Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Apogee ❯ Chapter III ( Chapter 3 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Disclaimer: Gravitation is not owned by me, it is owned by Maki Murakami. I own nothing.
Author's Note: Rating is still for future chapters. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I appreciate your encouragement!
Neither heard the door open, but they heard it slam and jerked apart to find Yuki Eiri staring at them with rage twisting his features, golden eyes blazing and shifting from Tohma to Shuichi. Tohma straightened his cuffs, buttoning them again while he waited for someone else to speak first, but Shuichi took one look at the anger on his former lover's face and ran past him, slamming the door again on his way out. Tohma was momentarily surprised that Eiri had let Shuichi leave and decided he must be angrier with Tohma at the moment. He walked to the phone at his desk and pressed a button, waiting for the other end to pick up calmly, his face carefully blank.
"Security."
"Please detain Shindou Shuichi if he tries to leave the building and take him to the conference room on the seventh floor."
"Yes, Seguchi-sama."
He released the intercom and turned to face Eiri now that he was sure Shuichi would not be able to hurt himself further at the moment. He had rarely seen an expression of bald rage on Eiri's face but it was there now and matched the feeling bubbling in the pit of his stomach as he looked at the man he had considered a brother for so many years. Tohma calmly leaned his hip on the edge of his desk, waiting patiently with a small smile on his lips while he waited to see how long it would take Eiri to speak.
"I should have known you weren't concerned about Shuichi's welfare that night at dinner. I should have realized you were trying to rub something in my face. Does Mika know?" Eiri's expression had relaxed slightly, some of his rage turned inward, turning on himself with a bitterness that had become second nature over the years. Tohma recognized it, for once not scrambling to think of something to direct it back outward. Eiri needed to see, he needed to know what he had caused, how he had hurt his lover and driven him away without anyone else's interference. He shook his head as he answered.
"There is nothing for Mika to know, Eiri. I have not been having an affair with Shindou Shuichi, and neither have you."
"Pardon me, I don't think I heard you right. Shuichi is my lover, I believe."
"You believe wrong, Eiri. You told me he had been respecting your wishes, leaving you in peace to finish your book. Did it never occur to you that he might have left you? Did it never occur to you that your treatment of him might have driven him away?" Tohma felt the smile slide from his lips and he picked up the pictures from the desk, glancing at them before handing them to Eiri. "You should take a look at these. They were taken yesterday for Bad Luck's new single."
Eiri took the pictures and stared at them in horror. "You have one sick sense of artistic, Tohma. You should fire the art department for this kind of a sick joke." He started to hand them back but paused when Tohma shook his head.
"The art department has not seen those pictures yet. All promotional photos go through me before they go to the art department for effects and retouching. I got those about an hour ago."
Eiri looked back down at the pictures in his hand. He knew from years of familiarity how to tell when Tohma was telling the truth, but what he was looking at couldn't be true. This wasn't his Shuichi, not this starved, worn, depressed creature. He took a few trembling steps, sinking onto a couch, dropping the photos to the coffee table in front of it. Nothing made sense. He and Shuichi had had a disagreement, but it had been nothing more than countless others before it. He had been absorbed in his work, but so had Shuichi. His clothes still hung in the closet in Yuki's room; his computer was still on the low table they'd bought for it in the living room. He looked up slowly, looking out the window behind Tohma. His pillow was gone. His favorite mug wasn't on the hook in the kitchen. The box of videos and Ryuichi's gifts was gone from the closet where it had been stored. There was an extra key in the bowl on the dresser, a key with a pink bit of plastic on the grip, the key Shuichi had made after Yuki had said they could be lovers. He had been so happy to have his own key, said it made it official that they were together.
He dropped his head into his hands, breathing deep for a moment before looking back at the pictures in front of him. "Were you just waiting for him to leave? How long has what I saw been going on? And why is there nothing for Mika to know?"
Tohma sighed, moving to sit on the other couch, facing Eiri across the coffee table. He had wanted to avoid this conversation as long as possible, but circumstance had forced the situation and now he had to explain things to Eiri, or at least some of them. Some things would remain his alone. "To answer your questions, Eiri - No, I was not waiting for Shuichi to leave you, what you saw is the only time that has happened, and Mika and I have separated."
"When?"
"Nine months ago, give or take a little."
"Why? She's loved you for as long as I can remember."
Tohma smiled a bitter little smile, oddly amused at the way things had come about. "I was working too much, ignoring her needs, ignoring her. Being president of NG and touring with Nittle Grasper left me no time for our relationship and after a while she found someone else. I want her to be happy, so I agreed to the separation."
The similarities were not lost on Eiri and he leaned back on the couch, watching his brother-in-law for a moment. Tohma sat calmly, that small smile still in place and Eiri wondered, not for the first time, how Tohma could manage to stay so calm in the face of disaster. He looked at the pictures on the table. He needed to see Shuichi, he needed to apologize, and he needed to fix things. He stood, not knowing how, but determined to make things right. He started to walk toward the door when Tohma's voice stopped him cold.
"Eiri, I am sorry, but I must ask that you not try to contact Shuichi at present."
"What?"
Tohma watched as the line of Eiri's back tightened, but Eiri didn't turn. He knew he was driving a wedge between them with this decision, but he had no choice. "I believe Shuichi's emotional state is too fragile at present to allow it." He paused, walking forward until he could see Eiri's expression, not surprised at the thin-lipped anger he saw. "He is hurting, Eiri. Those marks on his arms weren't make-up. They were self-inflicted. He needs time to come to terms with his own decision. After that, if he wants to continue your relationship, I won't stand in the way. But I won't allow any further harm to come to him now."
Eiri's jaw clenched and he nodded sharply before walking briskly to the door and leaving the room. Tohma followed, closing the door behind him and waiting with Eiri at the elevator in a somewhat uncomfortable silence. The waves of anger rolling off Eiri were almost tangible, countered by Tohma's icy resolve. They got in the elevator and Tohma pressed the seventh floor button for himself, and the lobby for Eiri. He looked back when the elevator opened for him, but Eiri wouldn't look at him before the doors closed and Tohma walked down the hall to the conference room to see Shuichi.
Author's Note: Rating is still for future chapters. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I appreciate your encouragement!
Neither heard the door open, but they heard it slam and jerked apart to find Yuki Eiri staring at them with rage twisting his features, golden eyes blazing and shifting from Tohma to Shuichi. Tohma straightened his cuffs, buttoning them again while he waited for someone else to speak first, but Shuichi took one look at the anger on his former lover's face and ran past him, slamming the door again on his way out. Tohma was momentarily surprised that Eiri had let Shuichi leave and decided he must be angrier with Tohma at the moment. He walked to the phone at his desk and pressed a button, waiting for the other end to pick up calmly, his face carefully blank.
"Security."
"Please detain Shindou Shuichi if he tries to leave the building and take him to the conference room on the seventh floor."
"Yes, Seguchi-sama."
He released the intercom and turned to face Eiri now that he was sure Shuichi would not be able to hurt himself further at the moment. He had rarely seen an expression of bald rage on Eiri's face but it was there now and matched the feeling bubbling in the pit of his stomach as he looked at the man he had considered a brother for so many years. Tohma calmly leaned his hip on the edge of his desk, waiting patiently with a small smile on his lips while he waited to see how long it would take Eiri to speak.
"I should have known you weren't concerned about Shuichi's welfare that night at dinner. I should have realized you were trying to rub something in my face. Does Mika know?" Eiri's expression had relaxed slightly, some of his rage turned inward, turning on himself with a bitterness that had become second nature over the years. Tohma recognized it, for once not scrambling to think of something to direct it back outward. Eiri needed to see, he needed to know what he had caused, how he had hurt his lover and driven him away without anyone else's interference. He shook his head as he answered.
"There is nothing for Mika to know, Eiri. I have not been having an affair with Shindou Shuichi, and neither have you."
"Pardon me, I don't think I heard you right. Shuichi is my lover, I believe."
"You believe wrong, Eiri. You told me he had been respecting your wishes, leaving you in peace to finish your book. Did it never occur to you that he might have left you? Did it never occur to you that your treatment of him might have driven him away?" Tohma felt the smile slide from his lips and he picked up the pictures from the desk, glancing at them before handing them to Eiri. "You should take a look at these. They were taken yesterday for Bad Luck's new single."
Eiri took the pictures and stared at them in horror. "You have one sick sense of artistic, Tohma. You should fire the art department for this kind of a sick joke." He started to hand them back but paused when Tohma shook his head.
"The art department has not seen those pictures yet. All promotional photos go through me before they go to the art department for effects and retouching. I got those about an hour ago."
Eiri looked back down at the pictures in his hand. He knew from years of familiarity how to tell when Tohma was telling the truth, but what he was looking at couldn't be true. This wasn't his Shuichi, not this starved, worn, depressed creature. He took a few trembling steps, sinking onto a couch, dropping the photos to the coffee table in front of it. Nothing made sense. He and Shuichi had had a disagreement, but it had been nothing more than countless others before it. He had been absorbed in his work, but so had Shuichi. His clothes still hung in the closet in Yuki's room; his computer was still on the low table they'd bought for it in the living room. He looked up slowly, looking out the window behind Tohma. His pillow was gone. His favorite mug wasn't on the hook in the kitchen. The box of videos and Ryuichi's gifts was gone from the closet where it had been stored. There was an extra key in the bowl on the dresser, a key with a pink bit of plastic on the grip, the key Shuichi had made after Yuki had said they could be lovers. He had been so happy to have his own key, said it made it official that they were together.
He dropped his head into his hands, breathing deep for a moment before looking back at the pictures in front of him. "Were you just waiting for him to leave? How long has what I saw been going on? And why is there nothing for Mika to know?"
Tohma sighed, moving to sit on the other couch, facing Eiri across the coffee table. He had wanted to avoid this conversation as long as possible, but circumstance had forced the situation and now he had to explain things to Eiri, or at least some of them. Some things would remain his alone. "To answer your questions, Eiri - No, I was not waiting for Shuichi to leave you, what you saw is the only time that has happened, and Mika and I have separated."
"When?"
"Nine months ago, give or take a little."
"Why? She's loved you for as long as I can remember."
Tohma smiled a bitter little smile, oddly amused at the way things had come about. "I was working too much, ignoring her needs, ignoring her. Being president of NG and touring with Nittle Grasper left me no time for our relationship and after a while she found someone else. I want her to be happy, so I agreed to the separation."
The similarities were not lost on Eiri and he leaned back on the couch, watching his brother-in-law for a moment. Tohma sat calmly, that small smile still in place and Eiri wondered, not for the first time, how Tohma could manage to stay so calm in the face of disaster. He looked at the pictures on the table. He needed to see Shuichi, he needed to apologize, and he needed to fix things. He stood, not knowing how, but determined to make things right. He started to walk toward the door when Tohma's voice stopped him cold.
"Eiri, I am sorry, but I must ask that you not try to contact Shuichi at present."
"What?"
Tohma watched as the line of Eiri's back tightened, but Eiri didn't turn. He knew he was driving a wedge between them with this decision, but he had no choice. "I believe Shuichi's emotional state is too fragile at present to allow it." He paused, walking forward until he could see Eiri's expression, not surprised at the thin-lipped anger he saw. "He is hurting, Eiri. Those marks on his arms weren't make-up. They were self-inflicted. He needs time to come to terms with his own decision. After that, if he wants to continue your relationship, I won't stand in the way. But I won't allow any further harm to come to him now."
Eiri's jaw clenched and he nodded sharply before walking briskly to the door and leaving the room. Tohma followed, closing the door behind him and waiting with Eiri at the elevator in a somewhat uncomfortable silence. The waves of anger rolling off Eiri were almost tangible, countered by Tohma's icy resolve. They got in the elevator and Tohma pressed the seventh floor button for himself, and the lobby for Eiri. He looked back when the elevator opened for him, but Eiri wouldn't look at him before the doors closed and Tohma walked down the hall to the conference room to see Shuichi.