Disclaimer: I don't own Weiss Kreuz. Honest! If I did, I wouldn't be sitting in an apartment in Virginia Beach, I'll tell you that much. Takehito Koyasu, and to an extent Kyoko Tsuchiya, own it, not me, and you can tell, because neither of them is stuck in Virginia Beach.

Warnings: Um... sap? OOC, of course, since in the series none of them are gay.

Pairings: Ken + Aya, references to a previous Yohji x Aya incident (completely Yohji's fault, too, the only thing Aya had to do with it was that he held still). There's Aya + someone, too, but it'd be giving a few things away to say who (nothing squicky like Crawford, though). I will say that this won't end up with an Aya/Omi pairing. They're listed as the main characters because they're the two characters most involved in the story, not because they're the pairing I'm aiming for.

This is the first fic I've ever posted, so I'm really interested in finding out what people think about my writing.

Anyway, um, read!

--

It figured that Yohji would be the first to sleep with Aya, even if it wasn't fair. Ken had wanted him for much longer, and everyone knew it. Omi figured even Aya had to, what with the way Ken was always picking exactly the right moment to fall so that he landed square on Aya, and the way the soccer player's chocolate brown eyes practically stalked him around the room when he thought nobody was looking. Granted, Aya wasn't the most observant of men, but Ken had gotten rather blatant lately with his attempts at affection. The valentine (anonymous, but Ken's clumsily distinctive handwriting gave it away) should have at least clued him in that something was going on. But no, Aya had remained as oblivious as ever, and now Yohji had gone and messed up any chance Ken might have had by practically raping the poor guy.

So now, Aya was sulking because he'd been taken advantage of, Ken was sulking because it wasn't by him, and Yohji was sulking because Aya minded. Altogether, an uncomfortable situation. The precise snipping of Aya's shears as he worked on an arrangement of aconite, begonias, and yellow carnations made Omi's scrotum shrink, and he half-hoped that it was doing something similar to Yohji. Indeed, the slim man paled as he saw the flowers Aya was working with, mumbled something about needing to find purple hyacinths and lilac, and left in quite a rush.

Ken looked up from his precariously balanced pile of daisies, blinking with wide eyes. "Is Yohji-kun ok?"

"Don't know. Don't care." Aya grunted, not looking away from his flowers. He didn't notice the flash of concern that passed between Ken and Omi, nor would he probably have cared if he had. It was a pity, really, that Aya couldn't find it in his heart to love Ken; the younger man loved him despite his standoffishness, and would continue to do so no matter how many times he was rejected. Omi thought Aya needed someone like that; everyone did, but Aya especially. How else would he ever really be alive?

Then again, Omi reflected as Ken's sneeze destroyed his entire arrangement, maybe Ken needed Aya just as much.

--

The store closed early on Sundays, so they had a few hours to just sit around and be themselves before Persia hit them with a mission. Omi's homework was all done by then, and most of the girls Yohji liked to spend time with had jobs to be at on Monday. The neighborhood kids were normally with their families on Sunday evenings, so they couldn't drag Ken out for yet another soccer game, and it wasn't like Aya had a life to complicate things, so all four of them were usually in the shop on Sunday evenings. Before, this hadn't been much of a problem, but now that Ken's attraction to Aya was more apparent, and Aya was angry at Yohji, things were bound to be a little more difficult.

Omi always cooked on Sunday evenings, and he'd usually rope one of the other guys into helping him. This week he made a special play for Yohji, not only because he was the least frequent helper but also because Omi wanted to give Ken a little bit of time with Aya without Yohji around to complicate the matter. By putting Yohji on vegetable cutting duty, Omi could look through over the sink at where Aya and Ken sat on the couch, watching television, without Yohji being able to look at them. That was important; if Aya knew Yohji wasn't looking, he'd be more comfortable, and as long as Omi could see them, he would know if anything went horribly wrong.

So far, nothing had happened. Aya was sitting perfectly straight, just like he always did, and Ken was sitting on the other end of the couch, also sitting perfectly straight. Omi knew this was a pose he'd borrowed from and used solely for Aya. It was unfriendly, uncomfortable, and completely uncharacteristic, but it provided Ken the dual benefit of imitation (that being the finest form of flattery, after all) and yet another hint to Aya, King of the Oblivious. Anybody slightly more human would have noticed Ken's discomfort, and possibly asked about it, but Aya went on completely without comment.

"Ken-kun, are you alright?" Omi called from the kitchen, hoping to instigate conversation between his two friends.

"Fine, thanks," Ken replied quickly. Aya didn't even twitch.

Stupid Aya. "What are you two watching?"

"The news." Omi could well imagine Aya using exactly the same tone whether his response was "the weather channel" or "midget lesbian mud wrestling". It was the same tone he used with everything, the same "I honestly don't care, and I don't care that I don't care" deadpan. Privately, it infuriated Omi, but now was hardly the time to address that. It had waited several months, it could wait several more if it was for Ken's sake.

"Are they saying anything about last night?"

"Nothing about us." The main problem with Aya's statements was that they indicated the complete idiocy that would be demonstrated by further conversation. Every time Omi followed something Aya said with a question, or a response of any kind, it just made him feel stupider.

"Anything important, though?" Omi tried one last time for conversation, hoping that Ken would pick it up and perhaps actually get the two of them talking.

Ken did start to speak, but Aya cut him off bluntly.

"No."

Omi glanced at Ken, who was behaving as though he hadn't begun to say anything at all. How unfair! Before this mess had started, Ken would have followed Aya's statement with a comment of his own, but now he was acting as if Aya speaking was all that was needed. He was playing the complete submissive, and Aya wasn't even doing him the courtesy of acknowledging his place as dominant.

"Ken, were you going to say something?" Omi asked tightly.

"No, nothing." Ken fidgeted, not taking his eyes away from the television, and that was when Omi decided he'd had enough.

He threw the rag he was holding into the sink, then stomped out of the kitchen, ignoring Yohji's stuttering. They could sort it out without him, since they obviously weren't going to use the help he was offering, and he was tired of wasting his time.

A hand on his shoulder interrupted his progress toward his room, and he whirled to find Aya, cold as ever.

"You're being very strange."

"You're an idiot," he spat, unable to put his thoughts into anything less rude.

Aya blinked, looking as close to confusion as Omi had ever seen him. Good. It meant that he would have to think about it.

"Go help Yohji before he hurts himself."

Surprisingly, Aya released him and turned obediently, if a bit stiffly, disappearing through the kitchen doorway. Omi stayed where he was for a moment, considering what had just happened.

Since when did Aya take orders from anyone?

--

So, what did you guys think? This will probably have at least two more parts, the other two will be a little bit longer than this one... I have it all planned out, but I still need to write it.

Oh! The flower meanings from the first part are as follows:

Aconite: beware, a deadly foe is near.

Begonia: beware.

Yellow carnations: rejection, disappointment, disdain.

Purple hyacinth: please forgive me.

Lilac: humility.

Daisy: Loyal love, innocence.

I like the idea of Ken playing with daisies. They're sort of like small sunflowers, and you see him in pictures with those a lot. Besides, daisies sort of personify him in this fic... and he probably doesn't know it, which makes it even better. Y'know, innocently picking out a flower that represents innocence...

Anyway, off to start part two!

--Hidakamiya, 25 March 2003