Yasuhara sighed, watching the door intently. Why was Eugene not here yet? For three hours now, Yasuhara had been sitting at his desk, trying to read. Every few minutes, he would glance up at the door, and then the clock, and then try to return to his book. He couldn't concentrate on reading with Eugene arriving two hours later than usual. Granted, kids soccer classes didn't start until one in the afternoon, so Eugene wasn't late by company standards. However Yasuhara, who had to watch everyone come through the door every morning and knew their schedules and habits by heart, knew that Eugene should have arrived at very latest thirty minutes ago. Yasuhara looked up when he heard the door open again, but it was only Mai.

"Morning!" She smiled, tipping her head slightly in greeting.

Yasuhara tried his best not to look disappointed, "It's eleven thirty, hardly morning." He faked a smile.

Mai looked startled. "Something wrong?"

Yasuhara tilted his head and his glasses caught the light. "I'm fine."

Scared, Mai turned away and started towards the office door to the hall.

Seconds later, Mai returned, dragged back into the front office by Madoka.

"What's up?" Madoka crossed her arms, towering over Yasuhara who was still sitting.

Yasuhara rolled his eyes. "Are you really all that pressed for gossip?" he spun his chair back and forth in a little half circle. "Go watch Houshou and the cross-fit lady."

With a squeaky voice, Mai chimed in, "I'd rather not watch them make out in the broom closet."

"Oh my god." Yasuhara shuddered.

Madoka moved so that she was hovering over him. "Don't change the subject, tell us why you're acting so glum."

Before Yasuhara could reply, Eugene and Oliver strolled through the office door. Seeing Madoka and Mai crowded about Yasuhara's desk, both twins stopped. Oliver took a step back as Eugene put a hand on his hip as if he were a mother confronting her three troublesome children.

"We miss a staff meeting?" He raised an eyebrow at the three before his expression broke into a wide smile.

Madoka observed a tiny sigh of relief escaping Yasuhara's lips and her face brightened as eyes flickered between Yasuhara and Eugene.

"You're late, Oliver, we were supposed to go for a jog today!" Madoka circled around to Oliver and wheeled him out of the office. Confused, Mai shrugged before turning to follow behind them.

"Why are you here so late?" Yasuhara inquired, worry lacing his voice, he slumped onto his desk, and let his chin rest in his hands.

"Noll and I had a doctor's appointment." Eugene finished typing his ID into the front desk computer and hit SUBMIT. "Did you not see that on the schedule?"

Yasuhara blushed. "Oh. Seems I forgot about that."

Eugene shook his head, laughing as he walked back to the other side of Yasuhara's desk. "How are the aliens?" He nodded towards a book by the phone.

"Oh this one isn't aliens." Yasuhara picked up the book to show him. "It's about quantum mechanics and human perception."

"No conspiracies?"

"Well, kinda conspiracies." Yasuhara ran his thumb over the pages of the book. "But more just weird science-y stuff."

Eugene nodded. "Alright, well let me know how much it ruins your life."

"You'll be hearing about it for the next three months at least."

"Can't wait." Eugene winked, slipping out of the office.

God, Yasuhara thought, he had to stop doing that.

X~X~X

"Please!" Madoka whined, jogging slowly beside Oliver. "You have to know something about it!"

Oliver continued to ignore her, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

"Has Eugene not said a thing to you about Yasuhara?"

"No," Oliver panted. "Why would he?"

"Oliver." Madoka stopped her hands finding her hips as she caught her breath. "He's your brother," she panted. "Think."

Oliver shrugged. "In high school he only dated girls, but it's not like I paid any attention."

"Bisexuality is a thing!"

Rolling his eyes, Oliver continued. "If you think my brother is gay, why don't you ask him yourself?" He glanced over at the other side of the basketball court where Eugene was sorting a bag of soccer jerseys by color.

"Because that's tactless!"

Oliver gave her an annoyed look, "Since when have you cared about tact?" Not waiting for her reply, he shrugged. "It's not like it matters whether Eugene is gay or not." He smirked. "I mean, if you look as good as we do, anyone would be lucky to date either of us."

"See and that started out as a kind statement." Madoka resumed jogging at a slow pace and Oliver followed suit.

"Regardless," Oliver huffed. "Mind your own business, Madoka."

"That's never any fun!"

X~X~X

"Meditation is an art form," Lin spoke so quietly that the whole class had to lean towards where he sat at the front of the room to hear him properly. "When practiced properly, it is the key to opening the mind and balancing the soul."

Madoka held back a sigh at Lin's dreamy, poetic tone. She was elated to find that one of her appointments cancelled and that she could attend a meditation class rather than train a client that afternoon. In her mind, she was one step closer to becoming Mrs. Koujo Lin.

"Proper breathing is key to proper meditation," Lin continued, snapping Madoka out of her daydream. "Count your breaths with me. One...two...three..." He continued on to ten and then started over again.

This gave Madoka's thoughts plenty of time to wander again. By the fourth cycle of ten breaths, her mind was years in the future where she and Lin were naming their first child after her father and optioning suburban daycare centers.

"Find a place where your mind is at ease," Lin breathed out in a calm voice. "Think of as many details as possible, really try to place yourself in this hypothetical location."

Madoka could think of several places she'd like to be with Lin. Some of them were more serene than others.

"Breathe in this place, exist in the world you have created."

Madoka took a deep breath to hide a tiny laugh. How could she breathe when Lin made her so breathless?

"In the place you have created, you have no limits." Lin's voice remained its steady tone, but seemed minutely stern. "Take in the energy from this place, remember that you can return to this place at any time."

Madoka smiled. If only.

"When you are ready, you may open your eyes." Lin instructed, watching as the class began to stir.

Taking an unrealistically long time to roll up her mat, Madoka stuck around in the studio as the gym members filtered out of the room. When she was left with Lin, she felt herself panic, even though that had been her goal to begin with.

"How was it?" Lin placed his rolled mat onto a shelf and came to stand in front of Madoka.

She stood, holding her now rolled yoga mat in her arms. "I loved it!" her arms tightened around the bundle. "Very relaxing."

Lin smiled slightly, looking satisfied. He reached forward and took Madoka's mat from her. "I'll put this up."

Madoka blushed, no longer very calm. "O-oh, thank you!" She didn't notice that Lin was blushing as well.

He dipped his head, covering his reddened face with his fringe. "No problem."

X~X~X

Yasuhara looked up from his book as his phone pinged. He grew excited when he saw that the notification was a text message from Eugene.

why did i decide to teach children again? G.

Yasuhara let out a quiet chuckle as he picked up the phone to reply.

don't know :^/ why did u? -O. YASUHARA

Seconds later, the phone pinged again.

busy? G.

Yasuhara's heart quickened, fingers shaking as he typed a reply.

am I ever? -O. YASUHARA

Feeling brave, Yasuhara sent a winking face as well before Eugene replied.

come save me from this. G.

;^) to you too now get in here. G.

please.. G.

Shrugging, Yasuhara put a bookmark in his book and set the phone so that he could hear it ring over the basketball court intercom speaker. He then jogged to the court, stopping just before the doors and catching his breath fully before pushing them open.

"Hey." Eugene was standing against the wall, staring forward at the clock. "I don't feel like dealing with children today."

"Better than me." Yasuhara came to join him by the wall. "I never feel like dealing with children."

Eugene chuckled. "Let's all take a moment to appreciate the fact that we are not John."

"Amen!" Yasuhara clasped his hands like he was praying and looked up at the ceiling.

Eugene watched his soccer team as they ran their drills back and forth. "How's the book?"

"Confusing." Yasuhara sighed. "But awesome."

"So," Eugene shifted he weight to turn to Yasuhara while still letting the wall support him. "Explain the quantum whatever it was to me."

Yasuhara laughed, pushing up his glasses. "You have three hours?"

"As long as it takes."

"Good," Yasuhara's eyes flickered between Eugene and the wall. "Then do you have until next Christmas?"

"Well," Eugene stood up straight and turned his whistle over in his hands. "Presently I have 15 minutes to hear about quantum theory." He glanced at the clock, "However this evening…" He trailed off, giving Yasuhara a hopeful sideways glance.

At this moment, Yasuhara was faced with a perfect way to explain an aspect of quantum theory to Eugene. In his mind floated two equally terrifying and equally rewarding thoughts. Should he ask Eugene to dinner? Was Eugene wanting him to ask him to dinner? Like Schrödinger's cat, considered both dead and alive in its box, Yasuhara, in his mind, both had a date with Eugene Davis and did not. And, like the cat, he would not know the final state of the date until he asked that all important question.

"Y-you're free tonight?" Yasuhara stuttered, clasping his hands together to keep them from shaking.

Eugene grinned, "You want to get dinner together?"

Yasuhara, equally elated that Eugene had asked and disappointed that Eugene so easily asked before Yasuhara had the chance. The corners of his lips rose as he blushed. "I'd love to. I mean," He finally shoved his shaking hands into his pockets. "If you want to."

"Yasuhara," Eugene began, then shook his head. "Why does everyone call you by your last name?"

Yasuhara shrugged. "You can call me by my first, I guess. People usually just don't."

Eugene paused, suddenly unsure if he knew Yasuhara's first name. "Osamu?" He didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but it did sound that way. "Osamu," he repeated, returning to his original point. "If I hadn't wanted to, I wouldn't have asked you."

Yasuhara, blushing harder still, pushed his glasses up with one hand, taking that as a way to cover his face. "Right."

"Eight?" Eugene suggested, glancing at the soccer team, still left to their own devices.

Running shaky hands through his hair, Yasuhara nodded. "S-sounds good!" He scrambled to pull his mobile out of his pocket. "C-can I have your number?" There, he'd at least done some of the asking!

"You already have it…"

"Oh, right." Yasuhara went scarlet in the face and turned away. "I'll… Just…"

"You're adorable," Eugene chuckled. "I'll pick you up later, yeah?"

"Yeah…"

Yasuhara walked resolutely towards the door, not daring to look back at his date.

Eugene looked down to see a younger member of his soccer team tugging on his jacket sleeve. "Yeah?" Eugene couldn't shake the wide grin across his face.

"Coach!" The child pointed towards the door. "Who was that guy?"

"Oh," Eugene kneeled to eye-level with the kid. "He's my friend."

The kid's eyes narrowed. "Are you going to dinner with him?"

Eugene chuckled proudly, "Hell yeah, I am."

Thank you for reading this silliness! Special thanks to the anon that wrote the very nice review last night, that totally made my day! Also, of course, thanks to Hannah who helped me edit and finish this chapter, the last bit was her idea. Also she let me steal her "G." Thanks again for reading, review if you can!