What's coming over me?! I'm not an angst writer! . I'm a comedy writer! Wah!
Ahem… I thank Zeto, for giving me my 200th review… I have never, ever hit 200 before and the fact that I recently did is honestly making me greatly happy…
Shiiru: As a side effect, it also greatly inflates her already very large ego…
Riisha: O.o Shiiru-samaaa!! Why are you here??
Shiiru: I wrote part of this, remember?
Riisha: …… Oh yeah… ^_^ Everyone thank my sempai for writing some parts of this chapter (and this entire fic, come to think of it), particularly parts with Aya and Yohji because I just suck at writing them. She knows them better than I do, so I just edit her stuff into here.
Oh and in case you didn't notice, this chapter is comparatively LONG for this fic… Call it compensation for the long delay… ^_^
Chapter 18 - Pain and Happiness
Ken woke up with a loud groan. He hadn't been able to sleep very well. That previous night with Omi and Yohji had sapped his strength, yet he couldn't bring himself to sleep no matter what he did. One thought ran through his head more than the others.
Omi liked him. More than as a friend. More than the best friend that he had always treated Omi before the potion happened to him.
He had never seen it before, but now as he thought about it… Omi was always encouraging him. Was always supporting him. Was always there for him. Even after Ken announced that he wanted to date Aya. It was a blow to his stomach when he remembered Omi bolting upstairs after that. He now knew the real reason why, that it wasn't some stupid homework he needed to get done.
And still, even then… Omi supported him. He even helped Ken get to Aya.
He felt like such a heel. Omi was his best friend in the world, before anything else (though it was more than that at the moment, but that didn't count if it was artificial like Omi said). He should have noticed it. He should have been looking out for Omi too. He should have been making sure his friend was happy. But he was too obsessed, chasing after the 'unattainable' Fujimiya Ran.
Some best friend he was…
And the way Omi was saying that he was going to cure them no matter what made him feel even worse. Omi was always the perfect one. Why was he always the one making sacrifices for Ken? For all of them? Giving up his own happiness for that of everyone else's? It… just wasn't fair. Omi deserved happiness too.
He immediately got up from the bed and set out to getting dressed. He had made up his mind. He was going to talk to Omi about what happened. They had to be able to settle this all somehow. He didn't want Omi to be miserable with whatever decision he was going to make.
He made his way for Omi's room, determined to make this the first thing he was to do that morning.
But when he entered Omi's room, it was empty. The bed looked like it hadn't even been used. In fact, the room looked exactly the same way as it did when he was looking for Omi the previous night
Ken stepped in and closed the door, staring blankly. Where the hell could Omi be? He began to panic. Maybe that Schwarz bastard came back, trying to make everything worse by taking Omi. Or maybe Omi couldn't take it. He just got up and left. Ken felt something in his heart break as he thought that might be it.
Then he remembered. As soon as they had gotten home, Omi had gone straight for the basement. When Yohji and Ken had protested, Omi said that he was going to start research already. He dismissed their suggestions of using the computer in his room by saying the one downstairs was much better.
Had Omi been down there the whole night??
Ken slumped back against the door and resisted the urge to beat his head against it. He should have known… Omi was like that. Once he set his mind to something, he wouldn't stop til he did it. But that was usually for missions and occasionally schoolwork.
How could this mean so much to Omi??
With a final sigh, he straightened himself again and prepared to go downstairs.
-----*-----
Aya had gotten fed up waiting for someone to come down.
It had been time to open the shop and Yohji was supposed to open, yet the playboy was nowhere to be found. If Ken or Omi had appeared instead, he could have relented, but noone had appeared, leaving him to keep the store sign to 'closed'.
And Aya was already in a foul mood because of what had happened the night before. Adding to that that he hadn't gotten much sleep, it was safe to say that he was much crankier than he usually was.
How the hell could anyone sleep?! He expected Ken to be tossing with nightmares of oncoming bright lights and trucks, and Omi to be crying his heart out about his decision with Ken. Yohji shouldn't be sleeping well either! He couldn't come up with a good reason for Yohji, but Aya still couldn't believe that all three of them hadn't woken up yet.
Goddamit!
Finally, Aya couldn't take it anymore. In his irritation, he stomped up the stairs and headed for Yohji's room, the closest one, and the one who was meant to open the shop in the first place. If he had gone up just a little earlier, he could have caught Ken going into Omi's room. But he had no such luck as he marched straight for Yohji's door.
He tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. With a grim look on his face, he went in and stomped for the bed. He was determined to throw the blonde out if he refused to get up and acknowledge the morning…
His plans were disrupted as he promptly slipped on some discarded clothing, lying forgotten on the floor.
Aya instinctively braced himself to land on all fours, hands and knees, on either side of supine, sleeping Yohji. One thing he didn't remember, however, was just how soft Yohji's bed was. He immediately sank upon contact, landing him smack on top of the unconscious man.
… just in time for him to slowly open his sleepy green eyes in dazed surprise while Aya struggled and only ended up tangled in the bed sheets and long tanned limbs. He looked up in wonder while Aya stared back in horror.
"Oh, this dream is ni~ce," purred Yohji as he snaked his limbs around Aya and pulled him down. Aya yelped and Yohji moaned, moving his hips up and languidly rubbing against him.
Aya's eyes widened as Yohji's legs wrapped around him and something…… something that he would absolutely refuse to think about, poked his thigh.
Yohji peered at him with dreamy, lust-laden eyes. "so~~, te~~ll me, what's REAL reason why you're here?" he whispered huskily into Aya's ear.
And to Aya's absolute horror, Yohji pulled him closer, flicked out his tongue and slowly licked up the whole side of Aya's face, starting from the jawline and not stopping til it reached his eye.
As soon as it was over…
… Aya raised a fist…
… and punched Yohji in the face.
-----*-----
Ken's plan to talk to Omi had been postponed…
As soon as he had left Omi's room, there was a loud yell from Yohji's. Next thing he saw was Aya stomping out, smoke practically coming out of his ears. What was Aya doing in there?
When Aya looked up and saw Ken, he immediately growled and yelled something that sounded a lot like "Haul your fucking ass down there, right now, Hidaka."
Needless to say, Ken was too scared to not comply. He was followed shortly by Yohji, who may or may not have been ready to get out of bed, but considering Aya's current mood, he doubted that Yohji wanted to incur even more of Aya's wrath.
Looks like Omi really had to wait.
Ken began to wonder if the god he wasn't sure he believed in was playing with him.
-----*-----
Breakfast with Ken. How exciting, thought Yohji. Not to mention the throbbing lump of pain that was his left eye. Aya just had to have damn good aim. Well, getting that, in exchange for a few seconds of a groping session with the hot redhead, wasn't really SO bad..
So here he was sitting at the breakfast table, facing Ken. He was idly trying to pretend it was another normal morning. But they all knew it couldn't possibly be normal. Not after what happened last night.
Still, they had no choice; they were eating breakfast like any other day. Ken and Yohji at the table; Aya busy trying to find something on the shelves behind Ken.
Yohji watched as Aya reached up on his tiptoes for something, watching the muscle on his back taut and ripple smoothly, tapering down--- what…… A distraction……… this is getting--
Meanwhile, across the table, Ken was staring at Yohji. The older man looked quite out of it. Not to mention there was something wrong with the way he looked that morning. Ken tried to put his finger on it. He looked normal enough. His clothes (which was just a pair of pants) were normal, his face (except for the dazed look) seemed normal…
Ken knew not what Yohji was thinking, that the older man was contemplating that if only Ken and the damn chair was invisible, he'd be staring right at Aya's ass. Aya seemed to be deliberately making sure there was something between them ever since that incident this morning. Yohji thought that maybe, just MAYBE, if he stared hard enough, Ken and the stupid chair would disappear and he can have a nice view to come with his breakfast--
Ken was starting to get annoyed. "What? Is there something on my face??"
It was disturbing because Yohji was giving him strange looks, even more so when he realized the strange looks intensely resembled leers. Why, though Yohji was looking at him with only one eye……
That's when Ken realized there was something wrong with Yohji's hair. It was parted on the right rather than on the center like it usually was. Some of Yohji's hair was covering his face, particularly his left eye.
And from the part that he could see… Ken squinted a little to get a better look. Yohji had the makings of a shiner that could just possibly rival the one that he had gotten from his soccer ball the previous week.
"What the hell happened to your face?" he asked, incredulously.
Yohji's mind barely registered the query. What the hell happened? Oh yeah, he had come home badly depressed last night, considering that he had to drive a sobbing (okay, so maybe more like quietly crying) Omi home. Omi, who was bright and cheerful and pure sunshine, was crying the whole drive back. Though Omi had disappeared, Yohji couldn't find anything to relieve his own slump. He planned in bed that when he woke up, it'd either be a bottle of tequila or a can of ice cream.
Tequila meant having a hangover, getting smelly and having everybody pissed off at you. Meanwhile, ice cream makes you feel bloated. So, his last thought before falling asleep was that he'd get ice cream.
"So, ah, what does that have to do with your black eye?"
Had he spoken aloud? Still, Ken was a distant notion… He had been thinking of ice cream. Ice cream came in a lot of wonderful forms. He had been dreaming of vanilla ice cream slathered all over with strawberry syrup on top of pancakes with real strawberries and whipped cream...
"Strawberries and whipped cream." Yohji replied gravely.
Ken stared at him. "What?"
Yohji nodded, completely serious, as seriously as one would contemplate the end of the world.
How was he to know that when he opened his eyes, his confectionery fantasy would come in the extremely delectable form of AYA. Well, he had automatically assumed that his subconscious had picked up on his craving and transformed it into a lovely dream of Aya right on top of him, complete with that shocked look that said, 'Are you going to eat me?'
Hell, of course, he'd take the hint.
"Strawberries and whipped cream wrapped in lavender and roses," said Yohji as he stared at Ken with glazed eyes. The said vision had also been covered in blue pants and an ugly orange sweater, but Yohji didn't mind. No, not at all. Not when you've got plans that particularly meant getting rid of them.
Aya, who was still busy on the shelves looking for God-knows-what, tensed a bit.
Ken felt a little uneasy. Even more so when Yohji moved forward and was suddenly straddling HIS lap, grabbing Ken's shoulders and intensifying his gaze.
"-Came to me with the morning light, And who was I--" Yohji looked heavenwards as if in prayer. Aya realized that Yohji had somehow gotten closer to him and turned around in alarm, meeting his gaze, "--to not be tempted for a little taste?"
Ken did not like the situation one bit. There was a man sitting on HIS lap, shirtless, unshaven, and spouting poetry. He was trying his best not to scream at the top of his lungs. What the hell was Yohji doing?! Maybe that shiner knocked out what little sense he had left in his brain!
Why do things like this happen to him?
Aya glared at Yohji, but Yohji broke eye contact to look at Ken again. "And then suddenly--" BAM! Yohji punched the chair exposed right next to Ken's face, making Ken yelp, "--the STARS wept PAIN--" he shouted and Ken twitched, "--and my vision left me..." he finished calmly.
Ken was terribly trying to calm himself down. He said in a strained voice, "Who got hit what?"
Yohji ignored the question though he smiled at Ken and leaned closer, "But I never understand why, my motives are left unasked and I only be, what others assumed me to be."
His eyes darkened and his voice rose again, "I've NEVER meant harm, I've NEVER tried to deceive, I've NEVER done you wrong--, I--" He looked up again. You should know that I love you. "--I've TAKEN the long way around--" 'Coz I can't help but fall for you. "--Lost the girls, lost the dates, lost the vices, lost so much more" Oh, honey, if you only knew. "I've played the fool and I've played the villain--" Yohji glared straight back at Aya's. Now you know.
Yohji smirked, "I'd laugh when I say it, but still it would be utterly true--" Yohji's eyes softened, saddened, "That I would gate-crash through hell for you." And we should love like lovers do. "And the last thing that I would want to know--" Yohji leaned forward, closer, to Aya, "--is that if you--"
Ken finally lost all his restraint. With his nose just barely brushing Yohji's chest, he screamed the hardest he had ever screamed, abruptly breaking the trance.
Aya snapped, turned on his heels, and walked out of the kitchen. Yohji ignored Ken, screaming at Yohji to get the HELL off him, to get the fuck AWAY from him, while Yohji silently watched Aya leave. Oh, honey, I always lose.
By now, Ken's screaming had turned into unintelligible shrieks of anguish.
Aya walked out of that kitchen as fast as he could, walked past the doors, as fast as he could to get out of there.
But now you know.
Ken had stopped screaming by then. His voice was too weary to continue, but that still did not deny the fact that there was a dazed, half-naked, insane man on his lap. When he thought that matters couldn't get any worse, he heard another weary voice not so far away.
"mornin' 'ya-kun… Eh? Aya-kun? Where ya goin…?"
Ken froze. He barely had enough time react before the familiar honey-haired figure entered.
Omi immediately stopped at the doorway. His eyes were blue saucers as he stared at the scene displayed before him.
"O-Omi!!" Ken yelled, still trying to push Yohji off of him.
"K-ken-kun?! Yohji-kun?!!" Omi practically shrieked, successfully looking a lot more frightened than shocked because his eyes were red from lack of sleep.
"Omi!! It's not what you're thinking!!"
Yohji blankly looked down at Ken and blinked. "… You're not Aya…"
Ken greatly resisted the urge to hit him and give him a second shiner. Two matching black eyes might suit him. Or maybe a kick to the Yohji's most valued jewels would be nice.
Instead he resorted to yelling. "DAMNIT, Kudou!! Just get the hell OFF!!"
Omi was still wide-eyed, too shock to move or speak. He finally ran into the kitchen, grabbing some things from the table, looking very flustered.
"I… I hope I'm not interrupting anything!" his voice was a mixture of fatigue, anxiety, and pain. "I-I mean.. Well.. I-if you two were.. B-busy… I-I'll just leave!"
Ken knew this was not a very good way to start his talk with Omi.
-----*-----
Omi was slowly starting to lose it. He had already finished breakfast, which had satisfied him for the moment. Breakfast made him think of the kitchen, which made him think of the rather awkward scene that he had walked in on. Ken had reassured him over and over that nothing had been going on… at least between him and Yohji. But apparently, Omi had just missed a freak show that Yohji had put on for Ken and Aya's entertainment. Something about Yohji having a black eye and having some sense knocked out of him.
Considering the insanity going around these days, Omi decided that it just may have been true.
At the moment, his problem was his consciousness slipping away. Any minute now, he'll end up with his face in his keyboard.
A voice broke through the clacking of the keyboard, jolting him back awake.. For the moment.
"Omi?"
The clacking paused for a moment. Omi was suddenly wide-awake. "… Ken-kun…"
"u-um… Mornin' again Omi…" Ken stepped a bit closer and stopped. "Listen, I really am so sorry about this morning. I have no clue what Yohji was trying to do. He said that he was talking to Aya, but frankly, I'm starting to think that he knocked his head so much, that he tried to confess love to me. Obviously, I turned him down. He just isn't my type."
Despite how crappy he felt, Omi couldn't help chuckling. Maybe Ken could just do that sometimes. Behind him, Ken smiled.
Omi continued typing, "So… What are you doing here, Ken-kun?"
"I told you I was coming down. And I should ask you the same thing. Were you up the whole night?"
"……No I wasn't…" he lied.
"Sure, Omi." Ken sat on the couch behind him. "I know when you're determined to do something, you stop at nothing til you do it. Besides, I saw your room was empty." He hung his head a bit. "And… considering that… what you… were saying…… You're… pretty determined to cure me and Yohji."
Omi's hands froze. He bit his lip before he continued. "Hai, Ken-kun. I've put it off for far too long."
"Aa…"
There was a pregnant silence, broken only with the soft sound of the keyboard.
"Omi…" Ken scratched his head. "I… About last night… I…"
"Ken-kun… Just forget about it, all right?"
"No. I'm not forgetting. Look, Omi… I'm sorry."
Omi paused again and slowly whirled his chair around. "…… Sorry about what?"
Ken looked down. He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry that I didn't know how you felt about me."
"……… That's……" Omi choked a little as he turned back to the computer. He needed to continue now. He needed to… "That's… all right, Ken-kun…… You were… You liked Aya-kun! I mean…"
"That's just it. I was so intent on running after Aya that I… I don't know… I guess… I forgot to look around… and realize that you… you were…"
Omi's hands went flat again as Ken trailed off. Ken sighed, scratching his head. "Look, Omi… You're obviously the one who's suffering the most out of all of this. And I hate that." Omi looked like he was going to say something but he quickly interrupted. "and before you say that bullshit about the potion, I know that I'd hate it even without that stuff on me."
"Ken-kun…"
"Omi… You're the best friend a guy could have. I'm damn lucky that you're mine," he looked down. "I… I only wish that I was in love with you for real. Anyone would love to have you love them."
Omi's heart leapt temporarily. It was the closest he could get to a real love confession with it still being the truth. He let it sink down again, but he was still smiling a little anyway.
"Why do you always make me feel good, Ken-kun?"
Ken let himself smile. "I dunno. Maybe I'm cursed and I'm only supposed to make you smile, not cry."
He bit back the words as soon as they were out. They both knew that wasn't the case. It hadn't been for… perhaps months by then.
Omi started typing again. Ken swallowed dryly, "Omi… Shit… I… Damnit!" he stood up again. "Omi, you do not deserve this! And I'm not saying that because I think I'm in love with you or whatever else crap you want to feed me."
"Ken-kun…" Omi began, but Ken cut him off.
"Listen, Omi… Even if you do cure us and we're all 'normal' again, I'm sticking by you. I'm still your friend, now and forever." He ran his fingers through his hair and continued, "If you need anything… someone to laugh with, someone to hang out with, someone to cheer you up, someone to talk to, someone to cry on… maybe even something stupid like someone to make sandwiches for you or clean up your room or take your shifts…"
When Omi giggled despite himself, Ken smiled… and his smile turned into a soft smirk, "Someone to make out with or even someone to rent out… certain frustrations by having se-…"
"KEN-KUN!!" Omi suddenly yelped, accidentally hitting some papers. They flew across the floor.
"I was kidding, Omi! Okay, fine… Anything but the last two…" Ken's smile softened. "If you need anything at all, I'm always gonna be here for you."
Omi paused, "I'd… Well… I guess I'd like that."
Ken scratched his head, "But I… I dunno how that's going to make you happy… as happy as you could be if only I was…"
He didn't finish the statement, feeling guilty again. However, Omi stopped typing completely. He turned a little, a sad smile on his face. "It'll make me happy, Ken-kun. You don't know how much." he turned away. "I guess… it wouldn't compare to if we… really were… but it'll still make me happy enough."
Ken didn't know if he was telling the truth. Also he wasn't sure if he was satisfied with Omi's answer. All he could do was take Omi's word on it for now.
He hung his head as he said the last thinking he needed to say. "…… I'm… also sorry for…… for kissing you…" The typing paused again. It didn't continue as Ken kept going. "I… was totally out of it! Not thinking at all… I…"
"Ken-kun…" Omi interrupted. He glanced at Ken then looked away again, smiling a bit. "Umm.. Maybe… that's something you… don't have to apologize for."
Ken blinked. "Why not?"
Omi blushed a little more, "Well… um… it… was good…"
Ken blinked again, then smiled. "Really?"
"Yeah, you're… you're a good kisser." Omi was turning redder by the moment.
The brunette's smile widened. "You think so? You know, you're pretty good yourself…"
"K-ken-kun!" Omi had reached maximum flush.
Ken laughed, "Well, you started it!"
"A-and I don't even know why I told you!" Omi looked down and away again. "B-but… It… is true… If.. If circumstances were different… I… I really wouldn't mind if it happened again…"
He gasped as he felt his chair move. It slowly turned around and he was now facing Ken. He didn't even notice that the other had come closer in the first place.
"You mean that?" Ken asked as he leaned down a little. The expression on his face was warning Omi that Ken had suddenly forgotten what they were saying.
Omi immediately put up a hand to keep him back. "Ken-kun… No… I said if things were…"
"Different. Yeah, I know…" Ken took Omi's wrist and put the hand away. "Pretend it's different then."
"Ken-kun… We just talked about this," Omi's voice was reduced to a whisper as Ken leaned closer.
"Yeah…" Ken mumbled as he lightly touched Omi's face, "We did, didn't we? Something about making you happy…?"
Omi watched as Ken's eyes fluttered closed… As he leaned down even more.
"N-no… Ken…" Omi made one final weak protest, even though his eyes began to close as well. His brain silently shut down, his arms beginning to lift to sneak themselves around…
A very loud beep made his brain start up again.
He gasped and pushed Ken away, immediately spinning the chair back to the computer. He stared at the computer in horror as a message box disappeared and the monitor seemed to flicker.
"Ken-kun!! What did you do?!!"
Ken blinked, still a bit dazed. "I… don't know…? I think I… hit the keyboard…?"
"WHAT?!!"
Omi's shriek seemed to bring Ken back to earth because he finally seemed to understand the severity of the situation. His eyes grew wide as Omi brought his hands back down and started typing quickly.
The screen stopped flickering. Both teenagers stared wide-eyed at the monitor as a file was suddenly displayed to them. It appeared to be an index of 15 or so items.
On the list was Experiment 7043: 'Love-in-Idleness'
There was silence for a while, broken by a soft whisper.
"You found it…"
And then suddenly Omi shrieked again, half-giggling as he typed something to open the file. While it loaded, he spun the chair back, jumped up and threw his arms around Ken, laughing giddily.
"Ken-kun!! You found it!! I can't believe you found it!!"
Ken returned the embrace tightly. He wasn't sure if he should be happy or not about the news, and god knew that he had been cursing under his breath for having been interrupted, Omi and himself. However, Omi was laughing. It was so great to see Omi laughing, that he decided it was very good news after all.
He wrapped his arms tighter around Omi's waist, trying to let himself not savor the feel (it was difficult). He looked up and noticed the file was done, displaying a title and some paragraphs of description. He skimmed though, skipping the parts that only confirmed Omi's previous inferences.
He froze. "O-Omi…"
"Ken-kun?" Omi pulled back, looking up at him. (Ken noticed with wonder that he seemed to have forgotten that they almost kissed despite Omi's reluctance). "Aren't you glad? I mean… they should have the cure here right? Everything'll be back to normal and…"
Omi trailed off, seeing Ken shake his head. Ken couldn't say anything, still staring at the screen. Omi was almost too scared to look, but still he turned around and read through what was written.
When he reached the bottom-most line, he paled.
"No…"
The product created from Experiment 7043 proved to be a success. There were pleasing results from the tests and treatments regarding the finished solution.
However… an antidote has yet to be found…
-----*-----
Shiiru-sama says that lyrics were taken and butchered from Said Sadly by James Iha and Nina Gordon.
DAMN this became a lot longer than I expected…
omiclones@hotmail.com
