Misaki tried to look as excited as his friends, but he knew he was failing. Earlier in the day they had just graduated and decided to go out drinking to celebrate. Usagi was reluctant to let Misaki go out, but he had been called away at the last minute by Aikawa and Misaki convinced the older man to go while he hung out with his friends; promising to allow Usagi to pick him up after his meeting with Aikawa ended.

Misaki was now beginning to feel grateful for the arrangement to have Usagi pick him up soon as his anxiety was starting to get the better of him, and drinking only seemed to make him feel worse. Since he had graduated it was finally time for him to tell Takahiro about his relationship with Usagi, and Misaki still didn't feel ready to say it. He knew he had to now; there was no way around it. Rather than being at odds with his brother over still living with Usagi, he knew that giving his brother a reason for living there would make him drop the subject; even if it caused another one altogether.

Misaki felt his heart race just at the thought of telling his older brother that he had been in a secret relationship with his best friend for four years and never told him. Misaki knew why he never told his brother though. Before he was worried that, as he was still a minor at the time, his brother could have taken him away from his lover, but that fear ended once Misaki turned twenty and became a legal adult. A new fear was spawned however; the thought of his brother hating him. Whether his brother began to hate him for not telling him the truth for all those years or whether he hated him for being in a relationship with a man, either was plausible in Misaki's mind.

Other minor fears also sprouted, such as the fear that Usagi's reputation would be damaged or that all of his friends and family would forsake him for being in a same sex relationship. To Misaki these were all possible and almost inevitable. "Usagi-san thinks I'm so strong, but I'm actually really pathetic. Usagi-san says that I'm the only one he needs in his life, but I love my friends and family too. I don't want to lose them. But I won't give up Usagi-san. Is there a way that allows me to keep Usagi-san while still having the love and support of my friends and family?" Misaki wondered to himself as he tried to keep the tears from his eyes.

His one saving grace was that he wouldn't have to tell Takahiro immediately. Takahiro had been sent to Germany on business and would be there for the next two months. While Misaki was thankful for the intervention, he also hated it. He just wanted to get it over with but it seemed as if something was working either for or against him. "Maybe this is to help me build up my nerve so that way when Brother returns after two months I'll finally be ready…" A little voice of doubt remained in Misaki's mind however, "I'll never be ready. If I am able to tell Brother, it'll probably be because Usagi-san was there to give me support. I can't do anything without Usagi-san's support and that's why I wanted us to tell Brother together. I'm not strong enough to stand without him."

Misaki's own thoughts were depressing him increasingly more and more so he chugged his second mug of beer while his friends happily chatted amongst themselves and were still working on their first mug. "Usagi-san said that Brother would never hate me, but how pissed will Brother be when he comes back from Germany and sees I'm still living with Usagi-san? Will he yell at me and call me irresponsible? What if… Brother isn't one for violence, but what if he and Usagi-san get into a fight? Could that happen?" As new possibilities began spinning in Misaki's mind, he quickly downed half of his third mug.

"Hey Takahashi, are you okay?" Toudou asked concerned.

"Uh, y-yeah. Sorry, I'm just thinking about something."

"What's there to think about? You've successfully graduated from college and got a full time job working at the same company that publishes "Da Man"! You've got to tell me if you see any new chapters before they come out!"

"I will, I will."

"But no spoilers! Even if I beg for them, I'm trusting you to save me from myself, Takahashi."

"I won't give anything away, Toudou." Misaki allowed himself to chuckle and smile at his friend's enthusiasm. "Toudou really is a great guy; he's a good friend… I wonder if we can stay like this if he finds out about my relationship with Usagi-san…"

"Ah! Our food is coming!" Toudou saved Misaki from his depressing thoughts once again, "I'm gonna go wash my hands; hopefully there's not a line in the bathroom. Takahashi, make sure they leave some for me."

"Okay!" Misaki called out to him as he left, "I don't get it. It's bar food so it's just a bunch of deep fried junk… oh, but then again, not all of these guys can cook so this is probably a feast to them." Misaki realized.

Misaki didn't care much for fast food, but he did like it occasionally and since he was half way done with his third mug, he felt it would be best to eat something to prevent himself from becoming drunk, "Apparently I have a habit of passing out and I don't want to hear Usagi-san teasing me for not being able to hold my liquor."

Even as he thought that, he could recall how much the older man had teased him on New Year's Day, "Really Misaki? You couldn't even last till midnight? It's a shame; I had no one to kiss to welcome in the New Year."

"Brother and Sister were there! You wouldn't have gotten a kiss from me anyway, you shameless pervert!" Misaki snarled.

"If they hadn't been there, it wouldn't have been just a kiss that I welcomed the New Year with. I think the best way to welcome a New Year is with a good midnight clim—"

"No!" Misaki hissed as he tried to ignore the dull throb of a headache that thankfully was too mild to count as a hangover.

Typical of Usagi, despite his teasing, he still got some medicine for Misaki's headache, and gave him a nice cold glass of water before Misaki could even ask, and he sure the boy was fine. After Misaki assured Usagi that he was, he got out of bed so he could make breakfast for them; of course by that time it was nearly noon, so it was more like a breakfast themed lunch, but Usagi didn't mind.

"Usagi-san has gotten a lot better at taking care of me. I wonder if that's an after effect of when I had pneumonia." Misaki pondered as he nibbled on some French fries, "Maybe all he did was get a pill for me and some water, but when it comes to Usagi-san it's more difficult than it sounds. After all this is a man who obliterated an apple in an attempt to peel it; yet somehow he didn't cut himself in the process." Misaki gave his lover some credit.

As they ate the French fries, Misaki noticed that he was starting to feel funny. As he began to question if he drank too much, a suspicious looking man suddenly approached the table, "Don't speak." He told them.

Misaki was about to open his mouth to ask what the man meant by that, but realized to his horror that he couldn't, "What? What's happening to me? Why can't I talk? Did he drug us?"

"Follow me." The man ordered and sure enough, they all stood up and left the table.

"No! Help! Someone stop us!" Misaki tried to scream but couldn't, and suddenly a numbness entered his cognizance and he felt his consciousness pushed to the back of his mind. It was as if he was watching a movie through his eyes as he had no control over what he did, and oddly enough, he couldn't recall why he was doing it. Even though only seconds had passed, he didn't remember any of the events that had just occurred.

In the confusion, Misaki became scared, and instinctively, he called out for Usagi in his mind, forgetting that his thoughts were now wordless, "Usagi-san! Usagi-san! Help me! I'm scared, Usagi-san!"

The man lead the group of friends outside where a white van was waiting for them in the alley. A couple of other men exited the car and started loading the boys into the back of the van and Misaki realized they would soon get to him, "No! I don't wanna go with them! Usagi-san!"

Misaki put up no resistance as he was also stuffed in the back of the van, and he noticed his friends being injected with something in the back of their heads. Misaki could feel someone applying some rubbing alcohol to the back of his neck with a cotton ball before his head was suddenly tilted to the side and he felt a needle puncture his skin, "Usagi-san!"

"Takahashi!" Toudou's familiar voice broke through Misaki's thoughts and upon seeing him, Misaki wanted to call out to his friend, but still couldn't speak.

Toudou, meanwhile, already had his phone out and was calling the police.

"Shit! Drive! Drive! Drive!" one of the men yelled to the driver who sped off before the other two could close the van doors securely and Misaki tumbled out of the van limply before the van flew out of sight.

Toudou hurried over to Misaki to make sure that he was all right before he noticed the syringe that was still embedded in Misaki's neck, "Shit." Toudou hissed as he continued speaking to the operator on the phone.

Misaki started to get up, forgetting why he was on the ground to begin with, until Toudou said, "No, don't move, Takahashi."

Misaki froze instantly. If someone told him to do something; he just did it regardless of whether he wanted to, but what Misaki really wanted at that moment was to run to his lover, "Usagi-san." In his terrified and confused state of mind, he still just wanted to see the older man.

"Misaki!"

Misaki thought he was hallucinating for a moment, but quickly realized that Usagi was kneeling down beside him. "Misaki! What happened?"

"I…" Misaki discovered he could speak again, but as far as answering his lover's question, he wasn't sure he could. The memories were fuzzy at best, almost non-existent at that time, "I was drugged?" Misaki believed that much at least, but it still sounded like a question.

Usagi noticed the syringe sticking out of Misaki's neck and resisted the urge to remove it and instead picked the boy up. "Hey, wait! What are you doing?" Toudou asked, still on the phone.

"You can handle the police when they arrive, but I won't make Misaki wait until then. I'm taking him to a hospital now and you can tell the police to meet us there."

Toudou understood the older man's reasoning and let him go while he stayed on the phone with the police. Usagi rushed over to his car and placed Misaki in the passenger seat, making sure that he kept Misaki's head turned so nothing would disrupt the needle.

Misaki felt better with Usagi by his side, but as he still didn't know what was wrong with him or had just happened; he still felt so scared that he wanted to cry.