Good Morning, Mr. Hyde, Today I'm Gonna Rock Your World - Chapter 6A
Title: Good Morning, Mr. Hyde, Today I’m Gonna Rock Your World - Chapter 6A
Author: Mayonaka no Taiyou/ unare_haineko
Pairing: hyde x tetsu
Rating: R-ish overall, but again, this chapter’s definitely NC-17…
Summary: Hyde is having marital problems and Tetsu decides to exploit the opportunity to address his longtime obsession with Hyde.
0-0-0-0-0
WARNING! The author has rated this chapter NC-17 for sexually explicit content. If you are offended by this kind of content, proceed no further. If you have reached this page in error, please click on the ‘Back’ button of your browser at this time.
Last time…
“Oh, so I have to ask to get answers around here?! Alright, Hyde. Did you sleep with him?”
“What?! No!! I didn’t sleep with him!! He bit my neck, got me drunk, and followed me home. He tried to jump me and I knocked him out. I didn’t sleep with him-Why do you look so skeptical?”
“Because I am.”
“Don’t you believe me?”
“No.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I’m telling you straight. I don’t trust you.”
Good Morning, Mr. Hyde, Today I’m Gonna Rock Your World - Chapter 6
“WHAT?!”
“I’m having a hard time believing you, Hyde,” said Tetsu, crossing his arms once again to reaffirm his statement.
Hyde’s jaw dropped as he appeared to be stupefied by the assertion.
“It is one thing when you come to me and tell me straight that you fucked up. I can’t say I won’t be mad, but at least I can deal with that. What I don’t like is ‘discovering’ shit. If I have to discover the inconsistency before you tell me, I find that really upsetting-“
“Well, you caught me off guard-“
“I caught you doing something that you shouldn’t have been doing. And it is this very discovery of circumstances that-”
“Tetsu, that’s not fair! Sometimes you don’t give people enough time-“
“Like in what instances?!”
“Like in work and when it comes to the band-“
“You wanna bring work into this?! I wasn’t gonna even touch on that subject, but since you’ve gone and brought it up, I have a responsibility to you guys, to the record companies, to a lot of people! Half the time, it is my name out there on the line. If you can’t deliver or if you’ve got a problem, what does it say in your contract? TELL ME ASAP!! Don’t wait until the last second when the shit has hit the fan. And when I ask you, you better not be bullshitting me. You know what happens to people who try to bullshit me-“
“What I’m saying though, Tetsu, is that sometimes people can’t-“
“Can’t?” asked Tetsu, shaking his head.
“Like in Sakura’s case-“ Hyde blurted out and instantly regretted his choice of example.
“What did you say?” asked Tetsu, glaring at Hyde, who had his hand clamped over his mouth. “You said Sakura didn’t you?”
“Tetsu, I didn’t mean to-“
“He is the LAST person that we should be bringing up in this conversation! Even in his case, Hyde. It would have been one thing if he came to me with his addiction, but I had to find out like everyone else-from the police! And it shouldn’t be my job to make you guys go in for a drug test every month. It’s an honor system. You guys are adults and capable of distinguishing right from wrong. Even if you choose wrong, I’d rather have someone who tells me he needs help, that he can’t deal with life and he needs drugs to sleep at night, than someone who selfishly goes about thinking his substance abuse does not affect others. At least in the former situation, I’d be able to try and solve the root of the problem. I can’t help him once they’ve got him for possession!! This is what I mean, Hyde. This relationship is based on trust. I trust that you will act prudently as much as possible. There was nothing prudent about what I saw this morning. Right now, this trust is on the brink of disintegration! I agreed to share you with Megumi and Rei, not to share you with HIM!”
“Well, what the hell do I have to do to convince you that I’m not lying?! I didn’t sleep with him, Tetsu. Look,” Hyde stripped down. “There are no other marks on me. You know I bruise like a peach. When we do it, I always end up with bruises. Look, there’s nothing on my body. Fine, you know what-”
Hyde walked over to Tetsu and pushed him into the cushions. Hyde grabbed Tetsu and yanked Tetsu’s baggy pants down. He took Tetsu’s member in his mouth and with a few quick strokes in between brought Tetsu up to full speed. Using the saliva as lube, Hyde stuck two fingers into himself for a three second prep before switching to Tetsu’s cock as he sat on his lap.
“Can you feel it, Tetsu?” Hyde asked through gritted teeth as he bounced up and down. “Are you…convinced…that things are exactly…how you left them? Ah…..nnn….”
Hyde wrapped his arms around Tetsu’s neck for support while he took up the pace several notches.
“How long has it, ah, been since you last took me? More than 10 days…maybe two weeks?”
“Stop-“ Tetsu choked, trying to avert Hyde’s gaze. “Stay away from me-“
“Fine, you don’t wanna look at me. I suppose I deserve that for last night’s incident,” Hyde pressed his chest into Tetsu’s and grabbed onto the cushion behind Tetsu as he clenched his muscles tighter, creating the ultimate sensation of friction as Tetsu’s cock slid in and out of him.
“No, stop, ah-“ Tetsu moaned, as he tried to push Hyde off of him.
“You can’t deny it, Tetsu. Admit it, you can feel it. Like stretching my hole with your thick cock for the first time. There’s no way I’d be this, ah…tight if I had been bottom with Gackt only hours before. And let me tell you, Gackt…he doesn’t do bottom for anyone. He always has to be on top.”
“Get away from me, you slut,” Tetsu spat as Hyde tried to kiss him.
“I made a mistake, Tetsu…I shouldn’t have seen Gackt…”
Hyde ground his hips harder.
“But I didn’t let him touch me except for that bite mark.”
“I don’t believe you!” shouted Tetsu, squirming beneath as Hyde licked his neck. “Don’t touch me!”
“I love you, Tetsu-“ Hyde implored.
“Liar! Get off of me! You’re just like everyone else! You just wanna use me! ”
“No!”
“If it’s not my money or my name, it’s sex! You’re no different!”
“That’s not true, Tetsu, and you know it!”
“This is not some kind of game!”
“I don’t think of it like one!”
“You’re just playing with me!”
“I’m not!”
“You were gonna cheat on me!”
“I wasn’t!”
“Or leave me for him when you got tired of me!”
“I wasn’t!”
Hot, angry tears were running down Tetsu’s face. He was beating his fists against Hyde’s chest while Hyde rocked back and forth on Tetsu’s lap.
“Tetsu-“
“Save it! I hate you, you lying whore!”
“Please?” Hyde asked, stopping for a moment and staring at Tetsu, who had his eyes squeezed shut.
When Tetsu noticed that Hyde had stopped moving, he stopped trying to fight Hyde and opened one eye.
“Please, I know I hurt you and this is asking a lot, but can you find it in your heart to…f-f-forgive me?”
Taken aback, Tetsu stared straight into Hyde’s eyes through his blurry ones.
“Forgive me…”
“No,” Tetsu turned away.
“Forgive me…”
“No! I hate you!”
“Forgive me, please,” Hyde begged, tears springing to his own eyes. “Please, Tetsu…”
Tetsu looked at him with his eyes full of hurt and anguish.
“...”
“Please?”
“You get one more chance,” Tetsu said looking away and rubbing away his tears.
“I won’t let you down,” Hyde promised, kissing Tetsu on the lips gently and rocking back and forth several more times until Tetsu came with a sob and filled him.
0-0-0-0-0
Tetsu was so worn out he slept almost the entire next day. When he finally woke up, the sun was already on its way down. He had a headache that he knew came from having slept too long. Rolling out of bed, he took a shower and brushed his teeth before wandering into the living room. He saw Hyde sitting outside on the veranda smoking and watching the sunset while having a glass of red wine. Hyde turned around when he heard the sliding door open. Tetsu sat next to him on the next chair.
“Mornin’,” Hyde greeted as he extinguished it.
“Morning.”
“Cigarette?” asked Hyde, offering Tetsu one as he lit up another.
“No, thanks,” Tetsu declined, staring at the horizon.
“Wine?” Hyde offered, holding up an extra glass.
“No thanks, I just woke up.”
They sat in silence for several moments before Hyde rummaged around his pocket and handed Tetsu a small velvet box.
“Here,” Hyde said, putting it into Tetsu’s hand.
“What’s this?”
“Present, for you…an apology…” Hyde mumbled.
“I think bigamy is illegal in Japan-“
“Just open it.”
Tetsu opened it and found it was just a single plain band. Taking it out of its cardboard stand, he inspected it closer to find that it had been engraved on the inside in English.
“You are always close to my heart -Hyde,” Tetsu read clumsily, as he struggled with the pronunciation of consecutive consonants.
Tetsu looked at Hyde, who had conveniently put his glamorous sunglasses on to shade his eyes.
“Did you understand it?” asked Hyde, staring ahead as the sun slowly sank into the horizon.
“More or less…Kimi wa zutto boku no kokoro no soba ni…am I right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why’d you put that on the inside of this ring?” asked Tetsu.
“Because,” Hyde said, pushing his sunglasses up to hold his bangs up and turning to face Tetsu. “I want you to look here.”
Hyde unbuttoned shirt and pulled it down to reveal his chest. Right over his left chest, right over where his heart was a small tattoo of a simple heart enclosing what looked to be a word written in script.
“What does it say?” asked Tetsu squinting his eyes. “Is it a word written in Arabic or something?”
“Arabic?!” Hyde snorted, rolling his eyes. “Don’t be silly...”
Hyde handed Tetsu a mirror from his shopping bag.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” asked Tetsu turning it over.
“Come, put your shoulder next to mine,” Hyde directed, patting his shoulder.
Tetsu scooched the chair closer to Hyde and leaned against Hyde so that his right shoulder and Hyde’s left shoulder were touching.
“Now what?” Tetsu asked.
“Turn the mirror over so that it faces us. Can you see your face? Good. Now, turn it so that it reflects the tattoo,” Hyde instructed. Tetsu turned the mirror slowly and soon it all became clear.
“YOU TATTOOED MY NAME OVER YOUR HEART?!” said Tetsu incredulously
“Yeah.”
“Why?!”
“Because I want you to know that I meant what I said. I do love you and I want to keep you close to my heart at all times.”
“What if Megumi sees it?! And this ring-” sputtered Tetsu.
“Let me worry about her. This is between you and me,” Hyde said calmly lighting another cigarette. “Try it on-“
“Hyde-“ Tetsu protested as Hyde held a cigarette on the side of his mouth and placed the ring on Tetsu’s ring finger.
“What do you think of it?” Hyde asked shyly.
“Oh, this is too much Hyde-“
“You like rings right?”
“Yes, but-“
“Then accept it graciously,” Hyde ordered, flicking some ashes into the ashtray and exhaling a cloud of gray smoke.
Tetsu unable to form words decided to just kiss Hyde on the lips.
“It must have hurt,” Tetsu whispered as he trailed kisses down Hyde’s neck to the sensitive area.
“Nn, not as much as I must have hurt you by my stupidity,” Hyde sighed guiltily as Tetsu licked around the tattoo.
“Just don’t do it again.”
“Are you forgiving me?”
“Yes,” Tetsu responded, kissing Hyde’s chin. “Don’t disappoint me…”
DING-DONG!
“Overnight service!” called a voice at the front door.
“I better get that,” Tetsu mumbled. “Those are probably my samples…You come in when you’re done smoking then?”
“Yeah.”
Hyde let himself back in the house after an additional half an hour of daydreaming. Wandering into the living room, he found Tetsu sitting on the couch with his glasses on looking at the samples and talking on his cell phone.
“I want you to explain to me why you sent me such bad samples,” Tetsu demanded, circling yet another area with his special erasable red crayon. “Don’t bullshit me, Ryo. I’m looking at this calendar proof you sent me. Some of the kanji are wrong-they were purposely written a certain way and whoever was proofing it, changed them…Also, ‘February’ and ‘December’ are spelled wrong. It says ‘Febuary’ and ‘Desembur’….This is why our fans are always laughing at us! X Japan had excellent English. Johnny’s Entertainment even has better English than we do! What?…No, now look here-”
Tetsu noticed Hyde and nodded in acknowledgement.
“Ryo, if you’re gonna do a shoddy job, don’t bother sending it to me…I don’t care….I gave you almost a month to work on this and you send me a proof that has this many errors, not to mention the images are crooked…They ARE crooked! …What do you think I pay you six figures for?! YOU pull up the file and look at it yourself. I am not printing one million units of a crappy product. You better get your act together and fix this or you better start looking for another job!”
Tetsu closed his cell phone and threw it on the table. He ran his fingers threw his hair and rubbed one temple exasperatedly.
“What’s wrong, Tetsu?” asked Hyde, approaching him from the back and massaging his shoulders.
“I don’t like the samples Ryo sent me,” grumbled Tetsu.
“You’re so tense; relax,” Hyde purred, sliding his arms down the front of Tetsu’s body and leaning down to kiss Tetsu’s cheek.
“But all the typos, they just drive me nuts! I know I suck at Japanese and languages in general, but that’s what I pay these people to do! I shouldn’t have to inspect every little thing-”
“Tetsu, you would do that regardless of your writing and language abilities. We know that you take home everything published about the band and inspect it several times before it’s published-“
“It’s called ‘brand management’.”
“Brand management?” Hyde laughed, as he hopped over the back of the couch and plopped himself next to Tetsu.
“L’Arc~en~Ciel is a brand, like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada…If you put out bad product, it ruins your reputation and damages your brand until your brand ultimately isn’t worth anything. Why do people still continue to pay to see us in concert and buy our music? Our stuff isn’t cheap. It’s high quality and people know and recognize that quality. They are willing to pay that premium for the brand, which shows the strength of our brand. This is why they keep on coming back. We can’t let them down.”
Hyde was taken aback by the depth of thinking exhibited by Tetsu. He honestly had no idea that Tetsu was like that. He knew Tetsu had a great deal of common sense, but for someone who did not consider university education a priority after high school, he was certainly more than what met the eye.
“So, tell me about these crooked images, Tetsu” Hyde recovered, smiling at Tetsu.
“Okay, well, if you look here,” Tetsu said, lifting one sample and pulling out a clear piece of blue plastic in the shape of an ‘L’ with lots of tick marks and lines on it.
“What’s that?”
“This? Oh, see how this is 10 centimeters here, if you place the inside corner at the edge of the image, like so… See?!”
“What? I don’t see anything.”
“Look here,” Tetsu pointed to the top of the calendar. “See, because this tool is wider than the margin of the calendar, you can see the top edge of the calendar right through it.”
“Okay…”
“See how I lined up the top of this photo here for January?”
“Yes.”
“Now look at the top of the calendar.”
“I’m looking…”
“The top margin around this image should be 2.75 centimeters. See all these tick marks? On the left side, the top margin is 2.75 centimeters. On the right side, however, it is 2.95 centimeters. It’s crooked!”
Hyde’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes! It’s crooked!”
“Tetsu, it’s 0.2 centimeters-20 millimeters off.”
“It’s still crooked!”
“No one’s gonna notice-“
“I did!”
“You’re insane!”
“I know! But I can’t help it! I have anal-retentive tendencies that I think stem from my childhood when I used to do those miniature models. It had to be perfect or I’d have to redo it over and over again until I got it right.”
Tetsu stared off blankly as he took a stroll down memory lane.
“Funny how that last part never carried over into the kanji memorization area of your brain…schizophrenic anal-retentive…” muttered Hyde.
“That’s it!” Tetsu said, standing up suddenly causing Hyde to fall over into the empty spot.
“What’s it?” asked Hyde as he watched Tetsu run off. “Where are you going???”
“Inspiration just struck. No time to talk!” called Tetsu as he ran down the stairs.
Hyde heard footsteps below, a door creak open, then slam shut, then silence. Sighing, he collected the samples and put them neatly back into the box. He noticed a sheet of paper that was with the samples and picked it up.
“Margins…alignment…color…sharpness…paper quality…location of hole punch…he’s got a list of 47 areas he has to evaluate before approving a proof,” Hyde shook his head. “He really is nuts-“
TORURURURURURU! TORURURURURU!
Hyde looked up and saw the landline flashing. After two more rings it was apparent that Tetsu was not going to pick it up, so Hyde stuffed the paper back into the box and walked over to answer the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Tetsu? -Hyde?”
“Oh, Ken, what’s up?”
“Hyde, why are you at Tetsu’s?”
“Working…We’re reviewing the samples for the calendar.”
“Uh, okay…well Megumi keeps calling me. Asking why you don’t pick up your phone.”
“Must’ve forgot to charge it. What does she want?”
“Asked me if I knew the name of a plumber.”
“A plumber? Why? Is the toilet broken?”
“No, she said the hose in the yard is leaking and flooding the garden area.”
“For this you need a plumber?”
“Hey don’t ask me. I’m a single man. Single men don’t have gardens.”
“Okay, well, I’ll go home and check things out. Thanks for relaying the message.”
“Anytime. Bye.”
Hyde scribbled a note on the counter, locked up the upper level of the house and drove back to his wife and son.
>>> Go to Chapter 6B
Previous Chapters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3A | Chapter 3B | Chapter 4A | Chapter 4B | Chapter 5A | Chapter 5B | Chapter 5C | Chapter 5D | Chapter 6A | Chapter 6B | Chapter 7A | Chapter 7B | Chapter 8 |
Author: Mayonaka no Taiyou/ unare_haineko
Pairing: hyde x tetsu
Rating: R-ish overall, but again, this chapter’s definitely NC-17…
Summary: Hyde is having marital problems and Tetsu decides to exploit the opportunity to address his longtime obsession with Hyde.
0-0-0-0-0
WARNING! The author has rated this chapter NC-17 for sexually explicit content. If you are offended by this kind of content, proceed no further. If you have reached this page in error, please click on the ‘Back’ button of your browser at this time.
Last time…
“Oh, so I have to ask to get answers around here?! Alright, Hyde. Did you sleep with him?”
“What?! No!! I didn’t sleep with him!! He bit my neck, got me drunk, and followed me home. He tried to jump me and I knocked him out. I didn’t sleep with him-Why do you look so skeptical?”
“Because I am.”
“Don’t you believe me?”
“No.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I’m telling you straight. I don’t trust you.”
Good Morning, Mr. Hyde, Today I’m Gonna Rock Your World - Chapter 6
“WHAT?!”
“I’m having a hard time believing you, Hyde,” said Tetsu, crossing his arms once again to reaffirm his statement.
Hyde’s jaw dropped as he appeared to be stupefied by the assertion.
“It is one thing when you come to me and tell me straight that you fucked up. I can’t say I won’t be mad, but at least I can deal with that. What I don’t like is ‘discovering’ shit. If I have to discover the inconsistency before you tell me, I find that really upsetting-“
“Well, you caught me off guard-“
“I caught you doing something that you shouldn’t have been doing. And it is this very discovery of circumstances that-”
“Tetsu, that’s not fair! Sometimes you don’t give people enough time-“
“Like in what instances?!”
“Like in work and when it comes to the band-“
“You wanna bring work into this?! I wasn’t gonna even touch on that subject, but since you’ve gone and brought it up, I have a responsibility to you guys, to the record companies, to a lot of people! Half the time, it is my name out there on the line. If you can’t deliver or if you’ve got a problem, what does it say in your contract? TELL ME ASAP!! Don’t wait until the last second when the shit has hit the fan. And when I ask you, you better not be bullshitting me. You know what happens to people who try to bullshit me-“
“What I’m saying though, Tetsu, is that sometimes people can’t-“
“Can’t?” asked Tetsu, shaking his head.
“Like in Sakura’s case-“ Hyde blurted out and instantly regretted his choice of example.
“What did you say?” asked Tetsu, glaring at Hyde, who had his hand clamped over his mouth. “You said Sakura didn’t you?”
“Tetsu, I didn’t mean to-“
“He is the LAST person that we should be bringing up in this conversation! Even in his case, Hyde. It would have been one thing if he came to me with his addiction, but I had to find out like everyone else-from the police! And it shouldn’t be my job to make you guys go in for a drug test every month. It’s an honor system. You guys are adults and capable of distinguishing right from wrong. Even if you choose wrong, I’d rather have someone who tells me he needs help, that he can’t deal with life and he needs drugs to sleep at night, than someone who selfishly goes about thinking his substance abuse does not affect others. At least in the former situation, I’d be able to try and solve the root of the problem. I can’t help him once they’ve got him for possession!! This is what I mean, Hyde. This relationship is based on trust. I trust that you will act prudently as much as possible. There was nothing prudent about what I saw this morning. Right now, this trust is on the brink of disintegration! I agreed to share you with Megumi and Rei, not to share you with HIM!”
“Well, what the hell do I have to do to convince you that I’m not lying?! I didn’t sleep with him, Tetsu. Look,” Hyde stripped down. “There are no other marks on me. You know I bruise like a peach. When we do it, I always end up with bruises. Look, there’s nothing on my body. Fine, you know what-”
Hyde walked over to Tetsu and pushed him into the cushions. Hyde grabbed Tetsu and yanked Tetsu’s baggy pants down. He took Tetsu’s member in his mouth and with a few quick strokes in between brought Tetsu up to full speed. Using the saliva as lube, Hyde stuck two fingers into himself for a three second prep before switching to Tetsu’s cock as he sat on his lap.
“Can you feel it, Tetsu?” Hyde asked through gritted teeth as he bounced up and down. “Are you…convinced…that things are exactly…how you left them? Ah…..nnn….”
Hyde wrapped his arms around Tetsu’s neck for support while he took up the pace several notches.
“How long has it, ah, been since you last took me? More than 10 days…maybe two weeks?”
“Stop-“ Tetsu choked, trying to avert Hyde’s gaze. “Stay away from me-“
“Fine, you don’t wanna look at me. I suppose I deserve that for last night’s incident,” Hyde pressed his chest into Tetsu’s and grabbed onto the cushion behind Tetsu as he clenched his muscles tighter, creating the ultimate sensation of friction as Tetsu’s cock slid in and out of him.
“No, stop, ah-“ Tetsu moaned, as he tried to push Hyde off of him.
“You can’t deny it, Tetsu. Admit it, you can feel it. Like stretching my hole with your thick cock for the first time. There’s no way I’d be this, ah…tight if I had been bottom with Gackt only hours before. And let me tell you, Gackt…he doesn’t do bottom for anyone. He always has to be on top.”
“Get away from me, you slut,” Tetsu spat as Hyde tried to kiss him.
“I made a mistake, Tetsu…I shouldn’t have seen Gackt…”
Hyde ground his hips harder.
“But I didn’t let him touch me except for that bite mark.”
“I don’t believe you!” shouted Tetsu, squirming beneath as Hyde licked his neck. “Don’t touch me!”
“I love you, Tetsu-“ Hyde implored.
“Liar! Get off of me! You’re just like everyone else! You just wanna use me! ”
“No!”
“If it’s not my money or my name, it’s sex! You’re no different!”
“That’s not true, Tetsu, and you know it!”
“This is not some kind of game!”
“I don’t think of it like one!”
“You’re just playing with me!”
“I’m not!”
“You were gonna cheat on me!”
“I wasn’t!”
“Or leave me for him when you got tired of me!”
“I wasn’t!”
Hot, angry tears were running down Tetsu’s face. He was beating his fists against Hyde’s chest while Hyde rocked back and forth on Tetsu’s lap.
“Tetsu-“
“Save it! I hate you, you lying whore!”
“Please?” Hyde asked, stopping for a moment and staring at Tetsu, who had his eyes squeezed shut.
When Tetsu noticed that Hyde had stopped moving, he stopped trying to fight Hyde and opened one eye.
“Please, I know I hurt you and this is asking a lot, but can you find it in your heart to…f-f-forgive me?”
Taken aback, Tetsu stared straight into Hyde’s eyes through his blurry ones.
“Forgive me…”
“No,” Tetsu turned away.
“Forgive me…”
“No! I hate you!”
“Forgive me, please,” Hyde begged, tears springing to his own eyes. “Please, Tetsu…”
Tetsu looked at him with his eyes full of hurt and anguish.
“...”
“Please?”
“You get one more chance,” Tetsu said looking away and rubbing away his tears.
“I won’t let you down,” Hyde promised, kissing Tetsu on the lips gently and rocking back and forth several more times until Tetsu came with a sob and filled him.
0-0-0-0-0
Tetsu was so worn out he slept almost the entire next day. When he finally woke up, the sun was already on its way down. He had a headache that he knew came from having slept too long. Rolling out of bed, he took a shower and brushed his teeth before wandering into the living room. He saw Hyde sitting outside on the veranda smoking and watching the sunset while having a glass of red wine. Hyde turned around when he heard the sliding door open. Tetsu sat next to him on the next chair.
“Mornin’,” Hyde greeted as he extinguished it.
“Morning.”
“Cigarette?” asked Hyde, offering Tetsu one as he lit up another.
“No, thanks,” Tetsu declined, staring at the horizon.
“Wine?” Hyde offered, holding up an extra glass.
“No thanks, I just woke up.”
They sat in silence for several moments before Hyde rummaged around his pocket and handed Tetsu a small velvet box.
“Here,” Hyde said, putting it into Tetsu’s hand.
“What’s this?”
“Present, for you…an apology…” Hyde mumbled.
“I think bigamy is illegal in Japan-“
“Just open it.”
Tetsu opened it and found it was just a single plain band. Taking it out of its cardboard stand, he inspected it closer to find that it had been engraved on the inside in English.
“You are always close to my heart -Hyde,” Tetsu read clumsily, as he struggled with the pronunciation of consecutive consonants.
Tetsu looked at Hyde, who had conveniently put his glamorous sunglasses on to shade his eyes.
“Did you understand it?” asked Hyde, staring ahead as the sun slowly sank into the horizon.
“More or less…Kimi wa zutto boku no kokoro no soba ni…am I right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why’d you put that on the inside of this ring?” asked Tetsu.
“Because,” Hyde said, pushing his sunglasses up to hold his bangs up and turning to face Tetsu. “I want you to look here.”
Hyde unbuttoned shirt and pulled it down to reveal his chest. Right over his left chest, right over where his heart was a small tattoo of a simple heart enclosing what looked to be a word written in script.
“What does it say?” asked Tetsu squinting his eyes. “Is it a word written in Arabic or something?”
“Arabic?!” Hyde snorted, rolling his eyes. “Don’t be silly...”
Hyde handed Tetsu a mirror from his shopping bag.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” asked Tetsu turning it over.
“Come, put your shoulder next to mine,” Hyde directed, patting his shoulder.
Tetsu scooched the chair closer to Hyde and leaned against Hyde so that his right shoulder and Hyde’s left shoulder were touching.
“Now what?” Tetsu asked.
“Turn the mirror over so that it faces us. Can you see your face? Good. Now, turn it so that it reflects the tattoo,” Hyde instructed. Tetsu turned the mirror slowly and soon it all became clear.
“YOU TATTOOED MY NAME OVER YOUR HEART?!” said Tetsu incredulously
“Yeah.”
“Why?!”
“Because I want you to know that I meant what I said. I do love you and I want to keep you close to my heart at all times.”
“What if Megumi sees it?! And this ring-” sputtered Tetsu.
“Let me worry about her. This is between you and me,” Hyde said calmly lighting another cigarette. “Try it on-“
“Hyde-“ Tetsu protested as Hyde held a cigarette on the side of his mouth and placed the ring on Tetsu’s ring finger.
“What do you think of it?” Hyde asked shyly.
“Oh, this is too much Hyde-“
“You like rings right?”
“Yes, but-“
“Then accept it graciously,” Hyde ordered, flicking some ashes into the ashtray and exhaling a cloud of gray smoke.
Tetsu unable to form words decided to just kiss Hyde on the lips.
“It must have hurt,” Tetsu whispered as he trailed kisses down Hyde’s neck to the sensitive area.
“Nn, not as much as I must have hurt you by my stupidity,” Hyde sighed guiltily as Tetsu licked around the tattoo.
“Just don’t do it again.”
“Are you forgiving me?”
“Yes,” Tetsu responded, kissing Hyde’s chin. “Don’t disappoint me…”
DING-DONG!
“Overnight service!” called a voice at the front door.
“I better get that,” Tetsu mumbled. “Those are probably my samples…You come in when you’re done smoking then?”
“Yeah.”
Hyde let himself back in the house after an additional half an hour of daydreaming. Wandering into the living room, he found Tetsu sitting on the couch with his glasses on looking at the samples and talking on his cell phone.
“I want you to explain to me why you sent me such bad samples,” Tetsu demanded, circling yet another area with his special erasable red crayon. “Don’t bullshit me, Ryo. I’m looking at this calendar proof you sent me. Some of the kanji are wrong-they were purposely written a certain way and whoever was proofing it, changed them…Also, ‘February’ and ‘December’ are spelled wrong. It says ‘Febuary’ and ‘Desembur’….This is why our fans are always laughing at us! X Japan had excellent English. Johnny’s Entertainment even has better English than we do! What?…No, now look here-”
Tetsu noticed Hyde and nodded in acknowledgement.
“Ryo, if you’re gonna do a shoddy job, don’t bother sending it to me…I don’t care….I gave you almost a month to work on this and you send me a proof that has this many errors, not to mention the images are crooked…They ARE crooked! …What do you think I pay you six figures for?! YOU pull up the file and look at it yourself. I am not printing one million units of a crappy product. You better get your act together and fix this or you better start looking for another job!”
Tetsu closed his cell phone and threw it on the table. He ran his fingers threw his hair and rubbed one temple exasperatedly.
“What’s wrong, Tetsu?” asked Hyde, approaching him from the back and massaging his shoulders.
“I don’t like the samples Ryo sent me,” grumbled Tetsu.
“You’re so tense; relax,” Hyde purred, sliding his arms down the front of Tetsu’s body and leaning down to kiss Tetsu’s cheek.
“But all the typos, they just drive me nuts! I know I suck at Japanese and languages in general, but that’s what I pay these people to do! I shouldn’t have to inspect every little thing-”
“Tetsu, you would do that regardless of your writing and language abilities. We know that you take home everything published about the band and inspect it several times before it’s published-“
“It’s called ‘brand management’.”
“Brand management?” Hyde laughed, as he hopped over the back of the couch and plopped himself next to Tetsu.
“L’Arc~en~Ciel is a brand, like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada…If you put out bad product, it ruins your reputation and damages your brand until your brand ultimately isn’t worth anything. Why do people still continue to pay to see us in concert and buy our music? Our stuff isn’t cheap. It’s high quality and people know and recognize that quality. They are willing to pay that premium for the brand, which shows the strength of our brand. This is why they keep on coming back. We can’t let them down.”
Hyde was taken aback by the depth of thinking exhibited by Tetsu. He honestly had no idea that Tetsu was like that. He knew Tetsu had a great deal of common sense, but for someone who did not consider university education a priority after high school, he was certainly more than what met the eye.
“So, tell me about these crooked images, Tetsu” Hyde recovered, smiling at Tetsu.
“Okay, well, if you look here,” Tetsu said, lifting one sample and pulling out a clear piece of blue plastic in the shape of an ‘L’ with lots of tick marks and lines on it.
“What’s that?”
“This? Oh, see how this is 10 centimeters here, if you place the inside corner at the edge of the image, like so… See?!”
“What? I don’t see anything.”
“Look here,” Tetsu pointed to the top of the calendar. “See, because this tool is wider than the margin of the calendar, you can see the top edge of the calendar right through it.”
“Okay…”
“See how I lined up the top of this photo here for January?”
“Yes.”
“Now look at the top of the calendar.”
“I’m looking…”
“The top margin around this image should be 2.75 centimeters. See all these tick marks? On the left side, the top margin is 2.75 centimeters. On the right side, however, it is 2.95 centimeters. It’s crooked!”
Hyde’s jaw dropped in disbelief.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes! It’s crooked!”
“Tetsu, it’s 0.2 centimeters-20 millimeters off.”
“It’s still crooked!”
“No one’s gonna notice-“
“I did!”
“You’re insane!”
“I know! But I can’t help it! I have anal-retentive tendencies that I think stem from my childhood when I used to do those miniature models. It had to be perfect or I’d have to redo it over and over again until I got it right.”
Tetsu stared off blankly as he took a stroll down memory lane.
“Funny how that last part never carried over into the kanji memorization area of your brain…schizophrenic anal-retentive…” muttered Hyde.
“That’s it!” Tetsu said, standing up suddenly causing Hyde to fall over into the empty spot.
“What’s it?” asked Hyde as he watched Tetsu run off. “Where are you going???”
“Inspiration just struck. No time to talk!” called Tetsu as he ran down the stairs.
Hyde heard footsteps below, a door creak open, then slam shut, then silence. Sighing, he collected the samples and put them neatly back into the box. He noticed a sheet of paper that was with the samples and picked it up.
“Margins…alignment…color…sharpness…paper quality…location of hole punch…he’s got a list of 47 areas he has to evaluate before approving a proof,” Hyde shook his head. “He really is nuts-“
TORURURURURURU! TORURURURURU!
Hyde looked up and saw the landline flashing. After two more rings it was apparent that Tetsu was not going to pick it up, so Hyde stuffed the paper back into the box and walked over to answer the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Tetsu? -Hyde?”
“Oh, Ken, what’s up?”
“Hyde, why are you at Tetsu’s?”
“Working…We’re reviewing the samples for the calendar.”
“Uh, okay…well Megumi keeps calling me. Asking why you don’t pick up your phone.”
“Must’ve forgot to charge it. What does she want?”
“Asked me if I knew the name of a plumber.”
“A plumber? Why? Is the toilet broken?”
“No, she said the hose in the yard is leaking and flooding the garden area.”
“For this you need a plumber?”
“Hey don’t ask me. I’m a single man. Single men don’t have gardens.”
“Okay, well, I’ll go home and check things out. Thanks for relaying the message.”
“Anytime. Bye.”
Hyde scribbled a note on the counter, locked up the upper level of the house and drove back to his wife and son.
>>> Go to Chapter 6B
Previous Chapters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3A | Chapter 3B | Chapter 4A | Chapter 4B | Chapter 5A | Chapter 5B | Chapter 5C | Chapter 5D | Chapter 6A | Chapter 6B | Chapter 7A | Chapter 7B | Chapter 8 |