AN: This is my first Fanfic so hope you enjoy. I forgot to mention that this is not beta-ed so if there are any problems please tell me.
Gravitation and its characters are not mine but belong to Maki Murakami. . KL Records, Illusionary Escape, Denzel, and Daniel are mine.
Summary: Shuichi finally reaches his breaking point and leaves the country to start anew. He gets a new name, new band, and changes everything about himself. When he finally returns to Japan with his new friends, will he return to his old life or keep his new one?
Normal
Dream
Ch 6: Hiro and Alex Talk
The next morning, Alex wakes up to find Braden sleeping beside him. He remembers the events of the night before and frowns. He moves a hair from Braden's forehead to kiss him. Braden moves and hold him tighter. Alex smiles and giggles at his antics. He whispers into his ear in a sing-song manner, "Bra-den. It's time to get up. Or else I will ravage you." Alex nips Braden's earlobe and licks it. Braden shivers and wakes up with more than morning wood. He looks up at his lover and smirks.
"You know better than to arouse me in my sleep, Alex. Now you will be punished."
The other band members wakes up to banging, screams, laughter, and finally a thump on the floor. They just go into their shower to drown out the sounds or raise the volume of the televisions and radios. They all smile knowing that at the very least Alex wasn't depressed anymore.
When everyone was dressed and ready to go, they all pile into the van to go to NG. The ride there wasn't as long as before since most people weren't up yet so traffic hadn't started.
When they go the practice room, they find the other guys already strumming and practicing. Tohma looks over first and gets everyone's attention.
"Now that all the bands are all here, it would be best to start the official introduction."
"As you know I am Alex and we are Illusionary Escape. You met Braden yesterday. The one with the emerald green guitar is the lead guitarist, Leo Mitchell. The one with the highlights in his hair and wearing a red and black shirt is the drummer, Valentino Rizzo. The one with an unlit cigarette in his mouth and has a few ear piercing is our bass guitarist, Jacob Knight. I hope we can get along and make this performance a success.
Everyone continues their introductions. The rest of the day is full of organizing the songs and what would match for each song, and half the time they rehearsed their songs so everyone could hear its sound.
When it was time for everyone to take a break, Denzel brought in food for Illusionary Escape. The rest of the bands did what they usually did for lunch. Hiro walks up to try to eat with the group.
"Hey is it ok to sit and eat with you? As you know I am the guitarist of Bad luck."
The group nods and moves over a bit to give Hiro room to sit. After he sits down, he looks over to Alex.
"Alex, may I know how your band got started?"
"Sure, it actually started with me and Braden. Braden's parents became my guardians after my parents died and I told them that I wanted to start a band. They introduced me to Braden and we hit it off after that. I met Jacob on a smoke break and became good friends. The three of us started performing at local street clubs and made a name for ourselves. We met Leo and Valentino together after one of our gigs. They were our fans and when they told me that they also played, I gave them a shot of joining us. One day, Denzel walked up to us with an offer to be professional musicians. We were ecstatic! Ever since then we made our ascent to be the best band around."
"That is awesome! You had a better start than we did. Bad Luck started as a high school band and dream between me and my best friend. We joined NG and later on Tohma brought Suguru in as our keyboardist. When my best friend died, we had to replace him with Suzuki."
Everyone notices Hiro's solemn look. Alex feels a sting of pain course through his body but ignores it and grabs Braden's hand under the table. Braden looks over and squeezes back. Alex relaxed and smiles.
"I feel for you. I know what it is like to lose someone important. Like I said, I lost my parents. It hurt and I cried for days. May I ask why you kept the band after your best friend died?"
"He left me a letter to move on and continue our dream. He asked me to look for a new singer and love for the future? I have known him for so long but that thought made me angry and cry at first. After a while, I decided I would use the band to help keep his spirit alive. His love of music inspires us and many of his fans today."
"You have a strong bond and I respect your loyalty to your friend as well as to your band. I know your best friend must be looking at you and smiling."
Hiro nods and wipes a tear that managed to fall. He could see Shuichi in his mind smiling and jumping around. He missed him but he promised to smile and look to the future.
"This may sound weird but you do look like my best friend a little. At the very least you have his eye color. The only difference with them is that yours is filled with sadness and pain except when you are with your band. My best friend's, Shuichi, eyes were full of hyper-active happiness and mischief."
Alex moves closer to Braden. He starts fill uncomfortable after getting a few flashback of his old life.
"My life was full of pain and angst so I am not that trusting of people or my emotions. I saw the pains of life and I don't try to hide it with fake smiles. I am honest and blunt when I need to be. Can I ask you to not compare me with a person full of naïve dreams and an innocent perspective of life? I am not trying to be mean, so no offense please, but it make me feel uncomfortable? It reminds me of my past that I try not to think about?"
"I am sorry; I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."
"Just drop the subject, please."
"Can I ask you one more on this topic that I will stop?"
"I guess, but be brief."
"What happened in your past that makes you cringe and move closer to your lover? If it is not too much to ask and you don't have to answer, but I am curious."
Alex grips Braden's hand and leans into his shoulder for comfort.
"I won't answer till I feel that I can trust you. Sorry, but I will say that I didn't always feel loved. My parents didn't help me either."
Braden takes Alex out of the room to help him get fresh air. Alex is holding back his tears. Inside the room, people were quiet and felt bad. The air was thick of pity, anger, and confusion. Denzel notifies everybody that practice would be proposed a bit.
"It seems that Alex doesn't feel well and it would be best to let him rest. I will notify everyone when it would be best to practice again soon. I am sorry for the inconvenience."
Everyone leaves to head to their homes or hang out with friends. Hiro walks to Yuki's house. Hiro needs someone to talk to about his thoughts on Illusionary Escape's singer, Alex, and his dead best friend, Shuichi. He knows that only Yuki would believe him and understand him.
AN: What are Hiro and Yuki going to do? Will Alex be discovered? What is the story behind Alex's past? Till next time…
P.S.:I wanted to thank the following people for taking the time to read and comment. Even if it was just critique my writing or say how much you love my story. I appreciate the support from my story followers as well.
Guest Reviewers: Soulier, Redrosey18, and Guest
Account reviewers: Lilly Bri and Shadow Kitsune67
Story Followers: Dezzy14, Lilly Bri, Lori de Bartoni, SadisticArts, Shadow Kitsune67, key1524, and midnight13731