Hiro Breaks It Down!
folder
Gravitation › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
5
Views:
4,115
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Gravitation › General
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
5
Views:
4,115
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Gravitation, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 3--Hiro Breaks It Down!
Chapter 3—Hiro Breaks It Down!
Summary —Hiro lays his feelings out in the open as Plan B goes into effect. Yuki and Hiro have an emotional duel to win Shuichi’s affections.
If a pin had dropped at that moment, the deafening noise would have shattered every window in the lobby--it was just that quiet. Fearful of their lives but desperate to see how the soap opera would play out, everyone on the floor lifted their eyes to watch the spectacle as much as they dared without further endangering their lives by improving their chances of catching a bullet.
They watched as Hiro pulled a stunned Shuichi and his Hello Kitty limited special collectors edition wheelman luggage case to the center of the room. Hiro positioned Shuichi in front of him on a small stool that had been set up inside the semi ring the keyboards, drum machine and various other electronics had formed.
“Shuichi,” Hiro said quietly, “I have something to say to you and you, Yuki and everyone else in here is going to have to listen to it. This whole thing is my fault. This whole spectacle is my fault. I wanted to tell you such a long time ago but never found the courage and now that you’re…you’re with Yuki, I need to say it more than ever.”
Shuichi’s eyes were huge with confusion. “Hiro, I…” Hiro cut him off with a soft finger to the lips as he unbuttoned his trench coat and let it fall to the floor. Likewise, Ryu and Fujisaki who had appeared beside Hiro, flanking him, did the same. Shuichi gasped out loud at what he saw before him.
Hiro was wearing tight dark red leather pants and a simple, unadorned white silk shirt that, half unbuttoned, exposed the smooth expanse of lean muscle that was his chest. His eyes, highlighted with smoky dark glitter and his lips glistened softly with just a hint of blush pink gloss. His calm, pale face leaped out in startling contrast to the wild dark red tendrils of hair that framed it. Hiro was beautiful. There was no other word for it. While he didn’t possess the slinky animal-like sexuality that Yuki seemed to have in spades, he had something else. A quiet, assured grace, a firm, solid energy that was at once warming and strengthening. Shuichi had never seen his friend of many years, adventures, situations and conversations like he saw his friend at that very second. At that very second he didn’t see his friend at all. He saw Hiroshi Nakano, the man.
A small overwhelmed gasp escaped Shu’s parted lips as he was held, magnetized by Hiro’s eyes--held with such purpose and love, it evoked a feeling in Shuichi Yuki never had.
Suguru Fujisaki let his trench coat slip to the ground revealing simple dark blue leather pants and matching ruffled silk shirt which hung loose and sexily just above his low rider pants line. A small choker adorned his neck and his hair was swept back at the sides, leaving his long bangs to emphasize his huge dark eyes and delicate elfin features.
Like a fairy tale prince fresh from the pages of an exquisite book, Suguru, was often overlooked in the drama of his life, being Seguchi’s cousin and enduring the embittered battle between Shu and Yuki that often upstaged his talented genius that was at the core, the backbone of Bad Luck. Suguru’s young, quiet confidence held the commanding promise of greatness to come. He strode with ease to the keyboards.
Having already taken off his baseball cap, Ryuichi let his coat slide off and when it hit the floor a resounding gasp echoed through the room. Tight white lace pants with diamond shaped cut outs on the side of each leg left little to the imagination as they showed peek after heavenly peek of creamy soft skin. They hugged each crest and valley of Ryu’s lower body, showing off his perfection to its fullness. Tatsuha, who had finally managed to make it to the ground floor, stepped out of the elevator just in time to see his lover’s coat slide slowly down the length of his sinewy body, exposing to the world what he saw in his dreams every night.
Taut and graceful like a stalking cat, Ryuichi leaned backward a bit, a movement that allowed the light to play off the diamond studded belly chain that was hooked through a gold hoop extending out of his belly button. Above which sat the knot of the tied, black ruffled shirt complete with full flowing poet sleeves. Opened at the throat, the shirt revealed a single brilliantly sparkling flat backed, marquis cut diamond, centered by itself with no other jewelry of any kind, suspended in the hollow of his throat. Heavily outlined eyes valanced by long upward curling lashes were closed. His head hung down slightly causing errant strands of waving chestnut hair to flow softly over his angelic face. Blushing lips parting slightly, he raised his eyes slowly and penetrated Tatsuha with electric blue lightning from across the room, pinning the man where he stood. Another gasp sounded. Tatsuha’s sweet, goofy Ryu was gone. In his stead stood Ryuichi Sakuma, the silken voiced sex god and bloody hell, did he have his game face on!
Tatsuha’s breath caught in the back of his throat. There were no words to convey the power of that image of his love standing there circled by a prostrating audience as if they were paying homage to the celestial presence before them. This was an instance of time that would burn itself into his memory forever. For the rest of his life, when things were at their worst, Tatsuha would remember this moment, a smile would come to his lips and he would find the strength to go on.
Somewhere in the back, several cameramen recognizing a money shot when they saw it, risked life and limb by leaping to their cameras to get it all on video. Lights from the news reporter set ups snapped on suddenly and backlit the trio, framing them in a heavenly glow.
Yuki’s mouth fell open.
Before the “unveiling” K had moved deftly and quietly to stand at the stairwell door directly beside Yuki, who’s attention was solely on the drama that was unfurling before him. K, who’s eyes were hidden by his mirrored sunglasses, watched with shielded emotion while Hiro stood in front of the open mouthed Shuichi. He watched the tall youth, intent on his face, love in his eyes, graceful and sure being enveloped in the halo of camera lights behind him. Behind the glasses, his eyes never left Hiro, taking in the vision that he was, observing all that he had to offer. He pressed his lips together lightly. Hiro was…
Beside him, he felt Yuki move.
Without a word or even a serious movement, K extended one of the Eagles beneath his folded arms and lightly tapped Yuki in the side. He shook his head slightly and felt Yuki step back into place.
K smiled that curious half smile of his, never once taking his eyes off Hiro.
Back in the center of the room, Hiro backed away from Shuichi, refusing to release Shu from his gaze and grabbed his guitar, his Axe of Justice, from where it sat against a speaker beside Suguru’s bank of keyboards.
Strapping it on and placing a microphone headset like the ones Suguru and Ryuichi were wearing on his head, he took a deep breath. Could he do this?
Shuichi looked up at him and Hiro felt himself fall into the violet depths of his beautiful Shu’s eyes.
Yes, he could. He nodded and Suguru hit it.
Starting with an abrupt jazzy piano crescendo, Hiro followed Suguru with his guitar until they united on the same sweetly heightened note, lingered, then plunged back to earth to land in a slow, lazily seductive rhythm of synth, drums and piano. Wispy curls of misty fog lapped their way, seemingly in time with the music, throughout the small space that held Ryuichi, Suguru, Hiro and Shuichi. It began to rise as the music slowed for the dramatic opening lyrics, seemingly mimicking the ebb and tide of the notes being played.
Hiro closed his eyes.
Hiro: Oh!
Hiro’s guitar sang with all the emotion he felt, all the power at his command, all the love he wanted to give to Shuichi and all the love he wanted desperately in return. The music paused amid a shower of gentle chimes…
Hiro: Such a beautiful baby! The kind you find in a dream, and dreams are so real for me…
Suguru re-joined him, the lazy tempo sexily weaving its way through and around the lyrics sung by Hiro’s low, husky vocals.
Hiro: With eyes so warm and soothing…
They put me in a trance and I imagine us by the warm cozy fireplace…
The light shines on your face…
The smile you give me—higher and higher my heart starts to race…
Suguru: Soft…soft…
Hiro: I gotta say what I feel, ‘cuz boy you look so good to me!
All Together: So fine…baby!
So fine... it’s crazy!
So fine…baby!
So fine… it’s crazy!
Hiro: Can’t believe my eyes….
Ryuichi and Suguru: S o fine…
Hiro: Take me for a ride…
Ryuichi and Suguru: Fine…
*** ***
Hiro’s voice, while not the polished showpiece either Ryuichi or Shuichi wielded on stage, held its own with its assuredly mellow tone which conveyed the raw emotion his eyes held. He continued to entrance Shuichi with those eyes and never let him go…
*** ***
Hiro: Such a man of quality…
Your body’s so supreme…
When you dance you sway so elegantly…
Boy you simply dazzle…
Ryuichi and Suguru: Me!
Hiro: You put me in a trance…
And I imagine you and me just a kissing away….
Ryuichi and Suguru: Kissing away…yeah! mmmm…!
Suguru: Soft…
Hiro: My fingers in your hair…
Ryuichi: My fingers in your hair…
*** ***
Ryuichi’s smooth, velvet voice mimicked Hiro’s low groove, complimenting them with his own sweetly higher tones. His body swayed sinuously in time with the music beside Hiro, giving everyone a more than ample glimpse of his sensuously attired body as they sat on the floor watching.
*** ***
Hiro: Your embrace grows tighter and tighter…
Your touch makes me sing…
Ryuichi: Makes me sing…sing…mmmm!
Suguru: Soft…soft…
*** ***
Ryuichi (throwing his head back, closing his eyes and punctuating each and every ahh with an erotic roll of his body…): Ahh…ahhh…ahh…ahh…
*** ***
Hiro: I gotta sing this to you, ‘cuz boy you look so damn good to me!
Ryuichi: Ahh!
All together: So fine, baby…
So fine…it’s crazy…
So fine…baby…
So fine…it’s crazy…
So fine…so fine…
**** ***
Hiro dropped to his knees before Shuichi and wailed with longing and purpose on his guitar in a solo, causing wisps of fog to envelop him, twirl about him and slide over him, emphasizing his gyrations.
*** ***
Hiro: Just got to stop to look, ‘cuz you are…
All Together: So fine, baby…
So fine…it’s crazy (Hiro: You take me there!)
So fine…baby…(Hiro: So fine, super fine!)
So fine, it’s crazy…(Hiro: You are, you are, you are!)
So fine…so it’s crazy…
*** ***
Hiro stood up and stopped playing. He walked to stand directly in front of Shuichi, his love, and looked deep into his eyes. Suguru and Ryuichi continued to sing, the music’s tempo entrancing everyone who watched from the surrounding circle breathlessly…
*** ***
“Shuichi, let me tell you what love does for a real man. Love makes a real man want to shout from the rooftops that he’s in love and scream until the air rings with the name of his lover.”
“Love makes a real man want to be there for his lover, to protect him, to guide him, to warm him on cold days and on hot nights.”
Suguru (his soft voice punctuating Hiro’s strong declarations):
Your sweet tempting face…
Makes my heart race…
Ryuichi: Makes my heart race, baby…
“Love makes a real man proud to love and be loved in return. It makes him want to be seen in public with his love by his side, hand in hand.”
Suguru: Just kissing away…
Ryuichi: You make my heart race, oh!
Suguru: Your breath warm on my face…
*** ***
Shuichi’s breath came in shortened gasps. He was overwhelmed and well on his way to sensory overload.
*** ***
Suguru: Your sweet tempting face….
Makes my heart race…
“Love makes a real man want to see his love laugh, not cry, smile not frown, and sigh in ecstasy, not cry in pain.”
Ryuichi: I’ll be so good to you, yes I will, sweet baby!
“Love makes a real man go on an emotional high, not hide behind an impenetrable wall of cold.”
Suguru: Just kissing away…
Your breath warm on my face…
“Love makes a real man accept his lover for everything that he is, the good, the bad and the ugly and not call him names, demean him, humiliate him or kick him out every time something goes wrong.”
Yuki, transfixed by the whole show had been watching silently from the sidelines until that comment. Until then, he’d been glued to the spot he stood, not able to move, even without the not so subtle incentive K’s gun sticking in his side was giving him. With that comment, however, he snapped to attention and tensed to make his move.
K, who’d likewise been mesmerized by Hiro’s hypnotic performance, remained aware of the situation. Yuki was most vulnerable and dangerous right now. K observed him carefully.
Hiro, oblivious to the sideline drama continued on…
“Love makes a real man thank the gods every day that he has been so blessed.”
Suguru: Your sweet tempting face,
Makes my heart race…
“Holy, shit, Shuichi, love makes a real man, me, Hiro, your best friend put on leather pants and make up and declare in front of the gods, the universe and everyone that he loves you.”
Tears welled up in Shuichi’s eyes.
Suguru: Just kissing away…
Your breath warm on my face…
Ryuichi: You take me higher!
*** ***
Ryuichi hit the last word with such a long, spiraling crystal clear high note, the lobby walls reverberated with the passionate force behind the sound. Ryuichi looked directly at Tatsuha when he sang it. Tatsuha stared back for the eternal space of a second, every cell in his body resonating with the note, then, began to cry. His body showing what his heart was doing, Tatsuha shook all over as he experienced his lover’s voice breaking him down to tears.
*** ***
Suguru: Your sweet tempting face…
Makes my heart race…
Ryuichi: Makes my heart race, baby…
Hiro took a deep breath.
“I love you, Shu-chan. I want to be your friend, the arm that comforts you and your lover, the body that claims you. Come with me, Shu, let’s leave here. It’ll be us two and Bad Luck against the world. We’ll conquer it together.”
Suguru: Just kissing away…
Your breath warm on my face…
“We can have strawberry Pocky days and whipped cream nights.”
Ryuichi: Let me love you!”
“I stand before you, laying myself bare. I am offering you all this man has to give…My mind…” Hiro lightly kissed Shu’s left cheek.
Suguru: Your sweet tempting face…
“My body…” Hiro kissed his right cheek.
Makes my heart race…
“My soul…” Hiro kissed his forehead.
Ryuichi: You make my heart race, baby!
“My heart…” he kissed Shu’s nose.
Suguru: Just kissing away…
“My love…” Ever so lightly, he kissed Shu’s lips.
Suguru: Your breath warm on my face…
“I love you Shuichi Shindou.”
Ryuichi and Suguru: So fine, so fine, so…!
The song ended abruptly. The last unsung word was left lingering heavily in the air as the final notes faded in echo around the room. The silence that followed was one produced by the held breath of dozens of men, women and teenagers that had been moved to such a state, they’d forgotten they knew how to breathe. They’d forgotten themselves, the floor they were sitting on, the air around them, the world at large. The only thing that existed in that space and that time was Shuichi Shindou and Hiroshi Nakano.
Hiro kissed Shu, fully, deeply and longingly.
And Shuichi, as breathless and tearful as the audience…kissed back. Tentatively at first it took only a second to give himself over completely to Hiro’s embrace and accept the kiss fully, losing himself in it.
There was a full second of silence before the audience went absolutely mad. People leapt to their feet, yelling and screaming, whistling and clapping. Tears were wiped from dozens of eyes, hugs flowed freely and hands clasped all around.
K immediately braced himself for the eruption that was sure to come and come it did. Yuki exploded beside him. Filled with surging and conflicting emotions, Yuki found that he had been crying. Tears had left ragged streaks down his cheeks and speckled the collar of his shirt. He had just witnessed something that filled him with…with…what? He loved Shuichi. Of that much he was sure. He couldn’t tell him that of course…but…why not? Here was a man who had laid aside his feelings to allow his friend to be with Yuki and what’d Yuki done with that sacrifice and the trust both Hiro and Shuichi had placed in him to make Shu-chan happy? He called him names at every chance. He kicked him out of the flat every other day. Even as he made love to him and listened to and accepted Shu’s heartfelt declarations of love, Yuki had never once returned the sentiment. He couldn’t. To do so would be to..to…to do what Hiro had daringly just done. Laid himself open to the pain and the hurt that would surely flood in behind what fleeting happiness a relationship brought with it. Surely something would go wrong. Just like it had before. Surely if he let his guard down, memories would come flooding back. Dark memories. Memories of anger, hurt and worst of all, memories of murder. He finally had something precious in his life and he couldn’t hold it, he couldn’t feel it, he couldn’t make it happy all because of…of…SOME GODDAMNED MEMORIES.
Yuki was feeling a lot of things at that moment, but it was fear that gripped him the most. Fear that he was about to lose the one thing he loved on earth. The one thing that made him most happy. The one thing he had let slip through his fingers….
“NOOO!!!!”
Despite the jubilant cheering, the one word, long, loud and forceful was heard plainly over the noise. Everyone stopped and looked around at Eiri Yuki, romance novelist, babe extraordinaire, man on the edge.
“Shuichi…I…I…”
K tensed himself, ready to act.
“Shuichi, please…”
Hiro and Shuichi’s kiss broke and Shuichi blushed when he remembered that Yuki was still standing there, watching everything.
“Yuki, I…”
“Let’s go, Shu-chan.” Hiro didn’t want to lose the ground he’d fought so hard to win.
“Shuichi, please…don’t go.” The words came slowly, but they were deliberate.
Shuichi could see the despair in Yuki’s eyes and his heart went out to him.
“Shu-chan, come with me. I’ll be good to you, I swear.”
Shuichi turned and looked back into his friend’s eyes. Just inches away from his own and filled with a pleading that tore a gasp from his throat.
“Shuichi…I know things have been hard on you…I…I…” Yuki choked over the words.
“Shuichi,” Hiro turned Shu’s face gently back to him.
“Hiro, I…”
Before Shuichi could say another word, the stairwell door, burst backward violently, thrust away from the wall with explosive force.
The deliveryman who’d been behind it the entire time the song was playing, suddenly regained consciousness and found that instead of waking in his nice warm comfortable bed on his day off, he was sitting on a hard cold floor, pinned to the wall by a cold metal door and was bleeding his last from his surely broken nose. Heat and pain seared his face in half and he clutched his nose, pressing the broken bone and bloody tissue there in an involuntary reaction, causing even more volatile burst of pain. He howled with it and instinctively kicked forward, causing the door to slam backward in the other direction, catching both Yuki and K off guard. They were both thrown to the floor as people jumped and dove to get out of the way. Cameras, lights, wires and people were knocked over, thrown about and jostled in the ensuing melee.
Tatsuha rolled his way through the crowd, picked up his lover like a sack of potatoes and darted back to the elevators to get Ryuichi out of harm’s way.
Suguru abandoned his beloved keyboards and dove for cover behind one of the huge potted palms that lined the lobby.
In the commotion, Hiro was jostled hard to the side and in an effort to catch himself, he pulled upward sharply in the opposite direction, causing his guitar, which was still strapped to his front, to brutally clip Shuichi on the side of the head. Shuichi felt the world spin around him and saw the lights go dim.
Hiro, turning back to see what he’d hit with his guitar, yelled in alarm. Shuichi was tumbling from the stool.
He did the only thing he could do. He caught Shuichi in his arms, picked him up, stomped on the plug connecting him to one of the amps causing it to yank out. Kicking the wire aside, he sprinted with his man through the crowd, out the door and to the van still waiting outside. He strapped Shu gently in the back then dove into the passenger’s seat.
“Roll out!” he yelled.
The NG van peeled out of the lot and turned onto the main road on two squealing wheels, burning rubber all the way.
Yuki stood just in time to see Hiro do the dash with an unconscious Shuichi in his arms.
Fear turned to anger. Anger turned to rage. Rage turned into murderous calm.
Slowly, deliberately, Yuki walked through the mass chaos untouched by the turbulence that carried on around him. He had but a single goal. Get Shuichi Shindou back or kill someone trying.
He reached out to push open the lobby door when he felt a strong hand on his arm halting his progress.
K’s mellow voice sliced through the noise.
“Let’s talk.”
End Chapter 3.
Author’s Note:
The song used in this chapter is called “So Fine” by Mint Condition. I don’t own it any way shape or form.
Summary —Hiro lays his feelings out in the open as Plan B goes into effect. Yuki and Hiro have an emotional duel to win Shuichi’s affections.
If a pin had dropped at that moment, the deafening noise would have shattered every window in the lobby--it was just that quiet. Fearful of their lives but desperate to see how the soap opera would play out, everyone on the floor lifted their eyes to watch the spectacle as much as they dared without further endangering their lives by improving their chances of catching a bullet.
They watched as Hiro pulled a stunned Shuichi and his Hello Kitty limited special collectors edition wheelman luggage case to the center of the room. Hiro positioned Shuichi in front of him on a small stool that had been set up inside the semi ring the keyboards, drum machine and various other electronics had formed.
“Shuichi,” Hiro said quietly, “I have something to say to you and you, Yuki and everyone else in here is going to have to listen to it. This whole thing is my fault. This whole spectacle is my fault. I wanted to tell you such a long time ago but never found the courage and now that you’re…you’re with Yuki, I need to say it more than ever.”
Shuichi’s eyes were huge with confusion. “Hiro, I…” Hiro cut him off with a soft finger to the lips as he unbuttoned his trench coat and let it fall to the floor. Likewise, Ryu and Fujisaki who had appeared beside Hiro, flanking him, did the same. Shuichi gasped out loud at what he saw before him.
Hiro was wearing tight dark red leather pants and a simple, unadorned white silk shirt that, half unbuttoned, exposed the smooth expanse of lean muscle that was his chest. His eyes, highlighted with smoky dark glitter and his lips glistened softly with just a hint of blush pink gloss. His calm, pale face leaped out in startling contrast to the wild dark red tendrils of hair that framed it. Hiro was beautiful. There was no other word for it. While he didn’t possess the slinky animal-like sexuality that Yuki seemed to have in spades, he had something else. A quiet, assured grace, a firm, solid energy that was at once warming and strengthening. Shuichi had never seen his friend of many years, adventures, situations and conversations like he saw his friend at that very second. At that very second he didn’t see his friend at all. He saw Hiroshi Nakano, the man.
A small overwhelmed gasp escaped Shu’s parted lips as he was held, magnetized by Hiro’s eyes--held with such purpose and love, it evoked a feeling in Shuichi Yuki never had.
Suguru Fujisaki let his trench coat slip to the ground revealing simple dark blue leather pants and matching ruffled silk shirt which hung loose and sexily just above his low rider pants line. A small choker adorned his neck and his hair was swept back at the sides, leaving his long bangs to emphasize his huge dark eyes and delicate elfin features.
Like a fairy tale prince fresh from the pages of an exquisite book, Suguru, was often overlooked in the drama of his life, being Seguchi’s cousin and enduring the embittered battle between Shu and Yuki that often upstaged his talented genius that was at the core, the backbone of Bad Luck. Suguru’s young, quiet confidence held the commanding promise of greatness to come. He strode with ease to the keyboards.
Having already taken off his baseball cap, Ryuichi let his coat slide off and when it hit the floor a resounding gasp echoed through the room. Tight white lace pants with diamond shaped cut outs on the side of each leg left little to the imagination as they showed peek after heavenly peek of creamy soft skin. They hugged each crest and valley of Ryu’s lower body, showing off his perfection to its fullness. Tatsuha, who had finally managed to make it to the ground floor, stepped out of the elevator just in time to see his lover’s coat slide slowly down the length of his sinewy body, exposing to the world what he saw in his dreams every night.
Taut and graceful like a stalking cat, Ryuichi leaned backward a bit, a movement that allowed the light to play off the diamond studded belly chain that was hooked through a gold hoop extending out of his belly button. Above which sat the knot of the tied, black ruffled shirt complete with full flowing poet sleeves. Opened at the throat, the shirt revealed a single brilliantly sparkling flat backed, marquis cut diamond, centered by itself with no other jewelry of any kind, suspended in the hollow of his throat. Heavily outlined eyes valanced by long upward curling lashes were closed. His head hung down slightly causing errant strands of waving chestnut hair to flow softly over his angelic face. Blushing lips parting slightly, he raised his eyes slowly and penetrated Tatsuha with electric blue lightning from across the room, pinning the man where he stood. Another gasp sounded. Tatsuha’s sweet, goofy Ryu was gone. In his stead stood Ryuichi Sakuma, the silken voiced sex god and bloody hell, did he have his game face on!
Tatsuha’s breath caught in the back of his throat. There were no words to convey the power of that image of his love standing there circled by a prostrating audience as if they were paying homage to the celestial presence before them. This was an instance of time that would burn itself into his memory forever. For the rest of his life, when things were at their worst, Tatsuha would remember this moment, a smile would come to his lips and he would find the strength to go on.
Somewhere in the back, several cameramen recognizing a money shot when they saw it, risked life and limb by leaping to their cameras to get it all on video. Lights from the news reporter set ups snapped on suddenly and backlit the trio, framing them in a heavenly glow.
Yuki’s mouth fell open.
Before the “unveiling” K had moved deftly and quietly to stand at the stairwell door directly beside Yuki, who’s attention was solely on the drama that was unfurling before him. K, who’s eyes were hidden by his mirrored sunglasses, watched with shielded emotion while Hiro stood in front of the open mouthed Shuichi. He watched the tall youth, intent on his face, love in his eyes, graceful and sure being enveloped in the halo of camera lights behind him. Behind the glasses, his eyes never left Hiro, taking in the vision that he was, observing all that he had to offer. He pressed his lips together lightly. Hiro was…
Beside him, he felt Yuki move.
Without a word or even a serious movement, K extended one of the Eagles beneath his folded arms and lightly tapped Yuki in the side. He shook his head slightly and felt Yuki step back into place.
K smiled that curious half smile of his, never once taking his eyes off Hiro.
Back in the center of the room, Hiro backed away from Shuichi, refusing to release Shu from his gaze and grabbed his guitar, his Axe of Justice, from where it sat against a speaker beside Suguru’s bank of keyboards.
Strapping it on and placing a microphone headset like the ones Suguru and Ryuichi were wearing on his head, he took a deep breath. Could he do this?
Shuichi looked up at him and Hiro felt himself fall into the violet depths of his beautiful Shu’s eyes.
Yes, he could. He nodded and Suguru hit it.
Starting with an abrupt jazzy piano crescendo, Hiro followed Suguru with his guitar until they united on the same sweetly heightened note, lingered, then plunged back to earth to land in a slow, lazily seductive rhythm of synth, drums and piano. Wispy curls of misty fog lapped their way, seemingly in time with the music, throughout the small space that held Ryuichi, Suguru, Hiro and Shuichi. It began to rise as the music slowed for the dramatic opening lyrics, seemingly mimicking the ebb and tide of the notes being played.
Hiro closed his eyes.
Hiro: Oh!
Hiro’s guitar sang with all the emotion he felt, all the power at his command, all the love he wanted to give to Shuichi and all the love he wanted desperately in return. The music paused amid a shower of gentle chimes…
Hiro: Such a beautiful baby! The kind you find in a dream, and dreams are so real for me…
Suguru re-joined him, the lazy tempo sexily weaving its way through and around the lyrics sung by Hiro’s low, husky vocals.
Hiro: With eyes so warm and soothing…
They put me in a trance and I imagine us by the warm cozy fireplace…
The light shines on your face…
The smile you give me—higher and higher my heart starts to race…
Suguru: Soft…soft…
Hiro: I gotta say what I feel, ‘cuz boy you look so good to me!
All Together: So fine…baby!
So fine... it’s crazy!
So fine…baby!
So fine… it’s crazy!
Hiro: Can’t believe my eyes….
Ryuichi and Suguru: S o fine…
Hiro: Take me for a ride…
Ryuichi and Suguru: Fine…
*** ***
Hiro’s voice, while not the polished showpiece either Ryuichi or Shuichi wielded on stage, held its own with its assuredly mellow tone which conveyed the raw emotion his eyes held. He continued to entrance Shuichi with those eyes and never let him go…
*** ***
Hiro: Such a man of quality…
Your body’s so supreme…
When you dance you sway so elegantly…
Boy you simply dazzle…
Ryuichi and Suguru: Me!
Hiro: You put me in a trance…
And I imagine you and me just a kissing away….
Ryuichi and Suguru: Kissing away…yeah! mmmm…!
Suguru: Soft…
Hiro: My fingers in your hair…
Ryuichi: My fingers in your hair…
*** ***
Ryuichi’s smooth, velvet voice mimicked Hiro’s low groove, complimenting them with his own sweetly higher tones. His body swayed sinuously in time with the music beside Hiro, giving everyone a more than ample glimpse of his sensuously attired body as they sat on the floor watching.
*** ***
Hiro: Your embrace grows tighter and tighter…
Your touch makes me sing…
Ryuichi: Makes me sing…sing…mmmm!
Suguru: Soft…soft…
*** ***
Ryuichi (throwing his head back, closing his eyes and punctuating each and every ahh with an erotic roll of his body…): Ahh…ahhh…ahh…ahh…
*** ***
Hiro: I gotta sing this to you, ‘cuz boy you look so damn good to me!
Ryuichi: Ahh!
All together: So fine, baby…
So fine…it’s crazy…
So fine…baby…
So fine…it’s crazy…
So fine…so fine…
**** ***
Hiro dropped to his knees before Shuichi and wailed with longing and purpose on his guitar in a solo, causing wisps of fog to envelop him, twirl about him and slide over him, emphasizing his gyrations.
*** ***
Hiro: Just got to stop to look, ‘cuz you are…
All Together: So fine, baby…
So fine…it’s crazy (Hiro: You take me there!)
So fine…baby…(Hiro: So fine, super fine!)
So fine, it’s crazy…(Hiro: You are, you are, you are!)
So fine…so it’s crazy…
*** ***
Hiro stood up and stopped playing. He walked to stand directly in front of Shuichi, his love, and looked deep into his eyes. Suguru and Ryuichi continued to sing, the music’s tempo entrancing everyone who watched from the surrounding circle breathlessly…
*** ***
“Shuichi, let me tell you what love does for a real man. Love makes a real man want to shout from the rooftops that he’s in love and scream until the air rings with the name of his lover.”
“Love makes a real man want to be there for his lover, to protect him, to guide him, to warm him on cold days and on hot nights.”
Suguru (his soft voice punctuating Hiro’s strong declarations):
Your sweet tempting face…
Makes my heart race…
Ryuichi: Makes my heart race, baby…
“Love makes a real man proud to love and be loved in return. It makes him want to be seen in public with his love by his side, hand in hand.”
Suguru: Just kissing away…
Ryuichi: You make my heart race, oh!
Suguru: Your breath warm on my face…
*** ***
Shuichi’s breath came in shortened gasps. He was overwhelmed and well on his way to sensory overload.
*** ***
Suguru: Your sweet tempting face….
Makes my heart race…
“Love makes a real man want to see his love laugh, not cry, smile not frown, and sigh in ecstasy, not cry in pain.”
Ryuichi: I’ll be so good to you, yes I will, sweet baby!
“Love makes a real man go on an emotional high, not hide behind an impenetrable wall of cold.”
Suguru: Just kissing away…
Your breath warm on my face…
“Love makes a real man accept his lover for everything that he is, the good, the bad and the ugly and not call him names, demean him, humiliate him or kick him out every time something goes wrong.”
Yuki, transfixed by the whole show had been watching silently from the sidelines until that comment. Until then, he’d been glued to the spot he stood, not able to move, even without the not so subtle incentive K’s gun sticking in his side was giving him. With that comment, however, he snapped to attention and tensed to make his move.
K, who’d likewise been mesmerized by Hiro’s hypnotic performance, remained aware of the situation. Yuki was most vulnerable and dangerous right now. K observed him carefully.
Hiro, oblivious to the sideline drama continued on…
“Love makes a real man thank the gods every day that he has been so blessed.”
Suguru: Your sweet tempting face,
Makes my heart race…
“Holy, shit, Shuichi, love makes a real man, me, Hiro, your best friend put on leather pants and make up and declare in front of the gods, the universe and everyone that he loves you.”
Tears welled up in Shuichi’s eyes.
Suguru: Just kissing away…
Your breath warm on my face…
Ryuichi: You take me higher!
*** ***
Ryuichi hit the last word with such a long, spiraling crystal clear high note, the lobby walls reverberated with the passionate force behind the sound. Ryuichi looked directly at Tatsuha when he sang it. Tatsuha stared back for the eternal space of a second, every cell in his body resonating with the note, then, began to cry. His body showing what his heart was doing, Tatsuha shook all over as he experienced his lover’s voice breaking him down to tears.
*** ***
Suguru: Your sweet tempting face…
Makes my heart race…
Ryuichi: Makes my heart race, baby…
Hiro took a deep breath.
“I love you, Shu-chan. I want to be your friend, the arm that comforts you and your lover, the body that claims you. Come with me, Shu, let’s leave here. It’ll be us two and Bad Luck against the world. We’ll conquer it together.”
Suguru: Just kissing away…
Your breath warm on my face…
“We can have strawberry Pocky days and whipped cream nights.”
Ryuichi: Let me love you!”
“I stand before you, laying myself bare. I am offering you all this man has to give…My mind…” Hiro lightly kissed Shu’s left cheek.
Suguru: Your sweet tempting face…
“My body…” Hiro kissed his right cheek.
Makes my heart race…
“My soul…” Hiro kissed his forehead.
Ryuichi: You make my heart race, baby!
“My heart…” he kissed Shu’s nose.
Suguru: Just kissing away…
“My love…” Ever so lightly, he kissed Shu’s lips.
Suguru: Your breath warm on my face…
“I love you Shuichi Shindou.”
Ryuichi and Suguru: So fine, so fine, so…!
The song ended abruptly. The last unsung word was left lingering heavily in the air as the final notes faded in echo around the room. The silence that followed was one produced by the held breath of dozens of men, women and teenagers that had been moved to such a state, they’d forgotten they knew how to breathe. They’d forgotten themselves, the floor they were sitting on, the air around them, the world at large. The only thing that existed in that space and that time was Shuichi Shindou and Hiroshi Nakano.
Hiro kissed Shu, fully, deeply and longingly.
And Shuichi, as breathless and tearful as the audience…kissed back. Tentatively at first it took only a second to give himself over completely to Hiro’s embrace and accept the kiss fully, losing himself in it.
There was a full second of silence before the audience went absolutely mad. People leapt to their feet, yelling and screaming, whistling and clapping. Tears were wiped from dozens of eyes, hugs flowed freely and hands clasped all around.
K immediately braced himself for the eruption that was sure to come and come it did. Yuki exploded beside him. Filled with surging and conflicting emotions, Yuki found that he had been crying. Tears had left ragged streaks down his cheeks and speckled the collar of his shirt. He had just witnessed something that filled him with…with…what? He loved Shuichi. Of that much he was sure. He couldn’t tell him that of course…but…why not? Here was a man who had laid aside his feelings to allow his friend to be with Yuki and what’d Yuki done with that sacrifice and the trust both Hiro and Shuichi had placed in him to make Shu-chan happy? He called him names at every chance. He kicked him out of the flat every other day. Even as he made love to him and listened to and accepted Shu’s heartfelt declarations of love, Yuki had never once returned the sentiment. He couldn’t. To do so would be to..to…to do what Hiro had daringly just done. Laid himself open to the pain and the hurt that would surely flood in behind what fleeting happiness a relationship brought with it. Surely something would go wrong. Just like it had before. Surely if he let his guard down, memories would come flooding back. Dark memories. Memories of anger, hurt and worst of all, memories of murder. He finally had something precious in his life and he couldn’t hold it, he couldn’t feel it, he couldn’t make it happy all because of…of…SOME GODDAMNED MEMORIES.
Yuki was feeling a lot of things at that moment, but it was fear that gripped him the most. Fear that he was about to lose the one thing he loved on earth. The one thing that made him most happy. The one thing he had let slip through his fingers….
“NOOO!!!!”
Despite the jubilant cheering, the one word, long, loud and forceful was heard plainly over the noise. Everyone stopped and looked around at Eiri Yuki, romance novelist, babe extraordinaire, man on the edge.
“Shuichi…I…I…”
K tensed himself, ready to act.
“Shuichi, please…”
Hiro and Shuichi’s kiss broke and Shuichi blushed when he remembered that Yuki was still standing there, watching everything.
“Yuki, I…”
“Let’s go, Shu-chan.” Hiro didn’t want to lose the ground he’d fought so hard to win.
“Shuichi, please…don’t go.” The words came slowly, but they were deliberate.
Shuichi could see the despair in Yuki’s eyes and his heart went out to him.
“Shu-chan, come with me. I’ll be good to you, I swear.”
Shuichi turned and looked back into his friend’s eyes. Just inches away from his own and filled with a pleading that tore a gasp from his throat.
“Shuichi…I know things have been hard on you…I…I…” Yuki choked over the words.
“Shuichi,” Hiro turned Shu’s face gently back to him.
“Hiro, I…”
Before Shuichi could say another word, the stairwell door, burst backward violently, thrust away from the wall with explosive force.
The deliveryman who’d been behind it the entire time the song was playing, suddenly regained consciousness and found that instead of waking in his nice warm comfortable bed on his day off, he was sitting on a hard cold floor, pinned to the wall by a cold metal door and was bleeding his last from his surely broken nose. Heat and pain seared his face in half and he clutched his nose, pressing the broken bone and bloody tissue there in an involuntary reaction, causing even more volatile burst of pain. He howled with it and instinctively kicked forward, causing the door to slam backward in the other direction, catching both Yuki and K off guard. They were both thrown to the floor as people jumped and dove to get out of the way. Cameras, lights, wires and people were knocked over, thrown about and jostled in the ensuing melee.
Tatsuha rolled his way through the crowd, picked up his lover like a sack of potatoes and darted back to the elevators to get Ryuichi out of harm’s way.
Suguru abandoned his beloved keyboards and dove for cover behind one of the huge potted palms that lined the lobby.
In the commotion, Hiro was jostled hard to the side and in an effort to catch himself, he pulled upward sharply in the opposite direction, causing his guitar, which was still strapped to his front, to brutally clip Shuichi on the side of the head. Shuichi felt the world spin around him and saw the lights go dim.
Hiro, turning back to see what he’d hit with his guitar, yelled in alarm. Shuichi was tumbling from the stool.
He did the only thing he could do. He caught Shuichi in his arms, picked him up, stomped on the plug connecting him to one of the amps causing it to yank out. Kicking the wire aside, he sprinted with his man through the crowd, out the door and to the van still waiting outside. He strapped Shu gently in the back then dove into the passenger’s seat.
“Roll out!” he yelled.
The NG van peeled out of the lot and turned onto the main road on two squealing wheels, burning rubber all the way.
Yuki stood just in time to see Hiro do the dash with an unconscious Shuichi in his arms.
Fear turned to anger. Anger turned to rage. Rage turned into murderous calm.
Slowly, deliberately, Yuki walked through the mass chaos untouched by the turbulence that carried on around him. He had but a single goal. Get Shuichi Shindou back or kill someone trying.
He reached out to push open the lobby door when he felt a strong hand on his arm halting his progress.
K’s mellow voice sliced through the noise.
“Let’s talk.”
End Chapter 3.
Author’s Note:
The song used in this chapter is called “So Fine” by Mint Condition. I don’t own it any way shape or form.