"Hey, it's not just me. You kissed Ra's Al Ghul."

"When I thought he was Talia. And then only once. You, however, were aware for the whole ten minutes you spent making out in the back seat of my car."

Mr. Wayne always waited until Terry got back from crime fighting to start interrogating him. It wasn't fair. Mess up Terry's night, not his naptime, please.

"There are pictures of you both at the airport already online," Mr. Wayne told him, pulling a few up as examples. Terry watched them with a mixed expression of horror and morbid curiosity. So that was how he and Ryuuji looked together. "It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't Ryuuji Otogi. Don't be surprised if Dana already knows."

Speaking of whom, "Are you sure he wasn't on the phone with Dana when you slagging told me to stop him?"

"Yes," said Mr. Wayne, offended Terry would think otherwise. "He was telling a false team of doctors which terminal to head for. You…successfully…cut him off."

"Then I guess I did my civic duty for the day," Terry concluded, looking for his shirt so he could leave. Mr. Wayne eyed the scratches on his torso warily, but Terry ignored the gaze and pulled his shirt on. He practically ran up the stairs and out of the cave. He needed desperately to get in touch with Dana.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hey, slow down, Ter. I know we haven't had sex in a while, but you haven't been starving. Relax."

Terry made a face at Dana. Yeah. Ryuuji had nothing on her in intensity. Still, Terry had to try.

"I know you're worried about the news and want to prove yourself as a real man and everything, but honestly…you shouldn't be scared to tell me why you Frenched Ryuuji Otogi in public." That was the problem. Terry simply couldn't tell her. Why couldn't Dana accept that?

"I really wanted him to get to know me?" Terry joked badly. Dana frowned and swore to refuse all future advances until he told her the truth. She had forgotten she'd already made this promise when Terry had been unreliable dating-wise.

Of course, Max hadn't taken things any better.

"Since when were you gay, McGinnis? And why do celebrity gossip columns get to know before I do?"

Terry went to school Monday dreading it. Things were bad enough when he had to wake up in the morning with his brother, the twerp, making kissy faces and his mother giving him the weepy, I-just-don't-know-you-anymore-do-I-? look, even though she had already lectured Terry about how she loved him and he could be out making bad decisions like drugs and street violence that were worse than closeted homosexuality. She just wanted to be more informed of his life and blah blah blah…your father….

All things considered, Terry was pleased no-one at school treated him too differently besides a few comments from Nelson and his group. This may have been because Dana hadn't dumped him. Yet.

Terry's relationship with Ryuuji in third hour also appeared the same, though Terry swore that every now and then Ryuuji would look at him in ways that somehow managed to come off as startling inappropriate. While mostly ignorant on the mechanics of gay relationships, Terry recognised the certain looks Ryuuji mockingly threw at him when he sensed Terry's vision had crept into his vicinity. As a result, Terry spent too much time in third hour contemplating sex and sexuality instead of math, which was a perfectly acceptable teenage thing for him to do most days, except he wasn't thinking of girls. That part bothered him mostly, but not enough to stop his masochistic sort of imagination.

There weren't too many options for gay sex that he could think of, and none were appealing. Supposedly there was the terrifying anal sex, which Terry didn't believe sounded comfortable for either of the parties involved, and then there was getting each other off in different ways, which Terry would be slagged if he ever did that to another guy. Inevitably Terry accepted that he must be straight because what made up his ideal of gay sex did not appeal to him and actually made him a little sick thinking about. There was no chance Terry would let someone do that to him, and no chance he'd ever do that to another man. He concluded that he was turned on thinking about Ryuuji's hands and mouth and energy, nothing else. Anything more than that would have him running away in the most masculine manner it took to run like hell.

"Terrence McGinnis, unless you think you're going to spot the z-score of these heptathlon results skirting past in the hall, I suggest you focus your attention back into the classroom."

A few suck ups laughed. Terry glanced at Ryuuji, who wasn't involved in the class at all, but was typing away madly at what were supposedly his notes. Why did Ryuuji even put up with the class? He was a genius and knew everything, but apparently only when knowing everything was convenient. It could have been that Ryuuji could turn it off. Ryuuji had already taken every level of calculus, for christsakes. How could someone sit for all of the classes they'd already masterly genius'd their way through and not want to throw something at the teacher?

There was a sudden, bright orange flash in the corner of Terry's computer screen jolting him off of his speculations. The title of the flashing icon was "otousan". Terry looked up curiously at Ryuuji, but Ryuuji was still typing. Terry decided to take the risk and clicked. A little window opened with a text box. Written at the top was the question:

Does Dana call you TerBear?

Terry frowned. What the hell? He typed an unenthusiastic no

Too bad. I'm hacking into the school computer system…well, if you even want to call this hacking. Hacking sounds more glamorous and implies I'm actually working at it. Honestly, I prefer to call this browsing. The system practically let me in.

Terry shrugged. and?

You are so difficult to impress. Good day.

The conversation ended with a frowning emoticon right then with whom Terry could only assume was Ryuuji signing out. He looked at Ryuuji one more time and saw the guy wasn't typing anymore, but was staring at the teacher and dozing off. Fine, let him be in a prissy mood. That wasn't Terry's responsibility. Terry's only responsibility at the moment was to settle on the placings for the women's heptathlon and nothing more.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooo

Max was the only person who saw Terry in the light he wanted her to. Although he hadn't told her about making out in the parking garage afterwards, he had told her about distracting…someone...with the kiss. He conveniently forgot to specify that that the person he'd been distracting was Ryuuji himself.

"You just don't think, do you, McGinnis?" asked Max, reclining in the driver's seat of some arcade game she'd just finished filling the top score panel of. Terry nodded.

"What did the old man have to say?"

"He basically chewed me to pieces."

"Figures. He kissed Ra's Al Ghul, though."

"Yeah, but he thought it was Talia, and then not in public. If anyone was being a creep there, it was Ra's Al Ghul."

"Wayne has got a good point. Pizza's here," Max said, eyeing their table around Terry's head. Terry followed her over, but had suddenly lost his appetite. Max shrugged and said there was more for her then, and that it was so kind he'd paid half already.

"You've got to admit, Terry," said Max two slices later. Terry was looking troubled and it was interfering with her pizza enjoyment, "to everyone but me, you're looking pretty ambiguous right now. I won't lie to you, though. It has increased your popularity with some of the girls."

"Oh yeah, that's all I care about, my popularity with girls. My masculinity and heterosexuality just pale in comparison," said Terry sarcastically. For his lead counsel, Max was failing him in the time he most needed advice.

"Who says masculinity and heterosexuality are the same thing?" said Max, failing him even more. "You're so narrow minded."

"I'm not about to argue gay stereotypes and prejudice with you-"

"Good, because you'd lose."

"-I just want to know how to let Ryuuji know that I didn't mean to kiss him and not to read into it. He's gay and everything, and I don't want him thinking I am gay, also."

Max cleared her throat and looked at Terry levelly. "Did Ryuuji tell you he was gay?"

"Well, no, but-"

"No? Then how the hell do you know?"

"What?" Terry was frowning. Sometimes Max thought too deeply into things. She was sitting back again, defying him, challenging him to argue her winning point. Terry managed an ashamed half shrug, allowing her to continue.

"Sure," said Max smartly, "there are rumours about him and Kaiba Seto. There are also rumours about Batman and Robin, which is why in the Batman musical, Robin is played by a girl. Lucky for the writers, Robin's a gender-neutral name. Everything's rumours."

Terry finally shook his head in disagreement. "No, Ryuuji is definitely gay."

"How are you so sure?" asked Max. She didn't believe him at all.

"For one, he kissed me back."

"He's polite."

"He acts…gaily." There had to be a better word for that.

"Or so you assume."

"He dresses strangely."

"That's like saying all of Domino, Japan's gay."

Terry secretly speculated that all of Domino, Japan was, in fact, gay. "He's got long, feminine hair."

"I have short hair."

"But yours is pink."

"Ryuuji's isn't."

"He flips his hair a lot."

"That's vanity."

"Feminine vanity."

"The guy's got nice hair. Give him a break, alright?"

"Okay. Well, he's not attracted to girls."

"You don't have to be in a relationship all the time to prove how straight you are, Terry."

"He jumped me in the car."

"Then you-wait. He what?"

Terry mentally shot himself for letting this slip. Poorly, he attempted to recover himself. "Uh, he tried to jump me but I fended him off." He wondered what the straightest thing to say was right then. "It was, uh, very upsetting."

Max looked angry. She sounded angry. "How come I just don't believe you, Terry?"

"Well, I…" Oh slag it. She saw right through him.

"Now you are making up stories about him jumping you? You're the worst liar ever."

Terry went from horrified to deeply offended in half a second. "What? Why do you think I am lying to you? Ask Ryuu-believe me," he'd thought better of telling her to ask Ryuuji anything. "Just believe me because deep down you know I would never lie like that?"

"I can't tell what I know about you now, Terry," said Max, shaking her head. Terry tried to say something, but she shushed him. Obviously they had exhausted the subject. "Now, the important question is: Are you going to eat any of this slagging pizza?"

Terry sighed and committed himself to a slice. Before he'd taken hardly more than a bite, his phone rang.

"McGinnis, I have a plan. I need you here at once." snapped Mr. Wayne from the other end.

"C'mon, I'm eating," Terry argued back.

"McGinnis…" Mr Wayne's voice had become it's dangerous growl that reminded Terry the old man could still do a great deal of harm to someone with his walking stick.

"Fine, fine," Terry sighed and wrapped three slices in a napkin, mouthing the words 'Mr. Wayne' to Max and pointing to the phone. She mouthed 'duh' right back, because Mr. Wayne was the only person who ever really called Terry. She was right. It was a sad existence, that of the Batman.

"Have fun," Max yelled as Terry rushed out the door. He seriously doubted it.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooo

"You want me to what?" asked Terry, stunned and frazzled and pinching himself to wake up from the most terrible nightmare of his entire life.

"Pursue your relationship with Ryuuji Otogi for investigative purposes," Mr. Wayne repeated just as mercilessly.

"But, I-"

"Didn't think your little stunt at the airport wouldn't come without repercussions?"

Well, yes and no. Terry hated the way Mr. Wayne finished his sentences. They always made Terry sound like an idiot.

"Just what kind of 'relationship' am I pursuing here?"

"Nothing more than you can handle," said Mr. Wayne. "You simply need him to trust you." Yeah, that was easy for the old man to say. The guy hadn't had a social life in two million years. "And stop looking at me like it's my fault, Terry. You got yourself into this."

"But his father's safely in the institution. What could Ryuuji possibly do to him now?"

Mr. Wayne had been waiting for such a question. He turned dramatically to his computer and observed the data over his clasped hands, inviting Terry to do the same. "I suspect Ryuuji's getting tired of all these near misses. Gotham's corrupt. He'll have little trouble finding a way to murder the man here."

"And how does my getting close to him help? He's not going to magically confess everything to me. Just because I'm with Dana, I don't go around telling her everything about being Batman."

"Yes, but you will be in close proximity to him much of the time," said Mr. Wayne, pulling up a schedule on the desktop. Terry saw his weeks plotted out before him and suddenly felt very used. "I'm also enrolling you in Japanese and Chinese classes so you can listen in on his conversations without him suspecting you. He's confident you don't speak either language, so he feels comfortable using them around you on the phone. It's to your advantage, really."

Terry nodded, but there was still something bothering him. "All right, but, well, how close do we have to be? I mean, honestly."

"As close as is needed to acquire the information."

Terry sighed. "So should I just break up with Dana now?"

"I never said you had to. That's your choice," said Mr. Wayne, which irritated Terry further. Mr. Wayne was diabolical like that, pretending he didn't know what he was implying. Wasn't it Mr. Wayne's dream to have Terry finally cut lose on his emotional connections and the risk of having a love interest? The old man must've been thrilled, him being the evil little anti-matchmaker making hell for Terry. Terry imagined Mr. Wayne as a very small Asian woman dressed in red and black with devil horns and a pitchfork. The image made him even more upset. Terry had to physically shake the thought from his head, and when it was gone, one thing still remain: This was all someone's fault, and Terry would strive to see them suffer for their crime.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo o

Ryuuji Otogi was idling on a bench outside Hamilton High, inspecting his fingernails while a group of girls briefed him in simple English and broken Japanese about the goings-on. He seemed to be only half listening, nodding occasionally to treat his fans with attention, only the girls could not tell because Ryuuji fooled everyone but Terry. Terry felt his pulse and temperature rise as he watched, knowing full well that Ryuuji Otogi was an arrogant son-of-a-bitch and too attractive and interesting to the girls for them to realise.

And as much as Terry hated it, he needed to speak with Ryuuji, needed to be "friends" with Ryuuji. The hardest part was summoning the will to walk across the grounds to get to him.

"Hello, Ryuuji," said Terry brightly as he approached. The girls around Ryuuji looked up, a few smiling knowingly once they recognised Terry. Terry forced himself past the unwanted attention, "have you, uh, seen Dana around?"

Of course it was a lame start. That was Terry McGinnis for you, master of glib and subtly. He was nervous as the girls watched him, waiting for something a bit more stunning.

"Dana? No, sorry," said Ryuuji, again with the accent and the not speaking English thing. Terry had been hoping Ryuuji would give up the act after being found out by Max, but apparently no-one else in Hamilton High cared about international gaming. And if there was anyone else, they were likely too meek and worshipful to put their demigod on the spot.

"Oh, well thanks, then. I guess I'll see you later," said Terry quickly aborting before he'd gotten anywhere.

"I can help."

Terry groaned inwardly. He'd been hoping Ryuuji wouldn't say something like that. Unfortunately, before Terry could reject the idea, Ryuuji was leaping cheerfully after him and looking very smug and please with himself. Terry couldn't imagine what was so great and felt that he really didn't want to know.

"God, the Gotham girls are tiring. Even forcing them to speak Japanese doesn't keep them from talking forever. It's really a gift," said Ryuuji as they entered the school again He was back to his chatty old self, and Terry was at least glad not to be dealing with someone who pretended everything he said was incoherent. "Also, I believe Dana is at a swim practice right now. They've got a meet coming up, and even though Dana's not competing, she's practicing standby if someone can't go. She told you that already. You should really keep up. People are usually speaking to you, Terry, not at you."

"Why didn't you tell me all of that earlier?" asked Terry, no longer baffled to why Ryuuji knew more about Dana's personal life than he did. He'd come to accept it as an unavoidable fact.

Ryuuji grinned wickedly. "C'mon, you can't expect the poor, verbally limited Japanese boy to tell you all that and then leave him to the chatty Gotham girls. It's cruel."

With Terry, Ryuuji was able to speak to his full ability, but Terry, though he was sure Ryuuji was brimming with things to say after weeks of painfully limited English, didn't really care what Ryuuji was going on about. Instead, Terry was strategising, and for some reason the plans he came up with fell apart before he could initiate them. An example of this was that they were both looking for Dana when Terry wasn't all that interested where she could be. Now, Terry was trying to back out and give himself a moment to change direction.

"I really don't need to drag you along with me. You probably have something better to do."

Ryuuji shrugged and said no, he didn't think so, which lead to the unvoiced question in Terry of what exactly Ryuuji did with himself all day. You know, when he wasn't taking place in fan girl orgies and assassination plots. This lack of agenda was officially filed away in Terry's mind as "deeply suspicious", and to be looked into with further investigation at a better time.

"Wait, didn't the swim team leave this afternoon to go to the meet?"

Ryuuji grinned at Terry in a manner that always made him uncomfortable. "I was wondering if we'd have to walk all the way to the gym before you remembered that," he said. "Congratulations. You are capable of listening and remembering. Dana doesn't give you any credit. How she puts it, I assumed there was something very wrong with you. Like, mentally."

"How exactly does she put it?" Terry asked, morbidly fascinated with what his girlfriend said behind his back.

"Badly," said Ryuuji, "let's leave it at that. I was stunned when Mr. Wayne told me you could drive. Like hearing a chimp could drive…."

"Ha ha…" grumbled the now very put off Terry. So Ryuuji thought he was an idiot. Great. Not that it would have particularly made Terry's day to hear otherwise, he still felt horribly abused by everyone. Did he really come off as so incredibly stupid? Or did everyone ask Dana about it before they formed their own opinions?

"Don't look so gloomy about it," said Ryuuji brightly as they re-entered the school yard and found it to be well-emptied. "I've personally come to accept that she exaggerates, and you are perfectly normal. Or, as perfectly normal as you could be with all your responsibilities."

Terry was suspicious of what Ryuuji meant by responsibilities. The problem with Ryuuji was that while at times he seemed to know a lot less than he really did, there were a few times where Terry thought Ryuuji honestly did know less but started bluffing so no-one could tell. He'd mostly seen this when Ryuuji interacted with Max, but then there wasn't really anyone who could keep up with Max except Mr. Wayne.

Now, Terry's concern was whether or not Ryuuji was hinting at Terry's after school activities, and if he was, how much he knew about them. Terry never suspected that Ryuuji knew he was Batman sometimes. He suspected it all the time. The fault lay in Ryuuji's ability to appear to know everything, especially since he really did know most things so that everyone was better off assuming he knew it all.

"What responsibilities? Old Man Wayne?" asked Terry.

"I'm not sure. Yet. But whatever they are, they are demanding. Or, the old man, Wayne, is very demanding. I'm curious why he's got a strange kid looking after him in his old age. I mean, there are professionals for that sort of thing."

"What can I say? The old man's an eccentric," said Terry very easily and very smoothly, implying in every possible way that the subject they were on did not matter. Ryuuji frowned at him.

"But why you? You'd think he'd want someone more responsible, like an honours student or at least someone without a criminal record."

Terry stopped. "Since when do I have a criminal record?"

"Since Dana told me all about you enough to make me very sorry you trust someone who talks as much as she does," said Ryuuji lightly. He liked the subject of Terry and Dana, Terry had already surmised that much. It seemed to bring Ryuuji joy to be in the midst of their rather dysfunctional relationship. "Speaking of you and Dana," said Ryuuji, because obviously he'd been working the entire conversation to this favourite subject of his, "most people would question what she sees in you."

"Why do you care?" Terry was getting defensive, as Ryuuji expected he would. Dana was not a good topic for Terry. It was a very complicated thing-enough to make him accuse gay men of being straight. "Are you bothering me because you wish Dana was your girlfriend?" he asked with more seriousness than he'd been expecting. Because it would explain quite a lot, a straight Ryuuji. If Ryuuji really wasn't gay, but just wanted Dana, then all the hell he brought started to make slightly more sense.

"No, of course not." said Ryuuji, making an annoyed face at the thought. "What I mean is, I'm not like most people. Instead, I wonder what you see in her."

In that case, maybe who Ryuuji wanted was Terry. This made the conversation suddenly uncomfortable again.

"She's my girlfriend," said Terry on default. That was the reason for now and always concerning Dana. Why did Terry try so hard to win Dana back? Why did Terry let Dana complain about him? Why did Terry not complain about Dana back? Because she was his girlfriend.

"Yes, that's extremely obvious. But, why?"

"She's a good person."

"There are many more good people out there with infinitely less attractive breasts. You can't tell me you like her just because she's a good person."

"I'll admit she's good looking, but looks aren't everything." Terry secretly wished somehow Dana would be able to hear that and be rightly impressed with how stand-up a guy her boyfriend was.

This answer annoyed Ryuuji. "That, too; you're a lovely couple. But is there anything special about her? You know, besides the ability to forgive you of genocide and look great doing it?"

"W-well…" Terry stammered. He tried to think of something, anything, but before he could say how loyal she was and how wonderful she was, he remembered how she'd broken up with him only a week before, how she didn't want to talk to him until he told her about Ryuuji, how he didn't feel he could really trust her to know that he was Batman. There had to be something wrong between them if he didn't tell her everything and didn't very much want to except for when a more romantic mood struck him.

Ryuuji had meanwhile started grinning very wickedly back at Terry. Terry imagined this guy had to be the devil because he was wearing plenty of red and was devising a means to Terry's downfall as a part-time normal teenager. What little normalcy Terry had left in his life, Ryuuji was trying desperately to rip out from under him, and Terry believe he was already losing the fight.

"Can you think of just one thing?" Ryuuji asked mockingly. He was having a blast, wasn't he?

Terry didn't answer the question. He gave Ryuuji a parting spiteful look before walking off without a word into a large crowd of teenagers where Ryuuji couldn't follow him and still maintain the fluent conversation.

Behind him, he thought he heard Ryuuji laughing.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooo

Max had been briefed on Terry's mission to "befriend" Ryuuji by Mr. Wayne. He hadn't told her everything, only that it would help along Terry's current assignment. Max wouldn't have been Max of she had accepted this answer, but for all her arguments, Mr. Wayne's resolve to secrecy was stronger. Somehow he'd finally convinced her that even though she really wanted to know all the particulars, she wasn't going to get them, and until she accepted that, she would be given no responsibility. Max enjoyed being in the know as much as helping to investigate cases, and in the end decided she would learn more by arguing less.

"Hey, how are you two crazy kids doing?" Max asked as she came upon Terry and Ryuuji waiting for her at Cheesy Dan's. When neither said anything, she went to sarcasm. "Well, don't let me interrupt such an involved conversation."

Terry hadn't said anything to Ryuuji since he'd arrived. The tension was obvious, and Ryuuji only laughed at him. This caused Terry to clam up further and Ryuuji to be even more amused.

"So, how have things been going, Ryuuji?" Max asked to start him talking. Ask Ryuuji one question and he greedily filled in a conversation with the long answer. It was convenient for Max since she didn't have to come up with a whole lot to say.

Terry watched Ryuuji speak, not listening in the slightest. He remembered painfully how before leaving this afternoon, Mr. Wayne had lectured him once again on the progress Terry hadn't been making for a week since the case began. Terry wondered if saving some old geezer's life was really worth all the trouble he found himself in.

"As you know, everyone's got questions about you and Terry," said Max, ignoring the sharp look from Terry across the table.

"Do they?" asked Ryuuji, feigning surprise. "There's nothing much to question. There's really nothing at all. Terry's got his precious Dana."

"Oh yeah, but everyone's been a bit unsure about Terry for years," continued Max. "If you know what I mean."

"Excuse me?" interrupted Terry. He grabbed Max by the arm and dragged her out of earshot of Ryuuji. This was not how he'd imagined the conversation to go. He was going to find ways to stand Ryuuji and learn them well. They were not about to have gossip hour about the public opinion on Terry McGinnis. "Just what the hell are you talking about?"

"Calm down. Mr. Wayne did tell me to help you out," Max reminded him. Terry shook his head.

"He said help out, not hook up. I have to be friends with Ryuuji."

"That's not what it sounded like when Mr. Wayne told me-"

"Bruce Wayne is a sick, sick old man, Max. Don't listen too carefully."

Max stepped back and gave Terry another of her famous looks where she summed up the entire situation in a few seconds and told him about it. It made her an excellent strategist and moral compass, but Terry usually found it irritating. "I think you've got cold feet and can't finish what you started. The old man told me how this was your fault to begin with and now you can't deal with it. So, I say we do things how Mr. Wayne wants, and you asked Ryuuji out sometime."

Terry visibly disliked the idea. There had to be a better way.

"There has to be a better way."

Max seemed to think Terry was an idiot to wish for so much. She dragged him back to the table and before Ryuuji. Terry, uncertain what she was getting at, look about himself for an escape.

"Terry has something to ask you, Ryuuji."

Terry blanched. "What?

Max punched Terry in the shoulder, daring him to do something stupid. "Forgive him for being an idiot. He can't help it." She gave Terry a warning look.

"Sorry," Terry apologised. "What I mean is…would you, uh…" There was a long pause. "…like me…to buy the pizza now, because it takes maybe fifteen minutes and that gets to be a long time and stuff, you know?"

"TERRY," snapped Max at his side. She elbowed Terry strongly in the ribs to make him reasonable. Terry nearly buckled over at the force.

"Owe, what the-" Max pulled her arm back threateningly. "I mean, well, actually, would you like me to go out sometimes. With you. I mean, go somewhere sometime with you. Or whatever. And not Max." He glared at her. "Definitely not Max."

Ryuuji, who had appeared bemused and sadistically pleased throughout the performance, now paused to consider the offer. Terry was stuck trying to figure which answer he himself personally preferred. A resounding "no" would have been terrific, but it would have defeated the purpose of getting to know Ryuuji so much better in the first place. It also would have offended Terry, who was vain enough to assume once again that it was difficult to resist the physical attractiveness that was his curse. The alternative, however, was a delighted "yes", and Terry didn't want to think what that entailed for his future.

As far as Terry could assume, the answer was going to be and could only be yes. Because life and Mr. Wayne hated him like that. Ryuuji was going to ask for a place and a time, and Terry didn't have one. Returning to Cheesy Dan's was out of the question, seeing that it was a crowded hang out and not the least bit intimate unless you were twelve and bringing your first girlfriend there for a stomping game of air hockey. And while air hockey was a very awesome game, Terry figured that anyone besides himself would fail to see the romance involved in playing it with someone you considered just as cool as you were and worthy of the match.

Terry frantically decided he would pick and choose finer details once Ryuuj committed. Maybe Max had a plan. Terry didn't know the first thing about men going out with men and felt he was at a horrible loss when instigating something he didn't fully understand. Ryuuji likely gave him more credit than he deserved, seeing that Terry had made the first move in a moment of sublime stupidity.

"I would love to go out with you," said Ryuuji, grinning supremely. A part of Terry cried. "But, no."

There was a long pause, as even Max was struck entirely speechless.

"W-what?"

Ryuuji spoke more slowly this time. "No. I'm sorry, but I'm just not interested. I'll take you up on the pizza offer though. I don't like pepperonis, but everything else is fine."