Another old LiveJournal snippet that made it to the realm of ficdom. This is a friendship fic, but there are hints of shounen ai to be found. Use your noodles to figure them out people!

This one's for silvershadeus and that day in Professor Hannigan's class...you know what I'm talking about. ^_~

Hoshiko ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Weiß Kreuz, I just like to play with the characters every now and then. For the purposes of good, of course. I also do not own the song "These Are the Days" by Jo Dee Messina, although I would dearly love to..._;;

Feedback is greatly appreciated!

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These Are the Days

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These are the days you will remember for the rest of your life
These are the memories you'll pack in a box, and you pull out sometimes
So pick your flowers, count the seconds, roll the dice
But baby, don't wait until its too late
Put a smile on your face
These are the days

~Jo Dee Messina~

"Do you ever get the feeling that you're missing out on something?" Yohji asked, gesturing with a hand to the people passing by outside the windows of the flower shop.

There was a moment of silence, broken only by the faint shuffling of feet and the soft swish of the broom.

Green eyes slid to violet, lips quirked in a small grin at the other's expression. Not quite lost in thought...and yet not entirely focused on what he was doing.

Interesting, in a way.

"No."

That too, was interesting. Normally, he wouldn't have expected to receive an answer at all from Aya. It was something he would have to look into - at a later date of course. There were other things to keep him occupied at the moment.

Turning his attention back to the task at hand, Yohji's eyes tracked down the paper, attempting to decipher the heavily inked squiggles and scratches that passed as writing.

"Only a demented five year-old could read this." He muttered darkly, setting the wrinkled paper aside, rubbing his eyes wearily.

"You volunteered."

Glancing up through his spread fingers, he could have sworn there was a hint of amusement in the other's eyes. Barely noticeable, but there nonetheless.

"Only because you wouldn't." He retorted, resisting the urge to chuck the whole thing in the nearest trashcan.

Green eyes widened slightly as a look that could only be described as smug flitted across the other's face.

"There was a reason for that, wasn't there?" He asked slowly, unpleasant scenarios running through his mind.

Aya didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. The look in his eyes and the tiniest upward curve of his lips was more than enough. Snorting, Yohji ran a hand through his hair and turned his attention back to the problem at hand.

"Dammit! Where did he learn to write?" He burst out, the pencil in his hand giving a little warning creak as he applied a little too much pressure to it. "And what the hell is that supposed to be? It looks like a squashed spider!"

Leaning over the older man's shoulder as he continued to sweep the floor of the shop, Aya lifted an eyebrow.

"It is."

Swearing, Yohji grabbed the notepad and scraped the dried arachnid off of the paper, where it promptly fell onto the newly swept floor. Ignoring Aya's glare, Yohji tossed the notepad back onto the table as he stretched, luxuriating in the series of snaps and pops that erupted along his spine.

Leaning a little to the side, his eyes slid closed, a blissful look on his face as he felt muscles stretch. Twisting a little into the stretch, he smiled as he felt the smooth fabric of his shirt riding up to reveal a tempting slice of honeyed skin and toned muscles. He could feel Aya's eyes on him, no doubt enjoying the show, no matter how much it would have galled him to admit to such a thing. And besides, Aya was taken...

Snorting softly, Yohji opened his eyes to find Aya looking at him, a decidedly unhappy expression on his face.

"Just because I volunteered doesn't mean I have to do anything right away you know, Aya." He explained, taking care to step around Aya and his broom on his way to the back room of the shop where his coat hung next to Aya's.

"What are you doing?"

Yohji smiled inwardly as he walked up to the front door of the shop and flipped the sign over to 'closed'. He could feel Aya's glare gaining in intensity, most likely trying to bore a hole in his back. Opening the door, he smiled rather sexily at a passing brunette, waving to her as he ducked back inside, pulling the metal shutter down as he went. Pausing to make sure that it was locked securely, Yohji finally turned to face a darkly scowling Aya.

"It's not 'what am I doing', Aya, it's 'what are we doing?'" Yohji corrected him, slipping on his favorite pair of sunglasses.

Clutching his broom before him as though it would protect him from Yohji and his decidedly...unorthodox...ideas, Aya stood his ground as the older blonde approached him, lips curved in a wicked little smile.

"And just what," Aya bit out, apparently having trouble speaking, "are we going to be doing?"

Yohji's smile widened, the look in his cat-green eyes shifting into something more...predatory. Less the man who the schoolgirls knew that sold them flowers, and more like the man Aya killed with on a nightly basis.

"We," Yohji said slowly and clearly, so that there would be no misunderstanding, "are going to be playing hooky."

Aya blinked.

Pulling his coat on, Yohji winked at Aya.

"Come on, grab your coat. It's chilly outside, you wouldn't want to catch a cold now, would you?"

Aya stared at him, violet eyes filled with unvoiced questions.

Reading them, Yohji's smile gentled, the look in his eyes reassuring.

"It's a slow day, Aya. No one's going to notice if we close a little early, and you need to get out more. You're too pale, Aya. You need to get some sun on that lovely skin of yours. And it's a great day outside."

Violet eyes narrowing, Aya slid a look at the table and the notebook teetering the edge of it.

"You told Omi you'd take care of that for him."

Yohji felt his own eyes narrow at the challenge in Aya's voice. If he hadn't known the redhead as well as he did, he would have missed it. He wouldn't have been able to pick out the amusement in the back of his eyes.

"Only because he would have driven himself nuts trying to figure it out, and he deserved some time off. And why the hell did you let Ken write the delivery orders down in a notebook for crying out loud? It'll take forever to figure out which address goes with which order with his handwriting!"

Aya made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat and returned to his sweeping, or rather he tried to.

"Yohji, you're in the way."

Green eyes widened in feigned surprise.

"Oh, am I? I'm so sorry, Aya. My deepest apologies."

Aya grunted, shooting Yohji a glare that told the older man his opinion of his acting skills. Somewhere below that of an amoeba, but above that of an infomercial host.

Placing his hands on his hips, Yohji regarded the redhead with equal measure of frustration and exasperated fondness.

"Aya, didn't you ever play hooky as a kid?"

Blinking as the redhead gave him a warning glower, Yohji leaned back on his heels, lips curving upward into a knowing little smile.

"Do you even know what playing hooky is?" Yohji asked, blatantly ignoring the warning signs Aya was giving him in favor of needling the younger man.

Yohji saw it as his job, no - his duty - to make sure that his teammates and friends didn't take their lives too seriously. Life was short enough as it was, and you never knew when it would be over. Cut down by an enemy's weapon or some tragic accident, it didn't matter.

Dead was dead.

They all knew that, had it rubbed in their faces every night that they went out to hunt the dregs of the city masquerading as nobility. So Yohji did what he could to make sure that they enjoyed what time they had to themselves. He had wasted too much of his life feeling sorry for himself and pining for the things he'd lost - or thought he'd lost. Now he was trying to make up for lost time. Trying to enjoy the second chance he'd given, as much as he could. And he was going to make damned sure that his friends, the only real ones he dared to allow himself, did the most they could with what they had.

"You're still in the way, Yohji."

Sighing, Yohji crossed his arms, regarding Aya through narrowed eyes. He'd always been the toughest nut to crack out of all of them. The one determined to wallow in his self-imposed misery and sorrow. The one who wanted to be haunted by guilt, because he thought it was what he was supposed to want. The one who'd nearly thrown away something good in his life for once.

"And you're still a cold bastard, but do you see me complaining?"

Aya snorted, moving to step around the blonde when Yohji reached out and snagged his upper arm in a firm grip.

"Aya...did you ever have any fun in your life? Did you ever say to yourself 'screw it, I don't feel like doing this right now'?" Did you ever just set whatever it was you were doing aside and do something because you wanted to?"

Something dark slid through the violet depths of Aya's eyes like a shark gliding through water. Smooth and silent, barely making a ripple. And dangerous as hell.

"Did you, Aya? Did you ever cut loose and just do something because it was fun?"

Yohji's voice had dropped to a whisper, green eyes locked with violet as he waited.

"...No."

Yohji blinked slowly as the pain in Aya's voice registered. Releasing his hold on the younger man's arm, he took a step back, watching Aya thoughtfully. There were memories caught up in his answer, but Yohji knew he wasn't the one to untangle them. Maybe once he could have been, if things had gone differently.

"Did you ever want to?"

It was a form of cruelty to keep pushing Aya like that. To force him to move past the memories blocking the way to answer him, but Yohji knew he had to. Knew that Aya needed to. Like peeling off a band-aid, it hurt less in the long run, if you jerked it off in one smooth motion.

Aya looked up at him then, the look in his eyes uncertain, even as his face remained as impassive as ever.

"Did you?"

Somehow, it was vital that Aya answer him this time. Important in a way Yohji couldn't find the words to explain that Aya reply to his question.

"Yes."

Yohji winced inwardly as he heard the longing in Aya's voice. The raw need to feel something besides the nothingness he'd tried so hard to wrap around him. He knew Ken had come a long way in peeling it away, layer-by-layer, but even he couldn't do it all alone.

"Do you still want to?"

Aya's head snapped up at his quietly spoken words, violet eyes narrowed, wary.

Yohji smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. The way Aya was no doubt feeling now, he would be especially sensitive to any innuendos on his part, even those meant only in jest.

After a long moment where they stood and simple looked at each other, Aya nodded, still looking as though he wasn't sure he should be admitting to such a weakness. Unsure that he should admit that needed something that held no place in his neat and orderly world.

And then he remembered Ken.

Ken was the antithesis of neat and orderly, it showed in his every action, his every word. It showed in the way he acted, the way he thought. It showed in the way he loved Aya, throwing caution to the winds and ignoring common sense to love someone that had never shown the slightest interest or comprehension of such a concept.

And somehow, he had made a place for himself in Aya's world. Melding himself to the sharp corners and sharper edges that were Aya. Making a place for himself in a world that logical thought said he should never been allowed to. Perhaps...perhaps it wasn't a fluke, that Ken had been allowed into his world.

"Aya?"

Blinking, Aya turned to look at Yohji, wondering at the bemused smile on the blonde's face.

"What?"

Grinning, Yohji slung a companionable arm around Aya's shoulders, ignoring the warning glare that he got for that one.

"I asked if you wanted to go for a walk down to that new sushi place by the park. Then maybe we could check to see what movies are playing...your treat, of course."

Green eyes widening as Aya growled low in his throat, Yohji leaned away from the redhead, although he didn't remove his arm looped around Aya's shoulders.

"All right, all right. I'll pay. Hey...maybe we could swing by the music store on the way back. There's this new CD Omi's been talking about getting, and...

Tuning Yohji out as the older man continued to babble on about nothing in general, Aya slid out from under Yohji's arm and out of his work apron, which he placed back on its hook. Glancing around to see that things were neat and tidy, he accepted the jacket Yohji was holding out for him, a twinkle in his cat-green eyes.

Arching an elegant eyebrow at the look on Yohji's face, Aya shrugged into his jacket, nostrils flaring as the scent of leather reached him.

"What?"

Yohji's grin widened, the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkling as he headed for the back door of the shop.

"I was just thinking about the last time I played hooky... Man, that was a long time ago."

Snorting, Aya flipped the light switch off, reaching for the doorknob as he followed the older man.

"Yohji, that was Monday."

Yohji's indignant sputters drifted back as the door slid shut behind them.