az: Rewriting this out of scratch. Since I renewed my love with the fandom. Changing the summary, or maybe the title later.


Honey Crackers

Athrun... again

Written by Izzu

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"Hey Athrun. What's so special about Cagalli?"

Athrun sighed to himself before turning to Kira. "I can't do any work... is it, whenever we came here? And aren't you her brother? Shouldn't you know about her more?"

Athrun could not help smiling when he heard Kira moaned.

"Well... Cagalli was taking her break here with Lacus and the kids. So why are you still working?" Athrun turned around again as he saw Kira staring back at him. "It's not like Cagalli didn't allow you some rest time. Can't you just take a break and spend time with me? It's been a while... and I wanted to catch up. We didn't actually get to do that during the last war after all."

Athrun sighed again as he watched Kira grumpily munching on the chocolate from the jar on the nearby table.

"You know if you were bored, you could just play with the kids..." he said as Athrun went back to his computer.

"But even the kids don't want me around right now! They told me to 'Go keep Athrun-bro company... Kira!' and 'We want to play with Cagalli-sis more'. I'd consider looking for job to keep me occupied but that would mean living on the mainland and things will get tricky with Lacus's situation. And it's not like I could help Cagalli with ORB. Some of the Emirs were not particularly agree with me being around there and and Sahaku not around often at ORB. And I don't particularly liked the Seirans also. So... you're stuck with me here."

Athrun rolled his eyes at him. "Why don't you go downstairs and bother Miss Murrue and Mister Bartfield?"

Kira sneered at him. "And listen to them talking about coffees? No thanks! And I'll end up being bullied again by them, they always liked to treat me as a kid."

"You are... still a kid." Athrun stressed. "We are still young compared to them."

Kira stuck his tongue at him. "Can't you just humor me for a moment? If I had no one to talk... I'll end up thinking about depressing stuffs."

Athrun glanced at his friend again as he noticed him pouting again and wearing that same old sad look. He sighed.

"But why talk about this topic? If you were that curious, you can just ask Cagalli on why she liked me. That aside, shouldn't you know me so well after all this time knowing me? Certainly you should be able to guess what was the reason your sister liked me. Or why I would like Cagalli. That aside... why are you bugging me about this? Did I bug you on why Lacus ended up falling for you or why you liked Lacus?"

Kira's face immediately went red. "That... you're evil! I can't actually asked Cagalli about this, she'll end up changing the topic to something else. Of course I know you so well... but I can't tell if my feelings about you are the same as Cagalli's! Cagalli acted different with you than with me... after all. And Athrun! Why suddenly talk about Lacus?"

Athrun smirked as Kira's face turned another shade of red. Haa, payback!, Athrun thought as he grinned.

"Ah. That's a thought." Kira suddenly walked towards his desk. "What did you like about me, Athrun? We've been best friends for a long time after all."

"Eh?" Athrun cried out. "M-me? W-why suddenly—"

"Well... just a thought. And I still not getting my answer. What did happen that time when you first meet Cagalli?" Kira asked again as Athrun let out an involuntary gasp. He immediately wrapped his arm around his neck. "Hmm? You're blushing... Athrun."

"Eh... I-I'm not!"

Suddenly Athrun's computer made a sound as a call went in. Athrun and Kira turned their attention towards the screen as Dearka's smiling face greeted them.

"Haa, I see both of you were still so carefree..."

Kira grinned as Athrun stuttered. "Ah... we-we're not that carefree either!" Kira tightened his grip on Athrun's shoulders as he gasped. "Dearka! That uniform... did you return to ZAFT?"

Dearka blinked as he coughed a bit. "Ah... this. Yeah, it's a bit of a complicated story. Yzak also re-enlisted—"

"Are you guys alright over there?"

Athrun turned to look at Kira, who suddenly wore a worried look. To think Kira would be so concerned about his friends. Dearka he could understand, but even Yzak? After everything that happened in the past...

Dearka shrugged. "Well, it should be okay. For now. I mean—"

"DEARKA! What are you blabbing about to them—"

Yzak suddenly appeared into the screen as he paused to look at them. He blinked. Athrun glanced again towards Kira as he noticed he still wore that worried expression.

"What are you looking so sad for? I'm fine. Dearka's fine as well. Even if last few week have been a bit haywire... at least that's over now."

"Are you really fine over there? Yzak... Dearka?" Athrun asked as Yzak shrugged.

Dearka shoved Yzak aside as he smiled. "Don't mind him, Athrun. He's just bitter that now he have been promoted to an even higher rank than you used to be. As for me... I don't really mind it, being demoted. At least, serving under Yzak... I could still watch his back."

Athrun smiled as Yzak started making disagreeable noises.

"Come to think, Athrun... we had a new member in our squad. A pretty girl. I heard stories that she's really excited that she joined us. I think she had a crush on Yzak—"

"DEARKA!"

"—she's really good too. Yzak and her made a good tag team—"

Athrun and Kira both laughed. He smiled.

"That's... good to hear."

Yzak turned towards the screen. "Not you also, Athrun! Don't think anything weird! There's nothing between us!"

Athrun chuckled as Yzak abruptly ended the call. He turned to give Kira an amused look.

"Kira. Is it just me... or did you instigated everything to get people to talk about their love-life?" he asked as Kira grinned.

"I... wonder..." he said in an amused tone as Athrun scratched his head.

"Seriously, what was that call for?"

Kira giggled. "Who knows? But they did have a nice timing. Interrupting our important discussion—"

Athrun snorted as he grabbed a small cushion nearby to throw it to his face.

"Important your foot! You want to play so much, I'll give you one!" cried Athrun as Kira shrieked before being tackled onto the floor.

xxx

Murrue Ramius looked up from the ceiling as she overheard some of the commotion. She smiled.

"Honestly, it really felt as if we're just a normal family... isn't it?"

Andrew laughed.

"Well, it's good to see those boys could still be cheerful these days."

She smiled weakly. "Yes... I agree."