Chapter Two: How It Happened

Sitting at the dining table, Nagi was taking a look around his new surroundings. "How long have you been living here?" he asked curiously.

"A few months now," Crawford answered, taking out ingredients from the fridge. "It's still really empty, I know. But Schuldig and I haven't had enough time to unpack most of the boxes, or go by storage to pick up our furniture."

"Are you two going out?" Nagi asked what was on his mind.

"No!" Crawford shot back, looking at the younger boy. "We only live together because it's a lot easier for the business we own. Because we have to talk to each other a lot, we though it'd be best to just live together, instead of run our cell phones bills out the roof."

"I was just asking," Nagi defended himself, "you don't need to get so defensive about your sexuality."

"I'm not being defensive!"

"Yes, you are being defensive," Nagi pointed out the obvious. "Unless you're in denial about something…"

"That's not funny," the older man got back to his cooking.

Nagi snickered as Crawford adjusted his glasses, something he was known to do when he was nervous, or just really fixing the position of his glasses.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened before you got here?" Crawford asked.

"Well," Nagi began, "I was on my way to another collage open house, then that stupid German knocked me out with chloroform," he kept his story short. "You know… Maybe I should break something of his for throwing me to the ground, and sitting on me."

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," the twenty-year-old sipped on the water he was given earlier. "So… What's Farfarello doing now? I kinda lost touch with you guys after we broke up back then, and I didn't bother to do research."

"Well," Crawford didn't know where to begin. "It's kind of unbelievable, but you'll have to believe."

"What? Did he start up a candy shop or something?" Nagi joked. "Or maybe he's teaching water aerobics?"

"Actually," Crawford started, "he did start up a candy shop."

"Are you serious?" Nagi was, of course, in disbelief. "How can he manage that? Don't all his mental problems kinda make that impossible for him to do? What if he goes psycho on some little kid that just wants a lollipop? I swear, all the kids that go there, they're gonna be scared for the rest of their lives."

"It's quite possible now. Especially with all the medications he's on. He's also been using foundation to cover up his scars."

"Has he stopped cutting? Who's funding his shop?" Nagi was curious about the Berserkers new life. "Where's he living now?"

"The meds got him to stop cutting," Crawford answered the first question, "As for who's funding the shop, that would be me and Schuldig. And for living, he has an apartment a few blocks down."

"So you're telling me, that right now, Farfarello is just a few hundred feet away from us? And he's not going crazy?"

"He's fine," Crawford let out a little laugh, "Like I said, with all the meds he's on, he can make it so long as he keeps taking them."

"That's so… weird," Nagi looked down at his glass of water. "We've all changed so much in the course of just four years. Schuldig and you own a business together, and Farfarello runs a candy shop."

"I think you've changed the most," Crawford pointed out.

"How?" Nagi looked up at the thirty-two-year-old. "I'm just going to college…"

"You've changed a lot more than you thought." Crawford proceeded in his cooking by taking out one of his frying pans. "You show a lot more emotions. Before you were so expressionless."

"Well, after we broke up, I trained myself to control my powers more, and not let my emotions control them. It took three years, but it's better than just going around like a zombie with no feelings."

"That's true," Crawford was running out of things to say. "Maybe you should go watch TV or something to entertain yourself? I'll be here cooking for a good hour…"

"Is it okay if I go through Schuldig's stuff?" Nagi asked, looking up at Crawford with hope.

"Knock yourself out," Crawford smiled, looking back at Nagi. "And break two things if you're gonna break something. One for me."

"Sure!" Nagi stood up from the table with great enthusiasm.

"All his stuff is upstairs in his room, second door on the right," Crawford happily told him where Schuldig's belongings were located.

"Thanks!" Nagi ran up the stairs, looking forward to his new "project".

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The twenty-year-old pushed away his empty plate. "Your food still isn't the best," Nagi said before taking a sip of his drink. "And I only ate it all because I haven't eaten all day."

"There's no reason for me to learn how to cook so well," Crawford backed himself up, "I have no time to cook, so I order take-out most of the time. But I'm happy with your honest opinion," he added with sarcasm. "Also," he stood up from his seat, taking Nagi's plate along with his to the sink, "if you don't like someone food, you shouldn't be so blunt. Especially in this situation, when I had no time to go out grocery shopping, and because I wasn't expecting Schuldig to bring you here."

"Where am I sleeping?" Nagi ignored Crawford's lecture.

"There's no other rooms, so you'll be sleeping with me in mine," Crawford finally told him what he'd been holding back for so long. "Schuldig's room is locked-"

"Oh yeah!" Nagi cut him off, "Thanks for telling me that. I couldn't get to his stuff, so I just went through yours."

"What?" Crawford quickly turned around to face his visitor. "What boxes did you go through?"

"The ones next to your bed," Nagi replied, a bit confused as to why Crawford was so worried. "All of it was clothes, nothing interesting…"

Thank God, Crawford forgot what boxes were out, and what boxes were locked in storage. "Also… I'm sorry to say, but we're gonna have to share my bed. There's no room on the floor with all those boxes, and there's no couches for either of us to take."

"That's fine," Nagi stood up. "What am I going to wear to bed?"

"You can use any of my clothes. Just look through the boxes marked 'non-business'."

"Non-business?" Nagi raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you just mark them 'clothes' and your business attire 'business'?"

"It's not that important, is it?" Crawford asked, "So long as I know what's what."

"I guess," Nagi started to head for the stairs. "I'm gonna find something to wear to bed, then I'm retiring for the night."

"I won't be heading to bed for a few more hours, so good night," the older man started to wash to dishes.

Nagi stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked back at Crawford. "Why not?" he asked.

"I still have a lot of work to finish up before I can go to bed."

Always preoccupied with work… "Well, don't work too long. Not enough sleep is bad for you."

"That coming from someone who stayed up 24/7 when he was sixteen?"

"Whatever," Nagi sighed, turned back to the stairs, "Have fun working," he then proceeded upstairs.

I think I'll just sleep in my office, Crawford thought, I'll never get any sleep if I go up to my room…Dammit.. I really wish Schuldig couldn't read minds, that way I wouldn't be in this situation! … I'm going to be very sleep deprived for the next few weeks…

-End Chapter

Beatrize: Yeah, a lot of talking in this chapter, LoL. Still trying to get past the introduction of their new lives… But now it's done, and all the good stuff can start. :D

Also, a little note for Roxie Faye: Thanks for that info. XD I seriously forgot their age difference's, and didn't think about looking it up online until now. It's been so long since I watched the series, and it's also been a while since I wrote any fics.

And also… Thanks for all the reviews so far! It really made me happy to see that people like this. I was really surprised that no one said it was just "okay".