"YOU DID WHAT?"

Shu flinched away from the phone. "I'm sorry! I wanted my Oreos back!"

So, apparently Suoh had told Lui what he'd seen, and Lui had told Valt, specifically ommiting the part about the Oreos. Jerk.

Valt sighed. "Why was Phi even in your apartment anyways?"

"Don't even go there. Phi, Hartes and Suoh seem to enjoy breaking and entering." He rolled his eyes. "It's annoying."

"We're right here!" Hartes protested.

"Does this look like a face that cares?" the albino snarled, covering the end of the phone. Several people gave them strange looks. Phi and Hartes were known enemies, as well as Shu and Phi. Seeing them together, with random Suoh, in an airport of all places, was fairly strange.

"Anyways, I'm coming to Spain right now."

"Wait, wait, wait, I'm not done yet. I am not kissing you until you kick his butt. I have no idea where he is, so I can't even-" A bird hooted loudly through the phone, and the Valkyrie blader yelped. "Gaah! FREE! DON'T DO THAT!"

"Do what?"

The Dragon Blader's voice. It always seemed too quiet and menacing, even though it was just bored. He creeped Shu out, mostly because those enormous grey-black eyes looked like black holes trying to figure out the slowest way to kill him. Also because he was weird.

"Scare me!"

"You said you weren't scared of anything."

"Well, I am! DON'T DO THAT!"

"No."

"I'm talking to Shu right now-hey! Not cool!" His voice got muffled for a second, then there was a loud thump that sounded like Valt just ran into a tree.

"Hello, Shu." His voice was suddenly in the phone.

"Free."

That was usually the extent of their conversations. Normally, Shu immediately found somewhere else to be. If not, the other male left the room without so much as a good-bye. Sadly, he had a feeling this was going to be a day where there was going to be an interaction.

Shit, he was not in the mood to navigate the Salt Mine of Free.

"You like Valt, don't you?"

"FREE!"

"Yeah," he suddenly felt extremely defensive. Free did that to him somehow.

"Give me a minute, Valt."

A moment's hesitation. "Uhh... you're going to give me my phone back, right?"

"Maybe."

"Okie!"

Shu braced himself for the full impact of Missile De La Hoya. He was as deadly with words as he was beyblades, probably why he'd been at the top for so long.

There were a few loud footsteps, then the wind. "Do you know how Valt reacted when Spryzen broke?"

Shu frowned. "He was really upset, but wanted to beat P-"

"He cried for a week."

Shu's mouth fell open, and Free started talking.

"The first few days, he wouldn't even get out of bed. We tried everything. He just stared at the ceiling. I was there the whole time, and he didn't eat or touch Valtryek. He just laid there."

He was silent for a moment, then kept going. "The day he got up, he took Valtryek and his phone and went into the forest. And I followed him, even though no one else would. I saw him scrolling through pictures, and watched him compare the pictures of Red Eye to Phi. He started crying, and he didn't stop for a while. And WHERE WERE YOU FOR ALL OF THIS?"

"I..."

"Don't you dare say you didn't know he'd react this way!" The venom in his voice stabbed straight through the burning heat in his chest. "You've known him for ten years! YOU LEFT HIM BEHIND WHILE HE WAS CRYING FOR YOU! HE WANTED TO KNOW YOU WERE ALRIGHT, THAT YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE HIM AGAIN, AND YOU LEFT HIM BEHIND! AND FOR WHAT?"

Free gasped for breath. He'd probably never spoken this long before. "To go play with your new friends? The exact people who destroyed your beyblade? When Valt wanted his revenge more than anything in the world, Aiger volunteered first, and beat the both of them. You have no idea how close he was to doing the exact same thing you did. Valt was so fast leaving, I couldn't even catch him. No one could.

"I caught him just before he left the airport to the Snake Pit. He had packed everything, and when he looked at me, it was like he didn't even know my name. His eyes were absolutely frozen over and he was glowing a dark blue. But it was Valt who was speaking when he told me to go home.

"So I told him I wasn't leaving without him, and he looked so angry. Even more angry when I said that I would do whatever it took to make sure I stayed. Valt truly wanted to go. 'You don't need to be better,' I had said. And do you want to know what he said?

"If I can't help the people I love, what use am I?"

Shu fell into a seat, legs giving out. After knowing everything about the Snake Pit, Valt was about to go... for him? Why would he ever do that to himself?

"I only got him to stay because I said that you would die without him. And you never called him during that time, and he forgives you for that. He already did, and he's not in any danger of leaving to the Snake Pit again. But it left its mark and he's not the same.

"He doesn't need you anymore. Stay home, Shu. Seeing you again will just hurt him more."

You don't deserve him. You weren't there for him.

Shu really didn't deserve him.

"I-"

Phi snatched the phone out of his hand. At his cry of protest, the male snarled in the phone, "I don't care if you are one of the best, Free De La Hoya. Another word, and I will crush you like the pompous idiot you are."

Then he hung up and slammed the phone on the table. "You shouldn't listen to bullshit, Shu."

Suoh and Hartes looked at each other. "Does this concern us? Or should we leave..."

"Stay," the Phoenix Blader said, watching Shu carefully.

Shu stared into space. He really didn't deserve Valt, did he? He had no idea he was even going through that, even. Didn't even know his own boyfriend. He had been busy then! It wasn't his fault he couldn't call! Fubuki needed all the extra lessons he could get, plus Aiger, which made it so difficult to have time for anything. Especially since Aiger didn't know his own limits and kept falling asleep at strange times. That was his revenge, and if Valt wanted it so bad, he could have done it too! Besides, Phi had already been beaten.

Yeah, that was a lame excuse. He was aiming for his revenge, too. Shu was hanging out- forced to, though- with the guy who destroyed his bey!

But for now, he was going to fly to Spain, and Valt, and he was going to get on his god-damned knees and apologize. Because Valt deserved an apology, at the very least.

"Shu."

He blinked and looked up. "Yeah?"

Suoh stood in front of him, frowning mildly. "Free just asked you to break up with Aoi. You're not alright, are you?"

It was so easy to slip back into that mask. "I'm fine. And I'm going to El Astro anyways. Besides," he added with a grin. "Free doesn't scare me."

"He should, considering he kicked your-"

"Aaaaannd that's the plane!" Shu replied hurriedly, not wanting to mention that the last time Valt tried to put Free and Shu in the same room. He'd walked out with a bloody lip and a limp arm. Seriously. It wouldn't respond to any commands for the next several days.

At least Free hadn't walked out. Shu'd dragged him out the door, Valt frantically calling every number he knew trying to stop them from killing each other.

Yeah, Shu had gotten in a ton of trouble for that.

"WHERE'S MY PASSPORT!" Shu yelped. "Hartes, if you stole it-"

Suoh groaned, facepalming. "Here we go again with this shit. At this point, I'm not even surprised. This happens every time we go somewhere."

"So this dumb bitch did it again, he lost his passport for the eighth time this month," Phi sighed. "Alright, everyone check under your asses."

"God, every single damn time," Hartes sighed, standing up. "If it wasn't attached to you, you'd honestly lose your di-"

"DISCUSSION OVER!"

The flight attendant came over. "Alright, so we found four flashlights and a Harry Potter book in his bag," she said in accented Japanese.

"Goddamit, I swear I had it," Shu muttered, flipping through the pages. "Where is it?"

"This is taking away from my Super Smash Bros time," Phi sighed. "Have fun looking~"

With that, he pulled his Nintendo Switch out of the bag and started playing.

Hartes frowned at his passport. Illuminati music started blasting out of his bag, and he gasped. "Maybe his passport... is in my passport!"

"Highest IQ my ass," Suoh smirked. His gold eye glowed.

"Honestly, though," Phi muttered, flicking through the characters and settling on Lucina.

"Don't worry, we'll find it."

"WELL IF WE DON'T, WE'RE ALL FUCKED, OKAY?" Shu growled impatiently. "Fuck it, this is karma for the Red Eye shit, isn't it?"

The attendant sighed. "Okay, does anyone here speak Spanish? Anyone at all?"

Shu frowned. "Uh... yes bitch, you rang?"

"I'm gonna explain to you how passports work. You don't have one, your thicc ass can't enter my country."

"Lady, please. These guys will not survive an hour without me. They couldn't even find the bathroom five minutes ago. Hartes couldn't even buy a pretzel! Just let me go through with them!" Shu sighed. "Just give me a few more minutes. My fangirls will find it."

"WoooOOOooO~" Suoh laughed. "You're lucky you're cute and got fangirls, bitch!"

They kept looking for a few minutes, until Phi sang, "Here comes your girlfriend~"

One girl in the airport came up to him. Her short white hair gleamed, and her strange multicolored eyes caught the light. Shu suspected that she had most boys trembling in their seats, from the way Suoh was edging away from her. With sharp-edged grin, she held up a passport. "I'm sorry, does anyone know a Shu Kurenai?"

"Oh- yes! You found it!"

She tilted her head, holding it between two fingers. "I don't know... the Shu Kurenai the fans know wouldn't be so foolish as to leave this behind. He's smart... dangerously powerful... fairly cute..." With each word, she spun a circle. Yeah, she was definitely a terror. "Oh hell, I'll just give it to you. Just so you know, the others were planning to auction it for a night out with ya, so try to be careful." She tossed it to him with a smile.

"Thank you very much," he replied with a smile. She flushed. "You saved me a lot of trouble. I'll remember this kindness."

The girl fainted.

"Oh, thank God- I mean, me." Phi put his game away. "Does that mean we can leave now?"

"IMMA SLAP THE SHIT OUTTA YOU SHU!" Hartes yelled. "PHI TOOK MY CONSOLE AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Let's be honest. That girl saved us a lot of trouble. Besides, it's true, you guys cannot live without me helping you."

"Well, Phi would still have two girl in his bed without you. What's your excuse, fucking virgin~"

"SHUT UP!"

I have no words. Love you guys! Again, credit to justadiosaur