Yasuhara was not particularly pleased about admitting it. But he might have just screamed like a small child scared of a spider that had just crawled into his bed. In all fairness, he had every right to scream.

Someone breaking into your apartment and sitting on your sofa and drinking all of your alcohol was as good a reason as any to scream, right?

"Hey!" the drunken man slurred, holding a bottle of whiskey up as if to share.

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my apartment?" Yasuhara demanded, dropping his briefcase and straightening up to his full height in an attempt to appear more intimidating that he really was.

"Who am I?" the drunken man mumbled, staggering forwards off the sofa and onto unsteady feet. "I am about━" he hiccoughed, "━to get fired! Because of you!"

The drunken man's finger pressed into Yasuhara's chest. Yasuhara decided this man was not a threat. He came to this conclusion when when said man fell to the floor with a moan.

"Why are you going to get fired because of me?" Yasuhara asked.

"Because you're impossible! I tried so hard…"

"What is your name?"

"Gene."

"Okay Gene, how about you put that whiskey bottle down and take a seat," Yasuhara suggested as he pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" Gene whined, grabbing Yasuhara's leg and hugging it. "Don't call the cops! I'll definitely get fired then!"

"You broke into my apartment!" Yasuhara protested.

"Please! I'll share this whiskey with you!"

"It's my whiskey!"

"You hadn't even opened it!"

Yasuhara pocketed his phone, knelt down and prized the bottle of whiskey out of Gene's weak hands. He then freed his leg and took the whiskey to his kitchen, returning it to the cupboard from whence it came.

"Give it back…"

"No. Now explain why you broke into my apartment or I'll call the police."

Yasuhara towered over Gene with his arms crossed. Gene rolled over onto his back and looked pleadingly up at Yasuhara.

"My tummy feels all warm."

"That is what whiskey tends to do to you," Yasuhara muttered. "Now get to the point."

He tapped his foot to show his intention, but Gene grimaced at the noise, so he stopped. Gene inched upwards into a sitting position, leaning against the sofa.

"You're not going to believe me."

"Well I currently can't believe that I have not called the police yet. So get talking."

"Fine, fine… Jeesh you are such a nag."

Yasuhara raised an eyebrow before rolling his eyes. He took a seat opposite Gene and waited.

"So you have heard of guardian angels right?"

Yasuhara sighed and pulled his phone back out of his pocket.

"No! Wait! Just hear me out!"

"This is ludicrous," Yasuhara said, standing up for a better reception as he dialed.

Gene scrambled to his feet and stripped his shirt off, turning his back to Yasuhara.

Yasuhara screamed again.

He fell to the floor and backed away as two pure white feathery wings erupted from Gene's back. They easily filled the room even when unstretched. Yasuhara could not fathom how large they would be when fully spread.

"I'm hallucinating. I'm hallucinating. I've been drugged."

The wings receded into Gene's back, leaving a glowing outline for a moment before fading to black lines. Yasuhara's eyes traced the black tattoo before it disappeared under Gene's shirt. His eyes watered from not blinking.

"You're not hallucinating. I'm probably going to get fired for showing you that. Oh bother."

Gene slumped onto the sofa.

"Do you at least believe I'm real now?"

Yasuhara pinched himself. It hurt.

"No."

"Why not?" Gene whined, pouting. "I showed you my wings and everything! I don't just show my wings to anyone!"

"Right…"

"Please believe me," Gene pleaded.

"Assuming I do…" Yasuhara said slowly, "What are you going to do next?"

"Well I was going to tell you about guardian angels and stuff."

Yasuhara revised his earlier decision that this man was harmless. This man was a nutcase.

"Sure, go on."

And he was going to let this madman speak until he could see a reasonable way out.

"Yay!" Gene grinned like a small child before clutching his head. "That hurt. Right. So… Where was I? Oh yes! Guardian angels! So there are lots of different types and I am a love angel."

"A what?"

"Like cupid?"

"Cupid broke into my house."

Yasuhara blinked stupidly. This was absurd.

"Yeah! Because you are impossible! I have been trying to set you up with literally everyone!" Gene wailed. "And you haven't gone for any of them!"

"Excuse me?"

"I have been trying to set you up! I am an excellent guardian angel and you are the only person so far that I have not been successful with! What the hell is your problem?!"

"I don't have a problem!" Yasuhara protested, now personally offended. "My love life is none of your business! I don't need someone else to be happy!"

"Really? And that's why you come home and cry after every date?"

"I don't━ How do you know that?"

"Because I'm your━"

"Guardian angel," Yasuhara finished for him.

"Exactly! You're starting to get it now! Right, now where did we start…?" Gene pulled a file from nowhere and flicked it open. Yasuhara blinked, unable to believe his eyes. "Ah yes, Houshou Takigawa, now what was wrong with him?"

"He's a nice guy but…"

"But what?" Gene pressed.

"There just wasn't that spark," Yasuhara muttered defensively. "We're still friends!"

"Yeah and he got with this red headed doctor," Gene tutted, "Not my doing."

He scowled.

"What's wrong with that? Isn't he happy?" Yasuhara asked, confused.

"It'll never last."

"Neither would we have."

"Not the point, right next on the list was… Masako? What was wrong with her? She was pretty and motivated!"

"And really focused on her career," Yasuhara said, "She wasn't interested in a long term relationship with me. And I wasn't handsome enough for her anyway."

"Not true, you are plenty handsome enough!" Gene flicked to the next page. "Next was Mai, pretty again and funny and caring! She's lovely!"

"And she had a crush on someone else."

"What?" Gene's mouth fell open. His head began to shake slowly in disbelief. "She did not! I would know if she did!"

"She was in love with some guy called Oliver? I think?"

"No way."

"Yes way…"

"Oliver who?"

"Oliver…" Yasuhara struggled to remember. "Davis? Maybe?"

"That bastard. He did that deliberately."

"What?"

"I know him. He's my brother."

"Really?"

"Yes. He stole her from you."

Gene stood up and began pacing, the effects of the alcohol evidently wearing off.

"How could he do that to me."

"Is he like you too?"

But Gene was too distracted to answer.

"But more than three attempts and no luck?" Gene muttered, speaking more to himself than to Yasuhara. "What do I do now?"

"Leave me alone?" Yasuhara suggested.

"I am not giving up on you. I will make you happy yet!" Gene declared. He clenched a fist and stamped a determined foot.

"I really am happy as I am."

But Gene was not listening.

Somehow, Yasuhara ended up making Gene dinner.

"This is really good," Gene said through a mouthful of food. "Thanks!"

"No problem."

"Right, now I need to work out your perfect person."

Yasuhara rolled his eyes. He had definitely gone mad.

"So," Gene went on, "Your record says that you're bisexual and enjoy intelligent humour, is that correct?"

"I guess so?" Yasuhara shrugged, then leaned forwards, "What else does it say about me?"

"Not much, my decisions have mostly been made based on my observations."

"You've been watching me?"

"Yeah, so?"

"That is so creepy."

"It's my job!" Gene protested.

"Still creepy! Do you get paid?"

"What?"

"Do you get paid to be creepy?" Yasuhara demanded.

"Not exactly…"

"So you choose to be creepy," he accused, looking away in disgust.

"And it'd be better if I got paid?" Gene asked. "What exactly are they gonna pay me anyway?"

"Money?"

"Why would they do that?"

"So you can pay your bills and stuff."

Yasuhara frowned. He had a sneaking suspicion that he was missing something very obvious. This suspicion was confirmed when Gene burst into laughter.

"I'm dead! I don't have any bills to pay!"

Gene slapped his leg as he gasped for breath.

"What?"

"I'm dead, angels aren't usually living humans, you know? What on earth were you thinking? With the whole wings thing?" Gene asked, attempting to stifle his laughter.

"That I was hallucinating," Yasuhara muttered.

"I know I'm handsome but that doesn't mean you were hallucinating!"

Yasuhara rolled his eyes. Gene's laughter subsided, replaced by a serene expression.

"No," he went on, "If I do well, then I get to see my brother."

"He's… He's not like you?"

"No, he's still human."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Well I can't allow Mai to date some hallucination."

Gene rolled his eyes.

"I thought we agreed I wasn't a hallucination."

"No," Yasuhara said, "You said you weren't. I never agreed to it."

"Fine, fine. But I need your help. I need to find you the love of your life or else I don't get to see my brother," Gene said. "And I desperately need to tease him about this Mai girl."

"Can't you just visit him? Like you are me now?"

Gene pouted.

"Nope. Humans can't see me normally."

"Then how come I can see you?"

"Magic."

Yasuhara held Gene's eye for almost a minute, trying to ascertain if he was joking or not. Finally, Yasuhara looked away, deciding it was not worth the effort. He stood up, grabbing the now empty plates.

"Hang on, if you're dead then how come you ate my food?" Yasuhara questioned.

"Because I needed to."

"You're gonna have to explain yourself more than that."

"So my magic works by need. I can do anything within reason as long as it helps my current client find their true love. Hence why I appeared to you. Because it was required. We're going to have to work together on this one. But to gain your trust, I needed to eat your food, so the magic made it okay."

Yasuhara blinked then turned on his heel and walked to the sink to wash up the plates.

"Ridiculous," he muttered to himself. "Utterly ridiculous. Don't suppose that magic of yours could do the washing up for me?"

"That would be abusing my power."

"Sure it would," Yasuhara grumbled.

Once the washing up was in the drying rack and the table was clear, Yasuhara and Gene relocated to the sitting room.

"So when are you going to leave me alone?" Yasuhara asked.

"When you have found your one true love!"

"What if I don't want a 'one true love'?" Yasuhara put the last three words in air quotes to emphasise his sarcasm.

"But you do want one. My pining sensor is telling me so."

"Your pining sensor?" Yasuhara repeated, incredulous.

"Yup, it's totally legit. It's as good as my gaydar."

"You're taking the piss now."

"I'm not! How do you think I knew Houshou was a closet bi? Hmm?"

Yasuhara rolled his eyes.

"Surely it's on his file?"

"He's not my client, I can't look at his file."

"Well that's stupid."

"Tell me about it." Gene sighed dramatically and procured another piece of paper from nowhere. "So, describe your perfect person to me."

"I don't know," Yasuhara mumbled, shrugging. "Someone who is nice? I guess?"

"Nice," Gene deadpanned. "Wow. Well if you're that picky no wonder I haven't found anyone for you."

"Look, it's late," Yasuhara began, "I want to get to bed. I'll think about it, okay?"

"Hmm. Okay. Good idea! Let's get you off to bed and well rested. We'll start properly tomorrow."

"Great."

Yasuhara stood up, walked to his bedroom and slammed the door behind him, not knowing that Gene could have passed straight through the door if he had so wished. Yasuhara flopped onto his bed without undressing and fell into a deep sleep, hoping that when he woke up that this would all prove to be a fantastic dream.

The smell of freshly cooked food woke Yasuhara up the next morning. He trundled out of his room and into the kitchen to find a strange man plating up food.

"This is one weird dream," Yasuhara mumbled.

"Come on, eat up! We've got the whole weekend to find you the love of your life!"

"Your enthusiasm is sickening."

"You sound like my brother," Gene accused, batting Yasuhara on the head with the pair of chopsticks. "Ooh, maybe I could set you up with him. Imagine my face, but grumpier and with a tea addiction."

"You put me off with the your face bit… Where is my coffee?"

"Well I was going to make you some, but after that insult I might not!"

"I'm not even going to think about assisting you with this crazy idea of yours if I don't get any coffee."

Gene growled under his breath, muttering a lot of words an angel definitely should not know. Nevertheless, he plonked a mug of steaming hot coffee down next to Yasuhara two minutes later. Yasuhara picked it up and drank half of it in one gulp, ignoring the scalding sensation on his throat.

"Thank you," Yasuhara said in a sing song voice. "I feel much better already!"

"I bet you do," Gene muttered.

He sat down opposite Yasuhara, waiting for him to finish his breakfast. As soon as Yasuhara had, Gene grabbed the plate and washed it up.

"Right. So last night you came up with 'nice'. Do you have any advances on 'nice'?"

"Uh… No?"

"Really? You had the whole night to think about it!"

"I was sleeping!"

"Bully for you."

"Weren't you sleeping?" Yasuhara asked.

"No, angels don't need sleep…"

"So what were you doing?"

"Looking around your apartment for clues, I read a few of your books." Gene sighed. "I was disappointed by the lack of porn mags."

Yasuhara spluttered.

"The lack of what?"

"Porn mags. I couldn't find a single one! You are bisexual right? It wouldn't be the first time the files have been wrong, especially when it comes to asexuality…"

"I don't own porn mags because that sort of thing is archaic and ridiculous! We━ I live in the twenty first century. I have access to the internet━"

"Browser history! Of course!"

Gene began to walk away.

"And I know how to use incognito mode!" Yasuhara called after him.

Gene spun around and walked straight back in.

"Well you'll just have to tell me then."

"No!"

"If I am going to help you, I need to know what you like!" Gene insisted. "I am trying to help you out here!"

"By being nosy! And you're only helping because you want to see your brother!"

"Not just because I want to see my brother! I like helping people to happiness too!"

Yasuhara was about to counter this with another 'I am happy as I am' comment, but soon as Gene had argued against this every time before, he decided not to bother. It was not true anyway. He did not want to be alone…

"Maybe not is just not my time," Yasuhara argued, getting up from the table and heading to the living room.

"Nah, the fates said now is good," Gene said. "They know."

"The fates have informed you that now is a good time for me to find true love? When I am up to my eyeballs in the paperwork from the last court case and━"

"Oh, I finished that for you."

"What?"

"I finished your paperwork for you!" Gene said brightly, grinning from ear to ear.

"But how?"

"Magic! It needed to be done so we could focus on your love life so…" Gene mimicked waving a magic wand. "Ta-da!"

Yasuhara chose to just accept this without argument as he plopped down on the sofa.

"I need more coffee."

"Coming right up! I expect another adjective for your ideal person when I get back!"

Gene danced away and Yasuhara groaned, mentally running through the legal methods of getting himself sectioned.

"So what have you got?"

"Huh?"

"Give me another adjective or no coffee!"

That had been far too fast for Yasuhara's liking. He had had no time to think of anything. So he blurted out the first word that came to mind.

"Handsome!"

Gene narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"What classifies as handsome?"

"Uh... " Yasuhara groped in his mind for some adjectives. "Pretty eyes, soft hair, clear skin?"

"Hmm… How soft for the hair? As soft as mine?" Gene leant forwards so Yasuhara could touch his hair. "Go on, I need a comparison."

"Are you going to go around feeling up strangers' hair?"

"They won't be able to feel it!"

"That's creepy!"

"Okay, we've established several times now that you think I am creepy, now touch my hair."

Yasuhara reached up slowly, only for Gene to grab his hand and press it onto his own head.

"Well?"

"Yeah, your hair is nice and soft."

"So is this a minimum level of softness? Or…"

"No, this is a reasonable level of softness," Yasuhara informed Gene.

Gene frowned for a moment as he straightened up. Then he touched Yasuhara's hair.

"What about your hair? Where is that on the softness scale?"

"My hair's horrible," Yasuhara muttered.

"No it isn't," Gene objected. "It's not as soft as mine, sure, but it's perfectly nice!"

"Yeah, 'nice' isn't exactly a great adjective…"

"Sure it is!"

"Have you ever flirted with someone and called them 'nice'?" Yasuhara asked.

"Well, no… But I haven't exactly done a lot of flirting," Gene admitted.

Yasuhara's mouth fell open.

"You're telling me that you are here to help me with my love life and you haven't even got any experience yourself!"

"I died aged sixteen! What do you expect?"

"You don't look sixteen," Yasuhara commented, frowning in confusion.

Gene appeared to be in his mid-twenties, like Yasuhara.

"Magic," Gene muttered, by way of an explanation. "Though I would be twenty four if I was still alive today…"

"Same as Oliver," Yasuhara mumbled.

"Well duh, we're twins."

"Anyway, back to the point! How can I rely on you for help with this stuff if you have zero experience?!"

"I never said zero experience… Just, minimal."

"So how many people have you kissed?" Yasuhara asked, trying not to enter lawyer mode.

"Loads," Gene retorted, pouting.

"How many of those were real people? And how many were in fantasies?"

"At least two of them were real!"

Yasuhara groaned.

"Right, go back to the powers that be and tell them I want a new guardian angel. I want one with experience and who doesn't steal my whiskey!"

Gene rolled his eyes.

"Let the whiskey thing go, jeesh."

Yasuhara pouted before Gene went on.

"You can't get rid of me anyway."

"Why not?"

"Rules."

Yasuhara narrowed his eyes.

"I think you're making it up."

"So what if I am, what are you gonna do about it?"

Yasuhara scowled and turned away.

"So I've had a fantastic idea!"

"I don't want to hear it," Yasuhara muttered.

"Tough. So, as we're having no luck with finding your perfect person, I figure we should work on what you're going to do once you've found them so we don't have to work on it later," Gene stated with a grin.

"Right."

"So, we're going to go on a practice date."

"Right," Yasuhara repeated. "Are you sure this isn't an excuse for you to get experience so you have a better chance next time?"

"No! This is to help you! Any benefits for me is an added bonus!"

Yasuhara rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Okay."

"What?"

Gene's mouth had fallen open in shock. He clearly had not expected that answer.

"Let's do it. I have nothing else to do this evening soon as you've completed my paperwork," Yasuhara said. "Where do you want to go?"

"Well I was thinking dinner."

"Hang on, are you going to be invisible to everyone else? I have no intention of looking like an idiot talking to myself."

"Nah, I need to be visible to them all for this plan to work, so I will be."

Yasuhara narrowed his eyes.

"It just sounds so convenient for when you need it to be," he said, shaking his head.

"It's how it works!" Gene countered indignantly. "I can't help it!"

"Sure… What sort of food do you want?"

"This is to help you practice for a date! You have to make the decisions," Gene insisted.

"Well sorry for asking my dates preference!"

Yasuhara jumped up and stalked into his room. Gene cocked his head to one side before following, not bothering to open the door but simply walking straight through it.

"You're nervous about this."

"I am not," Yasuhara objected from the bed where he had flopped.

"Why are you nervous?"

"I'm not ner━"

"Don't lie."

"Fine! Every first date I've ever had has never ended well! The only reason I got to the second date half the time was because the other person pitied me."

"You really need my help."

"Oh shut up."

"Come on, let's start by getting you dressed up," Gene suggested. "What would you normally wear for a date?"

Yasuhara groaned into his pillow before standing up and walking to his wardrobe. He flung it open and stared at the nicely hung up suits.

"Well I'd normally be coming straight from the office so probably one of my suits…"

"Yeah but it's a Saturday," Gene pointed out.

"I might still be at the office," Yasuhara mumbled. "Sometimes I work on Saturdays too."

"Why?"

Yasuhara shrugged and pulled out his favourite charcoal grey suit. He ran a finger down the fabric before glancing towards his tie rack.

"No," Gene stated. "No suits. Far too formal for a first date. You want smart casual, not business wear."

Yasuhara pouted, but returned the suit.

"Can I still wear a shirt?"

"Yes, but with chinos or smart jeans or something."

Sighing, Yasuhara found his nicest jeans and a plain white shirt.

"Jacket?" Gene prompted.

Yasuhara found a suitable jacket and lay the outfit down on the bed.

"Satisfied?"

"Yeah, nice but not too over the top," Gene commented with a smile.

"What are you gonna wear?" Yasuhara asked. "Do you even get an option?"

"Of course I do! I can just imagine something and poof━" he made a few hand motions to indicate some magic taking place, "━they appear!"

"That is not even fair," Yasuhara complained. "Do you know how hard it is to find decent fitting clothes in this day and age?"

"Really?" Gene sounded sceptical.

"Yes!" Yasuhara sighed again before leaving the room.

"Where are you going?"

"To make a reservation!"

That evening, Yasuhara drove them to the Italian restaurant he had picked.

"Why Italian?"

"Everyone likes something in an Italian restaurant," Yasuhara replied. "Plus I haven't had it in a while."

Gene made no comment as they climbed out of the car. Yasuhara made as if to offer Gene his arm, then decided against it. They walked side by side to the front and Yasuhara gave his name for the reservation. The young waitress guided them to their table and handed over menus.

"Now the first big decision is what drink," Gene mused. "Can you handle your drink?"

"Better than you can," Yasuhara replied, smirking. "So no alcohol for you!"

"I can hold my alcohol! You try drinking almost a litre of whiskey!"

"I'm not daft enough to try," Yasuhara said, laughing.

"Yeah well…" Gene pouted. "I'd never had alcohol before!"

"Right… Well how about I suggest a wine for you?"

"Really?"

"Yes, have you decided on what food you want?"

"Lasagna, easy," Gene said with a grin. "My mum used to make the best lasagna!"

"Okay…"

Yasuhara frowned and glanced down the wine list before waving the waitress over. He made their orders.

"Two lasagnas and two Chiantis please, with garlic bread."

The waitress disappeared with the menus, leaving Yasuhara to try and think of a topic of conversation.

"So, tell me about yourself."

"Really?" Gene cocked an eyebrow at him. "Alright, my birthday is the nineteenth of September. I wanted to be a doctor before I died. I have a brother called Oliver who is a research scientist. He's my best friend, not that he'd admit it. I like strawberries and singing Disney songs in the shower. Your turn."

"Okay. My birthday is first of March. I am a lawyer as you already know, but I want to move into human rights cases if I can. I have a sister but she doesn't like me much, but that's okay. I also like strawberries but I think if I sang in the shower, someone would shoot me."

"You can't be that bad," Gene said, smiling.

"Okay, going out for karaoke with workmates is a big thing here in Japan but they banned me because I was so bad even when they were drunk out of their minds."

"Aww, that sucks, well we'll never work out then."

Yasuhara gasped in mock horror.

"Why not?"

"Because I need someone to sing the duets with of course!" Gene grinned.

"I can sing them with you, it will just be awful!"

"I suppose that would make me sound better."

Yasuhara laughed.

"So how am I doing?" he asked.

"You're doing fine," Gene said, reaching out and taking Yasuhara's hand in his own. "Stop worrying. That will be your undoing."

Before Yasuhara could reply, their food and drinks arrived so they busied themselves with that.

"This is delicious," Gene commented, indicating the lasagna with his fork, "Not as good as my mother's, but not bad."

"Nothing is good as homemade food though is it?"

"Nah."

"How come you're so comfortable with a knife and fork? Do you like foreign food?"

"I grew up in the West. Born in America, moved to England when I was young."

"So your ability in Japanese is magic…?"

"No, my mother was Japanese and my dad was half? Or something?" He shrugged, face falling. "But we spoke Japanese at home."

"I'm sorry for asking," Yasuhara said quickly, picking up on Gene's discomfort.

"It's fine, just a few bad memories," Gene said, hitching a smile onto his face.

"Still, bilingual, that's impressive!"

"I learnt French in secondary school too," Gene said.

"Ooh I learnt some French once," Yasuhara said, seizing the topic. "My high school did one of those culture days about France. We made croissants and learnt about their history and learnt some of the language and tried French cheese and stuff, it was really fun."

"Going to seduce me in French?" Gene teased.

Yasuhara wracked his brains for the limited phrases he had learnt so long ago.

"Bonjour, je m'appelle Yasuhara, comment t'appelle tu?" he tried.

"Bonjour, je m'appelle Gene. Ça va?"

"Ça va bien!" Yasuhara grinned stupidly. "But that is about the limit of my knowledge."

"You did really good! Have you ever been abroad?"

"Not really, my parents prefer to holiday in Japan due to the language barrier. I don't really want to go abroad alone," Yasuhara said. "I guess that's something I'd want in an other half."

"Someone to go on adventures with?" Gene asked and Yasuhara nodded. "Where would you go?"

"Anywhere! I like the sound of interrailing. Like getting one ticket to go on any train in Europe for like two weeks! I could visit so many places!"

"I was going to do that!" Gene said. "I wanted to go but my parents said I couldn't until I was older so I was going to drag my brother with me in the summer before we started university. Noll wasn't too keen on the idea, but he would have come."

"I suppose you can go wherever you like now."

"Yeah, kind of, but it's kind of lonely."

"Yeah…"

Once they had finished eating and Yasuhara had paid, they left the restaurant.

"Well you just failed that date," Gene muttered.

"What? Why?"

"You didn't let me have dessert!"

"I didn't let you have dessert there! I never said no dessert!"

Gene narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but chose to follow Yasuhara away from the restaurant and towards the nearest shopping centre.

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise! I think you'll like it!" Yasuhara said earnestly.

Gene did not appear reassured.

Yasuhara rolled his eyes and took Gene's hand.

"Trust me."

He led Gene to a bench in the shopping centre and indicated he should sit.

"Wait here and close your eyes, I'll be two minutes."

"Is this some sort of prank?"

"No! Please?" he pleaded, sending his best attempt at puppy dog eyes in Gene's direction.

"Okay…" Gene said slowly. He closed his eyes and Yasuhara dashed off.

Yasuhara returned a few minutes later with a small paper bag.

"Okay, so they had run out of sticks so it's going to be deconstructed dessert but that's popular at the moment so I am going to pretend it was on purpose," Yasuhara rattled off as he pulled two pots out of the bag and took a seat on the bench leaving a small gap between him and Gene.

"Can I open my eyes yet?"

"Yes."

Gene looked around to see the two pots on the bench between them. One contained a dark brown gooey liquid and the other contained strawberries.

"It was supposed to be strawberries on a stick and then they run it under the chocolate fountain, but they ran out of sticks━"

"You mentioned that━"

"So we have to dip them ourselves!" Yasuhara finished.

He opened the pots and offered Gene a strawberry. Gene grinned and took one. He dipped it into the chocolate before taking a bite.

"Oh how I have missed these," he moaned. "This was the best idea you've ever had ever."

Yasuhara beamed and helped himself to one. Between them they devoured the strawberries and licked out the pot of chocolate until nothing was left. Gene sighed and sat back, content.

"You have some chocolate on your face," Yasuhara pointed out. "Here, let me."

He gently wiped the chocolate off of Gene's cheek and offered it to him. Gene shook his head.

"You have it," he said, "I'm stuffed!"

Yasuhara sucked the chocolate off his finger, not realising that Gene was watching him until he released his finger from his mouth with a pop.

"What?"

"Nothing," Gene said quickly. "We should get back, it's late."

"Yeah, almost nine PM. We're staying out so late," Yasuhara teased.

"Oh shush. If this was a real first date you have to take me back a sensible time to show you are respectable!"

"Right."

Yasuhara binned the pots, then offered to help Gene to his feet. He did not let go of Gene's hand as they walked back to his car. He even opened the door for Gene.

They drove back in relative silence.

Yasuhara helped Gene out of his car, locked it and led him up to the doorway.

"Well, if this was your residence, I would be leaving you here," Yasuhara said. "So…"

"Are you going to kiss me?" Gene asked. "Or is kissing on the first date too far?"

"Would you like a kiss?" Yasuhara asked.

Gene's lips formed a slight pout as he thought about this kissing matter.

"I would like a kiss," he decided, "Right here, on my cheek."

He pointed and offered his chosen cheek to Yasuhara, who smiled to hide his laughter before reaching forwards and pressing his lips to Gene's skin.

"Well, goodnight then."

"You could come in for a drink?" Gene suggested quickly.

Yasuhara raised a suggestive eyebrow.

"Well, soon as this is my apartment, sure, I'll come in for 'a drink'."

"What do you mean, 'a drink'?" Gene asked, genuinely innocent to Yasuhara's suggestive tone.

"Really? I knew you had no experience but surely you get the implications of that?"

Gene took one second to get it. Then his face flushed red. He turned on his heel and vanished through the door with a faint cry of 'I need more whiskey'. Yasuhara laughed and let himself in.

"Why do you need more whiskey because of that idea?" Yasuhara asked in mock offence. "Am I that horrific?"

"But it was the first date! You can't━"

"Can't what? Go further than a kiss? Of course you can!"

Gene's mouth fell open.

"But that's so daring!"

"I would never do something my date wasn't comfortable with but it's not like there is a rule saying you can't…"

There was a short silence.

"I guess I really am inexperienced…" Gene mumbled. "I never normally have to do this bit. Normally people just need a nudge in the right direction and work it all out on their own."

"Well I know the basics of what would happen if I did want to go past just kissing with someone on the first date," Yasuhara said in a low voice, "So you do not need to give me The Talk."

"Oh jeesh no, I am not doing that. I did not sign up for that!" Gene sounded horrified. "I am still scared from my parents did that! Like we were given The Talk at school when we were like eleven or something and then they did it again but it was so much worse!"

"Sucks," Yasuhara said sympathetically. "Do you want a drink?"

"A drink or 'a drink'?"

"Well I am thirsty━"

"Oh are you now?"

"For someone so inexperienced you are so dirty minded. Do you want some water or not?"

"Don't need it."

"Oh yeah…" Yasuhara said, frowning. "Sorry, I forgot."

"It's fine," Gene said, shaking his head. "Perhaps we should call it a day for now."

Yasuhara finished pouring his glass of water and turned around to find the room empty.

"Gene?"

But he received no answer.

Gene reappeared the next morning.

"You disappeared pretty quick last night," Yasuhara said, not looking up from his book.

"Yeah sorry about that."

"Are you okay? You look a bit peaky."

"Yeah."

"Can you even get ill?"

"No, not really."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Gene nodded and plonked down on the sofa with Yasuhara.

"So, the way I normally pair people up is colours," Gene began.

"Colours?"

"Hear me out."

"Okay."

"So everyone has a colour, like an aura," Gene went on, "And people that are meant for each other are the same colour. I'm not sure if all the cupid guardian angels get this or not, but I see it."

"What colour am I?"

"Purple."

"What sort of purple?"

"Like... " Gene scanned the room for something that was close, but nothing compared. "Eugh. Darkish, rich purple?" He shook his head. "Mai was close, but a bit more blue, as was Houshou, but he was more red…"

"Okay…"

Yasuhara was unsure how he ought to reply to this, so waited for Gene to go on.

"I can't find anyone the same shade as you."

"What?"

"I went out last night, while you were asleep. I've been looking all over and I just can't find anyone."

"Oh."

"But you should have one! Everyone has one!"

"Everyone? Even aromantics and people like that?"

"Yeah, of course they do! But it's just a platonic thing. Like its just their best friend. I mean isn't that what a good relationship is?"

"I guess. So I am doomed to singledom?"

"There are seven billion people on this damn planet! One of them has to be the same country."

"Maybe we'll have to go travelling then," Yasuhara said. "Sounds a bit extreme though…"

Gene sighed. Yasuhara studied his face and thought he looked like he was about to cry.

"You don't like failing, do you?"

"No," Gene admitted. "I have never really failed before."

"Do you want a hug?"

"Huh?"

"A hug? To make you feel better?" Yasuhara felt a little foolish, but he had offered it now so there was no backing out.

"Uh, okay."

Yasuhara embraced Gene and patted him reassuringly on the back.

"I believe in you," he whispered. "I am in no rush, we'll work this out together."

"But━"

"Maybe the problem is that I wasn't there for comparison! We can go out later and just walk around. You can then see both colours together!"

"It might help…"

"I mean doing it at night makes it more difficult anyway," Yasuhara insisted. "No wonder you had no luck!"

"Yeah…"

Yasuhara took Gene by the shoulders and stared into his eyes intently.

"I believe in you! You've got a perfect record until now, I have no intention of ruining that for you!"

"Thanks," Gene mumbled. "I should be reassuring you, not the other way around…"

"Nah, we're in this together! You're allowed to have doubts too! And if it doesn't work out, we'll go and get strawberries again!"

"Now you're just trying to tempt me to fail," Gene teased, the edge of his lips twitching into a small smile.

"Well if you fail, I get to spend more time with you," Yasuhara said. "And that's not so bad."

Gene's weak smile bloomed into a grin as he pulled Yasuhara in for another hug.

They spent the entire afternoon walking around the city. Yasuhara would subtly point out people he thought to be acceptably attractive and Gene reported on their colour.

"What about that girl, she's cute in a nerdy sort of way," Yasuhara said, nodding his head towards a young woman walking down the street with her nose in a book.

"Nah, she's yellow. Completely wrong for you."

Yasuhara did not look disappointed about this, instead he looked up at the darkening sky.

"We should head for strawberries soon," he commented.

But when he turned to gauge Gene's opinion on this matter, but Gene had gone. Frowning, Yasuhara looked around for him. Gene had been beside him only moment before.

Yasuhara spotted him down the street talking to the young woman that had had her nose in a book a few minutes ago. Frowning, Yasuhara watched as Gene pointed down the road at another young lady who happened to have the same book poking out of the top of her bag.

Yasuhara wondered idly if this other young woman was the same shade of yellow…

Gene caught up a few minutes later.

"Sorry, had to take the chance when I spotted it," he mumbled.

"It's fine. So strawberries?"

"Yeah, to celebrate those two if nothing else!"

Twenty minutes later found Yasuhara and Gene sat on the same bench feeding each other strawberries.

"You're trying to get it on my face!" Gene protested.

"Maybe I am," Yasuhara teased. "What are you going to do about it?"

Gene scooped a finger of the melted chocolate and wiped it on Yasuhara face. Yasuhara's mouth fell open. He grabbed a strawberry and mashed it into Gene's laughing mouth.

"You know, I can just disappear at any moment you'll just look like a madman with chocolate all over himself."

"You wouldn't━"

"You don't think I would?" Gene smirked.

"I was so nice to you!" Yasuhara protested, pouting.

Gene's expression softened.

"Yes, you have been… Apart the whole thinking I was a hallucination thing."

"You would have done the same in my situation."

"Yes, I probably would have."

Gene smiled at Yasuhara and gently wiped off the chocolate from his cheek.

"What colour are you?" Yasuhara asked suddenly.

"I don't have a colour," Gene replied. "Because I'm dead. None of the angels do…"

"Oh…"

"Sorry."

"If you did have one, what colour do you think it would it be?"

"I don't… I don't know…" Gene admitted, unable to make eye contact with Yasuhara. "We should get going."

"Yeah."

"Is there a time limit on you helping me?" Yasuhara asked later that evening.

"I don't think so," Gene replied.

"Good."

"Why?"

"I like having you around. Makes me feel less alone," Yasuhara admitted. He mumbled something else that Gene did not quite catch.

"Huh?"

"I said that it's a shame that… Nothing. Forget it."

"No, tell me!" Gene insisted.

"I just thought that it was a shame that you're dead… Like I know that date was a 'practice run' or whatever but I had fun. And today too, it was nice just walking around being silly."

"What are you trying to say?" Gene asked, his tone cold and serious.

"Just that I wouldn't say 'no' to a second date," Yasuhara whispered. "It's silly, I know but━"

"I should leave. You can't do this! I'm dead!"

"I'm sorry! Please don't leave━"

But Gene had vanished.

Yasuhara hoped that Gene would reappear the next day. But he did not. Nor did he appear the next day. Or the day after that.

By the end of the week, Yasuhara had given up.

Perhaps he had drunk all that whiskey and had hallucinated the entire thing. That was possible, right?

It sounded farfetched even to Yasuhara.

"You're in early!"

Yasuhara spun around to see one of his coworkers plonking down at his own desk.

"Hiro! Hi, yeah, I just woke up an hour early this morning and couldn't sleep. Figured I would come in and get some research done for that domestic abuse case."

"Yeah that case looks nasty. Did you hear the news though?" Hiro asked.

"News?"

"Yeah, it was in the paper." Hiro rummaged in his bag for a moment before producing a newspaper. "Read page five."

He chucked the newspaper at Yasuhara, who caught it deftly and opened it to page five.

BACK FROM THE DEAD!

Eugene Davis, 24, was long since thought dead after a body was found with his ID. However, we can exclusively reveal that an error was made! Eugene had been in a state care facility in a coma for the past eight years. This week, he woke up and revealed his true identity! His family were naturally shocked but pleased at this revelation.

Yasuhara could not read anymore.

"No…"

He forced himself to scan the document for a hospital name.

"I have to go," he said.

"What?" Hiro questioned.

"I need to leave!"

Yasuhara ran from the office, searching for the quickest route to the hospital. He rushed from train to bus to train to cab and into the hospital, demanding the room number from the startled receptionist.

Yasuhara stopped only when outside of the room that bore 'Eugene Davis' on it's door.

He opened the door to see Eugene surrounded by his family and━

"Yasuhara? What are you doing here?" Mai's voice asked.

Everyone turned to look at him. Everyone including Gene.

"Yasuhara?" Gene whispered.

"You know him?" the woman that Yasuhara presumed to be his mother asked.

"Yes," Gene said. "Could we have a minute? Alone?"

"Gene━"

"Please?"

"Come on," the man ━ his father? ━ said, "Let's give them a few minutes. I wouldn't say no to a coffee."

They trooped out, Oliver giving Yasuhara a suspicious look and Mai looking puzzled.

Yasuhara shut the door behind them.

"Do you remember me?" Yasuhara asked.

"Yes."

Yasuhara spluttered for a moment.

"But you were dead!"

"I was," Gene agreed. "Very dead. Bottom of a lake after being run over dead."

"But then how━"

"Magic."

"If something was needed for you to find your… Your person… The magic made it happen."

"It…"

"It needed me to be alive."

"Damn I should have asked for world peace…"

Gene laughed. Yasuhara felt tears rising to his eyes. He launched himself at Gene and hugged him tight.

"Easy," Gene mumbled, "I'm a bit fragile."

"I bet you feel like death warmed up."

"You're terrible," Gene said, sniggering. "Noll knows about me being really dead. I think he's a bit upset I didn't come back for him."

"Oh… Awkward."

"Yeah, a bit. I mean I would have if I could have!" Gene said.

"Of course!"

Yasuhara sat back, staring at Gene with so many questions.

"Go on, I'll answer what I can," Gene prompted.

"We knew each other for two and a half days, how can that be━"

"I knew those two girls were right for each other from the moment I saw them both. They won't realise it for a while but it doesn't matter."

"But I know! Doesn't that put pressure on or something?"

"Only if you let it," Gene said. "I don't want any pressure. I have enough to deal with. My mother is all over the place and I have to do so much physio because my body has supposedly been in a coma for years."

"So we can take it slow?"

"Slow as you want," Gene said with a grin.

"I should let your family back in, sorry for just barging in!"

"It's fine."

"Yeah, you totally owe me some whiskey by the way!"

"I'll buy you the whiskey if you come interrailing with me," Gene offered.

Yasuhara's face split into a wide grin.

"You've got yourself a deal."

Author's note: So this is unedited but oh well! Please review :)