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wrioelise · 3 months ago

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Why Is The Rum Always Gone? {A RonToto fanfic}

Preamble} Toto gets tickets to a hotel that just opened on Nadan Island. Against better (paranoid) judgement, he goes with Ron to the event. Fluff, Alcohol, and shenanigans ensue.

Tags} Fluff, alcohol, Sexual tension [the unresolved kind] Several OC's that are there just to move the plot forward. Toto gets very drunk, Ron has to deal with him. Spoilers for season one and a very vague reference to the cruise arc. (It's more of a ifykyk detail.) Takes place after the end of the story.

Note} FUCK YESSSS..... It's finally done! Did not expect this to break my current word count record. Anyway, I had originally thought that I was going to have time to make more RKDD fics since (at the TIME) Kaiju Number 8 seemed to be going through a slow patch, only for that attention whoring bastard to release a lore chapter and the OVA poster which immediately demanded all of my attention. So unfortunately, this is the only RKDD fic ya'll are going to get out of me for a while. I apologize in advance for the copious amount of OC's you're going to have to read through. If that's not your thing, I understand, I was just looking for a way to move the story along without having to bring in established characters because I wanted all the attention to focus solely on the RoToto dynamic. This is also the first time I am writing for this couple, and while I have been priding myself on accurate characterization before now, AGAIN, this is my first time writing for RKDD.... and Toto is drunk, so he's definitely going to feel slightly out of character.

"Leek, onion, whipping cream, steak tips... yeah, that should be everything!" Totomaru Isshiki joyfully confirmed as he left the grocery store doors.

He'd been noticing lately that he'd been cooking more often, specifically at Kamonohashi Ron's place. That man had been living on a steady diet of black sugar syrup and black sesame syrup for a good portion of his reclusive life. While that didn't seem to cause any lasting effects on Ron's health, Toto figured it was time to make some changes since it seemed they were going to be stuck with each other for a while. Toto really shouldn't be the one to judge too much due to him having lived off a similar diet of convenience store breakfasts and cup noodle dinners. It wasn't because he didn't know how to cook, he just hadn't had time in the early years of his employment to make meals at home.

Having met a man with an objectively worse diet than him made Toto reconsider priorities and made strides in setting up a schedule that allowed time to make better food for himself. And since it was easier to make meals for two instead of one, Isshiki just decided to forcefully rope Ron into the plan as well. His meals are still covered in blackened syrup, but now he could confirm that Ron at least had eaten a vegetable in forty-eight hour increments. Toto knew it would probably be more polite to cook the food at his place and bring it over later, but he found that Ron having a nicer kitchen than him made for some oddly wonderful incentive. He just wished he didn't have to deal with Ron half as much while he cooked.

A brisk, December chill cut through the collar of his cheap, police issued jacket and sent harsh shivers down his spine. Toto picked up the pace as he scrunched up his shoulders against the wind. He could see the ivy covered facade fade into his sight. Walking at a clipped speed, he almost tripped over his own feet when he heard a familiar nickname call out to him across the street.

"Tototo! Wait up!" A smooth looking mop of lavender hair cropped up in the corner of his vision. Spitz Feier jaywalked across the deserted road quickly as Isshiki felt himself shoot an annoyed look at him as he did. It was just his inner detective that felt indignant at the illegal act, but they were friends and he was off duty at the moment so he let it slide.

"Hey Spitz. Happen to be in the neighborhood?" Toto asked when he made it over.

"Kinda? I feel like wanting to talk to you in person would be more accurate." Spitz said with a wide smile.

"Well if you want to talk, let's do it inside." Toto said as he nodded his head toward Ron's complex. Spitz nodded in agreement as the two of them carried a quick pace to the front door of the homey brick building. The Blue instructor held the door open for the detective as they walked inside. They both involuntarily shook the invisible cold off their shoulders after the doors shut to block out the invasive chill.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Toto asked while they settled into the new temperatures.

"Yeah, do you have any days off left?" Spitz questioned as he rubbed his hands on his forearms.

"Pretty sure I do. Why, do you need help with something?" Toto asked. Spitz took a break from warming himself and dug into a coat pocket to hand over a warm orange pamphlet with black and gold laminae details.

"Managed to luck myself into a pair of hotel resort tickets, but they're only redeemable on a date where I have to help my brother and his wife move into their new apartment. I was wondering if you'd like them." Toto took the pamphlet from him and studied it closely.

It was a set of raffle prize tickets for a weekend stay at a soon-to-be-opened private ryokan and spa with an on-site restaurant and pachinko parlor. The place had everything, it seemed. The brochure made the place out to be a modern new-age take on the onsen and hotel. 'I guess to attract foreign tourists?' Isshiki thought. The description did make the place out to be fairly expensive, so these invitations weren't anything to sneeze at. Between the fancy wording and the gilded lettering, Toto noticed an interesting detail.

"Black Sugar Syrup centric menu? That's a niche choice." Toto thought out loud.

"Yeah, saw that too. I think it's because of the island's history or something." Spitz said as he headed to the building's stairway.

"Island's history?" Toto questioned. He thought for a moment before searching the pamphlet for the hotel's stated location. He felt his eyes widen and his heart rate kick up a notch as he read the location.

Nandan Island.

"Oooh. Oh No. No, no, no no! I can't accept these!" Isshiki ran after Spitz on the stairwell and tried to make him take the tickets back.

"What? Why? What's wrong with them?" Spitz questioned rapidly.

"I would rather try and chew off my own fingers before setting foot on that island again! Not after what happened last time!" Toto felt like he was almost hysterical as he recounted a brief iteration to the events that transpired last time him and Ron were on the island.

"Wow. And here I thought it would be a nice time for him since it's a whole shindig based on his most favorite thing." Spitz looked astounded after hearing what the pair went through.

"That's the other thing. He really doesn't need more black sugar syrup in his life." Toto sighed as any and all happy thoughts of a fancy vacation got swept away in a black, sugary flood of trauma and regret. "Are you sure you don't have anyone to hand them off to?"

"Tried everyone at Blue." Spitz confirmed, "No one was interested or available. And I already told you why I can't go."

"Maybe I can leave this in the break room at work." Toto sighed again as he put the pamphlet with the tickets inside his inner suit pocket. They finished their trek up the spiral staircase and walked down the hall to Ron's apartment. Toto began to mindlessly pull out his key ring and selected the spare key Ron had gifted him a few years ago. The key hovered over the lock as he stared at the door suspiciously.

"What... are you waiting for?" Spitz questioned.

"Ron usually opens the door by now." Toto noted.

He had this uncanny habit of recognizing who was at his door from anywhere in his apartment. Witnessing the moment he called out to Toto while in the shower to let Chicory in, even though it was at least ten seconds before she made her presence known at the door was almost as terrifying as the constant jump-scares Toto got exposed to every time he came over. He opened the door cautiously and peeked around the door to look inside. With the lights off and the curtains drawn, all he could make out was the vague outlines of the walls and furniture. He turned around to Spitz and made a gesture suggesting to not make a sound.

As they walked inside, they still couldn't see any traces of Ron's presence. Isshiki went to turn on the light, thinking that he was out of the apartment. Even when he napped on the Floor of Sloth there was still a sign that he was in the room, usually in the form of the heater or AC being turned on and set to full blast. As the lights clicked on, he headed to the kitchen and didn't give a second look to the living room as he passed. It wasn't until Spitz screamed that Toto looked. Sprawled on the floor was Ron. Blood seeped through his shirt with a wide hunting knife sticking up through the dark stain on his chest. If it wasn't for the obvious wound and implement, one would think he was deep asleep and oblivious to the world.

"Oh my God. No..." Spitz's voice shook as he shuffled slowly and solemnly toward the corpse on the floor. He fell to his knees as he faced the body, hands drawn up in prayer. His eyes watery, desperate to hold back the impending waterfall of tears. Toto stood dumbstruck as he processed the scene in front of him. As much as a part of him wanted to cry, to shout and scream and run over to shake his best friend's shoulders and beg the gods above to bring him back... some thought in him didn't sit right. As stupid and irrational as this sounded, Ron just... doesn't die. At least... Toto believed he wouldn't in such a simple manner.

That was it. This was too simple.

"He's not dead." Toto said with a deadpan tone.

"Oh, Tototo..." Spitz softly looked back at him, concern and sadness making the tears well up even harder.

"Oh, don't give me that! He's just bored." Toto continued his path to the kitchen and left the door open while he put his groceries on the counter.

"It's going to be okay Tototo. We can get through this. Denial is always the first step." Spits stood up as he tried to follow him into the kitchen.

"Spitz, you and I know that Ron is nothing if not complicated." Toto continued to pull out ingredients out of the bag while not looking back.

"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?" Spitz asked as he stood in the doorway. Toto groaned inwardly as he took off his outer jacket. Wondering how he should phrase his next few words as he set the jacket on the counter beside him.

"What I mean is... Ron wouldn't just die. Especially not from a simple stabbing." Toto said this as he began to prep a leek stalk. He took a second to look behind him and saw that Spitz was standing in the doorway, face still confused as ever.

"He wouldn't just be stabbed." Toto sighed, "He would be stabbed, choked, electrocuted, and partially dismembered while strung up by his wrists in the rafters of an abandoned amphitheater because he's not subtle, he's not simple, and he certainly wouldn't die in a convenient location and make things easier!" With every word, his voice got louder to mask the rough chopping treatment he was giving to the vegetables.

"As right as you are, I'm still a little disappointed that you didn't at least try to investigate my death." A cheeky voice appeared behind Spitz in the doorway as a shadow dwarfed over him. Spitz shouted in surprise as Ron leaned on the other side of the door frame with the knife sticking out of his chest.

"See? Told you he was just bored." Toto shot a unamused look to Spitz as he went back to chopping, now in a much quieter and calmer fashion. Ron fiddled with the fake knife on his chest, removing it and handed it off to a stunned Spitz. He put a finger to the tip of it and watched in amazement as the blade slid back and forth into the handle and noticed the blade itself not being sharp at all. A trick knife, it seems.

"And we both know if I had to try and solve your murder, you would resurrect yourself because I took too long to solve it." Toto said as Ron made his way into the room.

"He's... kinda got a point." Spitz said as he looked up at Ron, seemingly recovered from the severe shock he received earlier. Ron made his way into the room and leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms and staring down at Toto.

"Still, you are a detective. You could at least try and, you know, detect?" Ron commented casually.

"I thought we had this arrangement because you like the fact that I can't?" Toto returned while giving Ron the side-eye and a coy smile.

"As true as that is, you've been with me for, what? Three years now? I like to think you might've picked up a thing or two from me." Ron shrugged.

"I could watch you for a hundred years, and I could never be able to come to the same conclusions like you could." Toto shook his head in mock dejection, with the sentiment feeling like it hit closer to home than usual.

"I'm not saying you have to be as good as me-" Ron started,

"Which is an impossible task for anyone." Toto interjected.

"-But it would put my mind at ease to know that, in a hyper specific emergency, I could leave you to handle simple deductions without you blowing a mental gasket every time." Ron managed to finish while staring pointedly at Toto under his bangs.

"Please, like you ever leave me alone. If you did, you wouldn't get your greatest joy in life- seeing me bumble around a crime scene." Toto turned to stare in a more playful manner right back at him. Ron just shook his head, sensing a stalemate in the argument that would be addressed later. Instead, he decided to turn his attention to the meal prep that Toto had started.

"Speaking of bumbling around a crime scene, what'cha makin'?" Ron playfully questioned. Toto glanced up at Ron for a second as he chuckled quietly.

"Excuse you, I thought you liked my cooking?" Toto said indignantly as he elbowed Ron in his crossed arms while he chuckled at his own rude questioning.

"You know what? Since you seem to be bored out of your mind, why don't you look for yourself and deduce it?" Toto stopped chopping for a moment and leaned back a little to give Ron a good view of the ingredients splayed on the counter.

Ron took a good long look at the supplies spread across the counter. The list consisted of leeks, potatoes, cream and broth, onions, beef steak tips, and of course black sugar syrup. Toto watched as his partner worried his lips in between his teeth as he continued to evaluate the vegetables. Less than a minute had passed before Toto became increasingly concerned at the length of time it was taking his friend.

"I can't have possibly stumped you over this." Toto said as he propped his arm against the counter.

"Am I allowed one question?" Ron asked as he mirrored Toto's stance.

"I'm sorry, the world's greatest detective needs a hint?" Spitz taunted from his place in the door frame.

"It's not like I'm omniscient." Ron replied indignantly.

"Could've fooled us." Spitz shot back as he ambled over to the fridge.

"Tell you what. I'll give you a hint." Toto intervened as he went back to chopping the vegetables, "Not all of this goes together."

"So it is leek and potato soup with, I'm assuming here, sauteed beef tips on the side?" Ron admitted almost immediately after hearing the hint.

"If you already knew, why ask for a hint?" Toto asked as he poked Ron with the handle of the kitchen knife.

"I don't know about you, but it's nice sometimes to get a clear confirmation on matters.", Ron replied back as he shifted to leaning with his back on the counter's edge again, "Speaking of confirmations, what brings you to my Fortress of Boredom Spitz?" The violet haired visitor jumped a little at hearing his name as he was opening the fridge doors.

"Helping... myyy brother and his wife move into their new apartment next weekend. Figured I'd take the week off and make a trip out of it." Spitz replied cautiously as he caught Isshiki's warning gaze, silently telling him not to talk about the tickets.

"Sure, but that doesn't explain why you're here, at my apartment." Ron continued to investigate.

"Can't a guy stop by his friend's place on vacation?" Toto defended as he tried to bring his partner's attention back onto him.

"Yes, but that's not how Spitz works. His tracker training is deeply ingrained into him. If he was on vacation, he would set up a meeting with us at a busy, public location. If he just wanted to chat, then he's the type to just call or text since he's on a short time frame for vacation. He'd most likely only show up here because either there's something he can't trust to say over the phone, which doesn't make sense because he would just set up a meeting like stated previously, or he has something he wanted to pass off to you or me. And it's probably a gift of some sort since One: Spitz doesn't seem to be nervous or stressed about the matter and Two: since I didn't get handed anything yet he must have already passed it off onto you. Most likely while you two met on the street." The silence was palpable after Ron got done explaining how he pieced together Spitz's motive for the unexpected visit.

"I really should stop becoming astounded when I get to witness your genius on display." Spitz let slip after a moment as he returned to his mission of getting a glass of juice. Toto said nothing as he went back to his task of making soup.

"So? Can I ask what they're for?" Ron asked innocently as he switched his view back and forth from Spitz to Toto. Spitz was in the middle of opening his mouth to tell him, but was interrupted when Toto spoke up.

"Don't bother. We're not going to be able to use them anyway." he said.

"Oh don't be like that! I know you've got PTO left." Ron replied warily.

"Again, how do you know it's something he'd need time off for?" Spitz interrogated peevishly.

"Because if it was a utensil or money in some way, shape, or form, he would have already put it on the counter. Even if it was something small that he could put it in his pocket, I would have noticed it chinking against the coins he puts in his front right pant's pocket because that's where everything he gets handed ends up. Which ultimately means that he has what I'm assuming to be tickets for something that he's currently hiding from me for some reason." Ron said after a deep and irritated sounding sigh. He then turned to the composed and indifferent mask that Officer Toto had donned while Ron was speaking to their friend.

"Now why in God's good name would an overworked officer turn down a vacation handed to him on a silver platter, hmm?" Ron spoke softly as he leaned down to Toto's eye level. He stared him down through the messy mop over his eyes in hopes to put the pressure onto him. The reason was so his friend would hopefully just spill the beans already. Toto only leered up at his partner defiantly through his long lashes as he continued to make the soup. Ron's face split into a vicious grin at the insinuation of a challenge.

"Will you hand them over if I guess why you're hiding them?" Ron sneered with a joyous vengeance.

"No." Toto replied stiffly, not backing down.

"Spitz, will you tell me where My Pure, Naive Fool has them on his person if I can guess why he's hiding them?" Ron tried again as he continued to stare down his partner.

"Sure." Spitz chuckled quietly as he finished getting his glass of juice.

"Spitz..." Isshiki said with authority dripping from his lips.

"Hey, might as well if he really can get that far." Their friend said as he made his way over to the kitchen table to sit. Ron's smile became more smug as the two of them continued to glare at each other in retaliation.

"What's your reason for handing them off, Spitz?" Ron started as he continued to peer down at Toto. Toto took that as a sign to get back to the meal he was making.

"They're only redeemable on the weekend I already promised my Sister-in-law that I would be helping move furniture." Spitz reiterated from before.

"So they're raffle tickets for something since you wouldn't typically buy something like that ahead of time only to make plans on the day the event was taking place. I can also rule out sports tickets since it's winter and there's no major sporting event taking place this early in the month." Ron pieced together, "I can also rule out any Christmas themed events due to that bit of information as well."

"If it is raffle tickets, that most likely means that it's a promotional strategy, like announcing a grand opening or attracting newcomers to an established location. For something like that, they would typically place these promotional materials far from the stated location. Either further up north for ski lodges or more down south for hotel and event packages." As Ron said that, he noticed Toto flinched at the word 'Hotel'. Just the tiniest amount to the point it would have been imperceptible to untrained eyes. Ron noted the reaction and kept the image of it in the corner of his mind as he continued to voice his thoughts.

"Now why would you, Toto, of all people have a reason to hide something so innocent as a promotional ticket from me? Unless... Is something about this promotion that is personally connected to me? Is there... something about this promotion I would really like?" Ron's voice continued to rise in interest as he got closer to a possible shred of evidence about this peculiar case. Toto continued to make the food as Ron talked to him, but made a small mistake as his eyes flickered over to a half used package of brown sugar syrup that he pulled out earlier. Ron immediately clocked the reaction and broke out into a bigger grin because of it.

"Toto, are you withholding a black sugar syrup sale from me?" The taller man smugly squeaked as he voiced what he thought was a possible answer.

"No." Toto replied with an almost equally smug smirk, still not looking at Ron. Ron's face fell drastically upon hearing the answer. Sure, he might have jumped the gun a little on the answer, but there wasn't much else he could think of off the top of his head as to why Toto would hide a ticket from him. He thought back to the weird reaction over the word 'Hotel' and decided to press further.

"Not a syrup sale, but certainly sugar related I'd wager." he continued, "After all, I'm positive I haven't done anything to you lately that would warrant such a cold and heartless response from my partner." He turned away from Toto for a moment as he contemplated what else his partner could be protecting him from.

Wait a minute.

Protecting.

Toto only does something drastic if he wants to protect something. After all, it's a basic human response. But what would Toto want to protect Ron from? Again, the curious reaction to 'Hotel' came to mind. They have done cases in hotels before, with some of them not being a pleasant experience. Were the tickets related to an old case? If so, why hide them because of that? Now things were certainly getting interesting.

"You know, tickets could lead to a variety of locations, not just store promotions." Ron led temptingly, "Like I said earlier, it could lead to far away locations like lodges... or hotels." Ron abused the power of his long bangs to steal another glance at his friend to gauge his reaction to the word again. While it wasn't as noticeable the first time, he could definitely see a quick pursing of lips this time around.

"We've gone to a lot of far away locations, haven't we? I wouldn't be surprised if one of them rebranded to chase away old, unwanted stigma from a murder case. Especially if it just so happened to be a horrible, unforgettable crime." Ron turned to look more fully at Toto, the feeling of being right was almost palpable. He just needed to get closer to the truth.

"Uh oh, Tototo. I think he's getting closer." Spits chimed in mockingly as he continued to follow along with vested interest. Toto took a second to whip his head around to glare threateningly at his friend, but it was too much, too late. Both of their reactions alone signaled that Ron was very close to the truth indeed.

"So a location that we've been to before that took place... recently?" Ron led on with an investigative tone. Once he saw that Toto had no reaction to the thought of going back to a recent location, he tried again.

"An earlier location then? Early in our working relationship?" Ron tried.

What he got in response was a subtle, but long sigh through Toto's nose. A reaction that happened when he was feeling nostalgic about something, a reaction now dampened because Toto seemed to be intent on not saying or doing anything directly indicative. Ron took that as a potential lead and tried to see if he couldn't narrow down the time line.

"After Milo?" Ron asked with minimal response in return, "Before Milo?" he tried again.

This time the reaction was different. Toto paused in the middle of stirring some seared beef tips in a shiny glaze and looked away with an intensely contemplative look in his eyes.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Toto returned the question

"That look you just had. You had to think about it. You had to think about where exactly this location was in reference to us meeting Milo. Which makes me wonder if this is a location that would be considered more personal than I thought." Ron scratched the side of his jaw as he listed locations in his head that would fall under such a category.

A location before they had met Milo in person, he assumed, but practically had a direct implication of his presence. A case that is that hurtfully personal to Ron to the point that Toto felt the need to intervene. But... Toto knew that there was no such case. Ron didn't really feel traumatized by any case he was personally implicated in. Well, excluding ones where Toto almost got hurt. Maybe that was a factor? One where Toto almost got hurt as well? But that just leads him back to the location in time, because there really weren't many cases where those events really lined up like that.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration zipped through Ron's head. There was also the factor of black sugar syrup. A location personal to Ron, taking place before Milo, that had a direct tie to Ron, and involved black sugar syrup.

There was only one such location in mind.

"The tickets lead to Nandan Island." Ron said triumphantly as he performed his signature move of sweeping his bangs out of his eyes. A victorious laugh bubbled out unexpectedly out of Spitz as Toto just hung his head low.

"I knew he'd get it eventually!" Spitz cackled out, "But that doesn't explain why Tototo would hide them from you."

"I thought that part was obvious? Two, technically three murders if you count the observatory owner biting the bullet at sea, and I almost had gotten charged with murdering the first one with my mentor being the second. If it wasn't for the island being the birth place of black sugar syrup, even I would feel hesitant going back. Just out of curiosity, the tickets don't go back to the observatory, right?" Ron directed the question to his partner.

"I'm still not going to tell you about them. I have absolutely no desire to touch anything remotely connected to that case. We have clearly angered some God or another by entering that island." Toto responded as he began plating the soup.

"We?" Ron scoffed as he moved to hover behind him, "I'm the one with the... volatile and problematic family lineage. Having you dragged around with me shouldn't mean you're intertwined with my bad luck." he finished as he rested his chin on the shorter man's head.

"You would think, but unfortunately it seems that since you've been in my life for so long, the universe has deemed us inseparable from each other." Toto tried to glare harshly at the man resting above him as he said that. The two of them quickly turned to stare at Spitz as he tried to repress a gargled choke after hearing what he just said. Both of them just quirked their eyebrows as they turned back to focus on the finished meal.

"Meal's done. Spitz, do you want in?" Toto tossed the question behind him as he began to plate the beef tips now.

"Well I can't say no to a free meal! What kinda freeloader do you think I am?" Spitz laughed brightly as a plate was set down in front of him, "I am surprised it's not hotpot with as cold as it is out there."

"I felt like we were overdoing the Hotpot lately. It's good to change things up every once in a while." Toto replied as he settled down at his place at the right of the table.

"I wasn't aware that it was physically possible to feel like that. All anyone wants this time of year is Hotpot." Ron joked as he sat in his chair opposite Spitz. He was about to dig in, but paused once he saw that his plate looked slightly different from everyone else's.

"Is it just me, or does my beef tips look shinier than everyone else's?" Ron pointed out as he looked towards Toto.

"I cooked yours in a black sugar glaze. There's an extra helping on the stove too if it tastes good enough." Toto answered as he slurped at the hot soup.

Ron was left suspended in a cloud of happiness for an indescribable amount of minutes. Toto had made it a point to not cook with his black sugar syrup for a numbered list of reasons. Usually defaulting to 'It's your supply, not mine to use." or "You need less of that in your life some days.". Ron just reasoned that Toto just felt too nervous to try cooking with it. To be fair, it can be difficult to try and figure out how to pair something that cloyingly sweet with something savory. But not only did Toto try anyway, he most certainly made it with him in mind.

"So when can I expect your hand in marriage?" Ron blurted out, unshaken and sounding very serious. Spitz choked harshly on his food as Toto just let loose a very long and irritated sigh.

"Not this again." Isshiki muttered as Spitz recovered his voice.

"Your WHAT in WHAT?" Spitz managed to ask in between sputtering coughs.

"He's been doing this... thing lately where he's been badgering me into moving in with him. Although, this is the first time he's suggested marriage as a ploy." Toto explained as he leveled a stern gaze that carried a hint of disgust at Ron.

"Come on and think about it My Fool! Tax write-offs, work benefits, you already cook for me as well." Ron said before taking a bite of the beef tips in sauce and humming appreciatively.

"And I still like to enjoy my sanity while I have it. Having my own apartment means I still have a chance to enjoy breaks away from you from time to time." Toto pathetically growled as he went back to eating.

"Speaking of breaks, where's the tickets did you say?" Ron asked in between bites of more food.

"I'm still not going to tell you." Toto affirmed, not looking away from his plate.

"I wasn't asking you." Ron replied as he directed his attention across the table. Toto noticed the change in his partner's direction and glanced over to Spitz, who had developed a shocked look on his face even with it stuffed full with food.

"Spitz, if you value your life, I am telling you not to tell him." Toto commanded with a desperate look in his eyes. Spitz seemed to think the demand over for a moment before developing a wicked glint in his eyes.

"It's in his back left pant's pocket." Spitz lied to Ron. Ron watched as Toto became visibly perturbed at hearing his response.

"No, wait. That can't be right? I could have sworn-" Toto uttered as he brought his hand up to look around in his suit's breast pocket.

Halfway to sticking his hand into it fully, Toto realized what a massive mistake he just made then. Spitz lied about the tickets location because he knew how he would react to it. Toto, being a detective and always on the search for the truth, but constantly second guessing everything he did, would naturally reach for the tickets true location in an attempt to make sure he wasn't crazy or misremembering something. In the split second he glanced over to Ron, wondering if he had picked up on his blunder, the tension between them snapped with intense force. Ron dove out of his seat with his hands outstretched, a desperate move to grab the suit jacket.

Ron could be fast, but Toto was built to be quicker. He slid off the suit jacket just before Ron's hands could reach and jumped backwards and out of his seat while Ron was distracted with saving his balance. Chair legs squeaked and sliverware clattered as the two of them chased each other. Toto crumpled the jacket in his arms as he made a mad dash out of the kitchen. His speed hesitated slightly as he wondered if it was safer to lock himself in the bathroom or if he should make Ron chase him into the bitter cold outside. That split second of hesitation was enough for Ron to jump onto his back and capture Toto in a relentless strangle hold. The two of them thrashed around for dominance. Ron swinging Toto around in a bid to keep him from gaining enough of a strong stance to break his grip and Toto wildly swinging his legs around to try and send his captor off balance.

"Hand them over Toto!" Ron growled in aggravation as he tried to dig his hands into Toto's grip on the bundle of fabric.

"SPITZ, YOU TRAITOR!" Toto screamed as he continued to thrash.

Spitz remained unhelpful as he was leaning against the doorway, wheezing his lungs out at the ridiculous sight. Ron let Toto plant his feet on the ground as it let the two of them stop wasting their energy throwing their weight around. As Toto tried to wiggle his way out of Ron's arms, Ron brought his mouth up to Toto's ear and licked a long and disgustingly wet stripe over it. Toto cried out in disgust and dropped the jacket in his horror. Ron let go of his appalled partner and held up the discarded jacket in victory.

"Ron, you're such a child!" Toto exclaimed as he brought a sleeve up to clean out his licked ear. Ron said nothing, only giggled maniacally as he dug out the wrinkled tickets from their hiding spot. Spitz managed to regulate his breathing long enough to prop himself against the door frame more securely so he wouldn't be in danger of falling to his knees.

"Ya know, if you really don't want to go with Ron on this trip, why doesn't he take someone else?" Spitz asked innocently. Between the disappointed glare directed to him from Toto and the appalled and disgusted grimace from Ron, it became pretty clear what the answer would have been.

"Never mind, I just realized how stupid that sounded the second it left my mouth."

.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

Over a week had passed before it was time to depart for Nandan Island. Instead of taking a personal boat ride over to the island like last time, they had managed to hitch a ride on a more crowded ferry heading that way. Turns out that it was the time of year where the farmers from the mainland came over to help with the planting of the seeds. Ron had a blast chatting up the local workers on the boat, asking every conceivable question related to the raising and tending to the sugar stalks that grow on the island. Toto hovered by the railing on the other side of the boat, wringing any amount of personal peace and quiet he could get before the two of them had to step off onto shore.

One of the farmers offered to drive them as close as they could to the resort in their personal golf cart they kept stashed in the neighborhood. The two of them thanked the man greatly as they pieced together from the neighborhood gossip that the resort was set deep into the woods in the center of the island. Watching the scenery rush past them from their seats on the back of the cart brought them both to an earlier time in their lives, back before the worries of impending death and terrifying mind games. Those days were gone now, for the most part. As much as Toto wouldn't like to admit it, he was glad for the chance to make a happier set of memories here. Leaving the sour memories would render the place as waste considering the view that could be found here.

The island was beautiful. Tight, staggered rows of homey, white washed cottages lined simply paved roads, some of which looked like they've gotten a fresher coat of asphalt on. All of it zipped back and forth up the hillside and faced an absolutely stunning view of the vast blue expanse of sea. As the cart sputtered on, climbing higher and higher, Ron and Toto could almost make out the tops of mountains that marked Greater Japan on the horizon.

The first streets they were driven on quickly brought back their first memories of the town that they walked through with the observatory owner. The amber waves of the wild grass that were there that day rustled loudly in Toto's mind, almost drowning out the whirr of the engine. He closed his eyes as the sea's perfume wafted up the hillside and tickled his senses. It helped temper the stress and paranoia he had on the days before they left. He felt his lips twitch slightly into a smile when he thought back to all those times he checked the weather reports, almost religiously out of fear. Remembering the heavy rain trapping them on such an isolated landmark. Toto opened is eyes again as he looked out over the gently sloped land. The sky was much different then what it looked like the first time they were here. The sky had burned into a flaming gradient orange with the sun looking like a neon sticker dot, the edge of it whisper-kissing the border of the sea. Clouds were seen, but only thin sheets of wispy white ripples, almost mirroring the whitecaps of calm waves.

The cart soon took a sliding turn to the left and crested over a hill, dropping the view of the sea from sight. As the roads became less and less familiar from the first time they were here, Toto's worries began to crop up again. In an attempt to reassure himself that this vacation wouldn't end up like last time, he resorted to the only thing he knew he could rely on. Praying his heart out. Upon seeing his hands form that second-nature gesture, Toto could almost hear Ron's eyes rolling in amusement from under his bangs.

"Ya know, if you keep praying at this rate, the gods are going to put you on silent." Ron joked as he remembered every stop they had made at every jizo statue they passed on their way to the docks.

"Gods don't put people on silent. It goes against what makes them a helpful, benevolent being." Toto retaliated politely. An amused sigh could be heard over the wind whipping around their ears.

"If I promise not to go actively looking for or instigating potential murders, will you calm down?" Ron asked with a smile on his lips and tiredness on his breath.

"You couldn't promise me that any more than you could hand me the moon." Toto said as he leered over his hands at him. He jumped a little bit when he felt the warmth of Ron's hand lay itself over his praying ones and gently forced them back down into his lap.

"Then there's no point in worrying about it, now is there?" Ron tilted his head smugly as he gave Toto's hands a gentle squeeze. Toto felt grateful for the tactile distraction. Still, nothing could be distracting enough from the fact that the two of them had a track record for sudden and unusual circumstances.

"Once, just once, I want an uneventful vacation." The shorter of the two sighed as he returned the hand-squeeze back before politely shoving the hand back over to its owner's side of the seat. Even through the bangs, Toto could sense the playful quirking of Ron's eyebrow at the phrasing.

"I mean uneventful by your standards" Toto clarified.

As the farmer continued down the road they were on, the light from the setting sun began to dissipate into the overwhelming shadows supplied by the thick foliage surrounding them. It grew darker all around them gradually, even knowing there was supposed to be at least an hour of sunlight left. As the shade from the forest reached a point where it almost became oppressive, the smooth asphalt road suddenly turned into a packed gravel one. Ron quickly brought up his arm and wrapped it around Toto's shoulders when they were caught off-guard by the immediate drop in road quality, almost abruptly shaking him off the golf cart's back seat. As if it was summoned by the uneasy circumstances, globes of warm orange light began sweeping by the upper corners of their vision. They watched as the lights rhythmically popped up and flew by, supported by artistically shaped columns made out of shining copper. Ron noticed the slow drop in speed and turned around to watch the farmer pull up to a set of impressively tall and broad stone pillars, parted by an equally tall and impressively decorated wrought iron gate. The farmer turned the cart slightly and pulled up perpendicular to the gates.

"I hope you don't mind this being the farthest I can go." The farmer said. The two of them thanked him for the courtesy and wished him safe travels back. They bowed to the driver as he sped away, trying not to inhale the cart's dust trail as it left. The two of them turned around and took the chance to look at the gate before them. As Ron studied the Latin inscription welded into the frame of the gate, Toto looked down either side of the pillars the gate was connected to.

"Seems kind of pointless to put a gate on a driveway when there's not even a fence around it, don't you think?" He asked.

"Something tells me they expect their customers to bring their cars with them." Ron replied, noting the dense foliage acting as nature's fence to the property. It wasn't lost on either of them that it wasn't dense enough to prevent someone crossing the property line on foot.

Ron saw a small, thin, metal post sticking up out of the ground a good several feet from the entrance. Attached to the post was a small black box with a camera dot and a display screen. He walked over to it and showed the camera the qr code on the tickets. The screen showed a fancy animation before flashing green and welcoming them in. Toto was watching too as he saw the screen go blank soon after and heard the quiet groaning of the gate's doors opening.

"Definitely... ritzier than first impressions led me to believe." Toto commented as he picked up his duffle bag. The two of them continued down the driveway with their luggage observing the landscaping as they passed. Well trimmed miniature trees and hedges lined the drive, intermittently broken up with stone pots cradling flowering bushes. The closer they got, the more they could hear running water. As they got to the front entrance, they saw twin imposing rock formations flanking each side of the end of the driveway. On closer inspection, it was revealed that the shiny, black rocks were the basis for mock waterfalls with both of them draining into live koi ponds. The two ponds were even connected with the water trailing under a short, curved bridge joining the end of the driveway to the concrete landing outside of the front doors.

The building itself was... something else. A modern, almost brutal minimalist take on the Japanese pagoda. The wide and imposing structure consisted of three tiers with the roofs made out of kawara tiles that were dark slate black. Sandwiched in between the tiers was long expanses of glowing, frosted, sectioned windows. The bottom floor and subsequent entrance made it clear that the whole of the building was a lighter grey with matching dark slate and copper accents around the doors, windows, and the support columns that held the edges of the roof up. A warmer, more inviting glow emanated from the clear doors, radiating from around the edges of the frosted sugar stalk design on them. A metal sign, shaped like the lines of a fancy signature and back lit with a similar warm light, was hung above the doors.

"Pan's Paradise. Not the god I would have chosen for a hotel." Ron commented as he observed the sign.

"Not sure I'm familiar with that one." Toto said as he continued to look around the property.

"Not surprised. He's not really a major figure in the Greek tales. If anything, he's a sub-sect of Dionysus. A god himself, sure, but any tale about him showcases him in a minor light with some having him show up alongside Dionysus." Ron elaborated.

"So, a nature god I take it?" Toto clarified as he looked back at Ron.

"Yes, of shepherds and music, as well as inducing the emotion of Panic. Not something one would normally associate with a place of relaxation." Ron walked toward the door first and pushed inside.

The place inside had light cream plaster walls and marbled tiles on the floor. There were rough hewn wooden pillars framing the back wall and flecks of gold could be seen sparkling in the gray streaks splashed across the floor. On the back wall was an expansive and detailed woodcut mural art piece made out of what looked to be a single cut of richly colored mahogany. The lobby was adequately furnished in a select variety of furniture, all in over-saturated earth tones and copper accents. Toto approached the front desk first and made eye contact with the trio of pretty ladies behind it.

"Ah, Mr. Totomaru and Mr. Kamoon. Welcome to Pan's Paradise. We hope you had safe travels on your way here." The receptionist in the middle spoke first as the two of them drew closer.

"You already know us by name?" Toto tried to contain most of his surprise when he heard them.

"Yes. Pan's Paradise prides itself on its top of the line technology, aiding us in our pursuit to give everyone who rests here the best of care." The one on the left spoke up this time. The two of them looked at each other as they thought back to the camera and the ticket scanner at the front gate. They reached the same conclusion Toto made earlier; That this place was ritzy.

"Should we mention that we were the raffle ticket winners?" Ron had directed his question to Toto, but the receptionist on the right answered for him.

"Our computer system did let us know that your two were a part of a select group of people that did receive our exclusive invites via the lottery system. You should be excited to know that you two were the only ones that won our first, once-in-a-lifetime Couple's Package!" She responded cheerily.

"Co-couple's Package?" Toto stuttered in surprise, reeling back slightly at the news.

"I'm sorry, was that incorrect?" The middle one questioned politely as she tilted her head.

"Would you excuse us for a second?" Ron asked as he gently placed his arm around Isshiki's shoulders and led them back away from the desk.

"What's this about a Couple's Package! I thought these were just ordinary tickets?" Toto harshly whispered to his partner

"Once again, you see but you do not observe." Ron ducked his head closer to Toto as he pulled out the tickets to show him, "Right there in the fine print." he tacked on with a cheeky smile.

Toto let loose a whimpering groan as he tried to bury his face in his hand, "Name me one good reason why I should play along with this."

"I can give you three." Ron returned, "First massages are free, Hotel food and services are half off, and 20,00 yen in-house credit for the plinko machines." he finished with a wide smile. Toto gave Ron a hard, contemplative stare as he heard all that came with this couple's package. His eyes darted around for a moment before locking back on Ron's bangs.

"Sooo... How long have we been dating?" Toto said as he finally caved in.

"We're married, actually and this trip is an early third year anniversary gift from me to you. You didn't know I won the couple's package." Ron finished explaining as his arm slowly dropped to secure itself around Toto's waist. Toto gave a huge sigh as he accepted his fate before fixing his expression into a joyful smile. He hoped it looked mostly real as they headed back to the front desk.

"Whelp, looks like the surprise is out!" Ron said as it caused the three receptionists to laugh with them, " But yes, we did get the couple's package."

The middle receptionist handled their tickets and registration before handing over their room key card as well as a map of the hotel.

"All rooms are on the first floor here. The massage parlor is on the top floor with the bar and pachinko parlor on the second. Dinner will be held at nine and we hopefully expect all guests to be available for the inaugural speech and opening ceremony." She finished her speech with directions pointing to which hallway their rooms would be in.

They walked off to the right of the front desk and headed to the end of the lobby. Turning left, they stood at the beginning of the shockingly long hallway. Past the glass elevators wrapped in a glass spiral staircase, stretched out into the deep forest was the main living quarters. The doors to the rooms were on the right with the wall covered floor to ceiling in planks of lacquered chestnut wood. The other side was a sectioned line of clear windows, making up the whole of the left wall and even reaching up and curving over to form the ceiling. As they walked down the passage, they noted that there were doors sparsely placed in the glass side as well. They led out into a manicured garden, walled off on all sides by the unbroken hallway of rooms.

Every so often, they passed an unfinished wooden pillar sunk into the glass wall, similar to the ones in the lobby. On each one held a curved, v-shaped sconce, made out of frosted glass and more tarnished copper accents. All emanated a warm glow like the rest of the place and acted as the only source of light in the hallway. It provided enough light to walk down, but gave this section of the hotel a cozy, sleepy motif. They could see the last vestiges of the bright sunset over the other side of the hotel hallway, peaking out through the tops of the trees that lined the clearing they were in. They counted the numbers marking the doors and finally found theirs.

The room held the same aesthetic as the rest of the hotel. Wood and copper accents with over-saturated earth tones in the fabric and cream colored walls. What was interesting was how open it was. It was an open rectangle basically. A short and shallow couch was nestled up against the left with a low table and pillows in the center of the room, sunk into its own cubby in the floor. A wardrobe and TV settled to the right and behind all of it was a raised futon. It was on the left, lined up with the couch and a dresser-desk combo against the wall in front of it. Simple, warm, and suitable. What really drew both of their attention was the glass wall on the other side of the room next to the bed. Protruding out from the wall like a glass box, stood what was to be assumed to be the bathroom and personal onsen. From where they stood, all they saw was the dual shower setup and what looked to be a raised stone basin.

"Just one bed, huh? Guess I'll be taking the couch." Toto grumbled in acceptance as he walked deeper into the room to let Ron in.

"I don't see why you should. It looks big enough for both of us." Ron whispered the latter teasingly into Toto's ear, inducing a slight heat into his cheeks.

"Don't make me regret this arraignment." Toto complained as he shuffled quickly away from his tormentor and towards the wardrobe. Ron kept a coy chuckle to himself as he shoved his suitcase over to him and went about observing the room.

"Ever heard of the great play 'Much Ado About Nothing'? You could learn a thing or two from it." Ron continued to tease as he investigated every odd nook and cranny he could find. If working with Spitz and having several cases under his belt has taught the greatest detective that's ever lived anything noteworthy, it's to never take anything offered at face value.

Once Toto finished putting away the luggage to his content, he made his way over to the shower while Ron continued to investigate. He peaked his head in and looked around before stepping fully inside the shower. He noticed the complimentary soap and shampoo bottles and took a closer look. Hotel brand in hand pump containers. He twisted the lid off and took some cautionary sniffs. Sage and pine for the most part, as well as some more spicy undertones. Not something he usually rocked with, but he could be open to it. After glancing over the man-made onsen tub on the other side of another glass wall, he turned completely around to look behind him. Thankfully, he found that the toilet wasn't also hiding behind glass and was its own walled off section with the sink.

"Good news, the toilet isn't exposed to the open air like the rest of the bathroom." Toto stated as he walked back into the main area, "Not sure how I feel about being able to see inside the shower from the couch, however."

Ron opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a small white remote. He shook it in his hand to make sure Toto had his attention on it, before pointing it to the glass and pressed a button. They watched as the glass instantly snapped from completely transparent, to translucently frosted, to an almost opaque, sunshade black. Toto huffed a noise in pleasant surprise as he watched the glass go back to clear.

"Well, isn't that handy?" Toto commented.

"Not sure I see the point. Depending on the temperature between the shower water and the outside, the glass is probably going to fog up anyway." Ron said as he tossed the remote back in the drawer.

"Would you take the risk with the hotel staff while your partner is taking a shower?" Toto offered as a situation. Ron opened his mouth, then pursed his lips as he thought about it, before nodding his head in agreement.

"So. Dinner is at nine, that's a little over two hours from now." Toto commented as he looked around the room before jabbing his thumb at the shower, "Long enough to give this a try. If you're interested?"

"Go ahead and get it started. I'll join you in a second." Ron nodded while he picked up the tablet on the nightstand and began to tap away on it.

"What are you doing?" Toto gently inquired as he shed the well loved, orange, cotton jacket he wore on his journey here.

"Ordering drinks. Mimosas sound good?" Ron said, pausing his fingers.

"Drinks?" Toto said, leaving the question open-ended.

"Figured we'd have them as we soaked." Ron answered back.

"Ooh, that does sound nice." Toto replied after he thought about it for a second.

He finished taking off his clothes and tossed them on the bed. He grabbed a towel from the sink's counter and wrapped it around his waist before starting the shower. Toto took his time lathering up with soap and scrubbing his body down to his satisfaction. He sat on the provided stool under the shower head, enjoying the rhythmic thumping of the steady water pressure for a good moment. This part of the bathing process always felt the most therapeutic to him, the harsh bashing of the water beating out the tight muscles in his neck and shoulders. Being bent over a desk for four hours a day on average probably was a major contributor, he knew, but he had accepted long ago that it was just a hazard of the job. He was about to reach over to grab the bottle of shampoo off the shelf, but saw a hand dart out from behind him and swept it away from his reach. Toto turned around to look and saw Ron in the shower with him, wrapped in a towel like he was and pumping a considerable dollop into his hand.

"I can do my own hair you know." Toto objected.

He may have been in onsens with Ron before, but they were a lot more public than this shower. Being among a handful of other strangers helped with the collective awkwardness that Toto tended to feel when he was in them. Whether it was because it was a private-but-technically public shower, or if it was because of his unwarranted knowledge that this room was built specifically for couples, Toto couldn't help but notice the harder pumping of his heart as he looked up at his detecting partner towering over him. The dim shower light cast a wispy shadow of Ron over Toto as he foamed the shampoo in his hands.

"Do you have a problem with having someone else doing it for you?" Ron questioned. The direction of the light made it hard for Toto to determine what Ron's expression was, but he could never be mistaken in hearing that ever-present playful lilt that never failed to dance off his tongue when they were alone together.

'No... just. Didn't see you as the type to offer." Toto turned back around and straightened his back to bring his head out of the stream of water.

He felt himself wince preemptively, fully prepared for Ron to mess with him. He almost expected there to be aggressive hair pulling, or for Ron's nails to claw aggressively into his scalp. Toto became pleasantly shocked as he felt none of the above happen, only a gentle tugging and scratching as he felt the shampoo work its way into his feathery hair. He felt his eyes rolling back into his head as he slowly shifted his neck around, following Ron's expert fingers and aiding in the lathering process. He did his best to keep any appreciative noises to a minimum, not wanting to start anything embarrassing. His reservations on that began to slip once they got around to repeating the process with the conditioner.

"Enjoying yourself down there?" Ron jokingly ribbed as Toto let out another tiny peep of contentment.

"It's nice." Toto quietly slurred out. The treatment ended shortly after they rinsed the soap out and made sure it didn't stick around in Toto's eyes. He left the water running as he got up so Ron could take his place.

"Want me to return the favor?" Toto asked as he got behind him.

"Let me scrub down first. I think the drinks should be at the door soon, if you want to get them." Ron answered as he sat down.

Toto stepped out of the shower and began to look for something to cover himself with.

"Top drawer on the left!" Ron shouted out from the shower.

Toto thought for a moment about how thick the glass might have to be for Ron to sound as muffled as he did, before switching back to the task at hand and looking in the aforementioned drawer. There he found a pair of nemaki with a monogrammed label of the hotel's initials and colored in alternating sized, vertical stripes of burnt orange and black. He wrapped himself in it quickly just as he heard a curt knock on the door to their room. He opened the door to see a hotel employee dressed in a black polo and slacks holding a tray with their drinks on it, as well as a smaller platter with a silver dome on it covering its contents. Toto took the tray and closed the door, taking care not to spill anything as he brought it to the shower room.

He walked past Ron and through the other side to the open air bath and placed the tray on the wide edge at the back. Toto found a panel on a wall on the other side of the bath and played around with it. He eventually figured out how to fill it up and got the water to a survivable level of satisfyingly boiling. He walked back inside the shower just as Ron was about to do his hair. Toto mimicked his movements from earlier and stole the bottle from his hands from behind him.

"My turn." Toto smiled as he joked, rolling back his sleeves in preparation.

He could sense Ron rolling his eyes as he smiled as well and turned back to face the shower wall. He leaned back awaiting treatment. Toto took his part just as carefully and respectfully as Ron had with him. He made sure to get the soap all over his hair without getting it into his eyes. They traded some commentary about how gentle Toto was and how he could stand to be a little rougher. After finishing the shampoo and getting done with rinsing out the conditioner, Toto stole a little moment for himself. He used his fingers to gently claw Ron's hair off of his forehead and tried to see if he could replicate the hairstyle he had back when he was enrolled in Blue.

He looked at it from his spot over and behind Ron, admiring the shiny locks now tamed to presentable. The smooth plains of his forehead glistened with the water runoff which drew his attention down to his temples that were always hidden under the dreary mop Ron had plastered to his face. Toto's hands held Ron's head captive as he continued to marvel at the man's strong brows bones, his eyes tracing how they tapered to his beautifully long and thin nose. His brown ones drifted down a fraction further and got caught on a brilliant topaz blue pair. Toto had the fleeting thought that Ron seemed to have been destined for the prestigious detective academy. The color of his eyes were just the right shade of abyssal blue that immediately communicated that this man had a seemingly vast breath of irrefutable knowledge and wisdom. The color complimented nicely with the idea of a super academy dedicated to training brilliant minds for the pursuit of justice. Toto hadn't noticed he had gotten a little lost in them until the eyes under him snapped into the same direction of his gaze, returning the intensity he hadn't realized he was sending.

"See something you like?" Ron had said softly, but was still audible over the rushing of the shower.

Toto cleared his throat as he tried to think of something to say so he could break the tension. He tilted his head away, hoping that Ron would blame the sudden flush on Toto's cheeks as just the heat of the water. He whipped his head around and looked back at the basin next to them, seeing it almost finished filling with water.

"Would you look at that, tub's filled!" Toto nervously laughed as he backed away and left Ron to finish showering.

Toto scurried back into the main room to grab the other robe and headed back to the bath. He quickly shuffled past Ron again and placed the robe on a table on the other side of the alcove the bath was in. He took his off and rushed his folding of it as he placed it next to the other one. As he walked around to the side closest to the shower, he grabbed the attached hand rail and dipped his foot in to test the water. When his foot settled all the way to the bottom, Toto made an interesting discovery; the bottom of the basin was curved. He moved carefully as he settled down into the appealingly scalding water, hoping that he didn't slip and embarrass himself more than he already had. Toto had fully submerged into the water by the time Ron had left the shower, still rocking the swept back hair. Ron took a long look at how Toto was sitting and made the same discovery as he walked to sit on the other side.

The bottom of the bath was curved, yes, almost mimicking how a hammock would be shaped. There was a small divider that separated the bath down the middle, not nearly tall enough to breach the surface of the water, but wide enough for someone to place their arm on. The tray had been set behind and in between them and it all faced a short concrete wall that had a taller, light grey glass barrier sitting on top of it. The view from the tub was only interrupted by the line of trees a comfortable distance away from the hotel property line. Above the trees, they could see the moon. A bright, shining, and rounded dollop unobstructed by clouds or trees.

It was truly quiet. Truly peaceful. Toto could feel every stressor leave, every unwanted tension disappear, every fiber of his body finally relax in god knows how long. All he could hear was the distant rustling of the leaves and the rippling of the water hitting the sides of the basin. In... and out. His lungs flexing slowly, unhurried. His eyes glanced over to Ron's chest and noticed that his was flexing in lockstep with his. Toto looked back to the sky and watched the remaining puffs of clouds drift behind the tree tops. A moment in time passed before his attention was drawn to Ron again, watching as his partner reached behind him and took the flutes of bubbling orange alcohol. Handing one to Toto, a hand went back behind and took the silver dome of the mystery tray with an echoing ting. He looked back after taking a sip and found out what else Ron had ordered.

"Is that-?" Toto started, but didn't finish because he wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at.

"Black sugar and red bean filled mini moon cakes, yes!" Ron recounted joyfully as he reached back and grabbed one.

They were truly bite-sized, with a design that looked to be a lotus flower being over-lapped by a portion of the moon. There seemed to be eight pieces, each with a different phase of the moon.

"Ruining our appetite before dinner is even here, why am I not surprised." Toto joked as he also reached for a cake bite.

"Oh, stop complaining and enjoy a taste of heaven." Ron joked back and he scrunched up his nose at his partner.

And it truly was a bite of heaven. A flaky, chocolate dough wrapped around a smooth, nutty flavored filling that was back-sweetened with black sugar syrup's distinctive caramel undertones. The almost overwhelming sweetness paired nicely with the acidic drink. A wonderful cycle of eat, drink, and breathe. He could get very used to this. Ron had been enjoying himself as well, soaking up the quiet atmosphere. They had been trading off grabbing a piece from the tray with Ron mentally keeping track of how many each person had. He had reached for the last one and happened to take a look at it before shoving it into his mouth. It was the waxing gibbous, the same moon phase they could see now. His mind returned to the discussion they had on the way here, remembering his promise to Toto about not looking for murder. An amusing thought blitzed through his mind as he tucked the treat into his fist.

"Hey look at that." Ron started, vaguely gesturing to the sky.

"Hmm! What do you see?" Toto hummed around a sip of his drink as he scanned the sky.

"Right there, the moon. Do you see it?" Ron raised his finger a little more and hovered it close to the moon.

"What? I don't see anything?" Toto tried to look harder as he leaned in closer to Ron's raised finger.

"I... I think it might be loose. Like I could... almost, hold on-" Ron moved his hand to cover the moon, making his fingers into a pinching gesture.

He wiggled them back and forth a little bit before pulling them back with a force, almost like he broke something off from the sky. As he pulled his hand back, he twisted his wrist to show what he had in his palm. The last moon cake, oriented like the moon above them. He offered his last piece to Toto with a broad smile and a laugh in his eyes. Toto groaned inwardly as he realized why Ron did what he did. He took the piece gratefully anyway and cemented the proverbial promise they made earlier.

"Shouldn't you be using that kind of a line on an interested woman?" Toto offered rhetorically.

"Pfft. Me, with a woman." Ron scoffed as he took another sip of his drink.

"Pardon?" Toto accidentally let slip when he heard that. He was joking about Ron meeting anyone and it was obvious that it wasn't something on the forefront of his mind. He still found it shocking to hear Ron phrase it like that. Ron just looked over to Toto and shook his head and sighed.

"Toto, you work with me. Hell, you know me. Wouldn't you pity the person I ended up with. God knows the second a case came up that would be the only thing I would focus on. And I'm not even getting started on enemies." Ron sighed again.

"Well then, you would just need someone you could trust to run around with you, wouldn't you." Toto offered off the top of his head, not really thinking about what he was saying.

He soon felt the full force of Ron's piercing and all-knowing gaze aimed at the side of his head. Toto finally gave in and turned to look back at Ron, and almost caved under the intensity of it. He was completely unprepared for the pure, unfiltered fixed stare, filled with care. Those blue eyes were unshaken as they continued to peer deep into Toto's, remaining unwavering in their silent admiration. It wasn't often he got to look directly into Ron's eyes like this, seeing as he had kept his hair long even after his self isolation. He certainly didn't feel used to it. It made his skin flush a little harder, even with the heat of the water already invigorating his blood.

"Why do I need a lover, when I already have a partner." Ron said gently, letting the words hang in the air and suspend from the lifted corner of his smirk before turning back to face the now starry night sky.

Toto tried to keep his fidgeting to a minimum and enjoy the remaining time they had in the bath. He should have come to expect these cheesy phrases from Ron. Still, they never failed to make his hearts seize and flip, just a little. Toto started to wonder if Ron was starting to pick up on that. The rest of their time passed by uneventful with both of them opting to sit in silence and enjoy the chorus of the night. Only when they had noticed they had become sufficiently pruney did they make the decision to step out and head back into the room. Ron collapsed onto the bed first, having not been used to his body being this relaxed before. Toto at least had the decency to bring the tray and glasses inside before he also collapsed on the bed as well, only he decided to flop dramatically across Ron's legs. They both made a lightly pained oomph as they realized that the thick futon had less give in it than expected. As Toto laughed off the pain, Ron just happened to look at the clock.

"It's almost nine already? It did not feel like we were out there for that long." he commented with a stretch.

"How close is it?" Toto asked and he shifted to look at him.

"8:47 now." Ron answered. He heard a long, drawn out groan as Isshiki's shoulders slumped uncomfortably.

"And I am in no mood to put on pants." He sighed, "Do you think you could ask the front desk if it would be okay to wear our robes to the opening ceremony dinner?"

"It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask." Ron groaned as he leaned over to grab the tablet, fighting to find the strength to reach far enough without having to ask his partner to roll off his legs.

After finding enough common decency in them to at least put on underwear, they made their way down to the dinning area. Toto held on to the seam of Ron's sleeve in an attempt not to get swallowed in the ebbing throng of people they seemed to get caught in. They had to wait in line as a team of waitresses broke up the mass into small parties and eventually ushered them over to a table. The room felt vast and mysterious due to the switch up of the color scheme. This was paired with the fact that it was only lit with dim wall sconces and scentless candles on every rounded table. The dining hall was colored in wide dark oak bands and harvest gold panels with thin pillars of marbled gold leaf. The ceiling was deceptively vaulted, making it appear that it was taller than what it should have been. It was adorned with an arrangement of massive and fancifully shaped crystal chandeliers that, for some reason, weren't on right now. Maybe for added dramatic effect? Either way, the room certainly didn't feel like a normal dining area. More like a privatized enchanted forest.

Toto could hear and see the flashes of light of peoples' cameras shuttering and taking photos. Some he could see were on plain i-phones while some were taken on professional cameras. They were eventually led over to a table somewhere in the middle and off to the right. When they were settled into their seats, Toto made another observation. On the far end of the hall, opposite of the entry doors, was a theatrical stage. It looked very classical, almost like something fit for Shakespeare to walk out on. A gold baroque border framed the center alcove and heavy velvet curtains hung behind it. Scalloped footlights could be seen lining the curved, jutting stage. He could also hear what sounded like an orchestra tuning up, but he wondered if there truly was enough space for that in this hotel. Ron and Toto picked up the menus in front of them just as another couple was sat at their table.

"I wasn't aware we would be sitting with strangers." The male half of the couple said as he settled down into his seat. He was tall and gaunt looking, but not sickly. He had smoothly swooped hair and square framed glasses that caught the candlelight at just the right point to obscure his eyes.

"Will that be a problem?" The waitress that had ushered them over asked as she traded looks with everyone at the table.

"Don't mind him, we welcome a pair of friendly faces. If that is alright with you two?" The woman that made up the other half of the couple spoke with a shockingly clear cadence, almost as if she was used to projecting her voice in clamorous rooms. She was noticeably shorter, with long dark hair smooshed back in a wavy plastic hairband. She had a thin, but warm smile that radiated confidence and elegance. They both had made the similar decision to wear the hotel provided robes to dinner like they had.

"We'll be fine." Toto offered happily to the waitress. Taking that as a cue to leave, it left the four of them to get to know each other.

"Is it just us, or has this hotel been one surprise after another, have you found?" The woman broke the ice first as she addressed Toto.

"There certainly have been things we have found interesting.", Toto responded in kind as he mimicked the aristocratic phrasing the woman spoke in, "Feel free to call me Toto. And this is Ron." he said as he gestured to his partner.

"Anya then.", The woman said as she took the cue to be informal, "And this is my husband Tokio."

"Apologies if this sounds rude, but I couldn't help but notice the accent. Are you perhaps from Eastern Russia?" Ron spoke up as he looked over the edge of the menu. Anya seemed taken aback, but took it in pleasant stride.

"Yes, I am! Russian born but Japanese raised. I had thought I had lived here long enough to lose my accent."

"You have, he's just prone to picking at stray details." Toto smiled nervously as he tried to subtly kick Ron under the table.

"Don't be embarrassed. My wife is always fascinated with what the human brain can pick up." The husband, Tokio, spoke with apparent pride.

"Ah! Someone else who likes to be versed in the inner workings of the mind?" Ron continued to prod at the line of inquiry with delight in his voice. Anya giggled a little as she indulged in the opportunity to speak on a niche subject.

"I mostly know of it from a medical perspective, being a neurosurgeon myself. I do moonlight as a sociology professor's assistant for a close friend when I can." She crooned as she leaned over to nudge her husband playfully. Toto watched as the husband's face grew noticeably pink in the dim light. He made his face partially hidden behind the menu as lips twitched in admiration for the happy couple.

"And that explains the ink under his fingernails." Ron tacked on unconsciously, menu open, but now forgotten. Toto just quietly sighed as the moment ruined.

"Sorry, detective by nature and profession." Ron offered as an apology once he saw the husband inspecting his nails for himself.

"I'm quite honestly surprised you could see that." Tokio said as he furrowed his eyebrows, presumably at the fact that it was dark and Ron's hair had dried back into its usual form as a thick curtain in front of his eyes.

"He can be quite perceptive when he wants to be." Toto quietly growled as he continued to look over the menu.

"Speaking from experience?" Anya teased as she placed her chin in her hand.

"He should be, we've been partners for three years." Ron dropped with unnecessary emphasis.

Toto tried to hide him choking on his own spit behind the menu. 'Out of all the ways to say that!', he thought.

As he tried to recover, he managed to catch a glimpse of the expression Ron turned toward him. While he couldn't see his eyes, his soft smile betrayed every bit of doubtless love for his partner. And maybe there was a little bit of tomfoolery in the dimples if he looked hard enough. All this did was incite another war between Toto's heart and lungs. Anya's face lit up as she misinterpreted the phrasing.

"You don't say! How long?"

"Th-three years. Next month." Toto choked out, feeling forced to play into the ruse Ron set up earlier. To be fair, it was true that they had been together for three years at this point. Maybe that's why Ron made the ploy that way.

"This was an early anniversary gift. You?" Ron said as he covered for Toto's continued coughing.

"You're serious. Ours is this weekend!" Tokio spoke up.

"Well isn't that a coincidence!" Ron laughed. Toto thought it was funny he would say it like that, since he could remember discussion after discussion about how coincidences weren't real. A brief round of laughter was heard before it was broken up by the waitress's arrival.

Can I get anyone's drinks started?" She spoke with a cheery tone.

"Two waters for the both of us." Anya said with brevity.

"Make that four waters and...." Toto dragged out as he continued to look, "A long Island Ice Tea, made with the black sugar rum." Ron perked up at the drink order and immediately figured out why that was so specific

"With two straws." He tacked on. Toto just sighed as he accepted how this was going to look.

"Two straws, please." He reiterated to make up for Ron's rudeness.

"Great! And has anyone decided on what to eat?" The waitress asked. Anya spoke for herself and her husband again before they got around to Ron.

"Uh... you know, it all looks good. Why don't you pick?" Ron said as he looked over at his partner. Toto shot him a look for being forgetful, but took it easy on him since he had already looked over the menu three times by now.

"I'll have the glazed salmon with the sweet potato risotto and he'll have the black sesame chicken with the roasted vegetables." Toto said, picking the platter that he thought Ron would at least consider eating.

"Alright, I'll be back with that after-"

"Hold on." Toto interrupted before the waitress could leave with their order, "How much sauce would you say goes on the roasted vegetables?"

"I would say less than a quarter cup?" The waitress answered, unsure where this question was going. Toto thought about it for a second before responding back.

"Make it three cups. And double the black sesame sauce on the chicken as well for him."

"Excuse me?" The waitress questioned, almost shuddering slightly at the thought of that much sauce covering the food.

"You heard me. It's the only way he eats anything." Toto gave the waitress a tired look as she looked over him at the one supposedly eating this cursed meal. Ron just looked at her with a knowing smile. The waitress now understood that they were serious and visibly shuddered as she sped away.

"Have I ever said how amazing it is that you know me so well?" Ron said adoringly as he continued to look at Isshiki.

"Have I ever said how sorry I am for the chefs that have to cook your meals?" Toto returned sarcastically as he looked back at him. A muffled giggle could be heard from across the table with the other person telling them that 'it's not funny'. The two of them turned to face Anya, who apparently was the one trying not to laugh.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just... I thought I would be the only one here with a husband with odd dinnertime habits." She said after she reigned herself in a little.

"I have Misophonia." Tokio sighed heavily as he pulled out a pair of plastic wrapped, foam ear plugs out of the robe's pocket.

"I wouldn't say that's odd. If anything, that's just plain inconvenient." Ron empathized.

"Yours can't listen to people chewing and mine's a menace to chefs everywhere. What wonderful lives we lead, huh?" Toto added on pathetically, only for it to send Anya into another small small fit of giggles.

The conversation didn't last long as the room began to darken considerably more. Everyone's attention began to shift to the stage as it was the only thing that still had lights on it. A brighter beam pierced the lighting as it focused on something shifting behind the red curtains. Out popped a tall, well dressed man. Toto couldn't make out many details from his spot, only that he appeared to be old, judging from the shining white hair and trimmed beard. He began to speak in a deep and charming rumble. A clear and easy going voice echoed through the hall, not loud enough to break eardrums, but certainly attention grabbing. The man on stage introduced himself as one of the proprietors of the hotel, but didn't clearly say his name. The man in the expensive bespoke suit continued to give a speech about the hotel and the reasons for its founding.

There were jokes here and there, but for the most part Toto had stopped listening. He was aware he was being rude, but all he could think about was his food. Ron wasn't kidding when he said it all looked good, and his stomach was hoping not to be disappointed. Eventually the speech came to an end. The presumably old man thanked everyone for coming and revealed that there was a famous live jazz band to be playing as they ate. While everyone clapped, a line of wooden, tiered carts streamed out of the double doors on either side of the stage.

The smell of the warm food overwhelmed everyone's nose and set every mouth watering. As plates were being delivered to tables, the curtains rose and the jazz band started playing a bouncy melody. Toto didn't think he was one for jazz, but this band was quickly changing his mind! Soon, the delicious smelling food reached their table as well as their drinks. Toto and Ron rubbed their hands together in hungry anticipation, only to have to stop as they looked at what was in their shared drink. It looked to be two bendy straws; one was pink, the other red, and they were twisted together. Not only that, they curved and twisted again toward the top and formed a heart, with the tops of the straws pointing away from each other as to still be able to see the heart as they drank.

"That is coming home with us." Ron stated matter-of-factly.

"No, that is not." Toto said with a tinge of anguish.

"This is coming home with us and it is getting framed." Ron countered with aggressive joy as he leaned down to sip from the straw.

"You bring this home, and I set fire to the apartment." Toto tried to double down on his previous statement as, he too, leaned in to drink from the straw.

.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

The rest of the dinner remained miraculously uneventful. No sudden poisonings, nobody keeled over from exsanguination, not even a shouting match with threats of violence. Their dinner partners retired from the dinner before they had, their meal sitting satisfyingly heavy in their stomachs and now induced a need for sleep. Ron made it clear he wanted to stick around a little longer and order some dessert. Toto wasn't sure he could fit any more in him, but his partner's pouting and playful whimpering made for a convincing argument. Toto didn't end up minding in the end anyway, seeing as he got to listen to the jazz band a little longer. They settled on splitting a reimagining of a Mont Blanc that, of course, had black sugar syrup somewhere in its sweet construction. While they alternated bites, they had a discussion on what to do next and at least came to a mutual agreement on exploring the rest of the hotel before it got too late.

They rode up in one of the glass elevators that apparently flanked each side of the lobby, and admired the skylight that was found within. After finding out that the massage parlor on the top floor was closed shortly after dinner, they rode it back down to check out the game room instead. They found it to be a very open space, sectioned off by what seemed to be tall, patterned glass panels with a thin curtain of water cascading down them. All four outer walls were made out of glass and lent a magnificent view of the wild outside. One's view played hopscotch with the pinprick tops of the evergreen trees. The light of the moon was bright, but was diminished enough to let the multitude of stars be the main show. One could almost see that pink, milky patch that stretched across the sky that represented the edge of the galaxy.

Turning back toward the center of the room, they had a clearer idea of the layout. The decorative glass waterfalls seemed to split up the room into at least three uneven sections. A majority was taken up by tables and people, all chattering and having a merry time over cocktails and beer. Slanted panels obstructed the view, but not the sounds of a collection of pachinko machines behind them. A long, mahogany bar stretched the length of the right wall and was backed by the only side of the building that had frosted windows. The two of them approached the bar and had a brief look at the TV's behind the bar displaying the list of available drinks. Toto received a cosmopolitan while Ron took his time deciding on a mocktail.

"Had enough alcohol tonight?" Toto inquired with genuine interest, but his tone came out a little more teasing.

"Yeah, I try not to drink too much. I like a good buzz as much as the next person, but I still like a sharp mind." Ron answered before he asked the bartender if there was anything he could get with black sugar syrup.

Toto hummed as an answer and went to sip at his drink. He made a mental note of that little fact, using that as a reminder to maybe go easy on drinks before bed. Toto hadn't been in situations with Ron where the two of them could really relax like this, nor had there been many opportunities for the two of them to get drunk together. Now knowing that getting absolutely shitfaced wasn't something Ron ever wanted to participate in, Toto took it to heart and decided not to make undue hardship for him by drinking as much as he wanted to in these situations. You see, despite his small stature, Toto had somehow inherited a liver of iron. He could remember moments where he was lucky enough to be remembered by his fellow officers and was invited out to drink with them, only to end up out-drinking the lot of them. It wasn't that he didn't get affected by alcohol, more so he could stomach it by the barrel almost. It didn't help that he could suppress acting like a fool like how most people got and remain reasonable.

As he was stuck in quiet retrospection, Ron finally got a hold of his drink. A hurricane glass that contained ice and was filled to the brim with the distinctive viscosity of his favorite syrup. Although, it did seem to lighten up towards the top, correcting the impression that it wasn't just a glass full of syrup with a pineapple wedge on the rim.

"Please tell me that isn't just a glass of black sugar syrup cut with soda water." Toto asked with a tinge of apprehension.

"Okay, I won't tell you then." Ron quipped as he cartoonishly puckered his lips around the small black straw. A quiet, but still playful groan could be heard by the shorter man.

"I'm joking, of course. Not sure about the name, but it's something with pineapple and I think..." Ron stopped to take another sip of the drink," Yep, tamarind. Odd combination, but I think it works well."

"You know, I should stop being surprised to hear you can taste anything other than that oppressively sugary syrup." Toto retaliated as he took another small sip.

"Honestly, it's not that hard. You know, a relative of mine once said that "Once you remove the obvious, anything left, however insignificant, must be..." Ron trailed off his sentence as he shifted his head, almost as if he was tilting it to hear something better.

"Must be what, Ron?" Toto turned to look up at him, once he realized his partner stopped in the middle of his sentencing, "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah... just fine." Ron returned, not expanding on what was going on in his complicated mind.

Toto just leveled a very stern look at him, hoping the leering would remind them of what they had promised each other earlier.

"Oh, It's nothing like that!" Ron admonished, "I thought I just heard someone say something incredibly incorrect and frightfully ignorant. Nearly gave me a heart attack."

Then again... it could be rather simple at times.

"As long as you're not looking for trouble." Toto abdicated as he went back to his drink. He tried to strike up another conversation, only to look back up at his friend and see him suddenly sweating bullets.

'Alright, what now?" He said sourly as it became clear that this was about something he couldn't clearly let go.

"Someone just said that the Earth doesn't revolve around the Sun. I want to go and violently correct this person." Ron said, visibly shaking with the effort to not sprint over to them right that second.

Toto just sighed, knowing that this was something that he knew Ron wouldn't leave alone. At the very least, he was impressed that it took this long for something of minor inconvenience to pop up and distract his partner. He looked back up to Ron, watching in amusement as he clutched his glass in a trembling grip, slowly sucking on the straw in unveiled restraint. Toto chuckled quietly at the mess his partner could be at times and decided that this wasn't something he shouldn't get himself in a twist over.

"Go on. I'm sure I'll meet you back at the room at some point." He rolled his eyes, taking it all in good fun.

The bottom half of Ron's face went through a variety of emotions, it seems. First it was surprise, then gratefulness. He turned around and almost walked away, but turned back around and looked down at Toto with his lips looking concerned and almost dour. After a second, he began to look through his bangs, scanning the room like he was looking for something.

"Is everything okay?" Toto questioned again once he saw that Ron hadn't bolted for the perpetrator already.

"I'd hate to just leave you here all by yourself. Just looking for someone for you to spend time with while I'm off defending the public from idiocy." Ron answered as his gaze snapped onto something on the other side of the room.

"I do not need to be babysat, Ron! If anything, I should join you to make sure you don't over step yourself!" Toto sputtered as he listened.

"Oh, please. You're going to thank me later for not boring you to tears." Ron said as he grabbed his friend by his hand and tugged him to the other side of the room, unfortunately causing Toto to leave behind the rest of his drink.

They headed toward the line of slanted water features that broke up the room and squeezed past them. Once on the other side, they noticed that the section that was split off from both the bar area and the pachinko machines hid a more traditional game room one would find at an onsen. There was a shelf with books and games as well as several tables with a few people at them. They were different types, with one or two plain tables, an air hockey one, and a ping pong table. Off to the right of where the two of them were standing, there was a set of double doors that led out onto a balcony with more, small, square tables. There wasn't anybody outside, excluding a small group of three. Sensing something about them that Toto clearly couldn't from where they were standing, Ron started to drag him over to the doors.

"Wait, hold on! It's rude to barge in on someone else's conversation!" Toto harshly whispered as he tried to resist Ron's pulling.

"And yet, you're letting me off to go and disrupt someone else's." Ron tagged on, poking at the irony of the statement.

"That's because you're impossible and I've had to accept that!" Toto shot back as he could feel Ron coming up behind him and shoving him forward through the doors.

"Can't expect to make new friends without taking chances, can we?" Ron smugly whispered before giving Toto a final shove in the group's direction, gaining their attention.

"Hello! I've been given an opportunity to have a scintillating conversation and I worry I will end up boring my friend here to tears with it. I've been made aware this may be imprudent of me, but would you mind if you let him join your game?" Ron cheerily asked from behind a visibly nervous and apprehensive Toto.

The three of them looked at them with an expected mix of emotions ranging from pleasant indifference to lightly piqued.

"That depends. Can your friend play Mahjong?" The one in the middle asked as he waved a cigarette, dispersing the blue smoke it made.

Toto noticeably perked up at hearing what the game was. He separated himself from Ron and walked over to get a better look at their setup.

"House rules, is it? I only ask because he's already got a full hand, but it's not the set-up I'd expect. Unless... you're supposed to have four pairs?" Toto observed as he scratched his chin, looking at the man on the left with a knowing smirk.

The man he addressed started smirking and chortling under his fist, not being able to bring himself to look at his table mates in the eyes. The other two at the table began to stare at their friend more forcefully, their eyes and mouth becoming wide with disgust and shock.

"You cheating JACKASS! I knew I shouldn't have trusted your set!" The foul-mouthed woman at the right shouted at the man opposite of her with clear familiarity, chucking a thick white and gold tile at his head. The assaulted man raised his arm up in defense, laughing as he hid his face. The man in the center took joy in the scene before him. It became very clear to Toto that these three were very close.

"The newcomer clearly knows his stuff!", The smoking one said after he managed to come down from his laughing high, "Come, sit! You may know the rules, but let's see if you can play just as well."

Toto bowed to show his thanks and turned around to say goodbye to Ron, only to see that he had already left.

"He left as soon as the shouting started. Seems to think he's left you in safe enough hands." The man on the right that had been accused of cheating spoke after making sure his hot-headed friend wasn't going to toss more tiles at him.

Toto nodded, thinking that it did sound like Ron and silently wished him good luck in his future discussion. He pulled up his seat and got comfortable at the table. The four of them began to sort through the tiles and picked out any extras that weren't supposed to be there. As they nearly finished sorting them, Toto snatched his hand back over to the man on the left and plucked out another tile, shooting another knowing look at the unscrupulous man. He raised his hands up in quiet defense as it was removed. They started to shuffle the tiles around sufficiently and eventually got them organized enough to separate into the distinct, double stacked rows of seventeen.

"You know, It would probably be a good idea to introduce ourselves." The man in the middle said as he talked around the cigarette in his mouth.

"To the one that offers, goes first." The bearded man said as he rattled a set of dice in his hands.

"I was getting there." The smoker said as he picked up the tossed dice, "I'm Chimon Furuta. Feel free to call me Chimon." He had a cleanly chiseled face that couldn't betray his age. His hair was a medium length, smooth and slicked back with a barely noticeable strip of grey on both of his temples. He appeared to be dressed in the hotel's provided robe which helped Toto not feel so out of place.

"Emi Taira. I prefer Taira." The woman on the right said, only focusing on the dice in front of her. Her tone carried a pointed indifference, sounding forced to the point it stopped sounding indifferent and more bitter. She had long, dark silver hair that flowed free in the whispered breeze, excluding a section held in place with a silver monogrammed hair clip. She wore what looked to be 3/4ths of a simple and elegant pantsuit in black and green. The top had the wide ribbon straps hang off the shoulders and were layered with intricate lace. The matching jacket was draped over her chair's back.

"And I guess that just leaves me, Kanaye Kanemoto. Call me whatever you like, just don't call me late for dinner." The bearded man chortled with a wink in Toto's direction. He had a exquisitely maintained beard and a short hairstyle. He wore what was left of a three piece suit in the hotel's muted woodsy colors, but had discarded the jacket, unbuttoned the vest and shirt, and rolled up the sleeves. If Toto didn't know any better, he felt like he would have mistaken the man for a cowboy straight from the silver screen.

Before Toto had his turn tossing the dice, he paused as he listened to the voice of the man to his left. After a moment he turned to him and asked the question that was on his mind.

"You wouldn't happen to be the man that was on the stage at dinner, were you?" Toto asked.

"Told you they wouldn't pay attention." The smoker, Chimon, smirked as he looked at Kanaye.

"Well, I had to make some sort of speech, give credits and all." Kanaye retaliated as he looked at his friend. He glanced back at Toto just to see blanch and sweat a little.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Some of us here actually enjoy sharing moments with strangers." Kanaye said as playfully leered across the table, making the woman roll her eyes subtly, "Speaking of strangers, bit rude of you not to tell us yours, yeah?" he ribbed.

"Ah! Yes, right, sorry!" Toto fumbled as he introduced himself, "I wish Ron would have warned me that he would be sitting me with the owner of the hotel."

"Owners." Taira emphasized sharply, "All three of us have a share in the construction of Pan's Paradise."

Toto blanched a little more as he realized who he was surrounded by. The three owners of a reclusive and exclusive hotel built on an island at the edge of the East China Sea. It would be past assumption to say that they were undoubtedly very, very rich and possibly highly influential. While he was aware that this was supposed to be a friendly game and he wasn't stuck in a tournament with professionals, it still felt unnerving to be sitting with those way above his meager pay grade. Of course, being rich didn't account for skill, but it made Toto nervous all the same.

"Ron, was it?" Taira said all of a sudden, jarring Toto from his thoughts. The other members of the table all gave a quite hum as they tried to piece together what the question was about.

"Who was Ron?" Kanaye openly questioned as he paused in his straightening of his portion of tiles.

"The new guy. He said something about Ron warning him about something. I assume that was the handsome devil that had the balls to drop off his acquaintance in a rush." Taira expanded upon as she focused on her tiles as well.

"Good Lord, Emi Dear. Manhunting already? You haven't even left the table!" Chimon chuffed around his cigarette.

"It's just an inquiry! Doesn't one gather information before a hunt is decided?" She retaliated with a playful defensive pitch.

"Was he breathing? It was decided." Chimon grumbled as he knocked off the ashy part of the cigarette into an ashtray.

"You'd think she would learn something after divorcing the both of us." Kanaye's snickering, whispered taunt rumbled out from behind his discretionary hand toward Toto. He unfortunately wasn't being discrete enough as his comment earned him a light smack on the top of his head from Taira, using the wooden board used to flip the tiles around.

"Yes, that was Ron. However, If you're looking to get his attention, you're going to need something more... substantial than a brazen personality." Toto felt the words turning sour as they left his mouth.

He wasn't naturally a mean person. After all, more flies with honey than vinegar and all that. But God, somewhere between this woman's tone and choice of words was making him wonder why he wanted to catch flies in the first place. It didn't help that he caught onto her clear impression that he wasn't exactly wanted here. He wasn't exactly happy about this situation either, but she could at least not talk about him like he wasn't sitting right next to her. Chimon's face seemed to flinch through a varying degree of one particular expression, that being quiet astonishment. Kanaye just sucked his lips in as his shoulders quivered from holding back an outright laugh.

"Oh?" Taira's tone already began to reflect Toto's passive malice, "And do you feel that I should be educated on such a matter?" She initiated the beginning of the game by passing everyone their portion of tiles. After which it was a frantic dash for the winning hand.

"Wouldn't go so far as to say that. I clearly have no leg up in experience with such matters like you have." Toto casually commented as he rapidly scrapped together the beginnings of his own hand.

"How nice to hear that some can still recognize wisdom in age, but if someone like you can see it, why bother speaking as though I still have nothing to offer?" The clacking of tiles kept their steady pace even with the goading banter. It helped that the other two seemed to get the idea that this was something to stay out of for the moment.

"To anyone else that you would fancy, I'm sure you would spoil them. I will tell you this now, however, as to save you from the wasted effort later. Ron isn't like anyone else you would seem to prefer." Toto tried to reiterate his point in a different manner, hoping to subtly drive the point across that Ron wasn't one to keep a variety of company. Especially those that wouldn't be able to stomach the graphic lifestyle of an eccentric detective.

As the game continued, Toto felt his previous concerns about his skills not being adequate fade away. His hands acted unsure in their movement, but his brain fought against them as he began to remember the fond childhood activity of playing mahjong with his grandmother. She would bring a few of her friends over on Sunday afternoons and they would hang around until almost dinner, those peaceful hours filled with the smooth clicking of tiles and the polite chatter of neighborhood gossip. When Toto was about five, he decided to see what his grandmother found to be so fun about it. She would sit him on her lap and would whisper strategies in his ear as he moved the tiles around the polished oak table. It's still a major part of the category he considers to be his most favorite memories of those times.

Funny enough, those early memories are what spurned him into realizing he liked being a detective. He started to wonder how his grandmother became so good at this game, having played against her many times and hadn't won once. He tried to ask his grandmother directly, but she would always smile coolly and say something cryptic, deciding not to reveal her talent's origins. After coming across some trophies and photos in the attic out of desperate curiosity, he finally pieced together a long, unanswered question. All those games, being taught all those strategies; they were coming from a retired champion grandmaster.

"They say variety is the spice of life, after all. One shouldn't turn away an opportunity to keep things interesting." Taira words jolted Toto out of his thoughts as she tried to keep the conversation going. Whether it was because it was natural to do so, or as a distraction tactic, Toto couldn't care less at the moment. He was winning.

"Interesting.", Toto scoffed," His idea of interesting is enough to send even the stoutest of minds to asylums."

"Bold claim... for a tag-along." She volleyed back.

"The word you're looking for..." Toto flipped over the tiles he had gathered with a crisp snap that came from the feeling of a sure win, "is Partner."

She looked Toto up and down as she traded glances with the line of tiles in front of him.

"Well. I guess you are then."

A wheezing laugh could be heard next to Toto as Kanaye tried to cover it up with his fist and doing a poor job of it.

"Damn! Dinner and a show!" he finally coughed out

"Talented enough to keep up and wordplay to match. You'll fit in just fine." Chimon said smugly.

"By the way, I should have mentioned this earlier, but between the three of us we have a bit of a house rule when we play." Kanaye said as he leaned far over to his left to grab something off the floor.

"Winners take shots, and we play until the bottle is empty." he finished as he placed a large, faceted, and labeled glass decanter on the edge of the table with a matching rocks glass, "We won't be offended if it's not really something you wanna go through with and-"

"Are you kidding? And pass up quality alcohol?" Toto quickly chased any doubt away as he gestured to the empty glass he was offered, indicating he would like in on the tradition.

He swiftly swallowed half of the harsh, oaky liquid and shook his head from the strength of it. He wasn't used to drinking hard liquor straight from the bottle, but he found he didn't mind how the warmth seemed to spread out faster than if it was a cocktail. It certainly scared off the slight chill from being outside and took the last of his apprehension with it.

"This tastes familiar. Is this rum?" Toto asked, smacking his lips as he tried to place the taste.

"House specialty rum, made out of the local black sugar syrup farmed just down the coastline." Chimon chimed in, "Oversaw my baby's creation from seed to bottle personally." he finished as he picked up the bottle from Kanaye, his pride and love for his creation being very clear as he regarded it in its glass.

"My Ex-Foolish Bastard was even working on its development well before I made my mistake of marrying him." While Taira's words sounded inexcusably callous, as she placed her head into the palm of her hand, anyone could see that her demeanor still carried an air of wistful recollection.

"Can't really complain about it now, can ya?" Kanaye interjected, "After all, it's short of a miracle we managed to stay amicable and only grew closer as friends in the end."

"Still, had we found out that our personalities were too volatile together, maybe we could have avoided the unpleasantness and stuck to being friends." Taira didn't keep the thin veil of a doleful attitude long as she immediately dove back onto the table and began mixing up the tiles for another round.

"I don't know. Things could have gone very differently had we not known each other so deeply" Kanaye countered, adding his own deft hands into aiding the clacking churn of the game pieces.

"All I know is that there could have been a chance you wouldn't have ended up here and started pursuing people that you have no business going after." Toto said, pausing in the finishing of his victory shot and realizing a moment too late that what he said wasn't an inside thought as it should have been.

Taira and the others all slowly turned toward the proclaimer of the very insensitive comment. Toto just continued to finish his glass as he somehow found it within himself to maintain eye contact with the silver vixen.

"So... Do you... naturally have a death wish or...?" Chimon waived his cigarette suggestively as he left the sentence open ended while the other two silently debated what would be the newcomer's fate.

"No, no, lets hear him out.", Taira interjected. Toto found himself to be very thankful to find himself in the presence of a woman that seemed to always be down for a challenge, "Tell you what. Best five out of seven. I win a round and you have to tell me something interesting about your partner so I can see for myself if I have a chance to steal him from you."

"And if I win a round... I want a double shot, because that is absolutely amazing stuff." Toto offered as his way of agreeing to the rules, having nothing else to suggest as a prize.

He had a moment where he thought he should have declared that Taira was to never lay her scheming eyes on Ron for the rest of the trip, but he felt that was going a bit far for just a close friend. Even if the two of them were supposed to be playing the part of dedicated lovers. To be fair, it would have been wonderful to see this pushy shrew receive a fitting punishment.

"Oohohoo! A high stakes gambler! Our kinda company." Kanaye exclaimed as he got to setting up the tiles for another round.

"Tell you what, If you can make it to five under your developing condition, I'll do you a favor and keep our huntress's attention on less occupied company. Save you from adding on to that headache in the morning." Chimon added as he poured himself a glass.

You know, maybe all that praying earlier wasn't a useless endeavor after all.

.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

It wasn't surprising that Ron had lost track of time after he had unceremoniously dropped off his partner with that private group outside. He was a man on a mission and the task before him was to be carried out with the utmost dedication. Spreading misinformation, whether willingly or ignorantly, was a grave offence in his eyes and he wouldn't be made a bystander in its presence. After what had to have been a good couple of hours and two mocktails later, he had felt like he had been successful in re-educating the offender. Albeit, the man stomped off in a huff after a while, but Ron could tell he had at least been forced to eat his backward thoughts. Ron was soon roped into a conversation about astrolithology that had sufficiently distracted him from his original goal of going back for his friend. It was when the conversation circled back to the topic of suns, did it finally click for Ron how long he had been away from Toto.

He made his polite excuses to his following and slipped away to that far corner of the room that held the doors to the outside. The journey there was quicker, now that he didn't have to duck and weave through as many people as they did earlier. It all started to make him worry just a little more. Just how long had he been talking to those people? Ron didn't mean to leave him there forever, just long enough to take care of a pressing problem. Well... it was pressing to him anyway. And Toto really would have been bored to tears! Or he... might have found some of it funny.

Ron knew he could get wrapped up in his own head some days, and he only became more attentive to the problem the longer he kept Toto around. He only tries to look out for him in the end. Especially with him thinking that it would have been mind numbing to listen to him argue with another person for hours. He did start considering that maybe it would have been the better idea to have him around for the pointless argument. At least then Toto could have helped in making it not be so pointless or take as long as it did.

As he neared the doors, he was struck with an unexpected sight. As he viewed them through the window, he could see their wild expressions and exaggerated movements. He could almost hear their raucous laughter as well as some squawks of complaints through the thick glass. Pushing the door open silently, he crept over to them as to not disturb them too soon seeing as he wanted to be let in on their private fuss. He almost couldn't piece out their differing lines of shouting over the frantic clamoring for tiles. It soon came to an end however as Toto jumped up from his chair with a drunken triumphant cheer.

"NO!" The smoking man cried out in disbelief as he saw the tiles lined up on the other side of the table

"How? HOW?" Echoed the bearded man and he almost sat up from his chair as well.

"This can't be! I can't believe this, I refuse to believe this!" The woman on the right just about fell backwards out of her chair as she slapped her hands on her face. She recovered enough to slam her hands onto the table in anger and wonder.

"I demand a rematch, you, you... pirate!" She declared. Everyone watched as Toto grabbed the bottle, stood on the chair, and stomped his other foot down on the table's edge.

"That da best you got afta' all that, ya scurvy hag?" Toto slurred as he asserted himself in drunken pride.

He threw the bottle's lip toward his awaiting mouth and took some heavy gulps from it. Leaning farther and farther back in his oblivious chugging spree, the chair threatened to fall out from under him and quickly went through on its threat. Toto was sent spiraling back, arms pinwheeling as he fell. Ron surged forward and caught his inebriated partner before he collapsed onto the ground. The bottle remained fine, but the impact sent Toto into a coughing fit.

"Good grief, Toto! Are you alright?" Ron questioned as he tried to right his friend into a more stable standing position. Toto's left fist gathered plenty of the robe's fabric as he made a poor attempt to help Ron right himself.

"Ah! The blue eyed devil that started it all!" Kanaye cheered playfully, clearly no offense taken by the display.

"Come to whisk away your valiant defender from the siren's clutches?" Chimon continued with the allegory they set earlier.

"I'm not done with him yet! He's lucky! He's just lucky, that's all!" Taira crowed in distress while pointing an accusatory finger at the usurper of her winning streak.

"Yeah, lucky you're a bad player." Toto catcalled through his plastered speech. He was very wobbly on his feet and it took a lot of concentration on Ron's part to keep him standing.

"Toto!" Ron scolded softly. He felt himself being taken slightly aback when Toto looked up to face him and got a good look at the mess his partner had become. His ginger hair a windswept mess; his small, warm smile now wide and giggly and showing off all of his bright teeth; the most fetching blush dusted his high cheeks and framed his hooded and once golden, now a more black sugar colored eyes. A gloss even developed from the drinking and highlighted his surprisingly plush lips, blood rush flooding them into a dusty rose. A detail that Ron hadn't noticed nor had it been called on with so much attention before now. He felt the odd urge to look at the face of his friend as long as time would permit him, but he also just so happened to be hyper aware of being in other company.

"I'm so sorry about him. I didn't know he could get like this!" He tried to apologize profusely, but he wondered if it could even be heard over the manly laughing.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Kanaye excused him back, "It was thanks to him that we've been able to have such an eventful night."

"I don't think I've ever seen someone get better at mahjong, the drunker they get." Chimon said in bewilderment with his hands on either side of his head, the smoldering remnants of his cigarette drooping from his fingers .

"Can not believe you, I cannot believe you." Taira muttered before leveling a resigned glare at the tipsy Toto and a struggling Ron.

"Fine." She eventually sighed in defeat, "A seven win streak is still a win, as improbable as it sounds. Feel free to take him away as he's earned the right to a meddle-free vacation." She growled as she waved them off. Ron bowed his head quickly as he tried to shuffle his uncooperative friend out the door.

"Hey! Tell him to not be a stranger! We'd certainly love to have him play again, wouldn't we Emi?" Kanaye teased as his voice got further and further away. The last thing Ron heard before the door shut behind him was Taira's groan and the other two laughing.

Leading him away from the troupe of bad influences, Ron decided to take a different path out of the second floor entertainment section. He deduced he might have an easier time shepherding an unruly partner through the neat, twin lines of pachinko machines than the chaotic placement of the bar tables taking up the other third of the room. He wasn't wrong as he found what was left of the late-night clientele were already stationed at either side of the aisles and dedicated to testing their luck tonight. It certainly saved him the headache of trying to maneuver his unstable friend around sharp corners.

"I take it you had fun?" Ron politely questioned in an attempt to center Toto's focus on him.

"Hehe *hic* Yeah! I kicked their buttz." Toto giggled as he stumbled his way behind Ron, gripping onto his hand desperately like an anchor point to a jostled ship in a storm.

Ron rolled his eyes, but the amused smirk had decided to stick around despite the issue at hand. True, he wasn't big on alcohol or its effects, but he had to admit it granted him a delightful opportunity to see someone he once saw so scattered and shivering with nerves seen... put together. Sure, he wasn't stable in any sense of the word, but it was a state more comparable to jelly. Wiggling and wobbling all over the place, but in the end, still in one piece and not bursting at the seam from nerves or fear for once. It was, for lack of a better word... adorable. Borderline endearing, one might say.

"And here you were, worrying that I was going to be the one to get us into trouble." Ron voiced his thoughts aloud, earning him another tittering giggle from Toto as he ushered them out the doors and into the hallway that was only lit by the light of the bright stars outside. He turned the other way and led them down the hall in a different direction than what they walked through earlier.

"He-hey, wait." Toto said sleepily, "The elevator, isn't it-?"

"We're taking the one on the other side." Ron interrupted, " That one should drop us off at the side of the hotel where our room is."

"NOOooooo. That's too faaarrr." Toto whined and immediately began to try and dig his heels into the wood floor, making his gait bouncy and restricted. Ron could hear the half empty bottle swishing and bumping against Toto's robe.

"I am not going to try and lead you through the lobby." Ron challenged, already shivering in thought of all the things Toto could and would trip over and send him sprawling across the marble, not to mention the possible embarrassment one could get in if the ladies at the front desk were still there and saw what a state they were in.

"Carry me." Toto dropped without warning and almost with shocking clarity.

"Wha-what?" Ron stuttered at the request, "I'm not going to carry you to the elevator."

"Why noooot?" Toto whined even harder, seeming very depressed at the notion of not being coddled.

"Toto, please I-" Ron tried to reprimand his partner, but stopped himself once he felt that his hand wasn't holding onto Toto's and heard a loud and meaty thump onto the floor.

He turned around quickly to see that Toto had fallen down to his hands and knees. Both of them were stunned for a moment, but for very different reasons. Toto didn't expect this to happen, obviously. Being in a drunken state, he hadn't pieced it together that, maybe, planting your feet to the ground and passively fighting against the one thing keeping you upright might not have been the best idea. Ron, however, was in a completely different state of mind. He hadn't noticed before now, but Toto's robe had begun to dangerously slide off of his shoulders and expose his delicate neck and a large portion of his pale torso. The moon had traveled far when they weren't looking and decided that now would be a good time to project its brightest beam of light through the window, directly on the fallen Isshiki.

The light from the moon had only shown Ron a clearer image of the alluring, drunken mess that Toto was becoming. His eyes were drawn down a path starting from the tallest wisps of the messy hair, pausing briefly at the dark hazelnut pools that shimmered with suppressed tears, and got caught on the borders of the expansive blush, following the blazing trails of expressed warmth down his body. It not only framed his eyes and cheeks, but flooded down into the shallow divots of his neck and spilled over his small shoulders. The color overflowed onto his chest, that chest heaving with exertion, presumably from trying to keep up with Ron's thoughtlessly fast walking speed. That black and orange robe that had aided in tripping him were flaring out and around his arms and folded legs, draping elegantly and made Toto look like a dark butterfly.

Sitting on his thighs and his arms pinched into a V in front of him, Toto looked almost like a disheartened maiden from a historical drama. Like a beautiful sacrifice to a grand spirit whose wills were as unpredictable as the wind. He was unearthly. He looked stunning. He was a mess. He looked delicious. Ron's throat felt dry, but his mouth was salivating. He swallowed harshly as he looked down on Toto, his viewpoint made richer by the shocked and dour look his inebriated friend was giving him, looking sharply up with eyes full with unshed tears and a shiny, quivering lip. Ron had abruptly felt the urge to fight a very dark, very sadistic part of him that suddenly became very interested in the idea of Toto on his knees. A couple of deep and ugly sniffles managed to knock Ron out of his tormented state of mind and go back to focusing on the possibly injured man below him.

"Do... Do you not love me no more?" Toto's whimpers cracked as small, jewel-like tears finally fell from his wide eyes.

Ron almost wanted to laugh and certainly chuckled, but had to choke it down for fear of making Toto cry more from the act. He rubbed his face a little bit before taking a stride back to his fallen friend and kneeling to his level.

"Now, what makes you say such a hurtful thing?" Ron sang softly and he got down to eye level.

"You-you're walking so fast andandand *sniff* I'm drunk and you don't like drunk and I feel like you hate me cuz' I'm a problem and-" Toto sniffed hard again as he gathered up his sleeve hems in his hands to harshly wipe his face.

"No! No, no, no, Toto. I don't hate you. I didn't notice how fast I was going, that's all!" Ron cooed as he moved closer and helped wipe the tears a little more gently.

"Are you sure?" Toto slurred as he closed his watery eyes against the hands pleasingly squishing his face.

"Absolutely." Ron affirmed as he massaged his crying friend's warm and sore cheeks with his thumbs, "Come on. Let's get to bed, okay?" He finished as he tried to pick Toto off the floor.

Well, he tried too anyway. Toto didn't seem to want to cooperate just yet and instead gently plopped his hands against Ron's face.

"Kiss them better." He said with a child-like demanding tone.

"Excuse me?" Ron asked, his voice distorted by the hands on his face.

"They hurt. Kiss them better." Toto said insistently, his hands making no move until his drunken demands were met.

Ron let out a very long sigh as he weighed his options. Either remain staunch and refuse to perform this simple action, or pucker up. Literally. And somehow, in the process, ignore the fact this will technically be the first ever kiss he not only gives to a man, but to his adorable, goofy, lovable, and very inebriated best friend that he totally hasn't walked through fire for and would probably do so again if it meant he got to kiss him properly.

. . .

And maybe reschedule an evaluation on the emerging fact that he just might actually want to kiss his first and best friend. Yeah. Definitely reschedule that.

With that in mind, he breathed in again to strengthen his resolve, only to inhale a strong whiff of the citrusy lotion Toto had put on earlier before leaving for dinner that immediately formed a crack in the resolve. Doesn't matter, he got this far anyway and he would follow through, alcohol and first kisses be damned. He placed a quick peck on each of the supposed injured palms and sat back on his one leg.

"Better?" Ron questioned mockingly.

"Almost." Toto answered back.

"Almost?" Ron parreted.

He watched as Toto slid back off his thighs and brought them forward. He was now sitting on his butt with his knees drawn up in front of him, hugging them to his chest while resting his chin in the valley between them.

"These too." Toto said softly, his large, soft, brown eyes had no traces of tears anymore, and poorly hidden behind his boney knees was a hint of a mischievous smile.

Ron wondered if Toto had already noticed what an effect this situation was having on him. He started to consider if this was going to be a bigger problem than previously calculated, since he could already feel himself leaning down to kiss them as asked. A hand came up unbidden in the interlude where Ron hesitated and made its home on Toto's leg, gently curling its long fingers around the side of his cold and bare calf. He finally placed a peck, longer and sweeter than the ones he placed upon the hands, on both of the knees. He ignored how long he was taking in that sudden bubble of stopped time and just tried to live in that moment. That one, beautiful moment. No one would really blame him, could they? He's on vacation after all.

"There. Now are we all better?" Ron questioned again.

"Yep!" Toto said cheerfully as he angled his arms up high and made a grabbing motion with his hands, clearly still wanting to be carried the rest of the way.

"Ugh." Ron vocally sighed at the sight. More cracks in the resolve.

"Fine. But I'm carrying the bottle." He finalized as he swiftly grabbed the quarter full and still intact rum bottle, that hadn't gone unnoticed by Ron's detective vision, and away from Toto's slow hands.

"No, wait! Give it back!" Toto whined again as he felt his body being lifted from the ground and manipulated into a secure position.

"You've had plenty already tonight." Ron said as he groaned with the effort. Toto was lithe and wiry, but that didn't seem to translate well when he was drunk and sleepy.

"You really do hate me." Toto sniffed, but Ron could tell this one was fake and forced.

"Between the whining and the kissing of bruises, I didn't realize the full depths of my partner's innocence." Ron playfully countered as they continued their conjoined path down the hall.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Toto mumbled, not being in enough of his mind to understand, but just enough to know a slight when he hears it.

"You're childish." Ron purred into a space close to Toto's neck. his breath causing visible goosebumps.

"Yeah, well... It's not childish if it works, don't it?" Toto grumbled back, not bothering to lift his head from Ron's shoulder to speak more clearly. This earned a polite chuckle out of Ron.

"That's because you can't feel anything over the alcohol." He said with the ever pressing need to be analytical and correct about something.

The comment wasn't without unjust reason, however. It kept Ron's focus on anything other than Toto's weight pressing satisfyingly onto his chest and making the muscles in his arms deliciously burn. Or from the way his friend's excess body heat generated from the gratuitous amount of alcohol raging through his system was pleasantly warming his body in turn, which he thought shouldn't have been possible through the thick robes. And reminding himself over and over again that the only reason his heart rate is rising is because he's trying to carry about 130 pounds of weight right now and that it has nothing to do with his relation to the person he's carrying.

"Nuh uh! I can feel plenty of things right now!" Toto tried to counter with his drunken logic.

"Humor me." Ron instigated without thinking.

"I can... feel how warm you are right now." Toto said as his hands shifted around his rescuer's back.

"Again, that's because of the alcohol." Ron thought, suddenly out of willpower to form words.

"I can... feel how soft your hair is?" Toto gave as an answer, already unsure if that was a good answer.

"That's... doesn't really help your case." Ron's thoughts confirmed.

I can..." Toto tried to start another sentence, but yawned halfway through and just snugged his face into Ron's neck and tucked his hands tighter around it too.

"Did he really fall asleep halfway through a sentence?" Ron questioned.

"Toto?" He whispered, not wanting to disturb him too much if that was the case. He did get a quiet groan of acknowledgement as Toto shifted in his arms again.

"Nothin'. It's just... I think I really like it when you hold me like this." Toto said in the softest, most loving tone Ron might have ever heard in his life up until now. It didn't help that he could feel Isshiki's lips brushing against the shell of his ear and his breath ghosting it's way past a sensitive part of his neck.

The detective academy said that the best tool a blooming detective could rely on was a creative and detailed sense of imagination. Ron, being the best, of course, had a better sense than most. Otherwise he wouldn't be the detective that he would be today. It had certainly never steered him wrong before. But boy, oh boy, does it never fail to turn his mind on to trouble.

Momentarily distracted by the shivers racing down his spine, Ron hadn't noticed the elevator doors opening without warning as they got close. Tripping over his own feet and then again on the elevator's landing, sent him scrambling for balance. He managed to keep them both upright at the cost of some pain and dignity as Toto's back slammed into the far wall. Ron felt a little relief as he took the chance to support some of Toto's weight on the wide brass hand rails that lined the inside. He tried to pull himself away, to try and insert a little distance between him and the source of his heart fluctuations, but ended up not getting up very far. He felt magnetized to Toto's space in that moment, their faces centimeters apart. Their noses were so close they could touch, and did, as Toto quickly gave himself permission and rubbed the tip of his nose against a very distracted Ron's. The corners of his softly panting mouth curling up in an obvious display of salacious cunning.

Ron studied everything he could see in the starlight-lit elevator while still in close proximity. The wide pupils overtaking the territory of Toto's now black coffee colored irises. The way the dusky color in his face deepened the color of the freckles that bridged his nose. Those eyes, those same eyes that were now half closed with heated intent. His attention was quickly diverted when he saw a flash of movement lower on Toto's face. A quick flick of a bright pink tongue swiped over his teeth, drawing more attention to the playful smile that he adopted. He knew. This drunken, rotten bastard of a partner knew what an effect he was having on Ron, even before Ron had figured it out himself.

"You." Ron growled, feeling himself breathing in when Toto breathed out, "You are going to be the death of me, aren't you?"

A quiet, giddy chuckle broke the silence. The sound of air passing through one's nose and heavily out of one's mouth in a content sigh. The wind of the sigh twisting and flowing around the ridges in Ron's ear paired exquisitely with the sensation of Toto's ticklishly light fingers playing with the hairs on his nape. He could feel the other hand slowly and smoothly pull its way down his arm, dragging some of the robe's fabric into its path. He could feel himself becoming entranced by how the shadows shifted and the dim light highlighted the delicate lines that connected Toto's neck to his shoulders. His mind went numb to his friend's hand as its path stopped and rested over his hand, the one holding the bottle.

"Forever and always, partner." Toto whispered into his ear a killing blow to Ron's mental state.

Before he had a chance to react appropriately, the elevator gently thumped against the ground floor and chimed the opening to its doors. Taken in by the distraction, Ron took his eyes off of his troublesome friend for only a second. This gave Toto enough time to snatch the bottle out of Ron's hand, use his foot to leverage his partner's weight off of him and out of the way, and drunkenly stumble his way past and out the door. He caught the frame of the elevator before he fell over completely and took the opportunity to take another swig of rum. Ron felt stunned as he stood in the corner and he could do nothing but watch Toto walk away. He tried to brace himself there for a moment, to regain any sense of composure before he had to deal with... whatever this feeling was. He wasn't allotted much time however as the elevator's doors were slowly closing in. Ron managed to shove his hand in between them just in time and let himself out into the hallway.

The warm lights that seemed dim before felt much brighter now. Between the sensation like he wasn't in-taking enough oxygen and the design of the hall, he was suddenly hit with a feeling of vertigo. To center himself, he tried to focus on the most attention grabbing presence he could see. The backside of Totomaru Isshiki, making his way to their shared room downing the last of the bottle. Ron stumbled a little as he tried to catch up, the sense of tumbling through infinity not leaving even as he found an anchor for his vision. The flicks of lights from the sconces and the passing of doors slowed in his mind's eye as he got closer and closer to the grounding presence.

Ron did not know why he was feeling like this. Why he felt like he was being stormed by a rush of desire for his friend. Sure he admired Toto, there was never denial on his end about that. There were absolutely plenty of things he could list that fell into different categories. Like why he worked so well together, things that made Toto a good person, and even some antics he expressed that Ron just outright loved to see. Did he love him? Yes, in so many ways. But was this feeling really love? Or was this something different? Maybe this wasn't a feeling so much as... something else. He wasn't sure about any of this. Nothing around him could help now, not when this felt less and less like a blooming revelation and more so a descent into a vat of intense emotions.

All he had to guide him was what was in front of him. The swaying figure of his closest companion as he tongued the inside of the bottle's rim, digging for any droplets he could reach. The lights from the sconce made the scene feel surreal, like this was a movie and not something he could touch. Ron wasn't sure he should touch anything, not wanting to break this enrapturing illusion. The robe Toto wore had fallen further as they walked, now fully exposing his shoulders and a portion of his petite biceps. Lights and shadows played and danced across the valleys of his back and neck, performing a show for Ron's pleasure alone. He had an abrupt appreciation for the tone of Isshiki's skin and how it complimented beautifully with the colors of the robe. The wide panels of his sleeves swayed rhythmically in time with his drunken gait, giving the impression of a tropical fish moving through warm, sunlight waters.

Was this what it was like to encounter a siren? It was in stories long told of how they would sing anything to gain a sailor's attention. For a long time after hearing that, Ron thought he would have been immune had they been real. After all, why would one make a story of a gruesome death sound so appealing just to end the life of one man. It wasn't until now that he realized he couldn't just be lured in with death, but with life as well. If that siren's spell could replicate the sight of what he could see now. The way light got caught in Toto's hair as it dripped onto his shoulders. The way time seemed to not only stop, but focus only on him. The way he moved, the way he talked, the way he looked at the world and saw its light and dark and all the wonderful things in between.

No. No it couldn't be a spell. If they did exist, there would never be one powerful enough to replicate everything Ron saw in Toto. That beast of want and desire would have to be Toto himself if there was any hope of a trap successful enough to cage the greatest detective that ever lived. Totomaru Isshiki was his weakness. A weakness that he could never cut from himself, for he was made to be his greatest pillar of strength in the end.

That so-called strength seemed to be on holiday as well. Because if there was any left, this night would have ended up very differently.

Toto turned his head to see if Ron had followed behind him at any point. When he did, that wicked glint he had been sending Ron all night in the dark was given full power in the light. As he licked any remains of rum off his lips, his come-hither eyes never strayed from Ron's. Toto had been making it clear how he felt about Ron tonight, now it was time for Ron to make himself clear. His resolve toward being a discrete gentleman now broken, he reshaped those shards and directed their energy to scooping up Toto in his arms and slamming him against the door to their room. Overcome with want but wanting to remain restrained, Ron tightened his hold around Toto's arms and kept them pinned to his sides as he forcefully placed kisses on and around his tormentor's ear. Toto laughed loudly as he wiggled in the hold and willingly took all the affection he was thrust upon. Getting conscious of all the noise they were making, Ron fumbled around for the door latch before gripping it and throwing the door open violently.

With Toto stumbling forward, Ron kept a hold on one of his arms and yanked him back, spinning Toto around until they slammed together face-to-face. He picked up his new lover into his arms and waddled to the bed, turning around at the last moment so he could sit down and have Toto land in his lap. Ron's arms grew tighter again around the waist as Toto's hands scrambled their way into his face and hair, pushing his bangs back as he tried to pull his face closer. Their lips were insatiably hungry as they dove and locked against each other. Open-mouthed pants and groans could be heard breaking the still of the room's air as well as the slicking sound of wet tongues battling for space. Ron wasn't positive he was any good at this, but the feeling of heat and fun was overriding any other concerns he would have had. His hands greedily grabbed at the robe, causing it to pull even further down the body. As he felt Toto's fingers scratch pleasantly across his scalp and tug some hair with them, he was reminded of what he wanted to say.

"Toto, wait." Ron panted as he leveraged Isshiki's hips back to give him enough space to speak.

"I- I want to tell you so many things. So, so many things. But now isn't the right time. I can't speak of them if-" Ron started to confess, but got interrupted when Toto grabbed his shoulders and abruptly shoved them to the bed.

"Who said you had to speak at all?" Toto countered, his voice dark and somewhat raspy.

The light they had left on in the shower outside shone a bright beam down on Toto's form. The tie that was holding the robe closed had come undone and exposed his warm looking body. Ron's eyes traveled from the waistband of the tight sleep boxers he had put on, traced over and over again all the little dips and divots that detailed his slender frame, and finally came to a stop at his face. Toto had stopped looking so innocent a while ago, but not to the point Ron saw him now. He didn't know it was possible for someone who looked so naive all the time to look this hungry and amorous. Even though Ron felt fear, he felt welcomed to it. After all, fear just meant he was encountering something new and different, and this was certainly both.

Feeling his lover's hands move to his and shift them over his head, Toto took advantage of the new angle and dove for the section of Ron's chest that was exposed. He could see Toto's back arch as he felt his warm tongue wetly lap at the shallow valley between his pecks. He moaned at the sensation as his thoughts raced between how he seemed to love the feeling and questioning why he loved the feeling. Toto started a path up to his neck, letting his lips come into play and suck at small patches of pale skin. Ron brought a leg up to the edge of the bed as he felt Toto give a particular patch of skin just under his ear a special bout of loving attention. Seemingly getting impatient, he finished his path with a trail of quick pecks along the jaw as it led to Ron's lips.

Their mouths didn't fight against each other, so much as fought with each other. There was hunger and want and urgency but no desire for dominance. Ron's heart hammered everywhere in his ribs as he felt his chest push and rock against Toto's. He managed to wrench an arm free so he could bring it up to caress his partner's neck. Ron followed his lips as Toto dropped the free arm to its elbow for more support, continuing to thrash and grind his body into the kiss. All they could feel was rough and wild, free and untethered from anything that would stop this moment. Toto's tongue came to play again as it brushed past Ron's lower lip, begging for entrance again. As he let him, Toto only let it explore inside for a short while before pulling it back and biting down on Ron's lip to drag it through his teeth.

Something inside Ron snapped at that moment. That dark and interested part of himself from earlier came to the forefront with a vengeance, hellbent on reciprocation. Using his raised leg and abusing Toto's lowered side, he managed to flip themselves and brace himself over his shocked lover. He propped himself up for a moment, just to get a breather and maybe try and come down a little from this dangerous high, only to have his breath stolen in the end. Gasping and wide eyed, Ron managed to find that there wasn't an angle of light Toto could be in where he couldn't look like a ravishing subject. Arms relaxed and splayed to the sides, the light made his peachy pink skin the center-focus under Ron's attentive gaze. Brilliant in its radiance, it was a vision of hue shifts from the sweeping blush that stained his skin to the backdrop that was his flexing chest. Almost like a prepared canvas, waiting and inviting anyone to decorate it with their love. Ron's mouth began to water again at the thought of being the one to paint him in possessive swatches of bitten-red and bruised wine.

He instead dove for his lover's lips; those perfect, glossy, pink, kissed-until-puffy lips. He really and truly felt like he couldn't get enough of Toto's natural taste. At least, what he could taste through the acidic burn of the rum that lingered. Ron almost wanted to laugh as he thought that the two of them tasted good together, making for somewhat of a paired experience. He began to wonder if it was possible to get drunk off of kissing someone else who was heavily inebriated. That half of his mind that he thought was on his side decided to try and reserve that thought as an experiment for another time.

More and more, he felt like he was being consumed by different parts of himself. It was almost like a war was being waged in his blood. The Holmes; always analytical, always desperate for new discoveries. The Moriartys; Perpetually greedy, but not for material things. No, it was never about material things. It was always about proving that they could take. Take anything they wanted. Even people's delicious suffering. And Ron felt like he was drowning in both.

"So, Toto likes to bite?" Ron thought, "Let's see how he feels having it done to him."

First, he repeated what Toto had done to him earlier. He pulled back just enough to catch his lip between his teeth and tugged just enough to get his attention. That earned him a low groan as he felt warm fingers weave their way into his long locks and quickly tighten their grip.

"Hm. That seemed favorable." he thought.

Next, he slowly kissed his way over to Toto's ear. Ron gave the shell of it some teasing pecks before licking the lobe into his mouth and nibbling. That caused a breathy moan that deepened as it drew itself out. He also felt Toto's legs shift as one moved between his and the other dug its heel into the small of his back. Ron moved in response so that one leg was kneeling on the bed, pushing Toto's hips up and the other planted itself firmly on the floor, making him lean more heavily over his lover.

"No complaints there, apparently." He playfully thought, still keeping up with his torturing detective attitude.

He decided to move his arms before continuing with the experiment. Ron brought one under Isshiki's back and above his robe to bring them closer to each other. The other teasingly squeezed a path softly down his left side. His skin felt blisteringly warm against his lips and hands. His mouth occupied itself with recreating what Toto did earlier when it was his turn to kiss and suck a path on Ron's neck. As he sucked and licked and drew out a melodious variety of noises, his hand moved further and further down Toto's belly. His felt his thumb get caught on an odd texture over and above where his stomach would be.

He immediately knew what he was feeling. An old scar from an old wound from an old enemy. The consequences from that event no longer mattered, but his feeling about it still hadn't changed. Ron couldn't get mad at the fact it was there, but he definitely still had some anger left over stemming from who put it there. Toto was his, was his to mark as he saw fit, so how dare anyone else feel like they had the same right. As Ron felt these thoughts racing through his mind, he didn't notice how aggressive he was getting with his attention to Toto's neck. Pressing firmly down on the scar's placement, Ron bit even harder down on his partner's neck, licking and sucking on the location until he was sure it would leave a mark.

"Oh, Ron!" Toto moaned loudly as his grip in Ron's hair tightened and his back sharply arched.

The muscles in the leg that was secured around his waist pulled taut so Toto could grind himself into Ron's lap. Ron ground back in response, reveling in the moment. Feeling the heat of their bodies come together and rise to new heights as their muscles writhed in unison. It all felt so good then. Ron didn't want it to stop and he for sure could tell that Toto didn't either. But something wasn't right. The way Toto said his name took him back out of the experience. Ron didn't think it was so much how he said it, so much as how Ron felt about it. Like he hadn't earned something so precious. Soon, it all came crashing back like a cold ocean wave. He pulled himself away fully this time, shaking off his head the lustful fog that seeped its way in. As much as he wanted more of the feeling, he knew it wasn't right of him to keep going. Not if the one he wanted to experience it with wasn't in his own right mind.

"I-Isshiki, we need to stop." Ron whispered gently as he pushed himself onto his hands. He fought the damning roar in his heart that screamed to go back, even as his resolve threatened to break again as Toto whined in fierce disappointment.

"Toto, I'm serious. This isn't right." He reaffirmed more forcefully as backed away, watching his eventual lover make grabby hands in insistence.

"Toto," He started again and he grabbed those playful hands, "You're drunk. I know you want this, and believe me, I want this too. But I'm not going to go through with it if you're not here with me."

"What do you mean? I'm right here!" Toto drawled out as he pathetically whined some more.

"Not like this, Toto." Ron said as he kissed the knuckles with tears in his eyes, "Not like this."

Toto flopped his head back, the bedding making a soft puff sound as he did. Ron could see his eyes drifting close as Toto felt the excitement leave his blood and become replaced with sleep.

"You're no fun." He quietly whimpered out as his head relaxed to the side.

The excitement didn't leave Ron's system as easily. He could feel his body shake from withdrawal as he sat back on his haunches. Closing his eyes and breathing in, he sighed quietly as he looked back at Toto's sleeping form. Even when he was peaceful and minding his own business, Ron still felt a deep pull to him. He could never let go of him. Even if he found a way to scrub his soul clean of Toto's influence, Ron was sure that Toto would find a way to fill that void back up again. As comforting as that thought was, it didn't change what needed to be done now.

Ron pulled the robe off of Isshiki and shifted him onto the bed and into a better sleeping position. He covered him in a blanket, kissed his forehead, and tossed the robe somewhere in the room as he was too tired to care about where it landed. He then discarded his own and started up the shower outside, making sure the water was set to frigid. Ron hoped the cold water would temper his burning feelings as well as his skin. He had a feeling he was going to be in there for a while.

.・゜-: ✧☾　☽✧ :-゜・.

It was late into the morning when a harsh scream could be heard next door to their room. Toto was jolted awake violently, his face and body felt numb from his heavy sleep state. He started looking around in earnest once he saw that Ron wasn't in the bed beside him.

"Ron?' He sniffed as he tried to forcefully jumpstart his brain. Hearing no response, he tried again.

"Ron!" he called loudly, getting more worried.

"It's okay! It's okay. I-I'm here." A voice rose from the floor on the other side of the bed.

Toto crawled over to confirm his half-formed suspicions. There on the floor, squished between the bed frame and the glass wall, was Ron. Looking like his sleep wasn't nearly as restful.

"Are you okay? Did I kick you out or something?" Toto's morning voice was low and gravely as he tried to piece together how Ron ended up in such an uncomfortable position naturally.

"No! No, I, uh-I... fell out of the bed myself." Ron answered quickly and clearly nervous. Thankfully, Toto seemed to sleepy still to notice or question.

"Oh, okay. By the way, did someone scream?" He asked. As he did, another scream echoed past their door and continued down the hall.

"OH MY GOD, HE'S DEAD!" a shrill woman's voice cried as she repeated the phrase over and over while running down the hall.

Ron watched as the gears in Toto's head slowly ground up to speed after hearing the screams. Seconds later, the hotel's tablet next to the bed started ringing a cheery little tone to signal a phone call. Toto scrambled his way back over to the nightstand and swiped the tablet open to answer it. An unfamiliar face picked up on the other side.

"Hi, it this Totomaru Ishhiki? Your profile says that you are a police detective, so the hotel was wondering if you would be so kind as to come down to the front desk for a moment?" This strange man asked. Toto shoved his head deep into the pillow and made a very clear display of aggravation by making his own scream, just directing it into the pillow this time.

"There will be complimentary coffee?" The stranger added.

"You can have me when I'm good and ready." Toto ordered back before slamming the tablet down onto the nightstand.

Ron had already peaked his head up, so he saw the whole conversation. He caught himself staring as Toto stumbled out of bed, picked up the discarded rum bottle off the floor only to find it empty, and angrily stomped his way over to the shower. Ron couldn't hear anything he was mumbling on his way there, but he could tell it wasn't anything good... or probably safe to hear in the first place.

"I... I'll go ahead and check out the crime scene, that okay?" Ron called out as Toto turned on the shower. He began to actively pray that Toto wouldn't notice the teeth shaped bruise blooming at the juncture of his neck and shoulder.

"Fine, whatever." Toto called back irately.

As he got off the floor and headed toward the wardrobe, he heard a loud banging from the glass.

"Hey! Be sure to take my wallet. Should waive any problem." Toto called as he entered the hot water.

Ron nodded back, but he knew that Toto couldn't see it anyway. As he shuffled some pants on, he was struck with a very odd thought.

This was going to be the first case where he was not going to look forward to for once.

#i love them sm i can't #rontoto #i need more rontoto #when is season 3 coming out I'm actually gonna throw up #this is so good I'm gonna cry #the burn is stinging and burning #i should be doing my work #instead i'm fixated over fictional gay men

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