AN: This chapter was harder to write up for some reason

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Chapter 5

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"What took you?" Hiroki asked as he gathered his things. Lunch period was just about over and he had another class starting in another few minutes.

"I'm very sorry, Hiro-san… I figured since I was at the train station, anyway, I'd might as well pick up tickets for this afternoon- when is the earliest you can get off?"

Hiroki's eye twitched. "Shouldn't you have asked me BEFORE you bought them??"

"Can you be off at four?"

Hiroki sighed, rubbing his temples. "The only other literature instructor took the day off to go to the dent-"

"Miyagi!" a voice sounded from the hallway and Miyagi pushed into the office, suddenly. "Miyagi!" Shinobu followed the man inside, cheeks red. "You can't just go back to work!"
"Professor, you back from the dentist?" Hiroki blinked.

"Yep."

"He skipped his appointment!"

"Perfect!" Hiroki exclaimed, and Shinobu and Miyagi both eyed him.

"PERFECT?!" The teen exploded.

"I had a sudden emergency come up." Hiroki explained. "I'm very sorry but I need to leave and I will probably not be able to make it in, tomorrow, either. Can you cover for me?"

"But I rescheduled your appointment for tomorrow!" Shinobu snapped.

"Kamijou!!!" Miyagi placed both hands on his subordinate's shoulders and glared, determined. "You can count on me!"

"You fucking BASTARD." Shinbou growled, though neither of the literature enthusiasts were quite sure whom the teen was insulting.

"Thank you very much. We apologize for the sudden inconvenience." Nowaki bowed, politely.

"Absolutely no problem at all!" Miyagi smiled, waving as the two headed out. The last bit of bickering either of the two heard from the office as they left was:

"Gawd, just because you saw a kid whining?"

"He was screaming bloody murder!"

"FINE!!! But you'd better quit smoking-! YOU'RE DOING IT NOW!!! Does my father know y-?!!"

As soon as the door closed, the two fled down the hall.

"Hiro-san, are you going to have to make up for today and tomorrow? If you would prefer, I can go alone." Nowaki suggested.

"If you're taking a penalty, I am, too. We're in this together- the last thing I need is for you to go through some big dramatic episode without me- we'll grow apart!"

"…Hiro-san…" Nowaki flushed. "That sounds touching, somehow…"

"Shut up, somehow!" Hiroki snapped, annoyed, "Do we need to head home? You brought everything you need, right?"

"Actually, there's one last matter to resolve at home…"

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"OSAKA?!" Kamijou-mama wailed as her son scampered about his and Nowaki's pad, stuffing clothes into a suitcase.

"Yeah."

"But why?!"

"WHY are YOU here?" Hiroki snapped, annoyed.

"I only came back to bring your father." She gestured to the couch and Hiroki nearly leapt out of his skin. "GAH-!!!"

"She dragged me here, against my will." His father muttered and Hiroki sighed, annoyed. "Well, it's too bad the timing's so poor, I have to go to Osaka."
"Well this Keiji-kun sure seems to be causing quite a bit of drama. Is Kusama-kun aware of the current situation?" His mother inquired.

"Yeah, he's on his way, now." Hiroki muttered, zipping up the briefcase. "He just stopped by downstairs to let the landlord know we may be gone a couple of days. Listen, I'm sorry to leave you guys high and dry like this- had I known you were coming, I may have been able to better accommodate you, in the meantime, please feel free to help yourselves to the-"

"We are coming with you." His mother stated, folding her arms.

"…NO." Hiroki snapped, pointing at her, annoyed. "Stay HERE."

"Hiro-san!" Nowaki burst through the doors, suddenly. "When did… he get here?" He blinked, suddenly noticing Hiroki's father.

"Two hours ago." Kamijou-papa replied, lifting a newspaper, curiously, from the table and glancing over it. "I came with mama. She told me that the two of you have something to tell me, properly."

"But since there's an emergency, we can put it off- and we insist on accompanying you to find this Keiji-kun." Kamijou-mama stated.

"…No." Hiroki snapped. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Hiro-san, we can't just leave them here…" Nowaki argued, a tad concerned about the slightly elderly couple.

"We can and we will…" Hiroki huffed, gathering his things together. "Come on."

"Hiro-chan?!" His mother blinked as Hiroki headed out, quickly.

"Hiro-san, what're we doing, exactly?" Nowaki asked as he gathered up his own things. "Are we going to try to find him?"

"Do you know what he's even doing down there?" Hiroki inquired as the two headed down the hall.

Hiroki stopped, suddenly, fuming. Nowaki bumped into him, then blinked glancing over his shoulder when he heard footsteps behind them.

Kamijou-Papa and Mama were following like ducklings; Kamijou-mama looked quite concerned, and Kamijou-papa looked quite bored.

"Quit fallowing us! We need you guys to water the plants!"

"They are fake." Kamijou-mama folded her arms, puffing up her cheeks, a bit.

"Don't give me that look- we can't afford two more tickets!"

"We can pay for ourselves." Kamijou-papa wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders.

"Don't deny mama a trip to Osaka, Hiro-chan!" His mother scolded.

"You just went within the past three months!"

"Wanna go again!"

"FINE." Hiroki rubbed his temple, annoyed. "…We don't have time to argue, let's just go."

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The odd quartette sat on a train, headed for Osaka, nearly three hours later.

It was somewhat reminiscent of the train ride Hiroki and Nowaki had taken a couple of months back. (1).

ONLY HIROKI'S PARENTS WERE NOT THERE, AT THAT TIME.

Nowaki didn't seem to mind, though. He was smiling at them, engaging Kamijou-mama in small talk about this or that- trivial things that Hiroki's mother enjoyed talking about but that Hiroki himself would never opt to discuss.

Kamijou-papa was quiet, overall, like Hiroki. He was simply going along for the ride, and to humor Kamijou-mama, of course. Though he was a prideful man, for the most part, the years had tamed him and lately he seemed to prefer letting Kamijou-mama plan their vacations and random activities.

Sighing, Hiroki's thoughts drifted to his future with Nowaki. Would they be together when they were his parents' age? Would the years reduce Hiroki's pride? Enough to where he would do whatever it took to make Nowaki happy?

He wasn't sure if he loathed that idea or not…

He felt Nowaki's hand touch his when Nowaki slid his hand to his side, leaning backward to pop his neck and back, and he hoped Nowaki didn't try to do anything embarrassing in front of his parents…

After hearing a small pop, Nowaki scooted backward and moved his hands, folding them in his lap.

"It's going to be a long ride… we'd might as well sleep a bit." He suggested, and Kamijou-mama agreed.

"I brought a very special pillow for you, my dear." She pulled a small pillow out of her case and raised it for her husband to see.

"You didn't bring one for yourself?" He asked and she beamed, patting his hand, affectionately.

"Well of course I did, silly."

"…I am your pillow, am I not?" He grumbled, and Hiroki sympathized with his poor father, who had probably hit the nail on the head with that assumption.

The man tucked the pillow behind his back and pulled his wife to his side. Resting her head against his chest and the palm of her right hand against his shoulder, she shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Hiroki glanced around, taking note in the fact that there was barely anyone on board, but still feeling that his mother's public displays of affection were a tad inappropriate.

He knew that if he voiced his concerns, she would either ignore him or try to argue why it was perfectly alright for a woman to hug her husband, and then she would go on to rant about how pleased she was that 'the times were changing' and 'even you could probably get away with it if you wanted to hug Nowaki, Hiro-chan!' and then there would be hell to pay.

Nowaki smiled fondly at the sight of the elderly couple, lying against one another, and then he glanced happily at Hiroki, his thoughts obviously drifting to where Hiroki's had, moments ago.

Quickly averting his embarrassed gaze, Hiroki struggled to count backward from one hundred in his head. He could feel his cheeks burning up.

After about a half hour or so, his father's obnoxious snoring could be heard throughout the train. Though other passengers had also fallen asleep and taken to snoring, his mother also had managed to fall fast asleep.

It was when the lights went off and everyone sounded asleep that Nowaki dared twine his fingers with Hiroki's. Hiroki sighed, holding his hand, back, and leaning against Nowaki. He could tell Nowaki wanted to kiss him, but that was absolutely impossible, so he didn't meet Nowaki's gaze. This also aided him in ignoring the sad puppy dog look that Nowaki was probably giving him.

Nowaki let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes, resting his head atop Hiroki's. For just a moment, Hiroki hoped to be just like his parents when he grew older.

As he drifted off to sleep, his thoughts wandered to Keiji, who he hoped was alright.

The child was probably all alone…

What could possibly possess him to leave and head to Osaka? Nowaki had promised to explain, but he had never gotten around to it. Now would probably be the perfect time to listen to the younger man elaborate, but the warmth radiating from Nowaki's body and soul was lulling Hiroki quickly to sleep.

As his eyelids grew heavier and his sight hazed, slightly, Hiroki heard Nowaki's voice- barely audible- whispering soft words of affection to him.

"I love you, Hiro-san…"

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AN: Short chapter, I know… next chapter, they will meet up with Keiji-kun. Yay. No deadline as of yet. Next chapter will probably be a while.

(1) Train ride took place in a DVD extra. It was a small Junjou Egoist extra where Nowaki received free train tickets for two from a patient at the hospital. He was asked to take many pictures, and it was the first trip that he and Hiroki had taken together, so Hiroki had hurried to finish all his work so that he could go with Nowaki. No smut, but it was very fluffy and cute. You can find the updated extra at the mangafox website, FYI.