Title: Ai ni yotte Influenza desu

Meaning: Love by Influenza (roughly)
Pairing: KyoxShinya; KaoruxShinya
Type: Fluff-ish drama
Rating: PG

~*~*~*~*~

Chapter Four

Shinya, though he’d never admit it, felt much better after his short nap. Whether that had to do with sleeping on Kyo or the oily excuse for food that Kaoru forced gleefully down his throat after, he wasn’t sure, and as he was sure that Kyo and Kaoru would use it as bait for teasing him later on, the drummer decided that keeping quiet was the way to go. Though he did feel like a heel because that meant that he wouldn’t ever actually thank either for caring enough to do that for him. He surreptitiously watched both from under the cover of his hair as he tilted his head forwards to study the music sheets resting on his lap. Kyo had shifted Shinya off his lap minutes before Die and Toshiya returned from their lunch break, leaving the drummer just enough time to lament the loss of warmth and contact, then get over it and return to reality.
Now Kyo and Kaoru were huddled in Kaoru’s chair (or, accurately, Kaoru was huddled in Kaoru’s chair and Kyo was perched on the arm and leaning heavily on Kaoru’s back for support as he fought to stay upright), looking over, and arguing about, something Kyo had written for the new album. Neither had raised their voices, which meant both that Shinya couldn’t hear what they were arguing about and that the argument wasn’t serious. Kaoru poked at the paper harshly in the same spot several times and Kyo made a face at him, jabbing at something else. Shinya resisted the urge to giggle admirably. Kaoru took out a pencil and scribbled something, looking up at the shorter man for approval. Said vocalist frowned slightly, thoughtfully, then finally nodded after much inner debate. Kyo missed Kaoru’s triumphant smirk, but Shinya didn’t, and snickered softly already imaging the “words” that were going to be exchanged when Kyo realized that Kaoru had won.
“Whatcha lookin’ at, Shinya-kuuun?” Toshiya’s voice said somewhere over his shoulder.
The drummer was not given a chance to answer properly, as in the next second the tall bassist had flung himself onto the couch next to Shinya with enough force to send Shinya half-way into the air. The young drummer came down and jarred his elbow on the arm of the couch, causing him to wince, and glared at Toshiya, who’s head now rested on his thigh, oblivious to the fact that he’d ripped Shinya out of his thoughts.
“Music. Which you are crushing under your hair.”
“Oops,” Toshiya said, grinning and not the least bit repentant. He lifted his head so the music could be extracted, then wriggled up the couch so his head was nestled comfortably in Shinya’s lap. The drummer surprisingly didn’t shove him off, so the bassist took it as an okay to stay there and did. “Was it really that interesting?”
“Considering Die-kun wrote it, would it be?” Shinya rolled his eyes, “He always gives me boring parts – he has no idea how to write for drums.[1] They’re all the same.”
Toshiya laughed, “So write your own.”
“I am. I’m trying to fix the guitar lines so that Kaoru-kun and Die-kun won’t hate me for all of eternity,” Shinya wrinkled his nose cutely, causing Toshiya to coo and poke it.
“Awww ... they’d never hate you,” the bassist grinned, then looked over at Kyo and covered his mouth, lowering his voice dramatically, “You’re too cute.”
The young drummer gave a weak grin in return and automatically looked to see if the vocalist had overheard – luckily Kyo had not. He wrinkled his nose once more, but grinned, “I am not cute – that’s Kyo-kun. And anyway, you mean Kaoru-kun – Die-kun probably hates me anyway.”
“But he doesn’t hate you!” the bassist said, appalled.
“That’s what everyone else says; I don’t think he’d agree with them – he’s been like he always is since La:Sadie’s.”
“You mean his teasing.” It was not a question.
“He – he’s – ” Shinya paused, brow furrowing slightly as he searched for the right words, “Die-kun has always teased me, yes. But ... but not like how he has been recently. It used to always be just in good humor, but lately he’s been bordering on hostile – to me at any rate. I have a tendency to overreact sometimes, so I could just be delusional. However and be that as it may, the guitar part is not what he is used to playing and I don’t think he’d like it very much. I don’t like them much.”
Toshiya sighed softly, knowing a conversation stopper when he heard one. A relevant thought occurred suddenly and he obliged Shinya by changing the topic, “And my bass?”
The drummer looked relieved and favored Toshiya with a smile as he replied, “Hasn’t been written. I’ve been meaning to ask you about it, actually. If I bring in the rest of the music, would you mind helping me with yours?”[2]
The bassist tried not to look too surprised, and fought the urge to pinch himself. Was Shinya really initiating something? This was certainly something new! Imagine, recluse Shinya, voluntarily inviting someone else’s company. Then Toshiya bit his cheek in self-punishment, You’re being unfair, baka! Unfortunately, he was also taking too long to answer, and Shinya was shrinking back into himself a little, his previous teasing mood starting to evaporate.
Maybe I overstepped the boundaries ... [3] Shinya thought worriedly. “It’s all right if you don’t want to ... I imagine you’ve got plenty to do without me bothering you ... ”
“Shinya!” Toshiya said sharply, glaring up at him, satisfied when Shinya was startled into silence, “There’s nothing that I could possibly have to do that I wouldn’t cancel for you ... except maybe a lunch date with the emperor.” He paused and grinned when Shinya gave a little laugh. “So – when were you thinking?”
“I hadn’t been, really. I wasn’t sure when you might want to,” the drummer admitted, and Toshiya frowned internally. Did Shinya really think he’d be an inconvenience? “But then, I seem to have misjudged your social life. I figured you had lunch with the emperor weekly and so wouldn’t be available.”
The bassist laughed with Shinya this time, and relaxed. Shinya was fine if he could joke like that – Toshiya was just being paranoid ... or reading too far into things; whichever. Both continued laughing, and actually laughed a little harder, when they realized the other three had stopped what they were doing to stare at them.
“What’s so funny?” Kyo asked, looking bemused.
“Beats me,” Kaoru shrugged, standing and stretching, making sure to keep his newly conquered papers away from Kyo – a precaution that made Shinya cringe internally. He really didn’t want to think about why Kaoru would be that protective of them. Toshiya sat up as the pink haired man strode to his guitar and began the laborious process of making sure it was still perfectly tuned. Groans resounded as the not so subtle hint was picked up.
“Well, since you’re all finished with lunch ... ” Kaoru grinned, “Back to work, slaves!”

The last few chords of I’ll lingered in the air as Toshiya rounded off his bass line and Shinya, taking pleasure in the fact that he could now rest, improvised a quick embellishment on his drums to end it. He was rewarded with a teasing smile from Kyo, a grin from Kaoru, a slight snicker from Toshiya, and a roll of the eyes from Die as he turned to Kaoru.
“Are we done yet?” the red head asked, mock whining.
Kaoru rolled his own eyes and pretended to think very hard, looking melodramatically at the clock by the door. He even scratched his chin for effect, “I don’t know, Dai-chan. It’s only seven ... I think we could keep this up for at least another hour. After all, I’ve got nothing to do after this, so obviously you don’t.”
“You wound me,” Die dead panned. He placed his hand over his heart and pouted, “This is me being wounded.”
“I don’t think there’s enough blood for you to be wounded,” Kyo said critically, moving in for the kill. Die didn’t have a chance as the short blonde attached himself to Die’s back and began to gnaw on Die’s shoulder, “Let me help!”
“Ack!” the red head cried, squirming and twisting as he tried to remove the vocalist, “Get ‘im offa me! Gedditoff, gedditoff, gedditoff!”
“Payback’s ... a bitch ... Daisuke! ... I’m ... surprised you ... didn’t know!” Kyo laughed menacingly between bites of Die’s shoulder.
Shinya couldn’t help it – he giggled. He clapped his hands over his mouth and giggled, turning away slightly as if that would keep the others from seeing him. But naturally, because he had a gift for sensing those kinds of things, Toshiya did see Shinya giggling. And, naturally, because he always needed the attention, the bassist skipped to Shinya’s drum set, slinging his base around so that it rested against his back, ready to tease the younger man. But he and Shinya made eye contact, and soon Toshiya was giggling, too. This, in turn, caught Kaoru’s attention, which made Kaoru start laughing at the sheer absurdity of the situation in general. Which, in turn, caught Die’s and Kyo’s attention, and made them blush, which made them break away quickly from each other and glare at their band mates.
“And what, exactly, is so funny?” Die demanded, sending the other three into even more laughter.
Kyo wasn’t sure whether he should be pleased or furious. Pleased that Shinya was having such a good time because of something that he did (partially, at the very least) or furious because that meant that Shinya was laughing at him, and Kyo didn’t generally take too well to people laughing at him. He decided that it wasn’t exactly important when Shinya’s giggles turned into coughs that caused the drummer’s entire body to wretch – to the point that the drummer was practically clinging to his stool to avoid falling off.
“Shinya? Shinya! Are you all right?!” Toshiya asked, and, being there, immediately began to rub the younger man’s back, murmuring nonsensically. Shinya couldn’t stop coughing long enough to speak, barely managing to catch his breath in between and grabbing at his throat. The coughs echoed through the room, harsh and grating on the others’ ears.
When the bassist finally looked up at the others, his eyes were worried, “One of you get water!”
Kyo, being both closest to the door and the only one without an instrument strapped to his body, was silently voted the one to go. Shinya made little hand gestures at them – weak attempts to reassure them that he was fine. They didn’t do much for his cause as his coughs got a bit stronger and he winced from the pain in his chest. Toshiya continued to rub his back as Kyo ran off to get the ordered water. When the vocalist returned, water in hand, Shinya had stopped coughing, though he was in obvious pain and accepted the bottle with a grateful smile.
“Slow sips, na, Shin-chan,” Kyo said softly.
“Nn,” Shinya nodded.
When the drummer finished drinking, Toshiya asked, “Are you all right?”
Shinya nodded shortly, “Yeah,” and winced at the hoarseness of his voice. He swallowed experimentally, and looked slightly relieved when it didn’t hurt as much, “Just some dust that got caught in my throat, I guess.”[4]
The others looked at him dubiously (even Die looked unconvinced and a little worried), but each reluctantly accepted his explanation. After all, the same kind of coughs happened to everyone at some point, and for that reason. But a nagging feeling told Kyo that Shinya was either making light of, or outright lying about, his coughing. In all the time he’d known the drummer, he’d never known Shinya to cough like that. He’d never known Shinya to get sick at all, now that he thought about it.
“Do you want me to drive you home?” Kaoru asked, kneeling in front of the drummer so he could look into Shinya’s eyes. He frowned internally seeing the younger man’s eyes widen, accenting the slightly glazed look in them.
The drummer shook his head, “I drove here ... my car – ”
“Kyo can drive your car back. He drove with Totchi. I can give him a ride when we get to your place. You don’t look so hot, Shinya. Let me drive you,” Kaoru said firmly.
“I – ah – all right, Kaoru-kun,” Shinya nodded, giving in to the inevitable – Kaoru wouldn’t leave anyone alone until he got what he wanted. “Thank you.”
The pink haired guitarist smiled, stood, and offered his hand to Shinya, who took it with much less hesitation than he might normally have. He was too tired to care. Kaoru pulled the drummer gently to his feet, holding onto his arms just incase, but let go when Shinya shifted uncomfortably. Kyo appeared behind them with Shinya’s coat in hand.
“Domo,” Shinya said. He stepped away, mindful of Kaoru still hovering behind him, then turned to face the shorter man, and give him a small smile.
“Welcome,” the vocalist replied, then, as if it were an afterthought, he smiled and held out his arm like in the old European movies, “May I escort you to the car, m’lady?”[5]
Shinya chuckled tiredly. He threaded his arm through Kyo’s, ignoring the others staring at him. Kaoru laughed on his other side and wrapped an arm around Shinya’s shoulders. It was quite the picture they made (Toshiya wished he had a camera – absently he marveled at how well Kaoru and Shinya, and Shinya and Kyo, seemed to fit together). Like parts of a puzzle completing the picture.
“I should hack out a lung more often,” the drummer said, still smiling wanly.
“No, don’t do that – then we’d have to be worried all the time,” Die retorted, but his voice was softened with sincere concern.
“And we couldn’t very well have you be worried all the time, could I? Might cause pre-mature aging,” Shinya said, very seriously, in his usual monotone, but his eyes held laughter.
“And ruin my beautiful face?!” the red head cried, grasping his cheeks with a look of horror. Everyone laughed (except Shinya, who just gave his usual sort of half-smile, not having the energy to do anything else), until Die reached out and lightly grasped Shinya’s arm. “Get some sleep, or it’ll be your pretty face that get’s ruined.”
“I – yeah,” Shinya nodded, unsure as to whether it was a compliment or insult – it was always hard to tell when it came to Die – but assured that at least Die cared about him, “I will. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Oi, Shin-chan!” Toshiya broke in before the three could leave, “Bring in that music tomorrow, okay? We can go to lunch together or something and look it over, if you want.”
“O ... okay, Toshiya-kun,” the drummer said, smiling a tiny bit brighter if Toshiya wasn’t seeing things. Shinya waved a little at Die and Toshiya as he was led out of the room by Kyo and Kaoru.
When they were down the hall and far out of hearing range, Toshiya turned to Die, studying him as if they were meeting for the first time. The red head walked over to his guitar case to put away his instrument, pretending not to notice the bassist’s silent appraisal. Finally it seemed that Toshiya had drawn his conclusion, for he went to go put his own instrument away, leaving Die to his own devices on the other side of the room. Die stood and stretched, packing the guitar away in his oversized locker.
“He thinks you hate him, you know. What changed?”
The guitarist nearly dropped his lock at Toshiya’s unexpected comment. The bassist had abandoned his bass to the floor and look at Die when the guitarist spun around.
“Who what now?”
“Shinya. He thinks you hate him. Do you?”
“No!” The redhead spat heatedly, ”We’ve stuck together this long in the same band? Why would I do that if I hated him?”
“I don’t know,” Toshiya admitted. He shut the lid of his bass’ case, stood, put it away quietly. He closed and tugged on the lock as he always did before turning to get his coat. “Neither does Shinya.”

~chpater four ga owarimashita~

Notes

[1] Considering that I have no idea what I'm talking about -- and I'm sure Die has a much better idea of how to write for drums than I do -- don't listen to me.
[2] Just to let you know that this is taking place around the making of GAUZE
[3] Heee -- foreshadowing much? Just a little hint as to what will pop up in later chapters.
[4] Y'know -- you just start dry coughing and can't stop and it feels like you can't breathe after a while? Well, it happens to me a lot =^-^=;;
[5] *snerk* And they say chivalry is dead.

Oh, and I promised to eventually stop making Die such an on-again-off-again asshole. He'll become one or the other ^_~