Tenchou~

It's been a tiring few weeks since Sousuke took up the part-time job at the flower shop. The manager, the sweet guy that he is, has made it firmly clear to anyone who asks that he plans on keeping his single status to the disappointment of a very many number of fans and customers, Sousuke included.

How can he be so jaded when he's so young? Sousuke wonders bitterly as he half listens to the manager's and the petite blond's conversation. He thinks his name is Hazuki.

"Mako-chan, are you trying to be a saint?" The blond prods, teasingly. "I'm sure you can find some nice people around town."

Manager Tachibana waves his hand dismissively. "Nagisa, I told you already. I don't need to date anyone. I'm fine as I am."

"I think it's such a shame." Hazuki raises both hands above his head in a 'what am I going to do with you' manner. "You don't give yourself enough credit."

The kid finally says it.

"No." Manager stubbornly refuses. "I have this shop. That's all I need."

Hazuki nudges his head against Manager's back. "You're too nice for your own good. There's no way I can be like that around Rei-chan."

Sousuke tunes out the rest as he listlessly selects pots and places them on shelves at random for display, use to the same old, same old.

Tachibana Makoto, 24 years old, assumed single and disinterested in any sort of intimate relationship. Each reminder knocks down the nerve he's built up to express feeling beyond professional and friendly interest. He's a grown man, so why is something like confessing so hard a task?

When he had realized his feelings, he had assumed Manager had a glass heart at first. He wanted to be careful. He still is; the difference is he knows Manager has a strong-hearted yet independent personality.

Sousuke also doesn't want to admit he's utterly terrified of rejection.

"...zaki…"

A person can't shit where they eat, he reminds himself. He's survived so far following this basic rule. It has saved him from any unnecessary awkwardness minus that last horrid winter. Neither did it exempt him from bad judgment of character, but it's a personal flaw of his.

"Yamazaki-kun?"

"...Yeah?"

Sousuke turns slightly toward where Hazuki and Manager Tachibana are gazing expectantly at him.

"What do you think?"

"About what?"

A helpless grin is flashed his way. "Were you spacing out again?"

"Sorry," he says sheepishly. He feels embarrassed to be caught off guard in front of him.

"I bet Sou-chan was daydreaming about his sweetheart," Hazuki suggests in mock seriousness.

Sousuke ignores the nickname with a twitch of his eyebrow. "I don't have anything like that," he denies offhandedly. His eyes slide to the manager out of his own accord.

Hazuki follows his gaze and lets slip an understanding 'oh' behind his hand. Sousuke can see the gears in his head whir to connect the dots, and he thinks in panic, why did I have to do that, why am I always an open book, the days he spends with Manager are going to end way too soon.

Sousuke shakes his head at him.

Don't say a word.

Hazuki nods and winks. He then shifts to bodily hug the brunet, startling both him and the person being hugged.

Sousuke immediately feels indignant fury and, if his hands weren't covered in soil, he would bite his nail in pensive jealousy.

Cool it. Manager isn't yours.

But that little…

Sousuke reigns in from the urge to forcefully separate the two and clicks his tongue to the side in frustration.

"N-Nagisa, I know you haven't seen me in days but I'm working," Manager is saying as he tries to detach Hazuki's arms. "Isn't this a bit much?"

Hazuki lets go as soon as Manager shows signs of distress. "It's okay. This is what you call skinship!" he declares triumphantly, as if it's something to be proud of.

Sousuke almost chokes while Manager raises his eyebrows questioningly. Hazuki grins impishly and skips to the entrance with a wave of his hand.

"See ya, Mako-chan. You, too, Sou-chan."

Manager's disappointed face is cute.

"Eh? You're leaving already?"

"Yep! I need to go back or Rei-chan will scold me again."

Hazuki doesn't look the least bit scared, actually, more delighted at the prospect.

A strangely close relationship they have, him and the mysterious 'Rei-chan'.

"You're seeing Rei?" Manager's eyes widen as he does when he remembers something he has to do. He holds up a hand to Hazuki. "Wait right there."

Manager enters the back room and fetches a medium sized white box that typically went with the orders for deliveries. He hands it to Hazuki carefully, as if the contents would be ruined if disrupted or shifted the wrong way.

"Give this to Rei when you meet with him. Don't peep." Manager warns in his utmost serious tone and sets his brow. He crosses his arms sternly to add to the effect.

"Not even a little?" Hazuki asks, peering up at him with what might have been a doe eyed expression.

Manager turns away before he could convince him and weaken his resolve. "Nope! Not even a look."

Hazuki puffs out his cheeks. "So mean, Mako-chan."

"It's for your own good," Manager assures, his serious face transitioning into his standard smile as he goes to help a customer. "You'll understand later."

"If you say so…" Hazuki glances uncertainly between the box and Manager's retreating back. His wandering eyes inevitably fall on Sousuke. A mischievous glint flickers as the corner of his mouth perks up.

"Sou-chan, do you like baseball?"

That throws him off. "I've never really played it before," he says slowly.

"I see." Hazuki closes his eyes and nods, a hand held to his chin in scholarly contemplation. "That makes sense."

"What do you mean?" Suspicion creeps along his spine at Hazuki's peculiar behavior as he sidles up closer to whisper in his ear.

"Just that I understand why you haven't made it to first base," Sousuke swears Hazuki is positively giggling as he continues ruthlessly, "much less able to step up to home plate."

If he was at the station and the boys heard this absolute, destructive burn, Hazuki would be a riot and major league legend. He hit home so accurately it was out of the stands—no, up and out of the stadium.

Was it that obvious?

Sousuke has to turn on his heel, proceed to the nearest wall, none too gently press his forehead against it in shame, then briskly walk back to where the not-so-dense blond stands smirking innocently with the white box in hand.

"You got me there. No progress, at all," Sousuke admits in defeat. "But you know how Manager is. A true angel."

Hazuki nods his agreement as he walks out the door. "I know you'll have your chance."

"How would you know?" Sousuke pries and follows him outside. He would hit him if he was giving him false hope.

"Because it's Mako-chan," Hazuki says, already halfway down the street. "He would never hurt someone on purpose. And you're nice to look at, you know?"

"What?"

"I didn't say anything! Rei-chan is the only one for me!" he cries quickly.

Goddammit. He wants to get back at the blond somehow.

He remembers the box and the name tag on one of the requests he had to process earlier that day, addressed to a certain little devil.

"Hazuki!" he yells down the street, uncaring about how many people he may be disturbing.

His far off blond head turns to him.

"I know what's in the box!"

An indistinct gasp is enough to satisfy Sousuke for the day. The torture of tempting 'Pandora's Box' would slowly eb at Hazuki until he can't take it anymore. Ah, psychological revenge was sweet.

He returns to the interior of the shop where Manager is wrapping up with the customer from before. After they leave, Manager waves him closer urgently.

"Yamazaki-kun, are you busy tomorrow?"

Manager has his hands pressed together and elbows on the register counter, appearing to be in prayer but actually in fidgety apprehension as he waits for Sousuke's answer. The display causes his stomach to flip nervously; Manager never asks about his life outside of work besides how his day has been in the morning.

"Not really," Sousuke says neutrally. Let him think he has a social life. "Did you need me for something?"

Manager releases the breath he had been holding shakily, Sousuke notes distractedly. A breathy rush of heated air past those lips so close to his...He stops the beginning of his daytime fantasy right there. He needs to get his mind out of the gutter, so help himself.

"Oh, that's great. Do you think you can come by tomorrow morning at around nine?" Manager asks, unaware of his impure thoughts.

"Sure," he readily agrees without a second thought. Too eager.

He can't say no to those eyes, twin pools the color of clear bubbling springs. Nope, he'd need willpower of steel to deny the hope twinkling there.

"Ah, I'm so relieved!"

Manager unclasps his hands and sets his chin on them as he leans across the counter with a satisfied hum. He aims another one of his smiles at him, the typical brightness notched up to blinding from happiness. The thumping of his heartbeat as Sousuke looks away increases in tempo.

It's going to be a long Wednesday. Nothing out of the ordinary.

He arrives a half hour early the next day in front of the closed Iwatobi Botanical Garden and Bouquets which simultaneously serves as Manager Tachibana's current residence on the second floor.

It is the first time Sousuke has been invited into Manager's home. He's calm about it, considering he has no idea why he's there. It would have been a nice idea to ask yesterday, yet among other things, he was entirely too distracted to remember.

He brings out his cell phone and dials the number he has saved under 'angel'. Manager had given him his private number in case Sousuke needed to call in for illness or emergencies when he had first applied for the job. He had exchanged contacts with only a bare minimum of fumbled keys.

The dial tone echoes in his ear. The click of the call going through prompts him to speak.

"Manager, I'm outside the shop right now. What do you want me to do?" Sousuke hears muffled shuffling as he waits several beats until finally—

"You're here already?" Manager sounds breathless.

He hums his assent.

"Come around to the back, then. I'll open the door for you."

Sousuke makes his way up the side staircase leading to the second floor. He has his hands in his pockets, and by the time he reaches the top step and knocks, they're trembling, the cord at his wrist tinkling against the attached pendant at how hard they're shaking. He is completely unprepared and silently panicking.

The door swings open for him and behind it is the person of his affections. He's smiling and discreetly rubbing his eyes as he welcomes Sousuke in with a weak wave of his hand.

"Good morning," Manager greets sleepily. "I'll tell you what to do once you're done taking off your shoes."

He has on shorts and a faded orange shirt. It's normal attire to wear in one's own home, yet Sousuke finds this side of him refreshing. He wants to see more of it.

Manager is going on about how he should start with the streamers and if he wants anything to eat if he hasn't had breakfast. Sousuke has one trainer off and he's asking, "Manager, should I lock the door or..."

He sees him. He sees the bastard stepping out from the hallway in nothing but a skin tight swimsuit. The guy's slender and pale with a mop of dark hair fringed over intense blue eyes.

What the hell.

"Ah." The stranger notices him staring, his bored expression undeterred by his current state of half nudity. "You must be 'Yamazaki-kun'."

Everything clicks together, the reason why Manager had always said he didn't want to date anyone and why he had never invited him to his apartment. He's already involved with somebody else, that being this shameless pervert of undetermined relation who's matching his shocked stare in nonchalance.

"Here's the tape and scissors. You can find the streamers on the table in the living room," Manager tells him, paying no mind to the other man as he comes to stand between them, thoroughly blocking each other from sight.

"What do you want with Makoto?" The swimsuit pervert asks, tilting his head around Manager to continue their stare off.

Sousuke glares and ignores him. "Manager, I have to go," he says impulsively, slipping on his remaining shoe.

"What?" Manager raises his eyebrows, startled, then lowers them in concern. "Is everything alright? If you actually had something to do, you didn't have to come because you felt obligated to."

I came here because it's you who asked. He shakes his head and stiffly turns his back on them.

"Wait. Yamazaki-kun?"

Sousuke hesitates for a split second when he hears the genuine confusion softening Manager's voice. He thinks of the lucky guy behind him and all the unspeakable and unknown times they've had together. He forces his body to move.

He doesn't remember when he got out the door and down the stairs. The next instant, he finds himself sprinting to his flat as if escaping something. What that is, he's not sure; he's afraid if he looked at it straight on he would only be able to cower powerlessly at what he saw.

Sousuke pushes his door open heavily with the nearest part of his body once he turns the handle. Pinpricks and needles erupt from the contact.

"Shit," he mutters as he clutches his right shoulder and collapses onto the edge of his bed. He's gasping into the wrinkled covers that remain unmade when he left it not too long ago.

After a while, the pain fades and he can breathe again. He's alone with nothing but remorse.

He ran away. He had left Manager there on his own when he had trusted him to help. If Sousuke really cared for him, then he would have stayed with or without the 'roommate' in the same room. He feels regret, but he can't bring himself to get up and return to apologize, not at that moment.

Sousuke's eyes fall shut, hoping to block out the present situation. All he sees behind closed lids are fragmented memories of the not so distant past. His thoughts run into Nitori, which he finds funny, since now he's in the exact same shoes as his ex once was.

xXx

Uncontrolled tears are spilling down the boy's cheeks, past the wondrous beauty mark as he desperately rubs his running nose on his sleeve. Hiccups wrack his chest and he's curled in on himself while kneeling on the floor. A clenched hand is tucked close to his chest. Nitori is probably hoping to contain his powerful sobs by making himself small.

The attempt makes him appear fragile.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Nitori glances up, hesitantly shrinking back as Sousuke calmly sits cross-legged in front of him. The boy searches for any hidden anger and resentment in Sousuke's body language to no avail. There's nothing.

Too much water, Sousuke thinks as he steadily peers in the trembling blue. Are you drowning in there, somewhere I can't see?

"I'm..." Nitori sniffs, and Sousuke thinks he might begin another apology for the nth time, but he instead starts again. "I half lied when I said I fell for you when we met, although, it's true I thought you were kind, even if you had a rough way of showing it."

He nods. Lieutenant Seijuurou and a few guys at Samezuka always laughingly joke that Sousuke has problems dealing with people in general, and for that reason, he's completely head over heels in love with his job.

"It was hard being with you at times. You didn't make me feel like...," Nitori's gaze softens and the wild waves lessen, "like Senpai did."

"That's unfair." Sousuke grins and it's as if everything's okay. "No one's like him."

Nitori lightly laughs and wipes his face with a clean section of his shirt. "You're right, Yamazaki-senpai. He's special."

They fall into a silent companionable agreement. Sousuke is content to leave it like this in a truce, until Nitori speaks up. He pointedly avoids looking at anything below his neck.

"I didn't answer your question." The boy has fixed himself up and his voice is slightly raspy as he draws his knees close and rests his chin tiredly against them, keeping his hand close.

"No, you didn't." Sousuke had almost forgotten.

The boy sighs with a resignation that meant whatever he had kept to himself, he had already made peace with it long ago.

"Well, some of it is your fault. You two reflect each other in actions and gestures, you know." He smiles painfully at him. "However small."

It's his turn to look away. He tries to count the numerous habits he has and attempts to match them with those of him. Besides their way of deciding what they wanted, he comes up with nothing.

"If you say so."

"I know so, Yamazaki-senpai."

The old Nitori is there, barely, but surely. He wants to smile back. The desire to know is more urgent.

"Yes, I saw the letter. I heard your name in his sleep. He told me one day after practice he had to leave behind friends to pursue the new ones who made his life shine." He lists off the events in which he gathered clues as to who Sousuke was somberly, like he was reading a grocery list. "I listened as he cried and struggled to come to terms with himself and those same friends. I couldn't do a single thing in the end." The poor boy's lips tremble as he sobs out the last sentence.

Sousuke sighs, knowing it would come to this. He wordlessly opens his arms in invitation.

Nitori's eyes widen, a blue eyed deer caught in the headlights. He takes a look at his face and he relaxes in the same instant. He presses closer and settles his arms carefully around Sousuke's torso and rests his head against his left shoulder. It makes Sousuke wonder what he saw there to trust in him and allow him to touch.

They sit comfortably in each other's embrace with a noticeable lack of intimacy. They are two people who understand a shared feeling and wish to endure it together until it passes. It feels natural. After a safe amount of time, Nitori scoots back but a bit, enough to tilt his head and face Sousuke up close. Closer would be dangerous.

"You and I are very similar," the boy declares.

Sousuke is for once surprised. "How?" he asks.

Nitori slumps as he ponders how to answer. "Hm...it's hard to explain. It's just a feeling, I guess?"

"Give me an example." He has a feeling he knows where this is going. Nitori knows it too. He smiles at Sousuke helplessly in a 'are you really going to make me say this' way.

"Because we fell for with the same person," Nitori says, the waters calm and at ease, "and we wish life wasn't so short and cruel."

"Who's the romantic now?" Sousuke ruffles the boy's hair playfully. "You need a haircut. Remember the first one you had when we met, the angular bangs and bowl cut? Weird."

"Eh?" Nitori pries his hand away and fixes his hair somewhat to how it was five seconds ago. "Do you think so? The barber I went to, Momo I think, said it looked nice! He might have been a first timer, though. Or maybe it was his young looks?" The boy questions himself dubiously.

"Geez, it's fine. I can't imagine you with any other style, anyway. It suits you best," Sousuke compliments honestly with a smile.

Nitori splays his hands over his cheeks to hide the warmth rising there. The thing in his hand unravels and falls loosely against his skin. "Yamazaki-senpai, you..."

Sousuke thinks he hears him mutter softly, "...cool...arrest me..." His smile falters.

"I'm sorry."

Making the ones he loves cry is a talent he's mastered skillfully.

xXx

The shadows across his wall are elongated and at stark angles. The time says 4:36 PM. His cellphone in his front pocket is vibrating at six second intervals with new messages. His left shoulder is squashed underneath his body at an odd, numbing position and it feels detached from the rest of him. His cheek is hot where it rested against the pillow.

He takes a moment to drowsily gain his bearings. Dead-to-the-world naps were not ideal. This time it gives him an excuse to fly through the day without unnecessary thoughts about Manager Tachibana.

The insistent buzzing won't stop and with effort he lifts his phone out. He blinks away the brightness as his finger slides over the screen to check his inbox. As soon as he sees the sender, gravity does its work and the device slips from his grasp flat onto his face.

"Ow."

Sousuke rubs his nose, feeling betrayed, and pushes himself upright with one arm. His phone slides onto the crease in the pillow where his head had laid for hours. He doesn't pay too much attention to the faint throbbing.

Angel

Hello? Yamazaki-kun?

...

I'm sorry for asking so much of you

it was obvious you weren't feeling

well.

...

I hope you can still come to

Nagisa's party later. Ah, but

only when you're better! Not to

mean I want you to come no matter

what.

...

Er, sorry! Ignore that.

...

Yamazaki-kun, know that you're

welcome to drop by, alright?

...

It starts at 6.

...

I hope you get well! I'll send over

flowers!

...

jk

...

I'll see you then. Maybe.

The earliest text was sent an hour after he had walked out on Manager. The recent one was fifteen minutes ago. He gulps, his throat parched and stomach empty after hours of no food and drink.

Despite his haggard state, Sousuke's mind is refreshed and his body significantly lighter than he was in the morning. He feels he could easily run the whole length of the beach and back by the time night falls. He's ready to accept the challenge when he remembers someone is expecting him soon.

He grudgingly rolls out of the cozy cocoon that is his bed covers and crouches on the cool floor, anticipating where the bathroom is in the dim light. Before that, he needs to confirm his status as alive and well.

Angel

jk

...

I'll see you then. Maybe.

...

Yeah

He wasn't nicknamed 'Captain Cryptic' for nothing.

A/N:

Sousuke and Nitori's dynamics together are one of my favorite things. Such an interesting relationship, those two.

(Also, Sousuke, you gotta see that you have a type, don't you? Psst, cute, smiley, adorkable sweethearts that don't mean any harm.)