THANKS TO: panatlantic (and yes, people do read author profiles) and Aya for replying. After weeks of trying to force out a serious X fic and giving up, this idea came out of nowhere. I'm glad you guys like it.
PREMISE: Tokyo Babylon and X both occur in the year 1999. This means that Seishirou, Subaru, and Hokuto retain their TB ages/personalities.
DISCLAIMER: Tokyo Babylon/X and their characters are not mine.
Be Careful What You Wish For
Chapter 2: Damn Slow Bureaucracy
Much to Kamui's disappointment, he didn't get to see Subaru the next day.
He got a phone call while he was poking through his closet, vaguely wondering why it took so long to pick his clothes every morning when they were all the same.
"Gomenasai, Kamui!" Kamui could almost see Subaru bowing over the phone and smiled a little, even though he had no idea what his friend was apologizing over. "A job came in this morning and it looks like it'll take all day."
"Oh," Kamui said, trying to hide his disappointment.
He didn't quite succeed for Subaru started apologizing profusely once more.
"I'm really sorry." *bow bow* "I know we were planning on going for ice cream afterschool but I can't put this off."
Kamui forced a cheerful note into his voice. "Don't worry about it."
The one time he had managed to arrange to get Subaru away for himself, ruined. Was there no justice in the world? He had literally signed away his soul for this boy, damnit and he didn't even get one hour of his time. Maybe if he was possessed, his mother would hire the head of the Sumeragi for his exorcism and he could finally get in some quality time. Now how did you go about advertising to evil spirits roaming around?
"I could pick up your assignments and drop them off tonight," Kamui offered hopefully.
"Ah, thank you, but Hokuto's doing it for me. We have all the same classes anyway."
"Oh." Kamui grabbed one of his ubiquitous school uniforms from the hanger and shut the closet.
"Maybe some other time?"
"Yeah," Kamui agreed listlessly, tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder as he pulled on his pants. With his luck, something else would come up, like Seishirou proposing and sweeping Subaru away for a lovers' retreat. Kamui quickly banished the thought.
"I-I should leave to catch the train." Subaru said awkwardly, unable to find a graceful way to end the call.
"I can drive you, Subaru-kun," a voice piped up from the background.
"Se-se-seishirou-san!"
Kamui ground his teeth, phone gripped tightly to his ear as he strained to catch the side conversation. To his mind, it was awfully suspicious that the veterinarian was over at Subaru's place so early in the morning.
"You don't have to. What about work?"
"I'll just close today. It's no trouble at all." Here the voice got louder and clearer, which could only mean that the speaker was closer to the phone on the other end. Closer to Subaru.
"Anything for my Subaru-kun." There was a slight pause and erratic breathing as Subaru had a coronary attack. "Besides, I want to get you alone, so I can ravish you. The back of the van is quite spacious."
Subaru squeaked and there was the distinct thump of a body hitting the floor.
"Ohohohoho! You go, Sei-chan!" Hokuto cheered, shrill laughter joined by Seishirou's deeper one.
Kamui burned a hole into the wall with his glare, as Seishirou and Hokuto were currently unavailable. He would have glared at the phone if he wasn't afraid of missing a single word.
"Se-se-seishirou-san! Hokuto-chan! I'm on the phone," Subaru protested weakly.
"Just kidding," Seishirou was saying. "Now then, shall we go?"
"Igottagobye!" The normally polite Subaru hung up without waiting for an answer.
Needless to say, Kamui was not a happy camper. Ten minutes later, he was back in the alley from the night before, pounding at the door.
"FUUMA! Let me in, you lousy bastard. It didn't wo—ERK!"
Kamui fell inward as the door abruptly opened.
The girl neatly sidestepped to avoid being crashed into, then gave him a boredly superior look from behind her glasses.
"Fuuma is unavailable," she said flatly. "Try back at night."
"I need to talk to him NOW," Kamui insisted, getting back up and planting himself well inside the doorway.
She flashed him an annoyed look and crossed her arms. "Tough. You can't."
"I have business with him."
"Lots of people do."
"Well, mine's important."
"No more so than anyone else's," she countered.
Kamui changed tactics and decided to go for the softer approach. "Please, it'd mean a lot to me. Couldn't you go ask Fuuma if he would see me? Tell him it's Shirou Kamui." He lowered his long lashes and looked up coyly at her, pretty violet irises striking against black. It was a look that few could resist, male or female.
She was unmoved. "Well, Kamui," she stressed the name with sarcastic importance, "I don't care who you are. You. Have. To. Wait." She punctuated each word with a jab at his chest.
"Damnit, let me see him! Fuuuuumaaaa! FUUUUUUUMAAAA!!" he shouted in impotence, sinking to his knees.
"Leave, you!" The girl tried to shove him toward the door but he was firmly anchored to the ground, continuing to wail her boss's name. He clutched at her leg as she kicked at him and clung.
"Stupid humans, all the same with their petty problems," she mumbled angrily as she shook her leg, trying to get him off.
"FUUUUUUUUUUMAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Before she could commit homicide, Yuuto appeared.
"Satsuki-chan, tea's ready," he said in his usual affable manner, seemingly oblivious to the ruckus near the door. Then he did a quick double take and extended his smile to Kamui.
"Ah, Shirou-san, back so soon?"
Kamui latched onto him, causing Satsuki to shoot him an even more murderous look than she had been before.
"I have to speak to Fuuma RIGHT NOW. My Wish didn't come true because Seishirou and Subaru are still together and Subaru's going to get ravished in the back of Seishirou's van and I don't even get to have ice cream with him," Kamui explained in a rush.
There was silence as the other two tried to absorb this.
"Well then, would you like to join us for tea?" Yuuto asked blandly.
-----
Five minutes later, Kamui found himself in a different room, settling down to tea at a small round table obviously set for that purpose. A wider desk sat in the corner, three neat stacks of paper of varying thickness sitting on the edge. A pen and few loose documents spread out directly in front of the vacant swivel chair, and Kamui deduced that Yuuto had been working on them before taking this break.
"This room is...?"
"My office," Yuuto confirmed, taking a judicious sip, saucer poised beneath the cup in what Kamui thought was an extremely prissy manner. "Satsuki-chan, how's your tea?"
Satsuki nodded her acceptance — it wasn't quite enough to be approval — as Kamui let his eyes wander over to the king-size bed, made with red silk sheets.
"Why do you need a bed in your office?" he asked, not really caring but feeling as if he needed to contribute to the idle chatter called small talk.
"For another type of business," Yuuto said cheerfully. "Although I like to use it for pleasure as well." He winked conspiratorially at Satsuki, who turned from scowling to beaming in nanoseconds.
Kamui blanched. This was going nowhere.
Carefully, he scraped back his chair and stood, so that he could loom over the other man, even if it was only by a couple of inches.
"Can I see Fuuma now?"
"I already TOLD you—" Satsuki started impatiently.
Yuuto smiled gently at her and stood as well, walking over to the desk. "As you can see, Shirou-san, we get a lot of requests." He deftly plucked a page from the largest stack and scanned it quickly. "This one was made two months ago, and it's still pending."
"Two months?! I can't wait two months!!" Kamui cried in outrage. "Who knows what can happen in the meantime. I don't know about you but I don't trust men in their mid-twenties trying to bed down teenagers."
Yuuto exchanged a look with Satsuki and coughed discreetly.
"Of course, that's only one example, Shirou-san. Others have taken as little as four days. And I assure you, your case is top priority."
"Fine. I'll wait," Kamui growled, slumping back down into his chair. As if I have a choice.
"Cookies?" Yuuto offered placatingly.
Kamui took one shaped like a heart. "Thanks," he said grudgingly.
tbc...
----------
October 4, 2002
PREMISE: Tokyo Babylon and X both occur in the year 1999. This means that Seishirou, Subaru, and Hokuto retain their TB ages/personalities.
DISCLAIMER: Tokyo Babylon/X and their characters are not mine.
Chapter 2: Damn Slow Bureaucracy
Much to Kamui's disappointment, he didn't get to see Subaru the next day.
He got a phone call while he was poking through his closet, vaguely wondering why it took so long to pick his clothes every morning when they were all the same.
"Gomenasai, Kamui!" Kamui could almost see Subaru bowing over the phone and smiled a little, even though he had no idea what his friend was apologizing over. "A job came in this morning and it looks like it'll take all day."
"Oh," Kamui said, trying to hide his disappointment.
He didn't quite succeed for Subaru started apologizing profusely once more.
"I'm really sorry." *bow bow* "I know we were planning on going for ice cream afterschool but I can't put this off."
Kamui forced a cheerful note into his voice. "Don't worry about it."
The one time he had managed to arrange to get Subaru away for himself, ruined. Was there no justice in the world? He had literally signed away his soul for this boy, damnit and he didn't even get one hour of his time. Maybe if he was possessed, his mother would hire the head of the Sumeragi for his exorcism and he could finally get in some quality time. Now how did you go about advertising to evil spirits roaming around?
"I could pick up your assignments and drop them off tonight," Kamui offered hopefully.
"Ah, thank you, but Hokuto's doing it for me. We have all the same classes anyway."
"Oh." Kamui grabbed one of his ubiquitous school uniforms from the hanger and shut the closet.
"Maybe some other time?"
"Yeah," Kamui agreed listlessly, tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder as he pulled on his pants. With his luck, something else would come up, like Seishirou proposing and sweeping Subaru away for a lovers' retreat. Kamui quickly banished the thought.
"I-I should leave to catch the train." Subaru said awkwardly, unable to find a graceful way to end the call.
"I can drive you, Subaru-kun," a voice piped up from the background.
"Se-se-seishirou-san!"
Kamui ground his teeth, phone gripped tightly to his ear as he strained to catch the side conversation. To his mind, it was awfully suspicious that the veterinarian was over at Subaru's place so early in the morning.
"You don't have to. What about work?"
"I'll just close today. It's no trouble at all." Here the voice got louder and clearer, which could only mean that the speaker was closer to the phone on the other end. Closer to Subaru.
"Anything for my Subaru-kun." There was a slight pause and erratic breathing as Subaru had a coronary attack. "Besides, I want to get you alone, so I can ravish you. The back of the van is quite spacious."
Subaru squeaked and there was the distinct thump of a body hitting the floor.
"Ohohohoho! You go, Sei-chan!" Hokuto cheered, shrill laughter joined by Seishirou's deeper one.
Kamui burned a hole into the wall with his glare, as Seishirou and Hokuto were currently unavailable. He would have glared at the phone if he wasn't afraid of missing a single word.
"Se-se-seishirou-san! Hokuto-chan! I'm on the phone," Subaru protested weakly.
"Just kidding," Seishirou was saying. "Now then, shall we go?"
"Igottagobye!" The normally polite Subaru hung up without waiting for an answer.
Needless to say, Kamui was not a happy camper. Ten minutes later, he was back in the alley from the night before, pounding at the door.
"FUUMA! Let me in, you lousy bastard. It didn't wo—ERK!"
Kamui fell inward as the door abruptly opened.
The girl neatly sidestepped to avoid being crashed into, then gave him a boredly superior look from behind her glasses.
"Fuuma is unavailable," she said flatly. "Try back at night."
"I need to talk to him NOW," Kamui insisted, getting back up and planting himself well inside the doorway.
She flashed him an annoyed look and crossed her arms. "Tough. You can't."
"I have business with him."
"Lots of people do."
"Well, mine's important."
"No more so than anyone else's," she countered.
Kamui changed tactics and decided to go for the softer approach. "Please, it'd mean a lot to me. Couldn't you go ask Fuuma if he would see me? Tell him it's Shirou Kamui." He lowered his long lashes and looked up coyly at her, pretty violet irises striking against black. It was a look that few could resist, male or female.
She was unmoved. "Well, Kamui," she stressed the name with sarcastic importance, "I don't care who you are. You. Have. To. Wait." She punctuated each word with a jab at his chest.
"Damnit, let me see him! Fuuuuumaaaa! FUUUUUUUMAAAA!!" he shouted in impotence, sinking to his knees.
"Leave, you!" The girl tried to shove him toward the door but he was firmly anchored to the ground, continuing to wail her boss's name. He clutched at her leg as she kicked at him and clung.
"Stupid humans, all the same with their petty problems," she mumbled angrily as she shook her leg, trying to get him off.
"FUUUUUUUUUUMAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Before she could commit homicide, Yuuto appeared.
"Satsuki-chan, tea's ready," he said in his usual affable manner, seemingly oblivious to the ruckus near the door. Then he did a quick double take and extended his smile to Kamui.
"Ah, Shirou-san, back so soon?"
Kamui latched onto him, causing Satsuki to shoot him an even more murderous look than she had been before.
"I have to speak to Fuuma RIGHT NOW. My Wish didn't come true because Seishirou and Subaru are still together and Subaru's going to get ravished in the back of Seishirou's van and I don't even get to have ice cream with him," Kamui explained in a rush.
There was silence as the other two tried to absorb this.
"Well then, would you like to join us for tea?" Yuuto asked blandly.
-----
Five minutes later, Kamui found himself in a different room, settling down to tea at a small round table obviously set for that purpose. A wider desk sat in the corner, three neat stacks of paper of varying thickness sitting on the edge. A pen and few loose documents spread out directly in front of the vacant swivel chair, and Kamui deduced that Yuuto had been working on them before taking this break.
"This room is...?"
"My office," Yuuto confirmed, taking a judicious sip, saucer poised beneath the cup in what Kamui thought was an extremely prissy manner. "Satsuki-chan, how's your tea?"
Satsuki nodded her acceptance — it wasn't quite enough to be approval — as Kamui let his eyes wander over to the king-size bed, made with red silk sheets.
"Why do you need a bed in your office?" he asked, not really caring but feeling as if he needed to contribute to the idle chatter called small talk.
"For another type of business," Yuuto said cheerfully. "Although I like to use it for pleasure as well." He winked conspiratorially at Satsuki, who turned from scowling to beaming in nanoseconds.
Kamui blanched. This was going nowhere.
Carefully, he scraped back his chair and stood, so that he could loom over the other man, even if it was only by a couple of inches.
"Can I see Fuuma now?"
"I already TOLD you—" Satsuki started impatiently.
Yuuto smiled gently at her and stood as well, walking over to the desk. "As you can see, Shirou-san, we get a lot of requests." He deftly plucked a page from the largest stack and scanned it quickly. "This one was made two months ago, and it's still pending."
"Two months?! I can't wait two months!!" Kamui cried in outrage. "Who knows what can happen in the meantime. I don't know about you but I don't trust men in their mid-twenties trying to bed down teenagers."
Yuuto exchanged a look with Satsuki and coughed discreetly.
"Of course, that's only one example, Shirou-san. Others have taken as little as four days. And I assure you, your case is top priority."
"Fine. I'll wait," Kamui growled, slumping back down into his chair. As if I have a choice.
"Cookies?" Yuuto offered placatingly.
Kamui took one shaped like a heart. "Thanks," he said grudgingly.
tbc...
----------
October 4, 2002