Stay Tuned As Life Continues For Others

Yutaka watched as the short red headed man on his couch slept. How his bare chest would swell with every breath and the way his hand dangled off the side of the couch. He found himself surprised that he hadn’t really noticed him before. They had went to the same High School after all, and even had a couple friends in common. But for some reason they hadn’t really connected, that was until one of their mutual friends got into an accident, was put into a coma and hospitalized. They wound up having rather similar schedules, so they often found each other at their friend’s side at the hospital. That is where their acquaintanceship turned into friendship. And that was where
trouble began.

Yutaka sat backwards on a chair watching the sleeping man. It may have been hard for many people to believe but the small statured man passed out on the couch had saved the world more than just a couple times. In fact most people would even have told you that the world didn’t need saving at all, that nothing unusual had happened at all throughout their life time. Yutaka wasn’t one of those people. One of his favorite drum sets had been destroyed by a giant dinosaur and he sure wasn’t going to forget that. Yutaka was forced to run for his life while some of his friends went to save the day, and since that day he always tried his best to repay those that saved him in any way he possibly could.

But that had been years earlier, back in his early High School days. Since then he had lost some weight changed his hair color and style countless times, started college and even came out as a bisexual. Yutaka had always seen love as something that anyone can share with anyone. So when he had found out that the leader of his band had feelings for his own brother, Yutaka quickly put a plan into motion that would get them together. Although his plan ended with himself getting a black eye the two brothers did reveal their true feelings towards each other.

It was the youngest brother, Takeru, that had been in car accident when he tried crossing a busy street to catch up with his older brother, Yamato. So it was while visiting Takeru on several occasions that Yutaka’s relationship with the young red headed man had bloomed. Izumi Koushrio was his name. They visited with each other so much that by the time Takeru was released they had become close friends.

Although Yutaka had dropped several casual hints of his interest in Koushiro, he didn’t receive any in return. Let alone, acknowledgement that they had even been received in the first place. Yutaka understood however, back in high school Koushiro was the computer club president until he graduated, and always could handle computers better than people. So Yutaka wasn’t really surprised when he noticed that Koushiro wasn’t picking up any of the hints, after all Koushiro wasn’t known for his human interactions.

To better understand why Koushiro was passed out on Yutaka’s couch, one has to know that when Takeru was released from the hospital, he was released with amnesia. Takeru couldn’t remember anything before the accident so he had forgotten all about the relationship with his brother. Yamato was devastated, but still kept tabs on his little brother. While he was chaperoning a high school dance, Yamato had seen Takeru making out with a girl on the dance floor. Distraught, Yamato had left the dance and went to a bar. Looking for someone to drink with, Yamato had called Yutaka. Yutaka was busy playing against with his roommate/fellow band member, Akira, as well as Koushiro at a LAN party. When Yutaka got the call he swiftly left, with Akira and Koushiro hot on his heels.

After a few hours of drinking everyone was drunk, but none of them were ready to go home. That is until Koushiro had passed out on the table they were all sitting at. Yutaka had slightly stumbled over to Koushiro and shook his shoulders. “Hey Koushiro, Wake up. I’m taking you to my place, so you can sleep this off.”

Koushiro looked up at his friend, “Yutaka, you didn’t slip something in my drinks just so you could get me to your place did you?”

Yutaka found himself in a rare speechless state. He could hear Yamato and Akira snickering on the other side of the table.
Koushiro smiled at his friend, “Because if you did, that would be prodigious.”

Yutaka was shocked. Although Koushiro was by far the drunkest out of all of them, what Yutaka knew were two things. That Koushiro had in fact been picking up at least some of the subtle hints he had given him. And two that Koushiro was interested in him as well, at least in the state of mind he was in. So as Yutaka took Koushrio back to his place, so he could sleep, Yamato had snuck away and began bar hopping by himself, away from any protective watch. But Yutaka didn’t know about it until later, for he was far too busy with a certain red head.

Yutaka shook the lock repeatedly, turned the door knob and kicked the bottom of the door trying to get in to open, all while supporting a nearly passed out Koushiro. After a few curses the door finally gave way and allowed the two men entrance. On their way to the living room Koushiro made a pit stop at the bathroom to try and expel the toxic substance he had been drinking all night. Feeling slightly better he allowed Yutaka to finish packing him to the living room.

As Yutaka laid the computer geek onto the couch, he saw that he had a large smile on his face. “What are you smiling about?”

“You got me back to your place, and now you’re laying me on your couch.” Koushiro answered.

“And what’s so great about that?” Yutaka asked.

“You don’t see the double meaning of this all, do you?” Koushiro answered.

Yutaka slightly blushed, but with his already rosy cheeks from drinking, it would have been hard to tell he was blushing from embarrassment. He knew the double meanings, and he knew the man he had been crushing on was the one bringing them to light. But he knew a couple other things as well, like the man he was crushing on was drunk and therefore couldn’t be taken seriously, and the second one was that his best friend needed him more than ever. So reluctantly, after grabbing a blanket off of his bed and a bucket out of the closet for the passed out red head, Yutaka left his apartment to return to his friend.

When Yutaka returned to the bar he didn’t find Yamato, just Akira, who was supposed to be watching Yamato. And much to Akira’s reputation he was busy flirting with a woman. Out of rage for Akira’s preoccupied state, and distress about Yamato’s disappearance, Yutaka swiftly stormed out of the bar and into the cold night. After hours of searching bars, and even a hospital or two Yutaka returned home exhausted, and worried sick about his friend. He was just planning on checking on Koushiro, and grabbing some coffee and heading back out. But he lucked out, after deciding to call Yamato for the 16th time that night, Yamato finally answered his phone. After several rants, hang ups, and angry voicemails Yutaka decided to call it quits for the night. After checking and seeing that Koushiro was still sleeping rather peacefully, he went and took a quick shower to cleanse himself of the smell of alcohol and smoke and then went to bed himself.

Yutaka was only asleep a few hours before he heard noise and movement from outside his rather small bedroom. Upon getting up and investigating the noise he found that Koushiro wasn’t on the couch and the bathroom light was on. Yutaka glanced into the bathroom and saw the red head kneeling before the mighty porcelain god. After a few minutes Koushiro was finished, and as he turned, Yutaka saw a sickening sight. To say it lightly, Koushiro’s shirt was dirty, too dirty to wear.

So after helping Koushiro out of his shirt and cleaning him up, Yutaka lead him back to the couch. Not wanting to leave his passed out ill friend, Yutaka did what he usually did when he couldn’t sleep. He styled his hair. After taking the scissors to his hair for a few minutes Yutaka stopped and looked in the mirror. He now had some styled ear length bleached hair. He got up and walked to a nearby drawer, the drawer was filled with several colors of hair dye. He pulled out a dark shade of green and returned back to his seat.

Minutes later as he sat in his chair, the dye soaking into his hair, Yutaka glanced over at the half naked man on his couch. Several thoughts floated through the young drummer’s mind. Some he could see himself acting upon, but several were only dreams, only fantasies that his mind wandered to from time to time. But one of the thoughts he could act upon, and act he did. He walked over to the sleeping Koushiro and as gently as he could, began to apply green hair dye to his natural red hair. After a couple minutes, the red was broken apart by several green highlights.

Yutaka smiled as he looked down at his work. He had made his mark on his friend. It wasn’t long after that Koushiro awoke with a start and began stumbling to the bathroom again. After Koushiro was done Yutaka was able to convince him that he needed to rinse his hair out, to clean up. With Koushiro in a rare state of not asking questions, he quickly complied. A few minutes later, with his ill friend back asleep and his hair styled once more, Yutaka finally let sleep take hold of him once more. Bringing a long evening to an end.

The next day luckily started rather late for Yutaka as he was eventually awoken when the loud ringing of a cell phone awoken him. After fumbling for his own phone for a bit Yutaka’s sleepy mind realized that the ringtone belonged to that of another phone. After quickly finding Koushiro’s phone, Yutaka answered it. It was Yamato’s roommate Taichi, he was inviting Koushiro to their apartment along with other people to discuss Yamato’s recent actions. After informing Taichi about Koushiro’s
condition, he said that they would be there shortly.

Yutaka reluctantly awoke the sleeping beauty on his couch.
Koushiro eyes flittered for a bit before opening fully. Koushiro rubbed his eyes and squinted at the figure that was standing over him. “Yutaka, you dyed your hair.” Koushiro said. He then winced at the sound of his own voice, the sheer volume of it hurt his head.

Yutaka just nodded response. He then took a couple steps back, and watched as Koushiro slowly and unsurely sat upright. Yutaka then whispered, “You need to go take a shower and get cleaned up. Taichi called, Yamato still isn’t doing well. So he wants you and his other friends over there for a chat.”

Koushiro gave a slight nod saying he understood. After slowly crawling out of the blanket he was still wrapped in, Koushiro slowly drug his feet to the bathroom. It wasn’t much later that there was a loud shout in surprise followed by a yip in pain. Yutaka quickly ran to the bathroom and knocked. “Is everything okay in there?”

The door was ripped open and standing before Yutaka stood a seething Koushrio. “What the hell is in my hair?”

Yutaka just blinked innocently, “Hair dye.”

“I know that! But why the hell is it in my hair.” Koushiro demanded.

“I had some left over after I did my hair. Besides it’s nothing to really worry about. You look good, and besides the holidays are coming up, so your hair will blend right in with all the red and green that will be floating around.” Yutaka said simply.
Koushiro didn’t respond with words, instead he responded with an action. Slamming the bathroom door in Yutaka’s face. Yutaka didn’t mind however, he was expecting such a reaction. He then went about tidying the apartment up for his roommate for whenever he would get home. It wasn’t much later that the sounds of the shower stopped and out stepped a half clothed
Koushiro. “Where’s my shirt?”

Yutaka couldn’t help that his eyes quickly scanned the shorter man’s small chest and thin stomach. “Trust me, you don’t want
it right now, possibly even never.”

“Well, then my only other option currently is to borrow one from you.” Koushiro stated.

“I’ll go see what I can find.” Yutaka said, he then turned around and walked into his bed room. After a quick scan through his closet Yutaka pulled out a t-shirt and handed it to his friend in need.

“Thanks” Koushiro said taking the shirt. He quickly pulled it on, and realized it was one of Yutaka’s favorite shirts, as well as that it fit on his body snugger than any shirt he usually wore. Once he was fully dressed, Koushiro began to leave the apartment. Just as soon as he opened the door he quickly shut it again and stumbled backwards. “The sun’s unbelievably bright today.”

“Of course it is, you have a hangover. I’ll lend you some shades for the walk over, and even help you over there. How’s the head by the way?” Yutaka asked.

“As if its very molecular structure is changing to that of pudding.” Koushiro answered.

“Chocolate or Vanilla?” Yutaka asked.

“Butterscotch.” Was the reply.

Yutaka stuck out his tongue and made a couple of gagging sounds.
Koushiro could only nod in agreement as anything else would surely instantly change his brain to pudding. Yutaka then walked up to Koushiro and handed him a pair of dark sunglasses by the door. He then put a gentle hand on his shoulder, opened the door and began leading his now nearly blind friend to Taichi’s and Yamato’s Apartment.

As Yutaka and Koushiro walked into the living room of their friends’ apartment, Yutaka noticed a couple things. One was that he was the only Teenage Wolf present, telling him that this was a supposed to be a “Chosen Only” meeting. The other thing he noticed was the attention of a pink haired beauty from across the room, but in particular how her eyes kept bouncing from him to Koushiro and back. After a bit it was as if a light bulb went off in her head, she then gave them both a slight grin. Koushiro and Yutaka squeezed onto the couch and the discussion began instantly. And in that instant Yutaka decided he needed out of the room, so he shot up out of his seat and offered to get everybody drinks.

Yutaka made his way to the kitchen and began raiding cupboards, shelves, drawers and the refrigerator all in search of various drinks. All in the effort to avoid the awkwardness of being with Yamato’s other group of friends. Sure he knew and went to school with them all, and was even friends with a couple of them, but it was like showing up in black to an all white event, you stick out like a sore thumb, and the feeling of awkwardness is unbearable.

With all the drinks finished Yutaka had no choice but to return to the living room and the conversation going on. Having handed everyone their drinks, Yutaka squeezed back into his spot between Koushiro and the end of the couch. He then sat there and went through the motions, nodded when he needed to, and talked when expected.

It was a few hours later, just as the sun was setting, that Yutaka had returned to the living room after refreshing everyone’s drinks for the umpteenth time. He sat down and listened to the conversation that was going on, it was almost identically the same conversation that was held an hour earlier, they were talking themselves in circles. Yutaka let out a slight sigh of boredom. Shortly after that he felt a head lay itself on his shoulder, proving he wasn’t the only one bored with the repetitive speech. He listened as Koushiro’s breathing began to change, and it wasn’t much later that Koushiro was fast asleep.
After a couple minutes, Yutaka too felt his eyes began to droop.
Just as his eyes were starting to settle, he heard a door close and footsteps. Suddenly everyone became quiet, he looked at the door way and sure enough, there stood Yamato. The person everyone had been talking about all day. He still looked tired and hung over.

Yutaka watched as Yamato scanned the room to see who all was in it. He watched as his eyes came to rest on Koushiro and him. Yutaka could see how he took in Koushiro’s new hair color, and the rather closeness that was being showed between the two of them. He could then see the gears turning in the blonde’s mind, trying to remember what had happened the night before. He then saw the blonde give a slight grin, showing off some of his white
smile. “What happened to him?”

Yutaka turned and looked at Koushiro, as he turned back he smiled, “I was dying my hair this morning and I just couldn’t resist.”

“And the shirt?” Asked Yamato.

“Accident.” Yutaka said simply.

Yamato looked at Yutaka. Yutaka looked right back, and tried to suppress a chuckle as he watched Yamato’s face as he thought. He could tell the blonde still had a headache, it showed.
Eventaully Yamato spoke, “What kind of ‘Accident’?”

“What kind of accident do you think a person with a wicked hangover would have?” answered Yutaka. From the look on Yamato face, he knew the message got across. He could only assume that
Yamato probably had a similar incident the night before as well.

The topic then changed back to what it was before, about Yamato. The conversation only lasted a few minutes before it ended in shouts and tears. Which was exactly what Yutaka was expecting, because after all, when your discussing touchy subjects like suicide and break-ups, with some people with hangovers and others with sleep deprivation, could it end any other way?

After the meeting came to a rather climatic end, a handful of those present got up and left the rather tense apartment. Others however stayed behind, hopeful that the atmosphere would change. With more chairs free the couch freed up, leaving just Koushiro and Yutaka on it. The pink haired girl sat in a chair not far away staring at them. Yutaka was used to be stared at by people, you had to be to get up in front of hundreds of screaming fans, so he just picked up a music magazine that was sitting on the coffee table and began reading it.

Koushiro however wasn’t used to being stared at. He cracked under the seemingly unblinking gaze from the girl. “Mimi will you cut that out! Why are you staring over here?”

“You two are a cute couple.” Mimi replied with a smile.

Yutaka kept reading an article in the magazine, while Koushiro’s jaw dropped. “What the hell are you talking about Mimi?”

Mimi gave a slight giggle, “You and Yutaka of course.”

Koushiro’s gaze moved from Mimi to Yutaka and back. Whereas
Yutaka’s gaze returned the beginning of the sentence he had just read, as it was hard to read with people yelling beside you.
Koushiro spoke again, “Mimi I’m not gay.”

Mimi blinked a couple times, “Oh? You sure?”

“Yes Mimi I’m sure.”

“Well what about Yutaka, isn’t he gay?” Mimi asked.

“Not technically.” Yutaka answered, he then let out a sigh as he had to return to the beginning of the paragraph.

There was a brief silence as Mimi stared at the two on the couch again. “You two sure you’re not a couple?”

“Yes Mimi. I’m sure I would know if we were a couple or not. And I know we are not a couple.” Another brief pause of silence then, “Just out of curiosity Mimi why do you ask?”

“Well you slept at Yutaka’s place last night. Your wearing his clothes, which is so a big clue. Which is even bigger than the fact that he did your hair. Oh and you fell asleep earlier on his shoulder.” Mimi explained.

“Mimi, Yutaka took me to his place because I was so drunk I couldn’t go any further. I’m wearing his clothes because I dirtied mine in a not too pleasant manner that was due to the drinking. The only reason why my hair is now partly green is because I was passed out and Yutaka couldn’t keep well enough alone. And once again, I’m not feeling well, so I fell asleep. I very well could have fallen asleep onto Hikari instead of Yutaka.”

“Well prove you’re not a couple.” Mimi said.

“Mimi I just told you we’re not.” Koushiro retorted.

“That doesn’t mean anything. You could be lying. I want to see the proof.” Mimi said.

“And what proof do you want?” Koushiro asked.

“Kiss him.” Mimi suggested.

Koushiro’s jaw dropped again. Yutaka restarted again, and moved the magazine closer to his face to try and keep focus. “Mimi, I don’t see how that could really prove anything.”

“It would prove it, it would prove the connection.” Mimi stated.

“That’s very illogical proof Mimi.”

“It’s a matter of heart Koushiro, of course it would be illogical.” Mimi said sticking her tongue out.

“I’m not going to do it Mimi and that’s final.” Koushiro said.

Silence came about the room. Allowing Yutaka to relax again and read his article in peace. That is until Mimi shouted. “Come on Koushiro just kiss him!”

“For the last time Mimi, I’m not gay.” Responded Koushiro with some anger.

“Who said anything about you needing to be gay? It would just be hot!” squealed Mimi.

Koushrio folded his arms, “I’m not going to kiss Yutaka, just for your pleasure Mimi so you can just forget it.”

“So you would kiss him for other reasons? Like what? Your own pleasure?” Mimi teased.

Koushiro’s cheeks grew a little red, but it was hard to tell if it was over anger or embarrassment. “I didn’t say anything like that!”

“But you implied it Koushiro. You practically admitted that you wanted to kiss Yutaka.” Mimi explained.

“I can’t believe I forgot how annoying you can be.” Retorted Koushiro.

Mimi’s eyes filled with rage. “You know what Koushiro, you are still the same scared virginal computer nerd that doesn’t listen to his heart.”

“At least I’m not some spoiled brat that hasn’t had a smart thought since she stopped wearing everything that was that ugly color of pink!” responded Koushiro.

Mimi and Koushiro continued trading insults. Each one growing louder and more and more absurd. That is until Yutaka had had enough. “For crying out loud!” Yutaka shouted as he tossed his magazine down. He then turned to Koushiro and grabbed his head and turned it towards him. Even though he was still trying to shout another insult at Mimi, Yutaka kissed him anyways. As Yutaka placed his lips against that of Koushiro’s, the computer expert shut up.

The harsh words Mimi was about to shout out were now stuck in her throat as her mouth hung open, not believing the sight in front of her. Koushiro soon returned the kiss back to Yutaka, both of their warms lips began moving over and sucking one another. Mimi’s mouth dropped more. What happened next shocked all those involved, even Koushiro himself. Koushiro’s tongue found its way to Yutaka’s lips and was demanding entry. Yutaka opened his mouth and allowed the natural red head entrance to his mouth. However its unchallenged occupation didn’t last long as Yutaka suddenly began pushing the invader back with his tongue.

Yutaka heard a familiar voice talking behind him, he knew it was Yamato’s voice. He couldn’t tell what he said though, and at that moment he didn’t really care either.

Once Yutaka had claimed dominance over Koushiro’s mouth, he quit the kiss just as quickly as he had started it. Koushiro sat there stunned his cheeks a bright color of red, as he panted and stared at Yutaka. Mimi sat where she was, staring at Yutaka as well, with what appeared to be drool running down her chin.
Yutaka gave them both a large smile before grabbing his magazine back up. He then let out a loud pleasurable sigh, “Much better.” He then opened up the magazine and was able to read the rest of his article in a quiet room, but he found that he still couldn’t focus on the article. For his thoughts were still on the kiss that had just occurred and what affects it was bound to have.
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Author's Note: Where to start.... The title is silly, I don't like it. I'll think of a better title later I hope. Secondly don't expect the rest of the story to be like this chapter. It will mainly become its own story for most of it, With tie-in events with the main story, Also not all the chapters will be this long, or I don't expect them to be.

Lastly, Sorry it took so long to get this posted. I promised posted about two maybe even three weeks ago, and have just been putting it off. So to make up for it. I'll post the next chapter also. Hope you guys enjoy.