Summary: Story about Ran and Crawford finding out that they have something in common. That they have both reached their breaking points. Yaoi. Multiple pairings.

Breakdown

Chapter 1: Crawford

Schuldig was a nuisance to put it lightly. He was loud, obnoxious and unrelenting in his quest to fill every moment of silence with the sound of his nasally voice. Whether he was whining or simply spouting useless information, Schuldig was always talking and always annoying. To him, silence was a four letter word.

Crawford had never before met anyone quite as irritating as Schuldig and he thanked the Gods every day for the fact that there was only one of him, though at the same time he cursed whoever was pulling the strings in the cosmos for saddling him with the loud-mouthed German, however talented he may be. Had Crawford foreseen his Rosenkreuz days, and were he anywhere close to being a coward, he would have shot himself then and there and avoided a future with the telepath.

Unfortunately none of that was the case and Crawford was now stuck with him. He could only be moderately thankful that the rest of the team Esset have given him was more or less quiet. Nagi kept to himself and was little to no trouble and Farfarello was good…enough as long as he was confined to his room and kept on a short leash on missions until a situation dictated otherwise.

So all the trouble and headaches revolved around the flaming head of Shuldig, the telepath with too much time on his hands and too many thoughts to share, many of which weren't even his own.

Schuldig liked to poke around in peoples' minds. Not because he was so much interested in what they were thinking, but simply because he could. At least ten times a day Crawford had to increase his mental defenses because Schuldig was trying to put a foot into his thoughts. He never succeeded of course, but Schuldig was an intensely determined individual. He would kill for a chance to poke around in Crawford's mind and that annoyed Schwartz' leader to no end. At no point was he allowed to relax around the German red-head.

His defenses were very strong, essentially impenetrable, but even the strongest fortresses eventually get worn down. Sooner or later Schuldig was going to poke a hole somewhere.

Crawford dreaded that day and it was a good thing that the German wasn't aware of his fear.

Schuldig's presence would be even less tolerable if that ever happened. Crawford wasn't sure if there was, in fact, a step beyond Schuldig's usual obnoxious self, but he figured there must be and that it would also signify the apocalypse. At least the thought of the end of the world slightly comforted him in a morbid way. If Crawford was going down, he was at least taking everyone with him.

Still, dark fantasies aside, Crawford had to live with the present, and the present involved Schuldig trying to needle his way into his mind or just generally hover around to annoy. It was another of the telepath's hobbies, to make Crawford lose his cool.

Admittedly, it didn't happen very often. Even when angry, Crawford was calm, murderously so and he hardly raised his voice, but it was still the principle of the thing, the fact that Schuldig had gotten under his skin and he was good at it…too damned good at it.

It took very little for the German to rise a notch on Crawford's irritation meter. And it required the patience of an entire fleet of Gods to withstand one day, or better yet, one conversation with the red-headed German, especially when the conversation was actually a one-sided rant about nothing, or simple, childish whining.

Like now.

"I'm BORED Bradley. Why can't we go play with the kitties?" Schuldig gestured wildly for no specific reason—Crawford wasn't watching him anyway—and the shuffle of his feet tipped a stack of papers over onto the desk. The German paid them no mind, but Crawford could feel his brow twitch in irritation. "It's been soooo long since we saw them," Schuldig continued, unhappy he was being ignored.

"We ran into them last week. That's hardly an eternity." Crawford forced the calm into his voice, though he made sure that his exasperation was at least somewhat apparent. It was a subtle warning to drop the issue.

And it fell on deaf ears.

"It is to ME, Bradley."

"Crawford."

"Braaaddleeey!"

Crawford pinched the bridge of his nose. "Get out. Schuldig."

"But-"

"Go."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"No I don't."

"Then take the time to ponder the reason when you leave my office."

"But I don't want to."

"I don't care. Now go."

"I'll be good."

"You and I both know that you are incapable of that, Schuldig."

A snicker.

"Leave."

"Fine. But you work way too much, Bradley. It wouldn't kill you to have a little fun."

"Schuldig, I will kill you if you don't leave right now."

Schuldig got up and faced his leader with a pout. "Crawford?"

"What?"

"I love you."

A shot was fired at the door but the German was long gone before the bullet hit the frame.

Crawford bowed his head and sighed, closing the lid of his laptop while replacing his gun in his shoulder holster. It was useless. The loud-mouthed German had successfully kicked him out of work-mode yet again.

He got up from his desk and neatly restacked the papers Schuldig had knocked over, frowning at the slight imprint of a dirty boot that was left on the top sheet, but it wasn't something he wanted to deal with right now so as far as he was concerned, the papers were crisp and clean.

Crawford left he pile of papers on the corner of his desk, and straightened the chairs around it after pulling on his white suit jacket. He switched the light off as he left his office and pointedly ignored the puzzled glance Nagi gave him as the boy exited the kitchen with a sandwich he'd made for the insane Irishman, watching his leader head for the front door.

"If Schuldig leaves the house, tell him I'll kill him." Crawford said flatly as the door closed behind him quietly.