Forgotten and Alone
Chapter Eight
Berkeley had started to notice Aya going out and coming home more energized then before, it'd been the best sex of his life. Aya went out every night alone and came home flush faced and on a sexual high, Berkeley knew was none of his doing.
At first he thought, Aya's finally walking and was simply hiding it, and the thrill of being able to do so was making him…horny. Then he thought that Aya was prowling the night as his Cat self and picking fights which would have the same affect. However Aya never comes home hurt and walking still troubled him. Whatever it was he knew the redhead wasn't sleeping around, for when he comes home he's ready to go, as if something outside the house was arousing him, but he's too loyal to just sleep around.
When he asked, Aya changed the subject or pounced on him.
One night Aya simply jumps out the window when Berkeley was seemingly doing other things. He watches his lover climb down to the street where he's greeted by another man and gets into his car. Berkeley recognized the man as the one he shot, the one that had attacked Aya; and now Aya was going out with the man behind his back.
Berkeley discovered he's a very jealous man.
When Aya came home, Berkeley was waiting. The redhead was flushed, his hair mussed, and grinning like a loon. However upon seeing the blond's expression the smile fades.
"Where were you?" Berkeley asked keeping his voice calm.
"At the park." Aya answered truthfully, as that's where he and Schuldich go and just sit around and talk or play on the kiddie toys. He frowned, "Why did something happen?"
"Oh nothing much, just a certain someone getting into a car with a man that tried to molest him not five mouths ago." Berkeley said standing and stalked over to the boy. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone like that do you?"
Aya backed up a little, "What about it?" he asked defensively, "You don't own me, I don't have to answer to you."
Berkeley slammed the window shut making Aya flinch. "Do you honestly think that after all the time I've invested in you that I'm going to let you just go out and fuck around on me?" he shouted, "I don't know what kind of game you're playing but I asked your friends, that man would kill you given half the chance so you must be doing something to make sure he doesn't."
Aya growled, "How dare you!" he shouted back, "I've been loyal to you, I don't sleep around with others and the only person I've ever even kissed is you, let alone have sex with."
"And how am I to believe you?" Berkeley said his voice almost a shriek. "You come home every night looking like you've just had sex, you don't let me come with out on your outings anymore! And tonight I see you getting into his car. What am I suppose to do? The man I love is going out every night to go to a park and what? Play around?"
Hot tears fell from Aya's eyes and he ignored the confession of love knowing it would do no good to dwell on it. "Yes! That's exactly what where doing! Can't you trust me? Would you even think of accusing me if it was Yohji? I haven't done anything wrong!"
"You are not to leave this house alone again!" Berkeley said in a low dangerous voice getting right into Aya's face, "You are not to see that man again! Do you understand?"
"You can't do this to me!" Aya shouted, "You can't lock me up because of your stupid jealousy!"
Berkeley hadn't realized his hand had moved until Aya's head snapped to the side under the power of the slap. When he turned his head back there was a thin trail of blood running from his nose.
"Oh, my god!" Berkeley exclaimed in shock, "Oh my god, Aya I am so sorry."
Aya backed away from him shaking with fear. Berkeley tried to touch him but knew it was over as Aya jumped back out the window. Sinking to the floor he covered his mouth with a hand and cried for both of them.
Schuldich found Aya at the park an hour later. By chance he had dropped his house key and went to find it. Finding Aya sitting on the park bench with his knees tucked under his chin and his arms wrapped around himself was a surprise, he would have expected the redhead to be home having wild sex with the man he truly loved.
Then he saw the dried blood under Aya's nose, the tears running down his face, and the vacant expression.
"Aya?" he asked stopping in front of the redhead but kept his hands at his sides. "Aya what are you doing out here? It's freezing. Why aren't you at home? What happened?"
"He hit me." Aya said in a tear roughened voice. "He didn't believe me and he hit me."
The telepath knelt down in front of him and gently tipped his head up so he could see his face in the light. There was a nasty bruise developing on his face and by tomorrow his eye was going to be swollen shut unless taken care of. "Are you sure he hit you only once?" he asked softly; Aya nodded.
"He-he was going to lock me up because he thought I was sleeping with you." Aya sobbed, "He didn't believe me when I told him we weren't. What am I going to do? I can't go back, he might do it again!"
"I can drive you back to your friends." Schuldich suggested.
Aya shook his head franticly, "No, you can't tell them, they can't know, please don't let them find out."
Schuldich nodded, "It going to be dawn soon, I don't see what else I can do. Crawford's going to be pissed enough that I'm still out."
Aya nodded new tears streaming down his face, "I understand, I'll find someplace before dawn, I think I used to sleep around here somewhere."
"No, you're not going to sleep in some box." He said shaking his head. He looked around and picked up his keys from where he had dropped them earlier. "I'm not going to let that happen to you again." He promised and picked up the redhead cradling him against his chest in a different way then Berkeley would do. Aya's face was hidden as they passed him as they did almost every night.
"Tough night?" he asked noticing Aya's tear streaked face.
"Fell of the monkey bars." Schuldich said in way of explanation with a sad smile to the officer and quickly made his way to the car.
Ten minutes after they left the park Berkeley came around hoping to find Aya. He had said they go to the park and this was the closest one, but he didn't find Aya there anywhere. He stopped a police officer to ask if he might have seen the redhead.
"Oh yeah I saw him, not ten minutes ago. He was with his brother; I was assuming he was taking the boy home. He looked a little distraught." The officer said with a fond smile. "I see them most every night playing like little children, too bad for the boy though, can't walk a lick so the older one carries him around the playground. You might wanna check back at home, they're probably there now waiting."
Berkeley nodded. "I'll do that."
"Might wanna pick up some ice on the way home, that boy feel off the bars while playing, saw him trying to hide it when the older one carried him to his car." The officer continued tipped his hat and continued on his rounds.
Berkeley watched the man for a moment then hurried home hoping that maybe Aya had indeed gone home.
It seemed he owed him an apology.
By the time Schuldich pulled into the drive way of the house he was currently living in Aya was fast asleep in the passenger seat. The sun was rising leaving the German to carry the boy inside instead of waking him.
Crawford opened the door before Schuldich could insert his key with his mouth open ready to yell at him. He stopped mid word when he saw just who the telepath was holding and snapped his mouth shut backing up to let them in.
"Don't even think about it, Crawfish," Schuldich growled already knowing what the man was going to order, "He is not a prisoner, he is a guest and if you don't agree with it then you can shove a stick up your ass."
Crawford narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean he's a guest? He's Weiss; we don't take Weiss as guests."
Schuldich turned around and bombarded the per-cogs mind with everything he had learned about Aya for the last several months then turned around heading down the hall. "I've taking your room since it has those black out curtains."
"Why can't he sleep in your room?" Crawford demanded rubbing his temple against the headache that was blooming behind his eyes.
"He's photosensitive, you know sunlight hurts him!" Schuldich said over his shoulder and slammed the bedroom door behind him.
Laying the redhead on the soft bed he quietly left the room and into Nagi's. The teen woke and watched him dig around in the dresser until he found an extra pair of pajamas and took them. However the telekinetic followed the man out of his room and to Crawford's bedroom.
"Is that Abyssinian?" the boy asked still rubbing sleep from his eyes as he watched Schuldich change the redhead into the borrowed pajamas. "And why are you letting him wear my clothes?"
"This is Aya, not Abyssinian do you understand?" Schuldich said in a low whisper, "And he's borrowing your clothes because you're a thin as he is. You are to play nice when he wakes up, he's my guest."
Nagi nodded "Whatever," he said and went back to bed.
Once he had tucked Aya into bed he went back to the living room where Crawford sat on the couch of all things drinking. Schuldich rolled his eyes and took the glass of scotch away draining it himself. He sat down on one of the chairs across from the couch and glared at the dark haired man.
"Your going to make this difficult aren't you?" he accused.
"I don't have to." Crawford said getting up to pour himself another drink and refilled the other glass while he was at it. "Once Farfarello wakes up your going to have more problems then you can handle. I don't care why you have that boy here, but Farfarello won't care as long as he has him as a clear target."
"Oh I don't know," Schuldich said thoughtfully scratching his neck, "I think the cat and the psycho will get a long well, both can have a cat fight and roll around for a while then take naps curled around each other. You know old Farfie has that feline tendency. In fact I'd say he and the kitten have the same thing."
"And what's that?" Crawford asked sitting back on the couch.
"Ever hear of Animal Ka?" Schuldich asked.
"Vaguely," Crawford answered, "The doctors that gave Farfarello to us didn't go into much detail, just that if he started purring and licking himself not to be surprised."
"What if I told you Aya does all that." Schuldich asked sitting forward. "In the last year he's become a formidable opponent, but he's also handicapped and knows it. He'll defend himself, but he's no longer an assassin, he told me himself his little friend made sure he'd never have to work for Kritiker again."
"How do you know that's true?" Crawford asked skeptically, "He could be playing you just to get a chance to get in this very house."
Schuldich glared, "Give me some credit, Crawfish." He said in irritation. "He doesn't even live at that location anymore, he lives with some guy, the same guy that shot me a while back. I saw in his friend's mind that he had a panic attack when he was given his Katana. He lived alone in a factory for god's sake. In fact we forgot he existed for a while last year."
"How long have you been seeing him?" Crawford asked.
"Two weeks," Schuldich said without pause.
"Have you slept with him?"
"No."
Crawford raised an eyebrow, "And you're doing all this for him? He must have done something to make you feel this way."
"It wasn't what Aya did." Schuldich said, "It was what He did."
"The boyfriend?" Crawford asked.
Schuldich nodded, "I found Aya in the park a massive bruise on his face. Apparently the boyfriend figured out Aya was going out to see me and confronted him, and didn't believe that there was nothing going on between us so he hit him."
The older man sucked in a breath. "I may be a bastard but I'd never do something like that, at least not unless he or she hit me first."
Schuldich rolled his eyes, "Think of Aya as an innocent, he'd never do something like that. But he'd certainly have a bad reaction if someone hit him."
Crawford nodded. "Alright, he can stay. But he's your responsibility."
