Rust & Stardust

Healing Loneliness

Music could heal and it could bring people together, erasing loneliness. That's what she had always believed. Reira had found her life's purpose in her singing, giving life to Ren's lyrics. When she'd written Shadow of Love, she had been in awe of her ability to write something so beautiful on her own. Then Ren's bonus track came along and blew her song out of the water.

"Ren, this is beautiful," she said softly as she wiped away tears. Although dramatic, her reaction to reading Ren's lyrics had been heartfelt. Not only had he written a bonus track for their new album but the song was a response to hers which made it even better.

"It's not that great but I'm glad you like it, I guess." Ren smiled at her before taking another sip of his beer.

They'd gone back to the hotel together and had gone straight to Ren's room without saying one word about the kiss they'd shared. It took everything for Reira not to come right out and ask him why he'd kissed her. One kiss had changed everything, at least for her. Shortly after he'd joined Trapnest, Ren had admitted to Reira that he'd had a crush on her when they were younger but she hadn't thought much of it at the time.

Reira had enjoyed the kiss more than she cared to admit. Truthfully, she'd never been kissed like that before and it left her wanting more regardless of how wrong it was. It was that desire that had driven her to ask Ren to take her back to their hotel. Rather than turning him down when he offered her a beer, she'd accepted with no hesitance regardless of the fact that she preferred mixed drinks. Perhaps some liquid courage would help her along. Ren was just amused by the fact that she'd agreed to get drunk with him.

Given that she was a bit of a lightweight, it didn't take much for Reira to begin feeling tipsy. "Hey Ren, do you really love Nana?" It was a dumb question, she thought. Of course he loved Nana and she loved Takumi. That's how it was supposed to be. Plus, there was Shin and whatever they had going on between them.

"Yeah, I do," Ren said after some time. Still, it didn't sound convincing.

"Then why did you kiss me?"

"You kissed me, remember?" He smirked.

Reira tossed the empty beer can she'd been holding aside, suddenly feeling angry. "I did not. You kissed me... Well, I guess we sort of kissed each other at the same time. Why did we do that?" The last part was said in a whisper, her question mostly directed towards herself. "You have someone and so do I. We shouldn't be doing this."

Ren stared at her, oblivious to everything going on in her mind. He smirked. "I'm lost. What exactly are we doing?"

"Ren stop!" She was crying out of frustration. Was she upset that he was acting like it was no big deal or was it because she was confused about her own feelings regarding the situation?

"Hey, stop that." Ren moved close to her, sliding an arm around her shoulder. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I don't know why I kissed you. Guess it was just the heat of the moment or something. It won't happen again."

She lifted her head to meet his gaze as she leaned into their embrace. "What if I want it to happen again?" This time, she kissed him with more passion than before. He tasted like beer, cigarettes and everything she'd ever craved in a lover. It was wrong but she didn't care. Reira told herself that this was all happening because she was lonely. Lust also played a role given that she hadn't had sex in a few weeks. It was only natural that she let lust take over.