[boyband au]

[angstennou]

Who: Nephrite and anyone who comes visit him!
What: Nephrite and Ami discussing what to do about Kunzite's blackmailing
When: After Nephrite gets arrested for punching Kunzite in a concert
Where: Juuban district's jail

Nephrite was sitting at his cell, still fuming. Kunzite, that bastard. He doesn't have the right to treat Ami like that. And he dared to say he loved her? Yeah, sure. They say Nephrite is a bad loser because of his temper. At least he doesn't try to hurt someone he likes. Aaaaargh he should have broken all the bastard's teeth, so he wouldn't be able to show up at that meet and greet tomorrow.

Nephrite didn't care anymore if Beryl fired him. He never got paid and he didn't want to share a stage with such an asshole. But he didn't want to ruin Ami's career too. He wished he still had his phone, so he could text Mamoru for help. He started pacing as he tried to think of a way to help Ami while he couldn't get out of the jail.

Comments

[geniustheveil]

When they finally let her visit, in a public room without privacy but at least face to face, Ami already seemed a little nervous as she looked uncertainly at her surroundings. She blamed herself; after all, Nephrite had been trying to help her. It was misguided, yes, and she certainly would have told him not to go ahead and punch the leader of his band, on stage in front of everyone no less, but he was trying.

She had to appreciate the effort and his concern, at least.

Ami took a seat at the table, and after an awkward, long moment's silence, she plunged right in to her news. Although she'd spent hours, days in fact, thinking about it, she still found a little chilling.

"Nephrite, I've decided I'm resigning from my group."

[angstennou]

He didn't imagine anyone would come visit him. Nobody would want to deal with the media and be associated with such a troublemaker. He felt warm at realizing the girl in disguise was Ami, but then he worried that anyone would discover her.

During that awkward silence, he wondered if she was upset with him. Or if Kunzite had forced her to do something horrible. He was getting nervous, but never thought she would say what she did. Then his reaction came out as a very loud question. Not angry or accusing, just surprised.

"YOU WHAT? WHY?"

[geniustheveil]

Flustered by the sudden outburst, Ami didn't answer for a moment. She glanced down at her hands, which were carefully folded in her lap and tightly gripping the fabric of her skirt.

"Why?" She thought the reasoning would be obvious. Then she realized that, well, it was really only obvious to her.

"It's because I don't want to hurt my friends," she said finally. "It won't matter if Kunzite has proof that you and I were seeing each other, if I'm not a member anymore."

Which, if Nephrite was sharp enough to read between the lines, meant that Kunzite had not only been blackmailing Ami with the threat of revealing the relationship, but also trying to force her to do something that would have been harmful to the other girls in her group.

That had been the line for Ami.

"So, it's better this way."

That had been trying to convince herself.

[angstennou]

Nephrite had never been especially good at reading between the lines, but what he could see was that Ami was hurting. And that as much as she said it was better this way, he felt it might be better for the group, maybe, but not for her. His fists closed in tight balls as he wished he could punch Kunzite again.

He tried to think of something they could do to get rid of Kunzite. If he couldn't contact Mamoru from jail, maybe Ami could talk to her friend?

"Can't you ask your friend for help? She's dating Mamoru isn't she?"

Or... there was another option that would hurt him badly, but he had screwed up already and he could endure it if it kept her happy in the group. "Or... do you want us to end it, and if Kunzite says anything you say that I forced you or something?"

[geniustheveil]

"I don't want that!"

That answer, at least, came immediately and without any hesitation or second-guessing. And she could rationalize it by saying she didn't want to cause her friends more trouble from the scandal, or that at least she didn't want to make Nephrite seem to be a bad person in the public eye, but the truth was she just didn't want to end it.

"Besides," she added a little more calmly, "It could just cause trouble for her, too. She has a lot to worry about already." For one, Usagi needed to keep her own relationship with Chiba Mamoru secret. Loudly talking about another forbidden relationship wasn't going to help that.

[angstennou]

He let out a relieved sigh as Ami told him she didn't want to end their relationship. He had offered because it seemed an alternative but he did hope that Ami still liked him enough to want to stay with him.

But now they were trapped by Kunzite, weren't they? There was nothing Nephrite could blackmail or bribe his former leader with. He wished Kunzite would direct all his anger and vengeance to him, and not Ami. Hell, he wished the man was a better sport about losing a girl. Wasn't he always nagging about how immature Nephrite and Jadeite were blah blah blah?

"Sorry. I didn't want to cause more trouble. I asked because Mamoru maybe could keep Kunzite at bay, but I can't contact him from here."

After another silent moment, he asked, "There's nothing else we can do then? Are you really okay with that?", looking in her eyes, trying to figure out how upset she was with this outcome.

[geniustheveil]

"It's for the best," Ami said, and she managed something close to a smile. It was... not exactly untrue, at least. There were other things she could do. She could focus on her schooling, something Mama had always worried about while Ami pursued her idol career. It would make Mama happy. And her friends could chase after the upcoming competitions and contracts without any added troubles.

"But what about you?" she asked. "Will it be alright if you can't go back to singing?" As far as she knew, at least, Nephrite had enjoyed performing - or at least, he had been like her: enjoying being a part of a group, doing something special together.

[angstennou]

Nephrite wasn't entirely convinced, but he couldn't think of any other way out to suggest. He reached out for Ami's hand, trying to comfort her at least a little.

He shrugged at her question, though. "I liked the attention, and I thought we were a group, but I don't want to work with Kunzite anymore." And by what Zoisite had said, nobody would notice he wasn't there anyway.

[geniustheveil]

Ami glanced over at the nearby officers, who were at least doing them the courtesy of pretending not to notice Nephrite holding her hand.

"Then," she asked the obvious yet difficult next question, "What will you do?"

As far as she was concerned, there were nearly endless options. He could try anything he wanted to do, any type of schooling or job or career. When she thought about it that way, maybe quitting her group, too, wasn't all bad.

[musicite]

Zoisite let out a soft sigh as he looked around the barren room, devoid of so much as a single curtain at the small windows. This was not somewhere Nephrite should be, even for a brief time. He settled gingerly into his uncomfortable seat.

"Nephrite," he asked softly, "Will you be alright here?"

He was risking their manager's wrath by visiting, but Zoisite didn't much care about that; Ms. Beryl was nothing for him to respect, or fear. What disturbed him more, was that the other two hadn't come. Even Kunzite should feel some regret over how far this bickering had gone now; and where was Jadeite?

[angstennou]

He didn't expect Zoisite to come. He thought the other guys would side with Kunzite, after all, Nephrite had ruined their concert for no clear reason. It felt good though, to know that someone still cared.

"Yeah, I think I can manage. What happened after they took me in?"

[musicite]

"The concert continued until the end," he said simply. A trio instead of a quartet; it had sounded very odd to his musical ears, very odd indeed; but no one else had seemed to notice that. They had only borrowed the show business maxim: the show must go on. Not stop.

He'd felt more than a little guilty about it.

"Kunzite's fans will flood the internet with sympathy," he added with a touch of wry, understated humor.

[angstennou]

So, he hadn't been missed. Well, he should have expected it, shouldn't he? Kunzite was the one who attracted hoards. If he was there, there was no reason to not go on.

"I guess it's good that I don't have internet access here then. I would want to punch them too."

[musicite]

He might have chuckled, if it wasn't also worrying, and if the fact that Nephrite might actually be serious wasn't the precise reason that Nephrite was here now.

"That temper," Zoisite said instead. "Has it solved anything so far?"

The answer was, of course, no; and if you were looking for a more thorough answer, it included things like 'not in a million years' and 'it's made it ten times worse'.

[angstennou]

Nephrite looked away. No, it hadn't. But he couldn't help it and when he realized, he had already screwed everything up.

"I am so stupid. Can never do anything right." Can't even protect the girl he likes or keep his job.

[musicite]

Zoisite shook his head, contradicting Nephrite at once. "You are not," he said firmly.

He was fond of Nephrite, and seeing the other boy beat himself up over the situation was proving to be difficult.

"The circumstances were against you," Zoisite acknowledged, although he avoided saying anything directly accusing Kunzite.

[angstennou]

There was a moment of surprise as Nephrite hadn't expected Zoisite to disagree with him about his stupidity. He was so used at Kunzite and Jadeite teasing him all the time that he forgot Zoisite usually didn't. And to be fair, Nephrite had an habit of making the worst choices.

"Thanks for making up an excuse, I guess."

[honorsword]

There was a late visitor. It was a little odd that the victim had wanted to meet with the person accused of assaulting him, but it wasn't entirely unknown, and the police were willing to accommodate the request. Frankly, they didn't even mind if it got loud; but they did make sure an officer was close enough to deter any thoughts of making threats or continuing a physical fight here.

"Nephrite. Are they treating you well here?"

The obviously false concern came from none other than Kunzite who, leaning against a nearby wall, seemed not to have a worry in the world.

[angstennou]

It was late, and Nephrite couldn't think of anyone else that would want to visit him when the guards came to get him in his cell. His blood boiled when he saw Kunzite leaning against a wall, and he would have punched the man again if he wasn't shackled and restrained by the guards.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, BASTARD?"

[honorsword]

"Well, I felt badly about what happened," Kunzite lied casually. "I came to cheer you up."

He let that sink in for a moment, knowing it was sure to upset Nephrite even more, before adding yet more fuel to the flames.

"And I thought you'd want to hear the news. Our group is signing a new exclusive contract." Rubbing in a moment of success as soon as Nephrite was fired? You bet.

[angstennou]

LIES. ALL LIES. HE CAN SEE THAT YOU ARE VERY PLEASED WITH THIS SITUATION, KUNZITE.

"YOU WILL CHEER ME UP WHEN I BREAK ALL YOUR TEETH AND GET THIS STUPID SMIRK OFF YOUR FACE!"

The officers decide they can't really let go of Nephrite without him getting violent again, so they tie him to the chair. It is humiliating and he's still enraged but stops yelling.

"You can stick that contract up your ass for all I care. Just stop harassing Ami."

[honorsword]

"Harassing Ami?" Kunzite said with what might have been convincing innocence, if Nephrite didn't already know the entire story directly from Ami's mouth, and if Ami wasn't known as a scrupulously honest girl.

"Oh," he added, still perfectly calm, "Is that the delusion that led you to attack me? Such a stupid decision."

[angstennou]

"Delusion? You have used her before. I would be stupid if I chose to believe you." Despite their constant bickering, Nephrite would have believed and followed Kunzite before. He had admired the man, and never thought he would be so cruel to anyone, even less a girl he claimed to like.

[honorsword]

Kunzite aimed a pointed look directly at Nephrite's restraints. Was this type of outburst something most people would consider sane?

Of course not.

He looked Nephrite in the eye again,

"I don't need you to believe it," he said simply.

[angstennou]

As if Kunzite had ever needed Nephrite for anything. There was nothing he could do but glare and grit his teeth. "Whatever. Just stop blackmailing her."