There's something wrong with this picture, Yohji thought to himself as he lit yet another cigarette in the flower shop. It was only him and Aya, the other two Weiss not being on shift, but the red haired leader had yet to yell at him.
Yohji looked over at the man in question and frowned. It had been a little over two weeks since Aya's panic attack and he was looking even worse now. He was watering the plants, keeping the hose there for longer than was necessary.
Truth be told, Aya looked very similar to some zombies (not the decaying ones, the ones from The Night of Living Dead kind of zombie). Yohji could tell that Aya was spacing out, and had been for the majority of his waking time. The lull in missions wasn't going to last long; he was surprised that Kritiker hadn't decided on giving them one yet.
The last two weeks had not been good to Aya. His clothes hung looser than usual, his face look gaunt, pale and dull. The bags under his eyes said that he hadn't been sleeping and Yohji hadn't seen him eat more than a bagel. To top it all off, Aya wasn't yelling at Yohji to quit smoking and to get back to work.
If possible, the redhead was even quieter than usual.
The blond sighed and shook his head. He stood from the counter he was leaning against and turned off the hose. It didn't even look like Aya had realized that the water wasn't running anymore.
"Oi, Ayan?" Yohji stepped closer to the redhead and waved his hand in front of Aya. The other man looked up at Yohji, giving him a blank stare.
"Earth to Aya, is anyone home?" He felt like he was talking to a vegetable. His frown deepened when he thought of Aya that way. This wasn't his teammate, this was like a… cheap robotic clone.
He didn't know which worried him more: that Aya wasn't responding or that he himself was comparing Aya to a cheap robot vegetable clone.
"Come on man, you need to get some sleep." He put a hand on Aya's shoulder and that's when the redhead reacted.
The other man shoved Yohji's hand off and stumbled backwards until he hit the wall. Yohji watched as the man fell into the wall, the back of his head first, then his back. With that, Aya fell to the floor on his bottom.
Yohji blinked at the redhead's reaction for a couple seconds. He wasn't expecting that in the least. As he watched, the man's head moved back, hitting the wall. What the hell was going on here? Yohji thought as he knelt in front Aya but didn't dare touch him again.
"Aya?" The redhead responded by looking straight at Yohji. The look in those amethyst colored eyes raised the hair on the back of his neck. They looked dead.
"What the hell is going on?" A small flare of emotion went through those eyes. If Yohji wasn't already looking into his eyes, he would've missed that tiny flare of sadness.
Why the hell was he responding? Yohji's hands closed into fists to keep himself from grabbing Aya and shaking him to get some kind of reaction out of him.
"Aya." He said in a flat voice. Aya's eyes focused on him, waiting for him to say something.
"What's going on?" Yohji repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time. Maybe Aya was losing it. Aya looked down and shook his head. What a stubborn little shit, he thought.
Standing up, Yohji pulled down the steel grate, switched the sign to close and locked up. He needed to figure out what was up with Aya, and that couldn't be done with the possibility of someone waltzing in.
When he looked back at the redhead, he found he was being stared at. There was a light in those violet eyes, signs of life.
Yohji kneeled beside Aya but didn't say anything. Gently, he bit his lip as he pondered about what to do. This was brand spanking new territory for him. Tentatively, Yohji started to reach out with his hand to be on Aya's shoulder. It seemed like a comfort to most people, but Aya's reaction to Yohji's touch worried him. The swordsman had moved like Yohji burned him.
"Please, don't…" Aya spoke softly when the blonde's hand hovered an inch or so above his sweater clad shoulder.
At least he spoke, Yohji thought. He looked at the amethyst eyes looking back at him. Yohji waited patiently for Aya to speak, however long that would take.
Aya looked away to the floor and frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together.
"I…" The other man stopped himself, unsure of how to say what was on his mind. Yohji wasn't too surprised on that part, the Weiss leader hardly spoke what was really on his mind. Unless, of course, it was an insult.
"Maybe it's just me, but you seem like you've been lacking sleep for a couple of weeks." The blond was hoping he wasn't going to far to say this, but it was true. If he wanted to be honest, he was worrying about Aya.
The redhead nodded, his frown deepening. He opened his mouth, drawing in a breath as if to speak before shutting his mouth and shaking his head.
"I'm sorry, Yohji. I can't do this." The man stood and quickly walked out. Yohji sat for a moment, blinking in confusion at Aya's retreat before realizing what was happening and moved quickly to stop him.
"Wait a second! You little shit!" The smoker wasn't angry by any means, but he was getting frustrated that he was trying to get to the bottom of Aya's problem, and the other man wasn't being cooperative.
Was it odd that Yohji felt a slight thrill at the situation?
He caught up to Aya, grabbing the redhead's arm when the man wouldn't stop. Aya tried to shake him off. Yohji's grip tightened and he pulled back him back. Aya struggled to get Yohji to let go without injuring the blond.
Rolling his eyes, Yohji gripped Aya's arm and shoulder and pressed the smaller man against the wall. The bottom of his other arm pinned Aya's chest to the wall, resting just beneath his throat.
"Let me go, Kudou." The redhead said with narrowed eyes.
The other man shook his head, strands of hair falling around his eyes and his sunglasses were in trouble of falling of his nose. At the moment though, all that mattered was that he got through to the cold Weiss leader.
"Not until you let me know what's going on with you. Weiss won't function correctly if one of us hasn't got it together."
"Weiss has worked fine when someone is out of sorts." Aya spat back, still struggling to get out of Yohji's grip. The blond pressed closer to his teammate when Aya attempt to knee him in the crotch.
"While that may be true on occasion, Weiss still needs its leader. Since you're it, I want to be sure you are fine."
"Then let me assure you, Balinese, I'm fine!" Aya pushed forward, moving barely an inch away from the wall before Yohji slammed him back against.
This man is going to skewer me with his katana after I let go, Yohji thought. It wasn't like he was that terrified anymore.
"Why can't you once, in your fucking life, let people help? What would be so bad about actually trusting someone?" He was shaking, maybe it was anger. By the dark look in Aya's eyes, Yohji would guess it was anger. It didn't seem like the man felt anything else.
Yohji expected a punch in the face, his head bashed against the wall, and his ribs kicked in. He didn't expect to have Aya's mouth on his. He blinked twice, trying to register the phenomenon happening in front of him.
This wasn't a dream, Yohji was sure. Hopefully it's not, he thought as gripped the side of Aya's face and returned the kiss. His heart was thrilled at Aya's earnest response as he smiled into the kiss.
Their tongues touched, twisting as Yohji pressed Aya fully against the wall. This was what he wanted. Oddly enough, it felt right.
"Hey! It's not my fault that happened, somebody locked the gate on me!" Aya and Yohji froze, listening to the new voices at the back of the house.
"Just admit it Ken, you ran into the fence." Omi said, chuckling.
Yohji moved back a little, giving Aya a little more space.
"Just let me think for a little while, please, Yohji." Aya whispered, looking sincere. Yohji merely nodded and with that Aya slipped from his loose grasp and left.
"Come on Omi, I'm not that uncoordinated." Ken said after the opening of the refrigerator sounded.
Omi scoffed. "Okay, then Aya must've only banned you from the breakable vases because of your facial features."
"Yeah, I'm just that good looking." Yohji could hear the sounds of Omi rolling his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair and pulled out a cigarette and lit it without a thought.