What do most people do at 10 pm at night?

Some people put their kids to sleep, going to bed themselves, preparing for another day.

But in this bedroom, there was no sleeping. It was too hot to sleep...much too hot.

The men had finished their volumes for the day and had the rest of the night to take a load off. Which in this case meant getting rid of their current sexual frustrations that had been stacked on and on for days.

Seiji had his lover pinned to his bed, kissing him with such firey passion, digging his hands into those golden locks as he felt Sonos own wandering hands lightly trail down his back. His lips left his mouth and found the juncture inbetween his ear and neck, causing Seiji to let out a soft moan of surprise, gripping Sonos hair harder, feeling a growl under his ear. Seiji chuckled. Sono was a sucker for hair pulling.

Feeling bold, Seiji leaned down and suckled his loves earlobe, trailing his vein down to his shoulder, licking a hot stripe up his chin and kissed him hotly, pulling the back of his hair so roughly, he could have sworn he imagined Sonos eyes roll back into his skull and a moan let loose in his mouth.

Having quite enough of his young lovers teasing, Sono broke free and was quick to turn the tables as Seiji found himself pinned to the bed, his blond lover straddling his hips, arching forward to get right in his face. Seiji chuckled.

"Was I teasing you too much, love?"

"Your fascination with my hair is what was concerning me. Heh, I simply feel like I spoil you too much by not cutting it."

"Aww you're no fun. I love your long hair. It makes you more beautiful than you already were."

At that, Sono blushed and looked away, making Seiji take his chin in his fingers and have him look at him. Their eyes locked and Seiji leaned up to close the gap between them, kissing with a more gentle tone, one of his hands caressing his lower back, treading dangerously low.

Without warning, Seiji teased the blonds entrance for about a second before thrusting two fingers inside. The loud gasping moan he drank down almost made him laugh. Sono broke away and punched Seiji lightly in his chest.

"Can you at LEAST give me some heads up? You and your foreplay has been scattered and it's driving me crazy tonight."

"You wanted me to stop teasing you, so I thought this was what you meant."

"Oh shut up, you know damn well that isn't what I mean."

They both laughed and kissed again, taking in the moment as Seijis fingers gently moved in and out of his lovers body, relishing the moans that came from the blonds otherwise occupied mouth.

Slipping in another finger, he felt the blond break their kiss and threw his head back, gasping and moving his hips along with his fingers. Eventually, Sonos hand found the headboard, gripping it tightly as Seijis fingers moved faster in his body, making him slightly dizzy.

"God...stop teasing me...please..."

Seiji smiled and brought the blond to his chest, making his hips rise higher and his this gave him a better chance to quicken his thrusts. He felt his lovers moans on his chest, hot as they were, increasing every time he lightly grazed his sweet spot.

To see his love so open in the way, Seiji felt his heart pound madly. It had been a long couple of weeks. With Sonos first emotional breakdown in 15 years, it made him seem more human. Seiji made a promise to him then that nothing was going to break them apart. Not even death would keep Seiji away. With that thought fresh in his head, he ran his free hand through Sonos hair, kissing his temple and removed his fingers, earning a whimper of displeasure.

But Sono knew why Seiji was being so tender tonight. He didn't want to overwhelm him. The past several days were days Sono hadn't felt in years, so it was obvious he wasn't 100% sure how to deal with it. But the feel of having someone love you after knowing all of that...Sono couldn't begin to appreciate all Seiji had done for him since.

Sitting up properly, he straddled the mans groin and stared into his eyes, feeling his hands gently rub his legs. One of those hands went up to caress his cheek under his hair and he heard a faint whisper of,

"I'm not fibbing...you're still so beautiful...and I love you so much."

A pink flush found it's way to his cheeks as Sono averted his eyes with a smile, whispering a small thank you before shifting a bit, taking his lovers cock in his hands and gently settled himself on it, sliding down with ease, his mouth hanging open to let out gasping moans.

Seiji in turn let out a shocked moan, surprised with his lovers boldness at wanting to be on top. Very rarely did Sono ever ride him like this and just experiancing it was a thrill. Seiji knew not to spoil it.

Gripping his hips, he thrusted upwards, hearing a gasp leave the mans mouth and went with it. Sensing a challenge, Sono balanced himself and began moving his hips back and forth, up and down, eventually riding his lover into a frenzy. Every fiber in his being was set aflame, growing hotter with every grind and every thrust.

Seiji loved this. Each and every time they had sex, it was discovering a new thing every moment. He leaned his head back, moaning at the heat building in his loins, alongside the heat of his lovers body surrounding him. It felt so wonderful.

Feeling his orgasm suddenly approaching, he gripped Sonos member, earning a loud cry and an involuntary thrust of his hips in his hand. He felt so hot and so heavy, throbbing and ready to burst. Seiji felt hypnotized by it as he pumped his blond love, slow at first, then speeding up as soon as he felt Sonos hips start to lose their rhythm.

In nearly a second, the blond flung his head back and let out his loudest cry of the night, gripping Seijis hand tightly as he came hard on his chest. The force of his orgasm made his lungs forget how to work for a moment and he fought for breath.

Seiji, on the other hand, was caught so offgaurd by the tightnening around his cock that he let out a sudden moan of surprise, pumping his hot seed into his lovers trembling body. Sono felt hot and cold all at once, smiling to himself. There's never been a man to make him feel this way and his heart swelled. He was crazy in love...there was no way around it.

Unable to keep himself up, Sono fell onto his loves chest, breathing heavily and felt those soft hands rub his sweaty back, tenderly massaging his muscles with his fingertips. The blond nuzzled the mans neck, inhaling his scent and kissed under his chin, silently thanking him for that.

Seiji grinned and kissed the top of his hair, mumbling,

"What...what's the occasion? Usually, you like letting me do most of the work...why the sudden want to top?"

"I dunno...maybe I like to remind myself that only I can make you moan like that. It's a power thing for me, I guess. Heh."

Seiji left it at that, staring at the blond man nuzzled against his body. He looked so peaceful and content. He couldn't help but smile...then a sour thought crossed his mind.

"Sono...have you been...sleeping well, lately?"

There was a pregnant pause in the air and he felt Sono give a nervous chuckle.

"What? Why would you ask that?"

"Not that it's a huge concern should you think, but I've noticed you nod off every now and then when we work together. You mention you're tired a lot, but make no mention of wanting to sleep...if that's not convincing, the bags under your eyes give it away."

Sono said nothing; Seiji felt his body tense in his embrace, but his smile didn't falter as he sat up and set the blond in his lap, staring up at him with such a loving gaze.

"Remember what I said? No matter what happens, no matter what hell comes our way, I'd never give up on us. I told you I'd help you heal in any way that I could. It's stressful, I understand. But...you know that's I'll never stop loving you and I'll never stop trying for you. I love you."

Seiji emphazised this by pressing a kiss to Sonos heart, feeling it pound under his skin. He then felt the blonds gentle hands in his brown hair, cradling him to his chest. He felt tears in his eyes, but pushed them away to whisper,

"How did I ever get so lucky to have you, Seiji..."

"I ask that question a lot myself...but I know whatever answer I give just makes me love you more and more each day...do you wanna stay the night? It's getting late and I know it's a long walk for you to get home. We both have tomorrow off, so let's stay in."

"That sounds...wonderful. Sure. I guess I can spare a night."

Seiji chuckled and pounced to get his lover back into bed, throwing the sheets over them and peppering kisses to the blonds face.

"Haha, Seiji quit. I'm tired and if I'm supposed to get proper sleep like you want, I can't have you distracting me."

"Awww using my words against me to get out of affection. You're too smart for me."

Sono couldn't help the laughs that poured from his mouth and lightly punched the mans cheek, telling him to come to bed.

As they layed together, Sono was out like a light, while Seiji watched him sleep for a few moments before silently getting out of bed, putting on a pair of sweat pants and left the room, gently shutting the door.

Moving over to their two desks, he collected his papers and set them in his bag before moving to Sonos work. As he collected the blonds, he noticed his phone was flashing a bright white light. This meant he had an unread email.

Frowning at who could be emailing him at this time, Seiji took the blonds phone, opened it and clicked to see the email.

It was...odd. A very vauge email from a vauge address that read,

Hanasaki Sono. It is important that we meet with you as soon as possible. I cannot go into detail now. Please respond with home address.

Scoffing at what was so obviously a scam email, Seiji moved to delete it...then stopped. He didn't know for sure what this was and not knowing made him nervous...

Shutting the phone, he set it back down and moved away from the desk, unsure of how to take it. It seemed like one of those typical scam emails, but the way it was worded said different.

Opting not to touch it, Seiji went back to his room and crawled into bed, taking the man in his arms and kissed his head.

Seiji had a lot to think about these last few weeks. Sono telling him about his childhood, the things he went through...it put a lot of things into prospective for him.

Absentmindly rubbing his lovers arm, he couldn't help but feel an unending amount of disdain for his family, but he knew it wasn't their fault...Sono told him that he had made amends with his father and his brother...but Seiji still wasn't sure. He didn't want to make a huge deal about it; the blond would talk when he was ready.

Smiling to himself, he shut his eyes and went to sleep, his lips in Sonos hair, kissing the back of his head.

Next Afternoon

The two men found themselves in Sonos' home the next afternoon, going over draft ideas for his next erotic piece. Seiji had given much of his input as he could on the subject, considering erotica and hentai were not his strong suits, though Sono greatly appreciated his help.

They had eaten a small dinner consisting of rice, soup and beef strips, all of which Seiji devoured in seconds. The rest of the night was dedicated to brain storming.

At around 7 pm however, there was a loud knock at the door, drawing them away from their thoughts. Sono groaned and moved to answer the door, demanding to know who was being so rude at this time. But when he answered the door, his irritation subsided and was replaced with confusion.

Two men stood at his door, looking flushed, like they had been running a mile...though they were in suits.

The taller of the two asked,

"Pardon us for the inturrption. We've been scaling this apartment complex all afternoon. Might you be Hanasaki Sono?"

The confused look on the blonds face grew as he nodded silently, feeling Seiji stand next to him and the two men let out collective sighs of relief.

"Oh thank god. I told you, Yakura-san. We should've waited to get the address before running out like that. Really sorry to inconvience you like this."

Sono said nothing, still greatly confused. The taller man, Yakura, cleared his throat and said,

"My name is Detective Yakura. And this is my assistant, Oishi. We were wondering if we may ask you a few questions about a recent case we've been struggling with. You're more than likely our last hope in this sense."

Seiji's eyes perked at the sound of detective. Taking a glance at their badges, he noticed these two were from the special forces in Tokyo.

Why in the world were two cops from Tokyo here in Osaka? And why were they interested in Sono? He didn't like the look of this at all.

Silently, Sono nodded and stepped aside, allowing the two to come inside and remove their shoes. Seiji showed them to the nearest couch and they sat down quickly while the other two sat in the chairs across from them. Oishi looked around at all the manga tools around the place, eyes glowing. Yakura, however, pulled out his notepad and said,

"Once again, we are terribly sorry for the sudden arrival. We just arrived to Osaka late last night to come find you. I recieved your email address from one of my intel and was hoping to hear back from you so we didn't resort to tracking your publisher. Since that failed, we went to your publishing company and we got the name of your building, but in my haste I failed to catch the number and none of the neighbors knew who you were so we scaled every complex until we found you."

In the back of Seijis mind, he slapped himself. The email had thought was a scam was two cops trying to find him? Seriously? Just what did these two want...?

Sono nodded, trying to keep an open mind to this situation. He wasn't nervous as to why they were here, just curious. Yakura set his notepad aside and pulled out an envelope from his bag, reaching in and pulled out a plastic bag with a photograph inside. Sono could see there was hand writting on the back, but didn't get a chance to read it as Yakura said,

"Now...I'm just going to get right down to brass tax. We're both part of the Special divisions police force in Tokyo and we've recently hit a snag in a case that we've been tracking for about 10 years...what do you know about a man named Mizuno Takeo?"

That name...Sono felt his heart stop in seconds. His eyes widened and he gasped, gripping his pant leg. Sweat started forming at his forehead, memories of that night flashed through his brain. Shaking them away, he focused and said,

"I um...I may know of him...we went to high school together...what does his misdoings in Tokyo have to do with me?"

"Well, we're not sure ourselves. We found this picture at our most recent scene and after a lengthy talk with the Fukushima Police Chief, we may have some theories."

Sonos eyes widened oh so subtley. These two went to his home town for answers about Takeo...that was like going to a war sight and bringing up a bomb. It never ended well. Fukushima, as he remembered, kept Takeo out of their lives as much as possible.

"I...I see...and?"

"Well, this picture...I'm sure you've seen it."

Sliding it over to the other men, Sono picked up the bag and there was no hiding the level of fear in his eyes. Staring at the infamous picture of the three of them at the park when they started their senior year of highschool...his heart no longer moved...

Turning the photo around, Sono was able to read the message on the back. A tremor passed through his body and he found he could no longer move himself. He didn't even feel it when Seiji gripped the picture from his hands and looked it over, reading the message and then back at the picture. Finally, he stared at the cops, eyes glaring that he demanded an answer for this.

Yakura spoke up and said,

"I understand this is troubling. But please understand that we are not here to just give you this terrible news...we are here to help you."

Finally, Sono felt his head move and he looked at the men, his brown eyes wide in horror.

"Help me? How do you expect to do that? Do you two have any idea who you're dealing with? You think that just because you were tasked with hunting him down and cleaning up his messes that you know who he is? You know nothing...Takeo Mizuno...he's...he's crazy. I've seen what he can do when he's lost control. When he's angry...I've felt it..."

Seiji could have sworn he saw Sonos left foot twitch at that.

"You don't know Takeo like I do...If I understand this correctly...and do not bullshit me on this...he's out for me, isn't he? Takeo's looking for me...right?"

Not one man said a word. The two officers looked at each other while Seiji looked at his lover, absolutely amazed at how calm he was being. Granted, Sono was trembling fiercely and his eyes were glassy, but he was firm and straight about it. When the officers looked at him, Yakura smiled.

"Chief did say you were smart, but damn. The history you have with this man...Hanas-...Sono-san...we are here on a promise to protect you and to bring Takeo to justice. There's no doubt he knows at the very least what city you live in now. We were tasked to make sure nothing happens to you."

"And who, pray tell, in Fukushima would make you promise this? I know for a fact you didn't speak to my father. He refuses to acknowledge something like this...at least he used to...so who? Who made you promise to make sure I remained safe from Takeo."

Oishi smiled and said,

"Chief Nazawa of the police. You might remember his son, Naoki, right?"

All the light in Sonos head went dark. He vaguely heard Yakura smacking Oishi upside the head for that remark. He barely head Oishi franticlly apologising. And he could very little hear Seiji asking if he was ok.

All he saw was a white veil and he didn't hear himself as he asked,

"Nazawa-san...he's...he's still...he's chief now?"

"He made us promise to protect you. He said you were like a second son to him. He loved you like his own and supported that you and his son were together...we are here to honor that promise."

The apartment suddenly became very tense and hard to breath. This was too much information coming at him at once. He felt Seiji rubbing his shoulder gently, looking at him and seeing his concerned stare. He couldn't find his voice.

Seeing that this was going no where, Yakura nodded and mentioned to Seiji,

"It's clear we've upset you with this information and I truly am sorry...I ask that we have your cooperation with this. There's only so much Oishi and I can do. Will you help us?"

Seiji nodded quickly.

"You have my vow, officers. You made a promise to his late friends father to protect him. I'll make a promise to protect my...soul mate."

Seiji heard the words leaving his mouth and was almost surprised to hear himself say it. It seemed like Yakura didn't mind and he smiled, shaking his hand and said,

"Exactly what I want to hear. Hanasaki-kun is lucky to have you. Oh, I didn't catch your name. Best we have it if we're to stay in contact."

"Huh? Oh yes haha...It's Yamada Seiji."

Oishi, who was packing up their supplies, overheard their conversation and glided over to the two, stars in his eyes and said,

"I knew I recognized you! You're that amazing artist behind "Souls beyond nature." Ahhh it's such an honor! I'm a huge fan. And I'm a huge fan of Hanasakis work as well. Oh when this is all over, it would amazing if-"

"Oishi, shut up, we're on the clock here."

Yakura smacked his assistant with his notepad and ushered him out the door. After Seiji wrote his cell number in his pad, Yakura shook his hand and said,

"We'll be in touch. Just stay with him for now. This might be an emotional rollar coaster."

"Thank you, sir."

With that, they left and Seiji shut the door, turning to look at the blond still sitting in the chair, not having moved a muscle.

"Sono? Love, are you alright?"

Just Seiji's touch made him jump back into reality and he looked at him with those brown eyes, blinking rapidly.

"Seiji? What...where?"

"They left. They gave us their contact information in case something happens and told me they'll be in touch...are you feeling ok?"

"Honestly? I feel...confused. I should have known this day was going to come. Takeo's always been this way...it's been a nightmare in my head for years...then I met you and I thought I was safe...heh, I guess not."

"Hey! Sono, if that's supposed to be funny, it isn't. Listen, those two are here to protect you...and for that matter, so am I. What kind of lover would I be if I let anything happen to you. I'd never forgive myself...I'll protect you from Takeo. You have my vow. Alright?"

"Why are you getting so worked up about this?"

"You should know by now. I love you. You trusted me with your life story and I fell more in love with you because I now understand you completley. Now I'm asking you to trust me. Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you, Seiji. With all that I have."

"Then let me be the overprotective boyfriend. Let me protect you from your past."

Sono didn't know what to say. He remained still as Seiji kissed his cheek and he couldn't help but close his eyes. The kiss was so tiny, but it felt so powerful. Even after he moved away, Sonos hand touched his cheek, a smile gracing his features. He didn't register that Seiji had moved to the kitchen to make tea, but even still, Sono felt the love in that small kiss.

It reminded him of the kisses Naoki gave him when he was scared. Every time something bad happened, Naoki was always there to make him feel better...and then Takeo took him away.

The fear that he might do the same to Seiji made Sono shake in terror. Seiji had said that if anything had happened to Sono, he'd never forgive himself.

But Sono was more concerned with what might happen if Takeo did something to Seiji. Hurt him or kill him. He'd die. The force of losing Seiji would most likely kill him from a broken heart.

His fingers still remained on his cheeks as he felt tears roll down from his eyes, not realizing he was crying. His heart hurt. It hurt something terrible.

Getting up from the couch, he moved to the kitchen and stood in the doorway, watching as Seiji washed some cups for tea, acting as though nothing was wrong. Feeling like he was being watch, Seiji turned to see Sono standing there, cheeks wet with tears and he suddenly grew worried.

"Sono? What is it?"

He didn't say anything. He couldn't. If he opened his mouth, he'd break down in rambles. Instead, Sono walked over to his lover, his reason for life and embraced him, his tears flowing softly as he shut his eyes, letting out a choked sob as Seiji wrapped his arms around his small frame.

No words were exchanged, there wasn't much to say. The force of the day was hitting Sono hard and all he could do now was cope the best he could.

He felt Seiji kiss the top of his head and he let out another sob, trying to calm down. He couldn't break down like this. He had to remain calm for them both.

But just feeling his lovers arms around him like this, lips touching his head, he had every reason to cry. He had to feel human and Seiji was his rock.

In such a peaceful yet sorrowful moment, Seiji held the blonds head to his chest, gently swaying him. It was all he could do. And he could only say one thing to him at this moment.

He pressed another kiss to his head and whispered,

"I love you."

And Sono held onto those words like a lifeline.

It was all he could do from crashing down at this very moment.

TBC