Prompt: 081 ~ Complicated                                                                                                                                                             June 2011©
Fandom: The GazettE
Focus: Ruki {Reita x Kitty}
Word Count: 1,360

            On the day that Kitty and Reita first bought an apartment and moved in together, everyone associated with the GazettE gave a sigh of relief. They assumed, quite wrongly in point of fact, that once the two caged-cock lovebirds were on neutral ground, out of the fighting ring and in a place they both felt safe and cared for, that things would settle down a bit.

            On the first night that Kitty and Reita were supposed to spend together in their new apartment, the GazettE’s vocalist was the first of their company to groan with the inevitable realization that some things would never change.

            Reita showed up on Ruki’s doorstep sometime around midnight. The bassist was a glowering tower of testosterone. He was also soaking wet. Ruki invited him inside as he sighed up at the warm night’s clear sky.

            “What happened?”

            Fortunately, Maki had not stayed over on this particular night, so Ruki was free to interrogate his bandmate without worrying about waking her up.

            Reita stripped to his jeans, throwing his shirt and most of his rockstar accessories to the floor by Ruki’s door. He then moved on to raiding the fridge for a can of alcoholic relief before he settled on Ruki’s couch in a huff.

            Massaging his temples, Ruki tried his best not to shout at the bassist for ruining the cleanly state of his apartment. The singer repeated his question as he came to stand at the edge of his couch. When Reita still didn’t answer, Ruki kicked his foot.

            “She threw the fishbowl at me.”

            “You have fish?”

            “No.”

            “But you have a fishbowl?”

            “Nana said it was decorative.”

            Ruki almost laughed. He crashed down beside Reita on the couch. “Why did Kitty throw your fishless bowl at you?”

            “Because I threw the cake Meisa made at her.”

            “Why?”

            Sheepishly, Reita scratched at the point where his noseband tucked under his ear. “It’s complicated.”

            Ruki sighed.

            “Why are you here?”

            “Kitty locked me out.”

            “Why didn’t you go to Uruha’s?”

            “He’s not home.”

            “I’m your second choice?”

            “Do you have a cigarette?”

            Ruki sighed again and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his pack and tapped a smoke out for himself before passing the box to Reita and pulled out his lighter. Then he passed the lighter to Reita and leaned forward to lean his elbows on his knees. He picked up Reita’s beer and took a swig himself.

            “Are you going to break up with her?”

            “Hell no,” Reita said, affronted.

            “Why not?”

            Reita chuckled softly as he took his beer from Ruki and leaned back in his seat. “It’s complicated.”

            “Are you going to marry her?”

            “Hell no!” Reita spluttered causing Ruki to thank every deity he’d ever heard of that he hadn’t asked while Reita had something in his mouth.

            “Why not?”

            Embarrassed and petulant and stubborn to a fault, Reita fidgeted uncomfortably. “It’s complicated.”

            Ruki sighed again and took a long drag on his cigarette.

            “Why didn’t you go to Aoi’s?”

            “He wasn’t home.”

            “Third choice? Really?”

            “They were closer.”

            “Where’s Kitty?”

            “Hell if I know.”

            “Is she still in the apartment?”

            Reita shrugged. He honestly didn’t know. He’d stormed off pretty quickly after the fishbowl incident. It was only after he’d cooled down and come back that he’d discovered that he had been locked out. Kitty might have been ignoring him as he’d pounded on the door to be let in, or she might not have been there to hear.

            “You two should never have kids,” Ruki mentioned. His attention was on Reita’s wet clothes, sitting by his door as a soppy eyesore.

            He was rewarded for his comment by Reita’s glower. “We’re not having kids.”

            “Good, because I am not babysitting.”

            “We’re not having kids,” Reita reasserted.

            Ruki looked sideways at his friend. “Are you fighting because she won’t sleep with you anymore?”

            “Hell no.”

            “Then what?”

            Reita fidgeted. “It’s complicated.”

            “You have no idea, do you?”

            A pause.

            “Not a clue,” Reita admitted with a sigh.

            Another pause.

            “So what are you going to do?”

            “Dunno.”

            “What do you want to do?”

            “Dunno.”

            “You like her, right?” At Reita’s nod, Ruki prompted, “Why?”

            “It’s complicated.”

            “Uncomplicate it.”

            Huffing, Reita downed a large swig of his beer. “She’s exciting.”

            “So are sharks. And people with guns,” Ruki pointed out. “You adopted a mountain lion.”

            “But she’s so . . . tiny.” He ignored Ruki’s reflexive flinch. “She’s like a declawed kitten, angry and vicious and completely harmless.”

            “She threw a fishless bowl at you,” Ruki commented flatly.

            Reita shrugged. “It didn’t actually hurt.” Thinking back on the scene, he added, “Actually, it was kind of adorable. It wasn’t all that heavy, but it could have been for all the effort it took her to throw it at me.”

            “Adorable?” Ruki took a long, disbelieving drag on his cigarette. He blew the smoke out in a half laugh at the absurdity. “Only you could ever think that a pissed off girlfriend trying to throw a fishless bowl at your head is ‘adorable’.”

            Reita shrugged. “She’s cute,” he said, as if that explained everything.

            “You’re insane.”

            “So is she.”

            Ruki hung his head in defeat. His friends were all due with a permanent vacation to the loony bin. Soon. “Do you want some coffee?”

            This was going to be a long night if he needed to find a way to get the bassist to make up with his soul mate before their focus was needed in rehearsal.

            “Yeah. You’ve got sugar, right?”

            “Kitty’s random visits keep me stocked up,” Ruki replied, getting to his feet. He made his way to the kitchen as Reita turned on the TV.

            Once the coffee was percolating through the machine Maki had bought him, Ruki turned to watch Reita scowling at some anime or other. The singer was saved from having to go back to him just yet by a knock at his door.

            Kitty was there, dripping wet and teary-eyed. “Taka-chan?” she mewled dolefully, “Can I come in?”

            “Of course,” Ruki said, stepping aside to let her in. He cautioned, “But you might-”

            “Kitty, what happened?”

            Protective as always, Reita shouldered past Ruki to get at his sodden girlfriend.

            “Meisa threw her fishbowl at me,” Kitty explained, coming to hold Reita tightly to her.

            “Meisa has fish?”

            Kitty shook her head and Ruki guessed, “Nana?” At Kitty’s nod, Ruki rolled his eyes. “Where on earth is that crazy girl getting these things?”

            “She won a whole bunch of them,” Kitty informed him.

            “From where?” Ruki and Reita asked together.

            “It’s complicated,” Kitty replied. She looked up at Reita tearfully for a moment before she blinked and began to sob in to his shoulder.

            Holding Kitty close, Reita’s first instinct was to tug off his shirt to wrap it around Kitty’s shoulders. She was wet after all and she needed to be kept warm. The only problem was that Reita wasn’t wearing a shirt.

            “Takanori. Give me your shirt.”

            “Fuck you. Find a blanket or something.”

            “Takanori.”

            Ruki pouted. And squirmed and silently protested and caved. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and passed it to Reita before retreating to his kitchen for some sanctuary.

            He was about to fill a mug with coffee when he realized that Kitty’s arrival had rendered Ruki’s wakefulness unnecessary. Things would either go very well or very poorly from here, but either way, Ruki didn’t need to be conscious for it. Stalking towards his bedroom he grumbled, “Coffee’s ready.”

            He needn’t have bothered with the announcement.

            As soon as he made it to the edge of the living room he could see that Reita and Kitty were curled up on the couch together. Kitty wasn’t wearing her wet dress anymore and her long legs were tangled with Reita’s to keep warm where they extended past the hem of Ruki’s t-shirt. Reita’s arms were wrapped protectively around her and both of them were completely sound asleep.

            Ruki almost smiled.

            They really were cute together. And whatever sort of relationship they actually had going was probably good for them in the long run.

            But damn was it complicated.


                                                                        ♡♥Finite♥♡