Warnings: There is hints of shounen-ai. That's boys loving boys for those of you that don't know. I still don't know what you would be doing in this section if you hated these things. What do you think Gravitation is? Anyways...That's about it aside from normal murderous tendancies and some crude language. Not to mention and insane ability for characters to be killed and then miraculously appear better in the next paragraph or so.
It was Christmas time once again. Shuichi and Yuki had gotten in another fight and Hiro and Suguru had been kept up for three nights straight trying to comfort the distraught singer. Even Ryuichi and Tatsuha's peace had been disrupted by the whole affair. Yuki had refused to return to his home until Shuichi apologized for some unknown offense on the off chance that he might run into the pink haired teen. Everyone was losing sleep and everyone wanted the two to get back together, even the producers and managers and bandmates that were physically unaffected were feeling the aftermath.
All those that were not involved in the fight met in the break room two days before the big Christmas Eve party. They were there to formulate a plan to end all plans. A plan to get the two famous people back together once and for all. Many nights of having to restrain themselves from ravishing their bed partners had done a number on the four whose homes had been invaded and a bad three days at work had messed up the Christmas spirit for the rest of them.
"We have to put a stop to this. I can't take it anymore, and that kid can eat a horse when he's depressed. And it's my turn to pay for groceries this week!" Suguru was beside himself. He'd only moved in with Hiro two months ago and he hadn't had to deal with the marathon cheer Shuichi up sessions. Hiro sighed from his seat next to his lover.
"Yeah!" Ryuichi stood up with Kumagoro balanced precariously on his head. "As much as I like Shu-kun, and as much as I want to get along with Tat-kun's brother, I can't stand him wandering around the house at all hours of the day and night muttering about something. And his cigarette smoke is messing up my sensitive throat!"
Tatsuha pulled his lover down into a sitting position and voiced his own concerns. "I haven't been able to get into the bathroom for the past two days. He keeps wondering in there and not coming out for hours. I don't even want to know what he's doing in there!"
The other's listened sympathetically. They had no idea what the four were going through personally, but they were sure that they would probably not like it if it were happening to them, and so close to Christmas! The injustice!
"I think everyone's been affected by this in some way or another." Tohma began to speak softly and everyone stopped fidgeting in order to hear him. "Ryuichi's been too tired to do his job well enough and it's pushed the debut date of our next album back way too far. Noriko and I have had to stay up late to make up some time in the musical arrangement sections and Mika's been getting on me for coming home late. Not to mention the fact that Bad Luck is in danger of losing a concert deal unless their lead singer pulls his act together in time for the press conference on the third."
"I suggest a display of fire power and force is in order!" K stood and brandished his gun for all to see. Hiro, Suguru, Sakano, and Ryuichi cringed. The gun had been turned in their directions far too many times.
Sakano latched on to K's arm and tried to drag him back into the chair he'd been using a minute ago. "GAH! K! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US ALL? PUT THAT THING AWAY NOW!"
The others laughed as K patted the producer on the head and sank back down into his previously abandoned seat. Sakano remained attached to the blonde's arm in order to prevent a reappearance of everyone's favorite weapon. No you silly perverts! I meant the other one.
Tatsuha suddenly perked up. Everyone turned to look at him as though he had grown a second head. Well, everyone except Ryuichi who was now humming a little tune.
"I think I have a plan. What if they ran into each other at the company Christmas party? Eiri's pride won't allow him to cause a scene or leave early. It would only make it more plausible if he stayed and pretended to like Shuichi if the press is there like they're supposed to be. He can do as he pleases once we move upstairs for the more private party to begin, but he's going to want to be seen with Shuichi when he does go. He's all about the image, my brother."
Everyone burst into small conversations about the plan. Everyone except Ryuichi again. He was now muttering to Kumagoro and bouncing around in his chair. Tatsuha was perfectly happy to just sit there and bask in the glory of finally being the person with the stupid idea that was probably going to get them killed. Pissing off Yuki wasn't the best idea in the world, but there was the small chance that it might work.
"It just might work." Hiro was muttering to Suguru. "Then we can get our house and, more importantly, our bedroom back."
That was enough for two things to happen with the keyboardist. The first thing was that he was totally convinced that the plan was a damn good idea. The second was that a bright blush colored his cheeks. Hiro noticed the second thing more than the first. He can't read minds you know. The cute little blush caused a chuckle to emanate from the guitarist. No one else noticed, of course.
Meanwhile Tohma and Noriko were going over plans to use the free time that Ryuichi would be having the second Shuichi and Yuki were back in the same house.
"The way I see it, we can spin the delay. If we push the date back two more weeks, then we have enough time to stage a concert." Tohma was lining out his plan already. Noriko nodded.
"I see what you're saying. We could use the concert as an excuse and a boost at the same time. Do you think that we can prepare something like that in such a sort time." Tohma nodded and they continued to talk music, which is completely boring once you think about it for more than two seconds.
K and Sakano were arguing over whether or not the American was allowed to carry the gun to the party or not. Sakano was going to lose, but it wouldn't be for lack of trying on his part.
"The press is going to be there. You can't just walk around with a gun at your shoulder in front or them. They'll have a field day! Not to mention that it's Christmas!" Sakano was about to regress into begging. "Please."
"I always have my baby with me. I'd feel naked without it. The answer is no." K was putting his foot down. Oh well. Who's going to argue more with the guy that was stubborn as hell, not to mention the fact that he still had said gun in his hand? He had even gone so far as to rest his finger on the trigger. Sakano hung his head in defeat. I mean, I would have too. Who wants to be shot that close to such a nice holiday? They wouldn't be able to get their presents. That would be tragic!
All the conversations began to converge as Suguru remembered that they would have to put up with Shuichi in the house for two more days. He didn't think that he could stand two more minutes.
"Oh gods. Does this mean that he has to stay with us until the party?" Tatsuha paled at the thought of having to cater to his brother and his weird moods swings for two more days. Ryuichi was brought back to reality with that thought and blanched when he tried to imagine two more days with Yuki. Suguru groaned and banged his head on the table until Hiro made him stop.
"Can't they just go to a hotel or something?" K suggested.
"Shuichi's probably going to one tonight anyways. If the fight goes on for more than three days, he leaves on the fourth night apologizing and saying that he has horned in on my privacy for too long. I don't know much about Eiri, though." Suguru glared at Hiro.
"And you didn't tell me this! We could have sent him to a hotel any time and you didn't even give me the slightest clue!" Hiro shrugged. He was used to it.
Noriko was sitting in her chair next to Tohma thinking. The comment about the hotel gave her a whole new idea, but it would mean that Tatsuha and Ryuichi were going to have to make some adjustments due to the fact that Yuki was unlikely to leave their house until after the party. She shrugged to herself. Some things just couldn't be helped.
"I think I have an idea that would be very good to expand on Tatsuha's." She began and everyone went quiet once again. A passing janitor almost had a heart attack due to the fact that there was no noise coming from the break room this late on a Monday night. Normally there was someone in there yelling about something or running around like a maniac. The absence of sound shocked him to say the least. But no one cares much about the old janitor that went on with his life after taking his heart pills. He's not really relevant to the story and he was just plain old boring anyways. Forget I even brought him up.
"Hiro and Suguru will send Shuichi to a hotel tonight, and be sure to get his room number and the address. Ryuichi and Tatsuha might have to put up with Eiri for just a bit longer, but it'll all work out in the end. Now, on the night of the party, Tatsuha needs to get mad at Eiri. You could do it around news cameras or something. Whatever works for you, but make sure that he knows that you're paying for a hotel and he is going to go there whether he likes it or not. I'll arrange for someone to pick up his bags, but claim that you did it just to be safe."
The others were beginning to pick up the thread of where this whole thing was going. Everyone else raced to finish off her thought in that annoying way that some people tend to do.
"And we'll make sure that he gets the same room as Shuichi!" Suguru exclaimed.
"I can force him if you want me to." K was the first one to suggest the use of force, but was immediately reprimanded by an angry Sakano. K just kind of sat there digging in his ear while getting yelled at by the angry producer while the rest of the room went on obliviously.
"Yuki's going to be pissed." Tohma observed, but he was ignored for the first time in his life. No one really wanted to think about how pissed Yuki was going to be. Suguru was too caught up the happiness that the thought of Shuichi leaving their apartment had brought about to care much about the vindictive author. Hiro was contemplating that really cool security system a traveling salesman had tried to get him to buy. K was pretty safe and Sakano was safe by default since he was now living with the crazed American. He had been since K divorced his wife two years ago. Tatsuha was thinking about increasing his life insurance policy and Ryuichi was wondering if Kumagoro would be free for tea later.
"Wait! We have to put up with Yuki, but they don't have to put up with Shuichi! That's not even the least bit fair! And do I have to really pay for the hotel!" Tatsuha shot to his feet, knocking the stuffed pink rabbit that Ryuichi loved to the ground. The end bit was shouted over the frantic cries for the lost toy. Suguru returned it to the vocalist and chaos settled into planning once again.
"No, you idiot. We're all chipping in to pay for it. And you guys can go to a hotel or something. I'm sure he won't even notice you're gone. Just go back the day of the party to remind him to come." Noriko took charge once again and held out her hand for the reluctant donations to the 'Get Shuichi and Yuki out of my House/Get Ryuichi and Shuichi to Work Harder' fund. "Thank you all for you interest and funding. We hope to get your friends/coworkers back up and running shortly. Any emotional scarring, or physical for that matter, is your problem and not mine. Thank you and have a nice day."
Tohma stood and left. Being ignored was not his forte and his work there was done for the time being. Noriko quickly followed to arrange some things and get the money she'd collected out of the room in case some of the victims...er...donees wanted their money back. Tatsuha and Ryuichi hurried out after her to get the name of a good hotel they could stay at. K left happily singing Christmas carols at the top of his lungs, in English no less. Sakano sighed and hurried after him to make sure that no poor pedestrian got hurt. Hiro and Suguru left minutes later since they knew that Shuichi would need some help to pack. He had never been the most organized. They argued all the way home over why Hiro had never mentioned the hotel thing.
The day of the party came and it was very cold and it was very snowy. All in all, it was a pretty miserable day when you think about it, but when it snows on Christmas it's a good thing. I never could figure out why.
Hiro and Suguru had gained their house back the day The Great Plan was hatched, and the only thing that they were annoyed at was the fact that Shuichi had a bad habit of calling whenever he was lonely. That tended to happen a lot. Work didn't really matter since everyone was on hiatus for the season, but they knew that this was their only shot to get the two together before the time to buckle down and work came.
Ryuichi and Tatsuha did go to a hotel for the remaining days before their plan was to be put into effect. They were mercifully uninterrupted. Yuki didn't even notice that they were gone he was so caught up in the new novel he was working on. It came as a big surprise to him when the two reappeared and reminded him about the party. He didn't want to go, but he didn't have a choice seeing as Tatsuha threatened to bring in K in order to make him.
So everyone gathered on the day of the party in relatively good spirits. All the conspirators were convinced that this plan was going to work. Yuki was happy that Shuichi wasn't supposed to be there after all. He was just getting in the groove on his new novel and was enjoy the solitude. Shuichi was just glad that he would have a good excuse to see people again. He had been getting awfully lonely at the hotel and just talking to Hiro and Suguru over the phone wasn't enough. He wanted physical contact, the more intimate kind as well as just the random stuff.
K and Sakano were the first to arrive followed closely by Tohma. They were there a full hour before the party was set to start and there were already media cameras and trucks out front. It was going to be a big event with the seasoned Nittle Grasper and the up and coming Bad Luck in attendance. Everyone wanted to know how good of friends the rivals really were. Not to mention that there were supposed to be numerous stars that were going to stay down in the lobby for their own party after the bands went upstairs for their Christmas perks and Secret Santa game. And, to sweeten the pot, the mysterious Yuki Eiri was going to be there. It would be a great opportunity to take pictures of him and his little singer spreading the Christmas spirit with their friends.
Hiro and Suguru were the next to arrive, right on time to the very second as always. It might have been the holidays, but they weren't going to use that as an excuse to be late. They were followed by a very hyper Shuichi, who was only five minutes late for the first time in his life. The two other band members almost had a heart attack right in front of the media cameras they were posing in front of. Not to mention the fact that K almost shot Sakano from shock. Luckily for the American, Sakano was too far into his own shock to notice. Tohma pretended not to care.
There was a lot of hugging of shocked people and a lot of flash bulbs which caused more than a few people to begin to crash into walls from temporary blindness. Then the real commotion began.
Ryuichi appeared in a blur of pink, red and brown. He bounced around the lobby for a few minutes unnoticed before Shuichi saw his friend and launched himself on the poor singer. This caused another round of flashbulbs and wall running into. This time Sakano was one of them. He was quickly rescued from being trampled by a ruffled K and Noriko appearance almost went unnoticed for the ensuing chaos. Whenever K takes out a gun, the aftermath is never very good so some of the media peoplegot goingwhile they still had legs to do so.
Once the crowd thinned a bit they group caught sight of Tatsuha forcibly dragging someone behind him. Shuichi was too caught up in discussing an upcoming concert tour with Ryuichi and Tohma to notice who it was. Hiro and Suguru looked up from their own small argument to see that both main players in the plan where there. They ran off to use Hiro's cell in private to alert the baggage transfer people that they could go and do their jobs now.
And that's when all hell broke loose.
The reporters spotted Yuki at about the same time the author spotted his pink-haired hyperactive singer. An all-out race to see who would get to the door first began, with Tatsuha being dragged behind. The news reporters beat him there with their almighty, 'I must get the story or I die a horrible death at the hands of my editor,' powers. There was nothing left to do but find Shuichi and pretend that nothing had happened.
He was about to come up from behind Shuichi when he was caught by a reporter and had to give an interview on the spot. He cursed his fame and wished that this night would end and end soon. When he turned back around again he saw that Shuichi had moved on and his brother and Ryuichi were in his place, doing things that most certainly should have been illegal to do in a public place.
"Break it up you morons." Both parties sprung apart and looked around guiltily. "Where the hell did Shuichi go, and don't think that I don't know he's here. I don't know what game you're playing, but I'm going to win."
"There's no game dear brother, but there is a catch." Tatsuha grinned and Ryuichi waved and bounced off to go find K and Sakano. "I want you out of our house and I want you out two nights ago."
Yuki was shocked and appalled. "Are you throwing me out?"
"Nah, of course not. I say these things for my own health. Yes! Your mood swings are driving me insane! You mope around all day and stay up to odd hours of the day and night! You didn't even seem to notice that we weren't even around for the past two days you were so caught up in your moping or writing or whatever the hell you want to call it. You eat our food and leave your cigarette butts and beer cans everywhere! And don't think I haven't heard you listening to Bad Luck's CD. I want you out!" Tatsuha was livid with rage, imagined and otherwise. Noriko was watching out of the corner of her eye wondering why Tatsuha had never told them how good of an actor he was.
Yuki's mind was moving into overtime. This could be the very thing that he needed to get out of this gathering and save face. He could say that he had to run an errand for his brother, so no one would think it was weird if he went back to his brother's place. Then he could grab his stuff and risk heading home where he could sneak out and then claim that he was overcome with inspiration so he didn't come back to the party. He could then head off to the nearest hotel and no one would be the wiser. Of course, Tatsuha knew all this. He didn't live with the man for so long not to have noticed what he did under pressure or when he was in danger of losing his dignity in front of adoring fans.
"So I took the liberty of having your bags moved to the Star Hotel..."
"What the hell! It seems like you're not giving me much of a choice in this matter. What if I WANT to go home now?" Yuki was pissed. How dare his brother think that he could just go and arrange for all of this under his own nose, but...if he didn't have to pay for it...No! Eiri Yuki didn't let others boss him around!
"Oh don't cause a scene. Do you want me to go in front of those cameras over there," Tatsuha nodded his head in the direction where K, Sakano and Tohma were giving an interview about their future concert plans. "and let everyone in Japan know that you and you're little 'lover' are having a fight? I'm sure they'd love to know that you're too afraid to go back to your own home. Go to the hotel after this is over, or your secret is blown."
Now this was the part that Tatsuha was dreading. He knew that making Yuki mad was not a very safe thing to do if he wanted to live to see the other side of twenty, but he also wanted his brother out of his house. The moment of truth was upon them. Would there be car pushing in front of? Would there be skull bashing? Would someone shoot someone?
Too bad for those of you out there that wanted to see blood shed. This is a Christmas fic after all.
"Fine." Yuki managed to get out between clenched teeth. At least he would have an excuse for not leaving the party with Shuichi. He could always blame Tatsuha. That would be fun. Hell, the little brat didn't even have to know that he was there. As he thought this he looked over to see Shuichi hanging onto to Hiro and laughing at something a news person had just said. A stab of loneliness shot through him. Or maybe he did want to see the little brat.
Silence fell over the lobby as the two bands and various other stars watched Tohma walk to a raised platform over by the elevators.
"I would like to thank you all for coming, but I must steal away some of our bands now. I hope the rest of you stick around for the entertainment and buffet that has been provided for you. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas." Tohma concluded his little speech and the three elevators slid open and Nittle Grasper, Bad Luck and company moved forward to make sure they got in elevators with significant others.
There was much shuffling and much picture taking, but in the end everything worked out just as Tohma and K had planned. Nittle Grasper and crew were in one elevator. Bad Luck was in another. Shuichi and Yuki had been pushed into the same one. What fun.
Shuichi hadn't noticed at first who was in the elevator with him. He was still riding high from all the press coverage and being with his friends to really care. He turned around in time to see the door close and then he was pushed up against the wall.
They both knew now that they had been tricked, and tricked by the masters. The ride up to the top floor of the record company was spent plotting and planning and just plain old figuring out the best way to get revenge. Apparently, someone at the hotel had mentioned the fact that there was now to be two people in his room to the distraught singer. Yuki, of course, had figured it out the second he saw Shuichi in the lobby. They were all going to pay. Nothing like a little revenge to get two people back together.
The doors opened simultaneously and everyone shot out into the open hallway. They wanted to get a good look at Shuichi and Yuki, but no one could seem to see them in the rush of bodies. They were more worried about not being crushed at the moment, so they moved along down the hall into Tohma's office.
"Not the brightest idea to have us all dumped into that narrow hallway, was it?" Hiro asked Suguru while trying to make sure that Sakano didn't fall on them. The poor producer was being jostled this way and that in the struggle to get to his idol's office. Suguru shook his head and dragged Hiro with him behind the office door until everyone had found his or her seat. Well, that would have worked well if there hadn't been someone there first.
The unfortunate duo had run into an extremely pissed off Eiri Yuki. They both gulped and tried to back right back to where they were before, but they were pushed into Yuki by someone that looked vaguely like Shuichi. For a second they thought it was the hyper singer but then they heard a rousing call of "Na no da!" Well, there was only one person that would sound like that. They marked it off as an accident caused by Kumagoro induced fun and left it at that.
Now that left the problem of running into the annoyed author and possibly making him even angrier. Surprisingly enough, Yuki grinned.
"Hello." Yuki slid out under Hiro's arm. "Good to see you again."
"Uh...yeah..." Hiro watched amazed as Yuki strolled off and engaged in conversation with Tohma.
"Something's not right here. When was the last time he smiled when he wasn't around Shuichi?" Suguru was uneasy. He didn't really know the author all that well, but he might as well have lived with the guy. He heard about him at least twice a day, most times more.
"That's what I was wondering." Ryuichi had popped up behind them without warning. Both musicians jumped about ten feet in the air and crashed back down to Earth again. It was bad enough when the guy came up from behind you and launched himself on you, but it was an entirely different thing when he came up from behind you with his game face on. "From what I've seen, they don't even seem to know that the other is there."
"That's impossible." This time there were three people flying through the air and coming to a sudden stop right where they had been standing a minute before. K had managed to somehow creep up behind them, which was quite odd considering the fact that they were all still behind the door and there really wasn't much more room. "Tohma and I made sure that they were in the same elevator alone. They have to know that the other is here. I don't think that either one has the power to make themself invisible."
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind being able to do that at times." Hiro muttered. Everyone looked at him. "I think we've been found out, or at least some of us have. There is no way that they can know who is in on the plan or not. We can at least get out of this with all our limbs attached if we play our cards right."
"Are you saying that we should pretend that we had nothing to do with it in order to be excluded from their hit list?" K was amazed. Hiro had some pretty good ideas at times. The guitarist nodded. "I like it!"
"Poor Tat-kun." Ryuichi was back to his bouncy self now that the thing that had been bothering him was cleared up. "Oh well! I'll be there to help him in the aftermath. I can be his nurse, right Kuma?" The thirty-one year old singer bounced off to do whatever he did when he was on his own at a party full of friends.
Meanwhile Shuichi was talking to Tatsuha, bouncing around and being his normal obnoxious self. The dark haired clone of his brother was wondering what the hell was going on around this creepy place. Shuichi was acting as though he had just flown up to the top floor and that he hadn't just been tricked into sharing an elevator with the person he was supposedly having a fight with. Our boy had managed to hear K and Tohma discussing the whole elevator thing downstairs.
"Don't you think that you coming on tour with all of us will be exciting?" Shuichi was going on about the next Grasper/Bad Luck tour. Tatsuha had plans to follow Ryuichi this time. "We're all going to have the best time!"
Tatsuha, biting down the real question he wanted to ask (Is Eiri coming with you?), answered. "Yeah. It sounds like a blast. I'm glad I decided to come."
Shuichi cursed mentally. If only the guy had asked whether Yuki was going to be joining them or not. Then he could catch him in the lie. It was very obvious that Tatsuha had something to do with this whole 'plan' thing that they had discovered. It wasn't every day that the teen confronted his brother and risked being murdered for no reason. Now they just had to figured out how many people were involved.
Hiro, K and Suguru popped out from behind the door as Sakano cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "It's time for the Secret Santa exchange. K, if you would?"
K nodded and hurried back to the smallish safe that was hidden behind a picture of Yuki that was in Tohma's office for some odd reason. He opened it happily and tossed all the presents to Sakano one at a time. Needless to say, the producer spazzed out and gave everyone a lovely show while he tried to catch all the presents and place them on the desk before the next one flew at him. He succeeded, surprisingly enough, and not a single present touched the ground, though there were several near misses.
"Ok! When I call your name, I want you to come up and grab the present you bought and give it to person whose name you drew. Everyone understand?" Sakano sighed dramatically when he looked up to see that no one was listening to a thing he had just said. Well, everyone seeming to not be listening to a thing he'd said. Tohma came up and cleared his throat. Silence settled on the room immediately.
"Proceed Sakano-san."
Sakano looked like he was about to burst into tears, but he continued none the less. "Hiro."
Hiro came up to the desk and grabbed a medium sized package. "I got K-san." He tossed the present to said manager and hurried back over to the chair he was sharing with Suguru.
K pulled out a nice new gun holster and everyone laughed. The blonde man grinned and made a big show of taking off his old one and slipping his trusty magnum into the new one. Sakano sighed as he watched his lover grin like and idiot and strut around pretending to shoot random people. The poor people that were aimed at promptly had cardiac arrests, died and then appeared perfectly fine in the next panel.
The rest of the party went on kind of like that, until it was Ryuichi's turn to give his present. He had managed to pull Shuichi's name. Everyone, minus K, Hiro and Suguru, held their breathes. The aforementioned three just acted as they had for each and every present received. Yuki took all this in.
"Shu-chan!" Ryuichi smiled and bounced over to where Shuichi was sitting. The pink haired singer grinned at his rival/friend. Ryuichi delivered a hug and a sparkly package. "I hope you like it!"
The rest of the room kept shooting guilty looks at Yuki. Hiro and Suguru were whispering in each other's ears and giggling. Yuki marked them off as having no threat. They had been doing that the whole time. K was adjusting his new holster and keeping an eye on pretty much everyone in the room, just as he always did. Ryuichi continued his bouncing within sight of Shuichi to see if the singer would like his gift. Wrapping paper flew.
"Ryu-kun!' Shuichi yelled and threw his arms over the older man. His present happened to be a stuffed animal that looked a lot like Kumagoro. Ryuichi produced his own pink pal.
"Now Shu-chan has a Kumagoro, too!" The two danced around the rooming laughing and hugging for a full two minutes before accidentally bumping into Hiro and Suguru's chair and spilling the two, now laughing at their friend's antics, to the ground. Both singers moved to help the laughing pair up and K shot a bullet into the air to restore order. The others hadn't moved an inch. 'Someone should really teach them not to act so guilty when they stage something as stupid as this.' Yuki thought to himself from his little corner.
The party continued on. The only rocky spots were when Shuichi gave his gift to Hiro (a new set of guitar picks) and when Tohma gave Yuki his gift (a really cool hat that looked an awful lot like the one the producer was wearing) and of course when Yuki had to give Sakano his gift (Sedatives. Everyone got a real laugh out of that one). The whole time the party was going on, Yuki and Shuichi were evaluating their friend's reactions to everything. The only ones that seemed to be sincere were Hiro, Suguru, K and Ryuichi.
While everyone was avoiding talking about the fight between the singer and the author. Hiro and Suguru had figured that it would be in their best interest to ask their friend whether he was doing all right with the source of his recent hurt so close by, and so very obviously ignoring him. This was probably the smartest thing they had ever done, which isn't saying much when you think about how absolutely clueless everyone else in their world was. It was expected from Ryuichi, who, under normal circumstances, would have probably never known about the fight in the first place. It was no big for K to completely and totally ignore conflict unless it got out of hand or threatened Bad Luck's future as a band. Hiro and Suguru showing no interest would be unacceptable and a big give away. Well, maybe not as much for Suguru, but he went as credibility for Hiro. He had been there for the three days Shuichi had invaded their privacy after all. It wasn't that hard to imagine that he would still be worried, especially if Hiro convinced him that there was something to be worried about. It was actually a very good cover story for the both of them when you think about it.
Noriko was busy trying to coerce Tohma into taking his hat off, much to the amusement of K, Ryuichi and Tatsuha. Yuki was off in his little corner scribbling on a napkin. Shuichi had been talking to Sakano, but at the sound of more gunshots, the producer had run off to take care of making sure that no one important were dead. This was when Hiro and Suguru chose to approach the laughing singer. Watching K be insane was always funny when the gun wasn't pointed in your direction.
"Hey, Shu." Hiro said softly. Shuichi's demeanor immediately changed. Suguru briefly wondered whether they should put the kid on pills or not (and not for the first time either). "How are you holding up?" He glanced in Yuki's direction for emphasis. The author took note and wrote it down. What'd you think the napkin was for? A novel? Don't make me laugh. When was the last time he actually wrote anything in a novel when Shuichi was around?
"I'll be fine. I just don't get it. He hasn't said a word to me the entire time. It's like he doesn't even want to be here." Shuichi looked like he was about to cry and Hiro put his arm around his friend's shoulder. Suguru moved in closer as though to protect to singer from the rest of the room.
"It'll be ok, Shuichi." Suguru said. He was catching on fast. "I'm sure he's here for some reason. He wouldn't have come if he hated you. When was the last time he ever did anything he didn't want to do unless you were involved somehow?" Score one for the keyboardist.
Shuichi looked at the teen with tears of gratitude in his eyes. Hiro grinned. "See Shuichi. Suguru has a point. Maybe he's just waiting for the right moment."
Yuki sighed out of irritation. They just had to act as thought they knew him, and Shuichi was lapping it up. Oh well, it wasn't like he didn't deserve it and he knew that was exactly what Hiro and Suguru would probably say in this kind of situation. The guitarist had always been overprotective of his friend, so it made since that his lover would at least pretend for the red head's sake. Everything was cosher over there. That left just about everyone else.
The party was drawing to a close. Hiro and Suguru made a point to offer Shuichi their home again, but Shuichi pleasantly declined. His excuse was that he'd already paid for the night and it wouldn't be right to intrude on their hospitality again. He had other plans, of course, but no one knew about those but Yuki. Hiro and Suguru begged him to change his mind, but were secretly relieved when he practically pushed them out the door. They didn't have to stay. It was very obvious that they had nothing to do with anything.
That left the rest of them. K and Sakano tried to leave. Yuki had been watching the duo the entire time. He was pretty sure that Sakano was in on it, but K... Even if the American had a hand in everything, Yuki liked his head where it was thank you very much. He distracted Sakano with some imaginary emergency and the producer told K to go on without him. He then spun off in a whirlwind to tend to whatever needed tending to.
Ryuichi and his brother tried to get past him next. That was a harder one to deal with. There was no doubt that Tatsuha knew exactly what was going on. Ryuichi was another story. Yuki seriously doubted that he had the mental capacity to act like this if there were something on his mind. Now there was the problem of letting one through without the other. He'd also have to find some way to do this with out making either of them suspicious.
In the end, it was Shuichi that figured that one out. He hurried by, as though he were about to leave, and asked Tatsuha to go back and get his present for him. He then herded Ryuichi down the hall and into an elevator before the other singer could even think that his behavior was a bit odd. Alone in the elevator, Ryuichi smirked. He knew when they'd been had. His level of respect for Shuichi shot up a few more levels. It wasn't every person that would have the balls to do something like that to his idol.
Back in the room, Shuichi surveyed the scene. Yuki was openly glaring at everyone that was left. Tatsuha was wiggling nervously in his chair. Sakano was shooting looks at the window. Noriko was sitting there with her legs crossed and her arms over her chest as though saying 'So you caught me, what are you going to do about it?'. Tohma was sipping a cup of tea that had appeared out of nowhere and seemingly was completely unimpressed at whatever Yuki had just said. Shuichi hurried past his lover and nervously took the chair next to Sakano, more of to make sure that he didn't actually commit suicide this time than anything.
Yuki sent a glare his way and Shuichi squeaked. If everyone else was such a good actor all of a sudden, then why couldn't Shuichi be as well? The others in the room assumed that Yuki was also pissed off at Shuichi for some reason. At least they weren't going down alone.
Yuki looked over the group assembled in front of him. He had been waiting all evening to deliver this speech. He'd been sitting and stewing and watching and stewing some more. It hadn't been right for him to yell at Shuichi that night. It also hadn't been right for him to avoid the bundle of energy afterwards, but it was equally bad for his friends and family to get together and plot against them like this. Their little fight hadn't hurt anyone but the people involved. Why were they being punished and probably laughed at because they had been too stubborn to make things right themselves?
He was about to open his mouth to speak and then he noticed something. Fear. They were all afraid of him. Tatsuha was practically wetting his pants. Sakano was trembling like a leaf. Noriko was looking around nervously, even through her tough girl facade. Even Tohma couldn't hide the slight ripple in his tea from his shaking hands. The only one that wasn't really scared was Shuichi and that was because the singer knew exactly what was supposed to happen.
Yuki made a quick decision. He would tell Shuichi about it later, but for now there was only one thing to do.
He turned and stomped off.