Blinded, Ch. 3/x
Title: Blinded
Chapters: 3/x
Author: konicoffee
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst, AU, AT
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned here.
Warnings: Very basic, almost no-frills writing.
Rating: PG-13 for Language
Pairings/Characters: Aoi/Uruha, The GazettE before Kai came around (in this chapter)
Synopsis: Kouyou was very much human. Like all humans, he felt pain. He felt fear.
Comments: It will be a while until the next update as I am no longer on break from school/work/life in general. For now, I hope you enjoy this one. Happy Easter!
Chapters: { One } {Two }
Yuu sighed as he locked his guitar case. Gazette had already been signed to a record label less than a month after the band was formed. Their first single, Wakaremichi was due for release very soon. Everything was rushed, but the recording phase, the final mixing, the video shooting...most of the nitty-gritty work was done.
It was unfortunate that their gigs, including the one just now, would have an average of only twenty people in the audience. People knew who they were from their previous bands, but no one was interested in listening to them as a new band entirely.
Light gray cigarette smoke swirled out of Takanori's mouth. "At the very least this was better than last time," the vocalist said as he flicked his lit cigarette over an ash tray. The brunette cracked a smile at the memory of their previous gig. As if Akira's bass getting unplugged from its amplifier mid-song and Kouyou snapping a string during his solo wasn't enough to ruin things, some drunk asshole climbed on stage, took Takanori's microphone, and shoved poor Takanori off the damn stage. It sure as hell wasn't funny at the time, but some drinks and a few cigarettes later, the band learned to shrug off the incident and laugh about it.
Yuu glanced at Kouyou, who had fallen asleep on his chair. His head was resting on his guitar case, and his arms were draped around it. For a guy who runs around onstage with a guitar that heavy slung onto him and dances like the guitar weighed nothing, his arms were very slender. Yuu was surprised at how thin Kouyou's wrists really were. How delicate they looked.
He didn't know what possessed him to touch one of those wrists, but he did. And Kouyou woke up with a start. "What the f...oh. Hello, Yuu."
He looked at Kouyou's smiling, puffy-eyed but no less pretty face. It seemed so radiant even under the dusky lights of that small live house. Yuu had to remind himself that Kouyou was a man despite his extremely beautiful features. Even if he was some sort of reincarnation of Uruha, Yuu's childhood imaginary female love, there's no way they could be more than friends. Not without complicating things and potentially hurting both of them and their bandmates.
"I...I'm sorry," The brunette stammered, not looking away from Kouyou's face. He had absolutely no idea what to say. "You must be tired." He wanted to slap himself for being so lame.
"No shit," Kouyou chuckled as squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds, and slowly opened them again. "But thanks for waking me up. This isn't really the best place to spend the night in, is it?"
My futon's plenty comfortable, Yuu uttered in his head. He then gave himself a mental kick in the gut before he got any more ideas. Kouyou stood up and lifted his guitar case. He faltered a bit before he regained his balance. "Fuck. I'm so tired," he laughed softly, smiling weakly at Yuu.
The other guitarist couldn't hide his worry. "Dude, are you okay?"
"I feel like hammered crap," Kouyou retorted, tightening his grip around the handle of his guitar case. "But I'll be fine. I'm going ahead. I'll see you guys later."
Yuu stayed silent as he watched Kouyou wave at him and their bandmates and walked out the live house. He watched the blonde guitarist slowly disappear into the colorful glimmer that illuminated Shinjuku's streets. Yuu then looked heavenwards and cursed under his breath, attempting to forget how delectable Kouyou looked under dim light.
"Thank you very much," was heard from the convenience store counter as Yuu placed the last pack of cup ramen on the shelf. The job wasn't much, he thought, but at least it kept the lights in his apartment running. And from time to time, it put bread on the table. He pondered for a second how long he had to keep this job once Wakaremichi was released, but his thoughts were interrupted by his stomach's growling. The last meal he had was more than twenty four hours ago.
As soon as his shift ended, he walked along a crowded street towards the general direction of his apartment. The soft, scattered light from the sky as the sun slowly set gave the still colorful streets of Shinjuku more of an azure hue. Somewhere in some random live house, Yuu thought, a band would be setting up their equipment, hoping their friends would come and watch them. Or some kid with an acoustic guitar would step into Tokyo for the first time, hoping to make it big as a musician. That kid would have no idea that the job isn't nearly as glamorous as it looks - underneath the makeup and the costumes, you are sleep-deprived, tired, and fucking starving.
He smiled a bit as a stretch of shops turned on their acrylic signs in sequence right as he walked by. The sequence stopped at the vegetable shop that had a delivery truck in front of it.
"Yuu?"
Yuu turned around and saw a certain blonde man carrying a crate of what looked like daikon. It was the first time he had seen Kouyou wearing anything white. Or anything that plain. The tall blonde wore a white shirt and a pair of jeans. The plain clothing did nothing but make Kouyou's stunning face stand out even more.
"Hey," was all the brunette could blurt out, thankful that it was too dark for Kouyou to see him blush as Kouyou grinned at him. "I was planning to give you a call," Kouyou said, making Yuu blush even more. "Do you have an amp I could borrow? Mine blew a fuse, or something. I was composing a song, and I don't want to forget about it before I could get my amp fixed."
"All I have is a lunchbox amp," Yuu managed to say without stuttering. He had to breathe in and muster up some courage for his next sentence. "If that will do, I can bring it over to your place. At around eight, maybe."
"That would be great," Kouyou beamed as he put down the last crate. "Thank you so much, Yuu. You're awesome!"
Yuu nodded and waved at Kouyou, only then noticing that Kouyou was trembling slightly. He continued walking to his apartment along the now fully lit street, wondering what Kouyou was shaking for. So cute. Getting excited over an amp, he thought. He entertained the idea that maybe, just maybe, Kouyou was excited to have him over at his place. But he quickly shook off the thought.
It would have looked like a normal apartment building if it weren't for the two scary men walking out of the entrance. Yuu gripped on the handle of his lunchbox amp, ready to swing if they tried doing anything funny.
And he would have swung, had he not stopped in his tracks at the words he heard from one of the men when they walked by him.
"That son of a bitch Takashima put up a pretty good fight, didn't he?"
Normally Yuu would have turned around and interrogated the men, but he found himself running towards the elevator instead. Shit. SHIT. He waited a long ten seconds for the elevator to get to the first floor. Kouyou, please be okay...
He got off at the fifth floor and darted towards Kouyou's apartment at the rightmost end of the building. Forgetting all forms of courtesy and sense, he quickly twisted the door knob open and pushed the door.
...Uruha.
He found Kouyou sitting on the floor of his living room, with a lit cigarette in one hand and a totally blank expression on his face. Yuu's body was totally stiff in shock until Kouyou looked at him and cracked a weak, but still beautiful smile. "Hey," Kouyou choked, waving the hand that held his lit cigarette. It didn't take long for Yuu to notice that the smile on Kouyou's face was accompanied by a large bruise.
"Holy shit, Kouyou, what the hell happened?" Yuu walked to Kouyou in nervous agitation and knelt down to take a closer look at his face. The bruise on his cheek looked like a violet ink blot on his perfect skin. "Who...who did this?"
"Yakuza," he retorted dryly.
You have got to be shitting me, Yuu cried in his head. "What the fuck did you do to have anything to do with the Yakuza?" He questioned, failing miserably at trying to sound as calm as Kouyou surprisingly did. "And what did they do to you? Do I need to call a doctor?"
"Relax," Kouyou chuckled. "All I got was a punch in the face. It's nothing."
Yuu was relieved to see that Kouyou didn't seem to have any other injuries. His heart jumped, however, when Kouyou grabbed his sleeve and started trembling like he did earlier. But he wasn't only slightly shaking this time.
"I'm so fucking hungry."
Yuu quietly watched Kouyou stuff his pretty face with the kake udon from the nearest place that delivered it. Kouyou was still sitting on his living room floor while the other guitarist knelt in front of him, just watching him. He couldn't believe how crazy this man was. And how stupid he could possibly be. "Let me get this straight," The brunette uttered, breaking the silence between them. "You didn't eat for nearly three weeks because you wanted to quickly pay the debt you owed the Yakuza?"
"Yup," the blonde replied as he slurped a bunch of noodles. The yellow light of Kouyou's living room made the udon look warmer than it really was, and the way Kouyou scarfed the noodles down looked like it was the tastiest thing on Earth. Yuu shook his head in disbelief. He was surprised at how calm Kouyou was about all this.
"And what exactly lead you to owe the Yakuza that much money?"
"A lot of stupid shit from way back," Kouyou replied no less nonchalantly than before. "A drinking problem, a gambling problem, and a girlfriend. I'm done with all of that, but I wasn't done paying for them yet. I moved to a new apartment and all, but they still found me, so I decided to put an end to my debt as soon as possible."
"Well don't fucking end your life too!" Yuu exclaimed as he gently placed a cold, wet washcloth on Kouyou's bruised cheek, inducing a soft hiss from the blonde.
The brunette felt bad for yelling at him as the blonde's full lips formed a bitter smile. "That was an option, to be honest," he said faintly.
Yuu could only stare at him, looking at his tired eyes. Kouyou was absolutely magnificent, however, Yuu finally realized, he was not an angel, or a god, or the personification of some fucking celestial body. Kouyou was very much human. Like all humans, he felt pain. He felt fear.
The vague sound of rain sliced into the air right as tears started rolling down Kouyou's cheeks. Both men stayed silent.
Do you regret living in this world, Uruha?
"Those guys won't come back, will they?"
The brunette shook his head. "No, Kouyou, they won't," he responded softly, applying less pressure on the bruise with the washcloth.
Kouyou stayed silent as he put the empty bowl by his side. He closed his eyes, allowing more tears to fall. "Thank...thank goodness. I was so scared."
I'm sorry I made you go through this.
The washcloth no longer stood between Yuu's hand and Kouyou's cheek. Yuu's fingertips gently touched the violet patch on Kouyou's porcelain-like skin. He remembered his childhood. He remembered living in fear everyday, going home with bruises like this. At this point, he had forgotten to keep his thoughts unspoken.
"I'm here."
Not a sound was heard, except for the hushed buzzing of the living room light, the murmuring rain, and Yuu's quiet breathing as his lips gently touched Kouyou's cheek.
Chapter Four
Chapters: 3/x
Author: konicoffee
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst, AU, AT
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned here.
Warnings: Very basic, almost no-frills writing.
Rating: PG-13 for Language
Pairings/Characters: Aoi/Uruha, The GazettE before Kai came around (in this chapter)
Synopsis: Kouyou was very much human. Like all humans, he felt pain. He felt fear.
Comments: It will be a while until the next update as I am no longer on break from school/work/life in general. For now, I hope you enjoy this one. Happy Easter!
Chapters: { One } {Two }
Yuu sighed as he locked his guitar case. Gazette had already been signed to a record label less than a month after the band was formed. Their first single, Wakaremichi was due for release very soon. Everything was rushed, but the recording phase, the final mixing, the video shooting...most of the nitty-gritty work was done.
It was unfortunate that their gigs, including the one just now, would have an average of only twenty people in the audience. People knew who they were from their previous bands, but no one was interested in listening to them as a new band entirely.
Light gray cigarette smoke swirled out of Takanori's mouth. "At the very least this was better than last time," the vocalist said as he flicked his lit cigarette over an ash tray. The brunette cracked a smile at the memory of their previous gig. As if Akira's bass getting unplugged from its amplifier mid-song and Kouyou snapping a string during his solo wasn't enough to ruin things, some drunk asshole climbed on stage, took Takanori's microphone, and shoved poor Takanori off the damn stage. It sure as hell wasn't funny at the time, but some drinks and a few cigarettes later, the band learned to shrug off the incident and laugh about it.
Yuu glanced at Kouyou, who had fallen asleep on his chair. His head was resting on his guitar case, and his arms were draped around it. For a guy who runs around onstage with a guitar that heavy slung onto him and dances like the guitar weighed nothing, his arms were very slender. Yuu was surprised at how thin Kouyou's wrists really were. How delicate they looked.
He didn't know what possessed him to touch one of those wrists, but he did. And Kouyou woke up with a start. "What the f...oh. Hello, Yuu."
He looked at Kouyou's smiling, puffy-eyed but no less pretty face. It seemed so radiant even under the dusky lights of that small live house. Yuu had to remind himself that Kouyou was a man despite his extremely beautiful features. Even if he was some sort of reincarnation of Uruha, Yuu's childhood imaginary female love, there's no way they could be more than friends. Not without complicating things and potentially hurting both of them and their bandmates.
"I...I'm sorry," The brunette stammered, not looking away from Kouyou's face. He had absolutely no idea what to say. "You must be tired." He wanted to slap himself for being so lame.
"No shit," Kouyou chuckled as squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds, and slowly opened them again. "But thanks for waking me up. This isn't really the best place to spend the night in, is it?"
My futon's plenty comfortable, Yuu uttered in his head. He then gave himself a mental kick in the gut before he got any more ideas. Kouyou stood up and lifted his guitar case. He faltered a bit before he regained his balance. "Fuck. I'm so tired," he laughed softly, smiling weakly at Yuu.
The other guitarist couldn't hide his worry. "Dude, are you okay?"
"I feel like hammered crap," Kouyou retorted, tightening his grip around the handle of his guitar case. "But I'll be fine. I'm going ahead. I'll see you guys later."
Yuu stayed silent as he watched Kouyou wave at him and their bandmates and walked out the live house. He watched the blonde guitarist slowly disappear into the colorful glimmer that illuminated Shinjuku's streets. Yuu then looked heavenwards and cursed under his breath, attempting to forget how delectable Kouyou looked under dim light.
"Thank you very much," was heard from the convenience store counter as Yuu placed the last pack of cup ramen on the shelf. The job wasn't much, he thought, but at least it kept the lights in his apartment running. And from time to time, it put bread on the table. He pondered for a second how long he had to keep this job once Wakaremichi was released, but his thoughts were interrupted by his stomach's growling. The last meal he had was more than twenty four hours ago.
As soon as his shift ended, he walked along a crowded street towards the general direction of his apartment. The soft, scattered light from the sky as the sun slowly set gave the still colorful streets of Shinjuku more of an azure hue. Somewhere in some random live house, Yuu thought, a band would be setting up their equipment, hoping their friends would come and watch them. Or some kid with an acoustic guitar would step into Tokyo for the first time, hoping to make it big as a musician. That kid would have no idea that the job isn't nearly as glamorous as it looks - underneath the makeup and the costumes, you are sleep-deprived, tired, and fucking starving.
He smiled a bit as a stretch of shops turned on their acrylic signs in sequence right as he walked by. The sequence stopped at the vegetable shop that had a delivery truck in front of it.
"Yuu?"
Yuu turned around and saw a certain blonde man carrying a crate of what looked like daikon. It was the first time he had seen Kouyou wearing anything white. Or anything that plain. The tall blonde wore a white shirt and a pair of jeans. The plain clothing did nothing but make Kouyou's stunning face stand out even more.
"Hey," was all the brunette could blurt out, thankful that it was too dark for Kouyou to see him blush as Kouyou grinned at him. "I was planning to give you a call," Kouyou said, making Yuu blush even more. "Do you have an amp I could borrow? Mine blew a fuse, or something. I was composing a song, and I don't want to forget about it before I could get my amp fixed."
"All I have is a lunchbox amp," Yuu managed to say without stuttering. He had to breathe in and muster up some courage for his next sentence. "If that will do, I can bring it over to your place. At around eight, maybe."
"That would be great," Kouyou beamed as he put down the last crate. "Thank you so much, Yuu. You're awesome!"
Yuu nodded and waved at Kouyou, only then noticing that Kouyou was trembling slightly. He continued walking to his apartment along the now fully lit street, wondering what Kouyou was shaking for. So cute. Getting excited over an amp, he thought. He entertained the idea that maybe, just maybe, Kouyou was excited to have him over at his place. But he quickly shook off the thought.
It would have looked like a normal apartment building if it weren't for the two scary men walking out of the entrance. Yuu gripped on the handle of his lunchbox amp, ready to swing if they tried doing anything funny.
And he would have swung, had he not stopped in his tracks at the words he heard from one of the men when they walked by him.
"That son of a bitch Takashima put up a pretty good fight, didn't he?"
Normally Yuu would have turned around and interrogated the men, but he found himself running towards the elevator instead. Shit. SHIT. He waited a long ten seconds for the elevator to get to the first floor. Kouyou, please be okay...
He got off at the fifth floor and darted towards Kouyou's apartment at the rightmost end of the building. Forgetting all forms of courtesy and sense, he quickly twisted the door knob open and pushed the door.
...Uruha.
He found Kouyou sitting on the floor of his living room, with a lit cigarette in one hand and a totally blank expression on his face. Yuu's body was totally stiff in shock until Kouyou looked at him and cracked a weak, but still beautiful smile. "Hey," Kouyou choked, waving the hand that held his lit cigarette. It didn't take long for Yuu to notice that the smile on Kouyou's face was accompanied by a large bruise.
"Holy shit, Kouyou, what the hell happened?" Yuu walked to Kouyou in nervous agitation and knelt down to take a closer look at his face. The bruise on his cheek looked like a violet ink blot on his perfect skin. "Who...who did this?"
"Yakuza," he retorted dryly.
You have got to be shitting me, Yuu cried in his head. "What the fuck did you do to have anything to do with the Yakuza?" He questioned, failing miserably at trying to sound as calm as Kouyou surprisingly did. "And what did they do to you? Do I need to call a doctor?"
"Relax," Kouyou chuckled. "All I got was a punch in the face. It's nothing."
Yuu was relieved to see that Kouyou didn't seem to have any other injuries. His heart jumped, however, when Kouyou grabbed his sleeve and started trembling like he did earlier. But he wasn't only slightly shaking this time.
"I'm so fucking hungry."
Yuu quietly watched Kouyou stuff his pretty face with the kake udon from the nearest place that delivered it. Kouyou was still sitting on his living room floor while the other guitarist knelt in front of him, just watching him. He couldn't believe how crazy this man was. And how stupid he could possibly be. "Let me get this straight," The brunette uttered, breaking the silence between them. "You didn't eat for nearly three weeks because you wanted to quickly pay the debt you owed the Yakuza?"
"Yup," the blonde replied as he slurped a bunch of noodles. The yellow light of Kouyou's living room made the udon look warmer than it really was, and the way Kouyou scarfed the noodles down looked like it was the tastiest thing on Earth. Yuu shook his head in disbelief. He was surprised at how calm Kouyou was about all this.
"And what exactly lead you to owe the Yakuza that much money?"
"A lot of stupid shit from way back," Kouyou replied no less nonchalantly than before. "A drinking problem, a gambling problem, and a girlfriend. I'm done with all of that, but I wasn't done paying for them yet. I moved to a new apartment and all, but they still found me, so I decided to put an end to my debt as soon as possible."
"Well don't fucking end your life too!" Yuu exclaimed as he gently placed a cold, wet washcloth on Kouyou's bruised cheek, inducing a soft hiss from the blonde.
The brunette felt bad for yelling at him as the blonde's full lips formed a bitter smile. "That was an option, to be honest," he said faintly.
Yuu could only stare at him, looking at his tired eyes. Kouyou was absolutely magnificent, however, Yuu finally realized, he was not an angel, or a god, or the personification of some fucking celestial body. Kouyou was very much human. Like all humans, he felt pain. He felt fear.
The vague sound of rain sliced into the air right as tears started rolling down Kouyou's cheeks. Both men stayed silent.
Do you regret living in this world, Uruha?
"Those guys won't come back, will they?"
The brunette shook his head. "No, Kouyou, they won't," he responded softly, applying less pressure on the bruise with the washcloth.
Kouyou stayed silent as he put the empty bowl by his side. He closed his eyes, allowing more tears to fall. "Thank...thank goodness. I was so scared."
I'm sorry I made you go through this.
The washcloth no longer stood between Yuu's hand and Kouyou's cheek. Yuu's fingertips gently touched the violet patch on Kouyou's porcelain-like skin. He remembered his childhood. He remembered living in fear everyday, going home with bruises like this. At this point, he had forgotten to keep his thoughts unspoken.
"I'm here."
Not a sound was heard, except for the hushed buzzing of the living room light, the murmuring rain, and Yuu's quiet breathing as his lips gently touched Kouyou's cheek.
Chapter Four