Title: Bye Bye Baby
Disclaimer: It isn't mine. And by it, I mean Gravitation.
Summary: Hiro had an emotional rollercoaster of a relationship with Ayaka. Suguru had a long line of one-night stands behind him. What happens when they switch tactics…and focus on each other?
Author's Notes: Oh, god, this chapter gave me so many issues. There was a major block that I had to force myself through…just for you guys. And hey. Don't just review here. Go and review my new, other Hiro/Suguru story. DO IT. And, oh, hey, three chapters left. And over 1,000 hits. THANKS.
Chapter 10: The Fix Is In
"We'll forge a little life dear (oh dear)…"
Whistling lightly, Hiro walked into recording room they were going to be using today. The day he and Suguru had skipped work was still creating a warm bubble of happiness, buoying him up. It was almost ridiculous how he couldn't stop smiling. Humming beneath his breath now, he pulled out his music, revising anything he could without Shuichi or Suguru there.
Soon, Shuichi was there, creating as much chaos as he possibly could, and then K was there, giving a rather manic grin to Hiro when he spotted him and shooting at Shuichi when he could, and then there was Sakano, wailing and trying to make amends. Hiro was on the verge of laughing, despite the few bullets aimed at him.
He was almost positive that Suguru would walk in, that familiar slight smirk on his mouth, his eyes light and happy. But then Suguru walked in and the warm bubble that was buoying him up popped. With his shadowed eyes and the dark smudges under them, Suguru looked tired, as if he spent the whole night tossing and turning. With the addition of his pallor and listless expression, he looked almost sickly.
As K and Sakano were too busy trying to wrangle Shuichi into the recording booth, none of them seemed to really pay attention to Suguru's listlessness. A few bullets sunk into the doorway, a further testament to how crazy Shuichi and the others were being this morning.
Sighing, Hiro cautiously made his way over to where Suguru was setting up his folders so he could scratch out notes while Shuichi was singing. "Hey," he said quietly, settling down next to Suguru.
Glancing over at him, Suguru gave him a wan smile. "Good morning, Hiro." Tap, tap, as he straightened his music sheets on the tabletop.
Hiro reached out and placed his hand lightly on Suguru's back, an attempt at comfort. "Are you okay?" His voice was little more than a whisper. "You don't look good."
Suguru let out a slow, long sigh, shoulders slumping. Eyes fluttering close, he leaned into Hiro's hand. In their own little bubble of reality, there was silence and Suguru let all of his exhaustion show.
Then Shuichi wailed and a bullet whizzed past, the idea of their own personal world fading as noise seeped back over to them.
Suguru's eyes snapped open, expression shuttering close. He straightened but, surprisingly, did not pull away from Hiro's hand. "I...," the rest of his words faded, mouth parted slightly as he looked at Hiro. Then his mouth pursed, and he said, "It's nothing." His glance slid away from Hiro.
Hiro frowned at the blatant lie, but he let go it for the moment.
In the recording booth, Shuichi stepped close to the microphone and started singing. Their words disappeared in light of the music, work eclipsing their conversation.
All day, that tired, pale look stayed on Suguru's face. Hiro just wanted to do something, anything, to get that expression to go away and for Suguru to be smiling again. Even as he wrote out explanatory notes on how this or that part of the song could be made better, he was thinking. While flowers or chocolates had usually made Ayaka smile for him, he figured that Suguru would be kindly baffled by them. So, instead, he planned for another dinner, in a restaurant he knew that Suguru liked. Hopefully, that would place at least a spark of happiness in those dark eyes.
He waited until the end of the day, when he walked up to Suguru outside of NG studios. He nudged the narrow shoulder with his own and said, "Hey. You want to go get something to eat?" Like most of their workdays, it was already reaching dusk, the day having been long.
Suguru was tiredly focused on the ground. "I…I can't tonight." There was a sigh lingering in those quiet words.
Hiro gently tipped Suguru's face up to his. "Will you tell me what's wrong?" When Suguru worried his bottom lip with his teeth instead of answering, Hiro added, "I mean, you don't have to tell me here. And we don't have to go out. I can come by your place and you can tell me why you're so…off today."
Instead of the words comforting Suguru like they were meant to, they only seemed to distress him further. Suguru actually stepped out of Hiro's space and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Look, I…have something to do right now. But…I could always come by your apartment later?"
Hiro thought nothing of scribbling down an address on a piece of notebook paper with one of Suguru's pens. It was only after Suguru had walked off (without a kiss) that he realized that this would be the first time Suguru would be at his place.
Hiro tried to distract himself when he got back to his apartment, but his guitar felt too heavy in his hands and the music kept sliding every which way in his mind. He almost wanted to just give it up, lay down and stare at the ceiling until Suguru showed up. He was about to do just that when there came a hesitant knock on the door.
Smiling slightly, Hiro went and opened it, letting Suguru in without question. Suguru looked even more exhausted than earlier, eyes and expression dark. They sat on the couch, Suguru easily leaning into Hiro's embrace.
"Now will you tell me what's wrong?" Hiro asked, curving one hand around Suguru's hip.
"My parents are home," Suguru muttered.
Hiro could remember that dinner when Suguru had told him that he didn't get along with his parents. "Are you fighting with them?" It seemed an obvious explanation, considering what Suguru had provided.
Suguru laughed without humor and tried to burrow into Hiro's shoulder. "If only." His mouth was warm against Hiro's neck, a slight tickle as he spoke. "It's that we don't fight. They're just so…" his words faded into nothing, obviously at a loss.
Hiro moved back and cupped the soft cheek with his free hand, thumb idly smoothing over the pale skin. "Do you need to stay here for the night?" The words were out before his mouth had consulted with his brain; his stomach twisted, nerves suddenly alive.
Suguru jerked back, eyes wide. Then his expression softened. "If…if that's okay with you," he whispered, the words almost hesitant.
Ignoring the jumping of his stomach, Hiro leaned forward and kissed Suguru, relishing the press of mouth on mouth. Suguru made a soft noise in the back of his throat that had Hiro tugging Suguru so close that Suguru was on his lap. Suguru settled firmly against him, hands coming up to clench on Hiro's shoulders. One of Hiro's hands tangled in Suguru's hair, the other pressed against Suguru's back. They rocked against each other, heat rising. There was only the wet smack of their mouths separating and coming back together, the creak of the couch as their weight shifted.
And then, suddenly, there was a loud banging knock on Hiro's door. Hiro murmured a negative against Suguru's mouth, drew Suguru a little closer with the hand in the enticing small of his back. Another loud bang, that had Hiro reluctantly pulling away with muttered curse.
He shot a glare at the door. Then: "HIROSHI. It's Yuuji! Open the damn door!"
Hiro groaned and dropped his head on Suguru's narrow shoulder, now cursing creatively under his breath. Then he scooted from underneath Suguru and stalked to the door. He pulled it open, glaring at his brother. "Think you're loud enough?" he asked dryly.
Yuuji leaned against the door frame, the flush of a dull buzz on his cheeks. "Nope," he said cheerily. Then he lunged at Hiro and pulled him into a backbreaking hug. "Guess what happened to your big brother today?"
Hiro batted at his idiot of a sibling, forced his way out of the hug, and asked, "What? It had to be something good for you to actually come bother me." Yuuji laughed loudly; in response, Hiro sighed and said, "Get in here before my neighbors decide to kill you."
After Yuuji stepped in, Hiro shut the door and turned. Yuuji and Suguru were staring rather blankly at each other; it didn't help that Yuuji clearly had a few drinks in him and Suguru looked rather…debauched. Grinning like a fool, Yuuji said, "Hey, Hiro, who's your friend?"
Ah, hell. "Yuuji, this is Fujisaki Suguru. Suguru, this is my brother."
Suguru inclined his head politely. "It's nice to meet you, Nakano-san."
Yuuji raised his eyebrows, his grin wolfish now. "You too, Fujisaki-san."
Suguru stood, brushing down his clothes. "As much as a pleasure it's been, I should probably be going now actually." There was something like hesitation, something like anxiety, settling on his face. It didn't belong there.
Hiro frowned. "Didn't you say you were going to stay here tonight?" Completely ignoring his brother, Hiro stepped closer to Suguru. Those dark eyes were still tired, his face still pale. "My room's right over there if you want to go lie down." He pointed and watched as Suguru followed the direction with a glance.
Suguru glanced up, almost shyly. "You sure?" he asked again, quietly.
"Yeah."
Suguru bowed to Yuuji and then padded off to Hiro's room. After the quiet click of a shut door, Yuuji turned to him. "Hey, what happened to that Ayaka girl you were dating?"
Hiro flopped back onto the couch, Yuuji joining him a moment later. "We broke up. It just wasn't working out."
Yuuji's eyes were on Hiro's shut door. "So what about him? "
Hiro's gut knotted. "What about him?"
Yuuji huffed and slung an arm around his sibling. "I only met Ayaka when you were serious about her."
"You were the one that barged in here," Hiro reminded him.
Yuuji flapped one hand in dismissal of the excuse. "You're letting him stay here?"
Hiro shrugged the arm off his shoulder irritably. "He's having some issues right now and needed a place to stay."
Eyes narrowed, Yuuji looked over. "Yeah, but looking like that…," he trailed off.
Curiosity sat up in attention. "Like what?"
Yuuji gave him a funny look. "You're not usually this stupid—"
"HEY."
"But, c'mon, he looked like he was just laid. And you're obviously head over heels for him—"
"I don't even know what you're talking about anymore," Hiro cut in, nearly throwing his hands up in frustration.
Sighing, Yuuji smacked his younger brother against the head. "You were looking at him like you did that Ayaka girl. And you said you were in love with her."
"I was in love with her," Hiro defended, rubbing the wounded spot on his head. "But I don't feel like that about Suguru." The actual notion was ridiculous. Him and Suguru? In love?
Inexplicably, Yuuji actually looked hurt at the words. "You don't have to lie to me about it, Hiro. I'm okay with you being in love with a guy."
"I'm not in love with him!" Hiro explained, almost frantically.
An askance glance at him. "It's hard to believe that when you were just looking at him like that."
Not this again. "Like what?"
Yuuji flailed his hands around. Sometimes, his brother and his best friend were too much alike. "Like he was the center of your world."
Hiro frowned and said, "You're just making stuff up now," but there was something about that sentence—about this whole conversation—that was sinking into Hiro's mind. But he wasn't in love with Suguru!
Yuuji opened his mouth, probably ready to continue arguing, but Hiro quickly said, "What was your good news?"
Successively diverted, Yuuji grinned and exclaimed, "I finally got a part! I didn't completely tank an audition!"
Happy for his brother, Hiro settled into the conversation, pulling all the information he could from Yuuji about the part.
Later, after Yuuji had left, Hiro entered his dark bedroom, leaning against the door. Suguru was curled up on his bed, looking for all the world like he belonged right there among the tangled sheets and fluffy pillows. The conversation with Yuuji turned in his head, but Hiro pushed the thoughts away, instead settling on the bed and concentrating of the feel of Suguru against him. Suguru was warm against him, but for some reason, Hiro only felt cold and hollow.