(This is set directly after volume 7, chapter 3, where Morinaga has just received the email from Masaki whilst at uni)

Chapter 1

Morinaga

Thank you so much for last night. It was really good to see you again after all these years and finally tell you how sorry I am, and I'm really glad that we're still able to talk and laugh like we used to. I'd really appreciate it if you could give me a call when I get home at around 3 o'clock, I forgot to grab your number off of you yesterday with your email address (oops), but there's something I'd really like to talk to you about. My number's 03 9378 2674

Thanks

Masaki

Morinaga stared down at the email on his phone, unsure how to react.

"Oi, Morinaga, sometime today with that reagent would be good," Souichi snapped, holding out one hand and clicking his fingers impatiently.

Morinaga shoved the phone into his pocket before handing the bottle to the impatient man.

"Finally," Souichi muttered, adding a few drops to an agar plate before placing it back under the microscope.

Morinaga watched as his love bent over to look through the microscope and brushed his hair back from his face, and he couldn't help but momentarily imagine running his fingers through that gorgeous silver hair and planting a kiss at the base of his neck, right in that sensitive spot….He shook the daydream from his head, willing himself to focus on his current predicament. Souichi had made his opinion of Masaki perfectly clear, yet Morinaga felt compelled to make this phone call – like it or not, Masaki had been a big part of his life, and the man was still important to him. Besides, it was just a phone call, it's not like he was meeting him again, which was technically all Souichi had told him not to do. Though he knew that wouldn't stop him getting hit if he were caught…

Souichi wasn't exactly the most sensitive of people, but even he could tell something was bothering Morinaga today. He'd been even more out of it that usual, glancing at the clock every five seconds and generally not paying any attention to what he was doing – he'd broken two cover slips in the past hour for God's sake! Eventually he couldn't take it any longer, turning abruptly in his chair to face Morinaga, making the distracted younger one jump.

"Morinaga, what is up with you today?" he asked, his voice saturated with the day's frustration.

Morinaga looked taken aback and, Souichi noted with interest, a little guilty. "Nothing, why do you ask?" he replied hastily.

"Because you're even more useless than usual! What's going on?" Souichi persisted.

Morinaga glanced up at the clock – it was almost three. "It's nothing," he replied, "look, I'm going to go take a walk and get us a coffee, I'll be back shortly."

And with that Morinaga got up and left the room, leaving Souichi even more confused than he was before. Something was definitely going on, and he had a really bad feeling about it….

Morinaga waited until he was about half way between the uni and their usually coffee shop before pulling out his phone and dialing the number in the email. He hoped it wouldn't take long – Souichi was very impatient when it came to waiting for coffee he was expecting.

The phone began to ring, and abruptly Morinaga was nervous. He'd been so focused on making the call that he hadn't stopped to think about what it was that Masaki felt was so important to tell him. However, now that he was, it had him worried. What could it be?

"Hello, Masaki Junya speaking," came a voice from the other end of the phone.

"Hey, it's me, Tetsuhiro," he replied, looking down at the pavement as he walked and hoping he didn't sound as nervous as he felt.

"Tetsuhiro! I'm really glad to hear from you, thanks for calling."

"No problem. So how was the ride home?"

"Not bad. It seemed longer on the way there than the way back – perhaps because I was excited for the journey to end on the way there."

Morinaga smiled in spite of himself. "Well anyway, you said in your email you had something to talk to me about? It sounded rather important…"

"Yes, well, you see," began Masaki, who was now sounding a little nervous himself. Morinaga could just imagine him drumming him fingers on a desk or something, the way he always had when he was nervous. "I really enjoyed your company last night, I thought, you know, we still got along really well…"

"I thought so too," Morinaga replied gently.

"You did? That's good, because I thought that maybe this weekend you could come to Nagoya and spend a day or two with me, you know, just to catch up a bit more. There's still so much I don't know about you."

Morinaga froze mid-step, rooted to the spot, unsure of what to say.

The awkward pause on the phone stretched on, until Masaki finally said, "Or I could come to you if that's easier?"

That idea was enough to snap Morinaga out of his daze. "No," he replied, perhaps a little too sharply. He couldn't have Masaki come and visit him next weekend, Souichi would kill him!

"Oh, do you…do you not want to catch up again?" asked Masaki, sounding hurt.

"No, it's not that," Morinaga replied quickly, "it's just that…" he paused, trying to think it all through in the very limited time he had. If he was honest with himself he would like to see Masaki again, and there was no way he could have Masaki coming to him, not with Souichi around, so really that only left him with one choice. He sighed "Don't worry about it. I'll leave Saturday morning and come to you."

"Great, I'll meet you at the train station Saturday afternoon then," Masaki replied enthusiastically.

"I'll only be able to stay until Sunday though," said Morinaga.

"That's alright. Well, I'll let you go, I've got to go and unpack. See you Saturday, bye!" And with that the phone was disconnected. Morinaga sighed as he put the phone back into his pocket – as much has he wanted to catch up with Masaki some more, he had a feeling that this wasn't going to lead to anything good…

It was half an hour before Morinaga came back with their coffees.

"God Morinaga, what took you so long, did you walk half way across the bloody city? I thought you must have died or something!" Souichi snapped, snatching the coffee out of Morinaga's hands. Though he would never admit it, he'd actually been a little worried – he thought perhaps the idiot had found one last opportunity to see that bastard Masaki again…

Morinaga said nothing, still contemplating the consequences of that phone call. How on earth was he going to get away for Saturday and Sunday with Souichi questioning what was going on? He was now even more distracted than ever!