Part Two: File Youji
Youji was sitting on the living room couch, staring straight ahead and chewing his unlit cigarette like it was a bubble gum. He had taken his dead coffee cup to the kitchen and had heard Aya going out of the door. Well, to be exact, he had heard it but not acknowledged it. He had just walked back to the couch and sagged into a comfortable position on it. Meaning his legs were on the table and he was half-slumbing, half-crouching on it.
A slight frown crazed his forehead as he stared into eternity and reminisced the day's events. Or, more particularly, the first events of this morning. A sloppy grin appeared momentarily on his lips as he remembered the surprise in Aya's eyes before he dumped him over the porch railing. The grin disappeared when the following moments jumped from his mind to in front of his eyes.
Aya had grabbed him from his jacket and hauled him down to the snowbank with him. Next thing Youji had known was himself falling on top of the younger man and pushing him deeper to the snow. His body had felt warm though he always acted so coldly. It had, actually, felt both warm and soft despite the obvious muscles the redhead had. Temptingly soft, compared to the women – and men – he knew. He had smiled and brushed some snow off Aya's creamy cheek. His skin had felt so smooth and alive despite the cold weather. The gesture had made Aya blush like a school girl and Youji had found it very attractive. Despite the fact that Aya had growled at him later. Then Youji had looked into Aya's eyes.
They were absolutely amazing eyes. Their colour was deep amethyst and they reflected both the darkness and the light that was the Weiß's life. There had been a flickering moment when Aya's mental barriers had been down and he had seen emotions flicker in those violet pools. He had seen uncertainty and fear appearing in them only for a fleeing moment and then there had been sheer emotional pain and, to Youji's very surprise, tears. It had shocked him – a lot. The next moment Aya's eyes had turned into cold pieces of stone, he had growled angrily and pushed Youji off himself. His arms were strong, Youji had noted just before Aya got up and walked away, leaving Youji to the snowbank to gape after him. He faintly remembered Omi's giggling.
Youji slid lower on the couch as his thoughts galloped around the morning's events and Aya.
Unconsciously he bit the cigarette in half and chewed the other half in his mouth. He didn't notice that the other half dangled from his lips, dropping the tobacco to the couch and on his new shirt. He just thought about Aya and found himself feeling confused.
"Dammit", he muttered, spilling the tobacco again on his shirt and dropping the other half on the floor.
Omi chose that particular moment to walk from the kitchen to the living room. The bright smile on his cherubic face turned swiftly into an angry frown as he regarded Youji and the mess he had caused.
"YOUJI-KUN NO BAKA!!!" the honey-haired boy yelled as he saw the crunched tobacco on the couch and floor. That startled Youji back to the now. He swallowed part of the chewed tobacco in his mouth when he noticed the simply furious look on Omi's young face.
"What have I told you about smoking inside?!" Omi shouted. Youji blinked.
"Demo, I wasn't smoking", he began.
"Yeah? WELL, what's that on the floor? On the couch? On your shirt? In your mouth?" Omi questioned, his bambi-like bright blue eyes turning into a darker shade of navy blue and his mouth becoming an upset thin line. Youji blinked again and looked on the floor. He saw dark, small pieces of dried tobacco scattered all over the carpet. The same was on the couch. And on his shirt. And... in his mouth. Suddenly Youji felt an overwhelming urge to throw up as he tasted the tobacco in his mouth and he covered his mouth with his hand.
"I'm not cleaning this, Youji-kun!" Omi exclaimed and turned around, walking to the kitchen. "If the living room isn't clean in ten minutes, Youji-kun, you'll be doing all the morning shifts when we get back home!" Omi shouted from the kitchen.
"That's right!" Ken added his agreement with obvious glee.
Youji ran to the bathroom, spitting the tobacco to the sink and rinsing his mouth various times with water.
"Goddammit!" he cursed when he looked at the mirror and saw a confused, chestnut-haired guy looking back with puzzled emerald eyes. "Bloody redheaded heartless iceberg!"
Later on that night Youji was smoking outside, staring with empty eyes to the starlit sky. When he had finally come out of the bathroom Omi had been waiting for him with a hoover and had shooed him to the living room to clean up the mess he had caused. After that the boy had given him probably the longest scolding in the history of their friendship. Ken's barely muffled giggles hadn't helped the situation as Youji had shifted from one foot to another and muttered his apologies. It had been so damn humiliating for him to listen that and to actually apologise like an unobedient child. So bloody humiliating. And all because he couldn't get Aya and this morning out of his head.
Youji blew out a smokering as he stumped the cigarette to the railing and threw it away. He pushed his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he sighed deeply and turned around to lean against the railing. He stared through the glass door to the living room in where Omi and Ken were sitting and passing time in their own ways. Omi had dragged his laptop with him was obviously concentrated in typing with it. Ken had piled his whole archive of old football magazines on the floor and was currently lying on the floor and leafing through them. Every once in a while he sat up and enthusiastically showed something at Omi, who smiled in his genki way and commented something, making the choco-haired boy look happy or agreeing. The scene made Youji smile, despite the fact that it stabbed straight through his heart. It made him wonder how could they forget their work as assassins so fast. It made think that they were too young and innocent to be assassins. But he realised that they were lies they couldn't affort to believe. Youth and innocence. One might possess them but what good were they if one couldn't believe in them?
Youji wasn't a happy person, although he acted otherwise. Not especially when he didn't know what was going on around him – or in him. It made him grumpy as hell. And he hated being grumpy. Not only because it scared away all his hot dates but also because it waked up unpleasant memories in him. Meaning Asuka and her death. Youji sighed at the thought. Great, now I'm thinking of her again... Even here I can't get away from my guilt. Even here you won't leave me alone – or will you, Asuka?
Youji felt like a creature trapped inside his own head and tormented by two very different persons: there was Asuka with her cheerful yet tough and scornful attitude and there was Aya with his silence and painstakingly cold manners. One side of Youji was burned by the fire Asuka had had and the other side of him was frozen by the ice that was named Aya. In other words, the mental situation he had created for himself just by thinking sucked. A lot.
"Chikusho."
Just then a snowball hit his back. When he was about to turn around to look at his assaulter another one hit his arm. The third ball hit his chest, spraying part of itself to Youji's face. He cleared his face from the snow and looked sternly down. He felt his mouth opening and closing when he saw Aya standing down there holding two more snowballs in his hands.
What the fuck?!
"Konbanwa, Youji-kun", Aya said before throwing the other snowball towards the lanky playboy. Youji barely dodged, falling to his knees and cursing under his breath.
"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted, looking accusingly at Aya.
"Practising", came the calm, indifferent answer as the final snowball hit the railing right next to Youji's head. Youji cursed again as he straightened and glared at the redhead.
"Practising? Practising what?" he bellowed angrily, practically fuming. What the fuck does he think he's doing? I'm NOT some sort of a replacement target of Omi's! Goddamn redhead iceberg maniac!
"Just practising", Aya answered with a faintly amused impression on his pale face. Youji stared at him with an amazed look. Was there a... smile on... Aya's lips? It couldn't be. It must be an illusion.
When he saw Aya scooping some more snow in his glove-covered hands Youji didn't stop to do some more thinking but ran to the porch stairs and down them, scooping some snow from the railing in his own hands in the way. Quickly he made a snowball of it and flung it towards Aya, missing the redhead only by an inch. A slightly surprised look appeared on the younger man's face as he turned to look at Youji. In a moment the surprise in his eyes turned into concentration as Aya made a perfect snowball and threw towards Youji.
The playboy dodged it more than easily and, before Aya had any chance to do something else, he tackled the boy and dumped both of them to the ground, topping the boy.
"Oh, no you won't", Youji breathed only an inch away from the redhead's ear. Aya looked at him with a small portion of awe in his amethyst eyes. His face was, however, as passive as always. Youji felt also awed for the fact that Aya was in the mood he was, that he was allowing himself to be dumped again in the snow and even being topped by him. He felt like something had changed in the atmosphere and in Aya during this day. He couldn't explain it, he only knew it and he knew he was right about it.
Aya lifted his hands to push Youji off himself, or that was at least what Youji thought he was going to do. So, without a warning, he captured both of Aya's slender wrists with his hand and pushed them over Aya's head. The redhead arched his eyebrows slightly, his amethyst eyes secretive and strangely still cold. He looked like he knew something that Youji didn't. But right now he didn't care about it. No, he didn't care at all, for he was too wrapped up in Aya's eyes and in the situation itself. Youji felt like there was someone woving a spell around them as he glanced again at the redhead's bright eyes and saw the coldness in them melting away.
Aya smiled slightly.
"I won't what?" he questioned, looking calmly at Youji's eyes.
Suddenly the older man felt unsure and began questioning his thoughts and the situation in itself. Then he looked in Aya's eyes and felt certain. He arched his eyebrow and gave his patented ladykiller – or in this case, mankiller – smile.
"Oh, I think you know. I think you know very well", Youji crooned, drawing a line with his index finger from Aya's pierced ear to the very tip of his jaw. He felt Aya shiver under him and saw his eyes glaze for a moment. Only pain and pleasure were reflected in those usually cold pools. Youji frowned inwardsly, wondering about the reason for the pain. The pleasure he could explain all too well to himself.
"Know what?" Aya said barely audibly. Youji sighed before chuckling silently.
He's such a tease...
"You're such a tease, Aya", he muttered before lowering his lips against the redhead's and giving him a soft, skilled kiss. He heard how Aya breathed in sharply before answering hesitantly to Youji's touch. Youji smiled against Aya's mouth before he nudged the man's lower lip with his teeth and pushed his own tongue between the reluctantly opening lips. Just then he heard how someone dropped something on the porch and a cursed loudly.
The spell that Youji had felt broke when Aya turned away from the kiss and he himself rolled off the redhead. He stood up as Aya pushed himself into a sitting position and looked up at the porch. Youji lifted his fingers on his lips and brushed them slightly, still marvelling in the quickly fleeing warmth and taste of Aya.
"What is it, Ken-kun?" he heard Aya asking coldly, indifferently, like nothing had happened. He also heard Ken stuttering something. Without looking he knew that the ex-soccer player was blushing furiously.
"Nothing, Aya-kun... Youji-kun. I... I just thought tha-that Youji-kun would want some cof-coffee, that's all... I didn't know...", Ken muttered.
Youji cursed in his mind for he knew what the situation must have looked like. And not only looked like – he knew what had been. He only hoped that Ken would stay quiet about this.
"It's okay", he heard Aya saying. Then he saw how the redhead stood up and walked to the porch stairs and up them. "I'll be in my room if I'm needed." He heard a door slide open and then shut as Aya walked in and closed him and Ken outside of the cottage. Of himself.
Youji could have laughed at the moment – at himself, at Aya, at Ken and at the whole goddamn situation. But he wouldn't. He didn't. He was too amazed about what had happened in such a short time. It couldn't have been real. It just couldn't.
"You..Youji-kun? Daijoubu ka?" Ken asked, sounding positively worried. Youji shook his head and turned to look at the younger boy with a sloppy smile.
"Of course I am, Kenken. I'll come in soon."
Ken looked suspiciously at Youji and was about ask him about it, but the impatient expression that appeared swiftly on Youji's handsome face made him change his mind.
"Okay. I'll just... go inside", he said and slid the glass door open, going in.
Youji stared for a moment at the glass door that separated him from his teammates. From his co-workers. From his friends. From his mysterious redheaded leader. He sighed deeply as he shook his head and lifted his emerald eyes to look at the stars. What the heck just happened?