A/N: I'm actually writing these faster than I thought! Yaaay! Please reveiw, I'd love to know what you think about my story. I'd like to thank the people who have reviewed; you've made me incredibly happy.

Chapter 3: Songwriting Roommates

"Ah, good old NYC!" Shuichi cried, throwing out his arms in the cool smoggy air outside the airport at NYC. "We get to play at Madison Square too! How cool is this hook-up?!"

"You need to thank XMR for this," Tohma said with his normal smile and not so smiling eyes.

"Ooh, speaking of XMR, will we be seeing—"

"Nope," Tohma answered cheerily.

"We should drop in on—" Hiro said thoughtfully.

"Not while you're here with me," Tohma laughed; a very dangerous sign. That was the end of that.

"Hiiiiiroooooo, I'm doooooomed!" Shuichi cried, having dragged his best friend into a bathroom once again. This time, the one in the lobby of their hotel.

"And why are you doomed this time, Shindou-kun?" Suguru asked, having followed the two.

"I'm Sakuma-san's roommate!"

"Shuichi, calm down. You shouldn't worry about it, that kiss was probably a flub up."

"That one, maybe! What do you say when it's happened a second time?!"

"What?!" Both Suguru and Hiro exclaimed.

"Exactly! He kissed me again, as plain as you please, on the plane when everyone was asleep! He was all serious and stuff, too, so it wasn't just a friendly kiss!" Shuichi wailed, at loss for what to do.

"I'm going to be leaving now…" Suguru said faintly, slowly sliding out the door; he didn't want to get caught in this particular problem.

Shuichi took no notice. "Hiro, what do I do?!" he sobbed, grabbing a hold of Hiro's shirt.

Hiro looked up, thinking. "Well, I think you should just ask where he's coming from, then tell him you're only his friend," he said slowly. "Y'know, this was a really bad time to spring this on you… Especially with your duet to write…"

Shuichi blinked. "Aw, man! I'm gonna be around him a lot this week! I hate it when it's awkward between us!" the vocalist moaned, giving a dramatic shudder.

"Just do what I said to, it should settle out."

Shuichi entered the room he shared with his idol, extremely cautious. He found Ryuichi holding Kumagoro, bouncing on the bed along with MTV.

"Hey, Sakuma-san," Shuichi said uneasily, putting his things down on the bed opposite of Ryu.

"Look, Kumagoro! It's Shu-chan!" Ryuichi chimed, hopping off the bed, instantly glomping the pink-haired vocalist.

"Eh!" Shuichi blushed, and stepped back, unconsciously pushing away the older man.

Ryuichi pouted, waving Kumagoro around. "Wha's wrong, Shu-chan? Normally you like hugs!" he mumbled unhappily.

"Sakuma-san—"

Ryuichi's frown furthered. "Shu-chan, I don't like it when you say that. It makes me feel old. You oughta call me Ryu, or Ryuichi, like everyone else. Not even my fans call me Sakuma-san," he muttered, scuffing his foot on the carpet.

"Um… I'm sorry, Saku—" Shuichi stopped as Ryuichi shot him a dark look. "Ryu-chan…" It was odd to call his idol that, but, if Ryuichi said it was alright, then it was alright.

Ryuichi brightened. "Isn't it so cool that we're roommates, Shu-chan?! It's like having a sleepover all week! We can watch music videos, and have pillow fights, and sing together, and tell scary stories, and go trick-or-treating, and fight over the bathroom, and what channel to watch on the TV, and, and, and… and lots of stuff!" the carefree singer giggled, bouncing up and down.

Shuichi couldn't help but to crack a smile. "Okay, but we need to work on our duet, 'member?" he laughed.

"Oooh, yeeaah, if we don't have it done Tohma will be mad," Ryu said thoughtfully. He jumped onto his bed, and leaned over the side, pulling out a tablet of paper and a couple of pens and throwing them over his shoulder.

Shuichi dodged the pens, but got whacked in the head with the legal pad. "Owch," he mumbled, rubbing the sore bump.

"Eeeahh! I'm sorry Shu-chan!" Ryu cried, rushing over to Shuichi.

At that moment, MTV started a special promo for their Halloween concert; the background music was Nittle Grasper's "Shining Collection".

"You're not terribly hurt, are you, Shuichi?" Ryuichi murmured, pushing back the boy's bangs.

"N-no, it just grazed by… I've been hit in the head with harder things… like dictionaries…" Shuichi mumbled, blushing at the older man's concern.

The brunette vocalist gently pressed his lips to the spot where Shuichi had been hit. Shuichi jerked back in surprise, but suddenly found himself enclosed in Ryuichi's arms.

"Sa-Sakuma…s-san?" He mumbled hesitantly.

Ryu held him for a moment longer, then pulled away, regarding Shuichi with a sad smile. "Ryu-chan," he corrected. "Sorry about hitting you with that."

Shuichi shook his head, sitting down on the bed. Ryuichi followed suit. "We should… we should get to work on our song, now," the pink-headed singer said slowly.

Ryu nodded. "What should it be about, Shu-chan?" he inquired pleasantly, leaning back onto the bed.

Shuichi bit his lip. "I was thinking you could help me with that," he admitted. "I suck at writing songs. I used to be able too… but it seems that I can't anymore." Shuichi punctuated this with a sheepish giggle.

"You can always write something. Anyone can," Ryu said after a long pause. "You just… have to hit the right… inspiration."

"What inspires you, Ryu-chan?" Shuichi asked, looking back at the reclining Ryuichi.

"Something that makes me happy above everything else: Music. My music, your music… I'm not picky about it; good music makes me happy." Shuichi smiled at that; he shared the same sentiment. All he needed was a steady beat, and a good melody, and he'd burst into song, no matter where he was. He was prone to do it a department store; it pissed the hell out of Yuki…

Yuki… now that was a thought that made him happy, but rather dampened any desire to write lyrics.

"What inspires you, Shuichi?" Ryuichi asked, cutting into Shuichi's thoughts.

"… Love, laughter, music…" murmured the pink-haired one.

A slow, warm smile crept across Ryu's face. "…All good things," Ryuichi said, rolling the words across his tongue thoughtfully. "Love is wonderful inspiration. Let's write a love song."

Shuichi nodded, and lay down on his stomach, across from Ryuichi. "That would be fun!" he giggled. "How do we start?"

"Think about someone, or something you love. Close your eyes, and let that feeling envelope you." Ryuichi said softly, closing his eyes and growing silent. His smile grew.

"What are you thinking of?"

Ryuichi opened his eyes and he smirked. "You."

For a moment, Shuichi was taken aback by this simple answer. "A-are you talking about my music?" he asked cautiously. 'Surely, that's what he means, not… not what it sounded like…'

"No. You; just you, Shuichi," Ryuichi said, reaching out to cup Shuichi's cheek in his palm.

Shuichi blushed heavily. "What? You… d'you mean that you…?"

"Shuichi, I love you."