Do do do do-do-do-do DO doooo...dodododododoDOOOOOOO do do! (Singing awkwardly while writing/eating a popsicle/doing Trig homework) (At the SAME TIME) De de da do do doooooo. Meep beep BEEEeeEP!

I'll sacrifice anything, come what might,

For the sake of having you near.

In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night

And repeats and repeats in my ear.

'Don't you know, little fool?

You never can win.

Use your mentality.

Wake up to reality.

The very first thing that occurred to Nakatsu when he woke up the next morning was that he was hungover.

The sound of twittering birds and the faint hum of the heater drove into his head like jackhammers. His eyes burned, and his mouth tasted like decaying garbage. He turned over to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately for him, it was a Thursday, so he was very cruelly awakened by his roommate throwing warm water on his face.

"Get up." Kayashima said emotionlessly, before walking away to do only God knew what, leaving Nakatsu staring at his back.

Nakatsu laid back down for a second, then wondered briefly why he was naked.

Then it all came back, in a sleepy, drunken haze. He had sex with Kayashima. He had sex with Kayashima, and it had been freaking amazing. But Kayashima had gone back to his own bed after the deed was done. 'Why? Why wouldn't he spend the night if I asked him to?'

Nakatsu's headache worsened as he pondered this. 'Isn't that what they like? Spending the night after sex? At least, I heard girls like that...'

The air in Nakatsu's lungs was suddenly gone, replaced by a hard, leaden feeling in his stomach.

'I had sex with a guy. And I liked it. I loved it, actually. Does that mean I'm gay?' He thought as he laid in bed and stared up at the morning lights just starting to skirt across the ceiling. 'Shit. I'm gay. I'm a homo.'

He slapped a hand over his forehead, feeling stupid as he recoiled from the contact. 'Ma will freak. Dad will freak. I cannot be gay. Can. Not. I cannot like guys. I cannot like Kayashima!'

He bit his lip and exhaled when he thought Kayashima's name. 'Kayashima...' He closed his eyes as the foggy memory presented itself to him. Staring into Kayashima's bottomless black orbs, the feeling of Kayashima's wintry skin against his, the sound of Kayashima's pained groans as he thrust inside that beautiful, toned body...

"Are you getting up any time soon, or do I have to pour more water on you?"

Nakatsu opened his eyes when he heard that voice, that voice that seemed to be almost unbearably sexier than it had been two days ago. He sat up and turned to look at Kayashima, already in his uniform, his chest fluttering excitedly right where Kayashima's black, enigmatic eyes were staring.

Nakatsu stood up. "I'm awake." He said needlessly. He bit his lip in embarrassment, but Kayashima hadn't seemed to notice, having already turned away and starting to shoving books into his bag.

"Better get ready fast. We're going to be late."

Nakatsu remained transfixed by Kayashima, watching his fluid movements as he carefully picked up a textbook and, after looking at the cover for a moment, placing it into his book bag next to all the other books that Kayashima apparently needed that day. His hips shifted slightly as Kayashima took pressure off one foot and shifted to the other. His pale neck was exposed, perfectly arched to allow Kayashima to read the titles of his books.

He was just so...so hot. So fucking hot.

Nakatsu could feel his cock harden as he (rather pathetically) stared at his fully clothed roommate. He bit his lip, knowing full well what he wanted to be doing to Kayashima right then and feeling absolutely disgusted for feeling it.

He stumbled into the bathroom, squeezing some toothpaste onto his toothbrush and jamming into into his mouth without any real thought of brushing. He turned the water on full blast as he pulled down his pants and started desperately tugging on his erection, wishing it would just go away and never come back so excited about anything Kayashima-related.

But, of course, it didn't work, and he pulled his boxers back up still with a fairly noticeable bulge and feeling like a complete loser who couldn't even jack off.

He splashed some water on his face, still thinking about Kayashima, unbearably sexy even with all of his clothes on. 'I'm gay. Fuck. I fucking like guys. I want to have sex with guys. I want to have sex with Kayashima.'

He shook his head, trying desperately to do away with the images of Kayashima he conjured up from his imagination. He looked down at the running water, a plan for revenge on his roommate for waking him up so rudely forming in his head.

'I'm not gay.' Nakatsu thought vehemently to himself. 'So I had sex with my roommate. Big deal. It isn't going to affect my relationship with him.'

Shuddering slightly as he thought the word relationship, he turned the COLD facet on full blast and ran his finger under it to ensure it was at its coldest. He filled a tall cup with the freezing water, careful not to drip as he walked across the floor.

Kayashima had sat down, still facing the opposite way, scribbling in his notebook. The sound of Kayashima's worn pencil scratching against the paper was the only sound to be heard.

"You better change fast." Kayashima said curtly as Nakatsu tiptoed barefooted across the chilly wooden floor, careful not to spill any water. "I may not care about missing breakfast, but I don't feel like listening to you complain later when you're-"

He abruptly stopped and gasped as Nakatsu tipped the cold water down the collar of his shirt, the liquid sluicing down his spine and soaking through his thin school shirt. Kayashima jumped up, his chair spinning awkwardly behind him.

"Shit! Shitshitshit that's cold!" Nakatsu bit his lip as he tried not to laugh at the sight of his roommate hopping up and down in discomfort, denying to himself that he was actually rather turned on by the whole thing.

"Well, that's what you get for dumping water on me to wake me up!"

Kayashima turned around to glare at Nakatsu, his narrowed eyes showing the most emotion Kayashima had held on his face since he scared Noe with his Mushroom Ghost story so badly he jumped a foot in the air when Nanba burst into the room unannounced at Sekime's seventeenth birthday party.

"I didn't pour cold water on you!"

Nakatsu rolled his eyes and turned Kayashima around, taking hold of the shirt's plastic buttons. "Just change your shirt." He said as he began to undo the top button, smiling to himself and ignoring the feeling in his lower body. 'I can deal with missing breakfast for this.' "It's not a big de-"

His hands froze as he caught sight of a dark line running vertically from Kayashima's left shoulder to his nipple. His eyes immediately zeroed in on it, curiosity piqued.

"Is that a scar?" He asked, running his finger down the strange line, noticing how the skin was flawlessly smooth even as it was considerably darker than the flesh surrounding, a dead giveaway of damaged skin.

Kayashima grasped the edges of his shirt and held them closed. "Yes. I fell off my skateboard and had to get stitches when I was nine." He said, a little too fast. He pushed past Nakatsu and bolted up the stairs, obviously unbuttoning his shirt as he went.

Nakatsu watched as those skinny legs made their way up the stairs. "I can't imagine you on a skateboard. It doesn't seem like your kind of thing."

Kayashima had yanked off the wet shirt and deposited it on his pristine bed, opening a drawer and frantically pawing around in it, obviously distressed. "Dare from one of my friends. His mom had to drive me to the hospital. He felt really bad about the whole thing."

Nakatsu opened one of his own drawers and extracted two uniform shirts, casually walking up the stairs and tossing one on Kayashima's bed.

"If you don't have a clean one," Nakatsu spoke loudly, causing Kayashima to jump and attempt to cover himself with his arms. He shrunk down against the wall, staring fearfully up at Nakatsu. Nakatsu blinked, feeling his mouth go dry as he laid eyes on the rows upon rows of identical gray lines marring Kayashima's perfect body, roping around his torso and snaking around his slim arms.

Nakatsu inhaled, then remembered his voice. "-you can borrow one of mine. It'll probably be a few sizes too big, but..." His speech came to a halt as Kayashima grabbed the scrap of fabric and jammed his arms through the sleeves, turning away from Nakatsu as he did so. "But it's probably better than nothing. Sorry."

He watched as Kayashima ran by him, head ducked, buttoning the too-large shirt as he went.

He couldn't help but feel sorry, though he wasn't really sure why.

Once they finally had made their way to the cafeteria, Kayashima still not talking to his roommate, breakfast was almost over and they had to make do with breakfast sandwiches eaten on the way to homeroom.

It was a beautiful day, unseasonably warm for late autumn, the red and yellow leaves still on the trees sparkling in the sunlight. Nakatsu could not appreciate it, however, as he was too busy staring at the boys around him, Kayashima in particular.

'Not gay.' He thought over and over again. 'Last night didn't mean anything. I am not gay. I was drunk and it didn't mean anything.'

Even as he repeated this over and over in his mind, he found that he could not tear his eyes away from the quiet boy, who seemed to radiate a sort of heavy energy wherever he went. Every little movement he made was mentally recorded in Nakatsu's fuzzy, hungover brain, driving him slowly to the edge.

Nakatsu put his head down on his desk immediately upon entering the classroom, earning a few bemused glances from his friends.

"What's wrong, Nakatsu?" Ashiya said as she slid into the seat next to him. "You're usually not this dumpy, even in the morning."

"He's hungover." Nakatsu raised his head a fraction of a centimeter to see Kayashima standing by his usual desk, pointedly staring at Ashiya.

Sano rolled his eyes. "So you guys did some drinking last night? On a school night?"

"Nakatsu drank. I had a few sips."

Nakatsu sat up straighter, hoping to catch Kayashima's eye. It hadn't occured to him to worry about how Kayashima might feel about their...incident...but no doubt he was ready to forget about it and move on with his life, and would encourage Nakatsu to do the same.

Kayashima's black eye flicked over to meet Nakatsu's, and the soccer player was struck cold at what he saw reflected.

'Kayashima can't...hate me for what happened last night, can he?'

The teacher entered the room, and Kayashima broke his glare and sat down, returning his eyes to the front of the room.

Nakatsu never registered much of anything when he was in class, but that day he absorbed absolutely nothing their teacher was saying. He was too busy staring at Kayashima, keeping his eyes fixated on the slight profile of his face that was visible to Nakatsu where he sat, watching his every motion.

'Damn it. I'm gay. Why would I be staring at him like this if I weren't gay? That's it. I'm gay. Fuck my life."

He buried his face in his arms, feeling sick to his stomach, and not just because of the hangover.

He was so busy feeling sorry for himself that he didn't even realize that the teacher was taking roll until Mizuki shook him awake.

"Wha-what? What is it?"

Mizuki wore an expression of sheer excitement on her face, ignoring Nakatsu's sleepy babble. "There's a new student. There hasn't been one since I came here, right?"

"Right..." Nakatsu managed to bleet, laying his head back down. Truthfully, he couldn't care less if they had a new student. He just wanted to return to his room and sleep until this nightmare was over.

"Hello? Does anyone know who Ryoto Uragai is? Anyone?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kayashima sit up noticeably straighter, his fingers wrapping tightly around the pencil in his hand.

'What the hell...' Nakatsu thought to himself right before the classroom door flew open.

"So sorry I'm late!" said the figure who made their way into the room, stopping by the teacher's desk to hand over a stack of papers. "You wouldn't believe the roads. Insane!"

Their new classmate turned around, grinning, showing all of his perfectly white teeth. Nakatsu saw the his black hair was cut in what Nakao would call an 'emo porn star cut' and felt a small twinge of relief that this kid seemed like no one he or his friends would hang out with in the first place.

The new boy turned his head, surveying the room. His eyes roamed the sea of heads, muffling a soft chuckle as he laid eyes on Nakatsu's bleached strands. His eyes darted around, seemingly searching for something in particular, when they came to a halt, a wide smile spreading across his face.

Nakatsu followed his gaze, finally coming to rest at...Kayashima. Kayashima sat with his back iron straight, staring straight ahead with blank, dark eyes. He was clutching his pencil so tightly Nakatsu could see the bones in his hands jut out even from a few rows back.

Finally, the new kid began walking down the line of desks, eyes never leaving Kayashima, who continued to stare at the front of the room, as if Ryoto had never left. As he passed Kayashima's desk, Ryoto brushed his fingers across the top, leaving oily smears where his fingers had trailed.

"Hey, Taiki."

Ryoto faced forward, grin wider, as he sauntered to the back of the classroom. Nakatsu watched Kayashima, wondering why he hadn't said anything about someone he knew coming to school or why he hadn't moved since the kid walked into the room.

As Ryoto walked by his desk, Nakatsu barely resisted the urge to stick his leg out and trip him.

But each time I do,

Just the thought of you

Makes me stop

Before I begin.

Cause I've got you

Under my skin.

Sorry about the really old-fartsy song here, my choir teacher enjoys Cole Porter and so today I thought of this fic while we were singing this little part. Yes, I think about my sketchy yaoi fanfics while my choir teacher threatens to send thugs to our homes and kill us. (Really.) You should be grateful, really. Assuming people are actually reading this.

Big thanks to Collineesh, who, as far as I know, is the only one reading this total crap. You're awesome. Don't change your awesome ways. You're not allowed to. Ever.

So, about the story...

It's *kinda* in line with Living On A Prayer, though I wouldn't say it's necessary for you to read it to understand who the heck Ryoto is. (Though if you would like to read and review, don't let me stop you) Ryoto isn't *exactly* an OC, because trust me, I really hate OC's. And now I realize that my other story is full of OC's...but they're not *really* OC's, because it's not like I just created a spot for them, if that makes sense...probably doesn't.

Anyway, if anyone read the special Kayashima chapter in volume 13, Kayashima talks about some guy he referred to as just HIM. I'm pissed at Nakajo for not filling that in for us. (Does she not realize that Kayashima is like, five million to the fourteenth hundred power cooler than Mizuki?) So Ryoto is what I made up to fill that spot. Just know he majorly pissed Kayashima off.

Basically, Kayashima's past up to when he comes to Osaka is virtually the same as in that story. There won't be as much angst in this. Or maybe there will. I don't know. I'm just the writer. I don't have all the answers.

Alright, I have my weird relatives visiting this weekend, followed by Finals next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Don't expect much. Sorry, but I MUST ace Biology! (My school's weird in doing Biology junior year.)

So I will leave you will another episode of Shit My Family Says.

Z: (To Taiki) "Go seduce your fractions!"

-Chihiro