Hiroki shuffled out of the bedroom, staring down at the floor. As he made his way down the hall, the smell of scrambled eggs and coffee hit his senses. His stomach growled irritably at him, as he hadn't eaten dinner the night before.

Needless to say, he hadn't been very hungry after screaming his voice raw with rage and sobbing all of the moisture from his body. In the end, it had been him to selfishly take the bed while he made Nowaki sleep out in the living room, sprawled out on the couch with his precious alien pill. He padded silently into the kitchen on bare feet and walked purposefully to the coffee pot, where he poured himself a cup of black coffee. He didn't dare look at Nowaki, but from the corner of his eye, he could see the big oaf massaging the small of his back in pain. Hiroki mentally kicked himself. He should've at least taken the couch, what with his smaller form. He had been absolutely livid with Nowaki, but his inhumanly tall lover didn't deserve to have back pains from sleeping on the sofa.

"Good morning," Nowaki said suddenly over the sizzling of the eggs on the stove. Hiroki didn't look up.

"'Morning," he replied softly, his voice tense. The air around them was taught with the awkwardness of the morning after a huge argument. The only other time it had happened was way back when, when Hiroki had wrongly accused Nowaki of being afraid of being left behind. Even then, it hadn't been nearly as bad as the anxiety between the two now.

"I made some uh… breakfast, Hiro-san. It's your favorite," Nowaki mumbled. Hiroki glanced up at him over the lip of his coffee cup and almost choked with guilt. A forced smile was plastered on his lover's pale, near-grey face. His cobalt irises had darkened significantly and the purple shadows around his eyes had nearly blackened.

"Oh. Thanks," Hiroki murmured. Nowaki scooped some of the eggs onto a plate and handed it to Hiroki, averting his eyes. Hiroki took it with a tiny, fake smile in an effort to ease the tension around them. It only made it worse. Making his way around the counter, he moved to sit down at the table, but paused when he looked over his shoulder to see Nowaki watching him out of the corner of his eye. Hunching his shoulders, Hiroki brushed past the dining table and into the living room, where he flopped down onto the couch. He turned on the television in hopes of distracting himself from Nowaki's pitiful form.

"…with Append-X, you can-" began a booming voice. Before he could continue, though, Hiroki hurriedly changed the channel.

"…can have children and have the same maternal bond as a wo-"

Click.

"…scientific research has developed a way for gay cou-"

Hiroki jammed his index finger into the 'power' button of the remote and turned to stare at Nowaki in the silence. Nowaki gazed back, his face beyond crestfallen and reaching the point of downright depression.

"Nowaki, what did you do with that pill?" Hiroki asked stiffly. Nowaki's shoulders slumped and it looked like he was going to cry. Hiroki inwardly flinched at the saddening sight before him.

"I threw it away," he whispered, his voice throaty. Hiroki pinched his lips together, forming a thin, pale pink line. He didn't speak, but instead shoveled eggs into his mouth and tried to forget the agony on Nowaki's face.

"Oi, Kamijou," Miyagi said, pushing back with his office chair and rolling towards Hiroki, who sat hunched over at his desk.

"I told you not to smoke within two feet of me," Hiroki said flatly, lost in his work as he furrowed his eyebrows. He heard Miyagi purposely take a huge puff of his cigarette. He exhaled, and a cloud of foul-smelling smoke wafted around Hiroki's face. His mechanical pencil creaked in protest as he squeezed it irritably in his fist.

"What's on your mind? You've been silent all day today. Usually you're complaining about that idiot lover of yours," Miyagi said, his voice momentarily solemn. Hiroki sighed and leaned back in his chair, half-turning towards Miyagi.

"Well, since we're taking the time to point out the flaws of each other, I guess it's okay for me to tell you that I know the difference between when you text your little Lolita boyfriend and when you sext him. Quit taking bathroom breaks to jack off while I sit here and do all the work, old man," Hiroki spat. Miyagi grinned around his cigarette and scratched his head awkwardly.

"Shinobu-chin told me he has no problem with my age," Miyagi said pointedly.

"Fuck off!" Hiroki barked, turning away from Miyagi with a disgusted look on his face. He bent low over his desk, hiding his work with his right arm in a child-like fashion.

"Come on, Kami-chaaaan! Te-"

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Kamijou."

Hiroki's eyes widened slightly as he was forcibly spun back around in his chair. His fists automatically balled in preparation to punch Miyagi to the moon, but when his russet eyes met the ebony, firm gaze of his superior, he flinched in his chair. Miyagi grabbed both armrests to keep Hiroki in place.

"I'm serious. Tell me what's wrong. Believe it or not, I'm concerned," Miyagi said lowly, his pupils digging into Hiroki's in the search for an answer. Hiroki snorted wryly, but he averted his eyes and his mocking smirk wavered.

"It's that Kusama kid again, isn't it?"

"Absolutely not!" Hiroki bellowed, his steely stare snapping furiously back to Miyagi. He realized the consequences of his mistake, though, as a knowing smile formed on Miyagi's lips. He pulled his legs defensively up onto his office chair, knotting his hands in his hair and resting his forehead on his knees.

"Is it?"

"Yeah," Hiroki mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Do you want me to beat his ass for you? No sexual pun intended."

A wire cup of pencils was lobbed at Miyagi's head, but Hiroki's superior was prepared, and the blunt object bounced harmlessly off his raised forearms.

"He's so stupid!" Hiroki wailed, slapping his hands over his eyes as he clenched his jaw and defiantly kept his tears at bay.

"I know," Miyagi said gently, patting Hiroki on the head.

"I mean, I haven't seen him in days, and he just comes home all like 'I'm home, I'm just going to ignore my lover because I'm too tired to say hello, or where the fuck I've been for this past month'!" Hiroki continued, raising his head for a moment to mock Nowaki in a falsetto voice. "Research, he says. Too tired, he says. Late shifts, he says. Excuses to not see me, that's what!"

Hiroki began to weep openly, silent tears rolling down his cheeks as his voice began to waver. He trembled in humiliation, but he was so angry that his pride went straight out the window.

"And then… and then! He shows me this fucking pill… then… then he… he tells me he… carry… children… and I…" Hiroki's voice cut out as he gasped a huge sob, digging the heels of his hands into his eye sockets and scratching at his hairline. He nearly tipped to the side of his chair, but strong hands steadied him by the shoulders.

"Are you talking about Append-X, Kamijou? That's all you're mad about? I was planning to discuss it with Shinobu-chin when I got home today. I heard about it on the radio, and Shinobu called me this morning and told me that he was interested, and that he wanted to talk to me about it," Miyagi said. Hiroki looked up, sniffling as he scowled.

"You don't fucking get it," he said bitterly. "You're not the one who will be carrying the child, right? Shinobu will. I don't think he gets it, either. I don't know if you haven't noticed it yet, but males don't have vaginas. Where the hell is the baby supposed to come out? The ass?"

"Maybe with a c-section? Or maybe it does come out the ass. I don't know," Miyagi said. Hiroki made a squeaking noise in the back of his throat as more tears gathered at his eyes at the thought of the pain of giving birth.

"I don't understand… does Nowaki want me to be in pain? Does he really even know it's safe? How does he know that it will actually work? What if I die from it? Does he even care?" Hiroki rambled off almost incoherently between sniffs.

"How could you say that?"

Hiroki looked up to see Miyagi knitting his eyebrows at him in disbelief.

"Wh-What?"

"Of course he cares about you. If he didn't care, then why would he stay by Kamijou the Devil's side for eight years? In fact, if he didn't care, why would he even bring up Append-X to you? If he wants you to take it, then that means he wants you to have his kid, right?"

Hiroki averted his eyes as he felt guilt prick at his conscience.

"I… I didn't think of that," Hiroki said. He glanced at Miyagi, pouting his lip slightly. Miyagi laughed and stood, patting Hiroki on the shoulder before walking back to his desk to put out his cigarette.

"I'm going to head home. I have a little brat of a lover to talk to," Miyagi said with a wink. "You can leave whenever you'd like. You need to have a little talk with your brat, too. See you Monday, My Sweet Honey."

Hiroki nodded, too absorbed in his own thoughts to care about Miyagi's last comment. He watched as Miyagi pulled on his coat and swept out the door. When he was sure that Miyagi was gone, he tightened his hold around his knees.

"Thanks, Miyagi."

In the shadows of the hallway, Miyagi smiled and whistled as he strolled towards the front exit.