Aya was really, really, really tired.
He didn't much want to be awake, and he really didn't want to go to Yohji's salon. It was always, always filled with women. It wasn't that Aya didn't like women. He just didn't like women in large numbers, because in large numbers, they baffled him, pure and simple. They laughed hysterically over things that weren't especially funny. They talked in shrill, loud voices. He knew all of this from personal experience—mostly at the flower shop. And while, true, the women who hung around at the place where Yohji got his hair cut were older than the girls who hung around at the Koneko, well… He'd noticed that they sort of regressed when they were in big groups like that. And it was especially bad when they were talking about hair, hair products, and makeup. He knew this from experience, as well, with his sister and her friends—he didn't know how Yohji could stand it for as long as it took to get his hair cut.
And anyway, Aya was tired. So very tired. Hey, did I mention how tired Aya was?
At this point, you're probably wondering why Aya was so tired.
The fact was, Aya was an incredibly slow reader. Yes, he was very slow, but still, he loved to read. He read everything he could get his hands on, and hence was a fountain of trivia and knowledge. He adored watching Jeopardy, but he wasn't one of those dorks who has to say the answers out loud—it was satisfying enough for him just to know them in his head, and it was wonderful to see the correct answer pop up on the screen. When the players were stupid and got all the wrong answers, he death-glared them. This, too, was strangely satisfying, in its own way. …Or at least it had been until Yohji had caught him doing it one day. The blonde had given him the strangest look and said, "What sort of freaky bad juju are you giving the TV, there, Aya? We don't want to have to send it to get repaired, so whatever lover's quarrel you two are having, better get it resolved, okay?"
Sometimes Aya hated that man.
Which was why he was loathe to do him a favor like this. Well, a roundabout favor, anyway. He was really doing Ken the favor.
…All right, fine, he wasn't doing Ken a favor, either. He had maliciously twisted Ken's arm until he was assured of getting a favor in return.
But it was something he had had to do. You see, reader, in addition to being a slow reader, Aya was occasionally crippled with shyness—this especially held true in the presence of people he idolized.
Aya paused in his walking a moment, in order to rest against a conveniently placed telephone pole. God, but he was tired. He shouldn't have stayed up so late reading. …But at least he'd finally found out what happened to Torrie and Jack! It had been such a wonderful novel—Harlequin novels were really wonderful pieces of work. It was about a girl named Torrie, who was secretly, passionately in love with her boss, Jack. Little did she know, but Jack was in love with her, too! …But Torrie didn't want Jack to think that she thought of him that way, and so she went to a stylist every day after work and got a makeover, so that she could slip into her secret identity—Renee Mystérieux. And she met Jack at a bar, every night, as Ms. Mystérieux, and they fell passionately in love. It was all very steamy, until suddenly Torrie realized that Jack had not fallen in love with her, but rather with Renee!
That part had almost made Aya cry.
But once again, little did Torrie know that Jack was onto her little plan! He had known all along that Renee was really Torrie in disguise. He only went along with it so that her feelings wouldn't be hurt, and stuff.
It was very touching. Especially in the dramatic ending scene, in which Torrie ripped off her Renee wig, shrieking, "Take me Jack! I've always loved you!", to which Jack replied, "And I you, Torrie!" And then they made passionate love on a desk.
He'd been up until four a.m. finishing it. But it had been worth it. …If only he could find a coffee shop.
No, Aya, he told himself; you have to be strong, you need that favor from Ken—and to receive the favor, you have to go to the salon.
Yes! He pushed himself off of the telephone pole with new resolve. He needed that favor from Ken desperately. He would get it no matter what.
Notes: Wow, that was really short. I suck so much at writing Aya, so I'm sorry that this lacked… uh, depth. And stuff. …I actually wrote this just now, desperately attempting to avoid writing an essay on the Scarlet Letter. Which is due on Tuesday. Hell, I still have a day, right?!
Oh, and also, you might have noticed that I switched to a different spelling of Yohji's name. I decided I like it better with an "h." So there.
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