A/N: Me? Take a long time? You're so silly.

I've just been busy with End of Times. Which you should read.

Amarant is not a kid-safe person by any stretch of thought – not just mentally, but physically. He's always been kind of blasé about everything, and ever since he reached puberty he hasn't really been able to tell what's appropriate for kids and what's not. He knows the basics. Still, he hates treating kids like they're young, but doesn't want to treat them too maturely.

Thank god Kuja seems to be good with kids.

Vivi has a friend over – a little girl named Eiko – and she's beautiful in her ability to drive Amarant insane without actually talking to him, or even doing anything to him at all.

Kuja flops down onto the couch next to the redhead and fumbles around with the remote, before flipping to the news. "I don't know why this morbid stuff interests people," the silver haired male sighs, "It's so depressing."

"That's why I stick with the Daily Show," Amarant mutters. "Where're the brats?"

"Upstairs, working on homework, supposedly. You know, that little girl seems smitten with you."

"I don't like kids," Amarant grumbles.

Kuja laughs and turns up the volume on the TV, and Amarant steals a glance at the other. He's been doing that a lot, lately – it kind of embarrasses him. After all, Kuja is, well... Kuja. But he's a people-watcher, and he can't help that the silver-haired fashion major is really just interesting to watch.

Ever since they left the ranch, Kuja's been looking a little... worn. As if he's on the constant edge of tears, but has molded that edge into his expression so it looks almost natural. Luckily, it's only been about a day now, and Kuja hasn't had any sleep, and he hasn't talked to his brother. Amarant's sure that once he gets some rest and some brotherly love, Kuja will be fine.

But something Kuja said unnerves him. He hadn't considered that the other had been on medication of any sort, and the fact that he is makes Amarant wonder if there's more to the seemingly two-dimensional fashion major than he originally thought.

Then again, he had been kind of basing his idea of Kuja on the stereotypically gay male of current pop culture – something he despises, but still, a habit is a habit – and Kuja is anything but stereotypical.

"Staring at me isn't going to keep you entertained for long," the object of Amarant's observation sighs, sitting back and crossing his arms, turning his head to the redhead, who is suddenly interested in the carpet.

"I wasn't staring."

"Could have fooled me. Look... Amarant," Kuja mumbles, looking at the television again – refusing to look at Amarant – "If anything I've said or done – especially last night – upset you or made you uneasy, don't leave me with the impression that it didn't. Or, even worse, don't send me mixed signals about it."

"I'm not..."

Well, maybe he is, just a little.

Kuja takes a breath, "And I just... thank you. For putting up with last night's fiasco. And, for, you know... Just not being like everyone else. Treating me stereotypically or anything... or different, because of what I said last night. Not a lot of people would do that, you know."

Amarant sighs and shakes his head. "What does it matter to me? You're one of Lani's friends," he tells the other, "So you're mine too. Get used to it, you'll probably be bailing me out of some nasty shit."

Kuja laughs a little, "What benefits." He then frowns, "But, Amarant. Don't give me titles like that when you've barely known me... two weeks? If that?"

"I don't hand out a friend title lightly," Amarant shakes his head again. "I'm not going to joke with you on that."

"...Thank you."

Amarant shrugs and listens to the report on how more children are being kidnapped this year than the past three years combined and wonders how long they'll have to worry about stupid things.

Eiko shouts from the top of the stairs, "Vivi, let's go!" and she comes running downstairs with the young boy in tow. "We're gonna go outside and play," she tells the two "adults."

"...Yeah, sure," Amarant waves them off.

"Letting them go out when we're listening to how kids are kidnapped all the time?" Kuja asks, raising an eyebrow, "That sounds a little..."

"I don't think anyone would want to kidnap either of them."

Kuja nods in agreement, and then gets up, heading into the kitchen. Amarant finds his eyes straying in Kuja's direction and forces himself to look away, shaking his head. He keeps watching the other and he's starting to wonder if that's really... well, watching, or if it's more like... ogling.

Lani would pick the latter.

"Want something?" the silver-haired male calls. Amarant says no and so Kuja comes back with a pint of pistachio ice cream and two spoons sticking out of it. The redhead rolls his eyes as the other flops back down onto the couch and scoops out a generous portion, holding the pint out to Amarant in offering.

"I said no," he groans, even as he reaches for the other spoon. Kuja gives him a look and Amarant grins.

There's a shout outside and Eiko and Vivi come inside, looking put out, and the girl crosses her arms. "What are you doing, eating?"

"Yeah," Amarant tells her around the spoon. Kuja laughs a little.

"Well, that's great," Eiko huffs, "But there's some weird guys outside in a white Honda and they're just parked!"

The two "adults" look at each other and then Amarant shoves the spoon back into the pint, standing up and heading to the door.

"Give me a few," he says, ruffling the girl's hair and earning an annoyed squeak. He goes outside and looks down at Vivi, who's sitting on the steps and looking off into space, a funny look on his face. "You okay, kid?"

The boy looks up in alarm, and Amarant winces mentally. "I-I'm... I'm okay, sir."

"Don't call me sir, would you?" the redhead rolls his eyes, "Give me a moment, I'm gonna go talk to these fu-... guys."

Vivi nods and looks torn – should he be afraid of the strangers in the car, or the big, burly redhead who nearly ran him over? Amarant shakes his head and walks across the lawn towards the white Honda.

The two men inside look to him, and the one in the passenger's seat looks very suddenly afraid. Amarant's glad sometimes that he can look real intimidating... especially when the driver looks about to put the car in gear and race off.

The passenger's smart (or very stupid), and motions for the other to relax. As he rolls down his window, Amarant reaches the car, and he leans against it, putting one arm on the roof and leaning down to get a good look at the two. At first, he had thought they were some friends of Freya's – that crazy bitch probably had people come over all the time – but a quick look at the dirty, trashy interior proved otherwise. A girl like Freya, from what Amarant's gathered, wouldn't hang out with kids who looked like stoners without enough money for a car wash.

"So," he drawls, "Want to tell me what you're doing outside here?"

"Ahh..." One of them starts spilling out the best excuse he can come up with, "We were just... you know, chilling. Hanging out."

"Hanging out." Amarant raises an eyebrow. "Any reason you're hanging out in front of this house in particular?"

"Nah, man," the driver says, picking up where his friend left off, "We just pulled up. Sorry, are we, like, blocking a driveway or something?"

Amarant frowns now, eyes narrowing. "You see that kid on the steps back there?" he asks, jerking a thumb at Vivi, who blinks in confusion. "You're kind of messing with his head. I'd appreciate it if you'd put your car in drive and get the fuck out of here, okay?"

The passenger gets some balls and says, "Hey, man, don't start anything, we're just chilling."

"Yeah? Well," Amarant growls, "I'd like it if you'd go chill somewhere else."

"What, are you gonna call the cops on us?" the driver laughs.

"Nah, man," the redhead responds, grinning as well, "Nah, I don't think the cops are a good idea. After all, I can clean up messes pretty well on my own."

The laughter dies in the guy's throat and the passenger nods hastily. "Alright, man. Uh, we'll get out of here."

Amarant nods, "That's a good idea. You do that." He takes a step back and the car lurches, and the redhead watches them careen down the street, arms crossed and making sure his "vaguely-menacing" look is on.

"U-Um..."

Amarant turns, dropping the look flawlessly – no need to scare the kid, right? "What's up, kid?"

"...Who were they?" Vivi asks, kind of tripping to keep up with Amarant as he moves back towards the house.

"Don't know. Does your dad work with teenagers a lot?"

"N-No... Not really." Vivi frowns, "I mean... Did Ms. Freya tell you what he does?"

"No, what?"

Vivi messes with his hat as Amarant looks back to him. "H-He's... um, a mortician."

Amarant raises an eyebrow, then shakes his head. "That why he calls Freya over at random times?"

"W-Well, yeah."

"Fair enough." The redhead opens the door, "C'mon, kid."

Vivi nods slowly and then passes the other. Amarant smirks when he realizes that Kuja's sitting with Eiko, watching Spanish soap operas, and wonders if Freya is really a crazy bitch. After all, if she's one of Kuja's friends...

Yeah, definitely crazy.

It's late when Amarant gets home. Kuja had asked to stay at his house tonight – he wants to let Zidane finish up whatever he's doing at the apartment without interference – and so the redhead has agreed because hey, they've slept in the same bed before, right?

Kuja follows Amarant to his room and is extra careful to not step on the floorboards Amarant motions to, but nonetheless the redhead accidentally steps on one of these very squeaky boards, wincing as it creaks loudly in the dead air.

"Izzat you, 'rant?"

Kuja gets a glimpse of Amarant and is a little worried by the deer-in-headlights look his friend is wearing, before getting a glimpse of Amarant's father and promptly gaining the same look.

His father is by no means average sized – behemoth would be the right word – and looks actually a lot like his son, only with a crew-cut, stubble, and blearier eyes. He kind of lurches but Amarant doesn't look surprised and simply says, "Yeah, dad."

"Thought you were stayin' at that shithole all week," the man mumbles.

Amarant winces slightly and looks really pretty annoyed at that but grumbles, "Nah, I came back early."

"Who'zat with you, kid?"

The deer-in-headlights look returns and Amarant glances at Kuja, "Uh, this is..."

"New girlfriend, huh?" The father chuckles even as the son's jaw drops, and he fumbles to respond. "Figured y' had to get over that Lani girl sooner 'r later. It ain't good t' keep holdin' on ta one woman, y'know."

"...Yeah, dad. Um, we're just gonna... uh." He looks at Kuja, apologizing for keeping up his dad's idea, but the silver-haired student simply nods.

"Yeah, yeah," the father grunts, "You go have fun. Jus' remember y'ain't the only one in the house..." He turns and lurches off down the hall, muttering to himself. Amarant practically grabs Kuja and drags him into his room, shutting the door firmly and locking it.

"...Sorry," he mumbles. "Didn't think he'd be up."

"It's okay," Kuja responds, grinning, "You thought I was a girl first, too, you know."

"I would have said something but-"

"Look, Amarant," Kuja laughs softly, "It's alright. It's not like he's going to see me around much, right? And, hey, now you have an excuse to get out of the house, huh?"

"What, that I have to see my girlfriend?"

Kuja holds up his hands noncommittally, "It worked for me with my dad."

"Your dad didn't know you were gay?"

Kuja smirks and gives him a look. "I hung around Lani all the time. Do you honestly think anyone can be completely gay with a girl like her around? She's obviously told you we slept together, right?"

Amarant thinks to feign surprise but it doesn't work so he agrees. "Yeah, she told me."

Kuja finds a place on Amarant's desk chair, as he had when first visiting, and Amarant flops down onto his bed, almost letting out a groan of satisfaction as he does so. The damned kids had run him ragged – okay, just the girl, the boy had been fine – doing everything that Freya had told them not to let the kids do. It started with eating stuff she wasn't supposed to, and then it escalated into doing pretty crazy experiments in the bathroom with all of Vivi's father's stuff.

And she had the gall to tell him, "You're fun! I'm telling dad to have you baby-sit me when he goes out of town!"

All with a grin on her face, even as she skipped off towards home.

"I told you that Eiko liked you," Kuja drawls, spinning a little in the chair before yawning. "I can't believe we stayed until eleven."

"Maybe your friend will leave me alone now," Amarant groans into his pillow, before sitting up and stretching, toeing his shoes off. "I'm fucking tired."

He takes off his shirt and begins working on taking his pants off without actually getting off the bed, when Kuja asks, "Where should I sleep?"

He looks over his shoulder at the other and shrugs. "The bed, I guess. We already shared a bed up at Madain – I doubt it'll make a difference here."

Kuja nods and looks around the other's room, before getting up to look at his bookshelves. Amarant finally manages to get down to his boxers and settles in bed, pulling the blanket around him and grumbling, "Turn off the light when you're done, okay?"

"Alright," the other mumbles, and so the redhead closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

It's not long before the lights go off, and Amarant feels the bed tilt a little as Kuja climbs in, making a very soft noise and then laying down.

The bed isn't really wide enough for someone like Amarant to share comfortably, but Kuja's kind of small so he fits alright. They both lay on their sides, facing away from each other, but Kuja's back is pressed against Amarant's and neither of them are really that comfortable.

It's been a long time since Amarant's ever really shared his bed with just one person in a non-sexual context. He reminds himself again, non-sexual, and agrees that no, it's not sexual in any way. Kuja just feels a lot like Lani.

"...Thank you," Kuja mumbles against the sheets, and Amarant doesn't roll over though he very much wants to.

"For what?"

"Just... for. You're putting up splendidly with me." Kuja sighs heavily and says, "I haven't done this in a long time."

"What?" Amarant asks, "Sleep in the same bed as a friend?" He forces friend out and stresses it.

"...not been alone."

It's quiet and soft and the redhead frowns, eyes looking across to the clock on the wall – twelve-thirty-seven. He doesn't say anything right away, and Kuja takes it the wrong way, saying suddenly, "Not that I'm alone, or anything. I didn't mean it weirdly – I just-"

Amarant chuckles, "It's alright, Kuj'. Go to sleep."

"...I'm so sorry," Kuja mumbles, and his voice sounds strained. "I shouldn't be around people."

"Yeah, well... Not a lot of people should be. But you are. Don't worry about it, you're fine."

Some minutes pass and Amarant can feel himself starting to drift off, when he feels Kuja's shoulders begin to shake.

That does it, he decides, rolling over carefully. "Hey," he rasps, "Come on, it's okay."

He realizes Kuja's not crying, but laughing. It's hysterical, half-sobbing laughter and his hands are over his mouth, and he's cracking the fuck up. Amarant wonders what medication the other needs when suddenly the silver-haired man sits up and hunches over, nails digging into his cheeks.

"I'm going to be sick," he cries, laughter quickly dissolving into tears.

"Hey, hey." Amarant sits up and grabs the other's shoulders, "Calm down, breathe."

"I'm sorry," he whispers, prying his hands from his face, "I'm so sorry, I really should just go..."

"It'll be fine, relax." He's had his own share of burnouts before and while he never got this extreme around people he knows just how bad it can be. "Look, do you want me to take you home? If you want, I'll drive you home."

"I – I, no, no, I don't want to interrupt Zidane and his friends-"

"Hey, fuck your brother. He'd probably want you okay more than he'd want to party."

Kuja is silent and Amarant can make out red half-circles on his cheeks. He's pretty sure they haven't cut through, but who knows.

And then the silver-haired male turns on him and says, "What would you rather me do? Do you want me to leave? Is my friends status provisional, for when I'm not fucking crazy?"

Amarant frowns and shakes his head. "I just don't want you to be uncomfortable," he mutters, avoiding the last question because that's just paranoia talking now.

"What?" The smaller male tenses up and Amarant realizes quickly he's said the wrong thing. "You- jus.. I-I don't want to be comfortable, I can't be comfortable, you don't understand are you just like fucking Gilgamesh?"

Kuja's out of Amarant's grip and out of the bed, backed against the door in seconds.

"You just- you're just trying – I don't know, why am I always –"

Amarant doesn't stand, doesn't move. He just sits there and says, "You know I'm not like Gilgamesh."

Kuja's shaking and then he puts a hand to his mouth and says, "I'm so sorry Amarant, I'm... I'm just not alright I'm really fucked up and-"

"I don't mind," he tells the other honestly, because it's better than being nothing at all. "I'll take you home, okay?"

"I... I um... I'd rather just stay here," Kuja mumbles, crossing his arms over himself and looking at the floor. "If... if that's okay? I just... I was thinking too much and it..."

"Hey, it's alright, I don't mind. Come on," he waves his hand towards himself, "I'm not going to do anything like Gilgamesh. I'm not going to stop being your friend just because of some emotional shit. You can take the bed, I'll stay on the floor, if that'll make you feel better."

Kuja watches him for a long time and he's reminded of a wild horse more than ever. He says the words he thinks the other wants to hear: "I promise."

"...Don't... don't," the other rasps, "Don't do that. Don't make promises." He comes forward nonetheless, climbing into the bed before Amarant can move, reaching out and touching his shoulder.

"I won't make ones I can't keep," Amarant mumbles, thinking even then that Kuja looks as afraid as before. "Don't worry about that. Here." He wraps an arm around the smaller male and doesn't wince when Kuja's nails dig into his shoulder a little. "I'm not going to do anything except keep you from falling on your ass if you roll out of bed."

The other stares at Amarant as he situates them both under the covers, and then almost laughs.

"I don't think you know what you're doing, Amarant," he sighs, closing his eyes anyways.

"Who cares if I don't. Go to sleep, Kuja, you're going to have to clean up your brother's mess tomorrow."

An unintelligible response is all the other receives and he allows himself the comfort of sleep.

...I heard that when you cut off an extremity it regenerates back a little bigger...Don't believe it.