I do want to apologise for the last chapter, in terms of spelling and grammar etc. I only finished it at one am and I was writing it on the train on the way to and from my uni, and when you're writing that stuff in public, it gets a little awkward. ^_^'

These chapters are short so I can update it more often and I feel like in the way that this story is going, it kind of fits for them. In any ways, here's chapter five. xxx

Izumo snuffled before stretching out, feeling a satisfying series of clicks and pops through his spine. He blinked a couple of times before the oxygen in his brain woke him up. Patting his hand about blindly, he smiled as his hand brushed lightly over a familiar set of ribs. He slid his hand over Kotetsu's torso, but it felt different: tense, on edge. He opened his eyes and saw his partner, wide awake; his mouth taut in a grim, severe line.

'Tets, buddy. You okay?' He asked, shaking his head lightly to clear the sleep from his brain.

'Perfectly.' Kotetsu replied bluntly and tactless, staring at the ceiling.

'Liar. Talk to me.'

'What's there to talk about?' He rolled his eyes, still avoiding to look at Izumo's face.

'Well...last night-'

'I don't want to talk about it.' Kotetsu snapped, roughly throwing off Izumo's arm from his waist and peeling himself out of the sticky sheets. He scooped up his wayward underwear and pulled them on hurriedly, feeling Izumo's eyes burning into him from behind.

'Tets...' Izumo started, hurt by this obvious deflection.

'I'm going for a shower.'

Izumo sighed and fell back into the quilting, the squishy mattress that was once cloud-like now felt overwhelmingly suffocating to him. With a grunt of annoyance, he pulled himself out of the bed, shaking off the sheet stuck to his leg and collected his clothing.

-x

'I still don't understand why you're so against, well, you.' Izumo said, placing a plate of pancakes in front of Kotetsu, who watched the syrup fall off the steaming golden discs and making a moat around them. He salivated slightly, eyes following the trail of steam rising into the air where it flickered and danced lazily before disappearing out of existence.

'It just doesn't feel right.' Kotetsu concluded lamely, toying with his food before taking a mouthful; the sweet syrup mixing with the savoury hot cakes perfectly. 'Good stuff, Iz.'

'Thanks, but I'm not straying from point.' Izumo sat down opposite his partner, watching him eat slowly.

'Tets, no one suddenly decides that they're attracted to a particular person. It just happens.'

'But I've known you for years!'

'So?'

'So? So?! I've just known you since I was fourteen and now...'

He stopped eating, and slumped back into his chair; a sadness grew behind his charcoal eyes.

'Now I have to deal with it all over again...'

Izumo looked at him quizzically.

'What do you mean again?'

Kotetsu sighed and mussed his spiky hair roughly. The cards were on the table now, and there was no turning back.

'Wait here.' He said, scraping back his chair and shuffling off back to the bedroom. He returned quickly, a small yellowed piece of paper between his index and middle finger. Taking a deep breath, he held it out to the brunette, waiting for him to take it.

'Here.' Kotetsu said simply.

'Whats this?'

'Take it...please.'

Izumo took it gingerly and unfolded it, noticing how sharp the creases were in the paper. It had not been unfurled since the day it was written, and his eyes scanned over the thin spidery writing, the inflections in the way the g's and y's flicked out longer than necessary. There was no doubt about it: this was younger Kotetsu's handwriting.

"Iz,

I don't know how to start this. I'm not even sure if 'Iz' is the correct way to start this. Maybe I need to write your whole name...

Or maybe I just need to stop trying to fool myself that I'm okay. Because clearly I'm not, and it's doing my fucking head in.

I don't get it. I don't understand what's happening to me. I'm messed up but all I know is that...I just... need you. I can't stop thinking about you and it's more than just as a friend. I thought maybe writing this down would help me, but I don't think it is.

I don't know how to say this, but I really like you Iz, and I'm crazy about you. I'm crazy as it is, because its not natural to like other guys. That's the nicest way to put it. I'm a freak, disgusting for liking you. It's okay, I've heard it all before. I hear people whispering about me. It happens all the time, but I've learned to accept it. I feel dirty.

Maybe I shouldn't be your friend anymore. I know that you won't like to have a friend like me, and always feeling like you have to watch what you say and do around me. I don't want you to worry about if you're going to suddenly get jumped by me and...anyway, I know who you like as it is. I always see you looking at her, like she's perfect. Sometimes I've wondered if maybe you'd ever look at me like that, but it's not going to happen. No one likes a person like...me.

I just had to tell you.

-K"

Izumo's eyes clicked onto Kotetsu, who was poking at his pancakes with his cutlery.

'Why didn't you ever give this to me?' Izumo questioned lightly, reading over it again.

'I never could bring myself to.' Kotetsu simply put, finally taking another mouthful, trying to forget the events of last night which kept replaying in his head over and over again.

'Well, I just want to say one thing.'

'Mm?'

'You're an idiot.'

'Thats not the reaction I expected.'

An exasperated sigh fell from the brunette, and he folded the letter up again.

'Kotetsu, I wouldn't care more or less if you're gay. There's nothing wrong with it.'

'Come on, I was fourteen-'

'And you're twenty-eight now, and your opinion hasn't changed. My opinion of you has never changed.'

'I never told you-'

'You didn't have to.'

This remark caught Kotetsu by surprise. He blinked at Izumo, his eyebrow cocked.

'What makes you say this?'

'I had my suspicions about you. Really. And I didn't care about what the other students said. You were my friend, and that's what mattered. Fuck Tets, I'd run to the ends of the earth and back for you if I had to.'

'But you never said anything-'

'I didn't have to. Kotetsu, listen to me.'

Izumo took Kotetsu's hands in his, looking at him square in the eye.

'Kotetsu, I was in the same position you were.'

'...come again?'

'Nngn. I shouldn't have to say it this way...'

He took his own deep breath.

'Kotetsu, I was very much attracted to you. I felt the same, but I accepted it. Sure, it was a little shocking but, I accepted I was bi-sexual.'

'...bi-sexual...'

'Yes, Kotetsu. That's what I said.'

'...that would explain why you liked that other nin too...I don't remember her name...'

'Oh, Haruhi? No, she just had a nice ass and nice tits.'

Kotetsu's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His stomach was doing triple flips and his heart was bruising his rib cage again. He shook his head, trying to collate this information. Izumo laughed lightly.

'All this secrecy for nothing, then.' Izumo said, patting the blistered hands in his own and returning to his breakfast. Kotetsu had long since forgotten about his appetite. He stared at is own plate, not seeing the food in front of him but was reliving his childhood memories. A few moments of silence passed until in a small voice, he broke it.

'Iz?' He said softly.

'Mm?'

'What does this make us?'

The onyx eyes before him squinted lightly in thought.

'Well...that's up to you.' He put simply, taking another mouthful of food.

'Up to me?'

'Mm hmm. You have two options to choose from. We can either let this pass as one mistake, and forget about it, or...'

Izumo looked at him, suddenly serious.

'We can take our relationship further. However.'

'However?'

'I refuse to be a fuck-buddy. We're either together or we're not. It's your choice.'

And that was it. The way he said choice indicated the end of the discussion, and he finished his plate. The word hung in the air between them, such a momentous word in those six little letters.

Did Kotetsu try to make something out of this? The prospect of it scared him, or rather, the idea of someone finding out was what scared him the most. He'd had to battle taunts and jeers of others in the community for so long, and even that set him on edge. But this, this was something much more dire, much more serious than just rumours and insinuations.

'Izumo.' He said, quietly but audible in a deep voice.

'Yeah Tets?'

'...I want to be with you.'