Ch.2: Incorrect Conclusion
Ken could tell by the way that Aya walked in that something was wrong. Aya *never*
bumped into all corners of the shop, never tripped over his own feet while sweeping the
floor, never dashed a world record of 5 vases to the floor in one day. The soccer player
could see frustration mirrored in violet eyes, and he wondered just to WHAT extent Youji
used to wake him up. But there wasn't any time for that; the bell that ended school would
be ringing soon, if not now, and another swarm of adoring girls would be crowding the shop
as always, not buying anything, but instead ogling at them. He noticed, with a snicker,
that most of the girls were headed in Aya's direction. But unlike other days, he didn't
give them the death glare, and when they offered to go on a date with him, he was actually
polite enough to say "I'm sorry, I'm busy on that date" instead of shooting them all death
glares. Something had happened to him over the course of the night, but Ken didn't quite
think so. He caught Aya sending looks at Youji's back, with no avail, because the oldest
member of WeiB didn't seem to be meeting his eye. It was all very much in vain but it was
an attempt nonetheless to get Youji's attention. Ken had to give the guy credit for trying.
Youji was his normal self, except for the fact that he avoided Aya's eyes at all
costs. He even volunteered to go with Ken to help with soccer coaching instead of staying
at the Koneko to flirt with the girls. There was something fishy about this, but Ken put it
off until practice. He caught Omi's eye for a moment before he picked up his jacket and
walked out of the door, with Youji still trailing behind, seemingly attracted to the girls
and having second doubts about going. Ken finally dragged him out of the shop, but
fortunately Youji's diverted attention towards the girls gave Ken a moment to talk to Omi.
He motioned a quick motion of "Come over here" to Omi, and Omi pretended to be taking a
customer's order to sneak into the next room over. Ken checked to see that neither Aya nor
Youji was anywhere near, and asked in a low voice, "You've noticed it too?"
Omi looked around for a moment, then said back, "Of course. I'm not blind, you
know. One way or the other, you ask Youji at practice, and I'll try and approach Aya while
you guys are gone. You up for that?"
Ken nodded and shifted his coat to his shoulder, and dragged Youji out of the shop.
The 2 of them supervised the kids for a little bit, then slouched down the shade of the
willow tree above. Ken noticed, with a level of astonishment and surprise, that Youji was
actually very good at soccer; the ball went swiftly wherever he wanted it go, with no
trouble at all. Plus, while Ken was plain tuckered out, Youji still looked as fit and
fiddle as if he had just stepped onto the playing field. But he warded the little ones
away, and sighed as he collapsed beside Ken. The brunette held up a water bottle towards
him, but Youji waved it away, just closing his eyes and letting his sunglasses drop to his
nose, effectively shading out the sun. Ken shrugged and replaced the half-filled bottle in
the pocket of his coat. Both say in amiable silence for a little while, and finally Ken
couldn't stand the silence anymore. Obviously Youji was NOT asleep, but thinking about
something. Wasn't Youji the one who always talked and chatted, keeping up the good
unification of the team? He certainly isn't that way right now, and I'm starting to get
worried since he hasn't spoken a word to me at practice except for commands of "Pass it to
me!" or "Hey! I'm free!". Something is WRONG, and I want to know what it is, Ken thought
a little anxiously.
He lay a hand on Youji's shoulder, and the blonde jumped in surprise, looking over
his sunglasses at Ken questioningly. Ken took his hand off Youji's shoulder and ran it
though his hair. "What's up with you and Aya today? You 2 are just so jumpy today. Did
something happen when you tried to get him out of the bed?"
Youji recoiled a little at this prediction, and Ken took that as a 'yes', so he
quickly added, "It is, isn't it? What happened?"
Youji pushed his shades up, covering his eyes, and turned away so Ken couldn't see
his face. After a few moments of through the tense atmosphere that wrapped around them, Ken
heard Youji's softly said answer.
"I can't tell you."
Frustrated at this lack of information, Ken slammed his fist sideways against the
trunk of the tree. It did no harm to the tree, but Ken effectively made Youji jump again.
"Dammit, Youji!", he voiced with an edge dangerously close to anger, "it's considerably more
than 'nothing', you know. I'm not blind, you know. I can tell that there's something
between you and Aya that happened this morning, and I want to know what it is. 'Nothing'
isn't exactly an answer that matches that category, you know!" Immediately he regretted his
words as Youji whirled around and stared at him over his glasses. Ken felt unable to tear
his eyes from the jade green that held his, but they narrowed dangerously with a threat of
what to come if he said anymore about the subject this day, or any day. Something
catastrophic had happened between the 2 of them, he could tell by the close to panic look in
Youji's eyes, and the slight tremor in his voice as he spoke in his tenor voice. The wind
shifted slowly under the boughs of the tree, stirred by the tendrils of plant that almost
scraped the grassy floor.
"Don't even say a WORD, Ken. Give me the reason, and I swear -!", the threat was
left unfinished as Youji swirled his coat around him and turned heel. Ken could only
watched dazedly as the blonde walked down the little hill back towards the Koneko. Then he
breathed back a sigh of relief and unspoken fear as he realized that he had just escaped an
encounter with Youji at the very border point of anger.
* * *
Omi and Aya swept the floor in silence, the younger occasionally peeking to look up
at Aya's face, which was kept blank and unfeeling. He gave a little half-sigh that caught
Aya's attention, and he continued to sweep the floor, hoping that the lead was taken. It
worked, because Aya stopped sweeping and looked at him. He lifted the broom again to start
sweeping again, then stopped in midair as Omi almost slapped him for such clueless-ness. He
thought the better of the action, and came over to talk to Omi. The youngest member sighed
in relief. He didn't turn his head up until Aya was standing above him, waiting for him to
speak. He straightened, brushed the sweat from his forehead, and faced Aya, who was waiting
expectantly in front of him.
"Give me a truthful answer on this one."
"Depends on what question."
Omi could have laughed at his optimism right then, but he refrained from doing so,
and instead ran a hand through his mop of hair that flopped back uselessly on his head.
"Well, number one: why are you trying to get Youji's attention? And number two: Just what
happened to you and him in the morning when he was sent upstairs to wake you up?"
Aya stopped short at this, and Omi could tell by the stiffening-ness of his
shoulders that his prediction was correct. The redhead gave his own sigh of the confusion
that brewed inside him, but before he could say anything, the back door slammed, and both
their heads turned towards the figure that trotted up the stairs. Waves of gold bounced
with every step the going-upstairs figure conquered, and Omi say Aya quickly find his shoes
fascinating. Omi pursed his lips in annoyance of being so close to get Aya talking, but
when he looked at where Aya was standing a moment ago, and found that the broom had been
dropped, and there was no tall, pale leader of WeiB anywhere. He dashed into the kitchen,
only to hear boots pound up the stairs. He cursed as he saw the telltale flash of red hair
disappear behind a wall, and waited for Ken to come back home with any information that he
might've gathered.
Ken did come home, not just without Youji and no information, but with dinner
instead. The 2 called and knocked on both closed doors of their comrades, switching people
to annoy, but there came no answer from either door. So the 2 youngest members of WeiB sat
down at the dinner table and talked softly about the 2 people upstairs who refused to appear
for another hour, 2 hours, 3 hours. Finally they did get anxious, and left a portion of the
meal wrapped in cellophane outside each of their doors, to make sure that they got something
to eat at the very least, and, in a way, repentance for trying to pry. They both each gave
one last futile knock on each of the doors, then gave up on every getting the people out of
their doors, and returned to their respective rooms to sleep.
Aya and Youji's doors opened at the same time, right after they herd the telltale
creak of Omi's bed down the hall being sat upon, and picked up their meals. They did not
look at each other, but instead retired to their own rooms, silent and confused in their own
thoughts.
* * *
Aya chewed each bite of his dinner carefully and deliberately, thinking. He didn't
want to eat right that moment; there was too much going on in his mind. But he knew that he
had to eat something, so he ate and thought at the same time. The food was Chinese food, a
small part of his brain told him, but he barely paid attention to the food, and rather
towards the person who had also been picking up his food when he was. In all of his
thinking (mixed with his stumbling over this and falling over that), he had only come up
with one conclusion: Youji was in love with him. But he couldn't be sure until he heard
those words fall from Youji's own lips in confirmation, so he put that aside and thought a
little more. What had been that feeling he had felt that morning? Was he, himself, Aya the
serious, unfeeling one, in love with Youji? It seemed impossible to him, but now he wasn't
so sure, especially as he recalled the shivers that ran up and down his spine when the
blonde had kissed him. He shuddered a little at the memory, and touched his own lips as if
he could still feel Youji's mouth over his, that brief touch that was so electrifying yet so
calm and composed, so precise and to the point that Aya would've never thought of it ever.
He set down his now empty plate and fork, and lifted himself off the bed. He was prepared
for the worst (for Youji to tell him "What kiss?" and mean it) or the best (Youji blushing
and telling him "I love you"). He readied himself, and stepped out the door. Every step
seemed to take forever to Youji's door, a door to the path of love, or the door to the path
of hate. He couldn't be sure, but he was willing to take that risk.
* * *
Youji opened the door, a bundle of towels and clothes under his arm, and strode out
into the hall. He stopped abruptly as he saw red hair in front of him, and got a tad bit
defensive. His tone was carefully controlled into a monotone of indifference and a blank
look was what he wore on his face. His eyes were carefully guarded, with a stalwart saying
of courage reflected in them.
"What do you want?"
"I want to ask you about this morning."
The blonde had no reply to this.
"Why did you kiss me?"
"Why do you think I kissed you?", Youji leaned on the railing over the stairs.
Aya shifted slightly, and said softly as he could that it was barely a whisper from
his mouth, "Because you love me."
"What?"
Aya took that response as a cue to repeat what he said, and he said a little louder
this time, "Because you love me."
There was silence for a moment, and the air was thick and condenscending as Youji
replied to Aya's unspoken query. "What?", he started slowly. "You took that as a clue that
I'm in love with you?" The redhead had no reply to this, his own mind starting to creep
with unsuspecting dread of the hidden meaning behind those words, the reading between the l
ines. Warning bells went off in his head to leave while he still had his heart intact, but
he found himself rooted to the spot, unable to move, rooted to the solitary moment.
Youji crossed his arms over his chest and looked at him impassively. "I'm straight,
Aya."
Aya didn't answer. Youji continued.
"I like to hang out with WOMEN, got it?"
Aya had no answer. His whole world seemed to crash down before his eyes as Youji
said his next words.
"I don't love you, Aya."
The blonde pushed past Aya at these words, and continued towards the shower. The
redhead could only dazedly stare as Youji brushed past him, and when he felt the door slam,
he felt like that was the door to his love. He crumpled to the ground, and softly tears wet
the floor below, until he raised himself from the ground and stumbled blindly back to his
room.
Author's notes:
This fic is coming along nicely...I like the turnout. This came to me when I was
listening to that song "ATW (La La La)" and the part "The kisses of the sun...". I must be
pretty bored to be listening to that song, but at least I got something done about it. I
want to update this ASAP, so I'll be writing this one more than the others.
Andrea Weiling
Ken could tell by the way that Aya walked in that something was wrong. Aya *never*
bumped into all corners of the shop, never tripped over his own feet while sweeping the
floor, never dashed a world record of 5 vases to the floor in one day. The soccer player
could see frustration mirrored in violet eyes, and he wondered just to WHAT extent Youji
used to wake him up. But there wasn't any time for that; the bell that ended school would
be ringing soon, if not now, and another swarm of adoring girls would be crowding the shop
as always, not buying anything, but instead ogling at them. He noticed, with a snicker,
that most of the girls were headed in Aya's direction. But unlike other days, he didn't
give them the death glare, and when they offered to go on a date with him, he was actually
polite enough to say "I'm sorry, I'm busy on that date" instead of shooting them all death
glares. Something had happened to him over the course of the night, but Ken didn't quite
think so. He caught Aya sending looks at Youji's back, with no avail, because the oldest
member of WeiB didn't seem to be meeting his eye. It was all very much in vain but it was
an attempt nonetheless to get Youji's attention. Ken had to give the guy credit for trying.
Youji was his normal self, except for the fact that he avoided Aya's eyes at all
costs. He even volunteered to go with Ken to help with soccer coaching instead of staying
at the Koneko to flirt with the girls. There was something fishy about this, but Ken put it
off until practice. He caught Omi's eye for a moment before he picked up his jacket and
walked out of the door, with Youji still trailing behind, seemingly attracted to the girls
and having second doubts about going. Ken finally dragged him out of the shop, but
fortunately Youji's diverted attention towards the girls gave Ken a moment to talk to Omi.
He motioned a quick motion of "Come over here" to Omi, and Omi pretended to be taking a
customer's order to sneak into the next room over. Ken checked to see that neither Aya nor
Youji was anywhere near, and asked in a low voice, "You've noticed it too?"
Omi looked around for a moment, then said back, "Of course. I'm not blind, you
know. One way or the other, you ask Youji at practice, and I'll try and approach Aya while
you guys are gone. You up for that?"
Ken nodded and shifted his coat to his shoulder, and dragged Youji out of the shop.
The 2 of them supervised the kids for a little bit, then slouched down the shade of the
willow tree above. Ken noticed, with a level of astonishment and surprise, that Youji was
actually very good at soccer; the ball went swiftly wherever he wanted it go, with no
trouble at all. Plus, while Ken was plain tuckered out, Youji still looked as fit and
fiddle as if he had just stepped onto the playing field. But he warded the little ones
away, and sighed as he collapsed beside Ken. The brunette held up a water bottle towards
him, but Youji waved it away, just closing his eyes and letting his sunglasses drop to his
nose, effectively shading out the sun. Ken shrugged and replaced the half-filled bottle in
the pocket of his coat. Both say in amiable silence for a little while, and finally Ken
couldn't stand the silence anymore. Obviously Youji was NOT asleep, but thinking about
something. Wasn't Youji the one who always talked and chatted, keeping up the good
unification of the team? He certainly isn't that way right now, and I'm starting to get
worried since he hasn't spoken a word to me at practice except for commands of "Pass it to
me!" or "Hey! I'm free!". Something is WRONG, and I want to know what it is, Ken thought
a little anxiously.
He lay a hand on Youji's shoulder, and the blonde jumped in surprise, looking over
his sunglasses at Ken questioningly. Ken took his hand off Youji's shoulder and ran it
though his hair. "What's up with you and Aya today? You 2 are just so jumpy today. Did
something happen when you tried to get him out of the bed?"
Youji recoiled a little at this prediction, and Ken took that as a 'yes', so he
quickly added, "It is, isn't it? What happened?"
Youji pushed his shades up, covering his eyes, and turned away so Ken couldn't see
his face. After a few moments of through the tense atmosphere that wrapped around them, Ken
heard Youji's softly said answer.
"I can't tell you."
Frustrated at this lack of information, Ken slammed his fist sideways against the
trunk of the tree. It did no harm to the tree, but Ken effectively made Youji jump again.
"Dammit, Youji!", he voiced with an edge dangerously close to anger, "it's considerably more
than 'nothing', you know. I'm not blind, you know. I can tell that there's something
between you and Aya that happened this morning, and I want to know what it is. 'Nothing'
isn't exactly an answer that matches that category, you know!" Immediately he regretted his
words as Youji whirled around and stared at him over his glasses. Ken felt unable to tear
his eyes from the jade green that held his, but they narrowed dangerously with a threat of
what to come if he said anymore about the subject this day, or any day. Something
catastrophic had happened between the 2 of them, he could tell by the close to panic look in
Youji's eyes, and the slight tremor in his voice as he spoke in his tenor voice. The wind
shifted slowly under the boughs of the tree, stirred by the tendrils of plant that almost
scraped the grassy floor.
"Don't even say a WORD, Ken. Give me the reason, and I swear -!", the threat was
left unfinished as Youji swirled his coat around him and turned heel. Ken could only
watched dazedly as the blonde walked down the little hill back towards the Koneko. Then he
breathed back a sigh of relief and unspoken fear as he realized that he had just escaped an
encounter with Youji at the very border point of anger.
* * *
Omi and Aya swept the floor in silence, the younger occasionally peeking to look up
at Aya's face, which was kept blank and unfeeling. He gave a little half-sigh that caught
Aya's attention, and he continued to sweep the floor, hoping that the lead was taken. It
worked, because Aya stopped sweeping and looked at him. He lifted the broom again to start
sweeping again, then stopped in midair as Omi almost slapped him for such clueless-ness. He
thought the better of the action, and came over to talk to Omi. The youngest member sighed
in relief. He didn't turn his head up until Aya was standing above him, waiting for him to
speak. He straightened, brushed the sweat from his forehead, and faced Aya, who was waiting
expectantly in front of him.
"Give me a truthful answer on this one."
"Depends on what question."
Omi could have laughed at his optimism right then, but he refrained from doing so,
and instead ran a hand through his mop of hair that flopped back uselessly on his head.
"Well, number one: why are you trying to get Youji's attention? And number two: Just what
happened to you and him in the morning when he was sent upstairs to wake you up?"
Aya stopped short at this, and Omi could tell by the stiffening-ness of his
shoulders that his prediction was correct. The redhead gave his own sigh of the confusion
that brewed inside him, but before he could say anything, the back door slammed, and both
their heads turned towards the figure that trotted up the stairs. Waves of gold bounced
with every step the going-upstairs figure conquered, and Omi say Aya quickly find his shoes
fascinating. Omi pursed his lips in annoyance of being so close to get Aya talking, but
when he looked at where Aya was standing a moment ago, and found that the broom had been
dropped, and there was no tall, pale leader of WeiB anywhere. He dashed into the kitchen,
only to hear boots pound up the stairs. He cursed as he saw the telltale flash of red hair
disappear behind a wall, and waited for Ken to come back home with any information that he
might've gathered.
Ken did come home, not just without Youji and no information, but with dinner
instead. The 2 called and knocked on both closed doors of their comrades, switching people
to annoy, but there came no answer from either door. So the 2 youngest members of WeiB sat
down at the dinner table and talked softly about the 2 people upstairs who refused to appear
for another hour, 2 hours, 3 hours. Finally they did get anxious, and left a portion of the
meal wrapped in cellophane outside each of their doors, to make sure that they got something
to eat at the very least, and, in a way, repentance for trying to pry. They both each gave
one last futile knock on each of the doors, then gave up on every getting the people out of
their doors, and returned to their respective rooms to sleep.
Aya and Youji's doors opened at the same time, right after they herd the telltale
creak of Omi's bed down the hall being sat upon, and picked up their meals. They did not
look at each other, but instead retired to their own rooms, silent and confused in their own
thoughts.
* * *
Aya chewed each bite of his dinner carefully and deliberately, thinking. He didn't
want to eat right that moment; there was too much going on in his mind. But he knew that he
had to eat something, so he ate and thought at the same time. The food was Chinese food, a
small part of his brain told him, but he barely paid attention to the food, and rather
towards the person who had also been picking up his food when he was. In all of his
thinking (mixed with his stumbling over this and falling over that), he had only come up
with one conclusion: Youji was in love with him. But he couldn't be sure until he heard
those words fall from Youji's own lips in confirmation, so he put that aside and thought a
little more. What had been that feeling he had felt that morning? Was he, himself, Aya the
serious, unfeeling one, in love with Youji? It seemed impossible to him, but now he wasn't
so sure, especially as he recalled the shivers that ran up and down his spine when the
blonde had kissed him. He shuddered a little at the memory, and touched his own lips as if
he could still feel Youji's mouth over his, that brief touch that was so electrifying yet so
calm and composed, so precise and to the point that Aya would've never thought of it ever.
He set down his now empty plate and fork, and lifted himself off the bed. He was prepared
for the worst (for Youji to tell him "What kiss?" and mean it) or the best (Youji blushing
and telling him "I love you"). He readied himself, and stepped out the door. Every step
seemed to take forever to Youji's door, a door to the path of love, or the door to the path
of hate. He couldn't be sure, but he was willing to take that risk.
* * *
Youji opened the door, a bundle of towels and clothes under his arm, and strode out
into the hall. He stopped abruptly as he saw red hair in front of him, and got a tad bit
defensive. His tone was carefully controlled into a monotone of indifference and a blank
look was what he wore on his face. His eyes were carefully guarded, with a stalwart saying
of courage reflected in them.
"What do you want?"
"I want to ask you about this morning."
The blonde had no reply to this.
"Why did you kiss me?"
"Why do you think I kissed you?", Youji leaned on the railing over the stairs.
Aya shifted slightly, and said softly as he could that it was barely a whisper from
his mouth, "Because you love me."
"What?"
Aya took that response as a cue to repeat what he said, and he said a little louder
this time, "Because you love me."
There was silence for a moment, and the air was thick and condenscending as Youji
replied to Aya's unspoken query. "What?", he started slowly. "You took that as a clue that
I'm in love with you?" The redhead had no reply to this, his own mind starting to creep
with unsuspecting dread of the hidden meaning behind those words, the reading between the l
ines. Warning bells went off in his head to leave while he still had his heart intact, but
he found himself rooted to the spot, unable to move, rooted to the solitary moment.
Youji crossed his arms over his chest and looked at him impassively. "I'm straight,
Aya."
Aya didn't answer. Youji continued.
"I like to hang out with WOMEN, got it?"
Aya had no answer. His whole world seemed to crash down before his eyes as Youji
said his next words.
"I don't love you, Aya."
The blonde pushed past Aya at these words, and continued towards the shower. The
redhead could only dazedly stare as Youji brushed past him, and when he felt the door slam,
he felt like that was the door to his love. He crumpled to the ground, and softly tears wet
the floor below, until he raised himself from the ground and stumbled blindly back to his
room.
Author's notes:
This fic is coming along nicely...I like the turnout. This came to me when I was
listening to that song "ATW (La La La)" and the part "The kisses of the sun...". I must be
pretty bored to be listening to that song, but at least I got something done about it. I
want to update this ASAP, so I'll be writing this one more than the others.
Andrea Weiling
