Alright…I failed to mention this before…but I got an email saying that you're no longer allowed to answer reviews? Is this true? I luv answering you guys…and it's making me really sad, so if someone could tell me if this is right, because I don't want my story to be removed.
Another point of interest: I can't post any more chapters until I write a few more…ccuz I still don't really know about my ending or anything, so I wanna be able to change stuff…I've drawn this update out long enough (sorry) and so I might not update for a little while (but I will eventually) and not to worry (although you probably aren't) but I WILL finish this story.
Chapter Ten
Tai sighed dejectedly and stared at the blue slip of paper in his hand.
"I can't believe I got detention on the first day of school…" Tobias just laughed at him, and he stared reproachfully at the older boy. "It's not funny!"
"Oh it is…"
"Hmph."
"Oh come on Tai, don't be like that! It's just a silly detention, and we don't have to go back to that stupid house so soon. It's not really that bad."
He couldn't stay mad at his friend for long, especially while Tobias was grinning at him with that sexy smile. Tai gave his own cute smile back.
"At least we're together."
The older boy slung his arm around Tai's shoulders, and they walked down the hall towards the math room together. Strange glances were shot their way, but they managed to ignore them all.
"So what do we do during detention anyways?"
"He'll probably tell us when we get there."
"Good point." Outside the doors, Tobias's arm fell away to knock on the door. The smaller boy for a moment shivered at the lack of warmth.
"Hello boys, please come in."
Cautiously, they entered the gloomy classroom. The blinds were pulled down to cover any light coming in from the windows, so the only illumination came from the bright fluorescent lights on the ceiling. One of said lights was flickering on and off, and it reminded Tai of a horror movie he had been watching with Tobias about a week ago.
"…And then the horrible monster rose from beneath the desk, and launched itself upon Gertrude Laroche…and that was the last anyone ever saw of her…" Apparently Tobias had thought so too…
Giggling quietly, they sat down where the teacher pointed. He stood in front of them with his arms crossed, sighing impatiently, until they managed to catch their breath.
"I trust that it's ok for me to speak now?" Well, that just set them off into new rounds of laughter.
SLAM!
The teacher's hand came flying down to hit the desk right in front of them.
"Pay attention please gentlemen," he said in a deceivingly calm voice, "You need to hear this."
"…yes sir."
"That's a good boy. Now, as you have probably figured out, I will not tolerate talking in my class. I hate to give out punishment on the first day of school…" Tai shot a look of relief over at Tobias…maybe he was going to let them get off this time. But Tobias refused to meet his glance. "…so it's a good thing that this isn't the first day! Where were you two the entire last week, during the actual first week of school?"
Tai turned to stare at Toby.
"The entire…last….week…" Rubbing the back of his neck, Toby chuckled weakly.
"Well, I didn't actually realize my mistake until about Wednesday, and by that time, there was no point in going for two and a half days…so I just figured that we would go today…and that you'd never find out…"
"Because I'm just that stupid…right?"
"Well, I'm not the one who got us into detention the first day of school!"
"I'm not the one who didn't tell me that this wasn't the first day of school!"
"God! I knew I shouldn't have believed you when you told me the rest of the guys had gone school shopping in Chicago for a week!"
"Of course you shouldn't have! Who the hell would believe such an obvious lie like that?"
"Me! I don't have any reason to suspect you're lying, so why wouldn't I believe you!"
"Because you're just that stupid, right?"
"Ahem…" The barely concealed expression of annoyance by the teacher stopped their argument for a moment.
"Gentlemen. I don't really care who told who what. What I care about is getting back my lost time that you took in class. That means we have to work out some sort of a punishment."
"Maybe you could just let us off with a warning?" Toby offered.
"Or maybe I could suspend you for disturbing my class. I don't need helpful suggestions Mr. 'Tobias'. You two boys are to sit at separate ends of this classroom, and write lines for half an hour, and then you may go home."
"Oh fun."
"Make that an hour. You can go get started, and I don't want to hear any talking out of either of you. Do not disturb me."
"But sir…"
"I said not to disturb me! Go take your seats now!"
Five minutes later, they were still sitting at the desks, trying desperately not to laugh, and waiting for him to notice them.
"What do you think you're doing? Why aren't you writing lines?"
"Because…" Tai had to stop to catch his breath, "We don't know what to write!"
The teacher's face flushed bright red.
"Why didn't you say so? Just sitting there like a pair of idiots isn't going to fix the problem!" As Toby was considering another cheeky reply, Tai quickly elbowed him in the side. As much as he did not want to go back to the orphanage, he did not want to stay in this creepy dungeon for any longer than necessary.
Finally subdued, they went to separate ends of the classroom, sat down, and tried not to be annoying. Well, at least Tai did…Toby was another story.
Although he wasn't sure if the older boy was doing it on purpose, or just subconsciously, the grin on his face gave Tai a pretty good idea of what was going through his head.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap…The teacher looked up for a second, and the tapping stopped. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Pause. Tap.
"I know that is you Mr. Tobias. Please stop or you'll be in here for the rest of the week."
A few minutes went by, then: Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
"Mr. Tobias!"
"Okay, okay, I'm finished."
Tai resumed his task: writing out "I will pay attention in class and not talk while the teacher is talking."
An hour later, the teacher called them up to the desk to inspect their work. Looking at Tai's, his forehead wrinkled.
"You spelt 'while' and 'attention' wrong every single time, and your handwriting is atrocious. Come back tomorrow after school, and you can try again. Mr. Tobias, yours is fine. You both are free to go.
Toby just looked helplessly over at Tai as they went to their lockers, got their stuff, and flew out the door, but his smaller friend wouldn't look him in the eyes.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I am all by myself. Alone in a room. There is no one here with me, especially not some STUPID, PERSISTENT—no…there is no one in the room with me. I am all alone. I am—
"What are you doing Eiri?"
I am all by myself—
"Eiri? Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
I AM ALL BY MYSELF—
"Eiri? Should I call the police?"
Sighing wearily, the famous novelist finally opened his eyes to glare at the unwelcome intrusion.
"Hey, you're alive!"
"No kidding."
"Hey, don't be like that! Aren't you happy to see your favourite brother?"
"My favourite brother?"
"Yeah, you don't have any other brothers do you?"
"Not that I know of."
"Well, then that makes me your favourite."
"Only by default."
"At this point, I'll take whatever I can get." This statement, far different from what usually came out of Tatsuha's mouth, attracted Eiri's attention more than anything else the boy had said for the past few months. Maybe he did need to hang out with the poor kid more often, because who else did he have? Mika was annoying, as was Tohma, who didn't have time for a sixteen year old anyways, and his father was unbearable to both of them. Eiri was the only one who didn't try to control Tatsuha's life. Plus, his obsession with Ryuichi was getting unhealthy.
It's not like Eiri was there a lot anyways, he went to America a lot, plus stuff for tours, in fact, he was going to America tomorrow, so he might as well do something with Tatsuha until he left…but what?
They sat in silence for a bit, while Eiri debated a way to make it up to Tatsuha for ignoring him.
"Hey."
"What?"
"Wanna go bug Tohma?" Tatsuha turned and grinned at his older brother, pleased at the idea.
"You practically read my mind…"
Quickly, they put together a plan that involved cheese, red food dye, a blender, and a scarecrow. The hunt was on.
Meanwhile, Tohma was sitting in his office, contemplating the changes that Eiri had been going through recently. At first, right after Shuichi had died; he had been so concerned for the welfare of the writer that he had practically lived in his apartment to make sure he didn't take it as far as self-mutilation. Eventually, it had seemed like Eiri was getting better…at least until he took that trip to New York. Whatever had happened there, stirred up memories maybe, had thrown Eiri into a relapse, and he wouldn't even talk to Tohma about it because of the stripper.
He was even screening Tohma's calls, which really pissed him off. He was Tohma Seguchi, and no one, NO ONE screened his calls.
Great, now he was all excited. Getting up to pour himself a glass of whiskey, he sipped it in silence, and remembered the good old days when Eiri and he were more than brothers-in-law, more than friends even.
Minutes later, his cell phone ringing brought him out of a very happy (i.e horny) memory of him and Eiri when they were younger…sixteen to be precise…and they had just gotten inside after being caught out in the rain, and had to get out of their wet clothes quickly, and they were huddled together in the laundry room and—
RING! RING! Tohma finally, reluctantly, grabbed the phone and picked it up.
"What?
"Oh my god Tohma, it's Eiri, I think he's gonna kill himself! He standing on the roof of the building, threatening to jump!" The big boss, head "Sacho" of NG records, the man who people turned to in times of stress, completely froze. The phone dropped from his fingers, slow motion style, and he could still hear Tatsuha's voice coming from the floor.
"Hello? Hello? Tohma, come quickly!"
Mere seconds later, his stylish yet affordable car came screeching around the corner of the road and up beside Eiri's apartment building. Tatsuha was dancing around excitedly at the bottom, pointing up at what appeared to be a man perched on the edge of the roof.
Futilely, Tohma tried to wave Eiri down, but there was no way the author could see him from there. It was hopeless.
Tohma felt the pit of his stomach clench and then drop to his toes as the figure slowly tipped forwards and came rocketing down the stories.
"NOOOOO!" It didn't register that 'Eiri' was falling at a relatively slow speed for such a big guy, all he could think of was a way to save him. Could he catch him? No, obviously not. Could he bring some sort of cushioning? But from where? Bushes?
So he watched helplessly as the falling object became bigger and bigger as Eiri was brought closer to sudden death. As the author hit the ground, Tohma was splattered with warm guts, and everything went black. While he fell to the ground, he found himself wondering why Eiri's brains tasted like cheese.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A few hours later, Tohma was awakened to the sound of the machines beeping, babies crying and…people laughing? His eyes flew open to see Tatsuha and Eiri in tears on the floor beside his bed, clutching their sides as they rolled around on the floor.
Tatsuha jumped up to his feet and threw an arm out in front of him.
"NOOOOO—" His dramatic scream was cut off as he noticed Tohma glaring at him with a horrid death look. "Oh, hi Tohma…well, I'll be going now, it's about time to…uh…have my tuba lesson…bye Eiri!" He booked it out of the room.
Now, Tohma turned his attention to his brother-in-law, who was in the process of wiping the tears out of his eyes.
"You're finally awake." All traces of his mirth had disappeared from the author's face, and his usual serious expression came over. "Did you really care about me that much?"
Tohma absolutely detested being picked apart like this, but after his behavior there was really no way to avoid a confession.
"Of course I do," he said angrily, propping himself up on his elbows, "Haven't you figured that out by now? What did I have to do, jump off the building beside you?"
A shocked expression replaced the indifferent look on Eiri's face. "We're sorry Tohma, we just…"
"You just what, wanted to give me a heart attack? Maybe your life would be better if I wasn't there to bother you every week to make sure you're still alive!" His last bitter words were screamed at the other man.
"No!" Eiri surprised himself with the passion in his voice, "I don't want to get rid of you…"
"I'm listening."
"I guess…ever since I lost…him…I've realized how much I value my friends…and family."
Tohma gaped unceremoniously. The Great Eiri Yuki, confessing his feelings for his…family? Who would ever have thought that the day would come…
Eiri took a deep breath and continued. "So please don't think that I was trying to get rid of you…it was just a joke…to get you to lighten up and for Tatsuha too.
Now he was doing things for other people? Would the surprises ever end? Maybe he could find it in his heart to forgive his friend.
"I might just be able to let this go," Eiri looked up suspiciously at the pause, "On one condition."
"And that would be?"
"You have to tell your family what you just told me. Or I tell them that you attempted suicide."
"That's dirty Tohma."
"Yes, it is. But those are the conditions. You have to tell them."
"Even my old man?"
"Even your old man."
"Damn, I should have left you on the road."
"Probably."
"Well, I'm going back to America tomorrow, to finish up on some stuff for the latest novel, so I'll tell them when I get back."
"…Fine, if that's the best you can do."
"It is."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Author's note: woo hoo! I finished! Well, I realize that not much happens in this chapter it seems, but it's all important for later on. And there IS a reason that this story is rated M…I'm getting to that…