Pina Colada

By: Hikage101

Shuichi moped in the small studio, sitting in the corner of the room with a close-to-tears look on his face. Many times his bandmates, manager, and producer had asked him such things as, "Are you okay?" and they had yet to get an answer from him, though anyone could tell what the answer was. He gave a long, dramatic sigh and stood, dragging himself to the door and leaving without even so much as a wave. The men in the room all looked at one another and it was evident what the problem was; Yuki. Again. The only question that none of them could seem to figure out was, what had he done this time?

The door was unlocked with a click and opened; Yuki sat rigid in his office, waiting. It couldn't possibly have been Shuichi - the damned brat always hollered some nonsense when he walked in - so who was it? A robber, member of the media, crazy stalker, ex-girlfriend... Tohma? The possibilities were absolutely endless, but of those he had thought of in that brief moment, he was able to cross all but the last two off. Whoever was out there had stepped out of their shoes and was now walking through the house in just their socks. He steeled himself as the footsteps drew near to his study and ice settled in his stomach as they walked on past. Tohma knew he would be in his office - he seemed to know where everyone was at any point in time. It was decided: ex-girlfriend.

Eiri stood from his chair, closing his laptop, and quietly made his way to the door. He peeked out through the small opening he had left just in time to see the bedroom door shut soundlessly. He slowly opened the door of his personal study and stuck his head out, glancing both ways for others that might have been let in, and tiptoed over to the bedroom. He waited a moment, listening for some sign of what the stranger might be doing; there was none. With an uneasy feeling, he slowly turned the knob and slipped inside without so much as a stream of light entering with him. The author's sharp eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly and scanned the room, locking on the bed where the covers formed a human-sized lump. He silently moved to the edge of the bed, thinking how sick it was that one of his ex-girlfriends had snuck into his house to lay in his bed, probably waiting for him to come inside and possibly do something to him... well, attempt, anyway. In a quick gesture, he pulled the covers back, ready for anything except what he found. Shuichi, his Shuichi, lay there in the bed, curled into a little ball, hugging a pillow. Yuki grimaced and hurriedly replaced the blanket, though he left the boy's head uncovered, lest he wake him; when had he started caring?

Looking at the cute one that laid in his bed, the blond man felt tired as well. He shook his head at himself and glided to the other side of the bed, pulling the covers back and laying down on his side of the mattress. He turned on his left side, facing the pink fluffball's back, and draped an arm over his love, drawing him back gently to spoon against him. He nuzzled his head against Shindou's neck and closed his eyes, realizing now just how tired he was. His grip tightened just a little around his boyfriend's waist and he sighed softly.

He must've been exhausted to have come in without saying anything to me. It's not like he didn't know I was home or where to find me. The poor thing... Yuki thought, trailing off as he noticed how silly that sounded. He kissed his little one's neck lightly and whispered, "I love you, Shu-chan."

Shuichi was in a daze when he woke up that evening, slipping from Eiri's grasp to get up and take a shower. He hadn't really been asleep when the man had come in a few hours earlier, had pretended to be asleep and almost failed a few times; he was glad, at least, to have been awake through the blond's paranoia episode, though he had fallen asleep before the man crawled in bed. He stripped down in the bathroom, not bothering to close the door, and turned on the water. He tested it a few times, making the adjustments needed, stepping in when the temperature was just right. He wet his hair, taking down a bottle of shampoo that smelled like strawberries - Yuki seemed to like it, so he refused to use anything else - and rubbed it into his hair until he had it lathered into thick off-white suds. He rinsed it out, did a follow-up with unscented conditioner, rinsed that out, too. He found the soap with wandering hands and stepped out of the downpour to coat himself all over with it, replacing the soap, and rinsing that off. He turned off the water, stepped out, and dried himself off quickly with a fluffy navy blue towel. He then wrapped said towel around his waist and left the bathroom quietly to pick out clothes for the evening.

Once dressed in jean shorts and a dark green shirt that complimented his eyes and hair nicely, he moved to the kitchen and sat at the counter for a long time. The newspaper sat at the end of it and he lazily drew it over, flipping through to see if he could find anything interesting to read about. Unfortunately, no matter what he found, his thoughts kept drifting to the other in the bedroom.

The author had been distant lately, withdrawn as he had been when Shindou had first moved in. He stayed in his office almost constantly now, occasionally coming out for dinner and a shower. He didn't want much to do with the hyped up singer anymore, didn't even take the time to shoo him away from the office. He always seemed to have something to do, whether it was work on his book or go out for some engagement his editor had arranged. The irritated "good mornings", afternoon "shut up and go aways", the "good nights" had all ceased to exist. No quick kisses, begrudging hugs, occasional touches, and random romantic moments. All of it was gone, his lover with it. What had happened? He hadn't done anything wrong, Yuki would tell him all about it if he had. Maybe he was losing interest? The thought made him want to find a .44 and use it right away.

A section caught his eye, titled "Personal Columns", filled with everything from love letters to advertisements for those in search of potential lovers. Now, Shuichi may not have been one of the smartest people by any means, but the idea that he got seemed simply brilliant. If Eiri was losing interest in him, why not go ahead and find a new interest himself? At least that way, he would have someone to help him get over it when the breakup finally rolled around. He wouldn't have to go crying to Hiro over it, wouldn't have to go to work depressed, wouldn't drag down the progress of Bad Luck. He grinned to himself, retrieving a piece of paper and pen from Yuki's office, and sat down to write.

"I'm fairly short, have an always happy-go-lucky attitude, I like to sing, I've been told I'm cute, and I'm a gay guy. I like creative types, tall and handsome, not too romantic or clingy, someone that's a good listener and states their opinion, no matter how harsh. I'll greet you whenever either of us come home, I'll do anything to make you happy, I don't care about you're past, I can cook all right, I do chores well, and I'm in a band with a bright future. If you're looking for someone like me or think you might be the kind of guy I'm looking for, contact me by writing a response to this ad and sending it in." The vocalist left the letter without a name or any kind of information. He found an envelope and stamp in Eiri's study, writing the address listed in the paper with a guarentee that all things sent in would be printed in the next day's issue. He walked back to the kitchen, proof-reading the letter quickly, before stuffing it in the envelope. He licked along the line of glue and sealed it, making a face that would've made girls squeal in delight. He stared at the envelope a long time.

Footfalls alerted him a little too late and he barely had enough time to stuff the envelope down his pants before the golden-eyed novelist stepped into the kitchen. He was given a good long look by the man, then completely ignored, replaced by a cigarette and can of beer. He frowned, more determined now than ever to get on with his plan.

"Um... I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back in a couple of hours," he said, getting not even a glance in response. He walked away as quickly as he could without looking guilty, pulled on a coat, slipped into his shoes, and was out the door. He took a few measured steps down the hallway until he knew he was out of earshot, then took off running at full speed. He successfully made his way down the stairs and thought he was safe until he slipped on the last couple steps and landed on his butt. He blinked a couple times, looked around to make sure he wouldn't have to play it off as a not-paying-attention move, then got up and barrelled out the doors of the apartment complex. He sprinted for a couple of blocks until he saw a public mailbox across the street. Even though he looked both ways a couple of times, as luck would have it, Shuichi still almost got run over by oncoming traffic. When he made it across the street in one piece, he huffed out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"Whoever I end up with had better be worth it or I'm so gonna shove my shoe somewhere it doesn't belong," he muttered, feeling a bit awkward as he pulled the envelope from his pants and slipped it into the mailbox. He decided to stay on that side of the road and take a little refreshing walk that he hoped wouldn't turn out to be too life-threatening.

Yuki was back in bed at about ten o' clock, having tired himself out with all the writing and drinking he'd done since his small lover had left. He noticed that the boy hadn't been himself lately. He wondered if something had happened, wondered if he should ask, wondered if he should just keep his distance as he had for the past couple of weeks. Shuichi has started acting a little funny as of late and he wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do, so he resorted to keeping away. If there was something really wrong, there was no indicator that it was to be brought up in dicussion and if he had been withdrawing too much, the singer would have lavished him with more attention than usual and asked what it was all about. So far, that hadn't happened.

The man opened the drawer of the nightstand next to the bed, pulling out a small velvet box and opening it. Inside was a sterling silver ring with a red stone that had two small bands of silver wrapped across it. He planned on giving it to his Shu-chan when he got over whatever it was that was bothering him, keeping it always on hand for the opportune moment. He already had a small wedding planned out for the next month that would include their closest friends and no one else, and he had a wedding ring stashed away that was even more extravagent and went perfectly with the ring he was admiring now. He had seen the ring in a jewelry store one day when his lover had dragged him shopping for something to wear at his next concert, and he had known that it was meant for the brat the moment he laid eyes on it. So he snuck away when the young one was preoccupied and bought it, along with a ring that matched nicely and a simple silver band with a small red stone for himself.

After a few long moments, he closed the box and replaced it, burying his face in his pillow to finally drift off. The sound of the door opening alerted him for the second time that day, though he was pretty sure it was Shindou this time. The jingling of keys being set down confirmed his suspicion and he waited eagerly - though he could hardly admit the fact even to himself - for the pink-haired teen to crawl into bed beside him so he could pretend to accidentally throw an arm over him and cuddle. He prepared himself for this motion when quiet footsteps trailed into the room and over to Shuichi's side of the bed, but the boy laid out of his plan's reach, making him curious and concerned. What was wrong with him? He always wanted to cuddle, though he never dared try when he lay down at night for fear the older man would push him away, leading to said man developing a habit of pretending to cuddle in his sleep.

The pink ball of fluff fell asleep as relatively quick as he always did, and still Eiri couldn't bring himself to scoot over and spoon up against him. It felt to him as if an invisible barrier had been erected between them - he laughed silently at that - and he couldn't find any way past it. It took him hours after that to finally get to sleep, feeling very sad, feeling that maybe he'd lost his lover, and wishing his one and only would wake up to comfort him.

Yuki was up the next day a couple hours after his might-soon-no-longer-be boyfriend had left for work at the studios. He found the paper on the kitchen table as always, though there was no breakfast to accompany it today, just as there hadn't been since the boy had gone into his little depression. He sighed and grabbed the breakfast he'd had since the time Shuichi stopped cooking, a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers, then sat at the counter and pulled the paper over. He scanned the headlines as he drew a smoke from the pack, placing it with practiced ease into his mouth, and lit it without looking. He took a deep breath as he opened the paper and turned the page, then withdrew the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled a breath of sweet-smelling smoke. Nothing interested him, as none of it was about himself or his sweetheart, so he turned to the section he always found interesting: the "Personal Columns". It was filled with love nonsense and he adored criticizing the ads and letters there, though he'd found some really good ones over the years and had even based parts of his novels on them. Today, one in particular caught his eyes. It read:

I'm fairly short, have an always happy-go-lucky attitude, I like to sing, I've been told I'm cute, and I'm a gay guy. I like creative types, tall and handsome, not too romantic or clingy, someone that's a good listener and states their opinion no matter how harsh. I'll greet you whenever either of us come home, I'll do anything to make you happy, I don't care about you're past, I can cook all right, I do chores well, and I'm in a band with a bright future. If you're looking for someone like me or think you might be the kind of guy I'm looking for, contact me by writing a response to this ad and sending it in.

He found this very interesting and it made him remember his situation with his Shu-chan. Well, if he was going to leave sometime soon, the author figured he might as well go ahead and start looking for someone else now, and this person seemed pretty interesting. He hummed to himself a moment as he reread the ad, the took the paper and his so-called breakfast to his study, fetching a piece of paper and pencil, and an envelope and stamp. He tapped the pencil against his chin a moment, then wrote in beautiful, flowing script:

"I'll say it plain and simple, I am the guy you're looking for. I'm tall, good-looking, I only have rare romantic moments, and my best asset is listening - aside from my writing. I like guys shorter than me, happiness does me good. It's good that you do all those things, because you can't expect any of it from me. Since you like singing so much, meet me tonight at Zepp Tokyo at eight o' clock; they're having a karaoke night."

He didn't sign the letter, since the other didn't either, and wrote the address on the envelope, folding his letter nicely and slipping it inside. He sealed the envelope, used to the terrible taste of the glue after so many years of mailing things in, and put a stamp on it. He took it down to his personal mailbox for the mailman to collect that evening, then went upstairs and proceeded to get wasted. He stumbled to bed afterward, got up a couple hours later for a retching session, then went back to bed, not even remembering when his young lover joined him.

Shuichi was up early the next morning, early enough the open the door right as the paperboy arrived and took it straight from him, dropping a couple appreciative coins into the kid's hand. He hurried into the living room and sprawled out on the couch, flipping quickly to the Personal Columns section and scanned over it. He found a response that made him simply tingle with anticipation:

I'll say it plain and simple, I am the guy you're looking for. I'm tall, good-looking, I only have rare romantic moments, and my best asset is listening - aside from my writing. I like guys shorter than me, happiness does me good. It's good that you do all those things, because you can't expect any of it from me. Since you like singing so much, meet me tonight at Zepp Tokyo at eight o' clock; they're having a karaoke night.

He adored how the the person had said, "I am the guy you're looking for." It showed just the right kind of attitude he was looking for. He closed the paper, leaving it on the counter for Yuki when he awoke, and was exuberant the entire day. He got through work easily, more happy than the weeks before, which set everyone else in a good mood as well. In their enthusiasm, the band made a good recording of their latest song and made up half of a new one off the tops of their heads. K didn't even have to touch his gun that day, which sent him later to the "target range" he'd set up just so he could fire off a couple of rounds. Not to mention that Mr. Sakano was absolutely pleased and did a little victory dance before they all left. Hiro wished him a good day before they left, stealing a quick kiss to his cheek, then hopped on his motorcycle and sped away.

Shindou arrived home around six and began getting ready for his big night. He took a long, relaxing bath and ate a hearty dinner, though he made none for Yuki - not that he would even if the novelist was home... which reminded him, where was the blond? He dressed in black leather pants that flared out at the bottom and a black silk shirt, making his pink hair and purple eyes shine since they were the only other colors on him. He didn't bother with cologne or anything, since he smelled strongly of strawberries. At seven-thrity, he left the apartment - Eiri still had yet to return from wherever he was - and headed to Zepp Tokyo, butterflies having a carnival in his stomach.

Yuki left the house before the brat arrived so that he wouldn't have to explain anything about why he was dressed in nicer clothes than he usually wore and smelled of expensive cologne, or where he was going, though he had the feeling Shuichi wouldn't have asked with the mood he'd been in lately. He grabbed a beer before he headed to Zepp Tokyo for his date with this mystery person, which was the only thing he'd had in such a long time that he wondered how he wasn't sick with lack of nutrients; he'd certainly lost a few pounds.

It was eight o' clock as he sat in one of the boothes that had been set up for karaoke night, so he stood and moved near the stage to begin searching for someone that resembled the description in the article. He looked around a good half hour before a familiar figure moved his way in the semi-darkness; neither person could make out each other's features as they moved toward one another. Eiri stopped short as he watched the stranger, who wasn't so strange at all. He knew that walk, knew the voice that was singing with the song that was currently on, he knew every inch of the body. Shindou Shuichi stopped before him and faltered in his singing, purple eyes staring into golden ones for the longest time.

"It's you..." was all the boy could say.

"I didn't know," the novelist said to him softly, watching him with an odd look in his eyes. "I didn't know that you were unhappy with me, Shuichi." It was the first time he'd ever called the boy by his name, startling him and making his expression slowly form one of sadness. "If I had known... oh, if only I had known..."

"Unhappy with you?" the young man repeated. "Yuki, I was never unhappy with you. You started withdrawing from me and I thought you were going to leave me, maybe this time for good."

"Leave you..." Yuki muttered, watching him as tears began to slip down his face. He suddenly stepped away from him and turned, making the younger man cry harder; this was it. It was over and the person he thought he'd have to comfort him in this moment was the same one that was causing this pain that ripped through his chest, tearing away at his last bits of resolve.

"May I have the mic a moment?" a familiar voice asked from the stage. Shuichi looked up quickly and watched as a somewhat bewildered woman handed over the microphone she'd just finished using. Eiri took it from her with a nod, then looked out into the crowd and cleared his throat. "Um, excuse me, everyone, but may I have your attention? My name is Yuki Eiri, I can tell by what I'm hearing that I have fans among the crowd. I would like to ask you all two things: one, that you bring Shindou Shuichi to the stage for me, and two, that you listen to what I'm about to say."

Shuichi looked around at the people nearby, all of whom swarmed around him and hoisted him up onto the stage so that he stood about a foot away from the author. He looked around and blinked, trying not to cry as he thought about what was going to happen in just a couple seconds. How could the man do this to him, break up with him in such a public place, before all of their fans?

"Thank you all," Eiri said, pausing a moment. "I know I am infamous for not staying with people for very long and I know that my relationship with Shuichi, here, has made a scandal not only because of it's length but also because of who we are. Well, I'm here to tell you that that scandal has ended." Shuichi bit his lip and tried with all his willpower not to cry, lowering his head... Silence... "And a new one has begun!" The boy's head shot up to look at Yuki, who took something from his pocket and slowly moved to one knee before him. "Shindou Shuichi, I've never been one for words and you know that. Ever since I've met you, so many things have changed for us. I just want to say that I want to spend the rest of my life with you... Will you marry me, Shu-chan?" He just stared in disbelief.

"I..." The whole world seemed to hold it's breath as he processed all of this; a feather touching the ground would have sounded as loud as metal against metal at that moment. "Of course I will!" he exclaimed. The crowd cheered, the media had caught the whole thing on tape from the moment Yuki had moved toward the stage, and the novelist slipped the ring onto his love's finger. He stood and gathered the pink ball of fluff into his arms as said fluffy one cried hysterically, and they fought their way through the crowds, getting many congratulations and even gifts, and finally made their way home.