It's my first Getbackers fic ever! I hope you all like it ^_^

The S in Getbackers

The 's' in Getbackers should stand for stupid, Ban found himself thinking, watching from the doorway of the Honky Tonk as Ginji ran straight over to the counter and started ordering food they couldn't afford. The idiot really had no idea about money, or priorities, or any practical aspect of real life at all! And yet, somehow Ban couldn't ever bring himself to tell Ginji not to do, or even not to do himself, anything that he knew would make him happy.

And most things made Ginji happy.

Did that mean Ban would do anything for him?

Pushing that thought aside, he slid into a seat beside his blond partner at the counter. Ginji was grinning like a maniac as Natsumi pushed a pizza across to him. S for simple, Ban thought – simple things please simple minds.

"D'you want some, Banchan?" Ginji asked him, mouth already full of pizza. If he wanted some, Ban knew, he'd better say so now 'cause it was bound to be gone in about fifteen seconds. But he knew Ginji was enjoying it.

"I'm not hungry."

Maybe it was for somehow – somehow he'd ended up with this childlike, annoying fool with no manners as a partner. Or surprisingly, cause he'd sure been surprised to find himself growing fond of Ginji in a way he'd never cared for anyone before…

"Hey Ban, make any money today?"

Ban glared at Paul. He hardly needed say no. He wanted to say "what do you think", but he didn't need to say that either.

Paul smirked.

"Well, you probably better start washing now…"

Ban glared further.

"I'll pay for it, ok? Tomorrow."

"Don't worry Paul!" Ginji said in his cheerful voice. "I'll wash up enough to pay for all this stuff, when I've eaten it, I promise!"

Ginji grinned and went back to chatting with Natsumi, his second pizza already waiting to be eaten.

"I'll pay for it all," Ban insisted, then ignored whatever Paul replied. Ginji's smile – there was another 's' word that definitely meant something in the Getbackers. From his almost constant happy grin to the smaller smiles only his friends saw, to the sad smiles he forced when he was down, Ban secretly loved Ginji's smiles. Perhaps the way he smiled in his sleep was the one Ban liked most, the tiny smiles that were so much more personal, that he thought of as especially for him although Ginji never realised he watched him sleep.

Not that he watched…

Realising he was staring at Ginji, Ban turned away to find Paul watching him shrewdly. Hoping his feelings hadn't been on display he ordered a coffee and a pizza for himself to divert Paul's attention.

He sat quietly, sipping at his coffee, mind wandering as he waited for his pizza to arrive. S was for secret, secret feelings…his secret feelings. They'd even been secret to him, until they just became too strong for him not to notice, and not to sit pondering over cups of coffee he hadn't paid for. Still a secret, he mused, but one he almost didn't want to keep…

A while later he snapped out of it to realise his pizza was there rapidly cooling before him, and had been there long enough, in fact, to be cold.

"Are you okay Banchan?"

"Hmm?"

Ginji had turned those wide brown eyes on him and was watching, half amused and half worried.

"You've been kinda zoned out. And really quiet. Is anything wrong?"

"No, nothing, just tired. Don't worry about me, Ginji."

"Well, I'm tired too, let's go home, ok?"

From now on, Ban thought as they got up, and threatened by Paul about paying up, it was decided – the S was going to be for sweet, in his mind at least. Ginji was sweet through and through. His voice was sweet, the way he worried and looked out for him was sweet…he looked sweet…

He didn't just look sweet though, a little voice at the back of Ban's mind told him. Despite his cute appearance, he could be sexy too, when he wanted to be. Or, when he didn't want to be, probably – Ban guessed he had no idea how some of the looks he gave him affected him, or how gorgeous he was when he wasn't being hopelessly adorable. On the rare occasion he was being serious…then he was most DEFINITELY sexy, and it couldn't be a bad thing if that was what the s was for. That, Ban suddenly realised would also mean it was almost for…

Ban tried to stop his thoughts from going there.

Oh wait, they already had.

"Banchan? You've drifted off again…I'm worried about you."

Ban smiled despite himself, and Ginji suddenly looked much happier.

"I already told you, don't worry. Come on, let's just go."

"Wait a minute!" Ginji cried as they reached the door, turning around and hurrying over to a girl sat by herself who Ban was sure he'd never met in his life before. She looked kind of sad, but as Ginji chatted to her like he'd known her forever, she started to smile. Ginji was so special, Ban thought, adding another s-word to his list of Ginji compliments. He had a special gift, of understanding people, of being able to befriend everyone and anyone, and make them happy with a cheerful word or two and one of his smiles. Ban doubted he had any idea how much he helped people just by being him.

"Sorry Banchan! Hikaru-chan was feeling sad, so I wanted to tell her she was really nice, and to cheer up because she deserved to be happy."

"How do you know she was nice? You never even saw her before."

Ginji looked slightly puzzled for a second, then shrugged and smiled.

"I don't know, I could just tell you know?"

"You're very special, Ginji," Ban told him seriously as they left the café and headed for the car. As he opened the driver's door he looked at the blond over the roof of the car to see Ginji beaming at him in a way that told him he complimented him far too rarely.

He contemplated this as they drove home, and sorely wished it was easier for him to say nice things to Ginji. The problem was, if he did, being not just out of practice but entirely non practiced ever, he would blatantly give himself, and just how nice he thought Ginji was, away. Worse thing was, that even when he thought that wouldn't be such a bad thing anyway, he still could never bring himself to do it.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he was surprised, when they parked, to find Ginji sleeping soundly. He looked so [sadly, he couldn't find a word beginning with s to desribe him] lovely, and there was that tiny little smile that he, Ban, was so possessive of…he didn't want to wake him up! But he could hardly leave him sleeping in the car when the month they'd managed to rent an apartment for was nearly up and if some money didn't come in from somewhere they'd have no choice but to be doing so soon anyway.

"Ginji…" he said quietly, shaking his friend gently. "We're home. Ginji, we're home, wake up!"

"Home…" Ginji murmured, still half asleep as blinked his eyes open and smiled up at Ban. "Hi Banchan."

"Come on, get out. You'll be much comfier sleeping inside, in a bed."

"Can I sleep in Banchan's bed tonight?"

Ban was glad Ginji had stubbornly closed his eyes again and didn't see him blush.

"Well…"

What he meant to say was 'why?'. What he did say was "with me??!".

"With Banchan…" Ginji sighed, then finally seemed to wake up only to blush much harder than Ban himself had done.

"I…I mean…well…"

"It's ok, you can if you want," Ban said nonchalantly, and got out of the car.

As they walked round the corner and up the stars to their flat, Ginji was disturbingly quiet. Ban hoped he wasn't embarrassed or upset about the weirdness that had just happened, but as he unlocked the door he turned around to check, and found Ginji just looking puzzled.

"Ne, Banchan," the blond started before Ban had chance to enquire. "When we got here, you said… 'we're home'."

"So what?" Ban said, shutting the door behind them. "We ARE home."

"Yeah, but…" Ginji sat down on their worn out sofa, the only piece of furniture that they actually owned between them.

"Yeah but?" Ban prompted, sitting down next to him.

"But it's not home, is it?" Ginji said, suddenly unhappy as he so rarely was. "We've only been here a few days, we'll be gone in a few more. There's nothing here that means anything, no memories, there's just you and me. And the sofa. This is just where we're staying. We don't have a home. Home..home is…"

"Where the heart is," Ban prompted, speaking half to his friend and more than half to himself.

He'd never really believed that, until just now…and he'd finally figured out what the 's' was really for.

"It's…it's supposed to be…" Ginji started tearfully.

"It's supposed to be where the people you love are," Ban stated matter of factly. "Isn't it?"

Ginji nodded silently.

"So it can be anywhere, can't it, as long as the people who are important to you are there too. Even if you're only there for two days."

"Yeah, but…"

"Well, I'm home then," Ban said shortly, standing up abruptly. Maybe he'd been wrong, maybe he hadn't figured anything out at all. After all, these things had to work two ways, and if Ginji's home wasn't with him…

"Don't be like that Banchan!" Ban heard the sofa creak as Ginji got up, and almost jumped as Ginji's hand slipped into his, but neither of these things could make him turn around and face his partner. "I'm home too, when I'm with you, I just meant.."

"I don't care what you meant."

"Banchan!" Ginji exclaimed, sounding hurt, and Ban finally turned around to face him.

"I don't care what you meant," he repeated. "As long as you…don't find another home. As long as you…stay with me."

"Banchan!"

Ginji stared at him, looking straight into his eyes, unafraid even though he knew their power, his expression inscrutable but his own eyes brimming with tears.

Then Ginji was kissing him, clumsily pressing his mouth against his, hands clutching his white shirt.

Ban found he had frozen, and much as he willed himself to put his arms around Ginji, to show him SOMEHOW how much it meant, and how he wanted it too, he couldn't make himself move.

But that was ok, because Ginji knew those things anyway.

Because he understood him.

"Because of the s," he mumbled vaguely against Ginji's soft lips, and woke up to reality slightly as he heard himself say it.

"What?"

"The…the s in Getbackers. …what do YOU think it stands for Ginji?"

Ginji smiled at him and could almost see his own smile, his own happiness, his own soul in those loving eyes of his…

"It means we're not alone, remember?"

"No, but, what word is it for? If you could choose any. One that it means, to you? I-it's gotta begin with s, obviously…"

"Soulmates," Ginji said, simply and unashamedly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ban gazed at him intently, knowing Ginji wanted to kiss him again, and knowing he would know that he was happy with that.

"That's what I thought," he said.

The End

Soulmates!