The Gun and the Guitar

Chapter 3: A Kiss for your Thoughts

Hiro had to get control of himself around Shuichi or his best friend would drive him crazy with questions. He wasn't ready to tell Shuichi just yet. How could he? He didn't even know what K's intentions were, let alone his own. Right now they were just having fun; well, Hiro knew he had to have some feelings for the man, or else he couldn't have done all those "things" with him on the tour bus. But thinking of the future was seemingly not on the menu at the moment, there were just so many differences between them. The age gap, K was in his mid thirties and him only in his early twenties. Plus, K had a past; Hiro didn't know much about that, but there were hints at a former marriage and a kid. Hiro pushed the thoughts out of his mind. Instead, he forgot about Shuichi and dark pasts, and daydreamed as he stood under the hot spray of the shower.

K resisted the urge to go to Hiro's room and ravage him in the shower. But they really did have work to do and he was pretty bushed from all the romping on the bus anyways. Instead, he touched himself, imagining he was stranded on the tour bus with Hiro again. Ugh! He couldn't get enough of that guy now that they'd opened this can of worms. It was all he could think about it! He held his head under the water, bracing a hand against the stall as he pleasured himself. Hot imagery flashed behind his eyelids. He didn't feel so tired anymore and again thought of sneaking over to Hiro's room—which was conveniently right next door.

Hiro openedhis mouth to the water, letting his tongue loll in the spray. He pretended that K was here with him, and that his tongue would soon be swept up by his hungry American mouth.

Mmmmm...

His hand roved over his ache and massaged while dreaming that K was here with him. Hiro resisted the urge talk to himself, or rather to the imaginary K he saw getting to his knees. He trembled; his cock twitching with anticipation—it didn't take long and in moments he came into K's hot mouth...

K felt the rush in his groin, he bit back a cry with his eyes squeezed shut. He groaned and panted with the wonderful feeling of release. Damn, yes! Hiro was going to be such a wonderful distraction, a tiring one, but nonetheless a great disruption in his truly boring private life.

But K stood up in the shower, opened his eyes and murmured to himself, "Hmm, that doesn't sound right."

Not only was Hiro a lovely distraction, but K was thinking he might really have feelings for the guy—risking the thought, he wondered if Hiro might feel the same way. He waved a hand in the air, why was he rushing into these stupid thoughts?! He didn't want to rush things. He wanted to fuck Hiro's sweet little ass!

If life had taught him anything, it was that one should not to run into the line of fire—at least not without backup.

With his mind completely distracted by K, Hiro got dressed after his shower—a clean pair of jeans and a smart black button-up shirt. He tossed on his leather jacket and didn't bother even taking a seat or checking out his room. It was the same as most rooms anyways, a nice bed in the center and heavy curtains in the windows, a T.V, a self-serve coffee pot and a clean bathroom. It was mostly coloured in a soft taupe, he'd noticed that much. Instead, he grabbed his guitar case.

Hiro left his room only to find that K was leaving his as well.

Their eyes instantly met, they smiled, and a nano second later had their arms wrapped around each other, kissing madly.

They pawed and kissed until they heard an, "Oh my!"

Jumping away from each other in a flurry, both heads whipped around. They sighed in relief, hearts banging in their chests. It was only a chambermaid.

"I guess we should be more careful," Hiro said quietly. Heh, that's all he needed, was to have rumours spread around about this. He bent to pick up his guitar case that had somehow found itself on the floor.

"I could just shoot them," K stated simply and proceeded to the elevator.

Hiro laughed, following his manager, his gun-slinging bed partner, the friend with benefits? His crazy lover…?

They stepped onto the elevator, K watched Hiro wearing a thoughtful face, "A kiss for your thoughts."

Hiro smiled broadly at the cute statement but he just couldn't explain his thoughts yet. So he replied with, "I was wondering if there are camera's in this elevator."

"Of course there is," the blond answered and pointed to a small electronic device hidden under a seemingly black panel. "Why?"

"No reason really," the guitarist murmured, a blush spreading over his cheeks.

"Bullshit, you wondered if we'd get taped making out in the lift," K stated with a chortle, tugging Hiro close by his jacket. "Let them watch," he claimed roguishly, and bent to brush his lips up and along Hiro's neck. "Mmm, you smell good…"

Hiro closed his eyes, his body tingled as K stood this close. He pressed up against K, feeling that familiar yearning. Sighing, he could feel hot breath against his skin, could feel K's gun poking into his rib.

"K…we can't keep doing this," Hiro whispered as he brushed his face against K's cheek.

"Mmm…why not?" K asked softly, running his fingers through a mass of silky brown hair.

Hiro tried to find his voice in his lust intoxicated head. "I'll be…turned on all day."

K chuckled and thought he'd suffer the same disorder if they did this all the time. "But you're so worth it Hiroshi," K proclaimed intensely.

The elevator doors opened.

Hiro saw Taki Aizawa, lead singer from ASK; another popular band signed under NG just like them and also part of the Kyoto winter festival.

He jumped off of K quickly.

A few people were impatiently waiting for the elevator that they were stalling. K gingerly plucked his gun from its holster and created a chorus of gasps. The people moved out of the way in a drastic hurry! K chuckled as he got off the lift with Hiro in tow.

Taki waved 'Hi' but K pointed the magnum at the man with black hair and demanded, "You haven't seen anything right?"

Taki's eyes widened to the size of silver dollars, he shook his head no. "What are you talking about?" he asked in a panic. But he didn't stay for an answer.

K laughed and put the gun away, watching Mr. Aizawa run off in a rush, "Ha, ha!" What a riot!

Not liking Taki very much, Hiro didn't care that K just scared the crap out of him. Especially after what he did to Shuichi two years ago—blackmail could be a very ugly thing.

"Come on, Sakano and Suguru are going to kill us. We're late already. Grr! I hate being late!" K grabbed Hiro by the arm and they ran across the street and a block south to the Kyoto concert hall studio.

"WHERE HAVEYOU BEEN?!" screamed a man wearing glasses and a functional blue suit, standing outside of the studio doors, snarling and breathing audibly through his nose as he glared at K and Hiro.

Sakano, Bad Luck's producer, was at least a whole head shorter than K, but right now he seemed much taller! Even K looked a bit concerned as the man waited for an answer. But he couldn't resist and calmly explained about the snow storm on the way up, and how they'd almost gotten run over by Godzilla.

Hiro gave the man an odd look. How could K tease Sakano at a time like this?

K shrugged, but his face revealed mischief.

Sakano ignored K and said, "Fine, but we have to get everything in order so we can set up for this concert."

"Then let's get started," claimed K, clasping a hand on the knob of the studio door, but he stopped. A sound was coming from inside. A beautiful fast beat! What was this?!

Everyone rushed inside.

The three men gaped, as Suguru Fujisaki belted out some amazing new arrangement from his synthesiser. It reminded them of the first day the boy had gotten a hold of one of Bad Luck's hit singles, and literally turned it into a masterpiece! Only the youngest member of Bad Luck stopped when he saw the group staring at him. But he did smile as if he were Sylvester and had just swallowed Tweety.

"Pull the pin Hiro," K asked calmly, yet seriously as he held out a grenade on his palm.

"Huh?" he looked down at K's hand, "Whoa, I don't think so!" cried Hiro.

Sakano ran screaming to the other side of the room.

K pocketed the explosive and grabbed Fujisaki by the scruff of his white t-shirt, "Dear boy! This could just be the answer! We just need lyrics." And thinking of lyrics, K looked around for the pink fuzz. Huh? "Where's Shuichi?" K questioned, dropping Fujisaki like a bag of old laundry.

"He's late as usual, what's going on with you guys lately? Shuichi's been non-existent since we got here yesterday and you two…" Suguru cut a look at Hiro and K while he regained his composure and straightened out his shirt, "…just got here. Shouldn't you have been here like eight hours ago?"

"It's not Hiro and K's fault; they got hung up in a snow storm with the tour bus," Sakano explained.

K and Hiro shot a glance at each other.

But Sakano continued, "Shuichi! Where is that boy?!" He was now grabbing his hair.

"You know, I knew when I heard that Yuki was here, that it'd be a tough gig," K said, but shrugged, "No worries he'll be here." He would or K would make sure of it the hard way.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll be here soon," Hiro offered and uncased his guitar. He plugged it in and looked over at Suguru. "Let's work on that sound you have there, its fucking mint."

Suguru beamed at Hiro and nodded. He had been bored hanging out in this studio all day with only Sakano for company. So…he put together some new beats. Suguru gave Hiro the low down on his new score and in no time they had a rhythm going. It was a great sound, the guitar quickly blending in and giving the sound some soul.

Now, if they could only get some words to this, they'd kick Nittle Graspers butt!

After about an hour of tuning and just messing around, Shuichi came crashing through the door. He was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and it looked as though he had just thrown on clothes that had been driven over on the street for a week.

Hiro wasn't even going to ask.

K looked nonchalant at Shuichi and reached inside his jacket.

Shuichi launched himself onto his knees, he made pleading eyes at K. "Not the gun, I'm sorry! I got caught up with something."

"Don't care," K muttered and revealed a stick of gum from his pocket. He popped it into his mouth.

The singer sighed in huge relief. Now he giggled as he made his way to his microphone, still in the afterglow of Yuki's sweet kisses. "Do you think Yuki could—"

"—whoa is love, sooo sweet," K interrupted, "NOW REHEARSE!"

Shuichi yelped and looked at Hiro.

"Glad you made it, Shuichi. You won't believe what Suguru has put together. You got to hear this!" Hiro exclaimed. On his count of three, Suguru and he jammed out a new sound.

Shuichi's eyes lit up. This new sound was so alive, hot, it was incredible! And when the sound stopped the three band members all cheered and began talking at once. There was that thrill of discovering the possibility for a new hit!

"Now, if it only had some words," Sakano dribbled, driving the rusty nail back in.

The room grew quiet.

Shuichi hung his head, yeah…lyrics, he thought frustrated. It wasn't fair, Ryuichi had new lyrics and a song, Suguru came up with this amazing new sound. Man, he'd have to go somewhere and do a little soul searching for lyrics to match that sound. But he didn't have time! Two days?! All he saw in front of his eyes was this giant black hole, he watched as it sucked everything up: his house…his Nittle Grasper video collection…his sister…his Yuki doll.

Nooo!

"—like The Nothing…" he murmured distantly. He wasn't sure he could do it. There was no way he could match Suguru's genius!

Shuichi cast a glare at the boy.

Hiro knew right then to let this new song stuff drop. He chuckled lightly and patted Shuichi on the shoulder. "Hey now, let's warm up our material for Friday night…we don't want to disappoint our fans, right? Let's go through our set list."

Yes! The fans…it rang through Shuichi's mind like a mantra. He lived for his fans!

So, the band worked on the material set out for the concert two evenings from now. Since today was pretty much a write off, they jammed well into the wee morning hours. It would be one of those long nights.

Many hours later, K woke up from a lazy catnap in a studio chair. The boys were sounding good…he had no worries. But as he slept an awesome idea came to mind. He got up stiffly, stretching out the kinks.

"I don't know how you can sleep with them playing," Sakano mentioned bewildered from a chair close by. He took off his glasses from tired eyes and cleaned them with his tie.

K shrugged. "I could sleep even if the sky was falling." He studied Sakano, "You know you look like you could use forty winks. You should try it."

Sakano cast K a speechless look.

"You really need to learn to relax," K advised, "You'll live longer." He looked at the guys when they stopped working for a moment, "I'm going to go get more coffee, want some?" K asked them.

Hiro looked up. "Definitely," he said, "And food, if you don't mind."

"Sugar!" Shuichi threw in.

K ignored Shuichi's regular request for sweet stuff. "I'll find something…be right back." He wasn't just going out for coffee and food; he was going to put this new idea into action! Hiro smiled at him and K just smiled back before walking out of the studio whistling Dixie.

Yuki Eiri sat quietly at his laptop in his black pyjamas, cross-legged at the coffee table, pecking out a novel. Finally! He had a tiny moment of peace now that Shuichi was off rehearsing. But he looked at the time, two-thirty am. He didn't want to admit that he missed his crazy lover, and he couldn't stop his eyes from watching the door. Shuichi had a scary habit of just barrelling in and pouncing on him without much notice.

Eiri brushed aside a few strands of rebellious blond hair, which he kept short but in a shaggy hip style. Distracted, he picked up the last page he'd printed off and got up to get more coffee, walking off to the hotel room's small kitchenette. The lights were low, it was peaceful, just the way he liked it. He filled his cup with fragrant hazelnut coffee and read from the page in his hand.

See saw a typo and a really bad word choice. "Disillusioned? Hmm, maybe disgruntlement or…" Maybe he should just check out his thesaurus.

Pop!

Yuki blinked when he noticed the small round hole in the paper he was holding. Unnerved, he zipped around trying to find the intruder, his heart thumping from the fright.

"Who's there?" Eiri asked annoyed, but he was pretty sure he already knew the answer. There was no mistaking the tall figure and his signature ponytail, hidden in the shadows.

"K, what do you want?" Yuki groused.

From the corner of the hotel room, K said, "I need a favour."

"Some way to ask for a fucking favour," Yuki said dryly, plucking a cigarette from the pack near the coffer maker. He wandered over to his laptop and picked up his lighter. The orange flame revealed K more clearly, but then it went dark again, Yuki exhaled loudly. Sometimes Shuichi's idiot manager really pissed him off.

K wandered into the room and came to face Yuki. "Well, I don't like to beat around the bush," K explained still clutching his gun.

Yuki sucked on his cigarette. "Lemme guess, it's about Shuichi."

"That it is cowboy. Now listen," K held up a finger to keep Yuki silent, "Just listen, I think it's about time you helped out Bad Luck, namely Shuichi. You know some new lyrics perhaps? I mean, we both know you are capable of it." K sighed dramatically and put on an empathic face. "I feel so bad," he sighed again, "Suguru created this new beat, Ryuichi has this cool new song…and Shuichi has nothing…nothing. I know where this is going, Shuichi is going to let this new song eat at him and he just won't perform the way he should!" K exclaimed, tossing his arms into the air. "That would be so unfair to all his eager young fans—"

"—please, just shut up," Yuki pleaded quietly, swiping a hand over his hair. It wasn't anything that serious. Only K here reminding him of the song he wrote for Shuichi once before…only Ryuichi sang it. Sure, he wrote better songs than Shuichi but…what would Shuichi really think? "I never thought to write another song after that fiasco with Nittle Grasper. Shuichi went crazy, until…he realized," Yuki reminded K.

"Oh, I remember. But everything is different now. It'd be such a romantic gesture," K held his hands together in a lovey-dovey way. "Shuichi has mentioned so many times how he wishes you would write a song with him."

Yuki dodged the gun that K didn't realize he was waving around as he talked. "He has, huh?" Where did Tohma ever find this guy? "Look, I know…you really do everything possible for Bad Luck, but, I don't know..."

"It's my mission to take care of Shuichi," K pointed out.

Yuki knew not to get in K's way when it came to Shuichi's success. He thought for a moment about this. Shuichi really needed him, even if his lap dog was the one that came barking for help. His golden eyes looked up at K, "I think I have an idea, leave it to me."

K holstered his firearm and grinned, patting Yuki on the arm, "Groovy!" He turned to make his leave.

"Hey, out of curiosity. How did you get in here?" asked Yuki.

"From the roof," K said like it was nothing. "I came in when you went to the washroom." He chuckled as he opened the door to the room and left.

Yuki stood there blankly.

But quickly forgetting about K, Yuki went over to Shuichi's luggage. He knew exactly what bag his little lover kept his songbook in. He also knew of one particular song he'd peeked at once when Shuichi was sleeping. It was an unfinished number, it wasn't the worlds best, but he was sure he could work with it. And then Shuichi would have his song that they both wrote, in a sense. He found what he was looking for and took it with him to his laptop, he sat down.

He had some work to do.