Warnings: Au, x-over, yaoi, possible violence as the story progresses, random moments of humor and/or fluff
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or Weiss Kreuz. I take no credit for anything except my own characters and the plotline. I make no money off of this. And if you try to sue me all you will get is my manga collection.
…Nope, you won't even get that, because I will take my manga with me when I change my name and run away to Canada.
Weiss Geräusche
'Prodigy,
Can I get some help with my homework tonight? I have to translate some English phrases. I can read it well enough to understand, but actually trying to write it out without grammatical errors or anything is a nightmare.
I'm going to run down town to get a new piece of equipment right now, but I'll back later if you're going to be on. Let me know ok?
Saki'
The tiny shop was rather obscure. It was set back from the sidewalk a little bit and was easily overlooked when compared to the other stores in the shopping strip. The only indication that it even was a store was a small white sign hanging above the door that was decorated with musical notes on a stave, with the word Pitched painted within the black lines.
The owner of the store thought she was funny.
When Suguru stepped inside the cool interior he paused, allowing his eyes to adjust to the lower light levels in the music store. He nodded politely to the woman behind the register, who relaxed back into her chair when she saw who it was that had just come in.
Miné was a slender woman of mixed heritage, and somewhere between her mid to late twenties as far as Suguru could tell. Her dark brown hair was cut in a bob, and violently streaked with bright colors. She had on bright eye shadow that fanned out from her dark eyes, streaking down towards her high cheek bones. Today she was wearing a ripped skin tight black outfit and jewelry with a strong lock and key motif going on. Flashes of slightly tanned flesh were visible when she moved. As always when he saw her, the boy spared a moment to wonder why she appeared so wild when her personality seemed so much more… subdued.
The shop owner smiled in happy greeting and gave a jangling wave. He nodded back with a small wave of his own and absently shifted his backpack. When she was once more reabsorbed in her reading he glided back into the small space that contained some of the greatest treasures in the world as far as he was concerned. His ears immediately heard someone plunking out tunes on a keyboard deeper in the shop, but it took a moment for his eyes to track the sound. When he did he quirked an eyebrow in surprise.
There was a strange looking boy with pink hair sitting at a keyboard. Clunky sneakers, ratty old jeans that were ripped so badly that they almost didn't qualify as jeans and a tank top that had seen better days were the first things he noticed; after the wild hair color of course.
Suguru listened for a moment, drifting closer to the young man. The teen's eyebrows drew together in concentration. He couldn't place the song that the pink haired boy was playing. It was either an original song or a familiar song that was being so badly played that it was too mangled to be recognizable.
"No, no, no. There's still something missing," he muttered underneath his breath. Suguru barely caught the words they were spoken so quietly. "It's not right. It all sounds so clear in my head but when I try to play it, it sounds so off!" the other boy practically wailed before turning electrifying violet eyes on Suguru.
"So it is an original song then. If you drop that last note down half a step, it'll sound better. May I try?" he asked politely. Suguru figured the strange boy was only slightly older than he himself was, probably only by a couple of years.
"Huh? You play the keyboard? Yeah, have at. I'm certainly not having any luck with it," the strange boy was once again muttering, a resentful glance at the instrument he'd been playing. The look faded immediately as the boy stood up to make room for the younger teen. A wide smile appeared on his face.
"Hi, I'm Shuichi Shindou! Nice to meet ya."
"Suguru Fujisaki," Suguru bowed slightly. He stepped up to the keyboard and took a look at the music sheet that was in place there. The lyrics that were scribbled on the page had potential. So did the basic music. The arrangement was rather weak though. He tried not to cringe at the doodles scattered along the edges of the slightly crumpled paper.
"You wrote this?" he asked flicking a glance at the other boy.
"Yeah. You like it?" Shuichi smiled hopefully.
"You should stick to lyrics. I'll see what I can do about salvaging it." Suguru knew he sounded arrogant and he didn't really care. He sat. It really was a potentially good song if the pink haired boy didn't fuck it up.
He looked over the sheet, already his mind was racing over possibilities of how to fix it. He'd have to try several out, but after a couple of minutes he had enough of the song memorized to have an idea how to play the piece without worrying about looking at the paper. He ignored the pink blur that was spazzing out behind him, and tossed the paper at the Shuichi guy who managed to stop freaking out long enough to catch it. It was a good catch. The other boy had fast reflexes, Suguru noted idly.
Then, ignoring the pink boy's complaints, he began to play.
About halfway through he heard another sound that came, not from the keys beneath his fingers, but from the throat of his companion. Shuichi's voice rose, challenging his fingers, wrapping around the notes that filled the air. The song certainly hadn't held this kind of charge when he'd been reading it, playing with the tune in his head. Suguru listened in awe as his playing met the boy's voice inch for inch.
When the music faded away the two boys stared at each other in stunned silence. Enthusiastic clapping greeted their ears. The woman at the counter had drifted over from the counter to listen to them. They both jerked, both having been so lost in their song that they had briefly forgotten their audience. They both stared at Miné blankly for a second before giving each other shaky smiles.
"Whoa!" Shuichi breathed. "Just think how awesome that would sound with Hiro playing his guitar piece with that." There was a reverent light in his eyes.
"Who?" Suguru asked in confusion.
"He's my friend. We formed a band called Bad Luck and we've been looking for… I dunno, something that would push our music to where it needs to be. I think," the violet eyed singer spoke slowly, "that it just may be you. Come on! Whaddya say? Come join our band?"
"Erm… no."
"Why not! You have to have heard how awesome that was! It was incredible! And that was only with the two of us. Hiro's really good, too. Just think, we'd be rocking the whole city if we all played together!"
"He has a point," a thoughtful voice interjected. Suguru spared a glance at the intruder. Miné was propping up a doorway with her shoulder. She tilted her head at him curiously.
"Why don't you at least try to play with them? I've heard them before, you would definitely do well with them if that song was any indication. Well done by the way," she complimented. "It could be brushed up a bit of course but it was a magnificent performance for an improve jig."
"What if I don't want to join a band?" he challenged back to the two of them.
"But… but what about the music? No one who can play as great as you can could walk away from the music like that. You can't ignore what we created just now!"
Suguru stared at the other boy. That look in his eyes when he spoke was one that was normally reserved for a treasured lover. How was he supposed to resist when he could recognize that while the other boy may not be good on keys, he was utterly in love with the music?
Suguru got the feeling that the pink haired wonder considered music a living breathing entity that consumed your life, that gave you a reason to exist in return. It was unnerving that he could read the other boy's emotions so well considering that they had just met, and aside from the song shared only a couple of sentences.
Still, that kind of… projection, he supposed was the word he was looking for, would be incredible with a crowd. He would spill all over them, dragging them along for the ride, forcing whole stadiums of people to feel every nuance of the songs he performed.
'Dear God,' Suguru mused silently as he stared at the expressive boy, 'A microphone in his hands could be a dangerous thing.'
And he could help give him that kind of power. He could stand with this boy and make him a god. And in return he could leave his cousin's shadow. And create his own light to shine upon Shuichi, the light with which to dazzle the world. Just as Tohma had done with Ryuichi.
It was a tempting thought. To be more like his cousin, yet to take that step away from him.
"That would be great! Just think, my two best customers joining together to form a band. When you guys hit it big I can tell everyone how you met each other here!" Miné announced cheerfully, ignoring the fact that he had already told them both that he wasn't interested.
"Perhaps," he spoke slowly, his tone thoughtful. "Perhaps I could play with your band. Just a jam session to see how well we all sync, you know. Just to see what it could be like. " He trailed off doubtfully, hoping that Shuichi would take the hint and beg him to come along for a song.
"That'd be so awesome! You'll love Hiro when you meet him, this'll be so great! When do you want to meet him? We can go jam at my place right now, it's not far from here, and I can call him over from there. You can use my equipment. How's that sound?"
And, bingo!
But damn, the guy needed to learn to pause for air every now and then.
"I suppose so." He made sure he sounded politely distant and not as excited as he secretly felt. This boy could be his chance to make it. He wasn't perfectly trained, and he still had a long way to go, but he had the love and he had the raw talent. Now all it would take is a little refinement and they could definitely hit the big times, if things worked out with this band.
He was holding the excitement in check, reminding himself of all the things that could and probably would be wrong with the boy he just met. Not to mention the other band member that he hadn't met. But he couldn't quite squash the anticipation that was forming in his chest.
The green haired teen found that he couldn't help himself. After discussing the sequencer that he was looking at and delivery arrangements, the two boys said goodbye to the woman. Which is how Suguru found himself following the other boy, who chattered incessantly as they walked to his place.
It turned out that the older boy, Shuichi, lived on the fourth floor of an old apartment complex. They trekked up the stairs, and Shuichi was still rambling on about… Suguru paused to try and figure out what the other boy had been talking about since he had stopped paying attention some time ago.
Cats.
The boy was talking about cats. Idly Suguru wondered how the other boy had gotten onto the subject, but he thought it better not to ask and prove that he hadn't been paying attention. Finally the two arrived at his door. Shuichi ushered Suguru inside.
"Hm, we should have enough room if we stay in the living room, and move some stuff out of the way."
Suguru stared around in amazement, his eyes taking in the apartment.
The room was small, the furniture taking up most of the space, but cheerfully decorated. There were sprays of flowers scattered around the apartment. An unexpected sight in the home of a single male, but it suited the image Suguru was slowly building in his head of the other boy. Along every spare space on the wall was a dart board, with what looked like bits of paper stuck to them, and words written in black marker on a couple of them. He drifted closer to get a better look. That was when his eyes landed on the entertainment system, and the musical equipment that was tucked away against the wall in the corner.
"Here, let me call Hiro over real quick so you guys can meet. It's not much I know," he gave a crooked grin, "but go ahead and make yourself at home."
"I… don't understand," the synth player mumbled staring at the wall of electronics.
"Don't understand what? Fujisaki-san? Are you okay?" Shuichi hovered nearby, completely confused by the other's response to walking into his apartment.
"I don't understand why you live in an apartment the size of a shoe box when you have close to a million yen worth of electronic equipment sitting in your living room." And that wasn't counting the cds and entertainment system the pink boy had set up.
"Well I had a job all through high school, and I never had to pay for anything really since my father supported me, kinda. And, well, so I had a bunch of money left over when I finally moved out on my own," Shuichi rubbed a nervous hand over the back of his head and gave an overly innocent grin.
"What the hell kind of job did you do to get this kind of money? Take hits on people?" his tone was filled with disbelief. His eyes were glued on the brand new synthesizer, so he missed Shuichi's cringe at his choice of words.
"Oh, something like that!" Shu's voice was too cheerful. "I was a florist."
'A florist?' Suguru gazed at him incredulously before turning his attention back to the instruments in the corner. Those must have been some really expensive flowers to let him land this much equipment. Then again, he was living in a box, so maybe that's why?
The strange boy could have spent all of his money on the music and equipment so he didn't have any left over to move some place bigger. It was a reassuring thought if it was true. That would mean that he truly was dedicated to the music, in more than words.
And that, more than anything, made Suguru hope.