HIROSHI NAKANO ENGAGED?!

Read the headline to the newest issue of Insider by some famous magazine corporation. Hiroshi Nakano purchased his own issue, scanning it wildly in amazement. He wondered how the news had spread so soon, how it had even gotten out so quick in order for people to hear... It couldn't have possibly been Shuichi's doing... Shuichi had probably ranted about it around Suguru and K... but, why would he go tell the presses when he himself had problems with the news? For a moment, Hiro had even considered Sakano... or maybe Tohma Seguchi, but... What would they want to do that for?

Not like the news was a secret, or a bad thing... It was just amusing how if Bad Luck ate brunch at a local restaurant that people would put it in the highest press magazines. Did they do anything for money?

"Look! It's Nakano-kun!"

"Too bad he is engaged... I didn't think he had a serious girlfriend!"

"I heard it was to some girl that used to be engaged to Eiri Yuki..."

"You think?"

Hiro laughed to himself, clutching the magazine at his side as he walked to his motorcycle.

In his mind, he wished he had never gotten engaged... He wished that the girl he was with now didn't seem so attatched to him... Hiro thought that was why he even asked for her hand in marraige... Because he didn't want to break up with her. Because he felt bad thinking about her reaction.

Why did girls have to be so damn emotional and clingy?

Who Hiro was really in love with was already taken... was already planning on spending their life with the current lover they were seeing. Hiro hated the way he couldn't have that one person that he fell in love with. He wasn't even sure that love would be accepted if he admitted it.

He wasn't sure that Shuichi would accept it.

Hiro looked at his motorcycle like it was a foreign object to all human life. His helmet dangled from one of the handles, the dim light reflecting off the red flames sliding across it. He looked at it too... blinking away the sadness he felt by not being able to be in Yuki's place.

He wanted to be the one that took care of Shuichi... the one that was able to... Hiro sighed, pulling the helmet over his head and then tossing his hair over his shoulders. He mounted the motorcycle like a pro, starting it with a loud roar.

"Hiro... I really do love Yuki... But do you think maybe i cause him a little too much trouble? I hate feeling like i am slowing him down..." Shuichi said as he looked down. It was starting to rain, and both men walked out of the N-G PRO building side-by-side.

Hiroshi looked at Shuichi with a sort of worry and yet amusement. Shuichi obsessed constantly over making Yuki love him like a lover should. All he ever really talked about was making Yuki happy, and living with Yuki. As much as Hiro wanted to be happy that his best friend was with the novelist... he just couldn't bring himself to it. He hated the way Yuki treated Shuichi, making him cry on occassion, pushing him around like a little animal. It was worse than that to Hiro, though.

He never failed to stand up for Shuichi whenever the boy needed it. Hiro made sure to always be there.

"No, Shuichi..."

Hiro felt the wind whip through the legnth of his hair as he sped off on his motorcycle. He clenched his teeth together tight, grinding them when he came to a turn. He felt so much like he would fall off, like the cycle would turn over on a wide curve, sending him to an ultimate death.

Shuichi never really liked that motorcycle.... And that was precisely the reason Hiro had gotten it... Like a little joke to himself.

It never felt more exhilirating than when Hiro was riding at a speed of over seventy on his motorcycle. He never felt such a rush... not even when he was on stage, playing his guitar in front of tens of thousands of people. All the fans that had accumulated since Bad Luck performed with Ryuichi Sakuma... an opening act fro ASK.

Hiro remembered just how happy Shuichi looked up there with the one man they both idolized during their childhood. The very vocalist from the band that motivated Hiro and Shuichi to even start Bad Luck. It was their band, something they had created together and they were great. Several times in the past two years, they had gone platinum. Millions of copies sold, tickets sold out in an hours time. They were almost as phenomenal as Nittle Grasper.

But Hiro and Shuichi never gave themselves enough credit when they were compared to Nittle Grasper.

Hiro wanted so much just to be next to Shuichi all the time... not just hanging out and whenever they were in the studio. Hiro wanted to be there... all the time, no matter what the circumstances. It was the reason why he played with so much passion, and if Hiro were the one singing, his lyrics would carry the hidden meaning of what he felt. They wouldn't all be about Yuki.... not the way Shuichi played them out to be. Hiro felt he had much more passion for Shuichi than Shuichi did for Yuki. And he chose to hide it for his own consequences.

The passion he felt was that of a burning effect... Butterflies, stomach turns, the works. It was all that and more when he saw his best friend.

Why did Hiro have to be so secretive? It was the one thing he would never let out. The one thing he hoped would never be let out to the fans. Not now that he was engaged to Yuki's ex-fiancee, Ayaka.

Hiro stood at the door to Eiri Yuki's apartment, staring at the doorbell with slight hesitation. He reached out to push the button several times, but always jerked his hand back away. What if Yuki answered? What would Hiro do then? Would he be able to ask for Shuichi so casually and then hope that Yuki would let him in... like a nice, normal person would?

Probably not.

Hiro smirked a little to himself, almost going to turn around from the door when it opened and a shadow stopped in its tracks. Hiro stopped as well, looking back in the corner of his eyes at what looked like a small patch of pink. It was Shuichi.

"Hiro? Is that you?" Shuichi's voice sounded, he poked himself fully out from the doorway and cocked his head to the side.

"Uh, yeah." Hiro turned to his best friend and smiled small, "Is Yuki there too?"

Shuichi looked a little sad the way he turned his head back into the apartment, "No... He left a while ago. I think i pissed him off."

"Then can i come in? I kinda wanted to talk to you alone anyways."

"Sure." Shuichi moved backwards into the apartment as Hiro let himself in, throwing his leather jacket onto the floor and then flopping down upon the couch, where Shuichi's pillow and blanket were. Hiro folded arms over his chest, "You can't even sleep on the bed in his bedroom?"

Shuichi trudged in, head bowed, "Well... last night Yuki was typing, and i fell asleep waiting for his bedroom light to go off so i could join him. I dunno how i ended up on the couch though, i guess Yuki carried me here." He sat down next to Hiro.

Hiro rolled his eyes, "You would think that he'd take you back to his room so you could sleep together."

Shrug, "What did you want to talk about, Hiro? Everything okay? Is it about the whole Nakano engaged article in Insider?"

Hiro stretched, "Yes and no."

"What do you mean... 'yes and no'? Isn't it true?"

"Yeah, i asked Ayaka to marry me. But there is something i have been needing to tell you. Shuichi i don't wanna marry her. I don't want to be with her at all."

Shuichi rose a brow over his other one a little bewildered and he sat Indian style on the couch. He looked at Hiro with that same confusion, "But you look so happy with her."

"It's not what it looks like. I mean, sure, i used to want to be with her. It's just now... I think i am in love with someone else."

Hum, "Is it Suguru?"

Hiro reeled back, "Hell no!"

"So it's a girl, then?"

"Well...."

"Oh god, Hiro..." Shuichi leaned a little closer to his best friend, hand over his mouth in amazement, "Is it K?"

Hiro pushed Shuichi away, sliding off the couch to stand. The male paced a little, back and forth from one spot to the other nervously. How could he tell his best friend that he was in love with him? Hiro felt like he would never live up to be the one that Shuichi fell in love with. But Hiro knew he would be a better match for him... He knew Shuichi wouldn't get hurt if he was Hiro's lover. Hiro would never do a thing to hurt him. No, never.

Shuichi watched the way Hiro almost scrambled across the floor with a distressed look on his face. It was comical to see Hiro in a difficult position, one that Shuichi had seen rarely. He never even lost his cool when they messed up on stage. Hiro was always the thoughtful, smart and witty one.

"Shuichi... I..."

"Eh?"

"Well, I..." Hiro stopped pacing after that cut-off, and sighed heavily.

"Wait... Is it my Yuki? Because Hiro that would be a little weird! I can't let you fall in love with Yuki! It would destroy us and i don't think i would be able to fight over him! Hiro please tell me it's not Yuki!" Shuichi panicked, somehow managing to latch onto Hiro's legs and hold them to his chest.

Hiro sighed, "It's definitely not Mr. Yuki." The sigh gave Shuichi a sort of heavy relief, making him release his arms and a long held breath.

Hiro kicked him away, "I don't think i can tell you."

"Sure you can, Hiro... you can tell me anything!"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" Shuichi laughed in disbelief, throwing his arms in the air as he jumped to his feet. Shuichi grasped Hiro's shoulders tight, shaking the teen violently, "What do you mean maybe? You know damn well that you can tell me anything no matter what it is. I'll never judge you for who you love, Hiro! You don't judge me, that's what true friends are for!"

Hiro looked away from Shuichi as he gave him a long speech on friendship. Hiro felt like a really bad friend, falling in love with Shuichi was all but planned. He never expected to feel this way about the one boy he grew up with... The same boy that he took baths with when they were little.

Shuichi rambled and rambled, digressing the fact beyond the point of no return. Hiro didn't think he would ever be quieted without help, and the moment a single thought came to his mind... Hiro blushed and swallowed hard a lump that instantly formed there in his throat.

'He would most certainly flip out on me about how he is with Yuki... and then the reaction to what i did...? Great...'

But he really had no other choice, Shuichi was stopless when he ranted. There was no other way than to...

Hiro turned his head around, and Shuichi watched it all like it were in slow motion. Hiro was leaning in... closer and closer with each slow-moving second. The man eventually touched lips with Shuichi, making him gasp and then fall back in shock. Hiro kept his lips close to Shuichi's, tasting his best friend and shaping him for comfort.

Shuichi merely sat there dumbfounded, arms holding him up as Hiro continued to kiss him most passionately... It was like the kiss would never end... Until both men heard a key in the lock, and felt the breeze from the door as it was pushed open.

Yuki stood at the door with a cigarette in his mouth, and at the time was looking down at the ground, complaining under his breath about something sticky on his new shoes. He looked up seconds later catching what was a glimpse of two people practically lying on his floor on top of one another. Yuki figured it to be Tatsuha, once again trying to take advantage of Shuichi for the reason that Shuich looked so much like Ryuichi Sakuma to him. But when he saw the image of Hiroshi Nakano locking lips with his boyfriend, Shuichi... Yuki felt a spark of anger set him off. He felt like he could crush something with his hand, and the door knob became a little mangled by force.

Shuichi pushed Hiro away from him at the same time, turning his head over to Yuki with scared eyes. They filled with tears instantly, and the averting actions between Yuki and Hiro with Shuichi's eyes made everyone dizzy.

It was as if Shuichi made the biggest mistake of his life, and Hiro stood out of the way when Shuichi jumped up and burst over to Yuki, apologizing and explaining how it was not his fault.

It was just what Hiro would have expected... and he wasn't sure that Shuichi would ever understand now.