I'M SO SORRY. Thank you all for waiting so patiently. I made up for it with the length in this chapter though, so hopefully there are no hard feelings! D; I really enjoy the reviews I get from you all, so feel free to drop one anytime you like. For those of you who are like me, who find it weird to leave a review for a specific chapter even though you're already following the story, please try and at least type a one-to-five worded review such as: 'Update soon', or 'Good job.'

So, yeah. Haha. Thank you for reading this if you have taken the time to, and please enjoy the next chapter below!

'Italics' cover flashbacks, exaggerations and important thoughts.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to their rightful owner; Jun Maeda.

~OoOo~

The sunlight pouring from the window drapes brought a somehow comforting warmth to him, rather than the much expected harsh glare he tensed for in his slow and accustomed wake. If only his luck was followed though, as he rose from his mattress quietly and made his way across the cold tiled-floors, bringing a slight tingling sensation amongst his bare and exposed toes. God, and he'd only gone to sleep just a couple hours ago too.

"Keep your socks on Hideki! No wonder you always complain about having cold feet! Now go on up to your room and put on some socks that your loving mother has so thoughtfully bought for you," she stated playfully from the bright yellow doorway of their kitchen.

And as much as Hinata had first loved the act of retrieving his memories, he soon realized that instead, it would only bring upon him the unfortunate - yet long suspected start - of his downfall. There was no getting around that fact, as did all the others here seem to notice as well. After all, once you remembered something you 'had', you suddenly start thinking that was what you 'have' now - and after that, trying to decipher the difference between what is reality and the afterlife suddenly becomes purely indistinguishable. Becoming lost was very common in this world of theirs. Everyone knew this. After all, everyone needed to.

~OoOo~

He wandered a fair distance before he finally came out of his hazy morning blindness and back tracked to the kitchen. Not having been used to the layout unlike the current pink haired resident, he missed the elevated trim of the doorway and chipped his toe-nail when his foot leaned into the wood. He bit back a curse which could have rivaled a witch's, and doubled over onto the now wooded flooring of the kitchen. With his earlier stiffness from the morning corrupted, he seized his injured digit with haste while using his other hand to make a hammering gesture towards the floor, careful as to not accidentally arouse the other sleeping occupant.

After all, it wasn't particularly "polite mannerisms" to make a racket in God only knew how early in the morning.

If anyone else had the fortunate opportunity of seeing this little stunt take place however, it was better off to assume that person would have quite an experience with the classic over exertion of laughter. The simple image of the odd blue teen presently rocking on the floor cradling his limb, as well as the somewhat pitiful absence of sound spurting from his lips, made an all too familiar scene to struck one as anything but the simple word funny.

The lucid, distressed expression on Hideki's face was enough to make any watching bystander rush over and comfort the poor boy. It made him look similar to a small child, about to cry in hysterics for his or her mother that had somehow separated from them in the wave of a crowd. Or perhaps, a simple college dorm occupant who - thanks to his complete luck and charm - stubbed his big toe on the unnoticed trim of the kitchen doorway.

It was only after he actually managed to 'hit' the tile underneath his fist with a sharp Clink! that he made a silent gasp and craned his body around to see any signs of movement through the doorway he had just entered into moments ago. His eyes went wide and his heart hammered violently. He stayed silent for a long while and many seconds passed until he had finally slumped back to the floor convinced that no one else was awake. For a moment he wondered why it would even matter if Yuzuru had woken up - but it's not like Hinata was ever one for thinking to begin with, and the thought quickly left his mind.

His toe proved no longer of any importance to him as he let out a relieved breath and let his eyes wander around the walls of the kitchen above him.

Many small picture frames and trinkets alike were hung randomly throughout the white wall space, a few essential kitchen ingredients aligning the cabinets; such as flour, sugar, salt & pepper, etc..

In his opinion, the items were thoughtfully placed and filled the wall quite nicely. Although the only thing he might've suggested would be to order the items in some sort of organized fashion; you know, like reds with oranges and purples with blues, rather than being piled together onto the wall in no particular order. It was ironic for him to be thinking along this track though, because normally Yuzuru would be the one to take hold of these things, but the unknown factor of sense of style also had to be taken into consideration. Maybe the pinkette had actually 'wanted' the walls to sport that sort of 'cluttered' look they seemed to give off.

And maybe Hinata hadn't known as much about Yuzuru as he may have first thought either.

Aside from these thought provoking ideas however, the blue haired teen still found himself puzzled at how he had not yet noticed these small characteristics of his crush before. I mean, surely he realized 'something' about the younger male that caught his interest, otherwise how had he found himself to be attracted to him now?

It hadn't been from pure looks, of course.

Someone who only spoke to another person based off of their outside appearance was a completely biased individual, as far as he was concerned. It wasn't fair to the actual kind hearted people out there who always got put down because of their simple lack of eye-pleasing qualities. Said good people deserved much more than being treated like they were invisible; especially when the only explanation for people acting this way to them being another irrelevant reason, such as the other person had no money or a small group of peers.

Hinata sure wasn't going to give off that sort of jerk air about him anytime soon, and he often figured why those around him couldn't do the same.

In retrospect, since waking up here ((AN: In the afterlife along with the others)), Yuzuru seemed to be the only one who met with him eye-to-eye and accepted him as a friend the quickest. Yes Hinata had other friends, but the pinkette had been the first to declare their friendship and that, my dear reader, is what had mattered to him most.

Even someone like Noda, who practically threatened and carried out to kill Yuzuru daily, still got respect from the young male. Long story short, Yuzuru was one of those kind-hearted people; which was precisely why his point in loving his now-roommate for reasons other than attractive looks themselves remained valid.

Now, don't get Hinata wrong.

Yuzuru wasn't known to get picked on or overlooked like the other good bunch he mentioned. In fact, the younger male seemed to be a sort of star in their little 'circle of friends'- never forgotten in a group decision and always thought of when they were apart from each other. Yuzuru was just one of those people you could never get mad at, no matter how hard you tried. And if you did, you couldn't seem to be able to stay upset at him, not that that was a problem anyway.

He just had a really optimistic personality and always seemed to be up for anything that came his way. Yuzuru was admirable in that aspect, yet there were a whole bunch more of things that someone could like about him. Just. So. Many. More.

From the soft strands of his peach colored hair, to his bright and lively eyes which always seemed to reveal his emotions no matter what the case: If Yuzuru was pissed, you could tell. If he was annoyed or tired, you knew. The same went for if he was flustered or embarrassed, though lately the blue-headed male noticed the pinkette's lack of embracing these motions.

You see, he would usually get worked up about whatever made him react in such a way; muttering incoherent words under his breath in hopes of making those around him forget what had happened. Now all the teen did when he was faced with an embarrassing situation was pretend to play it off, meaning to act like it didn't affect him at all. There was always a brief moment you could see in his eyes where he 'did' react, although a second later it was gone and you're left to thinking if you even saw it to begin with.

Hinata made it a goal of his to soon find out exactly what the cause and reason for this was, but lately he hasn't been able to bring up the subject to him. In other words, Hinata would always forget and find completely random things to talk about with the pinkette in place of what was supposed to be discussed.

If anything, Hinata felt the need to express his love and affection to him because of the simple reason that he 'wanted' to, nothing more, and nothing less. That was what he truly thought of the pinkette, so naturally he saw no fault in having hope - for both the future that he may or may not be able to share with the person he was willing to commit to for the rest of his life, and also the thought that Yuzuru would easily return his feelings and not just reject him entirely.

Of course, his hesitation in confessing to the younger male went against this so-called confidence, but do you think anyone could have the heart to blame him? Hinata really liked the teen, and the simple thought of being separated from him in any unnecessary means simply made his heart ache.

He wanted to be sure that the other would return his feelings before he told him how he feels. That's why lately he's been trying to leak hints every now and then and see how Yuzuru reacted. If only he didn't look so surprised and betrayed when he did try to show how he felt, such as hugging the younger male when he thought the situation called for it, or slinging his arm around his shoulders the very few times he got the chance to.

The pinkette especially reacted with his more recent actions where he thought to be more intimate with him. No matter what he seemed to try he always got the same response. It was also somewhat expected though, considering if Yuzuru reacted even in the slightest bit to his treatment, Hinata would poke him in his ribs and once again make him forget what had transpired over the last few hours. The only situation where he wouldn't have to carry out with that was when he simply found himself checking the younger male out. Sure the younger teen strongly disagreed with his actions, but it wasn't as if he was in anyway appalled by them. He probably just saw it as a reason for the older male to tease him, although he was unsure why he was doing it and just let it continue.

But in all truth, Yuzuru could never get comfortable with the bluehead's new ways when he constantly forgot about them. Their relationship would just be a never-ending loop if things continued on this way.

So from now on, he was going to try and not interfere with his memories anymore. Hinata would just let the pinkette realize his feelings on his own, and in his own time.

One way or another he was going to confess though, the pain and consequences afterward be damned! Fuck yeah! Oh, he was excited. But he was also scared about what he'd do now that he was all fired up.

~OoOo~

Once Hinata had successfully poured himself a glass of sweet tea, his favorite drink, from the pitcher, and made his way back into the living room, the first thing he noticed was the lump on a certain bed was gone. Cue the familiar sound of water spraying from the shower head in the bathroom, and he automatically knew it would be quite a while before the pink head showed himself again.

Smirking to himself, he set his glass down on a low-set wooden table in front of the couch, and puffed out a large breath, his eyes sliding from the walls of the room to the center of the bathroom door. Now now..

He took a step forward abruptly before stopping himself in mid step, setting his foot back down and twitching his eyebrow in aggravation. I just got done with this conversation in the kitchen. I just got done with this conversation, Hinata! What the hell were you thinking about walking into the bathroom while he was taking a shower?! But even if he did get yelled at and was told to get out he could always just hit him in the side and then he'd forget- Gosh dammit you idiot, get it together! I said I was going to start fresh a minute ago. Nothing could advance if I just kept playing the like-me-like-me-not game. He either did or he didn't, and that was the sad truth. All I could do to bring things in my favor was to try and do things for him, and even that as I've come to know was bought with limitations.

But he did need to do something; that was clear. Giving him some space didn't mean missing up on perfectly good opportunities. So he made his way over to the door, and kept his heart beat steady. He normally couldn't think straight if it was pounding wildly about like it normally did when the pinkette was around.

Knocking on the door slightly, he waited a few moments to only be returned with the constant roar of the shower. Holding down his pulse, he decided to wrap his knuckles slightly harder on the wooden door.

There was a moment of pause, and then suddenly the drumming of water stopped and he heard the screeching of the metal loops of the curtain being pulled back.

"Yeah?" He heard the muffled voice of the teen call through the door.

"Good morning," he called back, but his tone suggested a sort of 'morning after' scenario.

The other male must not have caught on to it, because a second later the door was being opened and Hinata was forced to move his arm off of the door frame and take a step back.

Steam billowed out of the warm room and the pinkette emerged in only a cotton towel that hung unfortunately firm on his hips. Hinata swallowed unconsciously as he eyed a droplet of water that seemed to dance erotically as it traveled lower and lower in an unmapped path down to the other teen's towel, soon disappearing in what seemed like an unsure hesitance past it. Damn drop.

He pried his eyes upward just in time to stop himself from licking his lips, though he wished he'd just let it happen from the sight he met afterward. Yuzuru was blowing out a breath with closed eyes, obviously a result from the humid temperature inside the bathroom, him trailing his fingers backward through his wet strands of pink hair. He couldn't help himself. His throat went dry and his tongue darted out across chapped lips.

"Um, sorry.. I wanted to know when your classes started so I knew when to be ready," he spilled out lamely. Yuzuru switched his weight onto his other leg in understanding, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he did so. Nodding, he replied.

"Ah, well since you've changed dorms I'm sure Yurippe has already changed your class schedule to match mine. It would be more convenient that way," he added off-handedly.

The blue haired male nodded back and Yuzuru continued, now leaning against the door frame as Hinata had done before. "It should be around 9:25-ish now, right? My first class starts in about twenty minutes but the whole 'paying attention gets you erased thing' also allows us to be lenient on what time we show up."

"Got it," he replied, making Yuzuru stand up straight again and move back into the bathroom, though he didn't close the door and Hinata took it as an invitation to continue talking.

"So how are classes for you? I mean, I know you're not learning anything, but what kinds of things do you do to pass the time when the boring teachers are droning on?"

The other teen laughed and he grinned. This was a lot easier than he'd thought it'd be.

"Yeah well, with TK and Iwasawa in your classes, it doesn't take much else for you to be entertained; at least for the majority of it anyway."

I chuckled in acknowledgement, knowing his statement was most likely painfully true.

Yuzuru turned to the mirror then, continuing his reply. "But to answer your question, I'm sure you're already aware that a good pair of headphones work. Um, also... Oh yeah! TK passed out a bonus pack of bubbles the other day," he smiled, probably reliving the memory. "I swear I've never seen a teacher so passive before."

Hinata right out laughed then, the mental image of dozens of bubbles everywhere and a seemingly oblivious teacher surrounded by them was too much. Yuzuru joined right along, the melodious laughter causing his heart to flutter even with his gut feeling prickled with needles as a result from his own laughing.

A full minute later brought the two teens standing straight up again, them both wiping tears from their eyes to represent the end to their unpurposeful yet entitled outbursts.

Yuzuru shuffled backwards and slipped something off the marble sink counter, a handheld device now present in his hand as he continued to then click it to life, sigh, and bring the screen back to darkness once more. Looking down at his phone allowed him a glance at his partially underdressed state, and he glanced upward just in time to catch the other male's fleeting gaze.

The pinkette wasn't sure of what it entailed in specifics, but although he did find it odd he also saw the act as somewhat natural; seeing a persons' uncovered profile in an otherwise accustomed atmosphere was almost expected to trigger an undying curiosity within you. It definitely wasn't something you took part in seeing everyday, so taking the opportunity to simply observe or admire was perfectly acceptable in his eyes.

I mean, he wouldn't even deny catching a few side-long glances at a particularity oblivious yet in-the-process of changing blue haired male when they got ready for their trips to the Guild or some other imperative club destination. He saw it as natural. So there was obviously no harm in looking, if nothing else.

He decided to act as if he didn't catch the other teen in the act when he spoke, "Well if I get dressed and everything, the bathrooms all yours."

Hinata took that as he needed to get the hell out of the bathroom while the other boy changed, and so he smirked but nodded. The other teen rolled his eyes but there was a tug at his upper lip nonetheless.

~OoOo~

Twenty minutes came and went faster than they expected, the two boys used to waking up and getting ready for their classes without any sort of distraction such as the presence of the other.

Yuzuru emerged from the bathroom five minutes after his indirect command for Hinata to leave, and so the blue haired male grabbed his school uniform off of a chair he had placed it on the day before and headed in himself.

Ten minutes later Hinata appeared from the doorway fully clothed and ready to go, Yuzuru already at the main door of their room with both of their bags and a breakfast bar in his mouth.

Hinata raised an eyebrow as to why he bothered to eat something so small when he knew there was breakfast available in the cafeteria, but it was simply returned by Yuzuru shrugging his shoulders and muttering something about it being cheap. The taller teen seemed thoughtful as they exited their room and closed the door behind them, eventually agreeing with the other boy to which just shrugged his shoulders once more. School lunches could actually get pretty expensive, especially if you want to save up all your money just to blow it all on stupid stuff at the end of the week. Unfortunately, this was what most of our members did. And following that unfortunate thought, most of the time together. Sigh.

They roamed the halls for quite a while longer, Yuzuru leading the way since Hinata was unfamiliar with these parts of the school, and soon entered their classroom where they each received a nod of acknowledgement from Yurippe and a thumbs up from TK. The constant rumblings of the teacher's voice continued on in the background as they exchanged greetings with the other members of their club, them obviously happy and excited to have the blue haired team as an addition to their class.

Hinata took his seat next to Yuzuru and the boy didn't seem to mind at all. The group easily slid into the groove of catching up on class stories and sharing all their music preferences to one another, all up until the bell rang, not stopping through the span of the next class nor the one following after. Hinata felt his heart clench every time he saw the pink haired male's smile, and he couldn't even begin to hear him laugh without contemplating how a person could be so perfect.

Hinata complimented the pinkette every now and then about his music choice and how well kept the boy seemed to keep himself, and Yuzuru accepted but disregarded them so smoothly that he, if not so focused as he had been, might not have noticed.

All in all the classes moved along swiftly, and before long Hinata found himself sitting in the seat across from Yuzuru watching him argue effortlessly with Noda about his not so healthy obsession with their female leader. The other male was red as a cherry and stuttered over his words frustratingly, giving up on logic quickly and turning to simply curse out the accuser which only seemed to fuel the other's laughs around him more.

Being the naturally friendly person he was, Yuzuru immediately went to soothe the boy, reaching over the table to grasp his shoulder lightly and tell him they were only teasing him a little. He still felt targeted but soon the usually aggressive teen gave into just sitting quietly in his chair, keeping his normal colorful language slightly cleaner, and only commenting on the few things that interested him as the normal cycle of the table's conversations rolled on.

Looking at everyone and seeing their different expressions couldn't help but bring a smile to his face. Throughout the entire lunch period and even afterward, Hinata kept his eyes on Yuzuru and wished that the teen always continued to show off that smile; that same smile which always seemed to lift him off the ground ten feet in the air every time he saw it.

And when everyone flooded out into the hallway laughing and telling jokes, he couldn't help but think of how much of a family they had become. He hadn't even been a part of their classes a full day and he already seemed to fit in with everyone outside of the time they spent in the club room together.

He soon found himself thinking the same thought he'd been having a lot recently, and that was and hopefully would continue to be:

'This is a lot easier than I thought.'

~OoOo~