(Friday, 7pm~ Kidou and Fudou's home)
(Kidou)

"Fudou, I'm home. Did you make dinner like I asked?" I called, earning a grumble from the kitchen. I sighed, putting my shoes away before straightening up Akio's.
Even before I got into the kitchen I could smell the smoke.

"Fudou." I said loudly, causing him to jump as I opened the door. He was standing at the counter, a lit cigarette in his hands, I scowled at him and he lowered his head a little. "I've told you, if you want to smoke you can't do it inside, the place stinks. And I can see you made no dinner, which means I'm going to have to make it now, and I'm already tired from work. You're not just messing yourself up with this stuff, you're messing me up too. Do not forget that." I kept my voice low, but the venom in my words was easy to spot.

He looked at me sadly and I sighed, already feeling bad. I was just so tired, stressed and having a bad day, but I shouldn't take it out on Fudou.
"Look...just open a window or something okay?" I stated and he nodded solemnly. I shook my head, opening the fridge-it was practically empty. "Looks like instant noodles again tonight..."

"How was your first day at the office?" I asked as I slurped up a noodle, the spicy broth tingling my lips slightly. Fudou had been laid off recently; the company he worked for had gone bust; they'd been slashing wages before that and I warned Fudou to leave and find a new job before the place went down-but he didn't listen to me, and when it went down it really went down.

Ever since then I've been trying to get him back into work; finding vacancies, helping him with his cv, even giving him a lift to interviews when I can. But it just seems like a lost cause. He doesn't care.

I'd count this one as nothing short of miraculous really. He arrived thirty minutes late for the interview, blaming traffic even though the trains were all running on schedule. Like I said- he doesn't care.
I thought for sure that would be the end of it, but somehow they must have taken a shine to him. Or perhaps they were just desperate for staff.
"I quit." He said nonchalantly.
A noodle slipped from between my chopsticks. "You what?"

Fudou made a grumpy face, eyebrows scrunched together and lips pulled into a tight snarl. "I hated it, all they asked me to do was make copies of things, shred documents, file shit and make them endless cups of coffee. It sucked, I didn't apply to be a PA! Looking down on me because I didn't have a fancy suit or a fancy car, bunch of entitled assholes bitching about their wives and kids, and which girl from HR they'd most like to sleep with. Just the fucking worst!"

I sighed for the umpteenth time today, running my hands down my face, I was so tired. "You have to work from the bottom Fudou, you can't just keep giving up every time you encounter something a little but difficult, I'm giving up my dream job for you remember?" I was getting stressed now; I'd always wanted to go into medicine ever since I was about twelve, but then, when I started dating Fudou all that was put on hold. Everything just went downhill so quickly.
'You're blaming him for your mistakes? Come on Yuuto you know that's far from the truth.'

I had everything sorted, I was studying at TokyoU with Sakuma and Genda, I was working flat-out, I had my five year plan all mapped out. But it just went so, so wrong.
I shook my head.
I got a job at a small company, and even though I'm the Head of Events the salary and working hours leave much to be desired- it's just an empty title. I spend most of my days on the phone with nightmare clients trying to organise weddings and corporate days out. I hate it.

I still dream of going back to university one day, finish my studies, actually get my degree- but now that's just not viable; business isn't great at the moment, I've got a house with a mortgage and Fudou's not got a job, not to mention I've been basically cut off from my adoptive father. I can't afford to study right now. It's all just gone to shit.

"I just want a job that's not crappy and where I don't have to be around a bunch of dickheads-is that too much to ask?" He said defensively and I got my phone out, trawling through the list of jobs I'd found for him, there was only one left. "Here's one." I showed him the listing. I couldn't be bothered to argue with him over it, Fudou is way too stubborn. It would be better just to move on. He shook his head furiously. "No fucking way, what the hell Kidou! I'm not doing that!" He yelled.
"Well what do you want me to do; it's hard looking for any good jobs when you don't have any experience or a particularly good cv."

Fudou scowled, I knew I'd hit a nerve with that one "So it's my fault then? My fault that I couldn't get good grades because I was too busy looking after my mum because I had a worthless excuse of a father who didn't give a fuck about either of us, that's my fault is it?"
"Fudou you know that's not what I meant-"
I was interrupted by my phone ringing, I just sighed and answered it, seeing that it was Handa.

"Yes?"
"Yeah hi, I spoke to Wiktoria, she owns a little American-style cafe in the centre of town and she's got a vacancy. If he can cook good enough for her standards and if she likes him, he'll get the job. But she wants to see him tomorrow morning at seven, to see if he's good enough. She wants his cv too. I've just sent you her number and email address so feel free to talk to her if you want-"

"Who's that?" Fudou interrupted.
"Handa. He may have found you a job actually." I explained and his scowl intensified.
He folded his arms "You told him?" I knew he would be pissed off because he's a proud guy, but I just needed some help "Well, as we've seen, you didn't like any of my options. Besides, the two of you bonded at the bar or whatever so I thought he'd want to help you. Don't make such a big deal out of it." I answered with a sigh.

"That still doesn't mean you can go behind my back like that..." He muttered under his breath and I rolled my eyes, turning my attention back to the phone "Well thanks again for this, he'll be there tomorrow." I began and was about to end the call when he spoke up on the other end.

"Um, actually, you wouldn't mind if I just quickly talked to him would you?"

(Fudou)
Kidou nodded and passed the phone to me. I took it, still mad at him and left the living room. "What do you want?" I asked somewhat harshly, his voice was much quieter than normal-reminding me of that time at the bar. "I just wanted to apologise, I thought you knew, I was just trying to help."

I shook my head "It doesn't matter now." He didn't say anything. "Now, what do you want? And don't bullshit me alright, I can tell something is up." Ever since the other night I've felt differently towards him. In all honesty I never really gave a shit about him or Max before, even less than the other Raimon guys, but something's changed. I just feel like I should protect him or something -like an older brother would. Most people wouldn't see me as a particularly caring person but I'm loyal as fuck and that's important. I care about my friends. And he's not even that.
"It's nothing. Really." He mumbled "Just forget about it okay? I just...had too much too drink and-"

"I told you to cut the crap already." I cut in sternly "I saw the way you were drinking, just downing every glass. You need help."
"I need help? What about you huh?"
"Hey don't pull that! You wanted to speak to me didn't you? If you don't want my help then fine, go talk to someone else about it then, like Someoka or Matsuno, he's your boyfriend-go bother him instead!" He didn't reply. I called his name countless times but was only greeted with silence. I gave a frustrated sigh and hung up the phone.

Well that didn't go well. Maybe I'm not so good at this friend thing after all.

"You're not laying into him because of this job thing are you?" Kidou said sternly, leaning against the door frame. "No. I was just trying to sort something out for him." I said truthfully, walking back into the living room and planting myself on the sofa breathlessly. I coughed a few times, trying to ignore the look on my boyfriend's face.

I looked at the clock on the wall, finally remembering what I'd been meaning to do today before everything started getting all jumbled. I switched on the tv, beckoning for my boyfriend to sit while I flicked through the channels. Beaming when I found what I was looking for.

"Fudou what are you-"
"Ssh it's starting." I replied, leaning in closer to the screen in anticipation. I heard a sigh but just ignored it.
"And tonight ladies and gents is a very special night, as you may know tonight is a rollover with a grand total of...¥1.4 billion!"

"Fudou, the lottery?" My smile faded upon seeing his face "Well yeah...I mean I wanted to help-"
"This isn't you helping Fudou. Helping would be if you just got your head down and actually stuck to one of the jobs I got you-this I just taking a shortcut!" He said and I could hear the anger in his voice. "But, just think about it ¥1.4 billion would be life changing for us, you'd never have to work as hard as you do ever again; you could train to be a doctor-just like you always wanted Yuuto!"

He crossed his arms and huffed "There's less than a 0.00000015 chance of you getting this Fudou, you do realise that-"
I cut him off, pointing to the screen desperately "-but look at this! I could fix this for us, I could sort this all out if I just win it!"

He looked at the screen before simply sitting back, looking at me with stern eyes "It's not the first time Fudou though, is it? Don't lie to me." I was caught off guard, my arm fell to my side in shock "Let me put this plainly to you Fudou; you have a gambling problem, an addiction actually. You're not in work because frankly, you can't be bothered to stick with it when you don't like something. You've probably been doing this behind my back, scratch cards, entering lotteries and not telling me, to you nothing must seem impossible.

There's always a chance you can win. There's always luck and you're a lucky guy so you'll just keep on trying and trying until you win won't you Akio. There's just no limits with you. And you may not think that it's a big deal-I mean the 40 scratch cards I found in your draw yesterday were only ¥100 each, oh wait that makes ¥4000 doesn't it? That's a lot of money when you think about how there's no food in the fridge... Of course, when one thing doesn't work out you just go up the scale don't you?

Bigger, better prizes that cost way more-but you don't see that, you don't care, you just want to help me don't you? Well, you're doing a fine job there aren't you? I feel so relaxed knowing that my money is disappearing from my pockets, so happy to know that my boyfriend is comfortable enough to talk about his issues with me, so not stressed about the fact that my boyfriend is smoking more and more cigarettes every day and shows no sign of stopping. So yeah, this will change everything, now let's watch and see if you win okay?"

I didn't know what to say, I was speechless. My emotions were all out of whack; I felt ashamed, I felt angry, I felt embarrassed, it was all just messed up. I turned back to the screen with a large frown on my face, the only sounds in the room being the preppy presenter guy who was just about to announce the results. I took a fleeting glance back at my boyfriend, who's eyes were trained on the screen; determined to prove me wrong. I turned back in a hurry, trying not to get psyched out and pulled the small ticket out of my pocket, clutching it tightly.

18-24-3-11-5-27-8

They had to win, they just had to. These numbers all meant something to me: 8-the number of times I asked Yuuto out before he said yes, 11 and 5- the 11th of May, the day he said yes, our anniversary, 24-my lucky number, 18-the exact number that our bill went to on our first date, 3-The number of pets we wanted to have since Kidou didn't want kids, 27-the precise number of times I told him I loved him on our first night together. They had to work. This had to work for me.

I watched the first number roll onto the screen, my eyes widening, I looked down at the number I'd written just in case. Nope, it was a match! Adrenaline began to build inside of me, the next number...no way! I was right again! It went on again, I turned back to Kidou in excitement "It was a 3! That's the first three already correct!" The next number was also a match, and the next, I couldn't keep my anticipation in, adrenaline was coursing through my veins and I ran over to the tv, sitting in front of it and clutching my paper tightly. I could almost see all that money!

The next number rolled onto the screen, it was, it was "No, no that can't be right, it can't? Why is it 20, it's supposed to be 27?! No no!" I grabbed the remote, rewinding and then checking the paper carefully. It was there, plainly, in black and white. I was wrong. "W-why?" I croaked out, staring at the screen in disbelief, the presenter just smiled back at me with a sickening grin, flashing the winning combination on the screen just to annoy me further.

"Well, I guess that's the end of that." I heard Kidou say from behind me, I turned to see him walking off. I scrambled to my feet "N-no, there must be some mistake! I had that, look, look at this! There's no way I lost, it's not over, it can't be over Yuuto!" I yelled in anguish, shoving the thin strip of paper towards him, but he just swatted it away, grabbing my hand.
"It is over Fudou, you're done." He gave me a stern look and I remembered the words he'd said earlier. He let go of my arm.

"I'm done with you Fudou. It's over."

"You're leaving me? Again?" I asked, not being able to believe what he'd just said. He turned to me, crossing his arms before sighing and uncrossing them "That's what I'll say if you keep this up." He tilted his head slightly to the side "I'm not going to give you pity Akio, you're an adult, start acting like one and sort your own problems out. I can't do it for you anymore. I love you, but I can't kill myself over you-" he stopped as if gathering his thoughts, before speaking again "I can't stand by and watch you destroy yourself, destroy us, everything we've worked for, everything we've sacrificed. I just, don't want to have to worry about you anymore okay, I'm sorry."

And with that he just walked off upstairs.

(Sunday, 5pm)
(Kidou)
"So...how was your first real day of work?" I mused as my boyfriend somewhat stumbled through the front door, partially collapsing into me as I stood there. "M' tired." He mumbled into my shoulder, taking that moment to wrap his arms around my waist.
"You look exhausted." I noted and tried to walk him over to the living room but he wouldn't budge, instead he just held onto me tighter, resting his head in the crook of my neck. I patted his head a little awkwardly and he looked up at me; he looked drained.

I guess he won't be staying at the cafe very long... "I'm tired, and I smell like bacon and eggs..." He mumbled and rubbed his eye, I sighed and was about to say something when he suddenly smiled at me. Actually it was a grin. A happy grin that seemed to offset the tiredness in his eyes.
"Oh, it went alright then?"

"More than alright actually, I would say pretty good to be honest. Apparently I'm not all that bad at cooking-I'm actually pretty good and the other people that work there are real laid back and not a bunch of dickheads. And Wiktoria so gets me ya know? Turns out she's an ex-smoker and she was giving me all these tips on ways to help me beat my cravings and quit. Like this-" he moved away from me, pulling a slightly crumpled origami swan out of his pocket.
"I know that one; finding something to keep your hands busy." I said and he nodded, I had to admit, I couldn't really smell that much cigarette smoke on him-instead I just smelt bacon and eggs, it was a pleasant alternative.

"And Wiktoria even let me sell my own sandwich that I literally invented this morning and people loved it-I'll make it for you some time, I called it the Akio-I know I'm a genius right?" He laughed a little and smiled at me. I smiled back, feeling just that little more hopeful for the future ahead...
"So, about this sandwich..."

((Ah that's it! Sorry I'll update more soon :3
Also I'll be updating some more of Halloween Night so yeah...if anyone still remembers that \*^*/ ))