Title: Sweet Nothing
Author: Animeisgreat (ff.net), Crazy Miko
Chapter: Oneshot
Warnings: Really vague shounen-ai (see below)
Pairings: Potential YoujixAya if this timeline continues
Summary: A short Youji introspective piece. Inspired and written for my writer's block on Fortune's Folly. Not part of the Operation Boxer Shorts timeline.
Disclaimer: I do not own Weiss Kreuz; any copyrighted material mentioned from this point on is property of its respective owners and will be removed if the aforementioned owner so wishes.
Sweet NothingToday is Sunday, arguably the best day of the week next to Saturday. I've gotten out of bed only twice today, once for morning hygiene and the other for food. Now all I have to do is laze in bed all day and smoke. I can hear Ken running up the stairs; he's louder than anyone I know. Omi's probably downstairs in the kitchen working on homework, Aya's probably in the greenhouse or the basement, within earshot if Omi needs anything. He tries to hide it but I know Aya likes helping Omi with school if he can. I suspect it's one of his ways of clinging to the past. I know Omi appreciates it, even though the kid does fine on his own. He's happy to indulge Aya once in a while and sometimes even needs the extra assistance. I have to say, it would be nice to have fearless leader bring me meals and snacks and cover my shifts. Only Omi gets that treatment from him, if I didn't know better I'd say he had a thing for the kid. He's just trying to be an older brother again; trust me, I know these things. Once upon a time, before my life went straight to hell, I used to be paid to know stuff like that. The past is the past, no use dwelling on it too much. My teammates are already walking balls of angst; at least one of us has to act normal. Ah, the guys, one of my new favorite Sunday pondering topics. I need to get laid; thinking about all this can't be good for me. Depressing thoughts are like mosquito bites; the more you scratch them the more they itch. There's no sure fire way to get them to leave you alone without numbing them with something. I find that alcohol works very well. And they the guys wonder why I drink; they should try it sometime before they knock it.
If Asuka were here she would have gotten me up for lunch by now, they're so cruel. They could at least see if I wanted lunch. Another Sunday lunch skipped, I don't know why I keep that vain hope that one of them will knock on my door and invite me down. Omi used to a long time ago, well, not that long ago. He stopped shortly after Aya joined us; I suppose his caring nature saw something more urgent in Aya. I can believe that too, it's not everyday you get the crap beaten out of you by Ken. Despite the fact that he acts like a prick, Aya really takes things to heart. Everything you do is an attack to his illustrious person. I think I prefer dealing with Ken, he may be hot-headed but at least he doesn't take the inane too seriously. If Aya doesn't learn to lighten up and joke with us he's going to go crazy. I think they're the only reason I'm not crazy or dead yet, they gave me something to cling to after Asuka and Neu. Granted, it took a while for me to look past my all encompassing self pity fest but I still saw it. Oddly enough it was Aya, Mr. I-can't-let-go-of-anything himself who made me realize that I did have something left. I think Omi would have starved if I had stayed like that for more than a month. He definitely would have lost weight without Aya hovering in the background and bringing him food. The kid does too much; he shouldn't miss so many meals because of school and our night job. Nothing I can do about it though, I'm not going to mess it up for him. With an education he might be able to get out of this. Who am I to ruin that for him? Shreds of hope for a better life are too few and far between for any of us to care where they come from.
I'm tired; I want to go away to another place. My bedroom is not enough anymore; some time at Villa White is just what I need. Can't do that though, Manx would have kittens if I just left without a by your leave. Get it? Kittens? No one ever laughs at my jokes, for a good reason I suppose. Well, Omi and Ken laugh sometimes, Aya doesn't though. He's so hard to amuse, he's going to miss what little fun there is left in life if he keeps acting like that. He needs to go make nice with Ken; they could go have some fun together. Maybe not, Ken's a great person but he's not very patient. Aya would drive him up the wall and down the other side before they even left the Koneko. Then poor Ken would be so frustrated when Aya refuses to go help out with the kids and disappears. Omi has too much to do to devote enough energy to the task of getting close to Aya. Why does he make things so complicated like that? The team dynamics were so much clearer and simpler without him. Not that I'm not glad he's here, he's helped immensely with both the missions and the shop. It's a lot easier to miss a shift with a fourth person working.
I'm just ready for something else in my life, something a bit more substantial than what my current lifestyle offers. All I've gotten is a stack of empty promises with empty beds. Neu just made me think back to what it was like to be committed; it's actually a nice feeling when you're with someone who suits you and your lifestyle. Don't know where I'm going to find someone now though. Can't exactly place an ad that says, "Wanted, woman for long term commitment. Must be accepting of murderers. Assassins preferred." I have been looking though; I've narrowed the list of possible candidates down to three. Ironically, the three are the ones I already spend the most time with; my teammates. I suppose I could get it down to two right now, going after Omi would just make me feel like one of those dirty old men. I am not a dirty old man; I am a very popular and highly sought out young man. Ken would probably blush then yell at me for making perverted jokes. When he realized I was serious he would most likely make sure I became intimately acquainted with his fist. Not a good kind of intimate either. For all of the good things about his personality, Ken has a lot of leftover hostility. I do not want to give him the opportunity to let it out on my person just yet. I do happen to have a working sense of self preservation. Besides, if he gets too bad I'll talk to Aya about sparing with him or something. A shot at fearless leader would take care of the hostility, though it may result in a few injuries on both sides.
That brings me to my last candidate, Aya. Don't get me wrong, its not like he isn't attractive or anything; he's just…Aya. I haven't really given much thought to him besides how he acts with the others. He's one of those rare people that everyone notices yet nobody really sees. If you saw him on the street it would be just like a brief flash in your memory that made you wonder if he was there at all. He's just so different and the same. He's confusing; I have a hard time placing him. I think he'd be open to this sort of thing with enough convincing. The fan girls may think he has only two facial expressions, impassive and angry, but they just aren't looking hard enough. I know he's lonely; the only person in his life that he lets close is his comatose sister. I mean no disrespect to Aya-chan but she's not what he needs right now. I could give it a try; I haven't got anything to lose but my already tenuous friendship with him. I could probably salvage that too by claiming it was a joke. Who am I fooling? If I go after Aya the last thing it could be is a joke. The man's emotional state is fragile enough as it is with his sister missing for me to be toying with it. Maybe when we get this mess cleaned up I'll give it some more thought. I like Aya, I think that we could build something even if it would only lead up to a casual fling or if I'm luckier being fuck buddies.
I wish whoever it was walking through the hall would hold on to whatever they're carrying better. I can hear something rattling from my bed. I hope that's not Ken, it sounds like glass or something fragile so he'll probably drop it and I'll have glass shards in front of my room for weeks. I'll probably step on it too and cut my foot open. The noise stopped but I didn't hear a crash, mustn't be Ken. He's graceful enough on the soccer field and on missions but around the house he seems to think that being coordinated isn't as necessary. Either that or just wants us to think he's not as good as he is. It's easier to appear normal if you trip over things on a regular basis I suppose. I bet Yuriko thought it was cute. Hmmm, someone's knocking but I don't want to get up. It's Sunday, this is my day off it better not be a mission or with the shop.
"What do you want? If it's because of work go away, I'm off today" There's a muffled grunt from the other side of the door before the rattling sound starts again. Aya's there, wonder what he wants. Need to oil the door too, it's squeaking. "Why are you here? I already moved the plants." Aya glares at me after turning around, revealing that he is carrying one of Omi's trays.
"You didn't come to lunch." There's Aya for you, Mr. Eloquent. He's never brought me lunch before. Usually Omi does it if anyone does. I watched as Aya walked over to me, trying to balance all the food on the tray. I'm glad the beer can is closed; otherwise I'm sure it would have wound up on my freshly cleaned carpet. He sits down beside me on the bed and hands me the tray after he takes his own lunch off of it. I wonder if I just got demoted from teammate to little brother like Omi, that's the only reason I can come up with for the thoughtfulness. He went through a little bit of trouble though, I'm pretty sure he's the one who cooked. It's not burnt and it's not western, therefore it must be either takeout or Aya's cooking. Knowing Aya it's his cooking, this doesn't taste like any of the takeout we've eaten before. It's good stuff; I don't know where Aya learned to cook though. All I know is he's the best at it out of all of us, not that that is really hard to do.
"Any particular reason you decided to be social today? Thanks for lunch though, I was getting hungry and the chibi's probably too busy to remember I'm even here." Aya just looks at me like he couldn't believe I just asked him a question. He does look rather nice today; he's wearing something other than that ugly sweater. He's wearing that black lace up shirt of his, that one puzzles me. It seems so out of character for him, but I'm not going to complain; it looks nice.
"I thought you needed the company." With that he collects our dirty dishes and placed them back on the tray. Before he leaves he put my beer on a napkin to make sure it wouldn't leave a ring. Neat freak, my night stand is one big beer can ring by now. He shuts the door quietly, how'd he do that? The door squeaked when he opened it. Doesn't really matter, I've got to oil it anyway. Another Sunday and I all have is nothing. But damn, Aya cooked and brought me lunch, that's got to count for something. Maybe I do have something to work with here. I guess I have something closer to sweet nothing, Aya just made it sweet. I just wish he had brought me another beer, but I'll take what I got.