AN: Wow, I wonder if this is the longest I've gone without updating… Oh well, this is a last chapter… it's been a long ride and due to the lack of Egoist and Terrorist support from Nakamura-sensei, my interest and love for this fandom has been declining, sorry to say. Romantica really is my least favorite . no offense, Roma fans. But I've abandoned a fic before and don't want to do it again, so I'm trying to finish the rest of them off. Sorry if the endings seem blunt- I know it's tacky to tackle things this way, but I feel it's better than just ditching, completely…

-..- . -..-

Chapter 17

~FIN~

-..- . -..-

It had been a few days since he'd returned from Canada, and Kamijou was feeling worlds better. Rather than returning to work, prematurely, he was instructed (ordered) by the chairman to continue taking it easy. So now that his leg was feeling much better, he was glad to be returning to work.

Kamijou entered his office with a prideful smile. He looked forward to teaching his students again. It'd been far too long since he'd felt needed, felt as though he was useful like he did at work, and he was more than happy to return.

"Good morning, Kamijou." His superior greeted him and Kamijou sighed. Well, work was great save for his freak of a boss, but even Miyagi couldn't trample on his good mood this morning- and a simple 'Good morning' from the man was more than he could hope for.

Things were certainly starting to look up.

"I missed you so much, I made a replacement Kamijou-sensei." Miyagi gestured, without turning from his work, to a mop that was propped up in Kamijou's seat, wearing Kamijou's glasses, with a coat hanger for arms.

"…That's… disturbing…" Kamijou ignored the fact that his superior was indirectly calling him a mop-head, and the fact that the bastard had put his perfectly good glasses on the 'face' of a dirty mop that he'd found GOD KNOWS WHERE, and the fact that this incident only reaffirmed his theory that his superior was probably the type of person who had tea parties with stuffed animals as a small child.

He took his glasses from the mop, wiped them off with his shirt, slid them on his face, lifted the mop, and raised it up, debating on whether or not he should smash it down on Miyagi's head as hard as he could. Instead, he simply bopped his boss on the head with an irritated sigh, and dumped it on the floor before taking his seat.

"You're sure in a good mood this morning." Miyagi stated, sipping at his coffee.

"I'm happy to be here." Kamijou replied, sending shivers down Miyagi's spine.

"…G-glad to have you…"

"Please resist the urge to ruin my good mood."

"I'll do my best!" Miyagi perked.

Kamijou wasn't sure how to interpret that, but he knew Miyagi well enough to determine his statement indicated that he would certainly do his best to absolutely demolish Kamijou's good mood.

"I'm going to get some coffee… need anything while I'm up?" Kamijou inquired.

"A green balloon…"

"Eh? What the hell for?" Kamijou blinked.

"Ah- no…" Miyagi pointed at his paper. "Reading my lucky item for today."

Kamijou let out an exasperated sigh. "Did you do ANY work while I was gone?"

"Of course! This is the first time I've been able to determine my lucky item! What's my lucky color…" He turned back to his paper.

"…What's mine?" Kamijou asked. "I could use some additional luck."

"…" Miyagi blinked before glancing over the paper. "…Today, Kamijou, your lucky item is…"

"…?" Kamijou waited for his superior to ask him his birthday, unsure as to whether or not he actually knew.

"…A Styrofoam cup… why do you get the easy ones?" Miyagi huffed.

"Not like I'll carry one around, all day." Kamijou huffed.

Miyagi pulled one out of his drawer, handing it over. "There! I want it back, tomorrow!"

Kamijou stared at it. "…This is going to bring me luck?"

"Yep."

"DON'T SAY IT LIKE IT'S A FACT! YOU'RE BASING YOUR AFFIRMATION ON GROUNDLESS EVIDENCE! THAT STUFF IS NOTHING BUT A PSEUDOSCIENCE!" Kamijou huffed.

"They've proven that astrology is a scientific-"

"WHO HAS PROVEN IT? WHEN? CITE YOUR SOURCES!"

"Well, time for my first lecture to begin. So glad to have you back, Kamijou." Miyagi patted Kamijou on the head and headed out, merrily.

"…I'll find a green balloon and pop it in your face, you bastard." Kamijou grumbled as he headed toward the break room to get himself a cup of coffee.

-..- . -..-

Stacking his papers for his next lecture, Kamijou glanced up as Misaki approached his desk at the front of the classroom.

"Good afternoon, Takahashi-kun. How are you, today?"

"Fine, thank you." Misaki smiled brightly, and Kamijou sighed, annoyed. "I actually had a question about the current text you assigned us."

"What would that be?"

"My question? Well, I've read this one chapter about three times, and I think I'm totally missing something the author is trying to convey… everyone in the class keeps saying it's deep and meaningful, but I think it's just soaring right over my head." Misaki opened his book and showed Kamijou, who peered at the paragraph Misaki was pointing to.

"Oh, this chapter can be interpreted a number of different ways, and no one's really sure what he's trying to convey, all you really have to go by is your own interpretation, which is the way the author probably meant for it to be…"

"But the only interpretation I'm getting is that the author is boring and that the stuff he writes is vague and ambiguous…"

"If it makes you feel any better, I feel the same way."

"Then why did you assign it?"

"I'm still trying to interpret it, and I like getting the interpretations of younger generations… even though it's vague, it's interesting to see what other people come up with."

"…Oh…" Misaki huffed. "So, how's your leg treating you?"

"I kicked Nowaki with it this morning, so I'd say it's in pretty good shape… I'm only joking." Kamijou corrected himself at the gawk he received from his student.

"O-oh… good… I noticed you're sitting more during this lecture than the last few, so I just wanted to make sure you were okay… Usagi-san told me that if I noticed you overexerting yourself, I have to tell him so he can… something…"

"Something? Like… beat me up?"

"Something like that… he said if I didn't relay the message, he'd punish me… so… I'm relaying the message…" Misaki's face told Kamijou that he feared Usami's 'punishment' even more than he feared getting hit in the face with blunt objects, so said 'punishment' must be sexual in some way…

Vinegar.

"GUGH!" Kamijou shuddered, suddenly.

"You okay?" Misaki blinked, obliviously.

"Y-yes… did you have any other questions?" Kamijou asked.

"No…" Misaki smiled. "Take care, Kamijou-sensei."

"You, too."

-..- . -..-

Despite the slight change to his schedule; that being Misaki, the day went by pretty normally for Kamijou. He returned to his office at the end of the day to find a rather pleasant surprise.

"Hiro-san." Nowaki smiled, greeting him. "How was your day?"

"Nowaki?" Kamijou blinked. "What're you doing here?"

"I came to walk you home. N-not because I didn't think you'd manage just fine on your own, but because I had some free time and thought we'd go out to eat."

"How romantic." Came a playful comment from Miyagi's side of the office. Kamijou shot him a glare.

"The chairman didn't see you, did he?" Kamijou asked with a sigh as he sat, blinking when he noticed a card, some chocolates, and a red and blue balloon waiting for him at his desk. "…Did you bring these, Nowaki?"

"No, they're from the chairman." Nowaki smiled. "He just returned from some kind of trip and he left them for you- and a green balloon, but…"

Kamijou turned, glowering at Miyagi, who was rocking from side to side as he read a student's report, a yellow ribbon that ascended through the air, attached to a green balloon, was looped around the hand that held the student's report.

"That's my balloon, you bastard!" He snapped.

"Hiro-san, you like balloons?" Nowaki blinked.

"Don't get the wrong impression!" Kamijou snapped. "I neither like nor dislike balloons, but he's being simply obnoxious!"

"It's my lucky item for the day." Miyagi informed Kamijou's tall lover.

"Eh-? What's my lucky item?" Nowaki asked, excitedly.

"Ah, let me see, let me see…" Miyagi set the report down and began digging around for his newspaper, being sure to keep a tight hold on his balloon. "Here it is… You were definitely born in this month, right?"

"…" Nowaki's smile faded. "Oh, that's right… it won't work if you don't know your real birthday, will it?"

"PROFESSOR! I HATE YOU!" Kamijou snapped. How could that bastard so easily make Nowaki sad?

"Well, we'll just have to get you one of every of the lucky items, then you'll be well-protected!" Miyagi exclaimed. "A green balloon, a Styrofoam cup, a utility knife, scissors, cheesecake, apple pie, a ruler, a reusable shopping bag, a vitamin supplement, mineral water, a sentimental card, and a buttoned shirt."

"Hiro-san has a buttoned shirt, I can take a vitamin supplement at home with some mineral water-" Nowaki began listing and Kamijou gawked.

"NOWAKI! DON'T TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY!"

"Let your toshishita-seme have some fun, Kamijou, don't you want him to be lucky?" Miyagi huffed and Kamijou flushed deeply. (1).

"YOU BASTARD!"

"Ah, we can order apple pie and cheesecake at that restaurant, Hiro-san!" Nowaki suggested.

"…Fine."

"You have such kind superiors, Hiro-san." Nowaki took the welcome-back card from Kamijou's desk and looked over it.

"Is that open for debate?" Kamijou huffed, annoyed. Still, he had found the gestures from his peers and superiors to be somewhat touching.

"Are you ready to go home, Hiro-san?" Nowaki asked.

"Need a ride?" Miyagi offered.

"Ah, no thank you." Nowaki declined. "It's close by, and Hiro-san is doing much better."

"Good to hear. Thanks for keeping me posted."

"Don't talk to each other, I don't like it." Kamijou huffed, and the two eyed him, annoyed at the ridiculous request.

"Well, we'll be off, then." Nowaki sighed. "Take care, Miyagi-san. Ah, I meant to ask you!"

"Mm?" Miyagi blinked.

"Next weekend, we're having Usami-sensei and his lover over for dinner. Would you and Takatsuki-kun like to join us?"

"I'll have to check with him, but I'm on board!"

"Don't ask THEM!" Kamijou snapped, flushing. "He's my boss! That's weird!"

"We are friends first, and boss and subordinate second, Kamijou—I'm hurt!"

"You're not hurt."

"I'm bleeding!"

"YOU ARE NOT!"

"My heart, that is."

"Ugh." Kamijou sighed. "Let's GO, Nowaki."

Pulling the door open, the assistant professor wasn't fazed when he came face to face with one Takatsuki Shinobu.

"Good evening, Kamijou-sensei." Shinobu greeted, civilly, lowering the hand he'd raised to open the door with. "How's your leg?"

"Fine, thanks. School?"

"Well, actually. How's Kusama-san?"

"Present." Nowaki called from inside the office, and Shinobu entered, smiling.

"Kusama-san!"

"Takatsuki-kun."

"How are you?"

"Well, and you?"

"Great!"

Miyagi glared from one male to the other, then glanced at Kamijou. "Weren't you leaving?"

"Yes." Kamijou replied, grabbing Nowaki by the wrist. "Take care, Takatsuki-kun."

"Thanks for the phone interview the other day, Kusama-kun, I got an A on my paper."

"PHONE interview? You have each others' phone numbers?" Miyagi snapped.

"Yes, he helped me with a report I had to write."

"About what?"

"Pediatrics… it could be about anything, but I chose pediatrics."

"Why?"

"Needed an excuse to exchange phone numbers with Kusama-san."

"And it worked quite well." Nowaki laughed. "I'm going to give him some cooking lessons, too."

"I CAN DO THAT! I CAN COOK!" Miyagi snapped.

"Then how come you never do?" Shinobu snapped, indignantly.

"BECAUSE OF A CERTAIN BRAT WHO MONOPOLIZES MY KITCHEN!"

"Always making me do all the work." Shinobu huffed. "What a horrible boyfr-!"

Miyagi covered Shinobu's mouth, annoyed. "Think of where we are, would you?"

"Hmpf."

"Well, we're off. Take care, you two!" Nowaki waved.

"You as well." Miyagi huffed, and a muffled goodbye sounded from behind his hand. He let go of Shinobu's mouth.

"What's with you?" Shinobu asked, after the two had left. "Are you jealous of Kusama-san?"

"No, I'm done being jealous, it just annoys me."

"Why?" Shinobu smirked.

"Because!"

"Not 'because.' Why?"

"…I don't like you talking to other men."

"Sounds like jealousy to me." Shinobu pointed out.

"It's not!"

"Then what is it?"

"…Aggravation!"

"You're just replacing the word 'annoyed' with one which is synonymous."

"I'm just irritated, is all!"

"You're doing it, again!"

"It's because if you have time to be chumming it up with Kusama-kun, you should be chumming it up with me!"

"You were at work."

"Mpf…"

"So does it still annoy, aggravate, and irritate you?" Shinobu smirked, smugly.

"…Yes."

"Then it's jealousy."

"Why did you come here?" Miyagi's eye twitched.

"To bring you home."

"…" Miyagi sighed, smiling slightly.

"What?" Shinobu blinked.

"Nothing. I'm happy."

Shinobu flushed, slightly, turning quickly away. "Good."

"Good." Miyagi smirked.

"…So let's go."

"Wanna do it in your dad's office? Exhibitionist?"

"I'm leaving without you." Shinobu snapped, heading off.

Miyagi laughed and followed.

-..- . -..-

"Usagi-san…?" Misaki called as he entered the home they shared. "You here?"

"Misaki! Come quick!"

Misaki blinked, hurrying toward the sound of his lover's voice. He found Usami in the kitchen, staring at something on the floor.

"What is-? Ah-!" Misaki gawked at a large spider that was on the floor, trapped under a glass jar. "A spider?"

"…I don't want to kill it, but I don't want it here. Take care of it."

"…How long have you been standing here…?"

"Twenty minutes or so."

"…" Misaki sighed. "What did you do when spiders came in here before I moved in?"

"Moved."

"Pfft." Misaki snickered. "Seriously?"

"Called Aikawa, Takahiro, or Hiroki."

"Ah, speaking of Kamijou-sensei, I saw him, today."

"Um duh. He's your professor."

"But he's not been in until today." Misaki huffed, sliding a postcard under the jar and the spider climbed onto it. Using it as a platform, Misaki lifted the jar and turned it upside down, carrying the spider past an edgy Usami and over to the front door.

He let it free outside and Usami huffed.

"It'll just come back inside!"

"I'll just take it back out again. Next time, just go upstairs and do your work."

"I just turned one in. I'm not OBLIGATED to write all the time. I could stop any time."

"True…" Misaki noted. "…So, Usagi-san! Kamijou-sensei sat down and took good care of his leg, today. Report finished. Can I go to my room and do some homework?"

"Not yet, I need you to feed me."

"Feed you? What would you like?" Misaki asked, also a bit hungry.

"Misaki."

"Ugh…" Misaki sighed. "You never change… um… can I ask you something?"

"Mm?" Usami's hands, (which were just about to undo Misaki's pants), froze. "What is it?"

"…About my brother… I've given it some thought and… I've decided that for now… I like things as they are."

Usami lowered his hands. "…Misaki… that's fine with me… but just realize that whatever you want to do, I'm behind you and I'll be here for you."

"…" Misaki smiled. "Thanks, Usagi-san. Ah, the spider had a friend!" He pointed and Usami jumped, slightly, turning and peering over his shoulder, but he only saw Suzuki-san.

"That's not a spider, it's a bear." He stated, turning and blinking. Misaki was gone.

So the little idiot was getting smart, huh?

Taking this as an invitation, (as only Usami Akihiko would), the author gathered his bear, and headed upstairs to find, and very likely molest his beloved Misaki.

-..- . -..-

The end.

Yeah, abrupt. Like I said, kind of tacky but better than just letting it hang. I think I was going to go somewhere with Haruhiko and Hiroki's relationship and I was going to do something about Takahiro finding out about Misaki, but that's been done so many times I find it trite and not to mention, the timeline's all messed up now, lol. I guess we can file this one under AU, now… . Oh well. Take care, everybody!

(1) Toshishita-seme – a seme who is younger than the uke.