Odds and Ends

Breasts. Ban Midou liked breasts. Scratch that, Ban Midou loved breasts. Their shape and heft and feeling when he squeezed. Too bad he didn't often like what was attached to them.

But still that was no excuse for this. This being the fact that he had been forced to kiss Toshiki Uryuu, something that had not only permanently affected his reputation with said beings attached to the breasts (well okay, Himiko didn't really count) but seemed to have also branded itself into his brain, niggling at him with an intensity that no amount of brain bleach seemed to be able to stop.

Which explained why he was stomping around in a foul mood all by himself, trying to cheer himself up by finding the perfect pair of breasts. And then he would grab them and press them and-

-oh there they were! Ban lunged and managed to get his hands around them, the wonderful and just about perfect things, holding them and squeezing to his hearts content. Until he was smacked in the face by the girl, about a fourth of a second later.

It was a great smack too, hard and level, catching him just at the perfect angel to really, really hurt.

"Oww," he glared at her and she glared at him, but there wasn't really anything about her that was attractive except for her gorgeous breasts and what the fuck, slapping him for giving her beautiful appendages the proper appreciation. Women.

So he stomped on, turning in circles and making his way back to the Honky Tonk the long way, trying with all his might to use the Power of the Breast to overcome the Power of the Kiss. It didn't help that he the strong suspicion that he was fighting a losing battle, but Ban Midou was never one to give up without a fight, no sir. He was going to beat this thing into submission it if it took getting smacked in the face to do it, well then he was going to get smacked in the face.

He met Ginji at the Honky Tonk, all bright smiles and intuition. But he wasn't going to explain himself and so he simply barked at Paul that 'could someone get him some coffee goddamnit' and let himself fall into one of the seats.

"Hey Ban-chan," Ginji, with a smile that could light up a light bulb (literally), "Guess what, guess what? This guy called earlier, he wants to hire us! He's coming by later to day."

The fist hit Ginji almost before he knew what was going on.

"You idiot!" Ban yelled, grin spreading across his face. Money solved everything, "Why didn't you tell me this right away? Paul, coffee for everyone!"

Paul pulled his face of long suffering, "You don't even have the job yet, Midou, let alone been paid. Haven't you ever heard of not counting your chickens before they hatch?"

"Chickens, chickens," Ban waved it aside with an extravagant gesture, who cared? "we are going to nail this, we'll be rich! When did the guy say he was coming anyway?"

"Excuse me, which of you are the Get Backers?" The stranger standing in the door way was tall and thin, plain faced with a small mustache and neat, dark hair, dressed in a implacably tailored suit and with three tall, broad, intimidating men behind him. He was, in short, a man who smelled like money.

And Ban, who had a nose for that sort of thing, was immediately on his best behavior, "Right here sir, Ban Midou of the Get Backers at your service. We bring back what shouldn't be gone."

"And Ginji Amano," Ginji supplied happily, "we have a success-rate of almost one-hundred percent!" (Ban punched him. Discreetly.)

"Why don't you come right this way sir? We can discuss your offer," Ban led the way to a table in the corner of the bar, sending a look to Paul that could mean only one thing: get us coffee. Now. And the good stuff, none of that cheap shit. And have Natsumi bring it.

Paul rolled his eyes back saying: don't be fresh to me and this is so going on your tab. Also I have no cheap shit. But he did have Natsumi bring the coffee.

"Well sir, how can we help you? What have you lost that the Get Backers need to get back for you?" Ban said, lighting up a cigarette and tapping one finger on the table, sizing up the customer. There were rings on his fingers, three on each hand, and three necklaces and he was…playing with something, twirling it in between his fingers.

"My name is Hokuto Watanabe," he said tilting his head down slightly and looking up. His eyes were brown and very clear, "I am a professional gambler and I wish for you to return my lucky charm to me."

"Your…lucky charm?" Ban was not sure how serious to take this guy. A lucky charm for professional gambling, come on.

"Yes," Mr. Watanabe nodded, "It is vitally important, for in three days there is a grand tournament in which I am taking part and without my charm I cannot win."

"So where is this charm anyway?" Ban blew smoke towards the ceiling and tried very hard to keep from rolling his eyes. Rich people and their fanciful ideas. Oh well, at least it would get them some money.

"My greatest rival has stolen the charm from me," He passed whatever he was holding from one hand into the other. "He thinks this will make me surrender my claim on the tournament. All the information regarding him is in this envelope," Mr. Watanabe nodded slightly and one of the hulking body guards reached into his coat and slid a white square across the table. Ban snatched it up and passed it to Ginji.

"Your reward will be 1.5 million yen," Mr. Watanabe licked his lips slightly, "However there is one condition."

"Name it," Ban said without hesitation, his head already somewhere in the clouds, dreaming of food and booze and debts paid off, "Well do it."

"There must be three of you."

The crash landing from cloud-land was hard and slightly unpleasant, "Huh?"

"I said there must be three of you who go to retrieve the item," Mr. Watanabe repeated.

"But we're two," Ban waved at the two of them, "We're the Get Backers, that's how we operate!"

"I'm sorry," the employer bowed his head over the table, "but that is the condition. Unless you can produce a third person, you will not be entrusted with this job."

"Bu—but," Ban was about to argue, looking towards Ginji, who returned the stare wide eyed, "Would you give us a minute?" And with that he pulled Ginji over to the other side of the Honky Tonk.

"But Ban-chan," Ginji hissed furiously, "We can get someone else to come with us, Kazu-chan or Shido-"

"No way," Ban chomped on his cigarette, glaring furiously in the direction of rich employers with stupid ideas that made things too complicated, "They'll want part of the money and I'm not paying any of them."

At this Ginji rolled his eyes, but Ban ignored him thinking furiously. Could they just lie about it? Say they would get a third person and just do the job by themselves? But the guy might want to see proof. Or he would hear about the break-in in the news and then there would only be talk of two guys. Was there anyone that owed him a favor, someone he could force to come with them without giving them any money…

"I've got," Ban took the cigarette out of his mouth, "The guy from Divine design, you know, palm-tree guy," Ginji looked at him in confusion. Ban ignored him and the voice in his head that was whispering to him that he knew perfectly well what his name was, "the one that got his heart torn out-"

"Toshiki," Ginji filled in.

"That's the one. Well I saved his life right," Ban waved the cigarette around, trailing smoke through the air in an attempt to outline his brilliant line of thought that had nothing at all to do with the fact that Toshiki seemed to inhabit an almost permanent part of his brain, "so he owes me. We'll take him with us; he doesn't even have to do anything except stand around. Then we'll collect the cash and he get's none of it."

Ginji looked skeptical but he shrugged, "It can't hurt to ask him. And if he doesn't there's always Kazu-chan."

There was no way in hell that Ban was sharing his money with that transvestite. And he knew Toshiki would do it, he was one of those people that remembered honor and debts, but he kept his mouth shut and returned to the seat of their employer.

"We have found a third person to do the job with us," Ban said brightly, "We'll bring you the object before the tournament."

"Good," The look the man gave them was hard a clear, like he would know if they tried to cheat him out of his money, something Ban had absolutely no intention of doing. Not unless it became absolutely necessary that was, "You will receive your payment when you bring the object to me."

And then he left, bowing stiffly to Ban and Ginji. He'd drunk his coffee and of course he didn't even have the decency to pay for it. But really, who cared they were going to be rich!

"I wonder why he wants three people." Natsumi mused while she wiped the plates clean, "It seems kind of odd…"

Ginji shrugged and continued with his oh-yeah-we-scored-a-job-we'll-finally-have-some-money dance but Ban grinned, seeing a new opportunity to prove his vast and unparalleled reserves of knowledge.

"Superstition, Natsumi-chan," he told her, eyes gleaming over the tops of his sunglasses, "Three is thought to be an incredibly lucky number. Luckily he didn't ask for seven people. Didn't you see all the little charms on him? All the bracelets and necklaces and everything, all calculated in the number three. He took table number three, too."

He waited for the applause to his brilliance, possible hand-clapping-together and Oh-Ban-you're-so-smart, but nothing came forth, Natsumi merely nodding and returning to her plates while Paul rustled with his newspaper and Ginji started bugging him about what they were going to do.

"I thought you said I wouldn't have to do anything!" Toshiki yelled at them as he used the Murasame Palm Technique to take down another guard.

"We didn't know there would be this many guards," Ginji said somewhat apologetically, as he used his lightning to knock out another three, "Where's Ban-chan anyway?"

"Over there," Toshiki jerked his head to left where Ban was making show of smoking a cigarette and kicking ass.

"Well," he said, observing the carnage over his glasses when they had finished, "splitting up to cover more ground sounds like a plan right? Toshiki with me; Ginji, that way."

Ginji saluted and took off in the indicated direction with a smile, running so fast that Toshiki didn't even have the time to get another word in edgeways. Ban wasn't smiling, more glowering around his cigarette, like he couldn't quite figure out what was happening when really, Toshiki thought that he should be the one who was confused.

He was actually. Confused that is. It had seemed strange enough that he had been approached to join them on a mission. Neither of them knew anything about him, all they had seen of him was played out in Devine Design and even Toshiki admitted that hadn't been one of his finest moments. Certainly nothing that would have made him ask himself on a mission.

The explanation that they wouldn't (have to) pay him was sort of half-assed and Toshiki was wondering whether this was a sort of belated revenge for Devine Design and he would soon find himself tied up in a public place wearing no pants. (It didn't seem likely that they would kill him, not anymore. Also Ginji didn't seem like the elaborate killing plan type. Though he wouldn't put it past Mido)

Currently it was looking like they were really on a mission though and Toshiki wasn't going to let anything stop him from doing the best job he could, even when he couldn't quite figure out what for.

Though he had to admit that Mido was impressive. Strange, disturbing, slightly annoying but impressive. He had seen it during the fights with Devine Design but he had been focused on other things (what Kazuki might call 'wounds of his soul' and he himself referred to as 'pathetic angsting') Not that he was going to tell Mido, for fear it would swell his head and cause it to explode, but he had to admit that even in these little fights there was something about him, something in the way he moved and fought that showed he was capable of so much more.

Still, Mido knew it too and he wasn't below posturing. Strutting around like a male peacock or something. And he kept glancing back to make sure that Toshiki was still following him along the corridor of the mansion.

"Wouldn't we cover more ground if the two of us split up as well?" Toshiki asked finally, as they turned yet another corner into one of the long, extended corridors that seemed to make up the lines of these mansions.

"Yeah, no you're staying with me," Mido wasn't looking at him but chomping on his cigarette and that was all the explanation he gave. Toshiki thought about pushing the point but figured it would be safer for him (and as a precaution against all future pants removal) if he just kept his mouth shut and followed Mido. After all, he didn't even know what they were looking for in the first place, except vague references to a lucky charm (really? People hired other people to retrieve lucky charms for them? Was there no end to the depravity?)

Suddenly Mido froze and Toshiki stopped right behind him, focusing on the task at hand. He seemed to be sensing something, head cocked slightly to the side like he was listening for something and the deep blue eyes behind the glasses scanning the corridor.

Slowly Mido began to move again, signaling for Toshiki to follow him. He moved silently (not that he had been loud before but now there was no noise.) with smooth, gliding movements, concentrated power and keen observation combined. Toshiki followed him, trying to isolate what had alerted Mido and after a moment he found it, a concentrated energy, noise and movement at the top of the stairwell that they were nearing. There was something there and that something was heavily guarded. Looked like they had struck gold.

Before the stairwell Mido stopped again, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and signaling Toshiki. He leaned in, waiting for the whispered instructions. Mido was short, he realized, much shorter than he was, and he could smell the smoke on his breath.

Then Mido kissed him.

It was a moment of great what-the-fuck and it was over almost before Toshiki had properly realized it had happened, certainly before he had any time to react, lips against his own and the only certainty was the taste of smoke on his tongue.

Mido was scowling heavily as if things weren't going according to the way he planned (he planned! He planned? What about Toshiki's plan?) and he put the cigarette back between his lips and started up the stairwell, clearly intent on leaving it at that.

Toshiki gaped after him, then followed, making sure to keep his distance for now. There were really only two explanations he could come up with: one that he had imagined it (but he didn't think that was the case, because there were no drugs involved and Toshiki didn't make a habit of imagining random guys kissing him, certainly not with such realism). That left explanation number two: this was all part of their elaborate plan to get back at him. They had planned the whole thing and Ginji was somewhere filming or photographing and then they would use the pictures to embarrass/blackmail him (for what? Who cared, the theory was a work-in-progress). They had set up this whole mission around a kiss that barely lasted five seconds and now they were going to act like they didn't know anything and wait for him to make even more of a fool of himself (it was even better than the pants-off-in-public plot, which, Toshiki now admitted, was slightly juvenile).

But not with him. He wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. He was going to 'play it cool'. So he stomped up the stairs and tried to look like he knew exactly what was going on, which really couldn't be further from the truth.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-uuuuuuuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck double fuck a duck in the butt with- actually Ban didn't want to continue with that line of imagery. Sufficient to say that things were fucked up.

Because it couldn't really be that his (now, in hindsight, admittedly not quite as brilliant as it had seemed at first) idea of kissing Toshiki had backfired? It had seemed so simple and brilliant because clearly he was suffering from some sort of belated fucked-uppery from being forced to kiss Toshiki and that dumb, stupid, absolutely retarded revival ceremony (except for the part that Toshiki was alive again) and he wanted it to stop. He wanted to get Toshiki out of his head and he wanted to be able to focus on normal, important things again, (breasts, for example, and money) and not the way Toshiki moved or his shirt clung to his abs (they were nice abs, okay?).

And so he thought that if he repeated the action to this messed up situation in the first place he would be able to prove to his brain that this was all a figment of its imagination and it would stop.

Yeah.

That hadn't really worked since his brain had apparently decided that it really, really liked kissing Toshiki. And wanted to do it again real soon.

Clearly, Ban's life as a normal citizen was Over.

(On the other hand, kissing Toshiki was sounding to start like a quite good idea, moving into the realm of what came after kiss-)

No, he was not listening to his brain. It was a treacherous beast that needed to remember that it was under Ban's control.

Besides, didn't they have more important things to do right now? Things like, oh you know, completing their mission? And keeping up their one-hundred percent success rate (it was one hundred percent, no matter how many times Ginji added 'almost' to it).

So with great effort Ban turned his thoughts from Toshiki and back to the guy whose face he was currently punching in.

"Ban-chan!" Ginji smiled brightly, lightening cackling between his fingers, as he approached from the other corridor (behind Ban Toshiki stiffened slightly), "Looks like we found it huh?"

"Yeah, seems like quite a lot of guards," Ban replied, glancing around at the mounds of unconscious men, "there should be something important in here, so…who wants to break open the door?"

"I'll do it." Though Toshiki had never pegged him as someone who was into the destruction of other people's property, Ginji's grin was gleeful as he forced in the door of what appeared to be a study. Mido had to be a bad influence.

The study resembled nothing much except a study, bookshelves and grand-imposing-overwrought desk, strewn with papers.

"There's a safe behind the painting," Ban said and of course this ultimately cliché evil guy thing couldn't be missing. They removed the painting, carefully, setting it to the side and looked at the safe. It looked…safe-ish, with an electric lock and-

"I'll blow it okay?" Ginji said cheerfully placing both hands on the lock and concentrating for a moment, letting the electricity flow through him and into the lock until the whole thing exploded outwardly and the safe door swung out. Ban looked unbothered and immediately began rifling through the contents.

Toshiki gaped at them. This was how the infamous Get Backers worked? Breaking and entering, destruction of property and thievery and in the end they came out as the good guys? Somehow it didn't make any sense to him.

"It's not here," Ban exclaimed, "There's nothing but bonds in here! And drugs. If it had at least been cash, we could have snatched that to have something while we continue looking but like this…" He scowled and slammed the safe shut again, "Stupid piece of crap."

He was scowling, cigarette smoke wafting towards the ceiling and Ginji looked disappointed, eyes wide and brown.

"But where could he keep it, Ban-chan?"

"I don't know," Ban snapped, "Where would you keep the lucky charm you stole from your gambling opponent?"

Then suddenly his eyes light up like a kid when he sees a presents. Though in this case Ban was probably seeing a big, fat check, "There it is!"

And he lunged at the desk, scooping up a small, rectangular piece of what looked suspiciously like paper.

"That's a piece of paper," Toshiki pointed out helpfully.

"Not just any piece of paper," Ban waved it at Toshiki's face, "See here? Apparently the writing is some kind of magical spell that allows our client to have wonderful, supreme luck at whatever he's playing. Load of shit if you ask me, but he's the one who's paying for it, so I'm not complaining."

"Right," Toshiki nodded seriously, noting this down for future references: when the Get Backers were broke their honor mattered nothing to them.

Surprisingly the three of them managed to get out of the building without any problems. It was like all guards had been magically called to some other emergency (or maybe they had just knocked them all out all ready?) and when they stopped by the security room to destroy all video evidence of their breaking and entering and destruction of property the man who usually took care of the surveillance had been hit by sudden constipation and had locked himself in the bathroom for an indefinite amount of time.

Odd coincidences all around leading to Ginji believing in the amulets power, causing Ban to slap him in the head. Ginji pointed to the example of Devine Design, Ban countered that this was different and then they were squabbling, complete with pinching and hair-pulling.

It was slightly embarrassing. Just a little bit. But only for him, as they fought with out care or notice (Ban came out victorious but he cheated. Toshiki saw it.)

"Right," Ban brushed his hands off on his jeans, like he had just done heavy work, and stood up straight, "let's get this amulet thing returned to its proper owner and collect our cash shall we?"

It seemed like a brilliantly simple idea.

The tears in Ban's eyes were heart wrenching. He sobbed and sobbed, crawling on his knees and pulling at the shirt of the man who was standing in front of them. Ginji looked dumb-struck and Toshiki just felt awkward.

"But, but-" Ban begged, "we completed the job! We got the amulet and everything! You can't just not pay us!"

"Mr. Watanabe attempted to gamble without his lucky amulet," the man, whose only distinguishing feature was that he looked exactly like a bodyguard should, said, "He has lost all his possessions and is now living as the homeless man by the trash can near the hospital. Good day to you."

And with that he freed himself from Ban's grasp and proceeded to make himself scarce.

"Ginji!" Ban pulled himself into a sitting position, dirt streaking his face and the blue, blue eyes behind his glasses fierce and flashing, "we must find him! Which hospital? Which garbage can? Men like him always have secret stocks of cash and we will be paid for this!"

Ginji sighed but looked good natured about going off on a wild rabbit hunt. Toshiki was thoroughly confused about what was happening and if they needed him anymore. (Also, hadn't been there some grand plot to humiliate him?)

Ban focused on him and the eyes were lively and bright and seemed somehow magnetic, at odds with the dismissive tone of voice, "We can beat this fucker on our own, you can go now palm-tree boy."

Then Ban turned and stalked off, in the vague direction of where they had parked their car. Ginji grinned at Toshiki as if Ban's behavior was the most normal thing in the world (that was a scary, scary thought), "Thanks for your help! Tell Kazu-chan and MakubeX I said hi!"

They confused him, these supposedly famous retrievers.

Ban was in a foul mood. It really shouldn't be any surprise, since they hadn't managed to find Mr. Watanabe, had been nearly arrested twice for beating up random homeless people and had gotten another parking ticket.

But that wasn't the reason for Ban's mood. Or at least not the whole reason, the complete picture. There was the faint but terribly insistent voice in his head that was telling him that he really wanted to see Toshiki again. (It was the same voice that had told him kissing Toshiki would be a good idea so Ban was, understandably, a little reluctant to listen to it) The voice was very good at its job (being both convincing and annoying as hell) and Ban was doing his damndest not to fall into its trap once again.

Arguing with yourself was never a good situation to be in and Ban's mood was low, low, low and getting lower (Yes, the voice told him, but if you just went to Toshiki again everything would be much, much better. Somehow it failed to specify how things would be better so Ban ignored it once again.)

He couldn't quite stop himself though. Not absolutely completely. He would slink around Infinity Fortress from time to time, (okay, all the time), lightening his mood by beating up nefarious villains of all kinds and hide behind the corner of buildings when Toshiki happened to pass by, staring at him.

It felt completely useless and totally awkward and yet Ban couldn't stop himself, mesmerized by bright blond hair, the memory of a kiss and a swirling, fluttering feeling in his stomach. (He was going to chew Paul out about the coffee later. That would give him something to complain about at least.)

It took a couple of days for Toshiki to be sure, but he had the distinct impression that someone was slinking around Infinity Fortress. (And by someone he meant Mido).

He wasn't quite sure at first but as there were more and more people (of the evil kind) turning up with the shit beat out of them and spouting gibberish about dreams and snakes it got pretty clear that Ban was making his way around Lower Town.

There was a worried call to Ginji, who answered calmly and not at all reassuringly that Mido had been in a mood theses last days and had been slinking off somewhere and that he had no idea where but if it was Lower Town then he wasn't too worried.

Also that Mido seemed to be working out some issue or other, so they should just give him space and let him beat people up until he was finally ready to talk to someone about it, okay?

Yeah.

Toshiki felt the paranoia creeping back into him. Because, what the fuck, figuring something out? Like the next step in their wicked plan to do something to him? (He wasn't quite clear on what that something was anymore, but clearly there was a plot at work here. Against him.)

The paranoia only increased when he actually started seeing Mido. Near him. On a regular basis. And not in a oh-hai-Toshiki-didn't-see-you-there-just-beating-up-these-guys kind of way, more in a lurking-in-the shadows-and-disappearing-around-corners-when-he-looked-too-close kind of way. Help.

It was an evil, evil plan. Maybe they were trying to test his loyalty, see if he would attack Mido in a bloody rampage (but then, why the kiss? No, most likely they were simply trying to drive him crazy)

In the end Toshiki decided there was nothing left to do except talk to Kazuki. To warn him that whatever evidence Mido and Ginji brought against him, it was nothing but fake and he absolutely hadn't done anything wrong.

Kazuki listened calmly, a secret smile on his lips and Juubei sat there looking stiff and serious. Toshiki hadn't asked Juubei to come but Kazuki had brought him along, saying something about trust building so Toshiki had let him into his apartment too.

When he told them Mido had kissed him Kazuki had actually lost his cool and started choking on air but he regained his composure after Juubei slapped his back and signaled for Toshiki to continue.

After he finished the story they looked at him. Kazuki's expression was very controlled, like he was trying to keep from doing something that would insult Toshiki and Juubei was somewhere between looking like the whole thing made perfect sense to him and like he couldn't figure it out.

"Well, ah, Toshiki," Kazuki finally said, his lips twitching as if he was trying not to laugh, "I suppose there is one event of which you have no knowledge that might shed some light on the current, err, situation."

This was new to him. Toshiki wasn't aware that there was any event in his life he didn't know anything about.

"You see when you were dead," Kazuki explained, lightly, skating over a topic that was never brought up, "Well, you know Mido-kun brought you back."

Right. He had never quite figured out how and the only explanations were vague, with mentions of ceremony and witch blood. He'd assumed that no one else understood it either.

"Well, to bring you back, Mido, ah, kissed you," Kazuki smiled like he was trying not to, the corners of his mouth tilting upward just slightly, "I assume it had something to do with the ceremony. He was teased to no end about it."

Kissed him? What? For a moment Toshiki could only sit there, looking vaguely puzzled and confused, trying to put all the pieces of the situation together. So Mido had kissed him. That didn't mean he had to act like a crazy person now, did it?

"I think, and this is just a theory," Kazuki prompted, seeing Toshiki's bewilderment, "that the kiss might have opened Mido's mind to, ah, possibilities he had never thought of before. So he is probably just confused and trying to figure things out. I don't think there's an evil plan. The Get Backer's aren't really the type."

They left soon after that, Kazuki smiling and amused, Juubei serious as ever (though Toshiki almost thought he had detected the twitch of a smile here too) and left Toshiki alone with an apartment full of thoughts and possibilities.

It wasn't something he had ever thought of before, that Mido might actually be attracted to him. His mind had been far too filled with plans and thoughts and no-one-would-trust-him-anyway. But now, now there were hints and thoughts and magnetic blue eyes and lithe, smooth movements and the way Mido, the way Ban, stood, tall and proud, chin out and the crackle of power behind his eyes.

It was fucking hot now that he thought about it.

Which meant that, clearly, he had to do something about it, since Ban was acting like a crazy person and it didn't look like he would figure it out anytime soon. So maybe Toshiki could help him with that.

He would find Ban and convince him that he wanted him mind, heart and body (though admittedly, mostly body) and then they would be happy ever after. Or at least as close as they could get to it. Happiness, Infinity Fortress Style. (Edition 2.0)

Good plan.

He was thinking about Ban and about possibilities, because somehow things moved too fast. One minute he was sitting on the floor, thinking the Get Backers had an evil plan to do something to him and the next he was walking almost at the door with the firm intention of finding Ban and doing things to him.

Because he'd never thought about it before but now that he had it was totally hot.

Toshiki found Ban and Ban was glowering, like he didn't want to be standing here in Infinity Fortress, in front of Toshiki but he just couldn't stop himself.

The sky was swirling dark, rain clouds on top of rain clouds and it looked like there was a lightening storm coming.

"You wanna come inside?" Toshiki asked finally, because he didn't know what to say and Ban wasn't saying anything.

Ban looked surprised, then shrugged but when Toshiki turned to go he followed him. Then they were inside, standing in an apartment that was still half-dark because the lights were out and the light outside was all leaden and grey. But it was light like that, which let them step outside themselves for a moment and Ban's shirt was soft under Toshiki's fingers when he put a hand on Ban's shoulder.

The kiss was heavy and soft, and there was a lingering taste of smoke and coffee but things were still tense, still off, like they both didn't know what they were doing. Toshiki threaded his hand in Ban's hair and promptly received an electric shock.

"Ouch!"

And Ban laughed and laughed and laughed and Toshiki had to join in because the whole thing was just too absurd, too stupid; they were just two idiots who couldn't talk trying to kiss.

"It's Ginji's fault," Ban said finally, when they had both stopped laughing and were sitting on the living room floor, "Stupid electric eel. Stick around him enough and everything get's charged."

Ban's eyes were bright now, even in the light that was still grey and stormy, and there was a half-smile playing around his lips. Toshiki wanted to kiss him again, for real this time and with possibly less clothing.

And they did and there was skin and sweat and hands and mouths and the hard wood of the living room floor and then the soft mattress of the bed. Outside the window and the rain started and turned the light so dim Toshiki has to turn on a lamp.

"I don't understand it," Ginji said and he looked puzzled in a way that only his partner could make him look, "first Ban's all moody and now he's all happy but trying not to show it, so he's still looking moody and it all has something to with Toshiki but I can't figure it out."

He peered into his coffee cup in distress while Natsumi gave Paul a worried look and Kazuki (who was visiting) tried to hid his grin in his own coffee.

Paul tried to look very serious and thoughtful, "Well Ginji, see it's like this…"

~The End.

Yeah, I had fun here. Hope you did too.