What if Aki was also in love with Aya?

Aki was sitting alone at the bar in Hagoromo, a quiet yet fancy bar opened by his close friend, Tooya. His head started to spin slightly from the sake so he laid his head down on the bar table. Being bored, Aki fingered the rim of his glass, producing a soft twining effect.

"Hey, stop doing that! My glass would break." Tooya warned Aki lightly.

Aki ignored his friend and continued making music. Realizing that words did not seem to get into his friend's head, Tooya made a grab at his glass holding it away from Aki's grasp. Aki glared at Tooya darkly through half- opened eyes.

"Do you hereby agree to abide by my rules?" Tooya smirked as he dangled the glass in front of Aki's slightly-flushed face. "Fine fine whatever. Now just give me back my sake if you please." Aki grumbled as he snatched his sake glass out of Tooya's long slim fingers and emptied the glass in one gulp.

Personally, Tooya was a bit taken back at Aki's unusual behavior. Usually the guy would crap happily to him on his recent well-being after a few drinks but today, that few drinks seemed to fuel his temper, making him sulky and short-tempered.

Tooya chuckled softly. "My, my! What big temper you have. Maybe I should confiscate your sake and replace it with a soothing lavender tea eh? I like lavender tea myself too."

"Cut the crap and give me another sake." Aki slurred as he gently covered his tired eyes with his palms. Tooya shrugged his shoulders and collected Aki's glass, before preparing his order. After a few minutes, he nudged Aki lightly, presenting him with his new drink. Focusing on what's in front of him, Aki wrinkled his nose and rejected it.

"I thought I ordered sake, and not some miserable tea?" Aki asked his noise clearly annoyed. "Well, since I already prepared it, you might as well have it." Tooya replied matter-of-factly as he started polishing a glass. "Haven't you heard that the customer is always right?" Shot back an even more irritated Aki, with a vein throbbing dangerously at his temple. Tooya pointedly ignored his fuming friend and replied shortly with a smirk "I'm the boss here, so what I say counts, eventually."

"Why you..." Aki had wanted to fight back verbally had not for his spinning head getting the better of him. "Forget it. I will never win against Tooya in an argument anyways. He always wins." Aki thought as he reluctantly sips his tea. After a few sips, his head felt much lighter and he found that actually the lavender tea was rather refreshing.

Aki was absently "attacking" the lavender buds in his tea when he let out a long sigh. This caught Tooya's attention as he started a light chit-chat. "You know, sighing is an indication that you have something on your mind and today you have been acting weird."

Silence

"Basically what I'm trying to say is that, you are making me curious as to find out what's wrong with you. So 'fess up pal or don't even think about leaving my domain." Aki simply sweatdropped. He knew that Tooya knew him like the back of his hand, allowing him to easily detect what's wrong with him. And knowing Tooya, he will not let Aki go until he hears his woe. So no point in hiding stuffs from Tooya.

"Well, you see, it's about Aya." Aki mumbled while fidgeting with his fingers. Tooya looked at him strangely while scratching his chin. "Ohh? So what about her? By the way, how is she? Heard she's currently going out with this Aogiri boy. Think his name is Yuuhi. Quite a handsome-looking lad in my opinion." Aki let out another sigh before continuing the conversation. "Well, Tooya, he is my problem."

At this point of time, Tooya was unable decipher what Aki was trying to say. Catching Tooya's puzzled face, Aki proceeded to explain. "Simply speaking, I think I'm jealous of Aogiri Yuuhi, and I think I may be in love with Aya." Tooya shot one eyebrow up. -."

"When they first started seeing more and more of each other, I thought they were just gonna evolve into best buddies. Which they did. Then they went even further then being best pals. I wouldn't have known that they were a couple if I haven't seen them holding hands in public with my own eyes!! So usually Yuuhi calls to talk with Aya and after each call, Aya looks like she's in ultimate bliss. No matter what I use to insult her, she just grins silly at me. If it was in the past, she would have clobbered me silly." Aki stopped half-way as he heard Tooya sniggering. "Laugh all you want Tooya. And whenever I bad-mouth Yuuhi on purpose, she would go all means to defend her lover boy. This means I ended up facing her wrath each time. And the worst of it all, whenever I happen to see them kiss at our doorstep after each date, I feel like pulling them apart, then tear Yuuhi's mouth into tiny little bits!!! Arghhhh!!! Why do I feel like I do now?? Somebody tell me!!!" Tooya could no longer stifle his laughter and let it all out in full blast, causing a vein to throb at Aki's temple once again. -.-

After much effort to curb his violent laughter and regain his composure, green clashed with blue as Tooya looked Aki in the eye. "Friend, I have come to a conclusion about your emotions towards Aya. First let me ask you something, who is Aya to you?" Aki looked at Tooya as if he was a weirdo. "She's my sis of course, duh!! You knew it since the first day you know me!!" Then Tooya continued "See, you yourself too knows that she is your sister. Hence I will say that you are not romantically in love with your sister, but rather you are being overly-protective over her. To the extent that you want her to be always with you. With Yuuhi's presence, you fear that he will slowly replace everything about you, taking you completely out of Aya's life bit by bit. Do I make any sense to you?"

Aki slowly digested Tooya's words while slowly sipping his tea. What Tooya said did make sense. He was afraid to lose his sister. Afraid that Yuuhi will replace him in Aya's heart. Afraid that Aya will not think of him as her brother anymore. Afraid that they might become strangers. It made him realized just how much he loved Aya from deep down within his heart, despite their daily squabble and insulting. Then he gave a sheepish smile, followed by a chuckle. "I guess you're right Tooya. Gee, you shouldn't be the boss of a bar, you should be a counselor." Tooya simply rolled his emerald eyes at Aki.