"You're the romance expert," Ohtori sighed, "so please help me?"

"I want the full story," Oshitari said easily. "Story first, then help."

Ohtori hung his head and tried not to scream in frustration. Since that night in Greece, nothing had happened. It seemed as if Ryou was perfectly content to flirt, tease, and seem ready, but within second would also seem to not be ready. Ohtori knew that they had rushed into sex way too soon the first time, and now he wanted it to be right, for both of them. Lust was great, but love, and knowing that the other person truly wanted and was ready for it was better.

Ohtori knew that enough from University where he had pursued relationship after relationship to try and figure out exactly what went wrong before. The ones where you fucked first, and asked questions later, were the ones that lasted a few weeks to a few months. The dating first, then sex after a few dates didn't work either. He knew that he had killed most of those relationships too because of his unhappiness with his partner not being Ryou. It was frustrating, and didn't help his…"experiment."

Coming to Oshitari had been a last resort, since he and Mukahi-san had been together longer than he and Ryou had known each other, and had stayed together. Oshitari made romance his life, and obviously something he did worked to keep Mukahi-san happy, or else the little redhead would have found himself someone much better.

But…telling the full story? That was like ripping the scab off of an almost fully healed wound. He didn't want that pain, but knew he'd have to if he wanted it to heal at all.

"How much do you want to know?" Ohtori asked, sitting down on the couch as Oshitari smirked in victory and went to make tea.

"How about I tell you what I know, and suspect, and you tell me if I'm right and fill me in where I'm wrong?" Oshitari suggested, putting the kettle on to brew.

Ohtori nodded numbly.

"Shishido left Japan after one of Atobe's parties, and obviously, a confrontation with you. Somewhere around that time I'm guessing he and Atobe did something, because you became near manic with keeping the two apart."

Ohtori nodded again, closing his eyes against the memories.

"I have a feeling, though, that all that started way before Atobe and Shishido decided to bed each other."

"They didn't actually…" Ohtori protested softly. "All it was, was them being drunk and curious. Nothing major actually happened."

"Still, before you started trying to keep them apart from each other like the jealous lover, you and Shishido were having problems. Remember our last year in high school? You and Shishido fought almost constantly, hissing at each other in the locker rooms and destroying your pair on the courts. That's the main reason you two were broken up and Shishido put back in singles," Oshitari explained, grabbing two tea bags and putting them in two mugs. He wasn't in the mood to fuss with loose teas.

Ohtori accepted the mug that was handed to him and watched Oshitari settle himself into one of the overstuffed leather chairs. "We did fight a lot, and I can't even remember what most of them were about."

"Tiny things," Oshitari smiled. "It's always the tiny things that get to us."

"Speaking from experience?" Ohtori asked, sipping his tea.

"We're not here to speak about Gakuto and myself," Oshitari chastised lightly. "So. To continue, you two were always fighting. Then bruises started to appear on Shishido's wrists and on his hips. He was always very good at making excuses for those bruises, and maybe a few of them were true."

Ohtori winced and looked into tea as if it held all the answers to his problems.

"So, I'm guessing the reason Shishido left in the first place was to avoid you and the remnants of your relationship with each other, and also to try and find some piece of mind. And I'd say he left because you tried to control him too much."

"Ryou has always been very…stubborn," Ohtori sighed. "And you're right. I tried to control him too much, got too jealous that it blinded me, and stopped trusting or believing him. A poisonous relationship. He did the right thing, getting out like he did. Leaving Japan, though, that was something I don't think any of us expected."

"No, and he's not completely free of guilt here either. He stopped talking to you, starting getting angrier and more solitary. Things that you two had done together, he started doing alone. Atobe was probably over line, which he knew, but by that point—"

"By that point it really didn't matter," Ohtori said simply with a shrug. "The relationship we had was over. There wasn't any love or caring, just…just hate, resentment, anger, and fear."

"And it's different now."

"Oshitari-san, may I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"If you had all these suspicions, why did you attack Ryou as well? You pretty much hated him when he first left."

"When he first left, I was angry. You were a mess, hurting from all the pains that the years had left on you. Forgive the analogy, but you were acting like a junkie who had just been told his drug of choice would never been within his reach again."

Ohtori winced, "Interesting analogy, but not incorrect. We did act like junkies with each other…"

"Shishido wasn't so much a junkie, more like someone who was in love, but it hurt him to be in love. Most of my thoughts on this have been recent as I've watched you two try and give a relationship with each other another shot. I knew that your relationship wasn't very good from the beginning, but you two worked on it and made it last, but the problems that you had in the beginning never went away, they just seethed and then exploded in the end."

"What problems?" Ohtori frowned.

"You were too young," Oshitari said simply. "Shishido was too angry, too arrogant, too dramatic. You seemed calm, but your temper was slower than Shishido's, but just as explosive. You worshipped him, thinking he was divine when he was only human. And you both were way too immature and young to handle a relationship of that magnitude."

Ohtori tried to smile and failed, "And I see where they all came back to bite us in the ass."

"Mm…" Oshitari said, sipping his tea. "Now, though, you've both grown up. Your temper is still slower and no longer just as explosive. While still dramatic, Shishido's flairs have calmed to only when he needs them. You've gotten back to what really matters in life, both of you have. While his job is putting pressure on him, he's dealing with this remarkably well. Gakuto has been muttering about how much he's changed too. We approve of your relationship how it is, the way you both are taking it slow – even if that slowness if a bit forced."

"But, that's the whole issue," Ohtori protested. "It's been ten months since we decided to try this again. We both want to take it to the next level, but either we get interrupted, or we just end up hanging out and learning a bit more about each other."

Oshitari laughed, "I see why you came to me!"

Ohtori tried to smile and drank his tea. "It's frustrating, and it's obvious we both feel this way."

"And obvious that someone wants to spend a lot of time with you," Oshitari smiled. "I'm still in shock over what he did to his hair to get a vacation."

Ohtori bit his lip, grinning, "It's rather flattering, and just reminds me of how Ryou used to be."

"So dramatic is hurts?"

"No, that'd be his friend Neil," Ohtori sighed.

"The blond who torments Gakuto for fun," Oshitari nodded. "I'm glad he's not in Japan with Shishido, or we might have to worry about homicides occurring."

Ohtori snickered, "Ryou would kill them both first before they tried to kill each other."

"Mm…true."

"So, should I try to push things further?" Ohtori asked with a sigh.

"Shishido wants it as well?"

"Two nights ago Atobe-san called reasonably late at night to invite us out to a club. I'm still in shock over some of the language Ryou used on him. I could hear laughter on the other end, but still…"

Oshitari coughed into his hand to hide his laughter.

"Oshitari-san," Ohtori groaned, eyes begging like a little child's.

"Right," Oshitari said with a smile. "If you get interrupted again, just keep going. Phones are necessary, and the way you both work, you need to answer them. After you finish dealing with who's ever on the other end, just go right back to what you were doing in the first place, or continue it while on the phone."

Ohtori raised an eyebrow.

"It works, trust me," Oshitari smiled. "I have to live by a phone too with my agent."

Ohtori shook his head and smiled. "Thank you, Oshitari-san."

"Not a problem," Oshitari said smoothly. "I just ask one thing."

"Yes?"

"I demand to know the rest of the story," Oshitari said in a tone that brooked no argument. "Happy endings and romance are all I want to hear from you from now on."

Ohtori grinned and nodded. "Yes, senpai."

The End

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