The door opened and Yohji stepped into Ken’s room. "Thanks a lot," he snapped, glaring
at the pile of blankets that was Ken. "This whole mess is all your fault!"
Ken bolted upright, his hair cutely disheveled. "My fault? You think this is my fault? It’s
not my fault, it’s your fault!" He scowled, outraged at the lanky blond.
"Oh that’s right, I was the one who kissed you," Yohji replied sarcastically.
Ken blushed, horrified. "I can’t believe they all saw it," he lamented, burying in head
into his hands. "That was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me!"
Yohji plopped down on the bed heavily. "Same here. I could just kill stupid Manx and
Birman."
Ken moaned some more. "Why can’t they be homophobic? Why couldn’t they just mind
their own business? Why do they have to be yaoi fans?"
Yohji shrugged. "Who knows? Both of them are fucking crazy."
"If anything, this is all their fault! And those stupid tourists." Ken glared. "I mean who
goes on a friggin’ vacation and then films two guys kissing?"
"Whatever happened to privacy?" Yohji demanded. "Whatever happened to the good ol’
days when two guys could kiss in the street without causing anarchy?"
"It’s all gone with the wind," Ken cried, flailing his arms, demonstrating the process of
'gone with the wind'.
“And I’ll tell you who else’s fault it is," Yohji announced, warming onto the blame
game. "Aya’s. That sadistic bastard. Did you see the way he was gloating and smirking?"
"And the way he kept mentioning that Gertie wasn’t in the tape and the way he said that
we should get married and the way he started analyzing our kiss..." Ken trailed off,
blushing floridly at the thought of the kiss and everyone seeing it.
Yohji stared transfixed at Ken. He never actually noticed it but Ken looked surprisingly
cute when he blushed. And with his hair all tousled and falling into his eyes...
Ken felt his blush deepen when he noticed that Yohji was staring at him. "What?" he
asked nervously, licking lips which had suddenly gone dry.
Yohji reached out and gently brushed chocolate colored locks away from dark eyes. Ken
sat frozen in shock as soft fingers skimmed lightly over his forehead. "Yo-Yohji?" he
croaked.
The older boy wretched his hand away, the spell broken. To Ken’s utter surprise, Yohji
blushed. "Your hair was in your face," he muttered, hastily looking away.
Ken cleared his throat. "Um...thanks," he replied uneasily.
There was awkward silence. Ken stared avidly at his blanket while Yohji gazed
searchingly at the ceiling. At length, Ken spoke.
"I’m sorry for dragging you into this," he began timidly.
Yohji blinked, startled. "What?"
"I meant to say it sooner but I guess I never got the chance." He twisted the edge of the
blanket into a knot. "I’m sorry for ruining your reputation with this whole mess."
Yohji studied the younger boy intently, trying to determine whether Ken was being
sarcastic or not. Satisfied that he was completely serious, Yohji nodded. "It’s alright I
guess. That Gertie girl was pretty scary."
Ken shuddered at the mention of Gertie. "You have no idea. She used to follow me
around everywhere and camp out outside my house at night. She would to hide in my
locker trying to get a glimpse of me changing. Then she’d burst into the shower room
after the game and start taking pictures of me. It was almost as embarrassing as this
whole mess."
Yohji started to laugh. "She took pictures of you in the shower?!"
Ken glowered at him. "It wasn’t funny! The girl is a certified lunatic! I’m pretty sure that
I did the right thing telling her I was gay. She’d probably try to kill any girl I was with."
He thought for a moment. "Well then again she might try to kill you too but at least
you’re a trained assassin. You can take her on." A sudden, horrifying notion struck him
at that moment. "Oh no, what if she tries to break us up?!!"
"Oh for God sake’s," Yohji gasped, trying not to laugh. "I can’t believe that one stupid
girl is making you so paranoid! Gertie’s long gone. She’ll never bother you again."
"That’s what you think," Ken muttered darkly. "You don’t know her. She’s pure evil."
Yohji rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever. She’s the last person I want to think about." He
stood up. "I’m hungry."
Ken frowned as green eyes turned expectantly upon him. "Yeah so? Why you telling
me?"
"Just because you apologize to me doesn’t mean that you’re not my servant anymore,"
Yohji informed him sternly. "Now come on, make me something to eat."
"But Yohjiiiiiiiiiiiii," he whined, looking up at the older boy with big eyes. He batted his
lashes like Omi did whenever he wanted something.
Yohji chuckled. "Nice try but the big-eyed routine only works for Omi. You look
ridiculous. Now get a move on."
"Aw crappy!"
~*~
After Ken started a grease fire and burned the fish, the rice, the curtains and his oven
mitt, they decided on takeout.
"You’ll have to pay me for destroying my kitchen," Yohji declared, helping himself to
some more sushi. "And don’t forget that you have to clean up the mess. I don’t want a
dirty, burned kitchen."
Ken sighed. "Yeah yeah, just put it on my tab." He stared disenchantedly into his miso
soup. "How long do I have to be your servant for anyways?"
"Don’t concern yourself with petty matters like that," Yohji replied breezily. "You
should be worrying about sewing new curtains for the kitchen." He popped a piece of
sushi into his mouth. "Great food by the way."
Ken frowned annoyed at the older boy. "Did you have to order food from the most
expensive restaurant in Tokyo?"
"Well since you burned half my kitchen down I feel more than justified in paying with
your money." Yohji raised an eyebrow. "Don’t tell me you disagree Kenken?"
"No," he mumbled, wishing that Yohji would choke on his food. It wasn’t fair. He was
suffering just as much as Yohji was, even more so because Gertie was in love with him.
Who knew when that psycho would show up, trying to get him to marry her. And on top
of that impending threat, along with the humiliation of Aya and Omi and Manx and
Birman watching the infamous kiss, he had to play Yohji’s servant and do all his
housework!
"There is just no justice in this world," he thought, shoving rice into his mouth furiously.
He didn’t understand it. One minute Yohji was being nice to him and brushing his bangs
out of his face and the next he was making him cook and clean. Oh the inhumanity of it
all.
He pushed away his bowl, having lost his appetite. He may as well start cleaning up.
Lord knows there was enough mess to clean. Making a pile of all the dirty dishes, he
carried them to the kitchen and dumped them into the sink as Yohji snickered behind
him. Heaving a huge sigh, he rolled up his sleeves and began to pour green dishwashing
soap over all the dishes.
Forty minutes later, Ken was finally done and the kitchen was spotless. He wiped his wet
hands on a dishcloth and headed into the living room where Yohji was sprawled out
reading a magazine and listening to a Luna Sea CD.
"The kitchen is clean your Majesty," he announced sarcastically. "Anything else?"
"Gimme a minute, I’m sure I’ll think of something." Yohji grinned at a scowling Ken.
"It better be spotless."
"It is," he replied in an icy tone that would have done Aya proud.
Yohji took a stroll into the kitchen, examined every nook and cranny and then came
back into the living room satisfied. "Good job Kenken. I think I’ll keep you."
"Oh thrills. Really you’re too kind."
"I knew you’d see it my way." Yohji chuckled condescendingly. "You’ve got something
white on your cheek Kenken."
Ken swiped at his cheek. "Stupid sink cleaner," he muttered wryly. "Is it gone?"
"No, no you’re still missing the spot...a little bit higher...here let me do it."
Yohji breached the distance between them and gently trailed his fingers over Ken’s
cheek.Ken’s eyes were dark and uncertain as they stared up at him. Yohji was barely
aware that his fingers were curving against the slope of Ken’s cheek. There was
something mesmerizingly magnetic in Ken’s gaze; he couldn’t have pulled away even if
he wanted to.
The memory of Ken’s mouth kissing his flitted into his mind at that moment. He could
still feel Ken’s tongue hesitantly meeting his own, could still taste the sweetness of
Ken’s mouth. As Ken gazed up at him, leaning into his hand, Yohji found that he
couldn’t help himself.
"Oh fuck it," he thought, twining his other hand around Ken’s waist. He wasn’t one to
deny himself something, even if that something was desire for a male teammate. Yohji
bent his head and slowly kissed Ken, trailing his tongue over the soft arc of Ken’s lip. To
his utter mouth opening instantly for him. Their tongues met violently, stroking and
sparring as they clutched at each other.
Ken tasted as good as he remembered, sweet and velvety and delicious. He deepened the
kiss, feeling waves of pleasure sizzled through his body as Ken kissed him back.
"I just knew the whole Gertie thing was just a scheme!"
Like an electric shock, they both wretched away violently to see a grinning Omi, who
gave them a jubilant thumbs up. "You guys don’t have to stop on account of me! I’ve
never seen two guys kissing before. Wow, this is so exciting! You guys are gonna get
married right? You’ll invite me to the wedding right? I’ve always wanted to be a best
man. You’ll make me the best man right? Because I don’t wanna be any flower girl or
ring boy or anything stupid like that. Hey I know, Aya can give you away Ken! What do
you think about that? Ken should be the bride, ne Yohji kun?"
The sound of his name at the end of Omi’s incessant chatter penetrated through the
shock of Omi’s unexpected arrival. Yohji grabbed the younger boy’s arm and shoved
him roughly out of his apartment. "AND DON’T COME BACK!!!" he bellowed,
slamming the door shut, thoroughly irked.
"No fair Yohji kun," Omi whined from the other side. They could practically hear him
pouting. "I just wanted to see-"
"GO AWAY!!!"
"Okay, okay! Just make sure you guys come down to the shop soon. Aya kun’s mad that
you guys are slacking off."
Omi’s footsteps faded into the distance.
Ken stood unmoving, his fingers resting lightly upon rosy lips. "You kissed me," he
whispered.
Yohji grimaced. He couldn’t pin the blame on Ken this time, this was entirely his fault.
He had initiated the kiss, not Ken. Though Ken certainly hadn’t been a passive partner...
"You kissed me back," he quickly replied, shaken. Why on earth had he kissed Ken?
What was all this buffoonery? Was he going mad?
"You kissed me first," Ken protested, coming back to life.
"Well you kissed me second," he shot back, equally as irritated.
Ken stared him with huge liquid eyes. He looked adorably confused
"Stop looking at me like that," Yohji muttered under his breath, annoyed. He tore his
glance away from the soccer player. Dammit, if Ken hadn’t looked up at him with those
huge, dark eyes, he would have never kissed him. Was it his fault that he was partial to
huge, dark eyes? And now Ken was staring at him in the same way, with that utterly cute
puzzled look...and
Yohji wanted to kiss him again.
"Why did you kiss me?" Ken asked, bewildered.
He shrugged, studying the floor. "I dunno."
"You dunno?!" His voice was incredulous. "What do you mean you ‘dunno’? How can
you not know?"
He glared at Ken, annoyed at him for asking questions that he had no answers for and
annoyed at himself for giving in to the desire to kiss Ken in the first place. "Look, it was
an accident. I made a mistake alright? So let’s just drop it."
"No I won’t drop it," Ken snapped upset. "Here I spent the whole day being your
goddamn servant just because I kissed you, which I did only out of sheer desperation and
then you come along and kiss me and tell me you don’t know why you did it and now
you want me to drop it?" Ken was on the verge of hysteria. "How the hell am I supposed
to drop it?! Why the hell did you kiss me?!!!"
"Because you looked so fucking cute!!!" he roared, goaded by Ken’s anger.
There was a silence in which Yohji mentally kicked and cursed himself. Ken’s mouth
dropped open.
"Cute?" Ken squeaked out, his voice amazingly high-pitched. "You think I’m cute?"
"Well uh...that is to say, you’re not ugly or anything." He winced. This entire situation
was so fucking pathetic. Here he was stuttering like some green schoolgirl! He wasn’t
supposed to stutter and blush and be embarrassed, he was Kudou Yohji dammit! He was
the epitome of urbane eloquence. He had to make the situation right because he was not
gay and he most certainly attracted to Ken!
Ken was busy poking at the carpet with his foot. His face was flaming red. "You’re not
so bad yourself. I mean, you know, for a guy."
"Listen Ken, after the kiss in front of Gertie, it’s only natural that we...uh see each other
in another light," Yohji explained in what he hoped was a rational-sounding tone of
voice. "It doesn’t mean anything so let’s just forget about it okay?"
Ken looked relieved. He didn't want to deal with what had happened between them
anymore than Yohji did. "You don’t have to tell me. Hey, can we kill Omi and Aya?
They’re both so annoying."
"Yeah and let’s kill Manx and Birman too. This is all their fault." Yohji blamed. "Oh and
let’s not forget about Persia. He just had to open his big yap on the video. We’ll
definitely have to off him. But mostly we’ll get that Gertie girl."
They shared a maniacal laugh as they headed downstairs to the shop.
"Here comes the two lovebirds!" Omi announced as they stepped into the shop.
Yohji casually smacked Omi on the head, sending the poor boy sprawling into some
nearby shrubbery. "Oh did I do that?" Yohji asked innocently. "How very clumsy of me."
"OW!! What did you do that for?" Omi cried, rubbing the top of his head. "That was
mean!"
"Shut up Omi," Ken snapped. "Otherwise I’ll kick you."
"Just because Omi interrupted your love time doesn’t mean you should beat him," Aya
said flatly. "You guys can make out later. We have a shop to run."
Yohji had enough. He grabbed Aya by the scruff of the collar and jerked him up to eye
level. "Now you listen here ice boy, Ken. And. I. Are. Not. Gay. Lovers," he seethed.
"Do you hear that? I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH KEN!!!!!"
"I knew it!" Came a hysterical shriek from the front of the shop.
Everyone turned to see...*gasp* Gertie!!! Her hands were on her hips, legs spread apart,
eyes blazing in a typical I’m-gonna-open-up-a-can-o’-whoop-ass pose. Needless to say,
she did *not* look happy.
"You’re trying to play me for a fool Ken!" she hollered furiously.
"That shouldn’t be too hard," Ken thought and then gulped when he saw the predatory
gleam in Gertie’s eye. He inched closer to Yohji. This did not look good.
TBC!