[fic] Aesthetics and Identity :: Serenade
May. 30th, 2006 03:38 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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shannys_cornerTitle: Aesthetics and Identity :: Serenade
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kiyala
Word Count: 3318
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Slightly AU-ish story where Ichigo and Uryuu become famous singing stars XD
Warnings: as I said, AU-ness… doesn’t sit very well on the Bleach timeline ^^;
Status: Incomplete (4/7)
Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns Bleach
x-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ishi_ichi
Chapter 1 :: Prelude
Chapter 2 :: Minuet
Chapter 3 :: Bolero
“I don’t know how it’s possible,” Mizuko said, sitting at her desk and staring at the boys, “But in the week you’ve been off, the number of people buying your album seems to have doubled. So, well… our design crew thought it would be a good idea if we made you a web site, so we made a rough one that we decided to redo once you came back from your break and we put that up I think… two days ago. It has a newsletter function so that you can contact many fans at once, and the subscriptions, well they’re free of course, but they’re a rather good indication of the number of more dedicated fans you have and… well…”
Uryuu loved facts and figures. He could toss them around in his mind to solve the most difficult mathematical problems as though it were child’s play… and when the rather large number finally sank in, he decided that he really, really liked the statistics that were being thrown at him.
“Wow. I didn’t realise we were that popular.”
Ichigo’s eyes widened and he gawked at the paper with the numbers, graphs and tables. He was used to gaining attention. It was his bright hair, loud voice and the fact that he didn’t quite care what others thought about him. It had always been guaranteed that wherever Ichigo was, people would look. He just hadn’t thought that there would be this many.
“You do realise what this means, don’t you?” Mizuko asked as she raised an eyebrow.
“What exactly would that be?” Uryuu asked uneasily.
She pushed her clipboard further across the desk to show them a piece of paper with dates scribbled onto it.
“Tour.”
“A tour? But…”
“The summer holidays begin in three weeks. Your itinerary can be planned out in a week and then we can start promoting. We can get merchandise out if you want… because by the looks of your fan-base, you’re going to sell extremely well. We’ll give them enough time to buy tickets and you can start the tour in your holidays so it doesn’t come in the way of your education and the fans are happy. We’re all winners.”
“You’ve really been thinking hard about this, haven’t you?” Uryuu asked, sounding amused.
Mizuko grinned, “It’s my job to. So what do you say?”
Ichigo stretched before slumping back into his chair, “Well, I’m up for it. You?”
The dark-haired boy nodded, “Of course.”
“So it’s decided, then. You’re going to go all over Japan, boys, you’re going to be superstars.”
Nodding, they stood up to leave and grinned at each other.
“This is going to be fucking awesome,” Ichigo whispered.
“Oh. And one more thing…” Mizuko said, looking up.
“Yes?” Uryuu asked, raising an eyebrow.
She frowned and then looked at her window, which had the blinds pulled tightly shut, “Beware the rumour mill, okay?”
With a small pause where they tried to understand what she was talking about, they shrugged and with a small nod, Ichigo reached for the door handle to leave, “Sure.”
“Thank you,” Uryuu muttered before following the other boy out.
“What do you think she was talking about?” he asked as he fell in step with Ichigo.
“No clue. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?” the redhead asked with a grin, “And she said it with such a serious face. Wonder what’s gotten her so worried.”
“You don’t sound very concerned.”
Ichigo looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile, “Well whatever happens, we’ll deal with it when it comes, yeah? By the way she said it, I really don’t think we can avoid it – whatever it is. So there’s no point in worrying about something we can’t avoid.”
Uryuu looked impressed, “You’re right.”
“Things don’t really end up the way you expect them to,” the redhead murmured, lifting his eyes to the sky as they walked down the street, “I mean hey, you thought we’d have to stop school or something because we’d be too busy, but that hasn’t happened. Mizuko’s been looking out for us.”
Running a hand through his hair, the other boy smiled, “Yeah… we’re not really alone, are we? Like we first thought. We’ve got everyone else supporting us.”
“Yeah,” Ichigo nodded, “Damn I’m going to miss this place when we go on tour.”
Uryuu sighed, “I suppose so. It won’t be too bad, though. We’ll get to see all these new places we wouldn’t have had the chance to otherwise. You can’t tell me you’re not excited.”
With a big grin, the redhead gave the other boy a playful shove, “Hell yeah, this is going to be great!”
o O o
Mizuko had insisted that they travel by the recording label’s private jet to get to the venues for their concerts. It had been decided that they were going to start at the north of Japan and work their way down to the south, leaving Karakura for last.
It was the first time either of them had been on a plane and Uryuu was extremely wary as Ichigo all but carried him onto the jet.
“What if the engines fail? What if we crash? What if we die? Why couldn’t we have just driven all over Japan? Why the plane? Driving sounds good, does it? Come on, I say we should—”
“Shut up, Uryuu!” Ichigo yelled at the other boy, who had been slung over his shoulder, “We’re going to be fine, stop being such a pansy!”
“Pansy?” the dark-haired boy cried indignantly, “Let me down right now and I’ll show you who the pansy is!”
Not responding, Ichigo tightened his grip around the other boy, only relenting when they were on the jet and the door had been closed.
“See? It’s not so bad. These jets are made to be comfortable. You can even close the window shutters if you’re that scared,” Mizuko said, motioning around.
Uryuu scowled, “I’m. Not. Scared.”
Ichigo seated himself by the window and looked out, while Uryuu warily sat beside him.
“Aww, does Uryuu want to hold my hand when we take off?” the redhead teased with a smirk.
“Oh shut up,” came the reply, blue eyes narrowing as he punched Ichigo in the arm.
“We’ll need to buckle up for take-off,” Mizuko informed them as she sat near the back of the jet and clicked her seatbelt on.
Following suit, the two boys put their belts on and Ichigo’s gaze returned to the window.
“Sapporo, here we come,” the redhead murmured and they grinned at each other, their smiles quickly fading as the plane jolted forward and began to move.
They sank into their seats as the plane lifted into the sky and only relaxed when the seatbelt light turned off with a small beep. It was then Uryuu realised that he had been clutching tightly onto Ichigo’s hand, and the other boy was gripping his just as hard.
“Heh,” Ichigo blushed and quickly withdrew his hand, “Maybe I wasn’t that brave either.”
Uryuu watched him get up and walk around to explore the fridge that seemed to be filled with soft drink and then shifted his gaze to his hand – still feeling warm from Ichigo’s touch – before forcing himself to look out of the window.
o O o
They hadn’t expected anyone to be at the airport waiting for them to arrive, let alone a large crowd and squealing girls wearing shirts with pictures of them across the front, waving signs and banners proclaiming eternal love for them. Uryuu peered out of the window as he unbuckled his belt after they landed and bit his lip.
“There are so many people out there,” Ichigo murmured, looking over his friend’s shoulder, “It’s one thing to know these many people have bought our CD, but a completely different thing to see them.”
“They’re just a small fraction of your fan base,” Mizuko said, looking pleased, “You just wait until your first concert tomorrow night.”
With that, the door was opened and she picked up her bags, indicating to a couple of men who boarded the plane to carry the boys’ bags before walking out.
“Tell me how we managed to skip the local band part?” Uryuu asked with a frown, “I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
“Yes you are,” Ichigo said and led the way to the door, “Come on, it won’t be as bad as you think, I promise.”
“How can you promise something like that? You have no idea yourself,” the dark-haired boy pointed out with a frown, but Ichigo just laughed.
“You worry too much, Uryuu,” he said with a smile before walking out of the jet.
“You going to go as well?” one of the men with their bags grunted and the boy jumped slightly, nodding before following Ichigo.
o O o
They sat in their hotel room on beds opposite from each other, working on the hundred-question maths assignment that their teacher had given their class for the holidays. Mizuko, who had a room to herself, had told them that she was going out shopping in the local mall and left them to kill their own time.
“Oi, what’s the answer to fifteen?” Ichigo asked, being the first one whose voice broke the silence of the room aside from the sounds of pencils scratching against paper.
“You’re only up to fifteen?” the other boy asked incredulously, lifting his eyes from his paper for a brief moment, “I’m up to fifty.”
“Well sorry for not being a nerd like you,” Ichigo scowled and read over the question again, “And never mind, I think I’ve got the answer myself.”
Uryuu looked around before speaking, “Where do you think Mizuko’s gone?”
“She said she was going shopping, didn’t she? You know… typical girl stuff probably. I have no idea how they can spend hours at a shopping center and not get bored.”
“Well that depends entirely on what kind of shops there are. I mean, fashion stores and shoe shops are beyond my understanding, but give me a few craft stores and book shops and I’ll be happy.”
“No comment,” Ichigo grinned, shaking his head and getting back to his work.
Uryuu was about to say something, but was interrupted by a knocking at the door. Both boys looked up as the door opened and Mizuko walked in.
“Have fun?” the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course,” she replied and then pulled out a notepad, “We’re going to go for a sound check in an hour and a half, just to practice the songs over at the concert venue.”
“That’s fine,” Uryuu replied, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Ah. That’s another thing,” she said, looking at him, “Your glasses… you’ll need to take them off when performing. Do you have contacts?”
Uryuu frowned, “…Yes, but I’d really rather not wearing them.”
Mizuko sighed, “I’d really advise against wearing glasses, though. It’ll reflect the light and it won’t look very good in photos—”
“I don’t care about how I look in photos,” the dark-haired boy said firmly, but took his glasses off all the same.
With a small nod, Mizuko left the room and Ichigo raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t have to take them off, you know,” he murmured and Uryuu’s grip on them tightened, “They kind of… well, define you.”
“Yeah… well… yeah. I think I’ll keep them off. Just to shut her up.”
Both of them looked at the glasses and with a sigh, Uryuu folded them and put them on the desk beside his bed, “If I end up wearing them, it’s your fault, okay?”
Getting up, Ichigo reached over and picked up the glasses, putting them on his bed, “Fine. But don’t complain at me if you walk into things. Or fall off the stage.”
Uryuu paled and moved to snatch the glasses back but Ichigo caught him by the shoulders, pushing him back down onto the bed, “Relax. It’s okay, I was just kidding… you think I’d let you make a fool of yourself like that? Besides, you said you’ve got your contacts.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I like wearing them,” the other boy said, massaging his temples, “Besides… with my glasses… it’s a security thing.”
“Ah, I see,” Ichigo smirked, “Hiding behind the glasses, eh?”
“Shut up,” he replied, looking away.
“Don’t worry,” the redhead assured, running a hand through his hair as he sat back on his bed and picked up his work, “We’ll be fine, I promise.”
o O o
“Ichigo, give me my glasses.”
“No. You were fine during the sound check weren’t you? Calm down. It’s going to be okay.”
“Ichigo!” the dark-haired boy snatched at the glasses that were on the table, but the redhead caught his wrist before he could put them on.
“Let go of me, I need my glasses—” Uryuu stopped protesting as his hand was let go of and he put his glasses back on, only realising then that he was backed up to a wall.
With a patient look one would give a child, Ichigo leaned forward, placing one hand against the wall beside Uryuu’s head, the other carefully pulling the glasses off his face.
“Don’t trust me? I promised not to let you fall, or to let you make a fool of yourself… stop worrying.”
Uryuu found it impossible to break the gaze of those brown eyes filled with honesty, only vaguely aware that they both had small smiles on their faces.
Click.
“What the—?” Ichigo quickly looked up to see a man with a camera disappearing behind a curtain and he growled, “Fucking hell. Could’ve asked first instead of scaring the shit out of us like that.”
With a sigh, Uryuu looked away, listening to the sound of the crowd waiting for them and bit his lip, “There are lots of people out there…”
Ichigo laughed, nudging the other boy with his elbow, “Would you just stop worrying? It’s okay.”
“Are you two ready yet?” Mizuko asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked over, handing them bottles of water, “They’re impatient out there.”
Taking a large gulp of water, Ichigo looked over at his friend, “Ready, Uryuu?”
Uryuu nodded, “Let’s do this.”
o O o
“We’re done!” Ichigo yelled triumphantly in the dressing room of their concert venue in Karakura.
After seven concerts, millions of fans and several hours of singing, they were finally finished with their tour. The two boys were glowing with sweat, grinning at each other as they sat down on a sofa, leaning slightly against each other as they regained their breath.
“Congratulations, you’re finished,” Mizuko said with a grin as she walked into the room, “Tickets sold out at each venue, crates of merchandise sold, thousands of fans pleased at the meet and greets, and not to forget – great reviews. Good work boys.”
“Ah man, I just want to go home now,” Ichigo said, standing up and stretching, “Ready to go, Uryuu? I bet Rukia, Inoue and the others are waiting for us.”
“Yeah,” Uryuu nodded as he also got up, “Let’s go.”
“Enjoy yourselves,” Mizuko called out as they left, “I’ll see you next week!”
Walking home together, they were stopped quite a few times for autographs and photos by people passing by. Agreeing to each time, they were relieved as they finally reached the Kurosaki residence and walked in, only just managing to close the door behind them before collapsing into chairs.
“I’ve got about three weeks worth of sleep to catch up on,” Ichigo murmured, closing his eyes as he yawned.
“Where’s your family?” Uryuu asked as he looked around.
“SURPRISE!”
The redhead fell out of his chair in shock as his father, sisters and friends jumped out of their hiding places, waving “Welcome home” banners and throwing streamers around.
“Welcome home, Ichigo~!” Isshin greeted his son with a kick Ichigo only just managed to dodge.
“Leave me alone, old man!” he yelled, “I’m tired!”
Yuzu ran and hugged her brother, “Welcome home, Ichi-nii!”
Uryuu was surprised, but pleased all the same as he was also hugged by the girl.
“Yeah, well I’m glad to be home,” Ichigo said with a smile, “Did they drop our bags off here like they said they would?”
“Right there,” Rukia replied, pointing at where they stood in the corner.
Sitting up, Ichigo yawned again before grinning at his friends, “How’ve you guys been?”
Orihime looked excited, “Did you see us at your concert? It was amazing! The lights were really shiny, and you sang really well!”
Uryuu smiled, pushing his glasses up his nose – he had put them back on as soon as they had left the stage.
“We’re going to go get the food we made!” Tatsuki announced as she motioned to Sado, Keigo and Mizuiro to follow her.
Waiting until they were gone, Rukia frowned at the boys and nodding at Orihime, motioned at the laptop on the coffee table that neither of the boys had noticed.
“There’s something you two need to know,” she said, kneeling in front of it, typing and clicking for a moment before looking up, “Orihime?”
The other girl nodded, her smile gone, “…Yeah. You should see this, it’s not very good.”
Ichigo and Uryuu looked at each other with frowns before looking over Rukia’s shoulder.
“…A fansite?” Ichigo asked, “What’s wrong with that?”
“Just… keep reading,” Rukia said, highlighting a paragraph of text.
“Okay… let’s see… ‘the two boys seem rather familiar and comfortable around each other. They’re a lot closer than most teenage boys would be with their friends, which led me to some speculation before, but then I saw this picture and I was convinced – those two are gay.’ What the fuck?!” Ichigo jerked away from the screen with a frown, “What the fuck are these people on?”
Uryuu looked annoyed himself, “What gives them the right to say things like that? They have no idea. What’s the picture of anyway?”
Rukia clicked on the link and a picture loaded – one that both boys recognised as the one that had been taken when Ichigo had convinced Uryuu to leave his glasses off just before their first concert. Both boys were smiling at each other and Uryuu was against the wall with Ichigo leaning slightly over him, holding the other boy’s glasses in one hand.
“What? That’s been taken out of context!” Ichigo yelled, looking at Uryuu and then at Rukia and Orihime as though he were looking for them to agree, “That was just when we were fighting over Uryuu wearing his glasses on stage.”
Pushing his glasses up, Uryuu frowned, “I guess that’s what Mizuko meant by ‘beware the rumour mill’ then, isn’t it? I can’t believe this…”
“It gets worse,” Rukia said darkly, “You’ve got fanart, and fanfiction… and it’s not very pleasant.”
“Fuck,” Ichigo growled, running a hand through his hair, “When did this start?”
“About a month before you began your tour, actually,” Orihime said, her usual innocent smile gone, “There were people at our school talking about it, but Rukia-chan and I managed to make sure it didn’t reach you… but when you started your tour it only got worse.”
“Damn it,” the redhead sighed, his shoulders slumping.
“Wait…” Uryuu spoke up and Ichigo looked over at him.
Pausing for a moment before continuing, the dark-haired boy frowned, “Do you remember? About a month before the tour, that’s when we first got signed up with Mizuko… that’s when we were suspecting that you know, Keigo was jealous that we were friends.”
“Asano?” Rukia asked and then frowned, “Yes. I did notice that he didn’t really have anything nice to say about you, Ishida.”
Ichigo hid his face in his hand, “Shit. It’s him?”
“It would make sense…” Uryuu’s eyes narrowed.
In a quick moment, Rukia was already holding Ichigo down.
“I’m going to fucking kill that bastard.”
To Be Continued…
Author:
kiyalaWord Count: 3318
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Slightly AU-ish story where Ichigo and Uryuu become famous singing stars XD
Warnings: as I said, AU-ness… doesn’t sit very well on the Bleach timeline ^^;
Status: Incomplete (4/7)
Disclaimer: Kubo Tite owns Bleach
x-posted to
ishi_ichiChapter 1 :: Prelude
Chapter 2 :: Minuet
Chapter 3 :: Bolero
“I don’t know how it’s possible,” Mizuko said, sitting at her desk and staring at the boys, “But in the week you’ve been off, the number of people buying your album seems to have doubled. So, well… our design crew thought it would be a good idea if we made you a web site, so we made a rough one that we decided to redo once you came back from your break and we put that up I think… two days ago. It has a newsletter function so that you can contact many fans at once, and the subscriptions, well they’re free of course, but they’re a rather good indication of the number of more dedicated fans you have and… well…”
Uryuu loved facts and figures. He could toss them around in his mind to solve the most difficult mathematical problems as though it were child’s play… and when the rather large number finally sank in, he decided that he really, really liked the statistics that were being thrown at him.
“Wow. I didn’t realise we were that popular.”
Ichigo’s eyes widened and he gawked at the paper with the numbers, graphs and tables. He was used to gaining attention. It was his bright hair, loud voice and the fact that he didn’t quite care what others thought about him. It had always been guaranteed that wherever Ichigo was, people would look. He just hadn’t thought that there would be this many.
“You do realise what this means, don’t you?” Mizuko asked as she raised an eyebrow.
“What exactly would that be?” Uryuu asked uneasily.
She pushed her clipboard further across the desk to show them a piece of paper with dates scribbled onto it.
“Tour.”
“A tour? But…”
“The summer holidays begin in three weeks. Your itinerary can be planned out in a week and then we can start promoting. We can get merchandise out if you want… because by the looks of your fan-base, you’re going to sell extremely well. We’ll give them enough time to buy tickets and you can start the tour in your holidays so it doesn’t come in the way of your education and the fans are happy. We’re all winners.”
“You’ve really been thinking hard about this, haven’t you?” Uryuu asked, sounding amused.
Mizuko grinned, “It’s my job to. So what do you say?”
Ichigo stretched before slumping back into his chair, “Well, I’m up for it. You?”
The dark-haired boy nodded, “Of course.”
“So it’s decided, then. You’re going to go all over Japan, boys, you’re going to be superstars.”
Nodding, they stood up to leave and grinned at each other.
“This is going to be fucking awesome,” Ichigo whispered.
“Oh. And one more thing…” Mizuko said, looking up.
“Yes?” Uryuu asked, raising an eyebrow.
She frowned and then looked at her window, which had the blinds pulled tightly shut, “Beware the rumour mill, okay?”
With a small pause where they tried to understand what she was talking about, they shrugged and with a small nod, Ichigo reached for the door handle to leave, “Sure.”
“Thank you,” Uryuu muttered before following the other boy out.
“What do you think she was talking about?” he asked as he fell in step with Ichigo.
“No clue. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?” the redhead asked with a grin, “And she said it with such a serious face. Wonder what’s gotten her so worried.”
“You don’t sound very concerned.”
Ichigo looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile, “Well whatever happens, we’ll deal with it when it comes, yeah? By the way she said it, I really don’t think we can avoid it – whatever it is. So there’s no point in worrying about something we can’t avoid.”
Uryuu looked impressed, “You’re right.”
“Things don’t really end up the way you expect them to,” the redhead murmured, lifting his eyes to the sky as they walked down the street, “I mean hey, you thought we’d have to stop school or something because we’d be too busy, but that hasn’t happened. Mizuko’s been looking out for us.”
Running a hand through his hair, the other boy smiled, “Yeah… we’re not really alone, are we? Like we first thought. We’ve got everyone else supporting us.”
“Yeah,” Ichigo nodded, “Damn I’m going to miss this place when we go on tour.”
Uryuu sighed, “I suppose so. It won’t be too bad, though. We’ll get to see all these new places we wouldn’t have had the chance to otherwise. You can’t tell me you’re not excited.”
With a big grin, the redhead gave the other boy a playful shove, “Hell yeah, this is going to be great!”
Mizuko had insisted that they travel by the recording label’s private jet to get to the venues for their concerts. It had been decided that they were going to start at the north of Japan and work their way down to the south, leaving Karakura for last.
It was the first time either of them had been on a plane and Uryuu was extremely wary as Ichigo all but carried him onto the jet.
“What if the engines fail? What if we crash? What if we die? Why couldn’t we have just driven all over Japan? Why the plane? Driving sounds good, does it? Come on, I say we should—”
“Shut up, Uryuu!” Ichigo yelled at the other boy, who had been slung over his shoulder, “We’re going to be fine, stop being such a pansy!”
“Pansy?” the dark-haired boy cried indignantly, “Let me down right now and I’ll show you who the pansy is!”
Not responding, Ichigo tightened his grip around the other boy, only relenting when they were on the jet and the door had been closed.
“See? It’s not so bad. These jets are made to be comfortable. You can even close the window shutters if you’re that scared,” Mizuko said, motioning around.
Uryuu scowled, “I’m. Not. Scared.”
Ichigo seated himself by the window and looked out, while Uryuu warily sat beside him.
“Aww, does Uryuu want to hold my hand when we take off?” the redhead teased with a smirk.
“Oh shut up,” came the reply, blue eyes narrowing as he punched Ichigo in the arm.
“We’ll need to buckle up for take-off,” Mizuko informed them as she sat near the back of the jet and clicked her seatbelt on.
Following suit, the two boys put their belts on and Ichigo’s gaze returned to the window.
“Sapporo, here we come,” the redhead murmured and they grinned at each other, their smiles quickly fading as the plane jolted forward and began to move.
They sank into their seats as the plane lifted into the sky and only relaxed when the seatbelt light turned off with a small beep. It was then Uryuu realised that he had been clutching tightly onto Ichigo’s hand, and the other boy was gripping his just as hard.
“Heh,” Ichigo blushed and quickly withdrew his hand, “Maybe I wasn’t that brave either.”
Uryuu watched him get up and walk around to explore the fridge that seemed to be filled with soft drink and then shifted his gaze to his hand – still feeling warm from Ichigo’s touch – before forcing himself to look out of the window.
They hadn’t expected anyone to be at the airport waiting for them to arrive, let alone a large crowd and squealing girls wearing shirts with pictures of them across the front, waving signs and banners proclaiming eternal love for them. Uryuu peered out of the window as he unbuckled his belt after they landed and bit his lip.
“There are so many people out there,” Ichigo murmured, looking over his friend’s shoulder, “It’s one thing to know these many people have bought our CD, but a completely different thing to see them.”
“They’re just a small fraction of your fan base,” Mizuko said, looking pleased, “You just wait until your first concert tomorrow night.”
With that, the door was opened and she picked up her bags, indicating to a couple of men who boarded the plane to carry the boys’ bags before walking out.
“Tell me how we managed to skip the local band part?” Uryuu asked with a frown, “I don’t think I’m ready for this.”
“Yes you are,” Ichigo said and led the way to the door, “Come on, it won’t be as bad as you think, I promise.”
“How can you promise something like that? You have no idea yourself,” the dark-haired boy pointed out with a frown, but Ichigo just laughed.
“You worry too much, Uryuu,” he said with a smile before walking out of the jet.
“You going to go as well?” one of the men with their bags grunted and the boy jumped slightly, nodding before following Ichigo.
They sat in their hotel room on beds opposite from each other, working on the hundred-question maths assignment that their teacher had given their class for the holidays. Mizuko, who had a room to herself, had told them that she was going out shopping in the local mall and left them to kill their own time.
“Oi, what’s the answer to fifteen?” Ichigo asked, being the first one whose voice broke the silence of the room aside from the sounds of pencils scratching against paper.
“You’re only up to fifteen?” the other boy asked incredulously, lifting his eyes from his paper for a brief moment, “I’m up to fifty.”
“Well sorry for not being a nerd like you,” Ichigo scowled and read over the question again, “And never mind, I think I’ve got the answer myself.”
Uryuu looked around before speaking, “Where do you think Mizuko’s gone?”
“She said she was going shopping, didn’t she? You know… typical girl stuff probably. I have no idea how they can spend hours at a shopping center and not get bored.”
“Well that depends entirely on what kind of shops there are. I mean, fashion stores and shoe shops are beyond my understanding, but give me a few craft stores and book shops and I’ll be happy.”
“No comment,” Ichigo grinned, shaking his head and getting back to his work.
Uryuu was about to say something, but was interrupted by a knocking at the door. Both boys looked up as the door opened and Mizuko walked in.
“Have fun?” the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course,” she replied and then pulled out a notepad, “We’re going to go for a sound check in an hour and a half, just to practice the songs over at the concert venue.”
“That’s fine,” Uryuu replied, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Ah. That’s another thing,” she said, looking at him, “Your glasses… you’ll need to take them off when performing. Do you have contacts?”
Uryuu frowned, “…Yes, but I’d really rather not wearing them.”
Mizuko sighed, “I’d really advise against wearing glasses, though. It’ll reflect the light and it won’t look very good in photos—”
“I don’t care about how I look in photos,” the dark-haired boy said firmly, but took his glasses off all the same.
With a small nod, Mizuko left the room and Ichigo raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t have to take them off, you know,” he murmured and Uryuu’s grip on them tightened, “They kind of… well, define you.”
“Yeah… well… yeah. I think I’ll keep them off. Just to shut her up.”
Both of them looked at the glasses and with a sigh, Uryuu folded them and put them on the desk beside his bed, “If I end up wearing them, it’s your fault, okay?”
Getting up, Ichigo reached over and picked up the glasses, putting them on his bed, “Fine. But don’t complain at me if you walk into things. Or fall off the stage.”
Uryuu paled and moved to snatch the glasses back but Ichigo caught him by the shoulders, pushing him back down onto the bed, “Relax. It’s okay, I was just kidding… you think I’d let you make a fool of yourself like that? Besides, you said you’ve got your contacts.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I like wearing them,” the other boy said, massaging his temples, “Besides… with my glasses… it’s a security thing.”
“Ah, I see,” Ichigo smirked, “Hiding behind the glasses, eh?”
“Shut up,” he replied, looking away.
“Don’t worry,” the redhead assured, running a hand through his hair as he sat back on his bed and picked up his work, “We’ll be fine, I promise.”
“Ichigo, give me my glasses.”
“No. You were fine during the sound check weren’t you? Calm down. It’s going to be okay.”
“Ichigo!” the dark-haired boy snatched at the glasses that were on the table, but the redhead caught his wrist before he could put them on.
“Let go of me, I need my glasses—” Uryuu stopped protesting as his hand was let go of and he put his glasses back on, only realising then that he was backed up to a wall.
With a patient look one would give a child, Ichigo leaned forward, placing one hand against the wall beside Uryuu’s head, the other carefully pulling the glasses off his face.
“Don’t trust me? I promised not to let you fall, or to let you make a fool of yourself… stop worrying.”
Uryuu found it impossible to break the gaze of those brown eyes filled with honesty, only vaguely aware that they both had small smiles on their faces.
Click.
“What the—?” Ichigo quickly looked up to see a man with a camera disappearing behind a curtain and he growled, “Fucking hell. Could’ve asked first instead of scaring the shit out of us like that.”
With a sigh, Uryuu looked away, listening to the sound of the crowd waiting for them and bit his lip, “There are lots of people out there…”
Ichigo laughed, nudging the other boy with his elbow, “Would you just stop worrying? It’s okay.”
“Are you two ready yet?” Mizuko asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked over, handing them bottles of water, “They’re impatient out there.”
Taking a large gulp of water, Ichigo looked over at his friend, “Ready, Uryuu?”
Uryuu nodded, “Let’s do this.”
“We’re done!” Ichigo yelled triumphantly in the dressing room of their concert venue in Karakura.
After seven concerts, millions of fans and several hours of singing, they were finally finished with their tour. The two boys were glowing with sweat, grinning at each other as they sat down on a sofa, leaning slightly against each other as they regained their breath.
“Congratulations, you’re finished,” Mizuko said with a grin as she walked into the room, “Tickets sold out at each venue, crates of merchandise sold, thousands of fans pleased at the meet and greets, and not to forget – great reviews. Good work boys.”
“Ah man, I just want to go home now,” Ichigo said, standing up and stretching, “Ready to go, Uryuu? I bet Rukia, Inoue and the others are waiting for us.”
“Yeah,” Uryuu nodded as he also got up, “Let’s go.”
“Enjoy yourselves,” Mizuko called out as they left, “I’ll see you next week!”
Walking home together, they were stopped quite a few times for autographs and photos by people passing by. Agreeing to each time, they were relieved as they finally reached the Kurosaki residence and walked in, only just managing to close the door behind them before collapsing into chairs.
“I’ve got about three weeks worth of sleep to catch up on,” Ichigo murmured, closing his eyes as he yawned.
“Where’s your family?” Uryuu asked as he looked around.
“SURPRISE!”
The redhead fell out of his chair in shock as his father, sisters and friends jumped out of their hiding places, waving “Welcome home” banners and throwing streamers around.
“Welcome home, Ichigo~!” Isshin greeted his son with a kick Ichigo only just managed to dodge.
“Leave me alone, old man!” he yelled, “I’m tired!”
Yuzu ran and hugged her brother, “Welcome home, Ichi-nii!”
Uryuu was surprised, but pleased all the same as he was also hugged by the girl.
“Yeah, well I’m glad to be home,” Ichigo said with a smile, “Did they drop our bags off here like they said they would?”
“Right there,” Rukia replied, pointing at where they stood in the corner.
Sitting up, Ichigo yawned again before grinning at his friends, “How’ve you guys been?”
Orihime looked excited, “Did you see us at your concert? It was amazing! The lights were really shiny, and you sang really well!”
Uryuu smiled, pushing his glasses up his nose – he had put them back on as soon as they had left the stage.
“We’re going to go get the food we made!” Tatsuki announced as she motioned to Sado, Keigo and Mizuiro to follow her.
Waiting until they were gone, Rukia frowned at the boys and nodding at Orihime, motioned at the laptop on the coffee table that neither of the boys had noticed.
“There’s something you two need to know,” she said, kneeling in front of it, typing and clicking for a moment before looking up, “Orihime?”
The other girl nodded, her smile gone, “…Yeah. You should see this, it’s not very good.”
Ichigo and Uryuu looked at each other with frowns before looking over Rukia’s shoulder.
“…A fansite?” Ichigo asked, “What’s wrong with that?”
“Just… keep reading,” Rukia said, highlighting a paragraph of text.
“Okay… let’s see… ‘the two boys seem rather familiar and comfortable around each other. They’re a lot closer than most teenage boys would be with their friends, which led me to some speculation before, but then I saw this picture and I was convinced – those two are gay.’ What the fuck?!” Ichigo jerked away from the screen with a frown, “What the fuck are these people on?”
Uryuu looked annoyed himself, “What gives them the right to say things like that? They have no idea. What’s the picture of anyway?”
Rukia clicked on the link and a picture loaded – one that both boys recognised as the one that had been taken when Ichigo had convinced Uryuu to leave his glasses off just before their first concert. Both boys were smiling at each other and Uryuu was against the wall with Ichigo leaning slightly over him, holding the other boy’s glasses in one hand.
“What? That’s been taken out of context!” Ichigo yelled, looking at Uryuu and then at Rukia and Orihime as though he were looking for them to agree, “That was just when we were fighting over Uryuu wearing his glasses on stage.”
Pushing his glasses up, Uryuu frowned, “I guess that’s what Mizuko meant by ‘beware the rumour mill’ then, isn’t it? I can’t believe this…”
“It gets worse,” Rukia said darkly, “You’ve got fanart, and fanfiction… and it’s not very pleasant.”
“Fuck,” Ichigo growled, running a hand through his hair, “When did this start?”
“About a month before you began your tour, actually,” Orihime said, her usual innocent smile gone, “There were people at our school talking about it, but Rukia-chan and I managed to make sure it didn’t reach you… but when you started your tour it only got worse.”
“Damn it,” the redhead sighed, his shoulders slumping.
“Wait…” Uryuu spoke up and Ichigo looked over at him.
Pausing for a moment before continuing, the dark-haired boy frowned, “Do you remember? About a month before the tour, that’s when we first got signed up with Mizuko… that’s when we were suspecting that you know, Keigo was jealous that we were friends.”
“Asano?” Rukia asked and then frowned, “Yes. I did notice that he didn’t really have anything nice to say about you, Ishida.”
Ichigo hid his face in his hand, “Shit. It’s him?”
“It would make sense…” Uryuu’s eyes narrowed.
In a quick moment, Rukia was already holding Ichigo down.
“I’m going to fucking kill that bastard.”
To Be Continued…
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