:: Adoration ::

by D-chan

Megami Kouhosei

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: Yamagi+Roose

Warnings: language, more than likely OOC, shounen ai

Disclaimer: I don't own MK or any of the characters. *sigh* Which really sucks, since there are, like, 12 bishies in that show... @.@

Notes: I think this may be the first Yamagi+Roose fic! *squeals* They're just so kawaii! I haven't seen a fic of them together yet, and last night I was inspired to write one so here it is! ^_^ But if anyone knows of a Yamagi+Roose fic elsewhere, I'd love it if you could point it out for me. ^^;

Only problem is, I'm not completely sure how Yamagi and Roose should act. .o I ought to watch the episodes a few more times... But I'll try to keep them as much in character as I possibly can, I promise. ^^

"Yamagi-kuuuun!"

Yamagi Kushida groaned, already anticipating the headache that was sure to come. Honestly, he liked Roose Sawamura well enough, but sometimes the boy could be so damn clingy and, for the lack of a better word, weird. "Hai," he sighed, pulling himself to a stop as he waited for the boy to catch up with him.

Roose stopped behind him, gasping for breath. Once a rather pudgy boy, his partner and repairer Wrecka Toesing had put him on some bizarre diet and the boy had slimmed down amazingly fast. The only problem was, the sudden loss of weight had hindered Roose's piloting abilities. He did look very good now, though. Without the extra weight on his face, his eyes looked bigger, making him seem more innocent, and when he smiled he looked so much sweeter.

Not that Yamagi thought any of this. No, he'd only heard girls squeal about how cute Roose was. It was so weird; they always seemed to go for the innocent babyish type. It made no sense to him at all.

"What is it?" asked Yamagi impatiently. He was getting rather hungry; today's training hadn't been an easy task at all. It was bad enough the Senior Candidates taunted him, but it was even worse when his own classmate did so as well. That mostly included his partner Tsukasa Kuscha (she terrified him and annoyed him at the same time; not only was she creepy, she was a whole goddamn head taller than him) and his fellow classmate Hiead Gner.

Roose, breathing regularly again, smiled sweetly. "I wanted to go with you, Yamagi-kun. That's okay, ne? Ne? Yamagi-kun?"

Yamagi resisted the urge to thwap him on the head to shut him up. Instead, he closed his eyes and muttered a barely audible, "Whatever."

Looking very happy (he rarely looked anything else; he was such an optimist) Roose fell into step with Yamagi. Warily, the purple-haired boy slanted a glance at his class and roommate, feeling the same surge of sullenness he was quite used to feeling. He was at least a few centimeters shorter than Roose. He hated being short.

Come to think of it, he was at least a few centimeters shorter than anyone his age. That made his eye twitch involuntarily.

"Yamagi-kun..."

He stifled another sigh and yet another urge to smack Roose over the head. "What?"

Roose gazed at him worriedly. If he wasn't unbelievably happy or acting shy, he was distraught over one thing or another. "Daijoubu ka, Yamagi-kun? You've been standing there for almost five minutes... I called you three times."

Yamagi shook his head slightly. "Hai, hai, let's go," he said impatiently, striding past the sweet boy before he could even reply. 'Weird, weird, weird guy,' he thought in exasperation.

"Demo... Demo... Yamagi-kun! Matte!"

* * *

"... She really is amazing, Yamagi-kun. It's all thanks to her I got to where I am!" Roose was talking happily about the help Wrecka had given him up to this point. Yamagi could only lie on his bed, his forearm resting on his head.

'Listen to that idiot blather on and on,' he thought irritably. 'He acts as though his effort is nothing compared to hers. Granted, he's not the best pilot, but he's better than Clay at least. He's way too selfless.'

"... Ne, Yamagi-kun? Tsukasa must have done a lot to help you, too."

Yamagi involuntarily shuddered as Roose mentioned his partner's name. Then he realized he was waiting for an answer so he muttered, "Yeah... She's been a great help. Why don't we go to sleep now?"

Roose was only too happy to agree. "Hai, hai, we do need our rest," he agreed. "You're always right, Yamagi-kun. You're smart like that."

The shorter boy blinked as he felt a strange rush of warmth for the skinny, innocent-eyed boy. That was a first, both for that weird feeling and for Roose's complimenting him. Normally he was too busy complimenting Wrecka to notice anyone else. "It's just common sense," he muttered and rolled over, burying his face into his pillow.

"I guess so," Roose agreed, watching him.

Yamagi lifted his head when he realized that he was still being watched. "What is it?"

Roose smiled sweetly. "Nothing. Oyasumi nasai, Yamagi-kun."

Another first. Normally Yamagi would just suggest they go to bed and Roose would quietly comply. "Uhh... Yeah. Oyasumi nasai."

"Sweet dreams?"

"... Sure."

He smiled again before lying down, curling up beneath his covers. Yamagi sighed and rolled over, closing his eyes. After what must have been only a few minutes, the lights flickered off automatically. It was literally lights out until morning now.

Sometime during the night soft whimpers and whispers awoke Yamagi.

"Yamagi-kun... Yamagi-kun..."

He groaned softly and rolled over, opening his eyes blearily. "Nani?" he mumbled, too tired to even lift a hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

Relief filled Roose's voice, though he still sounded a bit frightened. "Oh, good..."

Irritated, Yamagi snapped, "What is it, Roose?"

Roose's voice immediately became small, as though he were a small child being scolded. "I... I just had a bad dream, Yamagi-kun..."

"You woke me up over a bad dream?" Yamagi said in disbelief. He was tired. He was cranky. He wanted peace and sleep. "God damn, Roose! You're such a wuss!" He could barely make out those wide innocent eyes fill with surprise and hurt. "You don't know how annoying you are, do you? Go to sleep, for God's sake, so we can get on with the rest of our lives!"

The silence that fell between them slowly made Yamagi uncomfortable. Perhaps he had said too much. Finally, he could make out a barely audible whisper of, "Okay..."

He could hear the other boy sinking back into his bed and even heard a few sniffles that didn't help his guilty conscience any. Yamagi closed his eyes, trying to think of something else, but now that he was awake he couldn't sleep.

Damn it.

After a while the sniffles subsided and he dared to sit up and take a quick glance at his roommate. Roose seemed to be fast asleep, though his arms were wrapped tight around his shoulders as though trying to keep warm, but he knew better. It was Roose's way of trying to comfort himself, of trying to find something secure inside of him.

Cursing silently at his own stupidity, Yamagi slid carefully out of bed, easing the spring so they wouldn't squeak too loudly and tiptoed into the bathroom. There he held his hands under the faucet until the faucet was triggered and cold water spewed forth. He splashed it on his face and rubbed his eyes furiously.

He wiped his face with his shirt, not bothering to look for a towel. What did it matter; the shirt would be washed tomorrow anyway.

Maybe now he could sleep. Yamagi flicked the light off and slipped back into the bedroom. Another glance at his roommate told him he was still asleep. Good. He crawled back into bed, wincing as the springs squealed. It sounded rather loud in the deafening silence of the room, but Roose didn't even stir.

'Weird, weird, weird, weird guy...'

* * *

To his surprise, Yamagi awoke on his own. Strange. Usually Roose was there, shaking his shoulder and cheerfully telling him it was time to get up. Squinting at the clock and then at Roose's freshly made bed, he confirmed that Roose had really gone without him.

Strange. His guilty conscience hoped it wasn't because of what he'd said last night, although his mind was telling him that had to be the number one reason.

'Oh, please,' he thought, annoyed as himself as he stumbled out of bed, proceeding to get dressed. 'So he doesn't wait for you one morning. Big deal. He's got to grow up sometime.'

Half an hour later, though, Yamagi was even more surprised that Roose didn't show up for training. Now he was beginning to worry... Just slightly of course. Yamagi Kushida never worried too much about anyone.

"Repairer 85, where is your partner?" he heard their instructor, Azuma Hijitaka, demand of the blue-haired, cutesy repairer candidate.

Wrecka looked honestly concerned and puzzled. "I don't know. I haven't seen him since yesterday."

"Number 86?"

Yamagi shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. "I dunno," he mumbled.

Wrecka turned to him, smiling sweetly. Yamagi eyed her warily. "You share a room with him, ne? When's the last time you saw him?"

He scowled. "Last night."

Her eyes lit up with some sort of triumph. His confession meant that Roose hadn't disappeared after practice yesterday, and if Yamagi had seen him at night, he couldn't have escaped very far in GOA... Not that there was a very far to reach. "When?"

"I don't know... Midnight?" He sighed impatiently. "He probably just got nervous or sick or something," he said aloud, trying to brush it off.

Azuma sighed and shook his head. "Repairer 85, go look for your partner."

"Hai," Wrecka replied, shooting Yamagi a sideways glance before she left. Yamagi shook his head; she was weird.

"Yama-san," he heard a familiar voice say from behind. He blanched and turned to the towering repairer candidate behind him, who was smiling oddly.

"Oh, my God," he muttered. "Stop calling me that!"

The rest of training didn't leave him with any time to worry about Roose; he was too busy trying not to get pummeled by Zero and focus on the task at hand. All in all, it was a bit harder than usual and he didn't notice that Wrecka had returned alone minutes before the lesson was over.

However, he did overhear Saki Mimori, Clay Cliff Fortran's partner, talking to her. "No sign of him?"

"He's not anywhere."

"In GOA?"

"I don't know... I looked everywhere..."

"Maybe he's hiding from you," Yamagi muttered under his breath but, unfortunately, he was heard.

Wrecka turned to him, frowning. "Why would he hide from me?" She smiled fondly. "Roose-kun worships the ground I walk on."

Yamagi made a face. 'That's right. He worships her like a sick puppy.'

"... Maybe you know where he went?" Wrecka was asking, suddenly perking up. "You're his roommate, after all."

"So?" Yamagi was suddenly uncomfortable. "I don't know anything about him except that he's a whiny child."

"I'd think you two were closer," she commented, looking mildly surprised.

He froze. "Why?"

"Only because he adores you," she said calmly. "He follows you everywhere. He talks about you constantly." Her tone changed to one of sweet admiration. "'Yamagi-kun is so smart.' ' I don't know if I can, Wrecka-chan, but Yamagi-kun might be able to do it...' 'Yamagi-kun is a nice guy, really, Wrecka-chan.' 'He's my friend, Wrecka-chan.'" She shook her head. "I'm almost jealous, really."

The first thought that crossed Yamagi's mind was, 'Idiot. He's an idiot. He doesn't get that he disgusts me. God only knows how many times I've showed him that.'

Then... 'I never really said it though, I suppose...' Though he had last night. But his opinion shouldn't matter so much to Roose...

Yamagi's expression went blank. He stared at a space on the wall, not hearing anyone around him, not seeing anything around him.

"I... I just had a bad dream, Yamagi-kun..."

"Yamagi-kun... Yamagi-kun..."

"Sweet dreams?"

"Oyasumi nasai, Yamagi-kun."

"I wanted to go with you, Yamagi-kun. That's okay, ne? Ne? Yamagi-kun?"

Suddenly Yamagi felt sick. Dimly thinking that this must have been what Zero felt like when his zero gravity sickness caught up with him, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him out of the room.

* * *

Later, upon returning to his room, Yamagi got the shock of his life. There, right in front of him, was Roose. He looked as sweet and innocent as ever, fast asleep and curled up on his bed, hugging his pillow to his chest.

First relief flooded his senses; Roose was safe. Then anger took over and he pounced on the boy, grasping his collar and shaking him, shouting so that the boy had no choice but to wake up. And what a waking he got; he looked half-terrified.

"You moron! Don't you realize that onna's been looking for you everywhere?!" he shouted.

"Yamagi-kun!"

He growled and proceeded to shake his roommate, watching as Roose grew more and more afraid. He'd always been wary of Yamagi's violent side before and normally could avoid such an outburst as this.

"You idiot! She was looking for you everywhere and you had me scared! You can't just disappear like that! Where the hell did you go, anyway?!" Now he had the boy pinned against the bed, his hands firmly planted on his shoulders to keep him down and straddling his hips so he couldn't squirm away.

"Gomen," Roose whispered, eyes wider than Yamagi had ever seen them before. They glistened with tears ready to fall. "I just... I was upset," he admitted.

Yamagi sighed, still glaring. "Over what I said? Forget about that! It was fucking one in the morning; most people are bound to say things like that when they just want some sleep! God damn, Roose, not everyone thinks like you! You're weird!"

"Gomen," Roose repeated. He blinked, tears disappearing, and was blushing, probably from embarrassment, Yamagi reasoned. Good.

"Where the hell were you, anyway?" he demanded, not loosening his hold. "That onna looked everywhere for you."

Roose shrugged-- tried to, anyway. Though small, Yamagi was a lot stronger than he looked and could pin the boy easily as he was doing. "Just... Around." At the look on Yamagi's face he quickly added, "I came back after a while and just went to sleep. I... I needed to think..."

Yamagi groaned aloud. 'Weird, weird, weird, weird...'

"G-Gomen, Yamagi-kun," he apologized. "I... I won't do it again."

"Good."

A few minutes of silence passed before Roose's face turned a couple shades redder. "Anno... Yamagi-kun?"

"Nani?"

"Could... Could you get off me now, please?"

Realizing exactly why Roose had blushed, Yamagi felt his face warm as well and he quickly released the boy. He was in such a hurry to get away he tripped and toppled off the bed, landing in a very uncomfortable position on the ground. He scowled up at the ceiling; damn it all.

"Daijoubu ka, Yamagi-kun?"

"Hai," he said shortly, picking himself up.

"Oh..."

Yamagi rolled his eyes. "I'm not mad," he said in a flat tone.

"Really...?"

"Really!" he insisted, frowning. Honestly, he was impossible!

Roose didn't seem put off by his behavior; in fact, he smiled. "I'm glad."

Glad. He was glad. That reminded Yamagi of something Wrecka had said: "He adores you..."

Well, that settled it of nothing else; Roose was strange. Sighing, Yamagi glanced at the time before standing up. Roose hadn't moved from his position on the bed; his large green eyes were misty and he looked half-dazed.

It had to have been the guilt that made him speak. "Aren't you coming?"

Roose looked startled as he blinked and returned his gaze to his roommate. "Where?"

"Dinner, where else?" Yamagi was really embarrassed now; he turned and glared up at the ceiling so Roose wouldn't see him blush. "Are you coming or not?"

The startlement faded and a happy smile replaced Roose's thoughtful demeaner. "Hai. Thanks."

"Don't thank me, it's only dinner," Yamagi mumbled. He had to get out of there. Briskly, he walked towards the door, leaving Roose behind.

"Yamagi-kun! Matte!"

* * *

Everything seemed to fall back into place after that, minus Yamagi's sudden odd discomfort at being left along with Roose. He did feel guilty still, yes, but did it have to ride his shoulders even two weeks after the whole incident?

Two weeks... Had it been that long already? He'd been feeling weird for the past couple of weeks. He must have been acting weird, for even Hiead went out of his way to say that he was acting creepy. Roose, of course, hadn't said a word about it. If he thought Yamagi was acting out of the norm, he was too polite to say so.

It was never too cold in GOA; never too warm unless you've been through a tough exercise. That was one thing that took Yamagi some getting used to; on his colony it could get very cold. Strange why the colony had had different temperatures programmed but GOA didn't.

But anyway, it was never too cold in GOA. Yamagi was quite comfortable in his bed, so comfortable he couldn't drift off tonight. He found himself doing what he'd been doing a lot of lately; glancing over at Roose. Perhaps it was just that he wanted to reassure himself that the boy was still there, but he didn't know. But he was doing it.

Yamagi scowled and forced himself to stare at the ceiling. 'Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep for God's sake!' he shouted to himself inwardly.

Still awake. This was most frustrating.

"Yamagi-kun?" The whimper broke the silence, startling the shorter boy. He shot a dark look at Roose, who had propped himself up on his arms and was looking at him imploringly.

"What?" he demanded softly.

Roose flinched. "G-Gomen... I'll go back to sleep..."

Yamagi sighed loudly. "What is it, Roose?" he asked in a softer tone. He didn't want to have to listen to the boy cry again.

"I... I thought you'd left... I was scared..."

'So goddamn dependent.'

"I'm not going anywhere."

"But... What if--"

"Look, Roose, if you're so goddamn afraid of me up and leaving, why don't you just sleep with me to make sure yourself?" The instant the words were out of Yamagi's mouth he regretted them. He clapped a hand over his mouth and blushed hotly. 'Oh, damn, that definitely came out wrong...'

"You wouldn't mind?" Roose asked in a tiny voice.

Yamagi started. Wouldn't mind? Was he insane? "Y... You..." he stammered.

"I-I mean... I won't move if it gets uncomfortable, Yamagi-kun... I'll try not to, anyway, I can't control what I do in my sleep..."

'Oh, no, no, no! Bad thoughts, Yamagi, very bad thoughts!'

Obviously, though, Roose only wanted to sleep beside him. Taking a deep breath, Yamagi tried to calm himself and force his body temperature back down to normal. "H-hai... I mean, do whatever you want," he finally said, closing his eyes.

Roose let out what sounded like a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Yamagi-kun!"

"Shh!" he hissed.

"Gomen..." A few moments later the end of Yamagi's mattress sunk, indicating the extra weight of Roose crawling into bed with him. Yamagi moved over quickly to one end of the mattress, but unless he wanted to end up falling on the floor there was no way he could avoid any physical contact with the boy.

Roose smiled sweetly at him. "Oyasumi nasai, Yamagi-kun..." he said softly before curling up into a fetal position on his side, tucking his head under Yamagi's, to his surprise. Awkwardly, Yamagi patted the head of soft, dark green hair and mumbled a good night back. Roose fell asleep quickly, his breathing slow, even and deep. It was almost impossible, but he looked even sweeter, cuter and more innocent asleep than he did awake. It was almost scary, really. Almost.

Strange. Yamagi never really cared for Roose before... At least, he'd though he hadn't. Obviously he liked his roommate a lot more than he thought. The frightening thing was, he was beginning to think of him in even more than a friendly way.

'Unbelievably weird guy,' he thought, feeling oddly comfortable with Roose curled up beside him. 'Unbelievably weird... Kind of cute... Annoying... Sweet... Strange guy...'

Funny how sweet and cute had laced themselves in there. Perhaps it was a good thing he fell asleep then, because he didn't have to think about how that had happened right away. It could be saved for tomorrow...

:: Owari ::