Gravitation Fan Fiction ❯ Precious Moments ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Thank you so much for reviewing guys. I really appreciate it when I get comments on my crappy fics ^_^ Enjoy this next chapter.

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:Flash

Lots of youthful giggles full of mirth were heard blended along with a deeper laughter.:

Shuichi turned in his sleep, his face getting flushed.

:Flash

"Come on Daddy, sing with me." The six year old Shuichi whined and giggled. He pulled on his father's sleeve, who was driving and looking straight ahead:

Shuichi rolled over again, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

:Flash

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round." Little Shuichi was singing and performing all the hand movements. He glanced at his dad who was looking at the road with rapt attention.

"Come on Daddy, you're not even looking at me." He pulled on his father's arm.

Sanjiro sighed loudly.

"I'm looking Shu-chan. I'm looking."

He spared his son a glance. Shuichi smiled broadly.

"Check this out Daddy." Shuichi said excitedly.

"The kids on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down."

Shuichi performed the rhyme with whole choreography. He hopped up and down in his seat, much to the chagrin of his father.

"Shuichi!" Sanjiro cried out. "For heaven's sake settle down. And where is your seat belt, young man?"

Shuichi pouted and his lower lip jutted out.

"I took it off. It was hurting me."

"Well, hurting or not, you have to keep it on. Here, let me."

Sanjiro glanced at the road once. Keeping one hand on the wheel, he bent over towards, Shuichi reaching for the seat belt:

Shuichi's head was rolling from side to side frantically. His eyes were clenched tightly and a few tears had spilled out from the corners.

:Flash

Sanjiro had grabbed a hold of the seat belt and was about to hook it in when Shuichi cried out.

"Daddy! Watch out!"

Dropping the belt, Sanjiro straightened up quickly. The whole wind shield was bathed in bright light from an on-coming truck. Sanjiro had, in his task to secure his son, driven over to the opposite lane. He tried to swerve out of the way but he knew he was too late. He glanced at his son, who was looking up at him with widened, fearful eyes. His mouth was open in the shape of an O as if words were stuck in his mouth. Sanjiro smiled sadly at him. He then quickly bent over, opened Shuichi's side of the door and shoved him out. Shuichi's tiny body flew over to the side-walk, as the car made a smashing impact with the truck:

Shuichi sat up straight in his bed. He was panting as if he just ran a marathon. Sweat was running down the side of his face. Shuichi took a few deep breaths to calm the erratic beating of his heart. It had been a while since he'd had one of these nightmares.

After his father had passed away in that tragic accident, saving him, Shuichi was taken in with open arms in the Uesugi household. He had been given a room right next to Tatsuha. Mr. Uesugi had provided him with everything that he needed. He went to the same school as Tatsuha, they were both given the same allowance, and Mr. Uesugi had even set up a trust fund for both of them for their college education. Shuichi was the son of his most loyal and hard-working employee, and one of his best friends. He was not about to abandon him in an orphanage or at the care of any relative who would treat him as dirt.

Even though Shuichi was given everything he desired, his heart still ached for his family. He never knew his mother for she had passed away when he was very young. But that didn't mean that he didn't miss her just as much. He knew all about her from the stories his father told him. And just as he was at the cusp of childhood and beginning to recognize the world, the person he loved most in the world and looked up to, left him all to his lonely self.

At the time the accident had occurred, Shuichi was too young to realize what had happened to him. Since Mr. Uesugi had moved him in immediately, Shuichi had amused himself in Tatsuha. What could be better for him, then to live with his best friend? He was too happy to realize that something very important had gone missing from his life. As he grew older, he started to notice small things. Like the way Mr. Uesugi's eyes would lit up when Tatusha would bring in a straight As report card. And he would be hugged by his father and be doted upon by him. Shuichi would then look around himself and yearn for his father's warm hugs and affections. Even though Mr. Uesugi loved him just the same as Tatsuha, but it still wasn't the same. That was when the nightmares began. At the beginning, Shuichi woke up from these horrible dreams screaming and shaking helplessly. Mr. Uesugi and Tatsuha would immediately run inside and hold him close in their embrace as Shuichi would cry his heart out. And sometimes, seeing his friend like this, Tatsuha wasn't able to control himself, and he cried along with him. After sometime, Shuichi learned to control his nightmares. When encountered with such dreams, he would bury his face in the pillows to muffle his sobs.

When he hit puberty and found out about his sexual orientation, he longed for his father even more. He knew that he would get the guidance and advice he needed from none other better than his Dad. His heart ached for his father more and more each day and sometimes felt as though it would burst with all the grief. That was the time he started sneaking out of the school to go and visit his father's grave. He would miss 2 or 3 of his classes and feel no remorse about it whatsoever. He would go to his father's grave and sit next to him and talk to him. He would tell him all that was on his mind, how much he missed him and how he wished he was still here today. When his grades started slipping, and he brought a report card back home with two Cs and an F, he got a long lecture from his caretaker. Mr. Uesugi asked him what was going on, and that he had such remarkable grades in the other subject then why not in those as well.

Shuichi started thinking seriously about school, after going there for summer classes. He knew that no matter how much he grieved, it wouldn't bring back his father. And, that he shouldn't do something stupid to bring shame to his father's memory. Which was why he worked real hard in his junior year of high school, and brought in a thoroughly satisfied report card. And that was why he was here in New York.

*~*~*

Shuichi ran a shaky hand through his damp hair and licked his suddenly dry lips. He looked around himself and found out that he was lying in a sleeping bag on the floor. Right next to him, Tatsuha was sprawled out on the sofa and was snoring softly.

Shuichi remembered how tired they had been from their long journey. After unloading their luggage, they had had a quick dinner and quickly fallen asleep wherever they could find a spot. He took a look towards the window and the sky outside. It was still fairly dark.

He got up to get himself a drink. He went over to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. All that greeted him inside were two 6-pack cartons of beer, a gallon of milk and a few left-over Chinese food cartons. Shuichi groaned and closed the fridge. He was really looking forwards to drinking an ice-cold beverage, preferably juice or soda. He walked over to the sink and helped himself to some tap water.

Once the thirst was quenched, he walked over to the window ledge and perched down. He looked out the window to the world outside. Yuki lived in a posh apartment building which had a very nice view of the Central Park. The darkness was slowly receding giving way to warm rays of sunlight. Shuichi thought over his nightmare, and how he had relived the whole thing again. Maybe seeing Yuki triggered some memories in his subconscious and brought on the nightmare again.

At the mention of Yuki, Shuichi turned his head looked at his closed bedroom door. He frowned absent-mindedly. What the hell did Shuichi do to him that Yuki was being extremely rude and mean? Sure the guy was hot as hell and he was allowing him to stay at his place but that didn't mean that Shuichi was going to let him walk all over him (1). He didn't even know what it was he did to piss the guy off so much in the first place.

In his musings, Shuichi didn't realize that he was still staring intently at the door. It gave him a quite a shock when it was opened all of a sudden and a frazzled Yuki was standing in the doorway. He looked so enticing with his mussed hair, heavy-lidded eyes and messy pajamas that Shuichi was unable to take his eyes off of him. Yuki too was looking him straight in the eye. Neither of them broke the eye-contact for a while. Then Yuki sniffed exasperatedly and walked into the bathroom. Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows and turned back towards the window.

`Wow! What was that guy's problem?' He shook his head.

Shuichi desperately wished that Tatsuha would wake up soon. Even though Yuki didn't say much to him, he still made Shuichi nervous as hell. The way he looked at him with his quiet, intense eyes sent shivers down Shuichi's spine. He wouldn't even know how to talk to him if they ever had a `normal' conversation.

"You're up early."

Shuichi jumped three feet in the air at the sudden voice behind him. Placing a hand on his rapidly beating heart, he turned around and was greeted to the site of Yuki standing right behind him. His hair were tamer than before and there was a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah," Shuichi smiled nervously. "Couldn't sleep. You know, the time difference and all that. My body clock is way out of whack." Shuichi was babbling and he knew it.

"Hmm." Yuki said from around the cigarette. He continued to look down at Shuichi with a close scrutiny which caused him to fidget in his spot.

"So tell me," said Yuki. "How do you like the city so far?"

Shuichi looked at him with a wide-eyed expression. This was the first time he was having a civil conversation with this man. And quite frankly, he liked it. He gave him a small smile.

"Umm I haven't really seen all that much. Just what I could watch from the car. Maybe later on….."

"Tatsuha will take you wherever you want to go." Yuki interrupted mid-sentence. "He knows his way around pretty well." Shuichi could only nod his head.

"If you need anything, just ask Tatsuha. I'll be working in my study, and I don't like being disturbed. Is that understood?"

Again, Shuichi could only nod his head. Yuki stared down into his eyes for a few more seconds before turning abruptly and walking away. When the door closed with a slam, Shuichi sat up straight and blinked his eyes. What was the DEAL with this guy? One minute he's being nice and amiable for a change and the next minute he's up for the world's-grouchiest-man award. Shuichi silently giggled at his own thoughts.

`Well, since I'm up, might as well grab some grub (yikes that rhymed =^_^=).'

With that thought, Shuichi abandoned his post at the window ledge and bounded over to the kitchen.

*~*~*

Tatsuha was having a very nice dream. He was in a faraway, peaceful world where there were no pink-haired bakas, or older brothers in serious needs of therapy. Drumming in his ears was the sound of a very soothing and relaxing tune of piano. He was laying down on a beautiful sandy beach and was enjoying the sea breeze on his face, when all of a sudden, a grating voice shattered his calm and serene world.

"Ooohhaaayooooo!!!!"

Tatsuha jerked awake and was greeted with two extremely large, violet pupils.

"Gah!"

Tatsuha fell back on his make-shift bed.

"Shuichi! Don't do that."

He pushed the boy, who was invading his personal space a bit too much, away from him.

"Come on Tatsu-chan. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! You gotta get up. The sun is out and shining brightly. Come on get up and put on a happy face."

Tatsuha looked at him horrifically. Shuichi, who was practically buzzing with energy, was jumping around the room. He jumped from the sofa, to the chair, to the middle of the room and then back on the sofa.

"Shuichi?" Tatsuha asked carefully.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Shuichi said, bending towards him, hopping on the sofa.

"What have you been taking? You remembered what we talked about right? Drugs is very bad." Tatsuha said inching away from the vibrating youth.

"Oh Tatsu-chan. You know I've never taken any cocaine or pot or ecstasy or TCH or PCP or TNT. Eeeeheeheheheheheee." Shuichi giggled loudly at the end.

"Shuichi. You get high on Children's Motrin." Tatsuha said in a dead-pan tone, which caused Shuichi to giggle some more.

"No no no no nonono. You know what happened? I got up really early, right, to get a drink of water, and then I couldn't go back to sleep. And then Yuki woke up. First he was nice to me, and then he was very rude. I didn't like that at all." At this point, the rapidly speaking youth shook his head left to right. "Anyway, he went to his study to work and I got hungry. I looked in the fridge but there was nothing to eat there. Then I looked through the cabinets, I couldn't find anything to eat there either. And just as I was about to give up hope, I found this. TA DA!!"

Shuichi proudly held out a half empty can of Folgers Instant coffee. Tatsuha sweat-dropped and shook his head.

"Should've known. Caffeine. The very thing to make energetic idiots uber-hyper. And the sworn enemy of those who have to live with those said idiots."

"What did you say Tatsuha? I can't hear yoooouuuuuu!!" Shuichi said in a sing-song voice.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Umm…Shuichi, how many much coffee did you drink so far"

Tatsuha asked, dreading the answer. Shuichi went into a thoughtful mode. He held up his hands in front of him and started counting on his fingers. He scratched his head and counted again, backwards.

"I can't tell you." Shuichi said finally.

"And why not?" Tatsuha sighed.

"Because I only have ten fingers."

Shuichi shoved his hands, palms first, in front of Tatsuha's face and started giggling madly again. Tatsuha looked towards the ceiling.

"Why me God? I haven't murdered anyone. I never stole or committed any mortal sins. Why am I being cursed with this punishment?"

Shuichi continued to giggle as Tatsuha complained to the heavenly forces above.

"All right Shu-chan, give me the coffee. You've had enough."

Tatsuha started slowly towards his friend.

"No. I haven't finished the whole can yet. You can't have it."

Shuichi pouted and hid the bottle behind his back.

"Come on Shuichi, I'll make you something to eat. How about some pancakes, huh? Or would you like French toast? Come on, hand that devil drink…err….I mean coffee over."

At the promise of food, Shuichi complied, albeit slowly. Once Tatsuha had the can within his grasp, he heaved a sigh of relief.

"All right. Let's go see what's to eat."

Tatsuha went over to the kitchen, with Shuichi in tow, and examined the cupboards. He was hoping to at least find some cereal or some batter for pancakes. He had to sweat-drop at the sorry state of the empty kitchen. It was definitely lacking some major necessities. Shuichi was hopping around him.

"See, see. I told you. There's nothing to eat. What're we going to do now, I'm starving." Shuichi whined. Tatsuha took a deep calming breath.

"O.K this is what we're going to do. I'm going to grab a quick shower. And then we'll go out and find a place to eat. We can have a traditional American breakfast of bagels with cream cheese and cof……I mean hot cocoa. Sounds good?" Tatsuha said as if asking a little kid.

"Yeah, yeah." Shuichi looked at him with a wide, angelic smile. Tatsuha smiled back and patted his head.

"Now sit here until I get back. And no more coffee, o.k.?"

"All right." Shuichi nodded his head, still smiling widely.

Tatsuha went to the bathroom to get washed up. And he wisely took the can containing the remaining coffee, with him.

*~*~*

Quick Author's notes:

I was actually thinking about finishing this chapter here, but I decided to write more. Don't you guys love me for that ^_^…….crickets chirping………*cough cough*……… ^_^;; enjoy the rest of the chapter. Oh, and watch for the guest appearance of two other guys from another anime ^_~.

*~*~*

An hour later found them sitting in a Dunkin Donuts that Tatsuha often frequented during his visits. They were both seated on a table for two and were enjoying their breakfast of: bagel with extra cream cheese and a large hot chocolate for Shuichi, and a bagel with veggie cream cheese and a mocha latte for Tatsuha. The city of New York was lively and hustling and bustling around them.

"Mmmm, yummy." Shuichi moaned around his bagel as the velvety soft cream cheese melted in his mouth.

"Yeah." Tatsuha nodded his head. "This is why I often come here when Yuki's fridge runs out of things."

Shuichi nodded his head in return as he thought about the sorrowfully empty fridge.

"Which reminds me," Tatsuha interrupted his thoughts. "We've got to go do some shopping today."

Shuichi's eyes lit up immediately, as he placed his hands on the table and bent slightly towards Tatsuha.

"Really! That's cool. First, I wanna go to Saks Fifth Avenue, then I wanna go to Macy's and then….."

"Not that shopping idiot." Tatsuha interrupted mid- tirade. "Plus, I don't think Dad put enough money in our vacation budget to do shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue (2)."

Shuichi made a face at Tatsuha.

"So, if we're not doing that, then what the hell are we doing?"

Tatsuha rolled his eyes.

"Grocery shopping. It was o.k. when it was only Yuki and I. But, now that there are more mouths to feed, I think we'll have to stock up the kitchen."

Understanding dawned on Shuichi's face and he nodded his head in consent.

"Oh well, shopping is shopping." He shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter it its clothes or shoes or games or food. We'll still have our fun, ne?" Shuichi beamed at Tatsuha.

"I wouldn't count on that." Tatsuha said, taking a huge gulp of his latte. "We have to go with Yuki. And he tends to put a little damper on all things fun."

Shuichi sagged down in his seat and scowled.

"What is the deal with him? Why is his behavior so offensive towards me? I don't know why he doesn't like me at all." Shuichi said in a quiet voice.

"You know what, I'm a little surprised myself over Yuki's behavior." Tatsuha said thoughtfully. "I mean I know he's not the life of the party type of person, but he's never been like this before. Maybe……" Tatsuha gave Shuichi a once over, "……it has something to do with you."

"What?!!" Shuichi cried out indignantly. "I barely even know the guy. How could he have a problem with me? Maybe I did something to him when we were younger, you know, stole his candy or something. And he's taking it out on me now." Shuichi pouted cutely.

"Well, whatever it is Shuichi, don't let it bother you." Tatsuha said petting his shoulder, as he stood up. Shuichi soon followed his lead. "Yuki is never known for holding a grudge against anyone for too long."

They both deposited their empty cups and napkins in the trashcan and placed the trays on top.

"But then again, I only see him two months out of the whole year. So I wouldn't be too sure about that, now would I?"

He wriggled his eyebrows at him.

"Oh, that makes me feel a whole lot better."

Shuichi said, pushing a laughing Tatusha out the door.

*~*~*

Ever since his writing career had started, this was the first time that this was happening to him. Yuki Eiri was unable to write a single word because his thoughts were miles away from his book.

The laptop which contained the first half of his book was turned on in front of him. The ash-tray next to him contained three burned out cigarette butts, while another was dangling from his mouth. Yuki was laid back in his chair, with his head turned towards the window. He was gazing at the sky outside, with a faraway expression.

After having a fitful night, filled with bad dreams, Yuki had gotten up earlier then usual. He was surprised to find that the boy was up as well. Yuki didn't want to admit it, but he did make a cute picture, sitting on the window, wearing cotton shorts and a tank top, with wild pink hair all over the place.

After washing up, he had walked over to him. Yuki had to bite down on his lips to hide the smile that threatened to break out, over the way Shuichi had jumped up wildly. Yuki thought about saying something sarcastic to him, but as he gazed down at the violet orbs, which were looking up at him with a scared and lost expression, he found himself unable to say something scathing. Instead he found something melting inside of him, at the look of these red-rimmed eyes. `Had he been crying?' Yuki instead asked him some mundane thing that popped in his head. Something about liking the place or whatever.

He watched as Shuichi spoke. He looked from his overly large purple eyes, down to his lips as they moved. `Oh God, the resemblance between them is remarkable.' Yuki thought as he stared down at him. Would these lips taste the same as `his' had. Yuki was instantly horrified at the direction his thoughts were taking. Immediately, his eyes hardened as he looked down at the boy. `You will not have that kind of effect on me. You are nothing like him.'

To prove to himself that the boy wasn't getting to him, he had said something harsh towards the end, before barricading himself in his work-room. Now, here he sat, looking out the window with a blank expression. It was much later since he had that encounter with Shuichi. Sitting up straight in his seat, he ran a hand over his face. He looked over at the clock. They had been gone for a while now, and would be back any minute. Yuki still didn't know how he should act towards the boy. Should he resent him for something Shuichi didn't even have a clue about? Or should he be nice and amiable to him, since he was Tatsuha's friend? Or maybe, he could go for the whole ignore-that-he-even-exists-on-the-face-of-the-universe routine.

Yuki's thoughts were brought to a halt when he heard the front door open and then close. There was sound of shuffling feet which stopped right at his door. He heard their muffled voices, as they spoke slowly to each other. `What are these two up to now?'

Yuki pushed his chair back and got up. He went to the door quietly and threw open the door. Both Shuichi and Tatsuha were bent closer together as if discussing something important. When the door flew open, they both got startled as their hair flew straight up and both fell back on their butts.

"What is going on?"

Yuki asked slowly, looking from one face to another.

"This is the second time today he's shocked me like that. If I don't die from his cold stares, I'll probably get a coronary from these shocks."

Shuichi's frantic whisper in Tatsuha's ear, as they stood up, didn't fail to reach Yuki's sharp hearing. So, the brat had noticed the way Yuki looked at him. Maybe he wasn't as dumb as he first seemed to be.

"Umm, Yuki." Tatsuha started. "We..uh…there's nothing to eat in the kitchen. We can't keep going out to fill our stomachs. We have to go grocery shopping."

"So," Yuki raised an eyebrow. "What are you asking me for? Go and purchase whatever you need. If you need money, I'll give it to you."

"Oh no, that's not the case." Tatsuha shook his head. "You see, we can't really bring the things ourselves, since we basically have to fill up the whole kitchen." Tatsuha flinched slightly when he noticed Yuki's eye twitch. "We're going to need you to take us. In your truck."

Yuki snorted. But when the two of them didn't budge from their spot, he rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Whatever. Let me change and grab my keys." Yuki made his way over to his bedroom. He stopped at the door and turned around. "But this better not take long. I've still got a finish up my book before the deadline."

"Yeah yeah, of course not. It won't take long at all. We'll just grab the things we need and then be outta there. Right?"

Tatsuha said hurriedly and nudged Shuichi with his elbows.

"Uh yeah. Sure." Shuichi nodded his head.

Yuki looked at them with narrowed eyes before disappearing behind the door.

*~*~*

"Wheeeeee!!"

Shuichi cried out as he rolled himself on the shopping cart. He had placed both his feet on the bottom bars and was hefting himself down the aisle. He put his left foot down and was about to propel himself again when Tatsuha grabbed him by the back of his T-Shirt and pulled him down.

"Ack!" Shuichi rubbed his throat. "Tatsuha. You nearly choked me you bastard." He cried out.

"What? Just nearly? That's too bad. Next time I'll do it harder and we won't have to worry about the `nearly' part."

Shuichi promptly punched him in the shoulder.

Yuki had driven the two over to a Pathmark, since that was the best source for doing grocery shopping (3). They had already piled bread, pancake batter, and different types of pasta in their cart. Now they were heading down the canned food aisle, with Shuichi trying to ride the cart. Lucky for them, Yuki had decided to wait for them by the cash registers. Tatsuha picked up some corn and chick peas cans and deposited them in the cart.

"You better watch yourself Shuichi. Yuki doesn't tolerate this kind of behavior."

Shuichi made a face.

"Well you know what." He said defiantly. "Yuki is not the boss of me. He can't tell me how to live my life. For all I care, Yuki can just go and fu…..oomph."

The rest of his sentence was swallowed, as his cart crashed into an on-coming one from another aisle. Since Shuichi was the one pushing, he nearly fell head first into his own cart. Luckily, no big damage was done.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Are you o.k.?"

Shuichi looked up at the man he had bumped into. His heart thumped loudly in his chest at the sight before him. The man was tall, standing to be about 5'11". He had wavy auburn hair and soft hazel-brown eyes. He was looking down at him with an apologetic smile. Shuichi offered him a small smile of his own.

"Nah. Don't worry about it. Nothing was broken, and I'm perfectly fine."

"Yeah." Tatsuha piped up from the side. "It takes a lot more them a small impact like that to bring down this hard-headed guy."

Tatsuha proceeded to grab him in a head-lock and knocked his head with his fist to prove his point. Shuichi made a face and tried to push him away.

The man held a hand in front of his face to stifle his laughter at their behavior. There was something about the man's presence that exuded friendliness. At the sound of muffled laughter, they both looked up at him.

"You two remind him of another pair of guys I know." He told them. "They behave just like you guys, not caring where they are."

Shuichi and Tatsuha smiled up at him.

"My name is Shuichi Shindou. This is my best friend/brother Tatsuha Uesugi."

The man's eyes lit up.

"Oh, you guys are Japanese." He exclaimed. Tatsuha nodded his head. "I am too. Well, half Japanese. My name is….."

"There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."

The red-haired man was joined by another guy. He was slightly taller then him, and had jet black hair. And he could easily rival his partner in looks.

"Come on Ryo. Didn't you get everything we need already? I wanna go home now, there's a game on tonight that I really don't want to miss."

The new guy had wrapped both his arms around the red-haired man's waist and had placed his chin on his shoulders. Shuichi and Tatsuha's eyes widened at this open display of affection between these two guys.

"Oh Dee. I swear sometimes you act just like Bikky, even if you don't want to admit it." The man called Dee frowned as Ryo patted the muscular arm wrapped around his middle. He looked at Shuichi and Tatsuha and gave them a sheepish smile.

"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted." He gave the man on his shoulder an affectionate smile. "My name is Ryo Maclean. And this here is my partner, in more ways then one, Dee Laytner."

"Friends of yours?" Dee nodded towards them.

"Just some nice guys I happened to bump into." Ryo said. "We better get going. It was very nice meeting you guys. Maybe we'll bump into each other some other time, ne."

Shuichi and Tatsuha, by then, had snapped out of their state of shock. They both gave the friendly man with kind eyes a huge smile.

"It was very nice to meet you too Ryo-san."

Shuichi said as they maneuvered their carts around each other. With a parting smile, both parties went their separate ways.

A little ways away from them, Shuichi turned towards Tatsuha.

"O.K tell me honestly. Did seeing those two guys together made you hot as hell too?"

Tatsuha looked at him weirdly for a few seconds.

"You are a very strange boy, do you know that?"

Shuichi stared hard at him.

"O.K I admit it, it did look like what those guys had was genuine. And that they don't care about who's watching or not, but I don't think I'll be getting off picturing them in my mind."

Shuichi shook his head and pushed at him playfully, as they entered another aisle and piled more things on. When the cart was nearly over flowing with stuff, they both decided to call it quits and headed over to the cashier. Yuki's eyes widened when he looked at the `necessary' things they had picked up. Both Shuichi and Tatsuha's eyes were upside-down Vs and had large smiles on their faces. Yuki groaned and shook his head. Some of his golden locks fell over on his eyes, slightly obscuring them. For some reason, Shuichi found that to be incredibly cute and looked at him tenderly. He quickly averted his gaze when he caught Yuki's eyes.

One by one, they were placing all the items on the conveyor belt. As the things moved forward, Shuichi noticed that something was missing.

"OH MY GOD. We forgot to get ice cream."

Shuichi yelled out all of a sudden. This not only startled Tatsuha, who was right in front of him, but also caused the cashier to drop the big red bag of skittles she was about to scan. Yuki merely raised his eyebrows at his outburst.

"That's all right, sir. You can go and grab some from that aisle right there." The kindly cashier pointed to the side.

"Thank you. I'll be right back."

Shuichi quickly ran over to the appointed aisle. On one side, there were shelved upon shelves of different flavors of ice creams. And on the other aisle, many different frozen vegetables and t.v. dinners were displayed. Shuichi started scanning the aisle for his favorite flavor. Since he had precious little time and no cart, he would have to limit his search. He would stick to only as much as he could carry in his hands…well…..arms.

There weren't a lot of people in the aisle at this time. A few old ladies, with their own shopping carts, were picking up some vegetable bags. A family down the aisle was squabbling over which flavor of ice cream to buy.

Shuichi was reading the names on the cartons as he picked up a few flavors of his own. He'd already picked up chocolate fudge, strawberry, and cookies and cream. He was about to head back when his eyes caught on another flavor. "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough". `Mmm that sound yummy.' Shifting the load in his left arm, Shuichi reached out with his right. That particular carton was a further ways back. He had almost had a grip on it when a familiar voice fell upon his ears.

"Come on, Ryo. The guys said it's a fun place to hang out. Why won't you go with me?"

Dee Laytner was walking next to his friend, as Ryo picked up a few items and dropped them in the cart. They were a little bit away from Shuichi and were turned in the other direction.

"I don't know what you've herd, but to me, that place sounds a bit dodgy."

Shuichi had stopped reaching for the can and was listening intently.

"Oh man, Ryo. I really think we need to go to Babylon (4). It is after all a gay club. Maybe it'll loosen you up a bit and give you some ideas about how to treat your boyfriend."

Ryo gave a tiny snort. They were slowly making their way down the aisle. Dee sighed deeply.

"Ryo. If you agree to go with me, I'll……."

At this point, Dee said something to him in a low tone, which Shuichi wasn't able to pick up. But he knew that it wasn't something you would say in a polite company for it had caused Ryo to cry out indignantly.

"Dee!!"

A poor old lady shopping next to them huffed loudly and pushed her cart away from them as fast as she could. Dee couldn't help but laugh at her behavior. When he noticed the scowl on his partner's face, he once again wrapped his arms around his waist, from behind and rested his head on his shoulder. He whispered things in Ryo's ears and soon, they reached the end of the aisle, and disappeared in the next one.

Shuichi stood there thinking rapidly. Their words were still echoing in his mind. "Babylon", "Gay Club". `This has definite possibilities.'

Quickly diving in for the carton of ice cream, he ran back to the cash register. After paying for their purchase, with Yuki's credit card, they made their way over to the parking lot. As they were loading the bags in the back, Shuichi asked Tatsuha if he knew about a club called Babylon.

"Not really heard of it. Why?"

"Oh, you know those two hot guys we met back there," Shuichi immediately went into an explaining frenzy. "Well, I couldn't help over-hearing what they were talking about."

"Bet you could." Tatsuha muttered under his breath. Shuichi ignored him.

"Anyway, they were talking about how this club is really totally cool. Come on Tatsuha, what do you say? Can we go there?" Shuichi pleaded. He had carefully omitted the part that the said club was actually a `gay club'.

"But Shuichi, I don't even know where it is."

Tatsuha looked down at him, and all he could see were overly-large, purple, wobbly eyes. He sighed.

"Fine. I'll research it over the internet."

Immediately the wobble was gone, replaced with a bright smile. They walked around to the front.

"You take the front seat this time, Shuichi. Yuki doesn't let me play around with the radio."

Shuichi scowled darkly at him, but complied anyway. He strapped on his seat belt, something he never forgot to do, and settled down. Tatsuha took the back seat, and placed his head phones on. He was softly humming along with the music.

Once the truck was on the road, Yuki turned on the radio to 106.7 F.M. and soft music filled up the space. Shuichi was staring out the window, at the stores and buildings they were quickly leaving behind.

"Did I hear you guys mention the name Babylon?"

Shuichi turned his head and looked up at him.

"Umm yeah."

Yuki took his eyes off the road for a second and glanced at him.

"Not planning on going there are you?"

Shuichi felt irritation building up in his system.

"So what if we are?" he replied with a raised chin. Yuki grunted softly.

"I wouldn't recommend that you go there. That place is not for little brats, but for a much mature audience."

`O.K he could have put that a little better.' Shuichi bristled with barely controlled anger. That guy sure had a way of pushing his buttons.

"Well you know what Yuki," Shuichi grounded out his name. "I don't think I need you permission to do anything. And I would appreciate it if you kept your opinions and business separate from my own."

Yuki narrowed his eyes and glared at him. Shuichi met his stare with one of his own, as if daring him to say something else. A corner of Yuki's mouth lifted in a bitter smile.

"Fine. Do whatever the hell you want. Just don't come crying to me, when everything blows up in your face."

"Believe me, I won't." Shuichi snorted.

Yuki reached out and raised the volume on the radio, thereby ending the conversation. Shuichi huffed and turned back to staring out the window.

Tatsuha was blissfully unaware of the conversation that just took place. But then why was there a tiny smirk playing at the corner of his mouth?

*~*~*

TBC.

1. The Shuichi in this story is not going to be lovesick fool….umm…..yet ^_~. And he's not going to stand for Yuki's rude behavior.

2. Saks Fifth Avenue is a really cool place, but expensive as hell. Just ask Winona Ryder *laughs hysterically*

3. That one's actually my own personal opinion. If you want to do grocery shopping for a month, just go to Pathmark.

4. "Babylon". I took that name from the show "Queer As Folk", that's the gay club where they're always hanging out.

AN: Whew, another chapter done. Don't forget to leave a few words about you like it, hate it, or whatever. And please forgive any grammatical mistakes, I'm being really lazy to go and double check the entire chapter. Love all you guys to bits. Until next time ^_^.