Savior:
Yohji leaned his head against the seat of Seven as he listened to the quiet ticking of the engine and brought the almost gone cigarette to his lips. The nicotine flooded his system and he breathed out a stream of smoke.
The warmth from the liquor he had consumed earlier in the evening had vanished to leave him cold and tired. With a sigh, the blond got out of his car, flicked the cigarette into a corner of the garage, and walked up to the Koneko's back door.
A hand ruffled through his blond hair as he picked out the right key and sighed again. He wanted to storm into Aya's room and refuse to leave until the man spoke to him. He had enough experience to know that the redhead would just get angry, yell at him to get out, and/or hit him in the face. But not necessarily in that order.
The only thing Yohji could look forward to now was consuming the rest of the whiskey in the fridge and sleeping until three in the afternoon tomorrow. He chuckled, knowing damn well that last one wouldn't happen if Aya had anything to say about it.
He shut and relocked the door behind him, lazily walking towards the fridge and reached inside to grab the whiskey. A frown pulled at his lips as he realized he was grabbing air, he peered into the fridge and saw nothing of his quarry.
"What the hell?" He muttered. It was there before he left, and that meant Ken and Omi couldn't have taken it with them to the soccer game in Tsu since they left yesterday and wouldn't be back until Sunday. That left only one person, even if it was the inconceivable.
"Damn redhead." Yohji muttered. It looked like he would be confronting the Weiss leader, he would be damned if he didn't at least get a swing of his alcohol.
"Aya!" He knocked on the door loudly. "Open up you little shit! That's my damn whiskey!" No answer. Why wasn't he surprised?
The blond considered that Aya was a sadistic person since he often deprived Yohji of sleep and his vices. If he hadn't seen Aya's panic attack close to a month ago, he would've thought that Aya was laughing at him.
Hell, that wouldn't actually surprise him even now.
"Aya!" Yohji tried the door handle and was surprised to find it wasn't locked. He felt like an idiot, standing in an empty hallway and yelling at a slab of wood when he could've just tried the doorknob.
The door creaked as it moved and looking into a slightly dark room added to the creep factor. Get a hold of yourself, Yohji, he cursed at himself.
It was a room in the Koneko and surely Aya wasn't angry enough (or drunk enough) to swing his katana at Yohji.
"What are you doing?" Aya's deep voice rang clearly through the room. It took a moment for the blond to locate the man.
He was sitting at the window seat with the window open and the crescent moonlight streaming in. Aya had curled his legs up to his chest and at his feet was Yohji's bottle of whiskey with less than half of its contents left.
"You didn't hear me yelling?" Yohji questioned while easing into the room, finding relief that Aya wasn't angry (or drunk).
"I thought you were drunk." If the redhead would be one to make slight jokes, Yohji might've laughed.
"Well, I wasn't hollering at your door for my health. I want my alcohol." He was being ignored, that or Aya had fallen asleep, but he would bet his left nut that it was former rather than the latter.
Yohji walked towards Aya, still determined to at least finish his alcohol, and found the other man just staring out the window.
The blond frowned at the sight of Aya.
Messy hair and dark bags under his eyes had become a common feature on the Weiss leader lately. It was almost disturbing to see the normally composed man to be so… disorganized. Kritiker had finally given Weiss a mission after a couple of weeks of nothing and to Yohji, Aya didn't do as well as he should've.
At least it was only an in and out mission, no research needed, but it should've been Aya giving out orders instead of Omi. Missions that weren't technical fell under Aya's jurisdiction, and Yohji wasn't the only one to sense that something was wrong.
Before Ken and Omi left, Yohji had made a promise to the youngest Weiss that he would figure out what the hell was going on with their local swordsman. I guess, he thought, now is the best time.
"What are you doing in here, Yohji?" Aya questioned, looking up at the blond through tired eyes. Yohji could tell the effect of the alcohol on the younger man, which, hopefully, would make it easier to get an answer out of the man.
"Well, first I want to know why you took my whiskey." As if on cue, Aya looked at the bottle by his feet, as though he had forgotten about it.
Maybe Aya's more drunk than he looks, Yohji frowned at this thought.
"I-…" Damn, he is drunk. "I wanted to… forget." Aya muttered so softly that Yohji thought he had heard him wrong.
"Forget what?" Yohji sat on the window seat, the bottle resting between him and Aya.
Aya ran his hands through his hair, pulling gently at the ends. Yohji's frown deepened. That was a very un-Aya like trait.
"You drink to forget, don't you?" Aya looked at him, moonlight playing across his hair and face. Yohji stiffened at Aya inquiry. Or maybe it wasn't an inquiry; seeing as Aya was so damn perceptive, the man probably knew damn well what Yohji drank for.
"I drink for a lot of things, Aya. Socializing, to unwind, and sometimes to forget. What do you try to forget?" Yohji wished he could better remember how to question someone without raising any red flags, but he was so damn tired.
"Her, I want to forget her." Aya went back to staring at outside.
Yohji didn't have to ask who she was, he already knew.
"Why?"
He didn't expect to hear a chuckle come from Aya. While he usually enjoyed any moment Aya would laugh, or hell even smile, this wasn't a laugh from amusement. It sounded bitter, hopeless.
"She's dying, her brain is shutting down. I always thought she would stick around." Yohji leaned against the window, pulling out a cigarette.
So that was the base reason for Aya's panic attack and strange attitude as of late. His one reason to keep on going was leaving.
Yohji lit up a cancer stick and breathed in the nicotine. He offered the bottle of whiskey to Aya, realizing that a single tear had gone down the redhead's cheek.
Fuck, he thought.
Opening the window behind him slightly more, Yohji tossed out the cigarette and closed the window completely before taking a swing of whiskey.
"You know Aya, even after one reason leaves, you can always find another that makes you want to go forward." The other man looked at him, a dim hope in his clouded eyes.
"What reason was yours, Yohji?" For once, the man had used his first name. If Aya wasn't drunk and the circumstances were different, Yohji would've considered this a victory.
"After Asuka," the name still stung vaguely and he took another drink, "I wanted revenge. When that was over, I decided that sticking around for the rest of the team, would be better than leaving Weiss."
"We… are your reason?" Aya whispered, and Yohji thought he saw a glimpse of… love. Not like true love or anything of the sort, but the love one has for family. Yohji would take whatever he could get from the man.
Yohji turned his whole body towards Aya, and nodded.
Aya smiled at him, a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. Aya moved away from the wall and rested his feet on the floor.
A couple of seconds passed and Aya finally looked up from his feet. If Yohji was more sober, or piss drunk, he might've been uneasy (but he was pleasantly buzzed, so he wasn't).
Yohji offered the bottle to Aya again, this time smiling. The redhead moved closer to grab it and wrapped his hand over Yohji's before pulling Yohji in for a kiss.
Oh, please, if this is a dream, don't let me wake up, Yohji thought, returning the kiss gently and placed a hand on Aya's face, running his fingers through his hair.
Both of their hands let go of the bottle, and it broke onto the floor, both men jumped at the sudden sound. Yohji felt as though he should've been more upset that his favorite (and currently only) bottle of whiskey was shattered on Aya's wooden floor.
"Sorry," Aya muttered and Yohji felt the man withdrawing. Without much thought, Yohji pulled him in for another kiss and moved barely an inch away from the other man's face. He looked at Aya's eyes, hoping for some kind of emotion to pass through them.
"Stay with me?" Aya's voice was quiet, but Yohji smiled and nodded.
"For as long as you want me to." Aya kissed him again and Yohji felt, and hoped, that he had become Aya's new reason for moving forward.