For: StrongerThanISeem because A) she gave me the idea, B) reviews and C) cool conversations about random things including the validity of Hiro/Suguru, bad dubbing, and the Love.
"Publicity?" Hiro asked, one eyebrow arched.
K grinned and twirled his gun in a way that made Hiro lean away from the crazy American. Sakano subtly edged away from gun and held out a simple piece of paper. Eyeing the both of them, Hiro took it and read, his frown becoming more and more pronounced with each read word.
When he was done, he looked back at his managers and asked, "Why do I need to do this? Shuichi and I walk down the street and get mobbed. I've seen Suguru walk the street and completely blend in. He's the one that needs the publicity."
While K simply cocked his gun and aimed, Sakano rapidly attempted to explain. "Well, Sacho-sama, that is, believes that Fujisaki should, ah," a clearing of his throat, "finish school before he's thrust even more in the public light."
That was right. Suguru did have another year of school left. There was the vague question of how Suguru managed to be a member of a successful band and still go through school, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Tohma simply hated him because Tohma knew that, if it came down to it, Hiro would choose Shuichi over NG and a continuing career as guitarist of Bad Luck.
Sakano flipped open the file he held and looked down at the sheets there. "There's also how you were last in the media three months ago and it was bad publicity about your break-up."
Hiro resisted the urge to bang his head on the desk. It had only been bad publicity because one trashy magazine had gotten a hold of Ayaka and had twisted her words around. They had broken up because they had been drifting and she had been getting paranoid; the tension between them had come to a head in a rather explosive fight in which she had called him a cheater and he had described her as a nagger. Really, their break-up had been mutual. Of course, there had been attention from the media; but one interviewer had taken Ayaka's words during the fight seriously and reported in their magazine that she had broken up with him because he had been cheating. That one report had blown up to an unimaginable degree.
Sakano attempted a smile, but it looked dim against the shine of K's gun. "You need good publicity now, Nakano."
"So I need to volunteer at some private academy for a whole month?" Hiro asked.
"To encourage the students to take an interest in music," Sakano confirmed.
Hiro looked from Sakano's wan smile to K's cocked gun. "I don't have a choice in this, do I?"
K laughed. "What made you think you ever did?"
The music teacher at Tokyo Private Academy was a woman named Rin Murakami. She only came up to Hiro's chest, height wise, looked as if she was only half his weight, and had long brown hair that she used as a cover for her shy smile. Her voice was quiet as she said, in the first few minutes, "You'll only be helping me with the advanced music classes." Hiro tried to think of that as a good thing.
Twice a week, he had been told, he would help the students with their work or talk in front of the class about being in a band or composing music. He was halfway through that first class (helping some girl figure out what key the song should be in) when the door opened and one Suguru Fujisaki walked in. Suguru looked at Murakami-san, looked at Hiro, looked at the rest of the students, and then shook his head amusedly and sat down in an empty chair by the front desk.
When Hiro finally finished with the girl (the song, as it turned out, worked best in the A major key), he went over by Suguru and leaned against the desk.
A slight smile quirking his lips, Suguru looked up and asked, "This has something to do with K, doesn't it?"
Hiro gave his own smile and ran one hand through his hair. A few of the younger girls swooned. "Doesn't it always? He's determined that I need more publicity."
Suguru elegantly arched one eyebrow. The eyebrow asked You? More publicity?
Hiro pointed a finger at him. "It's not like I wanted to do this."
Suguru brought up a hand to cover his smirk and said, "Of course."
Suguru went to Tokyo Private Academy. It was the only place he could go and not get mobbed on a daily basis by fans. He didn't need to go to Murakami-san's classes, really, as he was in a successful band, but Suguru liked the classes. Especially when there were no classes and it was just him and Murakami-san and, well, now Hiro.
Hiro usually left the Academy to meet up with Shuichi for lunch, but one girl had needed some more help with a composition, so he had stayed behind to help. When the girl finally scurried off for her own lunch hour, Hiro just sighed and plopped into one of the free chairs, bringing up his hands to rub at his face tiredly.
Suguru rolled his eyes and pushed his bento towards his band mate. The sound of box scraping along the table alerted Hiro to movement and he peeked through his hands to see. There was a moment's pause where Suguru and Hiro just stared at each other, but Hiro relented and snagged one of the rolls from the box. Suguru gave a pleased smile. Murakami-san, sitting at her desk, ducked her head and giggled a little.
Suguru was sprawled in one of the extra chairs in the room, looking bored as Murakami-san finished her lecture on minor chords. Hiro was just as bored, but he tried to look attentive. At least Suguru wasn't as bad as Shuichi had been in lectures; Shuichi had the horrid habit of falling asleep and then waking up at random times. Hiro rolled his head and looked over.
Suguru looked elegant, lithe limbs spread gracefully. His expensive clothing showed the sharp angles and planes of his body. Hiro…let himself appreciate, just for a moment. He wasn't blind, after all. And it didn't matter anyway. Suguru was so immersed in music to even notice if anybody was checking him out.
The bell rung, students filtered out. Suguru was gathering up some music sheets, helping Murakami-san file them. And some random student was standing in the doorway, all strong arms and dyed hair. The student stepped into the room and awkwardly cleared his throat.
Hiro was just about to go up to the student, ask him if he needed anything, when Suguru, voice surprisingly hostile, bit out, "What do you want Cho?" Hiro turned, eyes wide. Suguru's expression was hard and unflinching and it vaguely reminded Hiro of Tohma; the comparison left a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
The student—Cho or whatever—shuffled into the room and gave a hesitant smile. This action only made Suguru's expression ice over even more. "I just wanted to talk to you, Suguru."
Suguru scowled. "We've had the same conversation at least three times. It's done and over," with a slammed drawer as the punctuation.
Cho gave both Hiro and Murakami-san an uneasy glance. "But, Suguru—,"
Abruptly cut off by Suguru, "No." And then Suguru turned his back on the kid. Cho pouted a little and slowly walked out of the room.
Murakami-san sighed and shot Suguru a flat look. Suguru just raised his eyebrows at her. After a moment, he asked, "What?" A pause as one of Murakami-san's eyebrow arched in question. Suguru frowned and said, "At least I stopped using your room." Then he snatched up his bag and headed out, never sparing Hiro a glance.
Hiro was confused. He looked over to Murakami-san, hoping she would fill him in. He caught her eye, but she just looked away and let out a mumbled, "It's none of my business."
Hiro strummed another chord and eyed Suguru. Shuichi had brought in some lyrics, but then he had vanished somewhere and K had to go chase after him. Suguru had the lyrics and was trying to make some sense out of them on the synthesizer.
Hiro couldn't take it. "Who was that Cho kid?"
Suguru drew his fingers along the keys, listened to the chime, and went, "Hmm?" distractedly.
"Today? Cho? Who is he?"
Suguru took a second to look at Hiro and then went back to deciphering Shuichi's scribbles. Hiro had just about given up on getting an answer when Suguru said, "Ex."
"X?" Hiro was confused once more.
Suguru gave an affirmative hum and marked something on the paper with his pen. "He was my ex." Lifted one thin shoulder in a shrug. "We would steal Murakami-san's room for…ah…" Here Suguru trailed off and turned a delicate shade of pink. Cleared his throat and continued. "Well, I broke up with him and he's been trying to get back to together with me."
Hiro stared blankly at Suguru. "You dated someone?"
Suguru looked up again and drew out his, "Yes."
"You dated a guy?" He was not supposed to be this confused about his band mate. Ever. It just wasn't right.
Suguru let out a huff of laughter. "Who else would I date? I am gay, after all." He gave Hiro a funny look, shook his head, and went back to the lyrics.
The chord Hiro strummed out twanged strangely. "Of course," he muttered under his breath.
Hiro couldn't sleep. Images were dancing around his brain, haunting him and keeping him up. He could see it. Suguru pressed against the shelves of music books. Large hands twining in dark hair. Long lashes fluttering closed over clouded eyes. Suguru's mouth, wet and warm and swollen, pressing over inches of bared skin. Suguru's long limbs wrapped around him. Suguru's voice, soft and low, moaning and whispering. Those piano-thin fingers tracing music on skin.
Hiro closed his eyes tightly and dug his fingers in his sheets.
Being in Murakami-san's room just made everything worse. It just made everything more vivid. It had only been one day and yet his fingers were itching to press Suguru to the nearest flat surface and…
No! He was Suguru's friend. He liked the kid, really. And…now he was lusting after Suguru? Hiro barely resisted just placing his head in his hands and laughing hysterically. He could already tell that whatever this was had the possibility of building up to a crush—which was not good. He was not going to fall for Suguru Fujisaki. No. He refused.
Suguru came into the room and gave him a small smile. Hiro's stomach flipped over. Gulping, he glanced away. This was not good.
He had survived. This was his last day. Then he could stop thinking of where to press to Suguru to make him… No. Deep breath. Of course, leaving the room didn't mean the thoughts left…the thoughts had already invaded into everyday life and it was just getting really frustrating. Because he was not—NOT—crushing on Suguru. Nope.
Hiro grabbed his bag, shook hands with Murakami-san for the last time, and exited the room. He would just have to walk these halls one last time and then he'd be—
"Suguru, please, I miss you so much."
Hiro peeked around the corner of the hall. Just like he thought. Cho had Suguru cornered. He resisted the urge to go over there and make Cho go away. Somehow.
Suguru scowled. "I don't care, Cho. We're over. Done with." He tried to go around Cho, but Cho grabbed his wrist and kept Suguru still. Hiro eyed the hold and shifted his weight, ready to run and throw Cho off of Suguru if need be.
Cho sighed. "I know you like that band mate or whatever, but we worked well."
Hiro nearly fell over from shock. Suguru liked… He wanted to throw away the idea of Suguru liking Shuichi…but it was possible. Maybe. But if Suguru didn't like Shuichi then…Horribly cliché butterflies erupted in his stomach.
Cho continued. "And I can see why you like that Hiro guy and whatever, but c'mon. We were so—"
Hiro wanted to run over and sweep Suguru away from Cho, but Suguru started talking, sniping out each word. "Haven't you heard me? No. Find someone else for your…" Lips pulled back into a disgusted sneer. "Sexual gratification."
Suguru ripped his wrist away from Cho and stalked away.
He had tried. He had refused to fall for his band mate. For Suguru. But had that worked? No. No, it did not.
The deck was stacked in Hiro's favor. He knew this already but still. His stomach was jumping and his palms were all sweaty. He rubbed his hands against his jeans and looked over to Suguru. Carefully, he picked his way across the room and stood next to Suguru and the synthesizer. Suguru gave a cursory glance as a delicate melody chimed from the synthesizer, long fingers pressing against glossy keys.
"Hey, Suguru?" he asked.
Suguru treated him with a, "Hmm?"
"Would you like to go out on Friday or something?" Or something. That was real smooth.
He was cursing himself when Suguru gave him a slight smile. "Sure, we can work on music stuff. I have the melody for this coming along already so—,"
What? Um. No. Not work. But date. "No, Suguru—," he tried, but Suguru kept talking about music and melodies and how Shuichi's vague chicken scratch was no help at all sometimes. And Hiro knew that, since Suguru was so into music and having Bad Luck be the best out there, he could go on for some time.
So, Hiro simply leaned down and pressed his mouth to Suguru's. Suguru's mouth stopped moving, became open and pliant underneath his own. When Hiro pulled back, Suguru had his eyes shut and his cheeks were flushed.
Suguru blinked dazedly as Hiro went, "Um. I meant as a date, that is." When Suguru just stared blankly, he tacked on, "Friday?"
A moment. Then Suguru smirked, said, "Sure," and then pulled Hiro down for another kiss.