Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Fleeting Inspiration ❯ More Troubles ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Fleeting Inspiration
by Anna Sartin

. . .

Chapter Twenty: More Troubles

.

Eiri had no idea where he was going.

He'd left the book in his study and fled, not bothering to shut down his computer, turn out the lights, or even lock the front door. He bypassed his sister and brother arguing in the parking lot, ignoring Mika when she asked where in the world he was going. Fuck her. Fuck everyone. He needed to get away, far away, before he was driven completely and utterly out of his mind.

His first thought had been to drive to the airport and flee the country. He could just board whatever plane had an available seat and not look back. This idea was quickly dismissed when he realized he had left his wallet at home, and he was driving in the entirely wrong direction anyway.

His next thought was to find the nearest bar and drink until he passed out, and hope that when he woke up he'd find that the whole series of chaotic events that had taken place over the past seven days had been nothing but a horrible dream. This plan was never carried out either, as he found himself driving past one bar after another as he headed into the heart of downtown Tokyo. He had no idea where he was going, but he continued on his present course as if driven by pure instinct.

It's stalking me. Nobody believes me, but I KNOW that damn thing is out to get me! Maybe it's a conspiracy... Eto, Seguchi, the town of Osaka... they're ALL in on it! Mika and Tatsuha too... Everyone is trying to drive me crazy!!!

How long he spent lost in these thoughts, wading through the dark recesses of his paranoid mind he didn't know; but when he snapped out of it he realized he was parking his Mercedes in front of the N-G building. He blinked, confused.

Why am I here?

He looked at his watch. It was still too early for Shuichi to get off work but he supposed it wouldn't kill him to wait around for a while. It would be worth it to see the look on Shuichi's face when the singer saw that his boyfriend had come to pick him up. Eiri felt somewhat guilty when he realized that he could count on one hand the times he'd come to pick Shuichi up during the course of their relationship. One time the boy had come home soaking wet, having trudged home from N-G in a freezing, slushy mixture of rain and snow that had him sneezing and coughing for over a week. At the time the writer had silently vowed to be more considerate in the future, but somehow that pledge had been forgotten by the time Shuichi was well again and Eiri had gone back to being the same self-absorbed prick he usually was.

I wonder which floor he's on ?

It turned out he didn't need to bother finding out which floor Buck Luck worked on. When he entered the building he found his boyfriend in the lobby, laying on a couch with his head in Hiroshi Nakano's lap. A wave of jealously hit him so hard and fast it burned through his veins like fire, and he marched over to them prepared to demand an explanation. Had he been in his right mind the writer would never done such a thing, but Four Gay Elves had been slowly chipping away at his sanity to point that it was now debatable how much of it was left. For all he knew the long-haired guitarist was probably in on the conspiracy, too! The rage in him was quickly extinguished, however, when he realized that Shuichi was crying.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, suddenly feeling very foolish for allowing his imagination to run away with him.

Shuichi opened his eyes and looked up, amazed. "Yuki?"

"Why are you crying, brat?" he asked, trying to sound annoyed to hide his concern.

Before he knew it, Eiri's arms were full of Shuichi, sobbing incoherently into his shirt. The only words Eiri could make out were "hate" and "bitch". Hiro gave the author a small wave and quickly made himself scarce, grateful for the opportunity to escape. His lap was getting soggy.

"What do you hate?" Eiri asked, forcing the pink-haired singer's face away from his chest so he could understand him.

"I hate her! She's a bitch!"

"Who?"

"Lola Eto!"

Just hearing that name made Eiri cringe. "She's here?"

"Yes! In Bad Luck's rehearsal room!"

"The rehearsal rooms belong to N-G," a female voice informed the singer. "Not Bad Luck. They're for everyone who works here to use. Our manager said so!"

Eiri turned around, wanting to see who was brave enough (not to mention rude enough) to interrupt their conversation. "And you are?" he asked, but he already knew. He recognized her from the cover of GRUDGE. It was the little bitch who'd butchered Shining Collection.

"I'm the lead singer from Whispering Phantom and-" the teenager stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing who she was standing in front of. "Oh my god, it's YOU!!! You're Eiri Yuki!!!"

"No shit," he snapped, glaring at her. "Who the hell do you think you are interrupting a private conversation?"

"Please, can I have your autograph?" she asked, paying no attention to his annoyance. "I'm such a big fan of your writing and-"

"No! Get get the hell away from me! And tell your grandfather's book to stop stalking me!"

"Huh?" she asked, staring at him in confusion. "Book?"

"Get get the hell out of here!"

"Fine!" Lola shouted, stamping her foot. "I used to think you were a wonderful author. Now I see all that you are is a jerk!"

Shuichi wiped his tears as the girl took off in a huff. "I wish I'd have been able to get rid of her so easily," he said. "This whole day's been a nightmare."

You're telling me. "She's been harassing you that long?"

"No, but we had to move to different rehearsal room because Whispering Phantom was already using ours," Shuichi said as they left the building. "But I've been having trouble breathing and I couldn't get though a whole song without getting winded, and K got mad and shot out the window of the recording booth, so-"

"I TOLD him not to overwork you."

"He didn't... after the first hour or so, anyway. He said I could work on finishing the lyrics to my last song while Hiro and Fujisaki rehearsed, but we had to move back to our usual rehearsal room and that girl threw a fit when we got there. She kept screaming in my face and I was starting to get dizzy so K fired a few rounds and told us all to go home."

"You've been having trouble breathing AND you've been getting dizzy?" Eiri asked, not even bothering to hide his concern this time. He was now glad he'd felt a subconscious need to come here. He didn't want Shuichi walking all the way home.

"Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me..."

Eiri studied his lover's face carefully, looking for signs of illness or fatigue. Suddenly all of his earlier problems seemed so... insignificant. "Weren't you supposed to have a follow-up at that hospital in Osaka?" he asked.

"They said I could see my own doctor when I got home."

"I want you to make an appointment."

Shuichi nodded silently and got into the car.

"Are you sure you're alright?" the blond asked. He'd expected to be tackled as Shuichi blasted his eardrums with his overjoyed cries of "Awww! Yuki's worried about me!"

"I just want to go home now, okay? I'm really tired."

"Fine," he responded, pushing his reading glasses up on the bridge of his nose. He's just noticed that he was wearing them. He generally only wore them while reading or working on the computer, but in his hurry to flee the apartment he'd forgotten to take them off. At least he didn't ask how MY day was...

"Hey Yuki?" Shuichi asked.

"What?"

"Why are you wearing your reading glasses?"

. . .

Tohma Seguchi's blood boiled as he stepped out of elevator in his brother-in-law's apartment building, clutching the newspaper he was carrying in a death grip. This was all Shindo's fault! He had no idea how or why, but he just knew that Eiri's reckless pink-haired lover had to be the cause of this scandal. He'd been against the relationship from the beginning and had tried to put an end to it more than once. As far as Tohma was concerned Shuichi Shindo was a walking disaster, and the sooner he was out of his brother-in-law's life the better.

Today I'm going to get though to Eiri once and for all! He tucked the newspaper under his arm and pulled out his key and violently jammed it into the door knob. He'd made a copy of Mika's key long ago, although Eiri didn't know that. He enjoyed sneaking up on the younger man and leaving him to wonder how the hell he'd gotten in. I'll make him see reason and-

He froze mid-thought as he entered the apartment. Eiri was sitting on the sofa with Shindo's head in his lap, combing through the boy's hair with his fingers. Shuichi looked for all the world like a man resting in the lap of his devoted wife. This sight only seemed to infuriate the Grasper more.

"Get away from Eiri!" Tohma shouted.

"Shut up!" Eiri hissed dangerously. "If you wake him up I'll kill you!"

THAT took Tohma by surprise. He lowered his voice, deciding he needed to change his tactic to accommodate the writer's short temper. "We need to talk."

"I don't need to hear it."

"I think you do!" the older man told him, raising his voice again.

"So help me, Seguchi, if you wake him up..."

"If he's that much of a nuisance then why do you continue to let him live here?!"

"Because I want him here."

"He's hurting your image, Eiri! LOOK at this!" He shoved the paper in the author's face, just as his wife had done a few hours ago. "Shoplifting? DRUGS?! What's he doing to you?"

"Don't believe everything you read," Eiri responded, annoyed to find himself face-to-face with that same damned photo in the newspaper for the third time in one day.

"Eiri, if you're addicted I can help you. Just let m-"

"I'm NOT on drugs, Tohma!" Although when I'm around you I wonder if I should be...

"Then why were you asking the police for them?"

"I asked for my medication. Somebody decided to twist the story to make me look bad."

"Eiri, you have got to get rid of Shindo-san. His presence in your life is causing you nothing but trouble. All this stress isn't good for you. What if-"

"YOUR presence is causing me stress right now, Seguchi, not his. Now if you've got nothing else to say then get out."

The singer let out a small moan in his sleep and for the first time Tohma observed how pale he was, which altered his original image of the couple from when he'd first barged in. The pink-haired vocalist looked like a sick child in his father's lap. "He doesn't look well..."

"I said get OUT!"

The shouting awakened Shuichi, who opened his eyes tiredly. "Yuki?"

"Eiri, what's going on?" Tohma asked. "Let me help you!"

"If I need your help I'll ask for it. I'm perfectly capable of managing my own life!"

Tohma sighed and let himself out, deciding he needed to collect more information before approaching his brother-in-law again. He was certainly not going to get anything out of Eiri when he was in one of his moods, so he would have to find out what he needed to know from other sources. Looks like I'll be making a trip to Osaka...

Inside the apartment, Shuichi had climbed into his boyfriend's lap and was resting his head on the blond's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Hm. You?"

"I'm a little scared... What if the doctor tells me I can't sing anymore?"

"I don't know... but..." He struggled to find comforting words. He just wasn't good at consoling people. "Whatever happens, I'm here for you." There. That wasn't so hard.

Shuichi snuggled closer. "No matter what?"

Eiri considered the question for a moment before answering. "Yeah..." he said finally. "No matter what. Come Tohma Seguchi, the forces of darkness, Armageddon or Four Gay Elves."

Shuichi laughed softly, imagining Tohma leading the forces of darkness in Armageddon, armed with copies of Four Gay Elves. "Hey, Yuki?"

"What?"

"I love you."

.

~End chapter twenty~