"Sorry, we're late. Traffic was hectic" Yuu said, taking a seat on the floor at the end of the table pulling Shouyou into his lap.

Before Yuu had even opened his mouth again, Mr.Sugawara had abruptly excused himself to head to the restroom. As he stood and announced his brief departure, I noticed that his eyes were nervously darting around the room in an attempt to avoid eye contact. At first, I had tried to convince myself that his exit had nothing to do with Tobio's confession, causing the man to flee in an attempt to momentarily spare himself from the embarrassment. But the tomato red blush that ignited Mr. Sugawara's face as he headed out the door was enough to convince me otherwise.

Shoyou looked up awkwardly at Tobio and then towards the door of the classroom.

"Da where's O-Me?"

Yuu rested his chin on Shoyou's head as he answered: "He had to finish something at work, he'll be here soon". As if on cue, Asahi bolted in the room. His hair was tied up in a messy bun, the loose strands of hair were being held back by his glasses which rested just in front of the crown of his head.

He stumbled to where we were all sitting and hastily took a seat next to Yuu, swiftly giving him a kiss on the cheek and then Shouyou a pat on the head. Knowing Asahi, he most likely was rushing to get situated because he was under the false assumption that he had made it before Mr.Sugawara. Honestly, punctuality had never been the long-haired man's strong suit, and through the years of spending countless hours together both in and outside of work, I had learned that the hard way.

They both looked over at me giving me big smile's as we engaged in the usual, mindless, silence filling small talk. However, between the three of us, the small talk wasn't forced or awkward. Yuu, Asahi, and I had been best friends since high school seeing as we were on the same volleyball team. Even after graduation, before we three even had the chance to become distanced, I had Tobio and they adopted Shoyou, so it only made sense that he and Tobio would be childhood friends and we three would stay in constant contact. Even if this had not been the case, Asahi and I were working for the same company. When you really think about it, it's almost as if I couldn't escape the two -- even if I really, really tried.

Soon, Mr.Sugawara returned, and our chit-chat ceased as he took his seat again before us. Against my better judgment, out of fear of getting caught staring, I scanned his face for any lingering trace of emotion and I was almost relieved to see that his face was pretty much back to its milky state. Shamefully enough, I put a heavy amount of stress on that 'almost' part, I would never admit it out loud but she silver-haired man's embarrassed expression was cute.

He clapped his hands together awkwardly as he began to speak, pulling me from my realm of thought, "So, I've called you all here today because it seems that Shoyou and Tobio have had a bit of a falling out."

At that moment Asahi let out a loud gasp, "Yuu! You told me that we were having a meeting about Shoyou being in the sandcastle building nationals" he exclaimed, sadly it didn't sound sarcastic.

Yuu tried to suppress his laughter "Ok, first of all, that was an obvious lie, and I can't believe you actually fell for it. Secondly, I think we all know if I had told you that Shoyou had gotten into a fight you would have a nervous breakdown."

"It's true" I added smugly. In all my years knowing the pair, Asahi had been the level-headed worrywart who was too caring for his own good, and Yuu had been energetic and carefree. Sometimes I didn't really understand how they even made their relationship work but I guess opposites attract. It's been like 5 years and couldn't even wrap my head around on how they were able to care for a child for at least this long with not even one death scare.

Asahi looked at us both in betrayal with his mouth gaping.

"Close your mouth, babe. You're going to catch flies," Yuu said, reaching over Shoyou's head to gently attempt to push Asahi's chin upwards.

Yuu dropped his hand back down and looked over at Mr.Sugawara.

"Do you know why they got into a fight?" He questioned with genuine curiosity. A question I knew would perplex them out of anything that could have been asked. It almost felt like deja vu from only moments before when I had first heard the news behind us all being here.

Mr.Sugawara's tongue flicks over his bottom lip. My heart starts to race a little, honestly, I was a little bit taken aback at how he could do that so carelessly. Did he know the effect that that had on people? His stature alluded that it was all subconscious, which made it all the more dangerous. Nothing scarier than an individual who doesn't know they're attractive, it's like a loaded gun with the safety on.

In my thoughtful staring at the man's lips, I watched them part slightly as he tried to form the words of his explanation but it seems like the words just wouldn't come out. He kept tripping over his words, soft whispers of words sputtered from his mouth, sounding similar to an old scratched record. Once again, in his struggle, the tomato red blush returned to his face and the wave of butterflies fluttered in my chest -- then followed by a wave of guilt.

In a self-redeeming attempt to relieve myself of the guilt, I blurted "Tobio has a crush on Shoyou, and he was mad because Shoyou was giving his attention to someone else.".

The bashful man in front of me looked at me, the relief clear in his eyes, as he flashed me a small closed-lip smile as if to say thank you and for a moment it kind of made up for the death stare that Tobio was giving me. This time, it was my turn to sport a blush but not from embarrassment, that blush was now worn by the two boys who had brought us here in the first place.

Tobio looked over to Shoyou quickly and his face instantly dropped the look of betrayal full to embarrassment. We all watched as he pulled his eyes away from Shoyou and turned his head up to the ceiling, letting out a distressed moan, before slamming his head on the table.

"Dad, oh my god" he groaned, face down on the table.

I sold my son's most precious secret for a fucking smile, damn. Really, awfully enough, it was worth it but I would obviously never let him know that.

Yuu looked over at Asahi and whispered "you owe me $10, " and then leaned down to whisper something to Shoyou. The fact that they had been betting on my son's emotions was scandalous and strange but not something that really shocked me at this point. Honestly, at this point, I don't think I even had the right to find it scandalous as I had basically done the same thing but with something better than money.

Shoyou slowly got up from Yuu's lap and walked over to Tobio's side of the table pulling him up by the arm to stand in front of him. Even as Tobio rose to stand, his body slumped, barely able to keep himself from throwing himself down in shame.

I can't lie, I was a bit scared. With Yuu's influence on whatever he told Shoyou, anything could happen. Sometimes I questioned whether Shoyou was actually adopted because Yuu and Shoyou were just so much alike and this had only furthered my disbelief on how they have been able to keep that boy alive.

Shoyou took one of Tobio's hands in his, reaching the other to caress the small of Tobio's face gently lifting it to bring his eyes to Shoyou's.

"Let's run away together. They just don't understand our love, baby" Shoyou cooed. Tobio's face twisted in horrified confusion, but before he could open his mouth, Shoyou slapped him.

Shoyou exclaimed "I hate you" then quickly kissed Tobio aiming for his lips but missing almost completely, "but I love you."

Asahi's head shot in my direction with his mouth fully agape, trying to gauge my reaction, before shooting to Yuu, exclaiming "Yuu I told you to stop letting Shoyou watch soap operas."

Asahi's mouth moved a mile a minute, scolding Yuu about the consequences of letting Shoyou watch soap operas as Yuu fell back on the floor, clutching the sides of his stomach in laughter. I probably would have been laughing too if I wasn't in such a perplexing state of utter confusion.

Tobio's mouth was still gaping in shock while Shoyou had already gotten over what just happened and started rambling to him about some volleyball match he saw on T.V. At this point, I was so far down the rabbit hole of shock, I hadn't even noticed that Mr.Sugawara had stood up and was standing behind me until he tapped my shoulder.

Frantically, I stumbled to stand in front of him, and when I finally did get up, I was almost too embarrassed to look at him. Not particularly because of the situation, but more so because it happened in front of him. I stumbled with my words as I tried to find what I was trying to say to try and explain just happened but I couldn't find it in myself to actually get anything out other than just really weird mouth noises.

He raised his small hand and put it on my shoulder " Thank you so much for covering me back there.", he said in a small voice. " I-, I was just so embarrassed I don't want you or them to be under the impression or be disappointed that I am unable to do my own job properly."

Knowing how my previous attempt to talk, I stared at the man for a second, trying to gather my thoughts and prepare a response. My brain was going a million different places all while I actively tried to fight letting another blush fight its way on my face. Finally, I had compiled a response but before I could express it, Yuu loudly announced that they would be leaving now.

I glanced at the gray-headed man in front of me and decided, against my not so better judgment, that it would probably be better for both him and I called it there to save ourselves from any further embarrassment.

"I should get going too," I managed out, trying my best to smile without making it obvious that I was so undeniably into him.

"Have a beautiful night, Mr.Sugawara."

I picked up Tobio and rested him on my hip heading for the door. I was almost scared that Tobio might have been able to feel my heartbeat off my chest to his. "You can call me Koushi" He called after me quietly. So quietly I almost didn't catch it, so I pretended not to and walked out, down the hallway, out the doors and into the parking lot.

When I reached my car, Yuu was leaning against it with Shouyou, and when he saw me, he instantly broke out in a smile. I let Tobio down and told him to play with Shoyou while I talked to Yuu.

"So, what's going on with you and Mr.Sugawara" He instantly asked

"I don't know what you mean," I replied, half genuine and half knowingly.

"Come on man; you look at him like he's the best thing since sliced bread."

I sigh " I don't even know him." Then I began to smirk " You watch soap operas?"

"Shut the..." He trailed off looking at the two boys for a moment, " Fudge up. Asahi makes me a sap for love stories!"