Disclaimer: I don't own Gravitation and am not pretending to, so don't sue me.
Shuichi was babbling. This was not an unusual occurrence, so Hiro just ignored him as he put the finishing touches to the guitar solo for their new song. There was one little moment in the middle that just did not sound right to him, and he couldn't figure it out. He frowned, absently plucking at the strings of his guitar and staring at the sheet of music that lay on the coffee table. He scribbled a note in the margin of the music and then put the pencil in his mouth so that he could chew the end. He was only dimly aware of Shuichi pacing back and forth in front of him, waving his arms around as he spoke.
Shuichi suddenly stopped and slammed his hands down on the coffee table, forcing Hiro to look at him. "Would you listen to me for a moment?" he demanded angrily, and Hiro raised an eyebrow.
"So far, you've managed to fit one hundred and twenty three words into a single sentence, and that was five minutes ago before I stopped listening. When you calm down enough to use punctuation in your sentences, I'll listen."
"Hiro, I'm trying to get some advice on the great mysteries of love! You're supposed to be my best friend and here I am, in desperate need of assistance, and all you do is ignore me!"
"Shuichi, you're trying to figure out how you can manipulate Yuki into being bottom for once. That is not a desperate need, nor one of the great mysteries of love. Besides, I still have no idea why you'd come to me for help on the matter."
Shuichi blushed and looked away from Hiro's eyes. "Because, well… you're, ya know… experienced."
"You know this because…?"
"Well, I just sorta… assumed. You mean you're not?"
"No, I am, I was just curious about how you knew." Hiro smiled wickedly and went back to working on the guitar solo.
"Ooh you are just impossible! You are always playing word games with me and it's really childish, ya know! I mean, why can't you just give me a straight answer for once? Why do you always have to twist my words, or yours, or whoever's and make everything a big game! Honestly, Hiro, you'd think that for once in your life…."
Hiro sighed and mentally switched on his 'Shuichi-babble-blocker' that enabled him to drown out the continuous drone of Shuichi's voice and concentrate on his work.
It wasn't that he didn't love Shuichi, he did and probably always would, but sometimes the boy just did not know when to shut up. Sure, sometimes babbling was Yuki's way of getting his best inspiration, before Yuki came along that is, but most of the time, it was just annoying. Hiro had to wonder if Yuki ever got tired of Shuichi's endless talk. He wondered if the older man found it difficult to work when Shuichi was babbling, like he himself did. Then he wondered if Shuichi was as talkative in bed as he was everywhere else, and decided that he really needed to stop thinking so much.
Naturally, his brain didn't listen, and went off on a whole tangent about Shuichi and Yuki being together, dragging up old emotions and thoughts, old memories from when he'd discreetly flirted with Shuichi to see if the boy was interested, only to find his friend was completely oblivious.
He was happy that Shuichi was in love, he liked to see his best friend as happy as he was, and he wouldn't try to break him and Yuki up for all the money in the world. He meant what he'd said to Yuki, if the writer didn't take care of him, he would be one pissed off guitarist. And yet… he couldn't help but feel a little envious.
It wasn't that Hiro was particularly lonely, he had plenty of friends, and it was never hard for him to find a companion for a night or two, but it wasn't the same. It was all empty and lifeless, a pale shadow of what Shuichi and Yuki had.
Sometimes, he couldn't help but wish that he could have Shuichi, just for a night, an hour, a moment. He just wanted to put his hands around the bright fire that was Shuichi's soul, to capture a little of that warmth so that he could always carry it within him. That was all. It wasn't much, really, he didn't want to steal Shuichi completely, didn't want to lock him away from the world and keep him only for himself, he just wanted a brief glimpse of how things could have been, to warm himself on lonely nights when there was nothing to keep him company but faded memories.
Shuichi was still babbling, and some of it was filtering past Hiro's mental blocker and starting to give him a headache. He really couldn't concentrate as long as Shuichi was talking, and he needed to perfect this damned solo because they were supposed to start recording tomorrow and it was already past eleven and he hadn't had dinner and he wanted to sleep.
A wicked thought crept into Hiro's mind, whispering evilly of tempting desires, of guilty pleasures. Hiro shook his head, trying to banish the thought to the dark corners of his mind, but it wouldn't go. It kept on whispering to him, insistent and demanding. Eventually, even though he knew it was a Bad Idea, Hiro gave in.
He took the pencil out of his mouth and dropped it onto the coffee table, setting his guitar aside and standing up. Shuichi was still pacing, and Hiro caught enough words of his incessant babbling to know that he was now talking about how everyone always mistook him for a stupid little teenager because of his pink hair and 'alternative way of dressing'.
Hiro rolled his eyes, and deliberately stepped into Shuichi's path, causing the singer to stumble to a stop or crash into him. He looked up with confused eyes, a question forming on his lips. Hiro smiled and pressed a finger to his lips, effectively silencing him.
"I can't concentrate," he said quietly. "So I'm afraid I'm going to have to shut you up."
Shuichi's eyes flew wide, not quite understanding what Hiro meant by that. Hiro chuckled at the picture Shuichi presented-cheeks flushed, eyes wide, pink bangs falling into deep, violet eyes. He was the picture of innocence, of fragile vulnerability, the kind of person that people wanted to protect from the harsh world with its cruel truths.
Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts, Hiro removed his finger from Shuichi's lips and leaned forward, letting his eyes drift shut. He hesitated, when there was only a fraction of a millimetre between them, and it was Shuichi's sharp intake of breath that finally brought them together in a hot kiss full of passion and tenderness.
He tasted like cotton candy and caramel apples, an intoxicating taste that overwhelmed and consumed Hiro. He moaned and pressed closer to Shuichi, his tongue slipping into the boy's mouth to dance with his. His hand slid around Shuichi's waist, drawing him flush against him, letting him feel the warm, soft skin that was bared by Shuichi's small tee shirt. Hiro had a distant thought of being glad that all his shirts were dirty, and thus, he was topless, because the feel of Shuichi's skin against his was electric.
He was drowning in the kiss, in the taste of Shuichi's mouth and the feel of his skin. He couldn't get enough, he wanted more, he wanted everything. Distantly, he was aware that he had promised himself he would not do this, that he had just wanted a brief moment, but it was drowned out, washed away, by the sensations flooding his body.
Only when lack of oxygen became a serious threat did Hiro break away from the searing kiss. For a split second, neither of them moved. Shuichi was too stunned to even think, and Hiro was trying to figure out just how he had lost so much control. Then his brain gave his ass a good kick, and he stepped back, forcing himself to smile.
"Now, will you please shut up, Shuichi?" he asked in his best playful tone. All the singer could do was nod dumbly, before collapsing onto the sofa. Hiro breathed a sigh of relief, picking up his guitar and strumming a few chords. His stomach was warm and tingly, and his brain wasn't quite functioning properly. He was still reacting, not really thinking.
But the important thing was, he'd accomplished his mission: he had gotten a brief moment with Shuichi, had glimpsed what it could be like between them, and it was enough. Shuichi would go back to Yuki and continue to be deliriously in love, and Hiro would watch from the sidelines, content to just watch, so long as his friend was happy.