Chapter Three:

The rest of Schwarz were in bed for the night and Brad was still in the living room, cramped up from sitting first in an uncomfortable chair by Kudoh's bedside and then on the futon for most of the day. He'd changed out of work clothes entirely and into a comfy pair of jeans and an old button down shirt, which was an improvement but not much of one.

The house was silent enough for Brad to audibly hear each annoyed breath that escaped him while he read and reread each sentence to make sure he'd gotten all important meaning from it (he'd skimmed a reading once, missed an important passage about planet alignment that was directly relevant to the necromancer they were supposed to be assassinating, and had always done a thorough job on the mission prepwork since). So when Yohji's sleep turned fitful he noticed immediately.

He knew it wasn't very compassionate, but Brad was pretty grateful for the distraction.

He opened the door to his bedroom to see Kudoh tossing and turning in his sleep. The movements were definitely much too frenzied for his bad wrist and knees to handle, and as wrist and knees would be very necessary for battling the Esset Elders in the museum in a couple months he darted forward and gently shook Yohji awake.

Yohji surprised Brad by clinging to him and burying face in his shoulder. He was breathing heavy, and was clammy with sweat. Brad held him, feeling an intense déjà vu that for once had nothing to do with his visions. He'd done this often enough for his teammates that the comforting words and gentle caresses, carefully given so as to be most reminiscent of a relative's touch, came almost automatically. The difference that reminded him it wasn't Schuldig or Nagi in his arms was that Yohji was crying.

"It's alright…we killed them and you're okay," Brad whispered. "You're stronger than they are anyway, and you're still here."

"I don't want to be, I want it to stop," Yohji's voice broke on his plea.

"It's harder now, so close to when it happened and because it's night, but it will get easier eventually."

Yohji stilled as his breathing slowly came under control. Brad continued to hold him, remembering what Schuldig had said about Yohji being a sensory-oriented person. Despite being raped he'd still find some comfort in being touched as long as it was handled right, and Brad was certainly controlled enough to respect boundaries.

Of course the last time he'd cradled a rape victim in his arms and attempted to comfort them they'd been much younger than him and behaving responsibly hadn't been in the least difficult. Yohji wasn't as much younger than him as he would have liked, so he was extra careful where he let his hands linger.

Finally, Yohji pulled away and Brad felt a certain amount of relief. Yohji looked embarrassed, but then his face could just as easily have been red from crying. Brad offered him a tissue, which he accepted.

"Thank you," He muttered.

"Don't hesitate to ask for help," Brad responded. "I know this is hard to deal with."

"Do you?" It was clear from his tone exactly what Yohji was asking.

"Not from first hand experience," Brad explained. "But I've seen it happen to others close to me often enough." Hell it was a miracle he'd gone through as many years at Rosenkreuz as he had without experiencing rape firsthand. It was the inevitable outcome from stripping away personal power and dignity and encouraging power games among the terrified.

"And they've…they've gotten past it?" Yohji asked. There was a look of desperation in his eyes Brad didn't like. He felt a surge of protectiveness, and for a moment wished he could resurrect those six thugs just to kill them all over again.

He tamped all that down so he could answer. Yohji was much too perceptive for him to be having thoughts like that in front of him. It wouldn't do at all for any of those emotions to show on his face. He just needed to comfort him enough so that he could function in Weiss. For Schwarz's sake.

"For the most part. Every now and then it…comes up. But they're very good at handling themselves," Brad said carefully. He couldn't help thinking about Schuldig's uncontrolled panic the other night when faced with the situation he was most terrified of. "It doesn't seem to heal all the way though."

"It doesn't need to I just…I want it to mute. You know? Just a little. I feel…there's this gnawing fear, and it's so irrational. Just this certainty that it's going to happen again."

Brad was forcibly reminded of sitting with Schuldig in an alley outside the dorm building the telepaths slept in. Schuldig had expressed the same fear, given a lot more credence because they were both certain it would happen again. Brad had promised to be there for Schuldig again when it did. This time at least he didn't have to make such a terrible promise.

Brad took Yohji's trembling hand in his and gave it a comforting squeeze. The gesture seemed more helpful than words. Yohji closed his eyes, still obviously upset but a little calmer for Brad's actions.

"I'm totally screwing up your work, aren't I?" Yohji asked.

"Hm? Oh, that. A little, I suppose, but I can catch up later. You don't look like you want to be alone," Brad said, diplomatically deciding to leave out the bit about how much he'd wanted the distraction.

Yohji shook his head. "I don't. But…well I don't want you to be painfully executed over paperwork either."

Brad smiled at the joke. It was a good sign. "It's fine. I was almost done anyway." It wasn't an outright lie, more a matter of perspective. He really was almost done considering how much he'd worked already.

Yohji probably understood that, but he didn't protest when Brad offered to stay with him until he was asleep again. Brad went to get the chair he'd used earlier when Yohji stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"If you…wanted to stretch out, I mean you've been sitting all day and you're probably cramped up, well it's just that I wouldn't mind…" He rambled.

Brad patiently waited for the rambling to stop. "So you like hugs, huh?"

"Everyone likes hugs. People who don't are lying," Yohji bantered back, when he realized there was no judgment forthcoming.

Brad let out an exaggerated sigh as he settled himself in bed next to Yohji, who very cautiously snuggled against him. The unreality of the moment struck Yohji hard. Here he was, grown man and assassin with his head on the chest of possibly his most intimidating professional rival. But there was a certain amount of niceness to it, and when Brad thought Yohji was asleep he started stroking his hair, which only added to the niceness.

Brad was slow to wake, but his sleepy mind reasoned that if it were pressing to be awake his alarm clock would have gone off. He drifted between wakefulness and sleep a few times before he realized the comfortable warm weight on his chest was an odd thing.

Shit. He was going to be hard pressed to get all the pre-mission prep work done now. It was almost noon already. Although he wasn't as bothered as he should have been. Kudoh looked remarkably peaceful, which meant he'd slept well after the initial night terrors. Brad felt proud of that.

Even banged up as he was, Kudoh was beautiful. Brad couldn't help but notice now that he could sleepily study Yohji at his leisure, without threat of rudeness or a fully functioning rational mind to stop him. It's not that he hadn't noticed before; all of the Weiss were good looking and all of the Schwarz were well aware of it. Schuldig and Farfarello sometimes called them the Pretty Kitties, and had had an extended conversation about them once while very bored on a stakeout. Abyssinian had been labeled the best looking, but Siberian had gotten points for being the most approachable. Bombay was obviously the cutest, and Balinese had ranked runner up to Abyssinian, having lost points for skankiness. Brad now re-evaluated their decisions. Kudoh was stunning.

'He's Schuldig's age', that stupid rational inner voice of his reminded him. He'd met Schuldig when the boy was younger than Nagi, while Brad had been a young adult at the time. Of course the six year age difference wasn't jarring anymore, it only felt that way with Schuldig because they'd developed a bond with a big brother/little brother sort of feel to it, a result of their ages when they'd met.

But Schuldig and Yohji slept together, frequently enough for these thoughts to be troublesome. He hardly wanted to be plagued with feelings of longing towards Schuldig's fuck buddy.

Yohji stirred as he woke, and when the man's enthralling green eyes were fixed on him, sleepy and half lidded, he momentarily forgot his protests and just noticed again that Kudoh was a very beautiful looking man.

"You're a good pillow Oracle," Yohji murmured. "Do you usually sleep with your glasses on?"

"Of course not. You were sleeping pretty peacefully, I didn't want to bother you," He said. He expected Yohji to get up now that they were both awake, but contrary to expectation, Yohji wrapped his arms more securely around Brad's abdomen, as best he could with the bad wrist anyway, and snuggled against his chest. He looked content.

Brad was too surprised and unnervingly content himself to protest right away.

Well isn't that just cute? Schuldig's mental voice chimed in. Brad took the bait.

Isn't what cute?

Balinese's thoughts right now. I'd be angry about you moving in on my man if I hadn't screwed that up myself, Schuldig teased.

What's he thinking? Brad asked, curiosity getting the better of him. He decidedly did not want to be involved in one of Schuldig's stupid games. But he was curious.

He's got a little crush on you and it's adorable in only the way a sentimental idiot like Kudoh Yohji can be. You know if you like him you should just go for it. Just make sure you use protection, whatever else he tries to say-

Schuldig, I'm not going to seduce a rape victim, Brad snapped, offended.

Intentionally, apparently, Schuldig corrected. He's already pretty into you. Keep petting his hair, he likes that.

Get out of our heads.

You kids want some privacy? Schuldig asked with a snicker. Me and Nags'll finish up the paperwork so you can keep cuddling.

Schuldig-

I'm done, I'm done.

Yohji was grinning at him. "What?" Brad asked.

"You were pretty spaced there for a sec. I guess that must be a psychic thing though, the constantly zoning out."

"Oh, that wasn't a vision, that was Schuldig being a pest. The vision's don't take nearly as long, otherwise I'd be pretty useless in combat, don't you think?"

"Hm." Yohji slowly uncurled himself from Brad and stretched out beside him. "They must be disorienting then."

"They can be, but I'm trained for it. I...huh." Brad stopped speaking, as he was hit by a particularly vivid vision. Curious, Yohji leaned in closer to watch as Brad stilled, his pupils contracting ever so slightly. Just as he'd said, the vision didn't take that long, maybe two or three seconds, but it was followed by a reaction. Brad's face reddened and he edged away a little bit.

"Was that a vision?" Yohji asked, even though he seemed pretty sure it was. "What'd you see?"

"Nothing important," Brad lied. He sat up, removed his glasses, and started rubbing at his eyes, which incidentally gave him an excuse not to look at the sensuous young man beside him in bed.

Yohji's face was alight with interest. That enthusiastic curiosity, which had made him a good research assistant, must have done wonders for his pre-Weiss work as a detective. "So you must not get visions too often when you're talking to people, because if you always go red like that I'd think people would notice."

"I don't always go red like-"

"So what was the vision?" Yohji asked.

It had been of Yohji, naked and dripping wet, with Brad equally naked and wet licking droplets of water off of too-pale honeyed skin. They'd been on the same bed, with the same sheets, and Yohji had still looked weakened, meaning it was slated for the near future. If Brad had to guess further, he'd say it was shower sex spilling out to the bedroom.

"I Saw Schuldig and Farfarello's plans for some free time they're supposed to have soon. It involved a sugar rush, a theme park, and some terrified civilians." Which wasn't a total lie. He'd had that vision yesterday, and it had prompted a spit take.

Yohji laughed. "I take it you're revoking Schu and Farfarello's priviledges?"

"I'm going to urge them to change their plans to something more prudent...and less conspicuous. I should..." Leave. Leave the small, darkened room with the enticing cuddle-slut smiling at him like that. "I should get to work. Do you need anything Kudoh?"

Yohji sighed. "I guess not. I'll just spend another boring day of recovery while you're out. Unfortunately, it won't be as creative as terrified civilians in a theme park."

Brad nodded, then fled the room.

Schuldig felt like he was being a pretty good teammate. That damn conscience he'd suppressed for all those years had been awakened the other night, and it had been given a lot of nagging energy thanks to all that guilt. He owed Yohji. So freeing up Brad's morning so they could cuddle was not only him being an uncharacteristically good teammate, but also chipping away at that defecit of shame regarding Yohji.

He got himself up and about before noon, which was highly uncharacteristic and not at all agreeable, took Nagi out for coffee (repelantly social and put the kid in a good mood-so never doing that again), and the two of them tackled the rest of Brad's reading. When he got home with detailed notes in hand, he was expecting to spend the couple hours before the mission parked in front of the TV in the living room with something sugary.

This wasn't to be, however, as there was a dust free rectangle of clean brown wood where the TV normally sat on their wall unit. Schuldig gaped at the lack of TV for a few minutes more, while Nagi carefully edged around him and started for his bedroom. "We-we've been robbed!"

"We haven't been robbed," Nagi snapped. He floated his laptop over to Schuldig and tugged some DVDs he knew Schuldig liked off of the shelf. "I think it's much more likely Brad moved the TV into his room out of consideration for our convalescing 'enemy'."

Scowling, Schuldig pushed past the offered laptop and stormed into the kitchen to confront his leader.

And caught sight of an adorably confused Bradley Crawford squinting at a cookbook while stirring a pot. He went back into the living room with a hand over his mouth, badly concealing his mirth.

"What?" Nagi asked.

"This would be sickening if it wasn't so pathetically funny," Schuldig said with a grin. "Yohji's not the only one with a crush."

Nagi quirked an eyebrow. "Not really..."

"Dude, he's trying to cook for him! Do you remember the last time Brad tried to cook?"

"Sure. It was when Farf was having a really bad episode, I had the flu, and you smashed your hand on a job. He still made me do most of the work with my telekinesis anyway. It was a pretty memorable disaster. I don't think he's doing Kudoh any favors."

Schuldig grabbed the laptop, which was still floating in front of him with the DVD cases dancing around it expectantly. He sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to him. Nagi obediently sat down, and telekinetically fetched some snacks from the kitchen for them.

"So you're okay with this? I thought you liked Kudoh," Nagi said, confused.

"Eh, I like sex with Yohji. Brad likes Yohji. It's different."

Nagi accepted the answer, though he thought Schuldig was making too much of the distinction.

The building gave out, sending the assassins crashing to the ocean in the midst of their battle. Then the dark water swallowed them. Even if his glasses had stayed on during all the confused motion, Brad wouldn't have been able to see much, not at night, not in the inky water. He kicked for the surface, knowing that as long as he stayed by his team, Nagi would get them where they needed to go, and they'd be okay...

There were strands of gold by his fingers. Yohji's hair...he was sinking, too far for Nagi's telekinesis to get to him. Brad reached out for him...

"Hello? You still with us Fearless Leader?" Schuldig asked, snapping his fingers in front of Brad's eyes a few times.

Brad caught Schuldig's wrist in his hand and glared at him, now firmly grounded in the present. "I couldn't have been out for more than a few seconds. There's no need to be rude."

"We've got a mission in progress," Schuldig countered.

"A mission that's mostly done Mastermind. Quit being a pest," Nagi snapped. He was sitting at a desk in the labratory, having fun with the computers while Farfarello savored the last of the kills next lab over. Brad gave his head another shake, then went to stand behind Nagi's chair.

"This job does have applications for Schrient's Kundalini research. I hadn't thought they'd be aware of it, but I just learned otherwise. After you're done gutting the computers, why don't you leave them a little message?" Brad suggested.

Nagi sighed. "You know I am trying to date one of the Schrient, right?"

"Don't worry Naggles, you'll learn what self-esteem is one of these days, and then you'll notice that you can do better," Schuldig said patronizingly, with a reassuring pat on Nagi's back.

Nagi left all the monitors with the blue screen of death and got up. "They'll be irritated enough with how thoroughly dead everything is. I don't think we need to be cruel on top of it."

"No one ever needs to be cruel, it's just fun," Schuldig said. Brad tossed him a marker and he wrote 'Schwarz wuz here, sukkit bitches' over all the monitors. Scowling, Nagi went to find Farfarello.

Brad stopped the car in front of a bus station, and then turned in his seat to face his teammates as best he could. "We have three days before the next mission. As long as you stay out of the news," And here he turned a special glare on Schuldig, then Farfarello, "You may spend your downtime however you see fit."

"No churches, monastaries, temples, seminaries, shrines, and now theme parks. He has conspired with the Oracle's unholy visions to ruin all our fun Guilty One," Farfarello murmured. Schuldig nodded his agreement.

"I know Brad. It's not really downtime with all these restrictions."

"Do you want to have a successful mutiny in the Spring or don't you?" Brad snapped. Schuldig rolled his eyes. "Then behave. Keep in mind too, Esset and Rosenkreuz still haven't mended fences. I haven't Seen any further trouble yet, but that doesn't mean there won't be. Keep your guards up and stay in communication."

"Got it." Schuldig scooted out of the car, Farfarello following after him. "Three days. Where d'ya wanna go this time?"

"I've heard nice things about Kyoto."

Nagi climbed into the front passenger seat, and watched his teammates leave with some apprehension. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"If Schuldig and Farfarello don't get some room to breathe between missions they're going to get someone we need killed, if not each other. Plus I think Schuldig wants to engage in his favorite form of avoidance and escapism for awhile."

"Did he dissolve that psychic attack Kudoh was hit with yet?" Nagi pressed.

"Oops," Brad said, not seeming too troubled by his 'oversight'. "I guess Kudoh's just going to have to stay longer than we'd planned. We've got plenty of pain meds. It shouldn't be a problem."

Nagi rolled his eyes. "And I'm the teenager."