Okay..Someone had the nerve to tell me I mix up the Japanese names and the dub names. I ALREADY KNOW!! It pissed me off so much that I'm just using the dub names! Sorry for the long wait. I was working on High School Drama.

This is dedicated to nyanyaneko. You ROCK!!

The seventeen-year-old male turned over in his sleep to find two strong arms wrapped firmly around his legs. Thus, preventing him from turning over to his side, and not being able to turn over, caused him to wake up from his rather peaceful sleep. He opened his eyes and peered down at the cause of why he was not able to roll over. Seeing it was his Atticus, a smile grew on his soft lips, and a feeling of warmth rose in his chest.

But, the next ten minutes turned out to be a rather difficult struggle.

Zane was now wide awake, and Atticus was in a deep sleep as always. During these ten minutes, the blue-head teen struggled to escape Atticus's strong grip on his legs, while trying not to wake up anyone else in the room.

Finally, he managed to break free from the grip, replacing his legs with the pillow he was just previously sleeping on. Looking back at the sleeping form, which was now attached to the pillow, Zane could not resist what was out in the open.

He gently ran his index and middle finger gently over the sleeping boy's jaw line, and then traced up his chin to his soft lips. As he traced over his lips, a small moan escaped from Atticus's throat, and Zane instantly withdrew his finger. Sighing inwardly, Zane leaned his arms back, his head thrown backwards and his eyes closed.

'I better leave before I get any other crazy ideas,' he thought as he pushed himself up off the ground, and then tip-toed to the door. He opened the door, slowly, knowing it creaked, unlike Jaden's. Finally, he got out of the room and closed the door.

Taking a step into the hall, and walked to the stairs, then walked down them. As he walked down, he smelled the food that Maiko was cooking. It was usually the same thing when ever he slept over the Yuki house, even though Atticus woke him up today. Every time, he would wake up, to find Maiko cooking away as she always did.

"Mornin'!" Zane said as he strolled into the kitchen.

Maiko turned around to face the boy, and smiled gently. "Well, hello Zane!" she put down the knife she was using and faced him completely. "It's been a while, how are you?"

"Good," he took a seat at the table. "It's been a week?"

"I think a little bit more," she tilted her head in thought. "Oh well! I'm glad to see people are sleeping over again."

"Sorry to keep intruding all the time."

"Don't worry!" Maiko smiled again. "All of you are always welcomed over, no matter what time it is or what day. You can all come in whenever you want."

Zane smiled at her. "Thank you Maiko-chan." He was very friendly with her, not in that sick perverted way, but the mother-son friendship way.

"Of course, dear," she turned around to continue cutting up the vegetables.

"Can I help?" Zane stood up and walked to her.

"If it's not a bother," Maiko put her knife down again and walked to the refrigerator and took a sticky note. She grabbed a pencil from a drawer and scribbled down a list, then handed it to Zane. "Can you run to the store and get me that?"

"Sure thing," Zane took the list and read over the things he had to pick up.

"Here's money," Maiko handed him her wallet. "Please buy anything else that you want or that anyone else might want."

"Thank you, Maiko," Zane smiled at her. "You're always so kind." With that said, he put the wallet in his back pocket, and walked to the front of the house.

Walking down to the corner of the block, Zane noticed a middle-aged couple arguing at the house at the corner. As he came closer, he heard what they were shouting at each other.

"That ungrateful brat!" the woman yelled. "He never came home last night!"

"Let him be. He has the keys and his phone."

"It's off!" the woman screamed. "That little shit can't do anything right, can he?"

It was then that the husband noticed Zane walking down the street, his eyes focusing on and off of him while 'talking' with his wife. "Hey, you," the man called out to Zane. "Come here for a minute, will you?"

Not knowing what to do, Zane decided to listen to the man. He walked up the driveway to the couple and looked the man in the eye. "Ya?"

"Did you run into a boy named Jesse last night?"

"Jesse?"

"Yes, Jesse. Did you run into him?"

"bluish-like hair?"

"Yes, that's him," the man sounded rather impatient.

"Ya. I know him."

"Where is he?"

Zane was kind of hesitant, should he lie or be honest with the guy?

"Well?" the man was at the end of his wits.

"I think he's with our friends? We all were hanging at the beach last night," he fibbed.

"Alright," the man groaned. "When you see him tell him that his parents went to work and to call us. Can you handle that?"

"Ya," Zane replied, staring the man in the eye. What a jerk, he thought to himself.

"Good to hear that the youth is not corrupt yet," he mumbled under his breath, but Zane caught what he said. "Now go along, and don't forget to tell Jesse!"

Nodding, Zane ran down the driveway and around the corner, all the way to the convenience store. Stopping at the entrance, he tried to catch his breath. Was that really Jesse's parents? What was with their attitude? Were they like that around him?

Several questions formed in Zane's head as he walked around the store and putting the items on the list in a basket, he held at his hand, grabbing a few other things as well.

Was that why Jesse had a sad feeling emitting from his body when we all first met him? Zane asked himself, over and over. He had to get this figured out, and fast. Something was definitely wrong here.

X X X X X

"Be careful, Aster," Jim whispered.

"Don't worry, he' won't wake up!" Aster cheerfully spoke. He continued to draw on Atticus's face, now writing "Zane's whore!" in kanji on his forehead.

"That's a bit much, Aster," Syrus tried to hold back his laugh.

"It's true though," Jim squatted down next to Aster, who was drawing a squiggle on Atticus's left cheek. "The two want each other badly but it's tearing them apart. They just don't know how much the other cares for each other, and it is true, anyway. I mean, he's crazy for him."

Aster stopped his drawing, and bent his head a little, so his bangs could cover his face slightly. He was trying desperately to hide a soft blush on his face.

Syrus took the hint that the two friends needed time alone, Syrus bent down and dragged Atticus's sleeping body across the room and out the door, slowly but surely.

When the door was closed and Jim and Aster were left alone in the room, Aster raised his head to see Jim was still sitting next to him, his eyes staring right into his.

"Cookie," Aster whispered.

"It's Jim," he corrected his friend.

"If calling you Jim makes you happy, then fine," the silver-haired smiled softly.

"So you going to stop hiding your feelings?" Jim was straight to the point, it was now or never.

"If you'll stop your tough act."

"I can't be weak anymore, not in front of you, especially."

Aster put the cap on the marker and placed it on the floor. He put his hands down on the floor and leaned his head forward, looking Jim directly in his eyes. "Just be yourself, Jim," he whispered, closing in the gap between their faces. "Because that's who I'm so in love with."

A gasp escaped from Jim as Aster pressed his lips onto him, and then a moan as Aster licked his tongue over his lips, trying to deepen the kiss. Jim parted his lips and their tongues collided.

Placing one hand on Jim's thigh, Aster moved in closer, leaning over Jim, who slowly lay down on the ground. The blonde separated their lips and rested his forehead on Jim's. "Jim," he whispered lovingly. "You don't know how much I've missed you."

"Me too," Jim wrapped his arms around Aster's waist, hugging him to his own body. "I don't think I can handle you going back to college."

"Are you jealous, my little Jim?"

"There are a lot of pretty whores there, Aster. And with your gorgeous eyes, I'd say none of them could resist you."

A smile formed on Aster's lips. He kissed the male under him on the forehead. "Jim, there is no one else for me but you. Since the day I met you, I fell for you, and no one else has caught my eye and never will."

Jim could not help but smile back. "Well, now that we're out in the open," he took a deep breath in. "Atticus and Zane might be crazy for each other, but Aster, I'm crazy for you."

X X X X X

THUD.

Another stair that Syrus dragged Atticus down.

THUD THUD.

That was numbers six and seven. Only ten more to go, Syrus thought to himself, groaning inwardly.

THUD.

"What are you made of, Atticus?" Syrus questioned, catching his breath. "Boulders?" he sarcastically answered.

Another nine thuds, and Syrus was at the bottom of the stairs, breathing heavily. Atticus sure was dead weight when he was asleep, and the fact that he was mostly muscle did not help Syrus one bit.

Syrus lugged Atticus pass the kitchen, saying good morning to his mother as he passed by, and then continued to struggle to pull him all the way to the TV room. He attempted several times to pick Atticus up and put him on the cough, failing at each attempt. Giving up, he left the brunette laying on the floor.

He walked back to the kitchen, and stood behind Maiko to see what she was cooking. "It smells so good!" he exclaimed.

"It's just a vegetable omelet," Maiko laughed. "Can you go get Jaden and all your friends and tell them that breakfast will be ready in half an hour?"

"Jaden didn't come down yet?"

"Wasn't he upstairs with you?"

The two stared at each other for a while.

"He must be in his room, then," Maiko broke the silence.

"Maybe."

"Let's go check your room again, then."

"You don't want to," Syrus's eyes shifted toward the exit. "Aster and Jim are…talking."

"Well, I'm sure they didn't get far," Maiko smiled.

"How do you know 'kaa-san?" Syrus tilted his head to the side a bit.

"Morning, Maiko-san," a voice called out from the entrance of the kitchen, answering Syrus's question.

"Good morning, Jim!" Maiko smiled at the boy, and then turned her attention to the silver tenn standing next to him. "And good morning to you, Aster. It's been months!" She ran over and hugged him tightly. To Maiko, all of Jaden and Syrus's friends were like her own children. In her heart, she adopted them all, and took care of them in whatever it was they needed. She served them meals when they had no food, and gave them shelter when not able to go home, for various reasons.

"It really has been!" Aster hugged her back, happy to see Maiko, whom he considers her as his second mother.

"Your hair has grown so long!" Maiko ran her fingers through the boy's hair and began to chit-chat with him, catching up with how the last few months of college went for Aster.

Syrus felt Jim's eyes calling for his attention, and as he looked over, he noticed Jim mouth two words to him: 'thank you'.

And with those words mouthed to Syrus, the teen looked down at Jim's hand, which had two of his fingers entangled with two of Aster's fingers.

X X X X X

"I'm back!" Zane called out as he closed the door behind him. He slipped off his shoes and put them against the wall.

"Welcome back!" Maiko replied from the kitchen.

The blue-head walked into the kitchen and placed the shopping bags on the counter.

"Here's your wallet," Zane said as he handed her wallet with the receipt on top of it to her.

"Thank you, Zane," she smiled warmly, placing the wallet in the drawer.

"Morning'!" Zane greeted his three friends who were sitting at the table, cutting up some vegetables.

"Morning," Jim, Aster, and Syrus replied back.

"Atticus still sleeping'?" Zane asked his friends while grabbing a knife from the counter, and then sitting down to help cut up the vegetables.

"Yeah," Syrus groaned. "I dragged him to the TV room just twenty minutes ago."

"Why did yah drag him all the way down there?" he asked, putting his knife down.

Syrus tried to think of something else to say, other than the fact that Jim and Aster needed a moment to, well, make out.

"Aster and I had to talk," Jim said, putting mushrooms into a bowl.

Standing up, Zane muttered "I'm going to go wake him up," before walking out of the room. The three friends sitting at the table looked up at one another, holding back their about-to-burst laugh.

Zane sure was in for a surprise.

X X X X X

He felt warm, and secure. All his worries were gone from the world, and all he could feel was this warmth that surrounded his body, heart, and soul.

Soft fingers began to stroke his cheek, and then run through his brown hair. The touch of the fingers pulled away, causing the young male to stir in his sleep. Slowly, he opened his brown eyes, to see his best friend lying down next to him, a smile worn on his soft lips.

"Did you sleep well?" Jesse asked, speaking gently.

"Yeah," Jaden looked up at his friend. "How about you Jo-kun?" (He still gets the nickname)

Jesse blushed a bit at his name, though he heard it numerous times the day before. Hearing Jaden say it while looking at him with his angelic face while laying next to him was completely different. "I slept great," he managed to reply in the middle of his thoughts.

"It's so nice and warm in here!" Jaden cuddled up into a ball a bit, closing his eyes.

The older male's blush deepened, just the thought of him warming up Jaden's bed made him happy in two ways; that the boy was warm and that he was just too cute to not be happy around him.

"Yeah, it is," Jesse raised his arm to rest his head on arm to prop his head up.

"I don't wanna get out of bed!" Jaden complained and closed his eyes. "I think I could actually sleep a bit more."

Another smile could not help but be plastered on Jesse's face. Boy, Jaden really knew how to make him smile. If only…

"Hey, Jaden?" Jesse asked in a gentle tone of voice.

"Mmmhmmmph?" Jaden moaned from his curled up form.

"You—"

"WHAT THE HELL!" a voice screamed from another area on the house. The sudden outburst caused Jaden to jump a few inches into the air and Jesse to fall off the bed and land on the floor.

"Ow!" Jesse rubbed the back of his head where he hit it on the floor. He scrunched up his eyes tightly and inhaled deeply through his teeth.

"Jo-kun!" Jaden called out, crawling to the end of the bed. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Jesse kept on rubbing at the sore spot on his head. He then looked up at the brunette. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Jaden looked over at his bedroom door, "But I wonder who that was."

"Let's go check it out," Jesse stood up and threw his pants on, where as Jaden threw on a pair black gym shorts, and then they both walked out of the room and down the stairs.

Walking down the stairs, they heard two voices yelling out at each other. The two boys followed the voices, finding their ways into the TV room.

"What is it!" a scream was heard.

"What is what?" Jaden asked as he walked into the TV room, where he saw everyone gathered.

"This!" Atticus pointed at the kanji on his head.

Jaden tried to stifle back his laughter, but Jesse just let it out, collapsing on the floor and clinging to the sides.

"I can't read it in the mirror!" Atticus whined. "Someone tell me already what the hell it says!" He turned to everyone in the room, who was laughing but one boy. "Zane, what does it say?" he looked him in the eye.

Zane stood there, his face bent a bit low. He lifted his head and looked over at everyone, who stopped laughing. They were all scared at the angry look on his face; none of them had seen Zane this angry before.

"Let's go clean it off," Zane grabbed Atticus's wrist, and pulled him out of the TV room to go in the kitchen.

Without any time to say anything, Atticus was dragged away and into the kitchen.

"I can't believe you really did that!" Syrus fell onto the couch, rubbing his side as his laughter calmed down. "That washilarious, Aster!"

"Aster did that?" Maiko questioned, looking over at him.

The said boy rubbed at the back of his head. "You caught me!"

"Well, that was funny," Maiko said before leaving the room.

Jaden looked over at Jesse, who was still on the floor, only sitting now. The brown-eyed boy kneeled down next to his friend, who smiled as Jaden sat down.

"Wan't to go to the beach today?"

Jesse nodded his head in response.

"Sounds like fun," he spoke after nodding. A soft smile graced his lips, and Jaden melted inside.

He then tried to smile back, a real smile, but all that came out was a small twitch at the end of his lips. Slowly but surely, he was getting everything he lost back.

X X X X X

SORRY!!! It took me sooooooo long to update! I was doing art on DeviantArt! Sorry!!! I'll update sooner! Please forgive me!