The night proceeded like many other nights, with Syo staying up later than Natsuki to remove his glasses when he fell asleep. Syo would then wake up earlier than Natsuki to place them back on his lovely and delicate face about an hour before they alarm would go off on Ai's clock at nine. Syo originally would set his own alarm, but his body made a special one. Upon occasion, his internal alarm would sound only minutes before the actual alarm would go off, and Syo would have to act swiftly—but this was not one of those occasions, thankfully.

You may wonder why Natsuki keeps his glasses on when he falls asleep, and not just takes them off himself before he goes to bed. The answer to that would be because Syo made him swear not to take his glasses off when he goes to bed, and because Syo was so serious, Natsuki kept his promise. Syo, at one point in time, was not a very clever person, and had his first sleep over with Natsuki and Satsuki together. It didn't occur to him then that when Natsuki went to bed, he'd have to take his glasses off and that's when Satsuki showed up and punched Syo square in the jaw—Syo learned his lesson quickly.

That morning, Syo woke up to Natsuki peaceful face right in front of his. After a moment, Syo smiled a bit, and then sat up to look out their sleep-over tent. It was forty-five minutes until nine. Syo had a ton of time. Did he say his inner clock was accurate? Nope…

Syo lay back down next to Natsuki, gazing into his face. He lay there for most of the time he had left, watching Natsuki as he slept, counting how many seconds passed by between his inhale, and exhale. It was around eight seconds. Natsuki always did this weird thing where he would scrunch his face occasionally, and moan a bit when he was dreaming, and that's what Syo was waiting intently for.

As Syo waited to see the precious moment when Natsuki's face scrunched, he observed Natsuki's face carefully, taking in every detail that he had memorized over and over. The morning light brought a beautiful glow to it that lit up those detail, and made Syo smile.

Syo let out a small, almost silent gasp. There it was—Natsuki scrunched up his nose and squeezed his eyes tighter, letting a little moan. Syo heart was beating a million miles a second, and nearly stopped when he heard Natsuki start mumbling.

"S...Syo...chan…" He muttered, groggily. Syo's eyes widened. Was he dreaming about him, or, just waking up?

Before he knew it, Syo was pulled into Natsuki's warm body, being cuddled by his sleepy hopefully-soon-to-be-more-than-just-best-friends, friend. Natsuki nuzzled Syo's head, squeezing him gently, and sighing contentedly. Was he still asleep…? Right now, Syo didn't really care; all he wanted was to stay in that spot, Natsuki holding him in a warm embrace, forever. He never wanted the alarm to go off, he just wanted linger in Natsuki's arms, until the amounts of love for his best friend became clear in Natsuki's heart, and Syo wouldn't have to say anything. But that was all in due time.

Syo wiggled out of Natsuki, and sat up, losing the feeling of warmth that Natsuki gave off, like a safe haven.

It was five to nine, and Syo, slightly reluctant, placed Natsuki's glasses on his face. Syo then lay back down, and rolled over, resting his eyes. He waited for the alarm to sound. Syo's mind wouldn't leave where he had been just a minute ago, no matter how much Syo tried. After a few painful moments of wallowing in the remainder of Natsuki's fondle, the shrill beeping of the alarm filled his ears, causing him to cringe and grind his teeth.

Natsuki moaned next to him, and shuffled around. Syo started to sit up, but was grabbed, and quickly pulled down by none other than Natsuki. He started squeezing Syo roughly, nearly crushing him once again.

"Ah, good morning, Syo-chan!" Natsuki smiled, releasing the smaller boy. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," Syo said, straitening his t-shirt, a little annoyed. Even when Natsuki just wakes up he's still as pleasant as ever. He really wasn't aware of what he did about an hour ago. Syo paused when he heard Natsuki giggle.

"Syo-chan, your hair is a mess," Natsuki said reaching for it. "So cute!"

"It is not!" Syo snapped. "Sheesh, you always know which buttons to push." He almost-mumbled, messing with his hair.

"What?"

"Nothing," Syo crawled out from the tent. He had to get ready to meet up with Nanami—this was probably gonna be their last meeting before…

Syo's stomach knotted in fear. Was it really that close to being time already? Nanami and he had previously set a date and plan for the confession, and Syo hadn't realized it was coming so soon. He'd have to work hard today and fix any weak point in the project by later this afternoon.

Natsuki scooted out of the tent after Syo, and said his good mornings to Ai before proceeding to get dressed. Syo had to resist the urge to look as Natsuki removed one article of clothing after another, right down to his socks. Syo took a peek while Natsuki's back was turned. His pale skin was so inviting that Syo just wanted to kiss it all over. No, no, no—back to your own clothes, worry about that later.

When Syo was dressed, he hopped up, and made his way to the door. "I'll see you guys later—I've got an appointment with Nanami, and I don't want to be late."

This caused Natsuki to look up, looking a little upset.

"Why, what are you doing, Syo-chan?" Natsuki asked, adjusting his glasses a bit.

"Well, i-it's a secret," Syo responded. Natsuki looked down at the floor, as if blaming it for something. Syo paused seeing this reaction from Natsuki, and for a moment, thought he shouldn't go. But he couldn't miss the last session. Everything had to be perfect.

"I'll see you guys later then," Syo said, abruptly, the continued out the door. When he was almost to the stairs, he heard a familiar voice call after him.

"Syo-chan!" Natsuki called, causing Syo to turn. Syo tilted his head at his friend, questions forming on his face.

"Syo-chan, I want to know—why are you always going off with Haru-chan?" Natsuki voice trembled, as though he was about to cry. He kept his head low, as if trying to hide his face. "You're avoiding me—brushing my hugs off, and always squirming away from my touch. And I want to know—is it because you love her? Is it because, you don't want to hurt me when you tell me you're secretly dating Haru-chan? Why are you always leaving me, Syo-chan?"

Natsuki semi-shouted the last part, looking up at Syo, tears streaming down his face. Natsuki cupped his face into his hands. "You even missed our lunch on this past Thursday…" He sobbed. Syo couldn't speak; all he could do was stand there, dumb struck, his heart being stabbed into smaller pieces with every word that came from Natsuki's mouth.

Natsuki mumbled something that Syo couldn't make out, then turned to head back into their dorm, sniffling.

"It's okay, Syo-chan," Natsuki grumbled, a little angrier than sad now. "You can go meet-up with Haru-chan. If that's what you really want."

"No, I—" Syo tried, but his words were cut-off by the slamming of the door. For the first time, Syo noticed there were a few others standing in the hallway, halfway dressed, with toothbrushes in their mouths—some of the other members of STARISH. Syo darted down the stairs before they could ask anything, tears welling in his eyes.

I made Natsuki cry. It's my fault. I hurt him, ran through his mind until his entire body was numb with the idea. He ran to the music room he was working with Haruka in and slammed the door open, causing the brilliant composer to jump, and drop a few things to the floor that scatted in every direction. Syo's face was wet with tears, as he caught his breath, determination building up inside his little body. He looked up at Haruka, who looked scared and concerned for Syo, but Syo paid no mind to that.

"Nanami," He said. "We have to do it—today."

"T-today?" She inquired, tentatively. "But, you yourself said it wasn't perfect yet, and you wanted to do the finishing touches today—"

"I don't care what I said!" Syo was involuntarily raising his voice. He stepped closer to Nanami, shutting the door. "We have to do it today…otherwise, I'm going to lose it…otherwise, I'm going to lose him—forever."

Nanami looked a bit startled by what Syo said, but gave a small, reassuring smile. She grabbed onto Syo's upper-arms gently, and looked him in the eye happily. "Don't worry Syo-kun. We'll do it today. And it'll be wonderful. You won't lose him, I promise."

Syo gave a weak smile, and then took a deep breath, wiping the tears from his face. His confidence grew, and he stood up a bit straighter, still sniffling. He offered a bigger smile. "Okay."