So, I have decided not to continue putting the little sentence in italics at the bottom because that would be tedious and boring. I'm really just winging this, so there will be lots of other changes. Be on the lookout!

I don't own anything besides Ophelia and Miss Julie.

Johan blinked to clear his thoughts. I'm...what?

Juudai, still oblivious to all the confusion, grinned. "What? I complimented you. Don't I get a thanks in return?"

Johan shook his head. "Uhm, yeah. Thanks for the compliment, Juu-mph!" His words were swallowed as Miss Julie clamped a hand over Johan's mouth. "Don't mind him, Juudai. Johan's a little....odd."

Odd! I'll show you odd, lady! Johan's eyebrows narrowed as Miss Julie removed her hand from his mouth. "Get me a latte, STAT."

Juudai gave Johan a coy smile, making the blunette's face explode into a multitude of pinks and reds.

"That means now, Johan, NOW!"

Johan squeaked and ran off.

Juudai smiled. "I'll definitely like working here."

"Who does she think she is?" Johan sighed as he sat on the pavement. Work was over, time to go home. Also, time for Johan to rant on how much his job sucked.

Kicking at a rock, he scoffed. "It's not my fault Juudai fancies me. And I am NOT odd!"

Johan sighed again. "I just have to face the facts: she's the boss, I'm the...errand boy." He shuddered at finally admitting it. "I'm probably never going to get my drawings back, I'll never go to New York, I'll never..."

He looked up at the heavy sky. "I'll never amount to much."

Johan looked down at the scene in front of him. He had been too busy ranting to notice that he had wandered out to Millennium Park.

"Oh. I guess that I should pay more attention." He smiled and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

With a sigh, he plopped down on a nearby bench and took his sketchbook out of his backpack. Drawing had always cheered him up.

Taking out his pencil and spinning it in his hand, Johan glanced around at what he could draw that wasn't moving much.

And then he spotted him.

Resting up against a tree, was Juudai. His brown hair was fluttering gently with the breeze, his eyes closed and a contented smile across his face.

That's perfect! With a pink blush tinting his cheeks, Johan sketched out his new friend resting under the tree.

Johan left before Juudai got up, feeling so much better than when he had sat down.

A week went by. Wednesday came, and it rained. Scratch that-it was pouring. Buckets and buckets of it. If you were on the top floor of the Kodoki building, you could hear it.

This day was also an important milestone for Juudai:

He would be measured and his outfit would be picked out for next week's photoshoot.

Which is why he came into the Kodoki building all smiles, despite the rain. "Good morning!" He waved to the girl at the front desk, smiling.

His gaze drifted, and a new smile graced his lips. Sauntering over to Johan, Juudai placed a hand on the blunette's hip.

"And hello to you too." Juudai whispered into Johan's ear.

"Morning, Juudai." Johan muttered, ignoring the lovely pink shade dusting his cheeks.

Juudai pouted. "What, something happen?"

Johan piled a bolt of cloth into a plastic bin. "Yeah, Miss Julie happened. She gets her coffee at eight, and what happens when she doesn't get it?"

Juudai paled. "My mom's like that."

Johan nodded. "Exactly. So hightail it over to your fitting room before she gets down the stairs and yells at us." Johan rushed over to the elevator and pushed a button. "Oh, and don't be late." He smiled and waved to Juudai. "Bye!"

Juudai sighed, lovestruck. "Yeah....bye."

"Juudai, could you please take off your shirt over there?" The black-haired girl working on Juudai's fittings pointed over to a section that was closed off by a curtain. "I'll be with you in a minute."

Juudai nodded. "Sure!" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Johan drop off the cloth and leave. He smiled. Working diligently as always, I see.

Johan glimpsed Juudai slipping behind the curtain and waved. Good luck!

"Hm...you'd take a size five shirt...a size six jacket..." Juudai was pulling his shirt back on as the girl matched his measurements up with the sizes on a big blue chart.

"Okay!" She wrote down his measurements and pressed a button on the intercom. "Johan, I need you down in Fitting Room B, wherever you are."

There was a beep. "Got it, Ophelia."

Juudai smiled at the sound of Johan's voice. Ophelia stepped away from the intercom. "Johan works so hard. I can't wait until he gets to go to New York." She sighed and sat down on a stool.

"Goes to New York? What for? Why?" Juudai was puzzled.

Ophelia closed her eyes. "Johan is my boyfriend's cousin. He works so hard here at Kodoki. He wants to be a designer, really. His drawings are phenomenal. Ask him if you can see them next time."

Juudai pulled over a stool and sat down. "If his drawings are really that good, then why doesn't Miss Julie hire him as a designer?"

Ophelia shook her head. "That's what I don't get. At Johan's interview, he submitted some drawings to Miss Julie. She gave him a job as the errand boy, and he never saw those drawings again. That was a year and a half ago. He's been stuck in the same spot since then."

Juudai looked appalled. Johan really didn't want to be here. "Well, then what's keeping him from going to New York?"

Ophelia opened her eyes. "He doesn't have enough money yet. Also, he won't leave until he's got his drawings back." A tear fell down her cheek. "I can't do anything for him. He won't accept my help. He's stubborn, just like all the other Andersens."

Juudai gritted his teeth. It wasn't the lack of money and waiting for his drawings that was keeping Johan at Kodoki, it was Miss Julie.

Suddenly, the intercom whined. "Johan Andersen, please come to the office."

There was a thirty-second pause, and there was another whine. "Now, boy, NOW!"

Juudai and Ophelia jumped. "Oh, no! Does this mean he's going to get it?" Ophelia whimpered.

Juudai crossed his fingers. I hope not.

Johan rushed over to Miss Julie's office. "You wanted to see me?"

She looked over at him. "Yes. Today is your payday."

Johan sighed. "Whew! Thank-you." He took the envelope and left her office smiling.

Walking over to his locker, he bumped into Juudai. "Did Miss Julie fire you?"

Johan shook his head. "Nah. Payday." He slipped the envelope into his backpack.

Juudai sighed. "That's good. Hey, could I see your drawings sometime?"

"Uh, sure Juudai, but not right now. I have to go." Johan closed his locker and went back up the stairs.

At six, the rain slowed down and everyone was packing up.

As Johan was leaving, with Juudai right behind him, a piece of paper fell out of his backpack.

Juudai picked it up. "This must be one of Johan's draw-"

He stopped.

The picture was beautiful.

And...it was of him.

Blushing, Juudai examined it. The picture was of him, resting against a tree. Every single element was captured. The brushing of his hair by the breeze, the swaying of the branches-it was like Johan had frozen time with a special camera, one that contracted no blur or tilt.

"Oh, Johan...." Juudai whispered. "Johan!" He looked up wildly for his friend, but Johan had already left.

Carefully placing the drawing in his backpack, Juudai decided he would give it to Johan tomorrow.

After stopping off at the bank to deposit the check, Johan practically bounced home.

Getting back to his apartment, he placed his backpack on the couch, picked up the phone, and dialed.

The phone rang twice before someone picked up on the other end. "Big news, Edo, big news!" Johan chirped.

The person on the other side (Edo) sighed. "Did you get your drawings back?"

Johan shook his head. "Nope!"

"You finally landed a job as a designer?"

Johan giggled. "That's not it either!"

Edo sighed. "Well, what is it?"

"I now have enough money to go to New York."

Uh...things are looking up for Johan, Juudai is flirting with him, we meet Ophelia, and Miss Julie is cranky without coffee? What else can I say?

Please review! Like it? Hate it? Let me know how I can change!