BlackHole - Aoi/Uruha - Chapter 3/?

[venomousliberty]

Title: Black Hole

Chapters: 3 / ?

Author: candicecandy and venomousliberty

Genre: AU, romance, fluff

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: excessive cheese and fluff

Pairings: Aoi/Uruha

Summary: Black hole, a massive region of spacetime formed at the beginning of a universe or caused by the gravitational collapse of a dying star, it signifies death and birth, the loss of something that was once beautiful and the creation of life itself. Nothing, including light, is able to escape from it. To Uruha, it’s just a small, creepy livehouse in the pits of Ikebukuro, the place where he’ll meet the man who will change his life forever.

Previous Chapters: 01 / 02

Chapter Three:

The band brought Uruha to a bar that they usually frequented to. Since it was a weeknight, it wasn’t that crowded and most of the customers who were in the vicinity were in their late twenties to early thirties. The live band who was performing that evening had just finished their first set when they arrived. They settled on a round table in a corner and had immediately gotten their preferred drinks.

Aoi leaned back on the sofa, burying himself into the soft cushion while fully relaxing his strained upper body in a natural flow of sexy movement. He had always felt like he was a creature of the night. Only at this time could he relax his taut posture and confined mind, freed from the norms and expectations of society. It was only in the darkness of the night that could he truly become who he was. In a feline manner, he turned his alluring gaze to the blond sitting beside him, and he uttered, although almost sounding like a purr, “So, Uruha, you’re not a visual kei fan.” It was a statement rather than a question. “And I supposed, I’m… We’re your first?” His voice unconsciously deepened with well concealed seductiveness. Sending the other a careless smile, he then finished his sentence, “Band, I meant. Of course.”

Uruha gave Aoi a very weird look, a blush creeping on his face again. Was it just him or the raven’s statement truly had a suggestive ring to it? He straightened in his seat, trying not to look like a deer caught in headlights and smiled. “Oh, yes. You were my first.” He quickly replied and felt instantly embarrassed when he realized what he had just said. “I mean, your band was the first Visual Kei band I’ve seen!” He should seriously get his mind out of the gutter and stop acting like a looney 12-year old kid who was incapable of proper thinking and speech. “I w-watched a lot of bands back home, but n-never Visual Kei ones. B-but my best friend is very interested in them!” He babbled uncontrollably, which he thought was a useless attempt on salvaging whatever shame he had left in his body.

“So do tell me,” The brunet tried his best to hide his laugh, but failed at his mighty attempt. A cascade of silky raven hair had fallen gracefully from his shoulder to his well defined profile while his body quivered uncontrollably with laughter, covering his sharp jawline and his obsidian eyes. Elegantly moving a strand of hair away from his sight, he graciously asked the blond, “Like what you’ve seen?” His gaze never left those fascinating aureate orbs that captured his soul.  

The blond froze and was about to punch himself for being too caught up with Aoi when Ayame suddenly jumped in. “So, you’re not from here?” The young brunet asked, his eyes wide with curiosity though he could see icicles glinting like deadly knives in his dark chocolate saucers. He could feel that Ayame didn’t like him, but for some reason, maybe because of his bandmates, the other guitarist was trying (or most likely acting) to be nice to him. “Where did you come from? From heaven or maybe from outer space?”

Uruha looked strangely at Ayame, a look that screamed between ‘This guy sure is childish.’ or ‘This guy is a lunatic.’ Nonetheless, he was relieved and somehow thankful for his interjection. At least he didn’t have to dwell too much on the humiliation he just received for openly ogling Aoi. “I’m from a small town in Kanagawa.” He patiently replied with a small laugh.

“Stop bothering him with your weirdness, Ayame.” Tsumi pulled the younger almost ruthlessly away from their guest  and hissed in the ear of the latter with volume that’s only audible for him to hear, “Don’t you dare think I don’t know what you’re trying to do here.” The vocalist narrowed his eyes and raised his voice back to normal again with a threatening tone, “You know how much Aoi hates it when he’s interrupted.”

Ayame glared and pouted at Tsumi before looking away at the vocalist. If they were standing, there was a possibility that the young guitarist would even be stomping his feet like a kid who was having a tantrum.

“You know you deserve that. You were being rude, Ayame.” Satoshi, their very quiet drummer calmly said, a sympathetic expression present on his face. The young guitarist ignored him and huddled in the corner of his seat, muttering to himself.

Uruha tried not to think about Ayame’s possibly growing hatred towards him and just concentrated on Aoi and the other members of the band. He definitely didn’t want to make a fool out of himself again.

“You could have just ignored him. He gets out of control from time to time.” The raven’s handsome face was painted with remorse while he tenderly apologized to the blond, adoration evident in his cherishing tone. However by the end of the sentence, frustration began to float on the surface of his voice, directed to the individual that was getting on his nerves. “And speaking of which…... Ayame.” All the tenderness and sympathy were locked back into his deep midnight saucers. As if sensing the storm that was covered under layers of self constraint, the air molecules around the older man began to freeze, matching up the ice that was intertwined in the brunet’s upcoming words. His voice was gentle, not even rising a bit in his rage, but it was enough to pierce into the youngest’s soul, “If you ever do that again, I can tell you for sure, you’re going to pay for it.”

“There, there.” Kouta, the bassist, jumped into the picture to break the tensed atmosphere, giving a little pet on the teary-eyed guitarist’s pink and brown head. “Come on, don’t be so hard on him. He’s just a kid.” He couldn’t help but empathize with the petite man. He himself wasn’t always nice to the kid either, but at least he wasn’t as scary as Aoi and Tsumi. Looking at these two dangerous men, Kouta innerly sighed and quickly changed the subject, “So, Uruha! Why did you come to Tokyo then?” Not forgetting a very important detail, he only paused briefly for a teasing smirk, then continued while raising his eyebrows suggestively at Uruha, “And how the heck did you two meet?”

Now that almost everyone in the band were looking at Uruha, he tried his best not to look too tensed and smiled. “I’m here to attend my cousin’s wedding this weekend.” He answered and looked cautiously at Aoi, thinking back as to how they met. “And I met Aoi-san at BlackHole last night. I thought he was a demon. I mean, when I first saw him, he just suddenly popped out of nowhere and it was kinda dark, so I thought I saw a demon!” He quickly explained. Didn’t he just say that he didn’t want to look stupid again? “I didn’t mean he was a demon or he looked ugly! I was just really surprised at that time!” He immediately followed, hoping that he’d somehow saved himself from further butchering what was left of his shame.

Kouta bursted into laughters upon hearing Uruha’s comment, “See Aoi, I told you. You’re not the kind of demon you think you are in the dark.” The blond haired bassist said to the rhythm guitarist carelessly, completely disregarding the sudden dark shadow that covered Aoi’s face.

Uruha furrowed his eyebrows together, wonder gleaming in his aureate eyes. Not the demon that you think you are in the dark? What did Kouta mean by that? He threw a quick glance at Aoi and saw the raven looking coldly at his bandmate. It was surely an inside joke and he wished he knew what it really meant. He looked at the other members and they all had this knowing look in their faces. The confusion on his face deepened further… Surely, the pun didn’t mean that Aoi was...

“Did you enjoy the live, Uruha-san?” Tsumi, sensing the raven’s vexation and the blond’s confusion, swiftly changed the topic of their interest, hoping that the bassist’s mindless comment would just drop between their words.

The blond focused his attention on the vocalist, smiling kindly at him. “Yes, I enjoyed it very much and it was probably one of the hottest lives I’ve ever seen.” He honestly replied. He really had a great time during the event although he initially thought that it would be his deathbed. “The audience were all absorbed with the music.” He added as he remembered how the crowd was like, screaming and singing, banging their heads as if there was no tomorrow. Uruha didn’t really mind being a part of a crowd like that again since their energy could be quite infectious.

The band, except for Ayame, cheered when they heard his answers. Tsumi and Kouta bowed their heads to thank him for the compliment he had given while Aoi’s smug smile turned into a proud one. “So, what part of the live was your favorite, Uruha-san?” Satoshi, the quietest member of the band asked with a look of enthusiasm on his face.

Uruha looked up, trying to remember what happened during the live. It seemed that everything passed by in a blur while he was watching Artia, but he was able to recall some parts because he considered them memorable and interesting. An expression of excitement crossed his beautiful face as a memory finally came to him. “I love that part in the middle, where you played a ballad and the fans were almost close to tears. I don’t really know the title, but I think the song has a beautiful meaning and the lyrics were very beautiful too. Also, Tsumi-san’s vocals in it were pretty intense, as well as Aoi-san’s guitar solo.”

“Ah! That’s Squall!” Kouta excitedly exclaimed, a hint of naughtiness was fused into his voice after a little pause,“ That’s Aoi’s song, you know? He’s the one who composed that beautiful song.” The bassist raised his eyebrows and grinned sneakily like a teenaged girl who had just heard the biggest gossip in the school.

The blond’s doe eyes widened further in amazement as he slowly diverted his attention at the raven guitarist. So Aoi was not just a talented guitarist, he could also compose and dang, the one song that truly made a mark on the blond was created by him, him of all people. “T-that’s awesome.” He stammered as he felt a blush crawling on his cheeks again. “It was a really beautiful song and I think it’s my favorite out of all the songs you played.

The raven smiled timidly at the dumbfounded porcelain doll that was currently looking at him with pure admiration in those innocent eyes. Aoi couldn’t help but soften his heart at such sight. With a tenderness that was enough to drown any of his fans in euphoria, he asked, ”Would you like to hear the original version?”  

Uruha could feel himself slowly melting under Aoi’s intent stare. Without much thought, he found himself slowly nodding in agreement, an eager look present in his beautiful face.

An acoustic guitar was conveniently passed into Aoi’s hand by the ever-so-trusted Tsumi, then the rhythm guitarist started to play without a word. The brunet’s magical fingers were dancing elegantly along the strings of the instrument, so skilled and so concentrated as if he was on the stage of a national concert hall instead of this noisy bar. He put his heart and soul into it, not because a certain gorgeous blond was watching attentively at him, but because he loved playing. He loved the harmonious sound produced by the guitar and he loved how notes flowed fluently under his fingers, especially knowing that he was the who one created this melody. Everything about this moment brought him back to the day he composed this song, all the emotions and all the thoughts were once again filling up his mind, but he didn’t care, because for now, all he wanted to do was to be submerged in this musical world.

Meanwhile, the blond quietly watched as the guitarist played the guitar, his eyes gleaming with adoration, emotions swirling in his honey gold saucers as every note, pluck and strum of Aoi’s skillful fingers floated through his ears and struck his heart. He suddenly found himself breathless, the organ beating inside his chest moving in harmony with the slow-version of the song and suddenly, he felt as if he was trapped in his own world again, everyone and everything fading away into the background, his universe revolving around the charismatic performer beside him. When Aoi’s slender fingers stopped playing and Uruha became aware of his surroundings again, he realized, with a happy, yet sinking feeling in his chest, that his emotions for the raven wasn’t just a simple fascination or curiosity. That it wasn’t just adoration or reverence. He had a crush on Aoi. He didn’t know how it happened or if it was really possible for him to have a crush on another guy, but there was no other word to define his feelings for the musician.

He had a crush on Aoi.

He liked a guy.

Fuck.

He gathered all of his willpower to stop himself from bolting away from the handsome raven and continued staring at him. Now that he had realized his feelings, it would be more difficult for him to act naturally around Aoi. He slowly let out a sigh and tried to think of what he should do next. Aoi just played a beautiful song with a guitar while looking all perfect and gorgeous as a mesmerizing Greek god. He should compliment him. Yes, he should do that. “W-wow. T-that was s-spectacular!”

The charismatic guitarist lightly chuckled at the childlike blond sitting right next to him. The amazement that filled those clear golden orbs was pure and sincere. For a moment, Aoi felt like he was looking into a pair of finest quality topaze, not a single impurity could be seen. It had been a long time since Aoi last truly believed in someone’s compliment, but this time, he knew nothing from those innocent eyes could possibly be fake, so he gladly took in the praise. As a reply of gratitude, the raven extended his muscular arm towards the other, softly giving the blond a little rub on the head, the golden tresses were messed up under his gentle touch and loving stare.

Uruha yelped when Aoi patted his head, surprised at how childish the other man had treated him and how sparks of electricity coursed through his veins when their skins touched. “O-oi! I’m not a kid!” He muttered unintelligibly as he tried to mask his embarrassment with a half-hearted glare and a pout.

“No,” The brunet restored his dazzling charm when an extremely attractive smirk appeared on this pierced lips, “But you’re cute.” He added a naughty wink as he casually spoke out his fondness towards the blond.

Uruha felt his cheeks burn further. He wasn’t cute. He was a full-grown man. How could he be cute? He rolled his eyes away from Aoi and distracted himself by fixing his messy hair. Though he didn’t like being treated like a child, he would be a hypocrite if he wouldn’t admit that he enjoyed it. Somewhere, deep inside him, a little voice was squealing in delight at the gesture because it meant that the handsome guitarist was truly paying attention to him. He inhaled deeply and tried to look normal again, putting on a calm facade. “But really, that was amazing.” He complimented again, seriousness lacing his low voice. “I mean, I rarely see musicians play with so much love and passion for what they do. I also play the guitar, but I think I can never play like that.”

An answer was formed right away in Aoi’s head when he heard the compliment, so as soon as Uruha finished the last syllable of his sentence, he quickly replied, “Well, every song that I wrote has a special meaning to me, so it’s not that hard for me to put in all the emotions. I mean, when you feel so strongly and so passionately towards someone or something, you... ” He suddenly cut off his rambles as the second sentence of the blond finally flowed into his brain, “Wait. Did you say you play as well?!” The obsidian eyes were instantly occupied by stars of curiosity and excitement.    

The flustered blond didn’t know if he should’ve mentioned the fact that he knew how to play the guitar to the musician. Aoi was truly talented and surely, the other man would be interested in gauging his skill, but it was already too late to deny it. He released an awkward chuckle and tried to avoid the raven’s eager gaze. “Um… yeah. Though I’m not good! I just know how to play, but I’m definitely not as good as you!” He immediately replied.

“Awww come on, Uruha!” Aoi almost whined as the denial streamed out of those rosy lips, “I’m sure you’re not as bad as you said you are, but I’m afraid I’ll have to listen to you play first, so I can judge if you’re being honest with your words.” The raven nodded with an obvious act of seriousness, peaking cutely at the blushed pretty face as he shamelessly justified his request, “ Besides, I just played for you, it’d be only fair if you play for me too, wouldn’t it?”

Uruha gazed at Aoi with wide eyes, very anxious and scared all of a sudden. He definitely didn’t want to display his lame guitar skills to someone who was so talented. He regretted accidentally sharing that piece of information himself. If he hadn’t mentioned it, then the raven wouldn’t be so hell bent in knowing how his skills were. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t.” He sputtered once more, trying to look as pathetic as he could so the raven would give pity and finally stop bugging him. “I… I’d love to play for you, but I really suck at it and.. and I don’t want to t-taint your ears with my lame playing.”

Just as Aoi was about to reject poor Uruha’s excuse, he saw a familiar figure moving swiftly between the chaotic crowd, separating those who were out of control and keeping an eye on those who were ridiculously wasted. A friendly smile was always present on his face during his mighty attempts of maintaining the function of this bar. A spark flicked through the brunet’s onyx saucers as a crazy idea formulated in his mind. Without giving the blond another glance, Aoi stood up from the soft cuddle of the sofa and hurried to the busy looking silhouette.

Chapter 3:B