How did this happen? Tatsumi thought to himself as he gazed down at the man in his bed.

His mind cast back to earlier that day, when he'd been walking home from his part-time job at a nearby ramen shop. As he always did, he took the path beside the river, glad it was deserted that evening as was usual for that time of day. It gave him time to clear his mind from the hectic pace of work. As he walked along, the sun was setting, and he distractedly watched the way it made the water look like molten gold. He sighed, tired and glad tomorrow was Friday. The weekend would be just what he needed, even if he did have to work.

He stopped, his eyes pulled from admiring the water to a form on the shore. Was someone down there? He peered closer. It didn't look like they were doing so well, he thought, maybe I should help them. Decided, he rushed down the hill, through the long grass and out onto the pebbled shore.

At first glance he thought the stranger was a woman because of the long and beautiful blond hair tumbling down their back. When he got close enough to see into the face pierced by light blue-green eyes; however, he realized his error. It was a young man about his own age, wrapped in a piece of dirty cloth. As Tatsumi surveyed him, he saw that where his shoulder and arm were exposed they bore myriad bruises and cuts, both old and new.

Tatsumi's yellow eyes narrowed in concern and he knelt down to ask the man if he was okay. Instead of answering, the man weakly said, "Help me…", and so Tatsumi made the split second decision that had brought them to his apartment, lifting the injured man onto his back.

When Tatsumi got the man to his apartment, he set him down in the bathroom and started to run a bath. While he waited for the bath to fill up, he made the man tea. The man took it gingerly, the sudden smile on his face at odds with his battered body.

He got into the bath quickly, seeming more afraid that Tatsumi would see his injuries than embarrassed over nudity. Once there, he sank down into the warm water with a moan that unmistakably showed how comfortable it was to have a hot bath and how grateful he was to Tatsumi for giving him one.

Tatsumi set his elbow on the rim of the bath and put his head in his hand, watching the man out of the side of his eyes. After a few minutes, the man started talking in a voice whose cheerfulness was at odds with his hoarse plea for help.

"This hot water's really nice," he said, giving what Tatsumi was starting to realize was his signature smirking grin. "And the tea, too. Can I have shampoo and conditioner? Oh, and some manga, I like to read in the bath."

Raising an eyebrow at the man's strangely charming impudence, Tatsumi complied and brought him the desired items.

"Thank you," the man responded, beaming again, "I'm Wakasa, by the way."

"Tatsumi."

"Nice to meet you, Tatsumi!"

"Yeah," muttered Tatsumi as Wakasa slid back down into the bath with a satisfied smile. Internally, he thought what am I getting myself into?

He sat down beside the bath again, shooting glances at Wakasa as the man lovingly shampooed his golden locks. Tatsumi wondered absently how the man's hair looked so good if he was living the kind of life that gave a person injuries like he had. Wakasa caught his eyes, saw the question in them, and explained,

"I've been living under the bridge upstream," he said, splashing water over his face, "but there's been some trouble in the area recently with gangs. People can be mean sometimes."

Tatsumi bit his lip and tore his gaze away from a particularly cruel looking scar on Wakasa's side. The man certainly wasn't wrong about that.

Shaking his hands to dry them, Wakasa picked up one of the manga that Tatsumi had brought over. Sensing Wakasa was preparing to be there for the long haul, Tatsumi looked sideways at the man and said,

"Uh, I was hoping to take a bath too, so…"

Wakasa turned his head and light blue-green eyes met yellow ones.

"Don't let me stop you," he said, "You're the one who lives here, after all."

"Okay," said Tatsumi, reaching for Wakasa's arm, "time to get out."

To his surprise, the blond lurched back towards the other side of the tub.

"No, no, there's no need to do that. I don't want to get out. You can just get in with me."

Tatsumi wanted to roll his eyes and forcibly pull the man out of the bath, but when he saw the fear in his blue-green eyes he decided not to. Wakasa would probably be difficult to pull out of the bath anyway, he was at least Tatsumi's size, if not bigger. He sighed and started to take off his clothes. He hadn't bathed with anyone in ages, ever since his little sister started to get creepy about it. That had set him off bathing with anyone, and, since he lived alone, there wasn't much call for that kind of thing anyway.

Once he was in the tub, Wakasa started prodding Tatsumi to talk to him, then, when he silently refused, talking to an inflatable duck (where had that come from anyway), so he ended up getting out more quickly than he normally would. He made dinner, and as soon as he was finished, Wakasa was out of the tub and at the table, dressed in the shirt and sweatpants Tatsumi had left for him. A bored look on his face, Tatsumi gestured to Wakasa to take a seat, noting absently that he looked much better in Tatsumi's old and loose clothes that he himself ever would have. Wakasa fairly inhaled his stew, then started to look sleepy, so Tatsumi led him to his bedroom.

"I guess you can sleep here," he said hesitantly, and before he had even finished the sentence the man had flopped down on the bed and was pulling the blanket over himself.

After Tatsumi had finished washing the dishes and was crawling in bed beside Wakasa, he noticed the man was still awake.

"Good night!" said Wakasa, smiling again when he saw his new friend.

"By the way, when are you going to leave?" said Tatsumi in a voice he hoped said he didn't care what the answer would be.

For a second, Wakasa looked horrified, but then he smiled it away.

"This is a once in a lifetime chance," he said.

"Huh?" said Tatsumi indifferently.

"I don't want to leave!" Wakasa sobbed into his pillow. "Please don't make me!"

Tatsumi sighed. He didn't really want a roommate, but if he thought about how Wakasa had been living before, he couldn't let the man go back to that. It must have been dirty and cold, no place for a human being. Scary, too, if those scars he'd seen earlier in the bath were any indication. Anyway, Wakasa was actually starting to grow on him.

"Okay, okay, you can stay here for a while," he relented.

"Thank you Tatsumi, you're the best!" exclaimed Wakasa, thrashing about under the blanket in his excitement.

"Only if you stop moving," Tatsumi threatened. Instead of holding still, Wakasa grabbed him into a tight hug.

"Really, you're the best, Tatsumi," he muttered into Tatsumi's neck.

Tatsumi sighed again. He supposed this wouldn't be so bad.