As always, thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter.

"You're honestly going to be all pissy and mean just because I had a little fun with Ken?"

The beauty at the worktable answered him with nothing but icy silence. Cursing, Yohji ran a hand through his hair.

"You think I wanted to spend my entire off-day sitting around the shop chatting up your bony ass?" he demanded, losing patience at last. "Least you could do is acknowledge me or something. Hell, yell if you want – but it drives me crazy to be ignored by a hot babe. Come on Aya! Don't be - !"

The cheery jingle of the the bell above the shop door interrupted him. It was only Ken, back from his morning soccer practice. When he saw them – Aya at the table, Yohji perched atop a counter – his face grew bright red.

After a moment, he chose Aya as the lesser evil, addressing himself to him.

"Lemme get a shower, and I'll be right back to take my shift."

Not looking up, Aya gave a curt nod. Ken hurried away.

"I could have slept in today, you know," Yohji said, lowering his voice a little. "I could have…well, there's a lot of things I could have done today and didn't because I wanted to be with you instead. Because we didn't get to go out last night, and I felt deprived."

That, at least, caused him to look up.

"I do feel deprived!" Yohji insisted. "Can't you just say something?"

"We aren't friends," Aya stated.

"Maybe silence was better, after all."

Aya's eyes were cold.

"We aren't friends," he repeated. "The times we were out together were uncomfortable. We haven't had a real kiss, except the one I can't remember. How in the hell could you possibly feel deprived?"

Yohji faltered, fumbling for an answer. He was given a momentary reprieve as the shop bell jingled again. Aya rose, moved out from behind the table to help a little old woman.

Yohji snuck up behind him as the woman made her purchase, trapping him behind the counter as they were left alone once more.

"Kudoh…"

"Just listen."

Aya waited, eyes cold.

"I like you," when Aya raised his eyebrows doubtfully, Yohji swore to press on no matter how stupid he ended up sounding. "You're right – we haven't done all that stuff yet, but…I like you. You're a hell of a trial to get along with sometimes, but…there's just something about you…"

Annoyed, Aya attempted to push past.

Yohji caught him by the wrist and pulled him back, using his body to trap him against the counter.

"You keep surprising me," he continued, catching and holding his eyes. "And when I'm close to you like this…"

"Kudoh…"

"I remember it all day."

"Step away from me."

"You're…"

"Now."

"Addictive."

Somehow, that hadn't been what Aya had expected to hear. Yohji chuckled quietly at the surprise in his eyes. He pressed closer, skimming his thumb against the back of his wrist.

"You're a risk, too. A week ago, I never would have dared do something like this."

"It sounds like you were smarter a week ago."

"I can't stop myself, Aya."

"Kudoh…"

"I like that I'm the only one who's ever been this close. I like it when I learn something about you I didn't know before…something no one else knows, either."

"You have thirty seconds before I injure you."

Aya wasn't buying into the sincere act. A pity that Yohji had been completely serious.

The blonde released him and stepped back, holding his hands up harmlessly.

"Let me go with you to lunch."

Aya brushed past him, once again treating him to cold silence now that he was no longer being held against his will. Yohji stared after him, inwardly cursing Ken for interrupting them this morning. He couldn't help but to think that Aya being mad at him was all the athlete's fault.

For a fraction of a second, he considered giving up for the day.

"If you don't answer me, I'm just going to take it as permission to go with you."

Aya froze in the act of reaching for the arrangement he'd been working on. Slowly, he looked at Yohji.

"The only reason we even are where we are right now is because I was stupid enough to annoy the hell out of you in the first place," Yohji said, fighting to appear confident in the face of that glare. "I can't read you, so the only way to get to know you is to irritate you until you snap. It scored me a date, didn't it? So you give me no choice, Aya. You have to talk to me, or I'm just gonna assume I have permission to do whatever the hell I want."

He crossed his arms, mainly to keep himself from fidgeting as Aya simply continued to stare..

He would never know what Aya would have said, or if he'd been on the verge of answering at all. Ken returned, hair still wet from the shower, and donned his apron without looking at either of them.

"Okay, I'm clocking in, Aya," he mumbled. "Why don't you go ahead and take your lunch break before the afternoon rush kicks in?"

Aya grunted and rose without finishing the arrangement.

Yohji hurried to follow him out the door, but soon found he needn't have bothered to rush. Aya stood just under the awning – not waiting for Yohji, but glaring at the drizzling rain that had begun to fall.

He turned that glare on Yohji as he approached, and the blonde dropped the hand that had been reaching for him.

They stared at each other for several moments as the rain began to fall harder. Thunder crashed loudly, unexpectedly.

"Let me drive you," Yohji suggested. "Anywhere you want."

Aya simply stared at him. Lightning flashed across the sky, lighting them both harshly as, quite suddenly, the afternoon sky became completely black.

"I'll even pull the car around!" he offered, raising his voice over the sudden roar of the rain. "You won't even have to get wet. Remember – when you don't answer, you give me permission to decide on my own."

Aya stared at him a moment longer. Yohji thought he saw his lips twitch.

He gave a single, sharp nod.

Yohji couldn't stop himself from grinning. He gave the sky a quick glance, then hurried out into the rain.

"What are you doing?" Aya demanded, yelling to be heard over the rain, as Yohji jumped out of the car. Huddled in on himself, the blonde ran the short distance from the sidewalk to the awning. "Yohji?"

His efforts were rewarded by a look of blatant surprise from Aya when he pulled out the blanket he had bundled under his shirt.

"I promised you wouldn't have to get wet," he grinned, throwing the blanket around the smaller man's shoulders.

"You…?"

"Don't make me a liar, now. Make sure to cover your head." With another grin and a wink, he ran back into the downpour to open the passenger side door for Aya. A part of him wondered if Aya would even accept the thoughtful courtesy he offered – he was pleasantly surprised.

Aya buckled himself in and began to neatly fold the blanket as Yohji slid into the driver's seat.

"You can just throw it in the back," Yohji told him, watching his mirrors for a chance to pull out.

"Why do you keep a blanket in the car?"

Questions were a million times better than silence any day of the week.

"Oh, you know," Yohji shrugged. "If the heater breaks of I run out of gas in the winter. Or…if I happen to be out with some hot babe and we decide to do some snuggling in some secluded wooden spot…"

"Kudoh."

He laughed, just glad that Aya was no longer ignoring him.

Despite the fact that Aya seemed to be over his anger at him, Yohji was still surprised when, as he came to a stop at a red light, he felt Aya's fingers in his hair.

"Aya?" a thrill went down his spine as he heard the other man give a soft, quiet laugh.

"You're soaked."

"Hey, people can say whatever they want about me, but I've never once been accused of slacking when it comes to impressing a sexy piece of…"

"Kudoh."

"Sorry!" he lauged.

Aya's hand dropped from his hair as the light turned green again. After a few moments passed in silence, Yohji chanced a glance at him.

"You mad at me again?"

"…no."

"Where do you want to eat? I need to know where I'm driving."

"You choose."

"Yeah?"

A nod. Yohji turned his blinker on. "All right," he said, "You trust 'ole Yotan. I'm gonna show you a great time, baby."

"Did…" Aya hesitated. "Did you really mean those things you said in the shop?"

"Are we being honest, Aya? Because if we are, then I have a question for you to answer first."

Again, hesitation.

"Yes. Okay." Aya agreed at last.

"Is it the fact that I date a lot that makes you doubt me, or the fact you don't see yourself as desireable?"

"I…I'm not sure."

"I date around, but when I'm with someone, Aya…I try my best to be honest. I won't tell someone I love them just to get sex, I won't promise forever if I'm already seeing someone else, and I don't tell someone I like him if I'm just after some ass."

"I see. Thank you."

"You still don't want to believe me."

"I wouldn't want to believe you no matter who you were," Aya answered quietly, turning his attention out the window.

"It's not as if I'm the one chasing you. Dating was your idea, Mr. Too-Anitisocial-To-Function. Shouldn't you be pursuing me, and not the other way around?"

Aya made some kind of noncommittal sound.

"Are you afraid?" Yohji asked, trying to keep his attention on the road.

"Afraid?"

"I was thinking about it, and I realized that it's massively impressive that you were able to hit on me in the first place."

"I didn't hit on you."

"You said you were interested. That's as close to a hit-on as you've ever come. It must be very difficult for you, but you haven't done much to follow through. I'm not complaining or anything…but I was wondering if you were frightened and maybe that's why you haven't done anything else."

Aya didn't answer.

"I don't mind taking the reigns. I'm more than happy to be in charge if that's what you want," Yohji chanced a glance at his companion, but Aya's attention was still somewhere out the window. He could very well have stopped listening. "But remember that talk we had? You have to give a little, too. You can't just sit there and expect me to read your mind."

Still no answer. Aya jumped when Yohji laid a hand on his knee.

"Aya? Are you still with me?"

"Yes."

"And?"

No answer.

Yohji sighed, loudly, and pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant he had chosen. Aya was out of the car and heading for the doors before the blonde had even shut off the engine. He'd gone without any kind of cover, but didn't seem to notice the now-pouring rain.

Yohji found him waiting for him just inside the doors, arms crossed and face unreadable. He moved away when Yohji reached for him.

The restaurant wasn't fancy, but it was dark and quiet. Yohji often came here alone on days when the shop was too crowded with squealing teenaged girls for him to think clearly.

He managed to get them a small corner booth and was pleased, as he sat down, that the place was nearly empty this afternoon. It was still a little early for lunch, and the rain had probably made many other patrons rethink going out to eat.

He was looking over the menu, trying to decide whether to have his usual or try something new, when Aya spoke.

"I don't like being grabbed."

Yohji looked up, but the small man's eyes were on the table.

"When I'm angry," Aya clarified. "I don't like being grabbed when I'm angry. I…don't like it."

"What about when you're not mad?"

"I…" he hesitated. "I'm not sure."

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to tell when you're pissed?"

"I'm sorry. I'm…trying."

"One day I want to know what happened to make you so closed off, Aya."

He looked up, horrified, and Yohji hurried to reassure him.

"Not today!" remembering, almost too late, that Aya had said he didn't like to be grabbed, Yohji froze in the act of reaching for him and laid his hand, palm up, on the table. "When you're comfortable. Okay?"

Aya didn't agree, but he didn't disagree, either.

Slowly, however, he reached out and placed his hand on top of Yohji's. The blonde interlaced their fingers, squeezing gently, and smiled. Aya, when he lifted his head, looked so vulnerable and hopeful and frightened that Yohji almost began to dread the day he learned the dark secrets that waited in his past. Anything that could make such a strong-willed man look like a child had to be unbearably horrible.

"So next time I piss you off, I shouldn't grab you," Yohji grinned. "Check. Any other advice you feel up to giving, you go right ahead."

"Are we ready to order?" a perky waitress asked, approaching. Aya tried to pull his hand out of Yohji's, but the blonde wouldn't let him.

"Do you know what you want, Aya?" he asked, smiling.

Dropping his eyes, the small man shook his head.

"Can you come back in a little while?" Yphji asked the waitress. She blushed, agreed, and hurried away. Only then did Yohji let Aya have his hand back, and the lovely redhead quickly hid himself behind his menu.

Yohji couldn't help but to laugh.

"So then are you gonna let me take you out tonight?" he asked. As he picked up his own menu, he noticed just the smallest pink blush spread across Aya's face.

"If the rain doesn't stop, I'm staying in."

"Ooooh. We could snuggle on the couch."

Aya glared over the top of his menu. "This relationship is nowhere near a 'snuggling' stage."

"Aya! I'm flattered! You called it a relationship!"

Blush growing darker, he ducked back behind the menu. "I told you that was what I wanted," he said defensively. His voice was cold now, and it sounded like he was having to force the words out of his mouth.

"There's some other stuff I wouldn't mind you telling me, if you could be so kind as to oblige."

"I…"

"Talking doesn't hurt, Aya. Not physically, unless your sick or something, and not emotionally – not while I'm here. Nothing you say is going to get made fun of or spread around – and if or when we get around to the personal stuff, you've got a pair of arms more than willing to hold you."

Aya didn't answer. After several moments of silence, Yohji shrugged.

"No answer means I get to assume whatever I want," he reminded him. "What I really want to know is why you decided to do this."

"Do what?"

"Chase after me, you Casanova, you!"

The blush flared. Yohji found he was highly enjoying himself – watching Aya fidget was far too rare a treat.

"I already told you that!" Aya bit out.

"But I want more. You were lonely and I seemed to care about you personally. You want to try for a relationship – but I need to know more."

"You want to talk this into the ground!"

"Humor me."

"What the hell do you want, Kudoh?" Aya demanded. "Do you want me to flatter you by telling you how attracted I've been to you since the day we met? Tell you that out of the whole team, I'd rather have you watching my back than any of the others? Tell you that no one in a long time has ever bothered to see me like you do?"

Again Yohji snatched up Aya's hand. The man's glare was fierce, but so was his blush.

"My point was that you can't say you want a relationship and then refuse to talk to me and get mad every time I touch you." Yohji smiled as, eyes growing large, Aya realized that he had been tricked. "I know that it's hard for you, but you have to make an effort, okay?"

Aya stared at him long enough that Yohji began to wonder if his gambol would end in bloodshed.

The waitress returned and took their orders and still Aya hadn't spoken.

tbc

I'm wondering if anyone out there could oblige me with some help with Side B, as translations have become impossible to find. What I really need are good character descriptions, information on any really important character-related events -- stuff like that. I would be forever grateful.

Response to Unsigned Reviews:

CaT70 - Wow. They rank right up there with chai? (lol) I love it when Yohji and Aya get to play like they did last chapter. It's all too rare an experience...(le sigh.)