[fic] Your Unnecessary Tension Makes My Radar Go Haywire (2/7)
Hyde sat next to Tetsu, oblivious to the bandleader’s chattering about the stage decorations or concert theme or whatever topic he might have moved on to next. Instead he chewed vigorously on his mangled straw, staring a hole suspiciously at the guitarist and drummer sitting across from him.
Hyde was intent on being observant today, and he did not miss the arm slung casually across the back of Yukihiro’s chair, although he did miss the confused looks the blonde kept shooting in his direction while struggling to focus on Tetsu’s words rather than the dark eyes burning through him.
Yukihiro blinked in unnerved confusion as Hyde stopped gnawing on his straw in favor of slurping the juice from his glass loudly. His intense gaze would focus on the drummer for a minute before roving to fix itself on the oblivious guitarist, and then repeat again. Obviously, Yukihiro found this unsettling.
Shifting slightly in his seat, Yukihiro’s gaze flickered from Hyde to the taller, dark-haired, man beside him. Ken was staring off into the distance, probably not paying any attention to the -equally oblivious- bassist’s yammering, and tapping an unnamed melody on the table with a calloused fingertip. Yukihiro leaned towards him, poking him gently in the chest to get his attention before whispering behind his hand.
Hyde scowled darkly as he watched this exchange, and his narrowed eyes trained in on Ken as the guitarist turned his gaze to him a second later.
“…go-carts would be fun, or something. It’d be cool to ride through the audience. Not through the audience, I mean down the aisles or something…” Tetsu continued without realizing that none of his band members were listening, lost as he was in his vision for the landmark concert to come.
Ken mouthed what was clearly a question of ‘what are you looking at?’, to which Hyde responded with the classic two-fingered gesture of ‘I’m watching you’. Ken raised an eyebrow and frowned as Hyde proceeded to shake his head menacingly.
“What the hell??” The guitarist blurt out, half wanting to laugh but being annoyed by the fact that Hyde was still acting deadly serious.
Tetsu looked surprised, coming down off whatever cloud he’d been drifting on. “Uh… you don’t want silver?”
Ken blinked, as if realizing Tetsu was talking for the first time. “What?”
“Silver streamers. You don’t want them? Or… we could do confetti instead. Or a different color-“
“Tetsu, nobody cares whether we have streamers or confetti. Go ahead and decide that yourself.” Ken sighed irritably -Hyde was still staring him down-, running a hand through his hair.
“So… silver is okay?” Tetsu still looked uncertain and confused.
“Yes! Silver is fine!” Ken exclaimed, exasperated with both the bassist and the vocalist sitting across from him.
“You don’t have to get mad at me, Ken. I only asked because you started yelling in the first place.” Tetsu scowled.
“I’m not mad, but you’ve been rambling for ages now! Do we have to sit here and listen to this if we’re not going to do anything productive today?”
Tetsu narrowed his eyes. “This is important, Ken. The concerts are in November! We have to talk about this stuff… And it’s not my fault you’re not contributing. Someone has to talk, or would you rather sit here in silence?!”
“Right now? Silence sounds pretty good to me.” Ken quipped, causing Tetsu to turn reddish with anger.
“What is wrong with you?! I can’t believe you’re still being such a baby about this!”
“A baby?!”
“Yes! You’re so immature. It happened months ago, Ken! Just get over it and grow up! You’re going to cause problems for the band if you keep this u-“
“The band. That’s all you ever think about, isn’t it?! Is Laruku really your life Tetsu? Is the band all you have? All you’ll ever care about?” Ken stood up, fuming. “Maybe I need to grow up, but you need to grow a heart!” With that last biting remark he turned on his heel and stormed out.
Tetsu stood up too, shaking in his anger as Ken slammed the door on his way out of the bassist’s apartment. Tetsu smashed his fist down on the tabletop, startling both Hyde and Yukihiro -who had been staring in shock at the doorway Ken had disappeared through. “That- that idiot! He has no idea what he’s talking about- he’s… Why does he have to be so-…!?”
“Tetsu, sit down. You shouldn’t get so worked up. Ken’s just….” Yukihiro trailed off, looking worried.
Tetsu dropped obediently into his seat. He put his elbows on the table, closing his eyes as he leaned forward and massaged his temples. “…a big moron.” He finished.
Yukihiro looked awkwardly between the bassist, the tabletop, and then Hyde. He cleared his throat quietly, gesturing with one thumb towards the door.
Hyde nodded, getting the hint and turning to put an attempt at a reassuring hand on his silently fuming friend’s shoulder. “Tet, I think we should call it a day…”
Tetsu nodded. “Yeah, fine. Go off and do something more fun… or interesting, or whatever.”
Hyde frowned, squeezing his shoulder slightly. “It’s not like that. Just, you’re obviously upset, and Ken’s not here. I don’t think we’ll get any work done like this.”
Tetsu sighed, running his hands over his face. “I know… Sorry. You guys go ahead.”
Yukihiro and Hyde nodded and stood. The blonde spoke as he pushed his chair in, still looking concerned. “Do you want to come with us? We could go somewhere…”
Tetsu shook his head, looking up and smiling wanly at them as he waved them towards the door, simultaneously waving off the offer. “I’m fine. Thanks though.” He stood as well, following them to the apartment’s entrance so he could see them off. “Oh, don’t forget we’ve got rehearsal on Sunday, twelve ‘til… whenever we get enough done.” Hyde and Yuki both nodded. “Could… one of you remind Ken? Yukihiro, you’ll probably see him between now and then, right?”
“Uh… yeah. Probably.” The blonde replied, shrugging on his jacket. “I’ll tell him.”
+++
The elevator doors closed behind them, and Hyde let Yukihiro reach around him to push the button for the apartment building’s lobby. The silence was made more awkward by the too-quiet and too-cheery music playing in the lift.
“Umm…” Hyde began, clearing his throat as the blonde glanced towards him curiously. “… You’ve been together with Ken a lot lately, huh?”
Yukihiro stared at him for a second, as though considering what the question meant. “Uh… yeah, I guess so.”
“So, do you know what’s going on?” Yukihiro raised a questioning eyebrow and Hyde hurried to continue. “Do you know what’s going on between him and Tetsu?”
“Oh…” Yukihiro shook his head. “No, he didn’t say anything.”
“Tetsu told me they had a fight or something near the beginning of the year… Well, he called it a ‘disagreement’, actually.”
“A disagreement?” Yukihiro frowned, thinking for a moment. “Back in January, Ken showed up at my place at like four in the morning on New Years.”
“New Years… huh?” Hyde mused, stepping out into the lobby when the doors opened. “Why?”
Yukihiro shrugged, following him. “He didn’t say, but he was really drunk, and he seemed pretty uh, messed up.” He caught up with the vocalist as they passed through the revolving doors and head towards their respective cars in the parking lot. “Kinda like today, but I couldn’t understand a word he was saying…”
Hyde stopped walking next to his car. Yukihiro did too, turning to face him although his own car was several spaces down the row.
“Do you think that was when they fought? On New Years?”’
Yukihiro nodded. “That would make sense… He stayed at my place for like a week, he was ignoring calls the whole time… And ever since he’s been calling for me very… frequently.”
“If the fight’s as serious as it appears to have been, then he’s probably just avoiding Tetsu! That’s why he’s so friendly with you now!” Hyde exclaimed, grinning at the revelation.
Yukihiro blinked. “Uhh, yeah… I guess so.”
“Oh, sorry.” Hyde chuckled. “Anyway, Tetsu was probably right in there. If they don’t settle this, it will affect the band… and those concerts are looming up on the horizon…” Hyde grimaced.
“Wow, you’re acting professional all of a sudden.”
Hyde smirked. “Not exactly, they’re our friends too… So I’m thinking we should help them reconcile with each other.”
“We should? It might not be a good idea to meddle… I mean, they don’t even seem to want us to know what the fight was about.” Yukihiro pointed out, looking nervous.
“True, but I might have to join in if they start screaming at each other again.”
Yukihiro looked alarmed, never being one to enjoy conflict between his friends. “Oh, please don’t.”
“They’re both stubborn -especially Tetsu. You know they’re not gonna apologize or whatever without someone to nudge them into it.” Hyde stated, already knowing he’d won.
Yukihiro nodded resignedly and head to his car.
Hyde grinned smugly, watching him go. “I’ll call you so we can come up with a plan!”
Honestly, he wasn’t being motivated totally by the urge to help his friends. After all, he was still one to leap at any chance to spend more time with the drummer.
++++
Yukihiro wasn’t very surprised to find a certain tall guitarist pacing in front of his apartment door.
“Ken.” He said quietly, catching the taller man’s attention as he approached and pulled his key from his pocket.
Ken stared at him with an unreadable expression, not moving away from the door as Yuki attempted to unlock it.
“Uhh, could you…” The drummer gestured, unable to get at the knob hidden behind Ken’s back.
Ken startled him then, suddenly bending down to wrap his arms around him in a tight hug. Yukihiro yelped in surprise, not sure what to do as Ken tightened his hold, turning his head into the messy blonde hair at the nape of his neck.
“K-Ken…?” He stuttered, having no idea what to say after that.
Ken sighed and Yukihiro noticed that his voice shook slightly, though he was trying to hide it. “I’m sorry… This doesn’t mean anything, I-…” He paused to take a deep breath. “I just wanted… to hold someone.”
“Oh…” Yuki breathed, trying to process what the cryptic remark meant. Hesitantly, he lifted his arms and hugged him back, rubbing his back in -what he hoped was- a soothing manner.
Ken sniffed quietly, and Yuki pretended he hadn’t heard it.
At the end of the hall, neither of them saw a figure turn in a swift retreat to the elevators…
++++
To be continued sooon~
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Thanks to everybody reading!
Next part found >> here!<<