Title: Ai ni Yotte Influenza Desu
Meaning: Love by Influenza (roughly)
Pairing: KyoxShinya; KaoruxShinya
Type: Fluff-ish drama; romance
Rating: PG
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Awwww, Shin-chan! Come have a drink with us!” Die gave his best impression of a pout, but the effect was completely ruined when he broke into a large grin. “Don’t be such a prude, man.”
“If he wasn’t a prude, he wouldn’t be Shinya, now would he?” Kyo snickered.
“Prude isn’t even the right word,” the drummer muttered so lowly that he couldn’t be heard, “This has nothing to do with naked people.”
“Aaah, I suppose,” Die said, mock-calculatingly, “But I think he could loosen up just for tonight and still be one without compromising too many of his ethics, ne? It’s just a couple drinks!”
Shinya rolled his eyes and stoically ignored the two, pretending to concentrate deeply on putting away his drumsticks. Kaoru and Toshiya were both off in their own little places, doing their own things – no one to save him this time.
“C’mon Shin-Shin. Kaoru and Totchi are coming. It’s been so long since you did anythin’ with us as a band,” Die wheedled.
“It’s been so long since you invited me anywhere other than a bar,” the drummer shot back, crossing his arms.
His drumstick bag dangled from one hand. Kyo watched it swing back and forth, feeling like a cat. Shinya wrinkled his nose slightly.
“Kyo-kun, I’m surprised at you. You’re the one who says he hates to drink – now you’re teasing me because I just don’t feel like getting drunk tonight. Well fine, be that way, I don’t really care anymore. However, if you’ll excuse me – I’m going home to be prudish and wash my dishes and not look at naked people while doing so.”
Shinya turned and started to walk out the door, but found his way barred by a lot of very bouncy red hair. He glared at Die, but the red headed guitarist was unfazed. He pushed the slight drummer back into the studio and onto the black leather couch, not flinching when his bag dropped onto the floor with a sharp clattering sound. The taller man then put his hands on his hips and stared at Shinya until the drummer squirmed.
“What?” the younger man asked, exasperated.
“You, Shinya, are the most stubborn, anti-social, prudish person I have ever met. Why do you even bother to come to practices? You know your parts better than anyone here, maybe besides Kyo, and you obviously hate us. Why not just show up for photo shoots and concerts and never have to be bothered with us again? Why do you force yourself into such unpleasant situations when we all know you’d rather be off alone and sulking?” Die questioned ruthlessly, ignoring the way the drummer’s eyes widened.
“DIE!” came a sharp voice from the right. Kyo bounded over and punched the red head in the arm harshly. “What’s wrong with you?! Just because he doesn’t want to get drunk like you do doesn’t mean you can stand here and chew him out for it!”
“I am not chewing him out for anything! I merely want to know! He never goes anywhere with us, he never talks to any of us; he’s not even responding now! I want to know – if he can’t be bothered with us, if he’s so high and mighty and far above us, why does he deign to come down to our lowly level?”
“Maybe if you would stop being such a prick, he’d be more open, don’t you think? Either way you’re taking this way too far. Teasing is one thing, but this even I won’t do. How could you just – “
The slamming of the studio door caught both their attentions as the two older men jumped, startled. They blinked at each other, looked at the newly closed studio door, then at the couch where Shinya was sitting.
“Shit,” Kyo hissed.
Correction: Where Shinya had been sitting. The drummer was gone, and hadn’t even taken his drumsticks with him. The door opened and Kaoru and Toshiya entered, both looking slightly confused.
“What happened?” Kaoru asked first.
“Yeah, we heard the door slam and I could have sworn I saw Shinya’s hair disappear around the corner. It looked like he was running,” Toshiya added.
Kaoru raised a commanding eyebrow, looking back and forth between his two guilty-looking band members. “Well?”
Die and Kyo flushed and shifted their weight nervously from side to side. Finally it was too much – Kyo gave Die a very hard jab in the ribs.
“Itai!” the red head yelped and danced away from the shorter man.
“Ah, Die, you have just volunteered to tell me exactly what happened in here,” Kaoru said in his patented “You Are Children And I Am Your Parent So You’d Better Start Talking Or You Will Be Punished” voice, “If it has to do with Shinya running and slamming doors, I have a pretty good idea that you were behind it somehow, so don’t even try this little ‘innocent’ act. Talk. Now.”
“Well – “ the red head began, wondering if he could make a run for it. Unfortunately for him, Toshiya was already blocking his path, looking both angry and anxious. Die doubted that the anxiety had anything to do with what Kaoru would do to him. He gulped. “I invited Shinya to come with us ... “ he muttered.
“And?” Kaoru prompted.
“And he didn’t want to go ... ”
“So?”
“So I ... kinda ... er ... that is I ... ”
An impatient snort broke through his muttering. “He bitched at him. And bitched at him good. Not your normal “I’m Teasing” bitching – this was Die being really pissy,” Kyo said quickly, “He yelled at Shinya and said, basically, that Shinya shouldn’t come to practices and that he was a prude, and stubborn, and anti-social, and egotistical, and didn’t care for anyone but himself. And this was all because he didn’t want to get drunk tonight.”
Kaoru was silent, his intense gaze boring holes through Die’s head. Toshiya’s own gaze did a fairly good job from the side. The guitarist squirmed uncomfortably; the room was far too calm for it to be any good. His less logical side, however, was angry.
“And what about you, eh?! You were the one talking about him like he wasn’t in the room!” he snapped.
The short blonde flinched as Kaoru’s gaze shifted from Die to himself. He looked at the floor, at the wall, at Die’s legs – anywhere but Kaoru’s face. It was too scary.
“Minna-kun ... ” said a soft voice from the doorway, “Please, stop this. It’s pointless. Besides, I thought we were going out for drinks?”
Toshiya, being the closest to Shinya, immediately pounced on him, wrapping the young drummer in his arms. The younger man didn’t appear to stiffen, but, from the slight look of hurt of Toshiya’s face, he did. Just as Shinya’s face didn’t tell anyone anything, Toshiya’s face told everyone everything. Kaoru breathed a silent sigh of relief – Toshiya’s face became relaxed and happy as Shinya accepted the embrace and comfort and his body relaxed into it. The pink haired man walked over to the two, placing a hand on the drummer’s shoulder. Kyo and Die hung back, not knowing quite what to do. Kaoru glared at them.
“You two have something to say, don’t you?” he growled.
“Kaoru-kun, please. No more. It’s all right – I’m fine. I’m not a little child, I know they’re sorry. Really. They don’t need to say anything.”
“Yes I do,” Kyo said, even as Die relaxed. “It wasn’t right for me to talk like you weren’t here, Shinya. I ... eh – I’m sorry. Even if you do know ... I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, Kyo-kun,” Shinya offered the vocalist a tiny smile.
“All right then! Time to hit the bar!” Die said, a little too loudly, trying to cover up his discomfort. He placed his guitar in his locker, taking a little longer than necessary so he didn’t have to look at Shinya or his other band mates as they left. Then he ran to catch up with them, hanging back a few steps behind Kyo, not really ready to try and integrate himself back into the group.
“You know, no matter what he says ... ” Kyo started, watching the drummer’s back as he walked to the bathroom. Okay, so maybe his eyes were just a little lower than the drummer’s back – but still. Die groaned.
“Get on with it.”
“No matter what he says,” Kyo repeated, turning brown eyes from Shinya to Die, “He was hurt that you didn’t even acknowledge the fact that you were being an ass.”
The red head sighed impatiently, tipping back his glass and downing whatever was left in it. He stared at the empty cup balefully as if it held the answers to all his problems – or was responsible for them – before sighing and signaling the waiter.
“I know.”
“If you know, why don’t you say something?”
“Because he won’t listen to me if I do.” The young waiter came over, smiling rakishly at Die and winking, and replaced the empty glass with a full one. The red head gave the young man a half smile in return. “Why did we come to a gay bar, again?”
“‘Cause fangirls won’t think to look for us here,” Kyo grinned. He glanced at Toshiya and Kaoru, each dancing with a beauty on the floor, bodies moving sensuously in time to the thrum of music. “And ‘cause some of us like it more than you think.”
Die rolled his eyes.
“Don’t think you’re getting off that easy, buddy. I’ve less than half of what you have – there’s no way I’m that drunk. Speak. Why don’t you say something? What’s all this about him not listening?”
“He won’t listen,” Die insisted glumly. “He’ll nod and smile very politely and tell me that it is all right and that everything is just fine and dandy ... ”
“But?”
“But then he’ll go on home and throw knives at pictures of me and wonder why he was cursed to be stuck in a band with me all these years.”
“I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit,” the blonde said, staring at the maraschino cherry in his glass thoughtfully. “If he does go home and throw knives at pictures of you, it’s only because you never apologize. Don’t look at me like that – it’s true. I’ve never once heard you apologize to him when you tease, and most of the time that’s okay. Shinya knows that’s how you show you care about him, or whatever. But you take things too far sometimes and you still don’t apologize. Either way, you’re long overdue for at least one apology – though by now I’d figure it at thirty.”
Die opened his mouth to protest, but a movement out of the corner of his eye stopped him. Shinya was approaching. He lifted his glass and drank deeply from it instead. The young drummer stood next to Kyo and placed his hand on Kyo’s shoulder.
“I’m going to leave, now,” he said over the loud music, “I’m tired and Miyu needs to be fed. I’ll see you at practice tomorrow. Tell Kaoru-kun and Toshiya-kun that I said ‘bye’, okay?”
“Sure, Shinya, no problem. See you tomorrow,” Kyo smiled over his shoulder.
Shinya looked uncertainly at Die, but the red head was busy with his drink. The younger man’s eyes dropped to the floor as he walked quietly away.
“Idiot,” Kyo hissed, shooting daggers at the guitarist with his eyes.
Laughter brought him back from fantasies of the many painful ways he could kill the red head. Kaoru and Toshiya were back from the dance floor, laughing at something – probably a joke that one or the other had been told. They noted Shinya’s empty chair immediately.
“He leave?” Toshiya asked. It was more of a statement than a question.
“Yeah,” the vocalist nodded, “He said to say ‘bye’ for him. Bai bai.”
Kaoru snorted, his eyes on the door as if he could see Shinya through it. Some small part of him wished he could. “Hope he’s all right.”
Shinya turned off the engine and looked at his hands. Despite gripping the wheel, they still shook. In the harsh street light they seemed paler than usual. His breath was getting caught in his chest, but he hadn’t been exerting himself. He didn’t feel any warmer than usual. Idly he wondered if he was getting sick, or if he was just upset by the whole evening’s events. It wasn’t so much that Die had been a stupid prick – no, Shinya was far too used to that for it to bother him anymore. It was more that he hadn’t acknowledged the fact that he was a stupid prick like Kyo had. The red head never acknowledged that he might possibly have hurt Shinya with his words. Ever.
“Asshole,” Shinya muttered. He relaxed in the driver’s seat, staring out the windshield at his apartment building. It was big and ugly. Small laugh: What a time for philosophical reflection. The headlights of another car blind sided him and he put a hand over his eyes. He shook his head at the driver, who flipped him the bird and drove off.
“Asshole.” Shinya sighed, getting out of the car. Some people just didn’t understand when great minds were at work.
“Good evening, sir,” said the doorman.
Shinya nodded at him. He studied the wall of elevators in front of him, noting vaguely how they had a tendency to blur in and out of focus. He pushed the ‘up’ button and frowned – he didn’t feel the button. But he was pressing the button. Shinya closed his eyes and shook his head to clear it. When he opened them the ‘up’ button blinked innocently at him, just a few centimeters under his finger. The drummer frowned deeply and pushed it, hearing the ‘click’ as it caught the signaler underneath. The doors chimed open. This time there was no searching for buttons.
He reached into his bag for keys as the elevator neared his floor. The hallway seemed less ugly when blurred around the edges. Shinya got to his apartment door, hearing his little dog skitter up and start scratching at it before he’d even put the key into the lock. He smiled. It was nice having someone to come home to and be that excited about it. Miyu yipped and jumped excitedly at his feet when he entered and toed off his shoes. His back hurt too much to bend down and untie the laces properly.
“Hey, Miyukkoro,” Shinya greeted softly. He picked her up and smiled indulgently when she began licking his neck and jaw. “Yeah, I love you too. You hungry?” The little thing squirmed and raced to the kitchen as soon as she was placed on the floor. “Thought so. Now if I can find the light switch ... ” A click. Light flooded the apartment and Shinya winced, clicking it back off immediately, “Never mind. Dark is good.”
Miyu barked at him from the kitchen, but Shinya stood in the doorway, waiting for his eyes to adjust fully to the dim light coming from his living room windows. When they did, he felt his way to the kitchen and changed the dog’s water before pouring food into the dish. Feeding accomplished, Shinya drained a glass of water for himself and went to take a nice, long bath, hoping the achy feeling would go away once he was done.