Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Stitches ❯ One-Shot

“Stitches”
by Viridian5
12/15/12

RATING: PG-13; Yoji/Aya. If m/m interaction bothers you, pass this by.
SPOILERS: “Mission 16: Schatten -- Return to Battle” and “Mission 21: Trane -- Memories.”
SUMMARY: Tying yourself to me / Stitch up my emptiness....
ARCHIVAL/DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, as long as you ask me first.
FEEDBACK: can be sent to Viridian5@aol.com.
DISCLAIMERS: All things Weiß Kreuz belong to Koyasu Takehito, Project Weiß, Polygram k.k., and Animate Film. No infringement intended.
NOTES: Written because Esinde Nayrall wouldn’t accept anything other than Yoji. Thanks to Rosaleendhu for the read-through and beta.

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“Stitches”
by Viridian5
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“That should do it,” Omi said as he closed up the medical kit.

“I hope it heals without a scar. We wouldn’t want to disappoint the lovely ladies of Japan,” Yoji answered.

Omi rolled his eyes. “If you disappoint the lovely ladies of Japan, it won’t be my fault.”

“You wound me, Omi.”

He shook his head and smiled as he left. “Good night!”

Yoji caught a glimpse of Aya standing at the edge of his doorway out in the hall. Recently, Aya had started doing things like that, not often, but often enough. “Hey, come in and have a seat, man. I won’t bite. I’m even dressed for company.”

While Yoji preferred to sleep in the buff, he’d put pajama pants on after his shower so he wouldn’t make Omi uncomfortable while tending his wounds. That, and it would kill him if he became excited for some reason while Omi was that close to him and Omi noticed.

“I don’t think you’re dressed for my kind of company,” Aya answered softly. By contrast, he wore a T-shirt with his pajama pants, a shame considering the view it hid. His hair still looked damp from his own shower, and he seemed younger and more approachable, as if he’d scrubbed off a few protective layers of his usual reserve and hadn’t grown them back yet.

“You’re not seeing anything you haven’t seen before.”

“True. It’s less than I’ve seen some mornings when you weren’t totally awake yet and have come out for your shower.” Aya came in, closed the door, sat in the chair Omi had just left, and looked at Yoji in silence for a moment, his gaze lingering longest on the stitches on his forehead, before saying, “I told you you’d still be pretty. Head wounds just bleed a lot.” He sat close enough for Yoji to feel him radiating a bit of shower warmth.

“This could still heal badly.”

“Not unless you do something dumbassed. Omi does good work.”

“True.”

For a few weeks after killing Asu-- Neu, Yoji had wandered in a stupor of pain and grief and occasionally alcohol, barely aware of anything else going on around him. Fortunately for him, Weiß had few missions during that time and the others had apparently taken up the slack for him. As he slowly started to rise out of it, he noticed Aya... looking out for him, obviously concerned, even more than Ken and Omi were. Quite frankly, that amazed Yoji, given Aya’s past history and the way Neu had dicked him around on the whereabouts of his kidnapped comatose sister and the way Yoji had helped her, something he felt bad about now. Aya should have been satisfied and exultant in victory with the villain dead and Yoji suffering for having believed in her. He should have been yelling at and punishing Yoji for being even less help than usual on missions and in the flower shop. Instead, he obviously worried for Yoji and kept an eye on him while hovering at a polite distance he could be called over from if wanted.

Everybody knew Aya was close-mouthed and aloof, but Yoji started to get the feeling that Aya was actually shy, which was adorable... which would be a word he’d never use to Aya’s face unless he wanted to get stabbed or beheaded. Given how Aya bulldozed his way through some situations, Yoji could see people not recognizing the shyness, as he hadn’t before, but lately he’d looked harder, easier to do these days now that he had Aya in closer proximity.

Even though it made Yoji feel pathetic to have caused so much concern over his difficulties dealing with the Asuka... Neu... thing, it also made him feel very cared for and less alone. Maybe he could help Aya feel less alone too.

Maybe Aya would let him.

“That bruise on your cheek compliments your eyes,” Yoji said.

“It won’t once it fades to yellow-brown-green.”

“I dunno. The yellow and green might work as well.” Did he spy a faint hint of blushing in Aya’s cheeks?

“Unlikely,” Aya replied.

“You realize that we’ll have to come up with some story we can tell the fangirls about how you got it, nothing too pathetic but not too romantic either.”

“Shit. I didn’t even think of that. Dealing with them will be worse than getting hit in the face.”

“Only you, Aya. I’d prefer the female attention, even if they are mostly under eighteen, to getting punched.” Did Aya not like girls at all or just not screechy, clingy ones?

“If I could give my admirers to you and actually have it stick, I would.”

“Generous of you. I’m glad you were with me when things got that hairy tonight. Though you got out of it with fewer injuries than I did.” Yoji had bruises and a lot of grazes.

“I have a lot of bruises too. You just can’t see them.” Yoji’s expression must have changed in interesting ways because Aya said, “I’m not going to show them to you!”

“Awww!”

In an obvious attempt to shift the topic of conversation, Aya said, “Omi was upset about the discrepancy in the number of security guards we were expecting versus how many were actually there. He should be.”

Yoji let him. “He can’t be as upset as we were, trapped in the middle of them.”

“It would have been easier if we were carrying guns.” After a moment of silence and something roiling in the depths of his purple eyes, he said, quietly, “I’m going to start carrying one as a backup weapon.”

Aya had mentioned wanting to before but hadn’t because Kritiker had vigorously warned him against it and they had his beloved sister in their clutches and care. Now that Kritiker didn’t, and hadn’t been much help in actually finding her....

“Good for you,” Yoji replied. When Aya looked at him intensely for a moment, Yoji realized that Aya was trying to decide if he’d been sarcastic or sincere. To help that out, Yoji said, “I might start doing that myself.” More as a when-all-else-fails measure than anything else, like tonight, when they’d been pinned down by the sheer number of their gun-toting enemies so badly that Yoji had thought they both might really get killed. He still felt kind of incredulous that they’d made it through.

Anyone would be able to read the relief on Aya’s face. “Good.”

Yoji couldn’t help feeling happy that something so small he’d said could ease Aya’s mind like that. “Screw Kritiker. They’re not the ones being shot at. I’m not sure where I’ll hide it though.”

“Are you saying that if saving your life means ruining the line of your coat you won’t do it?” It read more as teasing than chastisement.

“I wouldn’t want to disappoint--”<>“--the lovely thugs of Japan?”

“Hey, you dress up for them.”

“I don’t dress up for them.”

“You dress up for your teammates? That’s really sweet.”

Although he looked slightly embarrassed by the insinuation, Aya replied, “Ken doesn’t appreciate it, but he doesn’t have any fashion sense.”

“I’m not sure whether I should hope your mission fashion sense rubs off on Omi.”

“He already dresses kinkier than I do.”

That surprised a laugh out of Yoji. “We’re not supposed to be aware of that.”

“Sorry.”

He felt so fond of Aya right now. Of course, he’d also felt fond of Aya earlier tonight when Aya was watching his back while stabbing and slashing people with his katana and bludgeoning others with his scabbard, but he’d already felt fond of Aya for that kind of thing for a long time. They hadn’t had any cozy, intimate moments in his room at night before, looking into each other’s eyes and sitting so close together within the warm glow of a single lamp, Yoji already on his bed.... He could feel the heat, the chemistry, between them. At least he thought he could.

“Maybe you could strap a gun against your thigh or upper calf,” Aya said. “Nobody would notice it with your coat in the way most of the time.”

His thigh? Hmm. “It’s really important to you, huh?”

“Yes. I want you to protect yourself,” Aya replied with a look that made Yoji’s heart and groin throb. Hopefully his pajama pants hid some of it.

At least Aya’s occasional blinking diluted some of the power of his gaze. Aya could be intense. It made Yoji wonder what he was like in bed.

Yoji really shouldn’t wonder that. At least not now, not yet.

He had to be careful. He could admit that he was a bit... fragile right now, and he needed to get a better idea of where Aya stood on things before springing this on him, because Aya might be emoting at him only as a friend and teammate. How far should he push things to find out? A rejection and the resulting cold shoulder at home and both his jobs after that would hurt too much, and he didn’t need more pain. He’d have to subtly test the waters before jumping in, and he knew he wasn’t always good at being subtle in matters of the heart.

Besides, he had to coax Aya just to get the guy inside his room, and Aya had his own reasons to be fragile lately.

If Yoji flung himself upon Aya while saying, “Love me,” Aya would probably hit him and Yoji didn’t think he’d even blame him for it.

But he knew they could be so good for each other!

He’d figure something out. Hopefully soon.

  ***********************THE END**********************

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