Oliver looked at his phone to check the time and grunted. He was late again just because he overslept a little. He still couldn't understand how his alarm didn't set off even though he never switched it off, but he had no time to ponder about it. 

At least one quick last glance in the mirror promised him a not too hideous view. The extra amount of sleep he had gotten over the weekend showed effect on his face. A small smile found its way on the blond's face when reminiscing about the successful weekend. Kazehiki's help saved his position at the workplace for a little longer and Fukase wasn't acting up in any way. Despite the fact that Oliver didn't do much else other than sleep, he fully enjoyed the weekend for once. It has been a terribly long while the last time he heard himself saying that.

While hurrying towards the front door, however, the inner harmony quickly vanished as soon as Fukase suddenly walked out the kitchen and blocked his lover's way. He silently looked at Oliver who was frowning confused, yet not saying anything.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Work?" Oliver's frown deepened, clearly confused at Fukase's behavior. The redhead continued to merely stare at Oliver, not moving an inch. His glare did not promise any good but Oliver could not make out why Fukase would be upset all of a sudden. He had acted fairly calm during the weekend.

"I called you in sick for the day. Don't worry."

Fukase sounded calm but his eyes told Oliver something different. Bewildered by the sudden activeness of his partner, the blond didn't know what to say for a while. He merely managed to croack out weak words.

"Why would you do that?"

Fukase's presence turned scarier with every further second. Oliver couldn't tell what was going on in Fukase's head. He ended up just standing there, fidgeting with his sleeves.

Eventually, he tried to find a way around Fukase but ended up being stopped by a hand. Fukase squished his lover's shoulder inbetween his fingers and pushed him backwards to the living room.

"We need to talk. That's why."

Oliver flinched at the harsh grip, but the more he evaded it the tighter it got. He obeyed for now and walked backwards to the living room, letting the redhead push him on the couch. Oliver looked up to him both confused and anxious, waiting for any sort of explanation. Fukase continued to just stand there, crossing his arms and looking down at his counterpart.

Oliver wanted to say something to break the silence as he suddenly noticed Fukase to be gulping hard. The redhead looked to the side for a while and sniffed. It had more of an aggressive than vulnerable tone to it, confusing the blond even more. Fukase opened his mouth to speak up, however, for a long time, there was nothing but shaky breaths echoing through the silence.

"Why would you do that to me?"

Oliver's heart wrenched before he could even comprehend what was happening nor what Fukase was referring to. Hearing his lover's shaky voice break sent a sharp pain through his chest.

"After all we've been through and all the promises you made, you just...it all never mattered to you?"

Tears have formed in Fukase's eyes by now. He looked back at Oliver, frowning pained but still trying to sound strong. Despite the alarm bells inside Oliver ringing intensely, the blond couldn't help but walk towards his partner. While hugging him tightly, the blond murmured reassuring words. Fukase almost seemed to calm down again.

"Baby, what are you talking about?"

"Don't call me that!" Oliver couldn't react quickly enough and fell back on the couch as Fukase suddenly pushed him away. "And...don't touch me."

Fukase's lips trembled once again and he turned away for a moment. Oliver remained quiet. Not knowing what exactly Fukase was anxious for almost drove him crazy. Reacting correctly was essential around Fukase for him but with the lack of information, the blond was doomed to step into a trap eventually. Even so, his emotions won over and he ignored the hostile undertone in Fukase's voice, reaching out for his partner's hand. He stroke across it tenderly as more sobs resonated in his ears. Oliver bit his tongue to stop himself from crying as well.

With his entire body shaking, Fukase couldn't do much than to endure Oliver's touches. His mind was too occupied on the thoughts that had been circling around the past weekend. The bitter pain from the days prior dwelled up once more, causing the redhead to lose the last bits of his composure.

"How could you ever cheat one me?"

"Honey, that's not true. You know I would never cheat on you. I love you." Oliver sighed internally, figuring that Fukase merely was hallucinating again and leaned in to kiss him in reassurance. However, his tenderness was greeted with a slap in the face and Oliver gasped in shock once his sense of orientation returned. The dining table was suddenly between the two of them and Fukase continued to walk away from the blond. The panic written all over Fukase's face urged Oliver to follow him but he received nothing but yelling in response.

"Stop lying! How can you lie right in my face like that? I have seen it all."

Fukase reached into his pocket and threw a stack of papers on the table, scattering them across the entire surface. Oliver glanced down and froze in shock. Several pictures of him at work as well as written reports were staring up at him. The most recent one flashed his eyes; him and Kazehiki back in the restaurant, leaning over the stag night prospects.

His heart was sinking to the ground as silence let him and the photos dwell in the moment. His suspicious back then were reasonable; the girl had been following him all this time. Oliver didn't even dare to breath nor look up, too scared of what was about to happen to him. The photos didn't look like cheating evidence to the average person, but it was Fukase who got his hands on these. His low self-esteem combined with paranoia led him to jumping to ridiculous conclusions in no time.

Oliver knew there was no way for him to get out of the situation. Explaining himself would lead to nothing if not even worse consequences. He merely continued to stare at the pictures, trying to keep his voice stable.

"Fukase..."

"You were wrong with what you once told me." Oliver flinched at how confident Fukase's voice sounded again. He had switched back from his anxious-self to someone much stronger; someone who would know how to make Oliver apologize for nothing.

"Family is good for something. At least one of them will continue to make sure you're alright," Fukase muttered and walked past the table towards Oliver, swiping the pictures off the table, "But lovers, oh no, you can't trust anyone. They're all just going to betray you."

Oliver wanted to be confused at Fukase's hypocritical statement. Usually he was the one to claim the opposite, after all. However, there was too much fear boiling inside the blond to be pondering much about little obscurities. He looked back up at Fukase, gulping hard when finding him this upset. The two of them looked at each other in silence for a while as Oliver tried to step back a bit. His attempt worked against him, however, as Fukase pushed him on the ground forcefully.

"You said you were different! You told me you'd never hurt me like they did!" Fukase yelled through the entire apartment. There was nothing but rage rampaging inside him right now. Oliver quickly got up, trying to get his shaking limbs back on his feet. He thought of escaping into the bathroom for a second, but his chances were too low. He didn't want to upset his partner even more at this point.

Instead, Oliver turned around to Fukase, clenching his hands into fists as he waited for his voice to return. He couldn't tell where he got the sudden confidence from, but he tried to use anything that was in his hands to save himself.

"I never did and I never will-" Oliver was yelling as well, but didn't get to talk for long as Fukase was already going for another hit in the face. The blond managed to avoid it somehow but ended up with a harsh hit on the back of his head instead. He held back a grunt and rushed backwards to make a bit of distance between the two.

"Who do you think you are to be talking back at me like that?" Fukase cornered Oliver and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him back on the ground. The blond quickly covered his face but couldn't evade the kicks in the stomach. During any of their prior fights, Oliver had noticed a subtle holding back coming from Fukase at some point, however, he was missing that feeling now. Every single punch burned like hot iron on Oliver's skin; not only because of the physical pain but also because he knew it was his lover that was this heart-broken.

"Who gave you all this courage? Your little boyfriend?" Fukase kneeled down and pulled Oliver on his shoulder up to be sitting as well. He forced the blond's chin up so he could be looking at him. Oliver was avoiding eye contact at any cost and rather tried to protect as much sensitive places of his body as possible.

"Was it him why you were acting in the park like that? Are you ashamed of being seen with me?"

Fukase crushed Oliver's chin inbetween his fingers, barely able to control his anger. His counterpart winched, wriggling away as much as possible. As he pulled Fukase's hand off him, he received another slap in the face. Oliver coughed at the lack of air for a few seconds and gulped. A familiar metallic taste trailed down his throat. He was feeling dizzy all of a sudden. Even so, Oliver looked up again, albeit still not daring to look into Fukase's eyes.

"Fukase, listen, that's nonsense. I would never-"

Oliver gasped for air as a hand wrapped around his throat. Before he could even process the situation, he tried to rip Fukase's fingers away but barely managed to move anything. Instead, the grip tightened once more, causing the blond to be wriggling under Fukase's hand, continously trying to find a way out somehow.

Fukase merely glared at the poor attempts of protest. His fingers were burning from rage. He wanted to crush the tender skin even more, but he just couldn't find any kind of relief from it. Oliver's struggling left him empty instead of even more upset. Dozens of thoughts were circling in his head, but when seeing Oliver like this, there was a prominent voice that fought its way right into his consciousness.

Fukase halted for a second, frozen in shock to have this one distinct voice to be piercing his ears with its words. It was merely for a few seconds but time felt like it didn't pass. Fukase jolted away from Oliver. Holding his head tightly between his hands, he tried to get rid of the voice that way.

"I hate you! Stop talking! Stop, stop, stop!" Fukase stood up and walked away from Oliver, leaving the blond to himself to recover from the incident just now. Oliver was coughing severely but held it back as much as possible as Fukase's monologue pierced through his ears.

"Why do you have to keep talking?!"

Oliver couldn't tell whether Fukase was talking to him or himself. He ended up lying on the ground, trying to move as little as possible while Fukase was hurrying up and down in the living room. He calmed down eventually, but instead continuously gasped for air inbetween heavy sighs. It almost sounded like hyperventilating; however, it was much slower. Oliver slowly sat up and leaned against the wall behind his back, unsure of how to react.

"You're no better than the others," Fukase sobbed, still yelling, but this time with distinct shakiness in his voice. He ran his hands through his hair a few times and sighed heavily once more. Oliver gulped hard.

"Everyone...why is everyone torturing me like this?" Fukase was mumbling at this point, barely noticing the blond's presence. The pain growing inside of him distracted him from his surroundings. Oliver noticed how deeply occupied Fukase was with himself. Staring at the severely shaking limbs of his partner, a lump grew in his throat. Despite the intense emotional distress Fukase clearly was going through, Oliver couldn't bring himself to crawl over and reassure him. Oliver always thought he would do so even if it meant his death, but now, there was no energy left for it anymore. All he could do was watch his lover disarray himself.

"I don't want this anymore, just leave me all alone." Fukase dropped to the ground and pressed his hands against his mouth, numbing out the sobs. Tears were now streaming down his face, blurring his sight, but the redhead took no notice of it. The pain has reached his brain and entangled in almost every single nerve strand. Fukase wanted to scream but his cramped throat let out no sound other than his crooked sobs. The crying broke through his hands, leaving him back with clutching his head tightly. Even so, the bit of physical pain wouldn't calm the inner tornado inside of him.

"Just...let me die, rot away, I don't know...just stop."

Fukase kept pleading, making Oliver cry in pain as well now. He still didn't dare to walk up to Fukase and instead tried to cover up his own crying. He didn't know what was going through the redhead and couldn't tell what was about to happen. The fear of seeing him have another rage outburst paralyzed his limbs. Only as Fukase started to hyperventilate again, he managed to raise his voice.

"Fukase, stop saying these things and calm down. Please!"

"Leave me alone! I..I..I-" Fukase grunted and clutched his throat, gasping for air. He tried to calm down but the walls were suffocating him. Trying to run up to a window, Fukase stood up but immediately sunk back down on the ground, this time with a loud crash. His vision turned black right before he could save himself from the fall, leaving him lying there.

Oliver stared at the scene in horror. Fukase wouldn't move even after a few seconds. The blond's body was still paralyzed, leaving him to keep staring and breathing rapidly himself. Before he could pass out as well, however, Oliver managed to catch his breath in time. 

At some point Oliver gained enough strength to crawl over to Fukase. He sighed in relief as Fukase was still breathing – albeit shallow – and he could still feel a pulse. Even so, the redhead's eyes just wouldn't open, no matter how much Oliver pleaded him to and shook his body. Tears were rolling down Oliver's face as he kept trying to wake up his partner. His mind was yet too frozen in shock to process what was actually happening. 

Instead, as if he has forgotten about Fukase's behavior a few minutes ago, Oliver leaned down on Fukase, lying his head on the redhead's shoulder. Striking across the rough face with his fingers, Oliver hoped to reassure his partner from his panic attack. Fukase remained unconscious, but the blond barely managed to focus on it. All he wanted was harmony. He needed to give Fukase the same before it was too late.

Oliver was about to fall asleep next to Fukase from exhaustion as he felt the tips of Fukase's fingers twitching. He looked up and found the redhead to be slowly opening his eyes again. Oliver frowned in relief and casted his partner a weak smile. Fukase merely eyed the blond and looked up the ceiling, his body yet too weak to move.

"Oliver..."

"I'm so glad you're awake," Oliver breathed out and turned Fukase's face to look at him. However, all he received was an expressionless stare before the redhead slowly moved under Oliver's body.

"Please get off me."

Oliver startled at the coldness in Fukase's voice. Not sure how to react to that coldness, the blond rested on Fukase a little longer, frowning both confused and hurt. Eventually, Fukase had enough strength to push Oliver off himself and stood up.

"Just leave me alone. All I want is peace and quiet."

He didn't look back at Oliver one more time as he slowly went into his room and locked the door. Oliver watched the scene until the redhead disappeared out of sight. He couldn't move a single inch. Once again, he wasn't sure what was going through Fukase's mind but he had a feeling it meant no good. Finding the redhead this apathetic reminded him of times that were much darker than what he had to face at this moment.

Before Oliver could notice it himself, tears started rolling down his cheeks once again. Exhaustion mixed with confusion made it physically near impossible to move off the cold ground. It reminded him of Fukase's sudden coldness from just now and Oliver looked up the ceiling. He couldn't tell whether he and Fukase really were moving forwards to the future. With every further day, it felt like they were replaying the past, and Oliver's heart wrenched in anxiety when thinking about that possibility.