A/N: Sorry for taking so long! I was SO busy with the fashion show! (I'm in fashion design class). And if you're wondering it went PERFECTLY! (I even sold a dress) But anyways, hope you like the chapter, and as always, any comments you have would be wonderful! ENJOY!

In Spite Of It All

Come Away With Me

"Come away with me and we'll kiss
On a mountain top
Come away with me
And I'll never stop loving you"

-Come Away With Me, Norah Jones

Shuichi woke up the next morning with a feeling of disorientation. He had no clue where he was or whose couch he was sleeping on. He rolled off the couch with a dull thud when he hit the floor.

Looking around he realized he was in Ryuichi's living room. 'Oh God,' he thought. 'What was Ryuichi doing with Tohma last night!'

Kazuya woke up that morning to the sound of Shuichi ramming his head into the wall. "What the eff are you doing?" he asked.

"Oh," Shuichi said, bewildered. "I didn't realize you were awake."

"Yeah, actually, I have to do some signing for Ryuichi today."

"Cool."

"Tomorrow do you want to go out for dinner or something?" Kazuya asked innocently.

Shuichi blushed. "Umm… uh… yeahsurewhynot? Imeanitsnotlikewe'redatingoranythignsoitsnotabigdealright?"

"Is that a yes?"

"Yeah," Shuichi replied quickly.

"Good," Kazuya said with a genuine smile. "Well, I have to go soon so make sure to eat breakfast and please: take a shower. Okay?"

"Umm…. Yeah," mumbled Shuichi.

After a long shower, in which Shuichi tried to really get clean, he ate a bowl of cereal. His cereal of choice that particular morning was called Raisin Bran, and since it had the word 'bran' it was healthy.

Just as he was finishing his second bowl of cereal he heard a click in the lock.

"I'm home!" called Ryuichi.

"Where the hell have you been?" Shuichi didn't beat around the bush.

"Oh, Shuichi, where's Kazuya?" asked Ryuichi in a suspicious voice.

"He went to a signing. Your signing."

"Oh, right, I forgot. But Kazuya remembered," said Ryuichi.

"Uh-huh. Why don't you go to your own signings?"

"I just don't feel like it sometimes. I've been doing it for long time and I get bored, so I send Kazuya. Plus, I went drinking last night!" said Ryuichi in a slightly tired, ugh-I'm-so-hung-over voice.

"Oh well uh… cool. With Tohma?" Shuichi blurted out. Ryuichi just stared at him.

"Yeah, did Kazuya tell you?"

"Yep, did you sleep-," Shuichi decided to leave that sentence unfinished. It was safer that way.

"Oh, yeah, I slept over at Tohma's house. Mika was away somewhere with the baby," said Ryuichi.

"So, you and Tohma. Alone. Together," Shuichi said mostly to himself, but loud enough for Ryuichi to hear.

"Yeah, we were. Look, Shuichi, what are getting at?" asked Ryuichi.

"I – I wanted to know if you had sex with him," said Shuichi with a down cast look.

Ryuichi moved to sit at the table with Shuichi. "Well then. Yes. I did. But how did you know that I was sleeping with Tohma? Did Kazuya tell you?" Ryuichi questioned.

"No, no. Kazuya didn't tell me," Shuichi answered the question, but offered no more information.

"Well… who told you?"

"Umm… you know…"

"No I don't know."

"Yuki."

"What!" Ryuichi screamed. "Holy living fuck! That means that you and Yuki… you know," Ryuichi moved his hands together and wriggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Shuichi burst out in tears. "I'm so stupid!" he sobbed. Ryuichi gathered his friend into his arms and rocked him back and forth.

"It's okay little buddy. Everything's going to be fine," comforted Ryuichi.

"But I'm so weak! I can't even go a whole month without him," Shuichi wailed.

"Well, how about this: I help you get Kazuya?" Ryuichi suggested happily.

Shuichi stopped crying immediately, "You'd really do that for me?"

"Of course!" cheered Ryuichi, who was silently congratulating himself on his quick change of topic.

"Thank you Ryu-chan!" squealed Shuichi as he flung himself at Ryuichi. Ryuichi smiled.

Kazuya looked down at the small girl in front of him. She couldn't older than ten, he thought. She handed him a shaking photo which he graciously took while cleverly brushing his hand up against hers in the process. He flashed an award winning smile. 'Who says Ryuichi Sakuma can't be a ladies man?' he thought to himself as the girl blushed profusely.

Through all the years Kazuya had never actually paid much mind to the age variation. There were always girls of all ages; from eight to eighty. Ryuichi, of course rarely dated, but that didn't stop him form having a few of the more attractive girls over for the night.

"Careful, someone is going to think you're a pedophile if you keep that up," said Tohma, leaning towards Kazuya.

"You're lucky she didn't hear that," whispered Kazuya back.

"Well, at least she's the last one for now anyways. We're gonna start the interview in ten minutes."

"Great," said Kazuya sarcastically.

"So, did you have fin last night?" whispered Tohma. Kazuya had no idea what he was talking about.

"Sure, did you?"

"Of course. Your brother is fun. He likes his games, doesn't he?" commented Tohma.

"What ever d you mean?" Kazuya asked innocently.

"Well, this time I didn't have to leave him tied to a bed. Although, I think he liked it…" Tohma purred.

"You tied my brother up! Ah, geez, I could have gone forever without knowing that," Kazuya groaned.

"Well," Tohma shrugged. "You asked." Kazuya shook his head in disgust.

"How is Shuichi? That poor boy is having a hard time isn't he?" said Tohma scathingly.

"He's fine. A little upset, but he'll be okay," said Kazuya in a quiet voice.

"Yes, he had a rough day yesterday, I heard."

"Yes, he did," Kazuya said this through clenched teeth. He wasn't sure what Tohma was alluding to, and he probably didn't want to know.

"Yes. Yuki was quite hard on him yesterday," Tohma said with false concern. "I think, though, Shuichi was harder on himself."

"He went to see Yuki?" questioned Kazuya. He didn't want to sound concerned, so he tried to sound curios, but laid back.

"Yeah, I guess they missed each other," Tohma sighed in a silly and exaggerated way. "Poor Shuichi got quite hard form Yuki. I guess Shuichi hasn't found anyone new to give it to him."

"You're an asshole, you know that?" stated Kazuya. "Why do you even care? Why don't you just stay with Yuki?"

"I have a wife, silly boy. I also like to keep track of my musician's lives. And if you didn't look so much like Ryuichi and weren't his brother, I would probably fire you," said Tohma flatly.

"Um, first: I work for my brother, not you. Second: I work for my brother because I look like him. If I didn't look like him and wasn't his brother, I'd fire me too. And besides, Ryuichi just uses you and deep down I think you know that," Kazuya pointed out. It was a little harsh, but if Tohma couldn't handle it, who could?

"Don't fuck with me, you pathetic little tag-along. It's best for the safety of both you and your brother," threatened Tohma, effectively ending the conversation. Anyone watching would have thought it was a pleasant chat between friends.

Kazuya got home eight hours after he had left that morning. The whole interview took two hours, but the drive was quite long.

Kazuya looked in the living room and found Ryuichi passed out on the couch with his friend Captain Morgan.

"Jesus," Kazuya whispered out loud. "Does he do anything but drink?"

He picked up the bottle from the table and brought them to the kitchen. The clock told him it was only 10:15. He couldn't believe his brother had passed out already. He found a second bottle of whiskey that was already empty. That explained a little bit more. Maybe he had company?

Kazuya continued to his bedroom. He had had a long day and really needed to sleep. He could shower in the morning.

He walked into his room and found Shuichi asleep on his bed. He could see a tear still wet on his cheek. Shuichi had again been crying over what had happened. Kazuya sighed as he took off his clothes and climbed into some pyjamas. Kazuya tried not to touch Shuichi, but he couldn't get enough room not to. Kazuya was just drifting off to sleep when Shuichi spoke. His speech was a bit slurred.

"Kazuya?"

"Yeah?"

"Am I hogging the bed?"

"No, it's fine."

"Alright. How did it go?"

"Oh, um, okay."

"Oh?"

Only one word was needed to end the conversation: "Tohma."

It was about 2:30 in the afternoon when Ryuichi and Shuichi arrived at Shuichi's apartment for beautification. They had just finished lunch and The Date started at 4:00.

After Shuichi got a shower the pre-game nerves began to settle in. He was shaking like a wet chiwawa in winter. Ryuichi on the other hand was jumping for excitement; he just couldn't wait to find the perfect outfit for Shuichi to wear.

Ryuichi had also convinced Shuichi to let him do his hair. Shuichi screamed like a little girl with a skinned knee when he saw it.

"What did you do to it!" he yelled.

"Is it that bad?" Ryuichi asked worriedly.

"NO! It's fabulous! What did you do to it?"

"Oh, you know" Ryuichi evaded the question. "A bit of this and that."

At about 3:50 Shuichi had finally put on an outfit, gone over his "dating etiquette" with Ryuichi and found matching socks, all without ruining his hair. Kazuya showed up and the gay-fest commenced.

With a shaky hand, Shuichi opened the door. Kazuya didn't look much better that Shuichi. They were both a bundle of nerves.

The pair decided to go shopping for a bit until they got hungry and then dinner. After that they might go see a movie of go for a few drinks.

While shopping Shuichi bought a stuffed alien for Kazuya, which raised a lot of questions. All of which were carefully avoided.

To return the favour, Kazuya bought Shuichi an Utada Hikaru CD, which earned him a punch to the arm.

"Ow, that hurt!" Kazuya complained.

"Baby!" Shuichi got punched.

"AH! OWEE!"

"Oh, come on, it couldn't have hurt that much! What are you, ga…y?... Shit," Kazuya cussed under his breath.

"Um… actually, in case you haven't noticed…" Shuichi left the sentence unfinished. It was his turn to make Kazuya look stupid, not the other way around.

"Right," Kazuya said awkwardly. Then there was the obligatory silence, which was uncomfortable.

"At least that wasn't weird," Shuichi said. "I'm hungry, let's boogie."

"Groovy."

After they finished eating dinner and had the cliché payment argument ensued, (No, no I got it, it's okay) they decided it was time for some alcohol. Shuichi concluded, not out loud of course, that it would be good if he got Kazuya highly inebriated. That way it would be easier to get in his pants.

After six beers, a vodka paralyzer, and a shot of whiskey, Kazuya was having a great time. He only hoped he could make it home after his date.

"Kazuya, are you drunk?" Shuichi slurred, leaning on Kazuya.

"I'm too drunk to be drunk… wait, does that even make sense?" Kazuya replied in an equally drunk voice.

"Maybe we should go back home… to my place," Shuichi suggested as he put his hand on Kazuya's leg.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" Kazuya asked.

"I might be," Shuichi replied in a sly voice and giggled.

"It might be working," Kazuya giggled. They paid the bill, with a generous tip, and caught a taxi home.

Kazuya felt slightly more sober in the fresh air and decided that he should probably go to his own house. The ride to Shuichi's house was quiet, punctuated only by Shuichi giggling. Shuichi tumbled out of the taxi and tottered off to the apartment building.

"Just wait for me," Kazuya said and trotted off after him. "Shuichi, I had a lot of fun tonight."

"Me too!" cheered Shuichi.

"Well, we should do it again sometime," Kazuya replied. Shuichi smiled slightly, only showing only some of the emotions inside of him.

"Well, goodnight Kazuya."

"Goodnight Shuichi," Kazuya replied and started to head back to the taxi. He hesitated about five feet from Shuichi and turned back. Shuichi gave him a quizzical look. Kazuya leaned in and gently kissed Shuichi on the lips.

"Goodnight," Kazuya said. He kissed Shuichi on the cheek one last time and went to the taxi.

A/N: Finally some action! Review because we love you!