Chris was helping Danny load the instruments into Jacob’s truck, which left Miki alone with Jacob in the backroom of the club they had performed at. Miki wanted to get out of there as fast as he could, not liking being left with the moody drummer. He hadn’t told Chris what he thought about the drummer yet, not wanting to ruin the group dynamics with his silly worries. Miki didn’t feel comfortable being around the muscular man, and tried to spend as little time near him as possible. He would have bet money that the drummer had been staring at him recently and he didn’t like it. Jacob frightened him more than anything else.
Miki was suddenly startled out of his thoughts as a large hand settled on his shoulder. Jumping back quickly, he stepped away from the man that had been occupying his thoughts. The other man simply grinned at his reaction, stepping closer to the brunette. “Hey, why don’t you and me go have a bit of fun? I’m sure Chris wouldn’t mind too much.”
Miki did not like the way the older man was acting, did not like the way the other man was looking at him. “No, I’d rather not.” He backed up another step, trying to put more distance between himself and the smiling man.
“Aww, come on. Don’t be so cold. You’ll enjoy it, I promise.” Miki felt his mouth go dry as the other man approached him again. Jacob reached out to touch him and he shied away, avoiding making contact with the older man. He hoped Chris would get back soon.
“No.” Miki said forcefully, trying to convey his lack of interest to the oblivious man.
Miki backed up until he hit a wall, Jacob following his every move. He tried to slide to one side, but two strong hands grabbed either wrist, effectively pinning him to the wall. Miki struggled against the larger man as he began to panic, but Jacob had the advantage over him in both height and strength. Two lips pressed against his forcefully and Miki reacted out of instinct, bringing his knee up to slam between the other man’s legs. Jacob doubled over in pain and Miki used the opportunity to push the other man away. Just then, he noticed the other two band members standing in the doorway. Both had similar expressions of shock and disbelief on their faces as Miki ran across the room towards them, burying his face in Chris’ chest. He was barely aware that he was shaking, the reality of what had happened choosing that moment to take hold of his consciousness.
“You bastard, what’d you go and do that for?” Jacob gasped, still doubled over on the floor and not turning around.
Chris passed Miki to Daniel and crossed the room, his face expressionless. “He did it because he doesn’t like you.” Pulling the other man up by the fabric of his shirt, Chris punched the wounded man in the face full-strength. “Miki and I are leaving. Do whatever you want without us. You can crawl in a hole and die for all I care.”
Chris dropped the other man back to the floor and turned to collect his boyfriend. As the two walked out the door, he heard Jacob call for Daniel to help him. The blue-haired man simply shook his head and followed the other two out the door without comment.
Chris pulled the younger man into his arms as the two settled onto Chris’ bed. “I’m sorry that had to happen. I shouldn’t have left you alone with him like that. The guy’s a jerk, I just hadn’t expected him to act like so much of one.”
Miki shook his head, his voice protesting softly against the blonde man’s chest. “You had no way of knowing he was going to do something like that. It’s not your fault. If anything, I’m the one to blame for causing you to lose your job.”
Chris chuckled lightly as he pulled the younger man into his lap, arms curling protectively around Miki. “Why don’t we both agree that neither of us is at fault then? If anyone’s to blame, it’s Jacob for hitting on you like that. It was just a matter of time before the rest of us got fed up with Jacob and walked off anyways.”
Miki leaned back into the embrace and looked up at his lover. “Was it okay to leave the instruments with him?”
Chris shrugged lightly. “I was talking to Danny a while ago about that. Technically the equipment belongs to the group as a whole, considering we all paid for them equally. However, since the group’s gone it’s separate ways I figured we might want to divide them up. Danny’s gonna talk to Lewis about it and then the three of us are going to approach Jacob. My idea was to let Danny have the guitar, Lewis the keyboard, and Jacob the drums since that’s what each person plays.”
“But that leaves you with nothing.” Miki protested. “Don’t you at least want your money back?”
“Nah, I don’t really need anything. I told Danny to just consider it a late Christmas present or something.”
“He’s not mad at me, is he?” Miki asked hesitantly. “About the thing with Jacob.”
“No, of course not.” Chris soothed, kissing the other on the top of the head. “He knows you don’t like Jacob in the slightest. I think in a way, that was the final straw for him. For years he’s watched the guy he loves go from one person to another while taking him for granted. Seeing Jacob trying to force himself on you made him finally accept what a jerk Jacob really is. Danny can do a lot better than that, I know it. In fact, I have a feeling now that Jacob’s out of the way, Lewis may finally ask Danny out.”
“He likes Daniel?” Miki asked, sounding surprised. Chris had never mentioned anything about it before.
“Yeah, he has for a while. He just didn’t want to say anything about it while Danny was still infatuated with Jacob. I think that might have been part of why Lewis hated Jacob so much, because he didn’t want to see Danny get hurt by Jacob.”
Miki thought back to the few encounters he’d had with Lewis. He’d met the other keyboardist when Lewis had stopped by to visit Chris, and he seemed like a nice person. Something about the keyboardist’s compassionate nature had made him instantly like the other. “I don’t know either that well, but they seem like they’d make a good couple.”
“Oh, they will. I’m sure of it.” Chris affirmed.
“What about us?”
Chris looked down at the brunette in surprise. “What do you mean?”
Miki’s eyes looked trouble, uncertain. “What do we do now that we’re both unemployed?”
“You don’t have to worry about it. I can take care of us.” Chris reassured his lover.
Miki looked at him questionably, unconvinced of their financial security. “How can you do that without an income?”
Chris smiled at the other man. “Don’t worry about it.”
“For some reason, that makes me worry more.” Miki muttered.
Miki entered the apartment using a spare key Chris had given him. He had good news for his lover, though he wasn’t entirely sure how Chris would take it. For the two weeks since the band had broken up, Miki had been scouring the local paper, looking for some type of employment. He still worried about how Chris was able to pay their bills without an income, despite the other’s assurances that he would take care of it. Whenever he’d mentioned employment to Chris, the other had adamantly rejected the idea of Miki getting a job, pointing out that it might cause his school work to suffer. He had told Chris that he had to stay after school for a club that day and didn’t know how long he’d be, but had gone to interview for a job instead. He didn’t like sneaking around behind his lover’s back, but he felt that it was necessary. Thankfully, he’d been accepted for the position and would start working after school at a video rental store a few blocks from their apartment. It didn’t pay very much, but it was the best offer he had seen and their only source of income at the moment. A light rain had begun to fall as Miki walked home, leaving him slightly damp when he entered the warm apartment.
“Christian? I’m back.” Miki called out as he dropped his book-bag next to the door. He spotted his lover pacing in the kitchen, talking heatedly on the phone.
“Are you sure you don’t know of any openings? Nothing?” Chris spoke into the phone, sounding slightly exasperated. He’d been searching all over the city for anyone who could use a vocalist and keyboardist, but nothing had turned up that would accommodate both of them. “Alright, Jim. I’ll talk to you later. Thanks anyways.”
“No luck?” Miki asked as Chris hung up the phone.
“Nope. Sorry. Doesn’t look like there are any vacancies in the city, at least not for a keyboardist and a vocalist. I’ll keep looking, but I don’t think I’m going to find anything.” Chris pulled the shorter man into a light embrace and kissed his cheek. “How was your club meeting?”
Miki stared at a spot on the refrigerator, avoiding Chris’ gaze as he spoke. “I got a job.”
“You did what!?” Miki could tell that Chris was angry with him from the tone of his voice. “I thought I told you not to worry about it.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t avoid it. We don’t have any other source of income, and I wanted to help. It’s just a temporary job so I can quit as soon as we find another band.”
“Look, I have enough money in my bank account to tide us over until we find something. You should be concentrating on your education, not working to support us. I don’t think you should take this job.”
Miki stared at the other in amazement. He couldn’t believe Chris wasn’t worried about money. “And what happens when our bank accounts run out? You said yourself that if might be a while before another band turns up. I can’t just sit around and wait for our money to run out. We need to do something.”
“You need to worry about your education. Graduation is only a few months away. You need to finish with good grades if you ever want to pursue higher education.”
Miki’s eyes narrowed slightly as Chris brought up one of the points his mother had always harped to him about. “That doesn’t matter because I’m not going to college, remember? I thought we had been over this when I moved in.”
Chris raised his hands in front of him defensively. “I don’t know, you might change your mind sometime. Things like that happen. I don’t want you to regret this later on. Think of it as keeping your options open, just in case.”
“Why would I regret doing this? It’s what I want. It‘s what I care about. I thought you understood that.” Miki winced slightly as the accusation that crept into his voice.
Chris’ voice took on an exasperated note. “It just seems odd to me that someone as smart as you isn’t going to college. You seem better suited to the academic world than anything else.”
Miki glared at the other, unconsciously mirroring the stance his mother often used on him. “I thought you understood that I don’t like that sort of thing. I love music. It’s the way I am, I can’t change it. So what if I have good grades? It doesn’t make how I feel any different.”
“I can’t help thinking that you might be wasting your time with me, that I‘m holding you back from a better life.” Chris’ voice rose slightly as he tried to defend himself.
“The only thing I’m wasting is your money. You can’t honestly expect us both to be able to live off our bank accounts. My education is over as soon as I graduate. I’m not going to college and that’s final. I’m not interested.”
Chris rolled his eyes in frustration, nearly shouting in an attempt to get his point across. “I have enough money. You don’t have to worry about it. I can take care of us.”
“What if I don’t want you to take care of us?” Miki shot back, voice rising to match Chris’ tone. “Have you thought about that?”
Chris glared at the other in shock. “What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t think it’s right for you to have to support us both. I should at least be doing something to help. I’ll go crazy otherwise.”
“I keep telling you, you don’t need to.”
“I want to.” The last two comments were shouted across the kitchen at each other. Both men refused to back down from their positions, pride and stubbornness bringing them to a clash of wills.
“Quit your job, you don’t need it.”
“No.” Miki glared at the other man, his temper flaring out of control.
“Why can’t you stop being so stubborn and listen to me! You’re making a mistake with your life.” Chris was near the end of his patience, his voice tinged with exasperation.
“Oh, really? And was my moving in with you a mistake as well then?”
“Maybe it was.”
Miki stared in shock at the angry words uttered by the other man. He felt something twinge in his chest, as if someone had plunged a knife into him and started twisting. “If you think that way maybe I should just leave then and give you one less thing to spend money on.”
“Maybe you should. Go back to your parents, I’m sure they could get you into a nice college somewhere. You belong there, not with me.” Chris was unaware of the pain he was inflicting, too enraged to really think about what he was saying.
Miki glared at the other as he quickly gathered his few possessions. “Fine. I will.” He screeched at the older man, needing to lash out at the nearest target. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the spare key Chris had given him and hurled it at the taller man. Unfortunately, it missed its target as the other man ducked, clattering harmlessly to the tile flooring of the kitchen. “So sorry for bothering you these past couple months. You can go rot for all I care.” Miki slammed the door behind him as he stormed out the door, carrying his bags with him. He resolutely decided to ignore the rain that was pouring down outside the building as he stalked to the nearest payphone and called a taxi.
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