OUaK Consideration Post
Okay, so it's been some time since I posted saying I was considering rewriting OUaK and I asked if anyone had any feedback for me. I've come to a couple of different decisions about this story, things I want to share on here. Maybe even talk them out if there's no one... *ahem* Anyone who wants to offer a hand in creating the new story.
From here on folks this will be all spoilers. I'm going to go into some heavy detail about major plot points and much more. So if you don't want to have the ending or certain drama to be revealed to you then please, avert your eyes. If you still want to give some advice or suggest something, you can always comment on my previous post which doesn't have any spoilers. Thank you for your time~
So... If you're reading this that means you're getting spoiled - no pun intended - so buckle up.
First things first: The overall plot line.
Now I've gone back and forth for quite awhile about thinking up a new plot for this story. Since I still like the dynamic of Kyo being a jrocker and Ruki being your average joe to play out, I've got a few ideas on how they could meet and get together.
Idea #1: Ruki and the guys had every intention of starting a band and were working hard on creating their own songs, not just covers, and stating to build an image for themselves when disaster strikes. On his way to - I don't know yet - Ruki gets into a car accident and is severely injured when the seat belt he was wearing shifted and locked across his throat, suffocating him and damaging his throat to the point where Ruki actually loses his voice for a couple of months. With therapy and surgery, Ruki is able to regain the use of his voice but it's weak and breaks often. During his recovery, the band is let go from the record label who doesn't want to keep a new band that hasn't even produced an EP or even performed on their books, there's plenty of other bands they can pick up and make money on right now after all. Unless they plan on replacing Ruki, which of course the boys say no to immediately - especially Reita and Uruha, and Gaze never takes off. They do try to rearrange things with Aoi taking lead as vocal, but after being out of the scene for months what few fans they'd collected have all seemed to disappear. The five still remain close friends, and even try to produce music now and again, but they've accepted that music just isn't in their future and have gotten regular jobs. Said job is where Ruki meets Kyo for the first time, working in the cafe with Kai - who by now is working on taking over the place from his parents. Ruki usually works the late shifts, which is Kyo's preferred time to come in because it's not as busy and he really enjoys the music that the cafe plays (Ruki's choice of course) and the two bond over Ruki's critics of popular music and Kyo's hatred for mainstream.
That's an idea that I'm leaning towards and the one that most resembles the original plot for OUaK. So I guess for nostalgia reasons that one’s always kind of stuck out to me. Still, I have a few more ideas.
Idea #2: Ruki is gay - has known it for years, and has tried to keep it hidden from everyone because it's Japan. Back in the early 2000's even. So it's quite difficult to date or meet up with willing men and not expose himself. Ruki makes the awful mistake of sleeping with Kisaki, thinking the man could at least be trusted to keep things secretive because of his own popularity. However, when Kisaki comes under review for tax fraud and evasion, Kisaki decides instead to use his previous relationship with Ruki as a means of distraction. The media is all over their supposed love affair and rumors about Ruki coercing Kisaki into making poor decisions is thrown around. Obviously the attention is detrimental to the band and what little ground they'd been making in the music world. Suddenly all their hard work was being thrown in their face with people claiming they only got their recording contract because of Kisaki or that Ruki had slept with executives to get the kind of deal they had. It's a shitstorm for the band and Ruki especially, and in a fit of grief and self-loathing, Ruki quits the band without any notice and essentially disappears. Ruki pops back up years later, only this time he's hidden himself away by pretending to be a mute woman (considering his voice is very deep and noticeable) when he meets Kyo outside of a music store. Kyo had gone in hopes of finding something new to inspire him to write their latest album when he literally runs into Ruki and knocks his recent purchases out of hand. Queue the vehemently denied feelings of love at first sight when Kyo finally gets a good look at the woman he knocked over, but Ruki panics at seeing Kyo and flees.
This one has the chance to be really dramatic and definitely more of a hurt/comfort and romance story. Though I don’t see how I could work the story so Ruki returns back into the front man for the Gazette. Well… I mean, it could be done, but it would be a long and difficult road. So I don’t know how I feel about this one. But I have one more idea.
Idea #3: The stars had misaligned for the band. For a short time the band thought they were going places and were going to hit it big anytime soon, but when the Matina label went under and PS Company had decided against signing them on due to inexperience, the Gazette sort of floundered. They tried for the first two years to try and keep pushing with the band, taking any gig that would get them seen even if it didn't pay, but eventually they had to let it go. Three of them were living together to try and make ends meet and one of them was even living out of his car. Jobs were tough when they could only manage part time while trying to keep the dream alive until finally they threw in the towel. Exchanging guitars and amps for a desk job or an apron, the five drifted apart. Kai was picked up by another band and Aoi decided to go a different route and got himself hired as a studio guitarist, leaving Reita, Uruha and Ruki to normal lives. That is until Reita manages to score a job as a roadie for Miyavi no less. Jealous, the two beg and plead until Reita manages to convince his sort-of-friend to try and get the others onto the crew. The plan works for Uruha, which they’re all super happy about, but not Ruki. Ruki, on the other hand, somehow manages to land a job as a stylist (because that's what he's currently doing) of none other than Dir en grey. Needless to say, Ruki is floored when the first official job as Dir en grey’s new stylist is to help Kyo get ready for an interview with a local magazine because Kyo scared off their previous one.
This one could be quite fun and adventurous. Of course, we’d been missing some of the gaze boys in this story but I’d be able to tie in more of the same cuteness and humor OUaK had the first time around. But like I said, they’re all just ideas for now. I really don’t know which way to go, they all sound like good directions to try but I want a story that people would really enjoy and connect to, like they did with the original - which brings me to another plot point.
Pairings!
Now oviously, Kyo/Ruki is going to be the main one here. But each story has potential to introduce other love interests, for Ruki and Kyo, as well as the opportunity for side pairings. I’m pretty much open to any matchup between the other eight men from gaze and diru. (Cuz I’m a perv~) And these pairings all could offer more drama to the story such as ex-lovers to the main pairings, currently one-sided feelings, jealous or even revenge plots, and even OCs who have ex-lovers in common with the boys. Lots of drama to be had there and I’m interested to know if there’s a particular side pairing or other that you (the readers) want to see happen.
Long rant, I know. But this is just the starting block to what I want to do and where OUaK can go from here. I’d really like to hear back from my readers, so if you have any thoughts or questions - throw them at me!