THE TRICKSTER

Two weeks had passed since their encounter with the strange individual, Chamuel. Souichi still didn't understand what tricks might have been behind his disappearance. How the weirdo had known so much and why he'd dared butt into their business was beyond him. Some people just had no decency.

"Crap," he muttered as he lost count again. It was the third time he had had to start over again, counting the specimens on the slide through the microscope. Unfortunately, his thoughts kept straying back to that incident. Lately, there had been something which kept nagging at his mind. He, however, just couldn't put his thumb on whatever it was.

He leaned back on his chair, his gaze straying up at the clock. It read 8:30 P.M. With a grimace he thought that he should probably start heading home.

Upon arriving home, he'd most likely discover that he was not there, yet again.

The blonde man frowned. He wondered, why he should care whether or not Morinaga wasn't going to be home again. It had nothing to do with him. His kouhai could do whatever he wanted. But the more he thought about it, the more irritated he became.

He arose from where he was and began putting the cultures away. At this rate, he wouldn't get anything done. He needed something to help him relax and he believed that that something would be a few good drinks. The man silently determined that he'd start by passing by the store on his way home and then he would drink to his heart's content.

No, he didn't need Morinaga to keep him company. He had done this plenty of times before. Yet no matter how much or how many times he told himself this, he still felt unsettled, as though something were missing.

It was all Morinaga's fault. Ever since that talk with Chamuel, something had changed, but he just couldn't figure out what that something was.

'Don't think about it,' thought Souichi, as he passed his hand through his hair.

With an irritable sigh, he picked up his stuff and left the building and the campus grounds.

Walking hurriedly, he headed toward the store that was situated nearest his and Morinaga's shared apartment. Once inside, he selected the largest case of beer they had of his favorite brand, then walked over to the cashier standing at the register. However, something else caught his eye. It was the label of a bottle of sake.

Souichi humphed and grabbed the sake bottle as well. He would get so dead drunk tonight, that he would forget all his misgivings. He was, however, probably over analyzing things.

Once he had paid the cashier, he headed for home. As soon as he was home, he started to shoot down can after can. Once he had finished those off, with empty cans everywhere, he then uncorked the the sake bottle, the foamy contents flying everywhere before he took a good long swig.

He exhaled, his breath already heavy with the scent of alcohol. His mind had started to grow fuzzy and with that, his thoughts seemed to overflow.

This was the third night in a row that Morinaga had been home late. Today in fact, he'd even asked for permission to leave the lab early.

Souichi didn't understand what was going on. Ever since that Chamuel character had appeared in their lives things seemed to have changed. Morinaga had changed. Somehow he seemed more distant. His misplaced feelings seemed to grow clearer with the sake floating around in his stomach. He continued to drink as he mulled over his thoughts. It was true that Morinaga seemed more distant he thought to himself. Where before he'd constantly heard Morinaga in the background, as of late, he barely noticed he was there at all.

Souichi actually had room to think and sometimes he found himself alone wondering where that insistent voice had gone to. Not only that, their conversations had grown shorter and shorter. In fact their conversations hardly passing beyond a yes or no, or get me this or that. Furthermore, Morinaga had started going out more often, coming home late at night. No doubt having returned from visiting that bar he frequented, where he'd mentioned one of his friends worked at.

Souichi didn't understand, and when he didn't understand something, he grew angry from being unable to work out what was going on. He became frustrated, as he did when his experiments went awry and made absolutely no sense.

As he was thinking, his amber-golden eyes caught sight of his phone, sitting on the coffee table, taunting him, and he thought to himself, 'That's enough. He should be here, not gallivanting about somewhere else,' and proceeded to pick up the phone and dialed Morinaga's cell. As to what his own actions might mean, it didn't matter, as long as he got what he wanted.

The shot glass hit the wood counter with a sharp sound as Morinaga poured down what could have been his fourth or fifth glass of strong shochu that night.

Hiroto felt a bit concerned, watching how quickly Angel-kun shot down his drinks and there had been so many of them, of a specifically strong blend. He doubted the rate that with which Morinaga was trying to drown his sorrows and worries was at all healthy. But as usual, he was certain of the reason behind his friends unbridled lust for the mind numbing ability that so much alcohol in the system could provide, one Senpai, Tatsumi Souichi. Hiroto himself had never met Tatsumi more than a couple of times, but from everything he had head from dear sweet Angel-kun, he knew how much trouble he could be.

Hiroto didn't particularly harvest any bad feelings toward Tatsumi, but he sometimes felt irritated by his constant denial. It was obvious, that if he didn't care for Morinaga, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to keep him by his side. It was only Tatsumi himself, whom lived in the illusion, that they were just friends.

Morinaga moaned, his hand holding on tightly to his shot glass, " I don't know how much more of this I can take, Hiroto-kun," he whined.

Hiroto rolled his eyes while wiping down the counter in front of him, " If you can't do it Angel-kun, then just stop. It's only making you miserable... who gave you this idea again?" asked Hiroto for like, the fifth time.

"It was someone really trustworthy I tell you," replied Morinaga. That person, Chamuel had obviously been something more than human. He hadn't been hallucinating when he'd seen him disappear. No, he had to trust in the word of Chameul and, if his advice had been to give his Senpai his space, then he would take the advice and use it. Of course, it was easier said than done.

He hadn't even begun to fathom how much time he'd spent, just plaguing his Senpai. Every time he was near him, his hands seemed to have had a mind of their own and had wanted to reach out to touch him. His mouth had seemed to have a million things to say, often running nonstop. It was, however, all because he loved him so much, so very very much, and he wanted to share as much as possible with him.

What he was doing now though, seemed more like a punishment, rather than the perfect tactic. He couldn't help but doubt that his Senpai would notice his absence and then begin to understand his feelings. But, he had worked this hard already, this little change could perhaps, make a difference. Still, he missed him so much...

"Hiroto-kun, refill!" he demanded.

Hiroto sighed and complied, pouring Angel-kun yet another round. He could tell the man was starting to drift away. He should probably send him home soon. As he was thinking that, a phone rang. He looked around and found the source of the noise. It was Angel-kun's phone. However, his friend, had just drank his sixth shot glass and he wasn't looking too well.

The phone continued to ring incessantly.

Hiroto shrugged as he picked up the phone. It was a good thing tonight there weren't very many customers, otherwise he wouldn't have had the luxury of indulging his friend.

"Yes, this is Hiroto speaking," spoke Hiroto through the phone. The line on the other side remained silent for a few seconds, before a voice Hiroto immediately recognized spoke.

"Where the hell is Morinaga and what are you doing with his phone?" Tatsumi growled into the phone on the other side of the line.

Hiroto was not in the least surprised, although perhaps he should have been considering Tatsumi would not usually bother to call his kouhai. A mischievous smile spread over Hiroto's countenance. An idea had just formed in his mind.

"Ah, you mean my little Angel-kun? He is here of course, having fun with me. Maybe a bit too much fun I must say. I think he's drunk a bit too much," commented Hiroto in a flirty voice as he thought to himself, 'Let's see how detached he is when his kouhai is in danger of being snatched away.' When Tatsumi didn't answer he continued. " Are you his roommate? I'm thinking he might not make it home, unless you're willing to pick him up. Although, I wouldn't mind letting him spend the night with me. It would be my pleasure," he taunted. At that point, Hiroto had a big smirk on his face. He nearly laughed into the phone, just imagining what expression might be on the face of Angel-kun's Senpai.

"Tell me where you are, I'll be right there," Tatsumi practically shouted into the phone.

Hiroto had to take the phone away from his ears lest his eardrums be hurt. He grimaced a bit, thinking that Tatsumi sure could be violent. 'He'd better not try anything of the sort with me.'

"He's at the Adamsite Bar," he gave him further directions about what street it was on and how to get there, "And when you've arrived, ask for Hiroto at the bar. I'll be waiting," he finished with a taunting voice then hung up.

Hiroto silently thought to himself, 'I do wonder what Angel-kun's Senpai will do once he finds out what kind of bar this is. No matter, I can't wait to see how things are going to turn out.'

Up in the heavens, Chamuel smiled down into the golden pool of water as he was witness to the current turn of events. At that same moment, the Gatekeeper frowned upon witnessing Hiroto's actions.

The way the Gatekeeper's brows furrowed seemed endearing to Chamuel and he couldn't help but lay a kiss on that pretty forehead. Large eyes looked up to him a little surprised by his actions. But the Gatekeeper couldn't hold his frown for too long as he looked into Chamuel's placid smiling face. They turned to embrace each other, and although the Gatekeeper felt a bit concerned, his worries disappeared under Chamuel's strong embrace.

Author Note: This chapter was written by baby_ritz over at livejournal and edited by me... yay for co-writting.

message from baby_ritz: I just hope that I'm making sense and that the characters are not too OOC, but any constructive criticism is welcome :D.