Klaus dragged Devin out of Michael's house, promptly at noon. Devin hadn't been looking forward to getting up this early, or getting out of bed at all that day, but Klaus had made it his job to make him feel better.

The shorter boy was much more talkative than usual, filling the conversation in where Devin lacked participation. Devin hadn't found it annoying, though. If it were anyone else he would probably tell them he had to go, or to just plain shut up, but he was quite grateful that Klaus wasn't expecting Devin to talk.

Klaus brought Devin down to the train station, and kept a conversation up about school, staying away from sensitive topics (for now, atleast).

Klaus bought the tickets, and pulled Devin through the crowd of people surrounding him. The little fact that Devin hadn't known what Klaus went through was nagging at the boy, but he tried to push that thought down.

That's a thing of the past.

"So, how's it been... ya know, other than the bad stuff?" Klaus asked. They had sat down in the train seats, away from other people. He knew some parts of Devin's anxieties, but not all of them.

It was like a guessing game for Klaus. Was he like Augustin? Anxious with big crowds too?

He couldn't really tell since Devin had only spoken the words 'yeah' and 'okay' since Klaus took him out of the house.

"Uh... good, well... kind of good," Devin said, speaking quietly.

He couldn't help but wonder about Michael. Was he thinking about him? Worrying about him? Did he even notice that Devin was gone?

Devin pursed his lips at that thought, confusing Klaus.

Klaus just sat in the seat next to him, trying to figure out what was on his mind. It was rather hard. Much harder than having to read his volleyball team (and friends) moods.

Gregory's moods were obvious, George's too, and Andrei, and Alek, Brendan, Enzo, Adrian. Blaine was a bit harder to tell, but he was really the only one. He hated how Devin was such a struggle.

"Well, how's your relationship with Michael going?" Klaus asked, a bit curious. He had only met the boy during some volleyball games, and practice matches, and at the door this morning, but Klaus hadn't the slightest idea what their relationship was like.

Michael was usually a dick to Devin out in public, hitting him, and throwing volleyballs at the back of his head (on the one occasion Klaus had seen before he really got to know Devin).

Klaus wondered if Michael was always like that with Devin, and was a bit curious of Devin's view on their relationship.

Devin's slightly slumped posture fixed itself at the mention of his boyfriend. "Michael? Well, he... he's been a bit different since the night he found me in the bathroom." Devin's voice dropped low, not wanting the ears of everybody on the train to be curious about their conversation.

"How?" Klaus asked, matching Devin's volume.

"Well, he's been a lot more clingy than usual... and isn't as rude, I guess. And a lot more open about his feelings, and everything," Devin said, thinking back to the past couple of weeks he had been spending with Michael.

"That sounds nice," Klaus hummed, looking outside. He shuddered at the cold air as the train made its first stop. The doors slid open and many people left the train. Devin didn't seem to mind the cold temperatures, despite being in only a winter jacket.

Once the doors closed, the two fell into another silence, neither of them knowing what to say next.

Klaus took in a deep breath thinking.

"What... if you don't mind me asking, what happened with your parents? You mentioned it over the phone yesterday, so I was just wondering," Klaus said, speaking in a bit louder tone since the train had cleared of more people than it had gained.

"Well, I was with Michael on the couch, and we were just watching Tv. Nothing too bad, but my parents didn't see it like that. They're very, very traditional, and see relationships like that as wrong." Devin sighed. "That's why I never brought it up to them, or told them. They also didn't believe me about my mental health... and called me sick for what I did to myself, the whole nine yards. Called me slurs, and Michael dragged me out of there. I was glad he was there, though. Without him I probably wouldn't still... be breathing right now.

"If he wasn't ever here, I wouldn't be breathing."

Klaus hummed in response, trying to come up with an appropriate response. He tried not to think about Devin's situation, and how much it seemed to remind him of his.

Although his parents didn't mind his relationship with Sawawura, they weren't really there for him. They never got along either, and weren't the people he needed in his life at the time. Even now.

But since he'd met Adrian, it seemed like that was the only thing keeping him from stopping his breathing. That was why when he thought he lost Adrian, he was ready to let go.

Klaus shoved his hands in his coat pockets further, clenching his hands.

He hated thinking about losing Adrian. He hated thinking about that day on the roof. It's a thing of the past. A thing of the past.

After a couple more stops, the train came to a stop at the place Klaus and Devin had been waiting for.

He stood up, holding his hand out to Devin. Hesitantly, Devin took it, and Klaus dragged Devin off of the train, and out of the station they were stopped at.

It wasn't far away from where they originally started, but would take a decent amount of time to get back.

Klaus walked the two of them to a tiny cafe, off of a street. It was small, homey, and warm.

It smelt of cinnamon and vanilla, although that was a bit cliché for a tiny café.

Klaus brough Devin to the back corner of the cafe, so they were tucked away where they could talk privately.

They waited a couple of minutes until a waitress came over to the table. She handed the two boys menus to choose from, and both of the boys could feel her staring at Devin.

Devin hesitated in making eye contact, trying his best to ignore how close she had gotten to him.

"My name is Masato Nishiyo," She said, particularly to Devin.

He just nodded slowly, playing with his hands in his lap.

Looked up at the girl, making eye contact with her. Devin couldn't lie; she was pretty. But he just didn't like girls, and he had Michael.

So he didn't take any interest in this girl.

"I'll be back when you two have decided what you want to eat," Masato said, giving them a smile. She had pearly white, straight teeth, and a sway in her hips as she walked away.

It was clearly purposeful, and trying to catch Devin's attention. But it didn't.

Her small attempt at flirting wasn't gonna work. Devin almost felt bad for her, like she was embarrassing herself without even knowing it.

"So, do you know what you're gonna get?" Klaus asked, looking over at Devin.

Devin didn't say anything, but looked down at the menu. "I don't think I'm gonna get anything," he said. Klaus was glad that Devin's voice seemed to sound like normal. But his eyebrows knitted together, forehead lined with worry.

"Why not? It's nearly two, and you haven't eaten lunch yet,"

Devin shrugged "I'm not really hungry. I'll eat when I get back home,"

Klaus nodded, and felt a bit bad for ordering the fried rice when Masato came back.

She left again, and wouldn't be back for a while until the food was finished. Klaus felt a bit more confident with starting a conversation without being interrupted by Masato.

"Alright," Klaus started.

"Huh?" Devin asked, looking over at his shorter friend, sitting across the table from him.

"Can you please, like, just tell me what you're feeling. And, why, you feel this way? And if you can't come up with why, then why do you think?"

Devin nodded slowly.

"How about you start at the beginning. Sort everything out. Your parents, right? That's where it rooted?"

It was amazing how well Klaus was at this. Devin nodded, before verbally responding. "I guess it started with them,"

"What did they do?"

Devin started explaining, leaving out a few minor details (how his father had hit him and his mother a handful of times before. After seeing how Michael reacted to that, he gave up on telling anyone about that again). Klaus stayed silent, listening to him talk.

Devin felt a few weights come off as he talked about his inner insecurities. About Michael. About his parents, and the volleyball team. School, and keeping up with life. "It moves on, with or without you. And I feel like it's moving on without me, right now."

Klaus nodded. He had felt the same way, at one point in his life (a very low one).

"Hey Devin?" Klaus started. But before he could finish, two different things happened.

One, his phone buzzed in his pocket, vibrating against his thigh, and Masato had come back with the food.

Klaus looked down, and picked his phone up out of his pockets, reading the caller ID.

It was Adrian, and Klaus couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face.

Masato placed the plate of rice in front of Klaus, as he excused himself from the table to go outside.

"I'll be right back," He said to Devin before sliding his thumb across the glass, and answering the phone. He continued walking as the other line picked up too, and he heard Adrian's voice through the phone.

"Hey, sugar!" Adrian said, and could feel Klaus smile, and blush at the nickname he was given.

"Hey baby," Klaus said back through the phone. He walked through the front doors of the cafe, and turned to lean his back against the outside wall of the building. There weren't many people around, and Klaus was in a pretty secluded spot, so he didn't have to be quiet, and mindful of their conversation.

"How're you doing?" Adrian asked, initiating the conversation first. It usually went both ways, and the two never didn't have anything to talk about together.

"I'm doing well, I'm with Devin at the cafe right now, and were just talking 'bout everything," Klaus said, trying to keep his voice light and airy. He didn't want to sound dark, as a couple with two children left the cafe.

Everything could mean anything to them. Klaus smiled at the children, and they smiled back. They seemed to be just so happy, and their smiles alone made Klaus have a good feeling in his chest. He really really wanted to adopt when him and Adrian got older. He didn't know if Adrian wanted kids, but he did know two things. He was gonna stay with Adrian to the end, and Adrian would make an amazing dad. The two, as captain, and vice-captains of the volleyball team were already pretty good at being able to get kids under control, and the first years were a handful enough.

And mixed with the second years... oh god. He wouldn't trade his team for the world.

None of them.

It broke his heart that this was his last year playing on the team with them. This was gonna be his last time playing on the Karasuno Volleyball court (unless invited back), and last time playing on the team, and just the thought hurt, but he pushed it away.

He just told himself that he would keep in contact with the team, and that they would all still be friends in the future.

"Well, how's he doing?" Adrian asked, curious about the Aoba Johsai team captain. He hadn't ever met him, other than the volleyball court, but felt like he knew almost too much about him.

"Well, he's getting... better? At least I hope so. I tried talking to him about Michael, and he said that Michael is good to him, and I do believe him. But I don't think it was always that way... like, the way that he talks about him, it seems that he is... I don't know how to explain it, but Michael has gotten better. Much better, according to Devin." Klaus spoke. It was hard putting this kind of thing into words. He couldn't find a way to do that, though.

"Well, at least Michael seems to be getting better," Adrian spoke, then went quiet. The two of them stayed on the phone, an unspoken tension lingering. Adrian wanted to speak, and Klaus knew that he wanted to.

"Just say it, Adrian," Klaus whispered, getting a bit anxious with the silence coming from him.

"Well, have you told him about what happened with you?" Adrian asked, speaking softly.

"No, well, I was going too, but I never got to that,"

"Ah, got it." Adrian said, and bit his lip. "Klaus?" He asked, after thinking about what he was gonna say.

He was usually good at that. The 'Think before you speak' thing wasn't ever a problem for him, and he only had to be taught that once before he watched what he was saying.

"Yes?" Klaus said, whispering again as a enderly couple walked into the cafe. It was getting relatively busy as it grew closer to mid-afternoon.

"You should tell him,"

"I-I know that,"

"Okay, well, you should get back to him. I'll be here when you come back, and we could stay in for the rest of the day?" Adrian asked, knowing Klaus all too well. He loved staying in, almost as much as he loved Adrian, and the entire volleyball team. (And thats on Klausmama)

Klaus shook his head 'yes', and responded with one too. Although the gesture wasn't something Adrian could see, it was a muscle memory thing.

"Alright. I love you, bye!"

"Bye Adrian, I love you,!" Kosuhi spoke, smiling, his face a bit hot. This wasn't even close to the first time they had said 'I love you', but to Klaus it still made his stomach fill with butterflies, and his face goes warm, and caused his head to go blank. All the feelings he had felt before.

Masato saw Klaus leaving as an opportunity, and an excuse to hit on Devin. She sat down in Klaus's seat, placing both elbows on the table, and resting her face in her hands. She seductively looks at Devin, biting her lip slightly.

Being in the farther back corner away from everyone helped hide the fact that Devin was getting hit on by a worker.

"You're single, right?" She asked, ruffling her hand through her hair, trying to look sexy? Devin couldn't exactly tell because he wasn't into that.

He gulped, but didn't respond.

She didn't give him much of a chance to speak much more though, and she pursed her lips before she started to talk again.

"So, what's your name?" Masato asked, leaning over the table. Her boobs hit the counter, as she noticeably arched her back forwards to make her curves look drastically curvier than they actually were.

Devin looked at her, "Devin Walters," he said, looking back at her.

He had a tendency to lead people on, without even trying too. She grabbed his collar, and pulled him forwards a bit. Although he was a bit uncomfortable with the situation, her nail was still caught in the collar of the shirt holding him there.

"That's a handsome name, Devin," she purred in his ears. He shivered. But I didn't try to move. He was almost frozen in his place. He wanted Klaus to come back quickly.

"Yeah... I guess," he said, averting his eye contact from hers.

She pulled his face closer to hers, leaning closer to his lips, which she looked to, then back up at him.

He broke contact with her, getting the strength to do so after seeing her eyes fly down to his lips.

He took his hands off of the table, and pulled them to his lap, putting as much space between the two of them as possible.

"Ah, hard to get?" She whispered, trying to be sexy. Devin inwardly cringed. "Don't worry, I'm not giving up easily." She whispered, taking out the notepad and pen she wrote people's orders on. She scribbled numbers on it, and slid the paper across the table to Devin.

He cringed, easily able to tell her that he was gay, but was too afraid to get the same reaction he'd gotten out of his parents.

Their words still seemed to taunt him in his head.

Sick. You're sick. You're sick, for liking boys. Sick.

She grabbed Devin's hand, facing it palm up and placed the paper lightly in his palm. She then closed his fingers around the paper, and pushed his hand back to him.

He took a deep breath, accepting the paper, and shoving it in his pocket reluctantly.

She patted the table, looking over her shoulder to see Klaus enter the building.

"Call me," she whispered, getting up from the seat. She walked away with a sway in her hips. Klaus noticed this, and looked over to Devin, quizzically.

"What were you two talking about?" He asked, taking his seat again.

"Oh nothing, she was just hitting on me," Devin said, looking back over to her. She was obvious to his gaze, getting the orders of another table.

"Oya?" Klaus asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah, it was nothing," Devin sighed, looking away from her again. It hadn't felt like nothing to him, and made his skin crawl that she had gotten so close to him, but he wasn't about to bring that up to Klaus.

Klaus nodded slowly. He thought back to the conversation they were having before he got the call from Adrian. He was just checking up on Klaus, like he usually did everyday. It was one of Klaus's favorite things he did, and he loved that about Adrian.

The simple acts that Adrian did to make him feel loved, and wanted, made his stomach do little flips when he thought about it. He looked down at the table.

Ah, that was it. Klaus thought, remembering what he was gonna say to Devin. I was gonna tell him about that...

Klaus inwardly cringed, not wanting to bring that up. While outside with Adrian, he had asked how Devin was doing, and what they were talking about, and all of that. Klaus eventually got to the part where he was gonna tell Devin (finally) about what happened to him.

He spoke slowly through the phone, the words feeling sharp as they came off his tongue. He hated saying it, and even hinting at it just hurt.

Lets just say, Klaus was glad that Adrian Chloros was there that day to save him.

"Who called?" Febin asked, trying to be interested in something else.

"Oh, it was just Adrian," Klaus smiled, placing his jacket back on the back of the chair.

He looked down at his plate of fried rice, and then to Devin. "You sure you don't want any?"

"Yeah, I'll eat when I get back to Michael's house,"

"Alright,"

"You were gonna say something to me before,"

"I was? Oh, yeah, that," Klaus said, completely forgetting.

"Well, you can tell me," Devin said, leaning on the table, once more. Almost curious with what Klaus was going to say before.

"Well, I- I get what you mean... by Michael saving you," He spoke, almost trying to avoid the context that should come with that sentence.

Devin just knit his eyebrows together in confusion, confused with what Klaus was trying to say.

"Well... I- Adrianstopedmefromjumpingoffofaroof," Klaus spoke quickly. Cringing at the even more confused Devin. He tapped his fingers together, under the table, trying to ease his anxiety.

"Wait, what?" Devin asked, confused with what the hell Klaus had just said.

"I... yes, I did. I- it's hard to explain, but eleven, maybe twelve months ago, Adrian stopped me from... killing myself, so I understand what you mean." Klaus folded in on himself, completely embarrassed. It was embarrassing, admitting it to someone else.

Devin's jaw hung open, and he just looked at Klaus. He hadn't ever seen Klaus as the kind of person to do something like that.

"Klaus... what happened?"

"I- my uncle... did stuff to me," Devin felt his fists automatically clench under the table. "No, no, Devin it's alright, Adrian helped... and my uncle, well, he's in jail now."

Devin still was mad, but relaxed a bit for the sake of Klaus.

"But... he left a mark on my neck, and Adrian saw it and thought I was cheating." Klaus took a deep breath. It was the first time since he had to talk to the police about it, that he'd said anything about it.

Klaus was now tapping his hands on his legs lightly. Devin waited patiently for him to continue speaking.

Klaus took a shuddered breath before speaking again. "After that, Adrian took me over to his apartment, and tried to get me to explain. He thought that I was cheating on him, and after I didn't tell him what happened, he told me to leave. I did, but left him a... note... and then went over to the school. It was the only building that I could get up high enough... and then I just sat there for a long time.

"When I was... ready, Adrian grabbed me and wrestled me off the top of the roof. After that, he brought me to a therapist, and then the police about my uncle, and... I got better thanks to him.

"Honestly, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here right now either."

Kosuhi had finished talking, and the two of them sat in silence.

"Just like how you said Michael saved you,"

All Devin could do was nod. They talked for a bit longer, about Klaus's progress, and how before he moved in with Adrian he was alone with his uncle at his parents house since they left to go on a round-the-world trip.

i'm sorry this is so heavy.

with love, 

-aa