Youji helped out with wiping the dinner table, and by neatly setting up the eating utensils for lunch as Schuldich added the finishing touch to his masterpiece. The redhead took a step back, crossed his arms and looked at his work. There on the kitchen table laid a long tray shaped like a wooden boat, and inside of it was a unique variety of sushi, arranged perfectly in four rows. He bit his lower lip and turned to look at Youji, with all seriousness, pointed at it and raised an eyebrow.

Youji tossed the wet cloth into the sink and wiped his hands on the apron nearby, all the while looking at the arrangement. "Yup, it looks good," he said, a hand already reaching out to pick at it. He yelped when Schuldich slapped it away.

"Oh come on, I’m hungry," he whined, and his stomach growled loudly to emphasis his point.

The German laughed. "Okay, but just one. Koi’ll be back soon."

"Who?" Youji asked, mouth wide open as Schuldich hand fed him one really weird looking sushi. Surprisingly it didn’t taste as bad as it looked. Actually, it tasted like the best sushi that he had ever had. Either that, or he was really hungry.

Schuldich took the tray outside, settling it in the middle, and went back to get the side dishes. "My other half," he said matter-of-factly, not bothering to turn and see the other’s reaction as he busied himself with the miso soup.

Youji looked at the German, eyes widened in amazement. "You’re married?" He asked, sounding a bit surprised.

"Well, technically, we are," the redhead answered when he brushed past the other and placed the bowls of soup.

"Technically?" Youji raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, leaning back on the nearby wall.

"Well," Schuldich started as he walked back. "We exchanged our vows, and exchanged rings." He held up his left hand and sure enough, on his fourth finger was the golden band. "But, we didn’t go through the legal crap," he continued.

Suddenly, a familiar scent reached his nose, the smell of cologne. Schuldich blinked and cocked his head to the side, as if listening to some noise faraway. Somewhere in the house, a door quietly slid close and soft footsteps were heard, and it got louder and louder as the person neared the kitchen.

The redhead grinned. "Look who’s decided to join us."

"Ah, Liebchen. I see that our guest had awakened," a deep voice greeted Youji’s ears.

He turned and gasped.

"Crawford?"

*~*~*~*~*~*

Youji sat down on the little red cushion, complete with golden trimmings, that was placed near the small mahogany table. He silently picked at his sushi, occasionally eyeing the couple sitting in front of him. His face heated up when Crawford caught his eye, and he lowered his head and continued eating. He choked on his sushi when he finally figured out why there was so many jars of Vaseline in the medicine cupboard. Schuldich laughed, and projected the thought to his beloved. Crawford just smiled.

"Don’t worry, Kudou, we don’t bite," the American said, amused with the other’s reaction towards them being together as a couple. "So, what have you been up to after Weiss disbanded?" Crawford asked, trying to make the other more comfortable.

Youji’s chopsticks clashed with Crawford’s as they both reached out for the same octopus sushi and he jerked his hand back, settling the chopsticks on the eggplant-shaped holder. "Well," he started, his hands clasped on his thighs, "I’ve been back to the investigation firms, but somehow they just always manage to find some stupid excuse to fire me," he continued with a scowl on his face.

Schuldich placed a sushi on Youji’s plate. The other thanked him softly. He filled his lover in on how Youji was now not only jobless, but also homeless. Crawford only nodded silently. Youji looked at them both and couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. Everyone has someone to love, even the so-called bad guys. Everyone has their reason for living. All except for him. He didn’t have a particular aim in life. Everything that he had vanished when he killed Neu, or better known to him as Asuka, his ex-partner in crime and the only woman that he had ever loved. Now he just wandered aimlessly, passing each day as it rolled by. Youji sighed.

Opposite him, the redheaded German caught all his thoughts and wondered aloud. "Would you like to stay with us, Kudou?" That got him a very peculiar look from both men. Schuldich shook his head. "There’s no particular reason to it. It’s just that Nagi and Farf had just left and it’s quite lonely to be home alone the whole day," he continued. "It’d be great if you could stay with us till you find a new place to lodge."

Crawford nodded in agreement and he covered his lover’s hand with his own. "I’m sorry I have to be away the whole day," he said, kissing the back of Schuldich’s hand. He turned his attention to the Japanese. "So how about it, Kudou? Are you up to baby-sitting SchuSchu here?

Schuldich elbowed him playfully at the side for having to tease him, and also for mentioning his pet name. The American laughed, giving the other a bear hug. "I was just joking, love," he said in between laughs. Schuldich just crossed his arms defiantly and ignored his lover as the other pleaded for forgiveness.

All the while, Youji was watching this little exchange between the two love-birds, and he couldn’t help but smile. They both suited each other, like a missing piece to a puzzle, considering the fact that they were both men. And by the way that they cling onto each other, he could tell that they were truly in love.

"I’ll take you up on your offer then," Youji said suddenly. The other two looked up at him in the midst of their display of affection. "I guess I could use a vacation anyway. But I hope I don’t have to breast feed you cause I don’t think I’ve got much here," he joked.

Crawford cracked up laughing but was stopped when Schuldich elbowed him, and this time, he didn’t show any mercy.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Youji turned on the bed to face the ceiling and stared at whatever there was to stare. It was white and very bright. All that he saw was white save for the golden borders that held the glasses together. Then of course when he looked more carefully, there in the middle was the beautiful images of Sakura’s. These were delicate paintings done in ink of gold, their details perfect even though it was quite small.

He sat up and brushed his hair back. The heat was getting to him and his eyes hurt from staring at the lamp on the ceiling for too long. He couldn’t sleep. Well, not with the two going at it again for what seemed like the thousandth time, considering that it’s already way past midnight. To top it up, he was getting painfully aroused from hearing Schuldich’s constant moaning.

He had been staying with Crawford and Schuldich for more than two weeks now and amazingly, the three of them got along really well. Of course there was the occasional teasing and the likes, but apart from that, everything was fine and dandy. Youji was beginning to like living with the two, that is if they’d only cut down on their nightly romps.

He got up and sauntered towards the kitchen. He needed something to cool off, and he opened the fridge to take out a carton of milk and drank it straight. Taking out a cigarette, he slid open a sliding door and went outside to have a smoke. Thanks to Schuldich’s rule of no smoking in the house allowed, all three of them had to take occasional trips to the garden just to induce themselves with nicotine.

"Yo-tan?" He heard someone called him and he turned, only to see Schuldich poking his head out from his room. "What are you doing up at this time?" The redhead asked, his face coated with sweat and his fiery mane looking very tousled.

Youji was very much tempted to say that the amount of noise that the two make every night could wake up a whole neighbourhood, but refrained himself from doing so. Instead, he just told the German that the heat had got to him and he couldn’t sleep. That, and he was bored.

Schuldich smirked and turned to his lover. "Did you hear that Brad, he can’t sleep, and he’s bored," he said, putting extra emphasis to the word ‘bored’.

From inside the room, Brad laughed. "I think it’s time we play ‘Blessed Tastebuds’ then," he said, and laughed again.

Even from where he was, Youji could tell that he was into a lot of trouble now, judging from both their tones, and from the way that Schuldich was staring at him. That predatory gleam in those Jade-green eyes of his had resurfaced again, and Youji suddenly felt cold despite the heat.