Heyyy, guys. Guess who's back? yeah me. the gal you probably want to burn in effagy because she hasn't updated in over a month. Sorry about that... Just have been busy with stuff. So thank you all so much once again for your kind reviews and your favoriting and your alerting and whatnot and I'm so glad that all of you are still reading and enjoying the story. Season 3 is over but we do have Season 4 to look forward to in the near future, so hold out until then troops. and also in the meantime, Enjoy Chapter 12.

Oh one more thing before we get back to the story... the hits for this story... ARE OVER 9000! (I couldn't help myself. Don't hate me. :D)

They arrived on set in a matter of minutes, both scared shitless of what Endo might threaten to do to them and may very well carry out. Thankfully he was too busy running around shouting orders in between yelling at someone or apologizing profusely over the phone.

He was yelling about producers and their goddamn whims making all the respectable reasonable people run ragged over their crazy schemes.

No one liked the sound of that.

After Natsume went through hair and makeup, he came out of his trailer to a very strange sight.

Endo and Natori were talking… if talking was the correct verb to use. It more looked like Endo was screaming and Natori was passive aggressively saying things that might make the director explode any minute.

Endo had already lost his shit and that wasn't really all that strange he'd admit it.

But Natori was about to lose his. And that was stranger than if he'd put on polka-dot bloomers ride on a unicycle and confess to Natsume that he'd always loved him and wanted to whisk him away to his magic kingdom in the sky where he'd be treated like a prince/ess and where he could have his very own unicorn.

"They're the goddamn producers! WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO, HUH?"

"Tell them that they're being ludicrous and that this can't happen by the same deadline. We're pressed for time as it is thanks to Yukiko's charming little stunt and now they want us to add more and go back and change other things? Did they even read the script before they signed on for the project?"

"Fuck if I know! And who's the director around here anyway! I'M YOUR BOSS REMEMBER?"

"Really? After how many times I've seen you bow down to our queen with your tail between your legs, I'd say Yukiko was the boss."

Natsume shivered at how Natori could say such a callous thing but still have that sugary sweet smile still plastered on his face.

"GODDAMMIT, NATORI, DON'T PUSH ME! I'LL BEAT YOU TILL YOUR PRETTY FACE TURNS BLACK AND BLUE!"

That sickening smile stayed in place. "I'm so sorry, Endo. How about I go tell Natsume the good news and you can get back to mending your broken and ridiculous ego."

With that the actor pointedly turned away from the director and walked toward Natsume. He put a hand on Natsume's arm and guided him away from Endo who looked like he was going to give himself a hernia out of rage.

He led them both back to his trailer and when they were both inside Natori let go of Natsume then slammed the door shut. He slammed both of his hands on the door and heaved a weighted sigh as if Atlas had just handed over the world to Natori while the god took a holiday.

"Natori-san?" Natsume ventured after awhile.

Natori still hadn't looked at him. He was still facing the door with slumped shoulders.

Natsume was scared. He'd never seen the actor look like this. Something must have happened to set him off. He felt like he should do something for the actor… But what? What could he possibly offer the actor in terms of comfort?

But before he could say anything, Natori finally turned around and had that infuriating smile in place. It was strained and even Natsume could tell that Natori was struggling to keep it in place.

"Sorry about that, Natsume. Endo and I were having a rather heated discussion but it's nothing to wor-"

"Don't tell me it's nothing to worry about."

Natori's eyes widened in surprise at Natsume's outburst. And in all honesty, Natsume was surprised at himself. But he was just so frustrated. Natori always hid behind that stupid fake smile of his. Didn't he trust Natsume? Even if they couldn't be anything more than friends weren't they at least that? And while he knew very little about friendship he was pretty sure that friends confided in each other. They should help each other out. Natsume knew in the back of his head that he probably couldn't really do anything if Endo was involved but the least he could do is be there and try to offer comfort if Natori was feeling upset and needed to vent.

That's what Nishimura and Kitamoto did for each other. He remembered one time that Kitamoto had tried out for the baseball team one year. And all of a sudden they decided that only the best players could be on the team. Kitamoto had given it his best shot but even that wasn't enough to impress the coach to let him on the team.

After the list of boys who had made the team had been put up, Kitamoto had looked completely crushed for the rest of the week. That is until Nishimura sighed and took the other boy by the arm, excused both of them from the classroom and dragged Kitamoto outside.

Natsume had seen them from the window. Nishimura looked a little pissed off as he motioned for Kitamoto to say something. Then after a few moments of hesitation and a few shakes from Nishimura, Kitamoto had started talking. His shoulders had shook just a little and his head was bowed. And Nishimura had looked at Kitamoto with such a look of sincere concern that Natsume thought that maybe he was witnessing too private a moment and directed his attention elsewhere.

And after that Kitamoto was back to his regular self in no time. And if it was even possible, Natsume thought somehow that the two had become even closer.

And Natsume envied them. He wanted to be that close to someone where he could feel comfortable talking about anything and that other person would be able to do the same around him.

He wanted to be trusted by someone he cared about. He wanted Natori to trust him. He wanted Natori to give up that stupid fake smile and give him a genuine emotion.

He tried to voice all of his feelings. He tried to tell Natori how frustrated he was when he was put on the sidelines. He didn't want to be protected he wanted to do some of the protecting too even if it was in a small way like this.

But as he tried to vocalize all of his thoughts his throat closed up and he couldn't get anything out for a while.

Natori just stared at him. And if nothing else came out of this at least Natsume was graced with the sight of an unguarded expression on the actor. And while it was a look of confusion at least it was something.

Finally the deafening silence was broken.

"You're right, Natsume. I'm sorry. I shouldn't keep you in the dark about this. After all, for better or for worse we're stuck with the same work problems at the moment. It's just…"

Natori paused. Obviously still pissed off about whatever happened, Natori fiddled with the cuffs of his shirt.

I've never seen him do that before… Then again I've never seen him this angry before. Maybe it's a habit? That only comes out when he's this angry and when he can barely hold it in. That's… kind of cute.

"Sometimes Endo drives me up a wall. I mean with all of the past projects that I've worked with him, we were always either on time in terms of the deadline or scheduling and we got along fine. But now the deadline is coming up quick and Endo's driving everyone nuts with his perfectionism and his 'vision' as he calls it…."

With each passing syllable the agitation in Natori's voice had increased steadily. But then he trailed off. His eyes seemed to widen and he stared at Natsume. Natsume didn't know what that expression meant but he tried to make himself seem encouraging and that he was a willing listener.

Natori went on but passed the agitation Natsume could sense a bit of hesitation.

"And now, he told us that last night at around one in the morning the producers called saying they now want a song and dance number in the climax of the story … actually, no, they want two. They want Yukiko and me to each have our own song to sing. And get this, they got the rights to this jazz song written by a popular English artist and the whole song is in English. And meanwhile the producer's hired writers who are right at this moment coming up with an original song for Yukiko to sing."

Then the agitation died away. And there was an element of hackneyed dramatics to his words and just like that Natori was back behind his mask.

"And they completely changed how they wanted the grand climax of the story to happen. Instead of having it being in the city where our characters first met kind of making it come full circle… instead they decided that they want Yukiko's character to have a fantastic black-tie affair birthday party. So all of the extras need to learn how to dance or waltz or whatever it is that they want us to do like we're their monkeys and I need to learn lyrics to a song that's in English."

And with a dramatic sigh that wasn't extremely uncharacteristic of the actor, he flopped down on the nearest chair and put the back of his hand to his fore-head as if he were a princess about to faint. Natsume raised an eyebrow.

Natori saw his incredulous expression and for just a bit he broke character to smile. And then almost as immediately his facial expressions changed to overdramatized distress. Natsume could tell that Natori was being ridiculous on purpose and maybe it was because... he really couldn't think of a reason. Natori had absolutely no reason to over exaggerate his feelings to play it off comically.

Natsume even felt a little bit insulted. He wanted Natori to seek comfort in him but all he was doing, it seemed like, was trying to make it a big joke.

"Natori-san…"

The actor started at the sound of his name. He looked at the boy standing across from him. "Yes?"

Natsume felt his face flush under the gaze. He wished he could read what emotions swam behind those pretty red eyes.

"…S-stop."

The actor looked taken aback. "Stop what, Natsume?"

Stop acting like a clown and tell me seriously what's bothering you. Can't you trust me? Or you don't want to trust me?

I wish you'd just tell me.

Tell me what's wrong.

Tell me what you want.

I don't want to guess anymore.

"Natsume…?" he heard the actor call him again.

Natsume tried desperately to organize all of those thoughts in his head to string together a coherent sentence. But he couldn't. The right words wouldn't come to mind and whenever he thought he found the right ones they wouldn't manifest themselves in actual sounds. And then he would forget the words and be back at square one.

After awhile Natori slowly got up from his seat and walked over to Natsume. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder and said something to the effect that he was there and that Natsume could tell him anything. Natsume wasn't really listening since he was still trying to figure just exactly what he wanted to say.

Finally he decided that he should just start talking. If he wanted Natori to open up to him without any reservations he supposed that he should do the same.

"Natori-san… you shouldn't have to keep your emotions from me… I mean, I know you probably can't share everything with me… but… I like to think that I'm strong enough to handle things like an adult. I don't need things dumbed down for me…"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, just now, you were making a joke, I guess, out of how frustrated you are… But you don't have to… I mean I'm not going to reject you if you actually want to share an honest feeling with me. And-and… so… you can just tell it to me straight without having to worry about freaking me out or anything… So I guess I'm just trying to say… trust me."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"… trust me."

Natori could barely believe his ears. Not only had Natsume shared a piece of himself but he'd actually had enough empathy to discern that he had made a big show out of his anger was due to the fact he was scared. He didn't want to unleash all of that pent up frustration on Natsume. He was so scared that if he did then Natsume would either get scared away or misinterpret where his anger was coming from and therefore somehow think that Natori was mad at him.

"Natsume…" he couldn't keep the wonder out of his voice.

When and how had Natsume grown up without me realizing it?

The boy was still talking. Natori couldn't possibly focus on what Natsume was saying because he was too caught up in being so incredibly overjoyed that Natsume had just opened himself up in such a big way.

Granted he would have been glad even if Natsume hadn't opened up to him and maybe instead to one of his high school friends. He could remember trying desperately to get the boy out of putting up this strange wall that he seemed to put up every time he came in contact with another human being.

He'd try disarming the boy with his gorgeous smile. He eventually got Natsume to agree to going to the hot springs with him… although in retrospect with Natori's affinity for the boy it was rather inappropriate.

And he had thought he'd made a good bit of progress even if it was just a little.

But the fact that Natsume had opened up to him, to Natori, he thought that if Natsume told him to fly to the moon and back he could've done it.

God, I could do anything, just for him. He's the only motivation I'll ever need.

He could hear a little of what Natsume was rambling.

"and… I don't think that…"

Natori decided to cut him off because while wandering through the maze of his own thoughts he'd missed that Natsume had worked himself up quite a bit.

Natsume was clutching the hem of his dress (once again Natori had to suppress some very incriminating giggles) and now looking at his very pretty baby blue wedges. He'd even gone and gotten his face so red it was practically glowing. He seemed to be stuttering a bit more and maybe trembling a little bit.

Natori sighed with an honest-to-goodness smile on his face.

" wha-what I mean is that… w-w-we've been through a-a lot together and-and… and…"

The actor looked at Natsume and decided that if he didn't stop Natsume, the poor boy would work himself into an even greater tizzy and it might be too much for the boy. In fact all of his rambling about emotions and their time together seemed to have already taken its toll on the poor boy.

"Alright, Natsume. You've made your point quite clearly."

Natsume looked up at Natori and for some reason the actor saw embarrassment in those beautiful golden eyes. Well, it wasn't so much embarrassment as it was mortification.

Poor darling little Natsume… he really gave his all into that little speech…

And Natori despite himself got a little… emotional…. Perhaps a bit too emotional.

It was embarrassing really how Natsume broke down his fake happy-go-lucky walls with his honesty. Natori prided himself in being an actor. He was the master of his emotions not the other way around. But looking into the pools of liquid gold that were Natsume's eyes, and seeing innocence, earnest honesty, and… something else he didn't quite recognize, Natori couldn't for the life of him get a handle on his mask, the character that he played to protect himself. That character, the cool, aloof, sexy actor, was so hard to play at that moment. So without that default character, what else had he to go on besides his own emotions?

He didn't know whether it was right or wrong or would come back to kick him in the balls later, but if Natori ever felt that there was a good enough time to give in to his crazy emotions even just once and even for just a couple seconds, it'd probably be now. And it'd be more than worth it.

So he reached out and wrapped both his arms around Natsume. He pulled the boy in close and reveled in what it felt like.

Natori murmured a "Thank you," and didn't feel the need to elaborate.

He could feel Natsume's thin smooth shoulders from underneath the thin cotton fabric of his dress. He felt Natsume stiffen a bit too. His muscles contracted in surprise and apprehension of a gesture that was so common to everyone except for this boy. And even Natori wondered just how long it's been since he'd held someone or someone held him.

If Natori hadn't experienced this strange and comforting expression of affection for a long time, he was quite sure that in comparison Natsume might not have experienced it for far longer. However he did have such loving guardians.

Natori chuckled as he couldn't quite picture Touko not ever pulling the unsuspecting boy into an embrace even just every once in awhile. He's just too cute to resist sometimes.

But after a few moments passed by and Natsume still hadn't relaxed, Natori felt rather foolish.

Natsume probably didn't want this type of physical closeness especially since they were both guys. And the fact that Natori was an older guy made it even creepier, right? What the hell had he been thinking?

But just as he was about to let go, and brush off this whole scenario as nothing more than a happy accident, Natsume clutched at the sides of his shirt and leaned into the hug.

"N-Natori-san…" came his angelic voice, slightly abashed for some unknown reason that Natori didn't care to investigate at the moment. He just wanted to feel Natsume's forehead pressed against his chest. He just wanted to feel the rise and fall of Natsume's shoulders as he breathed. He just wanted to feel that closeness because only God knew when he would ever get the chance again.

"Yes, Natsume, what is it?" Tell me everything. All I want to do is listen to you… and a few other things too, but right now I'm fine with listening.

"… It's nothing. Never mind."

"Hey, now that's not fair. 'Don't tell me it's nothing.' Right, Natsume?"

"It… It's just that… I…"

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"NATORI-SAAAN! WE NEED YOU ON SET IN 3 MINUTES! IF YOU'RE NOT ON SET WITHIN THE ALLOTTED TIME, YOU MIGHT WANT TO RECONSIDER ANY PLANS TO HAVE CHILDREN THAT YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE!"

Well, shit…

And just like that whatever the spell had been that had descended upon them disappeared and Natsume sprang back from Natori's hold with a few quickly uttered apologies.

Natori's bad mood resurfaced and he said to Natsume, "So I don't have to worry about holding back around you, right?"

"Umm… yeah."

"Okay, here goes…"

And for the next three minutes, Natsume got to hear several colorful words come from his crush's throat to describe to a t exactly what he thought about Endo.

And Natsume, despite himself and Natori's newly acknowledged temper, smiled.

So there you have it. Natori's pretty emotional on the inside. So anyway send a review my way if you are so inclined. And please tell me if I'm abusing my freedom of interpretation of characters a bit too far. If you find anything too OOC please tell me and I'll do my best to make sure it won't happen in the future. Thanks for reading. *kisses*