One Step at a time: 19th Chapter
Pairings: tetsu x hyde
Rating: n-17
Disclaimer: You're kidding, right? Don't own. As in, at all.
Summary: A (hopefully) enormously long story of L'Arc~en~Ciel as seen from the perspective of a Tetsuhai fan
In the end, it's not that much later than some of the previous updates, is it? :) Enjoy!
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Chapter 19
The next piece of the puzzle
As far as Tetsu could remember, this was certainly one of the more unforgiving winters that Osaka had seen. The sky would begin spitting snow every once in a while, with random intervals and the unpredictability of it all made for very unpleasant weather. Hyde, being the snow-nut that he was, was rather thrilled by the whole thing. Tetsu, however, behaved in what he perceived to be a much saner manner and glared at the white and cold menace through his window when he turned up the heating in his apartment. It was so cold he would begin shivering whenever he even thought about going outside.
Fortunately for him, he had to go out far less often now than when he had been searching for a drummer. With the daily trip to work and then to practice done, he would return back home as quickly as he could and relished in the warmth… and the company waiting for him there. That was because they all spent most of their free time at home now, working on the parts of their songs that had been penned down by Pero as well as writing new ones that could fill some of the free spots still remaining on the album. They still had not heard back from Sakurazawa, but only a couple of days have passed since Tetsu sent him the tape and it was now only a matter of time until they got his response. Having been reassured by his acquaintance, Tetsu was not that worried about getting a negative answer, but kept hold of the telephone numbers of some free, “closer to home” drummers just in case.
All of this meant he could let himself just sit down somewhere comfortable with a guitar or a simple sheet of paper and let the creative juices flow, all the time enjoying the proximity of his lover. With how stressful life had been for them lately, it felt good to just submerge fully into the music and remember that this was the reason he had chosen the life that he had.
Hyde seemed really relaxed lately as well. At the moment he was almost absentmindedly plucking the strings of his well-worn acoustic guitar, trying to come up with a melody that would fill up a part of a song that he seemed to be having trouble with. Tetsu just could not help but watch him silently from where he sat casually on the couch, a bundle of sheet music mostly forgotten in his lap.
He felt like he shouldn’t disturb the atmosphere for anything, and yet, at the back of his mind there was something that still bothered him.
Getting an idea, or maybe just sensing the bassist’s gaze on him, Hyde chose that moment to look up and smile happily at him.
“What do you think of this?” He asked before strumming out the line he had finally come up with.
“Hmm? It’s good,” Tetsu answered automatically, hardly even realizing it. The vocalist lowered the guitar.
“You didn’t really hear that, did you?” He asked, but there was no annoyance, just another question in his voice. He waited patiently when the bassist did not immediately answer.
“Do you think we should talk?” Tetsu blurted out hastily, but Hyde did not even blink.
“About what?”
“About what Ken said. We didn’t really discuss that whole… fiasco of last week,” the bassist finished, lacking a better word.
Hyde put the guitar aside completely. His face did not completely lose the relaxed expression and he looked like he expected the subject to come up sometime soon. Smiling softly, he just stood up and walked towards the younger man before sitting down right beside him, laying his head down on the bassist’s chest.
“I think it was stupid of us to keep our doubts to ourselves.” He finally spoke, tracing a random pattern on the younger man’s shirt with a finger. “And stupid to allow them put distance between us. But I also think that we both learned our lessons from this already. Just forget it… or, well, just do as Ken said and correct what you think needs correcting. I intend to.”
Feeling tension finally leave him as well, Tetsu smiled and gently pulled Hyde completely onto his lap, shifting their bodies so that the smaller man’s face was right in front of his.
“So you’ll be working on - and I quote Ken here - showing your friendship better, while I try to learn how to leave fewer things up to fate and not trust people too much? You see anything ironic in that?” He joked, as his hands slowly wandered over the smaller man’s body, not intrusively, just rejoicing in the freedom to touch his lover.
“At the moment, the strangest and most ironic thing I know is that I’m straddling your lap and you’re not kissing me yet,” Hyde replied cheekily before taking the initiative and closing the gap between their lips himself. Tetsu certainly had no complaints about that. It’s been too long, the two of them having been buried too deep in their thoughts for the last few weeks to even as much as talk with each other beyond exchanging a few words. It’s been far too long.
He moved to lie down completely on the couch, taking Hyde with him, deepening the kiss, rubbing their tongues together at the same time as their legs twined together as well. It was not long before their hands slipped under each other’s shirts, searching for more skin to touch, stroke and caress, but never having quite enough, the need to get even closer growing with every second…
And then, with the worst timing ever, the phone rang.
Not bothering to stop an annoyed groan from rumbling in his throat, Tetsu broke the passionate kiss and turned to glare at the phone. When that failed to put the ringing to a stop, the bassist reluctantly extracted himself from the knot of limbs that the two of them had become and stumbled towards the disturbance, in some unconscious and silly habit straightening his clothes out a little before picking up the receiver and reciting the usual greeting.
When he heard who was on the other side, however, his expression changed drastically and his back stiffened. Not two seconds into the conversation he suddenly turned back to look wide eyed at the vocalist that was still sprawled on the couch. Without making the slightest sound and still attentively listening to the person speaking at the other end, he mouthed only one word:
“Sakura.”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
It did not take long for Tetsu to realize that Sakura was very much interested in their offer and they soon agreed that it was much more realistic and easier for Sakura to come to Osaka for a more detailed talk than for all three current Laruku members to go to Tokyo. The drummer promised to come a week after the phone call.
It also did not seem necessary for all of them to go and meet Sakura in the station, so the leader left his band-members to practice without him while he went off to fetch their hopefully drummer-to-be by himself. They still had one last live to do with Pero, and it was vital that they did not let down their fans with it thus practice continued on a tight schedule. The live was booked for the very next day, after all, and it would also be a good (and last) opportunity for Sakura to see the band he was considering joining perform live. Tetsu just hoped there wouldn’t be any disappointments - on either side.
After all, even though, as expected, Sakura readily agreed to help them with the recording of the album after as little as hearing the demo tape Tetsu sent him, he still wanted to know more about the band before committing to anything more. This was, obviously, something Tetsu not only expected, but wanted himself as well. He did not want to rush into anything - this might have had something to do with his promise to himself, but it was also just common sense not to trust anyone too much before actually getting to know them. And being in a band together required a lot of trust and understanding.
This was how this late evening found him standing alone in the brisk end-of-the-year cold in the train station, rubbing his gloved hands together in an attempt to somewhat warm up his hands. It was not snowing at the moment, but the weather was still far from pleasant. So he was more than relieved when the train he was waiting for finally arrived.
He had seen a few photos of their potential drummer so he knew what to look for and his eyes quickly scouted out a man dressed entirely in black stepping out onto the platform. Even his bag, slung carelessly over his shoulder, was black, finishing the dark ensemble completely.
Tetsu had to refrain from scowling disapprovingly when he witnessed the man lighting up a cigarette even before he took a moment to look around, but managed to muster a welcoming smile when the drummer finally spotted him. The two simultaneously stepped towards each other and met in the middle, Tetsu automatically doing the customary introductory bow even as people hustled all around them.
“I’m Ogawa Tetsuya, the leader of L’Arc~en~Ciel, it’s nice to meet you,” he said straightening out just in time to catch the slight nod from the other man.
“Sakurazawa Yasunori. Just Sakura is fine. And likewise,” he introduced himself as well, even though they spoke with each other over the phone already and knew what to expect. Now that the drummer was standing before him, however, Tetsu was getting a strange vibe from him that he could not quite put his finger on, but he shrugged it away. Maybe he was getting a tad too paranoid about this. He was probably just annoyed by the other sharing the smoking habit with Hyde and the other members of his band.
“If you’re not too tired, we can hail a taxi and go straight to meeting the other members?” Tetsu continued politely and the newcomer just shrugged.
“That’s what I’m here for, ain't I. Just show the way,” he said, smiling a bit back at him.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*
As they had expected, the practice was long over and Pero was no longer in sight when the two men walked into the studio. Obviously having been left alone for a while already and trying to stave off boredom, Hyde found entertainment in playing the guitar while Ken amused himself by singing. Both stopped as soon as they noticed them enter, looking a bit sheepish, but that did not stop Sakura from looking rather dumbfounded (and maybe a bit worried) at the few seconds of their performance that he was ‘fortunate’ enough to hear. Tetsu failed spectacularly in hiding his smile.
“Don’t worry, you'll find that Hyde is a much better vocalist than he is a guitarist,” he reassured the younger man, stifling a chuckle. This earned him a “Hey!” from his lover, complete with a childish pout. But Hyde still obediently put the guitar down and moved away from it. Ken had succumbed to the amusement and chuckled openly at the vocalist’s expense as well, but he shut up rather quickly when Tetsu continued talking, not finished with his explanations yet:
“And when Ken plays the guitar, your ears won’t bleed as opposed to when he sings.”
He just grinned back unperturbed at all when Ken gave him the finger for his effort. Clearly amused, Sakura was smiling by now as well.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, inclining his head to the two men in a greeting after the less than standard introduction.
“At least you didn’t have the “pleasure” of hearing Tetsu on the drums,” Ken said, recovering enough to get his own revenge, before badly covering his mouth from Tetsu and saying in an awfully staged whisper: “When he’s angry, he tends to confuse people’s heads for cymbals!”
This caused the newcomer to let out a full-blown laugh.
“I guess I won’t be lending him my drumsticks any time soon then,” he said and added in a slightly less joking tone. “I think I’m gonna like it here.”
With the atmosphere lightened up before it even could start getting tense, Tetsu finally let himself really relax and retreat into a more observational role. Both Ken and Hyde seemed to be immediately hitting it off with Sakura and his lover was already urging the man to sit down behind the drum set that Pero had left untouched after the practice just for this very purpose. After a few minutes of scrutinizing the unfamiliar set up, the drummer indulged them and, from there, the meeting quickly dissolved into a pretty heated jamming session.
It took almost an hour for them to get it out of their systems, but everyone was left impressed by the end of it. As Ken and Hyde continued to quiz Sakura about his experiences in the band circles, Tetsu thought that maybe he, once again, got lucky with finding a suitable member in an unimaginably short time. From the look on his face, Sakura looked like he would probably not hesitate long if they asked him to join Laruku permanently right that very moment.
“So, mister leader person,” Sakura caught his attention with a smile, “Do I pass the interview?”
“Without a doubt,” Tetsu answered readily, the others nodding in agreement.
“Ah, that’s good,” the drummer replied, “I was worried I’d have to pronounce your band name correctly as a test or something. Would have failed miserably then…” he trailed off, earning chuckles from Hyde and Ken.
“We teach that during the initiation,” Ken explained jokingly, “So you don’t have to worry about that before you actually agree to be a member.”
“And you can size us up during our live tomorrow,” Tetsu interrupted, wary of swearing to too much too early. “Speaking of which, we should all go rest up for that now. Ah, no, don’t worry about that,” he said suddenly when Sakura immediately moved to clear up the drums. “Hyde and I will take care of it, you two just go home. We’ll be taking the instruments from here tomorrow anyway.”
Sakura was obviously rather confused by his chosen wording, so Ken moved to clarify.
“You probably don’t have anything else planned, so you’re welcome to stay at my place. I have the softest futon from all of us,” he explained.
The three of them actually discussed this between themselves beforehand, and all of them agreed that this would be the best option. As they did not quite know Sakura yet, they decided it was not a good idea to tell him about Tetsu’s and Hyde’s relationship. Tetsu, himself, felt almost an obligation not to trust Sakura too fast, Hiro’s words echoing in his mind nonstop. And if Sakura were to live in either his or Hyde’s apartment, he would quickly catch on to what’s going on.
“Alright then, see you tomorrow?” The new acquaintance asked as he moved to follow the guitarist that was already halfway dressed and out the door. Tetsu and Hyde nodded and bid their goodbyes, Hyde offering an extra wide smile.
Instead of immediately moving to take care of the instruments after the two were gone, however, Hyde took the opportunity to snake his arms around Tetsu, a content sigh escaping his lips as he relaxed, looking like he missed contact with the bassist terribly through the day. Tetsu, finally feeling the long day catch up with him as well, also melted into the embrace, his lips gently descending to plant a soft kiss on the top of the smaller man’s head.
“I like him,” Hyde spoke after a few moments of them just standing like that in silence, “He’s not rowdy, but he’s not stiff or too quiet either. He’s fun. And he’s really good with drums.”
“I think he can be a bit overconfident though. And he’s still rough around the edges,” Tetsu said, mostly just to mention it than from a real wish to argue.
“We all are,” Hyde pointed out, his fingers absentmindedly playing with a stray strand of the hair falling down Tetsu’s back. “And you’re a little underconfident lately.”
“Mmm, maybe. I’m not saying I don’t want him in Laruku you know,” Tetsu muttered, “I’m just making a point of being careful.”
“Okay then.”
“We should start packing things up.”
“Mm.”
“I’ll fall asleep where I stand if I don’t move soon.”
“Mm.”
“Did you hear me?”
“Mm.”
They didn’t let each other go for another ten minutes at the least.
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I found the weirdest gap in my Laruku knowledge while writing this one - where is Sakura in Laruku on the height scale? I'm kind of wary of judging by sight from photos and videos, knowing that their footwear can easily fool the perception sometimes XD Obviously, he's higher than Hyde (who isn't?) but further than that, I'm a bit afraid to assume...
I apologize for the lameness. Dunno how that happened, Hyde and Ken just insisted on fooling around and being stupid in this chapter... XD
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Chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20