| venenatus.venustas ( @ 2008-01-18 12:13:00 |
| Entry tags: | f: dapump, f: w-inds., p: keixryu, p: ryohei/ken, x: multi |
A Sigh Is Just A Sigh (Keita/Ryuichi, 14b/?)
Title: A Sigh Is Just A Sigh
Pairing: Keita/Ryuichi
Author: venenatus.venustas
Rating: Hard R
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, unfortunately. But do own story. I do not presume to know anything of their private and/or business lives. This is all FICTION, meaning I MADE IT UP. I do not claim truth in anything you may read from this story. Except for their hairstyles.
Warnings: Angst, I guess? Some fluff, maybe?
Inspired by: Ryuichi’s ringlets.
Summary: But a kiss is never just a kiss.
Part 14a: Glimmer
O.o o.O
The balcony in their flat overlooked back into the estate complex so it was paparazzi free, a point that the three of them had agreed was the best thing about their flat.
Keita sat now, on the floor of their balcony, hiding from any neighbours that might happen to be spying on him. He leaned his back against the side railing, knees drawn up and elbows resting on them, hands buried in his hair. A cigarette hung from his lips, and the ash was starting to reach a dangerously long length.
This was a first. Before, he only smoked in clubs; it appeared to be a trait that girls found sexy – of course, having large, glittering eyes and a wide, blinding smile didn’t hurt, either.
Ryuichi hadn’t come home last night. He had left in the afternoon without a word to Keita, and Keita knew he had no right to call Ryuichi and demand to know where he was.
Still, that didn’t stop his imagination from working overtime, and Keita knew that if Ryuichi had been in an accident he would have been notified already. If he had been kidnapped, he would have to wait twenty-four hours before reporting it anyway, and so his imagination turned to the most probable reason why Ryuichi had spent the night out: because he was with another man.
Which led back to the reason why Keita was on the balcony at seven in the morning, smoking.
Was it with Kojiro, or one of the other boys in their little gang? Keita had only met Kojiro once, all those months ago, but just because he liked Ryuichi then didn’t mean that he was with Ryuichi now. Was it somebody else? Keita knew that Ryuichi liked to go pub crawling with Yu – was that his name? Yes, he had heard Ryuichi talk about him before.
Oh god, he really needed to stop this whole jealousy thing. It was going to give him wrinkles or white hair or something. Maybe pre-mature balding. Keita gave a hard suck to his cigarette, wrinkling his nose in disgust of himself.
He put it out on the tiled floor, before pulling out another cigarette and lighting it up, taking a deep drag and returning to his previous position, with both hands in his hair and head hanging low.
It was a faint sound that made Keita raise his head and hurriedly put out his half-smoked cigarette; Ryuichi was home. What was he doing home so early? Keita’s stomach gave a sharp twist as he saw Ryuichi’s figure shuffle towards his room, skateboard held loosely at his side.
“Ryuichi,” he called, standing up and going back indoors.
Ryuichi looked over his shoulder. “Oh,” he said flatly. “You’re awake.”
“Yeah,” Keita said.
Ryuichi wrinkled his nose, making a face. “You were smoking,” he said, in the same monotonous voice.
“I…”
“I can smell it all over you,” Ryuichi said, and now his voice sharpened into accusation. “You were out last night, weren’t you?”
“I don’t see how that’s your problem,” Keita retorted, and Ryuichi pinched his mouth shut.
“Of course.”
“I was just worried about you,” Keita snapped. “You disappeared and there was no phone call, no message, nothing. What if you were mugged and killed or something?”
Ryuichi’s eyes were wide and round, but his face remained otherwise expressionless. “I was at Ryohei’s flat,” he said quietly.
Keita snorted. “Sure. Whatever.”
“I was,” Ryuichi said, eyes narrowing.
“Why are you back so early then?”
“The freak of nature woke me up at dawn to practise before our dress rehearsal later. I told him to piss off and came home instead. You can ask him yourself.” Ryuichi shook his head, opening the door to his bedroom. “I need a shower, man.”
“Do you want to go out for breakfast?” Keita blurted out.
“What?” Ryuichi looked back at him.
“Breakfast,” Keita said. “With me. Out?”
Ryuichi eyed Keita up and down. “Is there anything open this early?”
“I know this place.”
Ryuichi looked at Keita suspiciously, and Keita hoped desperately that Ryuichi wouldn’t ask how he discovered a breakfast joint in their sleepy neighbourhood. “You need to take a shower. You fucking reek.”
Ryuichi’s bedroom door closed on Keita’s face, but he didn’t care. A small smile lifted the corner of his lips, and he turned, heading back out to the living room to wait for Ryuichi to finish using the bathroom first.
O.o o.O
Ryuichi fidgeted as Keita ordered for them, and he pushed his sunglasses higher up his nose.
“What?” Keita asked, after the server took their order, looking over both shoulders. “What are you looking at?”
Ryuichi shrugged, trying to think of something to say other than the desperately cheesy ‘You’. “Just…people probably think it’s pretty weird, isn’t it, two guys coming in so early in the morning, refusing to take off their sunglasses.”
Keita smiled at him. “I’m sure we’re not the only people in this city that don’t take off their sunglasses indoors.”
“Heh. Yeah, I guess.” Ryuichi looked down. “When are they coming for us today?”
“Nine.”
“Right.” Ryuichi nodded. “Plenty of time then.” It was barely seven thirty in the morning.
“Yeah.”
“I hear Ken-chan’s going to be in around the same time we are. They’re at the other side of the building, of course.” Ryuichi took a sip of tea. “I just wish Ryohei and Ken would get over themselves.”
Keita laughed. “I’m sure they –” And then he stopped, clearing his throat and folding his hands together. “I’m sorry, excuse me.”
“You’re sure they what?” Ryuichi leaned forward.
Keita looked away, propping his chin up in his hand. “I’m sure they think the same about us,” he muttered, and Ryuichi’s stomach flipped.
“Oh,” he said.
“I didn’t mean it,” Keita continued to mutter. “I just…I’m sorry,” was all he could say. “I shouldn’t have said that. I mean, shit…”
“They…probably do,” Ryuichi said slowly, wondering what the hell he was doing. His fingertips traced over the wood patterns on their tabletop.
Keita said nothing, and Ryuichi’s rapid heartbeats began to calm down again.
“Hey, you want to play matchmaker?” he blurted out, and Keita’s first reaction was to suck his bottom lip into his mouth, eyes widening behind his sunglasses.
“Really?” Keita breathed out, sounding much more like the boy he used to be than the man he was now.
R yuichi shrugged. “It might be fun.”
“Yeah,” Keita grinned, and Ryuichi gave a shy shadow of it in return.
“Ryohei’s gonna hate us,” he laughed.
“Yeah,” Keita said again, grin still bright and wide, and he leaned forward across the table. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well…” Ryuichi’s sunglasses hid the glint in his eye, but did absolutely nothing for the devilish quirk of his lips. “Maybe we can try this…”
O.o o.O
“What the –” was all Ryohei managed to choke out as he was shoved head first into something hard. There was the sound of a door slamming behind him, and a key turning in the lock.
“Ryohei?” Warm hands clasped around his arms, steadying him.
Ryohei lifted his head, blinking as he tried to get used to the lack of light. “Yeah?”
A sigh. “I should’ve guessed.”
Ryohei felt his heart drop and his stomach clench and his insides freeze – all at the same time. “Ken?”
“Yeah.” Ken shuffled back, hands dropping from Ryohei, and Ryohei was glad there was no light in the closet because his ears were hot and he was sure he was blushing. “I was trying to find a light when…got it.” A click, and dim yellow light filled the small space.
“We’re in a storage closet. We’re in a fucking storage closet.” Ryohei covered his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry. I'm going to kill Ryuichi and Keita when we get out of here. And then I’m going to revive Ryuichi just so I can kill him again.”
Ken sighed. “No worries. It was Yukinari that pushed me in here anyway, so my guys were in on it too.”
“Yeah, but no one would think of something as boneheaded as this but Ryuichi.” Ryohei lifted his head to give Ken a flat look, and Ken nodded.
“Yeah.”
They stood in silence, both looking off to the side towards dusty cardboard boxes. There was barely enough space there for the two of them, and they were leaning back from each other, with Ryohei standing between Ken’s legs.
“So…” Ken cleared his throat, and Ryohei looked at him before turning away quickly again.
“So,” Ryohei repeated softly.
Ken leaned over Ryohei’s shoulder, reaching around to try the doorknob. “We’re locked in.”
“Yeah,” Ryohei sighed, and then lowered his head when Ken turned his gaze on him.
“How have you been, Ryohei?”
“Good…good. You?”
“Good.” A pause. “You have dark circles under your eyes.”
“Ah. Huh.” Ryohei’s lips lifted in a sardonic smile as he raised a hand to his eyes. “I always have dark circles.”
“No, you don’t,” Ken said, and Ryohei’s smile disappeared.
“Let’s just try to get out of here.” Ryohei somehow managed to twist his body so that he faced the door instead, and jiggled the door handle. It didn’t give, obviously, but he needed a distraction from Ken, and trying to figure out how to get the hell out seemed like a much better option than standing there face to face with him and having to answer his questions.
O.o o.O
Keita and Ryuichi were giggling, giving each other unsure glances as they made their way back into their dressing room.
“Keita-kun.” Otani-san was in their break room, standing when he saw Keita and Ryuichi together in the doorway. He glanced at Ryuichi before pushing his glasses up his nose and addressing Keita only, once more. “Keita-kun, there is something I wish to discuss with you.”
“You could just say it here,” Keita said, lifting his chin defiantly.
“No, I could not,” Otani said, and Keita frowned because their manager seemed out of sorts today, fidgeting and shifting and it was starting to make Keita nervous.
“Go,” Ryuichi said, tipping his head flippantly and walking off towards his bag to pull out his iPod. “I’ll be here until it’s time to let Ryohei out.”
“But…” Keita looked between Ryuichi and Otani. “Okay.”
Keita followed Otani down the corridors of the company, wondering why Otani was so silent.
“Manager-san, what was so important you had to discuss with me in private?” Keita smiled, opting for a lighter tone to ease the tension pressing down on his shoulders.
Otani paused in his step so that Keita could catch up with him, and sighed again. “One of the executives of the company wish to speak with you privately, Keita-kun.”
“What about?” Keita’s heart thundered in his chest, unreasonable panic rising in his throat.
“About you. Your career. The options in your future.”
Keita stopped. “What ‘options in my future?’ My future is with Ryohei and Ryuichi.”
Otani sighed. “Just hear him out, Keita-kun. Please.”
“No.”
“You have to stop being so stubborn, Keita-kun. Are you prepared to lose your career over Ryohei and Ryuichi? Are you prepared to lose your future as a singer just because you won’t sing without them? There are bigger issues at hand, and you must accept that.”
Keita’s head spun; he knew Otani was right, but it didn’t mean he had to like what was happening. “Okay,” he said finally, throat so tight it felt as if he was suffocating. “Okay.”
O.o o.O
“Ryohei…”
“Don’t. Just…” Ryohei held up his hand, breathing deeply as he closed his eyes. “Please, Ken, don’t.”
“We never got a chance to talk about it.”
“Talk about what?” Ryohei turned around again to glare at Ken. “There is nothing to talk about, not anymore.”
“I don’t want us to end with an argument,” Ken said, and Ryohei knew that hurt must have flashed across his eyes before he clamped down hard to suppress it, because Ken immediately looked contrite, reaching up to him. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Either way,” Ryohei said, “we’re ended.”
“If you – never mind.”
“What?”
A pause. “Did you really move out?”
“How – never mind. I don’t care who told you. And yes, I did.” Ryohei frowned. “And I don’t see how that’s relevant at all.”
“Relevant to what?” And when Ryohei glared at him so fiercely that Ken really thought Ryohei might hit him, he sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” Ryohei said, “apologise to me.”
Ken fell silent.
“I’ve moved on,” Ryohei said. “Haven’t you?”
When Ken didn’t answer, Ryohei ploughed on.
“What I do has nothing to do with you any more. What you do has nothing to do with me anymore. I don’t care. I know you don’t care. You made that very clear to me the last time we spoke.”
“The last time we spoke was in an argument!” Ken shouted. “You could hardly blame me for saying cruel things that I didn’t mean!”
“Didn’t you?” Ryohei narrowed his eyes at Ken. “Didn’t you mean them?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore, okay?” Ken’s hand slammed against the door, just nipping the tip of Ryohei’s left ear, and Ryohei winced and squeezed his eyes shut, his entire body tense and barely trembling. Ken’s head was lowered, and Ryohei could see the tops of his eyelashes as he blinked, voice shaking as he said, softly, “I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologising to me,” Ryohei whispered, but his voice cracked as his strength wavered at the sight of Ken like this, defeated but still not quite willing to let go. Ken lifted his head slightly, and he was close, so close, that if Ryohei leaned forward their noses would brush, and Ken parted his lips, hesitating before he said again, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you think that I should be the one saying that instead?” Ryohei asked, a bitter twist to his lips. “Weren’t you the one that said it was me spoiling Ryuichi, making him worse instead of better, letting him rely on me too much? If there should be apologies, shouldn’t I be apologising instead?”
Ken sighed, leaning both palms against the door, so that Ryohei was trapped between his arms. “You would never apologise.”
“Of course not. I would never apologise for being there for Ryuichi when he needed me.”
“And that was the problem,” Ken murmured, head still lowered. “I never needed an apology from you.” He pushed back, sighing, and Ryohei ignored the tugging in his chest when Ken moved away from him.
“What did you want from me? What else could I have given you that I hadn’t already?”
Ken looked at him then, looked at him so deeply that Ryohei held his breath, afraid to breathe. “All I wanted,” said Ken, shaking his head, “was to know that you loved me as much as I loved you.”
“Didn’t you know that already?” Ryohei asked.
“How could I have, when I knew that I was eclipsed by Ryuichi no matter what?”
“Are you saying –”
“No,” Ken said. “I never wanted to take his place. But I did want you to at least have as high regard for me as you did for him.”
“Were you jealous of him?”
“Yes…no.” Ken sighed. “Was I? I don’t know.”
“And…what now?” Ryohei was almost afraid to ask, afraid to look at Ken and so, so afraid of the answer.
“Now? Now we wait for them to let us out.”
“That’s it?” Ryohei blurted out, eyes blurring with sudden, panicked tears. “That’s all there is?”
“What else do you want there to be?” Ken asked. “Do you want me to fall to my knees and beg you to stay?”
Ryohei shoved Ken roughly, “No! How can it be that you still don’t know what I want? I don’t need you to beg me to stay. I don’t need you to ask me to stay at all, because I can’t forget you no matter how hard I try. All I need is for you to understand. To understand that the love for you is different from the one I have for Ryuichi.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s different,” Ken said, “as long as you care for him more than you care for me, there is no way that we can be together. I can’t accept that.”
“How can you say that?” Ryohei shouted, angry and frustrated and shaking he was trying so hard to keep himself together. “How can you possibly say that when all I am is you?”
There was a pause, in which Ken and Ryohei just glared at each other, breaths short and harsh, waiting for the other to make a move first.
“Do you still care?” Ryohei asked, finally. “Do you still care about me?”
“What does it matter anymore?”
“Would you have me back, if you could? Would you choose to be with me?”
“And what difference would it make?” Ken challenged. “I would still feel as if I were second place to Ryuichi.”
“Would you stop with Ryuichi already?” Ryohei shouted. “This relationship is about us. All that matters is if you still feel that way about me. Because,” he continued on quietly, “because I know that I would never find someone like you ever again. Because I know that even if I’m with someone else in the future they will never compare to you.”
“Ryohei…”
“No. Don’t,” Ryohei said, turning his face away. “I never stopped thinking about you, Ken,” he said softly.
“And I never stopped loving you. I know you feel the same way, I just can’t be with you when I know that Ryuichi is your first, and I am your second.”
“First? First for what?”
“First in your heart,” Ken whispered. “Look, it doesn’t matter anymore. Why bring up old arguments that don’t matter anymore?”
“How could you say that?” Ryohei asked, brow furrowing. “Are you saying that I would choose Ryuichi over you?”
“Haven’t you already?” said Ken bitterly.
Ryohei shook his head. “If you think that about me…if you really thought that…”
“Then what?” Ken challenged, stepping close so that Ryohei could feel each breath Ken took.
“Then…” Ryohei closed his eyes. “Perhaps we really are better apart.”
O.o o.O
Ryuichi stumbled through the park, knocking into a rocking horse before pushing himself away and continuing on.
“Ryu, man, over here.”
Ryuichi looked up blindly and saw Kojiro raise a hand towards the side. The rest of the group were sitting around him, chatting and smoking and laughing softly.
“Hey, Ryu, man, what’s wrong?” Kojiro asked gently when Ryuichi made his way over, eyes wide and lips pressed into a thin line. “You sounded odd over the phone and…”
“Keita,” Ryuichi answered, and then sat down next to Kojiro. Yu was on the ground at Kojiro’s feet, and he shifted slightly to look up into Ryuichi’s pale face. The sun was just setting over the horizon, and the deep blue sky painted heavy shadows around Ryuichi’s eyes and mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Kojiro asked again, drawing an arm around Ryuichi’s shoulders and offering his cigarette, which Ryuichi took eagerly.
Ryuichi rubbed his forehead. “It’s no big deal,” he said, and then gave a short laugh. “I mean, I always knew this job wasn’t for forever, I just…and now, Keita…where am I going to go?”
Yu and Kojiro exchanged a confused look. “Ryu, honey, what are you talking about?” Yu asked, patting Ryuichi on the knee.
“Keita’s going to debut as a solo artist,” Ryuichi said.
“You’re disbanding?” Kojiro asked, frowning.
“Pretty much,” Ryuichi said, sucking deeply on the cigarette, pulling a few more puffs before dropping it to the ground and putting it out. Yu immediately offered another, which Ryuichi took. “We’re going to finish the work on the album we have now, do the summer tour as always, put out another couple singles, and then…” Ryuichi sighed. “And then I have to think about finding another job.”
“You’re a musician,” Yu said stubbornly. “It’s in your blood.”
Ryuichi shrugged. “I started off as a dancer. I can dance for someone else. And if no one wants me…I can go back to school and find an office job.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Yu shouted, fist slamming onto the ground. “How could your Keita abandon you like this?”
“I don’t blame him. It was the right choice to make. He’d be more successful as a soloist, without having to drag me along with him.”
Kojiro’s arm tightened around Ryuichi’s shoulders. “Don’t you say that. Don’t you ever say that.”
“It’s true,” Ryuichi protested, hand trembling as he removed the cigarette from his lips. “You know my ratings have never been very high. And his are soaring. It’s only right that…
“Hush now, sweets,” Yu said, patting Ryuichi’s knee. “You’ve still got us, haven’t you?”
Ryuichi leaned his head against Kojiro. “Yeah. At least I’ve still got you guys.”
O.o o.O
“Ryohei?”
“Don’t talk to me, Keita. I’m still too pissed off at you and Ryuichi.”
“Do you think Ryuichi…?”
“He’s probably just gone off to cool his head.”
“I knew he’d take the news hard. I didn’t think…I didn’t mean…”
Ryohei rolled his eyes. “The world doesn’t revolve around you, Keita.”
“I know that,” Keita said, glaring at Ryohei.
Ryohei didn’t reply, but the deadpan look on his face said more than words could.
“I’m just worried about him,” Keita said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.
“Yeah, well you two locked me in a storage closet with Ken. You should be more worried about yourself,” Ryohei said, eyes narrowing at Keita.
“I’m sorry, okay! I didn’t think –”
“Exactly!” Ryohei shouted, standing up from his chair. “You didn’t think! You never think! To the point where I don’t know if you don’t think or if you just don’t care!”
Keita was frozen in his seat, eyes wide and leaning away from Ryohei, who loomed over him, glaring and breathing deeply. “I do care,” he said weakly.
“Do you?” Ryohei challenged, taking a step forward. “Did you care about how I’d feel, having to face Ken after all that’s already been said and done? Did you care about the fact that I’m going to have to stop being a performer and go back to being a dancer? Did you care that Ryuichi thinks no one in entertainment wants to work with him because he’s not as popular as we are? Do you really care about me and Ryuichi, or do you just think you care because you were with us every single day for the past five years?”
“That’s not true,” Keita said faintly. “That’s not true.”
“Then tell me,” Ryohei said, “will there be anything holding us together if we do not work together anymore?”
“What – of course we’d –”
“How many times have we had dinner together since I moved out?” Ryohei interrupted him.
“What – that’s…” But then Keita shut his mouth because he couldn’t remember.
“Exactly,” Ryohei said, turning his head away. “Stop being so self-righteous and get over yourself. I’m sick and tired of you and today was really the last straw.”
Keita could only stare at Ryohei in shock. “I’m sorry.”
Ryohei looked over at him and sighed, tipping his head down and covering his eyes with his hand. “Look, I shouldn’t have said that. Don’t cry, okay?”
“I’m sorry,” Keita said again, blinking hard. He stood up abruptly the legs of his chair screeching painfully against the linoleum floors of the room they were in. “I’ll – bye.”
Ryohei watched him leave and sighed again, collapsing onto the tabletop with his head in his arms. He was just so tired.
Ten minutes later, Ryohei was asleep, oblivious to the jacket being draped over his shoulders and the wistful brush of fingers against his cheek.
Ken hesitated in the doorway before turning and letting the door shut with a soft click.
O.o o.O
TBC!!
The balcony in their flat overlooked back into the estate complex so it was paparazzi free, a point that the three of them had agreed was the best thing about their flat.
Keita sat now, on the floor of their balcony, hiding from any neighbours that might happen to be spying on him. He leaned his back against the side railing, knees drawn up and elbows resting on them, hands buried in his hair. A cigarette hung from his lips, and the ash was starting to reach a dangerously long length.
This was a first. Before, he only smoked in clubs; it appeared to be a trait that girls found sexy – of course, having large, glittering eyes and a wide, blinding smile didn’t hurt, either.
Still, that didn’t stop his imagination from working overtime, and Keita knew that if Ryuichi had been in an accident he would have been notified already. If he had been kidnapped, he would have to wait twenty-four hours before reporting it anyway, and so his imagination turned to the most probable reason why Ryuichi had spent the night out: because he was with another man.
Was it with Kojiro, or one of the other boys in their little gang? Keita had only met Kojiro once, all those months ago, but just because he liked Ryuichi then didn’t mean that he was with Ryuichi now. Was it somebody else? Keita knew that Ryuichi liked to go pub crawling with Yu – was that his name? Yes, he had heard Ryuichi talk about him before.
R
O.o o.O
TBC!!