'Allo 'allo

I kinda stopped writing in the RW/YST universe because I was uninspired. After looking at this story again though when it was originally posted, I noticed that it needed to be revamped. BADLY. So here it is, being fixed in its glory of AU

Disclaimer: I don't own RW/YST

Shin didn't know why he was here. He hated going to music venues, or at least it was more accurate to say that he hated going to the ones that Touma and Ryo always dragged him to.

So why was he sitting by himself at a pub table, rum and coke sitting on the table?

Because Ryo and Touma had said that he didn't get out enough. That he spent all his weekends working at his job at the aquarium, or would just…how did Touma say it? "Be still like vegetables" or "lay like broccoli" somewhere in the apartment the three shared. And Shin hated those phrases very much.

So here he was, on a recommendation/to prove his roomies wrong. Right now, he was waiting for the band to come out. The opening act had stunk, and it seemed to Shin that more people were showing up in the small bar-turned-venue after the opening act left.

Maybe this band is actually good, thought Shin, sipping the rum and coke he had in his hand, watching as the other tables filled up.

Suddenly, a voice filled the bar. "And now, the Baroque Bar would like to introduce 'The Revolutionary Samurai'!"

Shin gazed up to the stage and watched as various band members took places at different instruments that were already set up on stage. But what caught Shin's full attention was the one walking to the microphone.

The person going to the mic quickly picked up an acoustic guitar that sat in a stand onstage, and then proceeded to the microphone. "How's everybody doing tonight?" the person asked the crowd. They, in turn, cheered loudly. Shin looked at the crowd, then to the band onstage.

"Well, sounds like we got ourselves a full house," the leader of the band said, taking the guitar and sliding it on so the instrument could be played. "So let's get started, shall we?"

For however long the band played, Shin could not take his eyes off the singer. The singing was just…well, something like that of a siren. You get pulled in and don't want to get out. The guitar was a different story. Shin was mesmerized at the singer's guitar playing. He himself had tried several stringed instruments and had found them incredibly hard to play. At least, his fingers weren't fast enough to get to the right chords, so he'd given up each time.

Suddenly, the music stopped. Shin came out of his daydreaming and realized the band had finished a song. Actually, they'd done several without him noticing because he had been so hypnotized.

The singer took a drink from a cup that sat on a stool close by, the bass player doing the same. When the singer finished, the cup was put back down and looked up at the audience. "You guys have been an awesome crowd," the band leader said. "And if there are any new faces out there, I think we should introduce ourselves."

Shin's breath stuck in his chest as most of the crowd cheered. He wasn't sure why, perhaps it was because he had been anticipating something like this. Learning the singer's name…

"Over on drums is our good friend Taki."

The drummer waved, drumsticks in his hands

"On piano and other smaller things is Kiya."

The pianist waved as well, smiling.

"Our bass player is probably the best one you'll ever meet, Seji."

Seji played a quick solo on his guitar.

"And I, lead singer, acoustic and sometimes electric guitar player, am Shu." He played a few chords on his acoustic, smiling.

Shin just stared. Shu…so that's his name. He noticed then that the lead singer was looking his way. Shin started freaking out. Can he see me? It's probably too bright onstage for him to see me, but still…

Shin noticed that the lead singer, which he now knew as Shu, was turning to the other members of the band, as if he was saying something to them. Then he turned back to face the audience, a big grin on his face.

"Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end," Shu said. The crowd 'awwed' when he said this and one woman in the back (Shin guessed that she was close behind him somewhere because she was LOUD) yelled, "I LOVE YOU SHU!"

"Thanks for the love, but I'm sure your boyfriend doesn't appreciate it," Shu answered. "Anyway, this is our last song for the night since we've been playing for almost two hours."

TWO HOURS? I spaced out for that long? Shin's thoughts exploded.

"It's a new song called 'Daydream'", the singer simply said, before the band started up.

I hear the pounding footsteps on the stage,
I look around to wonder 'how did his happen?'
A place to make a song come to life,
My place in which dreams could come true as I take that step
My world caved in on me, as the teacher woke me from my daydream

Time spent away, daydreaming,
Sometimes we all spend time awaaaay
Daydreaming, of our life dreams,
Only to come out and see,
To cry when we see that it is only a daydream

Treading on the path alone, trying to make this dream come true,
With no one to tell me daydreams can't come true,
To make them come true, one must only believe that the daydream will appear,
I can only hope that people everywhere dream big...

As Shin listened to the song, he felt...moved. He had no words to describe how he felt. Shin could relate to it very well. Who else out there waited on their daydreams?

But then, the song finished.

"You guys have been an awesome crowd, but we're gonna take off now. Good night!" He waved and walked offstage with the other band members, the audience cheering loudly.

Shin watched as they walked off. He wished that he could somehow talk to the lead singer, he seemed like a nice guy…and he was kind of cute.

The young man felt his face grow hot. Knowing he was blushing, he gulped what was left of his now watered-down rum and coke. Shin had come to terms with the fact that he wasn't into girls years ago, but it still felt weird when he blushed in public or when Touma and Ryo were teasing him.

As the crowd began to pile out, Shin sat there, wondering what to do. He didn't really want to go home just yet, since it was only ten and he knew his roommates were most likely not at the apartment either.

So after the crowd was gone and only a few people remained, Shin walked over to the bar and took a seat at one of the stools.

The bartender, an older, longhaired man with an eye patch came over. "What'll it be?" he asked.

"Just give me a beer," Shin answered.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Shin looked up and saw that it was the band's singer, Shu, the very man he had wanted to meet.

"Not at all," Shin answered.

Shu smiled and sat down next to him, looking to the bartender. "Hey Rajura, can I have a beer too?" the singer asked.

Rajura reached under the bar and brought up two bottles of beer. He popped the caps off of both bottles, placed them on napkins, and then slid the bottles to the two men at the bar. "There, that should do it," he said. "Now, I'm going to go tend to other customers. Can you two be good?"

"Don't worry Rajura, we'll be fine," Shu answered, taking a sip of his beer. As Rajura left, Shin had to ask. "Why did he say that?"

"Because sometimes when I get a drink after the show, some fan boy or fan girl will harass me, or they'll start fights that I don't know why they wanted to start in the first place and I gotta finish 'em," Shu told him. Then he realized something. "Oh, I'm sorry." He turned to face Shin. "I'm Shu."

"I'm Shin," he managed to say, not quite sure if this was real or not. He almost pinched himself, but decided against it.

"So, how did you like the show?" Shu asked. "I gotta admit, I messed up a few times with the chords on one or two songs-"

"Actually, this was my first time seeing you and the band," Shin confessed, looking at his beer, rolling the bottle a little in his hand. "I'd never been to this place until tonight, when a friend of mine recommended it to me."

He looked back up at Shu to see his face with that 'deer caught in the headlights'. But then he smiled. "Well, it's always nice to make a new friend," he said. "But I gotta ask you two things; one, what made you come here? And two, did you like the show?"

As Shu took a drink, Shin thought of a way to answer the first question. "Well, I guess it's because of several things," he said. "My roommates have dragged me to all these awful heavy metal and rock venues, and I can't stand it when they do."

"I tried singing heavy metal songs once," Shu said thoughtfully. "Completely shredded my vocal cords by the next day. 'Course, me and Seji were only 15 at the time." He stared at Shin for a second before asking, "How could you stand half the music we played if you hate rock music?"

"I didn't say that!" Shin exclaimed. "I do actually like some rock, but the music venues that I've been forced into going to were those punk rock and heavy metal ones that were more like moshpits than bars or whatever."

Shu looked grim. "Ya, I've tried to perform at places that were like that," he said. "My band was an opening act at a place called 'The House of Funk' which is usually a nightclub, but they converted it that one time so that Diamond Spike could play there."

"Oh my God," Shin said, putting his forehead in one of his hands, laughing. He was laughing so hard that beer nearly shot out of his nose from the drink he had just taken.

"What? What's so funny?" Shu asked.

Shin managed to come out of his giggle fit long enough to answer. "Diamond Spike is one of my roommate's favorite bands," he said. "His name is Touma. He even thought of being a roadie for them for awhile, but in the end he decided against it."

"A roadie for them eh?" Shu asked inquisitively. "So what made him want to do that? Or for that matter, why'd he not be one?"

"Well, he liked them that much is the short answer," Shin told him. "But he had decided that his dream of becoming a professor was much more important, so he continued his education fulltime."

"Well, whatever works," said Shu, taking a drink of his beer.

And for a long time, they just sat there at the bar, getting to know one another.

Sunlight poured into the room.

Oh man, what happened? Shin thought, opening his eyes a slit. My head hurts like a son of a-

Suddenly, he realized he wasn't in his own bed at the apartment. Shin was in someone else's bed, in only his boxers.

He opened his eyes all the way, sat up, and looked around. The room was fairly clean, though small. A medium-sized window was behind the bed, letting whatever sun could get inside. There was a nightstand next to him that had a glass of water and some aspirin on it.

Shin rubbed his eyes, picking up the water and aspirin. Well, wherever I am, the person was thoughtful at least, he mused as he popped the medicine into his mouth and gulped down the water.

Deciding he should probably find out where he was, Shin got out of bed and walked over to the door that would lead out of the room. Soon he would see what – or more like whom – was on the other side of it, hoping he hadn't made a huge mistake. He turned the knob and opened the door fully.

"Well, good morning sunshine."

Shin looked over to what looked like a small kitchen/dining area to see Shu, the singer from the night before. It looked like he was cooking breakfast. "How do you feel?" he asked.

Shin just gawked at what he was seeing, before he answered. "I've got the biggest headache known to man." He took a seat at the small table in the kitchen area. "How the heck did I end up here?"

"Don't remember anything?"

"I remember us talking, but I don't remember much other than that…"

Shu chuckled a bit, putting down the spatula he had been using to make pancakes. "Well, you're right, we had been talking," he said. "But around the sixth beer you ordered, you were wasted. Out of the stuff we'd been talking about, I didn't know anyplace that you said you lived, so I just brought you back here."

"...the wasted part sounds about right,"Shin said. "If I drink beer, I get drunk pretty fast. Anything else though, and I can drink anyone under the table...what happened to my clothes?"

"Well…" Shu paused in mid-placing of pancakes on a plate. "You kinda started to get sick, and some of it got on your clothes. So, I managed to get them off and threw 'em in the wash. I think they're still in the dryer."

Shin sighed. "Sorry about that," he said. "I don't usually drink like that and whatnot."

A plate of pancakes was placed in front of him. "Don't worry about it," Shu said. "After you're done eating, I'll see if your clothes are dry."

Shin smiled. "Thank you," he said, taking a bite of one of the pancakes. "Hey, these are great."

Shu grinned back. "Thanks."

Shin walked happily to his apartment door. He and Shu had spent the day talking some more, but this time, no beer or alcohol was involved.

He slid his key into the keyhole and opened the door, not expecting anyone to be home-

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

The young man winced. "Geez, want to turn down the volume a little?" he asked.

Touma just glared at him, while Ryo continued. "You've been gone all night and just about all day!" he exclaimed. "Touma and I checked all the hospitals after we found out you hadn't come home this morning! Why didn't you give us a call?"

Shin sighed, tossing his keys onto a small table nearby. "Honestly, I didn't think about it," he answered, facing his roommates. "Last night, I met someone, we got to talking, and I got drunk. He took me back to his place and I slept it off. He was even nice enough to wash my clothes because they got...messy."

Touma and Ryo just stared for a few seconds. "It never occurred to you that he might've done something?" Touma asked.

Shin just raised an eyebrow at that.

"Alright fine," Touma said, shrugging. "You would know if he had."

"But still," Ryo interjected. "If you're gonna be out all night, a call would be nice."

Shin sighed, but smiled. "Alright, I'll remember next time." He walked over to the door that lead to his own room-

"So, who's this guy you met anyway?"