"I don't know what to do, Jirou." Gakuto's voice sounded frightened.

Jirou blinked sleepily and rubbed his eyes as he sat up. His cell phone was held loosely to his ear. On the other end, Gakuto was freaking out about something, but Jirou hadn't registered what was going on.

"It was... just here! I woke up, and it was outside my door! I'm in college! I don't know what to do with it!" Gakuto was obviously panicked and Jirou had no clue what he was upset about.

"Gakuto? What's wrong?" Jirou mumbled, moving into a technically upright position, though he looked a bit crumpled.

"What's wrong?!" Gakuto exclaimed, as if Jirou had just told him that Atobe lost his fortune to a hobo playing poker. "What do you mean 'what's wrong'?! There's a baby outside my door!"

Jirou blinked several times. "A what?" he asked blankly, looking off towards the side where his clock sat perched on a stack of books. 7:00AM. Great.

"A baby," Gakuto said slowly, like he was talking to a seven year old. Which, when talking to Jirou, you had to do most of the time anyway. "You know? The small fragile things that cry all the time? They come out of a woman's-"

Jirou managed to cut Gakuto off before he could finish. "Oh! Okay, okay. No need to explain." Jirou rolled lamely out of bed, almost hitting his head on the oak table beside it.

"Jirou! I don't know what to do!" Gakuto yelled in a frustrated way.

Jirou moved to his window across from his bed. He pulled open the curtain and gazed out at the rising sun. The sky was tinged with pink and orange, almost looking like a beautiful oil painting rising over the tall buildings of the college campus. The still-sleepy boy took a minute to answer. "Where is it now?"

"Um... outside my door," Gakuto replied. Jirou could hear a light thumping noise in the background, and could practically picture Gakuto pacing across his dorm, tearing his hand through his frazzled hair.

"Why didn't you bring it inside?" Jirou asked. He didn't sound shocked, or upset, or even happy. He just sounded... tired. Go figure.

"Because it's a baby. A baby sitting in front of my door. I don't know what to do with it!" Gakuto exclaimed. Jirou was fairly sure Gakuto had paused to shoot the door a worried look.

"Bring it inside," Jirou said bluntly, as if it were obvious. Then again, to anyone who was in their right mind, it would be obvious.

"But it's not mine!" Gakuto replied, sounding outraged.

"I sure hope not," Jirou replied. "But bring it inside, anyway. It's a baby. You can't just leave it in the hallway."

There was a long pause, in which time Jirou managed to pull on his jeans with one hand, his cell still clutched to his ear. He wasn't completely awake, but he seemed to be more sane than Gakuto was at that moment.

Then, Jirou could hear the door of Gakuto's dorm being opened. There was a slight ruffle, in which the frazzled red-head almost dropped the phone. The door closed with a low click.

"Okay. It's inside," Gakuto said, the frown audible in his voice.

"Why don't you find out if it's a boy or a girl?" Jirou asked, pulling on his shirt the best he could while holding the phone and struggling to stay conscious.

"No. Way," Gakuto replied. "Could you please come over?"

"I guess," Jirou murmured, his words almost muffled by a stifled yawn. "Be over in a few."

It took about twenty minutes for Jirou to get to Gakuto's dorm. They went to the same college, but their dorms were across the campus from each other.

Jirou's knuckles had hardly tapped against Gakuto's door before a very upset looking Gakuto yanked it open, jerking a surprised Jirou inside.

Gakuto, without saying a word, pointed to the kitchen table, on which a car-seat sat.

Jirou walked over to it and peeked inside. Sure enough, a small baby sat inside of it, sleeping. Jirou figured it was a girl, considering the blankets, outfit, and car seat were pink.

"It's a baby..." he said slowly, frowning.

"No-fucking-duh," Gakuto muttered, stalking around the small space and frowning.

Jirou looked at it a second, then grinned. "Gakuto, it's a baby! She's so cute!" He crooned at the last part, leaning in closer to look at the small child.

"It's not cute!" Gakuto replied loudly.

"Shut up!" Jirou hissed, not looking away from the baby. "You'll wake her up."

"How the hell do you know it's a girl?!" Gakuto was quickly becoming agitated.

"I don't," Jirou replied happily. "I'm just guessing."

Gakuto shook his head. "I knew I should've called Ootori," he grumbled, then continued his pacing.

Something that sat snug between the baby and the car seat caught Jirou's eye. He slipped it out carefully, making sure not to jostle the young child.

It was a piece of paper.

"Gakuto," Jirou said without looking up from it.

"What?" Gakuto still sounded pissed.

"Look." Jirou moved over to Gakuto and showed him the note.

To whom it may concern-

I'm no longer able to care for my baby.

It's too much stress.

I can't balance a job, my classes, and a child.

I'm hoping you can take care of her for me.

-The concerned

"Oh, just great," Gakuto muttered, glaring at the paper.

"There's another side, Gakuto," Jirou murmured, flipping the paper in the other boy's hands.

P. S.

We really hope Gakuto has pissed his pants by now.

Love you dearly,

Atobe, Oshitari, Shishido, Kabaji, Ootari, Hiyoshi, not Jirou

Gakuto blinked at the paper, then looked at the baby.

"I-is it real?" he asked quietly.

"Um..." Jirou moved over to the car seat that was still perched on the table, and peeked inside. "Yeah..."

There was a knock at the door, and both boys turned to look at it. It opened a bit and Choutarou, grinning, slipped inside with the rest of Hyotei's tennis regulars.

"I came to pick up my niece." Choutarou said, laughing as he moved over to the car seat.

"All of you have about five seconds to get the hell out of here before I drop-kick you to next fucking week," Gakuto growled, eyes burning.

Within seconds the car seat was gone from the table and everyone but Atobe was out of the room.

The captain simply smirked at him. "Don't be mad at Jirou. He didn't know about it. He wouldn't been able to keep the secret."

"I would too!" Jirou replied loudly, frowning a bit.

Atobe chuckled, then backed out of the room and followed the rest of his long-gone team-mates down the hall.