"Yukiiiiii!!!" Shuichi cried, springing from the sidewalk and latching onto the novelist's arm just in time to stop him from entering his car. Yuki grunted and attempted to yank his arm away, though Shuichi seemed to be holding it in something that resembled a death grip.
Yuki glared down at the pink haired singer as he placed a cigarette between his lips, even though he realized he had no lighter, just for the whole cold coolness factor. Shuichi had cheeks already streaked with tears, and he placed a whining face deep into Yuki's sleeve. Yuki continued to stare at him remorselessly.
"It's not my fault, I swear!" Shuichi cried with a pleading tone in his voice. "That wasn't what it looked like."
"You mean you weren't getting undressed in front of Tohma with the most popular rock star of Japan latched onto you like a lover?" Yuki asked, clenching his teeth and nearly crushing his cigarette with his lips.
Shuichi squeaked. "Well, I mean…"
"Hn," Yuki grunted as he yanked his arm free of Shuichi's and pulled open his door. Shuichi yelled loudly and leaped into the car before Yuki had a chance to move. Yuki stood in a daze for a few seconds, trying to figure out exactly what had happened, though when he leaned over and peered into the car, he found Shuichi angrily buckling himself into the passenger's seat. With an irritated sigh, Yuki slammed the door shut, and then proceeded to the other side, pulling the door open and reaching in for Shuichi. He had a rather difficult time undoing Shuichi's seatbelt with the latter screaming and slapping his hands away, but eventually it clicked open, and he forcefully dragged the singer out onto the sidewalk.
"Yuki, please, let me explain!" Shuichi whined as he pushed himself into a sitting position on the concrete. Yuki debating between listening and driving away coldly, the latter of which sounding much more pleasant, though he cocked his head to the side and lifted an eyebrow.
"What?"
Shuichi bit his lip and stared at the ground as tears began to well in his eyes again. He wasn't quite sure how to explain without setting off Yuki's short fuse; after all, even though he was innocent when concerning Ryuichi, Shuichi couldn't deny that there was something with Tohma, even if it was one-sided. But without mentioning that, Shuichi couldn't figure out how to explain how he had gotten in that situation in the first place. He couldn't just blame it on Ryuichi's weird antics, even if that was actually what it had been, but that would only get Ryuichi and possibly Tohma in trouble.
Shuichi looked up at Yuki apologetically, hoping that that would be enough. Of course, with Yuki it was never enough. Yuki let out a short, snide laugh before stepping towards his car again, but Shuichi shot to his feet and grabbed onto Yuki's arm once more.
"Please, Yuki, I'm not cheating on you, I swear! I swear! Please believe me," Shuichi cried.
"Shut up!" Yuki snapped, glaring down at Shuichi with his death glare, which caused Shuichi to quiet immediately. "Go out and screw Tohma for all I care!" Yuki swung his arm out to the side, sending Shuichi skidding across the sidewalk. "You seemed happy enough to sleep with him last night."
Shuichi sat up quickly. "You…saw that?"
His only response was the slamming of a car door, along with the swiftly accelerating engine noises as the black car sped off. Shuichi watched as it skidded around the corner and out of sight, and then choked on a sob and grabbed his elbow, which was now bleeding from sliding across the concrete. He pulled his knees into his chest and sobbed as quietly as he could, ignoring the stares the occasional passersby would give him. It wasn't until the blurry form of someone came and knelt down beside his that he finally looked up. Blue eyes stared at him concernedly, looking about ready to burst into tears themselves.
"Shuichi, I'm so sorry," Ryuichi whispered, bowing his head low. "I didn't mean for that to happen."
Shuichi turned his head away and wiped another tear away. "Why did you do that?"
"To find out if Tohma liked you back, remember? And good news! He likes you a lot!" Ryuichi said proudly, flashing the V sign at Shuichi. "Maybe even more than Yuki-san, but I dunno, 'cause I never put Yuki-san through that test."
"Test?" Shuichi asked. He wiped away the last of the tears and stared at Ryuichi quizzically.
"Uh-huh. With Tohma it's easy to tell, because he could have stopped me at any time he wanted, but depending on how long he waits to stop me depends on how much he likes the person I'm undressing. Who knows how long he would have waited if Yuki-san hadn't walked in!" Ryuichi grinned mischievously, but when Shuichi didn't join in, his smile faded. He leaned backwards and let his head lower again. "Shuichi, do you really hate me?"
Shuichi sighed and let his eyes wander off to the side, where he noticed a pair of shiny black boots under long black dress pants stood. His eyes shot up hopefully, knowing that those pants belonged to Yuki—maybe Yuki had decided to take him back after all—but he found himself completely disappointed when he focused on the small face of Tohma instead. He turned back to Ryuichi, letting his frown grow even larger.
"This is all your fault, Ryuichi," Shuichi said, and then stood up and ran past Tohma into the building.
Ryuichi rocked backwards onto his heels and hugged himself tightly, wondering briefly where Kumagorou had run off to in such an important time. He felt Tohma pull him up to his feet and lead him back inside the cool building. He let himself be led all the way to the elevator before he finally spoke.
"Shuichi hates me and it's all my fault," Ryuichi stated.
"I'm sure Shindo-san doesn't hate you," Tohma assured. "He's just very upset right now."
"He hates me and it's all my fault," Ryuichi proclaimed. His mouth formed into a determined frown. "I always mess everything up. I gotta fix it."
Tohma put his arm around Ryuichi's shoulders and smiled weakly at him. "I really don't think that's a good idea, Ryuichi-san."
"It's my fault everything's bad. I gotta make it better," Ryuichi said with a slight nod.
"Ryuichi-san, sometimes it's better just to let things happen on their own. You could make things worse for Shindo-san," Tohma persisted.
"Nope. I'll talk to Yuki-san. I'll tell him it's my fault. Yuki-san will understand. Yep."
"Ryuichi-san, don't you think that Shindo-san may have already tried to explain to Eiri-san?"
"Maybe Yuki-san just didn't believe Shuichi," Ryuichi said, nodding to himself. "Maybe if I tell him too, he'll understand."
"Ryuichi-san, that's really not a good—" Tohma was cut off by the ding of the elevator, and a very set Ryuichi running out of the doors enthusiastically with another mischievous smile on his lips. Tohma sighed and crossed his arms, shaking his head softly. If Ryuichi wanted to get skinned alive by Yuki, that was his own choice. It had nothing to do with Tohma. Besides, he doubted Ryuichi could do anything to mend the relationship between Yuki and Shuichi; he could only make it worse, and that was just fine for Tohma. It only made things easier.
But for now, he had to find Shuichi.
========
Yuki snuffed out the fourth cigarette of that hour and resumed his staring at the door. He was stretched across the couch with the television on, though the program did not seem interesting at all. The front door was the only thing that concerned him. He was waiting for it to swing open and a lovely pink haired singer to come running in, crying for him to take him back, and promising that he would never look at Tohma again.
Shuichi always came back. Yuki had gotten used to that by now. He had left the door unlocked, hoping that he could pretend it to be a mistake later, just for the little pink brat. He didn't have to television on just to pretend he wasn't waiting, either; he had gotten used to the constant background noise of Shuichi, and now the silence seemed even worse. He just needed the noise until Shuichi got back.
Still, it sure was taking the brat a long time, Yuki decided as he lit another cigarette. He had expected the brat to come in no more than an hour after he himself had arrived, and already it had been seven. He hadn't really worried before; after all, perhaps Seguchi had forced him to continue working, but now it was already and hour past closing time and he still had yet to show up.
Not that Yuki missed him. That wasn't it. He was just used to him. And if the brat ever did come back, Yuki didn't want to be out of being used to him. If that happened, he wouldn't be able to stand the noise anymore. No, Yuki was just used to him. He didn't miss him.
Yuki's eyes trailed over to the television screen where the host of the current game show was shouting excitedly about the last question. This was the same game show that Shuichi and the rest of his band had been on a while ago, Yuki realized. He glanced at his watch. Almost an hour and a half since Shuichi should have arrived home from work.
Yuki was about to stand up to grab a beer out of the refrigerator when he heard the door creak open, and instead he relaxed on the couch, pretending to not have heard as he continued to stare at the screen, though he did not see or hear the game show at all. He was listening intently for Shuichi's voice to apologize to him and explain what happened and ask to be allowed to live here again.
"Yuki-san…"
Yuki's eyes shot towards the door when he realized that that voice did not belong to his Shuichi. He focused upon the face of a person whom looked somewhat similar, but still was not Shuichi. Yuki frowned when he realized who this person was—the very person who had been holding Shuichi in his arms when Yuki had walked into Tohma's office.
"What do you want?" Yuki snapped, allowing his frustration at the disappointment of no Shuichi flood his voice.
"Mm, about Shuichi…about what happened today, when you…well, I thought you should know that it wasn't Shuichi's fault, that it was actually my fault, and I'm the one who put Shuichi in that situation…"
Yuki glared at him as he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and held it between his two fingers. "And why are you telling me this?"
"You shouldn't blame Shu-chan!" Ryuichi cried. "It was my fault, so you should let him live with you again!"
"And why would you want me to do that?" Yuki asked, lifting a cynical eyebrow.
"Because Shu-chan is unhappy when he's not with you," Ryuichi replied. He looked at the ground and began drawing circles on the hardwood floor with his foot.
"And?"
"You're so tactless!" Ryuichi yelled. He pouted and placed his hands behind his back.
"Hmm," Yuki sighed. He watched, waiting for Ryuichi to turn and walk away, though it never happened; Ryuichi continued to stand in place, refusing to move. "So is there another reason?"
Ryuichi looked up confusedly. He stared at Yuki for a few moments, in which Yuki noticed the fear embedded in his eyes. Yuki smiled cruelly.
"Perhaps it has something to do with Shuichi's recent friendliness with Seguchi?" Yuki suggested. He watched Ryuichi's eyes widen.
"N-no…"
"So which side of the relationship bothers you? Is it that Seguchi took Shuichi away…or Shuichi took Seguchi away?"
"It's not either! I'm just worried about Shu-chan!"
Yuki smirked. "Right," he said. "I don't care about that idiot, nor do I care about you, so leave now before I report you to the police for trespassing."
"Shuichi deserves a second chance," Ryuichi proclaimed, planting his feet into the ground.
"I told you I don't care about the idiot."
"Why not?"
Yuki laughed snidely and pushed himself off the couch to his feet. "He's an annoying brat with no talent. He's just like you. Why would I care about him?"
Ryuichi ran up to him and tilted his head up to glare into his eyes. "You are so mean!"
"That's nice," Yuki muttered as he pushed past Ryuichi and headed towards the kitchen. "You may have a little more talent than Shuichi, but that's not saying much."
"How can you say that?"
"It's true."
"But—"
"So your lyrics might make a little more sense. And maybe your keyboardist is a little better. And maybe your voice is not quite as annoying. You're still just an icon to be worshipped by the general public, whose overall intelligence is equivalent to that of a rock. Any idiot can like your music."
"And what about you?" Ryuichi yelled walking briskly to stay in stride with him. "Your books aren't very good."
"Have you ever even read any of my books?" Yuki asked. He looked down and took in Ryuichi's defeated gaze with a smile. "That's what I thought. It just proves I'm right. You probably wouldn't even be able to understand my book enough to summarize it, if you were even able to make it through the entire novel."
Ryuichi stopped and frowned. Yuki watched him until he turned and ran back into the living room. There were a few moments of silence, interrupted only by the muffled notes of the television, until the door slammed shut. Yuki sighed to himself and grabbed a beer from the fridge and then returned to his spot on the couch to continue watching the mindless game show and waiting for Shuichi. He stared at it for several minutes until his eyes wandered up to the bookcase on the side of the television where, he noticed, the copy of the first edition of Cool was missing. Yuki smiled to himself.
Perhaps Sakuma Ryuichi was worth dealing with. After all, it could be somewhat amusing…
TBC
========
Notes: Whoo! I ist writing a lot. This is what happens when I don't get to go over to my friend's house because of my essays, and yet neglect my essays a lot. Actually, there was quite a bit of…angst…*shiver* in this chapter… *Shiver, shiver* I hate that word. Angst. Come on, people, that's the word I use to make fun of those stupid Goths who complain about sunshine… It's not angst, it's drama. Drama.
Yes, that's it. Anyway, this story is starting to get a little more serious, but I dunno if it's gonna revert back to humor later on. If it doesn't, maybe I'll take the 'Humor' out of the genre… I dunno, maybe not.
Until next time.
Cassi
