Title: Ai ni yotte Influenza desu

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

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Chapter Five

The car ride was mostly very quiet. That wasn’t surprising considering one wasn’t overly talkative and the other was prone to playing the mute, but to Kaoru it was a different kind of quiet than what he was used to. It was the kind of quiet that all but screamed that something was very wrong. Only Kaoru didn’t know what, and didn’t know how to go about finding out. Shinya hadn’t been himself for the past couple of weeks, the guitarist had realized, and his sudden bout of coughing was just a new addition to the list of things that were odd.
Kaoru glanced over at Shinya when sounds of rustling cloth attracted his attention. The drummer had shifted to squish himself as deep into his seat as possible, looking for all the world like an overgrown child who needed a nap. Kaoru bit at his bottom lip in thought, wondering if he should ask Shinya if something was wrong. But he concluded that the drummer wouldn’t answer, even if something was. Kaoru’s eyes darted to look at Shinya every few minutes, as if to reassure himself that the drummer was still alive. Shinya failed to notice, staring as he was at the passing scenery and trying to will his headache away. He snuggled surreptitiously into his jacket – when had it gotten so cold? He glanced down at the car’s heater, noting that it hadn’t been turned on.
So Kaoru-kun’s not cold, then. It’s just me. Like always.[1]
“Shinya?”
“Hmm?” the drummer murmured lazily. His voice was rough from the earlier coughing and Kaoru winced in sympathy. Shinya fought the urge to yawn, and had to bury his face in his jacket collar to cover it up as he failed.
“Tired?” Kaoru grinned.
“Yeah ... not sure why,” Shinya muttered, yawning again, “Just started feeling really tired when we left.”
Kaoru’s eyebrows fairly flew into his hair. He stopped for a red light, and turned to look at Shinya fully. The drummer did look really tired. Kyo had been right: Shinya did look like he hadn’t slept in a year. The guitarist frowned – Shinya also looked very pale; but then, he was always pale. Of its own accord, his hand reached out and brushed over Shinya’s cheek, pushing back some hair. The light turned green and Kaoru turned his attention back to the road.
“So take a nap, Shinya. I’ll wake you when we get to your place.”
The drummer made a non-committal noise, but nodded. He shifted around again, as if desperately trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. When he thought he finally found one, the car would bump over something, and his head would be jostled, and he would see lots of little stars in his vision.
So maybe sleeping isn’t going to work, Shinya thought, annoyed, Damnit, Shinya, you should be stronger than this! Why are you always so weak?! Now Kaoru’s going to think you’re a weakling, and he’ll tell Kyo and they’ll both be angry with you! You’re supposed to be the strong one![2]
As if to illustrate his weakness, Shinya’s already pained chest constricted again, sending him into another coughing fit. Kaoru swore softly and pulled over, hoping Kyo, still driving behind them, saw the turn signal. He turned off the car and undid his seat belt, hand going for Shinya’s so the drummer wouldn’t get hurt by it, then held the young drummer awkwardly to his chest and rubbed the heaving back.
Shin-chan ... why won’t you just tell me what’s wrong?
A series of taps on the window broke Kaoru’s attention away from Shinya. Kyo stood outside, looking impatient and worried. With his free hand, the guitarist unlocked and opened his door. Kyo had poked his head in the next second.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” he murmured.
“Coughing again,” Kaoru muttered back, “Just started. Have you got water?”
Kyo smiled faintly and held up a bottle, “Just in case.”
Kaoru took the water bottle with a mirroring smile. He waited, still rubbing Shinya’s back in soothing circles, until Shinya had his coughing under control and was breathing relatively normally before doing anything with it. Then he uncapped it and held it under the drummer’s face.
“Water?”
Shinya reached up with a shaking hand to grasp weakly at the bottle. Kyo chewed on his bottom lip in displeasure and Kaoru frowned slightly. He ran his fingers lightly through Shinya’s hair and down his neck as the drummer drank. When it was clear that the younger man was finished, Kaoru took the bottle back.
“Better?”
Shinya nodded weakly, not wanting to talk. His chest ached and his head throbbed, but Kaoru was nice and soft and warm. And the hand running over his back felt so good. Maybe he could just ... fall asleep ... there ... Kaoru looked down in surprise as Shinya sagged completely against him.
“Shinya?” he squeaked, shaking the body a little.
“No, Kaoru, let him,” Kyo said, placing his hand on the guitarist’s shoulder. “I think he coughed himself to sleep. He needs it.”
The pinked haired man looked down at Shinya’s face as best he could. It was relaxed in sleep, like Kyo had said. He looked up at the short vocalist and smiled vaguely. “How the hell am I supposed to drive now? Well, I suppose he’ll just have to stay on my lap and hope we don’t get seen, ne? Can you stop by a pharmacist on the way back and get some cough medicine? Knowing Shinya, he’s not going to have any.”
“Or it’ll be dated twenty years ago,” Kyo agreed with a grin. He nodded, “No problem. You have his spare, or you need my copy?”
Kaoru bit his lip, trying to remember, but couldn’t and he smiled sheepishly, “I don’t remember ... so give me yours in case, a’ight?”
Kyo sighed and shook his head mock seriously, digging into his pockets for his key ring. He tossed the whole thing onto Kaoru’s lap, who ‘ooffed’ at the sudden weight. Kyo certainly liked his key chains. Kaoru supposed it was either luck or good aim that Kyo’d missed Shinya’s head.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Leader-sama,” Kyo said, clucking his tongue, “You of all people should have each and every spare, just like you make us have. You’re supposed to be the responsible one, aren’t you? It’s the one with the green tape. Just make sure you don’t lose it.”
“Die’s the one who loses things,” Kaoru sighed, mock-seriously, “Honestly, Kyo, you’re younger than we are and you’re already going senile. It doesn’t bode well for you.”
Kyo grinned and shrugged, graciously acknowledging that Kaoru had beaten him in this round – as far as anyone knew, Kaoru had never lost anything in his life. Die on the other hand lost something new every other week. Kyo’s smile turned a little softer as his eyes moved from Kaoru to Shinya.
“He looks peaceful. Like he did this afternoon.”
“At least isn’t trying to cough out his lungs,” Kaoru said, his hand absently trailing down the drummer’s cheek.
“You were jealous, weren’t you?” Kyo asked softly.
“Eh?” Kaoru looked up at him, surprise written on his face.
“Don’t play stupid. You were jealous this afternoon, weren’t you? When he was sleeping in my lap. You like him, don’t you?”
Kaoru, feeling his face go hot, tried valiantly to hide the blush that rose there, but ultimately failed. He shook his head, “I’ve got no idea what you’re trying to say. Of course I like him; Shinya’s a good friend and band mate. Why would I not like him?”
Kyo shook his head slightly and sighed, “Look, I’m not going to push this here. We need to get Shinya home. But you will answer me straight-forward eventually. ... And ... good luck, with him. I’ll get that medicine now.”
The blonde vocalist was gone and into Shinya’s car before Kaoru could say anything. He frowned slightly, wondering why Kyo had sounded so ... was it resigned? The guitarist shook his head to clear it. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about things like that – he had to get Shinya home.

As it happened, Die had run out to catch up with Toshiya after the bassist had stalked to the door of their practice room. He’d wound up getting his own coat stuck in said door in his hurry to get out and lock up, and Toshiya had had to come back to help. Not having anything better to do, and determined to figure out what the hell Toshiya had meant about him hating Shinya, the redhead invited the bassist back to his flat. That was their current position – sitting in Die’s kitchen, Dr. Pepper[3] in hand and a bag of chips on the table between them. The silence had stretched for a while, and Toshiya was starting to fidget a little.
“He thinks I hate him,” Die said suddenly, starting up a very familiar line of conversation that they’d gone over many, many times during their walk from the studio.
Toshiya sighed, thinking he might as well be beating a dead horse, “Yep.”
“He really thinks I hate him.”
“That’s the impression I got.”
“You’re not kidding.”
“Nope.”
“You’re sure this isn’t some very early, very grand April Fool’s prank?”
“For the last time: NO!”
“DAMN IT!”
Toshiya winced as Die pounded his head harshly on his kitchen table. He slid a napkin under the redhead’s face as it was lifted, earning himself a small, almost hysterical giggle from the rhythm guitarist. Die sagged against the table.
“You really shouldn’t do that, you know. You might break the table.”
Die shifted so he could glare at Toshiya out of one eye, “Thanks, I love you too.”
“Everyone does.”
“You’re impossible.”
“No, I’m Toshiya.”
The redhead gave a weak laugh and sighed, turning so his eyes faced the floor once more. Toshiya waited a few moments before speaking again, his voice pitched lower and more seriously.
“Do you want to tell me what that was about?”
“What did he say to you?”
“Do you always answer questions with questions?”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“Well, it makes it a bit hard to get an answer, doesn’t it?”
“So are you going to answer me?”
“Are you going to answer me?”
“I – ” Die stopped suddenly and propped himself up on his elbows, “I guess I may as well. But I want to know what he said first.”
Toshiya nodded once, “Fine, fine. It wasn’t much really. He just said that you’d always teased him – ” “True enough,” the redhead interrupted sheepishly. Toshiya rolled his eyes and continued, “And that even though he doesn’t mind, or didn’t mind, lately it seems to him that your teasing has been bordering on hostile.”
“Hostile?” Die repeated incredulously.
“That’s what he said. And think about it – the last slew of jokes you made at his expense really weren’t that nice, Die. I mean, I may be the most openly sensitive of us, but Shinya does have feelings under that facade of ice. You really hurt him with the ‘stuck-up and egotistical’ bit. And you should know that Shinya values us right up there with his parents.”
Die, at this point, had buried his face in his hands. He peeked out between his fingers when Toshiya finished his little speech and gave a rueful grin. “I know. I do. I can see it in him every time we go on tour.”
The bassist shot his friend a questioning glance, asking silently for him to explain, but Die had already covered his eyes with his hands. He sighed, reached over the table, and tugged on the redhead’s sleeve.
“I think you’re trying to avoid answering me. I don’t like being avoided. So spill. What was the head-banging all about?”
“Him thinking that I hate him.”
Toshiya rolled his eyes and sculled[4] the last of his Dr. Pepper, somehow not choking as he did so. Die clapped in mock awe, but it was without the usual energy and enthusiasm. Even so, the bassist waited, staring pointedly at him.
“ ... I never meant for him to get that impression, really,” the redhead started quietly, “I just don’t know when to shut up.”
“I’ll say,” Toshiya muttered, and Die glared.
“Do you want me to tell you or not?”
“By all means.”
The redhead played idly with a lock of his hair, looking intently at it as if it held cue cards for him to read. “It’s going to sound really, really stupid – I’m warning you now.”
“Consider me duly warned.”
“I – hm ... I first met Shinya, gods, in ‘95 – he was just 17. ... ”[5] Die looked up at Toshiya and grinned ruefully, “I was quite infatuated with him.”
The bassist gaped, this information taking him quite by surprise, “You ... you wha– ?”
“I was infatuated with him. From the moment I saw him, though thankfully it didn’t last too long. He had started growing out his hair, and this all comes from Kyo, mind you, because Kisaki had thought it would be a good idea from their previous bands.”
“You mean they all knew each other?”
Die nodded, “Yep. That’s why Kyo’s so protective of Shinya sometimes. That’s also why Kyo’s such an ass towards Shinya and gets away with it more often than I do.” Toshiya snorted, but motioned for the redhead to continue. Which he did after a pause, “I think it was his hair that caught my attention first; mostly because from behind I thought he was a girl. Even after realizing that he wasn’t, I still couldn’t stop thinking about him. It got to be too much for me to handle after a while, and my parents were getting suspicious ... threatening to throw me out of the house,” he smiled bitterly.[6] “So I started teasing him and picking on him to distance myself from him. After a while it didn’t really matter anymore, because it became quite clear that Shinya was stuck on Kisaki, anyway, and, and I’m not saying I blame him, would never even think of me in any way other than as an annoyance.”
Toshiya and Die were silent for a short time, each staring off in different directions, at different things, both thinking about different things. The bassist wondered if Shinya was stuck on Kisaki still, and hoped that he wasn’t, because that meant both Kyo and Kaoru would be hurt. Die chewed on his bottom lip, coming to an enlightenment he hadn’t ever come to, because he hadn’t wanted to believe it. He had thought himself above petty envy like that. He sighed, bringing Toshiya’s attention back to himself.
“I think he thinks I hate him, Toshiya ... because sometimes I do.”

~chapter five ga owarimashita~

Notes

[1] A bit more foreshadowing for you to think over ...
[2] and just a little hint more ...
[3] Yes, Dr. Pepper, you read that correctly. Apparently Toshiya (if not all of them) likes it ^^ Me too!
[4] Sculling, incase you wondered, is basically knocking back your drink really quickly in one, long gulp.
[5] Or should have been, according to my not-so-good math.
[6] And thus Die+Shinya=not good
And yes, there is much pointless bantering and answering of questions with questions. Why? Because I like it! MUWAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!