Gravitation
Struggling Towards
Normalcy
Chapter 1 – Accident
By: C-Chan
Disclaimer: I don’t own
Gravitation…even though I’d love to own Shuichi and Ryuichi!
A/N: This is my first ever Gravitation/shounen-ai
fanfiction, so if this sounds a bit OOC, please understand it’s because I’ve
seen a cheap DVD of the Gravitation series. All other info comes from
fanfiction and websites with character profiles. Also, this story is
going to be angst-ridden and filled with drama. Perhaps humor here and
there, but I’m going back to my roots for drama. If you don’t like bad
things happening to your favorite character, I suggest you don’t read this.
^^ Onto the story!
A/N 2 (12/26/02): I would like to thank Susan for sending
me some very valuable information. So, I’ve re-written some parts of this
fic. It’s nothing big that you have to re-read the WHOLE thing. The
changes are made mostly in the last two chapters. Once again, thanks go
out to Susan for sending me that information! *Glomps*
It had started off as a normal day. Shindou Shuichi got up early enough
to get to work without getting the barrel of K’s gun stuck in his face, and
Eiri Yuki got a few more hours of much needed sleep. Bad Luck practiced a
few of their most popular songs for their upcoming concert, and Sakano only
freaked out a total of three times. In fact, today could have been
considered a beyond-normal day. That is, until Shuichi left NG studios.
But the worse part didn’t start right away. Shuichi managed to get back
to the apartment he shared with Yuki without being smothered by fans, which was
a miracle in itself. Ever since the popularity of Bad Luck skyrocketed,
it was harder for the members to stick to the lives they normally lived.
Though it didn’t bother Hiro, Fujisaki and Shuichi much, the pink-haired singer
still missed the simple life…just a bit.
As he stepped into the apartment, he proceeded in his returning home-ritual:
Announcing a very loud “Tadaima!” and proceeding to knock the blond novelist
off his feet with a bear hug. Of course, Yuki was used to this.
After living together for a year, he’d come to expect it, almost welcome
it. He’d never admit to anyone, but he sometimes got lonely when the
singer was at the studio. Getting knocked off his feet everyday was
something he considered normal…well, normal when you considered the genki
singer sitting on his chest.
And so, Yuki proceeded with his welcoming home-ritual: to give Shuichi the
‘Glare of Death’ from his position the floor. “Off. Now.” He said
simply.
Proceeding with tradition, the singer complied, allowing the blond to get to
his feet and straighten his shirt. “Ne, Yuki. Why don’t we go out
tonight?”
Now that was something new. The two rarely went out together, mostly
because of conflicting schedules or the hordes of fans they knew were waiting
for a moment to attack. Yuki smirked down at him and shrugged.
“Fine.”
Shuichi smiled widely and began chattering about something that Yuki found hard
to follow. Of course, this was also normal. When Shuichi started
talking like that, it took all of one’s concentration to actually follow what
he was trying to say. But after catching a few key words out of the
babble such as “dinner”, “French”, and “Changing”, the blond smirked again and
nodded.
And so, the two lovers found themselves heading out of the apartment twenty
minutes later. As they stepped out of the building and headed towards
Yuki’s car, they both frowned at the snow that had started to fall. But
the snow wasn’t going to stop them, oh no. Noting the singer’s upset
expression, Yuki gently grabbed Shuichi’s elbow and guided him to the
car. Shuichi squealed in delight and literally leapt into the passenger
seat. Yuki lit up a cigarette before getting in the driver’s side, then
started the car and headed off to the restaurant.
A few minutes on the road, the weather worsened somewhat. Yuki frowned
and took a large drag from his cigarette, then exhaled slowly. His
passenger frowned at him. “I thought you said you were going to quit.” He
pouted, very cutely in Yuki’s mind.
“I never said anything about quitting. I said I’d cut
back.” The author corrected, looking at Shuichi from the corner of his
eye.
The pout remained, and Yuki sighed. Once the singer decided on something,
it was hard to steer him away from it. Shuichi had stated a few months
earlier that he wanted Yuki to quit smoking, claiming it was bad for his
health. Yuki knew this (Hell, he couldn’t miss the large warning on the
cigarette box), and had “promised” to cut back. However it got scrambled
into ‘quitting” in the singer’s mind was beyond him, but Yuki was going to
quit…one day. Just not today.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ve only had five today.”
The author huffed, returning his eyes to the road. Five was FAR less than
what he normally smoked in a day. Heck, it was less than what he smoked
in an hour.
This seemed to lighten Shuichi’s mood a bit. “That’s good!” He chirped,
smiling brightly. Yuki allowed himself a smirk. He liked making
Shuichi happy.
The drive to the restaurant was a 40 minute trip to the other side of Tokyo*, a
special spot that pair had gone to on their anniversary. It was the one
place that Yuki agreed was a ‘good restaurant’. Compared to the pocky and
other junk the Shuichi consumed daily, it was almost unbelievable the singer
could like something as fancy as French Cuisine.
20 minutes into the drive they found themselves on the main highway, and the
weather got just a tad bit worse. That’s when the trouble started.
Despite the good direction his life was taking, Yuki still took a few
medications that helped with sleep. One such medication (and to his utter
disbelief, also containing a smoking cessation drug) by the name of
Wellbutrin*, was to be taken in the middle of the day, while the other
medication was to be taken just before bed. Fortunately they worked well,
and the singer was able to get sleep much easier than he used to.
Unfortunately, they had some side effects.
Yuki blinked, trying to clear the blurriness in front of his eyes. The
side effects hit him at different times, ranging from giving him an extra burst
of energy to draining him of all such energy and making him very sleepy.
The later was the one affecting him currently.
“Yuki, daijoubu?” Shuichi asked, looking at the
novelist. When it came to Yuki, Shuichi miss almost nothing.
“Hai.” The blond replied in an impassive tone,
concentrating on the road.
A few minutes passed, and it seemed for once the medicine wasn’t being a pain
in the ass it usually was. Yuki consciously made a note to get that
checked out during his next appointment. Looking out of the corner of his
eye at Shuichi again and seeing the concerned expression on his face, the
novelist huffed. He was fine, damnit. They were just side effects.
But suddenly those side effects returned, much stronger than before. For
the millionth time, nothing new. Knowing full well driving in the
oncoming snowstorm with such symptoms wasn’t such a good idea, Yuki shrugged it
off. He was damned if he was going to pull over and wait for them to pass
or turn back around. He was looking forward to spending time with Shuichi
just as much as the singer was. Nothing was going to ruin this night.
The last thing he remembered was snapping awake to Shuichi’s scream and a loud
crash. Then everything went black.
Elsewhere, Nakano Hiro was sitting in his small apartment across town, strumming
on his acoustic guitar. He was trying to come up with a few notes for the
new song they were working on, and found that the quiet of his apartment was
what he needed. Mentally taking note of the chords he played, he went to
strum another string. SNAP!
“Itai!” Hiro yelped, bringing his hand to his mouth.
It figured. Just as he was getting into it, a damned string had to
break. Hiro cursed his dumb luck.
--------To Be Continued------