Sousuke didn't think of himself as a particularly complicated guy. He had dreams and aspirations just like everyone else. His first love may have been ripped away taking him a year back, but it wasn't all bad. He had plenty of time to study for his entrance exams, right?

This is what he was doing on his day off. He didn't have to go work. He didn't have to go anywhere really. And it was making his skin crawl. He sighed and sat the book down on the café table leaning back in his seat. He closed his eyes and blew a strand of hair out of his face.

His inner monologue was puttering along something like this: This GODDAMN ALL IN-FUCKING-CLUSIVE TEST is the most PRETENTIOUS BULLSHIT that my SINGLE SUBJECT MAJOR has to face to get into this- and it droned on and on. He had never been the best at studying. Mediocre, yes, but he would not be able to get in the way he had hoped anymore. Sports had been his security, and if he wanted a future, he needed to get smarter. An image of Gou popped in his head at the thought of a future, and he furrowed his brows chasing the image away.

"What are you doing?" The familiar deadpan voice brought him abruptly out of his daydream. His head popped up so fast that his chair wobbled and pivoted just as a chair shouldn't, and his ass hit the ground sending a violent shudder up his spine.

Gou stood in front of him. Her surprise slowly turned to hysterical laughter, and his stormy expression overtook his face making his pride hurt more than necessary. Tears were pricking at the corners of her eyes, and she looked utterly more adorable than he could stand.

"So lady-like," he muttered sarcastically as he brushed his legs and stood up righting his chair in what he hoped was a dignified manner.

Gou shut up and shut down immediately wiping her smile off her face. "Have fun picking up your dignity."

He cringed inwardly and backpedaled looking for a way to save himself as she walked away from his table. The busy sidewalk threatened to gobble her up if he didn't do something fast.

"Sit." She kept walking. "Gou. GOU!"
"WHAT?!" Her cheeks were red and angry.

He narrowed his eyes at her and calmed his hammering heart. "Sit." He gestured to the chair across from him. The outdoor sitting area seemed suddenly more crowded than it had when he had been engrossed in studying.

She looked from the chair to him with that same stormy face… then sighed. Sousuke released the breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding when she sat down in the chair. Her tank top wrinkled a bit when she tucked her skirt under her thighs, and he knew he had won.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

She rolled her eyes and pointed meaningfully at the book in front of him. "I asked what you were doing."

"Studying," he replied.

The silence stretched again before Gou broke it. "Why did you call me back?"

Sousuke smiled and purred, "Because I hate watching you leave."

He was rewarded by a startled blush which he liked very much, but it quickly died. "What?"

"I forgot who I was talking to for a second."

He chuckled to hide his disappointment. He was going to always be her protector – a brother who is not a brother.

She picked up his book and began flipping through it. "I want a shake."

He quirked an eyebrow but waved a waiter over anyway. "One large shake."

"Small," she corrected.

Sousuke didn't miss a beat. "Large."

"Small!"

"Large. I'm buying."

The waiter nodded and returned Sousuke's smile before bustling away.

"I said small." Gou's eyes bored into him intently, and her flush had ran down her neck.

Sousuke leaned forward crossing his arms. "And I said that I'm buying. Are you afraid that you'll get fat or something?"

Gou bit her lip not wanting to say. "It's just that - … the small one is more lady like."

Sousuke frowned at her. He never truly understood Gou's obsession with being adorable - or what she thought was adorable. He knew it was partially his and Rin's fault. They had grown up with her being the "maiden" of their games or simply excluding her from them altogether, but Sousuke had become fond of the tomboy-ish side of Gou. It was something special that few people seemed to notice. She had had years of covering it up after all.

"You think you're going to get fat."

"I am not going to get fat!"

He laughed at her steely expression as she huffed, puffed, and went back into the book using it to hide her face from him. A fond smile spread across his face.

"I'm using this book, too."

"Really?"

"Yes," she huffed. "We're going to be in the same grade at the university, so we should be taking the same entrance exams."

He smiled and laughed a little too indulgently. He rather hated the idea of being on the same level as Gou. He was used to being the older more aloof individual in the relationship and was not too keen on changing that any time soon.

She laid the book down and looked sheepishly at him. "We could – "

The waiter sat the shake down between them. It was vanilla with a cookie placed on the edge like a lemon slice. Gou's eyes stared hungrily at it as she took a straw tearing the wrapper and folding it into a little square.

"We could what?"

Gou gulped her sip. "Nothing."

Sousuke plucked the cookie off the side right before Gou's fingers snatched it. He waved it in front of her in a teasing manner. "We could what?"

She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled in a way that he hadn't seen her smile in awhile. Gou always had a façade that stayed up, but sometimes they slipped back into their roles in each other's lives silently and quickly. She would become relaxed and stop worrying about her demeanor and appearance focusing solely on the present. Sousuke was comfortable here. He grinned impishly and feigned biting the cookie.

"Okay! We could study together!"

He laughed and handed her the cookie. She snatched it quickly before he could change his mind. "I mean, we have the same book. We're taking the same exams at the same university at the same time. Plus, we work together, so it'll make scheduling easier. And I've already got a head start on you, big brother."

Sousuke was not amused at the last part, and his eyes darkened to a mischievous glint. He reached across the table breaking off half of Gou's precious cookie.

"Be kind to me, senpai," he said happily popping the cookie.

He was pleased to note that if Gou could have found a proper hole she would probably have died in it right then and there.

I did it again. Posted a chapter then replaced it. I hated the original Chapter 3 again and decided to wait until inspiration struck. This is the second chapter I've posted today where Gou flusters her intended. Of course TAL is always much fluffier than anything else I write. I hope everyone is happy about this.