Disclaimer: See my Bio.
WARNING: This is a shounen-ai, that is, BOYXBOY LOVE fic. I repeat, this is a SHOUNEN-AI fic. All who does not like the idea must click the backwards arrow once [or multiple] to get out of this story at once. This will not be repeated during the story. This is the FINAL WARNING to ALL SLASH-HATERS.
---
Love or Hate: What is the Difference?
By. Firemoon
---
Chapter 5: Kitchen duty, organoids, washing dishes, and fainting people
Raven silently glared at Van, who couldn¡¯t stop laughing since Raven came out in his new ¡®kitchen duty wear¡¯. This was their first day of the duty week given by Col. Schubaltz, and they were none too eager to start the labour under the stern and bitchy cook¡¯s nose.
¡°You... you look like..¡±
Raven sighed, resisting the urge to bash his head – or better, Van¡¯s - on the nearby wall. He shouldn¡¯t be getting worked up just because his arch-nemesis was laughing at him. That meant he was weak, and he wasn¡¯t weak. Instead, he huffed indignantly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Van was doubled over, now practically wheezing with laughter, and Raven suddenly couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He had to do something before he cracked. He narrowed his eyes and growled out between gritted teeth.
¡°Shut.Up.¡±
Van looked up, panting with laughter. His eyes were tearing up. After several deep breaths, Raven began to think that he had finally calmed down. But he was wrong.
Seriously wrong.
Van, who seemed as sober and sane as a person could be on one moment, broke out into a wide grin and blurted out.
¡°You look like a girl!¡±
After this, the dark-haired boy burst out into another round of almost manic laughter. Raven resisted the urge to rub his temple, and instead glanced at his reflection in the mirror in the kitchen. He was...
Raven blinked. Is this really me? After a close inspection, Raven realized that it really was him. His hair was secured by an elastic band – ¡°Hygienic reasons, boys.¡± said the Cook – and complete with a white bandanna, with a white apron around his waist, contrasting drastically with his usual black outfit. He looked... well, domesticated.
Well, except for the black eye and split lip.
He snorted with suppressed laughter, and Van blinked in surprise, his own laughter slowly dying down. Raven was chuckling slightly now, shaking his head.
¡°See? You admit that you look funny.¡±
¡°...¡±
Raven snorted, but this time it was at Van.
¡°Yeah, sure.¡±
Van just huffed, giving the gray-haired youth the look, and finally Raven shrugged, sighing.
¡°Ok, ok.. I do look funny. Satisfied?¡±
¡°Yup.¡±
Raven suddenly felt a queasy feeling inside his stomach as he saw Van grin widely, but soon forgot about it, ignoring. Nah, it¡¯s probably just this crappy apron and bandanna.
---
¡°Where is Van? Or Raven, for that matter?¡±
Irvine looked up from his book – the favourite one – to see Moonbei and Fiona looking down at him.
¡°They¡¯re in the kitchen.¡±
Irvine muttered as he turned again to the closely printed words on the page. This was the umpteenth time he was reading this book, and he didn¡¯t seem to tire of the storyline. Moonbei blinked, obviously confused. Her eyes said that much.
¡°Why? Lunch¡¯s only in half an hour.¡±
¡°That¡¯s the reason, Moonbei. They¡¯re on kitchen duty because of the fight yesterday.¡±
Moonbei grinned at Fiona.
¡°Neat, eh? Let¡¯s go there and see them slaving over food wearing aprons.¡±
They all laughed at the mental image of Van – and moreover, Raven - wearing ridiculous aprons carrying highly piled food plates. But Irvine suddenly grimaced as he remembered something, shaking his head.
¡°No, we can¡¯t.¡±
¡°What? Why?¡±
¡°Schubaltz said that we shouldn¡¯t go and tease those guys or something since the news got out among the soldiers. I expect that includes you too.¡±
¡°Hmp! Not fair.¡±
Moonbei pouted, and sat on the part of the zoid that Irvine was leaning on, looking down at the still-reading Irvine and Fiona. Fiona looked over his shoulder at the book he was reading.
¡°Are you reading it again, Irvine?¡±
¡°You¡¯ve been reading it for ages. Can¡¯t you stop just for a moment?¡±
¡°Shut up, Moonbei. It¡¯s none of your business.¡±
But Irvine momentarily forgot how persistent the olive-skinned transporter could be. Moonbei jumped down from the zoid part and started nagging.
¡°I started reading it last time. Can I start again?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°C¡¯mon Irvine, you¡¯ve read it for ages.¡±
Irvine rolled his lavender eye, imitating her voice.
¡°Last time you started reading this, you nearly broke the binding. Do you know how hard it is to get these books?¡±
¡°Come on, I promise. Hmm? Hmm?¡±
Fiona walked away from the two, shaking her head. Her lips curved up to a grin as she looked back and saw the two bickering noisily. Just like siblings, those two.
...Just like Van and me.
Fiona turned and headed towards her quarters in the hope of finding Zeke, humming cheerfully. It was a nice day.
---
Meanwhile, the two youths were having the time of their lives.
Their organoids, who burst into the kitchen suddenly in the hope of getting a pat or two, were violently received by the cook who swung a huge ladle at them. Raven and Van tried to push them out of the kitchen and away from the now hysterical cook, but it ended up the organoids shattering several of the cook¡¯s favourite plates and finally forced out the door.
Raven rubbed the back of his head where the cook ¡®accidentally¡¯ hit him with the ladle, and knelt on the ground to pick up the pieces of the plates. Although he received a seemingly half-hearted apology, he suspected that the cook did it on purpose.
Van exhaled heavily, rubbing his eye tiredly before he was thrusted a pair of rubber gloves and a scrubber by an assistant – the cook had retired to the inner kitchen to calm his nerves with a glass of wine.
¡°Clean the dishes while your friend there cleans that up.¡±
Van sighed, but put on the green rubber gloves anyway. He chose to ignore the term ¡®friend¡¯. The assistant was lucky that Raven didn¡¯t hear him, or else he would have been a smoldering mass inside the oven, nicely diced. Fortunately, the sink was right beside the shattered pieces – the plates having been balanced on the space beside the sink to be washed – so Van didn¡¯t have to receive stern looks from the assistant while he waited for Raven to finish.
Taking a deep breath in the hope of clearing his head, Van started washing the dirty dishes, which poured out endlessly from the bar as the lunch had started about half and hour ago.
After only about a few minutes Van¡¯s hands were getting numb from the cold water, even with the thick green rubber gloves on, and the fumes from the bubbles were making him dizzy. Also his eyes were threatening to cross over after seeing about a couple of million rainbow-coated bubbles.
On the other hand, Raven was still kneeling on the cold tiled floor, occasionally glaring daggers into the inner part of the kitchen where the cook probably was. Stupid organoid. Raven thought angrily, violently chucking the pieces into the bin – his sort-of rebellion against the dictator-like cook –. The noise the china pieces made as they tumbled down into the metal bin was quite loud so at first Raven did not hear Van. When he finally heard it, he turned angrily around from the pieces.
¡°R...Raven?¡±
¡°What?¡±
Raven hesitated, feeling a little more than worried as he saw the dark-haired boy turn to look at him, his face pale.
¡°I think... I... I¡¯m..¡±
Van stopped, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Raven couldn¡¯t help getting more and more worried.
¡°I...feel.¡¦.dizzy..¡±
With that, he fell forward.
---
Raven moved just in time. He caught Van before he fit the floor, but he himself wasn¡¯t so lucky.
With a loud ¡®Ouch¡¯ he fell onto the floor with unconscious Van on top of him, clattering off some several of the metal pots staked irregularly and haphazardly on the tiled floor beside the sink. Raven sighed, silently thanking for missing the sharp pieces of the plates, however narrowly.
The cook came out of the inner kitchen, along with a few curious assistants. As soon as he took note of the situation, he shouted, his face immediately becoming dark purple.
¡°Oy! What ¡®appned ¡®ere?¡±
¡°He fell dizzy.¡±
Raven grunted as he pushed Van off him and sat up, rubbing his head. He still saw a few stars from the impact, and the strange ringing in his ears didn¡¯t go away. He yelled at the assistants beside the cook, ignoring the fat aproned man..
¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, you morons! Get a chair and cool cloth or something.¡±
The nervous assistants darted inside, and after a few minutes came back out again with the things Raven requested. The gray-haired boy set Van onto a chair with some effort and slapped the boy slightly on both the cheeks in an attempt to wake him up.
¡°Flyheight! For Zi¡¯s sake, wake up, you pathetic weakling!¡±
When it didn¡¯t work – which Raven doubted in the first place that it would – he then proceeded to use some of the cold water that one of the assistants had brought.
¡°Get up, Flyheight! Don¡¯t be such a weak bastard!¡±
Finally, Van stirred and slowly opened his onyx eyes. For a fleeting moment the dark-haired youth thought he saw a thin but genuine smile on Raven¡¯s lips, and blinked. Nah, I¡¯m just seeing things. He thought again as Raven frowned, telling him off sharply with a barely hidden insults about him being a ¡®weakling¡¯ and ¡®soft-headed dumbass¡¯ et cetera et cetera.
¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll do the dishes.¡±
¡°You don¡¯t ha-¡°
¡°Don¡¯t.Say.Anything.Flyheight.¡±
Raven glared at him with his gray-purple eyes.
¡°I don¡¯t want you fainting again so I have to carry you back.¡±
Before Van could open his mouth, never mind saying anything, Raven was rather violently scrubbing away at the dishes, with bubbly water up to his elbows. Van just sat there, fiddling with the strands of threads from his apron as he stared at the back of Raven¡¯s head. After a short while, Van opened his mouth.
¡°Er.. Raven?¡±
¡°What?¡±
¡°...Thank you.¡±
Raven stopped scrubbing for a moment, turning his head to meet Van¡¯s dark black gaze. Their eyes met, and until Raven spoke again they continued to look into each other¡¯s eyes.
¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡±
---
Sorry if you think this chappie is not much. The school term started again and I¡¯ve been suffering from the notorious Writer¡¯s Block. And on top of that my muses have abandoned me and this crappy cold and rainy weather and gone to a holiday into sunny and warm la-la land. Sorry again for the screwy format – I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with this. Anyways, here¡¯s the Thanks.
Thanks Kitty-Yasha – Well, here¡¯s the Chapter Five. Really thankies for all the support and the reviews.
Thanks Tanzina&Mikana – Er, hello. Haven¡¯t seen you around before. *grins cheerily* Anyways, thanks mighty for the review.
Thanks Topazia – Really? What a coincidence.. Hope you didn¡¯t mind the screwy format. Thanks for the review! I really appreciate it.
Thanks Wolf Riku – Hey thanks for reviewing AND adding me in your Favourite Authors page. *hugs Wolf Riku*
Thanks The Living Dead1 - ..Nice penname you¡¯ve got there.. *sweatdrops* Glad you liked it. Hope you liked this chappie too.
Thanks Cherrygal3 – yeah, I love fluff too.. *squeals* but these days I¡¯m more into some angsty stuff and.. yeah, something dark. [i.e. Salva Beatos, The Raven] Anyway, but VanxRaven scenes *hint hint* won¡¯t come out until the very end.. [or will it?] So.. if you want VanxRaven scenes, you just have to wait! [Kraa: Is this some part of a diabolical scheme to keep the readers tied to this story?]
Thanks to sukitsune – Yeah, thanks mighty for reviewing & loving my story. *smiles*
Thanks to All The People Who Read This Story But Cannot Bother To Review – I really, sincerely thank you, but still.. can¡¯t you give me just one line – at least! – to let me know that people liked my fic?
Thanks again to everybody! Your reviews are the only things that keep me going and sane.
READ? THEN REVIEW!! Flames accepted but only if accompanied with PROPER REASONS as to WHY you hate my fic.
Yours Faithfully FanFictional,
Firemoon