"Why don't you date, Aya?"
A moment of stillness. Slowly a pair of dangerous, violently violet eyes rolled upwards from the arrangement the pale redhead was working on. The glare was frightening – threatening a degree of bloodshed sure to prove painful, deadly, and somewhat uncomfortable.
There had been a time, not so very long ago, when receiving that Look would have shut his mouth, wiped the grin from his lips, and sent him hurrying from the room as quickly as hid trembling legs would allow.
But Yohji had been making annoying Aya a hobby for a while now – and in that course of time had received that Look, and many others like it, countless times. Experience didn't lessen the degree of fear his glare could inspire – not by any means – but it did allow Yohji to build up some small degree of immunity to it. Enough, at the very least, that he could and did resist the urge to flee, no matter how scary the other man got.
No matter how Aya glared and snarled and hissed, Yohji was beginning to suspect that the younger man was becoming…if not exactly fond, then at least tolerant of his company.
Yohji remained where he was, perched on the edge of Aya's worktable, a grin plastered on his face.
"Go away, Kudoh," Aya ordered at last, seeing that body language alone would be insufficient initiative for Yohji to leave.
Instead of abiding by his wishes, the blonde made himself more comfortable atop the table, swinging his heels playfully. Three days since their uncomfortable conversation about why Yohji didn't date men. Yohji thought he might finally be feeling brave enough to force finishing the conversation.
He'd been thinking about it, and decided that he was, in fact, willing to risk having the tables turned on him – as long as it meant getting some information on Aya. The man would be much more pleasant to work with once he got laid, Yohji had decided, and the playboy was intent on doing everything in his power to make sure that happened as soon as possible. That means finding out just what, exactly, the smaller man was looking for.
"I asked a question, Aya. Why don't you date?"
"You've met me, haven't you?" he mumbled, attempting to focus on his work and tune out the annoyance that was Yohji Kudoh.
"Yeah. So?"
Aya grunted, ignoring him.
"Aya…"
"You've answered your own question. Go away."
"No. That's no answer at all. You're a young, healthy male. Why don't you ever go out? Everybody needs a little…stress relief."
Aya's head shot up and he glared at Yohji with a flat, I'm-counting-to-ten-before-I-become-violent expression. Yohji could only laugh.
"Yeah – okay," he said, "So you're difficult and stubborn and a complete ass…"
"Thanks."
"But you're also strong, and really pretty for a guy, and…" he trailed off under Aya's glare. Was it his imagination, or had the man's hand tightened on his pruning shears? "Anyway, look – I'm sure we can find somebody out there willing to put up with all your bad traits if it means getting a chance at experiencing some of the good – rare though they may be. But before that can happen, you have to tell me what you like."
"You're…trying to set me up?"
"That's right. Hell if I know why, but I wanna see a smile on that face of yours. Ungrateful bastard that you are, I still don't think this isolation thing is healthy. I can't do a damn thing, though, until you tell me what you're looking for."
Once more Aya's eyes dropped down to his work, although his hands remained motionless.
"Aya?" Yohji asked, after several moments of silence.
"I…don't know."
"You don't know…what you'd want in a partner?"
Silence. Yohji heaved a heavy sigh.
"Let's start small, all right?" he asked at last. "Can you do that? Baby steps. You…you do want to find someone eventually, right? I mean, you're human. You're male. You feel need, don't you?"
"That kind of stuff is nothing but a distraction," Aya stated. It sounded like he was repeating something rehearsed. Something he had worked hard to convince himself of.
"But you want it." Yohji pressed.
Aya stared at the half-finished arrangement – silent, dark, unreadable. "Yes," he answered at last, forcing the word out through clenched teeth.
"Great! Admitting it is the first step – and look! You've just proven that you really are human!"
A grunt. Aya was definitely not happy with him at the moment. Yohji couldn't stop a grin.
"Now," he said, rubbing his hands together. "We get to a slightly harder question. What do you like? Body? Hair color? Eyes?"
Aya shook his head, not answering.
"Someone like you, or your complete opposite?"
Silence.
"Occupation? Yearly pay? Beliefs?"
Still, Aya refused to answer. He had closed his eyes and bowed his head, and his hands were balled into tight, white-knuckled fists.
Yohji sighed. "At least answer one question for me, okay?" he asked at last. "One question. Can you do that much?"
A hesitation. A small, reluctant nod. Aya kept his eyes closed.
"Man?" Yohji asked, "Or woman?"
There was silence for several long moments. Yohji sighed again.
"Aya…"
"Man," he whispered.
Yohji drew back, staring at him. He couldn't decide if he was surprised or not. Admitting his preference had clearly been difficult for the small, quiet man, but Yohji refused to feel guilty for bullying him.
At last, Yohji grinned.
"Man it is," he said cheerfully.
Aya's "grounding" of Yohji had kept the blonde from meeting any new people recently, but luckily he knew of a pair they could easily double date with. Twins as opposite as night and day. Yohji had slept with each of them at one time or another, yet had somehow managed to remain on friendly terms with them both.
The girl, Umeko, was bright, wild, and easy. The perfect pick-me-up after his enforced term of celibacy. Her bubbly personality and weakness for cheap alcohol all but promised Yohji a good time.
Her brother, Yukio, was her polar opposite. Quiet, thoughtful, and challenging – Yohji was pretty sure Aya would enjoy his company.
It was only too easy to set up the date, and according to Umeko, Yukio was looking forward to meeting the new 'friend' Yohji had found for him.
Aya didn't seem anything like enthusiastic – and probably would have found some excuse for wriggling out of the date had Yohji not made sure to pester him about it every waking moment. The blonde was smart enough to realize that Aya would not appreciate him blabbing their plans to their other teammates, so he had been careful about where and how he pestered Aya. Still, he thought that he had gotten the message through quite successfully, thank you.
He would see to it that Aya's life became a living hell if the redhead tried to back out.
Aya seemed to understand this.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Yohji gave a guilty jump, which he hoped was well-hidden by the fact he had the entire front half of his body buried in Aya's closet.
"Are we back to that?" Yohji teased. He was quite proud that his voice managed to come out so light and playful. Despite having his head buried amid the untrendy, unsexy, unstylish graveyard of Aya Fujimiya's clothes, he could hear Aya's loud, much put-upon sigh.
"Hello, Yohji," Aya bit out. "What the hell are you doing?"
The blonde at last pulled himself from the closet, woefully empty-handed. "We have less than three hours before we have to leave. I thought I'd help you get ready."
The blank, somewhat confused look in Aya's eyes was almost worth it all.
"What?"
"Well? You don't date. I figured you'd need some help."
He blinked slowly. "What?" he asked again.
"What were you going to wear tonight?" Yohji asked.
Aya blinked at him again then, slowly, spread his arms out at his sides. "This."
Blue jeans – dark, good-as-new, and not even wrinkled. Ugly shoes. And that hideous orange sweater.
"No."
"No?"
"No." Yohji stepped the rest of the way out of Aya's closet. "Come on."
Aya was just off-balance enough that he actually obeyed without comment or hesitation, following Yohji to the blonde's room.
"Sit," Yohji ordered, motioning to the bed.
Aya did, eyes scanning the room with interest. He only stared as Yohji opened his closet and began throwing things out.
"What are you doing?" Aya asked at last.
"Your wardrobe sucks," Yohji answered. "You're wearing something of mine."
"And look like a cheap whore?" Aya demanded, rising angrily.
"Sit back down!"
"Kudoh!"
"I won't make you look like a whore."
"You don't own anything else!"
"Didn't know you were such a funny man, Aya," Yohji mumbled, walking to the bed. He began to sort through the clothes.
"Kudoh."
"Here – start with these."
Aya looked at the clothes he had been handed, then back at Yohji. Slowly, he rose.
Yohji almost shouted when he realized Aya was nonchalantly removing his shirt. Something about it was shocking.
"I'm not walking down the hall wearing anything you own, Kudoh," he glared, ignoring the other man's stare as he tossed his sweater aside and began to unzip his jeans.
Yohji began to shifting through the clothes, fighting the suddenly very-tempting urge to watch Aya changing. He'd gotten enough of a view while treating his wounds for his imagination to let him know quite clearly what a pleasant sight that could be – but he had also known the man long enough to be sure that being caught oogling him would result in imminent castration.
"No," Aya stated suddenly.
Yohji looked up, and instantly understood. The pants were tight when Yohji wore them, and so they almost fit Aya at the waist – but they were far too long on him, and trying to roll up leather would not look good.
"Jeans," Yohji decided, mourning that they would miss out on the sure-to-be luscious sight of Aya in leather. "You'll have to wear jeans."
"I own jeans."
"Not the right kind." Yohji selected a pair and tossed them at Aya. The man sighed and began to change again. This time, Yohji did watch.
Aya glared as he finished, and crossed his arms over his bare chest.
"Still doesn't fit," he stated, almost accusing.
"A good belt, and rolling up the legs a little – it'll be fine!"
"I'm wearing my own clothes."
Yohji attempted a glare. Aya bested him at it.
"Okay, a compromise," Yohji sighed at last, looking away first.
"Compromise?" Aya's tone was suspicious.
"Get dressed. If we hurry, we should be able to get a little done before we need to be there."
"Hurry?"
"We're going shopping."
"How the hell is shopping a compromise?"
Aya was a vicious, stubborn son of a bitch.
But shopping with him had been surprisingly pleasant. Thrusting him into an unfamiliar situation, forcing him to go into a kind of store he never would have ventured into on his own…those kinds of things made Weiss's strong, bullheaded leader almost shy. Aya didn't fight him, didn't argue, didn't glare.
But when they got back into the car to go home, the man sulked.
Yohji had never known the small redhead had the capacity to be so…cute.
In any case, both men were dressed and ready to go by the time they needed to leave to pick up the twins. Aya had refused to spend his money on anything leather, but Yohji was responsible enough to respect that different people had different styles – at least, for now. They hadn't had time to argue about it.
Nevertheless, the well-fitted jeans and somewhat clingy blue shirt were much better than any of the junk he had found in the man's closet would have been.
"Are you nervous?" Yohji asked, starting the car.
Aya only glared. He had gone silent about an hour ago, and nothing Yohji had yet tried had managed to break him. Yohji knew he was lucky, that he had just done the impossible. He had Aya Fujimiya attempting a social life. He had Aya Fujimiya outside his comfort zone.
He'd had Aya Fujimiya shopping.
The fact that neither of them were dead or, at the very least, bleeding profusely, spoke wonders. He knew how foolish it would be to press his luck at this point.
"You look really good," Yohji told him, turning on his blinker and making a left turn.
Aya didn't act as if he'd even heard him.
"Didn't know you could look so good," he kept his eyes fixed on the road, positive that the man was glaring at him. "I mean, date or no, you're gonna have guys all over you tonight."
No answer. Aya simply turned his attention back to the window.
"You know, Aya…you're going to have to talk tonight." Yohji hesitated, but knew he was already past the point of no return. "You can't be like this all the time. I mean, I kinda get it, but these people won't. They don't know you."
"Neither do you."
Yohji didn't know how to respond to that, and so he let silence fall once more.
tbc
Response to Unsigned Reviews:
CaT70 - I think it's mostly Aya who's awkward. That's one of my secrets for writing him (wink). No, I don't think their OTPness will ever change for me, either. It's hard to explain without sounding crazy, but when I write them, they just...gravitate toward each other natually, without much help from me. I've never really had that happen, except with these two. Anyway, thanks!