Seeing as how Sasazuka and Shiraishi seemed to be getting along better, Enomoto, Yanagi, and Hoshino often made comments about how the two of them were brilliant enough to be excellent teammates. Upon hearing those comments, Sasazuka would pretend to gag and then make some snarky comment along the lines of, "Yeah, if you want one of us dead by the second day." Shiraishi would usually agree with the others when told such things, much to Sasazuka's dismay. It wasn't as if the two of them were best friends by any means. In fact, they hardly even spoke to each other. Why did people think that they were suddenly the best of friends. Was it the cat pen? It had better not be the cat pen.

"I don't understand how you don't see it," Hoshino mused one day as she was helping Sasazuka with his work. "You two get along great and you're both brilliant in your fields. Between the two of you, I'm certain you would be able to take down any criminal, even Adonis."

Sasazuka scowled at her. "You're currently wasting oxygen by saying such stupid things. Now stop talking, you stupid cat. Get back to work. You're not helping anyone by preaching to me about your damn opinions."

She lowered her head, going back to sorting the data he had printed off. After about five minutes of silence, she finally piped up once more. "I don't see why you're being like this. Anyone with eyes can see how well the two of you work together, yet when it's people around you, you're always so quick to deny it. At least Shiraishi can take a compliment."

"Who said you could start talking again?" he demanded, glaring over at her. "I don't need you saying stupid things to me and distracting me from my work. If you're going to keep going on like this, do me a favor and find someone else to bother."

Hoshino closed her mouth, biting her lips shut from the inside for emphasis. She didn't know what was bothering him, but if he was in that bad of a mood, then he was best left alone. Normally, she wouldn't stand for him speaking to her in such a manner, but that day she was choosing to pick her battles wisely. After all, Sasazuka kinda scared her when he was angry, and she would rather not be on the receiving end of that rage. It happened too many times already.

After an hour of silence between the two, Sasazuka stood up. "Let's go, Hoshino."

Shocked, her eyes widened. "Where are we going? We still have work to do. What if Yanagi finds out about this?"

He fixed her with a hard glare. "I need donuts, now let's go." Sasazuka packed up his laptop and slung the bag over his shoulder. "It won't take long. I just need some sustenance to be able to work properly. The sooner we go, the sooner we can come back and get our work done."

Hoshino's eyes widened, but she quickly gathered all of the data printouts and put them neatly in her bag. "Okay, let's go," she told him. "But not too long, right?"

"The more questions you ask, the longer it will take," he groaned, walking toward the door. "Now hurry up. I have to lock the place since no one else is here." He pulled a key from his pocket and waited for her to join him out in the hallway. Quickly locking the door, he set off down the staircase. "The donut shop is right around the corner. If you're quiet the whole way there, I'll get you some too. How does that sound?"

Needing no more prompting, Hoshino quickly clamped her lips shut once more and followed after him. It wasn't often when Sasazuka offered her donuts, and she wasn't the type to refuse that type of kindness from him. If silence was what he wanted from her, that was most certainly what he was going to get.

.

That night at their apartment, Sasazuka and Shiraishi tapped away at their keyboards side-by-side. Feeling it would be more efficient than not, the two had set up their computers in the living room. Since there wasn't as much room in the living room as they would like, the two had to work side-by-side when on them. Not that either of them minded much. It was what it was.

Before too long, Shiraishi stopped working at his computer and began messing with the cat ears atop his head. He took them out of his blond hair and began turning them over in his hand, casting quick glances toward Sasazuka. Knowing that his roommate was too absorbed in his work to notice what he was doing, he began to contemplate things. Though he knew that Sasazuka would freak out at him if he dared to do what he was thinking, he decided that life was no fun without taking chances.

When Sasazuka felt Shiraishi's slender hand make its way into his hair, he stopped everything he was doing and sighed loudly. "What are you doing, Shiraishi?" he groaned. He thought he had grown used to the blond's antics, but apparently he was wrong. What was this man's deal? Couldn't he just leave him alone for a few minutes?

"May I mess with your hair a bit, Takeru?" the other man calmly asked.

"Am I supposed to say yes to that?" the mint-haired man asked, confused. "What the fuck is your deal? I'm trying to work here. Can't you see that? I don't need you messing with my hair."

"What if I find other ways to annoy you instead?"

"Why are you like this? You know what, fuck it. If it will get you to stop bothering me, play with my hair. Even though that's really fucking weird, just do it." Seeing as how he would lose either way, he decided to just let Shiraishi have his fun in the least distracting way. "No talking to me, though. I need to finish this code I'm working on."

As he worked, the light pull on his hair as Shiraishi messed around with it was quite calming. Not like he'd ever admit that aloud, though. Doing that would only encourage that strange man to do things of this sort more often. At least it was more calming than annoying, though he hoped his roommate wasn't doing anything too crazy with it.

"Takeru! Takeru, look!" Shiraishi excitedly said, handing Sasazuka one of the handheld mirrors from the bathroom. "Now say meow!"

Sasazuka looked at his reflection after grabbing the mirror. He grimaced in disgust as he looked at his reflection. Right there in his hair were those goddamned cat ears that Shiraishi usually wore in his. "And what made you believe that this was okay to do?"

"Can't you just accept how great you look?"

The mint-haired man sighed. "I don't know if I've told you this today, but I guess I can say it now. I hate you, Shiraishi."

Shiraishi grinned. "That's what I like to hear!"