The first time, it was unplanned. Van had had a magazine shoot that day, and Eiichi was recording lines for a new drama CD he was in. Van's shoot was on Eiichi's way home from the studio, so he offered to pick him up. It was fine for a while, they even made a detour at a drive-through Starbucks, and exchanged inside jokes and stories of their workdays and fond memories of the earlier days of being in HEAVENS.

Disaster didn't strike until they were inside the building, making their way up to the apartment.

Eiichi never trusted elevators, but it was between that or an eighteen floor walk-up, so. Lesser of two evils.

He pressed the button for the 18th floor, and leaned back when the silver doors glided shut. He felt the elevator jolt into motion, slowly lifting them up, up, up, and then, right as the number above them flashed to seven, a horrible screeching noise sliced through the musty confines of the elevator.

There were a few more sounds. Eiichi hoped and prayed that it wasn't the sound of gears turning and coming to a halt, but what else could it have been?

All his worst fears came true when the elevator stopped, leaving the two of them suspended in the air.

Van lifted his eyebrows. "Hello?" A foot came hard against the metal walls of the elevator, then a balled fist. "Is this thing stuck? Hello?"

If anyone else had been with him, they would have told him that yes, Van, obviously the elevator is stuck and no, pounding the walls isn't going to solve the problem, and you need to press the emergency button, not just scream "Hello?" because no one will hear you. But it was Eiichi that was with him, and Eiichi was probably the worst person to consult in these types of situations.

"Oh well," he whistled, taking a step back. "Guess we're here 'til someone comes lookin' fer us. But hey! Look on the bright side, at least I'm not in this alone. Wanna play Twenty Questions or somethin'?" He grinned, but his enthusiastic offer was met with silence.

"Eiichan?"

This time, he was answered with a series of sniffles and shaky breaths. He whipped around, only to find a rather distressed-looking Eiichi, collapsed to the floor and hugging his knees to his chest, his forehead pressed between them as he rocked back and forth, his voice muffled as he repeated "no… no… no…"

"Hey." Van was at his friend's side in record time. For now, he only pressed a hand to Eiichi's shoulder. He hoped the motion was comforting enough. He would absolutely offer more contact if he needed to, but the last thing he wanted was to overwhelm Eiichi. The other man didn't flinch at Van's touch, so he began to rub his hand in a circular motion. "What is it?"

Eiichi whimpered. His face was still concealed between his legs, but Van could picture that it was marred with tears right now. "I… w-we… stuck… we're…"

"Eiichan, don't worry 'bout that. We both already finished all our work fer the day, and Jichan n' the others won't be home fer a while so we don't have to start cookin' dinner fer quite some time anyways. S'not like we have anywhere t' be!"

Eiichi's breathing became more erratic, more hysterical, and he just barely squeaked out another few more words. "C-Can't get out… we… can't…"

Suddenly, the pieces fell into place.

Eiichi was claustrophobic.

Thinking on his feet, Van did the only thing he could think to do and pulled him into his arms. He could feel Eiichi's tall frame trembling as he held the other man to his chest. A soft hand began to trace up and down his spine. "Shhh… hey. It's gonna be fine, okay? I'm here. I'm here with you. Shhh, shhh."

Hot tears dribbled from Eiichi's violet eyes and down his cheeks, fogging his glasses. He nestled his head into Van's shoulder, bawling unabashedly as the other man shushed him. He reciprocated the contact not by holding Van back, but by curling up into his chest, hands brushing at the fabric of his shirt and jacket, until Van was cradling him like a child.

Eiichi's entire body shook with sobs, but each time another cry leaked out of him, Van would just give his body another squeeze. "Eiichan, we're gonna be okay. Everything's fine. We won't be stuck here forever, okay? I promise."

Eiichi's cries only mildly subsided, and Van was growing increasingly agitated. Not at Eiichi for being upset, but at himself for not being able to do more. He hated seeing Eiichi cry, especially to this extent. He'd seen Eiichi get upset more than once but this? This was something completely new, and it wasn't something Van liked. Seeing his dear friend in such a jarring amount of pain was hurtful, to say the least. He wanted nothing more than to take it all away.

In a final act of desperation, Van dipped Eiichi's head back just a little, flicked some locks of hair out of his face, and then bent down to brush his lips against the center of Eiichi's forehead.

It wasn't a serious kiss, chaste and feather-light, but it did wonders in soothing Eiichi. Waves of calm rushed through him, Van not letting up on comforting the other man as one of his hands continued to lightly trail up his back, the other moving to toy with the auburn fronds of Eiichi's hair.

"See? You're safe. Nothing is going to happen. We're gonna get out of here eventually," he mumbled, Eiichi's hair tickling his lips as his breath came warm against the crown of his leader's head. Eiichi nodded slowly, reluctantly, but not before letting out a staggered exhale.

Eventually, Eiichi unentangled himself from Van's embrace, moving his arms to swipe at his damp eyes with a rolled-up sleeve. A few more deep breaths and Eiichi was ready to speak, though his voice was rough and shaky in stark contrast to its usual polished, velvety tone.

"Th-thank you, Van… I'm really sorry, I…"

"Don't apologize." Van reached out and took his hand. "Nothing t' be sorry for. I'm jus' glad you're okay."

Eiichi pressed his lips into a thin line, motioning towards the emergency button behind them.

"Hm? Oh." Van punched the button, then smiled warmly back at him. "See? Help's on the way. We're gonna be fine."

"I need a distraction," Eiichi stammered, teeth digging into his lip.

"Sure thing." Van flicked a stray tear from Eiichi's cheek with his knuckle. "How about that game of Twenty Questions?"

Neither of them mentioned the kiss, not even after they were rescued by the building's engineers.