And the question remains: Did the plan fail or succeed? The answer? He he...that'd be telling...



Patiently, Jyou watched as Koushiro unlocked the door to the Izumi apartment, his eyes locked on the back of the shorter boy's head. The door swung open and the redhead turned around, black eyes meeting Jyou's before Koushiro stepped into the apartment.

"My mother has a group meeting this afternoon and won't return until early this evening, and my father is visiting his mother. He should return about the time my mother does," he said quickly, kicking his shows off and placing them neatly beside the door.

"Hmm..." Jyou responded non-commitally, shutting the door behind him as he continued to stare at Koushiro. The redhead flashed him another smile, this one more nervous than the last. The walk from the park had been silent and uncomfortable, and neither teen was sure of the amount of stress they could continue to deal with.

"would you like something to drink?" Koushiro asked, taking a step backwards. He waited expectantly and was rewarded with a nod from Jyou. He took another step back, half-turning to head into the kitchen.

As luck would have it, the table from the night before was still sitting at an angle and his foot got caught on the leg. His arms flailed, trying to find purchase, but he was lying on his back before he had a chance to do more than grunt in surprise.

Jyou was kneeling beside him when he opened his eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Yes?" His reply was more question than answer. Jyou leaned closer and reached out a hand to check the dilation of his pupils. His other hand was placed on Koushiro's chest to keep the redhead from trying to get up before he was satisfied.

"Did you hit your head?"

"Not really. The only thing I managed to damage is my pride." With a deep breath, Koushiro reached up and covered the hand on his chest with one of his own, deciding that that moment was the perfect time to bring up what he had been wanting to say all day. "Should I apologize for this morning?"

The older teen blinked, confused by the sudden change of topic. After only a second, he shook his head. "No. Should I?"

"No!" Koushiro said sharply. He blushed at his outburst and tried to sit up. That only brought him closer to Jyou, who's hand was still sitting on the younger boy's chest. "I mean...Nothing happened this morning that deserves to be apologized for, other than my taking advantage of the situation and joining you in bed."

"I don't want you to be sorry for that, Koushiro. Waking up with you was, for lack of a better way to say it, a dream come true." He smiled, moving the hand on Koushiro's chest up to cup his cheek gently.

"Really?" His voice was disbeliefing. Jyou nodded, his eyes tender and his hand gentle where it slowly began to stroke Koushiro's cheek. Formally, he said, "Then I would like to take this opportunity to thank you."

"For what?" Blue eyebrows knit together in confusion for the second time in two minutes and Koushiro smiled up at him, his eyes suffused with affection.

"For kissing me."

"It was my pleasure." To prove that he was speaking the truth, Jyou leaned forward and pressed his lips against Koushiro's, the contact light but sweet.

The redhead opened his mouth slightly and tilted his head, his right hand coming up to cup the side of Jyou's neck. The blue-haired teen opened his mouth and moved his lips against KOushiro's, his head starting to spin.

They broke apart a moment later, their faces a matching shade of red. Instead of pulling away abruptly, as he had that morning, Koushiro sat up a little more and pressed his forehead against Jyou's. He closed his eyes, concentrating on remembering the exact feel of Jyou's lips pressed against his own. He licked his lips, lingering over the taste of the other boy.

without warning, the door opened and hit Jyou, who was kneeling too close. He fell forward, pushing Koushiro backwards with him. The redhead grunted as the air was knocked out of him and it took a second for Jyou to regain his equilibrium enough to roll of the younger teen and turn to the door.

Mr. and Mrs. Izumi looked down at their blushing sun, and his blushing friend, took in the fact that they were both lying on the floor, and looked at each other.

Mrs. Izumie raised an eyebrow and glanced from her husband to her son, and then back again. "I've already had my discussion with him. It's your turn." She turned to Jyou and offered him a hand up as her husband did the same with their son. Without relinquishing her hold of the taller boy, she headed into the kitchen, leaving her men to their 'discussion'.

~~~~~~______~~~~~

Daisuke slumped down in the couch as Koushiro and Jyou stepped into the Hida living room. They weren't holding hands, or standing close together, or anything. As far as he could tell, nothing had changed since Friday night.

Beside him, Takeru noticed the expression of defeat on his boyfriend's face and frowned. It wasn't like Daisuke to get so down about someone else's problems, especially when it didn't seem to be problem to that someone else. He reached out a hand and smoothed back Daisuke's bangs, gaining his attention long enough to smile at him.

The redhead smiled back and mouthed the words, "I love you."

Koushiro took a tentative seat beside Takeru and saw the small, tender exchange between them. His dark gaze moved from them to the couple curled up together in the chair beside the couch.

Mimi was sitting on Sora's lap, her legs dangling over the arm of the chair, her right arm around her girlfriend's shoulders. Sora was leaning her head on Mimi's shoulder, her lips occassionally grazing the russet-haired girl's neck with quiet affection. They were holding hands and their eyes were closed as they concentrated on each other. It was as if the rest of the world didn't exist for them outside of their shared embrace.

On the opposite side of the room, Iori and Hikari were sitting side by side on the small, two-person couch (commonly called a 'loveseat'). They were sitting close together, their hands folded together and their feet entwined. Hikari was tracing the lines of one of Iori's palms and whispering to him what each of them meant, her voice soothing in the rather quiet apartment.

In the kitchen, there was a radio playing softly. The table had been moved aside and Ken and Miyako were moving in slow circles, their feet shuffling across the linoleum as they danced quietly, her head resting against his shoulder, his right hand on her hip as he lead.

It was Jyou who pointed out what was missing when he asked, "Where's Tai and Matt?" Daisuke started snickering, his attention easily diverted from his boyfriend by the question.

Takeru rolled his eyes at Daisuke and leaned back, pulling his hand away from the dark auburn locks. Daisuke pouted cutely at the loss of contact and moved to snuggle next to the blond, nuzzling his nose into the soft tresses.

His hand moving back to Daisuke's hair, Takeru smiled as he answered. "Tai's was 'teaching' my brother how to play soccer, but he got upset and left. Matt's at his apartment, trying to calm him down."

Koushiro frowned. "What happened?" Since they had started dating, their 'real' fights had been few and far between. Daisuke snickered again, but tried to hide it in Takeru's neck.

The vibration against his skin caused Takeru to giggle and he pushed his boyfriend back slightly, his cheeks turning pink. "Tai lost."

~~~~~_____~~~~~

"Get out here, Tai! I'm not waiting around for you all day, you know," Matt hollered through the door, his patience wearing thin. If he had known that his winning would cause his boyfriend to hide in his bedroom with the door locked for two hours, he would have lost on purpose. It wasn't his fault. Tai had even told him to try his best and not worry about winning or losing.

Why should he be punished for winning?

"I love you!" He called through the door, leaning his head against the wooden frame. "Tai?"

"I love you, too," came the muffled response. Matt smiled: it was only a matter of a few minutes before Tai opened the door if he was talking to him. "Give me a second to move some stuff!"

"Okay." Matt stepped back from the door and leaned against the wall opposite it. The door opened a moment later and Tai stepped out. He was holding a rose and his body was outlined by candlelight.

"Surprise." He held out his hand and Matt took it, smiling. There was a a table cloth spread out over the floor, with food set on it, and the room was lit only by candles.

"What is this?" Matt asked incredously. His blue eyes swung to Tai's dark gaze. "Why did you do all this?"

"I have to have a reason?" asked Tai in response. Matt shrugged, his gaze moving back to look at the shadowed room. Everything had been moved aside to make the floor space bigger and the dishes spread on the cloth seemed to be a collection of his favorite foods.

"No, you don't. I'm just surprised." Tai grinned, glad that his surprise was going over so well. "Most people don't do thist type of thing without a reason, Tai."

"Well, if I have to have a reason, I'm sure that I can think of something."

"Yeah?"

"Happy Sunday!" He chuckled at his own joke and moved to wrap his arms around the blonde, his face nuzzling the pale column of his neck. "I love you."

"Mmm. I love you."

~~~~~~______~~~~~~

This was originally two chapters, but I decided to combine them into one. There is one more on its way, a semi-prologue. If no one else could tell, yeah, the plan worked. The others just don't know that yet, and they may never realize it. Why? Sometimes, life is just that way.