Disclaimer: Gravitation isn't mine. Unfortunately!!!! --

Against time

"Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Only six more hours and it's midnight. Whaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!" Shuichi sat bawling in Hiro's apartment. And his best friend did was he usually did: comforting Shuichi. They weren't friends for nothing since Highschool. After a while Shuichi's crying went down to only a few hiccups now and then Hiro could finally try asking what wrongs Yuki Eiri had committed this time. At least this was the usual cause when Shuichi showed up bawling his eyes out on his doorstep.

"Well, Shuichi, what did Yuki do this time?" Hiro made himself comfortable on the couch and pulled Shuichi with him. Bad Luck's singer buried his face into his hands. "Oh, Hiro, this time I really messed up big time. I wanted everything to be perfect." Shuichi jumped up driven by his emotion-laden words trying to enlighten Hiro to his once perfect plan. "I wanted that Yuki could relax for one evening. That he would forget about that stupid laptop and for once would only pay attention to me. Yuki deserves it so much and I promised him that it would be great. Argh and now it's too late!!! I'm such an idiot!" Shuichi slumped back onto the couch and hid his face in his hands waiting for the answer of his friend.

Though when five minutes ticked by and still no answer, he peeked between his fingers to see what's the matter with Hiro who usually always had some kind of idea how to fix his problems. His friend had a slightly baffled expression. Frowning Hiro stared at Shuichi. Slowly he said. "I haven't the slightest idea just what you are talking about. Though I do get the feeling I should know."

Shuichi jumped up indignantly. "But Hiro. It was your idea after all!"

"My idea?" Hiro looked questioningly at Shuichi. "If you could give me some clues I might be able to figure out some kind of solution."

He had barely finished his phrase when he had a very happy Shuichi clinging at his neck beaming at him. "Really?!" Shuichi stared at him with shining eyes. "You're the best!!!!"

Hiro had a hard time not rolling his eyes at Shuichi's antics and instead ruffled the younger boys pink hair. "Well, then spill the story but slowly this time."

Shuichi explained the whole story to him comfortably seated on the floor. "Well, do you remember when you told me that you wanted to prepare a special evening for Ayaka at New Year's Eve? The same thing I wanted to do for Yuki. You know the whole trouble we had this year and his lung problems, I only wanted that Yuki would relax for once and to have a good start into the new year – together with me of course." Shuichi sighed. Hiro already had a good guess at how many problems Shuichi had encountered while trying to carry out his neat plan. "So I asked if Yuki was okay with my plan, to celebrate New Year's Eve together. He needed some convincing but finally he agreed on the condition I would let him work until then. And the idiot I am promised him an awesome evening. At first I wanted to prepare a nice dinner. Of course I did it at my family's place so Yuki wouldn't know anything. Unfortunately I almost burnt down our kitchen so Mom kicked me out." Shuichi scratched his head embarrassed knowing his talent for cooking was equaling zero.

Hiro couldn't stop a chuckle knowing out of own experience how a kitchen looked after Shuichi was done with it if it even stood at all.

"Ahhh, and then I took off to buy decorations but they were sold out everywhere or in the big department stores there were so many people and one recognized me. They almost ripped me into pieces." Shuichi shuddered thinking of his earlier misfortune. "After the decorations seemed to be a failure, I thought about simply getting a reservation for a good restaurant. But of course with my luck they were totally booked out or they told me that punks like me were unwelcome. Whaaaa!!!!!" Shuichi pouted. "This is soooo unfair!!!!" He shook his fist in the air.

Hiro rubbed his back comfortingly. "Forget about those guys. If they had any idea about music they'd offered you the best table. Just you wait one day we'll be on the top and they'd kill for having you eat at their restaurant. Anyway what did you do then?"

Shuichi looked at him almost defiantly. "I wanted to buy champagne. You know to drink at midnight." Hiro already had an idea what was coming next. Only with a lot of effort he could restrain himself from bursting out laughing. Shuichi had crossed his arms with a lot of dramatic and was back to sulking.

"They didn't sell you any, didn't they?!" Hiro asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, how did you know that, Hiro? Do I really look like a kid? I'm gonna be twenty next year. Others are being sold alcohol at this age already, too."

"Well, yes, but they aren't as cute as you neither." Hiro grinned and pinched his cheek."

"Ouw, Hiro, cut it out." Shuichi rubbed his abused cheek. "What am I supposed to do now? I can't go back to Yuki empty handed. He's much looking forward to it." Shuichi went off to la la land dreaming about Yuki while Hiro rolled his eyes. 'Sure, I can just imagine how Mr. Ice block is going crazy about celebrating New Year's Eve. This guy only lives of coffee, cigarettes and his laptop.' Hiro shook his head. That wasn't what Shuichi wanted to hear. "You know what Shu-chan?"

Shuichi came back to earth focusing his attention back on his best buddy. "Yeah?!" Hopeful eyes gazed at Hiro.

"We go shopping now. You'll get your champagne. And it's best if we buy a bottle of sake as well. What do you think?"

"Really?! Yuppie!!!!" Shuichi's eyes were shining like the sun as he bounced through Hiro's apartment with newfound hope. All prior worries forgotten.

"Okay, let's get going then. Ayaka arrives at 20h at the train station." Together they took the next subway to a close by liquor store. Some time later Shuichi had a bottle of champagne as well as sake. After a stop in one of the many gaming halls Hiro had to go pick up Ayaka. "Have fun tonight. I'll see you in the new year!" Hiro yelled before the doors of the subway were closing.

Shuichi waved after him and then went back up with the escalator. He didn't want to go home yet. Sure, he had at least the champagne to say a toast at midnight but somehow everything had gone wrong today and it put a huge damper on his anticipation of celebrating. Still he was grateful to Hiro for all his help and hoped his friend had a good time with Ayaka tonight. Lost in thought Shuichi wandered through the nightly Tokyo.

Suddenly a hand shot out of the crowd and pulled him over to the side. Frightened Shuichi tried to free himself of the firm grip until he heard a familiar voice. "Hey hey, cool it, Shuichi! It's only me."

And Shuichi looked up into the grinning face of Tatsuha, Yuki's younger brother. "It's just too practical that I meet you here. I've been just at Eiri's place, man, was he pissy." He rolled his eyes theatrically at the sky.

"Tatsuha, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Kyoto. Aren't you supposed to carry out the rites for the New Year tomorrow?"

Tatsuha waved off the question. "Nah, I'm young and I don't see why I should be stuck in Kyoto each year just because of that. I want to have fun for a change. Luckily my father is doing quite well, so he offered to do the rites instead of me." Tatsuha's grin got even wider if that was any possible. "Ain't that great? Now I'm in this awesome city and it's PARTY time!!!! Woohoo!!! Don't you wanna go out with me? We could have some fun."

Shuichi frowned for a moment thinking it over. "Well, I guess so. I mean I still have time."

"Cool." Tatsuha pumped his fist skywards. "Let's go to the xy square, there should be the action." And he grabbed Shuichi's arm and pulled him through the hectic crowd.

"Say, does Mika-san know that you're here in Tokyo?"

Tatsuha gave Shuichi an impish grin. "Well, sooner or later she will notice my stuff in the house. Right now she doesn't miss me, so let's use the time wisely and have fun." Shuichi could only nod. Finally they arrived at the xy square. A huge crowd had gathered to welcome the New Year together.

"Wow, look at those people." Tatsuha was thrilled. As he checked out the people around him he noticed something. "You know what we need now, Shuichi??!!" The singer had no idea. "Bah, some booze of course. That shouldn't be missing on any party." Shuichi got slowly disquieted. It got always later. Yuki would probably already be waiting for him. He had also thought that monks weren't allowed to be drinking.

As the singer focused his attention back on the black haired young man beside him, his eyes almost popped out of his head. Tatsuha hold his just bought champagne bottle in hand and downed the contents in big swallows. It was already half empty.

"Gahhhh!" Shuichi ripped the bottle away from him and jumped agitated from one foot to the other. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Ahhhh, don't be such a spoil sport, Shu-chan!" Tatsuha gave him a strong clap on the back, which almost flattened Shuichi on the pavement. "You've got to share tonight. It's New Year's Eve after all. And there's enough for both of us." And before Shuichi could protest Tatsuha pressed the bottle to Shuichi's lips and put some champagne into the pink haired singer. Of course Shuichi had no other option than swallowing if he didn't want to choke. As fast as the bottle came it was gone and back at Tatsuha's lips and back again. Before Shuichi it realized the bottle was empty and they were at the bottle of sake which Shuichi only realized as the bottle was half empty. As you should know Bad Luck's singer had a relatively low alcohol tolerance and with the fresh air and no real dinner he was drunk without noticing it. He hung at Tatsuha's arm and both laughed and celebrated with the people around them.

"Ahhh, thisss isss sssoooo funny here." Shuichi grinned at Tatsuha.

"Of course. Much better as at home with Nee-chan or Aniki." Suddenly Tatsuha stopped who was much less drunk than Shuichi. "Damn. You know I just remembered that I was supposed to tell you something from Eiri."

Shuichi's eyes got round. "Yuki?!"

"Yeah. Yeah. I told you that I've stopped by his apartment this evening. He was pissed about something or other – nothing new there. Anyways, he asked me if I had seen you and that I should send you home. Shuichi, you okay?! You look pretty pale suddenly." Concerned Tatsuha looked down at Shuichi.

"Gahhh! I have to get home!!!! Yuki is waiting!!!!! How could I forget about this??? And the champagne is gone, too!!" Shuichi was bawling his eyes out in less than ten seconds. "I'm such a looser." He sniffed.

Tatsuha looked at a loss and rubbed his back to calm him down. "Come on now, it's not too late yet. Yuki doesn't live too far from here. You still have half an hour to get home." What isn't exactly a lot of time, if you're in the middle of a huge crowd in the center of Tokyo. Suddenly there was a shot and an ear-piercing scream.

"Out of the way, Kumagoro and Ryu-chan are going to land!!!!" A second later Tatsuha found himself in seventh heaven and Shuichi in a bear hug of his idol.

"Sakuma-sama." Tatsuha couldn't believe his luck to see his star face to face. Finally the Nittle Grasper star let the two teens go and greeted them with a big smile.

"Hiiiii!!!!! Kumagoro says 'hi' too." Ryuichi hopped happily around them as he noticed that Shuichi was unusually quiet and big tears made their way down his cheeks. Promptly he stopped bouncing and asked concerned. "Why is Shu-chan so sad?"

Since Shuichi couldn't get a word out Tatsuaha answered for him. "Well, Shuichi wants to go home to Aniki. But he probably won't make it in time since it's almost midnight." That brought a new flood of tears cascading down Shuichi's cheeks.

Ryuichi gave him his Kumagoro for comfort as he got a great idea. He whirled around and yelled into the crowd. "K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A few seconds later shots were to be heard as the crowd practically jumped apart and the always-armed American stood before them. He waved his weapon under their noses for a greeting.

"Hi guys, what's up? What do I see here? Who made my little Shuichi cry? Was it maybe you?" He poked Tatsuha in the nose with his gun.

"I swear. It wasn't me. I'm innocent."

Ryuichi came to his aid. "K-san. Shuichi needs your help. It's a mission about life and death." He explained to the ex-army member. "Are you ready for it?"

"Sure." K saluted.

"Good." Ryuichi explained seriously. "Your goal is it to bring Shuichi to Yuki's apartment before midnight. Do you think you can manage that?"

"Just leave it to me. There is nothing I cannot do. Whahahahahaha!!!" With that K grabbed the slightly swaying Shuichi (from the alcohol) and raced with raised weapon wildly shooting through the crowd who parted like the Red Sea before Moses. Before Tatsuha could blink they were already gone which brought him back to the fact that he was very much alone now with his idol. Well, almost alone. Ryuichi stood kind of perplexed beside him and said. "Shuichi still has my Kumagoro."

Tatsuha was in his element. "Don't worry! I promise you, I will make a perfect replacement." And put his arm around Ryuichi's …

In the meanwhile K was racing against time with Shuichi draped over his shoulder. There were only five minutes left as they reached Yuki's apartment complex. "Okay, there we are. You'll get up there by yourself, right?! Okay, then have fun!! Bye!" He winked at Shuichi and took off again.

Shuichi went inside and waited for the elevator. All kinds of thoughts went through his head. Was Yuki very disappointed with him? Or worse angry? He walked nervously into the waiting elevator. He had only wanted a very special New Year's Eve for Yuki. But he had messed up big time. He didn't even have the champagne now. This was very frustrating. He hadn't at all imagined that the evening would turn out like this. What would Yuki think of him now? The elevator stopped in the right floor and Shuichi practically slunk to the door. Should he really go in? He sighed deeply. ' Ah, it's too late now anyway.'

He had barely put the key in the door, it was ripped open. Shuichi's mouth dropped. The Japan-wide famous writer stood there with an open wrinkled shirt and unkempt hair and with an expression on his face Shuichi couldn't decipher at all. "Ohmygodohmygod. Is he mad at me? Oh no. I knew it. I knew it.' Here his thoughts were disrupted as he found himself without any warning in Yuki's arms.

The tall blonde had a grip on him as if he never wanted to let go again. At the same time he kept repeating the same thing. "Baka! Silly Shuichi!" Shuichi started crying right away and tried to explain. But somehow everything sounded horribly wrong in his ears and then he only sobbed 'I'm sorry!'. He could hear Yuki sigh. The author somehow managed to close and lock the door and pulled Shuichi in the semi darkness of the living room.

Finally Shuichi could look up into the eyes of his lover. "I'm sorry, Yuki. I wanted tonight to be special but somehow I managed to mess it up again." He let his head drop in sadness. What kind of boyfriend was he who couldn't even organize a simple evening?

He heard Yuki sigh again as the writer shook his head. "Silly silly Shu-chan!" As he heard Yuki calling him that Shuichi looked up confused. Wasn't Yuki mad at him after all? He called him seldomly like that, only if he got terribly sweet. Yuki leaned his forehand against Shuichi's as the other looked up to him. .

"What importance has a dinner, champagne and all the rest to me if the most important thing is missing? I don't care about the this and that just as long you are with me." Yuki had to smile as he saw Shuichi's facial expression. 'Such a baka!' He leant down to steal a kiss and then whispered in Shuichi's ear. "Happy new year, Shu-chan!"

Slowly a smile spread over Shuichi's face. He threw himself into Yuki's arms and gave him an ecstatic kiss. "Happy new year, Yuki!"

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Hi guys, let me know what you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope I managed to get the charas half way in character!!!