The Kid's Dangerous
by Utopian Trunks
Chapter 4
"Owww..."
Ken reached worriedly for Omi's shoulder as the boy flinched, hand pressing to his side. "Y'alright?"
Omi waved him away, straightening up. "I'm okay." His face twisted briefly. "Just got a really good kick from one of those guys..."
Ken nodded and maintained an awkward silence as he followed Omi around a corner. Omi knew the blueprints, and he was the strategist of the team, so Ken wasn't asking. After fleeing the battle on that unfinished floor, they'd gone down, trekked along some path whose logic Ken hadn't followed, and finally headed up to wander a series of corridors whose purpose Ken couldn't determine.
"Here we are," Omi announced, coming to a halt at an intersection.
"Here?" Ken repeated, watching Omi mount a series of rungs on the wall and reach for the latch of a door in the ceiling.
"This should be the food court," Omi threw open the trapdoor and climbed out as Ken started up behind him.
They surfaced on the basement level of the mall, in the centre of what seemed, indeed, to have been destined to be a food court. Their trapdoor was on the floor of the basin for a fountain. There was a fair amount of empty space surrounding, where tables would have gone, and then a three-quarter circle of shallow booths along one curved wall. A wide path led from the open side, past two large, empty storefronts, to the slopes meant to become either stairs or escalators.
Ken looked around warily before hoisting himself out. "This a good idea?"
"For the next five minutes or so," Omi said, giving Ken a hand up. He motioned towards one of the booths. "I'm betting they expect us to try to get out. In which case, they're starting on the ground level, near the exits. Meanwhile," he sighed as he opened the door at the back of one booth, into the shell of a kitchen beyond. "We'll be--"
"Holing ourselves up like rats in a trap?" Ken offered.
Omi gave him a sour look over his shoulder. "Yes, until we can reestablish radio contact. The two of us aren't taking on two gangs."
"No argument there," Ken shut the door after them, shining his flashlight around the room.
"Up, please." Omi scanned the ceiling as Ken obliged. "Ah, there--no, back a bit. There. Okay..." Omi looked around the room, then shook his head. "Give me a leg up, Ken-kun. I've got a rope with me, if I can find something to attach it to, you can climb up."
Ken opened his mouth, then shut it. "If we push stuff around down here, they might figure it out, yeah? Alright, here--you hold the light."
Ken hoisted Omi onto his shoulders. The room had a dropped ceiling with fairly thick accoustical tile over a sturdy metal grid. Omi lifted one panel and slid it aside. "There're five feet of space between every floor," Omi explained as Ken boosted him up into it. "Where the air conditioning and sprinkler systems for this area were supposed to go, but never did." He settled onto his stomach, set down the flashlight and pulled a coil of rope out of his jacket. Feeling around on the ceiling, he found a pipe to pass one end around, tested it, then tossed the rest down to Ken. "Make sure you put your weight on the grid as you come up, ne? The rest'll give out pretty easy."
"Got it..." An annoyed huff came from below. "Damnit, I didn't think I'd have to see this test again after high school..."
Protest aside, Ken shimmied up the rope with little problem, and slid onto his stomach across from Omi. Omi replaced the ceiling panel and turned off the flashlight.
"And now?"
"Nothing to do but wait."
Ken pulled out the radio. Nothing but static--but he'd expected that. He sighed heavily, folded his arms under his chin and proceeded to wait.
Neither spoke for a while.
"That wasn't your fault, Ken-kun," Omi said finally.
"Hnh." Omi thought he heard the other's teeth grinding.
"Really, Ken-kun, this kind of thing--"
"If he's dead--"
"Of course he's not dead!" Omi gasped, a note of panic in his voice. "He couldn't--" Omi paused. "I didn't see what happened. Where--?"
"I'm not sure." Ken shuddered, remembering the feeling of impact through Youji's body. Ken himself had been shot before; but no one had ever taken a bullet for him. He swallowed. "It felt like his left side. Could've been his arm, his shoulder, maybe... Not a major artery, because he still grabbed me afterwards to keep me from falling. I--" Ken's hands fisted in frustration.
"It'll be alright, then," Omi said, already calm again. "Aya-kun'll find him. He'll take care of him."
"... He'd better. Otherwise--"
"Don't say that," Omi interrupted. "Don't."
"Guess you're right."
"Don't worry. Youji-kun's come through worse than this before. We all have."
Ken sighed. Silence stretched between them in the dark closeness of the ceiling.
"Ken-kun--" Omi began.
"It was--" Ken said simultaneously.
They both stopped.
"Go ahead."
Ken swallowed. "It was Aya who went after him." He took a long pause. "He didn't even stop to think--he heard what happened, told us to get out, and he jumped. It was pitch black, I'm sure he didn't know the blueprints any better than me, so he had no idea where he'd land. But that was it; he heard, and he jumped. Didn't even need to consider."
"Ah--"
"Damn it..." Ken's voice came out muffled as he buried his face in his arms. "This is so fucked up..."
"What, Ken-kun?"
"Aya, he... he loves Youji."
"Yes," Omi said at length. "He really does." There was an even longer stretch of silence. "But Ken-kun, you do, too."
Ken took a couple deep breaths. His bugnuks whined as he slowly clenched and unclenched his fists.
"Ken-kun?" Omi huffed softly. "We're going to be waiting here a while, and I was going to drag the reason for that fight out of you sooner or later."
Ken snorted. "Great... Look, Omi, whatever's going on, Aya and I are old enough to work out our differences by ourselves."
Omi giggled.
"What?" Ken said warily.
"Ken-kun," Omi said brightly. "If you and I, somehow, got separated down here, would you know how to get out?"
Ken's eyes widened in the dark. "You wouldn't."
"Hee."
Ken shivered and wished he had been holding the flashlight. "Alright. Okay. You win."
"Deshou?"
Ken let out an exasperated breath. "What do you want to know?"
There was a distinct smile in Omi's voice. "Start with Youji-kun and work your way up. We've got a lot of time."
"Youji."
"Youji."
"Uhhh..."
"Youji, don't move."
Youji opened his eyes, then shut them tightly. "Shiiit. I--" he swayed, becoming aware of the tangle of cables holding him aloft.
"I told you not to move."
"I think I have a concussion, Aya. You're upside down, and I feel really nauseous."
"There's a pool of your blood down here, I'm not surprised. Wait, I'll get you down."
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere in the sub-basement. You must have taken out a light fixture or something on your way down, the wires broke your fall."
"Oh, so there's a reason you're upside down. That's a relief. I'd say I was a lucky bastard if I was sure my head was in one piece. It's--did you say that was my puddle you were standing in?"
Aya's voice came from higher up, climbing towards him on his left. "Yes. Good size, too, where were you hit?"
"Uhhh... not sure. Is my head bleeding?"
"No."
"Just my shoulder, then. My head really hurts, though, and I'm only hearing you through my left ear... I must've hit it on the way down... 'cause I was out before I stopped here... Just after Ken... Did Ken fall?" The cables that held him pulled towards the wall, wrenching his wounded shoulder. He clenched his teeth.
"No, but I came after you, so I don't know what happened afterwards." Youji felt Aya's hands grasp his coat at the waist and pull. "Omi will probably keep him alive."
"You're harsh." Youji opened his eyes when Aya pulled him as far as something solid. They were on a ledge, in a shaft about three metres wide and deep enough that he couldn't see the top. Aya cursed under his breath as he disentangled Youji from the cables, pulling Balinese against him, away from the edge. "Bad?"
"You're still bleeding. The bullet?"
"Nnh... If there's no exit wound..." Youji frowned blearily at his shoulder. "There isn't, right?"
"No," Aya sighed. "Your right temple is bruised."
"I was right, then," Youji closed his eyes, swallowing a wave of nausea. "Can we go home now?"
"Huh." Aya looked up, then back at him. "Can you stand?"
"Not a chance. Have I been here long?"
"It took me almost an hour to find you."
"That'd do it. So what's going on?"
"They're still looking for us. We can't stay here."
"Tch. Sorry. This is my fault."
Aya huffed. "Irrelevant. Can you at least hold on to me?"
"Ooh, I get a piggyback?" Aya looked at him, concern showing plain on his face. Youji forced a smile. "It's safe to get pissed off, Aya, I ain't dyin' yet."
Still supporting Youji with one arm, Aya turned his back, pulling Youji's right, unwounded arm over his shoulder. "Hold on as best you can," he said. Rising to his knees, he reached back, hooking his elbows under one, then both of Youji's legs and pulling them around his waist. "And lean forward." He planted one hand on the floor and rose, only somewhat unsteadily, to his feet. "I'll bandage your shoulder when we find a more secure place to stop."
"No rush." Youji settled his chin on Aya's left shoulder, tightening his grip around his right. He linked his legs around Aya's waist. The younger man stepped onto the rungs that scaled the wall and started up. "Sorry..."
"I'm just grateful you're not Ken."
"Harsh," Youji repeated. He glanced down, then squeezed his eyes shut as the blood-spattered floor twirled beneath him. He swallowed convulsively as his stomach roiled. "Where we headed?"
"Up until we hit the ventilation system. Out if possible."
"Ken and Omi?"
"Can't raise them."
"Mmph..."
"Youji," Aya said sharply. "Stay awake, you'll fall."
"Nnnh... Head hurts..."
"It shouldn't be much further."
"'M bleeding on your coat..."
"Hold on, here it is." Youji tightened his grip with his knees and arm. Aya clambered up into an open shaft in the wall. He paused briefly to catch his breath, then stood, hooking his arms under Youji's knees and bouncing once to bring him higher on his back. Youji slumped gratefully over as Aya leaned further forward before continuing on. "Youji, do you remember the blueprints at all?"
"Nuh-uh."
"Stay awake, Youji."
"Uh-huh..."
"Youji--"
"We didn't get off to the best start."
"That's an understatement, Ken-kun."
"Fft... well..."
"Welcome to Weiß. BAM. That's why I didn't even try when it happened with Aya-kun, after seeing you do it once."
"Aya attacked us!"
"Youji-kun didn't."
"Yeah, but..."
"You didn't fight with me when you first joined."
"You were ten!"
"Youji-kun had been shot five times."
"I didn't know that!"
"You didn't know how many..."
Ken coughed. "You wanted me to--"
"Sorry, go on."
"Right..."
So, yes, saying the beginning of their relationship had been less than conventional would have been an understatement. It was a weekday, after closing, during cleanup. Manx had arrived with their new member.
Omi and Ken had been expecting him, though they didn't know what day he would arrive. He stepped into the shop, in skin-tight pants and designer everything, with that posture and that attitude, and that drawl... taller than Ken... practically dripping over Manx...
"It was love at first sight?" Omi interrupted.
Ken glowered--surprisingly unsatisfying when the other person couldn't see you. "It was not. I thought he was attractive, sure, but one of those rich, snobby, useless lady's man types, you know? That was how he came off at first. I found out really fast that he wasn't like that at all. I mean, his family was poorer than mine." Ken snorted at his own joke.
"Ken-kun..."
If Ken remembered right, his first jibe had been about Youji's clothes... his second might have specifically been about the hat, and somewhere in there he'd gotten Youji to respond in kind, and taken that excuse to get physical.
"He put up a good fight for a guy who's arm was in a sling."
Ken coughed. "I hadn't noticed that..."
Manx and Omi tried to break them up. Ken accidentally gave Manx a nasty shoulder jab to which she responded by backhanding him into the register and stalking out. Omi gave up then and evacuated. The fight continued unattended about five minutes more, until Ken knocked Youji senseless and adjourned to his apartment.
The following afternoon, Ken paid his new teammate a visit.
"It's open," was the response to his knock. Youji was seated on a box in the middle of an empty living room, an open first aid kit by his feet. He was bare-chested, bandaging his left forearm. He looked up and his face clouded. "Oh, you again." Ken could see the muscles in his torso tense, though he didn't move.
Without the loose jacket he'd been wearing the day before, he looked a lot smaller. Lanky--thin, even. Ken twitched inwardly. He could see every place he'd hit Youji. Himself, Ken had a couple bruises, but the worst were from Manx. Okay, so maybe he had been out of line... a little...
"Uh... about yesterday..."
The detective glared up from the bandage he was tying off. "Yeah, thanks pal," he sneered through clenched teeth. "That was just what I needed, one foot out of the hospital. Fuck you, too."
Ken swallowed the easy anger that sprang up in reponse to confrontation--always did. "We're going to be a team now, so--"
"You think so, huh?" Youji flipped the first aid kid shut and turned to fully face Ken. "That's your way of saying, 'hi, I'm your coworker, yoroshiku'? Ke," Youji spat, and repeated, more venemously, "Fuck you."
Ken's right hand twitched into and out of a fist. "Maybe it is, so what?" He took the few steps forward that let him tower over the seated man.
Youji's eyes narrowed. He stood, slowly, glaring down at Ken in turn. "So maybe you wanna try again--not jumpin' me outta the blue."
"You callin' me a coward?"
"You did it for me."
Ken's teeth ground together. "I promised Omi I wouldn't hurt you," he growled, taking liberties with the actual conversation that had transpired earlier.
Youji snorted. "If you gotta take orders from a kid, maybe you'd better not risk it."
Ken's lips spread in a humourless, angry grin. "I cleaned the floor with you yesterday, you want seconds already?"
Youji's right fist lashed out without further preamble. Ken dodged and caught his arm--which Youji straightened, slid one leg behind Ken's, and threw Ken onto his back. Ken still had his arm and pulled Youji down with him; Youji shifted to aim a knee at Ken's stomach as he fell. Ken rolled; Youji only clipped Ken's side and landed hard on both knees and one hand. Taking advantage of Youji's lost balance, Ken was already out from under him, flattening him with a knee in the small of his back, one hand roughly at his neck, pressing the side of Youji's face into the floor.
"Heh. That was even easier than last time." There was a sharp breath from Youji, whose bad arm was pinned under him. "What's that?" Youji's one visible eye narrowed to a slit as he continued to breathe heavily. "Maybe you wanna apologize? You know. Since we're gonna be coworkers an' a--"
Youji bucked his hips, throwing Ken's balance long enough to turn under him. He winced as Ken immediately resettled over him, straddling his waist with one hand heavily on his chest.
Ken smirked. "And the point of that was?"
Youji smiled tightly back. "This." Youji reared up, grabbing Ken by the hair and slamming their foreheads together. Stunned, Ken was knocked to the floor. Then Youji had hauled him to his feet by his collar, and was pushing him backwards faster than he could register to resist. "Since we're gonna be coworkers--" Youji growled into his upturned face, then hauled back and punched him so hard it knocked him onto his ass. Ken found himself staring up at Youji from the concrete of the walkway outside the apartment.
Leaning against the doorframe, Youji threw his hair back over one shoulder, eyes glittering savagely. "This is a bit closer to how it's gonna be. So learn some manners or get real used to patching up your face." He spun and the door slammed behind him, seeming to rattle the building itself.
Ken must have sat out there for a full minute, fingering the bruise rapidly darkening his left cheek.
"Huh," he snorted finally. "Now that was a fight."
There was silence for a moment above the ceiling. Then the faint sound of a groan.
"Eh?"
"I don't believe you did that, Ken-kun!"
"What?"
"You went to apologize for attacking a wounded man, and fought with him again? What the heck is that?!"
"Hey, weren't you listening? He could take care of himself! It surprised me then, 'cause he moves as little and as slow as possible mosta the time, but you know he can move when he wants to."
"If you'd bothered to check his profile beforehand you'd have known how many martial arts he was into."
"Yeah, yeah, black belt in Kung Fu, Judo and Tae Kwon Do."
"With a speciality in Hapkido. You're lucky he didn't really hurt you."
"Omi, weren't you just saying--"
"Ah--" Omi faltered, huffing in annoyance. "It's still no excuse! No wonder it didn't smooth out between you for that first month... He deserved to hold a grudge at least that long."
"Uh..."
"What?" Omi said warily.
"I'm not done telling that part, actually."
Incredulously, "There's more?"
"Yeah, a little..."
Omi groaned again. "Okay, go ahead..."
To his credit, Ken had given Youji a week and a half to recover before provoking him again. Both sides had come away less bruised. Blame for the third fight was hard to pin on either man, and hadn't come to blows... only a lot of throwing, rolling, wrestling... And the fourth...
"Huh, you didn't stay overnight, I'm shocked."
Youji grinned as he ducked under the shutter-door into the shop. "She still lives with her parents." He pulled the metal door back down then stood up into a luxuriant stretch. His spine curved gracefully, his grey tank-top rode higher up, bearing more of a sleekly-muscled abdomen. Dark hair tumbled off his shoulders as his neck fell back. Then he straightened, pushing his sunglasses atop his head. "I'da brought her back here, but I didn't wanna keep you up on a work night, KenKen."
Ken glared. Youji had dubbed his teammates KenKen and Omitchi a week earlier, and it would be another week before Omi suggested the retaliatory 'Yotan.' It wasn't really the pet name that was bothering Ken, however. "How considerate," he said sourly. "Bringing the little girl home in time for her curfew."
"Hey, hey," Youji said amiably, strolling idly along the display refrigerator as Ken continued stacking pot racks in the back. "You know I only date the ones over eighteen. She's probably older than you, anyway."
Ken shot him a disgusted look, but Youji's back was turned. "I'm twenty."
"You're kidding." Ken didn't dignify that with an answer. Youji shrugged. "Well, alright, she's a little younger than you. No need to get bent out of shape--you know, I'll set you up with one of her friends or something, if you want."
"What?"
Youji turned now, his head to one side in what was intended to be an innocent expression. There was a definite smirk starting on the side of his mouth, though. "I've been here nearly a month, and I haven't seen you get one date." He smiled, shaking his hair back. "I realize I'm stealing some of your thunder around here, but there should be a few women left for you."
Ken stopped stacking, standing up straight to face Youji across the store. "My standards happen not to be as low as yours. I won't go out with whatever happens to walk into the shop."
"Huh. Try anyone. And there are women outside the shop, you know. You've heard of having a life?"
Ken jammed his hands into his pockets where they balled into fists. "I was a J-Leaguer, Youji, I've had my goddamn share of women, okay?"
"Ooh, you were a big star, that's right," Youji laughed. "How many?"
"Tw--Like I would tell you," Ken finished quickly.
Youji snorted, then clapped a hand over his mouth as his shoulders started to shake.
"Oh, shut up. I had other priorities, alright?" Ken growled, cursing himself for the slip. "So what, it's better to be like you? Inside a month you've had so many girls in and outta here even Omi can't keep track of who they are. That's considered real attractive? Cheating all over the place?"
"It's not cheating if she's not your girlfriend, KenKen." Youji had slowly made his way along the wall, stopping a couple metres from where Ken stood.
"They know about this crap? And they'll have anything to do with you?"
Youji shrugged eloquently. "Hey, they wanna be with me. I don't promise anything, she doesn't owe me anything, we both have fun, end of story. You should try it sometime, KenKen."
"I ain't like you."
"Hmm." Youji smiled.
Ken's eyes narrowed. "What?"
"You can't get it up, can you?"
That did it--of course.
Ken launched himself at Youji, who knew he was coming, sidestepped, tripped him, and followed him down. Ken rolled them... surprisingly easily... and landed on top... and... "What the hell are you smiling about?"
"Nothing," Youji's eyes locked his, lids lowering and rising slowly, flooding Ken's body instantly with heat. "Just wondering how long it's going to take you."
Ken's grip on Youji's shoulders tightened. They were fighting after all... "To what?" Youji relaxed completely under him. Uh... fighting?
"If you wanted to fuck me, you shoulda just said so."
Shellshocked, Ken froze. "Wha...?" he said finally. "I thought you were only interested in women?"
"I don't screw men nearly as often... but it's been a while..."
Ken stared down at him. "You're saying you will?"
"You want to, don't you?"
Ken paused. His eyes ran quickly down over the lean body pinned beneath him. "Yeah."
Youji's smile spread. "Good. Now if you'd been nice about it from the beginning, we could." Ken didn't have time to register that before he felt himself being flipped head over heels, the breath knocked out of him as he hit the floor with Youji on top of him. Youji's eyes glittered down at him. "Now, you'll have to fight me for it."
So fight he did--and it was scary how many positions Youji could throw from, and exactly how good he was at breaking a hold. But it was less a scuffle than a lot of rolling, rubbing, touching...
Finally Ken landed on top, behind the register. Youji was backed into the corner, and it was narrow enough that there wasn't much room to manoeuver. Both were breathing heavily.
"Hm..." Youji said between breaths. A sinuous roll travelled down from his shoulders to his hips, half-lifting Ken's weight there. "Guess you win." He shook his head in an effort to clear his hair out of his eyes, but strands of it, sweat-damp, refused to move. Ken had his hands pinned beside him. "So whatcha gonna do?"
Ken was, by now, furiously aroused--and he was even less eloquent than usual when that was the case. "Saa," he said. He reached to brush the hair from Youji's forehead. Youji's eyes closed as his fingers ran gently over his cheek to lift the back of his head. Then Ken leaned down to kiss the lips that had parted for him in attent.
Of all the times he had kissed Youji, there were one or two he remembered vividly, and this was one. The plush give of Youji's lips, silk-lined heat of his mouth, he could recapture them now, perfectly. The hand that Ken had released came up to grab the side of Ken's shirt. The gesture was so oddly sweet as Youji started to kiss him back, so completely unlike his slick everyday persona that it almost overwhelmed him. He found himself fervently praying that Youji didn't intend to fight anymore. Unconsciously his grip on Youji's still-captive arm tightened. He wanted him too badly to struggle with him again.
Youji made a soft sound as Ken broke the kiss. His hand stayed clutched in Ken's shirt. Youji's face and eyes as Ken drew back--just at that very moment--stayed with him, too. It was the first time he had seen this arrogant new teammate of his look vulnerable. Not scared or hurt, but unbearably open; as if he were aware of a moment in which he could be taken or left, and couldn't help showing that it mattered which.
I'll fight you again for this, Ken thought suddenly. I'll want this again.
Youji gave him a lazy smile. "I'm guessing this is more why there aren't too many women in your past."
"Now you're getting it," Ken said, slipping one hand up Youji's side, under his shirt. Youji's eyes closed, his back arching as Ken thumbed one nipple. His hips rocked up against Ken's, Youji's rock-hard arousal brushing his own through double-layers of denim. Ken repressed a shudder. "So how 'bout I fuck you now?"
"Mmm, sounds good," Youji's voice rumbled low in his chest, coming out like a purr. He made an appreciative noise as Ken leaned to eat at his neck. When Ken released his hold on Youji's other arm, he squirmed slightly, then pressed something small into Ken's chest.
Ken leaned back to take it--a small tube of lubricant--then gave Youji an odd look. Youji shrugged. "Some girls have funny definitions of saving themselves for marriage."
Ken snorted and went with both hands to attack the problem of Youji's jeans.
They did it without bothering to get undressed. Once Youji's tight jeans were peeled off and flung away, Ken took hold of those slender shoulders and thrust into him, his own jeans still around his ankles. Youji's uninhibited voice was indescribably sexy. The soft little moans and cries he made as Ken's hands ran over his body made him tighten his grip, thrust harder and faster, seek Youji's chest through his shirt with tongue and teeth. The sweet, hot clasp of his insides was too good to describe. Ken had, as Youji guessed, been with a score of men--classmates, teammates, the odd fan--but no sex he'd had could rival this.
Ken was so intent on the rising tension in his groin he was vaguely startled when Youji's tight grip on his biceps slipped and his arms went around Ken's neck instead.
"Ken," Youji gasped, and Ken kissed him. "Ken..."
Groaning deep in his chest, Ken reared back, lifting Youji up with him into his lap. Youji moaned, wrapping all his limbs tightly around him, nestling his head against Ken's neck and clinging close.
"Youji..."
"Ahh..." Blunt-nailed fingers dug into his back. "Ahhn... Ke--nn~nnnh..." Youji's head flipped back suddenly with a sobbing sound. "Ahh~hh!"
"You're telling me the edited version, aren't you?"
"H-huh?" said Ken, whose last words before lapsing into silence had been, 'we fought a few more times before we figured out we were both attracted to each other.'
"You're cutting out the juicy parts," Omi said, sounding miffed. "Tell me the details."
Ken blinked a few times in the darkness, trying to banish the image of a half-naked Youji wrapped around him... worse, the sound of his voice, and the feel of... Oh, he was damn lucky it was dark in here. "Hell no," he answered.
"Aw, come on!"
"No." Ken repeated, frowning. "We slept together near the end of that first month, that's all I'm telling you."
Omi huffed in disgust. "Fine."
Ken was the one to detach himself, suggesting they'd better get out of the shop before Omi came down to work on the books. A slightly awkward silence fell as they got their pants back on, smoothed ruffled clothes and hair, and Ken went for the mop. Half turned towards the stairs in the back, Youji watched him out of one eye as he cleaned up. Hands in his pockets, he stretched. The words came out half as a yawn, "What're you going to do after your shift?"
"Sleep, now," Ken said. "Tired."
Youji paused, stretching again. "I got my bed delivered a week back," he said slowly. "It's a king. Silk sheets."
"Eh, no thanks," Ken said. "I've got the morning shift tomorrow and soccer practice with the kids after hours. I can't sleep with anyone else in bed; too hot."
"Who was offering?" Youji turned away and headed for the stairs. "Just giving you something to think about while you're sleeping like a peasant tonight."
"Oh," Ken snorted. "Appreciate it."
"Any time."
Youji was partially up the stairs before Ken called after him, "Hey."
"Hm?"
"We gonna do that again?"
There was a pause. "Well," there was a smile in the voice that floated down the stairwell. "That depends on whether you can pin me again."
They 'fought' that way twice more. Then one day Youji ambushed Ken in the garage before Ken's delivery run, and there had been no struggling necessary. Their encounters became more frequent, and entirely peaceable after that.
Then Omi found out, called Youji Ken's boyfriend, and somehow it became true. Although Youji still slept with women, Ken came to think of him as his. They called each other 'boyfriend' as a joke at first, but soon there was a definite couple, an 'us.' Strange, initially, but Ken got to like it. Being able to hunt Youji up whenever he had an itch... or just didn't feel like spending the next few free hours alone. From the first frenzied excitement of attraction, their relationship had settled into something comfortable, easy.
"That's nice," Omi said softly. Then, "... Ken-kun?"
Ken sighed. "I dunno," he said quietly.
"Is this where Aya-kun comes in?"
"Aya?" Ken snorted. "Heh. No. Not Aya."
"Aaah--!!" Youji came wide awake, flailing to fend off whatever was causing the searing pain in his shoulder.
"Thought that might wake you up."
"Bastard," Youji gasped. He was sitting against a wall, Aya straddling his lap and kneeling on both his hands. "What the hell're you doing to me?!"
"Hold still," Aya commanded. His face was grimly concentrated in the halflight from a flashlight standing on end beside him.
"Youji blinked, eyes adjusting, then gritted his teeth around a groan. "God, leave it in, Aya..." The stainless steel pincers Aya wielded twisted, dug further. Youji whimpered, sinking his teeth into his lip.
"You've lost too much blood already." Aya's left hand braced Youji's shoulder. "There... that's it..."
"Fuck..." Youji breathed deep and held it, exhaling slowly. "At least get the hell off my hands, I won't move."
Aya shifted to do so.
"Damn... Couldn't you use a painkiller?"
"I did. Mine. Your kit only had a bandage and a comb."
Youji whimpered. "How was I supposed to know this would happen?"
Aya opened his mouth, then hissed through his teeth. "Shit."
"Wha--?"