The plane had arrived late, and both were jetlagged and haggard. They hardly had the energy to make it to the hotel next to the airport much less the energy to make it to Izumi's parent's house. Izumi was thankful Takamiya had talked him in to the hotel idea, though he knew that in the early hours of the morning he would be getting a frantic phone call from his mother asking where he was and if he was alright. But right now, at this moment, all Izumi could think of was a bath and falling asleep in a big comfy bed.

Takamiya had the same idea. Though for him, having been deprived of the luxury of sleeping pills, he thought that maybe he should just skip the shower and just go straight to bed. His head throbbed and his back was sore from hours of the child's kicking, and all he could hear was Izumi's complaining.

"The plane ride was too long. Why was it delayed? My chair was uncomfortable. The airline food sucked," and Izumi went on like this, angrily complaining about everything.

Takamiya rubbed his head. He had the urge to just ram his head into the wall until Izumi shut up. Stop. He shouldn't be thinking that way. They had come all the way to Japan to rekindle their relationship so he would suck it up and just listen to Izumi's yammering for now. Maybe they would talk about it tomorrow. You know, maybe try to sort some problems out.

The hotel room was smaller than both had imagined, only one bed instead of two. Both had been hoping for two. Izumi, trying to make lemons out of lemonade, continued his griping. The one bed was too small, one may need to sleep on the floor, he wasn't going to share unless the other bathed. This is wrong, that is wrong, this, that, this that, thisthisthisthisthisthatthisthat.

SLAP

Takamiya hadn't meant to do it, his hand just, did it one its own. Izumi instantly shut up, bringing his palm to the deep red mark on his face. Takamiya had never slapped him before. Takamiya's eyes, widened and face went white as Izumi rubbed his hand against the spot Takamiya had hit. He wanted to reach out and hold him, tell him I'm sorry, I love you, I won't do it again.

Takamiya reached out, but Izumi raised his hand in objection.

"Izumi look," Takamiya stuttered.

"No need to explain. I understand it perfectly," Izumi replied calmly while continuing the gentle rubbing of his face.

"No, you don't. Look, I was, I was just—"

"You were just what?!" Izumi shot a hateful glare at Takamiya.

"I'm sorry baby. I'm so so so sorry. You were just complaining and complaining and wouldn't stop. It this then that then this again and again. I couldn't take it!" Takamiya raised his arms up in frustration.

"So you hit me because I was talking? I would have been quiet if you had asked."

"No, that not what I meant—I—I didn't mean to hit you. Well, I did but—but—"

"But?"

"Look. It's complicated. We'll talk about it in the morning," Takamiya turned and began to walk towards the washroom.

"No!" Izumi reached out and grabbed Takamiya's arm before he could walk further. "We'll talk about it now. None of this morning crap. We came here to fix our relationship, and we're going to Goddamn fix it! Now, why did you hit me?"

Takamiya began to worry, Izumi was getting awfully loud and he didn't want the other hotel patrons to complain.

"Izumi," Takamiya said softly, trying to relinquish Izumi's hold on him. "You're getting loud. I don't want the other guests to start complaining."

"Fuck the other guests Takamiya! Let them complain. I don't care. I want you to explain why you hit me." Izumi tightened his hold on Takamiya.

Takamiya winced in pain as Izumi's nails began to dig into him. He tried to struggle out of the hold, loosely moving his arm in some hope that Izumi would let go. It wasn't going to happen.

"Okay, I'll try to explain just—just calm down." Takamiya said, meaningfully looking into Izumi's eyes. Izumi glared. "Come now. Let go of my arm. Then we'll sit down and talk about this, okay? Izumi, just let go of my arm, and we'll settle this whole thing, okay?"

"Okay," Izumi mumbled.

Izumi let go of Takamiya, allowing him to go to the couch in the corner of the room. Takamiya sat, patting the spot next to him for Izumi to come and sit. Izumi obeyed. The two looked at each other for a few moments, an uncomfortable silence creeping between them.

"Look," Takamiya sighed. "I wasn't thinking when I did it. I was annoyed with you. You would barely talk to me before the flight and then, when the plane took off and you took sleeping pills. And you know that little boy who sat behind you, well, his mother moved him to behind me so I had to deal with his kicking the whole flight. Besides, you never asked me if I wanted to take some sleeping medicine as well."

"You wanted sleeping medicine?"

"Izumi, that was an 18 hour flight. I would have gone three weeks without having sex for some!"

Izumi laughed, his hand covering his mouth as his laugh turned into a full-fledged howl.

"What," asked Takamiya, now becoming the one who was slightly annoyed.

Izumi calmed down, still trying to catch his breath as he wiped a tear from his eye. "It's just, haha," Izumi said, "It's just, haha, well, rather than killing for medicine, you would go without sex! Haha!"

"What?"

"Well, it's always sex with you," Izumi laughed one more time and looked Takamiya in the eye. He gently reached out and grabbed Takamiya's hand from his lap. "Now that wasn't so hard now was it?" Izumi asked, gently squeezing Takamiya's hand.

"No," Takamiya squeezed back. "It wasn't."

The two sat there for a moment. A soft silence coming between them, though not awkward like before. Izumi leaned over and rested his head against his head against Takamiya's shoulder. Pressing his nose against Takamiya's arm, he inhaled deeply.

"Bleh," Izumi gagged, removing his head from Takamiya's shoulder. "You stink. Go take a shower."

Takamiya laughed and stood up. "Join me," He said, reaching his hand out towards Izumi.

"You have got to be kidding me you pervert! I'm not going to take a shower with you," Izumi shouted quietly, his face turning a full shade of red.

"Come now, it'll be fun."

"No, go take your shower. I'll go after you."

Takamiya turned, pretending to be hurt, but tossed Izumi a playful smile as he entered the shower room. Izumi winked back at him and went to turn on the television.

xxx

From behind the shower room door, Takamiya could hear muffled sounds of the television. He ran his hands through his hair as he sunk further into the warm water. They were back in Japan. Tomorrow, they would see his family and two days after that, they would head up to an Onsen in the mountains.

Takamiya sighed. Rekindle their relationship? How could he? How could they?

How could he look Izumi and tell Izumi the reason for his distance…

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K, so sorry about the really long time between updates. I lost inspiration for the story for a little while, but finally got it back.

I've started reading the Hite Report on Male Sexuality (which you should all read), and it's definitely changed my views on how I want this story to play out. Since Love Mode was all about trying to be real. Ok, so maybe Arabian princes, kidnappings at a Jewelry store, and really rich guys who seem corrupt and mean, but are really just a big teddy aren't that real, but the feelings of the relationships and how they were played out tried to be as real as possible. I'm going to play this story a little more real than I originally was, which I hope is a good thing.

I'll try to have a new ch. out next week ^_^