Part 8

Aya pulled back from the American he had been kissing, with his eyes shut and pressing his lips together, rolling his tongue over them to see if he could find that elusive taste of cinnamon. Crawford always tasted of cinnamon. "Well hello to you too." The man said in English and Aya opened his eyes to a terrible realisation. The eyes that he was staring at weren't amber, they were blue, and he wasn't wearing contacts. He took a step back and looked at the man.

Apart from the fact that all tall, dark haired American gaijin in suits could be said to look alike Aya was faced with the terrible realisation that he had just kissed another man.

"Aya?" Someone said from the side as the blush ran from his feet to his face as his hand flew to cover his mouth. He was almost glad for the mask he was still wearing as he turned his head and looked at the man he had thought he had been kissing. Crawford was in the bar. Crawford had seen what he had done. "Grayson?" Aya was faced with the terrible realisation that he had just kissed another man in front of Crawford.

Aya's head flicked back between the two and then over to the booth were the rest of his party sat as quickly as he could manage. "Oh feck!" He shouted and pushed past the American towards the door.

The poor unfortunate Grayson was caught, did he run after the man who had just so thoroughly kissed him or did he run away from Crawford who looked as if he could (and would) kill him with a look? He was suddenly surrounded by two tall men in black kevlar, both of which had white tabards over their outfits and white masks. "I think you need to come and sit with us," the scruffy one said, "I'm Rook, and this is my friend, Bishop, and that was Aya, come and have a drink with us." The way he was dragging Dick by the arm pretty much made the decision for him.

Crawford ran into the street after Aya who was doing his best to bolt but had found that the copious amounts of tequila that he had imbibed meant that his feet were not as happy to obey him as they normally were and that walls didn't stay where they normally did. In fact the walls were bobbing and weaving about like they were the ones that were drunk. "Aya," Crawford called out. Aya looked back and then did his best to vanish into the night. It would have been much more effective if he hadn't tripped and fallen over a trash can. "Aya." Crawford said, finally catching up and offering him a hand up. "It's all right." He said.

"I thought it was you." Aya stammered. "They made a bet and they called me a chicken and I thought it was you, but he didn't taste of cinn'mon."

"You think I taste of cinnamon?" Crawford asked.

"Umm," Aya acknowledged falling forward into his arms, "and peaches and summer and good things."

"You're drunk." Crawford said placatingly.

"Just a teensy bit." Aya agreed with a matching hand movement. "but Esset have to stop playing with the Earth's axis, it isn't fair that you can walk straight and I still have sea legs."

Crawford raised an eyebrow at that, "it's not Esset, Aya, it's Jose Cuervo."

"I can't kill him," Aya confessed, "until Batman goes 'way am non lethal, s'like being back in Crashers but with kevlar." He picked at his skin tight black suit.

"I must say I do like the change in outfit." Crawford said putting his arm around Aya's waist to guide him. "I'll definitely give my compliments to your tailor."

"Wanna go home." Aya whined, "am so sorry, thought it was you."

"It's all right, love," Crawford said, leading him down the street with the hand on his waist. "I know you did."

"Was a million yen." Aya admitted, "want money for Aya, always need money for Aya." The tone was getting darker than Crawford wanted it to be.

"Well, glad to know I'm not going cheap then." Crawford said with a smile, "there's a nice hotel around here, we can stay there tonight and we'll go back in the morning when you feel up to it."

"Crawford," Aya said blinking at him as he tried to focus, "you're too good to me."

"It's nothing, Aya." Crawford said, "you more than make it up to me all the time."

"'M not worth it." The tequila had taken Aya from pleasantly amused to horrified to vaguely amorous to depressed in five minutes.

"Well a kiss from me is worth a million yen." Crawford said, determined not to go into the black moon.

"A kiss on the hand is quite continental." Aya corrected, wagging his finger, "you're the one that likes show tunes, you should know that."

"But diamonds are a girl's best friend." Crawford added.

"Easier to hock." Aya agreed.

"Will your friend be all right?" Dick asked the men gathered around the table.

"Aya?" Yohji asked. "Considering he's just been taken home by designated driver Crawford and deigned to leave you in our clutches I think he's going to be fine."

"They say," Yuushi leant in to deliver this piece of wisdom, "They're not dating, but no one believes them."

"But Crawford has a girlfriend." Dick protested. "I'm to have dinner with her at the end of the week."

Under his cowl Yohji went pale. "Oh my god," he managed, "Crawford's cheating on Aya, it will be the Texas Chainstore massacre all over."

"Don't you mean chainsaw?" Masato asked.

"That's what I said, chain store." Yohji protested. "Waiter, more tequila."

"Aya won't kill him." Reiichi protested.

"No, he'll just torture him and that makes a terrible mess, remember that kid that keyed his Porsche." The three gathered members of Crashers shuddered. "Or that fan-girl that accidentally smashed his favourite bonsai, she still has panic attacks when she hears his voice."

"If Aya's that fond of Crawford it might not be so bad." Masato said, lighting a cigarette and leaning back.

"Where do I come into this?" Dick asked. "I mean not that I'm complaining that one of the most gorgeous men in Tokyo just decided to grope me within an inch of my virtue."

"Well," Yuushi began.

"There was this bet." Masato continued.

"We thought you were Crawford." Reiichi managed.

"And he was so drunk." Yohji finished.

"Do you always do that?" Dick asked, "I mean finish each other's sentence, that wasn't a paragraph, it was a round robin."

Yohji leant forward with a leer, "not always, but we always make an exception for handsome young men."

"Tart." Masato said with a laugh, "he looks just like Crawford."

"Can you imagine the two of them together." Reiichi said, "it's the American face of cloning. Are you two in any way related?"

"I'd never met him before last week. I came to Tokyo as part of a business delegation with Wayne Enterprises." Dick explained as the pretty waiter brought over another tray of tequila.

"Ah," Reiichi said, sitting back and cradling the shot glass, "the heir apparent of the Wayne fortune, the previous administrator to Mr Wayne." He raised his eyebrow under the mask, "and it seems he's now interested in our Aya. Aya will be interested to know that there's money involved."

"And he's really not dating Crawford?" Dick asked.

"They both deny it." Yuushi said working out something in his blonde head. "Maybe you're in with a chance."

"Knight," Yohji teased. "Aya will be mortified if he finds out that you're setting him up."

"Is his hair naturally that colour?" Dick asked.

"And his eyes are the colour of twilight," Knight added, "and his skin is the colour of wintry cream."

Masato gave him a glancing blow on the arm. "Never mind about mortifying you, Aya will kill you and if he doesn't then Crawford will, they both deny it so vehemently that it can't be true."

"Well, Crawford's told Takatori he has a girlfriend, and a man that beautiful shouldn't be cheated on." Dick said, "and so I will steal him away. Officially, I am a Wayne, if by adoption, and Wayne's always get what they want."

Author's Note

Insomnia sucks! I wrote the vast majority this because I couldn't sleep so be grateful. I am officially still sick and still feeling very sorry for myself, hence it's short and is more story based than funny.