"C'Etait Toi"

Author's Notes: No, Laurette is not a self-insertion character...at least not by my standards. I read in a message in the Y!Group, "gackt," that during one of his performances during the MARS tour that he spoke of a French woman he met during either A) a photo shoot and/or B) filming a PV with Malice Mizer. I can't remember. They taught each other how to say "The weather is beautiful" in each of their respective languages ("ao sora" in Japanese and "il fait beau" in French). Every time she saw him she would say, "ao sora" no matter what the occasion, which touched him...or made him laugh...one of the two. This newfound, Fandom knowledge got the gears in my head turning. Although Laurette is obviously not the same woman he has met in real life, she is a fictional substitute.

Now that we've got THAT cleared up...ONWARD!

"...Me revoici

Cherchant ton visage

Et je realize

Que je devrais en chercher une autre

C'Etait toi..."

- Billy Joel, "C'Etait Toi"

Pulling his guitar case from the passenger's seat, Ren took a deep, soothing breath before leaving the cool comfort of his car. He leapt out of his position behind the wheel and landed gracefully on the sidewalk only to shrink back as sunlight and wave after wave of oppressive heat settled on top of him, smothering, suffocating... Ren blinked; the heat made his eyes sting. Looking up, he could see the sidewalk ripple in front of him. Sweat trickled down the bassist's face and spine. God, not even a minute out here and I'm sweating...

Walking towards the studio door, he spun circles, desperately attempting to alleviate the irritating temperature, and expected to see black rubber from his shoes melted to the pavement. As he reached the door, he grasped the handle but hissed and drew back shaking and blowing on his reddened hand. Right...sun and metal... elementary science Ren... he berated himself before trying again, albeit more wary of the bar's conductive property. It didn't hurt as much the second time. Probably because my fingers are fried. K'so...I'm going to have blisters. That never helps my playing... He pulled the door open somewhat and prayed, Gaku, you had better have had the air conditioner fixed... He burst through -

- And, to his dismay, was met with as much overpowering heat as outside. /Ah...God dammit.../ Ren looked at the other three men who lounged in the room. Toshi sat dutifully behind his drum set tapping away while You sat on the floor plucking at his violin. Chacha had just finished putting his long hair up with the aid of random pencils and was at the moment sprawled atop the couch.

Ren feigned a manic grin. "Ah, what wonderful day!" The redhead's eyes widened to an impossible size and he dropped to the floor, covering his head, as a barrage of projectiles was thrown from three different corners. As the assault died down, he rolled his eyes and stood up, dusting himself off. "Geez...I was kidding. I take it none of you got any last night..."

"Kisama..." You cursed from his spot on the linoleum floor.

"It's too hot to do anything, Ren..." Chacha sighed, throwing an arm over his eyes. Peaking underneath, he added, "I tried - but You gets finicky when it's not the activities making him sweat..." You paled considerably and stared at his lover in horror. Ren and Toshi struggled not to laugh when Chacha winked suggestively at the taller man.

Just then, the exchange was interrupted as the door to the studio slammed open. A very unhappy Masa stood at the entrance, his face depicting every emotion from sad and depressed to enraged at his current state. His hair was matted, the dark strands plastered to his face. The guitarist shuffled across the floor and, after placing his guitar case lovingly upon the table, collapsed, boneless, onto the floor with a grunt.

You blinked. "Daijoubu...?" Masa's muffled groan was the only response.

Pulling an elastic from his wrist, Chacha forced himself upright and walked over to the fallen man. He tapped the younger musician's head and, as Masa looked up, offered him the band. "Hair tie?" The prone figure snatched the elastic from Chacha's fingers and hastily put his hair up...and then threw himself against the cool tiling again. The older man laughed, "Gaku couldn't get you out of bed today, ne?"

For the first time since he entered the studio, Masa spoke, "Actually, I wasn't in bed...technically..." He paused to push himself up onto his elbows. "I was on the floor in the nude in front of the fan."

"All night?" Ren inquired, interest perked.

"...Hai..."

Chacha laughed as he stood and walked over to You. Ren piped up from where he was unpacking his guitar, "You know, it's only 21 degrees in France..."

"You're kidding!" You cried, disbelieving. Ren shook his head. "That's it, he doesn't have a choice: we're going." Masa groaned in agreement. "That reminds me," the violinist continued, glancing back at Ren, "Did you get them?"

The bassist nodded. "Yeah, last night."

"Did he catch you?"

The other shook his head, red hair swishing against his shoulders, and smiled.

The conversation was interrupted when, for the fifth time that day, the studio door swung open. The man at the entrance grabbed the handle before it could slam against the opposite wall and shut it gently behind him. Gackt walked in, his movement quick and choppy, tension woven into every muscle.

Without looking up, Toshi criticized with a smile, "Gaku, you're slacking. Ren went out again last night."

Gackt pulled a folder full of papers from his jacket, which was slung over his arm filling its role of being useless, and tossed it unceremoniously on the table. He sneered as the white printed sheets slid across the polished surface in disarray. "Yeah, I know - I heard him leave. I've had other things on my mind..."

"He was chatting with his female friend from Lyons on the computer," You explained.

"His 'online correspondent,'" Ren added with a smirk.

"I was not."

Turning to Chacha, You confirmed, "Yeah he was..." The older guitarist pursed his lips, struggling to contain his laughter. Gackt glared at his "Oniichan" as Ren burst into a fit of manic giggling. Sighing, Gackt turned back to the table to put the documents in order -

- And found Masa sifting through them with fascination.

"...A magazine...papers involving the kissmark and old record label scandal...fan mail...bills...music sheets...MORE music sheets...scribblings that I can only guess are lyrics..." The young man paused and, lifting one of the smudged and crumpled sheets, began to read.

"Oi! Stop that!" Gackt snatched the paper from the other's hands and straightened the discombobulated pile. "They're not finished yet."

Masa laughed. "SOMEONE'S twitchy..."

"I am NOT twitchy."

"Yeah you are," Ren agreed as he sat down on the couch, tuning his guitar.

"No, I'm not..." Gackt paused and turned to Toshi. "Am I?"

The drummer was hesitant. "Well...yeah - "

"No I'm not!" the vocalist snapped. "THIS is NOT twitchy!"

"You're right. You're not twitchy," You consoled.

"There. See?"

"You're above and BEYOND twitchy." Gackt turned and gaped at his friend. "Now sit down and shut up before one of us tackles you to the floor and gags you."

Stunned, Gackt seated himself on the couch. Placing his guitar in the nearby case, Ren wrapped his arms around the taller man. "You're stressed and depressed Gaku. We all hate it when you do this to yourself. You always seem so sad. And on top of that, you're split personalities start rearing their ugly heads...the present heat wave doesn't help much either..."

Masa walked over and sat down on the other side of the vocalist. "You can hear it in the music - it's strained."

"Give me any song, any measure, and anybody's part and I can play it forwards, backwards, and in a round. Including Toshi's. And I don't play drums!" Chacha remarked, offering up his two cents.

Gackt smiled sadly. "Gomen nasai, minna-san. I...I hadn't realized how hard I was pushing..."

"Hey, it's alright..." Toshi soothed. "It comes with the job."

"Yeah, we're used to it. No one eats, drinks, or sleeps unless Gaku-chan says so," You added.

Gackt laughed. "I'm that bad...?"

"Yes, you are," Ren verified, looking up at the vocalist.

"But like Toshi said - it's okay. Not to mention we're not going to be staying here much longer," Masa commented.

"Nani? What do you mean by that?"

Ren shifted and reached into the back pocket of his faded jeans and pulled out a crumpled envelope. One could see the Tokyo Air logo blazoned across the front even from across the room. Waving the folded paper in the air, Ren stated, "We're going on vacation."

Gackt jumped off the couch even before the redhead finished his sentence. "Nani?! Demo - demo...I CAN'T leave..."

With a sudden burst of energy, which he had been regenerating during the last few minutes, Chacha leapt up from the floor, snatching the tickets from Ren at the same time, and hopped onto the couch, assuming the seat Gackt had vacated. "Are you sure, Gaku? Because if you're not interested, I'm sure Igao would LOVE to go..."

"Of course, on the flip-side," Ren began, "Laure-chan would be sad you didn't come..." He added a pout for emphasis.

Gackt stopped and turned to the bassist. "Laure...You mean Laurette...?" The other nodded. "But that means..."

"That's right," declared Masa, smiling.

"Pre-paid trip to France - " You began.

"Lyons, France," Toshi interjected.

" - and everything's been taken care of."

"And when we say 'everything,' we mean it," stated Chacha.

"The media, the manager, the Dears...you name it, we've handled it," Ren assured.

Gackt reached forward and took the tickets from Chacha's outstretched hand. He sifted through the glossy strips of paper. Confused...hesitant...awestruck... outraged...overjoyed...the Job members watched the emotions play off of the vocalist's face. "How did you do this...?"

"It wasn't easy," Chacha said, "but with Ren's stealth and our amazing ability to act inconspicuous in any circumstance at will helped a lot."

"You were wondering where our pay checks went, ne Gaku?" Toshi inquired.

"And why Ren's been living off of cheap cappuccino for the last month."

Ren glared at Masa. "Hey - with my money being saved up for this trip, caffeine is the only joy in my life at the moment."

Gackt turned his dark eyes to You. Still recovering from his shock, he whispered, "Domo arigatou..." With a reserved smile, he looked to the others. "If...If I do go along with this...how long will we be gone?"

Chacha glanced sidelong at Ren. "I'm hesitant to answer..."

"Lie!" whispered Masa urgently.

"Two weeks," the redhead stated with a smile, unabashed.

"Two weeks?!"

"Low-flying mood swing..." came the muttered mockery behind Gackt. He turned to glare at his drummer and violinist who had both plastered cheerful smiles across their faces before returning his attention back to Ren.

"Told ya you should've lied..."

The bassist, ignoring Masa, was in the middle of a brilliant Cheshire Cat impression when he responded. "Hai - two weeks."<

"I can't leave for two weeks!"

"Why not?" Masa questioned. "You've disappeared off the face of the Earth before."

"Yeah, but I can't now. I have work to do, things to take care of. I can't just up and leave..." Gackt crossed his arms over his chest and turned away, barricading himself from the tempting offers.

"Gaku-chan..." You stood up and walked to his friend, his brother... "The music will always be here. The fans will always be here. We'll always be here. But if you keep this up, you won't be."

"Yeah, remember before MARS?" Masa asked.

"And 'Rebirth,'" Chacha and Toshi chimed from opposite ends of the room.

Gackt sighed and, with great effort of will, pulled away from You. "I appreciate all of this - I really do - but I just can't afford to 'disappear' riigght now."

"Demo - "

"Iie!" Gackt whirled to glare at the other men who jumped at the sudden outburst. "There is no way in Hell you - any of you - are going to get me on a plane out of here." And with that, he turned and stalked away.

Unfortunately, in doing so, he missed the knowing glances and wicked smirks exchanged between the other musicians...