Where Rainbows Sleep
Tora x Shou x Saga x Hiroto x Nao

They hadn't been through Shou's apartment door no more than five seconds and Saga was already flopped down on the couch with his eyes closed and his back rudely turned to the rest of them. Shou, who hadn't been strong enough to make it to the chair he had been aiming for, was laying on the floor a few feet away. The rest of Alice Nine were well on their way to joining him down there.

Hiroto was swaying dizzily - tired and drunk like the rest of them were. He stumbled across the living room floor, nearly tripping over Shou as he went, and plunked down in the unclaimed chair. No sooner than that, he was passed out on the arm rest.

Nao, who wasn't nearly as drunk as the rest of them, but still drunk nonetheless, threw himself down on the couch against Saga's back and was gone just as quick.

Tora, who was last to come in and shut the door, settled for sitting on the floor next to Shou. With his head cradled in his arms and his knees to his chest, he sat there and gently rocked himself back and forth.

For the first time that night, a glorious silence fell over the five of them and things seemed to slowly wind their way back down to normality.

The Discotheque tour had finally drawn to an end and they had been flying high on adrenalin and the screams of their fans since the encore earlier that night. Heinous amounts of alcohol shared with staff and friends was the only thing that had kept them from free falling - and now that it was morning, they were beginning to make impact with the earth once again.

"I hurt..." came a nearly incoherent groan from Nao, and Tora couldn't have agreed more with him.

He groaned back, but it was unlikely that the drummer heard him. Instead, it was Shou that acknowledged the pain he was in.

A warm hand found its way under the hem of his shirt and slid its way slowly up Tora's still healing spine. He shivered involuntarily at Shou's soft touch, and he turned back to look at his gentle vocalist.

Shou was laying on his side now, propped up on one elbow while his free hand rubbed soothing circles into the small of Tora's back.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

And Tora smiled.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said again and leaned back to ghost a kiss across Shou's cheek. "I'm sure.

Shou faintly smiled back at him.

"Well I'm not fine," suddenly came Hiroto's sharp complaint that was followed up with a demand. "Take me to bed, Tora."

They both glanced wearily at the youngest member of their band, but neither Shou nor Tora made a move to get up from their spot on the floor.

"You're too heavy," Tora refused him, though he did so with nothing but affection.

Hiroto whined with discontent and Saga was quick to join him.

"I hate your couch, Shou." the bassist declared over Hiroto's incessant noise. "Have I ever told you that?"

"Every day." Shou affirmed him, just like he did every other time.

"I really hate it."

"I know you do. And I always tell you to go pick out another one and you never do."

Saga muttered something under his voice that was probably a bad word, but it was muffled by a very loud yawn from Nao who had been woken up by this year old argument of theirs.

"Is it morning already?" he asked sleepily, and Tora snorted.

"It's been morning for about two hours now," he said, though he was judging that solely by the amount of grey sunlight that was pouring in through the drawn curtains.

He looked back down at Shou who was about to doze off with the rest of them and sighed. He gracelessly got to his feet and took his vocalist by the hand. "We should really go to bed."

Shou nodded his tired agreement and allowed Tora to drag him up off the floor.

Together, the two of them went about collecting the rest of their band.

Hiroto was the easiest. Contrary to Tora's earlier refusal, Hiroto was actually quite easy to carry into Shou's bedroom. But that didn't mean he took extra care in laying the half asleep guitarist down on the bed. In fact, he just tossed Hiroto down and left him to crawl under the blankets by himself.

Nao was a bit more difficult. It took both him and Shou to pry the drummer off of Saga back, and when they managed to do that, he didn't go quietly. He put up a pitiful whine-cry-pout routine the whole way to the bedroom, but as soon as they dropped him next to Hiroto, he hushed and plastered himself to the guitarist instead.

Hiroto had no complaints about it.

Saga was hardest. But only because he was the most drunk and didn't take kindly to being carried nor dragged from his oh-so-uncomfortable place on Shou's dreadful couch. This wasn't anything new for them, and Shou was quick to grab one flailing arm while Tora firmly clutched the other. Even with Saga adamant about pulling them in the opposite direction, they were able to successfully toss him on the bed with the rest of the mangled heap.

Saga had no trouble fitting in with them.

Looking down at the mess on his bed, Shou didn't know whether to laugh at them, join them, or just burst into tears he was so tired.

He didn't have to make that difficult decision though, because Tora took him by the hand and lead him down into fray. And it was in that mess of tangled arms and legs and sheets that they all found stillness and peace.

Author's Notes:

There wasn't really a plot or a meaning to this, I know. I wrote it with the vision of them being... Normal. Comfortable. Human. Just a day in life with no particular rhyme or reason. I don't know if it turned out that way or not though.

Comments and criticism are most loved and appreciated.