Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade.

Chapter 4: Space

"You should be a chef, Ray. You always make great food," Max praises as we all go about eating our dinner. I wouldn't really say it was my best work but I managed to salvage enough to feed everyone, including our guests. He has a silly grin on his face while he's saying this and it is silly enough to make me doubt how genuine the statement is anyway. I don't point out my disbelief or the irony in the statement as well, considering how long I had been working at a restaurant. I do exchange a look with Kai, who has noted the irony and feels my pain.

"So how are the posters coming?" I distract him from continuing to say things that make too much sense. Kai raises an eyebrow in interest, having been unaware of the earlier developments with the elections and the poster debacle.

"They still need some work…" Kenny responds before Max can interject his progress report. Max makes a sound of protest and his face falls before he bounces up energetically.

"What are you talking about Kenny? I think they're clever!" he defends himself.

"Well I admit that the slogan was a big step in the right direction but the one you settled on still comes off a little…biased," Kenny answers, shifting his gaze to Tyson as if he's the cause. Tyson ignores him or doesn't seem to notice because he doesn't react at all in a way that cries retaliation.

"How so? It's catchy!" he cheers instead, sharing a victory smile with Max. Kenny isn't convinced and continues to disapprove.

"What slogan?" I ask curiously. I had missed most of the planning, being preoccupied with other things, so I hadn't been around when it was finally decided. Kenny hesitates.

"Um…You should just see it for yourself…" he avoids eye contact with me and shuffles the last remnants of food left on his plate around in uneasiness.

"That bad?" Kai throws his ounce of care into the conversation. I exchange another look with him and smile, sensing where he was trying to lead. Seeing Kenny flip out and chastise Tyson was always a great way to spend the day. It was nice that one of the three of them had enough sense to at least attempt to keep things stable. Without him I bet those two would get into some serious trouble. Not that they don't do that anyway, but I can only imagine how much worse it could be.

"Well it, um…"

"No way! It's awesome! Don't let him fool you. You just have to see it with the picture to get the reference," Max defends his posters once again.

"Yeah! Kenny's just upset that he wasn't the one who thought of it," Tyson nudges Kenny as if to get him to admit his real feelings.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure," Kenny sighs, not wanting to start a fight with either of them. Kai shrugs, not receiving the outcome he had desired and loses his interest in the matter.

"What made you decide to run anyway, Max?" I steer the conversation away again before Kenny can get too uncomfortable.

"Politics are important to business!" Max exclaims forcefully, as if reading it right off of an ad campaign. The reply in general confuses me and I look at him in concern. Business? I thought he was majoring in mechanics…

"What?" I send him a blank stare, hoping it would be enough to convey my feelings. He sighs and his demeanor softens to one that shows more disappointment than encouragement.

"I wasn't going to but I sorta…got talked into it. Then I got caught up and before I knew it, I was stuck. But once I started to get into actually planning it and everything, it was kinda fun!" his face changes once more, back to the original excitement and enthusiasm.

"So you weren't expecting to go through with it?" I am still a little out of the loop and hope I can at least get a better understanding of his motives before I get too into helping him. If he really wanted to win, it would take a bit more of an effort than if he was just doing it on some random whim.

"Not really…but now I want to! There's people depending on me and I think I can really change some things to make everyone feel better!" He raises his voice dramatically and almost sounds hysterical.

"You can do it, Max!" Tyson joins in and they share a high five. Kenny sighs heavily and I share another look with Kai at how hopeless those two were. Poor Kenny…

"Well since you two seem to have this under control now, I'll take my leave." Kenny stands and offers a courteous salute to Kai. "Thanks for the hospitality," he says before making his exit.

"Hey wait! We still need you!" Tyson jumps up to go after him.

"Ray's free now and I have my own work that I need to do. I will see you guys tomorrow." He continues down the hallway with Tyson in tow, but manages to get Tyson's approval before he leaves. Max stands up and starts to collect our empty plates and I look over at Kai as he moves to leave as well.

I watch him carefully as he gets up and he turns back a second to catch my eye. After a minute of silent expression between us, he nods as if confirming my unasked question of him going off to work on some things by himself.

"I don't think I'm the only one," he replies and I smile weakly at the thought. I accept that it is true, knowing that I would be tied up with Tyson and Max for probably a better portion of the evening. Accepting it doesn't make me feel any better though.

"I'll find you later," I reply, hoping he knows that means that I still want to talk before he retires. He nods again and leaves the room.

"You guys have gotten really close. I didn't think it was possible with Kai, but he's different with you." Max's voice surprises me. I had forgotten he was still there. My face slips out of any embarrassing expression I may have had and I blush.

"You think?" I fight any inclination to stutter so that I don't let on how awkward I feel. He smiles.

"Yeah, you guys have your own conversations without even speaking. It's fun to watch!" He places all the dishes in the sink and starts the water. I didn't think anyone noticed that. Especially since Max and Tyson had both been distracted by their own things.

"Hey, listen. I want to help you any way I can but you should be open to suggestions too. Kenny isn't usually too far off base. And he really does want to help you." I change the subject back to something safer. I catch a frown as he continues washing the dishes.

"Yeah I know. Tyson was just so happy about it. I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't appropriate." I nod in understanding and walk over to help him dry. That was the second time I had underestimated him since he'd been showing up here. Maybe I didn't know Max as well as I thought I did.

"He's been having trouble at work. He probably needed the victory," I elaborate his justification so that he knows I understand and doesn't have to explain further.

"Yeah. And you don't have to help if you're busy, ya know," he smiles at me again and I send him one back to reassure him.

"It's no problem. What are friends for? Maybe we can find a better way to let Tyson down so that you both can win."

It wasn't a problem at all. And he needed it. Tyson's 'great idea' had been a picture of Max with Tyson's hat on backwards, with baggy pants and a toothpick in his mouth next to a slogan that read 'Don't be a phony, vote for me and I'll be your homie'. Which…might have worked for Tyson but this wasn't fifth grade and College elections were a much more serious platform. After distracting Tyson long enough to dispose of them, we started over and managed to come up with three posters that were fairly decent and much more mature. When we were finishing up the last one, Kai actually came in to join us. Although he didn't give any input or comment on any of it.

"Hey Kai, since you're here, do you know what Hiro meant by that thing he said about the meeting on Monday?" Tyson asks casually, taking a seat near him as me and Max go about cleaning up the clutter we'd all made. Well, to be honest, that wasn't EXACTLY what he said but there were words in there that I had never heard before so it just translated that way. I'm surprised Tyson could say those words, let alone remember them long enough to ask about later. Kai goes on to try to explain it to him in simpler terms but I stop listening when Max starts talking to me.

"Thanks for the help, Ray. I don't think I could have gotten out of that mess without you here." He places the finished posters carefully in a pile by the door so they won't get messed up and he can collect them when he leaves.

"You're really into this aren't you?" I ask while I pick up a few stray scraps of paper from the floor. He had said he was having fun with it but there was something else in the way he was taking so much time and effort into making everything good enough. He smiles and gives me a little shrug.

"It makes me feel important I guess," he replies before going back to wiping down the tables and removing any glue and tape spots left behind. I almost miss the insinuation and the self-deprecation in his voice but the words make me stop what I am doing to look up at him.

"You're always impor…"

"You're an idiot Tyson, you should know better than that," Kai raises his voice to an uncomfortable level and takes the attention away. Tyson huffs and throws his hands on his hips as he stands up angrily.

"What do you mean? I've never done anything like this before. Gimme a break!" He waves Kai off and sticks his nose in the air dismissively.

"With that attitude I don't think you need to ask for a break, they'll give you a permanent one." Kai shakes his head and crosses his arms.

"What? No way! I can't mess up again. You gotta help me Kai!" Tyson flops his shoulders down tiredly and plops back down next to Kai. "Let's try again. I'll be serious this time!" Kai ignores him and for a minute I think he's going to get up and leave. Tyson grabs on to his arm to prevent that, probably thinking the same thing and a twitch of anger bites through me. I know Kai had said that there was nothing to worry about with Tyson, but every time he and Tyson shared something that I wasn't a part of it felt like I was being punched in the face. There isn't really a reason or any way to make that different but it didn't change how I felt. Between them having something in common that I wasn't a part of and seeing Tyson (once again) get away with doing things that anyone else would get dismissed from instantly, I couldn't stop myself.

Before I let the resentment grow too much bigger, I decide to leave the room. So I drop everything I am holding into the trashcan and exit. There was no sense in letting myself get carried away into something I would regret later. Whether it was something I would say to Tyson or something I would say to Kai, I could feel that SOMETHING was definitely not a thing I wanted on my conscience later.

"Ray?" I hear Max inquire as I go. Tyson responds unconcerned.

"He probably just had to go to the bathroom… Are you guys finished?! I wanna see!"

Later when I was settling into bed with some last minute reading assignments and Kai entered without a word of acknowledgement I realized that there was a deeper issue underneath just the one involving Tyson. He just went about his business as usual and on some hidden level of resentment inside of me, that bothered me. I started to realize that the problem wasn't being jealous of anyone getting closer to Kai, it was Kai being Kai. The more Kai acted like Kai, the angrier I became. I wanted to believe that I was special but was anyone really special when it came to Kai? There was still that part of me that didn't trust him.

After thinking about all that, my mind was consumed and just swam around one thought. What was going to happen when Kai left?

One.

It's only four days, it's not that serious.

Two.

This is Kai's house, it's not like he would just leave and not come back.

Three.

Kai is a free spirit, he does what he wants.

Four.

What if he gets a taste of freedom and decides...?

Five.

What am I even thinking? I know Kai better than that...

Six.

But then why is he acting like he DIDN'T just tell me he was going away?

For the first time in probably my entire life, I awoke before Kai. Mostly because I hadn't really slept at all. Rather than disturb Kai with my restlessness, I decided to get up and wandered my way in to the gym where I was now working out my problems one lift at a time.

Fifteen.

How can he be so calm?

Sixteen.

This feels too much like the last time he left.

Seventeen.

And what's all this business with Tyson?

Eighteen.

Should I really not be worried?

Nine…

"Argh!" I lose my concentration and slip, twisting my shoulder in a way it should never be twisted. As I drop the weights, something collides into me and pushes me out of the way of their falling as I land on a mat nearby. When I get ahold of my surroundings and the fact that I do not have any broken toes, I open my eyes and find Tyson sprawled out on top of me.

He smiles, red faced and nervous, and quickly scrambles away, making sure not to hurt me in any way before he gets up and offers me a hand.

"Hey there!" he greets. "Are you okay?" I let him help me up and brush myself off, checking myself for any scrapes, bruises, or any other injuries that may have happened during the whole incident.

"Where did you come from?" I ask, some of the resentment from last night lingering in my tone a little. He laughs and takes his cap off, nervously running a hand through his hair and replacing it. He hadn't worn the cap since he had arrived and seeing him wear it now made me think that he hadn't changed much at all over the past few years.

"Sorry about that. I came in a while ago to get some training in. I tried to get your attention but you were really concentrated! When you slipped, I rushed to help but tripped and fell instead. But I guess it was lucky for both of us! Those look really heavy…" He eyes the weights on the floor with disdain.

"Yeah I guess…"

"You sure you're okay?" He sends me a concerned look and I stretch and flex my arms a few times just to be certain. I decide that Tyson shouldn't be blamed for my own personal issues and I wave it off, letting the grudge slip away too. It's kinda hard to stay mad at Tyson for too long, even if you want to.

"Yeah. Sorry I didn't notice you sooner. I was wondering if…" I stop myself, second guessing how comfortable he would be talking openly about my relationship with Kai. Sure he and Max seemed okay on the surface but directly confronted with it, it might be a different story. I don't know why I was still concerned about it now that they had witnessed Kai's exchange with me yesterday but they say old habits die hard, right?

"You can say it," he acknowledges my hesitation. "We already knew." He shuffles on his feet and takes an unconscious step back, giving me a half smile of assurance. "Kinda. Hilary told us before she left for studying abroad. We didn't really believe her. Well, we didn't really NOT believe her, but we didn't BELIEVE her believe her either. If you know what I mean…" His half smile fades to more of a quarter smile as he seems to be holding something else back. He chooses not to look directly at me and his shuffling becomes more obvious. I don't say anything, knowing that the silence alone will push him to continue. He was a lot easier to crack than Kai was in that way. "When I saw Kai's file in Hiro's office I came to check it out for myself. I told Max that even though he didn't get the job that he should come too."

Didn't get the job? What job? What else had been going on in my absence that I wasn't aware of? And why didn't anyone say anything about it?

A little of his normal composure resurfaces and he takes a step closer, making sure that I am still listening. "We didn't mean any harm. We were just curious. Even after I got here and found you together I still thought maybe she was playing a big joke on us. Like maybe she knew you were schooling here with Kai and used it to make up some weird story. She's crazy sometimes, ya know? But then…" He sighs and rolls his head as if he is explaining a long journey to me so I that can picture it inside my head. "I saw your room."

"That's why you were being so weird at breakfast the other day," I go back to how uncomfortable he had acted that day and how strange it had seemed at the time.

"Yes and no. A lot of that was Kai's fault. He was hovering and…" He mumbles a few words I don't hear and rolls his eyes. Then, he looks back up at me and I know he's being honest. "You have to understand, it isn't anything disrespectful. It's just…different. Things aren't supposed to change like that so quickly." His entire expression changes before he says "Are you really sure?" and for a moment I think he asking me if I am sure about Kai. A question that seemed to come up a lot when I least wanted it to. He looks me over as if he's inspecting me. "That you're okay?" he finishes, and I realize that he had changed the subject instead. I am surprised he had been so serious for as long as he had. He started to look more like himself than he had in the few minutes prior.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I nod. I pick up the weights and move them out of the way as if to prove how fine I really am. I decide that continuing to talk about it, even if I still wanted to know some things, was just asking for another issue so I was just happy that he had said what he did. It made me feel a little better anyway. "Since we're both here, you wanna train together? It's always better with a friend." I turn back and smile and his enthusiasm returns full force along with his ridiculous grin.

"Of course!"

When it came down to it, Tyson wasn't as bad as I always made him sound. He didn't deserve my misplaced anger and he didn't deserve to be treated like a child. He understood more than we ever gave him credit for. I would have apologized but after everything was all said and done, it seemed unnecessary. Tyson was never one to hold a grudge, not that he was even aware enough to know that he should have had one. That's what made Tyson, Tyson.

Thinking Tyson would ever change was just as bad as thinking that Kai would. There was nothing wrong with the way either of them were and nobody is perfect. I was being unfair in thinking that Kai's action were wrong. If he was doing things the way he felt was necessary, then he was doing them the right way. I would just have to accept that his way was not always the way I wanted it to be. And that that didn't mean there was something to be suspicious about.

"Found you!" Max jumps on Tyson in the middle of a table tennis match we had started after training for an hour or so. It had only started because I had taunted him into it by saying he would never be a champion with his sporadic moves. He took the challenge seriously and hadn't given up yet.

He brushes Max off just in time to return the ball too far to the left and send it cascading across the room to get lost under a rack in the corner.

"You made me lose it!" he complains, throwing the paddle down on the table and giving Max a cross look. Max only looks hurt for a second before he pushes Tyson playfully and gives me a 'hello' smile.

"Morning, Max," I smile back. "And it doesn't work like that, Tys. You can't blame other people for your problems."

"Why not?" He brushes Max away again and we all laugh. I decide to let it drop and move on to the newcomer.

"You doing anything else for your campaign, Max?" I steer them to a less combative topic. From Max's reaction, my choice doesn't seem so great though.

"Don't ask. I kinda thought I would take a break today and pick it up tomorrow with a fresh face. I just came to see if Tyson might want to get out of the house with me to see a movie or something. There are a few good ones playing!"

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Tyson bounces up. "Just give me some time to get changed!" He takes off down the hallway in a rush. Max turns back to me.

"You can come if you like. It's an open invitation so you can ask Kai too. But I understand if you're busy." He starts to shuffle his feet in that uncomfortable way that Tyson had earlier and I consider that maybe the happy front wasn't such a paranoid fantasy after all. If their thoughts easily strayed to instances when Kai and I were together, it would make sense that neither of them could look me straight in the eye with those thoughts lingering between us. If the subjects didn't come up or we didn't get too close to each other, everything was like normal.

"It sounds like a great idea." I do my best to distract him from his negative thoughts but I wonder if it would ever be easier if we all kept avoiding talking about it directly. Eventually we would all have to confront it directly so we could move on. "I'll just shower and change real quick too."

He rejoices and pats me on the back.

"I'll go check movie times!" he runs off down the hall too and I start to get excited. I think we could all use that 'break'.

I nod and go about getting ready to leave. I made no effort to find Kai or to ask if he wanted to go too. I just assume he wouldn't be interested and was probably busy with more important things. This is my way of accepting that things are the way they are and I shouldn't always be trying to change or control everything.

I meet the guys outside and we head out.

We see two movies, deciding that after the first one is over that we hadn't had enough, then we get some dinner and are now walking Max back to his room before his curfew.

"That was so fun! We should go out more often. Aren't we supposed to be enjoying this part of our lives instead of being locked behind doors all the time?" Tyson muses when we get to Max's door.

"Hmm, maybe if we were less responsible. Hilary would never let us live it down though," Max replies as he digs in his pockets for his keys.

"Hilary is 500,000 miles away! She would never know!" Tyson turns to look down the hallway. "You're staying here?" He frowns. "There's so many…people." I see what he means when I follow his gaze to the groups of college kids gathered together in the hallway. It was almost loud enough not to hear yourself think and a few of them looked like they'd been sleeping there.

"It's kinda fun. There's always something going on or somebody to go with. They leave each other notes on their doors in codes. I haven't quite figured them out yet though." He continues to dig for his keys and I can sense that he's getting a little frustrated from not finding them.

"Have you made a lot of friends?" I ask. I hadn't thought about what I was missing by not staying on campus, but it did seem like quite a different experience.

"Shoot! I think I left my keys inside again. And my roommate sleeps at his girlfriend's a lot. I won't be able to get in." He tries the door and knocks just to be sure.

"It's fine! Just come back with us again!" Tyson leads him away without waiting to see if anyone decided to answer the door.

"But Kai's…" Tyson hushes him.

"Let me deal with Kai. If he has a problem, I'll fight him for you!" he says proudly, then runs off to look at something. "Hey cool! This place is awesome!"

"I wish I was that easily amused," I mumble with a smile. Max laughs.

"Yeah me too," he agrees. Then he turns to me. "Are you sure Kai won't be mad? He doesn't give me the best reception in the mornings when he sees me." I fight between defending Kai and agreeing with Tyson. A complication that became more and more frequent the more Tyson was around.

"Come on guys! Hurry up!" Tyson urges us forward. "The bus is about to leave!" We both run to catch up. It wouldn't make things any worse. I mean Tyson didn't seem to be going anywhere either.

Once we get back, Tyson and Max run off to Tyson's room and I take a seat in the living room. I wasn't quite ready to listen to the silence yet so I turn on the TV and flip around for something interesting. Tyson and Max come back out to join me about a half hour later but we are all pretty tired from the day's adventures and shortly after they settle in, they fall asleep. Tyson leans on my shoulder, hugging my arm like a pillow and starts to snore lightly. Max falls the other way, draping himself over the arm of the couch. I try to shake Tyson off and guide him in Max's direction but even in his sleep his grip is pretty strong. So I ignore him and concentrate on the TV instead. The tiredness hits me a moment later but before I can drift off to sleep with them, a shadow crosses in front of me, blocking the light from the TV and causing me to look up alarmed.

Kai sits down on the coffee table in front of me.

"Should I be concerned?" he asks eyeing Tyson as he crosses his arms. I look down at Tyson and then back at Kai.

"Of Tyson? I thought we already had this conversation." I smirk, using his own words against him. He doesn't like that too much but doesn't give it any more thought. "Come here." I motion for him to sit next to me on the side that Tyson isn't on. He doesn't move.

"Are you finished being angry with me?" he says, to which I respond by taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"Can't get anything past you, huh?" I answer a lot more sarcastically than I intended. He drops his arms and stands up to leave. "Wait!" Tyson stirs a little as I go to jump up and I realize that there's a choice here. "Wait." I lower my voice and try my best to slip out of Tyson's grip without waking him. After finding it a bit useless to keep trying with Tyson only gripping harder and falling over me like dead weight the more I struggle, I look back in Kai's direction expecting him to be gone. Instead I find him standing only a few steps away, looking back at me amused. "He's stronger than he looks, okay?" Kai just shakes his head. I relax and let Tyson settle back into place unmoved. "I'm not really angry. At least, I don't think I am. It's…something else." I try to explain it to him but I can't because I don't really understand it myself. "Just…come here." I offer him the empty spot again. He considers it, taking one last look at Tyson and Max before reluctantly coming over and sitting down next to me. He remains distanced and keeps his arms and legs crossed as if protecting himself from showing any signs of weakness in the presence of our friends (even though they can't see it anyway). I don't force an issue out of it and let him have his space but I also want to let him know that he doesn't have to keep up the stoic attitude anymore, so I squeeze his leg. He exchanges a look with me and I smile. "You better call me while you're gone." He nods.

"It won't be long enough for you to even notice my absence."

What a lie that was…