Rock and Romance

Summary: AU What if Eiri was the struggling rock star and Shuichi was the famous romance novelist? Would the two still manage to find each other when they inhabit two different worlds?

Warnings: Weird pairing, but never fear! It won't last. x.x

Archived: adultfan,nexcess,net/aff/story,php?no544173771 ; fiction,gurabiteshiyon,net/story,php?no722 ; www,fanfiction,net/s/2199767/1/

Chapter 2

It was nearly suppertime when Eiri finally made it home; he was still irked with the memory of trying to make his way back to the house without any money. It had been an insult to his masculinity when he had been forced to stoop as low as asking directions from a cop at the nearest police box, but at least he had gotten home. However, now, not only did he have a very angry Mika snarling at him, but he still could not get the pink-haired Shuichi off his mind—it had not turned out to be the casual one-night stand as he had intended, and that only made the developing situation worse.

"Where the hell were you?" Mika demanded, her face contorted into a vicious glare. "I sent you out four hours ago for a carton of milk! What were you doing? Where did you go? And why didn't you get the milk? In the four hours you were out, you couldn't spend five minutes picking up a carton?"

"I'm sorry. I got lost and spent the money on food instead," Eiri replied. It wasn't completely a lie, at least, and he would have been able to force sincerity if he had the desire; however, the bored, unapologetic tone only set Mika off.

"You were lost for four hours? How the hell does a grown man get so lost on his way to the corner gas station that it takes him four hours to get home? Now tell me what you were really doing!'

Eiri narrowed his eyes, and a smirk twisted its way onto his face. "If you must know, I was getting laid. And it was more like three and a half hours, not four."

Mika's eyes narrowed so much that it was doubtful she could even see out between her black mascara-laced eyelashes. Her blood red lips stretched downwards, creasing her skin and making her look the near thirty-year-old that she was.

The two stood, Eiri receiving Mika's glare with his own haughty smirk, in silence for what seemed like forever. Only when Eiri let out a subdued, "Heh," did Mika finally snap.

"That's it! I'm sick of your shit! You're twenty-one years old; maybe if you had to live on your own, you'd make something decent of yourself!" She paused, basking in Eiri's confused expression for a few seconds before continuing. "I'll help you pack your stuff, and that's the last you'll get from me."

"You're not serious," Eiri stated confidently, his smirk finding its place back on his face.

A few hours later, Eiri found himself wandering aimlessly down a sidewalk, the whole of his measly belongings stuffed into his keyboard case that was loosely slung over his shoulder. He had a total of 1000 yen stuffed in the pocket of his jeans, and that was all. As he looked up the street at all the reasonably sized apartment buildings, he could only find himself surprised.

He came upon a bookstore soon, and on a whim he glanced at the books on display—and found himself completely repulsed when he noticed two horribly familiar purple eyes staring straight back at him. The bright smile, transformed into two dimensions, screamed at him:

"What a failure you are, Eiri! What a failure!"

Eiri frowned at the picture, as if that would make it wilt and curl into ashes, just like that. His eyes wandered down to the huge pink boldface type outlined in gaudy purple that, without even reading it, Eiri could see that it just screamed for the world to hear, "I'm gay! I'm GAY!" Sadly enough, he knew from experience that it was true.

"New paperback edition of Rose by the hot new romance novelist Shindou Shuichi! Get your copy today; only 850 yen!"

Eiri stared at the last figure, swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth as he fingered the 1000-yen note in his pocket. He knew it would be the worst decision he could make, impulse-buying a stupid romance novel written by just some fleeting infatuation of his, especially since this was the last of his money, but the urge was too great, and he caved, cursing himself all the while. Pushing open the door to the bookstore, he thought to himself that he'd better pick up a job application while he was here if he ever wanted to eat anytime soon.

"I'm home!" Sakano cried out, slipping off his shoes and jacket in one fluid movement. He stepped onto the hardwood floor of the hallway that led into the living room and paused only briefly to hang up his coat before following it. His brow furrowed when he noticed that everything that was once on the couch had been shoved to the floor—it was a long time since he had seen that couch in its entirety, without any junk adorning one of its many surfaces. Sakano himself usually hated mess; however, Shuichi did not seem capable of cleaning up after himself, and after living with the kid for several months, Sakano began to let himself go. It was good for him, anyway, he supposed. It helped his stress to just relax every once in awhile and not worry about cleaning. Or course, sometimes Shuichi was so excessively lazy and dirty that Sakano became annoyed, but that was usually only rarely.

Still, this suddenly cleared couch was strange, even though Sakano could tell that all the junk had only been pushed to the floor. No matter, Shuichi must have been using it for something. Stranger than that, Sakano decided, was that the bedroom door was shut—Shuichi usually insisted that they have it open, claiming that the air didn't stale if they did.

Feeling a wave of foreboding cross over him, Sakano silently pushed open the bedroom door, frowning when he saw the skinny frame of his boyfriend curled up beneath the sheets, shaking every now and then from sobs. Quickly, Sakano wracked his brain for a reason why Shuichi would be so upset, but after coming up with only a blank, he dared to suffer the possible repercussions and softly asked his boyfriend what was the matter.

At the sound of his voice, Shuichi shot up, tossing his sheets down to his knees and exposing his nude body, which brought an exaggerated blush to Sakano's face. He looked away immediately, completely missing the horrified expression that crossed Shuichi's face when he did so.

"Did something happen today that upset you, Shuichi?" Sakano asked in a tight voice, still refusing to look at Shuichi. Only more tears came to Shuichi's eyes with this, but he merely let them fall and did his best to bite back his sobs.

"No," he said in what was obviously a lie; even his spacey boyfriend could tell.

"Tell me what happened," Sakano said in a soothing voice, but his refusal to look at Shuichi negated what effects it may have had.

Shuichi paused, staring wistfully at the white sheets pooled around his legs. He heaved a sigh, slowly looking up at his disheveled boyfriend.

"Can you come here?" Shuichi whispered, trying to disregard the way Sakano seemed to choke at his request. With a very nervous air, Sakano complied and tensely made his way over to stiffly place himself in front of Shuichi.

"What is it?"

Shuichi paused again, readying himself with a deep breath, before lunging forward, locking his arms and legs around Sakano's body, and pressing their lips together in what he was hoping would be a hard, passionate kiss. Against his will, Shuichi immediately began to see visions of golden eyes and hair, and he quickly forced his eyes open to stop it.

The kiss ended abruptly when Sakano pulled away timidly and stared at Shuichi wide-eyed. "Shu…ichi…" he started, but Shuichi didn't dare let him finish.

Shuichi thrust himself backwards, dragging Sakano on top of him before reaching out for another kiss. He waited a few moments for Sakano to join in, but soon got frustrated and took the initiative himself, plunging his tongue into Sakano's mouth and trying to pull Sakano even deeper into him.

Once again, he had the fleeting image of the devilish golden eyes before snapping his own eyes open—he hadn't even realized he had closed them. Guilt seeped into his conscience, but he quickly busied himself with ignoring it by moving to strip off Sakano's clothes. Unfortunately for him, that was what was needed to excite the anxiety in Sakano enough for him to pull away.

"Shuichi…what are you…?"

Shuichi blinked at him, hoping his face relayed how little he thought of that question. His fist closed around the collar of Sakano's suit, pulling Sakano weakly down again.

"Come on," Shuichi whispered. "We never do this…"

"But last time," Sakano said, pulling back as Shuichi pulled him forward.

"Forget about last time!" Shuichi cried, furrowing his brows and glaring somewhat wistfully at him. "This is this time! Let's give it another try! Please!"

Sakano's hand found its way onto Shuichi's fist and proceeded to pry it from his collar. Shuichi fought him for only a second before giving up. He let go, allowing Sakano to sit up completely, and brought his hand to his eyes, which were once again rapidly gathering tears.

"I'm sorry, Shuichi," Sakano said, frowning sympathetically at his boyfriend. "I know you want to, but…"

Shuichi choked on a sob, which rocketed him into tears. He began to wipe them away as soon as they came, but Sakano's presence only made them come even faster.

"I'm sorry," Sakano said, and then stood, removing himself from Shuichi's touch and pretending that he didn't notice Shuichi's tears. He paused, staring at the pink-haired novelist for a long while in debate before heaving a sigh and continuing, "I'm sorry. I really am, but you understand…" He was greeted only by another sob. "Look, I'm going to J.P.'s Nightclub tomorrow night to see if I can scout a band we've been hearing about for NG. Seguchi can't make it, so he's sending me. How would you like to come? It'll be fun!"

Shuichi wiped a pair of tears from his cheeks and looked dolefully up at Sakano, letting the latter squirm in an anxious anticipation until Shuichi was completely satisfied with the amount suffered. Wiping another tear away, Shuichi breathed one last sigh before blinking and looking back down at the sheets rippling around his ankles. "All right," he whispered barely audibly, and then in one quick, jerky movement, grabbed the sheets and flung them over his body, finally hiding it from unworthy eyes. "Now go. I want to sleep," he said coldly, and waited until the door clicked shut before breaking down into sobs again. He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to think of something else, but it was no use.

He couldn't get those enticing golden eyes out of his mind.

"Will you quit bellyaching? If you had come to practice yesterday instead of ditching us, you would have known!" Midori Ryotarou, one of the two guitarists of Bad Luck, growled, snarling at Eiri from behind his thick yellow tresses.

"He's right, you know, Eiri," Fujisaki joined, calmly crossing his arms and letting out a sigh. "We've been practicing this song forever, anyway. So what if it's short notice? J.P.'s pretty classy. It'll do well for our reputation. I have a feeling we should take this job. Unless you want to play at dirty little joints forever."

"'Take this job?'" Eiri repeated, lifting a quizzical eyebrow. He glanced at their surroundings as if to prove a point. "I think we've already taken it. We start in ten minutes."

"Well, at least this time you don't have to memorize an entire song in that amount of time," Fujisaki muttered, bringing a bitter smile to Eiri's lips with the memory. "If we ever want to get noticed by the big guys, we have to stick our necks out."

"Whatever," Eiri shrugged, placing a hand on the microphone that sat at his side. "You know I'm going to do it anyway."

Fujisaki grinned, and then returned to setting up his keyboard—Eiri's keyboard, actually. This used to bother Eiri, that he was forced to sing when he was the one that owned the equipment, but he had grown used to it lately; as much as he hated to admit it, he was starting to like singing, and not only because a whole lot of the girls in the audiences came to notice him more since he was in the spotlight. He actually had never sung before—not seriously, at least—and once he learned how, he couldn't stop. It wasn't the same as that first night when Taki had ditched them; he was better now. He could sing with emotion and meaning, and he knew it.

That's not to say that he liked his voice, though. Singing was okay, but listening to himself afterwards was a no-no.

Eiri looked over the crowd in the club—it wasn't too busy, which had both pros and cons, but that didn't matter anyway. He noticed several pairs of eyes watching intently as he and his band mates set up. Unfortunately, this club didn't have a formal stage or curtains, and the simple raised platform they stood upon revealed all the messy preparations to the spectators. It was mildly annoying, being watched like that, especially for Eiri since he didn't have much equipment and therefore usually spent most of the time standing stupidly onstage with nothing to do. However, he liked to be able to see the audience early on. It felt good to have cute, wide, feminine eyes staring at him as if he were the most interesting creature on Earth.

"You ready?" Fujisaki asked, glancing up at Eiri nervously. Eiri nodded, as did the two guitarists.

Eiri smirked at his band mates before turning around and grabbing the mic, gaining a few impatient cheers from the expectant onlookers.

"Good evening, everyone," he said, speaking into the mic and scanning the crowd briefly with his sharp yellow eyes, not at all put out by the fact that the lights were blurring his vision. He knew it would clear soon enough, and he'd be able to see faces. "We are Bad Luck. We will be performing our original song, Rage Beat. Please enjoy."

In one flawless beat, the music started, the guitars and keyboard all syncing instantly. The intro was rapid, and Eiri reached for the mic, anxiously awaiting his cue.

Two more measures to go.

His eyes locked onto the crowd as he pulled the mic to his mouth, preparing to start with a deep breath. One and two and three and four…

A fleeting vision of purple eyes crossed his mind, and when he realized that he had not imagined them, he choked. His cue passed and he barely noticed, focusing all of his attention on the boy sitting towards the back of the club, slumped over on a stool by the bar and staring at him with eyes equally wide.

Eiri blinked and shook his head, trying to quash the horrible fit of anxiety that was rising in his throat. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to sing, and the music was quickly circling around again. Eiri squeezed his eyes shut, trying to concentrate on the music.

I told you we'd never see each other again… You idiot…

His cue came faster than he had expected with his attention divided. His voice jumped in half a beat too late and slightly off-key, and in his nervousness, his tight throat made the notes screech, flustering him even more. At last the pink-haired brat left his mind as he did his best to catch up with the music, jumping forward seconds here and there until finally he was singing in time again. His voice, however, was still weak.

"You don't know anything, Eiri. Here, this is how it's done."

Sing like me.

Eiri's eyes floated open, but he wasn't looking at anything in his surroundings. He could see, with every detail plain as day, outlined in black, the entire scene playing out before him. An old lover, brown hair and blue eyes, standing high on the stage, his head cocked to the side and a small microphone pressed against his lips. A voice as sweet as honey and as pure as diamond sending chills down his spine while Eiri watched as if hypnotized.

"This is love… I'll show you…"

The blue eyes gently widened and smiled, slowly morphing into deep, illustrious violet, far more intense than they had ever been in their previous life. "Come on, come on," they whispered, their breathy music drowning out his lover's song.

Eiri's mouth opened wide, and a crystal clear note sailed forth, eliciting a collective gasp from the audience. If his lips hadn't been so preoccupied with articulation, Eiri would have smiled. At last he had made it. He stood on the stage, his microphone held relatively far from his lips and his head pulled back and to the side, his eyes staring straight through the ceiling at the night sky, as he sang with every ounce of breath in his lungs.

Who's the failure, Shuichi? Watch this.

One and two and three and four and…

"I'll show you how it's done…"

Kitazawa Yuki. Eiri had idolized him so much that he had become a lover against his own will. Kitazawa, his teacher, could sing like a god, and knew everything there was to know about music. His voice was as soft as silk and as rich as gold, and everything about him was perfect.

It was the difference of their voices that put Eiri off. They would never be equal. He could hone his technique to professional status, but he would never be better than Kitazawa. The man was unsurpassable.

The song was quick, and Eiri could feel the end approaching swiftly; he charged towards it with all his might, breathing the last note until his lungs gave out, and waiting, glowing, until the music died as well. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, and his head was reeling—he stood perfectly still, waiting until the dizziness faded away.

"Eiri, are you all right?" he heard someone ask—presumably one of his band mates—but his eyes remained glued to the solitary stool in front of the bar towards the back of the club, finding himself disappointed that it now was empty.

That idiot…

TBC

Notes: I got a lot of reviews (or at least a couple) saying that this has been done before. And, I say again, I know. I've read five or six stories with this general plotline, so I figured it was one of those un-originals up for grabs. Sorry if you feel like I'm in the wrong for stealing someone's idea, but in all honesty, I am stealing my plotline. Everyone who writes at this site is stealing plotlines. After all, look at all these fan fictions that are 'favorites' among most readers. You know, those stories that rack up like, 300 reviews. Ignore all the fancy writing and look at the basic plot. I bet a lot of them have been done before. Besides, the whole idea of fan fiction is based on unoriginality. I mean, we're taking someone else's characters and someone else's story and just adding on to it. I'm not condoning plagiarism, or anything, but I do think that readers should take into consideration the near impossibility of writing something that's actually "never been done before" in a situation such as this. To find true originality, I suggest going to an original fiction site. What I'm trying to say is, in this story, I'm not trying to wow people with my unique plotline, but instead I'm focusing more on the romance of Yuki and Shu and trying to make it interesting through my writing techniques. I hope you understand.

On a lighter note, what do you think of the Sakano x Shu pairing? Because, if you want to know the truth, I don't like it. Not a bit. It's basically a plot device, which is probably quite obvious. I was originally thinking of making it Tohma x Shu, but…as I learned from my attempt at writing Tohma x Shu in Second Choice, I really can't see those two together in a functional relationship. Thus, I decided early on to make it Sakano. He kinda fits better anyway, don't you think? I don't think Tohma would be so…weak…

Anyway, was Eiri hallucinating there? …It's a little confusing.

Until next time,

Cassi.

P.S. Has Fanfiction Net stopped emailing about reviews, or is it just not getting through to my account? Because I haven't been notified about any of the reviews at this site…