Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics. If any of these songs were mine, I wouldn't be writing fanfics.
Background music: That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed) – Panic at the Disco – Pretty. Odd. Track 5
Chapter Four – That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)
The phone rang, disrupting the quiet household. Instantly, there was a flurry of motion and a scampering of feet down the hallway. "I'll get it!" Keiko called out, despite the fact that Mikihisa was asleep on the couch and probably wouldn't have gotten up anyway. Maybe this was Yoh, her son she hadn't heard from for a month and a good half already. Was he dead? No way…his death would have been on the television, right? Yoh would always find someway of going down famously. Anyway, the fact was that she had no idea about his whereabouts and was worried sick.
"Hello?"
"Mom?"
YES! It was YOH! But now that she knew he was okay, she snapped back to normal mother mode. "No, you are not allowed to come back and live here."
"I know. I found another place."
Another place? Keiko nearly collapsed. Was this the lazy, throwing-his-weight-around son? It couldn't be!
"Do you have a job?" she asked incredulously. There was a silence. "Oh, I'm nodding. So yes."
Keiko rolled her eyes. Only Yoh would respond physically to something over the phone. Wiping her hands on the apron around her neck, she cleared her throat to get the surprise out of her voice. "So…where are you?"
"The city." Keiko breathed another sigh of relief. At least some place close. But she hadn't doubted that he wouldn't have been able to get out of the city. He didn't have enough money.
"So how are you?"
"Me? Fine, I guess." Yoh's voice hesitated before hurrying on. "I think I'm seeing someone."
Keiko couldn't help it; she burst into disbelieving laughter. "You THINK? Not only that, you're SEEING SOMEONE?"
"Yes!" Keiko calmed down to a chuckle as she heard the offensive tone in Yoh's voice. "Alright, honey, tell me about it."
Yoh hesitated again. It was six fifteen and he was sitting on the kitchen counter of his apartment, using the phone line he had just discovered a few days ago. He had meant to call his mother sooner to make sure she knew he was okay, but his cell phone had run out of battery and he had misplaced the charger somewhere in the boxes he had yet to still unpack. So he had gotten a phone and connected it to the wall. Hopefully he wouldn't rack up enormous phone bills. He'd worry about that later…after all, he had just paid his few weeks late rent but Ms. Perverte didn't seem too worried about it. In fact, she had just smiled and offered him a seat and proceeded to ask him about his love life.
Actually his mother was starting to sound just like his old landlady…
"It's complicated…" And it was. A few days ago, he had gone over to Lyserg's to pick him up to go to work and one thing had led to another and before he had known it, the two of them were making out on the couch. Strange how things happen like that. It seemed that every other second he spent with Lyserg was spent just making out. It wasn't a very verbal friendship. Or had it gone past friendship? Yoh decided to ask.
"Listen, Lyserg…we've been making out a lot lately," Yoh started awkwardly, sitting up on the couch. Lyserg searched him with a bit of confusion in his eyes. "Yeah?"
"And I was wondering…do you like me or something?"
Lyserg had looked at him with an expression that suggested he hadn't gotten the question and Yoh was about to repeat it when the Brit finally answered. "Making out is not synonymous with liking someone."
Yoh stared at him blankly. "So you're just making out with me for fun?"
There was another pause before Lyserg nodded slowly, still wearing the boggled expression.
Although Yoh had reason to doubt this as they stopped by Starbucks on their way to Smooth E. When he was talking to Tamao, he knew by the look on her face that she was being given the evil eye. Now why would someone who didn't give a shit care if he was talking and showing interest in someone else? It was beyond him.
"How complicated, honey?"
"I don't know. He says he doesn't like me but he doesn't like it when I talk to this other girl. I think she likes me and I wouldn't mind going out with her but he makes it harder than it seems. I don't get it."
"Now, Yoh, you know it's completely fine to be bi. I still love you all the same."
"That's not what I meant mom."
"Tell me about this boy."
"I'm not a pedophile, mom. He's a junior in collage. He's really pretty and –''
"Now Yoh, I get why he says he doesn't like you. Boys are offended when you call them pretty."
"It's not just me, mom. Horo thought he was a girl at first."
"Horo? Is Horo there? Tell him I said hi."
"He left a few weeks ago."
"Is he still going out with that quiet guy? Rin?"
"Ren, and yes."
"Ah. Anyway, more about this guy…?"
"Anyway, he's actually legit hot and he's got naturally green hair…"
"Green hair? That's different. Is he nice?"
"Depends on how you define nice. He was teasing me the first day I got here."
"So he was flirting with you?"
"I don't know."
Keiko sighed exasperatedly. "What's his name?"
"Lyserg. Lyserg Diethyl."
Keiko wondered where she had heard that name before. Could it be that Yoh was going out with a movie star? But no…she would remember a name like that. Faintly searching her brain for the information, she continued talking. "Now…about this girl?"
"Tamao? She works at Starbucks near the place I work at now. Smooth E."
Now that was a name Keiko remembered. Pieces of the puzzle of her younger son's life were starting to come together. But could it happen this perfectly? Before she could ask anything else, Yoh had tunneled on. "She's got pink hair and she's really nice. Horo said she likes me and I don't have a problem with that. I'm really nice to her, but Lyserg just giving her the silent treatment."
"Gosh, Yoh. You got yourself into a situation." Keiko thought for a moment. "So who do you like better?"
"That's the problem. I don't know. I would like to go out with Tamao, but every time I see Lyserg, somehow we just start making out. It's weird. I don't know."
She was so proud. Her son was finally going through puberty. During their teen years, her older twin Hao had been a dating mess, juggling almost a million girls while Yoh had sat in the corner quietly talking to himself about goldfish and clouds. But she guessed all to his own time.
"Yoh, I guess I shouldn't have worried about you. Looks like you can take care of yourself."
"I can." Then, "Wait, what?"
"Anyway…where do you actually live? I mean, is it a house or something?" This was the only blurry thing in Yoh's explanation. She had to find out.
"No…I'm in an apartment."
"What's it called?"
Yoh blinked. So he had lived here for nearly two months and he had no idea about the place's name. He glanced around frantically and spotted the name on a flyer lying around with his mail. He had been getting a lot of junk lately. "Um…BRSJ Apartments?"
"What floor?"
"Sixth."
There seemed to be a sound of surprise from the other line and Yoh wondered what he missed. "Then have you seen your brother?"
"Hao?" Yoh frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Hao! Your brother! He should be one of your neighbors. Didn't you pay attention last time he came home? He lives on the sixth floor of BRSJ! How could you miss him?"
Yoh nearly dropped the phone. His brother was here? More importantly, they were twins, and if Lyserg had been living here earlier than he had, wouldn't he have noticed? Why did the question never come up? Suddenly the voice from Lyserg's apartment rang through his head and Yoh knew.
The one Lyserg was making out, the one Silva mentioned.
The voice in the apartment.
It had all been Hao all along and he had never noticed.
…
Lyserg's eyes widened as Yoh appeared at the other side of the door. "It's a bit early to be getting to work, hmm?"
Yoh ignored him completely and nearly pushed his way into the apartment. Lyserg didn't seem disturbed by this fact and shut the door behind them. "What's wrong?"
"Why didn't you tell me you knew Hao?" Yoh turned, a frown on his face. "We look exactly alike except the length of our hair! I'm sure you would have noticed! I heard you and Silva talked about it! Unless…you didn't want me to know?"
Lyserg seemed to be in a state of shock. "I…I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Don't lie to me, Lyserg. I know Hao's the other person. Or I'm the other person. I don't know anymore. The point is, you knew Hao but you never told me about him!"
"I didn't know you were related!" Lyserg protested, standing his ground against his seemingly angry Asakura. "I asked him about it but he said he had a little brother!"
"I told you the first day I was the younger part of a pair of twins!"
"I know, but he made it sound like his brother was really young! I thought you two might be related but since neither of you mentioned the other I thought maybe you guys weren't related or you weren't on good terms with each other!"
Yoh considered this, but wasn't done yet. "Alright, I get that, but why didn't you go out and tell me you were seeing someone else? You don't just go out with someone and then make out with someone else for fun!"
"I can't help it!" Lyserg shouted, silencing the younger twin. "There's something about you…" His voice fell a few notches and Yoh had to strain his ears to hear what he said next. "It's just…I feel like you're mine and you can't belong to anyone else."
"Yours?" Yoh asked. "I'm not a thing, Lyserg. I'm a person and I can't just be passed around like a pudding cup!" He felt anger flow through him as he noticed not a hint of shame show on Lyserg's face. "You're disgusting." He made to leave, but he had to walk past Lyserg to do so and as he did, the greenette reached out and pulled Yoh toward him, connecting their lips again like routine. Yoh had made to pull away, but just like always…he couldn't. Lyserg pulled away and his eyes fell to the floor. "Don't hate me."
"You're a liar, Lyserg. I don't like people who lie."
"I don't mean to," Lyserg said softly. At that exact moment, the doorknob gave a rattle and the door opened. In the doorframe was the exact replica of Yoh, save the few inches longer hair, absence of headphones, and neater apparel. The identical brown eyes widened slightly. "So, Lyserg. Is this your new neighbor?"
"Hao!" Lyserg's hold on Yoh disappeared and Yoh noticed the greenette backing away. Hao had noticed this also and glanced over at Yoh. "Hey, utouto. Long time no see."
Hao turned back to Lyserg. "It's not safe not to lock your doors, Lyserg. You're so cute anyone would just walk in here and rape you."
There was an awkward silence as no one knew exactly what to say. Personally, Yoh was already boggled by knowing Lyserg's lie, along with the actual confrontation (well…it wasn't exactly a confrontation at the moment. More like a bust) with his onii-chan. Hao looked rather calm with the whole situation and was looking at them back and forth as if expecting someone to say something. Lyserg was staring at the floor the whole time before slowly deciding to put himself out there to spare everyone else from the carnage known as an awkward silence.
"Hao…this is Yoh. He's my neighbor…and I guess he's your brother too."
"Hmm." Hao nodded as if meeting Yoh for the first time. "Nice to meet you, Yoh."
Yoh was still a bit boggled and tried to blink his way back to actual thinking. "Um, yeah."
"So…why didn't you tell me any of this?" Hao asked. Yoh suddenly had a frenzy urge to add "That's what I asked" but there was no point trying to outdo anyone at this point. Lyserg was perched on the hot seat and didn't seem to know a way out.
"I…" Lyserg took a deep breath. "I know this won't help anything but I'll try and explain everything from the beginning."
…
Lyserg had only moved into BRSJ for a week or so but he was already getting along with everyone nicely. Granted he didn't know anyone on his floor, but that wasn't much of a problem. He didn't want to know anyone. Knowing people would mean getting attached to the place, and from what happened back in England, he knew better than to get attached to anything.
Since…you know, everything ends up disappearing or leaving some way or another.
For that reason, he hated elevators. It made the climb up from the lobby to the sixth floor much easier, but there were a lot of tenants. He could be trapped with someone in the elevator for an excruciating thirty seconds at least. And this someone might show some interest in him and he might be interested in this other person…but he didn't want to be in a relationship right now. Not after what he had been through.
He needed the exercise, and besides, it wasn't like he lived on the top twelfth floor. That would have sucked.
After a five minute climb up the stairs, Lyserg came home to a stack of boxes outside his door, blocking his way into his flat. Giving it the evil eye as if each box would get the clue, Lyserg glanced around the hallway for the perpetrator. Empty. Figures. Wondering if he should just knock the whole thing down and get in the door, a voice called out from the elevator. "Wait! Don't touch those!"
Lyserg jumped. Well, he had been expecting someone to claim these boxes, but he hadn't expected it to be called through an order. It wasn't a request, like most people might have said it. The calm, soft but firm call. This voice was rough, as if touching the boxes would mean unleashing the heaven's wrath. Lyserg leapt away from the stack.
Someone came sprinting out of the elevator, holding a box. Cardboard seemed all the rage with his person. Standing in front of the stack, facing Lyserg, this person seemed determined to protect his belongings. A fire seemed to burn in the brown eyes staring Lyserg down and the normally well-kept off the shoulder hair was tousled with the move. "Don't you dare touch these things."
"As much as I'd love not to," Lyserg said coolly, the defensive instinct kicking in with each new encounter. "You're blocking my way into my own place."
The person turned to the door hidden behind the wall of boxes and Lyserg saw realization in the fiery eyes but was hit with another surprise when the person didn't budge. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that."
"So aren't you going to do anything?"
"I'm not done yet." The person flipped his head to get some ridiculously long bangs out of his eyes. "I still have about five boxes the elevator."
"Where's your place?"
"Why? Wanna stalk me?"
"No, idiot, because you could have put them there!" Lyserg rolled his eyes. "Instead of invading my personal space!"
"Look, chick, you just came up a few minutes ago. Your personal space hasn't been invaded yet." A smirk glazed the mischievous face. "Yet."
"Listen, dick, you're obviously cracked in the head, cause I'm a guy. And I don't care if I have to kick these boxes down the hall, you're moving them—'' Lyserg was cut off as the peace breaker dropped the box with a thud and rammed him into the opposite wall.
"This is called invading personal space," the stranger whispered, his mouth rather close to Lyserg's. "And I said I'm not done yet." He leaned in closer so his breath was hot on Lyserg's neck. A kiss seemed so eminent and strangely desired after such a long period of limited human contact that the Brit was disappointed when the stranger backed off and headed back to the elevator.
"Can I at least know the molester's name?" Lyserg called sarcastically. The stranger turned, giving the greenette an amused look.
"My name's Hao. Remember that."
He did. He ran it over several times in his head and maybe that was why he couldn't seem to think straight when he asked Hao if he could help assist the move despite his abstinence from human contact and saying the name seemed to become a mantra that had given him an out of body experience. Because as he next remembered, the boxes were moved into the apartment and the two were making out on the kitchen counter.
So much for his abstaining from relationships.
…
Life had a strange way of throwing curve balls at you while you're busy trying to escape the whole damn ballpark. But luckily, Lyserg was skilled enough to dodge these bumpy parts. He had gotten rather acquainted with Hao after the both of them scoured for possible jobs in this huge city (and surprisingly, there was a lot more talking involved than lip-locking…which was how it all ended but was not (NOT) the main focus) and somehow ended up at Smooth E. They were lucky Silva was an accepting man because humane rules of PDA didn't seem to apply when the two were around.
Silva would just walk in and the two were at each other. He would just politely excuse himself go take himself out for ice cream.
He was a carefree kind of man.
Things had been sailing smooth for the two when Lyserg met Yoh. He had been waiting for Hao to come back from a long shift and was spending his time reading outside on his balcony. He had always liked plants; they comforted him strangely. He had noticed someone had moved in next to him but now this said person was standing outside, staring out at the city as if oblivious to everything else. There was something about this new neighbor that sparked his interest…he wasn't sure what. It wouldn't hurt to get to know who this guy was, right?
"New here?"
…
The twins were staring at him with strangely identical expressions. Well, duh…they were identical twins. Lyserg gulped as he finished his story. Maybe it didn't quite give them reason to forgive them, but at least the two of them knew what had been going on these past few weeks…months, actually. He wondered how long this silence would last. Maybe forever.
No way. "Wait, are you interested in the both of us?" Yoh asked, trying to make sense of the whole situation.
"I don't think so," Hao said sarcastically. "Otherwise, he wouldn't have kept us this long, nee? You're so stupid sometimes, utouto."
"But you can't." Yoh frowned. "It's not good to go out with two different people at the same time."
"Sure it is. It's called an affair."
"But we both know."
"Oh well."
Lyserg blinked. Now they were arguing over a word with each other? "Are you two mad at me?" he ventured hesitantly. The twins turned and stared at him, again, identically. It was getting a little creepy.
"A bit," Yoh said, nodding slowly. "I mean, you did lie to us but then again you just told us the whole story…"
"And besides, who could say mad at you?" Hao grinned and walked up to him, sliding a hand onto his cheek. "You're too adorable to be mad at."
You're so cute I could never stay mad at you.
"Um, yeah…" Hao raised his eyebrows as Lyserg seemed to swat his hand away, turning away. "Um…we got to go in an hour…I'll go change, alright?" Without another word, the Brit seemed to scamper away. Hao sighed and turned to Yoh. "You're not really mad at him, are you?"
Yoh opened his mouth before sighing and shaking his head. "It's like you said…I should be mad, but I'm not."
Hao chuckled. "Lyserg does that to people. He's dangerous."
"I just never knew he was going out with you."
Hao shrugged. "The reason I'm not gouging out your eyes is that we're technically going out, but Lyserg won't acknowledge it." He looked at Yoh. "You know how protective I am over people I like."
Did he ever. Hao was like a guard dog to everyone he cherished. Family, friends, relationships, it was all the same. One time in kindergarten, Yoh had gotten bullied and the next day, the bully's boxers were flying on the flagpole…along with the bully himself. It was only a miracle the bully hadn't needed therapy…and now was currently his friend going to medical school and going out with egotistical control freak.
"But we've never gotten past third base and whenever we go out together, he never calls us a couple. I don't think he's embarrassed by the fact that we're…you know…both guys, though. With what we do, we really are in a relationship but he doesn't seem to notice it. Like friends just go up to each other and make out."
Yoh blinked. "Why?"
"I don't know. He won't say anything when I ask him about it. He also won't tell me anything about what happened back in England, either. I think something must have happened there." Hao stretched, raising his arms high above his head. "Anyway, utouto, how did you end up here?"
Yoh explained their mother's wrath, the misunderstanding in the paper, and his incredible luck. Hao nodded understandingly. "Keiko's always been that kind of mother that would kick her kids over the nest then beg for them to come back.
Yoh cringed. Only Hao would call his parents by their first name. He could never be like normal kids and say 'mom' and 'dad'.
"So where do you work here?"
"Smooth E."
Hao laughed. "Well, it's a miracle we haven't bumped into each other sooner since we're connected to so many things here! Did you see that weird girl at Starbucks? She stumbled over to me one time and asked me why my hair was so long!"
"Tamao? Oh, yeah. I know her."
"Tamao?" Hao smirked. "You know her, hmm? She must have been talking about you. What's up with her?"
When Yoh didn't say anything, Hao smacked him on the back. "Yoh, what's happened to you? First you start out dry and then you hop from Lyserg to Tamao? You truly are my brother!'
"That's not what's going on!" Yoh protested, but Hao laughed. Lyserg walked in that moment, in his Smooth E outfit holding his apron when Hao grinned. "Yoh was just finishing telling me all about Tamao!"
Lyserg dropped the apron.
Hao gave Yoh a nudgie. "Yoh, things have changed, haven't they?"
Did they ever. Yoh managed to look up to see Lyserg practically shaking hands with that green gentleman, looking positively livid at the mention of Tamao's name. Things had changed for him, but it was okay. He felt the same and he was sure things would be just fine…
…right?
To be continued…
Note: I've been having such horrible writer's block with this chapter that it's caused me so much time between the last update and this one. But I promise the next ones will be much more interesting. I planned some twists out while I was trying to figure what else to write about in this chapter. So don't hold your breath! And do review! Thank you!
