Title: Don't Open 'Till Xmas
Rating: PG-13 for swearing and implied GacktxHyde
Summary: Well...what can I say to pique your interest? Just read it, it's good. -
Word Count: 2417
Notes: Yes I live in a magical land where rock stars can go to malls and not get mobbed by fans.
"'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the-"
"Tet-chan, shut it! I've heard that poem five times today already!"
Hyde was feeling especially irritable as he adjusted his grip on the shopping bags he had been lugging around all afternoon. Apparently Tetsu had taken advantage of his reduced state of awareness in the early morning, and had convinced him to come along and help with the last of his holiday shopping. All he knew was that one minute he was falling asleep in his bed and the next they were pulling into a space in the mall's parking garage. Since then, they had practically had to swim through the crowds of more than thirty different stores, each one with its own variation of the same shitty Christmas music.
Tetsu pouted over his shoulder as they made their way past a gigantic wishing fountain. "Awe, Doihachan, you've been grumpy all day. Are you still mad at me for waking you up early? I bought you coffee earlier, didn't that help?"
Hyde made a face as he remembered the syrupy concoction. While it had been labeled "A Hint of Candy Cane", from the bitter taste he wouldn't be surprised to find out that they had included the plastic wrapping in the mix. He still had a weird taste in his mouth from it.
"You could call it that I suppose. But no, I'm 'grumpy' because we've been walking around this maze of fluorescent lights and gaudy holiday decorations for a gajillion years now and I'm fucking hungry and I still smell like I've been rolling around with a french prostitute from that perfume that the cosmetic counter lady sprayed on me because she wasn't paying close attention and thought I was a girl!" The day had been bad enough, but the perfume incident added insult to injury. He hated that, damnit.
Tetsu stifled a laugh. "Yeah, but you know our fans like you with long hair...besides, you're just so-oh look!" Hyde watched in exasperation as his way too energetic friend got distracted by a shiny mech display and left him standing alone to run into yet another toy store.
Shoulders slumped in defeat, he scanned the immediate area for a place to sit, his muttered curses cutting off immediately as he detected and pounced on a miraculously empty bench. Sighing, he dropped the bags to the ground before collapsing onto the wire mesh seat. Right away he wished he hadn't, as he felt something cold and wet sink into the seat of his black jeans. He shot up and spun around. "Maan...what the...agh...nice. Fucking milkshake, thanks a lot." It didn't matter that it was an inanimate object, he continued cursing it's lineage and sexual preferences as he scowled hard, which increased his current headache as he craned his head to look over his shoulder to survey the damage. How did I not see that big puddle!
"You look like you're having a good day."
Hyde froze in mid-twist at the familiar deep voice. In the corner of his vision, he could just make out the dark form of a man standing five feet away in a spot that had previously only consisted of the slowly shuffling herd of holiday shoppers.
oh god...
Cringing, he silently cursed before slowly straightening back around, a small embarrassed laugh escaping his lips as he faced the other man. He hadn't seen Gackt for months and this was not how he had pictured their reunion. "H-hi Gacchan...what are you doing here?" Good one Hyde, we're in a shopping mall right before christmas and you're asking what he's doing.
Gackt smiled and relaxed his posture a little as he tucked a hand into the pocket of his brown leather pants. "Mmm, you mean in this spot right here, or in the mall? Well, I was shopping-" he held up a small black jewelery store bag. "but then I saw a familiar face and came over to talk..."
"Just in time to see me make an an ass of myself." Hyde finished for him, rolling his eyes. The extraordinary coincidence of them running into eachother like this would probably have occurred to him if he hadn't been so embarrassed.
Gackt pointedly looked him up and down, a mischievous grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Yes, but what a cute ass..."
Hyde's eyes widened in mortification. "Gacchan-"
"I know I know." Gackt said good-naturedly and rolled his eyes as he made a dismissive gesture. "It's nice to see you again, how have you been? I haven't talked to you since the opening night of Diabolos."
"Well...er...I guess...I've been spending time with Megumi and playing with my son...and stuff...in our downtime..." What the hell am I doing trying to think of small talk while I am standing here with cow spooge all over my bottom! He scanned the bags at his feet, not knowing what he was hoping to find, just something to somehow fix the situation. The offending drink had soaked clear through to his skin, and the burn on his cheeks was nearing intolerable levels. How can there be nothing useful in this mountain of shit!
"I can watch those for you if you want, the restroom is right over there." Gackt said, pointing with the hand holding the bag as he hid an amused smile behind his other hand.
Hyde nodded his thanks as he turned and forced himself to walk across the hallway at a pace that said, 'everything is fine, I do not have a slimy dairy product dripping down my leg, I'm just a regular holiday shopper who is going to wash his hands after touching the same surfaces that thousands of other hands have touched...'
He was not at all surprised to find out that the bathroom contained no paper towels whatsoever. Only piddly little faucets that for two seconds at a time, sprayed a fine mist rather than a jet of water. His other resource was either ultra-thin toilet paper that left more crumbled pieces of tissue than what they wiped off, or one of the weak-assed blow dryers that lined the wall opposite the sinks.
"Typical." He said, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time.
Through an extremely embarrassing process of sitting practically in the sink and then lifting his ass up to the blowdryer as he pulled his wet pants away from his body, he emerged about five minutes later with only a damp ass that was only a little sticky to the touch. Not that anyone should be finding that out, at least he assumed so...
His band mate had returned and was holding a shiny new addition to his already out of control cluster of bags, chatting away with Gackt as they both stood by the scene of the crime. Hyde could just hear them in his mind, laughing at the gooey print of his butt cheeks that he imagined must be left on the bench.
Tetsu brightened as Hyde forced himself to nonchalantly walk up to them. The bassist opened his mouth to say something but stopped, raising an eyebrow as he leaned towards Hyde and sniffed. "Hey, you smell like...chocolate covered french prostitute...yum...which store can I buy that in?"
Hyde narrowed his eyes and smirked as he flipped the other man off. "I got the last bottle, but you can get some at your mom's house I think."
"Oh hoh hoh, nice. What a lude comeback, for such a sweet looking little girl, does your daddy know you-AH!" His sarcastic jab was cut short as Hyde wrinkled his nose and bared his teeth, digging his fingers into Tetsu's side and tickling him hard. Whatever the bassist had been about to say was forgotten as he scrunched up and tried to fend off the attack.
Gackt stood back and watched this all unfold with his eyebrow quirked, softly laughing to himself.
The Holiday music faded for a moment as a tone sounded throughout the mall's speakers and a pleasent female voice notified them that everything would close in a half hour.
The two men ceased the play fighting and Hyde huffed and crossed his arms. "Please tell me you are done shopping now. Please. For the love of all that is good and right in this world, tell me that it's time to go home. Or I quit the band. I swear."
Tetsu chuckled as he smoothed a hand over his top. "Oh don't be such a drama queen, yes we're done. Er, wait-" At that he looked up and to the side as he wiggled his butt with his knees slightly bent. "Yeah, be right back." Without another word, he dropped his newest purchase onto the pile and trotted off the bathroom.
The look of morbid fascination remained frozen on Hyde's face as the bassist disappeared around the corner. He totally just did the peepee dance in front of us... Finally he just shook his head and laughed. "I'm sorry, he's cra-"
He had been in the middle of turning towards Gackt when he found himself pulled into a full body hug.
His wide eyes darted to the clusters of people walking by. "Gacchan..." he pleaded softly, keeping his arms stiff at his sides.
The other man's only response was to squeeze him tighter.
Giving up, he sighed and closed his eyes as he tentatively returned the embrace.
Gackt's soft voice stroked his ear. "I've missed you."
Breathing in the faint smell of Platinum Egoiste; Hyde found it altogether too easy to slip back into another time and country, away from the crowded mall and back to the quiet hotel room overlooking the beach...
Neither of them noticed Tetsu was back until they heard a small cough and the crinkling of the plastic shopping bags. Hyde quickly pulled away from Gackt and looked embarrassedly at his band mate, but he needn't have worried, Tetsu was cheerfully smiling as he gathered as much as he could carry.
"Alright I'm ready now, let's go!"
Feeling relieved as well as disoriented, Hyde ignored his protesting body as he crouched down beside the remaining bags and did his best to arrange them evenly between his hands. Obscenities flew through his mind at sub-sonic speeds, he resented this situation happening in a public place and at such a horrible time.
A soft tap on his shoulder made him freeze.
"May I help with those?"
He was about to say that no, he had it, but Gackt had already taken most of the heavier bags and had moved over to Tetsu, waiting for Hyde to join them. He straightened up and nodded, and when the other two men turned around, he snatched a quick look at the bench. Just to make sure. Ok, no identifiable shapes...good.
Conversation was next to impossible as they made their way out. Which was fine, Hyde found that he couldn't really think of anything intelligent to say anyhow. All he could do was follow the pony tail that hovered above the brown leather suit and hope he didn't step on any small children.
They finally broke free from the throng and into the towering labyrinth of cement and steel-the parking garage. Twenty stories high, each level the size of a football field, and Tetsu forgot where he had parked. Thankfully the precise location came back to the bassist after Hyde fixed a glare on him that promised slow and painful death.
In what could only be described as a magic trick, Gackt somehow manipulated time and space so that every single one of the bags fit perfectly into the small trunk of the silver hybrid. After slamming the lid shut, Tetsu left them alone to warm up the engine and scroll through his MP3 player for the ride home.
"Well-" They both said and then nervously laughed.
The muffled sound of electronic music could be heard emanating from the car as they silently faced each other. After a moment, Gackt quietly spoke again. "Come home with me."
Something in the other man's voice almost made him say yes. Almost. Hyde cursed the inventor of sunglasses when all he could see was his own reflection in the other man's lenses. "Ah, I...can't...tonight's no good...family dinner..." He frowned, mentally kicking himself as he spoke the words.
Gackt's brows came together for a breif instant before the calm expression returned. "Oh. I see. Well, it was good seeing you, anyway."
Hyde nodded and forced a smile, acting a hell of a lot more cheerful than he felt. "Yeah, we should hang out again soon, for longer though." Even as he said the words, he knew they wouldn't. They never did. Ever since they came back from Taiwan, if one of them wasn't busy with touring or recording, the other one was, and the most they would ever get together was a voice mail or text message here and there.
Probably thinking the same thing, Gackt smiled sadly as he nodded. "Definitely."
Hyde crossed his arms tightly against his chest and focused on his foot as he randomly kicked the back tire. "Well...I guess, call me sometime?"
Calloused fingers rubbed at pursed lips as the other man thought. "I think we should be getting a couple weeks off before we go back into the studio. I'll try to take care of my affairs as quickly as possible and give you call..."
"That sounds good." Hyde hugged his arms tighter against himself and looked to the side as his body was pulled in seperate directions. He couldn't just blow off his family, no matter how much he missed seeing this man.
"Hyde?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't open until Christmas, ok?"
Hyde looked up to see Gackt softly smiling as he held out the glossy black bag.
He felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips as he accepted the gift. "You didn't have to buy me anything Gacchan..."
The other man's expression turned serious, as if this was important to him. "Please wear it always, so that when I see pictures of you I will know that you are thinking of me."
Without waiting for an answer, Gackt closed the distance between them and lightly gripped Hyde's shoulders as he placed a chaste kiss on his forehead.
Hyde could only nodd as he bit his lip.
Letting his hands fall away, Gackt took a step back and smiled before turning around to walk towards the exit.
When the other man was about thirty paces away, Hyde suddenly piped up. "Gacchan!"
Gackt turned around and looked at him expectantly.
"...I...I like your pony tail..." Fuck that is NOT what I meant to say...
The other man just gave a slightly bewildered smile and a small wave before turning back around and disappearing through the door of the stairwell