Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Neutral Territory ❯ Words of Wisdom and Another Barrier is Broken ( Chapter 13 )

Title: Neutral Territory [part 13/?]

Author: Enigma

Written: begun October, 2001

Rating: R

Pairings: (Omi + Nagi) (Yohji + Ken) (Brad + Schu)

Category: Shonen ai/Yaoi Angst Friendship Romance Action Violence. AU-OOC. Giftfic.

Archive: fanfiction.net & mediaminer.org [author: "E-sama the Llama"] plus Wuffie.net [author: "Enigma"]

Warnings: shonen ai/yaoi, angst, masculine friendship in many forms, various levels of romance, action, coarse language, whiffs of citrus but nothing detailed, possibly graphic violence, bloodshed, tiny bits of humor, fluff, and sap; more warnings will be added as necessary. AU-OOC. Giftfic for Rubious.

Spoilers: Aya's sister's condition and a few other small things, nothing major.

Disclaimer: "Weiss Kreuz" is the property of Koyasu Takehito and Project Weiss. All original characters featured herein (including but not limited to: Glocksten, Charon, etc.) are © Enigma, 2003, and are not to be used without permission. This unauthorized work of fanfiction is intended for entertainment only; kindly do not sue me.

Notes: Omi's first trip to the public library results in an unexpected meeting when Nagi saves his life without being aware of the Weiss archer's identity. Can two lonely teens overcome the limits of their dark purpose in life to find friendship and possibly love in the midst of "neutral territory"?

//thoughts//

{{mental speech}}

*****

Wednesday late evening into the night. The basement of the flower shop.

*****

When Ken walked down the spiral staircase to bring the Weiss tactician a cup of hot chocolate, he never expected to find the blue-eyed teen sitting motionless and looking utterly miserable while staring blankly at the screensaver on the computer.

"Omi? Is something wrong?" Ken asked, then became even more concerned when the younger teen jumped guiltily when he heard his voice.

"Oh, Ken-kun! You startled me!" Omi felt his heart race a bit as adrenaline flooded his bloodstream and he clutched the front of his shirt nervously. Despite the lack of physical danger, his own mind had been running in frightening circles and the fight or flight response had been invoked all too easily. Cerulean orbs peered up at chocolate ones and he apologized, "I'm sorry, I was just thinking. Um, is that for me?" He nodded towards the steaming mug his friend still held, a tiny smile creeping onto his lips as he noted it was almost overflowing with tiny marshmallows just the way he liked it best.

"Yeah," Ken smiled and handed it to him, pleased when Omi tasted it and obviously enjoyed the sweet concoction. "I wanted to thank you again for coming in to cover for me this afternoon. I had no idea that you had plans for after school today, and I'm sorry if you had to cut them short because of me."

"No, it's okay," Omi answered as he sipped thoughtfully at his drink. "Maybe I shouldn't be spending quite so much time just socializing anyway. We've got an assignment from Persia and I should be focusing on *that* instead of goofing off the way that I have been."

"Nonsense!" The brunette retorted angrily. "Listen, Omi, I don't know what Aya or Yohji might've said to make you think *that*, but I happen to believe that it's about time you enjoyed yourself more. I damned well think that going to a park after school to hang out with friends is a *good* thing for you to do!"

Ken placed a warm hand on the smaller boy's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye, forcing Omi to listen to his words and hopefully understand his point of view. He continued, "You're still a kid, Omi, we tend to forget that considering the way you can make this damned computer of yours dance and sing. Shit, without your skills as a hacker, we'd probably not get half as much done to get rid of the rats that infest this city. *However*," he looked at Omi with eyes that held the memory of his own painful past, "I don't think any of that is worth you giving up on just enjoying being a kid the way that you usually do. If you've finally found something that you enjoy doing beyond this place, then you need to go for it."

Omi opened his mouth to protest, but Ken felt strongly about the issue and he pressed on, "When I was your age, all I cared about was making it in the J-league. [1] I practiced all day and worked hard to try to help my team win games at night. When it all fell apart, well, that's when I realized that I had never gotten around to just kicking back and being myself. Soccer was my life, but then it was all gone and I had nothing. I see you doing the same thing at times, Omi. You work so hard on catching the bad guys for Weiss that you never do anything fun like go on dates or hang out with your friends. If you've finally found someone you want to do those kinds of things with, then *do* them! We'll still pull off the mission, don't worry about it so much, okay?"

The younger assassin had no idea that his teammate had been as miserable as a seventeen year old as he himself was at times and Ken's admissions helped Omi to accept the fact that spending time with Nagi might not be such a bad thing after all. Becoming friends with the telekinetic had done nothing to interfere with the objectives of Kritiker no matter how much Omi's guilty conscience wanted to argue otherwise.

There was an unexpected tightness in Omi's chest as he nodded gratefully to his friend and answered, "You're right of course, Ken-kun, but I never thought of it that way. I mean, I knew I tended to skip most of the stuff my schoolmates like to do and I didn't really care. Maybe I should spend a little more time just having fun when I can, huh?"

"Yeah, you should," Ken smiled and then ruffled Omi's soft blond hair playfully, deliberately breaking some of the tension in the air by trying to annoy his young friend. "Now stop looking like such an old man and relax a little! Finish your cocoa before you get started on hunting for Glocksten, okay? Maybe just play a game on that damned thing for a change." The look he threw the computer had more to do with the fact that Ken could understand only about half of what Omi did with the machine in the first place than what he truly felt about it.

Amusement in his eyes, Omi laughed a little and offered, "How about a compromise? I don't feel like playing a game, but instead of getting too far lost in my search engines, I'll go check my email and goof off a little for awhile."

"That doesn't *sound* like 'goofing off' to me, but whatever makes you happy is fine with me," Ken agreed. "I just want to see you not getting as down as you were when I walked in here a bit ago. *And* I don't ever want to hear you say that you shouldn't spend time with your friends. It's important to enjoy yourself, okay?"

"Okay, okay!" Omi laughed again and swiveled his chair back to face the computer and let his fingers fly across the keyboard, entering passwords and commands without waiting for the screen to catch up to him.

As Ken walked back towards the stairs, he heard a cheerful electronic voice proclaim, "You've got mail!" and Omi muttered something about wondering how many of the messages awaiting him weren't spam for a change. The brunette chuckled as he left the basement and hoped that the blond wouldn't forget his words since he had meant every last one of them.

Alone once more and feeling much better than he had before Ken's heartfelt lecture on the importance of enjoying one's youth, Omi realized that if Nagi had a scanner maybe he could send him the data that had accidentally ended up in his possession.

Opening an email form, Omi considered whether to state what he needed plainly or if it would be better to "chat" electronically about the issue in a format that shouldn't be saved automatically the way that email was. He wasn't sure if Nagi even had access to an instant message service, but since most computer-users did, it seemed like a reasonable thing to hope for.

Signing the brief missive with only his email address since he feared that someone at the Schwarz headquarters other than Nagi might read the note, he hit the "send" button and sighed, "Well, I hope he gets that sometime tonight. I probably don't even need the info on that stupid piece of paper, but…" His words were interrupted by the sound of an incoming instant message for himself. "What on earth?"

Opening the window for the instant message, he grinned when he saw it was from Nagi's address and he replied quickly:

Williamtell: Hi! That was fast! Were you just sitting around online wondering if I'd send you a note? (grin) [2]

Nagi answered him equally quickly:

ProfX: (sad smile) No, not really, I'm usually online all night when I'm home. I don't have many friends to spend time with in real life. In a way, the web is where I really live anyway. I run an X-Men RPG here, so it doesn't matter. (slight shrug)

Omi felt hurt by this comment in more ways than one. He'd realized that the diminutive telekinetic seemed terribly lonely from their conversations over the past three days, but to say he had almost no friends at all tugged painfully at his heart. He asked:

Williamtell: (sniffle) Aren't _I_ your friend, Nagi-kun? (pout)

ProfX: (rushing to reassure) Of course you are, Omi! (sweat-drop) But please don't call me that here. I go by "Xavier" when I'm online, okay? (pleading look)

Williamtell: (nodding emphatically and feeling foolish) No problem, Xavier! Gee, that's long, maybe I'll call you "X" instead.

ProfX: (sweat-dropping again) Now I sound like an angsty CLAMP manga! (grin) But that's what a lot of my friends call me here, so it's okay. (nervous) Um, I just realized I called you by name a moment ago. Did you want me to call you something different, too? It might be a good idea if anyone walks in while I'm online talking to you. (curious)

Williamtell: (grateful smile) Good idea! I never even thought of that! Hmm, how about you call me "Will"? I usually don't have a nickname online since I hardly ever "chat". This is kinda weird to me.

ProfX: (laughing) It's not "weird" to me at all. I've got IM-friends all over the world and I'm more accustomed to typing a conversation than having one verbally. You're actually the first person I've chatted with online whose face I've seen. It's kinda nice knowing who it is I'm "talking" to for a change. (smile) Well, Will, didn't your email say you needed something urgently? What was it?

Omi's thoughts had been going a mile a minute as he communicated with the Schwarz psychic, wondering if they hadn't broken yet another barrier that should have remained in place between the rival groups. Suddenly though, Nagi's question shoved that thought straight out of his mind.

As he quickly formulated a request for a scanned copy of the slip of paper with his email address on it, Omi entirely missed the fact that Nagi embraced a far more emotionally demonstrative personality when online than he did in real life. If he'd thought of it, he might've considered this further proof that the other blue-eyed teen truly needed as much of a chance to open up to the pleasures of just being a teenager that Ken had spoken of so fervently earlier in the evening as Omi himself did.

Almost before the request was explained fully, the electronic voice called out once more, "You've got mail!" and Omi discovered that Nagi had already scanned the slip and sent him the results. A new message popped up in the chat window:

ProfX: (sad, nervous smile) Please _don't_ tell me why you asked me to do that, Will. If it transmitted well enough, I'm going to delete that file, shred this paper, and not look at it so we can keep our agreement not to be involved in that part of each other's lives, okay?

Williamtell: (sweat-drop) Um, how did you guess that, X? Am I that transparent?

ProfX: (shakes head) No, not at all. It's just that I know how much you worry over what you have to do and I don't want it to be a problem for either of us.

Williamtell: (relieved) Oh, okay! By the way, it came through just fine, so feel free to destroy it now if you want. Um, at least, destroy it _after_ you copy down my email address, though, okay? (nervous smile) I mean, in case you ever feel like emailing me again or anything.

ProfX: (giggling) Silly! I did that as soon as I got home! (shy smile) I had a great time this afternoon. Thanks again.

Williamtell: (blushing furiously) You're welcome, X! I had a great time, too! And don't worry, a (coughs as he tries to come up with a nickname for a certain occasionally difficult-to-live-with redhead and can't think of anything clever right at the moment) "certain person" didn't give me any grief when I got home after all.

ProfX: (relieved) That's good to know. I felt bad thinking that I'd gotten you into trouble.

Williamtell: (laughing) It wouldn't have been the first time, X! Believe me, it takes next to nothing to piss him off at times. (changes subject) So, tell me about the RPG you mentioned. Is it fun? What's it about?

ProfX: (happy grin) Oh, it's a _lot_ of fun, Will! It's about the X-Men. Um, that's a series of American manga about these mutants and all the villains they fight. We've got 53 players, so it gets pretty crazy at times. My character is the leader of the "good" mutants, Professor Xavier, and I'm the Game Master, too.

A happy smile spread across Omi's face as he read the words on the screen. He could almost hear his new friend's voice speaking them and he wondered what it would be like to have the other boy be this excited and upbeat in person. The desire to help the telekinetic to transcend his emotionless mask redoubled in Omi's heart.

Far across the city, Nagi was surprised by his openness with the Weiss assassin. He didn't usually allow anyone in either of his "worlds" to cross over the bridge between who he was in real life and who he was online. But there was something about Omi that pulled him from his self-protective shell more than anyone else ever did mainly because he instinctually knew that the blond youth wouldn't do anything to hurt him if he could possibly help it.

As the two of them chatted away about Nagi's unexpected "secret identity", Omi relaxed and enjoyed a few hours of doing what Ken had recommended. While electronic communication wasn't half as satisfying as laying in the grass and gazing into eyes the color of a midnight sky, Omi still found himself laughing out loud from time to time.

Eventually the genki boy resumed his search for Glocksten and Charon in a side window even as Nagi had to settle a dispute about a "battle" between "Cyclops" and "Juggernaut" that had been played out earlier in the day. Occasionally "ProfX" would send a humorous outtake from his other communications to "Williamtell" and both boys totally lost track of time yet were quite happy all the way around much as they had been earlier that day.

*****

To be continued.

Author's Notes:

[1] Once again, I have to hold back on a few details regarding a character's past to avoid spoilers, but I felt as if I didn't really need to go much further than I did for Ken's painful background. The only key issue left unaddressed is a certain traitorous "friend" that might've been a lover, but we can ignore him in regards to this story continuity.

[2] The instant message conversations in this story are written in present tense as if they were dialogues and are interspersed with past tense narrative to enhance the reader's understanding of the scene. Words surrounded by parentheses like this (smiles) are "stage directions" the writers add to indicate reactions or to add humor to their words. Words surrounded by underline symbols like this _happy_ are meant to be read as emphasized.

[Posting Run Dedication for Chapters 12 & 13] Tonight's mildly angsty performance of "Neutral Territory" is hereby dedicated to a new friend of mine from the YohjixKen ML, Wataruo! This kind soul puts a lot of effort into writing reviews of this work as it is posted, pointing out what is enjoyed most and offering insight into the characters as she/he sees them. Reading the things Wataruo writes after enjoying a posting run really helps me to find new ideas as well as to refine where I want to add or remove emphasis on certain features in the story in the future. Then again, this dear person is already on record as "not minding - hint, hint, hint" a Weiss threesome here and I *really* appreciated the input! {cheers delightedly, glad for friendship} Thanks again, Wataruo! I'm always glad to hear from you!