Nothing Else Matters

Rating: R, for culmination of a slash relationship (i.e. two male characters getting it on).

Setting: A few months after the end of the Chojin Crown

Pairings: Kid Muscle/Kevin (sorry Warsman!), a little bit of Mars/Terry (sorry Jeager!)

Summary: After the Chojin Crown, Kid Muscle is plagued with dreams about a fellow chojin.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ultimate Muscle, Kinnikuman, or any of the characters included or mentioned in this fanfic. I simply enjoy watching them, and imagining them in kinky situations. Is that a crime? Also, I took the title 'Nothing else matters' from a song by Metallica that I love to bits. I'm going to use the song in a later chapter.

Author Notes: Sorry if I cause any confusion switching between the names 'Mantaro' and 'Kid Muscle'. I just think Mantaro is a nicer name than Kid Muscle, and so he might call himself by that name. Also, Kevin would most likely not refer to Kid by his proper name until he is instructed to...again, sorry for confusion!

And another sorry...sorry it's taking me so long to update! 'Tis easy to think about slash, but it's often hard to make it interesting while writing it!

Chapter 2 – Development

There was a long painful pause, during which an irritating radio jingle decided to make its presence known somewhere in the background of the café. For some reason, Mantaro's brain seemed not to be connected, and all he could do was stare, open-mouthed.

'Dammit, he said something to you. Get over it, and reply. You can do that, can't you? Why can't you do that? No wonder no one's ever loved you, if you can't get a single word out...'

"Fine!" he suddenly managed to stammer out. "I'm fine, thanks..."

Kevin paused to push away his mug of tea – which was empty – and fold his newspaper. "I...didn't ask you how you were. That was going to be my next enquiry, however..."

Mantaro gulped, and would have sworn loudly if he hadn't been in a public place.

"Oh, erm...I'm sorry. I'm not really on top of things today. Late night..." he explained feebly. "And you? How are you? How come you're still in Tokyo? I would have thought that you'd go back to England..." he trailed off, realising that he had asked more questions than he intended. The Brit didn't seem to mind, though.

"Why would I go back there now? There's nothing for me to do there, and ever since Warsman left..." he trailed off, and shook his head, staring out of the window quietly.

Mantaro's heart plummeted – Kevin seemed unwilling to speak to him. Perhaps it was only the subject matter. Perhaps it was painful for him to think of his former trainer. The Kinniku Prince searched his brain for a subject matter that would provoke a brighter response.

"K-Kevin? Can I ask you a question? You don't have to answer if you don't want to," he began timidly. Kevin looked at him with a look that could have been cautious, if Mantaro had been able to actually see it.

"That depends on what the question is, Kid Muscle..."

Mantaro faltered for a moment under the pressure of those glowing eyes.

"Okay, well it's a stupid question really, but it's been bugging me for a while, and I'm sure a load of other people would want to know too. It's...how do you manage to eat, and yet still keep your mask on?"

He inwardly flinched at the painful silence that followed, and expected that the knight wouldn't answer him. But to his utter surprise, Kevin laughed, and Mantaro felt his insides squirm with delight.

"No one's ever asked me that before, Kid. You really want to know?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you see, when it's something small like popcorn, I can usually get by if I smuggle it up through the space near my chin, or down through the space near my eyes. If I do it very subtly, no one catches me doing it. I have to eat large meals in private though, so that I can take my mask off without anybody seeing," he answered, laughter playing in his golden eyes.

"But what's so bad about you taking off your mask, Kevin? You know about mine – you proved that in our match when you practically ripped it off my face..."

The young knight seemed to consider his answer a long time, but was saved from looking antisocial by the young waitress who had returned with Mantaro's tea and cake. Rather thirsty by this point, he grabbed the mug of steaming liquid and gulped down a copious amount, spluttering at the heat and burning his tongue. Again, the little of Kevin Mask's expression that he could see danced with amusement.

"You seem to be a tea virgin, Kid..."

Mantaro coughed, suspicious now that the tea had found it's way into his lungs.

"A whatnow?"

"A tea virgin. Didn't you realise that it was going to be hot?"

Mantaro blushed. "I guess not...I'm sorry..."

Kevin put his newspaper down on the table and pushed his chair back, standing up.

"Don't apologise."

He stalked over to the counter where the skimpy young waitress was smiling in a way that she must have thought was attractive. She tapped something into a cash machine with her highly manicured fingernail, and Kevin paid for his refreshments. The till made a 'ping' noise, and the waitress bade him goodbye in what Mantaro noticed to be a rather wistful voice.

"Are you going now?" he asked desperately, as Kevin passed him, collecting his long coat.

"Yes," was the short answer as the longhaired wrestler moved towards the door, opened it and stepped out into the street.

The sudden draught from outside caused Mantaro's brain to jump into action. Reaching into his pocket, he drew out a considerable amount of money, slammed it down on the table, jumped up, tripped over the chair, landed painfully on the floor, scrambled up towards the door, wrenched the handle and skidded to a halt on the pavement outside. The tall form of Kevin Mask turned around and stared at him.

"What are you doing? Are you following me now? Did you pay for your food? Did you even finish it?"

Mantaro gasped for breath. "I'd like to answer all your questions, but I can't remember what they all were."

Kevin sighed and turned away.

"Well, I'll see you another time..."

"No!" Mantaro grabbed his arm. "Look, why don't we hang out today? I doubt you've got anywhere better to go, anything better to do, and anyone better to do it with." The last comment had been hopeful, of course, because for all he knew, Kevin could be off to meet with a friend, or something worse. Like a lover.

Kevin didn't turn around, but said, "And why would you want to hang around with me?"

Mantaro loosened his grip on the other man's arm. "Because...because you seem lonely. You're on your own."

Immediately, he realised that he'd said something wrong, because Kevin whipped round and hit Mantaro's hand away.

"I'm fine on my own. Why would I be lonely? The whole of the wrestling fandom community loves me. You should see the sites dedicated to me! They even write fanfiction. I don't need you for company, Kid. I don't need anybody."

The words were harsh and arrogant, but Kevin's tone was hollow, and Mantaro didn't believe a word.

"How can you say that? No one likes to be on their own for too long! Everyone needs some kind of company, at least every once in a while! I don't believe you. And deep down, I don't think you even believe yourself. Look around you – there must be thousands of people who'd die for the chance to be with the 'great Kevin Mask', but how many of them would want to spend time with the real you? I'm offering you the chance to drop the façade, because I know that, inside, you're not so cold. Drop the lone wolf frontier for just a little while. Just for today...and if you won't, perhaps you're even more alone that I thought..."

He swallowed. He doubted that he'd ever shouted at someone so much, and flinched when Kevin put his hands in his coat pockets.

'You idiot. Now what's he going to think of you? That you're a silly little whiny prince that acts like a child and throws tantrums at people when they won't spend time with him? Of course he'll think that. That's what you are.'

"I...I'm sorry, Kevin. That wasn't right of me to say that. I don't know anything about you, and I'm being rude. We don't have to do anything at all..." he hung his head, breaking down inwardly.

"You know, Kid, that has to have been the most intelligent thing that you've ever said. I honestly don't see why you would want to spend time with me? I've never been particularly friendly towards you..."

Mantaro brightened up immediately, and smiled.

"It doesn't matter. Here's a chance for us to catch up. I can be far less annoying than I usually am around people, and we don't have to hang out for too long, you know. What do you want to do?"

Kevin shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked around the street, seemingly not caring that a lot of people were beginning to stare at the two World Class Chojins in the middle of the pavement.

"I don't mind, Kid Muscle. I've never really...'hung out' before; I don't know what you're meant to do..." he trailed off as mischief crept into Mantaro's face. "What are you smiling like that for?"

Mantaro folded his arms and grinned.

"You'll see. I know a very good place..."

To be continued...

Yay! That's chapter two up! Finally...it's been hanging over my head the whole of this half term. Sorry that it's short. The next chapter will be longer...and better! Hopefully the end of it has provoked a few questions. Like, 'where's Mantaro going to take Kevin?' or something. Maybe that's just my wishful thinking.

Thank you to all my reviewers so far. It's lovely people like you that spur me on when I don't feel creative!