Warning/disclaimer: I don't own Chrono Cross or any of the characters in it. This is SHOUNEN-AI, so it you don't like it, don't read it. Seriously. It's written in the first person, which I rarely do. So I don't know why I did it now. But that's just the way it is, and I'm too lazy to go through the whole thing and change it into third person omnipotent. It kinda changes into the third person at the end, and…well, I'll stop boring you all to death if you're reading this. On with the bishouneny goodness!

Decisions, Decisions…

By Dark Kremepuff

"Oi, Serge!" Kid called.

I looked up, already wishing for the Radical Dreamer to leave. She was a nice person, yeah, but she kind of had a way of getting on my nerves…

"What're ya doin'?" She sat down next to me on my narrow cot so that our legs touched. I inched away, feeling uncomfortable. Kid scooted closer. I sighed.

"Looking at this map."

She leaned over my lap to see, her ponytail smacking me in the face. I frowned and suddenly found slim arms around my neck.

"Serge, why do you hang out wit a flea-bitten mongrel like her? I am right over here, ze mademoiselle you dream of every night!"

I suppressed a groan as the short French Harlequin glared daggers at Kid, who glared them right back. Why did I have to be stuck in the middle of this?

As I was wondering how it could get any worse, Leena appeared in my doorway.

"Serge, why don't we…" she trailed off, turning an angry shade of red. This time my groan escaped. No one noticed.

Leena charged over, swatting at the other girls with her ladle. Harle and Kid backed off, the former disappearing from sight, the latter drawing her dagger.

"So, ya wanna fight with me? Serge here is mine, and I'll bloody well KILL anyone who tries to steal 'im!"

I blinked.

Leena glared at Kid, her ladle at the ready. "Well, guess who met him first!"

"It's not a matter of first come, first served! 'E likes me better anyway!"

"No he doesn't!" Green eyes narrowed decisively.

"Yes, he DOES!" At that, Kid leaped toward Leena, who screamed shrilly, jumping aside.

Growling like a rabid dingo, the blonde pulled her knife out of the wood flooring, preparing for a second strike.

As the two rivals fought, Harle suddenly floated down into my lap.

"While zose two dispose of each other…" she said quietly, "…we can share our first kiss, non?"

The demi-human leaned up, her eyes closing, when Karsh burst into the small room, waving his axe around haphazardly.

"I heard a scream…is somethin' wrong?"

Harle 'tsk'ed and hopped off my lap, only to be replace by Razzly.

"Sergey!" she squealed, glomping onto me.

The lavender-haired deva looked utterly confused, almost as if the whole situation was beyond his comprehension.

Meanwhile, Kid and Leena had discarded their weapons and decided to stick with scratching, hair-pulling, and strangling. They still continued to choke out their argument as well.

"He likes…*gack*…ME!"

"*choke* No, he…*wheeze*…doesn't!!"

Harle shook her head as more of my acquaintances crowded into the room. After all forty-four (I think) people (and creatures and robot) had crammed into my painfully small room, Radius shoved his way to the front, shushing everyone.

"Settle down! What's going on here?!"

Kid and Leena both spoke at the same time.

"Serge…" They stopped at hearing their voices mix and began pummeling each other again.

Harle shook her head, decorative bells chiming. "Zey are fi'ting over who gets Serge. So far, he belongs to moi."

Razzly frowned. "Nah-ah, Sergey likes me!" Her wiry little arms twisted around my neck and squeezed.

Radius looked stunned.

"Non, non, non petit, he loves moi!" Harle narrowed her eyes at the fairy in upset.

"He likes me!! I'm his childhood sweethea--*gag*!"

"Shut the bloody hell up, ya pondscum!"

Radius once again barked out a command for silence. No one listened. After several tries he grew hoarse, and recruited Zoah to do his screaming for him.

"SHUT UP!" the helmeted one said (I use 'said' because he always talks as loud as humanly possible).

Everyone froze and looked at him.

"RADIUS HAS SOMETHING TO SAY."

The elder cleared his throat and began to speak. "I guess that you're fighting over who Serge holds affection for." All four femmes nodded grimly. Except Razzly, who was rather cheerful about the whole thing. Radius continued. "Well, why don't you ask him?"

There was a prolonged, stunned silence.

"I never really thought of that…" Leena mumbled quietly.

"Sergey, who do you like?" Razzly questioned cheerfully, her little round face turned up and just inches from mine.

Oh, gods, how could this get any worse? Here I was, surrounded by what seemed like everyone I knew, having to admit my love…and then I realized, in shock, that it WAS worse. The one I loved was not only in the immediate vicinity, watching me expectantly like everyone else, but was a -he-. And so was I.

"Some leader I am…" I grumbled. Razzly looked at me quizzically.

"Who's that?"

"Nothing, I was just talking to myself…" I replied, looking past her and at the floor.

"Oh, okay!" She grinned and continued waiting patiently.

"I…" I began. Everyone leaned closer. "I…" The complete silence seemed to buzz with tension. I decided that lying was my best bet. "I don't like anyone."

Everyone gasped at the same time and it felt like all of the air was sucked out of my small living quarters.

Leena began to weep, Kid griped, Harle scowled at me, and Razzly flitted off.

"Oh well!" she chirped, flying over to talk to Pip.

Everyone slowly filtered out of my room, disappointed, except for Glenn (and Karsh, who lingered near the door).

"You were lying, Serge." The older boy told me.

Damn his perceptiveness. I shrugged. "So?"

"Who do you really like?"

I didn't reply. After a moment, Glenn nudged me.

"C'mon, don't be shy. I swear on the souls of Dario and Garai that I won't tell anyone." On what seemed like a whim, he added, "It's not me, is it?"

I felt myself blush and glared at him, shaking my head furiously. "No!"

He just looked at me expectantly.

"Stoppit." I said. His eyes just bore into mine, trying to read me. "Please?" No reply. "FINE!" I growled, breaking. I have no willpower, I swear. "I like Nikki." I blurted quickly, glaring at the soldier, blushing some more.

Glenn smiled, letting out a long, low whistle. "Wow. Good choice, though. I'd go after him, but Karsh'd kill me…" he jerked a thumb in the direction of the man.

"What?" he growled. He had obviously been paying minimal attention to our conversation. Anyway, I was slightly taken aback.

"You bed with that unfeeling rock?"

Karsh blushed an unnatural red, glaring irately at Glenn. "You…you TOLD him?!" he sputtered, nearly dropping his axe on his toes. "NOW what is everyone gonna think?! General Viper will kick me out of the Devas for sure, and Riddel will hate me…"

The younger Dragoon walked over to Karsh, shushing the paranoid man. He then turned to me. "He's still a little insecure about the whole being gay thing…"

Karsh turned red as a tomato and twitched. I smiled and let them leave, listening to their conversation as they walked down the hallway to their own room on the S.S. Invincible.

"It's OKAY, Karsh, no one cares."

"Yes they do…"

"No they don't! Half the Dragoons are gay!"

"What?!"

"Haven't you noticed? Cecil and Dean are -always- cuddling, and I don't think you want to know about Solt, Peppor, and Ketchop…"

I could almost hear Karsh's eyes pop out of his head.

"But…but…they're BROTHERS!!"

"Yeah, well, it doesn't seem to bother THEM at all…"

They finally faded from earshot with a door slam.

I flipped back onto my cot, tossing my map onto the floor. I was very glad I had chosen to sleep in the equipment room as I chuckled to myself. That way I didn't have to share, and there was no one to ask me 'what's so funny, Serge?'

To tell the truth, nothing was funny. I was just happy. So there I lay, grinning at the ceiling, thinking of Nikki.

Miki liked him too, so I had some competition, but I wasn't really worried. The singers never really hung out together, as Nikki was rather solitary and quiet. At least, that's what I figured after watching him sit in thought in the crow's nest of the S.S. Invincible.

And he always looked so SAD.

Wavering purple eyes framed by eccentric red and black bangs appeared in my mind and I frowned. I wanted to do something to cheer him up, but whenever I tried, I always clammed up and couldn't think of anything to say, even though I've practiced the conversation we'd have a million times when I was alone.

After a bit of thinking, I decided that tonight was the night. I put my game face on, walking out of my room and down the hallway, into the very last room, which served as quarters for Nikki, Norris, and Greco.

"Nikki, I – oh."

The Porre soldier and the wrestling Spaniard looked up from a game of poker. Norris was dealer, and he was wearing a visor. Along with those two were Janice, Zoah, Sneff, Fargo, and Kid, clustered around the bed. Grobyc was standing off to the side.

"Um…" I frowned. Kid glared at me. If looks could kill, I would have been dead and buried in an unfathomably deep hole that was drilled through the toughest stone.

"Oh, hiya Serge! What is it?" Janice asked.

I blinked and felt myself blush slightly. "Well, I was just looking for Nikki…" Kid glared harder. I swear her eyes were gonna drop out of her head with the intensity of her stare. "…have any of you seen him?"

"I-believe-Nikki-went-up-onto-the-deck," Grobyc said.

I peered at him sideways. "Why aren't you playing cards with the rest of them?"

This time Zoah spoke up. No pun intended. "WHENEVER GROBYC PLAYS CARDS HE ALWAYS WINS, AND THAT'S NO FUN FOR THE REST OF US."

There were mumbled 'yeah's and 'I know's all around.

"Sorry-for-being-what-I-am!" Grobyc all-but-shouted. Steam puffed out of his ears as he mechanically stomped past me and out of the room.

"Why don't you join us? There's room for one more…" Greco said, patting the spot next to him. Morbid echoes of 'room for one more' echoed in my head. Very chilling.

"No thanks, I'll just go find Nikki…" Turning, I stepped into the hallway and shut the door behind me, slowly making my way up to the deck.

It was chilly out, just after sunset. The moons were already high in the speckled black cloak of night. A slight breeze played with the loose ropes hanging from the boon. The ocean looked dark blue and calm, although waves were still splishing audibly against the hull of the pirate ship.

After searching for a moment, I felt cold and chaffed my arms. That's when I saw my pop-idol, looking like a ghost perched in the crow's nest, leaning against the mast. I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"Oi, Nikki!" I called cheerily. My target started, looking around for the source of the voice, finally finding me. He was still completely silent.

"Do you mind if I come up?" I asked. Nikki shrugged enough so that I could see and I smiled to myself, scaling the ladder, settling comfortably on the wood platform next to Nikki's long legs.

There was an empty silence that stretched for some time.

"What do you want?" he asked, looking down at me. He wasn't being mean, just curious. I could tell by the look in those violet eyes, his beautiful violet eyes, I could drown in them forever and ever and…

"Serge? Is something wrong…?"

Oops. "Uh, n-no!" I felt the warmth of a blush spread across my cheeks and quickly looked away, off towards the endless sea.

The singer sat down next to me, just as close as Kid had been earlier. This time, though, I made no move to scoot away. If anything, I wanted to lean closer…I calmed myself and spoke.

"I…I was just wondering…what it is that you think about up here…" I managed, still nervous. After no answer was given, I looked over to see Nikki gazing up at the stars.

"A lot of things…" came the reply. "…my mother…" He looked at me and smiled. My breath caught in my throat. "…and…some other things…" I couldn't tear my gaze away from those glimmering eyes. Nikki continued. "So, Serge, you tell me…" I could barely bring myself to blink even, as I just stared. "…tell me the truth…" Pale fingers slid over the back of my hand and gripped lightly. "Who do you really love?"

My heart stopped, my mouth half-open to reply, but no sound came out. Thoughts of denying the whole thing ran through my brain, as did thoughts of confessing completely and totally to him. But I'm ever so glad I didn't answer.

Nikki took advantage of my stunned silence, leaning forward and letting his lips lightly caress mine, his tongue sliding into my opened mouth with practiced ease. My eyes widened and a ripple of goose flesh coursed through my body, followed by warm pleasure that branched from my mouth all the way down to my toes and back, banishing the cool night air.

Nikki pulled away all too soon, looking worried. I blinked at him, at a complete loss for words as I reminisced internally on his taste and feel. His eyes darted back and forth as he began to speak.

"I'm sorry, Serge, I shouldn't have…"

"No!" I interrupted. Nikki seemed a little taken aback. I was a bit surprised too, at my enthusiasm. I shook my head. "I mean no, I'm glad you did that. I…" Oh, what was I saying?! I sounded like a complete whore. My cheeks darkened. "I like you, Nikki." I finally said. I waited for his reaction, praying to every god I knew of for it to be good, even though HE had just kissed ME, so it was pretty obvious what it would turn out like, but I STILL doubted it for some reason, probably out of habit…

Nikki smiled in relief. "I like you too, Serge."

I beamed, to say the least. Grinned like a kid who had just been given exactly what he asked for for Christmas. Without a second thought, I threw my arms around Nikki's neck, my face pressed against his shoulder. He smelled like heaven. The man held me back, arms wrapped securely around my lower back. It felt so right, so safe, that I didn't want to leave, not for anything.

Nikki pushed me away gently. "We better go inside, or we'll both catch colds and people will ask questions."

"Just a little longer?" I pleaded. I saw myself reflected in those violet eyes. Nikki grinned.

"Well, I was planning on continuing this…" He kissed the corner of my mouth. "…in your room."

I grabbed his hand as I stood, dragging him up off the floor. He chuckled lightly. It was a very musical sound. "I haven't ever heard you laugh before," I remarked, just because it was true.

"I haven't heard you laugh, either," he replied, his hand brushing my cheek. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine again.

@~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@

Glenn smiled as the two silhouettes on the moon moved together, becoming a single splotch of shadow. Karsh impatiently tapped his toe on the floor behind him.

"Ya know, I still can't believe you told him…"

Glenn shushed him.

"Are you almost done?! I'm not tired, but I'm horny, so you might wanna get your sweet little ass back into bed where it belongs," he growled, brushing his lavender hair away from his eyes.

The younger man looked at Karsh, smiling. "They're coming down. We better go." Karsh grabbed him and swept him up in his arms, jogging down the stairs. Karsh stopped at the ladder down to the lower deck. He pondered for a moment on how to get down it, finally just making Glenn do it himself.

"Some romancer YOU are…"

At the bottom of the ladder, Karsh picked him up and again, none-too- gently, I might add.

"Jeez, Karsh, couldn't you be a bit more gentle?!" the Dragoon complained as Karsh chucked him onto the bed.

Karsh smiled, pinning the younger boy beneath him on the mattress. "I thought you told me how you don't LIKE it gentle, Glenn…"

Glenn adopted a coyly innocent expression. "I did?" He smiled at his lover. "I can't remember. Won't you remind me?"

"My pleasure."

THE END

Fwoo. That was nice…I like the beginning best. And the card playing scene. I can just see Norris in the little visor, dealing cards…heehee! Anyhow, I don't want to sound pushy or anything, but please r/r! It's for the sake of all mankiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind…! *gets dragged away by angry security guards*