Okee... here are the results from my plea for help I got a total of...8 votes.
BRAD: 1 vote
KEN: 0 votes
AYA: 2 votes
NEITHER KEN NOR OMI: 2 votes
OMI: 3 votes
Poor Ken.... Nobody wants him .... Okee.. Enough babbling... on with the fic.
I looked up at the face of my would-be comforter. It was blurry. I blinked a few times, and my vision cleared. The guy who just kissed me wasn't even a guy. It was a boy! The one who's normally genki eyes were now practically overflowing with worry.
"Omi?" I asked. I forced myself to sit up. "What are you doing?"
"My father wasn't exactly too broken up when I was kidnapped, you know." He pointed out.
"Yeah, but you at least got 10 years out of him. I barely got past conception." I sighed, slouching in my seat. In front of me, Omi kicked some imaginary dirt, and inspected the floor. Then he took a deep breath, sat on the couch beside me, and squeezed me for all he was worth.
"Please don't talk like that. _I_ want you." He said softly. My eyes bugged out. I definitely took that the wrong way.
"WHAAAT!?" Omi slapped a hand to his mouth and turned beet red.
"That's not - I didn't mean - I just - " Omi babbled. He couldn't think of an excuse quick enough. I snickered, and shook my head. If he came here to cheer me up, that last comment just did it.
"You just what, Omi-kun?" I asked, folding my arms and looking at Omi with a raised eyebrow. He squeezed his eyes shut. I guess I didn't take that the wrong way, after all. Omi just slipped.
"NO! No! Not like that! I mean, without you around, things would sure be a lot more boring. And the missions would be harder, and we'd all have to work more hours, and Ken and Aya would be irritated a lot more often, and. . . " Once the kid got started, he couldn't stop. Tears came to his eyes, and the next thing I knew, Omi was hugging me again, burying the side of his face into my chest. I let him stay there for a bit. I must have freaked him out pretty good, talking about not being wanted. But I couldn't sit there and let Omi and his Seventeen years and four months of age to hug me all day. I needed to get up, do something, keep myself busy so I won't think of my asshole father so much.
"Omi." I said "I need to get back to the shop."
"Ooohh, come on. Aya won't mind if you're a bit late." Omi whined in typical Teenager fashion.
"Since when is it his place to GET mad? Who died and made HIM Persia?"
"Uhm, no one."
"Exactly. I just need to keep myself distracted."
With that I managed to part myself from Omi and head upstairs to the shop. I stood in front of the door for a moment before I went in, trying to get my spirits up again. Thinking of Omi's little slip was the only thing I could think of that would do the trick at the moment.
I opened the door and grabbed for my apron. Ken, Aya, Momoe-san and her Kitty were in the place at the moment. The kitty jumped off Momoe-san's lap and proceeded to rub its head against my leg. I put on my apron, picked up the kitty, and gave it back to the lady. Other than Momoe-san and her kitty, the first one to notice my arrival was Ken. He was sitting, yes Sitting, at the table in the middle of the shop with a bottle of Gatorade. He seemed to be slightly out of breath.
"Hey, Yohji! You're back." He commented. Observant, our Ken is.
"Yeah." I said. He took a gulp from the bottle.
"How did that thing with your dad go?" He asked. "You find the place okay?"
"Yeah, it wasn't hard to find. Found out I'm the product of an affair, though."
"I always thought you were some kind of bastard." Aya cut in from the corner of the shop where he was windexing the display case. I pouted for a bit, then grabbed Ken's bottle of Gatorade and squired it at Aya. He was soaked in a futile attempt to block the stream of liquid with his hands.
"HEYY!" He exclaimed.
"HEYY!" Ken exclaimed. "That was mine!" I just placed my hands on my hips and stuck my tongue out at them. Juvenile, maybe, but come on, I'm not even in my mid twenties yet!
"Tough." Aya shot me a murderous glance. . Or was it a ravenous glance...And continued windexing the case. I took a seat next to Ken and tried to change the subject.
"So, Ken. I notice you're sitting again." I commented.
"Yeah, I'm fine now. Hey Yohji, I've been thinking." He started. From the corner of the shop, Aya had stopped his work on the windows and had started eavesdropping.
"There's a new one." He interrupted. I made another grab for the Gatorade bottle, and he shut up.
"I really don't know what's worse about this whole big stink we're in. The fact that you're thisclose, but I still can't reach you, or knowing that it's all my fault that you're gone."
That's what I've always liked about Ken. He's never been very good at hitting on people, but when he speaks from his heart, amazing things come out. Then again, sometimes really stupid things come out. But this time, it was an amazing thing.
"Well, now that you admit you have a problem, all that remains is to fix it. And how are you going to do that, eh Ken?" Ken looked up at me and sighed.
"I don't know." He said.
I tried to crash early that night, but I didn't get much sleep. Ghosts of the past weren't haunting me; the ghosts of the present were more than happy to take on that job. Instead of sleeping, I just lay on my bed, lit cigarette in hand. Yes, cigarette. My willpower otherwise occupied, I had given in to the lesser of my vices. So I lay on my bed while the ghosts of the present haunted my mind.
There was my father, just brushing me off as if I was some door-to-door salesman. I deserved to be acknowledged, didn't I? What did it matter if it caused marital problems. He should live with the consequences of his actions.
There was Aya. Did he even care we weren't together, apart from having to go to the trouble of finding another bedfellow? It seemed that instead of a plea for affection, things had turned into a battle of wills, and all he knew was that he didn't want to be the one to come crawling back first.
There was Omi. Was that really just a Freudian slip this afternoon, or did he mean it?
There was Ken. He says he misses me, but other than acting generally bummed, what is he going to do about it? Should I just give up on both of them, and try and find love elsewhere? I didn't want to do that. If they'd just stop taking me for granted, and if I could be allowed to pick ONE. That's all I'd need. Aw, frig this. I couldn't sleep. I decided to hit the kitchen and get something warm to eat. Or drink. It didn't matter, I just needed to keep my mind off my problems so I wouldn't feel so unloved and unwanted.