Hey mom… Joshua's here" Neku went to head for the stairs, not waiting for a response.

Mrs. Sakuraba hurried into the hall from the kitchen, an oven glove over one shoulder and Neku turned back.

"Hi Joshua" she smiled "How've you been"

Mrs. Sakuraba knew all of Neku's friends by name, and was particularly keen, Joshua liked to think, on himself… perhaps because he sometimes managed to worm his way into staying for one of her dinners, and would complement her highly on them.

He nodded courteously "Fine, thanks, Mrs. Sakuraba…missed little Neku though"

"I'm not little" Neku wriggled away as Joshua ruffled his hair, and his mum laughed. "Cut it out!" he grumbled, squirming.

"Well you guys go hang out; I'm in the middle of cooking… Joshua, I hope you're staying for dinner?"

"Oh, of course, Mrs. S" smiled Joshua, ignoring the look of fury Neku shot at him.

"Good, well, It'll only be about twenty minutes… I'll call you"

Neku grumbled something resembling a thank you and trudged up the stairs.

Joshua had never been into Neku's bedroom before. The 'spirits' usually hung out in the lounge, since there was more floor space, and even when Joshua stuck around for dinner, Neku would make him leave immediately afterwards. Today Neku was tired and Joshua seemed to have worn him down, and he pushed open the door, sighing, leaving Joshua to follow him. Whilst Neku sat down on the edge of his bed, chucking off his coat and undoing his shoes, Joshua stared around in the closest he could get to awe.

The room was fairly messy, with clothes, games and old newspapers thrown about the place, not to mention the piles of tin pins that Neku wasn't currently using in his deck. But it was almost double the size of Joshua's own (not that that was saying much) and everything was large, the bed, the wardrobe, the TV. Joshua peered into what had originally looked like an open cupboard only to find that Neku had his own bathroom. Joshua felt eyes on him, and turned to see Neku staring at him.

"What?" Joshua asked, folding his arms

"Why are you asking me that, you're the one wandering around my bedroom like you've never seen one before..."

"I haven't seen this one… and anyway…" he kept up his façade of haughtiness. "I'm nosey."

There were shelves stocked with books, that being the one thing Neku's room had in common with Joshua's, above a desk with a laptop sitting on it. Joshua ran his finger along them, impressed. He had been an avid reader for many years, and even he hadn't read all of these. They varied from manga to fiction, from sci-fi to psychology… ah, and here were some philosophy books, Joshua's favourite.

"Hey!" he said, spotting something familiar "This is the sequel to the book I'm reading now!" he pulled the slim, battered paperback out of one of the hidden pockets inside his coat "Have you read the whole series?"

Neku scoffed, leaning back on the bed. "I don't read that sort of thing much"

"Oh." said Joshua, his excitement suddenly downtrodden.

"You can have that book, though" Neku yawned, and got up to walk over to his chest of drawers.

"Really? Thanks!" Joshua for once was open with his gratitude, as he pulled out the shining untouched hardback and put down his own tatty book on top.

"You can take off your coat by the way" Neku said, with a tone that sounded like he was trying to make Joshua feel stupid. Was he trying? Or was it just Joshua's overactive imagination? Joshua slipped the coat off and folded it carefully across the back of Neku's desk chair. His keys fell out and he bent to pick them up, slipping them into the pocket of his jeans. When he stood again, the breath caught in his chest as he saw Neku across the room, now topless, picking out a t-shirt. Wow. For someone who tended to wear baggy tops and thick jumpers, Neku's chest was quite well defined. Somehow he hoped Neku would be changing out of his school trousers, too…

"What are you looking at?" asked Neku, and Joshua jumped, noticing he had been staring.

"Nothing" he muttered, and turned his head away towards the desk. Noticing a purple binder covered in Tin Pin stickers (Joshua seemed to recall these had once been highly collectible) he picked it up.

"What's this Neku?"

"Hmm?" Neku asked, slipping on a long-sleeved red shirt

Joshua opened the binder, inside which were meticulously clean plastic files, and read aloud the graffiti-styled title on the first page.

"Scrapbook" he giggled "Aw, Neku, how cu-"

Neku darted across the room, grabbing the book from a surprised Joshua's grasp.

"Don't…" he panted "…read that"

"Why not?" asked Joshua, reaching for the binder.

"Just don't, okay." Neku stepped back and threw the binder under his bed, looking back at Joshua angrily.

"Geez, Neku, that must be one hell of a scrapbook…" Joshua mused

"It's just private, ok?"

"Is it porn, Neku?"

"NO."

"You know, it's nothing to be ashamed of… we could even look at it together…"

"It's NOT porn"

"It's completely normal for a sixteen-year-old to have raging hormones, Neku" he brushed a strand of hair away from Neku's face in a way that wasn't exactly provocative… but wasn't free of suggestion either…

Neku reeled back "I'm sure that's how you rationalize it to yourself, Josh. For that matter, I don't know if I can trust being near you…" He went back to his bed,

"Oh" Joshua retorted "I see what you did there!"

He muttered something under his breath, smirking, which he doubted Neku would hear.

"Just watch your back, Sakuraba…"