Authoress here.

Ah, the sixth chapter! I can hardly believe I'm here! I was expecting people to utterly hate the story, and I'd end up with, like, three reviews for the entire thing. But no- The wonderful readers' encouragement kept this idea alive.

Thank you all for excusing my lack of Gravitation knowledge- I had only read through to novel five, and only later did I find out more about Yuki and Shuichi's relationship. So, sorry if the story is getting outdated. It's gone AU after book five.

On to chappie six!

Three Way Tie
Chapter Six: Not In the Job Description!


Shuichi Shindou

I have to admit this up front- I did feel guilty about bringing Aoyou out on a date, even if it was just to keep up the ruse. But, I almost wished Aoyou hadn't specified that the date was for espionage purposes. A real date with her would of come in second only to a date with Yuki.

The limo ride was sort of awkward in the beginning, but then Aoyou began chattering about life in America. I suspected it was just to fill up the silence, but it was relaxing. I learned she was a translator and editor, and the reason why she moved back to Japan. That got me thinking.

"Say, Aoyou"

"Hmm"

"You could translate Yuki's books, couldn't you" I was thinking about Yuki's ratings if he went international, but I was also hoping that if she and Yuki were working together, they would stop fighting.

She didn't answer post haste, but a slow, secretive smile made its way across her face. She had a mischievous glint in her eyes, and she held back an evil-sounding giggle.

"Uh, Aoyou"

"Oh, nothing, Shuichi." She grinned. "You can't tell Yuki just yet, but I've just been hired as his editor's assistant."

I stared. I think my mouth even dropped. "You what"

She laughed. "I know, kind of astounding. But a job is a job, and I have to start saving my money so I can start renting my own place."

I sort of twiddled my thumbs, not wanting to look at her. "Don't you like living with us"

Aoyou looked at her quickly, then reached out and touched my hand. "I do, Shuichi, but I'm not sure Yuki does. And with my new job, it'll get even tenser."

"So? He's always like that. It might even be compliment in his eyes by yelling at you all the time."

Aoyou sighed a little, almost as if she was annoyed with me for not getting the obvious. "Shuichi, it's not fair of me to impose myself on you and Yuki like I did. In fact, I should pack up and leave when we get home."

I laughed a little. "If Yuki knows anything, he knows about imposers. I showed up at his door one night and I moved in without him knowing or approving. Believe me, if he didn't want you there, he would have thrown you out by now."

Aoyou frowned slightly, doubt in her eyes. "Maybe you're right, but I should keep my options open, in case I do get thrown out."

By then we were at the theatre, and hoards of people standing in line turned around as the limo pulled up to the curb. Aoyou looked at me, reminding me of a deer in the headlights. "I didn't think"

"That people would see us" I finished. I patted her head, grinning at her naivety. "Of course they will. We're arriving in a limo, for goodness' sakes."

Aoyou gave me another look, this one part glare. But she didn't have time to say anything else, for just then the driver had reached her door and opened it for her. I gestured for her to get out, and she relented, taking the hand the driver offered her. I scooted after her and got out, offering her my arm.

Once it registered who I was with our impromptu audience, there was a wave of "oohs" and "ahs." I waved, the limo driver acting as a sort of bodyguard, leading us inside past the ticket booths.

"We don't even have to pay" Aoyou hissed to me under her breath.

"No, we do." I assured her. "Only when we're inside the theater, the driver will go back and pay for us."

It was odd, and sort of empowering in a way to know more about show business that someone else. The entire roller-coaster ride up the steps of fame had me as some geek who knew none of the jargon, none of the technicalities, none of the rules. Now I was the expert.

We sat down, and like I had said, the driver left us alone to go and pay for tickets. We were a little late, and the opening credits were already rolling. Aoyou rested her head on my shoulder, knowing that we were probably being watched more closely than the screen. I couldn't wipe the silly grin off of my face, and I rested my cheek on her hair and settled down to watch the movie.

Gravitation

Yuki reached into his fridge, and pulled out some age-old coke. Pulling out a cup, he poured it halfway full with the carbonated drink. Then he went to his liquor cabinet and selected a bottle of rum. He splashed a dash of that into his drink and quickly downed half the contents.

Aoyou is my editor's assistant. Aoyou and Shuichi are both missing, probably together. I haven't seen Shuichi since the recording studio. Damn it!

Yuki stalked into the living room, where he sat down heavily. With a world-weary sigh, he too another sip of the rum-coke. He hoped the alcohol would soothe his nerves, which had been on end ever since that bitch Aoyou arrived. She was everything he didn't need: Meddlesome, cunning, vindictive. And on top of that, she was seducing Shuichi!

He knew he was jumping to conclusions concerning Shuichi and Aoyou, but he didn't care. Any little reason to hate her he welcomed and blew up out of proportion. She was playing with him, beating him at every turn with that snide little smile and tricky little mind.

"Why can't she be ugly as hell" He said aloud, glaring up at the plain white of his ceiling. "Then she'd be easier to hate."

"Who's this she"

Yuki jumped at the sound of a voice, spilling half of his rum-coke on the couch and his pant leg. Whirling around, he saw Shuichi's manager, the crazy American man called K.

"How the hell'd you get it here"

"Door was open." K shrugged. "Who's the woman you were talking about"

"Give me one good reason why I should tell you. Or one reason why I shouldn't throw you out."

K put one finger to his lips in mock thought. "Hmm. Well, one good reason to tell me would be that I'm Shuichi's manager, and his performance seems to fluxuate depending on your relationship. Therefore, if you're cheating on him, it affects Shuichi and affecting Shuichi affects me."

Yuki glared at the blonde man, wiping the moisture from the cushion beside him. "And.."

"And to your second question," The American continued, "I've got a gun, and if you throw me out I'll shoot your tires and break your windows."

"I feel so threatened." Yuki scoffed. "What do you want"

"I wanted to see if our boy Shu is home yet." K said, strolling over to Yuki's armchair and seating himself. "I know he called a ride for the trip to the movies, but I need him to look over some lyrics Hiro forgot to give him this morning."

"So you've been reduced to message boy" Yuki drawled. He paused, rethinking what K had just said. "What do you mean, he called a ride for the movies"

K chuckled. "He and his "girlfriend" went out."

"Damn" Yuki cursed. "At least they're not at some hotel room."

K seemed taken back by Yuki's vehemence. "I take it that Aoyou Tsumaru is the woman you mentioned earlier when I stopped by"

"When you broke in, you mean." Yuki muttered.

"Ah ah, now. I did no such thing as breaking in. The door was already open." K said, voice bordering on a sickly sweet falsetto. "And I think Aoyou is an incredibly brave person, living here and going out with Shuichi."

"She's not brave. Just incredibly thick-skulled." Yuki snapped. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd highly appreciate it if you left."

"Sure." K said breezily. "I'll leave the lyrics on the table in your kitchen. Hope you don't mind me getting some grub to tide me over."

"I do mind." Yuki growled. "Now get out."

He ripped the sheets of paper from K's hand, and firmly escorted him to the door.

"Todaloo" K sang as Yuki slammed the front door in his face, locking it resolutely.

Now Shuichi can't get in. He'll have to knock when he gets home, and then I'll give him the worst verbal beating he's ever gotten in his entire life.

The thought was very satisfying.

About two hours later

"Shit." Shuichi tugged vainly on the door. "It's locked."

"What?" Aoyou glanced at him in alarm. The limo had already left; they had no cell phone with them and no way to get inside.

"The spare!" Shuichi dove to the door mat, and picked it up. Nothing was there.

"Damn it!" He ran a hand through his hair in frustration before turning to Aoyou, who had begun to shiver. "We'll have to knock and hope Yuki's awake."

"That'll be worse than sitting outside all night." Aoyou grumbled, but her hands and legs were slowly starting to take on a purple tinge. It was colder than she had expected. "But… fine."

Shuichi had barely knocked once when the door swung inside. The two standing on the doorstep cringed as they faced a livid Yuki.

"What the hell?" His voice was low, almost an animalistic snarl.

"We-ah..." Shuichi stuttered. Aoyou noticed in dismay that his eyes were beginning to well up with tears. She interrupted him before the waterworks started.

"It was my idea. I thought to keep up our act we should start getting seen together on dates. So we went to a movie."

Yuki's furious gaze rested on her, and she fought the urge to take a step back. Why is it when men get angry they get really, really sexy? Damn, here I go again!

"I thought as much." Yuki said coldly. He looked at her, noting her shiver. "Get the hell inside. Both of you."

They both docilely followed orders. Yuki slammed the door shut behind them with a BANG! That rang around the entire neighborhood.

"Aoyou, get to your room."

Even though Aoyou was partially terrified of Yuki's anger, she had a small thrill of amusement run through her at his words. First of all, it sounded like he was her father. Secondly, he had called it HER room.

Yuki faced Shuichi in the front hallway, the teen's back to the door. "Do you even know how worried I was!"

Shuichi tried to stutter an apology, but Yuki slapped a hand over his mouth. "Do you know how much I dislike you and that whore being together! Alone!"

Shuichi pushed Yuki's hand away from his mouth. "She's not a whore, Yuki!" He replied hotly.

Shuichi immediately regretted his actions. Yuki looked as if he had just been slapped in the face. He even looked a little pale.

"Is that so?" Yuki said softly. "Taking her side over mine?"

Before Shuichi could respond, Yuki had turned his back on him. "I always wondered what would happen if you met a girl, Shuichi." He gave a small, humorless laugh. "Guess now I know."

Yuki felt sick at heart. He hated Aoyou worse than ever now, hated Shuichi for what he had done. He started to walk back to his office, back to the straight-up rum he had poured awhile ago.

A pair of arms wrapped around his middle stopped him cold. He could feel little spots of wetness seeping through his clothing were Shuichi's cheek pressed against his back.

"Please don't ever say that, Yuki." Shuichi's voice sounded as heart broken as Yuki internally felt. "You know how much I-how much I-"

Yuki heaved a sigh, and turned around, Shuichi's arms still clasped firmly around him. Tilting his tear-streaked face up, Yuki placed a gentle, lingering kiss on the teen's lips.

Shuichi felt the rush of safety and passion that Yuki's touch induced flood through his veins. The gentle press of his lover's warm mouth washed away any fear of separation that had clutched Shuichi's heart.

"I know she's not a whore." Yuki said grudgingly once they broke apart. "But…she's so pretty."

"So?"

"You're not at all attracted?" Yuki asked.

"Are you?" Shuichi raised his eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter." Yuki said gruffly. "You're cold. Get into bed."

"Not the couch?"

"Not the couch."

Yuki watched Shuichi practically skip off down the hallway towards the bedroom. He felt like an immense load was off of his shoulders, though a small tinge of guilt remained. He had dodged the Aoyou question because he felt very attracted to her. Even though he loved Shuichi, Aoyou had every quality Shuichi lacked. She was strong-willed, conserved, logical, quick on her feet.

And she's got tits. Yuki thought with a sigh. If only I could get everything Shuichi lacks from Aoyou, and add it onto him, he'd be almost too perfect. With that in his mind, he started after Shuichi, and realized that he had dodged the question as well.

He walked by the bedroom door, calling to Shuichi softly. "I'll be right there."

"Kay!"

Yuki climbed the small staircase to the second floor, making his way to Aoyou's guest bedroom. He knocked on the door once and without waiting for a reply went in.

Aoyou jumped as he opened the door, and started to blush. She was in her pajamas, overly short shorts and a loose, white, thin-strap tank. Without a bra on underneath.

"Can I help you?" She muttered, not looking at his eyes.

"Yes." Yuki purposely averted his gaze to stare at the light fixture on the ceiling. "You can do me a favor by telling me when you're sweeping Shuichi off on some harebrained scheme. I don't appreciate-"

"Not directing every last move Shuichi makes?" Aoyou suggested cattily. "I can see how the oppressive dictator in you would have issues with what we did tonight."

Yuki ground his teeth, willing himself not to strike her. "It would be wise of you to shut your trap, Miss Tsumaru, while you're in my house."

"I can remedy that." Aoyou snapped. "Tomorrow morning- No, even tonight- I can be out of here. Is that what you want? Then, fine."

"Don't put words in my mouth, Aoyou." Yuki said, his patience wearing thin. "I never said you had to leave."

There was a longish silence where Aoyou locked stares with Yuki's cold gaze.

"Then what can we do to solve this?" Aoyou finally broke the pause. "Fighting like children won't do."

"No, it won't." Yuki said dryly. "Especially now, when we have to work together. Tell me, how did you manage to get the job with Mizuki?"

Aoyou flushed a little. "My friend is a secretary at the company. There were positions open, and I chose to be an assistant."

"Knowing full well you were going to end up working for me?" Yuki caught the telltale blush that crossed Aoyou's face, making her even redder. "You don't need to answer that."

Aoyou opened her mouth to say something, but he stopped her. "Listen, Aoyou, if we've agreed to behave like adults from now on then there is nothing left to discuss. If you'll excuse me, someone owes me a favor in bed."

Yuki turned towards the door, and for the second time that evening was stopped by a hand on his arm. "What?"

Aoyou's voice was small. "T-Thank you, Yuki, for all that you've done for me over the past couple days."

"What, forcibly making out with you or threatening rape in the car?"

Aoyou playfully punched him in the shoulder. "You know what I mean."

"Ah, yes." Yuki turned to her, a feral grin on his face. "You're thanking me for the gentle kiss I'm about to give you now."

And with that, he took her cheeks in his hands and pressed their lips firmly together. Aoyou was too surprised to do much more than just stand there and close her eyes.

Yuki broke off, touched her cheek with a small smirk, and turned out the door.

Aoyou heaved a huge whoosh of air. "Whoa." She said softly. "That was different."

End Chapter


Just a quick congratulatory note to the theater people mentioned in a previous chapter: the show was great! I'm definitely seeing it again!

Sorry about the length of this chapter. (Wails) I GOT INTO IT! I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF!

Review, please!