[Pippa] Mashed-up Paper
Mashed-up Paper
pg; ryoda; additional mentions of Nakamaru and random females
AU, fluffy fluff. Written for the ryoda-love Valentine's mini-exchange in February. I totally forgot that I'd never reposted this @-@;; Writer!Tatsuya is commissioned to work with Singer!Ryo on a series of new songs for Ryo's newest album.
"You can't be serious," Ryo said, giving his manager his best look of disbelief. "Ueda Tatsuya? This guy wrote the theme song for that girly anime a few years back, didn't he? Most annoying song on the whole planet. No way is he writing for me."
Toda-san raised an eyebrow and peered at Ryo over her rectangular-framed glasses. "That 'most annoying song' also ranked first in the Oricon charts for eight weeks straight," she said, "and was their Single of the Year in 2008, but if you don't want to work with someone who has consistent successes in writing for various different artists, and would rather we went with an - admittedly cheaper - less experienced writer…"
"Fine." Ryo slumped in his chair with a sigh. "Fine. Blackmail me again, why don't you. As long as I don't have to sing something like Bubble Pop Princess, okay? Even I have my limits."
"That is not the only song in his repertoire," Toda-san said, but stopped short as the musician slowly leaned forward in his chair and started reading the stapled-together papers on the table in front of him. "Your first meeting is in two days. His agent says he has a song in the works already."
"Sure," Ryo nodded, but it was a distant acknowledgement, and his manager got to her feet and left the room before he even realised what she'd said.
~
Since joining a major record label two years before, Nishikido Ryo had been tentatively going from strength to strength, building on his already-strong fan-base from his more indies days. Some fans had followed him after the split with his original band, hardcore members of his Fan Club and street team workers who would paste flyers around the city for free. Despite his steady stream of minor successes, however, Ryo had yet to rank in the top 10 of the weekly charts and as such, his label called in a few favours to bring a quality writer on-side.
With this in mind, Ryo was expecting something a little different from the person who stood and bowed repeatedly, almost nervously, when Ryo entered the room. "I'm Ueda Tatsuya," that person said, not meeting Ryo's eyes as he bowed again. "Please treat me kindly."
"Nishikido Ryo. Let's work well together." Formalities out of the way, Ryo set his guitar case down, propping the neck against the table as he sat down next to it. "I hear you already have something for me?"
"Yes…" Ueda nodded once, pressing his lips together. "Although… now that I've met you, I'm less sure that it fits your style…"
"Try me?" Ryo was not in the mood for back-pedalling. "You never know, right."
"Right." With his confidence growing visibly, Ueda produced a folder from his bag and slid a clear plastic wallet across the table. "Please read the lyrics." He pulled an mp3 player from his bag too, and set that on the table between them. "I've got a demo recording too, naturally."
"How do you even pronounce this title?" Ryo said. "Are people really going to buy music they can't read the name of?"
"Papier-mâché," Ueda said, pointing to the tiny katakana under the title, along with the Japanese translation. "It's French. Well, and English, too."
"Right," Ryo wondered whether or not this was becoming needlessly complex and perhaps a remake of Bubble Pop Princess would be less mentally taxing, if proportionately more damaging to his rockstar reputation.
"French is internationally seen as the language of love, right?" Ueda leaned forward in his chair, looking down at the papers before him. "This is a Valentine's-day single."
"About 'mashed-up paper' love?"
"Yes, that's right!" Ueda nodded as though this made perfect sense. "If you want to listen to the demo, it's-"
"Wait," Ryo held up his hand. "Hold on a minute. Let me read these, I'm not following you here." There was a pause as Ryo looked down at the words on the page. The pause stretched even longer as he read them a second, third time. He looked up.
"You know," Ryo tilted his head a little, eyes narrowed. "Unexpectedly, you are cleverer than you look."
And, equally unexpectedly, Ueda laughed. "No, no, I'm really not! It's just songs. I can do songs."
"Slowly, steadily, we'll make our own love."
Ueda nodded. "Do you want to hear the demo now?" His hands - which had stilled in their nervous movements - indicated towards the lump of metal and plastic on the table.
"Yeah. Yeah, go on. I don't want to be needlessly optimistic, but… I think... this might actually work."
~
"Ryo-chan, I'm sorry, there's been a mix-up," Toda-san said, the clacking of her heels on the floor breaking Ryo's concentration before the woman had even come close enough to speak. "Ueda-san's manager double-booked him for today; he has to finish wrapping up with his last contract at the same time as we'd arranged for you to meet today."
"Huh?" Ryo tossed the ballpoint pen and guitar pick down onto the notebook he'd been working from. "So now my whole afternoon is… empty?"
Toda-san tried to grin. "See it as an unlooked-for opportunity to get some sleep?"
"No," Ryo said, shaking his head and closing the notebook he'd been working in. "I'll go to his recording studio or office or something. I need input on this before we move on to the next step. Give me the directions?"
As it turned out, the Sparking World Studios were in a part of town that Ryo was familiar with; the studio his own label used was close by, although not quite as glamorous. A girl with a cute, fresh face and a name badge reading 'Kobayashi' signed him in at the reception desk and directed him to the eighth floor where, she said, there was a waiting room he could use without being interrupted. There was also, Ryo discovered, a machine that dispensed coffee for free, and a tin of cookies. Both of these served as an added incentive to stay, and since he had time to kill Ryo sat down and started scribbling away.
The title track for the Valentine's Day single was pretty much complete; Ryo was happy with the lyrics and the arrangement was more or less to his liking, but Ueda had refused point-blank to give Ryo any additional pre-written songs, saying that they would not be any good unless they were written specifically with him in mind. As such, Ryo had spent the last two days going through his notebooks and compiling a master list of phrases, song snippets and potential titles that they could use.
It was in the middle of continuing to work on this list, lying on his stomach across the sofa, that Ryo gradually fell asleep. The notebook slipped from between his arms and flopped to the floor unheeded, as Ryo's head sank lower and lower until his face pressed against the seat. The steady thrum of traffic on the streets below became gentle background noise to Ryo's soft breathing, and the coffee on the floor by the sofa cooled, completely forgotten.
The noise of the door opening and soft footsteps treading across the room registered in Ryo's brain before he was fully awake or even able to identify the sounds in his mind. There was a pause, and the faint rustling sound of clothing on a person close by, and then a slightly damp sound and a soft "…shit." Ryo's eyes snapped open and he rolled onto his side - but rolled the wrong way, and suddenly found himself landing with a thud and the tear of wet papers as he fell into the mess of spilled coffee and scattered pages of notes.
"What the hell!" he snapped, eyes wide and furious. "You creepy freak!" Ryo looked down at his ruined notebook, horrified as the ink smudged on the once-white pages and rendered them illegible.
"I'm sorry, I'm really, so sorry," Ueda stepped backwards, the backs of his legs bashing against the small table by the couch as he stumbled and dropped the blanket he was holding. "Really, I…"
"Two days! That's how long I've been working on this! That's forty-eight hours! Years of song-writing history compiled into… into… and now look at it." Ryo glared at Ueda, whose expression was gradually growing more and more mutinous. "Moron."
Ueda blinked. "I'm sorry, I'm the moron?" His words were increasing in volume and faster-paced. "Which idiot left his coffee on the floor instead of on the table? Who invited himself here in the first place?"
"Who was it who got himself double-booked and fucked with my schedule?" Ryo got to his feet, ignoring the large patch of cold coffee staining his jeans as he stepped toward the other man. "For a single that's due to start promoting in a week, we're cutting it a little fine to be fucking around." Ryo had mastered the art of appearing almost-threatening to new people despite his less-than-intimidating stature. It seemed to be working; Ueda edged backwards and tripped on the blanket that had fallen to the floor and tangled around his feet.
Ryo snorted with laughter; Ueda blushed. The tension melted.
"That wasn't me, that was Yuichi," Ueda pointed out as he freed his feet from the blanket. "Uh, my PA, and I've yelled at him already," he clarified in response to Ryo's puzzled expression. He got back to his feet and paused for a moment; Ryo was pretty certain he could see the cogs turning behind the other man's eyes. "There's a launderette down the road. I can ask Ryoko to get your jeans cleaned, if you want to stay and try to… somehow repair this mess."
Somehow, though Ryo had been waiting there for so long, this was surprising. "Well," he said, shrugging and unfastening his belt, "since this place must have cost billions, you can probably afford to clean my jeans." There was a half-grin on his face that could have been mistaken for a grimace, except that was the moment when Ueda's PA walked in.
"Tat-chan, I just received a call from Nishikido-san's manager and-" The skinny man stopped short, eyes widening as he saw one man standing there in his underwear, and his boss looking distinctly flustered. "Forgive me," he said, bowing deeply to cover his embarrassment as he stepped back towards the door.
"Nakamaru, wait," Ueda's voice caught in his throat and he ended up coughing. "Um, can you ask Ryoko to send Nishikido-kun's jeans to be washed?"
"…Right. Yes, certainly."
~
Searching for another pair of pants was too much like hard work, so Ryo ended up with the blanket wrapped around his hips, sprawled out across the couch holding his head up with one hand as he peered over Ueda's shoulder at the notes they were writing. The copper-haired man sat on the floor in front of him with back against the couch, and Ryo found his eyes drawn to the tiny flick where the other man's hair curled behind his ear, to the line of his jaw, down to where his long-fingered hands held the pen that scribbled across the page.
"Your writing is messy," Ryo commented, and the pen stilled.
"Sorry," Ueda said. Then, with a more playful edge: "You could always write your own songs yourself…"
"Definitely not," Ryo said, sitting up and leaning on Ueda's shoulders. "Then you'd be out of a job."
"It would convey greater authenticity," Ueda teased, grinning up at Ryo.
"Shut up," Ryo said, standing and going to fetch his guitar. His arrogant attitude was somewhat marred by the fact that he had to hold his blanket-skirt up to avoid tripping on it as he crossed the room. Ueda scribbled a line about princesses in the margin.
"Do you think we can really do this?" Ryo stood there for a moment, guitar in hand.
Ueda looked at Ryo with a thoughtful expression before he nodded. "Of course. Top ten in the Oricon charts for the week of Valentine's Day. Top five album sales in the summer. We can do it."
The fresh-faced girl from the reception desk brought Ryo's jeans back a couple of hours later and laughingly scolded Ueda for tipping coffee over clients. Though he could have left then Ryo stayed on, the sounds of their voices and the faint notes from Ryo's acoustic guitar filtering out into the hallway. Being winter, it was no surprise when the skies grew dark, but when Ryo looked up at the clock on the wall he was surprised to see how late the hour had become.
"I need to get back," he said, halting mid-way through playing the chord sequence they'd been working on. "I'll miss the last train."
Ueda looked up at the clock, and his face too showed the surprise Ryo had felt. "I can get a driver to take you home," he said. "I don't even know when the last train runs from here."
"We could…" Ryo paused, and looked down at his guitar. "We could always go out for a drink, or something."
"You mean… like nomikai? It might be weird to have a work's drinking party with just the two of us…"
"Well, I did mean just the two of us normally," Ryo began to feel a little foolish, "but if you'd rather make it an official work thing I guess we can invite your PA and that cute girl…"
"You are not hitting on Ryoko," Ueda said, expression intense. "She's far too young for a villain like you."
Ryo couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry, you don't have to defend her virginity from me. She's not my type."
"Good."
~
"What does Nishikido-kun want to do this Valentine's Day?" Ueda said, leaning across the table and holding his beer bottle out to Ryo like a microphone.
"Hm," Ryo pretended to look thoughtful, though the expression was over-exaggerated. "Eat so much chocolate that I get sick," he decided, with a determined nod. He took the bottle from Ueda's hand as the other man laughed, and mimicked the gesture, reversing the situation. "And Ueda-kun? What are his plans for the most romantic day of the year?"
Ueda's thoughtful expression looked genuine, and his voice was unexpectedly soft when he spoke. "Memories," he said. "I want to make memories."
Ryo didn't know what to say to that. Somehow, it made his silly answer seem even more childish. Instead, he reached out further and held the bottle to Ueda's lips, across the table. "Drink!" he said, and tilted the bottle until Ueda's eyes widened at the beer dribbling out of the neck of the bottle and spilling down his chin. As Ueda spluttered, Ryo added: "I don't really like chocolate, anyway."
"You dork," Ueda laughed, wiping his face with a napkin. "What did you do that for?"
"Your answer was too serious," Ryo said, drinking his own beer and refusing to look at Ueda's face. "That was your punishment."
"I see," the other man smiled, not offended. "I'll be 'un-serious' from now on, then. Should I put pants on my head as well?"
Ryo snorted into his beer, and looked up grinning. "No, that would just make you look stupid."
Suitably warmed by the alcohol but not drunk enough to be idiotic, the two men stepped out onto the night-time streets. Ryo paused as he looked up, hands plunged deep into his pockets. "Look," he said. "It's snowing."
"So it is." Ueda stood beside him, hands in his own pockets, breath misting into the air. The snow fell heavily around them, in thick lumps that deadened the sound around them and quickly blanketed the streets. Cars still made their way along the roads, the brightness of their headlamps only highlighting the quickly-falling snow. "Come on," he said. "Let's get moving, in case it gets worse."
"Aren't you the type to appreciate the beauty of the first snow of the year?" Ryo asked, catching up to Ueda's pace. "You seemed like you would."
"I am," Ueda nodded reluctantly, "but everything is prettier when you're inside and not ridiculously cold." He pulled a hand out of his pocket and pressed the backs of his icy fingers to Ryo's cheek.
Ryo yelped, and stopped dead. "You're freezing! It's all very well being stick-thin if you get cold so fast," he glowered. "You don't even have gloves. Idiot."
"It's okay," came the response. "Don't you find that gloves don't warm your hands, if they're already cold?"
Rolling his eyes, Ryo held out his own bare hand. "Don't make me hold hands with you to stop your fingers falling off."
"They won't drop off, I promise," Ueda grinned, but he took Ryo's hand anyway.
Ueda's long sleeves half-covered Ryo's hand too as they walked side-by-side along the deserted street, neither of them saying anything or even looking at each other. Ryo silently wondered if it was possible to be more unsubtle than this.
~
With the songs for the single completed, Ryo's days were quickly filled with recording sessions and promotional work for the new release while Ueda continued to write both for Ryo and for the other artists with whom he had contracts. In spite of this, Ryo found himself looking for more and more excuses to call the songwriter, even if it was for something only vaguely connected to work (or sometimes not at all). Waiting in the dressing room backstage at the studio for Music Station recording the week before his single was due for release, Ryo thought he had found the perfect excuse. He flipped his cell phone open, and dialled Ueda's number.
"Hi." Ueda answered almost immediately, and Ryo found himself instantly in a better mood. "How're you?"
"About to go and record for M-Ste. You?"
"Mm, working," came the vague response.
Ryo frowned, and glanced at his watch. "Still?" He paused to listen as the faint sound of Ueda singing under his breath reached his ears. "Sing that part again, I liked that."
Ueda laughed, and Ryo grinned to hear the embarrassed edge to the sound. "No way, definitely not. I can't sing."
Leaning back in his chair, Ryo raised an eyebrow at himself in the mirror. "Not everyone thinks my voice is amazing either, you know. Surprising though that may be." Again, Ueda's laugh rang down the line, and Ryo found himself grinning once more, before he glared at his reflection for being silly. "How come you're still working, then?"
"It's your fault," Ueda said. "I talk to you so much that I'm at risk of falling behind with my other projects."
"Oh." Ryo felt guilty. He didn't like feeling guilty. "You could always ignore my calls." Except that if he did, Ryo knew he would be in a bad mood until the next time they spoke.
"No I couldn't. I… like talking to you." There was the distant sound of rustling paper, and then a noise that Ryo could not identify as the background noises grew louder.
"Where are you?" Ryo asked, frowning. "You don't sound like you're at the office, or at home…"
"I'll call you back in a minute," Ueda said, and the line promptly went dead.
Ryo stared at his cell phone for a moment, until the glowing screen dimmed and a knock on the door reminded him that there were fifteen minutes until it was time to go into the recording studio. With a groan, Ryo got up off his chair and shrugged out of his jacket, pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it to the side as he reached for the shirt he had chosen to wear for the performance. Another knock, and Ryo straightened, half-turning as the door opened to admit a slim, toned figure.
"You!" Ryo's mouth fell open in bewilderment. "You… weren't at home or the office! I knew it."
"That's right," Ueda nodded. "You're a real genius, Nishikido," he grinned, and closed the door behind him. "I thought I'd come to wish you luck in person. I hadn't forgotten."
"Lies," Ryo said, grinning despite himself.
"Ah, that's right," Ueda's expression radiated sincerity. "I saw your name flash up on my cell phone, remembered that you were recording tonight and therefore instantly raced all the way across town so that I could get to you in less than ten minutes." His eyes shone with amusement.
"I thought so," Ryo nodded. "Can you stay? Sit down and talk to me while I get ready."
"It's fine," Ueda said, sitting down as instructed. "I bought work along with me in case you decided to let me stick around."
"Bringing work when you come to wish me luck, how romantic," Ryo said with a raised eyebrow as he tugged at his shirt collar. "Really promoting the 'rabu-rabu' Valentine's image there, Tatsuya."
Ueda shrugged as he shamelessly stole a slurp of Ryo's coffee. "You're the one promoting romance tonight, not me," he said. "This coffee tastes awful."
"I know," Ryo said, his voice distant as he concentrated on tying his tie correctly. "You should take me out for a proper coffee after filming is over."
"Okay."
Ryo paused and glanced at the mirror to see Ueda's reflection looking at Ryo's back. There was a vague half-smile on the other man's face, as though he was in his own world - but a world that somehow included him. Ryo cleared his throat in a bid to crush the fluttery feeling in his stomach, and spoke up. "You're staring at me," he said, and grinned when Ueda's startled eyes met his in the mirror and the other man looked away, cheeks colouring. "It's okay," he nodded. "I know I'm gorgeous."
"And not egotistical at all," Ueda replied, grinning through his embarrassment. The final reminder sounded over the loudspeakers, and Ueda got to his feet. "It's time for you to head off and wow the masses with your song," he said.
"Our song," Ryo corrected him, turning to face the other man and holding his arms by his side, as though ready for inspection. "How do I look?"
Ueda looked at him, really looked, and Ryo found himself growing warm from the force of his scrutiny. "Good," Ueda finally said, with a nod. "You look good. Missing something, though."
"Oh?" Any other response died on Ryo's lips as Ueda stepped forward and put his arms around Ryo and hugged him. He trapped Ryo's own arms in the process, effectively pinning them to his sides so all Ryo could do was stand there, feeling the hammering of Ueda's heart against his chest, smelling the shampoo-scent of his hair. After a moment, Ueda's hold loosened and as he began to step away, Ryo grabbed his wrist and pulled him back, this time joining the embrace.
"Right then," Ryo said gruffly, stepping back and smoothing his shirt again. "I'm going now. Yeah. …Thanks." He turned and headed for the door, but was slow enough to catch the hoarse 'good luck' from the other man.
Ryo grinned all the way into the studio.
~
"You were really good," Ueda said as soon as Ryo stepped out of the doors and onto the rainy street. He held his large umbrella out a little and Ryo stepped under it; though the rain was not falling heavily, shelter was still preferable. "I watched on the screens in the dressing room."
"Thanks," Ryo nodded. "I still feel like a moron trying to pronounce that stupid title."
Ueda half-grinned as they started to walk down the street towards the nearest café. "You still managed it better than anybody else."
"Naturally."
Ueda nudged Ryo with his elbow, and then laughed when Ryo nudged him back. They were still laughing when they reached the coffee shop, Ryo heading straight to the counter while Ueda put his folded umbrella in the rack by the door. Coffees obtained, they sat down on a squishy couch, and as he relaxed a wave of tiredness made Ryo sink further back against the cushions.
"Must be hard," Ueda observed, "all that promotional work you're doing."
"Mm," Ryo half-agreed with a shrug. "It's not so bad, being busy. Better than having too much free time."
Ueda nodded, then paused. "I can't really relate. I don't think I've stopped being busy since I was in elementary school." He smiled a little self-deprecatingly and reached out for his coffee.
"But your hard work has paid off though, hasn't it," Ryo said, watching Ueda tentatively sip his hot drink. "You're successful, you've got money… you met me…"
"Absolutely," Ueda nodded, voice quiet. "I'm lucky."
"You don't have to sound so half-hearted about it," Ryo snorted, sitting up to reach for his own mug.
"But I wasn't," the other man said with a frown. Ueda looked down at the fingerless gloves covering his hands that cradled the coffee mug. "I wasn't half-hearted. I meant it. I'm glad we've met."
There was a pause, and once again, Ryo found himself not quite knowing what to say. "You're being serious again," he said.
Ueda grinned. "Please don't make me spill this on myself. It's hot."
Ryo shook his head. "I won't. It's okay to be serious sometimes, even with me."
~
"Please forgive me."
The words were blurted out over the telephone as soon as Ryo lifted the receiver to his ear, so rushed that he almost missed them. "What?"
There was a pause, and Ueda spoke again. "You don't get the chart rankings mailed to your phone, then."
"Shit," Ryo suddenly found himself awake. "That's today! Wait, hang on, I just woke up." Ryo reached out to brush the touchpad of his laptop, and squinted in protest as the screen suddenly brightened. "Is it that bad? Did we even place in the top 100?"
"Um."
Dread coiling tighter and tighter in the pit of Ryo's stomach, he scrolled down the list of songs and artists as the silence grew heavy in the air. Not in the top five - well, that was too optimistic anyway. Not in the top seven… eight… nine… ten…
"…Eleventh." Silence met him on the other end of the line. "Ueda, you're apologising for writing a song that's helped me get to my highest chart position to date?"
"I promised you a top ten place," Ueda responded, his tone reluctant. "I've never failed anyone like this before."
"You'll just have to try harder for my next single then," Ryo said assertively. "I shall expect to be in the top five."
"I'll do my best," Ueda's words were formal and automatic before his brain caught up with his mouth. "Next time? You're still keeping me, though I failed you?"
"Stop talking in terms of successes or failures," Ryo rolled his eyes and flopped back down on his bed with a groan. "Not everything's so black and white. Of course I'm 'keeping' you, moron."
"…I'm so glad," Ueda said, and he really sounded it. Ryo chuckled faintly, drowsy again already, and felt his eyes closing.
"Are you busy this morning?" he asked suddenly, remembering that he was still on the phone. "I'm sleepy."
"I… not hugely," Ueda confessed, "I've got a meeting with Jun-kun and the other session musicians this afternoon, but that's more an evening thing and…"
"Come over," Ryo said, smothering a yawn. "Holding the phone is annoying."
He could practically hear Ueda's smile. "What, to cuddle up in bed with you?"
"If you want," Ryo shrugged, grinned.
"If we're papier-mâché," Ueda said suddenly, "which of us is the paper, and which is the paste?"
It said something about them that Ryo was no longer fazed by such seeming nonsense. "I'm the paper," he said.
"What, because people notice you but I'm the part that holds you together?"
"Something like that," Ryo pulled the blankets up around his ears. "Either that, or you have a soggy personality."
"I am hanging up now," Ueda said. "Don't drift off again before you let me in."
"Yeah," Ryo nodded into his pillow, and promptly fell asleep.
::end::
pg; ryoda; additional mentions of Nakamaru and random females
AU, fluffy fluff. Written for the ryoda-love Valentine's mini-exchange in February. I totally forgot that I'd never reposted this @-@;; Writer!Tatsuya is commissioned to work with Singer!Ryo on a series of new songs for Ryo's newest album.
"You can't be serious," Ryo said, giving his manager his best look of disbelief. "Ueda Tatsuya? This guy wrote the theme song for that girly anime a few years back, didn't he? Most annoying song on the whole planet. No way is he writing for me."
Toda-san raised an eyebrow and peered at Ryo over her rectangular-framed glasses. "That 'most annoying song' also ranked first in the Oricon charts for eight weeks straight," she said, "and was their Single of the Year in 2008, but if you don't want to work with someone who has consistent successes in writing for various different artists, and would rather we went with an - admittedly cheaper - less experienced writer…"
"Fine." Ryo slumped in his chair with a sigh. "Fine. Blackmail me again, why don't you. As long as I don't have to sing something like Bubble Pop Princess, okay? Even I have my limits."
"That is not the only song in his repertoire," Toda-san said, but stopped short as the musician slowly leaned forward in his chair and started reading the stapled-together papers on the table in front of him. "Your first meeting is in two days. His agent says he has a song in the works already."
"Sure," Ryo nodded, but it was a distant acknowledgement, and his manager got to her feet and left the room before he even realised what she'd said.
~
Since joining a major record label two years before, Nishikido Ryo had been tentatively going from strength to strength, building on his already-strong fan-base from his more indies days. Some fans had followed him after the split with his original band, hardcore members of his Fan Club and street team workers who would paste flyers around the city for free. Despite his steady stream of minor successes, however, Ryo had yet to rank in the top 10 of the weekly charts and as such, his label called in a few favours to bring a quality writer on-side.
With this in mind, Ryo was expecting something a little different from the person who stood and bowed repeatedly, almost nervously, when Ryo entered the room. "I'm Ueda Tatsuya," that person said, not meeting Ryo's eyes as he bowed again. "Please treat me kindly."
"Nishikido Ryo. Let's work well together." Formalities out of the way, Ryo set his guitar case down, propping the neck against the table as he sat down next to it. "I hear you already have something for me?"
"Yes…" Ueda nodded once, pressing his lips together. "Although… now that I've met you, I'm less sure that it fits your style…"
"Try me?" Ryo was not in the mood for back-pedalling. "You never know, right."
"Right." With his confidence growing visibly, Ueda produced a folder from his bag and slid a clear plastic wallet across the table. "Please read the lyrics." He pulled an mp3 player from his bag too, and set that on the table between them. "I've got a demo recording too, naturally."
"How do you even pronounce this title?" Ryo said. "Are people really going to buy music they can't read the name of?"
"Papier-mâché," Ueda said, pointing to the tiny katakana under the title, along with the Japanese translation. "It's French. Well, and English, too."
"Right," Ryo wondered whether or not this was becoming needlessly complex and perhaps a remake of Bubble Pop Princess would be less mentally taxing, if proportionately more damaging to his rockstar reputation.
"French is internationally seen as the language of love, right?" Ueda leaned forward in his chair, looking down at the papers before him. "This is a Valentine's-day single."
"About 'mashed-up paper' love?"
"Yes, that's right!" Ueda nodded as though this made perfect sense. "If you want to listen to the demo, it's-"
"Wait," Ryo held up his hand. "Hold on a minute. Let me read these, I'm not following you here." There was a pause as Ryo looked down at the words on the page. The pause stretched even longer as he read them a second, third time. He looked up.
"You know," Ryo tilted his head a little, eyes narrowed. "Unexpectedly, you are cleverer than you look."
And, equally unexpectedly, Ueda laughed. "No, no, I'm really not! It's just songs. I can do songs."
"Slowly, steadily, we'll make our own love."
Ueda nodded. "Do you want to hear the demo now?" His hands - which had stilled in their nervous movements - indicated towards the lump of metal and plastic on the table.
"Yeah. Yeah, go on. I don't want to be needlessly optimistic, but… I think... this might actually work."
~
"Ryo-chan, I'm sorry, there's been a mix-up," Toda-san said, the clacking of her heels on the floor breaking Ryo's concentration before the woman had even come close enough to speak. "Ueda-san's manager double-booked him for today; he has to finish wrapping up with his last contract at the same time as we'd arranged for you to meet today."
"Huh?" Ryo tossed the ballpoint pen and guitar pick down onto the notebook he'd been working from. "So now my whole afternoon is… empty?"
Toda-san tried to grin. "See it as an unlooked-for opportunity to get some sleep?"
"No," Ryo said, shaking his head and closing the notebook he'd been working in. "I'll go to his recording studio or office or something. I need input on this before we move on to the next step. Give me the directions?"
As it turned out, the Sparking World Studios were in a part of town that Ryo was familiar with; the studio his own label used was close by, although not quite as glamorous. A girl with a cute, fresh face and a name badge reading 'Kobayashi' signed him in at the reception desk and directed him to the eighth floor where, she said, there was a waiting room he could use without being interrupted. There was also, Ryo discovered, a machine that dispensed coffee for free, and a tin of cookies. Both of these served as an added incentive to stay, and since he had time to kill Ryo sat down and started scribbling away.
The title track for the Valentine's Day single was pretty much complete; Ryo was happy with the lyrics and the arrangement was more or less to his liking, but Ueda had refused point-blank to give Ryo any additional pre-written songs, saying that they would not be any good unless they were written specifically with him in mind. As such, Ryo had spent the last two days going through his notebooks and compiling a master list of phrases, song snippets and potential titles that they could use.
It was in the middle of continuing to work on this list, lying on his stomach across the sofa, that Ryo gradually fell asleep. The notebook slipped from between his arms and flopped to the floor unheeded, as Ryo's head sank lower and lower until his face pressed against the seat. The steady thrum of traffic on the streets below became gentle background noise to Ryo's soft breathing, and the coffee on the floor by the sofa cooled, completely forgotten.
The noise of the door opening and soft footsteps treading across the room registered in Ryo's brain before he was fully awake or even able to identify the sounds in his mind. There was a pause, and the faint rustling sound of clothing on a person close by, and then a slightly damp sound and a soft "…shit." Ryo's eyes snapped open and he rolled onto his side - but rolled the wrong way, and suddenly found himself landing with a thud and the tear of wet papers as he fell into the mess of spilled coffee and scattered pages of notes.
"What the hell!" he snapped, eyes wide and furious. "You creepy freak!" Ryo looked down at his ruined notebook, horrified as the ink smudged on the once-white pages and rendered them illegible.
"I'm sorry, I'm really, so sorry," Ueda stepped backwards, the backs of his legs bashing against the small table by the couch as he stumbled and dropped the blanket he was holding. "Really, I…"
"Two days! That's how long I've been working on this! That's forty-eight hours! Years of song-writing history compiled into… into… and now look at it." Ryo glared at Ueda, whose expression was gradually growing more and more mutinous. "Moron."
Ueda blinked. "I'm sorry, I'm the moron?" His words were increasing in volume and faster-paced. "Which idiot left his coffee on the floor instead of on the table? Who invited himself here in the first place?"
"Who was it who got himself double-booked and fucked with my schedule?" Ryo got to his feet, ignoring the large patch of cold coffee staining his jeans as he stepped toward the other man. "For a single that's due to start promoting in a week, we're cutting it a little fine to be fucking around." Ryo had mastered the art of appearing almost-threatening to new people despite his less-than-intimidating stature. It seemed to be working; Ueda edged backwards and tripped on the blanket that had fallen to the floor and tangled around his feet.
Ryo snorted with laughter; Ueda blushed. The tension melted.
"That wasn't me, that was Yuichi," Ueda pointed out as he freed his feet from the blanket. "Uh, my PA, and I've yelled at him already," he clarified in response to Ryo's puzzled expression. He got back to his feet and paused for a moment; Ryo was pretty certain he could see the cogs turning behind the other man's eyes. "There's a launderette down the road. I can ask Ryoko to get your jeans cleaned, if you want to stay and try to… somehow repair this mess."
Somehow, though Ryo had been waiting there for so long, this was surprising. "Well," he said, shrugging and unfastening his belt, "since this place must have cost billions, you can probably afford to clean my jeans." There was a half-grin on his face that could have been mistaken for a grimace, except that was the moment when Ueda's PA walked in.
"Tat-chan, I just received a call from Nishikido-san's manager and-" The skinny man stopped short, eyes widening as he saw one man standing there in his underwear, and his boss looking distinctly flustered. "Forgive me," he said, bowing deeply to cover his embarrassment as he stepped back towards the door.
"Nakamaru, wait," Ueda's voice caught in his throat and he ended up coughing. "Um, can you ask Ryoko to send Nishikido-kun's jeans to be washed?"
"…Right. Yes, certainly."
~
Searching for another pair of pants was too much like hard work, so Ryo ended up with the blanket wrapped around his hips, sprawled out across the couch holding his head up with one hand as he peered over Ueda's shoulder at the notes they were writing. The copper-haired man sat on the floor in front of him with back against the couch, and Ryo found his eyes drawn to the tiny flick where the other man's hair curled behind his ear, to the line of his jaw, down to where his long-fingered hands held the pen that scribbled across the page.
"Your writing is messy," Ryo commented, and the pen stilled.
"Sorry," Ueda said. Then, with a more playful edge: "You could always write your own songs yourself…"
"Definitely not," Ryo said, sitting up and leaning on Ueda's shoulders. "Then you'd be out of a job."
"It would convey greater authenticity," Ueda teased, grinning up at Ryo.
"Shut up," Ryo said, standing and going to fetch his guitar. His arrogant attitude was somewhat marred by the fact that he had to hold his blanket-skirt up to avoid tripping on it as he crossed the room. Ueda scribbled a line about princesses in the margin.
"Do you think we can really do this?" Ryo stood there for a moment, guitar in hand.
Ueda looked at Ryo with a thoughtful expression before he nodded. "Of course. Top ten in the Oricon charts for the week of Valentine's Day. Top five album sales in the summer. We can do it."
The fresh-faced girl from the reception desk brought Ryo's jeans back a couple of hours later and laughingly scolded Ueda for tipping coffee over clients. Though he could have left then Ryo stayed on, the sounds of their voices and the faint notes from Ryo's acoustic guitar filtering out into the hallway. Being winter, it was no surprise when the skies grew dark, but when Ryo looked up at the clock on the wall he was surprised to see how late the hour had become.
"I need to get back," he said, halting mid-way through playing the chord sequence they'd been working on. "I'll miss the last train."
Ueda looked up at the clock, and his face too showed the surprise Ryo had felt. "I can get a driver to take you home," he said. "I don't even know when the last train runs from here."
"We could…" Ryo paused, and looked down at his guitar. "We could always go out for a drink, or something."
"You mean… like nomikai? It might be weird to have a work's drinking party with just the two of us…"
"Well, I did mean just the two of us normally," Ryo began to feel a little foolish, "but if you'd rather make it an official work thing I guess we can invite your PA and that cute girl…"
"You are not hitting on Ryoko," Ueda said, expression intense. "She's far too young for a villain like you."
Ryo couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry, you don't have to defend her virginity from me. She's not my type."
"Good."
~
"What does Nishikido-kun want to do this Valentine's Day?" Ueda said, leaning across the table and holding his beer bottle out to Ryo like a microphone.
"Hm," Ryo pretended to look thoughtful, though the expression was over-exaggerated. "Eat so much chocolate that I get sick," he decided, with a determined nod. He took the bottle from Ueda's hand as the other man laughed, and mimicked the gesture, reversing the situation. "And Ueda-kun? What are his plans for the most romantic day of the year?"
Ueda's thoughtful expression looked genuine, and his voice was unexpectedly soft when he spoke. "Memories," he said. "I want to make memories."
Ryo didn't know what to say to that. Somehow, it made his silly answer seem even more childish. Instead, he reached out further and held the bottle to Ueda's lips, across the table. "Drink!" he said, and tilted the bottle until Ueda's eyes widened at the beer dribbling out of the neck of the bottle and spilling down his chin. As Ueda spluttered, Ryo added: "I don't really like chocolate, anyway."
"You dork," Ueda laughed, wiping his face with a napkin. "What did you do that for?"
"Your answer was too serious," Ryo said, drinking his own beer and refusing to look at Ueda's face. "That was your punishment."
"I see," the other man smiled, not offended. "I'll be 'un-serious' from now on, then. Should I put pants on my head as well?"
Ryo snorted into his beer, and looked up grinning. "No, that would just make you look stupid."
Suitably warmed by the alcohol but not drunk enough to be idiotic, the two men stepped out onto the night-time streets. Ryo paused as he looked up, hands plunged deep into his pockets. "Look," he said. "It's snowing."
"So it is." Ueda stood beside him, hands in his own pockets, breath misting into the air. The snow fell heavily around them, in thick lumps that deadened the sound around them and quickly blanketed the streets. Cars still made their way along the roads, the brightness of their headlamps only highlighting the quickly-falling snow. "Come on," he said. "Let's get moving, in case it gets worse."
"Aren't you the type to appreciate the beauty of the first snow of the year?" Ryo asked, catching up to Ueda's pace. "You seemed like you would."
"I am," Ueda nodded reluctantly, "but everything is prettier when you're inside and not ridiculously cold." He pulled a hand out of his pocket and pressed the backs of his icy fingers to Ryo's cheek.
Ryo yelped, and stopped dead. "You're freezing! It's all very well being stick-thin if you get cold so fast," he glowered. "You don't even have gloves. Idiot."
"It's okay," came the response. "Don't you find that gloves don't warm your hands, if they're already cold?"
Rolling his eyes, Ryo held out his own bare hand. "Don't make me hold hands with you to stop your fingers falling off."
"They won't drop off, I promise," Ueda grinned, but he took Ryo's hand anyway.
Ueda's long sleeves half-covered Ryo's hand too as they walked side-by-side along the deserted street, neither of them saying anything or even looking at each other. Ryo silently wondered if it was possible to be more unsubtle than this.
~
With the songs for the single completed, Ryo's days were quickly filled with recording sessions and promotional work for the new release while Ueda continued to write both for Ryo and for the other artists with whom he had contracts. In spite of this, Ryo found himself looking for more and more excuses to call the songwriter, even if it was for something only vaguely connected to work (or sometimes not at all). Waiting in the dressing room backstage at the studio for Music Station recording the week before his single was due for release, Ryo thought he had found the perfect excuse. He flipped his cell phone open, and dialled Ueda's number.
"Hi." Ueda answered almost immediately, and Ryo found himself instantly in a better mood. "How're you?"
"About to go and record for M-Ste. You?"
"Mm, working," came the vague response.
Ryo frowned, and glanced at his watch. "Still?" He paused to listen as the faint sound of Ueda singing under his breath reached his ears. "Sing that part again, I liked that."
Ueda laughed, and Ryo grinned to hear the embarrassed edge to the sound. "No way, definitely not. I can't sing."
Leaning back in his chair, Ryo raised an eyebrow at himself in the mirror. "Not everyone thinks my voice is amazing either, you know. Surprising though that may be." Again, Ueda's laugh rang down the line, and Ryo found himself grinning once more, before he glared at his reflection for being silly. "How come you're still working, then?"
"It's your fault," Ueda said. "I talk to you so much that I'm at risk of falling behind with my other projects."
"Oh." Ryo felt guilty. He didn't like feeling guilty. "You could always ignore my calls." Except that if he did, Ryo knew he would be in a bad mood until the next time they spoke.
"No I couldn't. I… like talking to you." There was the distant sound of rustling paper, and then a noise that Ryo could not identify as the background noises grew louder.
"Where are you?" Ryo asked, frowning. "You don't sound like you're at the office, or at home…"
"I'll call you back in a minute," Ueda said, and the line promptly went dead.
Ryo stared at his cell phone for a moment, until the glowing screen dimmed and a knock on the door reminded him that there were fifteen minutes until it was time to go into the recording studio. With a groan, Ryo got up off his chair and shrugged out of his jacket, pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it to the side as he reached for the shirt he had chosen to wear for the performance. Another knock, and Ryo straightened, half-turning as the door opened to admit a slim, toned figure.
"You!" Ryo's mouth fell open in bewilderment. "You… weren't at home or the office! I knew it."
"That's right," Ueda nodded. "You're a real genius, Nishikido," he grinned, and closed the door behind him. "I thought I'd come to wish you luck in person. I hadn't forgotten."
"Lies," Ryo said, grinning despite himself.
"Ah, that's right," Ueda's expression radiated sincerity. "I saw your name flash up on my cell phone, remembered that you were recording tonight and therefore instantly raced all the way across town so that I could get to you in less than ten minutes." His eyes shone with amusement.
"I thought so," Ryo nodded. "Can you stay? Sit down and talk to me while I get ready."
"It's fine," Ueda said, sitting down as instructed. "I bought work along with me in case you decided to let me stick around."
"Bringing work when you come to wish me luck, how romantic," Ryo said with a raised eyebrow as he tugged at his shirt collar. "Really promoting the 'rabu-rabu' Valentine's image there, Tatsuya."
Ueda shrugged as he shamelessly stole a slurp of Ryo's coffee. "You're the one promoting romance tonight, not me," he said. "This coffee tastes awful."
"I know," Ryo said, his voice distant as he concentrated on tying his tie correctly. "You should take me out for a proper coffee after filming is over."
"Okay."
Ryo paused and glanced at the mirror to see Ueda's reflection looking at Ryo's back. There was a vague half-smile on the other man's face, as though he was in his own world - but a world that somehow included him. Ryo cleared his throat in a bid to crush the fluttery feeling in his stomach, and spoke up. "You're staring at me," he said, and grinned when Ueda's startled eyes met his in the mirror and the other man looked away, cheeks colouring. "It's okay," he nodded. "I know I'm gorgeous."
"And not egotistical at all," Ueda replied, grinning through his embarrassment. The final reminder sounded over the loudspeakers, and Ueda got to his feet. "It's time for you to head off and wow the masses with your song," he said.
"Our song," Ryo corrected him, turning to face the other man and holding his arms by his side, as though ready for inspection. "How do I look?"
Ueda looked at him, really looked, and Ryo found himself growing warm from the force of his scrutiny. "Good," Ueda finally said, with a nod. "You look good. Missing something, though."
"Oh?" Any other response died on Ryo's lips as Ueda stepped forward and put his arms around Ryo and hugged him. He trapped Ryo's own arms in the process, effectively pinning them to his sides so all Ryo could do was stand there, feeling the hammering of Ueda's heart against his chest, smelling the shampoo-scent of his hair. After a moment, Ueda's hold loosened and as he began to step away, Ryo grabbed his wrist and pulled him back, this time joining the embrace.
"Right then," Ryo said gruffly, stepping back and smoothing his shirt again. "I'm going now. Yeah. …Thanks." He turned and headed for the door, but was slow enough to catch the hoarse 'good luck' from the other man.
Ryo grinned all the way into the studio.
~
"You were really good," Ueda said as soon as Ryo stepped out of the doors and onto the rainy street. He held his large umbrella out a little and Ryo stepped under it; though the rain was not falling heavily, shelter was still preferable. "I watched on the screens in the dressing room."
"Thanks," Ryo nodded. "I still feel like a moron trying to pronounce that stupid title."
Ueda half-grinned as they started to walk down the street towards the nearest café. "You still managed it better than anybody else."
"Naturally."
Ueda nudged Ryo with his elbow, and then laughed when Ryo nudged him back. They were still laughing when they reached the coffee shop, Ryo heading straight to the counter while Ueda put his folded umbrella in the rack by the door. Coffees obtained, they sat down on a squishy couch, and as he relaxed a wave of tiredness made Ryo sink further back against the cushions.
"Must be hard," Ueda observed, "all that promotional work you're doing."
"Mm," Ryo half-agreed with a shrug. "It's not so bad, being busy. Better than having too much free time."
Ueda nodded, then paused. "I can't really relate. I don't think I've stopped being busy since I was in elementary school." He smiled a little self-deprecatingly and reached out for his coffee.
"But your hard work has paid off though, hasn't it," Ryo said, watching Ueda tentatively sip his hot drink. "You're successful, you've got money… you met me…"
"Absolutely," Ueda nodded, voice quiet. "I'm lucky."
"You don't have to sound so half-hearted about it," Ryo snorted, sitting up to reach for his own mug.
"But I wasn't," the other man said with a frown. Ueda looked down at the fingerless gloves covering his hands that cradled the coffee mug. "I wasn't half-hearted. I meant it. I'm glad we've met."
There was a pause, and once again, Ryo found himself not quite knowing what to say. "You're being serious again," he said.
Ueda grinned. "Please don't make me spill this on myself. It's hot."
Ryo shook his head. "I won't. It's okay to be serious sometimes, even with me."
~
"Please forgive me."
The words were blurted out over the telephone as soon as Ryo lifted the receiver to his ear, so rushed that he almost missed them. "What?"
There was a pause, and Ueda spoke again. "You don't get the chart rankings mailed to your phone, then."
"Shit," Ryo suddenly found himself awake. "That's today! Wait, hang on, I just woke up." Ryo reached out to brush the touchpad of his laptop, and squinted in protest as the screen suddenly brightened. "Is it that bad? Did we even place in the top 100?"
"Um."
Dread coiling tighter and tighter in the pit of Ryo's stomach, he scrolled down the list of songs and artists as the silence grew heavy in the air. Not in the top five - well, that was too optimistic anyway. Not in the top seven… eight… nine… ten…
"…Eleventh." Silence met him on the other end of the line. "Ueda, you're apologising for writing a song that's helped me get to my highest chart position to date?"
"I promised you a top ten place," Ueda responded, his tone reluctant. "I've never failed anyone like this before."
"You'll just have to try harder for my next single then," Ryo said assertively. "I shall expect to be in the top five."
"I'll do my best," Ueda's words were formal and automatic before his brain caught up with his mouth. "Next time? You're still keeping me, though I failed you?"
"Stop talking in terms of successes or failures," Ryo rolled his eyes and flopped back down on his bed with a groan. "Not everything's so black and white. Of course I'm 'keeping' you, moron."
"…I'm so glad," Ueda said, and he really sounded it. Ryo chuckled faintly, drowsy again already, and felt his eyes closing.
"Are you busy this morning?" he asked suddenly, remembering that he was still on the phone. "I'm sleepy."
"I… not hugely," Ueda confessed, "I've got a meeting with Jun-kun and the other session musicians this afternoon, but that's more an evening thing and…"
"Come over," Ryo said, smothering a yawn. "Holding the phone is annoying."
He could practically hear Ueda's smile. "What, to cuddle up in bed with you?"
"If you want," Ryo shrugged, grinned.
"If we're papier-mâché," Ueda said suddenly, "which of us is the paper, and which is the paste?"
It said something about them that Ryo was no longer fazed by such seeming nonsense. "I'm the paper," he said.
"What, because people notice you but I'm the part that holds you together?"
"Something like that," Ryo pulled the blankets up around his ears. "Either that, or you have a soggy personality."
"I am hanging up now," Ueda said. "Don't drift off again before you let me in."
"Yeah," Ryo nodded into his pillow, and promptly fell asleep.
::end::