Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation. If I did, the whole series would be about Tatsuha.

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Fame and Fortune

Chapter Five

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"Will you quit fidgeting?"

Tatsuha rolled his eyes at the other male as Rick corrected the younger male's hat, helping to disguise the famous model from rabid fangirls. Rick was muttering under his breath, berating Tatsuha for thinking that a simple hat and sunglasses would really do a lot in hiding him from a place full of girls who made obsession their job.

"There, that looks a little better, at least." Rick stated, nodding to himself a bit before backing away from Tatsuha to take a better look at his handiwork.

Now finally having some sort of space, Tatsuha reached up and rearranged the way that the hat was sitting on his head, grinning at the sigh that came from Rick in response.

Rick was shaking his head. "I hate you. You know that, right?"

"Take a number and get to the back of the line." Tatsuha told him, grin still in place. He felt a little guilty, being out here, in such a place after having just learned about his father's death. It seemed as if he was somehow dishonoring the man. Tatsuha wasn't sure if that was fair, however. He hadn't talked to his father in all the years he had been away from Japan. He had never been particularly close to his father, but it still saddened Tatsuha to think that he wouldn't be able to make ammends for leaving without saying anything.

Deciding that this wasn't the place to be having these kinds of thoughts, Tatsuha turned his attention back onto his clothing. It was perfectly settled on his frame, of course. He had made a living in looking perfect, but it just didn't seem to be enough this time. He had to look better, more seductive but not overly desperate.

He just wanted to be noticed.

Rather stupid. There were going to be thousands of people in the crowd, all craving attention from the god that would be performing on stage in front of them all. The idea that Ryuichi Sakuma would ever deem to notice Tatsuha above the rest was a joke. Although it didn't stop Tatsuha from playing out that particular fantasy in his head - complete with the ending credits - but he knew that it was still hopeless.

He had gone to countless of these concerts before, always going in with the hope that Ryuichi Sakuma would somehow see him, and notice him and want to keep him.

He had long given up the idea of "soulmates" and was resigned to look upon Ryuichi from a distance.

Which was alright, all things considered, although a bit lonely. And it didn't help much for when he was hoping for a bit of fun during the night time.

A soft nudge from Rick brought Tatsuha out of his thoughts, and he moved to follow the older man out of the room. The concert was going to be starting soon, and Tatsuha wouldn't allow himself to ever be late for something as important as this.

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This was stupid. It was crazy. He was Tatsuha Uesugi - people all over the world knew his name, knew his face and would jump at the chance to meet him and be seen with him.

Someone like him should have to stand around in long lines, waiting to be let in for a mediocre seat that would result in him being surrounded by hundreds of other screaming fans. He had done this before, so many times before - Tatsuha had hoped that it would be different this time around. He should have at least been able to have his own seat, up in the balcony away from the oppressive crowds.

"Wipe that scowl from your face before I smack it off." Rick told him, nudging Tatsuha with his elbow. "You were the one who wanted to come in disguise, so deal with it."

Tatsuha rolled his eyes in response to that, but knew that the other male was right. He just wished he had packed ear plugs. Thankfully, they wouldn't have to wait too much longer before they would be let in. Or at least, that was what Tatsuha was hoping for.

He stretched out his arms, trying to feel a little less cramped, but in the confined spaces, his hand accidentally hit the back of a girl's head.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He said quickly, sheepishly laughing.

The girl didn't seem to mind, but the burly guy beside her glared daggers. "You trying to put the moves on my girlfriend?"

"Uh, no?"

The jealous boyfriend frowned, before pushing Tatsuha out of reach of the girl. Surprised, Tatsuha lost his footing and fell, which, although a tad embarrassing, had dislodged his securely placed hat and sunglasses.

He had only a few moments for realization to settle in and to mutter a curse before there was a tell-tale screech of his name resounding throughout the room. Tatsuha scrambled to place his hat and sunglasses back on, but the damage had been done.

Already the fangirls were hounding in on him like a pack of wolves.

He gulped - there had once been a day when he would have loved a situation like this - and took off down the nearest hallway. Sadly enough, the group of girls (and quite a few guys) followed his moves, all of them rambling off their own proclamations of love and desire for an autographed picture.

Tatsuha groaned inwardly. This was not have he was wanting this night to go. If anything, he had hoped that he would be in a group like that, chasing after his own idol. Then again, he supposed that the gods had never really ever been on his side.

He ran as fast as he could, hoping to stay just out of reach, one step ahead. It was a bit of a frightening thought to think of what might happen if he was ever caught by them. He doubted he would make it out alive and fully clothed. Not really up for hearing Rick's loud laughter at the sight of him being naked and wanting to go home prematurely, Tatsuha ran even faster. He definitely would not give Rick the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so' about his poor choice of a disguise.

Realizing that he now had a bit of a lead on the rushing crowd of fans, Tatsuha turned a sharp corner, hoping he could possibly lose them altogether. Instead, he ran right into another person.

Both of them fell to the floor but neither of them stayed there very long. Tatsuha didn't even give the other person a second glance, looking behind him for the rabid fans, and sure enough they had gotten much closer than he would have liked.

He turned his attention back to getting ready to run when he was stopped in his tracks once again.

Ryuichi Sakuma was standing right in front of him. Beautiful as always, hair messy as if he hadn't been able to find the brush that morning, and eyes shining just as brightly as Tatsuha remembered, it was definitely the man that he had been in love with for a very long time.

Tatsuha wasn't granted enough time to take in the wonderful site, as Ryuichi was glancing behind himself, eyes calculating. It took Tatsuha a second to realize there was a crazed group following Ryuichi as well.

The singer grabbed Tatsuha's hand and forced the other male to run with him down the opposite hall. "Come on, we don't have much time. They might eat us if they catch us."

As amusing as the statement was, Tatsuha had a feeling it was half-way true. Which was more frightening than he wanted to admit.

The two of them kept pace with eachother rather easily, despite their difference in height. It was a silly thing to notice, but Tatsuha grinned at the thought anyways. How many people got to say that they had run away in fear from rabid fans with Ryuichi Sakuma at their side?

Although he wasn't sure where they were going, Tatsuha followed his idol anyways, no matter how blind it might have been. For all he knew, Ryuichi could have been leading him right into some strange trap, full of sharp, dangerous things and bad singing.

But he was with Ryuichi Sakuma, so, did it really matter?

Ryuichi took a right at the next break in the hallway, and then pulled Tatsuha into an opened doorway - the black-haired male found himself quickly aquainted with a mop - before Ryuichi stuffed himself into the small, cramped closet as well and closed the door behind them, a blanket of darkness falling over them both as all light was cut off.

"Is this a good idea?" Tatsuha questioned - a bit unnerved by the fact that he was stuck in a completely dark closet. But then he realized that there was a warm body pressed up against his, and then the whole situation didn't seem all that bad. Not bad at all. Maybe the gods really did like him.

"Shush, they'll here you." Came the whispered reply. It took Tatsuha a few seconds to realize what Ryuichi had meant. Rabid fans, right. Of course. How could he have possibly forgotten? Maybe it was because the fact that the body that was in his fantasies every night was now pushed up closes against his own and it was becoming hard to control himself. Then again, maybe the gods hated him after all.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Is it safe yet?" He asked, whispering as quietly as he could. With Ryuichi this close, there was no doubt that the other male would be able to hear him.

"I don't know."

More silence. Tatsuha tried to stop his shifting, it was only causing more friction and friction was definitely something he did not need right now. Rick was going to laugh for days after he found out about this. Tatsuha idly wondered if he should be saying something right now. Maybe apologizing for running straight into Ryuichi Sakuma of all people, but Tatsuha didn't feel all that sorry for it. Not when it led up to something like this.

Tatsuha felt Ryuichi shift a bit, before the movements stilled once more.

"I think the coast is clear now." Came the voice that had constantly played a large role in all of Tatsuha's dreams for so many years.

The door opened and Tatsuha almost fell over when the warm body moved and left the closet, leaving the model feeling at a loss. He straightened himself out, and exited the closet as well, laughing sheepishly at Ryuichi. Tatsuha wasn't exactly sure what he should say in response of having just spent a good ten minutes in a small closet pressed up against Ryuichi Sakuma of all people.

"Thanks for saving me back there." Tatsuha stated slowly. "I think you were right - they definitely would have eaten us if they had been able to catch us."

Ryuichi smiled. "They were after me too, I even had to leave Kuma behind!"

Laughing, Tatsuha reached up and took off the hat that was now laying haphazardly on his head - his sunglasses were actually still in place, but the mop he had been pushed into had smeared the lenses. "Ugh." He frowned as he took them off, looking at the mess. His shirt had some of the chemicals from whatever had been on that mop too but he found a dry area to try and wipe off the worst of it from his sunglasses.

"You're him!"

Tatsuha blinked in confusion, glancing around himself, wondering who Ryuichi could be talking to but the only other thing that was close to them was the mop, and Tatsuha was relatively certain that Ryuichi was not talking to the cleaning tool. Although, then again...

"Huh?" The dark-haired male stated eloquently. Ryuichi was tilting his head to the side and moved closer to the other male, hands reaching up to poke at Tatsuha's cheeks. "Um, Sakuma-san?" It was a bit unnerving to have such a gorgeous person in close proximity like this, but the fact that this person was Ryuichi Sakuma only made it even more startling. It was hard not to just wrap his arms around Ryuichi. If he just leaned in a bit, he could easily kiss the other man. Tatsuha was beginning to suspect that he had hit his head at some point and was knocked out somewhere, having this wonderful dream.

"You're the guy with the pretty eyes!"

That made Tatsuha pause yet again. Pretty eyes? Well that one was new. He personally favored things more like 'ruggedly handsome', 'smoking hot' and 'incredibly sexy' but he supposed that since this was coming from Ryuichi Sakuma, then it was alright.

Ryuichi moved away from his close inspection of Tatsuha and bounced a bit. "I'm Ryuichi Sakuma, it's nice to meet you. Ever since I saw your picture, Kumagoro and I have always wanted to meet you." The man grinned.

Tatsuha wasn't sure what to say to that. Over the years, he had countless of fans say such things to him, and most were not even this courteous - sadly, Ryuichi wasn't trying to jump him like so many of Tatsuha's other fans had been known to do. It was more than flattering, it was a bit surreal. To have Ryuichi Sakuma, the beautiful male that he had fantasized about for so long, the man who sang the music that Tatsuha had listened to for more than half his life. This was the man Tatsuha had known he had loved, despite the ridicule and disbelief.

And Ryuichi was happy to see him. The being-knocked-out theory was beginning to seem more real with every passing second.

Ryuichi bounced a bit more, seeming to be very pleased. "I have ran into a lot of people before, but to run into you is very exciting!" The man rummaged in his pocked before pulling out a pad of paper and a couple of broken, well-used crayons.

"Can I have your autograph?"

Tatsuha stared in surprise. Wasn't that supposed to be his line in this situation?

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Is a bit shorter than I would have liked, but I wanted to post. :]

Thank you for reading.

LuV