A/N: This is the first of a series of drabbles and ficlets -- all of them having to do with Suguru and Ken-chan's relationship. Note that this little series takes place after Not Aggressive, Just Passive -- though you don't really need to read that to understand this.

Lover's Spat

'Silence is golden'.

Bull, was Suguru's only thought as that saying popped into his head.

If silence were golden, then he was the king of Japan. Silence was anything but golden; at least, at the moment it certainly was not. It was almost deafening. The tension that filled the mid-sized car was so thick one could cut it with a knife.

Ken and Suguru had honestly forgotten why they were arguing with one another, but still would not let up on the harsh glares, sighs of frustration, and the occasional obscene hand gesture.

By the time the car had hit the highway, Suguru had had enough of the silence. He was eighteen, a grown-up, now. His problems wouldn't be solved by just sitting there and pouting. Not that he ever relied on such a method.

"Nice car," was all that Suguru was able to say, unfortunately. He was still mad, after all. He wasn't sure why he was mad, but he was. Ken's attitude wasn't helping the matter either.

"I know." It wasn't a smug reply, really. It was more of a 'I-don't-really-want-to-talk-to-you-right-now' reply.

Suguru sighed in frustration as he turned his head to stare out the window. He caught glimpses of some of the other passengers in their cars, all happy and laughing. It didn't make Suguru feel bad or anything; it just annoyed him. It seemed that whenever he was in a bad mood, the whole world around him was as happy as ever. It was like a big 'fuck you' from the universe.

The whole world seemed like it was laughing and celebrating outside of this one car, and it was killing Suguru. After a while, it had occurred to him that Ken was giving him the silent treatment, which didn't sit well with the keyboard prodigy.

If anything, Ken should have been given the silent treatment. He didn't know why, but knew he should be the one to be ignored.

He wanted to just talk about it with Ken and end this horrible tirade of rude gestures. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. Ken wasn't the type that you could be direct with when he was angry. Suguru had learned that the hard way. He always got defensive, and when he got defensive he yelled, and when he yelled, Suguru would get pissed and not speak to him for the rest of the day -- sometimes week. In order to deal with Ken when he was like this, Suguru found that he had to make annoying small talk until little by little Ken would start warming back up to him; that's usually when whoever was at fault would apologize.

However, at the moment, Ken wasn't cooperating in the least. His sour mood hadn't lifted in the slightest. In fact, he seemed to get angrier as the minutes rolled by. He wasn't sure, but at one point Suguru could have sworn Ken had given him the finger, though he couldn't be positive since he 'saw' it from his peripheral vision.

"What kind of car is it?" Suguru asked, trying to spark some sort of conversation.

"Nissan Skyline," he replied flatly as he turned the steering wheel, moving into the next lane.

He was being stubborn now. No, he was being childish. Whatever got him this mad couldn't have been that bad if Suguru didn't even remember it! Ken seemed perfectly happy when he picked him up in the morning; it was after about an hour in the car when he started to seem upset. When Suguru had made the common mistake of confronting Ken about it head on, an argument had erupted, and thus the silence began.

And yet, their destination was still about three hours away. It was just so frustrating for Suguru. Before he knew it, he was talking, and he didn't stop. He knew he should have, but he didn't. He was just so...pissed. "You know, your attitude is going to have to change once we get to the park. Unless you want to make the others feel awkward."

He hadn't looked at Ken when he said it, but he heard him huff, and he just knew the older man's face was twisted into a scowl. "Your attitude isn't any better."

Suguru's head snapped in Ken's direction. "You know, you're acting childish."

"This is coming from an actual child," he spat out, knowing Suguru hated being referred to as a child. It was Ken's ammo against him when he really wanted to piss him off, since he was older by a few years.

And it worked every time.

"When we get to the park, I want nothing to do with you. Is that clear?" At the moment he meant every word. They were on their way to a barbeque with the others, and the last thing Suguru wanted was for everyone to notice how the two seemed to hate one another at the moment. It was best if he just stayed away from him.

"I don't want anything to do with you now," Ken replied, turning when he spotted a sign that read the name of the park they were going to.

"Then I'd appreciate it if you'd stop talking to me," Suguru said. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window at the passing foliage as if to signal that the conversation was over.

Normally, this was the part where Suguru would storm off for a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do that now unless he was willing to become Secret Agent Suguru and dive-roll out the car door. So, naturally, Ken continued to argue.

"You're the one who started it. I was perfectly quiet until you started asking stupid questions about my car."

Suguru gritted his teeth as he fought to hold back whatever crass thing was threatening to escape his lips. His fingers were digging into his grayish sweater as his arms folded tighter over his chest. He wanted to say the one thing he knew would shut him up, but he didn't want to stoop so low either.

"Just, drop it," he forced out.

"Oh, so now that I have a point you want to drop it? Typical. Heaven forbid you should be wrong." Ken shook his head in disbelief as he pulled the car into a small side-road, which was surrounded by more trees. It looked as if they were there. Good, it was a lot shorter than Suguru had thought.

Just don't respond. That's what he wants, and I refuse to stoop to his level. Though he couldn't deny that little voice in his head telling him to say that one thing that was sure to piss Ken off.

"So you're going to ignore me now? That's not very adult-like of you." The car now pulled into a large area surrounded by more trees, though the ground was concrete with white stripes on the floor, like a makeshift parking lot out in the woods. There were three other cars there, surrounded by the others they had intended to meet up with.

Suguru sighed in relief. He was glad that he had made it to the park without saying something he knew he'd regret.

Too bad Ken had other plans.

"Fine. Be a little kid."

It hadn't even occurred to Suguru that Ken had been trying to patch things up in his own twisted way by getting him to respond back. Or that maybe he was just trying to push his buttons. At that point, nothing occurred to him. Not even that if he started something now, it would unleash a tension that could possibly ruin everyone's good time. He was just too annoyed.

"Virgin boy." The words weren't spat out with any venom or malice, but they certainly weren't harmless. It was stated, almost like a fact, and that is what caused Ken to get so pissed off.

That was Suguru's ammo against Ken.

"You're such a prick," was all Ken said before opening the car door and getting out. He hadn't even bothered to open the passenger's side like he always did.

Suguru's eyes narrowed as he watched his significant other put on a huge smile as he greeted his two band mates. They all stood by the car talking and laughing, and it irked the Hell out of Suguru. Even the members of ASK were having a good time, and they were within ten feet of Bad Luck!

"Suguru, come out of the car, will ya'?"

Suguru turned his head to the left, coming face-to-face to Shuichi. The vocalist didn't even give him a chance to protest before he reached his hand through the window and unlocked the door, pulling it open. He grinned down at the keyboardist as he held the door open. "Don't just sit there, come on! Hiro's making his famous heroes as soon as we get to our spot!"

Suguru arched an eyebrow at the ridiculous pun as he stepped out of the car and shut the door. Ken, Taki, and Ma-kun were all gathering coolers and heading over to the trail that lead to their usual spot. As Suguru figured, Ken was totally ignoring him. Shuichi had ran over to Yuki and was pestering the blond about wanting to carry one of the two heavy looking coolers, with Yuki responding by saying 'you're too weak'. Hiro was busy carrying the remaining coolers, looking as if he were showing off for Ayaka.

Well, I may as well at least try still have fun. That thought in mind, Suguru pulled his lips back into a forced smile and walked a bit behind everyone.

This was going to be hard.