Let's pretend that not everyone is related, hokay? But some are and aren't...? Nevermind...

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the recognizable stuff... Duh.

Now, let's begin!

. . .

"Gumo," it was Gakupo's voice calling to him from the downstairs. "It's time to get up. I made breakfast, so get ready and then come down and eat. Hurry, you don't want to be late for school." His footsteps faded.

Gumo mumbled something, too tired to really open his mouth, before glancing at his clock. It was thirty minutes after the usual time he'd always wake up at for school. "You've got to be kidding me…" Gumo read the book all the way through the night and he felt as though he barely shut his eyes to sleep. He reluctantly got out of the covers and shuffled his feet to the bathroom where he started to get ready.

When he was finished getting ready, he stumbled down the stairs into the kitchen where he saw Lily at the table. "You look like you're a zombie when you walk like that," she stated. "You're going to be late if you keep that up."

"Uh, good morning to you too, Lily," he said after he let out a long, noisy yawn. "I was reading a book last night and I lost track of time. Where are you going?" He sat down across from her and began chewing on a slice of toast that was on his plate.

"Work. And it looks I have to leave now." she said as she glanced at the clock. "Oh, speaking of books, Gumi called yesterday and asked if you remember seeing her book…"

"I'll give it to her. She forgot it when she left to her house," he looked at the clock and nearly panicked. School was about to start in ten minute and he had barely started to eat. He hurriedly threw all the food from his plate into his mouth and almost choked as he tried to swallow

He slung on his coat and backpack on in a swift movement and swiped his glasses before he ran to the front door. . Lily just raised an eyebrow as she watched, almost entertained. "I'm leaving now," he called to Lily.

"Okay, later- Wait, before I forget, no one is going to be here after school. I'll still be at work, and Gakupo and Ryuuto will go to the store," she then gave him a stern look. "I don't want you two doing anything dirty, but if you must, do it from the open... Understand?"

"W-what do you mean by dirty and us two?" Gumo knew exactly what she meant but wanted Lily to explain herself.

And with her same cool voice, she answered. "You and Gumi are always together over here after school. Like I said, do that kind of stuff in your room. I don't want you guys in from of Ryuuto when that's happening. Well, I need to be off too."

Gumo quickly hopped out of the door and could feel his face burning. Dirty? Gumi and I wouldn't do that… He stopped before his mind could take him anywhere else. "Man, Lily is always the reason why I'm late."

Gumo jumped into the class room right before the final bell rang. "Gumo. Just in time. Take your seat and hurry. We have a lot to cover today."

Throughout the school day, he couldn't keep his mind off the book.

Out of all the books Gumi could've gotten, why did she get that one? He pondered over that for a while. Even the beginning seemed sad and Gumi is not like those people who like the kind of depressing.

He felt a nudge on his shoulder. "Hey Gumo, the lunch bell rang already. You going to have lunch with us?" It was Rinto, who was one of Gumo's close friends.

"Uh, yeah," he answered.


They went to the cafeteria and sat at the usual table with a few of the others like Len, Rin, Lenka, Miku, Mikuo, along with Rinto and himself. Gumi usually would sit with them but she was invited to sit with other people. He took out his lunch and placed himself next to Lenka; she wasn't much of a talker because of her shyness, but just like Rinto, she was one of his close friends. He actually had a crush on her before Gumi came along, but it seemed pretty clear that she had more feelings for Rinto than him.

Casually, he began moving his food around before he heard a voice. "W-what are you thinking about?" His thoughts were interrupted by Lenka's soft voice.

"…Huh?"

"Y-you're moving your food around, s-so it looks like you were thinking about something. Um, you're usually eating," he gave her a soft smile. She was always the one to know something wrong with him.

Just then, Mikuo heard them talking and joined in. "What? If you're not then I'll eat it. But wait, did Gakupo make something with eggplant again?" Once he joined, everybody else from the table began too. Rinto picked himself up to leave, obviously annoyed with the little uproar, and Lenka followed closely behind like a shadow. Now the table was too loud for Gumo to think, so he got up and slid his lunch over to Mikuo, but Len intercepted it and there was a huge fuss between the two. He left the group without a sound.


The school day ended and he was getting ready to go to his house. He got on his bike and without warning, and somebody else did too. "Hi Gumo!"

"Kyaa!" This made them both lose their balance and they tipped over, both landing on the ground. "Gumi! What was that for?"

"I was trying to surprise you, but I didn't mean for us to both fall." She was rubbing her side. "Hee hee. I didn't know you would scream like that."

"Shut up…" He was turning red, but he was thankful no one was around to see them. She got up and held up her hand out for him.

"C'mon. I want to see Ryuuto."

They both got onto the bike, and then he answered. "He's not home. Nobody is. Lily's at work and both Gakupo and Ryuuto are at the store." He began pedaling. They rode down the sidewalk for a while before he spoke up again. "I'm starting to thinking that I'm just your chauffeur."

"No! You just happen to be around when I'm going somewhere and we happen to be going to the same places."

"Whatever."

They stayed silent after that until they arrived at Gumo's house.


It was close to dusk and they both sat on the couch. "I have your book. I was going to-"

"Oh, you can still borrow it," she interrupted. "I know you were reading it to Ryuuto, so you can finish reading it to him."

"Um, to Ryuuto?"

"Yeah. I know you wouldn't read those kinds of stories," Neither would you, Gumi, he thought. "So you can still borrow it for him."

"Uh, fine then. Nobody's home yet, so I think we can grab a snack before dinner. You're having dinner with us again, right?" He stood up to go to the kitchen.

"Yup. I already called my parents and they said it was fine." She stood up with him. "I'll go with you to grab a sna- whoa!" Her foot slipped and she ended up falling onto Gumo and they both fell on the floor. "Ow… Sorry Gumo."

Just then, Lily came through the door and shook her head at the sight of the two. "Gumo. What did I tell you about that? I said don't do that kind of stuff. And if you guys were, then just go to the room so no one would see. Ugh, you guys don't listen…"

And in unison, they looked in her direction and called back at her, "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever…" Lily then head for her room.

After Lily left, Gumi quickly got off of Gumo and helped him up. "I'm sorry. I'm a klutz."

"Yeah, I know. You need to really watch what you doing, ditz."

"Hey! It wasn't entirely fault! It was my slipper!" He rolled his eyes and once he was out of her sight he chuckled a bit.

"We should finish getting our snack," he suggested, and she nodded.


They went to Gumo's room. She placed herself on his bed while he sat at his desk. He was the first one to break the short silence. "What do you do at lunch?" He was messing with some papers on his desk.

"Oh, I just ate and talked with Miki, Teto, Piko and others. I think I'll be sitting them for a while now."

"Oh."

"Hey, how much of the book did you read to Ryuuto?"

All of it. "Uh, not much… But why did you get that book?" It didn't take long for her to answer.

"I thought that the cover and the pictures looked sweet, heh heh," Figures. I should have known. "Why do you ask?"

"From what I've read, uh, so far, it seems pretty depressive. You're not really the kind of person who's into that stuff."

"Really? What do you mean?"

"Well, the girl and the guy are friends. Over time, she starts having feelings for him and she keeps it inside. Then one day, when she decides to tell him, he's with another girl. And that's pretty much it…" Gumo turned his head to see her reaction, but she was preoccupied with something. "Uh, Gumi?" She was messing with the hem of her skirt.

"…Huh- Oh, sorry! I just saw this loose string… Can you tell me again?" He let out a long annoyed sigh before repeating his summary.

She thought about for a while. "…You know, that's kind of like us." She gave a sincere grin at him. Gumo could feel his heart skip and his face get warm.

Does she finally know about my feelings for her?

Even though he looked composed in front of Gumi, his insides were freaking out like a school girl who got tickets to a sold out concert. He cleared his throat before speaking. "What d-do you mean?"

"They're friends and so are we!" She beamed at him.

His face went emotionless. That's what she meant. He felt like dying under a rock for getting his hopes up.

He got up from the chair. "There's more to our situation," Before she could ask any questions, he was standing in front of her. "I'll show you. Here, give me your hand." Hesitantly, she grabbed his hand that was held in front of her. "Now come on, stand up." She noticed that his voice sounded different, but she could place a word on it. He brought her closer and began walking to the door.

"G-Gumo… What are you doing?" Nervousness didn't hide from her voice, but he didn't notice.

"You'll see..."

The next thing she knew, they were both standing at the door, facing each other. She was so confused as to why he was staring intently at her. "Uh… Gumo?" He leaned forward just by a bit, but that was only to slam the door right in her face. It wasn't long before she began pounding on it. "G-Gumiya! Why did you do that?"

She heard him holler back at her through the closed door. "Go away!" Their little fit went on for a few minutes until Gumi finally gave up.

"Fine then! I'm leaving because I'm hungry! So good night," her voice sounded a bit hostile, but that was only to be expected. Gumo heard as her footsteps fade and he just stayed there in his room.

It didn't take long for him to feel bad after what he did. So Gumo went out of his room and headed down stairs. He saw Lily sitting on the couch watching TV with her same bored expression. She turned her head and saw him standing there. "Gakupo using Ryuuto to win a date with Luka, so he'll be coming home even later... Gumo, are you looking for Gumi?" She talked with her casual voice.

"Not really. I kind of want to apologize to her though."

"Did the two of you fight and break up?"

"W-wha! We're not-we weren't going out in the first place!" He was getting irritated again but decided to cool down, knowing that there was no use in getting vocal with her. "…What now?"

"Don't worry, I ordered take-out for us since it doesn't look like the two will be here for a while."

An okay was all he said.


After eating, Gumo went to his room. During the whole time though, he was still thinking of what Gumi had said earlier. He was getting upset over it again.

Stupid Gumi! He collapsed onto him bed. She's so naïve.

And such a ditz.

And cute.

And caring.

"Why can't she understand?" He shook his head as he slid his glasses off and placed them next to his goggles. He gave out a yawn.

Well, Gumi's right about one thing. Those characters are kind of like us… I want to tell her but I just can't… Not yet anyway.

He switched off the light of the lamp and closed his eyes.

Good-night Gumi… Sweet dreams…


A/N: Well from before, both of the chapters I didn't really like so I decided to combine them together and change a few things because, c'mon, I don't think Gumi is a crybaby like how I made her earlier. Yes it took me a while to do this because summer takes up my time and I kind of forgot what I wanted to do next but now that has all changed (oh, and a certain Cookie Dude too… that's right I know it was you :p). I'll be gone for next week and I'm not sure if I'll have access to a computer or something to give you the next chapter. Want to give me ideas of what you want to see later, tell me, I'm open to anything and hopefully I can make it work.

I don't really expect you guys to review for this because you already had. Again thank you for those who reviewed against your own will…