It was colder than usual today. Snow slowly fell down, covering the streets of Nagoya and the cars that were silently parked in the night. The tears that streamed down Yuu's red cheeks were nearly frozen and his nose, dripping wet. His small and fragile hands were red, his right one even more red as it grasped onto the handle of his dark green suitcase. However, Yuu did not really care about how he looked at the moment. He just needed to get away from him. He needed to conceal his cuts and bruises that sent him worried glances and unwanted pity from strangers. The only thing he couldn't mask was his pain. Pain wasn't a stranger to Yuu at all. He was used to it; getting abused by his adoptive "father", Guren. However, this night was different. The young adult hastily packed his bags and disappeared. Guren would not care about him missing at all. He could easily be replaced. Yuu was just a pet to him after all. Guren's own little play thing that he could beat around. Yuu has had enough with it. With all of this pain. He had to get away. But where would he go?

Mikaela stood patiently at the counter of his shop, closing his eyes as he relaxed himself with the sound of the classical music playing on the shop's radio. He was the only one working today. The sweet aroma of tea flowed through the vast space of the room. He could never get used to this feeling and the scent. It was just so soothing. The tall blond hummed along quietly to the familiar song that soon came on the radio, his lips curving up into a smile as he did so. "Claire de Lune" had been one of his favorite pieces of music ever since he could remember. His mother had played it for him many times in his childhood. Young Mikaela would just sit next to her, leaning against her shoulder as she played; her fingers flowing from key to key. Mikaela had missed her dearly and would never forget her warmth and gentle touch. His mother had a compassionate soul, which she had eventually passed on to Mikaela. He was very much like his mother. Proper and kind. He always had a quirky smile on his face and would help anyone who called for it.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door bell jingled, causing Mikaela to suddenly glance across the room with a warm smile. "Welcome to the Hyakuya Tea Shop. What brings you here toda-". Mikaela was soon interrupted as the young dark-haired male slowly made his way toward the corner of the shop, taking a seat in one of the chairs as he rolled and placed his snow-covered suitcase next to him. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as they shimmered in the shop's low lighting. Mikaela blinked, slightly tilting his head at the stranger. He smiled softly and walked over towards the boy, with a bit of a worried expression. The boy shifted in his chair, attempting to hide his face from the blond with his black bangs. "Is everything alright?" Silence fell between the two of them and the boy just turned his head away, watching the snow fall outside. He seemed to be focused on other things at the moment. Things of which Mika did not know of. "Here. I'll be back okay?" Mikaela hurriedly walked away, making his way behind the counter and began to mix different substances into a saucepan, including some ginger, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom pods and a slightly amount of black peppercorns. Yuichiro watched as Mikaela moved gracefully, mixing each of the ingredients together. Mikaela then started to crush all of the components together. The blond added water to the saucepan, bringing it to a boil and soon reduced the heat, eventually adding the rest of the ingredients. Mikaela then strained the hot tea into a traditional Japanese teapot, pouring the sweet liquid into a small glass cup. He sat the teapot down and carried the cup back to the young male. Yuichiro quickly looked away, trying not to let the blond see him. "May I sit next to you?" Mikaela asked, watching as the boy slowly nodded, sniffling and trying to wipe his tears away.

The benevolent blond sat the cup in front of the dark-haired boy, smiling softly at him. "Here, try this." He offered fondly, the young male finally glanced up at him. His face was red and stained with tears. Mikaela felt bad for him. He seemed heartbroken. Maybe it was a girl? Or family or friend issues?

"But….I didn't order anything." His voice cracked lightly, tears rolling down from his emerald eyes like those of glass. Mikaela smiled genuinely, resting his chin on the palms of his hands as his elbows sat on the wooden table.

"I know. It's on the house." The blond replied, gazing at the saddened boy.

"….thank you~" The boy smiled gently yet, it quickly faded afterwards. He reached for the china cup, taking ahold of the handle and resting the other side against his palm. The warmth of the tea comforted the boy and he was grateful of the blond who sat next to him. The boy brought the teacup against his soft pink lips, taking a sip of the hot liquid. "mmm~~" His eyes were shimmering as he opened them; appearing as real jewels and that itself had made Mikaela smile brightly. The tea tasted wonderful to him. It had brought more tears to his eyes yet, they were blissful.

"Do you like it?" Mikaela asked, his teeth showing as he laughed happily at the young boy. It made his heart warm up just to see the smiles of his customers. Especially this customer. He seemed different somehow from the rest of them. Mikaela wondered if it had been those emerald glassy eyes that stared directly through him. Or, it could have been his pale soft skin. It was as if the boy was of heavenly descent. Yet, he was alone and broken.

"It's really delicious. I love it! - Oh. My name is Yuichiro by the way. You can call me Yuu though." What a nice name, Mikaela thought. Very unique. Mikaela was happy to hear the trivial bliss in Yuu's voice, relieving him a bit. However, he was still concerned about him. Was he really okay?

"Nice to meet you Yuu. My name is Mikaela. You can call me Mika if you'd like. And I'm glad that you enjoy it. It's my homemade Chai tea. It helps to relieve anxiety and stress. I thought that it may help you…if I may ask….why were you crying earlier?" Mika asked with a troubled tone. He glanced down at the boy's suitcase and back up into his lightly puffed eyes. Yuichiro looked down silently in return, grasping tighter around the warm teacup.

"…"

"It's alright. You don't have to say anything. I was just worried about you." Yuu glanced back up curiously at the blond, whose icy blue eyes made contact with his own. Something about Mika just seemed really relieving to him. Maybe it was his comforting aura? His kind words? His reassuring smile?

"Why were you worried? I'm just a stranger to you…"

"You're not a stranger." Yuu's eyebrows furrowed as the blond said those words. Of course he was a stranger to him. They had just met each other. How could they not have been strangers? "To me, you are a dear customer. It's my duty to make sure that all of my customers are happy and satisfied."

"….." Yuichiro stayed silent, gazing into the boy's cerulean eyes. They had a certain look to them that Yuu had found….quite delightful. He sighed, taking another sip of the chai tea before looking back at Mikaela. "I was crying earlier because…..because….I ran away. I ran away from my home. I wouldn't call it my home though. It never was and never will be…but….now I have nowhere to go. I don't have a family…..I just have….. myself." Yuu's voice shook a bit as he spoke to the blond. His tears were forming once again in his eyes and Mikaela felt pity for Yuichiro. He must have had a hard life. Yet, he ran away and Mika thought that he wasn't too young. He looked as if he was in his early twenties, like himself. And suddenly, Mika smiled. He had a wonderful idea.

"I'm sorry to hear that…well…..if you have no place to go…..you can stay at my place if you'd like?" Mikaela offered to the dark-haired male. Yuichiro quickly looked up at the blond, nearly choking on his tea as he coughed. That had caused Mika to chuckle lightly.

"I just met you! Why would I stay at a stranger's place the first day I met them?!"

"Well…you're not really a stranger. I know that your name is Yuichiro and that you enjoy drinking my Chai tea and that you ran away from home." Mika shrugged, laughing a bit as he looked at the boy. He could understand why Yuu wouldn't accept his offer. Normal people wouldn't accept an offer like that unless they had no other choice. However, Mika did NOT want to leave him on the streets in the cold weather. He could die for all he knew. Or worse.

"We are too strangers! I can't stay with someone that I don't know…"

"Why not?"

"B-because it's common sense!?"

"Well…we can ask each other questions if you'd like. The shop stays open for another hour." Mika suggested with a friendly smile, trying to make Yuu feel more comfortable with the offer. It was highly unlikely for a lot of customers to come in tonight anyways.

"No."

"I have a full fridge and an extra bedroom."

"No."

"You can take a hot shower and sleep in some comfy sheets."

"I'm not staying with you."

"….you have nowhere else to go….." Mikaela added sadly, watching as Yuichiro gazed into his blue eyes. He was right. Yuu had nowhere else to go…and if Mika was actually some crazy murderer…..no one would care if Yuu was to get killed. Not even Guren. He had no family that could care about him. Yuu was all alone. He had no choice and figured that accepting the offer could actually help him. Also….Mika didn't really seem all that bad. He was actually quite kind and seemed like a good person. What did he have to lose?

"...what's your favorite color?" Yuu sighed in defeat, glancing back up at the tall blond whose blue eyes lit up as Yuu spoke.

"Green! What's yours?" Mika smiled brightly towards Yuu. The dark-haired male had finally agreed to Mika's offer. It had filled Mika with delight on both the inside and out. His cheeks were hurting so much from all of the smiling that Yuu was causing him. Mika was glad that he could help him.

The two of them continued on like that for a full hour. Just conversing about each other's lives and hobbies. Yuu learned that Mika loved to read and that he was in college like himself. He also learned that Mika lived in his own apartment and only had a couple of friends that he talked to. Mika just found out basic things about Yuu in return. That his favorite color was blue and that he enjoyed music. Mika also got to know more about his hobbies and that he was also attending college like himself. Yuu had begun to smile more and more throughout their conversation. He felt happy for once in his life and at that very moment in the tea shop with Mika, Guren had started to fade from his memory. All he could think about was Mika and for some reason…..he felt like he had a family.

After that short hour had passed, Mika traveled around his shop, turning everything off and making sure that nothing was running while the two of them were gone. Yuu watched as the blond paced back and forth, hurrying a bit as he quickly removed his apron, placing it on the store's coat hanger. He then walked over to Yuu, reaching into his own pocket as he grabbed the shop key. "Are you ready?" Yuu nodded and stood up off of his chair. He grabbed his suitcase handle, following Mika from behind and out into the cold streets once again. Mika turned around, closing and locking the door before leading Yuu to his car. The blond eventually took ahold of Yuu's suitcase, offering to roll it for him. Yuu had wondered why he was being so nice to him. No one was ever this way with him.

Most people ignored what Yuu had needed help with. That is…if he was around people. Guren normally wouldn't allow him to go anywhwere when he was very young and in his teenage years. Just recently, Guren only allowed him out to attend his college classes. It's not like Yuu had a choice to go out or not. He lived under Guren's house and Guren's rules because he couldn't afford to rent an apartment himself and he didn't have anyone to stay with. Now, with Mika helping him out like this, seemed like a miracle.

Yuu glanced up at Mika from behind, following him to his car. Instantly, Yuu's eyes lit up with excitement. Right before his eyes was Mika's car. Not just any car, but a 2015 Acura NSX. Yuu ran up to the car as Mika started the engine with his keys.

"No freaking way! This is your car?!" Yuu asked, pressing his face against the glass childishly to get a better look of the inside. The dashboard, the roof and some of the interior were all mainly black and most of the covering of the seats were a crimson red. The inside of the car lit up nicely and all of the tints of red reflected in Yuu's emerald eyes. Mika was very much amused. "Wow! It's so cool Mika!"

"Sorry. It's not for sale." He laughed, teasing the excited Yuichiro. It was like Christmas morning for Yuu and to Mika…..it was kind of adorable.

"Like I could pay for this. This baby is worth more than my life! How did you get it?"

"I paid for it with this wonderful currency called money. However, it was kind of a hassle with all the papers to sign and such. Paperwork isn't really a hobby of mine." Mika admitted sarcastically to Yuu.

"Ha-ha." Yuu replied to him, giving Mika a glimpse of his tongue as he walked to the other side of the car. Mika popped open the trunk, lifting Yuu's bag into it as he shut the door and made his way over to the driver's side, glancing through his back window to see Yuu already trying out the radio inside of the car. The blond smiled gently and made his way inside of the car with the dark-haired male. This was going to be a long and interesting drive.