Disclaimer: I think it's obvious that I don't own Gravitation. I'm borrowing characters from Maki Murakami. My stories are for fun, not profit.

I appreciate all criticism, so please read, enjoy, and review. To those who do review: THANK YOU!!

~ Don't Eat the Dasies! ~

Part 2: Tuesday

Hiro watched his best friend, Shuichi, across the table. They were having lunch at their favorite diner, near NG's headquarters. Shu's head was bent so far over his notebook that his pink hair trailed in the food and soy sauce on his plate. "What are you so focused on?" Hiro asked.

Shu's head popped up. He wore the same gigantic, goofy smile that he'd worn since he'd come in to work, Monday morning. His large blue-violet eyes shined over the top edge of dark sunglasses. "I'm working on a new song!"

Hiro sucked on his drink's straw, looking at his friend as if to say, 'and . . .'

Shuichi grabbed some french fries and slapped his notebook shut. "This will be really great . . . when it's finished . . ." He looked a little unsure, one eyebrow moving into a frown.

"You get stuck?"

"NO!" Shu shouted. He jumped up on his chair. "I promise! This song will be the best--- ahhg!"

Hiro kicked the chair out from underneath him, causing him to crash, but preventing him from announcing 'Bad Luck band members are sitting right here!' Other customers turned to see what the commotion and the crash was. Hiro leaned over to look at Shuichi, sprawled across the floor. He was rubbing his head, looking surprised. "Shhhh! We don't need a mob attacking us at lunch," Hiro whispered harshly.

Shu gave him a lopsided grin. "Uh, yeah. I guess you're right." He turned his chair right side up and announced loudly, "Sorry. I'm clumsy!" Patrons shook their heads and turned back to their own lunches. Shu settled back into his chair and sighed. "Hiro, I'm just so happy! I want to make a song for Eiri that lets him know just how happy I am! I mean he's been so sweet and . . . "

Hiro had been hearing almost non-stop happiness mush from his friend since he'd come back from California, in the U.S.. The singer/songwriter had called late Sunday night to tell him all about his trip and how wonderful Friday's wedding ceremony had been. Today was Tuesday and Hiro had heard more than enough about it. He was happy for them. Really. Jealous? Well, maybe . . . not of Shuichi or even his husband, novelist Yuki Eiri, but he envied their insouciance. The two of them were in love, so they side- stepped Japanese traditions and tied themselves together by the laws of another country that wouldn't reject their claims on each other.

Meanwhile, he was courting the only daughter of Kyoto's Ryuganji Temple family. As a rock star, he hardly measured up to 'suitable' for Usami Ayaka. Nevertheless, he was trying hard to win her parents' respect. Without their permission, there was no chance that Ayaka-chan would stay by him. He took heart in the fact that Ayaka's parents had not forbidden them to call each other or meet on weekends and holidays.

"Oh!" Shuichi's interjection grabbed his wandering attention. "My mom's having a party on April third. She said you're invited. The party is kind of for Eiri and me, except we don't want her to fuss, but she already invited the neighbors, so we said we'd come to her party. She said to go ahead and invite my friends, and she said, 'of course Hiro has to come', and then I said, 'if Hiro comes, then I should ask Suguru, too' and she said that would be okay and . . ."

Hiro nodded absently and his thoughts drifted away again. To top off his relationship woes, K, Bad Luck's manager was acting like he had a crush on Hiro. That was really weird. Hiro had had girls watch him like that, but it was disturbing to sense K's blue eyes on him in that same way. He sort-of hoped it was his imagination, even though he was pretty sure it wasn't.

He finished his drink and looked at his watch. "Shuichi-kun, we should get back to the studio." He snatched some of his friend's french fries. "You should wipe that soy sauce out of your hair, too."

***

Back in the studio, Shuichi was bristling with creativity. He set to work with a vengence, like he did when he was trying to prove something. He had worked out some new musical scores and he revealed a new page of lyrics. They jammed a little, trying to find the right tempo and testing the combinded sounds of guitar, keyboards, and voice. Shuichi argued at full volume with Suguru about how to arrange their latest work, but everyone involved with Bad Luck was accustomed to that.

They had laid out about six songs for a new CD. They would probably come up with another dozen before chosing the best of the lot and making the move to record their music. Sakano was already pushing to have them record a single to precede the album. As soon as they did that, though, K would start madly scheduling appearances for them and they'd be pushed to do another video right away . . . It was a giant snowball-effect. Hiro felt they needed a break. Shuichi was obviously refreshed, but while he'd been away, Hiro and Suguru had continued to work and improve upon what they had. Bad Luck had become so popular that they were all rushing around, trying to please an impossibly growing, adoring public.

Their manager threw the door open, suddenly filling the doorway. "Big news!" K announced, in his native Americanized-English. Shu turned around and Suguru stopped mid-yell. Switching to Japanese, K said, "photo shoot tomorrow! 'Music Day' magazine wants to feature Bad Luck on their pull-out poster for the next issue!" He held up thick folders stuck full of papers, "AND . . . another company wants to sign you to a contract to make novelty items!"

Suguru adjusted his keyboard's sound levels. "Novelty items?" He echoed questioningly.

"Yes," K replied in English. "Coffee mugs," he said in Japanese. Raising his hands he added, "t-shirts!" His arms rose some more, "baseball caps!" With each new novelty, he arms went up another degree, "pencil boards! School folders! Keychain photos! Buttons! Posters!" He had a wide grin on his face.

"Wow!" Shuichi said. "Um, K . . . you said 'another company'. Don't we already have a deal with the um, first company?"

K's grin grew even bigger and his eyes shined with fanaticism. "We did! The contract with 'Pop Apparel' is up at the end of the month. 'Moonlight Entertainment' has made a better offer. A much better offer." K's eyes gleamed wickedly.

Hiro spoke up, "I just won't wear pink and white and red again." Suguru nodded heavily in agreement. Then, Hiro stilled under the sudden presence of a large gun held to his head. K smiled at him over the barrel.

"Yes, you will," K said.

"Okay! I guess I will!" Hiro said hastily, appeasing the tall gun-toting maniac.

"Good!" He clicked the safety back on the gun and pointed it up. Turning his attention toward their singer, he intoned, "You will all be in front of the NG building at 10 a.m.." Shuichi nodded frantically. K put his gun in its holster. "Good!" He slapped Hiro's shoulder and winked at the guitarist before leaving. "Bye!"

"Do you think that means we're done for the day?" Shuichi wanted to know. "We did get quite a bit done."

"Shindou-k— er, Shuichi-kun, let's finish this chorus piece, first," Suguru urged. He was having a hard time adjusting to not usuing Shuichi's family name. In Japan, it was mandatory that a bride change her family name to that of her husband. Shu wasn't officially changing his name, as far as Hiro knew, but he had asked close associates to stop using 'Shindou' to address him. Hiro wondered if Shu's parents were aware of that. They probably wouldn't be very happy about him giving up his family name . . .

"I *told* you," Shuichi said hotly, "that chorus *has to* be done with Hiro's chord. It just doesn't sound right when you play it with the strings mode on the keyboard! Listen! Hiro play the chord." He did and Shu signaled Suguru to hit the key.

Suguru's eyes narrowed in a way that let them both know he heard the difference. "But Hiro can't cover the chord while he's playing the bass part!" Suguru pointed out.

"So play the bass part on the keys."

"I can't play the bass part on keys at every section—"

"But you can on the chorus, right?" Suguru frowned, but didn't deny it. "Let's try it!" Shuichi said enthusiastically.

The switch and letting Suguru take part of the guitar's piece was a little odd for Hiro, and Shuichi's hand-written revisions were not easy to decipher, but it seemed to work. They played it through a few times until they could do it smoothly. "Looks like we have it," Hiro volunteered.

Suguru frowned. "I'll work on it some more."

"You can practice the changes, but it's Hiro's chord!" Shuichi insisted, shaking scribbled-on papers at him.

"Alright," Suguru acknowledged. "Are both of you going, then?" They nodded. "Then I'll just finish up. What's the fan situation?"

"I'll call down and ask," Hiro said. If this nonsense kept up, he'd have to stop riding his motorcycle to work. Every day last week, he'd had some girl or another hop on behind him, despite the security guys' efforts. He left the studio and went to the lounge to page the desk clerk. It was like checking the daily weather, he thought; 'very heavy rain with few fangirls in sight' or 'sunny with a thick mob of rabid, squealing fans bearing gifts'!

***

Author's Note: 'Moonlight Entertainment' is an honest-to-goodness concert novelty business. The other, 'Pop Apparel', is fictitious, but there is a business by the name of 'Soul Apparel'. ^_^ How do you like Hiro POV? [point-of-view]

***