Title: A Walk in the Park
Rating: Uhm. G-ish? Maybe PG.
[Oneshot] Even the must mundane of tasks are difficult when you add a Beastmaster. [ShidoxBan]
Disclaimer: I don't own GetBackers! Please don't sue me. All characters and their likenesses are property of Yuya Aoki and Rando Ayamine. Plot (heh, right), OOC-ness and un-likenesses belong to me.
Author's Notes: This was originally written for a fanfic challenge placed forth by my university's anime club – one of the rules was it had to involve on or more of a list of themes, and I chose 'autumn'. It ended up winning, whoo! This story is, like usual, for NekoMaxwell, my reluctant muse who came up with a prompt that inspired me. Oh, also, I'm fully aware that the.. contest in this story is kinda, well, lame. This is what happens when you're pressed for time between studying for exams, but also decide to be dumb and write a fic from scratch, oh, the night before the contest ends. ^_^; Please enjoy (hopefully).
A Walk in the Park
Ban shivered, leaning the rake against a tree before shaking out another smoke. Once lit, he took a long drag on the cigarette before glaring up at the tree whose leaves he had been raking for, what, the past hour? Damn this season, he thought bitterly.
"What's the matter, Snake Bastard?" Shido asked in his low timbre, coming up besides the smaller man, "not a fan of autumn?"
"Who would be? The first chill is starting to settle in the air, the trees are starting to lose their leaves and we have to clean it up, and it seems the cops are all over the streets putting tickets on innocent cars like Miss Ladybug. What kind of idiot would like this season?" Ban grumbled.
"Natsumi-chaaaaaaaaan! That's not fair!" Ginji's joyful laughter rang out through the park, while, it seemed, Natsumi was dumping some leaves on the top of his head. Ginji dropped his rake and raced after the girl, playfully shouting threats as they weaved through the trees.
"…"
Shido raised an eyebrow. "You were saying, Midou?"
"Tch. We all know Ginji is an idiot." But Ban was smiling softly as he said this, though he tried to hide it behind his cigarette.
The Beastmaster caught himself staring at Ban's mouth before coughing lightly and turning to attend to some stray leaves that he had obviously missed before when he was getting distracted by the Snak – the beautiful weather. You keep telling yourself that, Shido, his inner voice told him. "Quiet," he snarled, startling a chipmunk that had been near the tree.
I didn't say anything! The chipmunk squeaked, I was just minding my business here, and there, and maybe over there, and there, too…
Shido sighed, rubbing at his temples. Though he loved his tribe's ability to communicate with animals dearly, sometimes they just made things much more difficult.
"Monkey trainer."
Turning, Shido's attention was caught by the other man's eyes before Ban quickly pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He blinked a few times before growling out a terse, "What?"
Ban exhaled, watching the smoke plume lazily float through the air. "I know why Ginji and I are here, but what good reason do you have for being out here? Shouldn't you be communing with nature high in the mountaintops or something?"
The Snake Bastard was talkative today. Maybe the cold was affecting him more than he let on. Well, he wasn't going to challenge the lack of animosity in this particular interaction. Ignoring the attempted jab, Shido shifted his weight, before nodding his head towards Madoka, who was currently playing in the leaves with Mozart. "Madoka had heard about Natsumi's school cleaning up the leaves in the neighborhood as part of their community service project, and wanted to come down to help. Although," he mused, watching as Madoka started haphazardly raking leaves while Mozart watched from a safe distance, chomping at a few stray leaves that were out of line, "she might be doing more harm than good."
The retrieval agent snorted, beginning to rake once again while still miraculously keeping the cancer stick in his mouth. "So you thought you'd tag along?"
"I figured it'd be better than letting her help with the bake sale later this year." Shido shuddered, thinking of the last time she had tried to cook. "Plus," he continued, "I want to be able to protect her. She's done a lot for me, you know."
"..oh. I see," the usually eloquent Ban replied.
Shido saw a flash of something in the brilliant blue that he had never seen before. Was that… jealousy? Encouraged by this turn of events, he tried steering the topic towards more... useful things. "What are you and Ginji doing here, Snake Bastard?" Shido decided to completely ignore the fact that his usual derogatory name for Ban had, somewhere, become more of a pet name. He started surreptitiously raking some leaves towards Ban, moving closer. Ban jerked his thumb angrily in the general direction of the Honky Tonk.
"Paul made us come down here to help. Said he'd take some money off our tab." Ah, Shido thought, I should have known. "If you ask me," Ban continued, "the bastard just didn't want to leave the nice, warm setup he's got, but felt bad turning Natsumi down. So he volunteered us."
Making a noncommittal sound, Shido asked, "How's the kit doing?"
"Himiko is fine, the last I heard. She hasn't tried to kill me again, which is always good in my book…" Ban eyed him warily. "Why are you so curious in her suddenly?"
"..No reason. Just wondering if she and that psychotic mirror user got together."
"WHAT?!" Ban screeched, "NO! Himiko may have bad taste, but not that bad!"
"What's the matter, Midou? Have you got feelings for her?" Shido watched Ban from the corner of his eye, gauging his reaction.
"Gods, of course not. She and Yamato were the only family I had, for a long time." Ban stared into space for a moment, lost in a memory before snapping back to the present. He huffed, flicking out the last ashes of his cigarette before dropping it to the ground and crushing it with his heel. "Don't tell me you're developing feelings for her. She's like my sister, Fuyuki, and despite everything, I will castrate any man who hurts her." And that's the only reason why you're concerned about them being together, isn't it? a tiny voice nagged, it has nothing to do with you wanting to be with hi-? Ban abruptly silenced his inner voice with a Snake Bite. No, I do NOT want to be with him. He's just the damned monkey trainer, nothing else. He pushed his glasses up again, making eye contact with Shido.
"There's nothing to worry about Snake Bastard."
"Good."
They continued to rake, almost, but not quite, side by side in a (almost) companionable silence. Neither noticed the glances sent their way by one blond retriever.
Ginji eyed the two men, noting the lack of an argument filling the air between them. Despite outer appearances, Ginji was an astute observer of people, even if his book knowledge left something to be desired. So concerned was he with the interaction of Ban and Shido, that the attack by Natsumi came as a surprise – again. "Ack!" Ginji exclaimed, starting as a rain of leaves fell onto him.
Natsumi giggled, smiling at him cheerily. "Ginji-san, I got you again? I thought you had learned your lesson!" Madoka hid a laugh behind her hand at this remark.
Ginji pouted. "It's not my fault you're so sneaky. But I was thinking about something else this time, so you had an advantage!"
Following his line of sight, Natsumi tilted her head to the side, frowning. "Are Ban-san and Shido-san fighting again?"
Madoka sighed. "I was hoping they'd be over that by now, especially with how Shido's been lately…"
"No, no, it's the opposite!" Ginji assured the girl, "they're actually being civil – wait, how has Shido been acting lately?"
"The way he talks about Ban has changed. He doesn't talk about how he broke up VOLTS, anymore. And he hardly ever insults him in passing; at least not with such venom. I may be blind, but there are still things I can see." Madoka smiled prettily.
"I KNEW it!" Ginji exclaimed, "Shido is always like a dog with a bone when he likes somebody."
"Shido likes Ban?" Natsumi looked confused, "but I thought he was with you, Madoka."
"We're simply good friends, that's all. There aren't those kinds of feelings between us. The question is," Madoka began, "does Ban-san feel the same way?"
Ginji scratched the back of his head idly. "Ban-chan hasn't talked to me about it at all… but I think he thinks that, if he doesn't admit certain feelings to people, they don't actually exist. But I've seen the way he looks at Shido. It's different from the way he looks at me."
Natsumi smirked, looking eerily like Ban in that moment. Ginji widened his eyes almost childishly. "Natsumi-chan..?"
Natsumi grinned. "What do you say we give them a little push?"
"Ban-chan, Ban-chan!" Ginji bounded up to Ban, waving the rake.
"Oi, Ginji, are you trying to put my eye out?!" He leaned back, dodging a close swing.
"..oops. Sorry." Ginji smiled sheepishly, setting the rake against a tree. "But, but, Natsumi has a great idea!! We should have a leaf raking contest!"
Ban raised an eyebrow. "A leaf raking contest? How the hell does that work?"
"Well, well, we all try and rake the biggest pile of leaves, and whoever has the biggest wins the title King - or Queen – of the Forest! Madoka-chan suggested we have partners, so we don't just have four tiny piles of leaves, but two giant ones!" Ginji bounced from foot to food, practically vibrating with energy.
"Heh. That sounds interesting. The Invincible Midou Ban-sama will never lose!" Ban's competitive nature is already showing, Ginji thought with glee, this is going great. "Ginji, whose asses are we beating? Monkey Trainer and Madoka, or –"
"Nope! I already called Madoka-chan! Natsumi-chan's going to be the judge, so you're stuck with Shido! And Amano Ginji refuses to lose!" Ginji beamed at his speechless friends, striking a victory pose. "We have thirty minutes, starting.. now!" He grabbed his rake and ran off to join Madoka, who was already enlisting Mozart to try and nudge some leaves over with his nose.
"Oi! OI! Dammit, Ginji!" Ban turned to face Shido, eyes blazing. "I guess we're stuck together, Fuyuki. Don't hold back just because your girlfriend is on the opposite team."
Shido was still staring at the spot where Ginji had been. He could've sworn that Ginji had winked at him before running off. Giving himself a mental shake, he smiled sincerely at Ban. "Don't worry, we won't lose. And, oh," he added, "Madoka's not my girlfriend."
The way Shido had smiled at him had thrown Ban off balance, and the last remark hadn't helped. Ban cleared his throat. "O-okay then," he began, "let's make the biggest damn pile of leaves that Natsumi's ever seen!" He began raking with reckless abandon, man and animal alike scrambling out of the way.
After a moment of watching him, Shido laid a hand on Ban's shoulder, feeling the muscles tense beneath his hand. "Hey, you don't have to do it so fast. You don't need to put that much muscle in it," Shido slid his hand from Ban's shoulder and down his arm before pulling it away completely, watching with satisfaction as Ban shuddered a bit, "just do it.. slow and deliberately." Ban flushed at what other implications those words could have, turning his back on Shido, who was grinning.
The next ten minutes passed slowly, with Ban trying to avoid Shido, and Shido planning his next move. Ban leaned against his rake, watching as Ginji steered Madoka to some leaves, apparently discussing a plan of action. "Monkey trainer, couldn't you just get some of your little animal friends to help us gather some leaves? There's enough rodents in this park that.. OW!" Ban rubbed his head, eyes being drawn to the acorn that lay at his feet, "Who threw that?!"
Shido snickered, pointing up to the tree they were currently standing under where a squirrel chattered angrily at him. We're not rodents! ..Well, maybe we are, but we're cleaner than stupid rats! And prettier, too, the squirrel responded, preening at his tail.
"Damn animals…"
"…anyhow, that'd be cheating, Midou. And it's not like they like raking any better than you do. In fact, they would rather let the leaves stay where they fall," he replied, adding the small pile of leaves he was working onto the larger one.
"Hah!" Ban crowed, "Our pile is way bigger than theirs!"
"Why are you so damn competitive, Midou?"
"I'm not competitive. I just like to win."
Shido rolled his eyes. He paused in the middle of his raking, sidling closer to Ban.
Ban glared up at him. "What?"
Shido leaned in, brushing some errant leaves from Ban's hair, fingers lingering just a little too long. "You just had some leaves stuck in your hair," he pointed out, a little too close for Ban's liking.
Ban leaped back like he had been burned, eyes landing on Natsumi.
"Hey, Natsumi!" he called, ignoring Shido as he began to chuckle, "How much time is left??"
Natsumi checked her watch. "5 more minutes! Are you and Shido-san almost done?"
Grinning cockily, Ban shouted back, "You just watch! When we're done, everyone from your school will be able to jump into this pile and there'll still be leaves left!" He looked at Shido cautiously, as if he was going to grow another head. "Actually, we're done! There's absolutely no reason to keep going, Natsumi!" Stay in control, stay in control... you do NOT want to kiss that stupid monkey trainer. You don't.
"Oh, c'mon," somehow, Shido had come up behind Ban, and was now whispering into his ear, "it's not that horrible spending time with me, is it, Ban?" His name rolled off of Shido's tongue like it belonged there.
Ban stiffened. "Monkey trainer…?"
Looking much like one of his beloved animals, Shido grinned toothily, and went in for the kill. He darted his tongue out, licking the outer curve of Ban's ear. Ban's eyes closed momentarily, a half sigh escaping his lips. Shido almost crowed with pleasure. Now, if he could just -
"That is ENOUGH!" Ban shouted, throwing his rake down decisively, "I can't take this anymore!"
Shido stared at him, slightly taken aback. "Wha-?"
"Why are you acting so weird, Fuyuki? First there's the... not arguing! And then the cooperating with me, and the weird flirty comments and touching, and then, and then – the EAR THING! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!" Ban clutched some of the hair at his side, almost growling.
Shido, half expecting Ban to either storm off or punch him in the jaw, opened his mouth to offer some half-assed excuse, when he suddenly found his arms full of the smaller man, the ground coming up to meet them. Ban had tackled Shido onto their soon to be award winning pile of leaves. Ban pinned Shido's shoulders to the ground, gripping his vest in his hands. Shido shifted, leaves crunching beneath him as he looked up at the man who had been plaguing his existence.
"I just can't," Ban begin, words a soft whisper against his ear, "take it anymore." With that, he dipped his head down to kiss the Beastmaster. Though the kiss was chaste, the feelings running through it were so intense that Ban broke it after a moment, gasping to catch his breath. Shido smiled up at him, and Ban, after a moment's hesitation, returned it.
Maybe, Ban mused, as Shido's hands tangled in his hair to pull him down for another kiss, this season isn't so bad after all.
~fin