Challenge:
Once, Fujisaki Suguru says he will never fall for a guy because he's 100 straight. Yet when an extremely handsome young man claims to be attracted to him, his previous reservation falls apart. A long conversation with Shuichi and another long conversation with Tohma is hoped to be able to clear his doubts. Your goal: Create a new original character who is in love with Suguru and get them together in the end. Your story must be at least 1500 words in length for One Shot and at least three chapters for Series.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters (except the OC that was required). Gravitation is not my property and I make no profit off of this. Although it'd be awesome if I could.
Blame It On The Rain
Have you ever gone through life understanding the facts, simply knowing, believing in the events that are going to happen, simply because that's the way things are.
And then this one person comes along who questions everything you know, defies all logic, and challenges every belief you have ever held.
Summer will come and fade beneath the cold breathe of winter. Music will always exist. The world will always turn and life will go on no matter what happens within our own little sphere of experience. If you wear white, then dark liquids will jump out of glasses and fling themselves on you. See? Simple truths of life.
Ok… so maybe that last one is just me. But my point remains.
It's all his fault. He is the one person in my life that seems to defy all logic; discounting Shindou-san of course (whom I hope never comes across as logical, because something would be terribly wrong with me if he did). He confuses me. And I can admit it now in the silence of my own mind… he attracts me.
But I dislike the confusion. It makes me cranky.
You're probably thinking, "Who are you? What are you rambling on about?"
I apologize. Please allow me to explain. My name is Suguru Fujisaki. I am a capable, intelligent young man with remarkable ideas, and an endless font of inspiration. My keyboard will change the world one day, for I am a brilliant musician. Heh, I'm modest too.
Brilliant though I may be, this fact has yet to be fully recognized by my peers. Their determined ignorance of said brilliance is their problem because they are missing a huge opportunity by rejecting me.
At least I wish it was only their problem.
However it's a sad truth of life that you cannot be a brilliant musician unless everyone else acknowledges you as one. At which point the problem becomes yours. Or mine, respectively.
Who am I kidding? Even the maids at my parent's house wouldn't care enough to acknowledge my aforementioned brilliance, let alone the leaders of the musical world. They cannot acknowledge me while my cousin sits behind ivory keys. Don't get me wrong- I love Tohma to death, but they will never see me. Not whilst so ever he shimmers all over the place. Grumble.
But that is an old rant and a familiar one. As such it is not my primary concern at the moment.
The heals of my boots click almost bitterly against the glimmering black street. Stupid rain. It rained most of the night. I shift my grip on my umbrella to adjust for the direction of the wind. It was still raining. I half blamed it for my current problem.
It's just so frustrating; not really knowing what I should do about this new situation. That's why I'm here even earlier than usual. I'm going to talk to my cousin- what? yes, that same cousin- to see what he thinks I should do about my current, ah… problem.
You see it all began last night…
"Hey! Look at that guy over there. I think he's interested in you." The words were audible beneath the deep throb of music only because they were spoken directly into his ear.
Bad Luck had just finished another successful concert and had been too pumped up to want to go home afterward. So the three members of Japan's hottest new band had escaped from their manager's watchful, not to mention psychotic, attention and made it to a club. Now the adrenaline rush was wearing off though, and a raging migraine was beginning to pulse behind the youngest member's eyes in time with the bass beat of the music.
"What difference does it make? I'm straight."
"Uh huh. That's what Yuki said to me, and look where he's at," the bubbly singer purred with smug satisfaction.
"I'm not Yuki. And I'm not interested in men."
"But he's been staring right at you for the past half hour trying to get you to notice him!" the lead singer of Bad Luck nudged his band mate and friend, Suguru. "And he's really hot too. Aren't you even going to check him out?"
The green haired boy leveled a flat, unfriendly look on his companion. "I refuse to indulge your attempt at matchmaking Shuichi. You can be as flaming gay as you like, that doesn't mean the rest of us are going to tag along for the ride."
"You know what? That guy could be your soul mate, the love of your life. And you're just going to pass him by because he doesn't have tits. I don't understand why you won't even try and talk to him, or acknowledge he exists. I mean at the very least, maybe you could make a new friend."
Whatever else Shuichi said after that was lost as Suguru labeled the pink boy's sentiments unworthy of his attention and tuned out the rest of what he was saying. His eyes fell on the guitarist for the group, Hiro, who was currently chatting up a couple of girls on the other side of the floor. He hoped the red head was having a better time than he himself was.
"Suguru? Are you even listening to me?" A finger poked his shoulder.
The younger boy blinked and turned his head to look at his companion.
"I'm sorry Shindou-san. Were you saying something important? Because, I stopped registering sound about five minutes ago."
"You suck." Shuichi stuck out his tongue in irritation.
Suguru rolled his eyes at the childish taunt. "Says the gay boy."
"Fine. Be that way. I'm going to hang out with Hiro. He at least pretends to care about what I think." The older boy stood up abruptly.
"You? Thinking? My, we are feeling humorous tonight."
The singer pinned him with an irritated look and flounced away in a huff. Shuichi was still wearing his stage clothes, so Suguru had to duck to avoid the angry coat tail that nearly smacked him in the face.
The teen felt a moment of regret for being so nasty. He didn't mean to be so catty to the other boy, but it was Shuichi's fault that he was being so short tempered. The singer had been poking him for the last twenty minutes, trying to get him to acknowledge some guy who was apparently giving off 'I-wanna-hump-your-leg' vibes towards him.
Shuichi just didn't get it.
Suguru wasn't interested in a relationship with anybody right now; and especially not one with another guy. Besides, plunging witlessly into an emotional tangle without regard for his position would only be detrimental for the band. This was something that Shuichi failed to grasp, even after all of this time with Eiri-san. Of course he failed to grasp it; Shuichi plunged witlessly into just about everything that he did. Suguru wasn't like that however, and he had no desire to emulate his band leader's mistakes.
Suddenly the young keyboardist didn't want to be inside any longer. He got up, grabbed his coat and began to push his way through the writhing crowd of the dance floor to get to the exit. Finally he reached the door and pushed his way out of the stuffy heat generated by the crowd and into the cooler night.
The clear air helped ease the headache just a bit and he gave a soft sigh of relief. At least it had stopped raining for the moment. He didn't have his car at the moment, so he quickly weighed his options. The subway wasn't far away from here so he started to walk towards the direction of his ride for the night. He'd go home, take some painkillers and crash until he had to get to work in the morning.
"Hey, you look like that one guy from Bad Luck. Hey is that you! Oh my god, it is!" a high pitched squeal interrupted his silent planning. He jerked his head around to see who was addressing him.
He stared.
A low murmur of other voices quickly joined in the first and grew into a tidal wave of fan girl shrieks of excitement. It took his brain a few precious seconds to process what he was seeing. Girls near the door apparently heard the commotion outside because the small knot of females quickly grew into a small horde. They flooded toward him, each trying to scream for his attention.
Suguru didn't think after that.
He ran.
Fingers grabbed at him from behind, clawing tearing at his clothes. Shouts and jumbled voices reached his ears as he sprinted for all he was worth down the street. He still had his jacket clutched in his hands, forgotten in his desperation to find sanctuary from the rushing crowd. Poor thing, he was so anxious to escape his pursuers that he raced right past his original destination of the subway. As luck would have it, large wet drops began to plunk down in gleeful splatters on the ground.
He careened around a corner, nearly slipping on the rain slick cement. Luckily the maneuver reclaimed him the few precious moments that he had lost while staring dumbly at the sea of estrogen when they had first spotted him.
There were some shouts of confusion from behind. Perhaps he'd get lucky they'd all fall down when they rushed around the corner, he hoped darkly. Then the girls behind them would trip over their sprawled bodies and he'd be free of the lot of them. So caught up in such pleasant thoughts was the young synther that he didn't notice the hand that reached out for him.
The said hand caught his jacket and pulled him off balance, causing him to nearly fall yet again. He wind milled his arms, fighting for balance and the person reached out another hand to steady him. Then Suguru was jerked roughly into a dark alley and spun around.
A warm body pressed against him, pushing him into a small hidden niche in the wall at his back. He felt more than saw the hands that pressed against the wall on either side of his head. Suguru couldn't see the face of his attacker (savior?) in the deep shadows, even if the other person's face wasn't obscured by dark bangs.
"Shh, hold still," warm breath puffed over his neck and sent warm tingles shooting along his spine, causing him to shiver in confused excitement. The other body pressed closer in response, attempting to force him to comply with the soft command. The two held their breath, freezing completely as the crowd of girls ran past the mouth of the alley that they were hidden in. When the last shrill voice finally faded into the distance, the other person eased away, finally giving the young rocker his freedom.
"You okay?" the other person, Suguru had recollected enough of his wits to realize it was a male voice, asked him in concern.
"Fine. Thanks."
"Well, that was exciting." A quiet laugh.
"Or something," the green haired teen agreed dryly. A drop of cold water hit him squarely on the nose and he was reminded that it was raining again. He had never gotten a chance to put on his coat and now he was soaked. Shifting away from the rough brick he unfolded his coat and pulled it on. It was too late to keep him dry, but at least the extra layer blocked the wind that was trying to sneak through the moisture enhanced material he was wearing.
"You're wet. We need to get you dried off," again that quiet voice broke into his thoughts.
"What's this 'we' stuff?" he demanded. "And why should you care if I'm wet or not?"
"You're a member of Bad Luck. You can't afford to catch a cold since you have to be the backup vocals for your new song right?" the stranger answered reasonably. "Look, I don't live far from here. I could lend you some dry clothes and you could call a cab from my place."
"What are you some crazy stalker type who wants to get me naked?" he grumbled, unaccountably annoyed at being labeled as part of Bad Luck by his rescuer.
"If that's what you think I am, then it's pretty reckless of you to continue standing in a dark alley with me. Come on."
Bemused, Suguru trailed after the shadowy form.
They hurried along the darkened path into connecting alleyways. The strange boy was weaving with easy familiarity among the twists and turns, casually darting around any obstacles that cropped up. Suguru, trying to keep up, nearly fell over a black bag and subsequently banged his knee into a completely filled metal trashcan when he tried to avoid it.
The can tipped over, and the synth player tripped, nearly falling on top of it. Once again Suguru was saved from kissing pavement by his new friend. He flung his hand out, bracing one palm against a wall while the other slid around the other boy. Strong arms wrapped around his waist, and a firm body pressed against his side, keeping him upright.
"Are you okay, Fujisaki-san?" concern laced the question.
"You seem to have to have a severe advantage over me." Suguru turned his head to try and make out the other boy's face, but the lines of the boy's face blurred under the rain, hidden by the lack of light.
"How is that?"
"You know where we're going. And you know my name. I don't know where we're headed, and I have no clue what I should call you."
Suguru could feel the weight of the other's gaze on his face.
"What would you like to call me?" the other asked curiously.
"What?"
"Why don't you pick a name for me, and I'll answer to it."
Then suddenly the other boy looked away.
"That's a dangerous request to make. For all you know I could start calling you Pretty Princess Petunia." The Bad Luck member pointed out. The boy's head turned back towards him and he could barely make out a white flash of a grin through the pouring rain.
"Pretty Princess Petunia it is then. Although you can call me Petunia for short," the strange boy chuckled in what Fujisaki could have sworn was amusement.
Freak.
"Either way we should hurry though. We're not getting any warmer out here."
"We're here. Home sweet home." The green haired boy nervously followed the other young man through the door into his place.
Only a couple of minutes had passed since the argument that he had lost with the trashcan, and Suguru was still puzzling over Petunia's avoidance of his request for his real name.
When he stepped inside, Suguru blinked to clear his eyes of water and allow them to adjust a bit. He found himself staring at a large room. The teen star could make out a large couch and assumed that it was the living room of the place. The door closed behind him and abruptly the cold air and wet flecks from the storm outside ceased. In the dim light he could make out more of the boy he was following behind.
Petunia was wearing a baseball cap that hid his hair, and part of his face from view. He was forced to conclude that whatever the boy wore beneath the slightly bulky jacket that ended right past his hips was shorter than jacket, as he couldn't see any loose ends hanging down past the elastic hem. White sneakers squeaked slightly against the wet linoleum beneath their feet until the boy toed them off. Clinging wet pants showed off every contour of slim legs that glided into the living room with the elegant grace of a dancer.
Suguru stood there shivering for a moment before his manners took over and he bent over to untie his laces, hurrying to echo his companion's motions of taking off his shoes.
"Here, don't move, I'm going to go get you some clothes. I'll only be a second."
Suguru hunched his shoulders and tried to still his chattering teeth as he waited impatiently for his host to return. He stood there huddling miserably, each moment his mind registering a new and exciting reason to be even more miserable. Water slid from his damp hair down his back making him cringe at the cold sensation. He became aware of the fact that he had managed to get his socks wet sometime during his great escape. The inside of his coat of was wet from his satuarated clothes, and he was reasonably positive that even his underwear was drenched. He sneezed. Oh yeah, and he was going to more than likely get a fabulous cold from all of that running around in the rain.
"Sorry that I took so long. Hey, why are you still standing here in the dark?" the other boy asked him questioningly, obviously forgetting that he had told him not to move.
"I just thought it would add ambiance to my gloominess," Suguru muttered to himself.
"What was that?"
"I said," he raised his voice so the other boy could hear, "that I didn't want to make your carpet a mess."
"Ack, I didn't even think about it. Here," a set of clothes was tossed toward his chest, and he barely managed to grab them before they smacked into the wet clothes he was wearing. "Let me turn on the light for you."
The room was suddenly filled with a soft golden glow, and Suguru had to shield his eyes for a moment. When his eyes adjusted yet again he jerked his head around to see Petunia. And for the second time that night…
He stared.