He rolled over in the bed, then smiled to himself and crawled closer to the silver-haired man beside him, leaning his head on the other man's shoulder. Culgan opened his eyes and smiled to him.

"Not sleepy, hmm?" the older man whispered, wrapping his arms around him. He grinned and turned to look at Culgan, his eyes glimmering in the dim light coming from the fireplace.

"Nah. Are you?"

"I think I can stay awake for a little longer..." Culgan drew him even closer and kissed his red hair. The older man's right hand slipped down his naked body, caressing the soft skin along the way.

He nuzzled the other man contentedly, then sighed as the hand stopped on his hip. "You're teasing..."

"But why would I do that, my love?" The older man smiled again, then sat up, turned, pressed him down on his back and proceeded to kiss his chest. He grabbed the silver head and pressed it down on his body, forcing Culgan to move a bit lower.

"Mmm, aren't we hasty tonight. Well, if this," Culgan moved down and started caressing his lover's thighs while kissing his lower abdomen, "is what you want..."

"Ha, what do you think I wa- Aaaah... Culgan..."

The older man chuckled and focused on fondling his lover's member, which turned hard under the touch. Culgan took the tip into his mouth and circled it with his tongue.

He moaned, writhed and sank his fingernails into the other man's shoulders. "Cul...gan... Aahn..."

He closed his eyes, but was forced to open them again as his lover's caresses tormented his body. The silver-haired man continued, suckling gently while stroking the base of the organ slowly.

His fingernails buried into his lover's shoulders again, but that had never made Culgan to stop pleasuring him.

After a while, the older man raised his head, his hands still caressing him. Culgan then kissed his thigh while rubbing the tip of the hard length carefully with his fingers. He shivered, moaning the older man's name silently.

"Ah, just a little more, my dear..." Culgan smiled and took the length into his mouth again, resuming what he had been doing.

He whimpered, then moaned and wrapped his legs loosely around the older man's body. The ice-blue-eyed man kept touching him, coaxing him towards release.

"Aah... Mmmh..."

He strained on the bed, unable to prevent yet another pleasure-filled cry. He whispered Culgan's name once again and closed his eyes, only wanting to give himself to his lover...

"Hey, Seedling... Wakey wakey..."

Seed opened his eyes slowly, still half asleep. He blinked a few times to clear his head. The feel of Culgan's hands on his body haunted him for a while, and he had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself down. When the last remnants of the dream had left his mind, he glanced up to see who had awakened him. An auburn-haired woman around her thirties stood by the couch, a friendly smile on her face.

"Mm...? Oh, hi Cynthia," he said, then mumbled, "Should've guessed it was you, you're the only one you calls me by that stupid nickname."

The woman laughed shortly. "But I think it's cute."

"If you say so..." He yawned, then turned his head to see the clock on the wall. It was half past five in the afternoon. He sat up and stretched his arms, causing the blanket which someone - most likely, Jay - had wrapped around him to slide down on the floor next to a pile of clothing. He had been so tired when he had gotten home early this morning that he had just gotten rid of most of his clothes and lain down on the sofa.

Jay smiled gently. "You're getting another bad habit, Seed. Sleeping is good, but... You were sleeping in the morning when I got up, and that was before 7 AM. Now it's over 5 PM. And the same thing happened yesterday."

"So what?" The redhead looked at his roommate. "Hey, at least you can't say I don't get enough sleep."

"Well, no." The blond shook his head. "Nightshift must be tiring. Still, I should have woken you up this morning. Sleeping on the couch is not good. At least you slept in your bed yesterday..."

Seed pouted. "I was tired. You try staying up all night. I just wanted to rest."

Cynthia smirked and raised an eyebrow. "I'm almost sorry I woke you up. Quite a dream..."

She nodded at Seed's lower body. The wine-red eyes followed her gaze... And when Seed realized what she meant, his face got a red hue. He grabbed the blanket from the floor, wrapped it around him and glared at the woman who was grinning at him.

"What's so funny?" He grumbled at her.

"Oh, nothing." She grinned. "Really nice dream, eh? 'Mmmh, Culgan...' "

Fire flashed in Seed's eyed, and his face turned even redder. "I... Dammit, I wasn't talking in my sleep! I would never... Ack, stop it! I'm not some... some..."

The woman snickered. She knew that Seed used to have weird dreams that always included someone called Culgan. "Okay, I'll stop. Dream about your silver-haired lover all you want. Damn, I just wish I'd get to see it sometime."

"Pervert," the red-haired man muttered and turned to stare the floor, embarrassed.

Cynthia giggled, then gave him an accusing look. "Bad Seedling. You're abusing little Sijo." She picked up the black cat that had been sleeping next to the redhead. The cat looked mildly annoyed from the fact that her warm resting place had moved.

"Aw, damn! Poor Sijo..." He forced himself to stand up, still holding the blanket around him. He reached out and petted the cat who purred and nuzzled Cynthia's hand. Jay, who was standing by the kitchen door, shook his head and smiled when he looked at the two.

"When it comes to that cat, you two are hopeless. Oh well, time to cook something. Any requests, darling?" He asked, smiling sweetly to the woman.

Cynthia just smiled back. "Nah. Your food is heavenly compared to the stuff I've had to eat during the past few days. I think I'm beginning to hate business trips."

The blond man grinned. "Well, in that case, I think I'll... make something you like. Heh. And today, Seed will be forced to eat something warm, too."

"Whatever." The red-haired man turned around. "I'm gonna go take a shower. Go harass your boyfriend, Cynthia."

The brown-eyed woman laughed and slapped his butt. "I think I will."

Seed put down the magazine he had just finished reading, and glanced at the monitors. As he had expected, nothing had changed.

This was his third night at the job. He smiled to himself; he was getting used to this. Besides, the job wasn't too hard - all he had to do was read some magazines and take a look at the monitors from time to time. There was nothing to see this late at night, just empty rooms. Frank had said that during the years he had worked here, there had been less than ten real security alerts.

It was a little past 3 AM when the phone rang. The young security guard picked it up, not bothering to put down the comic book he was reading. "Daviaux, the other guy whose name I can't remember, and their associates. Entrance hall, Security," he answered the phone, grinning to himself.

"Morning, Seed," the voice on the other end said quietly. The redhead gave it a little thought, and finally identified the speaker as the guy who worked the morning shift. He had talked with him for some time yesterday.

"Marco? Morning indeed... What is it?"

"Darn, sorry about this, but I couldn't remember the number to the control room." The other man sounded a little nervous. "I need to talk to Frank. I got a problem here, and will be late for work this morning."

Seed put the comic book down on the table. "Something wrong?"

"You could say that. I don't know if you've heard, but my wife is pregnant. I'm at the hospital; been here for an hour already. She woke me up earlier and said that something's not right."

"And?"

Marco sighed. "Well, I brought her here. And, well, something is not right. The doctor says that they'll do some things to stabilize her condition and so on. You know that my shift starts in less than two hours, but I can't leave her alone here right now. She's afraid. Hell, I'm afraid. But I have to come to work later - I've been forced to take a couple of extra days off already. I'll come as soon as I can. Will you ask Frank if he'll get someone to cover me?"

"Don't worry about it." The redhead stared at the control room monitor, watching the older guard who was reading something. "Dammit, I can do it, if ya want... It's not like anyone would need me at home, anyway."

"You would?" The voice on the phone turned relieved. "Thank you. Gods, I'll only owe you my life..."

"No problem. Damn, go to your wife already or something. I'll inform Frank."

"Thanks, really. Well, I'd better go. Don't work too hard." Marco hung up.

Seed put down the phone and glanced at his comic book. There was nothing that would prevent him from staying here overtime. He wasn't that tired, and he was in no hurry to go home. He could sleep all day, after all. He shrugged, picked up the receiver again and chose the number shortcut for Frank's phone down in the security control room.

The redhead yawned and glanced at the clock - it was 9 AM. He was getting bored after sitting there 12 hours straight, and after staying up the whole night, he was also feeling somewhat tired. He had read most of the comic books Frank had given him earlier in the morning, so there wasn't much to do other than watch the people walking by. He wasn't even the only guard in the place anymore, as a couple of other guards had arrived around 7 AM, opened the front doors and were now sitting in the entrance hall.

He leaned back in his chair, watching as one of the lawyers in a dark suit walked past him. Morning shift was quite different from the night one - people started coming in after 6 AM, and by this hour, the building was full of attorneys, their secretaries and other people who worked here.

His gaze wandered to a young woman who entered the building, carrying a folder, a newspaper and a box containing food. The box had the logo on its side - Seed recognized it as the logo of the cafe that was across street.

That must be one of the secretaries. Cute girl. Wonder if the guy she works for tries to harass her. Well, poor man. She would probably hit him with that folder...

He smiled at the thought. Then he grinned to himself as a young man who was going out stopped to greet the woman, and mumbled something about her looking pretty as always. The woman smiled to him, and the man blushed and made a hasty exit. Seed remembered seeing the young man before - he was the computer guy who was always doing something in the computer room during the night. When the redhead had nothing else to do in the hours after midnight, he entertained himself by watching the administrator guy configure something, almost looking like he was talking to the computers. Seed thought it was kind of funny.

Half an hour later he was feeling even more tired. He stared at one of the monitors in front of him, not actually seeing anything.

"Good morning, Seed. The second time today," someone said. The redhead started a little, blinked and turned to see who was talking.

"Marco...? You look like hell."

"Feel like it, too."

"Everything all right now?" the red-haired man asked.

"Yeah. They finally got something done, and I stayed with my wife until she fell asleep. She's safe, the baby is safe, and all that. I'm dead tired, but damn, you must be, too. You've been here for over 12 hours!"

Seed close his eyes for a few seconds and rubbed his temples. "Ugh. I think I'm beginning to notice..."

"Off you go, then. I'll take over now. What did Frank say, by the way?"

"Oh, was worried. Ordered you to go talk to Phelps about this, and something like that." The redhead got up and gave his seat to the other man, who nodded and mumbled something about going to see the security chief when his shift ended.

When Seed got back to the entrance hall after changing his clothes, Marco smiled to him. "Go home. And thanks again."

"You're welcome." The wine-red-eyed man smiled back and headed out of the building.

Seed walked towards the bus stop, studying the timetables. He had a little over twenty minutes before the next bus, so he decided to stop by the comic book store and buy himself something to read at work.

He went to the store nearby and picked up some random books, not bothering to check what they were like. Some of them seemed to be war comics, and that suited him just fine. He paid for the books, got out of the store and crossed the street.

He was just about to turn around the corner, when most of the cars on the street stopped. The breaks screeched, and there was generally a lot of noise.

"What the hell...?"

He glanced back, but couldn't see what had caused it. He shrugged and continued walking towards the bus stop, shaking his head.

Some people... Another good reason why I avoid cars nowadays. Morning rush hour, I guess.

Not giving it any further thought, he walked to the bus stop and waited there until his bus arrived.

The silver-haired man stopped by the elevator to call it down as he noticed someone standing farther away. He recognized the person as Frank the security guard. He didn't know most of the other employees of the firm very well, but he'd helped Frank when his ex-wife had accused him of something.

"Morning, Frank. Or, night. Can't really call it morning yet..."

Frank glanced at the speaker, then smiled. "Good... night, Mr. Black. Isn't it a bit early to come to work?"

Culgan smiled back. "First, drop the Mr. Black thing. I thought I told you that when I took care of your case. And no, it's not. I went home after 8 PM when Lina threatened to strangle me. I've slept for almost 5 hours, and that's enough. I've got to go to court today, so I need to be well prepared."

"And that's a good reason to come to work this early? Well, after working here long enough, I stopped thinking that that's weird..."

"I felt like working. So I might just as well come here and go through my files a few more times."

Frank laughed. "Lawyers. All such fanatics."

"Indeed. Why are you standing here, by the way? Aren't you usually in the control room?"

"Time to take a break. Needed some fresh air, so I came here."

Culgan shook his head, still smiling. "Fresh air? This is the parking garage. How can you get fresh air in here? I bet the air in your monitor room is better than this..."

The other man grinned, looking a bit embarrassed. "Well, I finally quit smoking. But it's still hard sometimes. So, this... Well, the air sure isn't fresh, but... I like just walking around here."

"And you call us lawyers weird."

Frank smirked. "Well, yes... I am a bit weird maybe. Well. I got to get back now. Break is almost over, and I shouldn't leave the newbie alone for too long..."

"Newbie. There's a new guard?"

"Yep, a redhead who's bored to death in the entrance hall. You haven't probably seen him, since he works on the nightshift, but..."

Culgan nodded. "Ah. I'll probably see him sometime if I use the front door when coming to work early. Well. Try to stay awake now."

"You too, Mr. Black."

The silver-haired man sighed, but didn't say anything as Frank left and entered the building through a door on the back of the garage.

Really. 'Mr. Black'. Sounds so formal...

He shrugged, then entered the elevator that was already waiting for him, and selected the button for the 10th floor. Instead of heading to the library on the 12th floor, he went to his office. He wasn't going to work in the library today.

He worked for a couple of hours, carefully going through the case. He was supposed to represent the case to the court today, and he always had everything, including every word he was going to say, well planned in advance. And he was always prepared for anything the other side's lawyers might try.

At 6 AM, he had checked the papers several times, and felt like taking a break from his work. He sat on the couch of his office and closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to catch a few images of his dream lover before continuing to work.

"Culgan? You could wake up now... You want to check the papers one more time, so better wake up. And you need breakfast and such before going to the court." The silver-haired man opened his eyes and realized that Lina was standing in front of him, holding a cup of coffee.

"Mm. So I fell asleep..." He stretched a little and sat up. "What's the time?"

Lina smiled, handing the cup to him. "8 AM. I got here an hour ago, but didn't feel like waking you up. I checked from the database - you've been here since 3 AM. You're insane. Well, prepared for the court?"

"Aren't I always?"

He smiled and sipped his coffee. Then he got up and walked to his desk. "But, you're right. I'd better check the files one more time."

The dark blonde shook her head. "You're always like that. Anyway. Your clothes are a mess after that little nap... But you got the suit you're going to use in the car, eh?"

Culgan sat down, got his reading glasses and then turned to look at his secretary. "You know everything, don't you. Yes. Mind going to get it for me? I think I'll stop by the gym downstairs and take a quick shower before I go."

"Good idea. I'll go get you some breakfast soon, too."

"And mind getting that by 9 AM?" Culgan said. "I'll take that shower, eat here, and then check the files for the final time before I go. The court's at 10 AM."

"I know. Was just about to remind you, but what's the point; you know those times too well. But breakfast will be here at nine."

The silver-haired man nodded then concentrated on his papers. "Leave my mail on my desk later. I don't have time for that right now... And I'm not taking any calls."

Lina gave him another smile. "I knew that already. Because you never take any calls."

The man didn't reply.

Lina opened the office door about forty minutes later. "Your suit, sir. And go take that shower now. I'll go get your breakfast."

Culgan glanced at her, then put down the papers. He took off the reading glasses and smiled. "Guess you're right. And you know me, so..."

"Yes, I know you. Always in time. You want to be well prepared for everything. Go on already. I'd come to watch if I could..." She grinned and closed the door. Culgan sighed, shaking his head.

"And I wouldn't even mind if you watched, since I don't care," he said to himself, a bit annoyed by the fact that his secretary had the habit of always leaving before he got a chance to reply.

He organized his papers, then took the other suit Lina had picked up from his car. Then he left his office and took the elevator to the 3rd floor where the firm's gym was. He used it at least two times a week, but this week he hadn't had the chance to visit the place. And this time, he was there only to use the shower.

He undressed in the dressing room, then took a quick shower. After the shower, he changed clothes and returned to the office. Lina had left a note on his desk, saying that one of the bosses had stopped by to wish him good luck. Culgan smiled to himself, then went through the papers again and organized them in the folders. He put the folders in his briefcase and concentrated on checking some details from his computer.

He didn't have a chance to really start reading his files as Lina walked in. "Your breakfast, sir. Right on time."

Culgan glanced at the clock. It was 9.00 AM. "Hmm. You're right on time indeed..."

His secretary smiled. "Learned from you, as someone here is so damn precise. Anyway, eat. Jeffrey told me to make sure that you eat everything, or else he'll come here and make you eat it."

The silver-haired man smiled back. "All right. Thank you; I'll eat now."

He took the food from Lina, then gave her a questioning smile. "And why do you look so... Hmm. Flushed?"

Lina blushed some more and turned to look at the floor. "Ah, it's nothing. Well, just... You know, that computer guy was leaving work and..."

Culgan raised an eyebrow. He had noticed a long time ago that one of the firm's server administrators was interested in his secretary. "So, he finally asked you out?"

"Ah, no, he just... Well, he said that I look pretty."

The man laughed. "You know, you two aren't getting anywhere like that. One of these days, you will have to ask him out."

Lina slapped him with her folder, then just smiled. "Maybe I will. Well. You eat now. I'll go check the rest of your schedule for today. Don't worry about anything; just get ready for court."

"I will. Get to work now. And kick me out of here in half an hour. I want to be there in time"

"All right, all right... Just eat already!"

He ate and then continued his work on the computer. Half an hour passed, then Lina came by to notify him about the court. It wasn't actually needed, as he was already getting his things ready.

The dark-blond woman smiled at him. "Well. If everything's done, then I guess all I can say is good luck. Like you'd need luck. You trust on your skills."

"True. But thank you, anyway. This'll take the better part of the day, so see that I have nothing today..."

Lina slapped his butt as he walked by. "Already taken care of. Have fun in court."

Culgan smiled. "Fun? I wouldn't call it fun..."

"Of course not. Every court session is a battle to be won, blah blah blah. Get going already. You're always so precise about being in time..."

"Maybe I am. See you later then."

He took his briefcase and left the office. He took the elevator to the parking garage and got into his car. As he drove out, he glanced at the clock - it was 9.36 AM. The courthouse was only 10 minutes away, so he was early.

The traffic was pretty bad at this time of the day, but he knew the city well, and knew the best route to the L'Renouille Courthouse. He drove around the block, then had to stop at the streetlights near the office.

Culgan sighed. Still, he knew that he had enough time to get to the court in time. His gaze wandered idly to the people crossing the street a few cars away. It was morning, so the city was full of people, going around shopping or to work, and children going to school.

His gaze stopped to follow a young, handsome red-haired man who crossed the street, and he smiled to himself. Then the lights changed to green and he drove forward...

Only to hit the breaks two seconds later.

Seed!

He blinked, and his gaze found the redhead again. He knew it was Seed - he'd gotten a good look at the man's face. During his life he had seen many people, but never someone who had made his heart skip a beat like this. The young man was Seed.

His hands were shaking, but he practically kicked his door open and scrambled out of his car, calling the redhead's name.

"Seed! Seed!" He yelled, looking around where he'd seen the man for the last time. Around him, the cars stopped, and his voice died under the noise of the traffic.

"Seed!" He ran to the sidewalk and looked around, but saw nothing. The redhead was gone.

Heavens. I'm going insane! But it was you... Seed...!

He gave up and buried his face into his hands. The drivers of the cars behind his were yelling, and as he walked back to his car, defeated, a policeman stopped by his car.

"Are you insane? Blocking the traffic like this, and..."

The silver-haired man looked at the man and got back into his car. "Yes, that's exactly what I am. Insane."

The traffic around his car was starting to move again, as the other cars circled around his. The policeman continued his lecture, while writing him a ticket for reckless endangerment.

Culgan wasn't listening. He couldn't hear a word, or the sound of the traffic around him. His mind was totally numb, and the only thing he remembered was the short glance at the one he loved.