Disclaimer: I do not own Hana Yori Dango.
Chapter 23: And Tsukasa 'Fesses Up
Meanwhile, in a club across town...
"Hey Jiro, maybe you should try calling them again."
Soujiro shot Tsukasa an exasperated look before replying. "I've already tried calling both of them several times, and neither have answered. They haven't responded to the SMS I sent them either. Why don't YOU call?"
Earlier that night when rehearsals ended and Rui and Tsukushi had left, and after the three remaining men had finished putting the basement in order, Soujiro suddenly had the urge to check out this club uptown. A band similar to theirs was playing, and he thought it would be a good idea to see them and scout the competition, so to speak. Since it was relatively early and neither Tsukasa nor Akira were tired yet, they agreed to come with him. They tried calling Rui and Tsukushi so they could meet up but neither of the two was answering their mobile phones. Soujiro sent them text messages informing them where they would be, just in case the two decided to follow.
"Forget it, man," Akira advised as he clinked his beer bottle against the one Tsukasa had in his hand. "If they aren't picking up then they're probably in bed by now."
Tsukasa looked at him sharply and asked, "What do you mean, they're in bed?" An image of Tsukushi in bed WITH Rui flashed momentarily through his head, and he didn't like it. No, he didn't like it at all.
"He meant they're probably asleep by now. In their own beds. Not together," Soujiro spelled out for his paranoid friend. He took a long drag from his cigarette and rolled his eyes. "Geez, and you say I'm the one who's got my mind in the gutter all the time." Without warning, Tsukasa grabbed the cigarette from Soujiro's hand and snuffed it on the ashtray before them. "Hey!" Soujiro said a little too loudly, causing several people to glance their way. "What the hell did you do that for?! That was my last stick!"
Irritation was written on Tsukasa's face as he replied, "You kept on blowing your smoke to my face, you moron. It was giving me a headache. Since when did you start smoking again anyway?"
"Since Yuki left for Canada," Akira snickered. Fortunately, the sounds of the band tuning up onstage distracted the three men, breaking up the tension that had been mounting. For the next hour, they turned their attention to observing the band as they performed. It was a band very much like their own, except that instead of one female vocalist, they had two. The repertoire was pretty much the same as theirs.
"They're good," Akira remarked once the band took a break when they finished their first set. "But we're better."
"Yeah," Soujiro concurred. "Those girls are nothing compared to Tsukushi." Tsukasa nodded in agreement.
Akira swung his barstool to face Tsukasa, who was seated between him and Soujiro at the bar. "Speaking of Tsukushi," he said as he eyed Tsukasa slyly, "we never got to finish what we were talking about earlier tonight at my house. C'mon Tsukasa, 'fess up."
"'Fess up about what?" Tsukasa refused to look at his friends and concentrated instead on studying the beads of condensation forming on his beer bottle.
Peanuts and crumpled paper napkins were thrown to his face from either side of him. Soujiro wiggled his eyebrows and started chanting out in a sing- song voice, "Tsukasa and Kushi sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Kushi with a baby carriage!" Akira finished while trying to contain his laughter at the dark look on his friend's face. A vein on Tsukasa's forehead visibly throbbed, and he looked ready to punch the daylights out of his two companions any minute now.
"Shut the fuck up!" he growled.
Soujiro and Akira exchanged knowing glances, then burst out in loud laughter. When their laughter had subsided after about a minute or so, Jiro punched Tsukasa playfully on the arm. "C'mon dude, we know you like her. Why can't you just admit it?"
"Yeah," Akira seconded. "We're your friends... your brothers, for heaven's sake. I don't remember you being this evasive before when you decided you were gonna pursue Sakurako."
Tsukasa raised his head to look at the two with annoyance. "If I admit it, will that get you both off my back and make you stop hounding me already?"
Akira and Soujiro leaned closer to their friend excitedly. "Well, are you? Admitting it, I mean?"
Tsukasa looked heavenward and threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. I like her. Happy now?"
He got friendly slaps in the back as a reply. "Cool! Now that we've got that cleared up, what are you gonna do about it?" Jiro questioned.
Tsukasa ran a rueful hand through his dark curls then took a long swig from his beer. The ice-cold, amber liquid slid down his suddenly parched throat, tickling it with its effervescence. "Nothing."
"Eh? Nothing? What do you mean 'nothing'?"
"I mean I'm not gonna do anything about it."
"What the hell kind of freak are you? You're in a band with the girl you like. You see her just about every day. Getting her to go out with you is practically in the bag! And you're telling us you're not gonna do anything?" Akira queried with a perplexed look on his face.
"It's not that simple. Tsukushi... she's got lots of hang-ups about love. Her first and only serious relationship didn't end so well. It left her deeply scarred, and apparently she's decided she's not gonna fall in love again, so she doesn't get hurt like that anymore."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did I just hear you say the L-word?" Soujiro asked wide- eyed. "Man, this is more serious than I thought. You've got it bad, dude!"
Soujiro's words got Tsukasa thinking. What possessed him to mention the word 'love?' Great, he thought. Now I'm never gonna hear the end of this from these two.
"Oooh, Tsukasa's in love!" Akira teased as he slung a friendly arm around the other man's shoulder.
"Anyway, I'm sure it can't be that bad," Jiro said as he patted Tsukasa's back sympathetically. "Maybe she'll change her mind once she gets to know you better."
"I don't think it's gonna be that easy," Tsukasa expressed doubtfully. "If you were there when we got to talking about it the other night at the beach, you'd know. She's pretty much closed her mind to the possibility of having another relationship again."
"Dude! This is so not like you, to give up so easily without a fight. What the hell do you think we're here for? We'll help you change her mind!" Akira declared resolutely. Tsukasa didn't seem convinced, as he still had a dubious look in his eyes. "Have a little faith, man! Are you forgetting that Jiro and I were the ones who convinced her to join the band, despite her resistance at first?"
"Um, Akira, I think this is a totally different matter altogether." He finished off the contents of his beer bottle with one big gulp and signaled the bartender for another. "What you could do, though, is to refrain from teasing me about this, especially whenever Tsukushi's around. I don't want to push her away and make her awkward around me. She doesn't need to know I like her, you hear?" he said, looking at both men gravely so they'd know he meant business.
"Whatever you say, man, whatever you say," Soujiro reassured him, although he and Akira winked at each other behind his back. Maybe, just maybe, they could find a way to help their friend without him being aware of it.
******************
A/N: This is for those of you who were missing Tsukasa already, LOL! Don't worry, I promise some TxT action in the next chapter.
Lian: Hi, it's good to hear from you again! I'm glad your computer's fixed now. Nope, no love triangle, just TxT.
Sailor Angie: Hey Angie, here's a chap on your favorite guy (mine too!). Nope, there was no big mystery behind the missed cell phone calls and messages from Soujiro. I just placed that in the last chapter so I could use it to segue onto the next scene. As for your request for more gratuitous naked Tsukasa scenes, hmmm... we'll see if I can cook up something for the next chapter. *wink*
XxSwtDreamerxX1: Yeah, I liked that last chapter too. Although this is AU, I still think some RxT bonding scenes were a must. I just love the close bond those two have with each other.
ToinKs: Hey girl! Glad you like the way I'm writing Rui in this story. Yep, that's Rui, a great friend and a sensitive soul through and through.
luna: LOL, I'm glad you're getting nicer weather now. Lucky you. We're in the middle of summer here and it feels like a freakin' steambath, especially at daytime. I'm glad you like how I've captured the personalities of most of the characters in this fic. As for Tsukasa, *sigh* yeah, he's way OOC here, but oh well, I did warn you guys at the first chapter that some characters might be OOC. Thanks for sharing your insight!
cherub girl: Aww, you really flatter me (but hey, I ain't complaining!)! I'm touched that you consider this story a favorite of yours. Good to hear you liked the last chapter. Hope you like this one too!
kamiangel: Busted! LOL! Yeah, when I'm writing, I actually envision Jerry Yan of the boyband F4 instead of Tsukasa, the manga/anime character. Oh, got your e-mail. To answer your question, I'm from the Philippines. Nice to know someone from Down Under is reading this. Oh, and I'm sorry if the song hasn't been brought up yet in this chap, as I told you in my e- mail. Maybe in the next two updates or so. Be patient, lol.
anonymous: Glad to hear you liked my recent updates. Hope you like this one as well.
Syvonair: Oooh, a new name on the reviews page! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. I'm happy to hear you like my story. Hope to hear from you again!
As always, please leave me a review if you have time. I love hearing from you guys! 'Til the next update... cheers!
Chapter 23: And Tsukasa 'Fesses Up
Meanwhile, in a club across town...
"Hey Jiro, maybe you should try calling them again."
Soujiro shot Tsukasa an exasperated look before replying. "I've already tried calling both of them several times, and neither have answered. They haven't responded to the SMS I sent them either. Why don't YOU call?"
Earlier that night when rehearsals ended and Rui and Tsukushi had left, and after the three remaining men had finished putting the basement in order, Soujiro suddenly had the urge to check out this club uptown. A band similar to theirs was playing, and he thought it would be a good idea to see them and scout the competition, so to speak. Since it was relatively early and neither Tsukasa nor Akira were tired yet, they agreed to come with him. They tried calling Rui and Tsukushi so they could meet up but neither of the two was answering their mobile phones. Soujiro sent them text messages informing them where they would be, just in case the two decided to follow.
"Forget it, man," Akira advised as he clinked his beer bottle against the one Tsukasa had in his hand. "If they aren't picking up then they're probably in bed by now."
Tsukasa looked at him sharply and asked, "What do you mean, they're in bed?" An image of Tsukushi in bed WITH Rui flashed momentarily through his head, and he didn't like it. No, he didn't like it at all.
"He meant they're probably asleep by now. In their own beds. Not together," Soujiro spelled out for his paranoid friend. He took a long drag from his cigarette and rolled his eyes. "Geez, and you say I'm the one who's got my mind in the gutter all the time." Without warning, Tsukasa grabbed the cigarette from Soujiro's hand and snuffed it on the ashtray before them. "Hey!" Soujiro said a little too loudly, causing several people to glance their way. "What the hell did you do that for?! That was my last stick!"
Irritation was written on Tsukasa's face as he replied, "You kept on blowing your smoke to my face, you moron. It was giving me a headache. Since when did you start smoking again anyway?"
"Since Yuki left for Canada," Akira snickered. Fortunately, the sounds of the band tuning up onstage distracted the three men, breaking up the tension that had been mounting. For the next hour, they turned their attention to observing the band as they performed. It was a band very much like their own, except that instead of one female vocalist, they had two. The repertoire was pretty much the same as theirs.
"They're good," Akira remarked once the band took a break when they finished their first set. "But we're better."
"Yeah," Soujiro concurred. "Those girls are nothing compared to Tsukushi." Tsukasa nodded in agreement.
Akira swung his barstool to face Tsukasa, who was seated between him and Soujiro at the bar. "Speaking of Tsukushi," he said as he eyed Tsukasa slyly, "we never got to finish what we were talking about earlier tonight at my house. C'mon Tsukasa, 'fess up."
"'Fess up about what?" Tsukasa refused to look at his friends and concentrated instead on studying the beads of condensation forming on his beer bottle.
Peanuts and crumpled paper napkins were thrown to his face from either side of him. Soujiro wiggled his eyebrows and started chanting out in a sing- song voice, "Tsukasa and Kushi sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Kushi with a baby carriage!" Akira finished while trying to contain his laughter at the dark look on his friend's face. A vein on Tsukasa's forehead visibly throbbed, and he looked ready to punch the daylights out of his two companions any minute now.
"Shut the fuck up!" he growled.
Soujiro and Akira exchanged knowing glances, then burst out in loud laughter. When their laughter had subsided after about a minute or so, Jiro punched Tsukasa playfully on the arm. "C'mon dude, we know you like her. Why can't you just admit it?"
"Yeah," Akira seconded. "We're your friends... your brothers, for heaven's sake. I don't remember you being this evasive before when you decided you were gonna pursue Sakurako."
Tsukasa raised his head to look at the two with annoyance. "If I admit it, will that get you both off my back and make you stop hounding me already?"
Akira and Soujiro leaned closer to their friend excitedly. "Well, are you? Admitting it, I mean?"
Tsukasa looked heavenward and threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. I like her. Happy now?"
He got friendly slaps in the back as a reply. "Cool! Now that we've got that cleared up, what are you gonna do about it?" Jiro questioned.
Tsukasa ran a rueful hand through his dark curls then took a long swig from his beer. The ice-cold, amber liquid slid down his suddenly parched throat, tickling it with its effervescence. "Nothing."
"Eh? Nothing? What do you mean 'nothing'?"
"I mean I'm not gonna do anything about it."
"What the hell kind of freak are you? You're in a band with the girl you like. You see her just about every day. Getting her to go out with you is practically in the bag! And you're telling us you're not gonna do anything?" Akira queried with a perplexed look on his face.
"It's not that simple. Tsukushi... she's got lots of hang-ups about love. Her first and only serious relationship didn't end so well. It left her deeply scarred, and apparently she's decided she's not gonna fall in love again, so she doesn't get hurt like that anymore."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did I just hear you say the L-word?" Soujiro asked wide- eyed. "Man, this is more serious than I thought. You've got it bad, dude!"
Soujiro's words got Tsukasa thinking. What possessed him to mention the word 'love?' Great, he thought. Now I'm never gonna hear the end of this from these two.
"Oooh, Tsukasa's in love!" Akira teased as he slung a friendly arm around the other man's shoulder.
"Anyway, I'm sure it can't be that bad," Jiro said as he patted Tsukasa's back sympathetically. "Maybe she'll change her mind once she gets to know you better."
"I don't think it's gonna be that easy," Tsukasa expressed doubtfully. "If you were there when we got to talking about it the other night at the beach, you'd know. She's pretty much closed her mind to the possibility of having another relationship again."
"Dude! This is so not like you, to give up so easily without a fight. What the hell do you think we're here for? We'll help you change her mind!" Akira declared resolutely. Tsukasa didn't seem convinced, as he still had a dubious look in his eyes. "Have a little faith, man! Are you forgetting that Jiro and I were the ones who convinced her to join the band, despite her resistance at first?"
"Um, Akira, I think this is a totally different matter altogether." He finished off the contents of his beer bottle with one big gulp and signaled the bartender for another. "What you could do, though, is to refrain from teasing me about this, especially whenever Tsukushi's around. I don't want to push her away and make her awkward around me. She doesn't need to know I like her, you hear?" he said, looking at both men gravely so they'd know he meant business.
"Whatever you say, man, whatever you say," Soujiro reassured him, although he and Akira winked at each other behind his back. Maybe, just maybe, they could find a way to help their friend without him being aware of it.
******************
A/N: This is for those of you who were missing Tsukasa already, LOL! Don't worry, I promise some TxT action in the next chapter.
Lian: Hi, it's good to hear from you again! I'm glad your computer's fixed now. Nope, no love triangle, just TxT.
Sailor Angie: Hey Angie, here's a chap on your favorite guy (mine too!). Nope, there was no big mystery behind the missed cell phone calls and messages from Soujiro. I just placed that in the last chapter so I could use it to segue onto the next scene. As for your request for more gratuitous naked Tsukasa scenes, hmmm... we'll see if I can cook up something for the next chapter. *wink*
XxSwtDreamerxX1: Yeah, I liked that last chapter too. Although this is AU, I still think some RxT bonding scenes were a must. I just love the close bond those two have with each other.
ToinKs: Hey girl! Glad you like the way I'm writing Rui in this story. Yep, that's Rui, a great friend and a sensitive soul through and through.
luna: LOL, I'm glad you're getting nicer weather now. Lucky you. We're in the middle of summer here and it feels like a freakin' steambath, especially at daytime. I'm glad you like how I've captured the personalities of most of the characters in this fic. As for Tsukasa, *sigh* yeah, he's way OOC here, but oh well, I did warn you guys at the first chapter that some characters might be OOC. Thanks for sharing your insight!
cherub girl: Aww, you really flatter me (but hey, I ain't complaining!)! I'm touched that you consider this story a favorite of yours. Good to hear you liked the last chapter. Hope you like this one too!
kamiangel: Busted! LOL! Yeah, when I'm writing, I actually envision Jerry Yan of the boyband F4 instead of Tsukasa, the manga/anime character. Oh, got your e-mail. To answer your question, I'm from the Philippines. Nice to know someone from Down Under is reading this. Oh, and I'm sorry if the song hasn't been brought up yet in this chap, as I told you in my e- mail. Maybe in the next two updates or so. Be patient, lol.
anonymous: Glad to hear you liked my recent updates. Hope you like this one as well.
Syvonair: Oooh, a new name on the reviews page! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. I'm happy to hear you like my story. Hope to hear from you again!
As always, please leave me a review if you have time. I love hearing from you guys! 'Til the next update... cheers!