Present!

More specifically, a Birthday present. One for my most favourite and special silly. I hope you have a great day and I would be adding all sorts of happy smileys but I know the site'll delete them...

Anyway, enjoy!

(Still lines of o, because the site sucks and won't let me use linebreaks)

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"You're delusional, Kai."

Kai took a sip of his coffee before replying to that rather bold statement. It was very nice coffee. And the cake on the plate in front of him was delicious too. The armchair he was sitting in was comfortable, the cafe wasn't too busy or too quiet, and he felt more contented than he had in a long time. The only thing that was slightly spoiling the moment was the look of disgusted disbelief on the face of the person sitting next to him. "Kai, have you -thought- about this?"

"Yes."

"And you're still going to go through with it?"

"Yes."

"You're insane. You -know- it won't work."

Kai took another sip of coffee and shrugged. "Maybe it won't. I want to try, though."

"Don't do it, Kai. You'll only throw him out ten minutes after he moves in."

"Don't tell me what to do, Yuriy." Kai's voice took on a sharp tone as he put his mug down on the table, reaching for the fork beside his cake. "You don't understand."

"I understand that you're going to let a moron live with you."

"He isn't a moron." Kai said simply, picking at the cake icing with his fork and licking the prongs, looking out of the window thoughtfully at the people bustling along the street. "This is what I want, Yuriy. It's what I want, and what he wants. He would have to move out of his flat in a month's time anyway." Yuriy shook his head.

"It was fine as a fling, Kai, but you and him..."

"We've been together nearly a year, now. That's hardly a fling."

"I can't see why you want to live with him." Yuriy maintained flatly. Kai wasn't really surprised. He'd known what Yuriy's reaction would be when he heard the news. He'd known he would say the same thing as every other person he'd told: 'Takao's moving in with -you-? Really?'. Or something along those lines. Admittedly, none of them had been as downright rude as Yuriy, but he could tell they were all thinking the same thing. They were all thinking that it wouldn't work.

"You'll have murdered him before the first week is up. I don't want to see you in court on a murder charge, Kai."

"Don't be ridiculous." Yuriy snorted, taking another gulp of his hot chocolate.

"It isn't ridiculous. You've never lived with him, Kai. He'll annoy you to death. Or at least to the point where you induce his!"

"And how would you know that?"

"Because he's an idiot!"

"Stop calling him names."

"Kai, come on! Wake up and smell the coffee!"

The bickering, built up to breaking point and waiting to be tipped over into an argument, suddenly stopped. Kai took a forkful of cake and chewed on it thoughtfully, ignoring Yuriy's point. Silence descended as he swallowed, frowning, still gazing out of the window.

"I love him, Yuriy. It's as simple as that. He's moving in with me no matter what you or anybody else says."

"You don't love him, Kai. It's lust, not love."

"No. It isn't." Kai laid his fork down and sighed. "I feel right when he's around. I don't worry. No matter what kind of day I've had...I see him and it's like everything's okay again." His eyes, fixed on his half-filled cup, missed Yuriy's scornful expression. "When I hold him..." A pause. "When I hold him, it's like..." He waved his hand, trying to articulate something that he didn't fully understand in the first place. "Everything gets better..."

"Spare me the chick-lit slush." Yuriy replied, rolling his eyes. "I still think it's a bad idea. And you'd be shocked how easy it is to fall out of love with someone when they're suddenly in your face all day."

"I'm out most of the day anyway."

"You know what I mean."

"I've told you, Yuriy. No matter what you say, we're going ahead with it. I know everyone thinks he'll annoy me, or I'll be too bossy or boring for him to stand, but I don't care."

"You're too stubborn for your own good." Kai just shrugged, finishing off the last bit of his cake. "Have you ever thought that everyone else might be right?"

"I know they aren't."

"You're impossible." Yuriy fired back. "You won't listen to reason. From anyone."

Kai glared suddenly, turning to look at Yuriy properly for the first time since they'd sat down. "It isn't reason. It's prejudice. It's people telling me about Takao's bad points and hoping I'll break up with him!"

"I'm not saying he's a bad person. I'm saying that you two aren't right for each other. And if you took a step back and thought about it you'd see that too." Yuriy shrugged, shifting his mug from one hand to the other. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'm not going to be. I love him, Yuriy, and I want to live with him, and he feels the same."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he told me."

"Wow. Evidence."

"If something you've heard from someone you trust isn't good enough to base your beliefs on then I suppose I don't believe that you don't want me to get hurt."

"Don't be stupid."

"Isn't it stupid that you're telling -me- how to live -my- life?"

A long, rather uncomfortable silence descended. Kai sat back in his chair, thinking. Everyone seemed so quick to tell him that living with Takao wouldn't work. To tell him that they were all wrong for each other. It was like the last year of them being together didn't count. And it wasn't like they hadn't been getting closer before they'd officially told people they were a couple. And maybe at first Kai had shared their doubts. Would Takao end up annoying him? Would they find they didn't have enough in common to make it work?

The answer to both questions had turned out to be no. They were older. More mature. Better at understanding each other, meaning that even when they didn't see eye to eye, it didn't end in an argument. And, of course, there was the fact that Kai thought Takao was the most beautiful thing on the planet. And then, even after all that, there was something else. Something that Kai had never been able to find words for or adequately explain-

"Do you really think you can make it work?"

"Yeah."

"Well. It's your funeral."

"Thanks." Yuriy shrugged at the sarcasm.

"It's still a bad idea. It's just none of my business. And as long as we're clear that I'm not paying your bail money when you stab him in the face..." Yuriy gulped down the last of his hot chocolate, licking his lips before continuing. "I guess he's not -that- bad."

"He's a good cook."

"He's not boring. I can grant him that..."

"He's kind."

Yuriy shrugged, looking at his watch. "I have to be back at work soon, I'd better go."

"Okay." Kai watched Yuriy get up and head for the door, sighing at his coffee cup. He would really have to get back to work himself. He drank the last of his coffee and stood up, nodding to the waitress before going back out into the bustling street.

People pushed and jostled past him as he walked, deep in thought. No-one ever seemed to understand when it came to him and Takao. Still, did they need to? As long as he knew Takao loved him, and as long as he knew that Takao cared about him, and as long as he knew how amazing Takao looked naked...

Well, nothing else really mattered, did it?

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Fin