Disclaimer: It's Maki Murakami's sandbox; I just play in it. I do not own the series or the rights to these characters, nor do I make any money from writing about them. No copyright or other infringement is intended.
Rating/Warnings: T for vulgarity and sexual implications.

This was written for LiveJournal's 30_kisses themed writing challenge community. Theme: #16, invincible; unrivaled. Thanks to HawkClowd for the beta review.

Fall From Grace

Eiri was surprisingly calm when it happened; it was Shuichi who ranted and raved. "I can't believe it!" he exclaimed for the sixth time, stabbing at the offending list with his index finger.

"You don't have to keep repeating yourself," Eiri muttered, rolling over and covering his head with his pillow in a vain attempt to muffle the sound of Shuichi's voice.

"Don't go back to sleep! What is wrong with you?"

Truthfully, Eiri didn't know why he wasn't more upset. Sure, he was still a best-selling author, but his last ten books had all debuted at number one; to have his latest debut at number three was something of a letdown.

"Maybe I won't have to travel as much," Eiri mumbled into the sheets, hoping to distract Shuichi from obsessing over the news.

Shuichi picked up his own pillow and swatted him. "They'll probably make you travel more," he said pointedly.

Eiri turned his head far enough to the side to ogle Shuichi's knees. "Maybe."

Shuichi flung himself face down on the mattress and turned to look at Eiri. He stroked Eiri's chin with his thumb and told him, "You're still number one in my book." Eiri briefly froze in surprise; he had always been the one who caressed Shuichi's chin like that, not the other way around, and besides, Shuichi had stolen his line about wanting to be first on Shuichi's charts.

"You own a book?" he asked, yawning, and snickered when Shuichi smacked him on the ass with his pillow in response.