Part 3

Die and Kaoru ran out in the rain to the little truck Toshiya had borrowed from his uncle to move. They each grabbed as many boxes as they could before running back into the apartment. It took only a couple trips between
the five of them before all of Toshiya's things were, slightly damp, sitting just inside the door of the apartment.

They all removed their shoes and jackets and flopped onto the living room floor. Kyo threw himself carelessly into Kaoru's lap, and hugged him until Kaoru shoved him off roughly.

"Get off Kyo! You're all wet."

Kyo pouted for a second before crawling across the carpet to sit next to Toshiya.

"Nya! Who needs you anyway!" Kyo stuck out his tongue at Kaoru. "I'll just sit by Toshiya."

After a moments silence Die sat up and spoke.

"I think we need to have a housewarming celebration for Toshiya! Let's go out for a drink!"

Kyo pointed at Shinya.

"Shin-chan can't come, he's too young. We'll have to leave him here."

"Wha…" Shinya started before he realized Kyo was joking. Everyone broke out in laughter.

"We can take Shin-chan along. They won't even notice him." Kaoru suggested.

Shinya pouted and looked the other way.

"Maybe I don't want to go with you bunch of low-life's!"

"Aww, Shinya. Don't listen to them. You have to go. I'll be sad it you don't." Toshiya cooed.

Shinya's expression softened.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well I…"

Die laughed again and grabbed Shinya, hauling him to his feet. Shinya was flustered and tried to regain his dignity while Die spoke.

"We should go if we want to go out before Shinya really is legal."

***

Toshiya stared with glazed eyes across the table at his friends. Shinya had gotten very drunk and was now snoring softly into Die's shoulder. Die was not nearly as drunk as his sleeping companion but was definitely
feeling the effect of the alcohol.

Toshiya looked into his own lap where Kyo was sleeping. He was curled up on the bench, his head pillowed on one arm. Toshiya brushed his fingertips through Kyo's hair and stared absently into space.

Kaoru was, hey where the hell was Kaoru? Toshiya looked around the bar and saw him in a corner chatting with some girl. She was short and had bright green hair. Toshiya scoffed. I thought Kaoru and Kyo… He looked down
again at Kyo who was wriggling in his lap.

"Kaoru." Kyo said, half-whining in his sleep. Toshiya felt sorry for Kyo. The little vocalist twisted his body around and called out for Kaoru again.

"Ne, Die. Maybe we should go home now?" Toshiya ask groggily.

"Uh, Yes? What about Kaoru?" Die jerked his head in Kaoru's direction.

"Forget him. He's busy." Toshiya remarked bitterly as he gathered Kyo in his arms to leave.

***

Toshiya walked through the door of his and Kyo's apartment carefully so as not to disturb Kyo, who was slung on his back. Die followed him inside carrying Shinya, like a bride across the threshold. They had managed to
wake him enough to stand up and leave the bar but it hadn't taken long until Shinya was again ready to sleep.

Toshiya kicked off his shoes while trying to balance Kyo without dropping him. Then he turned to Die.

"Ne, Die. Take off Kyo's shoes for me?" Die obliged after setting Shinya down in a corner of the entryway.

Toshiya hauled Kyo into his bedroom and swung him around until he slid off his back. Toshiya sat Kyo down on the floor and tried to loosen his arms from around his neck.

"Kyo-chan?" Toshiya patted Kyo cheek softly. "Kyo-chan wake up for a sec." Kyo mumbled incoherently and pulled himself closer to Toshiya. "Kyo-chan!" Toshiya hissed.

He yanked on Kyo's arms hard, pulled them off his neck. Kyo slumped to the floor like a dead weight.

It had begun to pour again on their walk home. It was not far but Kyo's jacket and most of his clothing was soaked. Toshiya tugged off the dripping jacket and threw over the back of a nearby chair to dry.

"Kyo-chan." Toshiya tried to wake Kyo up again. Kyo reached up and grabbed at the wet collar of Toshiya's shirt.

"Kaoru?" Kyo opened his eyes slightly. "You're not Kaoru."

"I know that." Toshiya pulled Kyo until he was sitting up. "Come on sweetie. You're all wet." He helped Kyo off with his wet clothes then rummaged though his dresser drawers until he found something dry for him to sleep
in.

By the time Toshiya was finished dressing Kyo, the little vocalist was falling asleep again, his head nodding slightly. Toshiya tucked Kyo into bed and more out of impulse than anything else; he leaned over and kissed
Kyo's forehead.

"Good night Kyo-chan." He whispered softly.

***

When Toshiya walked back into the den he found Die trying to wrestle, a more than slightly drunk, Shinya out of his wet jacket. Tears ran down Shinya's cheeks as he flailed his arms around wildly, twisting himself even
more in his jacket.

Die was gritting his teeth and, drunk himself, looked like he was ready to hit the wailing drummer. Toshiya pulled Die away from Shinya and wrapped his arms around him. Shinya clung to him crying as hard as he could.

"What the hell happened to him?" Toshiya asked.

"I brought him in here and tried to take that damn jacket off of him and he started to call me names. Before I knew it he was crying and trying to hit me!"

Toshiya ran his hands down Shinya's back, trying to ease his sobbing. Shinya fell back asleep quickly. Die untangled Shinya's hands from Toshiya's long black hair, where his fists were clenched tightly. Toshiya slipped
him out of his jacket and eased him back onto the couch, carefully tucking a pillow beneath his head.

"Well now what? We can't send him home like this." Toshiya asked softly, so as not to wake up Shinya again.

"Can he stay here for the night?" Die asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not. But his parents…"

"Don't worry."

Die reached into Shinya's coat pocket and pulled out his slim, silver mobile phone. They pushed buttons for a moment before he found the number he wanted and pressed 'send'.

"Moshi-moshi… Shinya-chan?" Toshiya could hear a tiny voice form the other end.

"Yeah hi Mom, it's me." Die answered in a perfect mimic of Shinya's voice.

"Oh, gosh Shinya! Where are you! It is so late you had your father and I so worried!"

"Oh, it's alright mom! I'm at uh, Kyo's place and we were watching videos and I completely forgot the time."

"Well, Shinya could you please call next time. When will you be home?"

"Ah, of course I'll call mom. Well… you see it's so late and, Kyo said I could just stay here for the night. So uh, I think I will."

"Are you sure dear? Your father will come and get you if you want."

"No no no, Mom it's okay. You just go to sleep and I'll see you sometime tomorrow."

"Well… okay dear. If you're sure. Be sure you thank dear Kyo-chan for letting to stay over."

"I will Mom."

"Good night dear."

"Good night." Die pressed 'end' and put the phone back where he got it. "That should settle things."

"Shinya's gonna kill you in the morning."

"No he won't. He's so drunk now, he won't even remember tonight. We'll just tell him he called his mother and he'll have to believe us." Die grinned. "But Shinya's mommy is right, it's late and I should go home."

Toshiya walked Die to the door. Die wavered a little as he walked. Toshiya looked at him, concerned.

"Are you sure you don't want to spend the night Die?" Die nodded his head and looked past Toshiya's shoulder at Shinya, sleeping on the couch.

"He looks like a sleeping beauty doesn't he?"

Toshiya looked back at Shinya and nodded.

"He does."

Die grinned and waved.

"Well I'll see you later Toshiya!"

"Bye." Toshiya shut the door. He began to rummage though his boxes, trying to find his futon and blanket. After searching for a few minutes he finally found them in a box at the bottom of a stack, in the corner of the
entryway. He was about to drag them into the room Kyo had emptied out for him when he remembered Shinya. He dug another blanket out of the box and walked over to the couch.

The drummer was still fast asleep. A slight puffiness and redness lingered on his cheeks and dried tracks of tears shone on his face in the semi-darkness. His long, dark lashes brushed against his soft cheek. Toshiya
could see his lashes were still damp and glistened slightly. He laid the blanket on top of Shinya, tucking it carefully around his feet and his shoulders.

"Die is right. Shinya, you look just like a sleeping beauty."

Toshiya leaned down and pressed an innocent kiss to the drummer's lips. He was about to stand again when a thin hand reached up and wrapped firmly around his wrist.

"Who are you?" Shinya asked. His eyes were wide open and seemed to collect the only light of the room in their liquid depths.

"Shinya I…"

"You're my dream prince aren't you?" Toshiya stared down into Shinya's eyes. It took him a moment to realize that Shinya may be awake but was still very drunk.

"That's right. I'm your dream prince." Toshiya had to control himself from fits of laughter. Dream prince, now really! Shinya must have drunk a lot more than he thought.

"Ah, you've finally come for me?"

"Eto…" Toshiya blushed deeply as Shinya sat up, wrapping his long arms around Toshiya's body. He nuzzled at Toshiya's neck and threaded his fingers through his hair. "Shinya…"

"Hmm…"

"You need to go back to sleep."

"Can't I sleep here? In the arms of my beloved." Shinya's words were hardly distinguishable, so tainted were they by weariness and alcohol.

"No, you can't. You have to lie down and close your eyes and sleep right here." Toshiya eased Shinya back until he was lying down again.

"Then you will leave. I will wake up later and find this was all a dream."

"Yes. This is a dream. Now go back to sleep."

Shinya hesitated, holding onto Toshiya for a moment longer.

"You must kiss me good night dream prince."

Toshiya blushed furiously. What could he do? His drunken friend was demanding kisses in the middle of the night! What was the harm really? Surely, surely he won't remember any of this in the morning.

He leaned down again, intent on giving Shinya a quick peck on the lips and running for his own room but, when their lips met Shinya's arm snaked around his neck, keeping the bassist captive. Not that Toshiya minded.
Shinya's lips were soft and very warm. He still tasted strongly of alcohol but that only added a harsh sweetness to their embrace. Shinya twisted Toshiya's hair between his thin, pale fingers, pulling him closer and
begging him to deepen the kiss.

Toshiya broke away suddenly, tears stinging his eyes. This wasn't right! He didn't want to be kissing Shinya because he was drunk! He threw open the sliding glass door that lead out to the small balcony of the apartment.
Despite the cold and the wet, he sat out there huddled in one corner. He could hear Shinya inside crying softly into the arm of the couch, begging for his dream prince to come back.

It was still raining, the cold water fell on Toshiya and soaked his clothes. It wasn't long before he was chilled through and shivering. After a good many minuets his eyes grew heavy from sleep and liquor and it was all
he could do just to stay awake. Slowly he slipped into sleep.

***

Toshiya jerked into awareness. His eyes focused in the dim light of early morning and he realized he was still curled up on the balcony. The next thing he noticed made his spring to his feet. His joints ached terribly
from being out in the wet and the cold all night and caused him to stumble forward.

"Shinya!"

The drummer was perched precariously on the railing of the balcony. He started at the sound of Toshiya's voice and nearly tumbled off. Toshiya ran forward and wrapped his arms around him prevent any further movement.

"Toshiya…you scared me." Shinya said softly.

"I scared you!? You scared me! What are you doing out here?"

"Nothing…sitting." Shinya turned his head and eyed the bassist. "You're all wet. How long have you been out here?"

"I don't know. I fell asleep."

Shinya spun around on his perch and hopped down in front of Toshiya.

"You're going to get sick. You might even catch pneumonia and die." Shinya's voice dropped suddenly to a whisper. "I'd hate for that to happen. It'd be such a waste of a pretty face."

"Really?" Toshiya stared at him dumbfounded. Shinya nodded and grabbed Toshiya's hand and dragged him back inside.

"You need to change clothes."

Toshiya nodded dumbly. He was still slightly shocked by Shinya's words. He found a change of clothes and went into the other room. When he returned he found Shinya sitting on the couch again. Toshiya flopped down on the
futon he had abandoned earlier and drew the cover up to his shoulders. He thought of Shinya again and turned his head.

"Ne, Shinya. If you want you can come and sleep down here. It's probably more comfortable than the couch and I mean, it's only if you want to."

Shinya nodded and got up. He walked over carefully and slid under the covers with Toshiya. His hand accidentally brushed against Toshiya's, making him jump.

"Iya! Your hand is so cold Toshiya!"

"I'm sorry." Toshiya scooted further from Shinya on the futon.

"Don't be sorry." Shinya followed him, wrapping his arms around him and holding his hands in his.

Toshiya's heart was beating wildly. He hoped that Shinya couldn't feel it. He tried as hard as he could to control his breathing. He thought of moving again but, Shinya was already asleep and he didn't want to wake him.

When he had calmed down Toshiya felt more relaxed. Butterflies still fluttered around in his insides as he gently fell asleep.