It was darker than he'd really expected it to be. The clouds were rolling and he guessed that it would rain soon. Funny, seeing how the weather man had said it'd be the perfect night for star watching, He turned the street corner and started running. He wasn't all that far and he didn't want to get soaked.

All the houses around him were huge; in fact, you couldn't really call them houses. They were mansions, palaces, castles. At least, compared to the wreck of an apartment he lived in.

And then he was standing in front of his destination. A friggin' huge house that his best friend, his boy friend, called home. He'd been there twice before but this time was different. This time… This time he was meeting Choutarou's parents. They had requested to meet their sons best friend. Shishido couldn't say no when his doubles partner had given him the "Please, Shishido-san?" look. He hated that stupid, stupid look. It made want to- Never mind.

He saw the little box that he had to talk into in order to get in the gate and hesitantly spoke into it. "Uhh… Hello…?"

"Please enter." As the voice croaked out the gates began to move and Shishido jumped.

He walked through the open gates and started to run towards the actual doors when he felt rain drops begin to fall. Before he could even knock however, the doors opened and he was ushered inside by the very boy who'd gotten him in the mess.

"Ah, Shishido-san." Choutarou smiled lightly, and Shishido handed over his jacket.

"This place is still huge no matter how I look at it." He shook his head a bit before returning the smile with a grin.

"Shishido-kun. It's nice to see you again." Choutarou's older sister, Minako, was there as well, politeness showing through just as it had the last time he'd seen her.

"Ah. Nice to see you too." Shishido said as his doubles partner grabbed his hand and started yanking him down the hall.

"Shishido-san, my parents are waiting in the dining room." Oh, the terror. Not only was he meeting the parents but he had to eat in front of them too. Damn. He should have paid more attention to Ohtori while he ate all those times they'd gone out for dinner together.

"Eh? Couldn't we just shake hands and be done with it?" No harm in trying right?

"Don't be silly, Shishido-san." Choutarou said as he pushed through a door to what Shishido guessed must have been the dining room. And what do you know, he was right.

There, sitting at the end of a rather long table, was an older man with the same silver hair as his son and a woman with light brown hair. They were both elegant looking, important looking and of course like the scariest things Shishido had ever seen in his life.

Normally he wouldn't care about making good impressions but this was Ohtori's family, his parents. Shishido would have hung his head, or tried to turn around and leave if not for the comforting hand that squeezed his own.

"Otou-san, Okaa-san, this is my sempai, Shishido Ryou-san."

"Yo-Yoroshiku." Shishido said, bowing slightly but on the way back up he caught eyecontact with Ohtori's father. They seemed to be… amused?

"Well, it's nice to finally meet the great and wondrous Shishido-san. We've heard so much about you yet we wondered if we'd actually meet you before we had grandchildren." He let out a light chuckle and gestured toward a seat. "Go on, sit."

"Otou-san!" Choutarou somewhat yelled, a blush tinting his cheeks.

Shishido's nerves were still bubbling. Grandchildren? He was talking about Minako, right? Right?

"Speaking of which, when do you think that I'll be getting a granddaughter, hm? Choutarou's going to be a wonderful father." Shishido almost fell out of his chair just as he'd sat in it. It was going to be a long night…

"Choutarou, you're dad has a whacked out sense of humor." Shishido was serious. His father had been saying things that made Shishido want to crawl away and die yet laughed at them anyway. What the hell was with him and grandchildren anyway?

"He does, but… Shishido-san… Do you not, I mean, do you want… Umm… Never mind."

They were lying side by side on Choutarou's bed, Shishido with his arms underneath his head and Choutarou with his resting on his stomach. They were comfortable there.

"What do you mean, Choutarou? I- Oi!" Shishido jumped into a sitting position and knocked Choutarou with his arm as a large orange tabby cat jumped up on his stomach.

"Neko?" Since when did Choutarou have a cat?

"Ah, he's Onee-chan's."

"Oh. That makes sense." Shishido rubbed the cat in between the ears, making it purr at him. Personally he preferred dogs but cats were okay. Sometimes. "Oi, Choutarou. Let's go play some tennis."

"Eh? I don't have a court in my house." One of the only things he didn't have.

"No. The street courts don't close at night. Let's head over there."

"Oh. But we can't. We can't leave after ten. My father won't let us."

"What? That sucks, Choutarou. Wait, but back in middle school you helped me out until like what midnight for like a week?"

"Th-that was different." Choutarou was blushing now. "They didn't know it was tennis what I was doing… They thought I was studying at your house..."

"Well, I'm going to teach you a valuable technique tonight." Shishido grinned.

Choutarou blinked. "Nani?"

"It's called sneaking out."

"Eh!?" Ohtori look… appalled. "I- We- We can't!"

"Why not? Choutarou look out your window." Ohtori sighed but did as he was told.

"What about it, Shishido-san?"

"The only thing holding you back is that fence right there. You climb it, you beat it."

"But I'm fine with staying in my room for tonight."

"That's not what I mean Choutarou. You're too… dependable. Too responsible. Too cautious." Shishido wrapped his arms around Choutarou's torso and let his head rest against the square of his back. His hands traveled underneath the shirt his partner wore, and his fingers traced small, gentle, whispering circles.

"Come on… Sometimes, you have to be a little reckless, in order to find out, what it is, you really want. Don't you want to find out…? Choutarou…?"

"Shi-shishido-san… M-matte. If my parents catch us sn-sneaking out, we'll be in real-really big trouble."

"Let's not let them catch us then." Shishido said as he withdrew from Choutarou and saw his partner shiver in loss of warmth.

"Come on, let's head over that fence. You'll be able to do it, no problem." Shishido leaned up slightly and kissed his partner on the lips before grinning again.

Choutarou smiled back, hesitant yet willing. "Hai, Shishido-san."

The End

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