Demon Diary Fan Fiction ❯ Acidic ❯ Enter the Players ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: This is my first Demon Diary/RaenefEclipse/shonen-ai story, so please don't be too hard on me. I'm not going to bother with the whole lecture about accepting shonen-ai or flaming over it, because I think that all of you are more mature than that.

Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue; me no own, so you no sue!

x(X)x

Raenef vaulted the stairs at the sound of knocking. Pulling the door open, he grinned at his two friends.

"You guys are early!" he panted.

Chris and Erutis tried valiantly to scowl at him, but the urge to smile won out. Raenef answering the door in his boxers was just too cute.

Chris sighed. "We're not early, Raenef..."

"You're late. Again." Erutis finished for him.

Raenef made an adorably huffy sound at this. "I'll have you know that wizards are never late. They arrive precisely when they mean to!"

With this he turned and bolted back up the stairs, presumably to get dressed. Chris and Erutis followed, having nothing better to do.

Raenef grabbed a pair of artfully frayed and faded jeans from their resting place on his stereo. Pulling them on, he began rummaging through a mound of laundry before the denim had time to settle on his hips. From the heap he drew a navy tee emblazoned with a silver guitar.

Tugging the shirt over his head, he stumbled past Chris and Erutis, who were trying desperately to find the beanbag chairs that were somewhere in the dump that Raenef called a room.

Once in the bathroom, Raenef managed to get his pale blonde hair in a charmingly messy ponytail at the top of his head, bangs and shorter strands falling around his face and making him appear younger than his seventeen years. Raenef hated that about his face. It was stuck somewhere between youthful and effeminate. Chris had once joked that if Raenef were to ever dress in drag, he might be tempted to ask "her" out. Needless to say, Raenef hadn't found it funny.

A few quick swipes of mascara brought out already startling green eyes. Raenef had gone through a stage several years back where he rejected anything even vaguely "girly" in an attempt to make himself look more masculine. It had failed, and Raenef wasn't stupid enough to ignore the fact that a touch of makeup looked great on him.

Giving his face a quick check in the mirror, Raenef stuck his head out the door. "Can someone toss me a pair of socks?" Several were hurled at him in response. Grabbing a grey set that had seen a few too many wearings, Raenef tugged them on. A quick dash down hardwood floors led him sliding to the door, where he nabbed well-loved black sneakers - his personal favorites.

He got his wallet from the coffee table and gave Chris and Erutis a yell. They came thundering down the steps instantaneously, nearly knocking him over in their haste to depart.

Gently shutting the door behind them, Raenef gave a small, contented sigh. "To Oz."

x(X)x

Raenef snatched a flier from Saul, a bouncer who was kind enough to overlook the fact that their ids were painfully fake. Nudging his friends, he drew their attention to the sheet.

"Some band called Demonic is replacing Abalone."

Oz had a rather unique way of running things. Normally they relied on the sound system, but Friday nights were special. Exactly one dozen bands would each play a song. Once a group started, they were free to come back every Friday - until they got boring. Abalone had played six times, which wasn't bad - after all, some bands only made it to the coveted stage once.

Chris looked thoughtful. "I'd heard they might show up. My cousin's friend Meruhesae is their drummer."

x(X)x

Sieve played first, and many similarly unmemorable bands followed. By the time Doberman Princess left the stage for Demonic, Raenef was fairly sure that few bands would be back the following Friday.

Leaving Chris and Erutis at their garishly painted table, Raenef went for a bottle of water. The bar was crowded, forcing him to wait for several minutes. He was almost to the counter when a voice behind him nearly made him jump out of his skin. Whirling around, he was forced to look up at an irritatingly tall stranger. (Granted at 5' 4" most people were taller than Raenef.)

"You really don't look old enough to be here." Slanting violet eyes stared back through heavy eyeliner. The man's lengthy ebony hair put his to shame, silken strands falling all the way to narrow hips, and a silver moon dangled from his left ear, complementing a graceful neck. He was dressed all in black, which made his alabaster skin seem all the paler - but Raenef found him devastatingly attractive nonetheless.

Then it registered in Raenef's mind that there was attraction in those eyes, and his raging hormones cooled momentarily.

"I'm older than I look," he shot back. Turning to the bartender, he paid for his water. As he went to leave, however, his foot caught on one of the mushroom-shaped bar stools. This sent both Raenef and his bottle of water flying. The bottle landed on the floor, rolling beneath a table.

Raenef landed in the arms of a man with a smoldering gaze.

All of his senses seemed sharpened, and as he stood with his hands and torso against soft black fabric, he became aware of the fact that the crowd was murmuring, that the man smelled faintly of cinnamon, that his hair really did feel like silk, and that Demonic still hadn't begun to play.

He became aware of the fact that a blonde with a Fender-Strat slung over his shoulder was speaking into the microphone.

"... we'd love to get started, but I'm afraid that we can't until Eclipse GETS HIS ASS UP HERE!!!"

This seemed to get the man's attention. He gave Raenef a lazy smile before walking briskly through the crowd to the stage. Once there he leapt, catlike, up to the raised floor.

His hands closed possessively around the mic stand, tapered black nails catching and refracting the bright lights. The instruments began within moments. Then he sang, and Raenef's world fell to pieces.

"When you look you see right through me

Cut the rope I fell to my knees

Born and broken every single time

Always keep me under finger

That's the spot where you run to me

Might see some type of pleasure in my mind

Yeah, here comes the water

It comes to wash away the sins of you and I

This time you see

When you seek me you'll destroy me

Rape my mind and smell the poppies

Born and bloodied every single time

Yeah, here comes the water

It comes to wash away the sins of you and I

This time you see

Like holy water

It only burns you faster than you'll ever dry

This time with me

When you look you see right through me

Cut the rope I fell to my knees

Born and bloodied every single time"

As the last notes died, Raenef shivered. He had been unable to move, to breathe, to do anything but stare at... Eclipse? That was what the guitarist had called him.

Despite the fact that Eclipse's eyes had been closed for most of the performance, Raenef couldn't help the feeling that the man had been staring at him the entire time.

Then Eclipse's gaze found his from across the room. All rational thought escaped him as the electricity between them crackled.

x(X)x

A/N: I hope everyone is enjoying themselves! The featured song is Slither, by Velvet Revolver. I am not, however, implying that Eclipse's voice is like Scott Weiland's. I'll leave that up to your imaginations for now.

Leijhana tu'sai to all readers and reviewers!