The squeaky floorboard gave him away every time. He could be perfectly silent, tiptoeing into the room, doing his best not to disturb the two men sleeping on the floor amidst the pile of blankets. They couldn't afford beds for any of them, and now that it was getting colder here, they all just shared the pile of blankets in the center of the room. It wasn't like they hadn't all snuggled up to each other before.

He hoped Sakura was warm enough at night.

Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

He froze in mind step and kept his eyes focused on the center of the room for any sign that he might have disturbed them. He wasn't sure why he even bothered. He knew good and well neither of them would move. They knew it was him. And they both had heard it.

He slipped out of his work clothes and into the soft pants and slightly oversized t-shirt Fai had left out for him and then slipped silently in beside them.

"Nuyhm," Fai made some sort of sleepy murmur, "Welcome home Syaoran-kun." Even though the darkness he could see the soft smile on the man's lips.

But Syaoran said nothing, only bore himself deeper under the covers, doing his best not to bump against the slender blonde mage. Though he would admit that the thought of bumping against Fai was a little more welcoming than bumping against Kurogane. He admired the man, that was certain, but Syaoran was quite sure that cuddles in the middle of the night, accidental or otherwise, were a little too far into his personal bubble. But Fai? Fai would just cuddle right back.

He wondered if Fai ever worried about bumping against Kurogane in the middle of the night, too. Usually he was the one who slept in the center. But then again, Fai never seemed to be cautious of invading Kurogane's space at all, so Syaoran had his doubts.

It was only a few moments until they were all sleeping soundly, only to be waken by the 8:00 a.m. train that passed near their apartment.

Stores in this world carried objects called "alarm clocks," but the train was always on time and Sakura and Syaoran never needed to be up before then, so they had decided to save the money.

Every day, Fai would wake up with the children and make them breakfast and prepare them their bentos to take to their jobs. Today it was sesame rice balls and peanut butter sandwiches cut into little shapes; stars for Syaoran and hearts for Sakura.

Sakura had to be to work earliest, but Syaoran would leave with her and walk her to work.

Fai often wondered what the two of them would talk about on their way. If they ever held hands. If Sakura would ever kiss his cheek before they departed.

One day he hoped such things would happen for them. But right now, he was quite sure that was not the case.

Kurogane usually woke up while Fai was cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Sometimes he would come straight to the kitchen and eat his own portion, and sometimes he would slip into the shower before hand.

Today was a shower-first day.

Fai was busy drying dishes with a towel when Kurogane finally came in. He took his place silently at the table without a hello, good morning, or otherwise. Just the occasional glance at the blonde when Kurogane was quite sure the other was not paying attention.

That was really his favourite time to watch him; when Fai was distracted with something else. He would often get a rather glazed look over his eyes that suggested his mind was somewhere else entirely. If nothing else, Kurogane thought it might mean Fai actually did think about things, which was slightly comforting, because his odd behavior often suggested otherwise.

"So, what would you like to do today, Kuro-tan?" he finally broke their silence as he turned around to lean against the kitchen counter.

"Nothing," the other grumbled and continued to munch on his toast and he came to the conclusions that this world had very delicious blackberry jam.

"Well that isn't any fun," he whined. "You wanna play a game?"

"No."

"Why not? Don't you like games, Kuro-rin?"

"No."

"Yes you do!" he laughed, "Everyone likes games."

"You can do what you like. I don't care," he shrugged and shoved the rest of his toast in his mouth and grabbed for the newspaper on the table, hoping that might deter any further conversation attempts.

"'Friction' Concert Sold Out!" read the headline.

As if it were poisoned, he wadded the paper up and threw it on the floor. He would rather deal with Fai than read that garbage.

Fai only clicked his tongue and shook his head. He had already read the headline. He knew exactly why Kurogane had reacted the way he did. The only reason he hadn't thrown the newspaper away himself was because Syaoran had been looking over it earlier and Fai had gotten distracted by cleaning up before he could properly do so.

"Aren't you the least bit curious, Kuro-tan?" he giggled as he tossed the mangled paper into the trashcan.

"No. Not in the least," Kurogane grumbled with a narrowed look at the slender blonde to warn him not to press any further at the subject. Over the past few days they had come to a silent understanding that this subject was not something that needed to be discussed. He was in no hurry to break it.

"I am," he shrugged as he slid into the chair directly across from the slightly damp ninja and propped his chin up with his hands, "I bet Kurogane is handsome as a musical star."

"I don't sing," Kurogane growled. He was choosing to ignore other parts of his statement.

"Nope, you play a…" blue eyes shifted to the ceiling, hoping the word he was looking for might be floating in the air up there somewhere. It wasn't a word he was familiar with. "Giter?" He finally settled with that one, as he was sure it at least sounded similar.

"No, I don't. I thought I said I didn't want to talk about this."

But Fai only grinned and leaned further in to the table. "Is Kuro-muu shy?" he just giggled.

"I'm not shy, this is just a stupid! That's all. Why should I care about some person's life I don't even know. If I could, I'd punch him in the face and tell him to get those people with the flashy box things out of the damn yard!"

"Cameras," Fai corrected him, happy to have learned a new word in this world.

"I don't care what they are," crimson eyes narrowed again and he stood up from the table and stormed out of the room.

Fai could only laugh quietly to himself as he cleaned off the last of the dishes. Kurogane was shy. He just hated when people found that out about him.

Thank you for reading! Part Three coming soon! Please review!