Chapter 10
It was so late at night that it was actually early morning, but Nagi didn't actually consider it morning yet because he had yet to sleep. Omi kept telling him that it didn't matter when you fell asleep because morning was morning, yet he didn't believe that it could be morning, no matter what time it was, if you hadn't slept at all. Differing logic, he supposed and both were interesting and valid concepts, but he would prefer to use his own.
They got into the Takatori estate with no problems; the guards recognized him and even if they hadn't, they would have known the car. Abyssinian and Balinese were glared at a bit and watched with a wary eye, but were generally passed over as harmless. Nagi almost cracked a smile as he realized that one of the guards turned his nose up at Abyssinian, thinking he was drunk rather than injured. A drunk Aby - rather, a drunk Ran would be an interesting sight, indeed.
He paused mentally. Omi usually called him "Aya". He would have questioned that logic, being a false name he had used, but "Omi" was also a false name of sorts and he still perfered to use that. Were Aya and Ran separate people as Omi and Mamoru were? That too was an interesting thought to ponder, but he doubted he would ever been on friendly enough terms with Ran/Aya to ask him.
The guards in the hall nodded at him as he passed, knowing him all too well. Bal - no, code names weren't needed here - Youji noticed this, despite the fact that he was supporting more than half of Aya's weight. Aya had threated to dismember him as soon as he was well if he carried him inside the mansion and Youji had decided not to take it as an idle threat.
As they neared Omi's private rooms, he reached into his pocket to pull out the keys to the door. Youji's eyes narrowed at him in surprise. Yes, he could have opened the door with a thought if he wanted to, but he had startled Omi one day that way. Omi had jumped and tripped over a chair and the resulting bruises had not been pretty, making him never wish to repeat that again. He had looked up at him with those wide eyes of his and laughed through the pain, "Nagi, make some noise next time!" he had said. So he did.
Not that it made a difference this time. They found Omi and Ken on the couch, both of them sound asleep. Ken was slumped against one of the couch's armrests, his head tilted back, Omi's head pillowed in his lap. The front room itself was a disaster, as if two teenaged boys had attacked and destroyed it and had a lot of fun doing it, too. He doubted he would have been as shocked by its appearance if that was how it normally looked, but he knew for a fact it was generally spotless. Of course, he realized that it was spotless because he - not Omi - was a neatfreak, but that was beside the point.
He gestured Aya and Youji towards another couch where they both collapsed wearily; the sound of Aya hissing in pain at the jolt caused Ken to stir in his sleep. He offered to get drinks for either of the completely awake assassins, but they merely shook their heads in refusual. So, he went and got two glasses of water - one for himself and one for Omi; he was always thirsty when he woke up. A bit of telekinesis tidied up the video games - where had those come from? - and sent the pizza box and popcorn into the trash. That would have to do for now.
Ken was awake when he returned and he felt the slightest tinge of annoyance at the way he casually petted Omi's sleeping head. He set Omi's glass on the coffee table and took one of the arms chairs that was nearer to Omi and Ken than the other two. Now, he supposed, he understood why he had insisted on having so many couches and chairs about; part of him must have been wanting to have all of his friends there with him again and he couldn't blame him for that.
"You shouldn't have gone after him like that," Ken was saying quietly, but with an edge of anger and fear in his voice.
Aya looked like he had the desire to roll his eyes. "It was necessary. It's over with, anyway, and there is no sense in discussing it further."
"It was stupid," Youji put in, nodding toward Ken. When Aya glared at him in pure hatred, he shrugged helplessly. "Hey, I was there, I saw it! He fainted on him, Ken. You should have seen it."
"You fainted?" Ken's voice raised a bit, then he looked down at Omi to make sure he was still asleep before continuting in a softer voice, "What were you thinking, going out there like that?"
Nagi felt sorry for Aya; he looked extremely harassed at the moment, wishing Youji would stop encouraging Ken in his "mother hen" mode. "I did not faint!"
The other two exchanged glances, Ken's questioning, Youji's amused. Nagi sipped at his glass of water. "What would you call it, then?"
There was a lengthy silence, then finally, "I passed out. I did not faint."
With a sigh Nagi's eyes fell back onto his sleeping lover's form, feeling distinctly ignored and neglected. It only took a little bit of his power to reach out and "touch" his face. The reaction was instantious; Omi jolted up, lost his balance, and landed heavily on the floor, growling, "Nagi!"
He looked absoutely adorable with that pout on his face. The glass of water floated into his hands and Omi took a few gulps before glaring at him again.
Youji was glancing between both of them, a suspicious gleam in his eyes. "What did he do?" he wanted to know.
Omi sniffed, managing to look highly offended. "He touched me."
"What?"
"Well, it's hard to explain - "
"Telekenesis," Nagi put in.
Omi rolled his eyes. "Okay, not that hard to explain. It's kind of odd though, like being touched by something that isn't there, like a ghost or something." Then he blinked and came alive suddenly. "YOUJI!! AYA!!!" He was suddenly hugging Youji and looking over Aya to make sure that he was intact.
It was impossible not to smile just a bit - a very tiny bit - at his lover's enthusiasm; he had managed to catch the glass before it had shattered against the floor or spilled a drop, and that was the important thing. He couldn't recall the amount of dishware he had saved from destruction when Omi suddenly had an inspiration thought or remembered an appointment he had to go to at the last minute.
For a moment they chatted happily about this and that - Aya was definitely seeing a doctor tomorrow, a personal Takatori physician, at that - whether he wanted to or not, they wanted to hear more about what they had been up to, and other random nonsense. Then Omi stopped and glanced back at Nagi, who was watching him fondly. A smile broke out across his face and Nagi found himself enveloped by warm arms and throughly kissed. "I almost forgot to thank you! No one else could have done such a through job."
He stared at Omi. Did he even realize that he had kissed him in front of his friend?? Besides that, he was certain there were plenty of other people who could have done the job just as well as he had. Perhaps they wouldn't have been as discrete, but they would have been able to accomplish the set goals.
"You and Nagi, huh?" Youji asked, with a slight raise of an eyebrow. He had already suspected as much.
Omi smiled brightly. "Isn't he adorable?"
Nagi's eyes widened and he desperately hoped he wasn't blushing as he turned his head away. He didn't know these people and Omi was telling them that he was adorable?? Warning, system meltdown!
"As long as you are happy," Aya told him in all seriousness, before his gleaming eyes turned full-force onto Nagi. "But if you hurt him - "
"I'll let you kill me," he finished. Nagi saw a flash of approval in his eyes and he relaxed marginally.
Omi made a tsking noise. "You two are too serious! Honestly, we are supposed to be bonding, not making death threats!"
Nagi blinked, exchanging a glance with Aya. "Same thing."
"You and Aya are too much alike!" he exclaimed in exasperation, much to the others' surprise.