Disclaimer: Don't own Gravitation or any of its crazy characters and I don't want to either. Too much drama for me folks.

Broken Promise

Chapter 7

"So give up all the details. Tell us what Shindou Shuichi does when he finally goes on vacation. C'mon, make us green with envy."

Hachiro sat across the lunchroom table from Shuichi, eyes glinting, hands rubbing together in maniacal glee. The third party to their lunch group just sat there, brown eyes waiting patiently, sipping his soda.

Sai was one of the people in charge of setting the final layout for the magazine each month. He was a few years younger than Shuichi and had short dark hair with spikey bangs that fell to his eyes. The hairstyle reminded him of those anime style haircuts. He had two piercings in his left ear and one in his right. There were rumors of a tattoo but no one had been able to get a straight answer from the man.

Today, as he does everyday, he was wearing baggy pants, tennis shoes and a faded t-shirt with a software logo on it, covered by an unbuttoned dress shirt. Sometimes the t-shirts bore a gaming logo or it was a concert t-shirt, but no matter the theme, it was always faded and well-worn.

He's a little quiet, compared to Shuichi or Hachiro, but Shuichi had come to expect that from people whose jobs revolve around computers. They tend to be anti-social, preferring to interact with hardware and the internet than with live people. But when you could get Sai talking, he was nice and funny and Shuichi found that he liked the guy. He made it a point to say good morning and such and ever since he invited him to tag along with him and Hachiro for lunch one day, he'd been with them ever since.

"Well, we went to an amusement park, a few clubs and we did a karaoke night. I had a lot of fun. It was good to see Ryu again."

Shuichi shrugged his shoulders, offered a sheepish grin and took a bite of his sandwich. He had been back home for two days now and even though if felt good to be back, he missed Ryuichi. His bed felt cold and too big just for him. He didn't really have an appetite and was only now eating because he didn't want to raise Hachiro's suspicions, which, from the look on his face, he had managed to do anyway.

Hachiro frowned and sat back in his chair, eyeing the writer suspiciously. He didn't believe Shuichi's story for a minute. He knew the writer was holding back something. Maybe he doesn't want to say anything in front of Sai. But there's no way you can convince me that nothing happened between those two. After talking with Ryuichi that night on the balcony, Hachiro was certain that the older man had feelings for his friend and just from seeing them interact, Hachiro could see Shuichi held similar affections for the former rock star.

Shuichi saw the wheels spinning in Hachiro's mind and so he decided to change the subject.

"So, Sai, I didn't cause too much trouble for you with this last story, did I?"

Sai's face brightened and he smirked, waving Shuichi's question off. "No. You only cause me trouble when you're hovering over my shoulder and putting your fingerprints all over the computer screen. Without you here, everything went smoothly."

Shuichi threw a pretzel at the grinning man across from him which stared a mini food fight between the two of them. Hachiro ended it by holding up his bottle of soda.

"If you two don't cut it out, I'll shake this soda and douse the both of you." Sufficiently mollified, Shuichi and Sai put down the food in their hands and began to clean up. "Gods, you both can be such children. How old are you again?"

"Numbers don't matter. It's how young you feel."

"You keep telling yourself that, Gameboy."

Sai bit his tongue. He hated it when Hachiro called him that. Especially in front of Shuichi. He didn't want Shuichi to think of him as a "boy". He wanted the writer to think of him as a man. A man his own age that was his friend. Although Sai would be willing to sell his own mother for Shuichi to see him as more than just a friend. It scared him what he would be willing to do to claim Shuichi as his own.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ryu brought the car to a stop and stared at the building. He dreaded entering his empty home. Ever since Shuichi left two weeks ago it had felt too big and sounds seemed to echo through the house and he found himself feeling utterly alone. He sighed and got out of the car, and just as he was about to open the door, he noticed a small brown box sitting off to the side.

Ryu took a sip of wine before opening the box. He had managed to shower and make a few phone calls before the temptation had proven too great. He hadn't bothered to eat dinner. He'd lost his appetite since Shuichi left as well. It was as if Shuichi had taken a part of him with him when he left. The part that was alive.

The box's contents proved to be another dagger in the man's heart. It was the magazine with Shuichi's article and a packet of pictures. Ryuichi read through the article, then flipped through the pictures. The last picture was an 8x10 of Shuichi sticking his tongue out at Ryu. He chuckled, and it soon turned into a laugh, and soon, there were tears running down his cheeks, even as he smiled.

"Oh god, I really screwed up this time."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Which ear?"

"The left."

Shuichi sat in the chair, anticipating the sharp burst of pain that was about to happen. It had been a little over a month since he came back home and he couldn't seem to get Ryu out of his mind. It had led to him sitting home one night, going through old photo albums, journals and the like which revealed one of his most treasured possessions. For Bad Luck's first album going platinum, Ryuichi had given him a platinum diamond earring. He took Shuichi to the jewelry store, bought the stud and had the jeweler pierce his ear right then and there.

Everything had been like a dream to Shuichi back then and he didn't remember a lot of the details. He remembered feeling so proud and so amazed that Ryuichi Sakuma was congratulating him in such a grand manner. He had treated Shuichi's success as a monumental occasion. Unlike a certain blonde writer who sighed and said in that tired voice of the bored, "I guess this means I really have to take you out on a date now, huh?"

How could I have been so stupid to waste any of my time with that bastard? A sudden jolt of pain in Shuichi's ear brought him out of his self-deprecating session. He blinked his eyes a few times and looked in the mirror. There, shining in all its glory was Ryuichi's diamond stud. A constant, brilliant reminder of the man he loved and couldn't have.

"Th-thanks."

Shuichi paid the jeweler and walked out into the gloomy day. He hadn't bothered to drive. He wanted the time to be alone and walk, perhaps clear his head, or perhaps just mope. Either way, by the time he got home he was soaked to the bone. The skies opened up three blocks from his apartment, three blocks sooner than Shuichi would allow himself to open up and cry.

He let the door close, threw his keys in the dish by the door as he flipped off his shoes and shrugged his jacket to the floor. Shuichi slowly walked back to the bathroom, peeling off clothes as he went. First the shirt, than the pants that he walked out of and finally the socks and boxers which he left on the bathroom floor.

He grabbed a towel, some aspirin and a glass of water, and then headed into the bedroom. After he took the aspirin and toweled his hair dry a bit, he slipped into a pair of pajama pants and crawled into bed. As he sunk into the pillows and pulled the covers up to his chest, he desperately tried not to think about how cold and alone he felt in the bed. He didn't want to think about the last time he was lying in a bed during the day, with the rain pelting against the glass, creating a soothing noise that dared you to stay awake. He wouldn't think of a certain man with a warm smile and gentle hands and the voice of an angel.

"Ryu…."

Shuichi whimpered into the pillow he had clutched to his face. He still wouldn't allow himself to completely cry out loud. He had some strange feeling that if he did cry out loud, then the person for whom the tears were being shed would know the truth. He would know that Shuichi had broken his promise and fallen in love and he would become sad again. And Shuichi couldn't live with himself if he ever caused Ryu any pain. So he kept it all to himself.

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Hachiro was worried. As he drove home he thought of everything that had happened for the past three months. Shuichi had been withdrawn and Hachiro was pretty sure that the writer had lost weight. Now I know why he doesn't go on vacation, the photographer thought with a bitter laugh. The man falls apart afterwards.

He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to turn green. He couldn't shake the feeling that Shuichi's behavior had something to do with his friend Ryuichi. But those two are thick as thieves. There's no way something bad happened between them.

As Hachiro accelerated down the road once again, he made a mental note to sit down and talk with Shuichi when they both got the time. He knew Shuichi would be going full blast for the next week or so trying to make deadlines so it would have to wait until after then.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"No, I don't like that one. Where's the one with her looking up and gesturing with her hands?"

Shuichi waited as Sai sifted through the stacks of pictures, looking for the specific one he requested. They'd been working on the layout for his latest article for over an hour now and Shuichi was getting tired. He just wanted to go home and collapse in bed.

"Here it is. So you want it placed here?"

"I was thinking about here and then…" Shuichi traced lines on the computer screen indicating new borders and story alignments. "…doing that so it could sit here with a bold quote coming across the bottom."

Sai turned to look at Shuichi who was leaning in from behind as he drew lines on the screen. He'd always kidded with Shuichi that he bothered him whenever he hung over his chair like he was currently doing. In fact, he loved it. He loved being close to Shuichi and would take every opportunity he could get. He'd been attracted to Shuichi since the moment their eyes met over six months ago, but he hadn't gotten up the courage to do anything about it until that little talk with Hachiro a couple days ago.

"Stop drooling, you're embarrassing yourself."

"What!"

Sai had jumped at Hachiro's comment as they made their way through the commissary towards Shuichi and a few others for lunch.

"Don't play stupid, Sai. You like Shu. Why don't you just ask him out?"

Hachiro knew Sai liked Shuichi and hadn't bothered to interfere, figuring it was really none of his concern. But since returning from his vacation, Shuichi had seemed depressed and his friend couldn't help but make it his concern. Maybe he just needs a little pick me up. I think our man Sai should do the trick nicely.

Sai stopped and looked at Hachiro, confused.

"But I thought……I mean, aren't you two….?"

"Me and Shu? Ha! Where would you get a crazy idea like that?"

Hachiro put an arm around Sai's shoulders and continued towards the lunch table.

"Well, you guys are so close and you hang on each other, and---"

"You mean like I'm hanging on you right now?"

Sai felt his embarrassment burning his cheeks. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Look. Just ask him out. You don't need to declare your love or anything. Start off with drinks or something. Hey, invite him out for karaoke. He never turns down karaoke."

Sai had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask Shuichi out and now seemed like that moment. There was a new karaoke place that opened up last week and had been getting good buzz and there was no one around to witness his humiliation should he get turned down.

Sai turned back towards the computer screen, looking at the changes Shuichi had made. They seemed reasonable and wouldn't cause him too much agony when he went to rearrange a few subsequent pages. He cleared his throat and began making the necessary changes on the layout, figuring it would keep him focused and prevent him from sounding too nervous.

"Hey, Shuichi, I was wondering if you wanted to go with me and check out this new karaoke place. It just opened last week and I hear it's really cool."

Shuichi had backed away from Sai and grabbed his soda, letting the man do his job. Just as he was about to swallow, he heard Sai's question. Is he asking me out? Shuichi swallowed hard and stared at the man, wondering what prompted him to ask him out in the first place.

"I didn't realize you liked karaoke."

"I'm not that big a fan actually. I asked because I know you like it and I thought it would be nice to spend some time together. So what do you say? Is it a date?"

Sai made sure to keep his back to Shuichi while he spoke, knowing he'd lose his nerve the moment he looked at the writer. Instead, he concentrated on work and for several silent moments, the only sound that could be hard was the click clack of Sai's typing.

Shuichi wasn't sure what to do. He liked Sai, but the thought of dating him had never crossed his mind. Then again, nothing has since I saw Ryu. He felt the stab of loneliness again and he sagged against the table he was standing next to, suddenly not willing to hold himself upright. As he contemplated what to do, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Sai…how did you know I like karaoke?"

"A little birdie told me."

"A little birdie, huh?" Hachiro you're sticking your nose in my business again! And now you're using Sai as your unwitting accomplice. Shuichi was truly stuck. On the one hand, he didn't want to encourage Sai by agreeing to go on a date with him just to have something to do…..and on the other hand, he really wanted to go to the new karaoke club. He knew which one Sai was talking about. It opened up a few weeks ago, right by the old NG Building. And going to karaoke with someone was always preferable to going alone. But if I say yes, it'll give him the wrong impression.

"It's ok, ya know." Sai turned around and looked up at Shuichi who was chewing on his finger and he couldn't help but smile. "You don't have to say yes. I can see it's causing you some trouble."

"Huh? Trouble? What are you talking about?"

"You're chewing on our finger. A sure sign you're thinking really hard about something."

Shuichi pulled the finger from his mouth and let his had fall to his side, a memory of Ryuichi pointing out the same thing to him ran through is mind in a quick flashback. But before he could be sad at another memory of his time with Ryuichi, he smiled. The idea of Sai knowing him well enough to make that observation made him feel….happy. Here was someone who had taken the time to get to know him before asking him out. Before trying to make any move. And Shuichi thought it very sweet.

"I'll go with you on two conditions. One, this is not a date. But I would like to hang out with you. And two, I don't care whether you can't carry a single note….you're singing."

Sai chuckled and leaned back in his chair. "Deal."

To be continued….