Title: Musing is Not a Hobby For the Weak-Minded
Fandom: META - Prince of Tennis, Fruits Basket, KAT-TUN
Pairing: FujiRyo, Kyo/Yuki, Akame
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
My muses are demanding creatures.
Musing is Not a Hobby For the Weak-Minded
by
meitachi IN THE MUSES ROOM:
“Saa, did you hear, Ryoma?” Fuji raised his gaze from his book, letting it fall on the boy seated beside him on the couch, video game controller in hand.
Ryoma didn’t look away from the television screen. “What?”
“Mei has new muses.” Fuji’s smile was not friendly. “And they want her to write RPS.”
That caught Ryoma’s attention. He paused his game and turned to give Fuji an incredulous look. “They’re real people muses?” His eyes widened at Fuji’s nod. “But she hasn’t written for real people since-“
Fuji cut him off by placing a finger over his lips and Ryoma halted mid-sentence. “I know,” he murmured. His eyes flashed a dark blue as he leaned back and added, “And they’re not just real people, they’re in a boy band.”
For a moment, Ryoma retained his surprised look. Then he subsided back into his usual bored expression. “Ch’,” he said, returning to his video game. “They don’t have a chance. We’ve got the boy band universe covered. She can’t resist us when we sing.”
Fuji chuckled. “So confident, ne?” He set his book down and wrapped an arm around Ryoma, careful not to obstruct the younger boy’s ability to maneuver. “But they can dance.” The tone of his voice implied that there was a lot more to dancing than simple movement of the body to the rhythm of the song; by ‘dance’ he meant ‘grind’ and ‘sex on stage’ and other things of the sort.
Ryoma, however, caught none of these implications; perhaps he was too young. He didn’t look as if he was going to bother replying anyway, expression blasé and unworried, but had he wanted to say something, he lost his chance when two other teenage boys strolled into the room, loaded down with snacks and drinks.
“Yo,” greeted one, tall and lanky and considerably older than Ryoma and Fuji. In fact, both of them were obviously in their late teens, if not early twenties.
Ryoma hit the pause button again and turned to watch as Kame and Jin proceeded to dump their horde onto the coffee table in front of the couch and settle themselves comfortably in the nearby loveseat, long limbs sprawling.
“Want any?” Jin offered with an easy smile.
Fuji declined with a polite smile and Ryoma, silently eyeing the grape Ponta, grabbed the can with a brief dip of his head in thanks.
“So, whatcha playing?” Kame wanted to know. His gaze flickered to the TV and he brightened. “Hey, is that Halo 2?”
“Yeah,” replied Ryoma. He stared at the older boy who was nudging his friend.
“Ji~in,” Kame sang, mischievous glint in his eye. “Didn’t you want to try out Halo 2?” He grinned when Jin’s eyes flashed, smile appearing on his face.
“Yeah!” Jin said enthusiastically. He bounced off his seat, hair flouncing, and grabbed the free controller lying amidst the chips and cookies and drinks scattered on the table. “Mind if I play too?” he asked Ryoma eagerly.
Ryoma blinked at him. “Whatever,” he said, shrugging.
Fuji’s eyes narrowed as Jin flopped, stomach-down, onto the floor in front of the loveseat, controller in hand, going through the process of changing the game into its two-player version. He watched, distant smile still on his face, as Kame slouched down into the sofa, comfortably resting his feet on Jin’s back.
“I still think it’d hurt,” Kame said offhandedly, wriggling his feet on Jin’s back.
Jin swatted at him playfully. “What?”
“Lying on your bellybutton ring.” Kame scrunched up his face and slid a hand over his own navel as if imagining what it’d feel like.
“Idiot,” Jin laughed at him. “It’s not that big. You get used to it. It’s really not noticeable anymore.” He pressed start on his controller and glanced at Ryoma, cross-legged on the couch beside Fuji. “Ready?” he asked, grinning.
Ryoma nodded.
Fuji, however, let the smile fall completely from his face. The two lead singers from a Japanese boy band… It didn’t bode well, especially considering how well the Japanese music industry marketed their stars to the public. Especially towards the fangirls. And their author, bless her, was nothing if not a fangirl. And these teens-Jin and Kame-were not only pretty, not only together, they were her age, could dance, and one even had a navel piercing. Fuji could practically feel himself being edged out.
“Saa,” he sighed quietly to himself, “It does suck to be replaced.”
“Like you’d know,” a voice snarled from behind him. “You’re the one who kicked us out!”
Turning, Fuji encountered a livid, red-haired, crimson-eyed boy behind the couch. “Kyo-san?” he said, mildly surprised. “What are you doing here?”
Kyo twitched. “Yeah. Thought you’d gotten rid of us, didn’t you, pretty boy?”
A hand slipped over his mouth before he could say more. Yuki peered over Kyo’s shoulder, violet eyes apologetic. “Sorry about him,” he sighed, tightening his grip on Kyo’s arm with his other hand when Kyo attempted to bite him. “He tends to be idiotic. It’s his natural state of being.”
“Yuki-san,” replied Fuji, smiling. “Nice to see you again.”
Yuki shrugged and dragged a struggling Kyo around the couch. He seated himself beside Fuji and pushed his cousin down to sit on the floor at his feet. “Mei dragged us out to finish A Little Stress Relief 10 but he’s been stubborn,” an irritated look at the redhead, “and she hasn’t gotten very far.”
“Jackass!” Kyo shouted, wrenching Yuki’s slender hand off his mouth at last. “It’s not my fault, stupid rat,” he muttered, glaring. “It’s you who sucks as a muse!”
Yuki glared back. “Shut up. People are staring.”
Indeed, Jin and Ryoma had paused their game at Kyo’s shouts and were now watching with vague, puzzled interest. Kame couldn’t seem to decide whether to be disturbed or amused.
“Hey, hey,” he said, settling for a neutral grin. “No need to get so upset. Want a drink?”
Kyo’s glare was still vicious as it turned on him. He opened his mouth to snap something but, again, Yuki slapped a hand over his mouth, preventing him. Yuki leaned down and ran his tongue over the back of Kyo’s neck and Fuji watched in quiet amusement as the redhead shuddered and exhaled, anger seeping away as he leaned back against Yuki’s legs.
“Whatever,” he muttered sullenly.
Yuki relaxed and sat back as well. He flashed a small smile at Fuji and Kame as Jin and Ryoma resumed their game. “So, how’s everyone?” he asked, brushing silver bangs from his eyes.
“E-eh~” said Kame with a laugh. “A little tense, maybe?” He stretched, shirt riding up, and ran a quick hand through his hair. “Nah, it’s all right. Souma Yuki, right? Nice to meet you. I’m Kamenashi Kazuya.”
Yuki started. “Oh,” he said and glanced at Fuji. “From KAT-TUN?”
Kame’s smile was a touch wicked. “Yeah.” He winked.
“Stop flirting,” Jin ordered without looking up. “They’re all taken. You’re taken.” He sounded exasperated.
“How did you know?” Kame pouted.
“Tone of your voice, darling. Kazu-chan is too easy to read.” Jin was laughing.
Yuki’s gaze flitted to Fuji again. The tensai smiled. “Don’t worry,” he said serenely, “Thrill Pair’s not out of the picture yet. Aozu has many more performances planned.”
Kame’s attention was drawn back to the younger boys on the couch. He couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy as Fuji spoke, though he wasn’t quite sure why since the tensai’s (was he really only in junior high?) tone was friendly and his smile was harmless. He tried to remember when he was only fifteen…but that was four years ago, and then, KAT-TUN had just gotten together. Already his life had been different from what most people would term ‘normal.’ He’d never had the kind of…childhood…that Fuji and Ryoma were having.
Jin shifted beneath his feet. “Chips,” he said plaintively.
“Lazy bum,” teased Kame as he pulled himself out of his thoughts to lean forward and grab a bag of chips from the coffee table. “Barbeque okay?”
“Uh-huh,” replied Jin. Eyes still trained on the TV, he opened his mouth expectantly.
Kame rolled his eyes. “Attention hog,” he accused. “You’re like this on camera all the time.” Still, he fed the other boy a chip, leaning over the edge of the couch, his silver necklace slipping out of his shirt to hang down.
Blue eyes reagarded the necklace for a moment. Then Fuji abruptly leaned over and pressed ‘pause’ on Ryoma’s controller. Two pairs of eyes swept to stare at him in bewilderment. Fuji smiled. “Duty calls,” he said mildly, removing the controller from Ryoma’s hands and placing it in Yuki’s. “Have fun. Mei wants us now.” He rose to his feet, tugging Ryoma after him.
The other four in the room watched them leave. “Okay,” said Jin, eyebrows raised. Then he tilted his head at Yuki. “So. Let’s play!”
Yuki stared down at the contraption in his hands. “Sorry,” he said, “I don’t play video games.”
Kyo made a disgusted sound and reached up to grab the controller. “Incompetent,” he muttered, resuming the game.
Yuki and Kame shared long-suffering looks.
OUTSIDE THE MUSES ROOM:
“What are we in for this time?” sighed Ryoma as he followed Fuji down the hall. His eyes swept disinterestedly at the not-quite line of people crowded around outside the room they had just exited.
Ritsuka was there, face pressed into Soubi’s chest as his cat ears were stroked by Soubi’s long, slender fingers. Near them was Umeda, looking very irritated and only more so every second that passed with Akiha clinging onto him. Somewhere behind them, Ryoma noticed as he continued following Fuji through the crowd, was Hikaru and Akira, playing a game of go; Apollo and Hermes, wrapped around each other; and Lucifer looking bored, leaning against the wall with Azael diligently braiding his hair.
Further back there was Harry and Draco glaring at each other from opposite sides of the hall, Harry snarling something sounding suspiciously like, “Did you just cheat on me with a wall?” and Ryoma hurried on, not caring to make sure. He passed, also, Matt and Tai, the former looking as if he’d give anything for his guitar and a pair of earplugs, as Tai chattered on incessantly. And then there was Eclipse cradling a sleeping Raenef in his lap.
Ryoma nodded briefly at the demon, recalling their very strange encounter in his dream, and nearly ran into Fuji when the latter stopped in front of a plain looking door with the words FIC ROOM etched into the wood. Under the two words was a handwritten sign, taped on, reading:
Do not disturb or I’ll hit you with my aluminum bat and then forcefeed you hemlock. Damn, I forgot, Legal Drug muses.
Ryoma turned and saw Rikuo and Kazahaya wandering towards the crowd outside the Muses Room. So they existed now, but weren’t of any real importance; until they stepped into the Muses Room, it signified that Mei wasn’t paying them any particular attention and didn’t have any concrete grasp of a fic idea.
However, to be written into a fic, they had to leave the Muses Room and pass by all the neglected muses (just a reminder to Mei that they still existed, thank you very much) and enter the Fic Room.
“I’m sure we’ll have fun, Ryoma,” Fuji said, lifting a hand to the knob. “Don’t we always?”
Ryoma scowled. “Define ‘fun.’”
The door was pulled back before Fuji could open it and Yuki and Shuichi stumbled out. “Yo,” the blond greeted them as he half-dragged an obviously very tired Shuichi behind him. “I hear she’s got plans for Aozu in leather next. Good luck.” Stifling a yawn, Yuki tugged his bleary-eyed lover down the hallway, fumbling for his cigarettes.
Fuji glanced down at Ryoma. “Leather, hmm?” he said meditatively.
Ryoma’s scowl transformed into a smirk. “This should be fun, Syuusuke.” He strolled into the Fic Room and Fuji followed, eyes slit in amusement and just the faintest hint of triumph.
Saa, I knew she couldn’t abandon us. She doesn’t, and won’t ever, know Akame like she knows us.
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Posted: 06.13.2005
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Mei: *headdesks multiple times* I hate my muses. Have I mentioned this lately?
Fuji: *pats her on the head* Don’t worry about it.
Mei: YOU. *glares at Fuji* Stop spamming me with Aozu plot bunnies. And you, *turns to glare at Kyo* be more useful! I owe so many people ALSR10, the least of them being ME.
Kyo: *growl* Why don’t you blame the damned rat?
Yuki: She likes me better.
Mei: I do. I think. Anyway, that’s not important. *glares at Kame and Jin* AND YOU TWO-!
Kame: *grins* Yes?
Mei: Aarghpfdkoahelf;
Jin: Something wrong?
Kame: *drapes self over Jin* Anything we can do to help? *winks*
Mei: Stop being so blatantly in love!
Kame: *considers this* Okay! *glares at Jin, shoves him, pounces, straddles, molests*
Jin: *moan*
Mei: Eeeeeek! *nosebleeds and dies*
Kame: *lifts head briefly to explain* See, we’re not blatantly in love anymore, just blatantly having sex!
Fuji: ^_^ That gives me an idea, Ryoma.