Hey there, my fellow readers and writers. :) Well, here's a new oneshot I cooked up while reading the story What They Were Missing by DarkScytheQueen, and the part where Eric Stuart meets with his character Seto Kaiba really inspired me and got my creative fires going. So I thought up this oneshot while listening to "A Boy in Love With You" by Eric Stuart. I had no idea Eric can sing — and I have to admit, his voice is pretty good, too.
Anyway, I hope you like this!
Disclaimer: Genius Kazuki Takahashi owns Yu-Gi-Oh, and the lyrics to A Boy In Love with You by Eric Stuart belong to their respective owners; Eric Stuart belongs to himself, of course. I own the fanfics I cook up from time to time.
A Boy In Love with You
It was nighttime in Los Angeles, California. However, nights in the City of Lost Angels (as Los Angeles was often called) were never very peaceful or quiet.
Muggers shouted curses at each other and at the sky. Sometimes they fought each other both physically and verbally in battles or brawls. Drunkards usually roamed the streets looking for money to buy "liquid courage", as they called it. Call girls were often out looking for a good time and to earn some money to pay the bills. Pole dancers and exotic dancers in strip clubs would perform for guys looking for both something to tickle their fancy and something to give them ideas for a story some of them had wanted to write.
And the guys looking to drown their troubles would go into the nightclubs, looking for a cool dance or a good drink to take their minds into their version of paradise.
In the living room of the mansion on 2313 South Bundy Drive was a black piano. Seated in front of it was a man, 43 years of age, with black hair and dark brown eyes set in a face most call "handsome".
His name was Eric Stuart.
Eric took a deep breath and placed his fingers on the piano keys. Then, notes began filling the air as Eric began to play the piano. Soon, a deep, cowboylike voice began to fill the room...
I like to get my own way
with that certain look
For me it's always OK
if it's never by the book
Maybe I'm just a rebel without a clue
But, baby I'm still a boy in love with you
As Eric sang, letting his powerful voice fill the room and fly throughout the house, a young man stepped into the room and leaned against the entryway to the living room. He was tall — probably about 6'2" — and was wearing black slacks and a long sleeved black shirt without buttons, a belt which had a beveled engraving of KC, a large flowing purple colored trenchcoat with pronounced shoulders, wide arms, long flowing bottom and a pair of steel cuffs about the forearms, and very high black boots with a slightly raised heel in the back. Chestnut bangs hid his cobalt eyes, which were like glaciers.
I try to be so graceful,
glide across the floor
To the simple tune of faithful,
I still don't know the score
Maybe I'm just a dancer who's lost his shoes
But baby I'm still a boy in love with you
Now I may stumble, I may come undone,
I may get crushed by the weight from above
But if you lose faith in what I've become
You can trust in the strength of my love
The young man smiled a secret smile to himself, headed up to where Eric was, and then stopped beside the piano. Then he placed his laced fingertips on top of the piano, watching Eric's fingers as he played the piano keys, like he did whenever he saw Eric playing his guitar.
Kaiba couldn't put it into words, but he liked seeing the actor who voiced him on Yu-Gi-Oh play his own music. He thought it was kind of neat.
I try to write a letter
Straight from the heart
String my words together,
but I don't know where to start
Maybe I'm just a poet without a rhyme,
But baby this boy'll love you ‛till the end of time
Baby, this boy'll love you ‛till the end of time
Finally, when the last notes of the song played and then faded into the air, Eric then took his hands off the piano keys, let them rest on his lap, and looked down at them.
He was content to just let the silence speak its thousand volumes that words sometimes didn't or couldn't find the courage to express. After all, silence does speak a lot, especially when there's only one person in one room. Sometimes, words weren't needed to express one's feelings. Usually, silence worked just fine. And Eric knew this very well.
"Hey, Eric," said a voice, interrupting Eric's musings.
Eric looked around, wondering who the voice was. Whoever it is, it knows my name, he thought.
"I'm up here, silly."
Eric then looked up. Although he was the type of guy who sought thrills and adventure, he blinked half in surprise and half in shock. There, sitting on the piano itself, was the character he voiced on Yu-Gi-Oh. The very same character that everyone else saw as "the KaibaCorp CEO who's handsome, but has a heart encased in a block of ice because of the abusive treatment he suffered at the hands of his stepfather, Gozaburo Kaiba". However, Eric saw him as "kind of like James Bond — gadgets, gadgets, gadgets".
"Hello, Eric."
Eric couldn't believe it. Kaiba was able to talk — and he was talking in Eric's voice.
"How-?" asked Eric. "How are you able to talk with my voice?"
Kaiba simply smirked. "You should know that I'm connected to you, silly. After all, I've read all about you, and I must say, you do a great job of bringing me to life with your voice."
Eric blinked. "Uh, thanks."
"You're welcome," Kaiba smiled. "And that song of yours, the one you were singing just now — it's really good. I like it. And I have to say, you have a great singing voice, too."
Smiling, Eric then replied, "Cool. Thanks, Kaiba. But how were you-?"
"Able to track you down?" finished Kaiba. His smile then transfigured into his well-known trademark smirk that many men and women both knew and feared all too well. "It's quite simple, really. I did a little detective work, and found out that you were right here, in this very house. Plus, I've also heard that you have your own band, too.
"So," Kaiba added after a moment, "I'm a lot like James Bond with the gadgets, huh?"
Eric nodded, feeling it wouldn't do much good to tell a lie; he believed the truth was better, and that it was always best to do a mega-honest job about something.
"Yes," he explained in reply. Then he began to mull things over in his mind, like he usually did. What he had said was the truth. After all, in his mind, Kaiba reminded him of himself. Except Eric was never the type to be a CEO that's able to run a multi-billion dollar company, use computer skills to hack into people's progress reports or financial records and change them (or something along those lines), or say "You're all fired, and I suggest you leave now before I really lose my temper and take more than just your jobs", or even add "Don't test me, you slime".
Instead, Eric was the nice guy and a sucker for adventure and drama. He always secretly thought so himself.
Kaiba then noticed the dreamy, far-off look on Eric's face. This wasn't new to him, though. He had heard that his VA would sometimes get lost in his own thoughts, after all. So with that, he then reached down and tapped under Eric's chin. That instantly woke Eric from his trance as he blinked in puzzlement.
"Ooh, whoa," said Eric. "That sure was quite the train of thought I got stuck, and on by accident too."
"Ah, I see," said Kaiba. "Was I on that train as well?"
Eric thought that over. "Well, yeah, I guess."
Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "You guess?"
Then for the second time that day, Eric was bitten by the honesty bug, if there ever was such a thing. "Yeah. It's just... sometimes without warning, I get lost in my own thoughts. But all it takes is a loud sound, like the slamming of a car door, to bring me back to reality.
"Geez," he added, rubbing his head. "Sometimes I feel like I need help putting my thoughts together. It's almost like they're the pieces of a puzzle or something," Eric finished.
Kaiba narrowed his sapphire eyes as he thought that over.
Then he replied, "Forget seeing a shrink, Eric. You have me to talk to, and you have money. Why would you feel as though your thoughts are all messed up?"
Before Eric could reply, Kaiba went on. "And speaking of money, why haven't you been treating yourself to a little spending spree every now and then?"
He then pointed to the table three feet away from the piano where Eric's wallet was sitting. It was a Chanel patent green wallet, and it cost Eric only fifty-five dollars. It seemed to be filled to the brim with money since Kaiba could see a few corners of dollar bills sticking out of it.
As soon as Kaiba held his hand out, much to Eric's surprise, the wallet then rose into the air and floated right into Kaiba's palm. Then before he knew it, Kaiba then reached down with his free hand, took Eric's left hand, turned it over and placed his wallet into it.
"Eric, just think of all those dollar bills sitting here in your wallet doing nothing. They could be going with you to the shopping center and being spent on something special for you."
Kaiba's eyes seemed to glow with a light that looked white in color in contrast to the cobalt of those orbs set in a face Eric had heard many of Kaiba's fans call "handsome".
Eric wanted to say No or I won't help you. But he knew better than to argue with Kaiba, even though Kaiba was a part of him — a part he knew he could never shake off his shoulders like one would a coat or a cloak. He had even read in all those Yu-Gi-Oh stories written by fans that nobody ever said "no" to Seto Kaiba. Nobody ever told Kaiba what to do or how things should be done, either. Instead, Kaiba did as he wished. To argue with Kaiba, one observed, was to sign one's own death warrant — or so the rumor went.
Finally, Eric then said, "Well, all right. I'll do it."
**At the San Francisco Shopping Mall**
Kaiba raised his eyebrows as he sat across a table in the food court, watching Eric taking slow bites of a piece of pepperoni pizza he had bought at Sbarro's in the food court. Apparently Eric was so hungry, he felt like eating the very first thing he saw on a restaurant menu. "I take it, Eric, that all that piano playing made you hungry."
Eric swallowed and then nodded. "Definitely," he replied. "At least I know I can keep up my energy levels up. Plus, like any singer does, I'm going to need all the energy I can get. Speaking of which, being a singer isn't as easy as some people think, either. I know that for sure."
As Eric paused to take a sip of his Coca-Cola, Kaiba studied his features. Eric looked quite handsome, even for a man that was 43 years of age. His black hair looked great, and his eyes – dark chocolate orbs – were really neat, especially since they were set in a face that most people, besides calling it "handsome", also called "inspiring".
Plus, Eric had talent. Raw, inspired and very natural talent. He just needed something to help him cultivate it and help it grow in the right direction, like one would with a plant.
It was then that an idea came to Kaiba's mind. Wait a minute... "cultivate it and help it grow... like a plant".
He then smirked.
He knew this wasn't the real Eric Stuart, but then again, maybe it was. Maybe he did hide this person inside of himself. Maybe it had been there all along, and needed only the proper person to pull it out of him. He would be that man.
~Finis
Well, I hope you liked reading this as much as I did writing it. Nice feedback is appreciated, of course. :)