Kin no Shuichi

Kin no Shuichi
Written by: Chochowilliams
Disclaimer: I do not own Gravitation or the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Summary: Shuichi and Eiri are working things out after a mistake on both of their parts nearly ended their five-year relationship. But what about Bad Luck? What does the future hold for them?
Chapter Summary: Shuichi has been up for hours and needs a little something to help him stay awake a little longer.
Warning: M/M, romance, angst, OOC-ness, language, Shuichi/Eiri, implied Eiri/oc, implied Shuichi/oc
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A/N: Thank you to ferler, fahaar, lilgurlanima, sun‘s and stars, Acherona, RiverSakina, Kaoru Sayuri Kamiya for your reviews. I always love hearing from you guys.

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Chapter 21: One Too Many

A Couple Weeks Later

“You sound tired,” his sister commented over the phone.

For an answer, Shuichi yawned loudly, causing his ears to pop and his eyes to water. He winced as the sound around him suddenly became louder.

Maiko giggled in his ear.

He was more than tired. Exhausted was more accurate. It has been several days since he has had a descent night’s sleep. He has been able to grab fifteen minutes here, twenty there, but that was it. If he was not at NG working on Bad Luck’s new CD, he was working on the two songs he has on a movie soundtrack, or he was on location shooting the cameo he had in the actual movie itself or he was at TV Tokyo studios recording the bit part he had in their new mecha anime, or he was perfecting his cologne or developing his clothing line. Then he had his husband, little Sayo and his household chores at home. The infighting within the band and then the business with Yoshio did not help matters either. If it was not one thing, it was another.

“Sound busy.”

Shuichi snorted. “You have no idea.” Yawning again, he rubbed his tired, achy eyes. It felt as if someone was jamming red-hot pokers into his eyes and then tossing sand into the wounds.

“What’s this anime you gonna be in?”

“Secret.”

Maiko whined. “Oh, c’mon!”

Shuichi smiled sly from the backseat of the black SUV.

“Fine. Be that way.”

There was a “humph” tone to her voice. Shuichi giggled. “It’s just another show set sometime in the near future where aliens are invading from outer space trying to destroy the world and it’s up to Japan and its new mecha machines to stop them before all of humanity is exterminated. I play one of the first soldiers to be fried. ”

“Awesome. My brother. The actor.”

Shuichi laughed.

“How did you get the part? Did you have to audition?”

“Mr. K said he was approached by executives from TV Tokyo themselves. So I went in, read some lines and got the part.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“You think of doing anymore anime?”

Shuichi shrugged. “Don’t know. It’s not easy that’s for sure, but it’s kinda fun. The other actors I’ve met are pretty nice.”

“Do you prefer the part in the anime or the cameo you have in the movie?”

“Hard to say.”

“Do Hiro and Fujisaki have parts in the movie, too?”

Shuichi scoffed. “Course not. They were offered, but turned them down.”

“What?! Why the hell would they do something stupid like that for?”

“Probably for the same reason they didn’t want to record some songs for the soundtrack.”

“It’s true then? That you’re going to be recording the songs for the movie yourself and not as part of Bad Luck?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? I think it’d be a good thing for Bad Luck.”

“It is.”

“Then why?”

“Who knows? It’s always one excuse after another. Fujisaki’s always like, ‘It’s not our sound’. He just doesn’t like doing something he hasn’t personally had his hands on. And then Hiro was like, ‘We don’t have time for anything else. We’re behind schedule as it is’.” His imitation of his best friend and keyboardist was spot on.

“They’re right.”

Shuichi rolled his eyes. “Yeah, only because they insist on putting out a new album every year.”

“The formula’s worked in the past.”

In the past was right. “If you like the same old generic crap we’ve been putting out.”

“Do you?”

“Do you?” Shuichi shot back. Even over the line he could see his baby sister’s wince. “Even the fans are getting tired of it.” The fact that sales were down by at least fifty percent each time they put out a new CD said it all. It was time to mix things up. Every entertainer new this basic fact. Evolve or die.

“So,” Maiko spoke into the silence in an effort to lighten the mood, “what’re you up to today?”

“Eiri’s taking us out for brunch then I’ve got to go into the studio for a little bit then Akihito’s got some sketches he wants me to take a look at.”

“Who?”

“Akihito Nioji.”

“Oh! That guy from Honshu who bought Niji?”

“Yeah. I’m working with him to produce my clothing line.”

The House of Niji was founded ten years earlier by the internationally renowned fashion designer Jiro Niwa. His twin daughters Mei and Mai were brought onboard as consultants when Jiro Niwa decided to expand the high-end men’s fashion line into women’s wear. With their help, the once exclusive clothing line became a household name that helped to expand the Niwa Empire, which in essence made them one of the richest families in Japan. Two years later just as the twins were taking over the clothing line from their father, they died in a tragic boating accident. In his grief, Jiro Niwa sold Niji for a pittance to his intern, Akihito Nioji.

“Cool. What’s it called?” Maiko asked. She was referring to her big brother’s clothing line.

“Rei.”

“Nice. Where’d you come up with it?”

“Well,” Shuichi scratched his head with his newly de-casted arm, “when I first brought up the idea of starting a clothing line based on my stage attire, Eiri said it had ‘zero’ chance of success.”

Maiko laughed.

A yawn silenced anything else he was going to say.

“You’re going to make yourself sick if you don’t slow down.”

Not like it wouldn’t be the first time. “I’ll be fine, Mai,” he said a loud.

“Big brother…”

Shuichi laughed off his sister’s concern. “You worry too much.”

“Just promise me you’ll get some rest.”

“Scout’s honor.”

“You weren’t a scout.”

Shuichi’s laugh fizzled into a yawn. “I’ll grab a couple of hours when I get home.” Eiri was not taking him and Sayo out for brunch until at least ten so he did have time to take a short nap.

Maiko sighed. “Better than nothing I suppose…Shoot. I gotta let you go.”

“Date?” Shuichi teased.

“Shut up!”

Shuichi could feel the heat from the blush that warmed his baby sister’s face over the phone. A wide, toothy grin crossed his own. “You tell them yet?”

“No. And you better not say anything!”

“I won’t.”

“I’ll talk to you later, Big Brother.”

“Okay. Say ‘hi’ to Gina for me.”

“Will do. See ya.”

“Bye.”

Shuichi flipped his cellphone closed, chuckling lightly. Whoever would have guessed? All through high school, Maiko dated that pansy boyfriend of hers, that dorky guy in the glasses who just happened to be the student body president. Then during her freshmen year in college, she dumped him for her tutor, Gina Shinigawa. Well, as long as she was happy and this Gina (who he still had yet to meet) treated his sister right that was all that mattered.

Right about now, though, the only thing he was concerned with was grabbing some z’s. Now that sounded like a very good idea. Leaning his head back against the seat, he let his lids slide shut. The tension eased from his shoulders. Just as sleep started to take over, he was jolted awake by his driver’s voice.

“We’re here, sir.”

“Thanks, Ben,” he sighed. He should have known it was too good to be true. His did not name his band Bad Luck for nothing. He reached under the driver’s seat for his cellphone that had slid off the seat. Shouldering his messenger bag, he stepped out onto the sidewalk and started sweating immediately as the oppressive heat smacked him upside the head and then the early morning sun momentarily blindsided him, even with his dark sunglasses. To think it was not even eight yet. Fun times.

“Will you need me anymore today, sir?” Ben asked as he shut the car door behind Shuichi and escorted him to the front door of his building.

Good question. Did he? His mind went blank.

Momentarily losing his balance, he stumbled forward, but managed to catch himself before he completely embarrassed himself. How uncool would that have been? He could see it now. The headline in all the newspapers and on the entertainment programs. “One Too Many? Lead Singer Falls Flat on Face.” God. That was all he needed. For people to start thinking he was an alcoholic. He shook his head to clear it.

The wheels in his head turned almost sluggishly as he tried to find an answer for Ben, who was watching him with an expression that was way too blank. There was somewhere he had to go…right? So, did that not mean he needed his driver? The answer was on the tip of his tongue. However, he could not seem to get his tongue to work right. “I’ll…” He yawned. “…let you know.” Yeah, when his brain actually worked.

Ben bowed. “Very good, sir. Have a pleasant day.”

Shuichi made a noncommittal noise as he stepped from the warmth of the sidewalk and into the cool air-conditioned air of the lobby. He shivered in reaction. He stumbled his way to the elevator and pressed the call button. Yet another yawn seized him. Maybe he would get lucky and Sayo would still be sleeping. God willing.

+---+---+

He turned the key in the lock. The tumblers shifted, echoing loudly in the silence of the hall. Grabbing the doorknob, he hung his head with a grateful sigh. It felt good to be home. His eyes fluttered closed.

The ping of the elevator jerked him upright. To his mortification, he realized he had actually fallen asleep on his feet. His face red in embarrassment, Shuichi turned the doorknob and pushed open the door. The nearly deafening explosion of sound of, “Swiper! No swiping!” greeted him.

God help me, he prayed silently as that threatening headache thundered to life. Now he knew how Eiri felt.

Stepping into the house, he pulled his key out of the lock and shut the door. He turned the deadbolt and slid the security chain across the door. Lifting the strap of his bag over his head, he set it on the floor by the shoe closet then tossed his keys and cellphone onto the sideboard that Eiri purchased at an auction the other week. It was a big, ugly and expensive monstrosity that Shuichi swore he would chop into firewood and burn the first opportunity he had; to hell with the consequences. And Eiri claimed he had a spending addiction. Please. At least he did not throw away over three-hundred thousand yen on some antique dresser that should be in the dining room storing their linen and tableware and what not and not as a store all in the foyer.

Toeing off his sneakers, he padded barefoot into the dining room. There was a pretty large pile of mail sitting on the table. Shuichi ignored it. Again. A huge yawn seized him as he made his way to the living room where his two-year-old daughter stood on the couch watching Dora.

“Hey, pipsqueak.”

He did not see Eiri. Not unusual. Either he was in the study or still in bed. He was hoping for the former.

Sayo’s head whipped around at the sound of his voice. A grin broke out across her face. Pushing away from the back of the sofa, she decided to use the couch as her trampoline by jumping from cushion to cushion. She held out her arms as he approached. “Hi, Daddy! Hi, Daddy!”

She had this annoying habit of repeating herself when nobody answered her; even if she did not ask a question.

“Hey!”

She sprang into his arms like a cheetah and strapped herself around him tightly like a koala. It reminded him very much of how he reacted around Eiri. He chuckled lightly. Sayo buried her face in the crook of his neck and tightened her hold on him. The action choked him up. He hugged her back. It seemed like it’d been forever since he’d seen her. He pulled back enough so that he could plant a light kiss on her blond curls. Then he kissed her again and again and again. She squealed and squirmed away from his hands that found her ticklish spots.

Sighing, his adrenaline spent, he flopped backwards onto the sofa.

“Again!”

Shuichi shook his head. “No again.” He cocked his head and listened. Over the sound of Dora, there was only silence. “Where’s Papa?”

“Sleeping.”

Damn. If Sayo was not enough to rouse Eiri that meant that he was up all night working on his epic saga. Either he had a deadline or his muse had him working overtime. Either way, Eiri was not going to wake until noon. There went his nap and brunch. Crap in hell.

“Were you good for Papa?”

Sayo nodded as she sat in his lap playing with the buttons on his shirt.

He yawned and rubbed his eye with his free hand. He blinked his eyes rapidly several times. “You hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” He set her on her feet and standing up from the couch, followed her into the kitchen.

“Help,” she called as she yanked futile-ly on the bottom cupboard that had been childproofed.

“Here.” He crouched down, reached inside the small opening, and pressed the latch down. The door opened with no difficulty. Struggling against the heavy veil of sleep, he grabbed one of the breakfast bars specially designed for growing toddlers. He removed the wrapper. “Here.”

“Thanks.”

Shuichi smiled after her as she tore out of the kitchen and made her way back to the living room and Dora. He stood with a grunt. Closing the cupboard, he tossed the wrapper into the garbage and then started for the master bedroom.

“Daddy watch.”

“In a minute, okay? Daddy’s gotta go potty.”

“’Kay.”

He went through the first door, then down a short hall and another door beyond that in order to reach the master bedroom suite. The sight that greeted him had him smiling. Eiri was sprawled out in the middle of the bed on his stomach. All the covers but the flat white sheet, which barely covered Eiri’s enticing ass, had been flung over the end of the bed and onto the floor in a pool of color. If he were not positive that Eiri would beat him senseless, he would jump him.

So instead, he made his was as stealthily as he could around the bed to the bathroom. In the medicine cabinet above the double vanity, he pushed aside the opened box of feminine douche and grabbed the orange prescription vial that was stashed behind it. A quick glance over his shoulder told him what he needed to know. Eiri had not budged an inch. Unscrewing the lid, he shook several small round pills into his cupped hand. He popped them into his mouth, swallowed them with a glass of water and then hid the vial back behind the douche box. It was the one place Eiri never looked.

Eiri would have his head on a silver platter if he found out his favorite baka was secretly taking dextroamphetamine in order to stay awake for longer periods of time. Of course, there were some nasty side effects of taking the psychostimulant, other than Eiri’s infamous temper, but in order to ensure that everyone stayed happy, it was a risk he was willing to take.

Shuichi crept out of the bathroom, through the bedroom and out into the living room. Dora was, thankfully, over with. Next up was Diego and then Wow Wow Wubbsy. Oh. Goody. Seeing the deafening explosion of the kids channel could not stir Eiri from his coma-like slumber, there really was no point in actually being quiet. The Philharmonic Orchestra could hold a concert in their condominium and Eiri still would not wake up. However, knowing Eiri, while Armageddon could not wake him up, Shuichi could drop a feathered boa and Eiri would start yelling and screaming at them for being too noisy. Go figure.

As he stepped over the threshold into the main section of the condominium, Shuichi suddenly felt lightheaded. He slapped a hand to his forehead and another hand grabbed the doorframe to hold him steady as the floor tilted beneath him. He screwed his eyes shut and swallowed a moan.

It passed quickly.

Shaking his head, he pushed away from the door and crossed into the living room where his daughter was singing the theme song to Diego.

“Done Daddy,” Sayo announced. She was holding out the half-eaten breakfast bar.

Confused, Shuichi reached out for it with a trembling hand. Strange. He turned it over in his hand with a frown as he contemplated where it had come from. Had she been able to find a way around the childproofing system that they had set up? Or had Eiri get up earlier to feed her?

Shrugging, he stumbled his way into the kitchen to toss it away. On his way back, he lost his balance and had to make a quick grab for the back of one of the dining chairs to keep him upright. God. What was wrong with him? Just a minute ago, he felt energized and ready to take on the world, but now he felt worse than he did before he took the dextroamphetamine. No. He really did not feel good.

When his sight started acting funny, Shuichi pulled out a chair and sat down. He hung his head between his knees when the room started to spin.

He was going to be sick.

+---+---+

“Map!” Sayo echoed the television. She thrust her hand in the air.

A muffled thud reached her ears.

She glanced over her shoulder and spied her daddy sprawled out on the floor underneath the dining table. Was Daddy playing? Or had he fallen asleep like Papa? What a silly Daddy, sleeping on the floor, but she really had to go potty and she could not go by herself. She climbed down off the couch and ran to him.

“Daddy,” she called as she squatted down besides his still form and shook his shoulder. “Daddy!”

Daddy was not waking. Maybe Papa would help her go to the bathroom before she went in her pants. Papa did not like it when she did that. He always got very mad, but then Daddy would get mad at Papa for getting mad at her.

She stood up and raced towards her daddies bedroom. The two doors that she had to open were heavy, but she managed to push them open.

“Papa! Papa,” she called. He was not answering either. She climbed up onto the huge bed that was almost too high for her, but she managed to do that too. She crawled across the bed towards where her papa was sleeping. “Papa! Go potty! Papa!”

Eiri groaned as he was forced awake. “Go ask Daddy,” he slurred. He grabbed one of the pillows and buried his head underneath it. The sun was barely up. Why in the name of all that was holy did his daughter have to wake at the ass crack of dawn?

“Daddy sleeping.”

“So? Go wake him.”

Sayo made a frustrated noise. She really, really had to go potty really, really badly and neither Daddy nor Papa would wake up and help her. “Papa! Potty!”

Sighing heavily, Eiri’s eyes fluttered open. Damn it all to hell.

+---+---+

Yawning, Eiri shuffled out of his bedroom as he followed his daughter to her bathroom. Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

“Brat?” he called, recognizing his husband. “What the hell are you doing on the floor?”

“Daddy sleeping Papa.”

Eiri nodded. “I can see that.” He rounded the table and kicked Shuichi in the head. “Brat. Wake up. Sayo has to go to the bathroom.”

Nothing.

Eiri frowned. Shuichi never ignored him and he was not such a heavy sleeper that he would not hear if someone called him. He knew that Shuichi has had some long nights recently and has not been getting much sleep. Maybe it finally caught up with him? “Shuichi Shindou.” Still. Even asleep, Shuichi would give some sort of reaction, especially at being kicked in the head. “If you don’t wake up this second, you will be the one cleaning up after your daughter when she pees her pants.” He killed the panic that was slowly rising to life within him and instead embraced his anger at being ignored and gave Shuichi another swift kick in the head. “Brat.” His bark sounded pathetic even to him.

Still nothing.

Now he was really starting to worry. “…Shu?” Crouching, Eiri shook Shuichi gently. “Shuichi?”

“Papa! Gotta go potty,” Sayo reminded him as she danced around in an attempt to keep from going potty in her pants.

Distracted by his non-responsive husband, Eiri told Sayo, “In a sec, okay?”

“Potty now Papa,” she complained.

Eiri looked at his daughter over his shoulder. She was holding herself and performing some sort of jig. “Can you go by yourself like a big girl?” He really did not want to leave Shuichi. Something was wrong with his brat. Shuichi never ignored him. Not even when they were fighting. He always did what he was told and he especially would not fall asleep when there was nobody to watch over Sayo.

“Okay!” She turned on her heel and raced through the house to the bathroom.

Eiri, meanwhile, flipped Shuichi over. Something was wrong. He knew it. His baka was too still. “Shuichi? Shuichi.” He lightly slapped Shuichi’s cheeks.

Again nothing.

This was not good.

Not able to fight the panic any longer, Eiri struggled to his feet and grabbed the phone off the wall in the kitchen. It took him several attempts, but he finally managed to dial the right number. “Something’s wrong with the brat,” he said before the person on the other end could say anything. “He won’t wake up.”

---TBC---

Preview: “We Shall Meet Again”

A/N: BTW. “Niji” means “rainbow”. Just thought you’d like to know.