Forever & Ever 2
Title: Forever & Ever (Miseinen Sequel)
Author: Zion Shadowlet
Beta: butterflysaga(the bitch)
Characters: Aoi, Uruha, Ruki, Reita, Kai and many OCs (Fuwa etc.)
Pairing: Aoi/Uruha and more~
Genre: Drama, Romance, Friendship, Comedy
Rating: NC17
Summary: Six years have passed since the summer at the Dazai Bright Future Retreat for Troubled Children. The boys meet in an unexpected way perhaps bound by fate in the underground world of Visual Kei. With broken hearts and promises; the boys-now young men look to regain some of what they lost by the wild and reckless pursuit of the same dream.
Previous Parts: Part 1.1 | Part 1.2
Minutes after Uruha left the bathroom, something completely out of nowhere tackled him from the side and sent him falling across the room. It was almost like a police bust the way it happened, him stepping out completely unaware, tackled from an unknown assailant. One would have thought that amongst them was an undercover cop if it were from the giggling and squealing.
“URUHAAAAAAAA!! I CANT BELIEVE ITS YOUUUUUUU!” Ruki squeezed his neck. He was so much more taller than him that he was almost off the ground. He didn’t care if he was choking Uruha, he was too happy to even think about such things.
“Ruki?” Uruha stepped back and looked down at him. “What are you doing here?’
“I play drums in Madie=Anubis,” he smiled cutely. “So your band is performing too, huh? What are the chances! You know Aoi is here too. He’s in Mlle.Emily something-I can’t remember,” he waved it off smiling. “Wow, the chances. Reminds me kind of that one time we were all together playing basketball, you know when Mr. Johnson was all like ‘RESPECT THE GAME,”’ he did a funny deep voice impersonation of the massive African American Judo coach they once had back at the retreat. “And you and Aoi collided together and Kawai, you remember him?” Ruki didn’t wait for an answer, he just kept going. “He was like ‘it’s the gravitational pull of the universe’ to Dazai. You remember that?” He finally took a pause to breathe.
Uruha nodded. Before he could say anything else, Ruki who was hyper beyond repair fixed his cowboy hat and continued. “You know Aoi told me that you two ran into each other. I’m surprised that you guys didn’t form a band. He’s somewhere right now. He was in the bathroom with this obnoxious prick that sings for us but he’s probably not anymore since you just came from there.”
“He’s in there,” Uruha interrupted.
“Oh…” Ruki’s large eyes widened.
“With that conceited guy.”
“Gabriel?”
“Yeah,” he nodded and realizing that he was actually looking at Ruki, the Ruki, he suddenly hugged him again.
Ruki giggled and hugged him back, accepting Uruha’s strange behavior. He figured that he was probably in shock.
“Wow, this is the best day ever,” Ruki smiled happily, his eyes becoming two half moons over his bubbly cheeks. Uruha, doing the math in his head realized that Ruki was 20 years old now but it didn’t make much of a difference. He was still ridiculously adorable when he was happy.
Uruha wondered if he should tell him that Aoi was having sex with Gabriel in the bathroom but he wasn’t sure if it was his place or not. The thought also crossed his mind whether he should have been jealous or upset.
It was confusing. He and Aoi never technically broke up but then there was also the fact that it had been so long since they had seen one another. He wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. It seemed obvious that a relationship like that would come to a natural end and for so many years when he thought he would never see him again, he decided to move on. Even now, he was currently seeing a girl. It was nothing that he was too invested in however and that fact only made the situation more confusing. If he were in love with her, it would be simpler. He would just stay with this girlfriend of his but he wasn’t nor was he sure if he was still in love with Aoi. He had gotten so used to being in love with him that it almost over time became a part of his identity. His name was Takashima Kouyou. He played guitar. He wanted to be like Sugizo and he was in love with Aoi. But when he saw him in the bar, it was so strange. Aoi had become a memory. He was an idea almost, a concept to him. At one point, he was a person but over time in Uruha’s memory, he started to lose things: the sound of his voice, mannerisms, the way he spoke-and he just became a thing: Aoi.
“Are you okay?” Ruki asked seeing a perplexing look on Uruha’s face.
“Are you still with Reita?” he suddenly inquired.
“Um…” Ruki stood there dumbfounded. “No. We never spoke after….” He took a deep sigh.
“I never spoke with Aoi either.”
“Yeah…”
Uruha’s directness had a way of making things awkward sometimes. “I’m sorry,” he said when he realized the effect it had on Ruki, who hearing the question became completely deflated.
“No, it’s okay,” he forced a smile. “We can’t change the past right?”
“Heyyyy, you two found each other,” Aoi said leaving the bathroom and Gabriel. He smiled at them.
“It’s getting crowded,” Ruki said looking around and seeing all the people bustling about. “We should go out to the alley and have a smoke. How does that sound?” he offered.
Uruha nodded.
“Sounds like a plan. Let me just get my sweater. I’ll meet you two out there,” Aoi said heading toward the main backstage room.
The alley, contrary to the shittiness inside was actually rather clean as far as alleys go. To the left of them, they could see out into the street where seemingly normal people walked to and from their destinations. Uruha and Ruki, arguably two social rejects huddled together as it got dark and cold, watching these people go about their lives.
A pretty woman dressed cleanly in a long black skirt passed the alley and glancing in happened to look at Ruki when he was looking at her. The two of them mortified by the contact, looked away quickly.
“Hey can I bum a cigarette off of you?” Ruki asked with a cute little smile.
Uruha taking his pack out of his pocket, handed him one and pulled one out for himself. He took out his lighter and lit the end of Ruki’s cigarette and then his.
“Wow, I can’t believe this,” Ruki said softly with a shake of his head. He sighed happily.
“Seeing me and Aoi again?”
“Yeah. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
Uruha nodded. “After the show, we should go out for drinks.”
“Yeah, that’s sounds like a good idea,” he said taking a drag. “I don’t drink by the way.”
“Drink soda.”
“Sure,” Ruki smiled, jumping slightly to get his blood flowing. “Fuck it’s coldddddd,” he whined.
Aoi soon came out and saying almost immediately after Ruki “Man, it’s cold out” and after shaking a couple of times said “Heeeey, I’m out of cigarettes.”
“Hold on,” Uruha said, pulling out one for him. “Do you need a light?”
Putting it in his mouth, Aoi nodded. Uruha took out his lighter and flicking it on, lit the end of Aoi’s cigarette. As the small red flame enveloped the white tip of the cigarette and glowed on Aoi’s skin, Uruha realized that this little gesture was the closest they had physically been in a long time. The mere proximity caused Uruha’s nerves to tremble.
“Thanks,” Aoi mumbled with the tiny white stick in his mouth.
“So, what happened with Gabriel?” Ruki asked.
“Oh…he asked me to join your band,” Aoi said.
“Why does he hate me?” Uruha inquired looking at Ruki. For some reason, he didn’t want to talk about Gabriel trying to convince Aoi to join Madie=Anubis. The topic made him feel nervous.
“He hates you?” Ruki lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “Usually, he thinks that he’s so much better than everyone that they aren’t worth hating…” He paused to think about it. “Maybe he thinks that you are competition.”
“Competition?” Uruha didn’t quite understand. “Isn’t he a vocalist?”
Aoi and Ruki both let a small laugh. “That’s not why,” Aoi said smiling at Uruha’s innocence.
“Then why? I’m not charismatic or cool like him at all,” he said with modesty. “I just play guitar. That’s it.”
Ruki smiled before finally answering him “He recognizes that you are really beautiful.”
“He’s better looking than me.”
“Well…” Ruki tilted his head. “Maybe. He is more traditionally handsome, like a guy in a movie or a fashion magazine.”
“I don’t care if he’s better looking than me.”
Aoi laughed. “Uruha only cares about his guitar,” he smiled and said to Ruki.
“What I mean is when one sees you two in person, you are more attractive.”
“Agreed,” Aoi said with a nod of his head, taking another drag. What’s wrong with you, Aoi? He asked himself. Only moments ago, Uruha, the only person you have ever fell in love with, someone who used to fill you with the joy of the sun, came stumbling in on you having sex in a dirty bathroom with some conceited prick that you don’t even like. You either don’t care for him at all anymore or there is something else going on. He should feel embarrassed, horrible even but for some reason, he was in a good mood. It’s been a long time since he felt this content.
“He’s mean to me,” Ruki pouted as he threw the butt of his cigarette away.
“He can’t sing and his lyrics are lame,” Uruha said honestly void of any bitterness or malice. He said it as if it were a fact.
Aoi started laughing as if just said the most hysterical thing.
“What?” Uruha asked him looking at him blankly.
“It’s true,” Ruki smiled. “Just so you both know, that if you ever want to break away from them, we can make our own band. We’ll just need a singer and a bassist.”
“You serious?” Aoi turned and looked at him shocked. As far he understood it, Madie=Anubis, despite all of Gabriel’s inabilities were actually promising.
“I don’t know how much more I can take of him,” Ruki said shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I think I can convince my bassist to join us if we form a band,” Aoi said, speaking of Koji. “He’s a bit of an airhead though. Not that bad of a guy but just not that bright.”
“That means we would be missing a singer…” Uruha looked down.
“How is your singer?” Aoi asked.
“He’s brothers with the drummer so there is no way he’d leave him,” Uruha answered. “Besides, he’s okay. He sounds like a lot of other singers.”
“I see,” Aoi sighed. “Well, keep your eyes and ears open. You never know. Kai might jump out of the shadows and suddenly have a pair of pipes on him,” he said with a laugh.
Not quite getting the joke, Uruha said with perfect seriousness “I think if Kai is in a band, he would probably be the drummer.”
Aoi stared at him, amused by the fact that Uruha didn’t get that he was playing around. “Right,” he said with a nod.
“Um, Aoi, want to go out for drinks after the show?” Ruki asked.
“Sure.”
Suddenly the door behind them busted open and Koji in a panic screamed at Aoi “Where the hell have you been?”
“Smoking.”
“For like…” he checked his massive plastic orange watch that had on its face a busty anime girl. “an hour?”
“Yeah, I was smoking a gigantic bong.”
“Where?” Koji looked around the alley.
“I’m assuming this is your bassist…” Ruki said to Aoi in a low voice.
He nodded.
“We need to do sound check! Like ASAP!” he turned and rushed back inside not wasting another second.
“Gotta go,” Aoi sighed. “I’ll see you backstage,” he said going in to go help his band.
After several seconds of silence, Ruki consumed with curiosity asked “So… you two aren’t getting back together?”
Uruha stared at him, blinking. “Ruki, that was almost 6 years ago.”
“So.”
“I’m not sure I am even gay.”
“Really?” Ruki asked in disbelief.
“I have a girlfriend.”
“But you don’t like men anymore?”
“I tried sleeping with one once and I hated it.”
“Really? Who?” Ruki asked excited. He moved in closer as if the story was going to be immensely interesting.
“It’s kinda embarrassing…” Uruha mumbled.
“I’m your friend. Tell me,” he gave him big cute eyes as if that was going to persuade him.
“Just some hustler…”
“A prostitute?!” Ruki almost shouted.
Uruha gave him a panicked look.
“Sorry,” Ruki smiled apologetically.
“I wanted to know if I was gay so…I…did that….”
“What did he look like?”
“He looked…attractive,” Uruha shrugged. He didn’t feel like telling Ruki all the details especially since he was as interested as he was.
“More,” he gestured as if he could pull it out of him through the air. “More information.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because it does.”
Uruha stared at him.
“Okay, the way you are acting right now makes me think there is something important.”
“I picked him cause he looked like Aoi…kinda…”
Ruki’s jaw dropped. God, this really was deliciously interesting. “Seriously?”
Uruha nodded, looking down realizing how pathetic he was. “But it was years ago. I was 18 or something like that.”
“Wow….” was all Ruki could say.
***
Once their set was done, Aoi came running off of the stage, hopping into the backstage area perkily much to the shock of all who were there. Uruha tilted his head and smiled. He seemed a bit like his old self, the young wild Aoi.
“They love me! They love me! They really really love me!” he said in funny high pitched voice as he threw himself on the floor.
Ruki, infused with his good humor stood up and hovering over him, smiled down at him.
“Ruki! Ruki! Ruki!” he chirped seeing his little round head appearing in his frame of vision.
“Aren’t you a ball of energy?” Gabriel said, suddenly coming to the room. He walked over to Aoi and extended his hand to help him off of the floor. Aoi lifted his hands up and when Gabriel attempted to pull him up, he let his dead weight fall.
“Noooooooo, I’m sinkinggggg,” he smiled and threw his head back.
Uruha who had been sitting with Ruki painting his nails looked on, smiling happily from afar.
Gabe not being able to lift Aoi fell forward on top of him. Gabriel wasn’t necessarily a person with a good sense of humor but there was something irresistibly charming about Aoi and his playfulness. Besides, he wanted to win him over. The two of them started laughing hysterically. Ruki stood there next to him, evidently upset.
Gabriel never played like this. He wanted to kick Gabriel while he was on the ground and pound his skull in. Unlike Uruha, he was viciously possessive. Looking up at him, Ruki realized that Uruha seeing the two of them on the floor on top each other giggling must have triggered some sort of old memory. Suddenly, his happy expression had turned into something like shock and then heartbreak and then something akin to gentle type jealousy. He quickly turned away and stared at the dirty white surface of the make-up counter.
Perhaps, Ruki was doing it for Uruha or perhaps he was using his protectiveness for his friends-albeit his distant friends but he could very well have been doing it for himself, for all those times that Gabriel had insulted him, had looked down on his value. But in the end, he did it because he simply disliked him and because he knew that everyone in the room would think it was funny. Stepping back to prepare himself, he lifted up his leg and like a boy playing soccer, kicked Gabe right in the jaw.
Aoi who was directly beneath him went from laughing to staring up at Ruki’s foot hitting Gabriel pretty face.
“UGHHHHHHHHHHHH” Gabe groaned as he rolled over his back, clutching at his perfectly chiseled jaw.
Ruki smiled confidently and walking around his friend started stomping on Gabriel’s handsome head. His brown little cowboy hat tipping forward over his cute face.
“What the fuck, Ruki?” Aoi said suddenly coming to his senses.
He didn’t bother to respond, he just kept stomping. Some people in the room-mainly those that had made Gabriel acquaintance but weren’t taken into his good graces, watched with an amused expression. Lucy who had been sitting sulky in the corner, jealous of Gabriel’s interactions with Aoi, jumped to his feet to rescue him from Ruki’s assaults.
“Die you stupid fucking cock sucking ass eating maggot of a fucking man!” Ruki spat out in a non-stop drown out cuss. Lucy tackled Ruki to the floor and somewhat unnecessarily punched him in the face, thinking that it would earn him some points from Gabriel if he responded in such an aggressive manner. Besides, Ruki had just literally been stomping on his beloved face.
Before Lucy could take another blow, Uruha wrapping his arm around, dragged him off of his small friend. Lucy, choking, kicked angrily. Ruki quickly got to his feet and wiping blood off of his lip, picked up a nearby perfume bottle and walking up to Lucy sprayed him right in the face with it.
Aoi snatched it from his hands. “Don’t fucking blind him.” He looked at him like he was insane.
“You fucking little troll!” Gabriel spat. Ruki turned around to see his disheveled face staring wildly at him, his perm frayed about, blood dripping down his chin. All the others stood against the wall watching the action from afar in delicious delight.
“Hey wait!” Aoi screamed trying to get in between them. Gabe pushed him aggressively out of the way, sending him smacking against the flimsy wall in a painful smack, leaving a gaping hole in the wall as he slid down to the floor. Where his strength came from was a great mystery.
“I’m going to kill you,” Gabriel said between his clenched teeth.
Ruki backed up in fear. Gabriel was not only taller than him but the anger that lit up his features was positively frightening.
“I’m going to take that stupid little cowboy hat and I am going to shove it down your fat ugly throat,” he said slowly. Ruki with nowhere left to go hit the wall.
He couldn’t quite see what was going on behind Gabriel but there seemed to be something amiss because all the spectators somehow became animated. Some covered their gaping mouth in shock and excitement, some pointed and some laughed.
Like two metal claws, Gabriel clamped his malicious hands across Ruki’s throat and squeezed with all his strength, quickly turning the young man’s pale face a light pink.
And then, a loud metallic slap.
Gabriel eyes went wide in shock.
His hands loosened.
Ruki holding his neck, coughed as the air flooded back into him. Again, another metallic slap and Gabriel now dizzy turned around to see Uruha standing there with one of the folding metal chairs.
Fuck, this really wasn’t how it was like on television, Uruha noticed. Usually it took only one shot. Using all of his strength, he swung the chair across Gabriel’s body and sent him smacking against the floor.
Aoi finally getting to his feet stared at Gabe’s body in shock and then looked up at Uruha.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Ruki said, thinking quickly.
“What? But our instruments,” Aoi pleaded.
“No time,” Ruki said rushing toward the back door.
“Watch out for our instruments,” Uruha said pointing at one of his band mates as he followed Ruki out the back door.
Aoi didn’t know what to do. “Aw fuck it,” he said throwing his hands up in the air. It wasn’t like he had to go on stage. “I’m sorry,” he said to Gabe before running out after them.
[A/N You may have noticed that I tried to start off with a bit of humor! With just how depressing the epilogue was in mind, I thought I should attempt to lighten things up a bit before anything else depressing happens. XD For you all who love sad things, you will get your dose, I promise you -__- ]
Author: Zion Shadowlet
Beta: butterflysaga(the bitch)
Characters: Aoi, Uruha, Ruki, Reita, Kai and many OCs (Fuwa etc.)
Pairing: Aoi/Uruha and more~
Genre: Drama, Romance, Friendship, Comedy
Rating: NC17
Summary: Six years have passed since the summer at the Dazai Bright Future Retreat for Troubled Children. The boys meet in an unexpected way perhaps bound by fate in the underground world of Visual Kei. With broken hearts and promises; the boys-now young men look to regain some of what they lost by the wild and reckless pursuit of the same dream.
Previous Parts: Part 1.1 | Part 1.2
Minutes after Uruha left the bathroom, something completely out of nowhere tackled him from the side and sent him falling across the room. It was almost like a police bust the way it happened, him stepping out completely unaware, tackled from an unknown assailant. One would have thought that amongst them was an undercover cop if it were from the giggling and squealing.
“URUHAAAAAAAA!! I CANT BELIEVE ITS YOUUUUUUU!” Ruki squeezed his neck. He was so much more taller than him that he was almost off the ground. He didn’t care if he was choking Uruha, he was too happy to even think about such things.
“Ruki?” Uruha stepped back and looked down at him. “What are you doing here?’
“I play drums in Madie=Anubis,” he smiled cutely. “So your band is performing too, huh? What are the chances! You know Aoi is here too. He’s in Mlle.Emily something-I can’t remember,” he waved it off smiling. “Wow, the chances. Reminds me kind of that one time we were all together playing basketball, you know when Mr. Johnson was all like ‘RESPECT THE GAME,”’ he did a funny deep voice impersonation of the massive African American Judo coach they once had back at the retreat. “And you and Aoi collided together and Kawai, you remember him?” Ruki didn’t wait for an answer, he just kept going. “He was like ‘it’s the gravitational pull of the universe’ to Dazai. You remember that?” He finally took a pause to breathe.
Uruha nodded. Before he could say anything else, Ruki who was hyper beyond repair fixed his cowboy hat and continued. “You know Aoi told me that you two ran into each other. I’m surprised that you guys didn’t form a band. He’s somewhere right now. He was in the bathroom with this obnoxious prick that sings for us but he’s probably not anymore since you just came from there.”
“He’s in there,” Uruha interrupted.
“Oh…” Ruki’s large eyes widened.
“With that conceited guy.”
“Gabriel?”
“Yeah,” he nodded and realizing that he was actually looking at Ruki, the Ruki, he suddenly hugged him again.
Ruki giggled and hugged him back, accepting Uruha’s strange behavior. He figured that he was probably in shock.
“Wow, this is the best day ever,” Ruki smiled happily, his eyes becoming two half moons over his bubbly cheeks. Uruha, doing the math in his head realized that Ruki was 20 years old now but it didn’t make much of a difference. He was still ridiculously adorable when he was happy.
Uruha wondered if he should tell him that Aoi was having sex with Gabriel in the bathroom but he wasn’t sure if it was his place or not. The thought also crossed his mind whether he should have been jealous or upset.
It was confusing. He and Aoi never technically broke up but then there was also the fact that it had been so long since they had seen one another. He wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. It seemed obvious that a relationship like that would come to a natural end and for so many years when he thought he would never see him again, he decided to move on. Even now, he was currently seeing a girl. It was nothing that he was too invested in however and that fact only made the situation more confusing. If he were in love with her, it would be simpler. He would just stay with this girlfriend of his but he wasn’t nor was he sure if he was still in love with Aoi. He had gotten so used to being in love with him that it almost over time became a part of his identity. His name was Takashima Kouyou. He played guitar. He wanted to be like Sugizo and he was in love with Aoi. But when he saw him in the bar, it was so strange. Aoi had become a memory. He was an idea almost, a concept to him. At one point, he was a person but over time in Uruha’s memory, he started to lose things: the sound of his voice, mannerisms, the way he spoke-and he just became a thing: Aoi.
“Are you okay?” Ruki asked seeing a perplexing look on Uruha’s face.
“Are you still with Reita?” he suddenly inquired.
“Um…” Ruki stood there dumbfounded. “No. We never spoke after….” He took a deep sigh.
“I never spoke with Aoi either.”
“Yeah…”
Uruha’s directness had a way of making things awkward sometimes. “I’m sorry,” he said when he realized the effect it had on Ruki, who hearing the question became completely deflated.
“No, it’s okay,” he forced a smile. “We can’t change the past right?”
“Heyyyy, you two found each other,” Aoi said leaving the bathroom and Gabriel. He smiled at them.
“It’s getting crowded,” Ruki said looking around and seeing all the people bustling about. “We should go out to the alley and have a smoke. How does that sound?” he offered.
Uruha nodded.
“Sounds like a plan. Let me just get my sweater. I’ll meet you two out there,” Aoi said heading toward the main backstage room.
The alley, contrary to the shittiness inside was actually rather clean as far as alleys go. To the left of them, they could see out into the street where seemingly normal people walked to and from their destinations. Uruha and Ruki, arguably two social rejects huddled together as it got dark and cold, watching these people go about their lives.
A pretty woman dressed cleanly in a long black skirt passed the alley and glancing in happened to look at Ruki when he was looking at her. The two of them mortified by the contact, looked away quickly.
“Hey can I bum a cigarette off of you?” Ruki asked with a cute little smile.
Uruha taking his pack out of his pocket, handed him one and pulled one out for himself. He took out his lighter and lit the end of Ruki’s cigarette and then his.
“Wow, I can’t believe this,” Ruki said softly with a shake of his head. He sighed happily.
“Seeing me and Aoi again?”
“Yeah. It’s crazy, isn’t it?”
Uruha nodded. “After the show, we should go out for drinks.”
“Yeah, that’s sounds like a good idea,” he said taking a drag. “I don’t drink by the way.”
“Drink soda.”
“Sure,” Ruki smiled, jumping slightly to get his blood flowing. “Fuck it’s coldddddd,” he whined.
Aoi soon came out and saying almost immediately after Ruki “Man, it’s cold out” and after shaking a couple of times said “Heeeey, I’m out of cigarettes.”
“Hold on,” Uruha said, pulling out one for him. “Do you need a light?”
Putting it in his mouth, Aoi nodded. Uruha took out his lighter and flicking it on, lit the end of Aoi’s cigarette. As the small red flame enveloped the white tip of the cigarette and glowed on Aoi’s skin, Uruha realized that this little gesture was the closest they had physically been in a long time. The mere proximity caused Uruha’s nerves to tremble.
“Thanks,” Aoi mumbled with the tiny white stick in his mouth.
“So, what happened with Gabriel?” Ruki asked.
“Oh…he asked me to join your band,” Aoi said.
“Why does he hate me?” Uruha inquired looking at Ruki. For some reason, he didn’t want to talk about Gabriel trying to convince Aoi to join Madie=Anubis. The topic made him feel nervous.
“He hates you?” Ruki lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “Usually, he thinks that he’s so much better than everyone that they aren’t worth hating…” He paused to think about it. “Maybe he thinks that you are competition.”
“Competition?” Uruha didn’t quite understand. “Isn’t he a vocalist?”
Aoi and Ruki both let a small laugh. “That’s not why,” Aoi said smiling at Uruha’s innocence.
“Then why? I’m not charismatic or cool like him at all,” he said with modesty. “I just play guitar. That’s it.”
Ruki smiled before finally answering him “He recognizes that you are really beautiful.”
“He’s better looking than me.”
“Well…” Ruki tilted his head. “Maybe. He is more traditionally handsome, like a guy in a movie or a fashion magazine.”
“I don’t care if he’s better looking than me.”
Aoi laughed. “Uruha only cares about his guitar,” he smiled and said to Ruki.
“What I mean is when one sees you two in person, you are more attractive.”
“Agreed,” Aoi said with a nod of his head, taking another drag. What’s wrong with you, Aoi? He asked himself. Only moments ago, Uruha, the only person you have ever fell in love with, someone who used to fill you with the joy of the sun, came stumbling in on you having sex in a dirty bathroom with some conceited prick that you don’t even like. You either don’t care for him at all anymore or there is something else going on. He should feel embarrassed, horrible even but for some reason, he was in a good mood. It’s been a long time since he felt this content.
“He’s mean to me,” Ruki pouted as he threw the butt of his cigarette away.
“He can’t sing and his lyrics are lame,” Uruha said honestly void of any bitterness or malice. He said it as if it were a fact.
Aoi started laughing as if just said the most hysterical thing.
“What?” Uruha asked him looking at him blankly.
“It’s true,” Ruki smiled. “Just so you both know, that if you ever want to break away from them, we can make our own band. We’ll just need a singer and a bassist.”
“You serious?” Aoi turned and looked at him shocked. As far he understood it, Madie=Anubis, despite all of Gabriel’s inabilities were actually promising.
“I don’t know how much more I can take of him,” Ruki said shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I think I can convince my bassist to join us if we form a band,” Aoi said, speaking of Koji. “He’s a bit of an airhead though. Not that bad of a guy but just not that bright.”
“That means we would be missing a singer…” Uruha looked down.
“How is your singer?” Aoi asked.
“He’s brothers with the drummer so there is no way he’d leave him,” Uruha answered. “Besides, he’s okay. He sounds like a lot of other singers.”
“I see,” Aoi sighed. “Well, keep your eyes and ears open. You never know. Kai might jump out of the shadows and suddenly have a pair of pipes on him,” he said with a laugh.
Not quite getting the joke, Uruha said with perfect seriousness “I think if Kai is in a band, he would probably be the drummer.”
Aoi stared at him, amused by the fact that Uruha didn’t get that he was playing around. “Right,” he said with a nod.
“Um, Aoi, want to go out for drinks after the show?” Ruki asked.
“Sure.”
Suddenly the door behind them busted open and Koji in a panic screamed at Aoi “Where the hell have you been?”
“Smoking.”
“For like…” he checked his massive plastic orange watch that had on its face a busty anime girl. “an hour?”
“Yeah, I was smoking a gigantic bong.”
“Where?” Koji looked around the alley.
“I’m assuming this is your bassist…” Ruki said to Aoi in a low voice.
He nodded.
“We need to do sound check! Like ASAP!” he turned and rushed back inside not wasting another second.
“Gotta go,” Aoi sighed. “I’ll see you backstage,” he said going in to go help his band.
After several seconds of silence, Ruki consumed with curiosity asked “So… you two aren’t getting back together?”
Uruha stared at him, blinking. “Ruki, that was almost 6 years ago.”
“So.”
“I’m not sure I am even gay.”
“Really?” Ruki asked in disbelief.
“I have a girlfriend.”
“But you don’t like men anymore?”
“I tried sleeping with one once and I hated it.”
“Really? Who?” Ruki asked excited. He moved in closer as if the story was going to be immensely interesting.
“It’s kinda embarrassing…” Uruha mumbled.
“I’m your friend. Tell me,” he gave him big cute eyes as if that was going to persuade him.
“Just some hustler…”
“A prostitute?!” Ruki almost shouted.
Uruha gave him a panicked look.
“Sorry,” Ruki smiled apologetically.
“I wanted to know if I was gay so…I…did that….”
“What did he look like?”
“He looked…attractive,” Uruha shrugged. He didn’t feel like telling Ruki all the details especially since he was as interested as he was.
“More,” he gestured as if he could pull it out of him through the air. “More information.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because it does.”
Uruha stared at him.
“Okay, the way you are acting right now makes me think there is something important.”
“I picked him cause he looked like Aoi…kinda…”
Ruki’s jaw dropped. God, this really was deliciously interesting. “Seriously?”
Uruha nodded, looking down realizing how pathetic he was. “But it was years ago. I was 18 or something like that.”
“Wow….” was all Ruki could say.
***
Once their set was done, Aoi came running off of the stage, hopping into the backstage area perkily much to the shock of all who were there. Uruha tilted his head and smiled. He seemed a bit like his old self, the young wild Aoi.
“They love me! They love me! They really really love me!” he said in funny high pitched voice as he threw himself on the floor.
Ruki, infused with his good humor stood up and hovering over him, smiled down at him.
“Ruki! Ruki! Ruki!” he chirped seeing his little round head appearing in his frame of vision.
“Aren’t you a ball of energy?” Gabriel said, suddenly coming to the room. He walked over to Aoi and extended his hand to help him off of the floor. Aoi lifted his hands up and when Gabriel attempted to pull him up, he let his dead weight fall.
“Noooooooo, I’m sinkinggggg,” he smiled and threw his head back.
Uruha who had been sitting with Ruki painting his nails looked on, smiling happily from afar.
Gabe not being able to lift Aoi fell forward on top of him. Gabriel wasn’t necessarily a person with a good sense of humor but there was something irresistibly charming about Aoi and his playfulness. Besides, he wanted to win him over. The two of them started laughing hysterically. Ruki stood there next to him, evidently upset.
Gabriel never played like this. He wanted to kick Gabriel while he was on the ground and pound his skull in. Unlike Uruha, he was viciously possessive. Looking up at him, Ruki realized that Uruha seeing the two of them on the floor on top each other giggling must have triggered some sort of old memory. Suddenly, his happy expression had turned into something like shock and then heartbreak and then something akin to gentle type jealousy. He quickly turned away and stared at the dirty white surface of the make-up counter.
Perhaps, Ruki was doing it for Uruha or perhaps he was using his protectiveness for his friends-albeit his distant friends but he could very well have been doing it for himself, for all those times that Gabriel had insulted him, had looked down on his value. But in the end, he did it because he simply disliked him and because he knew that everyone in the room would think it was funny. Stepping back to prepare himself, he lifted up his leg and like a boy playing soccer, kicked Gabe right in the jaw.
Aoi who was directly beneath him went from laughing to staring up at Ruki’s foot hitting Gabriel pretty face.
“UGHHHHHHHHHHHH” Gabe groaned as he rolled over his back, clutching at his perfectly chiseled jaw.
Ruki smiled confidently and walking around his friend started stomping on Gabriel’s handsome head. His brown little cowboy hat tipping forward over his cute face.
“What the fuck, Ruki?” Aoi said suddenly coming to his senses.
He didn’t bother to respond, he just kept stomping. Some people in the room-mainly those that had made Gabriel acquaintance but weren’t taken into his good graces, watched with an amused expression. Lucy who had been sitting sulky in the corner, jealous of Gabriel’s interactions with Aoi, jumped to his feet to rescue him from Ruki’s assaults.
“Die you stupid fucking cock sucking ass eating maggot of a fucking man!” Ruki spat out in a non-stop drown out cuss. Lucy tackled Ruki to the floor and somewhat unnecessarily punched him in the face, thinking that it would earn him some points from Gabriel if he responded in such an aggressive manner. Besides, Ruki had just literally been stomping on his beloved face.
Before Lucy could take another blow, Uruha wrapping his arm around, dragged him off of his small friend. Lucy, choking, kicked angrily. Ruki quickly got to his feet and wiping blood off of his lip, picked up a nearby perfume bottle and walking up to Lucy sprayed him right in the face with it.
Aoi snatched it from his hands. “Don’t fucking blind him.” He looked at him like he was insane.
“You fucking little troll!” Gabriel spat. Ruki turned around to see his disheveled face staring wildly at him, his perm frayed about, blood dripping down his chin. All the others stood against the wall watching the action from afar in delicious delight.
“Hey wait!” Aoi screamed trying to get in between them. Gabe pushed him aggressively out of the way, sending him smacking against the flimsy wall in a painful smack, leaving a gaping hole in the wall as he slid down to the floor. Where his strength came from was a great mystery.
“I’m going to kill you,” Gabriel said between his clenched teeth.
Ruki backed up in fear. Gabriel was not only taller than him but the anger that lit up his features was positively frightening.
“I’m going to take that stupid little cowboy hat and I am going to shove it down your fat ugly throat,” he said slowly. Ruki with nowhere left to go hit the wall.
He couldn’t quite see what was going on behind Gabriel but there seemed to be something amiss because all the spectators somehow became animated. Some covered their gaping mouth in shock and excitement, some pointed and some laughed.
Like two metal claws, Gabriel clamped his malicious hands across Ruki’s throat and squeezed with all his strength, quickly turning the young man’s pale face a light pink.
And then, a loud metallic slap.
Gabriel eyes went wide in shock.
His hands loosened.
Ruki holding his neck, coughed as the air flooded back into him. Again, another metallic slap and Gabriel now dizzy turned around to see Uruha standing there with one of the folding metal chairs.
Fuck, this really wasn’t how it was like on television, Uruha noticed. Usually it took only one shot. Using all of his strength, he swung the chair across Gabriel’s body and sent him smacking against the floor.
Aoi finally getting to his feet stared at Gabe’s body in shock and then looked up at Uruha.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Ruki said, thinking quickly.
“What? But our instruments,” Aoi pleaded.
“No time,” Ruki said rushing toward the back door.
“Watch out for our instruments,” Uruha said pointing at one of his band mates as he followed Ruki out the back door.
Aoi didn’t know what to do. “Aw fuck it,” he said throwing his hands up in the air. It wasn’t like he had to go on stage. “I’m sorry,” he said to Gabe before running out after them.
[A/N You may have noticed that I tried to start off with a bit of humor! With just how depressing the epilogue was in mind, I thought I should attempt to lighten things up a bit before anything else depressing happens. XD For you all who love sad things, you will get your dose, I promise you -__- ]