Disclaimer: Characters are Murakami's. That dinky little club is mine, though. No lyrics this chapter, 'cause not only am I lazy, but inconsistent too!
Chapter Three: Rapture
xx
Eiri watched, almost amused, as the kid's eyes grew larger and larger with every new inch of the room they took in.
Such curious eyes. Weird, even. Dark blue, almost too dark to even be blue. Maybe they were purple. Or somewhere in between.
For now, he'd leave it at indigo.
Such...big eyes. He hadn't seen that kind of innocent wonder since...fuck, since himself, back before the sparkle in his own eyes was stolen.
Eyes he tore away from the gawking, stumbling kid.
He didn't need to be thinking about this so early in the afternoon.
He didn't need to be drinking so early either, he reminded himself dully as he took another swig of beer, but damned if that stopped him.
xx
The first thing Shuichi noticed was the neon. Bright, bright, so bright...
Blink.
Shining ink blots in front of his eyes. Metallic sparkles blocking his view.
And then the velvet. Blanketing everything. Engulfing the room in elegance. Rapture. Midnight blue. Emerald green. A color he couldn't remember the name of...fuchsia? It was like pink that got lost, halfway to purple. Like that.
Then, finally...a guy. On stage. Jet-black hair flopping in front of his eyes. Deep eyes. Intense. Mean eyes.
He was...singing.
Shuichi didn't recognize the song...it was slow. Sexy. Maybe in English.
Everyone in the room had their eyes glued to the singer. Captivated. Rapture.
What was this place?
He felt so lost. Like an alien who flew in on a shooting star and somehow crashed here. Smothered and blinded by the bright lights of Tokyo, galaxies away from home.
Or maybe...he was the human. A lucky, lucky, ordinary human who had, by some miracle or another, tripped onto Shimmer Planet.
All he could see was sparkle.
And velvet.
xx
The child was absolutely enchanted. Of course he was. Who wouldn't be?
Tohma smiled to himself.
This was the first time he'd heard a voice like this in a long while. Since Ryuichi.
This boy could be Ryuichi. He could.
Tohma could turn him into Ryuichi with one snap of his fingers.
But he wouldn't. Not without consulting Eiri first, that is.
It was only fair, after all, that Eiri help him out too.
Tohma pulled the young boy – who was practically drooling, how unsightly – to where Eiri sat, scribbling on a napkin. The only one in the room not watching the show.
Who was it again...? Oh, yes. Aizawa. Talented kid, but nothing special.
Had the audience charmed, though.
Tohma would keep him around for a few more weeks.
Eiri chomped his cigarette, looking agitated, anxious, as if he couldn't get the words out fast enough. He really had such terrible penmanship. Worked much better in front of a computer.
Tohma cleared his throat. Lightly, but noticeably.
Subtlety, as everyone learns at one point or another, is everything.
Can't let anyone be thinking you're up to something.
Eiri lifted his head, slowly, still writing. Seeing Tohma, he rolled his eyes.
Tohma had long since learned to take it personally.
Now what was the child gawking at? Really. Standing there with your mouth hanging open is just rude. Tohma patted him softly on the shoulder.
Subtlety.
"Oh!" He watched the boy's shoulders straighten, mouth clamp shut. Very good, very good. He looked at Tohma expectantly.
His eyes...such an odd color. Exotic. Lovely.
"Introduce yourself," Tohma instructed, waving his hand discreetly in Eiri's general direction.
"Y-Yes," the boy stammered, his cheeks quickly flushing bright pink. Features that may be considered unbecoming in most cases, but this boy was definitely special. Even Tohma would admit, he was...cute.
"I'm Sh...Shindou Shuichi," he said, quickly, rushed, bowing so hurriedly it could hardly be considered polite. Nobody minded their manners these days.
Tohma tried not to make a show of clucking his tongue.
"Hn." Eiri was too busy to reply, scrawling...an outline, it looked like, for whatever it was that he wrote these days. Romance, was it? How silly.
"And this, Shindou-san," Tohma said, beaming the way he found he only could when talking about Eiri, "is my esteemed colleague, Yuki Eiri-san."
Shindou-san's eyes widened. They were enormous. And really, very lovely.
The customers would adore him.
"'Esteemed colleague'?" Eiri asked around his cigarette, his voice sharp and sounding somewhat ragged, not to mention more than a little peeved.
Tohma shrugged happily, gesturing for Shindou-san to follow him as he slid into the booth opposite Eiri. "Would you have prefered 'precious brother-in-law'?"
Eiri grimaced, looking rather tortured as his slid his pen behind his ear casually.
But Tohma knew by now not to take it personally.
xx
"So, Shindou-san." Seguchi-san's (he had introduced himself on the ride over) voice, soft and sonorous, seemed to float over his head...
"Where do you work?"
...And slap him in the face.
Seguchi-san was so classy. Feathers and elegance. And Yuki-san...Shuichi couldn't even look at Yuki-san. He had the kind of heart-stopping beauty that...made Shuichi's heart stop.
Everything about him was golden.
He had never seen anyone so beautiful.
Shuichi squirmed slightly in his seat, and turned his eyes to the wall. Here he sat, in this exquisite place, with two exquisite people, and he felt exquisitely out-of-place.
And pathetic.
"I don't work," he said pathetically. To the wall. "I'm...um, unemployed, sir."
Seguchi-san may have nodded.
Yuki-san may have coughed.
Shuichi may have died of embarrassment.
"Hmm." Seguchi-san, Shuichi saw out of the corner of his eye, waved over a waiter. "Tell me, Shindou-san, have you ever heard of Sakuma Ryuichi?"
Without his permission, Shuichi's head jerked upward to look at Seguchi-san. Of...of course he had! Sakuma-san was the most popular local singer ever!
Infamous. Illustrious. A legend, at least among the club kids from the darker parts of Tokyo.
Shuichi had only heard him once. By accident. He'd walked past one of Sakuma-san's small concerts at a festival. Then sat down and watched the entire show.
Mesmerized.
Sakuma-san's voice was...brilliance. Radiance. Rapture.
He was out of this world. Like a singing god, or something.
Ever since then, Shuichi had wanted to be just like Sakuma-san.
His breath hitching in his throat, Shuichi nodded. Did this man know Sakuma-san?
"Do you know where he got started?" Seguchi-san asked, staring Shuichi directly in the eye.
"Um." What was he supposed to say? Was there a correct answer? Was this a trick question? "In his bedroom?"
Yuki-san snorted.
Shuichi sunk down into the velvet-covered booth. Maybe, just maybe, please God, he would disappear.
Seguchi-san laughed kindly. "Presumably so. But professionally, Shindou-san, he debuted right here, at this club."
Blink.
"You are a singer, are you not?"
Blink blink.
"I heard you singing this morning, Shindou-san, and I think you have an exceptional talent."
No no no. No. Yuki-san could not see him blush like this! No! Why wouldn't he disappear already?
"Um...thank you," he squeaked.
Glanced around for a glass of ice water to splash on his head.
A fire extinguisher would work, too.
"In fact," Seguchi-san continued, smiling widely, "you remind me a great deal of my dear friend, Sakuma Ryuichi. What do you think, Eiri-san?"
Oh, goodness no. This was not happening. It couldn't be. Shuichi was nothing like the magical, wonderful Sakuma-san, not at all! And this absolutely gorgeous man was going to tell him so.
Right to his pathetic face.
He chewed his lip.
Better not to burst into tears.
Yuki-san shrugged, after eyeing Shuichi for a few minutes. Watching his every...pathetic...move.
Shuichi dipped his chin.
"He's cute."
And jerked it right back up again.
This was not happening.
Couldn't he just die?
Seguchi-san smirked. Stood up. "Thank you Eiri-san. Now, I have some business matters to attend to, if you don't mind." Walked away.
Yuki-san leaned back against the velvet. Fished around in his pocket. Pulling out a cigarette pack, he locked his eyes on Shuichi's.
Golden.
Rapture.
"Whatever you do, kid," Yuki-san's voice warned him. Dark. So deep. So sexy.
Heart-stopping.
"Don't ever lose the sparkle in your eyes."
xx
A/N: Well, that was fun! -falls over- Now a little bit of the plot is revealed! I sure am dragging this out, hmm?
I had fun with this chapter though, and I think that out of what I've written so far (which isn't much at all!), this one is one of the standouts. IMO, anyway. I remember being really in love with the word 'rapture' the day I wrote this, and saying it all over the place. That must be why it appears so much here...eheh.
And so, I'll make this quick! Thank you so much to everyone who came back to review chapter two, and all the new reviewers too! I love and cherish each of your comments so much! I really hope you'll continue to share this little story with me!
Also, if you think my writing is ever getting too choppy, or not choppy enough, don't hesitate to tell me. I'm having serious issues with that.
Next chapter: Lots of new characters are introduced, and Shuichi wears a mini-skirt! (What a strange advertisement...) Please stick around, and thank you so much for reading! Yay!