Shuichi never realized how incredibly boring his job was until that day when he didn't want to do it. He wasn't dissatisfied or anything; rather, he was the complete opposite of that. It was more like life was so great that it made his wonderful job seem insignificant.
Never before had he felt so happy, especially when currently separated from Yuki. The breakup with Yuki didn't bother him at all; in fact, he was glad. Not that he didn't like Yuki anymore. It was just that now he felt free, without having to worry about Yuki or Yuki's thoughts or feelings or harsh words or neglect… It was much nicer how it was now.
Now that he was free, Shuichi was really beginning to understand just how dysfunctional Yuki was.
However, despite that Shuichi was at that point in time romantically involved with his president and boss, he still had to do his work, or lack thereof. It was a lucky thing that he had a nice comfy chair that spun around, or else he would be so bored he wouldn't be able to stand it. Before he was seeing how fast he could make the chair spin, and how long he could keep it spinning, but then he started to feel dizzy and sick, so he stopped. Now he was just pushing the chair from side to side and chewing on a pencil, though he couldn't even remember where he had gotten the pencil. It seemed as though it had magically appeared in his mouth.
There were a few chords released from a guitar, but then they faded into silence once more. Shuichi spun the chair around to see Hiro writing on a sheet of paper, presumably the music for the new song. He leaned back and rang out a few more chords, and then leaned forward to the paper again.
Suguru was staring at him. Before he had only been sending Shuichi warning glances every once in awhile, though now that Shuichi was making it blatantly obvious that he was doing nothing, Suguru was staring at him. His eyebrows were pulled close over his eyes, and his mouth was pulled into such a tight frown that it made his cheeks look thinner. Shuichi stared back at him expressionlessly, though he continued to suck on the pencil.
"Shindo-san," Suguru said at last, irritated with Shuichi's lack of response, "what are you doing?"
"Nothing," Shuichi said, putting the pencil between his back teeth and biting off the eraser. He pulled it out of his mouth, and then put it back in, deciding that it tasted rather delicious for something that technically was not edible.
"Exactly," Suguru growled. He struck a key on the keyboard, as if for effect, and then pointed towards the door. "Once K gets back, you'll be dead."
Shuichi looked at the door and frowned. K had been gone a long time, as had Sakano. It was strange—they should have known from past experiences not to leave Shuichi to his own devices without a boss wielding the power to fire and/or shoot him as his guardian.
"…And we've got only a few more weeks left to make three new songs," Suguru was saying, counting something off on his fingers. Shuichi blinked and stood up. "If you don't start writing a new song soon, we're going to be put behind schedule, and we might have to delay release dates, and you know what Sakano's reaction to that will be…"
Shuichi was at the door now. He was about to pull it open when it seemingly magically opened all by itself. Shuichi began to wonder if maybe the studio was haunted, or even better, maybe he had telekinetic powers, when cold steel touched his forehead and his thought processes ceased completely.
"Where are you going?"
"To the bathroom," Shuichi said on instinct. The gun was removed from his forehead, and suddenly Shuichi found his ability to think had come back.
"Hurry it up," K said, stepping aside to let Shuichi through. Shuichi nodded and gulped as he stepped past his agent, wondering just what was making K so mellow today. Shuichi was expecting him to add at least seven more bullet holes to the wall, and yet he had not fired a single shot.
Strange. Anyway, it didn't matter, because he was now in the hallway, and not the studio that K occupied, and that meant that he could go anywhere he wanted without getting shot. He really didn't have to go to the bathroom, but he didn't want to let K know that he had lied to him, so he decided to wander around the hallways for a certain amount of time. He decided to make that time long too, just to make it more believable that he had actually gone to the bathroom.
However, upon walking up and down the hallway three times consecutively, he began to grow bored with that hallway. He took a chance, knowing that he may get lost among the throngs of hallways creating the maze that was NG Records, and climbed the stairs to the next level.
Level Four. A level in which he had never entered before. A level forbidden to him. A level that had remained a mystery the whole time he had been an employee at NG. Level Four.
Shuichi realized that Level Four looked very much the same as Level Three. The walls were painted the same color, the floors were made out of the same material, the potted plants were of the same species… It even had the same layout, and Shuichi was able to find the studio that would be his rehearsal studio, had he been on Level Three instead of Level Four.
"Interesting," Shuichi said, cocking one eyebrow higher than the other and placing a finger on his chin thoughtfully. "Very interesting…"
"A-ah! Shindo-kun?" called a familiar voice, wracked with fidgety anxiety. Shuichi turned to find just who he had expected running towards him with his arm raised in something of a wave. "Shindo-kun, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be practicing?"
Shuichi looked up at his manager with a frown. This was not good. He had been caught ditching his work, and if Sakano brought him back to the studio and told K where he had found him, Shuichi would be in a mite of trouble. Worry creased his brow for a brief instant before an exceptionally clever lie pushed its way into his mind. It was so clever that it even amazed him; usually he was not that sharp.
"I think I'm lost. I looked in the studio," he pointed down the hallway, "but there were other people in there. Did we move, or something?"
"Ah, Shindo-kun, no," Sakano said, his face relaxing a little, though it was so subtle that one had to know him well to be able to see it. "This is the Fourth Level."
"Oh," Shuichi said, keeping himself calm to keep up the lie. It was lucky that Sakano bought it, he decided. "Then what are you doing here?"
"He would be here," interjected a new voice that Shuichi recognized immediately, "because I had called him here." Tohma stepped up to Sakano. Shuichi blinked and tried to remain calm, though he wasn't sure why he was excited in the first place. "It's nice to see you again, Shindo-san," he said, seeming to ignore the fact that they had been together in his office only a few hours ago kissing. That was before Ryuichi had walked in on them, and Shuichi had gotten so embarrassed that he had actually run off to work willingly.
Even thinking about it made him feel humiliated again. He had to work hard to keep his blush in check so that Sakano would not notice, though he was pretty certain that Tohma already had seen it. "Seguchi-san," Shuichi greeted with an awkward bow.
"Well, this is very convenient actually," Tohma said, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling broadly. "I need to talk to you as well, Shindo-san. On more…private matters…" A quick glance to Sakano sent him away with a deep bow, leaving Tohma and Shuichi alone together.
"Is there something wrong?" Shuichi asked nervously. For some reason, a hint of dread was creeping up his spine and attacking his brain.
"Well," Tohma started, though his voice trailed off. He gestured for Shuichi to follow him and led him into a deserted studio, where he closed and locked the door as Shuichi sat down on the floor with a wicked grin across his face. However, as soon as Tohma turned to reveal his menacing expression, Shuichi's grin faded into a frown. Tohma sighed and leaned against the wall, folding his arms again. "Shindo-san, I've decided that this relationship is not a good idea."
"Wha—"
"Eiri-san arrived here today. He was very upset."
"Yuki came?" Shuichi asked, tightening his fists around his shorts. He lowered his head so that his bangs blocked his eyes from sight. "You shouldn't listen to what he said. He—"
Tohma laughed, and the sound of it chilled Shuichi's bones. "It's not what he said, Shindo-san. It's what I said."
Shuichi glanced up at Tohma quizzically, urging him to continue. However, his eyes dulled when he noticed the satisfied smirk Tohma was wearing.
"He knows about what happened last night," Tohma added in a pleasant tone. "I should have predicted this wouldn't work out between us, mainly because of him…"
"Shut up," Shuichi whispered, pressing his hands to his ears, though it seemed to do nothing to block Tohma's voice.
"I doubt he'll take you back," Tohma continued mercilessly. "Maybe he would have before, but after this…"
"SHUT UP!" Shuichi screamed, jumping to his feet. He ran towards the door and struggled to open it, though he soon got the lock open. He threw it open and ran down the hallway silently without looking back.
He missed the cruel smile Tohma was wearing as he watched Shuichi disappear from sight.
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Yuki arrived at his apartment in something of a daze. He locked the door, removed his shoes, and turned to trudge back to his study, bracing himself for the imminent glomp he would receive, all of this being his daily habitual behavior. He vaguely noticed the boy with pink hair sitting on his table; he was used to Shuichi being there, and it was nothing out of the ordinary. His body stiffened as he waited for the pink-haired boy to throw his body at him, though after a few minutes of no impact, Yuki began to wonder what was going on.
Upon wondering, however, his mind returned to him, and the events of the day began to swirl around in his head. He inspected the figure on his table hopefully, though upon noting that the hair was actually not pink, but rather was a chocolate brown beneath a pink mass of stuffed animal, Yuki's spirits lowered in disappointment. Instantly he felt annoyed with himself instead, cursing his own stupidity that allowed him to miss the book being cradled in Ryuichi's hands—reading was something Shuichi never quite mastered.
"What are you doing here?" he said spitefully, glaring at Ryuichi.
"Got off work early," Ryuichi replied absently. Yuki grunted and walked closer to him, looking at the book closely and noticing it was once again his copy of his novel Cool.
"Why are you so intent on finishing that?" Yuki muttered. "I thought you said you didn't like it."
"I don't," Ryuichi stated. "It's awful."
"Then why do you insist on reading it?" Yuki persisted.
"I wanna know if she gets a puppy. I think that would be happy," Ryuichi said. He paused to turn a page, and then his eyes began to scan the page. Only once did he stop for a dictionary before he turned the page again, and Yuki almost felt like smiling.
"You look like you're getting better at reading," he observed. Ryuichi looked up at him and blinked confusedly, seeming to have forgotten his presence, or at least he was wondering why Yuki was still hovering around.
Yuki, too, found himself wondering why he had not retreated back to his study to work on his new novel.
"No, there's just not as many big words this far into the book," Ryuichi informed. Yuki sighed, knowing that that was not the case, though he doubted he could convince Ryuichi that he had actually learned something, and that maybe his vocabulary had increased a bit after looking up every single word he didn't understand.
Yuki started towards his study, though once he reached the hallway, he stopped and turned around. "A puppy?" he asked distantly. "The girl should have a puppy. Brings out sentiments if I kill the trusty best friend…" He smiled, his sudden inspiration burning in his fingers, and turned towards his study again. He only took one step, however, before he swung around and frowned again. "Wait, what are you doing here?"
"Are you talking to me?" Ryuichi asked, bringing his hand up to point towards himself. He lowered it and smiled. "Or are you still talking to yourself?"
Yuki growled.
"I already said, I got off work early."
"So why'd you come here?" Yuki hissed. "You don't live here. I locked the door."
"Uh-huh, that's why you gave me the key, remember?" Ryuichi said, setting the book aside and reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his duplicate of the house key with a grin.
"I didn't give you that," Yuki replied irritably.
Ryuichi blinked at the key before putting it back in his pocket. He gathered up the book again and his eyes began to drift up and down the page as he read along.
"You don't live here," Yuki said, though he knew it was a lost cause. Ryuichi was already completely ignoring him, being far too absorbed in his book to recognize where he was anymore. Yuki decided to leave Ryuichi be, since he had just given him a good idea for an element in his story, something that he never recalled Shuichi ever doing.
It wouldn't matter if Ryuichi stayed there for a few hours, as long as he didn't make any noise, after all.
Once in his study, Yuki sat down at his desk and opened his laptop. Despite his lack of food, sleep, and oxygen for the past two days, his muse was not lacking in the least. The words came out of his fingers smoothly and easily, flowing together so nicely that he stopped having to think about what to write next. He was amazed at this sudden ability to write, and he began to wonder when the last time he wrote like this was.
He didn't stop writing until he remembered when that time was. His fingers stopped with a jolt, causing a few nonsense letters to end the last word he had typed, and he stared at the screen with wide eyes.
He hadn't written like that since before he had met Shuichi. With stiff awkwardness, he set his elbows down on the desk around his computer and buried his face in his hands. Not since before Shuichi. When Shuichi came, writing began to take effort. Was Shuichi really such a hindrance?
"Maybe this is a good thing," Yuki thought aloud, squeezing his eyes shut. "Maybe I'm better off without him after all." He sighed heavily and dropped his hand to see his work. After deleting the last few letters he had typed, he saved his work just as a voice interrupted him.
"Na! Aren't you hungry? It's already 7:30."
Yuki turned to see Ryuichi pouting at him from the doorway. It was then that he noticed the emptiness in his stomach, and for the first time in two days he actually felt like eating. Still, he wasn't about to make dinner for his intruder.
"I don't have any food," Yuki replied.
"Oh! Goodie!" Ryuichi exclaimed, jumping into the study happily. "We should get pizza. I like pizza. Mmm. It's yummy."
Yuki sighed softly. Pizza sounded really good. Actually, it was so irresistible that Yuki didn't bother to argue with Ryuichi at all, and instead reached under his desk for a phone book. Upon finding a number, his hand moved to the phone and hovered above it for a second, just as it began to ring. Yuki snatched it up irritably.
"Hello?" he muttered angrily.
"Yuki-san?" said the voice on the other line. Yuki frowned; the voice sounded familiar to him, though he couldn't quite place its owner.
"Yes?"
"This is Nakano Hiroshi," said the voice, and immediately Yuki was able to place it with Shuichi's red-haired friend.
"What do you want? Shuichi doesn't live here anymore," Yuki said coldly.
"So he's not there then?"
"What?" Yuki asked, his face paling a bit.
"Shuichi… He disappeared today, and no one knows where he went. I thought he might have gone back to you. Are you sure you haven't seen—"
Yuki didn't bother listening to the rest. He hung up to phone and swallowed hard, his previous thoughts against Shuichi vanished from his mind entirely. His hands were trembling slightly, and he quickly moved them into his lap to hide them from sight.
"Yuki-san? What's wrong? Who was that?" Ryuichi questioned, though his voice seemed far away to Yuki.
"This… This is all my fault," Yuki said, rising to his feet. "I shouldn't have kicked him out."
"Yuki-san, what happened?" Ryuichi asked, fear finally ebbing its way into his voice.
Yuki marched past him, stopping only to say, "I'm going to look for Shuichi." With that, he stomped away, grabbing his coat on the way out.
Ryuichi paused for only a few moments before running after him and hollering, "Wait! Yuki! I'll help you find Shu-chan!"
It wasn't Yuki's fault, Ryuichi decided as he quickly caught up with the blond novelist. Being a long-time friend, he could only guess that Tohma had something to do with this. If Shuichi got hurt, then Tohma would have to answer to Ryu-chan.
TBC
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Notes: All you reviewers, thank you! You make me feel so loved.
Happiness.
Peace.
And.
Love.
And yes, I know, Tohma is a cruel bastard. I think it fits his image well.
Until next time.
Cassi
