Chapter 2

            Yuki decided that that must have been an awful dream.  It couldn't have happened for real.  Despite that it was Tohma, no one would be so calm and, well, happy after their house had just been reduced to no more than a few square feet of ash and rubble.  It was a nightmare.  It was giving him a headache.

            And yet, he noted that if he lowered his newspaper from in front of his eyes so that he could catch a glance into the kitchen, he would find none other than the Seguchi Tohma, making pancakes happily for three.  After confirming this, Yuki would once again lift the newspaper back in front of his eyes, staring blankly at a picture of the horrible wreckage of a car accident that took place in front of N-G Records the previous day, to shield his vision from the terrible hallucination.

            The phone rang, making Yuki's headache expand to the point just below the highest level of migraines; that is, the exploding heads level.  In fact, he was about to collapse to the floor to begin convulsing when the nettlesome shrill came to an abrupt halt in mid-ring.  This, however, was followed by a voice just as unbearable.

            "Oh, Hiro!" Shuichi yelled into the mouthpiece, and Yuki felt vaguely sorry for the guitarist on the other end.  After all, if Shuichi's voice was pushing Yuki's head on the verge of exploding from across the whole living room, imagine what horrible effects it was having on Hiro when being shouted straight into his brain…like a bullet.  Yuki just hoped the boy had enough common sense to stand at least five feet away from the receiver at all times.

            Yuki began to massage his temples as Shuichi continued to talk, repeating the lessons to enlightenment and the basics of meditation he had learned from his father while he was still a monk-in-training to inherit the family temple—before Seguchi had screwed up his life—in a desperate attempt to tune out the vexing sound.  It seemed to be working to some extent at least, until an equally annoying voice pushed its way into his head.  This voice was not exactly annoying in itself, per say, but Yuki knew that no man should ever have a voice quite so feminine.  It was rather high-pitched, and Yuki began to wish for the phone rings instead.

            "Eiri-san, would you like some pancakes?" Seguchi asked, holding up a well-balanced spatula that had about ten pancakes stacked on top of it.  Yuki lifted his eyebrow suspiciously.  He did not like the way Seguchi had said the word 'pancakes.'

            Yuki looked at Seguchi, whose face remained unchanging, and his gaze wandered down to the man's body.  He looked somewhat out of place, though Yuki couldn't figure out why.  He studied the clothes and frowned.  It was not the type of thing Seguchi usually wore; it was too plain.  Blue shirt, black jacket, black dress pants…

            "Hey, those are my clothes!" Yuki snapped, baring his teeth at Seguchi.  Seguchi merely widened his smile.

            "Of course.  All mine burned, remember?  And Shuichi's are too small, so—"

            "I don't think so," Yuki said plainly, narrowing his eyes to give Tohma a contemptuous dark look.

            Tohma chuckled.  "No?  Well then, would you like to rip them off of me?"

            "I can't believe you," Yuki growled, closing his eyes so that he would not have to look at the horrible disgracing of his clothes.  He liked that outfit, too.  "How long are you going to stay?"

            "Hmm," Seguchi sighed, his smile turning into a thoughtful frown.  "Well, I guess until I've overstayed my welcome."

            "You were never welcome," Yuki replied sourly.  "Get out."  He pointed towards the door.  There was a long pause, in which Yuki lowered his arm, angry at his muscles for their disappointing weakness.  He picked up the newspaper from off the table and began to grind his teeth together.

            "Would you like some pancakes?" Tohma repeated, pushing the spatula forward in another attempt to get Yuki's attention.

            "No," Yuki said curtly and raised the newspaper in front of his face, blocking Seguchi from sight.  He heard a light clack of a spatula hitting a plate and was about to lower the newspaper to make some sort of snide comment when his head cracked in half from a new irritation returned.

            "YUKI !!!" Shuichi cried, pushing the newspaper out of Yuki's hands, and therefore tearing it roughly across the middle.  He didn't realize that he had done something mildly annoying at all, for he elaborated on his upset behavior without hesitation, "It's Hiro, Yuki.  It's awful!  His bike broke down.  Will you give me a ride to the studio?"

            Yuki glared at him.  "Me?"

            "Please?"

            "No," Yuki spat, and then proceeded to gather the shredded newspaper on the table.

            Shuichi's eyes began to tremble as tears gathered on his bottom eyelid.  "But, but, but," he stuttered, gasping as the tears began to flow, though Yuki just stared at him expressionlessly.  "I need a ride, Yuki!  If I'm late again, Seguchi-san will be so angry!"

            Yuki lifted an eyebrow and allowed his gaze to settle on Seguchi, whom was staring at Shuichi concernedly.  Yuki sighed, his eye twitching in irritation, and shifted uncomfortably in his chair.  "I think that he'll understand," Yuki said, allowing his frustration to dampen his voice so that it was barely above a whisper.

            "I know!" Seguchi cried, clapping his hands in delight, before Shuichi had a chance to respond.  He stepped closer to Shuichi and put his hands onto the singer's shoulders.  "I'll give you a ride!"

            "Oh, no, I don't want to get in the way of your busy schedule," Shuichi refused politely, shaking his head softly.

            "Oh?  So it's okay if you get in my way, but not his?" Yuki snapped, banging his fist on the table and causing the china to rattle slightly.

            Shuichi looked mildly disturbed by Yuki's outburst, but Tohma jumped in before anything more could transpire between the two.  "It's all right, Shindo-san," Seguchi said, smiling with his eyes closed.  "It won't be a bother.  In fact, it's on my way.  Remember, I work there too."

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On the drive to work, Shuichi found out several things about Seguchi that he had never known before.  First of all, not only could the man drive stick shift, but he could drive it well.  Shuichi realized this by observing the way Seguchi shifted effortlessly from gear to gear as he accelerated.  This in turn led to Shuichi's next discovery: Seguchi liked to go really, really fast.

Shuichi found himself tensed and clinging to the insides of the car around him, watching the blurs of the other cars whiz by them as Seguchi zigzagged in and out of them.  And he was shifting, too.  Shuichi wondered how anyone could be so coordinated; he had nearly crashed Yuki's automatic the one and only time Yuki had let him drive.

            Seguchi must have been going forty miles over the speed limit, since the normal half hour drive took about five minutes at the most.  Tohma sped the car into the parking lot and brought it down to a screeching stop perfectly into a parking space.  He stepped out proudly and adjusted the black jacket he was currently wearing while Shuichi remained wedged in the passenger seat, his fingers locked in place and refusing his brain's orders.

            Tohma walked around the hood and opened the passenger door, forcing Shuichi out of his death-grip.  Shuichi stumbled out of the car, nearly falling headfirst into the pavement, but once he regained his balance, he looked up at Tohma with uncertainty.  Tohma merely smiled and adjusted the coat again.

            Tohma made his way into the studio with Shuichi trailing him closely.  Shuichi noticed that many people were staring at Tohma, though he wasn't sure if it was because Tohma looked odd in Yuki's clothes, which were quite large on him and rather tame compared to his usually flagrant style, or because he had Shuichi in tow.

            "Uh…  Seguchi-san…" Shuichi muttered as the two approached the elevators.  Tohma stepped forward and pressed the up button before stepping back to be even with Shuichi and smiling kindly at him.

            "Yes, Shindo-san?" Tohma said without allowing the smile to leave his lips.

            "Uhn…  How long are you going to stay with Yuki and me?" Shuichi asked awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot.

            "Until I find a new place to stay," Tohma said.  He allowed his smile to fade as he stared distantly at nothing.  "Unless you don't want me there," he added, forcing the smile back onto his lips.  "Eiri-san has already expressed his extreme dislike of my presence, so if you—"

            "No," Shuichi interrupted, shaking his head.  "Yuki's just a little grumpy.  I—" he was cut short by the ding of the elevator, and the two entered in silence.  Tohma pressed two buttons—one for the floor his office was located on, and another for Shuichi's rehearsal studio—and remained quiet until the doors closed and the elevator was in motion.

            "I'll give you a ride back tonight, if you would like," he said, smiling at Shuichi.  Shuichi paused, thinking twice about getting in a car with Seguchi Tohma at the wheel, but decided since it was a polite offer, not to mention he had no other way to get home, he would accept.  He nodded in agreement, which seemed to please Tohma greatly.  The elevator door opened with a ring, and Shuichi stepped out.  He watched as the doors closed, blocking Tohma from view, and then took off towards the studio so that Fujisaki would not complain about his late arrival.

TBC

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Notes:  Chapter two equals success.  Yay!  I wrote this while I was in vacation in Arizona and Utah and Colorado.  It was a road trip.  I had to learn how to drive stick to go on it, hence the stickiness.  It's hard to drive for seven hours straight, but we visited an awesome Buddhist Stupa.  'Twas neat.

Mmm, before in all my other stories I used to spell Shuichi and Ryuichi's names like "Shuuichi" and "Ryuuichi," and I probably would have kept doing that, only my computer has Shuichi in its spell checker so I decided to spell it like that instead, since I'm way too lazy to add "Shuuichi," and "Shuuichi's."  Not to mention, unwilling to waste those precious bytes of memory.  Hey, those episodes take up a lot of space…  And I figured, if I'm gonna spell Shuichi like that, I might as well spell Ryuichi like that too.  So there.

Oh, yes, and I have no idea where I'm going with this story.  I was thinking lemon, but then I was thinking no, and I don't know.  It's just fun to make fun of their character personalities.  And I love to write rich arrogant shallow Tohma.  Oh, yes, and for all you Ryuichi fans, he'll probably come in soon, since this is a 'comedy' and what comedy is a comedy without Ryuichi?  Hmm?

…This is technically supposed to be humor, though I have no idea if it's turning out that way.  That's why I put the romance genre first.  If you want to take it as a comedy, go ahead.  If you want to take it seriously, be my guest.  Suggestions are welcome…?  Please?  And I post it one chapter at a time now, so more reviews come in.  That's how it works, I've noticed.

Then, until next time.

Cassi