Chapter 10 – The Drunk and Substitute

"Hiro! Give it to me!" Shuichi reached out his hand trying to snatch the can of beer.

"You had enough for tonight." Hiro replied.

"No! I need it! Give it to me!" Shuichi demanded. He needed it to forget. He didn't understand what Yuki was thinking. Why did Yuki kissed him again and then just left to see Touma? Touma had always bothered Shuichi from the start. From the first time that he saw Touma at NG, he felt that there was something familiar about those cold green eyes. He had seen them before, long before Touma being the pianist of Nittle Gasper or the president of NG Corporation. Why was it more important that Yuki see Touma than to be with him?

"Shuichi! Let's go sing some more!" Ryuichi came into the guest house and dragged Shuichi to the studio for more Karaoke. Ryuichi sang while Shuichi sat by the sliding door and caught sight of Yumi climbing out of the swimming pool. Her wet body glazed under the moonlight and her bright blonde hair was shimmering; she was gorgeous. It made Shuichi thought, 'If I had opened up to Yumi and fall for her, maybe it wouldn't hurt as much. 'Yuki… why do you do this to me? Do you love me or do you hate me?'

"She is beautiful isn't she?" Ryuichi stopped in the middle of his singing and asked his sparkling vocalist.

"Yah." Shuichi replied still thinking about Yuki.

"So, do you like her?"

"What?"

"I've noticed that you couldn't concentrate whenever she's around. You love her don't you?" Ryuichi asked with a straight face.

'This is odd of him.' Shuichi thought. 'He must be drunk, but he's right that I cannot concentrate around Yumi, but she isn't the reason why; Yuki is.'

The reason why Shuichi always looked sad and couldn't concentrate was because he couldn't forget about the man he fantasized. The man that kissed him so passionately, but then coldly pushed him away.

"Right now, who is the first person that comes up in your mind?" Ryuichi asked with a flat tone of voice.

"Yu…"

"I knew it!" Ryuichi cut off Shuichi's answer and gave him a big embrace. He inhaled deeply while holding on to his sparkling vocalist, feeling contented, he managed a wide smile and said with his childish voice, "Shuichi, let's be friend forever!"

Shuichi was a bit dozy and didn't really get that Ryuichi was up to; he seemed different somehow, like he wanted to tell Shuichi something important, but he didn't.

Ryuichi pulled Shuichi out to the pool area where Yumi and Suguru were enjoying a conversation together. Yumi saw them approaching and asked her pink haired friend, "Do you want to go for a swim? The water is nice and cold." She smiled and added, "It should help you cool off the heat."

Shuichi twitched his brows and thought, 'Did she mean the summer heat or the heat from last night? She must think that I'm very disgusted by now.' He shook the thought away and went in for a dive.

She continued her talk with Suguru, while Tatsuha dragged Ryuichi into the guest house to play some pool with Hiro.

"This is a lovely house that you have here." Yumi complimented.

"Thank you." Suguru replied.

"I've been wondering… Why is it that you go to a public school when it is obviously that you can attend a private one?" She asked.

"Hiro and Shuichi asked me the same question back when we use to go to school together." Suguru started his response. "I feel more comfortable with the people here. We get treated the same and there is no favors or stuck up students that I need to deal with. Plus, this was where I met my two best friends, so I guess it has its own meaning in its way." He finished answering her question and slightly shifted his head over to admire his red haired friend in the guess house and thought, 'This is where I met him. If not for here, then I would never have met him. He was the only reason that I survived and overcame my loneliness. He had always his way to calm me down and said the right words that the right moment.'

"What about your parent?"

Suguru was still occupied with thought of Hiro in his head and didn't hear to her last question.

"Oh, I'm sorry, this is noisy of me." She apologized.

"No… it's okay. I was just lost in my train of thoughts. What was your question again?" He asked her and she repeated the question. "Oh, my parents traveled a lot. They work oversea and most of the time they live in America. They have asked me to move over there, but I didn't want to. I wanted to stay here."

"The water was great!" Shuichi came out from the pool and went to grab some more beer while Hiro wasn't around to give him a fuss about it.

"Should we come inside to see the game?" Suguru asked Yumi offering her an escort hand.

She looked over at Shuichi who was sitting under the big umbrella chair by himself drinking. 'He must be thinking about Yuki. I wonder if he is going to be alright. I'd never would have guessed it if I hadn't witnessed it for myself. All this time, he's in love with Yuki. My presence must been a burden for him.' She followed Suguru into the guess house and pretended that nothing happen.

"Okay, who's leading?" Suguru asked as he and Yumi entered the room.

"We are; Ryuichi and I make a great team!" Tatsuha replied.

"That's no fair! Hiro is all by himself. Suguru join him and don't let Tatsu gets his way!" Yumi's voice was loud and cheerful. Suguru joined Hiro into the game and they challenged the other team.

"Okay, don't go crying when you lose!" Tatsuha accepted their challenge and gave his idol a confident smile. "Are you ready to kick the Bad Luck's team asses, Ryuichi?"

"They're on!" Ryuichi replied with excitement in his tone of voice.

The game was intense, each team took turn, Hiro and Tatsuha were great and surprisingly, Suguru and Ryuichi were amazing, too. Meanwhile, everyone was enjoying the game, Yumi was worried about Shuichi. She looked at him still drowning himself in his beer and thought, 'Should I accompany him?'

Hiro was also worried about his purple eyed friend. Shuichi had been drinking more than usual. 'Something is wrong with Shuichi.' He thought as he saw Yumi focusing on the same person. It was Tatsuha and Ryuichi turn to pool, so he came over and whispered into her ear, "We need to talk." They walked out together into another room.

"Something is wrong with Shuichi. Would you happen to know why?" He asked looking at her straight into the eyes.

She hesitated and didn't know if she should tell Hiro about Yuki. Hiro and Shuichi were best friends, if Shuichi didn't let tell his friend by now, then maybe she shouldn't intervened.

"It's Yuki, isn't it?"

"Huh?" Yumi's expression gave the answer away.

"It is him! What happened?" Hiro demanded.

"I don't know. I don't understand their relationship, but I saw him and Shuichi yesterday at NG. Remember last night, I came after Shuichi to give him his jacket that he left behind. I came and saw him and Yuki in the front lobby staring at each other. Then before I knew what happened, Shuichi said that he loved Yuki and Yuki just walked away." She replied. "So, you know about Yuki all this time?"

"Yeah." Hiro replied feeling a bit guilty for not letting her know sooner, "Shuichi had been in love with Yuki, but Yuki had never given him a straight answer. This made Shuichi flutters and kept on hoping that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel."

"I didn't know that he was into guys." Yumi said with a low voice as she saw Hiro's sad eyes looking at her. She shook her head immediately left and right, "I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that would never guessed that he's in love… with Yuki."

Hiro smiled, "You like him too, don't you?"

"Yes, I guessed that it's pretty obvious, huh?"

"Yeah." He exhaled and then suggested, "Why don't you tell Shuichi about your feeling? I don't want to see him moping like this anymore. It's been very painful for me to watch him like this. As much as I wanted to help him, I cannot take Yuki's place in his heart."

"You love him too." She observed.

"Yes, he is a very lovable person. I think everyone who encountered with Shuichi, would easily fall in love with him."

"Have you ever told him?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I know that I hold a special place in his heart, but it's not the same way as he felt for Yuki. I'm more like a brother to him than a lover."

"But, if you never told him, then he will never know. Shuichi can be very dense sometimes."

"You've got that right." He laughed. "I think that you have a chance with him, since you and Yuki are very much alike in appearance, you may be just the medication that Shuichi needs. I mean if you don't mind being second to Yuki."

"No, I don't mind at all. If I can help Shuichi, then I will do anything for him."

"Then go to him now, he need someone by his side now."

"Thank you, Hiro. I'll do my best." With that she rushed off to see Shuichi.

"This is the right thing to do… for Shuichi." He whispered as Yumi disappeared into a distance. Before he took another step and head back to the game; he found a figure standing at the corner, "Suguru?"

The young boy glared at him with sharp glowing eyes and ran away to his mansion.

"Suguru!" Hiro chased after his friend. He found the boy in his study, "What's wrong?"

"I can't stand it anymore! I can't stand seeing you lie to yourself." He shouted and tears spilled from his dark eyes. "Hiro, I love you!"

Hiro stood before him, bewildered and didn't know what to say. He stepped forward to wipe the tears off his friend's face. "I can't." He replied.

"Why?" Suguru asked staring into Hiro's eyes. "It's Shuichi. You'll always love him, from the first day that I'd met you, I felt it. Though, it was not very obvious at first, but as time goes by, I'd noticed how you looked at him. If you love him that much, then why didn't you tell him? Why didn't you just take him away from Yuki? Why did you ask Yumi to take his place instead? Why? Why?" He lightly pounded his hands onto Hiro's chest.

"If you heard my conversation with Yumi, then you know why."

"But, that's not fair. Why is it always for Shuichi? Why him? What about me? I need you, can't you love me?"

"I'm grateful for how you feel about me, but I don't think that I deserve it, not right now."

"Why, it's mine to give and I choose to give it to you."

"But, I'm still thinking about Shuichi and it's not right to be involved with someone else."

"I don't mind. I knew it all along and I had accepted it. I knew that you love Shuichi, so I kept quiet all this time. I didn't mind if you and him were to be together, but then he started to have weird dreams and fell in love with a total stranger. I was worried about you all this time. I didn't know what to do between you and him and Yuki and now Yumi, too."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

"I just can't take it anymore. My chest; it hurts... please let me be with you…" Suguru begged. "You don't have to forget about him. Just let me in your heart, let me have a stand inside you. If you let me in, I'm sure that gradually we'll find our direction together and be happy."

"Suguru…" Hiro observed his younger friend's misty eyes. Suguru was very attractive in his own way, but he was still so young and vulnerable. "I can't… it's not appropriate."

"Why?"

"You're still so young."

"What does it have to do you anything? I love you! Hiro, please… I want you…" Suguru's cheeks flushed as he leaned forward and intertwined his fingers as he pulled Hiro closer to him. He raised his hand and ran his fingers into Hiro's long red hair and whispered into his ear, "Let's move forward together."

The study room dimmed slowly as the young boy got aggressive. He couldn't hold his feelings inside anymore; all his emotion was expressed at this moment. He indulged his older friend and softened his stiff body with every kiss.

"Sugu…ru." The older boy caressed his younger band mate and embraced him in a deep kiss. The dark room became their sanctuary and slowly they melted away in each other's flesh.

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"Good morning." Hiro's long red hair sparkled under the morning sun as he greeted his young lover. "Was I too rough on you last night?" He asked.

Suguru remembered what happened and turned completely red. He shook his head and hid half of his face under Hiro's jean jacket. Shyly he replied, "No, not at all."

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"My Ryuichi…" Tatsuha admired his sleeping beauty lying in his arms. He and Ryuichi drank so much and they had both fallen asleep after the pool games.

Ryuichi woke up and found himself wrapped in warmth. He looked up and saw Tatsuha's dark eyes admiring on him. The eyes poured out intimacy and affection; the only set of eyes that had ever looked at him this way. His heart beat rose as he bent over onto his hands and knees. "Do you want to play?" He breathed into Tatsuha's ears while his hand stroke lightly over Tatsuha's lower body.

"I'm always ready to play whenever you are." He responded in the same manner pulling his idol's waist against.

"I'm ready to play now." Ryuichi spoke slowly and approached his number one fan and meshed their lips together.

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Shuichi woke up with a headache, he couldn't lift his head, but surprisingly he found himself in a soft bed. He started to remember all the drinking from last night. He drank one after another; he drank so much that he couldn't count anymore, all he knew was that they helped him forget. Slowly, he turned around and found another body lying next to him, 'No…'

"Good Morning, Shuichi." Yumi opened her big golden eyes and gave him a gentle smile.

Shuichi continued to stare at her inertly as he thought, 'No, I couldn't have…'