The Call
One-Shot
Written by: chochowilliams
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters, places or names. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Summary: Shuichi's perfect little world is about to come crashing down around him. Who knew a single phone call could change so much?
Warning: language, angst, hurt/comfort, implied future minor character death, M/M
Pairings: Shuichi/Eiri
Insert:
A/N: Not a very happy little drabble as you can tell from the warnings.
oOo
Summer - Mid-Evening - Shindou-Uesugi Residence - Tokyo, Japan
Eiri was at a meeting with American producers who were interested in turning his novella "Closer Tides" into a movie. When Mizuki called to relay the possibility, Eiri had been amazed that anyone outside of Japan even know who he was. The shocking revelation was enough to make Eiri agree to the meeting when normally he would have turned down the offer without even hearing the proposal.
Eiri had been gone since lunch. Shuichi was hoping that was a good sign because if "Closer Tides" was made into a movie, Eiri would be-as the author-invited to the premiere and as a result, take Shuichi along as his date. Maybe they could work it so that the opening coincided with their honeymoon. That was definitely something to talk to Eiri about.
In the meantime, Shuichi was bored out of his skull. Bad Luck was between albums, so he didn't need to go into the studio-though that didn't mean he shouldn't do some writing, but he just could not find the inspiration. There were no special appearances he had to make or scheduled photo shoots. Nothing.
And it wasn't as if he could call the guys and see if they wanted to hang out or something. Suguru was studying for his college entrance exams-why, Shuichi wasn't entirely sure, though he had a feeling Suguru's parents were responsible. Hiro was gone camping for the next week for a family reunion. His fiancée, Ayaka Usami, had gone with him, much to the displeasure of the Usamis-apparently, they were still hoping that Eiri would "come to his senses and marry their daughter.. Ryuichi was in Vancouver filming a movie.
This all meant that he was on his own with nothing to do and he was absolutely bored.
To top things off, the internet was down and had been since this morning. Now, if that wasn't the icing on the cake, Shuichi wasn't sure what was. Fate was conspiring against him. He just knew it.
Life sucked when you were bored.
There was nothing he disliked more than having nothing to do.
After shutting down his laptop, Shuichi flopped over backwards with an irritated sigh. He stared up at the ceiling with his arms extended and stretched his legs out underneath the coffee table.
He was deciding whether or not to max out Eiri's credit card, which was for "emergencies only", when a familiar song burst through the silence that had settled over the house.
Grinning, Shuichi flew upright and grabbed his cellphone, which was in the process of doing the jig across the slick surface of the coffee table. "Maiko," he greeted enthusiastically.
"Hey Big Brother," Maiko Shindou giggled over the line. "What's up?"
"Oh just a possible movie deal."
"No way," Maiko breathed.
"Yes way. Eiri got a call from his agent this morning saying some American producers were interested in making one of his earlier short stories into a movie."
Maiko squealed. "That is so cool! Which one?"
Shuichi tsked his baby sister. "You know I can't tell you that."
"Oh come on, Shuichi!"
Shuichi could just see the pout. "Sorry. Not happening."
"Meanie."
Shuichi laughed.
"Oh, speaking of Eiri. I heard you got married."
"Nope." Stupid rumors, Shuichi thought. "Just engaged."
"Wow," Maiko breathed. "Congratulations Big Brother."
"Thanks."
"When did he pop the question?"
Shuichi pouted. "Why does everyone think Eiri asked me?"
"So," she drawled, "you're saying you asked him?"
"No," Shuichi denied. "He asked me."
"Then what's the problem?" Maiko asked with a small laugh.
"It's the principle of the matter."
"If you say so."
"I do."
"Uh huh. So when you going to get married?" Maiko asked.
Shuichi scratched his ear. "Not sure. We haven't really talked about it. Maybe the spring. We'll see."
"You're going to ask me to be your Maid of Honor right?" Maiko teased.
"Ha. Ha," Shuichi replied dryly.
Maiko giggled.
"So little sister, what's up with you?"
"Nothing much. I just got my acceptance letter to T.U. this morning."
Shuichi gasped. "Oh my God! Maiko! Congratulations!"
Maiko was going to be a high school English teacher. Shuichi wished her the best of luck. If his high school years were any indication, she was definitely going to need it, especially if her students learned who she was. Maybe she should take their mother's maiden name when she became a teacher?
On a personal level, Shuichi would not be caught dead inside a school when he did not have to be. He'd been more than relieved when he graduated and left that part of his life behind. Why someone would voluntarily return to school was beyond him, though, he did catch himself wondering from time to time what college would have been like. Maybe he could take some classes sometime in the future.
"You know Hiro could have gone to college?"
"I thought he failed his entrance exams?"
Shuichi shook his head despite the fact that Maiko could not see the movement over the phone. "That's what he claimed at our graduation ceremony." Announced to the entire school, and thus his parents, more like. "But he was lying."
"Why?" Maiko sounded confused.
The only reason why Hiro quit the band back in their final year of high school to concentrate on getting into medical school was because of his mother. Mrs. Nakano put all the family's hopes and dreams onto Hiro's shoulders-her younger son-when her eldest child decided to cut his own path in the world. Yuji Nakano was an aspiring actor. Despite the fact that he had yet to get that big break, Yuji had not allowed that to get his hopes up. He was doing what he loved and to him that was better than a solid paycheck doing something he hated.
Shuichi understood Mrs. Nakano's reasoning though. There were no guarantees in this business-to which Yuji could attest. One minute you're on top of the world and the next, you're nothing more than dirt beneath the public's feet-yesterday's news. Of course that was even considering you made it to the top in the first place, which more often than not, didn't happen.
Being a doctor would put food on the table, a roof over your head and clothes on your back. It was a steady paycheck. It was a future. You couldn't say that in the entertainment business.
It was a miracle Bad Luck made it as far for as long as they had and there was no guarantee that they would go any further than they already had.
Hiro said what he said back then for Shuichi and for himself as well. Like his big brother, Hiro did not want to be on his deathbed looking back on his life wondering, "What if?" He didn't want to have any regrets. Whether it worked out or not was of no consequence. Of course, he would prefer if following his dream did not turn out to be a fool's errand, but at least if things had worked out differently he would know he tried.
"Wow. I didn't know that."
"Neither does he," Shuichi admitted.
"Huh?"
Shuichi scratched the back of his head. "He doesn't know I know."
"How'd you find out then?"
"Snooped," Shuichi said. "This was years ago. Me and Eiri had this huge fight." He couldn't remember now what it had been about. "I stormed out and ended up going to Hiro's place. He wasn't home." Shuichi couldn't remember now where Hiro had gone, but knowing his best friend, Hiro was probably out on a date with Ayaka. "So I let myself in."
"You gotta key to his place?" Maiko sounded shocked, as if learning that her big brother had a key to his best friend's place was the catalyst to Armageddon.
"Yeah," Shuichi drawled.
"Why?"
Shuichi blinked. "Because he gave it to me."
"Yeah, but why?"
"Just in case."
"In case what?"
Shuichi was beginning to lose his patience. "Because he's an overprotective dumb ass that's why," he snapped. Correction. He already lost it.
The statement was met with silence.
Regretting the impertinent tone, Shuichi sighed. "Why'd you call anyway?"
"Can't a sister call her big brother without there being a reason?" Maiko asked. Her voice was a half-notch above a whisper.
Shuichi snorted. "Seeing you just called yesterday? No."
Maiko laughed.
Knowing he was forgiven, Shuichi grinned.
Like flipping a switch, Maiko then went serious. "Actually…You remember I asked you yesterday about whether you remember Ma ever having headaches when we were little?"
Shuichi frowned. "Yeah." Even though he couldn't remember his mother ever complaining about her head hurting, he, of course, assumed she had suffered from a headache at one time or another. Everyone did.
"Ma isn't prone to headaches," Maiko'd told him otherwise, "but she's been having them a lot recently."
So their mother suffered from headaches. So what?
"Well, she had a doctor's appointment this morning. You know, just a routine checkup and she mentioned to her doctor about the headaches and how she hasn't had much of an appetite and-"
"Wait. Wait. Back up," Shuichi ordered. "She hasn't been eating?"
"A little. Mostly nibbles, but yeah."
Shuichi knew next to nothing about healthcare, but that did not sound good. "You think they're linked? The headaches and her, uh, loss of appetite?" He hoped they weren't. The mere thought was giving him an ominous feeling for which he didn't particularly care about. If they were linked, maybe feeding one another, hopefully, it was due to migraines. Those were easy to deal with. Well, easier considering the alternatives.
"It's possible. I guess she has to go for some tests."
"What kind of tests?" Shuichi asked over a thumping heart.
"Not sure."
Feeling lightheaded, Shuichi laid down on the living room floor, which felt cold against his back despite the warm summer sun shining in through the open balcony doors. With an arm draped across his brows, Shuichi stared up at the ceiling.
"Shu," Maiko whispered into the heavy silence that had fallen between them.
"I know," Shuichi whispered back. He wished Eiri were home.
oOo
A Week Later - Shindou-Uesugi Residence - Tokyo, Japan
Against his better judgment, Eiri decided that he would allow those American producers he met with last week to turn his three year old short story, "Closer Tides", into a movie. He wasn't sure why he was allowing them to do so when he'd shot down similar offers before-numerous times in fact. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the Americans wanted to be as respectful as they could to the original story with all its twists and turns, but they were eager to put their own spin on it as well.
This was one movie Eiri could not wait to see.
Apparently, the one producer-Todd, Eiri believed his name was-spent some time here in Japan back when the story was first published in the anthology Coming Home Again with a dozen other short stories by authors from a variety of genres.
"I was here filming an American adaptation of Blood," Todd had explained.
Blood was one of the goriest Japanese horror films Eiri had ever seen. Shuichi had had nightmares for months afterwards. If asked, he still wouldn't be able to explain the plot. There hadn't seemed to be one. Just lots of blood and screaming.
"Why'd you take me to see it?!" Shuichi had accused Eiri of deliberately trying to turn him into an insomniac.
"Because you insisted on seeing it even after I warned you-repeatedly. That's why."
He was sliding his key into the lock when the door swung open and standing in the foyer before him was his pink-haired baka. The greeting on his lips died when he took in the state of the singer. "What's wrong," he demanded. It looked as if Shuichi spent the two hours he was gone crying.
Sniffling, Shuichi glanced into his lover's worried golden eyes. "Maiko called," he explained. His voice, husky and hoarse, cracked. He cleared his throat. A lone tear rolled down his cheek.
Eiri stepped forward and cupped Shuichi's wet cheek. He remembered being told last week when he came home from the meeting with the American producers that his mother-in-law-to-be had to go for tests to identify the source of the headaches she'd been having on and off for months. He'd been hoping, for Shuichi's sake, that the tests turned up nothing. He still was, but given the welcome home he was receiving, he knew his hopes were being dashed.
"Baby," he whispered. Rarely did he use endearments like this, but he felt justified in using them this one time in order to give comfort to his fiancé.
A tear trickled down Shuichi's cheek. Shuichi brushed it away. "Ma has…" he continued with a hiccup-sob. "Ma has a brain tumor."
Eiri went still. It felt as if someone had dropped him a bucket of carbonite.
"They-they said there's nothing they could do. It's progressed too far and-and has already spread…" Shuichi sniffed. Tears filled his eyes, blurring his vision, and spilled down his cheeks. His throat ached. His chest was tight. His heart hurt. His soul was crying out in pain. "My mother…she's going to die!"
Eiri wrapped his arms around Shuichi and held him tight as the twenty-year-old singer's heart wrenching sobs filled the house and filed down the corridor.
Shuichi wanted to wake up from this nightmare. He wanted to go back to a week ago, back before Maiko called, back when he was bored out of his mind. He did not want this. He wished he'd never answered the damned phone.
…The End