Authour's Notes: Thanks for sticking with this! I hope to finish it by Christmas (but I probably won't), New Year, at the latest (or so I hope)!

Kitty in the Box: .. You'll see. insanechildfanfic: Thanks! I'm glad you think so. Shadow Kitsune67: There will be other couples besides Yuki x Shuichi, you'll see. panatlantic: Thank you!

Chapter V - Warm Welcome

Ryuichi's door bell rang. He ran to answer it. 'Shu-chan!' exclaimed Ryuichi, as he glomped the pink-haired pop star, 'We're gonna have so much fun!' Shuichi smiled as Ryuichi let go of him.

'I know it's kind of early, but I got you a Christmas present!' said Shuichi excitedly, as he held out a parcel.

'Ooh! Can I open it now? I know it's still nearly a week till Christmas, but...' Ryuichi flashed Shuichi an enormous grin, 'Come in!'

Shuichi entered Ryuichi's home. There was a large banner that read, 'WELCOME SHU-CHAN!' Shuichi was surprised that Ryuichi had put up a banner celebrating his visit. Did it really mean that much to Ryuichi?

'..You didn't have to go to the trouble of putting up a banner.'

'Naw, Kumagoro-san insisted. It was left over from when...'

Shuichi did not want to know why his idol had a banner saying 'WELCOME SHU-CHAN!' just lying around. Ryuichi was eccentric, as everyone knew.

Shuichi took off his winter outerwear and put it in Ryuichi's closet. Ryuichi lived alone in a large, expensive downtown loft. How Ryuichi managed it on his own, no one knew.

'Kumagoro-san thought it would be a good idea to camp out in the living room, do you wanna, Shu-chan?' inquired Ryuichi, looking up at Shuichi with his enormous puppy dog eyes. It was amazing how at 31, he could still make puppy dog eyes.

Shuichi was about to refuse even Ryuichi's puppy dog eyes, when he saw that Ryuichi had already set up a tent and built a fire in his living room. Shuichi caved, wondering how Ryuichi had done this on his own.

'Um... sure,' replied Shuichi, weakly.

Ryuichi had yet to notice the pink-haired boy's troubled violet eyes. He was too excited that he was staying with him.

'You wanted to open your Christmas present now, Ryuichi-san?'

'...If that's okay...'

'Yup.'

'Yay! Come on Kumagoro-san!'

Shuichi handed Ryuichi the shiny package. In his excitement Ryuichi completely destroyed the wrapping paper, which normally would've held his attention for a few minutes, at least.

When Ryuichi broke through the wrapping paper (which didn't actually take very long), he found two sets of hats, scarves and mittens, all with a Santa Claus theme: one for him and one for Kumagoro.

'Wai wai! This is the best present Kumagoro-san and I have ever gotten, na no da! Thank you soo much, Shu-chan!

'You're welcome,' replied Shuichi. In his sadness, his pop idol's childlike joy had barely helped him to muster a smile.

'Let's go outside, Shu-chan! So Kumagoro-san and I can test out our presents, okay?

'Alrighty, let's go.'

As they were getting their winter gear on, Ryuichi noticed that Shuichi pulled his keys out of his coat pocket as he dug around for his gloves.

Didn't Shu-chan say he lost his keys? Something's wrong here. Me and Kumagoro-san can ask him about it later. 'Come on, let's go!' exclaimed Ryuichi. He was too excited about his gift to interrogate Shuichi, at the moment.