Schuldich walked off the elevator with a large grin plastered wide on his face and greeted his assistants good morning . He was obviously a hell of a lot happier than he was on most days ; that they could tell just by looking at him .

Yes , the good people of Weiss&Schwarz Agency had looked at him as he had been possessed by an evil demon from one of Jupiter's satellite moons .

He had chirped his 'good morning' to a dumbfounded Yohji and had barely placed his things on the desk when the man converged on him with a barrage of questions about his 'vacation' and Ken Hidaka .

He laughed them off so nonchalantly , blatantly with no intention of divulging any secrets unless threatened with a flame-thrower , so that Yohji , exasperated , had changed the topic to the newest project .

Yohji sat on the edge of Schuldich's desk , his nose wrinkled in annoyance at Schuldich's jollity – he wasn't used to seeing the redhead like this ... it was just too … well , too strange .

" ... so I told them you wouldn't be back until today . And then , the company president , Brad Crawford – he's an American I think – insisted that he was going to talk to you himself . He said that this was the biggest project their company was going to launch and he wanted you to cover it ." Yohji folded his arms while Schuldich bustled on , only half-listening to his speech .

When he saw that the redhead was at least lending him an ear , he rambled on
" Naturally , I told him that I'd ask you if you would , that your schedule was packed for the next month – which is true by the way , I have tons of projects for you – he said ' Nonsense , I'll talk to Mr. Schwarz Monday afternoon .' like he owned the whole world and then just put down the phone on me . The son of a bitch ."

Schuldich raised an eyebrow . He had no mind to deal with a prick right now when he was just feeling euphoric about both Ken's and his' confession earlier ; the asshole would probably just deflate his balloon .

Yohji continued ." That guy is intimidating , man , but he's also going to pay us a helluva lot of money to cover that op ; so don't screw it up . He'll be around at about three – don't pull another one of your disappearing acts ." He fixed Schuldich a long , stern look over his characteristic sunglasses .

Schuldich held up his hands in surrender . " Alright , alright . I won't . Besides , Ken said he was going to help Aya around today anyway , the place where he works is a little short today , the other guy quit ."

" Hey , I didn't ask for the life story of your little love interest so don't pummel me with all the details . Just make sure you snag that deal with Crawford and I'll forgive you for taking off for three whole weeks ." But there was a little twinkle in his eye .

Yohji might seem a little aloof at the most . He was , at face value , the biggest playboy in the face of the fucking planet – but he did care for Schuldich as a good friend ... which was why he was glad that for once , he was wrong about how it would turn out , and was still hoping that he wouldn't be wrong .

" Yeah , it's in the bag . Waitaminute ... I think I've met the bastard before ..." Schuldich rubbed his jaw ,  Hmmm ... the stubble of a beard rubbed roughly against his fingertips – so maybe he had forgotten to shave . The hell , like anyone cared anyway .

He hit his fist on his palm in a gesture of discovery ." Aha ! That smug asshole was my classmate in college ." He snickered at the memory . " He had come on to me strong one night while we were off getting drunk at a frat party . Don't worry , man . The big fish is in the bag ! Just a little of that Schwarz charm would get him peeing in his pants ." Schuldich said haughtily , a slight smirk on his face .

Yohji laughed as he clapped Schuldich on the back . " You better man , or I'll bust your ass ."

† † †

The meeting with Brad Crawford was strictly professional . If the American could be any colder , he would be frozen solid .

Schuldich now remembered why he'd hated him so much in college .

The man was an accomplished ice cube with a mile-long stick up his ass .

Immediately , Schuldich was contriving ways to get rid of him as soon as humanly possible .

Crawford gave him a steely nod as he towered through the door , dominating the room and drawing every eye in the floor towards him like some strange magnet .

True , he was good-looking , with patrician features and aristocratic bearing . He had impeccable tastes in clothes as well – Schuldich recognized the expensive Savile Row suit that he was wearing from a recent project he had covered .

" ... do you understand everything . Mr. Schuldich ?" The man's voice was icy cold , as if every syllable was like touching a warthog's ass or something . He was watching Schuldich with a smug detachedness that made Schuldich want to pummel the man .

Certainly he realized that he , in a far lifetime and in the pre-Ken Hidaka world , had also been like this and he now knew why his colleagues hated him so much – behind his back of course .

" Perfectly ." He nodded and kept himself from rolling his eyes . He glanced at his watch impatiently . Is the man ever going to leave ? He couldn't wait to go to Ken's and have dinner out . He just heard of this great place along the downtown boulevard serving fantastic seafood . Ken loved seafood .

" There are still some details that require to be processed ..."

/What's this , a cheese factory ?/

" But it seems like your other people are leaving ."

" Maybe we could talk about it tomorrow ." Schuldich offered ; honestly , he was ready to kill for the opportunity to ditch the asshole .

" I'm afraid I shall be too busy tomorrow , I have a tight Schedule for the next two weeks , I won't be able to meet with you nor your editor until the product launching itself ." Crawford's eyes sized him up almost clinically .

Damn . He had really wanted to go out with Ken tonight and talk about ... well , talk about them over dinner – but this bastard was making it impossible for him .

" Maybe we could talk about it over dinner ."

" I distaste public places ."

Distaste huh ? Only a prick would use that word in a normal conversation . " Then –" He hesitated , he didn't want to bring the sonuvabitch to his place but there obviously was no other choice , it was either that or a kick on the ass from Yohji .

" Maybe we could go to my flat ." He said almost grudgingly .

The midnight-haired man nodded approvingly . " Good . My chauffer will follow you to your ..." Crawford said the word with mild aversion " ... flat ."

Schuldich almost snorted in derision . It's worse than I thought , I thought Hitler was the worst . Hell , was I wrong .

" Yeah . I'll be in a black Beemer ."

" Beemer ?"

" BMW ." Was this guy spitted out from the Bermuda Triangle or what ?

Crawford had disappeared immediately , as if another minute spent with Schuldich was like scrubbing a wild boar's backside .

With an angry breath , Schuldich grabbed his keys and headed for his car . He didn't give a damn if Crawford and his stupid chauffer didn't know where his car was , if he wouldn't be able to follow him , then maybe he could still salvage that dinner with Ken .

Ah , that was a better idea .

***

Unfortunately , the Fates were against it . The long white limousine trailed his car the moment he turned to the street .

He wanted to bang his head against the steering wheel and force the limo off a cliff before calling Yohji on his car phone to report that he had seen a ten-wheeler truck run over Crawford's body as he was walking down the street with a half-drunk pimp .

He resisted the urge and instead gritted his teeth as he drove off in a mad dash towards the part of the city where his flat was .

***

They rode the elevator in silence , Crawford maintaining a repulsed distance away from him and his boots and stud earring . The man obviously couldn't accept interaction with anything less than authentic leather dress shoes and gold Rolexes . Schuldich guessed that his chauffer was still outside , waiting in the limo and he couldn't wait to get rid of him .

" Please excuse the place , it's a bit of a mess ." He apologized insincerely , his lips barely managing to keep their ridiculous curve upward . He slid the card through the slot and grumpily pushed open the door .

All he got in reply was a raised eyebrow . The man was less than impressed by his spacious apartment . He remembered how Ken had reacted to seeing his duplex and his lips twitched .

" Make yourself comfortable , I'll get us some booze . What'd you like ?" Schuldich tossed his keys on the counter as he turned to look at his guest who had already seated himself regally on one of the large Moroccan chairs . " Brandy please ."

As he was getting the brandy and a beer , he noticed that Crawford was looking at his duplex with a critical eye , as if examining every fault in it .

/ Let him examine . At least I don't have cocaine lying around ./

" Here , your brandy ." He handed Crawford the glass and took a swig from the bottle of ice-cold beer , still remaining on his feet . He wasn't about to take a seat and let the man have an advantage over him by intimidation .

" Thank you ."

" So , what're we supposed to talk about ?" He slugged his beer brutally as he half-glared , half-smirked at his guest .

Crawford gazed at him for a moment without saying a word . " I should suppose that you remember our little – escapade several years ago ?"

The hell was he talking about ? They were supposed to talk business goddamnit !

He wanted to get rid of the prick right then and there . " Yeah , in the Phi Beta Kappa* frat house ." He said carelessly .

" Then you remember what had transpired ?" A perfect brow was raised pointedly .

" Yeah , I guess ." Schuldich shrugged , not really seeing the point of the conversation .

He took another swig and felt the liquid settle on his stomach .

Hmm .

Maybe he should stop drinking , he thought , when he saw that he had already emptied half of it . He hadn't eaten after all and it took only a little to get a hungry man drunk .

He glanced again at Crawford and downed the rest of the bottle's contents .

Then again , he needed alcohol to deal with this prick or he'd go pretty insane .

He popped the cap of another bottle and gulped half of it in one go as easy as if he was swigging water . 

Crawford had already placed his glass on the tabletop and was standing in front of him , towering several inches over the redhead .

Schuldich's vision was spinning as he looked at the empty bottles on the glass surface .

What ? Eight already ?! Or was that ten ? He couldn't be sure because they were all spinning steadily around and around . That slimeball Crawford had been handing him beer all the while !

" Srro ?" he slurred . He swaggered a little and had to steady himself against one of the chairs .

Crawford's voice was soft and soothing in Schuldich's ears , it was as if the man was lulling him to sleep . " I couldn't forget about you ."

" Huh ?" Before he knew what was happening , his face had been captured by Crawford's smooth hands and he was dizzily staring at the placid face of the tall foreigner .

" Do you remember ? How good it felt ? Do you remember the feeling , Schuldich ?" Crawford was kissing him now , hungry little kisses that felt as if it were devouring him with every contact .

So what if they'd had sex ? It had seemed fine that time when they had locked themselves in the second floor bathroom . They both liked it and forgot about it . The only people who had been against it are the guys who had to puke all over the toilet bowl .

It had been a one-night fling . Crawford had totally ignored him after that and avoided him like the plague .

The room spun , Schuldich knew he had to regain control , but he couldn't push the American away . His limbs refused to react .

He could taste the strong taste of brandy still lingering in Crawford's mouth , and he couldn't help but compare to the sweet flavor he had tasted in Ken just that morning , in that sweet little chaste kiss they'd had .

What the hell was he thinking ?! He had to stop this right now !!!

He pushed the American again , with more force , the man stumbled a bit , but hadn't let go of his face .

He had to ...

They fell onto the soft carpet , Crawford pinning him under his weight . Schuldich struggled to push him off ; but his limbs were malfunctioning , it seemed ; and his arms didn't exert as much accurate force as he'd intended .

He sniggered a little , if he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes , he probably wouldn't have believed it if he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes , (hiccup) hmmm... maybe that was a little redudundanted * ... maybe that was a little – the sight of Crawford and his expensive white suit rolling on the floor like a little dizzy puppy was admittedly an entertaining sight .

Suddenly , the tapering fingers was flying over the buckle of his pants , under his shirt , they were everywhere !

Crawford hadn't stopped his exploring kisses .

Schuldich wanted to punch the man right there , but he couldn't  tell which of the spinning faces was the real Crawford .

He heard glass break . Despite the haze of alcohol , his mind miraculously managed to register a coherent thought .

/ Damn . We broke something !/

When he glanced sideways , he saw the expression of shock in Ken's face as he stood , framed by the doorway , then the expression was followed by one of pain .

And like a vision , he was gone , leaving the shattered remains of two wine glasses dotting the carpet and a broken glass of red wine sputtering its contents on the expensive carpet .

/Holy shit !/

Crawford had also seemed surprised by the rude interruption enough to allow Schuldich to push him off and stagger off , fixing his belt .

He was more than sober now , even though he was more than aware of the reeking alcohol in his breath .

***

By the time the elevator had reached the lobby and he had burst into the sidewalk – Ken had disappeared into the night , leaving without a trace .

Schu-chan : Yes . -_-;; FF.net HAS been experiencing quite a lot problems this past two weeks but hopefully , everything's fine now . (perhaps that is the reason why only five people reviewed the last chappie ?) I'm sorry to have skipped past your question , I just couldn't find a spot to write a KenAya brotherly mush conversation .

Dan : Hey , the place where I live is awfully poor in anime too . I kinda envy the other places where they can get manga and stuff easily . The solution ?! SURF THE NET FOR SCANLATIONS ! Besides , I think Brazil is a beautiful place (though I've never been there) And you have Ronaldo and Rivaldo too (Yes , I am a soccer fan)   -__-;;

Rosethorn : Hmmm ? What comment ? O_O;; (silly me , I don't even know what I write !) *LOL at the SchuxTot fanfic*

Mariki : No ? T__T *wails* oh ... ^__^ don't worry so much about it . Thank you for the thought though , ^__~ Yes , I have been indulging in scanlations recently and I've been mooning over the Side B mangas ! ^__^ Yes ! I AM now working on Cry of the Captive ! I'm juggling it around with everything else ! ^__^

Ketty : *bows* Arigatou !!! I'm happy to see you around ! ^__^

Anna Hibiki : I'm guessing you didn't find this chappie kawaii ... at ALL . O_O;; I can't answer your first question , and this is the answer to your second . Don't kill me . PLEASE ! T__T;; I'm guessing you regretted what you said ?