I haven't written much in the past three years, so this isn't as good as it could be. But here it is anyways. It's the end part of a larger AU mini-series I have, in which Rook and Kaito start dating after the season one finale. I'll get around to writing the other parts sometime I'm sure, but for now, this.

Dedicated to my most incredible boyfriend. But enough gay stuff, let's get to the gay stuff.

Open

After having sat in tense silence for far too long, the knock finally came. Kaito jumped to his feet, heart pounding, and opened the door. "Hey—hi—hi," he attempted to say, but the sight of his guest made it challenging to form a greeting.

Neat, stylish clothes were common on Rook, but he rarely wore anything that varied in colour—until tonight. Though his shirt was the same, his vest was a medium blue, complimented by his grey pants and dark shoes. Realizing his gaze had dropped, Kaito brought his eyes back up to his boyfriend's face, and blushed when he saw the soft smile awaiting him. "Hi, Kaito," was the soft reply, "are you ready to go?"

Fidgeting, Kaito stared at his own clothes—his old button-up shirt and barely tied tie—and felt much less ready then he had fifteen minutes ago, when he had decided he was done enough to wait. "I—I don't know, I mean—maybe we should just skip out on them. It'd be better if they were alone, wouldn't it?"

He could hear the frown in Rook's voice, "But they asked you to come. And I'm not expert on these things, but I imagine it would be pretty rude if you backed out last minute."

"I know that, but I just—I don't think it's a good idea. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Then why didn't you tell them that when they first asked?"

He turned around, not wanting to look Rook in the eye. "I—I thought I'd be ready by now, but—this is a stupid idea, I—this just isn't going to work."

"Well it's—oh, I see. You mean because I'll be there."

The simplicity with which he said it caused Kaito to cringe. "That isn't what I meant. There's nothing wrong with you. It's just—I'm the one who's stuck on this, okay?"

"We don't have to go, if you're not up to it. But you should at least let them know you're not coming."

Rook's hand pressed against the small of his back, warm and comforting. With a sigh, Kaito twisted around and rested his head against the man's shoulder. "This whole thing is stupid," he mumbled. "If it was anyone other than Nonoha and Gammon—those two are the worst for this kind of thing."

Both of Rook's hands wrapped around Kaito and held him in place. "I know. We can wait, Kaito. I understand."

Gripping the back of Rook's shirt, he pulled himself even closer. The scent of cologne was strong, but oddly comforting, and he simply stood and breathed in his shirt.

Resting his head against Kaito's, he murmured, "It's fine just like this, you know. We don't have to tell anyone. We can just enjoy having each other, all to ourselves."

A chuckle. "Think I like the sound of that."

Rook shuffled about, just enough so that he could place a gentle kiss on the top of Kaito's head. "Then why don't you let Nonoha you're not going to make it, and I'll put on some tea?"

Gazing into those medium blue eyes, his smile came back easily. "Sounds perfect." He watched Rook head towards the kitchen, then pulled out his phone and started typing. Finished in mere seconds, he gave a content sigh and slumped into a nearby chair. He was just loosening his tie when his phone beeped with a reply.

"Kaito! You can't leave me by myself, you promised you'd come too!"

"Gammon will be there so you'll be fine. I can't come and that's that," he sent back.

The next response he got came from Gammon himself, "Hey idiot, Nonoha says you're bailing? I'm not surprised you couldn't find a date."

"Fuck off, Gammon," Katio hissed to himself, and sent another text. "As a matter of fact I do have a date. But all four of us going out together is just stupid."

In a brief moment, he could hear the teapot starting to whistle—however, the familiar sound was quickly drowned out by the barrage of texts he received:

"Like hell a guy like you has a date!"

"WHAT! Kaito, who is she?!"

"Do you even have the balls to talk to a girl?"

"Does she go to our school? Is she cute?!"

"Your hand doesn't count as a date, dumbass."

"Is she in one of your classes? Does she work? How old is she?"

"Fuck me," groaned Kaito, "just leave me alone!"

"Not until you've had your tea," Rook answered playfully, placing a cup next to him. "What's the matter?"

He held out his phone. "Look. This is why I knew this was a bad idea. Everyone wants to get into everyone's love life and it's annoying as hell. Who cares who my date is? Who cares? That should be private, but everyone acts like it should be headlining newspapers or something. It's unnecessary and it's dumb."

The phone beeped again, and Rook squinted to read it, "Nonoha, 'Send me a picture of her, I'll tell you if she's too old for you or not.' You're the older one, though."

"If I say even that, they'll just flip it around and ask if I'm into lolicon." He placed his phone next to his cup and sighed. It beeped once more before he seized it again and turned it right off. "This is why I don't want anyone to know about us. If I answer one question, they'll just start asking more and more questions and I don't want to talk about it."

"Drink your tea," ordered Rook calmly, taking a sip of his own. "Relax. We're not going. There's nobody here that you have to worry about."

"I know that, I'm just frustrated. You think they'd just be able to leave me alone."

"Humans are naturally curious creatures. If I were in their shoes, I'd certainly want to know who your date was with."

"Only because you fancy me, though."

Rook grinned at his teacup. "Guilty as charged." He took another sip and closed his eyes, his cheek starting to colour, "Hm. Very guilty, indeed."

Drinking his tea to hide his own red face, Kaito tried to focus on anything that was neither the sensual tone of Rook's voice, nor the incessant questions of his friends. He quickly found the latter easy to ignore—the former was quite a challenge, especially when he caught the look in his boyfriend's eye. He placed his teacup down. "I—," he cleared his throat, "I'd like to say yes, but I haven't been to the drugstore since your last visit."

"You were planning to take me out and you didn't even get prepared? I'm a little disappointed. Luckily," he added, putting down his own cup and reaching into his pocket, "I planned for just the occasion."

Both of them blushing far more than they reasonably should have been, Kaito moved to sit on the edge of the bed, and yanked his tie off. Without another word Rook came forward to join him, tossing the condom packet to the edge of the bed.

The first kiss was teasing, playful. Rook tugged on Kaito's bottom lip, clearly signaling that he was ready to step it up as soon as Kaito was. He didn't hesitate to do so, and gripped his boyfriend's strong thigh through his slacks, excited to feel the tension in his muscles. Leaning over, he placed a leisurely kiss just under his chin. Rook replied by groaning under his breath, his hands tensing against Kaito's chest.

Their lips met again, and this time Kaito showed dominance, leaning into it, his tongue brushing against Rook's for just one second. Instead of pursing the action, Rook pulled away and gave his lover a kiss on the jaw, his grip tightening as Kaito responded by sliding his hand up to his hip. The belt and the shirt were swiftly undone as Rook's kisses skimmed downwards, until he met Kaito's collarbones—once he was there, he focussed all his attention upon them, stroking them tenderly with his thumb.

Running one hand through his best friend's hair, Kaito fumbled with his other hand as he attempted to undo the first few vest buttons. Noticing he was only able to manage one, Rook pulled back, allowing them to work together to rid him of his clothing.

Just as he was shrugging off his undershirt, there was a muffled buzzing noise. They both hesitated before Rook clarified, "It's my phone." Undeterred by the vibrations in his pocket, he reached towards Kaito's belt.

Kaito took his hand. "Do you think it's work?"

"Probably, but—"

"It could be important."

"Kaito—"

"Rook."

He leaned back and reached into his pocket, his eyebrows drawn in annoyance. "It's Nonoha."

"What? Why is she calling you?"

"Let's find out." Taking a deep sigh, Rook held the phone to his ear, "Hello."

Kaito waited.

"Oh, is that so? . . . I see, but . . . Nonoha—no, wait, you should leave him be. Look, if he doesn't want to talk about—hold on—Nonoha . . . well, why should I? If he's said he—no—do not—goddamn," he glared at the phone, "she hung up on me. She's on her way here, by the way."

"What?! Why?"

"To meet your 'new girlfriend' that she felt the need to inform me about."

Making a loud noise of complete and utter exasperation, Kaito fell back against the bed. "What is her problem? Can't she just stay out of my business?"

"Well, apparently I'm a thirty-year-old married woman who's trying to seduce you," explained Rook wearily, "so no, doesn't seem like she'll leave you alone with me."

"Fuck." Taking a deep breath, he rose once more, and went to his phone. "I'll call her. I'll tell her I lied and I don't have a date. Then she won't have a reason to come by here."

As he waited for his phone to boot up, Rook approached him, and took his hand in a tender manner, his fingertips gently gracing his boyfriend's palm. "Wouldn't it be okay if . . . if you didn't lie?"

His tone was tentative, and Kaito was at a loss as to what he was getting at. "I don't see what other choice I have. Do you have an idea?"

He stared at their hands. "You could just . . . look, Kaito, I understand how you feel, but why can't we just let her find out? We're not going to hide forever, are we?"

"No—no, of course not—"

"Then why not now? She'll have to find out at some point. Isn't that easier than dodging questions and lying all the time?"

Their eyes met. Realization hit Kaito like the answer to a puzzle, and he closed his eyes, feeling like an idiot for not having figured it out before just then. He took Rook's hand in his and squeezed it, hoping the gesture was reassuring. "I'm sorry, Rook. You're right. I—you're the most important person in my life, right? I love you like crazy. But Nonoha's my best friend, too. If she gets freaked out or—I don't know, but I don't want to have to choose. I can't. I—"

Kaito was unable to continue with Rook's lips against his. Furthermore, he was still unable to continue after they had left, simply at a loss as to how to react.

"Kaito," he murmured, "let this happen. You know we can't do this forever. So let's get this done with now, instead of forcing it away." He smiled, just a little.

Nodding, Kaito returned the smile as best he could. "Okay. Yeah, you're right." His grip tightened once more, and Rook reciprocated. "It'll be fine."

There was a loud knock on the door. "Kaito," Nonoha's voice announced loudly, "I'm coming in now, you'd better not be doing anything weird!"

The door swung open.