Remedies of a Romantic Kind

I don't own D. This is not autobiographical, nor is this an official account of real life. Nor do I get paid for writing this.

Remedies of a Romantic Kind

"What the...."

Ruiza's blank voice trailed off as he took stock of what stood before him. It looked like Asagi. Tall legs below an expensive jacket... And judging by the soft scent wafting towards him... It smelled like Asagi...

Behind the blond guitarist, choked sounds were emerging from Hide-zou.

Of course HE would find it funny, Ruiza thought with a small smile.

And it was funny. He could already feel tiny baby giggles wriggling up out of belly, out his throat and past his lips. Quickly, Ruiza turned away to snort into his hand.

Dark sunglasses flashed at the band members who were beginning to crack up.

"That's - that's..."

A muffled "What?" emerged from the strange figure.

Yes...

It was Asagi. Dark hair hung over large dark sunglasses that covered the upper half of his face - while a large white mask covered the lower half. The overall effect was bizarre - as if an alien had donned a surgical costume.

"N-Ne-Nevermind," Ruiza coughed sharply, knowing it was too early in the morning for Asagi to find some humour in the situation. "It's just... surprising."

"I don't see why," Asagi flashed his sunglasses at them again.

"It's okay."

"The sun was starting to darken your skin?" asked Tsunehito.

"No."

"You got a cough?" Hiroki asked worried.

"No."

"No wait," Hide-zou laughed. "Let me guess... You were overwhelmed by the stench of Tokyo?"

All the men laughed then - except Asagi. The vocalist for D waited for his band mates to calm down before removing his glasses. Setting his light jacket aside, Asagi sighed. It always amazed him to see his friends so bouncy so early in the morning.

"It's only 9:30, guys," Ruiza said mildly, giving the rest of D a look. "So..."

"So what?" asked Asagi irritatedly at the inference.

Ruiza turned around and gave the rest a long-suffering, 'see-what-you-did' look. Hiroki nudged Hide-zou sternly and went in search of his drum sticks.

"Sooooo.... the mask is........"

Ruiza stared at Hide-zou in disbelief.

The man is a sadist, he reminded himself, shaking his head. An idiot added to that...

"Hay fever," Asagi said briefly.

"Ah..." Hide-zou nodded cheerfully as if such a thing were a gift and not a torment. "I see," he added, in a tone which implied that he didn't see at all.

Asagi subdued a sudden urge to strangle his band mate. Instead, he imagined whacking the man over the head with his own guitar. However, lack of energy helped him make a better choice - and desist.

"I didn't think you got it," Hide-zou said artlessly.

"Sometimes."

"Wow. How sad..."

"Hm."

"Too bad though."

"Oh."

"I mean... what with the gift waiting for you and all..."

Asagi's bleary eyes lit up momentarily at the word 'gift' - then was replaced by cautiousness.

"Something big came in from a fan?" he asked with little to no enthusiasm.

"Yes, most likely - but no. No," Hide-zou looked at his band mate with an even queerer expression. "You don't remember it?"

"Remember what?"

"Today."

"Today is what?"

"Today. Is. White. Day," Hide-zou said slowly and clearly, realizing that the vocalist was even more out of it than he first thought.

"Oh."

There was a silence. Hide-zou's grin widened and he winked at Asagi. Asagi blinked - then, his eyes widened with realization.

"OH."

The guitarist could guess from the shy, side-long look that Asagi gave him, that the vocalist was mildly embarrassed and was most likely blushing under the mask.

"You didn't..." Asagi breathed, scandalized by Hide-zou's bold action. "Not HERE..."

Hide-zou grinned and then waved his hand ceremoniously.

"After you..."

Asagi slow walk sped up at the sound of a surprised shout from Tsunehito. No doubt the rest of the band had discovered the gift. Judging by the uproar in the next room, the older man knew that it must be big...

He sighed to himself.

This is what you get when you date a moron...

Sure enough, when Asagi entered the room he stopped in deep shock. The recording room had been decorated in all sorts of flowers and in the centre of his music stand was a small box with a card. Instead the box was an intricate ring - and in the card barely legible handwriting which promised lots of promiscuous (and most likely dangerous) forms of sex.

"What does it say?" asked Ruiza hopping from one foot to another.

"Not telling," growled Asagi, feeling his cheeks flushing red even further. Now twice as glad for his mask.

There were moans of disappointment from Tsunehito and Ruiza at this pronouncement. Hiroki looked non-plussed.

"Hide-zou is going out with......" He trailed off, staring at his two band mates - obviously shocked by this revelation. "Since when?"

"This is our sixth month together," sighed Hide-zou.

"Seventh," corrected Asagi, with a deeper sigh.

"It's amazing - how long it's been! It feels like we've been together forever!" added the electric guitarist.

Tsunehito sighed at the thought of such romance. Asagi nodded at Hide-zou's words.

"Yes, it does feel like forever. Like today," he gave Hide-zou a look. "I said nothing fancy."

"I held back!" Hide-zou huffed. "No stripper. No big cake. No big party. Just you and me tonight at a restaurant."

"Six months?" Hiroki tottered backwards to fall onto the couch (be-ringed with flowers).

"Seven," corrected Asagi, sniffing the flowers carefully through his mask. "Good choices..."

"Seven," echoed Hiroki.

"Don't worry. They've been secretive," Tsunehito comforted his band mate. "I only found out last month. By accident."

"I was making out with him in the janitor's closet down the hall -" Hide-zou grinned and winked at Hiroki.

"Remember that time that Ruiza and I tried to reach for the same juice can and it spilled everywhere and I had to get the mop to clean up the mess... and then I came back and I was all weird and everything? That was the time."

"Oh."

"It doesn't matter," Asagi gave his band mates another look. "What is more important is the new single we are working on."

"How hard-hearted!" sniffed Hide-zou with mock tears. But he was already donning his guitar.

-0-0-0-

It wasn't until he was putting away his drum sticks, watching the two men leave with promise in their eyes as they stared at each other -

It wasn't until Asagi and Hide-zou left the building (with a careful distance between them) -

It wasn't until the remaining three members of the band were standing on the curb waiting for taxis -

It wasn't until then that Hiroki realized it.

"Hide-zou............... is the male?"

Ruiza and Tsunehito giggled in return. Hiroki wasn't sure if he would ever be able to look at Asagi again with a straight face.

-

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