Deciphering the Day
Ken x Inoran

Someone was knocking on Inoran's door at 6 a.m. in the morning. On a holiday.

It was Hannukah or Kwanzaa, or Christmas or something. He couldn't remember and he didn't care. He had planned on sleeping through all three (or four - he was sure he was forgetting one) of them but apparently that wasn't going to happen this year.

Inoran spent five minutes knocking everything off his nightstand while blindly looking for the lamp switch. Then he spent another five minutes cringing into his pillow as the light seared his sleep depraved eyes. By the time he actually managed to drag himself out of bed, his door was still being mauled in by the persistent knocker.

Trailing sheets in his wake, Inoran zombie walked to the front door, tripping over everything that was possible as he went– the couch, the rug, his own feet, the amp cord gone astray– and only when he made it to his destination, was he able to pry one eye halfway open to see were in the devil he was going. A second later and he might have actually tripped over the door itself.

Instead he just banged his head trying to look out the peephole.

Cursing and rubbing his now throbbing head, Inoran gave up and opened the door for the disturber of the peace– and what he saw on the other side left him staring dumbly through his one functional eye.

Ken Lloyd.

Inoran could think of no plausible reasons for Ken to be knocking on his door at six a.m., or why he was even here at all. He hadn't seen the man in months– or however long it had been since he'd left FAKE?. Not that he had parted with the band on bad terms, it had just been weird and uncomfortable for the both of them.

Inoran was about to open his mouth to say something when Ken beat him to it.

"It's Christmas," his former band mate said, as if they hadn't spent all this time avoiding each other.

"I know that," Inoran lied, watching as Ken quirked a simple knowing smile at him.

Inoran just glared, calm and collected– until the look on Ken's face got the better of him. Defeated, Inoran sighed and backed away from the door. Ken allowed himself inside and promptly threw himself down on the couch, much to Inoran's dismay.

"Why are you here, Ken?" he asked, shutting the door.

"We have plans." Ken told him. "So why aren't you dressed?"

Inoran turned around and blinked. This was news to him and Ken just watched him patiently from the couch, like he fully expected Inoran to know what the hell was going on.

"I was sleeping," Inoran said finally.
"Well hurry up," Ken urged, waving a hand at him. "We have a long day ahead of us."

Inoran, who couldn't be bothered to even pretend to know what Ken was up to, did as he was told. He took a shower and soaked himself under the gloriously hot water longer than he usually would. During that time, Ken had somehow made his way from the livingroom couch and into Inoran's bed. When Inoran finally came out, Ken was sacking Zs on his one good pillow.

Caught between being confounded, annoyed and too tired to care, Inoran stood there, debating whether or not to wake him up or to just go and sleep on the couch like his eyes wanted him to. In the end, Inoran was too tired to care, and apparently so was Ken.

The man didn't even stir as Inoran dropped to the opposite side of the bed and stole all the covers for himself– an fair exchange for his pillow.

Laying face first on the mattress, he couldn't help but wonder what it was Ken had come here for anyways. Whatever he supposedly had planned, whatever it was he had intended... none of it must have been very important if he could so carelessly fall asleep on one of his 'missions' like this.

Then a thought occurred to him– Ken must have been lonely.

He didn't get to explore that notion very far before he drifted off to sleep with Ken snoring in his ear - then he was waking up to the smell of brewing coffee, the TV playing in the living room, and someone running a hand through his unbrushed hair.

Inoran opened his eyes to the sight of Ken sitting next to him, shower fresh, shirtless and a fresh cup of coffee in hand. He was smiling, as if everything had secretly gone according to his plan. And Inoran wouldn't have been surprised if it had.

"You woke up just in time," Ken said, taunting Inoran to full by placing the coffee cup in his face. "It's almost midnight."

"Merry Christmas to you too," Inoran murmured, accepting the offer of caffeine from Ken's hand.

"Happy New Year, actually." Ken corrected him.

Inoran paused– got the distinct feeling he had just jumped headfirst into some trap laid out for him– and he stiffened. He was prepared to fight for his life from here on out, but to his surprise, Ken just started laughing, and leaned over to press a kiss against the corner of his mouth.

"You really have no clue what day it is, do you?"

Author's Notes: I don't know how I feel about this story. I had to cut it in half cause there was no way I was going to finish it on time and I kinda feel like I've butchered it now... unedited and such. Meh.