Chapter 3
"Yuu, is there something wrong?" Yoichi questions.
"Nah," he shakes his head, "why?"
"Well, you've seemed a little out of it lately."
"Really?" He plays it off, "I feel fine."
"Seriously," Kimizuki interjects, "what's been up with you lately? You've been spacier than usual."
"I've just got some things on my mind, it's nothing."
"Like what?" Shinoa slides over, "You can tell us, we are your friends."
"It's nothing, can we just go." Yuu stands up, dumps his tray, and leaves. They give each other quizzical looks, the others didn't see it, but Shinoa did. No matter how discreet Yuu was trying to be, Shinoa saw his gaze do a quick sweep over the room distinctly looking for someone and his disappointment when he didn't find them. She doesn't know if she's right on guessing who he's looking for, but the only people that have been noticeably absent more often than not is….Mikaela's group.
Shinoa narrows her eyes, Yuu won't use common sense to save his life. Why would he even be looking for them? Or more likely Mikaela. Did he finally notice all those lingering glances he's been oblivious to? Even if he didn't notice them, Shinoa thinks Mikaela's feelings probably aren't entirely one-sided. Yuu might not be fully aware of it, but he's got some interest in Mikaela too, if that light flush he gets when Mikaela smiles at him is any indication.
She's never brought it up because she didn't want to actually make him think about it especially when she's trying so hard to stamp out any interest between them. Doesn't Yuu hear the rumors, can't he figure out it's for his own good?
"Yuu!" Shinoa calls running after him.
"Yeah?"
"Were you looking for….Mikaela?"
Yuu tenses, "Why?"
"Yuu," Shinoa sighs, "it's not a good idea."
"Not this again," Yuu mutters in irritation.
"But, it's true!"
"You have never once been able to give me a reason why."
"That's…just…you hear the rumors!"
"Rumors aren't fact."
"Yeah, but they usually have some semblance of truth. Just listen to me, why are you so stubborn?"
"Why are you so against him?"
This isn't working, Shinoa switches tactics, "There are plenty of people who'd like a chance to go out with you, you know."
Yuu stares at her in disbelief, "What are you talking about Shinoa?"
"You could take one on a date, see how it goes."
"Shinoa. Even if I was looking for Mikaela, he's not here, so what's it matter?"
"Just…be careful."
"I will," Yuu replies walking off.
Yuuichirou feels a little bad about not being honest with Shinoa, but her grudge against Mika is starting to drive him insane. It wasn't so bad before, but now that he's actually spent time with him, her grudge doesn't feel justified.
Speaking of Mika, where has he been the past 2 weeks, he's been absent more often than not. When he is here, he looks exhausted as hell, actually Lacus and Rene do also. Are they skipping together? Then why does he look so tired all the time?
Yuu hasn't had another chance to approach him since he got his car back. He does have his number though….and he did say he could text him anytime. Yuu whips out his phone.
[Hey Mika]
The response is almost instantaneous.
[Hey Yuu-chan! :)]
Yuu smiles at Mika's response and decides he can be a little late to class.
~~~~~
Mikaela is right in the middle of playing assistant to Lacus' torture when his phone dings.
"Do you seriously have your phone on right now," Rene asks.
"No one ever calls and this wasn't too important, so I didn't bother cutting it off."
Rene rolls his eyes, "You're a terrible partner."
"It's Yuu-chan!" Mika yells excitedly hopping off the man and quickly typing out a response. "He finally texted me!"
"MIKAELA," they both shout at once.
"Now is not the time. Rene, come hold him down," Lacus commands.
He moves to take Mika's place and stop the man's thrashing, "You're supposed to be holding him down."
"I know, but its Yuu-chan!" Mika responds lighting up when his phone dings again.
"It could be Santa Claus for all I care, get the hell over here!" Mika tunes him out.
[you haven't been in school much lately…..]
[I know, ive had some family stuff going on]
[oh. when will you be back?]
[probably next week, its wrapping up soon]
[cool, so how are you at baking?]
"Mika, I swear if you don't get over here, we're coming after you next." Mika looks up at Lacus in irritation before pulling out his gun and shooting the man in the chest point blank. "Miiiika! I'm going to kill you!"
"You were going to kill him anyway!"
"You took away my fun!"
"That wasn't in the orders, I was being a good employee."
"Don't lie, you killed him, so you could text Yuuichirou back!"
"Uh guys," Rene interjects, "he's kind of bleeding everywhere, I could use some help getting it under control." He's ignored.
"Rene was struggling to keep him under control, plus we had everything we needed from him. I was helping everyone."
Lacus throws up his hands in frustration, "Clean the blood up, so we can go."
"Why just me?"
"Because you shot him for something you shouldn't be encouraging anyway. Let's go Rene." Rene dumps the man on the floor and stands up to follow Lacus.
"If you're just going to leave him in the middle of the floor, why do I need to clean up?"
"Because that's not how we do things. Clean up, sit him in his chair, and we'll be waiting in the car."
"Shit," Mikaela looks at the mess on the floor, well he might as well text Yuu back first.
[I think im good at it, why?]
[well if youre not busy this weekend, you could…bake me a cake]
[a cake? What kind of cake?]
[I dunno, just a cake]
[Yuu-chan, if you wanted to hang out, that's all you had to say ;D]
[…..I wanna hang out]
[Me too! And I'll still make you a cake, whats your favorite kind?]
[you don't have to now]
[nah, I don't mind. What do you like?]
[shortcake]
[huh, never made that, but im sure I can! saturday 1?]
[okay, I'll bring the stuff]
[no its okay, I got it]
[nope, im bringing, you fed me dinner]
[do you even know what goes in a shortcake?]
[Ill look it up]
[okay, yuu-chan, ill text you later, I gotta go]
[k see you Saturday]
[:)]
Mika grins, Yuu reached out to him, that's more than he expected and the best he never allowed himself to hope for. Fortunately, since they took care of this guy, that cuts the head off this little group rebelling against Krul and Mika would be free to go back to school for a while. Best of all, he could sleep off his exhaustion tomorrow and spend Saturday with Yuu.
Which brings him back to the current situation, the mess on the floor. Mika sighs before grabbing supplies from his bag and getting to work. Luckily, the blood flow has slowed, he quickly pads the wound with gauze and tightly wraps it in a tourniquet, stripping the man of his shirt, and buttoning up his clean jacket over it. He hauls the traitor into his desk chair and places his head on the desk, now it just looks like he's sleeping. An unfortunate surprise awaits whoever finds him, but that's not Mika's problem.
He heads to the janitor's closet for a broom and some spill magic, efficiently sweeping up the blood and bleaching the floor. Mika dumps everything and heads for the car. Mika slides into the backseat, buckling his seatbelt before settling down for the drive.
"You smell." Mika glares at Lacus. "Like bleach."
"Well, no shit, you did say to clean up."
"I didn't say you had to sanitize the place down."
"Shut up. Wake me up when we get there."
~~~~~
A few hours later Rene pulls into the underground parking garage of the complex and Lacus punches Mika awake receiving a glare in return.
"We're here."
"Clearly."
Mika gets out of the car and heads farther into the building, Lacus and Rene trailing after him. He passes several corridors before reaching Krul's office door with gold engraving and knocking, entering when she answers. Krul looks up from the scattered papers on her large desk and gestures for him to speak.
"It's done," Mika says,
"How'd it go?
"No problems, everything went perfectly." Mika is silently grateful that the others don't do or say anything telling.
"Excellent job. That takes care of this situation, you're free to go. Classes are taken care of until Monday, so it's up to you if you go or not."
They nod and Krul dismisses them. Mika watches them leave before turning back to Krul, "I have a friend coming over Saturday."
"A friend? Not Lacus or Rene?"
"No…someone else. It's a classmate."
"I suppose that's fine, but make sure you don't leave anything questionable out. I can't believe you're branching out."
"It's just one person."
"Tell me about him."
"His name is Yuuichirou," Mika starts hesitantly. "We have art and gym together."
"Will we be seeing a lot of Yuuichirou?"
"I don't know." Before Krul can continue her questioning, there's a knock on the door and she calls for them to come in. Of course, it's no one Mikaela is interested in seeing.
"Ferid," Krul greets.
"Why hello Krul and Mikaela too?" He turns to Mika, "You're looking a bit more tired than usual. Is Krul working you too hard? I wouldn't do that."
Mikaela dodges Ferid's attempts at a hug, "Ferid, I trained with you. I know you would do the same."
"Yes, but I gave you hugs afterward," he smirks, "it was worth it for the reward, huh?"
"No, it was never worth it."
"Come now Mika, we both know that's a lie. You used to be such a sweet kid and you always wanted hugs for a job well done."
"We both know that's over and done with," Mika snaps.
"But, oh how I miss those days," Ferid laments.
"And you'll keep missing them because they're never coming back."
"Yet, I'm not the only one who suffers."
Mikaela glares and steps back towards the door, he and Ferid have a complicated relationship and the guy knows exactly how to get under his skin. He hates how well Ferid knows him. He nods goodbye to Krul, purposely ignoring Ferid, and leaves. Mika shuts the door behind him and turns to see Lacus and Rene who are both looking at him with identical looks of expectation.
"Thank you." He might have mentioned Yuuichirou to Krul, but she'd be none too pleased if she knew what he'd done.
"You're welcome. We are partners, we couldn't sell you out."
"Even if you'll screw up sooner or later," Rene adds.
"Thanks guys."
"You want a ride back home?"
"Nah, I think I'll just stay the night here."
"Alright, we'll see you later." Mikaela watches them leave before turning away. He makes his way past meeting rooms and to the personal quarters, and enters his room. His room is large, but simply furnished with a four poster bed, desk, and couch, all high quality as Krul insists upon. Even though, it's not as personalized as his room at home, it's still comfortable and he welcomes the sight of it.
After a quick shower in the connecting bathroom, he climbs into bed, looking forward to finally being able to relax after weeks of following orders.
~~~~~
Yuu is excited, he woke up early this morning to look up the recipe online and buy everything it said, now he's finally on his way to Mikaela's. Mika hadn't shown up to school Friday either, but when Yuu texted he had said Saturday was still fine, so Yuu assumes everything worked out.
He pulls into the driveway, parking his car and getting out with the bag of ingredients. Mika opens the door with a smile before he even has a chance to knock.
"Hey Yuu-chan, glad you made it."
"Hey, of course." Mika looks refreshed and really relaxed, not at all tired likes he been at school the past few weeks.
Mikaela takes the bag from him and leads him to the kitchen, gesturing for him to take a seat. Mika washes his hands and begins taking out the ingredients and preparing the cake. He glances up at Yuu who's watching him in fascination, "Anything interesting at school? Got any more detention," he teases.
"That was a one-time thing!"
"Go home with anymore strangers lately?"
Yuu frowns and looks away, "Guren was kind of pissed about that, besides you invited me over."
"He was mad?"
"He thinks it was an idiotic thing to do and that I can't take care of myself." Mika hums, perhaps Yuu was a bit too trusting. "But, it's fine, you're a classmate. Speaking of which, nothings interesting there, but you wouldn't know that, would you? Since you haven't been there."
Mika looks up at him in curiosity. "Are you," Mika pauses with a grin, "scolding me for being absent?"
"No! I'm just saying you haven't been there!"
Mikaela laughs, "Does that mean you missed me?"
"I didn't say that."
"It's okay, you don't have to. I missed you though." Mika swipes a dollop of whipped cream across Yuu's nose.
"Hey!" Yuu protests, "What was that for?"
"To keep you from frowning, I had a feeling you might start sulking."
"I don't sulk."
"Mmm."
"Can I help?" Mika hands him the bowl and directs him to slowly stir while he begins slicing strawberries. "Is everything okay?
"What do you mean?"
"Your family stuff. Did everything work out alright?"
"Oh. Yeah…it was nothing too bad, just time consuming." Yuu really wants to pry because Mika has been absent a lot the past few weeks along with Lacus and Rene, but he doesn't want to be too intrusive. Despite everything, he really did just meet him. Mika takes the bowl from him, "What are you thinking so hard about? You're always staring off into space."
"Nothing, just thinking how long before I get cake."
Mika puts the cake in the oven and turns to face Yuu with a smile, "Come on, let's go outside while it bakes." He takes Yuu by the wrist and leads him outside where they take a seat on the porch swing.
It's nice like this, Yuu thinks. Sitting here swinging outside, talking and getting to know Mika. They really haven't talked all that much before and Yuu doesn't know much about him even though he wants to. This is only the second time they've actually spent time together. When the timer goes off, they head back inside where Mika finishes the cake.
It's really good and Yuu ends up eating two giant slices much to Mika's amusement, but not his stomach's. Mika's putting everything away when Yuu excitedly asks if he can see his room. Mika agrees and Yuu follows him upstairs, his eyes widening in surprise when they reach his room.
Mikaela's room looks nothing like he expects, but at the same time, it fits him. All the furniture was white, the colors in the room were all quiet colors, and several shelves with teddy bears lined the walls, unexpected, but it matched Mikaela's sweet personality perfectly. He noticed Mikaela giving him a look, "I didn't say anything," he exclaimed.
"Your surprise is written all over your face, Yuu-chan."
He looked away sheepishly, "Well, I am still trying to get to know you." Mika sighs and collapses in his desk chair, spinning around to face the TV searching for something to watch. Yuu makes himself comfortable on the couch. "What's with the teddy bears?"
"Hmm? I like them. Well, really I like the feelings behind them."
"You have a lot."
"Some are from Krul, but most are from her coworker. I don't particularly like him, so it's hard to like the bears, but I keep them because they're nice. As much as I don't like him, he knows exactly which kind I like."
"Why don't you tell him you don't want anymore?"
"I have, but he doesn't listen. Honestly, it could be worse."
Yuu hums in agreement and lets it go. He's half way to dozing off when someone enters the room.
"Mikaela? Are you…oh. You must be Yuuichirou. I'm Krul." Yuu is instantly wide awake and nodding at the woman who just enters. She's very short, her hair is bright pink, and she looks young. If Mika hadn't told him Krul was his guardian before, he might have mistaken her an older sister.
"Nice you to meet you. Thanks for having me over." Guren has always taught him to be polite and despite her size, Krul seems to have an authoritative presence, even more so than Guren.
"It's no problem, any friend of Mika's is welcome. Mika, I just wanted to see if you were home. I'll leave you two."
Yuu watches her leave before settling back down on the couch letting his eyes fall shut, his stomach was getting worse, "She seems nice."
"Yeah….Yuu-chan, you're not falling asleep on my couch, are you?"
"Mmm, no. I just don't feel good, I think you poisoned me."
"What! I did not."
Yuu smiles, "I know, I know, I think I just ate too much cake."
Mika laughs, "You probably did, two giant slices."
Yuu opens his eyes to give Mika a halfhearted glare, "It was good okay. I didn't think about how much I was eating."
"It's your cake, I'll go get you some water."
By the time Mikaela returns with water, Yuuichirou is already fast asleep. Mikaela smiles lightly before setting the water beside him and brushing back a few strand of Yuu's hair. He closes the door and makes his way back downstairs to the living room where Krul is idly eating a slice.
"So that's Yuuichirou, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Where is he?"
"He ate too much cake, got a stomachache, and fell asleep."
"He's not exactly what I was expecting."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he's not like Lacus or Rene at all."
"You wanted me to bring home a killer? I think I'm around enough of those."
Krul frowned, "That's not what I meant Mika. He just seems….innocent."
Mikaela tenses, that's exactly how he feels about it too, he's not trying to ruin Yuu, but he can't exactly help his feelings. Krul confirming what he already thought doesn't exactly make him feel less guilty. "So…you don't want him to come back over?"
"I'm just saying be careful, you know what my position is like right now. I can't show leniency."
"It's not like I'm telling him secrets."
"I know Mika, just a warning. We don't want any incidents."
"I got it."
~~~~~
Yuu woke abruptly, confused as to where the hell he was. Why was he on a couch? Whose room was this? He sat there in shock before recalling that he was at Mika's house and the last thing he remembered was Mika leaving to get water and of course Mika is gone now.
Yuu approaches the living room where he can hear Mika and Krul quietly talking. He's unsure of how to interrupt, so he awkwardly stands at the entryway until Mika happens to notice and beckons him over, moving over on the couch to make room for him.
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"You said you didn't feel well."
"I can't just come to someone's house and fall asleep."
Mika rests his head on Yuu's shoulder, "I didn't mind. You feel better?"
"Actually I do," Yuu says reaching over for a strawberry from the bowl in Mika's lap.
"And the first thing you do is eat more."
Yuu makes a face, "There's no sugar in these. It's fine."
"I'm trying to watch the movie over here."
"Sorry," Yuu mumbles shrinking into the couch.
"She's just joking," Mika whispers into his ear. Yuu nods, resisting the urge to tense up at Mikaela's actions. He wondered if Mika could feel his pulse speeding up from his proximity and if it'd be too obvious if he tried to inch away. Fortunately, the world took pity on him and Mika sits up, commenting on the time and when Krul is going to make dinner.
Which brings Yuu's attention to the fact that it's almost seven at night, he's surprised Guren hasn't blown up his phone yet or maybe he has. "I didn't know it was so late, I've gotta go."
Mika nods and Krul tells him goodbye. Mika hands him the cake and walks him to the door. "FYI, next time you want to hang out, you don't have to ask for a cake."
"I said you didn't have to make it!"
"Uh huh. I'll see you at school."
"You will be back on Monday?"
"Yes Yuu-chan, you don't have to go through your days without me any longer," Mika teases.
Yuu shakes his head before walking away, Mikaela watches him go. "I saw that."
He turns to look at Krul, "Saw what?"
"You said he was a friend."
"He is."
"Really? That's not the way you looked at him."
"I don't want to hear this. Everything is fine. Just friends." And when Mikaela walks away, she knows there's nothing she can say, he'll be left to clean up his own mess.
