Warnings: Shounen ai, some language
Author's notes: This is just a weird little story I wrote in honor of Valentine's Day. Beta-ed by M.E., my indispensable proofreader.
Since the uploading system seems to have decided to take out certain punctuation marks for no apparent reason, words that are thought instead of spoken will now be denoted by single quotation marks ( '...' ) instead of my usual dashes.
By Rapunzel
Everything was perfect. A soft, flowing table cloth covered the table, which was set with the sort of nice plates one used when company was expected. The settings were carefully placed so that a line of symmetry ran right down the middle of the table, creating a view that was pleasing to the eye. Two candles were lit, filling the room with a soft glow and providing the only light source. In the very middle of the table sat a vase of roses arranged by a practiced hand. Aya ran a critical eye over the arrangement, inspecting it for any flaws and finding none. However, rather than being pleased with his handiwork, only one thought echoed in his mind.
'Why the hell am I doing this?'
Of course he knew why; Youji had explained it to him. Still, it was hard to recreate the exact notion that had formed in his brain earlier once the playboy was not around to remind him of his reasoning. It had all made so much sense before...
/
(Five hours earlier in the Koneko no Sumu Ie...)
"So, Aya," Youji drawled, sidling up to the redhead, who happened to be the only other person in the shop at that moment, with a glint in his eye that Aya didn't like. "Have you got any plans for this evening?"
Aya looked up from the arrangement he was working on and eyed his coworker warily while trying to feign disinterest. "Has Manx been by?"
Youji made an expression of distaste. "No, she hasn't, and that's not what I meant. I was asking if you had any personal plans for the evening."
"Why would I?" Aya asked, sounding as if he couldn't care less.
"Because it's Valentine's Day!" Youji exclaimed.
"So?"
"So?" Youji repeated incredulously. "Is that all you can say? It's supposed to be one of the most romantic days of the year! Don't tell me you and Ken have nothing planned."
"Why would we?" Aya asked in a flat voice, not looking at his tormenter.
"Because that's what couples do! And don't try telling me that you and Ken aren't together," Youji said. "I do live in the same building as you two, after all." He winked suggestively at his reticent team leader.
Had Youji been talking to Ken, that young man would have gone red up to the roots of his hair and started sputtering. Aya, however, was not Ken. He simply grunted.
"Oh, c'mon Aya!" Youji sounded slightly exasperated. "You mean you really have nothing planned?"
"I don't see that my plans are any of your business," Aya said somewhat coldly.
"Of course it's my business," Youji said, rolling his eyes. "Even if you pretend not to be my friend, Ken is, and I've got to look out for him and make sure you treat him right."
"And is there some implication that I'm not?" Aya asked dangerously, the tone of his voice daring Youji to say yes.
"Well, no," Youji admitted, "but I want to make sure it stays that way. And it's Valentine's Day, for goodness sake! This is the one day of the year when even you can afford to act romantic."
"I don't do romantic," Aya told him as if that ended the discussion.
Of course, it did not. "Normally, no, but today is special. Ken's probably expecting you to do something."
"If he does, he hasn't mentioned it," Aya said.
Youji rolled his eyes again. "He shouldn't have to mention it, Aya, it's just one of those things normal people know. And it's not like you can claim you forgot. We work in a flower shop, for crying out loud; the only people who have less of an excuse than us for forgetting would be the chocolate retailers. And as if that isn't enough of a reminder, there're those."
He gestured over to one of the tables whose surface had disappeared under the mountain of chocolates and gifts the four of them had received from the admiring fangirls. Many of them were done up in bright paper with ribbons and cute little notes telling anyone who cared which of the four florists the gift was for. One of the ones on top had a little tag that simply read, "Omi-kun," with lots of little hearts drawn around the name. Aya knew there was one somewhere in the pile which had a note that read, "Aya-san, please accept this gift along with all my love and affection." Ken had shifted that one to the bottom of the pile earlier that morning after he'd noticed that Aya's eye twitched uncontrollably whenever he caught sight of the label.
"I didn't forget," Aya said archly. "I simply didn't see any reason why this day should be special, aside from the fact that it brings extra revenue into the shop."
"So you don't plan on doing anything special for Ken today?"
"Why bother?" Aya said indifferently.
After a moment of silence, he glanced up to see Youji regarding him sternly over his sunglasses. After a moment of scrutiny, the lanky blond sighed heavily and pulled out a cigarette. "Well, if that's your attitude, then I guess there's no hope for you."
"What do you mean, there's no hope for me?" Aya demanded. "And put that away; there's no smoking in the shop!"
Youji ignored his command, keeping the cigarette between his lips but making no move to light it. "I mean that there's no way you're ever going to be able to hold onto a relationship with that attitude. Ken's been pretty willing to put up with your 'I'm a Cold Hearted Bastard' façade so far, but even he must have his limits."
Aya froze, his hand suspended in mid air above the arrangement.
"But maybe that's for the best," Youji went on, seemingly ignorant of his teammate's inner turmoil. "If you can't even be bothered to make an effort, it would be better for him to simply move on."
Aya swallowed hard and managed to find his voice. "If you're suggesting that Ken would drop me simply because I don't celebrate Valentine's Day, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. He's not so shallow."
"Shallow?" Youji laughed. "Who's being shallow here? But that aside, it's not just that you refuse to celebrate Valentine's Day. That just speaks of deeper problems."
"There are no problems," Aya insisted, trying to sound sure of himself. He wasn't so sure he managed it. The thought that Ken might grow tired of dealing with his antisocial ways had occurred to him before, and it frightened him. Youji had managed to find one of his major insecurities and hit right where it hurt.
"Really." Youji managed to sound disbelieving and disinterested at the same time. Abruptly, he took the cigarette out of his mouth and leaned down closer to Aya conspiratorially. "You know what I would do if I was you? I'd try to do something special, just this one day, to let Ken know he's worth the effort, if nothing else."
"I'm not giving him chocolate," Aya said firmly.
Youji just smirked at him. "Well I should hope not," he said. His eyes strayed to the pile of presents. "Ken's probably got more chocolate than he knows what to do with already. Personally, I would suggest a nice quiet dinner with just the two of you."
"It's too late for that," Aya objected. "Any place decent to go for dinner would require reservations, and they've probably already been filled."
"So, stay here then," Youji said easily. "Don't worry about the chibi and me; I'll make sure we're both out of your way by the time Ken gets home from soccer practice tonight."
Looking up at his blond teammate, Aya felt a stirring of apprehension. Youji seemed entirely too eager at the prospect. Still, given some of the things the playboy had said, Aya figured he could hardly afford to ignore his advice. Against his better judgment, he found himself nodding in agreement with the plan.
/
Several hours after his discussion with Youji, Aya found himself once again questioning the wisdom of the whole thing. The setup had been easy enough to manage. Aya, while hardly a gourmet chef, was certainly not a bad cook, so dinner had been easy enough to manage. True to his word, Youji had taken Omi and vanished earlier in the evening. All that remained now was for Ken to return from soccer practice and notice the arrangement, which was bound to be any minute now. Still, Aya couldn't help feeling more foolish than romantic.
As if on cue, Aya heard the door open and Ken's voice calling out, "Oi, is anyone here?"
"In here," he called back.
There was a pause, then he heard footsteps and Ken's voice grew louder as he neared the room. "Hey, Aya, where is everyone? I mean, I expect Youji's got some kind of hot date tonight or something, but where's Omi? We don't have a mission or anything, do we? 'Cause that would... really... suck..." His voice trailed off as he reached the doorway and looking into the room. Ken's eyes widened as he took in the sight before him. His gaze wandered over the table, the candles, the roses, and finally settled on the still form of his lover.
Aya swallowed and summoned up the words he'd been practicing. "Welcome back," he said. "Dinner's almost ready."
Almost before he knew what was happening, Aya found himself face down on the floor with his arm twisted behind his back and a heavy weight resting on top of him. "All right, who the hell are you and what have you done with Aya!" Ken's voice growled in his ear.
Despite the fact that Aya had spent most of the afternoon trying to imagine how Ken would react to the preparations, this scenario had not occurred to him. "I am Aya," he snapped back. "Now let me up!"
"Bullshit," Ken snarled, his voice low and dangerous. Aya felt the grip on his arm tighten, twisting it painfully. "I don't know how you managed to imitate his appearance so well, or how you found out about us, but Aya would never do something like this! Now tell me what you've done with him, and if you've hurt him, I swear I'll-"
"Ken," Aya interrupted him. "Were you born an idiot, or do you have to work at it?"
There was a pause, then the grip on his arm loosened and the weight atop him shifted cautiously, allowing him to sit up. Rubbing his wrist, Aya turned around and glared hard at Ken, who was still half sitting on his legs and staring at him wide-eyed.
"Aya?" he said, sounding doubtful. "It's you?"
"Who the hell did you think it was?" Aya demanded testily. He jerked his legs out from under Ken, causing the young man to land rather abruptly on the hard floor.
"I don't know," Ken answered, sounding slightly bemused. "I guess I thought maybe someone managed to look like you, or that guy from Schwarz was controlling you or something."
Aya stood and started to dust himself off, pausing to glare down at Ken, who was still sitting on the floor looking bewildered. "Why would you think that?" he asked.
Ken blushed. "Well," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I guess it does seem kind of stupid looking back on it, but I thought... All this..." he gestured at the table. "It isn't really like you."
"No," Aya agreed. "It's not."
"Then... why?"
Aya shrugged. "It's Valentine's Day."
"But I thought you hated Valentine's Day," Ken said.
"It's not one of my favorite holidays," Aya acknowledged.
"Then why go to all the trouble?" Ken asked.
'Why indeed?' Aya thought. Aloud, he said, "I thought you expected me to."
Ken blinked up at him in surprise. "But I didn't really. Why would you think that?"
"Kudou suggested it," Aya admitted ruefully. "He said you wouldn't say anything about it because it was something I was expected to know."
Abruptly, Ken threw back his head and laughed. "That's Youji for you. He's just used to dealing with women. They never say what they think. But don't worry, if I ever want you to remember something, I'll be sure to tell you about it."
Aya nodded. That had been what he'd supposed, but he'd let that damned Kudou manipulate him into this. Although, of course, his making a fool out of himself was partially his own fault for listening to Youji instead of trusting his own better sense.
"I mean, come on," Ken continued, unknowingly reinforcing Aya's thoughts. "You've said yourself that subtlety isn't one of my strong points."
"True," Aya mused, allowing a small smile to curve the corners of his lips. "I should have thought of that. And I suppose I should be grateful that you leapt so quickly to my defense against a supposed 'imposter'."
Ken ducked his head. "You're never gonna to let me live this one down, are you?" he muttered.
"Live what down?" Aya asked. When Ken jerked his head up to stare at him, he continued, "I think we should just eat dinner and try to forget that this whole thing ever happened."
Ken nodded eagerly. "I'm fine with that."
"I thought you would be," Aya murmured. Holding out his hand, he helped Ken to his feet and steered him towards the table. "Now sit. The food's already prepared, and I won't let it go to waste."
Ken obediently sat down. "Hey, how about after dinner we go sit down and sort through all that stuff the girls gave us?" he suggested.
Aya's eye twitched. "Why on earth are you bringing that up now?" he asked.
"I dunno," Ken said, shrugging. "I guess the whole Valentine's Day thing just reminded be of it. We'll have to do it sooner or later, and sooner's probably better."
Sighing heavily, Aya nodded in resignation. "I'll get the extra trash bags after dinner."
"I can help you go through yours if you like," Ken offered, seeing his lover's reaction.
Aya considered the offer for a moment. "Actually, there's another thing you can do for me."
Ken brightened. "Oh? What's that?"
"Don't ever let me listen to Kudou again."
/
"Ano, Youji-kun," Omi said hesitantly, "are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"Of course," Youji answered easily. "We are going to hit the town and have a good time."
"But won't Aya-kun be angry when he finds out you manipulated him just so you could take me out and get me drunk without him noticing and yelling at you?"
"That's if he finds out, chibi. I'm hoping that things will go well enough that by the time we get back, even if he does notice he won't care."
Omi frowned. "I still can't believe you talked him into it. You must have said some pretty interesting things to him."
"Maybe I did go a little overboard," Youji admitted ruefully. "But he just pissed me off with that comment of his. 'Why bother?' indeed! I swear, that guy doesn't have a romantic bone in his body."
Omi laughed. "It's Aya-kun. What did you expect?"
"I don't know," Youji muttered. "I figured it was Valentine's Day, so it was my only chance to get him to agree. But enough about him. We've got a full night ahead of us. We've got to complete your education, bishounen, and none of this 'I'm too young' excuse! Time to get you liquored up and show you what life has to offer!"
Omi rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Youji-kun."
Owari
Author's Note: With regards to Youji taking Omi out on Valentine's Day, the reader can choose to interpret that however he or she pleases.