Akihito ran this time, and he didn't want to be caught.

Asami stared at the penthouse door, this wasn't the usual Akihito running, only for Asami to catch him, like every other time in the past.

"Asami sama. Sudou's apartment was empty. How do you want to proceed?" Kirishima appeared in the hallway as his secretary got the report on his phone.

How did he want to proceed? He was still angry. Angry that Akihito had been labeled as someone else's.

That was all, he wasn't jealous. What a ridiculous notion for someone like him to have.

The sound of Asami's phone going off in his suit coat answered Kirishima's question for him, the tone he'd assigned to Akihito making shrill noises in his pocket.

He read it, not being able to guess, for once, at what it might say.

T. Akihito: If you hurt Sudou, I will never fucking talk to you again.

His fingers closed around the phone, gripping tight, yet he found himself saying the complete opposite to what he really wanted to say.

He sighed. "Leave it, Kirishima."

The DJ had Asami wrapped much tighter around his finger than Asami would ever admit to himself. As usual though, his actions always gave it away.

His secretary let out a breath, relieved, thank god for whatever Takaba said in that text.

Sudou might be a pain, but he was worth it. Fuse and Dracaena flourished under his management, Kirishima was happy to call the men off that were looking for him.

"And Takaba?" he asked. This was the one he really wasn't looking forward to.

"…. Leave him, he will come back on his own."

Kirishima and Suoh both cringed, that was the answer they were both dreading.

In some ways, Suoh and Kirishima knew Akihito more than Asami did, and this time they were both sure on one thing.

Akihito wouldn't be crawling back to the penthouse after this one.

.

"I'll show him jealous." Akihito muttered as he let himself into Koga's upscale apartment, Sudou and Koga were lounging on the couch with a morning coffee, they both looked askance at him as he came in, eye brows raised.

"Sup! Something wrong?" Koga asked, his laptop was set out on the coffee table in front of him already, headphones draped across his neck as he set his drink down next to his computer.

"I'm staying here from now on, Koga." Akihito declared, slinging his bag onto the couch, opposite the ones his friends were sitting on, and throwing himself down after it.

"Oi, what happened?" Koga was up from the couch now, he might be a devious troublemaker, but he still had a soft spot for his friends.

"Nnn, I'm not talking about it." The spurned blonde made to pull his headphones on, flipping open his laptop to drown himself in music, but his black haired counterpart plucked the headphones away from him.

"Spill the fucking beans, Akihito." He folded is arms in a patronizing stance, looking down at him.

Sudou leant forward from his sitting position, curious, Akihito was pretty much always happy, he'd never seen him in this mood before, and wondered what could have the DJ so worked up.

They were both staring at Akihito now, the blonde knew he could get out of answering if it were just Sudou asking, Koga on the other hand, would pester him until he got an answer that he was happy with, they were as infuriatingly stubborn as each other.

If he was going to be staying at Koga's though, he should probably just get it over and done with and tell him, Koga knew pretty much everything now anyway.

Everything, from Hong Kong and Feilong, to how him and Asami first met, though he kept the details vague.

He hadn't told Kou and Takato, and telling Koga was like a weight lifting off his shoulders, it was surprisingly nice to have someone to talk to about it.

When he got to the part about Mikhail's involvement, Koga rung the Russian himself to give him an earful, they'd become fast friends after the incident at ageHa, it took the Russian mob leader aback at first, hearing the DJ swearing at him over the phone, no one spoke to him like Koga spoke to Asami and Mikhail, but the Russian just laughed into the phone and promised not to put Akihito through any shit again.

This wasn't as bad as any of that, physically anyway, though emotionally it felt like he'd been put through the wringer, the confusion atop the anger and hurt had him shaking the entire drive to his friend's apartment. That fucking bastard, Asami.

"Check today's paper." He muttered, giving in to his anger, knowing that it would piss Koga off too, then they could both slag him off together.

He waited as Koga went into the kitchen, the island bench looking over the living area, where he laid down the paper was delivered every morning, to look.

Sudou got up to look too, he was the first to react as he saw what Akihito wanted them to find, not the photo of him dancing, but the one where he was captioned as Sudou's date.

The color escaped the model's face as he read it, "Asami is going to kill me, I am actually going to die." He walked over to the couch, blank with shock as he sat down and stared at the far wall.

"Shuu, I told him to leave you out of it, don't worry." Akihito said, his resentment seeping through as he thought back to their argument before he left the penthouse. If that man valued anything they shared, he would heed the angry text he sent him.

"So, he went bat shit then?" Koga asked from the kitchen.

"There is bat shit, and then there is the Asami 'you're mine' monster." Akihito spat the words, sulking on the couch, that's all he wanted to say right now, he didn't want to tell them what Asami had actually been about to do.

The contrast between the Asami back then and now, and the sudden change all because of a fucking photo, lodged a lump in his throat, he felt like being sick. He felt like lashing out and curling up into a ball all at the same time.

There was no way in hell he could go back to living like that, not for one second. He would rather leave and not go back at all.

"What a jealous fucker." Koga curled his lip in a sneer, throwing the paper in the bin.

"Oho, don't even go there. I said that, and he told me not to fucking flatter myself." Akihito sunk further into the couch, Asami never bothered to explain any of the articles of him and that actress Azumi in the paper, never even bothered to deny it to the press, it got on Akihito's nerve to no end, but he'd just sat back and taken it, but the first time it was the other way round, this is what happened. What a farce!

"'Don't flatter yourself, Akihito'" the blonde mimicked Asami in a grumpy tone.

Sudou gasped at the revelation, he couldn't picture his boss being jealous, true, but to tell his lover that, was a pretty low blow. Even for someone like Asami, who obviously cared for Akihito, even if he didn't want to show it.

Koga echoed Akihito's dry laugh, "Ha! He's a douche bag." He passed Akihito a coffee, fresh from the pot, "Stay here as long as you want, Ben is flying in from America on Wednesday too, he'll be stoked you're staying here with us."

Akihito's foul mood bubble popped as he heard the name Ben, his head snapped towards Koga's direction as he shot forward from his slouch, "Why didn't you tell me he was coming!?"

Koga shrugged, "He said to keep it a surprise, but I figured you needed something to lighten your mood." He gave a cheeky grin now "Just tell him my tongue slipped, would ya?"

Akihito exploded up from the couch, "Oh my god! I haven't seen him since he made it big in America. How long has it been, 4 years, since-"

"Since you guys split." Koga interrupted.

Sudou's jaw went slack, "Who's this Ben?" he couldn't picture Akihito with anyone else but Asami.

"Pfft, think of an American DJ called Ben, Shuu." Koga remarked, brimming with sarcasm.

Akihito chimed in as Sudou mulled it over, "It wasn't a split, Koga, I was…. experimenting." A blush tinted his cheeks.

"Experimenting with dick." Koga snorted into his cup.

"I-I was young!" the blush got deeper, and the Takaba pout made an appearance.

"You're still young, you muppet."

Now, it was Sudou's turn to shoot off the couch, his eyes wide with surprise for an entirely new reason, "Akihito, don't actually tell me, you dated who I am thinking about?"

"It wasn't 'dating'." Akihito quoted with his fingers', "he was just here for a summer to learn how we do it here in Japan. DJ, clubs, alcohol. Do I have to say more?" Akihito groaned, he really didn't want to tell the stories of those days.

Sudou's eyes got wider, impossible as that may seem.

"No! Don't get all fucking star struck on me Shuu! He's just a normal person…. Last time I spoke to him anyway." Akihito mumbled the latter statement, it'd been years since he last spoke to Ben.

Sudou was looking at Akihito as if he'd never seen him before, "Akihito, he's a Hollywood A lister! An A lister!"

Akihito scoffed, "It's just Ben. Fuck, Koga is an A lister in the music industry, and he's normal, so don't fucking cream your pants."

That shut Sudou up quick smart, he sat back down on the couch, and tried to play it cool.

"Oi, you would be too, if people knew your face." Koga took offense to the A list label, to him, he just played music, he didn't give a shit about status, even though he was at the top of the music food chain.

"That's why people won't know my face." Akihito shot back, he liked his anonymity, thank you very much. Thankfully, DJs' didn't get that much attention compared to actors and models, Ben on the other hand, would attract media like flies to shit.

"Seriously though, he hasn't changed at all. Still as cocky as ever." Koga put in as he passed Akihito's headphones back now, laughing, "Make some tunes, dammit, you have a gig next weekend, Ben and I are coming to watch. So you better make it fucking good!"

Akihito didn't need any further prompts, he was still thinking about what he'd said earlier.

DJ, clubs and alcohol.

If Asami was going to go back to his old ways, then Akihito could go back to his too, way before the journalism days, before Asami days, with Ben here, it would be fun. Way too much fun.

.

Monday morning, as soon as Akihito woke up, he raided Koga's room for some fresh clothes, a pair of torn up jeans which showed more skin than they covered, a black singlet, that was a little baggy under the arms and a pair of leather converses. Perfect.

He hummed the tune 'I'm sexy and I know it' as he rushed out the door, on the way to his publisher's office to have a chat with a photographer who he knew was behind yesterday's ridiculous fucking caption debacle.

He pulled up to the parking lot in his BMW, got out and went right to the office he knew so well, everyone in the office looked at him as if he'd come back from the dead, he hadn't been to the newspaper office for months, he didn't need too, he took shoots and organized interviews now, scoops weren't worth the trouble with Asami reigning supreme in Tokyo, everything criminal was related to him somehow.

He went right to Mitarai's desk, where the smug bastard was talking with another colleague of his, Akihito didn't wait for him to stop talking before he tugged on his shoulder and interrupted.

"Oi! What's with the bullshit photos you turned in of me and Sudou yesterday!?"

Everyone in the office stopped and looked at the outburst, Mitarai just smirked, "Oh look who decided to show up for work!"

"Answer my question." Akihito huffed.

"It's true though isn't it?" Journalists could always twist things the way they wanted.

"Hell no. It's not."

Mitarai knew Akihito to be telling the truth, he was a horrible liar, and he would have been blushing like a virgin if it were true. "Why were you driving his car then?" he went for another line of questioning.

"Th- it's not his car!" Akihito stumbled over his tongue as he changed what he'd been about to say, he couldn't say it was his car.

"Ha, whose is it then? Yours?" Mitarai snorted at his own absurd suggestion, photography would never pay that well.

"Don't be stupid." The blonde shot back, with a slight lick of his lips, it was a lie, it was his car.

Mitarai picked up on it, clear as day.

Akihito began to storm out, sensing the imminent downward spiral of conversation, "Just don't go publishing crap like that again, dickhead."

He rounded the corner and was gone, leaving the hound of a journalist with a fresh trail to follow, one he knew that would lead to a good scoop.

His publisher seemed to think so too, he'd come out to see what the commotion was about and saw the entire exchange, and just nodded to Mitaria, giving him the go ahead to sniff around on one of their own.

Anything for a scoop.

.

Kirishima cringed as he got the reports on Akihito's movements on Monday morning, he knew the blonde must be pissed, pissed enough to confront his old colleagues at the newspaper office, Kirishima didn't blame him, that caption was an outright lie.

To top it off, it had caused him a lot of trouble, well, it'd caused everyone a lot of trouble. Akihito, Asami, and that meant in turn Kirishima, Suoh and everyone else that worked for Asami.

He just hoped like hell that the DJ wouldn't say anything stupid that would warrant people being more suspicious of what he was doing with Sudou Shuu.

Their friendship made sense to Kirishima now, they planned most of Akihito's calendar together, and curse the brat, he was likeable.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Sudou had come around as well, to him at least, to Asami though…. His reaction yesterday said it all.

Kirishima felt a bucket load of trouble coming, because to people looking from the outside in, them being that close made no sense at all.

Of course people were going to look round, and start trying to connect the dots.

The previous six months, his boss had seemed more relaxed, knowing Akihito wasn't out on the streets, risking life and limb trying to get a scoop for naught, rivals were beginning to catch on, more than once previously, the scoop was an ambush to catch the once then criminal photographer. How he wasn't dead was any ones guess.

Takaba had nine lives, that had to be it, but how many had he used up though?

Yes, his boss was more approving of his lover's anonymous role of Midnight Kid.

Midnight Kid was a DJ, not Takaba Akihito, not a target anyone would go for.

Unless people found out, all it would take is a bullet, shot with a silencer in the middle of a chaotic club for it to be all over, for that reason alone, Asami was fiercely protective of Takaba's secret.

He really, really hoped Takaba hadn't just put fuel on the fire by going to his old office.

He sighed the sigh that meant Akihito trouble, things had been going so well lately, too.

.

Akihito was tired, tired and excited, it was a weird combination, like drinking those canned mixers with energy drink and alcohol in it.

A stimulant and a depressant paired together made for a very confused drunk who didn't know if they should dance or sleep, the result the next day was an awful hangover. Hopefully that wasn't a sign of things to come.

That pretty much summed up how he felt right now though, tired, because he hadn't slept well the last couple of nights, in a different bed with only his own body heat to provide warmth.

Excited, because it was Wednesday evening, and Ben's flight would be coming through the arrivals terminal any second now.

"How long is he here for again?" Akihito asked Koga who was standing next to him, the pair were waiting outside the terminal gates, off to the side so they could, hopefully, make a quick exit before anyone caught on who Ben was.

"Six weeks, I think he said, oh look, they're coming through now, lets find him quick so we can go."

Fat chance of a quick escape though, Ben always dawdled, he didn't care who saw him or how many people wanted their photo taken with him, Akihito remembered that much, and he wasn't even that famous back then. It would be so much worse now.

Akihito would have been fine with it, if it weren't for the Asami goons who he knew were bound to be lurking somewhere, they'd been extra good at hiding lately, either that, or Asami didn't bother to have persons on his detail after his loud exit from the penthouse.

It was just another thought that added to his tired side, Asami hadn't called, messaged or anything yet, and that hurt. More than Akihito would like to admit.

It hurt, because it mean Asami didn't care, and it hurt even more, because he was starting to feel like this was his fault, logic told him it wasn't, but Asami's manipulation skills were world famous, of course he could manipulate Akihito into feeling guilty just by doing sweet fuck all.

It fucking hurt, because either Asami didn't care, or he was doing this on purpose to pin it on him, there was no fairness in either option.

He loathed that he was feeling this unsettled, that Asami could get to him this much.

For that, he was angry. He still hated that Asami could affect him so much without doing a damn thing.

Oh well, 'too bad, how sad, never mind', as his grandma used to say, with him in the same house as Koga and Ben, he was sure he'd find a way, or multiple ways to take his mind off it.

As if on cue, to match his thought process, he heard a voice shout out to them in accented Japanese.

"Koga! Akihito! Man, are you two a sight for sore eyes, that flight was looong." Ben Austin came into view between the sea of faces coming off the flight, and already people had their phones out to snap pictures of the beaming DJ, mouse brown hair, short and messy, styled exactly like Akihito and Koga, with a hint of 5 o clock shadow on his chin as he made his way towards them with his carry on luggage, a lap top case and the ever-present headphones draped around his neck.

The American DJ, dressed in a tight black shirt which showed his Hollywood muscles off to perfection, and a pair of skinny jeans, clasped hands with Koga, before they both leant forward to clap each other on the back in a manly embrace.

"Cheers for picking me up and letting me use your pad, Koga." He handed the black haired DJ a bottle of duty free alcohol as thanks, and then turned to look at Akihito with a huge grin.

They were all smiling in fact, it was just like that when they'd hung out in the past.

"You! Akihito. I heard your back into it! Collaborate with me!" the slightly larger, muscular DJ yanked Akihito off the ground in a bear hug, carrying Akihito a few steps before pretending to drop the blonde, who wrapped his legs around Ben's waist, an automatic response to prevent falling.

"Oi, p-put me down! Say hello like a normal person!" Akihito blushed furiously, this was Japan, even though they were just friends now, too Akihito anyway, people would still frown on what they were doing in public.

"I am a normal person, this is normal for us, remember." Ben gave a cheeky wink, "you Japanese are so uptight about sexuality, gosh." The American gave Akihito's ass a squeeze before he set him down, noting how tense Akihito really was.

"Or do you have a boyfriend, or girlfriend or something?" he asked it casual, but his eyes were locked on Akihito as they began walking, ignoring all the people snapping photos of them.

The blonde looked across at Koga, hoping for some help, he thought Koga might have told Ben something, at least.

"You didn't tell him, Koga?" Akihito asked eventually.

"Tell him what?"
"Tell me what?" they echoed each other.

"Never mind." Akihito deadpanned as they exited the building to find their way to Koga's new Chrysler.