By: Araki

Disclaimer: Maki Marukami owns Gravitation, not I. If I owned it, I wouldn’t be sitting here, I assure you. Anything Else I talk about in it (suppose Walt Disney, Cartoon Names, Actors, excreta…) I don’t own, because I’m poor.

Pairings: Suguru x Shuichi

Summary: Suguru needs to find a place to stay; Shuichi is in desperate need for a roommate after he left Eiri. A simple placement as friends, roommates, and band mates turned into much more in time, leaving both poor boys confused on their feelings

Warnings: Fluff! Maybe some child molesting on poor Suguru’s account

It was his birthday. It was suppose to be the most wonderful time of year, and truly, it was – in a sense. His band, BAD LUCK, had thrown him a birthday party and he got really cool gifts (especially from Shuichi, additions to his synthesizer were more than necessary), his cousin, whom he rarely spoke to if not about work, had even given him a gift and wished him a happy birthday. Seventeen-year-old Suguru Fujisaki was now on his way home, and with each step his mood was disintegrating. The smile he left work with was now straight and narrow, pierced and unready.

NG was heaven. Away from home, away from his father, away from his life. He really didn’t allow his personal life to mash into his professional life – unlike some people – but sometimes, he wondered if it would help him just to tell all. His mother had died in a car crash when he was four, he could barely remember the woman, but his father once spoke fondly of her, and Tohma (not to be confused with work as Seguchi-sama) had told him all about his mother from the side of being the woman’s nephew. Now, his father was remarried, and not for the better. It didn’t get out to the family that Fujisaki-san could not maintain a job anymore nor could his half beat wife (or as Suguru secretly called her, the bitch), and their entire income was from what he made. Suguru was penniless by name; his father had the money he earned from BAD LUCK.

The apartment wasn’t the best or the worst they could live in. Sometimes, Suguru figured they stayed there because it was the last place his mother lived before her death, and his father needed that reminder. Sometimes, the reminder was never good – the marks on Suguru’s back were more than enough to prove it. The young keyboardist frowned disapprovingly at the mess that littered outside the door, a couple of empty cases of beer, and several bottles, it only stated that the insides was doomed to be worse.

And that it was, today there were cans everywhere, bottles broken upon the floor (which made Suguru decide to be disrespectful and walk through the house with his shoes on so he wasn’t cut), and trash piled everywhere. That was where the half beat step mom came in. She would come home from work (she was a stripper, ironically) be puckered out, and sleep. His father, by this time, should be hopping the bars to drown his sorrow. An unhealthy family. Walking towards his room, Suguru stepped inside and removed his shoes with respect, placing them by the door where all his other shoes were.

He could hear the master bedroom door open, and his ‘mother’s’ voice asking him if he had come home, and Suguru didn’t really want to answer. Another fact about the woman, she didn’t marry his father because she loved the man, but more for the green haired son that made a lot of money by actually going to work at a spectacular job. Clamping his lips shut, he sat upon his futon, staring up at the ceiling that had glow in the dark stars attached to it. He was five when he had asked his cousin to help him put them up, at the time the small boy wanted to be an astronaut just so he could fly to heaven and see mommy. A small smile played on the keyboardist’s lips with the memory before jerking, as there was a knock on the door.

“Suguru, are you in there?” He was asked. Didn’t silence mean that no one was home? In a “Shuichi Moment” (a name given by K-San for when you did something stupid that you knew not to do but still did it) he almost called out that, no, he wasn’t there. That wouldn’t have been good. The knocking finally ceased, and Suguru turned onto his side, closing his eyes just as the door opened. “Suguru-kun, why didn’t you answer when I called for you?” The floorboards leading to his bed creaked, causing the green haired keyboardist the tense. “Are you sleeping?”

Never once did he open his eyes as he felt hands go through his hair, brushing the thin strands out of his face, affectionately, lovingly. Lips descended to his own, and Suguru had to fight retching up his lunch as she kissed him. Disturbed mostly, he made it look like he was asleep by flinging his arms in the air and turned upon his stomach to bury himself within his pillow. It worked; his step mom walked out of the room, slammed the door shut, and left him to his misery. He loved his father, what son couldn’t love his own parents (Eiri “Yuki” Uesugi excluded in that list of people)? He needed to leave, get out of the house, away from this family that was unhealthy. Save his life earnings, one paycheck could put his father in rehab actually - getting the man there was the problem. Oh, and get away from the pedophile that wanted to be his mother and lover.

What was stopping him? Japan’s law for one. He was only seventeen, he had to be eighteen to live on his own, out of high school (he was only a senior, last year then he was free to go), and have a steady job. He had the job, just not the other two. He had looked into it, the only loophole in the whole thing stated that he could move out before that if he were to live with someone who met all those criteria. Situation, none of his friends were really live in material.

Hiro was in the middle of dating Ayaka, so he wasn’t taking a roommate. Besides, he was living in a one-room apartment, that wasn’t much help. K-san and Sakano were out of the question. He would never ask Tohma for a place to stay, one being that the blonde was unaware of the poor green haired boy’s living conditions. Last of his older than eighteen year old friends (being the two Nittle Grasper members – both either having a family to take care of or out of their minds and would drive anyone crazy) was Shuichi. Shuichi would have been okay…if the boy was at least living on his own. Personally, Suguru figured Shuichi would have been a wonderful person to hang around with if it wasn’t for a writer that caused the genki singer to be crazy.

Grumbling the keyboardist rolled onto his back once more, stared up at his ceiling before remembering that he had homework to do, and it was best to be done.

Walking into the recording room that was assigned to BAD LUCK that week, Suguru was not the least bit shocked to find Shuichi curled in a ball, head on Hiro’s lap, crying his eyes out. Sakano – who was becoming use to this – was trying to calm him down repeating over and over “It’s okay, Shindou-san…” whatever it took to get the bawling vocalist out of his tears and into singing mode. K-san opened the door, holding his new – and improved – betting chart on how long this ‘break up’ would last. He asked Suguru if he wanted to put a bet in, but the green haired boy shook his head. That seemed a little mean to put amusement down for Shuichi’s long since broken relationship.

“What happen this time?” He asked, trying to get the details. It was likely that the writer had kicked the boy out, said cruel words to him, or Seguchi-san was once more interfering with the boy’s love life. Never a dull moment in the studio, never.

Shuichi opened one eye, sniffling before collapsing into tears again, soaking his best friend’s lap. Suguru had to hand it to the guitarist, having the strength to handle Shuichi’s mood swings and excessive crying. Taking in a deep breath, Hiro gave a weary smile. “The usual, but this time we are really taking bets on how long it will go because Shuichi is the one that broke it off.” The words had the pink haired twenty-year-old crying – over and over again – for “Yuki”. You’d at least think that if they were in a relationship he’d call the man by his real name; maybe that’s why Eiri was more than ready to push the boy out a window?

“Really,” Suguru was amazed, “Shuichi broke it off?” Shuichi nodded, whimpering slightly from where he was. Maybe he could try being nice for the boy, if they could permanently remove the blonde writer out of Shuichi’s life, then things would be a little better for BAD LUCK. A few tugs would work.

The singer sat up, nodding his head tiredly, eyes puffy and red. “Yuki is ignoring me…more than usual. Girl’s have been calling more then I ever thought possible. He was cheating on me, I can’t live with him – I don’t want to share him with anyone!” He balled up again, bringing his knees to his chest and hugged them. “I started moving out weeks ago, expecting him to notice that my stuff was missing, to see if he really loved me,” Suguru rolled his eyes, Eiri and love were two words that did not go together, “Everything has been gone for a week, and he didn’t notice anything. Just sits there, smoking and drinking at his damn computer. I even left a note once that said that the extra bedroom was empty, and it’s still there!” He whined.

“It’s okay Shuichi,” Hiro hugged his friend, smiling thinly. “Getting over him is the first step of recovering from the relationship, now you’re living on your own! See, one step at a time!” He grinned.

“I’m lonely at home. I even brought home a cat, and the thing doesn’t even acknowledge my existence. I think I should get a dog…” Shuichi muttered, causing Hiro to chuckle.

“You do that.” He laughed. “I still don’t understand why you got two bedrooms, wouldn’t one do?” He asked, causing Shuichi to cheer up.

“I told you, I’m lonely! I’m going to get myself a roommate!” The genki singer did another one-eighty mood swing, and Suguru’s ears perked up from where he was turning on his keyboard. Roommate? Another bedroom? His prayers had been answered! He jumped again as four shots cracked Shuichi’s sniffles, and K-san stared at all of them getting each member’s attention.

“Pity party over, start singing!” He yelled, clicking his gun to prepare firing rounds at Shuichi. Suguru often wondered if the manager would actually shoot them – but when a gun was against your temples getting you to work, you didn’t ask questions.

I’ll ask Shuichi later about the roommate thing…

Around seven, BAD LUCK began to get ready to go home. Shuichi was pleading to K-san that he would bring lyrics in a week at the latest. That week, of course, was changed to twenty-four hours at the latest. Hiro hadn’t said much since that morning, staring at Suguru as the green haired boy packed up his homework he had been working on while Shuichi grumbled on and on about needing time to work “magic’ for lyrics.

As Hiro stepped out of the room, following Sakano out, Suguru pulled Shuichi towards him, smiling nicely (a smile that reminded everyone of his dear cousin), causing Shuichi to tense. “Shuichi, I’ve been needing a place to stay…I’m having a bit of a problem at home, and just can’t go back for a little while.” Shuichi’s eyes relaxed, before he began grinning like the idiot he was.

“You can stay with me then, Suguru-san!” The green haired boy smiled a little. It was strange for one older to call anyone younger (especially one still a child) by san without a last name. Shuichi was weird like that, being informal and formal at the same time. “What’s going on at home that you can’t go back, though?” He asked, tilting his head a little. “It’s nothing big,” Suguru kept his face straight, a poker face, “I just need to get away for a couple weeks, make a few changes in the household, just so things can work out.”

The two stepped out of NG, and Shuichi turned a sharp right, starting towards where the residential area of Tokyo lay. Suguru ran to catch up, wanting to know where they were going as Shuichi started talking about whatever that was going through his head, and Suguru kept his mouth shut. Let him talk, he reminded himself, it bettered the chances of having a place to stay for a while. They made turns; passed some at home businesses, game shops, and other buildings before apartment plazas started, and Shuichi stepped towards one of them. It wasn’t that far from Suguru’s home, maybe five blocks at the most, so the green haired boy knew the neighborhood. Wasn’t all that bad, wasn’t costly either. Shuichi started towards some stairs, walking towards the second floor, watching out for the children that were running down, screaming at the top of the lungs. Suguru had to turn, watching as they jumped into the arms of a businessman returning from work, a small smile falling on his lips.

“They’re really nice. Their mother died a few months ago from cancer, but you never see them down.” Shuichi explained, walking towards a door and sliding his key in. “The apartments aren’t noisy, even though there are a lot of children in this place, I loved it the moment I had the first tour.” He stepped in. Suguru stared around after, taking in the location and area that was there.

It was a small living room, still being unpacked but still empty. It was obviously like that, since Shuichi had always lived with someone and never on his own. It was attached to the small kitchen; the only thing that broke them off was a tiny island counter and the change from the soft blue carpet to hardwood. Suguru took Shuichi’s example and removed his shoes at the door, upon a darker blue shoe mat that had a cat sewn upon it. Pretty. Suguru stared around some more, the boxes in the room were in one corner, Shuichi had been slowly unpacking, obviously by the few things littering the floor like some toys. A window that was closed showed the streets of Tokyo, but Suguru had not noticed it because Shuichi had a side apartment, and upon the windowsill was a black and white kitten that stared tiredly at them, before turning its head. That explained some of the boxes, like the kitty litter box in the far corner, and some of the toys happened to be catnip toys.

Shuichi led the keyboardist down the hall that was adjoined by three doors, two across from one. “The last one is a bedroom, the one next to it is the bathroom.” Shuichi opened the bathroom door, showing Suguru the spacious room that had a reasonable sized tub for a small family, a counter sink, and the other bathroom material like the toilet. On the sink were toothpaste, Shuichi’s toothbrush, and other toiletries. Shuichi shut the door, opening up the bedroom across from the bathroom, smiling politely. “This would be the room you’re looking into.” He explained, and Suguru stepped inside. It was the normal Japanese bedroom, not big, but customary to Japan’s growing population. It was empty, giving him knowledge that it had a small closet, a mirror attached to the wall, and one window, once more opened to face the outside of Tokyo. Beautiful, that was for certain. Suguru smiled, turning to his band mate. “You have quite the deal…how much is the rent?” He asked, and Shuichi’s grin expanded at the understanding that Suguru wanted to accept the offer to be his roommate.(1)

“Forty-eight thousand yen(2),” Shuichi smiled. “I have the first three months paid off, so no problem there.”

“Not bad…” Suguru whispered. They could easily afford that with their careers. “Then…can I be your roommate?” Suguru was more then ready for the glomp he received that knocked him upon the floor, and Shuichi nodded his head, saying that it was more than okay. Suguru stared up, once more at his new home, and smiled.

Hours later, Suguru felt like a spy from a James Bond movie trying to sneak back into his home for his supplies – bags of clothes, his portable futon, and other things to bring over to Shuichi’s apartment. Just purchasing a moving truck would have been too conspicuous to his father, so working by hand was a better idea. He’d have to go out a purchase a few new things, but that really didn’t matter. The lights were out, both people likely asleep in their bedroom, unaware that Suguru was planning on moving out.

Stepping into his bedroom, he looked around at what items he needed. First he carried his Futon to the taxi that he had waiting. After a couple of minutes, he had clothes sitting in the back, his futon, cleaning items, pictures of his family in happier days, and other things he wanted to bring with him – including all the items for his keyboard. On his way out, his eyes fell upwards, upon the stars that Tohma had helped him put up before he finally found a ladder to climb up on and start tearing them down to bring with him. Damn emotional history.

As he sat in the back of the taxi, he smiled silently as they started towards Shuichi’s apartment, his hands fiddling with his new keys, the thought that he had a place that was also his home. Shuichi was going to help him bring the things up to the apartment, but after that, Suguru was on his own because the vocalist needed to write lyrics before the next day. With this bit of knowledge eating at his memory, he wasn’t shocked that Shuichi was standing outside with the little girl, way up past her bedtime, talking aimlessly about Buddha knew what. He smiled, waved at them from the taxi as it pulled to a stop next to the pink haired singer. Suguru paid the man for the distance they had driven, watching as the small girl and Shuichi began to unload what was in the hatch as the green haired keyboardist went to help.

“This is Inori Sakura,” Shuichi introduced the small girl, “she doesn’t bite or anything, Suguru.” He grinned. “Hard at least,” he broke into giggles, as did the girl as she dragged Suguru’s suitcase up the stairs to the second floor. The green haired boy just shook his head, and carried his futon up as the taxi left them in the night. He was a little surprised that after the small girl put his things in his bedroom, she didn’t leave the apartment, but sat at the table, drawing on a piece of paper. Shuichi just smiled, and continued on with his lyrics, leaving Suguru to unpack and plan his next day.

He had opened a new bank account on his way to work, and in his hands was his new address and account information. So many things he’d have to change, and all of this would fall onto his cousins lap, so he was expecting to see the more known keyboardist at their door soon, demanding to know why Suguru ‘ran’ away from home. It all has to come out sometime, he thought grimly as he stepped into the NG building. He made a small detour on his way to the studio to the human resources to drop off the few changes he’d made, before turning to go towards the studio.

Moving in with Shuichi made a few changes upon his schedule, twice he walked into Shuichi’s room to get the lazy singer up. Finally – after so many attempts – Suguru came back with ice water and poured it on the boy. So, he wasn’t shocked that Shuichi was on time that morning, and hopefully always would be. K-san was talking about all the wonderful changes since there was no more Eiri, and Shuichi only grumbled, glared at Suguru, and turned his back.

“Wonderful news,” K-san held up his gun, clicking it to get their attention. Off with the safety, they knew he was ready to fire at will. “Since we’re on time today, and Shuichi turned in lyrics, we have a full schedule! Let’s get to work!” He fired a few rounds, and the whole band ran to their stations before the bullets could find targets.

Hours upon hours of music placement, organizing, their painful whines, BAD LUCK finally had their ‘break’, and was taking it to the extent possible. For a lunch break, something they were lucky to get. Where a normal NG employee had about thirty to forty minutes lunch break, K-san’s high standards and criteria for his management was only five minutes, leaving the boys to scarf down their meals. If you were new to the label, and were to see them, you’d be scared half to death, but the ones used to it continued with their lives, some watching in fascination. K-san stood behind them, a stopwatch in hand and a smile on his lips as they finished their meals, and his hands fell upon the timer.

“Meal’s over, let’s get back to work.” He started towards the door, and all three boys stared at one another. Shuichi took one last gulp of water before tossing his bentoo-bako(3) box in the trash, followed by the other two as they followed K-san through the long, depressing halls back to the recording rooms. Death row was starting to look really good. Once Shuichi had made the joke about them all just chaining themselves to the equipment dressed in black and white jail clothes. K-san, without a second notice, said he’d invest in such next paycheck. Shuichi never said anything along those lines again, and luckily the outfits and chains never happened. But they didn’t take their chances anymore.

It was hours until they were finally released to go home, Shuichi and Hiro exchanged swift hugs before Shuichi started down the street, going through his wallet, and Suguru ran to catch up. Shuichi began to gabble about going to the corner shop to pick up some makunouchi(4) meals for dinner, and asked if there was anything that Suguru wanted to eat that was microwaveable until he was capable to use the stove fire free.

Nodding, Suguru explained his desire for good old fashion onigiri(5), Shuichi giggled and agreed, that would hit the spot. As the two set out into the store, in their own directions to pick up food, Suguru couldn’t help but stare back at the boy looking at the food on the shelves. The Shuichi he knew seemed so different, sure the boy talked a lot, but he seemed more … mature now, purchasing food and paying for everything with understanding that Suguru was broke until the next (technically first) paycheck.

Meeting the singer back up at the cash register with his onigiri, Shuichi paid for their dinner and both headed towards the apartment to eat.

Long after dinner, when they just sat around, resting their sore muscles, the door rang. Suguru had a feeling he knew who it was, but Shuichi had to open the door. Seguchi-san stood outside, his impassive exterior hidden with a friendly smile as he greeted the vocalists and congratulated him for leaving Eiri (the only one who would even do so, besides Mika). That brought tears to Shuichi’s eyes and made him run off to his room to cry for the fifth time in forty-eight hours. Suguru, who had been leaning against a pillow playing a card game with Shuichi, muttered that his cousin was being particularly friendly to the singer.

“I am glad that he left Eiri, I won’t fool around with false emotions towards my happiness with that alone.” Seguchi-sama said before his complexion relaxed, becoming a little friendlier. Seguchi-sama made his switch to Tohma-kun, Suguru’s older cousin. “Uncle Genji called, asking if you were with Mika and I earlier this morning. Then in the afternoon, I received notice that you had changed your address. Suguru, why did you run away from home?”

Suguru sighed, moving his remaining rice around with his thin chopsticks, lips curling in a frown. Already looking for him, just wait until the man found out his source of income was gone also. “I didn’t runaway, Tohma.” He explained, “I left for a reason and Shuichi needed a roommate. Better this way anyway.” He brought some rice to his lips, chewing on the plan substance in thought.

“That’s just your hormonal imbalance talking and the drive to be a responsible adult, Suguru,” Tohma stated, “I did it myself, when I was seventeen, the drive to live on your own, out of your parents house. However, running away from home is not going to solve anything. If Uncle Genji isn’t giving you enough room to do what you please, you have to ask. Just go home, Suguru, he is scared something is going to happen to you. Hell, even I fell insecure with you living here with that.” He pointed to the room where Shuichi’s soft wails of ‘Yuki’ were calling out.

“Shuichi is being very helpful, even though he doesn’t understand why I want to live with him. My freedom to do anything isn’t why I moved out, Tohma!” Suguru stood up, his foot knocking his dinner onto the floor. “Dad hasn’t been doing very well since mom died! I thought he was okay the first year, but we only went down hill! He can’t keep a stable job. Shika,” he referred to his step mom, “is a fucking stripper and a whore mongrel that only wants to sleep with me. I’m trying to make some changes with his life and kick that bitch out so we don’t have any more of these problems! I can’t do anything if I’m worried about waking up to being molested in the middle of the night! The income I try to collect for Dad to get into a good rehab for his drinking and to help with the bills is spent lord knows where!” He took a deep breath, bending down to clean his mess. “Shuichi’s the best person I can live with right now, and he’s my friend, so don’t complain!” He glared, and Tohma only huffed his breath out.

“Suguru-kun…” Tohma looked crestfallen at the news that Suguru had shared with him, but Suguru couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Please, everything will work out well in the end. One paycheck should get dad into rehab, knock some sense into him to throw Shika out, and we can start back at square one when mom died. I’m over it, really I am, but he never could get over it. Shika was only brought in the picture because he thought I needed a mother figure in my life. I don’t need any more help; I can work everything out on my own.”

Tohma frowned, stepping towards the door before his kind smile fell back on his face. “Suguru, if you need anything, feel free to call your dear cousin for help. I’m always here for you.” He smiled and stepped out, leaving Suguru with his spilt bentoo meal and Shuichi crying in the backrooms.

It was after midnight when Suguru finally pulled the keys. His breathing rapid as he tried to calm down and look his calm expression. Cram School had ran late, then some students thought about keeping him late, asking about BAD LUCK’s next concert, music, and other things that weren’t their business. In the end, he had missed his train and ended up having to walk home. Perfect. He was likely going to be scolded by Shuichi for being out late, he could just see it. As he opened up the apartment door, he was only met by a small mew by the nameless cat that usually slept with Shuichi.

Giving the cat a firm pet, Suguru removed his shoes and started through the house and towards his room. Shuichi was likely asleep, well no duh, since they had work the next morning and it was after midnight. Still, he was more than ready to be yelled at, even though Shuichi didn’t look like the type to easily get mad. As he landed upon his futon, his eyes didn’t leave the ceiling and the stars he had once more put up. His body curled, but his eyes never left them. You couldn’t see stars above the Tokyo city lining, light pollution had caused that this would be as close as he would ever get to them. With a small smile on his face, he fell asleep.

What seemed like hours later, he was awoken by Shuichi, telling him it was breakfast time. He sat up, quickly staring at his alarm clock, expecting to tell him he would be late for work, but found that they were still an hour early, and that his alarm clock had never gone off that day. Sitting up, he stretched before going to take a shower and eat his breakfast. He and Shuichi were quiet (oddly) during breakfast, as Shuichi ate lazily, glaring at the phone that sat on the counter.

“Did someone call?” Suguru finally asked; feeling left out of something as Shuichi glared daggers upon it. “Was it Yuki-san?” Shuichi nodded, laying his chin in his hands.

“He told me to stop playing this foolish game and return to his home because he was horny. I always do what he wants, but not this time, if he can’t love me, then I don’t want to go back…though it does soothe me to know that he realized I’m not there.” Shuichi grinned playfully as he took another bite of his miso soup (6).

Suguru felt an awkward silence fall on them, his conscious biting away at him as he finally stared up, “sorry about being so late last night, cram school ran late, and a student caught a lot of my time asking about our upcoming concert - that made me miss the train…”

“Wasn’t going to say anything,” Shuichi smiled, placing his empty dishes in the sink to wash later. “You’re seventeen, I’m not your father, if you want to go out and not come back until an hour before we head off to work, have fun. I’m not stopping you.” He leaned back, a serious look in his eyes. “I’ll only put a stop to it if it’s starting to get dangerous with your work or you’re bringing something harmful into here. Until then, have a blast.” He reached for his backpack, muttering about getting to work before K-san arrived to hand deliver them there. Suguru smiled hesitantly, that went well…to an extent that a serious Shuichi scared him.

Grabbing his backpack and notes, Suguru followed him out the door, locked it, made a polite greeting to Sakura as the small girl stood outside waiting for a dad to take her to school and took off towards work. A smile fell on his lips as he recalled the last two days of living with Shuichi. A learning experience, if nothing else. The boy was full of life, emotion, and quirkiness, but oddly Suguru felt an attachment to the genki singer that acted immature most of the time. Shuichi stood at a stoplight, holding his hand in the air as he called the green haired keyboardist to hurry or they’d be late. Actually, he never thought Shuichi to be the type to worry about being late, being that he was usually always late, but the change seemed good. It didn’t help Sakano’s case; the man was, since Suguru and Shuichi lived together, freaking out about Armageddon preparing to happen since the vocalist was early.

See, Tohma, Shuichi wasn’t that bad to live with… he made everything fun. Suguru smiled as Shuichi began crying that nobody was ever happy when he was early or late, why bother showing up. His answer came with a gun to his head, and K-san telling him rule zero. “You show up, because you like living.” That he did.

They didn’t need to go to work, but that didn’t matter one bit. There was an electrical shortage somewhere in the night, and Suguru’s alarm clock still flashed midnight, leaving him alarmed when he sat up. No school, no work, but he never slept past seven on any day, too risky. Fumbling around, he lifted up his watch, staring at the eleven that stared back at him. Two minutes until noon, he had slept most of the day away. Shuichi wasn’t asleep; he could hear the pink haired boy laughing in the living room with some company. Still, noon or not, Suguru was not a morning person, and hated anyone that was happy in the morning.

Pulling himself off his futon like dead weight, he reached towards his dresser to find something to wear for the day, and found out that he had to do laundry at some point, only having two outfits to really wear. His school uniform needed to get washed as well. Grabbing one of the outfits, he started towards the bathroom, only inches away when he stared into the living room. Sakura (who Suguru was starting to think that she didn’t have a home of her own) was sitting on the couch in her pajamas – one’s with the Walt Disney Princesses – a pair of house slippers, and her untidy hair pulled back into two ponytails. Shuichi looked no different, still wearing his bedclothes and making what looked like hot chocolate. Suguru was about to get changed when Shuichi finally realized his presence.

“Konnichiwa, Suguru-kun. Join us out here!” He raised his hands, and Suguru did as he asked, just so the pink haired idiot didn’t wake the whole complex with his annoying babble. “We were going to sit around, watch movies and drink cocoa, no reason to get dressed unless you’re leaving today to go somewhere. Are you going somewhere, Suguru-kun? I can make your cocoa on the go if you are.” Suguru rolled his eyes, took a seat and frowned at the boy. The lithe singer was wearing what seemed more like a woman’s set of sleep clothes, a spaghetti string top that said in bold, bright letters “Baka 1/2" personally, Suguru would have made it a whole.

“Fine,” he laid his head down, wanting to sleep some more. “Did her father drop her off here before he went to work?” He mumbled, staring at the small girl on the couch, watching cartoons at full attention.

Shuichi didn’t reply as he placed the cups in the microwave (still not trusting the stove). “Would you like anything in your cup? I’m sure there is something in the ‘fridge.” He opened the door, ignoring the green haired keyboardist all together. Suguru frowned, ran his hand through his flimsy hair, and rolled his stiffening shoulders, Shuichi did catch that and broke out laughing. “I just noticed you have cockroach hair in the morning!” He yelled through his laughter, both Suguru and Sakura stared up like he had grown a second head.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Suguru repeating the action to his disheveled, hair, brushing strands that stuck up back, they only came up again, leaning against his forehead.

“Your hair, you have two strands that stick in the air, then fall into your face. Like cockroach antennas. Don’t get rid of it!” He reached forward, stopping Suguru’s hand. “I think it’s cool!” He grinned, and Suguru gave him an unfriendly smile as he took Sakura’s glass over to her and plopped down upon the cool atmospheric green couch. “Don’t worry Suguru, I promised, I am sure no one is going to be coming today. Sakura-chan arrived a little past ten, and you were still sleeping, so I stayed up with her. Her father’s not at work, she just … wanted to come over and hang with us for the day.” He smiled hesitantly at the small girl that, silently, nodded. Suguru watched them carefully before standing up and walking once more into the kitchen with his drink.

Shuichi stared at him as he sat down, staring at his drink. “I can tell there’s more in it than either of you are letting on. Tell me.” He muttered.

“You haven’t noticed the bruises on her arms, have you? I realized them when she first came in, looking like she suddenly was pulled out of bed and tossed outside. I couldn’t leave her out there, so I brought her in and put her hair up some. She has marks all around her neck, Suguru…I can’t send her back there now.” He watched the small girl watching TV, her fingers brushing her long black pigtails around. Sighing, Suguru raised his arms in surrender. Now he couldn’t get rid of her.

“You can’t keep her though, she’s not a pet. She can be over her when her father’s home, but when he’s not, she has to be back over there, or we can get in trouble for kidnapping.” Shuichi grinned, jumped up and hugged Suguru. As the two landed on the floor, they were both greeted by staring up through the living room window cat cameras flashing, and the media smiling. “Oh shit!” Suguru jumped up, running to shut the window. Sakura sat up on the couch, watching as Shuichi and Suguru stumbled around the house shutting every blind they possibly could. As they returned to the living room, the doorbell began to ring, those outside trying to get their attention.

“Who are they?” Sakura asked, watching as Suguru and Shuichi fell lazily against the door, blocking it from being opened at all. “Are you guys bad guys that the media wants to put on the news and make mean comments about like they do with some of those people?”

Shaking his head, Suguru smiled a bit. “No, we’re not any kind of bad people, they’re the bad people trying to get us to talk.” Shuichi nodded. “We’re in a band, big band in Japan now, and they just want to talk.” They stared at the phone as it began to ring, to their dismay, more of the media, asking questions over the phone on why they were living together, who was the little girl, is there something going on between Keyboardist Fujisaki and Vocalist Shindou Shuichi? Unplugging it, Shuichi ran to turn the television to a news station, gaining an annoyed ‘I was watching that’ from Sakura.

“Konnichiwa, we’re here at the local residence of BAD LUCK’s two members, Fujisaki Suguru and Shindou Shuichi. Many questions have recently arisen with the two, rumors that they are dating and such. Many fans are drawn towards the questions for Shindou Shuichi, has he and romance novelist, Eiri Yuki, broke up. Neither of them would speak, but coverage from inside says, yes, they have broken up.” An image flashed quickly, that already had been taken of Shuichi and Suguru on the kitchen floor. Perfect, Suguru muttered under his breath. They weren’t dating, he was only seventeen, a year off from being an adult, this slander was going to cost them big due to statutory rape on Shuichi’s case, reasons why the twenty year old needed to learn to be less vibrant and friendly with people.

“There’s nothing between us!” Shuichi, childishly, yelled at the TV. Suguru sat on the couch again, keeping his mouth closed as they watched the havoc out there, neighbors being asked what they had seen, noise of any sorts. Still, nothing was being straightened out. So far, they adopted a kid, were banging each other, and that poor Suguru was expecting another kid because recent looks had stated he was putting on weight. The green haired keyboardist was on towards a heart attack when the quiet sound of his cell phone rose into the living room. Taking off towards the room, he wasn’t shocked that people were trying to look through his closed window shades.

“Moshi moshi, Fujisaki speaking.” He muttered into the phone, watching the camera’s shadow outside that was moving around. Shuichi hadn’t gone outside yet to straighten anything out, that was a good thing. “Tohma-san?” His voice was beginning to shatter. “No, Tohma, we didn’t do anything stupid. No, Shuichi didn’t do anything stupid. I don’t know how they found out where we were living. Oh…the whole underage dating thing? Shuichi was giving me the glomp of the morning and they just happened to be looking inside. God! I’m not pregnant!”

Suguru turned to the slight giggling at the doorway, staring at Shuichi that was on the verge of laughing. “Seguchi-san, they’re making horrible assumptions that we’re doing something like that. Suguru just looked so funny with his hair the way it was!” He grinned as Suguru subconsciously clutched his two up right hair, damn Shuichi for making fun of his morning look.

“You’ll straighten it out, Tohma-kun? Okay, we’ll leave for a little while, don’t worry, no answers…er…wait…we’re in our pajamas…” He stared down at his extra large shirt that had no text on it whatsoever and the pair of shorts that were under it. “What?” He cried into the phone, Shuichi’s interest shot up. “No, we’re not going out like this…Shuichi didn’t change out because we have a small girl here in her pajamas, we’re making her feel very comfortable by not getting out of our own. Fine, you come here, we’ll stay put.” He flipped his phone, shutting it off, and stared at Shuichi. One part of him wanted to stick his tongue out at the expression Tohma’s voice had used when exclaiming over the fact that they were still in their nightclothes at noon.

“What are we going to do?” Shuichi asked, sitting on the keyboardist’s futon, and Suguru just frowned, glaring out his window…quiet, to quiet for the media to be pestering.

“Where’s Sakura?” Suguru finally asked, having a bad feeling about the quiet. Shuichi pointed towards the living area, standing up, Suguru followed where the finger pointed, swung open the door, and met with Buddha knew how many flashes from cameras. Well, that looked even better on the news. He swore, the media were like vampires, it took permission to come in, and they drank their fill before they got out. Sakura ran behind Shuichi, clutching onto his pant legs, crying.

“I opened the window, to see if they were still there, and they said if I let them in, they’d give me some yen to get candy and toys with. I didn’t mean to!” So innocent, Suguru snorted, media was the big bad wolves of this horrible fairy tale.

“Shindou-san, is it true that you’re having underage sex with Fujisaki-san?”

“Is everything over with you and Yuki-sensei, Shindou-sama?”

“Fujisaki-sama, did you and Shindou-sama adopt a little girl? What is your daughter’s name? Is it true that you’re pregnant, Fujisaki-sama?”

“A picture of the happy family, please!”

Leaning over, Shuichi made a breathless whisper, “Take Sakura and go and tag a taxi, I’ll get my wallet, tame the media for a few seconds, and get down in no time. We’re heading to Hiro’s.” Suguru nodded, lifted the small girl that did not belong to him, gave a cheerful waved towards the media, and took off past them. Stopping the media from turning, Shuichi held up his hands, once more getting their attention. “I can answer questions, just ask away.” He edged towards where the kitchen was, to grab his keys, cell, and wallet. “No, I’m not having sex with Suguru-kun, we’re just living with each other so I can have a roommate, and he has a place to stay. The little girl isn’t ours, nor adopted by us. She’s our neighbor. Cute girl isn’t she?” He stepped out the door, leading the media out of his home, smirked at an elderly woman that lived a few houses from him, to shut his door as he led the media a distance away so he could run off. “Yuki-san and I quit dating, a few weeks ago actually. You should really go bother him to get more information on that,” he took off down a corridor, leaving the media alone. They followed him.

The stairs were once more a problem, crowded with toys that had been abandoned by children; Shuichi jumped five steps, landed awkwardly but still was able to run. His leg stung some, likely from a strain of muscles. Suguru was standing on the curb, barefoot still, holding the taxi. “Hurry, they’re coming up behind you!” With a quick nod, Shuichi caught up with him, made sure Suguru got in the center, and pulled into the taxi himself. “To the address I told you, hurry before that group catches up.” The cab driver nodded as he turned the corner, leaving the crowd and apartments long behind.

“Oh my god, Shuichi, you’re going to become one of those evil ex’s that send horrible problems to their last lover. Sending the media to Yuki-san’s new apartment, that was low.” Hiro laughed, his head leaning against the armrest to his couch. Suguru was grumping on the floor of his kitchen as Shuichi innocently bit his lip watching. Sakura, their sudden ‘kidnapped’ child was drawing next to Suguru.

“Mmm? Well, they wanted to know about our break up, let him tell all about it himself.” Shuichi stubbornly muttered.

“So he actually knows you moved out? Let me guess, he hasn’t bothered getting you back either, so you’re going to be all pissy on me.” Hiro grinned playfully at his band mate, and Shuichi turned his head.

“No, Hiro. That’s not it. He’s called a few times; I woke up to him calling earlier this morning. Something about my ass needed a fuck, too early to get some woman because one-night stands take a lot of work. I’m not his personal whore, I wasn’t going back just so he could screw something. Told him to use his hands.” Shuichi leaned forward on his elbows, watching as Eiri stepped out, demanding that they get off his lawn. He said nothing about his break up with Shuichi, turned back in, and left the media out in the open. Sighing, Hiro turned the television station to cartoons, and Sakura ran back into the living room and sat right in front of it. “Thanks for putting up with us right now, Hiro-kun.” Shuichi hugged his best friend.

“You’d think he’d stop doing that, hugging me is what got us in this whole relationship mess.” Suguru yelled from where he was still stationary. Shuichi just giggled.

“But look Hiro, he has cockroach hair!” Shuichi laughed, his hands clutched to his chest smiling brightly. Hiro stared down Suguru, a small smile on his face as Suguru grumbled, asking for a brush so he could deal with this ‘cockroach’ hair, and Hiro granted him the brush. As Suguru brushed it back, Sakura ran forward to Hiro asking if she could braid his hair, and the guitarist fell for her big eyes, muttering something along the lines of ‘curse those eyes’, and ended up on the floor with his guitar pick in his mouth as her fingers combed his long hair down.

Sitting the brush down once more, Suguru stood up, walked into Hiro’s bathroom to check his hair before returning. “There!” He sat down. “Now leave me alone, my day has been horrible because of the two of you!” He growled. Waking up late, not changing, the media, all Shuichi and Sakura’s fault.

Tears clouded Shuichi’s eyes as he started screaming that he was sorry, Hiro watched the two carefully as Suguru laid his head in his hands, amused by the scenario. Damn it, not even living with Shuichi for two weeks, and the boy was growing on him. If they were at work and Shuichi broke out crying, he would have slapped the boy in the back of the head, but now that he was seeing Shuichi more than needed (except when he was at school) he was starting to appreciate and need Shuichi’s company. Loud and annoying, always observant, Suguru realized. How many traits Shuichi had that he never realized, good traits, interesting traits. Shuichi had been on time recently, was trying to change his behavior now at work. It was strange how he was finally starting to realize these things, like how Shuichi’s lips moved, or how his lithe body had a few muscles on his chest. Things he didn’t want to realize.

What’s wrong with me?

A week of work preparing for a concert caused the two to be busier than they had ever been. Shuichi would sit in the corner with their kitten (which was named “Whiskers”, in English, incidentally from lack of imagination), a notebook in his hands and working on lyrics so he would be days ahead, singing them under his breath, and muttering that the key would be off. In his bedroom, Suguru would sit on his futon, his keyboard on his lap, leaning against the wall as he played all the arrangements one after another. After a while, he wasn’t certain if it was the keyboard pulsing a rhythmic staccato with the music or whether it was the kids next door, but it did help the song and he ended up recording their kicks to get him to stop playing with his (as they called it) piano – though he continuously told them the name of his synthesizer.

It was their day off, to be truthful, and Suguru had waited for it longingly. K-san always made their day off on a Sunday, so that poor Suguru could have a real day off from school, running to work, homework, work-work, and Shuichi’s horrible cooking. Sunday was take-out day (thankfully). The singer was steadily learning to cook, but burnt meals seemed to be all they got.

Suguru tapped a key on his keyboard; the soft beat filling the room. Earlier, he was playing study music from when he was still learning; ones like Mary had a Little Lamb and so forth. Shuichi was out…somewhere; Suguru had a feeling he was at the park, sulking on a bench. It wasn’t a normal thing, just every time after Eiri would call. Suguru had suggested that the singer find a new lover, but when the words finally met his brain, a streak of jealousy had suddenly hit (for some unknown reason) and he despised the thought of Shuichi leaving him alone every other night to go on dates. Was it that he didn’t want to be alone? Suguru wasn’t certain, and he wasn’t going to ask anybody either.

Seguchi had visited him twice; each time making sure Shuichi was crying and running away from him, screaming for Yuki. Each visit was undesired for the green haired keyboardist – first he had to go deal with Shuichi’s tantrum, then spend a couple of minutes yelling at his cousin that they were doing fine. They were; the tabloids had calmed down with the slander, thanks to Tohma only those who still believed it, talked about it.

Which reminded him, where was the pink haired, hyperactive, idiotic, vocalist that everybody adored? Standing up, Suguru left the safety of his bedroom and walked towards the dark living room. Sakura was with her grandparents, so that was why it was quiet. Shuichi wasn’t near the kitchen, so that left his room. The domain that Suguru had no permission to enter. A thin sliver of light escaped from under the door, but it wasn’t helpful since the sun was setting, and Shuichi usually kept his window open. Raising his hand, he tapped it against the hard wood, waiting for a reply. None. “Shuichi-kun?” He asked out loud, and the bathroom door opened, a drenched Shuichi stepping out with a towel around his waist. The blood that was suppose to be In Suguru’s face for a blush suddenly rushed down between his legs, causing him to step back trying to get a better hold on himself, and not fall over at the sight.

“Hm? Do you need something, Suguru-kun?” The boy asked, flicking hair out of his face, some of the towel dipped more, and Suguru had to force himself to stare up still.

Lithe legs wrapped around my waist… Suguru coughed, shaking his head quickly. “Um…you’re t-taking a bath a wee bit early…um, uh…going somewhere?” He fought for words. Curse his eyes for wanting to look down to see if Shuichi’s pink hair was true. Well, that’s what he kept telling his brain. Really, he just wanted to look at Shuichi, see what he misses on stage. He’d be lying if he ever said Shuichi didn’t turn him on while on stage.

“Ah.” Shuichi grinned. “I’ve gotta date! He should be here soon, I lost track of time, so I have to hurry and get ready. If he shows up, can you keep him occupied for a few minutes, Suguru-kun?” That kind smile was still there, and Suguru felt himself become harder by the minute, he stomach knotted.

“A date?”

Shuichi nodded, still grinning like a loon. “Yep! I met him while I was out shopping. He’s a vet where we took Whiskers to get fixed. We’re going dancing, a movie, and out to eat. This is going to be fun!” Shuichi grinned, and jumped towards his bedroom, his hyperactive side once more showing, not that the keyboardist was embarrassed or anything. A naked Shuichi, bouncing around put images in his head that weren’t there unless it normally was a girl…Suguru blushed and started towards the living room to heat himself some snack food.

A date? When was Shuichi going to tell him about this? Hell, why did he even care! No, he didn’t care one bit that the two would go dancing; their bodies pressed against each other’s, the guy’s hands on Shuichi’s well defined ass cheeks, pulling the boy’s waist against his own. He didn’t care that at the movies the man would fake a yawn, wrap his arm around Shuichi’s shoulders and in the right moment, pull the thoughtless genki singer into a kiss that could only lead to worse in the car. Nope, didn’t care about the two playing footsie under the table at the restaurant as they fed each other. Didn’t care if the man would give passionate kisses to the singer, leading the boy up to his apartment where, Shuichi would be in a daze since he never had before seen these types of affection, he’d lay Shuichi upon his bed, undress the genki singer and rape him. The microwave buzzed and Suguru shuddered, picturing Shuichi’s moans and the squeaking bed.

Ring

The doorbell sounded causing Suguru to jump and stare at it as if some ahead would come out to get him. He could hear Shuichi’s voice from his bedroom, telling him that it was his date – and Suguru wanted to just ignore the bell and watch TV, pretending none of this had ever happened.

Ring, Ring

The doorbell sounded again, and Suguru started towards the door, flinging it open in one movement. He remembered the man clearly; he had gone to pick up Whiskers because K-san had Shuichi Working on the vocals of one last song. The guy had black hair, clean shaven, three piercings in his left ear, and wore a blue leather jacket that showed the black, clinging, t-shirt under it. He was the average male height, towering over the seventeen year old. What was his name…Yagasha?

“It’s nice to see you again. How’s Whiskers?” The man smiled brightly. Suguru didn’t respond, holding his hand out, he invited the man in his ‘home’. “Ah, I understand,” the man smiled brightly. A Tohma smile, unnerving to the bone, Suguru swore. “You don’t remember me, do you? Doctor Yagasha Akari, Whiskers’ vet.” He smiled. “I’m here to take your roommate, Shindou-san, out on a date.” He gave a pleasant bow. Still unnerved, Suguru nodded slightly.

“He’s still getting ready,” Suguru blushed slightly, remembering the naked Shuichi dripping with water. “Would you like anything to drink? Water? Kool-Aid?” Poison? Suguru thought, a small smile on his face. This guy gave him the creeps. Another BAD LUCK fan, scoring a date with a celebrity because the boy was in desperate need for love.

The man shook his head. “Ah, no thanks.” He smiled. Suguru frowned, well shame, they didn’t drink beer in that house…which reminded him of the rules he wanted to set out.

“Don’t let Shuichi drink, he doesn’t handle it well.” He smiled, Shuichi was an emotional drunk. Yuki-sama had once said the boy would spread his legs easily while drunk also…but Suguru didn’t want to test that. Shuichi vocalist, Suguru keyboardist, they were business partners! Dating could screw up his career. “We are working tomorrow, have him home before midnight at the latest – any later, I’m calling our gun-handling manager to come find you.” Suguru smiled, yes that worked well. Guns, Japan, and K didn’t mix well in the end.

Akira smiled, shaking his head with a laugh. “Are you his father? If you worry about people older than you, you’re going to grow gray hairs at an early age. Shindou-san is a grown man, if he wants to stay out late, drink, and have a good time, let him. I know I will, with him as my company and all.” He smiled as the door opened, and Shuichi came out scratching his head.

“Mou, I’m sorry I’m late.” He grinned sheepishly. He wore – not one of his stage outfits, thank Buddha – his deep orange wife beater, green lace pants, and a jacket that had chains. His Shuichi had no fashion sense. “Remember Suguru, at least eat something today, Seguchi-sama is watching your weight everyday, and if it changes, I’m in trouble.” He smiled, and took Akira’s hand. “Let’s go!”

Suguru watched them go, his eyes watching warily as Akira’s hands came close to goosing Shuichi’s ass, and he frowned. Oh! How he hated people like that man, thinking just because he was still legally a kid, he didn’t know what he was talking about! Waiting patiently for a couple minutes to go by, he grabbed his jacket and keys, slipped on his shoes, and followed close behind the two. No way in hell was he going to let Shuichi date a spineless pig!

He was cursing himself as he hid inside an alleyway, waiting for the crowds to go by. He left without grabbing a hat and glasses, how stupid could he get? He watched Shuichi and Akira go into a nightclub, Shuichi actually wearing a fishing cap that matched his outfit. They were laughing, about something… Growling, Suguru prepared to punch the wall of the alley, but a hand grabbed his fist, and a warm breath touched his ear, “boo”.

Jerking, the keyboardist turned to see the familiar face of the guitarist, the red head grinning brightly. “I thought you were visiting your parents tonight?” He finally asked. Yes, Hiro was…the poor guy was complaining about it at work, and Shuichi had tried cheering him up, saying that maybe his mother would bring up his career choice. Hiro’s face lost some color with the question, nodding faintly.

“Um, yah. I took the cowards’ way out. Unplugging my phone wasn’t happening, and she was constantly calling my cell phone. In the end, I was going to crash at your guys’ place until tomorrow when work starts again and my place is safe. Seeing that you’re here, no need to go further, ne?” He smiled.

Suguru blinked, staring back at the nightclub before a grin fell upon his face as he clung onto his band mate’s arm and dragged the poor man across the street. “Spend time with me, here, Hiro! So I don’t have to be alone.”

“Uh…Suguru-kun…that’s not very wise,” Hiro muttered, trying to pull back. “You don’t have a disguise and…” He pointed at the crowds of waiting pedestrians outside the building and once more, Suguru froze. Damn it! If he hadn’t forgotten a cap, he’d be in the clear. Tohma had given most of the bands passes for the underage to get into clubs with no problem, of course, he couldn’t drink, but still – that wasn’t the point! Shuichi was in there, with a guy that could purchase drinks, contaminant them, and use date rape drugs on their singer! “Why are you so hyped up to get in there? We’ll go knock on the back door, explain to them what’s going on, and they’ll loan you something so you can have a good time in there.” Hiro rolled his eyes, tucking Suguru into his shoulder as his own cap lowered to cover his eyes. “Follow me…” He led the boy towards the back alleyway and Suguru fought the urge to cry. Hiro was a wonderful person!

As they got past the crowds, Hiro released his protective hold on the keyboardist, leaned back against the wall and stared warily at Suguru. “Why are you so eager to get in? This place doesn’t look like your kind of scene…” He stated, and Suguru narrowed his eyes. No scene was his scene. “Of course, you’re normally careful when you leave, so this hat problem states you were in a hurry.”

Ignoring the guitarist, Suguru beat upon the door, not surprised when a well-built man stepped out, glaring at them. “Hi…” Suguru whispered, staring up at the much taller man. Even the tall Hiro looked like a midget in comparison. “Um. I left my cover-up at home, and want to come in.”

“Front door.” The man growled, and Hiro held Suguru back, smiling brightly as he removed his cap and let his ponytail fall down.

“I understand that the backdoor is for employees only, but – y’see, we’re from a very popular band, BAD LUCK, and if we were to be up there with the state of dress Suguru is in, what, without a cap or glasses, we’ll be swamped by fan girls, maybe guys. That’s not something you want, they cause damage when they’re hyped up. So, as you can see, us going up there would be deadly for us, as well as your…fine establishment.” Hiro bullshit the last comment, and Suguru snorted.

“‘BAD LUCK’?” The tall man raised his thinning brow, the rest of his balding head rising with them. “That group with the pink haired singer that the kids these days listen to all the time?” He stared around, and Suguru could see him doing the math in his head. “Where’s the pink haired kid?” He asked. Good, Suguru smiled, realizing what he was thinking about. Celebrities showing up would give him more costumers, a full house, lots of cash.

Hiro raised a red brow, staring at the green haired keyboardist who chuckled slightly. “We’re all here. Shu-kun’s,” He used the nickname to make them look even closer as a band, increasing their chances of getting in, “already inside. He has his disguise, but I know what he looks like right now, so it’d be all of us here, in one place, you’re place.” He raised his brows, hoping the man would get the idea. They couldn’t very well play; all his equipment for his keyboards was at home, no tunes – so there was no concert.

“Don’t stand out here, catching your deaths, come in, and come in.” The man raised his hands, allowing them in, and Hiro followed behind Suguru. As the man left, to fetch their band for that night, Hiro gripped the keyboardist hand, his lips coming close his ear.

“What the fuck are you doing? Shuichi’s here?” He glared, his voice his voice staying low, but growing with anger.

“Surveillance.” Suguru shrugged his shoulders; it wasn’t that big of a deal. He was working to help the band. “See, if Shuichi has a bad date, we all suffer at work. Besides, I don’t like the guy very much.” He explained, kind of. Hiro didn’t buy it as he stared around, making sure they were still alone.

“You-!” He lowered his tone, taking in a deep breath. “Just when you’ve proven yourself to be completely different in personality from Seguchi-sama, you go and break up another chance Shuichi has at dating a decent guy just because you don’t like him. He’s going to wallow in pity anyway!” He made a reassuring wave at the owner before gripping Suguru’s shoulders.

“Thought you were his best friend. The guy already told me he has more planned then a nice date with Shuichi. He’s going to hurt Shuichi, and I’m trying to be nice to him! Besides, I think if we ever do start having serious relationships, shouldn’t the big question be if they can accept everyone in the band? This guy can’t stand me, and I doubt he could stand your innocent meddling.” Suguru hissed, staring up, he watched the approaching owner and smiled brightly.

“Excuse me, but would BAD LUCK mind introducing our band, maybe play a tune or two?” He asked, giving a polite bow.

“I see.” Suguru grinned. “But I don’t have my sounds for the synthesizer, which is a big thing with our music.” He gave a small, polite smile. “I apologize, but originally this was to be a small band meeting with us, but Shuichi came early, and in my haste, I left my hat – so no tunes, and Hiro-kun,” he addressed the growling redhead, “Will likely be a little nervous to play since he skipped out on a dinner arrangement to spend time with us.” He hissed as the guitarist pinched him to shut him up.

“Then you can introduce yourselves, to our crowds. It’ll be wonderful.” He smiled, and nodded. “The pink one, where is he?” He stared around, and Hiro raised his hand.

“I’ll go get him.” Hiro muttered, turning around. Reaching, Suguru grabbed his sleeve, sending pleading eyes. “I won’t tell him you’re here to stop this date. I understand already why you’re here.” He smiled, and Suguru tilted his head, confused. “You’re afraid that if Shuichi starts dating, he’ll leave you. You’ll lose the place you’re staying at, and you’ll lose him. You’re starting to understand why I haven’t tossed him off the side of a building just yet, and liking him more as a human being…maybe even more.” Hiro winked and turned just as Suguru’s cheeks turned red.

“I…I don’t like!” Suguru yelled.

Raising his hand in an uncaring motion, Hiro chuckled out, “Whatever you say, man.”

Growling, Suguru stared at the club’s owner with a spark of challenge. “So we’re just going out there, introduce your playing band, and then we’re free to go?” He didn’t want to stay anymore; Hiro had the wrong idea about his relationship with Shuichi. They were just roommates, Shuichi was only giving a place to stay, there was nothing more and nothing less. Besides, Suguru may have been walking the fence – making him bi – but his taste were much like his cousin’s, and he didn’t fall for pink haired, over active, idiotic singers.

“Well…” The man held up a piece of paper and pen, “Can I have your autograph, Fujisaki-sama?” He smiled, and the green haired senior in high school reached out to scratch out his kanji name. “Okay, the band is this group, Twilight Night, they’re in the back rooms. Would you like me to show you the way?”

Shaking his head, Suguru watched as Hiro dragged an angry Shuichi towards them; both were talking quietly about the guy. As the owner had Shuichi autograph the paper, Hiro leaned forward, whispering in the keyboardist’s ear, “You’re right, the guy was a prick.” He gave a friendly smile to the owner before chuckling. “So, we’re just introducing ourselves and the band, ne?”

“Then we must find a way out of here and home, what with the mobs following.” Suguru whined, pulling off his jacket and placing it on a chair near the back door. Hiro did the same, dropping his cap and hair tie with a scowl. “The band is called Twilight Night, and I swear, they better play well or we’re screwed if we just go up there and say ‘this awesome band’, and they play like crap.”

“It won’t be that bad…” Shuichi finally stated his opinion, though he still stared at them a little. “I’m really sorry, if I knew that you wanted to spend tonight with the band, Suguru, I would have canceled my date.” Suguru glared at Hiro, watching the redhead smile brightly. “We’re not playing, so it won’t be like we’re downplayed back to clubs from the big works.” He grinned, and Hiro nodded.

“That would suck.” Hiro grumbled. Suguru didn’t reply as he watched the back doors - where Twilight Night was hanging, opened and a guy with long, black hair in a braid stare out. He said something to the rest, and they all stuck their heads out, looking at the NG band. Soon they were talking amongst themselves, shocked that someone like BAD LUCK would be there to introduce them – something like ‘just like how Sakuma-sama helped Shindou-san when they first started!’ Hiro and Shuichi talked amiably about…something, Suguru didn’t much care as the owner disappeared through the crowds to get everything set up for their guest up front before the band played. Shuichi grumbled something along the lines of, “Akira is okay, he likes to hear me talk – so much more than Yuki…I’m sorry, and I’m doing it again…” Suguru turned to face the singer, holding up his hand. The Yuki jar just received another hundred yen piece. Shuichi dug through his pockets, handing the coin over, before grumbling something along the lines of ‘curse that jar’.

“What the hell…?” Hiro stared at the coin Suguru was inspecting – as if Shuichi would give a fake yen piece.

“The Yuki Jar,” Suguru smiled, “He says anything about Yuki, and he gives me yen for the jar. Sort of like those bad word jars mothers make for when her husband or children say something wrong. We’re at three thousand yen, he hasn’t learned yet.” He placed it in his pants pocket. Shuichi grumbled again, something about ‘stupid keyboardist and ruining my mood’. Suguru grinned brightly.

“BAD LUCK!” The owner ran towards them, smiling brightly. “We’re about to start. Twilight Night has played a lot here, they’re good enough – of course, if they weren’t, they wouldn’t have drawn in such crowds.” He signaled for them to follow to follow, and Shuichi stared around.

“Um…how do we do this…?” He whispered, causing both Suguru and Hiro freeze near the entrance to the stage as the owner went on how they had wonderful guests tonight, and so forth. None of BAD LUCK was playing attention as they stared at one another.

“Um…I do have a disk in my jacket for my keyboard that has most of our tunes, but we can’t play! K-san will be really pissed.” Suguru whined. “And, we just need to introduce them and get out of here, since it’s not safe!” The owner waved them over, but none made a move. “What do we do?” He hissed.

“Introduce Twilight, wave for a second, and walk away.” Shuichi raised his arms in the air (very cheer like), and Hiro agreed as the two stepped out. Slowly, Suguru followed them to the center and gasps filled the whole club, fan girls’ screams started up, and Suguru felt the color drain from his face. They were asking if the band would play anything. Shuichi was staring through the crowds, looking for Akira, and Suguru watched far back as the said man glared at him and Hiro before leaving. Serves you right bastard, Suguru smiled as Hiro waved.

Giving up to look for the man, Shuichi waved. “Hi! We’re BAD LUCK!” His voice rang out; really, he didn’t need a microphone when you got him riled up. “Hiro and Suguru,” he addressed the two, and they waved (Suguru more sheepishly), “decided that we should introduce your band for the night. To be honest, we don’t know what they sound like-“

“We hear they’re good,” Hiro cut in, and Suguru nodded.

“Yep, very good, and that you’re here to listen to them!” Shuichi cheered, and Suguru stepped back – too much Shuichi Excitement for one night. “So, we introduce the club’s band Twilight Night!” Hiro and Shuichi said together, as if they planned it all along without Suguru’s help. The green haired keyboardist watched the band come towards their instruments; they looked like scared kittens, ashamed to be in the presence of the big cats. Sighing, Suguru cried out as Shuichi began pulling him towards the back, his face turned to look through the screaming crowds. “Do you see him, Hiro?” He whispered. “I have to tell him that we need to go somewhere else.”

Hiro looked himself, shaking his head. “I don’t see him, Shu’.” He said in all honesty, and Suguru put his hands on his hips.

“He glared at Hiro-san and myself and left when we first got up there.” He played the role of the poor man that had just wanted to spend time with the band – not the gleeful side that he actually got rid of the no good veterinarian. “We swear, we didn’t mean to spoil your guys’ date, but if he’s not going to understand what happened, then maybe he’s not for you.” He suggested, and Shuichi nodded. “Good, let’s go get something to eat,” He played the band card (and the fact that his dinner was still in the microwave at home), “and then go home.”

The group nodded, and Shuichi clung onto Hiro’s arm. “Ah! Let’s get pizza!” Hiro cheered, and Suguru turned his face. All was well, no questions asked – well, except for the wary look Hiro was giving him.

Shuichi ran into the house before the other two did, reaching for Whiskers quickly. “I told you, Hiro! Pretty cat!” He put the creature in front of the guitarist’s face. Suguru snorted, walking into the kitchen to deposit the four hundred yen he received from Shuichi into the Yuki Jar. Getting better. Reaching into the microwave, he dumped his cold meal in the trashcan before pulling out three bottles of water. Hiro took it, happily, before popping the lid off the bottle. “K-san did our grocery shopping,” Shuichi explained, “Seguchi-san wants to make sure Suguru is eating healthy while he’s here-”

“Says he who eats junk food a lot,” Suguru cut in, referring to his own cousin. Reaching over, he stared at the answering machine, not shocked in the least that the light was flashing. You have one new message beep, he muttered with the machine, Suguru, I would like you to join me for breakfast, tomorrow. Over at the café not to far from NG, I thought you and I could talk about your…living arrangements again. Talk to you tomorrow, remember I love you Suguru, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me. Suguru snorted, leave it to Tohma to disturb him for the night.

Shuichi smiled, shaking his head slightly, “anyway. K-san decided that it’d be best to make sure Suguru and I was eating healthy because I have a certain weight to maintain, so does Suguru. Just so you know, don’t be shocked if he weasels his way into your apartment and throws away perfectly good food. Hide the good things before he arrives – in guitar cases if you’re drastic enough.” Suguru nodded to that. He had hidden lots of sweetened foods in his keyboard case while K-san had thrown out box meals that had too much sugars or cholesterol, and especially saturated fats. In the end, lots of vegetables, pre-made meals for special diets, milk, water, and some juice (each said, One a day, two total – I’ll be watching, K-san was scary when he wanted something done). Shuichi had hid boxes of pocky in his room, where was what Suguru was still trying to figure out.

“Wanna play some games, Hiro? Sakuma-sama, in exchange for borrowing one of my games, loaned me one of his!” He reached for the controllers as Hiro took a seat on the couch. Shrugging, Suguru walked over, next to Hiro, and sat down – not at all surprised when the third controller was placed in his hands. He never planned on saying it, but the game was addicting, and it did relieve some of the tension around him. Besides, choosing guns and attacking his two band mates seemed like a decently good idea.

He wasn’t at all shocked, the next morning, when he awoke to a gun in his face. His head was pillowed against Hiro’s chest, Shuichi sleeping on the floor, on a pillow he had brought out of his bedroom to sit on. K-san didn’t look the least bit pleased with the situation at hand. Glancing at his wristwatch, Suguru jerked up quickly. Noon! They were late…all of BAD LUCK was late! K-san was giving the other two wake up calls, telling them no time for baths, to go get dressed, and in the car pronto.

Suguru took off into his room, pulling off the tunic he had worn all night with a grumble. Keyboard disk…check, he shoved the needed supplements for his keyboard in his book bag, reaching to pull on a new shirt, the pants were still okay. Hair, clothes, he stared in the mirror, determined that he looked reasonable enough for work, except for the pieces of hair still sticking up in the air and in his face – otherwise known as cockroach hair by Shuichi. Brushing his hair down, he turned to check himself over before he left the room. Figuring nothing was forgotten, Suguru turned out the door, greeted once more by K-san’s choice of weaponry of the day. A semi-automatic. Oh joy. Suguru nodded towards it, mocked saluted and hurried out. “Car. Now. No dawdle!” He started running.

Halfway down the stairs, he had almost slipped twice, once over a toy, the second time over his own two feet. Leaning against the cool texture that was K-san’s car, Suguru whined. Nothing ever went right, not anymore. His father was getting treatment, his stepmother wanted him home, and Tohma had offered him a place. No one seemed to have any faith in the changing Shuichi. Of course, if this were someone else living with Shuichi, Suguru doubted the two could have survived as long.

Hearing gunshots told him that the two other members would be down soon, Shuichi was probably crying for something to eat, like toast. Suguru checked the door handle before sighing. Locked. Why did he feel like he was forgetting something? He touched his backpack straps, looked down to make sure he was wearing pants and a shirt, and that his hair was brushed. What could be so important that it’d eat at his conscious? Giving up on thinking, Suguru opened his eyes to stare at the stairs as Hiro jumped down the last few steps, taking off protectively to the other side of the car behind the driver, one of them was doomed to sit by the infuriated K, and it was volunteered to be Shuichi.

Some things were beginning to scare him when it came to Shuichi. The boy’s pouting lips, those came to mind. Suguru had a dream that started with the pink skin attached to his own, their tongues fighting for dominance…in Suguru’s bedroom. It went from the innocence of kissing to the steaming of ‘mattress play’, and Suguru jerked awake with a scream. Shuichi was a light sleeper, and had run in to make sure everything was okay. Suguru had told him nothing about the nightmare, but ended up speaking to Shuichi’s lips – his eyes never left the pink skin. Shuichi’s cry startled him as the boy took off, shrieked about having to sit up front, but K-san’s gun stopped all complaints as he walked over to the driver’s seat. With a click, all the doors opened and BAD LUCK stumbled into their assigned seats.

K-san sat up front, laughing and talking about…something, but Suguru ignored him, finding that it wasn’t at all important the minute they turned towards NG, and away from the school that gave him notice that he was completely skipping school today. K said something about their busy schedule, now they’d be staying until late, and he wanted songs actually recorded, lots of songs! Suguru grumbled; he didn’t feel like playing today. Their manager continued chatting about an upcoming talk show that wanted to interview BAD LUCK, going on about answering only reasonable questions, and not any about the living arrangements. Suguru nodded his head, but still paid no mind to what was being said. “Oh, Fujisaki-san,” K-san stared back at the keyboardist.

Staring up, Suguru tried to catch a view of the speed they were going, Shuichi’s clenching of the seat was enough to tell them it was past speed limit, Hiro’s look of pure horror as they missed another upcoming vehicle did not reassure him to look out any windows. “Hai, K-san?” He smiled.

“Seguchi-sama wants to see you upon arrival at NG. You guys should be glad it’s not all of you over being late, he didn’t seem pleased when I said I was having trouble finding Hiro, much less that Suguru was on the absent list at school and Shuichi was still at home.” He swerved the car, and all three band members cried out as they narrowly missed a car and pulled into the garage.

Tohma? Suguru blinked, what did he do that his cousin would want to see him besides miss school? He thought long and hard as they stepped out and started towards the elevators. As the doors slid shut, and Shuichi finally detached himself from Hiro’s arm, Suguru’s eyes widened. Breakfast! He’d stood up Tohma!

It took several minutes, and a couple of stops, before he made it to Tohma’s office and raced into the older cousin’s office. Quickly, he fell to his knees, begging forgiveness for standing up the man, for missing school, and whatever he could think off. Of course, Seguchi gave that chuckle, the ‘it was okay’ chuckle before shaking his head. “It’s alright, Suguru. We can talk here, I suppose.”

“No!” Suguru whined. “Because you’re going to suggest that I leave Shuichi, stay with you, and leave him to his own things! I’ll get mad, yell back that everything was okay, stop picking on Shuichi because he’s an okay idiot, and you’ll get mad and say I’m being unreasonable, and-”

“You’ve been keeping track of the recent argument chains, hm?” Tohma smiled, before waving his hand at the man Suguru hadn’t even noticed upon entrance. Ryuichi waved Kumagorou’s hands, laughing brightly. “I realized you don’t want to leave Shuichi alone, because he’s instable. He’s like Ryu-kun, if I just leave him to his own things, something will hurt him, or he’ll hurt someone.” The singer huffed, turning his head. “We’ve decided that he’ll take your place, with Shuichi. Shuichi will make sure Ryuichi stays in line, just as Ryu-kun takes care of Shuichi. You don’t have to worry, and I’ll purchase you an apartment in a reasonable area not far from the school or work.” He leaned forward. “Is that a better plan?”

Suguru rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “Japanese law says I can’t live on my own.”

“That’s why I’m paying for it. The loophole is, you have to have a benefactor. I’m signing your paycheck, I’m giving you a place to stay, you’re much more mature than most teenagers your own age, and as long as you do reasonably well in your school exams, not missing any work or school unless sick, Japan is okay with it.” Tohma’s easy smile stayed on his lips. Suguru turned to face Ryuichi as the man-child played with his stuffed, pink rabbit. So, Tohma wanted to put one idiot with another idiot that had special needs? He thought his cousin was smarter than that.

“You put out a beautifully crafted plan,” Suguru stated, emotionlessly.

Tohma smiled, leaning forward. “Yes, well. Eiri-san is getting over Shuichi slowly, I’m a little upset about his choice of one-night stands, but he’ll get over it soon. You’re just there, making certain Shuichi doesn’t go back to Eiri, and we both desire the same thing.”

“No we don’t.” Suguru continued. “You worked hard for not, Tohma. You want me out of Shuichi’s life, Eiri wants me out of Shuichi’s life, and Ryuichi can barely take care of himself, much less Shuichi in the state he’s in. I cannot leave Shuichi, I’m doing what’s good for the band, making certain he completely gets over Yuki-san and returns as the bundle of charisma we’re use to having. This isn’t about living arrangements; it’s about what you want. You don’t want Shuichi to be happy when anyone that’s close to you. You don’t like the fact that Shuichi’s bringing the teenager out in me, something many of my teachers have tried to do. ‘Loosen up, Fujisaki-kun, you’re only young once’, they say. While I’ve lived with Shuichi, I’ve loosened up, I might arrive late for work one time or another, but BAD LUCK was out, last night, together as a band. Aren’t we suppose to be in union if we ever want to get somewhere?” He turned. “I decline your offer, my dear cousin. Please stop bothering Shindou-san and myself, we’re doing well together.” He stepped out the door with strength in his steps. As he got in the elevator, and the doors closed, he slumped, becoming a boneless pile on the floor. What had he just done…?

“Wah…” Shuichi bawled, hoarsely, as they entered the apartment a eleven that night. “My throat really hurts, and if I ever hear that song again, I’ll just crack.” He reached towards the medicine cabinet and shoved a cough drop in his mouth. Suguru stared at wearily before dropping upon the couch. His legs, they were so stiff. Reaching towards the arm of the couch, he pulled his legs up and dropped them on the other side, pleased that he at least slipped his shoes off on entering the house. Shuichi was still crying as he searched through the fridge, pulling out two made salads, and sat them on the counter. “Dinner.” His voice cried, cracking. Suguru grumbled. To get up and stagger over to the table, or to stay on the couch and cry he couldn’t move just so Shuichi would bring it over to him. Second was looking really good at that moment. Reaching up, he made slight whimpering sounds and Shuichi took pity on him, walking into the living room to help him into a sitting position before placing a salad on his lap. Yah! It actually worked!

“K-san says we have to arrive really early tomorrow, or he’ll hunt us down.” Suguru whined, school open house was tomorrow, no school all week, a break that had been granted for once, but he had to work. Whine! Bringing the salad fork towards his mouth, he chewed on the piece of lettuce. “I don’t think I can sing tomorrow, my throat really hurts.”

“You’re talking to me just fine.” Suguru muttered, chomping on the food. They didn’t have lunch…or breakfast. Food…energy reserves were low; maybe he should go relax in the tub until he needed to go to bed. His comment made a small cry escape from Shuichi’s mouth, about him being a meanie – just like ‘him’. Suguru struggled for minute, unsure if that was a yen piece to the Yuki Jar or not. Eh, let it go, he shrugged.

Shuichi was, thankfully, quiet for a few minutes, before his voice laced out, “I wonder what Yuki is doing?” He dropped four hundred yen in the Yuki Jar. “Probably sitting at his computer, dick in his hand as he writes about some girl in his books being deflowered.” He whined. Two sentences, Suguru’s eye twitched as he reached through the cushions of the couch. Where was it? He stuck his tongue out, licking his lips. “Why didn’t it work out, Yuki?” He screamed, laying his head in his hands. “I still love him, Suguru…at night, I feel his hands – Ow!” He screamed, jumping back as Suguru held up the water gun that had been used to spray that cat when she got on the table or begged for food during dinner, or at any other time. “What was that for!” He asked. “Now I’m all wet!” He glared at the keyboardist, who gave an equal glare.

“Obviously, the Yuki Jar is not working,” He waved towards the overfilling coin jar. “Don’t think you’re getting them back, either. That’s been paying for my school lunches.” he smirked.

“What!” Shuichi screamed.

“You talk about him so much; I buy lunch with the yen you have to give up.” Suguru shrugged, before repositioning his hand on the trigger of the small water gun. “Anyway, like I was saying. The jar isn’t doing much good anymore, you’re putting coins in there to buy sentences!” Shuichi twitched. “If I hear one more comment about Yuki, Eiri, writer, or the meanie Uesugi, I’ll spray you just like we do with Whiskers. I’m going to buy a bigger one just so it affects you more!” He growled as Shuichi stomped towards his bedroom door.

“You’re so mean, Suguru!” He yelled back.

“I learned from the master!” Suguru yelled back, referring to his cousin. Shuichi understood quickly and childishly stuck his tongue out – Suguru returned the gesture. “Spoil your sheets and you can clean them yourself, because I refuse to do your laundry this week if you’re going to make a mess out of them!” He yelled at Shuichi, and the boy said something unintelligible from behind the door about it being his laundry week, but Suguru ignored him. Going back to sit down, he replaced the squirt gun back in the cushions of the couch with a wicked grin.

“I’m going to go soak in the tub, my legs feel like bricks.” He stood up, and clutched the wall to stay on his stiff legs, slowly making it towards the bathroom.

Shuichi stuck his head out from his bedroom, “I miss Yuki.” He finally said, and Suguru growled, he should have brought the squirt gun with him. “No,” he smirked. “Not that Yuki, winter yuki.” He grinned, and Suguru rolled his eyes.

“Autumn is starting up, and you can’t wait for snow? Just wait, you’re going to wake up in a puddle tomorrow, Shuichi!” He slammed the bathroom door shut as Shuichi closed his own bedroom door and locked it. Leaning back against the door, Suguru felt a twinge of red escape on his cheeks. He had been known to fight with Shuichi, but to be turned on by fighting with Shuichi? Thinking about a wet Shuichi, almost naked, in his arms. Slamming his fist into his scalp, he sat upon the floor. No, no. He was straight. Shuichi was just a band mate. A good band mate and they were having a petty argument. All would be okay soon, one day; he’d sit back and laugh about ever thinking he had feelings for Shuichi. Won’t I? He stared at the ceiling. When did he turn into a lovesick fool?

A soft groan escaped his lips as he leaned forward putting his head into his hands as he watched the teacher go over the calculus problem, all the other students taking notes. He had been, but it had magically turned into him being bored and drawing stick figures on the side of his paper. Actually, he was still tired and just wanted to sleep right now, but that would have him in a great deal of trouble.

That morning had been horrible. Somehow he had slept past his alarm clock and Shuichi had skidded into his room to wake him up quickly. Drowsily, he had taken a shower, forgot to brush his teeth, and ran into the kitchen half dressed. Shuichi was nice enough to help him get his pants buckled up, the school tie on, and help him with his coat all while Suguru quickly brushed his hair and ate a piece of toast, looking for his back pack. For one unaware of the circumstances they were working with, they would have thought that Shuichi was the loving wife making sure ‘her’ husband got off to work correctly.

‘At least he didn’t tell me to have a good day at school’, Suguru thought as he took in a breath, someone was answering a question, maybe he should be paying attention? Turning his book page, he stared intently at all the expressions written down, and felt very sick. Maybe Hiro could explain all of this to him when he got to work? Nodding, he pretended to be paying attention as the teacher droned on. The monotone was broken with the four chimes of the school bell ringing for lunch, and the class stood up as the teacher left, before breaking into joyous chatter.

If, and when, BAD LUCK lost popularity, he knew whom he would have as real friends, but until then he kept the ones he had before joining BAD LUCK. Three female friends (well, once upon a time it was two female friends and a male…), all in the same class as him, and they immediately ran over to see him after the teacher left.

Shinohara Haruno had always worn her hair in a pony tail, for as long as he could remember. She was also a monstrous music fan, and he had gratefully given her most of his free backstage passes to any concert Tohma gave him that he didn’t want to go to. She smiled brightly, sitting in the seat in front of him, very unladylike. If it wasn’t for the long skirt the girls’ uniform consisted of, she’d be very close to public indecency with her legs spread the way they were. She spoke about how their teacher looked like he should have retired years ago, then muttered that he was past his expiration date. The other two giggled, a small smile quirking on Suguru’s lips as he reached into his backpack for his packed lunch.

Next to her, standing short and stocky was his best friend since kindergarten, Takanashi Aki. She wasn’t much for the music as the other two were, but she thought it was cool he was in a high-labeled band. She also was the gourmet chef in the group, but rarely brought meals with her to school, something about her cooking class always made something that she would eat. She broke into laughter as they started talking about some boy in their advanced chemistry class (like always, they were assuming he liked men). Digging deeper into his book bag, his brows locked together in a scowl. His lunch…he forgot his lunch…and his wallet.

Last of their small group was Honjoh Kameko, or known by parents and some school staff, Arata. Kameko was the only known transvestite in the making at school. She had a lot of pride in herself, and rarely had Suguru even seen Arata, unless they visited at home and Kameko was changing. Other than that, she was another female BAD LUCK fan. They were changing the subject again, but Suguru wasn’t paying attention, he was too busy banging his head against his desk.

Food, he’d left everything at home! He could feel tears coming along, this was the only time he could sit back and eat slowly for lunch. No gun to his back, no deadlines for music to meet. “Are you okay, Sug-kun?” Kameko leaned forward, wiping away the tears. He shook his head, and laid it down. Why him? What had he done to deserve this in his last life? The other two girls rubbed his back as he shrank into his seat, ignoring his growling stomach. K-san wasn’t going to allow him to eat at work, he never did.

“I bet his koi didn’t pack him a lunch this morning,” Aki nodded her head, sitting upon the side of his desk. Suguru caught himself in mid-nod, staring up at her with shock. Koi? Damn it, they believed the tabloids too? He whined, no, it wasn’t right. “I’m sorry Suguru-kun, maybe you should discuss with your lover-boy how things work, he can be your loving wife and make you a nice meal every morning, and you give him a good-bye kiss-”

“What!” Haruno cried out, sitting up properly finally. “How could you say that Aki?” She lowered her voice, only because a group in the corner turned to face them (some with disgust). “You’re turning into the rest of Japan now, expecting it’s the woman’s job to keep the place all tidy, that the husband is prompt and the kids are well fed and have a good education-”

Aki held his hands up in defense, expecting the ballistic girl to swing punches. “I’m just saying, Shindou-sama probably feeds him, I mean, look at the extra pounds Suguru has put on!” She poked the imaginary pounds, and Suguru looked down. Where were people seeing his weight gain? He was hungry still; their argument was just the same as old ones. They’d fight before compromising, and he’d be bored again until the next one. “Well-”

“Fujisaki-san Suguru, to the office,” The intercom came to life, causing several of the students to jump and stare at him. With a sigh, Suguru pulled up out of his seat and started towards the door. He felt like he was on death row, and at the end of the short walk would be Tohma, smiling that ever-pleasant smile. Maybe his guidance councilor wanted to tell him his student ranking was falling and he needed to drop ‘unnecessary after school activities’ to improve that. No, then they would’ve sent him to the guidance councilor. He frowned. It wasn’t worth pondering over. Opening the doors to the office, he stepped up to the front desk, where a petit woman sat going over papers. “Excuse me; I was called to the office a few seconds ago.” He smiled, and she stared up, smiled, and nodded.

“Yes, a young man came and dropped this off,” she handed him a paper bag. “I wouldn’t have allowed it if it wasn’t for the fact I was sure you knew him.” Opening the bag, Suguru smiled when he saw the smaller bag from Mos Burger(7), he nodded and started out the door, clutching the bag to his heart. Fast food, the top food on K-san’s list of what not to eat. Who could have been so nice to deliver this to him? Opening it again, for the wonderful aroma, he caught site of a letter on ripped out notebook paper. Carefully, he pulled it out, and opened it, navigating his way back to the classroom to sit and eat.

Aki, Haruno, and Kameko stared at him with slight wonder as he sat, patiently down and stared at Shuichi’s chicken-scratch, otherwise known as kanji.

Suguru,

K decided that today is ‘No Need for Suguru Day’, meaning you don’t have to come to work – be happy, he’s gone off the deep end and right now is preparing to shoot Hiro until he can get an E Flat note played correctly – even though he can! K-san’s just not satisfied with Hiro’s ability. If asked, you never saw this lunch. I realized after you left that you forgot some school lunch! Won’t be home until tomorrow afternoon, with Sakuma, so you have until then to get your little ‘study’ thing done. Keep them out of my room, please? Shu-chan

“Oh my god! He calls himself Shu-chan! That’s so cute, let me have the letter!” Haruno screamed, reaching for the material that was clutched to Suguru’s chest from pure shock. They read his private notes! Glaring, he ignored her as he opened up his two bags and took out the mos burger and French fries. Delicious! He smiled; it had been months since he’d had good fast food, it hit the spot right now. “Please, Suguru-kun, give me the letter! I know this girl in Tohoku High who has letters from Shindou-sama to Yuki-sensei! I won’t be bad, I’ll be nice.” She reached for it, and Suguru held it in the air as he took a bite of his meal. Very satisfying indeed.

“He’s ignoring you Haruno, just leave him alone.” Aki muttered; edging the other girl into another fight, after a while Kameko sat there stealing his French fries. “We’re going to his place; maybe you can find hand written notes on the ‘fridge.” She suggested, and Suguru lifted a green eyebrow, notes on the refrigerator? Suguru whined as four chimes came through the halls again, and he carefully rewrapped the rest of his burger. Study hour was next, so he could finish the last of his lunch in there.

He was having a study group for term finals that night (not to be confused with a party), and his three friends had been invited. As he slowly unlocked the door, he somehow felt like a babysitter at a daycare. Somehow he knew the word ‘no’ was not going to be on the girls’ vocabulary. “Just…stay in the living room.” He muttered, going towards his room to change, the girls had all done so at school; this was the only chance he got. After looking at his door, he decided changing in the bathroom was his safest alternative.

In seconds, he was walking into a room that was empty, all three girls were missing. Staring around the small space, he expected to find them in the kitchen, looking for notes on the refrigerator. Nothing. Finally, he turned around, and to his shock Shuichi’s bedroom door was open. He could put it down to three culprits, as could he hear their giggling as he made his way towards the room.

To say the least, Shuichi’s room was a mess; a tsunami would actually clean it. Which explained why Shuichi always had the blinds closed, besides the fact the pesky media hung around all the time, but it was Shuichi’s room, as long as the rest of the house remained cleaned, Suguru couldn’t care. Clothes piled the floor as well as CDs, papers, notebooks, pocky boxes, and other trash. On the boy’s futon, a stereo was being played with by Aki, Haruno was sitting in a far corner of the room with one of the notebooks, and Kameko was looking through the clothes as if trying to find a new outfit for herself (or likely himself, Suguru couldn’t tell anymore). Clearing his throat, the three glanced up and grinned.

“You guys get the best clothes! A little off color, too bright for my taste,” Kameko placed one of Shuichi’s tight shirts against her fake breast, as if imagining if it would actually fit. Suguru walked towards her, pushing the girl out the door. Next he turned to Aki and pointed towards the door, she tossed the CDs she had been looking at, down, and grumbled out the door, and he made a beeline past the crap on the floor towards Haruno. She smiled brightly up at him, brushing her long black hair back.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Shindou-sama had a diary, there are some interesting things about you in here. Well, not as interesting as there are about Nakano-san and Yuki-sensei.” She ignored his menacing glare. “I wonder if any of these poems in here will become lyrics…” Suguru rolled his eyes, reaching for the book that did seem really interesting to him now. As she left the room, he stared at the book, wondering what Shuichi could have possibly written about him. Probably that he was a damn pest – they had mutual feelings at work. Staring around, he tucked the notebook under his shirt, in his pants, and made it out of the room quickly. There were some things Shuichi didn’t need to know. He nodded and walked into the living room where all his friends were finally seated and ready to actually study for once.

Around ten, the girls went home, and Suguru barricaded himself in his bedroom. Shuichi was going to be gone all night, visiting his parents. He was going to spend some of the morning with the stupid singer from his cousin’s band. Causing mayhem where they went, crowds, Buddha knew what else. Staring around, Suguru could feel the watchful eyes of someone on him. He was invading his roommate’s privacy, but he really wanted to know. Opening it up, he was a little shocked to find that Shuichi had actually kept the book since he was ten; the handwriting was larger than what he wrote in now, but still crap.

The beginning was mostly about Hiro and a few other people. He smiled when he read that Shuichi’s first kiss was given to Hiro, how interesting. Black mail against the redheaded guitarist. He continued reading, first crushes – some girl in his fifth grade class that had big blue eyes and long black hair that was always tied in a ponytail. She crushed his tiny little heart on Saint Whites Day(8), even though it didn’t mean anything. He had tied her ribbon around the scarf of her uniform, she was flattered and all, but the next week she had given it back to him and moved away. Suguru had to brush a tear away after reading that. Rejected on his first try – no wonder he liked boys now.

Around midnight, he got onto when BAD LUCK first started, just him and Hiro (with help from Noriko), he quickly skipped some of that, until he came across his name. “Fujisaki-san,” Suguru read out loud, “seemed like a nice guy when I first met him in the hall, but I guess they were right about judging books by their covers. He’s a prick in all ways; I can actually see how he and Seguchi Tohma are actually related. Yuki says I should just get over it, but I can’t…” He paused in his reading, shaking his head. Sure, they did get off on the wrong foot, but it was mostly Shuichi’s fault! He admitted to playing a small role in it, by being the mature one, but it was mostly Shuichi!

Skipping more pages, he made towards the more recent entries, silently reading them. Shuichi’s views on him had changed, of course he was still ‘The Prick’ in some sentences, but Shuichi said he was becoming a ‘decent person to live with’. The last line written was ‘I’m really starting to like Suguru-chan, maybe more than I should”. Closing the book, Suguru fell back against his futon, staring up at the ceiling as those words replayed like a broken record in the back of his head.

“Suguru-kun?” Shuichi’s voice awoke Suguru the next morning.

Sitting up, the young keyboardist pressed his fist into his eyes to rub the sleep out of them, a tired yawn breaking from his pressed lips as he sat up. Was it noon already? He glanced at his clock, confirming the time. He could hear Ryuichi in the kitchen, laughing and calling for Shuichi to come back and join him, but the pink haired singer stood in Suguru’s bedroom door, staring at him quietly, before he opened his mouth once more.

“We brought you back some breakfast; it’s in the microwave whenever you’re hungry.” His voice seemed dull, as if life was all against him and he’d just finished crying. Judging by his red eyes, he had been, but when? “Ryuichi is going to be here for a few hours while I’m out – since his home is being treated for a recent infestation of ants. It seems one of his neighbor’s kids broke an ant farm, and they discovered that Ryuichi eats a lot of sweets.” His complexion didn’t change when he got ready to turn and leave.

“Is something wrong, Shuichi?” Suguru finally asked before the singer got too far.

“Huh?” The boy whispered, before shaking his head no. “My mom is sick right now, dad had to take her to the hospital after she fainted while cooking dinner. I need to go make sure she’s okay.” He walked towards the living room and turned to the older vocalist. “Take care of Suguru, Ryuichi-kun. He’s really mean after he wakes up, so don’t take his mean words too seriously.” The two smiled, gave their hugs good-bye, and Shuichi left. Suguru stood outside his room, clad in boxers, and watched carefully.

“I don’t need a babysitter.” He finally turned into his room, shutting the door with a slam. What did Shuichi take him for? An irresponsible eight-year-old? Pulling on a casual shirt and baggy pants, he crouched into the corner of the room where his keyboard sat waiting to be played, collecting dust on its pretty little keys. His gaze never let up from his fingers as he played the sorrowful song. He wasn’t in the mood for anything upbeat; he was still dazed over what he had read in Shuichi’s diary.

The fact that Shuichi liked him was enough to get his own feelings swarming in both his head and his heart, his stomach did knots and back flips every time he though of the small sentence. Realizing that the next verse of the song required the use of both hands to play a few notes, Suguru put his other hand on the keyboard and started the lines. How much he wanted to ring Shuichi’s little throat for making him even think of things like this. Loving another boy? He was straight, he used to stare at guys, and he was only teasing Yuki Eiri when he was talking about his and Tohma’s taste in men. Getting people riled up was worth it, but not like this though.

Yet, Shuichi. A flower like Shuichi, extremely delicate, giving, loving, annoying – everything most people wanted. Sweet and innocent, naïve and childlike. What made Suguru want him so…badly? Why couldn’t he have a quiet nights sleep without thinking of Shuichi horizontally with him, naked. Sighing, he fumbled with his keys before he pulled his arm back. Shuichi, his Shuichi. He couldn’t give the boy up, not to any one. Yet, he couldn’t help but wonder why he felt so possessive.

“Yah! Suguru-kun, can you play another song?” A sudden cry rang through out the room, and the green haired boy jumped a few feet from where he was sitting. Sakuma-san. He glared at the man-child that sat before him; Kumagorou sat next to the chestnut haired singer as he leaned forward. “Play!” He grinned.

Suguru’s glared lightened as he started again with the beat, making sure the movements were slow to bring out his confusion. Kumagorou was immediately perched from his keyboard speakers, staring at him with the marble-bead eyes that gave great depth. He watched the bunny as he played, watching as Ryuichi’s fingers made the toy dance around on its cotton-stitched legs, grinning and laughing like the idiot he was.

“Make a happier song, Suguru-kun!” Ryuichi yelled, but Suguru wasn’t taking requests. He was practicing. He didn’t have time for stupid people with two personalities. The man pouted when his request was denied, and Kumagorou was pulled away from his keyboard. “You have to play a happier song, Suguru-kun, the one you’re playing now makes it sound like Meimi-chan’s crying!”

“‘Meimi-chan’?” Suguru lifted an eyebrow.

Nodding, the vocalist pointed towards Suguru’s keyboard. “Yes, Meimi-chan!”

Suguru stared at his keyboard, then back up at the vocalist. “Who gave you the right to name my keyboard?” He kept his voice low; there wasn’t a point to start yelling over a name. “It’s just a keyboard; it has no name, and doesn’t need a name.”

Ryuichi’s eyes filled up with tears, reaching over to pat Suguru’s keyboard. “It’s okay Meimi-chan, he just doesn’t understand all the hard work you do for him.” What the fuck? Suguru snorted, pulling his keyboard closer to his chest and away from the overactive, genki-idiot, known as Sakuma Ryuichi. “You should share friends, Suguru-kun!”

“Get it straight, moron,” Suguru held up one of his fingers, “one, this is a machine. It’s made to do my work while I play it. Two,” he lifted a second finger, “it has no name, and never will,” another rose, “three, if you don’t get the hell out of my room, I’ll kill you for laying a hand on my keyboard.” He stood up; preparing to push the man out of his room, but the singer wouldn’t budge as his hands crossed disappointedly over his chest.

“I pity Shuichi for having to live with a mean person like you or Yuki. Neither of you understand anything.” He turned, leaving the room. “Sorry Meimi-chan that you have to stay with Stinky!” He slammed the door, leaving Suguru behind in his room. Idiot. He sat back down, glaring at his keyboard. Meimi-chan his ass, you didn’t name inanimate objects no mater how much you liked it.

In a couple of minutes, he found himself unable to play anymore and forced to stand up and walk into the living room to sit in front of the television. It was quiet; Ryuichi must have run out after he left the bedroom. Good. He clicked on the television, staring distantly at the reality television show. Maybe there were people with less intelligence than Ryuichi, but the man has to learn the hard way.

A soft mew made him turn to face Whiskers, and the cat stared up at him before starting to rub against his leg. “What do you want?” He asked, but his glare lightened, playfully for the kitten. “Are you hungry?” Between him and Shuichi, it was like the cat understood the word associated with ‘food’, because when he asked, the creature took off towards the food dish near his litter box. Standing up, Suguru followed behind.

Stinky? Ryuichi dare call him stinky? Such a childish gesture. Suguru poured the cat chow in the dish, watching the cat munch down the food. And what permission did Shuichi have to leave him a babysitter? He even said that he was ‘cranky’ in the mornings – a true statement, but that was private information. He was always cranky! Those two idiots made him this way! He lusted (a verb best used, in Suguru’s eyes) for the pink haired baka so much he couldn’t sleep at night.

He smiled. There, his whole dilemma was solved. He didn’t love Shuichi, just lusted after the lithe body. After one time he’d be back to his usual self – able to move out of Shuichi’s apartment, into his own, not having jealous rages because of the thoughts of some other guy in bed with Shuichi. No more worries if Shuichi commits suicide over Yuki, it wasn’t going to be his problem anymore. Yet, one part of him told his mind that he was only kidding himself, it was much more than lust, it was love, endless amounts of love for a pink haired idiot.

As the cat gulped down its meal, Suguru walked towards the kitchen, stretching his arms. Reaching over to the answering machine, he hit play, even though it said no new messages. Wouldn’t have been a first that Shuichi would leave without telling him his messages, it was why he was missing so many free breakfasts with Tohma. Maybe the boy was doing it deliberately, but Shuichi didn’t seem like that type of person.

The first one was for Shuichi, explaining how his mother had been sick and just passed out. So that was his father’s voice, Suguru raised a brow; he sounded manlier than Shuichi did. Pouring himself a cup of tea, Suguru leaned against the counter, sipping from it as the phone beeped to introduce the next message. As the voice started, Suguru recognized it, and dropped his cup. He didn’t hear the crash of glass as he leaned closer to the answering machine, listening to his father’s voice.

Suguru-chan, dad here. Tohma-kun gave me your phone number, thought I’d call and check up on you. It’s been a hectic last few months, I’m sorry about June. I’m home now, and I was hoping you wouldn’t mind coming to visit, since Tohma failed to give me your address. There’s something I wanted to give you, it was for your birthday, but now is as good as ever to give it to you. Wow, my baby boy is already seventeen, how time flies.”

Suguru hit the end button as he lowered his head, allowing tears to fall from his eyes. Dad was home; everything was going to be better. He smiled brightly as he rushed to his bedroom to put on something more for the outside then lounging around the house. In a few minutes, he was once more running towards the door, his socks sliding upon the ground as he fell near the shoe mat, pulling on his sneakers. He couldn’t remember ever being this happy. Opening the house door, he was greeted by Sakura comforting the crying Sakuma Ryuichi. Lifting up a brow, he shut the house door.

“Sug-kun!” Sakura ran towards the man, jumping into his arms. Suguru smiled at her, before placing her down. “This is Ryu-chan, he was letting me play with his pink bunny before he told me that he was stupid for naming things.” She ran back to the vocalist that stared at Suguru before turning his head. “I don’t understand how it can be stupid to name things, I named all my dolls and Shuichi has that teddy bear he named.”

Rolling his eyes, Suguru turned his head. “I don’t have time for this.” He started down the stairs, but Ryuichi stopped him.

“You need to leave a note.” He finally said, and Suguru rolled his eyes once more – he was living around idiots.

“No, I don’t. I’m a grown boy, I go where I please.” He tried prying the hands off his shirt, but Ryuichi wouldn’t let go. “Go play games with Sakura – you big twit!” He tried moving again, but a secondary weight grabbed his leg, and he stared down into the deep depths of Sakura’s eyes. “Please…I don’t have time for this.” He tried to shake her off his leg, but she didn’t yield.

“You shouldn’t be mean to Ryu-chan, he’s really nice.” She glared. “You should say you’re sorry.”

“Fine!” Suguru turned to the balled up vocalist, watching the serious eyes turn to face him. “I’m sorry, but don’t you dare name my stuff anymore.” He got ready to turn when Ryuichi’s voice caught up with him.

“I don’t accept.” Ryuichi’s voice wasn’t the childlike one, and the man stood up to his usual height. “You don’t mean your apology; therefore, I don’t accept it. I named all of Tohma’s keyboards, and he doesn’t mind, as long as the name is reasonable. You need to loosen up, for once in your life. I don’t care if Shuichi can handle your anger, but nobody deserves to be walked on because you think you’re all high and mighty. You’re still an ant compared to most, no matter what anyone tells you.” He picked up his Kumagorou and started in the other direction, to leave the building.

Suguru’s eyes narrowed as he peeled Sakura off his leg. “I have to go see my otousan.” He spoke calmly as he started down the steps. Why should he care what Ryuichi said, the man was always trying to push their buttons. Personally, he couldn’t see what Shuichi saw in the moronic singer – but he could always narrow it down to idiots need each other so they can feel better about themselves.

The five blocks to his house seemed everlasting, his anger subsiding as he turned the corner towards his father’s apartment complex. Deep down, he continually told himself that things had changed. His father had had rehab, he didn’t sound drunk, so things had to have changed. Children ran around the streets, chasing their household animals and laughing while their mothers stood out on the curbs, talking among one another about their recent encounters. Fathers were at work, making their pay to come home to their family, just like his family once was. He could still remember that, clearly.

He could remember running down the stairs of the apartment just to jump into his father’s arms, just like those kids the day he first came to visit Shuichi’s new apartment. His mother would scowl at him for being out in his house slippers, but the anger would subside as she came into their hug. A small family, his family. The dinners, the laughter, the holidays that had just be them, the pleasant memories that most people didn’t realize could one day go into smoke.

The day his mother had died had been really confusing. His father had broken down into tears, lowering his head in shame that he could not have been the one to take her last pain away, but had been at home taking care of Suguru. The four-year-old couldn’t understand what was going on, until Tohma had sat down and explained that his mother wasn’t going to come back home from shopping. That she was going to watch over…from elsewhere. Suguru hadn’t understood, had called Tohma a liar.

He remembered those days clearly. Now, he was coming home to patch everything together, to become a family with his father once more. He gazed up. His father and stepmother. Walking up to his apartment door, he wondered if he should knock or just walk in. Opting with walking in, he opened the door and stuck his head in, staring around for any movement. “Otousan?”

A shuffle of feet permitted him into the house, coming into the warm home that had overcome many changes. The beer cans that once trashed the floor had been cleaned up, the old wood had been washed, possibly waxed – it was different, Suguru realized as he shut the front door. The windows lighted the house; the curtains had been pulled back, the first time in years. A person stepped out of the kitchen, a bowl in his hands and a light smile on his face.

“I thought you ignored my call,” his father whispered, placing the bowl upon the kitchen table and walking towards the green-haired keyboardist. Suguru couldn’t hold back the smile that graced his face as his father took the boy into his arms. They hadn’t hugged in years, it was wonderful, warm – Suguru didn’t want to leave the embrace. “A lot of things happened, since you left.” He sat upon the couch, and Suguru sat next to him, unable to take his eyes off the floor.

It was so much quieter, as if his father was now living alone. He had to figure out why it was like this, he was used to his stepmother’s voice addressing for him around this time. “Where is she…?” He asked, referring to the woman that had entered his father’s life two years after his wife’s death.

“Tohma…” His father started, but closed his mouth to think of a better way of phrasing what he wanted to say. “Shika said she had noticed all your things were gone when she went to make sure you were off to school,” Genji whispered, “and she had awoken me with fear that you were hurt. I had immediately called Tohma, he always knew where you were, and had said that you came to work, after school. He told me you recently put in a change of address, and that he’d look into it.”

Suguru nodded, laying his head upon his knees as he stared back. “I’ve been living with a band mate. He’s a little out of it, but over all, I don’t mind him.” A little? Suguru pondered that word, Shuichi was more than out of it. However, the look in his father’s eyes was stranger than anything he’d ever seen. One eye was raised to what he had said, his lips narrowed straight, eyeing the off television in thought.

“The band mate that you’re living with – your cousin said he was doing drugs. I don’t want you in that environment.” He finally said, and Suguru was thankful he hadn’t been drinking anything with that comment. Drugs? What had Tohma been saying to his poor father, who had been kept in the dark for so long? Of course, this was Tohma who had kept the man updated to Suguru’s whereabouts – the man that couldn’t stand a certain pink haired singer and knew that if he couldn’t get Suguru to move into a better environment, and then the seventeen-year-old’s father could talk the ignorant boy into leaving the ‘retarded pink haired fool’. Suguru had thought it funny when he had muttered to the man that they preferred the term mentally challenged. Shaking his head, he returned to the matter at hand, straightening his father’s facts.

“Shuichi-san,” he stated formally so the man didn’t get any more ideas, “is not on drugs. He might act like it, but he’s naturally like that. Don’t trust anything Tohma has said – nothing is going wrong with me there. I’ve been paying my half of the bills and rent, I even pay for my own items. If anything, this is teaching me more to live on my own than anything else. Shuichi’s even learning how to cook and drive!” That was one of the best things going on, Shuichi learning to drive. He wasn’t going for a car, fortunately, but a scooter since Tokyo streets were unbearable with a car – you’d spend a lot of time in traffic jams.

His father nodded, his hands between his knees as he lowered his head in shame. “Why didn’t you stop me, Suguru-chan?”

The green haired teen sat back, drawing his legs to his chest as his gaze stopped at a family picture that had been added to the television stand. It was so old; the picture was already yellowing with age. “Because you’re my father. I kept telling myself that you’d change, that tomorrow was going to be different. I didn’t want to believe that tomorrow was going to be like yesterday.” He turned his head, facing the man he loved and respected. “I fail to see Shika running around.” He looked at his father, expecting any answer that didn’t go along the lines that she was at ‘work’.

“Suguru…” Genji broke off thought, gazing at his hands then up at the family picture. “Tohma told me what she was doing to you with what little he knew. If she was doing something like that, you should have told me. I-” He frowned. “-I might have been drunk, but intoxicated or not, no woman is higher on my list of priorities than my own son.”

“What about mom?” Suguru asked. “Where is she on your list these days? A memory that you want to get rid of? If you wanted to start dating other women to get on with your life, I would understand, but please tell me you’re not going to just drop her off the list just because she’s dead.”

Genji stood up, his steady feet walking towards the linen closet, shuffling through the sheets and boxes before pulling out a box, clutching it to his chest. It wasn’t a big box like most of them in the room, but a dirty box that was no bigger than Suguru’s fist. The man sat, once more on the couch, his gaze falling to the ground. “I wasn’t home on your birthday,” he changed subject, “I wasn’t drinking either.” He cleared that up. “I was visiting your mother, the least I could do. I told her how much of a fine gentleman you’ve grown up to be – a little too much like the Seguchi’s, that shows all the time since your mother had the same stubborn streak. I told her about the band you played with, what you told me at least.”

Suguru sat in his seat, quietly gazing at the man as the box was placed into his hands, but he didn’t open it. “Don’t think you’re the top of my list,” Genji chuckled, “your mother beat you there.” Suguru nodded, a smile on his face as he lifted the lid to the box and gazed at the white ribbon that was there. “I gave that to your mother on Saint Whites day, in college. Four months later, we married. A year later, we were blessed with a little boy. She had asked; that when her baby boy showed interest in girls – or boys for that matter, we didn’t care – that we were to give him this to give. You never showed interest, it piled dust.” Suguru let the thin fabric hang through his fingers, his eyes never leaving the object. “I know it’s not much.”

“It’s wonderful,” Suguru giggled, holding it to his chest. “Arigato otousan.” He gave the man a hug. he felt safe, for the first time in years. Standing up, he smiled at the floor before at his father. “I should return home, I left Sakura there, with her father.” He received another hug from his father. “I promise to visit more, but I like where I’m living and I want to stay there for awhile longer.”

His father chuckled, leading the boy to the door. “Well, don’t be a stranger then. I want to meet your room mate sometime.” Nodding, Suguru hugged the man before trotting down the stairs in a better mood than when he had left his apartment. His smile could not falter as he started down the many blocks, watching the kids run by him. Wonderful day, nothing could go wrong.

In his carefree moment, he didn’t care if other people were watching him as he jumped up the stairs, but most turned their heads again since it wasn’t uncommon, as of lately, for genki people bursting with energy and health to come bounding into and out of the apartment complex. With glazed eyes, Suguru turned the doorknob before he realized he left without locking the door. Another ‘D’oh’ on his behalf, what if some sneaky fan or paparazzi came in and took snap shots of their personal life? Better hope Shuichi put away his sex toys; Suguru snickered at his own joke as he stepped inside. He was too giddy to hold it against himself for leaving the door unlocked, and judging by the house, no one had come in. Falling to his knees, he removed his tennis shoes, gazing at Shuichi’s shoes hesitantly. So someone had come in. It wasn’t an unwanted guest, so he couldn’t say anything.

Slipping on his pink piggy slippers (a gift from Ryuichi, ironically), Suguru started towards Shuichi’s closed bedroom door. He could hear the faint sound of Shuichi’s television, but not the boy himself. Guessing that Shuichi probably fell asleep in front of his mini-television, Suguru opened the door and froze as Shuichi stared up with a large grin. “Ah! Suguru-kun, didn’t hear you come in. Okaeri.” He smiled brightly, and Suguru nodded his own greetings, staring at the music video that was on the television. “Remember that band, a month ago – Twilight Night?” Suguru nodded. “Turns out NG was hounding the area the day we were there, look who has a contract.” He pointed towards the interviewer talking to the band, watching how they laughed and charmed their way into the spotlight. Suguru snorted, they’ll learn that with fame comes misery soon enough.

“Good for them, are they any good?” He sat next to Shuichi, reaching for the pocky Shuichi was happily munching on. With a nod, the boy chewed on another cookie, watching as they went into commercials. “How was your mother?”

“Ah, she’s okay,” Shuichi smiled, “tough old bird, she was really sick and didn’t have enough rest. Her fever won and she passed out, nothing to be worried about, according to her doctor.” Suguru frowned, stretching his stiff back as he lied down, his head on Shuichi’s lap, eyes on the television as the show came back on. “Sakura-chan locked the door, Suguru-kun.” He finally said, and Suguru let out a tired breath.

“I’m sorry, I heard the message from my dad, and I wanted to go see him.” Suguru reached for another piece of pocky, putting the treat in his mouth to nibble on, he saw a small look of pain cross Shuichi’s face, but it was immediately gone, replaced by the smile the boy usually wore. “It was different, but I don’t plan on moving back. Which reminds me,” he turned onto his back, staring up at Shuichi, “I originally just moved here temporarily, until home life got better. Its better and all, but…can that temporary be moved up to a little longer…until I graduate at least?”

Shuichi ran a hand through Suguru’s hair, nodding enthusiastically. “Sure.” His eyes fell back once more onto the television as the interview segment started asking questions about if BAD LUCK had really been with them when they were first signed on. Suguru grinned, turning his head from the television and into Shuichi’s warm stomach, clinging closely to the vocalist.

“Then. Tadaimai.”

The ribbon he’d received rested in his back pocket, and all he could think about was Shuichi’s old problems with the white ribbon. Honestly he couldn’t think of a reason why he was so worried if Shuichi would want a ribbon for Saint White’s Day in the first place, it was months away! Christmas was coming around, as were many Japanese festivals. He smiled, wrapping his arms around Shuichi’s stomach, a tired hand going through his hair as he breathed in the scent of Shuichi’s body lotion. Strawberries. That was going to be his favorite food one of these days.

The noise in the room died, and Shuichi laid back but didn’t stop petting Suguru. Both men sat there, with their eyes closed, their breathing even. Suguru pulled closer, knowing this was the only way he could be with Shuichi physically without destroying his reputation. Cutting through all his problems with a sharp knife, he narrowed everything down to one thing.

He, Fujisaki Suguru, had gone where no man should ever go. He had fallen in love with the foolish singer of the band BAD LUCK, and was enjoying every second of the twisted relationship that could one day follow. I love you so much, Shuichi… He thought. Yes, he meant that. He had fallen in love with the bane of his existence, and nothing was going to change it except Shuichi’s acceptance.

Suguru was awakened from his sound sleep by a sudden ear-shattering scream. A powerful scream at that. At first, when he jumped up and onto his two legs, he thought that Shuichi was being murdered. Of course, most singers were able to make an enraged scream sound like a person dying a horribly death. As he finally opened his door, he had froze in place when Shuichi started crying that he couldn’t remember where he put his notebook. That was where he still stood, a few minutes later, staring at the door of the most dangerous creature known to Japanese Population.

He chocolate eyes stared at his bed; a small book shaped lump was forming from where he had hid the notebook. At first it was just a reminder to put the notebook back where it was suppose to be. Shuichi had never noticed, Suguru had thought he had more time. Apparently he did not. Shutting his door, quietly, he placed his weight against the boarding material to keep it from opening, his heart pounding as he could hear the crashing of things from Shuichi’s room. Yes, he was in deep shit if Shuichi found out.

Shuichi’s door opened in a swift movement, his eyes glaring at Suguru as if he knew that the poor keyboardist stole his notebook. “Suguru! My notebook is gone!” Tears clouded his eyes, and Suguru tried to pull together his calm demeanor and lie his way through it – like a hero.

“You have a lot of notebooks. It’s not my fault you can’t find it in the disaster of a room.” He was about to turn around when Shuichi grabbed his shirt, tears falling to the floor. “I swear, Shuichi, I haven’t seen it.” Suguru bit his tongue, wanting to smile at his fools proof lie, but Shuichi ignored him and continued to talk about what the spiral book looked like, as if he had seen it somewhere in the house. With a grumble, he said no, he never knew that a stupid notebook like that existed, and if he did find it, he would plan on burning it for all the sleep it was taking from him.

As he shut his door, he could hear the sudden whine escape from Shuichi’s mouth. It was almost like a dog crying, but only more annoying and anxious. With a roll of his eyes, as did his shoulders, he plucked the notebook from the safety of his futon and walked towards his keyboard case, dumping the poor spiral notebook in with all the snack foods he had stashed away during K-san’s house cleaning.

Shuichi’s was moving around in the kitchen, and Suguru could hear the doorbell ringing. Fully aware that it’d be a neighbor complaining, Suguru went to open the door himself, eyeing Shuichi as the boy cleaned out the refrigerator. Flinging the door open, he was met by the grim face, not of his neighbors, but of a cop. The face turned from grim to shock, as if suddenly knowing what house he had been sent to in the dead of night. “Um, we r-received a call of disturbance from your neighbors…?” He asked, hesitant and scared. To be honest, Suguru leaned forward to see if the name Sakano was on his tag.

“I apologize about the noise,” Suguru pushed hair from his face, glaring at the ground. “If I may borrow a taser, we’ll calm it down some.” The officer looked as if he was really thinking if it’d be safe to give one to the keyboardist before a polite grin took over his face.

“Aha, very funny, please keep the noise down though,” he chuckled and was about to turn and leave, since he had delivered his ‘warning’, before turning back. “Fujisaki-sama,” he reached into his hip pouch, pulling out traffic tickets, but turned it over, “may I have your autograph, I’m a big fan of BAD LUCK!” He stared back at Shuichi (who had still accomplished to not realize they had company at all).

Suguru turned, walked towards Shuichi and ripped a strand of hair off his head. Whining, the boy curled to his side against the floor, but still was looking for his notebook as he rubbed his head. “Here.” He gave the strands, signed his name in what looked like scribble (which Suguru actually did) and handed it to the officer. While shutting the door, Suguru glared at Shuichi before once more opening the door and walking out. He could only handle so much before nine’ o’clock.

In his pajamas, he walked through some of the streets of Tokyo. It was still alive with movement, not as much as in the daylight, but movement nonetheless. Finally, reaching his desired place, Suguru reached the desired apartments and started inside, ignoring to buzz to his location. Finally reaching Hiro’s apartment door, he beat his fist against the hard wood, ignoring the fact that the usually calm man would probably attack him now.

The door peaked open, one eye staring out at him in a frown before closing and unlatched fully. Hiro glanced at the ready-to-sleep keyboardist, holding his door opened. “Shuichi?”

“Yep.” Suguru walked towards the couch, crowded with either boxes or magazines. Pushing everything on the ground, Suguru dropped like logs on the soft cushions, never moving as Hiro dropped a blanket on him and left the living room back to the safety of his own bedroom. The only phrase he did hear was something along ‘notebooks’ and ‘keyboardists’. Suguru couldn’t care; he fell dead to the world in seconds.

~*~*~

“Wake up, princess!” Suguru huffed awake as the loud, accented, voice boomed through the apartment. Staring around, he tried to remember where he was, ignoring the gun placed to his temple. Figuring since he was on the couch, and wasn’t married yet, he placed down Hiro’s place. Hiro was stepping out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a scowl on his face before stepping into the kitchen to grab something to eat, ignoring the gun being pointed at it. Suguru sometimes wished he could have Hiro’s nerves of steel. “The apocalypse must be near!” K-san dramatically cried out, placing a hand to his forehead for affect. “Shuichi-kun was at work long before you two decided to embrace the day! I’m so proud of him,” K-san took a tissue and tapped away his fake tears.

Hiro and Suguru raised eyebrows at each other, before turning away without much of a care. Shuichi probably had something crazy planned. Suguru could just see it now, The Great Search of the Missing Notebook (Secretly Hidden Under Suguru’s bed). Oh how karma laughed at him this very moment. Stealing the notebook had caused him to be late to work (and school) numerous times. This was what he got for wanting to know more about Shuichi’s life.

“Let me guess, he’s looking for his journal?” Hiro asked, starting out the door as Suguru was lifted (or rather, thrown over K-san’s shoulder) from the couch by K-san and carried, in his pajamas, to the car. The manager nodded, and Hiro snorted. “He won’t stop at anything until he finds out what happened to the book.” He eyed the young keyboardist as the boy was sat on in the backseat. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you Fujisaki?” He glared.

Without hesitation, Suguru shook his head, “nope, wouldn’t know a thing!” With a grin from ear to ear, he glanced out the window at the busing crowds, ignoring the ‘all knowing’ glance that Hiro was giving him before the guitarist once more ignored both men in the vehicle.

Finally, the arrived at NG and dragged their way to the recording floor. Suguru was blushed red at the giggles and chuckles he received for still running around in his pajamas, and only now realized he had walked some of Tokyo in the same wear. Maybe he could claim them as everyday clothes. Not really, blue with yellow stars straight pants and oversized shirt gave a little bit of an idea that he wasn’t really dressed for the day. Not strange with BAD LUCK at all, but still a funny sight. Every once in awhile, one of them wanted to sleep in, and hit the snooze button, and would end up at work in something they’d rather not be seen in. Shuichi was often in his nightshirt and boxers when he was drug in. Hiro was lucky; he went to bed in just sweatpants. Suguru was equipped with full pajamas, as he had been raised and never changed from this since he was a four year old (well, he got rid of the footed pajamas, all and all).

The elevator doors opened, and Seguchi’s eyes grew wide at his cousin’s wardrobe. Being one to usually arrive on time to work (until recently), no one had really seen the poor keyboardist in his pajamas unless he was pulled out of bed to act upon a foolish plan made by their manager.

“Are you ready for bed or for work, Fujisaki-san?” Tohma looked over his cousin’s clothes again, this time Suguru turned away, wrapping his arms around his body.

Laughing, K-san wrapped his arms around Suguru’s waist. “I remember in grade school, we use to have ‘Pajama Day’ at school. Suguru misses those days, even though Japanese schools don’t support this type of behavior, but he decided he loved his job too much to be late to work just to change clothes. Isn’t that right, Suguru-kun?” He chuckled.

“Would have been nice if I could have grabbed my shoes before we left, but yes. That was my plan.” Suguru lied before following K-san and Hiro through the elevator doors with a wave to his cousin. With another ding, these doors closed, leaving Tohma behind with his skeptical face staring at the three, though they did hear him muttering something along the lines of ‘BAD LUCK will be the death of us yet.’

The elevator was quiet, not even the awkward, horrible elevator music played (for a reason of course). None of the three said anything before the doors once more threw open and a pink ball of fluff jumped in and onto Hiro, screaming about his notebook. Hiro just smiled, either pretending or really listening, Suguru wasn’t so sure, K-san just shook his head and continued down the hall before flinging his arm around Sakano, watching the man tense again.

“Let’s get down to work! Seguchi-san wants all the bands to have their song in by eight, and no later!” Suguru frowned, yes; he was there for that meeting. Seguchi-san decided that all the bands under his label should turn over a Christmas song for a full CD. It wasn’t really Christian or Catholic, being that Japan was only three percent Christian, or rather other. Most were Buddhist, or the older ones still remained Shinto. Though, Christmas had always been celebrated, as a chance to give gifts to the ones the person loves. Suguru could still remember the stories of Hoteiosha(1). Yes, he could remember those mean stories to make sure he was good around the end of the year.

“…I couldn’t find it Hiro!” Shuichi’s voice wailed as Hiro was walking down the hall with his best friend leeched onto his arm. Suguru tilted his head but followed anyway until they reached the quiet room. K-san was sitting on a rolling chair, glancing at the sound room, as if expecting to find BAD LUCK already inside, doing what they were paid to do. Make music that was, though sometimes Suguru wondered if that’s what they did most of the time.

Walking towards his prepared synthesizer, he saw a piece of paper on the keys, just leaking with curiosity to all around. His name was written in horrible Hiragana, and often had been scribbled out because it was misspelled. Ryuichi… Suguru rolled his eyes and plucked the note to see what was written inside. It took a few seconds, but finally it clicked in his head what was written:

Stupid

Nice, he growled. Very professional, that moron was. This little note was supposed to hurt him? Rolling it up in a ball, he chucked it at Shuichi’s head, grinned from ear to ear and started playing warm up keys. Shuichi broke out into loud screaming upon reading the note, something about Suguru hated him. Suguru stared up, trying to figure out what the moron was talking about, only to be nose to paper with the word Stupid written on it.

“Really, Suguru-kun, I thought you were most mature out of the bunch. Do I need to find you a corner in this room?” K-san was grinning from ear to ear, and Suguru frowned. Damn, he forgot his name was written on the back. Did they really think he wrote it? Did he seem like that bad of a person?

The little devil and angel conscious said ‘yes’ at once to this thought. Damn, he needed a new image when your mind played games on you.

After a few more minutes, the room quieted down and came into control – a few holes in the wall from K was all that was really needed. The band played in sync together. Finally, around noon, they finished the NG project and had nothing else to do. Shuichi whined quietly on a chair, ignoring the comforting words given by Sakano. Not that they were much help, rather then making all much worse. Suguru was putting his synthesizer away properly when he heard a small chuckle from behind him. Turning, his gaze fell on Hiro, watching the guitarist smiling as he finished tuning his instrument.

“What?” The green haired teenager narrowed his eyes, death glaring at the redhead.

“I really wonder if I can make all things better for Shuichi by telling him that the notebook is in your room. I know it’s there, you seem to quiet for it not to be. Besides, how strange it is that Shuichi checked everywhere in the apartment, but your room because you are, and I repeat, ‘nice enough to not invade someone else’s personal space’.” He chuckled.

Suguru felt the threat fall through, but he raised his hand, brushing it off. “Do so. The papers will have an anonymous source of information. I can see it now – ‘BAD LUCK’s vocalist, Shindou Shuichi, first kiss not Yuki-sensei, but his best friend Nakano Hiro!’” He broke out into chuckles at this thought.

“You wouldn’t-”

Suguru grinned, standing up. “Maybe I will. Keep your mouth shut, Nakano. I’ll return it. I just haven’t found the time to.” He stepped towards the crunched up Shuichi, grinning still. “Why don’t we go shopping for another notebook? They say when you’re busy looking for something, it hides itself, and when you are not, it’ll appear!” He smiled cheerful, and Shuichi’s face broke into full light.

“Okay!”

~*~*~

And that was how this all had started. Trying to ease Shuichi from thinking about that stupid notebook until he could return it back to the boy’s bedroom (or slyly claim he found it and hold it out to the boy), Suguru had offered to join Shuichi shopping. The streets of Tokyo seemed harder to get through then what it was on a normal day (which was honestly saying something!), but what made it harder was the fact that Suguru was babysitting.

Upon leaving NG, Ryuichi had run into them and decided he wanted to go shopping with “Shu-chan and Stinky”, so Suguru was told to keep both out of trouble. That was like trying to move Mount Fuji; it was just impossible, like taking four toddlers to a store just across from the toy store. It was just impossible.

On second he’d have them both in his sights, then Ryuichi would run off to go see a side market, or Shuichi would take off to go look through the window of a store full of goodies. Several times he’d lost them amongst the crowds, and they ended up finding him before he could figure out where they had walked off to.

After a period of time, the crowds stopped moving and were aligning the side of the roads, and Ryuichi had screamed out that the parade was starting. Suguru had immediately felt like bashing his head into a pole at that point. That was the last thing he really wanted. Oh joy, a parade full of screaming crowds – including Shuichi and Ryuichi. To think, at this point they could easily walk through all the stores without being separated.

“Suguru, come on!” Shuichi cried and Suguru found himself walking towards the equally short vocalist to the front of the crowds where Ryuichi and Kumagorou were reserving them some room to stand. The two childlike boys became obsessed with the colorful clothing and bands going around, talking and laughing as floats came in every now and then. There wasn’t that many of them, but still a great amount for any Tokyo festivities. Children started screaming out, enjoying themselves. In those screams were Ryuichi and Shuichi. Soon, Shuichi fell quiet, and in a few seconds, Ryuichi turned to face him, as did Suguru.

Shuichi’s blank stare caused both of them to follow the gaze, and Ryuichi gasped out one single name that Suguru didn’t want to hear:

“Yuki.”

Just so, the blonde was standing on the other side of the street, his eyes were not on the festivities, but on Shuichi.

The pink haired vocalist stepped back, his hands falling to his lips, and Suguru figured the boy just wanted to scream out for his ex-lover and jump into the man’s arms. Actually, just suddenly screaming out that it was Eiri Yuki was starting to look good, but if either Shuichi or Ryuichi cried it out; their voices could likely be identified. Suguru also had the feeling that hard-core BAD LUCK fan’s knew his voice as well. Grasping hold of Shuichi and Ryuichi’s hands, Suguru decided it was time to leave, and with one last look over his shoulder, he realized that Eiri Yuki was no longer at that post.

With a quick glance back at Shuichi, Suguru released both men’s hands and slowed his walking, welcoming the silence. “Do you wanna go home, Shu-chan?” Ryuichi asked, though his voice was muffled some since he was chewing on Kumagorou’s ear. Shuichi didn’t respond, but stare ahead and continue walking, making the keyboardist think that Shuichi was finally starting to mature and get over his foolish crush on Eiri Yuki.

“Shuichi.” The group turned around as a voice addressed their younger vocalist. Suguru didn’t really need to turn around to know that it was Eiri Yuki that had caught their attention. “Stop this foolishness and come with me.” Shuichi didn’t move forward though, and Suguru could feel the small boy grasp onto his arm and tighten for support. Eiri was holding his hand out at this point, tempting Shuichi with open arms to return back. Back to the life the vocalist had before. The constant insults. The disrespect. Suguru felt some of his blood boil. He wasn’t going to allow Shuichi to ruin his life over some stupid novelist that thought the world owed him something!

“No.” Shuichi shook his head, and Suguru froze, staring at Shuichi with a great amount of shock. “I’m not going home with you!” Shuichi cried out, tears falling from the corner of his eyes. “I-”

Wrapping his arms around Shuichi, Suguru achieved shutting the boy up. “He’s not going with you because he’s not going to cheat on me.” He reached forward, kissing the side of Shuichi’s neck affectionately, feeling Shuichi shudder under the touch. “I please him so much more then you did…” Suguru felt pride form in his chest. Shuichi hadn’t pushed him away, and Ryuichi had not said anything stupid yet. He could see Eiri’s face go red with anger, but that didn’t stop the young keyboardist from having the time of his life. Running his fingers up under Shuichi orange tunic, Suguru played with the soft nubs that were quickly hardening. With his other hand, he touched Shuichi’s shocked face to face his own. “Come on, it’s just Eiri. I’m sure he doesn’t mind a little show.” He said, pressing his lips against Shuichi’s.

With that little action, Suguru was jumping with glee on the inside. Not only was this his first kiss, but it was with the person he’d been dreaming about for months. Thousands of thoughts ran through his head, the main one was if he was doing this right. Shuichi had experience. What if the boy didn’t think the he was good enough? Suguru pulled away, and glanced to see if Eiri was still there. He was.

Instead of the genuine rage that had been there before their kiss, it was now a mask. Suguru could see the hurt in Eiri’s eyes, but he couldn’t feel bad for what he had just done. Deep inside, Suguru knew that the cold man deserved to watch them, now seeing that every good thing in his life leaves because of his behavior. Shuichi was going to be safe, and he wasn’t planning on ever allowing the pink haired fool to go near this novelist.

The mask of anger and rage once more took over everything on the novelist’s face, including his eyes. If Suguru hadn’t known him, he would have felt death rising to his sides, but he knew Eiri’s behavior far to well, and was able to stand his ground. “Fine.” He turned around, preparing to walk away, but his voice spoke clearly to Suguru and Shuichi. “But remember, Shuichi. Only I know how to please you properly, and judging by that thing you guys called a kiss – you’ll be back sooner than you expect.” He walked away, leaving the three on the corner, the crowds and cheers from the parade no longer in their hearing range.

Shuichi just stood there, shock written all over his face, his fingers against his lips. No one could say anything, and Suguru could feel the blood rise to his face quickly, and when he opened his mouth to say something, the pink haired vocalist bolted in the opposite direction that Eiri had turned. Glancing back, Suguru prepared to step forward to run after the boy, but something soft hit him in the back of the head. Clutching the less than fatal wound, Suguru turned and glared at the culprit.

“Damn it! Leave me alone for once!” He screamed at Ryuichi as the man-child bent down to pick up his bunny.

“You big pervert!” Ryuichi slapped Suguru with the pink rabbit again, and on reflex Suguru began to cover his face. Each time the cushioned creature hit him, he’d see black. It didn’t hurt or anything, it was very annoying. Reaching up before the next impact, he grabbed Kumagorou’s head and began to threaten yanking it off the body. Ryuichi froze, staring in shock at Suguru’s white knuckles, tears filling his eyes. “No! Don’t hurt Kumagorou!”

“Just leave me alone,” Suguru hissed. Letting go of the rabbit with enough force to have it fall back with its owner, he turned around and ran in the direction that Shuichi had taken off towards, furthering himself from the excessive crying from the older man.

It wasn’t more than a block that Suguru found the sulking Shuichi in an alley, scrunched up and still holding his lips at the tips of his fingers. Suguru rolled his eyes, trying to quickly think of something (anything!) to say about what he had just done. He couldn’t bring up what Shuichi had written in his notebook, that there was an attraction between the two, nor could he say that it was spur of the moment. Shuichi would feel used. No! This is what I’ve waited for, a chance to tell Shuichi how I love him enough to protect him from arrogant novelist and perverted fans! A grin took over the green haired boy’s face, before vanishing into a concerned look. “Shindou-san, I’m so sorry! That was out of line, I should never have kissed you without permission!” He chose the words wisely, hoping that Shuichi wouldn’t ask unnecessary questions.

Shuichi jumped, jerking up to face the person addressing him before looking back down at his knees, fingers pressing against his pink lips. “Then you shouldn’t have bothered!” He cried out, covering his face again as more tears fell. “I could have handled Yuki myself!”

“You were doing one hell of a job!” Suguru yelled, fist at his hips. Shuichi stared at him, and both of their eyes remained narrow, full of hate. “If you didn’t want it, you could have punched me. Since you weren’t complaining, Eiri-san took us seriously, and is gone. He would have been there longer if you just tried talking to him. Knowing you, both of you’d make a scene, and we’d be trapped!”

Standing up, Shuichi’s eyes gained a lot of hatred, trying to mask over the tears falling freely. “Right. I never expected you to be the type to just randomly kiss people!”

“Like that hasn’t happened to you before!”

“Are you calling me a slut?” Shuichi screamed. Suguru didn’t step back, but remained still to gain the high and mighty look. Inside, his nerves shook and scream for him to just back down if he ever wanted anything to do with Shuichi. He opened his mouth to speak, but Shuichi put his palm to Suguru’s mouth, stopping any escaping words. Falling to his knees, his shoulders stiffened as he began to cry. “Maybe you’re right. I am a no good slut. Even Yuki snuck up on me and took my first kiss.” Suguru shut his mouth himself; so he didn’t say ‘don’t you mean Hiro?’ he was too good for that.

Scratching his scalp, Suguru collapsed onto his bottom, right next to Shuichi, pulling his own knees to his chest. “You’re not a slut.” He finally whispered. “I’m just pissed off that I…” He bit his tongue, trying to keep his secret inside him, but Shuichi’s lavender eyes never left him, waiting for the nervous green haired boy to continue his sentence. “Damn it, stop staring!” Suguru growled, wrapping his arms around himself.

“You were saying something. Come on, Suguru!” Shuichi poked the keyboardist sides, trying to get him to talk, but Suguru closed himself off further, not trusting his voice. When Suguru remained quiet, Shuichi did as well, staring up before his voice gasped out. “Lookee Suguru!” He yelled out, and Suguru’s eyes widened, about to hit the idiot for screaming too loud. “Some one put mistletoe out! He pointed, and Suguru stared up to where the finger was directed. Yes, on someone’s windowsill was mistletoe out in the opening for those that passed by. And of course, that person just had to be Suguru with his pink haired freak. Rolling his eyes, he was about to stand up when Shuichi pulled him down again, and onto warm lips. Suguru couldn’t break the surprised expression that had frozen on him, and Shuichi’s probing tongue wasn’t something he was ready for.

Once more, one thousand thoughts ran through his head. Most being ‘oh shit! Shuichi’s kissing me!’ He just wanted to pull Shuichi close and enjoy this kiss, but he couldn’t get over it. Shuichi pulled away, standing up on his weak legs. “Nah, sorry Suguru.”

“No!” Suguru grabbed Shuichi’s hand, stopping the boy from leaving him alone right there. “You’re wrong. I don’t go around kissing people, not my first kiss…” He breathed deeply. “I only go around kissing people whom I really, really like.” He couldn’t look up to meet Shuichi’s eyes. Shame was going through his system, and no matter how many times he had read Shuichi’s journal entry about liking him, Suguru felt that he was the only one that couldn’t be loved.

A finger pressed under his chin, tilting his face up to see the other’s look. “Suguru…” Shuichi whispered, and Suguru placed all his attention on the vocalist, his heart soaring. When had Shuichi looked so mature? So loveable? Licking his lips, Suguru had to flex his hand into a fist, just to control himself from jumping Shuichi then and there. “Do you mean that?” Shuichi whispered, awe-struck, and Suguru could only nod. With a timid smile, one very unlike the vocalist, Shuichi leaned in and captured Suguru’s lips, and the green haired keyboardist loved it so very much.

“Did you hear? Sakuma-san is at the parade grounds!” Both men broke apart as two girls’ voices broke the mood in the air. Shuichi’s face was wide, somewhat scared, and Suguru felt all the blame suddenly land on him.

“Oh my god! I did hear, I also heard that BAD LUCK was with him, Yuki-sensei randomly showed up– ‘cause Shindou-sama and him were yelling at each other! I know one of the BAD LUCK members kissed Shindou-sama, I bet it was Nakano-san!” They squealed, and Shuichi took off in the direction where they had last left Ryuichi.

With a groan, Suguru followed suit, not as quickly. As he approached he could hear screams for Ryuichi and that Shuichi had arrived. Once more, they accomplished a riot. And like always, they didn’t mean it. Standing in wait, Suguru watched as the crowds began to break up as two shots were heard, and in the middle – to Suguru’s horror – was a partially dressed K-san, Shuichi, and a bawling Ryuichi.

“I missed something, ne?” Hiro whispered, startling they keyboardist. Turning to look at the guitarist, Suguru blushed at the half-dressed appearance of the flustered Hiro. Glancing towards K-san, then back at Hiro, Suguru felt the blood take over his face. “Uh…” Hiro rubbed his head. “You didn’t see me?” He suggested, and Suguru agreed all too quickly. Notes

(1)- The layout is a big complicated, I once had a design for it, but not anymore. Sry

(2)-approximately $450

(3) Bentoo-bako (or Lunch Box) - a boxed meal that can be taken anywhere, be it school, work, excursions, train trips, sports meets or cherry blossom viewing. Rice, Japan's staple food, generally accounts for a large portion of each obentoo: okazu, or side dishes, are added to suit personal taste or nutritional needs. Okazu are often made of fresh, colorful, in-season ingredients, arranged appetizingly in the bentoo box

(4) Makunouchi - Makunouchiis now a standard type of obentoo available at train stations, bentoo shops almost anywhere else. The rice is shaped into little cylinders and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Tamagoyaki (sweet omelet) is typically included, as is grilled fish, kamaboko (boiled fish paste) and many other kinds of foods.

(5) Onigiri - Made from Japan's staple food, onigiri are easy to carry, and they keep for a long time. Japanese rice is sticky, so forming a ball of rice that holds its shape is no problem. The rice is compressed into a ball while it is still hot; the addition of salt helps presence onigiri, and an umeboshi filling acts as an anti-bacterial. Tuna salad and other unusual filling are a relatively recent invention, giving onigiri an intercultural flavor.

(6) Misu Soup – A breakfast that is soy bean paste

(7) Mos Burger – An alternative of McDonalds, but a little more expensive. This place, however, doesn’t leave the aftertaste of fast food on your tongue. Most Japanese Students prefer it over McDonalds, however the two are level – just differ in cost.

(8) Saint Whites Day – Boys are suppose to give a girl they like a special gift on this day, if the boy gives the girl a white ribbon and ties it for her, it means forever love. Most girls want the ribbon more than the gift.