in particular, and shut the door before retaking his seat. He leaned over the table, Hiro and Shuichi mirroring his movement, and whispered, "K was telling me that he wants us to do a short Christmas tour."
"What?" Hiro looked aghast.
Shuichi was pale with shock.
Suguru hushed them fiercely, glancing quickly over his shoulder towards the door. "He says it'll be great press."
"That's ridiculous," Hiro hissed. "He cannot expect us to put together a tour at the last minute!"
"That's what I said, but he said we can just use the same schedule we've been using for the last several years, ya know, the one from when we went on tour to support the release our holiday CD."
Hiro shook his head. This was ridiculous. What was the man thinking? "It's not as simple as that," he argued.
"He seems to think so."
Sitting back, Hiro dragged his hands through his now short-cropped reddish brown hair.
Knowing K, Hiro had a feeling if anybody could make the impossible possible, it was Claude "K" Winchester, but just because it could be done did not meanit should be done, but despite how fervent K was about this, there was just no way to put together a tour with December little more than five days away. Not only was their backup band scattered to the four winds, there was no way they would be able to get access to the venues. It was just simply not possible.
Though, as much as Hiro did not like to admit it, K was right. Sales always rose after they went on tour. It didn't matter if they'd released a new album or not. It was too bad K hadn't brought the idea up sooner.
K springing this at them at the last minute was not anything new. He did it all the damn time. It was almost as if he got off on causing turmoil. It was quickly becoming old though.
A few short years ago, the guys from Bad Luck would have jumped at the opportunity to go back on tour. Shuichi would have been indecisive about being away from Eiri for any amount of time, but he would have gone along with it in the end, albeit grudgingly, but it was different now. The boys they used to be had grown up and each had responsibilities neither had before.
Hiro planned to see his brother Yuji in the off-Broadway production of A Christmas Carol. Yuji was playing The Ghost of Christmas Future as well as several background extras. Surely, he'd be able to fit in seeing the play around a tour?
Suguru planned to take his parents to Hawai'i to visit his aunt who moved there when he was a baby. His mother hadn't seen her sister in years. But it wasn't as if he had to physically go right? Surely, he'd be able to find time to drop in and see his aunt sometime during the tour?
Then there was Shuichi. He'd missed countless holidays and other occasions (such as Eiri's birthday) because of Bad Luck (or more accurately, because of K) over the years and he wasn't about to add another to The List.
He hadn't told Hiro or Suguru, or anybody for that matter, but things between him and Eiri have not been so great as of late. Jealousy had reared its ugly head once again and unlike last time, there was no reassurances he could make that would help placate the unrest.
On one hand, one could say Eiri knew what he was getting himself into when he started dating Shuichi. Eiri knew Shuichi had been a musician and musicians did not have nine to five jobs. They were like doctors, lawyers or even police officers. They were always on duty, always being called away from their family for one reason or another. Sometimes a summer barbeque or two had to be sacrificed. Both Shuichi and Eiri had known that coming into the game, but a body could only take so much. Everybody had a limit and Eiri had finally reached his. If Shuichi blew off this ski trip that Eiri had been planning since last Christmas, Shuichi would find himself alone come Christmas morning.
"What about those Christmas specials we're supposed to be taping next week?" Hiro asked. "Isn't that enough?"
Suguru shrugged. "We're still doing them."
Hiro drilled his finger on the table. "What about his wife? His son Michael?"
"He says he spoke with them and they said they understand."
"Lying," Shuichi muttered.
Hiro tuned towards his best friend. "Shu?"
Suguru turned to regard Shuichi. It was only then that he realized that the usually hyperactive man had been unusually silent since he let the others in on K's little surprise.
Shuichi lifted his gaze from the slick surface of the conference table and glanced at the two other men in the room. "I'm not going."
"What?"
Hiro exchanged a glance with Suguru.
"Mr. Shindou-"
"Shu-"
Shuichi shook his head. He pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Each Christmas for the past five years we've either been on tour or on some sort of holiday special instead of being home opening gifts and drinking champagne and blowing off fireworks." It was a family tradition in his family. "This year we're tapping our appearances early so that we can spend the holidays with our families like normal people. K promised us that last year, remember?"
Their manager had also promised to cut back on the million little tours and special appearances he tried to squeeze into their schedule, but which he had conveniently forgotten to do; this was no surprise really.
"I can't do it anymore. I love this band. I love singing. I love going on tour and interacting with our fans. I love it all, but…" Shuichi shook his head. "I love Eiri more."
It was either the music or Eiri. Eiri hadn't forced him to make a choice-not yet at least, not like he did before-but if Bad Luck continued as it had been, there would be no choice. Shuichi would wake up one day and Eiri would be gone. So in the end, what it came down to was a choice between one and the other.
But it wasn't even really a contest. Eiri was more important than anything-even his music career.
"I'm not going to break the plans Eiri made a year ago just because K decided at the last minute that he'd rather spend the holidays halfway around the world instead of with his family."
It wouldn't surprise Shuichi if K's son Michael grew up despising his father and Judy filed for divorce sometime soon. It would be a different matter if K had brought his family to Japan with him when he decided to take on the challenge of becoming the manager of Bad Luck.
How was a wife supposed to love her husband or a son respect his father or even refer to his father as such when the man was thousand of miles away?
If Shuichi was committing musical career suicide by turning down the opportunity to go on tour to go skiing with his longtime boyfriend instead, then K was committing marriage suicide by ignoring the existence of his family.
"Are you sure?" Hiro asked him.
Shuichi nodded. It was solemn, but firm.
"Okay."
Shuichi blinked. That was it? No arguing? No pleading? He was thrown. It was never this easy to get his way. He usually had to throw a temper tantrum just to get someone to listen to his side.
Hiro must have seen the confusion Shuichi was feeling because he said, "It's not like I want to go on tour either. I have plans."
"As do I," Suguru added.
"Maybe if he'd brought this up sooner…"
Suguru nodded.
Shuichi shook his head. Either way, he would have passed on this year's holiday tour. If he wanted to save his relationship with Eiri, he had to start to make some time for Eiri.
"Anyway," Hiro continued, "go. We'll deal with K."
Shuichi was not about to be told twice. With a bow to his band mates, he left.
Five minutes later, K finally arrived. He glanced around the room and noticed that they were a singer short. He whipped out his precious baby, his magnum, and aimed it at Suguru's head. Suguru squeaked. "You have thirty seconds to explain where Shindou is."
With a sigh, Hiro stood up, placed a hand on the barrel of the gun and forced it away from Suguru's head.
Suguru breathed a sigh of relief.
K narrowed his gaze. "Hiro."
"K…We have to talk."
K was not going to like this.
oOo
Half an Hour later - Shindou-Uesugi Residence
Eiri thought he'd heard Shuichi come home, but it was too quiet for that to have happened. Shuichi could not remain silent if his life depended on it. In fact, Eiri was certain that Shuichi didn't know the meaning of the word or any of its synonyms-even if he had a dictionary and a thesaurus in his lap.
When the condominium remained as silent as it had been since Shuichi left, Eiri shook off the occurrence as nothing more than a waking dream and drifted back to sleep.
Or tried to.
When he reached out to hug Shuichi's pillow, and no it wasn't because he couldn't sleep whenever Shuichi wasn't besides him, instead of an empty mattress, he hit something slightly hairy and pudgy.
Frowning, Eiri felt around the object. What was it?
The giggle in his ear had Eiri's eyes popping open. "Baka," he scolded.
"Morning," Shuichi greeted with a grin.
With a groan, Eiri flopped onto his back and draped an arm across his brow and shut his eyes.
Shuichi crawled across him. Wrapping an arm tightly around Eiri's waist, he snuggled against Eiri's side.
"What the maniac want?" Eiri asked.
Shuichi's face fell. He shrugged as his finger played with the fine hair around Eiri's bellybutton. No matter what he said, it was not going to end well.
Eiri dropped his arm. Lifting his head, he looked down his body at his lover. "Shu. Shuichi," he repeated when the singer remained silent. A quiet Shuichi was never a good sign. Eiri lifted Shuichi's face with a finger under the younger man's chin. "What. Did. He. Want."
Shuichi avoided the intensity of Eiri's gaze and stared off to the side. "Suguru said he wants us to go on a short tour for Christmas."
Eiri said nothing as he ingested this news. "He what?"
With a wince, Shuichi untangled himself from Eiri and slowly sat back with his legs folded beneath him and stared down at his knees. An angry Eiri was a very scary Eiri-even more so when the anger came across as calmness.
"What do you mean he wants you to go on tour?" Eiri demanded.
Playing with the edge of the blanket, Shuichi shrugged.
Eiri reminded himself that he had to remain calm. He had to keep his temper in check. Snapping now before he knew all the facts would do no good. "And?"
Shuichi looked at him in confusion.
Calm, Eiri ordered himself again. "What did you decide?"
"I-I said I couldn't do it," Shuichi confessed in a tone that said that Eiri should have known that.
Eiri felt his anger melt away.
"I mean, we have plans right? We-we're going skiing and then to that hot springs right?"
Eiri nodded. "Right." He reached out and swept Shuichi's pink locks out of his beautiful amethyst eyes. He brushed Shuichi's luscious lips with his own. "Thank you," he whispered.
Shuichi smiled. "I love you Eiri and I want to be home for Christmas."
"Even if it gets you fired?"
"Even then."
Eiri trailed his hand around to the back of Shuichi's head and grabbed a fistful of the soft pink locks. He yanked Shuichi's head backwards-Shuichi moaned-and captured Shuichi's lips.
He knew how hard the decision must have been for Shuichi to make and he wanted to show Shuichi his appreciation.
oOo
Christmas Morning - Hokkaido Ridge Ski Resort
Four weeks later on Christmas morning, Shuichi woke bright and early in the luxurious suite-that was twice as large as their place back home-Eiri had booked for them at Hokkaido Ridge.
He stretched, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, yawned, and then settled right back in the nest of down blankets with a content sigh.
Life was great when you didn't have K breaking down the door.
There was a fire crackling in the fireplace.
The bedroom curtains had been thrown open to reveal giant snowflakes slowly drifting from the sky.
The distant sound of the shower reached Shuichi in the peaceful silence. Apparently, Eiri had gotten up early. That was a first.
Grinning, Shuichi tossed back the covers, sat up, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He shivered when his bare feet touched the bare floor. Quickly stuffing his feet into his slippers, he grabbed his robe from the back of the chair near the fireplace and raced down to the living room.
The tree the resort had provided was massive. It wasn't a fat one like the ones he'd had as a child or like the ones he'd forced Eiri into getting in years past. Instead, it was a staggering nine feet high white missile tree with pink lights, pink bows, pink garland and various pink ornaments. The resort said it was in honor of the current president's mother who had lost her battle with breast cancer last month. Shuichi thought it was gorgeous.
They'd opened presents the night before, but Shuichi was hoping that Eiri had slipped another one under the tree while he was asleep.
He wasn't disappointed.
There under the tree amidst the unwrapped presents was a one-inch cube wrapped in shiny pink paper that definitely hadn't been there last night.
Grinning, Shuichi knelt besides the tree. As eager as he was to grab the tiny box and rip into it, he hesitated. A severe case of nerves hit him. He held a hand over his churning stomach. A series of slow, deep breaths had the moment passing. Calm restored, Shuichi reached under the tree and grabbed the present. His hands shaking, he carefully peeled the gift paper off.
A black velvet and gold jewelry box was revealed.
Shuichi gasped. It looked like the same box that the diamond earring he'd bought Eiri for Christmas last year had come in. Had Eiri bought him one to match? Why would Eiri do that though? He didn't have pierced ears. Did Eiri want him to get his ears pierced so that they could wear matching earrings? Shuichi had never contemplated the idea, but the idea had taken root.
Knowing that K would most likely go into cardiac arrest made the notion even more promising, as if walking into the studio come the new year without his signature pink locks wasn't going to be bad enough-he'd gone back to his original hair color.
The prospect of having the same earring as Eiri spurned Shuichi into opening the case, but instead of the earring he'd been expecting to see, what he saw instead had him slack jawed. All thought fled.
There was a snort from behind him. "If I would've known getting you to shut up was that easy, I would've proposed a long time ago."
The wide masculine yellow gold band with an inlaid black onyx blurred behind a mist of tears.
"It's a family heirloom," Eiri continued as he approached his dumb struck lover. "Belonged to my great grandfather. He gave to it to his son, my grandfather, who gave it my father on his deathbed and my father gave it to me, as the eldest son, when my mother passed. Now…I'm giving it to you…if you want it." Suddenly, the blond writer was feeling self-conscious.
"Oh, Eiri," Shuichi whispered. Shaking again, he rose to his feet and with tears streaming down his cheeks, turned towards Eiri. "Yes," he nodded around a sob. "A thousand times yes." With the ring box still clutched in his hand, Shuichi flung himself at his lover turned fiancé.
Smiling, Eiri wrapped his arms around Shuichi's waist and hugged his now fiancé in a fierce possessive embrace. He had no idea what he'd been so worried about. Of course, Shuichi would say yes. This was something Shuichi has wanted since they first got together after all. "I love you," he whispered. "Merry Christmas."
"I love you too Eiri. Merry Christmas."
OWARI