In reviewing what I had written so far, I had come to the realization that I've never written anything with Ken in it. (Honestly Mitsuru hasn't really shown up here either, but she's at least been mentioned.) So this was thought up and produced as an attempt to give the poor boy the recognition he deserves. And well, I wanted an excuse to write about Shinji's softer side some more. Unfortunately in doing so I think I might have made Shinji slightly OoC. (To make myself feel a bit better about it, I attribute it to the fact that I haven't been feeling well as of late.) But in any case, I hope you like this one as much as you have the others.

Coffee

"What are you drinking?"

The boy looked up from the mug clenched in both hands. His face flushed a light pink before he once again focused his gaze back down. "C-coffee," he stammered.

Riichi 'hmmed' in response and sat down opposite him at the table. She laced her fingers together, forming a bridge on which she rested her chin. "I didn't know you liked coffee Ken," she mused. "I didn't start drinking it until I was fifteen."

Ken once more raised his chin up to settle his gaze on the smiling girl. He chewed his lower lip for a moment in contemplation before finally deciding on something to say. "It's a very mature drink isn't it?" he commented, though his voice shook with embarrassment and uncertainty. "None of my classmates drink it, they all say it's for adults."

The girl nodded lightly, "I guess it is," she agreed.

Silence reigned for a few more moments. He was too uncomfortable to really come up with anything else. Riichi had picked up on this, but mercifully allowed him a few moments to attempt to collect himself. When she figured he had had enough time (And really, she wasn't going to let the poor boy sit there and splutter nervously all night. She wasn't cruel.) she spoke up once more. "Junpei said he was helping you with your homework earlier."

The boy gave a start, not having expected her to say anything else. He flushed a light pink and nodded his head lightly. "Well, yeah. If you can call it help," he muttered. "Junpei-san kept trying to teach me my algorithms wrong." Having found something he could talk about the boy lost all the shyness he had been exhibiting. "Riichi-san, is Junpei-san really that bad in school? I mean, what we're doing right now has some review from last year."

Riichi cocked an eyebrow and the corner of her lips curled up in amusement. "I'm surprised you even put up with him long enough to figure that out," she teased. "Yeah, Junpei's really that bad." Ken looked positively flabbergasted at the prospect of a high school boy being that inept at his studies. "There was one point in time when he had me help him with his homework. Honestly though it was more me constantly reminding him of what he was supposed to do and him erasing his work fifteen separate times." She chuckled at the memory, and Ken found himself flushing once more at her smile.

"You know I can help you, if you still need it."

The boy gave a light start and had to shake himself. "W-with what?" he stammered, caught between confusion and the desire to simply shout 'YES!' at the girl, no matter what it was she was suggesting.

She giggled and leaned foreword. Her index finger tapped lightly on the paper in front of him. "With your math," she explained. Riichi cocked her head and lifted her shoulders cutely. "Not to brag, but I'm at the top of my class. I'm sure I'd be more help then Junpei was."

Ken found no trouble in forming syllables; it was the words he couldn't mouth correctly and finally say. He sat there gaping like a fish, blown away yet again by the girl. "O-of cour-" he began, and was interrupted by the muffled thump of feet descending the stairs.

The two of them turned their heads to get a better look at the intruder. Shinjirou was the one who finally emerged around the corner. If he wasn't so alert, he would have looked as if he had just gotten out of bed. Donned in gray sweatpants and a black turtle-neck, he had all the signs of at least going to sleep in the near future. When he looked up to see them, he found himself pausing and cocking an eyebrow.

"Coffee?" Riichi asked, being the first one to break the silence. Ken was thankful for it, because he was almost afraid of what the older boy might have said, and he certainly wasn't capable of doing it.

Shinjirou grunted and once more began to move. He waited until he was just behind Riichi before he stopped again. At first he seemed almost unsure of whether or not he was supposed to, but then he gave a light snort and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're going to give Ken a heart attack if you keep getting in his face like that," he told her. He guided her gently back down into a proper seated position.

Riichi merely sniffed, though her expression was still all smiles. "I was not," she argued lightly. "I was going to help him with his homework."

The boy hmmed in response, but didn't seem to really be that impressed with her explanation. "You want a cup too right?" was the next thing he finally said. Apparently he had found it better to drop the subject.

A soft smile replaced the earlier one, and Riichi looked almost loving. "Of course," she answered, to which he couldn't help but give a small smile of his own before removing his hand and heading around the counter into the kitchen.

Ken watched this all with a queer sort of fascination. For some reason, he felt like he was watching something he shouldn't be. Something adult. This caused a rush of feeling to jolt through him and the boy visibly bristled. He wasn't sure if it was because of the reminder of the undeniable fact that they all thought him a child, or the streak of jealousy that he had long ago stopped trying to deny, but he chose that moment to speak up. "Could you help me Riichi-san?"

The girl whipped her head back to allow herself the ability to look at him. Her startled expression was quickly forsaken for a bright smile. "Of course," she chirped, "Let me see what it is you're doing." Riichi stood and practically bounced over to his side of the table. She pulled her chair along with her, depositing it on his right side at the edge of the table before gracefully throwing herself in it. "What is it you need help with?"

Shaken slightly by her immediate cooperation, it took Ken a few moments of sputtering before he could finally answer her. "Number twelve," he managed out.

"Oh, I remember doing these." Riichi scooted her chair closer and raised her arms to place them on the table. "For that you have to use this formula." Ken nodded and hastily set his mug down and picked up his pencil in order to follow along. "Make sure you don't skip this step. It's probably the one thing that most people miss. Stop me if I go to fast for you okay?" He nodded again, more preoccupied with keeping up with her directions than listening to anything else she had to say.

They sat like that for a short while. Her giving directions, him trying his best to follow them correctly. They were so engrossed in it that by the time Shinjirou set the deep red mug in front of Riichi, they had finished and rechecked five separate problems already.

The girl looked up and dazedly stared at the winking face of the bear printed on the mug. It took her a few moments to finally figure out what it was, and when she had she lit up. "Oh, thanks Senpai," she chirped, snatching at the mug and inspecting the contents.

"I made it the same way I always do," he assured her, taking a seat in the lone chair on the opposite side of the table. Shinjirou took a sip from his own mug, watching her from over the top of it. His eyes didn't leave her until she took a sip, to which he responded with a satisfied smirk.

The girl bit her lip giddily and held her mug close to her face with both hands. "Just right," she agreed, giving a small nod as if in agreement with herself.

Ken chewed his lower lip and glanced at his own mug. The contents, he knew, would be cold by now. A prospect that made him shiver and rethink going anywhere near it. Cold coffee, he had found out shortly after he started drinking it, was by far the worst thing he had ever tasted.

"Riichi-san, Aragaki-san knows how to make your coffee?" This was a thought that had come to him, but he hadn't thought he would voice. Something he was deeply regretting when Shinjirou arched an uninterested eyebrow, and Riichi merely looked confused.

The girl nodded, pulling the mug closer to her chin as if protecting it. "Of course," she stated matter-of-factly. "He makes it for me almost every night."

This left Ken pink and slightly flustered. Every night? Was that really a good idea? The boy didn't think that the senior would do something as horrifying as poisoning their happy-go-lucky leader, but he also didn't think the guy could be trusted. Master of the culinary arts or not, he was definitely a mixture of intimidating and downright terrifying. Both traits that normally didn't point towards 'trustworthy' material.

Shinjirou snorted and made a gesture towards the small boy. "You can stop glaring kid," he said. "The idea was hers."

Ken gave a start and blushed harder. He hadn't known he had been staring so hard. Was it really that obvious?

The girl merely giggled next to him. "Shinji, be nice to him. He's just concerned about me." She patted Ken on the shoulder, smiling brighter when he flushed yet again. "Maybe he has a right to worry, the first time you made me coffee I almost gagged."

The boy looked shocked for a moment before turning his glare on his elder. His anger dissipated into confusion when Shinjirou looked caught between being flustered and defensive. "It's your own damn fault for not specifying what you wanted. All you told me was to make you coffee and be careful to not make it too bitter."

"You know I like sweets," she countered accusingly.

"How was I supposed to know that included a heart-attack in a coffee mug?" was his snarled retort.

Once more Ken was lost. This was strange, and weird, and new. He had never seen Riichi look so happy, especially when arguing, and he had certainly never seen Shinjirou banter like this with anyone. Akihiko didn't count, especially because their conversations -what he'd heard of them anyway; he really wasn't around the two of them much- normally consisted of the boxer reminiscing and Shinjirou telling him to shut up and that he was a moronic fool. There hadn't been any noticeable barbs yet, and if he wasn't mistaken the chef was being much more gentle with his speech and mannerisms than he had ever seen him be.

Finally the senior sighed and shook his head. "Right, whatever you say. I swear, you're a piece of work," the last part was muttered, but still loud enough to be heard by the other two. Out of the corner of his eye, Ken saw Riichi smile softly. Shinjirou stood and held his hand out. "You done?" he asked, motioning towards the mug in the girls hands.

She shook her head, fingers tightening around it in what might have been an attempt to protect it. "Uh uh, thank you though." He gave a gruff snort and retracted his hand to move on into the kitchen. Riichi lowered her gaze to once more stare at the contents of the mug. She let out a small laugh through her nose and curled her shoulders up in content.

"Are you coming to bed?"

This question made both her and Ken look up in surprise. Riichi recovered far quicker than the boy, who could only sit and stare in shock, eyes wide as saucers. "Not yet. I promised I'd help, so I'm going to stay with Ken until he's done." She lowered the mug and placed it on the table. "So you're going up now?"

Shinjirou grunted an affirmative as he approached her. "Just don't keep him up too late," he told her. "It's almost eleven. And don't come up much later either. You're damn noisy when you're getting into bed."

Riichi merely smiled sweetly. "Yes, yes," was her reassurance. She lifted her arms up in expectance and wasn't satisfied until he sighed and leaned down into the embrace. There was a soft kiss (Oh god, he really was watching something he wasn't supposed to be!) before she allowed Shinjirou to right himself. Though there really wasn't much righting happening, because she still had her arms curled around his neck, and it didn't look like she wanted anything to do with the idea of letting go.

"You're going to need to get another uniform," the senior finally voiced. He didn't really look like he wanted to be standing like that, but then again he didn't really look as if he didn't want to. "You wore your last clean one today. Would it kill you to do laundry once in a while?"

The girl giggled softly. "You sound like you're trying to be my mother," she teased, to which he curled his mouth into a snarl and muttered something about how no mother would do the things he did to her. (Ken wasn't exactly sure what to make of this either. Perhaps this was too much of an overload for one night.) "Could you get it for me?"

Shinjirou gave her a rather skeptical look. "You really want me going up on the girls' hall this late at night?"

She shrugged, "No one'll be awake to notice."

"They'll think I'm stealing your underwear."

"Then just tell them you're too shy to ask for 'em."

This suggestion was responded to by a snort and a roll of the eyes. "Fine, but this is the last time I'm doing something like this," he warned her. Riichi nodded her head again, though her expression said she knew full well he would always do anything for her. He hesitated slightly before pressing his mouth to her temple in what might have been a kiss. "If I'm asleep before you come up goodnight," was his parting words as she released him from her hold and watched as he disappeared upstairs.

For a few moments Riichi looked as content as he had ever seen her. Ken felt his chest constrict painfully, and found himself clearing his throat. The moment was shattered and the girl looked down at him in surprise. "S-s-so you two are," he ventured, picking up his pencil and focusing on his math in an attempt to keep his voice steady.

He didn't see the girl smile apologetically, nor did he see her raise her hand in an attempt to ruffle his hair before deciding against it and pulling it back. "Yes," she finally answered. "It's been almost a month now." They sat in another silence, another awkward one that left him choked up and wondering what he was supposed to do now. "Seventeen was another hard one wasn't it?" Riichi voiced softly, placing a finger on the paper to indicate which one she was talking about.

"Oh, yeah," Ken muttered, too startled to say anything else. They lapsed back into the previous routine of tutoring, and nothing more was said until he had reached the final problem.

"You know," Riichi interrupted his thought process. The boy looked up from the middle of the equation he was doing to show he was paying attention. "He likes you a lot."

"Who does?" he found himself asking before he could stop himself.

Riichi giggled lightly. "Shinji," she answered. When Ken looked both shocked and skeptical, she went on to prove her statement. "He wouldn't have been that affectionate if he didn't," the girl pointed out. "That he would allow you to see him that way means really trusts you quite a bit. He's really quite shy, especially when it comes to this kind of stuff."

The boy went from his lip to chewing his cheek. "You're probably wrong," he accused halfheartedly.

The girl shook her head softly. "I know him, quite a bit more than you think you do. Trust me, he really has a lot of faith in you." With that said she really did ruffle his hair this time, before standing up and walking over to the counter. The girl hoisted herself up over the granite countertop and reached an arm as far as she could stretch it to gently deposit her mug in the sink. "I'll get that tomorrow," she assured the boy when he cocked an eyebrow at her antics.

Now free of her possession, Riichi stretched her arms above her head before clasping her hands behind her back. "Well it's getting late, I'm going to go to bed. You should too mmkay. And if anyone asks why your homework looks so good, tell them your cute senpai helped you out."

Ken nodded gently, expression still downcast even with her attempt at lightening the mood. Riichi walked off, and he waited until he was sure she had reached the top of the stairs before he collected his papers, threw his own mug in the sink (if she could do it so could he) and climbed up the staircase himself.

oOo

"Did I wake you up?" the girl asked as she paused halfway through lifting up the covers.

The boy groaned and rolled over. "Hurry up will ya'. You're letting all the cold air in."

She chuckled softly as she did as she was told. Riichi pulled the sheets around them as she snuggled up against his back. "You're warm," she observed, lips brushing feathery letters against the fabric of his shirt.

"And you're cold," he grunted.

She couldn't suppress another chuckle. "I didn't know you liked Ken so much," she finally spoke up. She pressed her cheek to his shoulder blade and closed her eyes, relishing in how he felt.

Shinjirou took a moment to answer. In fact, he took so long that she had thought he might have fallen back asleep on her. "I owe him. And besides," he continued before she could ask any questions. "You really trust him."

Riichi felt herself pause. She finally allowed a soft smile to once more flutter across her lips. He never stopped finding ways to make her love him more. "Hey Shinji," she said. She didn't continue until he had shifted to show he was still listening. "Hold me?"

She felt the boy sigh, knowing full well he was smiling despite his feigned reluctance. "You're so demanding," he told her. Even with his jab she giddily waited while Shinjirou slowly turned to face her. His left arm snaked it's way under her neck while his right draped itself over the curve of her waist. "Now go to sleep," he ordered drowsily, burying his face into the crown of her head.

Riichi curled further into his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing steady as he drifted back to sleep. "Yet you're so willing to make sure every one of them comes true," she whispered against his collar bone.