Chapter One:

Distractions

It had happened one evening about two weeks ago. I had stopped by Yuki's place to pick Shuichi up for this get together I had all planned. I wanted to take him and Ayaka to a restaurant for the night. Shuichi, being the dense friend that he is at times, didn't see anything fishy with this invitation. This had worked to my advantage because this whole party-thing I had arranged for the three of us was set up just so that I could announce to Shuichi that Ayaka and I were going to get married. I wanted my best friend to be the first one to know the news.

I parked my motorcycle outside Yuki's apartment and walked around to the side of the building. As I drew nearer to the front door, I became aware of loud music blaring inside their house. With a bewildered look played upon my face, I lifted my finger to push the doorbell. The music had ceased almost immediately, once the doorbell sounded. I stood on the doorstep and heard a loud shout of, "Fuck! Hold on!" It was obviously Yuki's voice.

Within a minute the door was yanked open. The light flooded out onto the doorstep and I had to blink back from the brightness of it. Once I could see, my eyes were met with a pair of dark hazel ones. Black hair fell into those eyes, and a smirk played along the boy's lips. It was then that I noticed the rest of him—or rather, the rest of him that wasn't covered with a small towel that he held firmly around his waist. Ok, so maybe it wasn't Yuki.

He spoke first, a smile spreading widely across his face as he did so. "Oh. Hey there, girlfriend." He then leaned against the door that he held open, and looked me up and down slowly. I looked in the other direction, avoiding his gaze. Then I could almost sense the disappointment in his voice when he noticed I wasn't looking at him, and so he asked, "Want to come in?"

I walked into the house, lightly pushing him out of the way. He closed the door behind me as my eyes searched the room for Shuichi. I didn't see him anywhere. Nor Yuki. I turned around and faced the only one that was there and asked, "Where's Shuichi?"

"He and my brother went grocery shopping," the black haired boy shrugged. "They should be back in a few minutes or so," he told me as he sat down on the couch. I sighed and sat down next to him—making sure not to sit too closely. He eyed the distance between us and scooted closer on the couch towards me, whispering, "You seem frightened by me, girlfriend."

I backed farther away from him, glaring as I looked him in the eyes. "We've already been through this, Tatsuha. I'm not a girl." I moved to the edge of the couch, getting ready to kick the guy if he got any closer. With emphasis, I added, "And, even if I was, I wouldn't be your girlfriend. I'd choose another guy over you any day."

Tatsuha smirked as he looked at me. He then reached over to the coffee table and picked up a cigarette. Lighting it, he chuckled, saying, "It was a joke, Hiro. You're just too fun to play with." Lightly sucking on the tip of the cigarette, he then released a cloud of smoke, "And we all know if you had to choose a guy, it'd be Shuichi. Too bad my brother got to him, huh?"

I rolled my eyes, looking away from him. Even though I had feelings for Shuichi when I was in high school, those feelings were gone once Shuichi was with Yuki. Shuichi was merely just a friend, and Ayaka was the one in my life now. Ayaka was the one whom I had feelings for..whom I loved. I decided to ignore Tatsuha's last statement and instead change the subject, "What were you doing before I rang the doorbell?" I looked over at him, eyeing his towel with a raised eyebrow.

It was Tatsuha's turn to look away, but instead of focusing his attention at anything but me, he cocked his head to the side and motioned in the direction of Yuki's bathroom. My brow furrowed in confusion and Tatsuha smiled knowingly. "Well," he stated, "We could go with two theories. The first of which was that I was just taking a shower." Tatsuha then stretched along the couch, and lifted his arms in the air. This caused his towel to slip further down his stomach, revealing a little bit of hair that eventually led to his..well, that. My eyes widened and I quickly looked up to his face, instead of down at his crotch where the towel was barely clinging for dear life. He let out a sort of groaning sound, bringing his hands back to the towel, and he said in a nonchalant voice, "Or we could go with the theory that I was masturbating to Ryuichi's concert live. It would explain why the music was loud. But the shower theory would explain why I'm only in a towel."

Just when I was about to tell him off, Tatsuha smiled, bringing his finger to my lips to shush me. I blinked in bewilderment and he chuckled once more. "I'll give you a hint," He whispered, inching dangerously close to me once more, "My hair..it's not wet."

On an impulse, my eyes wandered to his hair, and noticed that he was telling the truth. And it was when I looked him back in the eyes that something had changed. This feeling in the pit of my stomach started to form. At first, I believed it to have been disgust for at finding Tatsuha in such a position. But then it transformed to annoyance..and dislike. His taunting and teasing..it annoyed the fuck out of me. But even though he annoyed me, I had to ask myself why I was letting him get to me in the first place. Even though I tried to let him not bother me, he eventually did. And, I couldn't form a reasonable explanation for this behavior. And I think that's what the worst thing about that feeling was.

Tatsuha must have felt a difference as well, for when he looked at me once more, it seemed like his smirk reached new heights. He knew that, for some reason, he had this hold over me, that he had this power. The look in his eyes upon this recognition not only frightened me..but, I somehow felt flustered as well. It was as if I couldn't control my own body's reaction, because I could feel the heat rise up to my cheeks as Tatsuha slid that much more close to me on the couch.

There was no thinking. It was just doing. My eyes held his because I was afraid to blink, in case I missed something. The finger that he had used to quiet me was now running slowly along my bottom lip. I felt my breath catch in my chest. He moved even closer, his eyes slowly shutting as his nose brushed against my own. I could feel his breath along my face..his lips just inches from my own.

Then, I heard the sound of keys dangling outside the front door of Yuki's apartment. In the blink of an eye, Tatsuha flew towards the other end of the couch. I sat up straight, adjusted my clothes, and looked in the other direction. I tried to suppress the blush upon my cheeks, yet I don't think it worked. I couldn't look at Tatsuha either; I don't think I even wanted to, actually.

Shuichi came in the house seconds later, holding two brown paper bags. He smiled excitedly once he saw that I was there. I tried to smile back, hoping that my face didn't reveal anything. (What was there to reveal anyway?) But, Shuichi didn't seem to notice anything. Instead, he placed the bags atop of the kitchen counters and came over to give me a hug. Yuki walked in the room and saw us in an embrace and merely rolled his eyes, walking into his office and shutting the door behind him.

"So, where are we going?" Shuichi beamed up at me, and I couldn't help but return the smile. He sat between Tatsuha and me, bouncing slightly on the couch. It was as if Shuichi didn't even notice that Tatsuha was only wearing a towel. The scene seemed almost..normal for him.

I shrugged that thought off, and turned toward my friend. "Well, I was kind of thinking of taking you and Ayaka to a restaurant. If that's ok with you." Once I said that, I noticed two things. First, that Shuichi's eyes danced in delight. And second, that Tatsuha stiffened next to him. His whole body went frigid, and I knew it must have resulted from what I said.

I wanted to wonder what Tatsuha was thinking about, but my thoughts were brought to Shuichi, who playfully slapped my arm asking, "But why don't we invite Yuki along? That way it can be sort of like a double date."

Suddenly Shuichi wasn't the dense friend that I thought he was. I had to make up a lie right on the spot. "Well..um. I kind of figured that Yuki would be busy with work. I didn't want to disturb his work schedule and you know how angry he gets when he's interrupted."

Shuichi nodded, and stood up. "That makes sense." He smiled, grabbing his jacket that was on the coffee table. As he was slipping his arms through the sleeves, Tatsuha stood up as well. I watched him walk to the kitchen and grab a beer out of the fridge. He must have felt my eyes on him, because once he turned around, he let his towel slip again. I quickly averted my eyes back to my friend. Uncontrollably, however, my face had turned a slight pink. I wanted to curse Tatsuha for playing this stupid joke on me..but, I couldn't do so with Shuichi in the room. "So, when are we leaving?" Shuichi asked me, bringing my attention back to him.

"Oh. Now." I quickly stood up, grabbing Shuichi by the arm. "Ayaka's waiting for us at the restaurant. I can't believe I forgot about that." I felt horrible. I knew we must have been late. I'm sure if Shuichi was at the apartment when I arrived, we might have made it in time. I quickened my steps with my friend, and we made it outside. We hopped onto my motorcycle, and in a matter of seconds we were speeding down the road to the restaurant. My mind was whirling around one thing: Ayaka. How would she take it that I was late?

And, more importantly, how could I have forgotten that she had been waiting for me?

In my mind I saw a pair of lips smirking down at me, hidden beneath a tuft of black hair. Oh yes. Him. It was his fault for distracting me. It was also his fault that I couldn't get the picture of him in a towel out of my mind…

Damn brat.

When Shuichi and I made it to the restaurant, Ayaka was sitting at a table. She was stirring her drink with a straw, and I could sense the anger building up inside of her while we made our way towards her. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and it made her look even more furious than she probably was. When her eyes looked up to meet mine, a wave of guilt crashed over me, drowning me for a moment. I couldn't speak; I was afraid to.

Shuichi spoke for me. He smiled pleasantly at her and said, "I'm sorry, Ayaka. Yuki and I went grocery shopping and it took longer than we expected."

Ayaka turned her cold eyes from mine to look at Shuichi. Surprisingly, she smiled at him. "Oh. How are Yuki and you doing, by the way?" They made small chitchat. I watched Ayaka's smile; it was fake. It was the kind of smile that Tohma presented; the kind of smile that someone wore when they really wanted you to fuck off. For the moment, I was thankful for this smile. It prolonged the moment for when Ayaka's true feelings would show. I just hoped that she wouldn't get angry in front of me with Shuichi there.

The evening dragged on. A waiter came and gave us our food. Shuichi was the one mainly talking. He told Ayaka of the upcoming album that Bad Luck was going to produce, and how we might be traveling out of the country for our next tour. Of course, I told Ayaka all of this about a week ago. But somehow, she didn't stop Shuichi with an, "I already know about this. Hiro told me." I guess she just wanted the conversation to keep going, especially since I couldn't think of anything to say.

When we were almost finished with dinner, Ayaka turned to me. I tried to look calm and collected, and she uttered softly to me, "I don't know where you've been tonight, but we need to announce this thing to Shuichi. Wasn't that the whole point of this evening?" I nodded to her, and turned towards my friend.

Shuichi was fumbling with the stem of a cherry with his chopsticks. I patted my hand on his arm, and he looked at me. "Um. Shuichi, there's something that Ayaka and I wanted to tell you."

He cocked his head to one side, and looked between both of us. "Oh?" Shuichi dropped the cherry to his plate and waited for what I was going to say next.

"Well," I began, gulping for a moment. "Ayaka and I have been seeing each other for a few months now. And..well. We're engaged." I watched my friend's eyes widen in surprise, and I quickly added, "I wanted you to be the first one to know, since you're my best friend."

Shuichi's face changed from surprise, to delight. He smiled happily, clapping his hands. "That's great, Hiro!" He leaned over to hug me, and I returned the embrace. "I'm so happy that you found someone."

"I am too," I replied, looking over at Ayaka. She looked in the other direction, and took a sip of her drink.

~o~

After we had dropped Shuichi off at Yuki's apartment, I offered to drop Ayaka off. She was staying just outside Tokyo with an aunt of hers, and wasn't very far away. Ayaka didn't say anything to me, and merely sat down on my motorcycle. I started the bike, and drove off. We didn't say anything for quite some time, and I tried to pretend that this was perfectly normal.

However, once we had stopped at an intersection, Ayaka decided to speak. "And..just what exactly were you doing that caused you to be twenty minutes late to meet me?"

I sighed in agitation, "Nothing. I was waiting for Shuichi to get back from grocery shopping."

Her arms tightened around my waist once we proceeded through the intersection. She spoke louder, because of the air that was rushing past us. "And, why haven't you come to see me yet? I've been in town for three days now. I'd have expected you to have stopped by now."

I sighed once more, yelling over the traffic, "I have told you. Sometimes I don't have enough time to visit. It takes a lot of time and energy to put an album together, you know." I turned left onto her aunt's street and parked along the curb in front of her house.

Ayaka got off the bike, looking me in the eyes. She said bitterly to me, "I'm not stupid, Hiro. I know this. I just hope that when we're married you'll see me more often than your band mates."

I was going to reply to her, but she quickly turned away and walked up to her aunt's house. I said to her retreating back, "I'll call you later tomorrow. Maybe I'll be able to visit you then." She didn't say anything back to me, and disappeared into the house.

~o~

Tucked away underneath my covers, I fell into a light sleep that night. However, the next thing I knew was that a light had poured over my bed, and I cracked my eyes open. There, standing in the doorway of my bathroom, was the figure of a guy. I blinked, adjusting my eyes to the brightness.

The figure focused into Tatsuha. He stood there, towel wrapped right in place. It was as if I couldn't think properly, because I didn't find the sight of him in my bathroom all too strange. He smiled as he saw me peering over at him, and he walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Now he was in my room. Without the light, the room dimmed. I could still make out Tatsuha, due to the moonlight peaking through the curtains of my window, though. He walked over to the side of my bed, looking down at me. I looked right back up at him, rolling over slightly to allow him some space on my bed. He smiled warmly at me..almost..sweetly.

I loved that smile on his face. It affected me in such a way that I felt if I could keep this man happy, I'd be happy for the rest of my existence. My eyes then traveled over his body…noticing the dent near his throat, the toned chest. His stomach..where, even lower, his hand held the towel in place.

Somehow, uncontrollably, I wanted to see all of this man. I reached out, wrapping my arms around his small waist. His eyes danced with my own, as I pulled him onto my bed with me. He chuckled that familiar chuckle, and I chuckled right back.

I began to get greedy. It was as if holding this man wasn't enough for me. I wanted more. And, judging by the way Tatsuha didn't refuse me, I knew he must have wanted more as well.

My hands slid down his bare back, running further down to his ass. My fingers bunched up the fabric of the towel playfully. I heard his breath hitch in his throat…I felt his heart beating against my own. With one quick yank, the towel was gone.

I couldn't stop. I didn't want to. Tatsuha didn't want me to. I flipped him onto his back hurriedly, and began to kiss him. Biting, licking, nipping. His hands drove into my hair, clutching tightly. It drove me mad with desire. He urged my head to go further down his body, and I did.

He tasted sweet and salty, bitter and sour. He was so delicious that I never wanted to stop running my tongue all over him. Judging by the moans that escaped the man's lips, he never wanted me to stop either.

I slipped my tongue further down his stomach, sliding along one of his inner thighs. This drove Tatsuha nuts. He wrapped his legs urgently around my back, groaning. His waist arched off my bed, and I took the moment to wrap one of my arms around his waist. With my arm there, I was able to hold him into place, to keep him steady even though his body was shaking uncontrollably with yearning.

He couldn't take it anymore. Tatsuha grasped at my hair roughly, "Oh God, Hiro," he gasped out, "I want you."

This time, I was the one who smirked at him. This time, I was the one who had control over him. I looked smugly up at him from between his legs and whispered, "Say please."

He gazed at me for a moment, somewhat in disbelief. My smirk grew. I decided at this moment that I would make him say it. At that second, I moved one of my hands slowly down his stomach. Once I reached his crotch, I decided to slide a finger teasingly along his length. Tatsuha gasped, shuddering underneath my touch. I did it again, rubbing my finger roughly along his tip.

"Oh f-fuck! P-Please!" He moaned out, his body bouncing off the bed in desire. I noticed with a thrill that the bed made a squeaking sound once he did that. Chuckling, I drew my face closer in between Tatsuha's legs.

And, before I knew it, I gasped, waking up in my own sweat. I looked down and noticed with a groan that I had an erection. I sighed and lay back down on my bed. I closed my eyes, placing my hand over them.

The dream was so vivid. It seemed so real. But, what shocked me more than anything was that I was the one chasing Tatsuha. Not the other way around. I was the one kissing him..and..other things. I sighed, trying to clear my mind. It was just a dream. It didn't mean anything.

I felt myself throbbing with desire. I groaned again, and got out of bed. I went into my bathroom and took a cold shower. Yet, once I returned to my bed, I couldn't get back to sleep.

And, somehow I knew, with the lack of sleep, the next day was going to be very long. I didn't know that I would be so right.