[Fic]Painted Nails - Chapter 5: Dark is the Tinge for Inner Voices.
Title : Painted Nails - Chapter 5
Author: Ardentsinner
Pairing: maruda...and some other pairings. ^^;
Genre : romance/comedy/drama
Rating : PG-13 (reader’s discretion for sexual innuendos)
Flame : No, please. But constructive criticism is appreciated
Summary: Something is amiss with Ueda, and Maru is very aware of it. Maru wants to help, but would Ueda let him? Or is Maru the one in need of helping?
A.N. : Written at the end of the chapter. Oh, btw, fyi…I don’t own any of the KAT-TUN boys, but in this fic, I make the rules. Hehehe! Oh, didn’t have time to beta. Will re-post after beta-ed. KTHXBYE.
Previous Chapters:
Painted Nails: Chapter 1
Painted Nails: Chapter 2
Painted Nails: Chapter 3
Painted Nails: Chapter 4
Italics are thoughts.
//italics// are flashbacks.
Painted Nails - Chapter 5: Dark is the Tinge for Inner Voices.
The next morning came pleasantly enough. No, not in the ‘sunny, chirpy morning after with birds chirping in the sun’ kinda day but it was just one of those silent and calm type where the dawn of the morning creeps in quietly.
Maru was woken up by the unfamiliar sensation of having warmth surround him. Lately, he had grown accustomed to waking up in the cool hotel bed, wrapped in the starkly starched hotel sheets. But today, there were none of those sensations and the unusual feeling tugged at his subconscious. He drifted between being awake and asleep, slowly regaining consciousness. Even as he stared blearily at the ceiling with mind pleasantly numb, his body had begun registering the surroundings.
The air-conditioned air stung his nostrils and bit into his toast-dry throat making it hard to swallow. The chill dropped a slight notch since last night but it was starting to cause his nose to block up. But despite feeling the arid chill on his face, his body was snuggly enveloped in warmth. Limbs loosely encircled his waist, hot breath warmed his neck, the soft rise and fall of the chest pressed to his, legs entangled deliciously with his own, the calm rhythm of heartbeat and the gentle curve of a shoulder blade under his palm brought his back to reality. Who…?
“Mmhm…Maa..ru.”
Startled, Maru instinctively jerked away slightly but then he froze in trepidation, skipping a few heartbeats in the process.
“Nnhn…not yet,” Ueda muttered, followed by some incoherent mumbling.
Scrunching his nose, the younger man grumbled slightly in displeasure at the sudden movement. Realization dawned on Maru’s dazed mind with the speed of highly viscous molasses. But it eventually came to him regardless. Guiltily, Maru cooed soft words and rubbed soothing circles on the younger man’s back to persuade him back to sleep. Then he seemed to finally take in how indecently comfortable they were being in such a provocative and, not to mention, scandalous position. It was as if they were…
Then he felt a tight pang in his chest, clenching painfully, accompanied by the early morning incident that came flooding back to him.
// “If only I could give you mine…but it’s not…” //
Ueda…
He cautiously tried to pull back to look at his companion but a death grip on his t-shirt collar nearly choked him. A whimper came from the dark blonde young man when he tried to gently pry the fists open. Giving up, he settled back and tried to go back to sleep.
*Knock knock*
Maru groaned inwardly. It’s only …he peered at the digital clock by the table…6 in the bloody morning! Can’t a guy get some rest!?
He pretended not to hear.
*Knock knock knock*
I didn’t hear that. I’m still aslee-
*Knock KNOCK* And the knocking effectively derailed his thought…
Sighing, he called out softly to Ueda. “Ueda…Ueda…Tat-chan…wake up, I have to get the door.”
Ueda grumbled some more, shifting a bit. Spotting an opportunity, Maru hurriedly released the grip and slipped out of arms’ reach. Ueda, who was still unconscious, noticed the loss of warmth and searched for it…until he found Maru’s abandoned pillow and hugged it tightly to his chest and burying his face into it then sighing contentedly. Maru smiled fondly followed by the familiar tug at his heart.
*knock knock*
Grumbling, Maru ran a hand in his hair, ruffling it a bit more. He didn’t even bother to peek through the peephole; his intuition told him it was either Koki or Junno.
Sure enough, the moment he opened the door, Junno’s head popped through with a blinding smile already neatly set.
“Wha~T?!” Maru moaned, aggravated.
“OHAY~” Junno had started to say, but Maru effectively ended it with a hand clamped tightly against his mouth.
“Shhhh! Shut up! Ueda is still asleep!”
“Oh.”
“That’s it? Why are you here this early?” Maru said, halfheartedly offering a seat on his half slept-in bed.
“You just woke up?” a glare from Maru indicated that it was a stupid question, so Junno continued, “We have rehearsal today at 8, which means we need to leave by 7.”
“Oh, crap! Shitshitshit! Hey…where’s Koki?” Maru said noticing that the other hasn’t come in just yet.
“Oh, he was bathing when I left. He’ll be here in a while,” Junno said distractedly.
Junno was patting the bed slightly with a puzzled expression, but Maru didn’t have the time to contemplate the action further.
“Hey, don’t wake Ueda up just yet, ne? Let him rest a bit more.”
Even as Maru took a quick shower, thoughts still hounded his mind.
Suddenly...
“AHHH!” colourful curses ensued.
Freakin’ COLD!! What the hell is wrong with this shower! Maru jumped out of the freezing water coming out of the shower head’s range, careful not to slip and adjusted the hot water. Ah~! That’s better…wh~y must we have this rehearsal so bloody early in the morning! I hope they have breakfast over there. There won’t be time to grab anything to eat. I wonder what Tat-chan would like for breakfast…heh, knowing him, it’d probably be just coffee.
What is wrong with Tat-chan? Something’s not right. I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe I should get him to see a doctor. But he can be so stubborn sometimes. I should talk to him tonight. Yes…that’s what I should do…for his sake. Maybe I should call kaa-chan. Maybe Ueda-san has told kaa-chan something.
The subject of Ueda started to trigger the memories of last night in Maru’s head.
Why had Tat-chan say that? What did he mean? And what the hell was wrong with me last night…going all emo like that?!
Then, as he lathered soap over his body, his mind started to stray… conjuring images of Ueda laughing, pouting, scowling, singing, dancing, playing…all the things he did so naturally. Maru had to smile. Ueda was indeed different. He was a walking paradox and Maru found that that was such an interesting trait. Even attractive.
Then his mind began to entertain the dangerous idea of the ‘what if’s variations. Like ‘what would he do if’ or ‘if I…’ line of thoughts; say for example, what if he had Ueda for himself: to befriend, to care for, to entertain, to keep him company, to laugh with, to watch time fly by with, to cherish…to love.
His world crashed to a sudden stop at that last thought. WOAH! Backtrack!! …to LOVE?!! Where did that come from?
But he is pretty…and nice to boot, his inner voice commented. Just to prove its point, the brain conjured an image of Ueda, bathed in sunlight, a soft smile of his face as he played his guitar and in all his magnificent glory.
You see, Maru has this resident cynic in his head, who for most of the time loves to offer an impressive number of objections, sarcasm and never-thought-of suggestions. Maru believes that the voice was his subconscious mind speaking out to him and though they both inhibit the same head, they’re the exact opposites of each other. And right now, Maru felt like kicking the voice.
Yes, Maru finally conceded grudgingly, he is. But he is also, coincidently, a he!
Gee, you’re bright, aren’t ya, boy? Sarcasm dripped off the retort. Does that make him any less attractive to you, though?
It suddenly occurred to Maru that his inner voice seemed all the more worldly than the ‘normal Maru’ would be, and far, far more sardonic, too. Well, okay…Maru conceded again, maybe if he were a girl or something, right? Right. I would definitely fall head over heels for him if that were the case.
And some odd reason beyond him, the irritating know-it-all smart-ass voice (which was also incidentally his) was silent. Smugly silent, Maru thought uncomfortably. As if it knew something that Maru didn’t.
Shaking the vagrant thoughts out of his head, he washed the doubt and the lingering thought that bred in his head out along with the white soapy foam on his skin. He stored the notion away from any further contemplation and allowed his mind to go blank. Even as he toweled himself dry, he felt that he was in such a good disposition that he thought maybe nothing could spoil it that day.
Maru wrapped the thick, white hotel towel around his waist securely and stepped out of the tub. He made sure he dried his feet properly before walking the short distance to the sink. The last time he neglected to do that, he nearly cracked his skull against the tub. He attempted to wipe the fogged up mirror. He looked right into his puffy, slightly bloodshot eyes and sighed. The make-up people would have a crying fit, he thought viciously, remembering that they have another short photo shoot after practice.
Maru was about to turn the knob of the door when he cursed himself. He had forgotten to lock the door, again. For a guy who kept his towel on and securely wrapped around him in onsen, he just couldn’t believe how easily he forgets to lock the bathroom door. Living alone does that to a person.
Maru exited the bathroom without a single noise and the sight he saw froze the blood in his veins.
Taguchi!
***
END of Chapter 5
Yeah, it's been a while...I know. I blame the lack of time and the writer's block dilemma. *deep sigh*
Will cross post at ueda_maru or somewhere...