Phew… it's 6.00 a.m. in the morning… I wonder if I could get up later. And I'm going out with my grandmother tomorrow… I mean today! Oh god… I better go sleep… Sorry if there's any grammatical mistakes… I've checked this chapter once but I'm like half awake… I'll recheck them when I have time….

"What a jerk!" Shindou Shuichi grumbled to himself as he boarded the elevator. Then he paused for a while to think which floor he should get off on. After pressing the 'G' button on the panel, he relaxed his body against the elevator wall. Bending his neck to the back and pushing his body forward a little, Shuichi stared at the mirror situated on the ceiling of the lift. "That's what they ALL say," he mimicked what the psychologist had said with an exaggerated expression; and chuckled a little afterwards at his own face.

His eyes went to the LCD display above the elevator doors when he heard a 'ding' sound. It indicated that the lift had stopped on the ground floor. The doors opened and Shuichi stepped off the lift onto the faintly lit lobby. God… what time is it now?

As he checked his watch, Shuichi heard someone speak. "Seeing a shrink does not make you a lunatic…"

Startled, Shuichi searched for the source of the voice and found it standing near what seemed to be an enquiry desk. Not wanting to show that he was surprised, Shuichi asked casually, "Where did you come from?"

"From the third floor, of course. You were with me, remember?" the person replied; his face still expressionless. In his mind Yuki was actually feeling a little proud that he had kept his voice and appearance 'cool' while covering the fact that his body was still struggling to repay the oxygen debt from the jog down the emergency staircase.

Shuichi was exasperated. "Of course I know THAT! But how did you get down here so… Urgh! You know what? Forget about it!" He walked briskly pass the blond haired man; his steps echoing in the empty lobby. The psychologist's hand rapidly shot out to grab his left arm. "Lemme go!" Shuichi angrily said as he glared at the man who had seized one of his upper limbs firmly but without hurting it.

Yuki was kind of having fun provoking this younger man. It amused him so much to see look after look replacing each other on the boy's face. "Not going to," he answered; this time Yuki had a smirk on his face.

The singer stopped in his effort to break free and accidentally voiced out his thought, "So you do have emotions!"

Taken aback, Yuki released the teenager's arm and within seconds the smirk was gone. Then he said quietly, "Of course I do."

Shuichi was also shocked at himself for actually saying what he said. He quickly changed the topic, "Well… uh… I'm still not gonna see you for your stupid sessions. There's no reason for me to do so!"

"Fine. You don't have to," Yuki responded.

Hurm… that was easy. "Cool… so… uh… I guess I can leave-"

"We'll go out for dinner," the psychologist cut short Shuichi's sentence; it was more of a direct statement than a suggestion.

"You mean like… now?"

"No... when the world ends," Yuki replied sarcastically.

Shuichi pouted and kept quiet for a moment. He peered at the man in front of him with curiosity and finally spoke, "Is this some kind of trick to get me to talk? It's not easy to get things out of me, ya' know."

"Of course not. Just dinner. No tricking or forcing whatsoever."

Thinking for a while, the shorter man then said yes.

"Good. I'll go up to take some things. You can wait here if you want."

Staring around the empty and scary entrance hall, Shuichi decided to follow the other man.

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The psychologist took the lead as they walked in silence towards the still lighted office. Entering the room, he then heard Shuichi mumble something from behind of him. "What did you say?" he turned his neck a little and asked.

"No, nothing. I was just looking at... uh… the nameplate on your door… Yuki-san."

"Oh……" Yuki then walked towards the table and continued packing as well as piling up papers and files. He cursed a bit when one of his patient's records gave him a paper cut. "Damn files…"

Shuichi turned to look when he heard the curse, and what he saw made the small blood vessels on his face dilate.

Sucking his middle finger, Yuki stared straight into the boy's eyes and questioned innocently, "Why are you red in the face?"

Shuichi quickly looked away and immediately denied that he was blushing. Then he pretended to take a turn around the considerably huge and contemporary office. Shortly after Shuichi tried to start a small talk; he asked while staring out the windrow, "So… how are you acquainted with Seguchi-san?"

Without getting distracted from the task at hand, the older man replied, "He's my brother-in-law."

"Ehhh?" Connecting in his head the information he had just received with something else, Shuichi turned away from the window and continued to inquire, "You're Mika-san's brother then?"

"Yeah," Yuki replied shortly.

Trying to put a puzzle together to see the big picture, the lead singer of Bad Luck mumbled things to himself under his breath. And then he talked again, "But if you're Mika-san's brother, then you must be Tatsuha-san's brother too, right?"

At this Yuki looked up and shot the boy a 'duh' look. "What's your point?"

Unsure of what to say, Shuichi slowly revealed what was baffling him. "Your name… it's Yuki Eiri. I mean, if I'm not mistaken, Tatsuha's family name is Uesugi. Uh… well… you're his brother right? Shouldn't you like-"

"I get what you mean. There's a reason for that, and I'm not planning to tell you," Yuki snapped.

Stunned by the man's answer, Shuichi fell silent. He pretended not to feel hurt and moved his gaze towards the painting on the wall. "Nice paint-"

"…………not now."

Shuichi turned his head to look at the handsome blond man again. "Huh?"

"I said, at least not now…" Yuki repeated uncomfortably. "It's a long story…"

Happy with the man's effort to try to make things better, Shindou Shuichi beamed. "Okay!"

As he went back to packing, Yuki thought about the smile he had just seen. It was the first positive expression he had received from the boy since they had met. The pout from before had been cute too…… Lord! Get these thoughts out of my head!

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"So, where do you want to eat?" Yuki asked while he drove out of the parking lot.

"Uh… I don't know. Who's paying?" Shuichi replied with a question. He was now wearing an overlong long sleeved white shirt and a pair of grey slacks which was too baggy for him. They all belonged to the shrink. The man had commented on how barely dressed the singer was and Shuichi defended himself by saying that his manager had kidnapped him out of bed.

"Why? Are you broke?" Yuki teased the boy; his eyes kept on the road.

"Well, no… but I don't have any cash with me. You know the story… K-san abducted me. I didn't have time to take anything."

The face of the foreigner who had fired a gunshot to his client came into his mind. "I'll pay… I invited you to dine with me after all."

And with that they were silent again all the way to their destination.

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Yuki parked his Cadillac in front of a row of shops and they walked towards a small Italian café at the corner. There were not many people in the open air eatery when they got there and Yuki chose a table for two which was furthest from the rest of the customers. Shuichi carefully avoided from letting his face being seen by anyone. He prayed hard that the person who would take his order was not some crazy fan girl.

Shortly after, an elderly waiter came along and handed to both of them the menus. He went away and when he saw that they were ready, he came back again to jot down their orders. When he was gone, Yuki and Shuichi continued to sit in silence while staring everywhere but at each other.

It was the same when their food had arrived. They both concentrated on their meals and occasionally took sips from their drink. After quite some time, Shuichi began to feel that the quietness was too awkward and unbearable. "I, I still can't believe that they would send me to a shrink… I mean… no offence to you, but I really don't think I need any sort of help."

"Really?" Yuki sounded uninterested.

Shuichi continued babbling, "Yeah… there's nothing wrong with me. I'm fine. Don't see what the problem is. I'm in no trouble at all. They're worrying over nothing. I get to work on time too…" and Shuichi realized why everyone was concerned about him. He had been punctual for the past few days; in fact he had started to arrive the earliest at the studio!

Not hearing the magenta haired teenager's voice anymore, Yuki looked up from his lasagna. "Was it something to do with the state you were in the other day?"

Poking at his meatballs, Shuichi replied absentmindedly, "Yeah…" And realizing that Yuki had just made him admit that he indeed was having a problem, Shuichi exclaimed, "Hey!"

Yuki ignored the boy and continued eating. Just as the singer was about to dig into his food again, Yuki asked, "Something to do with Tachi?"

Shocked at the sound of the name, Shuichi questioned back, "How did you-" And he stopped halfway. "Hey!" he exclaimed once more. "Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?"

"Doing that psychology thingy!"

"I'm not doing anything…" Yuki said nonchalantly. "I was just curious… I heard you cry out that name in your sleep just now…"

Shuichi was baffled. "You mean you were awake?"

"The whole time…"

"Why the hell did you pretend you were sleeping then?" Shuichi asked furiously.

"For fun…"

"WHAT?"

Yuki smirked for the second time that night. "I woke up when I heard you muttering something in your sleep. You were sweating a little and you had a… kinda sad face on you. After a while you smiled. Yup, you were smiling. And all of a sudden you started tossing and turning, making you sweat even worst. It was like you had walked out of a shower, full-clothed. And then… you cried 'Tachi'…"

Shuichi did not know what to say.

"It was really amazing… you, I mean… From sad to happy to… uh… I don't know… scared, perhaps? What made you smile in your dream anyway?"

The teenager thought about the question and started blushing. He's gonna think I'm nuts or desperate or… or anything bad if I told him that I had actually dreamt about HIM. "Nothing… nothing that concerns you," he answered.

And they both left it at that.

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"Do you need a ride?" Yuki Eiri asked the shorter man as they walked out of the cafe after paying the bill.

"No… thank you," Shuichi declined. Without thinking he went on, "I'm not going home."

Yuki looked at his companion without stopping in his steps. "Why? Where are you going?"

Me and my stupid mouth! "….. I don't really know… I just don't want to go home…"

Knowing that the boy would not elaborate more on why, Yuki offered, "You can come over to my place if you want." Oh shit! Why in Heaven's name did I do that?

"Really?"

Oh great. Too late to pull back my words now. "Yeah sure… why not…."

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Upon arriving, Shindou Shuichi was already half asleep. So Yuki went straight into his room and brought out some blankets and a pair of silk pajamas (which made Shuichi look as if he was drowning in them) for his guest. "I only have one bed in the house… So you'll have to sleep on the couch."

Shuichi agreed and went straight to lie down. Within minutes he was snoring.

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At 3.00 o'clock in the morning, Yuki Eiri was still wide awake on his bed; and he knew why. Agitated, the psychologist walked out of his room to 'check' on his guest. The blanket Shuichi had used earlier was on the floor while the other one was still neatly folded on the coffee table. Shaking his head slightly, he picked up the thrown blanket. Then he cautiously covered the slightly shivering boy with it.

When he was about to stand up and leave, he heard the boy murmur softly, "Tachi…"

Yuki stayed in his squatting position. Not understanding why, he felt a sudden pang of jealousy. What's wrong with me? Why the hell am I feeling like this? Fuck! Stop being gay, Eiri! And suddenly he realized that he was even more upset because the sleeping boy had called for another person.

Then as he was going to stand up again, he heard Shuichi repeating the name. "Tachi……….." Yuki froze. A few seconds later the magenta haired boy murmured some more, only this time it was much softer. "…..I hate you……."

Yuki stood up with a small smile on his lips. Feeling contented, he went back to bed and fell into slumber without difficulty.