Disclaimer: No, I don't own the Weiß boys, and yes, I'd sure like to. No, I don't make any money with this, and yes, I'd sure like to.
Timeline: Somewhere before anything big happens, around after the sixth episode or something. I hadn't seen all the TV episodes yet when I started writing this, so I couldn't really put this at the end of the series... let's just say this is an alternative universe fic. In my mind, things happened THIS way. ^_^ And watch out for a sequel, I'm going to write the 'ende des Weiß' of my own after I finish this baby. Bwahahaha. Curse my overflowing imagination. Or bless, I dunno ^_^
This is my first shounen ai/yaoi fic. Don't kill me just yet, I'm still learning.
Dare mo hitori kiri wo kakushita toki no ihoujin
Everybody's a lonely stranger hiding in time
- Miki Shinichirou: The Minority
"You look half-dead, Youji-kun!"
Ken made a face and poured some coffee into Youji's cup. Youji threw an open shirt on his shoulders and sank down on the chair.
"Y'should know", he murmured, reaching out for the sugar bowl, "you're the one who raised me from the grave."
Ken gave him a friendly snicker and turned around to hand Aya the coffeepot.
"It's going to be a busy day, so get yourself together", Aya told Youji.
Youji yawned, scratched his messy hair and nodded half-mindedly.
"I must be off a bit earlier today", Ken said a bit hesitantly.
"And why is that?"
"I, uh, I promised Jiro I'd play football with him."
Aya sighed almost inaudibly. Tomorrow would be Valentine's Day, and they needed every help they got in the shop. And most people arrived right before the closing time.
"What about that Shinkichi-san's order?"
"Maybe Omi-kun could do that for me."
Ken looked around.
"By the way... where is he?"
"Probably went to school already."
"But it isn't even seven o'clock yet. I'll go check if he's still asleep," Ken said and trotted upstairs.
Youji glanced after him, and then at Aya.
"Not even seven yet? I came home four hours ago! Why the HELL did he have to wake me up this early?!"
"So that you could wake up before we start working. Nobody buys a Valentine bouquet from a dozing salesman", Aya stated and got up with his cup.
"I suggest you start right now."
Youji moaned and slumped on the table.
Ken stopped at Omi's door and listened. Nothing. Which could mean either that the boy was still asleep or had indeed already left.
He knocked on the door and asked, "Omi-kun, are you awake?"
He didn't get an answer, so he opened the door and stepped inside. Omi was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling with blank eyes.
"You're going to be late!" Ken sighed, and took Omi's hand, pulling him up.
"Come on, move it! There are still some scraps of the breakfast left."
"U-un", Omi stuttered and sat up, blinking his eyes back to focus.
"I was just thinking..."
"What were you thinking of?" Ken asked, watching as Omi gathered all his books and shoved them in his schoolbag.
"Just stuff", he said bluntly.
"Oh."
Ken bit his lip and felt a little stupid.
"I'll, uh, go and make some more coffee for you."
"No need to do that", Omi said and smiled in his usual cheerful way at him, "I don't have the time to drink it anyway."
"Sou da na. Well, come straight home from school. It's going to be one hell of a busy day."
"Hai, hai!" Omi rushed to the corridor past him and bounced downstairs.
He rushed to the kitchen, snatched a slice of bread and put it in his mouth and then left the room, humming to himself. Youji rubbed his eyes and smiled tiredly. The boy's speed was too much for his exhausted brain to comprehend.
"Where are my shoes?" Omi's clear voice echoed.
"I tripped over them last night, they should be there somewhere", Youji yawned and decided to pour himself another cup of coffee.
Omi rushed back to the kitchen, put the half-eaten bread on the table and jumped in his shoes as he reached out to grab a glass of water.
"Christ, Youji-kun, you look terrible!" he exclaimed, his sympathetic eyes darting from his teammate to the filling glass.
"Been better, been worse", Youji shrugged and got on his somewhat unsteady feet. "One cup of coffee and I'm ready to rock an' roll."
"I thought you said you wouldn't be late", Omi said in a strange half-accusing, half-amused tone.
"I wasn't, kiddo. I was the first one to leave", Youji said, quirking an eyebrow.
"Mou, and in the middle of the week, too!"
Omi turned to look at him, and put what was left of the bread in his mouth.
Suddenly, Youji laughed heartily. The mere sight of the youngest of the Weiß balancing on one foot, his mouth full of food, trying to tie up his shoelaces but managing to get his finger tangled... his honey-coloured hair was a mess, and his innocent blue eyes were scowling at him. The boy was just too much sometimes.
"Whaph?" Omi asked annoyedly, fighting with his shoelaces.
Youji walked past him, still chuckling, and mussed his hair.
"Listen, kiddo, I don't take advice from people who get tangled with their own shoelaces."
He took his coffee with him and went upstairs to his room, ignoring Omi's fumed reply. When he was trying to decide what shirt to wear, he heard the door slammed shut behind Omi as he left to school.
"Youji, get to the shop now", ordered Aya, peeking in his room without warning.
"Ryoukai, taichou!" Youji snapped a salute.
Aya didn't seem to appreciate the joke. He turned on his heels and returned downstairs. Youji hmphed after him, briefly wondering what the hell was the matter with Aya this time.
Probably just couldn't get enough sleep... like me, he shrugged and then cursed under his breath as he noticed that all his favourite shirts were in the laundry.
Aya had foreseen the situation pretty accurately. Although they had just opened the doors, the whole Ko-neko no Sumu Ie was full of costumers, looking at and smelling flowers, or, if they had the time to wait, asking the three of them to make an arrangement.
"So you want to give your ex-boyfriend a bouquet with flowers that say that all is forgotten and nobody knows what future holds?" Ken certified with a sigh, and a high school girl nodded hopefully at him.
A herd of others were waiting for their turn as Youji casually entered the shop. Ken's eyes found him immediately.
"Youji-kun, here's a girl who has been waiting for a long time. Why don't you help her out?"
Youji's eyes darted at a short girl with dark hair, which was tied up in two pigtails with green and yellow laces, and who wasn't wearing a school uniform like most of the girls present. She looked very lost in the middle of all the people and noise. Youji's tired face melted into one of his most trustworthy smiles.
"Yoshi, what will it be, miss?"
The girl looked at him a bit shyly and then quickly turned her gaze at her feet.
"Ano... it's a bit complicated..."
"Well, I'm here to help you. Something for your significant other, perhaps?"
The girl blushed and smiled for the first time. It was a prim, but not cold smile.
"Iya, I'd like a bouquet for my big sister. She has a crush on a boy in her class and... well, she doesn't know what to do, so I suggested flowers."
"An excellent choice. Most people think that only girls like to receive flowers, but take it from a professional, guys like to get flowers, too. Now, I need to know a few things about your sister. What kinds of flowers does she like?"
He asked her some general questions, and she answered them calmly. It was clear that her big sister must be very close to her. Something about the way she talked about her sister's beloved made him knit his brows, but he couldn't figure out what it was that bothered him. Youji finished the bouquet and handed it to her, and after thanking him quietly, she turned and left the shop in a hurry.
A strange girl... Youji thought, picking up the box of roses Aya had ordered him to take outside.
He walked outside and placed the box next to other flowers. Then it suddenly hit him. This classmate the girl's neesan was so fond of was none other than Omi. She had mentioned the name of the high school, which was the same school Omi went to, and just exactly how many "cute and innocent-looking, blond-haired and blue-eyed" sixteen-year-olds there could be in that school? Youji smiled a bit absent-mindedly. That would explain Omi's doze-offs at work lately.
Ah... high school crushes. It was inevitable...
He cringed at his thoughts. Why did he suddenly feel like Omi's worried big brother? Really, he was the last one to worry about dozing off while working. He had trouble taking any job seriously - and quite frankly, it was impossible to take his job as a florist seriously. It was more like a hobby, though the timeline was undeniably against his lifestyle. Work helped him to keep his head clear, to still keep up his devil-may-care attitude. At night, everything changed. Everything looked darker, and yes, more serious. It was somehow fitting that at least during daytime, the scariest things he could cross paths with were herds of high school girls ogling them through the display window.
"What are you standing there for?" Ken asked him, stopping his musings.
"We have work to do, if you remember!"
"Just met Omi's girlfriend's imouto", Youji grinned, picking up a random flower and tucking it in the breast pocket of Ken's yellow shirt.
He could use some tips in dressing style... Youji thought briefly.
"Omi's what?"
Ken's eyes grew big as they both started to water the flowers carried outside the shop to attract costumers.
"Yeah. Sneaky little Omittchi, managed to keep it a secret 'til now."
"Well, that's good to hear, in a way", Ken muttered, and when Youji gave him a questioning look, he went on, "I thought something was wrong with him. He's usually so cheery, but nowadays he's started to get that serious face more and more often."
Youji rolled his eyes and snickered, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Too obvious. Don't you remember what it was like to have a crush on someone in high school?"
Ken coughed and picked up a big bunch of flowers to hide his blushing cheeks.
"Sure, but... I was... well, I guess I just concentrated on training football and forgot everything else that way."
"You mean you never had a girlfriend in high school?" Youji asked, his sunglasses dropping from the top of his head to his nose.
"Well, no, but... it's not what you think."
Ken wished Youji would just drop the topic, which was, of course, wishful thinking.
"A boyfriend, then?" Youji asked casually.
Ken's silence was all he needed for an answer. He put a hand on Ken's shoulder and leaned down to look at him.
"What, you think I didn't know, Kenken? Five minutes in the room with you and Aya-kun is all it takes."
"Shut. Up", Ken hushed hysterically as Aya approached them.
"Stop chatting and help me with the costumers. We have to get these girls their flowers before lunch break."
"Ryoukai!" Youji saluted again with a smile.
"Would you stop that?" Aya snapped.
"Well aren't we cranky today."
Youji pouted, but followed the others inside. As always, everyone followed Aya's orders. It was the way they worked, night or day.