"You have zero talent."

"Shuichiiii? Earth to Shuichi! Are you in there?"

Shuichi was pulled from his daydreams when Hiro's voice came into focus. His gaze snapped to attention to see a hand waving frantically just inches from his face. It was only then that he fully realized that his head had been firmly out in space for who knows how long really.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry Hiro."

"What's up with you today? You've hardly been paying attention at all."

"Nothing." Shuichi replied flatly. Hiro had been his closest friend for most of their lives though, so the reply left him visually suspicious; made obvious by his screwed up expression and eyebrows raised quizzically.

"Hmmm...are you still down about that guy from the other night?" The accuracy of Hiro's guess, further deflated Shuichi. He let out a long anguished sigh as he slumped in his chair and planted his face into the table with a soft thud.

"Yeah. I saw him again last night." He grumbled through a childish pout.

"Oh?"

"I saw him on the street and ended up going back to his house to try and get him to apologize."

"And?"

"He was so mean! He didn't apologize at all!" He blurted out as he jerked his head back up to look up at Hiro with pathetic puppy dog eyes, totally wounded by his failure.

"So then stop worrying about it. You can't please everyone, you know."

"I know...but he is a real writer. So he has to be right. Right?" Hiro knew more than anyone just how fragile his friend's confidence was, so it was no surprise that such a minor thing was affecting him like this. He sighed softly at Shuichi's despair and reached to ruffle his hair affectionately.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares either way?"

"I do!"

"Well...just prove him wrong then. Finish the lyrics to the new song and go show it to him or something." He replied with a casual shrug, strumming mindlessly on his guitar as he often did when his hands were otherwise idle. It was clear that the idea had taken root in Shuichi's mind right away, as Hiro watched him pop up to his feet with a more usual look of over inflated determination.

"OH! Good idea! Yeah! I'll show him! Hmph!"

"Heh, yeah you will. Now go home and get to work, dummy."

"I will! Thanks Hiro!"

With his resolve renewed, Shuichi rushed home to his cramped apartment to get right to work. He honestly wasn't entirely sure why he did care so much about the opinion of someone that was essentially a stranger to him; but it was just a fact he just couldn't deny. Perhaps it was something about the sort of aura the man had; a kind of pressure that Shuichi could feel emanating from him straight away. If he hadn't known any better, he would have chalked that strange feeling up to the fact that the man was an alpha, but Shuichi had spent most his life in very close proximity to all sorts of alphas, and had never felt something like this from any of them. Surely it was just something about Yuki himself. No matter the reason, the fact remained that Shuichi was compelled to make a better impression on the man, so he saw no point in worrying over the details.

The whole situation actually worked well to fuel Shuichi well into the early hours of the morning. He lost count of how many times he had finished an entire set of lyrics, just to crumple up the pages and start over from scratch. He found himself seeing each word and line through a critical lens that he never had before; just imagining what Yuki might have to say about each one. It wasn't until the sun had just started to peak over the horizon that he finally had something that he was not only satisfied with, but incredibly proud of.

With the work done, Shuichi hauled himself into the shower just long enough to wash away the previous night, and then collapsed into his bed to rest. He still had to be at the studio in a handful of hours, but figured he could at least take a nap before he had to leave; the feeling of satisfaction with his work helping to lull him quickly off to sleep.

Naturally, he overslept, so was totally frantic when he leapt up from bed to get dressed. He was running far too late to really make himself terribly presentable, but at least managed to find some clean shorts to slip into and a mostly clean tank top to yank over his head. Once dressed with hair half brushed, he grabbed his precious cross body shoulder bag and darted out the door to meet Hiro at the studio.

He ended up an entire hour late to rehearsal when all was said and done, which earned him quite the lecture from both Hiro and . He was sure to make up for it however, by proudly showing off the new song and working extra hard in the studio for the whole rest of the afternoon. Spurred on by his recent personal success, he was able to really give it his all. His hard work was enough to appease Hiro at the very least, and by the time they were done for the day, Hiro had showered him in all manner of praise for all he had accomplished. Once they were all done, Shuichi grabbed his bag and made a bee line for the door before anyone else had even started to pack it in.

"Where are you going so fast?" Hiro inquired as he more lazily packed up his guitar and other equipment, never really being in a rush to go anywhere.

"To Yuki's! I wanna show him the new lyrics."

"Oh right. So that's why you worked so hard today, huh?"

"Heh, yup! He is going to have to apologize to me for sure now."

"Well just be careful. Don't forget about our date coming up." Hiro called lovingly after him in a melodramatic tone.

"Shut up Hiro! It's not a date!"

"Heh, whatever. Go on then."

Shuichi had grown accustomed to that sort of teasing from Hiro, so easily laughed it off as he made a hasty exit. They two had had these 'dates' every month now since they were teenagers, but of course it wasn't really like that. It had just become a part of their normal routine really, though Shuichi didn't like to give it much thought. He was set to push those thoughts from his mind even more so now as he hustled out of the building and down to the bustling street below. He normally didn't like to take taxis, but today he was just too eager for his mission to make the trek to Yuki's home on foot. It was a doable walk by any account, but still a car would be faster. He hailed a cab as soon as he got out to the street, and nearly threw himself inside once it had stopped, feeling as though his excitement would simply burst from his chest if he stayed still for too long.

The ride was short, about ten minutes from the NG building, but still it felt like an eternity before he was arriving at his destination. Once the car had stopped, he paid the fare and immediately ran up the short drive way to ring the bell beside the door of the single family home. As he waited for an answer, he took the opportunity to take a better look at the very stylish building, now that he was seeing it in the daylight for the first time. It really did look like someplace that only someone incredibly cool and mysterious would live. Before he knew it, Shuichi was daydreaming about what it might be like to live here with the author; despite how irrational thoughts like that were. He was pulled from his daydream suddenly when the door clicked open to reveal the tall blonde with his usual stoic, albeit sour, expression.

"Yuki!"

"Go away." He said coldly and tried to close the door straight away.

"Hey, wait a second! I need to talk to you!" Shuichi replied as he stomped a foot in the doorway to block it from closing fully. It wasn't quite breaking and entering. More like, dodging an ejection from the premises. Surely that wasn't terribly illegal.

"I'm busy. Stop coming here, stalker."

"As if! Let me in!" He whined and bore what little body weight he had against the door.

The effort suddenly shifted his weight in such a way that it threw him off balance, sending him tumbling off his feet, through the doorway and down to land bodily on top of Yuki just inside the entryway, having brought the man down with him.

"S-sorry! Sorry!"

This was the first time he had made physical contact with Yuki. Normally he wouldn't think a thing of it, but he was perplexed and taken aback when he suddenly felt something odd. It was almost like a static shock, but more intense somehow. Not painful persay, but intense like nothing he had felt before. It was a sensation that was totally foreign to him, and one that moved across his whole body like a wave until it went right through his chest like a shot. He wasn't given enough time to even process the feeling however, let alone dissect it further.

"Get off me, you damn brat!"

Yuki growled and roughly shoved the smaller boy off of him so he could get back up onto his feet. The shove had been less of a conscious effort, and much more of a knee jerk reaction to the exact same sort of feeling that had overtaken Shuichi. He too had never felt such a thing. Though he would never admit as much out loud, the feeling actually terrified him right to his core the second he felt it. He had always despised anything that made him feel like he was out of control in any way, and that sudden shock made him feel almost like his senses had departed from his mind entirely. Once he was freed and back on his feet, Yuki quickly shuffled out of the entryway and down the short hallway to the living room; determined to remove himself from the uncomfortable feeling and situation. Shuichi was quick to pop back on his own feet as well. Not one to be discouraged, he followed right behind Yuki with no regard for being invited in or any other sort of polite gestures.

"Hey! Are you going to talk to me?!" Shuichi called after the man.

"Are you giving me a choice?" Yuki replied as he rounded a corner into the spacious living room where he dropped himself down into a seat on the black leather couch that lined the far wall of the room.

Shuichi found that he was suddenly incredibly nervous about this encounter. It felt almost like that strange sensation had simply drained all of his resolve that he had worked so hard to muster. Still, he followed right behind until stopping to stand in front of Yuki where he sat. He had been so confident in this plan before, but now being here in the man's home, surrounded by his scent and that harsh overbearing feeling of pressure, he realized that his heart was now racing like mad in his chest. He knew he had to follow through though, dead set on proving himself in Yuki's eyes. He took a few deep breaths, and dug around in his bag for a sheet of paper. His hands were trembling ever so slightly when he held the sheet out towards Yuki for him to take.

"Here! I worked really hard on this! You're wrong about me. I want you to apologize." He said in the most sturdy tone he could come up with under the circumstances; which ended up being decent enough all things considered.

He watched as Yuki just glared up at him for a long moment, apparently happy to just ignore everything in front of him for as long as possible. He held his ground, giving the paper a little shake until Yuki snatched it from his hand. Shuichi was tense all over as he watched the intimidating figure read over the lyrics he had worked so hard on all through the night.

"Still sucks." The reply came quickly and callously. "You should accept that you're just a talentless beta loser."

With those words, Shuichi's hopes were ruthlessly bashed to pieces, like so many shards of broken glass. He was stunned to silence at first, but the wounded feelings were quickly replaced with a sense of righteous indignation.

"Eh?! That's mean! Just because you're some big shot alpha author, doesn't mean you can look down on others like that!"

"That's exactly what it means. You whiny brat."

Shuichi hated that sort of attitude. Alphas thinking that they are better than everyone no matter what; it just wasn't right. His sense of injustice quickly commingled with his previous wounded feelings, all of which were now bubbling over inside him. His frustrations totally ran rampant at that moment, and before he could stop himself, he suddenly reeled back and slapped Yuki hard across the face. He gasped and swiftly recoiled from the action once he realized what he had done. He didn't know what to expect in response, so took a small step backwards away from Yuki, just to be safe.

"Um…I'm sorry." He said weakly in an attempt to walk this back.

Yuki was totally stunned that anyone, let alone some beta nobody, would dare to lay their hands on him. It took of all his will power to not just explode and let loose on this wisp of a boy that so gravely offended him. For a moment, he could only sit there in fury as he glared intensely at him.

Shuichi's terror grew rapidly with each passing second that Yuki remained still and silent with that deadly look on his face. His dread came to a head when Yuki suddenly jolted from his seat and reached to grab him up by the collar of his tank top to pull him in close and hold him there.

"You're really stupid if you think I'm not going to kick your ass for that." Yuki hissed in a low and deep voice that made Shuichi tremble all over.

Yuki didn't care in the slightest when he felt the boy shaking like a leaf in his grasp. He was so overcome with fury and disdain by this point that he was actually feeling a bit dizzy from it. No matter though. It had been enough of a waste of his time to even bother with the obnoxious brat in the first place, so the slap was something he just couldn't let go unanswered.

Shuichi's trembling soon abated and was replaced with tension. His muscles stiffened as he braced himself for some sort of assault. Before one could come however, he was forced into awareness of a much more pressing issue. He realized with a start, that being this close had ignited something deeply within him. His head began to swim, blurring his vision and calling forth tears to the corners of his eyes. Then, much to his horror, he felt the all too familiar searing heat that was quickly gathering in a pit in his stomach. He couldn't be sure what had caused the change. Perhaps it was his heightened emotions, the man's good looks, or just his oppressive alpha presence. Whatever it was, it was making his body react intensely. He knew that getting outed now would be the end of everything. There was no choice but to fight. Luckily, his sense of self preservation leapt into action. He began to struggle against the man's grip with the ferocity of an animal in a snare, clawing aimlessly at the hand holding him in place.

"H-hey! Let me go, Yuki!" He squealed. He knew if this close contact went on much longer, there would be no hope left of making it out of this unscathed or undiscovered.

Yuki could barely hear the words as they trickled through his ears; drowned out by the sound of his own heart thumping loudly in his head. He couldn't even recall ever being this angry before now that he thought about it. Had he been thinking rationally, he would have known that this level of emotional response was wholly inappropriate for the relatively minor offense, even for him. He wasn't thinking rationally though. He shook his head slightly then, trying to clear his mind enough to think of an appropriate punishment. It was only then that he noticed the smell of something sweet sinking into his senses. It was a scent that was so close to familiar that he could almost taste it. A perfume maybe? Or perhaps some strange shampoo or body wash this boy was wearing? He couldn't help but be curious about its source. So much so that he actually relaxed his grip slightly and pulled the boy in even closer.

"Hm? What is that…" He began but trailed off as he tried to make sense of all this.

Shuichi felt the man's hand relax just enough, and he thought this might be his only chance. Before he could weigh the options further, he gathered all his strength he had left and channeled it into one good shove; pushing Yuki backwards onto the sofa, freeing himself from his hold, and giving him the chance to make a break for it. He took that chance without hesitation; grabbing his bag from where it had slipped from his shoulder onto the floor, and making a mad dash out of the room. He scrambled his way down the hall until he went bursting through the front door. His heart was pounding as he forced himself to keep going all the way down the drive and out onto the sidewalk. He didn't even have the presence of mind to make out in any particular direction, and instead just bolted full speed down the street in whatever way he was pointing. Anything to put as much space as possible between him and Yuki.

Shuichi ran hard with everything that he had until he was sure that he wasn't being followed. Once he felt like he was in the clear, he slowed from a run to a jog, then had to stop to pant and catch his breath. He was bent over with his hands on his knees as he gasped for air to fill his burning lungs. It didn't take long at that point for him to realize that he was still burning up wretchedly. His insides ached painfully in that way that he had come to despise so much. For now at least, he thankfully still had his wits about him, giving him thought enough to know that he couldn't be caught out in the open like this. Despite the panicked state he was in, he just had the wherewithal to duck into a nearby alley. His legs felt like they would give at any second, so he only managed to make it a few more feet before he slumped against the brick wall and slid down to be seated on the rough gravely pavement.

"No no no…why now?!" He exclaimed to himself as he flung his bag off his shoulder to dig frantically through its meager contents until he found what he was looking for: a small green bottle of prescription medication. His hands were shaking dreadfully as he fumbled with the cap and just barely managed to shake out a few of the pills and swallow them dry. He wasn't sure if they were even going to have any effect at this point, but he certainly had to try. As a backup plan, he quickly pulled out his cell phone to punch in the speed dial digit for Hiro before he possibly lost the ability to do so. Thankfully, the line clicked to life after only a couple rings.

"Shuichi?"

"Hiro! Come pick me up, please!"

"Whoa, what's the matter? Where are you?" Shuichi could hear the reply clearly enough, but the fact that he was only barely able to comprehend the words, told him that he was indeed running out of time.

"Main…and Cedar. Alley. H-Hurry…" He panted out, his free hand now buried his lap in a weak effort to cover the state he was in. He wanted to add onto his directions, but he could no longer even keep his hands steady enough to hold the phone. He tried to hold on but just couldn't and so the phone slipped from his grasp to clatter onto the pavement.

Shuichi's mind faded in and out of coherence after that. Time seemed to stretch out and warp in front of him until he had no idea how long it had even been since he had placed the call. Fearing that Hiro wouldn't make it to him before anyone else happened by, he was sure that this was finally going to be his undoing. After all his hard work, after everything he had done to maintain some semblance of normality in his life, it all ended here, in some dirty alley all alone. He had just resigned himself to his fate, when faintly, he heard a familiar voice calling to him.

"Shuichi!" Hiro shouted as he rounded the corner to the mouth of the alley. He had to snap a hand up to cover his face partially upon his approach to the curled up figure on the ground. He knew that scent right away and he knew now that the situation was dire.

"Hiro…mngh…" Shuichi managed to reply between panting breaths.

"Ngh...seriously?! Did you not take your meds?!" Hiro exclaimed as he willed himself to keep his own senses about him enough to lean down and quickly gather Shuichi up into his arms.

"I-I did! It's not working! So hot…it hurts!" He whimpered pathetically as he barely comprehended his body being shifted about in Hiro's arms.

Now that he was off the ground, he could feel that he was not only drenched in sweat, but his shorts were already soaked through. Normally this would embarrass him just about to death, but right now it took all of his brain power just to keep himself from attacking Hiro right there in the alley. Embarrassment was just going to have to wait until after he made it out of this mess, if he made it out at all.

"F-fuck...this is bad Shuichi." Hiro muttered more to himself than anything else. "We aren't going to make it to my place. I have a place we can go a couple blocks from here. Can you hang in there?"

"Hurry Hiro...please…" He pleaded as he clung to his friend and buried his face in his shirt, hoping his scent would help relieve some of his pain or calm him down. It didn't, but it was a small comfort nonetheless.

"Right. Just hang on." Hiro wasn't sure how much more of this he could take himself before he did something he had sworn against, but he managed to keep focused for the time being.

Shuichi could only focus on the pain and heat that totally consumed him, mind and body, as he was carried off down the street. He hadn't known exactly how they got there or where exactly 'there' even was, but before he knew it, he felt his body laid down onto something cool and soft. A mattress most likely, though a mattress where, he couldn't even guess. He looked up just in time to watch Hiro's figure move away from him, towards, and then out the door of what, from what he could tell, was a normal bedroom.

"Hiro!" He cried and wriggled himself to the edge of the bed so he could haul himself up onto shaking legs with relative success. He couldn't stand the idea of being alone at that moment. Not in a rational sort of way either. In a way that made him like he would very actually die if he were left alone. The fear drove him to wobble the entire distance to the door in pursuit. The door had been slammed closed by the time he had collapsed into a pitiful pile on the floor, just having reached it and failed to turn the handle.

"Shuichi...can you manage it on your own?" Hiro called gently through the door, already feeling more in control now that there was at least a door between them.

Shuichi was comforted by the sound of Hiro's voice. It allowed him to at least smother the blind panic of being left totally alone. Despite that, he was still absolutely at the limit of his restraint. He held onto the sound of Hiro's voice to keep him somewhat grounded as he finally kicked his way out of his shorts and boy short boxers in preparation for what came next.

"I-ill try...please don't leave!" He managed to squeak out helplessly, just before his normal self retracted and was replaced with the mindless beast that lived inside him.

"I won't. I'll be right here, Shuichi. I'll always be right here."

"Terrified of what's inside, to save his life, he crawls like a worm from a bird."

TBC