Band: CLØWD
Pairing: Iori&Kou, mentioned Iori&Ryohei and Ryohei&Kou
Rating: 17+
Genre: romance, h/c
Warnings: mentally instable characters
Note: Getting together with your lover's ex after breaking up with him isn't probably the best coping mechanism, but Iori knew that Kou needs someone to take care of him in such dark moment in his life.
"Ryohei, have you seen my jacket?" asked Iori, walking into the living room.
He thought that the bassist still was in his apartment, but he was wrong. Iori sighed and sat in the armchair.
Ryohei never informed him that he's going somewhere. He also never told him that he loves him. They just started dating at some point and Iori was okay with this, at least for a while. But recently he started wondering, if Ryohei thinks about their relationship seriously. Even when Iori used to ask him, when they're going to tell others about them, he always would reply "Someday" and change the topic.
But Iori was already a little tired of being not able to kiss Ryohei, when they were with their friends and everytime he heard "Someday" or "Not now" or "Not yet". That's why he sometimes, when he was looking at Ryohei's lips, he didn't want to kiss him, but punch him. Maybe they should break up? Well, for a while Iori doubted, if he still had feelings for his partner, so...
Iori looked at the ceiling and then he was pulled out from his thinking about Ryohei's strange behaviour by some melody. Did Ryohei forget about his cellphone?
When Iori found the source of this annoying sound, he looked at the screen and saw "Aunt Momo" on it.
Oh no, it's that aunt, who constantly wants something from Ryohei. She likes to call him especially, when they're sitting on the sofa, probably in the middle of foreplay or watching a movie.
Iori knew that he has to pick up, because this aunt won't leave them alone for the next year, if she doesn't know, where is her favourite nephew!
Iori pushed the green button, but before he managed to say something, he heard a voice on the other side.
"Ryohei, where are you? I've been waiting for you for an hour, dinner is almost cold, champagne lost its bubbles and dough for pizza we wanted to bake in the evening is ready since a while. I'm worried, are you okay? By the way, do you want me to wear..."
Iori decided that he heard enough.
"Shut up, Kou. It's Iori. And I don't want to hear anything about your evening plans from you."
It was so quiet on the other side of phone line that if this silence had weight, you could crush someone's teeth, if you dropped it on them.
"Iori? Why did you pick up Ryohei's phone?" Kou sounded surprised.
"Tell me, what were you talking about first, for fuck's sake" growled Iori.
Okay, maybe he wanted to break up with Ryohei for a while, but... But... Cheating?! How old was he?! Because not almost thirty for sure, like his ID shows!
"I don't understand, what you're talking about, Iori..." said Kou, visibly confused.
"You're talking about dinner, champagne, pizza and something to wear, just like you were Ryohei's partner, not me" explained Iori calmly, even if he wanted to remove both Kou and Ryohei's intestines and make a garland out of them. It would match their heads above the fireplace. He doesn't have a fireplace, but after this double murder he'll buy a house in Alps, change his name to Antonio Spaghetti and start breeding goats.
Kou fell silent again. Iori could hear just his breathing.
"Iori..."
"What?"
"Iori, he said... He said that..."
"He said what?" Iori blinked.
Kou's voice was trembling. Kou's voice doesn't tremble. Never! Besides, when he's on scene, of course.
"Kou?"
"Come to my house, we have to talk" said Kou and hung up, leaving confused Iori with his own thoughts.
Is it possible that Kou... didn't know anything?
* * *
Iori was standing in the doorway of Kou's apartment. Kou was just staring at the floor. Iori has never seen him in such condition. He looked like shit. And probably felt like one too.
"Kou, what happened?" asked Iori, when the vocalist closed the door. "Kou, listen, I wanted to be mad at you and murder you for being Ryohei's lover and him for cheating on me..."
"Iori..."
"Alright, alright, sorry, I won't murder anyone" Iori flinched, when he heard Kou's devastated voice.
For gods' sake, he doesn't understand anything!
"Iori, how long have you been with Ryohei?" asked Kou, sitting on the chair beside the table, on which there were some papers, scattered around.
"For three months" replied Iori.
Kou whined and hid his head in his hands.
"Kou?"
"Iori, Ryohei didn't cheat on you with me" whispered Kou so quiet that the guitarist barely heard him. "He cheated on me with you."
Iori laughed hysterically, making Kou sigh. The guitarist leaned against the wall and looked at the ceiling.
"So that's why he didn't want you to know..." murmured Iori.
"In my case it was me, who didn't want you to know" explained Kou. "I didn't want you to hate me or something. I don't know you well enough to tell you that I'm in a relationship with our friend without a problem..."
"I understand" Iori nodded. "Well, I wanted to break up with him anyway. I had enough of him not treating our relationship seriously."
"Well, it seems he didn't treat any of us seriously" Kou leaned his head on his hand. "Half of the year of a relationship, Iori. Half of the year living in lies and illussion. What's wrong with me that I didn't notice it? What's wrong with me that he treated me like a toy? Am I so ugly, so annoyng, so stupid or what?"
Iori blinked. What the hell Kou is talking about?
"Kou, don't be stupid" the guitarist walked to him and leaned on the table. "You're handsome, kind and smart. Don't say such things only because..."
Door opened suddenly and Ryohei walked in.
"Oh, hey, Iori" he said. "I didn't expect you here."
"I didn't expect that I'm just your lover" growled Iori, crossing his arms on his chest.
Ryohei looked like he saw a ghost. For a moment he was silent, then he laughed nervously.
"You... know?"
"Yeah, we know" confirmed Iori.
Kou didn't say anything.
"Sorry" mumbled Ryohei and scratched his head. "I just couldn't decide. But I didn't promise any of you that it's something serious, right? I didn't tell any of you that I love you. For me these were just open relationships. Even if I knew that you're going to be mad."
"I don't give a shit about it, Ryohei" said Iori. "I just don't care. I wanted to dump you anyway."
"So we agree that we should break up" Ryohei bowed deeply. "And I'm sorry."
"It's okay" Iori nodded. "Just explain everything to Kou. See you tomorrow at rehaersal."
Iori left Kou's apartment. Yeah, he was mad at Ryohei. But he never liked conflicts. And just decided to ignore and forget about the whole situation. The only thing he regretted was that he didn't break up with him earlier. Kou probably wouldn't even know about their romance.
And he wouldn't have to see Kou so devastated and looking like his heart broke into million pieces...
* * *
Iori was sitting with can of beer in his hand in front of TV, watching some series. One character decided to drown himself in the lake, because everything was too fucked up.
"What a looser" he said, sipping his drink, when he heard knocking on the door. "If it's Ryohei, I swear I'll punch him."
He still was mad at Ryohei, but how he couldn't be? Well, in fact, he was more mad because of Kou, not because of himself. How someone can do something like this?!
Iori put his beer on the table and walked to the door. He looked through the peephole and saw Kou.
"Kou?" he said, confused, when he opened the door.
And then he was kissed.
Yes, he was kissed. In the lips. By totally drunk Kou, who clang on him like a towel on a hanger.
Iori froze and closed the door without thinking. He locked the door and kissed Kou back. He knew that the vocalist needed it. And he knew that they're going to regret it. But why not? Why he shouldn't give Kou the impression of normality after what Ryohei has done to him?
But maybe, just maybe he would prefer seeing him sober...
"Kou" Iori grabbed his wrists and pushed against the wall. "You're drunk."
"I am. And what?" Kou laughed hysterically. "When I was kissing Ryohei, I was sober. And how it ended?"
"You can't jump into someone's bed just after finding out that your partner had an affair" said Iori. "At first I wanted to let you to do it, but now I think that you shouldn't. Don't be as stupid as Ryohei."
"You don't understand. You don't love him" Kou slipped from Iori's embrace and sat on the floor. "You don't care. And I wonder, why? Why, Iori? Why, for fuck's sake?!"
Iori was just staring at Kou, who probably had some kind of mental breakdown. Iori sighed, sat down beside his friend and hugged him.
"Stop crying. He's not worth it" said Iori. "Really, he's not. But we can pretend it's because you're drunk, right?"
Iori heard just some mumbling nod. Kou leaned his head on his shoulder and... fell asleep. Iori picked him up and carried him to bed. He took off Kou's shoes and covered him with a quilt. He grabbed a blanket and decided to sleep on sofa.
* * *
Several months have passed, during which it turned out that hiding his sexuality from bandmates by Kou wasn't needed, because Tatsuru and Touma told them they're a couple. Meanwhile Ryohei had a girlfriend after a lot of boyfriends. Iori wondered, if he had two in the same time again.
Meanwhile Iori cared about Kou more and more. And recently started even thinking about their kiss. But Kou lost his trust towards everyone, since that day, when Ryohei broke his heart and he broke Ryohei's tooth.
* * *
Iori was sitting in the armchair, watching his favourite TV series again. This time he made himself tea and a character in this episode was kidnapped. Well, he doesn't have a peaceful life.
Iori flinched, hearing knocking on the door. He put a mug on the table and walked to the door.
"Kou?" he was surprised.
This time Kou was sober. Iori didn't smell any alcohol, when Kou kissed him and embraced his shoulders.
He was sober. And still unhappy. He needed comfort, sex, just being close to someone and wanted Iori to give it to him. He wanted Iori to glue the pieces of his broken heart.
And this time Iori didn't stop himself from leaning over naked Kou in his bed and kissing him once again. And from giving him exactly what he needed.
"Better?" asked Iori, embracing Kou with his arm.
Kou still couldn't calm his breath.
"Kou?"
"Perfect" he said finally. "We have to do it again someday."
"We can do it everyday" said Iori.
"So let's do it everyday" Kou smiled slightly. "You love me, don't you?"
Iori flinched slightly.
"For now I can say that I have crush on you" he replied after a while.
Kou laughed.
">>For now<<. Oh, it sounds so pretty" he smiled slightly. "It gives hope. It allows you to be just a little bit sure about the future. And what do we have from it?"
"Now? Us" replied Iori.
"Yes, now we have us. But are we going to have us tomorrow?" asked Kou. "We can't be sure of tomorrow. Or even an evening. Because even if you planned everything with your partner, you're spending it in the bar and in your friend's home and then you don't remember anything."
"Kou..."
"What? It's true" Kou hugged him tightly. "I'll give you a chance, Iori. But bring my heart together. You don't have to use super glue. You can use just some tape or clay. Anything to make me forget that I can be thrown away like some old cloth."
"Can I do it with love?" asked Iori.
"You said yourself that you just have a crush on me at this moment" reminded him Kou.
"But it can change into love and then I'll repair your heart quickly" Iori kissed his forehead. "Okay?"
"Okay" Kou smiled fondly.
He'll probably forget about these painful memories. He'll probably fall in love with Iori. Someday everything, what happened between them and Ryohei, will probably stop being important. And they'll probably start new life. Together.
The end
