Transaction

Disclaimer: Bleeeeeeeeh.

Author’s Notes: I've been watching House M.D. online since yesterday. Catching up on what I've missed. God I love Hugh Laurie. I'd marry that man in a heartbeat. In. A. Heartbeat. This has nothing to do with the story at all. YAY!

This chapter is another filler, I guess. I like focusing on Tohma and Taki, so I think Opium is just a filler for the bigger picture. Just a little more interaction, the next chapter kind of explaines why we did this. I have to go watch more House. I really need to know what's going to happen with him and Stacy.

Enjoy!
~~~
Transaction
~~~
Chapter Fifty-Seven
~~~
Somewhere between seemingly endless recording that had finally finished and photo shoot after shoot, time had passed. Kenji was hardly aware of it, but Taki had them making up for all the time they'd missed, and then some. Kenji had lost track of how many shoots they'd done, how many different poses. He didn't remember the show hosts names anymore, there were so many.

Taki wasn't giving them a bit of slack, and Tohma was no better. When they weren't on a shoot or on TV, they were in the studio, not recording, but practicing. Soon, they would move to the building they would be performing in, and it was as that date came closer and closer on the calendar that Kenji realized how much time they'd spent working.

The CD was out, and Kenji hadn't thought anything could sell so fast. It was mind-blowing! He couldn't walk past a music store now without seeing posters, the CD, ticket advertisements, less then one hundred left!

Mind-blowing, and the most incredible thing he had ever experienced.

"Kenji! Snap out of it!" Haido said, tugging his arm as they walked down the street. "We're gonna be late meeting Keiko for lunch if we don't hurry up."

That, and fans. Kenji had redyed his hair and it was as bright as ever. He didn't like being bothered on a simple walk to lunch!

And, honestly, this was Keiko's time to start forgiving them. It was close to the concert, the CD had finished and Keiko had asked them all to have lunch? Surely this was a good thing! At least Haido liked to think so.

Giving his head a quick shake, Kenji nodded, taking Haido's advice and taking longer steps. His hands were in his pockets, because Taki had made some flippant comment about pushing the borders of acceptance. Kenji knew it hadn't been flippant, though, because of the look they'd been given just after it.

Kenji was tempted to misbehave, just because he could, but he knew what Taki meant. Japan just wasn't ready for gay couples to be springing up everywhere. Shindou and Yuki Eiri, that was one thing, but he and Haido?

That was something completely different.

Haido was right, though. If he didn't stop thinking, they were going to be late. "How long do you think she's been there?" After all, it was Saturday, now. A week before their concert, and he knew Keiko didn't wake up early when she didn't have to.

"Well, she said one o' clock," Haido told Kenji, and looked at his watch. "It's about ten minutes past. If she was on time, ten minutes."

If not, then... uh... no minutes?

Well, it was Saturday, and Keiko had been up late last night. She couldn't resist drinking a little after working so hard on Friday. She'd gone to her favorite bar, and, well, she didn't leave until she had to. Which meant when she rolled her ass outta bed as Kenji and Haido were entering the little diner she'd picked, she had one hell of a headache.

She looked over her shoulder at her bed. Well, at least it wasn't filled with someone else. So, it had been a pretty easy night. Keiko yawned, getting up and heading into the bathroom. A quick shower, cigarettes, tons of aspirin should fix it.

"Uh... maybe she's late?" Haido said as they took a table.

Late? Keiko? It didn't seem right. Kenji sighed, shrugging thin shoulders because honestly, there was nothing they could really do about it. He wasn't about to walk to Keiko's, because they hadn't brought a car. The theory was that the time it took to get back to Haido's (where they'd been spending more time, recently) would help them relax for later.

And 'later' was a fairly obvious cause for relaxation.

"Maybe..." Kenji slipped a hand into his pocket as he sat, pulling out his phone. If she wasn't here in five minutes, he was calling, and for every minute after that, he was going to call her twice more.

She'd get so fed up with it eventually that she'd have to show up.

It was a good plan.

Keiko stepped out of the bathroom, toothbrush in her mouth as she heard her phone. By the time she found it, it had stopped ringing. Shrugging, she finished brushing her teeth and showered.

"Any answer?" Haido asked, ordering a soda as the waitress came up smiling.

Hair wrapped in a towel, Keiko dressed and lit up a cigarette, going into the kitchen to start some coffee. She glanced at the clock on the microwave, she saw it was 1:20. Something nagged at her about the time.

Shaking his head, Kenji sighed. "No." He hit the speed dial again, barely holding it to his ear because there was a great big part of him that didn't expect her to pick up.

Maybe they would have to walk to her house. It might actually work better.

He shook his head "no" when the waitress asked him if he wanted anything. No, not yet. He wasn't going to order until Keiko was there with them, because he fully intended to make her pay. She'd invited them, but he'd probably end up helping anyway.

He hated watching her face go all pouty, especially when she was serious about it.

Keiko heard her phone again and got up from the kitchen table, rushing to where she'd left her phone in the bedroom. Good, she caught it. Looking at the little screen as she flipped it, it was Kenji.

"Yeah?" she asked as she answered, exhaling smoke at the same time. Her gut suddenly sunk and she wasn't sure why.

Haido perked up a bit when he heard Keiko's voice pick up on the other end. See? Maybe she was on her way! Or... something. Hopefully.

"Where are you?" Kenji couldn't help the worry in his voice because, hey, it wasn't LIKE Keiko to be late, and she was his best friend. It was his right to be worried! Really, it was, and he would fight that point with anyone who decided it wasn't.

Especially Keiko. Kenji didn't care if she didn't like him to worry. It was his job, dammit!

"Uh...," she looked around for some reason. "At my place?"

Ugh. She needed more aspirin. The throb at the top of her head was killing her. It was small and sharp and it needed to go away.

"I was out late last night. Shit... am I missing something?" Keiko asked, now unsure of herself. She wandered back to the kitchen getting out the aspirin and taking them with a long swallow of coffee. Setting the cigarette in an ashtray, she sat down at the table again.

"Just lunch. You said to be here by one." There was a little part of him that was disappointed. Kenji knew that, really, it wasn't exactly Keiko's fault she forgot. He knew what happened when she was out late, so it wasn't any surprise that she was absentminded.

But he still didn't like it much. He couldn't really understand how someone could forget a lunch that they'd set up. Wouldn't she have written it down?

Well... no. They had the same organizational patterns.

None. He hadn't written it down, he couldn't expect anyone else to.

Keiko got up and search around for her keys and went to put on her shoes. Fuck, fuck, fuck! How could she forget! It was all coming back now. Fucking late nights. Fucking drinking.

"Shit," She sighed, putting her head in her free hand. "Fuck, sorry guys. I'll be there in ten minutes. Promise."

Traffic or not, she would be there in ten minutes or less. Walking out the door she locked it behind her and ran to her car.

"I'll see you guys when I get there," she said and hung up.

"I guess she forgot then?" Haido asked, looking at Kenji questioningly.

"Mmhm." Kenji closed his phone and tucked it back into his pocket, hand moving absently up to brush his hair away from his eye. It fell right back into place, despite the movement. "I think she's hung over."

Entirely likely. He wondered if the restaurant would supply aspirin, or if they would just look at him funny if he asked.

They'd probably think he was crazy.

"She'll be here in ten minutes, though." Kenji had no doubt. Nothing could stop Keiko, not hell or high water, when she was determined. He wasn't going to get in her way tonight.

Haido's soda came, and Kenji took it from the waitress before she could hand it to Haido. Taking a quick drink, he shot Haido an almost daring grin as he offered it to him.

"You're gonna wind up with ice down your shirt if you keep it up," Haido teased, taking his drink and setting it in front of him. The waitress left the straw on the table and he pulled off one small end of it and blew the rest of the paper off, rocketing it towards Kenji. It hit him right on the forehead.

"Hah! Serves you right," he said with a sniff, putting the straw in his drink. "Does Keiko usually drink?"

"Only when she wants to have a good time." Kenji rolled his eyes at Haido and crumpled up the little strip of paper, tossing it at the smaller man's head. "It's not unusual for her to stay out all night, though."

Kenji thought that probably had a lot to do with why it always took so much effort to wake her up in the mornings, and why she was so violent. Kenji knew he could be pretty volatile when he'd only had a few hours of sleep, but he'd never kicked anyone in the chest for it.

It made him wonder how many nights in Keiko had had lately, because she was always at work before he and Haido were, which was weird. She was either early, or they were getting later by the day, which was entirely likely. It was hard for him to stay on task when Haido walked by in the morning, looking so sleepy and rumpled and so entirely sexy.

Kenji dared any man to see that and not get distracted.

"That can't be good for her," Haido commented, playing idly with the straw in his glass. "Do you guys usually spend a lot more time together?"

Which would mean it was his fault that Keiko would be out alone and drinking more. He was with Kenji so much that he didn't even know if he spent time with Keiko anymore. Well, okay, they did figure she was mad at them, so it was best to steer clear.

Maybe this is why they were all going out together? She was ready to have everything start now? If that was so, Haido figured it was like now she allowed the whole set of actions to start in her world.

"Yeah..." Kenji's brow furrowed, and he couldn't help but sound a little sad. Everything he felt echoed in his voice and on his face, because he'd never let anyone tell him that he wasn't supposed to. There were just some rules he couldn't abide by.

But, he missed his nights with Keiko. His apartment used to be just for show, because he was always with her and never at home. Sometimes she got annoyed and kicked him out, so it was nice to have someplace to go, but for months (nearly years) on end, he would spend all of his time in her one bedroom apartment.

It had been nice. It was always Keiko he ran to when something went wrong, whether it had been with school, his parents, or, eventually, his job. She was always there for him, and until now, he'd always made sure to be there for her, too.

He felt guilty now that he wasn't.

"You can hang out with her too, y'know," Haido said, letting his fingers run absently over the condensation on the glass. "I loved all the time we've spent together, but she's your best friend. She's important."

He understood that. He wasn't trying to get in the way. Things were always hard at first, trying to find a good balance between friends, family, relationships and everything else. Luckily they all worked together.

Keiko cut off some other jack-off and pulled her car into the waiting space across from he diner. A horn blared. Keiko turned, grinning as she returned the favor and sent the idiot off with a one fingered salute as well.

But she was here. She was rumpled, rushed, hung-over, but she was finally here. With, maybe, about thirty seconds or so to spare. She crossed the street in a dash, narrowly avoiding more accidents. But, she was smiling as she pushed open the door, ignoring the greeter, spotting Kenji and Haido right away.

"Sorry. Long night," Keiko greeted with a wave.
~~~
Author's Notes: Good episode. I love this show so much. I want House and Wilson together, and yet, the not always looking for gay couples in me really wants him to have his luck change with the ladies. Anyway, off topic again.

Yeah, so this chapter was just bleh. Next chapter brings it together.

Drop us a line!

~Subby