Sorry for the wait. I had to cut something big out of this, for plot reasons, so it's a shorter chapter than usual. Sorry.
"What is it…what is it you really want from me?"
He watched Aya blink slowly, dark lashes descending to brush pale cheeks, then lifting once more to reveal those striking violet eyes. He turned his head to look at Yohji.
"What?"
"Don't take me the wrong way," Yohji couldn't look at him or he would lose his nerve. "I'm really looking forward to Friday. But I'm still confused."
"Confused?" Aya repeated. His voice was quiet, unreadable. Yohji didn't know what else he'd expected.
"What are you wanting this to be?" Yohji clarified.
"What are you willing to let his be?" he countered.
Yohji stopped. Aya stopped too.
"You would leave it up to me?"
Aya closed his eyes and took a careful breath. "I know you aren't the kind of person who has relationships," he said, voice cold. "Honestly, trying for something…something real, that is…that would be my preferred choice. I recognize, however, that my options are limited."
"Why me, then? Why not Ken? Or someone else? Hell, I'm sure you'd be able to find plenty of people who would be more than interested in you. Even other Krittiker agents, since that seems to be a stipulation."
"But you're the one I want." Still cold, still unreadable, still intimidating and impossible Aya, but there was something in his eyes as he opened them and looked at Yohji once more. "I like you, Yohji."
"Sure have a funny way of showing it," the blonde mumbled without thought.
Aya blinked, slowly, at him.
"I didn't mean that the way it sounded!" he said quickly.
"Then how," Aya asked, "Did you mean it?"
Yohji began to walk again, and Aya followed. It took all of Yohji's strength to explain himself to the small and frightening man.
"You said you were interested in me. You said you wanted to date me. Now you say you like me."
Aya glanced at him, his gaze pointedly asking him to get to the point.
"Okay," Yohji said. "But all I've got to go on is what you say – and you aren't exactly talkative. I can't read you. I don't know when it's okay to make a move on you, or whether or not I'm getting on your nerves – do you understand?"
Aya looked away again. When he spoke, his voice was quiet.
"Did you agree to date me because you're afraid of me?"
"No."
Aya looked at him sharply, clearly not believing him, and Yohji knew it was because he had answered so quickly.
Time to take the risk of complete honesty, then.
"I want to date you. I'm very, very interested in you. And I know you won't believe it, but I actually think that finding something… something more…between us would be...impossibly good – for the both of us. But I need to get to know you. I want to get to know you. You have to let me know you."
Aya stared at him, as if waiting for him to take it back.
Yohji met his eyes unblinkingly.
Aya was once again the first to look away. He didn't speak for a very long time, and Yohji couldn't help but to wonder if he'd just ruined everything. At last Aya stopped him under a street light just outside the flower shop.
"Why didn't you kiss me the other day?" he demanded boldly.
With his free hand Yohji reached out, carefully brushing hair out of Aya's eyes. The man looked so vulnerable that Yohji didn't let himself second guess the action.
"Do you want me to kiss you?"
"I want to know why you didn't before."
"I didn't before because…" Yohji slid his hand down the side of the redhead's lovely face, brushing the blade of his thumb against his jaw. "I only push things to go fast when I don't see any future in it – why waste the time, you know?"
Aya closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the violet orbs were bright and dark and honest.
"I'll…I'll try…Yohji," he promised in what was very nearly a whisper.
Somehow, that was just what Yohji had wanted to hear. Smiling, he slid his hand back, letting Aya's hair spill silkily through his fingers. He felt like an idiot, grinning at the man like that.
Then slowly, and with heartbreaking hesitancy, Aya smiled back.
"Beautiful," Yohji realized aloud, stunned.
The smile left Aya's face, simply falling away as if it had never existed. He ducked his head and stepped out of Yohji's reach.
"The food is getting cold," he said quietly, refusing to look at him. "We should go inside."
"This your subtle sign to tell me you're ready to be left alone?" Yohji asked, hooking a hand in his pocket to keep from reaching for him again.
A hesitation, then a sharp nod.
"Fair enough," Yohji agreed. Aya turned to head for the shop, but stopped when Yohji called out to him. He waited until the smaller man actually looked him in the eye before, grinning, he spoke. "Next time you feel snuggly…I'm your man."
Aya smiled slightly, nodded sharply, and headed for the shop.
Feeling considerably lighter, Yohji followed.
They circled around to the back of the now-closed shop and entered through the kitchen of the living area. Aya waited for Yohji, holding the door and smiling shyly. Yohji returned the smile, turned sideways to pass him in the doorway, and made sure his body brushed Aya's along the way.
He was rewarded with a blush – something he'd never expected to see from his fearless leader. He had to turn away to hide his grin.
"Wonder where the others are?" Yohji asked nonchalantly, setting his bag of food on the counter.
The kitchen was empty except for them. It had taken long enough for them to walk down to the restaurant and back that he had half-expected their hungry teammates to be waiting at the table.
Still, their absence meant a little more time alone with Aya.
The thought gave him pause. He was in trouble if he was thinking things like that when they hadn't even slept together – or had a sober kiss, or hugged, or had anything even resembling a real date.
"Light are out upstairs," Aya announced, returning from peering up the stairs.
"You think they got tired of waiting and went to get their own food?" maybe he and Aya could work on an early start to this dating thing.
Yohji leaned his rear against the counter and crossed his arms. He felt decidedly predatory as he watched Aya move to the door that opened to the basement. The man's small body was impossibly graceful even in the simple act of walking. He wondered if Aya knew how dangerously sexy he had the potential to be.
"We could start without them."
"They're downstairs," Aya's voice was too cold for him to be thinking along the same lines as Yohji. He didn't even look at him before he began to walk down the steps.
Frustrated, Yohji pushed off the counter and followed.
He would have to pay off Ken and Omi to leave the house 'spontaneously' one night, though. A little extra time alone with Aya…when Aya was, perhaps, a little unsuspecting…
It could be a fun night.
He froze on the bottom landing. Aya was crossing the room to take a seat. Omi and Ken already occupied the couch.
And standing before the television was a tall red haired woman with killer legs.
"Manx," for once, Yohji felt disappointed to see the woman.
She noticed.
"Kudoh?" for a moment she seemed confused, but she motioned for him to join the others, nevertheless. "Happy you decided to join us."
"Wouldn't have bothered if I'd known," he grumbled, crossing the room.
She chose to ignore him.
Yohji barely listened as she began to explain the specifics of the mission – some run-of-the-mill, get in, kill the bad guys, get out kind of thing. He agreed with the others to do the mission, and accepted the file he was handed, flipping through it boredly. Damn it, but he was only backup.
"Okay," he sighed. "So, next Saturday…"
"It will have to be Friday," Manx interrupted. "It's the only day the targets will be vulnerable."
"But I have plans for Friday!"
"You'll have to change them then, won't you?" Aya asked coolly. Yohji stared at him, but the small man gave no indication that he even remembered he had been the one Yohji had made plans with.
"He's letting you go out again?"
He sent Ken a dirty look. "Yeah, he's 'letting' me," he shot back. "And it's a hot date, too."
"You're pathetic."
"And you're just jealous. Manx, are you sure there's not another night we could…?"
"You've already agreed to do the mission, Kudoh," Aya said quietly. He may have been fighting a smile.
"Yeah, but I was really looking forward to my plans," he answered honestly.
"No doubt," Manz was very clearly displeased by Yohji's protest. "I'm sure whoever she is, she'll understand if you come up with a good enough excuse."
"I'm not worried about that…I'm just really disappointed."
This time, he was positive he saw Aya smile.
tbc
Originally, there was a specific mission. But it never went anywhere, so I cut it. This is a fluff-fic, after all.
Response to Unsigned Reviews:
glinwulf - Aya is such a special little popcicle...
CaT70 - I totally think they should do one. And they should let me help. (grins) Can you imagine? Anyway, I don't think anyone who's ever watched the series would be surprised (I've actually seen a newcomer to the series on a video page leave a comment on the OVA along the lines of "where's the boy love? This series is yaoi, isn't it?" lol.
Thanks everyone! And again, sorry for the wait!